General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - December 2015

Dec 2015

Aug 12, 2019

Centre May Roll Out Measures To Revive Growth, Stimulate Economy

The government is stitching together a set of measures, including tax cuts and targeted sops, to reverse an economic downturn, amid fears of a global slowdown.
The measures being considered include steps to boost infrastructure investments; goods and services tax (GST) relief to specific sectors, including the automobile sector, that could boost demand; ways to further cut red tape on cross-border trade and steps to improve ease of doing business.

GST Boost In Real Estate

The Union government is planning to incentivise homebuyers and create demand in the sluggish real estate sector with a slew of measures, including a proposal by homebuyers that would marginally increase Goods and Services Tax (GST) on housing projects but bring down the overall cost, people aware of the development said on condition of anonymity.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman held two separate meetings — the first with realtors' associations, and the second with homebuyers' groups — to discuss how to strengthen the realty sector.
Homebuyers who met the minister proposed that GST on premium housing projects be increased from the existing 5% (excluding input tax credit) to 8% (including input tax credit) — a move that would eventually reduce the cost of a project substantially.
The present GST regime of 5% without ITC [input tax credit] is actually translating into a tax burden of around 14% for consumers. An 8% tax with ITC will offset tax paid by builders on building.

Sintex To Sell Overseas Biz To Xtech Invest

Sintex group, known for its Sintex branded water tanks, has agreed to sell its overseas business to a consortium of private equity investors as part of efforts to pare debt and repay lenders.
Sintex Plastics Technology, the arm of the group engaged in manufacturing of water storage tanks and other building products and solutions, has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its European subsidiary Sintex NP SAS to Xtech Invest SAS for a consideration of €155 million.
Xtech is owned by private equity investors Siparex, Crédit Agricole Régions Investissement, BNP Paribas Development and Africlnvest.

Jio GigaFiber services from Sept 5; Aramco to invest $75 bn

Reliance Industries (RIL), the oil-to-telecom conglomerate, made a slew of announcements at its 42nd annual general meeting (AGM).
Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of the group first announced that Saudi Aramco will invest $75 billion in the group's oil to chemicals (O2C) business for a 20% stake.
Mukesh Ambani announced commercial launch of Jio GigaFiber on September 5, 2019 - the third anniversary of Reliance Jio. The plans will range from Rs 700 to Rs 10,000 per month.
Jio's commercial IoT (internet of things) services will be available from January 1, 2020. It also announced that the company will complete Jio Fiber roll out in months.

IL&Fs Proposes To NCLT Sale Of Wind Energy Biz

Embattled Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) group has proposed to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) the sale of its wind energy business to Japan's Orix Corp. which will help reduce the debt of the firm by Rs. 4,800 crore.
IL&FS has filed the proposal to complete the sale of its wind energy business, held under IL&FS Wind Energy Ltd (IWEL) to Orix, with NCLT for final approval.
The proposal has been filed before the tribunal after completing binding share purchase agreement with Orix and obtaining "in-principle" approval from all lenders for completing this transaction.

SEBI Plans To Ease Norms For 'Muni Bonds' To Help Smart Cities Raise Funds

Capital market regulator Sebi is planning to ease its norms for 'Muni Bonds' to help smart cities and other registered entities working in areas of city planning and urban development work, like municipalities, raise funds through issuance and listing of their debt securities.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had issued its Issue and Listing of Debt Securities by Municipalites (ILDM) Regulations nearly five years ago and since then seven municipalities have raised nearly Rs 1,400 crore by issuing their debt securities, which are commonly known as 'Muni Bonds'.

Govt Permit 100% FDI In Contract Manufacturing

The government is working on a proposal to allow 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in contract manufacturing with a view to attract overseas investments.
According to the existing foreign investment policy, 100% FDI is allowed in the manufacturing sector under the automatic route.
A manufacturer is also allowed to sell products manufactured in India through wholesale and retail channels, including through e-commerce, without government's approval.

Aug 11, 2019

Facebook Offering 'Millions' To Publishers For News

Facebook is pitching a new media initiative to license articles from some of the largest American news publishers and display that content inside the social network's mobile app.
The project involves the social network striking deals potentially worth millions of dollars to publishers, including New York Times, Washington Post and Dow Jones.
The agreements would let Facebook pull in headlines and previews of the articles from partner publications for display inside a "News" tab in the Facebook app.
The talks with news organisations are continuing and it is unclear if any deals are close. Facebook hopes to introduce the effort by the end of 2019.

Tata Power-DDL Signs An MoU With CEEW

Tata Power-DDL signed an MoU with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) to evaluate and accelerate the integration of decentralised renewable energy into Delhi's power grid.
The collaboration will include research on impact of increased solar rooftop deployment, determining optimum rooftop solar PV share at distribution transformer-level and techno-economic feasibility of agricultural solar micro-grids.

Time Till July 2024 To Use CSR Funds, Govt Tells Firms

The government has clarified that amended corporate social responsibility (CSR) laws are with prospective effect and companies have time until July 2024 to use accumulated CSR funds in projects of their choice -an assurance that should bring relief to corporate entities and executives confronting punishment for violation of the guidelines.
Parliament in July 2019 passed amendments to the Companies Act under which unspent CSR allocations would have to be transferred to a fund specified by the government. Under amended rules, company executives could face a 3-year jail term and penalty of ~50,000 to ~5 lakh, or both for breach of rules.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured India Inc that she would review the criminal penal provision for not complying with corporate social responsibility (CSR) mandates and also promised more simplification of the taxation system to end harassment.
Her assurance to industry comes against the backdrop of sharp criticism of the provision of a jail term of up to three years and stringent fines ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 25 lakh for executives of companies violating CSR provisions, which were added in the amended Companies Act 2013.
This clause has jolted industry and triggered calls for a rollback.

After CM Visit, Reliance Plans Battery Unit In MP

CM Kamal Nath's meetings with the industry bigwigs in Mumbai to promote Madhya Pradesh as an investment destination are paying off.
During a one-on-one with the CM, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said MP is his "favourite destination" to set up a vanadium battery manufacturing unit.
The Aditya Birla Group has promised to fund, under its CSR programme, a building of 100 'high-tech gaushalas' in 18 months in MP.

Jet Airways Get Expressions Of Interest From Two Parties

Jet Airways has received expressions of interest (EoIs) from three interested parties – two financial investors and another global company .
Etihad Airways has not yet submitted an EoI for the airline.
As many as four potential bidders have evinced interest in Jet Airways (India) Ltd.The EOIs are learnt to have been submitted by strategic and financial players, and not any airline, from places like Panama and the US.
RP will examine the three EOI before advising the next course of action.

Aug 10, 2019

Godrej: State Derailing Bullet Train Land Deal

The Godrej Group, the city's biggest private land owner, railed against the state government in Bombay high court for trying to keep it from getting Rs 572 crore for a 10-acre plot it has offered for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project.
It is recognised as a project of national importance, but the state is putting a spoke in it.
The company said it is willing to give its land to the National High Speed Rail Corporation for tunnelling for the bullet train.

NCLT Rejects Deloitte, KPMG Arm's Plea Against 5-Year Ban

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) rejected an appeal by the auditors of debt-laden Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), challenging the court's jurisdiction to ban them for alleged abetment of financial fraud.
The government has asked for a five-year ban on Deloitte Haskins & Sells Llp and a KPMG affiliate for allegedly aiding and abetting a financial fraud at IL&FS Financial Service Ltd (IFIN), a unit of IL&FS, whose debt defaults in 2018 triggered fears of a financial contagion and spooked investors. Both firms have denied any wrongdoing.
As part of a widespread probe into an alleged fraud and mismanagement at IL&FS, the government detected at least 22 violations of auditing standards by the auditors, according to legal filings seen by Reuters.
The auditing firms gave clean audit reports and "deliberately" failed to report fraudulent activities at IFIN.

Trade On Agenda As PM Visits Bhutan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bhutan will be the occasion for moves by India to diversify its partnership with the kingdom by shifting the focus from the hydro-power sector to enhanced trade and linkages in sectors such as space and education.
India continues to be a key development partner for Bhutan against the backdrop of efforts by Beijing to woo Thimphu. India is providing Rs. 5,000 crore for Bhutan's 12th five year plan that began in 2018, the same as the allocation for the previous plan.
However, sections of the Bhutanese political establishment have called for a shift away from the hydro-power sector and some have also advocated stronger diplomatic ties with China.
Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said India will retain its role as a developmental partner but intends to make the relationship more broad-based. As part of these efforts, India will provide Rs. 400 crore for a trade support facility to encourage Bhutanese exporters.

Aug 09, 2019

FPIs May Be Spared Super- Rich Surcharge

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) may be spared an increased surcharge slapped by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's inaugural budget on so-called super-rich taxpayers, as the government seeks to boost investor confidence and arrest a slide in the stock market.
The Narendra Modi government is consulting experts and stakeholders to address the concerns of FPIs.
Sitharaman, who announced the higher surcharge in her July 5 budget for fiscal 2019-20, has been talking to representatives of specific sectors of the economy daily on ways to boost sagging economic growth, which sank to a five-year low of 5.8% in the quarter ended March 2019.

Steep Increase In Limits For I-T Filing Tax Appeals

The threshold limits for filing of appeals by the income tax department with tax tribunals, high courts and the Supreme Court were raised by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, especially to cut down litigation backlog and usher in a tax-friendly regime.
In a significant upward revision, the circular said the I-T department cannot file an appeal before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) unless the 'tax effect' is Rs 50 lakh. It was Rs 20 lakh earlier.
In simple terms, 'tax effect' means the difference between the tax on the total income assessed by the I-T department and the tax levy without considering the income relating to disputed issues. To arrive at the tax effect, both surcharge and cess are considered.

Visa's M-Cap Tops All The Banks

Visa rose to a market value of $348 billion, surpassing that of JPMorgan Chase for the first time.
This makes Visa the world's most highly-valued financial firm outside of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
JPMorgan jointly owned Visa with other banks before they cashed out in a March 2008 initial public offering that was among the biggest in history.
Since then, Visa's stock has soared almost 1,500%, while the KBW Bank Index has risen 15%.

Aug 08, 2019

Reliance Industries Set To Bring Tiffany Stores To India

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is partnering with iconic US-based luxury jeweller Tiffany & Co. to open a line of stores in the country, adding yet another marquee name to its growing portfolio of brands.
Tiffany, popular for its engagement rings and robin's egg blue boxes, plans to open stores in New Delhi and Mumbai in the second half of fiscal years 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The tie-up comes as Reliance, which is run by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani and runs a sprawling conglomerate, bolsters its consumer-focused units such as retail and telecoms to match the strength of its dominant oil and gas business.

Pension Fund Manager CPPIB Looks To Re-Enter Private Debt Market In India

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), biggest pension fund manager is looking to re-enter the private debt market in India.
In 2014, it had formed a joint venture (JV) with Piramal Enterprises to provide debt financing for real estate projects, which did not take off well.
The desire to enter the private debt space in India comes when there is an acute fund crunch in real estate and among non-banking financial companies, after August 2018 defaults by the IL&FS group.

Gold Hits Highest In Six Years

Gold soared more than 2% to breach the $1,500 ceiling for the first time in over six years as investors rushed to safe havens, spooked by a host of uncertainties including US-China trade and a slowing global economy.
Spot gold gained 1.6% at $1,497.69 per ounce, having touched $1,509.80, its highest since April 2013.

RBI Cuts Repo Rate By 35 Bps To 5.4%

On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India at its meeting on 7th August, 2019 has decided to reduce the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 35 basis points (bps) from 5.75% to 5.40% with immediate effect.
Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands revised to 5.15%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 5.65%.
GDP forecast scaled down to 6.9% for 2019-20 from 7.0% earlier.
The MPC also decided to maintain the accommodative stance of monetary policy.

SBI Lowers Lending Rate By 15bps

After RBI cut key policy rates by 35 basis points (bps), State Bank of India (SBI) announced a cut in the benchmark rate at which it lends to retail consumer — by 15 bps .
The reduction will make all loans cheaper, the rate on home loans will come down to 8.25% from 8.4%. On a ₹30 lakh loan over a 20-year period, the savings would be ₹70,000.
Other banks are expected to follow suit. Home loans, car loans and personal loans are set to get cheaper.

RBI Unveils Measures To Boost Confidence In NBFC's

India's central bank outlined two measures aiming at easing liquidity pressures on crisis-hit shadow banks, but industry insiders say the moves, while positive, are unlikely to lead to any substantive improvements in the troubled sector.
The Reserve Bank of India, which also cut its benchmark policy rate by 35 basis points, would allow banks to increase their exposure to a single non-banking finance company (NBFC). The move was aimed at boosting credit.
The RBI also allowed banks to classify loans to NBFCs for key areas such as agriculture, housing and small & medium businesses - up to certain limits - as priority sector lending, in a bid to keep credit flowing to the parts of the economy where most Indians work.

Apple, Goldman Sachs Start Issuing Apple Cards

The Apple card is designed to work with the iPhone, where users sign up for the card and can start using it immediately if approved via the Apple Wallet app and Apple Pay system.
Apple Inc rolled out its virtual credit card , working with bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc on the new iPhone add-on that may help Apple diversify from device sales and build out the Wall Street bank's new consumer business.

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