1. Budget 2019: Piyush Goyal to Hold Meeting with PSB Chiefs on Monday
Coal and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, who has been given additional charge of finance and corporate affairs for the second time in eight months, will on Monday, 28 January, meet the heads of the country’s state-owned bank for a review meeting.
This will be his first major task in his second stint at the helm of affairs in the North Block, before he presents the interim Budget 2019-20 on 1 February.
In the meeting with PSB chiefs, which was originally slated on 22 January, Goyal is expected to discuss the targets for the banks for 2019-20, as well as priority sector lending, recovery on non-performing assets, and the bankruptcy proceedings of various companies, which owe money to banks.
(Source: Business Standard)
2. Chanda Kochhar Got Illegal Gratification For Favouring Videocon: CBI
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar has revealed that she received "illegal gratification" through her husband Deepak Kochhar for favouring Videocon group.
Being the head of ICICI Bank, CBI says, Chanda Kochhar approved six loans to Venugopal N Dhoot's Videocon group between June 2009 and October 2011. One such loan – a rupee term loan worth Rs 300 crore was given to Videocon International Electronics Ltd, in which Kochhars got the bribe instantly.
In the sanctioning committee which approved this loan, Chanda Kochhar was present as one of the members and she conspired to cheat her own bank. "Abusing her official position", she sanctioned the loan on 26 August 2009, three months after she took over the charge as MD-CEO of ICICI Bank.
(Source: The Economic Times)
3. Govt May Fix Trade Margins on Expensive Orphan, Cancer Drugs
The government may fix trade margins on so-called orphan drugs used to treat rare diseases, a health ministry official said, promising partial relief for patients burdened with exorbitant treatment costs. The move, if successful, could hurt multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi Genzyme, Pfizer and Shire USA, who make these drugs.
The health ministry has identified drugs to treat 21 rare diseases and 39 cancer drugs, the official cited above said on condition of anonymity, adding it has asked the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) to examine the possibility of fixing their trade margins.
(Source: Livemint)
4. Adani Group May Get Controlling Stake in Mundra LNG Terminal
Gujarat may offer an additional 50 percent stake in Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. (GSPC) LNG Ltd to Adani Group, which already holds a 25 percent stake in the company, after Indian Oil Corp Ltd decided to opt out of the race, said three state government officials close to the development, requesting anonymity.
The Gujarat government, which owns 50 percent in GSPC LNG, had been looking to induct a third partner for the remaining 25 percent stake. It may now allow the Adani Group to pick up the 25 percent, and offload up to 25 percent of its own stake in the company.
“We are looking at various options for commissioning the LNG terminal, which includes giving additional stake to the Adani Group," said one of the officials mentioned above.
(Source: Livemint)
5. Etihad Wants to End Exclusivity for JetPrivilege as Part of Rescue Deal
Etihad Airways wants to open the JetPrivilege loyalty programme to other carriers as it negotiates fund infusion into the cash-strapped Mumbai-based airline. Jet’s loyalty programme is managed by Jet Privilege Private Limited (JPPL), a subsidiary company which is majority owned by Etihad.
JPPL sells miles to Jet Airways, its partner airlines, banks and hotels, among others. However, it cannot sell miles to any other airline which is not a partner of Jet Airways because of an exclusivity clause.
(Source: Business Standard)
6. Ravneet Gill is New Yes Bank MD and CEO
Private sector lender Yes Bank on Thursday, 24 January, announced the appointment of Ravneet Gill as its new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from 1 March 2019.
Gill, who will be taking the reins from the lender’s founder MD and CEO Rana Kapoor, is the CEO of Deutsche Bank’s India operations.
“The Bank has received RBI approval for its new MD and CEO, Mr. Ravneet Singh Gill for him to join on or before March 1, 2019. The Board will convene on January 29, 2019 to finalise the interim transition,”Yes Bank said in a release.
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
7. US Ban May Offer India and China Feast of Cheap Venezuelan Oil
A possible move by Donald Trump to hurt Venezuela’s oil industry could prove a shot in the arm for the Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi administrations.
If the US decides to deploy a slate of sanctions that it’s said to have drafted against the Latin American nation, American refiners – the No. 1 consumer of Venezuelan crude exports – would be forced to cease purchases. That may mean more supply becomes available for the OPEC producer’s other big customers: China and India.
The opportunity to soak up the extra supplies from Venezuela at potentially cheap prices would be a boon for the Asian countries, where the governments are trying to support slowing economic growth.
(Source: Bloomberg)
8. Tamil Nadu’s 3-Pronged Investment Strategy Pays Off
The salient feature of Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2019 has been the three-pronged approach adopted by the state — equitable development, focus on existing investors and special emphasis for MSMEs.
The government has managed to push some new investments to other regions of the state to ensure balanced industrial development. This has been possible by providing attractive incentives to some of the leading corporates who have committed to invest in industrially-backward southern districts.
Considering that MSMEs are large job creators, the government has inked as many as 12,664 MoUs with them to facilitate the growth of small and medium units in the State.
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
9. Cognizant Hiring Sociologists & Anthropologists to Read Clients' Minds
Cognizant is hiring anthropologists and sociologists on its payroll as it tries to broaden customer base with differentiated offerings. This comes after the Nasdaq-listed IT services company hired doctors and paramedics.
The aim is to understand the clients’ psyche better and improve customer experience, apart from strengthening the consulting practices that are key to garnering a larger share of clients’ new technology spends, R Chandrasekhar, vice-chairman and co-founder of Cognizant, told Business Standard.
(Source: Business Standard)
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