General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2017

Feb 2017

Sep 18, 2021

RBI Nod to Special Committee to Oversee Operations at Ujjivan SFB

The Reserve Bank has given its go-ahead to Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (SFB) to form a special committee of directors to oversee operations in the absence of an MD and CEO.
Last month, the Bengaluru-based company had appointed old hand Carol Furtado to take charge as officer on special duty (OSD) till September 30, 2021, following the resignation of Nitin Chugh as MD and CEO.
Furtado has been associated with Ujjivan SFB since inception and has spearheaded the organisation on numerous occasions, playing critical roles.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman Announces over Rs. 30,000 cr Guarantee for Bad Bank

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a formal government guarantee on the securities receipts that the planned 'bad bank' will issue to banks as it takes on non-performing assets from their books. The government guarantee will be Rs. 30,600 crore.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a proposal to provide government guarantee to security receipts issued by the National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL) as part of resolution of bad loans.
NARCL proposes to acquire stressed assets of about Rs 2 trillion in phases within extant regulations of RBI. NARCL will pay up to 15 per cent of the agreed value for the loans in cash and the remaining 85 per cent would be government-guaranteed security receipts.

IIFL Home Finance Signs Co-lending Pact with PNB

IIFL Home Finance Ltd. (IIFLHFL) signed an agreement with Punjab National Bank (PNB) for co-lending. It expects to grow its loan book by 25% with this association. Loan sourcing and servicing will be managed by IIFL Home Finance and 80% of the loan will be provided by PNB.
The HFC said that it will service the customers through the entire loan cycle, from sourcing, documentation, collection to loan servicing. This association will allow it to further penetrate into affordable home loan and secured MSME loan markets.

Kotak Mahindra Acquires Vehicle Financing Portfolio of Volkswagen Finance

Kotak Mahindra Bank announced the acquisition of German carmaker Volkswagen's captive vehicle finance business.
The deal involves the private sector lender's in-house NBFC Kotak Mahindra Prime acquiring the passenger car and two-wheeler portfolio, while Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL) will acquire the commercial vehicles portfolio from Volkswagen Finance (VF).

Sep 17, 2021

Japan's Rakuten Forays into India's B2B tech Segment

Rakuten India, the Bengaluru-based technology hub for Japan's Rakuten Group, is foraying for the first time in India with its products in B2B technology, and has launched its new 'Code to Customer' Observability platform - Rakuten SixthSense.
Developed in India, Rakuten SixthSense, will provide businesses end-to-end visibility of the entire IT environment, from development to business operations.
Rakuten India, is the largest among Rakuten's 9 technology hubs outside Japan, has been an important tech hub for developing solutions for Rakuten's global ecosystem of more than 70 diverse businesses since 2014.
Rakuten SixthSense enables organisations to have a complete view of its data across the IT systems, applications, and business impact and allows for continual improvements based on the operational findings. As a SaaS platform, it delivers speed to customers while its pay-as-you-grow model offers customers a balance of value and investment.

TVS Motor Co enters Europe's E-bike Market

South India based TVS Motor Company entered into a fast growing $23.5 billion global e-bike business with an acquisition of Switzerland based e-bike maker EGO Movement.
TVS Motor picked up 80% stake in EGO for $17.9 million with an eye on generating over $100-150 million dollars in the next three to five years by participating in growing demand for e-bikes in the European continent.
As per Sudarshan Venu, Joint MD, TVS Motor Company, the partnership with EGO Movement reaffirms TVS Motor Company's commitment towards electrification and the broader sustainability agenda.

Escorts Signs MoU with IndusInd Bank

To make its range of tractors and farm equipment more accessible, Escorts Ltd has partnered with IndusInd Bank to provide financial solutions to farmers.
Escorts and IndusInd Bank will work together closely in understanding the financial needs of its customers and will jointly come up with various financial programs to enable customers invest in modern farm machinery to enhance their farm productivity and income.

Power Finance Corp Issues Maiden Euro Green Bond

Leading power sector lender, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) issued its maiden Euro Green Bond of £300 million. The 7-year instrument has been priced at 1.841 per cent.
According to PFC, this is the lowest yield locked in by an Indian Issuer in the Euro markets.
It is not only the first Euro bond issuance by PFC, but also the first-ever Euro denominated Green bond issuance from India. Moreover, it is the first ever Euro issuance by an Indian NBFC and the first Euro bond issuance from India since 2017.
With the issuance, PFC has also forayed in the European market for its international fund raising.
The company also said that the issuance saw participation from institutional investors across Asia and Europe from across 82 accounts and was oversubscribed 2.65 times.

Sep 16, 2021

Axis Board Gives Approval to Reclassify Oriental Co as Public Shareholder

Axis Bank's board of directors has approved to reclassify The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd (OICL) from promoter category to public category shareholder.
The bank has received a request from OICL, holding a 0.16 per cent stake in the bank, to reclassify it from promoter to public shareholder.
As per the private sector lender, the go-ahead by its board for the reclassification is subject to the approval of the stock exchanges and other regulatory authorities.

EESL Executive Vice Chairman Saurabh Kumar Resigns

Energy Efficiency Services Ltd Executive Vice Chairman, Saurabh Kumar has resigned from the post.
Kumar was serving his probation period after being appointed as Executive Vice Chairman on April 1, 2021.
His appointment was for five years. According to his terms and conditions of service, Kumar has to serve a notice period of one month.

Yes Bank, Six others Settle Case with SEBI

Private sector lender Yes Bank and six persons settled with SEBI a case pertaining to alleged selective disclosure of asset quality, after paying Rs. 1.65 crore towards settlement amount.
Apart from the bank, the six persons who settled the case are -- Ashish Agrawal, Niranjan Banodkar, Sanjay Nambiar, Devamalya Dey, Rajat Monga and Shivanand Shettigar.
The order comes after the entities approached SEBI to settle the proceedings initiated against them without admitting or denying the findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Govt. to Sell 10% Stake in Hindustan Copper via OFS

The government will sell up to 10 per cent stake in Hindustan Copper through an offer for sale (OFS) in a move that would help the exchequer garner about Rs. 1,120 crore in divestment receipts.
The government will sell 5 per cent or 48.3 million shares in the copper miner at Rs. 116 apiece. The OFS also includes a green shoe option to sell an additional 5 per cent shareholding of the public sector undertaking (PSU).
The entire 10 per cent sale would bring down the sovereign's shareholding in the state-owned company to 62.76 per cent.

PepsiCo Commissions India's Largest Greenfield Plant

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated global food and beverage major PepsiCo's largest greenfield potato chips plant in India at Mathura.
Entailing an investment of Rs. 814 crore, the PepsiCo unit will procure 150,000 tonnes of locally grown potatoes, thus benefitting more than 5,000 farmers and creating 1,500 direct and indirect job opportunities.

Govt. Approves PLI Scheme for Auto, Drone and Auto-component Industries

The Union Cabinet has approved the production linked incentive scheme for auto, auto-component, and drone industries, which will enhance India's manufacturing capabilities. A sum of Rs. 25,938 crore will be allotted to the auto sector and Rs. 120 crore to the drone industry under the budgetary provision for the PLI scheme.
The automobile industry contributes to 35% of the manufacturing GDP of the country. It is a leading sector in generating employment.
The PLI scheme has been brought keeping in mind the needs of the present as well as the future, and for local markets too.

Sep 15, 2021

India Ranks 54th in Housing Prices Appreciation

According to Knight Frank, India ranks 54th out of 55 countries globally in the housing prices index as rates of residential properties fell marginally by 0.5 per cent year-on-year during the quarter ended June.
India was at 55th position in the previous global housing price index report for the first quarter of this calendar year.
Turkey, with 29.2 per cent appreciation of housing prices, continues to lead the annual rankings. New Zealand is at second position with a 25.9 per cent price rise while the US ranks third with 18.6 per cent appreciation.

HCL, HANCOM Collaborate to Share Advanced Software Technology Solutions

HCL Technologies signed a pact with South Korean software company HANCOM Inc to share advanced software technology solutions and establish a mutual bridgehead for overseas expansion.
HCL Technologies will support training for software development at HANCOM's research and development (R&D) centre in India, which was established in 2016.
HCL will also share its development studio and provide HR support to meet demand and development capacity at the R&D centre.
The two companies also plan to cooperate on global market expansion.
This includes HANCOM's entry into Southeast Asian countries such as Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh, Middle Eastern countries, and HCL Technologies' business expansion into the South Korean market.

Tata Motors Inks Pact with Tata Power for Rooftop Solar Project

Tata Motors inked a pact with Tata Power to install and operate a 3 MWp rooftop solar project at its passenger vehicle business unit (PVBU) plant in Pune.
The solar rooftop project is expected to generate nearly 45 lakh KWh per year, reducing carbon emissions by around 3,538 tonnes per year.

Paytm Launches India's First FASTag-based Facility at Delhi Metro Parking

Paytm Payments Bank launched the country's first FASTag-based Metro parking facility, in partnership with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
As an acquiring bank for the parking facility at the Kashmere Gate station, Paytm Payments Bank will facilitate the processing of all FASTag-based transactions for cars having a valid FASTag sticker, thus eliminating the hassle of stopping and paying cash at the counter.
It has enabled a UPI-based payment for two-wheelers entering the parking site, thereby digitising the entire parking payments.

Tata Steel Commissions Carbon Capture Plant at Jamshedpur

Tata Steel has commissioned a 5-tonne-per-day (TPD) carbon capture plant at its Jamshedpur Works, making it the country's first steel company to adopt such a carbon capture technology that extracts carbon-di-oxide directly from blast furnace gas.
Tata Steel will reuse the captured CO2 on-site to promote the circular carbon economy. The project has been executed with technological support from Carbon Clean, a global leader in low-cost CO2 capture technology.
The carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) facility uses amine-based technology and makes the captured carbon available for onsite reuse.

RBI and Singapore Central Bank to Link Payment Systems by July 2022

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will link their payment systems--Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow--to enable instant, low-cost fund transfers for users.
The RBI and MAS hope to complete the linkage by July 2022 on a reciprocal basis without a need (for users) to get onboarded onto the other payment system.
The UPI-PayNow linkage is a significant milestone in the development of infrastructure for cross-border payments between India and Singapore, and closely aligns with the G20's financial inclusion priorities of driving faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments.

HAL, Rolls-Royce Sign Pact for Make-in-India Adour Engine Parts

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Rolls-Royce signed an agreement for Make-in-India Adour engine parts to support the latter's international defence customer base.
Through this partnership, Rolls-Royce aims to strengthen the ecosystem for Adour engines in India by building on HAL's existing capabilities for manufacturing and supporting the Adour engines for Indian customers over several decades.
This follows the MoU signed by Rolls-Royce and HAL during the Aero India 2021 to establish an authorised maintenance centre for Adour at HAL to support international military customers and operators.

Sep 14, 2021

Kotak Fund invests Rs. 200 cr. in TVS Supply Chain Solutions

A Kotak Mahindra Bank arm announced a Rs. 1,000-crore investment into a third-party logistics (3PL) business promoted by the South-based TVS family.
Kotak Special Situations Fund (KSSF) has invested Rs. 200 crore in TVS Supply Chain Solutions and has provided Rs. 800-crore finance to T.S. Rajam Rubbers Private Ltd. through a non-convertible debentures route.

S. Korean Antitrust Agency Fines Google $177 mn for Abusing Market Dominance

South Korea's antitrust regulator fined Alphabet Inc's Google 207 billion won ($176.64 million), saying the U.S. technology giant abused its dominant market position to restrict competition in the mobile operating system market.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) investigated Google for allegedly blocking local smartphone makers from using other operating systems.
The fine is the latest antitrust setback for Google in South Korea. Earlier this month, parliament passed a bill to ban major app store operators such as Google from forcing software developers to use their payment systems and effectively stopping developers from charging commission on in-app purchases.

APSFL lost Rs. 121 Crore Owing to Lapses during TDP Regime

Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited (APSFL) Chairman P. Goutham Reddy said the CID had detected irregularities that caused a loss of Rs. 121 crore to the government-owned company during the Telugu Desam Party regime, and booked cases against 18 persons, including the prime accused Vemuri Harikrishna Prasad, who was inducted into the board of directors after he was made to step down as the MD of a software firm.
Mr. Reddy alleged that Mr. Prasad, who headed the APSFL tenders committee, and the others had colluded with some private companies in the supply of signal meters, cables and other equipment and payments were made without the bills being submitted. There were massive irregularities in tenders worth Rs. 321 crore invited by the APSFL.

India, U.S. to Tie up on Green Energy

The United States is to collaborate with India to work towards installing 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
Currently India's installed power capacity is projected to be 476 GW by 2021-22, and is expected to rise to at least 817 GW by 2030.
Mr. Kerry is on an official visit to India from September 12-14, and is meeting Ministers and industrialists to "raise global climate ambition and speed India's clean energy transition," according to a communique from the U.S. State Department.

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