Morning Buzz: More trouble at Byju's, GE Aerospace-HAL sign deal and more

The Modi-Biden talks got busier, with a range of deals and alliances being announced. Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images

More trouble at Byju’s, with reports of directors, auditor quitting

The troubles at edtech giant Byju’s just seem to continue. In recent days the startup has been to court, battling lenders over term-loan repayments, it has fired more employees, and minority shareholder BlackRock has cut its valuation of Byju’s. Now, in the latest development, there are media reports of three board members—GV Ravishankar, managing director at Peak XV Partners (earlier Sequoia India), Russell Andrew Dreisenstock of Prosus group, and Chan Zuckerberg's Vivian Wu—stepping down. Byju’s auditor Deloitte has also resigned from its function. Byju’s has dismissed these reports as ‘entirely speculative’.
(Economic Times, Times of India, Mint, Business Today, CNBC-TV18)

GE Aerospace-HAL sign significant deal during Modi-Biden meet

The Modi-Biden talks got busier, with a range of deals and alliances being announced. GE aerospace announced it has inked a pact with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to jointly produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk-II Tejas. This took place during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ongoing US visit, where he said it gave India-US defence co-operation “a new character”. The GE-HAL deal gains significance as it indicates the US is willing to give India access to its technologies. The deals involving semi-conductors, space cooperation and minerals all signal stronger ties between the two countries.
(The Print, Al Jazeera, Economic Times, Times of India, CNBC-TV18, Zee Business)

Tata Steel may not reach 2030 emissions goal on current technology

Tata Steel may not be able to achieve its goal to cut emissions by 2030, unless development of new technologies is accelerated. Debashish Bhattacharjee, the company's vice president (technology and R&D), says new technologies need to come in for this to happen. The steel producer wants to cut emissions from the current 2.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every tonne of the alloy produced to 1.8 tonnes by 2030, and achieve net zero by 2045.
(Bloomberg, Financial Express)

Insurers to soon face GST audits

Insurance companies may soon face Goods and Services Tax (GST) audits, as tax authorities plan a deep dive into their business practices to check for the possibility of a raft of tax-linked irregularities. This is being done to assess if there are any further taxation issues, besides commission, tax officials have told media.
(Business Standard)

Intel India head Nivruti Rai resigns

After 29 years in service at Intel, its India head Nivruti Rai has resigned, the Economic Times reported. Rai was India's head and vice president of Intel Foundry services, and had started at Intel in February 1994 as a design engineer. Outside of the US, India is Intel’s largest engineering centre. The company is expected to make leadership related announcements soon.
(Economic Times)