regulations. The EMI option has been struc- tured so that the amount due as in- terest to banks will be offered as a discount to consumers. The retai- lers, ecommerce sellers or the brands will shoul- der the interest burden, three peo- ple familiar with the development said. Consu- mers won’t have to pay processing fees, convenience fees or any other charges. Flipkart, Future Group Offer Scheme25 Writankar Mukherjee & Atmadip Ray Kolkata: Retail outlets, online shopping sites and banks have spiced up the festive market by bringing back zero-cost EMIs (equated monthly instalments) on credit card spends, a move ai- med at benefitting customers, sel- lers and lenders seeking to boost credit growth. The scheme has made a come- back after three years, although in a tweaked format, to comply with the Reserve Bank of India’s Retail Therapy: Zero-Cost EMIs to Spark Festive Spree No Easy Loans to Promoters with Dubious Record Promoters with a question- able financial track record may find it difficult to get credit from PSBs as banks are being encouraged to access a database of offenders while assessing applications as part of a strategy to prevent bad loans from piling up, reports Dheeraj Tiwari.9 NEW DELHI | 28 + 4 PAGES OF BRAND EQUITY + 4 PAGES OF ET PANACHE | . `3.00 OR . `7.00 ALONG WITH TOI WEDNESDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2016 ECONOMY: MACRO, MICRO & MORE 9 SPORTS: THE GREAT GAMES 26 40 UNDER FORTY 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 BENNETT, COLEMAN & CO. LTD. T HE E CONOMIC T IMES WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM WEF Index: India Second Most Competitive in BRICS Spotlight on The Young Achievers of 2016 Bayern Munich Travel to Madrid to Face Atletico Is scrapping of the Indus Waters Treaty enough to keep Pakistan in check? www.economictimes.com Is the Middle East losing its hold as the world’s primary source of energy? TODAY’S QUESTION 35% YES 57% NO 8% CAN’T SAY -0.19 -0.25 0.11 0.13 0.19 -0.48 -0.64 -1.88 % CHANGE `/$ Gold Std* Silver (`/kg) Brent ($) *(`/10gm) Compiled by ETIG Database Nifty Sensex BSE Midcap BSE Smallcap LAST 8,706.40 28,223.70 13,275.62 12,904.32 66.49 31,250.00 46,400.00 44.81 Market Tracker Procter & Gamble’s Global Chief Executive David Taylor met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to discuss the company’s manufacturing initiatives in the country and partnership opportu- nities in education and the government’s cleanliness drive, reports Sagar Malviya. Taylor has been reorganising the consumer goods maker’s brand portfolio selling dozens of unprofitable brands.5 P&G CEO Taylor Meets Modi MANUFACTURING PLANS, SWACHH DRIVE DISCUSSED network is shared, our fibre is shared, our towers are shared, our voice is shared…,” Ambani added. He was responding to shareholder questions about why the two companies aren’t of- ficially merging with each other despite numerous agreements around collaboration. ‘Two Committed Brothers’14 ● RPower’s Thermal Plans7 Our Bureau Mumbai: A decade after the Ambani brothers split, Reliance Communications (RCom) Cha- irman Anil Ambani announced that his telecom company has “virtually” merged with Relian- ce Jio Infocomm, owned by elder brother Mukesh. “As far as our 100 million custo- mers are concerned, as far as our 1 million retailers are con- cerned, as far as our employees are concerned, and as far as our vendors and partners are con- cerned, there has already been a virtual merger of the two orga- nisations (RCom and Jio),” Am- bani told shareholders at RCom’s AGM on Tuesday. “Our spectrum is shared, our SPECTRUM, FIBRE & TOWER PACTS IN PLACE Airtel has blamed Jio’s ‘under-preparedness’ and large pre-launch user base for huge call failures on the latter’s network.25 Airtel Blames Jio for Call Drops Introducing son Anmol as a new director on Reliance Cap- ital's board, Chairman Anil Ambani on Tuesday said Ambani Jr has brought “tremendous luck” to the company.14 Anil Introduces Son Anmol “I’m happy that we’ve overcome all our past issues at the family level... In terms of business we’re separate.” “I’m happy that we’ve overcome all our past issues at the family level... In terms of business we’re separate.” “I’m happy that we’ve overcome all our past issues at the family level... In terms of business we’re separate.” “As far as our 100 million customers are concerned, as far as our 1 million retailers are concerned... there has already been a virtual merger of the two organisations (RCom and Jio).” Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani at RCom AGM on Tuesday RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani to ET on September 8 RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani to ET on September 8 “As far as our 100 million customers are concerned, as far as our 1 million retailers are concerned... there has already been a virtual merger of the two organisations (RCom and Jio).” Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani at RCom AGM on Tuesday Anil Ambani says RCom & Jio have Virtually Merged QUEUING UP Bank of India, Canara Bank, IndusInd Bank, IL&FS and Mahindra CIE among cos set to raise big money in next 1-3 months Rajesh Mascarenhas & Indulal PM Mumbai: Qualified institutio- nal placements (QIPs) are resur- gent after having gone into a ste- ep decline in the first eight months of the year. Indian com- panies are expected to raise . `10,000-12,000 crore by selling shares to qualified institutional investors in the next few weeks, taking advantage of a liquidity- driven market rally to meet im- mediate spending needs or clean up stretched balance sheets. Half-a-dozen companies have raised about . `3,000 crore in Sep- tember, three times what was ge- nerated in the first eight months of the year. Buyers Keen on Indian Stocks25 QIPs All Set to Make a . ` 12,000-cr Comeback The Great Resurgence Fund-raising Through QIPs 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Jan- Aug ’16 Sept 2016 Year 9 12 10 33 32 7 6 No. of Issues QIPs in September Motherson Sumi Bharat Financials Satin Creditcare Fiem Industries Dwarikesh Sugar Dhampur Sugar SOURCE: PRIME DATABASE/REPORTS Amount Raised (` Crore) 3,459 4,705 8,075 795 3,234 31,684 19,065 Amount Raised (` Crore) Company 1,993 750 250 120 59 61 I-bankers have conducted at least two dozen overseas roadshows in North America, Europe, Middle East & Far East Companies offering fixed deposits have cut interest rates by 25-75 basis points in past 15 days in line with the fall in rates offered by bank deposits, reports Prashant Mahesh.13 Cos Cut FD Rates by 25-75 Bps A Lot in Store SCHEME available with Big Bazaar, eZone and Central FLIPKART too offering zero-cost EMI INTEREST cost to be borne by sellers, brands in form of discounts CONSUMERS won’t have to pay processing fees or any other charges MOVE MA Y PUSH CREDIT GROWTH Google to Offer WiFi in Public, Data-lite Tools Celebrating its 18th birthday, Google on Tuesday an- nounced to offer WiFi in public places like malls and city centres and made chat app Allo Hindi-enabled. It will also bring a data-lite version of YouTube and new data- saving features on Google Chrome for mobile.25 Pure Politics IMPRINT Leaves a Big Impact on Research A year after its launch, the funding mechanism for boosting India-specific research — IMPRINT — is yielding results. Some 31 ministries have proposed to co-fund 229 projects at IITs and other institutes.4 Crop Cover Plan Better than Loan Waiver: Mishra The NDA government’s insurance scheme to cover all crop loss at minimum premi- um is better than Congress’ loan waiver promise, says Union minister and veteran BJP leader Kalraj Mishra.4 RaGa’s Khaat Sabhas Mock the Poor: Sadhvi Jyoti MoS for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said Rahul Gandhi was making fun of the poor by holding khaat sabhas. “Peo- ple who sleep on Dunlop mattresses will never know what a khaat means for a poor man,” she said.4 ‘MFN’ TO PAK UNDER REVIEW PAGE 2 FLIPKART LINES UP JUMBO OFFERS PAGE 6 Scheme makes comeback in a new format COUPON & CASHBACK SITES TOO ROLL UP SLEEVES6 Reading The Economic Times is a winning habit. In more ways than one. Presenting Win with ET, a unique offer that rewards readers of ET, literally! Spot a currency note in the paper, answer two simple questions, and send a picture of the filled- up currency note by Whatsapp to 8471065572 or email to winwithet@timesgroup.com. Winners will be informed by SMS/email, so they can redeem the currency notes for equivalent value of gifts. So keep reading The Economic Times to play more and win more. Visit www. winwithet.in for more details. ARINDAM