Category Archives: BUSINESS

‘Worst is over’, says Byju Raveendran after FY22 results

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New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) After six stressful and tough learning months, Byju Raveendran is back in the game, consolidating the loss-making acquisitions like WhiteHat Jr and optimising the rest, while doubling down on opening more physical tuition centres. According to him, “the worst is finally over” and there is only “growth ahead” as seen in the company’s FY22 financial results.

The edtech company with nearly $22 billion valuation went through an ordeal as it delayed the audited FY21 financial reports for nearly 18 months, inviting government scrutiny and serious questions from the public.

The FY21 report is out, with massive losses to the tune of Rs 4,500 crore, while BYJU’s needs to pay the rest of the acquisition amount (about Rs 2,000 crore) to global VC firm Blackstore in the $950 million Aakash acquisition by September 23.

Raveendran told IANS that he is not worried at all about paying the rest of the acquisition money as the core education business is doing excellent and the company has a healthy cash reserve of more than $1 billion.

“The losses that you see in FY21 is because 40 per cent of the revenue got deferred on account of two things: revenue recognition change because of streaming revenue getting recognised over the period of consumption of the product,” Raveendran explained in a free-wheeling interview.

He said that the other reason for the audit delay was that EMI or credit sales were getting recognised after the complete significant collection was done.

“There are the main reasons for audit delay, apart from the initial reasons like Covid and then the complexity of our business moving from a single product, single geography offering to multi-product, multi subsidiary offering across the world,” emphasised Raveendran, adding that while the revenue got pushed out, the cost expenses during the financial year did not.

In 2007, he founded the test preparation business Byju’s Classes, and in 2011 Raveendran founded BYJU’s with his wife, Divya Gokulnath.

Last year, he went on an acquisition spree. The edtech unicorn made at least 10 acquisitions for a cumulative transaction value of about $2.5 billion — including Delhi-based offline test preparatory services provider Aakash for $950 million.

Raveendran said that loss-making acquisitions like WhiteHat Jr, the beleaguered coding platform BYJU’s acquired for $300 million, are now being consolidated.

“WhiteHat Jr is underperforming as it has a very high marketing cost attached to it. This is one of the businesses where we are seeing Covid pull-back. We have the structural challenges as it has an inefficient cost structure,” he told IANS.

Raveendran said that they don’t have the product challenge with WhiteHat Jr as they added Maths with coding on the platform.

The edtech major clocked gross revenues of nearly Rs 10,000 crore in FY22, leaving its investors happy and Raveendran, a relieved man.

“From here on, we will double down on growth as our core business is booming. Both Aakash Institute and Great Learning are doing excellent and have doubled their revenues,” Raveendran stressed.

In June, BYJU cut at least 600 jobs — asking 300 employees at its Toppr learning platform and another 300 at coding platform WhiteHat Jr to go.

On any future job cuts, Raveendran said that apart from getting rid of few redundant roles and some functions becoming optimised, BYJU’s is actually hiring more people while absorbing the right mix of workers into other products.

“We today have 50,000-plus employees, that’s up from 20,000-plus 18 months back. The total number of employees in the ecosystem is growing. Several new functions and initiatives have been created where we are hiring a lot of teachers, because of the hybrid learning centres like Akash which are really growing well,” the BYJU’s CEO told IANS.

He said BYJU’s is hiring at least 1,000 employees on a month-to-month basis, even more.

Raveendran is confident that the remaining amount in the Aakash deal will reach Blackstone soon, as he charts a new course for BYJU’s in months to come, as the next big funding raise is in the offing.

Ministry changes threshold paid-up capital for small companies to Rs. 4 Cr, turnover to Rs. 40 Cr

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New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) Aiming to facilitate the ease of doing business and reduce compliance burden on small companies, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has revised the threshold for paid up capital for such companies.

The government has taken several measures in the recent past towards ease of doing business and ease of living for the corporations. These included decriminalisation of various provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 & the LLP Act, 2008, extending fast track mergers to startups, incentivising incorporation of One Person Companies (OPCs), etc.

Earlier, definition of small companies under the Companies Act, 2013 was revised by increasing their thresholds for paid up capital from “not exceeding Rs 50 lakh” to “not exceeding Rs 2 crore” and turnover from “not exceeding Rs 2 crore” to “not exceeding Rs 20 crore”.

This definition has, now, been further revised by increasing such thresholds for paid up Capital from “not exceeding Rs 2 crore” to “not exceeding Rs 4 crore” and turnover from “not exceeding Rs 20 crore” to “not exceeding Rs 40 crore”.

Small companies represent the entrepreneurial aspirations and innovation capabilities of lakhs of citizens and contribute to the growth and employment in a significant manner.

The ministry said that the government has always been committed to taking measures which create a more conducive business environment for law-abiding companies, including reduction of compliance burden on such companies.

Some of the benefits of reduction in compliance burden as a result of the revised definition for small companies include ‘No need to prepare cash flow statement as part of financial statement’, ‘Advantage of preparing and filing an Abridged Annual Return’, ‘Mandatory rotation of auditor not required’ and ‘An Auditor of a small company is not required to report on the adequacy of the internal financial controls and its operating effectiveness in the auditor’s report.

The benefits also include holding of only two board meetings in a year, annual return of the company can be signed by the company secretary, or where there is no company secretary, by a director of the company and lesser penalties for small companies.

FTC to tame gig economy firms in US

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Washington, Sep 16 (IANS) The Lina Khan-led Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US has announced a new policy to tame gig economy companies and platforms in order to protect all kinds of delivery partners/online cab drivers from unfair contracts, pay and hours.

The FTC approved a new policy by a 3-2 vote, saying that “protecting these workers from unfair, deceptive, and anticompetitive practices is a priority, and the Federal Trade Commission will use its full authority to do so”.

It will continue to “capitalise on its broad jurisdiction and interdisciplinary expertise to combat unlawful practices that harm gig workers”.

Over the last two years, groups like the Gig Workers Collective are addressing the concerns of delivery partners for companies like DoorDash and Instacart.

But the groups have struggled to make significant industry changes without the legal protections of a conventional union, reports The Verge.

The rapid growth of the gig economy is made possible by the contributions of drivers, shoppers, cleaners, care workers, designers, freelancers, and other workers.

Gig workers are paid in different ways, including weekly, in “batches” after completing multiple gigs, or immediately upon completing a gig (for a fee).

“Many workers are heavily dependent on customer tips. Gig companies may generate revenue from multiple sources, including a ‘take rate’ (a percentage of customer payments for workers’ services), customer fees, and commissions charged to merchants,” said the FTC.

Meanwhile, gig companies tightly prescribe and control their workers’ tasks in ways “that run counter to the promise of independence and an alternative to traditional jobs”.

At the same time, gig companies may use non-transparent algorithms to capture more revenue from customer payments for workers’ services than customers or workers understand.

“This dynamic calls for scrutiny of promises gig platforms make, or information they fail to disclose, about the financial proposition of gig work,” said the FTC.

Behind the scenes, ever-changing algorithms may dictate core aspects of workers’ relationship with a given company’s platform, leaving them with an invisible, inscrutable boss.

“Workers have little leverage to demand transparency from gig companies,” the FTC added.

Tencent fires entire editorial staff of its Fanbyte publication

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Hong Kong, Sep 16 (IANS) Chinese conglomerate Tencent has laid off all of the editorial staff at Fanbyte, an online gaming publication owned by it.

Some of the staff members at Fanbyte posted their ordeal on Twitter, saying the website’s editor-in-chief, head of media, features editor, social editor, news editor, graphic designer, podcast producer and authors were sacked.

“Fanbyte employees were laid off slowly, one by one, over the course of several hours,” reports TechCrunch.

The Fanbyte Instagram bio with a display name ‘forgot the keys?’ read: “Tencent made $35 billion in net income last year and laid off almost every member of child company Fanbyte! Please support the staff elsewhere”.

A Fanbyte employee Merritt K tweeted on Friday: “I see a lot of empathy going out to everyone who was fired today but let’s please also spare some thought for the people who had to fire everyone one by one over the course of countless hours, drawing out the delicious psychological torture.”

Tencent did not make an official comment on the development.

Last month, Tencent fired 5,500 employees, after posting a revenue of $19.8 billion in the June quarter, down 3 per cent which was the first decline since going public.

Tencent downsized its workforce for the first time since 2014.

The company attributed the weak performance to “fewer big game releases, lower user spending, and the implementation of minor protection measures”.

 

IRCTC not issuing invoice, causing huge loss to exchequer: Tax consultant

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Chandigarh, Sep 16 (IANS) The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways, is causing loss to the exchequer by not issuing invoice to the consumers for eatables sold within trains, a tax consultant said on Friday.

In a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Chandigarh-based tax consultant Ajay Jagga said the Supreme Court recently issued notices to the Central government on a plea seeking to plug existing loopholes in the GST system.

The IRCTC, which is selling food in the trains, appears to be a similar entity causing huge loss to the exchequer, he said.

He said he travelled in Shatabdi Express to New Delhi from Chandigarh on Thursday. While travelling, he ordered a cup of tea and paid Rs 20 for this.

Later he asked for an invoice. On his insistence, an invoice of Satyam Caterers Private Ltd was issued.

One cup of tea sold without invoice results in a GST loss of Re 1, he said. “Imagine other items like cold drinks, chocolates and food booked within the train without issuing invoices,” Jagga, a former member of the Tax Intelligence Unit, told IANS.

Also, he said, the waiters were charging food amount in the bill but not issuing the invoice to the consumers.

“The working of IRCTC waiters and other staff is causing huge losses to the exchequers. On one hand, we are penalizing shopkeepers for not issuing bills and on the other the IRCTC is not issuing bills and the number of such transactions, pan-India, would be in lakhs everyday,” said his letter.

Earlier, in a letter to the Union Finance Minister, he had said the Centre should issue necessary advisory to all states that restaurants should stop charging unjustified extra cost, which was being imposed on consumers for items such as pastry, cake, etc.

Oracle Cloud biz sees 100% growth in India, doubles its customer base

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Sep 15 (IANS) Cloud major Oracle on Thursday said its India business saw a tremendous growth in the first quarter of FY23, with the Oracle Cloud Unit (OCI) clocking over 100 per cent growth (year-on-year) for the third year in a row.

In India, the OCI is growing at 25 per cent quarter on quarter (QoQ) and the company has clocked double-digit growth across all lines of businesses, in some even triple digit, Kapil Makhija, Vice President – Technology Cloud Business, Oracle India, told IANS.

“This is specifically true for the India region where in the IaaS/PaaS market, we are growing at 25 per cent QoQ continuing on the growth trend we have been witnessing for the last three years,” said Makhija.

He said that in the last eight months, the company catered to more cloud projects than it had in the last three years — across the private and public sectors.

“This momentum indicates the value that OCI has brought to customers as a result of speed of execution, performance, scalability and cost savings,” Makhija added.

In the first quarter of FY23, Oracle was a huge growth across all lines of businesses.

“Oracle India stands apart in the cloud space in the IaaS and PaaS market. Cloud technology has done significantly well and Oracle’s India business has been a strong growth engine for the company,” the Oracle executive noted.

Oracle’s quarterly revenues were up 18 per cent year-over-year to $11.4 billion globally.

Makhija said the company aims to be the preferred cloud provider for all Indian organisations, both in the private and public sectors.

“Our MeitY empanelled cloud regions, in Mumbai and Hyderabad, are running at full capacity and as a result, we have doubled our cloud customer base in the past few years,” he told IANS.

New customers are HDFC Life, Federal Bank, NSE, Cognizant, Manappuram Comptech and Consultants Limited, SBI, Polycab, Forbes Marshall Pvt Ltd and Tensor etc, according to the company.

“We have also defined more avenues of working with our partners and expanding business opportunities for them and us,” said Makhija.

Oracle serves more than 15,000 customers in India across large and SMB enterprises, across the private and public sectors.

The Cloud major has 38 Cloud regions in 20 countries and 6 more are planned by end of 2022.

PM Narendra Modi meets King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck

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The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has met the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in New Delhi today.

Both the dignitaries have discussed the various ideas to further strengthen the close and unique India-Bhutan friendship. Shri Modi has also conveyed his appreciation for the guiding vision provided by successive Druk Gyalpos in shaping  relations between India and Bhutan.”

In a tweet, the Prime Minister said;

“Had a warm meeting with His Majesty the King of Bhutan. Discussed various ideas to further strengthen the close and unique India-Bhutan friendship. Conveyed my appreciation for the guiding vision provided by successive Druk Gyalpos in shaping our relations.”

PM meets King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck

 

 

G20 members to introduce assessment tool to evaluate policies for disabled people

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Jakarta, Sep 14 (IANS) Representatives of G20 countries have agreed to introduce an assessment instrument to measure how far each country’s policies have accommodated the needs of people with disabilities.

The agreement was concluded at the Sixth G20 Employment Working Group (EWG) meeting in Bali, which mainly discussed inclusive job opportunities.

“We aim to ensure that workers with disabilities could have the same opportunities as other workers. Thus, we agree to formulate an instrument that can evaluate whether the policies in every country have been friendly with the disabled people and how far their realisations of affirmative actions for the people with disabilities,” Secretary General of Indonesia’s Manpower Ministry Anwar Sanusi said on Tuesday in a written statement released after the G20 EWG meeting.

G20 flags

The G20 EWG, he added, also raised other development issues, including the development of capacity of human resources and social protection in the working environment.

“Inclusive job creation is one of the issues raised by Indonesia’s G20 Presidency at the EWG meeting that will later be discussed further at the Labor and Employment Ministers Meeting held tomorrow (Wednesday),” Sanusi said.

Delhi court orders probe into Rs.800 Crore bank scam, involving PSBs

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A new bank scam has come into light before a Delhi court which on Tuesday ordered a court-monitored investigation. The scam involving among other public sector banks, the State Bank of India, runs into Rs 800 crore, allegedly involving an infrastructure company director.

The FIR in this regard was registered by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Shivani Chauhan of Saket District Court, heard an application filed by complainant Vaibhav Jalan against Gaurav Jalan, Director of JKM Infra Projects Ltd and ordered the probe.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that the accused allegedly created fictitious invoices and transferred the money from the company accounts to shell companies’ accounts, but no effective investigation has been carried out by the Investigating Officer and the complainant was not called for purpose of the probe in the last ten months.

Taking note of the submissions, the court directed the EOW to file a status report seeking the investigation carried out by it in the last 10 months and what investigation has been conducted on the discrepancies highlighted by a forensic audit of the company.

It also noted the apprehension that the accused may flee the country to evade the process of law. The matter will be further heard on November 11. (IANS)

Foreign Service: Jennifer Larson is new US Consulate General in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad, Sep 13 (IANS) Jennifer Larson is the new Consul General of the US in Hyderabad.

She previously served as Deputy Principal Officer at the US Consulate General in Mumbai and as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for India.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be here in Hyderabad. I’ve spent the last five years working on the US-India relationship from Mumbai and Washington. Now I’m honored to have the opportunity to expand our partnership in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha,” she said.

“From joint military exercises and business ties to cultural exchanges and higher education, the US-India relationship is only growing broader and deeper in Hyderabad.”

Jennifer Larson new US Consul General in Hyderabad.

According to a statement from the Consulate General, Larson brings 19 years of diplomatic experience with her to Hyderabad.

She most recently served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for India in Washington, where she supported the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in formulating and implementing US-India policy.

In that capacity, she spoke at “A Roadmap for Indo-Pacific Regional Cooperation in a Post-Covid 19 World Order,” an international conference organised by the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad in March.

Larson was most recently overseas as Deputy Principal Officer at the US Consulate General in Mumbai from 2016-2020, the second-highest ranking official in the consulate.

In addition to serving as spokesperson in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in Washington, D.C., she has also served in Libya, Pakistan, France, Sudan, Jerusalem, and Lebanon.

Before joining the Foreign Service, Consul General Larson worked for National Public Radio’s San Francisco affiliate as a talk show producer.

She completed her undergraduate and graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley in Comparative Literature (Arabic, Spanish and French) and Middle East Studies.

India to assume G20 Presidency for a year from Dec 1; Sets priorities

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New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) India has listed its priorities ahead of assuming the G20 Presidency for a year from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs said: “Our G20 priorities are in the process of being firmed up, ongoing conversations inter alia revolve around:

  • Inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth;
  • LiFE (Lifestyle For Environment);
  • women’s empowerment;
  • digital public infrastructure and tech-enabled development in areas ranging from health, agriculture and education to commerce,
  • skill-mapping,
  • culture and tourism;
  • climate financing;
  • circular economy;
  • global food security;
  • energy security;
  • green hydrogen;
  • disaster risk reduction and resilience;
  • developmental cooperation;
  • fight against economic crime; and multilateral reforms”.

    Under the role, India is expected to host over 200 G20 meetings across the country, beginning from this December.

    The G20 Leaders’ Summit at the level of Heads of State Government is scheduled to be held on September 9-10, 2023 in New Delhi, said the Ministry statement.

    The G20 is an inter-governmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies.

    G20 comprises 20 countries — India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US — and the European Union (EU).

    Collectively, the G20 accounts for 85 per cent of the global GDP, 75 per cent of international trade and two-thirds of the world population, making it the premier forum for international economic cooperation.

  • G20 flags

    India is part of the G20 Troika (current, previous and incoming G20 Presidencies), which includes Indonesia and Italy.

    “During our Presidency, India, Indonesia and Brazil would form the Troika. This would be the first time when the Troika would consist of three developing countries and emerging economies, providing them a greater voice,” the statement said.

    The G20 currently comprises Finance Track, with eight workstreams (Global Macroeconomic Policies, Infrastructure Financing, International Financial Architecture, Sustainable Finance, Financial Inclusion, Health Finance, International Taxation, Financial Sector Reforms)

    Sherpa Track, with 12 workstreams — Anti-corruption, Agriculture, Culture, Development, Digital Economy, Employment, Environment and Climate, Education, Energy Transition, Health, Trade and Investment, Tourism.

    Ten Engagement Groups of private sector/civil society/independent bodies (Business 20, Civil 20, Labour 20, Parliament 20, Science 20, Supreme Audit Institutions 20, Think 20, Urban 20, Women 20 and Youth 20).

    In addition to G20 members, there has been a tradition of the G20 Presidency inviting some guest countries and international organizations to its meetings and summit.

    Accordingly, in addition to regular international organizations (UN, IMF, World Bank, WHO, WTO, ILO, FSB and OECD) and Chairs of Regional Organizations (AU, AUDA-NEPAD and ASEAN).

    India, as G20 Presidency, will be inviting Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and UAE as guest countries, as well as the International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Asian Development Bank as guest international organizations.

Tata Group to invest Rs 600 cr in West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

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Kolkata, Sep 12 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday afternoon claimed that Tata Group will invest Rs 600 crore in Jalpaiguri district shortly.

Although she made this claim at an event to hand over appointment letters to various beneficiaries under ‘Utkarsh Bangla’, a skill development scheme of the state government on Monday afternoon, she did not divulge any further details on this count like the sector where the investment will take place or the time by when the investment will be made.

Till the time this report was filed, there was neither any confirmation nor any denial from the Tata Group on this count.

“We are happy that the Tata Group will be investing Rs 600 crore at Jalpaiguri’s Raninagar. The speciality of the project will be 66 per cent of the women employed there will be women. During the last one year, 45,000 women from West Bengal have been directly absorbed at different places,” the chief minister said.

To recall, in 2006, immediately after the seventh Left Front government came to power in West Bengal with Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as the chief minister, Tata Motors announced setting up of its small car, Nano factory at Singur in Hooghly district in West Bengal. However, Trinamool Congress under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee started a massive movement against the project alleging forceful land acquisition by the state government for the project.

Finally in October 2008, the Tata Group chairman, Ratan Tata announced pulling out of Singur. Gujarat’s Sanand became the new destination for the Nano factory.

“I think some time back I mentioned that if somebody puts a gun to my head, you will pull the trigger or you take the gun away because I will not move my head. I think Ms Banerjee has pulled the trigger,” Ratan Tata said in October 2008 while announcing the pull-out of the Nano factory from Singur.

After that in 2011, the 34-year-old Left Front regime ended in West Bengal making way for the entry of Trinamool Congress regime with Mamata Banerjee as the chief minister. Since then, fresh investments by Tata Group in West Bengal have just remained an illusion.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs cracks down on Chinese shell companies

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After the simultaneous search and seizure operations conducted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on 8th Sept. 2022, on the offices of Jillian Consultants India Private Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jilian Hong Kong Ltd., at Gurgaon, Fininty Pvt Ltd at Bangalore and Husys Consulting Ltd, an erstwhile listed company at Hyderabad, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has arrested Mr Dortse yesterday.

Mr Dortse is on the Board of Jillian India Ltd and has clearly emerged as the mastermind of the whole racket of incorporating large number of shell companies with Chinese links in India and providing dummy Directors on their Boards. The arrested person Mr. Dortse had shown himself to be a resident of Mandi in Himachal Pradesh as per the records filed with the Registrar of Companies.

​Evidence procured during the enquiry by ROC Delhi and the simultaneous search operations clearly points to dummy Directors being paid by Jilian India Ltd. to act as dummies in several shell companies. Boxes filled with company seals and digital signatures of dummy directors have been recovered from the site.  The Indian employees were in touch with the Chinese counterparts through a Chinese instant messaging app. Husys Ltd. was also found to be acting on behalf of Jilian India Ltd.. Initial observations reveal that Husys Ltd. had a pact with Jilian Hong Kong Ltd. Investigations so far have revealed the possible involvement of these shell companies in serious financial crimes detrimental to the financial security of the country.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, under whose aegis SFIO operates, had assigned the investigation of Jilian Consultants India Private Limited and 32 other companies to SFIO on 9th  Sept., 2022. Mr. Dortse and one Chinese national are the two directors in Jilian Consultants India Private Limited. Based on inputs and the investigations carried out, it was gathered that Mr. Dortse had fled from Delhi NCR to a remote place in the state of Bihar and was attempting to escape India through the road route. Immediately, a special team was constituted in SFIO which was deputed to the said remote place. In the evening of 10th Sept., 2022, SFIO had arrested Mr. Dortse, who was later produced in the Jurisdictional Court and Orders for his transit remand were obtained.

India to provide loan assistance to print school books for Sri Lankan children

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Amid ongoing economic crisis with skyrocketing inflation and dollar crunch, Sri Lanka will get Indian loan assistance to print text books for school children for the year 2023.

Education Minister Susil Premejanatha said that steps have been taken to import raw materials including papers and ink required for textbook printing under Indian credit line for 2023 education year starting from next March.

With no dollars to import printing material, education was one of the main victims of current economic crisis the country has been going through and in March last year, the island nation cancelled examinations for millions of students with no papers to print exam papers.

Sri Lanka provides text books and school uniforms for students free of cost at a cost of around $44 million.

India has extended 8 Lines of Credit (LOCs) to Sri Lanka amounting to US$1,850.64 million in the past 10 years, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar informed the Lok Sabha last month.

“Government of India has extended 08 Lines of Credit (LOCs) to Sri Lanka amounting to USD 1,850.64 million in sectors including railways, infrastructure, defence, renewable energy, petroleum and fertilizers in the past 10 years,” Jaishankar said in a written reply.

In January 2022, India extended a $400 million currency swap and a Line of Credit of US$ 500 million for importing fuel from India. India has extended a credit facility of US$ 1 billion for the procurement of food, medicines and other essential items from India.

In addition, humanitarian assistance was provided to Sri Lanka by gifting essential medicines worth about INR 6 crores, 15,000 litres of kerosene oil and US$55 million LoC for procurement of Urea fertilizer.

India has provided the biggest financial support so far extending $4 billion for the year 2022 alone. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to provide $2.9 billion over four years with conditions to help salvage the country from its economic crisis.

 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chairs meeting on “Illegal Loan Apps”; Steps to prevent operations

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Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting yesterday to discuss the various issues related to “Illegal Loan Apps” outside the regular banking channels.

The meeting was attended by the Finance Secretary, Ministry of Finance; Secretary, Economic Affairs; Secretary, Revenue, & Corporate Affairs (Addl. Charge); Secretary, Financial Services; Secretary, Electronics & Information technology; Deputy Governor, RBI; and Executive Director, RBI.

The Finance Minister expressed concern on increasing instances of Illegal Loan Apps offering loans/micro credits, especially to vulnerable & low-income group people at exorbitantly high interest rates and processing/hidden charges, and predatory recovery practices involving blackmailing, criminal intimidation etc. Smt. Sitharaman also noted the possibility of money laundering, tax evasions, breach/privacy of data, and misuse of unregulated payment aggregators, shell companies, defunct NBFCs etc. for perpetrating such actions.

After detailed deliberations on legal, procedural & technical aspects of the issue, it was decided in the meeting that:

  • RBI will prepare a “Whitelist” of all the legal Apps and MeitY will ensure that only these “Whitelist” Apps are hosted on App Stores.
  • RBI will monitor the ‘mule/rented’ accounts that may be used for money laundering and to review/cancel dormant NBFCs to avoid their misuse.
  • RBI will ensure that registration of payment aggregators be completed within a timeframe and no un-registered payment aggregator be allowed to function after that.
  • MCA will identify shell companies and de-register them to prevent their misuse.
  • Steps should be taken to increase cyber awareness for customers, bank employees, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders.
  • All Ministries/Agencies to take all possible actions to prevent operations of such Illegal Loan Apps.

The Ministry of Finance will monitor the actionable points for compliance on a regular basis.

Cyrus Mistry’s Demise: What happens to SP Group’s stake in Tata Sons

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Cyrus P. Mistry, 54, a scion of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group and former Chairman of Tata Group, was killed in a road accident in Palghar on Sunday afternoon, sending shock waves across the Mumbai circle of businesses and on the future of SP Group’s stake in Tata Sons.

He is survived by his wife, two children and a sister and an elder brother.

The last rites of Mistry, 54, who was killed in a road accident in Palghar on Sunday afternoon, shall be performed at the Worli Crematorium at 11 a.m. Tuesday, the mourning family said in a statement.

“Beloved husband of Rohiqa, father of Firoz and Zahan, son of the late Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry and Patsy Mistry, son-in-law of Iqbal and Roshan Chagla, brother of Laila Rustom Jehangir, Aloo Noel Tata and Shapoor Mistry,” said the family requesting “No condolence visits.”

Cyrus Mistry

The young business tycoon Mistry’s abrupt departure left the Indian corporate world shocked and has put the spotlight again on SP group’s substantial 18.37 per cent holding in Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group.

The SP group had talked about separation in the past after a troubled relationship with Ratan Tata and media reports in March this year said the group was taking a Rs.15,000 crore loan against the holding in Tata Sons.

SP Group had talked about separation two years back in September 2020 before the Supreme Court, where the group pleaded that a separation from the Tata Group is necessary due to the potential impact this continuing litigation could have on livelihoods and the economy.

The SP-Tata relationship spanning over 70 years, was impacted by the ouster of Cyrus Mistry from the Chairman’s position at Tata Sons in 2016.

The boardroom coup was shrouded in mystery, forced cyrus Mistry take a long-running legal battle until the top court ruled in Tata’s favour.

Centre helps Manipur to organize pineapples export promotion show in Dubai

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In a move towards harnessing export potential of naturally grown, organic certified fresh pineapples of North-Eastern Region (NER), centre, through Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) organized an in-store export promotion programme in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for Manipur’s pineapples among consumers.

The ‘in-store promotion show’ of organic certified fibre rich Kwe variety of pineapples from Manipur, was organized at the Lulu hyper market, Dubai’s largest supermarket in association with Manipur Organic Mission Agency (MOMA) of Government of Manipur. This event is part of government’s strategy to promote locally produced agricultural products in the international markets.

Manipur Organic Mission Agency (MOMA) has supported the sourcing of organic certified Kwe variety of pineapples directly from the farmers of Manipur.

pine apple/Photo:en.wikipedia.org

The Manipur pineapple, which is showcased with the support from APEDA, is fibre-rich sweetener from North Eastern Region (NER). The showcased pineapples are procured from Thayong Organic Producer Company Ltd in Imphal East district, Manipur.

At the in-store export promotion show, consumers were offered Manipur pineapple to taste the sweetness of the fruit. Northeast pineapple is one of the most important tropical fruits grown in the NER and the fibre-rich fruit is cultivated in almost all the region.

With a production of 134.82 metric tonne (MT) in 2020-21, Manipur ranks sixth in pineapple production having a share of 7.46 per cent in total production in India.

The top ten importing countries of Indian pineapples are UAE, Nepal, Qatar, Maldives, USA, Bhutan, Belgium, Iran, Bahrain and Oman. A quantity of 7665.42 MT of pineapples valued at USD 4.45 million was exported in the year 2021-22.

Manipur/Photo:en.wikipedia.org

With the intervention of APEDA, there has been a significant increase in the export of agricultural produce from NE states like Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Meghalaya in the last few years.

Besides pineapple, the APEDA has also decided to take forward the promotion of other locally grown unique horticultural products from Manipur to the international market. The other unique products from Manipur are tamenglong orange, kachai lemon, black rice, etc.

Tripura was the first North Eastern state to export its ‘queen’ variety of pineapple to Dubai and Doha in 2018. Tripura’s pineapple was also exported to Bangladesh in 2020. Assam also made a debut in pineapple export to Dubai in 2019.

The NE region witnessed an 85.34 percent growth in the export of agricultural products in the last six years as it increased from USD 2.52 million in 2016-17 to USD 17.2 million in 2021-22. The major destination of export has been Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe.

In the last three years, APEDA organised 136 capacity building programmes on export awareness across the different parts of NER. Highest, 62 capacity building programmes were held in NER in 2019-20, while 21 in 2020-21 and 53 such programmes were organised by APEDA in the year 2021-22. Apart from capacity building initiatives, APEDA facilitated 22 International Buyer-Seller Meets as well as trade fairs in NER in the last three years.

APEDA also organized a conference on the Export Potential of Natural, Organic and Geographical Indications (GI) Agro Products in Guwahati on June 24, 2022 to tap the abundant export potential of organic agricultural products from Assam and neighbouring states of NER.

APEDA aims at creating a platform in Manipur for the exporters to get the products directly from the producer group and the processors. The platform will link the producers and processors of Assam and exporters from other parts of the country that would expand the base of the export pockets in the North-Eastern states, including Manipur and increase the employment opportunities among the people of the state.

On the occasion, APEDA chairman Dr. M. Angamuthu stressed on promoting processed form of value-added pineapple to sustain in the global export market for a longer time period.

“We need to focus on promoting pineapple sourced from farmers in processed form in the Gulf countries through Lulu Group. It will help farmers in better price realization of their produce,” Dr Angamuthu said. Shri P Vaiphel, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Manipur also attended the meet.

Big Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala left behind Rs. 50,000 Crore for family; 4th child gets a bit

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Legal fraternity sources have revealed that top stockbroker and Big Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has left a will which will provide direction and intent on his heirs and the handling of his colossal fortune, believed to be worth approximately Rs 50,000 crore.

He had arranged in his will to ensure his estate, including shares and property, is bequeathed to his wife and three children. In fact, he would often speak about his fourth child – charity – and a little part of his fortune will go to his favourite charities though the exact amount is not known.

His assets – direct holdings in listed and unlisted companies as well as immovable properties pass on to his wife and three children, said a person from the legal fraternity on condition of anonymity.

The Big Bull is known to own 35 company holdings with huge investments in: construction and contracting (11 per cent), miscellaneous (nine per cent), banks (private sector) (6 per cent), finance (general) (6 per cent), construction and contracting (civil) (6 per cent), pharmaceuticals (6 per cent), and banks (public sector) (3 per cent).

Jhunjhunwala has three children – daughter Nishtha (18) and twin sons, Aryamaan and Aryavir (13). He would call charity his fourth child.

While his listed holdings are reportedly worth Rs 50,000 crore, his immovable properties include a sea-facing building in Malabar Hill, Mumbai, purchased from Standard Chartered Bank for Rs 176 crore in 2013, and a holiday home in Lonavala.

Moreover, his long time legal associate Berjis Desai is reportedly the main executor of the will. The will be read out in the presence of his family after all the Hindu rituals are completed.

Desai, who is ex-managing partner of J Sagar Associates, has known the value investor for close to 25 years. He is now an independent legal counsel engaged in private client practice and also a co-investor in Jhunjhunwala’s new aviation venture Akasa Air.

Adani Group shares fall drastically after ‘debt trap’ warning

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Adani Wilmar stock lost 3.86 per cent intraday to Rs 663 on Wednesday against the previous close of Rs 689.60 on BSE, on Tuesday when it closed 4.73 per cent lower from the previous close of Rs 723.85 on Monday.

Its market cap fell to Rs 87,338 crore on BSE. The stock has lost 24.57 per cent till date from record high amid debt trp warning by CreditSights.

Adani Group, deeply overleveraged with numerous investments in capital-intensive businesses could land in “masive debt trap”, warned CreditSights, a Fitch Group’s debt research unit on Tuesday.

Currently, the conglomerate’s total debt is pegged at 2.3 trillion rupees ($28.80 billion). The conglomerate’s debt-funded growth plans could culminate in distress or default of its companies and impact the broader Indian economy in a “worst-case scenario”, the unit said.

Adani group debt trap warning

Shares in Adani Group companies including flagship Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports, and Adani Power fell soon after the release of the report.

Shares of Adani Green, up about 170% in the last one year fell by 6.9%. Adani Power, which has seen five-fold increase in share price fell 5% on Tuesday.

The grim assessment comes at a time its group companies are investing in new sectors such as news media, telecom, cement and long-term infra projects.

As the interest rates are going up again, the heavy debt of the Adani companies may pose a risk due to the long gestation period of some infrastructure projects, CreditSights said in its report.

Another fact the research unit cited was “high key-man risk” in Gautam Adani’s absence as the management structure may find it inadequate to deal with.