General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Oct 18, 2019

CCI Clears Edelweiss-Kora Deal

Shares of Edelweiss Financial Services were traded nearly 5 per cent higher following the Competition Commission's approval for the US-based Kora's proposed investment worth $75 million (about Rs 532 crore) in Edelweiss Group.
As per the share subscription agreement, Kora is to invest in Edelweiss Securities Ltd (ESL) and Edelweiss Global Investment Advisory (EGIA) business subsidiaries.
The deal was announced in August, 2019.

Ericsson, Qualcomm Complete First Live 5G Video Call In India

Ericsson and an arm of US-based Qualcomm completed the first-ever live 5G video call in India using 28 GHz spectrum.
The call was made at the ongoing India Mobile Congress 2019. The achievement is a significant milestone in the country as India gets ready for 5G.
Ericsson is a Swedish telecom equipment manufacturer, while Qualcomm is the name behind chips that power most of the smartphones in the world.
Both companies demonstrated India's first 4K video streaming, video calling and 5G cloud-based gaming using the 5G commercial system in both sub-6 GHz and mmWave using 5G commercial devices, set up by Ericsson at its booth.

Oct 17, 2019

RBI Has Stopped Printing Rs 2,000 Currency Notes, Reveals RTI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revealed in a reply to an RTI that the printing of Rs 2,000 currency notes has been stopped. Not a single Rs 2,000 note has been printed in 2019 financial year.
The RBI printed 3,542.991 million notes in the financial year 2016-17, which came down to 111.507 million notes in 2017-18 and was further reduced to 46.690 million notes in the year 2018-19, as revealed in a reply by the RBI to an RTI filed by The New Indian Express.

Bajaj Chetak Electric Scooter Unveiled

Bajaj Auto has re-entered the scooter segment with the launch of the all-electric Chetak. The brand had made India's biggest two-wheeler company.
The e-Chetak is modeled around original Chetak, the popular geared scooter of the 1960s and 70s.
E-Chetak will be on sale from January 2020. Its manufacturing plant is at the Chakan plant near Pune. The plant also manufactures Bajaj's KTM, Pulsar and Avenger range of bikes.
Pilot production of the e-Chetak began in September, 2019.

Mastercard Ambassador MS Dhoni Launches 'Team Cashless India' To Push Digital Payments

Payment technology major Mastercard and its brand ambassador MS Dhoni kicked-off campaign to bring more merchants and customers on board with an aim to boost digital payments in India.
The campaign - Team Cashless India - brings consumers and merchants to forefront of the digital payments dialogue.
It encourages all Indians to nominate one or more merchants who currently do not accept digital payments.
Mastercard will work together with Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), acquirer banks and finance technology companies to support nominated merchants to deploy digital payments acceptance infrastructure.
Under Team Cashless India, anyone can either nominate merchants online or give a missed call to 9016861000.
Mastercard will provide select nominated merchants and consumers with a chance to join Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Team Cashless India.

Oct 16, 2019

RBI Issues Guidelines On 'On Tap' Authorisation On Payment Systems

Reserve Bank has issued guidelines on 'on tap' authorisation of payment systems, including minimum networth criteria for different players, with an aim to encourage innovation and competition.
In a circular, the RBI said it has been decided to offer on-tap authorisation for Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU), Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) and White Label ATMs (WLAs).
For entities desirous to function, operate, or provide platforms for BBPOU, the RBI said they should have a 100 crore rupees net worth and should be maintained at all times.
In case of TReDS, the minimum paid up equity capital should be 25 crore rupees. The minimum net worth for entities desirous of entering the WLA segement should be 100 crore rupees.

TCS Named India's Overall Most Outstanding Company In Asiamoney's 2019 Poll

Tata Consultancy Services has been voted as the overall most outstanding company in India and the most outstanding company in India's IT services sector in Asiamoney's 2019 Asia's outstanding companies poll.
Additionally, TCS was recognised as the most awarded company of the decade in India for topping Asiamoney's various investor surveys and awards like the best-managed companies award, the corporate governance poll and Asia's outstanding companies poll -- the most number of times over the last ten years.
Asiamoney's outstanding companies poll is designed to acknowledge listed companies in 12 countries in Asia, that have excelled in areas such as financial performance, management team excellence, investor relation activities, and CSR initiatives.
Over 800 fund managers, buy-side analysts, bankers, and research analysts participated in the 2019 poll, casting over 4,000 votes.

IMF Says Global Economy To Grow At Slowest Pace Since 2008 Financial Crisis

The International Monetary Fund is growing even more pessimistic about the global economy, as higher import tariffs are strangling manufacturing activity and international trade.
Global economic growth is expected to fall to 3% rate in 2019, the slowest pace since the 2008 financial crisis and down from a 3.8% pace seen in 2017.
If global growth slows below a 2.5% rate, that would mean a recession.
Growth was projected to be slower in 2019 in almost every major country except Brazil.
World trade volume growth in the first half of 2019 was 1%, the weakest level since 2012.
If all possible U.S. and China's trade tariffs are put in place, it will reduce global growth by 0.8% by 2020, the IMF said.

IMF Lowers Growth Estimate To 6.1%

The International Monetary Fund cut its estimate for India's growth in 2019 to 6.1% from 7% projected, calling on the country to use monetary policy and broad-based structural reforms to address cyclical weakness and strengthen confidence.
India suffered the sharpest cut, next only to Saudi Arabia, which saw a reduction of 1.7 percentage points to its growth forecast to 0.2% for 2019.
China's growth forecast was cut 0.1 percentage point to 6.1% for 2019. The world economy is expected to grow by 3%, marginally lower than 3.2% projected in July, 2019.
In India, growth has softened on the back of corporate and environmental regulatory uncertainty with concerns about the health of the nonbank financial sector further weighing in, the IMF said in World Economic Outlook: Global Manufacturing Downturn, Rising Trade Barriers, which was released in October 2019.

Oct 15, 2019

DPIIT Launches Website, Mobile App For IPR

Secretary Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Guruprasad Mohapatra launched the website and mobile application L2Pro India [Learn to Protect, Secure and Maximize Your Innovation] on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).
The website and app has been developed by Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM)-DPIIT in collaboration with Qualcomm and National Law University (NLU), Delhi.
The modules of this e-learning platform will aid and enable youth, innovators, entrepreneurs and small and medium industries (SMEs) in understanding IPRs for their ownership and protection, integrate IP into business models and obtain value for their R&D efforts.
The L2Pro has been successfully implemented in Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and France, benefiting immensely from close collaboration with respective IP organizations and public research institutions.

IHMCL, GSTN Inked Pact To Link FASTag with GST e-Way Bill System

The Indian Highways Management Company Ltd (IHMCL) and Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) signed a memorandum of understanding for integration of FASTag with GST e-way bill system.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be inked at the 'One Nation, One FASTag' conference, which will be inaugurated by Road Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari.
FASTag is a simple to use, reloadable tag which enables automatic deduction of toll charges and lets vehicle pass through toll plaza without stopping for cash transaction.

RBI Enhances Withdrawal Limit Of PMC Bank's Customer To Rs 40,000

In further relief to customers of troubled Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, the Reserve Bank enhanced withdrawal limit to Rs 40,000 per account from Rs 25,000 per account earlier for six months.
This is the third time the regulator has increased the withdrawal limit since it clamped down on PMC Bank on September 23, 2019 capping withdrawals at Rs 1,000 per customer, which led to a lot of distress and criticism.

World Bank Says India Faces Severe Slowdown, Cuts GDP Forecast

The World Bank cut India's economic growth forecast by the most among South Asian nations, below the outlook pegged by the nation's central bank for 2019, mainly because of a deceleration in domestic demand.
India's gross domestic product growth is projected at 6% in the fiscal year started on April 1, 2019 compared with 7.5% forecast in April and 6.8% recorded a year earlier, the bank said in its latest South Asia Economic Focus report.
Growth is expected to gradually recover to 6.9% in 2020-21 and to 7.2% in the following year (2020).
India's cyclical slowdown is severe, the report said. The weakness is mostly due to a deceleration in local demand, according to the bank.
In such a weak economic environment, structural issues surface and the weak financial sector is becoming a drag on growth.

Oct 14, 2019

Bangladesh Becomes 2nd Fastest Growing Economy In South Asia: World Bank

Bangladesh has become the second-fastest growing economy in South Asia after Bhutan. World Bank in its report 'South Asia Economic Focus, Making (De) Centralization Work' says that GDP growth rate of the country is projected to moderate to 7.2 per cent this fiscal year and 7.3 per cent in 2020 in Bangladesh.
The report points out that despite slowdown in industrial growth rate, the industrial sector remains strong as the country's garment industry benefited from the trade tensions between the United States and China.
The World Bank said Bangladesh need to address key structural challenges such as reducing the infrastructure deficit, enhancing human capital, improving urban management and managing climate change risks

ADB, India Sign $190 Mn Loan For Improving Road Connectivity In Rajasthan

The Asian Development Bank and the Government of India signed a $190 million loan to upgrade 754 kilometres of state highways and major district roads (MDRs) to two-lane or intermediate-lane standards that will benefit about 26 million people in 14 districts of Rajasthan.
The signatories to the Tranche 2 loan agreement for the Rajasthan State Highway Investment Programme were Shri Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary (Fund Bank and ADB), Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India, and Mr Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB's India Resident Mission, who signed for ADB.
The Tranche 1 loan of $220 million under the Programme, signed in July 2017, upgraded about 1,000 km of state roads.

GST Network To Launch New Version Of Return Filing Portal

The GST Network will launch an improved version of the GST return filing portal on October 22, 2019 to make the process easier.
"Many of the suggestions were incorporated in version 2 which is in place right now," said GST Network CEO Prakash Kumar.
GST Network provides IT infrastructure and services to taxpayers, government and other stakeholders for implementation of GST.

National Fertilizers Presents Dividend Of Over 28 Crore Rupees To Govt

National Fertilizers Limited presented dividend of over 28 Crore Rupees to the Government of India for the year 2018-19.
Chairman and Managing Director of National Fertilizers Limited Manoj Mishra presented Dividend Cheque of 28.22 crore rupees to the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers D.V. Sadananda Gowda in the presence of Fertilizers Secretary Chhabilendra Roul.
National Fertilizers Limited has presented a cumulative dividend of around 1157 crore rupees to the Government till date against paid up equity of 490.58 crore rupees.

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

October GK, September GK, August GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services and Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26