Top 10 biz headlines: Maruti EV plans delayed, unemployment data and more

From Maruti putting EV plans on hold to the government releasing new unemployment data, here are the top business headlines of the day.

Maruti's EV plans take a back seat as other PV makers go full throttle

The country’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, will not launch an electric vehicle (EV) anytime soon, as issues like range anxiety and the high cost of acquisition will put off buyers, Kenichi Ayukawa, its managing director and chief executive, told Business Standard. Read More

Bharti Airtel pitches for healthy telecom sector, Vodafone Idea's survival

Bharti Airtel on Wednesday pitched for a healthy telecom sector with three players, and said Vodafone Idea’s survival will be good from the ‘investment and reputation’ point of view for India. In the company’s post-earnings conference call, Bharti Airtel’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Badal Bagri said the telecom sector was large enough to accommodate three players. Read More

$118.3 bn received in remittances since 2018-19: Govt to Lok Sabha

An estimated 13.62 million Indian nationals are staying abroad and $118.3 billion has been received as remittances since April 2018 up to September last year, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan cited figures which showed that countries like Nepal, the Middle East region, the UK, the US, Malaysia and Germany have a large number of Indians living there. Read More

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner steps down after 11 years, says time is right

The LinkedIn professional networking service is getting a new CEO. Jeff Weiner will become executive chairman after 11 years as CEO of the Microsoft-owned business. Ryan Roslansky, senior vice president of product, will become CEO as of June 1. Read More
 

Walt Disney's weapon against Netflix and Amazon in India: Hotstar

When Walt Disney Co's Disney+ streaming service makes its debut in India on March 29, it will enjoy the luxury of home-court advantage: Hotstar. Disney's control of Hotstar, which it acquired through the $71 billion purchase of Twenty-First Century Fox in 2019, gives Disney+'s entrance into the Indian market in partnership with Hotstar hundreds of millions of potential subscribers it can attract. Read More

Budget 2020 is indeed a 'bold' Budget; you cannot fault Sitharaman here

Nirmala Sitharaman’s second Budget has produced the usual grumble that it’s not ‘bold’. But hard as I have tried, I have not been able to find out exactly what ‘bold’ means in this context. The usual point of reference is the 1991 Budget. But when I read it again, there was nothing ‘bold’ about it. In fact, 90 per cent of it was the opposite of bold and extremely deflationary. The only ‘bold’ Budget, if you restrict yourself to tax rates, was the 1997 one when P Chidambaram sharply reduced income-tax rates for everyone. Read More

Unemployment rate was at 6.1% in 2017-18, says govt citing new survey

Unemployment rate in the country as per a new survey was 6.1 per cent in 2017-18, the government informed Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Minister of State for Labour Santosh Gangwar said the government is conducting a new Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) with new parameters and bigger sample size, and its results cannot be compared with previous surveys in this regard. Read More
 

IOC signs annual deal on option to buy crude from Russia's Rosneft

State-owned Indian Oil Corp has signed a deal with Russian oil major Rosneft giving it an option to buy up to 2 million tonnes, or 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude in 2020, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday. India has been diversifying its sources of crude oil imports, in order to hedge political risks that threaten to choke off supplies from a particular region or country. Read More

DMart looks to raise up to ₹4,098 crore through QIP to fund business expansion

Avenue Supermarts Ltd, which runs the popular supermarket chain DMart, on Wednesday launched a qualified institutional placement (QIP) offering to raise up to Rs 4,098 crore. The company will use the money to expand its store network, invest in supply chain and repay loans, LiveMint reports.

India’s electric car dreams need a Tesla-like spark

The challenges facing the auto industry should not hold it back from showcasing its stuff at the auto expo that began on Wednesday. But it would do well to look at Tesla, which has become the world’s second most valued carmaker. Mint looks at the lessons Tesla holds for India, reports LiveMint.