Land acquisition delays and Centre-state tussles have pushed the government to shut down about 116 infrastructure projects worth Rs 1.26 lakh crore. Further, the cumulative capital expenditure of Rs 20,311 crore has already been made on these projects but the Centre is now planning to shut them down completely.

“These 116 projects feature in the list of those terminated, on hold, or bound for foreclosure. These may be removed from the Centre’s project-monitoring system, which has been created to expedite infrastructure execution,” according to a report in the Business Standard, which cited an internal report prepared by NITI Aayog— the apex public policy think-tank of government.

The central policy think-tank report revealed that many of such projects are related to the railways and road sectors. In the case of railways, 50 projects have been put on the back burner (some of them approved 48 years ago) and 15 are yet to be okayed. Likewise, 33 projects in the road sectors are likely to be closed or suspended. Most of the investments were made in the railways and roads.

Reliance Industries (RIL) is set to acquire German wholesaler Metro’s India unit for 500-550 million euros (about Rs 4,061-4,467 crore) as chairman Mukesh Ambani looks to consolidate his retail play. The proposed deal will mark Metro’s exit from one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, which it had entered 19 years ago with big hopes.

Sources said Metro has agreed to RIL’s purchase deal for its local cash-and-carry business, which also includes the Indian conglomerate retaining the former’s employees for at least one year. RIL, India’s largest company in terms of market value, will also gain Metro’s wholesale centers across the country and land assets as part of the transaction.

Meta India head Ajit Mohan has given his resignation from the company. According to the report, he is joining rival company Snap. At the company, Ajit will serve as the President of the APAC business.

Ajit had joined Meta India, then Facebook, in 2019 as VP and MD. He had done considerable work to increase the user base of both Meta's apps WhatsApp and Instagram. Earlier, he served as the chief executive officer of Star India's video streaming service Hotstar for four years.

AirAsia India Pvt Ltd (AAIPL) is now 100% owned by the Tata Group, with the latter purchasing the remaining 16.3% stake of AirAsia Berhad reportedly for $19 million. AAIPL is now a 100% subsidiary of Air India, AAIPL MD & CEO Sunil Bhaskaran said in an internal note to employees on Wednesday.

This paves the way for AAIPL merging into Air India Express and forming a big low cost entity under the Tatas. Talks are simultaneously on between Singapore Airlines (SIA) which owns 49% of full service Vistara and Tatas (51% owner of Vistara) for merging this airline with Air India.

The electrification of buses used in public transport country-wide is seen as a major step towards cutting down emissions and helping India reach its target of reducing 1 billion tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030. As of now of the total 1.5 lakh buses that ply on Indian roads, around 4647 of them have been electrified and one company that’s taking up the challenge with panache is definitely PMI Electro Mobility

This Haryana-headquartered company that transformed from a coachbuilder to a full-fledged electric bus manufacturer, it’s one of the leading manufacturers in this segment. In FY2022, it registered 397 buses and so far in FY2023, the registration number clocks closer to 611.