News digest: PNB fraud, Bhushan Steel auction, Pawan Hans stake, and more

Scam-hit PNB will return to normalcy within six months, assures MD

Punjab National Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sunil Mehta said on Friday normalcy would be restored at the scam-hit public sector bank within six months. He said the bank would not slip under the Reserve Bank of India’s prompt corrective action (PCA) even if it had to absorb the full liability of Rs 114 billion involved in the latest banking scam, in which letters of undertaking (LoUs) were fraudulently issued by PNB staff to the companies run by Nirav Modi, the prime accused in the case. Read More

Tata Steel highest bidder for Bhushan Steel, offers Rs 100 bn more than JSW

Tata Steel has overtaken JSW Steel and emerged as the highest bidder for Bhushan Steel, according to sources close to the development.

Tata Steel is said to have offered Rs 360 billion and the gap between the two bids could be Rs 100 billion. Read More 

Govt's attempt to sell entire 51% stake in Pawan Hans finds no takers

According to sources aware of the development, the government, which has set an ambitious disinvestment target of Rs 800 billion for 2018-19, was forced to cancel the stake sale after one of the two shortlisted bidders pulled out of the race citing “lack of interest”. The two finalised bidders were Indian helicopter major Global Vectra Helicorp and US-based Continental Helicopters. Read More

Walmart in talks to buy 40% in Flipkart; due diligence to start next week

In what would be one of its biggest overseas deals, the US retailer is looking at buying new and existing shares in Flipkart and due diligence is likely to begin as early as next week, the sources said. They declined to be named as the talks were private. Read More 

Telcos face fine up to Rs 5 mn per circle if service rates are predatory

Defining the concept of non-discrimination and non-predation, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Friday said it would impose a penalty to the tune of Rs 5 million per circle on any telecom operator found to be involved in offering predatory tariffs. Read More