Top 10 biz headlines: Telcos move SC again, prices of Maruti drop, and more

From Amazon's delivery fleet to HDFC Bank's retail loan growth, here are the top 10 business headlines for the day

AGR dues: Telcos dial SC again, seek change in 90-day payment deadline

Three telecom operators on Monday filed a “modification application” in the Supreme Court, seeking a change in the 90-day payment deadline for dues on account of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) as well as permission to engage with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on the terms and timing of payment. Read more.

Oberoi Realty, US-based fund Interups to bid for cash-strapped Lavasa

Mumbai-based Oberoi Realty and US-based fund Interups have joined the race to acquire Lavasa Corporation, a real estate city near Mumbai. Lavasa is facing bankruptcy proceedings at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Mumbai after it failed to repay debt of Rs 6,200 crore. Read more.

Prices of Maruti, Hero BS-IV models drop; huge discounts on offer

A month before pulling the plug on producing BS-IV models and a couple of months before completely switching over to BS-VI, market leaders Maruti Suzuki India and Hero MotoCorp have offered huge discounts on vehicles running on the older emission technology. Car market leader Maruti is offering discounts of up to Rs 89,500 before it stops selling diesel models and prices on BSVI go up. Read more.

OMCs float season's 2nd tender, seek 2.5 bn litres ethanol from sugar mills

The central government's three oil marketing companies (OMCs) have floated a second tender for ethanol to supply the petrol-blending programme. They want a total of 2.53 billion (bn) litres, for supply between February 1 and November 30. In response to the first tender, floated in September 2019, the mills offered less than a third of what the OMCs asked for. Read more.

Indian Telephone Industries plans to raise Rs 1,600-crore through FPO

State-owned Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) will have a Rs 1,600-crore follow-on public offer (FPO) on Friday. The FPO comprises fresh issue of up to 180 million equity shares. An additional issue constituting up to 1.8 million shares will be reserved for employees. Read more.

NCLAT stays NCLT ban on ex-bankers' appointment as resolution professionals

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) last week stayed a recent order by the National Company Law Tribunal’s New Delhi Bench, which prohibited appointing a former bank official as independent resolution professional (IRP) of a bankrupt company because of the possibility of “bias”. Read more.

At multi-quarter low, HDFC Bank's retail loan growth may face more pain

A few weeks ago, when HDFC Bank published its December quarter (Q3) loan growth and deposit data, analysts were of the opinion that the widespread economic downturn wasn’t hurting it much. This was tested over the weekend, when HDFC Bank published its Q3 results. While headline numbers met estimates, quality of loan growth and asset quality didn’t. Read more.

Amazon commits 10,000 electric vehicles to its India delivery fleet by 2025

Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, said on Monday that its fleet of delivery vehicles in the country will include 10,000 electric vehicles (EVs) by 2025 in India. This commitment comes after successful pilots across different cities in 2019 — learnings from which have helped the company create scalable and long-term EV variants to build this large fleet. Read more.

India’s SWF gets ready to launch non-bank lender

The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, is all set to launch a nonbank lender of its own, having sensed a huge market opportunity to provide liquidity support to cash-starved Indian infrastructure companies, reports The Economic Times.

Medium scale cos may be given credit risk cover

Enlarging the scope of the existing scheme, the government is looking to provide credit guarantee to midsized companies to access more and cheaper funds, which is restricted to micro and small enterprises, reports The Times of India.