Business

San Francisco, Sep 13 (IANS) Twitter shareholders on Tuesday voted to approve Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover bid.

The vote came as Musk's lead team is in a court battle to get out of the deal.

Twitter confirmed that a preliminary count shows it has enough votes to approve the deal, reports The Verge.

Twitter has sued Musk for allegedly breaching the deal agreement.

The vote lets Twitter continue with a lawsuit intended to make Musk close the acquisition.

The legal battle is expected to start in mid-October.

The approval means that Musk and Twitter will proceed to an October trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

"Twitter will push to close the deal regardless, alleging that Musk's complaints are merely a pretext for backing out," the report mentioned.

The vote case as Twitter whistleblower Peter Zatko testified at a US Senate committee.

The Tesla CEO is also trying to buy more time from the court to kick off the Twitter trial, set for October 17, citing the testimony by Zatko.

Musk's legal team has proposed a new timeline that would push the week-long trial to late November.

The former Twitter security head has alleged that Twitter misled regulators about its security practices and actual number of bot accounts.

Musk has said that the testimony of Twitter whistleblower justifies his termination of the $44 billion deal to buy the micro-blogging platform.

--IANS
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Munich, Sep 13 (IANS) Efforts of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to rope in major investments from Germany bore fruit on Tuesday as auto giant BMW agreed to set up its auto part manufacturing unit in state.

A decision to this effect was taken during the Chief Minister's visit to the BMW headquarters here.

During the visit, Mann showcased Punjab government's work to promote industry in the state after which BMW agreed to set up its auto component unit in state.

Buoyed over it, Mann said this will be the second unit of the company in India as already one such unit was operational in Chennai.

He said this will give a major boost to industrial growth of the state and open new vistas of employment for youth.

The Chief Minister also invited BMW to collaborate with the state in the e-mobility sector.

He was apprised that e-mobility is a major sector of focus for the auto giant which targets 50 per cent of its global sales to consist of fully electric vehicles by 2030 under the leadership of Chairman of the Board of Management, BMW AG, Oliver Zipse.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) Endowed with abundant natural produce, various parts of India often face the challenge of too much stubble. Making proper use of stubble, the country started making biofuels out of it.

Biofuels promote greenery and protect nature. These are not only nature friendly but also promotes the contribution of farmers in protecting the environment. This also boosts the use of alternative fuels.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a second generation (2G) ethanol plant at Haryana's Panipat.

On one side, India produces abundant paddy and wheat but its stubble is not fully utilised. The bio-fuel plant at Panipat will not only dispose off the stubble without burning it but will have multiple benefits.

Dedicating the 2G ethanol plant at Panipat to the country, the Prime Minister said: "The bio-fuel plant of Panipat will also be able to dispose off the stubble without burning it. Stubble which was a burden for the farmers, and was a cause of concern, would become a means of additional income for them. Pollution will be reduced, and the contribution of farmers to protecting the environment will increase further."

The priorities of the Central government include increasing the income of farmers as well as promoting an alternative to petrol, diesel, and gas. This plant reflects the same commitment.

This plant will reduce pollution in Delhi, Haryana, and the National Capital Region.

India needs abundant energy for growth and prosperity. Strong efforts were initiated in the last few years to become self reliant in the field of energy. The dedication of the plant is part of a long series of steps taken by the government over the years to boost the production and usage of biofuels in the country. This is in line with the Prime Minister's constant endeavour to transform the energy sector into being more affordable, accessible, efficient, and sustainable.

The 2G ethanol plant has been built at an estimated cost of over Rs 900 crore by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

Based on state-of-the-art indigenous technology, the project will turn a new chapter in India's waste-to-wealth endeavours by utilising about 2 lakh tonnes of rice straw annually to generate around 3 crore litres of ethanol annually.

Creating an end-use for the agri-crop residue would empower farmers and provide an additional income generation opportunity.

Due to the mixing of ethanol in petrol, in the last seven-eight years, about Rs 50,000 crore of the country have been saved from going abroad. And about the same amount has gone to the farmers of our country because of ethanol blending.

Till eight years ago only 40 crore litres of ethanol was produced in the country; now this production is about 400 crore litres.

The project will provide direct employment to people involved in the plant operation and indirect employment will be generated in the supply chain for rice straw cutting, handling, storage among others.

By reducing the burning of rice straw, the project will reduce Greenhouse Gases equivalent to about 3 lakh tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent emissions per annum, which can be understood as equivalent to replacing nearly 63,000 cars annually on the country's roads.

Gas is reaching through pipes to more than a crore households. The country is also working on the goal that in the next few years, more than 75 per cent of the households in the country will get piped gas.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Tuesday issued another circular to further clarify issues arising on deduction of tax at source under the newly-inserted Section 194-R in respect of benefits or perquisites provided to residents in cash or in kind in the course of business or profession.

As per the circular, now bank and financial institutions need not deduct tax at source in respect of benefits provided to its borrowers by waiver of loan or advance by way of one-time settlement.

Similarly, a company in which the public is substantially interested need not deduct tax at source while issuing bonus or rights shares.

The implication of this clarification will be that a company in which public is not substantially interested will be required to deduct tax at source while issuing bonus or rights shares despite such receipt of bonus or right shares being not taxable in the hands of the shareholders.

The reasoning given in this circular for exempting a company in which the public is substantially interested from deduction of tax at source while issuing bonus or rights shares equally applies to a private company in which the public is not substantially interested, experts said.

Experts say this circular may be fishing in troubled waters as it is differentiating between taxpayers. Experts also wonder if by doing that the legislative intent is being bypassed by such circulars.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) While all eyes are on BYJU's much-awaited FY21 financial results that were set to be revealed on Wednesday, the edtech major has registered nearly Rs 9,991 crore in revenues in FY22 and its core K12 education business is growing fast, top sources have revealed.

In six months from February 2022 till July 2022, the company logged Rs 6,175 crore revenue, breaking all previous sales records, three people close to the matter told IANS.

This is a substantial gain from its FY20 financial report, when the company registered revenue of Rs 2,434 crore with a net profit of Rs 51 crore.

BYJU's investors were ecstatic at the company's growth in the core business in the recently-concluded meeting, sources told IANS, as the company logged 50 per cent growth (year-on-year) in its core K12 India business at Rs 1,205 crore, leaving no competition anywhere near it.

After getting acquired by BYJU's for $1 billion last year, Aakash Educational Services (AESL) has transformed into a hybrid edtech firm, expanding rapidly across the country, which is one of the key reasons behind BYJU's FY22 success.

Meanwhile, after nearly 18 months delay of "ironing out the complexities", edtech major BYJU's was all set to reveal its financial report for FY21.

The company had received an 'unqualified' report from auditor Deloitte late last month.

According to sources, there may be a substantial difference between the projected sales and the audited revenue in BYJU's FY21 financial results.

Last valued at $22 billion, BYJU's has so far raised over $6 billion in funding, and aims to file an IPO in the US through the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) route.

The company is likely to raise over $500 million (nearly Rs 3,900 crore) at a valuation of around $23 billion soon.

--IANS
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Monza (Italy), Sep 13 (IANS) Team Principal Toto Wolff is hopeful that Mercedes can push Ferrari for the runner-up spot in the 2022 constructors' standings after "maximizing" their Italian Grand Prix points haul "on a track that doesn't suit the team".

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell started the Monza weekend within reach of the pace-setting Ferrari and Red Bull cars but dropped back as practice wore on and ended qualifying almost one-and-a-half seconds off pole position.

On race day, however, Russell capitalised on a host of grid penalties to convert a front-row start into another podium finish, while Hamilton fought his way through the field from P19 to claim fifth -- adding important points to Mercedes tally.

"I think you (can) see that we are on a track that doesn't suit us, (and) we are clearly third on the road, so (positions) three and five is probably the maximum (result)," Wolff told Sky Sports F1.

As for Hamilton's drive from the back of the grid, he added, "It was enjoyable. In the beginning, it looked like [he was] a little bit stuck, but once the tyres came together, he was very quick."

"I think it's all to play for. We just need to do the best every single weekend and see whether we come out second," Wolff said.

Asked if P2 would 'soften the blow' of an otherwise difficult campaign, he said, "Maybe a bit, but there [are] more blows that we are ending up 30 seconds behind the leader, and that is the gap that we need to catch up."

--IANS

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New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) Aiming to shore up huge quarterly losses incurred by state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) like Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation, the government plans to pay them $2.5 billion as partial compensation, according to a Bloomberg report.

The losses have been incurred by the OMCs as they absorbed international crude prices, however the report, quoting sources, said that while the Petroleum Ministry had sought a far greater amount, the Finance Ministry agreed only to $2.5 billion as a cash payout.

The partial compensation to OMCs has also been planned to rein in cooking gas prices, the Bloomberg report said.

It further said, quoting sources, that the discussions on compensation payout are at an advanced stage though a final decision is yet to be taken.

Though the government plans to ease their financial pain, the Bloomberg report said it would add pressure to the exchequer, which is already burdened by excise duty cuts on fuel prices and a higher fertiliser subsidy, to tackle inflation.

The OMCs use more than 85 per cent of imported oil and benchmarked the fuels they produce to international prices. Those shot up after a global recovery in demand coincided with reduced fuel-making capacity in the US and fewer exports from Russia, thus leading to their losses, the Bloomberg report said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS) Technology company Kodak TV on Monday forayed into the premium Matrix QLED Series with Google TV in India.

With a starting price of Rs 33,999, Matrix QLED TV is available in three sizes -- 50-inch, 55-inch, and 65-inch on Flipkart as Big Billion Days Sale (BBD) Specials.

"We are proud to be recognised as one of the premium Smart TV brands in India. Kodak has a history of introducing new technologies in the market and we believe that this launch will prove to be a game-changer in the future of technology," Avneet Singh Marwah, Director and CEO, Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd (SPPL), the official manufacturer of Kodak TVs, said in a statement.

"We are highly excited to bring Kodak's new variants under the Matrix series, which are an outcome of investments that we made in technology research within India. With the 65-inch model, we will be a tough competitor in the premium QLED Smart TV segment," he added.

The TVs have improved sound with DTS TruSurround sound, a QLED 4K display with 1.1 billion colours, Dolby MS12, HDR 10+ with 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

SPPL said it will also be the first Indian manufacturing company in the country to introduce QLED TVs with Google TV.

With an integrated Google Assistant, the Kodak TVs offer a large screen for Chromecast video meetings, documents and built-in apps, such as YouTube Learning and Google classroom, assisting in learning and upgradation.

--IANS
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Gaborone, Sep 12 (IANS) Botswana witnessed its first-ever drop in fuel prices in 2022, said the country's energy authorities.

According to a press release from Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority, pump prices for petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin will decrease by 1 pula ($0.076), 0.23 pula and 0.08 pula per liter, respectively, Xinhua news agency reported.

The authority said the decrease was necessitated by the fall in oil prices over the past two months. Brent Crude averaged $97.74 per barrel in August compared to an average of $105.12 a barrel in July.

The energy authority said the fall in fuel prices was influenced mainly by fears of a possible global recession, which could weaken the global demand for oil.

Four straight increases in fuel prices in the Southern African country since December 2021 have primarily contributed to rising inflation, which reached a 13-year high of 14.30 per cent in July.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 11 (IANS) Reliance Capital bidders have sought an extension of time for submission of binding bids. According to sources, Piramal Finance has sought extension by 12 weeks, while Advent has sought time till January 30, 2023, i.e., 16 weeks extension for submission of binding bid, as the company has not yet done due diligence.

There are other bidders also who have sought a similar extension of timeline for filing of binding bids. IndusInd has sought 10 weeks extension, Oaktree has asked for 12 weeks and Zurich has requested for 8 weeks extension.

*As per the current timeline, the last last date for submission of binding bids is 29 September, along with an EMD of Rs 75 crore.*

COC will be meeting in the coming week to decide on a time extension to maximise the value for lenders and ensure maximum binding bids for RCAP assets.

The timeline for filing of final Resolution Plan with NCLT is November 1, 2022.

Reliance Capital had received 6 bids under option-1, i.e., for Reliance Capital as a company. Torrent, IndusInd, Oaktree, Cosmea Financial, Authum Investment, and B Right Real Estate have submitted bids in the range of Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 4,500 crore for Reliance Capital's entire assets.

For Reliance General Insurance business, Piramal Finance has bid Rs 4,000 crore, while Zurich Insurance's bid is Rs 3,500 crore. The third bidder, i.e., Advent has bid Rs 7,000 crore for Reliance General Insurance.

Jindal Steel and Power and UVARC have submitted bids for Reliance Capital's ARC business.

For other assorted assets of Reliance Capital, three bidders -- Choice Equity, Global Fincap and Grand Bhawan have submitted the bids.

--IANS
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