Current Affairs: Important Business Deals in Last Two Months for Upcoming Competitive Exams

Current Affairs: Important Business Deals in Last Two Months

Economy:

• The Reserve Bank of India signed a pact with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) for Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information.
• The Reserve Bank of India released Gopalakrishna Committee report on Capacity Building in banks and non-banks.  The committee has recommended a 360-degree feedback for a transparent and comprehensive performance assessment exercise, one that ensures adequate performance differentiation between employees.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced fourth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement on 30 September 2014. RBI in its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy statement has kept the policy rates unchanged at 8 percent.

• State Bank of India (SBI) on 13 September 2014 celebrated 150 years of its operations in Sri Lanka. 
• Union Finance Ministry approved 25 FDI proposals with total investment of 1546 crore rupees.
• United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on 24 September 2014 released Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report (APTIR) 2014. According to report, growth in trade and investment flows in Asia-Pacific region is yet to return to its levels of strength prior to the global financial crisis.
• India slipped to 71st position out of 144 countries by losing 11 places in the global competitiveness list of Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF). 
• State Bank of India (SBI) and Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) on 24 September 2014 allowed kids to operate bank accounts independently.
• Exports from India increased 2.73 percent in September 2014 to 28.90 billion US dollar from 28.13 billion US dollar in September2013. This was revealed by Foreign Trade (Merchandise) data released by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• JP Morgan cut its India GDP growth projection for 2014-15 to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent.
• The Union Commerce Ministry on 29 September 2014 cancelled approvals of nine special economic zones (SEZs), including that of Hindalco Industries, Essar and Adani.
• Union Government approved 7 percent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners. The notification of DA and DR will be effective from 1 July 2014.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks to set a timeline to process loans. The direction was issued to expedite credit decision. However, RBI didn’t set any particular time frame for it.

 

• Reserve Bank of India released the data on Balance of Trade and Balance of Payments. According to the Balance of Trade data, Current Account Deficit (CAD) of India narrowed down sharply to 1.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Quarter 1 (Q1) of the fiscal year 2014-15 as compared to 4.8 percent in the Q1 of 2013-14. Q1 refers to the period April–June.

Merges:

• Swedish telecom gear firm Ericsson signed a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or 4G network deal with Bharti Airtel. Airtel signed the deal with Ericsson for FDD-LTE network.
• Chinese firm Anbang Insurance Group Co Ltd acquired the New York luxury hotel Waldorf Astoria for 1.95 billion US dollars.  The Waldorf Astoria is owned and managed by Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.
• Sumitomo Group of Japan on 30 September 2014 acquired the car lease division of Carzonrent India for 200 crore rupees.
• Kotak Mahindra Bank acquired 15 percent stake of Financial Technologies (India) Ltd (FTIL) in Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) for 459 crore rupees. Kotak Bank acquired MCX shares at about 664 rupees a piece.
• Emami biotech on 25 September 2014 acquired Vanaspati brand Rasoi. Emami biotech is the edible oil and bio-diesel arm of the Emami Group of Companies.

• Internet major Yahoo! Inc. acquired Bangalore-based start-up firm BookPad Inc for over 8 million US dollars. This is Yahoo's first technology deal for an Indian start-up company.

• Microsoft Corp acquired the Swedish video game company Mojang for 2.5 billion US dollars. With this acquisition, Microsoft aims to lure young audience into its mobile world.
• BlackBerry acquired a U.K-based mobile technology start-up Movirtu on 11 September 2014. Movirtu's  software allows users to have multiple phone numbers on the same device.
• The Swedish company Electrolux agreed to buy a home-appliances unit of General Electric Company of Louisville for 3.3 billion US dollars in cash. This acquisition would enable Electrolux to compete with Whirlpool in US Market.

• Global giant HSBC Bank on 24 June 2014 sold its Swiss private banking assets worth 12.5 billion dollars to Liechtenstein’s LGT Bank. Under the transaction, LGT Bank will acquire over 10 billion Swiss francs in Assets under Management and around 70 staff.

• Japan’s Meiji Holdings Ltd acquired Bangalore-based pharmaceutical firm Medreich for 290 million US dollar. Meiji in its filing to the Tokyo Stock Exchange informed that the acquisition was made through the operating subsidiary, Meiji Seika Pharma Co. Ltd.

Tie-Ups:

• E-commerce firm Flipkart signed real estate lease deal with Embassy Office Parks, the joint venture between Embassy Group and Blackstone.

• Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) announced that it will invest 4 billion US dollar in the British Columbia province, Canada, to source liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the region. 
• US Online store Amazon and retailer Future Group on 12 October 2014 signed a deal to jointly sell goods over the internet.According to deal, Future group's portfolio of over 40 brands will be retailed exclusively through Amazon.in platform. The partnership will initially focus on Future Group's fashion brands and will subsequently cover all other categories.
• Cipla Medpro announced that it has inked a collaboration pact with Teva Pharmaceuticals of Israel for sales and distribution of the latter's drugs in South Africa.
• Hinduja group company Gulf Oil Lubricants India Ltd (GOLIL)  tied up with Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M).Under the agreement, GOLIL is tasked for developing a dedicated line of products for the M&M tractors.
• Healthcare major Apollo Hospitals tied up with the global pharma firm Sanofi. The aim behind this tie-up is to expand Apollo Sugar Clinics which provide integrated diabetes care programmes in India.
• Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited on 22 September 2014 signed a Master Services Agreement (MSA) with Indus Towers for tower infrastructure sharing.
• Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo signed an agreement with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) for purchasing 30 A320 aircrafts worth 2.6 billion US dollars.
• Infosys Ltd signed three partnership agreements with Microsoft Corporation, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) and China-based telecom vendor Huawei individually.
• Tata Group company Croma and Snapdeal.com on 16 September 2014 tied up to sell electronic goods online. This omni-channel retail association will enable Croma and Snapdeal to leverage from each other's strengths.

• Bharti Airtel announced an agreement with Eaton Towers to divest 3500 towers in 6 African nations. Under the agreement, Bharti Airel signed a 10-year contract to sell and lease back these towers to Eaton.

• Indian pharmaceutical major Cipla announced a commercial collaboration with UK-based S&D Pharma to distribute its products in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
• Snapdeal signed 50:50 Joint Venture with Den Networks. The deal was aimed to extend its reach to television home shopping audiences.

Appointments:

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the appointment of V.G. Mathew as Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kerala-based South Indian Bank Ltd.
• T M Bhasin was elected as Chairman of Indian Banks Association (IBA). He will be the Chairman of IBA for 2014-15.T M Bhasin is the chairman and managing director of Indian Bank.

• Nita Ambani  was appointed as the Director of Reliance Industries. With this appointment she became the first woman to be appointed on the board of the RIL

• Sunita Sharma was appointed as the managing director and chief executive director of the LIC Housing Finance. She is the first women MD and CEO of the company since its inception in 1989.
  She succeeded V K Sharma who was elevated to the post of managing director of LIC.
• Engineering and information technology company Tata Technologies Ltd appointed Warren Harris as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of the company. 
• John Thompson was appointed as the Chairman of Microsoft on 5 February 2014 by the Board of Directors at a meeting held in Washington, US. He succeeded Bill Gates who assumed the role of Technology Advisor to the CEO of Microsoft. 
• IT training solutions firm National Institute of Information Technology Limited (NIIT Ltd) appointed Rahul Keshav Patwardhan as its next chief executive officer (CEO). Patwardhan will take charge as CEO on 1 April 2015.
• S. R. Bansal took the charge on 5 October 2013 as the Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank.
• Retired bureaucrat Krishna Mohan Sahni was appointed Chairman of the National Multi-Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (NMCE) on 12 November 2013. His appointment was approved by the Forward Markets Commission, the commission which is responsible for regulating the commodities markets in India.
• V Nagarajan on 4 September 2014 took over as Director (Commercial) of Indraprastha Gas Ltd. (IGL).

• Tata Steel Ltd named TV Narendran as managing director-designate, India and South East Asia and inducted him as additional director on the board. TV Narendran will succeed HM Nerurkar who retires on 31 October 2013.

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Current Affairs Important Business Deals in 2013-2014 Pdf Download for Upcoming Competitive Exam Preparation

Important Business Deals in 2013-2014 for Upcoming Competitive Exam Preparation 

Hi Friends. Today we publishing information related to Important Business Deal in 2013-14. This post contains Important Summits, Committees, Company Mergers of last few months. We also provide PDF download for Reading Compatibility. We hope this data useful to you for upcoming competitive exams. Happy reading....

Important Summits in 2013-2014  

Important Summits in 2013-2014
Summit/Meeting	Venue
8th G-20 Summit	Saint Petersburg (Russia)
39th G-8 Summit	Lough Erne Resort (Northern Ireland)
3rd Nuclear Security Summit	Hague(Netherlands)
22nd CHOGM Summit	Colombo (Sri Lanka)
7th India-South Korea Joint Commission Meeting	New Delhi (India)
6th India-Brazil Joint Commission Meeting	Brasilia (Brazil)
9th WTO Ministerial Conference	Bali (Indonesia)
8th Asia Gas Partnership	New Delhi (India)
1st Meeting of India-Germany High Technology Partnership	Berlin (Germany)
3rd BIMSTEC Summit	Nye Pyi Taw (Myanmar)
G-20 Finance Ministers Meeting	Sydney (Australia)

Important Committees Related with Economy 2013-2014

Committees Related with Economy 2013-14
Name	Set-up by	Subject
Nachiket Mor Committee	Reserve Bank of India (RBI)	Submitted its report on comprehensive financial services for small business and low income households.
P.J. Nayak Committee	Reserve Bank of India (RBI)	To review governance of boards of banks and examine fit and proper criteria for directors, including their tenure.
Suresh Mathur Committee	Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA)	To suggest ways to enhance FDI in insurance intermediaries and third party administrators.
Anil Kaushal Committee	Department of Telecommunication (Dot)	To examine the recommendations made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on pricing of spectrum.
Urjit Patel Committee	Reserve Bank of India (RBI)	To examine the current monetary policy framework.
Bimal Jalan Committee	Reserve Bank of India (RBI)	To scrutinize applications for new bank licenses.
Damodaran Committee	Reserve Bank of India (RBI)	On improvement of customer services in banks.
Parthasarthy Shome Committee	Finance Ministry	For tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC), suggest a system to enforce better tax compliance.
Arvind Mayaram Committee	Finance Ministry	For giving clear definitions to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII).

Important Merges of Companies 2013-2014

Mergers of Companies 2013-14
Company/Firm/Social Networking Site	Purchased by	Cost
Whats App	Facebook	$ 19 billion
Imperium (Bengaluru-based Cyber Security Firm)	Google	$ 90 million
Little Eye Labs	Facebook	Rs. 90 crore
Jaypee Cement Corporation’s Gujarat Unit	Ultra Tech Cement	Rs. 3800 crore
Nokia	Microsoft	€ 3.79 billion
Washington Post	Jeffrey P. Bezos (CEO of Amazon)	Rs. 250 million

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Current Affairs Important World Affairs in 2014

Current Affairs: Important World Affairs in 2014

• Russian President Vladimir Putin the legislation on March 21, 2014 to absorb Crimea into Russian Federation. It follows referendum on March 16, 2014 in  Ukraine Crimeans overwhelmingly supported the leaving of
• India has decided to observe 2014 as the "year of Friendly Exchanges" with China. This will help in forging a closer and strong relationship between the two countries.
• India has signed with Israel country an agreement on cooperation in public and homeland security on February 27, 2014. It is the first of this kind of agreement for India.
• Five Indian Languages, Hindi, Tamil, Gujarat, Telugu and Urdu will be taught in South Africa state schools. In Kwazulu-Natal Province of South Africa, these languages now regarded as optional third language for learners.
  
• Italy has agreed to develop biggest cargo airport in Afghanistan on Herat airport, Located in western part of the country. Italy  will provide a financial assistance of $200 million.
• Michelle Bachelet elected as  President of Chile. Chile is a South American country occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.
• Belgium became the first country to allow euthanasia for terminally ill children of any age.
• The Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have , on February 24, 2014, agreed to organise Nepal-India Economic Summit every year. This Summit will be held alternatively in the two countries.
• USA warned China against any move to declare a new Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea.
• India and Vietnam have signed a treaty on transfer of sentenced prisoners in the jails of both countries. The treaty would allow prisoners of the two countries to be near their families and they will have to serve the remaining part of their sentences. This will help to facilitate the process of Social Rehabilitation.
• The Scottish Parliament has approved the Same Sex Marriage Bill. With this, the Scotland became the 17th country to given the green signals to same sex marriages.
• The US Agency for International Development (USAID), has announced a $ 250000 grant to the organisation UN Women, a part of the United Nations women's global safe cities initiative.
• Turkey lifted a ban on woman wearing the Islamic head scarf in State Institutions. It is considered as part of a package of reforms introduced by the government. The new rules, however, will not apply to the judiciary on the military.
• India, on January 7, 2014. launched the third phase of its housing project in Sri Lanka. The project has been expanded its category of beneficiaries and has included the Indian origin Tamils. Who are settled in the central part of Sri Lanka as plantation labourers.
• India and Japan have signed the Memorandum for Strengthening Cooperation in the field of tourism, enhancing energy efficiency in telecom powers and power generation.
• London city become the first to host 9th World Islamic Economic Forum outside a muslim country.
• Bangladesh is going to construct its first nuclear power plant " Ruppur nuclear power plant" at Pabna district in north-West Bangladesh with the help of Russia, which will have two 1000 MW reactors that are expected to cost about $ 4 billion.
• India and Canada have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for cooperation in iron and steel sector.
• Ban ki-moon, the Secretary-General of United Nations (UN), on January 20, 2014, withdrew the invitation of Iran to join the Peace Conference on Syrian crisis.

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Highlights of the Railway and Union Budget 2014-15

Highlights of the Railway and Union Budget 2014-15

Railway Budget:

Union Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda on 8 July 2014 presented the Railway Budget 2014-15 in the Parliament. In the budget he announced introduction of several trains on different routes pan India. Apart from this, the budget also saw certain new initiatives for Railways.

Highlights of the Railway Budget

• No new increase in passenger fares and freight charges
• Setting up of Project Management Groups consisting of professionals and State Government Officials at Railway Board and Zonal level for coordinating and expediting project management with respective State Governments
• Expenditure in 2014-15 pegged at Rs. 149,176 crore.
• Launching online registration of demands for wagons in next two months for facilitating online payment of Wagon registration fee
• Bullet train in Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector
• Food Courts at major stations to provide the option of ordering regional cuisine while onboard, through emails, SMS and Smart Phones, etc. A pilot project will be started shortly between New Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi sections
• CCTVs at Stations will be extended to monitor cleanliness activities
  
• Bio-toilets will be increased in sufficient numbers in trains in order to mitigate the problem of direct discharge of human waste on the tracks and platform aprons at stations
• Online booking facility of Railway Retiring Room will be extended to all the stations during the course of the year
• Women RPF Constables to escort ladies coaches; 4,000 women constables to be inducted
• Railways university for technical and non-technical subjects
• Providing education to children of Railway staff at remote locations through Railtel OFC (optical fibre cable) network
• Wi-fi Services in A1 and A category stations and in select trains
• Mobile based Wakeup Call System for passengers
• E-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minutes to allow 120000 simultaneous users
• Harnessing solar energy by utilizing roof top spaces of stations, railway buildings and land including through PPP mode
• Increasing bio-toilets in sufficient numbers in trains to mitigate the problem of direct discharge of human waste on the tracks and platforms
• 58 new trains and extension of 11; 864 additional EMUs to be introduced in Mumbai over 2 years.

Alternate resource mobilization need to be explored as enlisted

1.  Leveraging Railway PSU Resources by bringing in their investible surplus funds in infrastructure projects of Railways
2. Domestic investments and FDI in rail infrastructure
3. Pursuing Public Private Partnership

                                                  

Union Budget 2014

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 10 July 2014 presented Union Budget 2014-15. In his maiden budget, the Union Finance Minister announced certain major plans for Defence and Internal Security. The Union Budget introduced many new initiatives like Financial Inclusion Mission, Debt Recovery Tribunals to improve the economic system in India and also introduced National Savings Certificate, a new insurance cover to provide additional benefits for the small saver.

Highlights of the Union Budget:

• The budget allocated further sum of 1000 crore rupees to meet requirement for One Rank One Pension‰ Capital outlay for Defence increased by 5000 crore including a sum of 1000 crore for accelerating the development of the Railway system in the border areas.‰
•  Urgent steps would also be taken to streamline the procurement process to make it speedy and more efficient
• 100 crore rupees is provided for construction of a war memorial in the Princes Park, which will be supplemented by a War Museum
• 100 crore rupees has been allocated to set up a Technology Development Fund for Defence
• 3000 crore rupees allocated in the current financial year for modernization of state police forces
• 2250 crore rupees provided to strengthen and modernize border infrastructure
• 990 crore rupees allocated for the socio economic development of the villages along the borders
• Time bound programme as Financial Inclusion Mission to be launched on 15 August 2014 with focus on the weaker sections of the society.‰
• Banks to be permitted to raise long term funds for lending to infrastructure sector with minimum regulatory pre-emption such as CRR, SLR and Priority Sector Lending (PSL).
• Differentiated banks serving niche interests, local area banks, payment banks etc. are contemplated to meet credit and remittance needs of small businesses, unorganized sector, low income households, farmers and migrant work force
• The regulatory gap under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banking) Act, 1978 will be bridged.
• In the Public Provident Fund (PPF) Scheme, annual ceiling will be enhanced to 1.5 lakh rupees per annum from 1 lakh rupees at present.
• Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme ‰for encouraging rural youth to take up local entrepreneurship programs with an outlay of 100 crore rupees to be launched
• Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojna for the welfare of the tribals with an outlay of 100 crore rupees
• Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) to be revived for a limited period from 15 August, 2014 to 14 August 2015 for the benefit of citizens aged 60 years and above
• Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana a focused scheme to generate awareness and help in improving the efficiency of delivery of welfare services meant for women with an outlay of 100 crore rupees
• Swach Bharat Abhiyan to cover every household with sanitation facility by the year 2019
• AIIMS like institutions in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Vidarbha in Maharashtra and Poorvanchal in Uttar Pradesh with an outlay of 500 crores rupees
• 5 Indian Institute of Technology to be set up in Jammu, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala with an outlay of 500 crore rupees
• Film & Television Institute, Pune and Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata are proposed to be accorded status of Institutes of national importance
• Agriculture Universities in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and Horticulture Universities in Telangana and Haryana to be opened with an outlay of 200 crore rupees
• 100 crore rupees provided to set up a National Centre for Himalayan Studies in Uttarakhand
• 500 crore rupees provided to support displaced Kashmiri migrants for rebuilding their lives
• Global partnerships will be developed under India’s leadership to transform the Delhi component of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) into a world-leader in life sciences and biotechnology
• 200 crore rupees has been provided for upgrading the indoor and outdoor sports stadiums in Jammu and Kashmir Valley to international standards
• 100 crore rupees has been provided for the training of sports women and men for forthcoming Asian games
• Capital outlay for Defence increased by 5000 crore including a sum of 1000 crore for accelerating the development of the Railway system in the border areas.‰
• 3000 crore rupees allocated in the current financial year for modernization of state police forces
• 2250 crore rupees provided to strengthen and modernize border infrastructure
• 50 crore rupees ear-marked for the construction of Marine Police Station, Jetties and for the purchase of boats and others
• 50 crore rupees has been provided for construction of National Police Memorial
• 200 crore provided to open Agriculture Universities in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and Horticulture Universities in Telangana and Haryana.
• 100 crore rupees has been provided for this purpose and additional 56 crores rupees to set up 100 Mobile Soil Testing Laboratories across the country.
• To mitigate the risk of Price volatility in the agriculture produce, a sum of 500 crore rupees is provided for establishing a Price Stabilization Fund.
• Central Government to work closely with the State Governments to re-orient their respective Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Acts.
• Corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) raised by an additional 5000 crore rupee from the target given in the Interim Budget to 25000 crores rupees
• Long Term Rural Credit Fund to set up for the purpose of providing refinance support to Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks with an initial corpus of 5000 crore rupees.‰
• Restructuring FCI, reducing transportation and distribution losses and efficacy of PDS to be taken up on priority.
• Government when required will undertake open market sales to keep prices under control.

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