20/03/2025

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | MAR 20, 2025

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India’s antitrust officers raid global media giants

rules and set up a €500 billion (RM2.4 trillion) fund for infrastructure investments over 12 years. After heated debate in Parliament – where the plan was opposed by the far right, far left and a small liberal party – it cleared the two-thirds majority needed and passed by a margin of 513 to 207 votes. It still requires approval by the upper house tomorrow, but the likely future governing partners have voiced confidence it will also clear the final hurdle. – AFP MUMBAI: Indian airline IndiGo plans to significantly increase the number of seats it allocates for international flights by fiscal year 2030 to secure greater market share. The no-frills airline expects to increase its international capacity share, or the proportion of its total available seat kilometres for international routes, to 40% from 28% currently, it said in an investor presentation yesterday. The airline reached its current capacity share in seven years, from 14% in 2018. The airline currently flies to 40 international destinations, and has about 19% share of India’s international flight market, according to the latest data from the country’s aviation regulator. IndiGo’s push beyond the domestic market, where it commands a nearly 60% share, comes at a time when Indian carriers are racing to keep pace with surging demand for both domestic and international air travel, despite aircraft supply constraints. The company had in January said it plans to boost its international operations, which currently account for 10% of revenue according to its December-quarter update. – Reuters Swiss lawmakers back tighter banking rules ZURICH: Swiss lawmakers on Tuesday backed a report recommending tightening the rules on banking and reinforcing the supervisory authority, almost two years after Credit Suisse imploded. Switzerland’s second-biggest bank was among 30 international banks deemed too big to fail due to their importance in the global banking architecture. But the collapse of three US regional lenders in March 2023 left Credit Suisse looking like the weakest link in the chain and its share price plunged more than 30% on March 15 that year. The Swiss government, the central bank and the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) then strongarmed the country’s biggest bank UBS into a US$3.25 billion takeover announced on March 19, before the markets reopened the following day. The government feared Credit Suisse would have quickly defaulted and triggered a global banking crisis that would also have shredded Switzerland’s valuable reputation for sound banking. A parliamentary committee conducted an extensive investigation into how the Swiss authorities handled the crisis. Lawmakers on Tuesday adopted all the committee’s proposals, notably on bonuses, capital, and FINMA’s powers. – AFP IndiGo plans big increase in international route seats

venture and Sony, said the first source. France’s Publicis Groupe office was also raided on Tuesday and the operation continued well past midnight, though it was not clear if it has ended, said another source familiar with the operation. GroupM, owned by Britain’s WPP, did not respond to Reuters queries. WPP in 2023 said it had a 45% media market share in India, with 45 of the top 50 advertisers as clients. Interpublic’s IPG Mediabrands unit, Publicis, Dentsu and IBDF did not respond to Reuters queries. The raids come amid major shifts in India’s ad landscape following a US$8.5 billion (RM38 billion) merger between Walt Disney and Reliance’s India media assets, which is estimated to have a 40% share of the ad market in TV and streaming segments. The media agencies compete in

India, the world’s eighth-biggest ad market, where revenues of US$18.5 billion last year are set to grow 9.4% in 2025, GroupM estimates. In a case started last year, the CCI is investigating allegations that broadcasters and media agencies were colluding on prices and discounts of ad rates. The raids were carried out in New Delhi, Mumbai and Gurugram, Reuters has reported. The watchdog does not provide details of price collusion cases, or make its investigations public, and the case is likely to drag on for months before a conclusion is reached. If found guilty, the media agencies may be liable to pay a penalty amounting to up to three times their profit for each year during which the collusion took place, or 10% of their turnover for each year of wrongdoing, whichever is higher. – Reuters

o Investigation into alleged price fixing coincides with popular IPL cricket tournament

NEW DELHI: India’s antitrust officers grilled media executives and seized data in an investigation into price fixing by global advertising agencies GroupM, Interpublic, Publicis and Dentsu, with raids continuing well past midnight into a second day yesterday, people familiar with the matter said. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) raids began on Tuesday morning at around 10 locations in the strictest enforcement action ever against media agencies and a group of the nation’s top broadcasters, just before the start of the popular IPL cricket tournament, the biggest sporting event for advertisers in India.

Top officials at the Indian office of GroupM were not allowed to go home overnight and the raid was still continuing yesterday, with evidence from mobile phones being cloned, two people with direct knowledge said. Raids at Indian offices of US-based Interpublic’s IPG Mediabrands unit, Japan’s Dentsu and top broadcasters industry group IBDF ended early yesterday, nearly 24 hours after they started, people familiar with the matter said. At the New Delhi IBDF office raid, CCI inspectors reviewed e-mails related to advertising dealings of the group, which represents billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance-Disney joint

A security guard standing outside the CCI headquarters in New Delhi. – REUTERSPIC

German MPs approve fiscal ‘bazooka’ for defence, infrastructure BERLIN: German lawmakers gave the green light on Tuesday for a colossal spending boost for defence and infrastructure pushed by chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz amid deep fears in Europe over the future strength of the transatlantic alliance. radical departure for a country famously reluctant to take on large state debt – or to spend heavily on the armed forces, given its dark World War II history.

commitment to Nato and Europe’s defence. Speaking to Parliament, Merz cited Russia’s “war of aggression against Europe” and said the funding boost would spell “the first major step towards a new European defence community”. Merz’s centre-right alliance and their likely future coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have hammered out the package over recent weeks. The plan would exempt defence spending above 1% of GDP from Germany’s strict debt

Merz, who is expected to become Germany’s next chancellor after his CDU/CSU alliance won last month’s elections, argued that dramatic steps are needed at a time of geopolitical turmoil sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. European countries have been further unsettled by US President Donald Trump’s outreach to Russia and signals of an uncertain

The unprecedented fiscal package – dubbed “XXL-sized” and a cash “bazooka” by German media – could pave the way for more than €1 trillion in spending over the next decade in Europe’s top economy. The historic Parliament vote signalled a