Tag: digital currency

India’s digital currency transactions top 1 million per day in December

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Banks disbursed some employee benefits through the digital rupee in December, helping the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) meet its target of one million daily transactions by end-2023, three sources directly familiar with the development said.

The central bank digital currency (CBDC), called the e-rupee, has been devised as a digital alternative to physical cash and has been built using distributed-ledger technology.

The RBI started its e-rupee pilot in December 2022 but transactions averaged only 25,000 a day by the end of October, even though its use case was significantly broadened by linking it to the popular United Payments Interface (UPI), a framework that facilitates peer-to-peer money transfer via mobile apps.

However, last month some large private and state-run lenders disbursed amounts related to employee benefit schemes directly to employees’ CBDC wallets, instead of their salary accounts, the first source familiar with the pilot said.

These lenders included HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank, and IDFC First Bank the second source said.

The RBI expects non-financial firms to follow suit as well, helping boost transactions further, the source added.

Even the user base has been steadily growing … “to about 4 million users currently, up from 3 million in December,” a third executive familiar with the pilot said.

The sources declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

The RBI did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Globally, countries including China, France and Ghana are in the pilot stages of their CBDC projects. Others like Nigeria have rolled out their digital currency, but with limited success despite offering rewards like discounts on auto-rickshaw rides.

Indian banks too are offering incentives for e-rupee transactions, following a nudge from the RBI to boost volumes, Reuters had reported earlier.

”Compensating employees using the CBDC is a good step,” Sharat Chandra, co-founder of India Blockchain Forum said. Other avenues such as toll tax collections can also be included to further encourage adoption, he added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Reserve Bank of India likely to start digital rupee pilot in call money market by October

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The Reserve Bank is likely to launch a pilot of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) for transactions for interbank borrowing or call money market by October, the central bank’s Executive Director Ajay Kumar Choudhary said on Sunday.

The pilot of the wholesale CBDC, known as the Digital Rupee-Wholesale (e-W), was launched on November 1, 2022, with the use case being limited to the settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities.

“The RBI will introduce the wholesale CBDC in the call market either this month or next month,” Choudhary said on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit here.

The introduction of CBDC was announced in the Union Budget 2022-23 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and necessary amendments to the relevant section of the RBI Act, 1934, were made with the passage of the Finance Bill 2022.

The RBI picked nine banks — State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, YES Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC — for its pilot project for wholesale CBDC.

Besides, the central bank has already rolled out a pilot in the retail version of the CBDC (e-R) on December 1, 2022. The e-R is in the form of a digital token that represents legal tender.

It is being issued in the same denominations as the paper currency and coins. It is being distributed through financial intermediaries like banks. Users can transact with e-R through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks.

The RBI is showcasing various digital initiatives in the financial sector at the exhibition pavilion during the G20 Summit.

These include Public Tech Platform (PTP) for Frictionless Credit, CBDC, UPI One World, RuPay On-The-Go and Bharat Bill Payment System.

Catch all the live action of the G20 Summit right here:

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

RBI digital rupee participants hail the central bank’s initiative

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched a limited test of the retail digital rupee for specific use cases on November 1, 2022. Even though the central bank has cast its net for use-cases far and wide — spanning 15,000 people across Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneshwar — it is beginning in the RBI’s own backyard. Bachhe Lal Sahani, who sells fruits in the lane behind the RBI headquarters is one of the testers.

Sahani said RBI representatives got in touch with him and asked him accept e-rupee transactions. “They helped me open an IDFC First Bank account with a connected digital wallet for transactions. Now, I receive a notification on my phone every time a transaction is made,” he said, adding that at present, the RBI employees are using it, but it would be open to the public soon.

The fruit vendor is not the only one who has been roped into testing the retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the area. Shree Bholanath Tea House, which is right next door, is also a participant. Their reviews so far suggest — pardon the pun — that this could be their cup of tea.

Also Read: Next phase of digital rupee to be launched soon — Key things to know

The stall’s owner finds digital currency more user-friendly as transactions can be done with the click of a button. As it is backed up by RBI it provides user safety.

Apart from secure transactions, a big plus point of the CBDC is that even though it’s in the form of a digital token, it represents legal tender, and is issued in the same denominations as paper currency and coins.

At the moment, the app is being used by a restricted group, comprising both customers and businesses, but once successful, it would be rolled out for use by the general public, with both, person-to-person as well as person-to-merchant transactions becoming possible. The testing phase has eight banks participating and this list too will also grow over time.

Watch video for more

Also Read: RBI digital rupee participants hail the central bank’s initiative

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Explained: Phygital NFTs and how they work

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The term ‘Phygital’ was coined by an Australian agency called Momentum back in 2013. It combines the words ‘physical’ and ‘digital’ to describe an amalgamation of the two realms that have come to shape our world.

With the emergence of the metaverse, it is now even more clear that our physical and virtual worlds have become closely interconnected. This is thanks to rapidly advancing technologies, especially blockchain, which made way for digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

Phygital NFTs: what are they?

The term ‘phygital’ has been gaining ground rapidly in the decentralised economy and is strongly associated with NFTs. Phygital NFTs enable blockchain developers to combine the digital and physical by expanding the functionality of NFTs and linking them with real-world objects and experiences.

Examples of phygital NFTs

NFT ticketing is an excellent example of phygital NFTs. For instance, at this year’s Coachella Music Festival, in addition to regular physical tickets, the organising committee also offered a handful of NFT tickets. They were known as the ‘Coachella Keys Collection’ and consisted of 10 NFTs that gave holders lifetime access to the festival.

Several premium whisky brands also turned to phygital NFTs this year. For example, in October this year, renowned distillers William Grant and Son offered 15 NFTs that represented bottles of 46-year-old Glenfiddich whisky. Each NFT comes with an artistic impression of the bottle that also serves as a counterfeit-proof certificate of ownership. BlockBar, William Grant and Son’s NFT partner for the project, was responsible for storing the physical bottle and delivering it to the buyer upon request.

Also Read: Explained: Literary NFTs and how they work

Phygital NFTs have also been used in the fashion industry. For example, in March this year, the famous Italian fashion brand Diesel forayed into the NFT space with its “phygital” NFT wearable collection called D: Verse. Besides being a digital representation of the brand’s runway pieces from the latest Fall/Winter show, the NFTs also gave holders exclusive perks. This included access to airdrops and discounted pre-sales. It also gave holders invites/VIP access to the next fashion show and several other exclusive privileges.

But perhaps the most exciting use of phygital NFTs was Damien Hirst’s ‘The Currency’. The renowned British artist created a collection of 10,000 spot paintings, each represented by its own NFT version. Buyers had to choose which version of the painting they preferred, the digital or the physical. If the buyer chose the physical one, the NFT version was burned and vice versa. Surprisingly, 48.51 percent of the NFT holders decided to keep their digital version.

How to redeem Phygital NFTs?

Burning is the most common way to redeem phygital NFTs. A fitting example is the Nouns Vision project, where users were provided with a commemorative NFT in their wallet. Only when the user burns that NFT is the delivery of the physical NFT initiated. However, not all phygital NFTs work in the same way. Some provide a replacement NFT after the original is redeemed for the real-world object/experience. This way, the buyer still has access to the utility of the NFT, including access to exclusive communities, airdrops, and other occasions.

Conclusion

Phygital NFTs have blurred the line between the real and the virtual worlds. And with every passing day, these digital assets come closer and closer to seamlessly uniting two worlds in one smooth user experience. The future possibilities are endless with Phygital NFTs, and hence they are becoming so popular nowadays. Moreover, it transcends the blockchain experience in the physical world, which is revolutionary, to say the least.

Also Read: Porsche enters NFT space: A look at 3 other automotive giants that stepped into web3 this year

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Watch | RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and other MPC members explain why lending rate has hit a 4-year high

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

As expected by the market, the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das-headed Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to opt for a lower rate increase of 35 basis points (bps) in lending rates. The lending rate, also called the repo rate, now stands at 6.25 percent. The decision was taken with five out of six members in agreement. With this hike, the lending rate is at its highest since August 2018.

The silver lining is that the last three hikes were of 50 bps each and so a 35 bps hike shows a slowdown in the rate hike cycle. This can be interpreted as the first signs of the economy hit by high inflation starting to stabilise. Inflation still remains high but has plateaued with economists expecting the first few months of 2023 to reflect this.

The committee has also decided to keep its stance unchanged and keep the focus on fighting inflation. Governor Das said so, in so many words, “Our first target is to bring back inflation to below six percent.”

Also Read: RBI MPC decides to hike lending rate by 35 bps in-line with market expectation

In a press briefing after the policy announcement, the MPC members explained the decisions in the policy. CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh asked the MPC members about the core inflation rate, which has worried economists.

Das agreed that in the last six-seven months core inflation has remained sticky.

Earlier, while announcing the policy, Das had stressed the need to bring inflation under the mandated six percent and then gradually work towards moving it to the ideal four percent level.

Also Read: RBI governor bats for expanding scope of Bharat Bill Payment System and UPI

The governor also spoke about RBI’s pilot for retail e-rupee, its version of the central bank digital currency (CBDC), that was launched on December 1.

CBDC is a sovereign currency in an electronic form and will appear as a liability (currency in circulation) on a central bank’s balance sheet.

“The amendment in the RBI act, with regard to the CBDC says that currency will also include digital currency. Therefore, there is no difference in the eyes of law, there is no difference in the treatment between paper currency and a digital currency,” Das mentioned.

For more, watch the accompanying video

Catch all the latest updates from the stock market here

Check out our in-depth Market Coverage, Business News & get real-time Stock Market Updates on CNBC-TV18. Also, Watch our channels CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz and CNBC Bajar Live on-the-go!

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

RBI to launch the first pilot of retail digital Rupee on December 1

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the launch of the first pilot for retail digital Rupee (e₹-R) on Tuesday. The pilot will commence on December 1.

The RBI in a statement said the pilot would cover select locations in closed user groups (CUG) comprising participating customers and merchants. The e₹-R would be in the form of a digital token that represents legal tender. It would be issued in the same denominations that paper currency and coins are currently issued and would be distributed through banks.

Users will be able to transact with the digital Rupee through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks and will be stored on mobile phones. Transactions can be both Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Merchant (P2M). Payments to merchants can be made using QR codes displayed at merchant locations.

Also Read: All you need to know about the CBDC project by the NY Federal Reserve

“The e₹-R would offer features of physical cash such as trust, safety and settlement finality. As in the case of cash, it will not earn any interest and can be converted to other forms of money, like deposits with banks,” it added.

The pilot is said to test the robustness of the entire process of digital rupee creation, distribution and retail usage in real-time. Different features and applications of the digital Rupee token and architecture will be tested in future pilots, based on the learnings from this pilot.

Currently, eight banks have been identified for phase-wise participation in this pilot. According to the RBI, the first phase will begin with four banks — State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank — in four cities across the country. Four more banks — Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank — will join this pilot subsequently.

Also Read: View | The influence of CBDC and crypto tax on millennial investors

The pilot would initially cover four cities — Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar — and later extend to Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla.

The RBI also added that the scope of the pilot may be expanded gradually to include more banks, users and locations as needed.

The RBI also launched the first pilot of the digital Rupee in the wholesale segment on November 1 and said the use case for this pilot was the settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities.

The digital Rupee is a form of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which is a digital form of legal tender issued by the RBI.

Also Read: RBI to launch first pilot of digital rupee today — Here’s how it’s different from cryptocurrency

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Startup Digest: India-US startup SETU, RBI to pilot digital currency in 2022, guidelines for influencers coming soon

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

India-US start-up SETU will help connect entrepreneurs and investors, says Piyush Goyal

The India-US start-up SETU, which stands for Supporting Entrepreneurs for Transformation and Upskilling, will act as a bridge between American and Indian companies, union minister of commerce Piyush Goyal said today.

The start-up will help entrepreneurs in upskilling, transforming, and leveraging the success stories of the Indian diaspora in the US, Goyal said after launching the program in San Francisco.

Urging entrepreneurs in the US to participate in the initiative, the minister said it would serve as an opportunity for them to give back to the country by supporting bright minds in India.

Goyal is on a six-day tour to the US for various programmes, which include the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) ministerial meeting and the India-US Strategic Partnership Forum conference.

Digital currency to be launched as pilot project this year: RBI Deputy Governor

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor T Rabi Sankar on Wednesday said the central bank will launch its digital currency as a pilot project this year.

Addressing the India Ideas Summit, he said Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is the most efficient system for cross-border payments. He, however, reiterated that RBI is not aiming for a cashless society but is keen to give customers viable alternatives.

Also Read: Coach-Soch: When a startup suffers due to ‘founder’s syndrome’

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in the Union Budget that CBDC would be launched during 2022-23.

Coming soon: Guidelines for social media influencers on brand endorsements

Within the next 10 days, the government is set to announce guidelines for social media influencers who endorse brands and products.

Nidhi Khare, the head of the Central Consumer Protection Authority said influencers must provide disclaimers and will be treated as an endorser. Any violation could result in penalties starting from Rs 10 lakh.

“The consumers are gullible. They can’t make out whether it’s an innocent review or a commercial relationship exists between the influencer and the advertiser,” Khare told CNBC-TV18.

Zomato Instant in extended pilot stage, says cofounder Mohit Gupta

Zomato’s 10-minute food delivery service — Zomato Instant — is in an extended pilot phase, the food aggregator platform’s co-founder Mohit Gupta told ET.

Since announcing the start of the pilot project in April, the company has scaled it from two to six locations in Delhi NCR, with plans of testing it out at two locations in Bengaluru, according to the report.

Last week, Zomato announced the start of its latest service — Intercity Legends — which allows users to order popular dishes from select locations across the country, with same-day delivery, be it biryani from Hyderabad or kebabs from Lucknow.

In the second round of layoffs, goal loan platform Rupeek fires 50 employees

Gold loans platform Rupeek has let go of 50 employees, saying that it is transitioning to a leaner cost structure with a focus on its core business of providing door-step gold loans, according to a MoneyControl report.

This is the startup’s second round of downsizing, after it laid off 180 employees three months ago, as the funding winter turned into a layoff season in the Indian startup ecosystem.

Also Read: This start-up just built a product to ease due diligence while buying real estate

The startup has indicated that it could turn profitable in the next 12-18 months, with the layoffs undertaken to move in that direction, according to the report.

CREDAI, Venture Catalysts set up $100 million proptech fund

Realtors apex body CREDAI and Venture Catalysts have set up a $100 million (about Rs 800 crore) proptech fund for supporting startups that are seeking to disrupt the real estate sector.

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) has more than 13,000 developers as members, while Venture Catalysts is an integrated incubator and accelerator for startups.

This fund will invest in early to growth stage startups that have the potential to transform the real estate industry through technology, data analytics, blockchain, AI, and augmented reality.

Agnikul Cosmos secures patent for its single-piece 3D printed rocket engines

Indian space-tech start-up Agnikul has announced that the Government Of India has awarded it a patent for the design and manufacturing of its single-piece 3D printed rocket engines. Agnikul’s Agnilet is the world’s first single-piece 3D printed rocket engine, which was successfully test-fired in early 2021.

The announcement comes shortly after the startup announced the inauguration of its Rocket Factory- 1, which became India’s first private rocket engine facility. The facility, dedicated to 3D printing of rocket engines at scale, is situated at the IIT Madras Research Park.

Founded in 2017 by Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM & Prof. SR Chakravarthy (from IIT Madras), Agnikul is building a private small satellite rocket — Agnibaan — which will be capable of carrying up to 100 to 300 kg of payload to low Earth orbits up to 700 km.

UserStudy raises seed funding from Better Capital

UserStudy, a SaaS startup that simplifies user research for product teams, has raised $1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Better Capital. Other investors who participated are Sparrow VC, Maninder Gulati, Good Capital and notable angels from Gojek, Microsoft, Meta, Oyo, FlexiLoans and Upgrad.

Also Read: With 3 days a week most popular hybrid choice, India Inc looks to expand office spaces: Report

UserStudy is building a video-first research solution that gathers insights from video and audio channels in an organisation and consolidates all insights and feedback in one place. The company also helps product teams in the recruitment of the research participants with segmentation of demographics and professional attributes.

“Our vision is to build a one-stop SaaS for all research needs of product teams globally. While product and design leaders understand the importance of user research, most teams cannot do enough because conducting research is challenging and time-consuming. With UserStudy, it becomes effortless to do research. Insights are generated in a matter of hours, not weeks,” said Anshul Divakar, co-founder of UserStudy.

Mental health-tech start-up Evolve raises pre-seed funding

Evolve, a mental health start-up has raised a pre-seed round of Rs 3 crore led by Rajesh Ranavat, executive director, Fund Strategic Holdings. The round also saw participation from prominent angel investors including Ankit Mehrotra and Nikhil Bakshi (Founders, Dineout) as well as senior global executives from Meta and McKinsey.

Evolve claims to be the world’s first holistic mental health app that focuses on the needs of the LGBTQ+ community. Co-founded by Anshul Kamath and Rohan Arora in 2020, the startup says it has over 2,50,000 users globally, with its proprietary interface providing a virtual safe space along with personalised, evidence-based interventions to improve mental health.

Microsoft backs Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick’s CloudKitchens: report

Microsoft is said to have invested in Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick’s dark kitchen startup — CloudKitchens, according to a report by The Financial Times.

The investment has come as part of the startup’s $850 million funding round that was closed last November at a valuation of $15 billion, according to sources cited in the report.

Earlier, Microsoft had invested about $100 million in Uber, way back in 2015, before Kalanick quit Uber following a series of controversies and scandals.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India ranks seventh in digital currency ownership, ahead of the UK and Australia

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

According to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), around 7.3 percent of Indians owned some form of digital currency in 2021. This highlights that over the last couple of years, digital assets have surged to popularity among the Indian populace amounting to over 100 million crypto holders. 

The report also states that 15 of the top 20 nations in terms of digital currency ownership were developing countries, with India ranking 7th, one position behind the US. Pakistan also made it to the list coming in 15th while the UK and Australia occupied the 13th and 20th positions respectively. Topping the list was Ukraine, with 12.7 percent of its population holding crypto assets. 

Also Read: Outstanding accomplishment: PM on UPI recording 6 billion transactions in July

According to the report, the global adoption of cryptocurrencies spiked exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As remittance costs spiralled during the lockdown and various disruptions made it difficult to send fiat currencies overseas, people turned to cryptocurrencies to facilitate cross-border payments. Besides wild price appreciation, these digital assets also offer a quick and affordable channel for remittance. 

The COVID-19 pandemic also triggered rising inflation levels. The report stated that middle-class families in developing countries used digital assets as a hedge against the depreciating value of fiat currencies. This was another major reason for the sharp uptick in digital currency ownership. 

As per the UNCTAD report, the crypto ecosystem ballooned by over 2,300 percent between September 2019 and June 2021. However, Indian investors have grown sceptical of these digital assets, with regulatory bodies coming down hard on cryptocurrencies. 

Also Read: Good monsoon will further ease pressure on inflation: Government

While buying and selling crypto assets is not illegal, profits from the same are being treated as winnings from gambling, and the income from the transfer of virtual assets is being taxed at 30 percent. On top of this, there is also one percent TDS deduction on all transactions.

Earlier this year, crypto exchanges in the country were also forced to halt UPI payments due to uncertainty from regulatory bodies. This made it harder to acquire digital assets. Such uncertainties are also driving crypto firms to set up bases elsewhere, with several projects looking to countries like Dubai as a hub for digital asset operations. 

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow