General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - December 2018

Dec 2018

Jan 16, 2022

Govt. Inaugurates India's First Coal to Methanol Plant

Union Minister for Heavy Industries Mahendra Nath Pandey dedicated India's first BHEL-built 'coal to methanol' (CTM) pilot plant to the nation, as part of the ongoing 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' celebrations.
Pandey also inaugurated an exhibition on Products Developed under Aatmanirbhar Bharat' organised at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited's (BHEL) Hyderabad unit.

Yes Mutual Fund's Name is White Oak Capital Mutual Fund

Yes Asset Management's name was changed to White Oak Capital Asset Management.
Further, Yes Mutual Fund is now called White Oak Capital Mutual Fund.
Founded by Prashant Khemka, formerly CIO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management's India Equity and Global Emerging Markets Equity businesses, White Oak Capital group provides investment management and advisory services for equity assets of over Rs. 42,000 crore.

RBI Proposes New Norms for Classification of Banks' Investment Portfolio

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed new norms for the classification and valuation of the investment portfolio of banks, with a view to align them with the global prudential framework and accounting standards.
According to the proposed norms, the investment portfolio of banks will be divided into three categories held-to-maturity (HTM), available for sale (AFS), and fair value through profit and loss account (FVTPL).
Within FVTPL, held-for-trading (HFT) shall be a sub-category aligned with the specifications of 'Trading Book' as per the Basel-III framework.
The new bank portfolio classification norms will come into effect from April 1, 2023.

Megha Engineering, Adani Gas Top Winners of City Gas Distribution Licences

Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) walked away with the most 15 licences to retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households in the latest city gas bidding round, while a joint venture of billionaire Gautam Adani's gas arm and Total of France got 14 licences.
According to the results of the bid opening for the 11th round of city gas distribution (CGD) bidding, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) stands to get nine licences and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) 6.

Hero MotoCorp Expands Operations in El Salvador, Opens New Flagship Store

Two-wheeler market leader Hero MotoCorp expanded operations in El Salvador with the commencement of retail sales at a newly opened flagship outlet in the country's capital city San Salvador.
The company has a distribution network of over 200 touchpoints, including five company-owned showrooms, 15 dealerships, 85 retail and 26 spare part outlets and service centres across 14 cities in El Salvador.
Hero MotoCorp's product range in El Salvador includes motorcycles from the premium to entry levels, including the XPulse 200, XPulse 200T, Hunk 160R, Hunk 190R, Hunk 150, Ignitor 125, Eco150, Eco 125 and Dash 125 scooter.

Jan 15, 2022

Adani Group Sign Agreement with South Korea's POSCO to Develop Steel Mill

Adani Group and South Korea's largest steelmaker POSCO have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore business opportunities in India. This includes the establishment of a green, environment-friendly integrated steel mill at Mundra, Gujarat. The estimated investment of the project is up to $5 billion (approx. Rs 37,000 crore). The non-binding MoU also intends to collaborate at the group business level in various other sectors such as renewable energy, hydrogen, and logistics in response to carbon reduction requirements.
The alliance is a significant move for the diversified Adani Group, which has interests in logistics, ports, airports, mining, power generation and distribution, renewable energy, gas and infrastructure. Adani has recently announced major investment plans as part of an ambitious plan to become the world's top renewable energy company. The group is also venturing into new-age businesses with plans for a super app and investing big in data centres.

India Grants $ 900 mn Loan to Sri Lanka to Tackle Forex Crisis

India announced a $900 million loan to Sri Lanka to build up its depleted foreign reserves and for food imports, amidst a shortage of almost all essential commodities in the island nation.
The governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that the island nation is negotiating a $ one billion loan from India to import goods from the country.

Britannia Appoints Amit Doshi as Chief Marketing Officer

Leading bakery foods company Britannia Industries on Friday announced the appointment of Amit Doshi as its Chief Marketing Officer. Doshi's appointment would be effective from January 17 and would take over from Vinay Subramanyam, who had left the company in December last year.
Before this, Doshi was Director-Marketing at IT and tech firm Lenovo (India and South Asia). He has also worked with Britannia in the past.
With a turnover of over Rs 11,000 crore, Britannia Industries is present in many food categories. It owns popular household brands, which include - Good Day, Tiger, NutriChoice, Milk Bikis, Marie Gold and Little Hearts.

Jan 14, 2022

L&T Bags Two Mega Offshore Orders from Overseas Client

A consortium led by LTHE, a wholly-owned arm of Larsen & Toubro, bagged two mega offshore orders from a prestigious overseas client.
The scope of work comprises engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for new facilities and integration with existing installations.
LTHE is currently executing several domestic and international offshore projects. It is also committed to building its regional presence in geographies that it operates by growing local skills and talent, improving procurement from local vendors, engaging commercially with local contractors on the foundation of a sustainable workload.

Paytm Payments Bank Leads UPI Beneficiary Chart with 926 mn Transactions

According to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Paytm Payments Bank emerged as the biggest receiver of UPI amount with 926.17 million transactions while public sector bank SBI topped the chart of being the biggest remitter in December 2021.
Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) claimed to have become the first beneficiary bank in the country to achieve the landmark of over 926 million UPI transactions in a single month.

Jan 13, 2022

Nokia, Tech Mahindra Partner for 5G-based Solutions for Enterprises

As per reports, Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia and Tech Mahindra joined hands to deploy 5G-based solutions for business organisations.
Under the collaboration, Tech Mahindra will leverage Nokia's private wireless DAC (digital automation cloud) solution for customers across industries and facilitate in automating 5G private wireless network management on a cloud computing system and enabling them deploy internet of things like technology.

UCO Bank Launches RuPay Select Contactless Debit Card

UCO Bank launched the UCO Bank RuPay Select Contactless Debit Card for its premium customer segment in association with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), on the occasion of the 79th Inauguration Day of the bank.
This contactless debit card comes with a host of benefits and has been curated keeping in mind the needs and lifestyle of premium/HNI customers of the bank.
The card also offers an ATM withdrawal limit of Rs. 50,000 along with a purchase of up to Rs. 2 lakh at POS or e-commerce.

Vodafone Idea, Tata Teleservices, TTML Will Not Become PSUs

Telecom operators Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL), Tata Teleservices Ltd and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd (TTML) will not become public sector undertakings after their interest payable on dues are converted into government equity.
The three debt-ridden companies have proposed to convert their interest liability payable to the government into equity.
Post conversion, the government would have 35.8 per cent in VIL and the shareholding in TTML at around 9.5 per cent.

RBI Approves Ittira Davis' Appointment as Ujjivan SFB's New MD & CEO

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the appointment of Ittira Davis as managing director and chief executive officer (MD&CEO) of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank for a one-year term with effect from January 2022.
Davis had a stint with Ujjivan SFB as its chief operating officer. He joined Ujjivan in March 2015 and headed the transition of Ujjivan's journey from a micro finance institution (MFI) to SFB.
He is a banker with over 36 years of corporate and investment banking experience having worked extensively in the Middle East and Europe. He was with the Europe Arab Bank from July 2008 to October 2012 as managing director, Corporate and Institutional Banking and then as an executive director of the Europe Arab Bank.

Citi to Exit Mexican Consumer Business

Citigroup Inc will exit its Citibanamex consumer banking business in Mexico, ending its 20-year retail presence in the country that was the last of its overseas consumer businesses.
Citigroup's decision to sell or spin off Citibanamex, Mexico's third biggest bank by assets as of June, is part of chief executive Jane Fraser's strategy to bring Citigroup's profitability and share price performance in line with its peers.
Citigroup will retain its institutional client business in Mexico, as it has in other overseas markets. It will focus its consumer banking business on a targeted US retail presence, global wealth management, and payments and lending.

PGCIL Inks Pact with Africa50 for Kenya Transmission Project

State-owned Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) inked a pact with pan-African infrastructure investment platform Africa50 to continue the development of the Kenya Transmission Project on a public-private partnership basis.
The project entails the development, financing, construction, and operation of the 400kV Lessos-Loosuk and 220kV Kisumu-Musaga transmission lines under the public-private partnership (PPP) framework.
Once completed, the project will be the first independent power transmission (IPT) in Kenya and will set a reference point in Africa as the first financing of transmission lines on a PPP basis.

Jan 12, 2022

Google for Startups Announces its Next Cohort with 20 Indian Start-ups

Tech giant Google announced the sixth batch of the Google for Startups Accelerator (GFSA) India -- with 20 startups -- to help them focus on their key business and technology problems.
The 20 start-ups are chosen from over 700 applicants following an intensive selection process.
The mission at Google for Startups India is to help young startup teams focus on their key business and technology problems while we empower them with knowledge and lessons from Google, learnt over two decades of building enterprise and consumer products across the globe.
The selected startups are spread across India with 35 per cent women-led startups in the mix and comprising a mix of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) startups between Seed and Series A stages.
The 20 Indian startups include Able, Alippo, ApnaKlub, Avishkaar, GimBooks, BrainSightAI, Entri, Language Curry, MetaDome, Impact App, Infilect, Lavelle Networks, etc.

Axis Bank Partners MinkasuPay for Seamless Net Banking Experience

Axis Bank, India's third-largest private sector bank, announced its partnership with MinkasuPay to offer the smoothest net banking payment experience for its customers through a biometric authentication solution.
Transaction time will reduce from the current 50-60 seconds to just 2-3 seconds with Fingerprint or Face ID authentication while increasing success rates significantly.
MinkasuPay's biometric authentication solution is a 2-Factor-Authentication solution that leverages the power of smartphones and biometrics to eliminate friction. 2FA, as mandated by RBI, helps increase the security of all digital transactions. For the first transaction, customers have to log in to their net banking account using their username & password, verifying the OTP, as usual, to get on-boarded. For all subsequent transactions, a Fingerprint or Face ID can be used to approve payments.

Adani Power Appoints Shersingh Khyalia as CEO

Adani Power's Board of Directors approved the appointment of Shersingh B. Khyalia as a chief executive officer of the company.
Shersingh B. Khyalia is a Chartered Accountant and brings with him over 32 years of experience in managing complex business in the power industry, including generation, transmission and distribution.
His experience spans across power trading, legal, regulatory and commercial, finance & accounts and PPA management aspects of the power business.
Earlier, Khyalia has worked as the managing director in Gujarat Power Corporation.
During his almost three decades of service in the power sector, he has been director on the boards of Power Exchange (India) Ltd, Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd, Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Ltd, Dakshin Gujarat Company Ltd, Madhya Gujarat Company Ltd, Dakshin Haryana Distribution Company Ltd, and Gujarat Green Revolution Ltd.

Piyush Goyal Asks South Korea to Axe Non-tariff Trade Barriers

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and raised concerns regarding the non-tariff trade restrictions faced by Indian steel, rice, textile, engineering goods, mango, and pharmaceutical exporters.
The bilateral talk was held in New Delhi to discuss trade and investment-related issues. The ministers agreed to impart fresh momentum to the discussions on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) upgradation negotiations and also promote extensive B2B interactions on trade and investment between the industry leaders of the two countries.
They agreed to address difficulties expressed by industry on both sides and instructed officials to meet on a regular basis to conclude the CEPA upgrade negotiations in a time-bound manner.

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

August GK, July GK, June GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services And Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26