News digest: RBI on banned notes, Birlas in 1-bn JV, Rupee fall and more

Birlas in $1 bn JV for stressed assets

Aditya Birla Group and US investment firm Värde Partners on Wednesday announced an exclusive joint venture partnership to invest as much as $1 billion (about Rs 70 billion) in stressed assets in India. Read More

99.3% of banned notes are back

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has claimed that 99.3 per cent of the notes invalidated during demonetisation in November 2016 have returned to it. After processing and verification, the total value of specified banknotes (SBNs), as the banned currency is referred to, is Rs 15.31 trillion. Read More

Govt to ask J&J to pay up 

Stung by criticism over inaction against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in cases involving faulty hip implants, the government is launching a mammoth exercise to identify the affected patients across the country and ensure they receive compensation, which might run into tens of millions of rupees. Read More

Rupee dives to 70.59 against  us dollar

The rupee on Wednesday plunged to 70.65 against the US dollar in day trade on heavy month-end dollar demand from importers and foreign capital outflows. The local currency dropped 49 paise, or 0.70 per cent, to close at 70.59 to a dollar at the interbank foreign exchange market, logging its biggest single-day drop since August 13, when it nosedived 110 paise, or 1.6 per cent. The rupee had earlier hit its all-time closing low of 70.16 on Monday. Read More

RInfra aims for zero-debt status

After completing the sale of one of its marquee assets, the Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) is hoping to turn into a zero-debt company. It is riding on proceeds from the Mumbai distribution deal and expects cash flows from regulatory assets and arbitration cases. Read More

ICICI Bank tells Sebi it was unaware of conflict of interest

ICICI Bank has denied charges of violation of disclosure norms levelled against it by the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Responding to a Sebi show cause notice issued on May 23, the bank said it was not aware of the alleged conflict of interest situation and hence couldn’t make any disclosures required under the listing regulations, it is learnt. Read More