Top 10 business headlines: Mallya's extradition, RCom bets on NCLT and more

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

1) Zee group's Subhash Chandra gives personal guarantee to mutual funds

Lenders have driven a hard bargain with Subhash Chandra, the Zee group chairman, asking him to provide a personal guarantee for payment obligations on an “irrevocable and unconditional” basis.

The formal agreement inked between Zee and a committee of lenders (CoL) gives the latter more powers and greater control over the developments at the media major. The Zee group owes Rs 13,500 crore to lenders, whose exposure is secured by equity shares of listed firms that include Zee Entertainment and Dish TV. Read more

2) Fugitive tycoon Vijay Mallya's extradition to India approved by UK minister

UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid has ordered the extradition of Vijay Mallya on charges of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering offences, the Home Office said on Monday, in a major blow to the embattled liquor baron.

The 63-year-old businessman had been found to have a case to answer before the Indian courts by Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on December 10, 2018. Click here to read more

3) New definition to give start-ups, investors a bigger angel tax breather

The government may further exempt start-ups and investors from paying angel tax by tweaking the definition of a start-up soon. With pressure from industry mounting, a working committee will be created in four to five days, officials said. More details

4) RCom goes to NCLT to speed up Jio deal, hopes move will expedite DoT nod

Reliance Communications' (RCom's) shares crashed 50 per cent as soon as the markets opened on Monday, reacting to the company's Friday announcement that it would file for insolvency in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Sources said this move, however, boosted hopes of the debt-laden firm being able to sell its spectrum and fibre optics assets to Reliance Jio (RJio) soon. Continue reading here

5) Should data be stored locally only? Mastercard in talks with RBI for further clarity on norms

Global payments major Mastercard is in talks with the RBI to bring about further clarity on its data localisation norms, and whether the data have to be stored only domestically, according to The Hindu BusinessLine report.

6) ONGC Videsh looks to pare stake in one of its costliest acquisitions

State run-ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) is exploring the transfer of its stake in Imperial Energy Corp. Plc’s Siberian deposits to a Russian firm to reduce potential losses from the $2.1-billion acquisition, said a person aware of the development, according to a Livemint report.

7) Sebi likely to implement 'tap issue of bonds' mechanism in FY20

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has almost finalised the mechanism for tap issue of bonds through a shelf offer document and could implement it from FY20, according to MoneyControl.

8) Anil Ambani's Reliance General Insurance to re-file IPO document this week

Despite negative investor sentiment, the Anil Ambani-led Reliance group is planning an initial public offering (IPO) of a group company as early as this financial year. Reliance General Insurance Company will re-file its IPO document with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) this week, according to investment banking sources. The company is hoping to obtain pending regulatory approvals soon, and targeting to list before March-end, a source said. Read more

9) Big deals come with bigger labour costs for Indian IT services companies

The December quarter results of Indian IT services companies have been quite good with growth defying estimates for most firms on the back of healthy deal wins and a strong pipeline. However, almost every company is fighting the margin pressure owing to aggressive hiring as they had to rush to meet client demands from these new projects. More details

10) NCLAT asks govt for list of IL&FS firms categorised by financial position

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday directed the central government to submit a list of subsidiaries of the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), categorised by their ability to meet payment obligations as decided by the newly constituted board of the company.

The appellate tribunal also asked the government to contact former Supreme Court judge D K Jain to be the supervisor of the operation of the resolution process. Click here to read more