Asian Development Bank (ADB) lowered India's growth forecast from 7.2 to 7 per cent for the current fiscal, due to moderation in growth prospects. ADB, however, maintained that India would continue to remain the fastest growing major economy ahead of China. It said China will grow at 6.3 per cent in 2019, and slip further to 6.1 per cent in 2020, mainly on account of continuing trade war with the US. India's economic growth, it said, is expected to inch up again to 7.2 per cent in FY2020 (2020-21), helped by recent reforms to improve the business climate, strengthen banks, and relieve agrarian distress. Notably, the 7.2 per cent economic growth projection in April this year was also curtailed from ADB's earlier projection of 7.6 per cent for the current fiscal ending March 2020.
Reliance Jio overtakes Airtel
RIL's telecom unit Jio pipped rival Bharti Airtel to become India's second-largest operator by subscribers as of May, government data showed. Jio has revolutionised the telecom industry in the country since it was launched in 2016, offering cheap bundles and prompting shutdowns. As of the end of May, the operator had added 8.2 million users since April to end the month with 323 million wireless customers, data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, showed. Both Vodafone Idea, which was the top operator with 387.6 million customers, and Bharti Airtel lost users over the month.
Jet Airways creditors put in claims worth £2.5 bn
The NCLT-appointed Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) of Jet Airways has received 16,643 claims worth £2.49 billion from financial and operational creditors of the Naresh Goyal-led airline. While 37 financial creditors have claimed £1.02 billion, 33 claims worth £846.3 million have been admitted by the IRP. The operational creditors (other than workmen and employees) have claimed £1.24 billion from Jet Airways, but IRP Ashish Chhawchharia of Grant Thornton India, is yet to approve these. Claims of £138.1 million, including some from entities owned by Naresh Goyal have been rejected. Jet Airways LLC, which has put up a claim of £42.6 million, is under verification. A £23 million claim by Jetair, a general sales agent of Jet Airways and owned by Goyal, has been rejected. More claims are expected in the coming days.
NCLT allows govt to prosecute auditors Deloitte, BSR
The NCLT has permitted the government to prosecute Deloitte and BSR Associates for their failure to detect and report the scams that took place in the now bankrupt IL&FS group and 21 other entities, when they were the auditors of IL&FS Financial Services. The NCLT said the corporate affairs ministry can go ahead with prosecution based on the findings of the probe conducted by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). The tribunal also allowed to the government plea to implead Udayan Sen, a partners of Deloitte, and BSR Associates partners Kalpesh Mehta and Sampath Ganesh. The tribunal allowed prosecution of C. Sivasankaran and his group as the probe has revealed that management of IFIN abused their position by giving loans to the Siva group as some group companies failed to repay the earlier loans granted to them by IFIN.
CARE Ratings chief asked to go on leave
The board of directors of CARE Ratings Ltd decided to place Rajesh Mokashi, MD & CEO, on leave with immediate effect. This move is pending the completion of the examination of anonymous complaint received by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and forwarded to CARE Ratings, the notice added. The Board of directors has decided to appoint TN Arun Kumar, currently executive director (ratings) as interim chief executive officer of the company. He will not be part of rating operations to ensure independence of ratings. Earlier this month, credit rating agency ICRA informed the stock exchanges that its board of directors placed its MD and group CEO Naresh Takkar on leave as it looks into an anonymous complaint forwarded by regulator SEBI.
