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BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - March 2015

Mar 2015

Apr 07, 2021

RIL and America's Chart Industries Co-lead New Hydrogen Industry Body

US headquartered Chart Industries and India's Reliance Industries (RIL) will be jointly heading a new industry body focused on commercialising hydrogen technologies and systems to build net-zero carbon pathways in India.
This new energy transition coalition, the India H2 Alliance (IH2A), will work together to build the hydrogen economy and supply chain in India and help develop blue and green hydrogen production and storage as well as build hydrogen-use industrial clusters and transport use-cases with hydrogen-powered fuel cells.
The India H2 Alliance will focus on industrial clusters, specifically steel, refineries, fertilizer, cement, ports and logistics; as well as heavy-duty transport use cases and the establishment of standards for storage and transport hydrogen in pressurised and liquified form.

Arab World's First Nuclear Plant Starts Operation in UAE

The UAE announced that its Barakah Nuclear Power Plant started commercial operations in a first for the Arab world.
As per Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Emirates' vice-president and Prime Minister, with the commercial operations of the plant the UAE has entered a landmark phase.
The country was built on oil, but is spending billions to develop enough renewable energy to cover half of its needs by 2050.
When fully operational, the four reactors of the Barakah plant will generate 5,600 megawatts, around 25% of the UAE's electricity needs.
Barakah – on the Gulf coast, west of Abu Dhabi – was built by a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation at a cost of some US$24.4 billion.

Max Group Sells Stake in Max Life to Private Lender Axis Bank

Diversified Max Group has sold a 13 per cent stake in Max Life Insurance Company to the country's third largest private sector lender Axis Bank, which will now be a co-promoter of the insurer.
The completion of the deal comes more than a year after Max Financial Services and Axis Bank announced their intent to have a strategic partnership for the former's insurance venture.
Max Financial Services -- the holding company of Max Life -- has offloaded 12.99 per cent stake in the insurer to Axis Bank and its subsidiaries -- Axis Capital and Axis Securities Ltd.

The IMF Expects World Output to Grow 6% in 2021 and 4.4% in 2022

The International Monetary Fund is expecting a stronger economic recovery in 2021 as Covid-19 vaccine rollouts get underway, but it warns of daunting challenges given the different rates of administering shots across the globe.
The organization said that it expects the world economy to grow by 6% in 2021, up from its 5.5% forecast in January. Looking further ahead, global GDP for 2022 is seen increasing by 4.4%, higher than an earlier estimate of 4.2%.

Wipro Appoints Sarah Adam-Gedge as MD for Australia, New Zealand

IT services major Wipro Ltd appointed Sarah Adam-Gedge as Managing Director for its Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) operations.
She has worked in project and service-based consultancies for more than 25 years across Australia and New Zealand, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.
Adam-Gedge has proven experience in leading digital transformation initiatives for large organisations globally with a successful track record of driving growth, profitability, business agility and managing successful relationships with customers and the influencer ecosystem.
Prior to joining Wipro, she has held various senior executive roles as Managing Director of Publicis Sapient Australia, Managing Director of Avanade Australia, Managing Partner and Vice President at IBM, Managing Partner at PwC and Partner at Arthur Andersen.

Apr 06, 2021

Radiance Renewables Buys Azure's Solar Rooftop Assets

Radiance Renewables Pvt Ltd, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Green Growth Equity Fund, a leading Climate fund managed by EverSource Capital, signed an agreement to acquire solar rooftop assets of Azure Power Global Limited.
Radiance said that the deal size was Rs. 536.5 crore and includes 152.5 Mw of projects, out of which 8.1 Mw is under construction and 18.5 Mw of recently commissioned assets.
This is one of the largest acquisitions of rooftop solar assets in India.
Through these projects, Radiance will supply power to large commercial consumer base including Indian Railways, DMRC, JNV, DJB among others.

Adani Ports Invests to up Stake in Krishnapatnam Port to 100%

Gautam Adani-led Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) announced acquisition of the residual 25 per cent stake in Adani Krishnapatnam Port Ltd, (Krishnapatnam Port) for Rs. 2,800 cr.
This will result in APSEZ increasing its stake from 75 per cent to 100 per cent in Krishnapatnam Port.
Krishnapatnam Port is located on the east coast of India in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh (180 km from Chennai Ports) close to the border between Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Krishnapatnam Port is an all-weather, deep water port has multi-cargo facility with a current capacity of 64 million tonne. With a waterfront of 20 km and 6,800 acres of land, Krishnapatnam Port has a master plan capacity of 300 million tonne and a 50-year concession.

RBI Distributes Portfolios of B. P. Kanungo among Remaining Deputy Governors

Reserve Bank of India distributed portfolios of B. P. Kanungo among remaining three deputy governors as he retired last week.
The senior-most deputy governor B. P. Kanungo retired from the Reserve Bank on completion of his one-year extension on Friday. Now, the central bank has reshuffled its 32 departments among the three deputy governors -- M K Jain, Patra and M Rajeshwar Rao.
Besides the portfolio of monetary policy department, Patra has been assigned 10 other departments, Jain has been assigned 11 departments and Rao will look after 10 departments.

Govt. Amends Insolvency Law; Introduces Pre-packaged Resolution for MSMEs

Seeking to provide a quicker and value-maximising outcome for stressed MSMEs, the government has introduced a pre-packaged resolution process for such enterprises by amending the insolvency law.
Now, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) can seek resolution for their stress through the pre-packaged process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
An ordinance was promulgated to amend the IBC on April 4.
All resolution plans under the IBC need to be approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Auto Major Hyundai Crosses 1 Million Sales Mark for SUVs Made in India

South Korean auto major Hyundai crossed 10 lakh cumulative sales milestone of SUVs made in India.
These SUVs have been sold both in India and export markets.
The launch of mid-sized SUV Creta in 2015 accelerated Hyundai Motor India's growth in the segment with cumulative sales of over 5.9 lakh units in the domestic market and over 2.2 lakh units in the export market.
Similarly, the company had introduced compact SUV Venue in 2019 and has already sold over 1.8 lakh units in the domestic market.

Apr 05, 2021

LG Electronics to End Production, Sales of its Loss-Making Smartphone Business

South Korea's LG Electronics Inc will wind down its loss-making mobile division - a move that is set to make it the first major smartphone brand to completely withdraw from the market.
Its decision to pull out will leave its 10% share in North America, where it is the No. 3 brand, to be gobbled up by smartphone titans Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.
The division has logged nearly six years of losses totalling some $4.5 billion, and dropping out of the fiercely competitive sector would allow LG to focus on growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices and smart homes.

Enigma Auto Looks to Seal Deal with Bengaluru Firm to Supply 2,000 EVs

Bhopal-based bootstrap EV start-up Enigma Automobiles is looking to seal a sales deal with a Bengaluru-based B2B company to supply 2,000 vehicles.
Besides, the firm is also looking at another deal for a supply of 400-1,000 vehicles to two major e-commerce players, Amazon and Flipkart, in the country.
Enigma Automobiles has a manufacturing facility in the Mandvi Industrial area of Bhopal, which has a capacity to produce around 4,500 vehicles per annum.

State Refiners Asked to Review Oil Import Contracts with Saudi

Amid tensions with Saudi Arabia over oil production cuts, India has asked its state refiners to review contracts they enter into for buying crude oil from the Middle-East nation and negotiate more favourable terms.
Keen to break producers' cartel dictating pricing and contractual terms, the government has told Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) to look for oil supplies from outside the Middle-East region and use collective bargaining power to get favourable terms.
India imports 85% of its oil needs and is often vulnerable to global supply and price shocks. When oil prices started to rise in February, it wanted Saudi Arabia to relax output controls but the Kindgom ignored its calls. This has led to the Indian government now pressing for diversification of the supply base.

Govt. Defers Mandatory Use of Transparent Accounting Software Use by Year

In a relief to businesses across the spectrum, the government has extended deadline for mandatory adoption of accounting software having audit trail of each and every transaction and having feature to store logs of edits.
In a relief to businesses across the spectrum, the government has extended deadline for mandatory adoption of accounting software having audit trail of each and every transaction and having feature to store logs of edits.

J&K Bank to Get up to Rs. 500 crore to Maintain Adequate Capital Buffers

The Jammu & Kashmir government will infuse up to Rs. 500 crore more as equity into Jammu and Kashmir Bank (J&K Bank) as its promoter shareholder.
Rating agency India Ratings (Ind-Ra) said J&K Bank will need substantial equity infusion in the first half of this financial year to maintain adequate capital buffers amid high credit costs, until March 2023. The bank's common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio marginally improved to 8.56 per cent in December 2020 as against a minimum CET1 requirement of 7.38 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank extended the term of R. K. Chhibber as chairman and managing director of J&K Bank by six months from April 10 or till the appointment of a MD & chief executive, whichever is earlier.

Yes Bank Targets Start-up Sector, Ties-up with GVFL

To broaden its services for the start-up sector, private lender Yes Bank has tied-up with GVFL Limited.
Accordingly, the two companies have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen Fintech-led innovation and support the growth of the Indian startup ecosystem.
The MoU will enable the bank to offer various products, digital banking solutions, and many other facilities that will benefit the startups associated with GVFL Limited.
The bank will offer its curated digital transaction banking product suite, including its flagship API-based offerings to the startups and Fintech companies.

ICICI Bank and PhonePe Partner to Issue FASTag

ICICI Bank and PhonePe announced their partnership for the issuance of FASTag using UPI on the PhonePe App. This integration allows over 280 million registered PhonePe users to order and track the ICICI Bank FASTag conveniently on the app. PhonePe users, who may be customers of any bank, will have a fully digitised experience as they don't have to visit physical stores or toll locations to buy a FASTag. ICICI Bank is the first bank to partner with PhonePe for the issuance of FASTag.

Apr 04, 2021

Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam in Uttar Pradesh Lists Itself at BSE

Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam listed itself at BSE and successfully raised Rs. 150 crore by issuing Municipal Bond on Private Placement Basis using BSE BOND. This is the first-ever green bond issuance by any Municipal Corporation in the country. The money will be used for the construction of a tertiary sewage treatment plant at Indirapuram in Ghaziabad. The money will be used to fund the project partly which is worth Rs. 240 crore. This treatment plant will enable the sewage water to be used for industries after treatment.
Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam is the second Municipal Corporation to raise funds in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, Lucknow Municipal Corporation had listed itself at BSE.

RIL Gets Creditors, Shareholders Nod to Hive off O2C Business

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd said that it has secured approval of its shareholders and creditors for hiving off its oil-to-chemical (O2C) business into a separate unit.
As per directions of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the company convened meetings of equity shareholders, lenders and unsecured creditors for consideration of a resolution for transferring the O2C business to a separate subsidiary — Reliance O2C Limited.
In February, RIL had announced the contours of spinning-off its oil refining, fuel marketing and petrochemical (oil-to-chemical) business into an independent unit with a $25 billion loan from the parent, as it looked to unlock value by settling stakes to global investors like Saudi Aramco.

Adani Enterprises Bags Highway Project from NHAI in Odisha

Adani Enterprises won a Rs. 1,169.10 crore highway project in Odisha from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
The contract has been won by Adani Enterprises' wholly-owned subsidiary Adani Road Transport Ltd (ARTL).
With this project award, Adani Group will have a total of 10 NHAI road projects under HAM, Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Toll basis in Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, West Bengal and Odisha.

RBI Deputy Governor BP Kanungo Retires

Against expectations of getting a second extension, the senior-most deputy governor BP Kanungo retired from the Reserve Bank on completion of his one-year extension.
Kanungo joined RBI in 1982 and was in charge of currency management, external investments, operations, payment, and settlement system, among others, during the four-year term as the deputy governor, which began in April 2017.
The government had appointed him as a deputy governor in March 2017 when Urjit Patel was the governor and he took charge on April 3, 2017, for a three-year term ending April 2, 2020, but was given a one-year extension.

Apr 03, 2021

NCLAT Removes Stay on Reserve Bank of India Action against Srei Group

The National Company Appe¬llate Law Tribunal (NCLAT) has granted a stay on the Kolkata Bench of National Company Law Tribunal's (NCLT's) order that barred the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from taking any coercive step against Srei group.
The RBI had moved NCLAT against the NCLT's order. And, in an ad-interim order, the NCLAT said, "We are of the view that if the operation of the aforesaid direction is stayed it will not prejudice the proceedings pending before the tribunal. Therefore, we deem it appropriate to pass ad-interim ord¬er. In Paragraph 34 of the impugned order following direction is stayed till the pendency of this appeal."
Paragraph 34 of the impugned order of Kolkata Bench of the NCLT read, "All governmental or regulatory authorities shall be stopped from taking any coercive steps, including reporting in any form and/or changing the account status of the firm"
The RBI had argued that the tribunal has exceeded its jurisdiction while passing such an order and prevented the statutory body to act as regulatory authority.

Paytm Money Opens New R&D Centre in Pune

Digital financial services platform Paytm announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Paytm Money has launched its technology development and innovation centre in Pune.
It also plans to hire over 250 front-end, back-end engineers and data scientists to build new wealth products and services.
The company has launched a slew of new products and services aimed at empowering seasoned investors as well as new to investment users. It aims to achieve over 10 million users and 75 million yearly transactions in FY21 with the majority of users from small cities and towns.

World Bank Approves USD 32 Million Project to Boost Health Services in Mizoram

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved a USD 32 million project to improve management capacity and quality of health services in Mizoram.
The project titled "Mizoram Health Systems Strengthening Project" will strengthen the governance and the management structure of the Mizoram Health department and its subsidiaries.
It will improve the quality and coverage of services delivered by the state government health systems, and invest in a comprehensive quality assurance programme which would enable quality certification of health facilities.

Subhash Kumar Takes Additional Charge as ONGC CMD

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)'s Director (Finance) Subhash Kumar assumed additional charge as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) on Thursday. An order on the matter was issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Kumar took charge upon the superannuation of incumbent CMD, Shashi Shanker on March 31, 2021.
He has over 36 years of experience in diverse activities across the Exploration & Production (E&P) value chain. He joined ONGC in 1985 as a Finance and Accounts Officer and served in different capacities.

Axis Bank to Sell UK Arm to Tech Platform

Private sector lender Axis Bank has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement for sale of 100 per cent stake in its subsidiary, Axis Bank UK Limited to OpenPayd Holdings Ltd. The agreement was entered on March 31, 2021, and the transaction is subject to approval by the UK Financial Regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
The consideration or the value for the transaction would be the completion net asset value (book value of the bank on the date of completion), plus a fixed premium of $5,500,000. Axis Bank expects the sale to be completed by September 30, 2021 subject to the approval of 'Change in Control', received from the UK Financial Regulator, the PRA.

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