General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - May 2018

May 2018

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.

Jun 04, 2021

Wipro Third Indian IT Firm to Scale Rs. 3 Trillion Market Cap

Wipro touched Rs. 3 trillion in market capitalisation for the first time, becoming the third Indian IT firm to achieve the milestone after Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys.
According to a report, Wipro stock has surged since Thierry Delaporte joined as CEO and MD of the company. Delaporte slashed the top ranks of leadership from 25 people to four.
The company won its largest deal ever from German retailer Metro and has seen deal wins of $7.1 billion.
India has total of 13 listed firms that have crossed the Rs. 3 trillion m-cap. Wipro now ranks 14th.

SEBI Increases Overseas Investment Cap for Individual MFs

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) revised the overseas investment limit for mutual funds (MFs). The market regulator stated in a circular that MFs can make overseas investments up to $1 billion each, within the overall industry limit of $7 billion.
MFs had made representations to the regulator to increase the investment limit. Last November, SEBI had enhanced the overseas investment limit from $300 million per mutual fund to $600 million.

India SME Invests in KreditBee

India SME Investments infused Rs. 60 crore into a holding entity of KreditBee.
This investment comes in the form of both equity and debt.
This round is a follow-up tranche of investment from India SME after having invested Rs 28.4 crore in September 2019 as debt in Krazybee Services, the RBI-backed NBFC-ND-SI (non-banking financial company non-deposit taking systemically important), which is a part of the holding company of KreditBee.
In February, the Bengaluru-headquartered fintech lending startup KreditBee had closed its series C equity round worth USD 75 million from Premji Invest, Mirae Asset Naver Asia Growth Fund, Alpine Capital and Arkam Ventures, consisting of both primary and secondary investments.
SIDBI-backed India SME Investments focuses on investing in early-growth companies, primarily based out of/operating in tier II and III cities, targeting the lower/middle-class segment and benefiting from changing consumer preferences.

Kerala Retains Top Rank in NITI Aayog's SDG Index

Kerala retained the top rank in NITI Aayog's SDG India Index 2020-21, while Bihar was adjudged as the worst performer.
The Index for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) evaluates progress of states and union territories on social, economic and environmental parameters.
Kerala retained its rank as the top state with a score of 75. Both Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu took the second spot with a score of 74.
Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing states in this year's India index.
The third rendition of India's SDG Index was launched by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar.

NITI Aayog Submits Names of 2 PSU Banks to be Privatised

NITI Aayog has submitted to the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment the finalised names of PSU banks to be privatised in the current fiscal as part of the disinvestment process.
NITI Aayog has been entrusted with the task of selection of names of two public sector banks and one general insurance company for the privatisation as announced in the Budget 2021-22.

Jun 03, 2021

Wipro Sells Stake in Denim Group

IT major Wipro sold its stake in Denim Group, a provider of application security firm for $22.42 million.
Wipro in 2018 had acquired 33.33 per cent stake in Denim Group, Ltd. and Denim Group Management, LLC (Denim Group), an independent application security firm, for a consideration of $ 8.83 million.
Wipro also announced that it has acquired a minority stake of less than 20 per cent on a fully diluted basis in US-based IT incident response services provider Squadcast for $1.2 million.

Nayara Energy Selects Hughes India to Connect Retail Outlets

Satellite services provider Hughes Communications India won a contract from oil retailer Nayara Energy to install, integrate and manage a satellite network solution across 3,500 retail outlets.
Hughes already connects more than 4,000 Nayara locations.
The new, five-year contract, nearly doubles the HughesON-managed deployment, making it the largest single satellite-based network in India's retail petroleum sector.

Tata Power Solar Gets Order from NTPC

Tata Power Solar has got a letter of award for an order worth Rs. 686 crore from state-owned power giant NTPC, according to a statement.
Tata Power Solar, India's largest integrated solar company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power, has received a letter of award (LoA) to build 210 megawatt peak (MWp) of solar PV projects for NTPC.
The commissioning deadline has been set as November 2022.
With this addition, the order pipeline of Tata Power Solar stands at about 2.8 gigawatts (GW) with an approximate value of Rs. 13,000 crore, thereby cementing its position as India's leading solar EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) player.

HDFC Bank Deploys Mobile ATMs

HDFC Bank installed mobile ATMs across 50 cities in India, which can be used for over 15 transactions by customers.
These ATMs have been deployed in various metros and non-metros in view of the restrictions imposed by Covid-19.
Customers can conduct over 15 types of transactions using the Mobile ATM, which will be operational at each location for a specific period. The Mobile ATM will cover 3-4 stops in a day.

Bharti Airtel's Subsidiary Sells Tower Portfolio in Tanzania

Airtel Africa announced the sale of the tower portfolio belonging to Airtel Tanzania for about USD 175 million (Rs. 1,279.6 crore).
The deal marks the latest strategic divestment of the group's tower portfolio as it focuses on an asset-light business model and on its core subscriber-facing operations.
Airtel Africa is a provider of telecommunications and mobile money services with a presence in 14 countries across Africa.
Airtel Africa announced "the sale of the tower portfolio belonging to Airtel Tanzania to a joint venture company owned by a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBA Communications Corporation, a leading global independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure, as majority owner, and by Paradigm Infrastructure Limited, a UK company focused on developing, owning and operating shared passive wireless infrastructure in selected growth markets.
The tower portfolio in Airtel Tanzania comprises about 1,400 towers that form part of the group's wireless telecommunications infrastructure network.
As per the terms of the deal, the group's subsidiary Airtel Tanzania will continue to develop, maintain and operate its equipment on the towers under a separate lease arrangement with the purchaser.

Jun 02, 2021

Suzlon Bags Order to Develop 252 MW Wind Power Project from CLP India

Suzlon Group has bagged an order from CLP India to develop a 252 MW wind power project at Sidhpur in Gujarat.
According to the statement, Suzlon will install 120 units of S120-140m wind turbine generators (WTGs) with a Hybrid Lattice Tubular (HLT) tower, with rated capacity of 2.1 MW each.
The project, located in Sidhpur, is expected to be commissioned in 2022. Suzlon will execute the project with a scope of supply, foundation, erection and commissioning.
CLP India is owned by the CLP Group, one of the largest investor-owned power businesses in Asia, and Caisse de dpt et placement du Qubec (CDPQ), a global investment group. Founded in 2002, CLP India has gradually grown its footprint to become one of the largest foreign investors in the Indian power sector.

Capgemini Sets up 5G Lab in Mumbai

France-headquartered IT services major Capgemini has set up a 5G lab in Mumbai to accelerate the deployment of 5G solutions among its customer base. This is the third such lab from the company globally, the other two are in Paris and Portugal.
Capgemini has launched this lab in collaboration with Ericsson to accelerate the deployment of 5G solutions.
5G adoption is still in the early days. This lab is primarily for their clients to understand the tech, innovate and experiment with us. It will be a great accelerator in the adoption of 5G among our client base.

A. K. Vinod is Chief Compliance Officer of Union Bank of India

State-owned Union Bank of India has nominated A. K. Vinod as its chief compliance officer.
A. K. Vinod, chief general manager, has been nominated as the chief compliance officer with effect from June 1, 2021 in place of K. L. Raju, general manager.
Vinod has been nominated as the CCO for a minimum period of three years.

Noel Tata, Pramit Jhaveri Front Runners to Join Tata Sons Board

Noel Tata, chairman of retail chain Trent and former Citibank India head, Pramit Jhaveri are frontrunners to get a seat on the board of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group.
Both are currently on the board of Tata Trusts and will represent the trusts on Tata Sons board, CNBC TV18 reported. Tata Sons declined to comment on the report. As of now, Venu Srinivasan, chairman of TVS group and Vice Chairman of Tata Trusts, is representing the Tata Trusts on Tata Sons board.
Noel Tata was inducted on the board of Tata Trusts in 2019 for three years.
Jhaveri joined Dorabji Trust last year.

SBI Invites Bids from ARCs for Two Accounts for Recovering Rs. 409 crore

SBI will auction two NPA accounts later this month for recovery of dues worth Rs. 409.45 crore from the companies -- Kamachi Industries Ltd and Tantia Agrochemicals Ltd.
The e-auction will take place on June 25.
As per the bank's revised policy on sale of financial assets, in line with regulatory guidelines, SBI placed these accounts for sale to banks, ARCs (asset reconstruction companies), NBFCs or FIs (financial institutions).
Kamachi Industries has an outstanding of Rs. 355.93 crore against the bank and Tantia Agrochemicals owes Rs. 53.52 crore.

Jun 01, 2021

Raymond Limited Appoints Harmohan Sahni as CEO of Realty Business

Raymond Ltd appointed Harmohan Sahni as chief executive officer (CEO) of its realty business.
Harmohan was till recently the COO of Real Estate business of ECL Finance Ltd (Edelweiss Group) and has enormous experience in executing projects.
With a 100 acre plus land parcel in the heart of Thane city in Maharashtra, Raymond forayed into the real estate space in 2019 with its maiden project 'Aspirational District', which is spread over 14 acres.

Ananth Narayanan Starts Mensa Brands

After getting a blockbuster exit from the PharmEasy-Medlife deal, Ananth Narayanan has launched a new venture Mensa Brands which aims to create a technology-led 'House of Brands' built for the e-commerce industry.
Mensa has also closed its Series A funding round, raising about $50 million. The round was led by Accel Partners, Falcon Edge Capital, Norwest Venture Partners as well as prominent angel investors such as Kunal Shah, Mukesh Bansal, Rahul Mehta of DST Global and Scott Shleifer of Tiger Global. Additionally, debt financing facilities from Alteria Capital and InnoVen Capital are also secured.
Mensa's vision is to partner and invest in digital-first brands and scale them exponentially. Over the next 3 years, the firm will acquire over 50 brands across categories including home, garden, apparel, personal care and beauty. It would also take these brands to global markets such as the U.S and the Middle East.

Panel to Examine GST Exemption on Covid Material

The Centre constituted an eight-member ministerial panel under the convenership of Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma to examine Goods and Services Tax (GST) exemptions on a range of Covid-19 essentials such as vaccines, drugs, testing kits and ventilators.
Other members of the group of ministers (GoM) are – Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitinbhai Patel, Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar, Goa transport minister Mauvin Godinho, Kerala finance minister KN Balagopal, Odisha finance minister Niranjan Pujari, Telangana finance minister T Harish Rao and UP finance minister Suresh Kr Khanna.
The GoM will submit its recommendations to the GST Council on or before June 8.

CII Elects T. V. Narendran as its New President

Industry chamber CII elected T. V. Narendran, CEO and MD, Tata Steel, as its new president for 2021-22. He takes over from Uday Kotak, Managing Director, and Chief Executive Officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
He was the Chairman of CII Eastern Region during 2016-17 and has led CII national panels on leadership and HR besides being Chairman of CII Jharkhand.

Construction Firm J Kumar Infraprojects Bags Order from MMRDA

Civil engineering and construction company J Kumar Infraprojects Ltd bagged an order worth Rs. 1,307.88 crore from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.
In a regulatory filing the company said the order is for part design and construction of balance works of Mumbai Metro Rail project.

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