20 Companies: Pursuit of Profit | / GURGAON | FRIDAY | 20 JANUARY 2017

very attractive base price, “but as bidding progressed, went way be- Prasad Banks yond realistic levels”. Govt to Vet Print Auction by United Spirits Bidders at the auction had to depo- on NIC to Make sit a demand draft for a minimum  plan was to refurbish the car and, the Rolls-Royce 204 Phantom went amount, in favour of United Spi- a Difference at From Page 1 after retirement, take it on a global along. The reserve price of the su- rits, before bidding commenced. Media Concerns The money, though, won’t go to the road trip. But in the end, he didn’t per luxury car was fixed at `12 lakh, Some of the cars were in a real bad Grassroots Level businessman who fled in buy any. but it went for `52 lakh. shape, the person said. He had in- March last year after being chased United Spirits confirmed the auc- The money will accrue to United spected the cars put up for sale befo- by banks for loan repayments, or tion. “This is in line with our earli- Spirits. re bidding for a few select ones. Our Bureau I&B secy told to look into impact of wage the lenders which are trying to re- er announcement that we would be These vehicles were displayed in a board suggestions, GST on print media cover thousands of crores that they monetising non-core assets,” said a LESSON FOR LENDERS central Mumbai showroom, which New Delhi: Calling the National say he owed them. spokesperson. Perhaps, banks that have failed so originally belonged to Shaw Walla- Informatics Centre (NIC) the These cars now belong to United A Quippo Auctions executive said far to find any takers for Mallya’s ce, a spirits maker acquired by Mal- “technological bridge” of India Our Bureau Spirits, the Indian subsidiary of UK the response to the e-auction “was real estate could borrow the idea lya during his heydays in 2005. and the organisation that will “le- major . good”. The auction started at 4 pm from this auction of keeping the re- The Porsche Boxster finally ad the way” for Digital India, union New Delhi: Union minister Quite evidently, the new owners and saw some hectic bidding, dri- serve price low, a person tracking changed hands after a bidder rai- minister for electronics and infor- ` Venkaiah Naidu has asked of United Spirits aren’t fond of the ving up the final price on some cars the auction process said. sed his bid to 10 lakh. mation technology Ravi Shankar Information and Broadcas- expensive hobbies of Mallya, the to eight to ten times the reserve pri- High reserve prices were blamed Porsche carried a reserve price of Prasad, announced several new ` ting secretary Ajay Mittal to former promoter of the company ce. The bids went on for several ro- for keeping buyers away from the 8 lakh and a bidder said the car initiatives including setting up a examine concerns of print who had a fascination for vintage unds, as some bidders raised bids Villa in and the will need heavy repairs to make it Government Securities Operation and fast cars, as well as race horses. steadily by `10,000, in every round, Kingfisher House in Mumbai that roadworthy again. The Mercedes Centre (G-SOC) and a new Data about the possible impact of PTI the latest wage board recom- Union minister Venkaiah Naidu At the auction, enthusiasts ratc- as they were outbid by equally ear- the banks had put on auction. G-Wagen that carried a reserve pri- Centre for Cloud in . The ` ` mendations and increased has taken note of concerns heted up the bid price several times nest rivals. A participant in Wednesday’s auc- ce of 2 lakh was bid up to 13.10 work towards building these cent- ` taxes under the Goods and aired by newspaper industry over for select cars. The intensity of the bidding could tion, who did not want to be named, lakh while the Maserati got 41 res will begin immediately. ` Services Tax Regime, an I&B A bidder that ET spoke to said his be gauged by the way the price for said the vintage cars were a steal at lakh, after starting at 10 lakh. NIC supports most of the techno- ministry statement said on sed by the newspaper indust- logical infrastructure of both the Thursday. ry which has been reported state and Central government mi- The statement comes days in the media” and “has asked nistries and departments. ahead of the presentation of Secretary, I&B, to look into polls, BJP, Mulayam said “an envi- Addressing a three-day meet on the Union Budget. the issues in the wake of imp- ‘SP-Cong Alliance Good for UP’ ronment of fear is being created by Grassroot Informatics called VI- Over the last few days it was lementation of latest Wage BJP”, and that the party is “forget- VID: Weaving a Digital India, Pra- me how can there be any other lea- On the SP-Congress tieup, Mulay- ting” the teachings of Deendayal sad said the NIC must adopt a reported across media that Board Recommendations From Page 1 newspapers are struggling to and the proposed GST regi- der for us except you,” the SP patri- am expectedly said the partnership Upadhyaya. “Congress should not transformative approach to make retain staff and publish mul- me,” the statement said. “So many people who had never co- arch told ET. will be good for UP, adding that SP have abandoned Mahatma Gandhi a difference at the grassroots le- tiple editions, and they fear I&B ministry officials said me here earlier have told me in the He was dismissive of Bahujan Sam- keeps its word, unlike some other and BJP should not have abandoned vel. “I appeal to the NIC to connect that many new measures by if needed, they will hold deta- past few days they are with me. They aj Party chief Mayawati’s attempt to parties. “Hamari party zabaan deti Deendayal Upadhyaya,” he said. with the Common Service Centres the government — along with iled discussions with indust- have told me that people are mislea- woo Muslim voters by fielding a lar- hai toh tikti hai. Yeh jo sauda karne The Modi government’s demoneti- (CSCs), who have successfully pro- the impact of demonetisa- ry representatives and the ding you that no one is with you… ge number of candidates from the wale kuch log hote hain, hum waise sation move also came in for expec- vided training on digital payment tion — will make their survi- Centre will analyse how we are with you,” Mulayam said. minority community: “Woh to ha- nahi hain. Hum sauda nahi karte. ted criticism. “The shocking thing systems to over 1.96 crore rural ci- val even more challenging. print media policy/guideli- “The SP government’s biggest mesha deti thi... woh zamana doosra Poochh lo kisi se bhi (When our par- is that the process of demonetisa- tizens and 6.15 lakh merchants.” Minister Naidu “has taken nes have evolved in the past success is that it has removed fear tha… ab Musalmaan sab samajhta ty gives its word, it sticks to it. We tion is not getting over. There are He also announced that the go- note of the concerns expres- years. from the minds of Muslims. Mus- hai (She has always done that. But ti- aren’t traders or businessmen like new rules every single day. They vernment is going to enhance the lims tell me it is because of me they mes have changed. Muslims under- some people. Ask anyone).” should have just left things the way infrastructure of district NIC offi- have confidence to live. They tell stand everything now).” Targeting SP’s main rival in these they were earlier,” Mulayam said. ces to international standards.

Linking Aadhaar No. with Supplies under PDS May Become Mandatory Cybage’s Nathani New Delhi: The govern- od grains. “We are moving ment will shortly issue or- towards making it (Aadha- ders to make it compulsory ar) essential. A notification Buys 25% in Ethosh to link Aadhaar numbers will be issued shortly and we across the US, Europe and In- with supplies under the pub- will be sharing (details) abo- dia. “We plan to accelerate our lic distribution system, said ut it soon,” Sudan said. Ethosh makes growth and bring more inno- Preeti Sudan, secretary in She said an Aadhaar-enab- vative solutions to our custo- the Department of Food and led payment system involved advanced videos mers with this fund infusion,” Public Distribution. no transaction fee and was said Deshpande, managing di- The ministry expects the the preferred mode of imple- for marketing rector of Ethosh. move to help improve effici- mentation for digital PDS This is the second invest- ency in the distribution of fo- transactions. —Our Bureau and e-learning ment Nathani has made after Demyto, another Pune-based Priyanka.Sangani startup that offers car servi- @timesgroup.com cing as well as allied products, through its web-based plat- Pune: Cybage co-founder De- form. He said he will like to fo- epak Nathani has bought 25% cus on investing in Pune-ba- stake in visual and interactive sed companies, which had be- communications firm Ethosh en operational for some years for an undisclosed amount. and where he can go beyond Nathani, who is also the fo- just making an investment, by under of Pune-based techno- playing a more active role in logy company Relfor Labs, sa- helping them grow. id he will work closely with Ethosh’s solutions include the founders to mentor them interactive product experien- and grow the firm. ce, virtual and augmented re- “Ethosh is a unique compa- ality and visual technical le- ny in the digital space and do- arning. It works with compa- es advanced videos for marke- nies in the consumer goods, ting and e-learning,” he said. medical devices, machinery, Set up in 2011by Rahul Desh- software, hi-tech and defence pande and Jitendra Dahale, segments, helping them adopt Ethosh plans to use the fun- digital communication solu- ding to expand its presence tions.

Two MIAL Executives Suspended for On-time Data Botchup ET ARCHIVE

Our Bureau

Mumbai: Mumbai Interna- tional Airport (MIAL) has suspended two executives, who botched up on-time- performance (OTP) of some flights in November and De- cember 2016. “On checking chocks-on and chocks-off data of flights, it was observed that off-chocks times of 10 flights during December and 12 flights in November 2016 we- re recorded incorrectly in the Airport Operational Da- ta Base (AODB), thereby af- fecting OTP of these flights,” MIAL said in a let- ter to DGCA. Wheel chocks (or chocks) are wedges of sturdy mate- rial placed closely against a vehicle's wheels to prevent accidental movement. Chocks are placed for safety in addition to setting the brakes. The bottom surface is sometimes coated with rubber to enhance grip on the ground. Two staff members — San- jay Singh and Mohak Pat- wardhan — have been su- spended with effect from Ja- nuary 16. An enquiry is in process, MIAL added in the letter and said, disciplinary action will be taken on staff found to be involved in fud- ging data. When contacted, an MIAL spokesperson said an investigation is on and she couldn't comment further. MIAL's move follows a complaint from IndiGo, which pointed out irregula- rities in the calculation of collation of on-time perfor- mance of flights at the air- port. The aviation regulator DGCA formed a panel to probe into the mechanism of calculating OTP at the Mumbai airport.