Top 10 biz headlines: RIL, Indigo Q1 results, Oyo $2-bn investment & more

From Brookfield capital infusion into RIL to Lenders revised norms for Jet airways, here are the top business headlines on Friday

1. RIL Q1 net up 7% at Rs 10,104 crore; Jio, retail boost revenues by 22%

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Friday reported a 6.8 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 10,104 crore for the quarter ended June this year on the back of a record 22 per cent jump in revenue at Rs 1.72 trillion. 

Consumer businesses contribute 32 per cent of the consolidated segment gross earnings (or earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation, or Ebitda) for the quarter. For the same quarter last quarter, the company reported a net profit of Rs 9,459 crore. Revenue was 22.1 per cent higher than the Rs 1.41 trillion in the corresponding period a year ago. Read More here

2. IndiGo reports highest profit, board meet continues amid promoters' tussle

In the midst of a tussle between promoters, InterGlobe Aviation, which operates the country’s largest airline by market share IndiGo, has recorded its highest net profit at Rs 1,203 crore for the June quarter with a more than 40-fold rise from the same period last year.

While IndiGo’s net profit has soared to Rs 1,203 crore during the April-June quarter from Rs 27 crore in the corresponding period last year, its revenue rose 45 per cent to Rs 9,420 crore on the back of strong passenger revenues and a sharp improvement in cargo performance. Read More here

3. Govt may seek up to $14.5-bn credit from foreign lenders for MSMEs: Report

The government is in talks with foreign lenders to provide as much as $14.5 billion in credit to millions of its small firms, two officials said, in a sign the country's banking system may not be robust enough to do the job on its own.

The government is in discussions with multiple foreign lenders, including Germany's state-owned development bank KfW Group, the World Bank and some Canadian institutions to extend lines of credit to small enterprises, one of the officials, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters. Read More here

4. Ritesh Agarwal to deploy $2 billion in his hotel startup OYO to boost stake

OYO Hotels and Homes, on Friday, said that its founder and chief executive Ritesh Agarwal, will invest $2 billion in the hospitality startup. Agarwal, who founded the hotel chain in 2013 at the age of 19, would make this investment through RA Hospitality Holdings (Cayman). He has signed a $2 billion primary and secondary management investment round and is supported by global institutional banks and his financial partners, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, according to the firm.  Read More here

5. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das takes public sector banks to task on rate cut

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday came down heavily on public sector banks (PSBs) for not reducing their lending rates despite liquidity remaining ample, bond yields being at a multi-year low, and policy rates being lowered by 75 basis points (bps) in the past six months.

The governor also nudged banks to lend to non-banking financial companies (NBFC), instead of remaining risk-averse, since NBFCs are dependent on bank loans. Read More here

6. Brookfield to infuse Rs 25,000 crore into RIL's telecom tower arm

Reliance Industries (RIL) on Friday said that Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings had signed an agreement with BIF IV Jarvis India Pte, a unit of Brookfield Asset Management, for an investment by Brookfield (along with co-investors) for Rs 25,215 crore in units issued by the Tower Infrastructure Trust. 

Brookfield will buy 100 per cent units issued by the Trust, which, in turn, owns 100 per cent equity of Reliance Jio Infratel (RJIPL), the operating company for Jio’s tower assets. Read More here

7. MF funding to NBFCs falls to 18-month low of Rs 86,779 crore in June

The funding challenges for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) continued to get more intense with mutual funds' (MFs') deployment towards the short-term debt market of NBFCs dropping by another 15 per cent to Rs 86,779 crore in June. Data sourced from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) showed that fund deployment was the lowest in 18 months. Read More here

8. Lenders revise bidding norms for Jet, drop aviation experience clause

The committee of creditors (CoC) is learnt to have finalised the bid criteria for Jet Airways under the insolvency process, dropping the aviation experience clause. The CoC has also approved an interim funding of $10 million (Rs 68 crore) to support the airline. Bidders will need to have a net worth or assets under management of Rs 1,000 crore to be able to participate in the bid. Read More here

9. Shot in arm for BPOs: No GST on select services

God news for business process outsourcing (BPOs). The government on Friday decided that BPOs would qualify as exports and therefore would not be subject to GST. The move marks a major relief for India's $167 billion IT and ITeS sector, reported The Economic Times. The BPO sector was in turmoil since the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR) in Maharashtra held that back-office support services didn’t qualify as "export of service."
 

10. L&T Finance to exit ₹8,660-crore structured finance biz

LiveMint on Friday reported that L&T Finance Holding was looking to exit from its Rs 8,660-crore structured finance and debt capital market (DCM) business. The decision to run down the business comes after in the wake of a mark-to-market hit on account of its exposure to Dewan Housing Finance Ltd. L&T Finance has classified its structured finance and debt capital market as “defocused" book this quarter, while it turns its focuses on infrastructure finance and infra debt fund. The firm has exited from its supply chain finance business.