By John Micklethwait, Margaret Talev and Jennifer JacobsPresident Donald Trump said he would pull out of the World Trade Organization if it doesn’t treat the US better, targeting a cornerstone of the international trading system.“If they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO,” Trump said Thursday in an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News. Trump said the agreement establishing the body “was the single worst trade deal ever made.”A US withdrawal from the WTO potentially would be far more significant for the global economy than even Trump’s growing trade war with China, undermining the post-World War II system that the US helped build.Trump said last month that the US is at a big disadvantage from being treated “very badly” by the WTO for many years and that the Geneva-based body needs to “change their ways.”US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has said allowing China into the WTO in 2001 was a mistake. He has long called for the US to take a more aggressive approach to the WTO, arguing that it was incapable of dealing with a non-market economy such as China.Lighthizer has accused the WTO dispute-settlement system of interfering with US sovereignty, particularly on anti-dumping cases. The US has been blocking the appointment of judges to the WTO’s appeals body, raising the possibility that it could cease to function in the coming years.In the Oval Office interview, Trump said at the WTO “we rarely won a lawsuit except for last year.” “In the last year, we’re starting to win a lot,” he added. “You know why? Because they know if we don’t, I’m out of there.”For all of his complaints about the WTO, Trump’s administration has continued to file cases against other members. Earlier this week it launched a case against Russian duties on US products that it argues are illegal.Countries that bring complaints to the WTO tend to prevail and defendants in trade disputes lose.But WTO data also shows that the US does slightly better than the WTO average in both cases it brings and that are brought against it, said Simon Lester, a trade analyst at the Cato Institute, a Washington policy group that favors more open international trade.Of the 54 cases brought by the US over the life of the WTO, Washington won at least one finding in its favor in 49, or 91 percent, Lester said. Of the 80 cases brought against it, a WTO panel had ruled against it in at least one aspect in 69 cases, or 86 percent of the time.The Trump administration has taken his complaints a step further by arguing that the WTO’s dispute settlement system is broken and in need of a major overhaul.The EU has been leading an effort to propose reforms to try and defuse the conflict. Officials from the EU and Japan visited Washington last week to discuss potential changes as well as joint efforts to take on China at the WTO.Since World War II, successive US presidents have led efforts to establish and strengthen global trading rules, arguing that they would bring stability to the world economy.The WTO was created in 1994 as part of a US-led effort by major economies to create a forum for resolving trade disputes.

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Quidich Innovation Labs’ CEO Rahat Kulshreshtha and team had finally cracked it. They literally took this year’s Indian Premier League to the skies using drones, after a chase of nearly three years and obtaining permissions from 17 different agencies.Throughout the IPL, viewers could finally distinguish between the various venues as Quidich’s city shots made it clear where a game was being played. Drone shots like Mumbai’s famous Queen’s Necklace near Wankhede stadium put TV viewers in the thick of action. Drones had really arrived on the big stage.“The IPL had nine venues. For a TV viewer at home, all nine look the same. The moment you add a drone, you get interesting connections of the stadium and the city. The relatability is a lot more. We were able to add augmented reality (AR) on a drone, live interactive graphics,” said Kulshreshtha.That was just the beginning. With India’s long-awaited drone policy released this week, the domestic drone market is poised to take off. For Kulshreshtha, the policy means potentially bringing down the permissions requirement to a handful.No more regulatory quagmire. While recreational drone usage will pick up, what the policy will really open up is the largely untapped business-to-business (B2B) market, giving drone companies the chance to innovate and truly spread their wings.THE INITIAL RUNWAYSome early uses of drones cropped up only around half a decade ago. Mumbai-based Francesco’s Pizzeria in 2014 used a four-rotor drone to deliver food from its Lower Parel outlet to a customer in nearby Worli. That drew sufficient buzz for the pizzeria but also the police, who said using drones to deliver orders posed a security risk.Around the same time, several drone startups too started coming up. Soon, there were discussions on the need for regulating the space.“The thing to highlight is the significant change in mindset from the time when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was probably thinking it didn’t have the bandwidth for unmanned aviation, to now where Jayant Sinha wants to bring the most progressive drone regulation anywhere in the world,” said Anirudh Rastogi, managing partner at Ikigai Law (formerly TRA Law). “We may be further from that, but that is the mindset change. It is phenomenal.” Sinha is the minister of state for civil aviation. 65616338 Rastogi was a pioneer in pushing for regulations to govern the unmanned drone sector. His firm, which specialises in nascent technology areas like drones and crypto currency, has extensively commented on the various draft guidelines proposed by the regulator.For drone startups, the early days meant trying to understand how to navigate in an unregulated space.65616339 The basic revelation was simple — use drones for ‘DDDR’ jobs, or dull, dirty, dangerous and repetitive tasks. So startups like Aarav Unmanned Systems and Skylark Drones targeted areas that required people to travel large terrains for inspections in sectors like mining, energy and agriculture.Goldman Sachs Research estimates a $100 billion global market opportunity for drone companies by 2020.65616344 Aarav CEO Vipul Singh and his cofounders spent two years at IIT-Kanpur understanding and experimenting with design systems and algorithms. Only in 2015 did they land their first corporate client.“There was no financial backing, things took time. We were testing in a closed environment. But not for commercial applications. Almost at the end of the second year, we got our first project,” said Singh. Though startups managed to land pilots with a few private businesses and government projects, it was not smooth sailing, with conglomerates still waiting for clarity on regulations before pumping money into big drone projects.Skylark Drones cofounders TR Mughilan and Mrinal Pai spent a good amount of time trying to figure out their business model before deciding that B2B was the way forward.“Enterprise use case is where problems were not solved. In this case, the drone hardware is only 30-40% of the value chain. Everything beyond that is processing, interpreting data and figuring how to serve it to the end industry,” said Pai.The B2B opportunity for drone startups is huge. For example, a mine survey could take a three or four member team four-six days, but a drone can do that in a day. All you need is a trained drone operator and a good data interpretation software.While enterprises were cautiously testing the waters, government agencies too were jumping on to the bandwagon.Given the fast pace of government projects, for instance, “you need to validate and monitor progress. That is where drones will play a big part,” said Kulshrestha of Quidich. “If you look at the Railways, there are 8-10 live tenders presently.”Not just the Railways, the National Highways Authority of India and various state governments are floating tenders for various large projects.The building blocks were all set. All that was lacking was a proper regulatory framework.THE POLICY HAS LANDEDGiven the dominating presence of China’s DJI drones, most Indian drone companies have decided to focus on building expertise in software solutions for various industries. The India Drone Policy 1.0, announced this week, looks to promote just that.“In the global context, in terms of civilian drone hardware... no competitor has been able to match the Chinese hardware prowess. India’s policy is about how you fly drones and how you can create a globallycompetitive industry in our context, when we are not the ones who currently own the hardware,” said Tanuj Bhojwani, a volunteer at software policy think-tank iSPIRT.Bhojwani led the Digital Sky effort, which is the central platform for all official communications between drone pilots and the DGCA. It will be used to register drones, request for permissions, and file reports and logs of all flights.In probably a global first, India’s drone policy has introduced a ‘No Permission- No Takeoff’ (NPNT) clause. It means drone hardware have to be configured in such a way that unless regulatory permission is given, the drone cannot take off. Digital Sky has demarcated the Indian airspace into three distinct categories: Red (no-fly zones), Yellow (restricted permissions), and Green (all access). 65616346 Drones have been classified as Nano (less than or equal to 250 grams), Micro (250 grams to 2 kg), Small (2 kg to 25 kg), Medium (25 kg to 150 kg), and Large (greater than 150 kg). Drones heavier than 2 kg will require registration and permits to fly. These drones can be flown only by pilots who have cleared DGCA-approved training.Also, drones must only be flown during daylight, while maintaining full visual line of sight at all times. The policy has also designated test sites across states to experiment.FLYING FORWARDAccording to Bhojwani, the policy creates “a high-trust environment” and allows for “unbundling of services.” “You can say ‘I want this picture in this area.’ An Uber-like platform for drones can come up. You put in a request and anyone in the country serves it. And you can trust them, because if they do not have permission they cannot fly. The drone itself won’t take off. It brings in trust,” said Bhojwani.He believes the policy will usher in a new idea of “drone micro-entrepreneurs.” These drone entrepreneurs need not necessarily be experts in say agriculture, telecom or mining, all they need to know is how to expertly fly a drone. The data it mines can be separately inspected by experts or any end user.But certain aspects of the policy could do with some clarity.“They have stuck to daytime flying only. There are some use cases where nighttime flying should be permitted. Say for industrial uses, work does not stop at night. Even from a safety perspective, it is all contained. Also, indoor flying is permitted, but there is a clause which says ‘flying is allowed only in the daytime.’ Does it mean I can’t fly indoors at night?” said Rastogi of Ikigai Law.Minor chinks apart, the drone industry is hopeful as the next version of the policy is expected to be more progressive. But most certainly, the policy has ushered in a bright start and the collective opinion is that the funding gates will open too.“The level of investment is almost negligible in the drone space compared to startups from domains such as ecommerce and hyperlocal, as investor confidence was low given that there was no clarity on the legality of drones. That will change now. The confidence will go up. Going forward, the industry is going to be predominantly B2B,” said Vignesh Santhanam, marketing head at Quidich and president of Drone Federation of India, a collective of drone startups. India Drone Policy 1.0: A Summary*Digital Sky has demarcated the airspace into three distinct categories: Red (no-fl y zones), Yellow (restricted permissions) and Green (all access)*Drones are classifi ed as Nano (less than or equal to 250 grams), Micro (250 grams to 2 kg), Small (2 kg to 25 kg), Medium (25 kg to 150 kg), and Large (greater than 150 kg)*Nano category drones do not require to be registered for identifi -cation or permissions on the Digital Sky platform as long as they are fl own under the height of 15 metres*Drones in the micro category need to be registered and ask for permission before fl ying. As long as these are fl own under 60m, no permit, pilot licences or security clearances are required*Drones heavier than 2 kg have to be registered and need permits to fly. These can only be handled by a pilot who has cleared DGCA prescribed training courses. These drones can be fl own up to an altitude of 120 metres*Drones must only be flown during daylight and maintain full visual line of sight at all times*Drones must not drop/discharge material without explicit clearance Drones must not be operated from mobile platforms like moving vehicles*Digital Sky is built around the principle of ‘No Permission-No Takeoff.’ Only if a drone is compliant with this principle, can it even be registered. Digital Sky will be in charge of handling fl ight permissions*A preflight permission request will contain the geo-fence and timespan outside of which a drone cannot fl y. The drone will not turn on if it does not have a valid permission from Digital Sky*A written notice to the local police station is also required prior to operations (with the exception of Nano drones below 15 metres)SOURCE: CAN-I-FLY.SKYLARKDRONES.COM

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Gland Pharma, the Hyderabad-based injectable maker which was bought by Chinese drug giant Fosun in September 2017, has called for presentations, or pitches in industry parlance, from both local and foreign investment bankers to take the company public in 2019, two people with direct knowledge of the plan said.“The company has been in discussions with individual investment bankers for a public offer,” one of the two persons said. "Now, they have called for presentations from investment bankers."A public listing of the company could be the first by a Chinese one on the Indian bourses, which will use the capital to grow their business in India instead of being funded by its parent in China.Pitches from investment bankers indicate the first intention of a private company to gauge the expectation of investors, possible listing value of the company, and get the perspective of both local and foreign bankers on the business. Gland Pharma, which is owned 74% by the Chinese major, is seeking a valuation of $3 billion, which is more than twice that of the valuation it was bought in September 2017. Fosun had purchased 74% stake of the Indian drug maker for $1.1 billion, valuing the company at around $1.25 billion.Fosun did not respond to an emailed questionnaire from ET till press-time on Thursday.The company had to struggle with the Indian government to receive regulatory approvals as the government feared monopoly of Chinese drug makers in India. The Shanghai-listed Fosun acquired 74% in Gland for $1.1 billion last September, giving an exit to the American private equity fund KKR, but did not give full exit to the Indian promoters Ravi Penmetsa and his father PVN Raju.Under the agreement between the two companies, the founder shareholders had the right to exercise a put option within one year of the end of the share purchase agreement to sell their residual stake for a consideration of up to $355 million.The Gland IPO is planned in a way to offer an exit to the promoters who are expected to offload 10% of their stake during the IPO, according to people closely involved with the development.“Gland/Fosun is in the process of hiring investment bankers for taking the company public in India, and the IPO is expected to hit the market by the middle of next year,” said a second person closely involved with the development.

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KOLKATA|NEW DELHI: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, clearing the last hurdle to the creation of India’s largest mobile phone company with the most subscribers and revenue share, displacing Bharti Airtel, which has held the top spot for about 15 years. A senior executive of the Aditya Birla Group, of which Idea Cellular is a part, confirmed the NCLT nod, saying “announcements would be made on Friday”. The new entity will kick off with 440 million subscribers, a 34.7% revenue market share (RMS), revenue of more than Rs 60,000 crore and combined debt of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore. The largest merger in the sector now leaves three major players — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Vodafone Idea — to fight it out for over a billion subscribers in a market that is seeing surging demand for data amid rock-bottom tariffs as the country moves to 4G from 3G and smartphones become more affordable.Pricing Power May Return to SectorSector experts expect pricing power to gradually return to the sector — over a year or so — as the effects of rapid consolidation play out. Two years of brutal price wars have savaged revenue and profits.65616167 The NCLT approval is the final clearance needed before registration of the merged entity, Vodafone Idea Ltd, which will remain listed. The new board will be constituted after registration with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Some circle-level executives have been told that September 3 could be Day Zero of the combined entity. Idea’s shares closed marginally higher by 0.71% at Rs 49.85 on the BSE Thursday. Vodafone and Idea didn’t respond to ET’s emailed queries.The final approval came nearly two months after the June 30 deadline the two companies had set. Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao had said he expected the merger to close in August during a visit to India last month.Analysts had underlined the importance of an early completion of the merger as both Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have been rapidly losing ground to Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio Infocomm. Jio, which officially launched services in September 2016, has dislodged both the Idea and Vodafone standalone entities on RMS.Potent RivalThe merged entity should clock as much as $10 billion in savings over time, making it a more potent rival for Bharti Airtel and Jio, according to analysts. “The market and customers will now see how the new company deploys and catches up with its 4G rollout, in which it has been a laggard,” ex-Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor said.He said a new telecom leader had emerged and the markets would be watching closely. “The countdown for deliveries has begun and financial synergy is an integral part of this merger,” Kapoor said. Rohan Dhamija, partner and head of India and Middle East at Analysys Mason, said, “The merged entity would need to very quickly change focus from internal integration to winning externally in the market, besides investing significantly in enhancing 4G network capacity to effectively compete with Jio and Airtel.”Credit Suisse analysts said Idea’s financial pain in the run-up to the merger might be deeper.

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KOLKATA|NEW DELHI: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, clearing the last hurdle to the creation of India’s largest mobile phone company with the most subscribers and revenue share, displacing Bharti Airtel, which has held the top spot for about 15 years. A senior executive of the Aditya Birla Group, of which Idea Cellular is a part, confirmed the NCLT nod, saying “announcements would be made on Friday”. The new entity will kick off with 440 million subscribers, a 34.7% revenue market share (RMS), revenue of more than Rs 60,000 crore and combined debt of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore. The largest merger in the sector now leaves three major players — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Vodafone Idea — to fight it out for over a billion subscribers in a market that is seeing surging demand for data amid rock-bottom tariffs as the country moves to 4G from 3G and smartphones become more affordable.Pricing Power May Return to SectorSector experts expect pricing power to gradually return to the sector — over a year or so — as the effects of rapid consolidation play out. Two years of brutal price wars have savaged revenue and profits.65616167 The NCLT approval is the final clearance needed before registration of the merged entity, Vodafone Idea Ltd, which will remain listed. The new board will be constituted after registration with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Some circle-level executives have been told that September 3 could be Day Zero of the combined entity. Idea’s shares closed marginally higher by 0.71% at Rs 49.85 on the BSE Thursday. Vodafone and Idea didn’t respond to ET’s emailed queries.The final approval came nearly two months after the June 30 deadline the two companies had set. Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao had said he expected the merger to close in August during a visit to India last month.Analysts had underlined the importance of an early completion of the merger as both Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have been rapidly losing ground to Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio Infocomm. Jio, which officially launched services in September 2016, has dislodged both the Idea and Vodafone standalone entities on RMS.Potent RivalThe merged entity should clock as much as $10 billion in savings over time, making it a more potent rival for Bharti Airtel and Jio, according to analysts. “The market and customers will now see how the new company deploys and catches up with its 4G rollout, in which it has been a laggard,” ex-Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor said.He said a new telecom leader had emerged and the markets would be watching closely. “The countdown for deliveries has begun and financial synergy is an integral part of this merger,” Kapoor said. Rohan Dhamija, partner and head of India and Middle East at Analysys Mason, said, “The merged entity would need to very quickly change focus from internal integration to winning externally in the market, besides investing significantly in enhancing 4G network capacity to effectively compete with Jio and Airtel.”Credit Suisse analysts said Idea’s financial pain in the run-up to the merger might be deeper.

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You do too much swiping as it is.

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BENGALURU: The Solar Energy Corporation of India’s revised wind tender following cancellation of the earlier one has attracted a marginally better response as transmission issues continue to worry developers. The original tender for 2,000 MW attracted bids of 1,200 MW— 300 MW each from four developers. This led to SECI cancelling the tender.SECI, a government company mandated to implement the nation’s renewable energy agenda, then scaled down the tender to 1,200 MW, which has drawn bids of 2,290 MW, sources said.However, at 1.9 times the offer, the response in the latest SECI auction compares poorly with previous auctions, which attracted bids for three to four times the offer made in the tenders. While the technical bids had to be submitted by Wednesday, the actual reverse auction will take place shortly.Developers are worried that transmission facilities won’t be adequate for the wind and solar projects that have been auctioned. About 7,000 MW of wind projects have been auctioned since they began early last year.Transmission facilities at the best wind energy producing sites — located chiefly in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat — are close to being fully used up. Only eight states in India have wind speeds high enough to produce wind energy.“More substations and transmission lines need to be built urgently for evacuation. Unless these issues get resolved, we won’t be participating in future wind bids connecting to the inter-state transmission system (ISTS),” said a developer.“The more the projects that are bid out, the more the need for ISTS connectivity, and the more will be the challenges,” said another developer.Similarly, transmission constraints may pose problems for another 12,000 MW of solar projects likely to be commissioned this financial year. Tariffs are expected to remain at the same level in the forthcoming SECI auction.

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Earlier this month, news about growing concerns over the salaries of employees of two Indian airline companies hit the headlines. Jet Airways, a listed entity, made public its financial woes, asking employees to take a 25% wage cut. Meanwhile, India’s national carrier, Air India — delaying payday every month for some time now with August seeing the longest delay — kept mum, apart from an internal memo that blamed “circumstances beyond control”.No surprises there. As a public sector utility (PSU), this is how Air India is supposed to be: vague, and lacking accountability. Over the last few years, the incumbent government has struggled to figure out what it can do with the loss-making airline that has an albatross of debts around its neck.It sought approval for a Rs 980 crore funds infusion in end-July. There is pressure to seek more. Surely, the sarkari bag is running out of tricks to keep Air India flying. The revival plan of 2012 has already seen more than Rs 27,000 crore being pumped in. This may be a good time to try thinking outside the box.Take the recent efforts in March to privatise the airline, offering a 76% stake to the best bidder. It found no takers. Air India has a debt of Rs 48,000 crore on its balance sheet, and a similar amount in accumulated losses.Even with GoI backing it, the airline should be considered bankrupt. Answers can’t be found in the case histories of past PSU disinvestments. There are, however, some pointers in the present. Why not take a close look at the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) that is sorting out private sector companies with crippling debt?Air India need not go all the way. Instead, it could learn what can work for it. The most attractive part of the process monitored by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is the clean break that it provides a new owner. First, the debt is paid off in full. Second, the former promoter and its vestiges are also exorcised. Can this kind of a clean slate be offered to a bidder for Air India?This means that the government will not only not hold any equity in the airline or its subsidiaries, but it will also not commandeer a couple of aircraft each time the prime minister, the president or the vice-president decides to travel abroad. Each such visit takes the two aircraft plus staff out of service for a few weeks, given the necessary maintenance checks. A full separation of GoI from Air India will mean the creation of a fleet of aircraft for official government use, to be maintained by Air India, the service provided at arm’s-length pricing.Any solution from the IBC kit will also mean cleaning up the airline’s debt with the proceeds made from the sale. For that, not just the government, but the larger polity must accept that the country’s exchequer can’t find a surplus while selling a bankrupt company.There is no way a stake sale in Air India can help lower the fiscal deficit.Meanwhile, we, as a nation, can also get rid of sentimental notions about Air India going back to the Tatas, its original founders, or, for that matter, to any existing major airline. Most of the suitors for Jet Airways’ equity today are private equity players. Surely, some of the international funds will also be interested in Air India if a clean slate is offered. It is not unusual for flag carriers. The largest shareholders for Australia’s Qantas, for instance, are JPMorgan, HSBC and Citi.For it to fly, that idea will surely need political gumption and salesmanship of the highest order. Not quite the stuff agovernment might want on its plate in an election year. In fact, the sell-off is already on the backburner.Improving operations at the airline, and ensuring that its planes keep taking to the skies, may be the only options now. But GoI needs outside help, and there is a prototype tried out by the steel ministry last year. In April 2017, the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) engaged with veteran steel industry majors and a consulting firm to turn around its steel plants.Among others, it brought in former Tata Steel deputy managing director Tridibesh Mukherjee, and B N Singh, who has led both PSU and private sector steel firms. They worked alongside Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and were responsible to help turn around specific steel plants. SAIL started recording quarterly profits from the second quarter of 2017-18.Can Air India think along those lines and let, say, former IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh or Air Deccan founder GR Gopinath offer their expertise to turn the ailing airline around? Fingers crossed, but don’t hold your breath.

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TOKYO: In five years, you may be able to take a ride from Gurgaon to Connaught Place in Delhi, or from Mumbai airport to Churchgate in the heart of the city, in a matter of minutes through aerial e-taxis run by Uber.The taxi aggregator is looking to start its ridesharing service Uber Air in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru by 2023, company officials said. The fares in the short term are likely to be around Rs 200 for a km, and Uber believes it could fall to Rs 50 per km.“We are announcing a shortlist of five countries where Uber Air can immediately transform transportation and take our technology to new heights,” said Eric Allison, head of Uber Aviation Programs. “Starting in approximately five years, Uber customers in launch cities will be able to push a button and get a flight on demand,” he said. Besides India, Uber has selected Japan, France, Brazil and Australia for launching its air ridesharing service.Uber also wants to launch dronebased food delivery service in Indian metros under Uber Eats.The blueprint for these plans was revealed at Uber Elevate Summit in Tokyo on Thursday.Uber’s air taxis would take off from its own sky ports built atop high rise buildings, which would serve as stations in a high volume urban aviation network.Uber has entered into partnerships with aircraft manufacturers that are developing electric VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicles, including Embraer, Bell, and Boeing.Uber’s eVTOL requirements specify that these flights have a cruising speed between 150-200 miles per hour, a cruising altitude of 1,000-2,000 feet, and be able to do trips of up to 60 miles on a single charge.“Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru are some of the most congested cities in the world, where traveling even a few kilometres can take over an hour,” a senior Uber executive said. “Also, through scale we’re planning to offer economical fares.”The executive said Uber was in touch with various regulators in India whose approval would be needed to launch both the air taxi sharing and drone delivery services.“In our interaction with Indian government, we have found them more than willing to adopt new transportation technology,” the executive said, requesting not to be named.Last year, Uber had announced its intention to launch flight demonstrations of Uber Air in Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles in 2020 and commercially available trips by 2023.(The reporter was in Tokyo at the invitation of Uber)

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Earlier this month, news about growing concerns over the salaries of employees of two Indian airline companies hit the headlines. Jet Airways, a listed entity, made public its financial woes, asking employees to take a 25% wage cut. Meanwhile, India’s national carrier, Air India — delaying payday every month for some time now with August seeing the longest delay — kept mum, apart from an internal memo that blamed “circumstances beyond control”.No surprises there. As a public sector utility (PSU), this is how Air India is supposed to be: vague, and lacking accountability. Over the last few years, the incumbent government has struggled to figure out what it can do with the loss-making airline that has an albatross of debts around its neck.It sought approval for a Rs 980 crore funds infusion in end-July. There is pressure to seek more. Surely, the sarkari bag is running out of tricks to keep Air India flying. The revival plan of 2012 has already seen more than Rs 27,000 crore being pumped in. This may be a good time to try thinking outside the box.Take the recent efforts in March to privatise the airline, offering a 76% stake to the best bidder. It found no takers. Air India has a debt of Rs 48,000 crore on its balance sheet, and a similar amount in accumulated losses.Even with GoI backing it, the airline should be considered bankrupt. Answers can’t be found in the case histories of past PSU disinvestments. There are, however, some pointers in the present. Why not take a close look at the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) that is sorting out private sector companies with crippling debt?Air India need not go all the way. Instead, it could learn what can work for it. The most attractive part of the process monitored by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is the clean break that it provides a new owner. First, the debt is paid off in full. Second, the former promoter and its vestiges are also exorcised. Can this kind of a clean slate be offered to a bidder for Air India?This means that the government will not only not hold any equity in the airline or its subsidiaries, but it will also not commandeer a couple of aircraft each time the prime minister, the president or the vice-president decides to travel abroad. Each such visit takes the two aircraft plus staff out of service for a few weeks, given the necessary maintenance checks. A full separation of GoI from Air India will mean the creation of a fleet of aircraft for official government use, to be maintained by Air India, the service provided at arm’s-length pricing.Any solution from the IBC kit will also mean cleaning up the airline’s debt with the proceeds made from the sale. For that, not just the government, but the larger polity must accept that the country’s exchequer can’t find a surplus while selling a bankrupt company.There is no way a stake sale in Air India can help lower the fiscal deficit.Meanwhile, we, as a nation, can also get rid of sentimental notions about Air India going back to the Tatas, its original founders, or, for that matter, to any existing major airline. Most of the suitors for Jet Airways’ equity today are private equity players. Surely, some of the international funds will also be interested in Air India if a clean slate is offered. It is not unusual for flag carriers. The largest shareholders for Australia’s Qantas, for instance, are JPMorgan, HSBC and Citi.For it to fly, that idea will surely need political gumption and salesmanship of the highest order. Not quite the stuff agovernment might want on its plate in an election year. In fact, the sell-off is already on the backburner.Improving operations at the airline, and ensuring that its planes keep taking to the skies, may be the only options now. But GoI needs outside help, and there is a prototype tried out by the steel ministry last year. In April 2017, the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) engaged with veteran steel industry majors and a consulting firm to turn around its steel plants.Among others, it brought in former Tata Steel deputy managing director Tridibesh Mukherjee, and B N Singh, who has led both PSU and private sector steel firms. They worked alongside Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and were responsible to help turn around specific steel plants. SAIL started recording quarterly profits from the second quarter of 2017-18.Can Air India think along those lines and let, say, former IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh or Air Deccan founder GR Gopinath offer their expertise to turn the ailing airline around? Fingers crossed, but don’t hold your breath.

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NEW DELHI: China’s Inhe Meters in consortium with an Indian auto component maker has emerged as the lowest bidder for alarge smart meter contract, quoting close to 43% less than the market price. The company has caught the attention of domestic meter manufacturers who have associated concerns of cyber security and sub-standard equipment with the Chinese player.France’s EDF Suez has emerged as the second lowest bidder while home-grown Larsen & Toubro also stands a chance of winning part of the smart meters global tender called by state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) for procurement of five million smart meters, sources said. Indian industry has raised cyber security concerns in giving the order to foreign firms, since smart meters transfer and store consumer data.Senior officials speaking on condition of anonymity told ET that the fear of Chinese meter manufacturers accessing database of Indian consumers is unfounded. “Whether it is a Chinese meter or European, they go through a tight procedure as per IS-16444 (approved by Bureau of Indian Standards). Whatever data the meter will be sending to the back-end IT application, will be hosted on the cloud platform.There are around seven layers of cyber security on the cloud platform, which we are using, and this is as per the guidelines of ministry of electronics and information technology,” said an official closely associated with the tender.Inhe Meters along with its Indian partner Jay Motors quoted a price of Rs 2,000 per meter against the market price of about Rs 3,500 for such interactive devices. EDF Suez and L&T have agreed to match the price, sources said. EESL board is expected to meet soon to approve the winners of the contracts.“Inhe Meters is only providing the technology support to Jay Auto, which will be manufacturing the smart meters in India,” the official quoted above said. State-owned ITI Ltd bagged 50% of the previous tender for procurement of five million smart meters floated in November last year. The company outbid L&T in a reverse auction, quoting a price of Rs 2,503 per meter.Major smart meter companies including Landys & Gyr, Secure Meters and Aspen Electric have not participated in the tender. Power minister R K Singh had earlier asked equipment makers to supply meters at a price of Rs 1,400 a piece.Under the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna (Uday scheme), state power distribution companies have to implement smart meters part of the operational parameters. However, Uday dashboard shows that states are lagging behind as just 1% of the targeted implementation has taken place.Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA) director general Sunil Misra said handing over smart meters contracts to Chinese companies is fraught with risks of substandard equipment, data and cyber security but most importantly goes against the spirit of public procurement policy 2017 issued by the department of industrial policy and promotion.The revised public procurement policy encourages domestic manufacturing through purchase preference to domestic equipment manufacturers. As per the proposal, if a foreign firm emerges as lowest bidder in a government tender, it will get only 50% of the tender. Indian manufacturer whose quoted price for the tender will be within 20% of the lowest price bid would be eligible for purchase preference, provided it matches the lowest price.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2LHt37e

Private sector lender Yes Bank today said it has received RBI's approval for continuance of Rana Kapoor as MD and CEO of the bank till further notice from the central bank.In June this year, Yes Bank's shareholders had approved the re-appointment of Rana Kapoor as the chief executive and managing director for three years, subject to final approval from the Reserve Bank of India."We wish to inform you that the Bank has received the RBI's approval that Rana Kapoor may continue as Managing Director & CEO of YES Bank till further notice from RBI," the bank said in a regulatory filing.Kapoor is the Founder, Managing Director and CEO of Yes Bank.Prior to establishing Yes Bank, Kapoor was CEO and Managing Director, and main Managing Partner of Rabo India Finance (RIF) (a corporate finance and investment banking organisation).Yes Bank was incorporated in November 2003 under the Companies Act, 1956 and received the certificate of commencement of business on January 21, 2004.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2LAr1WF

Jet Airways Thursday said it has received communication from a body of the ministry of corporate affairs seeking clarifications in response to a complaint received by it.“Jet Airways has received communication from the office of Registrar of Companies seeking comments/ clarifications and explanations in response to a complaint received by their office. The Company is taking necessary steps to submit its response in this regard,” said a spokesperson at the airline, without elaborating.The Registrar of Companies (RoC) takes care of company registration in India, completes reporting and regulation of companies and their directors and shareholders, and also oversees government reporting of various matters including the annual filling of various documents.A media report earlier in the day said the RoC has ordered a “formal inspection of Jet Airways”. It added that the RoC has filed a preliminary report with the ministry of corporate affairs, based on which the ministry has authorised inspection under section 206 (5) of the Companies Act 2013. The law vests it with the power to call companies for information, inspect their books and conduct enquiries. The report cited an unnamed government official as saying that the RoC in its preliminary report has found substantial grounds for further investigation against Jet and a detailed enquiry into its books of accounts. It said it is probing allegations of money laundering at Jet.In response to a similar earlier media report, Jet had on August 20 told the exchanges that it had received no letter from the ministry.This is the latest in a line of headwinds that the financially stressed airline has had to tackle in the last one month.Jet’s senior management last month took pay cuts by as much as a quarter. The company requested its pilots and technicians to take similar cuts but was refused. News that it had given 60 days to its employees for survival sent its shares to a three year low. Jet denied the same. Meanwhile, the chief of India’s biggest lender State Bank of India said the airline was on its stressed loans list. Jet reacted with a denial. Later Jet deferred its earnings announcement saying its auditors hadnt presented them to the board. It later clarified it had sought more time from them.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2PTw6gf