General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2017

Feb 2017

Feb 16, 2020

Vivo to Invest in Local Manufacture, Expansion

Chinese smartphone major Vivo has chalked out a strategy to build a long-term plan in India to be a potent player by investing in local manufacturing and retail expansion.
The company, in addition to embarking on a fresh investment plan of Rs. 7,500 crore in India, is laying a strong retail and servicing presence in the country with an aim to stay ahead in the race.
This year, Vivo India will set up an additional 300 exclusive stores in key markets of the country besides 20 experience centres in metros to showcase, sell and explain the benefits about its differentiated products to customers. In a sector where the stakes are very high, Vivo, in five years of entering India, has emerged as a major player due to its value-for-money products that are technologically superior.

EV Start-up Launches India's Largest EV Charging Station Network

Bengaluru-based EV Start-up FAE Bikes launched Kirana Charzer, a low-cost, smart EV charging station costing just Rs. 10,000 focused on enabling small shops and individuals to install their own charging stations and earn additional income.
The startup launched the charging station at an event in London. Kirana Charzer is a compact, zero-maintenance and IoT enabled charging station which they are providing at a subsidized price of Rs. 10,000. The start-up promises Kirana Charzer to be India's cheapest charging station which allows the owner to earn 100% revenue from EV charging.
Kirana Charzer can be installed anywhere including small kirana shops, paan shops, grocery stores, restaurants and homes with standard power supply. Kirana Charzer is compatible with all 2-wheeler, 3-wheeler and 4-wheeler electric vehicles.

Bombardier Exits Commercial Aviation

Bombardier exited commercial aviation, selling a loss-making plane programme that ended its high-stakes gamble on a new jet that once drove it to the brink of bankruptcy.
The Canadian plane and train maker sold its minority stake in the A220 jet, formerly known as the CSeries, to Airbus SE for $600 million, and said that it would take a $1.6 billion charge on the programme.
The latest deal gives Airbus a 75% stake in the A220 programme and the Canadian province of Quebec will own 25%. It also allows Bombardier to avoid future capital investments of about $700 million.
Quebec, which agreed to invest $1 billion in the programme in 2015, said it would not spend further on the venture.

Indian Companies See Silver Lining in China's Virus Crisis

Indian businesses see potential benefits over the longer term from the coronavirus epidemic as companies focus more on local sourcing to offset supply disruptions in the future.
India along with countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam could also emerge as alternative supply destinations for multinational companies.
In India, the coronavirus outbreak has disrupted the supply chain network with China being a supplier of critical inputs to various industries such as pharmaceuticals, information technology and automotive.

Feb 15, 2020

Adani Enterprises Signs Agreement with AAI

Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) signed a 50 years concession agreement with Airports Authority of India (AAI) for developing and operating three airports including Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru.
The agreement was signed between AAI and AEL's wholly owned subsidiaries Adani Ahmedabad International Airport Ltd, Adani Lucknow International Airport Ltd and Adani Mangaluru International Airport Ltd.
Under the current agreement, AEL would stand to hold a management control for 50-year lease period as well as on a per-passenger fee model. While AEL would pay Rs. 3600 crore to AAI as part of the lease, it would spend Rs. 6000 crore on the airports for the next seven years post takeover.

PW Won't Provide Other Services to its Audit Clients

Price Waterhouse, an affiliate of one of the Big Four accounting firms, will no longer provide non-audit services to companies it audits in India, a week after the government floated a discussion paper to end the practice.
The decision, which sacrifices a big chunk of tax consulting and business advisory fees, will apply to audit clients governed by the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), Price Waterhouse Network of Firms in India. The PW India network houses 10 firms, including Price Waterhouse, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Dalal & Shah and Lovelock & Lewes.

Motorola Wins $764.6 million in Copyright Damages against Rival Hytera

Motorola Solutions Inc won a trade secret theft and copyright infringement case against Chinese rival Hytera Communications Corp and was awarded $764.6 million (£586.6 million) in damages.
A US jury in Chicago found that Hytera stole Motorola's trade secrets and infringed its copyrights.
Following the verdict, the communications device maker is planning to seek a global injunction preventing Hytera from further misappropriating the stolen trade secrets and infringing its copyrights.

Shell and RIL Win against Centre in U.K. Court

In a big win for Shell and its partner Reliance Industries, the English High Court rejected Indian government's challenge to the recovery of certain costs in the western offshore Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields they operated.
The government had sought $3.5 billion in dues from Reliance and Shell-owned BG Exploration & Production India Ltd based on an October 2016 partial award of an international arbitration tribunal over the recovery of certain costs from the sale of oil and gas produced from the Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields.
The two firms had gone to the English High Court against the 2016 partial award.

SpiceJet Gets Interim Offer from Boeing

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet received an interim offer of compensation from Boeing for the grounding of its 13 Boeing 737 MAX planes following a global ban on the aircraft.
The airline had drawn up a claim of Rs. 537 crore since the grounding of the aircraft in March 2019. The claim is for expenses incurred on lease rentals and 'other identified expenses relating to the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft'. The update on the status of compensation was part of the airline's financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2019.

Feb 14, 2020

Induslnd Bank Records Highest Growth in Brand Value among Top 500 Banking Brands 2020

As per the The Banker's 'Top 500 Banking Brands 2020' report, India's IndusInd Bank topped the list of 'highest increase in brand value' among global banks.
Its brand value saw an increase of 122% over the past 12 months. The bank reported total assets of Rs. 3.1 lakh crore at the end of Q3 FY20.
As a part of the report, the list "Top 50 By Total Brand Value by Country" was topped by China, followed by the United States (US) at 2nd position while Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) ranked at 3rd and 4th spots. Japan moved up to 5th spot.
India ranked 8th in this list in comparison to 10th place in 2019. India's brand value is 26,516 $m in 2020 showing an increase of 13% in comparison to 23,409 $m in 2019.

SEBI Develops System to Detect Misuse of Client Securities

SEBI developed an online system to timely detect misuse of clients' securities by stock brokers and alert exchanges in case of diversion of investors funds.
This comes after SEBI observed that some brokers have misused clients' securities received as collateral to meet their own settlement obligation or obligations of other clients.
In fact, the regulator noticed that some brokers have also misused clients' securities by pledging them with the banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to raise funds for their own use.
Consequently, the regulator developed an in-house online system by which it would be able to prepare client level securities holding register of the brokers.
Under the system, SEBI collects the details of the clients' securities submitted in weekly report filed by brokers with the exchanges and updates the same with trades conducted in the accounts of the clients using the data available in its data warehouse & business intelligence system as well as data provided by bourses, clearing corporations and depositories pertaining to auction trades, corporate actions and off market trades among others.

RBI Appoints Five Executive Directors

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) elevated five officials to the executive directors' post.
The officials will be taking charge during the year.
Those elevated are Indrani Banerjee, Regional Director, Nagpur, Saurav Sinha, chief general manager-in-charge, Vivek Deep, CGM in-charge, J. K. Dash, CGM in-charge, and P. Vijayakumar, the senior most RBI ombudsman.
At present, RBI has 12 executive directors, and five of them are due to retire in 2020.
In January, Michael Patra was elevated to the post of Deputy Governor. Janak Raj replaced Mr. Patra as the executive director in-charge of monetary policy.

USTR Takes India off Developing Country List

The U.S. government changed an administrative rule making it easier for it to impose countervailing duties (CVDs) on goods from India and certain other countries.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a notice, amending lists of developing and least-developed countries that are eligible for preferential treatment with respect to CVD investigations.
To harmonise U.S. law with the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) Agreement, the USTR had, in 1998, come up with lists of countries classified as per their level of development. These lists were used to determine whether they were potentially subject to U.S. countervailing duties. The 1998 rule is now "obsolete" as per the USTR notice.
Countries not given special consideration have lower levels of protection against a CVD investigation.

Feb 13, 2020

Three Public Sector General Insurance Companies Get in Principle Approval for Capital Infusion

The Union Cabinet gave its in principle approval for capital infusion for three Public Sector General Insurance Companies, namely, Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OICL), National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) and United India Insurance Company Limited (UIICL).
The Cabinet allowed immediate release of Rs. 2500 crore in the light of the critical financial position and breach of regulatory solvency requirements of 3 PSGICs viz. OICL, NICL and UIICL.

Titan Bets Big on Building in-house Tech; Acqui-hires HUG Innovations

Watches to jewellery maker Titan has acqui-hired a Hyderabad-based start-up HUG Innovations with an aim to build all its technology expertise in-house. This is the first ever acqui-hire by the Bengaluru-headquartered firm which aims to position itself as the leading smart wearable player in the country.
As part of the deal, the 23-member team of HUG Innovations including its founder Raj Neravati will be part of Titan's Hyderabad development centre. They will be working closely with Titan's wearable and PAD (personal adornment devices) team based out of its headquarters in Bengaluru, focusing on smart wearable technologies.
Untill now, Titan used to collaborate with global technology companies and start-ups to acquire technological know-how such as software and cloud storage for its smartwatches. It had earlier partnered with HP and Intel to build technology platforms for its smartwatches 'Juxt' and 'Juxt Pro'.

SEBI Notice to NSE on CAMS Stake Sale

The National Stock Exchange of India Ltd's received two notices from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
One of the communications has asked the exchange to divest its entire 37% stake in Computer Age Management Services Limited (CAMS) and the second is a show cause notice on the appointment of key managerial personnel - Anand Subramanian.
While announcing its December quarter earnings, the stock exchange had disclosed that SEBI, on 4 February, asked it to divest its entire stake in CAMS within a year. NSE has already started the process of offloading its stake.
SEBI, in its 4 February letter, alleged that NSE's acquisition of stake in CAMS in 2013-14 was done without its approval.

FASTag to be Available Free of Charge Till Feb. 29

To further enhance electronic toll collection, the National Highways Authority of India has decided to waive FASTag fee till February 29.
The government has rolled out the FASTag-based toll collection system across more than 527 national highways in the country.
"In order to further increase digital collection of user fee via FASTag at NH fee plazas, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to waive off the FASTag cost of Rs. 100 for NHAI FASTag between February 15 and 29, 2020," the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.
Road users can visit any authorised point-of-sale location with a valid registration certificate (RC) of the vehicle and get an NHAI FASTag free of cost.
NHAI FASTags can be purchased from all national highway fee plazas, regional transport offices, common service centres, transport hubs, and petrol pumps, among others.

Feb 12, 2020

Medical Devices to Come Under Drug Regulator Purview

The government issued a final notification to consider all medical devices as drugs, bringing them under the purview of the drugs regulator and tightening regulations for them to improve safety and quality.
According to the notification by the ministry of health and family welfare, all medical devices, including implants and contraceptives, will be brought under the lens of the Central Drugs and Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in a phased manner starting April 1.
The notification will recategorise medical devices that are used for life support, diagnosis, treatment or alleviation of any disease or disability, and even devices that are used to disinfect other medical devices. Under medical devices rules, low risk-devices are inspected by private notified bodies while licenses were given by CDSCO. For high-risk devices, inspection and licensing are both done by CDSCO.

Moody's Downgrades Indusind Bank to Negative

Concerns over a further deterioration in asset quality have led ratings agency Moody's Investors Service to revise down its outlook on IndusInd Bank to 'negative' from 'stable'. The private sector bank's rating has been affirmed at the earlier one of 'Baa-3/P-3'.
Baa3 denotes the lowest rating in investment grade on long-term corporate obligation which carries moderate risks.
The outlook has been revised to negative to account for the risk of further asset quality deterioration.
The agency noted that the bank has seen deterioration in asset quality, particularly in the corporate segment over the last few quarters, and attributed the same to tight refinancing conditions faced by borrowers.

M&M Korean Arm Draws Up Rs. 3,000 cr. Turnaround Plan

Korean automaker SsangYong Motor Company, a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra, which is currently facing steep headwinds and losses in its domestic market and worsened by the coronavirus syndrome now, has drawn up a three-year turnaround plan to get back to profitability by 2022.
The plan includes ways to reduce capex, considering synergies between SsangYong Motor Company and Ford Motors and developing new markets in Russia and Vietnam to increase export volumes.
The company expected a funding of 450 to 500 billion Korean Won (up to Rs. 3,000 crore), through a combination of equity and borrowing for a full recovery.

GST Compensation Given to States

According to Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur, the Centre released Rs. 81,043 crore as GST compensation to states for April-September 2019. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, he said that GST compensation cess collection has shown upward trend since October 2019. GST compensation cess of Rs. 7,607 crore was collected in October, Rs. 7,727 crore in November, Rs. 8,331 crore in December and Rs. 8,637 crore in January.
For 2019-20, the amount targeted to be collected from cess in GST was Rs. 1.09 lakh crore. Of this, Rs. 70,534 crore was collected between April-December 2019.

Brookfield Emerges as the Largest Private Investor in India

Canadian alternative asset manager Brookfield Asset Management trumped US private equity firm Blackstone to emerge as the largest private capital investor in India in 2019, lifted by deals with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).
Investments by Brookfield totalled nearly $6.28 billion in 2019 across private equity and real estate, far outpacing the $2.38 billion in investments by Blackstone, according to deals tracker Venture Intelligence.

Infosys to Buy Simplus

Infosys Ltd informed the stock exchanges that it will acquire Simplus, one of the fastest growing Salesforce platinum partners in the US and Australia for up to $250 million. The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.
Simplus is a leading provider and advisor in cloud consulting, implementation, data integration, change management and training services for Salesforce quote-to-cash applications with more than 4,500 projects.
This acquisition, along with that of Fluido announced in September 2018, is expected to strengthen Infosys' position as an end-to-end Salesforce enterprise cloud solutions and services provider, providing clients with the necessary capabilities for cloud-first digital transformation.

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