Top Headlines: Economy may witness more pain, PM to meet bankers, and more

Here are the top business headlines on Wednesday morning

PM Modi to hold review meeting with banks

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold a meeting with the chief executives of state-owned and private banks on Wednesday. This is the first meeting that the Prime Minister (PM) is going to hold with the brass of financial institutions after the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting will be held through video conferencing, a bank executive said. Read More

Global air travel unlikely to return to pre-Covid levels until 2024: IATA

Global air passenger traffic will not return to pre-Covid levels until 2024, a year later than previously projected, as international travel curbs remain in place in most countries due to the coronavirus pandemic, IATA said Tuesday. Read More

Reliance to pay up to Rs 27,000 cr for Future Group retail chains

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd will pay between Rs 24,000 crore and Rs 27,000 crore ($3.2-$3.6 billion) to buy the Indian retail chains owned by Future Group, Mint newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing two sources familiar with details of the deal. Read More

Economy may witness more pain

India posted a minor current account surplus in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019-20, thanks to lower imports, but also aided by a perk up in remittances by Indians abroad. Read More

MoD procurement policy proposes ban on import of specific weapons

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Tuesday issued a second draft of the Defence Procurement Procedure of 2020 (DPP-2020) and solicited comments by August 10, four months after it put out the first draft of the new manual that will supersede and update the current DPP-2016. Read More

Insurance may get 'strategic sector' tag

The Centre may classify insurance as a ‘strategic sector’ under the new privatisation policy, according to government sources. In other words, there will be a maximum of four state-owned insurance firms in the long run. Read More

Foreign telecom gear makers seek relief from DoT on eligibility criteria

Non-Chinese telecom equipment makers, led by European players, are pushing the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to include service costs while calculating local content and value addition, so that they become eligible to be classified as local suppliers under the revised rules of the Public Procurement Order, 2017. Read More

Nifty Bank: 9 years of outperformance wiped in 4 months due to pandemic

For nearly a decade, banks, especially private sector lenders, were the perfect stocks for investors and fund managers to pick to beat benchmark indices and generate alpha returns in their portfolios. The Covid-19 pandemic has ended this as years of outperformance by banking stocks has been wiped off over the past four months. Read More

Glance in talks with US, Japanese investors to raise $200-250 million

Spurred by growth in its video-sharing platform Roposo, InMobi-owned Glance is tapping US and Japanese investors to raise $200-250 million, said people in the know. Read More

Recovery signs are visible, remove uncertainties over mini lockdowns: CII

Industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Tuesday batted for removing uncertainties associated with imposing ‘mini’ lockdowns so that businesses can function smoothly. It said there were early signs of economic recovery and it was important to build on them. Read More