General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2017

Feb 2017

Jul 28, 2020

BIS to Frame Quality Norms for 371 Items by March 2021 to Curb Non-essential Imports

To check imports of sub-standard and non-essential goods, including from China, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) said that it is framing mandatory quality standards for 371 items identified by the commerce ministry and the process will be completed by March 2021. The list of 371 tariff lines includes several segments, ranging from steel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and electrical machinery to furniture and toys.
As per BIS Director General Pramod Kumar Tiwari, the commerce ministry has identified 371 imported tariff lines, including Chinese products. We are trying to frame standards and make them mandatory and improve enforcement of the same.
The concerned ministries are identifying the important products from the list given by the commerce ministry and approaching BIS for making the standards mandatory.
Asked for how many products from the list the standards have been made so far, Tiwari said that it is a complex issue. Different ministries like steel, chemicals and petroleum have been told to identify the products for making standards.
For some products, ministries have decided not to have standards because of insignificant import volumes, while for certain items, there are already standards in place.

Danish Company Maj Invest Buys 18% Equity in SAVE Solutions for Rs. 120 crore

Danish company Maj Invest bought 18% equity in SAVE Solutions, an Indian financial inclusion company, for Rs. 120 crore, reflecting investor confidence in the sector's potential even amid Covid-19.
SAVE Solutions is a business correspondent for State Bank of India, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda and intends to use this capital to expand its direct lending through subsidiaries SAVE Microfinance and SAVE Financial Services.
SAVE, which started its journey from Gaya in 2009, may use part of the funds to strengthen IT infrastructure.
Unitus Capital advised SAVE Solutions on the deal while Khaitan & Co advised the overseas firm.
Maj Invest manages $12 billion in assets, of which about $1 billion are in private equity commitments. Its financial inclusion funds invest directly in micro lenders across Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Guidelines for Schemes to Boost Domestic Manufacturing of Bulk Drugs and Medical Devices

The government released guidelines for four schemes to boost domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs and medical devices as part of its drive to reduce dependency on imports for these critical products.
In line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the schemes have been conceptualised for making India 'atmanirbhar (self-reliant) in the pharma sector.
The schemes—a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme and industry park scheme each for bulk drugs and medical devices—seek to make India self-reliant in pharmaceuticals raw materials such as drug intermediates, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and key starting materials (KSMs), and medical devices.
Currently the country almost entirely depends on imports—mostly from China—for production/supply of 53 critical bulk drugs, while 86% of medical devices, too, are imported.
Bulk drug parks "will be based on plug and play model with prior regulatory approvals, state of art infrastructure, excellent connectivity, affordable land, competitive utility charges, and strong R&D ecosystem and so on.

Jul 27, 2020

India Hikes Exposure to US Government Securities by Nearly USD 13 Billion in May

According to latest official data, India's holdings of American government securities increased by nearly USD 13 billion to USD 169.9 billion at the end of May. So far this year, the country's exposure has seen significant fluctuations and had touched a record high of USD 177.5 billion in February.
After marginally rising to USD 157.4 billion in April, the holdings jumped to USD 169.9 billion in May, an increase of around USD 13 billion in a month's time.
India's holdings stood at USD 164.3 billion in January. The American government securities are purchased by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The country was the 12th largest holder of the American government securities while Japan had the maximum exposure at USD 1.260 trillion at the end of May. At the second spot was China with holdings worth USD 1.083 trillion, followed by the United Kingdom at the third place with an exposure of USD 393.5 billion.
As per the data, Ireland is at the fourth position, followed by Brazil, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Cayman Islands, Belgium and Taiwan.

Tamil Nadu Signs 16 MoUs for Investments Worth Rs. 5,137 crore

In a bid to bring increased investments into the state, the Tamil Nadu government signed 16 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs. 5,137 crore aimed at creating employment opportunities for over 6,555 people. The fresh bunch of MoUs come close on the heels of the state inking 8 MoUs with companies involving investment of about Rs. 10,339 crore and promising employment opportunities for 13,507 people.
Among the major investments, Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the Adani Group, signed an MoU worth Rs. 2,300 crore for setting up a data centre while Princeton Digital Group inked a deal for Rs. 750 crore. Super Auto Forge, manufacturer of cold and warm forged steel and aluminium parts and BPL-FTA Enterprises, have given an investment commitment of Rs. 500 crore each. The Super Auto investment will be for steel and aluminium parts manufacturing.

Gross NPA of Banks May Rise to 12.5% by March 2021: RBI FSR

According to the 21st issue of Financial Stability Report (FSR), released in July 2020 by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the gross nonperforming assets (GNPA) ratio of all scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) may increase from 8.5% in March 2020 to 12.5% by March 2021 under the baseline scenario; the ratio may escalate to 14.7% under a very severely stressed scenario.
While Public sector banks' (PSBs) gross bad loans ratio of 11.3% at the end of March, 2020 may increase to 15.2% by March 2021 under the baseline scenario, on the other hand, private banks may see an increase from 4.2% to 7.3%.
FSR reflects the collective assessment of the Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) on risks to financial stability, and issues relating to development and regulation of the financial sector.

Aditya Puri Sells Shares worth Rs. 843 crore in HDFC Bank

Aditya Puri, managing director and chief executive officer of the country's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank sold 95% of his stake valued at Rs. 843 crore in the bank this week. As per reports, Aditya Puri sold 74.2 lakh shares of the bank between July 21 and Jul 24. Before this transaction, Puri held 77.96 lakh shares or 0.14% of banks equity capital.
Puri who took home Rs 18.92 crore salary including perquisites but excluding stock options in the financial year 2019-20 sold shares worth Rs 200 crore in HDB Financial Services, the unlisted NBFC arm of the private lender in December last year. These shares were held through a family trust Vistra ITCL (India). In 2013, he transferred his shares to his family as part of the succession planning. The family's shareholding was transferred to the Trust, Vistra ITCL.
The term of Aditya Puri who has been the managing director and chief executive since 1994 when the bank was set up ends on October 20, 2020. HDFC Bank board in November last year (2019) set up a search committee to identify his successor. Aditya Puri will act as an advisor to the 6-member group comprising Shyamala Gopinath, Sanjiv Sachar, M. D. Ranganath, Sandeep Parekh, Srikanth Nadhamuni and Keki Mistry.

Jul 26, 2020

TRIFED Signs MoU with IIT Delhi under Govt's 'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan'

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) entered into a partnership with IIT Delhi under the HRD Ministry's flagship 'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan' (UBA) to boost livelihood opportunities and income generation for tribal communities.
The UBA connects higher education institutions with villages for the economic and social betterment of rural communities.
TRIFED functions under the Tribal Affairs Ministry.
Under TRIFED's 'Van Dhan' programme, tribal entrepreneurs will now be able to get access to the expertise of the entire network of more than 2,600 academic and research institutions under the UBA.
With the partnership with IIT Delhi and 'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan', these tribal forest dwellers engaged in MFPs will get exposure to newer processing technologies, product innovation, mentorship, transformational digital systems and hand holding.

RBI Signs $400 mn Currency Swap with Sri Lanka

The Reserve Bank of India signed necessary documents for extending $ 400 million currency swap facility to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. This currency swap arrangement, which will remain available till November 2022 will help Colombo address the economic hardships caused due by pandemic.
Based on the request from the Sri Lankan side for a currency swap facility under the SAARC Currency Swap Framework, India extended a $ 400 million currency swap under the SAARC framework.
The signing of the currency swap agreement with Sri Lanka illustrates India's commitment to assist its friendly neighbour on its economic revival during the time of Covid-19 pandemic.

India-UK Hold 14th Joint Economic and Trade Committee Meeting

India and the U.K. have affirmed their commitment to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) with a view to further strengthening economic ties.
The issue was discussed in the 14th Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting between the two countries. It was co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and U.K. Secretary of State for International Trade Elizabeth Truss.

Jul 25, 2020

Amazon Pay Partners with Acko General Insurance Ltd to Offer Auto Insurance in India

Amazon Pay, the payments arm of Amazon India has partnered with Acko General Insurance Ltd to offer auto insurance for two and four-wheelers in India, a 100% paperless insurance plan. Customers can avail this auto insurance from Amazon Pay page, Amazon app or mobile website and can get a quote for their car or bike's insurance by providing basic details.
The customers can get claims with one-hour pick-up, three-day assured claim servicing, and one-year repair warranty in select cities. It can be bought within 2 minutes.
The policyholders will have an option for instant cash settlements for low-value claims.

Shipping Ministry Waives Off Waterway Usage Charges to Promote Inland Waterways

The shipping ministry waived off waterway usage charges in a bid to promote inland waterways as a cheaper mode of transport. Water usage charge was applicable on use of all the national waterways by vessels, and the waiver, applicable immediately, will remain in effect for a period of three years.
The decision of waiving waterway charges will attract the industries to use the national waterways for their logistical needs. Presently, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) levies waterway usage charges at a rate of Rs. 0.02 per gross registered tonnage (GRT) per kilometre for plying of inland cargo vessels and Rs. 0.05 per gross registered tonnage (GRT) per kilometre for plying of cruise vessels on national waterways.
The decision is estimated to increase the inland waterway traffic movement to 110 million metric tonne (MMT) in 2022-23 from 72 MMT in 2019-20.

World's Largest Global Fintech Fest

The 1st edition of two days long world's largest Global Fintech Fest (GFF) was held virtually, which was organised by Payments Council of India (PCI) and Fintech Convergence Council (FCC) at National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the theme "Fintech : With and Beyond COVID". The aim of the fest was to bring together the global FinTech and Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector.
Notably, both organisers of the fest work under the aegis of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
The event was hosted by 6Connex Inc., a provider of virtual event solutions.
The Department of Economic Affairs – Ministry of Finance, Government of India and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) were the Presenting Partners for this event.
This event was also powered by Amazon Pay and brought to you by WhatsApp and Google Pay, it is also supported by the World Bank and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).

Govt. Imposes Restrictions on Public Procurement from China and Neighbours

The Government of India amended the General Financial Rules 2017 to enable imposition of restrictions on bidders from countries which share a land border with India on grounds of defence of India, or matters directly or indirectly related thereto including national security, a move squarely aimed at China.
However, it provided relaxation in case of medical supplies in light of Covid-19. And keeping in mind some other neighbouring countries, nations with which India has a line of credit or provides development assistance were also exempted.
According to the new order, any bidder from countries sharing a land border with India will be eligible to bid in any procurement whether of goods, services or works only if the bidder is registered with the 'Competent Authority.'
The Competent Authority, in this case, is the Registration Committee constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Political and security clearance from the Ministries of External and Home Affairs respectively will be mandatory.
The order is applicable for central and state governments, public sector banks and financial institutions, autonomous bodies, state-owned companies and public private partnership projects, receiving financial support from the Government.

RBI Releases Report of Committee For Analysis of QR Code

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) publicised the "Report of the Committee for Analysis of QR (Quick Response) Code" under the chairmanship of Prof. Deepak B. Phatak on its website for comments/suggestions of various industry players currently involved in or associated with the use of QR codes before August 10, 2020. The report has recommended making QR codes more interoperable. QR code is used to pay utility bills, fuel, grocery, food, travel, and several other categories.
In India, the factors of post demonetization, increased penetration of smartphones and high-speed internet connectivity led to the increased adoption of QR codes for digital payments. There are three different types of QR Codes in India viz.
Bharat QR– It is the world's first fully interoperable QR code payment system. Its specifications have been jointly developed by RuPay, Visa, MasterCard, and Amex.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) QR– It was launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in August 2016.
Proprietary QR (Closed loop) – It is provided by RBI authorized companies as Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI).
The committee has recommended phasing out of proprietary, closed loop QR codes as it requires customers to manage separate apps and is creating hindrance in this payment system. Instead RBI must encourage the use of interoperable QR codes such as the Bharat QR and UPI QR to enable faster on-boarding of all types of merchants for digital payments.

CCI Approves Krishnapatnam Port Acquisition by Adani, SEZL

Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved acquisition of Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited. The proposed transaction involves acquisition of equity shareholding along with management control of 100 per cent of the total issued and outstanding preference share capital of Krishnapatnam Port Company.
Adani Ports is a customer-facing integrated port infrastructure services provider currently present across ten domestic ports in six maritime states of Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. The Acquirer manages the logistics chain (i.e. from vessels management to anchorage, pilotage, tug pulling, berthing, goods handling, internal transport, storage and handling, processing and final evacuation by road or rail).
KPCL is engaged as a developer and operator of the deep water port at Krishnapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, pursuant to the concession agreement on Build-Operate-Share-Transfer basis with Government of Andhra Pradesh for a period of thirty years from the date of commercial operations and entitled for a further period of 20 years (two periods of 10 years each).

Jul 24, 2020

NSDC and Airtel Payments Bank Join Hands to Skill Rural Youth

Airtel Payments Bank and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) on Wednesday announced a partnership to skill the youth in rural India and enable them to find employment opportunities in the financial services sector. The partnership will leverage NSDC's experience, training infrastructure and wide network with Airtel Payment Bank's industry insights, to design and conduct targeted skill development programmes for rural youth.
Through our strategic partnership with Airtel Payments Bank, NSDC aims at imparting the youth with knowledge and training that render financial and banking services more accessible to rural and semi-urban India.
The skill development programme will be tailored for imparting knowledge and skills for entry-level jobs, such as business correspondent and field sales executive, in the financial services sector.
The programme will focus on adoption of digital tools to drive online banking and digital financial services, given the growing penetration of affordable smartphones and 4G networks in the country.

Nitin Gadkari Launches Advisory Platform, 'RestartIndia'

Nitin Gadkari, the minister for micro, small and medium enterprise sector launched www.restartindia.in, a mentoring platform primarily aimed at aiding the sector to restart businesses across the country.
Muthoot Fincorp and INKtalks, an innovation platform for young professionals jointly conceptualised 'RestartIndia', which is an open platform for advisory support.
The single platform to get information on various schemes that the government has initiated and to connect with professionals/experts from various fields is in sync with the Atmanirbhar project.
The platform designed is to address the needs of the MSME sector, particularly the nano and micro enterprises. It will offer solutions to the problems faced by a large number of women entrepreneurs making a livelihood by setting up very small businesses, following the pandemic crisis.

Bank of Baroda Launches 'Insta Click Savings Account'

India's third-largest public sector bank, Bank of Baroda (BoB) launched 'Insta Click Savings Account', a 100% paperless digital self-assisted online savings account. It can be activated in real-time, i.e. the customer can transact using the Baroda M Connect Plus application with the MPIN received on the mobile number.
It also offers an option to subscribe to a wide range of digital channels like mobile banking, Internet banking, UPI (unified payments interface), and debit card.
For authentication of the customer, it uses a new form of digital KYC (know-your-customer) and Aadhaar-based OTP (one-time password) authentication of the customer which can be operated from the bank's website.
The documents required to open the account is Aadhar number with registered mobile number, Permanent Account Number (PAN) Card, E mail ID and Valid Mobile number.

Tenth BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting: Piyush Goyal Calls for All Nations to Enhance Transparency i...

Addressing the 10th BRICS Trade Ministers virtual Meeting, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal called for all nations to enhance transparency in their trade and build trust to prevent losing their role as a preeminent trade partner
The Minister said that the ongoing crisis has exposed the world to vulnerabilities, forcing us to explore ways to support each other. He said that trade can be an engine for reviving growth in such a scenario and this is premised on strengthening of the WTO based on its principles of openness, fairness, transparency, inclusivity, and non-discrimination. Mr. Goyal called for removing multiple hurdles in access to medicines at affordable prices created by the WTO rules for protecting intellectual property. He said that intellectual property rights should not block access to critical medicines and other devices required for the treatment of the disease.
Calling upon BRICS to support responsible investment, Goyal said that it should be aimed at balanced outcomes and create gains even for recipient countries and, most importantly, employment generation.

RIL First Indian Company to Reach Market Cap of Rs. 13 Lakh crore

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd broke into the top 50 most valued companies globally after it became the first company with market capitalisation of over Rs. 13 lakh crore.
According to stock market data, the oil-to-telecom conglomerate is ranked 48th in market cap globally.
Globally, Saudi Aramco is the company with the highest market cap of USD 1.7 trillion, followed by Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet.
No Indian company has ever crossed an m-cap of Rs. 13 lakh crore.
This is higher than Chevron's about USD 170 billion m-cap as well as likes of Oracle, Unilever, Bank of China, BHP Group, Royal Dutch Shell and SoftBank Group.
Reliance is the 10th highest m-cap company in Asia. China's Alibaba Group is ranked 7th globally.

India and Maldives Sign Contract for Development of Geydoshu Mas Plant in Maldives

India and Maldives inked an agreement to set up Geydoshu Mas Plant (Neighborhood Fish Processing Plants) at two islands in the Addu city of Maldives namely Maradhoo and Hulhudhoo. The Contract signing ceremony was held in Addu City, which attended virtually Maldives' Foreign Secretary Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed, High Commissioner of India to the Maldives Sunjay Sudir, along with other members of Maldives' Ministry of Foreign affairs.
This agreement was inked on the lines of Memorandum of Association (MoU) signed by both nations in 2019 stating setting up of 3 Geydoshu Mas Plants in Maradhoo, Hithahoo and Hulhudhoo at a cost of around USD 1.5 million which was signed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
This agreement is also first in the series of "Indian Grant Assistance for Implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects through local bodies" in Maldives at a total cost of $5.5 million.

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