IndiGo’s Q3 profit soars 56%, eyes long-haul international flights
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which operates India’s biggest budget airline IndiGo, said its Q3 profit rose 56%, boosted by foreign exchange gains and credits from Pratt & Whitney to compensate for glitches in engines that grounded the airline’s Airbus planes. The airline said it will seek rights to fly long-haul international flights soon. Net profit rose to Rs762 crore in the three months ended 31 December from Rs487.25 crore in the year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected quarterly profit at Rs651 crore.
Caught in Reliance Jio vs Airtel crossfire, Idea Cellular calls for peace
Among the telecom companies that have survived the relentless onslaught of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd is the most precariously placed. Its pre-tax loss rose to 32% of revenue in the December quarter, and its Ebitda of Rs1,223 crore was barely enough to take care of financing costs (Rs1,149 crore). Ebitda stands for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. So it wasn’t entirely surprising when Idea Cellular’s management suggested on a call with analysts that it wants nothing to do with the latest downward tariff revisions. “We do not want to be a price warrior,” Himanshu Kapania, managing director of Idea, said on the call.
Bharti Airtel receives regulatory nod to buy Millicom’s Rwanda unit
Bharti Airtel has received regulatory approval to acquire Millicom International Cellular’s Rwanda unit, Tigo Rwanda. The Sunil Mittal-led mobile carrier said Wednesday it had received approval from the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) to acquire Millicom’s Rwanda subsidiary. Last month, Bharti Airtel had inked a definitive pact with Millicom International under which Airtel Rwanda would buy 100% equity interest in Tigo Rwanda, and in turn, consolidate the Rwandan mobile market by putting Airtel as a strong No 2 carrier by revenue in the African country.
Budget 2018: Government may allot Rs 500 crore for sugar development fund
The government may marginally raise the corpus for Sugar Development Fund (SDF) to Rs 500 crore in the upcoming Budget for 2018-19. SDF, managed by the food ministry, is used for lending money to mills at lower interest rates. Till last fiscal, the cess – collected from sugar mills – was deposited in it. When GST kicked in, the sugar cess was scrapped and hence a separate budgetary provision of Rs 496 crore was made for SDF for 2017-18.
Lalu Prasad found guilty in third fodder scam case, gets 5 years more in jail
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad was on Wednesday convicted by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ranchi in yet another fodder scam case. Jagannath Mishra, another former Bihar chief minister, was also found guilty by the CBI court, even though he had been acquitted in the second fodder scam case when the verdict was announced by the CBI court on 23 December 2017. Lalu Prasad was handed a five-year prison term in addition to the three-and-a-half years he is already serving in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda jail, the CBI confirmed.
Government to deposit Rs 88,000 crore into 20 PSBs this fiscal
The government announced it will give Rs88,000 crore of capital to 20 state-run banks in the current fiscal while prescribing a reforms package to make them more accountable. Of this, Rs 80,000 crore will be through recapitalisation bonds and Rs 8,139 crore as budgetary support while banks will raise Rs 10,312 crore from the market. Apart from ensuring customer service levels and responsible banking practices, lenders will have to monitor loans, keep a close eye on bad debt and sell non-core assets. The package has six themes with 30 action points, the government said in a press release.
Xiaomi pips Samsung as top smartphone company: Canalys
Chinese handset maker Xiaomi has overtaken Samsung to become India’s largest smartphone player, a report by research firm Canalys said today. “Xiaomi now leading with shipments close to 8.2 million units (27 per cent market share) in Q4 2017. Despite annual growth of 17 per cent, Samsung failed to maintain its lead, shipping just over 7.3 million smartphones (25 per cent share) to take second place,” Canalys said in its report.The smartphone market in India grew by a modest six per cent overall, following the seasonal dip as vendors and channel partners take stock after a busy third quarter, it added. Vivo, Oppo and Lenovo rounded out the top five.
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