Top headlines: Rs 20K-cr Adani FPO, sunflower oil shipments to India & more

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Rs 20K-crore Adani FPO to be fourth biggest fundraise by India Inc

Adani Enterprises’ proposed Rs 20,000-crore fundraising via fresh issue of equity shares through a public offer would be the fourth-biggest by Indian companies, excluding banks and non-banking financial companies. 

Reliance Industries’ (RIL’s) rights issue in April 2020 when the company raised Rs 53,124 crore remains the single-biggest equity issuance by the corporate sector in India. It is followed by Bharti Airtel's right issue in February 2019, when the company raised fresh equity capital worth Rs 25,000 crore. Its industry peer Vodafone Idea also raised Rs 25,000 crore in January 2019 through a rights issue. Read more

Telecom firms fear surge of 'pseudo-TSPs' due to private 5G network

Arguing that private enterprises from non-telecom backgrounds would not have the financial and technical know-how to set up private 5G networks, telecom service providers (TSPs) believe a new category of ‘pseudo-TSPs’ may come up. They would provide wet leasing of installation and maintenance of private network service.

The three TSPs — Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea — through industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), are pushing the government not to allocate direct spectrum to private 5G networks. Read more

Sunflower oil shipments to India from Russia, Ukraine return to normal

Shipments of sunflower oil to India have started normalising after imports from war-torn Ukraine resumed beginning September after a gap of four months, leading to further normalisation of supplies.

Ukraine has been the largest supplier of sunflower oil to India. However, after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in February, supplies from Ukraine dwindled as Russia denied it access to the Black Sea ports. However, a deal facilitated by Turkey and the United Nations has restarted food supplies from Ukraine to the rest of the world. Read more

States' Budget demand: 60% GST share, extended compensation period

State finance ministers in their customary pre-Budget consultation with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday demanded greater fiscal autonomy through an increase in states’ share in goods and services tax (GST) to 60 per cent, from 50 per cent at present, and an extension of the GST compensation period by another five years.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who also holds the finance portfolio, asked Sitharaman to return the money to the tune of Rs 17, 240 crore lodged in the New Pension Scheme, so that the amount could be put in a separate fund that would serve as both provident fund and social security fund to meet pension obligations in the future. Read more

Irdai approves amendments, simplifies rules to set up insurance firms

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) on Friday approved amendments to rules on registering insurance companies and investing in them.

Private equity (PE) funds can now directly put in money in insurance companies, and investment by them through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) has been made optional, thus providing flexibility.

This has been a long-standing demand of PE players looking to invest in insurance. Read more