General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Jul 08, 2019

Maruti Slashes Production

According to a regulatory filing, the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has cut vehicle production for the fifth consecutive month in June.
The auto company slashed total vehicle production, including Super Carry light commercial vehicle (LCV), by 15.6% last month to 111,917 units as compared to 132,616 units in the year-ago month.
Total passenger vehicle (PV) production stood at 109,641 units last month, down 16.34% from 131,068 units in June 2018.
The auto company cut production of mini segment vehicles, including models like Alto, by 48.2% to 15,087 units last month as against 29,131 units in the year-ago period.
Similarly, it slashed production of compact segment cars like WagonR, Swift and Dzire by 1.46% to 66,436 units in June from 67,426 units earlier.
Production of utility vehicles witnessed a decline of 5.26% to 17,074 units, as against 18,023 units in June last year.
The company said production of vans declined by 27.87% to 8,501 units last month compared to 11,787 units in June 2018.
Slowdown in vehicle sales have also impacted Maruti's financial performance in the last fiscal year with the company reporting a 2.9% drop in net profit to, while revenue grew 6.3%.

Jul 07, 2019

Fraud by Bhushan Power & Steel

Public sector lender Punjab National Bank detected a fraud worth more than Rs. 3,800 crore by Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. (BPSL), and reported it to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
As per PNB, Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. misappropriated bank funds and manipulated its books of accounts to raise funds from consortium lender banks.
At present, the case is at NCLT, which is in an advanced stage and the bank expects good recovery in the account.

Jul 06, 2019

Highlights of Union Budget 2019

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the maiden budget of Narendra Modi 2.0 government in the Lok Sabha. "Gaon, Garib and Kisan'' [village, poor, and farmer] is at the centre of all policies of this government. Between 2014 and 2019, the government provided rejuvenated dynamic Centre-State cooperative federalism, and the GST Council.
Here are the highlights of the Union Budget:

1. PAN and Aadhaar will become interchangeable. You can use your Aadhaar number to file your I-T Returns soon.
2. Rs. 5 lakh minimum limit announced for taxpayers. In view of rising income levels, those in the Rs. 2-5 crore and Rs.5 crore-and-above brackets will see increase in effective tax rate by 3% and 7%, respectively.
3. GST rate on electric vehicles proposed to be lowered to 5%. Additional income tax deduction of Rs. 1.5 lakh on interest on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles.
4. Additional deduction of Rs. 1.5 lakh on loans up to March 31, 2020 for buying affordable houses, giving Rs. 7 lakh benefit to home buyers.
5. Proposal to provide Aadhaar cards for NRIs with Indian passports, after their arrival in India, with no waiting period.
6. Rs. 20 coin coming up.
7. Excise duty on fuel hiked by Rs. 1.
8. To resolve the angel tax issue, startups will not be subject to any scrutiny in respect to valuation. Funds raised by startups will not require any scrutiny by the I-T department.
9. TDS of 2% on cash withdrawals exceeding Rs. 1 crore in a year from bank accounts, to discourage business payments in cash.
10. Period of exemption for capital gains arising from sale of house for investment in startups to be extended to March 31, 2021.
11. Rs. 70,000 crore in recapitalisation for public sector banks.
12. Rs. 1.05 lakh crore disinvestment target for the year.
13. TV channel to be launched for promoting startups and to help matchmaking for funds.
14. New national educational policy hopes to transform Indian education into one of the best in the world, with focus on bringing in foreign students.
15. Rs. 50 lakh crores proposed for Railway infrastructure.
16. By 2022, the 75th year of Independence, every single rural family, except those who are unwilling to take the connection, will have electricity and clean cooking facility.
17. Stress on zero-budget farming, which is a form of gardening as a self-sustainable practice, with minimum external intervention.
18. The pension benefit will be extended to 3 crore retail traders under PM Karam Yogi Maan Dhan Scheme. It requires only Aadhaar numbers and bank accounts.
19. Rs. 1 crore worth of loans proposed to MSMEs.
20. Investment by FIIs and FDIs in debt securities in infrastructure debt funds to be allowed. Minimum public shareholding in listed companies can be increased from 25% to 35%.
21. Global Investors Meet to happen in India.

Top Brass of Mindtree Quit

Home-grown tech and digital transformation firm Mindtree has announced a few significant top leadership changes after the manufacturing major Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) gained a controlling stake in the company.
The company said that its co-founders Krishnakumar Natarajan, Executive Chairman; N S Parthasarathy, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer; and Rostow Ravanan, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the company, submitted their resignations as members of the Board of Directors of Mindtree Ltd.
Mindtree would announce a new leadership team in due course.
The trio would stay as Board members till July 17 and as employees in line with their employment contracts to ensure smooth transition. Further, along with the other founders of the company, they have asked the company to de-classify them as promoters under applicable laws.

Jul 05, 2019

Ola Gets Green Light

India's biggest ridehailing platform Ola Cabs received approval from London's transport regulator to start private hire vehicles (PHV) in the capital city of the UK.
This would allow Ola to mount a challenge to Uber Technologies Inc, and also take on "Bolt" ridehailing service, which received a licence from Transport For London (TFL), London's local government body.
Ola UK Pvt Ltd received a one-year carriage licence from TFL to operate "PHV vehicles" across London.

Yes Bank Acquires Stake in Eveready

Yes Bank acquired 9.47% stake in Eveready Industries by invoking pledged shares, the lender informed the exchanges.
The pledged shares were invoked since one of the group companies, McLeod Russel, defaulted.
Shares were acquired pursuant to invocation of pledge of shares of Eveready Industries India Limited subsequent to default/breach of terms of credit facilities sanctioned by Yes Bank to McLeod Russel India Limited which is a group company of BM Khaitan Group.
Eveready Industries, a part of the BM Khaitan Group is engaged in FMCG segment with product portfolio comprising batteries, flash lights and lighting products, among others.
It had a consolidated turnover of Rs. 1,541.86 crore in FY 2018-19 and Rs. 1,494.99 crore in FY 2017-18.

Adani Power Buys GMR Unit

Adani Power signed a definitive share purchase agreement with GMR Infrastructure Ltd. (GIL) to buy its 47.62% stake in GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Ltd. (GCEL), held by its wholly owned subsidiary, GMR Generation Assets Limited (GGAL).
The company would buy the remaining stake from lenders as the consortium of lenders of GCEL adopted change in management as a resolution plan (RP) in accordance with the guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India.
The deal was executed at an enterprise value of Rs. 4,792 crore. The lenders followed a detailed bidding process and selected Adani Power as the final bidder.
GCEL has received 100% approvals of all lenders for implementation of the resolution plan, which will lead to a significant deleveraging for the GMR Group.
GECL is a supercritical, domestic, coal-based power plant having installed capacity of 1,370 MW (2 x 685 MW) located at Raikheda, Raipur District Chhattisgarh. The company's total revenue for financial year 2018-19 was Rs. 814.7 crore.

US Drags India to WTO

The US dragged India to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by filing a complaint against New Delhi's move to increase customs duties on 28 American goods, alleging the decision is inconsistent with the global trade norms.
According to a communication of the Geneva-based WTO, the US said the additional duties imposed by India "appears to nullify or impair the benefits accruing to the US directly or indirectly" under the GATT 1994.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a WTO pact, signed by all member countries of the multilateral body, aims to promote trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers like customs duties.
The US has alleged that the duties imposed by India appear to be inconsistent with two norms of GATT.

Recovery under IBC Higher

As per the Economic Survey for 2018-19, recovery by financial creditors has seen a significant rise after the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) kicked in compared with the previous recovery regimes like Debt Recovery Tribunal, Lok Adalat and SARFAESI Act.
Between 2007 and 2017, recovery from all those other sources was 23% while the same was 43% under the IBC between 2017-19.
"These earlier mechanisms have resulted in an average recovery of 23% to lenders as against nearly 43% under the IBC," the Survey said.
The overall recovery in resolved cases is nearly Rs. 74,497 crore for the financial creditors, which is 194% of the liquidation value.
The IBC was introduced to tackle the stressed asset problem of banks that almost touched close to Rs. 13 lakh crore by the end of March 2018.
The financial creditors have been provided with greater role and powers through the committee of creditors under the IBC process.

Jul 04, 2019

MSP for Kharif Crops

The Union cabinet approved increase in federally fixed minimum support prices (MSPs) of 16 kharif or summer-sown crops, setting these at a minimum of 1.5 times the cost of production so that farmers can hope to get 50% returns on their output.
The increase came as good news for farmers in the backdrop of a delayed monsoon and a potential shortfall in farm output in a country where half of the population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture for a livelihood.
MSP is a benchmark price that is meant to act as a floor rate, thereby helping avoid distress sales of farm produce.
MSP for paddy, the main summer crop sown during the four-month south-west monsoon, was raised by Rs. 65 per quintal, while that of jowar was increased by Rs. 120 per quintal. MSP for ragi was hiked by Rs. 253 per quintal.

Govt. Nod for Leasing out 3 Airports to Adani

The government approved leasing out of three State-owned airports — Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru — to Adani Enterprises Limited through a public- private partnership.
In February 2019, Adani Enterprises emerged as the winning bidder for six airports bid out by the Airports Authority of India.
With the Union Cabinet approving leasing of only three of them, uncertainty hangs over the Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Jaipur airports.
It is learnt that the Ministry of Civil Aviation had sent a proposal for all the six airports to the Cabinet.
The bids expires on July 30, 2019, though a senior AAI official said that their validity could be extended.

Tech Firms Plan to Shift Production Out of China

Several technology companies, including HP Inc, Dell Technologies and Microsoft Corp , are planning to shift substantial production capacity out of China.
HP and Dell are planning to reallocate up to 30% of their notebook production out of China.
Microsoft, Google, Amazon.com Inc, SonyCorp and Nintendo Co Ltd are also looking at moving some of their game console and smart speaker manufacturing out of the country.

Welspun India Receives Approval for Litigation Settlement

Textile firm Welspun India received preliminary court approval for settlement of its litigation in the US with regards to labelling and marketing of Egyptian cotton products.
In May, 2019 Welspun India had announced that company and its subsidiaries, which have been facing litigation in the US surrounding its premium cotton home textile products, have entered into a settlement agreement in the US.
The settlement agreement provides monetary payments to settlement class members not exceeding USD 36 million (about Rs. 250 crore).
The company received preliminary court approval for its settlement agreement, which is intended to resolve all pending legal claims in the United States concerning past marketing and labelling of the company's premium cotton home textile products.
The plaintiffs in other pending litigations involving these issues have also agreed not to object to the settlement agreement.

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