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BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - November 2015

Nov 2015

Nov 22, 2021

MIDC Inks 25 MoUs at Dubai World Expo 2020

At the World Expo 2020 held in Dubai, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) signed 25 MoU's with a proposed investment of almost Rs 15,260 crore ($2 billion) under Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0.
With this, Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0 was in its seventh edition and its first international edition.
The MoUs signed are in key sectors such as auto and auto components, logistics, electric vehicles, textiles, data centre, pharma, bio-fuels and energy.
Companies looking to invest in Maharashtra are from Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Korea, Germany and Italy.

RBI Releases Report of Working Group on Digital Lending

A working group constituted by the Reserve Bank of India on digital lending through online platforms and mobile apps submitted its report. This report is aimed at enhancing customer protection and making the digital lending ecosystem safe while encouraging innovation.
The working group (WG) was set up in January 2021, with Jayant Kumar Dash, Executive Director, RBI as the Chairman. The group has recommended subjecting the digital lending applications to a verification process by a nodal agency, which may be set up in consultation with stakeholders.

FM Announces Clearance of Two Proposals of IFSCA at GIFT City in Gujarat

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced clearance of two proposals worth Rs. 469 crore of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) at GIFT City in Gujarat.
Sitharaman announced formal clearance of Rs. 269.05 crore for supervisory technology fund for IT infrastructure and Rs. 200 crore for headquarter building.
She also underlined the central government's commitment to make GIFT City a world-class fintech hub as stated in the Union Budget 2021-22.

IDFC First Partners HPCL to Facilitate Fuel Payments

IDFC First Bank partnered with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd to facilitate fuel payments at their retail outlets using the bank's FASTags. In addition, IDFC First Bank's FASTags can now also be bought, recharged and replaced by passenger vehicle users at select HPCL retail outlets.
This tie-up makes the purchase and use of tags convenient for about five million motorists. IDFC First Bank has issued close to five million FASTags and these tags are used actively by motorists across toll plazas with transactions averaging two million a day," said B Madhivanan, chief operating officer.

Nov 21, 2021

Sundaram AMC Gets Regulatory Approval to Acquire Principal India

Sundaram Asset Management Company Limited (Sundaram AMC) received the regulatory approval to acquire the asset management business of Principal Asset Management Pvt Ltd (Principal India).
Sundaram AMC is a 100 per cent subsidiary of non-banking finance major Sundaram Finance Ltd.
This acquisition is a natural step in the aspiration of Sundaram AMC to become a sizeable player in the asset management industry. The combined business of both the entities will achieve an aspirational landmark of Rs. 50,000 crore. We will be able to leverage the combined platform to derive significant synergies.

Amazon India Inks Collaborations to Empower Women Entrepreneurs

Amazon India joined hands with four organisations as part of its Amazon Saheli programme to accelerate the growth of women entrepreneurs across the country.
These organisations include Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS), Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission (UPSRLM), Chhattisgarh State Forest Department (CG Forest) and Assam Rural Infrastructure and Agricultural Services (ARIAS).
Through this, Amazon and the government bodies will come together to assist and empower lakhs of women entrepreneurs associated with them from the four states to register their business with Amazon India and access a wider market base.
Amazon Saheli programme will offer extensive training and skill development workshops for its participants to help women entrepreneurs associated with them understand the nuances of online selling and develop skills and capabilities necessary to grow their business on Amazon.in.

Union Bank of India Ranks 3rd in PSB Reforms

Union Bank of India ranked 3rd amongst 12 PSBs in EASE 4.0 Reforms Index for Q1 FY22, as per the rank list released by Indian Banks' Association (IBA). The Bank actively adopted the reforms initiatives recommended under the EASE Agenda enabling it to retain the overall position of Second Runner Up from the last three consecutive quarters since December 2020.
Union Bank of India also recorded stellar performance under four out of six themes in the Agenda. Union Bank of India has been adjudged Winner in the themes 'Collaborating for synergistic outcomes' & 'Governance & outcome-centric HR' and bagged Runner-Up positions in 'New age 24×7 Banking' &'Tech-enabled ease of Banking' themes.

IndiGrid Consortium Lowest Bidder for Rs. 170 cr Transmission Project

A consortium of Infrastructure investment trust IndiGrid's arms emerged as the lowest bidder for a power transmission project worth Rs. 170 crore in tariff-based bidding.
Consortium of IndiGrid 1 Ltd and IndiGrid 2 Ltd (wholly-owned subsidiaries of India Grid Trust) participated in the tariff-based competitive bidding to establish Transmission system for evacuation of power from Renewable (RE) Projects in Osmanabad area (1 GW) in Maharashtra' on build, own, operate and maintain (BOOM) basis by REC Power Development and Consultancy Ltd.
The estimated cost for the project is around Rs. 170 crore.

ABB Power Products Rebrands Itself as Hitachi Energy India

ABB Power Products & Systems India announced its rebranding as Hitachi Energy India Ltd.
Following the recent rebranding of its parent company to Hitachi Energy, its operations in India announced their evolution to Hitachi Energy India Limited', reaffirming their commitment to accelerating the clean energy transition in India.
Hitachi Energy, which has focused its purpose on 'advancing a sustainable energy future for all', views India among its top five markets for expansion.

Nov 20, 2021

India World's Largest Recipient of Remittances

India, the world's largest recipient of remittances, received USD 87 billion in 2021 with the United States being the biggest source, accounting for over 20 per cent of these funds, according to the World Bank.
India is followed by China, Mexico, the Philippines, and Egypt.
In India, remittances are projected to grow three per cent in 2022 to USD 89.6 billion, reflecting a drop in overall migrant stock, as a large proportion of returnees from the Arab countries await return.

TVS Supply Chain Acquires Stake in FIT 3PL

TVS Supply Chain Solutions (TVS SCS), the logistics arm of $8.5 billion TVS Group, acquired a majority stake of 69 per cent in Bengaluru-based FIT 3PL Warehousing (FIT 3PL), an end-to-end contract logistics services provider, for an undisclosed amount from FIT Consulting and Services.
FIT 3PL is one of the few independent Indian logistics companies with pan India presence and has consistently delivered strong and profitable revenue growth over the years.

ONGC, Saudi Aramco Sign Feedstock and Marketing MoU

To explore a strategic alliance on a broad range of energy prospects, public sector oil and gas explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with world's largest oil company Saudi Aramco.
The two energy companies will look into long-term supply contracts for the sale and purchase of crude, refined petroleum and petrochemical products to create secure and competitive energy sources for the Indian market.
Both the entities also hope to utilize their affiliates in this strategic alliance, namely; Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL), ONGC Petro-additions Ltd. (OPaL) and ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd. (OMPL) of ONGC and Aramco Trading Company (ATC) of Saudi Aramco.

Rane Launches Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme for Services Sector

Union Minister Narayan Rane launched the Special Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme for the services sector.
The scheme will help in meeting the technology-related requirements of enterprises in the services sector and has a provision of 25 per cent capital subsidy for procurement of plant and machinery and service equipment through institutional credit to the SC-ST MSEs without any sector-specific restrictions on technology up-gradation.
The Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) launched the scheme at Guwahati.

Nov 19, 2021

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Launches its Leasing and Subscription Business 'Quiklyz'

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services launched a leasing and subscription business 'Quiklyz'.
This venture is a new-age digital platform for vehicle leasing and subscription, that aims to provide great convenience, flexibility and choice to customers across cities. Mahindra Finance sees this as a great opportunity to create value for its stakeholders with a profitable business model and build a strong balance sheet out of emerging opportunities in this adjacent business vertical.

NPCI Arm, Network Int Join Hands for UPI Payment System in UAE

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said that its international arm NIPL and global digital commerce enabler Network International have signed an agreement for mobile-based real time payment system in the UAE.
Network International enables digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa.
The proposed rollout of UPI mobile payment solutions on Network International's merchant network in the UAE is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2022 across the company's key retail merchant partner outlets. It will also be facilitating UPI payments in sectors such as jewellery, supermarkets, and duty free retailers.

NPCI Ties up with Leading Payments Provider PPRO to Take UPI Global

NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has collaborated with fintech firm PPRO, a global provider of local payments infrastructure, to expand growth of India's digital payments ecosystem.
The agreement aims at expanding RuPay card and UPI acceptance across PPRO's global clients such as payment service providers (PSPs) and global merchant acquirers.
RuPay is a global card payment network from India with over 635 million cards issued to date.
This partnership will drive NIPL's continued expansion into foreign markets and will add India to PPRO's Local Payment Method (LPM) coverage map.

GMR Wins Bid for Development, Operations of Kualanamu Airport in Indonesia

GMR Airports Limited (GAL), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Limited, won a bid for the development and operation of Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, Indonesia.
Medan is the fourth largest urban area in the country and is capital of North Sumatra province. GMR will enter into 49:51 partnership with AP2 for this project. The consortium will transform Kualanamu International Airport into Western International hub of Indonesia.

EaseMyTrip Acquires Hospitality Management Firm Spree Hospitality

Online travel platform EaseMyTrip announced the acquisition of hospitality management firm Spree Hospitality for an undisclosed amount.
EaseMyTrip aims to expand Spree to 200 properties in the next five years.
This acquisition will help EaseMyTrip to add a new revenue vertical for the company and enable it to scale up its hotel and holiday portfolios. This would also enable the online travel platform to offer exclusive deals and offer on Spree Hospitality to its customers while doing bookings.

Nov 18, 2021

FSS Partners with Bangladesh Bank for Digital Commerce Growth

Chennai-based FSS (Financial Software and Systems), a leading provider of integrated payment products and a payments processor, announced its collaboration with BRAC Bank, a leading bank in Bangladesh, to catalyse the growth of digital commerce in the country.
This partnership will enable FSS to provide its omni-channel acquiring platform to BRAC Bank to onboard merchants and enable digital payment acceptance across multiple touchpoints--in-store, mobile and online.

India's First Fisheries Business Incubator in Gurugram

The first-of-its-kind, dedicated fisheries business incubator was inaugurated in Gurugram, Haryana to nurture fisheries start-ups under real market-led conditions. The incubator is known as LINAC- NCDC Fisheries Business Incubation Centre (LlFlC). It was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala.
The centre has been established at a cost of Rs. 3.23 crore under the central flagship Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).
The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) is the implementing agency for the LIFIC.
The first batch of ten incubators from four states (Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra) has already been identified.

IndusInd Bank Launches Mobile App for Merchants

Private sector IndusInd Bank launched a comprehensive mobile application (app) 'Indus Merchant Solutions' to enable merchants, retailers and professionals to carry out banking transactions digitally, on a single platform.
'Indus Merchant Solutions' will enable merchants and retailers to undertake an array of activities such as accept instant cashless payments on mobile phones from customers through multiple digital modes, track inventory via in-built dashboards, apply for an exclusive Point of Sale (PoS) machine to facilitate card based payments, as well as avail small ticket business loans from the bank in a completely digital and paperless manner, without having to visit a bank branch.

India Received $87 Billion in Remittances in 2021

According to World Bank latest report, India received $87 billion in remittances in 2021, and the United States was the biggest source, accounting for over 20% of these funds.
India is followed by China, Mexico, the Philippines, and Egypt. In India, remittances are projected to grow 3% in 2022 to $89.6 billion, reflecting a drop in overall migrant stock, as a large proportion of returnees from the Arab countries await return.

Akasa Air Signs $4.5-bn Deal to Buy CFM Engines

Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Akasa Air signed an agreement to purchase CFM LEAP-1B engines to power its Boeing 737 MAX airplanes and the overall deal is estimated to be worth $4.5 billion.
The announcement comes a day after the upcoming ultra low-cost carrier said it would buy 72 Boeing 737 MAX planes from Boeing Co.
With this purchase and services agreement, Akasa Air will have from day one of its operations an innovative and comprehensive maintenance programme delivered by CFM.
The pact was signed with CFM at the Dubai Airshow. The deal includes spare engines and long-term service agreement.

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