The new Board of debt-stricken IL&FS is in the process of assessing the company’s financial situation and is deliberating on various viable solutions to restore solvency, a Board member said on Thursday, even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government is determined to ensure that the company’s insolvency issue is contained quickly to prevent further adverse impact.

Addressing the media, after the new Board’s first meeting here on Thursday, Uday Kotak, MD & CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, who has been appointed as the Non-Executive Chairman of the company by the Central government, said all options are being looked at to salvage the financial position of IL&FS.

He further said that the Board will meet again to decide on the best way to implement the roadmap laid out by the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal).

“This is a process which is under NCLT process, which is a process independent of…at this stage, in terms of having more detailed discussion with the shareholders…..we will be talking to the shareholders at an appropriate time.”

Without ruling out options like sale of assets and rights issues, Kotak refuted comparisons being made between IL&FS and the IT major Satyam that went bust nearly a decade ago.

“This is a very complex company…one has to keep that in mind and it is a financial market intermediary but also in the real world space. Therefore there are significant financial market challenges which make it a little different from directly comparing with the Satyam situation,” he said.

The meeting comes days after the Central government superseded the management of the beleaguered company via a NCLT order and appointed a six-member board led by Kotak to restore its financial solvency.

Key public sector lenders and undertakings such as LIC and SBI have a 25.34 per cent and 6.42 per cent stake, respectively, in the firm which has around Rs 91,000 crore in long-term debt.

As per some industry estimates, the company has an urgent liquidity requirement of around Rs 5,000 crore.

Lately, the credit crunch has led a few of the company’s subsidiaries to default in servicing some of the inter-corporate deposits.

Subsequent to defaults, rating agency ICRA downgraded the ratings of its short-term and long-term borrowing programmes.

Earlier on Thursday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters in New Delhi that there had been “significant impact” on the capital market on account of the contagion effect of the IL&FS problem which had prompted the government to replace the Board.

“The government is determined to make sure that since this is an internal factor to India, this should be contained quickly so that no adverse impact of it is left,” he said.

IL&FS Ltd is a core investment company and serves as the holding company of the IL&FS Group, with most business operations domiciled in separate companies which form an ecosystem of expertise across infrastructure, finance and social and environmental services.

Initially promoted by the Central Bank of India (CBI), Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd and the Unit Trust of India, IL&FS was incorporated in 1987.

Over the years, it has inducted institutional shareholders including SBI, LIC, ORIX Corp of Japan and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

As on March 31, 2018, LIC and ORIX Corp are the largest shareholders in IL&FS with their stakeholding at 25.34 per cent and 23.54 per cent, respectively. Other prominent shareholders include ADIA (12.56 per cent), HDFC (9.02 per cent), CBI (7.67 per cent) and SBI (6.42 per cent).

IANS

With unrelenting increase in fuel prices, the government on Thursday decided to effect a cut in the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2.50 per litre.

Finance Minsiter Arun Jaitley announced at a press conference that the cut will be effected through slashing of excise duty to the tune of Rs 1.50 per litre, while the oil marketing companies will absorb the impact to the tune of Re 1 per litre.

(IANS)

The Indian rupee plunged to a fresh record low of 73.77 to a US dollar on Thursday morning.

It stood at 73.77 (73.7688) to a dollar — the lowest ever mark — it has touched against the greenback.

It opened the day’s trade at the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market at 73.67 to a dollar from its previous close of 73.34.

At 9.50 a.m., the rupee stood at 73.65 to a greenback.

(IANS)

ICICI Bank said on Thursday that its CEO, Chanda Kochhar, has quit the company.

“The Board of Directors of ICICI Bank Limited, accepted the request of Ms Chanda
Kochhar to seek early retirement from the Bank at the earliest,” the bank said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

(IANS)

The government plans to roll-out a facial recognition-based hassle-free entry system at select airports from February 2019.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has come out with a draft of its “Digi Yatra” policy and called for public comments.

The system has the capability of reducing long queues and the number of security personnel deployed at airports thereby likely bringing down air fares.

(IANS)

Mumbai Global software major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday said it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS) at University of Tokyo to collaborate on technology research and facilitate inter-personnel exchange.

The MoU opens the prospect of TCS and the IIS working together on fundamental research, technology validation and the real-world applications and commercialisation of technologies in the area of robotics.

The partnership is the latest addition to TCS’ Co-innovation Network (COIN) which brings together the academia, research, tech start-ups, and alliance partners from across the world to collaborate and conceptualise innovation that helps customers in their digital transformation journeys.

“In a Business 4.0 world, building and leveraging a partner ecosystem is of strategic importance in creating and delivering value. This is the core idea underpinning our Co-Innovation Network that brings research and technology breakthroughs from academia to meet real-world customer needs,” said K. Ananth Krishnan, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, TCS.

The partnership also paves the way for an exchange of scholars and researchers between the two organisations, TCS said in a statement.

“We warmly welcome this strategic partnership with TCS, and see it as one of our gateways to capitalise the wealth of technological expertise that India’s finest talent has to offer,” said Toshiharu Kishi, Director General, IIS, University of Tokyo.

(IANS)

New Delhi Chinese player Vivo on Thursday launched the 4BG vartiant of its “Y81” smartphone with fingerprint unlocking and “FullView” display 2.0 in India at Rs 13,490.

The 3GB variant of Vivo “Y81” was launched in June for Rs 11,390 with a 6.22-inch screen and fueled by MediaTek OctaCore (Helio P22) processor along with 3260 mAh battery, the company said in a statement.

“Y81” sports a 13MP rear and 5MP front camera with modes including HDR, portrait bokeh, Artificial Intelligent (AI)-face beauty, palm capture and group selfie.

Vivo has also announced festive offers on its other Y-Series smartphones including Y71i, Y83Pro, Y81 and the newly launched Y81 4GB variant.

“We want to continue the momentum and further enhance the customer experience by kick-starting the festive season with offers that add to the happiness to our consumers,” Jerome Chen, Chief Marketing Officer, Vivo India said in a statement.

As part of the offers, the company is bringing cashbacks, no cost EMI options and Jio vouchers and offers both, online and offline.

As part of the “Make in India” initiative, all these devices have been manufactured at Vivo’s Greater Noida facility, the company added.

(IANS)

 Apple displaced Google to become the top brand in the world in 2018 while Facebook, mired in data breach controversies, fell to ninth place in the top 100 brands globally, an annual report said on Thursday.

According to global brand consultancy Interbrand’s “Best 100 Global Brands 2018” report, Amazon achieved a 56 per cent growth to become the third top brand globally.

According to the ranking, Apple’s brand value grew 16 per cent (year-on-year) to $214.5 billion. It went on to become the first company in the US to hit the $1 trillion market cap.

“In second place, Google was up 10 per cent to $155.5 billion while Amazon is valued at $100.8 billion,” campaignlive.co.uk reported, citing the report findings.

Microsoft (valued at $92.7 billion) was fourth while Coca Cola (valued at $66.3 billion) came fifth followed by Samsung on sixth spot.

Facebook’s brand value has declined 6 per cent this year in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

“A decade after the global financial crisis, the brands that are growing fastest are those that intuitively understand their customers and make brave iconic moves that delight and deliver in new ways,” Charles Trevail, Global Chief Executive of Interbrand, was quoted as saying.

Spotify and Subaru made it to the global top 100 brand list for the first time.

Elon Musk’s Tesla made into the top 100 in 2017 but lost the race this time owing to several controversies around the brand and its future.

When it comes to Apple, it has proved highly adept at maximising the value from its hero product, the iPhone, exemplified by its recent launches of the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR.

“At the same time, it is tapping into the desire for useful apps and services, with sales from its services division growing by 23 per cent to $30 billion in the 2017 fiscal year,” said Mike Rocha, Global Managing Director at Interbrand Economics.

The Interbrand report values a company on the basis of the financial performance of the branded products or services, the role the brand plays in purchase decisions, and the brand’s competitive strength and its ability to create loyalty.

IANS

Taking a cue from Asian markets, the key Indian equity market indices on Thursday opened lower with fears over the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) turning more hawkish in its monetary policy stance.

The Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had closed at 35,975.63 points on Wednesday, opened lower at 35,820.53 points.

Minutes into trading, it was quoting at 35,603.53 points, down by 372.10 points, or 1.03 per cent.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 51-scrip Nifty, which had closed at 10,858.25 points on Wednesday, was quoting at 10,697.15 points, down by 161.10 points or 1.48 per cent.

Rise in crude oil prices, along with a weak rupee and outflow of foreign funds, had dragged the key domestic equity indices lower over one per cent on Wednesday.

In addition, fears over the central bank turning aggressive in its monetary policy stance due to a rise in inflationary pressure also led to erosion in investors’ risk-taking appetite.

The Sensex was down by 550.51 points or 1.51 per cent at the Wednesday’s closing. In the day’s trade, the barometer 30-scrip sensitive index had touched a high of 36,602.85 points and a low of 35,911.82 points. The Nifty, was down by 150.05 points or 1.36 per cent.

On Thursday, Asian indices were showing a negative trend. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was quoting in red, down by 0.72 per cent while Hang Seng was down by 1.80 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi was also down by 1.41 per cent.

Overnight, Nasdaq closed in green, up by 0.32 per cent while FTSE 100 was also up by 0.48 per cent at the closing on Wednesday.

The project is expected to be completed by March 2021 and will increase the airport’s capacity to 45 million passengers annually.

Infrastructure major Larson & Toubro’s (L&T) buildings and factories business arm would build the second terminal of the Bengaluru international airport, said its operator on Wednesday.

“The Rs 3,036-crore order to construct the airport’s terminal-2 has been given to the Building & Factories Business of L&T,” said the operator Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) in a statement in Bengaluru.

The operator is a private-cum-public consortium of the decade-old greenfield Kempegowda airport at Devanahalli, 35km north of the tech hub.

“The terminal will augment the airport’s capacity by 25 million passengers per annum when completed by March 2021 to 45 million from 20 million presently,” said BIAL Chief Executive Hari Marar on the occasion.

The project work includes design, engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of the terminal, integrating services and utilities of the airport’s systems, support facilities and buildings in terminal one.

The L&T arm is constructing the airport’s second runway, apron and auxiliary buildings.

“The repeat order is a measure of confidence our client has in us to deliver another airport project to international class and quality,” said L&T Chief Executive SN Subrahmanyan in the statement.

The US-based leading architecture and urban planning firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has designed the proposed terminal.

As the country’s third busiest after that of New Delhi and Mumbai, the Bengaluru airport handled 26.9 million passengers in fiscal 2017-18.

In all, 44 Indian and international airlines operate from the airport connecting 46 domestic and overseas destinations daily through the year.

In the consortium, Canada’s leading financial holding firm Fairfax holds 54 per cent equity, Siemens Projects Ventures 20 per cent, while the central and state governments hold 13 per cent each through state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Karnataka State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (KSIIDC).

IANS