General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2017

Feb 2017

Sep 17, 2018

BoI to Raise Rs. 1,000 cr from Sale of Non-core Assets

Bank of India (BOI) is looking to raise about Rs. 1,000 crore through selling stake in some of non-core assets and real estate properties. The bank expects to raise about Rs. 800 crore via sale of its stake in NBFC �" STCI Finance �" and in SIDBI by the third quarter of this fiscal. The lender has lined up some of its real estate assets to sell and expects to raise about Rs. 200 crore through the sale.

Union Bank to Exit Antwerp Hub

State-owned Union Bank of India has decided to quit the Antwerp diamond hub in Belgium as the branch did not generate expected business.

The Finance Ministry had advised all the public sector banks to review their overseas business and close branches that are not profitable as part of strategy to conserve capital.

Sep 16, 2018

Trade Deficit Narrows

The country's exports rose at the fastest pace in three months to reach $27.84 billion in August on account of healthy growth in petroleum products, engineering, pharma, and gems and jewellery shipments. Imports too grew by 25.41% in August to $45.24 billion due to costlier crude oil shipments.

Sale of Loss-making Air India Subsidiaries

As per reports, the government plans to soon initiate the strategic sale process for at least four subsidiaries of loss-making Air India, including Airline Allied Services Ltd (AASL) and Hotel Corporation of India (HCI).

Besides, plans are on the anvil for selling the headquarter building of Air India in the national capital as well as various other land assets and buildings of the airline in different parts of the country.

The government has prepared a list of the airline's assets that could be hived off as part of the strategic sale plan for Air India and its subsidiaries.

Infosys' Arm Buys Fluido

Global software major Infosys said that its consulting arm acquired Fluido Oy, a leading Salesforce advisor and consulting firm in Finland, to help its clients in digital transformation.

The acquisition of Fluido by subsidiary (Infosys Consulting Pte Ltd) will help clients navigate into digital transformation and strengthen our position as a leading Salesforce enterprise cloud service provider.

Sep 15, 2018

Infosys Acquires Fluido

Infosys signed a definitive agreement to acquire Fluido, a Sales force advisor and consulting partner in Nordics and a cloud consulting, implementation and training services company in a deal worth up to €65 million (over Rs. 545 crore).

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019.

India's Wholesale Price Index Eases

As per official data, India's annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices eased to 4.53 per cent in August from a rise of 5.09 per cent in July.

Indian Groups Top in Investor Returns

According to a study, seven Indian conglomerates �" Bajaj, Lalbhai, Wadia, Murugappa, Emami, Godrej and Torrent �" have delivered superior returns of between 22% and 32% to their shareholders in the last 15 years compared with their pure-play (companies that focus on a single business) counterparts in Asia.

Sep 14, 2018

New Procurement Policy to Assure MSP to Farmers

Ahead of the 2019 polls, the government announced a Rs. 15,053-crore procurement policy allowing states to choose a compensation scheme and rope in private agencies for procurement to ensure a profitable price to farmers.

The new umbrella policy 'Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan' (PM-AASHA) was approved in a Cabinet meeting.

Under the PM-AASHA, states would be allowed to choose from three schemes -- existing Price Support Scheme (PSS), newly designed Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) and Pilot of Private Procurement Stockist Scheme (PPSS) -- to undertake procurement when prices of commodities fall below the MSP level.

Patanjali Enters Cow Milk Business

Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved announced its entry into the cow milk segment by launching cow milk and milk-based dairy products, targeting sales of around Rs. 1,000 crore by FY2020.

The Haridwar-based firm has also ventured into packaged drinking water, frozen vegetables, cattle feed without any urea, and solar panels in a major product offensive.

United Bank of India Increases MCLR

Public lender United Bank of India has increased the marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 5 basis points or 0.05 per cent across tenors.

Earlier this month, State Bank of India (SBI) had increased the lending rate by 20 basis points, or 0.20 per cent, across all tenors up to three years.

Bank of Baroda also increased the MCLR by 0.05 per cent across tenors.

Punjab Increases Exemption Limit for E-way Bill

Acceding to the request of traders and small businesses, the Punjab government, in a notification issued, increased the exemption limit for generating e-way bill for any type of goods from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1 lakh for intra-state movement. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal are among other states to raise such limit.

The state government also notified that no e-way bill shall be required for transporting fabric meant for job work. However, the movement should be within the state and the distance is capped at 50 km. The move will ensure hassle-free movement of fabric for job work within the state.

Sep 13, 2018

Tata Power Signs MoU to Enter Afghanistan

Tata Power has signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Afghanistan Government-owned power distribution company Da Afghanistan Bresha Sherkat for distribution, transmission and generation of power in Afghanistan.

As per Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD Tata power, Afghanistan has huge natural resources, including rivers and sun power which can help sustain the country.

Vibha Padalkar Elevated as MD & CEO

HDFC Standard Life Insurance has elevated its executive director and chief financial officer, Vibha Padalkar, to the post of MD and CEO for a period of three years.

Her appointment came after the current MD and CEO, Amitabh Chaudhry, resigned earlier this month to join Axis Bank as MD and CEO.

Coal India May Close Underground Mines

Coal India Ltd. (CIL) may close down 53 underground mines in 2018-19 even as it looks for solutions to these mines which it had inherited as a legacy of the pre-nationalisation days.

About 43 underground mines were closed last year on grounds of safety and viability.

Three Options to Guarantee MSP

The Cabinet unveiled three policy options to ensure farmers get federally determined minimum support prices (MSPs) for their produce, a move critical to the government's efforts to check rural angst due to poor agricultural returns.

The schemes are essentially designed to effectively intervene in agricultural markets by way of procurement, which refers to the government's purchase of commodities at prices profitable to farmers in situations when markets fail them.

The policies also envisage, for the first time, the role of private firms in acting as a buyer on behalf of the government on a trial basis. The government has branded the schemes "PM Annadata Aay Sangrakshan Abhiyan - PM Aasha" (PM's food producers' income protection campaign).

IIP Grows at 6.6 Percent

Industrial production grew at 6.6 per cent in July on the back of good performance by the manufacturing sector and higher off take of capital goods and consumer durables.

The IIP growth for June was also revised downwards to 6.8 per cent from the provisional estimate of 7 per cent released last month, the data showed.

Retail Inflation Eases in August

Retail inflation in the country fell below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) medium-term target of 4% last month.

The inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) eased to a 10-month low of 3.69% in August 2018, on the back of a decline in the prices of food products such as vegetables, pulses and sugar even as fuel prices increased.

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