News digest: Essar Steel case, Maruti Q2 earnings, fiscal deficit, and more

Ruias' last minute offer came as lenders started voting on two offers made by ArcelorMittal and Vedanta

Twist in Essar tale as Ruias offer settlement

The promoters of debt-ridden Essar Steel took its creditors by surprise by offering to settle the entire claims of Rs 543 billion under Section 12A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The rule allows a company to exit the bankruptcy process if it offers to repay dues and 90 per cent of the lenders accept the proposal, the Ruias said. Read more

Maruti Suzuki net profit drops, first in over 2 years

Firm commodity prices, a slowdown in sales, and a double-digit increase in discounts pulled down the profit of Maruti Suzuki by 10 per cent in the quarter ended September 30. The country’s biggest car maker reported a profit of Rs 22.40 billion for the quarter against Rs 24.84 billion a year ago. This is the first decline in the company’s profit after nine consecutive quarters of profit growth. Read more

Bharti Airtel Q2 net profit slips 65% to Rs 1.18 billion 

Aided by one-off gains, telecom major Bharti Airtel posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1.18 billion for the September quarter. This was 22 per cent higher than the Rs 0.97 billion it reported in the June quarter, though down 65 per cent over the year-ago period. Read more

DoT wants telecom operators to stop Aadhaar authentication

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), in accordance with a Supreme Court order, will soon come up with a notification asking telecom operators to stop biometric authentication on the basis of the Aadhaar. Read more

Mittal sees challenges, Ambani opportunities

The radical change the telecom industry has gone over the past two years and its resulting sentiment were visible at the second edition of the India Mobile Congress. Read more

Fiscal deficit widens to 95% in first half of FY 19

The central government’s fiscal deficit touched 95.3 per cent of its full-year target of Rs 6.24 trillion in the first half the current financial year, the data from the Controller General of Accounts showed. The fiscal health over these months is slightly worse than the year-ago period when the deficit stood at 91.3 per cent. Meeting the fiscal. Read more