General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - January 2017

Jan 2017

Dec 04, 2023

India Resumes Venezuelan Crude Oil Imports, Explores Direct Deals

Indian refiners, including Reliance Industries, reinitiated the import of Venezuelan crude oil through intermediaries. The move came in the wake of the temporary lifting of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, opening avenues for direct deals between Indian companies and Venezuela's state-owned oil firm, PDVSA.
India's renewed engagement with Venezuelan oil could influence its overall import costs, providing an alternative to its significant reliance on Russian oil.
This move diversifies India's oil sources, potentially reducing its dependency on the Middle East.

Sheshadri Appointed IDRCL Chair, Incumbent Gupta to Head NARCL

Former KPMG managing partner, Narayan Seshadri, is set to assume the role of Chairman at India Debt Resolution Co Ltd (IDRCL), the agent to government-backed bad bank, following the resignation of Diwakar Gupta. Gupta, in turn, is expected to take over as Chairman of NARCL. This leadership shift aims to expedite the resolution of bad loans, a process that has faced challenges and delays.
Since its initiation in January 2022, NARCL has acquired only six companies.
Total debt acquired stands at 14,166 crore, significantly below the 82,845-crore target set by SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara in January 2022.
NARCL pays 15% of the loan amount in cash and the rest in security receipts, guaranteed by the government for five years.

Dec 03, 2023

HUL Appoints Former Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj as Independent Director

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) appointed former Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj as its independent director for five years.
Bajaj, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, served as the Revenue Secretary in the Indian government before superannuating in November 2022.
As the Revenue Secretary, he played a key role in stabilising the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and contributed towards a substantial increase in revenue collections under GST and Income Tax.

RBI Inks Pact with Bank of England on Bond Clearing Settlement

The Reserve Bank of India signed an agreement with the Bank of England (BoE) on exchange of information for settlement of bond trades through Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL).
Under the new memorandum of understanding (MoU), the BoE will assess and recognize CCIL as a counterparty to clear and settle bonds and overnight indexed swap trades done by England-based banks and investors.
CCIL is the RBI-supervised central counterparty which hosts the trading platform for Indian government bonds and overnight indexed swaps.

India to Act as Automaker Toyota Motor Corporation's Regional Hub

Japanese auto major Toyota Motor Corporation announced a regional restructuring with India being integrated into its 'Middle East, East Asia & Oceania Region' operations and slotting the country to act as the hub of the new geography.
As part of this development, Masakazu Yoshimura, MD and CEO of Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) -- the company's joint venture in India with the Kirloskar Group -- is concurrently the Regional CEO.

Dec 02, 2023

Ashwini Vaishnaw Inaugurates New Factory of Dixon Technology in Nodia

Electronic manufacturing services company Dixon Technologies will manufacture Xiaomi smartphones at its new Noida factory, which was inaugurated by Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Dixon's wholly-owned subsidiary Padet Electronics has set up the facility at an investment of Rs. 256 crore. The factory has an annual production capacity of 25 million units per annum.
According to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dixon's new manufacturing facility will create 5,000 jobs.

HDFC Life's 'Insure India' Campaign Sets Guinness World Record

HDFC Life, one of India's leading insurers, set a new Guinness World Records title for creating the largest online selfie mosaic made from 19,097 photos clicked by individuals for the 'Insure India' campaign.
The 'Insure India' campaign embodies the concept of shared responsibility, involving employees, partners, and customers in driving positive change. The overarching goal is to ensure the protection and financial well-being of every Indian through the comprehensive range of life insurance products and services offered by HDFC Life.

Grounded Airline Go First's CEO Kaushik Khona Resigns

Go First's CEO, Kaushik Khona, resigned after nearly seven months since the low-cost airline initiated insolvency proceedings.
Khona had returned to Go First in August 2020 as its CEO. He was earlier with the carrier from 2008 to 2011.

Dec 01, 2023

RBI Imposes Penalty on HDFC Bank, Bank of America for Violating FEMA Norms

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 10,000 each on HDFC Bank and Bank of America, citing a violation of reporting requirements under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
RBI fined HDFC Bank, a leading private sector bank, for accepting deposits from non-residents and flouting RBI's directions under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme of FEMA, 1999.
The Reserve Bank of India imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 10,000 (Rupees ten thousand only) on Bank of America, N.A. in exercise of powers vested in the Reserve Bank under the provisions of Section 11(3) of FEMA, 1999, for violation of the Reserve Bank of India's instructions on reporting requirements under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme of FEMA 1999.

Nov 30, 2023

Competition Commission Names Sanjay Pandey as Interim Investigations Head

India's antitrust body appointed Sanjay Kumar Pandey as interim head of its investigations unit at a time when the watchdog is probing big foreign companies.
Pandey has worked at the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for almost 14 years and is also an adviser in its advocacy and international cooperation division.
He now took on additional responsibilities as the Director General of the investigations unit.
The CCI is currently (as in 2023) investigating several high-profile global companies for alleged antitrust violations, including Amazon, Walmart's Flipkart, Google and liquor giant Pernod Ricard.
Pandey took over from Atul Verma, whose tenure ended in November.

Odisha CM Launches 'AMA Bank' for Gram Panchayat Banking

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the 'AMA Bank' scheme, a historic initiative aimed at providing banking services through CSP Plus banking outlets in all unbanked Gram Panchayats (GPs) of Odisha. This visionary project, unveiled in the first phase, marks Odisha as the pioneer state in India to conceptualise and implement such a comprehensive scheme for financial inclusion.
In the first phase, 750 CSP Plus outlets, strategically spread across all 30 districts, were dedicated to the people of Odisha.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed confidence that the innovative CSP Plus model would serve as a blueprint for the entire nation.
This model aims to bridge the gap in financial services accessibility, particularly in rural areas where the geographical penetration of traditional banks has been a longstanding challenge.

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