Denver, Dec 17: A group of 38 states filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Google on Thursday, alleging that the search giant has an illegal monopoly over the online search market that hurts consumers and advertisers.
The lawsuit, announced by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, was filed in federal court in Washington, DC by states represented by bipartisan attorneys general.
Consumers are denied the benefits of competition, including the possibility of higher quality services and better privacy protections. Advertisers are harmed through lower quality and higher prices that are, in turn, passed along to consumers, Weiser said in press release.
The lawsuit was joined by the attorneys general of dozens of states including Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, and the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico.
Google did not respond to a request for comment.
The case is the third antitrust salvo to slam Google during the past two months as the Department of Justice and attorneys general from across the US weigh in with their different variations on how they believe the company is abusing its immense power to do bad things that harm other businesses, innovation and even consumers who find its services to be indispensable.
In many ways, the flurry of US antitrust suits represent an attempt to catch up with European regulators who have spent the past several years trying to crack down on Google, mostly with huge fines, to little noticeable effect so far.
On Wednesday, 10 states led by Republican attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Google accusing it of anti-competitive conduct in the online advertising industry, including a deal to manipulate sales with rival Facebook.
It targeted the heart of Google’s business the digital ads that generate nearly all of its revenue, as well as all the money that its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., depends upon to help finance a range of far-flung technology projects.
Petrol price at 2-yr high of Rs 83 per litre, diesel at 73.32
New Delhi: Petrol price on Saturday breached the Rs 83 per litre-mark in Delhi for the first time in more than two years after a rally in international oil prices forced the 13th increase in rates in the last fortnight.
Petrol price on Saturday was raised by 27 paise per litre and diesel by 25 paise, according to a price notification of oil marketing companies.
Petrol price in Delhi rose to Rs 83.13 per litre from Rs 82.86. Diesel rates went up from Rs 73.07 to Rs 73.32 per litre.
This is the highest rate for petrol and diesel since September 2018 and followed the 13th increase in rates since November 20 when oil companies resumed daily price revision after nearly a two-month hiatus.
In 16 days, the petrol price has gone up by Rs 2.07 per litre and diesel rate has risen by Rs 2.86.
ICICI Securities said vaccine hopes are driving oil prices up.
Brent crude oil is up 34 percent from lows in end-October 2020 driven by the hope that COVID-19 vaccines would lead to demand recovery.
“The oil price surge is despite a second wave of Covid in Europe and US (which has led to demand recovery reversal), and surge in Libyan oil output from 0.1 million barrels per day (BPD) to 1.25 million BPD,” it said.
Oil cartel OPEC plus its allies like Russia, (called OPEC+), deciding to raise output from January 2021 more modestly than earlier agreed is likely to ensure global supply deficit even in the first quarter of 2021. “Thus, OPEC+ has done its part to prevent supply surplus until the vaccine boosts demand,” it added.
Brent has risen from USD 36.9 per barrel on October 30 to USD 49.5 on December 4.
IEA estimates the global oil supply deficit at 2.1-2.8 million BPD in Q3-Q4 calendar year 2020. However, a surplus of 0.4 million was likely in Q1 2021 if OPEC+, as agreed in April 2020, was to prune output cuts from 7.7 million BPD to 5.8 million BPD from January.
“However, we now estimate supply deficit of 0.5 million BPD in Q1 2021 and 0.2-2.8 million BPD in Q2-Q4 as OPEC+ has decided to raise output by just 0.5 million BPD in January 2021 and by not more than 0.5 million BPD in later months and only after deliberations,” ICICI Securities said.
Prior to the November 20 hike in rates in India, petrol prices had been static since September 22, and diesel rates hadn’t changed since October 2.
Public sector oil marketing companies – Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) – revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on benchmark international oil price and foreign exchange rate.
They had, however, resorted to calibrating the rates since the pandemic broke out with a view to avoiding volatility in retail prices.
The 58-day hiatus in petrol price revision and 48-day status quo on diesel rates were preceded by no change in rates between June 30 and August 15 and an 85-day status quo between March 17 and June 6.
In Mumbai, the petrol price on Friday was raised to Rs 89.78 per litre from Rs 89.52, while diesel rates went up from Rs 79.66 to Rs 79.93.
Rates vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.
Exports show signs of improvement, up 22.47 per cent in first week of November
Sectors which recorded negative growth include petroleum, marine products and leather goods.
NEW DELHI: Showing signs of improvement, the country’s exports grew 22.47 per cent year-on-year to USD 6.75 billion in the first week of November, mainly driven by healthy growth in pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery and engineering sectors, an official said on Tuesday.
The exports during the first week of November last year was USD 5.51 billion.
Imports in November (1st – 7th) this year too increased by 13.64 per cent year-on-year to USD 9.30 billion as against USD 8.19 billion, the official said.
Imports, excluding petroleum, jumped 23.37 per cent during the week, the official added.
Trade deficit during the week stood at USD 2.55 billion.
Exports of pharmaceuticals, and gems and jewellery grew 32 per cent to USD 139.12 million and 88.8 per cent to USD 3,360.71 million, respectively.
Similarly, the outbound shipments of engineering goods increased by 16.7 per cent to USD 215.13 million during the week.
Sectors which recorded negative growth include petroleum, marine products and leather goods.
During the period, exports to the US, Hong Kong and Singapore rose by 53.91 per cent, 176.2 per cent and 90.76 per cent, respectively.
The country’s export had also recorded positive growth in September but declined 5.4 per cent to USD 24.82 billion in October.
Reliance Industries Q2 net falls 15% on weak oil business
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday reported a 15 percent drop in second-quarter net profit after a slump in core oil and chemicals business dragged down continued good showing in consumer-facing verticals such as telecom.
Net profit attributable to owners at Rs 9,567 crore in July-September compared with Rs 11,262 crore a year back, Reliance said in a stock exchange filing.
The oil-to-telecom-to-retail conglomerate saw consumer-facing units doing well amid the lockdown easing but the core business continued to face pressure.
The firm’s net addition of 7.3 million subscribers and per-user revenue rising to Rs 145 helped the telecom business soar.
Digital services, which include the telecom arm Jio, saw pre-tax profit surge 53 percent to Rs 8,345 crore as revenues soared by more than one-third.
With markets gradually opening up in the second quarter after a strict lockdown, revenue from the retail business was almost flat at Rs 39,199 crore and EBITDA was 14 percent lower at Rs 2,009 crore.
Petrochemicals revenue fell 23 percent to Rs 29,665 crore and pre-tax profit dropped 33 percent at Rs 5,964 crore.
Refining EBITA almost halved to Rs 3,002 crore as revenue slumped 36 percent.
The firm’s twin refineries earned USD 5.7 per barrel on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel.
The profit in Q2 was lower sequentially as well as the April-June earning of Rs 13,248 crore included a one-time gain of Rs 7,629 crore from sale of 49 percent stake in petro retailing business to BP.
The company has sold a minority stake in the retail and telecom businesses to investors such as Silver Lake and KKR. It raised Rs 1.52 lakh crore from the sale of stake in Jio Platforms and another Rs 37,710 crore from the sale of an 8.48 percent stake in its retail unit.
The firm had a gross debt of Rs 279,251 crore as of September 30, down from Rs 336,294 crore in the previous quarter. After considering Rs 185,711 crore of cash and Rs 30,210 crore received from stake sale deals that have closed and another Rs 73,586 crore pending from the strategic investors, the firm had a surplus of Rs 10,250 crore.
Commenting on the results, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said, “We delivered strong overall operational and financial performance compared to the previous quarter with recovery in petrochemicals and retail segment and sustain growth in the digital services business.”
“Domestic demand has sharply recovered across our oil-to-chemical (O2C) business and is now near the pre-Covid level for most products. Retail business activity has normalized with strong growth in key consumption baskets as lockdown ease across the country,” he added.
With large capital raise in the last six months across Jio and retail business, several strategic and financial investors have joined the Reliance family, he said.
“We continue to pursue growth initiatives in each of our businesses with a focus on the India opportunity,” he further said.
Rupee falls 16 paise to 73.77 against US dollar in early trade
The local unit opened at 73.77 at the interbank forex market, down 16 paise over its last close. On Friday, the rupee had settled at 73.61 against the greenback.
The rupee depreciated 16 paise to 73.77 against the US dollar in opening trade on Monday as muted domestic equities and strong American currency weighed on investor sentiments
The local unit opened at 73.77 at the interbank forex market, down 16 paise over its last close. On Friday, the rupee had settled at 73.61 against the greenback.
“Governments across Europe have imposed stricter measures to contain the virus as cases have surged to record highs on account of the second wave. We could see the risk sentiment sour on account of this development,” said Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO, IFA Global.
Goenka further added that market participants would look to adjust their positioning across asset classes ahead of the US elections next week.
“We could see some risk on bets being rolled back. The overall mood is likely to be that of caution. Markets would also become less hopeful of a pre-election agreement on fiscal stimulus between the Democrats and the White House,” he said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.16 per cent to 92.91. On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 80.91 points lower at 40,604.59 and the broader NSE Nifty fell 27.65 points to 11,902.70.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 906.93 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to provisional exchange data. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.72 per cent to USD 41.05 per barrel.
Reopening lifts up air traffic, number of flyers
With the gradual re-opening of the economy, the number of air passengers has witnessed continuous growth.
NEW DELHI: With the gradual re-opening of the economy, the number of air passengers has witnessed continuous growth. The number grew by nearly 43 per cent between June and August, while aircraft movement has recorded a growth of nearly 28 per cent.
However, there was still an average gap of nearly 76% in the movement of passengers and 64% gap in aircraft movements in August this year compared to the same month last year, domestic air traffic data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Airport Authority of India revealed.
Smaller cities like Patna, Lucknow, Kozhikode, Jaipur, Coimbatore etc. have seen larger growth in aircraft movements in last three months —from 1,148 to 1,676 in Patna, 111 to 202 in Kozhikode and from 860 to 1,288 in Lucknow between June and August.
While the government believes that domestic traffic is likely to reach pre-COVID level by the year-end, industry analysts say the recovery is only marginal.
Harsh Vardhan, aviation expert and former CEO of Vayudoot, said while the recovery is a good sign, it may take till end of 2022 for the aviation sector to return to last year’s levels. “Almost 60-70% fleet is still on the ground. I don’t see anything before 24 months when reasonable operations are stablised…There are restrictions. There is very limited international operation,” he said.
“You have to also realise that what you have lost in last 10 months has created a big hole… the problem of the airline industry is how to get over these crises.”
Kinjal Shah, Vice President, ICRA, informed that the average number of passengers per flight in September this year was 98 against an average of 133 in September 2019.
“It is expected that the domestic aviation industry operated at a passenger load factor of about 63% in the month as against 85.5% last year,” he said.
Earlier this week, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri said he expected the number of daily air passengers to rise to 2,00,000 by October-end, while pre-COVID figures of 3,00,000 passengers per day could be reached between Diwali and New Year.
Aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said, “We are now gearing up to face the challenge of welcoming more people in the airports.”
Airline industry to suffer USD 77 billion loss: IATA
The slow recovery in air travel will see the airline industry continuing to burn through cash at an average rate of $5 to $6 billion per month in 2021, IATA said.
NEW DELHI: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) in a fresh report has estimated that the airline industry will burn through $77 billion in cash during the second half of 2020 (almost $13 billion/month or $300,000 per minute), despite the restart of operations.
The slow recovery in air travel will see the airline industry continuing to burn through cash at an average rate of $5 to $6 billion per month in 2021, IATA said. IATA called on governments to support the industry during the coming winter season with additional relief measures, including financial aid that does not add more debt to the industry’s already-highly-indebted balance sheet. To date, governments around the world have provided $160 billion in support.
“If these support programs are not replaced or extended, the consequences for an already hobbled industry will be dire,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. IATA estimates that despite cutting costs just over 50 per cent during the second quarter, the industry went through $51 billion in cash as revenues fell almost 80 per cent.
The industry is not expected to turn cash positive until 2022. As for India’s aviation industry, the situation is no better. Except two airlines, all other payers continue to struggle hard to remain operational and have their net worth in negative territory.
Hero Motocorp, Harley engaged in advanced negotiations
Speculation has been rampant that the legacy brand was looking for a local partner to remain present in the world’s largest two-wheeler market.
NEW DELHI: A day after it announced shutting down its India plants, American bikemaker Harley-Davidson is said to be in advanced talks with India’s largest two-wheeler company Hero MotoCorp for a strategic alliance in the market.
According to a Reuters report citing sources, Harley is in talks with Hero to enter into a distribution arrangement that will allow the Indian company to import and sell Harley bikes as its sole distributor.
Queries sent to Hero MotorCorp regarding the tie-up remained unanswered.
Speculation has been rampant that the legacy brand was looking for a local partner to remain present in the world’s largest two-wheeler market. Harley’s main competetor, UK’s Triumph Motorcycles, has already formed a non-equity long term partnership with Bajaj Auto to introduce mid-size motorcycles for India and the global markets.
TVS Motor too has a partnership with Germany’s BMW to develop mid-engine size motorcycles. But, Harley had on Thursday, said it is closing its manufacturing facility in Bawal (Haryana) as it looks to shift its focus back to more profitable motorcycles and core markets. Experts feel a tie-up can turn into a win-win situation for Harley and Hero.
“Demand for 350-700 cc bikes remains strong in India. Harley is a very strong and aspirational brand while Hero is massive in size and reach. If they are able to bring fresh and price competitive products, it will have huge potential to succeed,” said a senior auto analyst.
Fraud-hit PMC Bank gets new administrator
PMC bank and RBI are continuing to engage with the stakeholders to explore the possibility of finding a viable and workable solution for the resolution of the bank,” it said.
NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday appointed former Union Bank of India executive A K Dixit as the new administrator of PMC Bank, replacing J.B. Bhoria, who stepped down on September 22 due to health reasons.
A year after the RBI superseded the board of crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, the RBI-appointed administrator is yet to succeed in finding a resolution plan for the bank. Citing reasons behind sluggish turnaround, the regulator said massive losses and steep erosion in deposits pose challenges to revival.
“While the administrator of PMC bank and the RBI have been exploring various options for resolution of the bank, several factors such as huge losses incurred by the bank resulting in its entire net worth getting wiped out, steep erosion in deposits, etc. continue to pose serious challenges in finding a workable plan for revival of the bank,” the RBI said.
The cooperative bank has also been making efforts for recovery of bad loans but has been constrained by the Covid-19 pandemic and legal complexities, RBI said. “Nevertheless, in the interest of the depositors, PMC bank and RBI are continuing to engage with the stakeholders to explore the possibility of finding a viable and workable solution for the resolution of the bank,” it said.
On 24 September last year, RBI put severe curbs on PMC Bank, including on cash withdrawals, amid a probe into accounting lapses.The directive is valid till December 22 this year as of now. Of its total loan book of Rs 8,383 crore as on March 31, 2019, about 70 per cent had been taken by real estate firm HDIL. While the efforts to recover money from HDIL are still halfway, the administrator has approached major banks with a merger request.
Rescue operation
While enhancing the withdrawal limit to Rs 1 lakh in June, the RBI had said “more than 84 per cent of the depositors of PMC will be able to withdraw their entire balance”.
KKR to invest Rs 5,550 crore in Reliance Retail Ventures for 1.28 per cent stake: Company statement
KKR will invest Rs 5,550 crore in the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail Ventures
Global investment firm KKR is set to buy a 1.28 per cent equity stake in Reliance Industries Ltd.’s retail business, according to a company statement.
“This investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.21 lakh crore. This marks the second investment by KKR in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, following a Rs 11,367 crore investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year,” Reliance Industries said in a statement
KKR will invest Rs 5,550 crore in the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail Ventures.
Operating India’s largest, fastest-growing, and most profitable retail business, Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of RRVL, has up to 12,000 stores nationwide.
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said: “KKR has a proven track record of being a valuable partner to industry-leading franchises and has been committed to India for many years.
We look forward to working with KKR’s global platform, industry knowledge, and operational expertise across our digital services and retail businesses.”
This marks KKR’s second investment in Reliance after it pumped in Rs 11,367 crore in Mukesh Ambani’s Jio platform for a 2.3 per cent stake earlier this year.
Henry Kravis, co-founder, and co-CEO said “Reliance Retail’s new commerce platform is filling an important need for both consumers and small businesses as more Indian consumers move to shopping online and the company offers tools for Kiranas to be a critical part of the value chain.”
Meanwhile, on September 9, RIL had announced the divestment of 1.75 per cent stake in the retail arm to private equity firm Silver Lake Partners for Rs 7,500 crore.
Analysts had earlier predicted that Reliance Industries’ stake sale in its retail arm will enable the company to pursue other growth initiatives while maintaining zero net debt status and also help solidify its position in the market.
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