India Inc's low confidence reason for drop in investments: Analysts

Current Affairs
Starting on Monday, YouTube will overhaul its systems to comply with a landmark privacy ruling, a move that could dent revenue for the Google video giant and thousands of its creators.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google settled with federal regulators in September for violating laws on collecting data from minors, and YouTube agreed to a series of changes. Videos designed as “made for kids” would be stripped of targeted ads, which fetch higher prices, and other valuable features, such as user comments and live chats.
The Federal Trade Commission, which fined Google over the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, has given broad directives about what it considers child-directed video, including clips with popular animations and kids play with toys. Individual video creators will face fines for violating COPPA going forward, which has sparked panic.“YouTube now treats personal information from anyone watching children’s content on the platform as coming from a child, regardless of the age of the user,” the company wrote in a Monday blog post.
These changes have been expected for months, but their impact is still unknown. Google has warned that some video creators could lose a bulk of their ad sales. The company hasn’t shared its sales or how much of its massive catalog comes from videos “made for kids.”“We’re committed to helping creators navigate this new landscape and to supporting our ecosystem of family content,” YouTube said.
“We’ll share more in the coming months.”

In addition to the restrictions on videos, YouTube will begin placing a text below “made for kids” videos directing viewers to YouTube Kids, an app that’s designed for children. The app has a much smaller audience than the main YouTube service....Read More

Cox & Kings shares have declined 26% since credit rating downgrade

Company News
Shares of tour operator Cox & Kings have slipped 26 per cent since Friday, following a credit rating downgrade which highlighted delays in debt reduction and increase in receivables.
The stock declined 9.9 per cent on Wednesday to close at Rs 45 on the BSE after Brickwork Ratings downgraded rating of the company’s Rs 50-crore non-convertible debentures or NCDs, while retaining its commercial paper rating for Rs 2,060 crore.
On June 17, CARE Ratings had downgraded its rating. On a year-to-date basis, the stock is down 73 per cent.
Cox & Kings, which runs tours and hotels business in India and overseas, has been downsizing its operations since the last few years to pare debt.
Last October, the company sold its education tour business in Europe to Midlothian Capital Partners for an enterprise valuation of Rs 4,380 crore and used the proceeds for debt reduction.
Cox & Kings shares decline 26% following credit rating downgrade
However, lower-than-anticipated debt reduction and increase in receivables have worried investors. An industry source said Cox & Kings has been delaying salaries to its employees for the last few months. The firm’s suppliers, too, have become cautious on extending credit to the firm over fears of default.

 “Total debt of Cox & Kings in FY19 stood at Rs 3,238 crore, against Rs 4,014 crore in FY18. Sale of the education business has enabled the company to reduce debt to a certain extent. The firm has envisaged another monetisation of an overseas asset by the end of calendar year 2019 to pare debt. Timely asset sale and consequent reduction in debt will remain a key rating monitorable,” CARE Ratings said in its report, downgrading the company debt.

India's cash crunch is weighing on financial health of companies

Company News

India's cash crunch is taking its toll on the health of companies and risks inflicting further financial damage, after the credit profile of local firms deteriorated at the fastest pace in six years.
There were two issuer rating downgrades for every upgrade in the first three months of 2019, the worst ratio for any first quarter since at least 2013, according to a Bloomberg News review of moves by three of the nation’s biggest credit raters: Care Ratings, ICRA and India Ratings & Research. Lower ratings force borrowers to pay more for money in debt markets.

The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday cut interest rates for a second time this year, citing economic headwinds. Policy makers have struggled to guide financing costs lower for companies. Creditors remain wary after the collapse last year of non-bank lender Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. added to bad loan problems. That's a challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is trying to get the economy back on steadier footing as national elections kick off this week.

In one sign that the problem has lingered, Care Ratings Ltd downgraded more companies than it upgraded for the first time in six years in the 12-month period through March 31. The worsening "can largely be attributed to the liquidity crunch and decline in operating profits," Care said in a report.
As the central bank tries to get more money flowing through the financial system, it has embarked on its most aggressive monetary policy easing in more than three years. On Thursday it said it will set up a task force to explore the development of the secondary market for corporate loans. The RBI also injected additional funds into the banking system last month to boost liquidity through a rare currency swap.


 "The cash crunch is a concern for regulators too, who are trying to step up liquidity," according to Rajesh Mokashi, managing director at Care Ratings.