General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - December 2015

Dec 2015

Oct 12, 2019

Govt Lifts Restrictions On Import Of Urea For Industrial Or Non-Agricultural Uses

The government said import of urea for industrial or non-agricultural use will be free from any restrictions.
Earlier, it was allowed only with the actual user condition.
Import policy for urea for industrial or non-agricultural use, besides technical grade urea and industrial urea shall be free with immediate effect.
Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd is designated as a state trading enterprise for import of urea on government account.

GeM Signs Pact With Union Bank Of India To Avail Various Services

Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has signed a pact with Union Bank of India (UBI) under which the bank will offer several services to it including transfer of funds.
The commerce ministry launched the procurement portal GeM to increase transparency in public procurement of goods and services, which is estimated at about Rs 8 lakh crore per year.
UBI will be able to offer an array of services including transfer of funds through GeM pool accounts, advising of performance, bank guarantees and earnest money deposit to the registered users on the portal.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) will facilitate a cashless, paperless and transparent payment system on the portal and will create an efficient procurement system for government entities.

India's Crorepati Club Continues To Swell, 97,689 Disclose Income Above Rs. 1 Crore

India's crorepati club has swelled, with as many as 97,689 showing incomes above Rs 1 crore in assessment year 2018-19, according to data from the Income Tax Department. This is 20% growth from the year before, when the number was 81,344.
This income reported for assessment year 2018-19 relates to fiscal 2017-18, the financial year immediately after demonetisation and when the economy began to slow.
In the salaried category, 49,128 people declared incomes above a crore in AY 2018-19, compared with 41,457 the previous year.
The income tax released time-series data updated up to fiscal year 2018-19 and income-distribution data for AY 2018-19, including income distribution information of corporates, Hindu Undivided Families and individuals.
The total number of tax payers declaring income above Rs 1 crore rose to 1.67 lakh in AY 2018-19 from 1.33 lakh in AY2017-18, a rise of 19%.

Bank of Maharashtra cuts MCLR by 10 bps

State-owned Bank of Maharashtra has reduced its benchmark lending rates i.e. marginal cost of funds based lending rates (MCLR) across various tenors.
The MCLRs have been reduced to 10 bps below the existing levels across all MCLR tenors w.e.f 8 October, 2019.
The Bank's one year MCLR will be 8.40 percent, which is competitive as per the current market scenario.
For all other tenors, overnight, one month, three months and six months rates are 8.05 per cent, 8.15 per cent, 8.20 per cent and 8.30 per cent respectively.
The Repo Linked Lending Rates (RLLR) for Retail & MSME borrowers have also been reduced by 25 bps in line with the reduction in Repo Rate by Reserve Bank of India. This will further benefit the Retail and MSME borrowers.

Oct 11, 2019

RBI's 'no' to Indiabulls-Lakshmi Vilas Bank Merger

The Reserve Bank of India quashed a proposed merger of Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd., one of the country's largest real-estate lenders, with Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd.
The importance of a steady depositor base can be gauged by the single-day, 34 per cent slide in Indiabulls Housing's shares in September 2019.
That came after the central bank put Lakshmi Vilas under its correctional facility for weak banks, and a court agreed to hear a plea seeking a fraud investigation into the property lender group, raising doubts about the merger.
The contagion risk from India's year-old shadow banking crisis has suddenly turned much graver.

Moody's Cuts GDP Growth Forecast to 5.8% for FY20

Moody's Investors Service slashed its 2019-20 GDP growth forecast for India to 5.8% from 6.2% earlier, saying the economy was experiencing a pronounced slowdown which is partly related to long-lasting factors.
The projection is lower than 6.1% that the RBI had forecast earlier in October 2019.
Moody's attributed the deceleration to an investment-led slowdown that has broadened into consumption, driven by financial stress among rural households and weak job creation.
"The drivers of the deceleration are multiple, mainly domestic and in part long-lasting," Moody's said in a report.
It expected the growth to pick up to 6.6% in 2020-21 and to around 7% over the medium term.

UNICEF Launches Cryptocurrency Fund

Unicef has launched a cryptocurrency fund and become the first United Nations organization to hold onto its crypto donations.
Without converting them into fiat, the fund will hold two cryptocurrencies and disburse them to support projects benefiting children worldwide.

India Ratings Cuts GDP Growth to 6.1% for FY20

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), a part of Fitch group, lowered India's gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for the financial year 2019-20 to 6.1%.
This was the second downgrade in the last two months. Earlier in August 2019, the rating agency had revised GDP growth estimate to 6.7% from its earlier forecast of 7.3%.
Ind-Ra said it expects the GDP growth in the first half of the financial year 2019-20 to be 5.2% and forecasts it to recover to 6.9% in 2HFY20, mainly on account of the base effect.

RBI Gives Nod for Kerala Bank

The Kerala government's long pending dream of setting up its own bank, by merging district co-operative banks, is all set to become a reality with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) giving the final nod for the move.
With its formation, the proposed "Kerala Bank" will be largest banking network in the state.
13 DCBs would be merged with the Kerala State Co-operative Bank for forming the proposed Kerala Bank.

Oct 10, 2019

PayPal pulls out of Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency

PayPal has become the first company to drop out of Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency, as the embattled project continues to face queries from regulators around the world.
Libra is technically an association backed by 28 – now 27 – multinational companies and nonprofits, although Facebook takes the lead, and a Facebook subsidiary, Calibra, is intended to be the main way consumers will interact with the project.
Each of the companies involved had to pledge $10m (£8m) into a common pot to join.

Motoroyale Unveils 3 Bikes Under MV Agusta Dragster Series

Motoroyale, Kinetic group's venture of multi-brand superbikes, launched three bikes under the MV Agusta Dragster Series, with price starting at Rs 18.73 lakh (ex-showroom).
The Dragster 800 RR and 800 RR America variants are priced at Rs 18.73 lakh, while the 800 RR Pirelli trim is tagged at Rs 21.5 lakh.

BSE Joins Hands With FICCI To Boost MSME Sector

To enhance MSME and startup environment, leading stock exchange BSE in association with FICCI organised a brainstorming session to identify gaps in the existing policies and make suggestions for robust policies.
Besides, the session was organised to promote Udyam Saathi and Udyam Sakhi initiatives to foster the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector.

Oct 09, 2019

SBI Cuts Lending Rates By 10 Bps, Retail Loans To Get Cheaper

The State Bank of India (SBI) announced lowering its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 10 basis points across all tenors to 8.05 per cent from October 10, 2019.
The MCLR cut will make home and other retail loans cheaper for the existing borrowers.
The bank's one-year MCLR has been brought down from 8.15 per cent per annum to 8.05 per cent per annum.
This is the sixth cut in MCLR in FY 2019-20 and it comes days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered the repo rate by 25 basis points.

Reliance Mutual Fund is now Nippon India Mutual Fund

After the ₹6,000-crore acquisition of Reliance Capital's asset management arm, Japanese financial services major Nippon Life will be focusing on regaining the lost market share it has had in the country with its JV with the Anil Ambani group.
Reliance Mutual Fund, which has been renamed as Nippon India Mutual Fund (NIMF) following the deal, used to be the leader in assets under management till a few years ago, but has slipped to the fifth spot as institutional investors pulled out their money with the troubled company.
Nippon Life entered Reliance AMC first by buying a 26 percent stake in 2012 and now owns as much as 75 percent, making it the single largest promoter. Nippon has paid ₹6,000 crore for 75 percent stake.

Huawei Rewards Employees For Accelerating Revenue Despite a US ban

Huawei Technologies Co. quickened revenue growth to roughly 30% in the first half after select teams secured critical supplies to keep production going despite U.S. technology export restrictions.
Two months into a Trump-administration ban that cut Huawei off from American suppliers, China's largest technology company is starting to feel the pinch.
Still, while revenue growth of 30% marks a slowdown from 39% in 2019's first three months, it was up sharply from 2018.

Withdrawal Limit On PMC Bank Hits Mumbai's Gurdwaras

The withdrawal limit imposed on the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) bank by RBI has hit the functioning of Gurdwaras, adversely effecting organisation of 'Langar', extending medical facilities to poor and other charitable and day-to-day routine works by them.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on October 3, 2019 enhanced the withdrawal limit for the depositors of Punjab And Maharashtra Cooperative Bank Ltd to ₹25,000.
The RBI had permitted depositors to withdraw up to ₹10,000 of the total balance in their accounts.
Earlier the RBI had capped withdrawal limit at ₹1,000 but later on increased it to ₹10,000 per account.

BKT Scores Global Partnership With Spanish LaLiga

Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT), India's leading manufacturer of off-highway tires has signed on as the Official Global Partner of LaLiga.
BKT aims for performance without limits – just like sport. And like Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LaLiga), it has a global presence that reaches people all around the world. These conditions create a fertile ground for a new partnership.
The partnership takes immediate effect and will run for three years until the end of the 2021/2022 season.

Govt to invite bids for Air India privatization

The government will soon invite bids to sell its entire stake in Air India, after potential buyers baulked at an initial attempt to divest a partial stake in the national carrier.
A sale of Air India is key for the Union government to meet its ambitious disinvestment target of ₹1.05 trillion for the year to 31 March, 2019.
Meeting the target is crucial this year as the government estimates that its corporate tax rate cut will lead to a revenue loss of ₹1.45 trillion.

Samsung Plans Four IoT Experience Centres In India

South Korean multinational Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd plans to set up four more state-of-the-art experience centres to showcase its end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to drive growth in its India business.
Such centres will help familiarize consumers with its solutions for smarter homes and, this in turn, will help boost sales. The experience centres are likely to come up in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.
The company opened its first mobile experience centre for the Indian market in Bengaluru in September 2018.
The 33,000-sq.ft store at the Opera House off Brigade Road—a standalone property used during the British era to stage plays—houses Samsung's largest mobile experience centre globally.

More Tech Startups Plan To Go Public In The Next Two Years

At least half-a-dozen tech startups, including unicorns such as Freshworks, Ola and Oyo, are looking at going public in the next couple of years.
The development comes amid some of the world's top tech startups—including ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft—experiencing disappointing debuts on stock exchanges, followed by WeWork's decision to withdraw its IPO.
Indian startups are, however, confident of pulling off successful public offerings.

Oct 08, 2019

Faceless E-Assessment Scheme For Taxpayers Launched

Taking a big leap towards transparent tax administration, the income tax department rolled out faceless e-assessment scheme that eliminates physical interface between an assessing officer and an asssessee.
The launch of this facility also ends the relevance of geography free assessments on the lines of processing of returns.

India Gets First Tranche Of Swiss Account Details Under Automatic Exchange Framework

India has got the first set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals under a new automatic information exchange pact, a major milestone in the government's fight against black money stashed abroad.
India is among 75 countries with which Switzerland's Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has exchanged information on financial accounts within the framework of global standards on AEOI.
The next exchange would take place in September 2020.

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