Indian companies are walking a tightrope between US and Russian interests: The Essar CEO was quick to point out that the $12.9 billion sale of India's Essar Oil to Russia's Rosneft does not violate U.S. sanctions imposed against the Russian energy firm. The sale, was signed on Saturday. Tensions between US and Russia have been rising with US allegations that Russia has been hacking into US election systems. With the US emerging as an important Indian ally, while Russia supports India at BRICS in its anti-terrorism efforts, Indian companies like Essar have to play a balancing act.   

Essar Oil had delisted in February, and small shareholders in the company are likely to gain an additional amount of upto Rs. 125 per share on the acquisition. Shares of ICICI Bank  jumped today morning in early trading on the news of the acquisition - ICICI Bank has significant exposure to the Essar group, which has a total debt of around Rs.90,000 crore, and investors are clearly hoping that the acquisition will help Essar pay off its debts (like a Lannister). 

In a significant shift for the IITs and IIMs, the government wants the institutions to become multi-disciplinary in its focus like global universities such as Harvard and Oxford. The multi-disciplinary effort would mean that the instis move beyond engineering and management courses, and offer more courses to students across arts, science and policy. The plan would require legislative approval, and would allow IITs and IIMs to attain the world class institution tag for international rankings. 

Ola is moving away from discounts and incentives for customers and drivers. In a Business Standard interview, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal claimed that they are set to be the first company to become profitable in the segment, and to do this,  they plan to cut discounts and driver incentives by 50%. Ola's claim of soon turning profitable is a visible effort to draw away the investor capital that is allowing Uber to offer low-price rides, a move that had forced Ola to match its fares in order to capture market share. 

Photo of the Day: The leaders at the BRICS summit, which adopted the Goa Declaration against terrorism and actors sponsoring terrorism. BRICS2016