General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Mar 04, 2019

Cumulative Spending on CSR

According to Crisil Foundation, cumulative spending on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has crossed the Rs. 50,000-crore-mark four years after the legislative mandate was implemented.
A Crisil estimate shows spending by listed companies rose 12% year-on-year in fiscal 2018 to Rs. 10,000 crore, for the first time.
Assuming the same rate of growth, spending by unlisted companies is estimated to be Rs. 5,100 crore for the year, taking the total for the year to Rs. 15,100 crore.
With this, cumulative spending over the four years stands at Rs. 34,100 crore for listed companies and Rs. 18,900 crore for unlisted ones, totalling Rs. 53,000 crore.

MUDRA Loan Lending Target

With less than one month left in the fiscal current, banks will have to work overtime to meet the MUDRA loan lending target of Rs. 3 lakh crore, as only about Rs. 2 lakh crore has been disbursed till February 22.
As per government data, as on February 22, the total loans disbursed under the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd. (MUDRA) scheme stood at Rs. 2,02,668.9 crore versus the sanctioned amount of Rs. 2,10,759.51 crore.
Data from the Finance Ministry said that more than 3.89 crore MUDRA loans have been sanctioned so far this fiscal.

Adani Gas' Application Rejected

PNGRB has rejected Adani Gas Ltd.'s (AGL) application for authorisation to retail CNG for automobiles and piped natural gas to households in Jaipur and Udaipur, saying that AGL was not in compliance with rules for a licence.
PNGRB had given reasons for rejecting AGL's claim of having 'deemed authorisation' to operate a gas distribution network before the regulator came into being.

Trend of Recycling Gold on the Rise

The quantum of recycled gold in the system is on the rise in India on account of an increase in gold prices and some players ensuring transparency in evaluation and pricing.
This trend is also helping curb imports, thus, saving foreign exchange. India is the second-largest consumer of gold and the largest importer of the yellow metal, importing about 700-800 tonnes annually.
This has a bearing on India's current account deficit (CAD). In 2017-18, India's gold imports increased by 22.3% to $33.65 billion and the CAD jumped to $48.7 billion, or 1.9% of the GDP.

Fianacial Bids for Pawan Hans

Shortlisted bidders of Pawan Hans have time till March 6 to submit their financial bids for buying the government's and ONGC's stake in the helicopter service provider.
Separately, the transaction adviser has worked out a reserve price which will be submitted to the Aviation Ministry.
The Centre holds 51% stake in Pawan Hans, which has a fleet of 46 choppers.

Mar 03, 2019

Punjab Approves Farm Loan Waiver

The Punjab government gave its in-principle approval for a debt relief scheme for farm labourers and landless farmers, who are members of the Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS).
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting. It will benefit farm labourers and landless farming members of the PACS to the tune of Rs. 520.55 crore.
The amount eligible for relief per head comprises an outstanding principal of up to Rs. 25,000 as on March 31, 2017 and simple interest of 7% per annum.

JSW Steel and Duferco Ink Pact

JSW Steel inked a 5-year advance payment and supply agreement with Duferco International Trading Holding for $700 million.
The pact, executed in February, entails a financing structure that would provide JSW long-term funding to complement its plans for future growth secured by committed exports of steel products to DITH.
For Duferco International Trading Holding (DITH), the transaction assures a captive supply of various steel products from JSW over the term of the agreement.
The deal is the largest trade finance facility arranged in the Indian steel sector. In the past, JSW and DITH have entered into similar pacts on a smaller scale but for longer periods, all of which have been completed.

Pension Option for Employees of PSU Insurers

In a relief to over 42,000 employees of public sector insurance companies, the government decided to give one more chance to opt for pension to the leftover officers and staff who missed the opportunity in the past.
These staff had opted for contributory provident fund instead of the pension option.

Reliance Industries Arm to Acquire Grab, C-Square Info

Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd. (RIIHL) has entered into agreements to acquire logistics services platform Grab and software firm C-Square Info Solutions.
Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), said that its wholly owned subsidiary Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings has entered into an agreement for the acquisition of equity shares of Grab A Grub Services Private Limited for a cash consideration not exceeding Rs. 106 crore.
In a separate filing, RIIHL has agreed to acquire equity shares of C-Square Info Solutions Private Limited for a cash consideration not exceeding Rs. 22.04 crore.

RBI Slaps Fines on Four Banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs. 3 crore on Union Bank, Rs. 2 crore on Dena Bank and Rs. 1 crore each on IDBI Bank and the SBI for non-compliance with various directions, regulatory filings said.
Union Bank and IDBI Bank were penalised for the delay in adherence to RBI's directives on 'time-bound implementation and strengthening of SWIFT related controls' contained in the RBI circular of February 20, 2018.
Dena Bank was penalised for its non-compliance with the RBI directions issued on February 20, 2018.
SBI said that the RBI has levied an aggregate penalty of Rs. 1 crore on it for delayed implementation of the daily reconciliation of SWIFT transaction logs with effect from February 20, 2018 at 226 "low intensity branches" of the bank.

RCEP Nations to Intensify Talks

The 16 members of the RCEP group, including India and China, agreed to intensify ongoing negotiations for a proposed mega trade agreement to resolve all issues and conclude the talks in 2019.
The progress of negotiations was reviewed at a meeting of all the Trade Ministers of 16 countries in Cambodia.
The meeting, chaired by Chutima Bunyapraphasara, Acting Minister of Commerce of Thailand, reviewed the developments since the RCEP Summit in November.
Members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership want India to eliminate or reduce customs duties on maximum number of goods it trades with them.
But, lower level of ambitions in services and investments, a key area of interest for India, does not augur well for the pact that seeks to be comprehensive.

LIC Cuts Stake in Welspun

State-owned Life Insurance Corporation has brought down its stake in Welspun Corporation to 5.54% by selling shares in the open market.
According to a regulatory filing by Welspun Corp., LIC which held 2,04,82,544 shares, or 7.72%, sold 57,89,140 shares or 2.18% stake in the company.
Post the open market sale, LIC's stake in Welspun reduced to 5.54%, or 1,46,93,404 shares.

Mar 02, 2019

Carlyle Group Picks Up Stake in SBI Life

Private equity fund The Carlyle Group has picked up 9% stake in the life insurance arm of State Bank of India, SBI Life Insurance, for an undisclosed amount.
Carlyle's equity for this investment came from CA Emerald Investments, an affiliated entity of Carlyle Asia Partners V, Carlyle's flagship $6.55 billion fund focused on buyout and strategic investments across a range of sectors in Asia Pacific. Following this transaction, BNP Paribas Cardif and CA Emerald Investments now own 12.8% and 9% of the company, respectively, while SBI remains the majority shareholder with a 62.1% stake.
As per Sunil Kaul MD of the Carlyle Asia Buyout advisory team. the life insurance industry in India has strong growth potential thanks to favourable demographics and an increasing focus on financial savings.

Assam to Be Oil Exporting Hub

According to Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Assam is slated to soon become one of India's major oil exporting hubs catering to the eastern neighbours of the country and Southeast Asia.
The Minister based his prediction on a slew of projects for augmenting oil exploration, refining and transportation capacity in various stages of completion in the region.
Eight of these projects under Hydrocarbon Vision 2030, worth more than Rs. 1,500 crore, were inaugurated in Guwahati.
Assam will soon send petrol and diesel to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Southeast Asian countries.

EverSource, NIIF, CDC to Invest in Ayana Renewable

EverSource Capital along with National Investment and Infrastructure Fund of India (NIIF) has partnered U.K. government's CDC Group to invest $330 million in Ayana Renewable Power (Ayana), the renewable energy platform founded by CDC.
EverSource Capital, a joint venture between Everstone Capital and Lightsource BP, manages Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF) that has NIIF and the U.K. government as anchor LPs (limited partners or investors).
Ayana was launched to develop utility-scale solar and wind generation projects across growth States in India.

Tech Mahindra to Partner Orbic

Tech Mahindra will partner U.S. based Orbic to develop a series of 5G devices for the global markets. The devices will be launched in the U.S. and the global markets during 2020. Tech Mahindra is excited to be part of the pioneering journey with Orbic in bringing 5G devices to the global markets.

SEBI Slashes Regulatory Fee

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has lowered the regulatory fee that it charges market intermediaries, a move that is expected to bring down the overall trading costs for investors.
The fee that brokers have to pay to SEBI has been reduced by 33.33%, while the fees levied on agri-commodity brokers has been cut by 93.33%.
The regulatory fee paid by stock exchanges has also been lowered by 80%. The move assumes significance as India has always featured among the most-expensive countries globally in terms of trading costs in the capital market.

Union Bank Reduces Lending Rates

State-run lender Union Bank of India reduced marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) by 10 basis points across all tenors.
The lender has reduced its one-year MCLR or the minimum lending rate, against which most of the consumer loans are benchmarked, to 8.60% from 8.70% earlier. The bank has set the new six-month MCLR at 8.50% and two-year at 8.70%.

Mar 01, 2019

Future Group to Bring 7-Eleven to India

The world's largest chain of convenience stores, 7-Eleven, will make its India debut later in 2019.
Mumbai-based Future Group owned Future Retail has signed a master franchise agreement through its subsidiary, SHME Food Brands, with 7-Eleven Inc. to develop and operate 7-Eleven stores in Asia's third-largest economy.
This will make India the company's 18th market.
Under the deal, 7-Eleven will support Future Retail in implementing and localising the unique 7-Eleven business model. Future Group will add new stores and even convert some of its existing ones to 7-Elevens.
Future Retail will be allowed to do sub-franchising as part of the agreement.

Adani Becomes 3rd Largest in One Single Swoop

The Adani Group, which has just won the mandate to run all the six government-owned airports that were put up for privatisation, will become the third largest private operator in passenger volume after the GMR group and GVK group.
The diversified Adani Group is marking its entry into the airports space after bagging a 50-year contract for operation, management and development of the Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvanathapuram and Mangalore airports after quoting revenue share in the range of Rs. 115 to Rs. 177 per passenger.

Bilateral Swap Arrangement with Japan

The Reserve Bank of India and Bank of Japan have completed signing of the agreement for Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA) between India and Japan.
This BSA provides India to access 75 billion in US dollars whereas the earlier BSA had provided for US $50 billion.
The BSA was approved by the Union Cabinet in January 2019.
India can access the agreed amount of USD 75 billion for its domestic currency, for the purpose of maintaining an appropriate level of balance of payments or short-term liquidity.

Feb 28, 2019

Wipro to sell Workday, Cornerstone On Demand Business

IT services major Wipro said that it would sell its Workday and Cornerstone On Demand business to Illinois-based Alight for cash consideration of up to $110 million.
Following the closing of its 10-year agreement that was announced in September, Alight and Wipro continue to explore additional strategic opportunities and possible alignment of portfolios.

Spotify Forays into the Indian Market

Music streaming service Spotify announced its foray into the Indian market, where it will compete with players such as JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Gaana.
As per reports, The Swedish firm would offer local and international music for Indian listeners with the app available to download for free.
Users can also upgrade to Spotify Premium for Rs. 59 onwards per month.

Jeypore Sugar under Insolvency Action

The Chennai Bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has directed initiation of insolvency proceedings against The Jeypore Sugar Company Ltd.
The petition was filed by IDBI Bank Ltd. for non-payment of dues to the tune of Rs. 183.75 crore as on October 1, 2018.
The company availed loans to the tune of Rs. 165.37 crore from the bank in the form of working capital and rupee term loans, among others.
As per the petition, the company had offered a one-time settlement proposal, which did not materialise.

Retaliatory Tariffs Levy on U.S. Goods Delayed

The government has extended the deadline to impose retaliatory customs duties on 29 U.S. products, including almond, walnut and pulses, till April 1.
As discussions are under way between India and the U.S. for a proposed trade package, the Commerce Ministry had asked its finance counterpart to again defer the implementation of a notification to impose high duties on U.S. products.
According to a notification, the implementation of increased customs duty on specified imports originating in USA has been postponed from March 2, 2019 to April 1, 2019.

Boeing Wins Vietnam Orders

Vietnam's Bamboo Airways and VietJet Aviation JSC signed deals to buy 110 aircraft from Boeing Co. during President Donald Trump's visit to Hanoi for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
Bamboo agreed to purchase 10 787-9 Dreamliners worth about $3 billion, while VietJet's order is for 100 737 Max planes valued at $12.7 billion.
Separately, General Electric Co. signed a $5.3 billion deal with VietJet to service engines for 200 Boeing 737 Max aircraft on order.

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