General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2017

Feb 2017

Dec 03, 2019

Uber Opens centre of Excellence in Andhra

U.S. headquartered cab aggregator Uber announced the setting up of its second centre of excellence (CoE) in India, which is expected to create 500 jobs by 2020. The CoE in Visakhapatnam is being set up at a cost of $8 lakh. The company already operates a CoE in Hyderabad with about 1,000 employees.
The CoE provides customer support services to Uber riders as well as drivers. The teams at the centre will respond to any urgent issue or incident that is reported to the company and will operate 24/7.
The Visakhapatnam facility is the 12th such centre globally for the company. Uber has two CoEs in the U.S. in Chicago and Phoenix, and four in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region in Limerick (Ireland), Lisbon (Portugal), Cairo (Egypt), and Krakow (Poland). It has two CoEs each in Latin America (Costa Rica and Sao Paulo), and Philippines (Manila and Pampanga).

Tata Motors Bags Orders To Supply Over 2300 Buses

Tata Motors announced that it has bagged orders to supply over 2300 buses to various state transports like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and the company is trying to complete this order by February 2020.
Tata Motors offers a comprehensive range of buses from intercity travel options to safe transports which are suitable for public commute needs.
Tata Motors currently designs, develops and manufacturers its buses in Pune, Dharwad, Pantnagar and Lucknow. It has also partnered with body manufacturers in Goa and Brazil where the Marcopolo buses are made. The company also claims that its manufacturing Full Building Vehicles (FBVs) meets government's new norms of safety, fuel efficiency, wider bus gangways and can run on both CNG and diesel.

Exchanges Suspend Karvy

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE have suspended the membership of Karvy Stock Broking (KSB) with immediate effect for non-compliance with exchange regulations. This comes close on the heels of the regulator barring the Hyderabad-based entity from signing new clients for alleged misuse of client funds.
While NSE has suspended Karvy Stock Broking from all segments, BSE said that the trading terminals of KSB have been deactivated in the equity and debt segment, while it had been put on risk reduction mode (RRM) in the derivatives segment.

DHFL Admitted for Bankruptcy

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal admitted the crippled mortgage player DHFL for bankruptcy proceedings.
The move came in after the Reserve Bank last week made an application for bankruptcy proceedings to resolve the credit and liquidity crisis at the company, which became the first financial sector player being sent for bankruptcy.
The third largest pure-play mortgage player has been in liquidity crisis for long and in November the RBI had superseded its board and placed under an administrator.
Following this, the RBI had issued a statement that it would be sent to NCLT for debt resolution.

Dec 02, 2019

Hyundai Venue Set to Enter S. Africa

Hyundai Motor India Ltd's (HMIL) Venue is all set to enter South Africa, propelled by strong demand for its first connected mobility in the Sport Utility Vehicle segment from the overseas market.
The first shipment of 1,400 Hyundai Venue vehicles left from Chennai Port to South Africa market.
The popularity and demand for the made-in-India Venue is evident in the overseas market as well. Venue is already being exported to Nepal, Bhutan, Mauritius and Seychelles.

Arcelor, Thriveni in Bidding War for OSPIL

Arcelor Mittal is facing stiff competition in its bid for Odisha Slurry Pipeline Infrastructure Ltd (OSPIL), an insolvent company whose single asset could cut the cost of production at Essar Steel by a fifth. Thriveni Earthmovers Pvt. Ltd, one of the country's largest iron ore mine developers and operators, has offered to pay back creditors in full —principal and interest— but over a five-year period.
Arcelor Mittal made an upfront cash offer of Rs. 2,200 crore for OSPIL, while Thriveni placed a bid of Rs. 3,300 crore, with Rs. 8 crore of upfront cash and the rest in staggered payments, two people aware of the bid details said on condition of anonymity. OSPIL has Rs. 2,352 crore of principal outstanding to various classes of creditors. With accumulated interest, the outstanding liabilities are Rs. 3,300 crore.

Axis Bank More than Doubles Loan Provisions for Troubled Sectors

The third largest private sector lender Axis Bank is setting aside more capital, more than twice over the regulatory requirements, for loans in sectors it has identified as stressed.
The bank is maintaining a standard asset provisioning of 1 percentage point for bad loans in such sectors, as against the regulatory provision of 0.40 per cent.
The move, which is being followed at least since April, comes amid continuing concerns on high quantum of non-performing assets in its book. The high level of NPAs and the ensuing provisioning have impacted the profits of a majority of lenders, including Axis Bank, over the past four years.

Temasek in Talks to Invest up to $100 mn in Cure.fit

Cure.fit is seeking a valuation of about $800 million post the fundraise, up from its $575 million valuation less than six months ago.
Temasek is in talks to invest up to $100 million in health and fitness start-up Cure.fit as the Singapore state investor looks to diversify its strategy and back more tech start-ups.
Temasek is actively scouting for late-stage technology investments in India and wants to cut cheques of at least $75 million. Cure.fit needs the capital to grow its food and diagnostics plays, and the deal is expected to close in 6-8 weeks.
Cure.fit was founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal, co-founder of fashion retailer Myntra, and Ankit Nagori, ex-chief business officer at Flipkart.

AAI Recommends Privatising Airports in Amritsar, Indore, Four Other Cities

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) recommended the Centre to privatise airports at Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Raipur and Trichy.
The recommendation came as the central government has already privatised airports at Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati for operation, management and development through public-private partnership (PPP) model in February this year. As six airports have already been privatised in February this year, the AAI in its board meeting September decided to privatise six more airports: Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Raipur and Trichy.

Dec 01, 2019

Govt. Signs Pacts with BYD, Eight Others

The Tamil Nadu government signed nine Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with an investment commitment of Rs. 5,027 crore, with a potential to provide 20,351 jobs. The main investment is from China's auto and electronics major BYD.
The pacts were signed at the Investment and Skill Development Conclave, organised by the State government and presided over by Chief Minister Edappadi K.
According to the MoU, BYD's Indian arm will establish a facility to manufacture phone components near Chennai with an investment of Rs. 2,800 crore and employ 11,000 people. It would also manufacture electric vehicles and batteries.
Some of the others companies with whom pacts were signed are: Ather Energy, ITC Paper Board and Speciality Papers Division Unit, Mitsuba Sical India Pvt. Ltd , SNF Components Pvt. Ltd, Shreevari Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd and Growth Link Overseas Company Ltd.

RBL Bank to Raise Rs. 826 cr. via Preferential Allotment

Private sector lender RBL Bank is raising Rs. 825.79 crore in equity capital from five investors by issuing shares through preferential allotment. The investors are Bajaj Finance, East Bridge Capital Master Fund I, FEG Mauritius FPI, Ward Ferry Management-controlled hedge fund WF Asian Reconnaissance Fund, and Asia-focused stock hedge fund lshana Capital.
The bank's board agreed to allot 24.24 million shares at Rs. 340.7 a piece on a private-placement basis in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018.

Reliance Jio likely to Bag Reliance Infra's Mobile Tower, Optical Fibre

Reliance Jio emerged as the highest bidder for mobile tower and optical fibre assets of Reliance Infratel by placing bids of around Rs. 3,600 crore. Bharti Airtel placed a bid of around Rs. 1,800 crore for the same.
Reliance Infratel's tower and fibre is likely to go to Reliance Jio as its bid of Rs. 3,600 crore is the highest and the company has committed to make the payment in 60 days.
As per reports, the process of finalising the bids will take a minimum of one-two weeks as committee of creditors (CoC) will meet all the bidders and negotiate with them and then vote on it.
Bharti Airtel has also made conditional bid for spectrum of Reliance Communications (RCom).
The conditions placed by Bharti Airtel will make it difficult for the resolution professional (RP) to close the process by January 10 as directed by the National Company Law Tribunal.
Reliance Jio did not bid for RCom spectrum.

12 Global Companies Want to Shift Base from China to India

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that 12 global companies are interested to shift their base from China to India, thanks to the corporate tax cut.
The government in September 2019 reduced the corporate tax rate by almost 10 percentage points in a bid to give a boost to sagging economy. The base corporate tax for existing companies has been reduced to 22 per cent from 30 per cent, and for new manufacturing firms incorporated after October 1, 2019, and starting operation before March 31, 2023, it was slashed to 15 per cent from 25 per cent.

Nov 30, 2019

Planned Aramco-Adnoc Refinery In India To Cost $70bn

A massive refinery complex to be built on the western coast of India by Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is expected to cost as much as $70 billion, nearly twice the amount initially estimated.
The 1.2 million barrels-per-day greenfield integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex being planned in the Maharashtra state will be supplied with 600,000 bpd of Saudi crude. The refinery plans were part of several investment pledges made during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the UAE capital.

Reserve Bank sends DHFL to NCLT for debt resolution

The Reserve Bank sent the troubled mortgage lender Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL) for bankruptcy proceedings, making it the first financial services player to go to NCLT for a possible debt resolution.
Last week, the central bank had superseded the board of the third-largest pureplay mortgage lender on concerns over its corporate governance and defaults, and appointed an administrator.
The Reserve Bank today (Friday) filed an application for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process (with the NCLT Mumbai) against DHFL under Section 227 of the insolvency and bankruptcy code.

India, ADB Sign $451 Million Loan To Strengthen Power Connectivity In Tamil Nadu

India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a 451 million dollar loan to strengthen power connectivity between southern and northern parts of Chennai-Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC).
CKIC is a part of East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC) in Tamil Nadu and ADB is the lead partner of government for developing ECEC.
The signatories to the loan agreement were Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary (Fund Bank and ADB) at the Department of Economic Affairs, and Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB's India Resident Mission.

Hallmarking Mandatory For Gold Jewellery Beginning Jan 2021

Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday said that the Centre will make hallmarking compulsory for gold jewellery beginning January 15, 2021.
The government will issue a notification on January 15, 2020, to make hallmarking mandatory for gold jewellery and it will come into force one year later, that is from January 15, 2021.
After the issue of the notification, it will become mandatory for the jewellers to register with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and sell only hallmark gold jewellery and artefacts beginning January 15, 2021.

BlackBuck Partners With IDFC Bank, Yes Bank To Offer Free FASTags To Truckers

Online trucking platform BlackBuck has partnered with private lenders IDFC Bank and Yes Bank to provide FASTags to truck owners free of cost.
Truck owners can order FASTags on BlackBuck's Boss App, a digital services platform exclusively for truck fleet owners, and it will be delivered at their doorstep free of cost until December 31, 2019.
BlackBuck offers free FASTags to truck owners across India. The FASTags on BlackBuck Boss app are provided in partnership with IDFC Bank and Yes Bank. The initiative is expected to help over 3 million trucks in India become FASTag compliant.

Nov 29, 2019

Airtel Offers Rs. 9,500 cr for RCom Assets

Bharti Airtel Ltd offered the highest upfront cash settlement among four bidders for Reliance Communications Ltd's assets, which are under insolvency proceedings.
Bharti Airtel offered about Rs. 9,500 crore to acquire the assets that include spectrum, telecom towers, fibre, data centres and real estate. Upfront cash is often a key factor that creditors evaluate while deciding on a winning bidder.
Reliance Jio, which had agreed to buy the assets of Reliance Communications in 2018, did not bid for the spectrum and real estate assets this time. Reliance Jio Infocomm offered Rs. 3,600 crore as upfront cash payment, but has not placed a bid on RCom's spectrum assets or the company's real estate.
New Delhi-based UV Asset Reconstruction Co. Ltd offered a bid of Rs. 12,760 crore, which will be staggered over several years.

Punjab Launches EMS & Web-GIS to Ease Business

The Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC), under the visionary leadership of Capt. Amarinder Singh, launched Estate Management System (EMS)&Web-GIS (Geographic Information System) with the aim of ensuring transparency and promoting ease of doing business in the State.
Through EMS, applicants/ allottees will be able to apply for allotment of industrial/ commercial/ residential plots, pay dues online and also availpost-allotment services with respect to their plots.
Web-based GIS will facilitate applicants/allottees to know about land availability, provision of basic amenities, like roads, sewage, electricity etc. and proximity to roads, railways, airports, dry ports etc.

Warburg Plans$1.5 bn Fund for Indian Market

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC is looking to raise up to $1.5 billion for its first fund targeting deals in India, betting on a surge in investment opportunities in Asia's third-largest economy.
Warburg plans to finish fundraising on its India-focussed fund, which will target industrial sectors such as financial, manufacturing and consumer, by the first half of 2020. Launches of India-focused private equity funds are rare, and big global buyout firms such as KKR & Co Inc, Bain Capital and Blackstone Group Inc. typically invest in a country mainly from their regional funds. Warburg declined to comment.
The sources did not want to be identified as the firm's plans are not public yet. Private equity investments are expected to pick up in India as some companies look to sell shares to fund growth, while some family-owned firms explore selling controlling stakes to pay off debt.

Foreign Retail Companies Expand Footprint in China: MOC

Foreign retail companies expanded their businesses in China with more storefronts and new brands in 2019.
As per said MOC spokesperson Gao Feng, since the beginning of this year, a slew of international companies including Adidas, Nike and Lego have opened new flagship stores in major Chinese cities, while German supermarket chain ALDI entered the Chinese mainland market and Lawson convenience stores swept across third- to fourth-tier cities.
China's retail market is marked by openness and rapid growth.

Govt. Seeks Parliament Nod for Rs. 21,246 cr Extra Spend

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought parliamentary approval for gross additional expenditure of Rs. 21,246 crore, part of which will be used to recapitalise IDBI Bank Ltd and three state-run insurers.
The government will use the funds to infuse Rs. 4,557 crore into IDBI Bank and Rs. 2,500 crore into state-run insurance companies through recapitalisation bonds. This will help IDBI Bank, now controlled by state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India, to come out of the restrictive prompt corrective action framework.
The fund infusion into the three state-run general insurers—National Insurance, United India Insurance and Oriental Insurance—ahead of their proposed merger will help them maintain solvency margin and wipe out losses.

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