QBiz: Ireland to Join Apple; PMO Clears Rs 20-Lakh-Cr Projects
The Quint’s compilation of the top business news in dailies across India.
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1. Projects Worth Rs 20-lakh-cr Set to Get Green Light From Key PMO Group
Investments worth Rs 20 lakh crore, more than 500 projects - that’s what a key group in the PMO is focussing on. The Project Monitoring Group (PMG) that works under the Prime Minister’s Office has cleared 276 projects, stalled for various reasons and accounting for investment of nearly Rs 10 lakh crore, in the last two years. Another 258 projects, with investment of more than Rs 10 lakh crore, will be cleared soon.
Roads, coal, power and railways comprise the bulk of the projects while land and environment issues accounted for the majority of clearance hurdles. Roughly half the projects are public sector and the rest private plus PPP (public-private partnership). ET spoke to senior PMO officials closely associated with the effort. They spoke on the condition of anonymity.
(Source: The Economic Times)
2. Ireland to Join Apple in Fight Against EU Tax Ruling
Ireland’s cabinet agreed on Friday to join Apple in appealing against a multi-billion-euro back tax demand that the European Commission has imposed on the iPhone maker, despite misgivings among independents who back the fragile-coalition.
The Commission’s ruling this week that the US tech giant must pay up to €13 billion ($14.5 billion) to Dublin has angered Washington, which accuses the EU of trying to grab tax revenue that should go to the US government.
With transatlantic tensions rising, the White House said President Barack Obama would raise the issue of tax avoidance by some multinational corporations at a summit of the G-20 leading economies in China this weekend.
(Source: Livemint)
3. Show Source Of Rs 18,000 Crore Refund To Investors, SC Tells Sahara
The Supreme Court on Friday told Sahara to show the source of money as proof that it has refunded Rs 18,000 crore to investors. The apex court said that it will close the ‘entire Pandora’s box’ on disclosure of the source of refund.
“You have to show us where the money came from.. It must not have fallen from heavens. Show us and we will close the case,” the court said.
The Chief Justice of India TS Thakur observed, “It’s difficult to digest the explanation given by Sahara for the refund.”
Sahara told the court that it has already repaid Rs 18,000 crore to investors and SEBI should investigate the genuineness of the money trail.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
4. Reliance Jio Effect: Grim Future For Small Telcos Like Aircel, Telenor India
Reliance Jio’s entry with disruptive offers of free voice calls, roaming and possibly the world’s cheapest data plans will push smaller mobile service providers such as Aircel, Telenor India, Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications to the fringes, if not to exit altogether, analysts say.
“In the medium term, Reliance Jio will ensure the likes of Aircel, Telenor India, Tata Teleservices and RCom will exit,” said a UBS note.
This position was seconded by brokerage BNP Paribas, which said Jio’s big bang entry is likely to “expedite exit of weaker operators dependent on cheap voice and not invested in data networks.
(Source: The Economic Times)
5. Apax Sells a Part of Its Cholamandalam Stake for $102 Million
Private equity firm Apax Partners Llp on Friday partially exited its investment in Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd by selling shares worth around $102 million (around Rs.680 crore) in a block deal on the stock exchanges.
Apax had invested around $109 million in the company in July 2014 to acquire a stake of about 10%.
Cholamandalam Investment, part of the Murugappa Group, is a financing firm that offers loans for vehicles, homes and small and medium enterprises.
(Source: Livemint)
6. Mindtree Lowers Revenue, EBITDA Guidance For Second Quarter
Bangalore-based IT company Mindtree expects its revenue for the second quarter of financial year 2016-17 to be lower than the previous quarter.
The company attributes the cut in revenue guidance to cross-currency movements, project cancellations and slower ramp-ups in a few large clients across various segments, and continued weakness in their UK-based subsidiary Bluefin, Mindtree said in a press release on Friday.
Mindtree also expects margins on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to remain subdued below the first quarter levels.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
7. Tata Moves HC Against Docomo’s Award
The Tata Group filed an objection in the Delhi High Court on Friday seeking to prevent enforcement of an international arbitration award in favour of Japan’s NTT Docomo, reigniting a spat between the former partners.
Apart from invoking the policy exemption that allows courts to reject an international award, the Tata Group argued that NTT Docomo was aware that Reserve Bank of India’s permission would be needed for the purchase of its stake in their joint venture and argued that the arbitration panel admittedly made an unenforceable award.
(Source: The Economic Times)
8. RBI’s New Norms on Stressed Asset Sales Split Stakeholders
The Reserve Bank of India’s new guidelines on stressed asset sales have divided stakeholders. While supporters believe that these rules will make the stressed asset market more transparent and help price discovery, critics say higher provisioning norms and individual asset sale policies may lead to unnecessary disruption.
The guidelines, issued on Thursday, allow banks to sell stressed loans to other banks, non-banking financial companies and other financial institutions, apart from asset reconstruction companies (ARCs).
The regulator also asked banks to frame clear policies for stressed asset sales so that they quickly clean up their balance sheets that collectively hold Rs 6.3 trillion in toxic assets.
(Source: Livemint)
9. India Faces Catch-22 on Steel Capacity at G20’s China Meet
India will tread a cautious middle path when a simmering battle over global ramifications of excess capacity in steel takes centre-stage at the G20 Summit in China.
Ahead of the 4-5 September Summit at Hangzhou (China) of the 20 major global economies, the US has already mounted pressure on China to drastically reduce its steel capacity, claiming that the ‘dumping’ of the commodity in various countries has been hurting steel producers across the world.
US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was quoted as stating that US President Barack Obama will demand action at the G20 Summit on excess capacity in steel as it “distorts markets and the environment, harms our workers and runs counter to our efforts to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth.”
(Source: Hindu)
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