QBiz: Car Sales Jump in Feb; May Sets Vision For Trade Post Brexit
Top business stories of the day.
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1. NSE in Talks With SEBI to Tweak Start-Up Listing Norms
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) plans to ease listing norms for so-called new-age companies, in an effort to revive its dedicated start-up listing platform, which has struggled to generate interest.
NSE is in discussions with markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to tweak some of the conditions for listing through the platform to make it more attractive to start-ups and investors, Vikram Limaye, NSE managing director and chief executive, said in an interview. Limaye did not provide a timeline for when the changes may be notified.
He said the domestic investor community has expanded over the years and become open to investing in new-age technology companies.
(Source: Livemint)
2. Govt Releases Road Map to Rationalise PSU Banks' Foreign Operations
As part of its efforts to streamline the operations of state-run banks, the finance ministry on Thursday released a road map for consolidation of the overseas operations of these lenders.
The rationalization in foreign operations will be through a mixture of closure of overseas branches, subsidiaries, representative offices and remittance centres and through consolidation of joint ventures where more than one bank is a shareholder.
State-run banks will consolidate 35 overseas operations without affecting their international presence, Rajiv Kumar, secretary, department of financial services, wrote on Twitter, adding 69 more operations have been identified for consolidation.
(Source: Livemint)
3. Car Sales in February Jump 12.4% on Demand From Non-Metros
India’s top car makers reported a 12.4 percent sales growth in February, boosted by demand from smaller cities.
The top five passenger car makers — Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd, and Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) Pvt Ltd — sold 2,33,177 units in the month from 207,458 units a year earlier. Auto makers in India count dispatches to dealerships as sales.
Volume growth marginally missed expectations as the favourable base effect of demonetisation has waned, an analyst said. However, sustained demand from non-metro areas is expected to help car makers in the coming months, he added.
(Source: Livemint)
4. Fortis Healthcare Says It Expects Repayment Of Inter-Corporate Loans By June
Fortis Healthcare Ltd. expects the Singh brothers to repay outstanding inter-corporate deposits worth about Rs 500 crore by June even as India’s second-largest hospital chain is in talks with potential strategic investors.
“We are working on a repayment plan that’s been committed to us by end of the first quarter,” Chief Executive Officer Bhavdeep Singh told BloombergQuint in an interview. “At this point, we have no reason to think that it won’t come in.”
Fortis CEO said the company is also in talks with potential investors.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
5. Flipkart's Parent Entity Invests Rs 48.4 Bn Into Two India Units
The Singapore-based holding company of India’s largest e-commerce marketplace Flipkart has infused Rs 48.4 billion into two of its largest India entities as it plans to step up its investments in the country to stay ahead of rival Amazon.
Flipkart Limited, which is based in Singapore, has infused Rs 44.7 billion into the marketplace unit Flipkart India. Flipkart Marketplace, another Singapore-based entity, has invested Rs 3.7 billion into Flipkart Internet, which runs the company’s retail platform.
Both the investments, which were received in early February were disclosed to the Registrar of Companies (RoC) earlier this week, the documents for which were procured by Business Standard.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. UK's Theresa May Sets out Vision for Friction-less Trade After Brexit
British Prime Minister Theresa May called for a deep partnership with the European Union after Brexit, setting out ambitions for a tailor-made deal including financial services but accepting EU regulation of chemicals, medicines and aerospace industries.
In an attempt to add detail to Britain's negotiation on leaving the EU, May mixed concessions with a plea for a deal that would keep trade flowing between the world's biggest trade bloc and Britain's $2.7 trillion economy.
May proposed having either a customs partnership, where Britain would implement EU tariffs on its border for goods intended for the EU but could set different ones for goods going elsewhere, or a streamlined customs arrangement, where jointly implemented measures would minimise frictions to trade.
(Source: Reuters)
7. Urban Ladder Raises $12 Mn in Fresh Funding From Kalaari Capital, Others
Bengaluru-based Urban Ladder has raised $12 million in fresh funding from existing investors Kalaari Capital, Saif Partners and others, as it looks to open more offline stores in its hunt for profitability.
The company said it will utilise the capital for its omnichannel expansion, which it had kicked off with a $15 million investment in January 2017. It decided to move offline after finding that the market for online furniture buying was a lot smaller than expected.
(Source: Business Standard)
8. Bank of Baroda to Contest 'Proceeds of Crime' Charges Levied by South Africa
State run Bank of Baroda said that it is not willfully in possession of 'proceeds of crime’ as alleged by the prosecution in South Africa which is probing corruption and nexus between former president Jacob Zuma and an Indian origin business family of the Guptas.
The bank is contesting the charges levied by the prosecution as the lender received all the funds through an account which was completely compliant with the Know Your Customer regulations.
Lawyer Thato Ntimutse of the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit told a Bloemfontein court that the bank was in possession of the “proceeds of crime” linked to a dairy farm project that involved the politically connected Gupta family, Bloomberg News reported.
(Source: The Economic Times)
9. New Analysis Shows Return of Trillion-Dollar US Budget Deficits
Trillion-dollar budget deficits are returning next year, and $2 trillion-plus deficits are not far off in the wake of President Donald Trump's tax cuts and last month's big budget deal, a private group warned in a new analysis Friday.
The analysis, by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, says that the separate tax and spending measures, along with increased borrowing costs, promise to add $6 trillion to the nation's already rapidly rising debt in the coming decade. ..
It assumes that Washington continues to fail to take steps to rein in spending and that the tax cuts and budget-busting spending deal are made permanent. If so, the government's yearly deficit would grow to $2.4 trillion in 10 years.
(Source: The Economic Times)
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