- Reliance Jio data of some users was leaked online, exposing privacy risks of smartphones. As technology advances, security risks also increase. - 71 pending foreign investment proposals, including from Amazon, Paytm, and Snapdeal, are being fast-tracked and decisions expected in 8-10 weeks. - Passenger vehicle sales declined 11.2% in June as manufacturers and dealers aligned inventories ahead of GST implementation on July 1st.

1. Weekly News
10/07/2017 – 14/07/2017

2. Reliance Jio data leak: Tech gets smarter but your
safety gets dumber
• After a website called 'magicapk' leaked details such as email
addresses, names and Aadhar ID details (in some cases) of
Reliance Jio smartphone users, many would consider the risks
of using a smartphone, something that never gets the
attention it deserves.
• As the world gets more connected and smart technology
comes to rule our lives, our security risks too grow bigger. A
smartphone makes our life convenient but also exposes us to
dangerous risks. Reliance Jio data leak is a small event when
you consider the possibilities of risks associated with a
smartphone.

3. • As many as 71 pending foreign investment proposals,
including those of Amazon, Grofers, Urban Ladder, One97
(which runs Paytm) and Jasper Infotech (Snapdeal), are being
fast-tracked.
• Many of these had been pending with the recently abolished
Foreign Investment Promotion Board since 2015.
• The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) will
now distribute them to the relevant ministries and check the
status of each pending application at a joint review meeting
later this month.
71 pending FDI proposals put on fast track; decision likely
in 8 to 10 weeks

4. Roll out of GST to bring down prices: Government
• The government has said that roll out of Goods and Services
Tax will bring benefits to consumers due to reduced tax rates
on various commodities such as packaged cement,
medicaments, smart phones, and medical devices.

5. • Global carriers Lufthansa and KLM-Air France, bulge bracket private
equity funds including the Blackstone Group, KKR & Co and TPG
Capital have joined the race along with US airlines Delta to invest
around $200-250 million in India's second largest airline Jet Airways
is looking to raise capital to fund operations, face growing
competition amidst severe macro headwinds
• Jet Airways, in which Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways owns a 24% stake,
has adopted a network strategy independent of its investor and has
roped in JP Morgan to raise funds, including through a possible
stake sale. However talks with the potential investors are not yet
advanced and no binding offers has come in.
Global carriers, PE firms join race to acquire 24 per
cent stake in Jet Airways

6. • SpiceJet's former promoter, Kalanithi Maran of Sun Group, has
sought over Rs 2,000 crore compensation from current promoter
Ajay Singh and the airline for allegedly causing losses by failing to
honour contractual obligations.
• The claim for compensation has been filed before an arbitral
tribunal comprising retired Supreme Court judges Arijit Pasayat,
Hemant Laxman Gokhale and KSP Radhakrishnan. The tribunal was
created in end 2016 under orders of the Delhi High Court and is
adjudicating on a share transfer dispute between Maran and Singh.
Hearings before the tribunal are ongoing and are expected to
conclude in two months.
Former promoter Kalanithi Maran seeks over Rs 2,000
crore compensation from SpiceJet

7. • Bharti Airtel will invest Rs 60,000 crore in three years to upgrade
its network as India's biggest telco prepares to take on the
challenge for data customers from newcomer Reliance Jio
Infocomm apart from existing rivals Vodafone and Idea Cellular.
The investment plan, Project Leap, is set to be the biggest by an
incumbent telco. It mainly entails overhauling and installing new
equipment, expanding the mobile broadband network to rural
areas and laying optical fibre both locally and and internationally.
• It comes on the heels of Vodafone's Rs 13,000-crore India
investment plan announced last month. Jio has said it would have
spent around Rs 1 lakh crore by the time of its expected 4G
services launch in late December.
Bharti Airtel to invest Rs 60,000 crore in 3 years on
network expansion

8. • Passenger vehicle sales declined by 11.21% to 1,98,399 units
last month as manufacturers and dealers resort to aligning
inventory ahead of nationwide implementation of GST (Goods
and Services Tax) from July 1.
• The blip is expected to be temporary and with manufacturers
rationalising prices demand is expected to take off on a strong
note over the next few months heralding a new era for the
Indian auto industry.
Passenger vehicle sales dip 11.2% in June as firms,
dealers aligned inventory ahead of GST

9. Italian motorcycle maker Ducati to launch its apparel line
exclusively through Flipkart
• Flipkart has signed a licencee deal with Ducati that allows
them to manufacture Ducati's Tshirts, shirts, jeans and its
entire apparel line," said one of the persons cited earlier.
Ducati, which had launched its superbikes in the country
some years ago, also sells jackets, Tshirts, caps and
motorsports gear.

10. • Mitsui & Co, which is part of Japanese conglomerate Mitsui Group,
has invested about Rs 20 crore in Hyderabad-based automotive
technology startup Smart Auto Systems in a Series-A round,
according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies
(ROC).
• Smart Auto Systems is founded by Vijay Gummadi and Venu
Donepudi, who are also the founders of CarZ, a Hyderabad-based
multi-brand car repair and maintenance services startup.
Incorporated in 2008, CarZ (Vahan Motors Pvt Ltd) is the parent
company of Smart Auto Systems and had raised $5 million from
IndoUS Venture Partners in 2011. Since then, CarZ has seen a
periodic infusion of funds, with the latest one of Rs 3 crore taking
place in April earlier this.
Mitsui infuses Rs 20 cr in automotive technology
startup Smart Auto Systems

11. • Bisleri International chairman Ramesh Chauhan says he has
not decided to sell Bisleri “as yet”, but that when he does, it
would be to a “good party who is Indian and who will promote
and develop the brand.”
I have not decided to sell Bisleri, as yet: Ramesh Chauhan
Chairman, Bisleri International

12. Like Maruti, Toyota too shrugs off GST, to keep selling
hybrids
• Toyota’s Indian unit said on Tuesday that it would continue to
sell hybrid vehicles locally despite the increase in taxes on this
category of cars under the single producer levy, the GST.
• The company had previously indicated it may re-evaluate its
strategy on hybrid vehicles after an effective tax of 43% has
been levied (28% GST, 15% cess). By contrast, smaller petrol
and diesel vehicles would attract levies in the range of 29-
31%.

13. Fitbit may tinker with pricing and functions to grow in
India: James Park, CEO
• Global fitness tracking specialist Fitbit will scout for partners
in payments, insurance and music in India as it tinkers with its
larger devices to take its segment leadership position from a
“nice to have” to a “must have” position, said chief executive
James Park. .
• Fitbit’s goal is to reach as much of the world as it can with its
tracker and the company will tinker with price and functions
to make it accessible for most Indians, Park said.
• The company’s global sales have been dropping after Apple
turned competitor and stopped selling its products. In the
year to December 2016, its $2.2-billion revenue was
accompanied by a net loss, which led to nearly halving of its
market capitalisation.

14. Tata Steel to sell SAW mills in UK to Liberty House
Group
• Tata Steel UK has signed a definitive sale agreement to sell
two of its pipe mills in Hartlepool to Liberty House Group, a
London-based industrial and metals multinational of India-
born entrepreneur Sanjeev Kumar Gupta.

15. Retail inflation cools to record low in June, factory
output shrinks in May
• Industrial growth slowed to a three-month low in May,
possibly due to adjustments in production ahead of the July 1
roll out of goods and services tax. Industrial production grew
1.7% in May, according to data released on Wednesday, down
from 2.79% in April and 8% in May last year.

16. June retail inflation at record low; falls to 1.54%
• India’s retail inflation rate fell 1.54 percent in June from May’s
2.18 percent.
• India’s retail inflation hit a record low of 1.54 percent in June,
lowest since 1999, raising hopes of an interest rate cut, with
the Finance Ministry obliquely nudging the central bank to
reduce lending rates in the monetary policy next month.

17. Gaming company IONA Entertainment to spend Rs 200
crore on expansion
• Bengaluru-based gaming company IONA Entertainment has
chalked out a Rs 200-crore expansion plan which will involve
opening of 36 gaming zones across metros as well as tier-II
and III cities in India and five in the overseas markets.

18. Wipro closes its Mysuru’s lighting manufacturing unit
• Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting announced that it has shut
down Mysuru’s lighting manufacturing unit because of the
sharp downfall in the demand for CFL products as well as the
increase in the consumer preference for the LED products.

19. Walmart to invest Rs 900 crore to open 15 outlets in
Maharashtra
• American retail chain Walmart will invest Rs 900 crore to open
15 outlets catering to wholesalers in Maharashtra, the state
government said
• These stores will generate 30,000 direct and indirect jobs in
the western state.
• The state's industries department signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with officials from Walmart in the
presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis earlier with
regard to the network expansion.

20. HDFC Life may call off merger plan with Max Life, focus
on IPO
• HDFC Life Insurance may call off its proposed takeover of the
Max group’s life insurance business as the two have not been
able to arrive at a mutually agreeable alternative structure for
the transaction, which the regulator has rejected in its current
form.
• Also, HDFC Life’s shareholders want to push ahead with listing
plans and a merger is likely to delay that by at least a year,
several people aware of the development.
• The three-way merger involving HDFC Life, Max Financial
Services Ltd and Max Life Insurance that was proposed in June
last year was rejected by the Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority (Irda) in May this year.

21. China fast catching as global economic power, US at
top: Survey
• China is fast catching up as a global economic forum, while
the public perception around the world, including India, is
that the US still remains at the top, according to a new survey
in 38 countries..
• The survey shows "in seven of the 10 European Union
nations, China is considered the leading economic power (it is
tied with the US for top spot in Italy).“
• However, India continues to believe US is the world's leading
economy. In fact, 41% of Indians have an unfavourable view
of China, and just 26% have a more positive image of it.

22. No GST on sale of old jewellery, RWA services
• The sale of old jewellery by an individual to a jeweller will not
attract provisions of section 9(4) of the CGST (Central GST) Act
and a jeweller will not be liable to pay tax under reverse
charge mechanism on such purchases, the finance ministry
said.

23. NRIs’ foreign bank accounts under income tax lens
• For decades, many Indians have escaped tax and legitimised
their money stashed abroad by staying 182 days out of the
country every year and declaring themselves as ‘non-
resident’.
• The status of a non-resident Indian, or NRI, allowed them to
claim such funds lying in offshore bank accounts as lawful
income earned abroad. From now on, this won’t be easy.

24. After China, Uber exits Russia but books a ride with Yandex Taxi
• San Francisco-based cab hailing application Uber has exited
Russia with a $225 million investment and 36.6% stake worth
$1.4 billion in a yet-to-be-named venture with local
competitor Yandex, according to a statement sent out by the
company.

25. Snapdeal may merge with Infibeam to create $2 billion
company.
• The country's only publicly listed e-commerce company
Infibeam is involved in merger talks with troubled online
marketplace Snapdeal. The development comes at a time
when Snapdeal's board rejected a $700-750 million offer for
sale to Flipkart last week. However, a revised offer of $900-
950 million may be on the anvil.