General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Sep 13, 2019

SBI Launches OFS to Sell Stake in Life Insurance Biz

State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest lender, launched a two-day offer for sale (OFS) to sell a 4.5% stake in SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
Stock exchange filings show that SBI is looking to sell up to 3.5% through the OFS, with an option to sell an additional 1%.
SBI Life started as a joint venture between the public sector lender and France's BNP Paribas Cardif.

RBI Reduces Risk Weight For Consumer Credit To 100%

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it has reduced the risk weight requirement for consumer loans to 100 per cent, a move that will reduce cost of such loans.
Currently, the risk weight requirement for such loans is 125 per cent. The relaxed requirement would not be applicable to credit cards. Risk weight refers to the capital banks keep aside as provisioning to cover any loan defaults.
The RBI's move is likely to boost consumer spending in the coming festive season. Under the standardised approach for credit risk management, all unsecured consumer credit, including personal loans and credit card receivables, which are both unsecured lending, attract a higher risk weight of 125 per cent or higher, if warranted by an external rating of the counter-party.

IFC Collaborates With FIDC For Training NBFCs

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC), a representative body of asset and loan Financing NBFCs, to collaborate on training of NBFCs in the country.
As per the agreed terms, training programs for NBFCs would be conducted on "Commercial Credit Reporting" aimed at building capacity of NBFCs to enhanced reporting and enquiring on Commercial Credit Information Data from the Credit Bureaus.

Sep 12, 2019

Mahindra Partners with Salesforce For Digital Transformation in Customer Experience

Mahindra & Mahindra announced its partnership with global customer relationaship management (CRM) firm Salesforce to digitise the customer experience value chain.
This will be a unique digital transformation in the Indian automobile industry.
Mahindra has embarked on a digital transformation journey to deliver an industry-leading connected customer experience, connected employees experience and an intelligent dealer engagement.
For this, it has partnered with Salesforce, Sitecore and PwC India to move from various solutions to a single unified platform to provide a holistic, coherent and connected view of its customers by capturing all customer data in one place.

Airtel Xstream Fiber Broadband Plan With 1Gbps Speed Launched At Rs 3,999

To counter Reliance Jio Fiber's broadband plans offering internet speeds of up to 1Gbps, Airtel has come up with a similar high-speed plan of its own. India's largest wired broadband firm has launched the Xstream Fiber service which delivers broadband speed of 1Gbps.
Along with breakneck internet speed Airtel Xtream Fiber also comes bundled with unlimited calls and the host of content benefits.
Airtel has priced the Xstream Fiber service at Rs 3,999 per month. Notably, Reliance Jio Fiber offers 1Gbps network speed with its Platinum and Titanium plans worth Rs 3,999 and Rs 8,499 respectively.

Sep 11, 2019

Maruti And Toyota Subsidiary To Set Up Vehicle Scrappage Plant

As the government works out a scrappage policy for older vehicles in India, Maruti Suzuki has decided to set up a old vehicles dismantling plant along with a subsidiary of Toyota.
The venture between Maruti and Toyota Tsusho India will supply, dismantle and process end-of-life vehicles, and market and sell scrap and other products generated from such activities.

HAL Plans To Make Ilyushin IL-114s For Regional Flights

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is eyeing to assemble the famed Russian Ilyushin IL-114 aircraft in India and offer it in the 70-seater turboprop category to airlines for regional commercial flights.
The PSU has tied up with Public Joint Stock Company (PJSC, or Ilyushin) and is planning to start offering maintenance service for this aircraft in India and later move over to assembling the same here.
PJSC is working on civil certification of this aircraft, that is likely to come by 2021.
After that they get European (aviation regulator) certification also for using this aircraft in civilian space.
A non-disclosure agreement with Ilyushin was signed for doing maintenance of this aircraft in India for its customers from India and nearby countries.

NDR Infra Plans To Monetise 3000 Acres To Beef Up Portfolio

Chennai headquartered warehousing company, NDR infrastructure, plans to monetise over 3000 acres of land parcels across major cities to beef up its portfolio.
The firm plans to set up 20mn sqft. of warehousing space across the country, with a total investment of about Rs 5000 crore over the next five years.

Sep 10, 2019

Global Tender Floated for Procuring RRTS Coaches

The NCR Transport Corporation (NCRTC), which is constructing the regional rapid transit system (RRTS) project, has floated a global tender for designing, manufacturing, supply testing, commissioning and comprehensive maintenance of standard gauge coaches including their maintenance at Duhai (Ghaziabad) and Modipuram (Meerut) depot of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor.
The tender is floated under the 'Make in India' initiative of central government.
The total length of the Delhi-Meerut corridor is 82 kilometres. The NCRTC has started work on the 17-kilometre priority stretch from Sahibabad to Duhai in Ghaziabad. The stretch has four stations: Sahibabad, New Bus Adda, Guldhar and Duhai.

SBI Caps to Prepare Debt Recast Proposal

Bulk tea producer McLeod Russel India Ltd., appointed SBI Capital Markets for preparing a debt recast proposal, which would involve restructuring of interest rates and conversion of short-term loans to long-term ones.
Earlier at the annual general meeting, chairman and managing director Aditya Khaitan told shareholders that in hindsight, lending to group company McNally Bharat was a 'mistake'.
MRIL's total debt stands at Rs. 1,700 crore. In recent times, the company has been forced to sell its assets to reduce debt.
With gardens in West Bengal and Assam, MRIL was the single largest bulk tea producer in India. However, of late, its position has slid following the sale of a number of tea estates.

L&T Bags Major Order from CIDCO

Infrastructure company Larsen & Toubro's construction arm 'The Buildings & Factories Business of L&T Construction' bagged a contract from the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO) to construct 23,432 dwelling units at various locations in Navi Mumbai.
The value of the contract was not disclosed but the order falls under the 'major' category, which ranges between Rs. 5,000 crore and Rs. 7,000 crore.
According to L&T, the project, being part of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), envisages construction of Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Low-Income Group (LIG) type of dwelling units.

H-Energy and KSPL Ink Pact

Hiranandani Group energy arm H-Energy signed a port service agreement (PSA) with Kakinada Seaports Limited (KSPL) to develop a liquified natural gas (LNG) regasification and reloading terminal at Kakinada port.
KSPL has the concession for Kakinada Deep Water Port from the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
The PSA signed through H-Energy's wholly owned subsidiary East Coast Concessions Private Ltd. (ECPL) would help the company to develop an LNG hub at the Kakinada Port catering to the needs of domestic customers in the state of Andhra Pradesh and shall supply LNG through small LNG vessels to H-energy's upcoming Kukrahati LNG terminal in the state of West Bengal and neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar.

SBI Cuts Rates for the Fifth Time

State Bank of India (SBI) cut its lending and deposit rates across all tenures, the second such reduction in the past one month.
The country's largest bank said it has reduced lending rates by 10 basis points (bps) across all tenors.
The one-year marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR) will stand reduced to 8.15% from 8.25% with effect from September 10.
This is the fifth consecutive cut in MCLR in FY20.
SBI also reduced its deposit rates by 20-25 bps and bulk deposit rates by 10-20 bps across tenures. In view of the falling interest rate scenario and surplus liquidity, SBI also realigns its interest rate on term deposits w.e.f. September 10, 2019.

Registration of Steel and Iron Imports, a Must

In a bid to clamp down on the dumping of iron and steel imports, and also the over-and under-invoicing of these products, the government has removed these items from the 'free' category and has made it mandatory for importers to apply in advance for a registration of their import.
The new system will come into effect from November 1, 2019.
This comes at a time when India has been at the receiving end of large amounts of steel dumping due to the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China.
This Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) will require the importer to submit advance information on an online portal for the import of the items mentioned in the notification and obtain an automatic registration number.
This number can be obtained by paying a minimum fee of Rs. 500 and maximum of Rs. 1 lakh, depending on the value of the imports.

Sep 08, 2019

ADB To Give $200 Million To Upgrade Rural Roads In Maharashtra

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $ 200 million (about Rs 1,400 crore) to upgrade rural roads to all-weather standards in 34 districts of Maharashtra with an aim to improve road safety and better connectivity with markets.
An agreement in this regard was signed between the government and the ADB. The project will improve the condition of about 2,100 kilometer of rural roads to all-weather standards, with climate resilience and safety features, connecting rural communities with productive agricultural areas and socio-economic centers.
Provision of contractual maintenance for five years following construction has also been provided under the project. Accompanying the loan is a technical assistance grant of USD 1 million for institutional strengthening of the Maharashtra Rural Roads Development Association in areas such as road asset management, road safety, climate-resilient design and construction and web-based real-time project monitoring.
ADB said road safety has been a growing concern, with the state accounting for over 8 per cent of all fatal road accidents in India.

Centre to Infuse ₹12,000 Crore in State General Insurance Firms

Following the recapitalisation of public sector banks (PSBs), now public sector insurance companies -- National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance -- are going to be infused with funds worth ₹12,000 crore to boost their capital base and meet regulatory norms.
The Budget had provisioned ₹70,000 crore for PSB recapitalisation and a ₹55,250-crore infusion was announced in several PSBs for regulatory and growth requirements.
The nodal Department of Financial Services has approved the ₹12,000 crore capital infusion plan in the three state-run general insurance companies as their financial conditions are very weak.

Coffee Day Sells Global Village Tech Park For ₹2,800 Cr To Blackstone

Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd (CDEL), the holding company of Coffee Day Group founded by the late V.G. Siddhartha, closed the deal to sell the Global Village Technology Park in Bengaluru to New York-based private equity giant Blackstone Group Llp.
The sale of the 90-acre tech park was finalized at ₹2,800 crore.
CDEL—which owns Coffee Day Global Ltd (coffee business), Sical Logistics Ltd (integrated logistics), Tanglin Developments Ltd (realty), Way2Wealth (financial services), and Coffee Day Hotels and Resorts Ltd (hospitality)—had debt obligations of at least ₹7,653 crore as on 31 March, 2019.

Modi Launches Indigenous Coach With Cycle Carrying Option For Mumbai Metro

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an indigenously-built metro coach to be used by the upcoming Mumbai metro network.
The coach, the first in the list of 500 to be delivered to the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, has been built by Bharat Earth Movers (BEML) at its Bengaluru facility in flat 75 days.
Accompanied by state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Modi launched the coach.
It can be noted that the financial capital is catching up with the national Capital after decades in modern public transport and is pumping in over Rs 1.2 lakh crore to build 14 metro corridors stretching 337-km over the next decade.
Metropolitan commissioner RA Rajeev was seen explaining how the new coach will enable commuters to travel along with their bicycles to the destinations, as is seen in the cities of the developed world.
During his visit, which comes ahead of the assembly polls, the dates for which is awaited anytime now, Modi will also be laying the foundation for three more metro lines entailing a length of over 42 km and to be built at an investment of over Rs 19,000 crore.
These three new lines take the total number of metro lines to 14 across the Mumbai metropolitan region.

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