Ranbaxy's Singh bros arrested, toll discounts for going green, and more news

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The Delhi Police have arrested Ranbaxy’s Singh brothers and three former executives of Religare Finvest following a fraud complaint filed by the company. RFL is alleged to have made loans to group companies without taking adequate collateral when the Singhs were promoters. The borrowing firms wilfully defaulted on the loans, causing RFL a loss of ?2,400 crore. The arrest marks an unprecedented low for the Singhs, grappling with bad news (see timeline) since losing an arbitration award to Daiichi Sankyo, which bought Ranbaxy in 2008. The brothers themselves have reportedly come to blows. 

Electric vehicle owners could soon get 50% discount or complete exemption from toll fee as the Centre looks to incentivise green mobility. Government officials told the Economic Times that the decision could find a mention in the new toll policy currently in the works. The concession will be applicable for five years from the date of announcement. India’s EV adoption goals face several challenges ranging from affordability to a lack of charging infrastructure, but the government has been offering sops: it slashed GST for EVs to 5% and cut the customs duty on components to 10-15%.

Your credit score will now determine your loan cost. Economic Times reports that three public sector lenders — Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India and Syndicate Bank — have started using borrowers’ CIBIL scores to offer home-financing rates. For example, Bank of Baroda will charge 8.1% from high-score customers (760-900), 8.35% from medium-score customers (725-759) and 8.35% from low-credit score customers (675-724). Also, the rates would fluctuate during the loan term based on EMI repayments and changes to the risk premium. But SBI will stick to its internal grading mechanism, which experts say may not prove very transparent.

The soaring valuation of robotic process automation firms is creating ‘bot millionaires’ at a fast clip. Firms such as UiPath, Automation Anywhere and BluePrism have been liberally granting stock options to retain talent – and those ESOPs are now worth millions following a run-up in the shares. The wealth-generation cycle time for automation startups is much faster than for traditional IT firms and on a par with new-age e-commerce firms, experts say. Earlier, a Gartner study said RPA was the fastest-growing segment of the global enterprise software market.

Zee Group-owned Daily News & Analysis newspaper closed its last two print editions on Thursday. The broadsheet, launched in 2005, said it was going completely digital on account of changing reader preferences. Reports suggest over 100 journalists lost their jobs after being offered severance for two months. The development comes amid financial troubles for Zee’s Chandra family – some of its business bets have gone awry, forcing it to sell promoter holding to repay debt. DNA is the third major paper to go under this year, after Financial Chronicle and Firstpost.

E-commerce firms have stepped up hiring of summer interns at top B-schools, compensating for a tepid response by BFSI, auto and telecom sectors, Economic Times reports. Amazon leads the pack at MDI Gurgaon and IIM Kozhikode, followed by names such as Flipkart, Grofers, Ola, PhonePe and Udaan. FMCG and consulting too notched up strong summer placements. Stipends are largely moving up: Philips and Oyo are paying 50% more while Wipro and Accenture are offering 31-33% more than last year. Overall, they range from ?1.68 lakh to ?2.5 lakh for two months.

Idea of the day: If you assign the wrong person to help you achieve your goal and you suffer the consequences, it’s your fault – not theirs, says Ray Dalio, founder, co-CIO and co-Chairman of Bridgewater Associates.

"When putting someone in a position of responsibility, make sure their incentives are aligned with their responsibilities and they experience the consequences of the outcomes they produce."

— Mandar M Bakre, Dipti Jain and Shajil Kumar