1. Indigo Founders Seek Safe Landing Amid Row
Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia, the founders of IndiGo, have hired law firms to pre-empt their differences over a shareholders’ agreement from snowballing into a long legal battle for control of India’s largest domestic airline, three people familiar with the matter said.
The shareholders’ agreement of IndiGo’s operator, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which expires later this year has emerged as one of the causes for the differences between Gangwal and Bhatia, the people said, requesting anonymity.
“Both sides are trying to defuse the situation and have roped in Haigreve Khaitan and Jyoti Sagar, founders of law firms Khaitan & Co. and J Sagar Associates, who will personally advise Gangwal and Bhatia to set aside their differences which have existed for a few years now," one of the three people cited above said.
(Source: Livemint)
2. Amazon Draws Flak for Selling Goods with Photos of Hindu Gods
Amazon.com faced a social media backlash in India on Thursday after toilet seat covers and other items emblazoned with images of Hindu gods were spotted on its website.
Thousands of Twitter users backed a call for a boycott of the US retailer, making #BoycottAmazon India’s top trending topic on Twitter. Some tagged foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, urging her to take action against the company.
Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, said it was removing the products from its online store.
(Source: Reuters)
3. India to Have Own EV Charging Norms
In a first, India plans to come up with its own standards for charging stations for its emerging electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem.
To start with, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) are working on an indigenous charging standard that will also help reduce the cost of establishing charging stations for EVs in the country.
There are currently three acceptable global standardsJapanese, Chinese and European. A pan-India EV charging grid holds the key to the success story of EV’s in the country, as lack of charging stations is proving to be the biggest hurdle to adoption of electric mobility.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. L&T Becomes Single-Largest Shareholder in Mindtree, Acquires 26% Stake
After close to two months of intense corporate battle, engineering and construction major L&T on Thursday crossed the critical stake holding mark of 26 per cent in Mindtree, making it the single-largest shareholder in the Bengaluru-headquartered IT services firm.
Post reaching this threshold, L&T will not only be able to induct its nominee on Mindtree board, it will also be able to block future resolutions relating to capital structure, dividend and acquisition passed by latter's board. It will also have a say in appointment of whole-time directors on board apart from induction of managing director. Sources in the know said that the engineering major is likely to seek an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in near future to for board representation.
(Source: Business Standard)
5. Hyundai Ties up with ALD Automotive for Car Leasing Business
Cars and SUVs made by Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) will soon be available on lease from ALD Automotive India Ltd, as part of a tie-up announced by the two companies on Thursday. Under the deal, Hyundai vehicles can be leased from ALD for two to five years, depending on the location of the customer.
Hyundai is the second largest carmaker in India, while ALD Automotive India is a leading vehicle leasing service provider. ALD is a unit of French investment bank Societe Generale SA, specializing in fleet management and mobility solutions.
In a statement, HMIL’s executive director, sales and marketing S.J. Ha said the Indian automotive industry is at the cusp of transformation and the company is committed to make shared mobility accessible. Vehicle leasing is rapidly picking pace in India and offers great prospects, he said.
(Source: Livemint)
6. India Faces Economic Slowdown; Here’s What SBI Suggests to Revive Growth
The volatile trends exhibited in the benchmark stock indices reflect that India is going through a growth slowdown, a report said. So, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) needs to come up with a rate cut of nearly 25 basis points in its June monetary policy review to reverse the ongoing slowdown in the economy, said an SBI research report. The initial trends in sectors including telecom equipment & infra services, agro chemicals, petrochemicals, infrastructure developers & castings, forgings & fasteners show overall fall in Q4FY19, the SBI Ecowrap also said. The rural income is getting hit due to depressed rural prices and weak demand is impacting the FMCG sector.
(Source: Financial Express)
7. Hindalco Fourth Quarter Profit Falls 37% to Rs 236 Cr
Aditya Birla Group flagship firm Hindalco Industries on Thursday reported a 37.4% decline in stand-alone profit to ₹235.82 crore for the quarter ended March 31. The company had posted a stand-alone profit of ₹376.97 crore in the year-ago period, Hindalco Industries said in a filing to BSE.
However, the company’s stand-alone income during January-March quarter increased to ₹12,733.23 crore, over ₹11,892.06 crore a year ago.
Hindalco Industries Ltd is a global major in aluminium and copper.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. Mastercard Targets 10 Million Merchants in India by 2020
Betting on the growing digital payments market, global payment solution major Mastercard is planning to empower 10 million merchants across the country with digital payment acceptance infrastructure by 2020. The firm, which has announced an investment of $1 billion (Rs 7,000 crore) in India over the next five years, on Thursday also said it expected the existing headcount to double from 2,000 to 4,000 during that period in the country.
There has been an increase from 1.2 million merchant acceptance points in 2016 to about 5.2 million merchants currently, paving a growing opportunity for digital payments in tier-2 and tier-3 cities as well.
(Source: Financial Express)
8. RBI Wants NBFCs with Assets over Rs 5,000 Cr to Appoint Chief Risk Officers
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) with assets of more than ₹5,000 crore must appoint a chief risk officer (CRO).
The central bank said that with the increasing role of NBFCs in direct credit intermediation, there is a need for NBFCs to augment risk management practices.
RBI’s move comes in the wake of ongoing rating downgrades of non-banks which has raised fears of another liquidity crisis. Following a series of defaults by Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) last year, mutual funds with exposure to debt papers of the company had to write off a chunk of their holdings. This, and the ensuing defaults by some non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), had led to the liquidity crisis.
(Source: Livemint)
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