Maharashtra deadlock: Key Shiv Sena leader meets Pawar, sparks speculation

A week after the Assembly poll results were out in Maharashtra, deadlock over power sharing between the BJP and ally Shiv Sena continued on Thursday as developments in the opposition Congress-NCP camp triggered talks of possible formation of an alternative government.

The day saw a series of meetings between senior leaders of major non-BJP parties, triggering talks in political circles about possibility of the Sena forming a government with the backing of opposition parties.

The Shiv Sena rubbished reports of a climbdown and on Thursday again indicated it had not given up its claim on the post of chief minister and 50:50 division of portfolios.

Both these demands have been rejected by the BJP which has insisted that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will continue in the post for the next five years.

Adopting a harsh tone, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party on Thursday accused the BJP of enacting "second act" of the "use and throw" policy while dealing with its ally.

Whatever was decided when the two parties stitched up alliance before the Lok Sabha elections should be implemented, the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said in an editorial.

Sena MP Sanjay Raut described as "rumours" reports that his party has softened its stand on the issue of sharing power with senior partner BJP.

Raut, the executive editor of 'Saamana', described reports in a section of the media alluding to the 'softening of stand' by the Sena as hearsay.

"The (reports that) Sena has softened (its stand), has compromised and relinquished equitable distribution of posts, are all rumours," he tweeted.

"This is the public, which knows everything. Whatever will was decided (between BJP and Sena), will happen," he added.

Maharashtra minister Eknath Shinde was on Thursday elected as the Sena's leader in the state legislature. His candidature was proposed by party leader Aaditya Thackeray, whose name was also doing the rounds for the post, at a meeting of newly-elected MLAs.

At the meeting, Sena sources said, party president Uddhav Thackeray was apparently dismayed by Fadnavis's remarks that sharing the CM's post did not figure in the talks between top Sena and BJP leaders ahead of this year's Lok Sabha polls.

Asked about the delay in government formation after the October 21 elections, Aaditya Thackeray said his party has given all authority in the matter to Sena chief and his father Uddhav Thackeray.

The 29-year-old Thackeray family scion was speaking to reporters after meeting Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari with whom he raised the issue crop loss due to unseasonal rain in various parts of the state.

Meanwhile, a day after the Congress-NCP claimed they will sit in the opposition, different signals emanated from the opposition camp.

Congress leaders Balasaheb Thorat, Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan flew to Delhi to meet party chief Sonia Gandhi amid talks in political circles about possibility of the Sena forming a government with support from opposition parties.

Earlier in the day, the three Maharashtra Congress leaders met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at the latter's residence.

Later in the evening, Raut met Pawar, sources in the Sena said.

What transpired between Raut and Pawar was not immediately known, but it sparked speculation about efforts being made for possible formation of a non-BJP government.

"The three leaders are in Delhi for a meeting with the party president (Gandhi)," sources in the Congress said.

They said the meeting is taking place after Pawar told the troika in the morning that they should speak to the Congress high command on the current situation and take approval on the steps to be taken.

Amid all this, Prithviraj Chavan said in case the Shiv Sena sends any proposal over government formation, the same will be conveyed to the party's central leadership.

In the just-held state polls, the BJP won 105 seats, a loss of 17 seats compared to its 2014 tally.

The Sena's tally also came down to 56 seats from 63 in 2014. A resurgent NCP won 54 and the Congress bagged 44 seats.

The simple majority mark in the 288-member assembly is 145.

Centre wants WhatsApp to explain Israeli spyware breach by November 4

The government has given time till November 4 to WhatsApp for explaining how the Israeli surveillance software was used to spy on some people in India and what the firm was doing to stop such occurrences.

It is still not clear which government entity bought the software that has reportedly impacted 1,400 devices globally. WhatsApp has said it was filing a complaint in the US against Israeli technology firm NSO Group for the cyberattack that exploited vulnerability in the app's video calling feature.

“Government of India is concerned at the breach of privacy of citizens of India on the messaging platform WhatsApp. We have asked WhatsApp to explain the kind of breach and what it is doing to safeguard the privacy of millions of Indian citizens,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, tweeted. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the attempts to align the government for a reported breach were “misleading”. “It is clarified that the government operates strictly as per provisions of the law. There are adequate safeguards to ensure that no innocent citizen is harassed or his privacy breached,” it said. However, it did not address the question of whether the central or state governments or any of their agencies have ever bought NSO Group’s spyware technology or its well-known product Pegasus.

In the vulnerability, a WhatsApp user could receive what appears to be a video call and even if the call is unanswered, the attacker could transmit malicious code to infect the victim’s phone with spyware. Another NSO Group software, Pegasus, was used to install spying software on devices between August 2016 and August 2018 by Toronto-based Citizen Lab.

The NSO Group claims to sell surveillance technology to governments globally only for the purposes of fighting terrorism and crime but has been accused of selling to governments that have a track record of spying on its citizens.

In response to a Right to Information request, asking if the government has bought from the NSO Group, filed by activist Saurav Das, the MHA said it had no information on the issue. The Opposition and experts did not take kindly to the government’s stand. “I am extremely concerned and I am sure the parliamentary committee on information technology would share my concerns. However, the story only broke after our last meeting. I intend to consult other members by email on the matter. In any case, cybersecurity is a major issue on our agenda and we are definitely going to take this up under that rubric. Of course, we will be seeking clarifications from the government,” said Shashi Tharoor, who heads the panel on IT.

Randeep Singh Surjewala, in-charge, All India Congress Committee Communications, said the Centre needs to answer which agency purchased the software and what action it would take.

Apple India logs record sales, re-enters list of top 10 smartphone brands

After two years of downbeat news, Apple, the premium consumer electronics giant, managed to turn around its business in India. The management of the US-based entity informed its investors on Thursday that it registered record sales in this country during the July-September quarter.

Luca Maestri, senior vice-president and chief financial officer at Apple Inc, said in a post-results conference call that they had “established new Q4 (July-September) records in many major developed and emerging markets”. Including India, America, Canada, Germany, France, Korea, Singapore, Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. As a result, its gross margin expanded 40 basis points, to 38 per cent.

Maestri added the company’s laptop and desktop business had record sales in India. “Despite the tough compare, we generate an all-time revenue record for Mac in the US and in India.” The maker of popular smart technology products like the iPhone and MacBook has faced stiff competition here, the world’s second-largest smartphone market. After shipping in 3.2 million units in 2017, the India unit of Apple sold only 1.7 million units of iPhones in 2018.

More, in October-December 2018, it failed to capture top spot in the premium smartphone market, after years. It fell behind OnePlus (36 per cent market share), with 30 per cent share. In April-June 2019, its share in the above Rs 30,000 price segment fell further — to 21 per cent — and slipped to third spot, behind OnePlus and Samsung.

The firm, however, left no stone unturned to regain top spot this festive season. From new and competitively-priced iPhones to slashing prices of its older models, it had a multi-pronged strategy. The entry-level new iPhone model — iPhone 11 — was priced Rs 64,900, or 15.6 per cent less than the XR variant of 2018. The model is priced even lower than the iPhone X, launched at Rs 70,990 only two years ago.

Also, to capture the country’s shopping mood ahead of the festive season, the new iPhones were made available from September 27 in India, three days ahead of its global launch. According to Navkendar Singh, research director at IDC, the launch date could have been advanced to align it with the upcoming Big Billion Days sale by Flipkart (starting September 29) and similar shopping events that were expected to kick off by the last week of that month.

Counterpoint Research estimates that efforts taken from April onward helped Apple make an entry into the top 10 smartphone brands in July-September after several quarters. Primarily, price cuts on the iPhone XR, along with good channel demand for its new iPhone 11, played a key role. More, the iPhone XR — base model from last year’s launch — became a top-selling model for the brand after Apple cut its price and offered a cashback scheme this April.

During the April-June quarter, 48 out of 100 iPhones sold in India were of the iPhone XR. The firm had reduced the effective price to Rs 53,900, from Rs 76,900 in early April. Karn Chauhan, research analyst at Counterpoint, had said the drastic drop in prices of older iPhones could give Apple an edge over competitors like OnePlus.

It remains to be seen how much of these efforts reflect in yearly sales. Apple India had a 19 per cent drop in yearly revenue for 2018-19, the first such since it set up shop here, and has also faced challenges in maintaining profitability. Net profit plunged 71 per cent to Rs 262 crore last year, from Rs 896 crore in 2017-18.

Valued at $1 billion in heyday, ShopClues sold for just about $100 million

This was the year ShopClues planned to launch an initial public offering. On Thursday, the Gurugram-based e-commerce was sold for just about $100 million, less than a tenth of its valuation of $1.1 billion in happier days.

After multiple attempts at selling itself, including to larger e-commerce player Snapdeal, ShopClues has found a buyer in Singapore-based e-commerce platform Qoo10 in an all-stock deal. It also reportedly held talks with Paytm Mall, eBay and Flipkart for a potential sale over the past year.

One of the youngest and most promising unicorns, or start-ups valued at $1 billion and above, ShopClues has had its share of controversies, the most public of which was a fall-out between its co-founders Radhika and Sandeep Aggarwal, who were earlier married to each other.

Sandeep accused Radhika of not giving him credit for running the firm and the spat played out through public Facebook posts and media reports. In 2015, Sandeep had to step down as chief executive after being charged with insider trading allegations in the US. He later founded Droom, an online marketplace to buy and sell used automobiles.

Sanjay Sethi, the other co-founder, and Radhika took over the reins of the firm. But people in the know say though Sethi was the technology brain, he was not hands-on like Sandeep, who was the go-to man for raising investments.

ShopClues was funded by, among others, GIC, Tiger Global Management and Nexus Venture Partners. There are few instances of a company being sold for such a low amount after the kind of valuation it once had.

Qoo10 services small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through its localised online marketplaces in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, and Hong Kong. It plans to expand into other Asian countries, ShopClues said on Thursday. “This partnership presents new strategic opportunities for both companies, as it opens up cross-border opportunities,” the firm said.

The merger has been approved by board of directors and major shareholders of both the companies.

However, in a market already grappling with the extensive reach of the two large players — Amazon and Flipkart — and more specialised ones like BigBasket, and a slew of new Chinese entrants such as Club Factory and Shein, it was not immediately clear what unique proposition Qoo10 would bring to the table.

Tier-II, -III and -IV cities, which ShopClues serviced extremely well at its peak by keeping costs low, are also being targeted by Flipkart and Amazon. ShopClues was unable to match the aggressive expansion of its larger competitors.

Earlier this year, there were reports that said ShopClues was being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate for funds received from its US-based parent Clues Network.

Over the past three years, the company has tried several times to raise funds, but apart from its biggest investor Tiger Global, none of the other investors showed interest in further funding. In the past two years, ShopClues also tried to pivot its business to a more enterprise focused model from its core consumer facing marketplace.

In July, it said its enterprise business was 15 per cent of its revenues and its social selling platform Ezonow had crossed 800,000 in resellers’ base.

The cash-strapped company has been scouting for fresh investments, having survived on multiple bridge rounds from its existing set of backers, and later looking for buyers after fresh financing rounds failed to materialise.

Irdai asks insurers to give details on exposure to DHFL, IL&FS, ADAG

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has sought data from companies on their exposure to Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL), Indiabulls, and Anil Dhirbubhai Ambani group companies, sources aware of the development said.

“The regulator perhaps wants to see the strength of the insurance companies," said the chief executive officer of a life insurance company. All the four entities, for which data was sought by Irdai on October 9, have been downgraded by credit rating agencies recently.

“Usually, it is left to the insurers on how they deal with downgraded entities. But this may have been done to find if there is any over exposure the insurers have against their asset base," said a former member of Irdai.

When an entity is downgraded, insures' investment in such entities is clubbed under the unapproved investment kitty and the insurers are allowed to have 10 per cent of their investment in the unapproved investment.

“If the 10 per cent is breached, there might be some problem, but so far the 10 per cent threshold has not been breached by any insurer," experts said.

There might be concern on the solvency of insurers having exposure to the four entities, the former member of Irdai quoted above said. If such a situation arises wherein the rating downgrade of an entity threatens the solvency margin of an insurer, the insurer has to infuse fresh capital to maintain a solvency margin of 1.5.

The Irdai had in the past asked insurers with exposure to IL&FS to provide for their exposure. A lot of insurers including the state-owned behemoth Life Insurance Corporation have exposure to IL&FS.

Centrum MicroCredit buys Altura Financial with its Rs 100-crore loan

Centrum MicroCredit has signed an agreement to acquire Altura Financial Services, with a loan portfolio of Rs 100 crore. This is the second acquisition by Centrum after it acquired L&T Finance’s supply chain finance portfolio of Rs 650 crore in September last year. Jaspal Bindra, executive chairman of Centrum, had earlier stated that its complete book is funded by term-loans from banks and the firm has not taken and commercial paper money or raised debentures.

Pepsico India wins US award for saving more than 17 billion litres of water

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday presented the prestigious Award for Corporate Excellence to Pepsico India for its efforts to save more than 17 billions of litres of water through community water programs and positively impacting thousands of community members.

Established in 1999, the ACE recognizes US companies that promote and uphold high standards as responsible members of their communities where they do business.

Today we honour one of PepsiCo's regional arms, PepsiCo India. It is India's largest purchaser of potatoes. And it uses this to power good, sourcing sustainably from 24,000 small Indian farmers. It also has a program aimed at replenishing water in stressed areas, through which it has restored nearly five billion litres of water, he said.

Other recipients of the award are Chambers Federation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Procter and Gamble Asia Pacific in Singapore and Agilis Partners in Uganda.

Our four winners today demonstrate the power of free enterprise. They demonstrate to our foreign partners that working with our businesses is a path to prosperity and stability, Pompeoe said at the awards ceremony held at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

These companies, he said represents America's free market values by creating good jobs here in the United States and around the world, investing sustainably, operating transparently, and offering the highest quality products and services in the world.

PepsiCo India has been named the global ACE winner in sustainable operations in the multinational enterprise category for its sustainable farming initiative in India.

The award recognises the company's effort to save more than 17 billion litres of water through its community water programs and replenishing over 5 billion litres of water, positively impacting 60,000 community members.