General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - May 2018

May 2018

Jan 22, 2021

Ola, Siemens to Build 'India's most Advanced EV Manufacturing Hub' in TN

Ola, one of the leading mobility companies in the world, partnered with Siemens as it looks to rapidly build its upcoming electric vehicle manufacturing facility. This announcement comes on the heels of Ola's MoU with the government of Tamil Nadu to invest nearly Rs. 2,400 crore towards building this facility.
The factory will generate almost 10,000 jobs and with an initial capacity of 2 million units a year, it will be the largest scooter manufacturing facility in the world. It will serve as Ola's global manufacturing hub catering to its customers in India as well as key markets across Europe, UK, Latin America and Australia-New Zealand.

Bajaj Finance to Enter Payment Solutions Market with 'Bajaj Pay'

Bajaj Finance is going to launch 'Bajaj Pay', an integrated payment platform comprising UPI, PPI, EMI card and credit card options as it plans to enter the payment solutions market in the fourth quarter of FY21.
The company, in a regulatory filing, confirmed that its targeted time for Bajaj Pay launch is Q4 of FY21. The move will allow Bajaj Finance to make forays into the fast-growing payment solutions market in India.
Bajaj Finance would also be launching another app — 'Bajaj Pay for Merchants', which will cater to the requirements of a customer base of over 100,000 merchants.
This will broaden payment solution offering for our -103,000 merchants and enable disproportionate growth in our market share from these merchants in the medium term.
Bajaj Finance is also developing five proprietary marketplaces, 'EMI Store, 'Insurance Marketplace', 'Investment Marketplace, 'BF Health', and broking app with the help of group companies.

RBI Withdraws 3 Circulars on Excess Pension Recovery after Discovering Anomalies

The Reserve Bank said rules regarding recovery of excess or wrong pensions are being flouted, and withdrew three circulars concerning the same.
The RBI asked banks to seek guidance from respective pension sanctioning authorities regarding the process to be followed for recovery of excess pension paid to the pensioners.
"It has been brought to the notice of RBI that the recovery of excess/wrong pension payments from the pensioners are being made in a manner that is not in keeping with the extant guidelines/Court orders," a central bank notification said.
After examining the issue, the RBI decided to withdraw three circulars issued by its department of government and bank accounts in 1991 and 2016.

YES BANK Launches YES MSME Initiative

YES BANK has rolled out YES MSME, a proposition with the aim to strengthen the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with speedy and easy access to funds. This will be facilitated by curated offerings to address both business and individual needs of MSMEs and of new-age entrepreneurs. The YES MSME proposition has been curated, taking into consideration the insights and feedback from customers and industry associations.
The proposition focuses on supporting MSMEs in expanding their business, sustaining momentum, and accelerating growth through solutions across lending, deposits, insurance, customized and segmented digital solutions for retail, manufacturing, wholesale, trade and service providers. This also includes special current account offerings for the self-employed segment.
The launch comes during the SME carnival from January 18 – 22, 2021 at the Bank's MSME-focused branches across India.

LT Foods picks 30% Stake in Netherlands-based Leev through Subsidiary

LT Foods Ltd said that its subsidiary Nature Bio Foods BV has acquired a 30 per cent stake in a Netherland-based Leev.nu for an undisclosed amount. The company said that the acquisition has been done with an option of acquiring a further stake of 21 per cent at the end of five years.
Leev.nu, which is an organic specialty food company, is known for a product portfolio consisting of breakfast bars, healthy snacks, baking range & gluten free and low sugar products. It is also expanding its product portfolio into organic whole grains categories such as oats and flax seeds.
As per Vijay Kumar Arora, Chairman & Managing Director LT Foods Ltd, strategically, this acquisition gives NBF BV, a direct reach to the consumers through the mainstream distribution strength of Leev.

Jan 21, 2021

Amazon Partners with Startup India

Amazon partnered with Startup India, Sequoia Capital India and Fireside Ventures to launch an accelerator programme to help early-stage startups take their brands to global audiences.
The Amazon Global Selling Propel (AGSP) programme has been designed to support early stage startups (raised funding in post seed to pre-series A stage, if funded) in the consumer products space to launch in international markets and create global brands from India through Amazon's Global Selling programme.
As part of the Startup Accelerator, Amazon has constituted a mentorship board consisting of Amazon leaders from India and across the world, VCs and senior leaders from Startup India.

Mercedes Unveils Electric Compact SUV in Bid to Outdo Tesla

Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz unveiled the EQA, a new electric compact SUV as part of plans to take on rival Tesla Inc and offer more emission-free vehicles to consumers to meet targets in Europe and China.
The EQA, the first of several electric models Mercedes-Benz plans to launch this year, will initially have a range of 426 kilometres (265 miles), with a 500 km model coming later.
The SUV will go on sale in Europe on Feb 4 at what board of management Britta Seeger described as very attractive price points.
Electric vehicle (EV) sales took off in Europe last year as carmakers scrambled to meet European Union CO2 emissions targets. Sales received a boost from subsidies included in economic stimulus measures rolled out in France and Germany, in particular.

Google, Lightbox, Others Invest in E-comm, Delivery Start-up Dunzo

Online delivery start-up Dunzo said that it has raised a fresh $40 million from new and existing investors. The investment, part of the company's ongoing Series E financial round, saw participation from Google, Lightbox, Evolvence, Hana Financial Investment, LGT Lightstone Aspada and Alteria, among others.
The fresh capital will be used to expand in Mumbai, Chennai and Pune, its fastest growing markets.
In October 2019, a clutch of investors had infused about $45 million in Dunzo. So far, the company has raised nearly $135 million in funding.
The Bengaluru-based firm that delivers a range of items to its customers starting from groceries, perishables to pet supplies and packages across eight cities gained more users amid the pandemic as home-bound consumers moved online for servicing regular needs.

Infosys Receives Google Cloud Partner Status

Infosys announced that it has been accredited with the Google Cloud Partner Specialisation in the data and analytics space. Infosys is among the top global system integrators which have been accredited with this specialisation.
Infosys received this recognition as the company has successfully demonstrating end-to-end capabilities on Google Cloud including warehousing on the cloud and data ingestion.
Infosys has showcased robust methodology, strong industry expertise, technical proficiency, success in specialized data and analytics solutions, and service areas.
These data and analytics offerings are a part of Infosys Cobalt.

IFFCO Ranks First among Top 300 Cooperatives of the World

The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) has stepped up to 65th position in overall turnover ranking from 125th position in last financial year and now is at the top spot among 300 leading cooperatives in the world.
The ranking is based on the ratio of turnover over the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.
It signifies that IFFCO is contributing significantly to the GDP and economic growth of the Nation. It relates the turnover of the enterprise to the wealth of the country according to the 2020 edition of the 9th Annual World Cooperative Monitor (WCM) report published by International Cooperative Alliance (ICA).

ICICI Bank launches 'InstaFX' mobile app

ICICI Bank launched a new mobile application 'InstaFX' for authorised money changers to help customers of any bank get 'ICICI Bank Forex Prepaid Card' swiftly. The bank is the first in the country to offer such facility to money changers.
The app enables the authorised money changers, who are partners of the Bank, to complete the KYC verification and validation of customers digitally and on a real-time basis.
The facility significantly improves customer convenience as the 'ICICI Bank Forex Prepaid Card' gets activated swiftly within a few hours, as against the industry practice of up to two-days.
The app enhances convenience of customers, even if they are not customers of our bank, as it facilitates swift activation of the Forex Prepaid Card.

Dhir & Dhir Associates Ropes in Sonal Verma to Lead the ESG Practice

Dhir & Dhir Associates, a full-service law firm founded in 1993, has serviced clients globally as a single-window legal and regulatory advisor.
The firm has offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad and a representative office in Japan. The firm is now geared up to set up the ESG (Environment, Social & Governance) practice.
The decision comes after observing sustainable development, governance, risk and compliance becoming a central stress point at all global business forums, including the World Economic Forum. In India, the firm would be the first to launch a dedicated ESG practice led by Sonal Verma, who, in his last stint, led the Governance, Risk and Compliance focused consulting business at Legasis Services, Mumbai.

Jan 20, 2021

Upstox Launches Digital Gold Platform

Digital brokerage firm Upstox announced the launch of a digital platform for trading in gold, named Upstox Digital Gold.
"Apart from investing in the stock market and mutual funds, Upstox customers can now also invest online in gold," said Upstox, which is also known as RKSV Securities India.
The platform, as per the company, enables customers to buy 24-karat digital gold of 99.9 percent purity at live market rates, updated in real-time on the platform.
The purchased gold can then be converted into physical coins or bars or stored in the vault.
Upstox said that it has partnered with Augmont, an integrated precious metals management company that empowers customers to begin investing in digital gold, starting at just Rs. 1.

Adani Group Signs Concession Agreement with AAI for 3 Developing Airports

The Adani Group signed concession agreements with the Airports Authority of India for the management, operations and development of Guwahati, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram airports.
The concessionaires are required to take up the Guwahati, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram airports fulfilling certain conditions precedents within 180 days from 19th January, 2021.
The Centre had in February 2019 privatised six major airports of the country -- Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati.
Through a competitive bidding process, the Adani group won the rights to run all of them for 50 years.

Paytm Bank Account Holders can Now avail FD services from Suryoday Bank

Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) announced its partnership with Suryoday Small Finance Bank to facilitate the Fixed Deposit services to its customers.
The customers of Paytm payments bank are already enjoying the fixed deposits service in collaboration with the IndusInd Bank at a minimum investment of Rs. 100.
With this new partnership, PPBL has become the first payments bank in the country to launch the multi-partner FD service where an account holder can select the partnered bank as per their preference.
The customers can also compare various features such as minimum investment, interest rate, tenure, among other things before making a decision.
Paytm Payments Bank Limited also offers zero penalty charge for liquidation of the FD which are placed in either of the banks it has entered into the partnership with. It has been witnessed that there are several account holders who prefer "Auto-Create Fixed Deposit" feature wherein the user can set the FD limit on their savings account.

Jan 19, 2021

Energy Group Total Buys to Acquire Stake in Adani Green Energy

French oil and energy group Total will buy a 20% minority stake in Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) from Adani Group, as Total builds up its presence in the renewable energy sector.
Total's purchase of the stake in AGEL would give it a seat on the board of directors of AGEL. Total and Adani had earlier struck a partnership deal back in 2018 in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector.
Total is trying to reduce its dependence on oil and shift to renewable energy.
Total aims to have 35 gigawatts (GW) of gross renewable energy generation capacity by 2025 from around 9 GW now.

India and Japan Sign Agreement to Give Skilled Indian Workers Access to Japanese Job Market

India and Japan signed an agreement to boost the mobility of skilled Indian workers in 14 fields, including nursing, industrial machinery, shipbuilding, aviation, agriculture and the food services industry.
The two countries have stepped up trade and economic cooperation across areas, ranging from the steel industry and investments to creating alternative and more resilient supply chains, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Foreign secretary Harsh Shringla and Japan's ambassador Satoshi Suzuki signed the memorandum of cooperation (MoC) on a framework for partnership for specified skilled workers (SSWs), whereby Indian workers in 14 categories who meet skill requirements and pass Japanese language tests will be eligible for employment on a contractual basis.
The two sides will set up a joint working group of officials to work out operational details and smooth implementation of the programme.
Japan would grant these workers the status of 'specified skilled worker'. It is also expected that Indian skilled workers who go to Japan under this MoC will acquire new skills while working in Japan.

China Only Major Economy with Positive GDP Growth in 2020

China has become the only major economy in the world the end up with positive GDP growth in 2020. Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics put GDP growth in the December quarter at 6.5%. This has catapulted the annual growth figure for 2020 to 2.3%, despite a 6.8% contraction in the quarter ending March 2020, which was when China was dealing with a spike in Covid-19 cases.
The 2.3% GDP growth in 2020 is 30 basis points — one basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point — more than the 2% projection made by the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects released earlier this month. All major economies, country groups and sub-regions (East Asia and Pacific being the only exception, thanks to China) are expected to experience a contraction in their GDP in 2020.

Jan 18, 2021

France Wants Suspension of 'Poisonous' U.S.-Europe Trade Spat

According to France's foreign minister, the European Union and the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden should suspend a trade dispute to give themselves time to find common ground.
As per Jean-Yves Le Drian, the issue that's poisoning everyone is that of the price escalation and taxes on steel, digital technology, Airbus and more particularly our wine sector.
At the end of December the United States moved to boost tariffs on French and German aircraft parts, wines and other spirits in the Boeing-Airbus subsidy dispute, but the bloc decided to hold off on retaliation for now.
The EU is planning to present a World Trade Organization reform proposal in February and is willing to consider reforms to restrain the judicial authority of the WTO's dispute-settlement body.
The United States has for years complained that the WTO Appellate Body makes unjustified new trade rules in its decisions and has blocked the appointment of new judges to stop this, rendering the body inoperable.

India Delivers 1st Batch of Heavy Cranes to Bolster Operations at Chabahar Port

India has delivered a consignment of heavy equipment, including cranes, for further development of Iran's Chabahar Port, signalling New Delhi's commitment to the strategic connectivity project that can provide access to markets in Central Asia.
The consignment included two mobile harbour cranes of 140 tonnes, which were acquired from the Italian firm Italgru S.r.l. under a deal for a total of six cranes.

ICICI Bank Ties up with Fintech Niyo to Issue Prepaid Cards to MSMEs

ICICI Bank, a leading Indian private sector bank, and Niyo, a new age fintech company announced a tie-up to issue prepaid cards to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) workers. MSMEs will now be able to get 'ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card' powered by Visa, for their blue-collar workers.
With this, MSMEs can upload the salaries of their workers on the card, which the workers can then utilise as per their need seamlessly.
These workers are mostly under-banked and are deprived of banking facilities.
The 'ICICI Bank Niyo Bharat Payroll Card' allows an individual to receive funds up to Rs. 1 lakh into the card account. It offers convenience and safety of digital banking to the blue-collar workforce while providing a state-of-the-art salary disbursement solution to the employers.
Any MSME can tie-up with Niyo to avail of the prepaid card. After the tie-up, cards are issued to the workers at their workplace itself while their KYC verification is done simultaneously using a biometric device.

GAIL Announces Share Buyback Programme

GAIL (India) Ltd, the nation's largest gas distribution firm, announced a Rs. 1,046.35-crore share buyback programme as it looked to return surplus cash to shareholders, the biggest being the Government of India.
The shares being bought represent 1.55% of the total number of fully paid-up equity shares. The company Board also declared an interim dividend of 25% (Rs. 2.50 per share) for financial year 2020-21. The government owns 51.76% of GAIL and is expected to participate in the share buyback.

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