News digest: LTCG tax, Air India loss, renewable energy projects, and more

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday strongly defended the imposition of the long-term capital gains tax

We bite the bullet on difficult decisions: FM Jaitley on LTCG tax

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday strongly defended the imposition of the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on listed stocks, saying the Budget proposal was to tax the wealthiest sections of society. He also said that the Budget, in these challenging times, provided Rs 120 billion relief to the middle class, including pensioners and senior citizens. Read More

Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh step down from Fortis Healthcare board

Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh announced late on Thursday their decision to resign from the board of the hospital chain. This follows a recent Delhi High Court decision to enforce a Rs 35 billion arbitration award, given by a Singapore tribunal and won by Daiichi Sankyo in 2016. Read More

Air India's loss widens to Rs 57 bn in FY17 from Rs 38 bn in FY16

Contrary to popular belief that Air India made a turnaround under the current National Democratic Alliance government, figures show that its loss widened instead. According to figures provided in Parliament by minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha, the state-owned carrier registered a loss of Rs 57.65 billion in FY17, Rs 19.29 billion higher than Rs 38.36 billion loss in FY16. Read More

JSW, and Tata Steel bid for debt-laden Bhushan Power on the final day

JSW Steel and Tata Steel bid for debt-laden Bhushan Power & Steel on the final day for submission of bids. According to sources close to the development, JSW Steel is ahead in the race with an offer of Rs 130 billion and Tata Steel Rs 115 billion. The bids will be placed before a legal team, after which SBI Caps will evaluate the financial plans and place it before the committee of creditors. Read More 

India's renewable energy project tendering to be an all-time high in FY18

In what will be a record offering in a financial year, India is set to tender close to 6,650 Mw of renewable energy projects in February. Of this, 2,500 Mw are wind power projects and 4,150 Mw solar. With this, the total projects offered during 2017-18 will exceed a combined capacity of 10,000 Mw. Read More