1. India Overtakes US to Become Second Largest Smartphone Market: Report
Cheap handsets and the proliferation of fourth generation, or 4G, services have helped India overtake the US to become the world’s second-largest smartphone market, trailing only China, according to a new report by analyst firm Canalys.
After a wobble in the second quarter of 2017, India’s smartphone market recovered quickly with shipments growing 23 percent year-on-year in the third quarter to reach just over 40 million units, Canalys analysts said on Thursday.
Source: Mint
2. Coal Pricing Formula Caused Rs 8,400 Cr Under-Recovery
The power producers are asking for a separate index for deciding the price of coal and its transportation, because, they are claiming, they pay more than what the indices work out.
The cost of coal comprises several elements before it lands at the power unit. These include taxes imposed by states, the cess imposed by the Centre and states, the coal terminal surcharge, the busy season surcharge, and the development surcharge during various demand seasons.
Source: Business Standard
3. Air India Privatisation: 14 Firms Pitch to Become Sale, Legal Advisers
As many as 14 firms have expressed interest to act as transaction and legal advisers to the government for the privatisation of Air India Ltd.
KPMG, BNP Paribas, Rothschild India Pvt Ltd, EY, Grant Thornton, Edelweiss and ICICI Securities Ltd will make their presentations on Friday to the government, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) said on its website on Thursday.
Source: Mint
4. IDFC-Shriram Merger in Trouble Over Valuation
Differences over the valuation of IDFC Ltd have come in the way of its proposed merger with Shriram Group to create a financial services company with combined revenue of $4 billion, said three people aware of the development.
Shareholders of IDFC such as Enam Holdings Pvt Ltd and Sipadan Investments (Mauritius) Ltd, a subsidiary of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, have demanded a higher valuation for the company, citing bright prospects for IDFC Bank Ltd and other subsidiaries, the people said on condition of anonymity.
Source: Mint
5. India’s Largest Liquor Maker Sees Impact of Highway Ban Fading
United Spirits Ltd’s net profit rose 86 percent in the July-September quarter as some liquor outlets re-opened after a Supreme Court clarification on the highway ban and sales of premium brands of alcoholic beverages improved.
Net profit went up to Rs 153 crore from Rs 82.5 crore a year ago, according to a stock exchange filing.
United Spirits expects the impact of the highway ban to fade completely by the end of December, Chief Executive Officer Anand Kripalu said in a media statement.
Source: BloombergQuint
6. SEBI Revises Block Deal Norms, Hikes Minimum Order Size To Rs 10 Crore
Market regulator SEBI on Thursday revised the framework for block deals by providing two separate trading windows of 15 minutes each and increasing the minimum order size to Rs 10 crore. The move is aimed at ensuring confidentiality of the large trades and stable prices for such transactions.
The block deal window is provided for buyers and sellers to execute trades for a large number of shares. Such deals are usually negotiated before their execution.
Under the new rules, SEBI would provide two block deal windows – morning and afternoon – of 15 minutes duration each.
Source: PTI
7. Reliance Industries Touches Rs 6 Lakh Crore in Market Capitalisation
Over a two-fold rise in the share price of Reliance Industries since 9 November last year has made it the first Indian company to touch Rs 6 trillion market-cap. As on Thursday’s closing price RIL’s market-cap on the BSE stood at Rs 5,99,873 crore and it briefly touched Rs 6 trillion as the stock hit an intraday high of Rs 958 before closing at Rs 947.
Traders and investors have lapped-up RIL shares even while the company was yet to achieve a profits from its telecom venture.
Market analysts said RIL was getting a premium due to its rapid customer acquisition strategies in domestic telecom market.
Source: The Hindu BusinessLine
8. Bad Loans at Yes Bank Double as Regulator Detects Under-Reporting
Private sector lender Yes Bank Ltd. on Thursday reported a jump in bad loans as it adjusted for accounts that the regulator thought should be tagged as non performing.
This is the second consecutive year that Yes Bank has reported a sharp divergence in the assessment of bad loans between the lender and the regulator.
Gross non-performing assets more than doubled and stood at 1.82 percent of the loan book at the end of the September quarter. This compares to 0.92 percent at the end of the June quarter and 0.39 percent in the year-ago quarter.
Source: BloombergQuint
9. Amazon to Double Down on India Investments
Amazon India chief Amit Agarwal said on Thursday that the online retailer plans to double down on its investments in India, especially in key areas such as digital payments and the Prime membership programme.
Agarwal also reiterated the e-commerce firm’s earlier claim that it was the largest online retailer in India and dismissed research reports that the company had lagged arch-rival Flipkart during the Diwali season sale.
Source: Livemint
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