Reliance Communications gets relief from bondholders as deadline looms

Reliance Communications Ltd., the embattled Indian phone company headed by billionaire Anil Ambani, clinched the approval of its overseas bondholders to ease the carrier’s debt burden, putting the company a step closer to averting bankruptcy.
The Indian phone operator, which defaulted last year on a $300-million bond, got 83 percent of bondholders to approve the plan, the company said in an exchange filing.

The vote was crucial for Ambani because settling the matter was a precondition for RCom to reorganise its larger local debt. The company has been working against the clock to reach agreements with all its creditors by Aug. 27 or face insolvency proceedings.
RCom is also in the midst of completing its sale of airwaves, towers and fiber to a rival controlled by Ambani’s older brother, who’s India’s richest man. The brothers wrapped up a smaller deal involving transmission nodes, worth 20 billion rupees, on Aug. 23.

RCom planning to complete Rs 250-billion assets sale by August-end

Debt-ridden Reliance Communications is looking to complete the sale of its business assets worth Rs 250 billion by the end of this month and has also agreed to pay Rs 5.5 billion towards settlement to telecom gearmaker Ericsson by September-end.

Reliance Communications in a regulatory filing said that it has "agreed to pay a settlement amount of Rs 5.5 billion to Ericsson on or before September 30, 2018".

The Supreme Court of India on August 3 approved the settlement arrived at between RCom and Ericsson India Pvt Ltd over a payment dispute and asked the Anil Ambani-led firm to pay Rs 5.5 billion to the Indian arm of Swedish firm by September 30.

Ericsson India Pvt Ltd, which had signed a seven-year deal in 2014 to operate and manage RCom's nationwide telecom network, had alleged that it had not been paid the dues of over Rs 15 billion and challenged the debt-ridden firm before National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

News Digest: RCom to exit SDR, GST collections, fixed-term jobs, and more

RCom to get out of SDR; finalises Rs 39,000-cr debt resolution plan

Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications (RCom) said on Tuesday it had exited the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) scheme of lenders by agreeing to sell its telecom towers, real estate and other assets, and getting a strategic investor in the “new RCom”, which would help reduce its debt by Rs 39,000 crore. Read more

Budget worries: GST collections fall to lowest in November at Rs 80,808 cr

In continuance with the slide, the mop-up under the goods and services tax (GST) in November fell to just above Rs 80,000 crore – a decline that could be attributed to the rate reduction for more than 200 items in the same month and the use of the integrated GST (IGST) as credit for paying taxes. Read more

Budget 2018: Decongesting big cities on Nitin Gadkari's priority list

In a major plan to decongest cities and improve transportation, the Union road transport ministry has sought an additional Rs 25,000 crore as budgetary support for 2018-19. Read more

Govt may bring back proposal to allow fixed-term employment

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is exploring the possibility of bringing back a controversial proposal to allow industries to hire workers on fixed-term contracts. Read more

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