General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2018

Feb 2018

May 27, 2023

Gupshup Unveils UPI Payments for Feature Phone Users

Gupshup.io, a conversational engagement platform, unveiled a groundbreaking solution that enables UPI payments for feature phone users through its native app called GSPay. This innovative approach allows seamless payment experiences using SMS, eliminating the need for internet connectivity. Leveraging the UPI 123 Pay system introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2022, Gupshup.io is making digital payments accessible to a wider audience. In addition, users can conveniently scan QR codes to complete transactions, further enhancing the ease of use.
Traditionally, UPI payments have relied on internet connectivity, limiting the accessibility for feature phone users. Gupshup.io's GSPay app breaks these barriers by leveraging SMS as the primary medium for UPI transactions. This breakthrough empowers feature phone users to register for UPI, link their bank accounts, and set UPI PINs, all within the embedded app on their phones. With a simple two-step process, users can initiate payments by entering the mobile number or UPI ID of the payee, the desired amount, and their UPI PIN. Once confirmed, the payment is processed, and the user receives a notification, ensuring a seamless and secure transaction experience.

Indian Steel Association, AISC ink MoU to Unlock New Avenues in Sector

Industry body, Indian Steel Association (ISA), and the ASEAN Iron and Steel Council (AISC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for bilateral cooperation between Indian and ASEAN steel industry.
The MoU was signed in Manila, Philippines. The MoU aims to leverage the strengths, expertise, and resources of both organisations to unlock new avenues for growth, innovation, and sustainability in the steel industry.
The Indian delegation was led by Dilip Oommen, president ISA and CEO AMNS India, and was attended by the Secretary-Generals of ISA and SEAISI and other senior officials of ISA, South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute (SEAISI) and AISC.
The MoU was signed by Dilip Oommen and Purwono Widodo, President of ASEAN Iron and Steel Council and President Director of PT Krakatau Steel.

R. Dinesh New CII President

R. Dinesh, Executive Vice Chairman of TVS Supply Chain Solutions, was elected President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2023-24.
Dinesh took over from Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Finserv, and he was elected by CII's National Council. Dinesh is a fourth-generation TVS family member and has been engaged with CII for many years at the state, regional and national levels.
Dinesh started TVS Supply Chain Solutions (erstwhile known as TVS Logistics) in 1995. It has grown to be a billion-dollar company serving customers in more than 50 countries.
Dinesh won Icon of the Year award from Tamil Nadu's ICT Academy in 2018 and EY's Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 'services' category in 2017. He is also the recipient of TiECON's "Next Gen Entrepreneur of the Year 2014" award and 'Emerging Entrepreneur' award by CII in 2010.

May 26, 2023

SBI General Unveils 'Surety Bond Bima' for Infrastructure Projects

SBI General Insurance, the non-life insurance arm of State Bank of India (SBI), launched of the 'General Surety Bond Bima' insurance product.
Surety Bond Insurance will act as a security arrangement for infrastructure projects and will insulate the contractor as well as the principal (contract awarding authority).
The product is designed to provide protection against breach of terms and conditions by the contractors either during the bidding stage or during the performance stage of a project.
The Surety insurance product consists of a wide range of bonds, such as bid bonds, advance payment bond, performance bond, and retention money bond.
The product caters to the requirements of a diversified group of contractors, many of whom are operating in today's increasingly volatile environment, he said while launching the product.
Additionally there are two variants available in the product i.e. conditional and unconditional.

Axis Bank Launches a Digital Onboarding Platform 'Sarathi'

Axis Bank launched 'Sarathi,' a first-of-its-kind digital onboarding journey for merchants to adopt Electronic Data Capture (EDC) or Point of Sale (PoS).
Unlike the time-consuming traditional onboarding process, which can take several days, Sarathi offers merchants a streamlined and hassle-free experience.
The system enables merchants to finish the onboarding process in four simple steps, which are: 1) Real-time database checks for speedier application processing, 2) Live video verification to authenticate merchant information at his/her convenience, 3) It removes the field verification procedure, allowing for quick decision-making and last PoS installation is completed immediately.
Sarathi's features include immediate status updates, eliminating the need for follow-up visits, and the ability to transact on the same day their application is processed.

May 25, 2023

Yes Bank Collaborates with Red Hat to Redefine Mobile Banking Experience

Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open-source solutions, announced that Yes Bank adopted Azure Red Hat OpenShift to transform their mobile banking applications. Azure Red Hat OpenShift will further expedite the digital journey of Yes Bank with faster time to market, more flexibility and ability to drive greater innovation. The new platform will enable Yes Bank to improve customer experience and provide innovative banking solutions by launching security-focused and efficient modern applications. These applications will have the agility and flexibility to scale on demand, helping the bank with their growth initiatives of serving customers across India.

IIT Kanpur, Yes Bank Collaborate to Offer Support to Incubated Start-ups

The Start-up Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC,) at the esteemed Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), embarked on a path of revolutionising the start-up ecosystem in India. In a major stride towards this goal, SIIC collaborated with Yes bank by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that seeks to provide crucial support to the start-ups incubated at SIIC.
Under the terms of the MoU, SIIC and Yes Bank will collaborate closely to identify innovative start-ups and extend them the necessary financial backing. This strategic partnership aims to bolster the start-up ecosystem in India by granting these ventures access to a wide range of resources through Yes Bank's specialised start-up-focused program called Yes Head-Start-up. This program, backed by a full-service banking proposition, is specifically tailored for technology-based or technology-enabled start-ups and is complemented by an exclusive privilege program.

May 24, 2023

Tata Group Only Indian Firm in BCG List of Top 50 most Innovative Firms

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released a report of the top 50 companies in 2023 that are most innovative in their operations. The report looked into various aspects of these companies including their ability to develop new products, and processes, enter into new markets, establish new revenue streams etc.
Tata Group is the only Indian company to feature in the Top 50 list.
BCG highlighted that the most innovative companies were generating greater financial rewards for their shareholders. A global survey conducted by the BCG highlighted the benefits of innovation and how measures such as Mergers and acquisitions (M&A), portfolio planning, and technology like AI were helping companies to innovate past their competition.
The top ten on the list are: Apple, Tesla, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Samsung, Huawei, BYD Company and Siemens.
Tata Group was placed at the 20th spot.

RBI Approves Vijay Shekhar's Reappointment as Paytm Payments Bank's Part-time Chairman

Paytm Payments Bank received RBI nod to reappoint Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma as part-time Chairman.
The approval of RBI for reappointment of Vijay Shekhar Sharma as part-time Chairman of PPBL, for a third term is from May 23, 2023, for a period of one year.

IDBI Bank Appoints Jayakumar S. Pillai as Deputy Managing Director

The Board of Directors of IDBI Bank approved the appointment of Jayakumar S. Pillai as Deputy Managing Director on the Bank's Board for 3 years.
Pillai's appointment is with effect from the date of his taking charge as specified in the RBI approval received in this regard.
IDBI Bank has two Deputy Managing Director (DMD) positions. It currently has one DMD -- Suresh Khatanhar. The other DMD -- Samuel Joseph Jebaraj -- moved to the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) as Deputy Managing Director (Lending & Project Finance) in early April 2023.
Pillai has about 32 years experience in the public sector bank.
He has headed branches in various scales across different geographies and has rich experience in branch banking, mobilisation of retail resources, Credit delivery in sectors like Retail, Agriculture, MSME and Recovery.

May 23, 2023

Dangote Launches Africa's Biggest Oil Refinery

Nigeria commissioned Dangote Refinery, Africa's biggest, which will produce 650,000 barrels a day, giving it the potential to address the country's energy supply crisis.
Owned by Nigerian industrialist and Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, the refinery is expected to boost domestic refining capacity, getting rid of the current consumption shortfall. It will also reduce import dependency and stimulate economic growth.
It is the first privately owned crude oil refinery in Nigeria. Nigeria's existing refineries, plagued by operational inefficiencies under government control, have failed to meet the growing demand for petroleum products. Substantial imports have become necessary.
Nigeria currently imports more than 80% of its refined petroleum products. The country is the largest importer of refined petroleum products in Africa. Local production will therefore massively cut the country's import bill.

Mumbai Emerges as Third-biggest Data Centre Market in Asia-Pacific

Shanghai, Tokyo and Mumbai emerged as the top data centre markets in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Knight Frank. International property consultant Knight Frank came out with a 'Data Centre Q1 2023' report, in partnership with leading data centre research and analytics platform DC Byte.
The report focused on nine rapidly emerging markets in APAC – Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Shanghai (2,692 MW), Tokyo (2,575 MW) and Mumbai (2,337 MW) emerged as the top Data Centre markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

TCS Bags Order from BSNL for 4G Deployment across India

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) won an advance purchase order valued over Rs. 15,000 crore from telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) for the deployment of a 4G network across India.
Tejas Networks Ltd is a part of the TCS-led consortium that bagged the BSNL pan-India 4G project. BSNL has issued Advance Purchase Order (APO) to TCS as well as ITI for this project. Tejas Networks will supply and service the Radio Access Networks (RAN) equipment.
Tejas Networks is an optical, broadband and data networking products company. The company designs, develops and sells its products to telecom service providers, internet service providers, utilities, security and government entities in 75 countries.

Blackstone Acquires International Gemological Institute

International Gemological Institute (IGI), the world's largest certification player for lab grown diamonds and the second largest certification player for natural diamonds, was fully acquired by global private equity firm Blackstone. The $535m deal sees Blackstone taking over the 80% stake held by China-based investment firm Fosun, as well as the 20% stake held by Roland Lorie, a member of the founding family.
Founded in 1975 in Antwerp, IGI is a global player with a global footprint of 29 laboratories and 18 schools of gemology across 10 countries. IGI is the world's first gemological laboratory to hold ISO accreditation in both natural and lab-grown diamonds. Since 2005, IGI has pioneered the certification of lab-grown diamonds, paving the authentication and standardization of a rapidly growing industry.

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