QBiz: Walmart to Open 50 Stores in India; Jio Launches New Plan
Here’s a roundup of the top business stories.
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1. Walmart to Open 50 New Stores in India in 4-5 Years
A day after announcing $16 billion investment in India’s largest online retailer Flipkart, Walmart Inc on Thursday, 10 May, said it will continue to grow its wholesale cash-and-carry business, adding 50 new stores in the next four-five years.
“We currently have 21 stores and plan to open 50 stores in four to five years. Plans are on track,” Walmart India president and CEO Krish Iyer said at a select media round table called to explain the Flipkart deal.
Walmart chief executive Doug McMillon said Flipkart, in which the US retailer is acquiring 77 percent stake, would continue to operate as a separate board-managed company with co-founder Binny Bansal as the CEO.
Flipkart gives Walmart an online presence. So far it had been handicapped by India’s retail policy that does not allow overseas companies to sell directly to consumers (except in wholesale cash-and-carry segment).
(Source: Livemint)
2. Reliance Jio Launches Rs 199 Postpaid Plan
Telecom operator Reliance Jio on Thursday, 10 May, announced a new postpaid plan with monthly rental of Rs 199 which offers ISD calling service at starting price of 50 paise per minute to the US and Canada.
The company also announced international roaming service with outgoing calls at Rs 2 per minute onwards.
“’Zero-Touch’ postpaid plan to offer unlimited benefits at Rs 199 per month, international calling starting at 50 paise per minute and international roaming at Rs 2 for voice, data & SMS for all Jio customers,” Reliance Jio said in a statement.
The subscription for the plan will start from 15 May. At present, the lowest monthly rent of Jio post-paid plan is Rs 309. Customers opting for Rs 199 will not require to pay any security deposit and they will get unlimited free voice, SMS and 25 GB data at 4G speed, the company said.
(Source: Livemint)
3. Hero-Dabur Win the Battle for Fortis Healthcare
After a marathon meeting, the Fortis board late on Thursday, 10 May, chose the Hero Enterprise-Burman Family offer as the preferred buyer for the country’s second largest hospital chain. The board selected this offer after considering recommendations of an expert advisory committee it had set up last month to evaluate binding proposals, the company said in a statement.
The joint bidders, Sunil Kant Munjal of Hero Enterprise and the Burman family of the Dabur group, have offered to invest a total of Rs 1,800 crore directly into Fortis Healthcare through preferential allotment of equity shares and convertible warrants. Provided all warrants are converted into shares, the infusion would see the joint bidders picking up 16.80 percent stake in Fortis Healthcare as a result.
"The board, post having the detailed discussions on the pros and cons of each offer, decided by majority, to recommend the offer of Hero Enterprise Investment Office-Burman Family Office... to the shareholders for approval," Fortis stated in its filing.
(Source: The Economic Times)
4. Oil Prices Hit Highest in Years as Markets Adjust to Looming Sanctions on Iran
Oil prices clocked up more multi-year highs on Thursday, 10 May, as traders adjusted to the prospects of renewed US sanctions against major crude exporter Iran amid an already tightening market.
The United States plans to impose new sanctions against Iran, which produces around four percent of global oil supplies, after abandoning an agreement reached in late 2015 which limited Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for removing US-Europe sanctions. Oil prices rose sharply in response to the announced measures.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, hit their strongest since November 2014 at $77.76 per barrel on Thursday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also marked a November-2014 high, at $71.75 a barrel, and they still stood at $71.67 a barrel at 0219 GMT, up over half a dollar, or 0.7 percent, from their last settlement.
(Source: Financial Express)
5. Bank Credit Growth at Its Highest Since July 2014
Bank credit grew at its fastest pace in almost four years, shows data released by the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday, 10 May.
Bank credit from scheduled commercial banks rose by 12.6 percent during the fortnight ended 27 April 2018. This is highest growth in bank credit seen since July 2014, shows data available from Bloomberg.
Credit growth stood at 11.15 percent in the previous fortnight ended 13 April 2018. In the year ago fortnight, bank credit grew at just over four percent, suggesting some base effect in the growth shown in the latest reporting fortnight.
Outstanding credit by scheduled commercial banks stood at Rs 83.25 lakh crore as of 27 April, shows the RBI data.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
6. Jaypee Offers 2,000 Shares for Free to Home Buyers
Jaypee group has offered 2,000 equity shares of Jaypee Infratech for free to each home buyer as part of its Rs 100 billion proposal to revive the bankruptcy-hit real estate firm, sources said.
Earlier this week, Jaypee group promoter Manoj Gaur made an offer of over Rs 100 billion before the lenders of Jaypee Infratech to protect the interest of all stakeholders including financial creditors, home buyers and minority shareholders.
Jaypee Infratech, a subsidiary of Jaypee group's flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates, had in 2007 started development of about 32,000 flats in Noida, of which it has delivered 9,500. It has applied for occupancy certificates to hand over 4,500 flats more.
According to sources, Jaypee group in its fresh proposal has offered 2,000 shares each to every home buyer on first registration. About 45 million shares are estimated to be offered at nil consideration.
(Source: Business Standard)
7. Indian Railways to Build 3 Strategic Lines Along China Border
The Railways has set a target of completing by 2019 the final location surveys of three strategic lines along the country’s border with China after the projects received the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) nod in December 2015, officials said on Thursday, 10 May.
The Railways has received Rs 47.18 crore from the Defence Ministry for the final location survey (FLS) of the 378-km Missamari-Tenga-Tawang line, the 227-km Pasighat-Tezu-Rupai line and the 249-km North Lakhimpur-Bame-Silapathar line after the Cabinet Committee on Security decided to take them up for construction on priority.
“We have set a target of December 2018 for the FLS for Pasighat-Tezu-Rupai line and December 2019 as the deadline for the other two. These three are extremely difficult terrains and we have to deal with unstable and high mountains. In places such as the Sela Pass in the Missamari-Tenga-Tawang line, it is 14,000 feet high,” said A K Yadav, Chief Administrative Officer (Construction) of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).
(Source: Financial Express)
8. PC Jeweller to Buy Back Shares Worth Rs 424 Crore
The PC Jeweller board on Thursday, 10 May, approved a buyback of shares worth Rs 424 crore amid a sharp plunge in stock price in recent weeks.
The company will buy back 1.21 crore shares at Rs 350 a piece, the Delhi-based jeweller said in its filings with the stock exchanges. That’s a premium of 67 percent over Thursday’s closing price on the BSE. The buyback comprises 3.07 percent of the total paid-up equity capital of the company, the filing added.
Promoters and promoter group companies will not participate in the proposed buyback. The board also approved the appointment of IDBI Capital Markets and Securities Ltd and Corporate Professionals Capital Pvt Ltd as merchant bankers.
The buyback comes at a time when the stock has fallen to its 52-week low of Rs 95.05 hit on 3 May this year after Fidelity-managed funds sold shares through open market.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
9. Union Bank Posts a Loss as Asset Quality Worsens in March Quarter
Union Bank of India Ltd reported a loss for the third straight quarter as asset quality deteriorated and provisions against bad loans surged.
The state-owned bank incurred a wider-than-expected loss of Rs 2,583.4 crore in the quarter ended March as compared to a profit of Rs 108.2 crore in the same period last year, according to its filing with the stock exchanges. That despite a Rs 1,195 crore tax write back during the quarter. Analysts tracked by Bloomberg had pegged the loss at Rs 1,200 crore.
Net interest income, or the core income of the bank, rose 8.1 percent to Rs 2,193 crore missing analyst estimates.
Asset quality worsened with gross bad loans increasing to 15.53 percent as a percentage of total assets from 13 percent on a sequential basis. The ratio of net non-performing assets rose to 8.4 percent from 6.9 percent last quarter.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
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