BACK PAGE, P22 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P7 WORLD AIR QUALITY REPORT TAKING ON RIL-DISNEY BEHEMOTH EYEING PROFIT BOOST Delhi most polluted capital, Begusarai most polluted city Amazon Prime Video lines up 70 shows, films for next 2 years Unilever to spin off ice cream business, cut 7,500 jobs NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL. L NO. 16, 40 PAGES, `12.00 (PATNA & RAIPUR `12.00) P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 72,012.05 ▼ 736.37 NIFTY: 21,817.45 ▼ 238.25 NIKKEI 225: 40,003.60 ▲ 263.16 HANG SENG: 16,529.48 ▼ 207.64 `/$: 83.04 ▼ 0.13 `/€: 89.99 ▲ 0.39 BRENT: $87.08 ▲ $0.19 GOLD: `65,349 ▲ `91 THE INDIAN COMPUTER Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued a high security vulnerability for Apple iOS and iPad OS devices. As per the warning, multiple vulnerabilities were found in Apple iOS and iPad OS. ■ P5 MORE PRIVATE MONEY MAY FLOWINTO BOT HIGHWAY PROJECTS TO LURE PRIVATE risk capital into highway construction, the concession terms for BOT projects have been revised, reports Mukesh Jagota. Liberal construction support and facility to borrow from NBFCs are included in the revised agreement. ■ P2 BENCHMARK INDICES SHED over 1% each on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years, ending an eight-year period of negative interest rates in the nation.All eyes are now on the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting INSIDE expected on Wednesday. The Sensex returns BoJ makes turned negative forcalenfirst rate hike in 17 yrs dar year 2024 after it fell 736 points or 1.01% to ■ PAGE 7 close at 72,012. Tata Sons’ sale of 0.65% stake in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for `9,000 crore also contributed to the fall, with the information technology (IT) giant shedding 4% and contributing 20% to the drop — the highest amid Sensex stocks. The Nifty closed at 21,817 points, down 238 points or 1.08%. However, its returns continue to be in the positive territoryforthe calendar year. Both the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices also took a knock, falling 1.36% and 1.04%, respectively. As a result, investor wealth fell sharply by `4.86 trillion. Continued on Page 11 Ajay Singh ups bid for Go First SIDDHI NAYAK Mumbai, March 19 1.01% 1.01% -2.7 -2.4 -2.1 Oil and gas Power Mar 18, 2024 TECK 72,748 Top sectoral losers (%) IT Sensex FMCG JOYDEEP GHOSH Mumbai, March 19 And the RNG Awards go to... SpiceJet’s TUESDAYTUMBLE Mar 19 (close) Top Sensex losers (%) -3.4 -4.0 -3.2 -3.1 -2.6 Winners of the 2022 Ramnath Goenka Excellence In JournalismAwards with Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road transport and highways;Viveck Goenka, chairman and managing director of the Express Group; andAnant Goenka, executive director,The Indian Express Group, in New Delhi onTuesday PRAVEEN KHANNA ■ WINNERS’ LIST ON P11 -1.9 -1.9 72,012 HCL Tech GOVT’S SECURITY ALERT FOR iPHONE, iPAD USERS TCS biggest loser in Sensex pack, down 4% Wipro ASKING WHY CONTEMPT proceedings should not be initiated for alleged violation of its earlier order which restrained Patanjali Ayurved from issuing “misleading” ads, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed yoga guru Ramdev to appear before it at next hearing on April 2. ■ P 14 IndusInd Bank ‘MISLEADING ADS’ BY PATANJALI: SC SUMMONS RAMDEV Indices slump as BoJ hikes rates Nestle India NEWS SENSEX RETURNS TURN NEGATIVE FOR 2024 TCS IN THE Bucking the trend: Top Sensex gainers (%) Bajaj Finance 1.4 Kotak 0.6 Mahindra ICICI 0.3 Bank Bharti 0.2 Airtel HDFC 0.2 Bank ATC to convert Voda Idea’s `1.4K-cr bonds into equity FE BUREAU New Delhi, March 19 AMERICAN TOWER COMPANY (ATC) has opted to convert `1,440 crore worth of debt bonds issued byVodafone Idea into equity,a regulatoryfilingonTuesdayshowed. Loss-making Vodafone Idea had issued `1,600 crore worth of optionally convertible debentures (OCDs) toATCTelecom Infrastructure,which were convertible into equity shares at a conversion price of `10 per equity on October 21, 2022, against payments owed to the mobile tower com- pany. This translates into ATC holding less than 1% equity in the telecom firm. ATC is one of the largest infrastructure service providers forVodafone Idea. The conversion price of `10, at the time of OCD issuance, was at a premium to the then share price of Vodafone Idea. On Tuesday, shares of Vodafone Idea ended 2.4% down at `12.9. In August last year, Vodafone Idea had extended the deadline for repayment of OCDs worth `800 crore issued to the tower company by a year. Continued on Page 14 New Delhi ONE OF THE two bidders for bankruptairlineGoFirsthasraiseditsoffer following a nudge from lenders,two banking sources and a person aware ofthedevelopmentsaidonTuesday. The consortium,which includes budget carrier SpiceJet’s managing director Ajay Singh and Busy Bee Airways, increased the bid amount by `100 crore-`150 crore, one of the sources said. The original bid amount stood at `1,600 crore. The sources did notwish to be identified. Emails seeking comments from Reuters to Go First’s resoluAjay Singh, tion professional, SpiceJet CMD whoconductsthe bankruptcy process, Singh, SpiceJet and Busy Bee majority shareholder Nishant Pitti did not immediately get a response. Pitti is the CEO of online travel platform EaseMyTrip. Go First, which filed for bankruptcyinMaylastyear,receivedtwo financial bids as part of its bankruptcy process, the second being Sharjah-based Sky One Airways, Reuters had reported. Continued on Page 11
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