Rahul Yadav Quits Housing.com, For Real This Time: Top India News

Rahul Yadav has stepped down as CEO of Housing.com, again. This time, it appears to be at the board’s prompting. Rahul has been in the spotlight for the past few months for his online rows with venture capitalists and a spat with his own board after which he resigned in a public email. At that time, the board refused to accept his resignation and he then gave away all his shares to his employees. Following the row, Softbank, the biggest investors in Housing, took firmer control in the real estate startup’s operations. By the way, he also trolled other startup founders and a top tech company CEO. But this time, it seems to be curtains for Rahul at Housing, for real.

Rural is the buzzword for consumer companies, and that was what prompted Hindustan Unilever to set up its Kan Khajura Tesan in regions where regular television and other media are missing. The KKT is a mobile radio channel that plays entertainment and also beams ads for HUL’s products, especially personal care and household products. Now, the company plans to extend this platform to other advertisers as well. Definitely an interesting way to reach out to villages, where a big chunk of India resides.

Nestle is desperately looking for a Maggi replacement. With one of its biggest brands out of action following a ban by the food regulator, the Swiss company is now looking at developing another product that can take its place. Meanwhile, it is challenging the FSSAI order and assuring consumers that Maggi will be back.

The gloomy rhetoric on banks’ bad loans has been going on for a while and the latest is from the central bank itself. The RBI’s Financial Stability report says loan quality will get worse before it gets better and we’ll only see positive signs by the end of this fiscal – March 2016. It’s not looking all bad, as analysts see this prediction as a sign that the stress is coming to an end. More worrying, is a note in the report that says 530 billion rupees, nearly $8 billion worth of loans lend to state-owned electricity boards, which distribute power, are likely to turn bad as early as next month. Maybe this is what RBI meant about getting worse before it improves?

After a dismal forecast, it seems the monsoon haven’t been that bad, after all. As dire predictions of a 10 percent below normal season sent investors into a tizzy last month, the rain gods have proved to be on our side as the entire country has now been covered and it’s 28 percent above normal at the moment. There are still predictions that it may weaken in July, but it does look like the impact on farms may not be as bad as feared.

Uber is growing 40 percent month-on-month in India. That’s what its Asia-Pacific CEO says. And to keep this up the company is also planning to launch in smaller cities to take on home-grown rivals Ola and Meru. Uber has been moving in this direction with various localization moves, the most ground-breaking, at least for this company, is allowing cash payments. It has also added the three-wheeler autos into its kitty. And its struggle to resolve regulatory issues goes on even as its new India CEO takes over.

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