Top 10 biz headlines: India's RCEP dilemma, McDonald's fires CEO, and more

New demands from India have left RCEP officials scrambling to salvage progress

AGR ruling: Reliance Jio advises Airtel, Voda Idea on how to raise money

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd opposed any move by the government to provide financial relief to rival telecom operators, which have been ordered to pay $7 billion in past dues, saying they had adequate recourse to funds. Read more.

Firms bet on foreign investments amid deepening economic slowdown

As demand for goods & services slows in the country, India Inc has turned its attention on growth opportunities in overseas markets. There has been a sharp uptick in outward foreign direct investment (FDI) by Indian companies in the past two years, despite a fall in overall capital expenditure (capex) in the corporate sector. Read more.

McDonald's fires CEO Steve Easterbrook over relationship with employee

McDonald’s Corp fired Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook because he had a consensual relationship with an employee, losing the strategist who revived sales with all-day breakfast and led the company’s charge into delivery and online ordering. Read more.

Maruti's rich valuations difficult to sustain amid auto sector slowdown

The Maruti Suzuki stock has gained over 35 per cent in the last three months on expectations of volume gains in the second half of the fiscal year, market share improvement, and edge over competition on the transition to the BSVI emission norms. The corporation tax cut helped boost sentiment for the stock. Read more.

PM says will further improve tax regime to attract overseas investment

India is committed to further improving its people-friendly tax regime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, as Asia’s third-largest economy seeks to attract more overseas investment to spur growth. Read more.

Despite unavailability of MAT credit, 60% of firms opt for lower tax regime

Around 60 per cent of taxpaying companies have moved to the government’s offer of a lower corporation tax regime, according to initial estimates of the income-tax department. In absolute terms, around 300,000 companies are now at the 22 per cent rate, against the earlier 25-30 per cent earlier. Read more.

China, Southeast Asian states push for RCEP pact despite India's doubts

Leaders of China and Southeast Asian states called for swift agreement on what could become the world’s largest trade bloc at a regional summit on Sunday, but new demands from India left officials scrambling to salvage progress. Read more.

Stopped payment to creditors following Bombay High Court orders: DHFL

Debt-ridden mortgage firm DHFL on Sunday said it has stopped payment to its creditors, including fixed deposit holders, following the direction of Bombay High Court. Read more.

Lenders may ask RBI to ease fraud classification norms

Indian banks are mulling over asking the RBI to ease classification norms for fraud-hit loan accounts, as such cases continue to rise in numbers. To cover the risk of defaults by the borrower, banks currently set aside capital worth the full value of their dues from a fraud-hit loan account over a period of four quarters, reports LiveMint.

RERA officials to approach housing ministry for clarity vis-a-vis IBC

Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) officials are set for their first national meet and are likely to brainstorm the scenario emerging out of the August 9 order of the Supreme Court, where it upheld the validity of the IBC, which conferred the ‘financial creditor’ status on homebuyers, among other issues, reports Financial Express.