Tim Cahill dismayed by timing of Ange Postecoglou speculation

Socceroos forward Tim Cahill has said he is disappointed that talk of Ange Postecoglou’s coaching future has overshadowed Australia’s win over Syria. Postecoglou will reportedly walk away from his position next month even if the Australia make it through to next year’s World Cup by beating Honduras in an intercontinental playoff.

Cahill, who scored both goals in Tuesday night’s 2-1 win in Sydney, did not confirm whether he had spoken to Postecoglou since the report surfaced but said it’s “only speculation”. He said the focus should be on celebrating Australia’s achievement in advancing to the final stage of World Cup qualification.

“It is just speculation,” Cahill said. “I feel that this angle, the day after the biggest game in Australian soccer to qualify for a fourth consecutive World Cup, is not needed.

“I think we concentrate on celebrating a 2-1 victory, firstly, and looking forward to a full house at home in Sydney of 80,000-plus. Speculation is always going to come with our game and it is just disappointing it has come out the day after.”

Cahill, who was promoting Melbourne City’s A-League round two derby with Victory on Saturday night, insisted the players were not affected by Postecoglou’s possible departure. “It is called professionalism,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday, John Aloisi said he would be surprised if criticism from the media and public has driven Postecoglou to quit his job.

Aloisi said he had not spoken to the coach and could shed no light on his future. If Postecoglou does walk away the Brisbane Roar coach also urged Football Federation Australia to name a local successor – not a foreigner.

Sexual intercourse with minor wife is rape, says SC

A girl child below 18 can’t be treated as a commodity Says a child remains a child even if she is married Seen as trigger to declare child marriages void

The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, who is below 18 years of age, is rape. A girl child below the age of 18 cannot be treated as a commodity having no say over her body or someone who has no right to deny sexual intercourse to her husband, the Supreme Court held.

“Human rights of a girl child are very much alive and kicking whether she is married or not and deserve recognition and acceptance,” a Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta observed.

The two judges wrote separate judgments totalling 127 pages. The court read down Exception 2 to Section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which allowed the husband of a girl child — between 15 and 18 years of age — blanket liberty and freedom to have non-consensual sexual intercourse with her. Her willingness or consent was of no concern. The husband in such cases was not punished for rape.

The exception had remained an anomaly because Section 375 itself mandated that sex with a girl below 18 years of age, with or without her consent, was statutory rape. An unmarried girl child can prosecute her rapist, but a married girl child aged between 15 and 18 could not even do that, Justice Lokur said, pointing out the injustice.

“A child remains a child whether she is described as a street child or a surrendered child... Similarly, a child remains a child whether she is a married child or an unmarried child or a divorced child or a separated or widowed child...,” Justice Lokur wrote.

With this judgment, considered by experts as trigger to declaring child marriage void ab initio, the court ended the decades-old disparity between Exception 2 to Section 375 IPC and other child protection and antichild abuse laws.

These include the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Juvenile Justice Act, all which define a “child” as someone who is below 18 years of age.

The court held that the exception clause to rape, carved out in the IPC, created an unnecessary and artificial distinction between a married girl child and an unmarried girl child. The clause took away the right of a girl child to bodily integrity and reproductive choice. It had even the effect of turning a blind eye to trafficking of the minor girl children in the guise of marriage.

“Almost every statute in India recognises that a girl below 18 years of age is a child and it is for this reason that the law penalises sexual intercourse with a girl who is below 18 years of age. Unfortunately, by virtue of Exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC, if a girl child between 15 and 18 years of age is married, her husband can have non-consensual sexual intercourse with her, without being penalised under the IPC, only because she is married to him and for no other reason,” the apex court explained the discrimination shown to a 'married' girl child.

The apex court held that the exception clause will henceforth be “meaningfully” read as: “Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 18 years of age, is not rape.”

The court, however, refrained from dealing with the issue of marital rape of a woman above 18 years of age.

Few prosecutions

Justice Gupta, in a separate judgment, dealt with the abysmally low number of prosecutions and annulments of marriage filed under Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA).

“I am not oblivious to the harsh reality that most of the child brides are even below the age of 15 years. There is a practice in many parts of the country where children, both girls and boys, are married off, even before they attain puberty. They are innocent children, who do not even understand what marriage is,” Justice Gupta wrote.

Though child marriage is prohibited, it is not automatically void under India's civil laws. The court criticised the fact that PCMA makes child marriage only voidable, that is, the burden is placed on the child bride to approach a court to declare her marriage a nullity. She has to do this within two years of attaining majority, that is by the time she is 20 years old. If not, the marriage continues.

Govt. pulled up

The court slammed the government for trying to “somehow legitimise” the exception clause. Instead of attempting to effectively implement and enforce the anti-child marriage law, the government diluted it by creating artificial distinctions The government had urged the court not to tinker with the exception clause as it was introduced keeping in view the age-old traditions and evolving social norms. The government had argued that the “practice of child marriage cannot be wished away and, therefore, legislature in its wisdom has thought it fit not to criminalise the consummation of such child marriages”.

Countering this, the court said the exception clause “statutorily cancels a girl child’s right to decline sexual intercourse with her husband.”

“Union of India cannot be oblivious to the existence of the trauma faced by a girl child who is married between 15 and 18 years of age or to the three pro-child statutes and other human rights obligations... The government tried to somehow legitimise child marriage,” Justice Lokur shot back.

DON’T LET STRESS RUIN YOUR SKIN

You can buy designer clothes for Diwali and wear the best of gems and baubles, but if your skin isn’t healthy and glowing, you won’t be able to look your best for festivities. We often blame bad diet and genetics for our skin problems, but stress equally harms it. In fact, with our increasingly hectic lifestyles, it has become a major culprit. Dermatologists Rajat Kandhari and Lokesh Kumar tell us how stress impacts our skin, and how to fix the problem. Dryness: When you are stressed, you drink less water, and consume more tea and coffee. This causes dehydration, leading to dry skin. Stress also increases the level of hormone cortisol, which reduces the skin’s ability to retain water, again causing dryness. Fix: First and foremost, consciously drink more water when you are stressed. You can opt for warm water to calm you down, besides it also helps your skin. Go for foods and drinks rich in antioxidants. Prunes, blackberries, amla juice, pomegranate, and green tea are all good choices. Fine lines: When feeling stressed, we tend to frown or purse our lips. Facial muscle tension can cause wrinkles and fine lines. Cortisol also causes an increase in blood sugar, which through glycation (the bonding of a sugar molecule to a protein or lipid molecule without enzymatic regulation) harms collagen. Fix: Take a deep breath, and relax your facial muscles, especially those around the eyebrows and cheeks. Chewing gum can also help. Redness: Our breaths tend to become short and shallow when we feel stressed. The capillaries expand to increase the blood flow, causing redness and flushing in your face. Fix: To feel calm, sit down and control your breathing, taking deeper and longer breaths to increase blood flow. Acne and pigmentation: Cortisol disturbs the hormonal balance in the body. So, stress becomes one of the major reasons for acne breakout, as it causes inflammation of the skin. It can also upset the balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut, causing acne and pigmentation on the neck. Fix: Avoid anxiety food such as sugar. Drink loads of water and consume a highfibre diet. Your skin specialist will prescribe topical and oral medicines, depending on the severity of your acne. Under-eye bags: Lack of sleep due to stress is a major reason for you having puffy eyes and under-eye bags. Stress also contributes to dull skin and lack of radiance. Fix: Most importantly, get adequate sleep — minimum eight hours. To feel relaxed, use frozen cucumber slices as ice packs for the eyes. You can also ask your dermatologist to recommend a replenishing under-eye cream for you.

Mobile Business Portability: Airtel Number for Tata Tele

Mumbai | New Delhi: The Tata Group has agreed to sell its mobile business to Bharti Airtel for free, ending the salt-to-software conglomerate’s long-standing attempts to rid itself of this lossmaking venture while bolstering the market share and 4G airwaves capacity of the Sunil Mittal-led company.

The deal, which has been done on a ‘debt-free, cash-free basis’ will intensify the consolidation process underway in the telecom industry, which has now come to be dominated by three players — the Idea-Vodafone combine, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. Once the Idea-Vodafone merger is closed, Airtel will slip to the No. 2 position in the Indian market, Calling Card Bharti Airtel Tata Tele (In Million)

Combined: (In %)

Revenue Profit/Loss

Idea & Voda

Combined:

Subscribers Rev.Mkt Share (In Cr) 4G-ready spectrum in 850 MHz, 1800 MHz & 2100 MHz outgo, no liability of Tata Tele’s 31,000-cr debt part of spectrum liability and the acquisition of Tata Teleservices’ wireless operations will help it to narrow the gap with the merged entity. The news about the deal was first reported on

of Tata Tele’s loss-making wireless biz

No cash Only small Separates it

from stronger fixedline and broadband, and enterprise biz www.economictimes.com on Thursday afternoon, ahead of the formal announcement.

The expectation had been for inflation of 3.5% and industrial growth of around 2.5%. The numbers will buoy the government, which has been at the receiving end of a spate of criticism for its economic management after growth fell to 5.7% in the April-June period, triggering a raft of downgrades in FY18 growth estimates by multilateral institutions, the Reserve Bank of India and brokerages. The government had been considering a stimulus programme to help revive growth, something the Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister had weighed against on Wednesday.

Experts welcomed the signs of recovery but want to watch the data for a few months before calling a turnaround.

“These are early signs that will dispel the gloom that had set in. This seems to signal a turnaround in economic activity,” said Saugata Bhattacharya, chief economist at Axis Bank, while pointing out that primary goods and electricity had contributed in a big way to the recovery. HDFC Bank senior economist Tushar Arora said, “Manufacturing growth is better than expected but it does not mean that we will change our forecast because it was prompted by a favourable base in mining and electricity and GST restocking.”

Advance indicators such as car sales and the purchasing managers’ indices for September have also been buoyant, suggesting some strength ahead of the festival season.

“Three successive impressive growth rates would indicate a real recovery. Or else, it would be more a case of the restocking impact of the GST (goods and services tax),” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at CARE Ratings.

The government has maintained that the economy bottomed out in the AprilJune quarter and that it will revive, a view endorsed by RBI that last week pared gross value added (GVA) growth to 6.7% from 7.3% estimated earlier. It said GVA growth will rise to 7.7% in the March quarter. The IMF had on October 10 cut India’s growth forecast for FY18 to 6.7% from 7.2% estimated earlier, attributing the slowdown to GST, implemented on July 1, and demonetisation.

MINING AND ELECTRICITY BOOST

The industrial recovery in August was boosted by electricity (8.3%) and mining (9.4%), while manufacturing grew 3.1%. Capital goods production, an indicator of investment activity, was up 5.4% in August while a 6.9% rise in output of consumer non-durables or fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) indicated strength in the rural economy. Consumer durables, which has a more urban consumption bias, were up a modest 1.6% in August. The data suggests manufacturing and demand are returning to normal after the disruption caused by the GST rollout, though not as strongly as anticipated.

“The key support to IIP growth has come from mining and electricity. This shows that manufacturing is still down and out. Even more disheartening is the growth of consumer durables at just 1.6% in August,” said Sunil Kumar Sin- ha, principal economist, India Ratings.

Thirteen out of the 23 sub-sectors of manufacturing with a weight of 27.0% in the IIP recorded a contraction in August 2017. “In our view, while the impact of post-GST restocking may have started to fade, inventory building prior to the festive season is likely to have bolstered manufacturing growth in the justconcluded month. Nevertheless, given the somewhat unfavourable base effect, we expect the IIP growth to ease in September 2017 relative to print of 5.0% in September 2016,” said Aditi Nayar, principal economist ICRA.

September’s consumer inflation of 3.28% matched that of August, which was revised down from 3.36% estimated earlier, as food inflation slowed to 1.25% from 1.52% in the month before and 3.96% in the year ago.

However, most independent economists ruled out the possibility of a rate cut in December when the RBI governorled Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets to review key policy rates.

“Core inflation… continues to outpace the headline reading, which might reinforce the central bank’s neutral stance. Risks on the fiscal front will also play on the central bank’s hand,” said Radhika Rao, India economist, DBS Bank. The MPC kept rates unchanged at its last meeting earlier this month.

The staggered impact on the housing index of the CPI due to the increase in the house rent allowance (HRA) of central government employees is likely to push up housing inflation further over the coming year.

A NIGHT TO FORGET

New Delhi: India’s fight was slowly but surely stifled by Ghana. The contest can at best be called a mismatch.

Suffering through 90 minutes, Indian juniors finished their World Cup journey with a lesson to remember – a lesson in attacking football, where the Ghanian wingers expressed the joy of dribble.

Sadiq Ibrahim was a treat to watch and one may hope to see him in a famous club shirt soon. Out of four, the first two goals, scored by captain Eric Ayiah, were from Ibrahim’s delightful assists.

Expectations of naïve partisan fans reached fever pitch but they failed to read the signs that shone brightly across the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Thursday evening.

For reasons best known to Luis Norton De Matos, four changes were rolled in from the team that raised visions of something great last Monday against Colombia. It was a false dawn.

Namit Deshpande was missing from defence. Rahim Ali, Abhijit Sarkar and N Meetei started from the bench.

What hurt India most was Namit’s not playing beside Anwar Ali. Though the Punjab boy played the lone wolf inside the box, it was too much to ask from him, Prescient was De Matos’ words when he had warned about Ghana’s prowess down the flanks. Repeated assaults by Ibrahim, the sturdy right winger, left Sanjeev Stalin clueless. It was an evening the young Sanjeev will find hard to forget.

Faster off the blocks and earning the first corner in the first minute itself, India left the fans asking for more. They had already given the boys in blue a heroes’ welcome when they went in for warm-up.

Captain Ayiah must have had a quiet chuckle then.

The order from the top was crystal clear. Ibrahim will attack from the right while Gideon Mensah must keep the left flank burning. Struggling to handle the pace and verve, Indians opted for safety-first. Clearances became hasty, passes became rare as punting high and far was the order of the day. Still, it couldn’t save India’s night.

Sadiq’s low hard cross, one of the many he delivered all through the first session, was punched out by Dheeraj Moiranghthem. The ball found Ayiah who blasted from close. The citadel fell two minutes from interval, even though one could see it coming for long.

Till then, Anwar and Jitendra Singh kept their shape and held their line even under desperate bombardment. They were catching Issac Gyamfi, the Ghanian striker, off-side. But the raids were coming thick and fast. Boris Thangjam ran himself ragged on the right. Mensah got him so washed out, that he looked in serious trouble even before the interval.

So intense was Ghana’s pressure and so overwhelming, that following the first corner, India found it hard to take the fight across the half-line.

Captain Ayiah made it 2-0 in the 52nd. Again an attack from the right allowed Ayiah a lot of room with the goal in sight. His l eft- footer got the better of Dheeraj, for the second time in the evening. Half-time talk of De Matos failed to bring any change in India’s performance. Defending could only earn you so much against the Ghanaians. As they say, “Only one team was playing football,” and that was Ghana, unfortunately.

Sadiq was replaced almost immediately, to keep him fresh for tougher battles in the knockout stage. To make matters worse, substitutes Richard Danso added the third while Emmanuel Toku completed the rout with the fourth.

What could have been a night to remember turned out to be a night to forget. Living up to the billing, Gouiri has taken the tournament by storm. Showing good speed and control, and powered by accurate shooting, the French striker is proving to be too hot to handle for the opponent defenders. After scoring a brace each in the first two matches, he is the tournament’s top scorer. been a revelation. His composure, positioning sense and technique have attracted even the scouts in the tournament. But for Dheeraj’s superlative saves, India would have lost the matches by bigger margins. BEST GOAL: Gouiri’s second goal vs Japan: Gouiri was spot-on with his placement and finish. Adli made a run from the top of the box and exchanged passes with Gouiri. The understanding between the two left the crowded Japan defence clueless. Getting the final ball, Gouiri slotted home with a flourish.

TCS Beats the Market View, Nets a Billion Dollars in Q2

The techonology behemoth’s operating margin stood at 25.1 % in Sept quarter, up from about 23.4 % in the first quarter, helped partly by cross-currency gains and lower costs

Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which reported second quarter results on Thursday, beat market expectations on account of higher margins, and said that client optimism in finance and retail sectors seems to be returning.

The market-beating results came as a surprise at a time when muted growth has become a familiar story for the sector, which is struggling with structural changes to the way it does business and is being battered by protectionist sentiments in its major markets.

“It has been a satisfying quarter considering the environment. The old team in new roles are very happy. We have been meeting clients across the globe and we are seeing a return of optimism. It is measured,” said CEO Rajesh Gopinathan, who took over from predecessor N Chandrasekaran in February.

Operating margin stood at 25.1% this quarter, up from about 23.4% in the first quarter, helped partly by cross-currency gains and lower costs. The company maintained operating margin of 26-28% guidance for fiscal 2018.

TCS reported a net profit of $1 billion on revenue of $4.74 billion for the quarter ended September. It reported a constant currency sequential revenue growth of 1.7% from the previous quarter. Analysts were expecting a profit of $963.88 million on a revenue of $4.67 billion, according to a Bloomberg poll.

“TCS’ results were ahead of our estimates with strong volume growth qoq (part negated by lower realisations) in the quarter. Revenues in constant currency terms was driven by sustained strong traction in the digital service offering,” said Emkay Global in a report.

In rupee terms, the company reported a profit of .₹ 6,446 crore on revenue of .₹ 3,0541crore. In client additions, the company added clients in $100 million+ category up by 1; $50 million+, $20 million+ & $10milion+ each up by 6.

“The positive aspect of the results has been stronger margins. But if you go into the nitty gritties these are the result of cross-currency benefit and operating efficiency. That is the not the best way to increase margins. They seem temporary,” said Girish Pai, an analyst at Nirmal Bang, who has a “sell” rating on the stock.

Revenue from the company’s largest line of business – Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) segment – grew 1.9% on constant currency basis while revenue from the second largest segment, retail, fell 0.9 %. “We have to see how the new optimism will translate into spends. But the old fear of old economy businesses being wiped out is gone,” said Gopinathan. “In retail we are partnering with brick and mortar companies who are coming back to fight ecommerce companies. BFSI had gone through an era of being under threat from fintech companies. We are past that. Now they see fintech as part of the ecosystem.” Gopinathan added that TCS could see a turnaround in the struggling retail segment in a few quarters as it seems to have bottomed out but he declined to give a specific timeline on the turnaround in the BFS sector.

Analysts have pointed out that there have been increased discussions on ground and positive business sentiment across the US but any revival in spend is still elusive. Some of the structural concerns – regulatory risks in the US and rupee appreciation – have also receded.

Continental Europe was the most lucrative market for the company showing a 5.3% sequential growth on constant currency basis, whereas the North America market, which contributes more than 50% revenue grew only at 1.4%. UK grew 2.5%, Asia Pacific grew 3% and India fell 6.8%. The Mumbai-headquartered firm said digital revenue made up 19.7 % of revenue, up 5.9% in the previous quarter in constant currency terms.

Gopinathan said that TCS could see a turnaround in struggling retail sector in a few quarters as it seems to have bottomed out

Operating margin in Q2 Operating margin in Q1 Constant currency sequential revenue growth

Profit beats market expectations, margins recoup Maintains 2018 operating margin guidance of 26-28%

Digital Wallets Say New Norms will Pinch Them

Mumbai: Digital wallet companies, several of which aim to take on the leaders in one of the fastest-growing segments in the ecommerce industry, are aggrieved over new regulations that have increased both the complexity and cost of operations. Many players including Amazon Pay, MobiKwik and PayU say the new KYC (know your customer) norms will increase the cost of doing business.

“It destroys the idea of a wallet as an intermediate option for customers; they might as well open a bank account now,” said Jitendra Gupta, MD of Naspersowned PayU India. On Wednesday, RBI hiked the initial net worth requirement for firms offering prepaid payment instruments to .₹ 5 crore, from .₹ 2 crore now. Also, the net worth must go up to .₹ 15 crore within three financial years from the da- Minimum Net Worth

5 crore 15 crore

COST OF KYC ₹

Major Players Amazon Pay, Itz Cash, Mobikwik, Oxigen, Paytm, PayU, PhonePe

te of receiving authorisation.

RBI also asked the firms to ensure KYC compliance of existing users by year-end. Consumers failing to complete KYC will be allowed to keep only up to .₹ 10,000 in wallets. If these ‘minimum-KYC’ wallets are not converted into ‘full KYC’ accounts within 12 months, no credit facility can be provided.

“It is a little surprising. We had expected RBI, having reduced the limits for minimum-KYC wallets to .₹ 10,000, will allow them to continue,” said Bipin Preet Singh, founder of MobiKwik.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the two sides further said that they “will work together to further explore other mutual areas of cooperation, that will be value accretive for both the groups”, suggesting an alliance around their DTH, enterprise, and overseas cable businesses could be in the offing in future. N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons, said, that the deal was the best possible for the Tata Group and its stakeholders. “Finding the right home for our longstanding customers and our employees has been the priority for us,” said. In an interview to ET published earlier this week, the Tata Sons chairman had described the debt-plagued Tata Teleservices as ‘one of the big problems’ he had to deal with. “We will either have to sell it or have a graceful exit,” he had said.

Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal said the deal would strengthen his company’s market position in several key circles. “On completion, the proposed acquisition will undergo seamless integration, both on the customer as well as the network side,” he said.

Under the contours of the present deal, Tata Teleservices’ wireless operations — consumer mobile business — with over 40 million mobile subscribers, majority of 5,000 employees, and around 178.5 MHz of airwaves — nearly 40% of which are 4G ready — spread across 19 circles will be transferred to Bharti Airtel on a cash-free, debt-free basis, the two companies said in the statement. Tata Teleservices also runs enterprise and fixedline & broadband businesses.

“The merger is being done on a debtfree cash-free basis, except for Bharti Airtel assuming a small portion of the unpaid spectrum liability of Tata towards DoT, which is to be paid on deferred basis,” the two companies said. “All past liabilities and dues to be settled by Tata,” their joint statement said, referring to the roughly Rs 31,000 crore on Tata Teleservices’ books.

A person familiar with the matter said that Bharti Airtel will take care of ro- ughly Rs 1,500-2,000 crore of the Rs 10,000 crore airwaves auction payments that Tata Teleservices needs to make to the government over the next few years.

The Tata-Bharti discussions have gone through various twists and turns. Talks between Chandrasekaran and Mittal were initiated soon after the former took over as the chairman of Tata Sons about six months ago. As this newspaper reported on July 7, the two sides were in discussions to evaluate a mega alliance involving their telecom, overseas cable and enterprise services, and direct-tohome TV businesses. But the talks fell through as Airtel did not want to get bogged down in a multi-play buyout involving huge debt and multiple stakeholders. This was reported by this newspaper on August 4. The two parties have now agreed to a simpler transaction involving just the mobile business as a first step. An executive directly familiar with the discussions said the talks resumed in earnest on Friday and the deal was stitched over the weekend. Goldman Sachs was the adviser to the transaction.

Tata’s wireless operations will continue as usual until the completion of the deal, which will also see Bharti Airtel getting the right to use part of the existing fibre backbone network of Tata Teleservices. Besides, the Tatas will retain their stake in tower company Viom Networks, and will take care of the liabilities associated with it, the two companies said.

Shares of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) – the listed unit of Tele Teleservices which provides services in the Mumbai and Maharashtra circles — surged 9.95% to close at Rs 4.42 on the BSE, while Bharti Airtel’s scrip ended at Rs 400.05, down 0.83% on Thursday. Tata Communications ended the day 2.1% higher at Rs 687.60. The BSE Sensex was up 1.09%. The deal announcement was made after market hours. The Tatas on Thursday also said they were in initial stages of exploring combination of Tata Teleservices’ enterprise business with Tata Communications and its retail fixedline and broadband business with Tata Sky. “Any such transaction will be subject to respective board and other requisite approvals,” the company said.

The employees of Tata Teleservices are being separated on the lines of the two businesses — consumer on one side and enterprise & fixedline and broadband on the other.

For the 53-year-old Chandrasekaran, the deal with Bharti marks the second significant restructuring of the group portfolio since he assumed office earlier this year. Last month, Tata Steel and German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp AG, agreed to merge their European businesses to become the second-largest steelmaker of the continent.

“As soon as I came in, I looked at the portfolio and made a list that included Tata Teleservices, delinking European and the India business of Tata Steel, and commercial vehicles and passenger cars of Tata Motors,” he told ET a few days earlier.

Tata Teleservices has been facing immense financial pressure over the years amid ever-increasing competition. Its call to enter mobility in 2002 through CDMA technology didn’t succeed and by the time it adopted GSM in 2008 – and got NTT Docomo to invest around Rs 14,000 crore for a 26% stake — it had already fallen well behind the likes of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. A brutal price war after the entry of new operators in 2008-09 meant the company continued to post losses while debt continued to mount, leading to Docomo’s eventual decision to exit in 2014. With the Tatas unable to find a buyer for its mobile business, the entry of Reliance Jio in September 2016 — which led to a dramatic industry disruption as data and voice rates tanked — was the proverbial last nail in the coffin, leaving the group with no option but shut it or sell it at any cost.