1. Meta appoints Sandhya Devanathan as its new India head
Tags: Economy/Finance Person in news
The American multinational social media company Meta (formerly Facebook) has appointed Sandhya Devanathan as the Vice President of Meta India on 17 November 2022. She will be responsible for the Indian operations and will take the place of Ajit Mohan who quit the company to join Snap Inc.
Sandhya Devanathan is currently the head of Meta’s gaming vertical for Asia-Pacific. She will take charge as Vice President of Meta India from 1 January 2023.
Her appointment comes two days after Meta India's director of public policy, Rajiv Aggarwal and WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose left the company. Two weeks ago, Meta India's country head Ajit Mohan resigned. Earlier this month, Meta laid off 11,000 people worldwide, including India.
Meta, which is considered to be one of the five Big Tech companies of the United States of America, is the owner of WhatsApp and Instagram. It is also facing a decline in its earnings and is struggling as companies cut advertising budgets in the face of economic uncertainty, changes to Apple's privacy settings hurt its targeted ads, and competition from rivals such as TikTok is eating into its market share.
Founder and CEO of Meta: Mark Zuckerberg.
2. IFSCA signs MoU with RBI in the field of regulation, supervision of regulated entities
Tags: Economy/Finance National News
The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration in the field of regulation and supervision of regulated entities on 16 November, 2022.
Important facts
This MoU facilitates technical cooperation and exchange of information.
The objective of the agreement is to strengthen the security, stability and soundness of the respective financial ecosystem, thereby ensuring a conducive environment for optimal business growth and economic growth.
RBI is the central bank and monetary authority of India while International Financial Services Centers Authority is a unified regulator responsible for the development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in International Financial Services Centers established across the country.
About International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA)
IFSCA was established on April 27, 2020, under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019.
It is headquartered in GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
It is a unified authority for the development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Center (IFSC) in India.
It is currently the maiden international financial services centre in India.
Prior to the establishment of IFSCA, trading in IFSC was regulated by the domestic financial regulators, RBI, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
IFSCA Chairperson - Injeti Srinivas
Governor RBI - Shaktikanta Das
3. Government of India to abolish National Anti-profiteering Authority
Tags: National Economy/Finance
Government of India has decided to abolish the National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) from1 December 2022 as its terms come to an end on 30 November 2022. From 1 December 2022 the Goods & Services Tax (GST) anti-profiteering complaints would be dealt with by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) .
The GST Council, in its 45th meeting in September 2021, gave another 1-year extension till November 30, 2022, to NAA and also decided to shift the work to CCI after that.
National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA)
The National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) was set up by the government of India on 30 November 2017 under section 171 of the Goods and Service Tax 2017. The Goods and Service Tax was implemented in India from 1 July 2017.
Function of the NAA
The main function of the NAA is to check the unfair profiteering activities by the registered suppliers under GST law.
It ensures that the benefits of the reduction in GST rates on goods and services done by the GST Council and of the Input tax credit are passed on to the recipients by way of commensurate reduction in the prices by the suppliers.
Who will deal with the anti-profiteering complaint under GST?
From 1st of December 2022, the investigation on complaints of profiteering by the consumers will be done by the Directorate General of Anti-profiteering (DGAP) which will then submit a report to CCI.
Competition Commission of India is the national competition regulator in India. It was set up in March 2009. Sangeeta Varma is the acting Chairperson of CCI.
4. Assam government launches millet mission to double the income of state farmers
Tags: Economy/Finance Government Schemes State News
The Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on 16 November 2022 launched the “Assam Millet Mission” aimed at increasing agricultural productivity and doubling the farmer’s income. The mission also aims at encouraging the farmers to diversify their crops. .
Along with the Millet mission the Chief Minister also launched six soil testing and quality control laboratories Bongaigaon, morigaon,Golaghat, Udalgiri,Karimganj and Darrang.
Initially the millet mission will cover 25,000 hectares of land and later it will be extended to 50,000 hectares.
Millets or coarse cereals or nutri cereals
- Millet is one of the oldest known foods to humans. However its consumption in the world has declined due to the emphasis given to wheat and rice by the governments.
- It is also called coarse cereals or nutri cereals due to its high nutritive value.
- Nutri-cereals refers to a group of crops comprising sorghum (Jowar), pearl millet (Bajra), finger millet (Ragi/Mandua), and small millets like little millet (Kutki), kodo millet (Kodo), barnyard millet (Sawa/Jhangora), foxtail millet (Kangni/Kakun), and proso millet (Cheena).
- They are called a superfood as they are rich in nutrients such as copper, magnesium, phosphorus, and manganese. They are low on glycemic index.
Millets and India
- According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) , India is the largest producer of millet in the world followed by Niger and China .
- The total production of millets in India in 2020-21 was 17.96 million tonnes which was nearly 41% of the world production.
- Rajasthan was the largest millet producing state in India.
- Millets are grown in about 21 states in the country including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana.
- India was the 5th largest exporter of millet in the world in 2020 according to the Union ministry of Commerce data.
International Year of Millets 2023
- To highlight the importance of millets, India proposed in the United Nations to declare 2023 as the International Year of the Millets.
- The proposal was accepted and passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2021 and 2023 was declared as the International Year of Millets.
5. Indian company ReNew signs an agreement with the Egyptian government to set up Green Hydrogen plant in Egypt
Tags: Environment Economy/Finance International News
The Indian company ReNew Power Private Limited , has signed an agreement with the Egyptian government to set up a green hydrogen manufacturing facility at the Suez Canal Economic Zone in Egypt on 15 November 2022.The company will invest $8 billion in the project in phases.
Green Hydrogen refers to the breaking down of the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable sources of energy.
ReNew Power has partnered with Elsewedy Electric S.A.E. (Elsewedy) for this project. Elsewedy is a leading integrated energy solutions provider in the Middle East and Africa, which will be the local co-developer for the project.
Highlights of the project
According to the agreement, ReNew will set up a plant with a capacity to produce 20,000 tonne green hydrogen a year, which will later be raised to 220,000 tonnes, by relying on renewable energy sources.
The project is scheduled to be implemented in phases, the first of which will be a pilot to produce 20,000 tonne green hydrogen, through a 150 MW electrolyser equipped with 570 MW of renewable energy to produce 100,000 tons of green ammonia annually.
What is Green Hydrogen, Brown Hydrogen, Blue Hydrogen?
Hydrogen is the first and the smallest element in the periodic table.
Depending upon the production method the colour of the hydrogen can be Green, Brown, Blue or Grey.
Green Hydrogen
It refers to the breaking down of the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable sources of energy. Renewable source of energy means which can be used again and again like solar power, hydel, wind energy etc. It contains no carbon which is responsible for global warming.
Grey Hydrogen
Grey hydrogen is created from natural gas, or methane, using steam methane reformation. It produces Hydrogen and Carbon dioxide which is released in the atmosphere.
Blue Hydrogen
Blue hydrogen is produced mainly from natural gas, using a process called steam reforming, which brings together natural gas and heated water in the form of steam. It produces hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
Black and Brown Hydrogen
When black coal or lignite (brown coal) is used in the hydrogen-making process it is called as black or brown coal.
ReNew Company
ReNew is one of the largest renewable energy independent power producers globally. ReNew develops, builds, owns and operates utility-scale wind energy, solar energy and hydro projects.
As of October 10, 2022, ReNew has a gross total portfolio of 13.4 GW of renewable energy projects across India, including commissioned and committed projects.
The company has also announced investing one lakh crore in renewable energy projects, including battery storage in both Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Founder Chairman and CEO of the Company: Sumant Sinha
6. Blackstone launches its Asian Data center business from India
Tags: place in news Economy/Finance Science and Technology
American multinational private equity investor Blackstone has started its data centre business in Asia from India. It plans to increase it to 600 MW over the next two years through presence in five locations in the country.
Blackstone launched its data center platform Lumina CloudInfra on 15 November 2022. The Lumina CloudInfra is owned and managed by Blackstone’s Real Estate and Tactical Opportunities funds.
Initially the data center will be set up in Mumbai and Chennai, and later on it will be set up in Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad and Pune.
National Data Center
The government data center has been set up and managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).The first Data Centre was launched in Hyderabad in 2008, followed by NDC Pune in 2010, NDC Delhi in 2011 and NDC Bhubaneswar in 2018.
It operates 37 small Data Centres at various State Capitals to provide services to the Government at all levels.
National Data Centre (NDC) at Bhubaneswar is a Cloud-enabled Data Centre which has been offering cloud services to Government Departments since its inception.
The National Data Centres form the core of e-Governance Infrastructure in India by providing services to various e-Governance initiatives undertaken by the Government of India.
What is a Data Center?
A data center is a facility that centralizes an organization’s shared IT operations and equipment for the purposes of storing, processing, and disseminating data and applications. Because they house an organization's most critical and proprietary assets, data centers are vital to the continuity of daily operations.
7. 5G may contribute up to 2% to India GDP by 2030: NASSCOM Report
Tags: Economy/Finance
According to a report by National Association of Software and Services companies (NASSCOM) and Arthur D Little, the adoption of 5G network technology in India is expected to contribute about 2% to India’s GDP amounting to $180 billion by 2030.
The report titled 5G – Unfolding India's Era of Digital Convergence says that an increasing market penetration, sectoral reforms, improvement in user experience, speedy rollout of services, among others, will contribute to the growth.
Currently, India has 1.1 billion telecom users, which is the second highest in the world after China. Of this, 740 million are 4G users, and they are expected to shift to 5G.
The report says that the government’s National Optical Fibre Network plan which aims to connect all the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country will help enhance India’s potential to 5G adoption.
Sector to lead 5G adoption
- Among the key sectors, energy and utilities will be the key driver of 5G contributing about 30% of the expected $180-billion potential, followed by retail at 20%, healthcare at 15% and manufacturing sector at 10%.
- According to the report, adoption of 5G smart metering, smart grid opportunities will boost the usage of 5G in the energy and utilities sector.
- In healthcare, the penetration is expected to come from online consultation, robotic surgeries, cloud-based patient profiling, and wearables.
- Digital transformation and smart factories are expected to drive 5G penetration in the manufacturing sector.
5G Launch In India
The 5th Generation mobile technology was officially launched by the Prime Minister on 1 October 2022. Airtel was the first company to launch the service in India.
National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM)
- The National Association of Software and Services Companies(NASSCOM) was set up in 1988
- It is a non-profit organisation of IT sector companies in India
- It is a lobby group which works for the promotion of the IT sector and its companies in India and abroad.
Chairman of NASSCOM: Krishnan Ramanujam
President: Debjani Ghosh
8. 2020-2030 to be India’s Decade and India to become world’s 3rd largest economy and market: Morgan Stanley
Tags: Economy/Finance
In a report titled 'Why This Is India's Decade' the American Investment Banking firm Morgan Stanley expects India to become the world’s third-largest economy and market and India will account for fifth of the global economic growth in the next decade.
Morgan Stanley projection is in line with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projection of India becoming the 3rd largest economy by 2027-28 and SBI’s of India achieving this milestone in 2029.
However the report says that these forecasts will depend on favourable domestic and global factors.
Main highlights of the Morgan Stanley report
- India's GDP is set to double from the current $3.4 trillion to $8.5 trillion over the next decade. It expects India to add more than $400 billion to its GDP every year, a scale that is only surpassed by the US and China,
- Four key factors demographics, digitalization, decarbonization and deglobalization are likely to facilitate India's rapid rise,
- Manufacturing’s share of GDP will rise from 15.6% currently to 21% by 2031, which implies nominal output jumping from $447 billion to about $1.49 trillion,”
- The number of households earning in excess of $35,000 a year is likely to rise fivefold in the coming decade, to over 25 million.
- India’s private consumption will more than double from $ 2 trillion in 2022 to $ 4.5 trillion by the end of the decade, a size that would be roughly similar to China in 2015,
- India's global export market share is expected to more than double at 4.5 per cent by 2031,
- India's services exports will almost treble to USD 527 billion (from USD 178 billion in 2021) over the next decade.
- E-commerce penetration to nearly double from 6.5 per cent to 12.3 per cent by 2031.
- Internet users in India will increase from 650 million to 960 million while online shoppers will grow from 250 million to 700 million over the next 10 years.
- Around 25 percent of incremental global car sales over 2021-2030 will be from India and it expects 30 percent of 2030 passenger vehicle sales to be electric-run.
- India should hit a "major inflection point" for the next residential property boom in 2030 - a confluence of high per-capita income, a mid-30s median age, and higher urbanization.
- India's workforce in the technology services sector will more than double from 5.1 million in 2021 to 12.2 million in 2031.
- Healthcare penetration in India can rise from 30-40 per cent now to 60-70 per cent which will lead to 400 million new entrants to the formal healthcare system.
- Over USD 700 billion in energy investments are expected over the next decade as India accelerates its energy transition.
About Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is an American Multinational Investment banking firm which was set up in 1935 in New York City.
It is primarily in the business of wealth management, Investment banking, and brokerage and provides other financial services.
Headquarters: New York City, United States of America
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: James P Gorman
9. Vivek Joshi appointed on the SBI Board as Government of India nominee
Tags: Economy/Finance Person in news
The Union Ministry of Finance has nominated Vivek Joshi as a Director to the Board of State Bank of India (SBI) on 15 November 2022. He will take the place of Sanjay Malhotra as the government nominee.
Board of Directors of State Bank of India
The State Bank of India Board of Directors consists of 13 members including the Chairman.
4 Directors are the career officers of the SBI and they are designated as Managing directors. They are C.S. Setty, Swaminathan Janakiraman, Ashwini Kumar Tewari and Alok Kumar Choudhary.
4 directors are elected by the shareholders and 4 directors are nominated by the Government of India.
The Government nominated directors are : Sanjeev Maheshwari, Prafulla P Chhajed, Anil Kumar Sharma and Vivek Johri.
State Bank of India
- It is the largest commercial bank in India and is owned by the Government of India.
- It has over 22,000 branches, 71,968 Banking Correspondents outlets.
- It has 229 offices/branches in 31 foreign countries. Amongst all the Indian banks, SBI has the largest number of branches/offices outside India.
Chairman of SBI: Dinesh Kumar Khara
Headquarters: Mumbai
Tagline: The banker to every Indian
10. Union Agriculture Minister inaugurates first Greenfield Farm Machinery Plant in MP
Tags: Economy/Finance National News
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on 15 November, 2022 inaugurated the first greenfield farm machinery plant of Mahindra & Mahindra at Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh.
Important facts
This new farm machinery plant is capable of manufacturing affordable and accessible farm machinery equipment under the Mahindra and Swaraj brands.
The plant will also manufacture products for export to global markets in Asia, Africa, Europe and the America.
The facility is capable of manufacturing a range of new products designed at Mahindra's Global Centers of Technology Excellence in Finland, Japan and Turkey.
The plant is spread over 23 acres and can manufacture 1,200 combine harvesters and 3,300 rice transplanters per year.
The establishment of this plant is likely to provide employment to about 1,100 people.
Mahindra has been one of the leading tractor manufacturing companies globally.
In fact, in the first half of the financial year 2022-23, the company sold 2,52,844 tractors in the country, which was 12 percent more than the previous one.
What is a Greenfield Project?
It refers to an investment in a building, office, or other physical company-related structure or group of structures where no prior facilities exist.
