General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2017

Feb 2017

Mar 30, 2021

Adani Green Energy Acquires Stake in Spinel Energy and Infrastructure

Adani Green Energy acquired 100 per cent equity stake in Spinel Energy and Infrastructure from Hindustan Cleanenergy and Peridot Power Ventures.
This acquisition is part of AGEL's overall growth strategy where the company is planning to build a capacity of 25 GW by 2025.
AGEL's present capacity includes power plants worth 15,240 MW in 86 locations, spread over 11 states in the country.

HDFC Bank India's Best SME Bank

HDFC Bank was adjudged the 'India's Best Bank for SMEs' at the Asiamoney Best Bank Awards 2021. In its evaluation, the magazine said that "HDFC Bank's transformation of its micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) business over the past few years makes it a worthy winner of this award." The Annual Best Banks survey of the financial magazine based in Hong Kong aims to identify which banks in each market have excelled across a range of core banking activities over the past 12 months.
Asiamoney's award decisions were made by a team of senior journalists after receiving detailed submissions from market participants and in conjunction with research into the banking and capital markets by our editorial committee. Senior editors also visited each country or territory to meet leading bankers and gather client and competitor feedback.

USTR Proposes Retaliatory Trade Actions against India, 5 other Countries

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has proposed retaliatory trade actions against India and certain other countries that have imposed or are considering equalisation levy/digital services tax on e-commerce companies.
It has issued notices seeking public comments on proposed trade actions against six countries, including India.
The USTR, in a statement, said that it is proceeding with the public notice and comment process on possible trade actions to preserve procedural options before the conclusion of the statutory one-year time period for completing the investigations.
According to a USTR document pertaining to India, it has requested written comments regarding a potential trade action in connection with the Section 301 investigation of India's Digital Services Tax.

Mar 29, 2021

SEBI to Set up Fund to Buy Stressed Corporate Bonds

According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Securities and Exchange Board of India will set up Corporate Debt Market Development Fund (CDMDF) to provide liquidity to mutual funds and other participating institutional investors in the corporate bond market.
As the financial sector evolves from a bank-dominated system to a market-oriented system, supporting financial markets has become an important aspect, Sitharaman said. "Hence a permanent arrangement of an SPV facility is considered for providing liquidity, so that they can act as the buyer of the last resort, during stress times, and to some extent even acting as a market maker during times of peace.
The new fund will be set up as an alternative investment fund, and SEBI is working on the operational details of this facility in consultation with the Department of Economic Affairs. The special SPV is proposed to be jointly set up with the contribution of mutual funds, and also other institutional investors. The majority ownership shall be with a subsidiary of a public sector mutual fund.

Soma Mondal New Chairperson of SCOPE

Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), the organisation representing the Central Government Public Enterprises, announced members of its new executive board.
Soma Mondal, Chairman, SAIL, was elected as the new Chairperson of SCOPE, while Pradip Kumar Das, CMD, IREDA has been entrusted Vice Chairman's role after the biennial elections.
The newly elected members would take charge on April 1 and would continue in the office for the 2021-23 term.
Other members elected to the executive board include R.K. Sinha, Director, Personnel, CWC, Ranjan Kumar Mohapatra, Director, HR, IOCL, Amitabh Banerjee, CMD, IRFC and Alok Verma, Director HR, HAL among others.

BPCL Sells Stake in Numaligarh Refinery to Oil India

Privatisation-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) sold its entire 61.5 per cent stake in Numaligarh Refinery in Assam to a consortium of Oil India Ltd and Engineers India and Government of Assam for Rs. 9,876 crore.
OIL bought a 54.16 per cent stake to raise its shareholding in the refinery to 80.16 per cent, the company said in stock exchange filings.
Its partner, Engineers India Ltd (EIL) bought a 4.4 per cent stake and the balance 3.2 per cent was acquired by Government of Assam.
The sale of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) clears the way for privatisation of India's second-largest fuel retailer.

HCL Technologies Launches Digital Acceleration Center in Canada

HCL Technologies, announced the opening of its innovation center focused on digital acceleration in Mississauga, Ontario. From this Global Delivery center (GDC), HCL will deliver advanced technology solutions to its global client base to help accelerate their digital transformation journey.
HCL will provide next-gen services including digital and analytics solutions, cloud consulting and migration, cybersecurity, IT infrastructure and application services. HCL continues to significantly invest in Canada to build innovation and delivery capabilities and strengthen its workforce.
The Mississauga center, which has a seating capacity of 350, will be one of the largest for HCL in Canada, housing co-innovation labs for customers to ideate, collaborate, develop and deliver futuristic solutions through next generation technologies in their business transformation journeys. HCL plans to create 2,000 new employment opportunities in Canada in the next three years, engaging Canada's diverse and highly skilled local talent to serve its global clients.

Mar 28, 2021

BSNL and MTNL to Get Spectrum for 5G Services without Participating in Auction

The government will administratively allocate spectrum to telecom public sector units BSNL and MTNL for 5G and future services, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad informed Parliament.
He said that allocation of spectrum to BSNL and MTNL will be done on the same principle as proposed for allotment of spectrum for 4G services.
Government also approved to administratively allot spectrum for providing 5G services to BSNL/MTNL, spectrum for maintaining current operations and future services on the same principle as proposed for allotment of spectrum for 4G services.
5G services are yet to start in India.

Mahindra Electric Mobility to Consolidate with Parent M&M

The board of directors at Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has given in-principle approval for consolidation of Mahindra Electric Mobility in the company.
Mahindra Electricity Mobility is a step-down subsidiary of M&M. The consolidation will categorise EV operations in two focused verticals -- last mile mobility (LMM) and electric vehicle tech centre.
The initiative will provide LMM vertical with complete ownership of the value chain for last-mile mobility solutions to drive growth and execution.
It will also provide EV tech centre with the depth of resources and energy with M & M's larger ecosystem of product development capability in Mahindra Research Valley (MRV) at Chennai, North America and Europe while exploring partnership and alliances.

Air India May Get a New Owner by June

The central government is close to inviting financial bids for flag carrier Air India, moving toward the sale of an airline that's surviving on taxpayer money, Civil Avia¬tion Minister Hardeep Puri has said.
The financial offers are expected to come in within 64 days from the date of request, he said, addressing the Times Network India Economic Conclave.
The process is likely to be completed by May or June, he said. Bloomberg reported on the plan earlier Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. "It's a question of taking the decision and handing over the airline," Puri said, without giving details of the bidders who made the initial shortlist.
Tata Group and SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh have been shortlisted to bid for the carrier, media reported this week. An invitation for financial bids will be a progress for Modi, who has failed previously to sell the enterprise that has been rescued by the government multiple times in the past decade.

Government Offers 67 blocks in Second Tranche of Commercial Coal Mine Auction

The government offered 67 coal mines for sale, launching the second tranche of commercial coal mining auction and termed it a step towards 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'. This is the highest number of mines on offer in a particular tranche after commencement of the auction regime in 2014. "India launched its 2nd tranche of auction for commercial coal mining, offering 67 mines for sale of coal, today. Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi launched the auction process in a programme held in New Delhi," Ministry of Coal said in a statement. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Coal Secretary Anil Kumar Jain were also present in the function.
Out of the total 67 mines offered by the ministry, 23 are under Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act and 44 under Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. The blocks on offer are a mix of mines with small and large reserves, coking and non-coking mines and fully and partially explored blocks spread across 6 states – Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Mar 27, 2021

IMF Approves $500 Million Disbursement to Pakistan

The International Monetary Fund approved a $500 million disbursement to Pakistan for budget support after the IMF Executive Board completed delayed reviews of Pakistan's $6 billion loan programme.
The IMF said that the latest payment brought total disbursements under the Extended Fund Facility to $2 billion since the programme was first approved in July 2019.
The disbursement was made after Pakistan cleared up an issue with data on government guarantees dating back to the 2016 fiscal year that had been reported inaccurately and put the government in non-compliance with the program.

Snapdeal Launches Fast Track Payment Option

E-commerce platform Snapdeal has launched a service that will enable sellers to receive payment within three days of delivery of a shipment.
'Jaldi Payments' will slash payment receipt time by 76 per cent and help sellers use capital to expand their business, build inventory and manage other business needs.
A Snapdeal survey in February 2021 found sellers considered quick and flexible access to finance as an important lever of growth.
Jaldi Payments will allow sellers to opt for fast-track payments choosing to receive payments within 3-7 days of the delivery of their shipments.

State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Others Yet to Comply with Scrubbing Norms

The Telecom Regulatory Aut¬hority of India (TRAI), upon analysing the scrubbing data, has found that as many as 80 entities, including State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, and Axis bank, were not complying with the regulator's mandate.
TRAI said lapses can be attributed to lack of "due care" and diligence by principal entities, telemarketers, and aggr¬egators. In a note on Friday, the telecom regulator said: "It has been informed that principal entities, including major banks like State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, and Axis Bank, are not transmitting mandatory parameters like content template IDs, PE IDs, etc, even in those cases where content templates have been registered, while sending such messages to the TSP (telecom service provider) for delivery."

Mar 26, 2021

Jubilant FoodWorks to Bring Fast Food chain Popeyes to India

Food services company Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd (JFL) announced to introduce American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants 'Popeyes', to India.
The company announced to enter into an exclusive master franchise and development agreement with PLK APAC Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International Inc (RBI).
The pact has been signed to develop, establish, own and operate hundreds of Popeyes restaurants in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan in the coming years.
Founded in New Orleans in 1972, Popeyes has over 45 years of history and culinary tradition.

Robert Bosch Engineering India Creates Separate Unit for Digital Solutions

In a first-of-its-kind move, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solution India, the subsidiary of Bosch GmbH, has created an independent unit to manage its business of non-Bosch customers. This entity, called Software and Digital Solutions or SDS, will focus on delivering software and digital services in the areas of digital enterprise, engineering R&D, new age technologies.
"This change we are putting in place now is one of the largest changes that RBEI has undertaken since its inception, around 25 years ago," said Dattatri Salagame, president and MD, RBEI India.
RBEI will also foray into non-traditional Bosch sectors like Healthcare and Energy with their products-Vivascope, Vivascreen and Phantom.

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