Patanjali eyes Ruchi Soya, diesel hits all-time high, and more daily news

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Patanjali Ayurved is keen to acquire debt-laden Ruchi Soya Industries, Business Line reports, quoting unidentified sources. The Baba Ramdev-owned company has put in a ₹9,000-crore bid to buy the edible oil maker. Patanjali, once a distributor of Ruchi Soya's products, is now competing with Godrej, Emami and more than two dozen firms for Ruchi Soya's assets. If the deal goes through, it could be the consumer goods upstart’s largest acquisition by size. Mint reported in December that Patanjali had paid an undisclosed amount for acquiring a company called Advance Navigation and Solar Technologies.

Diesel prices have hit a record peak with one litre going for ₹65.65 in the national capital. That’s because crude oil prices shot up 24% in the first three months of 2018, and touched their 40-month high in April, rating agency Crisil said in a report. Meanwhile, petrol is now selling for ₹74.40 per litre — the highest since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014. Just four days back, petrol and diesel hit their 55-month high.

University students check their smartphones about 150 times a day. Their actions are driven by the anxiety and fear of missing out on information, a survey by Aligarh Muslim University suggests. About 23% of respondents are logged in for more than 8 hours every day and 63% spend 4-7 hours on their devices. “These figures are quite alarming and may have serious consequences on the health and academic performance in the long run,” said Project Director Mohammed Naved Khan. Researchers recommend a daily usage of two hours.

India has moved a step closer to bringing Nirav Modi-style fugitives to task. Yesterday, the President Ram Nath Kovind gave his nod to the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance 2018 a few hours after the proposal got the Union Cabinet’s clearance. The ordinance empowers investigating agencies to confiscate assets of economic offenders (who flee the country) even before they are convicted. It would be applicable to those who have wilfully defaulted on loans of ₹100 crores or more and have an arrest warrant against them.

The sleuths at India’s Financial Intelligence Unit have had a busy run in the last 18 months. That’s because banks recorded an almost five-fold rise in suspicious transactions and dealt with the highest ever inflow of fake notes after demonetisation, PTI reports. Subsequently, the FIU received 886 requests — an all-time high — for information on suspicious currency transactions from various investigating agencies in 2016-17. The FIU is responsible for analysing transactions that have a money laundering or terror financing link.

Idea of the Day: Today’s rapidly changing environment means we need to think differently, writes physicist Leonard Mlodinow. And that means we need to get a lot more comfortable being wrong. • Share your thoughts: #ElasticThinking

“To open your mind to new original ideas, you have to open it to ideas, period. Some will be good, some will be bad, and it won’t always be easy to distinguish the former from the latter. Don’t be afraid to pursue what may not be promising.“

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Disha Sharma and Nirajita Banerjee / Share this using #DailyRundown