QBiz: Vodafone’s $7 Bn Push, No Consensus in GST Council & More

The Quint brings to you a collection of the most important business stories from the previous day.

A top panel has named three outside experts as members of the Monetary Policy Committee that will include Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials. Photo: Reuters)

1. Vodafone Responds to Reliance Jio With $7 Billion Push

Vodafone India said it has received an equity infusion of Rs 47,700 crore ($7 billion) from its parent Vodafone Group Plc that will help it buy more spectrum, expand infrastructure, reduce debt, capitalize a proposed payments bank and improve service quality.

“This equity infusion will be used for right-sizing our spectrum portfolio, expansion of technology across our multiple technology layers and deployment of future next-generation 4G and 5G technology,” said Sunil Sood, managing director and chief executive officer, Vodafone India.

Vodafone is infusing the money at a time when India is preparing for its largest auction of telecom radio waves on 1 October and in the background of an aggressive launch by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the telecom unit of Reliance Industries Ltd, that threatens to disrupt the market.

(Source: Livemint)

2. Govt Appoints Three Members to Monetary Policy Committee

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the names of three outside experts as members of the Monetary Policy Committee that will include Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials and decide on the policy rates of the central bank.

The experts are Chetan Ghate, professor at Indian Statistical Institute; Pami Dua, director at Delhi School of Economics; and Ravindra Dholakia, professor at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

(Source: Livemint)

3. Sensex Climbs 265.71 Points as US Fed Leaves Rate Unchanged

Markets soared on the back of positive global cues on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve announced keeping interest rates at a near-record low.

Key indices Nifty and Sensex gained around a percentage each during the mid-afternoon trade session, as healthy buying was witnessed in stocks of banking, automobile, and capital goods.

Read The Quint’s report here.

4. Edelweiss Group to Acquire Ambit Alpha Fund

Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd has agreed to acquire Ambit Investment Advisors’ flagship hedge fund Ambit Alpha Fund with an AUM of over Rs.1,100 crore, as per a statement. The deal size was not disclosed.

With the transaction, which is subject to due diligence and requisite regulatory approvals, Edelweiss will be its new investment manager.

This is the second asset management acquisition by Edelweiss Group in the recent past.

Earlier in March, Edelweiss announced the acquisition of global giant JP Morgan’s onshore mutual fund business in India with assets worth over Rs.7,000 crore.

(Source: Livemint)

5. No Consensus in GST Council on Threshold Limit

On Thursday, in its first meeting, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council set a timetable for deciding the GST rate, although differences remained on the turnover limit for exemption from the new tax, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

Jaitley said the timetable has been set keeping the 1 April 2017 deadline in mind. “The target also involves the passage of the CGST (Central GST) and the IGST (Integrated GST) laws by the Parliament and the passage of the state GST law by the state legislatures by the winter session,” he added.

(Source: BloombergQuint)

6. Tata-Docomo Breakup: Is Docomo Likely to Get Alimony?

The Tata-Docomo partnership was a contract marriage. But as it unravels, Docomo is finding it tough to collect the promised alimony of $1.17 billion. And so, the Japanese telecom major has moved Indian and British courts, going after even overseas assets of Tata Sons.

But lawyers speaking to BloombergQuint say Docomo may not find much success in either country. In 2009, Docomo acquired a 26 percent stake in the Tata Group-owned Tata Teleservices Ltd. (TTSL).

When TTSL failed to meet key performance indicators as envisaged in the shareholders’ agreement, the Japanese telecom major exercised an exit clause that gave NTT the right to sell its TTSL shares back to Tata Sons at 50 percent of the acquisition value or the fair market value, whichever was higher.

(Source: BloombergQuint)

7. Finance Ministry Raises Serious Concerns Over Moody’s Methodology

Questioning the methodology adopted by Moody’s, Finance Ministry Arun Jaitley said the global agency has ignored reforms initiated by the government and it should not wait “till infinity” for them to take root before upgrading the country’s sovereign rating.

Calling the reform process slow and gradual with muted private investment and bad loans posing a challenge, Moody’s said on Tuesday it could upgrade India’s rating in 1-2 years if it is convinced that reforms are “tangible”.

(Source: The Economic Times)

8. Finance Ministry Issues Instructions for Budget 2017-18

With the Centre deciding to advance Budget 2017-18 presentation by about a month, the Finance Ministry has come out with comprehensive instructions for different ministries for completion of the exercise.

The instructions were issued following the Cabinet decision to merge rail and general budgets, do away with distinction between plan and non-plan expenditure, and advance date of budget presentation with a view to complete the entire exercise before March 31, the fiscal year end.

(Source: The Economic Times)

9. Worried About Defaults, Sebi Wants Rating Agencies to Make Full Disclosure

Amid a surge in corporate indebtedness, Sebi is asking credit rating agencies to come out with a slew of disclosures and fix accountabilities so that fiascos like the one caused by the sudden default of Amtek Auto last September are not repeated.

A fortnight ago, the capital market regulator circulated a set of draft rules — which would be finalised soon —with the rating agencies.

(Source: The Economic Times)