Committed to Tajpur Port, Waiting for Formalities to Finish: Adani
Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd (APSEZ) remains committed to Rs. 15,000 crore deep-sea port project in Tajpur, West Bengal and the company is waiting for completion of statutory formalities, such as the draft concession agreement from the state.
Once the formalities are complete, APSEZ will work towards developing the port as per its plans and timelines.
Letter of Intent and Draft Concession Agreement are the formalities that the West Bengal government has to fulfil before the company can start work on the project.
Adani Ports incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary named Tajpur Sagar Port in October last year for the purpose of developing a deep-sea port at Tajpur. The port is among the key infrastructure projects for the economic development of the state.
Alibaba Exits India's Paytm
China's Alibaba Group sold its remaining stake in Indian digital payments firm Paytm for about 13.78 billion rupees ($167.14 million) through a block deal.
The exit came days after Paytm posted its first-ever quarterly operating profit as a listed firm, nine months ahead of its own target. Alibaba.com Singapore E-Commerce Pvt Ltd sold 21.4 million shares of Paytm at 642.74 rupees apiece, a 9% discount.
Paytm's stock tumbled nearly 8% to close at 650.55 rupees, but it is still up nearly 23% so far this year. It was not immediately clear why Alibaba sold the stake.
In January, Alibaba sold a 3.1% stake in the company through a block deal worth $125 million. Before that, the Chinese firm had a 6.26% stake in Paytm.
Airbus, Boeing and Air India Ink Agreement for Largest Purchase in History
In an effort to rebuild itself with a fleet that can compete with regional low-cost rivals and strong Gulf airlines like Emirates, Air India Ltd. signed deals with Airbus SE and Boeing Co. for what may end up being the largest acquisition of aircraft in commercial aviation history.
As per reports, the airline and the two planemakers have agreed on the broad strokes of the agreement and may publicly announce the contract as early as next week.
Airbus is in line to get roughly 250 orders and commitments total, made up of 210 aircraft from the A320 single-aisle family and 40 wide-body A350s.
With 190 737 Max aircraft and the option for 50 more, 20 787 Dreamliners and the same number as a potential top-up, coupled with 10 777x aircraft, Boeing has secured roughly 290 potential acquisitions.
India Topples France as UK's Largest Scotch Whisky Market; Imports up 60%
India overtook France and became the UK's largest market of Scotch whisky in terms of volume with a 60 per cent hike in imports in 2022 over the previous year, according to the latest figures released by Scotland's leading industry body.
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) revealed that India imported 219 million 70cl bottles of Scotch compared to France's 205 million last year (2022) representing growth of the Indian Scotch market of more than 200 per cent in the past decade.
Despite double-digit growth, Scotch whisky still only comprises 2 per cent of the Indian whisky market, the association said.
Kotak Mahindra Bank to Acquire Sonata Finance
Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank will acquire 100 per cent equity shares of Sonata Finance Pvt Ltd, a non-banking financial company-microfinance institution (NBFC-MFI), from its existing shareholders for Rs. 537 crore.
The acquisition will be subject to regulatory approvals, including by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Post-acquisition, Sonata Finance will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the bank. This acquisition will enable the bank to scale up its operations in the rural and semi-urban markets in the northern states of India.
It will make the bank a significant player in financial inclusion, catering to economically weaker and underserved households in a commercially-viable manner.
Feb 12, 2023
RBI Expands Scope of TReDS platform to Allow Insurance Facility, Secondary Market Ops & to Improv...
The Reserve Bank of India decided to expand the scope of the Trade Receivable Discounting System or the TReDS platform allowing the use of insurance facilities, permitting entities eligible to undertake factoring business to participate as financiers on TReDS and allowing secondary market operations on the platform. The central bank's decision is expected to boost trade of receivables increasing cash flows to MSMEs.
CCI Approves NIIF's Stake Purchase in Hindustan Ports
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) cleared the acquisition of stake in Hindustan Ports Pvt Ltd by National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).
The proposed transaction relates to NIIF's acquisition of up to 25 per cent in Hindustan Ports Pvt Ltd (HPPL).
In June 2022, NIIF had invested Rs. 2,250 crore in HPPL, a local arm of UAE's DP world.
NIIF is an alternative investment fund and is sponsored and anchored by the government. HIPL and HPPL are engaged in providing container terminal services.
Feb 11, 2023
Pfizer Ltd Appoints Meenakshi Nevatia to Lead India Business
Drug maker Pfizer Limited announced the appointment of Meenakshi Nevatia as an Additional Director and Managing Director for five years. She comes in the place of S. Sridhar, who announced his early retirement in August 2022. Sridhar, the current India country President, will step down as Managing Director and board member from March 31, 2023.
Meenakshi has 30 years of experience across companies including Mckinsey & Co, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and more recently with Stryker Corporation. She has worked in over 8 countries (developed and emerging) and has held several General Management roles across multiple markets such as Thailand, Spain (Iberia) and India. Meenakshi received her Bachelor's in Science (Economics) from Presidency College, Kolkata, India and completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the highly acclaimed Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA).
Essar Group Eyes Forays into Clean Energy, Infrastructure, IT Solutions
The Essar Group plans to rearrange its priorities to focus on four major verticals like energy, infrastructure and logistics, technology and retail, as well as metals and mining.
Speaking on the sidelines of the India Energy Week, which was held in Bengaluru between February 6 to 8, Essar Capital Director Prashant Ruia informed that the company has outlined a blueprint focussing on the above mentioned sectors.
In the energy sector, the company has envisioned a 10 million tonnes per annum refinery in the UK, a 1,200 MW power plant in India, and 15 trillion cubic feet of unconventional hydrocarbon reserves in India and Vietnam.
In addition to this, a 50:50 joint venture between Essar and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India for setting up a 4 million tonnes per annum LNG import facility at Hazira is also in the pipeline, which would be made public after seeking relevant approvals.
Feb 10, 2023
Bajaj Finance Launches Insurance Mall with Refined Products & Experience
Bajaj Finance launched Insurance Mall for its customers to ensure an easy-buy experience. The new portal offers a plethora of policies and plans in the core insurance segment and also the company's one-of-its-kind category of Pocket Insurance and Subscription.
Bajaj Finance partnered with leading insurers in India to bring you products that are best suited to changing needs of the times. Insurance Mall offers 250+ policies and plans, designed to cater every customer's need. These products are updated to ensure that they stay relevant. In line with its policy to offer quality services, Bajaj Finance aims to simplify all the inconveniences customers can face during their policy purchase. This all-inclusive portal for insurance ensures customers experience a hassle-free purchase journey.
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Launches App for 'Digitally Challenged'
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank launched Hello Ujjivan, a mobile banking application with 3 Vs, voice, visual, and vernacular-enabled features, to provide banking access to individuals with limited reading and writing skills.
The banking company said that it aims to instill banking habits in its micro-banking and rural customers through the app. The app is accessible by voice in eight regional languages: Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Oriya, and Assamese.
Users can speak to the app to perform banking transactions and access services such as paying loan EMIs, opening FD and RD accounts, transferring funds and more. The app was co-created with Navana.AI.
Feb 09, 2023
Edelweiss General Insurance Rebranded as Zuno General Insurance
Edelweiss General Insurance rebranded itself as Zuno General Insurance Limited (Zuno GI), which, it says, is a new age digital insurer with an aspiration to reimagine and redefine Insurance to make it easy, friendly, and transparent.
The name brings alive the company's passion, enthusiasm, and singular focus on providing customers with the most convenient and hassle-free experience powered by tech that's responsive and intuitive.
RBI Hikes Repo Rate by 25 bps to 6.5%
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India hiked the key policy rate, the Repo rate or the rate at which the RBI lends funds to banks, by 25 basis points to 6.50 per cent in a bid to rein in retail inflation. The RBI decision is expected to make all external benchmark linked (based on the Repo rate) loans costlier immediately.
The RBI has also projected a GDP growth for the next fiscal at 6.4 per cent. Retail inflation is expected to be 5.3 per cent in FY24.
It was a 4:2 majority decision by the RBI's policy panel to hike the Repo rate, the sixth since May 2022, with MPC members Ashima Goyal and Jayanth R. Varma voting against the increase.
Aditya Birla Group Forays into Premium Casual Dining Market
Aditya Birla Group announced its foray into the premium casual dining space that will see the conglomerate open restaurants in collaboration with chef-restaurateur Rahul Akerkar.
The group's foray into the food services market will be housed under Aditya Birla New Age (ABNA) that will build more premium casual dining restaurants across India.
ABNA, promoted by Aryaman Vikram Birla, son of Kumar Mangalam Birla, aspires to create the most preferred house of food and beverages brands in India.
Chef Akerkar founded Mumbai's now shut Qualia, a fine-dine restaurant. He has joined ABNA's wholly owned subsidiary as a creative director and director, cuisine and will be responsible for the restaurant's concept and the culinary vision.
Airtel Payments Bank Launches BizKhata for Small Businesses & Merchant
Airtel Payments Bank announced the availability of its current account, BizKhata, which offers small businesses and business partners across the nation fast activation and limitless transactions. Because they cannot maintain the minimum amount required for business accounts, many small business owners continue to use savings accounts for business-related expenses. This makes it difficult to distinguish between personal and corporate dealings.
PhonePe Becomes First Indian Fintech to Allow UPI Payments Abroad
PhonePe launched a service that will allow the fintech firm's Indian users travelling abroad to pay foreign merchants using Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
'UPI international' supports merchant outlets in UAE, Singapore, Nepal and Bhutan that have a local QR (quick response) code. Users will be able to make direct payments in a foreign currency from their Indian bank, like they do with international debit cards. Walmart-backed PhonePe said that it is the first Indian fintech app to launch the service.
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