News digest: Spectrum holding caps, GST sops for digital payments, and more

Trai wants spectrum holding caps eased

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended relaxing the rules for spectrum-holding caps, a move that will benefit operators such as Vodafone and Idea Cellular to retain their airwaves after the merger as also allow other telcos to get more spectrum in a particular band. Read more 

Govt plans GST sops for digital payments

The Centre has proposed a two percentage point discount in the goods and services tax (GST) for consumers who make digital payments. The proposal is  likely to be taken up in the next GST Council meeting in January.

The move, if approved, will boost the government efforts to usher in a cashless economy. The incentive will be available to business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions for goods and services that face a GST rate of 3 per cent or more. The incentive will include a 1 per cent concession on the Central GST and another 1 per cent on the state GST. Read more                                       

L&T set to be first Indian firm to build metro outside India

Mumbai-based Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is set to become the first Indian company to build a metro rail project outside the country, with the company likely to complete the Rs 3,400-crore light rail-based urban transit system in Mauritius, to be commissioned by 2019-20. “The Mauritius project will be the first overseas metro project that an Indian company will be executing independently. Read more 

IKEA plans 'paisa vasool' debut

Exactly five years and five months after IKEA decided to invest around Rs 10,500 crore in the India market, the 35-billion euros Swedish furnishing major is ready for launch in Hyderabad with its range of Stenlille rugs to Kivik sofas, Kvistbro storage tables to Poang armchairs, and all the rest that’s sold across its 403 stores in 51 countries. Hyderabad is the first Indian city – and India the 52nd country – to get IKEA, the largest foreign investor in the country’s single-brand retail sector so far. Read more

Honda drives beyond City, gets one-fourth sales from WR-V model   

Japanese carmaker Honda had a rough patch in India last year when its sales declined 18 per cent even as the market grew by 9 per cent. Having largely relied on the City for the bulk of its sales, Honda faced a challenge when the City acquired a competitor in the form of Maruti Suzuki’s Ciaz, which became the segment leader. Sales of the City shrank by 25 per cent in 2016-17 to 57,984 cars. Read more