General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Dec 12, 2018

Hero Electric Sold Minority Stake

Electric two-wheeler manufacturer Hero Electric announced that it has raised Rs. 160 crore from Alpha Capital Advisors, by selling minority stake to the Mumbai-based investment management firm.
This fund infusion will help Hero Electric diversify its product portfolio, acquire new technology and focus on strengthening its research and development capabilities to achieve certain rate of localisation.

Fruit Processing Units Attract FMCG Majors

Attracted by guavas and kinnows of Punjab, multinational fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are making a beeline to take over the state government's fruit processing units located at Hoshiarpur and Abohar.
Punjab Agro Juices Ltd. (PAJL), a state government undertaking, has two multi-fruit and vegetable processing plants at Hoshiarpur and Abohar districts with a total project cost of Rs. 85 crore.
In 2016, ITC launched 'B-Natural' kinnow juice in the domestic market. For the purpose, ITC partnered with PAJL to source and process kinnows from Punjab.

Indian Bank Fined

The Reserve Bank of India imposed a fine of Rs. 1 crore on Indian Bank for violating cyber security norms.
The contravention is with regard to RBI's directions on Frauds- Classification and Reporting by Commercial Banks.

Dec 11, 2018

National Pension System

As per Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Centre has decided to increase its contribution to the National Pension System (NPS) for the central government employees from 10% to 14% and also made the entire withdrawal amount tax free at the time of retirement.
The minimum employee contribution stands at 10%.
Under the NPS, the subscriber is eligible to withdraw 60 per cent of the corpus. The remaining 40% of the accumulated fund goes towards annuity.

Direct Tax Collections Surged

As per the finance ministry, gross direct tax collections surged 15.7 per cent to Rs 6.75 lakh crore for April-November.
The net direct tax collections represent 48 per cent of the total budget estimates of direct taxes for financial year 2018-19 (Rs. 11.50 lakh crore).

Dec 10, 2018

PNB Invites Bids for Two Dozen NPA Accounts

Public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) has put up for sale two dozen non-performing assets (NPAs) to recover dues of over Rs. 1,779 crore.
These 24 due loan accounts are majorly concentrated in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata zones of the bank.

Listing Norms for Start-ups to Be Relaxed

In a major push to kick-start listing of start-ups in India in a big way, capital markets regulator SEBI has lined up a slew of relaxations for new-age ventures in sectors like e-commerce and data analytics to raise funds and get their shares listed on stock exchanges.
The proposals, which are likely to be discussed at SEBI's board meeting this week, also include renaming the 'Institutional Trading Platform' that the regulator had created for such listings as 'Innovators Growth Platform.'

Dec 09, 2018

Uber Files Initial Public Offering

Uber Technologies Inc has filed paperwork for an initial public offering, taking a step closer to a key milestone for one of the most closely watched and controversial companies in Silicon Valley.
The ride-hailing company filed the confidential paperwork in lock-step with its smaller US rival, Lyft Inc, which also announced that it had filed for an IPO.
The simultaneous filings extend the protracted battle between Uber and Lyft.

Preferred Investment Destination for Indians

Dubai has emerged as a preferred real estate investment destination for Indians looking for reasonable returns.
As per statistics issued by the Department of Real Estate Studies & Research, Dubai Land Department, Indian nationals alone have invested Rs. 16,800 crore in Dubai's real estate in the first nine months of 2018.

India to Retain Top Position in Remittances

According to a World Bank report, India will retain its position as the world's top recipient of remittances this year with its diaspora sending a whopping US$80 billion back home.
India is followed by China (US$67 billion), Mexico and the Philippines (US$34 billion each) and Egypt (US$26 billion), according to the global lender.
The bank estimates that officially recorded remittances to developing countries will increase by 10.8% to reach US$528 billion in 2018.
This new record level follows a robust growth of 7.8% in 2017.

Dec 08, 2018

Sale of Government's stake in REC

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given in-principal approval for the sale of the government's 52.63 per cent stake in REC Ltd. to Power Finance Corporation (PFC). The government is expected to garner around Rs. 15,000 crore from this merger.
The government held 57.99 per cent stake in REC, and 65.64 per cent in PFC at the end of September.
However, the government's holding in REC came down to 52.63 per cent following stake sale through ETF.

America Turned into a Net Oil Exporter

America turned into a net oil exporter last week, breaking almost 75 years of continued dependence on foreign oil and marking a pivotal moment toward what US President Donald Trump has branded as 'energy independence.'
The shift to net exports is the dramatic result of an unprecedented boom in American oil production, with thousands of wells pumping from the Permian region of Texas and New Mexico to the Bakken in North Dakota to the Marcellus in Pennsylvania.

Tata Nexon Gets 5 Stars for Safety

Tata Motors' compact SUV, Tata Nexon, has been awarded a full 5-star adult occupant safety rating by Global NCAP, an internationally-renowned safety accreditation body.
The rating is for all variants of Nexon, the first and only car in India to achieve a full 5 stars adult safety rating from Global NCAP.

HCL to Buy Select IBM Products

HCL Technologies will acquire select software products from IBM in areas such as security and marketing, for $1.8 billion, one of the biggest acquisitions by an Indian IT firm.

Current Account Deficit Widened

According to the Reserve Bank of India, the current account deficit (CA) widened to 2.9% of GDP for the July-September quarter due to higher trade deficit compared with 1.1% during the same period of the previous year.

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