General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2017

Feb 2017

Feb 23, 2019

RBI Bundles NBFCs

To provide greater operational flexibility to non-banking lenders, the Reserve Bank created a single category for NBFCs by bundling their present three-tier structure.
The central bank also decided that exposures to all NBFCs, excluding core investment companies, would be risk weighted as per credit ratings.
According to RBI, asset finance, loan, and investment companies have been merged into a new category called NBFC- Investment and Credit Companies.

FPIs Invest in Markets

Foreign investors pumped in Rs. 6,311 crore into the Indian capital markets, the highest inflow in a single day in February so far.
According to the latest data from the BSE, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought securities worth Rs. 10,437.99 crore and sold securities amounting to Rs. 4,126.98 crore, translating into a net inflow of Rs. 6,311 crore.

Vistara and Japan Air sign Deal

Full-service carrier Vistara and Japan Airlines announced a code share partnership that will allow passengers a seamless transfer from one airline to the other.
With this agreement, Vistara has become the only code share partner for Japan Airlines in India.
Japan Airlines will now be able add its 'JL' designator code to approximately 32 Vistara-operated flights each day across India covering seven Indian cities, namely Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune.
Vistara already has similar tie-ups with British Airways, Singapore Airlines and SilkAir.

Feb 22, 2019

Big Win for Piramal

The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Saridon, a heritage brand from the healthcare product portfolio of Piramal Enterprises Ltd. (PEL), exempting its formulation from the list of banned FDCs (fixed dose combinations).
In September 2018, Piramal had obtained a stay order from the Supreme Court on the ban, which allowed it to continue manufacturing, distribution and sale of the fixed dose combination.

Alstom Wins Bangalore Metro Contract

Alstom has been awarded a Rs. 580 crore contract by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited to provide power supply and traction electrification for the 33-kilometre extension to Bangalore Metro under Phase II.
It is Alstom's largest third-rail electrification contract in India. Phase II encompasses extension of Bangalore Metro's existing north-south and east-west corridors.

NIIT Tech and Microsoft in Collaboration

NIIT Technologies has announced a global collaboration with Microsoft, to accelerate the cloudification of its enterprise clients.
The collaboration would focus on the comprehensive cloud needs of enterprises from infrastructure to business applications.
Both the companies have concluded a strategic cloud solution provider (CSP) agreement that enables NIIT Technologies to directly manage the entire life cycle for its enterprise customers including commercials and support and deliver integrated end-to-end solutions as a managed service on Azure platform.

ONGC and OIL Asked to Sell Fields

The Centre has asked Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd. (OIL) to sell 66 of their small oil and gas fields to private firms as it brought in a new policy to boost domestic production and cut imports. ONGC and OIL have a total of 184 fields.
They have been asked to provide enhanced production profile for 66 of these fields, which contribute 95% of the 36 million tonnes of annual oil production in the country, and given freedom to induct private and foreign partners.

Reliance Capital Invites Nippon Life

Reliance Capital has invited Nippon Life to make an offer to acquire up to 42.88% held by Reliance Capital in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management, the mutual fund (MF) business of the Anil Ambani Group.
If the transaction goes through, then the entity would also become the largest wholly foreign-owned mutual fund house in India.
The development comes amidst various attempts by Mr. Ambani to reduce the huge overall debt of his business group, which is facing cases at the Supreme Court and the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

ReNew Power Gets Debt Funding

Clean energy producer ReNew Power secured a fresh debt financing of up to $350 million from the U.S. government's development finance institution Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
This follows an earlier round of financing when OPIC granted a loan of $250 million to ReNew Power in March 2016.
The funds will be utilised by ReNew Power to support construction of new wind and solar power plants in India.

Jet EGM Takes Nod for Stake Acquisition by Banks

At a general meeting (EGM) the troubled airline Jet Airways failed to discuss its exact financial condition or the way forward and merely restricted itself to discussing and passing resolutions allowing banks to acquire majority stake.
The airline is saddled with a bank debt of Rs. 8,200 crore and other dues to vendors, lessors and senior employees.
At the meeting, the company discussed and passed enabling resolutions, allowing banks to acquire majority stake for Rs. 1 and allow them to induct their nominees into the board.

Feb 21, 2019

Fall in April to December FDI

According to Commerce and Industry Ministry data, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India contracted by 7% to $33.49 billion during April-December in the current fiscal.
Foreign fund inflows during April-December 2017-18 stood at $35.94 billion. The key sectors that received the maximum foreign investment in the nine months of this fiscal include services, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, trading, chemicals, and the automobile industry.
Singapore was the largest source of FDI with $12.97 billion inflow.

Merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with BoB

Bank of Baroda said that the merger of Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank with itself would be effective from April 1 as per the scheme of amalgamation approved by the government.
The board of the bank fixed March 11, 2019, as record date for issuing and allotting equity shares of the Bank of Baroda to the shareholders of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank.

Kalyani and Belcan Enter into a Partnership

Kalyani Group and Belcan, LLC have entered into a partnership to provide highly advanced technological product and service offerings in defence, aerospace, and other technical segments in India.
The companies will work together in the design and development of helicopter engines and transmission systems in defence and aerospace, as well as collaborate on advanced manufacturing practices and digital manufacturing & internet of things solutions.
This collaboration allows Kalyani Group to dovetail the metallurgical and manufacturing excellence of its flagship company Bharat Forge Ltd. with cutting edge design and engineering capabilities of Belcan, LLC to deliver high quality products and services to our customers.

Zephyr Peacock Invests in Shiksha Finance

City-based education finance company Shiksha Financial Services India Pvt. Ltd. has raised Rs. 55 crore to provide financial aid to educational institutions and school children.
The funds would be used to provide working capital to educational institutions and to parents as non-collateral loans to pay school education fees.

Recapitalisation Package for PSBs

As per reports, the government has approved the disbursal of a recapitalisation package of Rs. 48,239 crore for 12 public sector banks.
This package has a four-fold objective: (i) bringing the better-performing banks currently in the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) category out of it, (ii) helping those that have recently come out of PCA to stay out of it, (iii) equipping non-PCA banks to meet regulatory requirements, and (iv) helping the remaining PCA banks to meet their requirements as well.
The 12 banks are Allahabad Bank, Corporation Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, Andhra Bank, Syndicate Bank, Central Bank, United Bank, UCO Bank, and Indian Overseas Bank.

Feb 20, 2019

Steel Facility for Railways

JSL Lifestyle Ltd., a subsidiary of Jindal Stainless Steel, has commissioned its first dedicated facility for Railways.
The facility has come up at Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai. The new facility would supply stainless steel components to Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, for production of railway coaches.
Earlier, these components were supplied from the Pathredi unit of Jindal in Haryana.

Chandigarh Gives Nod to Bike Taxis

The Chandigarh administration has given its nod to plying of bike taxis in the city. The State Transport Authority (STA) has been asked to frame a policy, so that the service can be introduced within a month.
App-based cab service Uber had launched 100 bike taxis under the Punjab government's 'Apni Gaddi Apna Rozgar' scheme in Mohali on July 25, 2017. For a couple of days, these two-wheelers even operated in Chandigarh, but then the STA started challaning them.

ABB Wins Train Technologies Order

ABB has won its largest traction equipment order in India, worth more than Rs. 270 crore to supply state-of-the-art converters for electric locomotives from Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), in Varanasi.
The converters are custom designed for Indian Railways and will be manufactured at one of ABB's largest factories for locomotive applications in Nelamangala, near Bengaluru, in Southern India.

Tax Concession Limit for Startups Raised

Giving a major relief to startups, the government has decided to relax angel tax norms for startups, including increasing the investment limit to Rs. 25 crore for availing income tax concessions by startups.
Currently, startups avail tax concession only if total investment, including funding from angel investors, does not exceed Rs. 10 crore.
The definition of startups has been enhanced to an entity which has been in operation for up to ten years from its date of incorporation or registration, instead of the current seven years.

SIDBI Plans Bond Issue

Government-owned Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) will raise Rs. 300 crore through bonds over the next few months from a clutch of investors, including Tata Group companies such as Tata Chemicals, Voltas, Titan and Trent.
Wealth managers such as Centrum Group, ASK Wealth Advisors, Ambit Capital and Aditya Birla Finance have reached out to high net worth individuals and impact investors to raise funds.
Private equity fund KKR has also evinced interest to subscribe the bonds.
The World Bank group, which is facilitating the fund-raising, said that the money would be extended to micro finance institutions, which, in turn, would be disbursed to women entrepreneurs.
The bonds will be unsecured and unlisted with a fixed coupon rate of 3% and with a tenure of five years.

Feb 19, 2019

IOC Signs Deal to Buy U.S. Crude

In the first-ever deal by an Indian company, Indian Oil Corporation signed an annual deal worth $1.5 billion to import 3 million tonnes of crude oil in the fiscal year beginning April 1.
This is the first time any Indian refiner has signed an annual contract, since the country in 2017 began importing crude oil from the U.S.
The term contract follows IOC signing up to buy crude oil from the U.S. through a term-tender deal in August 2018.
It had, at that time, bought about 6 million barrels of U.S. crude oil under a single tender for delivery between November 2018 and January 2019.
This is the first term contract finalised by any Indian PSU oil company for import of U.S. origin crude oil grades.
Prior to this, IOC and other state-owned oil firms bought crude oil from the U.S. on a spot or current tender basis which comprised one shipload of oil.

ArcelorMittal Bids for Mahan Project

ArcelorMittal SA has set its sight on yet another asset of India's Essar Group. The world's largest steelmaker has bid Rs. 4,800 crore to acquire Essar Power Ltd's Mahan power project.
The offer is 37% more than the Rs. 3,500 crore offered as a one-time settlement by promoters of Essar for the Mahan plant.
ArcelorMittal has offered Rs. 4 crore per megawatt for the 1,200 megawatts (MW) project in Madhya Pradesh.
The project has debt outstanding of about Rs. 7,500 crore. Lenders to the Mahan project are ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Rural Electrification Corp. (REC) and PFC.

RBI to Pay Government Interim Surplus

Ending the suspense, the Reserve Bank of India announced that it would transfer Rs. 28,000 crore to the Centre as interim surplus for the half-year ended December 2018.
This will take the Centre's total receipts from the RBI as surplus transfer in 2018-19 to Rs. 68,000 crore. The central bank had earlier paid Rs. 40,000 crore to the government as its final share of surplus for 2017-18. The RBI follows July-June accounting year.
The interim surplus transferred by the RBI now is crucial to the Centre's ability to meet the revised fiscal deficit target of 3.4% for this fiscal.

Rules for Chartering of Ships Revised

To incentivise ship-building activity in the country, the Ministry of Shipping has revised its guidelines for chartering of ships by providing Right of First Refusal ( RoFR) to ships built in India.
Henceforth, whenever a tendering process is undertaken to charter a vessel, a bidder offering a ship built in India will be given the first priority to match the L1 quote.
It is expected that this priority given to ships built in India will raise the demand for such vessels, providing them with additional market access and business support.
The existing licensing conditions have been reviewed in consonance with the Government of India's policy of promoting the 'Make In India' initiative and the Public Procurement and Make in India orders dated June 15, 2017 and May 28, 2018 issued by the DIPP.

Glenmark Gets USFDA Nod

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals received the final approval from the USFDA for its generic version of clobetasol propionate foam, a steroid used to treat inflammation and itching of skin.
The approval has been granted to Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, U.S., for clobetasol propionate foam, 0.05%, a generic version of Olux Foam, 0.05% of Mylan Pharmaceuticals.

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