1. India’s Infrastructure Output Growth at 5-Month Low: Reuters
India’s infrastructure output grew an annual 2.8 percent in May. According to Reuters, the growth marked its slowest pace in five months, primarily dragged down by a slowdown in output of electricity, steel and refinery products, government data showed on Thursday.
The output expanded 5.5 percent from a year ago between April and May.
Annual growth in electricity production last month slowed to 4.6 percent from 14.7 percent in April. Refinery products expanded 1.2 percent year-on-year in May compared with 17.9 percent growth a month ago.
Also Read: India Factory Output Falls to 0.8 Percent
2. Telcos To Spend Rs 1 Lakh Crore for Next Spectrum Auction: ET
Telecom companies are likely to spend approximately Rs 1 lakh crore for the next spectrum auction scheduled in September, according to The Economic Times report.
The top three carriers – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular – are likely to account for 55-60 percent of the total expenditure to defend their turfs ahead of Reliance Jio Infocomm’s entry.
The Union cabinet had in June approved what will be India’s biggest spectrum sale. The government plans to auction over 2200 MHz of airwaves across 4G bands (700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bands) and the 2100 MHz 3G band.
3. Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon to Bring Back Sales: Livemint
E-commerce firms have restarted the practice of sales over the past week, despite government banning online marketplaces that receive foreign direct investment (FDI) from influencing product prices in March, according to a Livemint report.
Flipkart and its subsidiary Myntra, Amazon India, Snapdeal and others are all offering discounts ranging from 20 percent to 90 percent on clothing, shoes and other fashion products in the ongoing end of season sales.
Paytm is also expected to start a sale event of its own.
In late March 2016, the government allowed 100 percent FDI in online retail of goods and services under the so-called marketplace model, seeking to legitimise the existing businesses of e-commerce firms operating in India.
4. ICICI Bank Sells Essar Steel Loans to Edelweiss ARC: Livemint
ICICI Bank Ltd has sold part of its loan exposure in debt laden Essar Steel Ltd to Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Co Ltd, according to a Livemint report. The loan sold was valued at Rs 1000-1500 crore.
With this, ICICI Bank has become the third lender to have sold its exposure in Essar Steel Ltd to Edelweiss. In January, Federal Bank had offloaded its Rs 70 crore exposure, while HDFC Bank had sold about Rs 300 crore worth of its exposure in Essar Steel to Edelweiss ARC in 2015.
5. IT Sector to Lose 6.4 Lakh Jobs by 2021 Owing to Automation: ET
India’s IT services industry will lose about 6.4 lakh “low-skilled” jobs to automation in the next five years, according to The Economic Times report. This is the first time a report has quantified the extent of job loss.
Indian industry experts are urging caution and point to the other side of the coin – the creation of new jobs in large numbers. The numbers were pulled out from a report by US-based research firm, HfS Research.
According to the research, by 2021, the IT industry worldwide will see a net decrease of 9 percent in headcount, or about 1.4 million jobs, with countries like the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States also taking hits.
6. Mukesh Bansal, Ankit Nagori Raise $15 Million for Start-Up CureFit: Livemint
CureFit, a healthcare and fitness start-up launched by former Flipkart executives Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, has raised as much as $15 million in Series A funds, according to a Livemint report. The funds were invested by Kalaari Capital, Accel Partners and IDG Ventures.
This is one of the largest early rounds of funding ever by an Indian start-up.
CureFit will launch an app in the first half of 2017 that will offer preventive healthcare services.
It also plans to tie up with offline health and fitness service providers such as gymnasiums.
The company has hired 10 employees to work on product, technology and other functions. Kalaari’s founder Vani Kola will join CureFit’s board of directors.
7. Jaypee Saves UltraTech Deal, Loses Control of Jaiprakash Associates: Livemint
The promoters of debt-strapped Jaypee Group managed to salvage a deal that involved the sale of some of the conglomerates assets to UltraTech Cement Pvt Ltd. The firm, however, lost control of the holding company Jaiprakash Associates Ltd to lenders.
According to a Livemint report, the deal with UltraTech was finalised at a board meeting on Monday. Ahead of the board meeting, the deal had run into trouble and lenders were threatening to invoke the provisions of the so-called strategic debt restructuring (SDR) provision that allows them to convert debt into equity and take control.
Following the meeting, Jaiprakash Associates said it has approved an amendment to the definitive agreement dated 31 March and also the draft scheme arrangement with UltraTech Cement for sale of its cement business and that of its wholly owned subsidiary, Jaypee Cement Corp Ltd, comprising identified cement plants.
8. Non-Urea Fertiliser Prices Reduced by up to Rs 5,000 per Tonne: HBL
For the first time in 15 years, the Centre has slashed prices of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), Muriate of Potash (MOP) and Nitrogen Phosphate & Potash composition (NPK), according to The Hindu Business Line report. This is expected to reduce farmers’ dependence on urea and promote use of other nutrient-based fertilisers.
The price of DAP has been reduced by Rs 125 per bag of 50 kg (Rs 2,500 per tonne), MOP by Rs 250 per bag of 50 kg (Rs 5,000 per tonne) and NPK by an average of Rs 50 per 50 kg bag (Rs 1,000 per tonne).
While private sector fertiliser companies are not statutorily bound to follow the prices announced by the government, when public sector companies such as RCF and NFL do so, the entire industry will have to follow suit.
9. Diploma Holders, Not Engineers Are First Choice of Small & Medium Firms: BS
Engineers applying to small and medium businesses or start-ups in Bengaluru could be in for a disappointment as many of these have decided to hire only diploma holders, according to Business Standard report.
The firms claim that engineers often quit when they get an offer from bigger brands. As a result, the attrition rate at these firms shoots up. Also, they have to spend more on hiring and training new recruits.
For nearly two decades, technology services firms in the country have hired fresh engineering graduates in thousands, to train and deploy them on projects to meet requirements of global clients.
There is now a global shift in business environment, with clients cutting down projects, shifting towards cloud to rent software instead of buying licences and building IT infrastructure, and adopting automation to do repeatable jobs.
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