General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - June 2020

Jun 2020

Feb 06, 2021

India to Emerge as Second most Resilient Economy in 2021

India will emerge as the second most resilient economy in 2021, as per the International Economic Resilience (IER) Rank, released by industry body, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI). The ranking has been topped by Germany, among the top-10 leading economies. South Korea is at the third position in the list.
Apart from this, India's real GDP growth rate is projected to be the highest in the year 2021 among the top-10 leading economies in the world, at 11.5%. It reflects India's strong "economic resurgence" to the global economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Milind Kulkarni CFO of Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra named Milind Kulkarni as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) effective 2nd April 2021.
This will be Kulkarni's second stint as CFO, a position he held for five years from 2013-2018. He succeeds Manoj Bhat, who will be taking over as Group Chief Financial Officer, Mahindra & Mahindra Group as part of a leadership rotation strategy.

Plan to Split GAIL Deferred

The Oil Ministry has put on hold a plan to bifurcate state-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd so as not to dilute the firm's ability to finance the massive infrastructure building plan.
It was proposed that GAIL's pipeline business should be hived off into a separate entity.

RBI Leaves Rates Unchanged

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), with three new external members, decided to maintain status quo on the policy repo rate as the August 2020 retail inflation print of 6.70 per cent was above its upper tolerance level of 6 per cent.
The MPC voted unanimously to leave the policy rate unchanged...and to keep the monetary policy stance accommodative at least through this fiscal and the next financial year.
So, the policy repo rate (the interest rate at which the Reserve Bank of India provides liquidity to banks to overcome short-term mismatches) continues at 4 per cent.

HSBC Opts Out of Britain's Pandemic Loan Collection Plan

HSBC has opted out of an industry-wide plan for collecting unpaid emergency COVID-19 business loans, in a blow to efforts by other banks to team up to limit any reputational damage if firms struggling to repay are treated unfairly.
As per reports, only 10 of 23 lenders that have granted 'bounce back' loans (BBLs) had at the time joined the body, with most smaller ones opting out believing it did not offer value for money.
HSBC told industry body UK Finance, which is setting up the central body, that it would not be joining, after a decision by senior HSBC managers in recent weeks.

Feb 05, 2021

Suzuki, Toshiba to Make Gujarat Li-ion Unit an Export Hub

Suzuki Motor Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Denso Corp. plan to turn their joint manufacturing facility for lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells in Gujarat into a global export hub.
The factory, the first such in India for manufacturing Li-ion cells, is set to open around April with assembling of battery packs, before graduating to producing Li-ion cells around 2024-25.
The plans of the three Japanese manufacturers underscore the Indian government's Atmanirbhar Bharat push to woo global manufacturers that are exploring a China-plus-one strategy for production.
The joint venture, TDS Lithium-ion Battery Pvt. Ltd, is also expected to receive sops under the government's production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for advanced chemistry cell (ACC) manufacturing in India.

BHEL Commissions 800 MW Unit at Gadarwara Project in Madhya Pradesh

State-owned BHEL has commissioned the second unit of 1600 MW Gadarwara thermal power project in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh.
The project is being developed by NTPC Ltd.
The first unit of 800 MW of this project was commissioned by BHEL in 2019 and is presently under commercial operation.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has successfully commissioned the second unit (800 MW) of the 2x800 MW Gadarwara Super Thermal Power Project Stage-I.
BHEL's scope of work in the project envisages design, engineering, manufacture, supply and erection & commissioning of steam turbines, generators, boilers and associated auxiliaries, besides state-of-the-art controls & instrumentation (C&I) and electrostatic precipitators (ESPs).

Andhra Govt. to Buy 14,000 Million Units of Power from 10 Solar Power Producers

The Andhra Pradesh government finalised the power purchase agreements with 10 solar power producers with a total installed capacity of 6,400 megawatts of power that would supply 14,000 million units of power to the state at the lowest-ever tariff of Rs. 2.48 per unit.
Out of these 10 solar power projects, four would be set up in Kadapa, three in Anantapur, two in Prakasam and one in Kurnool districts. The bidders who won the projects include big players like National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Adani Group.
The average tariff at which these power plants would supply to the state is Rs. 2.48 per unit, which is significantly lower than the tariff at which power distribution companies in the state are procuring power from other power generators.

HAL and GE Aviation Sign Contract for Supply of Forgings

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd signed a contract valued over Rs. 100 crore with GE Aviation for development and supply of ring forgings for its Aviation military and commercial engine programs.
The five-year contract involves supplying both steel and nickel alloy forgings for shrouds, cases, rings and seals.
With this contract award, GE Aviation has initiated the development of a raw material supply chain in India as part of its 'Make in India' and 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat' strategy, it said, adding that the award of the contract followed HALs successful bidding in GEs Global request for quotes (RFQ).
The ring forgings will be manufactured at HALs newly established state-of-the-art ring rolling facility at the Company's Foundry and Forge Division in Bengaluru.

Feb 04, 2021

PNB Restricts Withdrawl of Money from Non-EMV ATMs

Punjab National Bank (PNB) has decided to restrict its customers from withdrawing money from non-EMV automated teller machines (ATMs) with effect from 01 February 2021, in an attempt to check frauds, related to money transactions. This restriction will apply to both, financial and non-financial transactions. To overcome this, PNB will introduce OTP based systems for withdrawing cash.
Non-EMV ATMs are those which read data through magnetic strips and do not hold the ATM card during the transaction.
PNB has also decided to replace the old IFSC and MICR codes. This means that the old codes will not work after March 31, 2021.
Customers will have to get a new code from the bank.
This decision has been taken due to merger of Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India on 1st April 2020.

RBI Unveils Risk-based Audit Guidelines for Select NBFCs, Urban co-op Banks

The Reserve Bank of India unveiled the risk-based internal audit (RBIA) system for select non-bank lenders and urban co-operative banks, with a view to enhance the quality and effectiveness of their internal audit system.
All the deposit-taking non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and the ones with an asset size of over Rs. 5,000 crore, and urban co-operatives banks (UCBs) with assets of over Rs. 500 crore will have to migrate to the new system, the RBI said.
Currently, all the entities supervised by the RBI have their own approaches on internal audit, resulting in certain inconsistencies, risks and gaps in the system.
The NBFCs and UCBs face risks similar to the ones for scheduled commercial banks which require an alignment of processes.

Amazon's $200M facility in East Tennessee to Create 800 Jobs

Amazon announced that it will invest $200 million in eastern Tennessee to build a new warehouse distribution site that will result in 800 jobs.
Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe praised the Alcoa-based project during a virtual event with Amazon officials.
The facility is expected to be completed in 2022. It will be Amazon's third fulfilment centre to use robotics technology in Tennessee and the company's eighth fulfilment centre in the Volunteer State.

Crown Group Ties up with MiG for Post-warranty Support to Indian Navy Jets

Crown Group, which specialises in defence aerospace maintenance, announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Russian aircraft corporation MiG for providing post-warranty support to the Indian Navy's MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB fighter jets.
The Delhi-based group in a statement said that one of its companies Aviatech Enterprises Pvt Ltd (AEPL) has entered into a "framework agreement" with joint stock company MiG in this regard.
Besides defence aerospace maintenance, the group also specialises in repair and operations, and aviation engineering services.
The group has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russian company United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) for maintenance and servicing of Indian Navy ships.

Ant Group Reaches Agreement with China Regulators on Overhaul

Ant Group Co. and Chinese regulators have agreed on a restructuring plan that will turn Jack Ma's fintech giant into a financial holding company, making it subject to capital requirements similar to those for banks.
The plan calls for putting all of Ant's businesses into the holding company, including its technology offerings in areas like blockchain and food delivery, people familiar with the matter said. One of Ant's early proposals to regulators had envisioned putting only financial operations into the new structure.
An official announcement on the overhaul could come before the start of China's Lunar New Year holiday next week. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which owns about a third of Ant, erased losses in Hong Kong trading on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported the agreement. The stock closed with a 0.4% gain.

Feb 03, 2021

Indian Oil May form Subsidiary for Retail Assets to Unlock Value

Indian Oil Corp could create a subsidiary for its retail assets to help unlock value, the head of finance at India's largest refiner, a day after the government announced plans to monetise IOC's pipeline assets.
"Presently it is not on our radar but a possibility of any such thing to unlock the value cannot be ruled out," Sandeep Kumar Gupta said on an analysts call when asked if IOC plans to hive off its fuel retailing business into a separate company.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget for fiscal year from April, announced a plan to monetise oil and gas pipeline assets of IOC, gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
Shares of IOC fell 27.6% in 2020, while the broader Nifty 50 index gained 14.9%.

RBI Appoints External Firm to Conduct IT Audit at HDFC Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed an external professional IT company to conduct an audit of HDFC Bank's IT Infrastructure and has sought a report from the company at the earliest, said a person familiar with the development.
This is part of the RBI's inspections to examine if the bank had improved on it digital capabilities following the recent issues, the person said.
The HDFC Bank has also informed the exchanges that the RBI move is in the backdrop of incidents of outages in the internet banking/ mobile banking/ payment utilities of the Bank over the past two years, including the recent outages in the Bank's internet banking and payment system on November 21, 2020 due to a power failure in the primary data centre.

SBI Launches 'YONO Super Saving Days' Carnival

The State Bank of India has announced the launch of its shopping carnival- 'YONO Super Saving Days' from February 4, 2021.
The carnival which will continue for four days and will be live till February 7 will offer an exclusive range of discounts and cash backs to SBI's banking and lifestyle platform YONO's users.
YONO users can avail up to 50% discounts from various merchant partners in multiple categories
Currently, over 100 e-merchants have partnered with YONO, SBI stated.
YONO has partnered with some top merchants including Amazon, OYO, Pepperfry, Samsung, and Yatra.

Feb 02, 2021

Fifteenth Finance Commission of India Submits Final Report

The Fifteenth Finance Commission of India has submitted its final report for a five-year duration. The report has been submitted with the objective of transforming the financial governance of India's municipalities.
The final report for Financial Year 2021-22 to Financial Year 2025-26 was tabled along with the Budget 2021-22.
The 15th FC has significantly raised its bar on financial governance of the India's municipalities in the interim report.
The final report also maintains these four specific agendas. The four agendas include:
The 15th FC has tried to increase the overall outlay for municipalities. It has set 29,000 crores for FY 2020-21. It has also indicated the intent to raise the share of municipalities in the total grants of local bodies from 30 per cent to 40 per cent.
Two entry conditions have been set for any municipality in India to receive FC grants namely, the publication of audited annual accounts that would help in boosting the financial accountability and notification of floor rates for property tax that would help in raising the revenue enhancement.
The 15th finance commission has adopted the approach of distinguishing between million-plus urban agglomerations and other cities.
It also recommends a common digital platform for municipal accounts, a consolidated view of municipal finances and the sectoral outlays at the state level apart from digital footprint of individual transactions at source.
These four aspects of the interim report highlight that the 15th finance commission aims to bring the logical culmination municipal finance reforms. However, the foundation for bringing about these reforms was also laid by thirteenth and fourteenth Finance Commission.

RBI Cancels Licence of Kolhapur-based Shivam Sahakari Bank

According to RBI, the licence of Maharashtra-based Shivam Sahakari Bank has been cancelled as it does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. The Commissioner for Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Maharashtra has also been requested to issue an order for winding up the bank and appoint a liquidator for the bank. With the cancellation of licence the process of paying the depositors as per the DICGC Act, 1961 will be set in motion.
As per the data submitted by the Kolhapur-based bank, more than 99 per cent of the depositors are fully insured by Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC). The bank with its present financial position would be unable to pay its present depositors in full.

NBFCs Can Initiate Recovery under Sarfaesi for Loan Default of Rs. 20 lakh

The Union Budget for 2021-22 proposed to lower the threshold for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to initiate recovery proceedings under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, (Sarfaesi Act).
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "To improve credit discipline while continuing to protect the interest of small borrowers, for NBFCs with a minimum asset size of ₹100 crore, the minimum loan size eligible for debt recovery under the Sarfaesi Act is proposed to be reduced from the existing level of Rs. 50 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh".
Proceedings under the Act help lenders recover their dues faster. If a lender cannot resort to the Sarfaesi Act, it needs to file cases in civil courts, which is a time-consuming process. Recovery under Sarfaesi is applicable only to secured loans, and allows lenders to auction the property mortgaged with them to recover dues from borrowers who have defaulted on loans. It is applicable to home loans, loan against property, and loan against collateral that micro small medium enterprises (MSME) avail. Under the Sarfaesi Act, a lender can take possession of the property or mortgaged assets after a 60-day notice.

No more Tax Exemption for Ulips with Annual Premium above Rs. 2.5 lakh

The maturity proceed from a life insurance company is tax-free. This is because the Clause (10D) of section 10 of the Act provides for the exemption for the sum received under a life insurance policy, including the sum allocated by way of bonus on such policy in respect of which the premium payable for any of the years during the terms of the policy does not exceed ten per cent of the actual capital sum assured.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Budget 2021, has proposed capital gain on gains in Ulips and provide for the same treatment as the unit of the equity-oriented fund. This is, however, subject to the amount of premium paid in unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips).
The FM has proposed that the exemption under this clause shall not apply with respect to any ULIP issued on or after the 1st February 2021, if the amount of premium payable for any of the previous years during the term of the policy exceeds Rs. 2.5 lakh.

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