1. Govt to Sell 76% Stake in AI, Invites Bids as It Lays down Rules
Along with a 76 percent stake in Air India, with a fleet of 115 aircraft and over 2,500 prime international slots in markets including the US, UK, Europe, Southeast Asia and West Asia, the government, as per a preliminary information memorandum (PIM) issued on Wednesday, will also package Rs 33,392 crore of debt and liabilities of Air India and Air India Express.
Laying the ground rules for potential bidders, the government has mandated that the successful purchaser cannot sell the shares or cede management control for at least three years from the date of consummation of the transaction.
As of 31 March, 2017, Air India and Air India Express had a total debt of Rs 51,379.60 crore.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Investors Hammer Fortis Stock
Peeved public investors hammered Fortis Healthcare shares, which dropped almost 15 per cent intraday, after the second-largest hospital chain approved a takeover deal by Manipal Hospital Enterprises on Tuesday night.
Activists and arbitrage investors said the deal undervalued Fortis and subsidiary SRL Diagnostics, with some of them talking up a possible counter bid from Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare.
Manipal, backed by private equity giant TPG, would start meeting with investors to explain the long-drawn, convoluted deal-making in a company staring at bankruptcy and facing multiple probes into financial irregularities.
(Source: Times of India)
3. Videocon Gets Loan from ICICI Bank, Kochhar’s Husband Gets Sweet Deal from Dhoot
In December 2008, Venugopal Dhoot of the Videocon Group set up a company with Deepak Kochhar, husband of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, and two of her relatives; then gave a Rs 64-crore loan to this company through a fully owned entity before he transferred the latter’s ownership to a trust headed by Deepak Kochhar for just Rs 9 lakh, an investigation by The Indian Express has found.
In what raises questions of propriety and conflict of interest, the transfer of the company to Deepak Kochchar happened six months after the Videocon Group got a loan of Rs 3,250 crore from ICICI Bank.
Almost 86 percent of that loan (Rs 2,810 crore) remains unpaid and Videocon account was declared an NPA in 2017.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. IDBI Bank Discloses Rs 772 Crore Fraud, Shares Fall 3.5%
IDBI Bank Ltd said on Tuesday that fraudulent loans of Rs772 crore ($118.8 million) were issued from five of its branches in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, sending its shares lower on Wednesday.
Some of the loans, which were issued during fiscal years 2009-2013 for fish farming businesses, were obtained against fake lease documents of non-existent fish ponds and by inflating the value of collateral, the company said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has registered cases for two of the five complaints, relating to branches at Basheerbagh and Guntur, the company said.
(Source: Livemint)
5. Softbank Calls for Merger Between Uber, Ola in India
Japanese investment giant SoftBank has called for a merger between homegrown Ola and US firm Uber’s India unit as part of its planned consolidation in Asia’s fast-growing ride hailing app market.
The talks, facilitated by SoftBank, which is the largest investor in both companies, have been going on for nearly a year, according to sources close to the development. However, in the past few days, the call for a merger between Uber and Ola has gathered steam.
Softbank’s push for consolidation in India’s ride hailing market comes days after Uber announced its exit from Southeast Asia after selling its local unit to rival Grab. Post the completion of that deal, Uber will control 27.5 percent stake in the combined entity.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. Sebi Announces Norms to Make Algo Trading More Accessible
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) announced norms to make algorithmic trading more accessible for investors. It asked stock exchanges to introduce shared co-location services to cut costs.
Algorithmic trading refers to orders generated using automated execution logic. Co-location allows members to place their servers in the exchange premises for faster access to trading.
Sebi proposed a penalty framework for high order to rate ratio.
Sebi’s move will allow small and mid-size brokers get a share of the co-location racks at exchanges for a monthly rent of Rs 40,000-50,000.
(Source: Livemint)
7. SBI Raises Rates by 10-25 Bps on Some Maturities of Deposits
State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday raised interest rates on retail and bulk fixed deposits of some maturities by between 10 bps and 25 bps.
The rate on deposits of under Rs 1 crore maturing between two years and three years was raised by 10 bps to 6.6 per cent and that on deposits maturing between three years and five years was hiked by 20 bps to 6.7 per cent.
Retail deposits of longer maturities will now yield 6.75 per cent, 25 bps more than earlier. The rate on one-year retail deposits was left unchanged at 6.4 percent.
(Source: Financial Express)
8. India’s April-February Fiscal Deficit Touches 120% of Full-Year Target
India’s fiscal deficit soared to Rs7.15 trillion at the end of February, exceeding the revised target of Rs5.94 trillion for the entire 2017-18 fiscal.
As per data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), fiscal deficit for April-February was 120 percent of the revised estimates on account of increased expenditure and subdued revenue receipts.
The monthly account till February-end revealed that the government has collected Rs 12.83 trillion revenue, which is 79.09 per cent of revised estimates. Of this, over Rs 10.35 trillion is collected from taxes, while over Rs 1.42 trillion and Rs 1.05 trillion accrued on account of non-tax revenue and non-debt capital receipts, respectively.
(Source: Livemint)
9. Paid All Applicable Taxes, IT Dept's Position Without Merit: Cognizant
US-based IT firm Cognizant said it paid all applicable taxes related to its buyback transaction in 2016 and the Indian Income Tax Department's (ITD) position is "contrary to law and without merit".
The tech giant's comments follow ITD's freezing its certain bank accounts in the country over a dispute on payment of dividend distribution tax (DDT) running into hundreds of crores.
Cognizant said it will "continue to vigorously defend itself and will pursue all available legal remedies".
(Source: Business Standard)
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