1. ‘Lame Duck’ Mistry Warns of $18 Billion in Writedowns
Ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry has claimed that interference from Ratan Tata pushed him “into the position of a ‘lame duck’ chairman”, raised a raft of corporate governance issues in the Tata group, and warned of Rs 18 billion in writedowns, over time, from five unprofitable businesses. He added that the net worth of the group was Rs 1.74 trillion.
In an e-mail to the board of Tata Sons Ltd, a copy of which has been seen by Mint, he also referred to the changes in the Articles of Association of Tata Sons which hampered his ability to function freely.
Source: Livemint
2. iPhone Annual Sales in India Surge Over 50 Percent
Apple's iPhone sales in India surged more than 50 percent in the year ended September, among the few bright spots for the smartphone maker that reported its first annual sales and profit decline in 15 years.
“Our iPhone sales in India were up over 50 percent in fiscal 2016 compared to the prior year and we believe we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of this large and growing market opportunity,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said during an earnings call. Cook said India could be as big a market as China and would be crucial for the smartphone maker.
Source: The Economic Times
3. Bharti Airtel Seeks To Clear ‘Confusion’ Over Proposed Rs 1,000 Crore Penalty
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd on Wednesday said that it will approach government and telecom regulator TRAI to clear the “confusion” that led to proposed penalty of over Rs 1,000 crore on it for not providing interconnection facility to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.
“We are aware of proposed penalty. We believe there is confusion here. We will find a way to go back to TRAI and DoT. We are very confident that government will take a very objective position in the Herculean efforts we have put to resolve this issue,” Bharti Airtel MD and CEO for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal said during analyst call on Wednesday.
Source: BloombergQuint
4. SEBI, Bourses Keep Close Watch
Securities and Exchange Board of India will seek details from Tata Group companies on corporate governance issues flagged by outgoing chairman Cyrus Mistry in an e-mail to the board of Tata Sons. Separately, stock exchanges on Wednesday sought clarification from the Tata Group's listed firms on the matter.
“We are keeping a close watch on all the developments and are studying the letter addressed to that board raising corporate governance issues,” said a senior SEBI official.
The regulator will also seek the minutes of the board meeting of Tata Global Beverages that was held on Wednesday.
Source: The Economic Times
5. Consumer Goods Firms Report Poor Q2 Results, But Expect Better Times
Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) and other packaged consumer goods firms reported subdued consumer demand in the fiscal second quarter even as they said they expect a revival in demand in the second half of the year after a normal monsoon brought relief to drought-hit farmers after two years.
Companies are confident the worst is over where demand is concerned, even though rising raw material prices present a challenge and are likely to hit profitability.
Source: Livemint
6. Airtel Readying Aggressive 4G Bundled Offers to Take on Reliance Jio
Bharti Airtel will shortly unleash aggressive 4G bundled offers to take on new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm, even as India’s No 1 mobile carrier struggles to revive its slowing data revenue growth and boost penetration amid rising competitive intensity.
Airtel also plans to approach the regulators to clear up any confusion over providing interconnection points (PoIs) to Jio as it has provided more PoIs to the Mukesh Ambani-owned company than any other teleco, said Gopal Vittal, managing director, India & South Asia, at Bharti Airtel
Source: The Economic Times
7. States Should Align Plans With Budget Date Change, Modi Urges
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the presentation of Union Budget is being advanced by about a month to ensure speedier implementation of schemes and urged states to align their plans with this move to take the maximum advantage.
He referred to the issue during his monthly meeting of PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation), an ICT-based platform where he interacts directly with top officials of states to discuss implementation of programmes and schemes.
Source: BloombergQuint
8. GST Speculation Slows Luxury Car Sales
There isn't much to celebrate for luxury car companies this festive season.
At the time of the year when sales usually peak, these companies are dealing with a large number of prospective customers who are postponing their buying decision. The reason: Continuing uncertainty over the rate of goods and services tax. Many industry executives are now pruning their sales estimates, which widely were for double-digit expansion this year.
Discussions on fixing the tax rates remain inconclusive with the GST Council set to meet again in the first half of November. The expectation is that the GST would be set at 26 percent for the auto sector, which in theory should reduce the prices of luxury cars that at present attract as much as 52 percent in taxes under various heads.
But the uniform rate is likely to come with a caveat: There are proposals to impose a cess on luxury goods to the extent that the new indirect tax system doesn't hurt government revenue that would mean no change in the price that the buyer pays.
Source: The Economic Times
9. Paytm Names Alibaba’s K Guru Gowrappan as Additional Director
One97 Communications Ltd, the company that runs online payments service Paytm, has named K Guru Gowrappan of Alibaba Group as an additional director on its board amid an on-going shuffle at the board of directors level.
Paytm in the last two weeks has added three new board members replacing Ruchi Sanghvi, vice president operations at Dropbox; Naveen Tewari, chief executive of InMobi and Vivek Mathur of SAIF Partners.
Source: Livemint
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