- Birla Sun Life and Max Life are in talks to merge and potentially create one of the top 3 private life insurers in India. Max Financial Services founder is also negotiating with potential buyers for his 30% stake. - Tata Sons chairman is setting up a new drop-down structure similar to past structures to oversee companies and facilitate collaboration. - The NCLAT will review the LCIA arbitration award in the McDonald's-Vikram Bakshi case before proceeding further on October 25. - Dr Reddy's received an establishment inspection report from the US FDA for its Srikakulam plant in Andhra Pradesh. - The railways ministry is looking at ways to speed up electrification

1. Weekly News
16/09/2017 – 20/09/2017

2. Birla Sun Life, Max Life initiate merger
talks; new life insurance giant could
soon be in the making
Analjit Singh led Max Financial Services is in talks with Aditya Birla Group to
explore a merger of their life insurance businesses, Birla Sun Life and Max
Life Insurance with the aim to create one of the top 3 private life insurers in
the country.
Parallely, the Delhi based serial entrepreneur is also believed to be
negotiating with UK-based Northern Trust which manages a trillion dollar of
assets and PE firm Apax Partners to sell his promoter stake of 30 per cent in
Max Financial Services.

3. Drop-down structure back at Tata
Sons
Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran is creating a drop-down structure at
the company similar to the Group Executive Office and Group Corporate
Centre that existed under past chairman Ratan Tata to house his crack
team..
The structure, which is still evolving, will be the platform to strategise and
collaborate to scale up each business of the group. Vertical heads, or
presidents as they are called, will be the interface between the chairman’s
office and companies that come within their clusters.

4. McDonald's row: NCLAT to study LCIA
award before further action
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) today said it will
study the award of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) that
asked McDonald's estranged partner Vikram Bakshi to sell his stake in the
JV firm CPRL to the US-based fast food chain last week.
While listing the matter on October 25, the appellate tribunal after hearing
both the parties said it will go through the arbitration award by LCIA before
proceeding on the matter.

5. Dr Reddy's gets EIR for 2 facilities
Drug firm Dr Reddy's Laboratories said it has received establishment
inspection report (EIR) from the US health regulator for a unit of its
Srikakulam plant in Andhra Pradesh.
The company has received EIR from the United States Food and Drug
Administration (USFDA) for its formulations manufacturing facility at
Srikakulam unit II, Dr Reddy's said in a filing to BSE.

6. Railways looking at ways to speed up
electrification process: Piyush Goyal
The railways ministry is looking at ways to speed up the electrification
process as it would help cut down Rs 16,000 crore expense on diesel
The important things which are involved in the process include availability
of equipment and adequate infrastructure.

7. Apple ties up with RJio, Reliance
Retail to offer special plans
Apple has widened its horizon for partnerships with Reliance Jio, and its
sister arm Reliance Retail, offering buybacks and special plans for
subscribers of the new telecom entramt who buy the iPhone 8, iPhone 8
Plus and the iPhone X .
The Apple-Jio partnership is being done for both online and offline
involving ecommerce major Amazon. Reliance Digital stores and Amazon
will sell the iPhones offering assured buyback value of 70 per cent when
people upgrade to the next iPhones that come up next year.

8. Singapore’s Temasek mulls investing
in wearable startup Magic Leap
Magic Leap, a Florida-based startup that’s raised more than $1.3 billion to
build a wearable computing device, is trying to raise even more cash as it
readies a long-awaited debut product.
Temasek Holdings, an investment company owned by Singapore, is
considering taking part in a new financing round of more than $500 million,
valuing Magic Leap close to $6 billion.
Magic Leap has already attracted high-profile investments from companies
including Alibaba Group Holding, Qualcomm and Alphabet’s Google, which
invested directly in the firm and put CEO Sundar Pichai on the board.

9. Bharat Financial enters exclusivity
contract with IndusInd Bank for
merger
IndusInd Bank is close to acquiring India's second-largest microfinance
company Bharat Financial Inclusion, with both sides signing an exclusivity
agreement on a possible deal.
A successful conclusion to negotiations will give the private bank greater
access to rural businesses and opportunities to earn a higher return from
bottom-of-the-pyramid customers. Investors cheered with both stocks
rising on Monday.

10. Vijaya Bank, Dena Bank eye merger
While there are talks of higher recapitalization for PSU banks, the
government is also not dropping the ball on another important issue of
consolidation in the banking space. Two mid sized PSU banks are in initial
exploratory talks for a possible merger.

11. India's crude steel output rises 4% to
8.4 MT in August
India's crude steel production registered a growth of 4 per cent to 8.4
million tonnes (MT) in August this year, according to the latest report of
World Steel Association.
The steel output stood at 8.1 MT in August last year. India's domestic
production in the January-August period of 2017 increased by 5 per cent to
66.4 MT over 63.2 MT in the same period of 2016, the data showed.
Global steel production for the 67 countries reporting to World Steel
Association (world steel) was 143.6 MT in August this year, registering an
increase of 6.2 per cent over 135.1 MT in August 2016.

12. Advertisers have to shell out more to
advertise on Amazon, Flipkart on e-
sale days
Advertisers on leading e-commerce platforms such as Flipkart and Amazon
have to shell out at least twice as much as they did last year for placing
commercials on these Web sites during mega promotional events, such as
the Big Billion Day and the Great Indian Festival sales.
According to media planners and sellers associated with the Web
marketplaces, the advertising inventory is in great demand. “The
advertising business has grown two-and-a-half times this year on large e-
commerce portals.

13. Yamaha to ramp up production at
Chennai plant
Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer Yamaha will invest more than Rs 200
crore for its expansion plans that would take the total investment in the
Chennai factory to Rs 1,500 crore.
"Investments will be about Rs 200 crore.. This will be for new Assembly
line in the factory.. That will take the production to nine lakh units..," India
Yamaha Motor,

14. Uber stripped of its licence to
operate in London
London stripped Uber on Friday of its licence to operate from the end of
September in a huge blow to the taxi app that will affect more than
40,000 drivers in one of the world's biggest cities.
Regulator Transport for London (TfL) said Uber's conduct posed risks to
public safety and it would not renew its licence when it expires on Sept.
30. Uber has 21 days to appeal and can continue to operate until the
appeal process has finished.