General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - March 2015

Mar 2015

Dec 15, 2021

Kotak Mahindra Bank Partners with IndiGo to Offer Co-branded Credit Cards

Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank and India's largest airline carrier, IndiGo, joined hands to launch co-branded credit cards that offer customer reward points that they can redeem for booking air tickets and value-added services on IndiGo.
Essentially, the cards will work on a reward proposition of an airline ticket for free.
The bank is offering two co-branded credit cards, 6E Rewards XL and 6E Rewards, along with its partner Indigo. The 6E rewards programme of IndiGo is linked to a co-branded card wherein members can earn rewards by using their plastic on IndiGo and other merchants and redeem them for benefits.
The base variant (6E Rewards) is priced at Rs. 700 (plus GST) and has a host of welcome benefits, including a complimentary welcome ticket of Rs. 1,500 and 6E prime add-on services worth Rs. 899. The higher variant (6E Rewards XL) is priced at Rs. 1,500 (plus GST) as an introductory offer. It has welcome benefits, including complimentary tickets worth Rs. 3,000 and add-on services worth Rs. 899, among other things.

SME Neo-banking Platform Open Buys Finin

Open, the SME neo-banking platform announced the acquisition of consumer neo-banking platform Finin for $10 Million in a cash-and-stock deal.
The acquisition will strengthen Open's cloud native enterprise offering BankingStack through which it has deployed SME digital banking solutions for 17 banks. The deal will also provide a fillip to the firm's recently launched no-code embedded finance platform Zwitch, through which it enables fintechs and non-fintechs to launch innovative digital banking services.
The acquisition of Finin adds strategic value to Open's offering in the cloud native enterprise banking and embedded finance space.
With the addition of Finin, Open will be able to offer holistic business and consumer banking propositions to banks that are looking to enhance the digital banking experiences for their customers.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail to Take over Reebok's Operations in India

Aditya Birla Group's fashion retail division Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) signed a long-term licensing agreement with US-based brand management company Authentic Brands Group (ABG) to exclusively distribute and sell Reebok products via wholesale, e-commerce, and Reebok branded retail stores in India and other Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries.
The deal signals ABFRL's foray into the sports and active wear segment.

French Luxury Brand Chanel Appoints Unilever CHRO Leena Nair as CEO

Leena Nair, Unilever's chief human resources officer (CHRO) will step down in January to join French luxury brand-Chanel as global chief executive officer and will be based out of London.
Nair started her career at Hindustan Unilever (HUL) 30 years ago, as management trainee and became the first woman on HUL's management committee.
During her stint at the company, Nair progressed through roles in factories, sales and human resources.

LIC Launches New Plan, Dhan Rekha

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) launched a new plan called Dhan Rekha, a non -linked, non-participating, individual savings life insurance plan. There are special premium rates for female lives. The plan is allowed to third gender and all benefits under the plan are fully guaranteed.
The plan provides a percentage of the basic sum assured as survival benefit at regular intervals starting from end of premium paying term provided policy is in force. Guaranteed additions will accrue at the end of each policy year starting from the 6th policy year to the end of the policy term provided the policy is in force.
The minimum sum assured under this plan is Rs. 2 lakh, with no limit for maximum sum assured.

Sachin Tendulkar Joins Spinny as Strategic Investor

Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar joined pre-owned car retailing platform Spinny as a strategic investor and lead brand endorser.
Spinny recently became a Unicorn with the closing of a USD 283 million Series-E round of funding, which took the total capital raised by the platform to more than 530 million and giving it a valuation of USD 1.8 billion.

Bank of Baroda Launches "bob World Wave"- Wearable Payment Solution

Bank of Baroda (BoB) launched a wearable payment solution called "bob World Wave".
Bob World Wave was launched for digital banking payments.
This technology is witnessing the rise of tremendous interest worldwide and lenders are using this opportunity for adopting more convenient and cashless digital payments systems.
This innovative solution seeks to perfectly deliver preventive health actions and easier payment transactions.
To develop the "bob World Wave", Bank of Baroda partnered with NPCI. It was developed by leveraging the existing NFC based technology.
bob World Wave wearable solution will allow customers to monitor their body temperature, heart rate, Sp02 and blood pressure.
Bank of Baroda is also providing an exclusive 3-months free wellness package with the bob World Wave solution. Wellness package will be provided along with a personal health coach, interactive video coaching and doctor teleconsultation.

Orion Corporation Selects Infosys to Transform ERP, Planning Platforms

Infosys was selected by Finnish pharmaceutical company Orion Corporation to holistically transform its ERP and Planning platforms, enhance employee experience, and drive business value realisation.
Through this engagement, Bengaluru-headquartered Infosys will adopt standardised best SAP practices to enable end-to-end visibility across Orion's operations, informed decision making, and reduce business operations cost through AI, ML, and robotic process automation.

Dec 14, 2021

SBI Cards Launches Fitness-focused Credit Card

SBI Cards, in a bid to target fitness and health enthusiasts, launched a first of a kind credit card 'SBI Card PULSE' that offers a host of fitness and health related benefits.
The contactless card comes with annual membership fee of Rs. 1,499 and has been launched on Visa Signature platform. The renewal fee waiver is applicable on achieving annual spend milestone of Rs. 2 lakh within the card membership year.
SBI Card PULSE provides the customers Noise ColorFit Pulse Smartwatch of worth Rs. 4,999 as a welcome gift on payment of the joining fee.

BPCL, BARC Collaborate to Scale up Tech for Green Hydrogen Production

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) collaborated with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) to scale up Alkaline Electrolyser technology for Green Hydrogen production.
Presently, Electrolyser Plants are imported. This is a first of its kind initiative to support the country's commitment to achieve renewable energy targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Through collaboration with BARC, BPCL intends to scale up Indigenous Alkaline Electrolyser Technology and look forward to commercializing it for large use especially in refineries.

RBI Enforces 20-digit LEI for Cross-border Deals

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) mandatory for cross-border transactions for capital or current account transactions of Rs. 50 crore and above, from October 1 next year. The LEI is a 20-digit number used to uniquely identify parties to financial transactions worldwide to improve the quality and accuracy of financial data systems.
The identifier norm has been introduced in a phased manner for participants in the over the counter (OTC) derivative, non-derivative markets, large corporate borrowers, and large value transactions in centralised payment systems. Starting October 1, 2022, banks will have to obtain the `LEI` number from the resident entities (non-individuals) undertaking any capital or current account transactions. For LEI holders, it would be mandatory to furnish the number in all transactions irrespective of the transaction size.

PepsiCo India Enters Thin Wafer Market with Lay's Wafer Style

PepsiCo India entered the Rs. 1,000 crore thin wafer market with a new variant of chips called Lay's Wafer Style, a flat cut chip that is its thinnest range of chips ever launched.
Lay's Wafer Style would be available in three flavours--Salt & Pepper, Tangy Treat and Sundried Chilli.
It will be launched across all channels of distribution in India.
The company would launch a new television commercial campaign featuring Lay's brand ambassador and Bollywood actress, Alia Bhatt, and actor Siddhant Chaturvedi across multiple platforms.

Equitas SFB, Cholamandalam MS Tie up for Women-centric Health Insurance Policy

Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB) tied up with Cholamandalam MS General Insurance and launched a women-centric health insurance policy Chola Sarva Shakti.
The product has been launched to empower Indian women with good health and finances.
The Chola Sarva Shakti Policy initiative aims to provide women with an independent and comprehensive policy, which secures their future against various contingency health situations.
The policy benefits include insurance in case of personal accidents or any health crisis, health indemnity and maternity cover, support for child's education and EMI benefit to the insured in case of termination or temporary suspension from employment owing to health problems, among others.

Sterlite Power to Expand Transmission Projects in Brazil

Sterlite Power Transmission Ltd's Brazilian arm Sterlite Power Brasil plans to expand projects in two regions of Brazil (Minas Gerais and Paraiba) with a capital expenditure of Rs. 250 crore.
The requests for an authorizing resolution for the construction of an additional scope came from the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL).
The company's portfolio is located strategically in important areas from the perspective of transmission connectivity and intends to continue to increase its capacity.

OMD India Appoints Anisha Iyer as CEO

Omnicom Media Group India's media network OMD appointed Anisha Iyer as its new chief executive officer. The appointment is effective from January 2022. In her new role, Iyer will be responsible for leading the organisational vision and steering strategic goals across the business. She will focus on leading future-ready teams, enhancing client relationships and delivering best-in-class solutions across the board. Iyer will report to Kartik Sharma, group CEO, Omnicom Media Group India. "Anisha embodies OMD's vision efficaciously. With her digital prowess and creative mindset, I am confident that she will lead the organization to greater heights and accelerate the momentum of growth.
Iyer brings with her over 18 years of experience in the advertising business. She has worked with agencies such as Mindshare, Madhouse and Group M. She is credited for delivering cutting-edge solutions and best-in-class strategies for a range of clients spanning FMCG, pharma, auto, travel, telecom, e-commerce, food and retail businesses.

Worldline Partners with Major Card Networks to Launch Tokenisation Solution

Worldline, a global leader in payments solutions, partnered with major card networks including Visa, Mastercard, and RuPay and leading card issuing banks in building a tokenisation solution to enable businesses to comply with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) diktat on storage of card details.
The RBI guidelines on card storage will come into effect from January 1, 2022. It would, essentially, mean that merchants, payment aggregators, and acquiring banks can no longer store the card details of customers. Under the new guidelines, only card issuers, and card networks will be able store card details (card on file). Merchants and other entities who have stored card details of customers so far will have to purge the data.
Worldline has developed a fully interoperable plug-and-play solution to enable card on file tokenisation using single integration. Businesses will be able to enable the Worldline tokenisation solution with minimal technical upgrades and continue to offer seamless payment experience to their customers in compliance with the latest guidelines.

Dec 13, 2021

Centre Accepts Mithila Makhana GI tag

The Geographical Indications Registry (GIR) under the Central ministry of commerce has accepted the plea to rename Bihar Makhana as Mithila Makhana and also suggested further amendments in the brand logo to better reflect its origins apart from identifying and protecting the product's Geographical Indications (GI) rights.
The development has put an end to the controversy over the branding of the mithila region's one of the most famous produce in makhana or fox nut. After assessment of the application for amendment in name, a consultative group of experts and a senior examiner at GIR, Prashanth Kumar S Bhairappanavar, decided that certain post registration conditions will have to be met.
A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin . Such products with a GI tag are protected under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

PLI Scheme Approved for Manufacturing 'Advanced Chemistry Cell'

The Government told the Rajya Sabha that a Production-Linked Incentive scheme has been approved for manufacturing 'Advanced Chemistry Cell ACC' in the country to reduce the prices of battery cells.
Minister of State for Heavy Industries Krishan Pal Gurjar said, the development of the cell will bring down the prices of electric vehicles.
He said, the GST on e-vehicles has been reduced from 12 percent to 5 percent. He said, the demand incentive for electric two-wheelers has been increased from 10-thousand rupees per Kilo Watt hour to 15-thousand rupees per kilowatt hour.

Dec 12, 2021

Over 326 Lakh Tonnes of Paddy Procured in Kharif Marketing Season 2021-22: Govt

The government has said that over 326 Lakh tonnes of Paddy has been procured in Kharif Marketing Season 2021-22. Consumer Affairs Ministry said, around 26 lakh farmers have been benefitted from the procurement with a Minimum Support Price value of over 63 thousand crore rupees.
It said, the paddy procurement is progressing smoothly at MSP from farmers, as it was done in previous years. The Ministry said, Paddy, has been procured from the procuring States and Union Territories of Chandigarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Telangana, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Dec 11, 2021

Asian Development Bank approves Rs 2,645-crore loan to improve urban services in India

Asian Development Bank has approved a Rs 2,644.85 crore (USD 350 million) loan for India to help improve its urban services.
The loan supports the policies established by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to accelerate universal coverage of piped water supply and improved sanitation.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD 350 million policy-based loan to improve urban services in India.

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