General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - May 2018

May 2018

Jun 09, 2021

Bank of Baroda to Sell 46 NPA Accounts

State-owned Bank of Baroda will conduct an e-auction of as many as 46 NPA accounts later this month to recover dues of Rs. 597.41 crore.
The bank intends to sell these NPA accounts to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) / banks / NBFCs or other financial institutions (FIs) on 100 per cent cash basis, for which the e-auction will take place on June 21, 2021.
The major NPA accounts put up for sale include Meena Jewels Export & Meena Jewellers Export (Rs. 60.76 crore); Crystal Cable Industries (Rs. 57.49 crore); J R Foods Ltd (Rs. 41.60 crore); Shree Raghuvanshi Fibres (Rs. 27.38 crore); Kaneri Agro Industries (Rs. 24.69 crore); Man Tubinox (Rs. 24.28 crore) and Aryans Educational and Charitable Trust (Rs. 20.79 crore).

Heineken Gets Extra Stake Buy Approval in United Breweries

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said that the proposed additional stake buy in United Breweries (UB) by Dutch major Heineken does not raise any competition concerns, effectively clearing the deal.
UB is the country's largest beer company, while Heineken is the world's second-largest brewer after Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev.
The proposed transaction sought to increase Heineken's stake in UB to 50 per cent from nearly 47 per cent now, liquor industry sources said. This paves the way for the Dutch major to acquire controlling stake in the firm subsequently.

RBI Announces Operational Flexibility for Reporting FPI Deals in G-Secs

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it has decided to provide operational flexibility for reporting of Over the Counter (OTC) transactions in Government securities (G-Sec) transactions undertaken by the Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs).
The new rules will come into effect from June 14.
FPIs/custodian banks must report their transactions to the Negotiated Dealing System – Order Matching (NDS-OM) platform within three hours after the close of trading hours for the Government securities market.
It further said information about trades undertaken by domestic counterparties with FPIs must be disseminated by the Clearcorp Dealing Systems (India) Ltd. (CDSL) after one leg of the trade is reported on the NDS-OM platform by the domestic counterparty with a suitable qualifier to indicate that the trade is awaiting counterparty confirmation.

NITI Aayog Recommends Privatisation of Central Bank, Indian Overseas Bank

NITI Aayog has recommended divesting government stake in Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) as part of the privatisation initiative announced in the Union Budget.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, had announced privatising two public sector banks (PSBs) and one general insurance company in 2021-22. As per the new PSE (Public Sector Enterprise) policy for 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', NITI Aayog is entrusted with the task to suggest names of PSUs in strategic sectors to be merged, privatised, or made subsidiaries of other PSUs.

ReNew Power Merger with Blank-check Company RMG II Gets CCI Nod

The proposed merger of ReNew Power with blank-check company RMG Acquisition Corporation II (RMG II) received clearance from the Competition Commission.
A blank-check company is a developmental stage firm that does not have established business plan.
ReNew Power is into generating electricity through non-conventional and renewable energy sources.
The deal would result in the first major overseas listing of an Indian company via the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) route.

Jun 08, 2021

RBI Approves Re-appointment of Vishwavir Ahuja as MD, RBL Bank

The Reserve Bank of India approved the re-appointment of Vishwavir Ahuja as the Managing Director and CEO of RBL Bank for a one-year period with effect from June 30, 2021. He has been the Managing Director & CEO of RBL Bank since June 30, 2010. Before RBL Bank, Ahuja was the Managing Director & CEO of Bank of America, India.
RBL Bank is a private sector bank. The bank added 26 branches during Q4 FY21 taking total number of branches to 429 as at 31 March 2021.

IOC to Invest in Gujarat Refinery Expansion, Petchem Project

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) signed up an investment pact for adding petrochemical and lube plants to its previously announced plan to expand crude oil processing capacity at its Koyali refinery at Vadodara in Gujarat.
Expanding refining capacity by 4.3 million tonnes per annum to 18 million tonnes and adding plants to produce 500,000 tonnes per annum of polypropylene and 2,35,000 tonnes of lube oil base stock at the site would see total investment of about Rs. 24,000 crore.
Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijaybhai Rupani and Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan presided over an MoU signing ceremony for 'Investment Promotion' between the Government of Gujarat and IndianOil for setting up a Petrochemical and Lube Integration (LuPech) Project and Acrylics / Oxo Alcohol Project along with other infrastructure projects at Gujarat Refinery.
The LuPech project will produce import substitutes like Lube Oil Base Stock (LOBS) and Polypropylene. The Acrylics/Oxo Alcohol Project at Dumad and Gujarat Refinery will manufacture value-added Butyl Acrylate, a key ingredient for paints, coatings, adhesives, textile chemicals, plasticizer industry, and other similar products.

RBI Imposes Penalty on Bank of India, PNB

The RBI imposed penalty aggregating to Rs. 6 crore on Bank of India and Punjab National Bank for contravention of norms, including one related to "Frauds Classification and Reporting".
A penalty of Rs. 4 crore was imposed on Bank of India and Rs. 2 crore on Punjab National Bank.
RBI said that the statutory Inspection for Supervisory Evaluation (lSE) of Bank of India was conducted with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2019.
The Reserve Bank said that the statutory ISE of Punjab National Bank was conducted with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2018 (ISE 2018) and March 31, 2019 (ISE 2019).

Thales Appoints Ashish Saraf as Head of India Business

Thales appointed Ashish Saraf as Vice-President and Country Director for India with effect from June 2021.
He succeeded Emmanuel de Roquefeuil, who took up a new role as the VP and head for Thales in the Middle East.
Before joining Thales, Saraf served as the President and Head of the Airbus Helicopters - India and South Asia. He led Airbus' Helicopters' Sales, Services, Training, Innovation, Industrial Partnerships and Government Relations functions across the Civil, Parapublic and Military markets in the region.

Hitendra Dave is CEO of India Business of HSBC

Hitendra Dave will be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HSBC's India operation.
Dave's appointment is subject to regulatory approval and until then he will work as interim CEO effective 7 June. Dave succeeds Surendra Rosha who, after three years, is moving to Hong Kong as the Co-Chief Executive of HSBC, Asia-Pacific.
Dave was the Managing Director and head of Global Banking & Markets of HSBC India, one of the key contributors to the company's profits in the country. Dave joined HSBC in 2001 in the global markets business and rose through the ranks.
HSBC India was the third largest contributor to the group's profits in fiscal 2020.

Flipkart Launches QR-code-based Pay-on-delivery Facility

Walmart-owned Flipkart launched a contactless, QR-code-based payment facility for all its pay-on-delivery shipments.
Consumers who opt for cash on delivery can use this facility, scan the QR code attached to their purchase and make a digital payment for their order through any UPI app at the time of delivery.
This will help those consumers, who opted for cash on delivery, who can use this facility to scan the QR code attached to their purchase and make a digital payment for their order through any UPI app at the time of delivery.
The payment method not only ensures greater safety for consumers at a time when they are looking to minimise personal contact but also addresses the trust deficit that many consumers might face.

Tata Digital Names Mukesh Bansal President

Tata Digital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, has entered a Memorandum of Understanding for investing of up to $75 million in CureFit Healthcare, subject to completion of diligence process and other approvals.
CureFit Founder & CEO Mukesh Bansal will join Tata Digital in an executive role as President, Tata Digital Limited. In addition, Bansal will continue in his leadership role at CureFit.
CureFit is India's leading fitness player that has developed a strong ecosystem around fitness and wellness. Indian fitness and wellness market is growing at about 20 per cent a year and is expected to reach $12 billion by 2025. CureFit is uniquely positioned to capture a large share leveraging its comprehensive solution and differentiated tech platform. Curefit, with its range of fitness & wellness offerings, will help Tata Digital expand into pro-active health management space.

Jun 07, 2021

SIDBI Invites Bids from Consultants to Help Set up Rs. 20K-crore NaBFID

SIDBI on behalf of the government has floated Request for Proposal (RFP) inviting bids from consultants to help set up Rs. 20,000 crore DFI called National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) to catalyse investment in fund-starved infrastructure sector.
Parliament in March cleared National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) Bill 2021 to support the development of long-term non-recourse infrastructure financing in India, including the development of the bonds and derivatives markets necessary for infrastructure financing.
The objective of the assignment is to select a management consultant to support in the setting up of an infra Development Finance Institution (DFI), as an All-India Financial Institution (AIFI) to provide, enable and catalyse infrastructure financing.

FPIs Invest Rs. 8,000 cr in Indian Markets

Foreign investors have infused close to Rs. 8,000 crore into Indian equities in the first four trading sessions of June as risk-on sentiment improved amid rapidly falling new COVID-19 cases and robust corporate earnings.
The inflow comes following a net withdrawal of Rs. 2,954 crore in May and Rs. 9,659 crore in April, data with depositories showed.

Tata Steel Mining Gets Successful Resolution Applicant for Rohit Ferro-Tech

Tata Steel Mining Limited (TSML) has been declared as the successful resolution applicant by the creditors of Rohit Ferro-Tech Limited.
Tata Steel Mining Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel.
TSML has accepted the Letter of Intent for acquisition of Rohit Ferro-Tech under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016, the steel maker said without elaborating further.

Jun 06, 2021

ADB and India Signs an Agreement for Road Upgradation Project in Sikkim

The Asian Development Bank and the Government of India signed an agreement for financing road up-gradation project in Sikkim. ADB will give a $2.5 million project readiness financing (PRF) loan to support projects related to up-gradation of major district roads in Sikkim. It will improve the connectivity and also boost the economic activities in the state. The project readiness financing (PRF) will help in connecting the major district and other roads with the national and state highway network.
In 2011, the ADB-funded North Eastern State Roads Investment Program was launched to improve road connectivity in Sikkim. The state agencies will prepare detailed engineering designs of selected sub-projects and do feasibility studies. Sikkim's road network requires regular up-gradation due to frequent landslides and erosion.

Bharti AXA Life in Bancassurance Pact with Shivalik Small Finance Bank

Private life insurer Bharti AXA Life Insurance has entered into a bancassurance partnership with Shivalik Small Finance Bank for the distribution of its life insurance products through the bank's pan-India network of branches.
Under this agreement, Bharti AXA Life Insurance will offer its suite of life insurance products, including protection, health, savings and investment plans, to customers of Shivalik Small Finance Bank across its 31 branches and digital network across the country.
This alliance will enable over 4.5 lakh customers of Shivalik Bank to access the range of products offered by the company to provide financial security.

Life Sciences Firm Bayer Launches Consumer Health Division in India

Global life sciences firm Bayer launched its Consumer Health division in India comprising 10 brands across the categories of allergy, dermatology, nutrition and analgesics.
These brands include Saridon, Supradyn, Becozym C Forte, Benadon, Alaspan, Canesten and Bayer's Tonic. These products will be manufactured locally in India.
The Bayer Consumer Health division aims to expand access to everyday health solutions and reach over a 100 million consumers across all communities in India over the next five years.

ICICI Bank Becomes 2nd Globally to Offer 'SWIFT gpi Instant' Facility

ICICI Bank announced that it has tied up with SWIFT to offer a facility that helps overseas partner banks to send instant remittances on behalf of their customers to the beneficiary in India. The beneficiary gets the credit to the bank account instantly. This makes ICICI Bank the first bank in Asia-Pacific and the second globally to offer the facility, called 'SWIFT gpi Instant', for cross border inward payments.
Personal remittances of up to `2 lakh sent through 'SWIFT gpi Instant' are processed instantly and credited into the beneficiary account held with any bank in India, via the IMPS network. (bank to be enabled to receive foreign remittance through IMPS)
The 'SWIFT gpi' platform provides end to end tracking of payments from initiation till fulfilment through an instant automated status update.

IKEA Enters Gujarat through Online Store and Shopping App

Swedish home furnishings retailer announced the launch of its mobile shopping app and e-commerce offer in three cities of Gujarat Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara.
Now customers of three cities can buy IKEA products using the app or order online via the brand website offering nearly 8,000 products.
Last month, IKEA had launched a shopping app in India, expanding its omnichannel approach in the country.

Jun 05, 2021

RBI Keeps Interest Unchanged at 4%

The EMIs on home and auto loans are unlikely to come down in the near term as the Reserve Bank of India kept the key policy rates unchanged in its bi-monthly Monetary Policy review June 2021.
The central bank announcing the outcome of its bi-monthly Monetary Policy rates said that it has decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent and the reverse repo rate at 3.35 per cent. Repo is the rate at which RBI lends funds to commercial banks when needed. It is a tool that the central bank uses to control inflation. The reverse repo rate is the rate at which the RBI borrows from banks.

Bull Moose Tube Co to Build 350,000-tonne Pipe Mill in the US

Bull Moose Tube Company, part of industrialist Swraj Paul-owned Caparo Bull Moose, announced that it plans to build a 350,000 tonne per year high speed steel (HSS) and sprinkler pipe mill in the United States.
The mill will be built on Steel Dynamics' new Sinton, Texas flat-rolled campus, at an investment of $200-250 million. BMT is partnering with SMS Group for the design, automation, and implementation of the mill that company officials expect to start up early 2023.
BMT operates from seven plants – six in the US and one in Canada – and offers one of the largest ranges of welded steel tubing in North America.

Labour Ministry Constitutes an Expert Group to Fix Minimum Wages

The government has constituted an expert group led by Prof. Ajit Mishra that will give recommendations on fixation of minimum wages and national floor minimum wage.
Minimum wage is different for different categories of workers.
National floor refers to the minimum level of wage that is applicable to all categories of workers across the country.
The group has been constituted for a period of three years from the date of notification.

DPIIT Issues Guidelines on Rs. 6,236 crore PLI Scheme for White Goods

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) said that it will provide incentives worth Rs. 6,238 crore over a period of five years for manufacturing white goods--air conditioners (ACs), LED lights--in India, a part of its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
The scheme will offer an incentive of 4-6 per cent on incremental sales of goods manufactured in India to companies engaged in manufacturing of ACs and LED Lights. While 2019-20 will be treated as the base year, the tenure of the scheme will be from 2021-22 to 2028-29.
The objective of the scheme is to create a complete component ecosystem in India and make the country an integral part of global supply chains.

Manipal Group Buys Vikram Hospital

Billionaire Ranjan Pai-controlled Manipal Hospitals has entered into a definitive agreement with private equity firm Multiples for a 100 per cent acquisition of Bengaluru based Vikram Hospital, making it their tenth hospital in the city. As per reports, the deal size is valued at Rs. 350 crore. Post the acquisition, Vikram Hospital will be rebranded as Manipal Hospital.
This is the second acquisition by Manipal Hospitals this year. The hospital chain had completed the acquisition of India operations of Columbia Asia Hospitals for Rs, 2,100 crore in April, making it the second largest player in the country after Apollo Hospitals.

NBCC Submits Final Bid to Buy Jaypee Infra

State-owned NBCC submitted its final bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL) while rival Suraksha Group sought more time to make the final offer for the debt-laden realty firm under the insolvency resolution process.
NBCC has submitted the final bid and it is compliant with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) provisions and a Supreme Court order passed in March this year.
Suraksha Group has written a letter to creditors seeking seven more days to further sweeten its last bid, which was submitted on May 18. The group also wants to reduce the timeline to complete flats from its earlier proposal of 42 months for deliveries.

HUL's Apratim Majumder Joins D2C Beauty Start-up MyGlamm

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) beauty start-up MyGlamm appointed Apratim Majumder as its chief marketing officer. In the new role, Majumdar will oversee planning, development and execution of the company's marketing and advertising initiatives.
Majumder joins MyGlamm from fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) firm Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) where he served as category head, Naturals. He was also responsible for beauty and personal care products under 'Lever Ayush' based on the science of Ayurveda. Majumder has 15 years of experience in the FMCG sector.

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