January 2021

Business Current Affairs Compilation

Kirandheep K
NMIMS, Mumbai

Not for Sale

3rd January, 2020

1. India's drugs regulator Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) is

likely to approve administering two doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine today.

2. India's vaccine wait over: Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has given approval
for restricted emergency use to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin (Indigenously developed) and
AstraZeneca/Oxford’s Covishield which is being developed by the Pune-based Serum
Institute in India

India plans to inoculate some 300 million people on a priority list this year.

3. Bajaj Auto becomes first 2-wheeler Company globally to cross Rs. 1 lakh crore market
cap mark

Bajaj Auto is the world's 3rd-largest manufacturer of motorcycles and the largest
manufacturer of 3-wheelers, has its manufacturing facilities at Chakan (Pune), Waluj
(Aurangabad) and Pantnagar (Uttrakhand).

It recently announced setting up of its 4th plant at Chakan at an investment of Rs 650

crore for manufacturing premium segment bikes and electric two-wheelers.

4. Over 1.15 lakh crore gross GST revenue was collected in Dec. 2020 which is 12%
higher than the GST revenues Dec. 2019.

The gross GST revenue collected in Dec'20 is ₹ 1,15,174 cr of which CGST is ₹ 21,365 cr,
SGST is ₹ 27,804 cr, and IGST is ₹ 57,426 cr.

4th January, 2020

1. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 25
crore and Rs 15 crore, respectively, on Reliance Industries and its chairman, Mukesh
Ambani, for manipulative trading

The SEBI order observed that RIL had entered into a well-planned operation with its agents
to corner the open interest in the RPL (Reliance Petroleum) futures and to earn undue
profits from the sale of RPL shares in both cash and futures segments and to dump
large number of RPL shares in the cash segment during the last 10 minutes of trading on
the settlement day resulting in a fall in the settlement price.

Not for Sale

2. Serum Institute of India, which is manufacturing and supplying AstraZeneca/Oxford’s
Covishield vaccine is planning to charge a special price of ₹200 per dose for the first 100
million shots that it supplies to the Indian government
The Company plans to price the vaccine at ₹1,000 per dose for the general public.

3. In the calendar year (CY) 2020, Tata Sons surpassed the Government of India (GOI) as
the largest promoter with maximum listed companies.

Total m-cap of 15 Tata group companies stood at Rs 15.6 lakh crore as compared to Rs 15.3
lakh crore m-cap of 60 government-owned PSUs, as of December 31, 2020

5th January, 2020

1. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a USD 100 million (around Rs 730
crore) loan to modernise and upgrade the power distribution system in Bengaluru city.

About ADB:
Estd. - 9 December 1966
President - Masatsugu Asakawa
HQ: Manila, Philippines

2. IDBI Bank announced the launch of video KYC account opening facility for savings
bank accounts.

Through the facility, a customer can open a savings account with the lender from the
convenience of his/her home or office as there are no physical forms to be filled or
visits to be made to the branch.

About IDBI:
Industrial Development Bank of India
Founded: 1964
HQ: Mumbai
CEO: Rakesh Sharma

3. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹2.50 crore on Bajaj
Finance Limited, Pune, for violation of

(i) directions issued by RBI on Managing Risks and Code of Conduct in Outsourcing of
Financial Services by NBFCs and Fair Practices Code (FPC) for applicable NBFCs,
contained in the Non-Banking Financial Company - Systemically Important Non-Deposit
taking Company and Deposit taking Company (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2016; and

Not for Sale

(ii) a specific direction to the company to ensure full compliance with FPC in letter and
spirit

This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of
58B of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, taking into account the failure of the
company to ensure that its recovery agents did not resort to harassment or intimidation of
customers as part of its debt collection efforts and thereby failing to adhere to the aforesaid
directions issued by RBI

6th January, 2020

1. The salt-to-software conglomerate has set up a strategy team headed by Tata Sons Pvt.
Ltd’s chief financial officer Saurabh Agrawal to explore options, including mergers,
consolidation and rebranding of its airline ventures

A merger of budget airline AirAsia India with full-service carrier Vistara is among options
considered by the Tata group

2. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has capped the amount
of Trans-fatty acids (TFA) in oils and fats to 2% by 2022 from the current permissible
limit of 5%

As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 5.4 lakh deaths take place
each year globally because of intake of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids.
The WHO has also called for global elimination of trans fats by 2023.

About FSSAI:
Founded: 2011
Chairperson: Rita Teaotia
HQ: New Delhi
Parent Agency: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

3. WhatsApp will stop working if you do not agree to its new terms and privacy
policies

WhatsApp has started sending an in-app notification to its users, informing them that it is
updating its terms and privacy policy which will come into effect from February 8,
2021

Users who wish to use the app after this date will have to agree to the new terms and
privacy policies. If you do not accept these policies, you will not be able to use the app

Not for Sale

“Do not accept, Please wait until further clarification from WhatsApp”

4. Indian B2B e-commerce platform UDAAN has raised $280 million in additional
financing by the existing investors Lightspeed, DST Global, GGV Capital, Altimeter, and
Tencent, while two new investors Octahedron Capital and Moonstone Capital too
participated.

The startup’s valuation has soared to $3.1 billion, from its last reported valuation of $2.8
billion in 2019.

Udaan.com is solving this problem by connecting small retailers with wholesalers

and traders.

Co-founded by three former Flipkart executives – Sujeet Kumar, Amod Malviya &
Vaibhav Gupta

7th January, 2020

1. Cosmetics e-tailer Nykaa plans IPO by the end of this year or early 2022 at a valuation of
over $3 billion

About Nykaa
Nykaa is an Indian retailer of beauty, wellness, and fashion products.
Founded: 2012
HQ: Mumbai
Founder: Falguni Nayar

2. OYO raises Rs 54 crore in series F1 funding from Hindustan Media Ventures

Hindustan Media Ventures is promoted by HT Media Ltd. which hold 74.4% stake in
the company.
Last month, OYO laid off around 300 employees in its operations team as the pandemic-
hit hospitality company continues to cut down its expenses

3. Homegrown headphones and speakers maker boAt (Imagine Marketing Private Limited)
has raised approximately $100 million funding from Warburg Pincus, a global private
equity firm.

About boAt
Launched: 2016
Founders: Aman Gupta & Sameer Mehta

Not for Sale

4. Tesla Inc. chief and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk surpassed Amazon Inc.'s top
boss Jeff Bezos to become the world's richest man, Bloomberg reported today

Elon Musk had a net worth of more than $188.5 billion, $1.5 billion more than Bezos,
according to the report.

8th January, 2020

1. India is currently the 3rd-largest startup ecosystem in the world and is home to 21
unicorns valued at $73.2 billion
More than 50 soonicorn' startups are expected to join the unicorn club as early as 2022

A unicorn is a term to indicate a privately held startup company valued at over $1

billion. Soonicorns are startup companies that are good candidates for late-stage
investment and have a good possibility of becoming 'unicorns'.

2. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd. (JFL) to invest ₹92 crore into Barbeque Nation Hospitality
Limited (BNHL) for equity stake of 10.76%.

Barbeque Nation owns and operates 138 Barbeque Nation restaurants in 73 cities in India

Jubilant FoodWorks operates the Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in
India, recently forayed into biryani business with 'Ekdum' in Gurgaon

3. The GDP of India is expected to contract by 7.7 per cent in the current fiscal year 2020-
21, as per the first advanced estimates released by the National Statistical Office
(NSO), under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI)

The first advance estimates of GDP of a financial year are released before the Union Budget,
which data helps in the budget-making process.

4. Facebook is ordered to pay $4.7mn in damages to Italy-based Business Competence for

copying the popular ‘Nearby’ feature from their app called ‘Faround’ which helped locate
their friends around the neighbourhood.
In 2012 Faround became popular in Italy, but faced stiff competition from Facebook when
it launched its Nearby feature.
The company had then filed a suit against Facebook, following which a court had ruled
that the Nearby feature would have to be discontinued in Italy.

9th January, 2021

1. South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor in the early stages of discussions with Apple
over potentially working together to develop an electric car.

Not for Sale

As of now, the report claims that both electric vehicle production as well as battery
development were included in the proposal, and that the car could potentially be released
in 2027.

2. Tesla's market capitalization of $767 billion edged out Facebook's market value of
$765 billion to become the fifth-most-valuable company in the S&P 500.

The Democrat's sweep of the Georgia Senate run-off elections, could hasten the upcoming
Biden administration's passage of a clean energy bill that would likely benefit the electric
vehicle manufacturer

11th January, 2021

1. Signs of revival in Indian Economy!

Indian exports show signs of revival, up 16.2% to $6.2 bn in Jan first week

Growth driven by healthy growth in pharmaceuticals, increase in shipments of gems and

jewellery, engineering and chemicals.

Imports, excluding petroleum, increased by 6.56% during the week

2. The Government of Japan has committed Official Development Assistance loan of Rs

2113 crore rupees for a programme loan to support India’s efforts at providing social
assistance to the poor and vulnerable households, severely impacted by the COVID-19
pandemic.

Japan Prime minister: Yoshihide Suga

12th January, 2020

1. Adani Solar Energy Chitrakoot One Limited, a step down subsidiary of Adani Green
Energy Limited (AGEL) has commissioned a 25 MW solar power plant in Uttar Pradesh’s
Chitrakoot.

This plant has a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Noida Power Company Limited
(NPCL) at ₹3.08/KWh. With this commissioning, AGEL’s total operational renewable
capacity grows to 2,975 MW.

Not for Sale

Adani Green is on its course to achieve renewable capacity of 25GW by 2025 and
become world’s largest renewable power company by 2030

2. Covaxin, the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, will be

sold at ₹295 per dose after a price agreement was arrived at with the Indian government

The Central Government has asked Bharat Biotech to supply around 55 lakh doses at 12
centres before 14 January

Stage I inoculation is expected to start on 16 th January. 2021

13th January, 2021

1. American electric car maker Tesla gets an Indian address

According to a regulatory filing, the firm has registered Tesla India Motors and Energy
Pvt. Ltd with Bangalore.

The company has been registered as an unlisted private entity with a paid up capital of ₹1
lakh.

2. Consumer Price Index inflation eased to 4.59% in December 2020 as compared to

6.93% in November 2020, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and
Program Implementation

Retail inflation showed signs of easing in December, led by easing prices of some food
items.

Food inflation declined to 3.41% in December in 2020, compared to 9.5% in November

2020

3. Byju’s to acquire Blackstone-backed Aakash Educational Services for ₹7,300 crore:

Report

India’s biggest online-education startup Byju’s has signed a deal to acquire test prep leader
Aakash Educational Services Ltd. for $1 billion

Blackstone Group-backed Aakash Institute, which has over 200 brick and mortar centers
and tutors students to gain entry into the country’s elite engineering and medical schools.

14th January, 2021

Not for Sale

1. Amazon India launches ‘Amazon Academy’ to help students prepare for JEE, other
competitive exams

The online preparation offering will equip students with in-depth knowledge and practice
routines required for the JEE, through curated learning material, live lectures and
comprehensive assessments in Math, Physics and Chemistry

The beta version of Amazon Academy will be available free of cost on the web and the
Google Play store.

2. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi
approved the largest indigenous defence procurement of 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter
aircraft and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer aircraft at the cost of ₹45,696 crore

Design and development of infrastructure sanctions worth ₹1,202 crore

The deal will strengthen IAF’s fleet of homegrown fighter jet ‘LCA-Tejas’.

This deal will be a game changer for self reliance in the Indian defence manufacturing

3. Elon Musk donates $5 million to American non-profit educational organization Khan

Academy through non-profit arm Musk Foundation aiming to boost online education.

Elon Musk, along with his brother Kimbal, founded the private charitable foundation in
2002 and provides philanthropy in several areas, including education, renewable energy
research, human space exploration research, pediatric research, and the development of
safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity.

4. Amazon Prime Video is set to launch mobile-only subscription plans in India for its
streaming service in a global first, offering Indian consumers the entire content slate
starting at Rs 89 per month.

15th January, 2021

1. NITI Aayog and Flipkart, have come together to launch the revamped Women
Entrepreneurship Platform which is a unified access portal which brings together
women from different parts of India to realise their entrepreneurial aspirations.

Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog

Flipkart CEO: Kalyan Krishnamurthy

Not for Sale

2. Rapidly digitalising India was ranked 4th in “Break Out Economies” in
the third edition of the Digital Evolution Scorecard developed by Tufts University’s
Fletcher School in partnership with Mastercard.

“Break Out Economies” are those that are digitalising very quickly and yet have a lot of
room to grow before matching those in the developed economies

3. The Indian Army has recently signed a contract with Mumbai-based drone
manufacturing company, ideaForge, to procure high-altitude variant
of SWITCH unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

Cost of the deal - USD 20 million

SWITCH UAV is an indigenous system built to cater for the most demanding surveillance
operations of the Indian Forces.

The Fixed-Wing VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing) UAV can be deployed at high altitude
and harsh environments for day and night surveillance in Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance (ISR) missions

16th January, 2021

1. Union Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh has unveiled India’s first ‘Driverless Metro Car’ -
indigenously designed & developed state-of-the-art driverless metro trains are being
manufactured at BEML Bangaluru manufacturing facility, for Mumbai Metropolitan Region
Development Authority (MMRDA).

2. Farmer’s protest update:

The ninth round of talks between the protesting farmers' unions and the central
government regarding the contentious agri laws ended on an inconclusive note.

The farmers are demanding a complete withdrawal of the three farm laws passed by the
government

Earlier, Supreme Court had appointed a 4-member committee to resolve the impasse
between the farmers and government

3. Prime Minister Modi Launches India's COVID-19 Vaccination Drive programme by

“humanitarian concerns” as those exposed to maximum risk will be given priority.

Not for Sale

18th January, 2020

1. France-based Total will acquire 20% minority interest in Adani Green Energy Ltd.
(AGEL).

The investment in AGEL is another step in the strategic alliance between Adani Group and
Total across various businesses and companies of the Adani Group, covering investments in
liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, gas utility business, and renewable assets across
India.

2. Billionaire Ajay Piramal’s conglomerate won bidding for bankrupt Indian shadow
lender Dewan Housing Finance Corp.

A resolution plan for DHFL from Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Ltd., was approved
by Dewan’s committee of creditors

DHFL was put into an insolvency process after it was seized by RBI in a shock move in late
2019.

3. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail Ltd. plans to embed its e-commerce app
JioMart into WhatsApp within six months, allowing the 400 million users of India’s most
popular messaging service order products without having to leave the app

The integration will allow JioMart catapult its reach across India, allowing Reliance Retail
to pose a serious challenge to Flipkart and Amazon’s domination in India’s fast-growing
online retail market.

19th January, 2021

1. Indian messaging app Hike Stickerchat has shut down its operations.

The app has been removed from Playstore and Apple's App Store.

Chief Executive Officer Kavin Bharti Mittal stated that Indian messaging apps cannot
thrive unless the government bans western messaging companies.

2. 'Do not take Covaxin if...': Bharat Biotech issues fact sheet

It is advisable not to take the vaccine if a person has allergies, fever or bleeding disorder,
weaker immunity or are on a medicine that affects their immune system.

Pregnant, breastfeeding women and those who have taken covid-19 vaccine from other
company, should also avoid taking Covaxin

Not for Sale

Side effects of the vaccine include pain, swelling or itching, fever, malaise, weakness,
rashes, nausea and vomiting. Recipients are also warned of severe allergic reaction that
may include difficulty in breathing, swelling of the face and throat, fast heart-beat, rashes
all over the body, dizziness and weakness.

3. IDFC First Bank Ltd. seeks to expand its credit card business with 2 unique offerings,

a. interest-free cash advances for 48 days (first attempt in the Banking industry; under
testing mode with its existing customers on an invitation only basis)

b. dynamic interest rates on revolving credit.

About IDFC:
Founded: 2015
MD & CEO: V.Vaidyanathan
HQ: Mumbai

4. Indian Government plans for a change in foreign investment rules for e-commerce, a
move that could affect Amazon.com Inc & Flipkart, to restructure their ties with some
major sellers.

Domestic traders see foreign e-commerce businesses as a threat to their livelihoods and
accuse them of unfair business practices that use steep discounts to target rapid growth

India only allows foreign e-commerce players to operate as a marketplace to connect

buyers and sellers. It prohibits them from holding inventories of goods and directly
selling them on their platforms.

The 2018 rules forced Amazon and Flipkart to rework their business structures and soured
relations between India and the United States, as Washington said the policy change
favoured local e-tailers over U.S. ones.

India's e-commerce retail market is seen growing to $200 billion a year by 2026, from $30
billion in 2019, the country's investment promotion agency Invest India estimates.

Among other changes, the government is considering changes that would effectively
prohibit online sales by a seller who purchases goods from the e-commerce entity or its
group firm, and then sells them on the entity's websites

Under existing rules, a seller is free to buy up to 25% of its inventory from the e-commerce
entity's wholesale or another unit and then sell them on the e-commerce website.

Not for Sale

5. Adani Group has signed a concession agreement with Airports Authority of India (AAI)
for Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram airports.
The concession period is 50 years from the commercial operation date

6. Russia says its second Covid vaccine – EpiVacCorona developed & manufactured by Siberia's
Vector Institute is 100% effective post clinical trials: Report

Mass production of the country's second Covid vaccine, will be launched in February 2021

Russia’s first approved covid-19 vaccine name is SPUTNIK-V

20th January, 2021

1. Fintech platform BharatPe has put in a joint bid with financial services firm Centrum to
acquire Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank

PMC Bank has been embroiled in scams over alleged irregularities in certain loan accounts,
especially to realty developer Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd. (HDIL)

Grover said acquiring PMC Bank saves them time and effort of building a bank and team
from scratch. If successful, the less than 3-year-old startup will be one of the first fintech to
get a small finance bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India.

The joint bid is said to have a proposal to pay back 100% to retail depositors, who want
to withdraw

BharatPe cofounder and CEO Ashneer Grover

2. The board of directors of RBL Bank has approved the re-appointment of Vishwavir
Ahuja as the Managing Director and CEO of the bank for 3 years.

About RBL:
Founded: 1943
HQ: Mumbai
Tagline: Apno Ka Bank

3. Ola has joined hands with Siemens to build India’s most advanced electric vehicle
manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu.
Last month, Ola had signed a 2,400-crore-deal with the Tamil Nadu government to set up
World’s largest scooter manufacturing hub that will create 10,000 jobs.
The facility will serve as Ola’s global manufacturing hub catering to its customers in India
as well as key markets across Europe, United Kingdom, Latin America and ANZ
Annual production capacity: 2 million units

Not for Sale

Built on Industry 4.0 principles, the factory will be the most advanced manufacturing
facility in the country. Around 5,000 robots will be deployed across various functions.

4. Infosys has been accredited with the Google Cloud Partner Specialization in the data
and analytics space.
Infosys has successfully demonstrated end-to-end capabilities on Google Cloud including
warehousing on the cloud and data ingestion which are part of Infosys Cobalt

About Infosys Cobalt:

Infosys Cobalt is a set of services, platforms, and solutions for enterprises for enhancing
and accelerating their cloud journey, it provides more than 200 industry cloud solution
blueprints and 14,000 cloud assets.

21st January, 2020

1. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) grants approval to RIL-Future Group
deal

Background:
In August 2020, Kishore Biyani led-Future Group had entered into a ₹24,713 crore
agreements with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail. As part of the deal, Future Group was to
sell its retail, wholesale, logistics and warehouse businesses to Reliance Retail Ventures
(RRVL).
Amazon Inc. had also filed a plea before the Delhi High Court, seeking a stay on the Future-
Reliance deal.
SEBI, while referring to the complaints registered by Amazon and the plea filed in Delhi HC,
has asked the entities involved in the amalgamation to keep their shareholders informed
about the legal dispute
2. Bajaj Finance to enter integrated payment solutions market comprising of UPI,
PPI, EMI card and credit card to Its customers with 'Bajaj Pay' to its customers

Separately, Bajaj Finance is building 5 proprietary marketplaces, 'EMI Store, 'Insurance

Marketplace; 'Investment Marketplace, 'BF Health' and ‘brokering app’ with the help of
group companies.

3. India’s Ministry of information and Technology (MEITY) has written a letter to

WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart asking it to keep Indian users out of the new privacy policy
and the new terms and conditions that users have to accept to use the app.

The new WhatsApp policy will allow the chat app to share more usage data with Facebook,
which is its parent company, as well as help it rollout an e-commerce component within the
app.

Not for Sale

After the uproar from the Indian users, WhatsApp has now pushed the implementation of
new policy by May 15.

One of the key objections raised by the MEITY is the non-voluntary nature of the new
policy. Users will have to accept it or else they will not be able to use WhatsApp, and MEITY
says that this lack of choice is unfair to users. The letter also reminds WhatsApp of Indian
Supreme Court judgment on privacy delivered in 2017 and the proposed data protection
law.

The government also takes objection to the fact that WhatsApp has different policies
for different users. For example, in the EU the same policy that WhatsApp is forcing
on India users will not be implemented.

22nd January, 2020

1. YES BANK has recently launched YES MSME — an initiative that will facilitate "speedy
and easy access to funds" to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

- The start-ups can avail up to ₹5 crore collateral-free funding under YES MSME
initiative
- Reduce the turnaround time for processing MSME loans
- Pre-approved commercial credit cards, advisory and wealth management solutions
along with dedicated relationship managers.

2. Elon Musk has promised a $100 million prize for development of the "best"
technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions.

Capturing planet-warming emissions is becoming a critical part of many plans to keep

climate change in check, but very little progress has been made on the technology to date,
with efforts focused on cutting emissions rather than taking carbon out of the air.

3. CCI approves Flipkart's 7.8% acquisition of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail

On completion of this transaction, Aditya Birla Fashion would have successfully executed a
capital raise of Rs 2,500 crore since April 1, 2020

4. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has announced the
establishment of a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in partnership with Amazon
Web Services (AWS). The move will give select researchers, scientists access to Amazon’s
Bracket cloud-based quantum computing service.

Not for Sale

The Union Budget 2020-21 had proposed to spend Rs 8,000 crores on the National
Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications.

23rd January, 2020

1. Ahead of a potential listing on exchanges, Zomato is on the verge of closing a $500

million investment that would value the Gurugram-based company at around $5.5 billion.

Existing investors Tiger Global, Kora Investments, Steadview, Fidelity, Bow Wave, Vy
Capital along with new backer Dragoneer Group, will participate in the financing round

The fundraising will include a mix of primary cash infusion of $250 million by existing
backers and a similar amount via a secondary sale of shares by Chinese investors Ant
Group (an affiliate of Alibaba) and Sunlight Fund

2. UPI payment users are likely to face inconvenience for the next few days from 1 A.M to
3 A.M

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has said its Unified Payments
Interface (UPI) platform will be updated for the next few days and that the process is aimed
towards creating a "better architecture for the growth of UPI transactions".

3. Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has commenced the final stage of Union Budget
2021 with attending the customary ‘halwa’ ceremony’.
As a part of the over-70-year-old ritual, the sweet dish is prepared and served to the
entire staff at the finance ministry, North Block, around 10 days before budget.

The significance of the sweet dish is that after it is served, a large number of officials and
support staff, who are directly associated with the Budget making and printing process, are
required to stay in the ministry and remain cut off from their families till the
presentation of the Budget by the finance minister in the Lok Sabha.

25th January, 2020

1. 2nd edition of the NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index 2020

The index, ranks Indian states based on whether they provide a conducive environment for
registering new businesses, applying for patents, human capital and investments, among
other measures.

The index is modeled along the lines of the global innovation index, which is brought out by
the World Intellectual Property Organisation

Not for Sale

1. Karnataka

2. Maharashtra

3. Tamil Nadu

2. Reflecting strong momentum, India witnessed 19 initial public offers worth $1.84 billion
in the fourth quarter of 2020 and market sentiment remains positive in what could be a
stellar 2021: EY's India IPO Trends Report

Real estate, hospitality and construction and diversified industrial products were the most
active sectors (in terms of the number of IPOs) with 3 IPOs launched in each sector
(including main and SME markets), the report said.

3. Shyam Srinivasan, MD & CEO of Federal Bank, is the Business Standard Banker of
the Year for 2019-20.
The award was given for his bank’s consistent healthy performance at a time when most of
its peers witnessed large stress on asset quality, registered losses, or even invited
regulatory actions.

The unanimous decision was taken by a high-profile jury of five, chaired by former RBI
deputy governor S S Mundra.

4. Tata Group in talks with Moderna to launch COVID-19 vaccine in India

Tata Group's new healthcare venture, Tata Medical and Diagnostics Ltd. (TataMD) has
started exploratory talks with US biotechnology firm Moderna for a partnership to launch
its COVID-19 vaccine in India.

As per the government's norms, it is mandatory for a foreign vaccine-making firm to

conduct at least a Phase-3 trial with Indian volunteers even if it is approved outside India.

Moderna's vaccine, which is based on m-RNA technology, has reported 94.1% efficacy in
treating patients infected with COVID-19.

Moderna's vaccine is stable for up to 6 months at a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius (-

4 F), about home freezer levels, when shipped and stored, according to Center for Disease
Control and Prevention.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories in India is developing Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, and

Biological E is conducting trials for Johnson & Johnson's candidate.

26th January, 2020

Not for Sale

1. Amazon.com Inc. has requested the Delhi High court to block partner Future Group's
$3.4 billion deal to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries, in its latest attempt to
derail the transaction

Amazon has asked the court to enforce the decision of a Singapore arbitrator, which had
issued an interim order saying the deal should be put on hold.

Amazon argued in its court filing that Future Group has "deliberately" disobeyed the
arbitrator’s order, which both sides had agreed to use in case of disputes

2. TCS beats Accenture to become world's most-valued IT company with a market

capitalisation of $169.25 billion.

In the domestic market, TCS surpassed Reliance Industries Ltd to become the country's
most-valued firm by market capitalisation.

3. FAU-G, a desi version of PUBG, is going live on India's 72nd Republic Day.
The game is based on real-world scenarios, the game is a tribute to India's armed forces.

The game was initially supposed to launch last October, shortly after the Indian
government's ban on Tencent's PUBG as part of its crackdown on Chinese apps.

FAU-G has already crossed four million pre-registrations on Google Play Store, with the
first million coming within 24 hours of the link going public.

Built by Bengaluru based nCore Games

4. Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Criminal Investigation Departments (CID) of

various states asks Paytm, RazorPay to stop supporting & processing the transactions
Chinese Loan Apps

There have been reports of Chinese fintech firms in India, lending money at very
reasonable rates and policies, thereby duping many of their fortunes.

Cases have come in where victims have commited suicide due to loss of all their money to
such dubious Chinese fintech entities.

5. The International Monetary Fund has projected an impressive 11.5% growth rate for
India in 2021: World Economic Outlook
Thus, making India the only major economy of the world to register a double-digit growth
this year amidst the corona virus pandemic

Not for Sale

IMF has estimated India contract by 8% in 2020 due to the pandemic.

27th January, 2021

1. SpaceX breaks ISRO’s Record by launching 143 Satellites

SpaceX successfully launched its ambitious rideshare mission called Transporter-

1, carrying 143 small satellites in single mission and broke ISRO’s record (ISRO launched
104 satellite in 2017)

Rocket used: 2-stage Falcon 9

About SpaceX
Founded: 2002
Founder & CEO: Elon Musk.
President & COO: Gwynne Shotwell
HQ: California, United States of America

2. China was the largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, according to a
report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The country attracted $163 billion inflows in 2020, compared to $134 billion attracted by
the United States.

In 2019, the United States had received $251 billion in inflows and China received $140
billion.

3. Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) to buy 51% stake in designer brand
Sabyasachi for ₹398 crore

The deal is in line with ABFRL's 'long term strategy of building a formidable play in ethnic
wear segment'

CEO and Founder of Sabyasachi Brand: Sabyasachi Mukherjee

28th January, 2021

1. Indian foodtech unicorn Zomato is reportedly in talks to acquire Gurugram-based fitness

startup Fitso at $20 Mn

Fitso claims to standardise the sports facilities at any stadium, field or court,
implementing best practices in facility management using tech and providing highly
trained coaches for great user experience.

Not for Sale

Fitso, founded in 2015 by three IIT Delhi alumni — Naman Sharma, Rahool Sureka and
Saurabh Agarwal.

2. Reckitt Benckiser leads funding round in grooming brand Bombay Shaving Co.

Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has led a ₹45 crore funding round in Visage Lines Personal Care
Pvt. Ltd, which owns the grooming brand Bombay Shaving Co. (BSC)

The investment will help the firm scale its operations and also provide access to RB’s global
scale

Founder and chief executive officer of Visage Lines: Shantanu Deshpande

3. Phone numbers of nearly 500 million Facebook users up for sale via Telegram
bot, according to a report by Motherboard

The data includes numbers of around 6 lakh Indian users, according to security
researcher Alon Gal, who first highlighted the problem on his Twitter account.

According to Gal, the user who is running the bot is exploiting a Facebook vulnerability that
was reported in 2020 and patched as well. But the vulnerability allowed anyone to access
the phone numbers linked to every Facebook account across all countries. It was exploited
to create a database of Facebook user accounts and their mobile phone numbers, which is
now being sold via the bot.

4. Pfizer-BioNTech, makers of a corona virus vaccine, said that their product is effective
against the mutated and dangerous Covid-19 variants that have emerged in the United
Kingdom and South Africa.

Apart from Pfizer, Moderna's coronavirus vaccine also appears to work against the new
and more infectious variants of Covid-19 found in the UK and South Africa

29th January, 2021

1. OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei launches new consumer technology brand and it's
called “Nothing”

Carl Pei, parted ways with the tech giant in October last year

Not for Sale

Other Investors: iPod inventor - Tony Fadell, Twitch - co-founder Kevin Lin, Reddit -
CEO Steve Huffman, and the founder of CRED - Kunal Shah

The company has announced that “Nothing” will be releasing its first smart devices in the
first half of this year

2. Toyota beats Volkswagen to become World's No.1 car seller in 2020

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. overtook Germany's Volkswagen in 2020, regaining pole
position as the world's top selling automaker in vehicle sales for the first time in five
years

Toyota group-wide global sales fell 11.3% to 9.528 million vehicles in 2020. That
compared with a 15.2 percent drop at Volkswagen to 9.305 million vehicles.

Toyota, has weathered the pandemic better in part because its home market Japan, and the
Asian region in general, have been less affected by the outbreak than Europe and the
United States.

3. Telecom major Reliance Jio is the 5th strongest brand in the world, as per the
'Brand Finance Global 500 2021' report.

Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 91.7/100 and the elite AAA+ brand strength rating

Jio scores highest in all metrics -- consideration conversion, reputation, recommendation,

word of mouth, innovation, customer service and value for money -- compared to its
telecom competitors in India

30th January, 2020

1. Government has listed a bill providing for the banning of all private
cryptocurrencies in India such as bitcoin, ether, ripple etc.

The bill also provides for the creation of a legislative framework on an official digital
currency. An RBI booklet on payment systems issued on 25th Jan also showed that the
central bank is exploring whether to issue a digital version of the rupee.

A previous RBI ban on the use of bank channels for payments associated with
cryptocurrency issued in 2018 was overturned by the Supreme Court in March 2020
creating a vacuum in the regulation of cryptocurrency in India.

Not for Sale

2. US drug makers Novavax and Johnson & Johnson said their Covid vaccine
candidates showed encouraging phase 3 trial results

Novavax has tied up with Serum Institute of India (SII) and J&J has tied up Hyderabad-
based Biological E.

Novavax said its NVX-CoV2373 demonstrated a 90% efficacy in phase 3 trials in the UK.

J&J’s single-dose vaccine showed an overall efficacy of 66% and 85% efficacy in preventing
death (severe disease) across all age and ethnic groups.

3. Microsoft launches its new Taj Mahal inspired Engineering Hub

Microsoft has launched its new India Development Center (IDC) facility in Noida, Uttar
Pradesh, which will serve as a leading hub for driving advanced engineering and
innovation.

IDC NCR is the third development centre of Microsoft in India after Bengaluru and
Hyderabad.

4. Tata Electronics will invest ₹5,763 crore for making mobile phone components and
Pegatron will invest ₹1,100 crore to make mobile phones as part of its phase I investment,
the Tamil Nadu government

India has been successful in luring global phone assemblers that want to diversify their
dependency on China in the wake of coronavirus pandemic and the trade tensions between
Beijing and Washington.

In October, the Indian government gave the nod to 16 companies under its Production
Linked Incentive program.

The other companies to invest in Tamil Nadu state include:

 Sun Edison to invest ₹4,629 crore to make solar PV modules

 Ola Electric to invest ₹2,354 crore to make electric vehicles, batteries

5. Serum Institute seeks Drugs Controller General of India's (DCGI) approval to conduct
local trial for US biotech firm Novavax Covid vaccine

Efficiency: 89.3% (UK trials)

6. Economic Survey says 'V-shaped recovery' expected, GDP growth seen at 11% for
2021-22 on the back of nationwide vaccine drive to prevent the coronavirus outbreak

Not for Sale

For 2020-21, the economy is expected to contract by 7.7%

The survey also cautioned that it would take at least two years to revert to pre-pandemic
gross domestic levels.

7. Flipkart-backed Myntra has decided to replace its existing logo with a new one
following a complaint that claimed it was offensive & insulting women

Naaz Patel, who is associated with Avesta Foundation NGO, filed the complaint in
December 2020.

The Mumbai-based activist demanded removal of the Myntra logo and threatened
appropriate action against the company in case they failed in implementing the suggested
changes.

Not for Sale