RERA Act comes into Force on May 1
The much-awaited Real Estate Act came into force but only in 13 states and Union Territories have so far notified rules under the Act which Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said will enable only regulation of the sector and not “strangulation”.
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act or RERA promises to bring in the much-desired transparency, accountability and efficiency in the real estate sector and the government has described the implementation of the Act as the beginning of an era where the consumer in king.
Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said, ” This is a landmark legislation becoming a reality nine years after regulation of real estate sector was first mooted in 2008″. According to him all efforts were made to delay this legislation from becoming a reality.
Tata Teleservices to merge consumer mobile business with Bharti Airtel
Tata Teleservices will merge with Bharti Airtel as the Tata group firm looks to tide over its financial woes by exiting the mobile telephony business.
The companies said the deal is on a no-debt, no-cash basis, implying Airtel is not taking over any of the about Rs 40,000 crore debt with Tata Teleservices and is neither paying any cash.
Even 70-80 per cent of the Rs 9,000-10,000 crore deferred payments for spectrum that TTSL holds, will be paid by Tatas.
The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, will see over 40 million customers of Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (TTML) joining Bharti Airtel and mark further consolidation in one of the world’s largest telecom markets.
The merger will be on a debt-free, cash-free basis and all past liabilities and dues to be settled by Tata, the companies said in a statement.
Air Deccan takes wings again, flies to Jalgaon
India’s first low-cost carrier Air Deccan, which ceased operations after being acquired by erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines in 2008, took wings again as a commuter airline on December 24, 2017 with its maiden flight taking off for Jalgaon from Mumbai.
The flight was inaugurated by Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil along with Air Deccan chairman Captain G R Gopinath.
Addressing a small function at the Jalgaon airport to mark the arrival of the first scheduled flight, Gopinath said the objective of the relaunch of Air Deccan was to realise an unfulfilled dream, and to provide connectivity to all parts of Maharashtra as well as other regions of the country.
“We plan to connect Satara, Solapur, Latur and many more cities of the state with Mumbai,” he said. In the first phase, it will operate 36 flights per week.
RCom announces debt revival plan, ropes in new investor
Crippled Reliance Communications (RCom) announced yet another debt revival plan on December 26, 2017 claiming full debt resolution by March but without involving any conversion of debt into equity and exiting the SDR framework, apart from coming on-board of a strategic investor.
But the company did not name the new investor.
Announcing the resolution plan, company Chairman Anil Ambani told reporters that the new plan has the support of a Chinese lender that had dragged it to the NCLT for dues running into $1.8 billion, and would see RCom bringing down its mountain of debt by Rs 25,000 crore.
Debt resolution involves Reliance Communications exiting SDR framework with no conversion of debt into equity and zero write-off by lenders, Ambani said, adding he expects full closure by March 2018.
He said the deal involved an eight-stage asset monetisation process under an oversight committee headed by former RBI deputy governor S S Mundra with members from Trai and the whole process will be completed in 40 days flat.
