General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - December 2018

Dec 2018

Nov 17, 2022

Uttar Pradesh Adds most Number of New Companies Post Covid-19

As per data combined by the Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA), Uttar Pradesh added the most number of new companies after Maharashtra since the outbreak of Covid-19, beating industrial hubs such as Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Uttar Pradesh has several locally specialised business clusters such as sports items in Meerut, brassware in Moradabad, perfumes in Kannuaj, leather in Kanpur, shoes in Agra, embroidered sarees in Varanasi, carpet in Bhadohi, chikan work in Lucknow etc.
The State is amongst the most popular tourist destinations in India with the presence of Taj Mahal, Buddhist places of pilgrimage such as Sarnath and Kushinagar and prominent Hindu pilgrimage places such as Prayagraj and Varanasi. The state was ranked second and third in terms of domestic and foreign tourist arrivals, in 2020.

GoI Nominates Vivek Joshi as Director on RBI's Central Board

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that the government nominated Vivek Joshi to its director on central board. Joshi who is the secretary of the Department of Financial Services, will hold the position of Director at RBI. The nomination came into effect from November 15, 2022, until further orders.
Notably, Joshi took charge as the Secretary of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the Ministry of Finance since November 1, 2022. Between 2014-2017, he served as joint Secretary, the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, where his responsibilities included formulation of public procurement policies for the Central Government and appraisal of publicly funded projects/schemes. He is also currently posted as Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs since January 2019.

SBI Signs Loan Agreement with Germany's KfW for Solar Projects

State Bank of India signed a 150 million euro (Rs. 1,240 crore) loan agreement with the German development bank KfW for funding solar projects.
The long-term loan, under the Indo-German solar partnership, will facilitate new and upcoming capacities in the solar sector and further contribute to the country's goals announced during the COP26.
In 2015, New Delhi and Berlin had signed a memorandum of understanding to foster solar energy through technical as well as financial cooperation. Through this agreement, Germany had expressed its willingness to provide the concessional loans to India in the range of 1 billion euros through KfW.

Nine Russian Banks Open Special Vostro Accounts for Trade in Rupee

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed the opening of nine special vostro accounts with two Indian lenders, UCO and IndusInd Bank, to facilitate overseas trade in rupee, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said.
Apart from the domestic lenders, Russia's two largest banks — Sberbank and VTB Bank — are the first foreign lenders to have received approval from the central bank towards settling international trade transactions in rupee. "Nine accounts have been opened. One each in UCO Bank, SberBank, and VTB and six with IndusInd Bank. There are six different Russian banks who have opened special vostro account in IndusInd," Barthwal said.
Another Russian bank, Gazprom, which does not have a branch in India, has also opened this account with Uco Bank.

PFRDA Appoints Suraj Bhan as Chairman of NPS Trust

Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority appointed Suraj Bhan as the Chairman of the National Pension System Trust (NPS Trust), responsible for managing funds under the National Pension System (NPS).
Bhan has been a Trustee on the Board of NPS Trust since 2018.
He joined the Indian Economic Service in 1983 and retired as Director General of Labour Bureau, Chandigarh, in January 2018.
He has varied experience across several sectors with government and public sector undertakings in the areas of economic policy, business, industry and finance.

Nov 16, 2022

Union Agriculture Minister Inaugurates M&M's Farm Machinery Plant in MP

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the first greenfield farm machinery plant of Mahindra & Mahindra at Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh.
The Minister said that the India has reached a point where the world looks at us with hopeful eyes.
The Minister emphasised on being fully equipped with technology for the country's development.

WhatsApp India Boss Abhijit Bose, Meta India Public Policy Head Quit

WhatsApp's India chief Abhijit Bose and Meta India Director of Public Policy Rajiv Aggarwal decided to step down from their positions, the company announced. Shivnath Thukral, the current Public Policy Director of WhatsApp India was appointed director of Public Policy for all platforms owned by Meta India — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
This development comes close on the heels of Meta laying off 11,000 employees worldwide, or about 13 per cent of its workforce, as it battles faltering revenue and broader tech industry woes. Earlier in the month (November), Meta India head Ajit Mohan had resigned to join rival Snap as president, Asia-Pacific.

IndiGo Cargo Starts with 1st Freighter Flight between Delhi, Mumbai

IndiGo commenced operations of its first A321 freighter aircraft between Delhi and Mumbai.
The aircraft, converted from passenger jet to a full freighter configuration, would be used for general freight on the inaugural flight, while carrying general and e-commerce cargo on the return journey. These inaugural flights will carry a payload of more than 20 tons on each leg.
IndiGo welcomed its first 321F last month after which it got all registration done. Progressively this aircraft, and the next aircraft which is expected to arrive later this year, will be deployed on international routes too.

Tata Motors, Cummins Sign MoU for 'Net Zero' Emission Vehicles

Cummins Inc., a global power solutions and hydrogen technologies provider, and Tata Motors, the largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the design and development of low and zero-emission propulsion technology solutions for commercial vehicles in India, including hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines, fuel cells, and battery electric vehicle systems.
The MoU was signed in the presence of N. Chandrasekaran, Executive Chairman, Tata Sons, and Tom Linebarger, Executive Chairman, Cummins Inc. at the Tata Sons Headquarters, in Mumbai, India.

Nov 15, 2022

41st India International Trade Fair begins in New Delhi

The 41^st edition of the India International Trade Fair (IITF) begins at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has inaugurated the fair, which will continue till the 27^th of November.
This year the theme of the trade fair is Vocal For Local, Local to Global. 29 States and Union Territories are participating in the event. Bihar, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra are Partner States while Uttar Pradesh and Kerala are participating as Focus States in the fair.
Various Central Ministries, Departments, Commodity Boards, and PSUs are participating in this event to showcase their achievements.
12 foreign countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus, Iran, Nepal, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, and UK are participating in the fair.

L&T, Mindtree Merger Gets Approval; Set to be Fifth Largest IT Services Firm

IT companies Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) and Mindtree announced that their merger has come into effect following approval from regulators and shareholders. The merged entity LTIMindtree is now the fifth-largest IT services company in India in terms of current market capitalisation.
According to a BSE filing, as part of the merger, 73 shares of LTI will be granted to each shareholder of Mindtree for every 100 shares of Mindtree.
L&T, the merging entity's parent company will own 68.73 per cent of it. November 24 has been set as the record date to identify Mindtree shareholders who are qualified to receive equity shares of LTI.
LTI and Mindtree had announced their intent to merge in May 2022 and the effective date for the company to start operating was November 14.

Reliance Industries to Make India's First Multimodal Logistics Park in Chennai

Industrialist Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries will build India's maiden multimodal logistics park (MMLP) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The multimodal logistics park will be made at an estimated developer investment of Rs. 783 crore in three phases.
Phase-1 development is targeted within 2 years i.e. by 2025 leading to commercial operations. MMLP at Chennai which is strategically located about 52 km from Chennai Port, 80 km from Ennore Port, 87 km from Katupalli Airport will be a focal point of logistics in the southern region.
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has announced that MMLP will be spread over 184 acres and cost Rs. 1,424 crore.
The logistics park is estimated to cater to 7.17 million metric tonnes (MMT) cargo in horizon period of 45 years. For the Chennai MMLP, a government special purpose vehicle (SPV) has been formed amongst NHLML, Rail Vikas Nigam, Chennai Port Authority and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation.
It will provide four-lane national highway connectivity of 5.4 km at an estimated Rs. 104 crore and a new rail siding of 10.5 km to the MMLP, costing Rs. 217 crore.

Gaurav Dwivedi New CEO of Prasar Bharati

Senior IAS officer Gaurav Dwivedi was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.
A 1995-batch officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, Mr. Dwivedi will have a five-year tenure from the date he assumes charge.
Earlier, Dwivedi was the Chief Executive Officer of MyGovIndia, the citizen engagement platform of the government.
Shashi Shekhar Vempati was the CEO of Prasar Bharati from 2017 to 2022.
After Vempati completed his five-year tenure, Director General of Doordarshan Mayank Agrawal was given the additional charge of CEO Prasar Bharati in June 2022.

Nov 14, 2022

Bank of Maharashtra Tops List of PSU Lenders in Credit Growth in Q2

Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) emerged as the top performer among public sector lenders in terms of loan growth in percentage terms during second quarter of 2022-23.
The Pune-headquartered lender recorded 28.62 per cent increase in gross advances at Rs. 1,48,216 crore at the end of September 2022, according to published quarterly numbers of public sector banks (PSBs).
It was followed by Union Bank of India with 21.54 per cent growth to Rs. 7,52,469 crore. The country's largest lender State Bank of India stood at third spot with 18.15 per cent jump in gross advances.

NFRA Issues Inspection Guidelines to Improve Quality Control at Audit Firms

The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) published guidelines on audit quality inspection, in a bid to further improve the standards of auditors.
The inspection guidelines are based on recommendations of the International Forum for Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR), which comprise audit regulators of 54 countries.
NFRA will pick the audit firms for such inspections based on its own risk identification parameters along with other factors such as the size of the firm and nature of audits that they conduct.
In some cases, audit firms may also be selected based on specific concerns highlighted by the government or any other regulatory agency.
NFRA's inspections are intended to identify areas and opportunities for improvement in the audit firm's system of quality control. Inspections will consist of firm-wide review of audit quality (SQC1) and individual file reviews on test-check basis to evaluate the level of compliance with applicable auditing standards and quality control policy and processes.

PM Inaugurates Onshore Facilities of ONGC's U-field in KG (Krishna Godavari) Basin Block in AP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited's U-field onshore facilities at Odalarevu in B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema district of Andhra Pradesh.
The project was dedicated to the nation along with the inauguration/foundation-stone laying of various other development projects worth over Rs. 10,700 crore in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
U-field is situated in Krishna Godavari basin block KG-DWN-98/2 in Bay of Bengal. Natural gas from the field will be brought to the onshore facility through undersea pipelines before being dispatched to users.

Nov 13, 2022

Krishify Integrates with e-NAM's Platform of Platforms

Social networking platform for Indian farmers, Krishify, integrated with the Platform of Platforms (PoPs) portal by e-NAM, National Agricultural Market. e-NAM is a pan-India electronic trading portal that seeks to network existing Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) to create a unified national market for agrarian commodities for farmers, traders, and other intermediaries.
As a service provider, Krishify will provide advisory services to farmers widening the reach beyond the 1 crore user base on its social network and consequently, catering to the needs of 14 crore farmers in India. Since Krishify is a social network, it comprises experts from the agriculture field such as agronomists and agri-scientists who proactively respond to farmers' original posts on farming and crop protection challenges in a bid to resolve them.

RazorpayX Launches Digital Lending Solutions for NBFCs and Fintechs

RazorpayX, the business banking platform of Razorpay launched RazorpayX Digital Lending 2.0, a complete digital lending solution for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and fintechs.
The latest solution will help in the automation of direct disbursals and repayments between the borrower's and the regulated entity's accounts and make it easier for NBFCs and Fintechs to work together. The solution comes after the latest digital lending guidelines issued by the RBI, which state that the transfer of money via a pass-through account or pool account of any third party or fintech is no longer compliant.

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