General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2017

Feb 2017

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.

Jun 13, 2021

India, Kuwait Sign Deal to Streamline Recruitment of Indian Domestic Workers

India and Kuwait signed an agreement to streamline the recruitment of Indian domestic workers and discussed ways to boost cooperation in food security, cyber security and the energy sector during external affairs minister S. Jaishankar's visit to Doha.
The signing of the memorandum of understanding for cooperation on the recruitment of domestic workers was among the key outcomes of Jaishankar's visit that concluded on Friday. The MoU brings Indian workers in Kuwait within the ambit of a legal framework that streamlines their recruitment and provides them protection of law.
It also introduces an employment contract to ensure the rights and obligations of employers and workers, and a mechanism for 24-hour assistance to workers. A joint committee will be created to carry out periodic reviews and follow up the implementation of the MoU. With this MoU, the total number of agreements between the two countries has gone up to 34.
The agreement was signed by officials during a meeting between Jaishankar and his Kuwaiti counterpart, Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah. The meeting was also attended by Kuwait's trade minister Abdullah Issa Al Salman.

SBI to Offer Kavach Personal Loans for Covid-stressed Customers

The country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), came up with a new loan offering 'Kavach Personal Loan' to provide relief to its customers who are facing financial challenges due to covid related treatment costs.
Kavach Personal Loan is a collateral-free offering by SBI, under which a maximum of Rs. 5 lakh loan can be availed at 8.5 per cent per annum for a period of 5 years.
This unique product is being offered under the collateral-free personal loan category and comes at the cheapest rate of interest under this segment. Reimbursement of expenses already incurred for Covid related medical expenses shall also be provided under the scheme.
This loan scheme by SBI will be under the Covid loan book that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had asked banks to create to provide relief to individuals and institutions affected due to covid.

Jun 12, 2021

United States Tops Bitcoin Investment Gains in 2020

The US traders have benefited the most in Bitcoin Investment Gain in 2020, with a profit of $4.1 billion, according to the latest report by Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company based in Manhattan, New York. Chinese traders stood second, with a profit of $1.1 billion. India has been ranked at 18th spot with a profit of $241 million, among the top 25 countries, in Bitcoin investment gains 2020.

BharatPe Acquires Payback India

Merchant payment and lending service provider BharatPe acquired Payback India from American Express and ICICI Investments Strategic Fund.
This is the first-ever acquisition by BharatPe and will make Payback India a wholly-owned subsidiary of BharatPe.
Payback India - launched in 2010 - is a multi-brand loyalty programme with over 100 million members in the country. It has a network of more than 100 offline and online partners and allows its customers to earn and redeem points on every transaction at its partner merchant outlets.
The acquisition of Payback India is in line with BharatPe's strategy to build a robust and engaged network of over 20 million small merchants by 2023.

Gati Ltd Looks to Shut Two More Businesses Post Cold Chain Exit

After exiting the cold chain business, express distribution company Gati Ltd is now looking to shed some more weight and is currently engaged in doing away with two more of its subsidiaries-- trading solution and freight forwarding businesses.
While the company is engaged in closing down the Gati Import Export Trading Limited subsidiary, for its freight forwarding business, Gati Limited is in search of a suitable buyer.

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