News digest: Modi flags off metro train, auto firms' EV plans, and more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for the use of public transport to save fuel

Aditya Birla, Piramal-Bain, Shree make aggressive bids for Binani Cement

India’s top cement majors, including UltraTech Cement of the Aditya Birla Group and Shree Cement, and the stressed asset investment fund of Piramal Enterprises and Bain Capital Credit have made aggressive bids for Binani Cement, a 98.4 per cent subsidiary of BSE-listed Binani Industries. Lenders are expecting bids to come in higher than the cement company’s debt of Rs 3,682 crore, as against significant haircuts taken by banks in other Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) cases. Read More

Use public transport, save fuel costs: Modi after inaugurating Magenta Line

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday made a strong pitch for the use of public transport to save fuel and costs associated with the import of petroleum. He also said travelling on a Metro train should be a “prestige issue”.

Modi was addressing a public meeting in this suburban town in Uttar Pradesh, bordering New Delhi, after launching a 12-km stretch of Delhi Metro’s newly built Magenta Line. Read more

Truckmakers shower bounty on transporters

India’s top cement majors, including UltraTech Cement of the Aditya Birla Group and Shree Cement, and the stressed asset investment fund of Piramal Enterprises and Bain Capital Credit have made aggressive bids for Binani Cement, a 98.4 per cent subsidiary of BSE-listed Binani Industries. Lenders are expecting bids to come in higher than the cement company’s debt of Rs 3,682 crore, as against significant haircuts taken by banks in other Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) cases. Read more

Revenue concerns may push back further GST cuts

With revenue concerns surfacing, a reduction in goods and services tax (GST) rates for consumer durables in the 28 per cent slab may take longer than expected. 
 

With almost three months to go for the fiscal year to end, pruning the 28 per cent slab again may not happen in the next GST Council meeting in January. The reduction in rates for more than 200 items in the November meeting had raised expectations that white goods would be taken out of the 28 per cent slab. Read more

Year End Specials: Automobile makers get electric shock in 2017

If 2016 was a year of bans, restrictions, and regulatory challenges for the Indian automobile industry, the current year has been no less ‘exciting’. Early in the year, when the industry had just started to recover from demonetisation, Piyush Goyal, then minister for power, said the government was assessing the possibility of having an all-electric vehicle market by 2030. Read more