General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - June 2020

Jun 2020

Sep 13, 2020

Sebi Shortlists Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Others to Revamp IT Infra Network

Markets regulator Sebi has shortlisted eight companies including Bharti Airtel, Wipro and Tata Communications to revamp its IT infrastructure network and communication systems.
The other shortlisted companies are -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise India, IBM India, NTT India, Orange Business Services India Technology and Sify Technologies.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is looking to refurbish its IT infrastructure network and communication systems.
Besides, it is planning to have a centralised control over its network and IP (internet protocol) telephony infrastructure.

Sep 12, 2020

ADB, ENGIE Sign Rs. 466-crore Loan for Developing Solar Project in Gujarat

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide ENGIE group with a loan of 4.66 billion Indian rupees (about $65.5 million) to construct and operate a solar pv project in India.
The 200MW solar pv plant will be constructed at Raghanesda Solar Park in India's western state of Gujarat.
The ADB is providing the funding along with another international lender.
ENGIE will implement the project through subsidiary Electro Solaire Private Limited.
The company is collaborating with the Government of Gujarat to construct the project and has signed a power purchase agreement for 25 years with the state government.

TikTok Owner ByteDance to Invest Billions in Singapore Over Three Years

TikTok owner ByteDance plans to invest billions of dollars and recruit hundreds of employees in Singapore after opting to base its Southeast Asia regional headquarters there.
ByteDance has also stepped up the purchase of servers in global trade and transport hub Singapore to back up U.S. data as a contingency.
The Chinese firm is being forced by President Donald Trump to sell TikTok's U.S. assets to avoid a ban in United States.
The Trump administration has cited a potential national security risk due to the vast amount of private data which the short video app is compiling on U.S. consumers.

India Slips 26 Spots on Economic Freedom Index

India has fallen 26 spots to the 105th position on the Global Economic Freedom Index 2020, according to a report.
The country was at the 79th spot in last year's rankings.
The Economic Freedom of the World: 2020 Annual Report by Canada's Fraser Institute has been released in India in conjunction with New Delhi-based think tank Centre For Civil Society.
The report said prospects for increasing economic freedom in India depend on next generation reforms in factor markets and in greater openness to international trade.

Sep 11, 2020

ICICI Prudential Life Partners With NSDL Payments Bank to Offer Insurance Products

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has entered into a corporate agency agreement with NSDL Payments Bank, a subsidiary of National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL).
Under the agreement, ICICI Prudential Life will provide its customer-centric protection and savings products to customers of NSDL Payments Bank.
N S Kannan, the Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, said the key objective of both partners is to leverage technology to provide a hassle-free and immersive experience to customers.

Mastercard Launches Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) Testing Platform

With the global economy racing to embrace digital payments, central banks also are looking to the future and investigating how to support innovation while maintaining monetary policy and financial stability as they issue and distribute currency.
In fact, 80 percent of central banks surveyed are engaging in some form of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) work, and about 40 percent of central banks have progressed from conceptual research to experimenting with concept and design, according to a recent survey by the Bank for International Settlements.

Sep 10, 2020

Silver Lake to Invest in Reliance Retail

According to Reliance Industries (RIL), US private equity (PE) firm Silver Lake would invest Rs. 7,500 crore in its subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL) for a 1.75 per cent stake, valuing the company at Rs 4.2 trillion. This came a day after Silver Lake had led a Rs. 3,750-crore investment round in edtech firm Bjyu's.
Earlier this year, Silver Lake invested Rs. 10,202 crore in Jio Platforms, RIL's digital services platform.
The fund infusion by Silver Lake in Reliance Retail, however, sets the stage for more stake sales by the company, including one to PE firm KKR, also an investor in Jio Platforms. KKR may put up to $1.5 billion (or Rs. 11,250 crore) in Reliance Retail as it seeks a slice of the country's largest retailer, sources told Business Standard.
RIL had given the option to investors in Jio Platforms to consider backing Reliance Retail as it sought to unlock value, following the acquisition of Future Group's retail assets.

SBI Mutual Fund Launches SBI Magnum Children's Benefit Fund

SBI Mutual Fund launched SBI Magnum Children's Benefit Fund - Investment Plan, an open-ended fund to help parents to invest for their children's future. The Investment Plan is a new offering as part of SBI Magnum Children's Benefit Fund, which currently has Savings Plan, a predominantly debt-oriented offering.
SBI Magnum Children's Benefit Fund – Investment Plan will predominantly invest in equity and equity-related instruments including equity ETFs with a minimum of 65% going up to 100%, debt including debt ETFs and money market instruments up to a maximum of 35%, in REITS and InvITs up to 10%, and up to 20 % in Gold ETFs.
The new plan would be ideal for a child aged one year ideally going up to when he/she is 14 years old, thereby allowing long-term capital appreciation over the long-term. There would be a lock-in period for at least give years or till the child attains age of majority, whichever is earlier.

Sitharaman Launches Doorstep Banking Initiative by Public Sector Banks

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched a doorstep banking services initiative by public sector banks (PSBs) which will provide convenience to customers.
This is part of EASE (enhanced access and service excellence) reforms that the Department of Financial Services had undertaken in 2018.
Customer convenience and comfort will be the top priority in the entire process.
The EASE reforms have resulted in improving various financial parameters of PSBs, and there has been a six-fold increase in the number of profitable lenders in the last two years.
As part of the EASE reforms, the doorstep banking initiative is envisaged to provide convenience of banking services to customers at their doorstep through the universal touch points of call centre, web portal or mobile app.
The services will be rendered by the doorstep banking agents deployed by the selected service providers at 100 centres across the country.
At present only non-financial services like pick up of negotiable instruments (cheque/demand draft/pay order etc), pick up of 15G / 15H forms, pick up of IT/GST challan, request for account statement, delivery of term deposit receipt, among others, are available to customers.

Sep 09, 2020

Tomar Launches National Bamboo Mission Logo

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar released a logo for the National Bamboo Mission (NBM) while inaugurating 22 bamboo clusters in nine states.
These clusters are in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Karnataka.
Tomar said that the country is now gearing up to increase the export of bamboo products.
The import policy has also been modified to ensure progress of the bamboo industry in the country.
The winner of the logo contest, Sai Ram Goudi Edigi of Telengana was selected from 2,033 entries received on MyGov platform from across the country. The logo portrays a bamboo palm in the centre of a circle composed of half a wheel, representing industry, and half of farmers, depicting the objectives of NBM. The logo's green and yellow colour symbolises bamboo, which is often termed "green gold".

'Hunar Haat' to Return in Prayagraj Next Month after COVID Break

'Hunar Haat', the Minority Affairs Ministry's initiative to generate employment for master artisans, will make a comeback on October 9 in Prayagraj with the theme of 'local to global' and a focus on indigenous Indian toys.
As per Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, after a gap of about six months due to the coronavirus pandemic, the next 'Hunar Haat' will be organised in Prayagraj from October 9 to 18 and more than 30 per cent stalls will be for artisans who prepare indigenous toys.
This legacy, which was on the verge of extinction, has got a boon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for 'swadeshi toys.
'Hunar Haat' will be an enormous platform, providing market and opportunities to master artisans who prepare these indigenous exquisite toys.

Top Oil and Gas PSUs Join ISA's Climate Action Coalition

The country's five large state-owned oil and gas companies will join International Solar Alliance's Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action as corporate partners and will contribute to ISA's corpus fund.
The five public sector undertakings that will join the ISA coalition are Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Gail (India).
ISA is an alliance of sunshine rich countries set up by India and France on the sidelines of the Paris meeting on climate change in November 2015.
Oil and gas companies in India will work closely with ISA to explore opportunities for implementation of solar based projects within India as well in other countries, particularly other developing countries where ISA is focusing for faster development of solar energy infrastructure.

Govt. to Sell 15-20 per cent Stake in IRCTC via OFS

The government plans to sell about 15-20 per cent stake in IRCTC via offer for sale (OFS) and would like to complete the transaction in minimum number of tranches.
Last month, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had invited bids from merchant bankers by September 10 for managing the sale in Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp (IRCTC).
However, it did not disclose the quantum of stake on offer in the Request for Proposal (RFP).
DIPAM has now posted its response to the queries raised by potential bidders on its website.
The government currently holds 87.40 per cent stake in IRCTC. To meet SEBI's public holding norm, it has to lower its stake in the company to 75 per cent.
IRCTC, the only entity authorised by Indian Railways to provide catering services to railways, online railway tickets and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains in India, was listed on stock exchanges in October 2019.

Bank of India Launches Signature Visa Debit Card

Bank of India (BoI) launched "Signature Visa Debit Card" for the affluent/high net worth individuals maintaining an average quarterly balance of Rs. 10 lakhs and above.
As per the bank, this international contactless debit card will be available in metal and plastic variants.
This card will have a spending limit of up to Rs. 5 lakhs on POS & e-commerce and Rs. 1 lakh on ATM.
Other features include complimentary lounge access (2 per quarter) and offers on travel, retail, dining, lifestyle, entertainment, luxury hotels, reward points for online usage etc. It will also provide Insurance against fraudulent transactions.
On the occasion of the Bank's 115th Foundation Day, MD and CEO A. K. Das virtually inaugurated new buildings of Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETI) at Barabanki, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) and Giridih (Jharkhand).

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

October GK, September GK, August GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services and Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26