Not averse to takeover of weak biz during Covid-19 crisis: Uday Kotak

'Why should an investor be barred from selling his investments, which are currently hammered on account of the pandemic ?,' said Kotak

Newly elected CII president Uday Kotak has said that he is not averse to the idea of takeover of weak businesses by financially strong entities, as long as it is in the interest of investors.

“Why should an investor be barred from selling his investments, which are currently hammered on account of the pandemic?,” said Kotak, adding that the decision to take a call should be left to the investor.

However, he said, the government could take steps to prevent and protect India’s domestic businesses from predatory takeover from investors belonging to certain specific nations, because of strategic reasons.

“Is this money coming from countries where we have a strategic-level issue?... then it’s a very separate issue. Even the US wants to protect some key strategic sectors from some countries, for good reason. So, I would say that is a very different reason,” he added. As far as other takeovers are concerned, he said:

 “We have to look at the interests of both sides. On the one side is the interest of an existing entrenched management... on the other side is a very poor performance of the investors’ money”.

Tamil Nadu plans to give relocation incentives for firms moving to state

Tamil Nadu houses over 620 Japanese companies, making it the home for the second largest number of Japanese companies operating in India.

In a bid to attract investors who are planning to relocate their manufacturing bases post Covid-19, Tamil Nadu said relocation incentives will be provided for companies moving to the state from other countries.

Tamil Nadu's Principal Secretary for Industries, N Muruganandam spoke on the challenges and emerging opportunities in Electronic Sector with the potential investors from Japan in a webinar organised by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Indian Embassy. Several participants from companies such as Panasonic, Daikin, TDK Corporation etc have attended the webinar.

Tamil Nadu is the second largest economic powerhouse in India and is the most sought-after investment destinations due to its strategic location, conducive business environment, state-of-the-art infrastructure, proactive governance and favourable ecosystem, said Muruganandam.

He added, the state provides the best incentives and support system in the region. It also provides Special Investment Promotion Task Force to attract investors from countries which are planning to relocate their manufacturing bases post Covid-19.

Relocation incentives will be provided for companies relocating to Tamil Nadu from other countries on a case-by-case basis.

Tamil Nadu houses over 620 Japanese companies, making it the home for the second largest number of Japanese companies operating in India. The state also has the largest Japanese expat community in India.

Lawrence Tesler, Silicon Valley inventor of 'cut, copy and paste', dies

Bronx-born Lawrence "Larry" Tesler died this week at age 74, according to Xerox, where he spent part of his career.

Silicon Valley on Wednesday was mourning a pioneering computer scientist whose accomplishments included inventing the widely relied on "cut, copy and paste" command.

Bronx-born Lawrence "Larry" Tesler died this week at age 74, according to Xerox, where he spent part of his career.

"The inventor of cut/copy & paste, find & replace, and more was former Xerox researcher Larry Tesler," the company tweeted.

"Your workday is easier thanks to his revolutionary ideas. Larry passed away Monday, so please join us in celebrating him." A graduate of Stanford University, Tesler specialized in human-computer interaction, employing his skills at Amazon, Apple, Yahoo, and the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

The cut and paste command was reportedly inspired by old time editing that involved actually cutting portions of printed text and affixing them elsewhere with adhesive.

"Tesler created the idea of 'cut, copy, & paste' and combined computer science training with a counterculture vision that computers should be for everyone," the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley tweeted Wednesday.

The command was made popular by Apple after being incorporated in software on the Lisa computer in 1983 and the original Macintosh that debuted the next year. Tesler worked for Apple in 1980 after being recruited away from Xerox by late co-founder Steve Jobs.

Tesler spent 17 years at Apple, rising to chief scientist.

He went on to establish an education startup and do stints in user-experience technology at Amazon and Yahoo.

TDS levy on e-comm transactions may impact working capital: Amit Agarwal

Agarwalwas speaking at 14th India Digital Summit organised by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Theproposed levy of1 per cent TDS on e-commerce transactions announced in the recent Budget may seemlike a harmless 'papercut' but could impactworking capital of small businesses,Amit Agarwal, country head of Amazon India and Chairman of industry body IAMAI said on Wednesday.

Agarwal said the focus for India should be on "removing friction and bottlenecks" and added that the target of USD 1 trillion digital economy is not far fetched for a country that is seen as a digital powerhouse.

"Just look at the most recent Budget. There is an introduction of tax collection at source. These seem like harmless papercuts but really impact the working capital of small businesses," Agarwal said.

A lot can be achieved by focusing on removing friction, he said expressing hope that there will be more attention in enabling this space for successful entrepreneurs.

Agarwalwas speaking at 14th India Digital Summit organised by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Agarwal further advocated a razor sharp focus on skilling, grassroot entrepreneurship, driving equal opportunity through greater women's participation as well as Artificial Intelligence backed solutions, and said a multi pronged approach can enable India to meet its target of USD 5 trillion economy.

He exuded confidence that bold reforms of last few years and India's rising tech clout globally backed by success of Aadhaar, UPI and other initiativeswill help the country scale new highs.

The Union Budget announced on February 1 has proposed a new levy of 1 per cent TDS (tax deducted at source)on e-commerce transactions, a move that could increase burden on sellers on such platforms.

"In order to widen and deepen the tax net by bringing participants of e-commerce (sellers) within tax net, it is proposed to insert a new section 194-O in the Act so as to provide for a new levy of TDS at the rate of one per cent," according to Budget 2020-21 documents.

Uber sells its India food delivery business to Zomato in all-stock deal

The deal is applicable only in India and Uber Eats will continue to operate in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Company News : Uber on Tuesday announced the sale of its food delivery business in India to Zomato in an all-stock deal.

Uber will get a 9.9 per cent stake in Zomato as part of the deal whose size has not been disclosed. The deal for Uber Eats, which operates in 41 cities, was signed at 3 am, and its customers will be shifted to the Zomato app from 7 am.

Around 245 Uber Eats employees will be affected by the deal. However, sources in Uber India say they will be in the pay rolls till March 31 and that the company is making every effort to absorb some of them and provide support to the rest in finding jobs.

The deal is applicable only in India and Uber Eats will continue to operate in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. According to sources the deal value is around $300- 350 million.

“We are proud to have pioneered restaurant discovery and to have created a leading food delivery business across more than 500 cities in India. This acquisition significantly strengthens our position in the category,” said Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato.

Sources said the move is part of Uber’s strategy to be either number one or two in each of their businesses in every country they operate. In India, Uber Eats grew very quickly to take a 12 per cent share of the food delivery market. However, while India constituted for 3 per cent of the global gross booking of Uber Eats it also constituted for 25 per cent of its global EBITDA losses for the business segment. Intense competition in India’s food delivery market prevented India Uber Eats from taking either the first or second position, which are with Zomato and Swiggy.

The move to double down in India will help Uber Inc to improve the financials of Uber Eats.

Uber is concentrating on making its cab hailing business in India profitable and will expand of its network within the country from 50 cities to 200 cities this year.

“India remains an exceptionally important market to Uber and we will continue to invest in growing our local Rides business, which is already the clear category leader. We have been very impressed by Zomato’s ability to grow rapidly in a capital-efficient manner and we wish them continued success, ” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber.

The move is expected to push Zomato to the top slot in this space, pushing down Swiggy.

Air India unions may demand VRS in meeting with Hardeep Singh Puri today

The government is planning to float Expression of Interest (EoI) for selling its entire 100 per cent stake in the loss-making flag carrier some time next week.

Company News : Air India trade unions are likely to demand a VRS package at their second meeting with Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri in New Delhi on Monday.

The minister is set to meet over a dozen Air India unions, including unrecognised ones, on Monday for the second time in a month over the airline's privatisation plans.

The government is planning to float Expression of Interest (EoI) for selling its entire 100 per cent stake in the loss-making flag carrier some time next week.

At the first meeting on January 2, the minister had made it clear that privatisation was the only option before the government to keep the airline afloat and sought employees cooperation in carrying out the disinvestment process.

Puri had also told the unions that he will call them again after the meeting of the ministerial panel on Air India disinvestment.

"Initially, we were told that government would protect our jobs if airline gets privatised and therefore we did not think about voluntary retirement.

"But off late, our members have been approaching us and want us to discuss a voluntary retirement scheme package with the government as it is expected that our job will be protected only for one year post privatisation. We are going to raise this issue at the meeting with the minister on Monday," an airline source told PTI.

The source said that if the government agrees "in-principle" on their demand, the unions will work out the contours of the VRS package, including the service cut-off period and the quantum of monetary compensation.

Media reports suggest that the new investor may be allowed to retain Air India's some 11,000 employees only for one year after the carrier goes into private hands.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during its meeting on January 7 approved the plan to invite EoI and the sale-purchase agreement for the disinvestment of state-run carrier, an official had earlier said.

Air India's net loss in 2018-19 was around Rs 8,556 crore. Moreover, its per day losses are estimated to be in the range of Rs 20-26 crore, alongwith a debt of around Rs 80,000 crore.

Stock up: Google-parent Alphabet joins $1 trillion valuation club

Shares of the Internet search giant are up nearly 17% over the last three months, outpacing a broader rally in the S&P 500 index over the same period by 6 percentage points.

Market News : As Google-parent Alphabet Inc became on Thursday the fourth U.S. company to top a market value of more than $1 trillion, some funds holding its shares are wondering whether now is the time to cash in on the stock's extraordinary gains.

Shares of the Internet search giant are up nearly 17% over the last three months, outpacing a broader rally in the S&P 500 index over the same period by 6 percentage points.

Short interest in the stock, a measure of how many investors are betting on a price decline, is at 1%, near a 52-week high for the company and higher than competitors such as Microsoft and Facebook, according to Refinitv data.

Alphabet joins Apple, Amazon.com and Microsoft as the only U.S. companies to hit $1 trillion in market value.

"Google is a stock that won't get you fired," said Kevin Landis, a portfolio manager at Firsthand Funds who hasn't added to his current Alphabet position since the first quarter of 2019. “Will I be able to double my money in this stock from here? I'm not sure about that.”

Alphabet's shares are among a small group of stocks found in the top holdings of both mutual funds and hedge funds, two types of institutions whose investing styles tend to be markedly different, a Goldman Sachs analysis showed. That could leave it exposed to volatile price swings if sentiment suddenly changes.

Despite those concerns, many investors are finding it hard to say goodbye. The 28% climb in Alphabet and the performance of other technology and tech-related stocks helped money managers post big gains in 2019, making it difficult for many to justify cutting their exposure even as they fret over the implications of its run-up.

Ernesto Ramos, portfolio manager of the BMO Large-Cap Growth Fund, has held onto his shares, betting that Alphabet’s exposure to online advertising will eventually justify its above-average valuation. Alphabet trades at 26.6 times future earnings, compared with 18.5 for the S&P 500.

Scott Goginsky, a portfolio manager of the Biondo Focus fund, has held off adding to a longstanding position over the last year, concerned that the company's costs are likely to increase due to its efforts to pre-empt any additional regulatory measures from Washington. That could cut into the margins of businesses like YouTube if it needs to hire additional workers to vet user-posted content, he said.

Indian-born Twitter head who decides on blocking tweets, even Trump's

As Twitter's head of legal and policy issues, Gadde has one of the most difficult jobs in technology.

Whenever somebody on Twitter takes issue with the network’s rules or content policies, they almost always resort to the same strategy: They send a tweet to @jack.

A quick scan of Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey’s mentions show just how often he’s called upon to lay down the law for the service he helped create. But what users don’t know is that they’re imploring the wrong Twitter executive. While Dorsey is the company’s public face, and the final word on all things product and strategy, the taxing job of creating and enforcing Twitter’s rules don’t actually land on the CEO’s shoulders. Instead, that falls to Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde.

As Twitter’s head of legal and policy issues, Gadde has one of the most difficult jobs in technology: Her teams write and enforce the rules for hundreds of millions of internet users. If people break the rules, the offending tweets can be removed, users can be suspended, or in extreme cases booted off Twitter altogether. Dorsey may have to answer for Twitter’s decisions, but he’s taken a hands-off approach to creating and enforcing its content policies.

“He rarely weighs in on an individual enforcement decision,” Gadde said in a recent interview. “I can’t even think of a time. I usually go to him and say, ‘this is what’s going to happen.’”

That leaves Gadde, 45, as the end of the line when it comes to account enforcement — a delicate position in a world where Twitter’s rules are both an affront to free speech and an invitation to racists and bigots, depending on who’s tweeting at you. “No matter what we do we’ve been accused of bias,” Gadde said. “Leaving content up, taking content down — that’s become pretty much background noise.”

Like most corporate lawyers, Gadde generally operates in the background herself, though her influence has helped shape Twitter for most of the past decade. A graduate of Cornell University and New York University Law School, Gadde spent almost a decade at a Bay Area-based law firm working with tech startups before she joined the social-media company in 2011. Her eight-plus years at Twitter are about equal to the amount of time Dorsey has worked there over the years.

Business Standard

Jeff Bezos bets on 'Indian century', gives MSMEs $1-billion push

Commits to exporting $10 billion India-made goods by 2025.

Amazon.com Inc Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said on Wednesday that his company would invest an additional $1 billion (about Rs 7,000 crore) to help bring small businesses online in India, and also committed to using the retail giant’s “size, scope and scale” to export $10 billion of made-in-India goods by 2025.

Bezos’ India visit — for the maiden edition of his firm’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME)-focussed event, Amazon Smbhav — comes at a time when the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is probing his company, as well as Walmart-owned Flipkart, on complaints of deep discounting practices and tie-ups with preferred sellers.

Seeking to reach out to critics, Bezos, donning traditional Indian attire, said his company was committed to being a long-term partner of India.

“Actions speak louder than words,” he added, addressing a packed house in New Delhi.

“We’re making this announcement now because it’s working...When something works, you should double down on it.

I want to make a prediction for you. I predict that the 21st century is going to be the Indian century. The dynamism, the energy… everywhere I go here, I meet people who are working in self-improvement and growth. This country has something special, democracy,” he said.

“I make one more prediction for you: In this 21st century, the most important alliance is going to be the alliance between India and the US,” Jeff Bezos added. The firm aims to digitise 10 million MSMEs with the proposed investment. In addition to providing training and enrolling MSMEs into its programmes, Amazon will help them work on cloud technology through specialised Amazon Web Services offerings at low costs. It will also establish 100 “digital haats’ in cities and villages throughout India.

Huawei likely to conduct trial runs of 5G waves for Airtel, Vodafone

Sources said both Airtel and Vodafone have also joined ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson, apart from Huawei, for conducting the 5G trials.

Company News : Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei is expected to conduct 5G trials for Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, sources said, as the central government finalises the trial runs before the spectrum auctions.

Sources said both Airtel and Vodafone have also joined ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson, apart from Huawei, for conducting the 5G trials. Reliance Jio will rope in South Korean equipment maker Samsung.

State-owned BSNL is also likely to go with ZTE. The firms have submitted applications for 5G trials, industry sources said.

The Chinese firm had had come under a cloud after there were allegations that its electronic and telecom devices helped China to spy on US corporations and agencies. The firm has been barred in Australia and Japan, but welcomed in Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The central government had even constituted a committee headed by its principal scientific advisor to decide on Huawei’s participation in the 5G trials. The trials would establish use cases in the country as a precursor to the full-fledged launch of 5G services.

However, last month, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said the government will allocate airwaves to all telecom service providers for conducting trials of super-fast 5G network, and will not bar any equipment suppliers in the trials. The stance had spelt relief for Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei, which rivals western equipment makers such as Ericsson and is facing curbs in the US.

Huawei India CEO Jay Chen had earlier stated the company firmly believes that only technology innovations and high-quality networks will be the key to rejuvenating the Indian telecom industry.

“We have our full confidence in the [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi government to drive 5G in India. We have our full confidence in Indian government and industry to partner with best technology for India’s own long-term benefit and also for cross-industry development,” Chen had recently said.

7,990 business people committed suicide in 2018; up 2.7 per cent: NCRB data

Karnataka leads the list with highest number of such suicides followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

If an icon like Amitabh Bachchan can seek help, as he did when he asked Yash Chopra for a role during a financially difficult time, others need not feel ashamed to do so; say psychiatrists in Mumbai.

They may have good reason to offer this advice. Lack of awareness about mental health issues and social stigma have contributed to an increase in the number of business people dying by suicide in 2018, breaking a trend of declining numbers over the last two years. A total of 7,990 business people died this way in 2018, up 2.7 per cent from 7,778 the previous year, show government statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). This is based on data which looked at the profession of the people who committed suicide.

The largest number of such cases were in Karnataka (1,113). This is followed by Maharashtra (969) and Tamil Nadu (931). These states are also among the highest-ranked in terms of gross state domestic product, a measure of economic output.

“Now suddenly people feel that it’s become very difficult…even if you are working hard the whole day; it is not necessary that you may make money,” said psychiatrist and author Anjali Chhabria. "People are ashamed and are often made to feel helpless by factors that may not be in their hands," she said.

Separately NCRB data also shows causes of suicide. Over 4,970 individuals died by suicide because of bankruptcy or indebtedness in 2018. They accounted for 3.7 per cent of the total number of suicide deaths during the year.

Interestingly, this is slightly lower than the 5,151 such suicides seen in the previous year, which accounted for 4 per cent of the total suicides in 2017.

Mumbai-based psychiatrist Harish Shetty said that the number could be understated. Bankruptcy is not disclosed in a lot of instances and such cases are often attributed more vaguely to family issues. This is also because of the perceived shame associated with failure in business.

Business Standard

Goldman Sachs readies hiring spree, capital to resume China ambitions

Goldman Sachs Group has spoken publicly only in broad strokes about its strategy for China as the gates come down this year.

The news swept through Goldman’s offices around China, changing everything.

On a Friday afternoon in late 2017, an official in Beijing announced that the world’s most populous nation would let Wall Street banks expand across its markets. Goldman had spent more than a decade waiting in frustration for that chance. Regional bosses including James Paradise and Todd Leland urgently worked the phones, pinning down details to inform headquarters in New York.

Since then, Goldman Sachs Group has spoken publicly only in broad strokes about its strategy for China as the gates come down this year. But inside the firm, a massive effort is taking shape. Three months ago, a team of executives presented a five-year plan for China to the board, calling for the bank to take control of a joint venture it set up with a Chinese securities firm in 2004. Infused with hundreds of millions of dollars in new capital, the unit would embark on a hiring spree to double its workforce to 600 and ramp up a wide variety of businesses.

The strategy—described by senior Goldman executives and others familiar with the plan — shows how Chief Executive Officer David Solomon and President John Waldron are taking up the mantle once carried by former CEO Hank Paulson, betting China will finally make the world’s second-largest economy a more level playing field for foreign investment banks. Last year, they traveled to China seven times to meet senior officials, laying the groundwork. Another round of visits is set for 2020.

“We’re increasingly optimistic that we’re going to have the opportunity to actually move more in the right direction, maybe even faster than we thought,” Waldron said in an interview last week. “If you’re going to have a successful business in China, you need to have an appropriate relationship with the government because so much happening in China relates to the government.”

Business Standard

Walmart India fires around 50 executives as part of restructuring: Report

The firings mostly affected executives in the company's real estate division because the growth in the wholesale model has not been that robust.

Walmart Inc, the world's largest retailer, has fired around 50 of its India executives as part of its restructuring in the country, three sources with direct knowledge told Reuters.

The move underscores the struggles Walmart has faced in expanding its wholesale business in India. The Bentonville, Ark. based company currently operates 28 wholesale stores where it sells goods to small shopkeepers, and not to retail consumers.

The firings mostly affected executives in the company's real estate division because the growth in the wholesale model has not been that robust, two of the sources said.

"It's happening because focus is shifting to e-commerce rather than physical (stores)," said one source, who declined to be identified as the decision is not public.

Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.

Walmart has placed bold bets on India's e-commerce sector.

In 2018, it paid $16 billion to acquire a majority stake in India's online marketplace Flipkart, in its biggest global acquisition.

The second source added that while Walmart could slow down the pace of opening new wholesale stores, the focus will increasingly be on boosting sales through business-to-business and retail e-commerce.

Some of the executives were sacked last week and more could be let go on Monday, two sources said.

In a statement to India's Economic Times newspaper, which first reported the news, Walmart said it was always looking for ways to operate more effectively and that "this requires us to review our corporate structure to ensure that we are organised in the right way to best meet the needs of our members".

Walmart has around 600 staff in its India head office out of a total of around 5,300 nationally, one of the sources said.

Read More : Market News

Siemens will back controversial Australian coal project: CEO Joe Kaeser

The German company had said it would decide by Monday on its involvement in the project.

BS : German engineering group Siemens said on Sunday it will fulfil its contractual obligations to a controversial coal mining project in Australia's outback, despite criticism by climate activists including Greta Thunberg.

Siemens was awarded a contract last year to provide signalling technology for a railway line to transport coal from a coal mine run by India's Adani Group in the outback.

The German company had said it would decide by Monday on its involvement in the project.

On Saturday Thunberg called for Siemens to review its role in the project.

"There is practically no legally and economically responsible way to unwind the contract without neglecting fiduciary duties," Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser said in a statement.

Local and federal governments approved the project based on the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as well as hundreds of pages of environmental impact statements, Siemens said.

"While I do have a lot of empathy for environmental matters, I do need to balance different interests of different stakeholders, as long as they have lawful legitimation for what they do," Kaeser said.

"Keeping our promises is Siemens’ highest priority. Only being a credible partner whose word counts also ensures that we can remain an effective partner for a greener future." Environmental activists are concerned that the continued use of coal will lead to higher emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas which is linked to global warming.

Siemens said that it had pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and it fundamentally shares the goal of making fossil fuels redundant over time.

PIN-verification to RideCheck: Uber India announces new safety features

Uber will also be experimenting with audio recording as a safety feature in the Indian market this year.

Business Standard : Uber announced the launch of new safety features for the India market on Thursday.

The first one, RideCheck, will enable the company to note trip irregularities such as long or unexpected stops or midway drops that might indicate an increased safety risk, especially for women.

“If an anomaly is detected, Uber will send a push notification to both driver and rider, through the safety blue shield within the app. They will then see five or six options to clarify on the situation, such as share location, call 100, reach out to the Uber safety line and so on,” said Sachin Kansal, it senior director for global safety products.

The company says the feature is now live for about half of Uber's users and will be available for the other half within two weeks. Riders have complained of not being able to get help or being stranded on roads due to a cab breakdown and so on. This feature could address some of these.

Uber will also be experimenting with audio recording as a safety feature in the Indian market this year. This choice will be given to rider or driver through their phone while on-trip. When the trip ends, the user has the option to report a safety incident and send the recording. The audio file will be recorded within the Uber app and encrypted. The user will not be able to listen to the stored recording on his or her device but may choose to send it to Uber’s customer support agents, who will use the audio to understand what did happen and take action. Only Uber will have access to the audio once the user sends it.
“It is a feature we tested in the Latin America market. We want to make sure we keep local regulation in mind before we pilot it in India,” Kansal said.

Final word is awaited on the Personal Data Protection Bill. Once made into law, this will decide the privacy and personal data protections people would have in cases like these. The third feature is similar to the PIN-verification used by rival firm Ola. Once a rider boards a vehicle, they may provide a four-digit PIN number to the driver, verbally. The driver can then start the trip in the app only when the correct PIN is entered.

“We are also working on making this happen wirelessly — once a user is in close enough proximity with the driver, the PIN number can get entered automatically,” said Kansal.

Suzlon, Jaypee Infra, others disclose default as Sebi tightens norms

The disclosures were made after a November 2019 Securities and Exchange Board of India's directive asking companies to disclose defaults of 30 days and above.

Suzlon, Jaypee Infratech, Hindustan Construction Co (HCC), Reliance Naval and Engineering, Gayatri Projects and numerous different organizations on Tuesday revealed their defaults in their administrative filings to stock trades.

The exposures were made after a November 2019 Securities and Exchange Board of India's order soliciting organizations to reveal defaults from 30 days or more.

Suzlon Energy said the organization's present default sum remained at Rs 7256 crore.

The exposure included the date of default was March 2019.

Of this, Rs 538 crore was expected as intrigue, while the rest of the was a default on chief sum payable. The organization in its exposure pegged its all out budgetary obligation at Rs 14048 crore.

Jaypee Infratech's present default remained at Rs 6,721 crore, while its all out obligation was Rs 13,438 crore. The exposure included the organization was proclaimed a non performing resource in September 2015.

HCC has defaulted on an installment of Rs 277 crore while its absolute obligation was Rs 10,390 crore.

Market News

FAA restricts US air carriers from flying over Iraq, Iran and Persian Gulf

Security has been beefed up around the White House amid heightened tensions with Iran.

International News : The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday said that it was restricting all civilian US aircraft from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran, and the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

"The FAA issued Notices to Airmen (NOTAMS) tonight outlining flight restrictions that prohibit US civil aviation operators from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran, and the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The FAA will continue closely monitoring events in the Middle East. We will continue coordinating with our national security partners and sharing information with US air carriers and foreign civil aviation authorities," the agency said in a statement citing CNN.

This comes after Iran launched a series of attacks on US targets in Iraq including the targetting of two bases at Al-Asad and Abril with over a dozen ballistic missiles.

ALSO READ: Asian shares slump; gold, oil soar after Iran missile strike on US forces

The attacks came in retaliation to the killing of senior Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. Iran has threatened to attack inside America if the US responds to missile attacks. Meanwhile, a White House official said that President Donald Trump will not deliver an address tonight following the missile attacks.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham also said that a separate written statement will not be issued. A statement was issued earlier where Trump was briefed on the missile attack.

Security has been beefed up around the White House amid heightened tensions with Iran, CNN reported citing a law enforcement official.

Dutch brewing giant Heineken likely to raise stake in United Breweries

Banks have got court nod to liquidate assets.

BS : Dutch brewing giant Heineken is likely to increase its stake in the United Breweries (UBL) in its bid to attain controlling stake of 51 per cent or more from the current level of around 46 per cent in the beer company.

Sources said after the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai on Wednesday allowed consortium of 15 banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) to utilise moveable assets of former liquor baron Vijay Mallya, Heineken is looking at approaching these banks to buy out the pledged shares that the creditors are planning to liquidate for recovering debt.

“There is no tearing hurry for Heineken to increase its stake in UBL as it is already the single-largest shareholder in the company. However, if the pledged shares come to market for liquidation, the company will definitely be interested to buy these out for having a controlling stake. It can even approach the banks as it has done in previous instances,” said a source close to the functioning of the company.

A detailed email sent to UBL remained unanswered at the time of going to press.

By the end of September quarter of FY20, Heineken, through its various associate firms, had a stake of around 46 per cent in UBL. Mallya, with his related entities, held 11 per cent in the beer company. However, out of Mallya’s 8.08 per cent holding in the company, 98.11 per cent of shares were pledged or encumbered in one or other forms.

Similarly, Kamsco Industries, one of the related entities of Mallya, with 1.24 per cent of shareholding, had around 70 per cent of its total shares pledged. With a market capitalisation of around Rs 34,000 crore, 11 per cent stake is translated into around Rs 3,740 crore, which the creditors can offload to recover their debts. The lenders’ consortium has to recover over Rs 6,000 crore with interest from the former liquor baron.