1. US Court Okays Bidding Process to Sell Nirav Modi Firms’ Assets
A New York court has approved the bidding procedure for assets sale by firms linked to jeweller Nirav Modi, who is at the centre of the $2 billion fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB).
The court also approved a plan to use proceeds of the asset sale to repay $20 million in dues to HSBC Bank USA and Israel Discount Bank of New York. This comes at a time when PNB is planning to take part in bankruptcy proceedings of Firestar Diamond Inc., a Nirav Modi company.
On 26 February, Firestar Diamond and other two affiliates (Fantasy Inc and A Jaffe Inc) filed for bankruptcy in the US under Chapter 11 voluntary petition, stating disruption of supply chain.
PNB is seeking the advice of legal experts to participate in the US proceedings, Press Trust of India reported on 12 March.
(Source: Livemint)
2. Fortis Sells Hospital Business to Manipal, TPG Capital
After months of intense negotiations, the board of Fortis Healthcare Ltd late on Tuesday night announced the sale of its hospital assets to Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt Ltd and buyout firm TPG Capital.
The Fortis Healthcare board has also approved the sale of its 20% stake in SRL Diagnostics to Manipal Hospitals. The resultant entity, Manipal Hospitals, will be a publicly traded company listed on NSE and BSE, Fortis Healthcare said in a statement. Fortis Healthcare will become an investment holding company with a 36.6% stake in SRL Diagnostics.
As part of the proposed transaction, Manipal promoter Dr Ranjan Pai and TPG Capital will invest Rs3,900 crore into Manipal Hospitals.
(Source: Livemint)
3. GSK to Sell Horlicks, May Cut Stake in India Unit to Fund Novartis Deal
GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) is exploring a partial or full sale of its 72.5% stake in its Indian unit GSK Consumer Healthcare Ltd, besides separately selling the company’s dietary supplement brand Horlicks as it looks to fund its $13 billion buyout of Novartis’s stake in a global consumer healthcare joint venture.
“The company is initiating a strategic review of Horlicks and its other consumer healthcare nutrition products to support funding of the transaction. The strategic review also includes assessment of the company’s stake in Indian entity,” GSK chief executive Emma Walmsley said in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.
The decision is part of GSK’s plan to “drive increased focus on over-the-counter (OTC) and oral health categories”.
(Source: Livemint)
4. India, China to Reset Investment Pact
India and China have agreed to renegotiate a bilateral investment agreement, apart from working on a road map to reduce the massive trade imbalance in favour of the world’s second-largest economy, as the two countries pledged to bolster relations amid threats of a worsening global trade war, official sources told FE.
China has also pledged to look into the sticky issue of greater market access to Indian farm products and agreed to resolve any issue that hurts the prospect of Indian pharmaceutical exports to that country, at a meeting between commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu and China’s trade minister Zhong Shan on Monday.
The meeting under the aegis of the China-India joint-group on Economic Relations, Trade, Science & Technology came amid threats of an escalating global trade war following the US plan to impose tariffs on $ 50 billion worth of Chinese goods, over and above an earlier plan to tax supplies of steel and aluminium from select countries, including China and India.
(Source: Financial Express)
5. IT Department Attaches Cognizant's Bank Accounts on a Rs 25 Bn Dispute
The Income Tax Department has attached bank accounts and deposits of IT services major Cognizant in Chennai and Mumbai, in excess of Rs 25 billion in connection to an alleged evasion of Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) and other charges.
The department is planning to prosecute the company for alleged fraudulent expense claims by the company for three years, with the Economic Offences Court in Chennai, according to documents from the department.
Cognizant has moved against the Department's action and the matter was heard in the Madras High Court on Tuesday.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. Vodafone-Idea Merger in Final Stages of Approval: Govt
The much-awaited merger of the country’s second- and third-largest telecom operators — Vodafone India and Idea Cellular — is in the final stages with clearances relating to FDI and licence liberalisation among others pending, telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said on Tuesday.
“Idea-Vodafone merger is in final stages of approval because they have got the NCLT approval, Sebi clearances, but there are some FDI approvals that are involved, there are liberalisation of licence…so there are a number of clearances. It’s not a one-step clearance, there are a number of clearances. So, we are in the process of expediting that,” she told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by industry body COAI on 5G services.
According to people in the know of the developments, the Department of Telecom (DoT) is considering the merger and will give clearance on the same by April. The merger has already been cleared by CCI, NCLT, Sebi and the stock exchanges.
(Source: Financial Express)
7. Bandhan Bank’s Bumper Listing Makes It India’s 8th Most Valued Bank
Shares of Bandhan Bank Ltd listed at a 27 percent premium on the bourses on Tuesday, and made a mark to be the eighth most valued bank, overtaking the likes of Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank after its Rs 4,470 crore initial public offering (IPO), the largest ever by a bank, was subscribed 14.63 times last week.
The listing gains were the best since Amber Enterprises India Ltd’s debut in 30 January. Among banks, it was the best listing since RBL Bank Ltd, which debuted on the bourses in August 2016.
On Tuesday, Bandhan Bank shares closed 27.3% higher at Rs 477.20, compared with the issue price of Rs 375, which was the upper end of the price band between Rs 370-375 per share.
(Source: Livemint)
8. GST Revenue Stagnant: February Collections to Drop to Rs 85,175 Cr
Goods and services tax (GST) collections for February fell to Rs 85,174 crore from Rs 86,318 crore a month earlier, heightening the government’s anxiety over revenue being far below projections.
The average monthly central GST (CGST) collections in July-February has been just Rs 23,177 crore while the Centre’s monthly GST revenue for FY19 is budgeted to be more than double of that at Rs 50,325 crore.
Of course, integrated GST (IGST), roughly half of which has to go to the Centre’s kitty eventually, would give it another Rs 10,100 crore a month, going by the trend so far.
But even that would take the Centre’s average monthly GST revenue so far to only Rs 33,300 crore, two-thirds of the budget estimate for next year. States are to be compensated for any revenue shortfall from the level a 14 percent annual growth from the 2015-16 base would entail, so subdued GST buoyancy is less of an immediate threat to their revenue.
(Source: Financial Express)
9. Amid Data Theft Row, Anand Mahindra Wants to Fund India's Rival to FB
At the time when hatred for social network giant Facebook is at an all time high, Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group, in a tweet suggested that it could be time for India to have its own social network, even offering to back good ideas with seed capital.
“Beginning to wonder if it’s time to consider having our own social networking company that is very widely owned, professionally managed and willingly regulated. Any relevant Indian start-ups out there? If any young teams have such plans I’d like to see if I can assist with seed capital,” Mahindra wrote on micro-blogging platform Twitter on Monday.
By Tuesday morning, Mahindra’s tweet was greeted with hundreds of responses from individuals with suggestions and pitches for their own startups.
Among the suggestions was one from Jaspreet Bindra, SVP of Digital Transformation at Mahindra, who suggested a blockchain enabled social network could be a great idea.
(Source: Business Standard)
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