General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - January 2019

Jan 2019

Nov 01, 2022

RBI Digital Rupee Pilot for Wholesale Segment

The first pilot in the Digital Rupee, Wholesale segment (eRs-W) commenced on November 1, 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a circular.
The use case for this pilot is settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities. Use of eRs-W is expected to make the inter-bank market more efficient. Settlement in central bank money would reduce transaction costs by pre-empting the need for settlement guarantee infrastructure or for collateral to mitigate settlement risk.
Nine banks namely State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC have been identified for participation in the pilot.
The first pilot in Digital Rupee — Retail segment (eRs-R) is planned for roll out within a month in select locations in closed user groups comprising customers and merchants. The details regarding operationalisation of eRs-R pilot will be communicated in due course.

BPCL Recognised as Country's most Sustainable Oil & Gas Company

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), 'Maharatna' and a Fortune Global 500 Company once again achieved the No.1 rank in the Indian oil and gas sector for its sustainability performance in the 2022 edition of the S&P Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) rankings. This is the 3rd consecutive year that BPCL is at the top of the DJSI Indices in India having achieved a score of 65 percentage points, against an industry average score of 31 which is far better than last year's score of 59 against an industry average score of 39 on DJSI platform.
This benchmarking is a complete assessment of economic, environmental and social criteria with a strong focus on long-term shareholder value.

Maharashtra Bags around Rs. 500-crore Electronics Cluster Project

The central government has approved a Rs. 500 crore project to make Ranjangaon in Pune, an electronics manufacturing cluster, in a move that is being seen as an apparent bid to make up for Maharashtra losing back-to-back big-ticket projects to Gujarat.
As per Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the cluster will attract major investments from manufacturers, generate thousands of jobs and put the state in the league of locations that have emerged as vibrant electronics production hubs in the country.
The announcement came amid a political slugfest over mining giant Vedanta switching to Gujarat for its Rs. 1.53 lakh crore chip factory and Maharashtra also losing out on the Rs. 22,000-crore Tata-Airbus transport aircraft project.

SAIL signs MoU with AAI under RCS UDAN Scheme

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) signed MoU with Airport Authority of India (AAI), to facilitate commercial operations at Rourkela Airport under the RCS UDAN scheme. UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) is a regional airport development and "Regional Connectivity Scheme" (RCS) of the Union Government. It is a key component of National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), which was released by Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2016.

Nokia, Samsung, Tejas Networks among 42 Firms Approved for PLI Scheme

The department of telecom (DoT) approved 42 companies, including Nokia, Samsung and Tejas Networks, for receiving benefits under the design-led production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing telecom and networking products.
The latest list also included Flextronics, VVDN, Jabil and HFCL, apart from 28 micro, small and medium enterprises.
The scheme is crucial to strengthen the value chain of multiple verticals of 5G equipment. For these, India mainly depends on imports.
The companies have committed a cumulative investment of Rs. 4,115 crore, the DoT said.
The scheme provides additional incentive of 1 per cent over and above the existing incentives for products that are designed and manufactured in India.

Oct 31, 2022

RBI Revokes Authorisation Certificate of Chennai-Based GI Technology

The Reserve Bank on Thursday said it has revoked Certificate of Authorisation of Chennai-based GI Technology Private Limited over governance concerns in the company.
The company is in business of issuance and operation of prepaid payment instruments.
"Governance concerns and non-compliance with regulatory requirements" are the reasons for revocation of Certificate of Authorisation (CoA), the central bank said in a statement.
Following the revocation of the CoA, GI Technology cannot transact the business of issuance and operation of prepaid payment instruments, it said.

Dabur Acquires 51% Stake in Badshah Masala for Rs. 587.52 Crore

Dabur India to acquire 51 percent stake in Badshah Masala in a Rs. 587.52 crore deal. Dabur India marks its entry into the fast-growing spices and seasoning category.
The company signed definitive transaction agreements to acquire 51 percent shareholding of Badshah Masala Pvt. Ltd.
Badshah Masala Pvt. Ltd. is a firm engaged in manufacturing, marketing, and export of ground spices, blended spices, and seasoning.
The acquisition is in line with the company's strategic intent of entering into new adjacent categories in the food space.

Oct 30, 2022

Vedanta Arm Wins 10-year Production Sharing Contract for Rajasthan Block

Cairn Oil & Gas, a Vedanta Ltd unit, secured approval from the government to extend the production sharing contract (PSC) for its Rajasthan block for ten years until May 2030. The firm said that this contract extension will spur capex investment and encourage private players entering the sector.
The Rajasthan block is of crucial national significance and is home to a number of technology firsts. The field has been the first in the country to apply micro seismic hydrofrac monitoring technology and has also executed the world's largest jet-pump operation. It is also home to the world's largest enhanced oil recovery (EOR) polymer flood project and the world's largest Alkaline Surfactant Polymer (ASP) project.
The field also marks the starting point of the Mangala pipeline – the world's longest continuously heated and insulated pipeline-that carries crude from the fields of Rajasthan to refineries in Gujarat.

Elon Musk Closes USD 44 Billion Deal to Acquire Twitter

Billionaire Elon Musk completed his USD 44 billion takeover of Twitter and fired the social media company's four top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal and legal executive Vijaya Gadde.
The Twitter executives who were fired are Agrawal, Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
The deal's closing removed a cloud of uncertainty that hung over Twitter's business, employees and shareholders for much of the year.
Agrawal was appointed Twitter CEO in November 2021 after the social media site's co-founder Jack Dorsey had stepped down.

Oct 29, 2022

Shareholders Nod to Ahlem Friga Noy Appointment as Adani Green Director

Shareholders of Adani Green Energy approved the appointment of Ahlem Friga Noy as a director (non-executive, nominee director) in an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the company.
the board had recommended for the approval of the members for the appointment of Ahlem Friga Noy as a director of the company, from July 27, 2022.
The approval of shareholders for the appointment of a person on the board of directors has to be taken either at the next general meeting or within a time period of three months from the date of appointment, whichever is earlier.
Ahlem had given her consent to act as a director of the company. She is a seasoned public affairs, geopolitical adviser and negotiation expert with 20 years' experience in the public as well as private sector.

Infibeam Avenues Gets RBI in-principle Nod for Payment Aggregator Licence

Infibeam Avenues, which operates CCAvenue, received an in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a payment aggregator (PA). It joins a list of entities who have received the in-principle approval from RBI for a PA licence.
This would enable the company to further expand its reach in multiple business segments for both online and offline digital transactions.
Several payment providers such as Razorpay, Pine Labs, Stripe, 1Pay, Innoviti Payments, MSwipe, and a few others have received in -principle nod from the RBI for a PA license. More players are also expected to get the central bank's nod for a PA license.

Oct 28, 2022

Coca-Cola's Sprite Becomes Billion-dollar Brand in Indian Market

Global soft drinks major Coca-Cola's lemon and lime-flavoured soft drink Sprite became a billion-dollar brand in the Indian market.
The company recorded a strong volume growth in its India business in the third quarter of 2022, helped by its sparkling soft drinks portfolio and fruit drink brand Maaza.
India is the fifth largest market for Coca-Cola globally.

Indian Bank Offers Bouquet of Digital Products under Project Wave

Public sector lender Indian Bank rolled out six new digital initiatives under 'Project WAVE' for enhancing customer experience through integrated services on its digital platform.
The new products were rolled out by the bank MD & CEO S.L. Jain in the presence ED Imran Amin Siddiqui and Universal Sompo General Insurance Co. Ltd., MD & CEO Sharad Mathur in Chennai.

Jakson Green to Invest Rs. 22,400 cr in Green Hydrogen Project in Rajasthan

Jakson Green to invest Rs. 22,400 crore to set up green hydrogen and green ammonia project in Rajasthan. The Jakson Green company signed an MoU with the Government of Rajasthan to this effect. Jakson Green will set up a 3,65,000 tons per annum Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia plant along with an integrated hybrid renewable power complex in phase wise manner.
The project initiated by Jakson Green and Rajasthan Government is expected to generate over 32,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities across various phases of the scale-up.
The MoU was signed by Vish Iyer, Global Chief Commercial Officer, Jakson Green, and Bhaskar S. Sawant, Principal Secretary of Energy to the Government of Rajasthan.
The government of Rajasthan would facilitate Jakson Green in obtaining necessary registrations, approvals, and clearance, and provide incentives.

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