1. RJio to Raise Rs 15,000 Cr in India’s Second Largest Rights Issue: BS
Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), the unlisted subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL) on Monday announced a plan to issue 15 billion equity shares of Rs 10 each to the existing shareholders (to raise Rs 15,000 crore) ahead of the launch of the 4G telecom services in April.
This is the second largest rights issue announced after State Bank of India, which had raised Rs 16,700 crore in January 2008.
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2. Ambani Brothers in Telco Tie-Up: FE
In a major strategic partnership, Ambani brothers Mukesh and Anil — who lead mobile firms Reliance Jio and Reliance Communications, respectively — on Monday inked an agreement to share and trade spectrum in the 800 MHz band across 17 circles. Apart from sharing spectrum, Reliance Jio will acquire 33.75 MHz of spectrum from Reliance Com across nine of these circles.
Although no financial details were disclosed, sources indicated Reliance Jio will pay Reliance Communications close to Rs 4,500 crore to acquire 33.75 MHz of spectrum in nine circles.
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3. Easwar Panel Suggests Friendlier Direct Tax Laws: Livemint
A committee set up by the government to change direct tax laws has suggested several taxpayer-friendly measures to improve the ease of doing business, reduce litigation and accelerate the resolution of tax disputes.
In its first report made public on Monday, the committee, headed by retired high court judge RV Easwar, has recommended simplifying provisions related to tax deducted at source (TDS), claims of expenditure for deduction from taxable income and for tax refunds.
It proposed deferring the contentious Income Computation and Disclosure Standards (ICDS) provisions and making the process of refunds faster.
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4. Flipkart, Snapdeal, Jabong Among 21 Online Firms Under ED Scanner: HT
India’s authorities are probing allegations of foreign exchange rule violations by some of the country’s poster-boy online retail companies, most of which have attracted eye-popping valuations driven by an e-commerce boom.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), an agency that tracks overseas money flows, has turned the focus on eight such firms for suspected flouting of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), an umbrella law that regulates money transfers from abroad. These eight firms are among the 21 online retail portals, primarily dealing with hawking products to customers, which the ED was looking into on orders of the Delhi high court.
$20 billion
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5. Ahead of the Budget, Policymakers Wary of Relaxing Fiscal Deficit Target: ET
Ahead of the Budget, top policymakers are wary of relaxing India’s fiscal deficit for a second year, arguing that this would undermine the budgeting credibility the Centre has sought to establish and send out a wrong message. Not least to the central bank, which may be less willing to cut rates if the Centre eases up on fiscal discipline.
The Centre is confident of providing the additional funds needed to support capital spending while meeting Seventh Pay Commission and other obligations without relaxing fiscal goals.
A decision will be taken after a detailed study of the medium-term fiscal plan and debt dynamics in view of an expected slowing of nominal GDP (gross domestic product) and fresh challenges to growth globally after developments in China.
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6. Indian Railways Tracks Expenses, Not Fares: FE
Facing the gloomy prospect of wiping out even the meagre annual surpluses and plunging into a deficit in FY17, Indian Railways has embarked on a plan to cut operational expenses and boost revenue without tariff increases.
According to official sources, the transporter expects to slash its electricity bill — an annual Rs 12,000 crore now — by about 20 percent in FY17 as nearly half of the procurement would be via the competitive bidding process introduced recently. It is also targeting a 15 percent reduction in total working expenses (TWE) next fiscal from the business-as-usual scenario, principally by attempts to optimise staff and fuel costs but without cutting essential transfers to depreciation and pension funds.
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7. Indian Market is 1 Percent Away From Entering the Bear Grip: ET
The ‘bear hug’ has tightened over global equities so briskly since the start of the year that even the most pessimistic market commentators would go wrong in their predictions. More than half of the liquid equity markets in the world have officially entered bear market.
20 percent decline
Equity indices of Hong Kong, China, Brazil, Singapore, France, Germany and Taiwan have fallen 20 percent or more from their recent peaks. And markets in India, Japan and Britain are close to turning into a bear market.
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8. Share Pledges at 7-Year High: BS
According to a report by Prime Database, promoter share pledges increased 14 percent in the last quarter of 2015. The value of such shares rose to Rs 2.03 lakh crore in December from Rs 1.78 lakh crore in the previous quarter.
Promoters pledge shares to raise capital for the company, to finance projects of group companies, growth or even for personal reasons such as buying property.
Shares are generally pledged with non-banking financial companies, which extend loans up to 50 percent of the value of the shares.
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9. Govt Comes Out With Indian Accounting Standards Roadmap For Banks, Insurance Firms: FE
Coming out with the Indian Accounting Standards roadmap for banking and insurance sectors, the government on Monday said scheduled commercial banks and insurance companies would have to start implementing the new accounting norms from 1 April 2018.
Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS), converged with the global accounting norms, would be applicable for certain class of Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) from the same date.
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