Ishant down with pain in right ankle, doubtful starter for second Test

Ishant, who was the best Indian bowler on view with figures of 5/68 in 22.2 overs against Kiwis in Wellington, joined the team before the series after recovering sufficiently from a grade three tear.

The Indian team's worries ahead of the second Test against New Zealand cricket team increased after senior-most pacer Ishant Sharma skipped Friday's practice session due to pain in his right ankle, making him a doubtful starter for the game.

Ishant came for practice but apparently felt discomfort after which he was taken for precautionary scan of his right ankle.

The reports are awaited and if Ishant is ruled unfit, then either Umesh Yadav or Navdeep Saini will take his place. Umesh looks a more likely candidate at the moment because of his experience of 45 Tests.

Ishant, who was the best Indian bowler on view with figures of 5/68 in 22.2 overs against New Zealand in Wellington, joined the team before the series after recovering sufficiently from a grade three tear on his right ankle sustained during a Ranji Trophy game against Vidarbha.

He was expected to be out for six weeks but apparently made a "miraculous recovery" at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) under physio Ashish Kaushik.

Ishant looked in good rhythm despite battling fatigue and jet lag as he arrived in Wellington from Bengaluru barely 72 hours before the start of the first Test.

Vistara takes delivery of its first Boeing B787-9 Dreamliner aircraft

The new aircraft is the first of the six that Vistara has purchased from Boeing.

Vistara took the delivery of its first wide-body Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner plane on Friday, making it the first Indian airline to fly this aircraft.

The plane, which has the registration number VT-TSD, will depart from the Boeing facility here at 2 pm (local time) on Friday and land in Delhi at 2 pm (local time) on Saturday, Vistara officials said here.

The new aircraft is the first of the six that Vistara has purchased from Boeing.

The second Dreamliner aircraft is currently on the production line and will be delivered soon.

Vistara's Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft comes with 299 seats in a three-class cabin configuration, giving customers a choice of business, premium economy and economy cabins.

The aircraft features lie-flat business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration that gives a direct aisle access to each business class passenger and a separate premium economy cabin that offers seats in a 2-3-2 configuration.

The aircraft has in-seat televisions in all three cabins with a high-definition (HD) display, powered by Panasonic as well as in-flight WiFi internet connectivity onboard long-haul international flights, officials stated.

It would make Vistara the first airline to offer WiFi service in India.

Jeff Bezos teams up with Narayana Murthy to enter India's food delivery biz

Amazon's entry in the food delivery business comes at a time when Zomato and Swiggy have started cutting back on discounts.

Amazon is all set to start its food delivery business in India from Bengaluru next month, says a news report in The Economic Times.

The launch of the service, which would be offered as part of either Amazon’s Prime Now or Amazon Fresh platform, could happen as soon as next month. With this, Amazon will take on estabished players such as Zomato and Swiggy.

Executives at two restaurants, who did not want to be named, confirmed that Prione Business Services, a joint venture between Infosys cofounder NR Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures and Amazon India, has been signing contracts with brands to list on Amazon, offering 10-15% commissions, the report said.

The report points out the e-commerce giant had already started pilot testing its service in select parts of Bengaluru, and by March, it will be rolling out to other parts of the country, says a news report in Dainik Bhaskar

Amazon’s entry into the food delivery market would create new challenges for Prosus Ventures -backed Swiggy, and Zomato, a 10-year-old startup that acquired Uber’s Eats business in India for about $180 million in January.

Amazon's entry in the food delivery business comes at a time when Zomato and Swiggy have started cutting back on discounts.

Last month, Bezos told the audience at an Amazon event in New Delhi that the company plans to invest $1 billion in India.

DCC may discuss telcos' AGR issue on Friday; COAI presses for relief

The industry has made a string of demands including a moratorium, staggered mode of payment, lower licence fee and setting up of a tariff floor.

The Digital Communications Commission, the apex decision-making body in the telecom sector, is expected to meet on Friday to deliberate on a relief package for the financially stressed industry.

As directed by the Supreme Court, telecom companies need to pay Rs 1.47 trillion to the government towards licence fee and spectrum charge dues linked to adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

Of this, Bharti Airtel needs to pay Rs 35,500 crore and Vodafone Idea more than Rs 50,000 crore—they have paid just a fraction of the total till now.

The industry has made a string of demands including a moratorium, staggered mode of payment, lower licence fee and setting up of a tariff floor.

Sources said that any relief for the sector would come with riders.

“They (companies) cannot manipulate us, they have to make further payments before even seeking relief,” a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) official said.

The DCC, formerly known as the Telecom Commission, comprises officials from the departments of telecommunications, electronics and information technology, revenue, and think tank NITI Aayog.

The DoT is expected to make a presentation to the commission regarding the possible relief scenarios.

Cellular Operators’ Association of India, a body representing the telecom industry, on Thursday urged the Union government to step in so that the telecom sector can be brought back on track.

COAI, in a letter to Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash, asked for easier terms for payment of statutory dues by telcos, including extension of loans at lower interest rates to cover the AGR liabilities, as also fast implementation of floor prices, to rescue the troubled sector.

Coronavirus: Facebook cancels conference, Microsoft withdraws from another

Microsoft now has plans to hold a digital-only event from March 16-18. Facebook has earlier pulled out of the Game Developers Conference set to be held in San Francisco.

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Thursday it would cancel its annual developer conference due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak and Microsoft Corp followed suit by withdrawing from a gaming conference scheduled for next month.

"In place of the in-person F8 event, we're planning other ways for our community to get together through a combo of locally hosted events, videos and live streamed content," said Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, Facebook's director of platform partnership.

The conference, which attracted 5,000 people from around the world last year, was scheduled to be held on May 5 and 6 in San Jose, California.

Microsoft now has plans to hold a digital-only event from March 16-18. Facebook has earlier pulled out of the Game Developers Conference set to be held in San Francisco.

In California, a person was detected with coronavirus infection on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases in the United States to 15, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency has warned of the possibility of a community spread of the coronavirus in the country.

Earlier this month, The Mobile World Congress (MWC), the annual telecoms industry gathering, was called off after a mass exodus by exhibitors due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak.

AT&T Inc , Verizon Communications Inc and International Business Machines Corp had earlier withdrawn from the RSA cyber security conference, set for Feb. 24 to 28 in San Francisco, due to coronavirus-related concerns.

Alphabet Inc's Google said its developer conference is still planned for May 12 to 14 as it monitors coronavirus developments.

IQOO 3 first Impressions: This 5G smartphone has something for all

A simple glance at the specifications makes it clear that iQOO plans to make it big and better right from the start rather than aiming at the already cluttered mid-range segment.

Technology News : iQOO is the latest player in the Indian smartphone market, and it has started with a bang with its 5G smartphone iQoo 3 that sports a combination of powerful specifications and notable features that brings it in direct competition with OnePlus smartphones and Realme X50 Pro 5G.

We got our hands on the device and here are the first impressions:

Specifications

The 5G version of iQoo 3 comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The key highlight of the phone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset. This is an octa-core SoC manufactured using a 7nm process with Kryo 585 cores backed by Adreno 650 GPU. The smartphone also supports the latest UFS3.1 storage and LPDDR5 RAM.

A simple glance at the specifications makes it clear that iQOO plans to make it big and better right from the start rather than aiming at the already cluttered mid-range segment.

Design and display

It has a 6.44-inch AMOLED display with a tiny hole-punch on the top right. The full-HD+ resolution has good viewing angles. The bezels are very slim that makes the viewing experience better. The iQoo 3 also comes with 90Hz refresh rate display.

Coming to the build quality iQOO 3 is solid and slightly bulky with 214gm weight, but the curved metal frame makes it easy to hold. The phone has a premium feel to it, considering the overall look and even the camera module at the rear complements the design language.

There is a 3.5mm headphone socket on the smartphone at the top, it adds to the convenience of those who still prefer wired earphones. The USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker are at the conventional bottom position but what's unusual is that the SIM tray that can accommodate two Nano-SIMs, is also at the bottom.

The power and the volume buttons are positioned on the right of the frame and they are easily within the reach of the fingers even when you use the phone single-handedly. There is a dedicated button on the left for a virtual voice assistant. The right frame also has pressure-sensitive buttons that come handy for gaming.

The rear panel has Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection to prevent scratches.

Apollo Tyres prunes FY20 and FY21 capex by Rs 300 cr on auto slowdown

The move is in line with other tyre makers' plans to pare their outlays.

Apollo Tyres has decided to cut back its capex by about Rs 300 crore to Rs 2,400 crore in 2019-20 and by a similar amount in FY21, following the slowdown in auto sector. The proposed capex mainly will be at company's upcoming unit in Andhra Pradesh and at its Hungary facility.

During the recent analyst call, company's management said, “The company had started the year with an estimate of Rs 2,700 crore capex, which has now been scaled back to Rs 2,400 crore. Over the last nine months, the company incurred a capex of about Rs 2,000 crore”.

For the next year, the number should be in the range of Rs 1,400-1,500 crore from Rs 1,700-1,800 crore earlier. The decision is in line with other tyre makers' plans to cut down capex due to the slowdown in the auto sector.

"All the competitors, including us, were surprised at the drop in OEMs and particularly the extent of drop in OE business. Because of that, from the announced plans, the capexes have been slowed down by everybody like we have," Gaurav Kumar, chief financial officer of Apollo Tyres told analysts.

"Based on the market information that we get, all the players have slowed down their capital expenditure. So is there specifically some capacity coming up, which will alter the demand‐supply economics in near term? (The answer is) No," he added.

Speaking about the Andhra Pradesh facility, he said, that the plant ramp up may depend on how the demand situation pans out. The ramping up is scheduled to happen over two years, and the full capacity will be available in Fiscal 2023. When it reaches 100 per cent utilisation, it can genrate over Rs 4,000 crore in revenue.

The plant will start making tyres by the end of this year and then its capacity will be expanded to 15,000 car tyres and 3,000 truck radials over a two-year time frame, that is by FY22-end.

Read More : Market News

Is it a good time to buy gold as a safe-haven bet amid coronavirus fears?

Gold, which was hovering around $1,321 an ounce in January 2019, has already breached $1,600 per ounce in the past few sessions to a seven-year high.

For an asset class that has already seen an appreciation of around 25 per cent in a year, analysts expect the onset of coronavirus (Covid-19) to fuel a further upside in gold prices over the long-term should the panic spread. In the short-term (six months), however, they expect the upside to be limited given the rally since the past year.

Gold, which was hovering around $1,321 an ounce in January 2019, has already breached $1,600 per ounce in the past few sessions to a seven-year high.

“The effects of coronavirus is adding to global woes. At a time when we were beginning to think that there could be some resolution to the trade wars, the onset of coronavirus has dealt a double blow to an already slowing world economy,” says Kishore Narne, associate director for commodity research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in mainland China have crossed 2,700, while the number of confirmed cases in mainland China are above 78,400. Moody's Analytics has forecast a global recession if this health scare becomes a pandemic, and the odds of that are uncomfortably high and rising with infections surging in Italy and Korea.

“Gold prices are likely to remain range-bound in the next six months given the rally seen over the last one year. However, one needs to monitor coronavirus-related developments and how global economy plays out. A rise in cases / fatalities could push investors to safe-haven assets like gold and silver, which in turn will see their prices move up,” says G Chokkalingam, founder and managing director at Equinomics Research.

Policy-wise, global central banks are likely to resort to more stimulus measures in the form of rate cuts and/or pumping in more money to revive growth. All this can trigger a liquidity-driven rally in most asset classes, including gold.

How equities will react to this move will also depend on how corporate earnings play out, analysts say.

Tax thorns haunt Walmart-Flipkart deal, foreign shareholders want clarity

AAR is a legally constituted body whose ruling is binding on the applicant as well as government authorities.

Tax-related issues are cropping up in the Walmart-Flipkart deal even almost two years after the transaction was done.

A clutch of foreign firms who were shareholders in Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal-founded Flipkart have moved the Authority of Advance Rulings (AAR) to seek clarity on the taxability of the capital gains arising out of the $16-billion deal struck in May 2018.

American retail major Walmart reportedly deducted taxes from Flipkart's foreign shareholders including SoftBank, Naspers and Accel Partners to pay withholding tax to the government for capital gains made by these entities. A withholding tax, or a retention tax, is an income tax to be paid to the government by the payer of the income rather than by the recipient. The tax is thus withheld or deducted from the income due to the recipient.

AAR is a legally constituted body whose ruling is binding on the applicant as well as government authorities. Under the Income-tax Act, a foreign company or the Indian taxpayer can approach AAR and obtain a ruling on the taxability of the proposed transaction in India. "The authority has taken up some of the cases this month itself and may take four to five months to get a final order on the matter," said a tax official aware of the development.

A SoftBank spokesperson declined to comment, while email questionnaires sent to Accel and Walmart on Tuesday did not elicit any response.

Although some of the foreign investors of Flipkart had sought a lower deduction certificate under Section 197 of the I-T Act from the tax department, a few cases got rejected and others are under consideration.

The I-T provision provides for a buyer to seek a withholding tax certificate from authorities after providing details of the transaction and make a case for availing lower or nil tax rates. The tax rate could be lower in case the non-resident seller invokes the provision of the double tax avoidance agreement.

"This mechanism for obtaining lower deduction certificate enables non-residents to ensure that tax is deducted not on the sale price but on their taxable capital gains arising from such sale. In that case, an applicant can seek a certificate which could result in lower quantum of tax being withheld," explained a tax official privy to the development.

IndusInd Bank CEO race gets interesting as Tata Capital's Sabharwal enters

No other bank in the country has almost its entire top brass so closely associated with its helmsman throughout the larger part of their careers.

The contest to succeed Romesh Sobti at IndusInd Bank has got a little more interesting with the lender considering Rajiv Sabharwal of Tata Capital as a probable candidate.

It is now a two-way race between Sabharwal, Tata Capital’s managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), and Sumant Kathpalia, head of consumer banking at the Hindujas-promoted bank, according to sources in the know.

This is probably the first instance where the chief of a non-banking financial company (NBFC) is being considered for the corner office at a bank. When contacted, Tata Capital said: “The information is completely untrue.” Sobti’s term as MD and CEO of IndusInd Bank will end on March 23.

Outsiders have moved into the corner offices in two private sector banks — Amitabh Chaudhry from HDFC Life Insurance succeeded Shikha Sharma at Axis Bank, and Ravneet Gill from Deutsche Bank came into YES Bank after Rana Kapoor’s removal. Sandeep Bakhshi, who replaced Chanda Kochhar as ICICI Bank MD and CEO, was chief operating officer at the bank, and an ICICI group veteran of over three decades.

IndusInd Bank, however, doesn’t face any of the issues that cropped up ahead of the baton change at ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and YES Bank. It is surmised that the central bank may not necessarily plump for continuity by way of an “insider”.

No other bank in the country has almost its entire top brass so closely associated with its helmsman throughout the larger part of their careers. And it was always speculated that it is not certain if the team will hold together in case one among them was to step into Sobti’s shoes.

This concern was flagged in 2014 by analysts when Sobti’s tenure was extended by a year (the retirement age for the heads of private banks was 65 then). A year’s extension was given as then in-the-works P J Nayak Committee on governance in banks had initially deliberated on 65 as the age limit for bank CEOs. It was later decided to go by the Companies Act and the limit was extended to 70.

The RBI expects private banks to put in place a succession plan well in advance so that there is adequate time for the identified successor to settle down – be it an internal or external candidate. In the case of both Sobti and Puri, the year gone by has been about whether the central bank would align the age limit for directors in private bank boards to 75 from 70 to bring it in alignment with the Companies Act (2013). It did not budge, and wanted fresh talent to come in.

In 120 years, equity returns have outpaced bonds & bills: Credit Suisse

In all, Credit Suisse has included 26 countries for the study as a part of this Yearbook.

Market News : Adjusted for inflation, equities as an asset class have returned 5.2 per cent on an annualised basis over the past 120 years (since 1900), outpacing the returns by bonds at 2 per cent and bills at 0.8 per cent, says the latest Credit Suisse Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2020.

The countries included in the Yearbook represented 98 per cent of the global equity market in 1900 and still represent over 91 per cent of the investable universe at the start of 2020. In all, Credit Suisse has included 26 countries for the study as a part of this Yearbook.

Over the past 120 years (since 1900), equities have outperformed bonds, bills and inflation in 21 countries. For the world as a whole, equities outperformed bills by 4.3 per cent per year and outperformed bonds by 3.1 per cent per year.

However, over the last decade, global equities performed well with an annualised real return of 7.6 per cent, as compared to real return of 3.6 per cent from bonds, Credit Suisse says. As regards bonds, Sweden has been the best-performing country in terms of real bond returns, with an annualized return of 2.7 per cent since 1900, followed by Switzerland, New Zealand and Canada with annualized returns of 2.4 per cent, 2.3 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively, the Credit Suisse study says.

“2019 was a superb year for equities, with the Yearbook world index returning 28 per cent (measured in US dollar terms). The best performing market was Russia, with a return of 56 per cent (in US dollar terms), followed by Switzerland at 33 per cent. The US equity market gave a return of 30 per cent. Despite very low start-year yields, bonds also performed well in 2019, with returns of 12 per cent in the US, 9 per cent in the UK and Switzerland, and just over 10 per cent (in US dollar terms) on the world index,” wrote Richard Kersley, head of global thematic research at Credit Suisse in the Yearbook 2020 co-authored with Nannette Hechler-Fayd'herbe, their chief investment officer for International Wealth Management.

Global recession likely if COVID-19 becomes pandemic: Moody's Analytics

COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan in China in December and has since affected thousands of people across the globe.

A global recession is likely if coronavirus becomes a pandemic, and the odds of that are uncomfortably high and rising with infections surging in Italy and Korea, Moody's Analytics said on Wednesday.

"The coronavirus has been a body blow to the Chinese economy, which now threatens to take out the entire global economy," Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics Mark Zandi said.

The outbreak of the virus, officially called COVID-19, was first detected in Wuhan in China in December and has since affected thousands of people across the globe.

"COVID-19 is battering the global economy in numerous ways. Chinese business travel and tourism has all but stopped; global airlines are not going to China and cruise lines are cancelling most Asia-Pacific itineraries. This is a huge problem for major travel destinations, including in the US, where some 3 million Chinese tourists visit each year," Moody's Analytics said.

Chinese tourists to the US are among the biggest spenders of any foreign tourists. Travel in Europe is also sure to be severely impacted as Milan, Italy, the centre of the new infections in that country, is a major travel hub for the Continent.

Shuttered Chinese factories are also a problem for countries and companies fastened into China's manufacturing supply chain. Apple, Nike and General Motors are some prominent American examples.

Shortages of some goods will likely result this spring, meaning higher prices for things we buy at Walmart and on Amazon, it said.

AGR: Bharti Airtel has capacity to withstand $5 bn payout, says Moody's

Bharti recorded a Rs 35,300 crore ($5 billion) liability for past-due AGR fees.

Moody's Investors Service said on Wednesday said Bharti Airtel has the financial capacity to withstand a payout of $5 billion in statutory dues.

The Supreme Court earlier this month directed telecom firms to comply with its October 24, 2019 judgment upholding the Department of Telecommunication's (DoT) definition of adjusted gross revenues (AGR).

Bharti recorded a Rs 35,300 crore ($5 billion) liability for past-due AGR fees associated with this litigation, but is still completing its self-assessment to determine the final amount, Moody's said.

It said a Rs 35,300 crore cash payment will not cause a significant deterioration in the credit quality of Bharti Airtel while in the alternate scenario of a smaller cash payment of Rs 25,200 crore reflecting the principal and interest amount only, would position the company more comfortably within its current rating.

Full payment is to be made by March 17.

"Recent capital-raising activities provide additional liquidity to fund the AGR payment," it said.

The AGR payment is a cash obligation of the Indian operations.

As on December 31, 2019, the firm had consolidated cash and short term investments of $4.2 billion, with around $2.3 billion held at the Indian operations.

"Following recent capital-raising, we estimated (Bharti's) cash is over $5.0 billion, which can be used to fund the final AGR payment," it said.

Moody's further said that fundamentals in the Indian telco industry are improving, but uncertainty around the sustainability of the improvement and future cash requirements (including 4G/5G spectrum auction) remains.

Moody's said India accounts for around 75 per cent of Bharti Airtel's debt and 60 per cent of EBITDA.

Realme C3 review: Good performance overall, but camera disappoints

This smartphone could be a good option for those looking for a performer, but if you are looking for Instagram-worthy pictures, you might not be impressed.

Technology News : After launching several smartphones last year, Chinese smartphone brand Realme is continuing to bring more smartphones to the Indian market. After the Realme 5i, the company has brought the Realme C3, aimed at those who love to binge-watch movies and web series.

The Realme C3 comes with some notable software and hardware upgrades over the Realme C2, including MediaTek's Helio G70 Processor chipset and a 5,000-mAh battery.

In the first impression, we felt the smartphone was worthy of some praise but we couldn't just do that at its face value, so we used the phone for a few days and here is what we found:

Design and display

The phone's textured back panel is a deviation from the usual gradient design we see in most smartphones these days. Apart from that, the phone is lightweight, despite a 5, 000mAh battery.

The power and volume buttons are on the right and left sides, respectively. But they are very sleek, hence a bit difficult to locate. The phone has a tray for two Nano-SIMs and a microSD card. There are a Micro-USB port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a loudspeaker at the conventional bottom position.

Despite 195g weight, the Realme C3 feels light. The phone is available in Frozen Blue and Blazing Red colour options.

When it comes to display, the smartphone has a 6.5-inch LCD screen with 1,600 x 720 pixel resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, and 89.8 percent screen-to-body ratio. The screen has Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

The display may not impress much at first, but it seems fine when you get used to the phone. This smartphone is for those people who watch a lot of web series and shows on their phone. For that, it just fits fine. But you would have to adjust brightness when using it outdoors. Since it doesn't have a Widevine L1 certification, you will not be able to play HD videos on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc.

Overall, it looks like any other smartphone in its price range, but the back panel separates it from others.

Hit by technical glitch for 12 hrs, RTGS, NEFT transactions restored at RBI

Transactions via NEFT and RTGS were affected for almost 12 hours beginning Monday midnight.

Transactions via National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), which were affected for almost 12 hours beginning Monday midnight due to a technical glitch at the Reserve Bank of India, have been restored to normalcy. 

According to The Hindu Businessline, the problem seemed to have been encountered by Indian Financial Technology & Allied Services (IFTAS), a RBI subsidiary, when moving the disaster recovery site from one location to another.

“We are trying to complete the end-of-day for RTGS transactions of the previous day. The start-of-day for RTGS has not happened. NEFT transactions have now been restored,” a banker told Businessline on Tuesday, and added that normalcy in RTGS was expected to be fully restored.

NEFT is a nationwide payment system facilitating one-to-one funds transfer. Under this, individuals, firms and corporates can electronically transfer funds from any bank branch to any individual, firm or corporate having an account with any other bank branch in the country participating in the scheme. There is no limit — minimum or maximum — on the amount of funds that can be transferred using NEFT.

Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) is a system where there is continuous and real-time settlement of funds transfers, individually, on a transaction-by-transaction basis. The system is primarily meant for large-value transactions. While the minimum amount that can be remitted through RTGS is Rs 200,000, there is no upper ceiling.

With 6 airports already in folio, Adani turns to Air India

The Tata group, the Hinduja group, Indigo and a New York-based fund, Interups, are also expected to submit their EoIs. The deadline of submitting the EoI is March 17.

The Adani group, which has already won the bid to manage 6 airports, is now all set to join the race of acquiring the state-run airline - Air India. And for this, the conglomerate is planning to submit an expression of interest (EoI) by next month, disclosed a source close to the development.

However, the final decision depends on the outcome of the due diligence post submission of the EoI. Since, after the EoI process only prospective bidders will get access to airline data.

The Adani group is not the only one interested in this complex deal. The Tata group, the Hinduja group, Indigo and a New York-based fund, Interups, are also expected to submit their EoIs. The deadline of submitting the EoI is 17th March.

This is the second attempt made by the Centre to sell the airline after it failed to receive interest in the first round last year.

As a matter of fact, sale of Air India to a private player is important for the central government as it has had to pump in Rs 30,000 crore of tax payer’s money into the airline since 2012. The airline, however, has not made money since the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines in 2007.

Apart from Air India, the government has also offered to sell Air India Express and its 50 per cent stake in Air India SATS Airport Services.

Therefore, they have come up with changes like relaxation of various norms, including clearing of the balance sheet, transfering of remaining portion to the special purpose vehicles, introduction of minimum shareholding of an investor and much more to ensure success this time.

Despite this, things are not easy for the Adani group as, according to the bid criteria an airline or a group owning an airline cannot own more than 27 per cent in the six airports that are already with the Adani group.

A similar clause restricting airlines or group owning airlines from owning more than 10 per cent in Delhi airport recently resulted in collapse of the Tata-GIC group’s investment in GMR.

Delhi most polluted capital, India has 18 of top 30 worst AQI ranked cities

While Ghaziabad topped the list of most polluted regional cities (110 PM2.5), India ranked sixth on the list of 98 countries in PM2.5 concentration just behind Pakistan.

With an average of 98.6 Particulate Matter (PM 2.5) concentration, Delhi topped the list of most polluted capital cities in the world. 18 of the 30 most polluted cities in 2019 were from India. A recent report released by AirVisual, which monitors international air pollution, revealed the startling fact despite the government’s push to reduce air pollution.

While Ghaziabad topped the list of most polluted regional cities (110 PM2.5), India ranked sixth on the list of 98 countries in PM2.5 concentration behind Pakistan and Bangladesh. The majority of polluted cities and countries in the report are in the South Asia region, which includes 30 of the top 40 most polluted cities and four of the five most polluted countries.

“While pollution sources across the region vary, common contributors include transportation emissions, biomass burning for household cooking, open agricultural burning, industry, and coal combustion,” the report said.

Delhi experienced its longest period of hazardous air pollution during late October and early November 2019. The grim situation had forced the government to declare a public health emergency, temporarily ordering schools to close and construction activities to be stopped during the night.

Commenting on the World Air Quality Report 2019, Avinash Chanchal, Senior Campaigner at Greenpeace India said, “In Delhi, be it bypass roads, shutting down of Badarpur power plant, shifting the industries to PNG and BS-VI mandate have resulted in reduction of pollution levels on an annual average basis, supported by favorable meteorological conditions in 2019, but latest World Air Quality Report is an indication that the steps taken are not sufficient.”

The report highlighted the government’s actions in curbing air pollution with the launch of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to reduce PM2.5 and PM10 in 102 cities by 20-30 per cent by 2024 compared to 2017 levels. “While the long-term impacts of these activities are yet to be seen, India saw widespread improvements in PM2.5 levels in 2019, compared to 2018 as a result of economic slowdown, favorable meteorological conditions, as well as more dedicated efforts towards cleaning the air,” the report added.

Despite the efforts, India still leads the ranking of polluted cities with half of the 50 most polluted cities. Meanwhile, none of the Indian cities monitored for the report met the World Health Organisation (WHO) target for annual pollution exposure during 2019.