The European Union (EU) and India launched an Expression of Interest (EoI) for startups working in Battery Recycling Technologies for Electric Vehicles (EVs) for a matchmaking event. The matchmaking aims to enhance the cooperation between European and Indian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and startups in the clean and green technologies sector.
The intended exchange of knowledge and expertise will be instrumental in advancing the circularity of rare materials and transitioning towards carbon neutrality in both India and the EU. Twelve innovators, six each from India and the EU will be selected and get a pitching opportunity during the Matchmaking Event, scheduled for June 2024.
Every year on April 10, the world celebrates World Homoeopathy Day, a day dedicated to honouring the birth anniversary of Dr Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homoeopathy. This day serves as a platform to raise awareness about homoeopathy, its principles, and its contributions to global healthcare. The theme for World Homeopathy Day is “Homeoparivar: One Health, One Family.
The 14-member Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) is set to host its first clean economy investor forum in Singapore on June 5-6. India will also showcase selected ‘investible sustainable infrastructure projects’ at the forum, with focus on energy transition, sustainable aviation fuel, battery storage hydrogen, green data centres, transport and EV.
IPEF has four pillars — trade, supply chain resilience, clean economy, and fair economy (tax and anti-corruption). It was launched in May 2022 and currently includes 14 partners – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.
Managing director and chief executive officer of the beleaguered Paytm Payments Bank, Surinder Chawla, has resigned “on account of personal reasons”. The company said the resignation would be effective from June 26 but did not name any potential successor to Chawla, who was appointed as the MD and CEO of the company in January 2023 after it received a nod from RBI.
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Policybazaar to offer products on the platform. The partnership entails inclusion across multiple business lines of the Policybazaar platform including ‘Policybazaar.com’ for retail audiences, ‘PB for Business’ for corporates, and ‘PB Partners’ for channel partners.
Private equity (PE) firm Bain Capital sold its remaining 1.08 per cent stake in private sector lender Axis Bank. The affiliate firms Bc Asia Investments and Integral Investments South Asia IV sold a total of 33.37 million shares at Rs 1,071 apiece to mop up Rs 3,575 crore. Among the buyers were a clutch of domestic as well as foreign funds.
After Chabahar in Iran, India has gained the rights to operate a second overseas port, Sittwe, in Myanmar. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has approved a proposal for India Ports Global (IPGL) to take over the operations of the entire port located on the Kaladan River. IPGL is a company 100 per cent owned by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
Sittwe Port has been developed under a framework agreement between India and Myanmar for the construction and operation of a Multimodal Transit Transport Facility on the Kaladan River, connecting the Sittwe Port in Myanmar with the state of Mizoram in India.
Small business loans under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana witnessed record growth in disbursals in FY24 and also crossed the milestone of ₹5 lakh crore, according to latest Government data. Loan disbursal under PMMY reached a record high of Rs 5.20 lakh crore in the year ended March 2024, marking a significant increase from Rs 4.40 lakh crore in previous financial year.
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is a flagship scheme of Government of India. The scheme facilitates micro credit/Loan up to Rs. 10 lakhs to income generating micro enterprises engaged in the non farm sector in manufacturing, trading or service sectors including activities allied to agriculture such as poultry, dairy, beekeeping, etc.
The loans under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana can be availed through eligible Member Lending Institutions (MLIs), which include:
Public Sector Banks
Private Sector Banks
State operated cooperative banks
Rural banks from regional sector
Micro Finance Institution
Non-Banking Finance Company
Small Finance Banks (SFBs)
Other financial intermediary approved by Mudra Ltd.
The scheme has been classified under three categories as 'SHISHU', 'KISHORE' and 'TARUN' to signify the stage of growth / development and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit/ entrepreneur.
Shishu: Covering loans upto Rs.50,000/-.
Kishore: Covering loans above Rs.50,000/- and upto Rs. 5 lakhs.
Tarun: Covering loans above Rs. 5 lakhs and upto Rs. 10 lakhs.
The United States and Britain have announced a new partnership in which they will be working together to address concerns about the safety of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Under the formal partnership, Britain and the United States plan to conduct joint testing exercises on publicly accessible AI models.
In a move to smoothen the processes for 100 5G Labs across academic institutions in India, one of the "Experimental Licence module for 100 5G Labs" was launched during a 5G workshop at IIT Madras. This initiative aims to simplify the experimental licence requirements for these institutions, facilitating smoother operations and fostering innovation in the 5G domain.
The primary objective behind this initiative is to cultivate competencies and engagement in 5G technologies among students and start-up communities. These labs will be using 5G frequency bands for carrying out various experiments. This license is currently being issued on “Self-declaration Mode” from the Saralsanchar portal of DoT through National Single Window System.
According to the Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2024, India for the first time recorded a decline in unicorn creation since 2017. India in 2023 had 67 unicorns, which is one less than 68 such startups last year, according to the latest Hurun Global Unicorn Index. The US led the list with 703 unicorns, up 37 from 2022, and China woth 340 unicorns.
UK and EU ranked No 4 and No 5 in the list, respectively. The total value of the world's unicorns have reached US$5 trillion, equivalent to last year's GDP of Japan. The report noted that the top 10 unicorns were in China and the US. Indians have founded more offshore unicorns than any other country, cofounding 109 unicorns outside of India compared with 67 in India.
According to data released by the General Insurance Council, premiums of general insurers grew by 14.24 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 2.45 trillion in FY24. Non-life insurers posted a 12.78 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in gross direct premium underwritten in 2023-24 (FY24), reaching Rs 2.89 trillion, compared to 16.4 per cent in the previous financial year.
Public sector general insurers clocked an 8.99 per cent growth in premium to Rs 90,344.49 crore, whereas their private sector counterparts witnessed a 17.53 per cent increase to Rs 1.55 trillion. Among companies, the industry leader, The New India Assurance Company, saw a 7.4 per cent Y-o-Y growth in premium to Rs 37,035.19 crore.
Among other major insurers, HDFC Ergo General Insurance’s premium increased by 11.61 per cent to Rs 18,567.56 crore, whereas United India Insurance Company’s premium surged 12.51 per cent to Rs 19,851.71 crore and The Oriental Insurance’s premium rose 17.1 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 18,285.82 crore in FY24.
Marking the first such transaction after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued fresh guidelines for the instrument, State Bank of India and Standard Chartered Bank India carried out a Credit Default Swap (CDS) trade worth ₹25 crore. The trade involved a 1-year rupee CDS featuring REC.
Credit default swaps are derivative instruments that provide a form of insurance against the risk of default of the issuer of a bond.
