QBiz: Ola to Raise $2 Million; Diesel Prices Soar to All-time High

Here’s a look at the top business stories from the previous day.

Image used for representational purposes. 

(Photo: iStock)

1. Ola Said to Raise $2 Billion From SoftBank, Tencent

India’s largest ride-hailing company, Ola, is in talks with SoftBank and Tencent to raise up to $2 billion in fresh funding at a time when global rival Uber is recovering from a management shakeup that saw founder Travis Kalanick ousted from the role of chief executive officer.

The deal on the first $1 billion is expected to be closed soon and will not see participation from Ola’s largest investor, SoftBank.

Chinese Internet giant Tencent will lead the sub-round with an investment of $450-500 million, apart from the participation of two global venture capital firms, people familiar with the development said.

(Source: Business Standard)

2. Diesel Prices Soar to All-Time High in Delhi

Diesel prices have soared to an all-time high in Delhi and close to their peaks in other cities as strong international demand along with prolonged refinery shutdown due to hurricanes in the US belied previous expectations of a decline. Rising prices means hardship for diesel vehicle owners as well as farmers and consumers dependent on diesel-generated power.

On Monday, diesel was sold for Rs 59.07 per litre in Delhi, the highest for the period records are available on the website of Indian Oil Corp, which has data since 2002. Price of diesel is at a three-year high in Kolkata.

(Source: Economic Times)

3. Fitch Lowers India’s Growth Forecast To 6.9% For Current Fiscal

Fitch Ratings has lowered India’s economic growth forecast for the current fiscal to 6.9 percent from 7.4 percent after the GDP growth “unexpectedly faltered” in the April-June quarter.

The credit rating agency said however that it expects economic activity to accelerate in the second half of the fiscal year with the waning impact of one-off events including the demonetisation shock in late 2016 and the GST rollout in July, which had dampened growth in the short term.

“The large stock of non-performing loans on bank balance sheets could, however, dampen the outlook for credit growth and business investment,” Fitch Ratings in its latest Global Economic Outlook (GEO).

(Source: BloombergQuint)

4. RCom Exploring 100% Sale of Tower Asset to Brookfield, Says Punit Garg

Reliance Communications’ decision to call off the merger plan with Aircel has raised a number of questions around the company’s ability to pare its debt of nearly Rs 45,000 crore. It has also raised doubts on the proposed tower asset sale to private equity firm Brookfield.

Under the earlier plan, RCom was to park Rs 14,000-crore debt from its balance sheet to the new company created post the merger with Aircel.

In addition, RCom was to get Rs 11,000 crore by giving 51 percent stake to Brookfield.

(Source: The Hindu Business Line)

5. In a First, India Gets US Crude Oil Shipment

India on Monday received its first ever shipment crude oil from the US, with state-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd importing 1.6 million barrels at the Paradip Port in Odisha. The move comes after US resumed its oil exports last year.

IndianOil will process this crude at its refineries in the East: at Paradip, Haldia, Barauni, and Bongaigaon.

“IndianOil, which became the first Indian public sector refiner from India to source US crude, has placed a cumulative order of 3.9 million barrels from the US,” it said.

(Source: The Hindu Business Line)

6. Just 800 Start-Ups Launched in 2017 So Far, Compared to 6,000 in 2016

The number of new internet and technology start-ups launched in the first nine months of this year has slumped to 800 from more than 6,000 in all of last year, as start-up closures, the struggles of large internet companies such as Snapdeal and a slowdown in the growth of the e-commerce market took their toll on entrepreneurial activity.

According to data from Tracxn, a start-up tracker, the number of new start-ups has now dropped steeply for two years in a row. Mint reported on 22 September that while some investors are again interested in backing new consumer internet start-ups, there is an acute shortage of such companies.

(Source: Livemint)

7. RCom Puts Four Senior Executives on Its Board

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) named four of its senior executives to its board on Monday, a day after it said it had called off its merger with Aircel.

Punit Garg, president-telecom business, has been elevated to the board as executive director, the telco said in a statement. Manikantan V, chief financial officer (CFO), has also been elevated to the board as director and CFO of the company.

(Source: Economic Times)

8. Accenture Is Increasing Share at the Expense of Indian IT

Accenture Plc has guided for lower organic growth for the year ahead, compared to what it had indicated for the previous year.

It has guided for overall growth of 5-8 percent for the year till August 2018, the same as last year, although the inorganic contribution this time around is estimated at 2.5-3 percent, versus 2 percent last year.

(Source: Livemint)

9. Hero MotoCorp Crosses 1 Million Sales Mark This Festive Season

The country’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp Ltd. has sold over a million units in the festive season so far, a senior company executive said on Monday.

The company has achieved the milestone with still around three weeks remaining in the current festive season.

“The customer response has been so massive that we have already crossed a million units in retail sales in the ongoing festival season, with a double digit growth over the previous year,” the official told PTI.

(Source: BloombergQuint)