Weekly Business News: India Business News Weekly Roundup 1 to 6 February 2021

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India Business News Weekly Roundup 1 to 6 February 2021. News on Corporates, policies, budget, start-up world, funds, funding. Here’s a roundup of all the India business news that created the buzz in India this week:

Corporates – India Business News Weekly Roundup 1 to 6 February 2021

• PayPal Inc. will be winding down its payment operations in India and shut down its domestic payment services starting 1 April 2021.
• Kishore Biyani has moved SAT challenging an order issued by Sebi barring him from accessing the securities market for one year.
• Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC Ltd has settled the matter with Sebi and paid Rs.9.37 lakh as settlement charges without admitting or denying findings of fact and conclusions of law.
• International Financial Services Centre Authority has approved ICICI Lombard’s setting up an IFSC Insurance Office in GIFT City, Gandhinagar.
• BookMyShow has launched its movie streaming service that will offer users a pay-per-view format to either buy or rent movies.
• Shaktikanta Das, RBI governor reportedly said to have received three bids for Punjab Maharashtra Cooperative Bank.
• RBI has announced an integrated ombudsman scheme wherein it wants to integrate ombudsman for banks, NBFCs, and wallets under one centralized scheme.
• UPI recorded 2.3 billion transactions worth Rs.4.2 trillion in January 2021.
• Domino’s has launched a Hindi version of its food ordering app, a pilot for which was conducted in November 2020.
• Data shared by RBI with RTI activist Biswanath Goswami reportedly shows that as of March 2020, loans worth over Rs.62,600 crores of wilful defaulters have been written off. Mehul Choksi-owned Gitanjali Gems was the top wilful defaulter, accounting for Rs 5,071 crores of NPA, out of which banks wrote off Rs.622 crores.
• Ministry of Road Transport will now look after the development of ropeway and alternate mobility solutions.
• PhonePe has allotted stock options worth around Rs.1,458.60 crores to its 2,200 employees.
• PhonePe was partially spun off from Flipkart in December 2020.
• As per legal experts, ban on Kishore Biyani and others from dealing in the securities market or shares of Future Retail may not affect the proposed Future Retail-RIL deal.
• Bain Capital is said to be in talks to buy Parksons Packaging for around Rs.3,000 crores.
• Parksons is India’s largest independent folding carton manufacturer having revenue of Rs.500 crores in FY 2019-20.
• As it looks to become a net zero-carbon company by 2035, RIL has sourced the world’s first consignment of ‘carbon-neutral oil’ from America.
• As per a report in TOI, “a PMLA court has held that it appeared former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar had misused her official position in granting loans to V N Dhoot of Videocon group companies and got illegal gains through her husband Deepak Kochhar”.
• PNB Scam: Nirav Modi’s sister, a Belgian national and her husband a British national have approached a court in India seeking cancelation of non-bailable warrants against them after the PMLA court accepted their plea for turning approver in the case.
• M&M is recalling 1,577 units of its SUV Thar with diesel powertrain to replace a faulty engine part, camshaft.

India Business News Weekly Roundup 1 to 6 February 2021

• In a case pertaining to alleged insider trading between March and April 2017, Sebi has reportedly barred Kishore Biyani, Future Group CEO, from accessing the securities market for a period of one year. He has also been reportedly barred from selling, buying, or dealing with Future Retail securities for two years.
• Flipkart Wholesale, the B2B marketplace of Flipkart, will offer grocery on its app for kiranas.
• JSW Energy has decided to terminate its resolution plans to take over Ind-Bharat Energy for which it had offered Rs.1000 crores.
• Hero Motocrop will set up a separate vertical to drive its new business of Harley products and merchandise distribution.
• Instagram is adding a new feature, Recently Deleted, that will allow users to restore or review deleted posts.
• Adani Total Gas has signed a 3-year deal to import LNG from French major Total’s portfolio.
• RBI has brought all deposit-taking NBFCs, non-deposit NBFCs with assets of Rs 5000 crores and more and also urban co-operative banks with assets of Rs.500 crores and above under a risk-based internal audit framework.
• Delhi High Court has directed Trai to ensure complete and strict implementation of the regulation issued by it in 2018 for curbing unsolicited commercial communications.
• Google is reportedly closing its in-house Stadia video game studio, leaving the job of making titles for play in its cloud-hosted arena to outside developers.
• Tata group is gearing to build a military aircraft in a boost to supporting local defense capabilities and reducing dependence on costly imports.
• The government is targeting the stake sale of BPCL and Air India by Sept 2021 and to bring out LIC IPO around Oct 2021.
• Delhi High Court has asked Future Retail to maintain the status quo with respect to its deal with Reliance Retail.
• Delhi High Court has reportedly issued a notice to the Central government and others on a petition seeking direction to e-commerce websites to display MRP, seller, and other details at e-commerce websites.
• Sebi has slapped a total penalty of Rs.2.38 crores on 23 entities for indulging in fraudulent trading activities in Steel Exchange India’s shares.
• After the directive from I&B Ministry, Delhi, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu governments have allowed operating cinema halls at 100% occupancy.
• RBI has appointed an external firm to conduct a special audit of the entire IT infrastructure of HDFC bank.
• As per industry analysts, an increase in basic customs duty on import of mobile phone sub-parts will mostly impact the below Rs.10,000 category.
• Indian Oil Corp is likely to create a subsidiary for its retail assets. The government had announced plans to monetize the pipeline assets of the firm.
• TVS Motor has introduced a new platform called TVS intelliGO, a stop-and-go technology that switches off the engine during idling and long transient stops.

India Business News Weekly Roundup 1 to 6 February 2021

• IRCTC is resuming e-catering services at 62 stations from today.
• Travel Agents Association of India has suggested that the government should give impetus to tourism to generate more cash flow and it should also ensure that the unutilized LTC benefits be carried forward in the coming two years.
• RBI is likely to maintain the status quo on the benchmark interest rate.
• ED arrested Anoop Gupta, Director of KRBL Limited (selling India Gate Basmati rice) in Rs.3600 crores AgustaWestland VVIP chopper money laundering case.
• I&B Ministry has allowed 100% occupancy in multiplexes and cinema halls beginning 1 February 2020.
• Myntra had to revamp its logo after a lot of people objected to the colors of a particular letter in the logo.
• A special PMLA court in Mumbai issued summons to Chanda Kochhar and other accused to appear before the court on February 12.
• Amazon India has added assistance in Kannada for seller registration and account management.
• The government may give Cairn Energy one of the surrendered oil fields in lieu of the USD 1.4 billion it has to pay them.
• Ibis chain of hotels is working on to add 500 keys across its four properties.
• Anurag Mehrotra has returned as the MD of Ford India after the proposed JV between Ford and M&M was called off.
• Gurgaon bench of RERA has issued notices to Adani M2K Projects for advertising a project without getting it registered with the authorities.

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Start-up world, funds, funding and investments – India Business News Weekly Roundup 1 to 6 February 2021

• Vested Finance, an online investment platform, is said to have raised $3.6 million as part of its seed funding round. US-based Moving Capital, Ovo Fund, TenOneTen Ventures, Inflection Point Ventures, and Venture Catalysts participated in the round.
• Mobile Premier League has raised $95 million in a Series D funding round led by Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures at a valuation of $945 million.
• InnerHour, a mental health platform, has raised $5.2 million from Lightbox. This is one of the largest fundraisings in the Indian mental health ecosystem to date.
• Bharti Airtel will raise up to Rs.7,500 crores through debt instruments.
• Indegene, a healthcare solutions firm, is raising $200 million from US-based investment firms Carlyle Group and Brighton Park Capital.
• MediBuddy, a digital healthcare platform, has raised $40 million in a Series B round of funding. The firm had earlier raised $20 million in June 2020.
• Public sector banks are planning to raise around Rs.10,000 crores through a mix of equity and debt in Feb & March 2021 to meet regulatory requirements and support credit pick up.
• Tata Electronics will invest ₹5,763 crores for making mobile phone components and Pegatron will invest ₹1,100 crores to make mobile phones in Tamil Nadu.
• ReNew Power is looking to raise $460 million through green bonds in rupee equivalent to finance its domestic debt.

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India Business News Weekly Roundup 1 to 6 February 2021

Tie-ups:

• Zomato is said to have signed an agreement with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to onboard 300 food street vendors in six cities on its platform.
• INOX Leisure has signed a pan-India cinema ad deal with Manyavar.
• Tata Steel BSL has partnered with Fareye, a software logistics firm, to implement a digital transformation process for optimizing transportation costs and improving in-plant and in-transit visibility.
• HCL Technologies has signed a five-year Digital Workplace Services agreement with Airbus to enhance user experience and improve service quality.
• Hindustan Aeronautics has signed a contract with GE Aviation of over Rs.100 crores for the development and supply of ring forgings for its commercial engine and Aviation military programs and small retailers.
• Tata Consumer Products has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 100% stake in Kottaram Agro Foods, maker of Soulfull brand of breakfast cereals and millet-based snacks, for Rs.155.8 crores.
• Dr Reddy’s has partnered with the Russian Direct Investment Fund to conduct the clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine, which is said to be 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid-19.
• Bharat Biotech International has signed an agreement with Ocugen Inc, which will allow Ocugen to co-develop, supply, and commercialize its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin in the US market.
• Edelweiss General Insurance has entered into an exclusive partnership with Okinawa Autotech, an electric two-wheeler manufacturer, to provide a comprehensive insurance policy.
• PNB Housing Finance is looking to tie-up with some banks for co-lending housing loans.
• PhonePar Loan has tied up with Bajaj Auto Finance to disburse bike loans to candidates looking for a job as a delivery person with companies it has a tie-up with like DTDC, Bisleri.

Ongoing cases: India Business News Weekly Roundup 1 to 6 February 2021

People:

• Mahindra & Mahindra has appointed Manoj Bhat as Group CFO. Tech Mahindra has appointed Milind Kulkarni as CFO. Milind has been associated with the firm since 2002 and held key positions.
• Google Cloud has appointed Bikram Singh Bedi as MD of its India business. Bedi had set up the India business of Amazon Web Services and was India and South Asia head of AWS for six years.
• Hero MotorCorp has appointed Ravi Avalur to lead its Harley India operations. Avalur was previously head of the Strategy & International business divisions of Cooper, an automotive component manufacturing company.
• Jeff Bezos the founder of Amazon will step down as CEO later this year to become executive chairman. Andy Jassy, current CEO of Amazon Web Services and on-demand cloud computing business will take over will succeed Jeff.
• Herjit Bhalla, current MD of The Hershey Company has been appointed as VP – India and the Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
• Dr.G.S.K. Velu, Chairman & MD of Neuberg Diagnostics, a global pathology brand, has been appointed as the Chairperson of Tamil Nadu State Council of FICCI.
• DLF Limited has appointed Morgan Stanley, KPMG as advisors to the proposed Reit.
• Rama Mohan Rao Amara has been appointed as the MD and CEO of SBI Card for two years.

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Airlines:

• GoAir is starting direct flights between Hyderabad and Male, Maldives four times a week.
• IndiGo airline has cautioned people against fake job offers made in its name stating that they do not charge any money for recruitment.

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