Fintech major Slice has received the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) approval for its merger with North East Small Finance Bank, the company said.
The Guwahati bench of the NCLT has sanctioned the scheme of arrangement and amalgamation involving Garagepreneurs Internet, Quadrillion Finance, Intergalactory Foundry, RGVN (North East) Microfinance,
and North East Small Finance Bank, the release states. This paves the way for the official merger, combining Slice’s digital prowess with North East Small Finance Bank’s banking expertise to deliver a superior financial experience to Indian consumers the company said.
It added that in the coming months, both organisations will ensure a smooth transition for all customers, employees, and stakeholders, with a focus on maintaining the highest standards of service and support.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu laid a foundation, inaugurated and inked deals with multiple companies here worth up to Rs 3,683 crore, which has the potential to generate 15,280 jobs.
Among the inaugurations were 15 industrial projects with a total investment of Rs 1,570 crore to generate 8,480 jobs,
followed by a foundation for seven projects with an investment of Rs 900 crore and the potential to create 2,740 jobs. The CM also inked five deals involving an investment of Rs 1,213 crore with employment scope for 4,060 jobs. Encouraging business activities at Sri City, Naidu noted that 220 companies are operating from its premises with representation from 30 countries.
He noted that Sri City received investments worth $ 4.6 billion and clocked exports worth $4 billion through companies such as Isuzu, Kobelco, Pepsi, Alstom,Foxconn and others.
Further, Naidu said the southern state will work towards making Sri City one of the best special economic zones (SEZ) in the world which can be at par with Shenzhen in China or even better than that.
Nepal will soon be supplying power to Bihar under a medium-term sales agreement, which will be the first such instance.
An official statement that India allowed Nepal to export an additional 251 MW of electricity to the country. India’s Designated Authority for Cross-Border Trade has approved an additional 251 MW of power exports from 12 hydropower projects in Nepal.
As a result of this decision, Nepal will now be exporting 941 MW of hydropower from 28 projects. Prior the approval for the additional MWs, Nepal was exporting 690 MW of electricity from 16 projects, the statement said.
In the last financial year, Nepal had sold NPR 16.9 billion worth of electricity.
Back in October 2021, New Delhi had approved the export of 39 MW of electricity from Nepal for the first time. The figure has grown more than 24 times in less than three years, said the statement.
India and Nepal had entered into an agreement for long-term trade of power that aims at the sale of up to 10,000 MW of power from Nepal to India in the decade.
Net foreign direct investment (FDI) during the April-June period of the current financial year was $6.9 billion, compared to $4.7 billion in the year-ago period, the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India showed.
The increase was due to an improvement in gross inward FDI, which grew by 26.4 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to $22.5 billion during Q1 of 2024-25.
Manufacturing, financial services, communication services, computer services, and electricity and other energy sectors accounted for about 80 per cent of the gross FDI inflows.
“With around 75 percent of the flows, the major source countries were Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands, the US, and Belgium,” RBI’s State of the Economy report said.
Net FDI flow dropped sharply to $9.8 billion in FY24, from $28 billion in the previous year. In FY22, net FDI flows into the country were $38.6 billion.
Delhi airport has become the country's first airport to get the net zero carbon emission status under the Airport Council International's accreditation programme, DIAL said.
GMR Group-led DIAL is the operator of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital.
Initially, the airport targeted to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2030, and the target has been achieved well ahead of schedule through various initiatives, including the adoption of renewable energy, development of green airport infrastructures, and promotion of electric vehicles, it said in a release.
DIAL said IGIA has become the first airport in India to successfully achieve Net Zero Carbon Emission Airport status under the Airport Council International's (ACI) Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) programme.
ACA programme provides a comprehensive framework for active carbon management at airports, encouraging best practices in carbon reduction,
and offering recognition for achievements. There are 5 levels of accreditation, and level 5 is the highest. By achieving level 5 certification, Delhi Airport has demonstrated significant progress in reducing its scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 90 percent. The remaining residual emissions have been addressed through approved offset removals,
fulfilling the stringent requirements of the ACA programme.
ACI is a trade association of the world's airports.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has released a book written by BJP leader Tarun Chugh which, captures the "transformative" changes brought by the Modi government in a host of sectors and regions, including in the poll-bound Jammu and Kashmir.
The book ‘Modi's Governance Triumph: Reshaping India's Path to Prosperity’ was "inspired" by the prime minister's decades-long public life which was always "dedicated" to the country.
World Humanitarian Day, established by the United Nations, is observed on August 19 annually to honour humanitarian workers who risk their lives to provide aid and assistance to people in need. The day is also an occasion to raise awareness of global humanitarian efforts.
The day aims to encourage global action to support those affected by crises, such as natural disasters.
This World Humanitarian Day, we demand an end to these violations and the impunity with which they are committed. It is time for those in power to end impunity and #ActForHumanity.
WHD is a campaign by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Banks in India have seen a sharp rise in their borrowing through market instruments, crossing the Rs 9 trillion mark, as they grapple with a persistent gap between credit growth and deposit growth.
According to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as of July 26, scheduled commercial banks, including regional rural banks, small finance banks, and payments banks,
reported borrowings of Rs 9.32 trillion.This marks a 19 percent increase from Rs 7.84 trillion recorded on July 28 of last year.It’s also 20 percent higher compared to the borrowing figures of Rs 7.75 trillion for April 5 of this year.
Overall, the borrowing of all scheduled banks reached Rs 9.37 trillion, up 18.7 percent from Rs 7.89 trillion during the same time last year
The RBI’s fortnightly data highlights that these borrowings primarily represent short-term funding methods such as interbank repo operations and tri-party repos, according to a report by The Economic Times. The news report also noted that bank borrowing figures include issuances of additional Tier-1 bonds and infrastructure bonds,
although certificates of deposit (CDs) are not included. Notably, the issuance of infrastructure bonds has accelerated over the past few months, reflecting banks’ efforts to manage liquidity and meet credit demand.
The report further indicated that, adjusted for the effects of the HDFC merger, deposit accretion for FY24 was around Rs 23 trillion,
while credit accretion was close to Rs 22 trillion. Given that credit accretion constitutes more than 75-80 per cent of deposit accretion, banks are increasingly turning to market borrowings to fill the gap. Day-to-day liquidity mismatches also continue to push banks towards short-term borrowing.
IndusInd Bank said that the Reserve Bank of India accorded approval to the lender to set up a unit to undertake asset management business of mutual funds.
In a regulatory filing, the lender said that a wholly owned subsidiary will undertake the asset management business of the Mutual Fund along with infusing equity capital in the said asset management subsidiary.
Following the accord from the RBI, the wholly owned subsidiary of the IndusInd Bank would soon move the capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) with an application to launch the mutual funds business.
The India unit of KPMG has entered into a strategic alliance with Zscaler, an American cloud security company. The alliance is aimed to jointly provide ‘Zero Trust principle-aligned data security services to customers in India’. This includes cloud-delivered protection of endpoints, cloud workloads, identity, and data.
According to KPMG in India’s 2023 India CEO Outlook, 77 percent of CEOs in India compared to 82 percent CEOs globally view generative AI as a double-edged sword, as it can both enhance cybersecurity efforts and create new vulnerabilities for adversaries to exploit.The survey added that several organisations in India are grappling to establish robust cyber defence mechanism.
As part of KPMG India-Zscaler alliance, the two companies will offer broad security services to help organisations understand and effectively manage cyber threats, unique to their businesses. Also, there will be an increased focus on improving management and visibility.
The Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and New and Renewable Energy, Shri Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi launched pilot for transformation of 60 Fair Price Shops into Jan Poshan Kendra. On the occasion, he also launched the FPS Sahay application, Mera Ration app 2.0, Quality Management System, Quality Manual Handbook, Contract Manual FCI and,
NABL Accreditation of 3 Laboratories.
While addressing the event, the Union Minister said that all the 6 programmes launched will further strengthen food security ecosystem while bringing in transparency, ensuring strict quality control, curb malnutrition and also prevent leakages in the system.
During the launch of the Pilot for the transformation of 60 Fair Price Shops in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh into Jan Poshan Kendra, Shri Joshi said that the Jan Poshan Kendra provides a solution to the demand for Fair Price Shop (FPS) dealers across India to raise their income level.
The Jan Poshan Kendra which was taken up as part of the first 100 days programme of the Central Government will have provision for storing 50% of products under the category of nutrition while the rest for keeping other household items. The Union Minister also interacted with fair price shop dealers.
The initiatives by the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India will act as a catalyst for such transformation. He enumerated that Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) has been extended for another five years with an estimated financial outlay of around Rs 12 lakh crore to increase the ambit of food security in the country.
Developed by SIDBI, “FPS-Sahay,” is an on-demand Invoice Based Financing (IBF) application designed to offer completely paperless, presence-less, collateral-free, cash flow-based financing to FPS dealers. Mera Ration App 2.0 mobile app is launched with more value-added features for the beneficiaries across the nation.
Department Officials (both Central and State) on their part will also have access to vital information related to ration cards and PDS.
The Contract Manual of Food Corporation of India (FCI) was also inaugurated.The contract manual of FCI is envisaged as the guiding principle for removing all ambiguities,ensuring competitiveness and bringing utmost transparency to contracts
A study by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) staff on Monday indicated that projected capital expenditure by private companies could rise significantly to Rs 2.45 trillion in FY25, up from Rs 1.59 trillion in FY24.
In FY24, the projects sanctioned by banks and financial institutions reached a record high of Rs 3.90 trillion,
of which 54 percent was planned to be invested by the end of FY23, 30 percent is provided for FY25, and the remaining 16 percent is envisaged to be invested in the subsequent years. The phasing profile of pipeline projects financed through all three channels suggests that the envisaged capex could increase significantly to Rs 2.45 trillion in 2024-25 (FY25) from
Rs 1.59 trillion in 2023-24 (FY24),” the RBI study highlighted. The other channels of financing include borrowing through the external commercial borrowing (ECB) route and the initial public offering (IPO) route.
According to the RBI, the infrastructure sector continued to attract the major share of envisaged capital investment,
led by the ‘roads & bridges’ and ‘power’ sectors, reflecting the government’s push towards infrastructure development. It added that on the downside, global financial market volatility, protracted geopolitical tensions, and geo-economic fragmentation could dampen investment plans.
State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation plans to invest Rs 1.7 lakh crore over the next five years to grow its core oil refining and fuel marketing business as well as in 'future big bets' of petrochemicals and green energy, its chairman G Krishnakumar has said.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), currently, owns about 14 percent of India's oil refining capacity and about a quarter of the fuel retailing network. It plans to grow these businesses while foraying into newer areas.
The firm is now implementing the first phase of a multi-decade aspirational journey in the form of 'Project Aspire' -
its five-year strategic framework that is based on two fundamental pillars - 'Nurturing the Core' and 'Investing in Future Big Bets', he said in company's annual report. Project Aspire, with a planned capex outlay of around Rs 1.70 lakh crore over five years, will enable us to create long-term value for our stakeholders while preserving our planet for future generation.
The company is targeting net zero carbon emissions from its operations by 2040. BPCL is implementing new petrochemical projects at two of its three oil refineries. A Rs 49,000 crore ethylene cracker project is being implemented at the Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh, alongside raising oil refining capacity from the current 7.8 million tonnes to 11 million tonnes annually,
by 2029. A polypropylene project is being set up at Kochi refinery in Kerala by 2027. The firm is also investing around Rs 300 crore in 72 MWp of solar project in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management's fund invested $150 million in Continuum Green Energy, a company co-founded by Arvind Bansal and Vikash Saraf from IIM Ahmedabad. This investment values the renewable energy firm at $1 billion. The funds will aid Continuum’s expansion of wind and solar projects, aiming to decrease coal dependency and reduce emissions.
Earlier this year, the founders bought a majority stake from Morgan Stanley, now holding a 26% stake. Continuum plans an initial public offering, with Deutsche Bank advising on the recent fund raise.
The Government has undertaken various measures for promoting the handloom sector in the country. To provide end to end support for promotion of handloom sector and welfare of handloom workers, Ministry of Textiles is implementing the National Handloom Development Programme and Raw Material Supply Scheme across the country.
Under the National Handloom Development Programme, financial assistance is provided to eligible handloom organisations/workers for upgraded looms & accessories, solar lighting units, construction of workshed, product & design development, technical and common infrastructure, marketing of handloom products in domestic/overseas markets, etc.
Under Weavers’ MUDRA Loan/Concessional Credit Scheme, margin money assistance for the individual weaver and Handloom Organizations; interest subvention, and credit guarantee fees on loans for three years are provided.
The guidelines also provide for financial support for Awardee weavers above 60 years of age in indigent circumstances.
Under the Raw Material Supply Scheme, the Ministry provides transport subsidy, for transportation of yarn to the doorstep of the beneficiary, and a 15% Price Subsidy on Cotton Hank Yarn, Domestic Silk, Woollen and Linen yarn, and blended yarn of natural fibers.
For export promotion of handloom products, the Handloom Export Promotion Council has been participating/organizing
International marketing fairs/events for providing prominence to Indian handloom products globally.
During the celebration of 7th August 2015 as National Handloom Day, ‘India Handloom’ Brand was launched for branding of high-quality handloom products to promote the production of niche handloom products with high quality with zero defects and zero effect on the environment.
