General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - July 2022

Jul 2022

Jul 24, 2022

Akshaya Moondra is CEO of Vodafone Idea

Vodafone Idea's chief financial officer Akshaya Moondra was appointed as the CEO of the company.
Moondra takes over from Ravinder Takkar, whose three-year tenure as CEO ends on August 18.
Takkar will continue as non-executive and non-independent director on the board after his term as MD & CEO ends.
The change of guard came as the joint venture company continues to scout for investors.

RBI Renews Statement of Commitment to Global Code on Best Market Practices

The Reserve Bank of India renewed its statement of commitment to the FX Global Code, which is a compilation of best market practices formulated by central banks worldwide.
RBI continues to support the principles of good practices within the Code. RBI had also facilitated the formation of India Foreign Exchange Committee (IFXC) to promote adoption and adherence of the Code among FX market participants in India.
The FX Global Code has been developed under the auspices of the Bank for International Settlements, Basel.
The FX Global Code was initially launched in May 2017.

Jul 23, 2022

Govt. Launches 3 Schemes to Strengthen MSMEs in Pharmaceutical Sector

The government launched three schemes to strengthen Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the pharmaceutical sector.
Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya noted that the schemes envisage technology upgradation, setting up of common research centres and effluent treatment plants in clusters for the pharma MSMEs.
As per Mandaviya, small companies should be able to upgrade their facilities to global manufacturing standards.
The chemicals and fertilisers ministry rolled out the schemes under the banner of 'Strengthening Pharmaceuticals Industry' (SPI).
The Pharmaceutical Technology Upgradation Assistance Scheme (PTUAS) would facilitate pharmaceutical MSMEs with proven track record to upgrade their technology.
Pharma Industries for Common Facilities Scheme (API-CF) would strengthen the existing pharmaceutical clusters' capacity for sustained growth. It provides for an assistance of up to 70 per cent of the approved project cost or Rs 20 crore, whichever is less.
Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Promotion and Development Scheme (PMPDS) would involve preparation of study reports on topics of importance for the Indian pharma and medical device industry.

Reliance Brands Signs Distribution Agreement with Maison Valentino

Reliance Brands Ltd (RBL) inked a long-term distribution agreement with Maison Valentino to launch the famous Italian Maison de Couture in India.
RBL will open the first Valentino boutique in Delhi, followed by a flagship store in Mumbai.
The first store is due to open in 2022 by the end of the summer, with the flagship store in Mumbai to follow in the coming months. The stores will stock a complete range across womenswear, menswear, footwear, and accessories of the brand.

TATA Projects Appoints Vinayak Pai as MD

TATA Projects appointed Vinayak Pai as its Managing Director.
Pai took over the reins from Vinayak Deshpande who was at the helm of affairs for over 11 years.
Pai has over three decades of experience with leading engineering and EPC companies where he held key positions across various teams working towards engineering design, technology licensing, project management, business development, and operations.

Jul 22, 2022

Govt. Declares 'Zero Coupon Zero Principal Instruments' as Securities

In the run up to setting up a social stock exchange, the government declared "zero coupon zero principal instruments" as securities. Zero coupon zero principal instrument means an instrument issued by a Not for Profit Organisation (NPO) which will be registered with the social stock exchange segment of a recognised stock exchange.
These instruments will be governed by rules made by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The Social Stock Exchange (SSE) is a novel concept in India and such a bourse is meant to serve private and non-profit sector providers by channelling greater capital to them. The idea was floated by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget Speech 2019-20.
SSE will be a separate segment of the existing stock exchanges.

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Partners with DBS Bank India

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, one of India's leading private life insurers, and DBS Bank India, the wholly owned subsidiary of DBS Bank Ltd, Singapore, announced a strategic partnership to offer a wide array of life insurance solutions to the bank's 3M customers.
Through this partnership, Bajaj Allianz Life and DBS Bank aim to empower the customers to Live More and Bank Less by investing in life insurance products that best meet their life needs in a planned manner. New and existing customers across the 550+ branches of DBS Bank can now choose from Bajaj Allianz Life's retail products including term, savings, retirement, and investment products.

Jul 21, 2022

SBI Launches WhatsApp Banking Service

In a move to make banking easier for its customers, India's largest public sector lender, State Bank of India or SBI launched its WhatsApp Banking services. SBI customers can avail certain banking services from the lender using WhatsApp, which may come in handy for many as they do not have to download the app or go to the ATM anymore. This came days after SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara had revealed plans of the bank going the WhatsApp way.

Rajarshi Gupta Takes over as Managing Director of ONGC Videsh

Rajarshi Gupta took over as Managing Director of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
He replaced Alok Gupta who superannuated in June 2022.
Rajarshi Gupta has more than 33 years of wide-ranging experience in supervisory, managerial and strategic planning capacities in domestic and international operations of ONGC and ONGC Videsh.
Prior to this, he was Executive Director - Chief of Corporate Strategy & Planning in ONGC.

Gautam Adani World's 4th Richest on Forbes List

India's richest person Gautam Adani became the world's fourth richest person, toppling Microsoft founder Bill Gates, as per the Forbes world's richest list. Gautam Adani's position got upped by one rank as Gates said that he would be donating $20 billion of his wealth to his non-profit organisation — Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Following this, Gautam Adani and Family took over Gates' spot with their wealth of $115 billion, as per Forbes.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Becomes First 100% Landlord Major Port of India

Jawaharlal Nehru Port became the first 100 per cent Landlord Major Port of India having all berths being operated on PPP model.
Expressing his views on the achievement, Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that this project would improve the utilisation in crane and berth productivity of the terminal. He also said that the total handling of JNPT would increase to 1.8 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) from the present handling capacity of 1.5 million TEUs in 2020-21.
The terminal would also be handling Ro-Ro vessels which would not only lower the logistics cost and reduce transit time but will also contribute in reducing congestion on roads and promoting towards clean environment.

Jul 20, 2022

CII-Exim Bank Conclave: Goyal Calls for Deepening Trade Ties with Africa

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal called for expansion and diversification of India-Africa economic relations and inclusion of emerging areas, such as solar energy, start-ups, and digital infrastructure for partnership.
Goyal identified four major focus areas for the India-Africa partnership: solar power, military exchanges in the context of the security of the Indian Ocean, physical and digital infrastructure, health care, pharma and vaccines, and start-up ecosystem.
The trade between India and African countries has been balanced with exports of trade and services of about $40 billion and imports of $49 billion, Goyal said at the inauguration of 17th CII-Exim Bank conclave.

Standard Chartered Bank, EaseMyTrip Launch Co-branded Credit Card

Standard Chartered Bank launched a co-branded credit card with EaseMyTrip, the second largest online travel tech platform in India. The 'EaseMyTrip Standard Chartered Credit Card' offers exclusive travel benefits with instant discounts and reward points to cardmembers, making it the most rewarding travel credit card.
This credit card provides flat 20% instant discount on domestic & international hotel bookings; flat 10% instant discount on domestic & international flight bookings on EaseMyTrip website or mobile application. Cardmembers can also earn accelerated reward points on flight, hotel bookings at standalone airlines and hotel websites/apps. Reward points earned can be redeemed on the rewards catalogue of Standard Chartered Bank, across multiple brands including EaseMyTrip.

Pramod Rao Takes Charge as SEBI's Executive Director

Capital markets regulator SEBI announced that Pramod Rao took charge as its executive director.
He would handle the department of debt and hybrid securities as well as the enquiry and adjudication department.
Before this assignment, he held the position of Group General Counsel at ICICI Bank and provided strategic oversight to the legal function of the ICICI group.
He holds a degree of B.A LL.B. (Hons) from National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

RBI Imposes Restrictions on Raigad Sahakari Bank

The RBI imposed several restrictions on Mumbai-based Raigad Sahakari Bank, including a withdrawal cap of Rs. 15,000 per customer, due to deterioration in the financial condition of the lender.
The cooperative bank, without the prior approval of RBI, cannot issue loans, make any investment, accept fresh deposits, among the restrictions.
The restrictions will remain in force for a period of six months.

RBI Hikes Capital Adequacy Ratio for Urban Cooperative Banks to 12%

The Reserve Bank of India hiked the minimum capital adequacy ratio (CAR) for Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) with deposits above Rs. 100 crore to 12 per cent from the earlier floor of 9.0 per cent.
It has provided a glide path till March 2026 to meet revised CAR norm in phases for UCBs that don't meet it currently.
It retained the norm of a minimum CAR of 9 per cent for tier-1 banks (those with deposits up to Rs. 100 crore).
The Tier-2 banks are UCBs with deposits of more than Rs. 100 crore and up to Rs. 1,000 crore; Tier-3 are UCBs with deposits of more than Rs. 1,000 crore and up to Rs. 10,000 crore. The final layer, Tier-4 consists of banks with deposits exceeding Rs. 10,000 crore.

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