General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2017

Feb 2017

Jan 22, 2020

Adani Capital Buys Essel Finance's MSME Lending Bisuness

Adani Capital Pvt. Ltd, the non-banking financial company (NBFC) arm of Adani Group focused on and micro-entrepreneurs, has acquired Essel Finance's micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) loan business.
Through the acquisition, Adani Capital has secured a loan book of around Rs. 145 crore, operating out of 10 cities, comprising approximately 1,100 customers and 40 employees.
This is the second asset of debt-laden Subash Chandra group that Adani has acquired.

Vodafone m-pesa Surrenders PPI Licence

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the Certificate of Authorisation (CoA) of payment system operator (PSO) Vodafone m-pesa after the prepaid payment instrument player decided to surrender is licence. Following the cancellation of the CoA, the company cannot transact the business of issuance and operation of Prepaid Payment Instruments.
Customers or merchants having a valid claim on the firm as a PSO, can approach the company for settlement of their claims within three years from the date of cancellation, that is, by September 30, 2022.

FM May Raise Divestment Goal for FY21

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to set an even more ambitious disinvestment target of Rs. 1.5 lakh crore for the year starting April 1, 2020 mostly because many of the strategic sales planned for the current year, including that of Air India, have been delayed.
The strategic disinvestments that are now expected to be completed in the next fiscal include Air India, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor) and Shipping Corporation of India Ltd (SCI).
The stiffer target for 2020-21 comes after government officials acknowledged that the disinvestment target of Rs. 1.05 lakh crore for 2019-20 will fall short by around Rs. 50,000 crore due to delays.

Food Fight Heats Up after Zomato-Uber Deal

Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd has acquired the Indian business of Uber Eats, the food delivery business of the ride-sharing giant, in an all-stock deal, adding a powerful new investor to its shareholder roster in its battle against arch-rival Swiggy for supremacy in India.
Uber will get a 10% stake in Zomato in a deal that values Uber Eats at $300-350 million. In January, Zomato raised $150 million in fresh capital at a valuation of $3 billion from existing investor Ant Financial.
The Uber Eats app has been shut in India and the app now directs food delivery customers to sign up for Zomato. Delivery workers working with Uber Eats will also move to Zomato.

Bangladesh Factories Ordered to Shut to Save Key River

Bangladesh's High Court ordered the shutdown of 231 factories that have contributed to Dhaka's main river becoming one of the world's most polluted. The court ordered the authorities to take immediate action against the 231 factories including dyeing and rubber plants and tanneries dumping effluent into the Buriganga. The Buriganga connects the capital with the southern coastal districts through a network of rivers.

Dish TV's Merger Talks with Airtel Digital Stall

Dish TV India Ltd.'s talks to merge with Airtel Digital TV have stalled on differences over the deal's structure.
Essel Group's Dish TV has opted to explore a sale of the business for cash instead of an all-stock merger. The direct-to-home arm of Bharti Airtel Ltd. remained committed to offering shares, contributing to the stalemate.

Jan 21, 2020

186 agri products testing laboratories set up by APEDA: Government

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has added 135 laboratories to existing 51 recognized laboratories to enable exporters have an easy access to the laboratories for testing of exports.
With this initiative APEDA recognition of laboratories has reached 186 laboratories across the country.
The number of laboratories have increased in states. This includes 35 in Maharashtra, 23 in Gujarat, 10 in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, 23 in Tamil Nadu and 17 in Karnataka. Laboratory testing requirements are crucial in agri export supply chain.
For increasing the laboratory network further, the authority has taken a policy decision to simplify the recognition of labs.

PIA awards Rs700m contract to dubious company

In a scandalous deal, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have awarded a contract of Rs700 million for the up-gradation of In Flight Entertainment (IFE) in eight Boeing 777 aircraft to a local company which was registered only two months before the tender was floated.
A retired Pakistan Air Force officer, Group Captain (R) Khawaja Moizuddin, is the owner of that company, M/s Avionic Solutions Private Limited. It was incorporated with a capital share of Rs100,000. He is said to be a close friend of PIA CEO, Air Marshal Arshad Malik. The PIA spokesman termed the allegation "highly unfair and absurd." Malik is presently under suspension on the order of the Sindh High Court after a petitioner challenged his appointment.

India attracted $49 billion FDI in 2019, among top 10 recipients of overseas investment: UNCTAD

India was among the top 10 recipients of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2019, attracting $49 billion in inflows, a 16% increase from the previous year, driving the FDI growth in South Asia. The majority went into services industries, including information technology.
The global foreign direct investment remained flat in 2019 at $1.39 trillion, a 1% decline from a revised $1.41 trillion in 2018.

Samsung says may invest $500 mn to set up display factory in India

South Korean flat screen maker Samsung Display plans to set up a factory in India with a $500 million investment as parent Samsung Electronics Co Ltd seeks to expand smartphone production there, a regulatory filing showed.
The move would be a boon for India which is vying with nearby rivals such as Vietnam to attract global smartphone firms under the government's "Make in India" drive.
Under the plan, Samsung Electronics will provide 35 billion rupees ($492.31 million) in loans and transfer a parcel of land in Noida for 920 million rupees to its display unit.

Vodafone Idea, Bharti move Supreme Court to modify AGR order

Telecom majors Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel moved the Supreme Court for modification of its October 24, 2019 order for payment of dues to the government within three months, saying the direction would have huge ramifications on the telecom industry and "severely hamper" programmes like Digital India, Make in India and Skill India.
The pleas come after a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Arun Mishra, on January 16 dismissed petitions filed by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, among others, for a review of its October 2019 judgment, upholding the recovery of past dues amounting to ₹1.47 lakh crore from them. The recovery by the government was based on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of about ₹92,000 crore.
Vodafone urged the court to alter its order and permit it to submit an application before the Department of Telecom (DoT) for drawing up a schedule for payment of the dues.

Jan 20, 2020

Mastercard To Invest $1 Bn In India Over 5 Years Towards Tech Development

Global payments company Mastercard has planned to invest nearly $1 billion in India over the next five years towards the development of new technologies and products.
Both of these facilities catered to the company's global operations, of which Vadodara provided the backend multiple payments support. The company was looking to expanding the Pune centre.

Airport Contracts Could be Capped at 2 Per Company

As per reports, private bidders, vying for future airport privatisation projects, are likely to be restricted to a maximum of two in each round of auction.
The proposed rules are set to be implemented before the next round of airport privatisation that the government is planning.
The review of the rules comes after Adani Enterprises Ltd, the company controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, snapped up all six contracts for upgrading airports in 2019 despite having no experience in running them.

PF Benefits Should be Extended to Contractual Employees

The Supreme Court held in a judgment that the benefits of the provident fund should be extended to contractual employees.
A bench of Justices U. U. Lalit and Indu Malhotra held that employees who draw wages or salaries directly or indirectly from a company are entitled to provident fund benefits under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Act.
The judgment came on the basis of a petition filed by M/s Pawan Hans Limited, a government company which provides helicopter support services to the oil sector for its offshore exploration operations, services in remote and hilly areas, and charter services for the promotion of tourism.

Govt. May put curbs on sale of liquor at duty-free shops

The government is considering a proposal of the commerce ministry to reduce the permitted quantity of tax-free foreign liquor and cigarettes purchased from a duty-free shop in line with the practice followed by countries such as the United States, China, South Korea and Singapore.
The proposal was part of the larger exercise to curtail import of non-essential goods into the country.

Essel to Sell Two Road Assets to NIIF-Roadis

Essel group had begun talks with NIIF, India's sovereign wealth fund, and Roadis to sell part of its road portfolio after discussions with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada's second-largest pension fund manager (CDPQ) fell through last summer. Essel had previously agreed to sell three of its road projects to CDPQ at an enterprise value of Rs. 3,300-3,500 crore.
The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and its joint venture partner Roadis are close to buying two road projects from Essel Infraprojects, wholly owned by Subhash Chandra's debt-laden Essel group, in a deal valued at an estimated Rs. 1500-1800 crore.
Discussions with the Essel group began soon after NIIF and Roadis created a joint platform in April 2019 that would invest in road projects in India.
This joint venture could invest up to $2 billion as equity in public roads in India, by targeting toll-operate-transfer models, acquiring existing road concessions and investment opportunities in the road sector with the aim of creating a large roads platform in the country.

Jan 19, 2020

Yes Bank Ratings Put Under Review

Moody's has placed Yes Bank's long-term foreign currency rating under review as the private sector lender struggles to raise capital. Moody's also placed the bank's long-term foreign and local currency bank deposit ratings of B2, and its foreign currency senior unsecured MTN program rating of (P)B2, under review, with the direction uncertain. The Baseline Credit Assessment was also downgraded to 'Caa2' from 'B3'.

Amazon to Create 1 mn New Jobs in India

World's largest online shopping platform Amazon announced plans to create one million new jobs in India over the next five years as it firefights comments from Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on the firm not doing a favour to the country by making the investments.
The new jobs - created both directly and indirectly - will be across industries, including IT, skill development, content creation, retail, logistics, and manufacturing.
These jobs are in addition to the seven lakh jobs Amazon's investments have enabled over the last six years in the country.

Piramal Enterprises Sells Overseas Arm

Piramal Enterprises signed an agreement for the sale of its Decision Resources Group (DRG) business to US-based Clarivate Analytics for $950 million (over Rs. 6,745 crore).
This divestment is expected to be completed by end of February 2020.
This includes $900 million on closing and $50 million to be received at the end of 12 months from the date of closing.

Jio Becomes India's Largest Telco

Reliance Jio is now the number one telecom operator in India by both subscriber- base as well as revenue market share, achieving the feat after a little over three years of operations.
The Mukesh Ambani-led company added 5.6 million mobile subscribers in November, taking its total to 369.93 million, and replacing Vodafone Idea as the country's largest mobile services provider by subscribers.
With this, Jio holds a 32.04% share of subscribers in the over 1.15-billion-user Indian mobile services market. It had a 30.79% market share at the end of October 2019.
Unlike its rivals, Jio's user-base is entirely made up of 4G subscribers.
To be sure, the company had already become the number one in terms of revenue market share in 2019 when it grabbed 31.7% share of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) that the industry recorded in the April-June period.

Jan 18, 2020

NCLT Approves Takeover of Frontier Lifeline

The UAE-based First Step Ventures is set to take over Frontier Lifeline Private Ltd, after its Rs. 75-crore resolution plan was approved by a division bench of the National Bench of the Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Chennai.
Promoted by senior cardiac surgeon K. M. Cherian, the company runs the 100-bed Frontier Lifeline Hospital in Chennai. The hospital and Dr. K. M. Cherian Heart Foundation also promoted the 360-acre Medical Science Park, Frontier Mediville, at Elavur village in Tiruvallur district. It was the first medical research park in the country, and also a medical special economic zone (SEZ).

Higher GST Mop-up Target Set

Enforcement actions have multiplied and pressure has mounted on revenue officers to augment GST collections in the remaining period of the fiscal.
Directing field officers to go after fraudsters and non-filers using data analytics, the Revenue Department has fixed the GST target for January and February 2020 at Rs. 1.15 lakh crore each while the March collection is to be Rs. 1.25 lakh crore.
About 40,000 companies had been red-flagged for availing excess or fraudulent ITC (input tax credit) and other tax-related wrongful issues, through data analytics.

Jet Airways to Sell Netherlands Business

Bankrupt Jet Airways plans to sell its Netherlands business to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The carrier, which shuttered operations in April 2019, is undergoing insolvency resolution process. The insolvency resolution professional managing the affairs of Jet said that various options are being explored for the company's resolution. The company said that there is a separate liquidation proceeding ongoing in the Netherlands. In this context, the company and Dutch trustee have entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV, for the proposed resolution of business activities of the company in the Netherlands as approved by the committee of creditors.

GM to Sell Talegaon Plant to Great Wall Motors

General Motors agreed to sell its Talegaon manufacturing facility to Chinese automaker Great Wall Motors (GWM). This signals the end of GM's manufacturing operations in the country. The acquisition is part of the Chinese company's plans to expand its operations as it faces slowdown in the domestic market.
Under a binding term sheet signed, the GM India legal entity, which includes the Talegaon facility, will be transferred to GWM.
GWM Global Strategy Vice-President Liu Xiangshang said that the transaction would underpin the company's plan to enter and invest in India.

China in Elite $10,000 Per Capita GDP Club

China's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) crossed $10,000 for the first time in 2019 and it could become a high-income economy by 2023 or 2024.
The Chinese economy grew at 6.1% in 2019, its lowest GDP growth in 29 years. Yet, China's importance in the global economy cannot be overemphasised. The Chinese economy accounts for almost 30% of the global GDP growth. Both in terms of per capita GDP and global contribution to growth, China is now far ahead of India, although the gap has been plateauing in the recent years.

Alphabet 4th US Company to Hit $1 Trillion Mark

Sundar Pichai-led Alphabet, Google's parent company, joined the elitist club of US companies with $1 trillion valuation which includes Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.
The iPhone maker was the first US company to hit the $1 trillion threshold in 2018.
Alphabet founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced plans to step down in December 2019, elevating Pichai as both Alphabet and Google CEO.

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