Wipro lays off staff, Mallya Arrest and Release, Mistry’s woes continue- Weekly Digest #41

A senior official of the Finance Ministry said that after SBI merger, the government is looking to adopt a similar roadmap for other state-run lenders such as PNB and BoB including raising fresh capital and restructuring policies.
Citi has pointed out to the Finance Ministry that global banks and funds are taking advantage of India’s treaty with France to escape tax and effectively Paris is replacing Mauritius as Tax Haven.
NCLT has refused to grant a waiver to Cyrus Mistry’s family firms on the minimum shareholding requirement to petition against Tata Sons as they had alleged oppression of the minority shareholders.
The SC has directed the Bombay HC liquidator to begin the process of selling the Sahara Group’s Aamby Valley project following the company’s failure to pay ₹37,000 crore in dues to the SEBI. It has also asked group chairman Subrata Roy to appear in court in person and explain the failure to pay the due amount.
Daiichi Sankyo has objected to Religare Enterprises’ decision to sell its stake in Religare Health Insurance as it violates a Delhi High Court order in its legal tussle against former Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

Vijay Mallya was arrested on behalf of Indian authorities by British police and received bail from a lower court in London the same day. However, this will begin the extradition process.
Tata Steel is planning to write a cheque of £520 million to its UK pensioners as a one-time settlement under a rarely used scheme, called the Regulated Apportionment Arrangement (RAA). The process is used to separate an employer from its pension scheme in circumstances where the employer would otherwise become insolvent.
Japanese company SoftBank Corp is considering an investment in Paytm owner One97 Communications for a 20% stake in the parent company. This could up the valuation of the company to $7 billion.
RIL briefly surged past TCS to top the list of most valuable companies listed in India as it surged 1% early during the session. However, later due to sell-offs it could not retain its position as the share price tumbled by 1.48%. At the end of the session, m-cap of RIL was at ₹4.45 lakh crore and TCS at ₹4.54 lakh crore.

After raising equity capital from marquee institutional investors, Aditya Birla flagship Hindalco has decided to pay off ₹6,800 crore to its lenders. This would be the largest loan prepayment to domestic banks by a corporate in India.
Holachef has raised $5 million in its Series B round led by existing investor Kalaari Capital. SIDBI Venture Capital and India Quotient also participated. This now values the company at ₹143 crores.
Yes Bank posted a net profit of ₹914.1 crore for the Q4, up from last quarter’s ₹702.11 crore on YoY basis.
Book publisher S Chand & Co is looking to raise ₹728 crore through an IPO which will open on April 26. The price band will be at ₹660-₹670 and lot size of 22 shares.

Wipro Sacks 600 employees after a rigorous appraisal process. Wipro said it undertakes a rigorous performance appraisal process on a regular basis to align its workforce with the business objectives, strategic priorities of the organisation, and requirements of its clients.
Flipkart has tightened return policy for several popular items sold on its platform as now return policy will not be applicable to electronics among other products. Only exchange policy will be applicable to them. This move is expected to cut costs but alienate customers.
The SC has allowed New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to invite bids for the Taj Mahal Hotel situated in Delhi. If Indian Hotels will not be able to match the highest bid, then it will have to vacate the property within 6 months.
Conduent Inc has filed a lawsuit against outsourcing major Cognizant Technology Solutions alleging breach of contract and fraud action in a court in the state of New York. It seeks to recover damages of over $150 million.

A research note, a part of Federal Reserve System’s series of International Financial Discussion Papers (IFDP)has estimated that implementation of GST will boost the economy’s GDP by up to 4.2%, or ₹6.5 lakh crore.
Cyrus Mistry has appealed the NCLT’s order this week dismissing his petition against Tata Sons to the appellate authority.
HDFC reported a Q4 profit of ₹3,990 crores, up from last year’s ₹3,374 crores on YoY basis. This has been attributed to exploit of digital technology to reach out to customers.

Source: The Economic Times