Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala has agreed to invest £909.4 million in Jio Platforms, marking the first Middle Eastern deal in the Mumbai-based digital-cum-telecom services company. Mubadala’s investment will give the fund a 1.85% stake in Jio Platforms, which has an enterprise value of £51.6 billion. Mubadala, with a $229-billion portfolio, is the latest addition to Jio’s roster of marquee investors. These include Facebook and other US firms. Reports say that another Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, ADIA, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment too plan to acquire shares of Jio. RIL has so far inked deals to sell an 18.97% stake in Jio, raising £8.76 billion over the last six weeks. The investors are betting that Jio, which is also India’s largest cellular services operator with over 388 million customers, has the potential to transform sectors from agriculture to retail, and from education to entertainment.
Banks to install contactless ATMs
With reduced hand contact becoming the norm in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, banks in India are set to deploy contactless ATMs. A prototype has been developed by payments company AGS Transact Technologies, which uses the bank’s mobile app to interface with the machine after scanning a QR code on the screen. Traditionally, the ATM has been using a magnetic stripe card for identification of the account holder and the PIN for authorisation. To use the contactless ATM, the customer has to use the bank’s smartphone app to scan a QR code on the screen and enter the amount and ATM PIN in his mobile, and collect the cash without touching the machine. AGS Transact, which manages 70,000 ATMs for banks, is in the process of implementing this contactless solution for two banks. It is also in discussions with four more. While the changes are related to software, implementation could take up to eight weeks, given that banks have multiple service providers for mobile banking, ATM operations and maintenance of their ATM switch.
India not alone to get Moody’s downgrade tag
Over 30 countries, including India, has seen their ratings downgraded or outlook changed by global ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service this year as the Covd-19 pandemic smothered economies across the globe and governments stepped up spending to protect growth and provide relief. Last week, Moody’s downgraded India’s sovereign rating a notch to Baa3, which is still investment grade, and retained its outlook as negative, citing slow reforms, policy makers facing rising challenges from prolonged period of slower growth, rising government debt and weakening debt affordability and stress in the financial system. South Africa, part of the BRICS group of countries, witnessed its ratings downgraded on March 27, while France saw a change in its outlook. Hong Kong and Mexico have also faced downgrades. Thailand, Israel and Saudi Arabia have also seen their outlook change. Argentina, which is grappling with a debt crisis and faces a contraction of 2.2% in its GDP growth, was downgraded by Moody’s on April 4.
IndiGo lands in the red, posts £87 mn loss in Q4
The devastating impact coronavirus has had on airlines is now showing. IndiGo has reported a loss of £87.08 million in the January-March, 2020, quarter versus a profit of £59.58 million in same period last fiscal. The pandemic-hit Q4 numbers saw the airline announces a loss of £23.37 million for FY 2019-20 compared to a profit of £15.72 million in previous fiscal. “Closure of flight operations during national lockdown on account of Covid-19 significantly impacted revenue for the quarter,” the airline said in a statement. While IndiGo with its cash reserve of almost £2.04 billion is better placed to brave the pandemic storm, many other near bankrupt Indian airlines are struggling to survive. GoAir, for instance, has extended leave without pay for many of its employees till the month-end. The airline says since it is restarting a fraction of the domestic flights from June 1, it will be calling only about one-third of its employees to work while others will remain on leave - something that has caused lot of heartburn among staffers.
