General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - December 2018

Dec 2018

Sep 22, 2024

Govt. Cuts Port Charges to Reduce Export Costs

The government announced a cut in certain charges at ports and the purchase of five additional used container vessels by Shipping Corp as part of steps to resolve shipping-related woes being faced by exporters and importers.
These decisions were taken in an inter-ministerial meeting, held here under the chairmanship of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
The meeting was held to address rising freight costs, shipping delays, shortage and non-availability of containers and congestion at ports being faced by exporters.

Yes Bank and Paisabazaar Launch Feature-rich 'PaisaSave' Cashback Credit Card

Paisabazaar, India's leading online marketplace for consumer credit and free credit score platform, partnered with Yes Bank, India's sixth largest private sector bank, and unveiled their co-branded credit card – Yes Bank Paisabazaar PaisaSave Credit Card.
The PaisaSave Credit Card is designed to reward frequent shoppers by offering substantial cashback on everyday purchases, both online and offline, making it a must-have for the value-conscious customers.

Sep 21, 2024

Razorpay Launches Integration Platform DataSync

Fintech giant Razorpay launched DataSync, a no-code data integration platform that provides real-time data access, allowing businesses to enhance business intelligence, improve financial reporting, strengthen fraud and security monitoring, and uncover new revenue opportunities.
The new platform is expected to significantly reduce operational costs for businesses by up to 50 per cent, while offering greater efficiency in tracking and reconciling financial data.
Built on Amazon Redshift and Snowflake AI Data Cloud, DataSync enables seamless integration of payment, transaction, refund, chargeback, and settlement data in real-time, eliminating the traditional manual processes of data extraction and transformation.

TCS Opens Delivery Centre in Poland

Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced the launch of its new delivery centre in Warsaw, Poland, expanding its operations in the country.
"With the new delivery centre, TCS expects to double its workforce to 1200-plus in a year to support its further growth in the region. Located in the heart of the city, the new delivery centre showcases TCS' capabilities across industries and technologies.
Poland is home to one of the largest European technology talent pools and the centre will tap into the growing Polish Information and Communication Technology (ICT) talent pool to support the needs of customers in niche technology skills and cognitive business and domain processes.

India among Top Overworked Nations

India emerged as one of the most overworked countries globally, with its workforce putting in some of the longest hours per week. According to the latest data from the International Labour Organization (ILO), the average Indian worker clocks 46.7 hours each week, placing the nation among the top countries with the longest working hours.
A staggering 51 per cent of India's workforce logs more than 49 hours weekly, positioning India second in the world for extended working hours. In this ranking, Bhutan leads with an overwhelming 61 per cent of its workforce surpassing the 49-hour threshold. Other South Asian countries like Bangladesh (47 per cent) and Pakistan (40 per cent) also feature prominently in the top 10, underscoring a regional trend of extended working hours.
The study also highlighted significant disparities in global working patterns. Vanuatu, a country in Oceania, has the lowest average working hours, with employees averaging just 24.7 hours per week. Only 4 per cent of its workforce exceeds the 49-hour mark, contrasting sharply with the work culture in South Asia.

Sep 20, 2024

India Becomes 6th Largest Market in MSCI ACWI

India has become the sixth largest market in the MSCI All Country World Investable Market Index (ACWI IMI), surpassing China and narrowly behind France.
For the first time, India is the largest emerging market (EM) in the gauge that tracks the performance of global capital markets.
At the end of August 2024, India's weight in the MSCI ACWI IMI stood at 2.35 per cent, 11 basis points (bps) more than China which is at 2.24 per cent. France has just 3 bps more weight than India.
MSCI ACWI IMI index encompasses stocks in the large- and mid-cap space. It is a spinoff of the more widely followed MSCI ACWI Index, which has only large and mid-cap representation.

Infosys Collaborates with UK's Metro Bank for Digital Transformation

Indian IT major Infosys entered into a long-term collaboration with British community bank Metro Bank to digitise the bank's operations. The collaboration will utilise Infosys Topaz, the firm's AI-first offerings, to enhance Metro Bank's digital capabilities, improve automation, refine data, and embed further AI capabilities.

ICICI Bank Launches NPS Vatsalya Pension Account for Minors

ICICI Bank announced the launch of NPS Vatsalya, a pension scheme aimed at securing the financial future of children, at its service centre at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai.
The new pension scheme, to be operated under the aegis of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), was proposed in the first Budget of the Narendra Modi 3.0 government in July. The NPS Vatsalya scheme allows parents or guardians to build corpuses for their minor children until they attain 18 years of age. Upon attaining adulthood, the subscriber can convert the NPS Vatsalya account into a normal NPS account.

Sep 19, 2024

Amazon Names Samir Kumar as New India Head

Amazon named Samir Kumar as its new India head, handing the reins to the 25-year company veteran as the e-commerce giant faces intense competition and regulatory pressures in the country.
Kumar was part of a team that launched Amazon India in 2013 and will take over from Manish Tiwary on Oct. 1, in addition to his current role as head of Amazon's consumer businesses in the Middle East, South Africa and Turkey.
Tiwary resigned after an eight-year stint, to pursue an opportunity outside the company.
The change in leadership came as the U.S. e-commerce giant is fast expanding in India, with plans to invest up to $26 billion by 2030, even as it faces intense regulatory scrutiny.

Banks and FIs to Invest Rs 32.5 Trillion in Renewable Energy by 2030

At the 4th RE-Invest Summit, hosted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), leading renewable energy (RE) developers, manufacturing companies, banks, and financial institutions pledged close to $386 billion (Rs. 32.45 trillion) to develop RE projects by 2030. India aims to build 500 gigawatts (Gw) of RE capacity by 2030, but commitments from the solar power industry have reached 570 Gw. Reliance Industries (RIL) leads the pack with a 100 Gw commitment, followed by NTPC (41.3 Gw) and ReNew (40 Gw).
ReNew also plans to build 6 Gw of solar manufacturing capacity, while Gujarat-based Torrent Power committed to 10 Gw. A new initiative called 'Shapath Patra' aims to attract green energy investments, with the solar module manufacturing pledge totaling 338 Gw, cell manufacturing at 239 Gw, and wind turbine manufacturing receiving 22 Gw.

Swiggy Launches Project Next to Offer Career Growth for Delivery Partners

Food delivery and quick commerce company Swiggy launched an initiative aimed to provide career growth opportunities for delivery partners while accelerating restaurant onboarding.
'Project Next' is part of Swiggy's larger initiative, Swiggy Skills, which offers skilling, training, internship and employment opportunities in its value chain.
By transitioning qualified delivery partners into the role of sales executives, Project Next seeks to enhance restaurant expansion across 150+ growing markets, according to a press release issued by the company. Under this project, delivery partners will take on a new role within Swiggy and will be responsible for onboarding and managing its restaurant network, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

Sep 18, 2024

LIC Appoints Infosys for NextGen Digital Platform

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) selected Infosys to develop its next-generation digital platform as part of its DIVE (Digital Innovation and Value Enhancement) programme. This new platform will serve as an integrated end-to-end solution, enhancing customer services, business lifecycle management, and operational activities for sales intermediaries, while also offering a digital front-end for branch employees.
The DIVE programme aims to revolutionise LIC's digital infrastructure, transforming operations from customer onboarding to claims settlement. Siddhartha Mohanty, LIC's managing director and CEO, emphasised that the partnership with Infosys will help LIC evolve into a technology-driven organisation, enhancing its ability to offer comprehensive life insurance solutions and meet the instant service expectations of today's digitally connected customers.
The new platform will be modular, cloud-native, and designed to adapt to emerging technologies and products. It is expected to provide superior customer service, streamline lifecycle management for sales intermediaries, and offer a robust digital interface for branch employees.

West Bengal's Decades-Long Economic Decline

A working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), authored by EAC-PM member Sanjeev Sanyal, highlights the relative economic performance of Indian states from 1960-61 to 2023-24. Titled "Relative Economic Performance of Indian States: 1960-61 to 2023-24," the paper reveals that West Bengal, once holding the third-largest share of the national GDP at 10.5% in 1960-61, has seen a consistent decline, now accounting for only 5.6% of India's GDP in 2023-24. The report notes that maritime states have generally outperformed others, with the exception of West Bengal.

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