Almost a month after a bombshell short seller report lopped off $132 billion in market value from Gautam Adani’s empire, the Indian billionaire has hired top-shelf US crisis communication and legal teams, scrapped a $850 million coal plant purchase, reined in expenses, repaid some debt and promises to repay more.

The ports-to-power conglomerate helmed by Adani — who used to be Asia’s richest person — is hoping to claw back the narrative with this playbook and calm jittery investors and lenders after US-based Hindenburg Research on Jan. 24 accused it of accounting fraud, stock manipulation and other corporate governance lapses.

At a time when large investors have reduced their investments in India as the funding winter persists, venture capital firm Lightspeed is betting big on the country. It plans to invest in emergent sectors such as climate, electric mobility, deep tech, Web3 and cross-border commerce. The firm would also continue to invest in core themes such as consumer, fintech and software-as-a-service (SaaS).

“We believe in investing through cycles and in companies that are building for the future. We have core investment areas in SaaS, fintech, commerce and consumer,” said Rahul Taneja, Partner, Lightspeed, in an interview.

Twitter Inc. has shut two of its three India offices and told its staff to work from home, underscoring Elon Musk’s mission to slash costs and get the struggling social media service in the black.

Twitter, which fired more than 90% of its roughly 200-plus staff in India late last year, closed its offices in the political center New Delhi and financial hub of Mumbai, people aware of the matter said.

The turmoil engulfing Gautam Adani’s business empire that’s sparked a punishing stock market selloff and shaken faith in India as an investment opportunity may open the door to a democratic revival in the country, according to billionaire investor George Soros.

The fallout from US short seller Hindenburg Research’s attack on the conglomerate threatens to hurt investor confidence in India, has fueled concerns about the country’s regulatory framework and sparked questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ties with Adani.

Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have concluded a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to form a joint venture aiming at a single point of contact for extending long-term product support services for India's defence forces.

The announcement was made by Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhat, at Aero India 2023, the ongoing biennial air show and aviation exhibition, at Yelahanka Air Force Station here, a BEL statement said.

Air India will require more than 6,500 pilots to operate 470 aircraft that are to be supplied by Airbus and Boeing in the coming years, according to industry sources.

Seeking to expand fleet as well as operations, the airline has placed orders for acquiring a total of 840 aircraft that includes an option to buy 370 planes. This is one of the largest aircraft order by any airline.

Tata Steel successfully completed the first multi-modal shipment of 960 tonnes of TMT bars from West Bengal's Haldia Port to Tripura's Agartala, the company said on Thursday.

The entire transportation from flag-off to receiving material at the distributor's warehouse in Agartala was completed in 17 days, it said.

Adani Green Energy has a refinancing plan which the Indian company will disclose after the fiscal year ends, an executive of the embattled Adani group told bondholders on a call on Thursday, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Adani Group had hired banks to arrange calls with bond investors after it was caught up in a short-selling storm in recent weeks.

The Centre on Thursday cut the windfall profit tax on domestically produced crude oil from Rs 5,050 per tonne to Rs 4,350 per tonne. The additional excise duty on ATF was also cut to Rs 1.5 per litre from Rs 6 per litre earlier.

Further, the government also slashed tax on export of diesel to Rs 2.5 per litre from Rs 7.5 per litre. Petrol continues to have zero excise duty. The new rates will come into effect on February 16.

Voting for the 60-member Assembly in Tripura began at 7 am on Thursday amid tight security, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinakarrao.

Altogether 28.13 voters are scheduled to exercise their franchise during the day in 3,337 polling stations of the northeastern state to determine the fate of 259 candidates, he said.

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