News digest: Exit poll, Singh vs Singh, current account deficit, and more

Exit polls give Rajasthan to Congress; photo finish in MP, Chhattisgarh

After polling ended for the Telangana and Rajasthan assemblies on Friday evening, and along with this the elections in five states, most exit polls predicted a Congress resurgence in northern India.

All exit polls said Rajasthan was unlikely to break its 25-year-old habit of throwing out the incumbent government, with the Congress slated to win the state. Several exit polls predicted the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) 15-year-rule in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh could also end.

However, most exit polls indicated the Bahujan Samaj Party-Ajit Jogi alliance in Chhattisgarh might have hurt the Congress, with the BJP slated to win a fourth successive win there. Read more

New CEA Arvind Krishnamurthy has supported note ban, criticised PSB mergers 

The government on Friday appointed Krishnamurthy Subramanian, associate professor and executive director of the Centre for Analytical Finance at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, chief economic advisor (CEA) for three years.

His tenure will start on the day he takes charge. Officials said he was expected to report to North Block in a few weeks. Subramanian’s predecessor, Arvind Subramanian, vacated office nearly three-and-a-half months back.

At the ISB, he teaches a course on corporate control, mergers, and acquisitions. His expertise is in banking and corporate governance. Read more  

HCL acquiring intellectual properties from IBM a risky bet, say experts 

HCL Technologies will acquire select intellectual properties (IPs) from global technology giant IBM in a deal valued at around $1.8 billion, making it the largest acquisition in the domestic IT services space.

The Shiv Nadar-owned IT major said it would buy nine IPs from IBM in areas like secure device management, marketing automation, omnichannel e-commerce, and digital experience. The all-cash deal, which is expected to be concluded by mid-2019, will largely be funded through internal accruals, along with a mix of $300 million in borrowing. Read more  

Policy on cards to let firms exit highway projects easily: Road ministry 

Companies building highways might soon have the option of exiting their projects once they have recovered their investment if a new government policy is implemented. The policy is likely to be called BOT (Variable).

The companies will have to return the projects to the National Highways Authority of India once they have recovered costs through toll collections. This policy is aimed at mitigating risks in execution of highway contracts through the conventional build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.

A senior road ministry official said, “We are not getting enough interest for BOT projects. So, BOT (Variable) is one of the options we are deliberating. The proposal is at a nascent stage.” Read more  

Malvinder vs Shivinder: Singh brothers' feud turns physical this time

The latest episode of infighting between former Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh has the two brothers accusing each other of physical assault, perhaps unprecedented in Corporate India’s history.

The spiralling dispute took an ugly turn after a video clip surfaced on social media where Malvinder can be heard saying he had been threatened and injured by Shivinder, and that his younger brother had tried to interrupt a board meeting of Prius Real Estate.

The two brothers, who have been joint promoters of several marquee enterprises like Fortis, Ranbaxy and Religare, reportedly came to blows during the board meeting on Wednesday evening. Read more https://mybs.in/2VsFXKl 

July-Sept current account deficit at 4-year high on rising oil prices: RBI 

High oil prices pushed India's current account deficit in July-September to its widest in over four years, according to data released by the central bank on Friday.

However, the current account deficit is likely to fall due to a sharp drop in crude prices that will take pressure off a depreciating rupee, analysts said.

"The current account deficit has peaked," said Shubhada Rao, chief economist at Yes Bank in Mumbai.

The Indian rupee fell 14 per cent in the first nine months of 2018 but has recovered by 5.6 per cent since October on the back of the drop in oil prices. Read more