TRACKPAD

R-Com Signs Binding Agreement With Brookfield Infrastructure

India’s fourth largest telecom player, Reliance Communications has on Wednesday announced the signing of binding agreements with Brookfield Infrastructure in relation to the acquisition of R-Com’s nationwide tower assets by affiliates of Brookfield Infrastructure and its institutional partners.

R-Com will receive an upfront cash payment of Rs.11,000 crore on completion of the transaction, which has been in the works for more than a year. The amount raised by the company through sale of the tower arm will help in paring down its huge pile of debt. The transaction represents the largest ever investment by any overseas financial investor in the infrastructure sector in India, reflecting the strong confidence of the foreign investor community in the country. 

R-Com’s telecom towers will be demerged into a separate new company that will be 100 per cent owned and independently managed by Brookfield Infrastructure, thereby creating the second largest independent and operator-neutral Towers company in India.

The already announced combination of R-Com’s wireless business with Aircel, and the monetisation of the Tower business, will together reduce R-Com’s overall debt by Rs.31,000 crore, i.e. nearly 70 per cent of company’s existing debt.

State Bank To Offer Credit Cards On FD

In a major move towards a cashless economy, the country’s largest commercial bank’s arm is planning to come out with credit cards for anyone who has a Rs.25000 fixed deposit in any bank. There would be no charges associated with the card and it will be available irrespective of the credit history of an individual holder. 

This massive step from the institution comes amidst the currency demonetisation move by the government and many initiatives being announced by both the central government and RBI. The demonetisation drive by the government has led to banks, both public and private, seeing a huge jump in digital transactions.

SBI has seen an almost five times jump in the number of Point of Sale (PoS) machines being installed at merchant outlets daily, indicating that card adoption rate is gathering pace.

According to data from the RBI, the average debit card and credit card transaction value on POS machines for the top four banks has risen by 31 per cent to Rs.1540 crore daily in the month of December. SBI with every passing month is becoming more aggressive, with the card business overtaking the likes of ICICI Bank to become the second biggest card issuer in the country after HDFC Bank. In another development, GE Capital is planning to sell its stake in the joint venture with SBI to other global buyout firms.