General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - December 2017

Dec 2017

Apr 16, 2022

ICICI Bank Inks MoU with GIFT SEZ to Promote Global, Indian Businesses

Private sector lender, ICICI Bank signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with GIFT SEZ to promote global and Indian businesses there.
As part of the MoU, ICICI Bank and GIFT SEZ would jointly work towards attracting global investors and capital market firms to set up operations in GIFT City, Gandhinagar. Both the organisations would promote GIFT SEZ among Indian and foreign MNCs as the preferred location for availing cross-border trade finance.
The two institutions would act in a coordinated manner to promote GIFT SEZ as a hub for wealth management business. Another objective of the MoU is to promote GIFT SEZ as the destination of choice for offering competitive regime for setting up capital markets business among industry stakeholders such as Alternate Investment Fund (AIF), Portfolio Management Services (PMS), Broking Entities, Venture Capital, Private Equity Funds and Custodians.

The Government Exempts the Import of Cotton from Customs Duties

The Government decided to exempt all customs duty on import of cotton to lower the price of cotton in the public interest. This exemption would benefit the textile chain- yarn, fabric, garments and made ups and provide relief to textile industry and consumers. Industry has been demanding for removal of 5% Basic Customs Duty (BCD) and 5% Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on raw cotton. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified the exemption from Customs duty and Agriculture Infrastructure development Cess for import of cotton. Removal of import duty on raw cotton should have salutary effect on cotton price in India.

Apr 15, 2022

BPCL Collaborates with Microsoft to Leverage Cloud and AI to Redefine Customer Experience

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Microsoft announced a strategic cloud partnership aimed at accelerating the firm's digital transformation and shaping the future of innovation in the oil and gas industry. The collaboration seeks to unlock the opportunities that Microsoft's cloud provides to address the unique challenges of the oil and gas sector, enabling BPCL to accelerate the modernization of its tech architecture to enhance customer experience.
The partnership gives a strong fillip to BPCL's digital-first strategy, as part of 'Project Anubhav' to redefine customer experience through the pillars of trust, personalization, and convenience. Through a seven-year collaboration, Microsoft will provide infrastructure as a service (IAAS), platform as a service (PAAS), network and security services on the cloud, including Azure native services on Azure Datafactory, API, IOT and analytics.

Apr 14, 2022

Ukraine Crisis: Infosys to Move Business Out of Russia

Indian software behemoth Infosys Ltd joined the corporate boycott of Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, saying it would move its business out of the country and pursue alternate options. Several other global IT and software players including Oracle Corp and SAP SE have either suspended or paused all operations in Russia.
Recently, IBM suspended its business in Russia, while Microsoft and Apple have stopped sales. Sony also said it had "suspended all software and hardware shipments" to Russia, as well as the operation of the PlayStation Store in the country.

Discovery of Megalithic Stone Jars in Assam

In the Dima Hasao district of Assam, a number of megalithic stone jars were discovered. This discovery highlighted the possible links that date back to the second millennium BC, between Southeast Asia and the Northeast region of India.
In a site named Nuchubunglo, 546 jars were discovered making it the largest such site across the planet.
The jars have not been scientifically dated yet but links could be drawn with the stone jars that were discovered in Indonesia and Laos. The jars that were found in the three sites have morphological and typological similarities. The jars that were discovered in Laos were dated and it showed that they were placed at the sites during the late second millennium BC. Inside the jars, human skeletal remains have been found, while remains were also found buried around the jars.

NPCI Eases Cap on WhatsApp Payments Service to Expand to 100 mn Users

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) allowed Meta-owned WhatsApp to add sixty million users to its payments service, taking the total number of consumers it can offer the unified payment interface or UPI-based feature to 100 million.
WhatsApp has not been able to create a place for itself in the crowded third party app providers (TPAPs) space. It processed 2.54 million transactions in March, amounting to Rs 239.78 crore at a time when UPI processed a record 5.4 billion transactions amounting to Rs 9.6 trillion.
WhatsApp competes with Alphabet Inc's Google Pay, SoftBank- and Ant Group-backed Paytm and Walmart's PhonePe in India's crowded digital market. Online transactions, lending and e-wallet services have been growing rapidly in India, led by a government push to make the country's cash-loving merchants and consumers adopt digital payments. PhonePe and Google Pay together control about 81 per cent of the UPI market.

World Bank Cuts India's FY23 GDP Growth Forecast to 8% from 8.7%

The World Bank cut India's GDP forecast for fiscal year 2022-23 to 8% from 8.7% predicted earlier, citing the impact of the war in Ukraine, high global oil prices, elevated inflation and supply disruptions.
The World Bank lowered its growth estimate for India, the region's largest economy, to 8% from 8.7% for the current fiscal year to March, 2023 and cut by a full percentage point the growth outlook for South Asia, excluding Afghanistan, to 6.6%. The international lender said that in India, household consumption will be constrained by the incomplete recovery of the labour market from Covid-19 and inflationary pressures.

Adani Green Becomes 8th most Valued Firm; Overtakes Bajaj Finance, HDFC

Adani Green Energy became the eighth most valued firm in the country with a market valuation of Rs. 4.48 lakh crore after overtaking Bajaj Finance and HDFC.
The company entered the list of top-10 valued firms.
Adani Green Energy commanded a market valuation of Rs. 4,48,050.99 crore on BSE to take the eighth spot on the top-10 list.
The market capitalisation of Bajaj Finance is at Rs. 4,43,685.79 crore, while HDFC had a valuation of Rs. 4,31,028.49 crore.

PhonePe Tops 100 mn Transactions a Day, Does 2.5 bn Transactions a Month

Walmart-owned digital payments firm PhonePe has processed more than 100 million transactions in a single day. This phenomenal milestone is achieved on the back of the highest end-to-end success rates in the industry, and is testimony to the commitment and quality of PhonePe's engineering team. The Bengaluru-based firm competes with players such as Paytm, Google Pay and Amazon Pay. It has 165 million monthly active users.
PhonePe currently processes over 2.5 billion transactions a month at an Annual TPV run rate of $780 billion and is India's leading Fintech platform. PhonePe's phenomenal growth comes on the back of rapid traction across Tier 2, Tier 3 cities and beyond. The app has seen digital transactions from over 19,000 pin codes, constituting more than 99 per cent of the country. This remarkable growth is a clear indicator of strong user preference for the platform backed by superior product experience.

Apr 13, 2022

Avon Celebrates 70 Years with Prestigious Brands of Asia Award Win

To mark 70 years of existence Avon invited its top dealers from all over the country and honored them by thanking and rewarding for their association. Started by Pahwa brothers, Avon rolled its first batch of bicycles in the year 1952. Avon has emerged as a strong and reliable player in the bicycle industry with over 200 models for all age groups and categories.
Avon has been awarded as Prestigious Brands of Asia Award. Avon expanded its footprints to segments of electric mobility by launching electric scooters & rickshaws under the brand E World of Avon & Fitness Equipment under Avon Fitness Machines.

Gautam Adani Now World's 6th-Richest; Pips Google Founders Page, Brin

With a net worth of $118 billion, Gautam Adani is now the sixth-richest person in the world, according to a report by Times Now. The owner of Adani conglomerate has overtaken the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The chairman of Adani Group saw his wealth rise by Rs 65,091 cr as the share prices of his companies like Adani Green Energy, Adani Enterprises, Adani Gas and Adani Transmission soared.
Also, Adani is the biggest wealth-gainer in 2022 with a jump of almost $41.6 billion.

Tata AIA Life Insurance Ties up with Common Service Centres

As part of its effort to deliver much-needed life insurance protection cover to rural households and safeguard their loved ones from life's uncertainties, Tata AIA Life Insurance Co Ltd partnered with Common Services Centres under the Ministry of Electronics & IT. Common Service Centres which will provide access to about 95 per cent of gram panchayats in the country.
With this tie up, the company can engage into the network of over 4 lakh Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) at the last mile for distribution of life insurance plan.

TRAI Recommends over 35 per cent Cut in Prime 5G Spectrum Base Price

Setting the stage for the rollout of 5G services, telecom regulator TRAI mooted a mega auction plan valued at over Rs. 7.5 trillion at the base price across multiple bands for radio waves allocated over 30 years.
Overall, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended about a 39 per cent reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of spectrum for mobile services, including the latest 5G offering, as it looked to match revenue expectations with the industry's paying capacity.
With large swathes of spectrum remaining unsold in the last two auctions, TRAI recommended to the government for selling airwaves in all existing bands of 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and new slots of 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz.

PNB, IDBI Bank Get Govt-appointed Directors

The government nominated new directors on the boards of Punjab National Bank (PNB) and IDBI Bank, following the cessation of the terms of incumbent directors.
Pankaj Sharma was nominated as a director of PNB through a notification dated April 11, 2022 with immediate effect and until further orders.
The government, vide a communication on April 11, 2022 nominated Manoj Sahay and Sushil Kumar Singh as directors on the board of the IDBI bank vice Meera Swamp and Anshuman Sharma respectively, with immediate effect and until further orders.

Apr 12, 2022

Ruchi Soya to Change the Name of the Company to Patanjali Foods

The board of directors of Ruchi Soya Industries decided to change the company's name to Patanjali Foods.
At its board meeting the directors also accorded their in-principle approval for evaluating the most efficient mode of enhancing synergies with Patanjali Ayurved Ltd's food portfolio in any manner on an arm's-length basis.
Ruchi Soya also authorised officials of the company to negotiate, finalise, execute and deliver the terms and conditions of the proposed transaction.

Reserve Bank Introduces Principles for Mid, Large NBFCs

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced certain principles, standards and procedures for mid and large non-banking financial companies.
The revised regulatory framework for NBFCs, issued in October 2021, had indicated that such entities in the Upper Layer (NBFC-UL) and Middle Layer (NBFC-ML) would be required to have an independent Compliance Function and a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO).
NBFCs in the upper layer and middle layer should treat the prescriptions in the circular as a set of minimum guidelines only and accordingly frame their guidelines taking into account their corporate governance framework, the scale of operations, risk profile and organisational structure, among other factors.

Irina Ghose is Microsoft India COO as Rajiv Sodhi Gets Global Role

Irina Ghose was appointed the chief operating officer of Microsoft India. The new COO of Microsoft India replaced Rajiv Sodhi who moved to the US in a global role.
Ghose will be responsible for driving end-to-end operations for Microsoft in the country. She plans to use her learnings of over two decades as a Microsoft employee to continue working with more than 14,000 partners and customers, aid the country in its digital transformation, and provide skilling platforms for India's youth.
Ghose has held a variety of Strategy and Sales leadership roles across Enterprise, Solution Sales, Partner Solutions, and Education segments, focusing on Business management, Operations, Partnerships and New business initiatives.

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