With the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) giving its approval to the merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular, the decks have been cleared for the two to now function as a single entity. An announcement of the date from which the new entity, to be called Vodafone Idea Limited, will start functioning will be made soon. The final approval from the NCLT came after the two cleared their dues with the department of telecommunications (DoT) last month. After the DoT approval the two were required to report to the NCLT that all processes were complete, thus seeking the tribunal’s final nod for the merger. Though the merged entity would be the country’s largest telecom operator with total revenues of over £8 billion, 400 million customers, 35 per cent subscriber market share and 41 per cent revenue market share, the going will not be very smooth as it will be burdened with a combined debt of around £10.7 billion.
India seeks rating upgrade by S&P
India made a strong pitch According to Nationwide, house prices in UK saw its biggest monthly fall for six years, lopping more than £2,200 off the typical price tagto Standard & Poor’s (S&P) for a rating upgrade, citing improving economic growth prospects, fiscal discipline, stabilisation of the GST regime and broader macroeconomic stability despite elevated oil prices and a depreciating rupee. S&P has kept India’s sovereign rating unchanged at the lowest investment grade of “BBB-” since January 2007, citing its sizable fiscal deficit, low per capita income and high government debt levels. It has maintained the stable outlook for the country. In their meeting with S&P executives, senior finance ministry officials are learnt to have assuaged any concerns about the impact of elevated oil prices and the weakening rupee on the economy. The officials told S&P executives that the Centre would stick to the path of fiscal consolidation. They also conveyed that the high debt-to-GDP ratio is a long-term consideration and should not be an immediate concern for rating upgrade.
Despite opposition, ICICI Securities reappoints Chanda Kochhar
ICICI Bank voted in favour of approving MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar as a Director on the board of ICICI Securities despite proxy advisory firms advising shareholders to reject the proposal. The bank holds 79.22 per cent stake in ICICI Securities. Kochhar is on leave after the bank decided to probe allegations of conflict of interest and quid pro quo in some of the loans extended by ICICI Bank. She is the Chairperson of ICICI Securities. US proxy firm Glass Lewis said: “We note that there are significant legal and regulatory issues involving the company’s non-executive chair, nominee Chanda Deepak Kochhar. We believe shareholders should be very concerned about the matters facing Kochhar, which includes her being forced to take a leave of absence from the ICICI Bank Board, pending the outcome of the investigation…” Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) had also asked shareholders to oppose the proposed reappointment of Kochhar.
