General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - May 2018

May 2018

Mar 22, 2021

Saudi Aramco to Prioritise Energy Supply to China

Saudi Aramco will ensure China's energy security remains its highest priority for the next 50 years and beyond as new and existing energy sources run in parallel for some time.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, retained its position as China's top supplier in the first two months this year, with volumes up 2.1% to 1.86 million barrels per day (bpd).
The kingdom beat Russia to keep its ranking as China's top crude supplier in 2020 despite unprecedented production cuts in a pact between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to balance global markets after demand plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reliance Affiliate Picks 3/4th of gas from Own CBM Block

Reliance Industries Ltd has sold three-fourth of the gas from coal seams in Madhya Pradesh to an affiliate of the company at a price of just over $6 at current oil prices.
India Gas Solutions Private Limited, a 50: 50 joint venture of RIL and UK's bp, bought 0.62 million standard cubic meters per day out of 0.82 mmscmd gas bid out in an auction last week.
State-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd cornered 0.17 mmscmd while 0.03 mmscmd was picked by Reliance Gas Pipeline - the entity that transports gas from the coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks in Madhya Pradesh to consumers.
Reliance had last month bids for 0.82 mmscmd of coal gas from the Sohagpur coal-bed methane (CBM) block for one year beginning April 1, 2021

Mar 21, 2021

CCI Clears Tata Power's Purchase of NESCO Utility

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved acquisition of 51 per cent equity share of North Eastern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (NESCO Utility) by Tata Power Company Limited (TPCL) from Grid Corporation of Odisha Limited (GRIDCO).
The proposed combination relates to the acquisition of 51 per cent of equity share capital of NESCO Utility by the TPCL from GRIDCO pursuant to the competitive bidding process initiated by the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) under Section 20 of the Electricity Act, 2003.
TPCL, incorporated on September 18, 1919, is a public listed company and is primarily engaged in the business of power generation, transmission and distribution. It is a part of the Tata group.
NESCO Utility, incorporated on November 19, 1997, is engaged in the business of distribution and retail supply of power in five districts of Odisha namely Balasore, Bhadrak,Jajpur, Keonjhar and Baripada.

RBI Remains Net Purchaser of US Dollar in January

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) remained net buyer of the US dollar in January after it bought USD 2.854 billion from the spot market.
In the reporting month, RBI purchased USD 18.225 billion and sold USD 15.371 billion in the spot market, the RBI said in its monthly bulletin for March 2021.
In December 2020, RBI net purchased USD 3.991 billion from the spot market.
In January 2020, RBI was a net buyer of USD 10.266 billion. It had purchased USD 11.486 billion and sold USD 1.22 billion during the month.

Mar 20, 2021

Government Sells Stake to Exit Tata Communications

The government exited Tata Communications after selling 10 per cent stake to Tata Sons' arm Panatone Finvest in an off-market trade.
The Government of India held 26.12 per cent stake while Panatone Finvest had 34.80 per cent, Tata Sons 14.07 per cent and the remaining 25.01 per cent was with the public before the transaction.
The stake is part of the government's disinvestment process. The government has set a target to realise Rs. 32,000 crore in this fiscal.

Bank of Japan Fine-tunes Massive Stimulus in Drive to Boost Prices

The Bank of Japan slightly loosened its grip on long-term interest rates and laid the groundwork to taper its huge asset purchases, as part of steps to make its stimulus sustainable enough to weather a prolonged battle to fire up inflation.
In a review of its policy tools announced after a two-day meeting, the BOJ said it would allow long-term interest rates to move up and down by 0.25% around its 0% target, instead of by the current implicit band of 0.2%.
To give itself more room to wind down its massive stimulus, the central bank also removed an explicit guidance to buy exchange-traded funds (ETF) at an annual pace of roughly 6 trillion yen ($55.21 billion).
Instead of buying at a set pace, the BOJ said it would step in only when markets destabilise under a 12-trillion-yen ceiling set last year when the initial COVID-19 hit jolted stock prices.

Bankers, Financial Institutions to Take around 95% Hair Cut in NOCL

Bankers and other financial institutions will take around 95 per cent hair cut in Nagarjuna Oil Corporation (NOCL). Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) has agreed to pay Rs. 600 crore to revive NOCL and Liquidator of NOCL inturn has agreed to pay Rs. 560 crore (of the Rs. 600 crore) to Secured Financial Creditors for which the company need to owe Rs. 9,864.16 crore. On the principal the lenders will recover 25 per cent.
Earlier the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Chennai gave its nod for Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) scheme, submitted through the Liquidator V Mahesh, for the revival of Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Limited (NOCL).

Uttarakhand Govt. to Allow Completion of 7 Hydel Projects

The Centre has decided to allow the completion of seven under-construction hydropower projects in Uttarakhand, a top official in the environment ministry said, indicating the government's desire to push ahead with these projects despite opposition from activists and local residents, which has resurfaced again in recent weeks following the February 7 flash flood on the Rishi Ganga that claimed at least 72 lives and damaged two projects.
The decision has been taken by the ministries of environment, power and Jal Shakti, and will be communicated to the Supreme Court, which is hearing a matter on hydropower projects.

SC Approves SBI MF Plan for Franklin Templeton Schemes

The Supreme Court accepted the standard operating procedure (SOP) prepared by SBI Funds Management (SBI MF) to monetise assets and distribute the proceeds to unit holders of the six debt schemes of Franklin Templeton (FT) Mutual Fund. The SOP was prepared in consultation with FT Mutual Fund and market regulator SEBI.
The six shuttered schemes have already distributed Rs. 9,122 crore to investors and have accrued another Rs. 1,370 crore in cash earlier this month. The six schemes were frozen by the FT Mutual Fund in April 2020.

Mar 19, 2021

NCLT Approves Haldia Petrochemicals Scheme to Revive Nagarjuna Oil Corp

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Chennai has given its nod for Haldia Petrochemicals (Haldia Petro) scheme, submitted through the Liquidator V Mahesh, for the revival of Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Limited (NOCL).
Haldia Petro is planning to invest around Rs. 50,000 crore to convert this refinery into a petrochemical complex.
Haldia Petro was among the three prospective bidders, the other two were Accord Distillers and Brewers P Limited and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited. However, Accord Distillers & Brewers P. Ltd., in September 2019 withdrew from the bidding process.

HSBC in Talks to Sell French Retail Banking to Cerberus

HSBC has entered final negotiations to sell its French retail banking business to private equity firm Cerberus.
The planned disposal is part of HSBC Chief Executive Noel Quinn's strategy to slash costs across the banking group and Reuters previously reported that Cerberus was among two remaining bidders.
The talks are conditional on price and terms and may not necessarily result in a sale.
HSBC is working with Lazard to sell its 270 retail branches in France, but has been struggling to attract interest as bidders fret over restructuring costs and complex talks with local regulators.

HC Restrains Future from Moving Ahead with Reliance Deal

The Delhi High Court upheld the Singapore Emergency Arbitrator's (EA) order restraining Future Retail Ltd (FRL) from going ahead with its Rs. 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail to sell its business, which was objected to by US-based e-commerce giant Amazon.
Justice J R Midha directed Kishore Biyani-led FRL not to take further action in relation to the deal with Reliance and held that the Future Group wilfully violated the EA's order.
The high court imposed a cost of Rs. 20 lakh on the Future Group and others associated with it and directed them to deposit the amount in Prime Minister's Relief Fund within two weeks for providing COVID-19 vaccines to senior citizens of Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.
The high court's order came on Amazon's plea seeking direction to order enforcement of the award by Singapore's EA on October 25, 2020, restraining FRL from going ahead with its Rs. 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail.

India Signs Contracts to Develop Water Supply and Sewerage Network in Maldives

Contracts to develop Water Supply and Sewerage network across 34 islands of the Maldives were signed in the presence of Minister of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Mohamed Aslam, Minister of Finance, Ibrahim Ameer, Secretary (Multilateral) from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Hala Hameed and Deputy High Commissioner of India Rohit Rathish.
Development of Water Supply and Sewerage System in 34 islands of the Maldives is the most geographically dispersed of the 9 mega infrastructure projects being undertaken under EXIM Bank of India's Lines of Credit (LoCs) extended to the Maldives.
The 34 islands chosen by the Government of the Maldives for the project span across 16 atolls viz. Haa Alifu, Haa Dhaalu, Shaviyani, Noonu, Lhaviyani, Kaafu Alifalifu, Alif Dhaalu, Vaavu, Meemu, Faafu, Dhaalu, Thaa, Laamu, Gaafu Alifu and Gaafu Dhaalu.

Jio, Airtel, Voda Idea make Upfront Payments for Spectrum

Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea made upfront payments for the spectrum bought in the recently concluded auctions. It is learnt that while Reliance Jio has made a payment of Rs. 15,019 crore, Bharti Airtel and Vi paid Rs. 6,323 crore and Rs. 574 crore, respectively.
The telecom department had issued demand notes to the three operators on March 8, and the deadline for making the upfront payment was Thursday. Reliance Jio emerged the highest bidder in the 4G telecom spectrum auction, beating incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea by a wide margin.
The Centre would get Rs. 77,815 crore from the two-day auction — one of the shortest in a decade. While the amount has exceeded the government expectation, the total mop-up is far below the Rs. 3.92 trillion worth of airwaves put up for sale.
The spectrum has been sold across a few preferred bands at the base price.

Hero Sets up Global Headquarters in London

Hero Motors Company (HMC) announced the setting up of its international headquarters Hero International (HIT) in London to strengthen its global presence. HIT is aimed at bringing HMC's European businesses under one umbrella and giving its electric bike business a major boost globally.
The move will unify the HMC-owned European businesses, including HNF GmbH in Germany and Insync Bikes in the UK, by bringing them under one umbrella. The company aims to take up its European revenue up to €300 million by 2021.
HMC's Global R&D is currently centralised in Berlin with HNF which is a premium engineering unit.

Mar 18, 2021

USA's Carlyle Offloads Stake in SBI Cards

US-based private equity firm Carlyle Group sold a 4.3 per cent stake (40 million shares) in SBI Cards and Payment Services via block deals.
The shares sold at Rs. 986 a piece, fetching Carlyle Rs. 3,944 crore. The buyers are not known yet.
Shares of SBI Cards fell 5 per cent to finish at Rs. 971.
Following the latest share sale, Carlyle's holding in SBI Cards has dropped to 11.6 per cent.

Former Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube Plans to Launch a New Airline

Vinay Dube, former chief executive officer of Jet Airways and GoAir, is exploring opportunities to launch an airline.
Dube has teamed up with his airline colleagues Praveen Iyer and Nikhil Ved for the venture and has held talks with aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing. He plans to start operations with five aircraft by year-end.
Dube, who previously worked with Delta Airlines, was appointed as Jet CEO in 2017. He left the airline one month after its closure in May 2019. Dube served as GoAir CEO between February-August last year.

Axis Mutual Fund Launches IT-focused Exchange Traded Fund

Axis Mutual Fund launched an exchange-traded fund focused on technology stocks.
The new fund, Axis Technology ETF, is open. It will track the Nifty IT index, and offer investors an opportunity to invest in the biggest IT companies.

OYO's India Business Ebitda-positive

As per the firm's founder and Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal, hospitality firm OYO's India business is now Ebitda positive and the company is earning the same gross profits globally in dollars since January 2021 as it did in the pre-Covid period.
OYO earned the same money since January 2021 as it did in the pre-Covid period. This is a very big achievement and demonstrates demand recovery and results of a revenue-share-only-network.
India is the second market, after OYO EuropeHomes, that has achieved profitability and with these two largest markets financially sustainable, they are clear examples of the success of our business model at scale.

IOC and Israeli firm form JV

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Israeli battery developer Phinergy formalised a joint venture to manufacture ultra-lightweight metal-air batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), a venture that got its first customers in Maruti Suzuki and Ashok Leyland.
The equal joint venture will replace lithium with aluminium to make batteries that will charge faster and give a longer run.
This will "help overcome most of the challenges facing EVs including range anxiety," IOC Chairman S M Vaidya said.
Al-Air technology will help us overcome most of the current challenges for e-Vehicles and address most of the potential customers' pain-points, including range anxiety, higher cost of purchase, and safety issues.

SBI, IOCL Ink India's First Libor Alternative Rate Deal

State Bank of India (SBI) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) will be inking the first SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate) linked external commercial borrowing (ECB) deal as the world moves away from London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), the de facto international benchmark reference rate.
SBI said that it will be arranging $100 million for 5 years linked to SOFR.
The LIBOR will no longer remain the benchmark after December this year. Consequently, the Indian banks are also getting prepared to move from Libor to another benchmark. Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) and Sterling Overnight Interbank Average Rate (SONIA) are the two popular alternatives, but internationally, only a few swap deals are linked to them internationally.
Libor still continues to be used heavily, especially for loans that mature within a year.

PNB Incorporates PNB Cards & Services for Credit Card Business

Public sector lender Punjab National Bank incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary, PNB Cards & Services Limited, which will deal with the banks' non-financial support services related to its credit card business.
The exchange was informed that a wholly-owned subsidiary of the bank namely PNB Cards & Services Limited has been incorporated on 16.03.2021 by the registrar of companies, Delhi to undertake the non-financial support services related to the credit card the business of the bank.

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