Whistleblower alleges siphoning of funds from MIAL; GVK gets MCA notice

International News
The GVK Group, which is in locked in a legal battle with the Adani Group on stake sale in its flagship Mumbai International Airport (MIAL), on Tuesday said it has received a notice from the corporate affairs ministry (MCA), seeking some details about the airport operator.
The group is resisting the Adanis' bid to buy out the 13.5 percent stake being held by its South African JV partner Bidvest in MIAL. The issue is with the Bombay High Court.
The Hyderabad-based infrastructure major, which has interest in power, coal mines and aviation among others, however, denied that other group companies have also received notices from the ministry.
"We confirm only MIAL has received a communication asking for certain details/information, which are being furnished," GVK said in a statement.
MIAL is a JV between GVK-led consortium of Bidvest and Airports Company of South Africa, and the state-run Airports Authority, in which GVK holds majority 50.5 percent and AAI 26 percent and the remaining 23.5 percent are with the two foreign partners.
While Bid Services Division Mauritius or Bidvest owns 13.5 percent, ACSA Global (Airports Company of South Africa) holds 10 percent in the nation's second busiest airport.

 The statement came after a section of the media reported that the GVK group was on the ministry radar following a whistle-blower alleging siphoning of funds, issuance of fake bills to inflate cost to get undue Customs and Excise duty benefits among others."We are not aware of any whistleblower complaint or any allegations that have appeared in a section of the media, which are baseless," the company said....READ MORE

Mahindra to increase price of vehicles by up to Rs 73,000 from April

Company News

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Thursday said it will increase the price of its passenger and commercial vehicles by Rs 5,000 to Rs 73,000 from April to partially offset the impact of rising input costs.

The price of the company's vehicles will go up by 0.5 per cent to 2.7 per cent from next month due to the price hike, the company said in a statement.

"This year has seen record high commodity price increases. Further there are regulatory requirements effective April 1 that have also led to cost increases.

While we have made efforts to reduce our costs, it has not been possible to hold back the price increase," M&M President Automotive Sector Rajan Wadhera said in the statement.
Consequently, the company is taking a price increase from April 1, he added.

The company sells various utility vehicles ranging from newly launched compact SUV XUV300 to premium SUV Alturas G4. M&M also sells various commercial vehicles including Supro and Jeeto in the domestic market.

Earlier this week, French car maker Renault had announced increase in price of Kwid range in India by up to 3 per cent from April.

Last week, Tata Motors had also announced increase in price of its passenger vehicles by up to Rs 25,000 from April on account of rising input costs and external economic conditions.

 M&M joins the likes of Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover which have also stated that they would raise price of select models from April.