QBiz: Can India Repeat 2017 Ease of Doing Business Success & More
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1. Will India Repeat Last Year’s Ease of Doing Business Success? World Bank to Launch Report
The World Bank will release its much-awaited 2019 edition of the Ease of Doing Business on Wednesday, 31 October — and the question is: will India repeat its last year’s success?
On the back of multiple reforms, minus the GST, India jumped 30 ranks last year to make its place in top 100 on the list.
By adopting and implementing as much as 37 reforms, India even became one of the top ten improvers among 190 economies assessed by the World Bank for the elite list. Even as India was lauded for bringing reforms under the “Paying Taxes” category, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was not included during the assessment last year.
(Source: The Financial Express)
2. Tata Steel Will Acquire Usha Martin Through Tata Sponge
Tata Steel Ltd will not directly takeover Usha Martin’s steel business. Instead, its associate Tata Sponge Iron will acquire the unit through a slump sale facilitating an entry into steel manufacturing.
The sponge iron maker seeks to raise capital through a combination of a rights issue of Rs 1,800 crore, external borrowings up to Rs 2,500 crore, or mezzanine finance, it said in an exchange filing. It will also consider issuing non-convertible redeemable preference shares of up to Rs 1,000 crore. This is in addition to its internal cash and cash equivalent resources.
Tata Steel has approved the financing plan in-principle and will consider providing investment support if necessary, it said in a separate filing.
(Source: Bloomberg Quint)
3. Paytm Payments Bank Appoints Satish Kumar Gupta as MD and CEO
Paytm Payments Bank, a unit of One97 Communications Ltd., had appointed Satish Kumar Gupta as managing director and chief executive officer of the digital bank, the company said in a statement on Wednesday, 24 October.
Gupta, who has over 35 years of leadership experience, previously had stints as the chief product officer at National Payments Corporation of India and State Bank of India.
Gupta’s appointment comes a few months after Paytm said Renu Satti had stepped down as the CEO of Paytm Payments Bank to head the new retail segment at the company as chief operating officer.
This is the third CEO appointment at Paytm Payments Bank in two years after former Central Bank executive Shinjini Kumar left Paytm in May 2017.
(Source: Livemint)
4. GST Anti-Profiteering Clause Puts FMCG Firms in a Fix
With input costs remaining high, manufacturers of consumer packaged goods have had little choice so far but to increase prices and protect their margins. But with anti-profiteering provisions of the goods and services tax (GST) now in place, increasing prices has become tricky.
This clause requires companies to pass on the benefit of reduced tax rates by slashing their prices, bringing an element of ambiguity.
As Anita Rastogi, indirect tax partner at PwC India pointed out, the statutory provisions of anti-profiteering require “commensurate” benefit to be passed on, and not “equivalent” benefit of the change in tax rate.
The word “commensurate” as used under the GST law intends to take overall facts and circumstances into its consideration for passing on the benefit, which has not been considered while passing various orders passed by the authority, she said.
(Source: Livemint)
5. Govt Extends Deadline for Industry Comments on Uniform Tariff Framework
The Power Ministry has extended the date of submission of comments on the proposed amendments to Electricity Act, 2003, which aims to rationalise electricity tariffs by doing away with differential tariffs for different types of users.
The draft amendment to Para 8.3A of the National Tariff Policy, in which the Ministry has proposed that tariff design and cross subsidy will no longer be based on differential tariffs for different types of use but be solely based on sanctioned load and consumption, was circulated last month.
The deadline for submission was set at September 20. The date has now been extended till 5 November, according to the Ministry’s letter addressed to the key industry stakeholders.
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
6. Vistara Gets Rs 2,000 Crore From Tata Sons, Singapore Airlines
Full service carrier Vistara received Rs 2,000 crore from Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, according to a regulatory filing. The flight carrier is preparing to take its operations overseas and is awaiting final approvals.
The airline, majority-owned by Tatas, commenced operations more than three years ago and has a fleet of 22 planes.
On Oct. 12, the board of Vistara approved allotment of 200 crore equity shares of Rs 10 apiece to Tata Sons Pvt Ltd and Singapore Airlines, a filing with the Corporate Affairs Ministry said. The allotment of these shares amounts to a fund fusion of Rs 2,000 crore.
The board approved issuance of a little over 101.99 crore shares to Tata Sons and 98 crore shares to Singapore Airlines, according to the filing. Vistara didn’t offer any comments about the fund infusion.
(Source: Bloomberg Quint)
7. India Mobile Congress Opens Today, Spotlight on 5G Apps
From a car that keeps tabs on your driver’s activity to an aerial disaster management vehicle that can conduct search and rescue operations, telecom operators are set to offer a flavour of 5G-enabled applications at the second edition of the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi.
Telecom industry leaders Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel, Kumar Mangalam Birla of Vodafone Idea and Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Ltd will attend the inaugural session of the three-day flagship event on Thursday, 25 October where cabinet ministers Manoj Sinha, Nitin Gadkari and Ravi Shankar Prasad will also be present.
“(We) will be showcasing India’s readiness for 5G...we will be positioning India as a global telecom hub for investments and manufacturing as well as for services in the future. The domestic industry has seen a major phase of consolidation, which is almost complete. So we expect that there will be robust growth in the times to come,” telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said on Wednesday.
(Source: Livemint)
8. Wipro Takes Onboard Former SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya as Director
Global software major Wipro on Wednesday, 24 October, took onboard former State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya to its Board of Directors, the company said. “Acclaimed banker with four decades of experience in India’s financial sector, Arundhati Bhattacharya will serve as the company’s Independent Director for a period of five years from 1 January, 2019,” the city-based IT major said in a statement.
Arundhati, 62, recently also joined Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) as an independent director.
“With her illustrious career, the company felt that she (Arundhati) could add immense value to our board,” Wipro’s Chief Human Resources Officer Saurabh Govil told reporters at a press briefing to announce the company’s second quarter results.
(Source: The Financial Express)
9. Indigo Posts Rs 652 Cr Net Loss on Higher Fuel Costs, Weak Rupee
Higher fuel costs, depreciation of rupee and intense competition saw IndiGo report its first-ever net loss since it had started operations over a decade ago and got listed in 2015.
For the first time, the airline has reported a net loss of ₹ 652.1 crore for the quarter ended September 2018. It had reported a net profit of ₹ 551.6 crore during the same period in the previous year.
"There has been a surge in fuel prices and significant depreciation of the Indian rupee during the quarter. Fuel constitutes over 40 per cent of our total cost and about 50 per cent of our costs, excluding fuel, are denominated in foreign currency. Typically, in the airline industry you will see higher fares to cover the increased costs. However, that has not happened here,” Rahul Bhatia, the company founder and interim Chief Executive Officer, said in a Concall to analysts after the results were announced.
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
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