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Vodafone Idea has, in its petition, brought to the notice of the Supreme Court some matters of dispute as regards its payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

It has said the payments it has made have not been accounted for by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Also there has been double counting of some revenue items in the AGR demand and deduction has not been made by the department on account of roaming charges paid by the operator.

This comes days after Bharti Airtel petitioned the court on reconsidering the DoT’s calculation of AGR dues.

Vodafone Idea, in its plea, has pointed out certain anomalies in the DoT’s counting of the AGR dues, leading to excess demand of Rs 5,932 crore.

Vodafone Idea estimates its dues to be Rs 21,533 crore, as against the DoT’s calculation of Rs 58,254 crore. According to the DoT’s notice, Vodafone Idea’s dues stand at about Rs 50,400 crore, which has to be paid in 10 equal instalments by March 31, 2031. The company has so far paid Rs 7,854 crore.

Earlier this week, Bharti Airtel moved the Supreme

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced it will conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO) for Rs 10,000 crore each on January 14.

The decision was taken after a review of current liquidity and financial conditions, it said.

On January 14, the RBI will purchase three government securities of different maturity dates aggregating to Rs 10,000 crore and sell two securities aggregating to the same amount using the multiple price auction method.

The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked SBI to maintain status quo with regard to accounts of Anil Ambani’s firms — RCom, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel, which have been declared by the bank as fraud accounts.

Justice Prateek Jalan passed the order on a plea by erstwhile directors of the three companies challenging a 2016 circular of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regarding declaration of accounts as fraud by banks.

According to the plea, the circular allows banks to declare an account as fraud without giving any prior notice or communication to the account holder against the principles of natural justice. Their lawyers told the court that several similar petitions against the circular have been filed since 2019 and the petitioners in those matters have been protected by the high court.

In view of the orders passed earlier by the high court in similar matters, Justice Jalan directed State Bank of India to “maintain status quo till next date of hearing” with regard to the accounts of the three companies.

The court further said that the respondents, including RBI and the three companies, were at liberty

Nykaa E-Retail Pvt is planning an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as this year that could value the Indian online cosmetic retailer at a minimum $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The start-up founded by Falguni Nayar, a former investment banker, is working with advisors to prepare for the share sale in Mumbai, the people said. Nykaa is leaning toward a domestic listing, though an overseas share sale is also under consideration, said the people, who asked not to be named as the information is private.

Deliberations are ongoing and details of the offering including the size and timeline could change, the people said. A representative for Nykaa declined to comment.

Founded in 2012, Nykaa’s platform lists more than 1,200 brands ranging from makeup, skincare to health supplements and hair dryers, according to its website, which logs 55 million monthly visits. It has six warehouses across India and receives over 13 million orders each month.

The firm was preparing for an IPO in two years, its founder and Chief Executive Officer Nayar told local news agency PTI in an interview in 2018.

A vaccine war has surfaced as India prepares for a massive inoculation drive to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which has killed more than 150,000 in the country. A day after two vaccines got restricted emergency use authorisation from the drug regulator, one of them — Bharat Biotech — has raised the pitch against competition. This comes in the backdrop of wide criticism against the approval granted to Bharat Biotech, which is yet to complete its phase three trial and present efficacy data.

At a hurriedly called virtual press conference, Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director of Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, on Monday raised questions over the approval given to Pune-headquartered Serum Institute of India (SII) for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Serum was the other company besides Bharat Biotech to get nod from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on Sunday for Covid-19 vaccine.

Expressing confidence in his vaccine candidate Covaxin, Ella hit out at the trial done by AstraZeneca-Oxford, with which Serum Institute has a partnership for manufacturing the vaccine. He said if his firm had done a vaccine trial like AstraZeneca, the Indian regulator would have “shut down the company’’. He was

The government is planning to sell 10 per cent stake in Rashtriya Chemical and Fertilizers Ltd (RCFL) and invited bids from merchant banker and legal firms for managing the share sale process.

Interested merchant bankers and legal advisors will have to be submit their bids by January 28 and January 29, respectively, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said in a notice.

The government holds 75 per cent stake in RCFL and intends to disinvest 10 per cent of the paid up equity capital through an offer for sale (OFS).

The merchant banker would be required to advise the government on the timing and the modalities of the OFS, esure best return from the government and assist in securing approval and exemptions, wherever necessary, from regulatory agencies.

The government will select and appoint two merchant bankers for managing the share sale process.

Shares of RCF closed at Rs 54 apiece on Friday. At the current market price, the 10 per cent stake sale would fetch about Rs 300 crore to the exchequer.

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