General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Sep 07, 2019

PM To Launch 3 More Metro Projects In Mumbai

Ahead of the forthcoming state elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay foundation stones for three more metro corridors in the megapolis worth over ₹19,000 crore.
During the visit, Modi will also perform bhoomipujan for the controversial Metro Bhavan at the Aarey Colony, which is the green lung of the city.
It can be noted that the entire metro project has attracted lots of criticism from environmentalists and activists following the state's decision to build the main metro car shed and the casting yard which will lead to felling of tens of thousands of trees at the green lung, which is an extension of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in the northern side of the city.
The three metro projects — all elevated lines — that Modi will announce are the 9.2-km Gaimukh-Shivaji Chowk (Mira Road) metro-10 corridor; the 12.8-km Wadala-CST metro-11corridor; and the 20.7-km Kalyan-Taloja metro-12 corridor.
The 32-storey Metro Bhavan, which will be the integrated operations and control centre for the proposed 14 metro lines in and around Mumbai, is proposed to be built on a 20,387 sq mt plot with a developable area of 1,14,088 sq mt within the Aarey Colony.

Sep 06, 2019

IDBI Bank Plans to Sell Stake in IDBI Federal Life

A day after the Union cabinet approved a Rs 9,300 crore infusion in IDBI Bank, the lender plans to sell its stake in IDBI Federal Life Insurance Company and has mandated JP Morgan India to manage the process.
JP Morgan India Private Ltd has been mandated for advising and managing a strategic review process for IDBI Federal Life Insurance Company Ltd which may result in, inter alia, potential divestment of all or part of the stake held by IDBI Bank in IDBI Federal Life Insurance Company
While IDBI Bank owns 48% of the insurance company, Federal Bank and Ageas Insurance International NV own 26% each. IDBI Bank's exit from the insurance joint venture became essential after Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC) took a 51% stake in it in January 2019 and the bank started using its network to sell LIC products.

Wipro Bags $300 Million Deal From ICICI Bank Through Business Transfer

Wipro has received a long-term $300 million contract from ICICI Bank to provide digital technology led services.
Wipro has secured a strategic seven-year engagement from the major Indian private sector bank.
This is a business transfer from Vara lnfotech, which currently provides services to the bank.
As part of the strategic engagement, Wipro will absorb about 3,800 employees of Vara lnfotech along with its existing contracts, facilities and assets, on a going concern basis, through a business transfer agreement for an all cash consideration of Rs 321 crore and will provide these services to ICICI Bank.

India Among Top 10 Nations In Gold Reserves

India has pipped the Netherlands to move into the list of top ten countries in terms of total gold reserves.
According to the World Gold Council, India has gold reserves totalling 618.2 tonnes, which is marginally higher than the Netherlands' reserves of 612.5 tonnes.
Interestingly, in terms of individual countries, India actually ranks ninth since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) occupies the third position after the U.S. and Germany.
According to the latest release by the World Gold Council, U.S. leads the country list with total gold reserves of 8,133.5 tonnes followed by Germany with 3,366.8 tonnes.
While the IMF is ranked third with a holding of 2,451.8 tonnes, it is followed by countries such as Italy (2,451.8 tonnes), France (2,436.1 tonnes), Russia (2,219.2 tonnes), China (1,936.5 tonnes), Switzerland (1,040 tonnes) and Japan (765.2 tonnes) before India at the 10th spot.
India's entry into the list of top ten countries comes at a time when the quantum of monthly purchases is the lowest in over three years.

StanChart Launches DigiSmart Card

Standard Chartered Bank has launched a DigiSmart credit card that is focussed on millennials.
The card is available for a monthly fee of ₹49, which will, however, be waived off if the customer spends more than ₹5,000.
In the initial phase, Standard Chartered has partnered with marquee brands such as Myntra, Grofers, Yatra, Zomato, Ola and INOX and the credit card will offer instant discounts and benefits across key e-commerce categories of travel, entertainment, fashion, groceries, and food delivery round the year.

Mukesh Ambani Rolls Out Jiofiber Broadband

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio on September 5, 2019 announced the launch of fiber-based broadband services, offering minimum Internet speed of 100 Mbps for a monthly rental of ₹699.
JioFiber will offer broadband Internet speeds of up to 1 Gbps for ₹8,499 a month.
The broadband service will offer unlimited data, free voice calling to anywhere in India as well as TV video calling/conferencing.

Sep 05, 2019

CRISIL Cuts GDP Growth To 6.3% In Fiscal 2020

Rating agency CRISIL cut India's fiscal year 2020 GDP growth forecast to 6.3% from its earlier forecast of 6.9%, after the economy grew 5% in the first quarter, it's slowest in almost 6 years.
The agency said that lower GDP growth forecast corroborates that India's economic slowdown is deeper and more broad-based than suspected.
A plunge in domestic private consumption demand, slump in manufacturing, halving of merchandise exports growth, and a high-base effect from 2018 have gnawed away at first-quarter growth.
Private consumption growth – the bulwark of India's growth story in recent years – registered a scant 3.1% in the first quarter, a four-year low.

CBDT Enters Into 26 APAs

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into 26 advance pricing agreements (APAs) in the first five months of the 2019 financial year.
The total number of APAs now stands at 297, which includes 32 bilateral APAs. Of these 26 APAs, one is a bilateral APA with Britain and the remaining 25 are unilateral APAs.
The APAs pertain to various sectors and sub-sectors of the economy like information technology, banking, semiconductor, power, pharmaceutical, hydrocarbon, publishing, and automobiles.
The international transactions covered under these agreements include contract manufacturing, provision of software development services, back-office engineering support service, provision of back-office (ITeS) support services, provision of marketing support services, payment of royalty for use of technology and brand, trading and distribution, payment of charter charges, corporate guarantee, intra-group services and interest on financial instruments.

RBI Makes Mandatory For Banks To Link Retail Loans With External Benchmarks

RBI has made it mandatory for banks to link all new floating-rate loans for housing, auto and MSMEs to external benchmark like repo from October 1, 2019, a move aimed at ensuring faster transmission of policy rate cuts to borrowers.
Industry and retail borrowers have been complaining that banks do not pass on the entire RBI's policy rate (repo rate) reduction to them.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it has been observed that due to various reasons, the transmission of policy rate changes to the lending rate of banks under the current marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) framework has not been satisfactory.
Therefore, it has now decided to make it mandatory for banks to link all new floating rate personal or retail loans and floating rate loans to MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) to an external benchmark effective October 1, 2019.

Sep 04, 2019

Ashok Leyland To Get BS-VI Certification For Heavy Duty Trucks

Leading truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland said its entire heavy truck range is BS VI-ready, but the company is not in a position to produce and sell such vehicles due to non-availability of BS VI-fuel.
It has received the compliance certificates from the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).
The Hinduja flagship claimed that it has became the first Indian commercial vehicle maker to get BS VI certification for its entire heavy trucks range (gross vehicle weight of 16.2. tonne and above).

RBI Task Force Calls For Central Corporate Loan Contract Registry

Reserve Bank-constituted task-force on developing a vibrant secondary market for corporate loans has called for setting up a central loan contract registry to remove information asymmetries between buyers and sellers.
The six-member task force, headed by Canara Bank chairman TN Manoharan, was formed to examine the scope for developing a secondary market for corporate loans and make recommendations to facilitate rapid development of such a vibrant market.
The task force submitted the report to Governor Shaktikanta Das.
It has called for creating a loan contract registry to remove information asymmetries between buyers and sellers, its ownership structure and related protocols such as standardization of loan information, independent validation and data access.
It also suggests creation of a self-regulatory body of the participants that can finalise detailed operational modalities of such a secondary market, including standardization of the documentation process.
The report also recommends setting up of an online loan sales platform to conduct auctions/sale process of secondary market loans.

Edelweiss Group, Central Bank Of India Join Hands To Co-Lend To MSMEs

ECL Finance Ltd, a subsidiary of Edelweiss Financial Services, and Central Bank of India have signed an agreement for priority sector lending to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) customers.
The partnership comes after the Reserve Bank of India announced progressive Co-Origination Policy in September 2018, allowing banks and NBFCs to co-lend to a wider set of enterprise owners.
This is the first such co-origination partnership of Central Bank of India with an NBFC.

Cabinet Approves Rs 9,300 Cr Capital Infusion In IDBI Bank

The government approved Rs 9,300 crore fund infusion in IDBI Bank to help improve the bank's capital base and turn it profitable.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said it will help in completing the process of IDBI Bank's turnaround and enable it to return to profitability and normal lending, and giving government the option of recovering its investment at an opportune time.
Of the Rs 9,300 crore needed, LIC would meet 51 per cent (Rs 4,743 crore).
The remaining 49 per cent, amounting to Rs 4,557 crore, is proposed from the government as its share on one-time basis.
The government is watching developments in the banking sector and is committed to the recapitalisation of banks

Sep 03, 2019

Mahindra & Mahindra To Acquire 55% Stake in Meru Travel Solutions

Mahindra & Mahindra, homegrown utility vehicles major, is acquiring 55% stake in ride hailing and radio taxi operator Meru Travel Solutions for a cash consideration of up to ₹201.5 crore.
The company signed a share subscription and shareholder agreement for subscribing up to 55% of equity share capital of Meru Travel Solutions Pvt Ltd in tranches.
Under the agreement, after investment of the first tranche in Meru, M&M will have the right to appoint majority of the directors on the board of Meru and will control its composition.

Era Of Swiss Bank Secrecy Over

India will start getting details of bank accounts held by its citizens in Switzerland from September 2019, ending the era of Swiss bank secrecy.
The development is a major success of the Modi government's fight against black money ever since it first came to power in 2014.
India will receive information of the calendar year 2018 in respect of all financial accounts held by Indian residents in Switzerland.
The announcement follows meeting of a Swiss delegation led by Nicolas Mario Luscher, Deputy Head of Tax Division, State Secretariat for International Finance, with Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey and senior tax officials of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
The first automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) under Common Reporting Standard (CRS) would start from September 2019.

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