Daily Pulse India: Govt Gets Down To Business, Ramdev’s Noodles Are In Trouble, Eros Does Some Damage Control

Get serious! With distractions like the Bihar elections behind it, the Modi government has finally gotten serious about reforms. Right on the heels of last week’s FDI announcement comes another big push - this one on exports, asset sales and infrastructure. In a nutshell, the government has cleared a 10 percent stake sale in Coal India, more cheap loans for exporters and most important of all, more freedom to the NHAI to push for completion of stalled highway projects and more sops for railways.
Clearly, the government has listened to everyone from top industrialists to global rating agencies, who pointed to the slow pace of economic reforms as the main reason for its credibility loss. There were also a bunch of smaller announcements but the overall picture shows that reforms are back in the spotlight.

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More Money to Ola: The latest in the list of startups raising money is Ola , which has just brought in $500 million from new and existing investors. The $225 million that it raised in September (which made headlines as one of the investors was none other than Didi Kuadi, Uber’s biggest rival in China) is part of this $500 million. Other than cabs and autos, ccarpooling, grocery and food delivery (all of which are also offered by Uber in some markets), Ola is now also looking at mobile payments with Ola money. Clearly, the Indian aggregator is readying for battle as Uber sharpens its focus on what will soon be the world’s second biggest internet user base.

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Damage Control: Eros International, whose shares were slammed on fears of misreporting, says short-sellers were behind the episode. Its Indian subsidiary, which also bore the brunt of the worries, may consider buying back shares, according to its CEO.

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Baba Noodles: So yoga guru Baba Ramdev launched the whole wheat Patanjali Noodles even as market favorite Maggi was fighting regulators over lead poisoning and other allegations. Now, it appears the new noodles were launched without the food regulator’s approval. Patanjali says no. We will wait for clarity before we go out and buy it.

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Let’s talk it over: Vodafone has won its tax battle with the government in courts and is now discussing settlement – which will be closely monitored by the international players, as a signal of the government’s commitment to increase “ease of doing business” in India.

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Cover Image: Atletico-de-Kolkata's fans hold posters before the ISL football match between Atletico-de-Kolkata and Chennaiyin FC at The Saltlake Stadium in Kolkata.

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