Idea Cellular shares dipped by 8 per cent on Monday post the company’s announcement of merger approval with Vodafone India.

“Board of directors of Idea Cellular Limited have approved the scheme of amalgamation of Vodafone India Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary Vodafone Mobile Service Limited with the company (Idea),” Idea Cellular said in a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing on Monday.

“Vodafone will own 45.1 per cent of the combined company”, the statement said, adding, "Kumar Mangalam Birla and other promoters of Idea will hold 26 per cent (ownership) of the company".

However, Idea Cellular shares were trading 7.6 per cent down at Rs.99.90 at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) amid investors concerns over the pricing of the new entity.

Profit booking also forced the company’s shares to trade lower as the stock had jumped nearly 50 per cent in the previous three months (from January 18 to March 19, 2017).

Idea Cellular shares dipped by 8 per cent on Monday post the company’s announcement of merger approval with Vodafone India.

“Board of directors of Idea Cellular Limited have approved the scheme of amalgamation of Vodafone India Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary Vodafone Mobile Service Limited with the company (Idea),” Idea Cellular said in a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing on Monday.

“Vodafone will own 45.1 per cent of the combined company”, the statement said, adding, "Kumar Mangalam Birla and other promoters of Idea will hold 26 per cent (ownership) of the company".

However, Idea Cellular shares were trading 7.6 per cent down at Rs.99.90 at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) amid investors concerns over the pricing of the new entity.

Profit booking also forced the company’s shares to trade lower as the stock had jumped nearly 50 per cent in the previous three months (from January 18 to March 19, 2017).

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya-Birla Group Idea Cellular, will be the chairman of the new entity – Idea Cellular-Vodafone India, one of the biggest telecom merger announced on Monday.

“I am pleased and honoured to be the chairman of the new company,” said Birla on Monday.

“It gives me immense pleasure that we reached to an agreement to merge our companies Idea Cellular and Vodafone. We are number two and number three companies at present in the telecom sector with a customer base of 400 million,” he added.

Meanwhile, Vodafone will appoint a CFO.

Vodafone will own 45.1 per cent of the combined company, Idea said in a statement.

"The Aditya Birla Group will then own 26 per cent and has the right to acquire more shares from Vodafone under an agreed mechanism with a view to equalising the shareholdings over time," it added.

"For Idea shareholders and lenders who have supported us thus far, this transaction is highly accretive, and Idea and Vodafone will together create a very valuable company given our complementary strength," Birla said.

"The combination of Vodafone India and Idea will create a new champion of Digital India founded with a long-term commitment and vision to bring world-class 4G networks to villages, towns and cities across India," said Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, Vodafone Group Plc.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya-Birla Group Idea Cellular, will be the chairman of the new entity – Idea Cellular-Vodafone India, one of the biggest telecom merger announced on Monday.

“I am pleased and honoured to be the chairman of the new company,” said Birla on Monday.

“It gives me immense pleasure that we reached to an agreement to merge our companies Idea Cellular and Vodafone. We are number two and number three companies at present in the telecom sector with a customer base of 400 million,” he added.

Meanwhile, Vodafone will appoint a CFO.

Vodafone will own 45.1 per cent of the combined company, Idea said in a statement.

"The Aditya Birla Group will then own 26 per cent and has the right to acquire more shares from Vodafone under an agreed mechanism with a view to equalising the shareholdings over time," it added.

"For Idea shareholders and lenders who have supported us thus far, this transaction is highly accretive, and Idea and Vodafone will together create a very valuable company given our complementary strength," Birla said.

"The combination of Vodafone India and Idea will create a new champion of Digital India founded with a long-term commitment and vision to bring world-class 4G networks to villages, towns and cities across India," said Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, Vodafone Group Plc.

British singer James Blunt says his friend and singer Ed Sheeran made him "uncomfortable" while they were writing songs together.

He says it was because Sheeran pushed him to write more confessional lyrics.

Blunt spoke about it when he was discussing Make me better, a song Sheeran co-wrote for Blunt's album The Afterlove, during an interview.

He said: "It's a song I'm uncomfortable with for that reason. Ed said 'Come on, it's your job, you veil a lot of things', for that reason it was great to work with him."

Blunt added: "He is so open and he dragged me into that space."

The singer also said he and Sheeran often joke that if they started a band, it would be called "Limp Willy and the Disappointments". 

British singer James Blunt says his friend and singer Ed Sheeran made him "uncomfortable" while they were writing songs together.

He says it was because Sheeran pushed him to write more confessional lyrics.

Blunt spoke about it when he was discussing Make me better, a song Sheeran co-wrote for Blunt's album The Afterlove, during an interview.

He said: "It's a song I'm uncomfortable with for that reason. Ed said 'Come on, it's your job, you veil a lot of things', for that reason it was great to work with him."

Blunt added: "He is so open and he dragged me into that space."

The singer also said he and Sheeran often joke that if they started a band, it would be called "Limp Willy and the Disappointments". 

John Legend says although it is difficult to make everyone happy with his music albums, he hopes his fans will at least give him a shot whenever he puts something out.

The 38-year-old singer says his latest studio album Darkness and Light' has received a great response from people and industry alike, reported Femalefirst.

"Not everyone is going to be happy with every album and with every song but when I put music out, I do it with the confidence that my fans will love it or at least give it a chance," says Legend.

The All of Me singer adds that he feels pressure of making to the top of a chart but sticks to making music that appeals to the public.

"The feedback from Darkness and Light has been amazing and it has been my best-reviewed album to-date… I don't go too much into numbers and charts, what's important is that people love it and I've heard they do," he adds.

John Legend says although it is difficult to make everyone happy with his music albums, he hopes his fans will at least give him a shot whenever he puts something out.

The 38-year-old singer says his latest studio album Darkness and Light' has received a great response from people and industry alike, reported Femalefirst.

"Not everyone is going to be happy with every album and with every song but when I put music out, I do it with the confidence that my fans will love it or at least give it a chance," says Legend.

The All of Me singer adds that he feels pressure of making to the top of a chart but sticks to making music that appeals to the public.

"The feedback from Darkness and Light has been amazing and it has been my best-reviewed album to-date… I don't go too much into numbers and charts, what's important is that people love it and I've heard they do," he adds.

The Cabinet cleared four supporting GST legislations, paving the way for their introduction in Parliament as early as on Monday.

The four supporting legislations — the Compensation Law, the Central-GST (C-GST), Integrated-GST (I-GST) and Union Territory-GST (UT-GST)– would be introduced as Money Bill, sources said.

"The GST legislations have been cleared by the Cabinet.

These would be introduced in Parliament this week, could be even today," a source said.

The GST legislations were the only agenda in today's meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sources said the four legislations would be taken up for discussion together in Parliament. Once approved by Parliament, the states would start taking their SGST bill for discussion and passage in the respective state assemblies.

The GST Council, in its previous two meetings, had given approval to the four legislations as also the State-GST (S-GST) bill. While the S-GST has to be passed by each of the state legislative assemblies, the four other laws have to be approved by Parliament.

Passage of all the legislations would pave the way for introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1.

The government is hoping the C-GST, I-GST, UT-GST and the GST Compensation laws will be approved in the current session of Parliament and the S-GST by each of the state legislatures soon.

While a composite GST will be levied on sale of goods or rendering of services after the new indirect tax regime is rolled out, the revenue would be split between the Centre and the states in almost equal proportion.

This is because central taxes like excise and service tax and state levies like VAT will be subsumed in the GST.

While the C-GST will give powers to the Centre to levy GST on goods and services after Union levies like excise and service tax are subsumed, the I-GST is to be levied on inter-state supplies.

The S-GST will allow states to levy the tax after VAT and other state levies are subsumed in the GST. The UT-GST will also go to Parliament for approval.

The Council has already finalised a four-tier tax structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent, but the model GST law has kept the peak rate at 40 per cent (20 per cent to be levied by the Centre and an equal amount by the states) to obviate the need for approaching Parliament for any change in rates in future.

Similarly, the cess to be levied on top of peak rate on selected demerit goods like luxury cars for creation of a corpus that will be used for compensating states for any loss of revenue from GST implementation in the first five years, has been capped at 15 per cent.

The Cabinet cleared four supporting GST legislations, paving the way for their introduction in Parliament as early as on Monday.

The four supporting legislations — the Compensation Law, the Central-GST (C-GST), Integrated-GST (I-GST) and Union Territory-GST (UT-GST)– would be introduced as Money Bill, sources said.

"The GST legislations have been cleared by the Cabinet.

These would be introduced in Parliament this week, could be even today," a source said.

The GST legislations were the only agenda in today's meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sources said the four legislations would be taken up for discussion together in Parliament. Once approved by Parliament, the states would start taking their SGST bill for discussion and passage in the respective state assemblies.

The GST Council, in its previous two meetings, had given approval to the four legislations as also the State-GST (S-GST) bill. While the S-GST has to be passed by each of the state legislative assemblies, the four other laws have to be approved by Parliament.

Passage of all the legislations would pave the way for introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1.

The government is hoping the C-GST, I-GST, UT-GST and the GST Compensation laws will be approved in the current session of Parliament and the S-GST by each of the state legislatures soon.

While a composite GST will be levied on sale of goods or rendering of services after the new indirect tax regime is rolled out, the revenue would be split between the Centre and the states in almost equal proportion.

This is because central taxes like excise and service tax and state levies like VAT will be subsumed in the GST.

While the C-GST will give powers to the Centre to levy GST on goods and services after Union levies like excise and service tax are subsumed, the I-GST is to be levied on inter-state supplies.

The S-GST will allow states to levy the tax after VAT and other state levies are subsumed in the GST. The UT-GST will also go to Parliament for approval.

The Council has already finalised a four-tier tax structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent, but the model GST law has kept the peak rate at 40 per cent (20 per cent to be levied by the Centre and an equal amount by the states) to obviate the need for approaching Parliament for any change in rates in future.

Similarly, the cess to be levied on top of peak rate on selected demerit goods like luxury cars for creation of a corpus that will be used for compensating states for any loss of revenue from GST implementation in the first five years, has been capped at 15 per cent.

Barely a few hours after Yogi Adityanath was sworn-in as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mohammad Shami was shot dead in Allahabad on Sunday night.

According to reports, some assailants on bike shot Shami near his house and he died on the spot.  Five bullets had been fired at Shami, police said.

In the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Shami had contested against Raghuraj Pratap Singh, a six-time winner from the Kunda constituency.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a resounding triumph, winning 325 seats out of 403 with its allies in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Barely a few hours after Yogi Adityanath was sworn-in as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mohammad Shami was shot dead in Allahabad on Sunday night.

According to reports, some assailants on bike shot Shami near his house and he died on the spot.  Five bullets had been fired at Shami, police said.

In the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Shami had contested against Raghuraj Pratap Singh, a six-time winner from the Kunda constituency.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a resounding triumph, winning 325 seats out of 403 with its allies in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh on Monday won the floor test in the state Assembly.

He proved the majority with the support of 33 MLAs in the state assembly.

Governor Najma Heptullah had invited the BJP, which won 21 seats in the 60-seat Manipur Assembly, to form the government.

Singh, a former national level football player, took oath as the CM of Manipur on March 16 along with eight other ministers.

The BJP won 21 seats and formed the state government with support of four each MLAs of NPP and NPF, one MLA of LJP and one each lawmaker of Congress and Trinamool Congress who joined the saffron party.

(With inputs from agencies)

Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh on Monday won the floor test in the state Assembly.

He proved the majority with the support of 33 MLAs in the state assembly.

Governor Najma Heptullah had invited the BJP, which won 21 seats in the 60-seat Manipur Assembly, to form the government.

Singh, a former national level football player, took oath as the CM of Manipur on March 16 along with eight other ministers.

The BJP won 21 seats and formed the state government with support of four each MLAs of NPP and NPF, one MLA of LJP and one each lawmaker of Congress and Trinamool Congress who joined the saffron party.

(With inputs from agencies)

In the latest episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim Kardashian West tearfully chronicled the events of her Paris robbery as her sisters Khloe and Kourtney sat by her side and listened.

The reality star suffered the most horrific ordeal of her life when a group of armed burglars forced their way into the apartment she was staying at in France five months ago, tied her up and brandished a gun at her while demanding money and making off with $10 million worth of jewellery.

For some weeks after the incident, Kim took a break from social media and the spotlight in general to re-evaluate her life and security, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

While recalling the incident, Kim says in the clip, "They asked for money. I said, 'I don't have any money. They dragged me out to the hallway on top of the stairs. That's when I saw the gun, like clear as day.

"I was kind of looking at the gun, looking down back at the stairs and I was like, 'I have a split second in my mind to make this quick decision'." 

According to Kim, she contemplated escape but realised that there was ultimately nothing she could do to get away from the situation.

"Am I gonna run down the stairs and, like, either be shot in the back… It makes me so upset to think about it but, like, either they're gonna shoot me in the back or if I make it and they don't, if the elevator does not open in time or the stairs are locked, then like… There's no way out.

In the latest episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim Kardashian West tearfully chronicled the events of her Paris robbery as her sisters Khloe and Kourtney sat by her side and listened.

The reality star suffered the most horrific ordeal of her life when a group of armed burglars forced their way into the apartment she was staying at in France five months ago, tied her up and brandished a gun at her while demanding money and making off with $10 million worth of jewellery.

For some weeks after the incident, Kim took a break from social media and the spotlight in general to re-evaluate her life and security, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

While recalling the incident, Kim says in the clip, "They asked for money. I said, 'I don't have any money. They dragged me out to the hallway on top of the stairs. That's when I saw the gun, like clear as day.

"I was kind of looking at the gun, looking down back at the stairs and I was like, 'I have a split second in my mind to make this quick decision'." 

According to Kim, she contemplated escape but realised that there was ultimately nothing she could do to get away from the situation.

"Am I gonna run down the stairs and, like, either be shot in the back… It makes me so upset to think about it but, like, either they're gonna shoot me in the back or if I make it and they don't, if the elevator does not open in time or the stairs are locked, then like… There's no way out.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 19 exhorted the Indian diamond industry to aim at becoming an international trading centre and "preferred destination for manufacturing" rather than only a cutting and polishing hub.

"Our aim is to make India a preferred destination for (diamond) manufacturing. We are already a cutting and polishing hub. My intention is to make India an international diamond trading hub," Modi said, addressing golden jubilee celebration of Gem Jewellery Export Promotion Council here through video-conference this evening.

India has made rapid strides to become the world's largest manufacturer and exporter of cut and polished diamonds, the PM noted.

"From just $28 million in 1966-67, it has now reached $40 billion. Our aim is to transform India in one generation… Our aim is to make India a preferred destination for manufacturing," he said.

In the past 50 years, the Prime Minister said, the gems and jewellery sector has accounted for $475 billion of exports despite not having domestic production of either gold or diamond. By giving employment to over 4.6 million people, the industry is a major contributor to the government's skill India initiative, Modi said.

"Skill India initiative seeks to make sure that new attempts are made to ensure that the workforce has the necessary skills to contribute to the economy of the 21st century. The gems and jewellery sector employs 4.6 million people, out of this, 1 million are in the diamond industry alone. Thus the gems and jewellery sector is a prime example of the potential of Make-in-India and Skill India," Modi said.

"This sector has come a long way from where it was.

However, it is still far, far behind where it should be. Our strongest area is diamond cutting and polishing. In terms of the global value, our market share is much lower than it should be. Our future is much bigger than cutting and polishing. We have a lot of unexplored potential," he said.