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Mumbai: Internet users across India started reporting outages on their networks on June 18, reaching over 45,000 complaints by market leader Reliance Jio users. On June 19, a similar downtime was reported by second-largest telco Bharti Airtel's users complaining against lost networks 9,000 times. Resultantly, applications like WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, Amazon and many others also started seeing a surge in complaints. The issue at hand was that the telcos' DNS (domain name system) server was down which meant that it was unable to return IP addresses. ET explains the problem along with data on the outages.What was the cause?Every website or application has a name and a number. For instance, what users type into a browser, such as https://myntra.com is the name. Tied to that domain name are numbers or IP addresses that tell the internet the website's location. That is the task of a DNS server -to tie the name to the number.When a website's name is entered, the browser asks the nearest DNS server for its IP address. Once the DNS server returns the IP address, the browser connects to the webpage, which appears on our screen. If the DNS server is unavailable, the browser has no way of acquiring the website's IP address, so it returns an error.This means even if the device is connected to the internet, it is unable to generate webpages.Internet outages due to various reasons like DNS downtime, cyberattacks, damage to subsea cables leave a profound impact on organisations and impact millions of users. According to Gartner, the average cost of IT downtime is $5,600 per minute and can be as much as $140,000 per hour. In India, the impact of unplanned downtime can be as high as ₹7 million per hour, a survey suggests.What had happened?Global network intelligence company Ookla, which operates Downdetector India, told ET that it declared an incident for Jio users starting at 8:00 UTC (13:30 IST) on June 18.The total number of user reports since then until June 20, IST was 45,000.The main volume of reports came in the first seven hours.JioFiber issues were the most reported problem, accounting for 56% of complaints.Mobile internet problems were the second most reported issue at 34%.Mobile phone issues were also reported by 5% of users.The reports came mainly from Bengaluru (17%), Hyderabad (16%) and Mumbai (16%), Delhi and Kolkata "indicating a potential nationwide impact"Another incident was declared for Airtel users on June 19, starting at 8:15 UTC (13:45 IST).The total number of user reports since then until the 20th of June IST were 9,000.The main volume of reports came in the first 4 hours.Mobile Internet problems were the most reported issue at 37%.No Signal issues were the second most reported at 26%Landline internet problems were also reported by 16% of users.These reports came mainly from Bhopal (23%) and Indore (14%).Consequently, Meta companies- Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook -experienced three separate peaks over the analysis period.The first peak came at 8:00 UTC (13:30 IST) on the 18th of June.The second peak came at 11:15 UTC (16:45 IST) on the same day.60% of those reports coming from Jio users.The third peak was experienced only by Instagram, on the 19th of June at 05:00 UTC (10:30 IST).However, any one telco receiving more complaints than the other does not mean the former saw a larger outage. It may be simply because one has larger subscriber base than the other, pointed out experts.

Mumbai: Hinduja Group, the winning bidder for Reliance Capital (RCap), has reworked its fundraising plan by splitting it into two blocks: domestic and overseas. The group is looking to raise ₹7,500 crore funds from a mix of domestic and overseas private credit funds at 15%. Domestically, Hinduja plans to raise ₹3,500 crore from investors, including IIFL's 360 ONE, offering a 15% return. For the overseas segment, they are in discussions with private credit funds such as Cerberus and Edelweiss Alternatives, offering 15% plus withholding tax. The total cost for the overseas debt, including withholding tax, is expected to be around 16.5%. Barclays and 360 ONE are acting as arrangers. Spokespersons of Hinduja, Barclays, 360 ONE, Cerberus did not immediately respond while Edelweiss' spokesperson declined to comment. IIHL, the group's investment arm, has requested a 90-day extension from May 27, 2024, to implement the approved resolution plan, with a hearing scheduled for June 25. 111212323Last July, the committee of creditors approved Hinduja Group's ₹9,650 crore bid for Reliance Capital. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had seized control of the Anil Ambani-owned company, which was burdened with ₹40,000 crore in debt, on November 30, 2021, due to governance concerns. Nageswara Rao Y, a former executive director at Bank of Maharashtra, was appointed as the administrator.The insurance regulator has given approval to IIHL for the acquisition of three Reliance Capital insurance companies, "subject to certain regulatory, statutory, and judicial clearances." This approval is crucial for the transfer of Reliance General Insurance, Reliance Nippon Life, and Reliance Health Insurance to IIHL but restricts the winning bidder from pledging shares of the insurers.Last month, IIHL BFSI (India), linked to the Hinduja Group, sought the banking regulator's approval to pledge 100% of shares of Reliance Capital, to raise ₹8,000 crore, as reported by ET. Investors have enquired about the status of RBI approval on the structure of the company that will be acquiring Reliance Capital.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved Raymond’s composite scheme of arrangement and restructuring involving the demerger of its lifestyle business and the amalgamation of its consumer trading arm, paving way for a more focused and streamlined corporate structure.The NCLT approval facilitates the separation of demerging entity Raymond Ltd and Raymond Lifestyle, which will be the transferee company, with Ray Global Consumer Trading also being integrated into the new structure.As part of this restructuring process, Raymond Ltd will demerge its lifestyle business into Raymond Lifestyle. Ray Global Consumer Trading will be amalgamated into Raymond Lifestyle to streamline the group structure. 111211786Swap RatioOnce the restructuring scheme becomes effective, shareholders of Raymond Ltd will receive four equity shares of Raymond Lifestyle for every five shares held in Raymond Ltd. Shareholders of Ray Global Consumer Trading will receive two equity shares of Raymond Lifestyle for each share held in Ray Global Consumer Trading. Equity shares of Raymond Lifestyle will be listed on the stock exchanges.Advocate Hemant Sethi and Devanshi Sethi of Hemant Sethi & Co, while appearing for all the companies argued that each of these business verticals are significantly large and mature and have a distinct attractiveness to divergent sets of investors, strategic partners, and other stakeholders.“Each business will be able to target and attract new investors with specific knowledge, expertise and risk appetite corresponding to their own businesses,” argued the lawyers for the company. “Thus, each business will have its own set of like-minded investors, thereby providing the necessary funding impetus to the long-term growth strategies of each business.”Shareholder ValueAccording to the companies’ petition to the NCLT Mumbai bench, the primary objective of the restructuring is to unlock the potential value of Raymond’s distinct business verticals. The textile and lifestyle segments have grown significantly, warranting independent management and operations. The separation is expected to enable focused management of each business vertical, enhance operational synergies, and streamline the corporate structure.The move will also help attract targeted investments from stakeholders with specific interests and expertise in the respective industries, also help enable maximise shareholder value by creating two distinct, and publicly listed entities.Raymond Ltd, known for its operations in textiles and branded apparel, as well as its ventures into real estate development, aims to achieve zero net debt for both lifestyle and non-lifestyle businesses post-restructuring. The move is anticipated to simplify operations, enhance management efficiency, and provide a clear strategic direction for each business unit, the companies said.The appointed date for the demerger is set as April 1, 2023, and the effective date will follow the filing of the NCLT order with the respective Registrar of Companies (ROC). This restructuring is expected to help position Raymond Lifestyle as a key player in the consumer goods sector, with a distinct focus on lifestyle products and fast-moving consumer goods markets.

NEW DELHI: A court here has directed the personal appearance of a Delhi Police investigating officer on the issue of preservation of CCTV footage linked to the alleged assault on Samir Modi, an executive director of cigarette maker Godfrey Philips India (GPI), during a board meeting on May 30. Metropolitan Magistrate Aridamam Singh Cheema was hearing the plea for a court-monitored probe in the FIR registered by Samir Modi at the Sarita Vihar police station. The plea had sought several directions to the police including the preservation of the CCTV footage of the alleged assault by a personal security officer (PSO) of Samir's mother Bina Modi during the company's board meeting at its Jasola head office here, contending that it was needed "in the interest of fair and proper investigation". "As the incident pertains to the date May 30, 2024, there may be circumstances that the life of CCTV may expire if the same are not preserved now. In the interest of justice, the CCTV footage of the entrance of GPI head office, Jasola, is to be preserved for the date from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM," the court said on Friday. It also summoned the investigating officer (IO) and directed the Delhi Police official to submit a status report. On Saturday, noting that the IO had filed a status report regarding the preservation of CCTV footage, the court said, "Issue summons to IO Inspector Niraj through station house officer (SHO) concerned to appear in person on the next date of hearing( on June 27)." According to the status report, the original digital or network video recorder had been seized and had footage of 34 cameras from May 8 to June 12. Sameer Modi, in a complaint filed before the Delhi Police, alleged that he was stopped from participating in the board meeting of GPI on May 30 by his mother Bina Modi's PSO and was "grievously injured" after being assaulted. "My mother and Mr Bhasin orchestrated this assault and the other present board members were consenting parties to the assault. Please make sure that the strictest action is taken; these people are very influential and moneyed and will attempt to derail the process," the FIR dated June 1 alleged. The FIR has been registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint). The plea seeking the court's directions dated June 18 claimed that there was no progress in the investigation and that despite specific allegations against Bina Modi, her role was not being probed.