Indigo Airlines Plans $400 Mln IPO: Top India News

Indigo Airlines is firming up plans to raise $400 million through a 10 percent stake. That gives it a valuation of 250 billion rupees, way higher than other older listed airlines such as Jet (32 billion) and SpiceJet (11 billion). An Indigo IPO has whetted the interest of investors even before the filing as this is one of India’s more profitable airlines. In a market where people have burnt their fingers with airlines stocks such as Deccan Aviation and Kingfisher, this is a welcome addition to the stock kitty.

Taiwanese Foxconn will be manufacturing Chinese Xiaomi phones in India. The first such plant, making 10,000 phones a day, will be opened in Andhra Pradesh. This is part of a bigger plan as it hopes to set up at least 10 more factories with an investment of $2 billion in the next five years. This may be in partnership with Japanese investment firm Softbank. Foxconn, better known as the maker of iPhones and iPads, may probably start with making phones, tablets and other digital devices for its clients such as Dell, Microsoft, HP and Amazon. The Taiwan company has also formed a joint venture with Bharti and Softbank for renewable energy investments. This should be music to the government’s ears, given its Make in India push.

Food safety is now in the limelight after the noodle sagas. The incident has brought to light the need for an effective checks and balances system and the food regulator is now putting stricter procedures in place. To start with, each processed food company has to have a recall plan in place, which includes ensuring retailers pull the products off the shelves and customers are made aware of the recall. If this sounds elementary, a look into the Maggi mess should tell you how unprepared the companies and the regulators were for such a situation.

The government is also planning to speed up clearances of imported foods by moving to a system of random checks rather than subjecting each consignment to lab checks, which delays their entry and brings them closer to the Best Before date.

There’s a new angel investor on the block. Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who floated his YouWeCan Ventures (a play on his nickname Yuvi) in April has just invested in Healthians, a healthcare marketplace and aggregator of diagnostic tests. This is his second investment. The first was in Vyomo, an app developer for salons and wellness professionals. But healthcare is clearly closer to the heart of this cancer survivor.

Meanwhile SEBI’s long awaited rules for e-listings, aimed at startups are out and you’ll find the details here.

Indian government banks are in dire need of funds and the government has thrown them a lifeline of sorts. The federal government plans to invest a total of 190 billion rupees in banks to shore up their capital and allow them to increase lending. This is a fraction of the 2.6 trillion rupees requirement estimated by Crisil, an S&P unit, for banks to meet Basel III rules by March 2019. But, we’ll take what we get.

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 Twitterhere.

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.