General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - June 2020

Jun 2020

Jul 26, 2020

TRIFED Signs MoU with IIT Delhi under Govt's 'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan'

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) entered into a partnership with IIT Delhi under the HRD Ministry's flagship 'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan' (UBA) to boost livelihood opportunities and income generation for tribal communities.
The UBA connects higher education institutions with villages for the economic and social betterment of rural communities.
TRIFED functions under the Tribal Affairs Ministry.
Under TRIFED's 'Van Dhan' programme, tribal entrepreneurs will now be able to get access to the expertise of the entire network of more than 2,600 academic and research institutions under the UBA.
With the partnership with IIT Delhi and 'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan', these tribal forest dwellers engaged in MFPs will get exposure to newer processing technologies, product innovation, mentorship, transformational digital systems and hand holding.

RBI Signs $400 mn Currency Swap with Sri Lanka

The Reserve Bank of India signed necessary documents for extending $ 400 million currency swap facility to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. This currency swap arrangement, which will remain available till November 2022 will help Colombo address the economic hardships caused due by pandemic.
Based on the request from the Sri Lankan side for a currency swap facility under the SAARC Currency Swap Framework, India extended a $ 400 million currency swap under the SAARC framework.
The signing of the currency swap agreement with Sri Lanka illustrates India's commitment to assist its friendly neighbour on its economic revival during the time of Covid-19 pandemic.

India-UK Hold 14th Joint Economic and Trade Committee Meeting

India and the U.K. have affirmed their commitment to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) with a view to further strengthening economic ties.
The issue was discussed in the 14th Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting between the two countries. It was co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and U.K. Secretary of State for International Trade Elizabeth Truss.

Jul 25, 2020

Amazon Pay Partners with Acko General Insurance Ltd to Offer Auto Insurance in India

Amazon Pay, the payments arm of Amazon India has partnered with Acko General Insurance Ltd to offer auto insurance for two and four-wheelers in India, a 100% paperless insurance plan. Customers can avail this auto insurance from Amazon Pay page, Amazon app or mobile website and can get a quote for their car or bike's insurance by providing basic details.
The customers can get claims with one-hour pick-up, three-day assured claim servicing, and one-year repair warranty in select cities. It can be bought within 2 minutes.
The policyholders will have an option for instant cash settlements for low-value claims.

Shipping Ministry Waives Off Waterway Usage Charges to Promote Inland Waterways

The shipping ministry waived off waterway usage charges in a bid to promote inland waterways as a cheaper mode of transport. Water usage charge was applicable on use of all the national waterways by vessels, and the waiver, applicable immediately, will remain in effect for a period of three years.
The decision of waiving waterway charges will attract the industries to use the national waterways for their logistical needs. Presently, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) levies waterway usage charges at a rate of Rs. 0.02 per gross registered tonnage (GRT) per kilometre for plying of inland cargo vessels and Rs. 0.05 per gross registered tonnage (GRT) per kilometre for plying of cruise vessels on national waterways.
The decision is estimated to increase the inland waterway traffic movement to 110 million metric tonne (MMT) in 2022-23 from 72 MMT in 2019-20.

World's Largest Global Fintech Fest

The 1st edition of two days long world's largest Global Fintech Fest (GFF) was held virtually, which was organised by Payments Council of India (PCI) and Fintech Convergence Council (FCC) at National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the theme "Fintech : With and Beyond COVID". The aim of the fest was to bring together the global FinTech and Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector.
Notably, both organisers of the fest work under the aegis of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
The event was hosted by 6Connex Inc., a provider of virtual event solutions.
The Department of Economic Affairs – Ministry of Finance, Government of India and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) were the Presenting Partners for this event.
This event was also powered by Amazon Pay and brought to you by WhatsApp and Google Pay, it is also supported by the World Bank and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).

Govt. Imposes Restrictions on Public Procurement from China and Neighbours

The Government of India amended the General Financial Rules 2017 to enable imposition of restrictions on bidders from countries which share a land border with India on grounds of defence of India, or matters directly or indirectly related thereto including national security, a move squarely aimed at China.
However, it provided relaxation in case of medical supplies in light of Covid-19. And keeping in mind some other neighbouring countries, nations with which India has a line of credit or provides development assistance were also exempted.
According to the new order, any bidder from countries sharing a land border with India will be eligible to bid in any procurement whether of goods, services or works only if the bidder is registered with the 'Competent Authority.'
The Competent Authority, in this case, is the Registration Committee constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Political and security clearance from the Ministries of External and Home Affairs respectively will be mandatory.
The order is applicable for central and state governments, public sector banks and financial institutions, autonomous bodies, state-owned companies and public private partnership projects, receiving financial support from the Government.

RBI Releases Report of Committee For Analysis of QR Code

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) publicised the "Report of the Committee for Analysis of QR (Quick Response) Code" under the chairmanship of Prof. Deepak B. Phatak on its website for comments/suggestions of various industry players currently involved in or associated with the use of QR codes before August 10, 2020. The report has recommended making QR codes more interoperable. QR code is used to pay utility bills, fuel, grocery, food, travel, and several other categories.
In India, the factors of post demonetization, increased penetration of smartphones and high-speed internet connectivity led to the increased adoption of QR codes for digital payments. There are three different types of QR Codes in India viz.
Bharat QR– It is the world's first fully interoperable QR code payment system. Its specifications have been jointly developed by RuPay, Visa, MasterCard, and Amex.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) QR– It was launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in August 2016.
Proprietary QR (Closed loop) – It is provided by RBI authorized companies as Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI).
The committee has recommended phasing out of proprietary, closed loop QR codes as it requires customers to manage separate apps and is creating hindrance in this payment system. Instead RBI must encourage the use of interoperable QR codes such as the Bharat QR and UPI QR to enable faster on-boarding of all types of merchants for digital payments.

CCI Approves Krishnapatnam Port Acquisition by Adani, SEZL

Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved acquisition of Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited. The proposed transaction involves acquisition of equity shareholding along with management control of 100 per cent of the total issued and outstanding preference share capital of Krishnapatnam Port Company.
Adani Ports is a customer-facing integrated port infrastructure services provider currently present across ten domestic ports in six maritime states of Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. The Acquirer manages the logistics chain (i.e. from vessels management to anchorage, pilotage, tug pulling, berthing, goods handling, internal transport, storage and handling, processing and final evacuation by road or rail).
KPCL is engaged as a developer and operator of the deep water port at Krishnapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, pursuant to the concession agreement on Build-Operate-Share-Transfer basis with Government of Andhra Pradesh for a period of thirty years from the date of commercial operations and entitled for a further period of 20 years (two periods of 10 years each).

Jul 24, 2020

NSDC and Airtel Payments Bank Join Hands to Skill Rural Youth

Airtel Payments Bank and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) on Wednesday announced a partnership to skill the youth in rural India and enable them to find employment opportunities in the financial services sector. The partnership will leverage NSDC's experience, training infrastructure and wide network with Airtel Payment Bank's industry insights, to design and conduct targeted skill development programmes for rural youth.
Through our strategic partnership with Airtel Payments Bank, NSDC aims at imparting the youth with knowledge and training that render financial and banking services more accessible to rural and semi-urban India.
The skill development programme will be tailored for imparting knowledge and skills for entry-level jobs, such as business correspondent and field sales executive, in the financial services sector.
The programme will focus on adoption of digital tools to drive online banking and digital financial services, given the growing penetration of affordable smartphones and 4G networks in the country.

Nitin Gadkari Launches Advisory Platform, 'RestartIndia'

Nitin Gadkari, the minister for micro, small and medium enterprise sector launched www.restartindia.in, a mentoring platform primarily aimed at aiding the sector to restart businesses across the country.
Muthoot Fincorp and INKtalks, an innovation platform for young professionals jointly conceptualised 'RestartIndia', which is an open platform for advisory support.
The single platform to get information on various schemes that the government has initiated and to connect with professionals/experts from various fields is in sync with the Atmanirbhar project.
The platform designed is to address the needs of the MSME sector, particularly the nano and micro enterprises. It will offer solutions to the problems faced by a large number of women entrepreneurs making a livelihood by setting up very small businesses, following the pandemic crisis.

Bank of Baroda Launches 'Insta Click Savings Account'

India's third-largest public sector bank, Bank of Baroda (BoB) launched 'Insta Click Savings Account', a 100% paperless digital self-assisted online savings account. It can be activated in real-time, i.e. the customer can transact using the Baroda M Connect Plus application with the MPIN received on the mobile number.
It also offers an option to subscribe to a wide range of digital channels like mobile banking, Internet banking, UPI (unified payments interface), and debit card.
For authentication of the customer, it uses a new form of digital KYC (know-your-customer) and Aadhaar-based OTP (one-time password) authentication of the customer which can be operated from the bank's website.
The documents required to open the account is Aadhar number with registered mobile number, Permanent Account Number (PAN) Card, E mail ID and Valid Mobile number.

Tenth BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting: Piyush Goyal Calls for All Nations to Enhance Transparency i...

Addressing the 10th BRICS Trade Ministers virtual Meeting, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal called for all nations to enhance transparency in their trade and build trust to prevent losing their role as a preeminent trade partner
The Minister said that the ongoing crisis has exposed the world to vulnerabilities, forcing us to explore ways to support each other. He said that trade can be an engine for reviving growth in such a scenario and this is premised on strengthening of the WTO based on its principles of openness, fairness, transparency, inclusivity, and non-discrimination. Mr. Goyal called for removing multiple hurdles in access to medicines at affordable prices created by the WTO rules for protecting intellectual property. He said that intellectual property rights should not block access to critical medicines and other devices required for the treatment of the disease.
Calling upon BRICS to support responsible investment, Goyal said that it should be aimed at balanced outcomes and create gains even for recipient countries and, most importantly, employment generation.

RIL First Indian Company to Reach Market Cap of Rs. 13 Lakh crore

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd broke into the top 50 most valued companies globally after it became the first company with market capitalisation of over Rs. 13 lakh crore.
According to stock market data, the oil-to-telecom conglomerate is ranked 48th in market cap globally.
Globally, Saudi Aramco is the company with the highest market cap of USD 1.7 trillion, followed by Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet.
No Indian company has ever crossed an m-cap of Rs. 13 lakh crore.
This is higher than Chevron's about USD 170 billion m-cap as well as likes of Oracle, Unilever, Bank of China, BHP Group, Royal Dutch Shell and SoftBank Group.
Reliance is the 10th highest m-cap company in Asia. China's Alibaba Group is ranked 7th globally.

India and Maldives Sign Contract for Development of Geydoshu Mas Plant in Maldives

India and Maldives inked an agreement to set up Geydoshu Mas Plant (Neighborhood Fish Processing Plants) at two islands in the Addu city of Maldives namely Maradhoo and Hulhudhoo. The Contract signing ceremony was held in Addu City, which attended virtually Maldives' Foreign Secretary Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed, High Commissioner of India to the Maldives Sunjay Sudir, along with other members of Maldives' Ministry of Foreign affairs.
This agreement was inked on the lines of Memorandum of Association (MoU) signed by both nations in 2019 stating setting up of 3 Geydoshu Mas Plants in Maradhoo, Hithahoo and Hulhudhoo at a cost of around USD 1.5 million which was signed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
This agreement is also first in the series of "Indian Grant Assistance for Implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects through local bodies" in Maldives at a total cost of $5.5 million.

Jul 23, 2020

HIL Supplies 20.60MT of DDT 75 % WP to South Africa for Malaria Control

HIL (formerly Hindustan Insecticides Limited), a PSU under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers supplied 20.60 metric tonnes of DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) 75% Wettable powder (WP) to South Africa for their Malaria control programme in three province adjoining Mozambique. The region is highly affected with Malaria and it reported maximum morbidity and mortality due to the disease in recent years.
It is to be noted that HIL is the sole manufacturer of DDT globally.
HIL was incorporated in 1954 to manufacture and supply DDT to the Government of India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for malaria control programme. In the year 2019-20, the product was supplied to 20 States in the country.

Modi Invites US Firms to Invest in Healthcare, Defence and Energy

Making a pitch for attracting investments in India, aspiring to be a major player in the global supply chain, and dovetailing it with the government's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the US business conglomerates that now is the best time to invest in India.
At a time when the government policy of self-reliance has created a buzz in world capitals of India being protectionist, PM Modi told the gathering in the US the campaign was about India's contribution towards a prosperous and resilient world. It took a global pandemic to remind the world about the importance of domestically strong economic capacity and bring the focus back on to it.
Outlining the sectors offering opportunities for investment with handsome returns, including agriculture, civil aviation, defence, energy, health, insurance, infrastructure and space, Modi said that in each of these sectors the government effected major policy changes making it easy for investors to explore opportunities backed with the country's rise in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business graph.

LIC-UBI Announces Corporate Agency Pact

Union Bank of India (UBI), after its amalgamation with Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank, has announced a corporate agency agreement with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to distribute latter's policies.
As per the pact, UBI can act as a financial supermarket by offering LIC products of term insurance, pension, plan, children plan, ULIPs, and endowment schemes to its account holders, whereby they can select products according to their choice.

Rahul Bajaj To Step Down as Bajaj Finance's Chairman, Sanjiv to Take Over

Sanjiv Bajaj will be new non-executive chairman of Bajaj Finance from August 2020. He will succeed Rahul Bajaj, who has been at the helm of the company since its inception in 1987 and the group for over five decades.
As part of a succession plan, Rahul Bajaj has decided to demit the office as chairman of the board with effect from July 31.
Rahul Bajaj will continue to serve as a non-executive non-independent director.

NPCI Launches UPI AutoPay Feature for Recurring Payments

National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) launched UPI AutoPay feature for recurring payments. With this new facility, customers can enable recurring e-mandate using any UPI application for recurring payments such as mobile bills, electricity bills, EMI payments, entertainment and OTT subscriptions, insurance, mutual funds and loan payments, among others of up to Rs. 2000. If the amount exceeds Rs. 2000, customers have to execute every mandate with UPI PIN.
Any UPI-enabled application would also have a 'Mandate' section, through which customers can create, approve, modify, pause as well as revoke auto debit mandate. The mandate section will allow users to view their past mandates for their reference and records. UPI users can create e-mandate through UPI ID, QR scan or Intent. The pattern for auto debit mandate has been created keeping in mind customers' spends on recurring payments. The mandates can be set for one-time, daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, half yearly and yearly.
The customers have to authenticate their account through UPI PIN for one-time and subsequent monthly payments would be debited automatically.
Some of the banks, merchants and aggregators who have already gone live with UPI AutoPay are Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, HSBC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Paytm Payments Bank, AutoPe-Delhi Metro, AutoPe-Dish TV, CAMS Pay, Furlenco, Growfitter, Policy Bazaar, Testbook.com, The Hindu, Times Prime, Paytm, PayU, RazorPay, among others. Jio Payments Bank, State Bank of India and YES Bank will soon go live with UPI AutoPay.

Jul 22, 2020

Ebay Agrees to Sell Classified Ads Business to Adevinta

Ebay Inc agreed to sell its classified ads business to Norwegian group Adevinta in a deal worth $9.2 billion, creating the world's largest classifieds group.
Ebay will receive $2.5 billion in cash and 540 million shares of Adevinta, making it the largest shareholder with a 44% stake of the proforma company.
Adevinta becomes the largest online classifieds company globally, with a unique portfolio of leading marketplace brands.
Adevinta was spun out of Nordic media company Schibsted and listed on the Oslo bourse last year.

Iran Denies Dropping India from Chabahar-Zahedan Rail Project

Iran denied that it has dropped India from the Chabahar rail project, and said that vested interests were behind such reports.
The Indian embassy in Iran stated that Ambassador Gaddam Dharmendra was invited by Saeed Rasouli, Deputy Minister Roads and Head of Iran Railways, to review the ongoing cooperation on Chabahar-Zahedan railway.
Last week, a report had surfaced claiming that the Hassan Rouhani-led government in Iran decided to exclude India from the construction project of Zahedan.
India had signed an agreement with Iran to construct a rail line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, along the border with Afghanistan.

Vikram to Invest $726 million to Make Solar Equipment

India's Vikram Solar Ltd. is planning to invest 54.32 billion rupees ($726 million) to make solar energy equipment in the South Asian country, which is encouraging domestic manufacturing to reduce imports.
The company will build a factory in Tamil Nadu. The 3-gigawatt plant, expected to be completed in five years, will make wafers, cells and modules, Kolkata-based Vikram Solar said in a separate statement.
Vikram's pact with Tamil Nadu follows last week's announcement by ReNew Power Pvt., which said that the company plans to invest as much as 20 billion rupees for setting up a 2-gigawatt cells and modules making facility. The renewable power producer is in talks with various Indian states for the venture.

ED Acts on Brazil's Request, Freezes over 60 Bank Accounts in India

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated action on the request of Brazilian government in a case relating to money laundering in that country and has written to bank authorities to freeze a little over 60 bank accounts in India.
As per reports, the agency initiated the action under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in pursuance of a mutual agreement between the two nations to combat financial crimes.
The over 60 bank accounts are held by some individuals and businessmen based in the country, who are under scanner of the Brazilian authority. The probe is related to some high profile people of Brazil.
It is also learnt that the Brazilian government has shared evidence which prime facie substantiates charges of money laundering involving the Brazilian governor and Indian individuals, who allegedly transacted with the governor.

Jeff Bezos Adds Record $13bn to Wealth in One Day

Jeff Bezos added $13 billion to his net worth on Monday, the largest single-day jump for an individual since the Bloomberg Billionaires Index was created in 2012.
Bezos, Amazon's founder and the world's richest person, saw his fortune swell $74 billion in 2020 to $189.3 billion, despite the US entering its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. He's now personally worth more than the market valuation of giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp, Nike Inc and McDonald's Corp.
Mackenzie Bezos, his ex-wife, gained $4.6 billion and is now the 13th-richest person in the world.
Other tech titans, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, are also enjoying a surge driven partly by people forced to stay at home and helped by the boost given to markets by stimulus efforts by governments.

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