Life is not a template and neither is mine. Like several who have worked as journalists, I am a generalist in my over two decade experience across print, global news wires and dotcom firms. But there has been one underlying theme in each phase; life gave me the chance to observe and tell a story -- from early days tracking a securities scam to terror attacks and some of India's most significant court trials. Besides writing, I have jumped fences to become an entrepreneur, as an investment advisor -- and also taught the finer aspects of business journalism to young minds. At Forbes India, I also keep an eye on some of its proprietary specials like the Rich list, GenNext and Celebrity lists. An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Communications and H.R College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, I have worked for organisations such as Agence France-Presse, Business Standard, The Financial Express and The Times of India prior to this.
GoFirst is scheduled to resume operations soon. Image: Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto via Getty Images
GoFirst creditors approve revival plan
The committee of creditors (CoC) for Go First Airlines has approved an in-principle interim funding of Rs425 crore. This gives a chance for the ailing carrier, the first in the country to voluntarily seek bankruptcy protection, to start to resume operations soon. It owes Rs6,521 crore to its financial creditors, according to its filings with the NCLT.(Economic Times, Financial Express)
Amazon, Google to expand India investments post Modi-Biden talks
Amazon.com and Google are committing to boost investments in India eyeing this key market to spur growth. Amazon plans for an additional $15 billion investment in India by 2030, which includes investments towards cloud infrastructure. Google plans to open a global financial-technology center in the Gift city of Gujarat. Already Foxconn, the maker of iPhones, has plans for a manufacturing factory and an EV factory in India over the next two years.
(Bloomberg, Hindustan Times, NDTV)
HUL’s Sanjiv Mehta's last AGM today
Sanjiv Mehta, the former CMD of Hindustan Unilever, will attend his last annual general meeting on June 26. In his tenure during the last ten years, HUL added Euro 4 billion (Rs32,000 crores) to its turnover increasing it by 2.3x and market cap by 5x. Its market share in soaps, shampoos and skincare products improved. Another veteran, Rohit Jawa takes over from Mehta on Tuesday, the company had said in March. Jawa seeks to focus on acquisitions and boost volume growth.
(Economic Times, Moneycontrol)
Byju's tells investors it will file 2022 earnings by September
Edtech giant Byju’s has signaled that it will file 2022 audited earnings by September and 2023 results by December. The long-delayed financial results was one of the issues which led to auditor Deloitte parting ways with Byju’s last week. Besides, three board members G V Ravishankar, managing director at Peak XV Partners (earlier Sequoia India), Russell Andrew Dreisenstock of Prosus Group and Chan Zuckerberg's Vivian Wu have stepped down. Byju’s continues to battle with lenders over a term loan repayment and has fired several employees in recent weeks.
(Reuters, Hindu Businessline)
ICICI Bank to consider decision to delist of Securities arm this week
ICICI Bank has said it will meet this week to consider the delisting of its subsidiary ICICI Securities, the institutional and retail broking arm, as per market regulator Sebi norms. The subsidiary had reported a fall in its net profit for the March-ended quarter. The plan was for the subsidiary to diversify its financial services tools further.