Top 10 business headlines: Govt seeks RBI interim dividend, telcos get help

News on why the government wants Rs 10,000 crore as interim dividend from the central bank and is going easy on telecom companies that owe it dues.

Govt seeks Rs 10,000-cr interim dividend from RBI
 

The government has demanded Rs 10,000 crore as interim dividend from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for financial year 2019-20 (FY20) to bridge the fiscal gap, sources said. The demand—for the third consecutive year-comes at a time when the government is falling short of its revenue targets due to dwindling tax and low disinvestment receipts.

Govt to go easy on telcos till SC hearing on AGR
 

Even as telecom companies including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea missed the January 23 deadline to pay up their dues linked to adjusted gross revenues (AGR), the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has protected the industry from any coercive action till the Supreme Court hears the matter next week.

Sebi may seek forensic audit of Infosys books 
 

Markets watchdog Sebi is likely to call for a forensic audit of the books of Infosys as it continues to probe whistleblower allegations of alleged financial irregularities at the company, according to news agency PTI. In October, Infosys informed stock exchanges about the anonymous whistleblower complaints alleging certain unethical practices.

Key firms post sub-par pre-tax Q3 profits
 

The earnings season of October-December 2019 quarter of financial year 2019-20 (Q3FY20) has got off to a dull start for corporate India, as pre-tax profit growth for early birds was second lowest in seven quarters, while net sales growth hit a three-year low. The combined profit before tax (PBT) of 143 early companies that declared their Q3FY20 results was up 12.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) led by decline in raw material and energy costs.

GoAir cuts flights as Airbus A320Neo planes grounded
 

GoAir has said it is curtailing its schedule till March 9 due to grounding of its Airbus A320Neo planes and non-availability of spare engines. The airline said it has been forced to “temporarily suspend certain flights that are part of its network.” Sources said 20-30 flights would be curtailed per day. GoAir operates over 325 flights daily.

Coffee Day Enterprises to sell brokerage business
 

Coffee Day Enterprises (CDEL) said it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its brokerage business ‘Way2Wealth Securities’ to Shriram Ownership Trust. The Bengaluru-headquartered firm didn’t reveal the enterprise value of ‘Way2Wealth Securities’, but sources said that the deal could be somewhere around Rs 200 crore.

Housing sales fall 9% in December quarter
 

The plight of real estate developer and suppliers is far from the end. Despite government’s recent measures to revive the sector by injecting liquidity into the system and easing norms for unfinished projects, both sale and new launches plunged further in October-December quarter. Data from PropEquity show, while sales fell 9 per cent year on year to 60,453 units, new launches declined 10 per cent to 44,459 units.

BJP wants rural, infrastructure push in Budget
 

The BJP has told Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the Union Budget should strive to shift the focus from macroeconomic parameters, such as reining in fiscal deficit and inflation, to “real problems” facing the economy. The party has diagnosed that emphasis on meeting fiscal targets and controlling inflation needs to be overcome to spur growth.

One nation, one road tax may soon be a reality
 

The government is making a renewed push to get states on board to levy a uniform road tax for personal vehicles across the country, Mint reported quoting a senior government official. The move is expected to bring relief to automobile buyers, while also helping protect revenue of states as some consumers tend to purchase vehicles in states with lower taxes, resulting in a loss of revenue for those with higher taxes.

Banks cite reason for not reimbursing payment firms
 

Banks have told the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that in the absence of fees from merchants, lenders can’t reimburse companies such as PhonePe and Google Pay that process and accept digital transactions on their behalf. At the centre of this demand is New Delhi’s decision to remove the Merchant Discount Rates (MDR) for all digital transactions made through UPI and RuPay instruments, a federal move that has annual cost implication of ₹2,000 crore for the lenders, reports the Economic Times.