Aware Financial News

A Treasury review into secrecy laws that bind the Tax Office will consider the fallout from a $1.6 billion tax fraud scheme executed via TikTok, as federal Labor promises enhanced rules to protect taxpayers.

MUMBAI : Nirma Ltd has submitted the sole binding bid for Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd’s 82% stake in listed life sciences subsidiary Glenmark Life Sciences Ltd, three people aware of the matter said. ChrysCapital and Sekhmet Pharmaventures Pvt. Ltd, the other potential bidders, chose to stay away due to differences over valuation.

PB Fintech Ltd, backed by Info Edge and Japan’s SoftBank, got listed on the stock exchanges. Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank holds 4.39%, China’s Tencent 6.28% and Info Edge holds 17.5% in PB Fintech, while Claymore Investments (Mauritius) Pte. Ltd, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, own 5.43%.

Financial Awareness Day, observed annually on Aug. 14, promotes financial literacy and encourages individuals to take steps to improve their financial well-being.

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NEW DELHI : The steel ministry plans to write to all major steel companies with export interests to assess their preparedness for reducing their carbon footprint and for facing the green challenges emerging in global markets. The development comes at a time when India is exploring tariff and non-tariff measures to counter EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that proposes to tax ‘embedded carbon’ in imports of steel, aluminium, cement, hydrogen, electricity and fertilizers from 1 January 2026.

Crypto exchange giant Coinbase has announced its official launch in Canada, offering users a series of new features including 30-day free use of Coinbase One and zero trading fees.

AI startups as a way to scoop up talent. Compensation is a battleground. Aware that in-demand AI specialists can command several job offers, many companies are dangling salaries in the mid-six figures along with bonuses and stock grants to attract experienced workers, recruiters say.

George Alexander Muthoot, MD, Muthoot Finance, says: “If there is pressure on the borrowing cost, we will be passing it on to the borrowers because our borrowers are not that much interest sensitive and if all over the place the interest rates are going up for all sorts of loans, then the customers would understand that gold loans are also becoming more pricey. For that, we would be able to maintain our spread and margin at 10% and 11%.”There has been a sharp spike in your cost of funds that have put margins under pressure. Was this on expected lines and can you walk us through the outlook or the reasons for your margin compression?The margin has not really compressed.

Axis Asset Management, the mutual fund arm of private sector lender Axis Bank Ltd, has launched a private credit alternative investment fund (AIF) and is aiming to raise as much as Rs 1,250 crore from investors, said people aware of the development. The private credit fund is part of Axis Mutual Fund’s alternative assets business, which comprises late-stage private equity and real estate AIFs on the private markets side, and portfolio management services and long-only equity AIFs on the public markets side.

Independence Day 2023: Financial independence is very subjective, but there remains a wide gap between women and men when it comes to investing. One doesn't have to be a financial expert to start investing, but yes basic financial education empowers women to take control of their finances. Mutual funds can enhance this education through various initiatives.

Hero FinCorp, an arm of India's largest two-wheeler maker, Hero MotoCorp, has interviewed investment banks over the past two weeks as it searches for underwriters for a planned initial public offering (IPO) of shares that could raise ₹4,000 crore, according to people aware of the matter. The financing arm of the two-wheeler maker that provides retail and business loans has interviewed 7-8 investment banks that include domestic and international players. It could finalise the list of advisers soon, according to people in the know.

Deutsche Bank has settled the loans it extended to Go Airlines out of court with its promoters Wadia Group, people aware of the development said. Go Airlines, which operated Go First Airlines, is undergoing voluntary liquidation. Last week, Deutsche Bank conveyed to its resolution professional Shailendra Ajmera and lenders that it wants to relinquish itself as a member of the committee of creditors (CoC) since it has separately settled its debt with the promoter, people cited above said. Exit of the German bank will not have any impact on the debt resolution or recovery of dues, a senior consultant told ET. The RP, backed by EY, recently extended the date to submit expressions of interest from potential bidders for the distressed airline by a month to September 8. A Go First spokesperson in a statement said, “We are not aware of settlement of any such loan. However, Britannia Industries is no way involved with Go First directly or indirectly for any loans provided.” Deutsche Bank and Ajmera declined to comment. According to the initial list of claims filed by creditors on June 8, Deutsche Bank had filed Rs 1,365 crore-claims which were classified as unsecured creditors.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed on Sunday his decision to halt his pursuit of a cage match against his counterpart, Elon Musk, in the realm of social media entrepreneurship. In a post shared on his Threads platform, Zuckerberg expressed, “It's evident that Elon's intentions are not earnest, and it's best to discontinue this endeavor. I presented a concrete timeline. Dana White proposed a legitimate charitable competition. Elon evaded confirming a schedule, initially attributing it to a surgery requirement, and subsequently suggesting a practice round within my premises.” He further conveyed, “Should Elon express genuine intent towards a legitimate timeline and an official event, he is aware of how to contact me. If not, it's prudent to shift our focus. My attention will now be directed towards engaging with individuals who approach this endeavor with a dedicated disposition.” The decision to terminate the preparations for the anticipated showdown was widely anticipated. Speculations about the confrontation between the two billionaires had circulated, with the Coliseum in Italy mentioned as a potential venue. The generated proceeds were intended to contribute to veteran support organizations, as stated by Musk.

Go First has sought an urgent funding of Rs 100 crore from the distressed airline’s lenders to keep it afloat by meeting its mandatory liabilities such as insurance, people aware of the matter told ET. This emergency funding will be used for critical expenses such as insurance and repairs, RP Shailendra Ajmera, backed by EY, told lenders in the creditors’ committee. “The funds are required to cover critical expenses such as insurance and repairs, essential to sustain operations,” one of the sources said. “The RP has requested banks for funds based on their voting share within the CoC.” This comes after the Supreme Court on August 7 dismissed Go First’s plea against a Delhi High Court order permitting lessors to examine their aircraft. The request for emergency funding has gone to the corporate office of the Central Bank of India and Bank of Baroda and a decision is likely in the next day or two, the person cited above said.Deutsche Bank holds a 25% voting share, while Bank of Baroda and Central Bank together have 72% voting share and IDBI Bank has the remainder.

State Bank of India (SBI) group are in the race to be elevated as managing director of the country’s largest bank, people familiar with the process said. The post fell vacant after former MD Swaminathan Janakiraman took over as deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on June 26.

Blackstone has emerged the frontrunner to acquire Kims Healthcare Management (KHML), Kerala’s leading hospital chain, said two people aware of the development. The US private equity major is expected to acquire up to 75% holding in the hospital chain, valuing it at Rs 4,000 crore, they said. Initially, Blackstone is aiming to buy 55% stake held by existing investor True North along with 20% stake held by minority shareholders, they said. The deal is likely to be signed by mid-September. The management will remain the same, headed by founder Dr MI Sahadulla who along with his family holds about 25% stake in Kims, the sources said. Blackstone and Manipal Health Enterprises are the two contenders left in the race for Kims. Manipal was keen on acquiring up to 90% stake with Sahadulla to remain as a minority shareholder with 10% stake, people cited above said. Manipal Health Enterprises, Max Healthcare, Temasek-owned Sheares Healthcare, and global buyout funds Blackstone and CVC Capital were among half a dozen potential buyers in initial talks to acquire about 65-70% in Kims Health Management, ET first reported in December. Kims Health has four operational hospitals in Kerala — in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Kollam and Perinthalmanna — with a total capacity of 1,378 beds.

banks to the government-backed bad debt aggregator National Asset Reconstruction Co (NARCL) have stalled once again due to differences over specific wordings of the agreement between the entities, people familiar with the matter said. «NARCL has insisted on banks signing an agreement which absolves NARCL from any future liabilities arising from the assets sold like fraud cases or investigations from government agencies. Banks have refused to do this, resulting in a stalemate,» said a person aware of the matter.

Reliance Jio Infocomm will pay ₹7,864 crore this week to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) towards its second instalment for 5G spectrum acquired in last year's auction, as it scales up the roll out of its next-gen mobile broadband services nationally by the year-end. The Mukesh Ambani-led telecom market leader was the largest 5G spectrum buyer in the July 2022 auction, acquiring airwaves worth ₹88,078 crore, including those in the coveted 700 MHz band.

NEW DELHI : The Union government is likely to disburse up to ₹600 crore to South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd for the first year under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile phone manufacturing, three people aware of the development said. This would be the largest payout ever under the scheme, the first in a series of similar schemes rolled out to incentivize domestic manufacturing.

₹1.75 trillion Gautam Adani-led company’s resistance to conduct an independent external evaluation. As a “material weakness" identified as at 31 March, Deloitte said, “The company (Adani Ports) did not have an appropriate internal control system in respect of conducting an external examination of allegations made on the company." Deloitte said Adani Ports did not have adequate internal control system to even examine veracity of allegations ( made by Hindenburg) on related party relationships, which could potentially result in possible adjustments or disclosures of related party relationships, balances and transactions in the standalone financial statements.