General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Aug 03, 2019

SBI Posts Profit, But Slippages Rise

State Bank of India reported a net profit of Rs. 2,312 crore for the June quarter, below analyst estimates, on flat growth in net interest income (NII) while its slippages shot up.
A net loss of Rs. 4,876 crore was reported by the lender during Q1FY19. On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, SBI reported a 176 per cent jump in profit against Rs. 838.40 crore in the March quarter.
Its NII growth was flat sequentially at Rs. 22,939 crore in Q1FY20 compared to Rs. 22954 in Q4FY19. Non-interest income, or other income, fell 36 per cent to Rs. 8,015 crore compared to Rs. 12,685 crore in Q4FY19.
The gross slippages, at Rs. 16,212 crore, for the June quarter increased sharply by 62.38 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and 116.01 per cent sequentially.
Hence, the slippage ratio rose significantly to 2.83 per cent in Q1FY20, from 1.39 percent in Q4FY19.

RBI Slaps Fine on Eight Public Sector Banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed monetary penalty ranging between Rs. 1-2 crore was imposed on eight public sector banks by RBI for violating norms on fraud classification, bill discounting and monitoring of end use of funds.
The following banks were fined Rs. 1 crore each: Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Union Bank of India, while Allahabad Bank and Bank of Maharashtra were penalised Rs. 2 crore each.
A scrutiny was carried out b RBI carried out a scrutiny in the accounts of the companies of a group and it was observed that the banks had failed to comply with provisions of one or more of the directions issued by RBI.
In a separate statement, the regulator said that a fine of Rs. 1 crore was levied on Corporation Bank for non-compliance of norms on cyber security framework as well as fraud classification and reporting.

Aug 02, 2019

India Invites Bids for Part of Bullet Train Project

The National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHRSCL) invited bids for design and construction of civil and building works including testing and commissioning on design-build lump sum price basis for Double Line High-Speed Railway involving viaduct and bridges, crossing bridges, maintenance depot.
This is the third tender floated by NHRSL this year.

Crisil Cuts India's GDP Growth for FY20

The gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate for India was cut by 0.2 percentage points for FY20 by Crisil.
The cut from 7.1 per cent to 6.9 per cent came amidst slowing global growth and weak monsoon recorded in the country in June. Sluggish data for the first quarter was another contributing factor.
Crisil suggested that a near-term onus to stimulate growth would be on monetary policies. And that the Reserve Bank (RBI) would have to work around policy rate cuts to achieve the country's growth target.

First Quarterly Loss in 14 Years for Airtel

Amid a brutal price war unleashed by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd that has ravaged its rivals and reshaped India's telecom market, Bharti Airtel Ltd posted its first quarterly loss in 14 years.
Bharti Airtel, which was till last year India's biggest telecom operator, has been struggling to raise prices and add subscribers because of the tariff war.
Bharti Airtel fell to the third position in the Indian mobile market in subscription numbers, and recorded a net loss of Rs. 2,866 million compared to a profit of Rs. 97 million in the same period of 2018-19.

Aug 01, 2019

Fiscal Deficit Touches 61.4% of Estimate

In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit, or the gap between expenditure and revenue, was Rs. 4.32 lakh crore at June-end, as per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).
The fiscal deficit was 68.7% of the 2018-19 Budget Estimate in the year-earlier period. The government estimates the fiscal deficit to be at Rs. 7.03 lakh crore during 2019-20.
The government aims to restrict the fiscal deficit to 3.4% of the GDP (gross domestic product) in the current fiscal, the same as last financial year.
The CGA data showed that revenue receipts of the government during April-June 2019-20 was 14.4% of the Budget Estimates (BE). It was 15.5% of BE in the year-ago period.

Coffee Day Ratings under Watch

Rating agency ICRA placed term loan rating of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited (CDEL) under rating watch with negative implications after the group's promoter V.G. Siddhartha went missing and was found dead.

Oppenheimer Buys Stake in ZEEL

Media baron Subhash Chandra's Essel Group sealed a deal with private equity fund Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund, which would pick up 11% stake in Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) for Rs. 4,224 crore.
The proceeds would help the group, which was scouting for an investor for months, to partially meet its debt obligations.
Oppenheimer, which already has 7.74% stake in ZEEL, would buy 11% from the promoter group. By inference, this works out to Rs. 400 per share. The promoters of ZEEL currently hold 35.79%.

U.S. Fed Cuts Interest Rate

The U.S. Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate for the first time in a decade to try to counter threats ranging from uncertainties caused by President Donald Trump's trade wars to chronically low inflation and a dim global outlook.
The central bank reduced its benchmark rate which affects many loans for households and businesses by a quarter-point to a range of 2% to 2.25%.
It's the first rate cut since December 2008 during the depths of the Great Recession, when the Fed slashed its rate to a record low near zero and kept it there until 2015.
The economy is far healthier now despite risks to what's become the longest expansion on record.

Jul 31, 2019

Microsoft Acquires BlueTalon

Microsoft acquired BlueTalon, a data privacy and governance service that helps enterprises set policies for how their employees can access their data, for an undisclosed sum.
BlueTalon works with leading Fortune 100 companies to eliminate data security blind spots and gain visibility and control of data.
The company provides a customer-proven, data-centric solution for data access management and auditing across the diverse systems resident in modern data estates.
This acquisition would enhance Microsoft's ability to empower enterprises across industries to digitally transform while ensuring right use of data with centralised data governance at scale through Azure.

Mindtree Deal Sealed

A lot can happen over coffee," is the tagline of Cafe Coffee Day and its promoter V.G. Siddhartha, who entered into a Rs. 3,269-crore deal with Larsen and Toubro over a cup of coffee with its MD and CEO S. N. Subrahmanyan to sell 20.4% stake. Mr. Siddhartha, who met Mr. Subrahmanyan through a mutual friend, offered his 20.4% stake in Mindtree to L&T.

Axis Bank Profit Doubles

Axis Bank reported a 95.4% jump in stand-alone net profit to Rs. 1,370.08 crore for the first quarter of FY20 aided by a healthy rise in income. The bank had posted a net profit of Rs. 701.09 crore in the April-June quarter of the previous fiscal year.
Total income (stand-alone) rose to Rs. 19,123.71 crore for the June quarter of FY20, from Rs. 15,702.01 crore in the year ago period.
Other incomes rose 32.27% to Rs. 3,868.76 crore for the quarter ended June 2019 against Rs. 2924.99 crore for the same quarter last year.

Firm that Makes Budweiser Banned from Selling Beer

Delhi banned the world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, from selling its products in the city market for 3 years for allegedly evading local taxes.
The city government orders from earlier this month followed a 3-year investigation which found that beer maker SABMiller - acquired by AB InBev in 2016 for around $100 billion - used duplicate barcodes on its beer bottles supplied to city retailers that year, allowing it to pay lower levies.
AB InBev said in a statement it denied the Delhi government's allegations and would appeal against the order.

FDI Sets a New Record

As per a government report, India received the highest-ever FDI inflow of USD 64.37 billion during the fiscal ended March 2019.
According to the Annual Report 2018-19 of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), foreign direct investments (FDI) worth USD 286 billion were received in the country in past five years.
The DPIIT under the commerce and industry ministry further said path-breaking reform measures undertaken during the last financial year have resulted in India surpassing the FDI received in 2016-17 and registering an inflow of USD 60.98 billion during 2017-18, a new all-time high.
The FDI inflows were USD 45.14 billion during 2014-15 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government assumed power. The inflows were USD 55.55 billion in the following year.

Jul 30, 2019

Amazon to Launch Online Food Delivery Service in India

Amazon.com Inc. is planning a foray into the burgeoning online food delivery business in India this year (in 2019) in a move that could raise competition in an increasingly crowded market.
The Seattle-based company is working with local partner Catamaran, founded by informational technology industrialist Narayana Murthy, and has begun hiring staff for the new operation. Amazon is aiming to launch the new service delivering from restaurants ahead of India's month-long festive season, which starts in September 2019.
The industry is dominated by local start-ups Swiggy, backed by Naspers and Tencent, and Zomato, which counts Sequoia as an investor. Uber Technologies launched its India food delivery service in 2017 but was unable to keep pace with the local market leaders.
As per reports, Amazon was in talks to buy Uber Eats.

Pfizer to Merge its Generics Drug Business

Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. agreed to spin off its generic drugs business and combine it with Mylan, a move that leaves Pfizer with more profitable innovative drugs, including cancer drug Ibrance and pneumonia vaccine Prevnar.
The move, which brings blockbuster treatments Viagra, EpiPen and Lipitor under one umbrella, is part of a years-long effort by Pfizer to split into three parts—innovative medicines, lower margin generic drugs business and consumer healthcare.
Under new chief executive officer (CEO) Albert Bourla, Pfizer has also been beefing up its cancer treatment pipeline as some of its older treatments face competition.
The new company, to be based in the US and incorporated in Delaware, would be led by Michael Goettler, president of Pfizer's generics unit, Upjohn.

NBCC Offers to Take up Unitech's Housing Projects

State-run builder NBCC India Ltd is willing to take over unfinished housing projects from realtor Unitech and complete construction within a timeline, the Centre told Supreme Court in yet another case where the administration would need to step in after homebuyers were left in the lurch.
The proposal, which includes setting up a new committee to monitor the construction, was made at a hearing in connection with a case filed by Unitech homebuyers, who say that 16,000 flats have been partially or fully paid for but are yet to be handed over.
Attorney General KK Venugopal submitted the NBCC roadmap to a bench of justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah.
NBCC sought Rs. 50 crore as construction fee and two per cent of the entire project for due-diligence before it undertakes the construction work. The committee, the NBCC suggested, will arrange for funds as required and approve sample flats.

Grab to Invest $2 Billion in Indonesia

Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab would invest $2 billion into Indonesia over five years using capital received from Japan`s SoftBank Group Corp, which wants to increase its exposure to the region`s most populous market.
The investment would go toward creating a next-generation transportation network and transforming how critical services, like healthcare, are delivered.
Singapore-headquartered Grab said that SoftBank would invest the US$2 billion into the country through Grab, to drive the digitization of crucial services and infrastructure.

SBI Reduces Deposit Rates

The State Bank of India (SBI) slashed deposit rates on various tenors citing surplus liquidity and falling interest rate scenario.
Interest rates were reduced by 50-75 basis points (bps) for time deposits with shorter tenors of up to 179 days.
For time deposits with longer tenors, there is a reduction of up to 20 bps in the retail segment and 35 bps in the bulk segment.
The bank also cut deposit rates on bulk deposits of Rs. 2 crore and above.
The new rates would be effective from August 1, 2019.

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