General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2017

Oct 2017

Feb 15, 2023

HDFC Bank Launches Pilot for Offline Digital Payments in Poor Connectivity Areas

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Bank launched a pilot known as 'OfflinePay' to test offline digital payments for customers and merchants enabling payments transactions even when there is no mobile network.
As per the HDFC, it has launched the first-of-its-kind digital payment solution, in partnership with Sweden based Crunchfish Digital Cash AB, a subsidiary of Crunchfish AB, for merchants and customers under the RBI's Regulatory Sandbox Program.
"HDFC Bank's 'OfflinePay' brings in the unique capability where both customer and merchant can be fully offline and yet do the transaction. Merchants can receive an instant payment confirmation even in an offline mode. As soon as either the merchant or the customer goes online, the transaction gets settled.

Reserve Bank of India Announces 2nd Global Hackathon 'HARBINGER 2023'

The Reserve Bank announced its second global hackathon – 'HARBINGER 2023 – Innovation for Transformation' with the theme 'Inclusive Digital Services'. Registration for the hackathon starts from February 22, 2023. It had received 363 proposals submitted by teams from within India and from 22 other countries including the US, UK, Sweden, Singapore, Philippines, and Israel.
Being part of HARBINGER 2023 gives an opportunity to the participants to get mentored by industry experts and exhibit their innovative solutions before an eminent jury and win exciting prizes in each category.
Winner of the hackathon will be given a prize of Rs. 40 lakh and runner-up Rs. 20 lakh. The first hackathon was announced in November 2021 and results were declared in June 2022.

Country's First Waste-to-Hydrogen Plant to be Set up in Pune

The country's first solid waste-to-hydrogen plant will be set up in Pune at a cost of over Rs. 430 crore.
The plant will be set up by sustainability solutions provider TheGreenBillions Ltd (TGBL), who has entered into a 30-year-long agreement with Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
It will treat 350 tonnes of solid garbage every day by next year.
The PMC will pay Rs. 347 per tonne to TGBL as tipping fee to treat the waste.

Digital Lending Firm Lentra Enters Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam

Lentra, a digital lending platform, announced its entry in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The company aims to reach $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by March 2024 with business in South East Asia.
Lentra will build a stronger market presence and increase credit disbursal in the three South East Asian countries, replicating its growth in India. It already has clients in the Philippines.
The move came after the company's latest fundraise of $60 million in a Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Susquehanna International Group (SIG), and Citi Ventures.
Founded in 2019, Lentra provides an application programming interface (API)-driven modular architecture to create retail and business loan products for banks and other regulated lending institutions.
In India, the firm has partnerships with 60 banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and it has processed more than 50 million loans on its platform.

Feb 14, 2023

HDFC Bank Begins Offline Payment Pilot under RBI Sandbox Facility

The country's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank is attempting to execute digital payments in an offline mode under a regulatory facility to test innovations.
Apart from executing transactions in no network areas, such a facility will be of help in urban pockets experiencing bad networks and also in aircraft.
It can be noted that there is a facility which helps users with feature phones undertake Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions.
HDFC Bank began the pilot in a partnership with Crunchfish, IDFC Bank and M2P Fintech under the RBI's regulatory sandbox programme after getting the nod in September 2022.
The lender will roll-out this service as part of a limited pilot for four months in more than 16 cities and towns across the country. The offline transaction amount would be limited to up to Rs 200 per transaction.

T-Hub, Suzuki Motor Pact to Help Indian Start-ups Access Japan's Ecosystem

T-Hub, an innovation hub and ecosystem enabler partnered with Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), a leading corporation in the automobile sector to accelerate the growth of the Indian start-up ecosystem.
T-Hub said that with the collaborative partnership, both the firms aim to provide mentoring and support Indian entrepreneurs to access Japan's ecosystem.
Suzuki Innovation Center (SIC), which is an open innovation platform, will provide growth opportunities to T-Hub incubated start-ups. In addition, SIC provides an open platform for new connections and innovation between India and Japan among academia, industries, and start-ups.

Feb 13, 2023

Committed to Tajpur Port, Waiting for Formalities to Finish: Adani

Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd (APSEZ) remains committed to Rs. 15,000 crore deep-sea port project in Tajpur, West Bengal and the company is waiting for completion of statutory formalities, such as the draft concession agreement from the state.
Once the formalities are complete, APSEZ will work towards developing the port as per its plans and timelines.
Letter of Intent and Draft Concession Agreement are the formalities that the West Bengal government has to fulfil before the company can start work on the project.
Adani Ports incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary named Tajpur Sagar Port in October last year for the purpose of developing a deep-sea port at Tajpur. The port is among the key infrastructure projects for the economic development of the state.

Alibaba Exits India's Paytm

China's Alibaba Group sold its remaining stake in Indian digital payments firm Paytm for about 13.78 billion rupees ($167.14 million) through a block deal.
The exit came days after Paytm posted its first-ever quarterly operating profit as a listed firm, nine months ahead of its own target. Alibaba.com Singapore E-Commerce Pvt Ltd sold 21.4 million shares of Paytm at 642.74 rupees apiece, a 9% discount.
Paytm's stock tumbled nearly 8% to close at 650.55 rupees, but it is still up nearly 23% so far this year. It was not immediately clear why Alibaba sold the stake.
In January, Alibaba sold a 3.1% stake in the company through a block deal worth $125 million. Before that, the Chinese firm had a 6.26% stake in Paytm.

Airbus, Boeing and Air India Ink Agreement for Largest Purchase in History

In an effort to rebuild itself with a fleet that can compete with regional low-cost rivals and strong Gulf airlines like Emirates, Air India Ltd. signed deals with Airbus SE and Boeing Co. for what may end up being the largest acquisition of aircraft in commercial aviation history.
As per reports, the airline and the two planemakers have agreed on the broad strokes of the agreement and may publicly announce the contract as early as next week.
Airbus is in line to get roughly 250 orders and commitments total, made up of 210 aircraft from the A320 single-aisle family and 40 wide-body A350s.
With 190 737 Max aircraft and the option for 50 more, 20 787 Dreamliners and the same number as a potential top-up, coupled with 10 777x aircraft, Boeing has secured roughly 290 potential acquisitions.

India Topples France as UK's Largest Scotch Whisky Market; Imports up 60%

India overtook France and became the UK's largest market of Scotch whisky in terms of volume with a 60 per cent hike in imports in 2022 over the previous year, according to the latest figures released by Scotland's leading industry body.
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) revealed that India imported 219 million 70cl bottles of Scotch compared to France's 205 million last year (2022) representing growth of the Indian Scotch market of more than 200 per cent in the past decade.
Despite double-digit growth, Scotch whisky still only comprises 2 per cent of the Indian whisky market, the association said.

Kotak Mahindra Bank to Acquire Sonata Finance

Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank will acquire 100 per cent equity shares of Sonata Finance Pvt Ltd, a non-banking financial company-microfinance institution (NBFC-MFI), from its existing shareholders for Rs. 537 crore.
The acquisition will be subject to regulatory approvals, including by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Post-acquisition, Sonata Finance will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the bank. This acquisition will enable the bank to scale up its operations in the rural and semi-urban markets in the northern states of India.
It will make the bank a significant player in financial inclusion, catering to economically weaker and underserved households in a commercially-viable manner.

Feb 12, 2023

RBI Expands Scope of TReDS platform to Allow Insurance Facility, Secondary Market Ops & to Improv...

The Reserve Bank of India decided to expand the scope of the Trade Receivable Discounting System or the TReDS platform allowing the use of insurance facilities, permitting entities eligible to undertake factoring business to participate as financiers on TReDS and allowing secondary market operations on the platform. The central bank's decision is expected to boost trade of receivables increasing cash flows to MSMEs.

CCI Approves NIIF's Stake Purchase in Hindustan Ports

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) cleared the acquisition of stake in Hindustan Ports Pvt Ltd by National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).
The proposed transaction relates to NIIF's acquisition of up to 25 per cent in Hindustan Ports Pvt Ltd (HPPL).
In June 2022, NIIF had invested Rs. 2,250 crore in HPPL, a local arm of UAE's DP world.
NIIF is an alternative investment fund and is sponsored and anchored by the government. HIPL and HPPL are engaged in providing container terminal services.

Feb 11, 2023

Pfizer Ltd Appoints Meenakshi Nevatia to Lead India Business

Drug maker Pfizer Limited announced the appointment of Meenakshi Nevatia as an Additional Director and Managing Director for five years. She comes in the place of S. Sridhar, who announced his early retirement in August 2022. Sridhar, the current India country President, will step down as Managing Director and board member from March 31, 2023.
Meenakshi has 30 years of experience across companies including Mckinsey & Co, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and more recently with Stryker Corporation. She has worked in over 8 countries (developed and emerging) and has held several General Management roles across multiple markets such as Thailand, Spain (Iberia) and India. Meenakshi received her Bachelor's in Science (Economics) from Presidency College, Kolkata, India and completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the highly acclaimed Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA).

Essar Group Eyes Forays into Clean Energy, Infrastructure, IT Solutions

The Essar Group plans to rearrange its priorities to focus on four major verticals like energy, infrastructure and logistics, technology and retail, as well as metals and mining.
Speaking on the sidelines of the India Energy Week, which was held in Bengaluru between February 6 to 8, Essar Capital Director Prashant Ruia informed that the company has outlined a blueprint focussing on the above mentioned sectors.
In the energy sector, the company has envisioned a 10 million tonnes per annum refinery in the UK, a 1,200 MW power plant in India, and 15 trillion cubic feet of unconventional hydrocarbon reserves in India and Vietnam.
In addition to this, a 50:50 joint venture between Essar and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India for setting up a 4 million tonnes per annum LNG import facility at Hazira is also in the pipeline, which would be made public after seeking relevant approvals.

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