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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Mint-on-sunday/  Microsoft’s buys LinkedIn, inflation zooms, Fed hits pause
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Microsoft’s buys LinkedIn, inflation zooms, Fed hits pause

Software giant pays $26 billion for LinkedIn; spike in food prices pushes retail inflation up; and US central bank holds interest rates

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/MintPremium
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

1. ‘Udta Punjab’ cleared with one cut

The Bombay high court allowed the release of the controversial film on narcotics addiction, Udta Punjab, with only one cut on Monday.The Central Board of Film Certification had reportedly asked for 13 changes to the film earlier, which would have resulted in 94 cuts, Anurag Kashyap told the media. Kashyap is the head of Phantom Films, which has co-produced the movie. There were allegations that the film portrays Punjab in a negative light. The producers have stated that the movie portrays findings of studies which show the prevalence of drug use in the state. Data from a survey below shows the demographic profile of a drug user in the state.

2. India’s property prices surge

India’s residential property prices rose most among a group of 18 major economies. The price of houses grew by 72.3% cumulatively between 2007 and 2015, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements. Brazil was the second highest with 61.3% growth, Mint reported on Wednesday. Canada, Australia and Germany were the other countries in the top five. The data showed that house prices have fallen in China, the UK, the US and Russia.

3. IIT entrance exam results

The Indian Institutes of Technology declared the results of their Joint Entrance Exam-Advanced (JEE-Advanced) on 12 June. There were 36,566 declared rank-holders. Only 12.5%, or 4,570, were girls. Far fewer women give the entrance exams than men. There were a total of 126,000 male and only around 32,000 female candidates for the 23 institutes which admit successful candidates. This includes 22 IITs and the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. The largest number of seats available is in IIT Kharagpur with 1,341. This is followed by IIT Varanasi and IIT Roorkee.

4. Tata Power to acquire Welspun Renewables

Tata Power announced on 12 June that it would be acquiring clean energy producer Welspun Renewables Energy. The company said that it had an agreement to acquire the company in “the largest transaction in renewables space in India". The exchange notification pegged the company valuation at Rs9,249 crore. Welspun has 990 megawatts (MW) worth of solar projects across the country. It has an additional 150MW of wind projects. India has announced a target of installing 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar and 60GW of wind power by 2022. One gigawatt is 1,000MW.

5. Fed pauses on rate hikes

The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday while still signalling two hikes this year. Interest rates have been pushed down significantly after the global financial crises in a bid to kick-start growth. The central bank also lowered its growth forecast in 2016 for the US economy from 2.2% to 2%. The Fed said that it expects the US economy to grow at 2% in 2017, compared to the 2.1% forecast earlier. The Fed is next set to meet in July.

6. Mahanagar Gas finalizes IPO

The only company to supply natural gas to Mumbai and its adjoining areas said that it would launch an initial public offer (IPO) in the third week of June. An IPO is a process by which companies offer shares to the public for the first time. The company on Tuesday also said that it is looking to expand into new markets. The firm is a joint venture between government company GAIL (India) Ltd and Royal Dutch Shell Plc-owned BG Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd. Investors will be able to buy each individual share in a price band of between Rs380 and Rs421.

7. Inflation spikes in May

Inflation measured by the consumer price index (CPI) showed a 5.76% rise in May. This was the highest growth in 21 months, according to data released on Monday. The rise was mainly on account of a spike in food prices. Food inflation in particular registered a 7.55% rise. This is higher by more than a percentage point when compared to the previous month’s figure of 6.4%. The overall surge in inflation comes even as factory output showed a decline in April and amid reports that global growth would be lower than expected. The Reserve Bank of India had alluded to inflation risks when it hit a pause on interest rate cuts in a policy meeting on 7 June.

8. Microsoft buys LinkedIn for $26.2 billion

Software giant Microsoft announced on Monday that it would acquire social networking site LinkedIn by way of a $26.2 billion deal. Microsoft is the maker of the Windows operating system, which runs on most of the world’s personal computers. Microsoft has more than $100 billion in cash and short-term, liquid investments. Its other major deals included the acquisition of Nokia’s smartphone operations in 2014, which it had to write-off because it did not do as well as expected. It has also previously acquired communication company Skype and game-maker Mojang.

9. PNB’s wilful defaulter loans rise

The country’s second largest public sector lender, Punjab National Bank, said on Tuesday that wilful defaulters owe it Rs11,486 crore. The amount reflects the fact that its wilful defaulter list was updated with eight additional names data as of March. The large defaulters include Kingfisher Airlines (Rs597.44 crore), Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery (Rs900.06 crore) and Forever Precious Jewellery & Diamonds (Rs747.98 crore). The bank has provisioned for a large number of loans going bad on account of which results showed significant losses in the latest quarter.

10. SBI merger with associates cleared

State Bank of India (SBI) is set to grow larger after the Union cabinet cleared its merger with six other associate banks on Wednesday. The merger will include State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore. The Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd is also set to be merged with SBI. The combined entity will have a balance sheet size of Rs37 trillion. This would make it one of the 50 largest banks in the world. Non-performing assets (NPAs or bad loans) are higher for SBI than for any of its listed associates. The unlisted State Bank of Patiala has a higher gross NPA number.

Graphics by Prajakta Patil/Mint.

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Published: 18 Jun 2016, 11:36 PM IST
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