Business News at 05:30 pm on 15th November 2023

Fearing the loss of their personal assets after a recent Supreme Court ruling, promoters of companies under insolvency proceedings are expected to rush to settle their pending dues with banks. Following the ruling, lenders can now liquidate personal assets such as residential properties, shares and bonds, gold and jewellery, of these promoters. Legal experts say this will force such promoters and directors to come forward voluntarily to settle dues, which in turn will boost the recovery from bad loans. The Supreme Court last week upheld the constitutionality of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) provisions on personal guarantors in the insolvency resolution process, bringing relief to lenders.The judgment is likely to have far-reaching implications on the several high-profile cases.

Meanwhile, The Burman family on Tuesday denied any role or involvement in the Mahadev App scam and termed an FIR filed by a social worker against members of the family “false and baseless”. Dabur Group chairman Mohit Burman and his brother and group director Gaurav Burman were among 32 people named in an FIR registered by the Mumbai Police last week. The police have filed cases under various sections of gambling and fraud against the 32 persons in relation to the Mahadev betting app case. The family termed the FIR as a step provoked by “vested interests” to block its proposed plans to increase stake in Religare Enterprises. The family remained shocked at these “arm-twisting moves” but it would proceed with its plans for Religare Enterprises, it added.

Moving on.: With aircraft delivery on a steady schedule, Tata Group-promoted Air India is all set to increase its international flight destinations this winter. The airline plans to add Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City, Boston, and Los Angeles to the list of around 40 international destinations in its network, sources told FE. Additional flight frequencies to Australia and Europe are also on the cards. According to sources, while Phuket and Ho Chi Minh City are slated for December booking launches, flights to Boston and LA might start in early 2024. There are more than half-a-dozen prospective international destinations on the radar. The Phuket and Ho Chi Minh City services will be operated on narrow-body aircraft, whereas flights to Boston and LA are scheduled to be operated on the leased Boeing 777 and the Airbus A350.

Now in Economy: The Centre’s food subsidy bill will likely exceed the Budget Estimate by Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 2.14 trillion for the current financial year, largely due to sharp increases in the minimum support prices for key crops, sources told FE. However, the hike in food subsidy will unlikely affect the Centre’s aim of containing the fiscal deficit at 5.9% of GDP despite the expected shortfall in disinvestment receipts thanks to healthy tax and non-tax revenues, the sources said. For all key rabi and kharif crops, the MSP increases this year have been the highest since 2018-19 when a new policy of 50% profits over computed cost of production was adopted for the price setting. Elevated MSPs, backed by robust procurement, could potentially boost rural income and purchasing power.

Next up Money…..Individuals who have not done any transactions on their UPI IDs and numbers for over a year will not be able to receive funds from January. The National Payments Corporation of India has asked banks, payment service providers and Third Party Application Providers such as PhonePe, Google Pay and others to deactivate UPI IDs and numbers of customers who have not performed any transactions for one year or more. The NPCI has set December 31 as a deadline to deactivate UPI IDs of inactive customers. The directive is aimed at ensuring that the money is transferred only to the intended recipients. When individuals change their mobile numbers, they usually forget to dissociate their UPI ID. When this number is used by a new user, the UPI ID of the previous user remains linked to it. This leaves the possibility of inadvertent transfer of funds to unintended recipients.

Meanwhile………..Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy died due to a cardiorespiratory arrest at a private hospital in Mumbai on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. He was 75. Having created a huge business empire across retail, real estate and financial services sectors, Roy was at the centre of a huge controversy and faced multiple regulatory and legal battles in connection with his group firms that were accused of circumventing regulations with Ponzi schemes, allegations his group always denied. He was admitted to the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital & Medical Research Institute in Mumbai on Sunday after his health deteriorated. He passed away at the hospital at 10.30 pm on Tuesday due to a cardiorespiratory arrest following an extended battle with complications arising from metastatic malignancy, hypertension and diabetes.

Lastly, let’s look at the stocks that you need to watch out for today. These include Adani Energy Solutions, Grasim Industries, Manappuram Finance, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited among others.