QBiz: Vivo Renews IPL Contract; GST Won’t Shoot up Medicine Prices
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1. VIVO Shells Out Rs 2,199 Crore for IPL Title Sponsorship Rights
Companies paid Rs 3 lakh just to buy the application form, so it’s no surprise that VIVO has broken all previous records in their successful bid for the title sponsorship of the Indian Premier League.
Disclosed to be a massive Rs 2,199 crore, VIVO now holds the title rights for the IPL for a five year span from 2018 to 2022.
VIVO had held the title rights for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. That deal was pegged at an estimated Rs 100 crore per year.
For the renewed contract, VIVO beat another mobile manufacturer Oppo, which had reportedly bid Rs 1,430 crore.
Read the full story on The Quint.
2. General Motors’ Dealers Say 15,000 Will Lose Jobs, Protest Against Poor Compensation
Dealers of General Motors India Pvt. Ltd’s Chevrolet brand of cars on Tuesday said around 15,000 people would lose their jobs if the company goes ahead with its plan to wind up sales operations in India by year-end. They will also be left with unsold inventory and “crores” of investment already made, dealers said.
At a protest staged in New Delhi, dealers alleged they were offered inadequate compensation for their investments and added that their legal teams were working on readying a class action suit against the automaker for “cheating” and “fraud”.
The US-based company had last month announced that it will stop selling its Chevrolet brand of cars in India by the end of 2017. It is currently in the process of working out a compensation for dealers who said they were not apprised in advance about the move.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
3. Bankruptcy Proceedings Started Against Essar Steel, Monnet Ispat
Essar Steel Ltd and Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd have become the first of the 12 big bad loans cases identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) against which bankruptcy proceedings have been filed, said two people aware of the matter.
Proceedings were initiated at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday, the people said on condition of anonymity.
In Essar’s cases, it was Standard Chartered Bank, an unsecured creditor, and not the lead banker, State Bank of India (SBI), which filed the suit. In Monnet’s case, SBI, which led the lending consortium, filed the case, the people said.
(Source: Livemint)
4. NPPA Steps in to Keep Medicines Affordable After GST Roll-Out on 1 July
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is unlikely to be a very bitter pill for the pharmaceutical industry, which feared a substantial rise in drug prices under the new indirect tax regime. While around 80 percent drugs were put in the 12 percent GST bracket (up from the current 9 percent slab), implying a sharp rise in prices, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has stepped in to keep medicines affordable after the GST roll-out on 1 July.
The pharma pricing regulator has notified the revised ceiling prices of 761 drugs, which are part of the Schedule 1 of the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013. According to the revised list issued by the NPPA, prices of most drugs have come down.
With this regulatory move, the price increase after the GST roll-out would be marginal as the base price has been lowered.
(Source: Business Standard)
5. Phone Companies Cut Production Ahead of GST Rollout
Handset makers have cut local production by 10-15 percent this month to avoid oversupply when the Goods and Service Tax (GST) kicks in on 1 July, even as distributors are refraining from stocking up for want of adequate clarity on the impact of the new tax regime.
Industry executives said that while established manufacturers such as Nokia, Micromax and Panasonic have completed their GST registrations, small traders or mom-and-pop stores, many of which may not have value-added tax (VAT) registrations, would not want to come under the GST net to avoid taxation altogether.
“It’s the fear of the unknown with everybody – whether it’s a small retailer, distributor or a medium-sized company – because of which dealers are not picking (stock) and primary (production) has dropped about 15 percent across the board,” said Sunil Vachani, Executive Chairman of Dixon Technologies, which makes phones for Intex, Panasonic and Gionee.
(Source: The Economic Times)
6. Govt to Set up 'War Room' at Finance Ministry to Deal With GST Issues
With days to go before India launches its biggest tax reform in decades on 1 July, the government is trying to ensure that doubts arising over the Goods and Services Tax (GST) get answered in real time as much as possible.
"A special war room has been created… This will address issues, if they crop up, in implementation," said a senior government official. It will operate from eight in the morning to 10 in the evening, providing a single window for the resolution of any GST-related issue.
The GST Feedback and Action Room set up by the Central Board of Excise and Customs is keeping a close watch to ensure all processes are in place for a smooth rollout, a CBEC official told ET.
(Source: The Economic Times)
7. ‘Assembled In India’ iPhones Hit Delhi, Mumbai And Bengaluru Stores
Apple Inc.’s first batch of ‘assembled in India’ iPhone SE has made its debut in select stores in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, three people familiar with the matter told BloombergQuint.
Priced at Rs 20,000 for 16GB, Rs 27,200 for 32GB and Rs 37,200 for 128 GB , the handset carries a ‘Designed in California and Assembled in India’ imprint on the boxes.
The Cupertino, Silicon Valley-based technology giant had said in May that it is beginning the initial production of a ‘small number’ of iPhone SE in Bengaluru, two months after the Karnataka government announced Apple’s proposal to commence initial manufacturing operations.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
8. Air India: Divestment of Govt Stake Unlikely This Financial Year
Discussions around privatising Air India might have picked up, steam but actually divesting in the carrier will be a long-drawn process, requiring multiple Cabinet approvals.
Senior government officials who are part of the deliberations said, at least two approvals of the Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, could be necessary, and that any dilution of the Centre’s stake was highly unlikely this fiscal year.
If and when privatisation is decided upon, the first Cabinet approval will be an “in-principle” one.
(Source: Business Standard)
9. NITI Aayog Proposes Break-Up of Coal India Into Seven Firms
India should split the seven units of state-controlled Coal India Ltd into independent companies to make it more competitive, government’s policy thinktank NITI Aayog said on Tuesday in a draft of a new energy policy.
About 70 percent of India’s power generation is fired by coal. The country is the world’s third-largest producer and third-biggest importer of coal, which the government wants to change by boosting local coal production.
Fresh coal production should come from private sector mines, the government think-tank NITI Aayog said, adding that the move called for reforms in allocating coal blocks to independent companies specialized in coal mining.
(Source: Livemint/Reuters)
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