People Business

No Pain Relief

The former promoters of Ranbaxy, Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, suffered a major setback when an arbitration tribunal in Singapore asked them to pay 56.2 billion Yen (nearly Rs 3,500 crore) to Daiichi Sankyo for concealing key facts during the sale of their controlling stake in the company. Daiichi had accused the brothers of misrepresenting the problems Ranbaxy was facing when the Japanese firm acquired it in 2008. The Singh brothers sold off their entire stake of about 35 per cent in Ranbaxy for $2.4 billion (around Rs 10,000 crore) to Daiichi Sankyo. While Malvinder Singh currently heads Fortis Healthcare, his brother Shivinder has stepped down from the executive role in the group.

Call Dropped By Supreme Court

Striking down telecom regulator TRAI's order making it mandatory for telecom companies to compensate consumers for call drops, the Supreme Court called the regulation "arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent". The telcos had claimed that the additional compensation would cost them Rs 54,000 crore a year, but TRAI defended its decision saying it was the "least invasive way to deal with the issue". TRAI chairman R. S. Sharma, holding operators responsible for maintaining the quality of calls, had insisted on compensation to subscribers. But rejecting the order now, the apex court has put the ball in Centres court to make a law on call drops on the lines of the one in the US.

New Revelations

Making sensational disclosures, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper bribery case, Christian Michel, denied meeting Congress President Sonia Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh or former Defence Minister A. K. Antony, in an interview to our group channel India Today. He also revealed that the Congress party never interfered in the deal. The 54-year-old absconding British businessman is one of the three middlemen allegedly involved in the scam revolving around payment of bribes to secure an Indian contract for 12 helicopters worth 556 million euros.

Following Chinese Steps

Following the footsteps of Alibaba, which became an e-commerce giant with the help of its payment platform Alipay, Kunal Bahl's Snapdeal has reportedly approached investors for funding in a bid to make Freecharge the cornerstone of its business. To repeat the success story here, the company is in talks with various investors including Chinese firms. "Chinese investors have seen the Alipay story. They have seen that Alipay has become successful because it's attached to a large commerce platform," Bahl told a business daily.

Saying Hi to Tata

Sajjan Jindal's JSW steel emerged as a surprise bidder for Tata Steels' loss-making UK assets. The flagship firm of JSW Group is eyeing a foray in the European market with acquisition of Tata Steel's UK assets, as its current capacity of 18 million tonnes per annum largely caters to the Indian market. But a successful takeover might not be easy for JSW as it's already laden with huge debts of nearly Rs 40,000 crore, and the acquisition of the new asset would further dent its financial condition. In the past five years, the company has made a string of acquisitions in India such as Inspat Industries' Dolvi plant in Maharashtra, Vardhaman unit in Haryana along with Maxsteel and Welspun units.