For big tech, all roads to India's digital space seem to go through Ambani

 Big Tech is clamoring for a bigger piece of India’s booming internet space, but that increasingly seems to mean going through the country’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani.

Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. is said to be offering to sell a stake of about $20 billion in its retail business to Amazon.com Inc., Bloomberg News reported this week. If Ambani succeeds in pulling off such a deal, it would mark another victory for the billionaire, who in recent months has secured $20 billion of investment in his digital unit from marquee names including Facebook Inc. and Google Inc.

The mere possibility of an Amazon investment reveals not only Ambani’s market clout, but also how India’s business climate is changing as Prime Minister Narendra Modi cranks up nationalist rhetoric while the nation hurtles toward the first annual economic contraction in 40 years. Having seen multiple regulatory roadblocks thrown in their way, a tie-up with a powerful Indian ally has never looked more crucial for the world’s biggest internet companies. And no business person carries more heft in India — known for its complicated bureaucracy and red tape — than Ambani.

Better to Cooperate

“I suspect the government somewhere is signalling that it’s better for multinational companies to come in with some Indian partner,” said Arun Kumar, an economist and the Malcolm Adiseshiah Chair at the Institute of Social Sciences. “So Amazon might decide it’s better to cooperate with Reliance than compete against it.”

The 63-year-old Indian tycoon has identified technology and retail as future growth areas in a pivot away from the energy businesses he inherited from his father who died in 2002. Retail is the next frontier for Ambani, whose ambitions include creating a home-grown e-commerce giant like China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

ALSO READ: Mukesh Ambani's $2 chutzpah unlocks another fortune for Reliance Industries

Silicon Valley’s ambitions in the country represent a threat to Ambani’s ability to achieve such dominance in his home market, but winning their cooperation, with all the know-how and global reach it brings, could help him achieve it faster. That aligns with the emphasis Modi has been placing on developing India’s local economy.

‘Life’s Mantra’

In one 33-minute address to the nation recently, Modi used the word ‘self-reliance’ 17 times. “The corona crisis has taught us the value of local manufacturing, local markets and local supply chains,” Modi went on to say. “Local is not only our need it is also our responsibility. Time has taught us that we will simply have to make ‘local’ our life’s mantra.”

Even so, India is increasingly important to Silicon Valley because it’s a one billion-plus person market that’s still largely untapped. China is dominated by homegrown e-commerce players and largely shuts out global tech companies, while established markets in the West offer limited growth opportunities.

Though Amazon is already India’s largest e-commerce player, it’s ability to compete with domestic firms was hamstrung by an abrupt rule change in 2018 that limited foreign players to operating as e-Bay style marketplaces, rather than selling their own stock.

ALSO READ: Can Reliance Industries' stock hit Rs 3,000 mark? Here's what charts say

Entering E-Commerce

Not long after, Ambani announced that his own sprawling conglomerate, Reliance Industries, would make an entry into e-commerce, leveraging its control of both India’s largest mobile carrier and biggest network of brick-and-mortar stores.

In response, Amazon tried to bolster its presence on the ground with an investment in India’s second biggest physical retailer, cash-strapped Future Group. But the rules restricting foreign ownership in that sector meant its investment was too little to halt Future Group’s slide into financial distress.

Last month, it was Ambani who was waiting to snap up the majority of the company’s operations for $3.4 billion. Faced with a regulatory disadvantage and a competitor only seeming to grow stronger, it’s not hard to see why Amazon might be tempted to make a peace offering now.

“Reliance has brick and mortar, logistics, warehousing, and now online build out with its recent deals,” said Chakri Lokapriya, chief investment officer at TCG Asset Management in Mumbai. “It will take years of operational infrastructure for Amazon or other multinational companies to recreate that, and hence Reliance Industries is the preferred partner choice for their entry into India.”

Regulatory Limbo

Facebook may have made a similar calculation. Its plans to turn its wildly popular WhatsApp messaging platform into a nationwide payments system have been stuck in Indian regulatory limbo for more than two years now.

Meanwhile, Reliance is pushing ahead with its own payment system, with its almost 400 million mobile subscribers as a built-in user base. But since their deal, Facebook and Reliance have announced that WhatsApp will at least be the main platform for Ambani’s online grocery store, his flagship e-commerce offering, ensuring the social networking giant has a toehold in the Indian e-commerce market it covets.

Google, meanwhile, has announced plans to roll out a low-cost phone with Ambani which will run on its Android operating system. Previously Ambani had been selling his own low cost phones, which ran on a different operating system. Google, like Facebook, may have decided it was better to work with Ambani than against him. Amazon may wind up doing the same.

“Business in India is taking the monopolistic approach,” said Mathew Antony, managing partner of Aditya Consulting, a boutique legal advisory firm in Mumbai. ”It is increasingly becoming evident with the Facebook and similar investment deals that the large foreign business investments into the country is by default having a first right of refusal at the Reliance doors.”

Mukesh Ambani's $2 chutzpah unlocks another fortune for Reliance Industries

 Mukesh Ambani has joined the league of world’s richest with the help of a simple formula: assembling admirers for $2 businesses. First he got Facebook Inc. and Google to back his fledgling digital ambitions, and now he may be trying to entice Amazon.com Inc. into his retail venture, already India’s largest.

In four years, the Indian billionaire has amassed roughly 400 million customers for his mobile data business. What does Ambani eke out from each of them? Less than $2 a month. The chump change didn’t deter Facebook and Google’s parent, Alphabet Inc. Together with marquee private equity investors and sovereign wealth funds, Silicon Valley tech titans made a beeline recently to invest in Ambani’s Jio Platforms Ltd., valuing it at about $65 billion.

That $20 billion fund-raising spree has already met the refining and petrochemicals czar’s goal of making his flagship Reliance Industries Ltd. net-debt-free, giving it enviable financial strength just as the coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll on most other balance sheets. The tycoon wants a repeat performance for another $2 business in his stable: retail.

He has offered a 40% stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. to Amazon, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. It’s unclear if Jeff Bezos will bite. But others have. Menlo Park, California-based Silver Lake Partners, which bought a stake in Jio, has written a $1 billion check for 1.75%. Another Jio investor, KKR & Co., is also probably coming on board.

ALSO READ: Reliance to offer $20-bn stake in retail business to Amazon: Report

To see how the excitement is rising once again over a princely $2, consider Reliance’s 30 million square feet of retail space. Each square foot, analysts expect, will garner $2 a day by 2022. On an operating margin of 7%, that translates to $1.5 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. All Ambani had to do was to convince Silver Lake that this Ebitda is worth 38 times today. And with that, he unlocked the gates to a $57 billion enterprise.

If the Facebook deal for Jio is any guide, Amazon as a strategic partner might get its 40% for a small discount to what Silver Lake paid, though the reported $20 billion price tag is still formidable. Excluding his $38 billion divorce settlement, Bezos hasn’t done a transaction as large as this. There’s another wrinkle. Amazon India, in which he has already committed billions of dollars, competes with Reliance Retail’s physical stores — as well as with Ambani’s version of “phy-gital” retail.

But on his own, Bezos must fight with one hand tied behind his back. Foreign-owned e-commerce sites, such as his or Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart, must operate as pure marketplaces for third-party sellers. The law against owning inventory has become stricter, with discounts triggering allegations of favoring connected parties. India’s competition commission received a fresh such complaint from a group of Amazon vendors recently. Being an Indian company, no such restrictions apply to Reliance’s grocery stores, supermarkets, or JioMart, Ambani’s vision of virtually connecting 30 million neighborhood shops with his telecom customers.

ALSO READ: Reliance Industries hits record high; m-cap crosses Rs 15 trillion mark

Although still untested, the latter is his edge. The bulk of the 20-fold growth that India’s online grocery sales might witness over the next five years may go to the Jio-Facebook partnership, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates. The advantage for Ambani could also carry over to higher-margin items, the same way as Costco Wholesale Corp.’s popular $4.99 rotisserie chicken helps the American retailer sell a little more of everything from apparel to flat-screen TVs.

Covid-19 has been a shot in the arm for Reliance, despite retail Ebitda of only $145 million in the June quarter, a 47% drop from last year. The carnage from a nationwide lockdown allowed it to swoop on debt-strapped rival Future Group’s retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing units, acquiring the lot for just $3.4 billion. More importantly, the prospect of getting stuck with sub-5% growth in the post-pandemic economy is making Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government reliant on an increasingly small number of domestic groups to pull India out of its tight spot.

Unlike China, India’s billion-plus consumer market has been open to U.S. tech firms. But when Ambani requested Modi last year to end “data colonization” by global corporations, it became clear that a shift was coming. Any remaining doubts have been removed by the post-Covid surge of economic nationalism.

Where does that leave Silicon Valley and Wall Street? With U.S.-China relations deteriorating — most recently over the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy — both need an alternative. In a billion-plus consumer market, even a $2 business holds the promise of future riches, and Reliance is demonstrating that it has more than one such opportunity. To get into bed with Facebook, Google, and possibly even Amazon at the same time takes some chutzpah, though. Chalk it up to Ambani’s dominance of the market.

$717-mn loan case: China banks will have to move Indian courts against ADAG

Anil Ambani, chairman of the ADA group, can challenge the order by the Commercial Division of the High Court of England and Wales, London, which said a personal guarantee disputed by Ambani is binding on him, say corporate lawyers.
At the same time, Chinese banks will have to move Indian courts to enforce the order in India, they said. The British court on Friday asked Ambani to pay nearly $717 million to three Chinese banks within 21 days. The banks are pursuing the recovery of funds as part of a loan agreement with Reliance Communications.

The ADA group has said Ambani is seeking legal advice and the UK court order will have no bearing on the operations of its other group companies: Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Power, and Reliance Capital.
Corporate lawyers said Ambani could challenge the UK court order on grounds of “conclusiveness” under Section 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
“Before enforcing a foreign judgment or decree, the party enforcing it must ensure that the foreign judgment or decree passes the tests mentioned in the CPC. If the foreign judgment or decree fails any of these tests, it will not be regarded as conclusive and hence not enforceable in India,” said Rajiv Bansal, Senior Advocate.
Bansal said according to Section 44A of the CPC, a decree of any superior court of a reciprocating territory shall be executed in India as a decree passed by the Indian district court. “A judgment from a court of a reciprocating territory can be directly enforced in India by filing an execution application. While filing the execution application, the original certified copy of the decree along with a certificate from the superior court stating the extent to which the decree has been satisfied or adjusted, has to be annexed to the application,” he said.
Other top lawyers said India and England are reciprocating countries which means that judgments will be enforced in India as if they were judgments of an Indian court. “Therefore, the Indian court will not reconsider the arguments but only execute the judgment. At that stage Ambani has a very limited number of arguments such as fraud for instance and it is unlikely that these will be given much credence unless there is some substance to the arguments,” said a Mumbai based lawyer asking not to be quoted.
Besides, the lawyer said any court judgment has to be enforced as a decree. It may be enforced against any of Ambani’s assets outside India or against assets in India. In the latter case, an Indian court process has to be followed, he said.
The dispute between Reliance Communications (RCom) and Chinese banks led by ICBC started after RCom defaulted on its loans to Indian as well as Chinese banks. Chinese banks claim that Ambani had given personal guarantee for a corporate loan availed by RCom in 2012 for global refinancing.
The ADA officials said Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and others made their claim based on an alleged guarantee that was never signed by Ambani and he has consistently denied having authorised anyone to execute any guarantee on his behalf.
The amount ordered to be paid based on the alleged guarantee will in any case reduce upon the resolution of RCom’s debt in accordance with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The amount claimed under the alleged guarantee would reduce by up to 50 per cent according to the resolution plan of RCom’s debt, which has been approved its lenders and has already been filed in the National Company Law Tribunal on March 6.
As far as the judgment of the UK Court is concerned, the question of any enforcement in India does not arise in the near future, and Ambani is seeking legal advice on the future course of action.
According to the UK Court Order, the final amount owed under the alleged guarantee will be assessed based on the outcome of the RCom resolution plan filed before the National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai, ADA officials said.

IPL 2020 auction ends: Check out full list of players bought by the 8 teams

Mumbai Indians (MI) owner Akash Ambani(L) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) coach Stephen Fleming at an interaction with media during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 player auction, in Kolkata. Photo: PTI
Australia cricket team pace spearhead Pat Cummins became the most expensive foreign player in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL) as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bagged him for a whopping Rs 15.5 crore in IPL 2020 auction held in Kolkata on Thursday.

Cummins' bidding price went past England all-rounder Ben Stokes' previous record auction bid of Rs 14.5 crore, made at the IPL 2017 auctions.
ALSO READ: IPL 2020 auction: Kohli to Smith, best-paid Indian Premier League players

The Australian pacer also became the second-most-expensive player in the history of IPL auctions, next only to Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who had been signed by the Delhi franchise (then Delhi Daredevils, now Delhi Capitals) for Rs 16 crore in the 2015 season.

Initially, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals were locked in a bidding war for Cummins, who had a base price of Rs 2 crore. The bid swiftly soared past Rs 5 crore, with RCB briefly in the lead at Rs 5.25 crore. Cummins eventually returned to KKR for a jaw-dropping Rs 15.5 crore.

The 26-year-old, who has played 25 T20Is for Australia, had so far appeared in 16 IPL matches for Delhi and scalped 17 wickets in them.

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who had a base price of Rs 2 crore, was bought by Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) after a fierce bidding war with Delhi capitals for Rs 10.75 crore. Chris Morris, the third-most-expensive, was grabbed for Rs 10 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

England all-rounder Sam Curran, who played for Kings XI last season, went to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for Rs 5.50 crore. Yusuf Pathan, Stuart Binny, Martin Guptill, Carlos Brathwaite and Colin Munro were among the prominent names that went unsold. England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan and Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch were snapped by KKR and RCB, respectively, for Rs 5.25 crore and Rs 4.40 crore.
Here is the full list of players sold in IPL players' auction for the 2020 edition:
Dale Steyn: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 2 cr

Andrew Tye: Bought by RR at his base price of Rs 1 cr

Isuru Udana: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 50 lakh

Tom Curran: Bought by RR at his base price of Rs 1 cr

Nikhil Nayak: Bought by KKR at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Shahbaz Ahmad: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Lalit Yadav: Bought by DC at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Mohsin Khan: Bought by MI at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Mohit Sharma: Bought by DC at his base price of Rs 50 lakh

Pavan Deshpande: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Prabhsimran Singh: Bought by KXIP for RS 55 lakh

Tushar Deshpande: Bought by DC at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

R Sai Kishore: Bought by CSK at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Marcus Stoinis: Bought by DC for Rs 4.80 cr

Chris Green: Bought by KKR Rs 20 lakh

Joshua Philippe: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Tom Banton: Bought by KKR at his base price of Rs 1 cr

Fabian Allen: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 50 lakh

Chris Jordan: Bought by KXIP for Rs 3 cr

Kane Richardson: Bought by RCB for Rs 4 cr

Oshane Thomas: Bought by RR at his base price of Rs 50 lakh

Pravin Tambe: Bought by KKR at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Tajinder Dhillon: Bought by KXIP at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Abdul Samad: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Anirudha Joshi: Bought by RR at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Digvijay Deshmukh: Bought by MI at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Prince Balwant Rai Singh: Bought by MI at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Sanjay Yadav: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Sandeep Bhavanaka: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Shimron Hetmyer: Bought by DC for Rs 7.75 cr
David Miller: Bought by RR at the base price of Rs 75 lakh
Saurabh Tiwary: Bought by MI at the base price of Rs 50 lakh
Mitchell Marsh: Bought by SRH at the base price of Rs 2 crore
James Neesham: Bought by KXIP at the base price of Rs 50 lakh
Josh Hazlewood: Bought by CSK at the base price of Rs 2 crore
Rahul Tripathi (uncapped): Bought by KKR for Rs 60 lakh
Virat Singh (uncapped): Bought by SRH for Rs 1.9 cr
Priyam Garg (uncapped): Bought by SRH for Rs 1.9 cr
Deepak Hooda (uncapped): Bought by KXIP for Rs 50 lakh
Varun Chakravarthy (uncapped): Bought by KKR for Rs 4 cr
Yashasvi Jaiswal (uncapped): Bought by RR for Rs 2.4 cr
Anuj Rawat (uncapped): Bought by RR for Rs 80 lakh
Akash Singh (uncapped): Bought by RR at the base price of Rs 20 lakh
Kartik Tyagi (uncapped): Bought by RR for Rs 1.3 cr
Ishan Porel (uncapped): Bought by KXIP at the base price of Rs 20 lakh
M Siddharth (uncapped): Bought by KKR at the base price of Rs 20 lakh
Ravi Bishnoi (uncapped): Bought by KXIP for Rs 2 cr
Pat Cummins: Most expensive so far: Bought by KKR for Rs 15.5 cr
Glenn Maxwell: Bought by KXIP for Rs 10.75 cr
Aaron Finch: Bought by RCB for Rs 4.4 cr
Jason Roy: Bought by DC at base price of Rs 1.5 cr
Eoin Morgan: Bought by KKR for Rs 5.25 cr
Chris Lynn: Bought by MI at base price of Rs 2 cr
Sam Curran: Bought by CSK for Rs 5.5 cr
Chris Morris: Bought by RCB for Rs 10 cr
Robin Uthappa: Bought by RR for Rs 3 cr
Chris Woakes: Bought by DC at base price of Rs 1.5 cr
Alex Carey: Bought by DC for Rs 2.4 cr
Jaydev Unadkat: Bought by RR for Rs 3 cr
Nathan Coulter-Nile: Bought by MI for Rs 8 cr
Sheldon Cottrell: Bought by KXIP for Rs 8.5 cr
Piyush Chawla: Bought by CSK for Rs 6.75 cr

This is how the remaining individual purse of the eight teams looks after the auction:

Teams Remaining purse Overseas players Total players
KXIP Rs 16.50 cr 8 25
RR Rs 14.75 cr 8 25
DC Rs 9 cr 8 22
SRH Rs 10.10 cr 8 25
KKR Rs 8.50 cr 8 23
RCB Rs 6.40 cr 8 21
MI Rs 1.95 cr 8 24
CSK Rs 0.15 cr 8 24
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08:57 PM
Full list of players sold in IPL 2020 auction
Dale Steyn: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 2 cr

Andrew Tye: Bought by RR at his base price of Rs 1 cr

Isuru Udana: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 50 lakh

Tom Curran: Bought by RR at his base price of Rs 1 cr

Nikhil Nayak: Bought by KKR at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Shahbaz Ahmad: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Lalit Yadav: Bought by DC at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Mohit Sharma: Bought by DC at his base price of Rs 50 lakh
Mohsin Khan: Bought by MI at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Pavan Deshpande: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Prabhsimran Singh: Bought by KXIP for RS 55 lakh

Tushar Deshpande: Bought by DC at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

R Sai Kishore: Bought by CSK at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Marcus Stoinis: Bought by DC for Rs 4.80 cr

Chris Green: Bought by KKR Rs 20 lakh

Joshua Philippe: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Tom Banton: Bought by KKR at his base price of Rs 1 cr

Fabian Allen: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 50 lakh

Chris Jordan: Bought by KXIP for Rs 3 cr

Kane Richardson: Bought by RCB for Rs 4 cr

Oshane Thomas: Bought by RR at his base price of Rs 50 lakh

Pravin Tambe: Bought by KKR at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Tajinder Dhillon: Bought by KXIP at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Abdul Samad: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Anirudha Joshi: Bought by RR at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Digvijay Deshmukh: Bought by MI at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Prince Balwant Rai Singh: Bought by MI at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Sanjay Yadav: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Sandeep Bhavanaka: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Shimron Hetmyer: Bought by DC for Rs 7.75 cr
David Miller: Bought by RR at the base price of Rs 75 lakh
Saurabh Tiwary: Bought by MI at the base price of Rs 50 lakh
Mitchell Marsh: Bought by SRH at the base price of Rs 2 crore
James Neesham: Bought by KXIP at the base price of Rs 50 lakh
Josh Hazlewood: Bought by CSK at the base price of Rs 2 crore
Rahul Tripathi (uncapped): Bought by KKR for Rs 60 lakh
Virat Singh (uncapped): Bought by SRH for Rs 1.9 cr
Priyam Garg (uncapped): Bought by SRH for Rs 1.9 cr
Deepak Hooda (uncapped): Bought by KXIP for Rs 50 lakh
Varun Chakravarthy (uncapped): Bought by KKR for Rs 4 cr
Yashasvi Jaiswal (uncapped): Bought by RR for Rs 2.4 cr
Anuj Rawat (uncapped): Bought by RR for Rs 80 lakh
Akash Singh (uncapped): Bought by RR at the base price of Rs 20 lakh
Kartik Tyagi (uncapped): Bought by RR for Rs 1.3 cr
Ishan Porel (uncapped): Bought by KXIP at the base price of Rs 20 lakh
M Siddharth (uncapped): Bought by KKR at the base price of Rs 20 lakh
Ravi Bishnoi (uncapped): Bought by KXIP for Rs 2 cr
Pat Cummins: Most expensive so far: Bought by KKR for Rs 15.5 cr
Glenn Maxwell: Bought by KXIP for Rs 10.75 cr
Aaron Finch: Bought by RCB for Rs 4.4 cr
Jason Roy: Bought by DC at base price of Rs 1.5 cr
Eoin Morgan: Bought by KKR for Rs 5.25 cr
Chris Lynn: Bought by MI at base price of Rs 2 cr
Sam Curran: Bought by CSK for Rs 5.5 cr
Chris Morris: Bought by RCB for Rs 10 cr
Robin Uthappa: Bought by RR for Rs 3 cr
Chris Woakes: Bought by DC at base price of Rs 1.5 cr
Alex Carey: Bought by DC for Rs 2.4 cr
Jaydev Unadkat: Bought by RR for Rs 3 cr
Nathan Coulter-Nile: Bought by MI for Rs 8 cr
Sheldon Cottrell: Bought by KXIP for Rs 8.5 cr
Piyush Chawla: Bought by CSK for Rs 6.75 cr
08:49 PM
Vinay Kumar goes unsold at his base price of Rs 1 cr
08:49 PM
Vinay Kumar base price: Rs 1 cr
08:48 PM
Isuru Udana goes to RCB for Rs 50 lakh (base price)
08:47 PM
Tom Curran goes to RR at his base price of Rs 1 cr
08:47 PM
Nikhil Naik sold to KKR in third attempt for Rs 20 lakh
08:46 PM
Shahbaz Ahmad sold to RCB at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
08:46 PM
DC take Lalit Yadav for Rs 20 lakh
08:46 PM
Andrew Tye of Australia goes to RR for Rs 1 cr
08:44 PM
IPL 2020 auction: Full list of players sold so far
Mohit Sharma: Bought by DC at his base price of Rs 50 lakh
Pavan Deshpande: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Prabhsimran Singh: Bought by KXIP for RS 55 lakh
Tushar Deshpande: Bought by DC at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Sandeep Bavanaka: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
R Sai Kishore: Bought by CSK at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Marcus Stoinis: Bought by DC for Rs 4.80 cr
Chris Green: Bought by KKR Rs 20 lakh
Joshua Philippe: Bought by RCB at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Tom Banton: Bought by KKR at his base price of Rs 1 cr
Fabian Allen: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 50 lakh
Chris Jordan: Bought by KXIP for Rs 3 cr
Kane Richardson: Bought by RCB for Rs 4 cr
Oshane Thomas: Bought by RR at his base price of Rs 50 lakh
Pravin Tambe: Bought by KKR at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Tajinder Dhillon: Bought by KXIP at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Abdul Samad: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Anirudha Joshi: Bought by RR at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Digvijay Deshmukh: Bought by MI at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Prince Balwant Rai Singh: Bought by MI at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Sanjay Yadav: Bought by SRH at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
Shimron Hetmyer: Bought by DC for Rs 7.75 cr
David Miller: Bought by RR at the base price of Rs 75 lakh
Saurabh Tiwary: Bought by MI at the base price of Rs 50 lakh
Mitchell Marsh: Bought by SRH at the base price of Rs 2 crore
James Neesham: Bought by KXIP at the base price of Rs 50 lakh
Josh Hazlewood: Bought by CSK at the base price of Rs 2 crore
Rahul Tripathi (uncapped): Bought by KKR for Rs 60 lakh
Virat Singh (uncapped): Bought by SRH for Rs 1.9 cr
Priyam Garg (uncapped): Bought by SRH for Rs 1.9 cr
Deepak Hooda (uncapped): Bought by KXIP for Rs 50 lakh
Varun Chakravarthy (uncapped): Bought by KKR for Rs 4 cr
Yashasvi Jaiswal (uncapped): Bought by RR for Rs 2.4 cr
Anuj Rawat (uncapped): Bought by RR for Rs 80 lakh
Akash Singh (uncapped): Bought by RR at the base price of Rs 20 lakh
Kartik Tyagi (uncapped): Bought by RR for Rs 1.3 cr
Ishan Porel (uncapped): Bought by KXIP at the base price of Rs 20 lakh
M Siddharth (uncapped): Bought by KKR at the base price of Rs 20 lakh
Ravi Bishnoi (uncapped): Bought by KXIP for Rs 2 cr
Pat Cummins: Most expensive so far: Bought by KKR for Rs 15.5 cr
Glenn Maxwell: Bought by KXIP for Rs 10.75 cr
Aaron Finch: Bought by RCB for Rs 4.4 cr
Jason Roy: Bought by DC at base price of Rs 1.5 cr
Eoin Morgan: Bought by KKR for Rs 5.25 cr
Chris Lynn: Bought by MI at base price of Rs 2 cr
Sam Curran: Bought by CSK for Rs 5.5 cr
Chris Morris: Bought by RCB for Rs 10 cr
Robin Uthappa: Bought by RR for Rs 3 cr
Chris Woakes: Bought by DC at base price of Rs 1.5 cr
Alex Carey: Bought by DC for Rs 2.4 cr
Jaydev Unadkat: Bought by RR for Rs 3 cr
Nathan Coulter-Nile: Bought by MI for Rs 8 cr
Sheldon Cottrell: Bought by KXIP for Rs 8.5 cr
Piyush Chawla: Bought by CSK for Rs 6.75 cr
08:27 PM
Mark Wood of England again goes unsold at his base price of Rs 50 lakh
08:26 PM
Delhi Capitals buy Marcus Stoinis for Rs 4.8 cr
08:26 PM
Stoinis bids: DC call Rs 4.8 cr
08:25 PM
Stoinis bids: DC call Rs 4 cr
08:25 PM
Stoinis bids: RR call Rs 3.4 cr
08:24 PM
Stoinis bids: DC call Rs 2.8 cr
08:24 PM
Stoinis bids: RR call Rs 2.6 cr
08:24 PM
Stoinis bids: DC call Rs 2.4 cr
08:23 PM
Stoinis bids: DC call Rs 2 cr
08:23 PM
Stoinis bids: RR call Rs 1.7 cr
08:23 PM
Marcus Stoinis of Australia gets bids from DC and RR the second time around
08:22 PM
Colin Munro again gets no takers at Rs 1 cr base price
08:21 PM
Ben Cutting again fails to get bids at his base price of Rs 75 lakh
08:21 PM
R Sai Kishore sold to CSK at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
08:21 PM
R Sai Kishore sold to CSK at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
08:20 PM
Tushar Deshpande sold to DC at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
08:20 PM
KXIP take Prabhsimran Singh for Rs 55 lakh
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Prabhsimran Singh gets bids the second time around from KXIP and DC
08:19 PM
K S Bharat again unsold at his base price of Rs 20 lakh
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Daniel Shams again fails to get bids at his base price of Rs 20 lakh

Rising user base adds colour to Jio Q2 show; net profit up 45% to Rs 990 cr

The Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio’s reported numbers for the September quarter largely in line with Street estimates. Revenues for the quarter rose 33.7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 12,354 crore.
This was led by a 41 per cent growth in subscribers to 355 million. The pressure on customer realisation — measured by average revenue per user (ARPU) — however, continued. The metric came in at Rs 120, compared to Rs 121, as estimated by analysts. Profit before tax jumped 45 per cent over the year-ago quarter, to Rs 1,540 crore.
Ebidta for the quarter was up 44.6 per cent to Rs 5,166 crore, while Ebidta margins were up over 315 basis points over the year-ago quarter. While most of the costs were broadly in line with what brokerages had estimated, interconnect usage charge (IUC) reduced 37 per cent YoY (23 per cent sequentially) to Rs 654 crore supported by the rising market share of Jio which meant lower outgoing IUC.
ALSO READ: Jio says rivals fraudulently claiming IUC; asks Trai to slap penalties

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The fall was much sharper than analyst estimates, which had pegged it at Rs 851 crore — closer to the June quarter number. "This Rs 652 crore is without the impact of 6 paise (introduced in Q3). It has been decreasing, we are getting bigger, and customers have been on our network for a longer time," said Anshuman Thakur, head (strategy), Jio. The IUC charge will show on the Ebitda next quarter onwards. Strong revenue growth, and lower-than-expected expenses helped the bottom line, which rose 45.4 per cent YoY (11 per cent sequentially) to Rs 990 crore. This was the eighth consecutive profitable quarter for Jio.
Customer engagement improved with higher data usage of 11.7 GB per user a month, compared to 11.4 GB in Q1, the company said. However, on account of seasonality, voice usage per user a month fell to 789 minutes, against 821 minutes in Q1. While ARPU fell more than expected (down 9 per cent YoY and 1.7 per cent sequentially), the management is not very concerned, given the focus remains on market share.
“We are much more focused on creating the digital ecosystem, which means getting more and more customers onto the network,” said Thakur. Jio indicated that gross debt stood at Rs 84,000 crore. The high debt led to a more-than-expected 88 per cent rise in interest costs YoY to Rs 1,871 crore, during the quarter.

JioFiber: Ambani bets on free TVs as he takes on Netflix, Amazon, telcos

Three years after elbowing into the Indian wireless phone market with free calls and data, billionaire Mukesh Ambani is back at it.
This time, Asia's richest man is handing out TVs to hook users on movies and entertainment shows via internet. The tycoon is wedging into a business teeming with players from rival mobile carriers to Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
Ambani's JioFiber broadband service, scheduled to start Thursday across India, comes with a high-definition television and set-top boxes at no charge for annual lifetime subscribers. The offer by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the tycoon's wireless powerhouse, includes subscriptions to most premium streaming services with prices starting from Rs 700 (about $10) a month.
The fiber-TV salvo comes days after Jio formally swept into the No. 1 spot for wireless services after free calls and cheap data lured hundreds of millions of subscribers and left rivals Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd struggling under mounting debt. Airtel, backed by tycoon Sunil Mittal, and billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla's Idea are also trying to lure users by offering access to TV and movie content.
ALSO READ: Jio Fibre launch today: From offers to registration, all you need to know
Telecom carriers around the world are adding entertainment content to their offerings as a way to compete for users and add revenue, especially in markets where the number of mobile subscriptions has reached saturation. In India, video-on-demand growth itself is explosive, according to researcher Boston Consulting Group.
The market could leap to $5 billion by 2023 from $500 million last year, BCG estimates. The boom has set Bollywood production houses, carriers and streaming services racing to feed demand for TV shows and movies and compete for users. Paying subscribers will probably rise to as many as 50 million, while users of advertising-supported video-on-demand will reach 600 million, BCG predicts.
To gain the upper hand in the streaming business against well-funded competitors like Netflix, Amazon.com and Walt Disney Co's Hotstar, Jio will need to go beyond just offering cheaper access via bundled services, said Shailesh Kapoor, founder and chief executive officer at Mumbai-based consultancy Ormax Media Pvt.

ALSO READ: Reliance Jio to provide free set-top-box with every broadband connection
So far, the telecommunications company has relied on alliances with TV and film producers to provide content for its service bundles. JioFiber will also include movies that can be seen by subscribers on the same day they debut in cinemas, Ambani said in a speech laying out the plan on August 12. That part of the service won't start until the middle of next year, he said.
Own content
JioFiber, which Ambani said is being offered at "less than one-tenth the global rates," can also disrupt the streaming market if Jio produces its own content and signs up the best talent for that, Kapoor said.
Airtel, the brand name for Mittal's carrier, may take the most direct competitive hit from JioFiber because, along with content bundles for its mobile services, it is one of the country's largest TV service providers. The company's digital TV segment accounted for about 12% of earnings for the year ended March, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
In a possible attempt to get ahead of JioFiber's formal introduction, Airtel on Tuesday unveiled upgraded versions of its set-top box and the Airtel Xstream Stick, a USB device that allows an ordinary television to access OTT applications like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube, along with Airtel's other content offerings.
ALSO READ: India's server market to get Reliance Jio push; IDC expects 20% growth
Satellite providers such as Tata Sky Ltd and Dish TV India Ltd as well as cinema chains also face competition from Jio, which will offer fiber TV in bundles with its mobile services and free landline calling.
Shares of Dish TV fell 1% in early Mumbai trading Thursday, extending their decline to 12% since Ambani unveiled the plans. That compares with a 2.1% decline in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index. INOX Leisure Ltd, a movie-hall chain, has slid 11% in the period.

Mukesh Ambani caps his annual salary at Rs 15 cr for eleventh year in a row

Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani has kept his annual salary from his flagship firm Reliance Industries capped at Rs 15 crore for the eleventh year on the trot.
Ambani has kept salary, perquisites, allowances and commission together at Rs 15 crore since 2008-09, forgoing over Rs 24 crore per annum.

This is at a time when remunerations of all whole-time directors of the company, including cousins Nikhil and Hital Meswani, saw a handsome increase in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019.
"Compensation of Shri Mukesh D Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, has been set at Rs 15 crore, reflecting his desire to continue to set a personal example for moderation in managerial compensation levels," RIL said in its latest annual report.
His remuneration for 2018-19 included Rs 4.45 crore as salary and allowances, which is marginally lower than Rs 4.49 crore he got in the previous 2017-18 fiscal.
Commission has been unchanged at Rs 9.53 crore while perquisites have risen to Rs 31 lakh from Rs 27 lakh. Retirement benefits were Rs 71 lakh.
Ambani voluntarily capped his compensation at Rs 15 crore in October 2009 amid a debate over right-sizing of CEO salaries. The salary cap continued even as all other executive directors saw their remunerations go up.
Ambani's cousins Nikhil R Meswani and Hital R Meswani saw their compensation rise to Rs 20.57 crore each. They earned Rs 19.99 crore each in 2017-18 and Rs 16.58 crore in 2016-17. In 2015-16, Nikhil had got Rs 14.42 crore while Hital took home Rs 14.41 crore. In 2014-15, they had got Rs 12.03 crore each.
Also, one of his key executives, Executive Director P M S Prasad saw his remuneration go up to Rs 10.01 crore from Rs 8.99 crore in the previous year. He too has seen his remuneration rise steadily -- from Rs 6.03 crore in 2014-15, to Rs 7.23 crore in the next fiscal and Rs 7.87 crore in 2016-17.
Refinery chief Pawan Kumar Kapil saw his compensation rise to Rs 4.17 crore from Rs 3.47 crore in 2017-18. In the previous fiscal, his remuneration had fallen to Rs 2.54 crore, from Rs 2.94 crore in 2015-16. He had earned Rs 2.41 crore in 2014-15. The two however did not get any commission in 2018-19.
"Performance criteria for two Executive Directors, entitled for Performance Linked Incentive (PLI), are determined by the Human Resources, Nomination and Remuneration Committee," RIL said in the annual report.
RIL's non-executive directors, including Nita Ambani, also got Rs 1.65 crore each as commission, besides sitting fees. The commission was Rs 1.5 crore in 2017-18 and Rs 1.3 crore in the previous year.
Former State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya got only Rs 75 lakh as commission as she was appointed to the board of RIL only with effect from October 17, 2018.
Ambani's wife Nita Ambani, a non-executive director on the company's board, earned Rs 7 lakh as sitting fee, up from Rs 6 lakh in the previous year.
Apart from Ambani, the RIL board has Meswani brothers, Prasad and Kapil as wholetime directors.
Besides Nita Ambani, other non-executive directors include Mansingh L Bhakta, Yogendra P Trivedi, Dipak C Jain, Raghunath A Mashelkar, Adil Zainulbhai, Raminder Singh Gujral, Shumeet Banerji and Aruundhati Bhattacharya.

RPower posts March quarter loss after delay, RInfra defers result yet again

For the Anil Ambani group, not just its financial stress but also delay in reporting numbers has led to a domino effect on the group companies. Reliance Power reported its March quarter results late Saturday evening after multiple delays. Group company Reliance Infrastructure has, however, postponed results announcement to June 14.
In a late evening release sent to BSE on Saturday, RPower reported a loss of Rs 3,558.51 crore for the quarter. In the same quarter a year back, the company reported a profit of Rs 189.21 crore.

A combination of impairment, higher finance costs and lower income led to a loss in the March quarter for the power company. The impairment also included a revised view on its solar and gas-based power assets.
For the March quarter, the company took an impairment of Rs 4,170.19 crore, of which Rs 1,017.02 crore was reduced through withdrawal from its general reserves. Auditors in their report stated annual losses could have been higher had the company not withdrawn proceeds from its general reserve.
The auditors also noted had such withdrawal not been made, loss before tax for the year ended March 31, 20 19 would have been higher by the same amount. For the full year, the company reported a loss of Rs 2,955.91 crore.

The company's results note added that it is permitted to offset any expense or loss which, in the opinion of the board, is beyond its control.
RPower in its result notes also added, “The figures for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 and March 31, 2018 are the balancing figures between the audited figures in respect of full financial year and the restated year to date figures up to the third quarter of the respective financial year.”
In their report, auditors also made a reference to the method of depreciation adopted. “The method of depreciation adopted by the parent company, which is different from the method adopted by its subsidiaries, is a departure from the requirements of InD-AS,” they said. The report added, had the same method been followed annual consolidated loss would be higher by Rs 501.91 crore.
Certain related party loans have also been flagged off in the auditor’s report. “The parent company has taken intercorporate deposits (ICDs) from certain companies aggregating to Rs 403.41 crore during the year ended March 31, 2019,” auditors noted. They added: “The related party relationships of such companies with the parent company have not been considered. Had they been considered, the parent company would require prior approvals of the audit committee for these transactions.”
Reliance Power announced its March results after a one-day delay from its June 7 date to report them. In its statement to BSE, the company said, “The meeting of the Audit Committee commenced on June 7 and got adjourned to June 8, 2019. Consequently, the Board Meeting of the company also stood adjourned to June 8.” The company was earlier to announce its results on May 29 and postponed it to June 7, stating indisposition of certain directors.
Results for Reliance Infrastructure, which holds a promoter share in Reliance Power, will now be announced on Friday. In a late Saturday evening BSE statement, the company said, "The Audit Committee of our company has, therefore, sought time to review and incorporate the financials of Reliance Power in our consolidated financial statements.” Reliance Infrastructure was also expected to announce results on June 7.