Railway Budget Unifying Proposal, SPN-BCCI Tussle, Mastercard sued- Weekly Digest #13

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said in a statement that various rail subsidies such as for defence personnel, senior citizens and others to be borne by their respective ministries to lighten the burden of railways. He also said that railway budget should be merged with the main budget, a practice followed everywhere except India.
LeEco has initiated a price war in Indian TV market by introducing 4K set at INR 60,000, a third cheaper than other models with similar specs. This situation is similar to the price war started by Jio in the telecom industry.
Urjit Patel has taken charge as RBI governor w.e.f 4th September 2016, the central bank said in a statement. He is succeeding Raghuram Rajan and is to deliver his first monetary policy statement on October 4, 2105.
Israel’s Space Communication is seeking a compensation of $50 million or a free flight from SpaceX. This move comes after Spacecom satellites were destroyed by an explosion at SpaceX’s Florida launch site.

Amazon is looking to invest in the online food delivery startup Swiggy. Swiggy has also attracted the attention of other strategic investors, including Alibaba-backed Chinese food delivery venture Ele.me.
Bank shares rose to their highest in 20 months. Thi was due to foreign investors buying them amid the rebalancing of MSCI indices. The Bank Nifty rose 2.73% to close at 20,426.20
State Bank of India has raised an amount of INR 2,100 crores from Yes Bank through perpetual bonds at 9% interest rate. Yes Bank has invested the entire sum, according to the sources.
L&T Technology Services has set a price of INR 850-860 for their IPO. The IPO is expected to be open for subscription from September 12 and will help L&T to raise up to INR 894 crores.

Sebi is looking to raise the maximum shares that employees can bid in their company’s IPO from INR 2,00,000 to INR 5,00,000. This move comes to expand the investor base in publicly listed firms.
SpiceJet rose to 16% to the value of INR 65.30 per share on Wednesday. This has been attributed to strong earning the quarter ended June 2016. Investors are still worried that price surge may not hold as growing volumes are not being translated into profits.
The rural development ministry plans to seek allocation of additional INR 10,000 crores under the MNREGA scheme. Ministry expects a spike in demand for MNREGA work from November 2016.

Yes Bank scrapped its $1-billion share sale less than 24 hours after launch as the share price collapsed due to poor investor appetite. Management has attributed this to extreme volatility and poor advice on regulations by investment banks.
Online furniture e-retailer Urban Ladder has filed an application with the government to convert into a single brand retailer so that they can sell directly to consumers and still retain foreign investments.
Sony Pictures Network India is planning to move to court if BCCI decides to go for bidding of IPL’s broadcast rights rather than renew their contract through negotiations.
Tata Consultancy Services said in a statement that growth was slowing and clients were cautious of spending. This led to a decline in IT sector in the market, with TCS sinking 5%, Infy 1.6% and Wipro 1.8%. The top five IT shares listed on the BSE lost almost INR 34,000 crores in market capitalisation.
John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp agreed to buy the company that controls Formula One from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for $4.4 billion in cash, stock and convertible debt.

Big Fish Ventures, a Delhi-based restaurant business is planning to expand its business by opening additional 8 restaurants in the next two years across India. It currently owns a chain of 7 restaurants.
Owing to potential fire hazards, India has put a ban on Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 phone on flights. The phone can now be only carried in off mode while kept in the cabin luggage.
A legal case has been brought against Mastercard demanding $19 billion in damages for allegedly charging excessive fees for 16 years between 1992 and 2008. The lawsuit is the largest damages claim in British history.

Source: The Economic Times