General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - July 2022

Jul 2022

Sep 28, 2022

Google's India Policy Head Archana Gulati Resigns

Google India's government affairs and public policy head Archana Gulati, who had joined the tech giant just five months back after quitting government service, resigned from her post.
An economics graduate and a PhD from IIT-Delhi, Gulati was Joint Secretary (Digital Communications) at NITI Aayog, a government think tank that advises the Union government on policy, before she joined Google India.
The resignation comes at a time when Google is facing a series of antitrust cases in India and stricter tech-sector regulations.

Samsung India, Axis Bank Launch Co-branded Credit Card

Samsung India and Axis Bank partnered and launched a Visa-powered credit card. The co-branded Samsung Axis Bank credit card offers ten per cent cashback on every Samsung product purchased and service used. Moreover, users would be able to claim the ten per cent cashback on top of existing offers.
Those interested can choose between two variants, namely, Visa Signature and Visa Infinite. Users will be eligible for cashback up to Rs. 10,000 annually, with the monthly limit set to Rs. 2,500 for the Signature card. In case you are interested in the Visa Infinite Samsung Axis Bank credit card, you will be able to avail of a maximum cashback of Rs. 25,000 with the monthly limit set to Rs. 5,000.

Sep 27, 2022

Uttar Pradesh Tops GeM Chart with GMV of more than Rs. 24,000 crore

The Uttar Pradesh government emerged as the top buyer on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal with a gross merchandise value (GMV) of more than Rs. 24,000 crore.
The central government's GeM portal, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2016, is an end-to-end e-marketplace, where commonly used goods and services are procured by the central and different state government organisations and wings.
The move aims to promote indigenous industries and new micro, small and medium enterprises and usher in transparency and competition in the government purchase spectrum.
Across India, the GeM portal reported a total GMV of Rs. 1 trillion in 2021-22, while the total value of the procurement since its commissioning crossed its Rs. 3-trillion benchmark. At present, about 62,000 government sector buyers and 5.1 million sellers and service providers are registered with GeM.

HCL Technologies Now HCLTech as Firm Set for 'Supercharging Progress'

HCL Technologies, India's third largest IT services player, launched its new brand identity and logo, HCLTech, with a new brand statement 'Supercharging Progress'.
The company's new 'HCLTech' brand and logo would be at the heart of its go-to-market strategy and represent its differentiated portfolio of services and products that supercharge digital transformation for enterprises at scale.
HCLTech is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Piramal Financial, Zurich Insurance to form Partnership for Reliance General Insurance Company

Piramal Financial and Zurich Insurance, who have submitted separate bids for the general insurance business of Reliance Capital, decided to form an equal partnership to bid for the Reliance General Insurance.
As per reports, both Piramal and Zurich will hold 50 per cent each in the proposed joint venture company.
In the independent bids submitted at the end of August, Piramal had valued Reliance Capital's general insurance business at Rs. 3,600 crore, while Zurich had quoted Rs. 3,700 crore for the same. The third bidder, Advent had submitted a Rs. 7,000 crore resolution plan for RGIC.
By partnering, Zurich and Piramal would not compete with each other, and thus for RGIC, it will only be a two horse race between Advent and Zurich-Piramal consortium.

Centre Extends Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20) for Six Months

Days ahead of unveiling the much-awaited new foreign trade policy (FTP) document, the Centre announced extension of the existing policy by another six months due to global headwinds.
As per Amit Yadav, additional secretary at the department of commerce, the decision was taken after consultations with export promotion councils. It was felt that the time was not ripe to roll-out the new policy, especially when the global economy is headed towards a recession.
The government had received requests from various quarters that the existing policy should be continued due to prevailing geopolitical tensions, currency volatility, and monetary conditions.

Sep 26, 2022

SBI Least Efficient Among Asia-Pacific Peers, Says S&P Global Market Intelligence

State Bank of India (SBI) was the least efficient among its Asia-Pacific peers in the June quarter due to its high cost-to-income ratio and mark-to-market losses on its investment book, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
SBI had the highest cost-to-income ratio of 71.06 per cent, followed by Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, Resona Holdings Inc of Japan, and ICICI Bank of India. The ratio is a gauge of profitability: the lower the ratio, the more profitable the bank is. S&P Global Market Intelligence calculated cost-to-income ratio by dividing operating costs by operating income.

Britannia Industries Elevates Varun Berry as Executive VC & MD, Appoints Rajneet Kohli as CEO

Britannia Industries' board elevated Varun Berry as Executive Vice‐chairman and Managing Director with immediate effect and also appointed Rajneet Singh Kohli as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Rajneet Kohli previously worked with Jubilant Food Works (JFL) as the president & chief business officer for Domino's Pizza has more than 25 years of experience in numerous senior leadership roles in sectors like FMCG & retail.

CIL Inks Pacts with BHEL, IOCL, GAIL for 4 Coal Gasification Projects

State-owned CIL signed agreements with three public sector enterprises, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and GAIL (India), in order to set up four surface gasification projects.
Through gasification process, coal is converted into syngas, a fuel gas, which can be used in downstream production of value added chemicals.
The government aims to achieve 100 million tonnes of coal gasification in the next eight years in order to reduce the import of crude oil which is otherwise used to produce syngas.

Dilip Asbe Reappointed MD & CEO of NPCI for Five Years at Firm's AGM

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) reappointed Dilip Asbe as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD&CEO) of the company for a period of five years, with effect from January 8, 2023.
Asbe took over as MD&CEO of NPCI in January 2018. Prior to that, he was the firm's chief operating officer for close to 5 years, before which he served as the chief technology officer.
NPCI is the umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. Under Asbe's leadership NPCI's flagship product Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has grown leaps and bounds and is now the most preferred digital payments platform in the country.

Sep 25, 2022

South Korea Ranks 11th in Number of Billionaires in Global Wealth Report

Last year, the number of millionaires, people with assets worth more than USD 1 million (about 1.394 billion won), was 1.29 million. The global investment bank "Credit Suisse" released the "Global Wealth Report 2022". The figure increased by 116,000 from 1.174 million in 2020.
Based on assets, 1,043,000 Korean adults were included in the "Global Top 1 per cent," and 18.483 million adults were included in the "Global Top 10 per cent".
Korea also ranked 11th in the number of Ultra high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals following the US, China, Germany, Canada, India, Japan, France, Australia, the UK, and Italy.

Solapur-based Laxmi Co-op Bank Loses Licence after Failing RBI Norms

Solapur-based Laxmi Co-operative Bank ceased operations after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cancelled its licence for not having adequate capital and earning prospects.
The RBI requested the Commissioner for Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Maharashtra, to issue an order for winding up the bank and appoint a liquidator for the bank.
On liquidation, every depositor would be entitled to receive insurance claim amount of his/her deposits up to a monetary ceiling of Rs. 5 lakh from the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC). About 99 per cent of the bank's depositors are entitled to receive the full amount from the DICGC.

Federal Bank Ties up with BBPS for Utility Bill Payment Services for NRIs

Federal Bank tied up with Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) to facilitate utility bill payment services for the NRI diaspora.
This arrangement enables overseas remittance partners (exchange houses and banks) to pay Indian utility bills of over 20,000 billers in more than 20 categories in a cost effective and convenient option.
Shalini Warrier, Executive Director, Federal Bank said, "We are delighted to be the first mover in launching this much-awaited facility for NRI diaspora in collaboration with NBBL and Lulu International Exchange at the Global Fin tech festival in Mumbai. The direct payment facility in the cross border transactions has optimised the digital payment ecosystem and will equally delight the beneficiaries as it enables seamless bill payment."

Sep 24, 2022

UCO Bank Becomes First Lender to Get RBI's Approval for Rupee Trade

Public sector lender UCO Bank received the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) approval to open a special vostro account with Gazprombank of Russia for trade settlement in Indian rupees. The Kolkata-based lender is the first bank to receive regulator's approval following the RBI's decision to allow Indian banks to settle trade in Indian currency.
The Russian lender, which was set up by world's largest gas producer and exporter Gazprom to provide banking services for gas industry enterprises has been operating since 1990. One of the top three banks in Russia, Gazprombank offers a whole range of banking and investment services to over 45,000 corporate and three million private clients.

Biological E's Mahima Datla Richest woman in AP, Telangana

With a wealth of Rs. 8,700 crore, Mahima Datla and family, promoter of Biological E Ltd is the richest woman in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to feature in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022.
She is in the 10th position when it comes to overall list of both the states.
Krishna Ella, chairman and managing drector of Bharat Biotech International Limited and his family for the first time figured in the list with Rs. 4,700 crore wealth in 18th position.
Commenting on the launch of the India Rich List, Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India, said, "The number of entrants in IIFL Wealth Hurun AP and Telangana Rich List has grown from just under three, 11 years ago to 78 today.

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