General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - December 2015

Dec 2015

Feb 09, 2020

Total Buys 50% in Adani's Solar Business

French energy giant Total SA agreed to acquire 50% in Adani Group's solar assets for $510 million, in one of the biggest transactions in India's clean energy industry.
Total will own half of a joint venture company that will house the solar assets of Adani Green Energy Ltd, which has a 2,148MW solar project portfolio across 11 states. Adani Green Energy will own the balance 50% in the joint venture.
The transaction, the second major proposed investment by the French energy major in a company controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, comes amid a tough phase for India's clean energy sector.

Emami Group to Sell Cement Business

Emami Group agreed to sell its cement business to Nuvoco Vistas Corp. Ltd, a Nirma Group company, for an enterprise value of Rs. 5,500 crore, as the founders of the Kolkata-based company seek to pare debt.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the next three-four months.
The sale of the cement business is part of Emami group's plan to become debt-free. Last year, the group's founders sold 20% in their flagship household goods company, Emami Ltd, for Rs. 2,830 crore as part of the plan.

RBI Keeps Policy Rates Unchanged

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept policy rates unchanged for the second time in a row as it saw inflation elevated and on a rising trajectory until March — a move that came amid concerns of a sluggish economy and increased risks owing to global fears over the coronavirus outbreak.
All six members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), led by RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, unanimously decided to maintain the repurchase or repo rate at 5.15%, while striking a note of caution on the state of the economy.
The MPC, however, retained its accommodative stance, which means that interest rates can be lowered in the future. It said that "the economy continues to be weak", even as it has projected a 6% GDP growth rate for 2020-21. The RBI's Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS) shows a continued deterioration in consumer sentiment, despite other high-frequency economic indicators showing an improvement in December and January.

Feb 08, 2020

Cognizant Tech Acquires EI Technologies and Code Zero Consulting Companies

Cognizant technology solutions corporation has made two strategic acquisitions EI technologies, a Paris-based digital technology consulting company and Code Zero, Georgia-based consultancy for cloud-based CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) & Billing Solutions for the development of global salesforce practice before its fourth Quarter Earnings.

Reliance General Insurance Introduces Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan "Infinity"

Reliance General Insurance Company Limited, one of the leading insurance companies in India, launched a comprehensive health insurance plan called "Reliance Health Infinity".
Under the plan, the minimum sum insured will be Rs. 3 lakh while the maximum sum insured limit will be Rs. 1 crore.
Pre-hospitalisation expenses incurred for a period of 90 days and post-hospitalisation expenses for a period of 180 days will also be covered.
The health policy will also cover expenses for hospitalisation under AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) treatment.

Feb 07, 2020

MG Motor to Set up Second Plant in India

MG Motor India said that it is looking to set up a new manufacturing plant in the country as it expects its existing plant in Gujarat to run out of capacity by the end of 2021.
The company's current manufacturing facility in Halol (Gujarat), which it bought from General Motors, can roll out a maximum of one lakh units per annum.

Paytm Rolls Out All-in-one Payment Device

Paytm, India's leading digital payments player, unveiled new products to target businesses and ward off rising competition from Google Pay, Walmart Inc.-owned PhonePe and Amazon Pay.
Paytm introduced a stand that displays QR check-out codes that comes with a calculator and USB charger, a so-called sound box that provides voice confirmations of transactions, cloud software to streamline inventory management, and a point-of-sale device with built-in scanner and printer. The latter accepts payments through debit and credit cards as well as as Paytm and rival apps.
The new products signal a shift in strategic focus to merchants rather than person-to-person transactions. Paytm's brand became synonymous with digital payments in India after the government banned high-value currency notes at the end of 2016, a "demonetization" exercise intended to stymie corruption. But the likes of Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. are now expanding their rival services aggressively and have begun to encroach on its market share.

Piramal Group May Partner with Foreign, PSU Banks for Co-lending

Piramal Group plans to collaborate with public sector and foreign banks for co-lending opportunities, which will generate fee income for the company and help maintain return on equity (ROE).
Piramal said that we have, in the past, explored high-yield, wholesale funding opportunities through our funds. Going forward, we will be collaborating with public sector and foreign banks for co-lending opportunities. Co-lending opportunities help in generating fee income and main ROEs despite our diversification into retail financing.
Piramal also said that there are many portfolio purchasing and merger and acquisition (M&A) prospects in the housing finance sector, as it has slowed down due to liquidity crunch, which has led to some of these companies vacating the space.

Yes Bank Picks IDFC Securities, Ambit to Raise as much as $2 billion

Yes Bank Ltd. picked Cantor Fitzgerald LP, IDFC Securities Ltd. and Ambit Pvt. to help the Indian lender raise as much as $2 billion for bolstering capital buffers.
Yes Bank, staggering under the weight of soured loans, has been plagued by worries about its asset quality and uncertainty about efforts to raise new capital. It's trying to shore up a core equity capital ratio that's barely above a regulatory minimum of 8%.

Feb 06, 2020

Instamojo Buys Digital Commerce Platform GetMeAShop

Bengaluru-based digital payment platform Instamojo acquired Times Internet-owned GetMeAShop, a digital commerce platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), for $5 million in cash. This is Instamojo's first acquisition since its inception in 2012, and will allow the startup to branch into software offerings.
Instamojo launched as a payment gateway for MSMEs, and later branched into an e-commerce platform for merchants to list and sell their products and services online. It had launched a lending product--MojoCapital--and a last-mile logistics service, branded MojoXPress, focused on its merchants in 2018.

Pakistan Steps in to Compensate Malaysia after India Restricts Palm Oil Import

Pakistan will do its best to buy more palm oil from Malaysia after top buyer India put curbs on such imports in January 2020 amid a diplomatic row with the Southeast Asian nation.
India has put general restrictions on refined palm oil imports and informally asked traders specifically to stop buying from Malaysia, the world's second-biggest producer and exporter of the edible oil, in retaliation for Malaysia's accusation that recent Indian policies discriminate against Muslims.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad discussed palm oil with Khan – in Malaysia on a state visit – and that Pakistan had indicated it would import more from Malaysia.
According to the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Pakistan bought 1.1 million tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia in 2019, while India bought 4.4 million tonnes.

Great Wall Commits $1 bn Investment in India

China's largest SUV manufacturer Great Wall Motors (GWM) will invest $1 billion in India, which is set to be among the top three auto markets globally.
The $1 billion (about Rs. 7,100 crore) investment will be made in a phased manner in areas including research and development, manufacturing, and sales and marketing.
It also plans to provide about 3,000 direct employment in a phased manner.
GWM also plans to invest in battery research and development and manufacturing in India to reinforce and accelerate India's Electrification Strategy'.

Rosneft Keen to Bid for BPCL

Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft is keen to bid for acquisition of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), after the Russian firm's CEO Igor Sechin met Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Rosneft, which is the majority owner of India's second-biggest private oil refinery, is keen to expand in the world's third-largest and the fastest-growing energy market.
Sechin held delegation-level talks with Pradhan and expressed interest in bidding for the acquisition of government stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL).
The government is selling all of its 53 per cent stake in BPCL in the country's biggest privatisation plan.
As per reports, national oil companies from the Middle East, such as Aramco of Saudi Arabia and ADNOC of UAE, have also been primed for bidding for BPCL.

Kalyani Group Plans to Set up Production Facility in Uttar Pradesh

Defence hardware manufacturer Kalyani Group is looking to invest in a greenfield production facility in the proposed Uttar Pradesh Defence Corridor.
Group CMD Baba N. Kalyani said that the firm had held a series of discussions with the Uttar Pradesh government and signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard. The state government has offered to allot the required land at two to three places. It's also planning to set up a small arms unit in the country in association with DRDO.

Feb 05, 2020

Adani Arm Raises Debt via Private Placement

Gautam Adani-led Adani Transmission Ltd, the largest private sector power transmission company in India, raised $310 million in dollar-denominated debt through a private placement to US-based investors.

BlackBerry Breaks up with TCL

Chinese electronics giant TCL will not release any more BlackBerry-branded phones.
In 2016, it signed a deal to produce BlackBerry-branded Android phones, after BlackBerry decided to stop making its own devices.
It released several contemporary Android phones featuring the classic BlackBerry keyboard.
However, in a statement it confirmed that the arrangement would come to an end in August 2020.
Announcing the end of the agreement, TCL said that it had been blessed to work with BlackBerry on the smart phones.

BPCL Enters Swappable Lithium-ion Battery Supply

Eyeing opportunities in the wake of disruption expected from electric vehicles, oil major Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited launched 'e-drive initiative' — an electric three-wheeler mobility model. Partnering with electric vehicle-maker Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions and IIT Madras for technology support, the public sector oil marketing giant brought on stream a supply of swappable lithium-ion batteries at its retail outlets in Kochi and Lucknow in the first phase for electric three-wheelers.

YouTube's $15 bn Sales Fail to Impress

Alphabet Inc.'s new chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai unveiled sales figures that investors have long demanded, but shares fell 5% as Google's advertising business and the new data about YouTube and Google Cloud broadly disappointed.
Pichai had sought to counter slowing revenue growth in the company's main advertising business by pointing to the Silicon Valley firm's younger units.
But Pichai's reveal that Google's YouTube video streaming unit is generating ad revenue at a pace of $15 billion annually put it below rough estimates as high as $25 billion.

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

October GK, September GK, August GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services and Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26