Vishal Mega Mart promoter entity sells 14% stake for ₹7,635 cr

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 28, 2026 | Business

Following the stake sale, Samayat Services LLP’s holding in Vishal Mega Mart (VMM) declined to 40.13%, from 54.09%.

Samayat Services LLP, one of the promoter entities of supermarket chain Vishal Mega Mart, on Friday divested nearly a 14 per cent stake in the company for ₹7,635 crore through open market transactions.

Samayat Services LLP is a special-purpose vehicle owned by private equity firm Kedaara Capital and Switzerland-based Partners Group.

According to the bulk deal data on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Samayat Services LLP sold a total of 65.25 crore equity shares in two tranches, representing a 13.96 per cent stake, in Gurugram-based Vishal Mega Mart.

The shares were offloaded in the price range of ₹117-117.03 apiece, taking the combined transaction value to ₹7,635.55 crore.

Following the stake sale, Samayat Services LLP’s holding in Vishal Mega Mart (VMM) declined to 40.13 per cent, from 54.09 per cent.

Meanwhile, HDFC Mutual Fund (MF), the Singapore government and the Monetary Authority of Singapore have collectively bought shares of the supermarket chain.

The Singapore government purchased over 12.69 crore shares or 2.72 per cent holding in Vishal Mega Mart (VMM), while HDFC MF acquired 9.40 crore shares, amounting to a 2.01 per cent equity stake, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore picked up nearly 7.33 crore shares or 1.57 per cent in VMM.

These entities purchased more than 29.42 crore shares or a 6.3 per cent stake in VMM at an average price of ₹117 per share, taking the aggregate value to ₹3,443.17 crore.

Details of the other buyers of Vishal Mega Mart’s shares could not be ascertained on the exchange.

Shares of Vishal Mega Mart declined 7.59 per cent to close at ₹117.85 apiece on the NSE.

In June last year, Samayat Services LLP sold a 19.6 per cent stake in Vishal Mega Mart for ₹10,220.40 crore.

In 2018, Partners Group and India-focused PE firm Kedaara Capital bought Vishal Mega Mart from investment firm TPG Capital and Shriram Group for around $735 million.

In 2024, Kedaara Capital and Partners group took Vishal Mega Mart to the public to raise ₹8,000 crore through an initial public offering.

VMM engages in wholesale, cash and carry trading under the ‘Vishal’ brand and grants franchise rights for Vishal Mega Mart franchise stores. It was incorporated in 2010. VMM operates retail stores through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Airplaza.

Published on February 28, 2026

Source link

SpaceX weighs confidential IPO filing as soon as March

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 28, 2026 | Business

SpaceX could seek a valuation in the IPO of more than $1.75 trillion.
| Photo Credit:
Dado Ruvic

SpaceX is targeting filing confidentially for an initial public offering as soon as next month, according to people familiar with the matter, as billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company moves forward with plans for the biggest-ever listing.

The Starbase, Texas-based firm expects to submit its draft IPO registration to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in March, the people said. Such a move would keep it on track for a June listing, making it the first of what could be a trio of mega-IPOs, with OpenAI and Anthropic PBC potentially coming after.

Considerations are ongoing, details could change and SpaceX could still delay its filing, the people said.

SpaceX could seek a valuation in the IPO of more than $1.75 trillion, some of the people said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private. It acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI in a February deal that valued the enlarged entity at $1.25 trillion, Bloomberg News has reported.

In a confidential filing, companies can receive feedback from the regulator and make changes before the information becomes public.

A representative for SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A listing for SpaceX would raise as much as $50 billion, people familiar with the preparations have said. At that size, it would be larger than the current record holder, Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion debut in 2019.

At a $1.75 trillion market value, SpaceX would be bigger than all but five of the companies in the S&P 500 Index — Nvidia Corp, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc. It would be larger by that metric than Meta Platforms Inc, as well as Musk’s own Tesla Inc.

Satellite TV and wireless provider EchoStar Corp has a stake in SpaceX as the result of wireless spectrum sales last year to Musk’s firm. EchoStar shares surged as much as 10 per cent on Friday, the most since December.

In a memo, SpaceX said it’s preparing for a possible IPO in 2026 that would be aimed at funding an “insane flight rate” for its developmental Starship rocket, artificial intelligence data centres in space and a base on the moon.

SpaceX has lined up Bank of America Corp, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley for senior roles on the IPO, people familiar with the matter have said. The company is considering a dual-class share structure in the IPO that would potentially give insiders such as Musk extra voting power to dominate decision making, Bloomberg News has reported.

The world’s most prolific rocket launcher, SpaceX dominates the space industry with its Falcon 9 rocket that lifts satellites and people to orbit. The company is focused on building out a base on the moon before pursuing its long-held mission of sending humans to Mars, Musk has said.

SpaceX is also the industry leader in providing internet services from low-Earth orbit through Starlink, a system of thousands of satellites that serves millions of customers.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

Published on February 28, 2026

Source link

Fino Payments Bank MD Rishi Gupta arrested under GST Act; Ketan Merchant appointed to lead operations

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 27, 2026 | Business

Fino Payments Bank MD Rishi Gupta

Fino Payments Bank MD, CEO Rishi Gupta, has been arrested under the provisions of the GST Act, the payments bank informed exchanges today.

“We would like to inform that an arrest has been made of Mr. Rishi Gupta, Managing Director (“MD & CEO”) of Fino Payments Bank Limited (“Bank”) under the provisions of section 132(1)(a) and 132(1) (i) of CGST and SGST Act, 2017, respectively on February 27, 2026,” the bank said.

Further, the bank conducted a special Board Meeting wherein current CFO Ketan Merchant has been appointed as the Head of the Organisation by the Board to carry on and oversee the day-to-day operations of the Bank.

The bank said the investigation is related to the bank’s business partners, not to its GST practices. There is no impact on the bank, and none of the bank’s officials is involved in this investigation, per the exchange filing. The bank has informed the RBI about the development.

Published on February 27, 2026

Source link

Share of banks’ term deposits offering ‘less than 7%’ interest rate rose to 56.3% in Dec 2025 from 29.2% a year ago

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 27, 2026 | Business

A cashier counts Indian banknotes as customers wait in queues inside a bank in Chandigarh, India, November 10, 2016. To match Analysis INDIA-MODI/CORRUPTION-BANKS REUTERS/Ajay Verma/File Photo
| Photo Credit:
AJAY VERMA

The transmission effects of the monetary easing phase are evident, with the share of scheduled commercial banks’ (SCBs) term deposits offering interest rate of ‘less than 7 per cent’ rising to 56.3 per cent in December 2025 from 29.2 per cent a year ago, according to RBI.

Consequently, the share of term deposits offering interest rate of ‘7 per cent and above’ declined to 43.7 per cent in December 2025 from 70.8 per cent a year ago.

The aforementioned development comes in the wake of the RBI’s rate setting monetary policy committee cutting the policy repo rate cumulatively by 125 basis points during the February-December 2025 per cent to 5.25 per cent

Term deposits up 11.5%

Term deposits, the prime driver of deposit accumulation, recorded 11.5 per cent growth (year-on-year) in December 2025 and outpaced the growth of current deposits (11.1 per cent) and savings deposits (8.3 per cent), according to RBI’s Quarterly Basic Statistical Return (BSR) on deposits with SCBs.

Deposit growth (y-o-y) pertaining to public sector banks improved to 9.9 per cent in December 2025 against 9.1 per cent last year, whereas the same for private sector banks decelerated by 2.1 percentage points during the said period and stood at 11.3 per cent in December 2025.

Key contributor

The household sector remained the largest contributor with 60.1 per cent of deposits as at end-December 2025. During first three quarters (9 months) of FY:2025-26, the household sector drove more than three-fourths of total change in SCBs’ deposits.

Nearly 70.5 per cent of term deposits were having the original maturity of one to three years as of December 2025, whereas 19.5 per cent of the term deposits were short-term deposits with original maturity period up to one year.

The contribution of female depositors in total SCB’s deposits inched up to 20.8 per cent in December 2025 as compared to 20.6 per cent a year ago, according to the BSR statement.

Further, the share of deposits held by senior citizens increased to 20.7 per cent in December 2025 from 20.2 per cent a year ago.

The share of term deposits of the size ‘₹1 crore and above’ increased and stood at 45.8 per cent in December 2025 (45.5 per cent a year ago).

Published on February 27, 2026

Source link

Public sector banks’ credit growth outpaced overall banking industry growth in Dec 2025

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 27, 2026 | Business

Credit growth in PSBs has consistently outpaced that of private sector banks (PVBs) in last five quarters, per RBI’s statement
| Photo Credit:
ROY CHOWDHURY A

Public sector banks’ (PSBs) credit growth at 14.1 per cent (year-on-year) in December 2025 exceeded the overall bank credit growth of 12.2 per cent, according to RBI.

Credit growth in PSBs has consistently outpaced that of private sector banks (PVBs) in last five quarters, per RBI’s statement on Quarterly Basic Statistical Return (BSR) of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs).

Bank credit growth (y-o-y) improved marginally to 12.2 per cent in December 2025 from 11.8 per cent in December 2024.

Following the easing of policy rates, the share of scheduled commercial banks’ (SCBs) loans bearing interest rate ‘below 9 per cent’ increased to 62.4 per cent in December 2025 from 42.2 per cent in December 2024, reflecting a shift in the interest rate distribution of bank credit.

The weighted average lending rate (WALR) on outstanding credit continued to ease across major sectors since December 2024 and stood at 9.35 per cent as on December 2025 (10.19 per cent on December 2024), in which the WALR on personal loans softened the most, followed by industry..

rural, urban centres

RBI said bank branches located in rural, semi-urban and urban centres recorded higher credit growth than metropolitan branches, with their combined share in total credit at 40.4 per cent in December 2025 from 36.9 per cent in December 2020. Since December 2024, credit growth in metropolitan branches has remained lower than branches in other population groups.

The central bank noted that credit growth accelerated in agriculture, industry and trade sectors for December 2025 relative to December 2024. In contrast, transport operators, personal loans and professional services sectors recorded a moderation in credit growth during the same period.

Personal loans’ growth decelerated to 12.1 per cent for December 2025 from 13.7 per cent in December 2024, converging with overall bank credit growth after a sustained period of outpacing it.

Credit to private corporate sector improved to 9.6 per cent (y-o-y) in December 2025 from 9.0 per cent in September 2025 and 7.9 per cent in June 2025.

Published on February 27, 2026

Source link

Deadlock at CAQM Meet: Industry Slams ‘One-Sided’ Session on 2027 EV Mandate

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 27, 2026 | Business

CAQM meeting on 2027 EV mandate ends in deadlock as industry criticises lack of dialogue and data support.

A meeting of an expert committee established by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), held on Friday to discuss mandating EVs for taxis by 2027 and private cars by 2030 in the NCR region, ended in a stalemate after a stormy session with industry representatives.

According to industry sources, the chairman of the committee, Ashok Jhunjhunwala from IIT Madras, appeared “dismissive” of their views.

They noted that the meeting failed to be productive because it lacked two-way discussion, resulting in the chairman dominating the floor.

When contacted, Jhunjhunwala refused to comment on the proceedings.

“We do not talk to the press about CAQM internal meetings,” Jhunjhunwala told businessline.

The industry representatives had a lot of grievances about the meeting.

“Although the meeting was convened to gather industry views and provide clarifications, it devolved into a one-sided conversation. When we inquired whether the CAQM possessed any studies or data to support mandating EVs by next year, they offered no response. Similarly, they were unable to provide a scientific basis or any reports regarding the adequacy of public charging infrastructure,” an industry representative, who was part of the meeting, told businessline.

Industry representatives said they acknowledge the severity of Delhi’s air pollution but wanted to emphasise in the meeting the need for practical mitigation strategies.

Standalone solution

Their argument is that an EV mandate is not a standalone solution for the region’s air quality issues. “But there was no reasonable discussion on this,” said an industry source.

Industry representatives tried to underline that regulations such as Bharat Stage-6 and Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) norms, and other technologies like CNG and hybrid vehicles are available, primarily for the purpose of bringing down pollution.

However, the CAQM committee is understood to be considering a proposal to allow only zero tailpipe emission (ZTE) four-wheeler taxis, effectively zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), be registered in Delhi-NCR from April 1, 2027, and all private vehicles too ZTEs from April 2030.

“Some representatives also raised concerns about taxi aggregators registering vehicles outside the Delhi-NCR to operate them here, a point to which there was also no response,” said an industry source.

(With inputs from Sindhu Hariharan in Chennai)

Published on February 27, 2026

Source link

« Older Entries

Next Entries »

Times Top News

Times Top News