RBL Bank Ties up with Amazon Pay to Offer UPI Payment Services
RBL Bank, Amazon Pay, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) partnered to deliver universal payments interface (UPI) payments, which will include peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchant transactions. Amazon Pay would grant RBL Bank a UPI ID with the handle @rapl from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), resulting in a simplified payments experience using RBL Bank's cloud-based processing infrastructure. With its AWS-hosted payment processing technology, RBL strengthens its footprint in the UPI arena, allowing the bank to interact with Amazon Pay's growing client base and transaction volumes.
RBL Bank's ability to process on a cloud hosted platform, will provide greater agility and scale in processing UPI which has witnessed exponential growth in last three years to become the preferred mode of payment for individuals.
P. N. Vasudevan Resigns as MD & CEO of Equitas Small Finance Bank
P. N. Vasudevan, MD and CEO of Equitas Small Finance Bank Limited resigned. He is the founder of the Chennai-headquartered bank.
The bank said that Vasudevan wanted to pursue a distinct set of goals, which he believes will help him contribute further back to society more than what he is doing now. The board in its meeting took the letter on record and wished to place on record its deep appreciation of the contribution made by Vasudevan over the years.
Vasudevan, notably, is the founder of Equitas and has been associated with its journey as a micro finance institution dating back to 2007. The entity was converted into a bank, under his leadership in 2016.
FDI Inflow at All-time High of $83.57 bn in 2021-22
Total foreign direct investment (FDI) into India rose two per cent to the "highest ever" $83.57 billion in 2021-22 due to various measures like policy reforms and ease of doing business taken by the government. The inflow in 2020-21 stood at $ 81.97 billion. It was $ 74.39 billion in 2019-20 and $ 62 billion in 2018-19. Foreign inflows are increasing despite challenges like the military hostilities in Ukraine and Covid. The inflows have increased 20-fold since 2003-04 when the inflows were USD 4.3 billion only.
Singapore was at the top with a share of 27 per cent followed by the US (18 per cent) and Mauritius (16 per cent). Karnataka was the top recipient state with 38 per cent share followed by Maharashtra (26 per cent) and Delhi (14 per cent). FDI equity inflow in manufacturing sectors increased by 76 per cent at $ 21.34 billion compared to $ 12.09 billion in 2020-21. Computer software and hardware attracted maximum inflows followed by the services sector and automobile industry.
Pieter Elbers is New CEO of IndiGo
The Board of Directors of InterGlobe Aviation Limited (Indigo) appointed Pieter Elbers as Chief Executive Officer. He will join IndiGo on or before 1 Oct 2022. He succeeds Ronojoy Dutta who has decided to retire on September 30, 2022. Elbers has served as the President and CEO of KLM Royal Dutch since 2014 and is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Air France-KLM Group.
Elbers has served as the President & Chief Executive Officer of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Air France – KLM Group.
He started his career at KLM in 1992 at their Schiphol hub and over time, held several managerial positions in both The Netherlands and overseas in Japan, Greece and Italy.
He received a Bachelor's degree in Logistics Management and a Master's Degree in Business Economics.
Infosys Reappoints Salil Parekh as CEO and MD for the Next 5 Years
IT services major Infosys in a regulatory filing announced the reappointment of Salil Parekh as the CEO and MD of the company for the period of five years. Parekh will be the only non-founder CEO to have managed to be at the helm of the company for a second term.
Since Parekh came on board in 2018, the company has been growing steadily. For FY22, the company reported revenue of $16.3 billion, which grew 19.7 per cent year-on-year, one of its highest growth rate in a decade. In Indian rupee the company's revenue for the fiscal came in at Rs. 121,641 crore up 21.1 per cent yoy.
Parekh's reappointment is significant as this gives the much needed continuity at the top level. Especially if one looks at his predecessor, Vishal Sikka, who was considered to be a tech visionary, and had to resign on corporate governance and other issues. He also had fallen out of the founder's good books.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma Reappointed as MD & CEO of Paytm
Vijay Shekhar Sharma was reappointed as MD & CEO of digital financial services firm Paytm. The reappointment will last till December 18, 2027. Paytm CFO Madhur Deora was reappointed by the company's board as a whole-time director till May 19, 2027. One97 Communications, which operates under Paytm brand, said that it has formed a joint venture general insurance company in which it has committed to invest Rs. 950 crore over a period of 10 years.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, from the Indian town of Aligarh, founded One97 about two decades ago and won acclaim nationwide as a small-town-boy-made-big. But analysts including those at Macquarie Capital Securities (India) Pvt. had questioned his ability to turn Paytm into a profitable business.
May 22, 2022
RBI Allows Settlement of Trade Transactions with Sri Lanka in Indian Rupee
In view of difficulties being faced by exporters in getting payments from crisis-hit Sri Lanka, the RBI allowed settlement of trade transactions in Indian rupee outside the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) mechanism. In March, 2022, the government had guaranteed a term loan of USD 1 billion extended by the State Bank of India (SBI) to Sri Lanka for financing purchase of essential goods by the island nation from India.
Under the arrangement, financing of export of eligible goods and services from India would be allowed subject conditions and whose purchase may be agreed to be financed by SBI under the agreement. Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. The crisis has been caused in part by a lack of foreign currency, which means the country cannot afford to pay for imports of staple foods and fuel, leading to acute shortages and very high prices.
MakeMyTrip Partners with Banks, NBFCs for 'Book Now Pay Later' Option
Online travel firm MakeMyTrip on partnered with 15 banks, NBFCs and fintech players, including HDFC Bank, IDFC Bank, Capital float and Zest Money, for its 'book now pay later' option while booking flight or hotels.
The company's fintech arm TripMoney has established a marketplace attracting 15 banks, NBFCs and fintech players, which also include Kissht, Lazypay and Simpl, among others, to offer easy travel credit to travellers.
The book now pay later (BNPL) payment has been introduced on bookings for travel, flight or hotels, on MakeMyTrip as well as on the Goibibo app.
Travellers who opt to travel without making any payment at the time of booking are provided short-term credit by the partner NBFCs and banks through an underwriting platform that evaluates customers' creditworthiness using data science models.
May 21, 2022
India, Fastest-growing Major Economy, Projected to Grow 6.4% in 2022: UN
As the Ukraine conflict impacts the global GDP, India is projected to grow by 6.4 per cent in 2022, slower than the last year's 8.8 per cent but still the fastest-growing major economy, with higher inflationary pressures and uneven recovery of the labour market curbing private consumption and investment, according to a UN report.
The global economy is now projected to grow by only 3.1 per cent in 2022, down from the 4.0 per cent growth forecast released in January 2022. Global inflation is projected to increase to 6.7 per cent in 2022, twice the average of 2.9 per cent during 20102020, with sharp rises in food and energy prices.
For the fiscal year 2023, India's growth is forecast to be 6 per cent.
C-DOT and Vodafone Idea Sign MoU for Cooperation in Area of IoT/M2M
Centre for Development of Telematics(C-DOT), the premier R&D centre of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India and Vodafone Idea Limited, one of the major telecom operators of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the occasion of "World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD)".
The signing of MOU will help both the organizations leverage each other's expertise in their respective domains to develop and deploy IoT/M2M solutions in India. IoT adoption has become critical for any organization's digital transformation journey. However, certain operational challenges such as device network compatibility, over the air firmware upgrade, remote device configuration, security vulnerabilities and implementation in siloes with proprietary protocols are preventing businesses from reaping the scale benefits of IoT.
To address these challenges in IoT implementation, both C-DOT and Vodafone Idea Limited have agreed to collaborate and work jointly on non-exclusive basis, to evaluate applications and devices from various solution providers against oneM2M specifications and offer joint certificates.
May 20, 2022
World Bank Sanctions USD 350 Billion to Gujarat' SRESTHA-G Project
The World Bank approved 350 million dollars aid for the Systems Reform Endeavors for Transformed Health Achievement in Gujarat -SRESTHA-G project.
The SRESTHA-G project will be a 500 million dollars project with 350 million dollars support coming from the World Bank. The project will include transforming key health delivery systems in the state.The programme will focus on four key result areas to improve quality, equity, and comprehensiveness of primary healthcare, services for adolescent girls and the capacity of disease surveillance systems.
India Overtakes Germany to Become 4th Largest Vehicle Market
According to the report released by Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA), India surpassed Germany to become 4th largest vehicle market in the world. The 1st was occupied by China, followed by the US and Japan. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, India sold 3,759,398 vehicles in 2021 as compared to 2,973,319 vehicles in Germany. This is almost 26 per cent of growth and the only country to register double-digit growth among the top 5 countries.
India is expected to become the third-largest Vehicle market by 2025, However, it requires India to surpass Japan which sold 4,448,340 units in 2021. The personal mobility space is around 33 vehicles per 1,000 which is one of the lowest compared to the developed market.
Bharti Airtel Reappoints Gopal Vittal as MD and CEO for 5 Years
Bharti Airtel board reappointed Gopal Vittal as Managing Director & CEO for a further period of five years ending on January 31, 2028. The reappointment came on a day the telco posted a consolidated net profit at Rs. 2,007.8 crore in the March quarter, up 141% sequentially and 164% on the year. Analysts had an estimated net profit of around Rs. 1,970 crore. This was Airtel's sixth successive quarter in the black after six straight losses earlier.
For the India business, its revenue growth stood at 23 per cent during the fourth quarter, while mobile revenues rose 21 per cent on the back of an increase in Average Revenue Per User ARPU led by healthy flow-through of tariff revision and strong 4G customer additions during the year.
KLM Veteran Pieter Elbers is IndiGo CEO
The country's largest domestic budget carrier IndiGo announced the appointment of Pieter Elbers as its CEO, replacing incumbent Ronojoy Dutta. The 71 year-old Dutta, who came to helm the airline in January 2019, decided to retire on September 30, 2021. Elbers' appointment, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will be effective from on or before October 1.
Since 2014, Elbers (52) served as the president and CEO of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Air France-KLM Group.
May 19, 2022
BSE Appoints Former RBI Deputy Governor S. S. Mundra as Chairman
Leading stock exchange BSE appointed S.S. Mundra, a public interest director, as its chairman. Mr. Mundra replaced Justice Vikramajit Sen. Mr. Mundra retired as Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India in July 2017 after a stint of three years. Prior to that, he was Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of Baroda from where he superannuated in July 2014.
In a banking career spanning over four decades, Mr. Mundra held several important positions, including Executive Director of Union Bank of India, Chief Executive of Bank of Baroda (European Operations), amongst others. He also served as RBI's nominee on the Financial Stability Board (G20 Forum) and its various committees. He was also the Vice-chair of OECD's International Network on Financial Education.
PNB MetLife Launches India's First Dental Health Insurance Plan
Private insurer PNB MetLife India Insurance Co launched a dental health insurance plan. This is the first insurance plan in India that covers fixed-benefit outpatient expenses and provides financial assistance with costs related to overall dental health.
PNB MetLife's new Dental Care Plan will help customers manage their dental health and ensure they do not have to dive into their savings or reduce their essential spending in order to make space for dental treatment. To provide convenience to its customers, PNB MetLife tied up with more than 340 dental clinics.
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