Top Headlines: LIC IPO size may be cut, India's trade pacts, and more

Business Standard brings you the top headlines at this hour

LIC IPO size may be cut to Rs 21K cr; issue likely to hit market on May 2

The size of the Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC’s) initial public offering (IPO) may be slashed to Rs 21,000 crore, said people in the know. The IPO, however, may come with a greenshoe option of Rs 9,000 crore. The total IPO size, after accounting for the greenshoe option, will work out to Rs 30,000 crore and will lead to 5 per cent dilution of the government stake. Read more...

Future Group lenders reject slump sale proposal to Reliance Retail

Lenders have rejected the slump sale proposal of Kishore Biyani’s Future Group to Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), multiple sources confirmed to Business Standard after the e-voting was conducted on Thursday. Bankers cited “uncertainty over the entire proposition” for rejecting the proposal. Read more...

Early EV adoption, lowering prices, safety on govt's agenda

In the midst of frequent incidents of e-vehicles catching fire, the NITI Aayog on Thursday released the much-awaited draft policy on battery-swapping for electric two- and three-wheelers. Its highlights are lowering prices of electric vehicles (EVs); accelerating the adoption of battery-powered vehicles; addressing anomalies in goods and services tax (GST) rates with regard to batteries, EV supply equipment, and e-vehicles; and enhancing the safety and performance of advanced cell chemistry. Read more...

PSUs, cooperative societies disallowed from bidding for state-run entities

The Centre has broadened its privatisation policy to disallow public sector undertakings (PSUs) and cooperative societies from participating in the bidding for other state-owned firms. Read more...

India's trade pacts: A toss-up between strategic interests, economic gains

After a long hiatus, India has resumed its engagement with trade pacts. Question is: To what extent do these deals weigh on economic considerations? More importantly, how similar are they to strategic alliances? This year, India concluded a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a more limited Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement with Australia. Read more...

Regulatory changes set to change the way wealthy individuals invest in IPOs

Key regulatory changes are set to change the way wealthy individuals invest in initial public offerings (IPOs). Starting this month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a cap of Rs 1 crore on IPO financing by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Read more...