News Digest: BoB-Vijaya-Dena swap ratio, Jet Airways loan default, and more

Swap ratio fixed for Bank of Baroda merger with Vijaya, Dena bank

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to the proposed merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda (BoB).

The merger will be completed by April 1, to create the country’s second-largest public sector bank. The merged entity will also be the third-largest, in terms of assets, after State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFC Bank. The total assets of the three entities combined, as of September 2018, was Rs 10.44 trillion, trailing SBI (Rs 34.86 trillion) and Rs 11.70 trillion of HDFC Bank. Read more

Hero's Munjal proposes GST rate cut for two-wheelers, Bajaj disposes

The heads of India’s two biggest two-wheeler makers have divergent views on the goods and services tax (GST) rate.

Pawan Munjal, chairman and managing director of Hero MotoCorp, is rooting for an urgent cut in the GST on two-wheelers from 28 per cent to 18 per cent, saying these vehicles provide basic mobility to the masses. Rajiv Bajaj, managing director and CEO of Bajaj Auto, however, disagrees. “The industry shouldn’t expect anything from a government that has to bail out IL&FS (Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services) and Air India. It should focus on products and not rely on government sops,” Bajaj told Business Standard. Read more

Jet Airways defaults on loan repayment to banks, credit rating slips to 'D'

Jet Airways has defaulted on loan repayment that was due end of December, in yet another definite sign of a serious financial crisis at the country’s second largest airline by market share. Jet’s lenders will now have to initiate the process for resolution of the stressed assets within 180 days as per the Reserve Bank of India norms.

Over the past several months, the airline has struggled to pay vendors and staff salaries on time. The latest default has prompted ICRA to assign a ‘D’ rating to the airline’s Rs 10,963 crore fund and non-fund based facilities. This is the seventh rating downgrade for Jet since March 2017. Loan instruments which are in default or those expected to touch that mark soon are assigned 'D' rating, according to the rating agency. Read more

Rafale deal: Audio clip sparks fresh round of verbal duel between BJP, Cong

The issue of alleged irregularities in the purchase of Rafale fighter jets, which seemed to have lost its political relevance after the December 14 order of the Supreme Court, got a new lease of life on Wednesday.

Armed with an audio clip, containing purported conversation between a Goa minister and a journalist, Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched a fresh attack on the Narendra Modi government on the issue. Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed the audio clip as fabricated. Read more