Top headlines: Tata to go solo for Air India EOI; Retail loans to rise

From Tatas likely to go solo for Air India EoI to Bharti Infratel getting nod to change its name to Indus Towers, here are top headlines this morning

Tatas to go solo for Air India EoI, plan to co-opt Singapore Airlines later

Salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Sons is likely to submit an expression of interest (EoI) for state-owned carrier Air India, the deadline for which ends on December 14. Singapore Airlines (SIA), with which Tata Sons operates full-service airline Vistara, will not be part of the bid in the initial stages, people aware of the development said. Read More

Centre may not procure Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine over high cost

As the Centre starts provisioning for one of the largest Covid-19 immunisation drives in the world, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine candidate seems to be an outlier, at least for now. Senior government officials have indicated that India may not procure the mRNA vaccine, which American major Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech have developed, for the immunisation drive. The higher cost of the Pfizer vaccine, already approved by the UK and the US regulators, is among the primary reasons why other options may be preferred by India. Read More
 

Sebi defers T+1 settlement plan after opposition from foreign investors

Following the opposition from foreign investors, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has deferred the plan to halve the trade settlement cycle to one day (T+1), a regulatory source said. According to an earlier schedule, the Sebi board was to decide on the issue at its final board meeting for 2020. Read More

JioMart a real juggernaut, but needs to broaden its customer base

Seven months after its quiet launch in May, JioMart — Reliance’s e-commerce platform — has already reached over 200 cities with Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) on offerof around 15,000. However, if you add the two new categories, it has already hit close to 45,000 SKUs. Read More

Russian hackers broke into Treasury, Commerce dept, US officials suspect

The pandemic has compelled small businesses to build their own online stores, which has thrown a big opportunity for e-commerce technology provider Shopify. Bombay Sweet Shop had a retail-focused strategy with its store and kitchen at Byculla in southern Mumbai. When the lockdown took effect, it reached out to Shopify, which gave it a platform to quickly go to market in a digital manner and create a service experience that it was in control of. Read More

Canada pension board, Mitsui deals still on for commercial properties: RMZ

After a Rs 15,000-crore pact with Brookfield Asset Management, Bengaluru-based property developer RMZ could soon sign deals with Canada’s biggest pension fund manager Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Japan’s Mitsui for commercial properties. Though both deals were supposed to get signed in March this year, they were delayed due to the lockdown and halting of international flights to and from the country. Read More

Cyrus Mistry family's 18.5% stake in Tata Sons worth Rs 94,000 crore

Tata Sons — the holding and promoter company of Tata Group — is valued at around Rs 5.08 trillion, based on the current valuation ratio of listed holding companies (holdcos), such as Bajaj Holdings & Investment, JSW Holdings, Grasim Industries, Bajaj Finserv, Bombay Burmah Trading, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), EID Parry, and Vedanta, among others. Read More

Bharti Infratel gets nod to change its name to Indus Towers post merger

Bharti Infratel has received approval from the Registrar of Companies for changing its name to Indus Towers, following the recent merger of the two companies to create a mega tower entity. The company has initiated due process for final approval from stock exchanges for updating the name change. Read More

Retail loans may rise as banks go slow on big-ticket corporate debt

The growing reluctance of banks to shell out big-ticket corporate loans is tilting the scale in favour of retail borrowers. According to Akash Lal, senior partner, McKinsey, with these retail loans having accounted for almost 100 per cent of risk-adjusted revenue in FY20 despite them constituting only 48 per cent of the banking system’s total revenues, the overall share of retail loans of banks is only set to go up. Read More