Future Retail Managing Director Rakesh Biyani stepped down while officials, including the company secretary of the debt-ridden firm, tendered their resignations.
The Future Group flagship firm is facing an insolvency petition by its lenders before the National Company Law Tribunal.
Rakesh Biyani who was re-appointed as Managing Director for a period of three years effective May 2, 2019, his term of office as Managing Director got completed on 1st May 2022.
Consequently, Biyani also ceased to be a member of various committees of the Board where he was a member.
Central Bank of India to Close 600 Branches by March 2023
As per reports, Central Bank of India, a state-owned commercial bank, plans to shut 13% of its branches to improve its financial health, which has been under pressure for several years.
The bank is looking to reduce the number of branches by 600 by either shutting down or merging loss-making branches by the end of March 2023.
The more than 100-year old lender currently has a network of 4,594 branches.
Central Bank along with a clutch of other lenders was placed under RBI's prompt corrective action (PCA) in 2017 after the regulator found some state-run lenders were in breach of its rules on regulatory capital, bad loans and leverage ratios.
All the lenders except Central Bank have improved their financial health and come off RBI's PCA list.
May 07, 2022
TVS Appoints Sudarshan Venu as MD
Chennai-based automobile major TVS Motor appointed Sudarshan Venu as its managing director effective May 5. He is the son of TVS Motor's chairman emeritus, Venu Srinivasan.
Sudarshan led the company's growth in India and markets in Asia, Africa and Europe. He was appointed the company's joint managing director in September 2014.
India's Largest Lithium-ion Battery Plant Starts Production in Gujarat
Indian battery maker Exide Industries and joint venture partner Switzerland's Leclanche SA began mass production at the nation's largest lithium-ion battery plant in Gujarat.
The plant, with total installed capacity of 1.5 Gigawatt hours (GWh), has six automated assembly lines on which it will produce batteries for automobiles and energy storage applications.
IndiGo Appoints Venkataramani Sumantran as the Chairman of the Board
InterGlobe Aviation appointed Venkataramani Sumantran, an independent non-executive director since May 2020, as chairman of the IndiGo Board, succeeding Meleveetil Damodaran.
Sumantran is an outstanding business leader as well as a highly experienced member of the IndiGo Board, thereby facilitating a seamless transition of the Chairmanship of the Board.
Having worked in the USA, Europe, and Asia, Sumantran currently serves as the chairman and managing Director of Celeris Technologies, a strategic advisory firm. He also serves on the boards of Rane Holdings Limited, and TVS Electronics Limited.
TECHART Forays into Indian Market; Opens First Store in Bengaluru
TECHART, the leading international premium refinement brand for all Porsche vehicles, forayed into the Indian market with the opening of its flagship store in Bengaluru.
The Germany-headquartered firm is known for refining Porsche cars.
TECHART's first flagship store in Bengaluru will provide a complete spectrum of services such as full vehicle conversions, carbon fibre refinement, performance enhancements and handcrafting of individual luxury interiors.
The company plans to expand its presence in the northern and western markets post establishing its base in South India.
Apple Stops Accepting Payments Using Credit Cards Issued by Indian Banks
Tech giant Apple stopped accepting payments via debit and credit cards in India. Apple will also not accept payments for ad campaigns on Apple Search using credit cards issued by Indian banks. All campaigns will be put on hold from 1 June.
The change has come as a result of the new auto-debit rules from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that came into force last year and is disrupting recurring online transactions.
In April 2022, Apple had also allowed users in India to make payments using Apple's ID account using UPI and net banking. However, that too had its share of problems.
May 06, 2022
Google India Appoints Archana Gulati as Head of Public Policy in India
Internet major Google appointed former joint secretary at NITI Aayog Archana Gulati as head of public policy in India.
Gulati was looking after digital communications policy matters at the government think tank and took voluntary retirement in April last year.
She was an officer on special duty in the telecom secretary office from May 2017 to August 2019.
Gulati also headed the combinations division at Competition Commission of India and advised the commission on competition issues arising from mergers and acquisitions.
IBM Chairman Elected to Fed Reserve Board
IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna was elected to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Arvind was elected as a Class B director and will represent public "with due but not exclusive consideration to the interests of agriculture, commerce, industry, services, labour and consumers.
Arvind has a three-year term ending December 31, 2023, as per the New York Fed statement.
May 05, 2022
Andy Jassy To Officially Become Next Amazon CEO
Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon in 1994, officially stepped down and former AWS executive Andy Jassy took over as the CEO of the commerce behemoth. Jassy joined Amazon in 1997 and, prior to founding AWS, held various leadership roles across the company, including both business-to-business and business-to-consumer.
AWS, which is the Cloud arm of Amazon, logged a $54 billion annualised run rate -- a 32 per cent year-over-year growth -- in March quarter in 2022.Bezos is also the founder of aerospace company Blue Origin, which is working to lower the cost and increase the safety of spaceflight, and he is owner of the Washington Post. He launched two philanthropic organisations.
RBI Monetary Policy: RBI Hikes Repo Rate by 40 bps to 4.40 per cent
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held between May 2-4, 2022 decided to increase the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 40 basis points (bps) to 4.40 per cent with immediate effect from 4.00% earlier. RBI also hiked the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points to 4.50 per cent. In an unscheduled meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, the central bank, however, retained the accommodative monetary policy. The sudden RBI move — the first hike after August 2018 — is expected to push up interest rates in the banking system. Equated monthly instalments (EMIs) on home, vehicle and other personal and corporate loans are likely to go up. Deposit rates, mainly fixed term rates, are also set to rise.
All six members of the MPC unanimously voted for a rate hike while maintaining the accommodative stance. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the decision was taken in view of rising inflation, geopolitical tensions, high crude oil prices and shortage of commodities globally, which have impacted the Indian economy.
Aviation Minister Grants Rights to GMR to Operate Hyderabad Airport for 30 Years
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) granted rights to the GMR Group to operate the Hyderabad international airport for 30 more years. Till date, the GMR Group had the rights to operate the Hyderabad airport till March 22, 2038. The airport was inaugurated on March 23, 2008.
The initial capacity of the airport was 12 million passengers per annum (MPPA), which went up to 21 MPPA in 2019 (pre-Covid). The airport, at present, is undergoing major expansion, post which the capacity will get enhanced to 34 MPPA. The airport has 150,000 tons of cargo handling capacity per annum.
The airport master plan has the flexibility to increase the ultimate capacity to over 100 MPPA in phases.
HDFC ERGO Launches 'Pay as You Drive' Program
HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company launched its 'Pay as you Drive' program; an insurance solution that offers distance-based insurance to reduce upfront costs of premium. This policy will be best suited for those customers who prefer to drive less or have multiple cars with some of those driven less than the others.
A lot of customers do not use their vehicles frequently and end up paying the same insurance premiums as daily vehicle users. The "Pay as you drive" program brings the opportunity to pay a premium based on the actual usage of the car. The driving distance will be measured with the assistance of a telematics device in the vehicle, enabling customers to save between 10-20% of their 'Own Damage' premium based on the distance slabs chosen by the customer.
May 04, 2022
RBI Board Approves Nomination of Rajiv Ranjan as Ex-officio Member of Monetary Policy Committee
The 595th meeting of the Central Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India was held through video conferencing under the Chairmanship of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.
The Board approved the nomination of Executive Director Rajiv Ranjan as an ex-officio member of the Monetary Policy Committee. In addition to Deputy Governors and other Directors of the Central Board, Department of Economic Affairs, Secretary, Ajay Seth was also present in the meeting.
Swiggy Ties up with Garuda Aerospace for Drone Delivery Trials in NCR & Bengaluru
Swiggy entered into a partnership with Garuda Aerospace to begin trial runs for using drones to send groceries in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. The pilot project will assess the viability of using drones in Swiggy's grocery delivery service Instamart. Drones will be used to replenish inventory between seller-run dark stores and a "common customer point." A delivery partner will then pick up orders from the "common point" and deliver them to the customer.
Currently valued at $250 million, Garuda Aerospace is among India's leading drone startups with plans to manufacture a lakh drones in India by 2024 and provide a drone tech services. Garuda Aerospace manufacturing facilities in Gurgaon and Chennai were inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the launch of "Garuda Aerospace kisan Drone yatra" which saw 100 drones taking off simultaneously in 100 villages across the country.
International Research Conference on Insolvency and Bankruptcy
The first two-day International Research Conference on Insolvency and Bankruptcy was organised by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA).
The Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Planning and Corporate Affairs, Rao Inderjit Singh, highlighted the journey of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016, and praised the significant contribution it made by establishing a framework and effective ecosystem for insolvency resolution in the economy.
The concluding day saw panel discussions on reforms in insolvency regime, insolvency and bankruptcy resolutions. The conference also included a workshop on data driven insolvency research, aiming to provide researchers extensive exposure to data that are currently available for such research and emerging future developments.
Neobank Open Becomes 100th Unicorn of India, Raises $50 Mn From IIFL
The countdown for 100 unicorns had begun early in 2022 itself but the Russian attack on Ukraine had paused the start-ups' rush to touch the $1-billion valuation. Finally, neobanking fintech Open, founded by Anish Achuthan and close family members including wife Mabel Chacko, entered the club, making it a ton, according to Inc42's unicorn tracker.
It's been a long journey—more than a decade-- to 100 unicorns for India. Mobile advertising platform InMobi was the first unicorn announced in 2011.
NITI Aayog, which has championed many of the start-up flagship projects, called it a fantastic feat.
Arvind Krishna Elected to Board of New York Federal Reserve
IBM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna was elected to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In his current and former roles, Krishna led the building and expansion of new markets for IBM in cloud, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and quantum computing. He also played a significant role in the development of innovative IBM products and solutions based on these emerging technologies.
Arvind Krishna, who has an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, previously was senior vice president of Cloud and Cognitive Software. He also headed IBM Research and was the general manager of IBM Systems and Technology Group's development and manufacturing organisation.
Adani Wilmar Acquires 'Kohinoor', other Brands to Strengthen Food Business
Adani Wilmar Ltd (AWL) announced the acquisition of several brands, including the renowned 'Kohinoor' brand from McCormick Switzerland GMBH to strengthen its leadership in food business. The deal size was not disclosed.
The acquisition would give AWL exclusive rights over the brand 'Kohinoor' basmati rice along with 'Ready to Cook', 'Ready to Eat' curries and meals portfolio under the Kohinoor brand umbrella in India.
The addition of Kohinoor's domestic brand portfolio strengthens AWL's leadership position in the food FMCG category by augmenting a strong product basket with premium brands along with potential to scale value-added products.
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