Here’s A Startup To Help Sell Startups: Top India News

Founders looking to sell startups are turning to this platform for buyers. Indiabizforsale, a one-year old platform to buy and sell small business, is seeing a rush of startup listings as founders lack money to scale up or seek investors and co-founder to buy a part of the business. Many of them are, predictably in the e-commerce business. This concept is popular in the west, but it’s only now catching up in India. Considering startups have a 90 percent failure rate, this is an idea whose time has come.

Traxcn, a startup that tracks data on startups, is now launching an incubator. Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal are among the investors backing this with a total investment of $10 million. Traxcn, set up by former Sequoia executives, is an analytics firm that does deep dive research into the startup business and is well-placed to advise first time entrepreneurs on business strategies.

The backlash from the Maggi Noodles controversy has now spread to other instant noodle brands as well.Retailers are now beginning to stop stocking all brands of instant noodles, given the furor that this controversy has generated. Nearly 20,000 outlets in the country have stopped selling instant noodles altogether. The nail in the coffin was probably Unilever’s decision to withdraw its Knorr Soupy Noodles, which it said hadn’t been approved by the Indian food regulator. Meanwhile, the impact of this withdrawal on India’s processed food market is still being calculated.

The rain gods seem to be smiling and the government added to it by raising support prices of some crops, making some farmers and the stock markets happy. For now, that is. The true impact of the government’s moves to help famers will only be seen when key states go to the polls. An interesting statistic being tossed around the finance ministry is that only the chief ministers who deliver 8 percent agriculture growth have been re-elected. Bihar, one of India most populous states, will hold elections this November and that will be the first test.

Foreign funds battling the government on the Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) have a new headache. Now, indirect transfer of assets will also attract a tax, according to a recent clarification from the tax department. This means foreign investors who have put money in India focused funds will be taxed on capital gains when they cash out of these funds.

Mahindra Aerospace is looking for investors. The division of the Mahindra & Mahindra group, which makes utility aircrafts and parts is scouting for PE investors to bring on board. The company, which has supply agreements with GE Aviation and Airbus, now needs to ramp up production and is using the hype around defence sector to raise funds.

After Intel, Cisco is the next big technology company to buy into the Digital India initiative. It has announced a $60 million investment plan for India. Airbus has also announced plans to increase its sourcing from India to $2 billion by 2020.

Every morning, we'll share the top news from India that professionals need to know. Click on the Follow button above to not miss one. And we want to know what you think, so head to the comments below with feedback, suggestions, bouquets and brickbats. I am also on Twitter here.

Do you have a view on current hot stories? Write about them on LinkedIn. Click here to get started. Tweet to @LinkedInPulse to let us know when you publish.