Top 10 biz headlines: Modi lures investors, IRCTC's IPO, and more

From PM Modi urging investors to come to India and invest to LIC's stake in private sector dropping to 16-year-low, here are the top 10 business headlines on Thursday

Come to India, if there's any gap I'll act as bridge: Modi tells investors

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Wednesday pitched India as 'the' investment destination for global investors, saying reforms by his government were just the beginning of a long innings. Modi promised to personally act as a bridge for businesses and said India had a government that respected corporates and wealth creators. Read More

Govt to soon unveil norms to protect winning bidders in IBC cases

The government will soon come up with detailed guidelines for regulators and tax authorities to protect the winning bidders in Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) cases against the reopening of claims and threat to the assets acquired by them. Read More

IRCTC looks to raise Rs 645 cr via IPO, at price band of Rs 315-320 a share

Online ticketing, tourism and the catering arm of railways, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Wednesday said it is looking to raise up to Rs 645 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). Read  More

Sachin Bansal to be CEO again, buys majority stake in microfinance company

Billionaire Sachin Bansal is returning to an executive role, more than a year after he left e-commerce company Flipkart. Bansal has picked up a majority stake in Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services (CRIDS), a company which runs microfinance institution Chaitanya India Fin Credit (CIFCPL). He will be CRIDS's new chief executive officer (CEO), said a statement by his communications manager. Read More

NCLT directs Jet Airways lenders to disburse lifeline funds within 15 days

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Wednesday directed the financial creditors of the grounded Jet Airways to release some interim lifeline funds within 15 days. Read More

At 6%, UN body projects 7-year low GDP growth for India in 2019

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has pegged India’s economic growth rate at a seven-year low of 6 per cent in calendar year (CY) 2019. It also highlighted the pitfalls of shadow banking in countries such as India and China, citing the example of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS). Read More

Private sector's share in LIC's portfolio plunges to 16-year low

The private sector has a lower share in the portfolio of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) now than at any point since 2003. It accounts for 14.9 per cent of the total investments, according to numbers analysed from the Reserve Bank of India’s Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy. Read More
 

Double-A Bonds May be Allowed as Collateral in Money Market

The Reserve Bank of India is considering including double-A rated securities to a class of corporate bonds which an investor can use as collateral to raise short-term money in the market at rates within one percentage point of the RBI’s policy rate, reports Economic Times. Currently, only triple-A rated corporate papers are allowed to be traded on the so-called tripartite repo market, which has so far failed to attract much participation. 

RattanIndia Closer to Debt Resolution, Set to Revive Maharashtra Power Plant

New Delhi-based RattanIndia Power is closer to a debt resolution with lenders, allowing the company to bring in new investors and help revive the defunct coal-fired power plant at Amravati in Maharashtra, reported Economic Times. The company has accepted a letter of intent (LoI) by Aditya Birla ARC to buy out the bank debt for its 1350 MW, Phase I, thermal power project. The company owes lenders led by Power Finance Corp (PFC) a total of Rs 7,000 crore, most of which was used to finance the first phase of the project based in Amaravati. It was to generate a total of 2,700 MW of power.

Four Global Consultants to Audit Centre’s Top Schemes

Global consultation agencies KPMG, IPE Global have been selected to assess over 125 centrally-sponsored schemes of the government, set to begin in the next few days, Economic Times reported. While ministries have been asked to get their data on the progress of their schemes ready, the government’s think-tank Niti Aayog, after an extensive selection procedure which included an open bidding process, has selected four agencies to do the assessment of the schemes and divided sector-wise into 10 packages, which include agriculture, women and child development, human resource development, urban transformation, rural development, drinking water and sanitation, health, jobs and skills, water resources, environment and forest and social inclusion, law and order and justice delivery.