General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - March 2019

Mar 2019

Jun 06, 2022

IRDAI Eases Capital Requirement for Insurers to offer PMJJBY Schemes

After the hike in the premium rate, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) relaxed capital requirement norms significantly for insurers to encourage their participation in the government's flagship programme Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY). The regulator has reduced the capital required to be held by insurers offering PMJJBY by almost 50 per cent.
This move will enable life insurers to offer more policies under the scheme, and provide financial security to the bottom of the pyramid of the Indian population through life insurance. The easing of capital requirements by Irdai will accelerate the penetration of life insurance in India and will support the life insurers in achieving the target set by the government. The government has in May 2022 hiked the premium rates for the two flagship schemes, PMJJBY and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, to make these schemes viable.

Govt. Ratifies 8.1 pc EPF Interest Rate for 2021-22

The government approved 8.1 per cent rate of interest on employees' provident fund (EPF) deposits for 2021-22, an over four-decade low for about five crore subscribers of retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Earlier in March 2022, EPFO had decided to lower the interest on provident fund deposits for 2021-22 to 8.1 per cent from 8.5 per cent provided in 2020-21.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation is the statutory body under the Government of India's Ministry of Labour and Employment, which is responsible for regulation and management of provident funds in India. The EPFO administers the mandatory provident fund.

Xiaomi Names New Head for India Unit

The Indian unit of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp appointed founding member Alvin Tse as its general manager, a change of guard as the company faces government scrutiny over its business practices. Tse, a British national who was also the former general manager of Xiaomi Indonesia, has helped the company expand into many global markets. The organisational rejig will also have Anuj Sharma rejoin the company as the chief marketing officer.
The development comes nearly two months after India's federal financial-crime fighting agency summoned former Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain in an investigation on whether the company's business practices conformed with Indian foreign exchange laws.
In India, Xiaomi has seen its share of the domestic smartphone market surge to 24% in 2021 from 6% in 2016, making it the market leader.

Tata Projects to Construct Noida International Airport

Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), the concessionaire for the upcoming Noida International Airport selected Tata Projects Ltd to undertake the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the new Greenfield airport coming up at Jewar. Tata Projects will construct the terminal, runway, airside infrastructure, roads, utilities, landside facilities and other ancillary buildings at Noida International Airport.
YIAPL is a 100% subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG, which has been incorporated as a Special Purpose Vehicle to develop the greenfield Noida International Airport at Jewar.

In a first, IIM-Ahmedabad Brings out Agriculture Land Price Index

In a unique initiative, IIM-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) joined hands with an e-marketplace for agricultural land, SFarms India, to develop a farm land price index based on the sales and purchases done on the platform. The index has been designed to record and present the "quality-controlled" data on prices of agricultural land in the country. The index will track the price movements in the marketplace (SfarmsIndia) and come up with a composite pricing mechanism on a monthly basis, which will be updated twice a year.
SFarms India is an agricultural-land discovery platform, having more than 25,000 registered buyers and sellers. The platform has over 7,000 land listings, which are growing at around 15 per cent a month, according to its website. According to IIM-A, the index will be a reliable source in benchmarking land prices in rural and semi-urban areas and help in signalling converting agricultural land into real estate.

Govt. Appoints of Canara Bank ED A. Manimekhalai as Union Bank MD & CEO

The government appointed A. Manimekhalai as Managing Director of Union Bank of India. The notifications in this regard were issued by the Department of Financial Services. Canara Bank Executive Director Ms. Manimekhalai replaced Rajkiran Rai G., who retired on May 31 after a five-year stint. With her assuming charge, Ms. Manimekhalai becomes the first woman managing director of Union Bank of India. Ms. Manimekhalai, a Master of Business Administration degree holder from Bangalore University, joined erstwhile Vijaya Bank as Officer in 1988.
She was instrumental in devising and implementing strategic policies, covering core areas like strategic planning, setting organisational goals, growth strategies, action plans, compliance, internal control.

Airtel Payments Bank Partners with Muthoot Finance to Offer Gold Loans on Airtel Thanks App

Airtel Payments Bank has partnered with Muthoot Finance to offer gold loans through Airtel Thanks app. There will be no-processing charge on the loan and Muthoot Finance will provide up to 75 per cent of the pledged gold value as a loan. Gold Loans are secured loans that can be availed to cater to a variety of needs, from personal to professional. The partnership will give access to secured and affordable credit to customers looking for quick liquidity against their gold assets.
The loan facility will also be available at the 5 lakh banking points for Airtel Payments Bank.

HDFC Ties up with Accenture for Digital Transformation

NBFC giant, HDFC announced the collaboration with global information technology services and consulting firm, Accenture to digitally transform its lending business. The tie-up will revamp HDFC's customer experience and business processes to provide greater operational agility and efficiency, and drive business growth.
The collaboration is aimed at making HDFC's lending lifecycle paperless and nimble. HDFC highlighted that a key element of the program is a cloud-native lending platform with digital workflows for every step of the customer journey including application, loan processing, credit underwriting and decisions, disbursement, and loan servicing.

Jun 05, 2022

Punjab & Sind Bank MD & CEO S Krishnan Retires

Punjab & Sind Bank Limited, MD & CEO, S. Krishnan retired from the role. He was appointed as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Punjab & Sind Bank from the date of assumption of office till the date of his superannuation, i.e. 31.05.2022 or until further orders, whichever is earlier. It is now informed that S. Krishnan retired upon his superannuation.
S. Krishnan, a postgraduate in Commerce (M.Com) and qualified Cost Accountant (ICMA), took charge as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of Punjab & Sind Bank on 4th September 2020. Prior to joining Punjab & Sind Bank as MD & CEO, Krishnan was Executive Director of Syndicate Bank and Canara Bank. He started his carrier in Indian Bank in January 1983. He has a long and varied field of banking and administrative experience of nearly 38 years.

Jun 04, 2022

Cabinet Allows Procurement by Cooperatives through GeM (Government e-Marketplace) Portal

The Union Cabinet approved a proposal to expand the mandate of Government e-Marketplace (GeM) by allowing procurement by cooperatives. Presently, the registration of cooperatives as buyers was not covered within the existing mandate of GeM. The move will help over 8.54 lakh registered cooperatives and their 27 crore members as they would get products at competitive rates from the GeM portal.
As per the existing mandate, goods and services registered at the GeM portal are not available for use by private sector buyers. Suppliers (sellers) can be from across all segments - government or private. The GeM was launched on August 9, 2016, by the commerce ministry to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers.

Jun 03, 2022

Facebook COO Sandberg Quits

Sheryl Sandberg, the No. 2 executive at Facebook owner Meta, who helped turn its business from start-up to digital advertising empire while also taking blame for some of its biggest missteps, stepped down. Sandberg has served as chief operating officer (COO) at the social media giant for 14 years. She joined from Google in 2008, four years before Facebook went public.
She led Facebook advertising business and was responsible for nurturing it from its infancy into an over $100 billion-a-year powerhouse.
Javier Olivan, the current chief growth officer at Meta Platforms, will take over as the company's chief operating officer.

Jun 02, 2022

Cashfree Payments Partners NPCI for Tokenization of RuPay Cards

Payments and API banking solutions company Cashfree Payments partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to provide tokenization solutions on RuPay cards for its merchants.
Cashfree Payments' tokenization solution 'Token Vault' helps merchants provide their customers with the option to save cards on the merchant website or app and process card payments securely while being RBI compliant. With this partnership, Cashfree Payments becomes a certified and compliant payment tokenization service provider across key card networks like RuPay, Mastercard and Visa.
Token Vault supports all major card types: credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, and corporate cards.

SEBI Imposes Monetary Penalty on IIFL for Misusing Client Funds

Capital markets regulator SEBI imposed a penalty of Rs. 1 crore on India Infoline Ltd (IIFL) for alleged misutilisation of client securities. The order came after SEBI conducted multiple inspections of the books of account of IIFL, now known as IIFL Securities Ltd, for the period April 2011 to January 2017.
It was found that the IIFL had misused funds credit balance clients for settlement obligation of its debit balance clients for 30 days and the total misutilisation was in the range of Rs. 26.04 crore to Rs. 294.73 crore ranging from 4.01 per cent to 45.97 per cent. Consequently, the market watchdog slapped a total fine of Rs. 1 crore on the firm and also noted that certain violations are repetitive in nature.

Centre Releases Rs. 86,912 crore to States, Clears GST Compensation Dues

Ahead of the compensation regime for goods and services tax (GST) that ends in June, the Centre released the entire compensation of Rs. 86,912 crore due to states. This step was taken to help states in managing their resources. It was also to ensure that their programmes — especially expenditure on capital — were carried out successfully during the fiscal year. The full compensation was made even when the cess fund had an inadequate balance of just Rs. 25,000 crore.
Of the Rs. 86,912 crore released to states, Rs. 47,617-crore compensation was due up to January, Rs. 21,322 crore was due for February-March, and Rs. 17,973 crore was due for April-May. Under the compensation regime, the Centre is mandated to compensate states until June 30 for any loss in revenue under the GST. The government had clarified earlier that the compensation period may not be extended beyond the June-end deadline.

Jan Aushadhi Stores Surpassed the Rs. 100 crore Revenue Threshold

Jan Aushadhi stores surpassed Rs. 100 crore for the first time. More than 1,600 generic pharmaceuticals, 250 surgical equipment, nutraceuticals, Ayush products, and Suvidha Sanitary pads are available in Jan Aushadhi locations. The Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) is implemented by the Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI).
Total sales in May 2021 were Rs. 83.77 crore. The government has set a goal of increasing the number of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs) to 10,000 by March 2024, with the goal of providing excellent medications at affordable prices to the ordinary man, particularly the underprivileged. At the moment, the country has 8,735 such outlets spread throughout 739 districts.

Indian Economy Grew 8.7% in 2021-22: National Statistics Office

The Indian economy expanded at its fastest pace in nearly 22 years in 2021-22, but growth slowed to a four quarter-low in the three months to January-March due to the impact of the curbs imposed against the backdrop of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Data released by the National Statistical Office showed the economy growing by 8.7% in 2021-22 while growth in the January-March quarter slowed to 4.1%. To put the numbers in context, the 8.7% expansion comes against the backdrop of a very low base as the economy contracted by 6.6% in the previous period due to the impact of one of the strictest lockdowns in the world to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest numbers for 2021-22 makes India one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, although the momentum of expansion in the months ahead would be tested by high inflation and the need to raise interest rates to combat price pressures.

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