Cricketer Virat Kohli Set to Join The 1 Billion Rupee Club: Your Top India Headlines

Cricketer Virat Kohli may soon be worth 1 billion rupees after he signed a couple of high ticket deals last year, making him only the third Indian sportsman to get there. The 26-year old has signed up with Adidas, Audi and MRF Tyres in the past year, in addition to his existing endorsements with Pepsi, Nestle and Oakley. The only other players to make it to this club are Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, both from cricket. But Sachin has since retired and Mahi is cutting back (he has already retired from 5-day test cricket) leaving the field wide open for Kohli and his successors. This is also a stark reminder of the fact that cricket is about the only sport to attract eyeballs and big bucks in this country.

Alibaba is still wooing Snapdeal. After calling off talks in March over differences in valuation, it seems the Chinese company is still interested. This time Alibaba will be joined by Foxconn, the electronics contract manufacturer, best known as the assembler of Apple devices. Snapdeal is looking for about $500 million, about the same as what rival Flipkart to raise, as the top e-commerce players build up their war chests in anticipation of a battle for clicks in the months ahead. If this deal goes through, Softbank, which invested more than $600 million in Snapdeal a few months ago, will have two more big investors to help steer this company.

Softbank’s other big India bet is facing some challenges now, in Delhi. Ola cabs, along with rivals Uber and TaxiForSure have been banned again in Delhi, the latest in the tussle between radio cabs and the government after a passenger was raped by an Uber cabbie in December last year. To enforce the ban, the state government has asked the telecom department to block their websites to ensure passengers cannot access their services. But the services can still be accessed through mobile apps, which means it’s business as usual for now.

Worries on the economic front. Bad loans, an indicator of economic health, are likely to rise further, according to RBI Government Raghuram Rajan. The central bank is working on redoing the accounting procedures for some of these loans, especially infrastructure projects, but that could be seen as a means to recognize the kind of assets better, or as a way to hide bad debt. This is a crucial problems as rating agency Moody’s has already highlighted this as one of the indicators it is looking into while reviewing the sovereign rating.

Prime Minister Modi is in China meeting with President Xi Jingping. The conversation, as a newspaper succinctly put it, was about trade, terror and border dispute. That included discussions on more trade between the two countries, border issues, especially in the north-eastern Arunachal Pradesh border and some talks about China’s infrastructure support in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. And there are hopes that deals worth $23.5 billion may be signed during this visit. Still, we also have problems like this to keep us on our toes.

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