News digest: Disinvestment target, Wadia case, hurdle for NBFCs, and more

Senior government sources said buybacks by public sector units could get the exchequer between Rs 120 billion and Rs 150 billion

Disinvestment target to be crossed: Govt

The government is confident of crossing the disinvestment target of Rs 800 billion for the financial year 2018-19 (FY19). “We may even go up to Rs 850 billion,” said an official in the know. Read more

Valuation hurdle for NBFCs

Initial public offerings (IPOs) of non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) will find market headwinds a hindrance to their valuations even as a big question mark hangs over investments in excess of $2 billion made by private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds in them over the past three years. Read more

Govt to amend laws to allow banks, telcos to use Aadhaar

The Cabinet on Monday approved amending the existing laws to provide legal backing for seeding biometric ID Aadhaar with mobile numbers and bank accounts as an optional KYC after the Supreme Court barred mandatory use of the 12-digit unique identifier by private firms, sources said. Read more

Wadia defamation case: Court summons Ratan Tata, Chandra

A local court has issued summons to Tata Trusts Chairman Ratan Tata and Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, along with others, in a defamation suit filed by Wadia Group Chairman Nusli Wadia. Read more

Freight blocks are the next growth engine for railway

Struggling to compete with roads for a bigger share in freight loading, the Indian Railways is exploring a new concept called “freight block”. During a block of five to six hours, a bunch of freight trains is getting a clear passage on busy routes at the cost of mail and express passenger trains. Traditionally, freight trains give way to passenger trains. Read more