General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - March 2015

Mar 2015

Dec 05, 2021

ONGC Signs with MoU with SECI

In a bid to strengthen its footprint in the renewable space, particularly solar energy, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) signed an agreement with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to scale up its clean energy projects.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subhash Kumar and SECI Managing Director Suman Sharma.
The MoU provides a broad, overarching framework for ONGC and SECI to collaborate and cooperate for undertaking renewable energy projects including solar, wind, solar parks, EV value chain, green hydrogen, storage, etc.

ADB Approves $500 Million Loan to Improve Quality of School Education

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $500 million loan to the Government of India to help improve the quality of the country's school education and mitigate the impact of the (Covid-19) pandemic on students' learning.
The loan supports the Integrated Scheme for School Education (Samagra Shiksha) and the new Exemplar School Initiative of the Ministry of Education (MOE) to improve education quality by focussing on inclusive and equitable learning outcomes.
ADB's assistance will support the government's commitment to providing high-quality education to all by accelerating quality education initiatives across the participating States," said Sunhwa Lee, ADB Principal Social Sector Specialist for South Asia. The loan will help scale up foundational learning for primary students and enhance the relevance of secondary education by introducing science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM) and integrated vocational education.

Dec 04, 2021

HDFC Bank Quickest to List among 100 Global Firms

HDFC Bank is the fastest among 100 global companies to have gone public. The gap between its incorporation and listing was less than a year, shows a study done by Tide, a UK-based financial platform. The second quickest was Chinese beverage firm Kweichow Moutai, which took two years to launch an IPO.
E-commerce giant Amazon also is among the fastest as it went public in just three years.
Meanwhile, the slowest was luxury goods firm Hermès, founded in 1837 and listed 162 years later. The other Indian firms in the top 100 global list are Reliance Industries (RIL) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Dec 03, 2021

Honda Motor Sets up Battery Sharing Service Subsidiary in India

Japanese auto major Honda Motor Co set up a battery sharing service subsidiary in India with a capital of Rs. 135 crore.
The new subsidiary, Honda Power Pack Energy India Pvt Ltd, would offer battery sharing service for small mobility, which will accelerate the penetration of electric vehicles (EV), and will also provide technical support to vehicle OEMs.
In addition to the battery sharing service, the new company will closely work with multiple vehicle OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), who wish to integrate Honda's battery into their vehicles, by providing necessary technical information for interface.

PhonePe Launches Health Insurance Plan for Young First-time Buyers

Walmart-owned digital payments firm PhonePe, announced the launch of its latest health insurance plan, Health@999 catering to young first-time health buyers. As per PhonePe, the latest offering is the first such in the Indian digital payments space and provides comprehensive health coverage at an affordable price. The highlight of the product is the simple 3-step process that only requires the user to provide details like name, age, gender, and email ID to buy the policy, eliminating the cumbersome processes new and young buyers are deterred by.
Health @999, at its low price point, offers coverage for hospitalization expenses including in-patient and ICU hospitalisation, daycare procedures, ambulance charges, and Ayush treatment among others. The cashless hospital network for the plan stretches across 7600 hospitals in the country. Health @999 can be availed via PhonePe instantly and comes with the lifetime renewability feature.

OYO Appoints Former SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar Strategic Group Advisor

Oravel Stays Limited (OYO) appointed State Bank of India's (SBI's) former Chairman Rajnish Kumar strategic group advisor, in an attempt to strengthen its leadership ahead of its stock market debut.
Kumar, who has spent over 40 years in the financial sector, will play a key role in advising OYO's management on short-term and long-term strategy, regulatory and stakeholder engagement, and enhancing the brand of the company globally.
Kumar, who had joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1980 retired as chairman in October 2020 after 40 years at the bank. He is credited with overseeing the mega-merger of seven banks with India's largest lender.

Federal Bank Launches Rich Saving Scheme for Women

Private sector lender Federal Bank launched a feature-rich savings bank product for women.
The savings scheme is called Mahila Mitra Plus and provides a curated set of features, designed to make financial planning and investments easy for women.
The special features include exclusive preferential interest rates on housing loans, processing fee waiver for home loans, complimentary and customised insurance cover.

Dhanlaxmi Bank Part-Time Chairman G. Subramonia Iyer Submits His Resignation

Dhanlaxmi Bank's part-time Chairman G. Subramonia Iyer resigned, on personal grounds.
Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd is an Indian private sector bank headquartered in Thrissur, Kerala.
Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd was incorporated on 14 November 1927 as Dhanalakshmi Bank at Thrissur with a capital of Rs. 11,000 and seven employees. It became a Scheduled Commercial Bank in the year 1977.

Dec 02, 2021

SBI Signs MoU with Usha International for Empowering Women

State Bank of India (SBI) signed an agreement with Usha International Limited (UIL) for empowering women entrepreneurs by providing financial assistance. The financial assistance will be provided under the Joint Liability Group model. This is the first of its kind collaboration between UIL and SBI in coming forward together for the upliftment of the social and economic status of women entrepreneurs in rural areas of the country by making them self-reliant and providing equal opportunity for achieving financial growth and inclusion.
As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between SBI and UIL, branches of the bank in Uttarakhand, Delhi, Western UP, and NCR Haryana will be financing women entrepreneurs to Usha Silai School to purchase sewing machines for enhancement and up-gradation of technical sewing skills or to purchase thread of clothes, etc.

BPCL Appoints Independent Directors

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) appointed Pradeep Vishambhar Agrawal, Ghanshyam Sher, Aiswarya Biswal, Bhagwati Prasad Saraswat and Gopal Krishna Agarwal as Independent Directors on the Board for three years.
Pradeep Vishambhar Agrawal is a Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary. Ghanshyam Sher is an Advocate who specialises in Legal advice and Social Service. Aiswarya Biswal is a dentist who has worked on the prevention of Oral cancer and preventable dental diseases. Bhagwati Prasad Saraswat holds a doctorate in Financial Evolution of Drugs and Pharmaceutical Companies in India. Gopal Krishna Agarwal is a Chartered Accountant and has co-authored a book 'Water an Element of Life: Price Sensitivity and Consumption by the Marginalised" published by Bloomsbury India.

Bajaj Auto Pips Hero MotoCorp to Become No 1 Motorcycle Maker in November

A structural slowdown facing the world's largest two-wheeler market has changed the equations in the segment, with Bajaj Auto emerging as the largest motorcycle maker in November, zipping past market leader Hero MotoCorp.
The Pune-based firm sold a total of 337,962 units in November in the domestic and exports market against the 329,185 units sold by Hero MotoCorp.

IFFCO Ranks First among top 300 Cooperatives in the World

The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) was ranked 'number one Cooperative' among the top 300 cooperatives in the world, withholding its position from last year.
The ranking is based on the ratio of turnover over the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. It signifies that IFFCO is contributing significantly to the GDP and economic growth of the nation.

Tata Power Bags Solar Project from Solar Energy Corp

Tata Power Company said that its wholly owned subsidiary Tata Power Solar Systems received Letter of Award (LoA) from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
The contract involves building 100 MW EPC solar project along with 120 MWh utility scale battery energy storage system (BESS). The total contract value of the project is approximately Rs. 945 crore. The project would be executed within 18 months.

Dec 01, 2021

Gujarat Displaces Maharashtra to Become Largest Manufacturing Hub in Country

Gujarat emerged as the biggest manufacturing hub in India with the state's Gross Value Addition (GVA) in manufacturing growing at 15.9 per cent annually on average between FY'12 and FY'20 to touch Rs. 5.11 lakh crore, displacing Maharashtra, according to data released by the RBI. Maharashtra's annual growth rate during the period was 7.5 per cent, taking the state's total manufacturing GVA to Rs. 4.34 lakh crore in FY'20. Maharashtra continues to lead as the nation's biggest services hub.

HSBC Launches India's 1st Credit Card Made from Recycled PVC Plastic

HSBC India launched India's 1st credit card made from recycled PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) plastic. The cards were introduced in partnership with global cards manufacturer IDEMIA to gradually eliminate single-use PVC plastic. The cards are made from 85 per cent recycled plastic and each card will save 3.18 gm of plastic waste in addition to helping lower overall carbon emission.
The card was launched as a part of a new program launched by HSBC Group to introduce sustainable cards across all its global locations to support its global commitments to sustainability and a net-zero in its operations by 2030.

Seven Firms, including JSW Steel, Submit Bids for Coal Blocks

JSW Steel and Adhunik Power & Natural Resources are among seven companies that have submitted bids for four coal blocks put up for sale under "second attempt" of auction process for 11 mines for commercial mining.
These coal mines were also offered in the first attempt this year and had fetched single bids.
The seven firms are Auro Coal Pvt Ltd, JSW Steel, MP Natural Resources Pvt Ltd, Adhunik Power & Natural Resources, Assam Mineral Development Corp Ltd, Virtuous Mining Ltd and Twenty First Century Mining Pvt Ltd.

Walmart Announces MoU with MP Government to Train and Support MSMEs

Walmart and its subsidiary Flipkart announced they will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Madhya Pradesh government to create an ecosystem of capacity building for MSMEs in the state.
Under the partnership with Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) of the MP government, Walmart and Flipkart will help MSMEs digitize their businesses and enable them to sell products across India through online retail.
The initiative comes under Walmart Vriddhi Supplier Development Programme.
Launched in 2019, Walmart Vriddhi aims to train 50,000 Indian MSMEs with the business skills necessary to succeed as suppliers to Walmart, sellers on Flipkart, and other domestic and global marketplace platforms.

RBI Appoints Three-member Advisory Committee to Assist RCap's Administrator

After superseding the board of Reliance Capital (RCap), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed an advisory committee tasked with assisting the administrator appointed to the company in discharging his duties.
The three-member advisory committee includes State Bank of India's ex–deputy managing director (DMD) Sanjeev Nautiyal, Axis Bank's ex-DMD Srinivasan Varadarajan, and Tata Capital's ex-MD and chief executive officer Praveen P. Kadle.

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

September GK, August GK, July GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services And Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26