Uber-Didi Alliance, Baring Asia’s Turnaround, DHFL CPI Bonds – Weekly Digest#8

China’s taxi service, Didi Chuxing, to acquire the China operations of its rival Uber. The battle to outperform other had cost both the companies over billion dollars and hence the decision came as a shock. Uber now aims to focus on other emerging markets such as India.
RBI encouraging Non-Banking Finance Companies to convert themselves into fully-fledged banks. Thus application for the formation of banks can be applied anytime, as opposed to earlier norms where there were specific windows of time to apply.
Adidas India has received approval from the government for bringing in FDI in retail through its existing retail unit. The company plans to open 30-35 company-owned retail stores across large cities by 2020.

Toyota Motors will hold back the launch of Lexus and Daihatsu brand in India. The decision comes due to the regulatory uncertainty regarding the automobile industry. Once the diesel vehicle ban is cleared upon, the company may move forward with its plans.
ViniCosmetics, the maker of the deodorant Fogg, has decided upon selling its minor stake in the company to a private equity firm to raise over Rs 600 crores. The deal could be finalized in a month or two
Freecharge to launch a financial products marketplace and lending platform by the end of this year. This moves come after Freecharge took over the Capital Asset Programme run by Snapdeal, to provide capital loans to registered sellers.

Marking a historic day in Indirect taxation reforms, as Rajya Sabha cleared the GST bill on Wednesday. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is confident that the GST will be in place by the starting of next fiscal year.
In a last minute surprise, Baring Asia placed a counter bid for ICICI Home Finance. This has thrown a roadblock in the way of TGP, which was all set to acquire ICICI Home Finance earlier as this has caused an increase in the valuation of ICICI Home Finance.
After HDFC, NTPC becomes the second company to issue Masala Bonds. The company intends to raise an amount of Rs 2,000 crores by the issue of bonds, which yield an interest of 7.48%. Blackrock, Government of Singapore and bluebay are among the buyers.
Sensex saw a fall of 284 points on Wednesday after GST bill was passed as investors booked profits caused by much-awaited tax reform. Investors now await what the fine print entails.
The issue of DHFL’s retail inflation-linked bonds saw a record Rs19,000 crores bids on the first day, setting a record for a private issuer on the opening day of the sale. This amount is 5 times the upper end of the issue.

Future Group’s Big Bazar to tie up with Paytm to expand its presence in e-commerce. Big bazar and Easyday will be likely to be the anchor stores on the Paytm and be its largest collector once the deal is made.
Due to payment issue with its lessors of planes, southern regional carrier Air Costa canceled all of its flights on Wednesday. In a statement issued by its Vice President of Marketing, Kavi Chaurasia, the operations are to be resumed from the next day and that there was no issue of salaries.
To prevent another Sardha like scam, where people are lured by scam investment opportunities,leaving them poorer, SEBI and RBI have launched a website, ‘www.sachet.rbi.org.in’ to check the registration of an entity with the regulator.

Under the Monetary Policy framework, India has adopted an inflation target of 4% for next five years. Upper tolerance level will be 6%, while the lower limit will be 2%, as finalized in consultations with RBI governor Raghuram Rajan.
India is likely to impose an anti-dumping duty on imports of cold-rolled steel from four countries- China, Japan, Korea, and Ukraine.
Axis Bank to tie up digital payment platform Freecharge to develop and launch its own Unified Payment Interface app. The app will be named as Axis Pay App.
Under its Portfolio Investment Scheme, Reserve Bank has allowed foreign investors to raise their stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corp to up yo 40%. The existing limit applicable is only 24%.