Top 10 business headlines: Jet Airways bailout, Coke's new face, and more

Here are the top 10 business stories that made news on Monday

Lenders to bail out debt-laden Jet Airways after forensic clean chit

Lenders to Jet Airways are preparing to pick a substantial stake and restructure the debt of the cash-strapped airline as a forensic audit has not shown any adverse findings, it is learnt. State Bank of India (SBI), which leads the consortium of lenders, had last month appointed consulting firm EY to carry out a forensic audit of the airline's accounts following complaints of fund diversion. Read on...

Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal boards Ola with Rs 150-crore investment

Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, who had to step down when Walmart acquired the Bengaluru-based e-commerce major last year, has invested Rs 150 crore (around $21 million) in ride-hailing company Ola, filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. This is learnt to be the first tranche of around Rs 650 crore investment in the company by Bansal. Click here to read

Inflation at 18-month low, gives RBI room to ease monetary policy

Inflation rates, both wholesale and retail, fell in December last year, according to the government data released on Monday. This, in turn, might prompt the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to change its stance from calibrated tightening to neutral in its review next month. Read on...
 

Listed realty developers saddled with unsold properties worth Rs 1 trillion

Real estate developers have continued to add inventory despite a slowdown in the offtake of new properties. At the end of the September 2018 quarter, India’s top 27 listed realty companies had unsold inventory worth Rs 1.13 trillion, up 21 per cent from Rs 93,358 crore at the end of the March quarter. Read on...

Ranbir Kapoor in talks with Coca-Cola for multi-year brand endorsement deal

Actor Ranbir Kapoor will be the next brand ambassador of Coca-Cola, sources in the know told Business Standard. They said negotiations were on and an announcement is expected shortly. Click here to read.

Q3 results preview: RIL net seen rising a tad on higher petchem earnings

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) is expected to take a further hit on its gross refining margins (GRM), which have touched a multi-year low for the quarter ended December 2018. Read on...

Tokenisation to make your credit, debit card transactions a lot safer

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), through its circular dated January 8, has permitted card networks to undertake tokenisation in their transactions. At present, this facility has been permitted for payments through mobile phones and tablets only. It will be extended to other usages and devices later. Read on...

What easing GST compliance norms mean for credit ratings of SMEs

It’s better late than never. News of simplification of the goods and services tax (GST) norms is welcome. Allowing composition dealers to file one annual return with a simple declaration, instead of every quarter earlier, is a relief for many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The payment of taxes still needs to be done on a quarterly basis, according to a Livemint report.

With Central push, FASTag sales treble in one year

Sales of FASTag — the RFID chip stickers that allow vehicles to zoom through toll booths on national highways — have more than trebled in 2018, with 37.37 lakh tags sold by December. However, they still account for just a fourth of the tolls collected, according to a The Hindu BusinessLine report.

Want to graduate in insolvency? Here's how you can

In the next few weeks, the government is set to launch a Graduate Insolvency Programme, a bespoke academic course - the first of its kind in the world - to create a pool of 45 bankruptcy professionals annually, according to The Economic Times report. The course will be similar to those graduating with top honours at the Indian Institute of Management or Indian Institute of Technology.