General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Aug 28, 2019

Canara Bank Launches OTP Facility For ATM Cash Withdrawals Over Rs 10,000

Public sector lender Canara Bank has launched the first OTP facility for ATM withdrawals. In order to offer a more secured and safe system, Canara bank will activate OTP facility for cash withdrawals of Rs 10,000 or more in a day.
This move is in line with banks trying to take security measures to safeguard customers who use debit cards to withdraw cash at ATMs.

Reliance Jio Fibre Launch On Sept 5

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani announced the roll-out of 'Jio Fiber' from September 5, 2019 promising free voice calls for life from landlines, 100 mbps minimum broadband speed at subscription starting from Rs 700 a month and free HD TV set on a commitment to an annual plan.
Jio will also offer unlimited international calling pack from its landlines to the US and Canada at Rs 500 a month, and that default tariff plans will be one-fifth to one-tenth of existing market tariffs.

Aug 27, 2019

Hero Electric Launches e-Scooter Dash, Price Starts At Rs 62,000

Hero Electric launched its new electric scooter Dash with price starting at Rs 62,000.

The all-new Dash is powered by a 48v 28Ah Li-ion battery with fast-charging of 4 hours and a range of 60 km per charge.

The new e-scooter offers style, practicality, performance with a powerful Li-Ion battery that is portable and reliable.

RBI To Transfer Rs 1.76 Lakh Crore From Surplus Reserve To Government

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the transfer of record Rs 1.76 lakh crore dividend and surplus reserves to the government, boosting Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led regime's prospect to stimulate the slowing economy without widening fiscal deficit.
Governor Shaktikanta Das-led RBI central board gave its nod for transferring to the government a sum of Rs 1,76,051 crore comprising Rs 1,23,414 crore of surplus for the year 2018-19 and Rs 52,637 crore of excess provisions identified as per the revised Economic Capital Framework (ECF), the apex bank said in a statement.
The excess reserve transfer is in line with the recommendation of former RBI governor Bimal Jalan-led panel constituted to decide size of capital reserves that the central bank should hold. The government was represented by Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar in the panel which finalised its report on August 14, 2019 by consensus.
The receipts from the RBI will give a fillip to the government's efforts to boost the economy from a five-year low. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had last week announced a slew of measures to prop up growth even as the government tried to stick to the target of keeping fiscal deficit at 3.3 per cent of the GDP. The additional cash will now give the Centre more headroom for stimulating the economy.

RBI Issues Guidelines On Interest Subvention Scheme For Fisheries And Animal Husbandry Farmers

The government has extended KCC facility to animal husbandry farmers and fisheries as announced in the Interim Budget 2019-20 for their working capital requirements providing the benefits of Interest Subvention at 2% and Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI) at 3%.
In this regard, the Government of India has now issued the operational guidelines of the Interest Subvention Scheme for Kisan Credit Card facility to fisheries and animal husbandry farmers for a period of two years i.e. 2018-19 and 2019-20.
It has been decided to provide interest subvention of 2% per annum to lending institutions viz. Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and Private Sector Commercial Banks (in respect of loans given by their rural and semi-urban branches only) on use of their own resources. This interest subvention of 2% will be calculated on the loan amount from the date of its disbursement / drawal upto the date of actual repayment of the loan by the farmer or up to the due date of the loan fixed by the banks, whichever is earlier, subject to a maximum period of one year.

Aug 26, 2019

India Slips 5 Spots On Henley Passport Index

The new Henley Passport Index is out, and there has been a major shuffle in the global ranking of the world's passports.
In the beginning of 2019, 27 countries were in the top 10 positions on the index, but in august, 2019, 4 more countries were added to the list.
Several countries climbed the list to have most powerful passports, while few slipped from their positions, including India.
The ranking is determined on the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. It is based on the exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world's largest and most accurate database of travel information. Japan retained its top spot as the world's most powerful passport in 2019 for the second time in a row .
However, Singapore also shared the top spot with Japan in becoming the world's most travel-friendly passport due to the document's access to 189 countries.
India slipped to 86th spot from the previous 79th place with access to 58 countries. The country shared the spot with Mauritania, and Sao Tome and Principe.

CVC Sets Up Panel To Examine Bank Fraud Above Rs 50 Cr

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has constituted Advisory Board for Banking Frauds (ABBF) headed by former Vigilance Commissioner T M Bhasin to examine bank fraud over Rs 50 crore and recommend action.
The panel in its previous avatar called the Advisory Board on Bank, Commercial and Financial Frauds.
The ABBF, formed in consultation with the RBI, would function as the first level of examination of all large fraud cases before recommendations or references are made to the investigative agencies by the respective public sector banks (PSBs).
The four-member board's jurisdiction would be confined to those cases involving the level of officers of General Manager and above in the PSB in respect of an allegation of a fraud in a borrowal account

RIL Plans Diwali Launch Of 'New Commerce' Venture

New commerce is Reliance Retail's offline-to-online initiative, which would link producers, traders, small merchants, brands and consumers through technology. The company, the retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has been working on its new commerce plan for nearly two years. Currently, it operates neighbourhood stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, wholesale, speciality and online stores.
Reliance Retail is planning to launch its e-commerce venture in two phases—one, a soft launch around Diwali, and then a full-fledged launch by December-January 2019. A Diwali Dhamaka launch plan may entail discounts that other online retailers also offer.
RIL is initially looking at the consumption basket which includes daily staples, soaps, shampoos and other household items.
The company is signing up local merchants offering them an online-to-offline (O2O) marketplace, a business model pioneered by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
Under the O2O model, a consumer searches for the product or service online, but buys it from a physical store.
This allows the company to consolidate merchants, who in turn, will cater to the local demand but also help Reliance Retail save costs and enter areas currently outside the purview of online retailers.

Aug 25, 2019

Kia Rolls Out Seltos At ₹9.69 Lakh

Kia Motors India, the wholly owned subsidiary of South Korean automaker Kia Motors Corporation, has launched its first product Seltos, a mid-segment SUV, starting from ₹9.69 lakh (ex-showroom pan India). The top most variant is priced at ₹15.99 lakh.
The Seltos is BS-VI compliant and is available in both petrol and diesel variants with manual and automatic transmission options.
The company has received 32,035 bookings for the Seltos, which is a new benchmark for the mid-segment SUV in the country.

SCB To Issue Credit Cards For Bandhan Customers

Bandhan Bank is planning to enter the credit card business through a tie-up with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) India.
Zarin Daruwala, SCB India CEO, said this was the first such partnership for the bank under which they will issue credit cards to Bandhan Bank's customers.
Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Bandhan Bank MD and CEO, said three types of co-branded cards would be issued under this partnership. One would be for the mass market, second for the affluent segment and the third for the premium segment.

PM Narendra Modi Launches Rupay Card In UAE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the RuPay card, making the UAE the first country in West Asia to initiate the Indian indigenous system of electronic payment.
RuPay card scheme was launched in 2012 to fulfil the Reserve Bank of India's vision to have a domestic, open and multilateral system of payments. RuPay facilitates electronic payment at all Indian banks and financial institutions.
India has already launched the RuPay card in Singapore and Bhutan.
Modi launched the RuPay card by making a special purchase which he will offer as 'prasad' at the Shreenathji Temple in Bahrain.

Govt Names Its E-Commerce Portal Bharat Craft

Taking a cue from e-commerce giant Alibaba's success in China, the Ministry of MSME launched its e-commerce portal in the offering, to be known as Bharat Craft and to function on the lines of Alibaba would benefit India's vast MSME sector.
Government is planning to launch Bharat Craft, an e-commerce portal, on the lines of Alibaba, and should soon see turnover on the platform to the tune of Rs 10 lakh crore in the next few years and this would benefit MSMEs in a big way.
The programmes like Government e-Marketplace — the procurement portal for all government companies proves that government can do it (MSME portal) but whether they can do even for the private players etc. is something that we need to find out. So the capability is certainly there because of the GeM but this capability has only been proven on the government front.
India's e-commerce market is dominated by Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon India. Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries has announced his plans to enter the e-commerce industry in a big way through his New Commerce platform.
Bharat Craft will have to compete with these three big players to establish itself and achieve the Rs 10 lakh crore turnover target set by the Modi government.

BookMyForex Ties Up With YES Bank

Marketplace for foreign exchange BookMyForex has partnered with YES Bank and card payment company Visa to launch a co-branded multi-currency foreign exchange card that aims to offer a smooth payments experience to Indians travelling abroad.
The Gurugaon-based startup it will offer zero margin or exact inter-bank rates on purchases made through the forex travel card in an effort to promote their sale over currency notes.
The card allows to offer customised payment solutions to suit varying requirements of international travellers.

Acko Signs Pact With ZestMoney To Offer Credit Insurance

Acko General Insurance, announced a partnership with ZestMoney, a consumer lending fintech company. This collaboration will help ZestMoney customers to cover their installment payments during times of crisis.
Acko an InsurTech company offers personalized underwriting, micro insurance products, and automated micro claims process.
ZestMoney offers instant financing to consumers across 1000+ online portals and provides them the option of paying through EMIs even if the consumers don't own a credit card.
Acko will offer credit insurance to these consumers and cover them during eventualities like hospitalization or critical illness when they're unable to pay their installments.

Aug 24, 2019

Housing Finance Firms To Get Additional Liquidity Support Of Rs 20,000 Crore

The government announced an additional Rs 20,000-crore liquidity support to the struggling housing finance companies (HFCs), a move aimed at enhancing their lending capacity.
The additional liquidity support to be provided by the National Housing Bank (NHB) will help the real estate sector which is facing a demand slowdown and cash crunch.
The Rs 20,000 crore is in addition to Rs 10,000 crore support announced earlier by the housing sector regulator NHB.
The liquidity support for HFCs would be Rs 30,000 crore.
The government has also decided that a partial credit guarantee scheme to support liquidity crisis in NBFCs, including HFCs, announced in the Budget, will be monitored at the highest level in each bank.
The scheme is for purchase of pooled assets of NBFCs and HFCs up to Rs 1 lakh crore.
Besides, prepayment notices issued to NBFCs would also be monitored by the banks.
The minister also announced steps for co-origination of loans by public sector banks (PSBs) jointly with non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).

China To Slap 10 Per Cent Tariffs On USD 75 Billion Worth Of US Exports

China will impose additional 10 per cent tariffs on USD 75 billion worth of US exports in retaliation to President Donald Trump's threat to impose new tariffs on USD 300 billion worth of Chinese imports as trade war between the top two economies continues to intensify.
Since the commencement of trade war in 2018, China and US have so far hit each other with punitive tariffs covering billions of dollars in two-way trade.
Trump kicked off the trade war demanding China to reduce massive trade deficit which climbed to over USD 539 billion in 2018.
He is also insisting on China to workout verifiable measures for protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) technology transfer and more access to American goods to the Chinese markets.

Govt To Upfront Infuse Rs 70,000-Cr Capital Into Public Sector Banks

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced upfront capital infusion of Rs 70,000 crore into public sector banks, a move aimed at boosting lending and improving liquidity situation.
The move is expected to generate an additional lending and liquidity in the financial system to the tune of Rs 5 lakh crore.
NFBCs will now be able to use Aadhaar-authenticated KYCs to simplify the taking up of credit.

RBI Allows Recurring Transactions Upto Rs 2,000 On Cards

The Reserve Bank of India will allow customers to make recurring payments of less than Rs.2000 without the two factor authentication process by giving an e-mandate from September, 2019.
Keeping in view the changing payment needs and the requirement to balance the safety and security of card transactions with customer convenience, it has been decided to permit processing of e-mandate on cards for recurring transactions
The move has been made to make digital payments to merchant, typically at kirana and grocery stores where ticket sizes are small, more convenient.

Higher Income Tax Surcharge On Those Earning More Than Rs 2 Crore Withdrawn

Stock markets could surge as much as 2% cheering the government's rollback of the additional surcharge on foreign portfolio investors registered as trusts and measures to inject liquidity into the system. The US-China trade war and hints by the US central bank on the interest rate direction will determine whether the gains will be sustainable.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's decision is expected to provide relief to several big-ticket FPIs that actively participate in the cash markets.
The market will open up at least 1-2%. Shorts will get squeezed in autos, metals, real estate companies and banks.
The Asian region might still be under pressure because of US-China trade issues, but India will outperform.

Hasbro To Buy 'Peppa Pig' Owner For USD 4 Billion

US toy maker Hasbro is acquiring studio Entertainment One, which owns popular cartoon series "Peppa Pig" among other children's content, for approximately USD 4 billion.
Under the all-cash transaction, Entertainment One shareholders will receive 5.6 pounds (USD 6.86) per share.
In addition to Peppa Pig, the popular swine with a British accent who loves jumping in muddy puddles, the purchase includes the successful children's cartoon "PJ Masks," about a trio of young friends who become superheroes at night.
The acquisition of highly profitable and merchandisable preschool brands is a strategic growth opportunity for Hasbro.
Hasbro plans for the acquisition to save it $130 million through in-sourcing and other synergies by the year 2022.
Three quarters of the acquisition will be carried out with the proceeds of debt financing loan of just under a year from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

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