Bad news for creditors as IL&FS, 40 arms move NCLT seeking debt protection

Debt-laden infrastructure financier IL&FS and its 40 subsidiaries have filed a petition with the Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking to restructure its debt under Section 230 of the Companies Act 2013.

The company moved the NCLT Mumbai on Monday “seeking certain reliefs” in connection with filing of scheme of arrangement under Section 230 of the Companies Act, said IL&FS in a filing with the exchanges. The scheme will be prepared in compliance with applicable laws and subject to necessary consents of shareholders, creditors and boards of directors of the relevant entities.

IL&FS subsidiaries include IFIN, ITNL, IL&FS Energy Development and IL&FS Engineering & Construction Ltd. The other companies include roads and construction companies.

The Section 230 to 240 of the Companies Act, 2013, contains provisions on ‘Compromises, Arrangements and Amalgamations’, that covers compromise or arrangements, mergers and amalgamations, corporate debt restructuring, demergers, fast track mergers for small companies/holding subsidiary companies, cross border mergers, takeovers, amalgamation of companies in public interest, etc.

Paytm launches two new services under wealth management offering

Mobile application basedfinancial services platform Paytm has announced the launch of two new services - Gold Gifting and Gold Savings Plan as part of its wealth management offering, Paytm Gold.
The company said the customers can now send 24K 999.9 purity gold to each other instantly - offering them a convenient gifting solution.
It said that more than 60 per cent of Paytm Gold purchases are from tier two and three cities with millennial constitutingthe majority.

The platform has witnessed repeat purchases of Paytm Gold worth up to Rs 500 at regular intervals, thecompany said in a release.

On the Gold Savings Plan, the company said the scheme intends to help customers conveniently andregularly save in gold as per their budget and requirement byentering the duration, frequency and amount of gold they wantto save.
The company said the customer's gold will be stored in MMTC PAMP's 'secure and 100% insured' lockers for free and they can get delivery of this gold at any time.
"This would eliminate additional fees associated with offline Gold purchase like making and locker charges, while offering customers access to trusted and affordable gold savings for the long-term," the company said.

Lamborghini launches its first super SUV 'Urus' in India for Rs 30 mn

Italian super sports car maker Lamborghini on Thursday launched its first super sports utility vehicle 'Urus' in the country, priced at Rs 30 million.

With the launch of a new model, Lamborghini expects its volumes to surge 2.5-3 times, it said.

"India as a market is playing a very interesting role step by step into the overall sales globally. Urus will change the game for Lamborghini in India in terms of volumes and we expect to grow our volumes 2.5-3 times," Lamborghini General Manager for Asia Pacific Andrea Baldi said.

Stating that India is a strategic market for the company's further growth, Lamborghini India head Sharad Agarwal said given the preference for SUV cars among Indians, "we believe that Urus is going to be an exciting and important product and will open up a completely new segment of customers for us in India.

Reliance JioPhone 'explodes'; intentional sabotage to malign us, says co

A JipPhone customer from Kashmir has alleged that the device exploded while it was on charging mode. Soon, the photos of the exploded phone were shared on Twitter by PhoneRadar.

Responding to the allegations, Jio’s spokesperson said in a statement to Financial Express that the issue is a case of “intentional sabotage”. The Twitter handle that shared the picture of the burned device has now deleted the post.

“JioPhones are designed and manufactured with global standards, and each phone goes through stringent quality control process. The said incident has been reported to us. Our initial investigation suggests that this is a case of intentional sabotage,” said the company in a statement.

JioPhone Photo: PhoneRadar The statement further added that the damage to the device seems to have been intentionally caused to malign the brand and the company will take appropriate action based on further investigations.

The Reliance JioPhone is India’s first 4G LTE-enabled


feature with VoLTE capability. The pre-booking of the phone began recently. The first batch is already out and the second batch is promised by the company to reach by Diwali.

Recently, Micromax also joined the 4G feature phone bandwagon with the launch of Bharat-1 in partnership with BSNL.

JioPhone pre-booking starts today at 5 pm: You can book it for Rs 500

The pre-booking of JioPhone will start for Rs 500 across its retail stores, the website and Jio App from 5 pm on Thursday, according to a message sent out by Reliance Jio.

"India Ka Smartphone is finally here! Pre-booking for JioPhone starts Aug 24 at 5 pm," an SMS sent to a Jio customer read.

A leading channel partner of RELIANCE JIO Retail, which did not wish to be named, said the messages are being sent to all those who have registered their interest in JioPhone.

"As announced by RIL CMD (Mukesh Ambani), JioPhone will be given against payment of fully-refundable deposit of Rs 1,500. Customers will be able to book JioPhone for Rs 500 and the balance Rs 1,000 can be paid at the time of delivery in September. The total amount will be refunded after 36 months when the customer returns the phone," the partner said.

Ambani had announced that voice calling for customers of the "effectively free" JioPhone would always be free and they would get unlimited data for a month against payment of Rs 153.

Jio has also announced a weekly plan for Rs 53 and a 2-day plan for Rs 23 for unlimited data access.

CLICK TO READ FEATURES OF JIO PHONE

Ramdev's Patanjali Amla juice found unsafe; Army canteens suspend sale

The canteen stores department(CSD), the retailing platform for India's defence forces suspended the sale of Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved's amla juice after receiving a negative state laboratory test report about the product. In a letter dated April 3, 2017, the CSD asked all depots to make debit notes for their existing stock so that the Amla Juice can be sent back to Patanjali.

Amla Juice was one of Patanjali's first consumer launches which helped the company establish its credentials in the consumer business segment. As per reports, a batch of juice tested at the lab in Kolkata was declared unfit for consumption. Patanjali has therefore withdrawn amla juice from all army canteens.

According to a report of  Economic Times, CSD is the retailer for India's defence forces with selling nearly 5,300 products to about 12 million personnel of the Indian defence services, including their families and ex-servicemen.

It must be noted here that the same lab in Kolkata had detected high lead levels and MSG in the samples of Nestle Maggi noodles two years ago, that had initially led Nestle to withdraw the brand across India.

It is not the first time that Patanajli has fallen into a controversy. The company had been also questioned for selling noodles and pasta without relevant licences. Advertisements of some of its products are accused of misleading customers.
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Govt to hire UK arbitrator to bring back Vijay Mallya

The government is planning to get on board a UK-based “independent arbitrator” to appear on behalf of Indian authorities and put up a strong case of extradition against absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya, an Enforcement Directorate (ED) official said.

The move comes in view of India’s past experiences with extradition cases and long-drawn legal processes.

Mallya was briefly arrested in London on Tuesday over accusations of fraud by Indian probe agencies and presented before the Westminster Magistrates’ Court for an extradition hearing. He was released on bail a few hours later.

The 61-year-old businessman had fled India last year after banks started seeking his arrest over unpaid loans tied to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

“The person who will represent the case should be well-versed with the judicial system of the country where the matter will be heard. The court of law differs from country to country, so it is essential that the representative knows the law and legal remedies of that country,” said the official cited above.

Sources said there were at least a dozen instances in the past when Indian agencies lost cases due to lack of understanding of the State laws.

Some officials said the chances of Mallya being extradited anytime soon were less than 30 per cent, considering the “civil” nature of charges against him. He can seek relief on the grounds that he is not one among the “big loan defaulters”. Loan default cannot be a major factor to extradite any person, another official of the enforcement agency said.
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Vijay Mallya arrested in London, gets bail; could be extradited to India

Businessman Vijay Mallya has reportedly been arrested in London by Scotland Yard just weeks after UK set in motion the process of extradition of the industrialist who has been declared a proclaimed offender.

Mallya fled to UK in March 2016 after being pursued in courts by banks seeking to recover about Rs 9,000 crore owed by his Kingfisher Airline.

Last month, the British government certified India's request and sent it to a district judge for further action.

CNBC-TV18 on Tuesday reported that Mallya has been produced in a local court in the UK and will soon be handed over to India.

Mallya, however, later tweeted that the whole arrest issue was "the usual Indian media hype" and that it was only the scheduled court hearing on extradition that had taken place:

Vijay Mallya 

✔@TheVijayMallya

Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected.

Mallya has avoided several summon notices from Indian courts.  

Despite multiple injunctions, he has failed to appear before investigators at the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Earlier in January this year, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case.

Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had fled India on March 2, 2016.

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Flipkart raises $1.4 bn at $11.6 bn valuation, acquires eBay India

India’s largest e-commerce marketplace Flipkart has closed a $1.4 billion funding round with backing from Chinese Internet giant Tencent and participation from Microsoft and eBay Inc, at a valuation of $ 11.6 billion, the company said on Monday..

This latest round of funding brings down the valuation from a previous high of $15 billion, but it underlies the fact that Flipkart, which was written off, has made a rebound to attract investors in the company. Flipkart’s earlier investors Tiger Global Management, Naspers Group, Accel Partners and DST Global participated in the round. Flipkart will acquire the India unit of eBay Inc which will continue to be independent.

“We are delighted that Tencent, eBay and Microsoft — all innovation powerhouses — have chosen to partner with us on their India journey. We have chosen these partners based on their long histories of pioneering industries, and the unique expertise and insights each of them bring to Flipkart. This deal reaffirms our resolve to hasten the transformation of commerce in India through technology,” Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, Founders of Flipkart, said in a statement. (READ MORE)

You can't file oppression plea against Tata Sons: Tribunal to Cyrus Mistry

Latest Business News - In a setback to the Mistrys, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday said that former Tata group chairman, Cyruy Mistry's family firms are not qualified to file a petition alleging mismanagement of Tata Sons and oppression of minority shareholders. “The petitioners have failed to convince the court that the application is maintainable,” B.S.V. Kumar, presiding member of NCLT, said  in Mumbai today. 

In a statement, the Law Tribunal said, “Mistry cos not eligible to allege mismanagement & shareholder oppression.

The Mistrys own 18.5 per cent stake in Tata Sons but the Tatas have argued that the Mistrys own less than 3 per cent stake in the company taking preference shares into consideration. The court will hear the petition again tomorrow.

The firm filed a petition against Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, other directors and trustees.\
Cyrus Mistry was removed as director of Tata Sons on February 6 at a special shareholders meeting after failing to get a stay on it from the tribunal.

Last December, Cyrus Mistry Investment and Sterling Investment Corporation challenged before NCLT Mistry's unceremonious removal by Tata Sons as a director of its board on October 24.

The two petitioner firms also filed a waiver application before NCLT, requesting it to drop the requirement of minimum 10 per cent shareholding by a minority shareholder under the Companies Act of 2013 for filing such petitions. (READ MORE)

We messed up: Full text of what Kunal Bahl wrote to Snapdeal employees

Latest Business News - Exploring ways to optimise costs and rewrite its success story, Online marketplace Snapdeal has confirmed that it is undertaking layoffs within the company. Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in an email to employees on Wednesday said they have had to take tough decisions to retain the company's profitability, which include - employee layoffs, 100 per cent salary cut for themselves, among others.

Quoting Zig Ziglar, Kunal said, "When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal, you do not change your decision to get there."

According to The Economics Times, here are key highlights of Kunal Bahl's email to Snapdeal employees:

* Snapdeal probably holds the record for the company that got written off the most number of times by Internet pundits.

* Have our company and industry been going through a troubled time? Absolutely. Did we make errors in our execution? No doubt about that(Read More)

No end to saga? Mistry to challenge Chandra's appointment at Tata Sons

Latest Business News - The sparring match between Tata Sons and ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry is far from over as the latter has now decided to oppose the appointment of Natarajan Chandrasekaran as his successor.

According to a report published in The Economics Times, Mistry has shot off a letter to the Tata Group board challenging the legality of the appointment. He has termed the appointment 'illegal' as the matter was still sub-judice.

Cyrus Mistry, who is still a director of Tata Sons, had not attended the meeting that appointed Chandrasekaran as its chairman. 

"Unlike the October board meeting when the decision to sack Mistry was not mentioned in the board agenda circulated before, this time the members were aware of what to expect. Mistry is still a director of Tata Sons and the agenda papers were circulated to him as well. That prompted the mail from him," an official told ET.

Did Tata Sons follow instructions in appointment of its Chairman?

Article 118 of the Articles of Association of Tata Sons, passed under a special resolution following a Tata Sons EGM on December 6, 2012, lays out the terms for the appointment of the chairman. It says: "For the purpose of selecting a new Chairman of the board of directors and so long as the Tata Trusts own and hold in the aggregate at least 40% of the paid up Ordinary Share Capital of the Company for the time being, a Selection Committee shall be constituted in accordance with the provisions of this Article to recommend the appointment of a person as the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Board may appoint so recommended as the Chairman of the Board of Directors, subject to Article 121 which requires the affirmative vote of all Directors appointed pursuant to Article 104B." Similarly, Section 196 and 104 (i) (ii) of Companies Act also stipulates the grounds for the appointment of chairman, MD and directors.(Read More)