News digest: Stressed power assets, Jet Airways-Godrej deal, and more

30 power assets headed for NCLT  

Lenders to about 30 stressed power assets will refer them to bankruptcy courts, after the Allahabad High Court denied any relief to the sector from the Reserve Bank of India’s February 12 circular setting a 180-day deadline for resolution, which ended on Monday. These comprise 18 coal-run and a dozen gas-based and hydropower projects. Some petitions were in the process of being filed on Tuesday. Read More

Google sets stage for e-commerce play 

It’s official. Google will make its debut in India’s e-commerce and retail ecosystem this Diwali via its payments platform, Tez, rechristened Google Pay.  

From tying up with more than 2,000 e-commerce companies, including big names such as cab aggregator Uber and movie ticketing platform BookMyShow, to adding about 1.2 million offline merchants, including the likes of Big Bazaar, Google is on a hyperdrive to create an ecosystem where everything will hinge on the payments app. The company is also going to offer consumers instant loans on its platforms and has partnered four banks — HDFC, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra and Federal Bank.  Read more

Jet Airways-Godrej land deal under I-T scanner 

In fresh trouble for Naresh Goyal-controlled Jet Airways, the income tax (I-T) department is examining the airline’s financial deal with Godrej Buildcon (GBPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Godrej Properties. Read More

As part of a land development agreement, Jet Airways is said to have received ~17.25 billion as “monetary consideration” from the developers. The I-T department is assessing whether this attracts tax liability on the parties concerned. Sources say the department will soon seek an explanation and ask them to file a response. 

Govt hopes RBI will agree to a middle path

Against the backdrop of the Allahabad High Court’s decision to not grant relief to privately-owned stressed power projects from the Reserve Bank of India’s February 12 circular, the government and the central bank have set the ball rolling to try and find a solution before the projects reach insolvency proceedings. A high-level empowered committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha, will meet on Friday to take a call on the issues that the government will take up with the RBI.  Read More

Ayushman Bharat: Health and wellness centre a booster dose for Chhattisgarh

The third of the four-part series looks at the readiness for Ayushman Bharat in Chhattisgarh, a state which took the lead in the initiative. Read More