Bullets

With the rumours that British American Tobacco (BAT) is selling $2-3 billion (over ₹16,600 crore) worth of shares, ITC’s share price dived 2.5% today on BSE.

BAT is ITC’s largest shareholder, holding 29%. This raised investors' concerns about the fundamentals of cigarette sellers in the market.

As per sources, BAT is already in talks with Citigroup and Bank of America to divest some load of ITC shortly.

Adani Group has planned a major ₹60,000 crore boost for its airport business, “Adani Airport Holdings Ltd.” over the next 5-10 years.

Adani Group has 7 airports under its operations, which would see upgradation in terminal and runway capacity as well as cityside development for aesthetics.

AAHL states that the funding of 60,000 crore would be borne by the parent company, Adani Enterprises Ltd., through internal accruals.

Interested in Adani Group? Read about the insights of Adani Power, the trump card of the Adani Group.

Meesho may get a secondary deal from investors like Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India) and Tiger Global.

Angel investors and early backers of e-commerce Meesho are looking to sell shares worth $200 million, with the transaction rumoured to be valued at $3.5-3.9 billion, over ₹29,000 crore.

Along with this, Softbank-backed Meesho’s other investor, Meta, may also sell some of its stakes and earn profit from the ordeal.

The persistent battle between Indian startups and tech giant Google has been kept on hold for 4 months.

Both sides agreed to a ceasefire after Google removed 10 startups (Matrimony.com, Nuakri.com, etc.) from its Play Store and then accepted them back due to pressure from Indian authorities.

This news came as a sigh of relief (albeit short) for the Indian startup ecosystem after months of ongoing fight. What would happen after 4 months is another story.

The Central Consumer Protection Advisory (CCPA) reminds influencers in a warning gesture to avoid promoting betting and gambling products or sites.

Online advertising intermediaries were also warned to avoid directing such ads towards the audience.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) has ordered states to take strict action against such activities and also forwarded detailed guidelines to be followed.

The government plans to protect human digital rights and provide a safe online environment via a Digital India Act.

Underdog Adani Power received the green light from its creditors to acquire insolvent Lanco Amarkantak Power.

This will be the 2nd buy under the insolvency resolution process for Adani’s thermal power producer. Through these acquisitions, Adani Power plans to increase its capacity to 21,150 MW from the current 15,250 MW.

Adani Power hasn't revealed the bid value for the acquisition yet.

Read about the financial prowess of Adani Power and its future aspects from an investor's angle from the article: Adani Power Analysis.

Accenture is making waves with its announcement of investing $1 billion in its AI platform LearnVantage over 3 years and buying EdTech platform Udacity.

Accenture recently launched an AI-native learning platform, "Accenture LearnVantage”, to help clients boost their employee's skills in technology, data, and AI.

Udacity’s acquisition will help Accenture enhance the services it provides from its AI platform, giving clients an even more advanced service.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos replaced Tesla CEO Elon Musk as the richest man alive as per the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. Bezos’ net worth of $200.3 billion (around ₹1,6.6 lakh crore) served him in this position as Musk’s wealth reduced to $197.7 billion (around ₹16.4 lakh crore).

A 7.2% fall in Tesla Inc.’s shares on March 4, 2024, became the reason for this decline in Elon Musk’s net worth.

Can you guess who the richest person in India is? 👈

Tata Motors Ltd. has received approval from the Tata Group's board of directors for a demerger into two separate listed companies.

One company would include the Commercial Vehicles (CV) business & its associated investments, while the other will consist of the Passenger Vehicles businesses, including PV, EV, JLR, and related investments. 

The demerger would occur via the NCLT scheme of arrangement, and all the shareholders would retain an identical shareholding in both the demerged entities.

Under the PLI (Production LInked Incentive) scheme, multiple international companies are set to receive ₹4,400 crore based on FY23 targets.

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, South Korea-based Samsung, Tata-owned Wistron, Apple Inc. contract manufacturer Pegatron, and India-based Dixon Technologies are included in the list.

As per reports, the previously selected 10 companies could not meet the set targets, so the outlay of ₹6,504 crore won’t be used fully.

Learn more about the PLI Scheme and which sectors are covered under it for a brief understanding.

PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, aka Rooftop Solar Scheme, receives the cabinet government’s approval for 10 million households.

With a total outlay of ₹75,021 crore, the scheme would entail the installation of solar panels on houses, giving free electricity to up to 300 units.

PM Modi made this announcement in Interim Budget 2024-25 this February. Interested citizens can apply for this scheme via the national portal.

Read about the rooftop solar scheme and its benefits from the article Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana.

Google displays its monopoly power in the mobile application & distribution sector by warning Matrimony.com and Info Edge (Naukri.com) removal from its app store.

Google has removed ten companies from its Play Store in India due to the backlash over its billing system and delayed payment of service fees.

This war between Indian startups and Google has been going on for a while now, with the famous tech giant close to winning the battle.

What would be the fate of Matrimony, Naukri.com & others? 🤔

India’s GDP for Q3 FY2025 zoomed to 8.4%, which was a massive hike from RBI’s estimated 6.5%. This boost in GDP, along with in-line US inflation, had the bulls running in the stock market.

BSE Sensex jumped 1000 points, touching a record 73,574 high, and NSE Nifty50 topped 22,300 on 1 March 2024.

Read about the upcoming NSE IPO and check whether it could be a good addition to your portfolio.

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), Viacom18 & Walt Disney have agreed to a joint venture by merging Viacom18’s media operations into Star India.

The to-be-formed JV would be valued at ₹70,352 crore, where RIL has signed to contribute ₹11,500 crore.

After the breakup of the Zee-Sony merger, this news is bringing positive limelight back to the national media sector.

Bringing forth the solution to the FEMA violations, RBI has instructed NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) to be the third-party application provider for Paytm.

This good news removes many allegations from the One97 Communications head, giving the Paytm stock a good 5% upward surge.

NPCI is looking for ways to move Paytm customers to other banks without disrupting transactional lines.

Troubled EdTech Byju’s parent Think & Learn investors passed a resolution to remove Byju Raveendran as CEO, revealed one of the investors, Prosus.

The investors voted unanimously to revamp the board, which consists of Raveendran’s wife & cofounder Divya Gokulnath & brother Riju Raveendran. CEO Byju regards the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of investors as illegal and is in no hurry to leave his position. 

The resolution passed at the EGM requests outstanding governance, focusing on financial mismanagement & compliance issues and, hence, removal of the key managerial position holders & board members.

Aditya Birla Group’s flagship, Grasim Industries, is entering the paints sector to compete with leaders Asian Paints & Berger. Grasim Industries, with the brand name "Birla Opus", plans to be the No.2 player in the paints business.

Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla plans to partake in the booming construction business and thinks it an innovative strategy with the launch.

Is Asian Paints leadership in danger with the new arrival?

Zee Entertainment made headlines again; this time, it was for a ₹2,000 crore hole in its accounting. The media corporation has claimed this allegation to be false and submitted proof to SEBI.

Zee Entertainment might be able to return to its pristine position, as became clear from the 15% uplift of its shares yesterday. The reformation of the Zee-Sony merger is the reason for it.

Whether the merger will come to fruition or fall apart remains to be seen.

After Sony called off the awaited $10 billion merger with Zee Entertainment Enterprises, whiffs of the reunion are wafting in the media world. Sony and Zee have reportedly set up meetings for the last 15 days to find a middle ground.

As per reports, Sony wishes Punit Goenka to back off the CEO position for the to-be-forming entity, which was one of the major reasons for the breakup.

Will Zee accept all the conditions and save the merger? Stay tuned to know it all!

Read how the Zee-Sony merger could be a lifesaver for Zee.

State-backed telecom firm BSNL is initiating a tender project worth ₹65,000 crore to implement the BharatNet Project. This tender is phase III of the original ₹1.4 trillion BharatNet Project.

This project is focused on improving rural area connectivity by advancing existing infrastructure and introducing new initiatives.

The completion of the project would connect 1,64,000 gram panchayats and & approximately 47,000 new gram panchayats to the urban lands.