General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Jun 23, 2019

Valmar Enters India

European gelato and ice cream machine manufacturer Valmar entered into an exclusive marketing tie-up with city-based Swedinox Impex to sell the former's equipment in India.
According to Abdul Rahim, chairman, Swedinox, to start with, Valmar imported about 10 machines each costing about Rs. 10 lakh each.
Swedinox is the official importer of this equipment.
Claiming that the Indian ice cream and frozen dessert market was about Rs. 140 billion and growing, initially, it would target hotels, restaurants and cafes in Chennai.

Panaya and Skava are Not for Sale

Tech bellwether Infosys said that Panaya and Skava are no more considered assets for sale; instead, they have been put on a growth path.
As per Infosys, it was currently in the process of growing activities under these acquisitions to see if they can complement the growth of the company's retail, manufacturing and consumer care verticals.
In February 2015, Infosys acquired Panaya, an enterprise software management firm based in Israel, in an all-cash deal worth $200 million.
The deal ran into a huge controversy that eventually led its then CEO Vishal Sikka to quit the firm in August 2017, after a public spat with the co-founders.

Banks May Extend Foreign Currency Loans

According to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Ministry is in talks with banks to see ways to extend foreign currency loans to exporters.
He said that providing subsidies was not a solution to trade-related issues.
Instead, the ministry would work on foreign currency loans and the ministry has already had dialogues with bankers to see how we can expand foreign currency loans.

Jun 22, 2019

Walmart to Settle Corruption Probes

Walmart Inc. agreed to pay $282 million in penalties and a Brazilian unit admitted to violating a US anti-bribery law, providing a relatively subdued ending to a seven-year investigation that spanned the globe and at one point looked poised to yield record foreign-corruption fines.
In parallel announcements, the justice department and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) faulted the country's largest retailer over payments made to fast-track store openings in Mexico, China, Brazil and India. Walmart would pay about $138 million in criminal penalties and $144 million in disgorgement to resolve the SEC's allegations.

GST Council Extends Filing Deadline

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council extended the deadline for filing of annual returns and the tenure of the anti-profiteering body, made e-ticketing mandatory for multiplexes, and took a slew of decisions to ease the compliance burden on taxpayers.
The 35th meeting of the council, and the first with Sitharaman as its chairperson, could not, however, arrive at a decision on reducing GST on electric vehicles (EVs), resolve the issue of valuation of the goods and services components in solar and wind power generating systems, and settle the question of dual taxation of lotteries.

Manulife to Take Stake in Mahindra AMC

Mahindra AMC, a subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services, entered into an agreement with Manulife Asset Management (Singapore) Pte Ltd., in which M&M Financial Services would have 51% stake in the AMC arm and the foreign partner, 49%.
Mahindra AMC plans to beef up growth with this partnership in the retail segment.

Jun 21, 2019

BSR Quits as Auditor

BSR & Associates LLP, the sub-licensee of KPMG in India, quit as the auditor of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services' non-banking financial services (NBFC) arm, IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN), after it was served a show-cause notice on why it should not be removed.
BSR resigned as auditors of IFIN earlier this month (June 19). Both BSR and IL&FS confirmed the development.
BSR said that while it had responded to the show-cause notice from IFIN, it was yet to hear from IFIN.

Three Board Seats in Mindtree for L&T

Construction major L&T, which is in the midst of a hostile takeover of Mindtree Ltd., secured three board positions at the IT services firm, giving it a firm control over the company.
L&T CEO and MD S.N. Subrahmanyan would join the board of Mindtree as a non-executive director with effect from July 16, 2019.
The nomination and remuneration committee and the board of directors of Mindtree approved and recommended the appointments of Jayant Damodar Patil and Ramamurthi Shankar Raman as non-executive directors, subject to shareholders' approval.

Sundaram Finance to buy BNP in JV

Sundaram BNP Paribas Home Finance Ltd. (SBPHFL) is set to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sundaram Finance Ltd. (SFL).
SFL would acquire the remaining stake of 49.9% from BNP Paribas Personal Finance S.A. France for Rs. 999.67 crore, subject to all regulatory approvals.
SFL inked an agreement with BNP Paribas Personal Finance S.A. France to this effect. The move follows a decision by the BNP Paribas Group to exit the retail housing finance business.
BNP Paribas currently holds 49.9% stake in the home finance unit and the rest is held by SFL. As per the deal, SFL would acquire the entire stake, representing 5.05 crore equity shares of Rs. 10 each.

Adani Green Energy Arm Bags Wind Power Project

Adani Green Energy's arm Adani Renewable Energy Park (Gujarat) bagged a 130-megawatt (MW) wind power project in an auction by the State-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
Adani Renewable Energy Park (Gujarat) Ltd. had won the bid for setting up a 130 MW ISTS (inter-State transmission system)-connected wind power project in a tender issued by SECI.

IBM to Secure Unconditional EU Approval

US tech giant International Business Machines Corp is set to secure unconditional EU approval for its $34 billion bid for software company Red Hat.
IBM was seeking to expand its subscription-based software offerings via the deal, its biggest to date, to counter slowing software sales and waning demand for mainframe servers.
It would also help it catch up with Amazon, Alphabet Inc and Microsoft in the fast growing cloud computing business.
The European Commission is scheduled to decide on the deal by June end (2019).
Founded in 1993, Red Hat specialises in Linux operating systems, the most popular type of open-source software and an alternative to proprietary software made by Microsoft.
US regulatory authorities gave the green light to the deal in May 2019 without demanding concessions.

Contract between Tech Mahindra and Airbus

IT firm Tech Mahindra signed a multi-year contract with Airbus for cabin and cargo design engineering with an aim to capitalise on the specialised skills and competencies in the growing cabin engineering business over the next few years.
As per Karthikeyan Natarajan, global head of engineering and IoT, Tech Mahindra, Airbus is a strategic customer and partner of Tech Mahindra, and it had been Tech Mahindra's constant endeavour to develop innovative engineering and digital solutions for our customers.
This is a step towards further nurturing this key relationship and supporting Airbus in consolidating their global supplier base while driving business efficiencies and competencies in this process.

Jun 20, 2019

Celebi Aviation to Invest in Taxibots

Turkish ground handling company Celebi Aviation would make an investment of up to €45 million to bring Taxibots at key Indian airports over the next five to six years to provide eco-friendly taxiing solution to airlines and airports.
Taxibot is a semi-robotic equipment that tows an aircraft from the terminal gate to the runway with the aircraft's engine turned off. This helps airlines to cut down fuel consumption by 85% during the takeoff stage as well as reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The company signed an agreement with Delhi International Airport Limited for seven years and is already providing the service to SpiceJet.
The airport became the first to use the semi-robotic equipment globally for taxiing of aircraft in May 2019.
There are two Taxibots at Delhi airport and there are plans to get three more in the near future.

Kolhapuri Chappal Gets GI Tag

Maharashtra's extremely popular footwear brand Kolhapuri chappal was given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag, which is likely to further boost its sale in other parts of the country and abroad.
According to reports, the approval for the GI tag for the popular footwear brand was jointly granted to four districts of Karnataka and Maharashtra each for making these chappals.
The GI tag approvals mean that the artisans producing Kolhapuris in Kolhapur, Solapur, Sangli and Satara districts of Maharashtra and Dharwad, Belgaum, Bagalkot and Bijapur districts of Karnataka will now be able to make and market their product in domestic and international markets.

HDFC Open to Buying Retail Portfolios

Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd. is open to buying out retail portfolios of housing finance companies (HFCs) looking to raise resources.
Most HFCs are facing a liquidity crunch with banks becoming reluctant to extend loans as the shadow banking sector fights a crisis of confidence post the debt default of IL&FS in September 2018.

SAT Fines SEBI

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) imposed a penalty of Rs. 50,000 on Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), after a person aggrieved by a SEBI order convinced the tribunal that the market regulator was in the wrong.
In November 2017, SEBI'S whole-time member Madhabi Puri Buch had issued an interim order against a little-known company, Supreme Tex Mart Ltd, on charges that it sent out bulk messages to buy its shares.
The order barred the company's directors from accessing capital markets pending further investigations.
A final order in March 2019 asked these directors and the company to disgorge Rs. 18 crore to investors which, SEBI said, were ill-gotten gains.
Sanjay Gupta, one of the individuals affected by the order, petitioned SAT that he had resigned from the Supreme Tex Mart board in 2013 before the alleged lapses occurred. He claimed he was no longer a director and that he was not involved in any fraudulent activity.

Apollo Munich and HDFC ERGO Merger

HDFC Ltd. signed a definitive agreement with Apollo Munich Health Insurance to buy out the entire Apollo Hospitals Group's stake of 50.8% for Rs. 1,136 crore and another 0.4% stake held by a few employees for Rs. 10.84 crore.
Post the acquisition of shares by HDFC, Apollo Munich would be merged with the former's general insurance subsidiary — HDFC ERGO. ERGO is a subsidiary of Munich Re, which has been a joint venture partner of HDFC ERGO since 2008.
Munich Re would continue to hold 49% stake in HDFC ERGO post the merger.
The acquisition would make HDFC ERGO the second-largest private sector insurer in the combined accident and health insurance vertical, with an 8.2% market share.

Agreement Between HCL and Cricket Australia

HCL Technologies signed a multi-year deal with Cricket Australia, the national governing body for the game in that country.
As part of the deal, the firm would help deliver a digital experience to cricket fans, players, partners, employees and volunteers across Australia and around the world.
HCL Technologies would manage Cricket Australia's digital products, including Cricket Australia Live App, cricket.com.au, bigbash.com.au and community cricket applications such as MyCricket as well community.cricket.com.au.

Jun 19, 2019

Facebook Plans to Launch Libra

Facebook Inc revealed plans to launch a cryptocurrency called Libra, the latest development in its effort to expand beyond social networking and move into e-commerce and global payments.
Facebook linked with 28 partners in a Geneva-based entity called the Libra Association, which would govern its new digital coin set to launch in the first half of 2020.
Facebook also created a subsidiary called Calibra, which would offer digital wallets to save, send and spend Libras. Calibra would be connected to Facebook`s messaging platforms Messenger and WhatsApp, which already boast more than a billion users.

Bajaj Holdings Acquires Stake in Maharashtra Scooters

WMDC (Western Maharashtra Development Corporation), a Government of Maharashtra undertaking, transferred its 27% stake in Maharashtra Scooters Ltd. (MSL) to Bajaj Holdings & Investment Ltd. (BHIL) for Rs. 71.58 crore plus 18% interest from January 2006.
WMDC transferred 3,085,712 shares at a price of Rs. 232 a share compared with Rs. 151.63 which BHIL was willing to pay previously.
Upon the acquisition of 27% stake of MSL from WMDC, BHIL's holding increased to 51% in MSL and thus, MSL has become a subsidiary of BHIL with effect from June 2019.

Boeing Signs First Deal

Boeing is selling its 737 MAX planes again.
The company announced at the Paris Air Show that International Airlines Group, the parent company of British Airways and other carriers, signed a letter of intent for 200 Boeing 737 aircraft.
Boeing said that it is the first sale of the jet since the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX in March 2019.
Another 737 MAX crashed in Indonesia last year (2018), and the planes are now grounded amid an investigation into problematic software.
The letter of intent is subject to final agreement but is a vote of confidence in Boeing as it struggles to win back trust.
The planes would be delivered between 2023 and 2027 to airlines owned by IAG.

KSEB Signs Deal for Brahmapuram Plant

Providing a new impetus to the government's ambitious project to establish Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants across the State, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) signed a power purchase agreement with Kochi-based GJ Eco Power Pvt. Ltd., the agency implementing the project at the Brahmapuram solid waste treatment plant.
Under the agreement, the KSEB would purchase the power generated from the 9.76-MW WtE plant at a rate of Rs. 6.17 per unit for a period of 20 years from the commercial operation date.
The company was roped in by the Kochi Corporation to implement the State's first WtE project in the public-private partnership mode.
The firm, which would be supplied with 330 tonnes per day (TPD) of municipal solid waste by the local body, is tasked with generating 47 million units (mu) of power. The proposed plant is expected to be commissioned within 18 months of the launch of its construction.

RBI Slaps Penalty on HDFC Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a Rs. 1 crore penalty on private sector lender HDFC Bank for violating know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) norms.
RBI had received a reference from customs' authorities regarding submission of forged bill of entries (BoEs) by certain importers to the bank for remittance of foreign currency.

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