General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - February 2018

Feb 2018

Jan 12, 2022

Google for Startups Announces its Next Cohort with 20 Indian Start-ups

Tech giant Google announced the sixth batch of the Google for Startups Accelerator (GFSA) India -- with 20 startups -- to help them focus on their key business and technology problems.
The 20 start-ups are chosen from over 700 applicants following an intensive selection process.
The mission at Google for Startups India is to help young startup teams focus on their key business and technology problems while we empower them with knowledge and lessons from Google, learnt over two decades of building enterprise and consumer products across the globe.
The selected startups are spread across India with 35 per cent women-led startups in the mix and comprising a mix of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) startups between Seed and Series A stages.
The 20 Indian startups include Able, Alippo, ApnaKlub, Avishkaar, GimBooks, BrainSightAI, Entri, Language Curry, MetaDome, Impact App, Infilect, Lavelle Networks, etc.

Axis Bank Partners MinkasuPay for Seamless Net Banking Experience

Axis Bank, India's third-largest private sector bank, announced its partnership with MinkasuPay to offer the smoothest net banking payment experience for its customers through a biometric authentication solution.
Transaction time will reduce from the current 50-60 seconds to just 2-3 seconds with Fingerprint or Face ID authentication while increasing success rates significantly.
MinkasuPay's biometric authentication solution is a 2-Factor-Authentication solution that leverages the power of smartphones and biometrics to eliminate friction. 2FA, as mandated by RBI, helps increase the security of all digital transactions. For the first transaction, customers have to log in to their net banking account using their username & password, verifying the OTP, as usual, to get on-boarded. For all subsequent transactions, a Fingerprint or Face ID can be used to approve payments.

Adani Power Appoints Shersingh Khyalia as CEO

Adani Power's Board of Directors approved the appointment of Shersingh B. Khyalia as a chief executive officer of the company.
Shersingh B. Khyalia is a Chartered Accountant and brings with him over 32 years of experience in managing complex business in the power industry, including generation, transmission and distribution.
His experience spans across power trading, legal, regulatory and commercial, finance & accounts and PPA management aspects of the power business.
Earlier, Khyalia has worked as the managing director in Gujarat Power Corporation.
During his almost three decades of service in the power sector, he has been director on the boards of Power Exchange (India) Ltd, Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd, Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Ltd, Dakshin Gujarat Company Ltd, Madhya Gujarat Company Ltd, Dakshin Haryana Distribution Company Ltd, and Gujarat Green Revolution Ltd.

Piyush Goyal Asks South Korea to Axe Non-tariff Trade Barriers

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and raised concerns regarding the non-tariff trade restrictions faced by Indian steel, rice, textile, engineering goods, mango, and pharmaceutical exporters.
The bilateral talk was held in New Delhi to discuss trade and investment-related issues. The ministers agreed to impart fresh momentum to the discussions on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) upgradation negotiations and also promote extensive B2B interactions on trade and investment between the industry leaders of the two countries.
They agreed to address difficulties expressed by industry on both sides and instructed officials to meet on a regular basis to conclude the CEPA upgrade negotiations in a time-bound manner.

Jan 11, 2022

Timex Group Gets Manufacturing Rights for Guess & Gc Watches in India

Leading watchmaker Timex Group India Ltd was granted manufacturing and distribution rights for Guess & Gc branded watches in the country.
It sealed a pact with Timex Nederland B.V. for the grant of manufacturing and distribution rights for the Indian market.
The deal is a significant win for Timex Group India, given the Guess & Gc market share, reach and brand recognition in the fashion watch segment. The power of the Guess & Gc brands is a great addition for Timex Group India.

Ex-RBI Executive Director Uma Shankar Appointed to Board of EbixCash

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Executive Director Uma Shankar was appointed to the Board of Directors of EbixCash Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Ebix, Inc.
Uma Shankar, who was with the RBI for 37 years, has served as the co-chair of the committees relating to financial regulation and as a member of the audit and supervision groups of several international financial bodies.
Uma Shankar is currently an independent director on the boards of Karnataka Bank as well as IDBI Capital Markets and Securities Ltd.

RBI Sets up Fintech Department

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set up a fintech department to focus on the dynamically growing financial sector.
With a view to give further focus to the area and facilitate innovation in fintech sector in keeping pace with the dynamically changing financial landscape, it was decided to set up a fintech department in the Bank.
The new department was created with effect from January 2022, by subsuming the FinTech Division of Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, Central Office (DPSS, CO).
The department will not only promote innovation in the sector, but also identify the challenges and opportunities associated with it and address them in a timely manner.
The department is headed by Ajay Kumar Choudhary.

Jan 10, 2022

TCS Bags Phase 2 of Centre's Passport Plan

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) again chose Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to implement the second phase of the Passport Seva Program, the country's largest mission critical e-governance programme till date. TCS will be managing the project for another nine-and-a-half years, which can be extended for two more years.
As per reports, the deal could be in the range of Rs. 6,000-8,000 crore.
In the next phase of the programme, TCS will refresh existing facilities and systems, and develop new solutions to enable the issuance of e-passports using technologies such as biometrics, artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, chatbots, auto-response, natural language processing, and the cloud.

Myntra Elevates Achint Setia as the Head of Marketing

Walmart-owned online fashion retailer Myntra announced the appointment of Achint Setia, who currently leads the organisation's social commerce business, as its head of marketing.
In his new role, Setia will lead Myntra's marketing function while continuing to oversee the social commerce business. With this, his core responsibilities will include, scaling the Myntra brand, developing the marketing strategy including for large consumer-centric events, strengthening customer loyalty, and applying research-based insights into the business to fuel its growth.

Adani Group Set up New Subsidiary ANIL for New Energy Business

Billionaire Gautam Adani's logistics-to-energy conglomerate has set up a new subsidiary, Adani New Industries Ltd (ANIL) to undertake green hydrogen projects, generation of low carbon electricity and manufacture of wind turbines, solar modules and batteries as it looks to become the world's largest renewable energy company and produce the cheapest hydrogen.
ANIL will undertake business of developing and operating projects for the synthesis of low carbon fuels and chemicals, generation of low carbon electricity and the manufacture of key components/material for projects including generation of green hydrogen, related downstream products, electricity generation, manufacture of wind turbines.

Jan 09, 2022

HDFC Bank Starts Online Customs Duty Payment Facility for Customers

HDFC Bank's integration with Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) ICEGATE platform has gone live, allowing customers to pay for their customs duty directly via the bank.
With this, the bank will offer customers the convenience of directly paying customs duty by selecting HDFC Bank.
This follows authorisation by the Principal Chief Controller of Accounts of CBIC to collect IGST on import and export of goods and services.
HDFC Bank facilitated both retail and wholesale payments of customs duty.

Hero MotoCorp Appoints Arun Jaura as CTO

Two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp announced the appointment of industry veteran Arun Jaura as its chief technology officer (CTO) to lead the company's research and development (R&D).
The company also announced the resignation of Neerja Sharma, company secretary and chief compliance officer.
Jaura, who was the managing director of Michelin India Technology Center before taking up the current position, reports to Hero MotoCorp Chairman and CEO Pawan Munjal.

RBI Approves Anup Bagchi's Re-appointment as ICICI Bank Executive Director

The RBI approved the re-appointment of Anup Bagchi as the Executive Director of ICICI Bank for three years, even as the bank had cleared the term for five years.
The shareholders of the bank at its Annual General Meeting in August 2021 had approved Bagchi's re-appointment for five years effective February 1, 2022.
ICICI Bank has two more executive directors -- Sandeep Batra and Vishakha Mulye.

Jan 08, 2022

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank's Company Secretary & Compliance Officer Resigns

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank's Chanchal Kumar resigned from the position of Company Secretary and Compliance Officer of the bank.
His resignation would be effective from April 04, 2022 (close of business hours) after serving the applicable notice period. Consequently, he shall also cease to be a Key Managerial Personnel of the Bank in terms of Section 203 of the Companies Act, 2013 and other Applicable Laws.

RBI Hikes Threshold for Deposits of Non-financial Small Business Customers

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the threshold limit for deposits and other extensions of funds made by non-financial small business customers from Rs. 5 crore to Rs. 7.5 crore for the maintenance of Liquidity Coverage Ratio of banks.
This has been done to better align guidelines with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision standard and enabling banks to manage liquidity risk more effectively.

Cabinet Approves Rs. 12,000 crore Green Corridors-II for RE Uptake in States

In order to accelerate the penetration of renewable energy in the states, the Union Cabinet approved the second phase of the Green Energy Corridor (GEC). The projects in this phase would be set up in seven states to expedite the transmission of renewable energy.
GEC is an alternative transmission system for renewable energy (RE) power projects. During the first phase of GEC, inter-state transmission projects were constructed by state-owned Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) and some projects were awarded to private players through competitive bidding.
The second phase will aim to add approximately 10,750 circuit kilometres (ckm) of transmission lines and approx. 27,500 Mega Volt-Amperes (MVA) transformation capacity of substations.

Jet Airways VP-operations Sudhir Gaur Quits

Jet Airways said that its VP-operations, Sudhir Gaur, who was designated as the airline's 'accountable manager', quit the company.
The grounded airline, which is expected to resume operations this year under its new promoters Murari Lal Jalan-Kalrock consortium, in a regulatory filing clarified that Gaur was not the interim CEO of the company.
It also said that the Monitoring Committee at its meeting on January 5 has provided its "in-principle approval" to the nomination of Priyapal Singh as the new 'accountable manager' of the company.

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