The year gone by saw the high and mighty of the corporate world face the music in the Delhi High Court which held that the telecom majors are amenable to CAG audit and Mukesh Ambani's RIL struggling hard to get rid of an FIR lodged on gas pricing by the 49-day-old AAP regime.
Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal has expressed hope that the government and regulators will step in to ensure the sector remains a viable place for continued investments and asserted that the industry requires "long overdue" support to maintain its current 3+1 structure. In the latest annual report of Airtel, Mittal said as the sector's role in the economy becomes more pervasive, its challenges loom larger. Issues such as unsustainable pricing and low returns in a highly capital-intensive environment, coupled with legacy legal issues, "have extracted their toll", Mittal observed.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has initiated discussions with banks to address financial stress in the telecom sector, particularly Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) that urgently requires fund infusion to stay afloat. There was a meeting of DOT officials and senior bankers on Friday on the issue of Vodafone, sources said, adding that banks have been asked to look for a solution within the prudential guidelines. According to sources, senior officials from the country's biggest lenders State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda were also present among others in the meeting. More such meetings are expected to take place in the coming days, they said.
'The government is unwilling or unable to provide the kind of relief that Vodafone India is asking for.'
.jpg)
Reliance, Birla Group, Airtel eye small finance banks.
Three different invitations were sent out for the wedding and the receptions with top-run guests being sent a large red box that contained an intricate chest incorporating a mini silver temple featuring gold idols of various Hindu deities, including Lord Ganesh, Radha-Krishna, and Goddess Durga.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed a fresh status report in a sealed envelop in the Supreme Court on coal block allocation scam giving details of the ongoing probe in which companies, business tycoons and bureaucrats have come under its scanner.
Tatas, Adani, Bharti, HDFC and Sun Groups have clocked huge gains.
Over Lebanese delicacies, the daughter of billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla talks money, relationships, her passions and how she outpaced her peers.
Impact of the slowdown is most visible among promoter/owner-CEOs
Vodafone Idea, which reported a loss of Rs 6,439 crore in the December quarter, said it had received letters from the department of telecommunications (DoT) directing immediate payment of dues amounting to Rs 54,000 crores after the SC judgment. "The company is currently assessing the amount that it will be able to pay to DoT towards the dues calculated based on AGR, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in its order dated October 24, 2019. The company proposes to pay the amount so assessed in the next few days," it stated.
The plan was activated in October last year.
Idea may have to shell out Rs 4,500 crore in cash
Mega rally on December 22 to have special enclosure for 10,000 tea vendors, says Sanjay Jog.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday said it plans to issue new bank licences around January, "consistent with the highest standards of transparency and diligence."
The numbers in India may not be as big but the opportunity for serious growth is all there.
A parliamentary panel on Friday opposed the new bank licences to corporate houses and voiced concerns over the discretionary power vested with RBI for applying 'fit and proper' criteria for deciding on applications.
The Birlas are investing $100 million in the financial services business in fiscal beginning April 1.
The scrutiny is expected to be over this month itself.
Troubled Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court after the apex court recently dismissed its plea for rectification of the alleged errors in the calculation of adjusted gross revenues-related dues. In the petition, filed earlier this week, VIL has said it is "a travesty of justice" that the company is restrained from questioning the arithmetical errors/ omission which are going to cost it about Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 5,932 crore of principal plus interest, penalty and interest on penalty). VIL has said its contentions have been rejected by the order under review and added that this denial could result in the company going under and its about 27.3 crore subscribers being left "high and dry".
The sale of the Lincoln House in the Breach Candy area of south Mumbai, which used to house the US consulate, to the billionaire chairman of the Pune-based Serum Institute, makes it the largest real estate deal in the country's financial capital.
Hindalco has already bagged 4 mines in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh
A Vodafone Group insider with more than 25 years in the telco across geographies, he's like the eyes and ears of the multinational in India.
Vodafone Idea (Vi) lost 12.4 million subscribers in the first quarter of FY22, the most since the fourth quarter of FY20, as the second wave of Covid hurt its operational and financial performance. Vi had managed to trim subscriber losses in the third and fourth quarters of FY21. However, it lost 12.4 million subscribers and its customer base shrunk to 255.4 million in the first quarter of FY22. Sequential fall in 4G users was modest, indicating that most of the loss was in the low-margin 2G segment.
Aditya Aluminium project ready but clearances still stuck for mine
Reflecting substantial financial stress, diversified Jaypee Group companies have defaulted on loans and other payments worth Rs 4,460 crore (Rs 44.60 billion).
With their net debt estimated at Rs 1.15 trillion, the merged entity will not be in much of a position to dole out freebies, says Romita Majumdar.
India produced 179 more super-rich people this year led by Adani Group's Gautam Adani who amassed a whopping wealth of Rs 365,700 crore or more than Rs 1,000 crore daily, and the number of such individuals has crossed the 1,000-mark. Geographically, five more cities are home to super-rich taking the total number of super-rich cities to 119 and these 1,007 individuals cumulatively added 51 per cent more wealth in 2021. The average wealth increased by 25 per cent this year that also saw the livelihoods of thousands of people being hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Birla Corporation has grown from a Rs 1,763-crore company to Rs 3,200 crore; profitability, however, has suffered due to the slowdown.
Five others, including one retired and another serving public servant -- K S Kropha and K C Samria -- were held guilty for various offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code.
The two companies were earlier expecting to complete the merger formalities and regulatory approvals by June 30 and to start operating as one entity from July 1.
Idea Cellular will have to furnish an undertaking that it will entertain all the liabilities whenever a final decision is taken by the courts
Just before the 2008 financial crisis made headlines, Indian companies were on a global buying spree. In the fifth part of the series, Dev Chatterjee and Krishna Kant discuss how the crisis came as a black swan event for some, changing the mood from exuberance to despair.
In Friday's market rally post the corporate tax cut, the country's top business promoters recouped more than two-thirds of the losses that they suffered in the post-Budget sell-off in equity markets.
The question mark over Vodafone Idea's survival is gone after the government's telecom package, managing director and chief executive officer Ravinder Takkar said in an interaction recently. The extended moratorium for spectrum payments and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues has indeed ensured that Vodafone Idea survives, at least for the time being, but questions remain. Answers to those questions may determine the future of Vodafone Idea and its power to stay in a difficult telecom market in the coming years.
Manoj Sinha will retain his current role in the railways.
A change in recommendation in favour of Birla did certainly happen but the question is whether it was a bona fide decision. Jyoti Mukul reports
According to a senior CBI official, the agency has evidence to suggest the finance ministry's recommendations were overlooked while giving a licence to MCX-SX in 2008.
It is unrealistic to expect that change will happen in one year: Birla
India has the third highest number of billionaires in the world after the US and China, according to a new list by the prestigious Forbes magazine, which said Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani reclaimed his spot as Asia's richest person, dethroning Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma who was the richest person in the region a year ago.
