The government has invited preliminary bids to divest its entire stake in Air India, and the airline's subsidiary Air India Express. The government owns 100% stake in Air India and Air India Express. Bidders will need to absorb over ₹23,000 crore of its debt. The government didn't find a single bidder when it tried to sell Air India in 2018.

Modi Enterprises' Lalit Modi said he didn't approve his mother Bina Modi to run their business empire as she's not qualified to run such a large corporation and will dilute their value. Bina Modi took over as group's Chairperson after her husband KK Modi's demise in November 2019. All assets of the group are going on sale, Lalit added.

Several KK Modi group companies including Marlboro cigarette maker Godfrey Phillips India are up for sale, late industrialist KK Modi's son Lalit Modi said today. The family owns a 47.09% stake in Godfrey Phillips. Lalit Modi said that his mother Bina Modi, who took over as Modi Enterprises Chairperson after KK Modi's demise, isn't qualified enough to run the empire.

NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash aged 41, was also an investor and entrepreneur who began investing in businesses before leaving NBA in 2016. In 2013, he co-founded $100-million venture capital firm Bryant Stibel, which invested in China's Alibaba and startups like Tile and Juicero. It claims at least 10 successful exits, including Alibaba and Dell.

Mahindra Group's Anand Mahindra and TVS Group Chairman Venu Srinivasan have been conferred with Padma Bhushan in the 'trade and industry' category. Srinivasan had received Padma Shri in 2010. The 2020 Padma Shri awardees include Naukri.com Founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Tally Solutions Founder Bharat Goenka, VRL Logistics Chairman Vijay Sankeshwar, and Prem Watsa, the Founder of Canada's Fairfax.

Nobel-winning economist Abhijit Banerjee on Sunday said, "We've been witnessing some good indicators for Indian economy for the last two months. But I can't say how long will they last as fresh data are coming in." "Last 30 years have had a huge reduction in poverty in India. Poverty was 40% in 1990, and now, it's under 20%," he added.

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy on Monday took to social media to call the government's decision of Air India's 100% stake sale an "anti-national deal" and threatened to move court against the decision. "PM Narendra Modi...Sir why does govt still want to sell this Family Silver instead of strengthening it," he questioned. Currently, Air India has a debt of ₹60,000 crore.

Nepal's central bank Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is stuck with ₹7 crore in demonetised Indian currency, the country's Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said. "It went through the banking channel, I don’t know why India is not making the adjustment (in the matter)," the minister added. "I'm requesting the Indian side to think about this pending issue," he further said.

Libya's oil output has plunged by 75% to about 320,000 barrels per day since forces loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar blockaded ports and oil fields in eastern and southern Libya a week ago. The fall has caused estimated losses of $256 million. The military commander began an offensive in April 2019 to seize the capital Tripoli from a UN-recognised government.

The US Transportation Department fined Delta Air Lines $50,000 (₹35.6 lakh) over alleged discriminatory conduct for removing three Muslim passengers from its planes in two incidents. In an instance, a couple was deboarded after a passenger claimed they made her "nervous" and an attendant saw the man repeatedly type "Allah" while texting, and wasn't boarded back despite security office's clearance.

Brazilian gunmaker Taurus Armas SA has signed a joint venture with steelmaker Jindal Group to produce guns in India, according to a securities filing on Monday. Under the agreement, Jindal will hold a 51% stake in the venture and Taurus the remaining shares. With an initial investment of $5 million, the agreement proposes setting up a plant in Haryana's Hisar.

The Ferreros, Italy's richest family, are receiving a $708 million dividend from the Ferrero Group, the maker of Nutella chocolate spread and Kinder chocolates. Giovanni Ferrero, grandson of founder Pietro, owns a controlling stake in Ferrero, which made record $1 billion profit for the fiscal year ended in August. The family has a fortune of $32.3 billion, as per Bloomberg.

Days after Maharashtra government announced malls in Mumbai can remain open 24/7 from January 27, Infiniti Mall's CEO Mukesh Kumar said they haven't decided on it yet. "We're rolling out food and beverages first...Our food courts will be open until 3 am only during the weekends," he said. Infiniti Mall operates two malls, one in Andheri and another in Malad.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Kapil Wadhawan, Chairman and MD of debt-ridden Dewan Housing Finance Ltd, in connection with deceased gangster Iqbal Mirchi's money laundering case. Wadhawan is being produced in the special court for custody. The case revolves around a ₹2,186-crore loan to Sunblink Real Estate Private Limited, which is under investigation for links with Mirchi.

After Walmart fired 56 senior executives at its Gurugram headquarters, they have approached the retail giant's headquarters in US, calling the firing unfair. Three ex-executives said the firing took place even after they were assured that there won't be any job cuts. Walmart HQ responded that an investigation will be carried out by a team from the US ethics department.

Power Minister RK Singh stated that a modified version of the UDAY scheme may be announced in the upcoming Budget. The government will work through a single scheme and states would need to reduce discoms losses to below 15%, he added. "UDAY scheme isn't a failure. We have reduced losses of discoms from over 22% to around 18%" he said.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that any delay in highway projects will not be tolerated and performance of all officials in the road ministry and National Highways Authority of India will be audited. The audit will be done on the basis of several parameters and those who don't work will be shown the door, Gadkari added.

Speaking about India's decision to ban imports of refined palm oil, Nepal's Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada said there was no prior indication and the decision came as a shock. He said 25% of Nepal's exports to India were related to the palm oil industry and would adversely affect that industry. He expressed hopes that India will reconsider its decision.

Nobel laureate and economist Abhijit Banerjee has said that the Indian banking sector is the "biggest stress point" and "government really isn't in a position to bail it out." Banerjee warned, "we are talking about a long process of attrition, that's going to be costly." He added that slowdown in auto sector shows people's lack of confidence in the economy.

Procter & Gamble (P&G), the owner of Tide detergent and Pantene shampoo brands, said its Indian business has slowed largely "because of some of the monetary policies". Its CFO Jon Moeller said the monetary policies had created a liquidity squeeze in the market, which was drying up inventory through the system. Moeller made the statement while announcing P&G's second-quarter earnings.

Urban cooperative banks reported nearly 1,000 frauds worth ₹220 crore in last five years, RBI said. During 2018-19 itself, about 181 cases worth ₹127.7 crore were reported, while 99 and 27 such cases worth ₹46.9 crore and ₹9.3 crore were reported during 2017-18 and 2016-17, respectively. Maximum frauds were reported during 2014-15 with 478 cases worth ₹19.8 crore.

Foreign exchange reserves rose for the 17th straight week by $943 million to all-time high of $462.15 billion for the week ended January 17, RBI data said. The increase is attributed to strong foreign direct investments, foreign portfolio investments and stable crude oil prices. FPIs have invested a net of $234 million since January 2020 and $19.4 billion in 2019.

HDFC's net profit grew four times to ₹8,372.49 crore in the third quarter compared to ₹2,113.80 crore in the same quarter last year. The rise in profit has been attributed to the merger of Gruh Finance with Bandhan Bank, leading to value gain of ₹9,019.81 crore. Moreover, the total revenue from operations increased by 92% to ₹20,285.47 crore.

Market regulator SEBI has urged the Supreme Court to allow Malaysia's IHH Healthcare to proceed with an open offer to buy additional stake in Fortis Healthcare. SEBI said open offer was mandatory under its rules after IHH had acquired 31% stake in Fortis. SC froze the IHH-Fortis deal in 2018, but IHH completed the transfer before that, the regulator added.

The Consumer Rights Foundation has moved a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court, seeking government action for the immediate recovery of AGR dues from telecom companies. Earlier, the Telecom Department said it won't take coercive action against the companies that fail to meet the court-directed January 23 deadline. The plea claimed DoT's order amounts to contempt of court.