1. Snapdeal Board Rejects $850-Million Offer From Flipkart
Online retailer Snapdeal’s board has rejected rival Flipkart’s takeover offer which fell short of the 1-billion dollar valuation that its biggest investor SoftBank Group Corp had sought through the merger.
Flipkart made an offer of 850 million dollars after completing due diligence on Snapdeal, two people familiar with the development told BloombergQuint. The offer was only for the marketplace and does not include logistics arm Vulcan Express and e-tailing solutions provider Unicommerce, the people said, requesting anonymity as the talks are private.
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2. Cyrus Mistry, Others Face Rs 500 Crore Criminal Defamation Case
A court in Mumbai has initiated a process against industrialists Cyrus P Mistry, Shapoor Mistry and others in a Rs 500 crore criminal defamation complaint lodged last month by Tata Trusts' Managing Trustee R Venkataramanan, an official said on Tuesday.
The process was initiated by Metropolitan Magistrate KG Paldewar and accordingly, Mistry, the ousted Chairman of Tata Sons, and other directors of Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd and Sterling Investments Pvt Ltd, will be tried for criminal defamation.
They will have to appear before the court and execute bail bonds, said the official.
Later, the charges would be framed against the accused under sections dealing with criminal defamation and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code.
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3. Reliance Jio May Disrupt The Market With Rs 500 Handset
Reliance Jio is likely to launch its much-awaited 4G VoLTE feature phone within this month, with brokerage HSBC putting the price at as low as Rs 500, a move which could bring in another wave of disruption in the telecom market.
The launch — which some believe could be announced at parent Reliance Industries’ annual general meeting on 21 July — would follow Jio’s likely announcement of a new tariff plan with aggressive price-points over the next couple of days with its 84-day Dhan Dhana Dhan offer — announced on 11 April — drawing to a close, people familiar with the matter said.
Jio is likely to price its 4G feature phone “at a paltry Rs 500 (sub-8 dollars) to lure 2G subscribers to directly switch to 4G”, which implies “Jio subsidising each handset by as much as 10-15 dollars (Rs 650-975)”, Rajiv Sharma, HSBC director and telecoms analyst, said in a note seen by ET.
Source: The Economic Times
4. Jyoti Structures 1st to Face Bankruptcy Proceedings Under New Law
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has given the go-ahead to a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against Jyoti Structures. The company is thus the first company to face such proceedings under the new bankruptcy law.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had identified 12 large stressed accounts, including Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel, Monnet Ispat, Alok Industries, Lanco Infratech, and ABG Shipyard, against which banks will move under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in a bid to recover dues amounting to about Rs 7,000 crore. With these large accounts getting referred to the NCLT, the RBI’s internal advisory committee now wants banks to focus on other large stressed accounts.
Source: The Hindu BusinessLine
5. Essar Steel Moves Court Against RBI's Insolvency Move
Essar Steel on Tuesday filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court, challenging the alleged arbitrariness of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in selecting stressed accounts for initiating insolvency proceedings under the new bankruptcy law.
Essar’s main contention is that the RBI made an “arbitrary distinction” between the 12 identified companies and the rest. While the RBI’s directive to banks was to refer the 12 cases directly to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016, other stressed borrowers were given six months to arrive at a resolution with their lenders.
Further, the cut-off date of 31 March 2016, was arbitrary, as it did not take into account subsequent developments in the companies’ performance and their efforts to arrive at a satisfactory resolution, it said.
Source: Business Standard
6. GST: Small Retailers Still Selling Mobile Phones, Gadgets at Old Rates
Several smaller mobile phone and consumer electronics retailers and jewellers across the country are selling products at pre-GST rates by issuing backdated bills, either to clear out old inventory, or because they are not yet ready to move to the new system.
Consumer electronics industry insiders said backdated billing may continue for next couple of days till fresh stock billed on GST rate arrives in the market.
“There is confusion in the market and not all retailers are yet ready to migrate to the new tax system since their backend and billing systems require a software update which is taking time,” said a senior executive with a leading consumer electronics and mobile phone maker.
Source: The Economic Times
7. GST Rates: Real Estate Firms Gear up to Pass on Tax Benefits to Home Buyers
Real estate firms are gearing up to pass on tax benefits to homebuyers under the goods and services tax (GST) regime, which could lead to marginal changes in property prices. Depending on the stage of construction and location, home prices may either see a correction of up to 3 percent or inch up a bit from current levels, say property advisers and developers.
However, prices of ready-to-move-in apartments with completion certificates would remain steady as these properties are out of the GST ambit. Any price change in the segment will depend purely on demand and supply, say sector experts.
Source: Livemint
8. Infosys Average Salary Hikes to be 5%; High Performers to Get 12% For FY18
Infosys has effected an average salary increase of around 5 percent for its employees starting July for the current fiscal after a delay of two months while the high performers are likely to get a hike in the 10-12 percent range, sources indicated.
However, salary hikes for senior employees coming under the J7 level has been deferred, sources added. Infosys, which generally gives out its salary hike only in April has deferred it by two months.
This salary hike by the company mirrors the average of the Indian IT industry which has giving out annual increments in single digits for the last four to five years
Source: Financial Express
9. Sun Pharma Enters Into $55.5 Mn Deal With Samsung BioLogics
Drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has entered into a long-term manufacturing agreement with Samsung BioLogics for biological drug Tildrakizumab.
Tildrakizumab is Sun Pharma's investigational drug being evaluated for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, a skin ailment. And filings for this product have been accepted for review by the US Food and Drug Administration (May 2017) and the European Medicines Agency (March 2017), Sun Pharma said.
The agreement was signed at Samsung BioLogics’ headquarters in Incheon, South Korea. And the approximate value of the contract will be $ 55.5 million, the note said, adding that other financial details of the agreement were confidential.
Source: The Hindu BusinessLine
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