1. India, Netherlands formalise fast track mechanism for investments
Tags: National Economics/Business National News
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and the Embassy of the Netherlands on 27 September officially signed a Joint Statement to formalize the Bilateral Fast-Track Mechanism (FTM) between India and the Netherlands.
Important facts
The Ambassador of The Netherlands to India, Marten van den Berg, and Secretary, DPIIT, Anurag Jain, formally signed the Joint Statement on 27th September 2022.
It aims to serve as a platform for faster resolution of investment cases of Dutch companies operating in India.
Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency, is the executive body of bilateral FTMs.
The FTM will function in close collaboration between DPIIT, the concerned Ministries and Departments, Invest India and the Embassy of the Netherlands.
This mechanism will strengthen bilateral efforts to enhance mutual investment activities, as well as support and develop business cooperation between companies in the two countries.
Diplomatic relations between India and The Netherlands
The diplomatic relations between both countries were established in 1947.
Since then, the two countries have developed strong political, economic and commercial ties and various regional cooperations.
According to official Indian statistics, the Netherlands is the fourth largest foreign direct investor in India.
Between April 2000 and June 2022, the cumulative inflow of foreign direct investment from the Netherlands to India reached approximately US$ 42.3 billion.
In 2021-2022, the bilateral trade between the two countries stood at USD 17 billion.
India exports mainly mineral fuels and mineral based products, organic chemicals, electrical machinery and equipment, aluminum, iron and steel and pharmaceutical products to the Netherlands.
2. 13th FICCI Global Skills Summit 2022 inaugurated by Dharmendra Pradhan
Tags: place in news Economy/Finance Summits Economics/Business Person in news
Union Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated the 13th FICCI Global Skills Summit 2022 in New Delhi on 27 September 2022.
The two-day (27-28 September) Summit has been organised by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Skills.
Theme of the 13th FICCI Global Skills Summit 2022: “Education to Employability - Making It Happen.”
Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
It is a business lobby group of top business houses in India which was founded by Ghanshyam Das Birla.
It was set up in 1927
It articulates the views and concerns of industry and tries to influence the government to make policy which is in favour of the industry and business.
Headquarters: New Delhi
President: Sanjiv Mehta
3. Chandigarh International Airport to be named after Bhagat Singh: PM
Tags: place in news Economics/Business
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his monthly Mann ki Baat radio programme on 25 September 2022 announced that the Chandigarh International Airport will be named after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.
The announcement of the Prime Minister comes after an agreement was reached between the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Haryana deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on 20 August 2022, to name the airport as Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh.
The construction cost of the International Airport will be shared between the Haryana, Punjab Government and the Chandigarh administration.
Chandigarh is a Union Territory under the administration of the Central government and is the joint capital of Haryana and Punjab.
The birth anniversary of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh is on 28 September.
4. Coal India Ltd to ink MoU with Three PSUs for Coal to Chemical Products
Tags: National Economics/Business National News
Coal India Limited (CIL) will sign MoU with three major public sector undertakings – Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and GAIL (India) on 27 September for setting up four Surface Coal Gasification (SCG) projects.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- These public sector undertakings will join hands to set up coal-to-chemical projects through the Surface Coal Gasification (SCG) route.
Through the SCG route, coal is converted into syngas which can then be processed for downstream production of value-added chemicals. They are produced through imported natural gas or crude oil currently.
The envisaged end products are di-methyl ether, synthetic natural gas and ammonium nitrate.
The proposed projects will reduce foreign exchange expenditure and create more than 23,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities.
A target of achieving 100 million tonnes of coal gasification by 2030 has been set by the Ministry of Coal.
What is Syngas ?
It is an abbreviation for synthesis gas, which is a mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
This is produced by gasification of a carbon containing fuel to a gaseous product that has some heating value.
5. Scientist and Entrepreneur Swati Piramal conferred France's highest civilian award
Tags: Economics/Business Awards Person in news
The visiting French Minister for Europe & Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna conferred the highest civilian award of France Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) on scientist and entrepreneur Swati Piramal in Mumbai on 16 September 2022.
Earlier in August, 2022 the French government had announced that senior congressman and Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor has been chosen for the Knight of the Legion of Honour award.
Dr. Swati Piramal who is the Vice Chairperson of the Piramal group was awarded France’s second Highest civilian award Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Merite (Knight of the Order of Merit) in 2006.
She was earlier honoured with Padma Shri by the government of India in 2012.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur :
- The Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the National Order of the French Legion of Honour), was started by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.
- It is the highest civilian award given by the French Government to a French national or any country's national for outstanding contribution to the recipient’s field of expertise.
- The Legion has five classes, listed in descending rank: grand cross, grand officer, commander, officer, and knight, or chevalier (unlimited).
Which other Indians have received it :
- The first Indian to be awarded with the Legion of Honour was Maharaja Pratap Singh of Idar in 1918.
- Since then, more than 40 Indians have been honoured with the award.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
Some of the famous recipients are :
- JRD Tata (1983), Satyajit Ray (1987), Pandit Ravi Shankar (2000), Zubin Mehta (2001), E Sreedharan (2005), Amitabh Bachchan (2007), Lata Mangeshkar (2007), Shah Rukh Khan (2014), Kamal Haasan (2016), Ratan Tata (2016), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (2016), and Azim Premji (2018).
6. India’s first Lithium- ion cell manufacturing plant to start its trial run
Tags: place in news National Science and Technology Economics/Business
India’s first Lithium -cell -ion cell manufacturing plant will start its trial run on 16 September 2022. It will be inaugurated by Union minister of state for electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- The lithium cell -ion cell manufacturing plant has been set up by the Chennai based Munoth Industries limited (MIL) at Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh.
- MIL has tied up with China-based Tianjin Lishen, BPI and Amprius for technology and the end product for its Lithium cell manufacturing plant.
- MIL will invest Rs 799 crore in three phases.
- In the first phase it will produce lithium-ion cells for the consumer electronics segment such as mobile phones, hearable and wearable devices, followed by an energy storage system and two-and-three wheel electric vehicles.
- According to the company India imports Rs 15,000 crore-Rs 20,000 crore of lithium-ion cells from China, South Korea, Vietnam and Hong Kong. With the establishment of the new facility, it would take care of 60% of India’s requirements.
7. Software giant TCS most valuable Brand in India: Kantar
Tags: Economics/Business
India’s largest software company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been ranked India’s most valuable Brand in 2022 as per the Kantar BrandZ India ranking.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and Analytics Company, released its Kantar BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2022 report on 14 September 2022.
- According to Kantar, TCS Brand value was $45.59 billion while the Brand Value of HDFC Bank was $32.74 billion.
- Since 2014, when Kantar started releasing its report, HDFC Bank has been ranked as the most valuable brand in India.
- Earlier, TCS was ranked as the second most valuable brand in the Information Technology sector in the world after Accenture of US, by the Brand Finance of the United Kingdom.
Tata Consultancy Company (TCS) :
- It is a multinational software company, owned by Tata Sons. It is the largest software company in India.
- It was set up by Faqir Chand Kohli in 1968 . Kohli is considered to be the father of the Indian Software Industry.
- Headquarters : Mumbai
- Chairman: N. Chandrasekaran
8. Piyush Goyal attends the first in-person Ministerial meeting of the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum in Los Angeles
Tags: place in news Summits Economics/Business International News
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goel is attending the two day (8-9 September) first in person Ministerial meeting of the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum in Los Angeles, United States.
The meeting is being co- hosted by the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and the US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The first Virtual meeting was held on 26 June 2022 which was hosted by the United States.
The meeting hopes to work out an agreement on the four pillars of the IPEF.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) :
- The United States of America President Joe Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) on 23 May 2022 in Tokyo, Japan.
- 14 countries Australia, Brunei, Fiji, Indonesia, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam along with the United States are members of IPEF.
- Together, these countries represent 40% of world GDP.
Aim of the IPEF :
- It is not a trade bloc where tariffs on goods and services amongst the member countries are reduced to boost trade.
- IPEF is an attempt by the US to offer an alternative supply chain to the countries of Asia-Pacific region against China.
- IPEF will focus on improving the supply chain in the economy so that it can withstand disruption as witnessed during covid pandemic and will make the economy stronger and lower the cost of production .
- To reduce over reliance on China and to diversify the supply chain, the United States is promoting IPEF.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
There are four pillars of IPEF :
- fair and resilient trade (including digital, labour, environmental and other standards);
- supply chain resilience;
- infrastructure, decarbonisation and clean energy; and
- Tax and anti-corruption.
- The Indian government feels that this initiative of the US will help India become a part of the global supply chain. It hopes to attract a sizable global investment in the manufacturing sector as the world moves away from China.
9. Govt to establish 3 lakh Primary Agricultural Credit Societies in next 5 years: Amit Shah
Tags: place in news Summits Economics/Business Person in news
The Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said that the central government has set a target to establish3 lakh Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in the next 5 years.
He was speaking at the two-day (8 &9 September) National Conference of State Cooperation Ministers in New Delhi, on 8 September 2022.
He also said that a committee has been constituted to draft national cooperative policy for holistic development.
He said that every state will have representation in it and former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu will head the committee.
The Cooperation Minister said, currently there are 65 thousand active Primary Agricultural Credit Societies PACS in the country.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) :
- Primary Agricultural Credit Societies are outside the Banking Regulation acts and they are regulated by the State governments not Reserve Bank of India.
- They are the third tier of the short term credit structure in the rural areas with State Cooperative Banks at the top with the District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB) at the Middle and PACS at the bottom.
- The PACS are formed at the village level by the villagers. The members contribute to the capital of the societies.
- The PACS cannot accept the deposits of non-members nor can they provide loans to non-members.
- They provide loans only to their members only for agricultural and allied activities.
- There are 95995 PACS in India (source RBI) and around 65 thousands are active.
10. Govt extends tenure of the Company Law Committee by one year
Tags: committee Economics/Business Person in news
The Government of India has extended the tenure of the Company Law Committee by one year till 16 September 2023.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- The committee was set up by the Union Corporate Affairs Ministry in 2019 and it was extended by the ministry last year by one year till 2022.
- The committee was set up by the government to examine and make recommendations to the government on various issues related to implementation of the Companies Act 2013 and Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008.
- It was an effort by the government to promote ease of living by providing ease of doing business to law-abiding corporates.
Chairman of the committee :
- The 11 member committee is chaired by the Union Corporate Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj.
- Union Minister for Corporate Affairs : Nirmala Sitharaman
