GOVT WORKING TO RESTRUCTURE AI FINANCES: GARG

NEW DELHI: The government is working on restructuring national Air India’s finances to ensure that the airline has “sustainable debt”, economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said. The debt burden of the national carrier, which is grappling with tough business conditions, is estimated to be more than ₹50,000 crore. Earlier this year, the government’s efforts for strategic disinvestment of Air India failed to take off. “What government is doing in Air India is to restructure the finance of Air India in a way that Air India is there with a sustainable level of debt. Whatever is the excess unsustainable debt (it) will be taken out... Air India with sustainable debt will work as a viable entity,” Garg said.

India’s economy continues on robust growth path: ADB

NEW DELHI: India’s economy continues on a robust growth path, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Wednesday while maintaining the growth forecast for the current fiscal at 7.3%. However, depreciation of the rupee and volatile external financial markets pose challenges, the multilateral lending agency added, in an update of its flagship annual economic publication, the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2018. Growth remains stable across most of developing Asia due to robust domestic demand, buoyant oil and gas prices and a consolidation of India’s growth rebound, it said.

CCI may clear Fortisihh deal by Octoberend

NEW DELHI: Anti-trust regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) is likely to give its approval to the Fortis-ihh deal by the end of October, bringing the curtains down on a bidding war for Fortis that started in February after founders Malvinder and Shivinder Singh lost shareholding because of debt. The Fortis Healthcare board in July had unanimously accepted the binding offer from IHH Healthcare Berhad to invest ₹4,000 crore in the cash-strapped hospital chain, outbidding a consortium of Manipal Health Enterprises and TPG Capital, and ending the search for an investor.

Daimler names R&D head as next chief executive

MUNICH: Daimler named research chief Ola Kaellenius as its next

CEO on Wednesday in a succession plan that promotes a raft of tech-savvy managers at its Mercedes-benz car brand and also seeks to install long-serving CEO Dieter Zetsche as chairman. The German automaker said the plan would provide certainty on future leadership at a time of upheaval in the car industry, though some commentators questioned an arrangement they said could leave Zetsche as a back-seat driver.

Uber to pay $148 million penalty over data breach

NEW YORK: Ride hailing service Uber agreed to pay record $148 million penalty over a massive 2016 data breach, which the company concealed for a year, New York’s attorney general announced Wednesday. “This record settlement should send a clear message: we have zero tolerance for those who skirt the law and leave consumer and employee information vulnerable to exploitation,” New York attorney general Barbara Underwood said in a statement.

COMPILED FROM MINT REPORTERS AND AGENCIES