Top headlines: UK flight ban may continue; telecom lobby slams 'sabotage'

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Mukesh Ambani sold dreams to tech giants for $27 bn. Now he has to deliver

Mukesh Ambani spent much of 2020 convincing Facebook Inc., Google and a clutch of Wall Street heavyweights to buy into his vision for one of the world’s most ambitious corporate transformations. Now flush with $27 billion in fresh capital, Asia’s richest man is under pressure to deliver. The 63-year-old Indian tycoon is focused on a handful of priorities as he tries to turn Reliance Industries Ltd. from an old-economy conglomerate into a technology and e-commerce titan, according to recent public statements and people familiar with the company’s plans. Read more

Vedanta Resources to issue $400 million notes to Oaktree Capital

A unit of Vedanta Resources will issue $400 million in notes to an entity under Oaktree Capital Group, as the mining conglomerate looks to meet liquidity needs. The notes will be partly secured by shares in Mumbai-listed unit Vedanta Ltd., according to separate exchange filings from Vedanta and the U.S. hedge fund. India’s macroeconomic troubles have attracted a wave of global investors betting they can eke out profits from the rising number of capital-starved businesses struggling to stay afloat. Read more

Foresee slight extension of suspension of UK flights: Hardeep Singh Puri

Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Tuesday said he foresees a slight extension of temporary suspension of passenger flights between India and the UK, where a new variant of the coronavirus has been detected. The Civil Aviation Ministry had last week suspended all flights between that country and India from December 23 to December 31 over the mutated variant of the virus. Read more

Sabotaging telecom infra as form of protest strongly condemned: COAI

Industry body COAI on Tuesday "strongly condemned" the sabotaging of telecom network infrastructure and disruption of services as a form of protest, after over 1,500 mobile towers were targeted during farmers' stir in Punjab. Terming telecom services as "lifeline" for lakhs of customers, COAI's Director General, SP Kochhar said disruption of telecom services is causing immense inconvenience to the common man, for whom mobile services are "essential". Read more

Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor to gain from export incentives under PLI scheme

Two-wheeler exporters Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor are expected to be key beneficiaries of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the auto sector. At Rs 57,000 crore, the auto sector is expected to get the largest chunk of the incentive and would account for 29 per cent of the Rs 2 trillion package across sectors. While the government has announced details of the scheme for the pharma and electronic sector, it is expected to roll out the package for the auto sector shortly. Read more