General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - September 2015

Sep 2015

May 28, 2020

Airtel Payments Bank, Mastercard Tie up for Payment Solutions for Farmers, SMEs

Airtel Payments Bank has partnered with Mastercard to build customised solutions for payments such as tap-and-pay NFC, credit facility and other neighbourhood banking services for farmers and SMEs.
The companies aim to cater to underbanked spectrum of users and enable digital adoption via the partnership.
Airtel Payments Bank currently hosts 4 crore customers across 5 lakh banking points.

NCLT Approves Sale of IL&FS Stake in GIFT City to Gujarat Govt

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has allowed the debt-ridden IL&FS to sell its 50 per cent stake in the GIFT City to the Gujarat government for an aggregate consideration of Rs 32.70 crore.
A two-member NCLT bench headed by acting president B S V Prakash Kumar allowed IL&FS to sell its 3.27 crore shares, having a face value of Rs 10 each, of the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Limited (GIFTCL) or GIFT City to the Gujarat Urban Development Company Ltd (GURDCL).

ADB, GoI Sign 177 Million Loan to Upgrade Major Roads, Highways in Maharashtra

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a 177 million dollar loan to upgrade 450 kilometers of state highways and major district roads in Maharashtra.
Overall the project will upgrade two major district roads and 11 state highways, with combined length of 450 km, to two-lane standard across seven districts of Maharashtra, and improve connectivity to national highways, interstate roads, seaports, airports, rail hubs, district headquarters, industrial areas, enterprise clusters and agricultural areas.
It will also focus on training the Maharashtra Public Works Department project staff to build their capacity in climate change adaptation and disaster resilient features in road design, road maintenance planning and road safety.

ITC Acquired Spices Major Sunrise Foods for Rs 2K Cr

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major ITC shares surged as much as 4.6 per cent to Rs 194.95 apiece on the BSE after the company announced it had entered into an agreement with the spice major Sunrise Foods to acquire a 100 per cent stake in the company.
ITC Limited has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) on May 23, 2020 to acquire 100% of the equity share capital of Sunrise Foods Private Limited (SFPL), a company primarily engaged in the business of spices under the trademark 'Sunrise', subject to fulfilment of various terms and conditions as specified in the SPA.
The proposed acquisition is aligned with ITC's strategy to rapidly scale up its FMCG businesses in a profitable manner, leveraging its institutional strengths viz. deep consumer insight, a deep and wide distribution network, agri-commodity sourcing expertise, cuisine knowledge, strong rural linkages and packaging know-how.

Flipkart Signs MoU With Karnataka State Mango Department to Support Mango Farmers

The Karnataka State Mango Department and Marketing Corporation Ltd.(KSMD&MCL) and Flipkart signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support the mango farmers in this mango season to sell their produce through the online platform of Flipkart.
The Flipkart will provide the platform for the Mango Board Farmer Producer Organisations, sellers, growers and traders by enrolling on the platform.
The fruits from the Bengaluru urban, Kolar, Haveri, Hubballi-Dharwad and Belgaum will be available for the customers access through this platform.
The varieties like Alphonso, Badami, Apoos, Banganapalli, Kesar, Neelam, Himam Pasand, Sendur and Mallika will be available on the Flipkart platform in batches of 3Kg.

May 26, 2020

Lufthansa Agrees €9bn Rescue Deal with Germany

Lufthansa has agreed a rescue deal worth €9bn (£8bn) with the German government that saves it from collapse.
The German airline has been severely affected by a decline in travel due to the coronavirus and closed its budget airline Germanwings in April 2020.
The German government will take a 20% stake in the firm, which it intends to sell by the end of 2023.
But the deal still has to be approved by the firm's shareholders and the European Commission.

Fintech Startup Zaggle Joins Hands with Visa to Launch Payment Solutions for SMEs, Startups

Fintech startup, Zaggle, has announced a partnership with Visa to launch innovative payment solutions for SMEs and startups.
This partnership is aimed at helping SMEs and startups improve productivity, reduce costs and get access to faster credit through a card which would have both inbuilt forex and prepaid.
Zaggle will leverage Visa's expertise in the payments space to co-create and build new solutions for SMEs. Visa will also support Zaggle for new technological innovations and ideas.

May 25, 2020

Maruti Suzuki Ties up With Cholamandalam Investment & Finance

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India announced partnership with Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company Ltd to provide customised auto retail financing solutions to retail buyers.
The new solution 'Buy-Now-Pay-Later Offer' is aimed to provide customers with easy financing options.
The new solution will allow customers to start paying the EMIs after 60 days of loan disbursement. The offer is available on select Maruti Suzuki models and will be applicable on loan disbursement till June 30, 2020.

Edelweiss General Insurance Launches App Based Pay-As-You-Use Motor Insurance

Edelweiss General Insurance (EGI), announced the launch of an innovative, app-based Motor OD floater policy – Edelweiss SWITCH.
This driver-based motor insurance policy, launched under IRDAI's Regulatory Sandbox, allows vehicle owners to SWITCH their motor insurance ON and OFF, based on usage and covers multiple vehicles under a single policy.
Edelweiss SWITCH uses a pay-as-you-use model that allows the customer to pay the premium only on the days they use the vehicle, offering significant cost savings and convenience.

ICICI Introduced 'ICICI Bank Golden Years FD' for Senior Citizens

The Private sector ICICI bank as introduced a special fixed deposit (FD) scheme for senior citizens called 'ICICI Bank Golden Years FD' which offers an interest rate of 6.55% per annum (p.a) for deposits up to Rs 2 crores with a tenure of more than 5 years to 10 years.
It is applicable for resident Indians & is available from May 20 to September 30, 2020.
The scheme offers 80 basis points (bps) more than what is applicable to the general public (non-senior citizens) for the same deposit amount and tenor.

May 24, 2020

8th Edition of the Status Paper on Government Debt

The Central Government released the Eighth Edition of the Status Paper on the Government Debt, which provides a detailed analysis of the Overall Debt Position of the Government of India.
The Central Government has been bringing-out an Annual Status Paper on Government Debt since 2010-11.
This paper enhances transparency by providing a detailed account of debt operations during the year and an assessment of the health of the public debt portfolio based on internationally accepted debt performance indicators.
The paper also covers details of fiscal deficit financing operations of the Central Government during the year 2017-18.
The overall liabilities of the Central Government are on a medium-term declining trajectory and Government's Debt Portfolio is characterised by prudent risk profile.

May 23, 2020

IRDAI Permits Union Bank to Continue With IndiaFirst Stake

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has approved Union Bank of India's proposal to continue with its 30% holding in IndiaFirst Life Insurance with the caveat that the lender will exercise no control in the management of the insurer.
The bank was earlier expected to divest either the entire stake in IndiaFirst Life Insurance, or a sizable part of it, as IRDAI guidelines prohibit a lender to own more than 10% stake in two insurance companies.
With IRDAI approval, the state owned lender has now been allowed to carry on with its promoter holding in the two insurers at least in FY21 under the condition that "arrangements are made to remove conflict of interest."

RBI Slashes Benchmark Lending Rate by 40 Basis Points

In a surprise move, the Reserve Bank of India slashed the benchmark lending rate by 40 basis points to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 crisis.
In an off-cycle meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the decision was taken unanimously to cut repo to support growth.
Following the reduction, the repo rate has come down to 4 per cent and the reverse repo rate has been cut to 3.35 per cent.
The MPC, headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, has last reduced the repo rate (the rate at which central bank lends to banks) on March 27, 2020 by a staggering 0.75 per cent to 4.14 per cent.

Airtel Acquires 10% Stake in AI Startup Voicezen

Bharti Airtel has acquired 10 per cent stake in Gurgaon-based start-up Voicezen, which focusses on conversational artificial intelligence technologies, in an all-cash deal.
The acquisition has been made by the company under its fast expanding Airtel Startup Accelerator Programme.
Voicezen has been working on developing advanced solutions that leverage machine learning, AI, speech to text and voice technologies to offer real time analytics to help brands engage with customers.
The global conversational AI market size is expected to grow from USD 4.2 billion in 2019 to USD 15.7 billion by 2024.

KKR Picks 2.32% Stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 11,367 Crore

Reliance Industries announced the sale of a 2.32 per cent stake in its digital unit to US private equity giant KKR for Rs 11,367 crore, the fifth deal in four weeks that will inject a combined Rs 78,562 crore in the oil-to-telecom conglomerate to help it pare debt.
This is KKR's largest investment in Asia.
Founded in 1976, KKR has a long history of building leading global enterprises and successfully investing in businesses in the technology sector, including BMC Software, ByteDance and GoJek, through its private equity and technology growth funds.

CCI Approves Emami Cement Acquisition by Nirma Arm

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of Emami Cement Ltd by Nuvoco Vistas Corp Ltd (part of the Nirma group).
The sale of the cement business is part of Emami group's plan to become debt-free.
Emami Cement Ltd operates an integrated cement plant in Risdah, Chhattisgarh, and grinding units in Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha, with a total installed capacity of 8.3 million tonnes per annum.
It has mining leases in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.

Facebook Buys Popular GIF Database GIPHY for $400 Million

Facebook has acquired GIPHY for $400 million to integrate its GIF library into Instagram and other Facebook apps.
According to Shah, 50 percent of all of GIPHY's traffic comes from its apps, with half of that coming from Instagram alone.
GIPHY is a popular library where users share and create billions of GIFs on a regular basis.
GIPHY as part of the Instagram team will make it easier to send GIFs and stickers in Instagram stories and direct messages.

Ircon Signs MoU With RZD International for Joint Development of Railways

State-owned Ircon International Limited (IRCON) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with RZD International L.L.C. (Limited Liability Company), a subsidiary of government-owned Russian Railways Company, to explore opportunities for joint development of railways and other infrastructure projects in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
According to the MoU, both parties have agreed to form a joint Indo-Russian working group.
Ircon International is a Miniratna (Category – I) Schedule A Public Sector Enterprise and a leading turnkey construction company in the public sector.

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