Top headlines: Govt okays PLI scheme for telcos; Ramani wins #metoo fight

The Hinduja family paid a premium to boost its stake in IndusInd Bank. More on that story and other headlines.

The Union Cabinet approved a Rs 12,195 crore plan to incentivise local telecoms gear manufacturing over five years. The Hinduja family paid a premium to boost its stake in IndusInd Bank. Here is more about those stories.

Cabinet approves over Rs 12,000-cr PLI scheme for telecom sector: Prasad

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme worth Rs 12,195 crore for telecom equipment manufacturing. The decision was taken to offset the imports of telecom equipment worth more than Rs 50,000 crore and reinforce it with “Made in India” products both for domestic markets and exports. This approval comes in wake of very encouraging success of PLI related to mobile and component manufacturing, which was announced in April 2020 during the height of Covid pandemic, the government said in a release. Read more

#MeToo: Delhi court acquits Priya Ramani in M J Akbar's defamation complaint

A Delhi court Wednesday acquitted journalist Priya Ramani in M J Akbar's criminal defamation case against her over the allegations of sexual harassment, saying a woman has the right to put grievances before any platform of her choice even after decades. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey dismissed the complaint filed by Akbar saying that no charges were proved against her. The court said it is shameful that crimes against women are taking place in a country where mega epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana were written about respecting them. Read more

Billionaire Hinduja family pays 61% premium to boost Indusind stake

The billionaire Hinduja family paid a premium to boost its stake in IndusInd Bank Ltd., a sign of confidence in the Indian private-sector lender as concerns over its asset quality ease. IndusInd International Holdings Ltd., which represents the bank’s founding Hinduja clan, completed a rights issue to fund the conversion of warrants to shares in the Mumbai-based bank, it said in a statement late Tuesday. The warrants will be redeemed at 1,709 rupees a share, a 61% premium over Tuesday’s close. The holding company also plans to sell some other investments to finance the 20.2 billion rupee ($277 million) warrant redemption, it said. Read more

Lodha Developers files draft papers with SEBI for Rs 2,500-cr IPO

Reviving its IPO plan for the third time, realty major Lodha Developers has filed draft papers with market regulator SEBI for its proposed initial public offering to raise around Rs 2,500 crore, according to sources. Mumbai-based Lodha Developers Ltd, which has been renamed as Macrotech Developers, filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) late on Tuesday. This would be the third attempt by Lodha Developers to launch a public issue and list its shares on the stock exchanges. Read more

Arbitration award: Cairn CEO to meet finance secretary on Thursday

Cairn Energy's Chief Executive Officer Simon Thomson will meet Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey on Thursday as the UK-based oil major builds pressure on India to honour the $1.2 bn arbitration award. Meanwhile, a high level inter-ministerial group (IMG) is meeting on Wednesday as part of the series of meetings to chart out India’s strategy to contest the award given by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in December. The IMG comprises senior officials from the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Law, Department of Economic Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs. Read more