Category: Business & Economics

Family of IndiGo’s co-founder, Rakesh Gangwal, is looking to sell shares worth $450 million through a block deal, according to a media report.  Rakesh Gangwal and his wife Shobha Gangwal are likely to sell their shares for a starting price of 2,400 rupees ($29) each, which is almost six percent less than the going market rate.  Rakesh is an Indian business magnate and has served as the chairman and former CEO of the US Airways Group.  After falling into a feud with his friend and co-founder, Rahul, he resigned from…

Deloitte has resigned as auditor of the Adani Group’s port company  The resignation comes weeks after Deloitte raised concern over certain transactions flagged in the report on the Adani Group by Hindenburg Research.  In the auditors’ report on the audit of the fourth quarter and 2022-23 financials, Deloitte highlighted transactions with three entities, which the company said were unrelated parties.  Deloitte, however, said it could not attest to the company’s statement as no independent external examination had been done to prove the claims. Following this, it wanted a wider conglomerate-wide…

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has flagged the “very high” civil construction cost of the 29.06-km Dwarka Expressway.  The Expressway, was built at a “very high” per km cost of ₹ 250.77 crores against the CCEA approved per km cost of ₹ 18.20 crore.  The report notes that Dwarka Expressway was initially planned by the Haryana government under its Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Construction Plan-2031.  The CAG has also highlighted that the Dwarka Expressway was “appraised and approved without any detailed project report”.   The CAG  said there was no justification…

Amazon is reportedly reducing the number of its in-house brands on its marketplace as it seeks to cut costs and avoid antitrust scrutiny.  Amazon has created dozens of private-label brands across a variety of departments over the years, the majority of which operate without Amazon branding.  With this reduction, the tech giant will only have three in-house clothing brands — Amazon Essentials, Amazon Collection, and Amazon Aware.  Amazon Declares It Has Digitized over 62 Lakh MSMEs, Created over 13 Lakh Jobs in India till Date.  The company is also ditching…

The Department of Consumer Affairs has decided to commence the release of stocks from the onion buffer of 3.00 lakh metric tonne created this year. Shri Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary of the Department took a meeting with the Managing Directors of NAFED and NCCF on 10.08.2023 and finalized the modalities for the disposal. It was decided to release the onion stocks by targeting key markets in states or regions where retail prices are ruling above the all-India average and also where the rates of increase in prices over previous month…

WeWork shares approached zero after it warned it could go bankrupt.  WeWork’s woes did not abate in subsequent years, It finally managed to go public in 2021 at a much-reduced valuation, but it has never turned a profit.  Shares of the company closed 38.5% lower at 12 cents on Wednesday.  The company’s business model involves taking long-term leases and renting out spaces for the short term.   It expanded rapidly over the years, but the global coronavirus pandemic made shared office space less appealing.  WeWork said it was planning to…

He built a fortune lending to low-income borrowers shunned by banks. He paid staff below-market wages and thought they still earned too much. He gave away almost all his wealth to a handful of employees, content with his small house and a $5,000 car. R Thyagarajan is arguably one of the world’s most idiosyncratic financiers – in no small part because his multibillion-dollar business, the Shriram Group, has thrived in an industry that tripped up countless others around the globe. A pioneer in extending credit to India’s poor for trucks,…

The regulator, Datatilsynet, had said that the company would be fined if it did not address privacy breaches the regulator had identified.  Facebook owner Meta Platforms will face daily fines of 1 million crowns ($98,500) starting from 14 August due to privacy breaches.  “According to Meta, this will take several months, at the very earliest, for them to implement. And we don’t know what the consent mechanism will look like,” The regulator says.  Recently A court in Australia has ruled that Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, must pay fines…

Morgan Stanley, a global banking group, has put India in the top spot from the sixth position marking a significant shift in its assessment.  Its Chief Asia and Emerging Markets Equity Strategist Jonathan Garner said, “It is time for foreign investors to re-engage with the Indian market.”  India has been upgraded by Morgan Stanley for its secular leadership as the banking group sees a secular trend towards sustained superior EPS growth in USD terms compared to other Emerging Markets  “It’s clearly not at any kind of low valuation, but there…

The Supreme Court refused to grant interim bail to Yes Bank Founder Rana Kapoor in connection with a ₹600 crore money laundering case against him.  Justice Khanna remarked, ” he rocked the entire financial system.”  The Bench asked the Additional Solicitor General to ensure that the trial is sped up.  Kapoor was arrested on March 8, 2020, in connection with a ₹600 crore money laundering case registered by the ED.   The High Court had observed that the proceeds of crime involved in the case was ₹5,333 crore.   Yes…