QBiz: Accounts of 2L Firms Frozen; 169 McDonald’s Stores May Shut
Read the top business headlines from around the country in QBiz.
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1. Govt Freezes Over 2,00,000 Bank Accounts of Suspected Shell Companies
The bank accounts of 2,09,032 suspected shell companies have been frozen, the government said on Tuesday, while advising banks to be cautious about active ones not filing statutory returns.
The Registrar of Companies (RoCs) of 24 jurisdictions have deregistered these firms and because of that “the existing directors and authorised signatories of these companies will now become ex-directors or ex-authorised signatories,” the statement said.
These individuals will, therefore, not be able to operate the bank accounts of their erstwhile companies till such entities are restored by an order of the National Company Law Tribunal.
Source: Business Standard
2. Amazon India Looks to Cut Costs, Discounts to Achieve Profit by 2019
The Indian unit of Amazon.com Inc may soon face the same problem that has dogged internet start-ups in the country over the past 18 months: how to cut losses without sacrificing sales growth.
Amazon India (Amazon Seller Service Pvt. Ltd), which until recently had been spending freely to win market share, has been quietly trying to reduce losses to reach its target of getting on to a path to profitability by 2019, four people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
Amazon came up with this cost-cutting initiative called “Get Fit” around the time that chief executive Jeff Bezos committed an additional $3 billion towards expanding the India business in June 2016. This came on top of the $2 billion investment Bezos had announced in July 2014.
Source: Livemint
3. Banks Start Moving on NPA Accounts in RBI's Second Defaulter List
Banks have started work on debt resolution plans or are in the process of initiating insolvency proceedings against defaulters named in the central bank’s second list well in advance of the 13 December deadline set by the regulator, three senior bankers said.
In June, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sent its first list of 12 defaulters to their creditors for the quick launch of resolution proceedings at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The borrowers had bad loans totalling Rs 2 trillion.
Many accounts in RBI’s second list are already in the process of debt resolution and most lenders have set aside adequate money to cover the risk of default, indicating that efforts to resolve the bad-loan pile will gather pace. Banks, mainly public sector lenders, are weighed down by stressed assets amounting to Rs 10 trillion.
Source: Livemint
4. IndiGo May Buy Stake in Jet Airways If Air India Bid Fails
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd-run IndiGo is convinced there is an opportunity for a large India-based airline with a significant international footprint, and may consider investing in Jet Airways (India) Ltd if it fails to acquire a stake in Air India, a person briefed on the airline’s strategy said on condition of anonymity.
And as it grows, the airline will focus on finding the kind of managers who have the required expertise to run a large airline by global standards, even if it means changing some of its current senior management team, this person added.
IndiGo, run by billionaire aviation entrepreneurs Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal, was the first to send in its interest, unsolicited, in Air India to the government, the day the latter decided to sell a stake in the state-run airline.
Source: Livemint
5. 169 McDonald's Stores Stare at Closure From Today
McDonald’s has said that Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd (CPRL) will not be authorised to use its brand name and trademark starting 6 September, implying that 169 stores of the burger-and fries brand face closure across the entire north and east region from Wednesday.
“The termination notice period ends on 5 September. Therefore, CPRL is no longer authorised to use the McDonald's system and its intellectual property. It means they need to stop using the McDonald's names, trademarks, designs, branding, operational and marketing practice and policies, and food recipes and specifications. We are proceeding with exercising our legal and contractual rights,” a McDonald’s India spokesperson said in an emailed response to ET’s query.
Source: Economic Times
6. IDBI Bank Moves SC Against Stay on Jaypee Insolvency Proceedings
IDBI Bank, seeking to recover dues from Jaypee Infratech Ltd, urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to lift the stay order on insolvency proceedings against the real estate developer, saying the move would not benefit home buyers.
The lender said the stay, which was sought by buyers yet to get possession of their apartments, takes the company out of the control of the insolvency professional and restores it to the management.
“This only helps Jaypee and does not help the home buyers,” IDBI Bank told a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra through senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. “This helps the perpetrator and not the victim.”
Source: Economic Times
7. GST Impact: Audi Sees Double-Digit Fall in Volume
The increase in cess on large cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) may bring down the luxury car volume by 10 percent for companies like Audi, the India head of this luxury carmaker said.
“When the luxury cars were taxed at 43 percent under the GST (28 percent GST and 15 percent cess), we were expecting a double digit growth. But it is unlikely to happen now. We are now expecting a double digit decline since the cars will become more expensive than the pre-GST prices,” Rahil Ansari, head of Audi India, said.
Once the increase is effective, Audi’s A3 – the entry segment mid-size sedan – will turn costly by Rs 1.8 lakh (around six percent), prices for its A6 car will go up by Rs 5 lakh (almost 10 percent) and Audi’s flagship SUV will cost around Rs 7 lakh or about nine percent more than the current price.
Source: Business Standard
8. Bajaj Finance Looks To Raise Up To Rs 4,500 Crore Via Share Sale
Bajaj Finance Ltd on Tuesday launched an institutional share sale, aiming to raise up to Rs 4,500 crore, bankers aware of the development told BloombergQuint.
The non-banking finance company is selling up to 26.6 million shares at Rs 1,690 apiece, Bloomberg reported citing the terms of sale. It’s a 5.8 percent discount to the last closing price of Rs 1,794.4 on the NSE.
The company is diluting up to 4.8 percent of existing share capital. Following the share sale, promoters’ holding would come down to 55.3 percent. Kotak Mahindra Capital, JM Financial and Goldman Sachs are the book running managers for the offer, which has a lock-in period of up to 90 days.
The board had in July approved raising up to Rs 4,500 crore through the qualified institutional placement route. The company had reported a 42 percent jump in net profit led by strong growth in its core business in the quarter ended June.
Source: BloombergQuint
9. Printing Presses to RBI: Pay us Rs 577 cr For Note-Ban Loss
The government’s currency paper printing presses have asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for compensation or reimbursement to the tune of Rs 577 crore for what they estimate was the loss and wastage they had to incur due to the 8 November, 2016 announcement of demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes.
This adds another dimension to the demonetisation woes of the RBI which has, in its recently released annual report, admitted to lower profits and to paying the government a reduced annual dividend on account of it.
Top government officials and officials in the currency paper printing establishment told The Indian Express that the matter was under discussion and since the printing presses were captive units — they do no commercial work — the losses they incurred on account of demonetisation would surely have to be offset.
The Rs 577-crore bill is largely on account of huge consignments
Source: Indian Express
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