Japan’s largest drone manufacturer, ACSL, is entering the Indian market in collaboration with Delhi-based Arc Ventures. The JV company, ACSL India, has been formed with an initial investment of $3.5 million from the two partners and will set up manufacturing units across India, the first of which will be ready in Coimbatore by this October. Arc Ventures MD Arjun Aggarwal told TOI his group is also planning to enter the upcoming drone taxi and drone ports space in India.

“We plan to make in India for the world. Arc Ventures will initially invest about Rs 300 crore in developing its drone ecosystem that will include manufacturing them; maintenance and repair; developing the software and on skilling personnel to operate them. Our drones will meet the requirements of industry and governments,” Aggarwal said.

In a setback to telecom companies, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed their plea for recalculation of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) to be paid to the Centre and now they will have to pay a total Rs 1.69 lakh crore as directed by court which rejected their self-assessment of dues at around Rs 40,000 crore.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hrishikesh Roy dismissed the plea of telecom companies which had pleaded that there was error on the the part of government officials who calculated the dues and sought court’s direction to rectify it. With the dismissal of the plea, they will have to comply with the SC’s September order by which telecom firms were granted 10 years more time to clear remaining AGR dues of around Rs 1.43 lakh crore to the Centre. As many telecom companies were facing financial problems and could have gone for winding up operations for not being able to pay the entire amount at one go, the SC had agreed with Centre’s plea that staggered payment option be given to bail out the firms. The court, however, had made it clear that the companies have to pay the dues in “toto”. The total dues on telecom companies was Rs 1.69 lakh crore in October 2019 when SC passed the verdict in favour of the Centre.

The RBI has allowed IDFC to exit as the promoter of IDFC First Bank. The move could pave the way for a merger of the bank with its parent. Shares of IDFC were up 12% at Rs 59 in the stock exchange while IDFC First Bank also rose nearly 2%.

While granting the erstwhile infrastructure financier a bank licence in 2014, the RBI had required businesses that were not compatible with the banking licence to be housed under a holding company that will also own the bank. “We would like to inform you that the RBI has vide its letter dated July 20, 2021, clarified that after the expiry of a lock-in period of 5 years, IDFC can exit as promoter of IDFC First Bank,” the company said in a notice to the exchange. Last month the RBI allowed small finance banks to merge with their promoter entities on completing five years of operations. This resulted in Equitas holding and Ujjivan Financial to announce that they would initiate process for amalgamation process with their promoter entities.

Byju’s has acquired US digital reading platform Epic, focused on kids 12 and under, for $500 million. The acquisition will bolster Byju’s strategy to grow its footprint in the US. The development is part of the Bengaluru-based edtech player’s plan to invest $1 billion in North America.

Byju’s has made multiple big acquisitions in the past year, including those of WhiteHat Jr for $300 million, and Aakash Educational Services for nearly $1 billion. It acquired US-based Osmo, a maker of educational games, for $120 million two years ago. Recently, Byju’s and Walt Disney launched a co-branded learning app targeted at kindergarten to class 3 students.

Tesla, the Elon Musk-owned EV company, announced its entry into the Indian markets and registered its company on January 8 this year.

Since then, the EV aficionados and general car enthusiasts have been waiting for the car to be visible on Indian roads. Even though the company started testing its entry-level Model 3 on Indian roads a week ago, it was under heavy camouflage.

But finally, the anticipations can be put to rest since the first-ever Tesla Model 3 is here. Reflecting the world on its shiny blood red-coloured body, the Tesla Model 3 was recently delivered to a car buff from Bangalore, Karnataka. Pictures of the car were shared on ‘Automobili Ardent,’ a Facebook page about vehicles.