The document summarizes recent economic and business news headlines from India. It discusses Loop Telecom's plans to wind down operations in areas where it lost licenses, the resolution of a legal battle between SEBI and MCX exchange, and Mahindra & Mahindra's plans to develop a hybrid vehicle for the Indian market. It also mentions the financial restructuring approved for Air India and recent industrial production numbers, which showed sluggish growth.

1. Top Headlines
 Reliance Media in tie-up talks with Cinepolis.
 GIC, Baring India PE Investing $100M In Marico
 Essar Steel raises Rs 2,600 crore for Odisha project
 Indraprastha moves HC after tariff blow.
 Mitsui Sumitomo Picking 26% In Max New York Life
Insurance For $530M.
 Unmetric Raises $3.2M In Series A Round Led By Nexus
Ventures.
 Pragati India Fund Invests $5M In Jash Engineering.
Weekly Economic Review
A major telecom operator has made it clear it is shutting down shop in
areas where its licenses were lost. We have learnt that Loop Telecom
plans to wind up operations in areas affected by 15May. It’s also wants
the government to pay a compensation of Rs3,800crore. Loop’s decision
to wind up some services follows similar announcements by Stel and
Estisalaat DB. The company lost 21 licenses after the Supreme Court’s
ruling on 2 February.
The legal battle between markets regulator SEBI and the MCX exchange
is finally headed towards a resolution. On Wednesday, the Supreme
Court disposed a special leave petition from SEBI on the issue. But that
dismissal came only after both sides arrived at an agreement. According
to the consent terms reached, SEBI will modify regulations on the
buyback of shares. SEBI and MCX will then act in concert three months
from now, on the issue of equities trading. At present, MCX can only
trade in currency derivatives. SEBI had petitioned the Supreme Court
after the Bombay High Court set aside its order stopping MCX from
offering equity trading. Shares of MCX’s parent firm, Financial
Technologies surged 5.75% on the BSE on a day the Sensex dropped
0.26%.
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2. Switching gears, petrol and diesel may have become a lot more
expensive, but one carmaker is working on a way to cut fuel
consumption. Mahindra and Mahindra is working on a full hybrid
vehicle for India. Pawan Goenka, the head of the company’s auto sector,
says the vehicle will be rolled out commercially in three years. Of
course, other firms have tried to bring hybrid cars to the Indian market,
but high costs have turned customers away. But M&M and other rivals
like Tata Motors plan to create locally produced and less expensive
hybrids.
There’s some good news for Air India.The Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs approved the plan for financially restructuring the
carrier. Air India will now be able to convert Rs21,348 crore worth of
short-term loans into long-term debt. There will also be an assured
equity support of more than Rs23, 481 crore until the fiscal year 2021.
And that’s not counting an upfront equity infusion of Rs6,750 crore. The
restructuring plan will mean Air India can save an extra thousand
crores every year. And the airline will get a one-year moratorium on
interest payments. It will also be able to pay up Rs5,800 crore in dues in
addition to other dues to employees.
In other developments, new figures indicate the country’s factory
output remains sluggish. The index of industrial production for
February was lower than most expectations. It rose just 4.1% during the
month. And the revised figure for January now stands at a mere 1.1%.
The reduced numbers for January’s IIP reflect the volatility of the index.
The drastic revision came largely because of an error in the estimate for
sugar production
Here’s how the IIP numbers break up by sector. Manufacturing in
February grew by 4%. While electricity generation expanded by a
healthy 8%. And capital goods went up a full 10.6%. But intermediate
goods dipped 0.6%. And consumer goods also went into negative
territory, falling 0.2%. All in all, industrial output has remained slow
throughout the year, with slowing growth and high interest rates taking
their toll. But the disappointing numbers could push the Reserve Bank
to consider a cut in rates during its policy statement on 17 April.
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3. Inside The Story
Reliance Media in tie-up talks with Cinepolis.
Reliance MediaWorks, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, is in talks
to sell stake in some of its movie theatres to Mexico's multiplex operator
Cinepolis, said media repors on Monday. Cinepolis, the fourth largest
cinema chain in the world, is in talks to "either buy several key
properties or get into a tie-up," the report said, quoting an unnamed
person familiar with the development. The talks have been underway
for the past two months, it said. The report did not have any financial
details of the deal. Cinepolis has a small presence in India for the past
three years. A deal with Cinepolis will help Reliance Media Works focus
on film and media services business and reduce dependence on the
multiplex business, the report said.
GIC, Baring India PE Investing $100M In Marico
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and Baring Private Equity
Partners India are investing Rs 500 crore ($100 million) in public listed
consumer products company Marico Ltd. This comes after two months
of Marico announcing a deal to buy the personal care brands, including
Set Wet, Livon and Zatak among others, from Reckitt enckiser.Although,
Marico did not disclose the deal value But The Deal value had estimated
it to be around $100 million so the latest transaction could be to fund
the acquisition. As per the deal, Indivest Pte Ltd, an investment arm of
GIC is investing Rs 375 crore ($75 million) and Baring India Private
Equity Fund is putting in another Rs 125 crore ($25 million) in Marico.
GIC will hold 3.4 per cent in Marico while Baring India PE will pick 1.1
per cent in the firm.
Essar Steel raises Rs 2,600 crore for Odisha project
Essar Steel has raised about Rs 2,600 crore in loan for its new project at
Odisha that will integrate its steelmaking process and reduce steel
production cost by about 42%.The Ruias-controlled Essar Steel has built
a pellet plant - a facility that converts ore fines into high grade usable
lumps - in Odisha and a slurry pipeline to bring the ore to the port for
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4. Shipping them to its steelmaking plant on the western coast, at a total
project cost of Rs 4,200 crore."This is part of the Rs 37,500 crore that
we are spending to raise the steel capacity to 10 million tonnes," said
Essar Steel CFO Amit Agarwal. "The cost of borrowing is in the range of
11.5-12% and was closed a year back. There have been no new
covenants for the loan that we raised and lenders are satisfied with the
asset that we are creating," he added. Essar Steel's term loan currently
totals Rs 20,000 crore.
Indraprastha moves HC after tariff blow
Handed a one-two on its solar plexus in the form of a massive 60% tariff
slash by the Petroleum and natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), a
staggering Indraprastha Gas Ltd moved the Delhi High Court on
Tuesday challenging the regulator’s constitutionality and legality of its
powers.“We are not clear how they (PNGRB) have calculated this tariff.
We do not know the assumptions made,” said M Ravindran, managing
director, IGL, at a press conference. A joint venture of GAIL (India) Ltd,
Bharat Petroleum Corp and the state government of New Delhi, IGL sells
auto and cooking gas in New Delhi and adjacent areas.
Mitsui Sumitomo Picking 26% In Max New York Life
Insurance For $530M.
Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company Ltd is acquiring 26 per
cent stake in Max New York Life Insurance Company Ltd for Rs 2,731
crore ($530 million), in a two-tiered transaction that would mark the
exit of USA’s New York Life Insurance Co from the JV.As per the
arrangement, Max India, the majority partner in the Indian insurance
joint venture, will acquire 9.37 per cent stake in Max New York Life
Insurance from its US JV partner New York Life Insurance for Rs 182.2
crore ($35 million), which it would sell to Mitsui Sumitomo for Rs
984.45 crore ($191 million). The Japanese insurance major will acquire
the balance 16.63 per cent from New York Life Insurance for 1,746
crore ($339 million).Mitsui Sumitomo is Japan's largest non-life insurer
by revenue.
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5. Unmetric Raises $3.2M In Series A Round Led By Nexus
Ventures.
Social media benchmarking company Unmetric Inc has raised $3.2
million in Series A funding led by Nexus Venture Partners. Unmetric will
use the funds to continue developing its benchmarking platform,
enabling companies to survey and analyze the content strategy of a
brand and the key terms that are triggering customer engagement.
Unmetric will also be using the round to further expand its team in the
US.Headquartered in Chicago with offices in Chennai &
Coimbatore, Unmetric works with clients in North America, India and
other regions. The company launched its service last September,
although the company was formed in 2010 by two executives working
at Vembu Technologies, Lakshmanan Narayan and Kumar Krishnasami.
Pragati India Fund Invests $5M In Jash Engineering.
Pragati India Fund, a sector-agnostic private equity fund targeting to
invest in economically underdeveloped and low-income states of India,
has made its maiden investment of $5 million in Indore-based Jash
Engineering Ltd, a manufacturer of customised engineering goods for
water and waste water infrastructure sector.Narayanan Shadagopan,
managing director of Pragati Equity Advisors Pvt Ltd, said, “The fund
and the company prefer to keep the percentage stake confidential at this
point but it is a significant minority stake. In due course, we would look
at increasing the stake, subject to certain conditions being met.”
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