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BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - January 2019

Jan 2019

Dec 01, 2022

TCS Bags Rail Delivery Group Contract to Create UK Rail Data Marketplace

IT major Tata Consultancy Services bagged a deal from Rail Delivery Group to design, develop, implement, and operate the UK's Rail Data Marketplace.
The contract between TCS and RDG (Rail Data Marketplace) is for a term of six years including an extension term opportunity.
The IT services major will be using TCS Dexam to design, develop, implement and operate RDM, which is expected to bring together fragmented sources of rail data into one digital service to accelerate innovation in the transport sector and enhance the passenger experience.
RDM will be used for sharing real-time information with passengers across the UK, simplifying data sharing across operational bodies and increasing data access for public and private bodies to improve transparency.

RBI Authorises Tamilnad Mercantile Bank to Undertake Government Business

Private sector lender Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) was authorised by the Reserve Bank of India to undertake government business on behalf of the banking regulator.
An agreement in this connection was signed by the bank with RBI in Mumbai for appointing TMB as an 'agency bank' of RBI to undertake government agency business.
TMB is one of the oldest private sector banks with a history of over 100 years, having been established in 1921 as Nadar Bank. The bank offers a wide range of services primarily to micro, small and medium enterprises, agricultural and retail customers.

IAMAI Names Rohit Jain as Chairman, Digital Entertainment Committee

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) announced the appointment of Rohit Jain as the chairman of the Digital Entertainment Committee for the period of 2022-2024. According to the company, Jain will work with various stakeholders of various digital entertainment ecosystem, such as over-the-top (OTT) players, regulatory bodies, and other industry associations.
The Indian media sector has shown immense potential in the last decade and now the OTT industry is in the spotlight owing to the work that's happened for the last many years. India today is the innovation hub for OTT in technology, pricing, and content experimentation.
Jain succeeded Amit Goenka, head of ZEE5 Global. Amit Doshi, head, IVM Podcasts was appointed co-chair, alongside Rohit Jain.

Nov 30, 2022

RBI Asks Paytm to Re-apply For Payment Aggregator Licence

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked Paytm Payments Services Limited to resubmit the application to operate as payment aggregator. The banking regulator put a pause on onboarding of online merchants by Paytm Payments Services. The company will not onboard new online merchants till the time approvals remain pending.

Vistara to Merge With Air India

As per reports, Vistara airlines will be merged with Tata-owned Air India by March 2024. Singapore Airlines, which owns minority share in Vistara in its joint venture with Tata, will own around 25 per cent of the enlarged Air India, into which it will infuse over Rs. 2,000 crore.
The rearrangement will mean a larger fleet and more routes under the Air India brand as Tata Sons rebuilds a mega aviation wing of its empire. At present, 51 per cent share in Vistara is with Tata, while Singapore Airlines owns the remaining 49 per cent in the joint venture set up in 2013.
Since Tata bought Air India for Rs. 18,000 crore as part of a government disinvestment around a year ago, the plan has been to merge all its aviation brands under that name.

Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC can Now Act as Registered Fund Management Entity

Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Limited received an approval from the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) to act as a registered fund management entity and carry out Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) and Portfolio Management Services (PMS).
The firm can carry out services through a branch office in International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat's GIFT City.
The company's move to set up a new unit at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) is a strategic step towards the growth of its international business, to expand its reach and service global clients, including NRIs for investing in India.

Retail e-rupee Pilot Begins

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will launch the first pilot for the retail version of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) from, December 1, exactly a month after it started a pilot for the digital rupee-wholesale segment.
A CBDC is a legal tender issued by a central bank in a digital form. It is exchangeable at par with existing currency.
The retail pilot project will initially cover four cities — Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar. It will be subsequently extended to Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla.
The pilot project will be in the form of a digital token that represents legal tender. It will be issued in the same denominations as paper currency and coins, and will be distributed through intermediaries, i.e. banks. Users will be able to transact with e₹-R through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks and stored on mobile phones/devices.
The RBI has identified eight banks for phase-wise participation in the retail CBDC pilot and the first phase shall commence with four lenders, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, YES Bank, and IDFC First Bank. The four others — Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, shall join the pilot later.

Ashok Leyland Appoints Sanjay V. Jorapur as President, Human Resource Head

Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland appointed Sanjay V. Jorapur as its president and head of human resources.
Jorapur succeeded Amanpreet Singh, who moved on to a senior role at Hinduja Group in Mumbai.
Jorapur has leadership level experience in technology, engineering and automation domains.
He earlier served HFCL Group as its president, group human resources.

GroupM Media's CEO Prashanth Kumar Elected President of AAAI

Prasanth Kumar, the chief executive officer (CEO) for South Asia of GroupM Media (India) Pvt Ltd, was elected the president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for 2022-23. Kumar will replace Anupriya Acharya, who will now be the ex-officio member of the AAAI Board for 2022-23.
Kumar has an experience of over 25 years in the industry. He worked at Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge & McCann Erickson before joining GroupM. He has also been vice president of AAAI from 2020 to 2022.
Rana Barua, the group CEO of Havas Group India, was unanimously elected the vice president of AAAI.

UKIBC's 'Doing Business in India' Report 2022

UK India Business Council released the eighth edition of the 'Doing Business in India' Report 2022.
Doing Business in India' Report 2022 was released by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC). Its findings are based on a survey of 111 UK businesses and higher education institutions. It is consistent with the 7 previous surveys that were conducted each year from 2015 to 2021. Their purpose is to assess the views and experiences of UK businesses and higher education institutions in India's business environment. The findings of the 2022 report were shared with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
Maharashtra was rated the highest among the Indian states in terms of the operating environment. Other top performers are Gujarat, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.

Nov 29, 2022

HCLTech Signs Multi-year Contract with Swiss MRO Firm SR Technics

Global technology company HCLTech signed a multi-year contract with Swiss firm SR Technics for the digital transformation of its business. SR Technics is maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) service provider to civil aviation industry.
HCLTech will implement a new greenfield SAP S/4HANA environment hosted on Microsoft Azure using RISE with SAP. Moving to an agile, cloud-based ERP platform will allow SR Technics to transform and simplify its business operations, enabling it to modernise the application stack and optimise IT operating costs.
Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland SR Technics has a network of partners and business development offices in Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East. The firm, which offers fully-customised MRO solutions for aircraft engines, airframe and components, provides technical support to over 500 customers worldwide.

Car Sharing Platform Zoomcar Appoints Naveen Gupta as India's Head

Domestic car sharing marketplace Zoomcar announced the appointment of Naveen Gupta as Vice President and Country Head for India.
In his new role, Gupta will be responsible for all aspects of growth, operations and customer experience for the company in the country.
According to Greg Moran, CEO and Co-Founder of Zoomcar, Gupta's diverse skillsets and seasoned leadership will play an instrumental role in continuing to scale the India business.
Gupta previously worked with Hero MotoCorp, redBus, Swiggy and Cars24.

Demand for Musical Instruments Up; Chennai, Kolkata Rank as Top Exporters

As India is witnessing an increase in demand for local-made guitars, drums, and flutes, Kanchipuram, Chennai and Kolkata have emerged as the top musical instruments exporting districts of the country.
India exported $22 million worth of musical instruments and related accessories in the first half of the current fiscal year, as compared to $38.5 million in the previous year. While string music instruments such as guitars, harps and violins are exported to the US, UAE and Germany from Kanchipuram and Mumbai, keyboard instruments from Kanchipuram and New Delhi are gaining favour in the US, UK, China, Australia and South Korea.
The demand for musical instruments saw an uptick across the world in the past two years, when the world was grappling with Coronavirus and learning music became one of the most favoured hobbies, as people were forced to stay indoors.

SEBI Gives Nod to Appointment of Ramamurthy as MD & CEO of BSE

As per the BSE, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the appointment of Sundararaman Ramamurthy as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the firm.
His appointment is subject to acceptance of the offer made to him and fulfilment of terms and conditions including approval from the Shareholders of BSE.
Ramamurthy is currently the Chief Operating Officer-India at Bank of America.
Previously, he was associated with the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) in various roles for nearly two decades before leaving it in October 2014.

Max Life Partners with Tamilnad Mercantile Bank to Offer Life Insurance

Max Life Insurance Company and Tamilnad Mercantile Bank collaborated to offer the former's life insurance products to the bank's customers.
Through this partnership, Max Life and TMB aim to financially secure the lives of TMB's customers across 500 bank branches by offering a comprehensive suite of savings, protection and retirement plans.
Founded in 1921, TMB has a strong foothold in Southern India and has been one of the early adopters of modernisation in the private banking industry. In partnership with Max Life, it also aims to provide superior digital servicing experience to its customer base by leveraging Max Life's digital tools and platforms.

Nov 28, 2022

RBI, UAE Central Bank Discuss Mechanism to Trade in Local Currencies

The central banks of India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are discussing the creation of a mechanism to engage in bilateral trade in local currencies, in order to reduce transaction costs for exporters and importers, India's ambassador to UAE, Sunjay Sudhir, said.
India has prepared a concept paper (regarding rupee-dirham trade) and has shared it with the UAE. UAE's central bank has already designated a nodal person for this. The discussion is now going on between the central banks.
Typically exporters and importers lose money on currency exchange. For instance, during trade, the rupee is first converted into dollars, which is then re-converted into dirhams. In order to avoid this, central banks are discussing the percentage of trade that can be covered through direct rupee-dirham transactions.
UAE is India's third-largest trade partner and second-largest export market. Earlier this year, India and UAE signed a free trade agreement (FTA) that became operational in May.

M&M Financial Services' Board Approves Diwakar Gupta's Appointment

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services' board approved the appointment of Diwakar Gupta as an Independent Director with effect from January 1, 2023.
Gupta, a seasoned banker, has over 48 years of experience in banking and financial services sector.
He was associated with State Bank of India (SBI) for 39 years. He has worked in Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd, Asian Development Bank, Manila, and as a member of the expert committee for resolution framework for Covid-19-related stress, constituted by RBI in 2020.
Currently, Gupta is the independent director on the board of companies-- CRISIL Ratings Ltd, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd, Holiday Club Resorts Oy (Finland).

Karnataka Bank Collaborates with Hyundai Construction Equipment India

Karnataka Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hyundai Construction Equipment India, construction and earthmoving equipment manufacturer.
The partnership with Hyundai is expected to broaden the Bank's MSME funding prospects.
This MoU would allow both Hyundai and Karnataka Bank to provide consumers with customised financial solutions. With this tie up, the Bank will be designated as a financial partner and will be able to meet the needs of its customers by providing loans at competitive interest rates for purchase of a wide range of equipments from the product line of Hyundai Construction Equipments India.

India-Gulf Cooperation Council Decide to Pursue Resumption of Free Trade Agreement Negotiations

India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) decided to pursue resumption of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. Both the sides agreed to expedite conclusion of the requisite legal and technical requirements for formal resumption of the FTA negotiations.
Speaking at the signing ceremony of resumption of India-GCC FTA negotiations, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that the FTA will be a comprehensive economic partnership that will cover different aspects of trade. He expressed confidence that two sides will set a new benchmark. Mr. Goyal said, GCC is currently India's largest trading partner bloc with bilateral merchandise trade valued at over 154 billion US dollars in the financial year 2021-22. He said, bilateral trade in services between India and the GCC was worth 14 billion US dollars in the last financial year. He said, GCC countries contribute almost 35 per cent of the country's oil imports and 70 per cent of gas imports.
As per Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council Dr. Nayef Falah M. Al-Hajraf, GCC and India are committed to take this relation to a higher level.

Nov 27, 2022

IDFC FIRST Bank Launches FIRSTAP, Country's First Sticker-based Debit Card

IDFC FIRST Bank launched FIRSTAP, the country's first sticker-based debit card, in association with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), to facilitate transactions by simply tapping the sticker on a Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled point-of-sale terminal.
The sticker-based Debit Card is one third the size of a regular debit card, thus making the sticker applicable on a wide range of devices and objects, and significantly enhancing customer convenience. Customers can affix the Sticker-based Debit Card on any surface of their choice, such as cell phones, identity cards, wallets, tabs, airpod cases, etc. The object can be used to tap and pay, thus doing away with the need to carry a Debit Card or adapting to wearable devices such as watches and rings or entering a UPI PIN after scanning a QR code.
The touch-free way to pay enables payments in seconds for transactions up to Rs. 5,000 without a PIN, and those beyond that, with a tap and PIN.

PNB Gets Centre's Approval to Divest its Entire Stake in UTI AMC

The Punjab National Bank (PNB) received the government's approval to divest its entire stake in UTI Asset Management Company as part of its non-core asset sale plan to shore up its capital base.
The bank's divestment entire/part stake in UTI Asset Management Company Limited may be in single or multiple tranches subject to compliance of SEBI Regulations/other applicable regulatory guidelines.

Tata Consumer to Buy Bisleri International

Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL) will reportedly acquire Bisleri International for an estimated Rs. 6,000-7,000 crore. Ramesh Chauhan, chairman of Bisleri International, does not have a successor to take Bisleri to the next level, according to a report. He has earlier sold brands like Thums Up, Gold Spot, and Limca to Coca-Cola.
Bisleri, which is India's largest packaged water company, is expected to have a turnover of Rs. 2,500 crore with a profit of Rs. 220 crore in FY23.

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