Jet Airways crisis worsens as govt steps in, pilots threaten strike

• Govt calls for an emergency meeting to discuss grounding of flights, advance bookings, cancellations, refunds and any potential safety issues at Jet Airways
• Groundings have led to several flight cancellations—passengers are demanding refunds and pilots are threatening strike over unpaid salaries

RBI seeks modification of NCLAT order in IL&FS case

• The order relates to the classification of debt of IL&FS group companies as non-performing assets (NPAs)
• The NCLAT had provided a moratorium on repayment of loans regarding the accounts of IL&FS and its over 300 group companies

Mindtree to be run independently for now, says L&T

• No plans to integrate Mindtree with L&T Infotech: L&T MD and CEO SN Subrahmanyan
• Larsen & Toubro will only provide board oversight

IOC pays 2nd interim dividend; ONGC to consider on 23 March

• The government owns 53.88% stake in IOC and stands to get about ₹761 crore
• Sources said the government is struggling to meet the revised fiscal deficit target of 3.4 % in view of the shortfall in GST collections

Former SC judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose appointed India's first Lokpal

• Justice Ghose, 66, retired as Supreme Court judge in May 2017
• These appointments were recommended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee

Mindtree promoters vow to oppose hostile takeover bid by L&T

• Larsen and Toubro agrees to buy Cafe Coffee Day founder V.G. Siddhartha's 20.32% stake in Mindtree for ₹3,269 crore
• L&T's bid a "grave threat" and "value destructive" to the organisation collectively built over 20 years, say promoters

GST on realty: Builders can choose between two tax rates on incomplete projects

• GST Council approves transition rules for new tax rates for real estate
• GST rates for new projects will be mandatory from 1 April

Ola raises $300 million from Hyundai, Kia

• The partnership will see the three companies building India-specific electric vehicles and infrastructure, among others
• It will also help offer Ola drivers financial services, including lease and installment payments

Elections 2019: BJP drops all 10 Chattisgarh MPs, to field fresh faces

• The announcement underscores the BJP's bid to wrest its lost territory back from the Congress
• The BJP is also considering not fielding any family member of these sitting MPs

Fortis Healthcare appoints Ashutosh Raghuvanshi as MD, CEO

• The company's board of directors have approved the appointment of Raghuvanshi as MD and CEO with immediate effect for a period of three years, Fortis said in a filing to the BSE
• Raghuvanshi was working with Narayana Health as Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Group CEO

Boeing CEO says company understands 'lives depend' on plane safety

• The Ethiopian Airlines disaster on 10 March that killed 157 people led to the grounding of Boeing's marquee MAX fleet globally
• Boeing's software fix was developed in the aftermath of the Indonesia crash when regulators suggested false sensor data could cause a system known as MCAS

Airtel transfers another 16.76% stake in Infratel to Nettle Infra

• Airtel holds 53.51% stake in Bharti Infratel
• With the fresh transaction, Bharti Airtel's stake parked with Nettle Infrastructure has now increased to 19.94% from 3.18% earlier

CPSE ETF receives bids worth ₹6,072 cr from anchor investors

• The portion not exceeding 30% of the maximum amount to be raised shall be available for allocation to anchor investors
• Non-anchor investors, including retail investors, can put in their bids from Wednesday

Opinion | Hostile takeovers can enrich shareholders

Aggressive bids to acquire Indian companies have been few and far between. L&T’s attempt to take Mindtree over, however, could shake things up in Corporate India for the better

Lessors offer Jet Airways grounded planes to SpiceJet

• The development has been received optimistically by SpiceJet which had to ground 12 of its 737 Max 8 aircraft due to govt's safety restrictions
• Industry sources say the airline has grounded over 50% of 123 aircraft strong fleet

Maruti Suzuki raises dealer margins on best-selling cars from January

• Maruti Suzuki offers additional liquidity to dealers already saddled with increasing inventory
• Margins have been increased by ₹3,000 per vehicle on Maruti Suzuki's Dzire, Swift and Vitara Brezza

DLF-Hines JV to develop ₹1,900 crore Gurugram commercial project

• DLF, Hines to develop a commercial project in Udyog Vihar, close to DLF CyberCity in Gurugram on 11.76 acre of land
• DLF Home Developers and Hines' Green Horizon Trustee have formed the joint venture, holding 67% and 33% stake, respectively

Opinion | Recent economic growth could not have exceeded 6%

The new series overestimated growth in all years except 2015-16 by an average margin of around 1.3%

Fintech startup Cred in talks to raise $100 million in fresh funding

• Cred founder Kunal Shah is looking to raise the funds at a valuation of $300 million, unprecedented for the four month-old startup
• There is immense in-bound interest to invest in Cred even though the company recently raised money and is only four months old

Banks willing to fund Jet Airways provided Etihad, Naresh Goyal pledge stake

• Banks can provide further loans if major stakeholders—Naresh Goyal and Etihad Airways—agree to pledge their shares as security
• A senior SBI official had last expressed hope that a Jet Airways bailout should be finalized in a week or so

Sebi directs Fortis firms to recover ₹403 crore from Singh brothers, 7 others

• Pending investigation, Singh brothers and the six entities have also been directed not to dispose of any of their assets
• Singh brothers, erstwhile promoters of FHL, have also been asked not to associate themselves with the affairs of FHL and FHsL in any manner

Congress continues to be in dilemma over AAP alliance  

• A final call will be taken by party president Rahul Gandhi who was travelling to North East for election campaign on Tuesday
•  The AAP on Tuesday formally ruled out an alliance with the Congress in Delhi 

Elections 2019: Why Apna Dal is crucial for BJP, Congress in Uttar Pradesh

• BJP is betting on Anupriya Patel's Apna Dal (Sonelal) to corner a share of Kurmi votes—traditionally an SP votebank
• Congress has struck a seat-sharing deal with Krishna Patel's Apna Dal in its attempts to rally anti-BJP parties in UP

Jet Airways pilots threaten strike from 1 April

• Jet pilots threaten to stop flying from 1 April and set 31 March deadline on bailout, salaries
• The decision was taken at the annual meeting of Jet Airways domestic pilots body

Robots will process orders at Flipkart’s Bangalore facility

• Flipkart has deployed Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) at its Soukya sortation center in Bangalore
• The AGV setup includes more than 100 self-guided bots which can automatically sort and assign packages to the pin codes of the customer

BJP will win both Lok Sabha seats in Goa: New CM Pramod Sawant

• New Goa CM Pramod Sawant is confident of winning the floor test in Goa Assembly to prove majority
• Apart from Lok Sabha elections, he is also confident of winning the Goa bypolls for three assembly seats

Ebix begins due diligence on Yatra, hopes to close acquisition by May

• Ebix has offered to buy 100% of Yatra at $7/share, valuing it at $336 million
• Ebix intends to merge Yatra Online in its Indian EbixCash subsidiary set up

Goldman Sachs upgrades India to 'overweight' amid pre-election rally

• Goldman Sachs expects India's NSE index to reach 12,500 level in the next 12 months, up from its previous target of 11,700
• GS had downgraded India to "marketweight" in September

Jet Airways operating only 41 aircraft, could reduce further: DGCA

• Pilots, cabin crew and ground staff reporting any kind of stress not to be put on duty
• Airline should carry out regular maintenance of aircraft even if they are currently grounded

Economists raise concerns over India's slowdown with RBI chief: Sources

•  Economists see weak growth, muted inflation
• Monetary policy needs to do the "heavy lifting" - economists

JD(S)-Congress put up united face to quell dissent among workers

• With nomination process commencing in Karnataka, the two parties are scrambling to pacify its disgruntled workers
• JD(S) will fight eight seats while the Congress will contest in the remaining 20

Government to hold emergency meeting on flight cancellations by Jet Airways

• The meeting's agenda to also include the airline's advance bookings, refunds and safety issues
• DGCA keeping a close watch on air fares to detect any unusual surge in the wake of flight cancellations

SpiceJet joins global airlines grouping IATA as member

• SpiceJet is the first Indian budget carrier to join the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which has over 290 airlines as members
• The membership also allows SpiceJet to explore and grow its collaborations with international member airlines of IATA through interlining and code shares

PM-KISAN: WB, MP, Rajasthan & Delhi haven't certified any beneficiary, says FM

• The government has earmarked ₹20,000 crore for disbursal among 12 crore farmers under the scheme in the current financial year
• As per a government release, ₹4,366.41 crore have been transferred under the scheme to about 2.18 crore farmers till March 7

Jet Airways cancels flights as four more planes are grounded by lessors

• About 60 Jet Airways planes—half of its pre-crisis fleet—are now grounded, even as a deadlock between Jet lenders and Etihad over a bailout continues
• As a result, in yet another default, Jet Airways says it was delaying interest payment due on 19 March to debenture holders

Elections 2019: Can the BJP make inroads into South India?

The BJP’s prospects in the southern states, save Karnataka, will remain limited in Elections 2019, suggest data from previous polls

CPSE ETF new tranche aims to raise ₹3,500 crore

• The fourth Further Fund Offer (FFO) will be open from March 19-22
• The government and Reliance MF expect the CPSE ETF to trade at very attractive valuations

Govt lab retest confirms polio strain’s presence in Bio-Med samples

• The polio type 2 strain, believed to have been eradicated in 2016, emerged in the oral samples of Bio-Med
• Samples of Bio-Med’s polio vaccine were sent for retesting after the firm challenged the initial test results

Reliance Communications jumps after Mukesh Ambani bails out brother Anil

• Shares of RCom rose as much as 10% 
• RCom called off the sale of its telecom assets to Reliance Jio Infocomm citing failure to get approvals from lenders and the government

Stage set for showdown in L&T-Mindtree takeover battle

• Larsen and Toubro agrees to buy Cafe Coffee Day founder V.G. Siddhartha's 20.32% stake in Mindtree for ₹3,269 crore
• L&T says will buy an additional 15% in Mindtree from open market and launch an open offer for 31% more, both at ₹980/share

Hyundai invests in Ola for mobility solutions  

• With this deal, both Hyundai and Kia Motor Company will work with the Bangaluru based start-up
• 'Ola aims to create over two million livelihood opportunities in the mobility ecosystem by 2022,' said the company

A brief account of hostile takeovers in India

• The number of hostile takeover attempts has been limited
• India has been witnessing a spurt in the number of merger and acquisitions (M&A) in recent times

Shares of L&T, Mindtree slip over 2% post L&T's hostile bid

• On the BSE, stocks of L&T opened on a negative note at ₹1,373.95 and slipped 2.23% to ₹1,348.10
• Besides, Mindtree shed 2.06% to trade at ₹942.65

Flight safety is at risk: Jet Airways engineers' union to DGCA

• Engineers of Jet Airways complains of a 3-month delay in salaries
• Jet has grounded four more planes, taking the number of non-operational aircraft to 41