Episode Details

At long last, Jet Airways revival in sight

Tweaked stock options, coming soon to a job contract near you

Petrol pumps cap inventory amid hopes of fuel price cut

Startups, SMEs increasingly covet so-called fractional CXOs

Netflix needs another midstream change in India. Here’s why

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, March 13, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started:

Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty trimmed some of their gains, yet managed to end Tuesday in the green. Largely the indices remained flat with NSE’s Nifty 50 gaining a miniscule 0.01 per cent. BSE’s 30-company index Sensex too rose only 0.22 per cent. HDFC Bank, TCS, Maruti Suzuki India, Infosys, and Reliance Industries emerged as the top gainers on Tuesday.

Finally, there’s been some progress in the possible revival of Jet Airways. The grounded airline got a second wind on Tuesday, after a decision by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. N-C-L-A-T has asked the bankrupt airline’s lender’s to handover the carrier to the Jalan-Karlock Consortium within 90 days. The National Company Law Tribunal — a lower body than the N-C-L-A-T, had approved the consortium’s resolution plan for Jet Airways back in June 2021. It had even allowed the handover in January last year. However, Jet’s lenders challenged this decision in the higher tribunal over alleging the consortium to be non-compliant with the resolution plan. Mint’s legal correspondent Krishna Yadav reports on the development, crucial for not just Jet but also the Indian aviation industry. 

In a bid to retain top talent amid rising attrition, companies are juggling with different kinds of stock options for employees. India Inc is experimenting with hybrid forms of stock options, as opposed to the regular ones. Some of them include stricter forms of performance based stock options, analysts told Mint’s HR and workplace correspondent Devina Sengupta. These restricted stock units or RSUs, are shares given to an employee as a reward upon fulfilling a predetermined period of service. On the other hand, performance stocks are granted only when an employee achieves particular objectives, remains with the company for a designated duration, and the company itself reaches its goals within its industry. For businesses, these stock options are considered "less dilutive." According to consultancy firm EY, the number of companies choosing alternative stock incentives for employees has increased by 25 to 30 per cent in the last few years.

General elections are only a few weeks away. Freebies and price cuts usually become the main weapons against anti-incumbency for governments around this time. One such important pre-election move is cutting down the price of fuel. Anticipating a price cut, fuel stations are running low on inventory. Petrol and diesel pumps are keeping enough stock for only three days, as opposed to their regular inventory of five days. This is to save on any losses that may occur in case a price cut is announced. In case of a price cut, the new rates take effect immediately — leaving fuel retailers with losses on the stock they bought for a higher price. M