Editor's pick: More PNB takeovers likely; CCI watching Maruti closely; Cannabis company CEO paid highly

It's takeover season yet again in the PSB sector. PNB is likely to take over three smaller banks, namely, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), Andhra Bank, and Allahabad Bank. The government has been striving to revive the health of public sector banks. In February, the government jad announced a recapitalisation tranche of Rs 48,239 crore for as many as 12 public sector banks in a bid to take them out of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework. Their lending ability was constrained by RBI when they were put under this framework. PNB was already in the news last month for a possible merger with Union Bank of India and Bank of India.

Maruti finds itself in some hot water, with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) which has been investigating it for about ten months, declaring that Maruti's "resale price maintenance" is anti-competitive. This is similar to what we saw with Hyundai in 2017, when the India unit was fined over $12 million. That order was squashed in an appeals court but the CCI is fighting it at the Supreme Court. Maruti, with more than 50% market share, is much more likely to get into more serious trouble than Hyundai, whose market share in 2017 was about 14%.

Reliance Industries has toppled the IOC on the ranking chart of the biggest company by revenue in India. Reliance in the 2018-19 fiscal year that ended 31 March, reported a turnover of Rs 6.23 lakh crore. In comparison, IOC posted a turnover of Rs 6.17 lakh crore for the fiscal, according to regulatory filings by the two companies. It also has the highest gross debt of Rs 2.87 lakh crore at the end of March 2019.

Bonobo mothers are their sons' best wingmen; rhesus monkeys with human brain genes have been birthed in a lab in China, and these monkeys have better short term memory; Jamie Oliver's restaurant empire is collapsing in Britain; Sridevi's Mom is a huge hit in China; medical-cannabis company Tilray's CEO Brendan Kennedy is the second highest paid executive in the world with $256 million.