General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - June 2020

Jun 2020

Dec 03, 2020

Paytm Partners with Suryoday Small Finance Bank to Offer Instant Digital Loans

Paytm has partnered with Suryoday Small Finance Bank to empower MSMEs with instant digital loans. The company is offering instant microloans to businesses that are unable to access financial services from traditional banking players. The company through this partnership is aiming at disbursing loans to over 1 lakh small businesses in the next 12 to 18 months.
Merchants will not have to visit the bank branch as the entire journey from application to approval will be completed on the Paytm app itself. The underwriting will be done as per an agreed credit policy of the bank within seconds and post-approval the customer will be disbursed by Suryoday.
This partnership of Paytm aims towards democratizing access to loans for small businesses, merchants & promote financial inclusion. With our collateral-free instant loans, we aim to give MSMEs adequate liquidity to grow and expand.

L&T to sell UK Marine Tech Arm Servowatch Systems to Rolls-Royce

Larsen & Toubro, an engineering, procurement and construction project company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Larsen & Toubro International FZE, has signed definitive agreements with Rolls-Royce's Power Systems division, a global player in power systems for the divestment of its UK-based integrated marine automation solutions provider Servowatch Systems.
A leading supplier of advanced and innovative integrated ship control systems, Servowatch Systems has grown into an internationally recognized provider of Marine Automation platforms over the past eight years of L&T's ownership. The company headquartered in Heybridge, Essex, United Kingdom has 44 employees in the UK and India, who deliver integrated marine automation solutions for navies, commercial vessels and large yachts.
Servowatch Systems revenue during FY 2019-20 was Rs. 50.42 crore, constituting around 0.03% of consolidated revenue of L&T for the FY 2019-20.

Infosys Partners Rolls-Royce for Aerospace Engineering in India

Indian IT services firm Infosys and Rolls-Royce, an aerospace and defence technology major, signed a strategic partnership for sourcing engineering and R&D Services for the latter's Civil Aerospace business.
As part of the overall partnership, Rolls-Royce will transition a significant part of its engineering centre capabilities for civil aerospace in Bengaluru to Infosys.
However, the number of people who will move to Infosys was not disclosed.
Leveraging its expertise in core engineering services, digital transformation capabilities, and Rolls-Royce product knowledge acquired through the partnership, Infosys will provide a full range of high-end engineering and R&D services integrated with advanced digital service to Rolls-Royce.

Finin Launches as Neobank in India in Partnership with State Bank of Mauritius

Finin, a fintech company, has launched itself as a 'neobank', in partnership with SBM Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of State Bank of Mauritius in India, focussing on saving rather than lending.
Finin will provide features such as detailed break-up of user spending and send prompts if they exceed pre-set limits and automatic sweeps of money into liquid funds. The bank will target white-collar workers and freelancers and has waiting list of 15,000 people before launch. It aims to open 50,000 accounts in six months.
Neobanking as a space already has incumbents such as Niyo which has a tie up with IDFC First. Finin has secured funding from Unicorn India Ventures, PointOneCapital, and Astir Ventures in a pre-Series A funding round.
No RBI permission is required to use the term neobank in India.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise to Leave Silicon Valley for Texas

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is the latest tech company to shift its focus away from Silicon Valley, and announced that it will relocate its headquarters from San Jose, California, to Houston, Texas.
"HPE's largest U.S. employment hub, Houston is an attractive market to recruit and retain future diverse talent, and is where the company is currently constructing a state-of-the-art new campus," the company said in its fourth quarter earnings release. It's unclear how many employees the move will affect, though the company said no layoffs will be with the move.
HPE will keep the San Jose campus, and will consolidate some of its Bay Area sites there.

India Looks to Resume Iran and Venezuela Oil Imports under Biden

According to Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, India, the world's third-largest energy consumer, wants the new US administration to allow resumption of oil supplies from Iran and Venezuela so as to give the country more options to meet its requirements.
Iran was India's second-biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11, but Western sanctions over its suspected nuclear programme led to reduced volumes.
India stopped importing crude oil from Iran following the re-imposition of economic sanctions in May 2019, by the US.
Venezuela was India's fourth-biggest oil supplier but import dwindled after Washington imposed sanctions on Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA in January 2019, to put pressure on socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

Dec 02, 2020

Yes Bank Launches Tailor-made Premium Banking Services to Customers

Yes Bank has re-energised YES Premia, unveiling a premium banking program that offers personalised solutions focused on the particular needs of key consumer segments - from small business owners to salaried professionals and senior citizens. Curated carefully to provide customised banking solutions that complement the lifestyles, indulgences and expectations of different consumer groups, the program caters to all their financial and lifestyle needs through a mix of products, services, portfolio benefits and partnerships, making it a truly personalised solution for all consumers.
Yes Bank is celebrating the launch of this enhanced program during 'Truly Yours' Week, from December 1 – 7, 2020 throughout the bank's network of branches across India, with several customercentric programs and partnered activations through dealers.

SBI Launches RuPay JCB Platinum Contactless Debit Card

State Bank of India (SBI), in association with Japan's JCB International Co Ltd (JCB), has launched a debit card on National Payments Corporation of India's (NPCI) RuPay network.
The 'SBI RuPay JCB platinum contactless debit card' comes with a dual-interface feature, which will enable customers to perform both contact and contactless transactions in the domestic market and seamless contact transactions overseas.
With this card, consumers would be able to transact on ATMs and PoS terminals across the globe under JCB network.
The 'SBI RuPay JCB platinum contactless debit card' supports RuPay offline wallet-based transactions, enabling an additional payment mode within the Card.

Amit Sinha is Mahindra Group's New President for Group Strategy

Mahindra Group appointed Amit Sinha as President, Group Strategy. Amit will work closely with the Group businesses to help drive growth and returns. He will also oversee Synergy, Risk and Economist functions and play a key role in coordinating international synergies between Americas, Asia Pacific and Africa. He will report to Dr. Anish Shah, Deputy Managing Director and Group CFO, Mahindra Group and will be part of the Group Corporate Office Leadership Team.

Mindtree Partners with Databricks to Offer Cloud-based Data Intelligence

The IT solutions provider has partnered with Databricks, the data and AI company, to help customers implement cloud-based data platforms for advanced analytics.
Global enterprises across industries are looking for ways to more effectively gain actionable insights from large data sets, using artificial intelligence (AI) to perform increasingly complex tasks that solve business problems. To have effective AI, organisations require complete access to analytics on data lakesoften the largest data source in their organisation due to low-quality data.
Databricks offers a unified solution for data engineering, collaborative data science, full-lifecycle machine learning, and business analytics through a lake house architecture. With the Databricks platform, enterprises can build rich data sets and optimise machine learning at scale, streamline workflows across teams, foster collaboration, reduce infrastructure complexity, and deliver superior customer experiences.
Databricks offers a powerful platform for accelerating data driven innovation across businesses. Mindtree with its legacy in digital transformation technologies will help organisations leverage the Databricks platform and get timely access to data for meaningful business insights.

Wendy's Picks Rebel Foods to Expand Presence in India

American fast food restaurant chain Wendy's Company inked a new strategic partnership with Rebel Foods, while expanding its partnership with its existing master franchise Sierra Nevada Restaurants. This is being done to aggressively scale up the brand's footprint both online and offline in the country.
Under the new partnership, Rebel Foods in collaboration with Sierra Nevada Restaurants will develop and operate about 250 Wendy's cloud kitchens across India. At the same time, Sierra Nevada will develop and operate 150 traditional Wendy's restaurants.
Rebel Foods is the leading operator of online restaurants with over 300 cloud kitchens across India, UAE, South East Asia and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Sierra Nevada Restaurants launched Wendy's in India in 2015 and operates four traditional restaurants and currently operates five cloud kitchens in Delhi-NCR region.

Singapore Airlines Appoints Veteran Chen Sy Yen as New General Manager for India

Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIA) has appointed Chen Sy Yen, who was earlier overseeing operations at Germany, Switzerland and Austria region for the airline, as the new General Manager for India.
Chen Sy Yen takes over from David Lim, who served as the General Manager of India for the airline since 2016.
Mr. Chen in his new role as General Manager India, Mr. Chen is entrusted with the responsibility of nurturing SIA's global vision while ensuring the fruition of the company's business objectives in the country.
Yen, who has worked close to three decades with Singapore Airlines, has held key leadership positions with the airline. He began his career with Singapore Airlines in 1993, when he joined as an administrative officer in the cargo division, and went on to serve in several senior managerial positions in Singapore and across international markets like Japan, Malaysia, USA, and Europe.

Dec 01, 2020

Sandeep Kataria New Global CEO of Bata Brands

Leading shoe maker, Bata Shoe Organisation appointed its India Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Kataria as its global CEO, becoming the first Indian to be elevated in this role.
Kataria took over from Alexis Nasard who stepped down after almost five years in the role.
With 24 years of experience at Unilever, Yum Brands and Vodafone in India and Europe before joining Bata India as CEO in 2017, Kataria has been directly involved in leading businesses and brands.

S&P Global to Buy IHS Markit

Data giant S&P Global Inc has agreed to buy IHS Markit Ltd in an all-stock deal worth $44 billion that will be the biggest corporate acquisition of 2020 and create a heavyweight in the increasingly competitive market in financial information.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021 if it can pass reviews by antitrust regulators who have been showing increasing interest in the sector.
S&P Global is best known for providing debt ratings to countries and companies, as well as data on capital and commodity markets worldwide. It became a standalone business in 2011 when its then parent McGraw-Hill separated S&P from its education business.
IHS Markit was formed in 2016 when IHS, whose businesses range from data on automotive and technology industries to publishing Jane's Defence Weekly, bought Markit Ltd for around $6 billion.

Paytm Money to Facilitate Investments in IPO

Fintech major Paytm said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Paytm Money will now facilitate investments in Initial Public Offers (IPOs).
The move is aimed at benefiting retail investors with wealth creation opportunities, as they will be able to seamlessly apply and join the growth story of rapidly expanding companies.
The company has made the process of IPO application completely digital and simple for retail investors to apply for public offers, and will continue to add new tech-savvy features for enhanced user experience.
The company is aiming to capture 8 to 10 per cent of applications market share in the first year of launch.

PFC & REC Extend Term Loan to STPL

Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and REC Ltd. (REC) have executed an MoU with SJVN Thermal (P) Ltd. (STPL) for extending term loan of Rs. 8,520.46 crore for 2x660 MW Buxar Thermal Power Project. STPL is a wholly owned subsidiary of SJVN Limited and executing the project.

Nov 30, 2020

UNDP India Launches GRID for Inclusive Development

UNDP Accelerator Lab India launched the Grassroot Innovation Database (GRID) to foster inclusive development at the community-level, according to a statement.
It contains 1,500 solutions, ranging from simple to complex in design, which can be implemented at the community-level and these innovative solutions have been developed by grassroot communities, individuals, start-ups, students and other innovators from various states across India, the UNDP said in a statement.
The unique database caters to various sectors which include livelihood, natural resource management, agriculture, agro-biodiversity, pest management, water management, farm machinery, biodiversity conservation, augmentation, inclusive growth, waste management, circular economy amongst others.

RBI Advises Lakshmi Vilas Bank to Fully Write Down Tier-2 Bonds Before DBS Merger

Lakshmi Vilas Bank will merge into DBS Bank, leading to removal of all restrictions, including withdrawal cap of Rs. 25,000, which the RBI had placed on the lender earlier this month.
Lakshmi Vilas Bank informed the exchanges that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised the bank to fully write down Rs. 318 crore of its tier-2 bonds before the amalgamation with Singapore-based DBS Bank came into effect on 27 November 2020.

RXIL's First Trade Credit Insurance Transaction in Sandbox with Tata AIG, ICICI Bank and YES Bank

Receivables Exchange of India Ltd. (RXIL) initiated a Trade Credit Insurance (TCI) backed transaction with Tata AIG as the insurer and ICICI Bank, YES Bank as the financiers in Sandbox environment.
This is the first time a TReDS platform has tested the efficacy of TCI backed transaction improving the ability of financiers in assigning credit limits to corporates. TCI, once implemented post regulatory approvals, will enable financiers to discount the invoices drawn on lower rated corporate buyers, by their MSME sellers and will improve the liquidity from lenders.
The adoption of Trade Credit Insurance on TReDS will pave the way for a completely digital bite-sized credit insurance model. Buying credit insurance on TReDS will be as simple as buying travel insurance while buying an air ticket on a travel portal, devoid of the lengthy paperwork generally associated with trade insurance.

Initiated At The Enhancement Of Investor Awareness SEBI Launches SMART's

Markets regulator SEBI launched the Securities Market Trainers (SMARTs) program, an initiative aimed at enhancing investor education and awareness.
"In the present scenario of uncertainty in economic growth and extraordinarily buoyant market, there is a dire need to further ramp up the investor education and awareness efforts," SEBI Chairman Ajay Tyagi said.
"In that sense, there couldn't have been any better time to launch SMARTs, an initiative of SEBI, to strengthen the existing investor education framework," he said in a statement. He also exhorted SMARTs to keep abreast of developments in the securities market and expressed confidence that they would take investor education to all parts of the country. The launch of the SMARTs program comes amid World Investor Week is celebrated across the country.

Nov 29, 2020

YES Bank Launches SMS Pay Functionality for Merchants

Private sector lender YES Bank has launched a special service that would enable merchants to accept contactless and remote payments from their customers.
Called SMS Pay, the functionality on PoS terminals in partnership with Worldline, is aimed at shopkeepers and merchants, including local kirana stores and departmental stores, enabling them to request payments against invoices by simply entering the amount and customer contact details on their PoS machines.
An SMS would then be sent to the customer's mobile number with a payment link, allowing them to pay securely through their domestic debit and credit cards.
This initiative is in line with the bank's commitment to support small and medium businesses in restarting their businesses while providing safety to their customers. SMS Pay is a step towards facilitating merchants to accept remote payments on their PoS machines.

France to Impose Digital Tax on Big tech Companies like Google, Facebook, Apple

France will impose new digital tax on online technology giants for their 2020 earnings, despite a retaliatory threat from the US, impacting US firms Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple.
Washington has warned that it could retaliate with new tariffs on French imports.
As per reports, the companies subject to this tax have been notified.
Ealier, in May, nearly 140 countries from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) were negotiating the first major rewriting of tax rules in more than a generation, to take better account of the rise of big tech companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google that often book profit in low-tax countries.

IRDA Okays Bharti AXA, ICICI Lombard Deal

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has given in-principle approval to the acquisition of non-life insurance business of Bharti AXA by ICICI Lombard General Insurance.
The two companies had announced the proposed merger in August this year.
ICICI Lombard is progressing applications for receipt of requisite approvals from other concerned regulators for the transaction.
Upon closing of the proposed transaction, the consolidated entity will have a market share of about 8.7 per cent in the non-life business.

Vodafone Idea Partners Edtech, Healthcare Firms to Generate Revenue

Vodafone Idea (VIL) has teamed up with multiple partners in learning and up skilling, health and wellness space to bring an array of digital products and services, with exclusive benefits for its customers.
The move would enable the telecom operator to enhance digital engagement, build a future stream of revenue and create a brand differentiation, besides positioning it as a larger platform of digital services, beyond the core telephony offerings.
VIL's strategic partnerships with players in the areas of learning and upskilling, health and wellness, and business would enable it to offer benefits and additional proposition to customers. The company has forged partnerships with upGrad, Udemy, Pedagogy, cure.fit, 1mg, MFine, Eunimart and others, and plans to on-board more partners under each of these areas to enable Vi users get exclusive offers from these players.
Vodafone Idea CEO, Ravinder Takkar said, "One of the key pillars of VIL's business strategy is to drive partnerships and digital revenue streams, across segments. This will help us drive more value for our customers and offer growth opportunities for the business".

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