The advisor for Air India’s divestment has suggested four options to the government regarding the struggling airline’s future that range from shutting it down to further reducing the debt of over £2.3 billion that bidders need to take on and letting them choose a level they find viable. It is reliably learnt that the four options suggested by the advisor, Ernst & Young India, to the inter-ministerial group are: 1) Keeping the debt level at £2.33 billion or reducing it further while changing the timelines; 2) Assigning no pre-fixed debt level and letting bidders quote a combined debt and equity value; 3) Government continuing to run AI for 2-3 years without privatising it; 4) Winding up AI.
SpiceJet sees £59.3 mn loss in April-June
SpiceJet has reported a loss of £59.3 million in the April-June 2020 quarter, compared to a profit of £26.2 million in the same period of previous fiscal. While IndiGo reported its highest ever quarterly loss of £284.4 million this Q1 - a washout for airlines due to the lockdown and suspension of all scheduled services for two months in this period - SpiceJet reported its highest ever loss in January-March 2020 at £80.7 million. Its auditor, S R Batliboi & Associates LLP, said, “….indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt about the group’s ability to continue as a going concern…”
5% duty on TV panels from Oct
The government has mandated a 5% import duty on prices of TV open cell panels from October in order to push local value addition, but companies say the move will result in marginal price hikes ahead of the festive period. The duty is being re-imposed following the end of one-year exemption that had been granted last year to help make domestic manufacturing competitive, and effectively tackle competition from other low cost countries such as Vietnam and China. the move had even seen top companies such as Samsung shift its manufacturing from Vietnam to India as it contracted the work to homegrown Dixon Technologies. While official sources said the measure will have minimal impact on retail prices, TV companies said they have “no other option but to pass on” the additional costs to the consumer.
Ex-Cognizant CEO D’Souza sets up $1bn fund
Former Cognizant CEO Francisco D’Souza has started a new innings. D’Souza is setting up a $1-billion US-based private equity fund called ‘Recognize’, along with others. He is said to have already raised a couple of hundred million dollars. The rest of the fund-raising is under way. Sources said that D’Souza’s team has big names from the US private equity and tech spaces. Recognize will invest in niche tech assets and has technologists with deep domain expertise both in services and software. It is looking at M&As as part of its investment playbook, sources said. D’Souza was enormously successful as CEO of Cognizant, growing the company tenfold from $1.4 billion in 2006, just before he took over, to $16 billion in 2018, when he stepped down. The company was the toast of Wall Street for its scorching growth rates. And it grew so fast that its revenues crossed those of Infosys and Wipro, both of which were much bigger than Cognizant early last decade. Under D’Souza, Cognizant’s headcount grew from 39,000 to 280,000.
