General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Nov 18, 2019

Yahoo Japan And Line Set To Merge

Japan's biggest search engine and messaging app are set to merge under a deal agreed by their parent companies.
Yahoo Japan is the country's biggest search engine, and has e-commerce and online banking subsidiaries.
Line is the dominant messaging app, and is also popular in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.
Yahoo Japan has long offered a diverse range of services but has lagged behind many of its competitors.

Indian Oil Corporation Rolls Out Winter-grade Diesel for Ladakh

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) began supplying a special winter-grade diesel to Ladakh, solving technical issues faced in fuel supply to high-altitude regions during extreme winter conditions.
While IOC's Panipat refinery had flagged off the first consignment of truck carrying the special grade diesel, Home Minister Amit Shah presided over a function to launch the fuel in the Ladakh region through a video link.
Motorists in high-altitude sectors such as Ladakh, Kargil, Kaza and Keylong face the problem of freezing of diesel in their vehicles when winter temperatures drop to as low as minus 30-degrees Celsius.

Saudi Aramco Flotation Values Oil Giant At $1.7tn

Saudi Arabia has placed a preliminary valuation on state oil company Aramco of between $1.6tn (£1.22tn) and $1.7tn.
The company has published an updated prospectus for its initial public offering (IPO), seeking more than $25bn for the sale of 1.5% of its shares.
That would make it potentially the world's biggest IPO, coming from the world's most profitable company
It is short of the $2tn valuation that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was reportedly keen to achieve.

Nov 17, 2019

Darjeeling's green and white teas get GI tag

Darjeeling Tea Association said green and white tea of the hills have been registered as geographical indication (GI) products in the country.
These two varieties of Darjeeling tea have been registered under Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999.
The Tea Board had filed an application in this regard on December 2017.
This will "strengthen the protection of the intellectual property rights of the Darjeeling tea" which is considered as "niche and luxury" products in the country and abroad.
Of the total annual production of 8.5 million kilograms of Darjeeling tea, green tea comprises one million kilogram and white tea one lakh kilogram.

Supreme Court paves way for ArcelorMittal's takeover of Essar Steel in ₹42,000 crore deal

ArcelorMittal won approval from India's top court to complete its $5.8 billion purchase of a bankrupt steel mill, clearing the way for tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to enter the world's second-biggest market for the metal.
The Supreme Court allowed Arcelor to pay creditors for Essar Steel India Ltd. and scrapped a bankruptcy appellate tribunal's order that had given secured and unsecured lenders equal right over the sale proceeds, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman ruled.

Nov 16, 2019

Bank Deposit Insurance Cover to be Hiked, Regulation on Co-operative Banks Soon

According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the government will bring legislations on raising insurance cover on bank deposits from the current Rs. 1 lakh and regulating multi-state co-operative banks amidst a crisis in PMC Bank affecting lakhs of depositors.
These legislations will be brought during the Winter Session of Parliament.
The legislation will amend the necessary Acts and the laws to make sure that banking functions undertaken by co-operatives sector will be brought under the Banking Regulation Act for complying with prudential norms.
Unless the prudential norms are applied, many of the things that are emerging in the light of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank crisis will never be addressed and this legislation will ensure that no PMC like case happens in the future, she added.
With regard to deposit guarantee insurance limit hike, Sitharaman said it may not be part of cooperative bank legislation but part of some other laws.

No GST on Salaries Paid to CEOs or Employees

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) clarified that salaries are not subject to Goods and Services Tax (GST). It further added that no GST has been demanded on salaries paid to chief executive officers or employees.
According to the CBIC statement, reports that tax authorities want to impose GST on salaries paid to employees is factually incorrect and misrepresents tax authorities.
The CBIC statement further said that GST law position clearly states under Section 7(2) read with schedule three of the Central GST Act 2017 that salaried services by an employee to an employer will be treated neither as a supply of goods nor as a supply of services.

ArcelorMittal to Acquire Bankrupt Essar Steel

The stage is set for the princely entry of Aditya Mittal in Indian business. The London-based Mittal family-controlled ArcelorMittal-- the world's largest steel manufacturing company-- won the legal battle to acquire bankrupt Essar Steel after two-year-long insolvency proceedings.
The Supreme Court approved the Rs. 42,000 crore takeover plan of ArcelorMittal.
Essar Steel, which has 10 million tonnes (MT) steel manufacturing complex in Hazira, Gujarat, is expected to be handed over to ArcelorMittal management in a month's time as when payments to lenders are made.
The new management may be headed by Aditya Mittal, who is the President and Chief Financial Officer of ArcelorMittal. He is also the CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe.
Aditya Mittal has been leading the negotiations to acquire Essar Steel since 2017.

India is Most Open Economy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched India as the "most open and investment-friendly economy" even as he called on members of BRICS to make the grouping's mechanisms more efficient and outcome-driven to boost economic growth.
Modi concluded his visit to Brasilia, where he attended the BRICS Summit.

HDFC Bank Crosses Rs.7 Lakh Crore in Mcap

HDFC Bank Ltd crossed Rs. 7 lakh crore in market capitalization for the first time to become India's third firm, and the first lender, to achieve the milestone. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd and Reliance Industries Ltd were the only other companies to have achieved the landmark.
At present, RIL is the most-valued company with a market capitalization of Rs. 9.31 lakh crore, followed by TCS at Rs. 8.16 lakh crore.

Top Court Extends 330-day Limit for Insolvency Resolution

In a judgment significant for India's fledgling corporate resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the Supreme Court increased the time limit for corporate resolution to extend beyond the mandated 330 days.
As of now, the time limit for resolution process is mandatorily 330 days in all cases. If debts are not resolved and the bankrupt firm cannot be brought back to its feet within this time-frame, the only option left is liquidation of its assets to pay creditors.
A Bench led by Justice Nariman, in the ArcelorMittal judgment, observed that many litigants suffer the prospect of liquidation for no fault of theirs.
Delay in legal proceedings leads to the resolution process being dragged beyond the 330-day mark.
The court said that the 330-day time limit was no longer mandatory.
The court held the mandatory nature of the 330-day mark as a violation of Article 14 (right to equal treatment) of the Constitution and an excessive and unreasonable restriction on the litigant's right to carry on business under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

HC Allows Banks to Recover Loan Amount from DHFL

The Bombay High Court granted relief to a clutch of banks by allowing Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) to pay back loans extended by the lenders to the debt-laden home financier.
The order was passed by the court after the banks sought relaxation of an October order in a suit wherein DHFL was restrained from making payments to any creditors.
The court granted the relief provided DHFL maintained a security cover equal to 1.1 times the amount of the outstanding non-convertible debentures it owed to Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management, which filed the suit.

Nov 15, 2019

Amazon Begins Appeal Over Pentagon Cloud Contract

Amazon has filed an intention to appeal the US Department of Defense's decision to give a major contract to Microsoft.
Amazon had been considered the favorite to win the deal, worth $10bn over the next 10 years.
The company, which already provides cloud computing to the US Central Intelligence Agency, said the decision was made due to political pressure.
In July, President Donald Trump threatened to intervene after what he described as "tremendous complaints".
Mr Trump had previously attacked Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post.
The Pentagon subsequently delayed its decision to award the contract until 25 October, when it was announced the work would be given to Microsoft.

Govt Eases Norms For Opening Bank Account For Migrants

The government has eased KYC norms for migrants to open bank account by allowing them to give a self-declared local address as sufficient proof of residence in case it is different from one mentioned in Aadhaar document.
Migrants face difficulties in having proof of residence as address on Aadhaar is different from their current location.
The Department of Revenue notification is with regard to easing of Aadhaar KYC use for opening of the bank account for the convenience of people who often migrate from place to place for jobs or any other reason.
The changes were made by amending the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules.

HMSI Launches BS VI-Compliant SP 125 Bike

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) launched a new BS VI-compliant bike SP 125 with price starting at Rs 72,900 (ex-showroom Delhi).
The new bike replaces the company's 125cc model CB Shine SP. The Japanese two-wheeler major would, however, continue to sell BS IV CB Shine in the market.
The new model is around 11 per cent costlier than the outgoing model and, as per the company, delivers 16 per cent better fuel efficiency.
HMSI Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Yadvinder Singh Guleria said the company has a market share of 39 per cent in the 125 cc bike category.

Nov 14, 2019

BHIM UPI Goes International

A pilot demonstration of the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) united payments interface (UPI) QR-based payments has begun at the Singapore fintech festival 2019.
Conducted through a live transaction at a merchant terminal on November 13, 2019, this is the payment system's first approach to the international market.
The demo will continue for the duration of the festival, which started on November 11, 2019 and ends on November 15, 2019.
This QR code-based system would allow anyone with a BHIM app to scan the SGQR at NETS terminals for payments in Singapore.

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