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Business and

Economy Yearly

Review 2020

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ABSL MF introduces provision for int. stocks

As part of its conversion to a flexicap fund,

Aditya Birla Sun Life (ABSL) Mutual Fund has

introduced a provision for up to 35%

investment in international stocks in its

12,000 crores odd equity fund.

The asset management company (AMC) has

strategically introduced this provision in

conjunction with a change in the category of

its multicap fund to flexicap.

Punjab & Sind Bank gets zero-coupon bonds

The government has used financial

innovation to recapitalise Punjab & Sind Bank

by issuing the lender Rs 5,500-crore worth of

non-interest bearing bonds valued at par.

These are special types of zero-coupon

bonds issued by the government after proper

due diligence.

These non-transferable special GOI

securities have a maturity of 10-15 years and

issued specifically to Punjab & Sind Bank.

JMC Projects bags building projects

JMC Projects has bagged orders worth Rs

698 crore in the domestic market.

It has won orders for building projects in

South India worth Rs 698 crore.

JMC Projects (India) Limited is a subsidiary

of Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd.

Its order inflows for the year 2020 has

crossed Rs 6,700 crores.

Vedanta Resources to issue $400 million

A unit of Vedanta Resources will issue $400

mn in notes to an entity under Oaktree

Capital Group.

The notes will be partly secured by shares in

Mumbai-listed unit Vedanta Ltd.

The new deal with Oaktree comes after

Vedanta Resources sold $1bn of securities

earlier in Dec'20, at one of the highest yields

for a dollar bond in Asia in 2020.

Amazon invests ₹11,400 cr in India during FY20

Amazon has invested over ₹11,400cr during

FY2019-20 across its marketplace,

payments, and wholesale business units in

India to bolster its position in the country's

burgeoning digital commerce market.

In Jan 2020, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had

announced $1bn investment in India to help

bring small and medium businesses online.

Previously, Amazon had committed $5.5 bn

investments in India.

Govt collects ₹8,965 cr from coal mines

The government has collected ₹8,964.75

crores from the auctioned and allotted coal

mines, till Nov 2020.

Apart from 204 coal mines covered under the

Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, the

remaining blocks are allocated under the

Mines and Minerals (Development and

Regulation) Act.

Till date, 11 coal blocks under the MMDR Act

have been allotted to various government

companies.

JSPL gets "Regular Supplier" status

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Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) has

become India's first private company to get

"Regular Supplier" status from Indian

Railways to supply 60kg 880 grade (90UTS)

Rails.

JSPL is also supplying 1080 grade Head

Hardened rails to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited

for the construction of Kolkata Metro rail

tracks.

It had also exported more than 2 Lakh tonnes

of rails.

Tata Sons to buy more stake in AirAsia India

Tata Sons will buy 32.67 per cent more stake

in Air Asia India, bringing its total share to

83.67 per cent in the airline.

At present, Tata Sons holds 51 per cent stake

in Air Asia India, with 49 per cent shares held

by the Air Asia Group.

Air Asia India has planned to sell its stake to

focus on its recovery in the Southeast Asian

markets amid the impact of the COVID-19

pandemic on travel.

Tesla signs 5 year deal with Chinese company

China’s Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co

Ltd has signed a deal to supply battery-grade

lithium hydroxide to U.S. electric vehicle (EV)

manufacturer Tesla Inc for the next five

years.

Yahua, which is based in southwest China’s

Sichuan province, put the total value of the

contract, signed by its wholly-owned

subsidiary Yaan Lithium, at $630-$880

million over 2021-25.

Adani ports crosses ₹1 trillion in market cap

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd

went beyond the Rs.1 trillion in market

capitalisation.

This is the second Adani group company

after Adani Green Energy Ltd, to have

achieved the milestone in the group.

Adani Ports also recently acquired

Krishnapatnam Port for an enterprise value of

₹12,000 crores.

ICICI Bank buys 9.09% stake in Myclassboard

ICICI Bank has acquired a 9.09% stake in ed-

tech platform Myclassboard Educational

Solutions for ₹4.5 crores.

Post-investment, ICICI Bank will hold 9.09

per cent stake in MESPL through the

acquisition of 100 equity shares and 1,04,890

cumulative compulsorily convertible

preference shares on a fully diluted basis.

The transaction is expected to be completed

by end of February 2021.

Ahluwalia Contracts bags construction orders

Ahluwalia Contracts has bagged new

construction orders worth around Rs 310

crore.

It will construct a high-rise multi-storied

residential complex in Bhubaneshwar in

Odisha.

Total order inflow during the current fiscal

stands at Rs 2,086.44 crore.

IRDAI proposes a travel insurance policy

The Insurance Regulatory and Development

Authority of India (IRDAI) has proposed a

standard travel insurance policy with

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common coverage and policy wordings

across the industry.

The move is aimed at increasing the

penetration of the product.

It shall have the basic mandatory covers as

specified in draft guidelines which shall be

uniform across the market.

SBI mega property e-auction to begin on 30 Dec

State Bank of India (SBI) will be doing an e-

auction of properties from 30 December

2020.

The e-auction will include both residential

and commercial properties.

During the mega e-auction, individuals will

have the opportunity to bid for residential,

commercial, and industrial properties.

The bidding price will be lower than the actual

market value.

SBI to implement new cheque payment system

State Bank of India will roll out the Positive

Pay system for cheques.

Under the new rule, re-confirmation of key

details may be needed for payments beyond

₹50,000.

This new cheque payment rule will come into

effect from 1 January 2021.

It will ensure added security where the

cheque issuer now needs to provide details

such as account number, cheque number,

and cheque amount.

Centre lifts ban on export of onions

The Centre has lifted the ban on the export of

all varieties of onions with effect from January

1, 2021.

Anticipating a supply crunch, the government

had halted the trade exercise earlier in

September 2020 due to a spurt in prices.

The government had last banned onion

exports on September 29, 2019, after a bad

crop crimped output.

The government had lifted the ban on March

15, 2020.

TCS crosses ₹11 trln in market capitalisation

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd's market

capitalisation surged past ₹11 trillion on

December 28, making it the second Indian

firm after Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to

achieve this milestone.

Shares of TCS jumped nearly 1.2% intraday

to hit an all-time high of ₹2942 a piece on the

BSE with an mcap of ₹11.03 trillion.

RIL remains India's most valued company

with an mcap of ₹12.75 trillion.

Dixon to make smartphones for Motorola

Padget Electronics has signed an agreement

with Lenovo-owned Motorola to manufacture

smartphones for the company in India.

Padget Electronics is a wholly-owned

subsidiary of Dixon Technologies, and is

among five domestic manufacturers who

have been approved to receive benefits of

the government’s new production linked

incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphones.

Tesla to start operation in India in 2021

Union Minister for Road Transport and

Highways Nitin Gadkari has confirmed that

American electric vehicle company Tesla will

begin its operations in India in 2021.

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Tesla will initially begin with sales and

perhaps venture towards assembly, sales,

and manufacturing.

Tesla will launch Model 3 in India in June

2021 and the bookings for the same will begin

from January 2021.

New mutual funds rules from 2021

Mutual funds have gone through many

regulatory changes in 2020.

In order to make mutual funds more

transparent and safer for investors, SEBI has

introduced some measures which will be

effective from 2021.

Some of these changes include the change

in portfolio allocation rules for multi-cap

equity mutual funds, renaming of dividend

option, etc.

Rajasthan: 6th to complete EoD business reform

Rajasthan has become the 6th state in the

country to successfully undertake “Ease of

Doing Business” reform stipulated by the

Department of Expenditure, Ministry of

Finance.

Thus, it has become eligible to mobilise

additional financial resources of Rs. 2,731

crore through Open Market Borrowings.

The other 5 states are Andhra Pradesh,

Karnataka, MP, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

RBI cancels licence of Subhadra Bank

The RBI has cancelled the licence of

Maharashtra-based Subhadra Local Area

Bank.

It has cancelled the lender's licence with

effect from close of business on December

24, 2020, citing that banking affairs were

"conducted in a manner detrimental to the

interests of its present and future depositors".

It was cancelled under Section 22 (4) of the

Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Income Tax Dept launches 'Jhatpat Processing'

The Income Tax Department has introduced

a new initiative called, 'Jhatpat Processing' to

smoothen the ITR filing experience for

taxpayers.

The ‘Jhatpat Processing’ feature will help

individuals in filing tax returns quickly in a

seamless manner.

The Income Tax Department has shared

tutorial videos of the complete procedure to

file ITR1 and ITR4 under the new initiative, on

Youtube.

DCCDL to buy stake of Hines

DLF's rental arm DCCDL will acquire the

stake of US-based Hines in a premium

commercial project in Gurugram for ₹780

crore.

DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd (DCCDL) is

the joint venture firm of DLF and Singapore's

sovereign wealth fund GIC.

It has entered into a securities purchase

agreement with funds managed by Hines for

acquisition of their stake in Fairleaf Real

Estate.

CBI to exit housing finance business

Central Bank of India will divest its entire

equity stake of 64.40 per cent in Cent Bank

Home Finance Ltd (CBHFL) to Centrum

Housing Finance for Rs 160 crore.

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CBHFL is a financing and mortgage company

jointly promoted by four public sector

institutions Central Bank of India, National

Housing Bank, Specified Undertaking of Unit

Trust of India and Housing and Urban

Development Corporation.

Prime Focus promoter to acquire 33% stake

The promoter group of Prime Focus Ltd

has entered into an agreement with Credit

Suisse to acquire a 33.12% stake in the

company at a price of Rs 44.15 per share

aggregating to Rs463 crore.

This transaction will in turn trigger an open

offer by the promoters to acquire another

26% stake in the company from public

shareholders at the same price of Rs 44.15

apiece.

Vedanta buys 4.98% stake in Indian unit

Vedanta Resources Ltd, the promoter entity

of Vedanta Ltd, has bought 185 million

shares or a 4.98% stake in the company for

₹2,959 crores from the company’s

institutional shareholders.

This purchase will take the shareholding of

Vedanta Resources to 55.1%.

As on 30 September 2020, promoters held

50.13% in the company.

Firstsource Solutions acquires PatientMatters

Firstsource Solutions has acquired

PatientMatters, a US-based healthcare

revenue cycle management solutions

provider, for USD 13 million.

Founded in 2012, PatientMatters is

headquartered at Orlando, US and serves a

diverse customer base across 24 states of

the US.

PatientMatters'' consolidated revenue was

USD 17.7 million in 2019 and is estimated to

be USD 17.1 million.

Flipkart reshuffles board ahead of IPO

Flipkart has rejigged its board with the

addition of Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan

Krishnamurthy and HDFC Vice-Chairman

and CEO Keki Mistry, among others.

Apart from Krishnamurthy, Mistry, two new

directors from Walmart - Suresh Kumar and

Leigh Hopkins - will join the board.

Kumar is Walmart’s global CTO as well as

CDO, while Hopkins is EVP of Strategy and

Development for Walmart International.

ICICI launches Business Cycle Fund

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched a

new fund offer of ICICI Prudential Business

Cycle Fund.

It is an open-ended equity scheme which

aims to provide long term wealth creation by

investing in equity and equity-related

securities.

The scheme will follow a top-down approach

for investing and will invest across market

capitalization.

‘Axis Multicap Fund’ to be renamed

Axis Mutual Fund, one of the best performing

mutual fund houses in India, is in process of

renaming ‘Axis Multicap Fund’ to ‘Axis

Flexicap Fund’.

It will be an open-ended dynamic equity

scheme that invests across large-cap, mid-

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cap, and small-cap stocks to facilitate capital

appreciation over a medium to long term.

The same will be effective from January 30th,

2021 onwards.

WTO to review e-commerce and farm policies

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) will be

reviewing India’s e-commerce policy, farm

policy and digital tax initiative, along with

other trade policies in January 2021.

In addition, the contentious goods and

service tax (GST) and changes in intellectual

property rights law may too attract attention

at the review.

India's last policy review at WTO was

conducted in 2015.

India receives FDI proposals from China

The government has received over 120

foreign direct investment proposals worth

about ₹12,000 crores from China since April

2020.

This was achieved when India made it

mandatory for a company from countries

sharing a land border with India to invest in

any sector only after getting government

approval.

The decision was taken to curb opportunistic

takeovers or acquisitions of domestic firms.

DPIIT to organise global summit on startups

The Department for Promotion of Industry

and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will be organising

a global summit on startups on 15 and 16

January 2021 with a view to promoting the

growth of the sector.

Startups from Asian countries, domestic

players and global entrepreneurs would

participate in the virtual summit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to

address the participants on January 16.

Businesses to pay at least 1% GST liability

Businesses with a monthly turnover of over

₹50 lakh will have to mandatorily pay at least

1 per cent of their GST liability in cash.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and

Customs (CBIC) has introduced Rule 86B in

Goods and Services Tax (GST) rules which

restricts the use of input tax credit (ITC) for

discharging GST liability to 99 per cent.

Microsoft, McAfee form task force

Microsoft, McAfee and other tech companies,

security firms and non-profits have formed a

new group, called the ‘Ransomware Task

Force’ (RTF) to tackle ransomware attacks.

The task force will assess technical solutions

at varying levels of ransomware chain to

provide protections during a ransomware

attack.

The Ransomware Task Force website will be

launched in January 2021.

Centre grants Rs 4,898 crore to Andhra and MP

The Centre granted an additional borrowing

limit of Rs 4,898 crore to Andhra Pradesh and

Madhya Pradesh for the implementation of

urban local body (ULB) reforms.

While Andhra received permission to

mobilize Rs 2,525 crore through market

borrowings, MP can raise an additional Rs

2,373 crore.

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The two states have successfully completed

the set of reforms required in the functioning

of ULBs.

ClearTax launches investment app 'Black'

Tax-filing portal ClearTax, which has a

userbase of five million, is entering the

investment space with an app called 'Black.'

The app has been launched with direct

mutual funds but will eventually have stocks,

a national pension system (NPS), PPF, and

potentially, cryptocurrency.

The company will charge a flat fee of

₹10,000-15,000 per annum for users with

income above ₹15 lakh.

EIL shareholders approve a share buyback plan

Shareholders of Engineers India Ltd (EIL)

have approved buyback of nearly 7 cr shares

for about ₹587 cr with a view to returning

surplus cash to shareholders, the largest

being the govt of India.

EIL will buy back 6.98cr or 11.06% of the fully

paid-up equity shares at a price of ₹84

apiece.

The govt of India holds a 51.50% stake in the

firm that provides engineering consultancy

for projects.

SBI Card raises ₹450 crore

SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd (SBI

Card) has raised ₹450 crores by issuing

bonds on a private placement basis.

The tenure of the debt instruments is five

years with the date of maturity as of

December 22, 2025.

The bonds bear a coupon rate of 6 percent

per annum.

The bonds will be listed on the Wholesale

Debt Market Segment of BSE.

Infosys, Wipro clinch technology contracts

Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd have bagged multi-

year technology contracts from Germany’s

Daimler AG and Metro AG, respectively.

Both deals involve absorbing clients’

employees and will require regulatory

approval.

Infosys will help Daimler upgrade its IT

operating model and infrastructure across

workplace services, service desk, data

center, networks, and SAP (systems

applications and products).

Slurrp Farm raises $2 million

Slurrp Farm, a start-up offering healthy

snacks and mealtime options for young

children, has raised $2 million in a Series A

round from Fireside Ventures.

Fireside is a multi-stage venture fund

investing across the early growth stages of

the business with a focus on consumer

brands.

Kanwaljit Singh, founder and managing

partner, Fireside Ventures has joined Slurrp

as a board member.

Uttarakhand Assembly passes budget

The Uttarakhand Assembly passed Rs. 4063

crore supplementary budget on 22 December

2020.

The supplementary budget, which was

passed with a voice vote, earmarks Rs

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2,071.42 crore for revenue expenditure and

Rs 1,992.37 crore for capital expenditure.

The supplementary budget also has a

provision of Rs. 200 crores for Kumbh 2021.

Bharat Biotech inks LoI with Ocugen Inc

Bharat Biotech has inked a binding letter of

intent with US-based biopharmaceutical

player Ocugen Inc for co-developing India’s

first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine candidate

Covaxin for the US market.

Covaxin, a whole-viron inactivated vaccine

candidate developed on the Vero cell

manufacturing platform, is currently

undergoing Phase III human clinical trials in

India on 26,000 volunteers.

Wipro takes over METRO AG's IT operations

Wipro has signed a digital and IT partnership

deal with Metro AG, that will see over 1,300

employees of the German wholesaler move

to the Indian IT major.

The estimated deal value for the duration of

the first five years is approximately $700

million.

Wipro will take over the IT units of Metro AG

- Metro-NOM GMBH in Germany and Metro

Systems Romania S.R.L.

Saudi Aramco teams up with Google Cloud

Saudi Aramco Development Co, a subsidiary

of Aramco, has teamed up with Google Cloud

to offer cloud services to customers in Saudi

Arabia.

The collaboration taps into rapidly expanding

cloud services demand in Saudi Arabia,

which is forecasted to reach a market

opportunity up to $10 B by 2030.

Currently, Saudi telecom operators are

among the cloud service providers in the

country.

GIC, ESR form $750 million joint venture

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte

Ltd and Hong Kong's ESR Cayman Ltd have

entered into an 80:20 partnership.

They will set up a $750 million joint venture to

develop and acquire industrial and logistics

assets in India.

The JV will develop and own industrial,

logistics facilities as well as acquire core or

operational assets, focusing on Tier 1 and

Tier 2 cities.

Hindustan Foods unit to invest ₹125 crore

Hindustan Foods Limited's subsidiary will

invest ₹125 crores to set up a manufacturing

facility in north India.

The new facility is part of the company's

consolidated plans to expand its footprint in

contract manufacturing space for the Fast-

moving consumer goods (FMCG) products.

The subsidiary will set up a food and

beverages manufacturing facility for a leading

FMCG brand.

Karnataka approves EV manufacturing projects

The Karnataka government has approved

investments of ₹22,419 crores of three

different proposals involving electric vehicle

(EV) and lithium-ion battery manufacturing.

Two proposals of Elest Private Limited of

₹14,255 crores and ₹6,339 crores and

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₹1,825 crore project by Hyunet Private

Limited have been cleared by the CM-led

State High-Level Clearance Committee

(SHLCC).

IIFL AMC to raise up to ₹750 crores fund

IIFL Equity Opportunities Fund is raising a

fund of funds (FoF) of up to ₹750 cr, including

a ₹250 cr green-shoe option, to invest in

technology-focused venture capital (VC)

funds.

The FOF is an offering of IIFL Asset

Management Ltd (AMC), which is a

subsidiary of IIFL Wealth Management Ltd.

It will invest in Blume Ventures, Orios Venture

Partners, Kae Capital, and two other VC

firms.

ICICI Bank launches ‘Infinite India’

ICICI Bank has announced the launch of an

online platform for foreign companies looking

to establish or expand business in the

country.

Called ‘Infinite India’, the platform offers them

banking solutions as well as value-added

services.

It eliminates the need for coordinating with

multiple touchpoints leading to a hassle-free

experience of doing business in India.

MoU with SIDBI to boost MSME sector

The industries and commerce department of

Assam signed a memorandum of

understanding (MoU) with Small Industries

Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to boost

the MSME sector in the state.

According to the MoU, a project management

unit (PMU) will be deployed by SIDBI with

Government of Assam to monitor the micro,

small and medium enterprises (MSME)

sector

IIFL Home, ICICI Bank join hands

IIFL Finance home loan subsidiary has tied

up with ICICI Bank to provide affordable

housing and MSME loans.

Under the tie-up, IFL Home will originate and

service customers through the entire loan

life-cycle including sourcing, documentation,

collection and loan servicing and in turn,

ICICI Bank will provide funding to these

customers

IBM to acquire Norwegian startup Nordcloud

IBM announced an agreement to acquire

Nordcloud, a European leader in cloud

implementation, application transformation

and managed services.

Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland with

offices in 10 European countries, Nordcloud's

mission is to help businesses become

stronger, fitter and more agile with cloud.

8th oil & gas production plant inaugurated

The eighth oil and gas production plant of the

country, Bengal Basin, was inaugurated in

Ashoknagar in North 24-Parganas, in West

Bengal by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra

Pradhan on 20 Dec 2020.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, ONGC

would invest Rs 425 crore in new exploration

in the next two years in the basin.

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The crude from this block will be refined from

the Haldia refinery of Indian Oil.

Pine Labs raises $100 mn from Lone Capital

Pine Labs has raised close to $100 million

from Lone Pine Capital as part of the

secondary and primary share sale.

This investment round has taken the

company's valuation from $1.6 billion to $2

billion within a year.

With this, Pine Labs becomes the third most-

valued fintech in the Indian startup

ecosystem after Paytm-parent One97

Communications Ltd and PhonePe.

5 states complete reforms in the EoD Business

Five states have so far completed the

stipulated reforms in the Ease of Doing

Business.

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya

Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana have

been granted permission to mobilize

additional financial resources to the tune of

16,728 crore rupees through open market

borrowings.

Improvement in the ease of doing business

will enable faster future growth of the state

economy.

PayU ties up with Google Pay

Online payments solutions provider PayU

has collaborated with Google Pay to

introduce tokenised payments flow for

merchants in India.

Following this collaboration, Google Pay

users will now get an option to pay a PayU

merchant with their debit cards, credit cards,

or Google Pay UPI.

Also, Google Pay users do not need to share

their card details if they are making repeated

payments.

Google rolls out free, weekly COVID-19 test

Alphabet Inc's Google is offering free and

weekly at-home COVID-19 testing for all its

US employees and plans to expand the

benefit globally during 2021.

The company had rolled out the benefit this

week for all 90,000 US employees, with the

initiative guaranteeing them a weekly, at-

home nasal swab and a lab analysis.

Warburg sells stake in AU Small Finance Bank

Warburg Pincus has sold a 4.47% stake in

AU Small Finance Bank for ₹1,247.69 crore

through open market transactions.

The bulk deal data available with the BSE

showed Redwood Investment Ltd, an entity

owned by Warburg Pincus, disposed off 13.7

million shares in the bank.

The shares were sold at an average price of

₹910.55, valuing the transactions at ₹1,248

crores.

Infosys divests its holdings in startup Whoop

Infosys Ltd has divested one-third of its

holdings for about $10 million in Boston-

based startup Whoop Inc.

In 2015, Infosys had made a minority

investment of $3 million in Whoop which

offers performance optimisation solutions for

professional athletes and sports teams.

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The investment was part of Infosys' $500

million Innovation Fund.

PVR’s board approves plan to raise ₹800 crore

The board of the PVR Ltd has approved a

capital raising plan that could see the

company raise up to Rs800 crore.

The company will look to raise the capital

through a qualified institutional placement

offering or a preferential allotment.

In August 2020, PVR raised Rs300 crore

through a rights issue.

In November 2020 Inox Leisure Ltd had

raised Rs250 crore through a QIP.

Zomato raises $660 million

Zomato has completed its primary fundraise

worth $660 million, giving the company a

valuation of $3.9 billion.

The fundraise saw 10 new investors join

Zomato including Tiger Global Management,

Baillie Gifford, Luxor Capital, Kora Capital,

Steadview, D1 Capital and Mirae Asset.

Zomato is also raising $140 million as a part

of a secondary transaction.

MTAR Technologies files for ₹ ₹650 crore IPO

MTAR Technologies Ltd has filed a draft red

herring prospectus (DRHP) with the

Securities Exchange Board of India for an

initial public offering (IPO).

The Hyderabad based precision engineering

solutions company will raise approximately

₹600-650 crore.

The IPO will be a fresh issue of up to 4 million

shares and an offer for sale of up to 8.22

million shares of face value of ₹10 a share.

Bharti AXA Life Guaranteed Income Pro launched

Bharti AXA Life Insurance has launched

Bharti AXA Life Guaranteed Income Pro that

offers life insurance along with maturity

benefits and guaranteed returns.

This non-linked, non-participating savings

insurance plan is designed to provide

financial stability to individuals.

It also ensures policyholders of future income

requirements with dual benefits of savings

and protection.

Relaxation from condition of fumigation

In the light of public concern over high prices

of onion, the Dept of Agriculture and Farmers

Welfare has decided to extend the relaxation

from the condition of fumigation and

additional declaration on Phytosanitary

Certificate for imports up to 31st January

2021.

Consignments of imported onions which

arrive in Indian ports without fumigation

would be fumigated in India by the importer.

RBI extends restrictions on PMC Bank

Reserve Bank of India extended restrictions

on crisis-ridden Punjab and Maharashtra Co-

operative (PMC) Bank by three months till 31

March 2021.

In September 2019, the Reserve Bank of

India had superseded the board of the multi-

state urban cooperative bank.

The central bank appointed A K Dixit as the

new administrator of the bank in September

2020.

ICICI Pru launches Guaranteed Pension Plan

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ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has launched

a new plan that guarantees life-long income

after you retire.

ICICI Prudential Guaranteed Pension Plan is

a non-linked non-participating individual

annuity product that provides customers with

the flexibility to choose between Immediate

and Deferred Annuity.

Policy holder will get the immediate regular

return after paying the one-time Premium.

The SBI launched the BPCL SBI Card Octane.

The State Bank of India launched the BPCL

SBI Card Octane in association with Bharat

Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL),

This card will offer maximum savings to

consumers who spend a significant amount

on fuel.

The card gives some amazing benefits which

include incentives on fuel purchase, grocery

and department store items, dining, and

movies.

Mega leather Park to come up in UP

A mega leather park will come up in

Ramaipur village of Kanpur with an

investment of Rs 5,850 crores.

The park which is part of the mega leather

cluster project is likely to create 50,000 jobs.

The project has received approval from the

Union Ministry recently and UP's CM Yogi

Adityanath is likely to lay the foundation stone

of the project soon.

Google wins EU antitrust nod for Fitbit deal

Alphabet's Google won EU antitrust approval

on December 17 for its $2.1 billion bid for

Fitbit.

Fitbit, once the leader in the wearable

devices market, has lost market share to

Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung and Huawei.

Google has agreed not to use Fitbit health

data to target ads to EU users.

Wellversed acquires SportFit

Cricketer Yuvraj Singh-backed nutrition

company Wellversed has acquired Sportfit, a

fitness coaching company that enables

health outcomes through physical activities

and diet counselling.

Wellversed will continue to scale and

strengthen its health transformation

programme by incorporating Sportfit’s

proprietary coaching methodology and

technology for diet and fitness coaching.

SEBI allows fintech startups for mutual funds

SEBI has relaxed the norms to allow fintech

startups and other entities to enter the mutual

fund business.

Until now, the regulator required entrants to

have five years of experience in the financial

services business among other criteria for

mutual funds.

Google acquires Neverware

Google has acquired Neverware, a company

that turns old PCs into Chromebooks.

The New York-based firm announced this on

its website, saying Neverware and

CloudReady are now officially part of Google

and the Chrome OS team.

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Neverware owns the software application

called CloudReady that allows users to

convert a PC into a system that runs Chrome

OS.

Bridgestone India invests in Fleeca

Bridgestone has invested in fleet

management startup Fleeca India, which will

strengthen its position in the digital-based

mobility solutions.

This investment will further strengthen

Bridgestone India's existing service

Infrastructure, to provide quality and

comprehensive tyre services across national

highways by leveraging Fleeca's service

infrastructure.

Home Credit launches EMI scheme

Home Credit India has launched a bouquet of

innovative financing products and offerings

for its customers.

The company has partnered with leading

consumer durable brands to offer attractive

customer-friendly finance schemes.

Offers are available across popular home

appliances brands like LG Electronics,

Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi, Haier, Voltas,

Whirlpool, Blue Star, Aisen, and Voltas-Beko.

RBI relaxes norms for an initiative

The RBI has relaxed eligibility norms for

applicants under its regulatory

sandbox initiative.

It has announced cross-border payments as

the theme of the 2nd cohort under this

scheme.

A regulatory sandbox usually refers to a

system of live-testing new products or

services in a controlled environment, for

which regulators may or may not permit

relaxations for the limited purpose of the

testing

WhatsApp to launch insurance, pension products

WhatsApp plans to launch health insurance

and micro-pension products on its messaging

platform in India.

WhatsApp, which counts India as its biggest

market with 400 million users, is working in

partnership with financial institutions on pilots

of micro-insurance, and micro pension

products.

It is partnering with the SBI General

Insurance to provide consumers with health

insurance products.

GOI set to launch Brand India Mission

The government is all set to launch a ‘Brand

India’ mission, focused on the promotion of

quality products that are manufactured in the

country.

This mission is being piloted by the Ministry

of Commerce and Industry.

The mission is based on similar policies in

other countries such as Switzerland, the

United States, Germany and France.

RBI re-appoints Uday Kotak as MD of KMB

The RBI has approved the re-appointment of

Uday Kotak as managing director of the

Kotak Mahindra Bank for a further period of

three years.

The banking sector regulator also approved

the appointment of part-time chairman

Prakash Apte for three years.

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Kotak is the founder managing director and

promoter of the bank.

Canara Bank launches “FX 4 U”

Canara Bank has launched "FX 4 U" through

internet banking helping users to manage

and handle their forex transactions

seamlessly.

All eligible individual customers can

undertake remittance facility as per FEMA

regulations.

Corporate customers can make and submit

the LC applications along with documents

through internet banking once the LC module

is activated.

Twitter to shut down streaming app Periscope

Twitter Inc would shut down live-streaming

app Periscope, which it bought in 2015, due

to declining usage over the past couple of

years and high supporting costs.

Most of Periscope's core capabilities have

been integrated into Twitter and the company

plans to remove it from app stores by March

2021.

GoDaddy acquires US-based Poynt

GoDaddy has signed a pact to acquire

California-based payments processor Poynt

in a $365 million deal.

It includes $320 million in cash at closing and

$45 million in deferred cash payments

subject to certain performance and

employment conditions over 3 years.

The acquisition will help the Internet names

and registrations management major to

expand commerce services with integrated

payments.

Govt to sell 2251.25 MHz spectrum

The Cabinet approved the telecom spectrum

auction to be held in March 2021.

The auction will be for spectrum in 700 MHz,

800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz,

2300 MHz and 2500 MHz frequency bands

and a total of 2251.25 MHz is being offered

with a total valuation of ₹3,92,332.70 crore.

Spectrum will be offered for the assignment

for a validity period of 20 years.

Cabinet okays Rs 3,500 cr sugar export subsidy

The govt has approved a subsidy of Rs 3,500

cr to sugar mills for export of 60 lakh tonnes

of sweetener during the ongoing marketing

year.

This is a part of its efforts to help them clear

outstanding dues to sugarcane farmers.

Both sugar industry as well as sugarcane

farmers are in crisis because of high

domestic production at 310 lakh tonnes as

against the annual demand of 260 lakh

tonnes.

FCA to invest $150 million

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has announced an

investment of $150 million (approx Rs 1100

crore) to set up a Global Digital Hub in

Hyderabad, Telangana.

FCA’s new innovation and technology

development facility will be the company’s

largest Digital Hub outside of North America.

The digital hub will create nearly 1,000 new

cutting-edge technology jobs by the end of

2021.

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Kalpataru Power Transmission bags new orders

Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd has

secured new orders worth ₹1,300 cr in the

domestic and overseas market.

The orders are in the T&D (transmission and

distribution) business.

It has bagged the engineering, procurement,

and construction orders for pipeline laying

and associated works in India and order for

railway electrification by Central Organisation

for Railway Electrification (CORE).

Maharashtra govt slashes RT-PCR test rate

Maharashtra govt has reduced the RT-PCR

test for Covid-19 to ₹700.

The earlier test rate in the state was fixed at

₹980.

The government's statement comes just days

after the Centre asked all states to increase

the number of RT-PCR tests.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra on 15 Dec 2020

reported 3,442 fresh COVID- cases, taking

the count of infections to 18,86,807.

Odisha CM announces package for MSMEs

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has approved

a package of ₹289.42 cr for MSMEs that

have been facing challenges amid

the pandemic.

The package includes assistance measures

such as interest subvention, reimbursement

of state GST and waiver of annual

institutional maintenance charges.

It will help entrepreneurs, mostly women and

those from the weaker sections, to overcome

unexpected challenges.

Wakefit.co raises ₹185 crore

Wakefit.co has raised ₹185 crores as a part

of its Series B funding round led by a

European investment firm, Verlinvest.

The round also saw participation from

existing investor, Sequoia Capital India.

With the new fundraise, the company will look

at accelerating its growth as it looks to

expand its product portfolio in home

furnishings, and achieve revenue worth

₹1000 crores by 2023-fiscal.

RBI fines on Urban Co-operative Bank in Kerala

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has

imposed a monetary penalty of ₹50.00 lakh

on The Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd. No.

1758, Perinthalmanna, Kerala.

It has been fined for non-compliance with

directions issued on Income Recognition and

Asset Classification (IRAC) norms and on

Management of Advances-UCBs.

The penalty has been imposed through an

order dated December 11, 2020.

Vedanta to raise $8 bn for BPCL bid

Vedanta group plans to raise as much as $8

billion through a mix of debt and equity to

secure funds for the acquisition of state-run

Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL).

Buying a 75% stake in BPCL (53% from the

government and 22% through an open offer)

would cost Vedanta ₹64,200-97,600 crore

depending on the price ( ₹395 to ₹600 per

share).

Adani group sells stake in Snowman Logistics

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Adani Logistics Ltd has sold almost a fourth

of its stake in Snowman Logistics Ltd.

It had acquired the stake through an open

offer it had initiated in Mar'20 at ₹44 apiece in

a failed attempt to take promoter stake in

Snowman.

Adani Logistics shall not be involved in the

day-to-day management and shall not have a

right to nominate or appoint any director on

the board of Snowman.

ICICI Securities launches zero brokerage plan

ICICI Securities, one of India’s largest

brokerage house, has launched ‘ICICIdirect

Neo’ – a zero brokerage plan.

This plan is targeted at traders, offering

unlimited trading with zero brokerage on all

Futures trades and a flat ₹20 per order for

Margin and Options trades.

It will offer instant liquidity, where customers

get cash within 30 mins of selling stocks as

per their chosen plan.

upGrad acquires recruitment firm Rekrut India

upGrad, the online higher learning edtech

startup, has acquired recruitment and staffing

solutions company, Rekrut India.

This 100 % acquisition is a first in India where

an edtech company has acquired a

recruitment firm.

This allows upGrad to have complete

involvement in the lifecycle of a learner- from

education to employment.

Amazon's Zoox unveils autonomous EV

Zoox, a self-driving car company that

Amazon bought in June, has finally revealed

its robotaxi after six years of gnarly

prototypes and secrecy.

The autonomous “carriage-style” vehicle is

an all-electric four-wheeler that seats up to

four people, and is similar in appearance to

fully self-driving vehicles created by other

companies in the space.

EA to acquire Codemasters for $1.2 billion

Electronic Arts has agreed to buy out UK

developer Codemasters in a move that could

see the US publishing giant wrest control of

the racing video game genre.

The deal is expected to close in the first

quarter of 2021 for £6.04 (~$7.98) a share,

valuing Codemasters at around $1.2 billion.

Project Taara: Google talks to Jio and Airtel

Internet major Google has begun talks with

India’s top two telecom operators Reliance

Jio, and Bharti Airtel to pilot high-speed

internet using light beams.

The initiative is a part of Google’s ‘Project

Taara’ which aims to provide internet

connectivity through light beams.

The initiative was started by Google X, a

company within Google that is known to work

on so-called ‘moonshots’.

Reddit acquires Dubsmash

Reddit has acquired “short-form video social

platform” Dubsmash.

Dubsmash's entire team including the three

co-founders, Suchit Dash, Jonas Druppel

and Tim Specht will join Reddit.

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About 25% of all Black teens in the US are on

Dubsmash, and females represent 70% of

users.

About 30% of users log in every day to create

video content, indicating a high level of

retention and engagement.

Torrent Gas to invest ₹5,000 cr in a project

Torrent Gas Ltd has pledged ₹5,000 cr

investment to develop infrastructure to retail

CNG to automobiles and piped gas to

households and industries in Chennai.

It has signed an MoU with the Govt 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.

Trust Group launches mutual fund

Trust Group, a financial services company

with a presence in investment banking and

portfolio management, has announced the

launch of a mutual fund.

Trust AMC expects to unveil its first scheme

in a few days and will initially focus on the

debt segment.

The Group currently has multiple lines of

business in the debt market.

Hiranandani Group to invest ₹8,500 crore

Hiranandani group plans to invest ₹8,500 cr

over the next 3 years to develop data centres

and industrial parks across various cities.

Hiranandani Group had forayed into

development of data centre parks with its

new business venture Yotta Infrastructure in

2019.

Yotta Infrastructure will invest around ₹5,000

cr over the next 3 yrs as it aims to capture

about 25% of market by end of FY 2025.

SBI, PNB witnessing wilful defaults surge

Eight of India’s biggest banks have seen a

significant jump in wilful defaults in the six

months to September 2020, with such loans

rising by over ₹37,000 crore to ₹1.5 trillion.

These banks—SBI, Punjab National Bank,

Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Union Bank of

India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis

Bank—account for 75% of all loans reported

as wilful defaults as of 30 September 2020.

Solar module imports to face 40% customs duty

India plans to impose new tariffs on imports

of solar cells and modules from 1 April 2022.

The finance ministry will issue an order to

impose a basic customs duty of 40% on

modules and 25% on solar cells as part of the

Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India

strategy.

The customs duty will replace a 15%

safeguard duty that is being imposed on

imports from China and Malaysia.

Automated Banknote Processing Centre in Jaipur

The RBI has decided to set up an Automated

Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC) in

Jaipur for the receipt, storage and dispatch of

currency notes.

The functions of the ABPC will also include

processing of banknotes received from

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currency chests and destruction of soiled

banknotes in an automated manner.

The volume of banknotes in circulation has

increased three-fold from March 2001 to

Mar 2019.

Auto-populated GSTR-3B return form enabled

Businesses will now get complete auto-

populated monthly sales return form GSTR-

3B.

For ease of taxpayers, now the system will

auto-populate GSTR-3B (monthly) on the

basis of details filed in GSTR-1 and auto-

drafted ITC statement GSTR-2B from

November 2020 tax period onwards.

Input tax credit (ITC) would be populated

from system-drafted statement GSTR-2B.

AstraZeneca agrees to buy Alexion for $39 B

Britain's AstraZeneca has agreed to buy U.S.

drugmaker Alexion Pharmaceuticals for $39

billion in its largest-ever deal.

Alexion's best-selling drug is Soliris, used

against a range of rare immune-disorders

including paroxysmal nocturnal

hemoglobinuria.

AstraZeneca hopes that an improved version

of Soliris called Ultomiris has even larger

market potential.

Exim Bank extends $448-mn line of credit

Export-Import Bank of India has extended a

USD 448-million line of credit for various

infrastructure projects in Uzbekistan.

The LOC has been extended on behalf of the

Indian government.

The LOC of USD 448 million to Uzbekistan

has been extended for financing various

projects in the roads and transport, water and

technology and communication sectors in

Uzbekistan.

Finance Ministry approves a proposal

The Finance Ministry has approved

₹9,879.61 crore worth capital expenditure

proposals of 27 states.

Of this, ₹4,939.81 crores have been released

as the first instalment.

The capital expenditure projects have been

approved in diverse sectors like health, rural

development, water supply, irrigation, power,

transport, education, urban development.

Banks sanction ₹2.05 lakh cr to MSMEs

The Finance Ministry informed that banks

have sanctioned loans worth ₹2,05,563 crore

to about 81 lakh accounts under the ₹3-lakh

crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee

Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector.

40 lakh MSME accounts have received

₹1,58,626 crore till Dec 4, 2020.

The loans provided under ECLGS 2.0 will

have a five-year tenor, with a 12-month

moratorium on repayment of principal.

Canara Bank raises ₹2,000 crore via QIP

Canara Bank has successfully raised ₹2,000

cr equity capital by issuing over 19 cr shares

to eligible investors.

LIC emerged as the largest investor in the

bank's qualified institutional placement (QIP)

issue.

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The subcommittee of the board

has approved allotment of 19,32,36,714

equity shares to eligible qualified institutional

buyers (QIBs) at an issue price of ₹103.50

per equity share

ICICI Prudential's AUM cross ₹2 lakh crore

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance company’s

Assets under Management (AUM) have

crossed ₹2 lakh crore in its 20th year.

The company started operations 20 years

ago with the issuance of policies to seven

underprivileged children.

It had an AUM of approximately ₹100 crore in

FY 2001, which grew to about ₹50,000 crore

in FY2010.

Multiples Private Equity sells 2.17% stake

Multiples Private Equity has sold 12 lakh

shares or 2.17% of PVR Ltd for ₹176 crore in

an open market transaction.

Multiples Private Equity Fund and Multiples

Private Equity Fund I Ltd sold 3.07 lakh

shares and 8.93 lakh shares respectively at

an average price of ₹1470 aggregating to

₹176.41 crore.

On the other hand, Ishana Capital bought

8.41 lakh shares of PVR Ltd for ₹124 crore.

Central Bank of India to raise up to ₹500 cr

Central Bank of India will raise up to ₹500

crores by issuing Basel III compliant bonds.

Central Bank of India reported over 20% rise

in its net profit at ₹161 crore for the second

quarter that ended on 30 September 2020.

The bank had posted a net profit of ₹134

crores in the corresponding quarter of the

previous financial year.

Hyundai Motor buys 80% stake in a robot firm

Hyundai Motor Group agreed to buy a

controlling stake in Boston Dynamics Inc. in

a deal that values the mobile robot firm at

$1.1 billion.

Hyundai Motor Group, along with some

associated companies and Chairman Euisun

Chung, will acquire an 80% interest in the

U.S. robotics company from SoftBank Group

Corp., leaving the Japanese firm with a 20%

share.

Maintain ₹500 balance in POSB account

Post office savings account: Non-

maintenance of minimum balance will attract

charges of ₹100 plus GST and it will be

deducted from the account.

Post office savings accounts currently offer

4% per annum while the minimum amount

required for account opening is ₹500.

India Post offers several small savings

schemes, commonly known as post office

saving schemes.

Iffalcon ventures in home appliances space

Iffalcon, TCL’s sub-brand, is venturing into

home appliances.

As part of this foray, the brand has launched

its first 8-kg front load washing machine.

The brand is popular for products in the

smartTV segment.

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The new machine offers features such as

auto error diagnosis, digital display, auto

drum clean, etc.

The washing machine is priced at ₹22,499

and is being sold via Flipkart.

Nippon India Mutual Fund launches FoF

Nippon Life India AMC has launched Nippon

India Passive Flexicap FoF.

It is an open-ended fund of funds scheme

investing in units of ETFs/index funds of

Nippon India Mutual Fund.

Nippon India Passive Flexicap FoF would

invest across market caps, basis average

allocation of all active multi-cap funds in the

industry into large, mid and small-cap stocks

as provided by CRISIL every month.

Lulu group to set up food processing centre

The UAE-based Lulu group would set up a

food processing centre in Srinagar for

sourcing a wide range of agri products from

Jammu and Kashmir.

An MoU was signed between Lulu group and

Fruit Master Agro Fresh Jammu and

Kashmir.

It has been signed for the supply of apple and

other fruits for the supermarkets of Lulu

group across the Gulf Countries.

RBI issues a draft circular

RBI has issued a draft circular on the

declaration of dividend by non-banking

financial companies (NBFCs) in pursuance to

the announcement made in the monetary

policy.

Accordingly, deposit-taking NBFCs and

systemically important non-deposit-taking

NBFCs must have their net non-performing

assets below six per cent and a capital

adequacy ratio of at least 15 per cent for the

last three years.

RTGS to be available 24x7 from December 14

RBI has announced that the Real Time Gross

Settlement System or the RTGS facility will

now be available for round the clock

transactions, with effect from 14 Dec 2020.

Round the clock availability of RTGS will

provide extended flexibility to businesses for

effecting payments.

The system can also be leveraged to

enhance operations of Indian financial

markets and cross-border payments.

Bollywod stars to launch Socialswag

Actors Akshay Kumar and Rana Daggubati

announced that they are coming together to

create India's first influencer led online

market place called Socialswag.

It is a new age platform that will enable

consumers to connect with celebrities,

influencers, bloggers and other inspirational

individuals, through personal interactions and

learning forums.

It is set to be launched nationwide in Feb 21.

AT&T to sell Crunchyroll to Sony's Funimation

AT&T announced that it's selling anime

streaming service Crunchyroll to Sony's

Funimation for an acquisition price of $1.18

billion.

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It has 90 million registered users and 3 million

paying subscribers.

The service started in 2006 as a site for fan-

uploaded, fan-subtitled content, but it has

increasingly become a home for officially

licensed anime, along with games, manga

and merchandise.

Equitas Small Fin Bank launches 3-in-1 account

Equitas Small Finance Bank has launched a

3-in-1 account.

A 3-in-1 account (savings +trading+ demat)

will help the customers to keep all their

banking and financial investments under one

umbrella entity.

The financial products offered through it

includes direct equity and F&O trading, MF

investment across all AMCs, ETFs, corporate

FDs, corporate bonds, govt bonds, etc.

Cabinet okays ₹22,810 crore for a scheme

The Cabinet has approved an expenditure of

₹22,810 crores to bear the cost of pensions

of low-paid workers in the formal sector.

The two-year scheme to subsidize wages

through the Employees Provident Fund

Organization (EPFO) is part of the

Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana

announced in Nov 2020 by Union Finance

Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

'Emerging Markets Equity Fund' launched

PGIM India Mutual Fund has introduced the

PGIM India Emerging Markets Equity Fund.

It is an open-ended equity fund of fund

scheme investing in PGIM Jennison

Emerging Markets Equity Fund.

PGIM India Mutual Fund is a wholly-owned

business of PGIM, the global investment

management business of Prudential

Financial, Inc.

The fund is benchmarked with MSCI

Emerging Markets Index.

6th installment of Rs 6,000 crore released

The Finance Ministry has released the 6th

instalment of Rs 6,000 cr to the states to meet

the GST compensation shortfall.

Rs 5,516 crore has been released to 23

States and Rs 483.40 crore has been

released to 3 UTs who are members of the

GST Council.

The remaining 5 states, Arunachal Pradesh,

Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim do

not have a gap in revenue on account of GST

implementation.

Heritage Foods sells entire holding

Heritage Foods sold its holding of about 3%

in Future Retail for around Rs 132 crores.

In November 2016, Future Group had signed

a definitive agreement to acquire Hyderabad-

based dairy and retails enterprise, Heritage

Foods, in an all-stock deal.

Heritage Foods is promoted by the family

members of former Andhra Pradesh Chief

Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

WhatsApp rolls out 'carts' for in-app shopping

WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature carts to

make online buying and selling easier.

Users will be able to browse a catalog, select

multiple products, and send the order as one

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message to a WhatsApp business with the

new feature.

WhatsApp has also rolled out a bunch of

sticker packs created by WhatsApp

designers and local artists to help people and

businesses stay connected.

KMB offers fitness allowance for employees

Kotak Mahindra Bank announced the

introduction of fitness allowance and remote

working benefits.

Under Kotak's 'Health to the Power Infinity'

programme, the bank's employees will be

eligible for the monthly fitness allowance.

The employees will have to share their fitness

goals with the bank to ensure they are

actually benefitting from the allowance.

Indian Bank raises ₹1,048 crores

Indian Bank has raised ₹1,048 crores by

issuing bonds on private placement basis.

The bank has successfully raised tier I capital

fund through a private placement of Basel III

compliant additional tier I perpetual bonds

aggregating to ₹1,048 crores.

The bonds will bear a coupon rate of 8.44%

per annum payable annually.

RBI cancels Karad Janata Sahakari Bank licence

The RBI has cancelled the licence of Karad

Janata Sahakari Bank to conduct banking

business citing that the bank does not have

adequate finance.

The bank is now prohibited from taking any

deposit or making any repayment.

It also requested the Commissioner for

Cooperation Registrar of Cooperative

Societies, Maharashtra to issue an order for

winding up the bank and appoint a liquidator

for it.

5paisa.com partners with Vested Finance

India’s only listed discount broker 5paisa.com

has partnered with Vested Finance to provide

'zero commission' investing in the US

markets for all our customers.

Vested Finance is a US Securities and

Exchange Commission Registered

Investment Adviser.

Their online platform enables investors from

India to invest in US stocks and ETFs.

MFSL swaps its stakes with Mitsui Sumitomo

Max Financial Services Limited (MFSL) has

swapped its 21.87% stake in Max Life

Insurance Company Limited (Max Life) with

20.57% stake of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance

Company.

MFSL has allotted 7,54,58,088 equity shares

of Rs. 2/- each constituting 21.87% of the

paid-up share capital to MSI, on a preferential

allotment basis.

The paid-up equity share capital of MFSL has

increased to ₹69 crores.

Nokia starts production of 5G equipment

Nokia has started production of 5G

equipment in Chennai, India.

Nokia Chennai factory is manufacturing the

latest 5G massive Multiple Input Multiple

Output (mMIMO) equipment that is shipped

to countries who are in advanced stages of

5G deployment.

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Nokia claims to have invested over ₹600

crores since 2008 to develop the facility.

Palestine-India Techno Park

India donated the fourth and final tranche of

over ₹22 crores to complete the construction

of Palestine-India Techno Park.

This contribution completes India’s

commitment to donate $12 million towards

the establishment of the Techno Park in

Ramallah, near Bir Zeit University.

The project is almost in its final stage and

likely to be inaugurated in February or March

2021.

Cisco agrees to buy UK cloud company

Cisco Systems Inc. has agreed to buy U.K.

customer service software maker IMImobile

Plc in a deal valued at about 543 million

pounds ($721 million).

It is a part of a plan to enhance tools to help

companies keep track of and interacting with

users.

The deal, Cisco’s largest U.K. acquisition in

about three years, offers IMImobile investors

595 pence per share in cash.

Canara Bank launches ₹2,000 cr QIP

Canara Bank has launched a qualified

institutional placement (QIP) to raise funds

from institutional investors.

It plans to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore.

The base issue size is of Rs 1,000 crore with

an option to upsize the deal by another Rs

1000 crore.

The company has set a floor price of Rs

103.5 per share, as per Sebi formula, for the

share sale.

Google Pay continues to lead in UPI market

With UPI transactions in the country hitting

close to 2.2 bn in the month of Nov 2020,

Google Pay continued to hold its dominant

position recording 960 million transactions on

its app.

It garnered close to 43.4% of UPI market

share, showed data from National Payments

Corporation of India (NPCI).

Taking on the second spot was PhonePe,

which registered close to 868.40 million

transactions.

Govt garners ₹600 cr via SUUTI stake sale

The central government has sold nearly 1

crore shares of Axis Bank worth around ₹600

crores held through the Specified

Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India

(SUUTI).

SUUTI sold 61.43 lakh shares of Axis Bank

between 2 and 4 December 2020, fetching

the government ₹374.21 crores.

Between 26 November and 27 November

2020, it sold 36.25 lakh shares for ₹221.47

crores.

Godrej Properties to develop new project

Godrej Properties Ltd. (GPL) has entered into

an outright transaction to purchase a well-

located land parcel in Whitefield, Bangalore.

Spread across approximately 18 acres, this

project will offer 2.4 million square feet of the

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saleable area comprising primarily of

residential apartments.

Whitefield is the largest commercial and

residential real estate market in Bangalore.

Edtech Startup Lead School acquires QuizNext

Mumbai-based edtech startup Lead School

has acquired student assessment startup

QuizNext for an undisclosed amount.

Founded in 2012 by Mehta and Smita

Deorah, Lead School offers integrated

curriculum and technology solutions to

affordable private schools.

In August 2020, Lead School had raised $28

Mn in Series C funding round led by

WestBridge Capital.

CCD appointed Malavika Hegde as company's

CEO

Malavika Hegde, the wife of deceased Cafe

Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha,

was appointed the CEO of Coffee Day

Enterprises.

She is the daughter of former Karnataka chief

minister SM Krishna.

In July 2019, VG Siddhartha had

mysteriously disappeared in Mangaluru and

later found dead by suicide.

After his death, Coffee Day Enterprises

named SV Ranganath as interim chairman of

the group.

Hindalco to set up a plant

Hindalco Industries has announced plans to

set up a 34,000-tonne aluminium extrusion

plant at Silvassa.

The Silvassa plant will be fully automated and

will include three extrusion presses.

It will enable Hindalco to service premium

customers in the building and construction,

auto and transport, electrical, consumer and

industrial goods sectors.

NTPC offers to buy back masala bonds

NTPC- National Thermal Power Corporation

Ltd has made an offer to buy back its masala

bonds worth Rs 4,000 crore from

bondholders or lenders.

Masala bonds are issued outside India but

denominated in Indian rupees, rather than

the local currency.

The offer includes the rupee-denominated Rs

2,000-crore 7.375 per cent notes issued on

August 10, 2016, payable In USD and due on

August 10, 2021.

KVG Bank launches OD facility for farmers

Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB) has

launched an overdraft (OD) facility for

farmers.

The farmers are provided with an OD facility

based on the value of the land.

The limit is capped to a maximum of ₹1.5 lakh

per acre to irrigated lands and ₹1 lakh per

acre to dry land.

The facility can be used for working capital

requirements such as maintenance of

machinery and equipment, etc.

ICICI Bank launches ‘iMobile Pay’

ICICI Bank has transformed its mobile

banking app, iMobile, into an app that offers

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payments and banking services to customers

of any bank.

Called ‘iMobile Pay’, the app offers a unique

combination of facilities of a payment app--

such as enabling customers to pay to any UPI

ID or merchants.

The users of iMobile Pay can also transfer

money to any bank account, payment app

and digital wallet.

DLF to invest to develop data centre in Noida

DLF will invest around ₹130 crores over the

next 18 months to develop a data centre in

Noida as it seeks to encash rising demand for

data storage capacity.

The data centre project will have 3.7 lakh sq

ft space with proper infrastructure, including

high power capacity.

The data centre will be part of a 25-acre

commercial project that has a total

development potential of 35-40 lakh sq ft.

Daimler India to set up 350 new dealerships

Daimler India plans to have at least 350

dealerships across India.

The company plans to implement this

strategy in the next two years.

It will also look to enhance the digitalisation

process including the sales experience.

It currently uses its manufacturing facility in

Orgadama, near Chennai to produce 9 to 55-

tonne trucks as well as BharatBenz buses,

Mercedes-Benz coaches and bus chassis.

India's first international REIT Fund of Funds

Kotak Mahindra AMC (Kotak Mutual Fund)

has launched Kotak International REIT Fund

of Funds.

It is India's first diversified REIT Mutual Fund.

It is an open-ended mutual fund scheme that

will invest in units of SMAM Asia REIT Sub

Trust Fund.

This mutual fund scheme will have a

diversified investment portfolio comprising of

listed REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts).

PSL has acquired Wendell Rodricks label

Mumbai-based luxury fashion house, Purple

Style Labs, has acquired the resort wear

label Wendell Rodricks.

In 2019 Binny Bansal-backed Purple Style

Labs had acquired multi-brand luxury wear

marketplace Pernia's Pop Up Shop.

Wendell Rodricks launched his label in 1989.

TCPL to sell MAP Coffee Business

Tata Consumer Products Ltd informed that

its Australia based subsidiary Earth Rules Pty

Ltd is selling MAP Coffee Business to

Buccheri Group for 1.25 mn Australian

dollars.

MAP Coffee was established in 2002 and

supplied Australian cafes, restaurants and

bars with a range of Italian and locally roasted

coffee.

Buccheri Group is a Melbourne-based

company engaged in the business of coffee.

Tata Sons buys shares in Tata Chemicals

Tata Sons Pvt Ltd has bought more than 25

lakh shares of Tata Chemicals via open

market transaction.

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According to the bulk deal data available on

NSE (National Stock Exchange), Tata Sons

bought 25,71,651 shares of the company at

an average price of ₹471.88.

This took the total deal value to ₹121.35

crores.

Tata Power Co. Ltd receives Letter of Intent

Tata Power Co. Ltd has received the Letter of

Intent (LOI) for supplying electricity to the

consumers of two electricity distribution

companies (discoms) in Odisha.

These are Western Electricity Supply

Company of Odisha Ltd (WESCO) and the

Southern Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha

Ltd (SOUTCO).

Tata Power will hold 51 per cent equity with

management control.

'Global Consumer Trends Fund of Fund' launched

Invesco Mutual Fund has launched its new

fund Invesco India - Invesco Global

Consumer Trends Fund of Fund.

The fund will invest 95% - 100% of its assets

in shares of Invesco Global Consumer

Trends Fund.

The New Fund Offer (NFO) is open for

subscription and will close on December 18,

2020.

The fund covers a wide range of investment

themes including e-commerce,

entertainment, etc.

IIT Kharagpur develops AI based device

IIT Kharagpur researchers have developed a

portable Artificial Intelligence-based device

for automatic inspection of goods

manufactured in MSMEs.

The portable device will click pictures of

products when set up on a batch of goods

and send the feed to the AI-based software

for quality control.

UP CM disburses loan to 3.54L MSME units

UP CM Yogi Adityanath disbursed a loan of

Rs 10 thousand 390 crores to 3.54L MSME

units during the MSME loan fair in Lucknow.

Chief Minister disbursed the loan to the newly

established units along with the new MSMEs

under the self-sufficient India package.

Chief Minister also distributed advanced tool

kit related to their business to the trainees of

the 'One District One Product Scheme'.

HDFC Bank to halt Its digital launches

The RBI has directed HDFC Bank, to stop

issuing new credit cards and halt the launch

of new digital businesses.

The order has come after a notable rise in the

number of outages of its online services over

the last 2 years, the most recent being on Nov

21, 2020.

It will suspend all launches of digital business

generating activities planned under its

program — Digital 2.0 (to be launched).

US approves sale of military hardware to India

The US has approved India’s request to

purchase USD 90 million worth of military

hardware and services in support of its fleet

of C-130J Super Hercules aircraft.

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This proposed sale will support the foreign

policy and national security of the United

States.

This sale of spares and services will enable

the IAF to sustain a mission-ready status with

respect to the C-130J transport.

BAM among front runners for Fortum's projects

Actis Llp and Brookfield Asset Management

Inc. have emerged among the front runners

for acquiring a majority stake in Finland’s

power utility Fortum Oyj’s 500 MW Indian

solar projects.

The stake sale deal potentially valued at

about Euro 500 million, is set to rank among

the largest in India’s green energy space.

Kotak Investment Banking will run the sale

process.

RBI upgrades GDP forecast

The Reserve Bank expects GDP to contract

7.5% this fiscal.

This was announced by RBI Governor

Shaktikanta Das while announcing monetary

policy committee decision to keep interest

rate unchanged.

This is an upgrade from the central bank's

earlier forecast of 9.5% contraction in its

October 2020 review.

The RBI projected inflation at 6.8% for Q3 of

this fiscal.

RBI keeps repo rate unchanged

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its bi-

monthly monetary meet on 4 Dec 2020, has

decided to keep the repo rate unchanged.

This is the third time in a row the central bank

has kept the key rates unchanged.

After the announcement, the repo rate and

reverse rate remain at 4% and 3.35%,

respectively.

RBI had slashed the repo rate by 115 basis

points since late March 2020 to support

growth.

Limit for contactless card transaction hiked

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta

Das has informed that RBI has enhanced

limits for contactless card payments from

₹2,000 to ₹5,000.

This will be effective from 1 January 2021 and

will be at the discretion of the user.

The transfer of funds through Real-Time

Gross Settlement (RTGS) will be made

available round-the-clock in the next few

days.

Tata Digital invests in CSC Grameen e-Store

Tata Digital has invested about Rs 10 crore

in the government's rural e-commerce

venture, Grameen e-Store.

Tata Digital has purchased an undisclosed

stake and will get a seat on the board of CSC

Grameen e-Store Pvt Ltd.

Grameen e-Store was launched in April 2020

and has posted Rs 120 crore in turnover so

far.

Binny Bansal to join PhonePe board

Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal to join

PhonePe’s board of directors, as the digital

payments firm separates from parent

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Walmart-owned Flipkart to become an

independent entity.

Bansal will join PhonePe co-founders

Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari and Rohit

Bhagat on the board.

Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal had

abruptly resigned from the e-commerce

major in November 2018.

NCLT gives nod to Reliance Infratel's plan

National Company Law Tribunal has given its

nod to Reliance Infratel’s (RITL) resolution

plan, thereby paving way for Reliance Jio to

pick up the tower and fibre assets of RITL.

The tower unit, Reliance Infratel, will go to Jio

for a total consideration of Rs 20,000-23,000

crore to be paid over a period of seven years.

Airtel buys 4.9% stake in Bharti Infratel

Bharti Airtel Ltd, through its wholly-owned

subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments

Ltd, has acquired an additional stake of 133

million shares or 4.94% in tower company

Bharti Infratel Ltd for ₹2,882.32 crores.

Prior to the acquisition, Bharti Airtel and

Nettle Infrastructure held 23.04% and

13.69%, respectively, in Bharti lnfratel.

Option-1 to meet GST shortfall: Chhattisgarh

Govt of Chhattisgarh has chosen Option-1 to

meet the revenue shortfall arising out of GST

implementation.

The number of states which have favoured

Option-1 has gone up to 27.

Under the terms of Option-1, the states are

entitled to get unconditional permission to

borrow the final instalment of 0.50 per cent of

Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) out of

the 2 per cent additional borrowings.

OnePlus, American Express join hands

OnePlus has inked a long-term strategic

partnership with American Express, to offer a

range of benefits for buyers in India.

The new partnership would provide “always-

on”, exciting cashback offers for customers.

Ten per cent cashback is provided for

product categories listed on OnePlus.in for

customers who purchase a product with a

minimum listed price of Rs 40,000.

Rs 200-crore LMC bonds listed on BSE

In a first for Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow

Municipal Corporation bonds worth Rs 200 cr

were listed on Bombay Stock Exchange

(BSE) in Mumbai on 2 Dec 2020.

The Lucknow Municipal Corporation has

become the first civic body in north India to

issue bonds, even as the process of issuing

municipal bonds by civic bodies started in the

country in 1997.

Policybazaar launches insurance vertical

To help people deal with job or income

losses, Policybazaar has launched a new

vertical, where visitors can buy income loss

insurance products.

Through this, users can learn more about the

product offered by some of India’s leading

insurers SBI General, Aditya Birla Insurance,

etc.

With this, it aims to provide income

replacement benefits policies to customers

for a defined time period.

30

PNB launches loan management solution

Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched a

tech-based loan management solution called

'LenS-The Lending Solution'.

It will speed up and maintain accuracy in

online loan processing and sanctioning of

credit proposals.

This system is envisaged to be implemented

in a phased manner for all kinds of loans —

MSME, agriculture, retail and other credit.

Nifty Midcap 100 index crosses 20,000

Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.5% cross

the level of 20,000 for the first time in over

two years, on 2 December 2020.

The Nifty Midcap 100 Index is designed to

capture the movement of the midcap

segment of the market.

The Index comprises 100 tradable stocks

listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

UTI MF launches small cap fund

UTI Small Cap Fund has been launched on 2

December 2020.

The fund will be managed by Ankit Agarwal,

the fund manager of UTI Midcap Fund.

The fund will maintain a roughly 65-80%

allocation to small caps, with the rest in mid-

caps.

It will aim to hold a portfolio of 60-70 stocks

so that it can be scaled up without having to

change the portfolio.

RTGS service now available 24X7

RBI announced that Real Time Gross

Settlement System (RTGS) will be made

available round-the-clock from December

2020.

Currently, RTGS is available for customers

from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm on all working days

of a week, except the second and fourth

Saturdays of every month.

India will be among very few countries

globally with a 24x7x365 large value real-

time payment system.

India mulls foreign lithium-asset investment

India is looking to acquire stakes in lithium

assets overseas to secure supplies of the

metal used in making power-storage

batteries.

The government plans to expand renewable

energy capacity by about two-fold to 175 GW

by 2022, and boost it further to 450 GW by

2030.

India is seeking cheaper power-storage

solutions to meet its climate commitments

and reduce air pollution in its cities.

Facebook buys Kustomer for $1B

Facebook has decided to buy Kustomer for

$1B to expand into customer service tools.

Kustomer, a startup, was founded to disrupt

the customer services industry with a new

approach to providing agents with better data

and a more unified picture of users by

bringing together the many social media.

Kustomer was co-founded by CEO Brad

Birnbaum and Jeremy Suriel.

Divi's Lab to set up a facility in Andhra

Divi's Laboratories has earmarked ₹1,500

crores to set up a new manufacturing facility

in Andhra Pradesh.

31

The work on the manufacturing plant would

commence from December 7, 2020.

The Unit-III facility will come up in the East

Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh.

It will be investing about ₹1,500 crores out of

its internal accruals in a phased manner for

the implementation of the plant.

Tech companies sign 'Tech for Good' initiative

Google, Facebook, Microsoft are among the

75 executives of technology companies that

had signed up the French government's

'Tech for Good' initiative.

The initiative seeks to get global tech

companies to publicly commit to principles

including paying their fair share of taxes.

Amazon and Apple have not signed up to a

new French initiative.

Total FDI inflows: 28,102 million dollars

Total Foreign Direct Investments inflows into

India during the 2nd quarter of FY 2020-21 is

28,102 mn dollars, out of which FDI equity

inflows is 23,441 mn dollars.

This takes the FDI equity inflows during the

financial year 2020-21 upto September 2020

to 30,004 million dollars.

In rupee terms, the FDI Equity inflows of 2

lakh 24 thousand 613 crore rupees are 23%

more than 2019.

The Dettol school Hygiene Education programme

Dettol India launched the Social Return on

Investment Evaluation Study Report of its

successful Dettol School Hygiene Education

programme.

In this programme for every Rs 1 invested,

the Dettol School Hygiene Education

Programme delivers Rs 33.05 of social value.

The program has reached 13 million children

so far and counting across 8 states, 40

districts and 650,000 schools across India.

HSBC considers exit from US retail banking

HSBC holdings is considering a complete exit

from retail banking in the US, to help its

struggling North America business.

The bank’s senior management might

reportedly present the plan to the board in the

coming weeks.

The bank earlier said it would accelerate the

transformation of its US business and reduce

annual costs.

Punjab chooses Option-1 for GST implementation

Punjab government has communicated

acceptance of Option-1 to meet the revenue

shortfall arising out of GST implementation.

The number of states who have chosen this

option has gone up to 26.

On receipt of the choice of Option-1 from the

Punjab government, Centre has granted

additional borrowing permission of ₹3,033

crores to the state (0.5% of Punjab’s GSDP).

Angel Broking launches SmartAPI

To boost the investing prowess of the retail

investors, Angel Broking opened itself to API

integration via SmartAPI.

The feature is free to integrate with any

platform including startups and stock

advisories.

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At present, the platform supports Python,

Nodejs, Java, R, Go.

SmartAPI has paved the way for the

development of end-to-end trading services

for Angel Broking customers.

Anti-dumping duty on fluoroelastomers imports

India has imposed anti-dumping duty on

imports of fluoroelastomers from China by

five years starting November 27, 2020.

This was informed by the Central Board of

Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).

India had first imposed the duty in January

2019, which was prolonged in July 2020 until

October 27, 2020, and then additionally to

November 27, 2020.

IRDAI approves Bharti AXA, ICICI Lombard deal

IRDAI gave in-principle approval for the

merger of Bharti AXA General with ICICI

Lombard.

ICICI Lombard is progressing applications for

receipt of requisite approvals from other

concerned regulators for the transaction.

Upon closing of the proposed transaction, the

consolidated entity will have a market share

of about 8.7 per cent on a pro forma basis in

the non-life business.

Murugappa’s Tube to raise ₹350 cr

Murugappa group company Tube

Investments of India Ltd's board has

approved raising ₹350 cr from Azim Premji

Trust and SBI Mutual Fund through a

preferential allotment or private placement.

Azim Premji Trust will receive 2.73 mn shares

worth ₹200 cr while 2 SBI Mutual Fund

schemes will receive 1.5 mn and 546,000

shares worth ₹110 crores and ₹40 crores,

respectively.

Anugrah Stock and Broking declared defaulter

The National Stock Exchange has declared

Anugrah Stock and Broking a defaulter and

expelled the brokerage house’s membership.

The move comes a few days after NSE

scrapped the membership of Karvy Stock

Broking and declared it a defaulter.

On November 13, 2020, markets regulator

Securities and Exchange Board of India

(Sebi) had suspended Anugrah Stock &

Broking Pvt Ltd (ASBPL).

NSE, BSE suspend trading of LVB shares

The BSE and the NSE have suspended

trading in equity shares of Lakshmi Vilas

Bank (LVB) from 26 November 2020.

The union cabinet approved the scheme of

amalgamation of the cash-strapped LVB with

DBS Bank India.

All the branches of the Lakshmi Vilas Bank

will function as branches of DBS Bank India

from November 27.

RazorpayX and Visa launch credit cards

Razorpay, a financial solutions company, and

Visa have announced the launch of

RazorpayX Corporate Cards.

These bank-issued cards will stabilize the

financial operations of severely impacted

business owners of startups and SMEs.

The Corporate Cards offer business owners

credit limits of up to Rs 20 lakhs and flexibility

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that they can also extend these corporate

cards to their employees.

HDFC launches dividend yield fund

HDFC Mutual Fund has launched HDFC

Dividend Yield Fund.

It aims to provide capital appreciation and/or

dividend distribution by predominantly

investing in a well-diversified portfolio of

equity and equity-related instruments of

dividend-yielding companies.

Dividend yield is a financial ratio that shows

how much a company pays out in

dividends/buyback each year relative to its

stock price.

Kerala, West Bengal take borrowing option

Kerala and West Bengal became the latest

states to choose Rs 1.1 lakh crore option to

meet the shortfall from GST implementation

and will get Rs 10,197 crore through special

borrowing window.

Centre has granted additional borrowing

permission of Rs 4,522 crore to Kerala and

Rs 6,787 crore to West Bengal, which is 0.5%

of their respective gross state domestic

products (GSDP).

CSL to build electric vessels for Norway

The Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) is

building two autonomous electric vessels

with zero carbon emission for a Norwegian

company.

The two vessels are being built for ASKO

Maritime AS, Norway.

The 67-metre-long vessels would initially be

delivered as a full-electric transport ferry

powered by 1846 kWh capacity battery.

Tesla to build 'world's largest' battery plant

Tesla plans to build the world's largest

battery-cell factory at the group's electric car

plant near Berlin.

Tesla has already started construction on a

huge "gigafactory" in a forested area in

Gruenheide, south of the German capital.

The factory is Tesla's first in Europe and is

expected to churn out 5,00,000 Model 3

sedans and Model Y SUVs per year.

upGrad acquires The Gate Academy

upGrad has made its entry into the test

preparation market by acquiring The Gate

Academy (TGA).

Post the acquisition, TGA will operate as a

subsidiary of upGrad and will continue with its

brand name.

Ritesh Raushan will pursue as the CEO of the

entity to build this business line.

LVB to become DBS Bank India from Nov 27

Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) will merge into the

Indian arm of Singapore-based DBS Bank on

November 27.

Union Cabinet approved the merger of LVB

with DBIL, providing comfort to 20 lakh

customers of the bank which was put under

the moratorium.

LVB started under the leadership of V.S.N.

Ramalinga Chettiar in 1926.

LVB has 566 branches and 918 ATMs spread

across 19 States and one Union Territory.

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₹6,000 crore infusion into NIIF debt platform

The union cabinet has approved ₹6,000 cr

equity infusion in National Infrastructure

Investment Fund’s (NIIF’s) debt platform over

the current and the next fiscal.

Out of this, ₹2,000 cr is expected to be

utilised in the current fiscal, while the

remaining will be used in 2021-22.

NIIF will leverage this equity to raise ₹1.1

trillion over the next 5 years to finance

infrastructure projects.

Centre extends special festival advance scheme

The Finance Ministry has extended the

special festival package to employees of

autonomous bodies of the government.

It covers organisations ranging from the

Central Bureau of Investigation to the Board

of Control for Cricket in India.

The Union Government has decided to

extend the Rs 10,000 interest-free festival

advance to employees working in the

autonomous bodies.

HDFC Bank tops ₹8 tn market cap first time

HDFC Bank Ltd crossed ₹8 trillion in market

capitalisation for the first time on 25 Nov

2020, becoming India's third firm and first

lender to achieve this milestone.

Shares of HDFC Bank touched a fresh record

high of ₹1464 apiece in the early deals on the

BSE.

Currently, Reliance is the most valued firm of

India with a market value of ₹13.33 trillion

followed by TCS at ₹10.22 trillion.

Mirae Asset Mutual Fund launches a fund

Mirae Asset Investment Managers India has

launched the ‘Mirae Asset Banking &

Financial Services Fund’.

It is an open-ended equity scheme investing

in the banking and financial services sector.

The NFO for the fund will open for

subscription on November 25 and will close

on December 4, 2020.

The fund will be managed by Harshad

Borawake and Gaurav Kochar.

L&T bags contract to build longest bridge

L&T Construction, the construction arm of

infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro, has

bagged the contract to build India's longest

river bridge.

The 19-km long bridge, to be built along NH

127-B, across the Brahmaputra river will

connect Dhubri in Assam to Phulbari in

Meghalaya.

The bridge will significantly improve the

connectivity of the North-Eastern states with

the rest of the country.

Disney announces the launch of shopDisney.in

Disney's online store is live in

India, ShopDisney.in is now open for orders,

and will serve more than 500 cities across

India at launch.

Over 3,000 items are available at

ShopDisney.in on launch, including clothing,

toys, accessories, and school essentials.

Free shipping is only offered on

ShopDisney.in orders that cross Rs. 999.

Cars24 becomes India's latest unicorn startup

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Cars24 has raised $200 million at a billion

valuation from DST Global, making it India’s

latest unicorn.

Cars24 founded in 2015 by Vikram Chopra,

Mehul Agrawal, Ruchit Agarwal and

Gajendra Jangi.

Cars24 also entered the used two-wheelers

category six months ago and has sold over

3000 two-wheelers.

Govt blocks 43 more mobile apps

Government of India blocked 43 Chinese

mobile apps from accessing by users in India,

under section 69A of the Information

Technology Act.

Popular shopping website AliExpress was

among the banned apps, which comes to a

big blow to Chinese e-commerce major

Alibaba.

This is another setback for the e-commerce

giant after its Ant Group's $37-billion initial

public offering, was halted in China.

NSE declares Karvy Stock Broking as defaulter

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has

declared Karvy Stock Broking as a defaulter

for non-compliance with the regulatory

provisions of the bourse.

Karvy Stock Broking has been expelled from

the membership of the exchange.

Karvy was disabled (trading rights are

withdrawn) by the NSE in December 2019.

Infosys wins contract from XacBank

Infosys Ltd’s wholly-owned subsidiary

EdgeVerve Systems has bagged a contract

from Mongolia-based XacBank.

It will use Infosys Finacle’s core banking,

treasury, and corporate banking solution to

drive digital transformation.

This Finacle solution suite is aimed at helping

the bank accelerate its digitalization and

automation journey across the enterprise.

Muthoot launches gold jewellery scheme

Muthoot Finance has launched a gold

jewellery insurance scheme, Gold Shield for

its customers in partnership with Bajaj Allianz

General Insurance.

The policy provides insurance coverage of

gold jewellery for individuals.

This is designed to provide insurance

coverage of gold jewellery articles for

customers of the company at the time of

closure of gold loan and release of gold

ornaments.

Union AMC launches Union Hybrid Equity Fund

Union AMC has launched Union Hybrid

Equity Fund.

It is an open-ended hybrid scheme investing

predominantly in equity and equity-related

instruments.

The scheme will invest minimum 65% in

equity and maximum 35% in debt.

The New Fund Offer (NFO) of the Scheme

will open on November 27 and will close on

December 11, 2020.

The scheme will offer growth and dividend

option to its investors.

Ircon International bags ₹405 crore order

Ircon International Ltd has received a ₹405 cr

work order from the National Capital Region

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Transport Corporation Limited (NCRTC) for

Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor.

It has also received ₹318 cr for designing,

installing, and commissioning of receiving

sub-stations and associated works on viaduct

and tunnel from Sarai Kale Khan to Duhai.

The tenure for its execution is 50 months.

South Indian Bank purchase stake in IBBIC

Canara Bank, Axis Bank, Indian Bank and

South Indian Bank have acquired 6.67%

stake each in IBBIC, at Rs 10 per equity

share for a cash consideration of Rs 5 lakh

each.

IBBIC is proposed to be incorporated as a

financial technology company with an

objective of providing a platform for exploring,

building and implementing Distributed Ledger

Technology (DLT) solutions.

Byju’s to raise $200 million from BlackRock

Byju’s will raise $200 million in a fresh

funding round from US investment firms

BlackRock and T. Rowe Price at a valuation

of $12 billion.

It last raised $500 million in September 2020

from a group of investors including Silver

Lake Partners along with existing investors

General Atlantic, Owl Ventures and Tiger

Global at a valuation of $10.8 billion.

BEML bags ₹501 crore order from DMRC

Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) has

bagged an order from Delhi Metro Rail

Corporation(DMRC).

BEML has received variation order to

contract 'MRS1' from DMRC, for additional

12 trainsets of 06 cars each (total 72 cars) to

operate on line 2B and 7 of Mumbai metro

project.

The order is valued at ₹501 cr.

With this, the total contract value has

increased to ₹4318 crores from ₹3817

crores.

RBI hits 1 million Twitter followers

Reserve Bank of India has become the first

monetary authority in the world to have more

than 1 million followers on Twitter.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has beaten the

world’s most powerful central banks, the U.S.

Federal Reserve and the European Central

Bank.

As of November 22nd, the RBI handle is

followed by as many as 10,00,513 people

around the world.

Harley Davidson to Continue Sale And Service

Harley-Davidson India will continue its India

Operations beyond January 2021.

In October, Harley-Davidson Inc and Hero

MotoCorp, the worlds largest maker of

motorcycles and scooters in terms of unit

volumes had announced that the two will ride

together in India.

Hero MotoCorp will sell and service Harley-

Davidson motorcycles and sell parts and

accessories.

RBI fines PNB, Sodexo, PhonePe

The RBI has imposed a penalty of over ₹5.78

cr on 6 entities including Punjab National

Bank, PhonePe Pvt. Ltd and Sodexo SVC

37

India Pvt. Ltd for non-compliance of

regulatory guidelines.

It has also fined Muthoot Vehicle and Asset

Finance Ltd, QwikCilver Solutions Private Ltd

and Delhi Metro Rail Corp Ltd.

Except for PNB, the other 5 entities are non-

bank prepaid payment instrument issuers.

Odisha government announces budget

The Odisha govt has presented the first

supplementary budget of Rs 11,200 cr in the

Assembly as part of re-prioritisation of

allocations with COVID-19 pandemic at the

centre of focussed efforts.

The provisions include Rs 2,273 cr for

administrative expenditure, Rs 7,438 crore

for programme expenditure, Rs 1,484 cr

towards disaster management funds and Rs

5 cr towards transfer to local bodies.

RBI suggests raising cap on promoter stake

A Reserve Bank of India committee has

recommended raising the cap on promoter

stake in private sector banks to 26% of the

paid-up equity after 15 years of operation.

Currently, banking regulations make it

mandatory for promoters of private sector

banks to reduce their ownership to 40%

within three years and to 15% in 15 years.

RIL-Future Retail deal gets CCI okay

The CCI approved Future Retail Ltd’s asset

sale to Reliance Industries Ltd

It is a setback for Amazon.com Inc., which

had approached the anti-trust watchdog to

halt the ₹24,700 crore deal.

Kishore Biyani’s debt-ridden Future Group

had agreed to sell various assets of Future

Retail to Reliance for ₹24,713 crores in

August.

Ola to introduce e-scooter by Jan 2021

Ola is foraying into electric scooter

manufacturing and plans to hit the market

with its first vehicle in January 2021.

The electric scooter, initially manufactured at

a facility in the Netherlands, will be sold in

India as well as Europe.

Ola is said to be in talks with various state

governments to set up India's largest e-

scooter manufacturing plant.

RCF rolls out double-decker coach

The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) Kapurthala

rolled out a double-decker coach, which has

the potential of running at a speed of 160

kmph.

Coach with a total capacity of 120 seats, the

upper deck has 50 passenger seats, while

the lower deck has 48.

The RCF is the only production unit in India

that has produced double-decker coaches for

the Indian Railways.

Paytm: Largest platform for booking LPG

Paytm has announced that within a year of

launching the LPG cylinder bookings service,

it has registered over 5 million bookings.

With this, Paytm has become the largest

enabler of LPG cylinder bookings in the

country.

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Paytm started ‘Book a Cylinder’ facility in

2019 by partnering with HP Gas, followed by

Indian Oil's Indane.

The tie-up with Bharat Gas was announced

in May 2020.

Karnataka targets becoming bioeconomy by 2025

Karnataka aims to become a $50 billion

bioeconomy, comprising biotechnology and

life sciences sectors, by 2025.

The value of the market in the state currently

stands at $22.6 billion.

The state government has released the first

draft of the Bioeconomy Report 2020 at the

Bengaluru Tech Summit, outlining

achievements, and targets for the next five

years.

India ranks 2nd in global ransom payouts

Indian firms were the worst hit by cyber-

attacks among Asia-Pacific nations and

stood second globally in ransom payouts.

While 74% of organisations in India suffered

cyberattacks, 34% paid between $1 million-

$2.5 million as a ransom to hackers.

The survey added that Indian firms are

threatened by cyberattacks originating from

China and Pakistan due to rising geopolitical

tensions.

China all set to change its development model

China is set to change its development model

from 2021.

China is relying more on domestic

consumption than export-reliant growth

which propelled it to become the world’s

second-largest economy next only to the

United States.

The strategic decision was made after taking

conditions in China and the world into

consideration.

Vivad Se Vishwas scheme garners Rs 72,480 cr

The government has received Rs 72,480

crore in taxes under the dispute resolution

scheme ‘Vivad se Vishwas’ from 45,855

cases.

The scheme provides for the withdrawal of all

appeals both by the taxpayer and the

income-tax department on a resolution of

cases.

Vivad se Vishwas was launched for

settlement of disputed tax, interest, penalty

and fees in relation to an assessment or

reassessment.

Oaktree, Varde propose investment in Vodafone

A consortium led by US-based Oaktree

Capital, including a few other private equity

firms such as Varde Partners, has proposed

investing up to $2.5 billion into cash-strapped

Vodafone Idea Ltd through hybrid debt

papers.

The consortium is said to have offered $2.0-

2.5 billion of capital to the Birla group

company that is facing tens of billions of

rupees in government debt.

L&T bags contract from a bullet train project

The transportation infrastructure business of

L&T Construction, the construction arm of

L&T, has secured a mega contract from the

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National High-Speed Rail Corporation

Limited (NHSRCL).

It will construct 87.569 km of the Mumbai-

Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR)

project, popularly referred to as the Bullet

Train project.

L&T classifies contracts upwards of ₹7,000

crore in the mega category.

ICICI Bank introduces ‘Cardless EMI’ facility

ICICI Bank has announced the launch of

Cardless EMI facility.

‘ICICI Bank Cardless EMI’ is a fully digital

mode of payment at leading retail stores.

It enables lakhs of its pre-approved

customers to buy their favourite gadgets or

home appliances just by using their mobile

phone and PAN in lieu of wallet or cards.

It has tied up with Pine Labs to offer this

facility across pan-India.

Odisha approves investment projects

Odisha government has approved four

investment projects worth Rs 464.72 crore

envisaging direct employment opportunities

for more than 870 people.

The government approved a Medium Density

Fibreboard (MDF) manufacturing facility at

Malipada in Khurdha district.

The MDF manufacturing facility will be set up

by Galax Industries Private Limited with an

investment of Rs 93 crore.

CapitaLand secures three green loans in India

CapitaLand has secured its first three green

loans in India, totalling Rs 1700 cr from DBS

Bank India Limited and HSBC India.

The three green loans mark CapitaLand’s

first foray in sustainable finance in India.

Proceeds from the green loans will be used

to finance the development of its green-

certified International Tech Parks in Chennai,

Gurgaon and Pune.

Mann Ki Baat helps AIR generate over Rs 30 Cr

Prime Minister's Mann Ki Baat helped state-

owned radio broadcaster generate four times

the revenue.

All India Radio garnered-in over Rs 30 crore

courtesy Mann Ki Baat.

RTI reveals that while a total of Rs 7.29 crore

were spent on advertisement in print media,

the show helped AIR generate a whopping

Rs 30.28 crore.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank brought under moratorium

Lakshmi Vilas Bank has been brought under

moratorium effective 6 pm, 17 November

until 16 December.

It has restricted withdrawals of more than

₹25,000 per borrower during the period of

moratorium.

The bank was placed under the Prompt

Corrective Action (PCA) framework in

September 2019.

The financial position of The Lakshmi Vilas

Bank Ltd. (the bank) has undergone a steady

decline.

China ready to cooperate with India

China is prepared to cooperate with India and

other BRICS nations in the development of

vaccines against COVID-19.

40

Chinese President Xi Jinping was speaking

at 12th BRICS virtual summit hosted by

Russian President Vladimir Putin.

China has joined the COVAX facility, a

platform on which we will share vaccines with

other countries, developing countries in

particular."

Embassy Reit to buy Embassy Tech Village

Embassy Reit, India’s first public listed real

estate investment trust, has agreed to buy

Embassy Tech Village assets from affiliates

of sponsors Embassy Group and Blackstone

Group Lp and other shareholders for around

$1.3 billion.

The acquisition will be subject to unitholders

and regulatory approvals.

The buyout comprises 6.1 million sq ft of

completed office space.

Kalyan Developers launches projects in Kerala

Kalyan Developers, a division of Kalyan

Jewellers has launched 3 luxury apartment

projects across Kerala in Calicut, Trivandrum

& Thrissur respectively.

Kalyan Courtyard, in Chevayur, is Kalyan's

1st project in Calicut.

The other projects of Kalyan in Trivandrum

are Gateway (Venpalavattom, NH Bypass),

Avanti (NH Bypass, Near UST Global),

Centrum (Pettah) and Sapphire

(Peroorkada).

SBM Bank to launch a neo banking platform

SBM Bank India, which is the wholly-owned

subsidiary of State Bank of Mauritius, is set

to launch a neo banking platform.

SBM Bank India was the first foreign bank in

India to obtain a banking licence from the RBI

to operate as a Wholly Owned Subsidiary in

January 2019.

It has tied up with a fintech PayNearbyand

has launched a service called Nivesh which

is a recurring deposit platform.

RBI imposes Rs 1 crore penalty on PNB

The RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore

on Punjab National Bank.

The penalty has been imposed for

contravention of the Payment and Settlement

Systems Act.

RBI has observed that the Bank was

operating a bilateral ATM sharing

arrangement with Druk PNB Bank Ltd,

Bhutan, (an international subsidiary of the

Bank), since April 2010 without the prior

approval/authorisation from RBI.

NCLT approves Rs 103 crore resolution plan

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)

has approved a Rs 103-crore bid to acquire

debt-ridden NIIL Infrastructures.

NIIL is developing a housing project in Agra,

Uttar Pradesh.

A two-member principal bench of NCLT,

headed by Acting President BSV Prakash

Kumar, has approved the Rs 103.18 crore

resolution plan by a consortium of Rishabh

Verma and Shailendra Khirwar along with N-

Homes.

DIPAM inks agreement with World Bank

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Department of Investment and Public Asset

Management (DIPAM) signed an agreement

with World Bank.

Under the agreement, World Bank is to

provide advisory services to DIPAM for asset

monetization, said Ministry of Finance in an

official release.

DIPAM is mandated with facilitating

monetization of non-core assets of

government CPSEs under strategic

disinvestment or closure and enemy

property.

Ruchi Soya to launch FPO next year: Patanjali

Edible oil firm Ruchi Soya, which is owned by

Patanjali Ayurved, will launch a follow-on

public offer (FPO) next year to bring down

promoters' shareholding in the company.

Patanjali Group has run Ruchi Soya

efficiently after the acquisition last year.

Last year, Patanjali acquired Ruchi Soya,

which is listed on stock exchanges, through

an insolvency process for ₹4,350 crores.

Walmart to sell Seiyu to KKR and Rakuten

Walmart Inc has agreed to sell most of the

Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu to

investment firm KKR and e-commerce

company Rakuten in a deal that values Seiyu

at 172.5 billion yen ($1.65 billion).

KKR will buy 65% of Seiyu and Rakuten will

acquire a 20% stake while Walmart will retain

15%.

The move will enable to Seiyu to accelerate

its digital transformation.

Reliance retail arm buys Urban Ladder

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has acquired

online furniture seller Urban Ladder Home

Decor Solutions Pvt. Ltd for ₹182.12 cr,

expanding its presence in Indias fast-growing

e-commerce market.

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL)bought

96% of Urban Ladder and has the option to

buy the remaining 4% stake.

RRVL proposes to make a further investment

of up to ₹75 cr, taking its ownership to 100%.

Axis Bank revises fixed deposit rates

Axis Bank has revised interest rates on fixed

deposits with effect from 13 November 2020.

It offers FDs across different tenures, ranging

from 7 days to 10 years.

After the latest revision, it is offering an

interest rate of 2.50% on FDs with maturity

between 7 days and 29 days, 3% for FDs

maturing between 30 days and less than 3

months, 3.5% for FDs between 3 months and

less than 6 months.

India’s rice bran oil imports to double

India's rice bran oil imports from Bangladesh

are set to double in 2020-21.

Imports of rice bran oil from Bangladesh have

already hit 60,000 tonnes during the April-

October period compared with 75,000 tonnes

during 2019-20.

Rice bran oil originates in Bangladesh and is

protected under the South Asian Free Trade

Agreement.

TA Associates to take stake in OmniActive

Global private equity investor TA Associates

is all set to acquire a controlling stake in

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Mumbai-based nutraceutical ingredients

player OmniActive Health Technologies.

The fund will invest about $150 million to

acquire about 60% stake in the company.

The deal, expected to value the company at

$250 million, will see the exit of existing

investor Everstone Capital.

Japan's economy exits recession

Japan's economy exited recession in the third

quarter, growing 5.0%, government data

showed on 16 Nov 2020.

A rise in domestic demand, as well as

exports, helped drive the quarter-on-quarter

growth after the coronavirus pandemic.

The positive figures come after three-

quarters of contraction in the world's third-

largest economy, with revised data showing

the economy shrank 8.2% in Q2.

Foriegn investors pump in over Rs 35,100 crore

Foreign investors pumped in over Rs 35,100

crore into the Indian capital markets so far in

November 2020.

Foreign portfolio investors, or FPIs, invested

Rs 29,436 crore in equities and Rs 5,673

crore in the debt segment during the

November 2 and 13 period, taking the net

investment into the Indian capital market to

35,109 crore.

FPIs had pumped in Rs 22,033 crore in

October 2020.

Apple joins industry group working towards 6G

Apple has become the latest major player to

join the Next G Alliance, a coalition of

companies working to define and develop the

next generation of mobile technology, 6G.

The Alliance for Telecommunications

Industry Solutions launched the group, with

backing from top US and Canadian

operators, Ericsson and Nokia, among

others.

Its main aim is to establish North America as

a leader in 6G.

Tesla opens world’s largest Supercharger stn

Tesla opened the world’s new largest

Supercharger station with 56 charging points.

The Tesla super-charging network is located

between the Bay Area and Los Angeles – two

of the company's biggest markets in the

world.

The EV maker has a few Supercharger

stations in China with around 50 charging

stalls but the latest station with 56 stalls is a

new record for the company.

Qualcomm gets US permission to sell 4G chips

Qualcomm Inc received a license from the

U.S. government to sell 4G mobile phone

chips to China’s Huawei Technologies Co

Ltd.

An exemption to U.S. trade restrictions

imposed amid rising tensions with China.

Qualcomm and all other American

semiconductor companies were forced to

stop selling to the Chinese technology firm in

September after U.S. trade restrictions took

effect.

Karnataka Bank launches Mobility Debit card

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Karnataka Bank Ltd has launched National

Common Mobility Debit Card.

This Rupay card is a contactless debit-cum-

prepaid and interoperable transport card.

It has unique features of ‘tap and go’ and

‘offline wallet’ payments.

NRTI launches seven academic courses

Indian Railways’ National Rail and

Transportation Institute (NRTI) in Vadodra

has recently launched seven new academic

programs.

It includes two B. Tech UG Programmes, two

MBA Programmes and three MSc

Programmes on core applied sector.

NRTI intends to develop a set of core values-

-dedication to nation-building, commitment to

innovation and academic excellence,

compassion towards people.

Singapore has announced a work visa

Singapore announced a new work visa for

foreign executives of technology firms, a

sector the low-tax global business hub hopes

will power future economic growth.

Under the Tech Pass programme launching

in January, up to 500 experienced executives

can apply for the two-year visas.

Which allow participants to operate a

business, invest in or become a director.

Murugappan steps down as chairman of group

Three companies of the Rs 38,105-crore

Murugappa Group announced that M M

Murugappan stepped down as the chairman

and director as he turned 65.

Cholamandalam Investment, Tube

Investments of India, and Coromandel Intern-

ational were the three firms to inform the

stock exchanges of the resignation.

Vellayan Subbiah to take over as chairman of

Cholamandalam Investment.

Karnataka to borrow ₹7,438 crore

The Karnataka government would borrow Rs

7,438 crore to fund the 148km suburban rail

project across Bengaluru.

The state cabinet has approved the proposal

to borrow the amount through a special

purpose vehicle as part of the state’s share in

the Rs 18,600-crore suburban rail project.

The central and state governments will also

contribute Rs 2,479 crore respectively to the

mega project.

Odisha govt launches SAANS

The Odisha Government launched Social

Awareness & Action to Neutralize

Pneumonia Successfully (SAANS)

programme.

To reduce child mortality owing to

pneumonia, which contributes to around 15

per cent of deaths of children under the age

of ve annually.

SAANS was launched by the state Health

Department to mobilise people to protect

children from pneumonia.

PUBG Developers Announce A Special Version

PUBG Mobile developers announced that

they plan to launch a new game called ‘PUBG

Mobile India’ that will be specifically created

for Indian users.

44

PUBG and its parent company KRAFTON

are planning to invest worth $100 million in

India to cultivate an ecosystem around the

local video game, e-sports, entertainment,

and IT industries.

The Indian government banned PUBG

Mobile back in September.

FASTag crosses 2 crore users landmark

The National Highways Authority of India

(NHAI) said the number of FASTag users in

the country has crossed two-crore landmark,

registering a growth of 400 per cent in a year.

FASTag uses Radio-frequency Identification

(RFID) technology that provides users a

smooth and effortless cross-over at toll

plazas without waiting/halting.

On 15 December 2019, FASTag became

mandatory throughout India.

CCI approves Google's $4.5 B deal with Jio

The Competition Commission of India has

approved Google picking up 7.73% stake in

Jio Platforms for Rs 33,737 crore.

Google, which signed the pact on July 15, will

be making the investment into the digital arm

of Reliance Industries through its wholly-

owned subsidiary, Google International LLC

(GIL).

Clearing way for the internet giant to jointly

develop entry level Android smartphones.

L&T emerges as L-1 bidder to build a bridge

Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) has emerged

as the L-1 bidder for construction of a four-

lane road bridge across the Brahmaputra

river.

L&T’s bid at ₹3,166 crore, emerged as the

lowest bid.

The project will cover a stretch of 20 km from

Dhubri in Assam to Phulbari in Meghalaya on

National Highway 127B.

The project is financed by Japan International

Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Karnataka government approves an investment

The Karnataka government has cleared a

₹438 crore investment proposal by Gopalan

Aerospace, a precision engineering

company.

The company will start manufacturing of

aerospace components in Chikkaballapura,

around 60 km from Bengaluru.

The state govt, in its order, has tasked the

Karnataka Industrial Area Development

Board to allot 40 acres to the company at

Mastenahalli Industrial Area.

Godrej to invest ₹1,500 cr in a new unit

Godrej Group has launched its housing

finance business and aims to build a loan

book of ₹10,000 crores, with a customer base

of 40,000 within the next 3 years.

The new entity, Godrej Housing Finance

(GHF), plans to infuse ₹1,000-1,500 crore in

the next three-four years and, subsequently,

borrow at competitive rates.

The company will extend home loans at

6.69% as an introductory offer.

FrontRow raises $3.2 million

FrontRow has raised seed funding of $3.2

million led by venture capital firms Lightspeed

45

and Elevation Partners, along with actor

Deepika Padukone’s family office.

It is a learning and community platform

focused on creative arts and sports.

FrontRow will use the funds to add more

courses and categories, expand their

community offering and go deeper into

various course formats.

Walmart teams up with GM's Cruise

Walmart announced that the company has

joined forces with self-driving car company

Cruise to test out autonomous grocery

delivery in Arizona.

Under the program, customers in Scottsdale

will be able to order from their local Walmart

store and have it delivered via one of Cruise’s

all-electric self-driving cars.

Cruise, which is largely owned by General

Motors Co. and other companies.

Binny Bansal India’s youngest philanthropist

Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, who has

debuted on the 2020 Hurun India and

EdelGive list of top philanthropists, is also the

youngest on the list.

Among the leading philanthropists in the

country, startup consultancy xto10x

Technologies’ Co-founder Bansal was

ranked 109th.

Donated Rs 5.3 crores during the financial

year 2020 for education as the primary

cause.

Sweden 5G: Huawei wins stay against exclusion

A Swedish court has suspended a decision

banning Huawei equipment from the

country's 5G network.

While it considers the merits of the case

against the Chinese telecoms giant.

Huawei contests its ban as a security risk,

claiming that it "lacks legal basis, violates

fundamental human rights, violates

fundamental EU legal principles... and is

incorrect in substance".

Prestige, Blackstone sign a deal

Prestige Group has signed a term sheet with

global asset manager Blackstone Group Lp.

It will sell five office parks, nine shopping

malls, two hotels and four under-construction

office complexes totalling 21 million sq ft.

The deal value is close to ₹11,000 crores.

The rental assets are located in Bengaluru,

Chennai and Gujarat.

HDFC cuts home loan rates

HDFC has announced a reduction in its retail

prime lending rate (RPLR) on housing loans,

on which its adjustable-rate home loans

(ARHL) are benchmarked, by 10 basis

points.

This comes into effect from 10 November

2020.

New approvals of housing and non-housing

loans by HFCs during September 2020 were

at 130% of the previous period.

Tata to add international stocks in 3 schemes

Tata Mutual Fund has amended the scheme

information documents (SIDs) for key mutual

46

fund schemes to bring in international

securities.

The schemes affected include Tata Large

Cap Fund, Focused Fund and Digital India

Fund.

The changes will be effective from 26 Nov'20.

The amendments to SIDs will allow the fund

house to take exposure to international

stocks up to 20% of the scheme corpus.

First coal mine auction to generate Rs 7000 cr

The first tranche of commercial coal mine

auction was held from 2nd November to 9

Nov 2020.

19 mines were auctioned which will generate

revenue of 7000 crore rupees and it has a

total peak rated capacity of 51 million tonnes.

The mines are in Jharkhand, Odisha,

Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya

Pradesh.

The upfront amount will be 1,048 crore

rupees.

SAIL introduces shorter working period scheme

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has unveiled a

scheme under which a majority of its around

72,000 employees will be able to opt for

‘shorter working period’ against proportionate

forgoing of salary benefits.

Under the scheme, employees up to E-7

(general manager) grade can opt from

various shorter working hours options like

three days a week.

The scheme, effective from November 1,

2020.

Tata Steel, POSCO join forces for hyperloop

Tata Steel Europe and South Korea’s

POSCO will collaborate to develop steel

tubes needed for high-speed hyperloop

transportation systems.

They would develop high-quality steel grades

needed for the huge vacuum tubes that allow

high-speed transport using very little energy.

POSCO has been conducting hyperloop

related research such as feasibility, design

and structural optimisation.

NeoBenk launches Global Partners Program

NeoBenk, a worldwide digital payment

corporation, announced the launch of its

Global Partners Program that spurs wider

availability and mass adoption of digital

assets.

NeoBenk’s Global Partners Program is

designed to enable a full range of financial

solutions and infrastructure.

NeoBenk announces a total reward

distribution of $1 Million for celebrating its

official launch on 20th November.

First agricultural commodity futures contract

Leading stock exchange NSE will launch its

first agricultural commodity futures contract

for crude degummed soybean oil on Dec 1,

2020.

It will facilitate the soybean oils processing

and allied industries in India and overseas.

The contract is monthly expiry cash-settled

futures contract with a trading lot size of 10

metric ton (MT) and price basis as Kandla.

15th Finance Commission submits final report

47

The 15th Finance Commission presented its

final report for the 5 fiscal years from 2021-

22 to 2025-26 to President Ram Nath Kovind

on 9 Nov 2020.

The report was titled ‘Finance Commission in

Covid Times’.

It contained 4 volumes each pertaining to an

area of the terms of reference of the FC.

Volumes one and two contained the main

report regarding the vertical and horizontal

tax devolution.

L&T Finance board approves raising funds

L&T Finance Holdings Ltd board has

approved a plan to raise as much as Rs3,000

cr.

It is the financial services arm of construction

conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Ltd.

The board approved the offer and issuance

of fully paid-up equity shares of the company

for an amount not exceeding Rs3,000 crore

by way of a rights issue to the eligible equity

shareholders of the company as on the

record date.

UK creates tech hub for ‘ethical’ business

The U.K. government has published

guidance it says will help U.K. firms negotiate

the “ethical, legal and commercial” questions

they may encounter in China, or when

working with Chinese businesses, and

safeguard national security concerns.

The guidance released by the Department for

Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

IOB seeks about Rs 1,000 cr capital support

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has sought

capital support of about Rs 1,000 crore from

the government in order to create a buffer for

any exigency.

The state-owned lender, which has posted a

profit for the last three consecutive quarters,

expects to continue the trend in the remaining

part of the current fiscal year with an

increased focus on recovery and business

pick up.

Bharti AXA launches cancer awareness drive

Bharti AXA General Insurance has launched

a cancer awareness

campaign #CancerSendsNoNotifications.

It is a special initiative to increase awareness

and spread knowledge on detecting the

disease early among people in India.

Through this cancer awareness drive, Bharti

AXA aims to engage with close to a million

Indians on Facebook, Instagram and

LinkedIn.

Adani takes over Ahmedabad Airport Operations

The AAI completed the procedure to hand

over the SVPI Airport, Ahmedabad (Gujarat),

to the private player.

Earlier, the Airports Authority of India handed

over the Lucknow Airport and the Mangaluru

airport to the Adani group on lease for a

period of 50 years.

The ceremonial Handing Over of the Key to

AAIAL will mark the new chapter for

Ahmedabad Airport.

Gov plans to sell 15% stake in IRCON

48

The government is planning to sell up to 15

per cent of its stake in railway engineering

company IRCON International Ltd.

The government currently holds 89.18%

stake in IRCON International Ltd.

At the current market price, the government

could raise about ₹540 crore by selling 15%

stake.

Adani Enterprises wins Gondulpara mine bid

Adani Enterprises Ltd placed the winning bid

for the Gondulpara coal mine in Hazaribagh

district of Jharkhand, on the sixth day of

commercial coal mine auctions.

So far, 18 coal mines have been auctioned

since the bidding began on 2 Nov 2020.

The mines are being awarded on a revenue-

sharing basis, while earlier blocks were

allocated to companies on the payment of

fixed amounts per tonne.

Biocon receives ₹1,125-cr capital injection

Biocon has approved a ₹1,125-crore ($150

million) capital injection from Goldman Sachs

in its subsidiary Biocon Biologics.

As per the terms of the proposed agreement,

Goldman Sachs will be issued Optionally

Convertible Debentures at a post-money

equity valuation of USD 3.94 Billion.

This capital injection will enable it to make

prudent investments in R&D and high-quality

manufacturing.

UPI AutoPay facility for mutual fund

Angel Broking has become the first in the

industry to offer Unified Payment Interface

AutoPay for mutual funds.

It has received approval from the National

Payments Corporation of India for the new

service.

This new implementation will simplify the

process while cutting down the e-mandate

authentication time to less than a minute.

It will eliminate the e-mandate registration

cost as well.

SBI integrates Yono Krishi with IFFCO eBazar

State Bank of India has facilitated the

integration of Yono Krishi with IFFCO eBazar

under its Mandi section.

The bank's Yono Krishi platform has been

catering to all the farmers' agricultural needs,

from sowing to harvesting.

With this integration, the farmer customers of

the bank can avail free home delivery of all

farming related products in over 27,000

locations from IFFCO eBazar portal.

Routematic raises $2 million from Bosch

Routematic (Nivaata Systems Pvt Ltd) has

raised a fresh round of funding from Bosch

Ltd, the German auto-parts maker.

Routematic is an urban mobility startup that

helps augment corporate transportation,

Investment in Nivaata Systems Private

Limited (Routematic) up to 7.14% of the

Capital on fully diluted basis, aggregates to

an amount not exceeding Rs. 148 Million (

₹14.8 crore or $2 mn).

SEBI enhances foreign investment limit

The Securities and Exchange Board of India

(Sebi) has enhanced the foreign investment

49

limit per fund house from 300 mn USD to 600

million USD.

A surge of interest in international investing

pushed some AMCs close to the previous

foreign investment limit of USD 300 million.

In the fund of funds (FoF) category, overseas

assets under management (AUM) touched

₹6,496 cr at the end of Sept 2020.

Flipkart invests in USPL

Flipkart Group is set to buy a stake in

Universal Sportsbiz Pvt. Ltd (USPL), which

owns youth fashion brands Ms.Taken, Wrogn

and Single.

This is Flipkart’s third major investment in an

offline fashion retailer this year.

In July 2020, it had invested ₹1,500 crores in

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd to pick up

a 7.8% stake, and ₹260 crores to acquire a

stake in Arvind Youth Brands.

Wynn invests $80 million

Wynn Resorts Ltd. is investing $80 mn in a

newly reorganized joint venture to pursue

online betting in the US, marking the latest

attempt by casino giants to tap the fast-

growing market.

Wynn had established a partnership two

years ago with BetBull Ltd., a European

online gaming operator, to pursue sports

betting.

The new venture is owned 71% by Wynn and

29% by BetBull’s former shareholders.

OPEC member countries invited to invest

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister

Dharmendra Pradhan has invited OPEC

member countries to invest in India.

The minister co-chaired the 4th high-level

meeting of the India-OPEC Energy Dialogue

on 5 Nov 2020 along with Secretary-General

of OPEC Secretariat Mohammad Sanusi

Barkindo.

The virtual meeting was also joined by OPEC

Member countries, CMD and MDs of India's

oil and gas industry.

Rajasthan to borrow Rs 97000 cr

Rajasthan govt has decided to go for Option

-1 to meet the GST implementation shortfall.

In the 41st meeting of the GST Council in

August 2020, Centre had given two

borrowing options to States to meet GST

compensation requirement for the current

financial year.

States can borrow either 97,000 cr from a

special window facilitated by the RBI or

2,35,000 crore rupees from the market.

NPCI allows WhatsApp Payments Service

The National Payments Corporation of India

has given its nod to WhatsApp Inc. to offer

payments services via the Unified Payments

Interface.

This ends a two-year wait for WhatsApp Pay,

which has so far been operating pilot

operations for users in India.

Currently, in the beta phase, as part of the

pilot operations, WhatsApp Pay serves about

1 million customers.

Adani renames Australian group Bravus

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Indian conglomerate Adani group's mining

company, the Carmichael coalmine in central

Queensland on November 5 renamed its

Australian operations as 'Bravus'.

The name change marked the Indian

company's tenth year in Australia, as well as

the significant progress they've made on

Carmichael thermal coal mine in central

Queensland, which may generate up to

10,000 jobs.

PIF to buy 2.04% stake in Reliance Retail

The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the

sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, will

invest ₹9,555 crores for a 2.04% stake in

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), a

subsidiary of Reliance Industries.

The transaction values RRVL at a pre-money

equity value of ₹4.587 lakh crore.

The investment in RRVL follows PIF’s earlier

acquisition of a 2.32% stake in Jio Platforms.

ICICI Bank launches ‘Mine’ for millennials

ICICI Bank has announced the launch of

India’s first comprehensive banking

programme for millennials.

Inspired by ‘Millennial Network’, the

proposition is called ‘ICICI Bank Mine’ and

offers an instant savings account, a feature-

driven iMobile application.

Any millennial-aged up to 35 years can apply

digitally for an ‘ICICI Bank Mine’ account from

November 6, 2020.

AEL plans ₹50,000 cr capital expenditure

Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) has a ₹50,000-

crore capital expenditure plan to fund its new

businesses over the next five years.

Out of this, over ₹35,000 crores will be

infused into its airports division.

The acquisition of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai

airports will be finalized in the next few

months and latest by March 2021.

China’s Fosun Kicks Off Biggest Pharma IPO

Gland Pharma Ltd. and its shareholders are

looking to raise as much as 64.5 billion

rupees ($871 million) in what would be India’s

biggest initial public offering by a

pharmaceutical firm.

The company and existing holders including

Fosun Pharma Industrial Pte. are selling as

many as 43.2 million shares in the offering,

according to terms of the deal obtained.

Intel acquires Cnvrg.io to boost AI, ML

Intel continues to snap up startups to build

out its machine learning and AI operations.

In the latest move, has learned that the chip

giant has acquired Cnvrg.io, an Israeli

company that has built and operates a

platform for data scientists to build and run

machine learning models.

Which can be used to train and track multiple

models and run comparisons on them.

Startups jump 57% under PM Modi’s pet scheme

The Modi government’s flagship scheme to

promote the Indian startup ecosystem –

Startup India has witnessed a 57 per cent

growth in the number of government-

recognised startups.

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Department for Promotion of Industry and

Internal Trade (DPIIT), the number has

jumped to 39,114 startups as of November 3,

2020, according to the data from the Startup

India portal.

OYO Elevates COO Ankit Tandon To Global CBO

Gurugram-based hospitality giant OYO has

elevated its chief operating officer (COO)

Ankit Tandon to the position of the global

chief business officer.

Tandon has been part of OYO’s CXO

leadership team since 2016, prior to this, he

has worked with McKinsey & Company and

ITC Limited.

He has also been the vice president of

operation at OYO between 2015 to 2016.

German shoe company shifts from China to Agra

Von Wellx, a German shoe brand operating

earlier from China, operationalized two

shoemaking units in Agra.

The company, which is collaborating with

Iatric Industries Pvt Ltd, had announced in

May that it would be shifting its entire

production of three millions pairs of shoes

from China to India.

The group will invest around Rs 300 crore in

phases in three projects in Uttar Pradesh.

Sebi lays downs guidelines

The Securities and Exchange Board of India

(Sebi) has laid down a fresh set of norms for

increasing diligence on debt securities.

Sebi had first approved these new norms in

its board meeting on 30 September 2020.

These rules strengthen the role of debenture

trustees by empowering them to conduct an

independent inspection of assets on which a

charge is being created.

Ant Group's $37 billion IPO suspended

Ant Group's $37 billion listing has been

suspended in both Shanghai and Hong Kong

in a dramatic move just two days before what

was set to be the world's largest-ever stock

market debut.

Alibaba shares slumped 7% after Ant Group

IPO suspended.

The Shanghai stock exchange first

announced that it had suspended Ant's initial

public offering on its STAR market.

Deutsche Bank plans to cut ties with Trump

Deutsche Bank is looking for ways to end its

relationship with President Donald Trump, as

it tires of the negative publicity stemming from

the ties.

Deutsche Bank has about $340 million in

loans outstanding to the Trump Organization,

the president’s umbrella group that is

currently overseen by his two sons.

Commercial coal mine auctions begin on day 2

The second day of the auction of coal blocks

for commercial mining saw Sarda Energy and

Minerals bagging the Sahapur West mine in

Madhya Pradesh.

While the Andhra Pradesh Mineral

Development Corporation made the highest

bid for Brahmadiha mine in Jharkhand.

Hindalco Industries was also vying for the

Dhirauli block.

52

Ola plans to set up e-scooter plant

Bengaluru-based emobility giant Ola Electric

is looking for 100 acres of unencumbered

land to build the world’s largest e-scooter

facility as the company plans to launch its

electric two-wheeler models.

Ola Electric is planning to launch e-scooters

after acquiring Amsterdam-based EV startup

Etergo BV.

Honda currently operates the world’s largest

scooter manufacturing site in Gujarat.

No service charge on Basic Savings Bank AC

The government announced that no service

charge is applicable on the 60 crores Basic

Savings Bank Deposit accounts, including

Jan Dhan accounts.

Finance Ministry said, there have been

several media reports alluding to a steep

increase in service charges by certain Public

Sector Banks.

Ministry of Finance says Bank of Baroda has

withdrawn its recent changes that involve

charging customers.

100 additional products unveiled

Ministry of Tribal Affairs said that 100

additional products in the Forest Fresh

Naturals and Organics range were unveiled

online in Tribes India Product Range.

The Ministry in a statement said, since 26th

of October, Tribes India has been expanding

its product range and catalogue by including

100 new products on a weekly basis.

Products will be available in 125 Tribes India

outlets.

ADIA, PIF invest $1 billion in Reliance

Reliance Industries Ltd. is raising $1 billion in

investment from two sovereign wealth funds.

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, or ADIA,

and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund,

or PIF, will each invest 37.8 billion rupees

($507.2 million) in buying units of Digital Fibre

Infrastructure Trust,

The firm has already secured over $25 bn

investment from backers such as Facebook

Inc. and Google.

SWF: 1st fund to get 100% income-tax exemption

Abu Dhabi’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) -

MIC Redwood 1 RSC Limited - has become

the first foreign SWF that has been notified

and granted 100% income-tax exemption for

the long-term investments to be made in the

specified priority sectors in India.

India has gradually opened up the economy

for FDI, except very few sectors and has also

extended a lot of tax concessions for

sovereign funds.

Singapore to stop printing S$1,000 notes

Singapore will stop printing S$1,000

banknotes from Jan 2021.

This will curb the risk of them being used for

money laundering and to finance terrorism.

Existing notes will remain legal tender and

banks can continue to re-circulate them.

Countries around the world have been

looking to phase out high denomination notes

for years over concerns they are used for

criminal activity.

FT Mutual Fund's 6 schemes generate ₹438 crore

53

Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund's six shut

schemes have received ₹438 crore from

maturities, pre-payments and coupon

payments in the second half of October 2020.

This amount takes the total cash flows

received to ₹8,741 cr since closing down of

the schemes in April.

FT MF had closed six debt mutual fund

schemes on April 23, citing redemption

pressures and lack of liquidity in the bond

market.

Two-wheelers, exports push October records

Bajaj Auto recorded 5,12,038 unit sales for

the month of October 2020, an 11 per cent

increase year-on-year (YoY) from 4,63,208

sold in October 2019.

Domestic sales rose 1 percent to 2,81,160

units from 2,78,776 units; and exports leaped

25 percent with record 2,30,878 units sold

compared to 1,84,432 year-on-year.

Bengaluru startup Inito gets USFDA approval

Bengaluru-based medical technology startup

Inito announced that its Fertility Monitor has

cleared the regulatory pathway of the United

States Food and Drug Administration.

Inito's Fertility Monitor is a small device that

enables smartphones to perform lab-grade

fertility diagnostic tests at home.

This paves the way for the product's launch

in the US, and also allows access to

countries.

GST collection touches 8 month high

Finance Ministry has said that Rs 1,5,155

crore of gross GST revenue has been

collected in October 2020.

Out of the gross GST revenue collected

CGST is 19,193 crore rupees, SGST is

25,411 crore rupees, IGST is 52,540 crore

rupees.

The revenues for the month are 10 per cent

higher than the GST revenues earned in

October in 2019.

Axis Bank to buy 19% stake in Max Life

Axis Bank has announced that it, along with

its subsidiaries Axis Capital and Axis

Securities will acquire 19% stake in Max Life,

instead of 17% which the bank had decided

in August.

Under the revised agreements, Axis Bank will

acquire up to 9.002% of the equity share

capital of Max Life, and Axis Capital and Axis

Securities will together acquire up to 3% of

the share capital of Max Life.

Centre to import 10 lakh tonnes of potatoes

The Centre has decided to import 10 lakh

tonnes of potatoes to stem rising prices.

The government will be importing 30,000

tonnes of potato from Bhutan without a

license.

Import duty on potato has been reduced to 10

per cent from 30 per cent earlier.

Now, the quota of 10 Lakh Metric Tonnes of

potato will be imported at 10 per cent import

duty till January 31st 2021.

UPI crosses 2 billion transactions milestone

54

Bhim Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has

crossed the 2-billion transaction mark in

October 2020.

The retail payments and settlement systems

operator National Payments Corporation of

India (NPCI), the UPI volume has grown 80

per cent from 1.14 billion transactions in

October 2019 to 2.07 billion transactions.

The transaction volume grew faster during

the Covid and lockdown phases.

Adani Group takes over Mangaluru airport

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has

handed over the Mangaluru airport to the

Adani group on lease for a period of 50 years.

The central government in February 2019

had privatised six major airports of the

country -- Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur,

Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and

Guwahati.

After a competitive bidding process, the

Adani group won the rights to run all of them.

Govt Provides Rs 670-cr Support to RRB

In a bid to strengthen the capital base, the

union government has provided Rs 670 crore

to Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) considering

their importance in agriculture finance during

these difficult times.

This round of infusion would take care of

capital needs till March 31, 2021.

As per RBI guidelines, the RRBs have to

provide 75 per cent of their total credit under

priority sector lending.

Nestlé acquires prepared meal service Freshly

Nestlé USA announced that it has acquired

Freshly for $1.5 billion-$950 million-plus

potential earnouts of up to $550 million based

on future growth.

By acquiring Freshly, Nestlé is positioning

itself to compete with meal kit subscriptions

like Blue Apron and HelloFresh.

Founded in 2015, Freshly is a New York City-

based startup that offers healthy meals

delivered to your home.

Central banks sell gold for the first time

Central banks became gold sellers for the

first time since 2010 as some producing

nations exploited near-record prices to soften

the blow from the coronavirus pandemic.

Net sales totalled 12.1 tons of bullion in the

third quarter, compared with purchases of

141.9 tons.

Selling was driven by Uzbekistan and Turkey,

while Russia’s central bank posted its first

quarterly sale in 13 years.

Rare Assam Tea Sells For Record Price of 75K

A rare variety of tea in Assam was sold at a

record price of Rs 75,000 per kg at the

Guwahati Tea Auction Centre (GTAC).

The speciality tea, known as Manohari Gold

Tea, is produced by the Manohari Tea Estate

in upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district.

The earlier record was also set by the same

mark of tea at Rs 50,000 per kg by the same

tea garden last year 2019 breaking their

record.

ICICI Bank net rises sixfold to ₹4,251 cr

55

ICICI Bank's profit after tax jumped to ₹4,251

crore as against ₹655 crore in the year-ago

period, which is the highest quarterly growth

in its history.

ICICI Bank on October 31 reported over four-

fold jump in consolidated net profit at ₹4,882

crore for September quarter driven largely by

core income growth and lesser provisions for

the pandemic-related impact.

Geojit launches global investment platform

Geojit Financial Services has announced the

launch of its global investment platform.

It will help its customers invest in the US

markets and diverse global assets through a

single account from anywhere in the world.

Geojit has partnered with New York-based

global wealth management services platform

Stockal, to develop the AI-powered global

investment platform.

Paytm Payments issues 5 million FASTags

Paytm Payments Bank is now enabling

automatic cashless payments at 211 toll

plazas.

It continues to be the largest issuer of

FASTags in India and has equipped over 5

mn vehicles with these tags.

With this, it has emerged as the largest

facilitator of digital toll payments.

It is further aiming to acquire another 100 toll

plazas and achieve 100% growth in FASTag

sales in the next 3 months.

I-T exemption under LTC cash voucher scheme

Govt has decided to extend the income tax

exemption available under leave travel

concession (LTC) cash voucher scheme to

non-central govt employees also to boost

consumer spending.

Non-central govt employees will include

employees of state govs, public sector

enterprises, banks and private sector.

The move will allow non-govt employees to

claim tax-free cash allowance from their

employers.

Government bans export of onion seeds

The government on 29 Oct banned exports of

onion seeds with immediate effect amidst

rising prices of the bulb in the domestic

markets.

The export of onion seeds was in the

restricted category, which means an exporter

was required to obtain a licence or

permission from the government for

shipments.

Onion seed exports were worth USD 0.57

million during April-August.

Tata group to invest ₹5000 crore in TN

The Tata group is investing ₹5,000 crore to

set up a phone component manufacturing

plant in Tamil Nadu.

The new company, Tata Electronics, has

been allotted 500 acres by TIDCO(Tamil

Nadu Industrial Development Corporation).

Titan Co Ltd’s precision engineering division,

Titan Engineering and Automation Ltd

(TEAL), will provide the expertise for this

project.

Summons to Jio, Airtel, Uber, Ola, Truecaller

56

A Joint Committee of Parliament issued a

notice, calling representatives of telecom

operators Reliance Jio and Airtel and cab

aggregators Ola and Uber to depose before

it on the issue of data security.

The committee, chaired by BJP MP

Meenakshi Lekhi, is examining the Personal

Data Protection Bill 2019.

The Personal Data Protection Bill was

introduced in Lok Sabha by Ravi Shankar

Prasad.

L&T set to win ₹25,000 crores contract

L&T set to win ₹25,000 cr contract for

Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.

Larsen & Toubro has emerged as the lowest

bidder to build the largest segment of the

upcoming high-speed rail line between

Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

The company bid ₹24,985 crores for

constructing the 237.1 km line for the bullet

train project, beating two other bids led by

Tata Projects and Afcons Infrastructure.

IndusInd Bank goes live on RBI's Framework

IndusInd Bank has gone live as a ‘Financial

Information Provider’ (FIP) under the new

‘Account Aggregator Framework’ of the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

This had made it the first bank in the country

to do so.

With this, customers can now avail a host of

benefits such as viewing statements of their

accounts, track deposits, plan investments,

avail credit cards, etc. on a single window.

Apple acquires AI startup for $50 million

Apple purchased artificial intelligence startup

Vilynx earlier this year for approximately $50

million.

Barcelona-based Vilynx built AI tools that

analyze videos with the goal of

"understanding" what's in them and

categorizing that information, which Apple

could use to improve Siri and other apps.

TikTok, Shopify partnership

TikTok unveiled a pact with e-commerce

platform Shopify offering more than a million

merchants on the platform a dedicated

channel to reach TikTok users with creative

marketing.

Through the new TikTok channel for Shopify,

businesses can create, manage and

measure TikTok ad campaigns without

leaving the Shopify interface.

The Shopify agreement also creates

#ShopBlack, a co-branded campaign.

Rajesh Nambiar: Chairman and MD of Cognizant

Cognizant has named Rajesh Nambiar as the

Chairman and Managing Director of its India

operations and a member of its Executive

Committee effective November 9, 2020.

Nambiar will join Cognizant from Ciena, a

networking, systems, and software company,

where he currently serves as the Chairman

and President of Ciena India.

China top buyer of Indian steel in Lockdown

China was the biggest buyer of Indian steel in

the first six months of the current financial

year, accounting for 29% of Indian steel

exports during the period.

57

China bought 1.9 million tonnes of India’s 6.5

million tonnes of steel exports during April-

September.

Vietnam was the second-largest importer of

Indian steel, buying 1.6 million tonnes.

Airtel planning to exit the Ghanaian market

Bharti Airtel in its board meeting announced

the approval of the board for concluding an

arrangement with Government of Ghana

wherein Government of Ghana will acquire

100 per cent shares of Airtel Ghana Ltd

(AirtelTigo) along with all customers, assets

and agreed liabilities.

AirtelTigo is a joint venture between Airtel

and Millicom.

Paddy procurement increases by 18.6 %

Paddy procurement at MSP by Government

has registered an increase of nearly 18.6 per

cent in 2020.

Over 13 lakh 64 thousand farmers have

already benefited through these MSP

procurements under which the government

has paid an amount of over 30,000 crore

rupees.

Out of the total purchase, Punjab alone has

contributed over 107 Lakh Metric Tonnes

which is nearly 67% of the total procurement.

Kerala becomes first state to fix floor price

Kerala has become the first state in the

country to set floor prices of 16 varieties of

vegetables, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan

informed.

The scheme would come into effect from

November 01, 2020.

“This is the first time the floor price is being

fixed for vegetables produced in the state and

this is the first for a state in the country also.

Provide relief as well as support for the

farmers.

Facebook's Ankhi Das Quits

Facebook executive Ankhi Das, whose name

came up in a recent controversy over alleged

bias by the social networking giant in dealing

with hate speeches, has resigned from the

company.

Ankhi was one of our earliest employees in

India and played an instrumental role in the

growth of the company and its services over

the last nine years.

Global FDI halved in first six months: UN

Global foreign direct investment plunged by

49% in the first half of 2020 from the same

period in 2019 and is on course to fall by up

to 40% for 2020.

FDI flows to European economies turned

negative for the first time ever, falling to -$7

bn from $202 bn, while flows to the US fell by

61% to $51 bn.

This was announced by the UN Conference

for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its

report.

SBI raises ₹5,000 crores

SBI has raised ₹5,000 crores by issuing

Basel-III compliant bonds.

The committee of directors of capital raising

met on 26 Oct 2020 and accorded its

approval to allot 50,000 Basel-III compliant

non-convertible, taxable debt instruments.

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The Basel-III capital regulations are globally

accepted banking norms under which banks

need to improve and strengthen their capital

planning processes.

Ant to raise $34.5 bn in biggest IPO

Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. is set to raise about

$34.5 billion through initial public offerings in

Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The listing will rank as the biggest IPO ever

and make it one of the most valuable finance

firms on the planet.

Ant has picked China International Capital

Corp. (CICC) and CSC Financial Co. to lead

its Shanghai leg of the IPO.

Mirae Asset launches two passive ESG funds

Mirae Asset Mutual Fund has launched

India’s first ESG ETF, ‘Mirae Asset ESG

Sector Leaders ETF’.

It is an open-ended scheme tracking NIFTY

100 ESG Sector Leaders Total Return Index

and India’s first ESG Fund of Fund, the ‘Mirae

Asset ESG Sector Leaders Fund of Fund’.

Both the funds will be managed by Bharti

Sawant and will be benchmarked against the

Nifty 100 ESG Sector Leaders Index (TRI).

Paytm Money launches ETFs

Paytm Money has launched Exchange-

Traded Funds (ETFs) on its platform, post-

approval from SEBI.

With this inclusion, the company has become

a comprehensive platform wherein investors

from across all financial and knowledge

backgrounds can conveniently access ETFs.

An ETF is a passive form of investing which

invests in a basket of securities that mostly

tracks a certain index.

SVC Bank partners with NPCI

SVC Bank, one of the leading Co-operative

Banks in the country, announced entering

into a partnership with NPCI to launch a

rewards programme.

Designed to make banking experience more

rewarding for its customers in the form of

Reward points earned upon the use of SVC

Bank Cards and digital solutions.

These points can be then redeemed to

purchase products and services across

leading brands.

Kotak Mahindra Bank revises FD rates

Kotak Mahindra Bank has revised interest

rate on fixed deposits (FD) on select

maturities effective 22nd October 2020.

Now, with the latest revision, Kotak Mahindra

Bank FD interest rates range from 2.50% to

5% on maturities with different tenures.

For FDs maturing in 7 to 30 days, 31 to 90

days and 91 to 179 days, Kotak Mahindra

Bank offers interest rate 2.5%, 3% and 3.5%

respectively.

Airtel launches cloud communications platform

Bharti Airtel Ltd has launched a cloud

communications platform for businesses,

entering the $1 bn Indian market for such

services.

The homegrown platform, Airtel IQ, will

eliminate multiple channels and allow

communication on a unified platform.

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With just a code, businesses can embed

communication services such as voice, SMS,

IVR (interactive voice response) system in

their applications.

Warburg to sell CleanMax stake

Warburg Pincus Llc is exploring the sale of its

stake in rooftop solar power company

CleanMax.

A potential deal could rank among the largest

in India’s green energy segment.

In July 2017, Warburg Pincus said it will

invest as much as $100 million in CleanMax.

India is home to the world’s largest clean

energy programme.

ICICI Bank shuts down operations in Sri Lanka

ICICI Bank has shut down operations in Sri

Lanka after getting approval from the Sri

Lankan monetary authority.

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of

Sri Lanka, having considered the request

made by ICICI Bank, has granted approval to

close down the business operation of the

bank in Sri Lanka and cancel the licence

issued to it.

Ant Group IPO pricing

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group will be the

world's biggest, according to pricing

determined.

It is the first time pricing of the initial public

offering has been determined outside New

York.

The listing could be the world’s largest initial

public offering, surpassing the record set by

Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion floats last

December.

Govt extends due date for filing GST return

The government has extended the due date

for filing GST Annual Return in FORM GSTR-

9 and GSTR-9A and Reconciliation

Statement in FORM GSTR-9C for Financial

Year 2018-19 from 31st October to 31st

December 2020.

The filing of Reconciliation Statement in

FORM 9C for 2018-19 is also optional for the

taxpayers having aggregate turnover up to 5

crore rupees.

Tata Motors crosses a production milestone

Tata Motors' passenger vehicle vertical has

crossed 40 lakh cumulative production

milestone, nearly three decades after it rolled

out its first model in the segment - Tata Sierra

SUV in 1991.

The company, which over the years has

produced models like the Indica, Sierra,

Sumo, Safari, had achieved the 10 lakh

production mark for passenger vehicles in

2005-06 and 30 lakh milestone in 2015.

Finance Ministry issues guidelines

The Finance Ministry has approved

guidelines for a scheme for grant of ex-gratia

payment of the difference between

compound interest and simple interest for six

months of loans up to Rs 2 crore.

As per the operational guidelines issued by

Department of Financial Services, the

scheme can be availed by borrowers in

specified loan accounts for a period from

March 1 to August 31, 2020.

Import of finished goods banned

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Canteen Stores Department (CSD), which

operates canteens for the defence forces, is

set to ban all ‘direct imported’ items.

These items would include those that are

shipped from other countries in finished form.

In the liquor segment, Scotch brands that are

bottled in Scotland will be banned but those

that have imported ingredients, but bottled in

India, will continue to occupy shelves.

Finance Ministry releases Rs. 6,000 crore

The Central Government has borrowed and

transferred Rs 6,000 crore as first tranche to

16 States and two Union Territories.

They are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar,

Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,

Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,

Meghalaya, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura,

Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and

Jammu and Kashmir.

The borrowing is at an interest rate of 5.19%.

Government imposes stock limit

The Govt has taken steps to moderate prices

and availability of onion in the country.

A stock limit has been imposed on the onions

with effect from 24 Oct'20 which is 25 Metric

Tonnes for Wholesalers and 2 Metric Tonnes

for Retailers for a period up to 31 Dec'20.

The govt has stepped up disposal of onions

through the built-up buffer stock of one Lakh

Metric Tonne from the Rabi onion-2020.

Metro line connecting Jewar & Delhi airports

Once the Jewar Airport in Uttar Pradesh’s

Gautam Budh Nagar district is ready, it will be

directly connected to the Delhi Airport via

Metro.

Passengers can expect to travel from one

airport to the other in two-and-a-half hours

whereas those travelling from South Delhi to

Jewar can expect to cover the distance in

one-and-a-half hours once the link is ready.

WhatsApp to allow users to shop from chats

Facebook-owned WhatsApp today

introduced new features that allow WhatsApp

Business users to sell products directly from

the platform.

The feature will allow purchases to be made

directly from a WhatsApp chat with a

business.

The company will also provide hosting

services to small businesses through

Facebook’s partners in the country.

BMTC begins trial runs of electric bus

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport

Corporation on 22 Oct started a trial run of

electric buses.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa was present

along with Transport Minister and Deputy CM

Laxman Savadi for the inauguration of the

trial run.

Full-fledged electric bus services won’t start

any time soon as the BMTC will try out

different manufacturers before deciding on

the private contractor.

Maharashtra invites Tesla

Maharashtra tourism and environment

minister Aaditya Thackeray said he has

invited Elon Musk's Tesla.

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Earlier this month, Elon Musk had indicated

that the company could make a foray into

India in 2021.

Maharashtra is already home to a host of

domestic and foreign automobile

manufacturers with Chakan Industrial belt

near Pune a major automobile hub in the

state.

Water taxi services introduce in November

The Mumbai Port Trust is looking to introduce

water taxi services from the city’s domestic

cruise terminal at Princess Dock from

November.

It is planning to operate water taxis between

Mumbai and Belapur, Vashi, Jawaharlal

Nehru Port Trust and Manwa initially.

Water taxis will enable to reach Navi Mumbai

in around 30-40 minutes, instead of around

one-and-a-half-hour taken currently by road.

Yes Bank reports net profit of ₹129 crores

Private sector lender Yes Bank on 23 Oct

reported a net profit of ₹129.4 crores for the

September compared with a net loss of ₹600

crores in the year-ago period.

The bank's gross non-performing asset

(NPA) ratio more than doubled to 16.9% as

on 30 September from 7.39% a year ago, and

as against 17.30% in the previous quarter.

Net NPAs or bad loans rose to 4.70% from

4.35% a year ago.

Govt to sell up to 15% stake in RVN Ltd

The government is planning to sell up to 15

per cent stake in the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd

(RVNL) and has invited bids from merchant

bankers for managing the share sale

process.

The GoI intends to disinvest up to 15 per cent

paid-up equity capital of RVNL out of its

shareholding of 87.84 per cent through Offer

for Sale (OFS) method.

Indian Bank allies IIT-Madras to fund startup

Public sector lender Indian Bank, in

collaboration with IIT Madras Incubation Cell

(IITMIC), has unveiled ‘Ind SpringBoard,’ an

initiative for funding startups.

The occasion was marked by the distribution

of sanction tickets of ₹3.90 crores to two

entrepreneurs.

Under the MoU, IITMIC will refer startups with

proven technology and established cash

flows to the bank.

Nippon Life invests in World Bank

The World Bank (International Bank for

Reconstruction and Development, IBRD)

issued a 15-year AU$150 million Sustainable

Development Bond.

Nippon Life Insurance Company is the sole

investor in this transaction.

World Bank bonds support the financing of

sustainable development projects and

programs in member countries across a

range of sectors in line with its mission to end

extreme poverty.

Karnataka Govt annouces New Industrial Policy

The Karnataka govt has announced the

launch of the New Industrial Policy 2020-

2025.

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The policy was launched at the seventh

(virtual meet) Public Affairs Forum of India

(PAFI) National Forum 2020, while

addressing various industry captains,

business houses, etc.

The meeting touched upon numerous

business opportunities and investments

available for domestic investors.

Whatsapp Business customers to be charged

Whatsapp will start charging companies for

its Business chat services soon.

Whatsapp Business, which has more than 50

million business users, has announced the

pay-to-message option for businesses.

Whatsapp currently charges some

businesses a small fee – a few cents per

message – to send users things like receipts

and confirmation reminders via the app

instead of email.

RBI to conduct purchase of Govt securities

RBI will conduct the purchase of Govt

securities under Open Market Operations

(OMOs) for an aggregate amount of Rs.

20,000 cr on 29 Oct'20.

OMOs refer to the sale or purchase of govt

securities by RBI to commercial banks with a

view to adjust liquidity conditions in the

economy.

The State Development Loans (SDLs) are

defined as securities issued by the states to

manage their own finances.

StanChart to set its GBS office in Chennai

Standard Chartered is setting up its biggest

Global Business Services (GBS) office in

Chennai.

The London-based bank's Standard

Chartered GBS unit is leasing 7.7 lakh

square feet for 15 years in a project being

developed by DLF and Singapore sovereign

fund GIC

This is one of the largest commercial office

space deals in India during recent times.

Goldman subsidiary pleads guilty in 1MDB scam

Hong Kong's financial regulator slapped

Goldman Sachs with a $350 million fine on 22

Oct for its involvement in the 1MDB scandal.

The bank's "serious lapses" and deficiencies

in management contributed to the

misappropriation of $2.6 billion from the

1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, the

Securities and Futures Commission said in a

statement.

TCS to buy Deutsche Bank’s tech unit

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), Asia’s

biggest software exporter by market value, is

in advanced talks to acquire a technology

services unit of Deutsche Bank AG.

The pandemic is accelerating moves by

global banks and financial services firms to

shed their captive technology centres.

AG is an abbreviation of Aktiengesellschaft,

which is a German term for a public limited

company.

Burger King files for IPO

Burger King India Ltd., one of the fastest-

growing, quick-service restaurant chains in

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the country filed its draft prospectus for an

initial public offering (IPO) with markets

regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of

India.

The IPO, a combination of fresh issue and

offer for sale, looks to raise ₹542 crores as

fresh capital.

The company plans to have about 700

franchise, sub-franchise.

ICICI Bank revises fixed deposit rates

ICICI Bank has slashed interest rates on

fixed deposits (FDs) on selected tenures.

The bank offers fixed deposits ranging from 7

days to 10 years.

After the latest revision, ICICI Bank gives

2.5% interest on deposits maturing in 7 days

to 29 days, 3% for 30 days to 90 days, 3.5%

for FDs maturing in 91 days to 184 days.

The bank has cut the interest rate on deposits

maturing in 1-2 years.

Gland Pharma gets a nod from SEBI

Gland Pharma Ltd, which is majority-owned

by China’s Fosun group, has received the

Securities and Exchange Board of India’s

(Sebi) approval to go ahead with its proposed

₹6,000 crore IPO.

The company, backed by China's Fosun

Pharma, had filed the draft red herring

prospectus (DRHP) for its IPO with Sebi in

July 2020.

It develops, manufactures and markets

complex injectables.

Govt to release onion from buffer stock

The government has built up onion buffer

stock from the Rabi onion-2020.

In order to moderate prices, onion from the

buffer stock is being released in a calibrated

manner from the second half of September

2020 to major mandis and State

Governments.

The govt has relaxed the conditions for

fumigation and additional declaration on

Phytosanitary Certificate under the Plant

Quarantine Order.

Videocon case: Dhoots offer to pay Rs30,000 cr

The Dhoot family has offered to pay Rs

30,000 crore to lenders to settle their

outstanding loans and pull out 13 Videocon

group companies from the insolvency

proceedings.

Venugopal Dhoot was the Chairman and

Managing Director of the suspended board of

Videocon Industries.

The company's board was suspended

following initiation of Corporate Insolvency

Resolution Process under the IBC.

Bangladesh’s ShopUp raises $22.5 mn

Bangladesh-based social commerce

platform ShopUp has raised $22.5 Mn in a

Series A round, which was led by Sequoia

Capital India and Flourish Ventures, with

additional participation through VEON

Ventures, Speedinvest, and Lonsdale

Capital.

Bengaluru-based fashion retailer Voonik had

merged with ShopUp, with both the founders

of Voonik joining ShopUp as cofounders.

Taxmantra propels $100 mn fund to invest

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Kolkata-based global tax and law firm

Taxmantra has launched a $100 million fund

to invest in tech startups in India and

Southeast Asia in the next 18 months through

its new investment arm ProfitBoard Ventures.

It will assist early and growth-stage startups

in fundraising through its consortium of global

investors.

SEBI orders Prabhat Dairy to put ₹ 1,292 Cr

The Securities and Exchange Board of India

(Sebi) which is probing Prabhat Dairy Ltd for

alleged manipulation on 20th Oct directed it

to deposit ₹1,292 crores in an escrow for

failing to cooperate with the forensic auditors.

Sebi also received several complaints from

minority investors citing delay in delisting and

manipulation of books of accounts.

SBI announces up to 25 bps concession

SBI has announced concession in home loan

rates by as high as 25 bps.

With this, SBI home loan customers would

get an interest concession of 25 bps for

buying their dream homes of above ₹75 lakh

based on CIBIL score and through Yono.

The same concession would also be

applicable for home loan customers for a loan

amount of up to ₹3 crores in eight metro

cities.

FDI rises to over 358 billion during 2014-20

The total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

inflow grew by 55% from $231.37 bn in 2008

to 2014 to over $358 bn from 2014 to 2020.

FDI equity inflow also increased by 57% from

around 160 bn dollars during 2008-14 to over

252 billion dollars in 2014-2020.

During April to August 2020, total FDI inflow

of 35.73 billion is received.

It is the highest ever for the first 5 months of

a financial year

India receives highest ever FDI

In April-August 2020, India received the

highest ever total Foreign Direct Investment

(FDI) for the first five months of a financial

year.

The total FDI inflow into India in the first five

months was $35.73 billion, 13% higher than

that in the same period last fiscal.

FDI equity inflow received during FY21 (April

to August 2020) is $27.1 billion.

IRDAI sets up panel for cyber insurance

The Insurance Regulatory and Development

Authority of India (Irdai) has set up a panel to

explore the possibility of a basic standard

product structure to provide insurance cover

for individuals and establishments to manage

their cyber risks.

IRDAI noted that amid the COVID-19

pandemic, there are rising incidences of

cyberattacks and a growing number of high-

profile data breaches.

Siemens Healthineers to invest ₹1,300 crore

Siemens Healthineers will invest ₹1,300

crore over the next 5 years to set up an

innovation hub in Bengaluru.

The investment is part of Siemens

Healthineers’ global strategy for 2025,

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wherein India plays an important role as a

growth market for the company.

The innovation hub will be housed in a new

campus that will combine R&D and

manufacturing to make India a centre of

competence.

SAIF Partners renamed Elevation Capital

SAIF Partners, which has close to $2 bn in

assets under management, has been

renamed as Elevation Capital.

Along with the change in brand identity,

Elevation Capital also announced that it has

raised $400 mn as a part of its India-focussed

‘Fund VII’, through which it looks to make 25-

30 investments, over the next 2-3 years.

The VC firm will deploy the new fund, by the

last quarter of 2020.

AnaCap makes first investment in India

AnaCap Financial Partners has made its first

investment in India by acquiring three K-12

school and student housing assets from the

Jain Group of Institutions (JGI Group).

The investment is in a joint venture with

Cerestra Advisors, a specialist investor in

Indian education assets.

The firms have been working together for

more than 18 months.

ConocoPhillips to buy Concho

ConocoPhillips is buying shale producer

Concho Resources in an all-stock deal

valued at $9.7 billion.

Concho's common stock will be exchanged

for a fixed ratio of 1.46 shares of

ConocoPhillips shares.

The combined business will have an

enterprise value of approximately $60 billion

and a combined resource base of

approximately 23 billion barrels of oil

equivalent.

NHAI receives ₹5,011 cr from Cube Highways

The National Highways Authority of India has

received upfront consideration of ₹5,011

cr from Cube Highways.

This has been received under the third

bundle of the toll-operate-transfer (TOT)

model.

TOT is part of the govt’s initiative to monetize

public infrastructure and build new assets.

Under this model, the highest bidder wins the

right to operate and maintain highway assets

for 30 yrs.

Intel to sell storage unit to SK Hynix

Intel Corp. has agreed to sell its Nand

memory unit to South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc.

for about $9 billion.

This is a part of a broader effort by the U.S.

chipmaker to concentrate on its main

business.

The acquisition includes Intel’s solid-state

drive, Nand flash and wafer businesses as

well as a production facility in the

northeastern Chinese city of Dalian.

Dukaan raises $6 million in seed funding

Dukaan has raised $6 mn as a part of its seed

funding round co-led by Matrix Partners India

and Lightspeed India Partners.

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It plans to leverage these funds, to expand its

services to 60 million small and mid-sized

merchants

The startup which was founded early in 2020

is a ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) platform which

enables small retailers with zero

programming skills to set up an online store.

Heeng cultivation starts in India for 1st time

Heeng cultivation has started in India for the

1st time.

First-plantation of Heeng was done in Lahaul

and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh.

Heeng (asafoetida) is one of the widely used

spices in Indian cuisine.

There is no production of heeng in India and

currently about 1,200 tons of raw heeng

worth Rs 600 crore is being imported

annually from Afghanistan, Iran, and

Uzbekistan.

India's agricultural exports rise by 14.8 %

India’s agricultural exports have recovered

from a pandemic-induced decline.

Exports of major farm products stood at Rs

53,000 cr in the five-month period between

April and August 2020-21, a rise of 14.8%

compared to the corresponding period in

2019.

Exports of basmati rice, during April-August,

rose 8.2% from the year-ago period, while the

value of non-basmati rice exports grew

91.3%.

Tanuj Choudhry promoted as co-founder, COO

Home interiors company HomeLane has

made Tanuj Choudhry as its co-founder and

chief operating officer.

The announcement was made by Srikanth

Iyer, co-founder, and CEO of HomeLane.

Established in 2014, HomeLane provides

end-to-end interior services in a personalized

way.

True North to produce low-cost ethanol

True North Venture Partners will invest to

produce low-cost ethanol in India.

The government has targeted 10% blending

of bioethanol in petrol by 2022, which will rise

to 20% by 2030, to reduce dependence on oil

imports and cut carbon emissions.

Currently, the US Department of Agriculture

pegs the rate at 5.2, according to its annual

report on biofuels.

IRDAI comes up with guidelines

The Insurance Regulatory and Development

Authority of India (Irdai) has come up with

guidelines for a “standard" product—Saral

Jeevan Bima.

It has specified the terms and conditions,

benefits, and features that life insurance

companies must include.

This means that you will get the same product

across insurers, and won’t have to analyze or

understand the variations between different

plans.

DLF raises ₹2,400 crore to refinance debt

DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd (DCCDL), the

rental arm of India’s largest real estate firm

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DLF Ltd, has raised ₹2,400 crores from State

Bank of India (SBI).

It is one of the largest lease rental discounting

(LRD) deals in recent times.

The debt transaction, at an interest rate of

7.35% for 15 years with a structured

repayment schedule, enables DLF to reduce

the cost of its debt.

Paytm to issue 2 million credit cards

Paytm will be partnering with various card

issuers to introduce co-branded credit cards.

It plans to issue two million cards to

customers in the next 12-18 months.

The company also announced that it has

been building ‘Next generation’ credit cards

which include - insurance protection against

fraudulent transactions, a personalised

spend analyser, and will offer instant one-

touch services.

RBI fines Induslnd bank

RBI fined IndusInd Bank Rs 4.50 crore for

non-compliance with predestined provisions

relating to exposure norms, prudential norms

on income recognition, asset classification

and provisioning about advances.

The penalty has been imposed based on the

deficiencies in regulatory compliance.

Concessional rate on cargo movement

Government has extended the current

concessional rate of 40% discount on cargo

movement between India and Chabahar Port

in Iran for a period of one year.

The discount will apply for the coastal

movement of cargo and vessel-related

charges, being handled at Jawaharlal Nehru

Port and Deendayal Port to Shahid Beheshti

Port, Chabahar.

RBI to conduct first-ever OMO purchase of SDLs

The RBI will conduct its first-ever Open

Market Operation (OMO) purchase of State

Developments Loans (SDLs) on 22 October

2020.

The OMOs worth Rs 10,000 crore will be

conducted as a special case during the

current financial year with an aim to improve

liquidity and facilitate efficient pricing.

The RBI will purchase the SDLs through a

multi-security auction using the multiple price

method.

Axis Mutual Fund launches ‘Axis Banking ETF’

Axis Mutual Fund has launched a new fund

offer of ‘Axis Banking ETF’.

It is an exchange-traded fund that offers

investors an opportunity to invest in the

biggest banks in India at their own pace as it

gives exposure to them all in a neatly packed

bite-sized exchange-traded fund.

The fund is designed in a manner that it

tracks the performance of the 12 largest

banks listed on the NSE.

Govt bans imports of ACs with refrigerants

The government has banned imports of air

conditioners with refrigerants.

The government is taking steps to promote

domestic manufacturing and reduce the

import bill of non-essential goods.

In June 2020, the government imposed curbs

on imports of certain new pneumatic tyres

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used in motor cars, busses, lorries and

motorcycles.

Centre to borrow Rs 1.10 lakh crore

The Centre will borrow up to 1.10 lakh crore

rupees on behalf of the states to bridge the

shortfall in GST collections.

The amount so borrowed will be passed on to

the states as a back-to-back loan in lieu of

GST compensation cess releases.

The borrowing will not have any impact on the

fiscal deficit of the Government of India.

Reliance receives Rs 5,550 crore from KKR

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has received Rs

5,550 crore from global investment firm KKR,

which has picked up 1.28 per cent stake in its

retail arm.

This was the second investment by KKR in

Reliance Industries' units.

It had previously picked up a 2.32 per cent

stake in the digital arm, Jio Platforms, for Rs

11,367 crore.

Demerger of Nagarnar Steel Plant from NMDC

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

has given approval to the demerger of

Nagarnar Steel Plant (NSP) from National

Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC)

Limited.

It has approved strategic disinvestment of the

demerged company (NSP) by selling the

entire Government of India stake in it to a

strategic buyer.

NSP is an Integrated Steel Plant being set up

by NMDC in Chhattisgarh.

OnePlus set to invest ₹100 crore for expansion

OnePlus will invest ₹100 crore towards

expanding its offline retail network as it looks

to strengthen its reach in tier II cities and

beyond in the country.

The company is also focused on

strengthening its manufacturing in India and

will make its complete line up of smart TVs

locally by 2021.

The company is looking at launching 14 new

stores in the next six months.

Tata Power to develop 100 MW solar project

Tata Power has got a letter of award from

Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) to

develop a 100-megawatt solar project in

Dholera Solar Park of Gujarat.

The energy will be supplied to GUVNL under

a power purchase agreement valid for 25

years from scheduled commercial operation

date.

The project has to be commissioned within

15 months from the date of execution of

power purchase agreement.

PhonePe launches car, bike insurance plans

PhonePe has now added car and bike

insurance to its product portfolio in

association with Bajaj Allianz General

Insurance.

Two-wheeler insurance on PhonePe starts at

₹482, while car insurance at ₹2,072.

The company claims users can buy plans

within 2 minutes.

After the payment has been made, policy

documents can be accessed instantly on the

app.

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Axis Bank collaborates with Google Pay

Axis Bank has announced the launch of its

ACE Credit Card in India in collaboration with

Google Pay and Visa.

The card is meant to help with digital

payments.

The company is also offering 4 per cent-5 per

cent cashback for expenses on food

ordering, online grocery delivery, cab rides

for transactions made on partner merchant

platforms such as Swiggy, Zomato,

BigBasket, Grofers and Ola.

PepsiCo to set up a production unit in UP

PepsiCo is setting up a greenfield potato

chips production unit in Uttar Pradesh with an

investment of Rs. 814 crore.

The unit is being set up in Kosi - Mathura on

35 acres of land provided by UP State

Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA).

The unit, which is expected to commence

commercial production by 2021, will facilitate

direct and indirect employment to about

1,500 patrons.

Subsidy of 50% on transportation of fruits

Ministry of Food Processing Industries has

agreed to extend a subsidy of 50% on

transportation of notified fruits and

vegetables through Kisan Rail trains, under

Operation Greens - TOP to Total.'

The Ministry will initially provide Rs 10 crores

to operate the scheme.

Once this corpus has been utilized, Railways

will provide a Utilization Certificate to Ministry

of Food Processing Industries.

20 States allowed to raise over Rs 68,000 cr

The Dept of Expenditure in the Ministry of

Finance on 13 Oct 2020 granted permission

to 20 States to raise an additional amount of

Rs 68,825 crore through open market

borrowings.

Additional borrowing permission has been

granted at 0.50 per cent of the Gross State

Domestic Product, GSDP to those States

who have opted for Option- 1 out of the two

options suggested by the Ministry.

RBI raises banks' aggregate exposure limit

The RBI has raised banks' maximum

aggregate retail exposure limit to entities with

turnover up to ₹50 crores to ₹7.5 crores, up

from ₹5 crores.

This has been done in a bid to increase credit

flow to small businesses.

The risk weight of 75% will apply to all fresh

exposures and also to existing exposures

where incremental exposure may be taken by

the banks up to the revised limit of ₹7.5 cr.

Paytm launches same-day bank settlement

Paytm has announced the launch of same-

day settlement facility for all kinds of fund

transfers on its payment gateway.

This will help business partners to settle

money transfers anytime in their bank

account on the same day of receiving

payment, without waiting for the next day.

This feature will help businesses that depend

upon immediate availability of funds to pay

down-stream partners.

₹37,000 crore additional capital expenditure

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An additional budget of ₹25,000 crores will be

provided as capital expenditure to develop

roads, defence, water supply, urban

development and domestically produced

capital equipment, to boost economic growth.

The government will also give 12,000 crores

in interest-free, 50-year loan to states for

capital projects.

initially, 50% of the amount will be given to

states.

JSW energy to invest in 2 wind power projects

JSW Energy Limited has sought 3,150 acres

of land from the Karnataka government to set

up two wind energy power projects.

These are at an estimated investment of

₹8,860 crores.

One of the projects will be set up on 1,350

acres spread across Ballari and Davangere

at a cost of ₹3,900 crores and will have the

capacity to produce 600 MW captive wind

electric power generation.

GST Council meeting on 12 October

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired

the 43rd GST Council meeting through video

conferencing in New Delhi on 12 Oct 2020.

The decision on the mode of payment of

pending GST compensation share of the

states was discussed in the meeting.

The meeting was attended by Minister of

State for Finance Anurag Thakur and

Finance Ministers of States and Union

Territories.

Madhya Pradesh to invite investors

The Forest Dept of MP will invite private

investors to work on the establishment of

forest-based domestic industries and

plantations in more than 37 lakh hectares of

degraded forest area.

This is being done to reduce the country's

dependence on imported forest produce

under the Indo-Self-Reliant India Campaign.

Currently, the country is importing more than

35,000 of forest produce.

WTO projected a fall in goods trade volume

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has

projected a fall of 9.2% in goods trade

volume in 2020, which is much less than the

12.9-32%decline it had predicted in April

2020.

The growth projection for 2021, however, is

lower at 7.2% compared to 21.3% predicted

in April 2020.

GDP growth is expected to pick up to 4.9 per

cent in 2021.

Amazon ends development of Crucible

Amazon.com Inc. ended development of its

first big-budget video game Crucible,

highlighting its continued struggle to make

headway in the industry.

Crucible was seen as a key test for Amazon’s

games division, which was formed in 2012.

The game’s launch in May 2020 was a

disaster, with negative reviews.

The Crucible development team will now

focus on another original game called New

World.

Centre permits export of Krishnapuram Onions

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The govt has allowed the export of Bangalore

Rose onions and Krishnapuram onions up to

10,000 metric tons each, till 31 Mar'21.

Onions will be only exported through the

Chennai port.

The exporter will have to get a certificate from

the respective horticulture officers of

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for export of

Bangalore Rose Onions and Krishnapuram

Onions respectively.

Caution-listing of exporters to discontinue

The RBI has decided to discontinue the

system-based automatic caution-listing of

exporters.

This has been done in an effort to provide

flexibility to exporters in the realisation of

export proceeds.

As part of the automation of the Export Data

Processing and Monitoring System, the

'Caution/De-caution Listing' of exporters was

automated in 2016.

Vistara, Axis Bank launch forex card

Vistara and Axis Bank has launched a co-

branded forex card that can load up to 16

currencies.

The card has locked-in exchange rates and

the cardholder will accrue 3 award points on

Club Vistara for every USD 5 or an equivalent

value spent.

Customers also get awarded 500 CV Points

as a Welcome Bonus on signing up (for the

forex card).

India’s GDP expected to contract by 9.6%

India’s GDP is expected to contract by

9.6% this fiscal, according to the World Bank.

It is reflective of the national lockdown and

the income shock experienced by

households and firms due to the COVID-19

pandemic.

World Bank, in its latest South Asia

Economic Focus report, expects the regional

growth to contract by 7.7 per cent in 2020.

Bi-monthly monetary policy review

RBI announced its bi-monthly monetary

policy review in Mumbai on 9 Oct 2020.

The newly-constituted Monetary Policy

Committee (MPC) of the RBI began its three-

day deliberations on 7 Oct 2020.

The Government has appointed three

eminent economists Ashima Goyal, Jayanth

R Varma and Shashank Bhide as

independent members of the revamped six-

member MPC headed by RBI Governor

Shaktikanta Das.

Titan exits joint venture with Montblanc

Titan Co. Ltd has announced an end to its

five-year-old joint venture partnership with

German luxury brand Montblanc.

Titan’s decision to exit the joint venture

agreement was driven by the company’s

consolidation strategy to focus on its primary

business and proprietary brands such as

Tanishq Jewellery and Titan watches.

Interest subvention on MSME loans extended

Two per cent interest subvention scheme for

MSMEs on loans offered by co-operative

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banks has been extended till the 31st of

March 2021.

The coverage of the scheme is limited to all

term loans and working capital to the extent

of 100 lakh rupees.

The requirement of Udyog Aadhaar Number

may be dispensed with for units eligible for

GST.

ADIA to invest ₹5,512 crore in Reliance

Reliance Industries Ltd, led by Mukesh

Ambani, said that a subsidiary of the Abu

Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) will invest

₹5,512.50 crore for 1.2% stake in its retail

arm.

This investment values Reliance Retail

Ventures Ltd (RRVL) at a pre-money equity

value of ₹ 4.285 lakh crore.

ADIA’s investment will translate into a 1.2%

equity stake in RRVL on a fully diluted basis.

Aequs to invest ₹3,500 crore in Karnataka

The Karnataka government approved ₹3540

crore investment by Aequs SEZ Private

Limited to develop a consumer electronics

and durables goods (CEDG) cluster in

Hubballi.

This is India's first sector-specific investment

in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led

Union government's Atmanirbhar or self-

reliance initiative.

The investment is expected to generate

around 20,000 jobs.

L&T Construction bags contract

Larsen & Toubro's construction arm has

secured a repeat engineering, procurement

and construction order from Narmada Water

Resources, Water Supply and Kalpsar

Department in Gujarat.

The Tapi-Karjan pipeline link irrigation project

will irrigate 16,919 hectares of command

area in the districts of Tapi and Surat.

It will lift 14.2 cubic metres per second of

water from the Ukai reservoir.

Joyville to invest ₹1,200 cr on a project

Shapoorji Pallonji's mid-income housing

platform Joyville will invest around ₹1,200

crores to develop a new residential project in

Pune.

This is the fifth project of Joyville and second

in Pune property market.

The project 'Joyville Hadapsar Annexe' will

be developed in phases, with the first one

comprising 600 units to be sold at ₹37.5 lakh

onwards.

42nd GST Council meeting

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired

the 42nd GST Council meeting in New Delhi

on 5 Oct 2020.

The meeting will be attended by Minister of

State for Finance Anurag Thakur and

Finance Ministers of States and Union

Territories.

In the last meeting of GST council, Centre

had given two borrowing options to States to

meet GST compensation requirement for the

current financial year.

Special Kisan Credit Card loan for fishermen

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Chennai-headquartered Indian Bank has

introduced a Kisan credit card loan scheme

for Tamil Nadu fishermen.

Under this scheme, Kisan credit card loan up

to Rs 2 lakh as working capital and low-

interest rate will be provided.

Fishermen can submit the application

through the Department of Fisheries along

with details of the mechanized Boat.

Reliance raises Rs 7,350 cr from 2 investors

Reliance Industries Ltd has announced to

raise Rs 7,350 cr from two investors-

Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and

Global alternative asset firm TPG -- by selling

a stake in group's retail arm.

Through two separate deals, Reliance

Industries will sell 1.63 per cent stake in

Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL).

GIC will invest Rs 5,512.5 crore to buy 1.22

per cent share in RRVL.

Sebi imposes Rs 6 crore fine on NSE

The Securities and Exchange Board of India

(Sebi) has slapped a penalty of Rs 6 crore on

the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

It was fined for investing in six companies

unrelated or non-incidental to the stock

exchange business without approval from the

capital markets regulator.

The exchange invested in Power Exchange

India (PXIL), Computer Age Management

Systems (CAMS), to name a few.

RBI defers Basel III provisions

The RBI has deferred implementation of

provisions made under Basel III capital due

to uncertainty related to COVID crisis.

RBI would push back the final tranche of the

capital conservation buffer (CCB) by six

months.

The CCB is designed to ensure that banks

build up capital buffers during normal times

which can be drawn down as losses are

incurred during a stressed period.

Walmart sells UK supermarket Asda for $ 8.7 bn

Walmart has agreed to sell its British

supermarket chain Asda to two UK firms for

£6.8 billion ($8.7 billion, 7.4 billion euros).

While the UK groups are acquiring a majority

stake in Asda, Walmart will retain investment

and have a seat on the new board.

The transaction, subject to regulatory

approvals, is expected to complete in the first

half of 2021.

Andhra and UP get additional borrowing limit

The states of Andhra Pradesh and Uttar

Pradesh have been granted an additional

borrowing limit of Rs 7,106 crore.

UP has been permitted to borrow Rs 4,851

crore on account of One Nation One Ration

Card System (ONORCS) reforms under the

PDS.

Andhra Pradesh will be allowed to undertake

open market borrowings of another Rs 2,252

crore for making the state more investor and

business-friendly.

IDBI Bank enables document embedding feature

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IDBI Bank has become the 1st lender to

enable document embedding feature on a

structured financial messaging system

managed by Indian Financial Technology

and Allied Services,

Indian Financial Technology and Allied

Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the

RBI.

This has been done in an effort to further

digitise the financial transactions and to

secure the financial communication system.

Government to borrow Rs 4.34 lakh crore

The govt will borrow Rs 4,34,000 cr in the 2nd

half of the current fiscal, which is 36.16% of

total borrowing to meet its expenditure

requirement.

Earlier, the govt had announced borrowing of

7.8 lakh crore rupees in the budget.

Due to COVID borrowing target was

increased to 12 lakh crore rupees.

Out of the total 12 lakh crore rupees, the govt

has already borrowed 7.66 lakh crore rupees.

IndiGrid approves Esoteric II as a sponsor

Infrastructure investment trust IndiGrid's

unitholders have approved induction of global

investment firm KKR's associate Esoteric II

as a sponsor.

The resolution was passed with a special

majority in the 3rd Annual General Meeting of

IndiGrid.

KKR is a leading global investment firm with

over 43 years of experience and USD 222

billion of assets under management (AUM)

as of June 30, 2020.

RBI to implement Positive Pay System

The RBI has come up with a positive pay

system for cheque payments to prevent

cases of banking fraud.

It will be implemented from January 1, 2021.

Customers will now have to furnish details of

cheques like name of the beneficiary, payee,

amount to the drawee bank and date through

available means, SMS, internet banking or

ATM and mobile app.

S&P predicts GDP to contract 9% in FY21

India's GDP will experience a record

contraction in FY21 due to the COVID crisis,

according to S&P Global Ratings.

S&P expects the economy to contract 9% in

FY21 though there will be a sharp pick up to

10% growth in FY22 due to the base effect.

S&P pegged the combined central and state

fiscal deficit at 12.5% of GDP along with

public debt at 90% this fiscal year.

Infosys’s analytics business is worth $3 bn

Infosys’s data and analytics (DNA) practice,

which started five years ago, has grown into

a nearly $3 billion service line, employing

over 20,000 employees.

The revenue is almost a quarter of the

company’s total business.

DNA has a classic (legacy) and super niches

(digital) as part of its portfolio.

Kolkata Port Trust to invest at least Rs 40 Cr

The Kolkata Port Trust rechristened as the

Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port is investing in

digital technologies.

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It has lined up at least 40 crore rupees for

various projects to bolster ease of doing

business.

The port authorities are undertaking an

ambitious project to develop an integrated e-

marketplace to facilitate coastal shipping.

ADB gives loan for MP Urban Services Project

The Asian Development Bank has approved

Rs 1,988 crore loan for the construction of

water supply and integrated storm water and

sewage management infrastructure in

Madhya Pradesh.

The loan is an additional financing intended

to scale up the scope of the Madhya Pradesh

urban services improvement project.

The project will receive support from the Bill

and Melinda Gates Foundation.

GMR Infra sells entire stake in Kakinada SEZ

GMR Infrastructure announced signing of

agreements for sale of entire 51% equity

owned by its wholly-owned subsidiary GMR

SEZ and Port Holding in Kakinada SEZ to

Aurobindo Realty and Infrastructure.

100% equity stake of Kakinada Gateway Port

held by KSEZ will be transferred to

Aurobindo Realty.

Total consideration for the sale of equity

stake as well as sub-debt in KSEZ is Rs

2,610 crore.

Additional financial resources to five states

Union Finance Ministry has granted

permission to raise additional financial

resources of Rs. 9,913 crore to five states

through Open Market Borrowings.

These states are Andhra Pradesh,

Telangana, Goa, Karnataka and Tripura.

Karnataka can raise Rs. 4,509 cr whereas

Andhra Pradesh Rs. 2,525 cr.

Telangana is permitted to borrow Rs. 2,508

cr while Goa Rs. 223 crore and Tripura Rs.

148 crore.

Airtel picks up a stake in startup Waybeo

Bharti Airtel has picked up a 10% stake in

Waybeo Technology Solutions with a focus

on deep AI analytics for cloud telephony.

The deal, which is a part of the Airtel Startup

Accelerator Programme, would enable

Waybeo to earn larger distribution reach.

The tie-up with Airtel would help the telecom

company use the startup's telephone-based

AI services.

India's NSE, Singapore's SGX finalise a tie-up

India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) and

Singapore Exchange Ltd have finalised a

derivatives tie-up.

They have ended arbitration proceedings

relating to a 2018 dispute on SGX's launch of

an index derivative.

The tie-up aims to bring trading of the SGX's

Nifty futures contract, based on the NSE's

blue-chip Nifty 50 index, to GIFT City, an

international financial centre in western India.

Harley-Davidson exits India

Harley-Davidson would discontinue its sales

and manufacturing operations in India after a

decade of unsuccessful efforts to gain a

foothold.

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The move involves $75 million in

restructuring costs, some 70 redundancies

and the closure of its Bawal plant in Haryana.

The departure is also the latest setback for

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strategy to

encourage domestic manufacturing.

Tech Mahindra sells Altiostar stake

Tech Mahindra has sold its entire stake in

US-based Altiostar Networks to Rakuten for

$45 million.

This has made the Japanese company a

majority shareholder in the virtualised radio

access network (RAN) technology firm,

according to a BSE filing.

In 2018, Tech Mahindra invested $15 million

for a 17.5% stake in the vRAN firm as part of

the US-based company’s $114 million Series

C fund raise.

Hero Motors Company to invest Rs 500 crores

Hero Motors Company will invest Rs 400-500

crore in its European bicycle and electric bike

businesses.

The group will utilise the resources to scale

up operations of its existing businesses in the

UK and Europe, and to acquire a new

company in the continent for which talks are

underway.

The company aims to attain a 5% share in the

global e-bike market in the next 2-3 years.

J&K Industries launches procurement of

Cocoons

J&K Industries Limited has launched

procurement of Cocoons in the ongoing

Cocoon auction being conducted by the

Sericulture Department in the Kashmir

division.

It would be procuring around 50000 kg of

cocoons worth Rs. 4 crores directly from the

Cocoon rearers in the auction.

JKI has already carried out similar

interventions in the Jammu Division where

60000 kg of cocoon has been procured.

Indian Oil to invest ₹17,825 crore

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will invest

₹17,825 crores in raising the capacity of its

Gujarat refinery as well as setting up a

petrochemical plant at the unit.

This is a part of its plans for upscaling

petchem business to protect margins.

The project envisages raising the capacity of

the Vadodara refinery in Gujarat from 13.7

million tonnes per annum to 18 million

tonnes.

Haryana to sell farm produce at 1% fee

The Haryana govt has decided to sell all the

farm produce at a 1% fee in the market.

Previously it was a 4 per cent fee.

This comes after the Parliament passed three

farm bills during the monsoon session.

The discussions on how to run the markets

smoothly in the wake of the three farm bills,

passed by the Parliament, has also been

done.

SBI Card partners with Google Pay

SBI Card announced a collaboration with

Google to enable customers to use their

cards on Google Pay platform.

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Users will now be able to make card

payments using Google Pay app on their

Android smartphones in 3 modes - via tap-

and-pay at near field communication-enabled

POS terminals, by scanning Bharat QR code

at the merchant as well as online payments

without using the physical credit card.

PSBs report frauds worth over ₹19,964 crores

Reserve Bank of India told that PSBs

reported frauds worth over ₹19,964 crores in

total 2,867 cases during the April-June

quarter of 2020-2021.

The country's largest lender SBI saw the

highest number of fraud cases; however,

Bank of India was the worst hit in terms of

value.

Of the 12 PSBs, SBI reported the maximum

2,050 fraud cases involving ₹2,325.88 crores

during April-June 2020.

KVG Bank launches new gold loan scheme

Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank has

launched a new gold loan scheme “Vikas

Laghu Suvarna’.

The new scheme with an interest rate as low

as 7.25% has been launched to cater to

customers who required easy and affordable

credit.

Under the new scheme, 80% of the market

value would be given to the customers

subject to a maximum of ₹3,200 per gram

and a maximum loan of ₹15 lakh would be

given.

Canara Bank introduces i-Lead 2.0 initiative

Canara Bank has introduced a lead

management system(LMS) named as i-Lead

2.0(Inspiring Leads System version 2.0).

This new initiative is being introduced with

the motive of building and sustaining

Business Relationship with both, New

Customers to Bank (NTB) and Existing

Customers to Bank.

It will cater to the masses with the easiest and

most comfortable ways of reaching out to the

bank.

ICICI Home Finance launches a scheme

ICICI Home Finance has launched a new

loan scheme ‘Apna Ghar Dreamz’, with credit

amount in the range of Rs 2 lakh to 50 lakh,

for skilled workers employed in the informal

sector in Delhi.

The scheme is meant for skilled workers such

as carpenters, plumbers, etc.

The customers should have a minimum

account balance of Rs 1,500 for a loan up to

5 lakh and Rs 3,000 for loan above 5 lakh.

Bandhan Bank sets up a new vertical

Bandhan Bank has created a new vertical —

Emerging Entrepreneurs Business (EEB) —

to serve unbanked and underbanked

entrepreneurs.

In addition to microloans, the vertical will also

manage micro home loan, micro bazaar loan

and micro-enterprise loan.

To spearhead EEB, the city-based bank has

recently appointed Kumar Ashish as

executive President and head of EEB.

Centre increases FDI limit in defence to 74%

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The Central govt has increased the foreign

direct investment (FDI) limit in the defence

sector from 49 to 74% under automatic route

and beyond 74 per cent through the

government route.

This will enhance Ease of Doing Business

and contribute to growth of investment,

income and employment.

Foreign investments in the defence sector

will be subject to scrutiny on grounds of

national security.

Amazon India makes all-women delivery station

E-commerce major Amazon India has set up

an all-women delivery station in Kadi, Gujarat

- its second such facility in the country.

The new all-women delivery station is part of

the company's efforts towards increasing

participation of women in the workforce.

In 2016, the company had launched its first

all-women delivery station in India, with its

partner in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Apple’s first online store in India

Apple’s first online retail channel in India will

go live on September 23, 2020.

This is the first time the company is opening

a first-party retail channel in the country.

So far, Apple has sold products in India

through e-commerce and offline partners.

The online store will also include its local

contact centre, which provides support and

services to Indian customers — for the first

time.

ICICI Prudential MF launches 'ESG Fund'

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched

ICICI Prudential ESG Fund.

It is an open-ended equity scheme which

encourages sustainable investing, by

investing in companies following

Environmental, Social and Governance

(ESG) theme.

Companies will be assigned a composite

ESG score based on the factors mentioned

and exposure will be taken in companies by

assessing them on the mentioned factors.

Tencent increases its stake in Flipkart

Tencent has invested $62.8 million in Flipkart

through the Indian e-commerce giant’s

Singapore-based parent entity Flipkart Pte.

The fresh infusion is likely a part of Flipkart’s

$1.2 billion round that was led by Walmart in

July this year.

Walmart had already infused $660.25 million

in July.

With the latest funding tranche, Flipkart has

raised a total of $731.20 million in 2020.

HCL Tech in top 10 most valuable firms

HCL Technologies Ltd has replaced ITC Ltd,

to become the nation's 10th most valued firm

by market capitalisation on BSE.

According to BSE, HCL Technologies' market

capitalisation stood at ₹2.21 trillion, with its

shares trading at a record high of ₹810.95 on

the BSE.

The IT major's shares have risen nearly

43.3% so far in 2020.

ITC has a market cap of ₹2.20 trillion.

Sundaram Mutual launches large cap equity fund

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Sundaram Mutual has launched an open-

ended large-cap equity scheme, Sundaram

Bluechip Fund.

This New Fund Offer will open for

subscription on September 17 and will close

on September 30, 2020.

The scheme will reopen for ongoing

subscription and redemption from October

14, 2020.

According to Sebi, a large-cap fund has to

invest in the top 100 stocks on the basis of

market capitalisation.

Wipro to provide support to Intel

Wipro would provide engineering services

support for commercialization of solutions

built on Intel’s OpenNESS toolkit.

The Open Network Edge Services Software

(OpenNESS) is a multi-access edge

computing (MEC) software toolkit that was

developed by Intel.

It allows developers to create and deploy

applications at the network edge or on-

premise edge locations.

Chemcon Speciality Chemicals to launch IPOs

Chemcon Speciality Chemicals will launch

their initial public offering on 21 Sept'20.

IPOs of Computer Age Management

Services (CAMS) and Chemcon Speciality

Chemicals will be open for public subscription

on Sept 21 and close on Sept 23, 2020.

The estimated CAMS' IPO size is between

₹1,500 crore to ₹1600 cr, while Chemcon

Speciality Chemicals' initial share-sale is

expected to fetch ₹350 cr.

Limited export of Hilsa fish to India

Bangladesh Commerce Ministry has given

special permission for traders to export Hilsa

fish to India on a limited scale in view of the

forthcoming Durga Puja.

The Ministry has allowed nine exporters to

send a total of approximately 1,500 tonnes of

Hilsa to India.

The first consignment of Hilsa was reported

to have been sent to India on 14 Sept 2020.

The export will be allowed till 10 Oct'20.

Govt bans export of all varieties of onions

Union Government has banned the export of

all varieties of onions with immediate effect.

The move is aimed at increasing availability

and checking the price of the commodity in

the domestic market.

The DGFT, under the Commerce Ministry,

deals with exports and imports-related

issues.

The provisions under transitional

arrangement shall not be applicable under

this notification.

Govt seeks an approval from Parliament

The union finance ministry has sought

Parliament’s approval to infuse ₹20,000

crores into public sector banks (PSBs).

The step assumes significance as capital

infusion will provide support to state-owned

lenders.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 14

September 2020 tabled the first batch of

supplementary demand for grants in the

Parliament.

Google eliminated entire carbon legacy

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Google CEO, Sundar Pichai announced that

the company has become one of the first to

eliminate their entire carbon legacy.

The company had earlier become carbon

neutral in 2007.

This means the search giant's net carbon

footprint is now zero.

By 2030, Google hopes to run all its business

on carbon-free energy.

Entrepreneur First to invest in 6 startups

UK-based investor Entrepreneur First (EF) is

backing 6 Indian deep tech startups, as part

of its third cohort.

It has invested a pre-seed amount of $55,000

in them.

Co-founded in London in 2011 by Matt

Clifford, EF entered India in 2019 to promote

tech startups in the country.

It has supported over 200 founders and

invested in 20 Indian tech startups in the 18

months since its launch.

Razorpay launched Cash Advance

In a bid to rescue MSMEs and improve their

cash flows, Razorpay has launched a

collateral free line of credit called Cash

Advance.

MSMEs can borrow working capital with a

credit limit of Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh, within

10 seconds through the Razorpay

dashboard, depending upon the credit history

of the business.

Cash Advance uses merchants payment

history to approve a credit offer.

BoI launches ‘Signature Visa Debit Card’

Bank of India (BoI) has launched “Signature

Visa Debit Card” for the affluent/high net

worth individuals maintaining an average

quarterly balance of ₹10 lakhs and above.

This international contactless debit card will

be available in metal and plastic variants.

This card will have a spending limit of up

to ₹5 lakhs on POS & e-commerce and ₹1

lakh on ATM.

New guidelines for functioning of bank CCO

Reserve Bank of India issued new rules for

the appointment and function of Chief

Compliance Officer at banks.

The central bank said banks are required to

have an effective compliance culture,

independent corporate compliance function

and a strong compliance risk management

programme at bank and group level.

The CCO shall be appointed for a minimum

fixed tenure of not less than three years.

RIL crosses $200 bn market cap

Reliance Industries became the first Indian

company to surpass $200 billion in market

capitalisation (m-cap).

RIL had an m-cap of Rs 15.3 trillion ($208

billion).

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a distant

second, with an m-cap of Rs 8.75 trillion,

($119 billion).

Ambani has, meanwhile, cemented his place

as Asia's richest, and the world's seventh

richest.

Mastercard launches a platform

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Mastercard has released a platform that

allows central banks to test how proposed

central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)

would work in real life.

The new protocol would help financial

institutions understand the feasibility of

CBDCs and allow them to explore new use

cases, including issuance at a local or

regional level.

They can further evaluate compatibilities with

existing payment rails.

ORIX Corp to invest in Greenko Energy Holdings

In the single largest foreign investment in

India’s clean energy space, Japan’ ORIX

Corp. is set to invest $980 million in Greenko

Energy Holdings for a ‘significant minority

stake'.

The deal will add 873 MW of Orix’ operating

wind assets to Greenko’s portfolio and will

add $100 million to Greenko’s EBITDA in the

first year.

The deal will peg Greenko’s equity value at

$5.75 billion.

Doorstep Banking Services launched

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

inaugurated Doorstep Banking Services by

Public Sector Banks on 9 Sept 2020.

She also participated in the awards

ceremony to felicitate best performing banks

on EASE Banking Reforms Index.

Bank of Baroda, SBI, and Oriental Bank of

Commerce were felicitated for being the top

3 in the ‘Top Performing Banks’ category

according to the EASE 2.0 Index Results.

SBI planning to launch loan product ‘SAFAL’

State Bank of India is planning to launch a

loan product, SAFAL, primarily focussed on

organic cotton growers who don’t have any

credit history.

The bank is using Artificial Intelligence (AI)

and Machine Learning in a big way for

generating business.

This was announced by SBI MD C S Setty at

a Fintech conference organised by

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce

and Industry (FICCI).

Invesco MF launches 'Focused 20 Equity Fund'

Invesco Mutual Fund has launched a new

fund 'Invesco India Focused 20 Equity Fund'.

It is an open-ended equity scheme investing

in maximum 20 stocks across market

capitalization, i.e., multi-cap.

Invesco India Focused 20 Equity Fund seeks

to generate capital appreciation by investing

in up to 20 stocks with a flexibility to move

across the market capitalization range.

ICICI Bank launches 'iStartup2.0'

ICICI Bank has launched -‘iStartup2.0’ - a

programme for startups that takes care of

their banking as well as beyond-banking

needs.

‘iStartup2.0’ offers customers an eponymous

Current Account which is available in three

variants--Platinum, Gold and Silver-- the

widest range by any Bank for start-ups.

New businesses (up to 10 years) old can opt

for the Current Account.

EPFO to pay 8.5% interest during 2019-20

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The Labour and Employment Minister

Santosh Kumar Gangwar on 9 Sept 2020

chaired the 227th Meeting of the Central

Board of Trustees of Employees' Provident

Fund.

The Central Board has recommended the

same interest rate at 8.50 per cent to the

Central Government.

It would comprise of 8.15 per cent from debt

income and balance 0.35 per cent capital

gain from the sale of Exchange Traded

Funds.

Mahindra Insurance Brokers launches PayBima

Mahindra Insurance Brokers (MIBL) has

launched a digital insurance portal called

PayBima that will help customers directly buy

insurance policies online.

PayBima will provide end-to-end services

from product sales to servicing and claims.

Customers will be able to buy a car, two-

wheeler, health and life insurance products

on it.

The company is setting up a separate team

for this portal.

Silver Lake to invest in Reliance Retail

American private equity firm Silver Lake will

invest Rs 7,500 crore in Reliance Retail

Ventures Limited for 1.75 per cent equity

stake.

The fresh investment values Reliance Retail

at an equity value of Rs 4.21 lakh crore.

It will be the second billion-dollar investment

by Silver Lake in a Reliance Industries

subsidiary after the investment of $1.35

billion in Jio Platforms earlier this year.

Asset monetization of subsidiaries of PGCIL

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

has approved Asset Monetization of

subsidiaries of Power Grid Corporation of

India Limited- POWERGRID through

Infrastructure Investment Trust.

It has given approval to POWERGRID to

undertake monetization of its Tariff Based

Competitive Bidding (TBCB) assets, held in

existing Special Purpose Vehicle (SPVs),

through Infrastructure Investment Trust.

Standard Chartered fined $13.6 million

India’s anti-money laundering agency has

fined Standard Chartered Plc 1 billion rupees

($13.6 mn).

It was fined for breaking foreign exchange

rules when it worked on the takeover of a

local bank, marking one of the country’s

biggest penalties imposed on an overseas

lender.

An eight-year probe found that Standard

Chartered violated the foreign exchange

management act, during 2007.

Silver Lake invests in Byju’s

Byju’s has raised $500 million in a fresh

round of funding led by private equity investor

Silver Lake.

Silver Lake's investment into Byju's comes

shortly after the investor picked up a 0.93%

stake in telecom major Reliance Jio for

₹4,546.8 cr in Aug 2020.

The new round values Byju’s at $10.8 billion,

up from its last valuation at $10.5 billion.

RBI announces Open Market Operation

83

RBI will conduct simultaneous purchase and

sale of government securities under the

Open Market Operation (OMO) for Rs 10,000

cr each on Sept 10, 2020.

It would be selling three securities totalling Rs

10,000 crore and also purchasing an equal

number of securities of the same amount.

The second tranche of the auction would be

conducted on September 17, 2020.

Samsung wins $6.6 billion Verizon order

Samsung Electronics has won a $6.64 billion

order to provide wireless communication

solutions to Verizon in the United States.

It is a major win for the South Korean firm in

the next-generation 5G network market.

Samsung winning the order from Verizon

would help the company expand its telecom

equipment business abroad, potentially

giving leverage to negotiate with other

countries.

Maharashtra government approves a policy

The Maharashtra cabinet has approved an

agro-tourism policy aimed at empowering

farmers.

The highlight of the policy would be rural

development through tourism, making

available market for agriculture produce,

encouraging agriculture allied business,

providing employment opportunities to

women and youth in rural areas.

It would also provide a platform to showcase

folk art and culture.

Paytm Money surpasses Zerodha

Paytm Money claims to have reached a

customer base of 6.6 million, surpassing

Zerodha, one of the largest retail brokerage

firms in the country, by volume.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma-owned company,

which completed two years of operations,

said 70% of its user-base is first- time

investors.

Zerodha, on the other hand, claims to have 3

million users, of which 65% are first-time

investors.

Vodafone Idea announces integration

Vodafone Idea Ltd on 7 Sept 2020, has

announced its integration into one brand

called 'VI', two years after the completion of

Vodafone India Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd

merger.

The rebranding is part of the company’s

efforts to reduce the cost of maintaining two

brands.

The rebranding decision comes amid the

company’s plans to raise funds.

Vodafone Idea will raise up to ₹25,000 crore.

RBL Bank launches a facility

RBL Bank has launched a cardless cash

withdrawal facility from ATMs, leveraging the

Instant Money Transfer (IMT) system.

The bank has tied-up with Empays Payment

Systems, a global financial technology

provider, to offer this service.

RBL Bank customers can withdraw cash

without their debit cards from 389 IMT-

enabled ATMs of the bank or more than

40,000 other bank ATMs across the country.

LazyPay launches LazyUPI

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LazyPay has launched a digital credit card

that combines the power of UPI and the Buy-

Now-Pay-Later concept.

Called LazyUPI, the offering enables users to

access real-time credit using UPI across

omnichannel networks, including offline

merchants and e-commerce platforms.

With LazyUPI, customers can set up their

accounts using a 2-minute KYC process.

RBI releases Priority Sect Lending Guidelines

The Reserve Bank of India has reviewed the

Priority Sector Lending (PSL) Guidelines.

The new guidelines will make better credit

penetration into credit deficient areas and

increase the lending to small as well as

marginal farmers and weaker sections.

In the revised PSL Guidelines, the Reserve

Bank of India has included some fresh

categories eligible for finance under priority

sector.

L&T defence arm bags government contract

Larsen & Toubro (L&T)'s defence arm has

received orders for the Indian Ministry of

Defence (MoD) for the supply of four

regiments of Pinaka Weapon Systems.

The contract involves supply of Pinaka

launchers, battery command posts and

associated engineering support package

(ESP) for four regiments.

The orders fall under the "significant"

category, which ranges between Rs 1,000-

Rs 2,500 crores.

Franklin Templeton MF receives ₹146 crore

The 5 schemes of Franklin Templeton Mutual

Fund, which are under wind-up, received Rs

146 cr of interest payment from Vodafone

Idea that was due on September 3, 2020.

A segregated portfolio -- or side-pocket as it

is called in MF industry parlance -- is created

to ensure that only investors exposed to the

scheme on the day of a credit event, can

benefit from a subsequent recovery of dues.

Arka Venture Labs invests in Nirmata

Nirmata, a Kubernetes company, announced

a venture investment from Arka Venture

Labs, a fund that provides capital and

mentorship to global B2B companies.

This new investment will allow Nirmata to

accelerate expansion in APAC, across

engineering, support, sales and market.

Nirmata was started in 2013 by Jim

Bugwadia, Ritesh Patel and Damien Toledo.

Axis Global Alpha Fund of Fund launched

Axis AMC has launched Axis Global Alpha

Fund of Fund.

For this global product initiative, Axis AMC

has tied up with Schroders (25% shareholder

in Axis AMC).

Axis Global Equity Alpha Fund of Fund is the

first dedicated global feeder fund launched by

the mutual fund house.

It is an open-ended fund of fund scheme that

invests in the Schroder International

Selection Fund Global Equity Alpha.

Economic Advisory Council of 15th FC

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The Economic Advisory Council of the 15th

Finance Commission met on 4 September

2020.

Chairman N K Singh chaired the day-long

meeting.

The meeting was for a final discussion on

GDP growth, tax buoyancy of the Centre and

the States, GST compensation, revenue

deficit grant and fiscal consolidation.

The members of the Economic Advisory

Council also attended the meeting.

SoftBank invests in Unacademy

Edtech platform Unacademy burst into the

unicorn club on 2 Sept 2020 following a $150

million fundraising led by Japan’s SoftBank.

Apart from SoftBank, which invested from its

Vision Fund 2, existing investors General

Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture

Partners, Facebook, and Blume Ventures

also participated in the round.

It was recently named the official partner for

the IPL.

L&T sells electrical and automation arm

Larsen and Toubro Ltd. has sold its electrical

and automation unit to Schneider Electric SE.

The sale—an all-cash deal amounting to

nearly Rs 14,000 crore—was announced in

May 2018.

It followed a strategic portfolio review and

aims to unlock value for future growth.

The unit makes voltage switchgear, energy

management systems, industrial automation

systems and metering solutions, etc.

ICICI Bank launches 'Home Utsav'

ICICI Bank has announced the launch of

‘Home Utsav’.

It is a virtual property exhibition that digitally

showcases real estate projects by renowned

developers from key cities across the

country.

It is available for everyone, including ICICI

Bank’s customers and those who are not

customers.

It offers them enhanced convenience, as they

can simply browse through these projects

online.

Gross GST revenue collection at Rs 86,449 cr

The gross GST revenue collected in August

2020 is Rs 86,449 cr.

Out of this, CGST is Rs 15,906 cr, SGST is

Rs 21,064 cr, and IGST is Rs 42,264 cr.

The government has settled Rs 18,216 cr to

CGST and Rs 14,650 cr to SGST from IGST

as regular settlement.

The total revenue earned by Central Govt

and the State Govts after regular settlement

in August is Rs 34,122 crore for CGST.

Indian Bank announces cut of 5 basis points

Indian Bank has announced a cut of 5 basis

points in its marginal cost of funds based

lending rate (MCLR) for one-year tenure.

The bank has decided to reduce the MCLR

for one-year tenure by 5 basis points to 7.30

per cent effective from September 3, 2020.

All new retail loans (housing, education,

vehicle), credit to MSMEs are linked to RLLR

now.

Reliance Jio-Brookfield Tower deal approved

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Reliance Industries has said that all

approvals have been obtained for a Rs

25,215 cr Brookfield tower deal a year after it

was announced.

Brookfield and its partners will become

sponsors of the trust holding all the units

while the Reliance subsidiary will become a

co-sponsor without holding units.

The trust currently owns 51% of Reliance Jio

lnfratel.

SucSEED Indovation registers a fund with SEBI

SucSEED Indovation Fund received a

licence as Angel Fund in the Category 1 AIF

from market regulator SEBI.

The INR 100Cr fund is sponsored by a group

of active investors-mentors to nurture tech

innovation and back early-stage Tech start-

ups engaged in solving problems of masses.

The Fund will work towards strengthening

angel investment landscape.

India's GDP contracts 23.9% in April-June

The Indian economy contracted by 23.9% in

the April-June quarter of this fiscal amid the

COVID-19 crisis.

The gross domestic product (GDP) had

expanded by 5.2 percent in the

corresponding April-June period of 2019-20,

according to data released by the National

Statistical Office (NSO).

The fraction of countries, where GDP per

capita would decrease is the highest since

1870.

India aims for 100 MT coal gasification

India aims for 100 million tonnes (MT) coal

gasification by 2030 with investments worth

over Rs. 4 lakh crores.

This was announced by Pralhad Joshi, Union

Minister of Coal and Mines during a

webinar on Coal Gasification and

Liquefaction.

For encouraging the use of clean sources of

fuel, the government has provided for a

concession of 20% on revenue share of coal

used for gasification.

EIB to invest 650 million euros

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has

decided to invest 650 mn euros into the

construction of Kanpur’s first city metro line.

The agreement to this effect was signed on

31 August 2020.

The project aims at enabling some 3 million

people in the city to benefit from green, safe,

fast, and affordable public transport.

This is the second metro rail project

supported by the EIB in Uttar Pradesh.

ICICI Prudential introduces voice chatbot

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has launched

an AI-powered voice chatbot, LiGo, on

Google Assistant as part of its customer

service initiative.

This new option will enable the policyholders

to have their queries addressed by simple

voice commands.

Customers can use commands such as "Ok

Google, I want to speak to ICICI Prudential

Life LiGo" or "May I talk to ICICI Prudential

Life LiGo".

Banks to refund charges of transactions

87

The Finance Ministry has asked banks to

immediately refund the charges collected

after 1st Jan 2020 on transactions carried out

using the electronic mode prescribed under

the IT act.

The Ministry also advised banks not to

impose charges on any future transaction

carried out through the electronic mode.

Central Board of Direct Taxes, CBDT had

issued notification in this regard on 30 Dec

2019.

Creador invests ₹250 crore in Shriji Polymers

Malaysia-based private equity firm Creador

has invested ₹250 crores in Indian

pharmaceutical packaging firm Shriji

Polymers (India) Ltd.

Shriji’s product portfolio includes high-density

poly ethylene bottles, polypropylene caps

and other speciality plastic products.

With this investment, Creador has acquired a

'significant minority stake' in the company.

Walmart sells 2 more e-commerce brands

Walmart Inc. is divesting two more of its

online brands, for focusing on its main

website.

It is selling footwear website Shoes.com to

private-equity firm CriticalPoint Capital, while

lingerie brand Bare Necessities will be

acquired by Delta Galil Industries Ltd.

The divestments follow Walmart’s sale of

indie apparel brand ModCloth in October

2019.

Bajaj Allianz launches 'Smart Assist'

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has launched

‘Smart Assist’.

It is a service which enables customers to

connect with the insurance company through

a secure screen sharing feature, to avail real-

time assistance on completion of their buy

journey, anywhere.

It is designed to help customers know all

about their product while enjoying virtual

assistance, and maintaining social

distancing.

Bajaj Allianz General launches dog insurance

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has

launched its pet insurance product called

Bajaj Allianz Pet Dog Insurance Policy.

This policy provides comprehensive

coverage to domesticated pet dogs of

indigenous origin, pedigree, non-pedigree,

cross-bred and also exotic breeds over the

lifetime of the dogs from age 3 months to 10

years.

The premium for this policy starts from ₹315

(excluding GST).

Axis launches Liberty Savings Account

Axis Bank has launched a new savings

account called the Axis Liberty Savings

Account, aimed at millennial customers.

It offers customers the option of maintaining

a minimum balance of ₹25,000 per month or

spending the same amount every month

using the bank's debit card.

It also provides an insurance cover

of ₹20,000, which includes expenses

incurred for COVID-19-related

hospitalization.

88

FM chaired 41st GST Council meeting

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired

the GST Council meeting through video

conferencing on 27 Aug 2020.

This is the 41st meeting of the Council.

The matter of payment of GST compensation

to states was discussed in the meeting.

Under the GST law, states have been

guaranteed payment for loss of revenue in

the first 5 years since the new indirect tax

regime came into force in July 2017.

Fidelity launches inaugural Bitcoin fund

Fidelity Investments is launching its first

Bitcoin fund.

It will begin to offer the Wise Origin Bitcoin

Index Fund I through a new business unit

called Fidelity Digital Funds.

Peter Jubber, head of Fidelity Consulting, will

run the new business unit.

The fund will be made available to qualified

purchasers through family offices, registered

investment advisers and other institutions.

ADB issues global benchmark bond

The Asian Development Bank (ADB)

returned to the US dollar bond market with

the pricing of a 3 bn dollars five-year global

bond.

Proceeds of this will be part of ADB's ordinary

capital resources.

The five-year bond has a coupon rate of

0.375% per annum payable semi-annually

and has a maturity date of September 3,

2025.

PSUs to pay Customs duty later within 14 days

Govt has announced a major initiative to

allow the Public Sector Undertakings to first

clear the goods imported by them through

Customs and then pay Customs duty later,

within 14 days.

This measure is expected to result in

speedier clearance of the goods imported by

the PSUs.

The scheme of deferred payment of Customs

duties was first introduced in November

2016.

RBI projects country's growth rate at (-) 4.5%

The RBI has projected India's growth rate at

(-) 4.5 percent for 2020-21.

In its annual report released on 25 August

2020, RBI projected a global growth rate

between (-) 6.0 percent and (-) 7.6 percent.

The report says that expected headline

inflation will remain elevated in the current

quarter, but is likely to ease in the second half

of the fiscal.

RBI announces OMO of govt securities

The RBI will conduct open market operations

or OMO of government securities worth

₹20,000 crores in two tranches.

The auctions would be conducted on August

27, 2020, and September 03, 2020.

For the OMO to be held on August 27, the

RBI will be buying longer-dated government

securities maturing between 2024 to 2032

while it will selling securities that mature

between Oct-Nov 2020.

Government announces Tax exemptions

89

Businesses with an annual turnover of up to

Rs 40 lakh are GST exempt.

Initially, this limit was Rs 20 lakh.

Additionally, those with a turnover up to Rs

1.5 cr can opt for the Composition Scheme

and pay only 1% tax.

As of now, the 28% rate is almost solely

restricted to sin and luxury items.

Out of about 230 items in the 28% slab, about

200 items have been shifted to lower slabs.

Government to hire Deloitte, SBI Caps

India will hire Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

India Ltd. and SBI Capital Markets Ltd. to

help Life Insurance Corp. of India prepare for

an initial share sale.

The advisers will help evaluate the capital

structure of India’s biggest insurer as well as

aid the company in reworking its financial

statement.

The government will soon invite bids seeking

firms to value LIC.

Unitus Ventures secures investment of Rs 75 cr

Unitus Ventures has secured an investment

of Rs 75 crore under SIDBI's Fund of Funds

for Startups initiative.

The fund received from SIDBI (Small

industrial Development Bank of India) will

strengthen the deployment of Unitus' second

fund that was launched in 2018.

Unitus has recently invested Rs 8.5 crore

(USD 1.1 million) in Masai School, an ed-tech

platform.

NPCI launches international arm

The National Payments Corporation of India

(NPCI) has launched its international

subsidiary NPCI International.

It will take its hugely popular instant payment

service Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and

card network RuPay to international

markets.

The subsidiary would be headed by newly-

appointed CEO Ritesh Shukla who was

Mastercard’s former head of the Middle East

and Africa regions.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank launches Lakshmi DigiGo

Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) has launched

Lakshmi DigiGo, a digital initiative to enable

the opening of savings account instantly.

Lakshmi DigiGo is a savings account with

select features, including internet and mobile

Banking.

LVB’s new initiative will help people to

onboard themselves and avail the most

required banking services instantly through

the website.

Yes Bank launched a loan scheme

Yes Bank has launched digital ‘Loan against

Securities’ scheme.

It is a unique solution enabling customers to

mark their mutual funds digitally and avail

quick and hassle-free loans.

This digital solution has been launched under

Yes Bank’s ‘Loan in Seconds’ platform,

allowing customers to set an instant credit

limit against securities held.

ICICI Bank raise stake in India INX

90

ICICI Bank has announced the acquisition of

a further stake in India International

Exchange (India INX) located at GIFT City in

Gandhinagar.

The lender acquired 4.46 cr shares at Re 1

per share for a total consideration of Rs 4.46

cr.

Post the acquisition, ICICI Bank's stake in

India INX will increase to 9.9%.

The indicative time period for completion of

the acquisition is 31 Aug'20.

HSBC India launches 'Green Deposit Programme'

HSBC India has launched its 'Green Deposit

Programme' for corporate clients.

Under this new initiative, the bank will finance

green initiatives such as renewable energy,

clean transportation, etc. providing a simple

way for companies to support

environmentally-beneficial projects.

The 'Green Deposit' is available in INR as

'Term Deposit'.

RBI unveils 5-year national strategy

The RBI has released a national strategy for

financial education to be implemented in the

next five years.

The multi-stakeholder led approach is aimed

at creating a financially aware and

empowered India.

The strategic objectives include inculcating

financial literacy concepts among various

sections of the population through financial

education to make them an important life

skill.

Apple: 1st one valued at $2 tn in market value

Apple Inc. has become the first publicly listed

US company with a $2 trillion stock market

value.

With Amazon, Microsoft, and Google-owner

Alphabet, all now worth around $1 trillion or

more, the big US tech companies are

together worth more than $6 trillion.

Apple Inc is headquartered in Cupertino in

California, United States.

Union AMC launches Medium Duration Fund

Union AMC has launched the Union Medium

Duration Fund.

It is an open-ended medium-term debt

scheme investing in instruments such that

the Macaulay duration of the portfolio is

between three to four years.

The New Fund Offer (NFO) opens on August

24 and closes on September 7, 2020.

The minimum investment required is ₹5,000

and in multiples of ₹1 thereafter.

Exports of agricultural commodities increased

Exports of agricultural commodities during

March to June 2020 has increased by

23.24% compared to corresponding period in

2019.

The exports of Agri commodities during

March to June were Rs 25552.7 cr against

the export of Rs 20734.8 cr during the same

period in 2019.

The agricultural exports as a percentage of

India’s agricultural GDP has increased from

9.4% in 2017-18 to 9.9% in 2018-19.

MCX to launch India's first bullion index

91

Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) is

all set to launch the country's first bullion

index, Bulldex, on August 24, 2020.

The bullion index, Bulldex, being launched by

MCX is the sixth product in bullion complex

with 1-kg gold, 100-gm goldmini, 8-gm gold

guinea and 1-gm gold peta, while the Options

on Futures on 1-kg gold is already in place.

ILSF invests in Inventia Healthcare

India Life Sciences Fund III has invested

₹100 crores in Inventia Healthcare Ltd.

Inventia, with its R&D centre and

manufacturing facilities close to Mumbai,

develops and manufactures oral solid

formulations.

The company is also venturing into

injectables and nutraceuticals.

This infusion of funds will be used as growth

capital for its pharma and nutraceutical

business.

HDFC Bank launches Shaurya Kisan gold card

HDFC Bank has launched an agricultural

loan offering, Shaurya Kisan gold card

(KGC).

It is targeted at the 45 lakh military and

paramilitary professionals for catering to their

family's agricultural needs.

Shaurya KGC will come with an insurance

cover of Rs 10 lakh.

This card will provide finance for production

of a crop, post-harvest maintenance and

consumption needs.

SBI rolls out YONO Krishi review

SBI has introduced “KCC (Kisan Credit Card)

Review option” on its digital agricultural

solution platform, YONO Krishi.

This will enable farmers to access their KCC

limit in four clicks.

With this added feature, farmers will no

longer need to visit the bank branch to apply

for a revision in their KCC limit.

It is expected to benefit more than 75 lakh

farmers having KCC accounts with SBI.

3rd review meeting of CPSEs

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held

3rd review meeting of Central Public Sector

Enterprises, CPSEs on capital expenditure

for the current financial year, on 14 August

2020.

The combined Capital expenditure target for

2020-21 for these seven CPSEs is Rs

1,24,825 crores.

In 2019-20, against the target of 1,29,821

crore rupees, the achievement was over

88.37 per cent.

RBI approves dividend of ₹57,128 crore to govt

Reserve Bank of India has approved a

dividend of ₹57,128 crores to the

government.

The decision was taken when the Central

Board of the RBI met under the chairmanship

of Governor Shaktikanta Das through video

conference.

The Board decided to maintain the

Contingency Risk Buffer at 5.5%.

In 2019, the RBI’s board approved a record

payment of ₹1.76 trillion to the government.

Deutsche Bank infuses 2700 cr into Indian unit

92

Deutsche Bank has introduced a capital

infusion of ₹2,700 crores into its India

department operations to fund its progress

plans within the nation.

With this, the full capital deployed in India

branches has now elevated to ₹18,200

crores.

These funds will likely be used to help the

additional enlargement of Deutsche Bank

India throughout all of its companies.

Govt releases Rs 6,195 cr to 14 states

Govt has released Rs 6,195 cr to 14 states

as the 5th equated monthly instalment of the

Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant as

recommended by the 15th Finance

Commission.

Some of the states are Andhra Pradesh,

Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Manipur,

Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab,

Tamil Nadu, Tripura, etc.

This will provide them with additional

resources during the Corona crisis.

NIP Online Dashboard inaugurated

Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman has inaugurated the

National Infrastructure Pipeline, NIP, Online

Dashboard in New Delhi.

It is envisaged as a one-stop solution for all

stakeholders looking for information on

infrastructure projects in New India.

The dashboard is being hosted on the India

Investment Grid, IIG

www.indiainvestmentgrid.gov.in.

IFC to invest $10m in Endiya Partners fund

Endiya Partners has announced receiving a

commitment of Rs 75 crore (approx $10

million) from the International Finance

Corporation (IFC), member of the World

Bank Group.

The partnership with IFC will provide Endiya

portfolio companies with financial and

strategic support resulting in increased

access to growth opportunities and

sustainable scalability.

HDFC MF launches NFO of HDFC Banking ETF

HDFC Mutual Fund has launched the New

Fund Offer (NFO) of HDFC Banking ETF.

The scheme will invest in NIFTY Bank Index

companies, in the same proportion as the

underlying index.

The NFO of HDFC Banking ETF opens 10

August 2020 and will close on August 14,

2020.

The scheme will be managed by Krishan

Kumar Daga.

Minimum application amount during the NFO

period is ₹5,000.

LIC to launch revival campaign

LIC will provide an opportunity for its

policyholders to revive their lapsed policies.

It has decided to launch a special revival

campaign from August 10 till October 9,

2020, for its customers to revive their

individual lapsed LIC policies.

Under this Special Revival Campaign,

policies of specific eligible plans can be

revived within five years from the date of the

first unpaid premium.

LIC acquired 4.23% Stake of YES Bank

93

LIC has acquired close to 5 per cent

shareholding in Yes bank by purchasing

shares from the open market.

With the fresh acquisition, the hold of LIC has

increased from 0.75 per cent to 4.98 per cent.

LIC purchased 105.98 crore shares,

reflecting 4.23 per cent stake, of the bank

from the open market.

Prior to this, LIC had 0.75 per cent stake in

Yes Bank though 19 crore shares held.

HDFC Bank slashes MCLR rates

HDFC Bank has cut its marginal-cost based

lending rate (MCLR) on loans for all tenors by

10 basis points (bps).

The reduction in lending rate will make EMIs

on home and other loans tied to its marginal

cost of funds based lending rate cheaper.

According to the HDFC Bank website after

the latest rate reduction, its overnight MCLR

stands reduced to 7%, while one-month

MCLR is 7.05%.

RBI announces loan restructuring window

The RBI has announced a loan restructuring

window for corporates following demands

from bankers and industry.

It has permitted banks to invest in debt

instruments through mutual funds or

exchange-traded funds without allocating

additional charges.

It has barred banks from opening current

accounts for customers who have availed

cash credit or overdraft facilities.

Nippon Life India launches Multi Asset Fund

Nippon Life India AMC (formerly known as

Reliance Nippon Life AMC), has launched

Nippon India Multi-Asset Fund (NIMAF).

It is an open-ended scheme which will invest

50% of its assets in Indian equities, 20% in

international equities, 15% in commodities

and the remaining in Debt & Money Market

Instruments.

The New Fund Offer will open on August 7,

2020, and close on 21 August 2020.

RBI's repo rate unchanged

After a three-day meeting of the Monetary

Policy Committee (MPC), RBI Governor

Shaktikanta Das has announced that the key

repo rate will be kept unchanged at 4%.

RBI has already cut interest rates by 115

basis points for 2020, taking the repo rate

down to 4%, the lowest since it was

introduced in 2000.

Additional special liquidity will be provided to

NABARD, National Housing Bank.

National Bank of Bahrain selects Infosys

National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) and Infosys

Finacle announced the bank's decision to

adopt the Finacle Cash Management Suite to

digitally transform its transaction banking

business.

NBB will be implementing the Finacle

Liquidity Management Platform and

upgrading its existing Finacle Corporate

Online Banking platform to a full-fledged

Digital Engagement Suite.

Apple: World’s most valuable company

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Apple has become the world’s most valuable

publicly-traded company, surpassing the

state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

Apple shares closed up 10.47% on 31 July

2020, giving it a market valuation of $1.84

trillion.

Saudi Aramco, which had been the most

valuable publicly listed company since its

market debut in 2019, now trails at $1.76

trillion as of its last close.

ICICI launches Pru Alpha Low Vol 30 ETF

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has announced

to launch ICICI Prudential Alpha Low Vol 30

ETF, an open-ended index exchange-traded

fund tracking Nifty Alpha Low Volatility 30

Index.

The offering aims to provide returns that

closely correspond to the returns provided by

Nifty Alpha Low-Volatility 30 Index, subject to

tracking errors.

The New Fund Offer will open on Aug 3 and

close on 10 Aug 20.

Tata Capital to invest in Biocon Biologics

Biocon's board has approved Tata Capital

investment of Rs 225 cr for 0.85% stake in

subsidiary Biocon Biologics.

This will value Biocon Biologics at an equity

valuation of Rs 26,250 Crore, or $3.5 billion,

and an enterprise valuation of Rs 30,400

Crore, or $4 billion.

After the completion of this transaction,

Biocon will hold 95.25% stake in Biocon

Biologics.

MobiKwik launches personal UPI payment link

FinTech company MobiKwik has launched

mpay.me - a UPI payment link service to

send and receive money from any UPI

payment app.

Through mpay.me, users and merchants can

set up a link using their mobile number to

start receiving money.

This single link created using mpay.me can

be shared anywhere to send and receive

money and will work seamlessly on mobile as

well as desktop.

Centre releases GST Compensation

The Central Government has released GST

Compensation of Rs. 13,806 crore to States

for March 2020.

Taking this amount into account, entire GST

compensation for the previous financial year

has been released to the states.

The total amount of compensation released

for the year 2019-20 is Rs. 1,65,302 crore.

The amount of cess collected at the same

time was Rs. 95,444 crore.

Reliance: 2nd most valuable energy firm

Reliance Industries has overtaken

ExxonMobil to become the world's second

most valuable energy company after its

market capitalisation scaled to a record high

of over Rs 14 lakh crore.

It is now ranked 46th globally on market cap,

according to stock market data.

Its share price on 24 July 2020 scaled an all-

time high of Rs 2,163, taking the company to

46th position.

NPCI launches UPI AutoPay feature

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National Payments Corporation of India

(NPCI) has launched its one-stop fintech

payment solution- UPI AutoPay in a virtual

event of Global Fintech Fest.

It is dedicated to recurring payments and can

be used for multiple financial purposes such

as utility payments, train tickets, etc.

Customers can create e-mandate through

their UPI ID or QR Scan for transactions up

to Rs 2000.

Bharti AXA gets crop insurance mandate

Bharti AXA General Insurance has received

Rs 800 crore worth crop insurance mandate

from Maharashtra and Karnataka

governments to insure farmers in both the

states under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima

Yojana (PMFBY).

The company has secured authorisation for

three years from both the state governments

to implement the PMFBY in six districts of

Maharashtra and three districts of Karnataka.

Banks sanctioned over Rs 1.27 lakh cr loans

As of 20 July 2020, the total amount

sanctioned under the 100% Emergency

Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by

the banks stands at over 1.27 lakh crore.

Of this, over 77,613 crore rupees have

already been disbursed.

Under the 100% ECLGS, the loan amounts

sanctioned by Public Sector Banks increased

to over Rs 70,894 crore of which over 45,797

crore rupees have been disbursed till 20

Jul 20.

Bajaj Housing launched E-Home loan

Bajaj Housing Finance Limited (BHFL),

wholly owned subsidiary of Bajaj Finance

Limited recently launched E-Home Loan for

customers.

The E-Home Loans are designed to fulfil

borrowers' mortgage needs online, both for

new home loan requirements as well as

transfer of existing home loans.

Customers need to fill the online loan

application form with

(personal/professional/property) details.

HCC-Dilip Buildcon JV bags contract from NHAI

Hindustan Construction Company's joint

venture with Dilip Buildcon has received a Rs

1,900 crore NHAI contract.

The contract is for the design and

construction of a 22-km road to link

Jharkhand and Bihar.

The Rs 1,900 crore road project, which will

include a four-lane bridge over the Ganga

river, will connect Sahibganj bypass in

Jharkhand to Manihari bypass in Bihar.

Ministry of Finance released Rs 15,187 crore

Ministry of Finance has released an amount

of over 15,187 crore rupees as grants-in-aid

to 2.63 lakh Rural Local Bodies (RLBs)

spread in 28 States of the country.

This grants-in-aid forms part of the Tied Grant

as recommended by the 15th Finance

Commission for the Financial Year 2020-21.

It will facilitate taking up of various

developmental work concerning supply of

drinking water, etc.

NABARD to give banks refinance of Rs 5,000 cr

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The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural

Development (NABARD) has announced Rs

5,000 crore of refinance scheme for banks

and financial institutions.

It will provide finance to the beneficiaries of

its 2,150 watershed development projects.

These projects cover 2.3 million hectares of

rainfed area, watershed and tribal

development project areas.

Google to invest in Jio Platforms

Google will acquire a 7.7% stake in Jio

Platforms for Rs 33,737 crore.

This is the culmination of a series of global

investments that have cumulatively brought

more than Rs 1.52 lakh crore ($20 billion) into

Reliance Industries’ technology and telecom

arm.

In future, there will be strategic partnerships

in retail and petrochemicals and the energy

business that will be overhauled.

PSBs to purchase NBFC Bonds/CPs

As of 10 July 2020, under the extended

Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme, PCGS,

Public Sector Banks have approved the

purchase Bonds or Commercial Papers

issued by 67 NBFCs amounting to 14,667

crore rupees.

Of these, 6,845 crore rupees is for Bonds or

Commercial Papers rated below AA,

providing liquidity support to NBFCs with

lower-rated Bonds or Commercial Papers.

BSE Ebix beta launched life insurance

BSE Ebix Insurance Broking has announced

the beta launch of life insurance on its

platform by enrolling Aditya Birla Sun Life

Insurance and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance.

BSE Ebix is a joint venture of BSE and Ebix

Fincorp Exchange.

With this launch, BSE Ebix now has the ability

to handle insurance sales across the three

key insurance verticals of life, health and auto

insurance.

Qualcomm Inc to invest in Jio Platforms

Qualcomm Inc will invest Rs 730 crore in Jio

Platforms in exchange for a 0.15 percent

stake.

Qualcomm, one of the world’s top wireless

technology companies, is the third

technology investor in Jio after Facebook Inc

and American semiconductor giant Intel.

The RIL unit runs the telecom enterprise Jio

Infocomm, India’s biggest, as well as movie,

news and music apps.

1,39,000 MT food grains lifted under PMGKAY

Out of 203 Lakh Metric Tonnes of foodgrains

allocated for five months under extended

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana-

PMGKAY, 1,39,000 Metric Tonnes food

grains have been lifted by the states.

Since 1st July 2020, over 11 Lakh Metric

tonnes of food grains have been loaded and

despatched to the states through 396 rail

racks so far.

Income Tax Department launched tool for Banks

The Income Tax Dept has facilitated a new

functionality for Banks and Post offices.

Under it, they can ascertain the TDS

applicability rates on cash withdrawals of

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above 20 lakh rupees in case of a non-filer of

the income-tax return and that of above Rs 1

cr in case of a filer of the income-tax return.

More than 53,000 verification requests have

been executed successfully on this facility.

Global economy to contract by 5.2%

The global economy is likely to contract by

5.2% in 2020, says a report.

This was stated in the Dun and Bradstreet's

Country Risk and Global Outlook Report, that

covered 132 countries.

The report said any recovery into 2021 is

going to be curtailed by several factors.

The Asia Pacific region is unlikely to shake off

the economic effects before the end of 2020.

Tamil Nadu topped market borrowings

According to data from the RBI, Tamil Nadu

has raised ₹30,500 crores in the fiscal 2020-

21 and has topped market borrowings among

States in the country.

Tamil Nadu accounted for 17% of the

borrowings done through the issue of bonds

(known as state development loans).

It is followed by Maharashtra ₹25,500 crores

(14%), Andhra Pradesh ₹17,000 crores (9%)

and Rajasthan ₹17,000 crores (9%).

IRDAI revised Arogya Sanjeevani Policy limit

The Insurance Regulatory and Development

Authority of India (IRDAI) has issued a

circular allowing health and general

insurance companies to offer Arogya

Sanjeevani Policy for a minimum sum

insured of Rs 50,000 and maximum sum

insured above Rs 5 lakh.

At present, the Arogya Sanjeevani Policy

comes with a basic health cover of minimum

sum insured of Rs 1 lakh and maximum of Rs

5 lakh.

Union Bank reduced MCLR by 20 basis points

Union Bank of India has announced a

reduction in its marginal cost of funds-based

lending rate - MCLR by 20 basis points

across tenors.

The new rates will be applicable from 11 July

2020.

The revised one-year MCLR stands at 7.40

per cent as against 7.60 per cent earlier.

The three-month and six-month MCLRs have

been cut to 7.10 percent and 7.25 percent,

respectively.

Govt approved Rs 12,450 crore capital infusion

The Union Cabinet has approved capital

infusion of Rs 12,450 crore in three public

sector general insurance companies.

The three companies are: Oriental Insurance

Company, National Insurance Company and

United India Insurance Company.

Out of the total amount, Rs 3,475 crore will

be released immediately and the balance Rs

6,475 crore will be infused later in one or

more tranches.

AIIB extended $50 mn loan to L&T Infra Ltd

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has

released $50 million in the first tranche of

assistance to L&T Infrastructure Finance Ltd

for funding Renewable Energy projects in the

country.

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The bank, which invests in sustainable

infrastructure, has sanctioned total $100

million loan to unit of L&T Finance Holdings.

This is AIIB’s first loan to a non-banking

financial company (NBFC) in India.

SAIL recorded highest monthly sales in June

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has achieved

the highest ever sales during June 2020.

The domestic and export sales stood at 12.77

lakh tonnes which is a jump of more than 18

per cent over the corresponding period in

2019.

In June 2020, the company has also

recorded the highest ever exports for any

month.

It exported 3.4 lakh tonnes steel during this

period.

ICICI Bank launched a loan facility

ICICI Bank has launched a facility that

enables retail customers to get a loan of up

to ₹1 crore instantaneously by pledging their

holdings in both debt and equity mutual

funds.

It has launched ‘Insta Loans against Mutual

Funds’ in partnership with ‘Computer Age

Management Services’ (CAMS).

It is an extension of the Insta LAS, an instant

loan facility against equity shares, launched

in 2019.

India's GDP may contract by 6.4% in FY21

Care Ratings has revised India's GDP growth

forecast for the current financial year to (-) 6.4

per cent as economic activity continues to be

under restriction due to the lockdown.

The rating agency, in May 2020, had

projected a decline in GDP growth of 1.5-1.6

per cent in FY21.

In FY20, the country's economy grew at an

estimated 4.2 per cent, almost a decade low.

External debt up 2.8 per cent in FY20: RBI

India’s external debt till March 2020, rose to

$558.5 billion, up by 2.8% on a year-on-year

basis, while its current account surplus has

gone up by $0.6 billion.

This data was released by the RBI.

Commercial borrowings remained the largest

component of the external debt, with a share

of 39.4%, followed by non-resident deposits

at 23.4 per cent and short-term trade credit at

18.2 per cent.

Equitas Small Fin. Bank launched video KYC

Equitas Small Finance Bank Limited has

launched a facility of opening account

through video KYC.

With this, any person anywhere in the country

can open a savings account with the Bank

and complete full KYC through video with the

Bank employee.

This will ensure contactless, no branch visit

and hassle-free account opening and

transactions for customers.

Income tax department launched a tool

A functionality to calculate TDS rate under

Section 194N has been enabled in the

income tax department's e-filing portal.

The service is, however, meant only for

official use by banks, co-operative societies

and post offices.

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Under the 'Quick Links' section on the e-filing

portal, a new sub-section called 'Verification

of applicability u/s 194N' has been inserted.

World Bank approved $750 mn to aid MSMEs

The World Bank has approved $750-million

loan to increase flow of finance to micro,

small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in

India.

This will support the MSME package

announced by the government under its ‘Self-

reliant India’ programme.

India’s MSME sector, which contributes 30%

of India’s GDP and 40% of exports, is

currently facing severe stress.

Intel Capital to invest ₹1,894 cr in Jio

Reliance Industries Limited and Jio Platforms

Limited announced that Intel Capital will

invest ₹ 1,894.50 cr in Jio Platforms at an

equity value of ₹ 4.91 lakh crore and an

enterprise value of ₹ 5.16 lakh crore.

Intel Capital’s investment will translate into a

0.39% equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully

diluted basis.

The deal with Intel Capital is the 12th such

investment in 11 weeks.

World's 5th largest Foreign Exchange Reserves

India has accumulated the world's fifth-

largest foreign exchange reserves at more

than $500 bn.

The reserves were bolstered by a rare

current-account surplus in the first quarter, a

return of inflows into the local stock market

and foreign direct investment.

That allowed the central bank to mop up

close to $25 billion in foreign exchange to add

to its reserves in the quarter through June.

ArcelorMittal Group to invest Rs 20,000 crore

ArcelorMittal Group will invest Rs 20,000

cr on capacity expansion and infrastructure in

Gujarat.

The investment will be for further expansion

of capacity enhancement in terms of land

availability, captive port, and incentive

structure for mega investments.

There are also ongoing expansion

investments of Rs 5,000 crore to take Essar

steel plant capacity to 8.6 million tonnes per

annum.

June GST collections at Rs 90,917 crore

GST revenue collection in June 2020 stood

at Rs 90,917 crore, up from Rs 62,009 crore

mopped up in May and Rs 32,294 crore in

April.

Of this, CGST is Rs 18,980 crore, SGST is

Rs 23,970 crore, IGST is Rs 40,302

crore and Cess is Rs 7,665 crore.

Returns of the month of April, March as well

as February got filed during June 2020.

Government launched 7.15% floating rate bonds

The government has announced the launch

of Floating Rate Savings Bonds, 2020

(Taxable) with an interest rate of 7.15%.

The bonds will be available for subscription

from July 1, 2020.

The interest rate on these bonds will be reset

every six months, the first reset being on

January 1, 2021.

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Interest will be payable in every six months

instead of having an option to receive it at

maturity.

Myanmar growth rate to slide 0.5% in 2019-20

Myanmar is forecasted to suffer a severe

economic blow due to the ongoing Corona

pandemic as its economy is projected to grow

by just about 0.5% in the fiscal year 2019-20.

According to the latest World Bank report, the

Myanmar economy could actually contract by

as much as 2.5% if the pandemic is

protracted.

The GDP growth rate for Myanmar was 6.8

percent in 2018-19.

SWSS bagged a solar project

Sterling and Wilson Solar Ltd's US subsidiary

has bagged a contract worth USD 99 million

(around Rs 747 crore) to construct a solar

project in the USA.

Sterling and Wilson Solar Solutions Inc

(SWSS), has been awarded the contract to

construct a 194 MW project in the US.

Construction for the project will commence in

September 2020 and the project will be

commissioned by November 2021.

ICICI Bank launched ‘Video KYC’

ICICI Bank has announced the launch of

‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) verification

process through video interaction.

So, now if one wants to open a new savings

account, he/she can complete the

documentation through ‘Video KYC’.

The Bank has made the facility available for

new customers keen to open a savings

account, including a salary account, or avail

a personal loan with the Bank.

Cooperative banks to be supervised by RBI

The Union government has decided to bring

1,482 urban cooperative banks and 58 multi-

state cooperative banks, under the

supervisory powers of the RBI.

The RBI's powers as they apply to the

scheduled banks will also apply to

cooperative banks.

The decision will give an assurance to more

than 86 million depositors in these banks that

their money amounting to Rs 4.84 trillion will

stay safe.

Karnataka Bank launched KBL Micro Mitra

Karnataka Bank has launched a new product,

KBL Micro Mitra, to provide financial

assistance up to Rs 10 lakh to micro

manufacturing and service enterprises

towards working capital or for investment

purposes.

The facility has a simplified procedure and a

competitive rate of interest.

The facility will be available across the

country through all branches of Karnataka

bank.

IIM Ahmedabad Endowment Fund launched

Indian Institute of Management- IIM

Ahmedabad has launched the ‘IIM

Ahmedabad Endowment Fund’.

The fund has been launched with an initial

commitment of Rs. 100 Crore from 10

founding alumni.

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The endowment aims to raise Rs.1000 crore

over a period of five years.

The fund will ensure financial health of the

institute.

MSP for mature dehusked coconut declared

Govt has declared Minimum Support Price,

MSP for mature dehusked coconut for the

season 2020 at 2,700 rupees per quintal.

The Centre has hiked the MSP by 5.02 per

cent.

During season 2019, the MSP was 2,571

rupees per quintal.

It will be a relief to the coconut farmers who

are already affected by the pandemic and the

consequent disruption in the supply chain.

BSE ranked among 10 most valued exchanges

BSE figures among the world's 10 largest

exchanges in terms of cumulative market

capitalisation of all companies listed on its

platform.

The data was given by the World Federation

of Exchanges.

BSE is at the tenth place in the top-10 list,

with a market capitalisation of $1.7 trillion.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) tops

the chart with a valuation of $19.3 trillion.

MCL plans to invest Rs 60,000 crore in Odisha

Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), a

subsidiary of Coal India Limited, will invest

Rs 60,000 crore in Odisha by 2025-26.

The company targets to increase its coal

production capacity to 300 million tonnes in

about three years.

To increase the capacity building for the new

and expansion of existing projects, the

company would invest in procurement of

heavy machinery.

RBI doubled withdrawal limit to Rs 1 lakh

The RBI has enhanced the withdrawal limit to

Rs 1 lakh while extending the regulatory

restriction on the cooperative bank by

another six months till Dec. 22, 2020.

The earlier withdrawal limit was Rs 50,000

per depositor.

The RBI had placed regulatory curbs on the

Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank

Limited, Mumbai, on 23 Sept 2019.

Procurement of MFP touched all time high

The ongoing procurement of Minor Forest

Produces under the Minimum Support Price

for MFP Scheme in 16 states has hit a record-

breaking high with the procurement touching

Rs 79.42 cr.

With this, the total procurement for the year,

both government and private trade, has

crossed more than Rs 2000 cr.

Tribal Affairs Ministry had recommended the

addition of 23 new items under the MFP list.

India's forex reserve rose to a life-time high

India's forex reserves rose to touch a life-time

high of 507.64 US billion in the second week

of June 2020.

In the previous week ended June 5, 2020 the

foreign exchange reserves had crossed the

half-a-trillion mark for the first time after it

surged by a massive USD 8.22 billion and

reached USD 501.703 billion, according to

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the weekly data released by the Reserve

Bank of India.

ICICI Home Finance launched a scheme

ICICI Home Finance has launched a special

affordable housing loan scheme, with special

rates for women, lower and middle-income

groups.

Called SARAL, it aims to fund homes in urban

and rural areas.

SARAL offers affordable housing loans up

to ₹35 lakh at an interest rate starting from

7.98 per cent onwards, for a maximum tenure

of 20 years,

RBI proposed new rules

The RBI has proposed to tighten the rules

governing home financiers.

The regulator’s proposal has also clearly

defined home finance firms and those that

are systemically important among them.

RBI has also proposed that home financiers

should not be simultaneously allowed to lend

to a real estate developer as well as

homebuyers in the developer’s project.

Reliance Industries is now debt-free

Reliance Industries (RIL) is now a net debt-

free company, after having raised Rs1.75

trillion against its net debt of Rs1.61 trillion.

The company raised Rs1.15 trillion rupees

through a 24.71% stake sale of equity of its

subsidiary Jio Platforms to 11 investors.

The parent company also raised

Rs53,124.20 crore through a rights issue of

its shares.

ICICI Bank sold ₹2,250 crore stake

ICICI Bank has divested 18,000,000 equity

shares of face value of ₹10 each of ICICI

Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd,

It represents 3.96% of its equity share capital

at March 31, 2020, on the stock exchange for

an approximate total consideration of Rs.

2,250 cr.

The ICICI Bank's shareholding in ICICI

Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd

now stands at approximately 51.9%.

PIF to invest in Jio Platforms

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund

(PIF) will invest Rs 11,367 crore for a 2.32

percent stake in Jio Platforms.

This is a historic eleventh investment in the

Reliance Industries (RIL) digital unit in nine

weeks.

PIF is among the largest sovereign wealth

funds in the world with total estimated assets

of nearly $400 billion.

PSBs disbursed Rs 18, 306 crore to MSME sector

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said

the Public Sector Banks have disbursed Rs

18,306 crore to the MSME sector.

Public Sector Banks have sanctioned loans

worth Rs32,049 crore under the 100 per cent

Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme.

Maximum disbursements were made by the

SBI followed by Canara Bank.

SBI disbursed Rs 9,488 crore whereas

Canara bank disbursed Rs 1,619 crore so

far.

Wheat procurement touched a record

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The procurement of wheat from farmers has

touched an all-time record to 382 Lakh

tonnes.

The earlier record was 381.48 lakh tonnes,

achieved during 2012-13.

42 Lakh farmers have been benefited from all

over the country and a total of about 73

thousand 500 crore rupees has been paid to

them towards Minimum Support Price for

wheat.

Funds allocated for a scheme in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister

Kurasala Kannababu introduced agriculture

budget for 2020-21 in the State Assembly on

16 June 2020.

The budget has allocated Rs 6,885.60 crore

for the 'Rytu Bharosa-PM Kisan' scheme.

Also Rs 207.83 crore is allocated for the

agricultural mechanisation scheme and Rs

141.73 crore is allocated for the integrated

agricultural program.

Acquisition by MacRitchie in API

The Competition Commission has approved

the acquisition of certain stakes in 91Streets

Media Technologies, Ascent Health and

Wellness Solutions, and API Holdings by

MacRitchie Investments.

It would provide an opportunity for

MacRitchie to invest and participate in the

long-term growth of the market for wholesale

sale and distribution of drugs in India.

Alibaba Cloud to invest $283 million

Alibaba Cloud will invest RMB 2 billion

(US$283 million) this fiscal to empower

global partners and accelerate joint

innovations in the post-pandemic era.

With the investment, Alibaba Cloud aims to

introduce new and improved work process

with partners to increase communication

efficiency so that parties can respond quickly

to changing customer demands, especially

during COVID-19 pandemic.

ICICI Bank introduced ‘Insta FlexiCash’

ICICI Bank has launched an overdraft facility,

Insta FlexiCash, for its salaried account

customers.

It is designed to protect ICICI Bank Salary

Account customers from missing their

Equated Monthly Instalments (EMIs) or

cheque bounces due to insufficient funds by

providing short-term instant credit.

Customers can easily avail of this facility by

initiating their application online.

L Catterton invested in Reliance Jio

Reliance Industries Ltd has confirmed that

the global investment firm L Catterton has

invested Rs 1894.50 crore in Jio Platforms.

This becomes the tenth investment in Jio

Platforms in the past few weeks.

L Catterton’s investment will translate into a

0.39% equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully

diluted basis.

Airtel Payments Bank launched salary account

Airtel Payments Bank has announced a

salary account for micro, small and medium

enterprises (MSME).

Through the 'Suraksha Salary' account,

MSMEs and other organisations will be able

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to make cashless payments and also provide

financial security blanket to their employees.

The benefits under the account include

Hospicash Insurance and Personal

Accidental insurance cover.

Uttar Pradesh to set up Invest UP

The UP government has set a nodal agency-

-Invest UP-- headed by UP CM to streamline

the state's investment approval and other

related procedures.

Uttar Pradesh plans to clear investment-

related proposals in not more than 15 days.

This is the first time in Uttar Pradesh that a

special ministry has been set up for

investment.

Jio Platforms to raise ₹4,547 cr from TPG

Jio Platforms will raise Rs4,546.80 crore from

TPG against 0.93% stake sale to the private

equity giant.

The transaction gives Jio Platforms an equity

valuation of Rs 4.91 trillion and an enterprise

value of Rs5.16 trillion, the same as most of

the eight deals have taken place at.

The list of investors in Jio includes Facebook,

KKR, Vista Equity Partners, Abu Dhabi

Investment Authority, etc.

ArcelorMittal to make investment in Odisha

ArcelorMittal Group is planning to invest

₹2,000 crore in Odisha.

ArcelorMittal Group is the world's largest

steel maker.

The company is also planning expansion of

its iron beneficiation plant at Baduna in

Keonjhar district from 5 MTPA to 16 MTPA.

Essar steel has also been acquired by

ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel.

Bharti Airtel arm bought stake in Robi Axiata

Bharti Airtel's subsidiary has acquired an

additional 6.3% stake in Bangladesh's

telecom operator Robi Axiata from NTT

Docomo.

The all-cash deal will raise the stake of Bharti

International (Singapore) -- wholly-owned

subsidiary of Bharti Airtel -- in Robi Axiata to

31.3 per cent from 25 per cent at present.

The deal has been approved by Bangladesh

Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

Tata Power to sell 3 ships to German company

Trust Energy Resources Pte Ltd (TERPL), a

fully-owned subsidiary of Tata Power

Company Ltd (TPCL), will sell three ships to

German company Oldendorff Carriers GmbH

& Co. KG for an estimated cost of $212.76

million.

The sale of the 3 ships -- MV Trust Agility, MV

Trust Integrity and MV Trust Amity -- currently

owned by TERPL is expected to be

concluded in the next three to four weeks.

Bank of Baroda, Union Bank reduced MCLR

Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of

India have announced cut in their marginal

cost of funds-based lending rates (MCLR)

across all tenors.

Bank of Baroda's MCLR cut of 15 basis

points (bps) is effective from 12 June 2020

The 10 bps revision in Union Bank of India's

rates will come into force from 11 June 2020.

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Bank of Baroda has revised its one-year

MCLR to 7.65 per cent from 7.80 per cent.

Indian economy will shrink 5% in FY21

S&P Global Ratings has said Indian economy

will shrink 5 per cent in the current fiscal.

The fiscal stimulus worth 1.2 per cent of GDP

will not be enough to provide significant

growth support.

This was revealed in a report on emerging

markets titled 'Financial Conditions Reflect

Optimism, Lockdown Fatigue Emerges'

by S&P Global Ratings.

Microsoft’s venture fund opened India office

M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, has opened

its India office in Bengaluru.

The local arm will pursue investment

opportunities across the region, focusing on

B2B software startups in areas of applied

Artificial Intelligence (AI), business

applications, etc.

The Bengaluru office joins an M12 network

that includes San Francisco, Seattle, London,

and Tel Aviv.

IL&FS sold 50% stake in GIFT city

IL&FS has completed the sale of its 50 per

cent stake in Gujarat International Finance

Tec-City (GIFT City) to the Gujarat

government.

It generated over Rs 32 crore for its equity

value and also reducing its consolidated debt

by more than Rs 1,200 crore.

The stake in GIFT City was bought by Gujarat

Urban Development Company Ltd (GUDCL),

on behalf of the Gujarat government.

Customs duty hiked on bamboo imports

Union Government has hiked Customs duty

on bamboo imports by agarbatti

manufacturers from 10 per cent to 25 per cent

with immediate effect.

The decision has been taken to encourage

use of domestic bamboo under the

Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme.

The 25 per cent customs duty rate shall now

uniformly apply to any import of bamboo,

including by traders.

Adani Green won world's largest solar bid

Shares of Adani Green Energy (AGEL) hit a

new high of Rs 312.75, up 5% on the

BSE after the company said it has bagged

the world's largest solar bid worth $6 billion.

The company has won the first of its kind

manufacturing linked solar agreement from

the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

As a part of the award, AGEL will develop 8

GW of solar projects.

India's economy to contract by 3.2%

India's economy will shrink by 3.2% in the

current fiscal.

This data was given by the World Bank in its

report titled Global Economic Prospect.

However, the Indian economy is expected to

bounce back in 2021.

International rating agencies like Moody's

Investors Service, Fitch Rating have all

predicted a 4-5% contraction in India's

economic growth rate during April 2020 to

March 2021 fiscal.

SBI to cut MCLR by 25 bps from 10 June

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State Bank of India has announced it will

reduce marginal cost of fund-based lending

rate (MCLR) by 25 basis points across all

tenors from 10 June 2020.

The one year MCLR has been revised to 7

per cent from 7.25 per cent, the bank said in

a release.

This is the thirteenth consecutive reduction in

the bank's MCLR.

OPEC agreed to cut oil production by about 10%

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting

Countries (OPEC) and allied nations have

agreed to extend a production cut of nearly

10 million barrels of oil a day through the end

of July 2020.

The measure is aimed at cutting out the

excess production depressing prices as

global aviation remains largely grounded due

to the pandemic.

It represents some 10 per cent of the world's

overall supply.

RBI proposed a comprehensive framework

The RBI has proposed a comprehensive

framework for sale of loan exposures, which

could be standard, sub-standard or non-

performing assets (NPAs).

Presently, the guidelines for sale of loan

exposures, both standard as well as stressed

exposures, are spread across various

circulars of the RBI.

The stakeholders can send their comments

on the draft framework to the RBI by June 30,

2020.

Highest ever funds allocated under MNREGS

A provision of Rs 1,01,500 crore has been

made under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Scheme in the

current financial year 2020-2021.

It is the highest ever provision of funds under

the programme.

A sum of 31,493 crores has already been

released in 2020-2021, which is more than 50

percent of the budget estimate of the current

Financial Year.

ADIA: New investor in Jio Platforms

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one

of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds,

will invest Rs 5,683.5 crore into Jio Platforms.

The decision by ADIA is 8th investment in Jio

Platforms in less than seven weeks and

marks the largest continuous fundraising

action by a company anywhere in the world.

RIL has now sold a little over 21 percent

stake in Jio Platforms.

Rs 270 cr for Assam Gramin Vikash Bank

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural

Development (NABARD) has made available

a Special Liquidity Facility of Rs 270 crore to

Assam Gramin Vikash Bank.

It will support the agricultural activities of the

farmers.

NABARD has provided Rs 25,000 crore

nationwide for providing liquidity support to

Cooperative Banks, Regional Rural Banks

and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) during

2020-21.

Facebook to acquire 9.9% stake in Jio

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Facebook will acquire 9.9% stake in Jio

Platforms announced in May 2020, via a new

entity -- Jaadhu Holdings LLC, as per

regulatory documents.

In April 2020, Facebook had announced an

investment of $ 5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 cr) in

Jio Platforms.

According to a submission made to the

Competition Commission of India, Jaadhu

Holdings, LLC is an indirect wholly-owned

subsidiary of Facebook, Inc.

Indian economy to contract by 1.5% in FY21

A survey released by the Reserve Bank has

showed that Indian economy may contract by

1.5 percent in FY21 though the next fiscal is

expected to be much better.

The GDP is, however, expected to revert to

growth terrain next year, when it is likely to

grow by 7.2 per cent.

Real gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) is

likely to register negative growth of 6.4 per

cent in 2020-21.

Abu Dhabi company to invest in Jio

Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala

Investment Company will inject Rs 9,093.6

crore in Jio Platforms in exchange for 1.85

percent.

It is the 6th investment in the RIL digital unit.

The investment by Mubadala, which

manages about $229 billion in assets, at an

equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh cr and an

enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore, takes

the total amount raised by Jio to Rs

87,655.35 cr.

RBI to set up ₹500-cr fund

The RBI has announced the creation of a

₹500 cr Payments Infrastructure

Development Fund (PIDF).

It will encourage deployment of Point of Sale

(PoS) infrastructure in tier-3 to tier-6 centres

and the North-East.

The PIDF will be governed through an

Advisory Council and managed and

administered by the RBI.

Centre allocated Rs. 3 lakh crore for MSMEs

A sum of Rs. 3 lakh crore has been allocated

to provide easy loans for the Micro, Small and

Medium Enterprises by the Union

Government.

MSMEs can also apply for a loan at the

nearest bank or on their portals.

Government will provide 100 per cent

guarantee for the loan taken by MSMEs.

Exemption in monthly EMI for one year will be

provided with interest of only 7.5 per cent.

Moody’s lowered India’s sovereign rating

On 1 June 2020, Moody’s Investors Service

(Moody’s) downgraded the Government of

India’s foreign-currency and local-currency

long-term issuer ratings to “Baa3” from

“Baa2”.

It stated that the outlook remained “negative”.

Few reasons for the downgrade are weak

implementation of economic reforms since

2017 and relatively low economic growth

over a sustained period.

SBI: Separate vertical for micro credit

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State Bank of India has created a separate

vertical to focus on financial inclusion and

micro markets (FI&MM).

The bank will offer loans predominantly for

agriculture and allied activities and micro and

small enterprises under the new vertical.

Under this plan, about 8,000 branches in

rural and semi-urban areas have been

identified to provide specialised services to

the micro segment.

RBI imposed Rs 4 crore penalty on Citibank

RBI has imposed a penalty of ₹4 cr on

Citibank for non-compliance of no-objection

certificate (NOC) norms at the time of

opening current accounts.

It had done the statutory inspection of the

bank with reference to its financial position as

on March 31, 2017.

A few days ago, RBI had also imposed a fine

of ₹6.5 crore on three banks, Bank of India,

Karnataka Bank and Saraswat Co-operative

Bank.

FDI rises 18% to $73.46 billion in FY20

Total foreign direct investment (FDI) into

India jumped 18 percent to $73.46 billion in

the 2019-20 financial year.

This is the highest in four years, according to

data released by the Department for

Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade

(DPIIT) Thursday.

Of this FDI equity inflows, RBI’s automatic

route of through acquisition rose 13 percent

to around $49.98 billion.

Rs 1,050 crore credit support to West Bengal

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural

Development (NABARD) has sanctioned

credit of Rs 1,050 crore in the current fiscal

so far to West Bengal.

It will be for the benefit of farmers and poor

people in rural areas.

The credit support under special liquidity

facility (SLF) will be extended to state

cooperative banks, regional rural banks and

micro-finance institutions (MFIs).

India GDP growth slowed to 3.1% in Q4

India’s economy grew 3.1 per cent in the

January-March quarter compared with the

same period in 2019, official data showed on

29 May 2020.

The headline number for the full FY20

financial year came to an 11-year low of 4.2

per cent, against 6.1 per cent in 2018-19, said

the Ministry of Statistics and Programme

Implementation (Mospi).

KIA Motors to invest in Andhra Pradesh

KIA Motors has announced an additional

investment of USD 54 million in Andhra

Pradesh for an upcoming project.

KIA India CEO Kookhyun Shim declared to

invest an additional sum of USD 54 million

while speaking at the Andhra Pradesh

government's flagship programme 'Mana

Paalana, Mee Soochana' on industries.

The investment will be focussed on

manufacturing SUV vehicles in the State.

SBI reduced interest rates on fixed deposits

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SBI has reduced interest rates on retail term

deposits by up to 40 basis points (bps) across

all tenors.

This is the second reduction in fixed deposits

interest rates by it in May 2020

It had reduced its deposit rates on May 12,

2020.

The new rates of interest shall be made

applicable to fresh deposits and renewals of

maturing deposits.

SEBI imposed penalty of Rs 7 lakh on NHAI

Sebi has imposed a penalty of Rs 7 lakh on

the National Highways Authority of India

(NHAI) for delay in making timely disclosure

about financial results.

It had conducted an examination in the

matter of NHAI from financial year 2015-16 to

2018-19.

During its investigation, it found that NHAI

delayed filing of its half-yearly financial

results by 4 days to 78 days between 2015-

16 to 2018-19.

Bank of Baroda to offer loans to MSMEs

Bank of Baroda will offer up to Rs 12,000

crore in loans to MSMEs under the Rs 3 lakh

crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee

Scheme (ECLGS) announced by the

government.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had

announced a 100 per cent credit guarantee

scheme worth Rs 3 lakh crore to support

MSMEs which have been adversely affected

by the coronavirus crisis.

Edelweiss General Insurance launched a policy

Edelweiss General Insurance (EGI)

has announced the launch of an innovative,

app-based Motor OD floater policy –

Edelweiss SWITCH.

This driver-based motor insurance policy has

been launched under IRDAI’s Regulatory

Sandbox.

It allows vehicle owners to SWITCH their

motor insurance ON and OFF, based on

usage and covers multiple vehicles under a

single policy.

Pharma retail market shrunk 12% in April

The national lockdown has led to one of the

sharpest falls in 3 years in the domestic

pharma retail market, with growth declining

by 12% in April 2020.

This is the first year-on-year (YoY) decline

since GST’s implementation in July 2017.

The decline in pharma growth over March,

when the lockdown had just started, stood at

7%, while trailing 12-month growth stood at

8.6% YoY.

HDFC Bank's special FD scheme

HDFC Bank has launched special fixed

deposit (FD) scheme for senior citizens

called Senior Citizen Care FD scheme.

The bank is offering higher interest rates on

these special FDs for senior citizens.

The best part of this offer is that senior

citizens will get additional 75 basis points for

deposits with more than 5-year tenor.

It has been made available for investment

from 18 May 2020.

Fin Min exempts B2B firms from using only BHIM

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The finance ministry has exempted

companies with a turnover of over ₹50 cr and

involved in only B2B transactions from the

requirement of accepting payments only by

electronic modes like RuPay, BHIM-UPI.

It is clarified that the provisions of Section

269SU of the Act shall not be applicable to a

specified person having only B2B

transactions (i.e. no transaction with retail

customer/consumer).

Crude oil import to fall 8.9% in FY21

Due to lower demand of petroleum products,

India’s crude oil import is likely to fall by 8.9%

in FY21, according to Care Ratings.

Analysts pointed out that consumption of

crude oil is likely to fall by 7.3% during FY21,

as refiners will regulate crude processing

according to the demand of petroleum

products.

Imported crude oil caters to about 85% of the

country’s requirements.

Union Bank to continue with IndiaFirst stake

Insurance Regulatory and Development

Authority of India (IRDAI) has approved

Union Bank of India's proposal to continue

with its 30% holding in IndiaFirst Life

Insurance.

The bank was earlier expected to divest

either the entire stake in IndiaFirst Life

Insurance or a sizable part of it, as IRDAI

guidelines prohibit a lender to own more than

10% stake in two insurance companies.

Bharti Airtel acquired stake in Voicezen

Bharti Airtel has acquired a strategic stake in

Voicezen, an early-stage startup focused on

conversational AI technologies.

The acquisition has been made by the

company under its fast-expanding Airtel

Startup Accelerator Program.

The investment will give Airtel preferred

access to Voicezen's technologies, which

can be deployed across its customer

touchpoints in multiple languages.

9 NBFCs surrendered registration certificate

9 NBFCs, including Reliance Net and

Nischaya Finvest Private Limited, have

surrendered their certificate of registration.

Penrose Mercantiles Ltd, Manohar Finance

India Ltd, Chandelier Tracon Pvt Ltd, and

Sanghi Hire Purchase Ltd are among the

rest.

With surrendering the certificates, the

companies cannot transact the business of a

non-banking financial institution.

KKR to invest Rs 11,367 cr into Jio Platforms

Private equity firm KKR is set to invest Rs

11367 crore in Jio Platforms for a 2.32%

stake.

This will be the fifth investment in the

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) business in

rapid succession, following those by social

media major Facebook, private equity funds

Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners and

General Atlantic.

This is KKR’s largest investment in Asia.

RBI extended credit line to EXIM Bank

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RBI has announced a Rs 15,000-crore line of

credit to the Export-Import Bank of India, to

help the sagging foreign trade.

EXIM Bank depends on foreign currency

borrowings for its operations and as a result

of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unable to

raise the resources, due to which the facility

is being extended.

It has been extended for a period of 90 days

from the date of availment.

RBI cuts repo rate by 40 bps to 4%

The RBI has cut the repo rate by 40 basis

points from 4.4% to 4%, reducing the reverse

repo rate at 3.35% to maintain an

accommodative stance.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee

voted 5:1 in favour of 40 bps cut in interest

rate.

Granting relief to people the RBI extended

moratorium on loan repayments by 3 more

months in view of COVID-19 starting from

1st June to 31st August 2020.

Govt amends General Financial Rules

Government has notified amendments to

General Financial Rules (GFR).

This will ensure that goods and services

valued less than 200 crore rupees are being

procured from domestic firms.

An economic support package for MSMEs

has already been announced which includes

disallowing global tender for government

procurement up to 200 crore rupees.

Central govt releases 92,077 crore rupees

Central govt has released Rs 92,077

cr towards devolution of central taxes and

Duties to states for April and May 2020.

These releases are according to projections

of receipts in Budget Estimate 2020-21 and

have not been adjusted for the actual tax

collections.

This is a special gesture to ensure that the

states' cash flows remain undisturbed at this

crucial time.

Rs. 5,005 cr untied basic grants released

Ministry of Finance has released over Rs.

5,005 crores as the first installment of untied

basic grants in advance for non-million-plus

cities to 28 states of the country for the year

2020-21.

Non-million-plus city refers to the city having

less than one million population.

The grant will provide the states with vital

financial resources at a time when the

country is facing critical time.

NABARD released Rs 20,500 crore to RRBs

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural

Development (NABARD) has released Rs

20,500 crore to co-operative banks and

regional rural banks for on-lending.

The disbursement to RRBs & Co-operative

banks is the part of Rs 25,000 crore of special

refinance plan which was approved by the

Reserve Bank of India to RRBs, Co-operative

banks & MFIs.

TCPL to acquire PepsiCo’s stake in NourishCo

Tata Consumer Products Limited (TCPL) will

acquire PepsiCo’s stake in NourishCo

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Beverages Limited—a 50:50 joint venture

between the two companies.

The JV was formed in 2010 as the two joined

hands to develop and sell a range of healthy

hydration beverages.

NourishCo Beverages Limited sells hydration

brands such as Himalayan mineral water,

Tata Gluco Plus and Tata Water Plus.

Canara Bank launched special business vertical

Canara Bank has launched a special

business vertical dedicated for gold loans.

A gold loan campaign will be held till June 30,

2020 with a 7.85% interest rate per annum.

The credit can be utilised for different

purposes, such as expenses for agriculture

and allied activities, business needs, health

emergencies and personal needs.

The facility can be availed of from all

designated branches.

Berkshire sold stake in Goldman Sachs

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc has

sold much of its stake in Goldman Sachs

Group Inc.

In a regulatory filing detailing its U.S.-listed

investments as of March 31, 2020, Berkshire

said its Goldman stake fell 84% to 1.9 million

shares, from 12 million at year-end.

The stake's market value dropped to $297

million from $2.76 billion.

General Atlantic to invest in Jio Platforms

General Atlantic is set to invest ₹6,598.38

crore in Jio Platforms for a 1.34% stake.

This will be the fourth investment in the

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) business in

rapid succession, following those by

Facebook and Silver Lake and Vista Equity

Partners.

This investment values Jio Platforms at an

equity value of ₹4.91 lakh crore and an

enterprise value of ₹5.16 lakh crore.

Govt raises states' borrowing limits to 5%

The Centre has raised borrowing limits for

states for the current fiscal to 5% of gross

state domestic product (GSDP) from 3% at

present.

This will allow them fiscal headroom of ₹4.28

trillion, subject to their carrying out specific

reforms.

Of the 200 basis points raise, the first 50

basis points will be unconditional while the

next 100 basis points will be divided into four

tranches.

5th tranche of relief package announced

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 17

May 2020 unveiled the fifth and final tranche

of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat package.

Under the MNREGA scheme, an additional

Rs 40,000 cr will be allocated for employment

generation in the rural parts of the country.

More than Rs 11,000 cr has been released to

the states as advance from State disaster

relief fund in the first week of April 2020.

FDI in defence limit raised to 74%

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 16

May 2020 announced raising the Foreign

Direct Investment (FDI) limit in the defence

sector under the automatic route from 49% to

74%.

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The import of some weapons and platforms

will not be allowed.

Ordnance Factory Boards will be

corporatised for better management and

these will eventually get listed on the stock

market.

Essential Commodities Act to be amended

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has

announced an amendment to Essential

Commodities Act to enable better price

realisation for farmers.

The amendment will be largely towards de-

regulating certain crops, like potatoes,

cereals, and onions.

No stock limit shall apply for food processing

units, value-addition corporations, and

exporters.

3rd tranche of relief package

The govt on 15 May 2020 announced 1 lakh

cr for strengthening the farm-gate

infrastructure for farmers, in the third tranche

of mega relief package.

A fund of Rs 10,000 crore has been set aside

for Micro Food Enterprises, with a cluster-

based approach of promoting state-wise

produce.

A cluster-based approach to promote the

mantra of "vocal for local with global

outreach" was also announced.

Centre set up new body to promote rice exports

The Centre has set up a new body – Rice

Export Promotion Forum (REPF), under the

aegis of the Agricultural and Processed

Foods Export Promotion Development

Authority (Apeda).

REPF will monitor, identify and anticipate

developments pertaining to production and

exports and recommend necessary policy

measures.

Rice is the largest commodity in India’s agri-

export basket.

WPI food inflation declined in April

Union Govt has released truncated data for

April 2020 wholesale price-based inflation.

As per the data released by the Commerce

and Industry Ministry, Wholesale Price Index

(WPI) deflation in primary articles was

0.79% in April 2020, as against an inflation of

3.72% in March 2020.

The fuel and power basket saw a deflation of

10.12% in April, against 1.76% deflation in

March 2020.

2 lakh cr concessional credit boost announced

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has

announced 2 lakh crore concessional credit

boost through the Kisan Credit Card Special

drive.

It will benefit over 2.5 crore farmers in the

country.

Fishermen and animal husbandry farmers

will also be included in this special drive

which will enable the farmers to gain access

to the institutional credit at concessional

interest rates.

2% interest subvention for MUDRA-Shishu loans

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

has announced a 2 per cent interest

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subvention on loans given under MUDRA-

Shishu.

It is the smallest category of loans provided

under the Micro Units Development and

Refinance Agency (MUDRA).

People having MUDRA-Shishu loans (which

are up to Rs 50,000) will be eligible for this

subvention scheme.

Total relief will be worth Rs 1,500 crore.

Emergency working capital for farmers

The government has announced an

emergency working capital of Rs 30,000

crore for small and marginal farmers.

In addition, the government announced a Rs

2 lakh crore concessional credit scheme for

farmers and fishermen.

This is an additional fund.

It will benefit around 3 crore farmers, mostly

small and marginal.

3,100 crore rupees allocated from PM Fund

Prime Ministers Citizen Assistance and Relief

in Emergency Situations Fund Trust has

decided to allocate 3,100 crore rupees for

fight against COVID-19.

Out of this amount, a sum of around Rs 2,000

cr will be earmarked for the purchase of

ventilators.

Rs 1,000 crore will be used for care of

migrant labourers and one hundred crore

rupees will be given to support vaccine

development.

25% cut in TDS and TCS rates till 31 Mar 2021

Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and Tax

Collected at Source (TCS) have been

reduced by 25 per cent till 31st March 2021.

This decision will increase the cash flow of

over 50 thousand crore rupees benefitting

common people.

The date for filing Income Tax return for the

last financial year has also been extended till

30th November 2020.

Details of ₹20-trillion mega package announced

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 13

May 2020 laid out the contours of the ₹20-

trillion mega economic relief package

announced by PM Narendra Modi.

Collateral-free loans worth ₹3 lakh crore for

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

MSME units was announced.

₹50,000 cr equity infusion through MSME

Fund of Funds has also been announced.

Rs.6,195 cr fund released to 14 states

The central government has released Rs

6,195 crore as grants to fourteen states as

per the recommendations of the 15th Finance

Commission.

These grants cover the deficit on post-

devolution of revenue, or revenue deficit, to

states including West Bengal, Himachal

Pradesh, Kerala, among others, for May

2020.

Revenue deficit is the difference between

states’ revenue and expenditure.

No increase in lease rent for SEZ units

Union Government has said that there will be

no increase in lease rent for the Special

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Economic Zone, SEZ units for the financial

year 2020-21.

The decision has been taken in order to

provide interim relief to SEZ units in lease

rent on account of COVID-19 pandemic.

Payment of lease rent of 1st quarter is to be

deferred up to 31st of July 2020 for all SEZ

units.

Warehousing demand dropped 29% in Jan-Mar

Warehousing space leasing fell 29% to 5.9

million sq ft and new supply declined 14% to

9 million sq ft in the first quarter of this

calendar year across eight major cities in the

country.

The new supply of warehousing space stood

at 10.5 million sq ft across eight cities.

The cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru,

Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai,

Delhi-NCR and Pune.

Zomato extended Gold memberships

Zomato has announced that it will extend all

Gold memberships by four more months.

This covers India, UAE, Australia, New

Zealand, Portugal, Philippines, Indonesia,

Turkey and Lebanon.

The company has also made its "contactless

dining" free for all restaurants across India

and other global destinations for a period of

at least six months.

Govt raised market borrowing programme

The central government has increased its

market borrowing programme for the current

financial year by more than 50% to Rs 12

lakh crore.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in

Budget 2020-21 had pegged the gross

market borrowing in the current financial year

at Rs 7.80 lakh crore, up from Rs 7.1 lakh

crore in 2019-20.

Arogya Sanjeevani Health Insurance Policy

SBI General Insurance launched the

standard health insurance policy – Arogya

Sanjeevani Health Insurance Policy SBI

General Insurance.

The policy provides hospitalisation cover

anywhere in India with sums insured ranging

from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakhs.

It will help in making affordable health care

more accessible in times like these.

NABARD disbursed Rs 12,767 crore

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural

Development (Nabard) has disbursed

₹12,767 crore to State Co-operative Banks

(StCBs) and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)

across the country.

This has been done to augment their

resources for extending credit to farmers

during the ongoing lockdown.

There are 33 StCBs and 45 RRBs in the

country.

Moody’s slashed India’s GDP growth to `zero'

Global rating agency Moody's has slashed

India's GDP growth rate at Zero for the

current fiscal- 2020-21.

However, on a positive note, it has forecast

India's GDP growth rate to bounce back to

6.6% in 2021-22.

Its previous estimate was 2.6%.

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The latest estimate is lower than Fitch's

forecast of 0.8 per cent, IMF's 1.9 per cent,

World Bank's 1.5-2.8 per cent and ADB's

estimate of 4 per cent.

FM Nirmala Sitaraman launched contracts

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman has

launched INR-USD (Rupee-Dollar) Futures

and Options contracts on the two

International Exchanges, BSE’s India INX

and NSE’s NSE-IFSC.

They were launched at GIFT International

Financial Services Centre in Gandhinagar on

8 May 2020 through video conference.

INR-USD contracts at the exchanges in

GIFT-IFSC will be available 22 hours across

all time zones.

Vista Equity Partners invests in Jio Platforms

Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, a

US-based private firm has purchased a

2.32% stake in Jio Platforms.

This is the third such major investment in one

of India's fastest growing telecommunication

companies in just a few weeks and the

purchase will be worth Rs 11,367 crores.

On May 4, 2020, Jio announced that US

technology giant Silver Lake had agreed to

invest Rs 5,656 cr in Jio.

SBI hiked home loan rates

SBI has increased its home loan rates that

are linked to repo rate by up to 30 basis

points amid market indications of increased

credit risk for borrowers and realty firms in the

wake of Covid-19.

The bank has also hiked interest rates on

personal loans against property by 30 basis

points.

SBI has also slashed benchmark lending rate

by 15 basis points.

UP govt increased tax on liquor, petrol

UP Govt has increased the tax on liquor,

petrol and diesel in the state.

The hike in country liquor and foreign liquor

prices is projected to generate revenue of

2,350 crore rupees.

The price of petrol has been raised by two

rupees per litre and of diesel by one rupee

per litre.

This is will raise an additional revenue of

2,070 crore rupees.

Delhi Govt increased VAT on Auto fuels

The Delhi Government has increased Value-

Added Tax on Auto fuels.

VAT on petrol has been hiked from 27 per

cent to 30 per cent, and on diesel from 16.75

per cent to 30 per cent.

This hike will make petrol costlier by one

rupee 67 paise and diesel by seven rupees

10 paise in the National Capital.

RBI cancelled licence of CKP Cooperative Bank

The RBI has cancelled the licence of

Mumbai-based CKP Co-operative Bank Ltd.

The licence of CKP Co-operative Bank Ltd

has been cancelled with effect from the close

of business on April 30, 2020, as the bank's

financial position had worsened.

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The CKP Co-operative Bank Ltd was not in a

position to pay its present and future

depositors due to its financial instability.

Silver Lake to invest in Reliance Jio

Silver Lake will invest Rs 5,655.75 crore in Jio

Platforms for a 1.15% stake at an equity

value of Rs 4.90 lakh crore.

Jio Platforms is a wholly-owned subsidiary of

Reliance Industries Limited focussed on

next-generation technologies.

Reliance Jio Infocomm, which provides

connectivity platform to over 388 million

subscribers, will continue to be a wholly-

owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms.

Task Force on NIP presented its final report

The Task Force on National Infrastructure

Pipeline (NIP) has submitted its Final Report

on NIP for FY 2019-25 to Nirmala

Sitharaman.

The Summary Report of the Task Force on

National Infrastructure Pipeline for 2019-

2025 has already been released by her on

December 31st, 2019.

The Final Report is projecting total

infrastructure investment of Rs 111 lakh crore

during the period FY 2020-25.

BP Global’s proposed acquisition of RBPML

The Competition Commission of India (CCI)

has approved the proposed combination

between BP Global Investments Ltd and

Reliance BP Mobility Ltd (RBPML).

It has been approved under Section 31(1) of

the Competition Act 2002.

The proposed combination relates to transfer

to RBPML of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)

and its group entities' entire undertaking.

RBI extended regulatory benefits

The RBI has extended regulatory benefits to

all banks under the Special Liquidity Facility

for Mutual Funds SLF-MF scheme.

A few days back, RBI had announced Rs

50,000-crore SLF-MF scheme to bailout the

mutual funds facing redemption pressure.

The scheme was announced in the backdrop

of Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund deciding

to shut several schemes.

CRISIL cut India's FY21 economic growth rate

CRISIL has cut its projections for India’s

economic growth rate to 1.8 per cent, from

3.5 per cent it had earlier predicted for 2020-

21.

Its parent Standard & Poor’s has (S&P)

forecast the world economy to contract 2.4

per cent, against its earlier estimates of 0.4

per cent growth.

The agency projected total losses of Rs 10

trillion or Rs 7,000 per person due to

the lockdowns.

India Ratings lowered GDP growth rate to 1.9%

India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra), a Fitch

group company, has further slashed its

estimate for India’s GDP growth rate to 1.9

per cent for 2020-21.

This will be the lowest after India recorded

growth rate at 1.1 per cent in 1991-92.

The agency’s estimate suggests that GDP

may come back to the 4QFY20 (January-

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March, 2020) level only by 3QFY21 (October-

December, 2020).

Transcorp got RBI nod

Transcorp International Ltd has received RBI

nod for entering into co-branding

arrangements for Prepaid Instruments that

can be used in over 35 lakh stores and online

gateways.

With this, Transcorp has become one of the

first non-bank companies to obtain this

authorization from RBI.

Transcorp will be launching API based co-

branded partnerships for digital, physical and

contactless cards.

RBI announced special liquidity facility

The Reserve Bank of India announced a Rs

50,000 crore special liquidity facility for

mutual fund, days after Franklin Templeton

Mutual Fund decided to close six debt

schemes.

Heightened volatility in capital markets in

reaction to COVID-19 has imposed liquidity

strains on mutual funds (MFs).

The stress is, however, confined to the high-

risk debt MF segment at this stage.

KKR to buy five solar assets from SP Group

KKR has agreed to buy 5 solar assets of 317

MW from the cash strapped Shapoorji

Pallonji Group for $200 million.

The divestment will help the group in its

deleveraging exercise.

The portfolio comprises of assets with a

capacity of 169MWp in Maharashtra and

assets with a capacity of 148 MWp in Tamil

Nadu.

‘BAGIC GOQii Co-pay Option’ launched

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, along with

GOQii has launched a new add-on health

cover called ‘BAGIC GOQii Co-pay Option’.

It has been launched under regulatory

sandbox approval received from the IRDAI.

It would reward customers with a healthy

lifestyle.

It can be opted by the holders of company’s

existing health insurance policy — Health

Ensure.

Govt puts on hold DA hike for employees

The Centre on 23 April 2020 froze the

dearness allowance (DA) for its 4.8 million

employees and 6.5 million pensioners at 17

per cent till July 1, 2021.

This will save the Centre over Rs 37,000

crore, and if states follow suit, the combined

savings will be Rs 1.2 trillion.

The move comes after the Union Cabinet

approved an increase in DA to 21% in March

2020.

Coal India Ltd to produce 710 MT coal

Coal India Limited will produce 710 million

tonnes of coal in the current financial year.

The company’s coal offtake target will also

remain at 710 million tonnes for this fiscal.

This was announced by Coal and Mines

Minister Pralhad Joshi.

The demand of coal will pick up again after

coronavirus lockdown.

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Franklin Mutual Fund wind up 6 debt schemes

Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund has

voluntarily decided to wind up six of its fixed-

income debt schemes effective April 23,

2020.

The fund house has taken this step as it

believes that the market will not return to

normalcy soon because of Covid-19

disruption.

The six schemes cumulatively manage

assets worth ₹26,000 crores.

IOB unveiled working capital loans

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has launched an

exclusive credit facility for agriculture and

allied activities.

Titled WCDL-Agri (working capital demand

loan – agriculture), these loans will be

available to all existing borrowers enjoying

cash credit/OD facilities, from sectors such

as agriculture, poultry, dairy, fisheries and

allied activities.

This scheme is valid up to June 30, 2020.

CII pegs GDP growth between -0.9% & 1.5%

India's GDP could marginally expand 1.5% or

even contract 0.9% in this financial year, the

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in

a report.

It also suggested several measures to

address the economic challenges posed by

the Covid-19 pandemic.

It sought urgent stimulus including creation of

a fund to be used for subscribing to corporate

bonds and credit protection scheme for

MSMEs.

India's economic growth projections slashed

Fitch Ratings on 23 April 2020 has slashed

India's economic growth projections to 0.8

per cent in the current fiscal.

In its Global Economic Outlook, Fitch Ratings

said India's GDP growth will slip to 0.8 per

cent for the year April 2020 to March 2021 as

compared to an estimated 4.9 per cent

growth in the previous fiscal.

Growth is, however, expected to rebound to

6.7 per cent in 2021-22

Abu Dhabi Sheikh invests $1 bn: LuLu Group

An investment firm backed by a member of

Abu Dhabi’s royal family agreed to buy a

stake worth just over $1 billion in LuLu Group

International.

The company led by Sheikh Tahnoon Bin

Zayed Al Nahyan acquired an almost 20%

holding in the Abu Dhabi-based supermarket

group founded by Indian entrepreneur Yusuff

Ali.

TCS to power Israel’s 1st fully Digital Bank

Tata Consultancy Services will launch

Israel's first fully digital bank.

TCS was selected by Israel's Ministry of

Finance to transform its banking sector by

building a banking service bureau that would

serve as a shared, plug-and-play, digital

banking operations platform.

This initiative is seen as a bid to boost

competition in the financial services

sector and enhance customer experience.

Pulses, Oilseeds worth Rs 1,313 cr procured

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NAFED and Food Corporation of India (FCI)

have procured Pulses and Oilseeds worth Rs

1,313 cr benefiting more than

1,74,000 farmers.

The Dept of Agriculture, Cooperation and

Farmers Welfare is taking several measures

to facilitate the farmers and farming activities

at field level.

Procurement of Pulses and Oilseeds on MSP

is currently in progress in twenty States

during Rabi season 2020.

White paper to strategize revival of economy

The Technology Information, Forecasting

and Assessment Council (TIFAC) is

preparing a white paper to strategize revival

of post-COVID 19 Indian economy.

This document would mainly focus on

strengthening Make in India initiatives,

commercialization of Indigenous

technology, efficient rural health care

delivery, etc.

It will be soon submitted to the decision-

making authorities of the Govt.

RBI increased WMA limit for States/UTs

RBI has revised the limit for Ways and Means

Advances (WMA) for the remaining part of

the first half of FY21 to ₹2-lakh crore.

On March 31, 2020, the WMA limit for the first

half of FY21 was upped to ₹1.20-lakh crore

against ₹75,000 crore in the year-ago period.

This has been done to tide over the situation

arising from the outbreak of Covid-19

pandemic

Caladium Inv. hiked stake in Bandhan Bank

Caladium Investments, an affiliate of

Singapore’s GIC, has increased its stake in

Bandhan Bank to 4.49 per cent as on March

31, 2020.

Caladium Investments held 7.22 crore shares

in Bandhan Bank at the end of the fourth

quarter of last fiscal.

It had a stake of 3.39 per cent in the bank at

the end of the third quarter as on December

31, 2019.

Fitch slashed India’s GDP growth forecast

Fitch Solutions has cut India's economic

growth forecast for the financial year 2020-21

to 1.8 per cent.

For China, it revised downwards its 2020 real

GDP forecast to 1.1 per cent from 2.6 per

cent previously.

Fitch Solutions also anticipated a deeper

contraction in fixed investments as

businesses choose to cut back on capital

expenditure.

ICICI Bank launched voice banking services

ICICI Bank has launched voice assistance-

based banking services for its customers.

They can check balance, seek credit card

details as well as ask other queries among

others through this application.

It has integrated its AI-powered multi-channel

chatbot iPal with Amazon Alexa and Google

Assistant through which its customers can

undertake host of banking services through

voice commands.

Business optimism fell to record low

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Business optimism for the ongoing April-June

quarter has slumped to its record low level,

according to a report.

The Dun & Bradstreet Composite Business

Optimism Index stood at 49.40 per cent for

Q2 2020 (April-June), a record low and worse

than during the 2009 financial crisis.

The index registered a decrease of 37 per

cent as compared to the year-ago period.

CBDT revised return forms for FY 2019-20

Central Board of Direct Taxes is revising the

return forms for Financial Year 2019-20

which shall be notified by the end of April

2020.

This is being done in order to enable income

tax payers to avail full benefit of various

timeline extensions upto 30 June 2020

granted by Centre due to COVID-19

pandemic.

Tata AIA: 1st to announce additional benefits

Tata AIA Life Insurance on 15 April

2020 announced additional benefits for its

Policyholders and Agents.

As part of Tata AIA Life's initiative, its

individual policyholders will get COVID-19

related additional benefit up to Rs 500,000 at

no additional cost.

This is a first of its kind initiative in India.

RBI launched latest round of quarterly survey

The Reserve Bank of India on 16 April 2020

launched latest round of quarterly order

books, inventories and capacity utilisation

survey (OBICUS) of manufacturing sector.

The survey provides valuable input for

monetary policy formulation.

RBI launched the 49th round of survey for the

reference period January-March 2020.

The RBI has been conducting the survey on

a quarterly basis since 2008.

RBI cancelled Mapusa urban bank’s licence

The RBI on 17 April

2020, cancelled the Mapusa Urban Co-

operative Bank’s license and set up the

course for liquidation.

Mapusa Urban is barred from carrying out

any banking business during the liquidation

process, as per the RBI order which is

effective from the close of business on April

16, 2020.

Mapusa Urban is been struggling under RBI

directions since 2015.

RBI cuts reverse repo rate by 25 bps

The RBI on 17 April 2020 cut the reverse

repo rate by 25 basis points to 3.75%.

It announced a fresh Rs 50,000 cr targeted

long-term repo operation (LTRO 2.0)

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das unveiled

fresh measures aimed at maintaining

adequate liquidity in the system, facilitating

and incentivising banks to ensure better

credit flow and enabling normal functioning of

the financial markets.

SBI waived charges for ATM transactions

State Bank of India (SBI) will waive service

charges for all ATM transactions made on

SBI ATMs.

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This will also be applicable to other bank

ATMs on account of exceeding the free

number of transactions up to 30th June

2020.

SBI offers eight free transactions to regular

savings bank account holders, including five

transactions at SBI ATMs and three at other

bank ATMs.

Foodgrains production increased the target

The agriculture ministry aims to increase

foodgrain production by 6.35 million tonnes,

to record 298.3 million tonnes in the 2020-21

crop year.

The ministry has set a target of 149.9 million

tonnes of foodgrain production in the kharif or

summer season and 148.4 million tonnes in

the rabi or winter season.

Rice production target has been fixed at

117.5 million tonnes in 2020-21.

Centre released Rs 7,300 crore under MGNREGS

Centre has released Rs 7,300 cr to the

States and Union Territories under Mahatma

Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

It has been done to liquidate pending dues of

last financial year but also the wage dues for

the first fortnight of 2020-21.

Also, under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas

Yojana (Gramin), over 800 crore rupees has

been released to the States.

BSNL launched a payment platform

BSNL in partnership with SBI has launched a

UPI-based payment platform, Bharat

InstaPay.

The new payment facility developed by the

company will enable its partners, especially

prepaid sellers, to buy service immediately

for sale.

Bharat InstaPay will help its partners do

digital transactions on a real-time basis.

Asia's growth to halt for 1st time in 60 years

Asia's economic growth in 2020 will grind to

a halt for the first time in 60 years because of

the coronavirus crisis.

This was announced by the International

Monetary Fund.

Asia's economy is likely to suffer zero growth

in 2020.

While Asia is set to fare better than other

regions, the projection is worse than the 4.7%

average growth rates throughout the global

financial crisis.

CBDT issues over 10 lakh refunds in a week

Central Board of Direct taxes, CBDT has

issued over 10 lakh refunds worth Rs 4,250

crore in a week.

These refunds are over and above the 2 cr 50

lakh refunds already issued in 2019 -20 till 31

March 2020 totalling to 1,84,000 crore

rupees.

These refunds would get credited directly to

the taxpayer bank account in 5 to 7 business

days from issuance.

Yes Bank extended bancassurance tie-up

Yes Bank has extended the bancassurance

partnership with Max Life Insurance for the

next 5 years.

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Under the partnership, the products of the

Max Life would be sold through the branches

of Yes Bank.

To commemorate the extension of the

partnership for another 5 years, the

companies will dedicate the current financial

year as the ‘Year of the Customer'.

India will register positive growth rate: IMF

International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said

India and China are the only two major

countries, which will register a positive

growth rate despite Coronavirus pandemic.

In its latest edition of World Economy report,

IMF has projected India's GDP growth to be

1.9 per cent in 2020.

For China, it has projected a growth rate of

1.2 per cent.

India is expected to grow at 7.4 per cent.

PBOC buys 1.1% HDFC shares

China's central bank, People's Bank of China

(PBOC), has bought a 1.1% stake in HDFC

Ltd on behalf of the Chinese sovereign

wealth fund SAFE.

Similarly, the Saudi Arabian Monetary

Authority (SAMA) has also picked up a

0.7% stake in HDFC on behalf of Saudi

sovereign wealth fund.

SAMA’s name isn’t reflected in the names of

major shareholders as the holding in the

company is less than 1%.

Retail inflation eases to 5.91% in March

India's retail inflation eased to 5.91% in

March 2020 from 6.58% in February 2020.

Food inflation at 8.76% in March was lower

from 10.81% in February, data released by

the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed.

This is the first time since November 2019

that retail inflation has fallen below the

Reserve Bank of India Monetary Policy

Committee's targeted upper band of 6%.

Fintech lender Capital Float gets $15 million

Fintech lender Capital Float has received an

investment of $15 million collectively from

its existing investors Amazon.com, Ribbit

Capital, SAIF Partners and Sequoia Capital.

It plans to use the funds to bolster its capital

base and expand its lending operations to

SMEs.

With the latest investment, Capital Float has

so far raised equity capital worth $125 Million

( ₹800 crore).

Major Oil producers agree to output cuts

Major oil producers except Mexico have

agreed to cut output in May and June 2020

by 10 million barrels per day.

The agreement, which reduces production to

eight million barrels per day from July to

December, depends on Mexico's support for

it to take effect.

Global fuel demand has plunged by around

30 million barrels per day, or 30 percent of

global supplies.

Goldman Sachs lowered India’s growth forecast

India’s GDP growth is estimated to plunge to

1.6% for the fiscal year 2021 due to the

impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, down from

the earlier projection of 3.3%.

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This was informed by Goldman Sachs

economists.

This is the sharpest downgrade in growth

estimates after Fitch and SBI lowered their

estimates to 30-year lows.

CPI inflation likely to ease to 4.4% in Q2

Consumer price index based inflation which

stayed elevated in the last few months is

expected to soften during the course of the

financial year.

The Reserve Bank of India said this in its

monetary policy report.

CPI inflation is tentatively projected to ease

from 4.8% in Q1:2020-21 to 4.4% in Q2, 2.7%

in Q3 and 2.4% in Q4.

India to export wheat to Afghanistan

India will be exporting around 1 lakh tonnes

of wheat to Afghanistan and Lebanon under

government to government (G2G)

arrangement.

Nafed has been asked to export 50,000

tonnes to Afghanistan and 40,000 tonnes to

Lebanon through diplomatic route.

India has been producing more than 100

million tonnes for last three years and there

is surplus wheat in granaries to feed the

country.

RBI launched a Twitter campaign

The RBI has launched a twitter campaign

urging bank customers to adopt digital modes

of payment that are convenient and safe.

RBI emphasised on transacting digitally as it

gives the convenience of making payments

anytime and anywhere.

The face of the campaign is Bollywood actor

Amitabh Bachchan.

ADB assured India of 2.2 bn US dollar support

President of Asian Development Bank,

Masatsugu Asakawa on 10 April

2020 assured Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman of 2.2 billion dollars support to

India in its fight against the COVID-19

pandemic.

ADB assistance for India will be further

increased if needed.

All financing options available with ADB will

be considered to meet India's needs,

including emergency assistance.

UN ESCAP forcast India’s GDP for FY21 at 4.8%

India's GDP growth for the current fiscal is

expected to slow down to 4.8 per cent, a UN

report has said.

It has warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is

expected to result in significant adverse

economic impacts globally.

The report is titled 'Economic and Social

Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

2020: Towards sustainable economies'.

French economy shrunk 6% in first quarter

The French economy shrank around 6% in

the first quarter of 2020 as the coronavirus

pandemic decimated business activity.

The Bank of France said that it was the worst

performance since 1945.

Official figures showed that the economy

shrank 0.1% in the last three months of 2019.

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It meant that with two consecutive quarters of

negative growth, the country is now

technically in recession.

Edible oil imports declined to 32.44% in March

India's edible oil imports declined 32.44% to

9,41,219 tonne in March 2020 due to

government restrictions on purchase of

refined palm oil from the overseas market.

India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer,

had imported 13,93,255 tonne in March

2019.

The share of palm oil is more than 60 per cent

of the country's total vegetable oil imports.

Jobless rate in India rose to 23.4%

Early estimates of jobs data indicate that the

coronavirus effect may have left a

devastating impact on the economy, sending

urban unemployment rate soaring to 30.9%.

Overall unemployment rose to 23.4%.

The figures, based on the Centre for

Monitoring Indian Economy’s weekly tracker

survey, have held steady for two weeks now.

SIDBI to provide working capital to MSMEs

The Small Industries Development Bank of

India - SIDBI will provide emergency working

capital of up to Rs 1 crore to small and

medium enterprises(MSMEs) against their

confirmed government orders.

The SIDBI Assistance to Facilitate

Emergency response against Corona virus -

SAFE PLUS will be offered collateral free and

disbursed within 48 hours.

Export curbs relaxed on 24 pharma ingredients

Government has relaxed export curbs on 24

pharma ingredients and medicines including

vitamin B1 and B12.

Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)

issued a notification in this regard on 6 April

2020.

DGFT had imposed export restrictions on 26

active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and

formulations in March 2020, under which

exporter has to obtain a licence or permission

from the DGFT.

Little impact on global food supply chain

The World Food Programme (WFP) has said

that rapidly growing novel Coronavirus

pandemic is so far having little impact on the

global food supply chain.

However, it could change for the worse if

major food importers remain anxious.

Disruptions are so far minimal; food supply is

adequate, and markets are relatively stable,

and global cereal stocks are at comfortable

levels.

India’s 8 core industries growth: 5.5%

India's eight infrastructure sectors grew at an

11-month high of 5.5 per cent in February

2020 from a rise of 1.4 per cent reported in

January 2020.

The output pace of core industries growth

was also higher than 2.2 per cent growth rate

reported in February 2019.

This was the fourth consecutive month when

the index of eight core industries reported

growth after three months of contraction.

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India to borrow Rs 4.88 lakh crore

The central government plans to borrow Rs

4.88 lakh crore in the first half of the financial

year 2020-21 (FY21) to mitigate the impact of

coronavirus pandemic on the economy.

This amounts to 62.56 per cent of the total

proposed borrowing of Rs 7.8 lakh crore for

FY21.

The WMA (Ways and means advances) limit

at Rs 1.2 lakh crore would be reviewed on a

need basis.

India’s fiscal deficit likely to reach 6.2 %

India's fiscal deficit in 2020-21 may shoot up

to 6.2% of the GDP from 3.5 per cent

government estimate as a fallout of the

Covid-19 economic stimulus package.

This was announced by Fitch Solutions.

It has revised the FY2020/21 real GDP

growth forecast to 4.6 per cent, from 5.4 per

cent previously.

World Bank approved emergency funds for India

The World Bank’s Board of Executive

Directors has approved a fast-track $1 billion

India COVID-19 Emergency Response and

Health Systems Preparedness Project.

It will help India prevent, detect, and respond

to the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen

its public health preparedness.

This is the largest ever health sector support

from the Bank to India.

India’s economic growth decelerated to 4%

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has

projected India’ growth to slow down to 4% in

the current fiscal year.

This was stated in the Asian Development

Outlook (ADO) 2020 released on 3 April

2020.

The ADO is its annual flagship economic

publication.

The bank expects the country’s gross

domestic product growth to strengthen to

6.2% in FY22, boosted by government

reforms.

Arogya Sanjeevani to cover COVID-19 treatment

IRDAI has clarified that the standard health

insurance plan Arogya Sanjeevani will also

cover the hospitalisation treatment costs of

COVID-19.

It has issued clearance to 29 general and

health Insurance companies to

market Arogya Sanjeevani.

It has also clarified that indemnity-based

health insurance products cover the costs of

hospitalisation treatment on account of

COVID -19.

RBI reduced timings of currency markets

In view of the COVID-19 outbreak, RBI has

notified a change in market timings.

Beginning April 7, 2020, markets dealing with

government securities, call/notice/term

money, corporate bonds, foreign currency,

Indian Rupee Trades, commercial paper and

Certificates of Deposit will be working from 10

AM to 2 PM.

These revised timings will remain in effect till

17th April 2020.

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PhonePe launched ‘Corona Care’ policy

PhonePe has announced the launch of a

unique coronavirus hospitalisation insurance

policy called “Corona Care.”

For this, it has partnered with Bajaj Allianz

General Insurance.

This coronavirus insurance policy is priced at

Rs 156 with an insurance cover of Rs 50,000

for a person aged under 55 years and the

cover is applicable at any hospital offering

coronavirus treatment.

SBI listed $100 mn green bonds on India INX

SBI has listed green bonds of USD 100

million (about Rs 750 crore) on its debt listing

platform.

The bank has listed green bonds of USD 100

million under its USD 10 billion global

medium term note programme on India INX’s

Global Securities Market Green Platform

(GSM).

The State Bank of India (SBI) has earlier also

listed its maiden green bond issuance on

India INX of USD 650 million.

Non-subsidized LPG prices slashed

The price of non-subsidized 14.2 Kg LPG

was slashed by 61 rupees and 50 paise per

cylinder in line with a fall in benchmark

international rates.

With this, the new rate of non-subsidized

LPG cylinder will be 744 rupees in Delhi.

This is the second reduction in the rates since

March 2020 as per the price notification

issued by Indian Oil Corporation.

Govt extended existing foreign trade policy

The Govt on 31 March 2020 extended the

existing foreign trade policy (2015-20) for

1 year till March 2021 amid coronavirus

outbreak and the lockdown to contain the

virus spread.

The existing foreign trade policy 2015-20

which is valid up to March 31, 2020, this year

is extended up to March 31, 2021.

Exports during April-February this fiscal

dipped by 1.5 per cent to 292.91 billion

dollars.

Deferment of EMI payments on loans announced

Public sector banks have announced

deferment of EMI payments on loans to

customers for 3 months in the wake of

COVID-19 pandemic.

The RBI had earlier issued directions asking

lending institutions to allow 3-month

moratorium on loan payments.

Banks like SBI, Punjab and Sind Bank,

Canara Bank, UCO Bank, Syndicate Bank

and Bank of Baroda have announced the

offer of the moratorium to customers.

Govt ordinance extended various time limits

Govt has brought in an ordinance to give

effect to various relief measures related to

income tax and GST compliance in view of

COVID-19 outbreak.

It provides for extension of various time limits

under the Taxation and Benami Acts.

The ordinance also provides for extension of

last date for filing of original as well as revised

income-tax returns for the financial year

2018-19 to 30th June.

Punjab National Bank unveiled new logo

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Punjab National Bank (PNB) has unveiled a

new logo as it merges United Bank of

India and Oriental Bank of Commerce with it,

with effect from April 1, 2020

The new logo will bear distinct signages of all

the three public sector lenders.

With this, PNB is set to become the second-

largest lender in the country.

Lockdown period not counted in IBC timeline

Lockdown period will not be counted towards

the timeline for any activity under the

corporate insolvency resolution process.

IBBI has issued a fresh regulation to amend

the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for

Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016.

Corporate insolvency resolution process

(CIRP) in a case under IBC needs to be

completed in 330 days including time taken

for litigation.

S&P slashed India growth forecast to 3.5%

S&P Global Ratings has cut its estimate for

India's GDP growth for the fiscal starting 1

April to 3.5% from its earlier forecast of 5.2%.

It expects the hit to output from the covid-19

outbreak for the Asia-Pacific region to be as

large as the financial crisis in Asia during

1997-1998.

Moody’s Investors Service earlier slashed

India’s economic growth projection for 2020

to 2.5% from 5.3%.

Bank of India reduced lending rate by 75bps

Bank of India has reduced the lending rate

linked to external benchmark by 75 basis

points, to 7.25%, effective Apr 1, 2020.

The lender's external benchmark lending rate

is linked to the RBI's repo rate, which was

reduced by 75 basis points, to 4.40%, on

March 27.

It has also cut benchmark marginal cost of

funds based lending rate by 25 basis points

across tenors from one year to one month.

Govt raised Rs 11,500 cr from sale of THDC

The government has raised Rs 11,500 crore

through strategic sale of two state-run power

companies, THDC and NEEPCO, to NTPC.

The government has sold 74.49% stake in

THDC for Rs 7,500 crore and 100% in

NEEPCO for Rs 4,000 crore.

With this, the total disinvestment proceeds in

the current financial year stands at over Rs

46,500 crore.

GDP growth rate may fall: SBI’s Ecowrap

The country's economic growth is likely to fall

sharply to 2.6 per cent in 2020-21 due to

lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, as

per a research report.

According to a report by SBI Research's

Ecowrap, GDP growth for 2019-20 could also

see a downward revision from 5 per cent to

4.5%, with growth in the fourth quarter of the

current financial year at 2.5 per cent.

Jana SFB launched instalment payment facility

Jana Small Finance Bank, along with

National Payment Corporation of India, has

launched a UPI QR-based loan installment

payment facility for its customers.

The facility is currently available for the over

40 lakh Jana SFB customers.

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It enables its 40 lakh plus customers to

generate UPI QR code for their loan account

and make instalment payments instantly

using any of the UPI applications.

Moody’s slashed India GDP growth to 2.5 %

Moody's Investors Service on 27 March 2020

slashed its estimate of India's GDP growth

during 2020 calendar year to 2.5%, from an

earlier estimate of 5.3%.

It said Coronavirus pandemic will cause

unprecedented shock to the global economy.

Moody's now expects real GDP in the global

economy to contract by 0.5 per cent in 2020,

followed by a pickup to 3.2 per cent in 2021.

SBI to cut repo rate by 75 basis points

SBI has decided to pass on the entire 75

basis points repo rate cut announced by the

RBI.

The new rates, to be effective from 1 April

2020, will be applicable for borrowers availing

loans based on External Benchmark-linked

lending rate, EBR and Repo-Linked Lending

Rate, RLLR.

Equated-monthly installments, linked to EBR

or RLLR will get cheaper by around Rs 52 per

Rs 1 lakh on a 30-year loan.

RBI cuts repo rate by 75 bps to 4.40%

The RBI cut repo rate by 75 basis points

cut, bringing it down to 4.4 per cent.

The repo rate has thus fallen to the lowest

ever.

Before this, it had hit the lowest point of

4.74% in April 2009 in the wake of the Global

Financial Crisis.

It also cut the cash reserve ratio or CRR by

100 basis points to 3 per cent with effect from

March 28, 2020.

Cabinet approved recapitalization of RRBs

The Cabinet Committee on Economic

Affairs has given its approval for continuation

of the process of recapitalization of Regional

Rural Banks (RRBs).

Minimum regulatory capital has been

provided to RRBs for another year beyond

2019-20, that is, up to 2020-21 for those

RRBs which are unable to maintain minimum

Capital to Risk weighted Assets Ratio

(CRAR) of 9%.

RBI offered Rs 11,722 cr to banks

The RBI has offered Rs 11,772 crore to

banks through a 12-day variable rate repo

auction.

Before the auction, the RBI enhanced the

amount of auction to Rs 50,000 crore from Rs

25,000 crore, announced earlier.

In the auction, the central bank received Rs

11,772 crore of bids and allocated the entire

amount at a cut-off rate of 5.16 per cent.

Indian Bank announced a funding facility

Indian Bank has announced an additional

funding facility for large corporates, MSME,

retail customers, pensioners and self-help

groups (SHGs) in the wake of COVID 19.

IND-COVID Emergency Credit Line will

provide additional funding of up to 10 per cent

of the working capital limits.

The loan tenor will be for 36 months with an

initial moratorium of up to six months.

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Charges for ATM cash withdrawal waived

Charges for cash withdrawal from other bank

ATMs and penalties for non-maintenance of

minimum balance amount in bank savings

accounts have been waived for 3 months.

This was announced by the Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman.

Banks are offering only essential services

namely cash deposit and withdrawal, cheque

clearing, remittances and government

transactions from March 23, 2020.

Finance Minister announced several measures

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has

announced several measures to provide

relief to the people and business

communities in the wake of COVID-19

outbreak.

She announced relaxing compliance and

regulatory norms.

Last date for filing of income tax return for the

financial year 2018-19 has been extended till

30th June.

Interest on delayed payment of income tax

reduced to 9% from 12%.

Karur Vysya Bank launched prepaid card Enkasu

Karur Vysya Bank has launched Enkasu, a

pre-paid card in Karur.

Enkasu works on Near Field Communication

Technology in a semi closed loop.

The cardholder can make tap & go payments

for even small purchases to merchants - as

little as Re. 1/-.

Doing away with the need for cash and small

change, the Enkasu card will be beneficial to

both merchants and customers alike.

Delhi Govt made a provision of Rs 50 crore

Delhi Govt on 23 March 2020 made a

provision of Rs 50 crore in its annual budget

to provide adequate quarantine facilities, in

the wake of Coronavirus outbreak.

In the Rs 65,000 crore budget for the 2020-

21 financial year, Delhi Assembly laid

emphasis on education, health and transport

sectors.

Per capita income of Delhi had increased by

44 per cent over the last five years.

RBI to inject additional Rs 30,000 crore

RBI has decided to infuse additional liquidity

with a second tranche of bond purchase

worth ₹30,000 crores amid the Covid-19

pandemic.

It has decided to ensure that all markets

segments function normally with adequate

liquidity and turnover.

It will conduct purchase of government

securities under open market operations

(OMOs) for an aggregate amount of Rs

30,000 crore in two tranches.

SBI opens emergency credit line

State Bank of India has opened an

emergency credit line to meet any liquidity

mismatch for its borrowers.

The additional liquidity facility Covid-19

Emergency Credit Line (CECL), will provide

funds up to Rs 200 crore and will be available

till June 30, 2020.

The loan will be offered at an interest rate of

7.25 per cent with a tenure of 12 months.

RBI extends authorization issued to Vakrangee

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The RBI has provided the Renewal of

Authorization for Vakrangee.

RBI has extended the validity of Authorization

issued to Vakrangee to setup, own and

operate the White Label ATMs (WLA) in

India.

The validity has been extended till 31 March

2021.

RBI has assigned a target of minimum 1,000

ATMS to be deployed by Vakrangee for every

calendar year starting 2020 for an initial

period of 3 years.

ICICI Lombard launched a protection cover

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company

announced that they have rolled out a

focused COVID-19 Protection Cover.

The company said that amid the contagious

pandemic, this policy on diagnosis of COVID-

19 (+ve) will pay 100% of the sum insured

irrespective of hospitalization expenses.

The launched insurance policy is in group

insurance mode.

Star Health launched a policy

Star Health and Allied Insurance launched a

benefit policy to cover all those who test

positive for novel coronavirus and require

hospitalisation.

The 'Star Novel Coronavirus' policy will

provide a lump sum payment to any insured

between age 18 to 65 years, who is declared

positive.

The policy is available under two sum insured

options of Rs 21,000 and Rs 42,000.

RBI to inject Rs 30,000 cr liquidity in market

The RBI will inject liquidity of Rs 30,000 cr

through open market operations to maintain

financial stability in the system in the wake of

the COVID-19.

It will conduct the operation in two tranches

of Rs 15,000 cr each in March 2020.

It said that the auctions would be conducted

on March 24 and March 30.

It had already infused Rs 10,000 crore

through open market operations on 20 March

2020.

Fitch lowers India GDP growth to 5.1% in FY21

Fitch Ratings has cut India's growth forecast

to 5.1% for FY 2020-21, saying the

coronavirus outbreak is likely to hit business

investment and exports.

Fitch had in December 2019 projected India's

growth at 5.6% for 2020-21 and 6.5% in the

following year.

In its Global Economic Outlook 2020, Fitch

said the number of people affected by

coronavirus will keep rising in the coming

weeks.

Import restriction eased for certain chemicals

The government has removed import

restrictions on certain chemicals including

zinc dross, light, heavy and full range

naphtha.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade,

DGFT in a notification said, it has also

allowed flying clubs to freely import aviation

gasoline with certain conditions.

For other users, import of aviation gasoline is

permitted through state trading enterprises.

Meghalaya CM presented deficit budget

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Meghalaya CM, Conrad K Sangma on 19

March 2020 presented the budget amounting

to 17,375 crore rupees for the year 2020-21

with a fiscal deficit of 1,532 crore rupees.

On the expenditure side, the total

expenditure was estimated at 17,432 crore

rupees, of which the revenue expenditure is

estimated at 14, 428 crore rupees and capital

expenditure at 3,004 crore rupees.

Facebook to give $1,000 bonus to employees

Facebook is giving $1,000 as bonus to each

of its 45,000 employees to support them with

liquid cash amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has

announced that all employees will earn at

least their full bonuses for their six-month

review.

It also announced it is offering $100 million in

cash grants and credits for up to 30,000

eligible small businesses in over 30

countries.

Paytm Payments Bank to issue Visa debit cards

Paytm Payments Bank Ltd

(PPBL) announced that it will now start

issuing Visa debit cards to its customers.

With this partnership, Paytm is targeting to

issue over 10 million new digital debit cards

in FY 20-21.

The bank, known for introducing neo-banking

in the country, is already the largest issuer of

RuPay Debit Cards and has the fastest

growing bank account base.

Indian vendors share in defence contracts grew

The share of Indian companies in contracts

awarded by the Union Defence Ministry for

procurement of defence equipments

increased from 39.06% in 2015-16 to

75.03% in 2019-20.

In the last five years from 2015-16 to 2019-

20 (upto January, 2020), 158 contracts were

signed with Indian vendors against 100 with

foreign vendors for capital procurement of

defence equipment for the armed forces.

Patanjali Ayurved to deposit ₹75 crore

The National Anti-profiteering Authority has

asked Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. to deposit ₹75

cr.

The company allegedly profiteered by not

passing on to consumers the benefit of a cut

in GST rates announced in November 2017.

It has been asked to deposit the amount,

along with an 18% interest from the date the

amount was collected, in specified consumer

welfare funds within 3 months.

The 39th GST Council meeting held

The 39th GST Council meeting was held in

Delhi on March 14, 2020.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

chaired the meeting at Vigyan Bhawan.

GST Council discussed operational glitches

on the GST Network portal.

They also discussed different ways to

increase revenue collection and to avoid tax

evasion.

A better GSTN system should be ensured by

Infosys by July 2020.

Yes Bank reported Rs 18,564 crore loss

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YES Bank has reported a staggering Rs

18,654-cr loss for the December quarter due

to higher recognition of dead assets on the

books, and an erosion of capital buffers to the

brink.

The gross non-performing assets shot-up to

Rs 40,709 cr or 18.87 percent of assets as of

December 31, 2019,

There had been an over Rs 44,000-crore dip

in its deposits between Sept and Dec 2019 to

Rs 1,65,000 cr.

US Federal Reserve slashed key interest rate

The US Federal Reserve slashed the key

interest rate to virtually zero in response to

the growing economic impact of the New

Coronavirus.

The Fed made its second emergency rate cut

in less than two weeks, cutting the

benchmark borrowing rate to a range of 0-

0.25 percent.

The rate was previously at this level during

the 2008 global financial crisis.

GST rates on mobile phones to increase

The Goods and Services Tax Council has

decided to increase GST rates on mobile

phones to 18 per cent from 12 per cent with

effect from 1 April 2020.

The Council also decided to slash GST on

maintenance, repair and overhaul services

for aircraft to 5 per cent from 12 per cent.

The tax rate on handmade and machine-

made matchsticks has been rationalized to

12 per cent.

RBI revised exposure limits for UCBs

The RBI revised exposure limits for urban

cooperative banks (UCBs) to a single

borrower and a group of borrowers to 15 per

cent and 25 per cent, respectively, of tier-1

capital.

The RBI had earlier permitted UCBs to have

exposures up to 15 per cent and 40 per cent

of their capital funds to a single borrower and

a group of borrowers, respectively.

Cabinet approved MSP for Copra for 2020 season

The Cabinet Committee on Economic

Affairs has given its approval for the

Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for copra for

2020 season.

The MSP for Fair Average Quality (FAQ) of

milling copra has been increased to Rs 9960

per quintal for 2020 season from Rs 9521 per

quintal in 2019.

The MSP for ball copra has been increased

to Rs 10300 per quintal for 2020 season from

Rs 9920 per quintal in 2019.

iSelect+ Term Plan launched

Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce

Life Insurance Company Limited announced

the launch of iSelect+ Term Plan to provide

enhanced protection cover at an affordable

premium.

It is available online.

With the help of it, subscribers can design

their own financial safety net to protect their

family’s future and ensure that they lead their

lives comfortably without any financial

worries.

India’s account deficit narrows to $ 1.4 bn

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India' s current account deficit (CAD)

narrowed further in the Oct-Dec 2019 quarter

on the back of a contraction in the trade

deficit and rise in net services receipts.

The CAD declined to 0.2% of GDP in the

three months, the third quarter of the 2019/20

fiscal year, from 2.7% in the same period a

year before.

On a quarterly basis, it shrank from 0.9% of

GDP in the second quarter.

Rs 1.83 lakh crore spent on MNREGA

Expenditure under MNREGA (Mahatma

Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Act) almost doubled to Rs 1.83

lakh crore during 2017-18 to 2019-20 as

compared to 2011-12 to 2013-14 period,

The government has spent Rs 1,83,000 crore

in the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and

2019-20 which is double the amount of Rs

92,483 crore spent in 2011- 12, 2012-13 and

2013-14.

Bandhan Bank to invest ₹300 crore in Yes Bank

Bandhan Bank will invest ₹300 crore in Yes

Bank under the bank’s reconstruction

scheme, taking the total investment proposal

to ₹10,650 crore.

It will acquire 30 crore equity shares of ₹2

each at a premium of ₹8 per equity share,

constituting less than 5% of the new issued

and paid-up equity share capital of Yes Bank.

75% of the total investment of the bank would

be locked in for 3 years.

Reconstruction scheme for Yes Bank

The Union Cabinet has approved a

reconstruction scheme for Yes Bank as

proposed by the Reserve Bank of India.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said

that SBI will invest 49 percent equity in Yes

Bank with other investors also being invited.

The scheme has been approved with the

objective of protecting the interest of

depositors and providing stability to Yes

Bank.

India's forex reserves rose to 487.23 bn

India's foreign exchange swelled by 5.69

billion US dollars to reach an all-time high of

487.23 billion dollars in the week ended 6th

March 2020.

Foreign currency assets, a major part of the

overall reserves rose by 5.311 billion dollars

to 451.135 billion dollars.

Gold reserves also increased by 320 million

dollars to 31 billion dollars.

UBS cuts India GDP growth forecast to 5.1%

Swiss brokerage UBS has sharply cut its

2020-21 GDP growth forecast for India to

5.1% on fears around the coronavirus

outbreak and also weak credit growth

domestically.

The brokerage also cut its FY20 growth

estimate marginally to 4.8%.

The GDP growth is set to slip to a decadal

low of 5% for FY20 as per official estimates

and hopes of a revival are being pinned on

the next fiscal.

SBI removed minimum balance charges

135

The State Bank of India (SBI) has announced

to waive charges on maintenance of average

monthly balance (AMB) for all savings

accounts.

Essentially, account holders will now have

the option to maintain zero balance in their

accounts without having to shell out a

penalty.

This major initiative by the country’s largest

bank will benefit its 44.51 crore account

holders.

RBI announced US dollar sell/buy swap

RBI has announced a six month US dollar

sell/buy swap to provide liquidity to the

foreign exchange market.

RBI has said that financial markets are facing

intense selling pressures due to coronavirus

infection.

Volatility in global markets has been spiked

by a slump in international crude prices and

a decline in bond yields in advanced

economies.

SBI to buy shares of Yes Bank

SBI will buy shares worth 7,250 crore rupees

of the cash-strapped Yes Bank in accordance

with the draft reconstruction scheme

envisaged by the RBI.

Its board has permitted the purchase of Yes

Bank's shares at a price of 10 rupees per

share subject to all regulatory approvals.

SBI’s shareholding in Yes Bank will remain

within 49 percent of the paid-up capital.

SBI cuts MCLR by up to 15 basis points

SBI has reduced its marginal cost of fund-

based lending rate (MCLR) by up to 15 basis

points across various tenors, effective March

10, 2020.

The bank has reduced its one-year MCLR by

10 basis points to 7.75 per cent from 7.85 per

cent earlier.

This is 10th consecutive cut in MCLR by the

bank in the current fiscal.

Three-month MCLR has been revised to 7.50

per cent from 7.65 per cent.

India 2019 thermal coal imports rise 12.6%

India's thermal coal imports rose 12.6% to

nearly 200 million tonnes in 2019,

government data reviewed by Reuters

showed.

Coal is among the top five commodities

imported by India, the world's largest

consumer, importer and producer of the fuel.

India imported 51.33 million tonnes of coking

coal in 2019, down from 51.63 million tonnes

in 2018, the data showed.

FDI inflows recorded highest ever

The total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

inflow was over 318 billion US dollars

between 2014 and September 2019

representing nearly 50% of the cumulative

FDI in India since April 2000.

In 2018-19, the FDI inflow stood at a record

62 billion US dollars, highest ever recorded

for a fiscal year.

This information was given by Commerce

and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

Global corporate earnings to drop 10% in 2020

136

Earnings of major global companies could fall

10% in 2020, as per Citigroup analysts.

The risk remains to the downside, with a 15-

20% EPS contraction potentially likely.

That would be consistent with a 1.5% global

GDP growth outcome.

Buckland had predicted that global EPS

could contract around 10% if the coronavirus

slows global economic growth to 2% in 2020.

Moody’s cuts G-20 growth outlook to 2.1%

Moody’s Investors Service said G-20

countries, as a group, are expected to grow

by 2.1 per cent in 2020, 0.3 percentage points

lower than its previous forecast.

It cautioned that global recession risks have

risen.

The G-20 grouping includes advanced

economies such as the US, Euro area,

Japan, Germany and the UK, and emerging

economies such as China, India, Brazil,

Russia and Mexico.

Telangana's annual budget proposals presented

Telangana State Finance Minister, T Harish

Rao presented the annual budget proposals

for the year 2020-21, with an expenditure of

1 lakh 82 thousand 914.42 crore

(1,82,914.42 Crore rupees) in the state

Assembly, on 8 Mar 2020.

This includes over 1.38 lakh crore rupees of

revenue expenditure and 22,061.18 crore

rupees of capital expenditure.

He projected 33,191 crore rupees of fiscal

deficit.

UN economists forecast drop in FDI

The rapid spread of the deadly Novel

Coronavirus is expected to take a serious toll

on foreign direct investments worldwide, with

UN economists forecasting a drop of up to

15%.

A fresh report from the United Nations

Conference on Trade, Investment and

Development (UNCTAD) warned that

regardless of how quickly the COVID-19

outbreak lasted, it would significantly drag

down global FDI.

RBI announced draft revival plan for Yes Bank

The RBI placed in public domain a draft

scheme of reconstruction for Yes Bank on 6

March 2020, a day after it superseded the

board of Yes Bank with immediate effect.

SBI has expressed its willingness to make

investment in Yes Bank and participate in its

reconstruction scheme.

The draft plan proposes that the investor

bank will invest in the reconstructed bank for

up to 49% stake.

Arogya Sanjeevani Policy: Guidelines modified

Arogya Sanjeevani Policy is set to be

cheaper for policyholders.

IRDAI has allowed insurers to issue the

policy contract of it in the electronic or digital

format to the policyholders.

This move by The Insurance Regulatory and

Development Authority of India (IRDAI) will

help insurance companies to keep the cost of

servicing such policies low so as to pass on

the benefit to the policyholders.

Assam Finance Minister tabled budget

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In Assam, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa

Sarma tabled budget for the year 2020-21

with a slew of welfare measures.

It proposed to provide free and dedicated bus

services for women and senior citizens in

Guwahati under the Bhraman Sarathi

scheme.

An amount of Rs 2800 cr is earmarked for the

Orunodoi scheme under which annually Rs

10,000 to be given to 27 lakh poor

households through DBT.

Maharashtra Budget tabled

Maharashtra Finance Minister and Deputy

CM Ajit Pawar tabled the first budget of Maha

Vikas Aghadi Government in the state for the

year 2020-21 on 6 March 2020.

The budget includes the total expenditure of

3,56,967 crore rupees and the revenue deficit

of 9,510 crore rupees.

Provision of 10,000 crore rupees has been

made to complete the pending irrigation

projects.

Sebi launched “Sebi SCORES” mobile app

SEBI has launched a mobile application for

the convenience of investors to lodge

grievances in Sebi Complaints Redress

System (SCORES).

The app, 'Sebi SCORES', is available on both

iOS and Android platforms.

'SCORES' mobile app will make it easier for

investors to lodge their grievances with Sebi,

as they can now access SCORES at their

convenience of a smartphone.

EPFO lowered interest rate on deposits

Retirement fund body, Employees' Provident

Fund Organization, (EPFO) on 5 March

2020 lowered the interest rate on provident

fund deposits to 8.5 per cent for the current

financial year.

Earlier it was 8.65 percent.

Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar made this

announcement in New Delhi after the

meeting of the EPFO apex decision making

body - the Central Board of Trustee.

Withdrawal limit for depositors of Yes Bank

The government has imposed a withdrawal

limit of 50,000 rupees for depositors of Yes

Bank for one month.

The cap will stay in effect till 3rd of April 2020.

The limit on withdrawal comes with a few

exemptions, in cases like medical

emergency, higher education, marriage and

unavoidable emergency.

Yes Bank's board has also been superseded

for a period of 30 days.

Cabinet approved FDI policy on civil aviation

The Cabinet approved Foreign Direct

Investment, FDI policy on civil aviation on 4

March 2020.

FDI policy was amended to permit foreign

investment in Air India.

Non Resident Indians can acquire up to 100

per cent equity in Air India under automatic

route.

Earlier only 49 per cent were available for

sale to NRIs but now they can purchase 100

per cent.

Paytm arm got IRDAI brokerage licence

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Paytm is set to make a foray into the business

of selling insurance products with subsidiary

Paytm Insurance Broking securing a

brokerage license from Insurance Regulatory

and Authority of India (IRDAI).

The company plans to offer insurance

products across four categories including

auto, health, and life.

Customers will also be able to claim

settlement services at select merchant

points.

Ryan opened 2nd tax services facility in India

U.S. headquartered Ryan, a global tax

services and software provider announced

the opening of its second facility in

Hyderabad.

Ryan has invested around USD 3 million over

the last few years to expand its operation in

the city.

Ryan's India business operations provide

global support with data processing, market

research, asset recovery, software

development, human resource analytics, etc.

NABARD infused Rs1.46 lakh cr in rural banking

NABARD has infused 1.46 lakh crore rupees

in the rural banking system during the current

fiscal.

66,397 crore rupees have been given in

short-term credit and 6,704 crore rupees in

long-term credit to rural cooperative banks.

Regional rural banks have availed 14,141

crore rupees in short-term credit and 8,417

crore rupees in long-term credit.

Chhattisgarh CM presented state budget

Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel on 3

March 2020, presented his government's

budget for the financial year 2020-2021.

With an outlay of about 95,000 crore rupees,

the budget focuses on health, education and

rural development.

Improvement of School education is on the

top priority of the government with about 16

per cent of total budget provision.

OECD lowered India's FY21 GDP growth to 5.1%

Global agency OECD has lowered its India's

GDP growth forecast to 5.1% from the earlier

projection of 6.2% for 2020.

This has been done on concerns of impact of

deadly coronavirus on the domestic as well

as the global economy.

The latest projection for 2020-21 is 1.1

percentage point lower than the November

2019 forecast.

VC industry saw record $10 bn investment

The Indian venture capital industry invested

record $10 billion in 2019, driven by

increased deal volume and larger average

deal sizes.

The amount was 55 per cent higher than the

money invested by the industry in 2018, the

report by Bain & Company's India Venture

Capital Report 2020 said.

There has been a 30 per cent increase in deal

volume and 20 per cent rise in average deal

size in 2019.

Samsung fined over ₹37 lakh

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India’s National Anti-profiteering Authority

(NAA) has slapped a penalty of ₹37.85 lakh

on Samsung.

Samsung was fined for not reducing the

selling price of 32-inch LED TV 32FH4003

despite a cut in GST rates to 18% from 28%

on television sets.

An additional fine of ₹29,736 was also

imposed on the company for not reducing

price of power banks, taking the total amount

of fine to ₹37,85,342.

Oppo launched 'Kash' mutual fund platform

OPPO on 2 March 2020 announced its foray

into financial services with 'OPPO Kash'.

It offers users to invest in mutual funds, along

with free credit reports, personal loans up to

two lakh, business loans up to ₹2 crore and

screen insurance.

Coming pre-installed in all OPPO

smartphones, five products have been

launched in the beta release with

Freedom SIP as a unique offer.

RBI received ₹1.71 trillion in LTRO

The RBI has received ₹1.71 trillion in the third

long-term repo operation (LTRO) conducted

for an amount of ₹25,000 crore.

The central bank received 66 bids in the

three-year tenor LTRO, which has reversal

date on March 1, 2023.

The total bids that were received amounted

to ₹1,71,965 cr, implying a bid to cover ratio

(i e., the amount of bids received relative to

the notified amount) of 6.9.

Coca-Cola to double India volumes in 5 years

India will soon become one of the top three

markets by volume for The Coca-Cola Co.,

the company’s CEO and chairman James

Quincey informed.

India is the fifth-largest market by volume for

Coca-Cola, which sold 1 billion unit cases in

the country in 2019.

The Atlanta-based company wishes to

double this number in the next five years.

SBI Cards & Payment Services raise Rs 2,769 cr

SBI Cards and Payment Services raised Rs

2,769 crore from 74 anchor investors, ahead

of its initial share sale.

Anchor investors are institutional investors,

who are offered shares in an initial public

offering, ahead of its opening.

Singapore government, Monetary Authority

of Singapore, HDFC Mutual Fund,

Government Pension Fund Global and Birla

Mutual Fund, are among the anchor

investors.

India's Feb unemployment rate rises to 7.78%

India's unemployment rate rose to 7.78% in

February 2020, the highest since October

2019, and up from 7.16% in January.

This was given in a data released by the

Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy

(CMIE).

India's economy expanded at its slowest

pace in more than six years in the last three

months of 2019.

In rural areas, the unemployment rate

increased to 7.37% in Feb 2020.

Second part of budget session began

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The second part of the Budget Session of

Parliament began on 2 March 2020

It will continue till 3 April 2020.

The Budget Session of Parliament had begun

on 31st January 2020.

During the second part of the Budget

session, demand for grants of various

Ministries including Railways, Social Justice

and Empowerment, Tourism and Health will

be discussed.

Punjab govt presented Rs 1.54 lakh cr budget

The Punjab govt on 28 Feb 2020 presented

a Rs 1.54 lakh crore budget for the financial

year 2020-21 in the state assembly.

Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh

Badal announced debt waiver to landless

farm labourers and added that a sum of Rs

520 cr has been set aside for the same.

The budget also earmarked Rs 13,092 crore

for the education sector and Rs 4,675 crore

for the health sector.

Fiscal deficit touched 128.5%

India's fiscal deficit touched 128.5 per cent of

the whole year budget target at January-end

(2020).

The deficit during the same period during

2018-19 was 121.5% of that year's Revised

Budget Estimate (RE).

In actual terms, the fiscal deficit or gap

between the expenditure and revenue stood

at Rs 9,85,472 crore.

Govt approved Rs 162 cr under a scheme

The government has approved Rs 162 crore

under Operation Green scheme which has an

outlay of Rs 500 crore.

The scheme was announced in 2018-19

budget.

It aims to enhance value realisation for

farmers by targeted interventions to

strengthen production clusters and the

Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) and

linking them with the market.

Bengaluru records highest digital transactions

Bengaluru accounted for the highest number

of digital transactions in India in 2019,

followed by Chennai, Mumbai and Pune.

United Payments Interface (UPI) was the

most preferred mode of payment, as per a

new report by online payment processor

Worldline India.

Bengaluru was the leading city in digital

transactions in 2018 as well.

UPI was followed by debit cards.

Aadhaar-enabled Payment System rolled out

Airtel Payments Bank has launched the

Aadhaar enabled payment system (AePS).

It will help people to do transactions at over

2,50,000 of its banking points across India.

The system will enable customers, having

Aadhaar- linked accounts of any bank, to do

transactions at the designated points of the

Airtel Payments Bank.

HDFC Bank launched co-branded credit card

HDFC Bank has joined hands with IndiGo to

launch a co-branded credit card, which will

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effectively work like a loyalty programme for

the carrier.

Labelled Ka-ching, the card will offer many

benefits like complimentary air tickets, lounge

access, 5 per cent cashback, etc.

HDFC Bank is by far the largest credit card

issuer in the country.

Banks to link all the new floating rate loans

The RBI has directed banks to link all the new

floating-rate loan to medium enterprises with

external benchmark.

The direction will be effective from 1st April

2020.

The move is aimed at further strengthening

monetary policy transmission so that benefits

of reduction in key lending rate can be

passed on to medium enterprises.

SHM raises Rs12 cr from Adar Poonawalla

Mumbai-headquartered cookie brand

Sweetish House Mafia has raised Rs 12

crore in pre-series A funding from investor

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of vaccine

manufacturer Serum Institute of India.

Sweetish House Mafia was founded in 2013,

by Aakash Sethi and Neha Sethi, a former

investment banker in New York.

The company has 12 stores at present, in

Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

India at second in cash withdrawals from ATM

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reports that

cash withdrawals from ATMs in India

increased over the past five years

India is next only to China in terms of cash

withdrawals from ATMs.

Digital transactions grew at a compound

annual growth rate (CAGR) of 61% by

volumes and 19% by value, indicating a shift

towards digitisation.

Shaktikanta Das is the governor of the

Reserve Bank of India.

Tech Mahindra to acquire Zen3 Infosolutions

IT company Tech Mahindra has signed an

agreement to acquire 100 per cent stake in

US-based Zen3 Infosolutions for $64 mn(Rs

460 cr) in an all-cash deal.

Out of which $42 mn will be paid at closing

and the remaining is linked to the financial

performance of the Microsoft customer

account for the upcoming three years.

Zen3 Infosolutions has expertise in AI, ML,

annotations, cloud engineering.

NTPC to build a solar park in Rajasthan

NTPC signed an ‘implementation support

agreement’ with Rajasthan Solarpark

Development Company (RSDCL) to develop

a 925-megawatt (MW) Nokh solar park in the

state’s Jaisalmer district.

NTPC is expected to invest more than Rs

3,500 crore in building the project.

RSDCL will invest about Rs 450 crore in

developing the ancillary infrastructure.

JSW enters share purchase deal with GMR

JSW Energy has entered into a share

purchase agreement with GMR Energy for

acquiring 100 percent shares in its subsidiary

GMR Kamalanga Energy.

JSW Energy will acquire GMR Kamalanga

Energy’s Kamalanga power project with a

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capacity of 1,050 MW (three x 350

MW) entailing an investment of Rs 5,321

crore.

It is located at Kamalanga in Dhenkanal

district of Odisha.

Domestic air traffic rose 2.2% in January

Domestic aviation traffic grew at 2.2% last

month as compared to the same period last

year, according to the DGCA’s monthly

report.

Indian airlines ferried a total of 1.27 crore

passengers in January 2020 as compared to

1.25 crore in January 2019.

SpiceJet maintained its lead in capacity

utilisation with 91.5% of seats sold, followed

by Go Air (88.7%), IndiGo (87.8%) and

Vistara (83.5%).

US becomes India's biggest trading partner

The US has surpassed China to become

India's top trading partner.

According to the data of the commerce

ministry, in 2018-19, the bilateral trade

between the US and India stood at $87.95 bn.

India's two-way commerce with China

aggregated at $87.07 bn.

During April-Dec 2019-20, the bilateral trade

between the US and India stood at $68 bn. It

stood at $64.96 bn with China in the same

period.

Rajasthan CM presented state budget

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot presented the

state budget for the financial year 2020-21 in

the state assembly on 20 Feb 2020.

He announced that Rs 100 cr ' Nehru Baal

Sanrakshan Kosh' will be established to

prevent child labour and trafficking.

Tourism development board would be set up

with an outlay of 100 cr rupees.

Rs 3 crore cash reward was announced for

gold medalist in commonwealth games.

Rs 19,950 cr released as GST compensation

The Central Govt has released Rs 19,950

crore as GST compensation to states.

With this release, the Central Govt has

released a total of over Rs 1.20 lakh crore

towards GST compensation to the states

during current fiscal.

In the financial year 2018-19, an amount of

over Rs 95,000 crore was collected as GST

compensation cess.

Mizoram CM presented annual state budget

In Mizoram, CM Zoramthanga, on 19 Feb

2020, presented the annual budget of the

state with an outlay of Rs. 10,715 crore for

2020-21.

In the budget, there is no new proposal for

levying new taxes or enhancing tax rates.

The budget proposal has fixed the revenue

expenditure estimated at Rs 9,021.85 crore,

which is 84.20 per cent of the total budget.

Nelco launched in-flight communication service

Nelco, a Tata group company launched in-

flight communication service in partnership

with Panasonic for airlines in India, on 19 Feb

2020.

Vistara has become the first Indian flight

carrier to sign up for the IFC service.

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Users can use the Internet, and access

applications and e-commerce sites while

travelling.

Odisha govt presented Rs 1.5 lakh crore budget

In Odisha, Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari

presented the annual budget of the state for

2020-21 with an outlay of 1.5 lakh crore

rupees, on 18 Feb 2020.

The Minister had presented a 1.39 lakh-crore

rupees Budget in 2019.

The Odisha Government for the first time,

switched to a digital method of budget

presentation to reduce the printing of papers

for the exercise.

Hero to invest Rs 10,000 crore in 5-7 years

Hero MotoCorp will invest Rs 10,000 crore

mid-term to develop alternate mobility

solutions, sustainable manufacturing units,

expand network and build its brand-building

globally.

At present, Hero MotoCorp has seven

manufacturing units across India,

Bangladesh, South America.

It has invested $600 million in R&D since

commencing its solo journey in April 2011.

UP govt presented Rs 5.12 lakh cr budget

The Uttar Pradesh government on 18 Feb

2020 presented a Rs 5,12,860.72 crore

budget for FY 2020-21 in the state assembly.

The budget, the size of which is Rs 33,159

crore more than the last year's budget, has

provisions worth Rs 10,967.87 crore for new

schemes.

Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna

presented the budget in the presence of

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

SEBI to permit the use of regulatory sandbox

SEBI has decided to permit the use of

regulatory sandbox.

It is a system that will allow live testing of new

products, services and business models by

market players on select customers.

The proposed 'regulatory sandbox' is

intended to serve as a testing ground for new

business models and technologies that

benefit investors, Indian markets and the

economy at large.

Simplified tax compliance regime from April 1

Simplified tax compliance regime will be

rolled out by April 1st, 2020.

This was announced by Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman.

She also made it clear that the 5 per cent

cess on imports of Medical equipment is

applicable to only those equipment which are

also produced in India.

The cess collected will be spent on creating

medical infrastructure like hospitals in the

country.

Bajaj Fin. in top 10 most-valued firms on BSE

Bajaj Finance Ltd replaced SBI to become

India's tenth most-valued firm by market

capitalisation on the BSE.

Bajaj Finance's market capitalization stood at

₹2.87 trillion, with its shares trading at

₹4,773.85 on the BSE.

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The finance company's shares have risen

nearly 12% so far in the year 2020.

State Bank of India has a market cap of ₹2.81

trillion.

Government cleared Rs 540 cr investments

Union Government has cleared investments

of over Rs 540 crore in some stuck

residential properties that will benefit 1,800

home buyers.

In November 2019, the government had

announced a 25,000 crore rupees fund to

help complete over 1,500 stalled housing

projects.

A preliminary clearance has also been given

for due diligence to 14 projects with a capital

commitment of 2,500 crore rupees.

Bank of Russia gives license to GIC Re

General Insurance Corporation of India has

obtained license from the Central Bank of the

Russian Federation for its subsidiary

company, GIC Perestrakhovanie, Moscow,

for commencement of reinsurance business.

The license was received by the corporation

on 12 February 2020.

The license enables subsidiary to commence

transacting domestic and international

reinsurance business in Russia.

Capital infusion for OICL, NICL, UIICL

The Union Cabinet has given approval for

capital infusion for Oriental Insurance

Company Limited (OICL), National Insurance

Company Limited (NICL) and United India

Insurance Company Limited (UIICL).

Cabinet has allowed immediate release of

Rs. 2,500 Crore in light of the critical financial

position and breach of regulatory solvency

requirements of 3 PSGICs viz. OICL, NICL

and UIICL.

M&M to invest Rs 3,000 crore in SsangYong

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has charted

an investment of Rs 3,000 crore over the next

three years for its subsidiary SsangYong.

The company estimates that a full recovery of

SsangYong will cost 450 to 500 billion South

Korean won (Rs 2,700-3,000 crore) and that

the funding will be secured by end of March

2020.

Of this, about 200 billion won will be for

servicing older loans.

RBI to create digital payments index

The RBI announced a Digital Payments

Index (DPI) to assess and capture the extent

of digitalisation of payments effectively.

The DPI would be based on multiple

parameters and shall reflect accurately the

penetration and deepening of various digital

payment modes.

The DPI will be made available from July

2020 onwards.

West Bengal govt presented budget

The West Bengal Finance Minister, Dr Amit

Mitra proposed Rs 2,55,677 cr Budget for the

next fiscal in the state assembly.

Dr. Mitra proposed Revenue Receipts of Rs

1,79,398 cr while receipts from public debt

and loans around Rs 80,000 crore.

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The Budget puts emphasis on employment

generation and economic development

besides launching of several social sector

schemes.

WhatsApp pay got NPCI nod

WhatsApp has received permission from the

National Payments Corporation of India

(NPCI) to expand its pilot UPI services to 10

million users.

Its payment feature, called WhatsApp

Pay, allows users to pay others or do

business transactions through their bank

accounts.

WhatsApp has been running a pilot for one

million users and has struggled to get a full-

fledged licence since 2018.

RBI’s 6th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy released

The RBI announced its sixth bi-monthly

monetary policy statement for 2019-20 on 6

Feb 2020 in which the repo rate was left

unchanged.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), led

by Governor Shaktikanta Das, said it has

decided to keep the policy repo rate

unchanged at 5.15%.

RBI has increased the real GDP growth for

the fiscal year 2020-21 from 5% to 6%.

Reliance General launched an insurance plan

Reliance General Insurance, a part of

Reliance Capital, launched a comprehensive

health insurance plan "Reliance Health

Infinity".

This product is specially designed to focus

and support the healthcare needs of retail

customers with unique benefits.

The product comes with 90 days pre and 180

days post hospitalization cover as well as a

wide range of sum insured from INR 3 lakh to

1 crore.

India: 2nd largest producer of crude steel

India now ranks as the second-largest

producer of crude steel after China, Union

Minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed on 5

Feb 2020.

India's crude steel production in 2018 was at

109.3 million tonnes, up by 7.7 percent from

101.5 million tonnes in 2017.

Japan ranks third globally with 104.3 million

tonnes of crude steel production in 2018 and

99.3 million tonnes in 2019.

IIFL Finance to raise up to $300 mn

IIFL Finance Ltd will soon hit the dollar-bond

market to raise up to $300 million.

The company informed the stock exchanges

that it will meet investors across Asia, Europe

and West Asia, starting 7 February 2020.

The lender has been rated Ba3 by global

ratings agency Moody's Investors Service

and BB- (stable) by Fitch Ratings.

Maruti Suzuki to sell 1 million green vehicles

Maruti Suzuki will sell a million green vehicles

including CNG, over the next couple of years

in line with the country’s aim of attaining

energy security.

The green vehicles from Maruti Suzuki will

include a range of technologies and power

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trains such as CNGs, Smart Hybrids, Strong

Hybrids, and EVs.

Maruti Suzuki is headquartered in New Delhi

and Kenichi Ayukawa is its MD.

Paytm launched all-in-one payment gateway

Paytm launched its Android POS device for

merchant partners and small businesses in

India.

This device helps merchants to accept

payments through Paytm Wallet, all UPI-

based apps, debit and credit cards, as well as

cash.

Besides accepting payments, merchants will

also be able to generate GST compliant bills

and manage all transactions and settlements

through their 'Paytm for Business' app.

Insurance cover on bank deposits increased

Insurance cover on bank deposits has been

increased to five lakh rupees from one lakh

rupees.

The decision came into effect from 4 Feb

2020.

The cover is provided by the Deposit

Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation

(DICGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the

RBI.

This has been done with a view to providing

a greater measure of protection to

depositors.

New tax regime proposed

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the

Budget 2020-21 proposed new tax slabs of

15% and 25% in addition to the existing 10%,

20% and 30%.

Under the proposed tax slab, annual income

up to Rs 2.5 lakh is exempt from tax.

Those individuals earning a salary between

Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh will pay 5 per cent

tax.

Income above Rs 15 lakh will be taxed at 30

per cent.

GST compensation to states in 2 instalments

The Centre will release all due GST

compensation to states in two instalments.

GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017

provides for compensation to States/UTs (UT

with legislature only) on account of revenue

loss due to implementation of GST on a bi-

monthly basis.

A total of Rs 2,10,969.49 crore has been

released as GST compensation to states so

far including UTs of Delhi and Puducherry.

NTPC raised Asia's largest Japanese yen loan

NTPC has become the top company in Asia

to raise the largest syndicated Japanese yen

loan worth USD 750 million (around Rs 5,367

crore).

The loan has been raised under automatic

route of RBI's external commercial

borrowings regulations.

It is also the highest ever single foreign

currency loan raised by NTPC.

The facility has a door-to-door maturity of 11

years under two tranches.

Indian Bank launched credit products

Indian Bank has announced the launch of

two tailor-made credit products for the benefit

of the textile sector.

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The products are Corporate Loan and Ind

Surya Shakthi/ Indian Bank Solar.

These would be available for all textile units

across the country.

The Corporate Loan, to be offered at

affordable interest rates, will help industries

meet their working capital requirements.

Brookfield to invest in IndoStar Capital

Brookfield Asset Management is investing

₹1,450 crore in IndoStar Capital Finance Ltd.

The investment will mark Brookfield's entry

into a consumer lending business in the

country.

Brookfield will invest ₹1,225 crore in the form

of primary capital, while the rest will be used

to buy existing shares of IndoStar from its

promoter entity IndoStar Holdings Mauritius.

IDBI Bank to raise Rs 1,500cr via bonds

IDBI Bank has proposed to raise Rs 1,500

crore from bonds to fund growth.

The bank has decided to issue Basel III

Compliant Tier 2 Bonds for aggregate total

issue size of Rs 1,500 crore, with a base size

of Rs 500 crore and a green shoe option to

retain oversubscription up to Rs 1,000 crore.

The Parliament had approved Rs 9,300 crore

capital infusion in IDBI Bank in December

2019.

IRDAI imposed ₹1 cr penalty on 2 insurers

IRDAI has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 cr each

on ICICI Lombard GIC and Tata AIG General

Insurance Company for violation of various

norms.

It has slapped the penalty on ICICI Lombard

for violation of certain provisions related to

health insurance policies.

IRDAI imposed the penalty on Tata AIG

General Insurance Company for violation of

provisions for protection of policyholders'

interests.

RBI fined HDFC Bank for KYC violations

The RBI has imposed Rs 1 cr fine on HDFC

Bank for violating KYC norms in 39 accounts,

which were used for bidding in initial public

offering (IPO).

Transactions carried out through these

accounts were found to be disproportionate

to the declared income of the customers.

Earlier in 2013, the RBI had imposed fines on

Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank for

violation of KYC norms.

UK launched Innovation Challenge Fund in India

The UK government has launched 4 million

pound fund in India to support collaborative

research into emerging technologies.

Innovation Challenge Fund will encourage

industry and academia to collaborate and

develop tech solutions for social, economic

and environmental challenges in India.

The initiative is focused on two major tech

clusters: AI in Karnataka and future mobility

in Maharashtra.

30% funds of NE Council for new projects

The Cabinet approved the allocation of 30%

of funds of the North-Eastern Council for new

projects.

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This will help in focused development of

deprived areas, neglected sections of society

and emerging priority sectors.

It has also approved extension of

Productivity-Linked Reward Scheme for the

employees and workers of the Major Port

Trust and Dock Labour Board for the period

beyond 2017-18.

HDFC to invest Rs 100 cr in tech startups

HDFC is mulling to invest up to Rs 100 crore

per year in technology startups.

It will install a dedicated team understanding

the startup ecosystem to do the investments.

The company will be creating an in-house

team at the headquarters to take charge of

investments and exuded confidence that they

will start operating in two months.

Burger King got approval to float IPO

Burger King India Ltd has received Sebi's

approval to float its initial public offering

(IPO).

The company, which had filed its draft IPO

papers with the markets watchdog in Nov

2019, obtained its final observations on

January 24, 2020.

The regulator's observations are necessary

for any company to launch public issues such

as initial public offer, follow-on public offer

and rights issue.

NCML released first estimate of rabi crop

National Collateral Management Services

Limited (NCML) has released its first

estimates for 2019-20 rabi crop production.

Rabi season which contributes to nearly 50%

of the food grain production starts from

November and lasts till April of the following

year.

Wheat is the main crop of the Rabi season

and staple food grain of the country.

IIT Gandhinagar to invest ₹100 crore

IIT Gandhinagar is building a research park

that will house 50 corporate R&D centres at

an investment of around Rs100 crore.

A sizeable portion of this will be dedicated to

micro and small enterprises sector.

The facility has bagged a grant of ₹90 crore

from the department of science and

technology (DST).

Nasscom has also signed an agreement for

centre of excellence in Internet of Things.

FPIs infused Rs 1,624 crore in Indian markets

Foreign portfolio investors have infused a net

sum of 1,624 crore rupees into the domestic

capital markets in Jan 2020 so far.

As per latest depositories data, Foreign

portfolio investors put-in a net of 13,304 crore

rupees, in equities and withdrew a net 11,680

crore rupees from the debt segment between

January 1 and 24, 2020

This translates into a total net inflow of 1,624

crore rupees.

Fortis made a plea in Supreme Court

Fortis Hospitals Ltd approached the Supreme

Court urging it to allow IHH Healthcare to

make an open offer to shareholders for

purchase of Fortis shares, in line with norms

of SEBI.

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The open offer would have been triggered

after IHH Healthcare bought a 31.1% stake in

Fortis Healthcare for Rs 4,000 crore on 13

Nov 2020.

IHH had planned to buy an additional

26% stake from public shareholders.

MP garnered investments worth Rs 4,125 cr

Madhya Pradesh gained significantly at

Davos, with investors promising to invest Rs

4,125 crore in food and renewable energy

sectors.

Daawat Food Ltd has got FDI worth Rs 125

crore from Saudi Arabia Agriculture and

Livestock Investment Company (SALIC).

Besides, two central wind projects of capacity

325 MW each are now approved. One is by

Soft Bank Energy (Japan).

India's forex reserves touched life-time high

The country's foreign exchange reserves

rose USD 943 million to touch a life-time high

of USD 462.16 billion in the week ended on

17 Jan 2020, according to the latest data from

the RBI.

In the previous week, the reserves had

increased by USD 58 million to USD 461.21

billion.

The country's reserve position with the IMF

rose by USD 3 million to USD 3.70 billion.

Indusind bank launched a platform

IndusInd Bank has launched its wealth

management platform Pioneer Banking,

which caters to high net-worth customers.

The new service merges wealth

management solutions with an array of

personal and commercial banking products.

With no charges on non-maintenance of

minimum balance, customers can enjoy the

benefits of their Pioneer accounts without any

worries

Reliance Jio launched UPI payments

Reliance Jio has launched UPI-powered

payments service and has started offering

the feature to its subscribers.

The company has become the first telecom

operator to enter the UPI payments space.

Currently, Reliance Jio is India's largest

telecom operator with over 370 million

subscribers.

Jio's UPI payments feature is only available

for select users now.

RBI revoked PPI licence of Vodafone m-pesa

The RBI has cancelled the Certificate of

Authorisation (CoA) of digital payment wallet

Vodafone m-pesa Limited.

The central bank announced the cancellation

after the company voluntarily surrendered its

CoA.

Following the cancellation of the CoA, the

company cannot transact the business of

issuance and operation of Prepaid Payment

Instruments (PPI).

Cholamandalam Financial to invest Rs 350 cr

Cholamandalam Financial Holdings Ltd's,

Board of Directors approved an investment of

upto Rs 350 cr in the proposed preferential

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issue of Cholamandalam Investment and

Finance Company Limited (CIFCL).

The investment would be in addition to the

Company’s present holding of 46.5 per cent

in CIFCL.

It would be subject to SEBI(Issue of Capital

and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations,

2018.

India Ratings pegs GDP growth at 5.5 per cent

India Ratings and Research estimated India’s

GDP would grow at 5.5% in the fiscal year

2020-21 (FY21), on 22 Jan 2020.

Ind-Ra expects private final consumption

expenditure (PFCE) to grow at 6% in FY21

(FY20: 5.8 per cent).

The agency expects retail and wholesale

inflation to average 3.9 per cent and 1.3 per

cent, respectively, in FY21.

GAIL to invest over Rs 45,000 cr

GAIL India Ltd plans to invest over Rs 45,000

crore over the next five years to expand the

National Gas Pipeline Grid and city gas

distribution network.

GAIL currently operates 12,160-km of

pipeline network and markets two-thirds of

all-natural gas sold in the country.

It is currently executing more than 5,500

kilometers of pipeline projects and a similar

length is at the planning stage.

Raising FDI in Bharti Airtel approved

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has

approved raising of foreign direct investment

in Bharti Airtel to 100 per cent from 49 per

cent allowed earlier.

The company also has the approval of the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that allowed

foreign investors to hold up to 74 per cent

stake in the company.

ICICI Bank launched a new facility

ICICI Bank announced the launch of a

‘cardless cash withdrawal’ facility from its

ATMs.

This service allows the bank customers to

withdraw cash from any ICICI Bank ATM

without a debit card 24X7.

There is no requirement to carry and use

debit card or ATM PIN to withdraw cash for

daily usage.

The daily transaction limit as well as per

transaction limit is set at ₹20,000.

New payments formula for creditors

The government is considering a new

formula for payments to creditors of

distressed companies resolved through the

insolvency and bankruptcy law.

There are two options under consideration.

Under one of the plans, the resolution

amount would be split into two parts –

liquidation amount set by the valuers before

the resolution is started, and anything in

excess of this amount.

Govt to announce Rs 10,000-crore 5-year plan

The government will announce a five-year

scheme in the upcoming Budget, entailing a

total support of Rs 7,000-10,000 crore.

This would be done to honour its pledge of

creating 10,000 farmer producers’

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organisations (FPOs) and help boost their

agricultural income.

The direct budgetary aid would be in the form

of a grant equivalent to the equity capital of

each FPO.

BSNL secured Rs 3000 crore loan from SBI

BSNL has secured a Rs 3,000-crore loan

from State Bank of India, which will enable it

to clear some vendor dues and salaries.

The loan was sanctioned a couple of weeks

ago and Rs 2,500 crore has been utilised so

far, of which Rs 1,700 crore went towards

clearing dues of some of the vendors.

The remaining Rs 500 crore can be used for

paying salaries for December.

RBI released minutes of board meeting

The RBI has taken a step in improving

transparency of its business at the board

meetings by releasing the minutes of the

meeting, for the first time.

The RBI has integrated the supervision

functions into a unified Department of

Supervision, and regulatory functions into a

unified Department of Regulation from

November 1, 2019.

IMF lowered 2019 India's growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)

lowered India’s economic growth forecast to

4.8% for this fiscal year owing to the crisis in

the non-banking financial sector and weak

rural demand.

The IMF projected India’s economy to. grow

by 5.8% next year, which is 1.2 percentage

points less than its earlier forecast.

It also forecast the economy to grow by 6.5

per cent in 2021-22

Printing of Union Budget documents began

The printing of Union Budget documents

2020-21 began on 20 Jan 2020 with the

traditional Halwa ceremony.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

presided over the ceremony in the presence

of Minister of State for Finance, Anurag

Thakur.

The Union Budget will be presented in

Parliament on 1 February 2020.

The Economic Survey will be presented on

31st January 2020.

RBI issued new debit and credit card rules

RBI has issued new rules for credit and debit

cards to improve user convenience and

increase the security of card transactions.

These rules will be applicable for new cards

from 16 March 2020.

RBI asked banks to allow only domestic card

transactions at ATMs and PoS terminals in

India at the time of issuance/reissuance of

the card.

Mastercard to invest $1 bn in India

Mastercard has planned to invest nearly $1

billion in India over the next five years

towards the development of new

technologies and products.

The proposed investment will be made in

India operations, which includes an R&D

facility at Pune and another centre at

Vadodara,

152

Mastercard has also launched its Team

Cashless India programme to engage with

merchants and consumers across the

country.

India’s largest API Banking portal

ICICI Bank will launch an API Banking portal,

consisting the maximum number of virtual

APIs (application programming interfaces)

put together by any Indian bank.

It enables partner companies to co-create

innovative customer solutions in a frictionless

manner.

APIs are a set of instructions, which enable

third party applications to communicate with

the Bank’s various technology applications.

Norms for rights issues of REITs announced

The Securities and Exchange Board of India

(Sebi) announced guidelines pertaining to

rights issue of units by listed real estate

investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure

investment trusts (InvITs).

In November 2019, Sebi had issued

directives for preferential issue and

institutional placements of units by listed

REITs.

Sebi issued 2 separate guidelines – one

each for REITs and InvITs.

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PFC raised $750 million in overseas bonds

Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) has

become the first public sector company to

issue senior unsecured US Dollar bonds with

a tenure of more than 10 years.

PFC has successfully carried out the

issuance of 10.25 year, $750-million bonds

on January 15, under Reg S & 144 A route.

The bonds have a fixed coupon of 3.95 per

annum and a yield of 4.066 per cent.

Revenue dept set monthly GST target in Q4

The revenue dept has set a target of Rs 1.18

lakh cr of average monthly GST collection in

the remaining 3 months of the fiscal (Jan-

Mar).

It has asked the indirect tax dept to focus on

fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) claims as

revealed in data analytics review.

In the first nine months of the fiscal (April-

November), GST collection has averaged

just a tad over Rs 1 lakh crore per month.

Piramal Enterprises sold DRG business

Piramal Enterprises has signed an

agreement for the sale of its Decision

Resources Group (DRG) business to US-

based Clarivate Analytics for $950 million

(over Rs 6,745 crore).

This divestment is expected to be completed

by the end of February 2020.

PEL DRG Dutch HoldCo BV has signed a

definitive agreement for the sale of DRG to

Clarivate Analytics plc for a consideration of

$950 million.

Forex reserves rose by USD 58 mn

153

The country foreign exchange reserves rose

by USD 58 million to reach a life-time high of

USD 461.21 billion in the week to 10 Jan

2020, according to the RBI data.

In the previous week, the reserves had

increased by USD 3.689 billion to USD

461.15 billion.

FCA decreased by USD 367 million to USD

427.582 billion, the RBI data released on 17

Jan 2020 showed.

World economy to grow 2.5% in 2020

It is possible for the world economy to grow

2.5% in 2020, according to the United

Nations World Economic Situation and

Prospects (WESP) 2020 released on 16 Jan

2020.

In a downside scenario, the world economic

growth could slow to just 1.8% in 2020.

The global economic growth slipped to

2.3% in 2019, due to uncertainties.

The GDP growth in the US is forecast at

1.7% in 2020.

IBBI amended voluntary liquidation norms

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of

India (IBBI) has notified changes to the

voluntary liquidation process regulations.

A liquidator has to deposit unclaimed

dividends and undistributed proceeds in a

liquidation process along with any income

earned thereon into the Corporate Voluntary

Liquidation Account (CVLA) before

submission of an application for dissolution of

the corporate person.

UCO Bank to be chosen to pay Russia

India is set to change the bank it uses to

make payments for Russian arms and is

likely to route the money through UCO Bank,

which is also being used to carry out trade

with Iran.

The payments, which are complicated due to

the threat of US sanctions on purchase of

military hardware like the S-400 air defence

systems from Russia, were earlier being

routed through Syndicate Bank.

Exim Bank to raise up to $3 billion

The Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank)

is looking to raise up to $3 billion from

overseas borrowing in the next financial year

(2020-21).

The bank has raised $1.7 billion of overseas

borrowing through bond issuances and

foreign loans in the current financial year.

In August 2019, it raised $300 million

equivalent from issuance of Samurai bond

and USD 50 million from social impact bond.

Future Retail raised $500 million

Future Retail has raised USD 500 million

through dollar-denominated bonds.

The company has successfully priced a USD

500 million Fixed Rate Senior Secured

144A/Reg S Bond for a 5-year (non-call 3-

year) tenor at 5.600 per cent.

As per the company, the bond transaction

also marks the first international bond deal

from the retail and consumer sector space in

India.

BoB and Kotak Mahindra Bank exit Equifax

154

Bank of Baroda exited from credit information

bureau Equifax Credit Information Services

for a consideration of Rs 91.03 crore.

In a regulatory filing, BoB sold 1,35,00,000

shares of face value of Rs 10 for Rs 67.43 per

unit.

Kotak Mahindra Bank also existed from

Equifax Credit Information Services.

It sold 5.56% stake in the credit information

bureau for a consideration of Rs 50.5 cr.

Mercedes-Benz India to cross 100 Mark In 2020

Mercedes-Benz is in the No.1 position in

India in the luxury car segment.

The company will be growing its dealership

network too and it will cross the 100 mark in

2020.

The company currently has 95 dealers in the

country and crossing the 100 mark will

certainly be a milestone.

It has also announced the launch of the EQ

electric sub-brand and the GLE SUV in India.

India plans cuts to imports from Malaysia

India is planning to cut some imports from

Turkey and widen curbs on palm oil from

Malaysia to oil, gas and other products.

India, the world's biggest buyer of edible oils,

has already effectively stopped importing

palm oil from Malaysia.

New Delhi is now planning to restrict buying

of petroleum, aluminium ingots, liquefied

natural gas, computer parts and

microprocessors from Malaysia.

India to get USD 1 bn investment from Amazon

Amazon.com Inc chief Jeff Bezos announced

USD 1 billion investment in India.

It will help in bringing small and medium

businesses online.

He also committed to export USD 10 billion

worth of India-made goods by 2025.

Bezos was on a 3-day visit to India from 14

Jan 2020 and spoke at the SMBhav summit -

an Amazon India gathering for small and

medium businesses.

Government seeks Rs 19,000 crore dividend

The government is seeking a record Rs

19,000 crore in dividend from state oil

companies, about 5% more than 2019, to

shore up its finances.

ONGC and Indian Oil, the biggest in the club,

have been asked to pay about 60% of the

total.

While ONGC has been asked to pay a

dividend of about Rs 6,500 cr, Indian Oil is

expected to shell out Rs 5,500 crore, BPCL

Rs 2,500 crore, and GAIL Rs 2,000 cr.

KKR infused $150 mn capital in India NBFC arm

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) is making a

fresh equity commitment of $150 million,

backing its wholesale non-banking credit arm

KKR India Financial Services (KIFSL).

This is the second time the parent is infusing

‘confidence’ capital after putting in $100

million in 2009.

KKR will fund its commitment to KIFSL

through the firm’s balance sheet.

SEBI extended deadline to split CMD post

155

SEBI has deferred by two years to April 2022

its directive for listed companies to split the

roles of chairman and managing director.

Under the SEBI norms, the top 500 listed

entities by market capitalisation were

mandated to comply with the requirement of

separation of the roles of chairperson and

managing director (MD) or chief executive

officer (CEO) with effect from April 1, 2020.

Retail inflation hits 5 year high of 7.35%

Retail inflation surged to an over 5-year high

in Dec 2019.

Inflation based on the consumer price index

(CPI) rose to 7.35% in December 2019,

against 2.18 per cent in December 2018.

December inflation was the highest since

July 2014, when it stood at 7.39 per cent.

Food inflation shot up to 14.12% in Dec 2019

from 10.01% in Nov 2019 on account of rising

prices of vegetables and pulses.

931 cases of fraudulent GST refund claims

Revenue Department has identified 931

cases of fraudulent GST refund claims

through Data Analytics.

Refunds of over 28,000 cr rupees have been

filed by over 27,000 taxpayers so far in the

current year.

Dept has booked 6,641 cases involving 7,164

entities till November 2019.

The maximum number of GST frauds cases

has been booked in Kolkata zone followed by

Delhi and Jaipur.

India to double the US crude oil imports

India plans to double crude oil imports from

the US as part of its effort to reduce

dependence on the volatile West Asia region.

Oil purchases from the US, which started in

2017-18, have already crossed about 6

million tonnes a year.

India is heavily dependant on oil imports from

West Asia.

Its top 3 suppliers in 2018-19 were Iraq,

followed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE

RBI released a report

The Reserve Bank of India has released a

report “National Strategy for Financial

Inclusion (NSFI): 2019-2024“.

The National Strategy for Financial Inclusion

for the period 2019-2024 has been

formulated by RBI under the aegis of

Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee

(FIAC).

The report has been ratified by the Financial

Stability Development Council (FSDC).

RBI amended KYC norms

The RBI has amended the KYC norms

allowing banks and other lending institutions

regulated by it to use Video-based Customer

Identification Process (V-CIP).

The V-CIP will be a consent-based method.

The regulated entities will have to ensure that

the video recording is stored in a safe and

secure manner and bears the date and time

stamp.

Union Budget to be presented on Feb 1

156

Union Budget will be presented on 1 Feb

2020 and the Economic Survey on 31 Jan

2020.

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary

Affairs met on 8 Jan 2020 in New Delhi and

recommended that Budget session to be

convened in two phases.

The first phase of Budget Session will be from

31st January to 11th February 2020 while the

second part of the session is expected to be

from 2 March- 3 April 2020.

CCEA approved strategic disinvestment

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs,

CCEA has given in-principle approval for the

sale of equity held by four Central Public

Sector Enterprises and two-state PSUs in

Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited-NINL.

It has approved strategic disinvestment of

49.78% equity shareholding of Minerals and

Metals Trading Corporation Limited and

10.10 per cent of National Mineral

Development Corporation.

RBI revises supervisory framework for UCBs

The Reserve Bank of India has revised its

supervisory framework for Urban Co-

operative Banks (UCBs).

A UCB may be placed under the supervisory

action framework under the following

conditions:

When its Net Non-Performing Asset (NPA)

exceeds 6% of its net advances.

When its Capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets

Ratio (CRAR) falls below 9%.

India's GDP growth for 2019-20 estimated at 5%

The Indian economy is estimated to grow at

5% in 2019-20 as against 6.8% in the

previous fiscal.

It is according to the first advanced estimates

of the national income released by National

Statistical Office (NSO).

The decline has been mainly on account of

deceleration in manufacturing sector growth,

which is expected to come down to 2% in

2019-20 from 6.2% in the year-ago fiscal.

Shivalik Mercantile Co-op. Bank to become SFB

The RBI has granted “in-principle” approval

to Shivalik Mercantile Co-operative Bank

Limited for the transition into a Small Finance

Bank (SFB).

The transition into an SFB will be under the

“Scheme on the voluntary transition of Urban

Co-operative Bank into a Small Finance

Bank”.

The RBI had come with a scheme on the

voluntary transition of UCBs into SFB on

September 27, 2018.

Uber ties up with Hyundai

Uber Technologies Inc and automaker

Hyundai Motor have teamed up to develop

electric air taxis.

The partnership aims to make small self-

flying cars to ease urban congestion.

The team is heading towards a goal of

launching Uber Air by 2023 and urban air

mobility service in 2028.

Hyundai is the first carmaker to join Uber’s air

taxi project.

RBI buys & sells bonds worth ₹10k crore each

157

In the third special open market

operation (OMO), the RBI bought ₹10,000

crores of three long-term securities and sold

the same amount of three short-term bonds.

Earlier RBI had announced to simultaneous

purchase and sale of G-

Secs under OMOs for ₹10,000 crores each.

OMO is an activity by a central bank to give

(or take) liquidity in its currency to (or from) a

bank or a group of banks.

India exports 3.2 million bales of cotton

India exported 3.2 million bales of cotton

during the first quarter of the cotton year that

began on October 1.

It is according to the trade body Cotton

Association of India (CAI).

CAI is engaged in providing a wide range of

services to the entire cotton value chain since

its incorporation in 1921.

RBI allows 24x7 forex market options

The Reserve Bank of India said select banks

in India can offer forex rates to Indian clients

beyond the inter-bank market hours.

These banks currently run from 9 am to 5 pm.

In effect, this opens up the forex market in

India round the clock, allowing Indians to

hedge their foreign exchange risks at any

time of the day.

RBI governor - Shaktikanta Das.

Adani Ports to buy stake in Krishnapatnam Port

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone

(APSEZ) announced the acquisition of

75% stake in Andhra Pradesh-based

Krishnapatnam Port Company for an

enterprise value of Rs 13,572 crore.

The proposed acquisition is the largest by

APSEZ so far and would be funded through

internal accruals and existing cash balance.

This acquisition will increase Adani's market

share to 27% (from the current 22%).

GST revenue crossed Rs1 Lakh cr in Dec 2019

The GST revenue collection has crossed one

lakh crore rupees in December 2019, which

is a growth of 16 per cent over the revenue

collected in the same month in 2018.

The total GST collected during Dec 2019 was

one lakh three thousand and 184 crore

rupees.

Finance Ministry said, a total of over 81 lakh

GSTR 3B returns were filed for the month of

November up to 31st December 2019.

RBI bought 10,00 cr in 2nd special OMO

In the 2nd special open market operation

(OMO), the RBI bought Rs10,000 cr of long-

term government securities and sold Rs

8,501 crore of three short-term bonds.

It had announced to purchase and sell

simultaneously government securities under

OMO for 10,000 crore rupees each.

Though RBI offered to sell four securities in

the auction, it accepted bids for three bids

only.

SBI cut external rate by 25 bps

SBI announced a reduction in its external

benchmark-based rate by 25 basis points to

7.80% from 8.05%.

158

The Reserve Bank of India has adopted the

Repo rate to be the External Benchmark rate.

Repo rate is the interest rate, at which the

RBI lends funds to the banks.

The new rates will be applicable from

January 1, 2020.