General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - March 2015

Mar 2015

Mar 28, 2021

BSNL and MTNL to Get Spectrum for 5G Services without Participating in Auction

The government will administratively allocate spectrum to telecom public sector units BSNL and MTNL for 5G and future services, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad informed Parliament.
He said that allocation of spectrum to BSNL and MTNL will be done on the same principle as proposed for allotment of spectrum for 4G services.
Government also approved to administratively allot spectrum for providing 5G services to BSNL/MTNL, spectrum for maintaining current operations and future services on the same principle as proposed for allotment of spectrum for 4G services.
5G services are yet to start in India.

Mahindra Electric Mobility to Consolidate with Parent M&M

The board of directors at Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has given in-principle approval for consolidation of Mahindra Electric Mobility in the company.
Mahindra Electricity Mobility is a step-down subsidiary of M&M. The consolidation will categorise EV operations in two focused verticals -- last mile mobility (LMM) and electric vehicle tech centre.
The initiative will provide LMM vertical with complete ownership of the value chain for last-mile mobility solutions to drive growth and execution.
It will also provide EV tech centre with the depth of resources and energy with M & M's larger ecosystem of product development capability in Mahindra Research Valley (MRV) at Chennai, North America and Europe while exploring partnership and alliances.

Air India May Get a New Owner by June

The central government is close to inviting financial bids for flag carrier Air India, moving toward the sale of an airline that's surviving on taxpayer money, Civil Avia¬tion Minister Hardeep Puri has said.
The financial offers are expected to come in within 64 days from the date of request, he said, addressing the Times Network India Economic Conclave.
The process is likely to be completed by May or June, he said. Bloomberg reported on the plan earlier Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. "It's a question of taking the decision and handing over the airline," Puri said, without giving details of the bidders who made the initial shortlist.
Tata Group and SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh have been shortlisted to bid for the carrier, media reported this week. An invitation for financial bids will be a progress for Modi, who has failed previously to sell the enterprise that has been rescued by the government multiple times in the past decade.

Government Offers 67 blocks in Second Tranche of Commercial Coal Mine Auction

The government offered 67 coal mines for sale, launching the second tranche of commercial coal mining auction and termed it a step towards 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'. This is the highest number of mines on offer in a particular tranche after commencement of the auction regime in 2014. "India launched its 2nd tranche of auction for commercial coal mining, offering 67 mines for sale of coal, today. Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi launched the auction process in a programme held in New Delhi," Ministry of Coal said in a statement. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Coal Secretary Anil Kumar Jain were also present in the function.
Out of the total 67 mines offered by the ministry, 23 are under Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act and 44 under Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. The blocks on offer are a mix of mines with small and large reserves, coking and non-coking mines and fully and partially explored blocks spread across 6 states – Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Mar 27, 2021

IMF Approves $500 Million Disbursement to Pakistan

The International Monetary Fund approved a $500 million disbursement to Pakistan for budget support after the IMF Executive Board completed delayed reviews of Pakistan's $6 billion loan programme.
The IMF said that the latest payment brought total disbursements under the Extended Fund Facility to $2 billion since the programme was first approved in July 2019.
The disbursement was made after Pakistan cleared up an issue with data on government guarantees dating back to the 2016 fiscal year that had been reported inaccurately and put the government in non-compliance with the program.

Snapdeal Launches Fast Track Payment Option

E-commerce platform Snapdeal has launched a service that will enable sellers to receive payment within three days of delivery of a shipment.
'Jaldi Payments' will slash payment receipt time by 76 per cent and help sellers use capital to expand their business, build inventory and manage other business needs.
A Snapdeal survey in February 2021 found sellers considered quick and flexible access to finance as an important lever of growth.
Jaldi Payments will allow sellers to opt for fast-track payments choosing to receive payments within 3-7 days of the delivery of their shipments.

State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Others Yet to Comply with Scrubbing Norms

The Telecom Regulatory Aut¬hority of India (TRAI), upon analysing the scrubbing data, has found that as many as 80 entities, including State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, and Axis bank, were not complying with the regulator's mandate.
TRAI said lapses can be attributed to lack of "due care" and diligence by principal entities, telemarketers, and aggr¬egators. In a note on Friday, the telecom regulator said: "It has been informed that principal entities, including major banks like State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, and Axis Bank, are not transmitting mandatory parameters like content template IDs, PE IDs, etc, even in those cases where content templates have been registered, while sending such messages to the TSP (telecom service provider) for delivery."

Mar 26, 2021

Jubilant FoodWorks to Bring Fast Food chain Popeyes to India

Food services company Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd (JFL) announced to introduce American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants 'Popeyes', to India.
The company announced to enter into an exclusive master franchise and development agreement with PLK APAC Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International Inc (RBI).
The pact has been signed to develop, establish, own and operate hundreds of Popeyes restaurants in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan in the coming years.
Founded in New Orleans in 1972, Popeyes has over 45 years of history and culinary tradition.

Robert Bosch Engineering India Creates Separate Unit for Digital Solutions

In a first-of-its-kind move, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solution India, the subsidiary of Bosch GmbH, has created an independent unit to manage its business of non-Bosch customers. This entity, called Software and Digital Solutions or SDS, will focus on delivering software and digital services in the areas of digital enterprise, engineering R&D, new age technologies.
"This change we are putting in place now is one of the largest changes that RBEI has undertaken since its inception, around 25 years ago," said Dattatri Salagame, president and MD, RBEI India.
RBEI will also foray into non-traditional Bosch sectors like Healthcare and Energy with their products-Vivascope, Vivascreen and Phantom.

Mar 25, 2021

Power Grid Sets up e-Tendering Portal PRANIT

The central PSU named Power Grid Corporation of India has established an e-Tendering Portal called PRANIT. This portal will help in maintaining the less paperwork, ease of operation and making the tendering process more transparent. The portal has been certified by the Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification Directorate (STQC) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The POWERGRID is the only organization in India which have an e Procurement solution on the SAP Supplier Relationship Management which also comply with all the applicable requirements related to the security and transparency.

Airtel Africa to Sell 1,424 Towers to Helios

As per reports, Airtel Africa will sell 1,424 towers in Madagascar and Malawi to Helios Towers for USD 119 million.
The two companies have also entered into agreement for tower assets in Chad and Gabon but particulars of the deal were not disclosed.
The Group's tower portfolios in these two markets together comprise 1,229 towers which form part of the Group's wireless telecommunications infrastructure network.
Airtel Africa has also signed a pact with Helios Towers for sale of additional 195 sites across Madagascar and Malawi over the three years following completion for USD 11 million.

ICICI Bank Enables Customers to Break High-value Transactions into EMIs

ICICI Bank customers can break their high value transactions of over Rs. 50,000 into suitable EMIs directly on its internet banking platform to make their purchases more affordable.
The facility is the first in the industry.
It will be applicable on transactions up to Rs. 5 lakh and will bear no additional cost on the customers.
The bank has tied up with online payment gateways BillDesk and Razorpay to enable this facility.
To begin with, over 1,000 merchants in categories like online shopping portals, insurance, travel, education- school fees and electronic chains have been brought on-board.
Customers can select tenures of 3, 6, 9 or 12 months for the EMIs.

Amazon Names Selipsky to Lead Cloud after Jassy Becomes CEO

Adam Selipsky will lead Amazon Web Services, replacing Andy Jassy, who is set to succeed Jeff Bezos as Amazon's chief executive officer. Bezos will take the role of executive chairman in the third quarter of this year.
Selipsky has been CEO of Tableau since 2016, guiding the Seattle company through a reboot of its data visualization software business and its $15.3 billion sale to Salesforce.com in 2019. Before joining Tableau, Selipsky was Jassy's right hand at Amazon's cloud unit, serving in a chief operating officer-like role that saw him overseeing the unit's sales, marketing, technical support and customer service. He joined the company in 2005.

FMCG Major RB Rebrands Itself as Reckitt

British FMCG major RB Plc rebranded itself as Reckitt while retaining "company's heritage".
The new brand identity and iconography is more recognisable and is designed to tell the story of the organisation's purpose and its transformation, the company said in a statement, which owns popular brands like Dettol soap and Lizol disinfectant.
The implementation of the new brand will be delivered over a three-year timeline, using the natural replacement cycles of the business to manage an impactful transition in a cost-effective way.

Mar 24, 2021

Glenmark Becomes First Domestic Drug Firm to Get COVID Credit Line from IFC

International Finance Corporation (IFC) said that Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has become the first domestic drugmaker to get a USD 40-million (about Rs. 290 crore) credit-line from its USD 8-billion fast-track COVID-19 facility.
The loan to Glenmark will help it increase the availability of affordable, quality medicines in the country as well in other countries, including treatment for the pandemic.
The World Bank Group lender said the USD 40 million-loan is under its USD 8-billion fast-track COVID-19 facility and will help the Mumbai-based company boost its generic drug production capacity in general and respiratory drugs in particular.
IFC's partnership with Glenmark began way back in 2016, supporting its expansion and growing its research and development capacities.

RBI Imposes Penalty on Fedbank Financial Services

The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of Rs. 15 lakh on Fedbank Financial Services Limited, Mumbai. The penalty has been imposed for non-compliance with certain provisions of the directions issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) contained in 'Monitoring of Frauds in NBFCs (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2016′.
The statutory inspection of the company with reference to its financial position as of March 31, 2019, revealed, inter alia, non-compliance with the directions issued by it. The inspection report of the Koyana Sahakari Bank based on its financial position as of March 31, 2019, revealed that it had exceeded the prudential inter-bank (single bank) exposure limit.

RBI Defers Limits on Non-centrally Cleared Derivative Exposures for Banks

The Reserve Bank deferred applicability of limits on non-centrally cleared derivatives exposures for banks till September-end.
The central bank announced the changes in a notification to banks as part of the large exposures framework.
Meanwhile, the RBI also amended its master directions on know your customer (KYC) guidelines for banks, dealing with the procedure on implementation of Section 51(A) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Govt. to Sell Stake in Rail Vikas Nigam

The government will sell up to 15 cent stake in Rail Vikas NIgam through an offer for sale (OFS). The offer to sell the government's 10 per cent stake would open for institutional investors, with a green shoe option to sell an additional 5 per cent stake in the public sector undertaking.
The floor price for the sale has been fixed at Rs. 27.50/ share.
Sale of 15 per cent stake would fetch the government about Rs. 860 crore.

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