Top business headlines: Maruti sales hit slow lane, GST collection, & more

From Maruti Suzuki sales to GST, Business Standard brings to you stories that made the headlines on Saturday

Maruti Suzuki sales slip 22% in May, posts sharpest fall in 7 years

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki reported a 22 per cent decline in sales in May, its sharpest fall since August 2012. This is the third consecutive month that the company’s sales have dropped.

The top four automakers — Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Honda Cars India — together sold 229,294 units in the month. Read more here

GST collection crosses Rs 1 trillion for third straight month in May

Goods and services tax (GST) collection crossed Rs 1 trillion for a third straight month in May, posting over 6 per cent growth year-on-year, but revenue collection might still pose a challenge for the new finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, with the Central GST target for FY20 being 35 per cent higher than the last year. Read more here

ED summons former minister Praful Patel in UPA-era aviation scam

The ED has summoned senior NCP leader and former aviation minister Praful Patel next week as part of its money laundering probe related to alleged losses suffered by national carrier Air India in a multi-crore aviation scam during the UPA-era, officials said Saturday. Read more here

US move 'unfortunate', says India as Trump ends GSP trade privileges

US President Donald Trump has signed off on a presidential decree to cut off India’s tariff-free access to the US market under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme. “I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets,” he said in a statement on Friday. Read more here

Industrialist and doyen of tea industry B M Khaitan passes away at 92

Veteran industrialist and Williamson Magor Group (WMG) patriarch Brij Mohan Khaitan died on Saturday morning at his residence in Kolkata due to old age. He was 92 years old.

Considered a doyen of the tea industry in independent India, Khaitan is survived by his younger son, Aditya and daughter Divya Jalan. Read more here

Tata Steel completes acquisition of Bhushan Energy for Rs 800 crore

Tata Steel Saturday announced that it has completed the acquisition of debt-ridden Bhushan Energy Ltd.

The announcement came after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the resolution plan of Tata Steel to acquire Bhushan Energy for around Rs 800 crore. Read more here

AI set to drive Uber's India plans with focus on local languages

Ride-hailing app Uber’s calls, routed through the Internet, will be used to train its internal artificial intelligence (AI) engines in local Indian languages, Business Standard has learnt. Uber began rolling out the in-app calling feature through voice over internet protocol (VoIP) in October last year. It was introduced in India early this year and was hailed as being a security measure that provided greater anonymity and privacy to both the rider and the driver. Read more here

China to probe FedEx after Huawei complains of 'diverted packages'

China is investigating FedEx after it diverted packages sent by Chinese tech giant Huawei, state media reported Saturday.

The missed deliveries drew unusual attention because of speculation that they're related to rising US-China trade tensions and US sanctions on Huawei. Read more here

MCA moves NCLT against Deloitte, BSR over fraud at IL&FS subsidiary

The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has launched a prosecution against Deloitte Haskins and Sells as well as BSR and Associates LLP and their former auditors for their role in “perpetuating the fraud” at IFIN, a subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS). Read more here

Textiles continue to gasp for growth with sliding production, low exports

The new government would have to rethink its policy on turning around India’s second-largest job provider, as the textile sector continues to gasp for growth. Three years after key regulatory and labour changes were put in place, India’s textile and apparel exports have declined from $38.60 billion in 2014 to $37.12 billion in 2018 while imports have increased from $5.85 billion to $ 7.31. Read more here