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BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - November 2015

Nov 2015

Apr 19, 2021

Toyota Partners Sasol to Pioneer Hydrogen-powered Mobility

Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota has partnered with South African fuel giant Sasol to develop a green hydrogen-powered mobility ecosystem.
The two companies announced the plan at an event this week organised by EE Business Intelligence and the British High Commission to South Africa, titled '2nd Renewable Hydrogen and Green Powerfuels Webinar for South Africa'.
The parties intend to develop a mobility corridor and expand the demonstration to a pilot project using one of South Africa's main freight corridors, the N3 route, where most of the country's imports arrive in containers, to the economic hub of Johannesburg.

Microsoft Buys AI Speech Tech Company Nuance

Microsoft has made its second-biggest acquisition after LinkedIn. The tech giant has bought AI speech tech firm Nuance for $19.7 billion. The move will help Microsoft's prowess in voice recognition and will give it a boost in the health care market. Nuance is known for its Dragon software which helps to transcribe speech using deep learning. In 2016, Microsoft had purchased LinkedIn for $26 billion.
The acquisition will combine solutions and expertise to deliver new cloud and AI capabilities across healthcare and other industries, and represent the latest step in Microsoft's industry-specific cloud strategy.
Nuance provides the AI layer at the healthcare point of delivery and is a pioneer in the real-world application of enterprise AI.
Nuance's products include multiple clinical speech recognition software as a service (SaaS) offerings built on Microsoft Azure. The firm's solutions work with core healthcare systems, and are currently used in 77% of U.S. hospitals.

Reliance Communication Headed for Liquidation

Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications (RCom), which is now bankrupt, will now undergo liquidation, unless the Supreme Court overturns the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order.
The order states that spectrum owned by the firm can be sold under the insolvency process after government dues are cleared.
A banking source said the committee of creditors (CoC) for RCom will file an appeal against the order. The NCLAT had passed the order in the 'Aircel versus the Department of Telecom-munications (DoT)' legal fracas.

Haryana Ranks 4th in Input Tax Credit Frauds

Gurugram Zonal Unit of Directorate General of GST Intelligence arrested Ravinder Kumar in connection with input tax credit (ITC) fraud worth Rs. 43 crore.
This is not a lone example, but Haryana has the fourth highest cases pertaining to issuance of fake invoices to get benefit of ITC from July 2017 to December 2020. As many as 3,852 fraud cases were unearthed across the country during this period. Maharashtra topped the list with 668 cases followed by Tamil Nadu (652), West Bengal (370) and Haryana (303), according to data tabled in the Lok Sabha by the Finance Ministry.
Tax officials said that the use of fake invoices to avail ITC credit had been increasing and it was a cause for concern, especially at a time when revenue collection was depressed.
In terms of quantum of fraud, Haryana is at number three. Frauds worth Rs 4,489.90 crore were detected in Haryana between July 2017 and December 2020. In total, Rs. 35,620.40 crore of ITC fraud was detected across the country during the period. Delhi topped the list with fraud worth Rs. 7,922 crore followed by Maharashtra (Rs. 7,147.50 crore). The modus operandi, according to the department, is setting up of fake companies, creating fake invoices and collecting illegal input tax credit.

ARK Buys another $64 mn in Coinbase Shares, Sells Tesla Shares

Cathie Wood's ARK funds bought more shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc while selling shares of electric carmaker Tesla.
It sold 134,541 shares of Tesla, valued at $99.5 million. Tesla is still by far the firm's biggest position by value on its major funds.
The funds added to were the flagship ARK Innovation fund, the Next Generation Internet ETF and the Fintech Innovation ETF.
ARK sold the Tesla shares from its flagship fund and its Next Generation Internet ETF.

US Stops Short of Branding Vietnam, Switzerland Currency Manipulators

The U.S. Treasury Department said that Vietnam, Switzerland and Taiwan tripped its thresholds for possible currency manipulation under a 2015 U.S. trade law, but refrained from formally branding them as manipulators.
In the first semi-annual foreign exchange report issued by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the Treasury said it will commence "enhanced engagement" with Taiwan and continue such talks with Vietnam and Switzerland after the Trump administration labeled the latter two as currency manipulators in December.
The Treasury said that Taiwan, Vietnam and Switzerland exceeded 2015 currency thresholds during 2020 - a more than $20 billion bilateral trade surplus with the United States, foreign currency intervention exceeding 2% of gross domestic product and a global current account surplus exceeding 2% of GDP.

Apr 18, 2021

SEBI Issues Guidelines for Warehousing Norms for Agri, Non-agri Goods

Markets regulator SEBI came out with guidelines for preparing warehousing norms by clearning corporations for agricultural, agri-processed, base and industrial metals goods.
The guidelines, which will be the minimum requirements that will be prescribed by clearing corporations for warehousing service providers, are aimed at bringing uniformity, improve ease of doing business and rationalise regulatory compliance cost, among other aspects.
In a circular, SEBI said that the guidelines would come into effect from June 1, 2021.
According to the regulator, the prescribed norms are the minimum requirements/ standards which a clearing corporation will set out for compliance by its accredited WSPs (Warehouse Service Providers) and assayers.
A WSP is an entity which provides a storage facility for storing underlying goods related to a commodity derivatives contract.

Hyundai Bags Top Position in Passenger Vehicle Exports in 2020-21

Hyundai Motor India led the passenger vehicle (PV) exports from the country last fiscal with dispatch of 1,04,342 units to various overseas markets like Mexico, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. The country's second largest carmaker said that during the period under review the company also exported vehicles to Nepal and Chile, among others.
Hyundai surpassed the cumulative three million vehicle export milestone last year.
The company currently exports 10 models, including Venue and Creta, to around 88 countries across five continents.

US Keeps India, 10 Others in the Currency Practices Monitoring List

The United States placed 11 countries, including India, China, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Italy in the currency practices Monitoring List.
Other countries named by the Department of Treasury in its quarterly report to Congress, the first under the Biden administration, are Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Mexico.
All except Ireland and Mexico were covered in the December 2020 report, which was under the previous Trump administration.
An economy meeting two of the three criteria in the 2015 Act is placed on the Monitoring List.

Vi Appoints Senior Executives in Marketing, Technology Security Roles

Vodafone Idea (Vi), which in the recent past saw a spurt of senior level exits, has appointed executive vice presidents in charge of marketing and technology security.
Vivek Jain has returned to Vi and has been appointed EVP of marketing. Jain worked as head of Maharashtra circle in his previous stint till October 2019.
In another senior level appointment, Vi hired Mathan Babu Kasilingam as EVP- Technology Security. Previously he worked as chief of information privacy and data security in National Payment Corporation of India.

Apr 17, 2021

Richard Verma Appointed as Mastercard's Head of Global Public Policy

Former US Ambassador to India Richard Verma was appointed as General Counsel and Head of Global Public Policy of Mastercard.
The announcement from Mastercard came as it appointed Tim Murphy, the company's General Counsel, to the newly created position of Chief Administrative Officer.
Verma served as US Ambassador to India from 2014 to 2017.
The first and only Indian American to serve in this position so far, Verma joined Mastercard in October 2020, bringing more than 25 years of international experience across senior levels of business, law, diplomacy and the military.

IOC to Buy Guyanese Crude as India Doubles Up on Cutting OPEC Dependence

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will buy a consignment of Guyanese crude oil in a push to diversify the sources. According to oil ministry officials, this deal is at competitive rates and is in line with the strategy to have multiple sources of crude oil for Indian refiners. "We are no longer constrained by West Asian crude oil grades.

National Aluminium Co Gets Mining Lease for Utkal-E Coal Block

National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) was granted the mining lease of Utkal-E coal block in Odisha.
The lease was granted by the Department of Steel & Mines, Government of Odisha, through a notification.
As per the notification, the mining lease of Utkal-E coal block is over an area of 523.73 hectare.
The initial capacity of the block is 2 million tonnes per year with a total mineable reserve of approximately 70 million tonnes.

Jindal Steel Exits Oman Business

Moving towards the completion of its Oman unit divestment, Naveen Jindal-led Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) arm Jindal Steel & Power (Mauritius) Limited has sold its balance stake to Vulcan Steel in the second and final tranche.
The Delhi-based primary steel producer today informed that the balance stake sold represented 51 percent of the share capital of Jindal Shadeed Iron and Steel LLC, Oman was sold to the private limited company, in accordance with shareholder approval secured at the extraordinary general meeting held in July last year.
Jindal Steel owned 48.99 percent stake in the Oman unit via Jindal Steel & Power (Mauritius) Limited.

Apr 16, 2021

Facebook Signs First Deal to Buy Renewable Energy from Local Firm in India

Facebook signed a deal to buy renewable energy in India from a local firm's wind power project, the social media giant's first such deal in the South Asian nation.
The 32 megawatt wind power project, located in southern Karnataka state, is part of a larger portfolio of wind and solar projects that Facebook and Mumbai-based CleanMax are working together on for supplying renewable power into India's electrical grid.
CleanMax will own and operate the projects, while Facebook will buy the power off the grid using environmental attribute certificates, or carbon credits.
Facebook's head of renewable energy, Urvi Parekh said that the company typically does not own the power plants but instead signs "long-term" electricity purchasing agreements with the renewable power company.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter Sets up Separate Business Vertical for Exports

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) set up an overseas business vertical to spearhead its exports from the country.
The new vertical would harness the strength of over 100 associates across different functions to make the company a global hub for two-wheeler exports.
Based out of company's Manesar facility, the new Overseas Business Expansion vertical strategically integrates SEDBQ (sales, engineering, development, purchasing and quality) functions under one roof to create a globally optimal operating system.

RBI Sets Up RRA to Streamline Regulations and Reduce Compliance

The Reserve Bank set up the second Regulatory Review Authority (RRA 2.0) with a view to streamlining regulations and reducing compliance burden of regulated entities.
Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor M. Rajeshwar Rao was appointed as the Regulations Review Authority.
The RBI had set up a Regulations Review Authority (RRA) initially for a period of one year from April 1, 1999, for reviewing regulations, circulars, reporting systems, based on the feedback from public, banks and financial institutions.
The recommendations of the RRA enabled streamlining and increasing the effectiveness of several procedures, simplifying regulatory prescriptions, paved the way for issuance of master circular and reduced reporting burden on regulated entities.

Amazon Launches $250 mn Venture Fund for Indian Start-ups, Entrepreneurs

E-commerce giant Amazon India launched $250 million Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund (the venture fund) to invest in start-ups and entrepreneurs focusing on technology innovations in SMB (small and medium business) digitization, agriculture and healthcare. The venture fund will invest in technology-led start-ups that are passionate about unlocking the possibilities of a digital India.
The fund will specifically focus on encouraging the best ideas to digitize SMBs (small and medium businesses). It would drive technology-led innovation in agriculture to improve farmer productivity and enable them to bring the best of India's farms to consumers. It would also enable universal and quality healthcare access for all using technology.
Additionally, Amazon announced plans to digitally empower and bring 1 million offline retailers and neighbourhood stores online, on the Amazon India marketplace, by 2025 through the Local Shops on Amazon program. At the same event, Amazon also launched the 'Spotlight North East' initiative to bring 50,000 artisans, weavers and small businesses online from the 8 states in the North East region of India by 2025 and to boost exports of key commodities like tea, spices and honey from the region.

Four Entities Apply for Universal Bank, Four others for SFB Licence

Four entities — Repco Bank, Chaitanya India Fin Credit, UAE Exchange and Financial Services, and Pankaj Vaish and others — have applied for licence to start a universal bank in the country.
Those who have applied for licence for small finance banks (SFBs) are VSoft Technologies, Calicut City Service Co-operative Bank, Akhil Kumar Gupta, and Dvara Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the names of the applicants under the guidelines for on tap licensing of universal banks and SFBs.

Citigroup Announces Retail Business Exit from India

Citigroup said that it was exiting retail banking in India and 12 other countries across Asia and parts of Europe to focus on its wealth management business, as it lacked the scale to compete in this space.
The decision to exit retail businesses from a few markets was one of the first moves by newly appointed CEO Jane Fraser after she took over the US-headquartered bank in February.
Citigroup, while announcing its quarterly results, said it would exit its consumer franchises in India, Australia, Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Citigroup's Institutional Clients Group will continue to serve clients in these markets, which remain important to Citi's global network.

Apr 15, 2021

After 48-year Search, Physicists Discover Ultra-rare 'Triple Glueball' Particle

A never-before-seen particle has revealed itself in the hot guts of two particle colliders, confirming a half-century-old theory.
Scientists predicted the existence of the particle, known as the odderon, in 1973, describing it as a rare, short-lived conjointment of three smaller particles known as gluons. Since then, researchers have suspected that the odderon might appear when protons slammed together at extreme speeds, but the precise conditions that would make it spring into existence remained a mystery. Now, after comparing data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the 17-mile-long (27 kilometers) ring-shaped atom smasher near Geneva that's famous for discovering the Higgs boson, and the Tevatron, a now-defunct 3.9-mile-long (6.3 km) American collider that slammed protons and their antimatter twins (antiprotons) together in Illinois until 2011, researchers report conclusive evidence of the odderon's existence.

National Housing Bank Launches Special Refinance Facility

National Housing Bank (NHB) has rolled out a Rs. 10,000 crore 'Special Refinance Facility-2021' (SRF-2021) to provide short-term refinance support to housing finance companies (HFCs) and other eligible Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs).
This facility is expected to meet the short-term liquidity requirements of the PLIs and will also support them for onward lending to individuals to maintain steady growth in the housing finance sector.
This NHB initiative comes on the heels of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extending fresh support ( in the recent monetary policy review) under another Special Liquidity Facility-2 (SLF-2) of Rs. 10,000 crore to the NHB for one year to support the housing sector.

Toshiba CEO Resigns

Toshiba Corp CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani resigned amid controversy over a $20 billion buyout bid from CVC Capital Partners and the conglomerate's shares surged on reports that more suitors were planning offers.
Toshiba Chairman Satoshi Tsunakawa will become chief executive.
Nobuaki Kurumatani departure could upend CVC's offer last week to take Toshiba private at a time when rival suitors are said to be weighing bids.

Bharti Airtel Rejigs Corporate Structure

Bharti Airtel announced a new corporate structure to sharpen the company's focus on driving the rapidly-unfolding digital opportunities while enabling it to unlock value.
The new structure involves Airtel Digital Limited folding into the listed entity Bharti Airtel.
This will now house all of the digital assets spanning Wynk Music, Airtel X stream, Airtel Thanks, Mitra Payments platform used by a million retailers, Airtel Ads, Airtel IQ, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud and all future digital products and services, the company said in a statement.
The telecom business will be housed in a newly created entity -- Airtel Limited a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited.
Bharti Telemedia, the 100 per cent arm operating DTH services, will sit alongside Airtel Limited for now.

Apollo Tyres Forays into Truck and Bus Tyre Segment in US, Canada

Apollo Tyres announced its foray into the truck and bus tyre segment in the US and Canada, following the launch of its passenger vehicle range in the two markets.
The commercial vehicle range has been introduced under the Apollo brand although the PV (passenger vehicle) range was launched under the premium European brand, Vredestein last September.
The North American range of truck and bus tyres will be produced at the company's manufacturing units in Hungary and Chennai, India. The tyre line-up will encompass a full range of regional, super-regional, coach/urban and mixed-use applications with fitments for rims ranging from 17.5 inches to 24.5 inches.

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