Top headlines: All acquitted in Babri case, Apr-Aug fiscal deficit overruns

From special court acquitting all accused in Babri demolition case to General Atlantic investing in Reliance Retail, Business Standard brings you top news of the evening

Babri Masjid demolition verdict: All including LK Advani, Joshi acquitted

A special court on Wednesday acquitted all 32 accused, including former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, in the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. "The accused tried to stop the demolition," said special CBI judge Surendra Kumar Yadav in Lucknow. The court said the demolition was not planned and some members of the crowds impulsively attacked the structure. “The court has said that there is no legal evidence to prove the charges. The court also did not find any evidence of a conspiracy,” I B Singh, a lawyer for one of the accused, told Bloomberg News over the phone. Read More...

India's April-Aug fiscal deficit passes 109% of full year budget target

India's fiscal deficit in the five months to end August stood at Rs 8.7 trillion ($117.98 billion), or 109.3% of the budgeted target for the current fiscal year, government data showed on Wednesday. Net tax receipts were Rs 2.84 trillion, while total expenditure was Rs 12.5 trillion, the data showed, indicating the government was facing a fall in tax receipts amid a rise in spending to combat the impact of the coronavirus. Read More...

Output of 8 core infra sectors contracts 8.5% in Aug, drops for sixth month

Contracting for the sixth consecutive month, the output of eight core infrastructure sectors dropped by 8.5 per cent in August, mainly due to decline in production of steel, refinery products and cement. The production of eight core sectors had contracted 0.2 per cent in August 2019, showed data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Wednesday. Read More...

General Atlantic to invest Rs 3,675 cr in Reliance Retail for 0.84% stake

General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm will invest Rs 3,675 cr in Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, RIL said in a BSE filing on Wednesday. General Atlantic's investment will translate into a 0.84% equity stake in RRVL. The deal values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.285 trillion, said RIL in a media release. Reliance Retail Ventures Limited is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, and holding company of all the retail companies under the RIL Group. Read More...

Pause in IBC, internal issues halt takeover of stressed projects

Cash-rich developers are in a quandary about taking over stressed property projects. The reason: Opportunities to take over under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process have dried up this year after IBC procedures were first suspended for six months, and then by another three months till December 31. Big developers are waiting for better deals to buy out stressed projects as leveraged developers made use of the six-month moratorium on loan payments, and effectively avoided loan defaults. Read More...