General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - October 2020

Oct 2020

Dec 15, 2020

Tata's among Multiple Bidders for Air India

Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group and US-based fund Interups Inc were among multiple entities that put in preliminary bids for buying loss-making carrier Air India.
A group of 219 Air India employees submitted an expression of interest (EoI) for the carrier in partnership with Interups at the close of the deadline.
The identity of the bidders or the number of bids received for buying the national carrier were revealed.
As per reports, Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, has put in an EoI and so did Interups, whose chairman Laxmi Prasad had in the run-up to the disinvestment made his intentions clear to bid for Air India.

MG Motor Announces Partnership with TES-AMM for Recycling of Li-ion Batteries

MG Motor India has announced its partnership with the TES-AMM for battery recycling in the country. The partnership will ensure the correct and safe recycling of lithium-ion batteries used in the brand's ZS EV electric-SUV.
According to the company, the partnership will ensure environmentally-sustainable and secure recycling of MG ZS EV batteries. It will ensure greater peace of mind to the ZS EV owners about their ecological footprint by proper recycling of batteries.
TES-AMM is Asia's only Li-ion battery recycling plant. It is one of the few companies certified in multiple management systems including battery recycling and more.
Annually TES process millions of devices across from over 35 countries. It uses a unique mechanical-hydrometallurgical process for enhanced asset recovery that is environmentally superior and safer.

Nokia Enters Laptop Market in India

Nokia entered its third consumer tech category in India by announcing its first laptop PureBook X14.
The company has already been selling smartphones and televisions in India. The smartphones come in collaboration with HMD Global but the PureBook laptops have been designed in partnership with e-commerce website Flipkart. The BIS listing that was spotted some days back suggested that these laptops are manufactured by Tongfang HongKong in Jiangsu, China.
Now, this is not a new category for Nokia. The Finnish tech manufacturer has been selling notebooks in other markets but has only decided to come to India now.
The category has seen a revival of sorts post COVID-19 pandemic and eventual Work From Home practices. The segment is fast evolving and expanding with several new and old brands looking to make most of it. To keep up, is going to be tough.

Torrent Gas to Invest Rs. 5,000 crore in Chennai City Gas Project

Torrent Gas Ltd pledged Rs. 5,000 crore investment to develop infrastructure to retail CNG to automobiles and piped gas to households and industries in Chennai, the biggest city gas license in its portfolio.
Torrent Gas, part of the pharma-to-energy Torrent Group, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Tamil Nadu for development of city gas infrastructure at the Growth and Investment Conclave in Chennai.
The firm will lay pipelines and other infrastructure in Chennai and Tiruvallur districts, covering an area of 3,569 square kilometres, to provide piped natural gas (PNG) connections to homes, industries and commercial establishments. It will also set up the infrastructure to dispense compressed natural gas (CNG) to automobiles.

Oaktree, Piramal, Adani Submit Revised Bids for DHFL

Oaktree Capital, Piramal Capital and Housing and Adani Group are the three entities that have submitted revised bids for troubled Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd even as jailed promoter, Kapil Wadhawan, has sent a fresh missive promising to fully pay back all creditors.
Oaktree Capital is understood to be the highest bidder at about Rs. 36,700 crore, while Piramal has put in a bid for Rs. 35,500 crore. Adani Group has bid for DHFL at Rs. 33,100 crore.
Adani and Piramal are understood to have put in two separate offers. Piramal has bid for the entire portfolio and has also put in a separate offer for the retail book.

Dec 14, 2020

Oracle Moves Headquarters to Texas, Joining Silicon Valley Exodus

Oracle Corporation has moved its headquarters to Texas, from its home state of California to give employees more flexibility on where they do their jobs.
The move to Austin from Redwood City means that many of the employees can choose their office location as well as continue to work from home part time or all of the time. The company will continue to support its other US office locations in Santa Monica, California, Seattle, Denver, Orlando, and Burlington, Massachusetts.

IMF, World Bank Raise Pressure on Nigeria to Reform Currency

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank have intensified calls on Nigeria to speed up currency reforms without which Africa's largest economy may fail to achieve the growth it needs to prevent millions more from falling into penury.
According to IMF, a unified and flexible exchange rate will ease external imbalances and bolster activity in the OPEC nation, which slid into its second recession in four years in the third quarter.
As per the World Bank President, Muhammadu Buhari's administration needed to change foreign-exchange policies if it wanted to get a $1.5 billion loan. The country is asking for financial help to overcome a crisis that could sink an extra 11 million people into poverty by 2022, bringing the total number to 100 million, or about half of the population.

Kia Motors Aims to Expand its Sales Network in Smaller Towns

South Korean automaker Kia Motors aims to expand its sales network in smaller towns and rural areas as it looks to scale up its presence across the country.
The company, which has achieved success in India with models like Seltos and Sonet, is also focusing on enhancing the profitability of its dealer partners.
According to Tae-Jin Park, executive director and chief sales officer of Kia Motors India, the company is expanding its network and aiming to reach 300 touch points by the end of this year and will now focus on expansion in tier-IV and upcountry markets which will help further penetrate deeper in the Indian market.

Dec 13, 2020

SBI General Insurance, Mahindra Partner to Enter Tier 2 and 3 Cities

SBI General Insurance has partnered with Mahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd (MIBL) to raise its penetration in tier-II and III cities. This association will enable the company to provide health insurance cover to a significant number of people in tier-II and III cities and generate employment.
Under this 'Sajhedaari programme', the insurer hopes to make a significant milestone in realising its vision to be the most-trusted general insurer. SBI General is also associated with MIBL for new car, commercial vehicle, tractors and used-car insurance. In the digital space also, SBI General has partnered with PAYBIMA, a digital platform by MIBL for providing affordable insurance solutions.

Blackstone to Buy Piramal Glass for $1 Billion

Blackstone Group Inc. has agreed to acquire the glass unit of Indian conglomerate Piramal Enterprises Ltd. for about $1 billion.
The transaction could be announced as soon as in the next few weeks. The U.S. private equity giant is in talks with banks for about a $400 million, five-year loan to fund the deal.
Piramal Enterprises is looking to sell some non-core businesses to boost capital. In June, the group agreed to sell a 20% stake in Piramal Pharma Ltd. to private equity firm Carlyle Group Inc. for $490 million, giving the business an enterprise value of $2.7 billion.
Piramal Glass makes glass packaging and has factories in the U.S., India and Sri Lanka with a total capacity of 1,475 tons per day, according to its website. The former Gujarat Glass was acquired by Piramal Group in 1984.

ICICI Lombard New Health Insurance Plans: Cashless OPD, sum Insured Protector

ICICI Lombard, a private sector non-life insurance company, launched its ICICI Lombard Complete Health Insurance offering with new health plans and benefits. The plans – Health Shield, Health Shield Plus, Health Elite, and Health Elite Plus, will include the latest features and comprehensive coverage to provide enhanced protection to customers.
Some of the newly introduced coverage benefits include donor expenses, domiciliary hospitalization, emergency assistance, worldwide cover, unlimited reset, air ambulance, super NCB (no claim bonus), sum insured protector and claim protector, cashless OPD services, among others. The company claims to introduce benefits that are aligned to the new normal and, hence, contextual to today's needs of customers.

India Asks EU to Remove Non-tariff Barriers

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Friday asked the European Union to remove non-tariff barriers and standards so as to increase bilateral trade. At the CEO forum and Sweden-India strategic business partnership, he said that these barriers are "very often unachievable for any country in the world almost other than Europe".
India and Sweden will in the next three months draw up a roadmap to increase bilateral partnership.

Dec 12, 2020

Banks Sanction Rs. 2.05 lakh cr to 81 lakh MSMEs under Credit Guarantee Scheme

The Finance Ministry said that banks have sanctioned loans worth Rs. 2,05,563 crore to about 81 lakh accounts under the Rs. 3-lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector that was impacted by disruptions caused due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As per the Finance Ministry, 40 lakh MSME accounts have received Rs. 1,58,626 crore till December 4.
Announcing Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package 3.0 last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that Rs. 2.05 lakh crore sanctioned and Rs. 1.52 lakh crore disbursed under ECLGS 1.0.

Canara Bank Raises Rs. 2,000 crore via QIP; LIC Largest Investor

State-owned Canara Bank successfully raised Rs. 2,000 crore equity capital by issuing over 19 crore shares to eligible investors.
LIC emerged as the largest investor in the bank's qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue.
The subcommittee of the board at its meeting held on December 11 approved allotment of 19,32,36,714 equity shares to eligible qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) at an issue price of Rs. 103.50 per equity share, aggregating up to Rs. 2,000 crore.
The QIP had opened on December 7 and closed on December 10.

Julien Geffard to Head Ola's EV Business in Europe

Ride hailing major Ola appointed Julien Geffard as the Director of Go-To-Market Strategy for its electric business in Europe as it prepares to launch its range of electric scooters in Europe in the coming months.
In this role, Geffard will be responsible for building and growing Ola's European operations for its electric business and will be based in Amsterdam.
He brings over 15 years of deep automotive experience. Before joining Ola, he was the Global Commercial Director and a member of the board of management at Peugeot Motorcycles. He has worked with Bentley Motors Ltd, Alpine and BMW.

Hyundai Motor Group to Acquire Controlling Stake in Boston Dynamics

Hyundai Motor Group and SoftBank Group Corp. (SoftBank) agreed on main terms of the transaction pursuant to which Hyundai Motor Group will acquire a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics in a deal that values the mobile robot firm at $1.1 billion. The deal came as Hyundai Motor Group envisions the transformation of human life by combining world-leading robotics technologies with its mobility expertise.
Under the agreement, Hyundai Motor Group will hold an approximately 80% stake in Boston Dynamics and SoftBank, through one of its affiliates, will retain an approximately 20% stake in Boston Dynamics after the closing of the transaction. Hyundai Motor Group's affiliates - Hyundai Motor Co., Hyundai Mobis Co. and Hyundai Glovis Co. - and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung respectively participated in the acquisition.

Dec 11, 2020

Walmart to Triple Exports from India in Seven Years

Global retail major Walmart said that it will triple its exports of goods from India to $10 billion each year by 2027.
The expansion in sourcing will include categories such as food, pharmaceuticals, consumables, health & wellness, and general merchandise, along with the existing mainstays such as apparel and homeware.
Walmart annually sources goods worth about $3 billion, mainly apparel, homeware and jewellery to 14 markets, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Central America and the UK.
Walmart has sourced goods from India for more than 20 years and helped build new capabilities in packaging, marketing and supply chain management.

UAE's Lulu Group to Set Up Food Processing Centre in Jammu and Kashmir

The UAE-based Lulu Group International has announced a plan to set up a food processing centre in Srinagar for sourcing a wide range of agriculture products from Jammu and Kashmir.
The announcement was made by Lulu group chairman Yusuffali MA during a meeting with a delegation from Jammu and Kashmir headed by its Principal Secretary (Agriculture Production and Horticulture) Navin Kumar Choudhary on the sidelines of the UAE India Food Security Summit 2020.
Currently, Lulu imports apples and saffron from Kashmir.
Lulu Group is one of the leading importers of food and non-food products from India and setting up of a new food processing and logistics centre will further boost export of Kashmiri products to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and other countries.
GCC is a political and economic union of six Arab states bordering the Gulf. Its members are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

French Privacy Watchdog Slaps Fine on Google and Azmazon

France's data privacy watchdog has fined Google 100 million euros (USD 121 million) and Amazon 35 million euros (USD 42 million) for breaching the country's rules on advertising cookies.
The CNIL said that the French websites of both companies did not request prior consent from internet users about trackers, or cookies that were automatically saved on computers for advertising purposes.
It said that Google and Amazon also failed to provide clear information to users about the purposes of these cookies and how they might refuse them.

RBI Lifts Restriction on Uttar Pradesh Civil Secretariat Primary Co-operative Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lifted restrictions on Uttar Pradesh Civil Secretariat Primary Co-operative Bank.
The Bank management committee will give a plan for the workability of the bank to RBI in next 6 weeks.
The Reserve Bank had in 2018 imposed restrictions on UP Civil Secretariat Primary Co- operative Bank Ltd., Lucknow. RBI had directed that the bank shall not grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment, incur liability including borrowal of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits, disburse or agree to disburse any payment whether in discharge of its liabilities and obligations or otherwise, enter into any compromise or arrangement and sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of its properties or assets except to the extent and in the manner provided, without prior approval in writing from the Reserve Bank of India.

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