Alliance Air Becomes Central Govt's Independent Business Unit
Regional airline Alliance Air became an independent business unit under the Central government's control. Alliance Air was an esrtwhile part of Air India prior to the latter's divestment. At present, it is operated as a division under the Air India Asset Holdings Pvt Ltd (AIAHL).
It was founded in 1996 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of then Indian Airlines, which later merged with Air India.
The airline mainly operates on domestic regional routes as part of the government's Regional Connectivity Scheme. Currently, it has 19 aircraft -- 18 ATR-72s and 1 Dornier-228 -- which it operates on over 100 regional routes connecting Tier-II and Tier-III cities.
Govt Enhances Authorised Share Capital Of Three Public Sector General Insurance Companies
Three public sector general insurance businesses – National Insurance Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited, and United India Insurance Company – have had their authorised share capital increased by the government. This will allow for a capital inflow of Rs. 5,000 crore into these businesses.
The permitted capital for National Insurance will now be 15,000 crore (1,500 crore shares with a face value of 10 apiece), up from the current 7,500 crore, according to a notification released by the Finance Ministry (1,500 crore shares with a face value of ten each).
TCS gets deal from UK Financial Ombudsman Service to drive digital transformation
Tata Consultancy Services was selected as a strategic partner by the UK Financial Ombudsman Service (Ombudsman) to accelerate its digital transformation. Operating within the UK public services sector, the Ombudsman provides free and easy-to-use services that help resolve complaints between consumers, small businesses, and financial services businesses.
The Ombudsman partnered with TCS to help achieve its goal of preventing complaints and unfairness, and for better serving and supporting its customers. Leveraging its PACE innovation ecosystem, TCS will design and implement a new greenfield Digital Customer Portal that will improve the experience for complainants and respondents.
Apr 17, 2022
BlackRock-led Consortium to Invest Rs. 4,000 cr in Tata Power Renewables
Tata Power said that a BlackRock Real Assets-led consortium, including Mubadala Investment Company, would invest Rs 4,000 crore for a 10.53% stake in the company's renewable energy unit. This translates to a base equity valuation of Rs 34,000 crore for Tata Power Renewables, the company said in a stock exchange filing. The first round of investment is expected to be completed by June and the rest by the end of 2022. The final shareholding will range from 9.76% to 11.43% on final conversion.
The investment is expected to fund Tata Power Renewable Energy's aggressive growth plans in the rooftop and electric vehicle charging space in India.
Cabinet Approves Pact between SEBI, Canada's Manitoba Securities Commission
The Union Cabinet approved signing of a pact between the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Canada's Manitoba Securities Commission. The bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) seeks to have a formal basis for cross-border co-operation in the area of securities regulations.
It would facilitate mutual assistance, contribute towards efficient performance of supervisory functions, aid in imparting technical domain knowledge and enable effective enforcement of the laws and regulations governing securities markets. The MoU would also make investors from Manitoba eligible for registration as FPIs (Foreign Portfolio Investors) with SEBI.
Paytm Becomes Official Digital Payments Partner for PMs' Museum
Paytm become an official digital payments partner for the prime ministers' museum in the national capital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 'Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya' (prime ministers' museum), which is a tribute to every prime minister in the country since independence. At the inauguration, Modi was the first person to buy the ticket through Paytm electronic data capture machine.
As the official partner for the museum, Paytm is offering its payment gateway, EDC (Electronic Data Capture) machines and QR code payment options to make way for superfast, convenient and secure transactions.
Apr 16, 2022
ICICI Bank Inks MoU with GIFT SEZ to Promote Global, Indian Businesses
Private sector lender, ICICI Bank signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with GIFT SEZ to promote global and Indian businesses there.
As part of the MoU, ICICI Bank and GIFT SEZ would jointly work towards attracting global investors and capital market firms to set up operations in GIFT City, Gandhinagar. Both the organisations would promote GIFT SEZ among Indian and foreign MNCs as the preferred location for availing cross-border trade finance.
The two institutions would act in a coordinated manner to promote GIFT SEZ as a hub for wealth management business. Another objective of the MoU is to promote GIFT SEZ as the destination of choice for offering competitive regime for setting up capital markets business among industry stakeholders such as Alternate Investment Fund (AIF), Portfolio Management Services (PMS), Broking Entities, Venture Capital, Private Equity Funds and Custodians.
The Government Exempts the Import of Cotton from Customs Duties
The Government decided to exempt all customs duty on import of cotton to lower the price of cotton in the public interest. This exemption would benefit the textile chain- yarn, fabric, garments and made ups and provide relief to textile industry and consumers. Industry has been demanding for removal of 5% Basic Customs Duty (BCD) and 5% Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on raw cotton. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified the exemption from Customs duty and Agriculture Infrastructure development Cess for import of cotton. Removal of import duty on raw cotton should have salutary effect on cotton price in India.
Apr 15, 2022
BPCL Collaborates with Microsoft to Leverage Cloud and AI to Redefine Customer Experience
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Microsoft announced a strategic cloud partnership aimed at accelerating the firm's digital transformation and shaping the future of innovation in the oil and gas industry. The collaboration seeks to unlock the opportunities that Microsoft's cloud provides to address the unique challenges of the oil and gas sector, enabling BPCL to accelerate the modernization of its tech architecture to enhance customer experience.
The partnership gives a strong fillip to BPCL's digital-first strategy, as part of 'Project Anubhav' to redefine customer experience through the pillars of trust, personalization, and convenience. Through a seven-year collaboration, Microsoft will provide infrastructure as a service (IAAS), platform as a service (PAAS), network and security services on the cloud, including Azure native services on Azure Datafactory, API, IOT and analytics.
Apr 14, 2022
Ukraine Crisis: Infosys to Move Business Out of Russia
Indian software behemoth Infosys Ltd joined the corporate boycott of Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, saying it would move its business out of the country and pursue alternate options. Several other global IT and software players including Oracle Corp and SAP SE have either suspended or paused all operations in Russia.
Recently, IBM suspended its business in Russia, while Microsoft and Apple have stopped sales. Sony also said it had "suspended all software and hardware shipments" to Russia, as well as the operation of the PlayStation Store in the country.
Discovery of Megalithic Stone Jars in Assam
In the Dima Hasao district of Assam, a number of megalithic stone jars were discovered. This discovery highlighted the possible links that date back to the second millennium BC, between Southeast Asia and the Northeast region of India.
In a site named Nuchubunglo, 546 jars were discovered making it the largest such site across the planet.
The jars have not been scientifically dated yet but links could be drawn with the stone jars that were discovered in Indonesia and Laos. The jars that were found in the three sites have morphological and typological similarities. The jars that were discovered in Laos were dated and it showed that they were placed at the sites during the late second millennium BC. Inside the jars, human skeletal remains have been found, while remains were also found buried around the jars.
NPCI Eases Cap on WhatsApp Payments Service to Expand to 100 mn Users
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) allowed Meta-owned WhatsApp to add sixty million users to its payments service, taking the total number of consumers it can offer the unified payment interface or UPI-based feature to 100 million.
WhatsApp has not been able to create a place for itself in the crowded third party app providers (TPAPs) space. It processed 2.54 million transactions in March, amounting to Rs 239.78 crore at a time when UPI processed a record 5.4 billion transactions amounting to Rs 9.6 trillion.
WhatsApp competes with Alphabet Inc's Google Pay, SoftBank- and Ant Group-backed Paytm and Walmart's PhonePe in India's crowded digital market. Online transactions, lending and e-wallet services have been growing rapidly in India, led by a government push to make the country's cash-loving merchants and consumers adopt digital payments. PhonePe and Google Pay together control about 81 per cent of the UPI market.
World Bank Cuts India's FY23 GDP Growth Forecast to 8% from 8.7%
The World Bank cut India's GDP forecast for fiscal year 2022-23 to 8% from 8.7% predicted earlier, citing the impact of the war in Ukraine, high global oil prices, elevated inflation and supply disruptions.
The World Bank lowered its growth estimate for India, the region's largest economy, to 8% from 8.7% for the current fiscal year to March, 2023 and cut by a full percentage point the growth outlook for South Asia, excluding Afghanistan, to 6.6%. The international lender said that in India, household consumption will be constrained by the incomplete recovery of the labour market from Covid-19 and inflationary pressures.
Adani Green Becomes 8th most Valued Firm; Overtakes Bajaj Finance, HDFC
Adani Green Energy became the eighth most valued firm in the country with a market valuation of Rs. 4.48 lakh crore after overtaking Bajaj Finance and HDFC.
The company entered the list of top-10 valued firms.
Adani Green Energy commanded a market valuation of Rs. 4,48,050.99 crore on BSE to take the eighth spot on the top-10 list.
The market capitalisation of Bajaj Finance is at Rs. 4,43,685.79 crore, while HDFC had a valuation of Rs. 4,31,028.49 crore.
PhonePe Tops 100 mn Transactions a Day, Does 2.5 bn Transactions a Month
Walmart-owned digital payments firm PhonePe has processed more than 100 million transactions in a single day. This phenomenal milestone is achieved on the back of the highest end-to-end success rates in the industry, and is testimony to the commitment and quality of PhonePe's engineering team. The Bengaluru-based firm competes with players such as Paytm, Google Pay and Amazon Pay. It has 165 million monthly active users.
PhonePe currently processes over 2.5 billion transactions a month at an Annual TPV run rate of $780 billion and is India's leading Fintech platform. PhonePe's phenomenal growth comes on the back of rapid traction across Tier 2, Tier 3 cities and beyond. The app has seen digital transactions from over 19,000 pin codes, constituting more than 99 per cent of the country. This remarkable growth is a clear indicator of strong user preference for the platform backed by superior product experience.
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