General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Mar 13, 2020

ADB to Give $200 mn to Companies Manufacturing Products to Combat Coronavirus

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $200 million (about Rs. 1,480 crore) to companies manufacturing and distributing medicines, and other items needed to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
As per the Manila-headquartered multilateral funding agency, the funds will be made available through ADB's Supply Chain Finance Program and provided to selected companies within weeks.
Companies manufacturing and distributing products, including medicines and personal protective equipment, are increasingly strained as production and distribution ramp up to address COVID-19.
The support from ADB, working in partnership with commercial banks, will provide such companies in Asia and the Pacific with additional working capital to meet expansion and other requirements.

QNu Labs Starts Shipping Quantum Cyber-security Products

QNu Labs, the only firm in the country to develop Quantum cyber-security products, successfully conducted field trials and has started shipping its solutions to the customers. The Bengaluru-based firm said that it is engaging with customers across defence, government, financial sector and data centre and cloud service providers in India and overseas markets such as the US, Middle East and Southeast Asia. It has already set up its office in the US to accelerate commercialization of the technology.
"We are gearing up our production capabilities to meet the demand of customers globally," said Sunil Gupta, co-founder and chief executive at QNu Labs. QNu Labs also established a channel partner network globally for a much larger and faster client reach.

SBI to Foray into Microfinance

State Bank of India has decided to enter the microfinance market that has shown immunity to economic downturn.
The move by India's largest lender is likely to roil the segment because it is planning to offer micro loans at rates lower than that is prevailing in the market nationwide through its wide network of branches.
The state-owned lender is setting up a vertical, Financial Inclusion & Micro Market (FIMM), to handle its microfinance operations and has assigned a deputy managing director for the task. It is doing the groundworks for a national roll-out of the business soon.

Hakuhodo Acquires AdGlobal360

As part of expanding growth strategy in India, Hakuhodo Inc, Japan's second-largest advertising company acquired AdGlobal360 (AGL).
Adglobal360 was ranked as the fastest-growing MarTech Company in 2019 by Deloitte.
AdGlobal360 is Hakuhodo's first acquisition in India as it seeks to enhance its technology and digital footprint.
Hakuhodo, which was founded in 1895, is one of the few agencies in India that offers communication and business solutions to clients, not through specialist silos, but by integrating skill sets into a single structure.
Founded in 2009, AdGlobal360 is headquartered in Gurugram in Haryana. The company offers end to end digital solutions to a plethora of brands across industries.

Mar 12, 2020

TCIS Signs MoU with Gambia for MEA's eVBAB Network Project

Telecommunications consultants India Limited (TCIS) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Gambia. This MoU is signed for the participation in MEA's (eVBAB) e-VidyaBharati and e-ArogyaBharati Network Project for tele-medicine and tele-education in Africa.
It is signed by the High commissioner of Gambia, Jainaba Jagne to the Director-Technical at the TCIL, Kamendra Kumar India at New Delhi.
Gambia is the 16th country to participate in this e-Network project.

Google India Unveils 18-week Long Skill Development Programme 'DigiPivot' for Women

Google India launched a skilling programme for women called 'DigiPivot', for woman who wishes to return to their company careers after a break or just planning to make mid-career shifts to digital advertising and marketing.
The programme will end on August 28, 2020 with a day-long graduation occasion on the Google Hyderabad (Telangana) Campus.
The skilling programme was developed jointly in partnership with a career portal service –Avtar & and the Indian School of Business (ISB) with the aim to help the general gender mix within the digital advertising and marketing panorama in India and can offer an opportunity for 200 girls professionals to re-skill themselves.
Woman who're at present working and those that are ready to return to the workforce with 4-10 years of expertise in consulting, analytics, branding and sales and support are eligible to attend this programme.
The selected woman will undergo a curated 18-week studying program and engagement (each offline & on-line) that aims to empower them with digital advertising and marketing data and instruments in addition to mentorship on strategic management abilities.

Qatar's Black Cat Engineering Ties up with TCS for Digital Solutions

IT firm TCS partnered with Qatar-based Black Cat Engineering & Construction (BCEC) to provide digital solutions and innovation strategy.
Tata Consultancy Services was selected by BCEC as the strategic partner to drive the latter's digital transformation and co-innovation strategy.
As part of the tie-up, TCS is enabling BCEC to reimagine its end-to-end business processes from tendering to construction, incorporating EPC industry's best practices, to design and implement multifunctional and multiservice solution on Oracle Cloud ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning).

Five Indians in WEF's Young Global Leaders List

Byju Classes' founder Byju Raveendran and Zomato's co-founder Gaurav Gupta are among the five Indians named by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in its new list of 115 Young Global Leaders.
Announcing the list, Geneva-based WEF said these 'change-makers' from as many as 52 countries are working in areas ranging from revamping of health systems to investigating corruption while using their power of the under 40s to change the world.
The other three Indians on the list are Tara Singh Vachani (CEO of Antara Senior Living), Vinati Mutreja (managing director and CEO, Vinati Organics Limited), and Swapan Mehra (CEO, Iora Ecological Solutions).
These five Indians are joined on the 2020 list of YGLs by US women's football team co-captain Megan Rapinoe, world-renowned street artist JR, New Zealand's first refugee parliamentarian Golriz Gharhaman, Finland's youngest prime minister Sanna Marin, BBC News's Africa Business Editor Larry Madowo and Xiaomi's international business president Chew Shou Zi.
The list also includes Muhammad Hammad Azhar (Federal Minister for Economic Affairs in Pakistan), Ugyen Dorji (Minister of Labour and Human Resources, Bhutan) and Atika Rehman (UK Correspodent for Dawn.com, Pakistan).

HDFC, Kotak to Join SBI in Yes Bank's Rescue Plan

Top mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd (HDFC) and automobile financier Kotak Mahindra Prime Ltd will invest Rs. 2,000 crore each in crisis-hit Yes Bank Ltd, according to a rescue plan prepared by State Bank of India (SBI), with the state-run lender bringing Rs. 2,450 crore on its own. As per the plan, Yes Bank needs to raise capital of Rs. 20,000 crore in the next six months, which will be infused in stages.
A draft recapitalisation plan outlining the initial investment was submitted to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Union Finance Ministry, which will provide enough equity capital into cash-starved Yes Bank and help it stay afloat.

Mar 11, 2020

Saudi Arabia and Russia Raise Stakes in Oil Standoff

Saudi Arabia will raise its crude supply to a record high in April, the kingdom announced on Tuesday, as it ratcheted up a standoff with Moscow over market share and appeared to reject Russian overtures for new talks.

Mukesh Ambani Loses Asia's Richest Crown

Mukesh Ambani, an Indian industrialist and chairman of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), is no longer Asia's richest man. Now, Jack Ma has become the richest man of Asia as RIL's share prices crashed at the stock market due to the Coronavirus epidemic and fall of oil prices.
Mukesh Ambani lost USD 5.8 billion in net worth due to the crash of share prices. The founder of Alibaba became Asia's richest man with a net worth of USD 44.5 billion. However, Mukesh Ambani is the richest man of India with a net worth of USD 41.8 billion.

TESCO Sells Asia Unit

TESCO Plc agreed to sell its businesses in Thailand and Malaysia to Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont for more than $10 billion and will return almost two-thirds of the proceeds to shareholders. Britain's largest supermarket chain plans a £5 billion special dividend after agreeing to sell the assets to Chearavanont's Charoen Pokphand Group. The deal will generate cash proceeds of £8 billion and represents an enterprise value of £8.2 billion.

Mar 10, 2020

IIT Madras Collaborates with Rolls-Royce for Research

Global industrial technology company Rolls-Royce signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) for joint research programmes.
The company said that as per the agreement, it will also send some of its engineers to IIT-M for higher education.
As part of the MoU, Rolls-Royce and IIT-M will also aim to pursue advanced research in areas of relevance to future technological and programmatic needs of the company.
As part of its Technical Higher Study Framework, Rolls-Royce will sponsor select employees keen to pursue Masters and PhD level studies, in partnership with IIT Madras.
To qualify for the program, employees must first clear the IIT Madras selection process, and their topic should be aligned with Rolls-Royce strategic research priorities and capabilities.

Tata AIA Life Insurance to Provide Football Coaching to under-Privileged Girls under its 'Bachhpa...

In order to create interest in education for the under-privileged girls aged 12-16 years, by using football coaching as a medium, Tata AIA Life Insurance, a joint venture company formed by Tata Sons Ltd and AIA Group Ltd(AIA), has launched a 'Bachhpan Ka Rakshakaran' program in association with Mumbai based Non-profit 'Oscar Foundation'.
It also conducted a full day coaching session at Astra Turf, WIFA (Western India Football Association), Cooperage, Colaba in Mumbai,Maharashtra.
In view of International Women's Day on March 8, 2020, Tata AIA Life Insurance also invited AIA Hotspurs celebrity coach, Anton Blackwood to train a team of 35 under-privileged girls belonging to the Oscar Foundation.

Mar 09, 2020

Arvind Unveils "United by Indigo" - Festive 2020 Collection

Stimulated by the acceleration in the sector, Arvind, the USD 2 billion textile-to-technology conglomerate, announced the launch of its latest collection, United by Indigo - a collection for the forthcoming Festive 2020 Season In India, that thoughtfully balances the legacy of authentic denim with future possibilities to capture the essence of the present-day global trends.
The Lycra Company, a market leader in functional and performance speciality - stretch yarn technology, co-hosted today's event. They have been Arvind's innovation partner since many years and have collaborated to deliver multiple unique and successful products to the Indian market.
At the unveiling held in Mumbai today, Arvind Denims debuted the INFIKNITY range, representing infinite possibilities in Indigo inspired activewear lifestyle, using a range of technology adaptations in Knitting. Also, on display were the latest up-dates on the already popular range of MUTANTS that blend the ruggedness and durability of traditional Jeanswear with comfort and supple softness of real knits.

Commerce Ministry Clears TCS, DLF Proposals to Set up SEZs for IT Sector in Haryana and UP

The highest decision-making body for special economic zones (SEZs) chaired by the commerce secretary Anup Wadhawan, approved the proposals of Information technology (IT) major TCS (Tata Consultancy Services Limited) and DLF (Delhi Land and Finance) Limited a premier real estate company in India to establish a special economic zones (SEZs) for IT sector in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Haryana respectively.
TCS proposed to establish an IT/ITeS (Information Technology Enabled Services.) SEZ in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, over an area of 19.9 hectares at a cost of Rs. 2,433.72 crore.
Similarly, DLF has proposed to establish two SEZs in Haryana with an investments worth of Rs 793.95 crore and Rs. 761.54 crore.
The central government has cleared 417 such zones in India, as on November 14, 2019.Of these, 238 zones are in active state.

Centre Invites Bids for Sale of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

The government invited bids for the sale of its entire 52.98% stake in country's second biggest State-owned oil reﬁner Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).
However, amid falling oil prices, analysts believe that the government will ﬁnd it diﬃcult to get a good valuation for the company.
The government's plan to sell its stake in BPCL could be delayed, as many global oil majors that have been looking at the company as an outlet to reﬁne their crude may revaluate their bids in a scenario of sinking oil prices.
Global oil majors, starting from world's largest oil ﬁrm Saudi Aramco to U.S. major ExxonMobil, from Russia's oil major Rosneft to Royal Dutch Shell, from Total of France to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), are said to be interested.

Paytm, Hyderabad Metro Tie Up for QR-based Tickets

Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) in partnership with Paytm launched a QR-code-based metro ticketing system at Rasoolpura metro station Hyderabad.
This system will help people book digital tickets easily and it also reduces the ticket congestion at the ticket counters.
It also provides a hassle-free journey to the customers.

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