General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - May 2018

May 2018

Jan 16, 2023

Piyush Goyal Launches MAARG portal for Start-up Mentorship

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal launched the MAARG platform (Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience, and Growth), which would facilitate mentorship between start-ups and entrepreneurs across sectors, stages, and functions.
The matchmaking phase of the portal, which was launched, will allow start-ups to connect with mentors and discuss their mentorship needs.

REC Signs MoU with UP Govt. for Multiple Projects

State-owned REC signed non-binding MoUs with the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government to extend financial assistance for various projects during UP Global Investors Summit, Delhi that will help UP in employment generation as well as exponential growth in the state.
These projects include a power plant at a cost of Rs. 14,103 crore, with a capacity addition of nearly 3,000 megawatts (MW), pollution control equipment and allied works; transmission projects worth Rs. 7,800 crore for strengthening the transmission system and network in the state, and a distribution project of Rs. 13,600 crore for strengthening infrastructure, reducing aggregate technical and commercial losses.
REC, formerly Rural Electrification Corporation, is a subsidiary of Power Finance Corporation under the Union Power ministry. It finances and promotes power projects across India. The PSU provides loans to central or state sector power utilities in the country, state electricity boards, rural electric cooperatives, NGOs and private power developers.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh Launches Geospatial Hackathon

Union Minister for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh launched Geospatial Hackathon to promote Innovation and start-ups in India's Geospatial ecosystem. Speaking on the occasion in New Delhi, Singh said that the aim of the hackathon is to promote partnerships not only among the public and private geospatial sectors but also to strengthen country's geospatial start-up ecosystem. There will be two sets of challenges which are research challenge and start-up challenge to find out four winners for the best solutions to the geospatial select problem statements.

NCLT allows Jalan-Kalrock Consortium to Take Control of Jet Airways

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) allowed an application by the Kalrock-Jalan consortium to implement its resolution plan for Jet Airways and infuse funds to revive the grounded airline.
The tribunal gave the consortium 180 days beyond November 16 to make payments to creditors and employees.
The consortium can now take over the airline, but it could face a legal challenge as lenders may appeal against the tribunal's order.

FSIB Recommends Names for MD Posts of Bank of Baroda, Bank of India

The Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) recommended Debadatta Chand for the post of Managing Director and CEO in Bank of Baroda. Chand is currently an Executive Director at BoB.
This autonomous professional body also recommended Rajneesh Karnatak to the post of Managing Director and CEO in Bank of India. He is currently Executive Director in Union Bank.
FSIB interfaced with 13 candidates for the position of MD & CEO in Bank of Baroda and 12 candidates for the position of MD & CEO of Bank of India.
It may be recalled that FSIB was set up as a single autonomous professional body tasked to search and recommend high-caliber persons for appointment as Wholetime directors (WTDs) and non-executive Chairpersons in public sector banks, public sector insurers and financial institutions. FSIB had subsumed the Banks Board Bureau, which now ceases to exist.

Jan 15, 2023

SBI Launches e-Bank Guarantee Facility

State Bank of India (SBI) launched e-Bank Guarantee (e-BG) facility in association with National e-Governance Services Limited (NeSL).
As per the bank, this facility will bring about a revolutionary change in the banking ecosystem, where bank guarantee is frequently used in large volumes.
The bankyook this initiative to enhance transparency and reduce turnaround time from days to minutes.
NeSL's Digital Document Execution (DDE) platform, which provides e-Stamp and e-Sign functions, will facilitate the e-Bank Guarantee process. Beneficiaries will instantly receive an e-Bank Guarantee on NeSL's platform without further verification.

CBIC Notifies the Customs Valuation Rules 2023, Effective from February 11

The center notified Customs (Assistance In Value Declaration Of Identified Imported Goods) Rules, 2023, which is a measure to reduce the undervaluation of certain imported goods. The rules will become effective as of February 11, 2023, as per a notification by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). This is in line with the budget proposal which proposed amending section 14 of the Customs Act by levying additional obligations on the importer for a specific category of imported goods. They strongly belive that importers are evading duties by not declaring the true value of their goods which results in lesser value to the government.

In a First, India among the Top Five ECM Markets Globally in 2022

India was among the top five markets, globally, in terms of equity fundraising despite the quantum of funds raised declining by 43 per cent.
According to a report by Kotak Investment Banking, funds to the tune of $16.4 billion were transacted via equity capital market (ECM) activity in India in 2022.
Traditionally, India has rarely featured in the top 10 in terms of ECM activity. Interestingly, in 2022, India also broke into the top-five league in terms of market capitalisation.
India's outperformance came on the back of a sharper decline in ECM activity in major markets such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan.

Jan 14, 2023

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance and Punjab & Sind Bank Enter Strategic Partnership

Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB), a public sector bank, and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance (BALI) entered into a corporate agency partnership.
The partnership will allow PSB's new and existing customers to avail a variety of retail life insurance products from BALI including term, savings, retirement and investment options.
It will allow BALI to offer protection and savings life insurance plans to bank's customers through its branch network.
PSB is the 25th Schedule Commercial Bank that partnered with BALI for distributing its life goals-based product suite.

Cognizant appoints former Infosys president Ravi Kumar as CEO

IT giant Cognizant announced Ravi Kumar as its new Chief Executive Officer, replacing the outgoing Brian Humphries. Kumar was the president and COO of Infosys until October 2022, before leaving the company to join Cognizant the following week as President of Cognizant Americas.
Humphries resigned from the post that he held for four years, a move that has been linked to Cognizant's recent underperformance, including revenue decline in the third quarter of 2022.
Kumar worked in Infosys for over 20 years, and served as the company's president for the last six years of his stint. He also served on the boards of TransUnion and software services provider Digimarc Corp.

HCLTech Becomes Mattel's Primary Digital Transformation Partner

Technology company HCLTech announced that global toy manufacturer Mattel Inc. selected it as primary digital transformation partner for the next several years.
HCLTech will drive transformation across Mattel's global technology landscape cutting across applications, infrastructure and information security domains. The IT major will support Mattel's future direction and continued digital transformation journey.
"With operations in more than 35 locations around the world, it is vital to have an IT services partner that can match our scale and adjust for our growth as an IP-driven, high-performing toy company," said Sven Gerjets, Chief Technology Officer at Mattel.

Jan 13, 2023

Govt. Approves Incentive Scheme for Promotion of RuPay Debit Cards

The Union Cabinet gave its nod to a Rs. 2,600 crore-incentive scheme, which is aimed at boosting low-value transactions done through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and promote Rupay debit cards.
The incentives will be provided on the use of Rupay debit cards and the person-to-merchant BHIM-UPI transactions of low value.
Under the scheme, the acquiring banks will be provided financial incentive for promoting point-of-sale (PoS) and e-commerce transactions for current FY2022-23.
The benefits of the scheme include the building of a robust digital payment ecosystem, and to promote UPI Lite and UPI 123Pay as economical and user-friendly digital payment options.

Infosys Appoints Govind Iyer Independent Director

IT major Infosys approved the appointment of Govind Vaidiram Iyer as an additional and independent director of the company.
The appointment is based on recommendation of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Infosys board, and is for a period of five years, subject to the approval of shareholders.
Iyer, an industry veteran, retired as a partner from Egon Zehnder, a global leadership advisory firm. Prior to joining Egon, he worked at Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Heinz.

Jan 12, 2023

EnKash Gets in-principle Approval for Payment Aggregator Licence

Fintech startup EnKash got in-principle approval from RBI for payment aggregator's licence.
The licence will enable EnKash to broaden its product offerings to millions of businesses for digital transactions.
Founded in 2018, EnKash claims to have assisted 1 lakh businesses to digitise and decentralise their corporate payments.

RBI Imposes Monetary Penalty on 5 Cooperative Banks for Rules Violation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBl) imposed a monetary penalty on five cooperative banks for some contravention or for non-compliance with varied central bank directions.
The entities are Shree Mahayogi Lakshmamma Co-operative Bank Ltd., Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh; The Attur Town Co-operative Bank Ltd., Attur, Salem District, Tamil Nadu; Gondia District Central Co-operative Bank Limited, Gondia (Maharashtra); The Shirpur Peoples' Co-operative Bank Ltd., Shirpur, Maharashtra; and Tirupati Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd., Nagpur, Maharashtra.
The monetary penalties slapped on these entities range between Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 3 lakh.
This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

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