General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - December 2015

Dec 2015

Nov 26, 2020

Kerala and West Bengal Accept Centre's Borrowing Option to Meet GST Shortfall

Kerala and West Bengal have accepted the Centre's borrowing proposal and will get Rs. 10,197 crore through the special window to meet GST revenue shortfall.
These are among the states that had opposed the borrowing plan. Governments of Kerala and West Bengal have communicated their acceptance of Option-1 to meet the revenue shortfall arising out of GST implementation. The number of states who have chosen this option has gone up to 25.
All the three Union Territories with Legislative Assembly—Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Puducherry—have also decided in favour of Option 1.
Under the terms of Option 1, besides getting the facility of a special window for borrowings to meet the shortfall arising out of GST implementation, states are also entitled to get unconditional permission to borrow the final instalment of 0.50 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) out of the 2 per cent additional borrowings permitted by the Centre under Aatmanirbhar Abhiyaan. This is over and above the special window of Rs 1.1 lakh crore.

Cabinet Approves Merger of Lakshmi Vilas Bank with DBS India

The government approved merger of crisis-ridden Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with DBS Bank India Ltd (DBIL) and removed restrictions on withdrawal of deposits by depositors.
As per Prakash Javadekar, the decision will provide comfort to 20 lakh depositors and protect the services of 4,000 employees.
LVB has 563 branches, 974 ATMs, 20 lakh depositors and 320,000 borrowers.
DBS India, the local subsidiary of Singapore's DBS Group Holdings, will invest Rs 2,500 crore while the equity, reserves and surplus of the 94-year-old LVB will be extinguished.

L&T Bags Order to Build India's Longest River Bridge

Larsen & Toubro's construction arm has secured a large contract to construct India's longest road bridge across Brahmaputra River connecting Dhubri in Assam to Phulbari in Meghalaya.
As per L&T's classification, the valuation of the said contract lies between Rs. 2,500 to 5,000 crore.
The 19 km long bridge will be built along National Highway 127-B and will feature a Navigation Bridge of 12.625 km, approach via ducts of 3.5 km on the Dhubri side and 2.2 km on the Phulbari side, connected with approach roads and interchanges on both sides.
L&T is an Indian technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services conglomerate, with global operations.

BSNL Selects Route Mobile for SMS Firewall to Monetise international Traffic

Homegrown cloud services provider Route Mobile has been selected by state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to deploy its SMS Firewall Platform across Southern and Western Zones in India.
Route Mobile will provide enhanced control and security over BSNL user's SMS traffic, subscriber protection, and the monetisation of international SMS traffic terminating over their network.
Under the contract, Route Mobile will deploy its Firewall Platform in BSNL's SMS network at the zonal level on a revenue-sharing basis, and will integrate with the STTP for both submissions of SMS and recon of delivered SMS, ICB (Interconnect Billing) Solution/Reconciliation, and DLT Platforms, along with other relevant network elements such as Testing, Commissioning, and Support.

IPPB Joins Hands with PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Limited

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has joined hands with PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Limited to launch Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. The unique scheme offers life cover on death of the insured member due to any reason.
Products like PMJJBY help to inculcate a culture of buying affordable insurance amongst this segment of population. PMJJBY takes forward the Government's mission of creating a universal social security net for needy and disadvantaged sections.
The scheme will be optional for all the savings account holders with India Post Payments Bank. To open an account under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Aadhaar card will be the primary Know Your Customer (KYC) document.
Customer should be at least 18 years old to enroll for the scheme. The maximum age limit will be 50 years for Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana.

Union Cabinet Approves Rs. 2,481 crore worth FDI into ATC Telecom Infra

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved foreign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs. 2,480.92 crore in ATC Telecom Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. by ATC Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Prakash Javadekar said that it shows the growing confidence in India's infrastructure sector and the international community's faith in India's growth, the minister said. The deal is for acquiring 12% stake in ATC Telecom Infrastructure for Rs. 216 a share.
India currently allows FDI up to 100% in telecom services sector wherein 49% is permitted under automatic route and anything beyond 49% must seek government approval.
ATC Telecom Infrastructure was set up in March 2004 as Tata Tele Info Limited, a Tata group firm.

Nov 25, 2020

Elon Musk Pips Bill Gates to Become World's Second Richest Person

As per a Bloomberg report, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has overtaken Bill Gates to become the world's second richest person.
Musk's net worth soared $7.2 billion to $127.9 billion, led by a surge in Tesla's share price. The 49-year-old billionaire has added $100.3 billion to his net worth this year, the most of anyone on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world's wealthiest 500 individuals.

Google Acquires 7.73% Stake in Jio

Alphabet Inc's Google has paid Rs. 33,737 crore for a 7.73 per cent stake in Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) digital subsidiary, Jio Platforms Ltd, joining the list of global investors such as Facebook.
The transaction also marks the US technology giant's biggest-ever investment in an Indian company. With this, Jio Platforms has raised a total of Rs. 1.52 lakh crore by selling nearly 33 per cent stake to 13 financial and strategic investors in just 11 weeks.

UAE Allows 100% Foreign Ownership of Companies

Foreigners opening a company in the United Arab Emirates no longer need an Emirati shareholder or agent under changes to UAE company law.
Until now companies in the UAE had needed a certain shareholding to be held by Emirati nationals, or an Emirati agent, depending on what type of company it was.
The amendments allow foreign entrepreneurs and investors to fully establish and own companies without any nationality requirements.
As an oil and gas producer, the UAE economy has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices, prompting the International Monetary Fund to forecast in October that the Gulf's second largest economy could shrink by 6.6 per cent this year.

Ahmed Patel MP from Gujarat Passes Away

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat Ahmed Patel passed away at the age of 71.
Ahmed Patel, who was popularly known as 'Ahmed Bhai' in political circle, was an eight-time parliamentarian. He served three terms in the Lok Sabha and five terms in the Rajya Sabha. Patel was appointed as the Treasurer of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in August 2018.
Patel was a staunch loyalist of Nehru-Gandhi family.
Patel was widely regarded by many as one of the most powerful leaders in the Congress but he never joined the government. Patel always preferred to maintain a low profile and never showed interest in becoming a part of the government.

RBI Rejects Muthoot Finance's Plan to Buy IDBI AMC

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rejected Kerala-based Muthoot Finance's proposal to acquire IDBI Asset Management Company (AMC).
Muthoot Finance said that its request for a no-objection certificate was not acceded to by the RBI on the ground that, "the activity of sponsoring a mutual fund (MF) or owning an AMC was not in consonance with the activity of operating a non-banking financial company (NBFC).
The Kerala-based gold loan NBFC, in November 2019, had signed a share purchase agreement to acquire IDBI Asset Management and IDBI MF Trustee Company for a consideration of around Rs. 215 crore. Through this acquisition Muthoot was planning to enter the MF asset management space.

Nov 24, 2020

Singapore and Saudi Companies Push Indian Solar Tariffs to Record Low

The Indian units of Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries Ltd and Saudi Arabia-based Aljomaih Holding Co won government auctions to sell solar power for a record low of 2 rupees ($0.0270) per kilowatt hour (kWh).
The tariff represented a discount of nearly a sixth from the lowest bid for solar power of 2.36 rupees in the auctions conducted by Solar Energy Corp of India Ltd (SECI) in June.
India, the world's third-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has set a target of raising its renewable energy to 175 gigawatts (GW) by 2022 from about 90 GW now.
Sembcorp's Indian unit Green Infra Wind Energy Ltd will operate a solar plant with a capacity of 400 megawatts (MW), while Aljomaih Energy and Water Co will construct a 200 MW plant, a screen grab of the results of the auctions conducted by state-run Solar Energy Corp of India Ltd (SECI) showed.

Alpha Bank Picks Davidson Kempner as Preferred Bidder for $12 Billion Bad Loans

Greek lender Alpha Bank has selected U.S. investment fund Davidson Kempner as its preferred bidder to buy a $12 billion portfolio of non-performing loans in what will be Greece's largest-ever sale of bad debt.
The portfolio, known as Galaxy Project and worth 10.8 billion euros ($12.81 billion), also includes the disposal of Alpha's bad loan servicing unit, Cepal.
Davidson Kempner has valued the assets at about 290 million euros, trumping a rival offer by U.S. investment giant Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO).
The sale, which is expected to be finalised by the end of 2020, is the most significant attempt by a Greek bank to clean up its balance sheet amid fears that the proportion of soured loans to businesses and individuals will surge as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis.

EbixCash Acquires AssureEdge Global

Cross-border remittance and financial services player EbixCash has acquired 70% stake in AssureEdge Global Services, a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm — eyeing sales synergies amid growing demand for insurance in India.
The company said that AssureEdge CEO and founder Bhupesh Tambe will continue to lead the firm with a 30% stake.
The BPO, which currently has 1,800 employees, will be rebranded as EbixCash Global BPO Services.
AssureEdge can serve to handle fulfillment, collections and last-mile delivery for EbixCash, as we converge it with our EbixCash financial and insurance technology platforms.

Twenty-two Billion Barrels of Crude Oil Discovered in Abu Dhabi

An estimated 22 billion barrels of non-conventional and recoverable crude oil has been discovered in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In the announcement, Abu Dhabi's Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) said that the latest major onshore discovery could increase the country's conventional oil reserves by 2 billion barrels.
The SPC also approved on the same day to increase the capital investment in Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to 448 billion dirhams ($122 billion) from 2021 to 2025.

India Subjecting FDI Proposals from Hong Kong

As per reports, India is subjecting foreign investment proposals from Hong Kong at par with China as part of a new policy that makes approval mandatory for plans from countries that share a land border.
Nearly 140 investment proposals valued at over $1.75 billion, mostly from China and Hong Kong have been put on hold pending scrutiny.
Amid a border standoff with China, the Indian government tightened rules for foreign direct investment from all nations sharing a land border, making scrutiny mandatory for such investments, a restriction that was earlier applicable only to Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The delays may complicate deal-making and impact the flow of capital from private equity firms and hedge funds, which often include investors domiciled in China or Hong Kong. This may starve Indian companies of investment in the midst of the pandemic-induced economic contraction.

Nov 23, 2020

Indian Overseas Bank Expects Resolution of NPAs in Second Half of FY21

State-owned Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) expects resolution of about Rs. 18,000 crore of non-performing assets (NPAs) under the insolvency and bankruptcy process during the second half of the current fiscal, a move that will boost its bottom line.
Besides, the Chennai-based bank is hoping to come out of the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) next fiscal.
On the back of resolution and pick up in advances, the bank aims to bring down the gross NPAs below 10 per cent mark by March.

RBI Becomes only Central Bank in World to Get a Million Followers on Twitter

With one million Twitter followers, the Reserve Bank of India has become the first central bank in the world to reach this milestone.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has beaten the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank on Twitter by emerging as the most popular central bank on the microblogging site with one million followers.
As per the latest information available on the RBI's twitter handle '@RBI', the number of followers has increased from 9.66 lakh in September 2020 to one million or 10 lakh.
In contrast to this, the world's most powerful central bank, the US Federal Reserve, has only 6.67 lakh Twitter followers and the Frankfurt-headquartered European Central Bank (ECB), the second most powerful monetary authority in the world, has 5.91 lakh followers.

Centre Okays Grant for Food Processing Projects

The government approved a grant of Rs. 107.42 crore for implementing 28 food processing projects spread over 10 states that are likely to generate jobs for nearly 10,000 people.
A decision in this regard was taken in the virtual meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee (IMAC) chaired by Food Processing Industries Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
The committee considered the projects applied through a unit scheme of Creation and Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities (CEFPPC) under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) for necessary grants-in-aid.
The projects will create a processing capacity of 1,237 tonne daily and are spread across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Assam, and Manipur.

Bharti Airtel to Acquire Stake in Avaada MHBuldhana

Bharti Airtel would acquire 5.2 per cent stake in solar power company Avaada MHBuldhana for Rs. 4.55 crore in an all-cash deal.
Avaada MHBuldhana Private Limited is a newly-formed company and developing a captive generating solar power plant in Maharashtra which will become operational by March 2021.
It is a subsidiary of Avaada Energy Private Limited (AEPL).
AEPL has developed a portfolio of over 1 gigawatt solar and wind projects across the country and the first independent power producer to cross 1 GW installed capacity milestone in India.

Nov 22, 2020

PM Modi, Bhutanese PM Jointly Launch Rupay Card Phase-2

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering launched RuPay card Phase-II that will allow Bhutanese card holders to access the RuPay network in India.
The Prime Ministers of both the countries had jointly launched Phase-I of the project during Modi's state visit to Bhutan in August last year.
The implementation of Phase-I of RuPay cards in Bhutan has enabled visitors from India to access ATMs and Point of Sale (PoS) terminals across Bhutan.
Phase-II will now allow Bhutanese card holders to access RuPay network in India.
The RuPay card is an Indian debit and credit card payment network, with acceptance at ATMs, POS devices and e-commerce websites.

Karnataka Eyes 50% of $100 Billion Bioeconomy by 2025

Karnataka has set a target of achieving 50 per cent market share of the $100-billion national bio-economy by 2025.
"The state has been at the forefront of harnessing biotechnology over the past two decades" said Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa at the Bengaluru Tech Summit.
Bioeconomy is an activity involving the use of biotechnology in the production of goods, services or energy from biological material as the primary resource base.

Govt. Okays Subsidised Loans for Micro-irrigation Projects

The Union Agriculture Ministry gave nod for subsidised loans worth Rs. 3,971.31 crore for implementing micro-irrigation projects.
The interest subvented loans are being offered under Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) created with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for implementing micro-irrigation projects.
This fund with a corpus of Rs. 5,000 crore was operationalised in the 2019-20 fiscal with an objective to facilitate states in availing subsidised loans for expanding coverage of micro irrigation.
Out of this, maximum loan of Rs. 1,357.93 crore has been approved for Tamil Nadu, followed by Rs. 790.94 crore for Haryana, Rs. 764.13 crore for Gujarat, Rs. 616.13 crore for Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 276.55 crore for West Bengal, Rs. 150 crore for Punjab and Rs. 15.63 crore for Uttarakhand.

India Signs Agreement with World Bank for Meghalaya Transport Project

India and World Bank signed 120 million USD to modernise transport sector in the state of Meghalaya. The project aims to improve 300 km of strategic road segment through climate resilient and nature-based solutions.
The project will help Meghalaya to emerge as the major connecting hub of trade with border countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The project will cater small scale industries, agriculture areas, tourism, health and education centres. Currently, around 5,362 habitations in Meghalaya lack transport connectivity. It will increase access to health facilities. More than 500,00 inhabitants of the state will benefit in the state. The project is expected to generate direct employment of 8 million person days.
The project will act as a boost to "Restart Meghalaya Mission".
The Restart Meghalaya Mission was launched in August 2020 on the occasion of the 74th Independence Day. Around six projects were announced under the mission. A total investment of Rs. 8,753 crores is to be used for infrastructure projects. The mission will construct 13 major roads at a cost of Rs. 850 crores. Under the mission, 400 agricultural entrepreneurs are to be provided with power tillers at subsidised rates. The mission will also develop tourism.

Mphasis Gains after Acquiring UK-based Datalytx

Mphasis gained 1.93% to Rs. 1,325.55 after the IT company announced the acquisition of Datalytx, a leading next-gen data engineering and consultancy company.
Mphasis through its wholly owned subsidiary, Mphasis Consulting, acquired Datalytyx for consideration up to GBP 13.3 million. Datalytyx is a leading UK-based, Snowflake and Talend partner specializing in Next-Gen Data Engineering and consultancy company.
Mphasis said that the acquisition is expected to provide access to strengthen company's next-gen Data GTM Strategy and provide higher value partnership status with Snowflake and Talend for cloud-based data services. The acquisition also provides access to highly skilled data professionals and sales professionals thereby creating an offshore pool of Snowflake and Talend expertise.

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