'We would love to have more players entering the market because that is how the business will grow.'
India deserves a rating upgrade in view of improvement in macro-economic situation, the conservative outlook of Standard & Poor's notwithstanding, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
An additional criterion in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) may require digital businesses to secure approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the anti-trust regulator. The government is set to introduce a minimum threshold "transaction value" of Rs 2,000 crore (around $250 million) for any deal as a criterion for notification to the anti-trust regulator if the entity being acquired has substantial operations in India. The new criterion is learnt to be part of the proposed amendments to the two-decade-old Competition law, which is expected to be tabled in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament.
US e-commerce giant Amazon, which is said to be investigating alleged bribes paid by its legal representatives in India, spent a staggering Rs 8,546 crore or $1.2 billion in legal expenses for maintaining a presence in the country during 2018-20, sources said. Sources aware of the firm's public account filings said entities of Amazon - including Amazon Retail, Amazon Seller Services, Amazon Transportation Services, Amazon Wholesale, and Amazon Internet Services - paid Rs 3,420 crore in India during 2018-19 and Rs 5,126 crore during 2019-20 towards legal fees. Amazon is locked in a legal tussle over the takeover of Future Group and is facing a probe by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday directed Zee Entertainment to convene a shareholders' meet on October 14 for approving the merger with Culver Max Entertainment (formerly Sony Pictures Network). The order, passed on August 24, but uploaded to the bourses on Wednesday, comes close on the heels of the Competition Commission of India (CCI)'s observation that the $10-billion merger could hurt competition and that greater scrutiny of the deal was needed. "This Tribunal hereby directs that a meeting of the equity shareholders of the applicant company (Zee) be convened and held on Friday, October 14, 2022 at 4 p.m. for the purpose of considering, and if thought fit, approving the proposed scheme," the NCLT order read.
Uber's draft prospectus for the biggest IPO in the world since Alibaba's in 2014 has projected a major cash burn for Uber in trying to get a significant market share in India, reports Karan Choudhury.
Swiss building material major Holcim has said its $6.38 billion deal with Asia's richest man Gautam Adani's group is tax-free. Holcim had on Sunday signed a binding agreement with the Adani Group to sell its business in India -- about a 63 per cent stake in Ambuja Cement, which owns a 54.53 stake in ACC (of which 4.48 per cent is direct shareholding). "So, according to our analysis, it is a tax-free transaction," Holcim CEO Jan Jenisch said while addressing investors after the deal on Monday." When asked about the tax implications, he said: "Never know if any complication arises, but we assume that we will get the 6.4 billion Swiss Francs as net proceeds." As per the deal, Adani Group will acquire Holcim's full stake in Ambuja Cement and ACC for CHF (Swiss franc) 6.4 billion ($6.38 billion).
HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh on Friday exuded confidence that the synergies between HDFC Bank and the group companies will deepen with the bank taking on the mantle of ownership of the group following the reverse merger likely to be effective from Saturday. As chairman of HDFC Ltd, Parekh in the last message to the shareholders said home loans will now be complemented with HDFC Bank's core strengths -- its sales engine, execution capabilities at scale and deep insights on consumer behaviour. The reverse merger of parent HDFC Ltd with HDFC Bank is expected to be effective from July 1.
Google said safety, affordability and expanded use cases for the next wave of users will be the pillars to get the next 700 million users online.
CIL is charged of discriminating in favour of public sector firms in the reworked format of fuel supply agreements.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday rejected Amazon's plea challenging the decision of fair trade regulator CCI to suspend the approval for the e-commerce major's deal with Future Coupons. A two-member bench comprising Justice M Venugopal and Ashok Kumar Mishra, upheld the findings of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and directed it to pay the penalty of Rs 200 crore imposed on Amazon by the fair trade regulator within 45 days from Monday. "This appellate tribunal is in complete agreement" with the CCI, the two-member bench said.
The TDP and JD-U will have a lot to answer inside Parliament, day after day, session after session, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Assume Voot, JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar are merged into one entertainment app, and you have a streaming service with more than 233 million unique visitors. That is a reach just under half of India's largest streaming app: YouTube. 'This level of consolidation does not exist even in the US.'
If Modi wants to leave a real legacy, breaking India's strategic triangulation would be the real gift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Jiomart B2B is the latest among organised supply-chain companies to bite the bullet, shutting down its warehouses, and asking its employees to leave. Why are companies finding it difficult to sustain the supply-chain business? Experts point out that gross margins in supplying fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) are very low.
"The notification will be finalised in the first week of May and would be implemented from June 1, 2011," Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs D K Mittal told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI event in New Delhi.
Amid reports of Amazon probing bribery-related charges against some of its legal representatives in India, the US e-commerce giant on Monday said it takes allegations of improper actions seriously and investigates them fully to take appropriate action. Without confirming or denying allegations, Amazon said it has "zero tolerance for corruption". According to a report by The Morning Context, Amazon has initiated an investigation against some of its legal representatives for allegedly bribing Indian government officials.
Last month, Competition Commission of India, apex body that operates to sustain and promote competition, sent notices to atleast 15 banks, non-banking financial companies and Indian Banks' Association seeking explanation on why they penalise borrowers who choose to foreclose loans.
Alleging "anti-competitive practices" by Zomato and Swiggy, restaurant industry body National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Monday said it has approached fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a detailed probe against the food aggregators. Keeping the interests of restaurants in mind, NRAI on July 1 had filed information with the CCI, it said in a statement. The main issues highlighted by the association in the submission are bundling of services, data masking, and exorbitant commission charged, price parity agreements, deep discounting, including forcing restaurant partners to give discounts to maintain appropriate listing, exclusivity of listed restaurants, and violation of platform neutrality, vertical integration, and lack of transparency on the food ordering platforms.
Manavjit set to be disqualified from Olympic Qualifiers after his gun stock fails test
The government believes firms which are subject to China's laws could be forced to hand over information to Beijing's security services.
India was the world's biggest importer of Russian oil in February, exceeding China by 20 million barrels.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday slapped a penalty of Rs 2,545 crore on 14 top carmakers of the country for violating trade norms in the spare-part andafter-sale service market.
How dominant are Chinese firms in India's sub-Rs 10,000 mobile device market? The question has become relevant as the government has been thinking of reserving this price segment for domestic players who have not been able to battle the Chinese onslaught. However, telecom firms and others are concerned that such a move could stymie the effort to build affordable 5G phones in the sub-Rs 10,000 category.
The airlines were penalised for 'concerted action in fixing and revising Fuel Surcharge (FSC) for transporting cargo.'
Scrutiny of Google's code of conduct in the Indian Android ecosystem is far from over with several start-ups preparing to appeal against the company's revised policies of service fee on in-app purchases and subscriptions, according to sources in the know. This comes days after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) granted partial relief to the tech giant, reversing four of the 10 key non-monetary directives that would have forced Google to allow uninstalling of its pre-installed apps on Android devices. Paytm, BharatMatrimony, and ShareChat are among the start-ups that are likely to file grievances against the tech major for alleged non-compliance with the Competition Commission of India's (CCI's) cease-and-desist order on Play Store policies.
Google on Thursday said it has moved the Delhi high court against the leak of antitrust body CCI's confidential report pertaining to the investigation against the tech giant. Google, in a statement, said it aims to prevent any further unlawful disclosures of confidential findings by the investigative arm of Competition Commission of India (CCI). The tech giant noted that it has "not yet received or reviewed this confidential report".
The Delhi high court dismissed the appeals of WhatsApp and Facebook on Thursday against an order rejecting their challenge to a probe ordered by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) into the instant messaging platform's updated privacy policy of 2021.
NRAI has contested the disqualification of trap marksman Manavjit Singh Sandhu, who was barred from competition at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers because of "faulty" gun stock.
The order follows a complaint filed by Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh which accused the e-commerce firms of anti-competitive practices like preferential listing, exclusive tie-ups and private labels.
The Tata group has proposed to acquire more than 60 per cent stake in online grocery platform BigBasket, according to a filing, as the conglomerate seeks to expand in the fast-growing e-commerce space. The group plans to buy up to 64.3 per cent stake in Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt Ltd (SGS) through a combination of primary and secondary acquisitions, a filing with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) showed. The parties to the proposed deal are Tata Digital Ltd (TDL), SGS and Innovative Retail Concepts Pvt Ltd (IRC) -- which is engaged in B2C (Business to Consumer) sales through www.bigbasket.com and related mobile applications.
Ironically, the Bangalore-based company had established itself as a major Information Technology powerhouse leveraging India's low-cost high-skilled manpower.
"It went up to 20-odd per cent in 2019 and to 25 per cent a year later. "That's when we decided to pull the plug; it was not sustainable for our business," says Chadha. Madison & Pike, instead, turned to Mumbai-based start-up Thrive, which provides third-party delivery services to restaurants at a much lower commission - three to five per cent.
The Competition Commission of India has slapped Coal India Ltd with a penalty of Rs 1,773 crore (Rs 17.73 billion) -- the biggest by the watchdog on a company -- over alleged abuse of its monopolistic position.
In two months, as many as 25 complaints have been sent to Enforcement Directorate, Competition Commission of India, Reserve Bank of India and income tax department, beside various state agencies, to thwart the deal.
This is the second time in less than six months that the fair trade watchdog has called for an investigation against the two entities after finding prima-facie evidence of violation of competition norms.
Narendra Modi is India's most successful prime minister and the greatest global leader of current generation, billionaire Mukesh Ambani said on Wednesday as he flaunted his group Reliance Industries' Gujarati heritage and its over USD 150 billion (Rs 12 lakh crore) investment in last 10 years.
The court said it saw no merit in the petitions of Facebook and WhatsApp to interdict the investigation directed by the Competition Commission of India.
What seems to have changed over the last two-three years is that earlier the CCI considered online as another channel for retail sales, while it now seems dividing the retail market into two -- online and offline, and looking at them separately, say competition law experts.