General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - June 2016

Jun 2016

Jun 18, 2021

World Bank Rejects El Salvador Request for Bitcoin Help

The World Bank has rejected a request from El Salvador to help with the implementation of Bitcoin as legal tender.
The international lender cited concerns over transparency and the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining.
Earlier this month, the Central American country announced plans to become the first nation to formally adopt the digital currency.
It aims to use Bitcoin as a parallel legal tender alongside the US dollar.
The World Bank's decision could mean the country faces problems in hitting its deadline to ensure that Bitcoin is accepted nationwide in the next three months.

PE major Carlyle to Sell 5.1% Stake in SBI Cards

Private equity (PE) major Carlyle plans to offload 5.1 per cent stake in SBI Cards and Payment Services.
A total of 48 million shares of the credit card company will be on offer in the range between Rs. 1,002 to Rs. 1,041.3 per share--- a discount of 1 per cent and 4.7 per cent to last closing price of Rs. 1,051.7.
At the top-end, the share sale is worth Rs. 4,998 crore. At the end of March quarter, Carlyle held 11.61 per cent stake in SBI Card.

Policybazaar Gets Insurance Broking Licence

Policybazaar has got approval from regulator IRDAI to undertake insurance broking, a development that will help the company augment business and expand its bouquet of services. With this development, the company will surrender its web aggregator licence to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and undertake business including insurance aggregation under the broking umbrella.
The broking licence will allow the company to venture into segments which it could not do in the past like claims assistance, offline services, and establish Points of Presence network. Policybazaar has a market share of 25 per cent in the life insurance segment, while 10 per cent in health insurance.

Exim Bank Extends $100 Million Line of Credit to Sri Lanka

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has extended USD 100 million worth of line of credit (LOC) to the Sri Lankan government for financing projects in the solar energy sector.
With the signing of this agreement, Exim Bank, so far, has extended nine LOCs to Sri Lanka, on behalf of the Indian government, taking the total value of LOCs extended to USD 1.68 billion.
Projects covered under the finance extended to Sri Lanka include the supply of petroleum products, railway projects, defence and infrastructure projects.

India Ranks 2nd in Share of Central Bank Surplus Transfers

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was second in terms of reserves transferred to the government as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) for the fiscal year 2020-21. Turkey has been ranked first.
RBI has transferred Rs 99,122-crore surplus to the government for FY21, which is 73% higher than the Rs 57,128 crore paid out in 2019-20. The surplus transferred by RBI constitutes 0.44% of GDP, while that of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey constitutes 0.5% of GDP.

IMD's World Competitiveness Index

India maintained 43rd rank on an annual IMD World Competitiveness Index compiled by the Institute for Management Development (IMD) that examined the impact of COVID-19 on economies around the world this year.
The 64-nation list was led by Switzerland, while Sweden has moved up to the second position (from sixth last year), Denmark has lost one place to rank third, the Netherlands has retained its fourth place and Singapore has slipped to the fifth place (from first in 2020).
The IMD World Competitiveness Ranking ranks 64 economies and assesses the extent to which a country promotes the prosperity of its people by measuring economic well-being through hard data and survey responses from executives.

Google Pay Expands Cards Tokenization

Google has extended card tokenization by bringing in more banks for card on the Google Pay app.
Card tokenization is a feature which lets users make debit or credit card payments through a secure digital token which is attached to their phone. It does not require to physically share credit or debit card details. Currently, this feature can be availed at about 2.5 million Visa merchant locations. With the latest extension, it will allow users to scan and pay at about 1.5 million Bharat QR enabled merchants.
Google Pay had earlier rolled out the feature of card tokenization with State bank of India cards, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank.
Google Pay has now added SBI, IndusInd Bank & Federal Bank and Credit cards of IndusInd Bank & HSBC India in the list to use tokenization feature.

Jun 17, 2021

NV Capital Launches First Credit-fund for Media

NV Capital launched its maiden media & entertainment credit fund, making it the country's first such fund focused on the sector, with the objective of investing in Content creators, OTT platforms, gaming and entertainment startups.
Founded by industry professionals and ex-bankers Nitin Menon and Vivek Menon, NV Capital recently received SEBI's nod as a Category-II alternative investment fund. NV Capital is looking to raise funds from domestic as well as offshore investors such as financial institutions, HNIs, family offices and banks.

Microsoft Names CEO Satya Nadella as Chairman

Microsoft Corporation named Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella as its new chairman, in place of John Thompson.
Mr. Nadella, who took over as CEO in 2014 from Steve Ballmer, has been instrumental in scaling up its business including billion-dollar acquisitions like LinkedIn, Nuance Communications and ZeniMax.
Thompson, who took over as chairman from the software giant's co-founder Bill Gates in 2014, will serve as lead independent director.

ICICI Bank Offers Digital Banking Solutions to Corporates

Private sector lender ICICI Bank has started providing digital banking solutions to corporates and their ecosystem comprising partners, dealers, promoters and employees through "ICICI Stack". These services will be backed by branches across the country. The lender has already opened 8 such branches.
This is an extension of similar services the lender started providing towards the close of 2020 to multinational companies setting up shop and doing business in India.
The bank aims to become the preferred banking partner for companies and their entire ecosystem. It will provide customised digital banking services to companies in over 15 leading industries-- such as financial services, IT/ITES, pharmaceuticals and steel, among others.

Kirloskar Brothers Sets up New Manufacturing Division for Tech Products

Leading pump manufacturing company Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL) has set up a new manufacturing division in Maharashtra for high-end technology products, primarily used for nuclear applications.
Named as the Advanced Technology Product Division (ATPD), the new manufacturing division is based at the company's mother plant at Kirloskarvadi, in Maharashtra.
KBL is the first and leading manufacturer of primary and secondary sodium pumps for Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) in India. It is also among the only few providers of primary heat transfer pumps for the nuclear sector.

Jun 16, 2021

Manipal Group Chief, Launches Consumer-sector Focused SPAC in the US

Rohan Ajila, a private equity veteran, and Gautham Pai, chairman of the Manipal Group, have set up a special purpose vehicle in the US for acquiring consumer companies with a "compelling Asia potential".
Global Consumer Acquisition Corp (GCAC) raised this week $170 million in an initial public offering. The company is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol "GACQU" and its management has extensive investment and cross border operator experience, according to its IPO prospectus.

Ruchi Soya Buys Biscuits, Noodles Unit from Patanjali

Ruchi Soya Industries, a company now owned by Patanjali Ayurved, will use Rs. 2,663 crore from its share sale to repay part of its debt and utilise another tranche of Rs. 593 crore as working capital of the firm.
Just before the follow-on public offer (FPO), the company has acquired biscuits and noodles units from entities owned by its promoters for around Rs. 65 crore.
The firm said 98.87 percent of its pre-issue paid-up capital is held by Patanjali Ayurved, Yogakshem Sansthan, Patanjali Parivahan, and Patanjali Gramudyog Nayas.

RBI Imposes Penalty on 2 Co-op Banks

The RBI has imposed penalty totalling Rs. 11 lakh on Bijnor Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, and National Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, for contravention of certain norms.
A penalty of Rs 6 lakh has been imposed on the Bijnor Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, and Rs 5 lakh on the National Urban Co-operative Bank Limited.
RBI further said penalties have been imposed based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered by the two lenders with their customers.

Canara Bank to Buy 12% Stake in Bad Bank

Canara Bank said it will be the lead sponsor of National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. (NARCL), or bad bank, with a 12% stake in the entity.
Bad bank refers to a financial institution that takes over bad assets of lenders and undertakes resolution.
The board of Canara Bank has given in-principle approval for taking stake in NARCL.
Following the board nod, the bank has sought the approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for participating in NARCL as a sponsor contributing 12% stake.

Coal India to Close Down 23 Unviable Mines

Coal India Limited has decided to close down 23 unviable mines, and it would help save the company around Rs. 500 crore considering all costs.
The world's largest miner has shut down 82 such mines in the last three-four years.
Those 23 mines, comprising open cast and underground ones, to be closed down were identified in the last fiscal.
Underground mines are a major focus for closures as they are not remunerative. Some 158 underground mines employ 43 per cent of the workforce, but contribute only 5 per cent of the total production.

Jun 15, 2021

PNB Housing Deal

The Carlyle Group along with other entities floated a "draft letter offer" with regard to an open offer for acquisition of over 7 crore equity shares representing 26 per cent stake in PNB Housing Finance.
This forms part of the proposed deal to invest Rs. 4,000 crore in the company through a preference issue.

IDFC FIRST Bank Launches Customer COVID Relief Ghar Ghar Ration Program

IDFC FIRST Bank has announced the launch of 'Ghar Ghar Ration' Program, an employee-funded program for its low-income customers whose livelihoods are affected by COVID-19. The bank has also announced a comprehensive program for the families of employees who unfortunately lost their lives due to COVID-19, and a number of other social responsibility initiatives.
"Ghar Ghar Ration" is a unique program where employees have contributed from their personal income to set up a Customer COVID Care Fund to provide relief to 50,000 COVID affected low-income IDFC FIRST Bank customers.
Employees of the Bank contributed one day to one month's salary for the purpose.
Employees are procuring ration kits comprising 10 kg rice/flour, 2 kg dal (lentils), 1 kg sugar and salt, 1 kg cooking oil, 5 packets of assorted spices, tea and biscuits and other essentials needed to support a small family for about a month.

JSW Cement Enters Construction Chemical Segment

Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Cement has entered the construction chemical sector with the launch of a unique green product range in the category.
The sector offers new opportunities for JSW Cement to combine innovation in concrete mix products with responsible construction, as the product range consumes less water during application.
Also, it replaces use of river sand during concreting with screen slag, thereby conserving natural resources and contributing to prevention of landslides, floods and air pollution.
This makes JSW Cement's construction chemical products, one of the most environment-friendly range currently available in the market.

RBI Expands Scope of BBPS

Reserve Bank of India on has expanded the scope of Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) which will be effective from August 31, 2021.
Scope of BBPS has been expanded by adding 'mobile prepaid recharges' as a biller category. This move will help millions of prepaid phone subscribers across India.
Scope and coverage of BBPS were expanded in September 2019 which then included all categories of billers raising recurring bills as eligible participants voluntarily.
It did not include billers of mobile prepaid recharges. Before 2019, facility of payment of recurring bills through BBPS was available only to five sectors viz, direct to home (DTH), gas, electricity, water and telecom.

Sterling and Wilson Solar Names Amit Jain as Global CEO

Sterling and Wilson Solar Limited (SWSL), part of the Shapoorji Pallonji group, announced the appointment of Amit Jain as global chief executive officer. He succeeded Bikesh Ogra.
Ogra would continue as a director on the company's board. Jain has been with Sterling and Wilson Solar Limited since January 2019 as the country head for the United States and Australia, which are now key markets for the company.
Jain would take over the global operations of the company and report to the board of directors. He would now be responsible for business development, market growth and the P&L for SWSL that has its operations across more than 25 countries.

Bank of Maharashtra Tops Loan and Deposit Growth

State-owned Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has emerged as the top performer among public sector lenders in terms of loan and deposit growth during financial year 2020-21.
As per the published data of BoM, the lender recorded 13.45 per cent increase in gross advances at Rs. 1.07 lakh crore in 2020-21.
It was followed by Punjab & Sind Bank which posted 8.39 per cent growth in advances with aggregate loans at Rs. 67,811 crore at the end of March 2021.
When it came to deposit mobilisation, BoM with nearly 16 per cent growth was ahead of even the country's largest lender State Bank of India, which recorded 13.56 per cent rise.

Jun 14, 2021

At $605 bn, India Ties With Russia as Fourth Largest Forex Reserves Holder

India's foreign exchange reserves crossed $600 for the first time. As on June 4, 2021 the foreign exchange reserves stood at $605 billion, almost tying with Russia as the fourth-largest reserve holder in the world.
While India's forex reserve was $605.008 billion, Russia's was $605.2 billion.
It took just about a year for the reserves to rise by $100 billion, which has generally been the pace of accumulation since Shaktikanta Das became the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in November 2017.

Tesla to Use Bitcoin Transactions When Mining Cleaner: Elon Musk

Bitcoin jumped above $39,000 after Elon Musk said Tesla Inc. would resume transactions with the cryptocurrency when mining is done with more clean energy.
The transactions will start back up "when there's confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend."
Musk also reiterated the electric-car maker had sold about 10% of its Bitcoin holdings to demonstrate the token's liquidity.

Exports of India's Organic Farm Products Jump 51% in 2020-21

Exports of India's organic farm products surged 51 percent in 2020-21 beating Covid induced hiccups in the supply chain.
Commerce Secretary, Anup Wadhawan said that outbound shipments of organic products hit 1,040 million dollars last fiscal compare with 689 million dollars a year before.
Farm exports rose over 17 percent last fiscal to 41.25 billion dollars.
Even in volume term, exports of organic products grew at 39 per cent to 8 lakh 88 thousand 179 tonnes last fiscal.
The key organic products that were shipped out include oil cake and meals, oil seeds, cereals, millets, spices and condiments, tea, medicinal plant products, dry fruits, sugar, pulses and coffee.

India Slips 12 Spots to 55th Position in Global Home Price Index: Knight Frank

India has moved down 12 spots in the global home price index to 55th rank in Q1 2021 against 43rd rank in Q1 2020, with a decline of 1.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) in home prices, Knight Frank, an international property consultancy, in its latest research report - Global House Price Index - Q1 2021, has said.
India gained a spot, compared to last quarter (Q4 2020), where India ranked last globally amongst the 56 countries tracked by the Index.
With respect to 6-month (Q3 2020 – Q1 2021) and 3-month (Q4 2020 – Q1 2021) changes, residential prices in India witnessed a growth of 0.6 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. The report highlighted that the United States witnessed the highest annual price growth rate since 2005, with a 13.2 percent increase YoY.

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