The Hinduja group is learnt to have backtracked from making a minimum Rs 8,950-crore offer for Reliance Capital (RCap) - a deal that it had belatedly put forth in December, after Torrent Investments emerged as the highest bidder for the bankrupt firm in the challenge process. The Hindujas' latest move has put Indian lenders, with an exposure of Rs 24,000 crore, in a spot as it was the former's revised offer that led to a call for a second auction and litigation by Torrent, which had placed a bid of Rs 8,649 crore in the first auction. Torrent has moved the Supreme Court and plans to wait for the apex court verdict before participating in any fresh auction. A banking source said there was an informal meeting of a few lenders of Reliance Capital with the bidders - the Torrent group and the Hinduja group on Friday when the latter changed its stand. The meeting of RCap's committee of creditors (CoC) is scheduled for Monday.
One needs to charge the device every four days, which can provide over 65,000 blood readings and counts.
Open order books in February breach 700,000; wait period for some models exceed a year.
Maruti Suzuki says it has sold at least one car in 418,000 villages.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by Indian companies have declined sharply by 80 per cent so far this year, in contrast with the same period last year, as bankers predict lower deal volumes due to falling profit margins of Indian companies and feeble stock markets. The decline in Adani Group shares has also hit buyer sentiment. According to data from Refinitiv, M&As in India stood at $3.3 billion from 253 deals, year-to-date (YTD) - a fall of 80 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Cross-border deals by Indian companies were also down 84 per cent to just $1.5 billion.
Vedanta investors were jittery on Tuesday as its share price fell and bond yields of its parent firm rose following concerns raised by a rating agency on its capability to repay debt maturing later this year. Shares of the mining and metals major were down by 7 per cent on Tuesday to Rs 268 a piece on the BSE. The company has lost market valuation of 30 per cent in the last one year and 13 per cent since January 1 this year. Yields on the bonds of Vedanta Resources, the parent firm of the BSE-listed Vedanta, shot up to 39.8 per cent - showing investors' rising concern over the group's debt situation
With just a month left in this financial year, electric two-wheeler sales, so far, are at just 62 per cent of the ambitious target of 1 million units set for 2022-23 by the NITI Aayog. According to VAHAN data, compiled by the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), 620,006 units of electric two-wheelers were sold across the country in FY23 until February 21. Though the industry may miss the 1-million target, sales in FY23 are already up 146 per cent from 249,621 units sold in FY22.
Indian charitable trusts, including Tata Trusts and top corporate donors, are stumped by a new tax law proposed in the Budget, which reduces tax breaks for the donor organisations. The Finance Bill proposes that if a charitable organisation donates to another charity, then only 85 per cent of the donation will be considered as application of income for the donor organisation. Trust officials say this is a major setback for the donor organisations, including corporate foundations and intermediary organisations, which work with various implementing agencies at the grassroots level.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) - the market leader in small cars - is eyeing the top spot in the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment within a year - with a 33 per cent share of the pie. The company has been selling two SUVs - the Brezza and the Grand Vitara - and will start deliveries of the Jimny and the Fronx from March-end, and has set a target of growing its share from the current 11.5 per cent of the SUV market to 33 per cent by the end of 2023-24. The SUV segment is roughly about 42 per cent of the total passenger vehicle market, or around 1.3 million units.
Adani Enterprises, the flagship of Adani Group, said on Wednesday new businesses of renewables, data centres, airports and roads account for more than 33 per cent of earnings and it will complete all infrastructure projects on time. "We are laser focused on continuing our business momentum, in this market volatility. "We are confident in our internal controls, compliance and corporate governance.
Despite the recent turmoil in the Indian markets after a scathing report on the Adani group from Hindenburg Research, American private equity major Blackstone is "bullish" on the India growth story and plans to invest more in the country's infrastructure and real estate projects. "We have a long-term view on India, as growth will be higher here. We have invested half of our Asia exposure in India. "Our extraordinary performance in India has made us bullish," said Jonathan Gray, president and chief operating officer of Blackstone.
A day after the promoters of Adani Group prepaid $1.1 billion loans, one of the group's listed entities - Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) - announced that it would prepay loans of up to Rs 5,000 crore by next month-end so as to improve its financial metrics. The company is targeting an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of around Rs 15,000 crore this financial year. This was revealed by Karan Adani, chief executive officer (CEO) and whole-time director of APSEZ, while announcing the September-December 2022 results.
Balkrishna V Doshi, who won the Pritzker Award in 2018 -- which is equivalent to the Nobel Prize in architecture -- passed into the ages this week. Sohini Das recalls an encounter with the the legendary architect, who was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan in this year's Republic Day honours list.
Dealerships, too, are going all out to roll out the red carpet for women.
Both are finding it difficult to sell one each of their plants -- Chennai Maraimalai Nagar (Ford) and Talegaon near Pune (GM) -- and are finding the road blocked by employee severance snarl-ups, report Sohini Das and Shine Jacob.
'We seem to be in a situation where we can do little, and nothing needs to be done anyway.'
The electric Chetak has already sold close to 25,000 units in India, and the European version will be based on the same platform.
While Mercedes-Benz India expects 25 per cent of its India sales to come from EVs in the next four years, BMW says it estimates around 10 per cent of sales to come from those in the near future.
Cummins India will soon start producing fuel-agnostic engine systems at the Tata-Cummins plant in Phaltan in Satara district of Maharashtra, senior officials at Cummins India said. The firm will start limited production by the end of 2023 and mass production will likely begin by 2024, the officials said.
The Kraken COVID-19 variant accounts for almost 41 per cent of all Covid infections.