Current Affairs for CSEET

FDI Equity Inflows into India grew 21% to USD 35.33 billion during April-October 2020 

As per the official data of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into India grew 21% to USD 35.33 billion(Rs 2.5 lakh crore)during April-October 2020. In 2019, FDI equity inflows were USD 29.31 billion. From January to July 2020-2021, the total FDI (including reinvested earnings) increased 11% to USD 46.82 billion from USD 42.06 billion in April-October 2019.

7th Trade Policy Review of India at WTO acknowledges India’s strong economic growth at 7.4%

India’s seventh Trade Policy Review (TPR) initiated at the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. India’s official delegation for the TPR is headed by the Commerce Secretary, Dr. Anup Wadhawan. India’s 6th TPR took place in 2015. During the TPR, a comprehensive Report issued by the WTO Secretariat which acknowledged India’s strong economic growth at 7.4% during in the last five years i.e. 2015-20.

Equity FDI into India grew 37% to USD 43.85 bn during April-Nov 2020

In accordance with the data by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflow into India was increased by 37% to USD 43.85 billion during April-November 2020 (FY21). It was the highest ever for the first 8 months of a financial year and also 37% more compared to the first 8 months of FY20 (US$ 32.11 billion). These 8 months also saw the total FDI inflows (including reinvested earnings) increase by 22% to USD 58.37 billion as compared to the same period of FY20 when it was US$ 47.67.

BEML receives orders from MoD for the supply of High-Mobility Vehicles to Indian Army

BEML Ltd (previously known as Bharat Earth Movers Limited) has received orders worth ~ INR 758 crores from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for supplying high-mobility vehicles to the Indian army.The equipment will be manufactured at BEML’s Palakkad Plant in Kerala and will be supplied to Indian Army in a period of 1 year.The vehicles will play a vital role in the logistics management of the army.

Tesla Inc Registers India subsidiary in Bengaluru, Karnataka

Tesla Inc, United States based Electric car maker has incorporated a fully owned subsidiary in Bengaluru, Karnataka as a first step to establish a Research & Development (R&D) unit in India. It has registered with the Registrar of Companies in Bengaluru, Karnataka as ‘Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited’. It is also in the process of setting up a manufacturing plant at Dharwad, Karnataka for producing electric vehicles in India.

Reliance Jio Becomes World’s 5th Strongest Brand: Brand Finance’s Global 500 2021

As per the Global 500 2021, an annual report on the most valuable and strongest global brands of Brand Finance, Reliance Jio has been ranked in 5th position as world’s strongest brand with a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 91.7 out of 100 and AAA+ brand strength rating. Reliance Jio enters the ranking for the 1st time. The list is topped by WeChat followed by Ferrari. Russian bank Sber is spotted in 3rd rank.

• In the list of Top 500 most valuable global brands, Apple is ranked 1st. Among the Indian brands Tata Group(77th rank) topped in the 500 Most Valuable Global Brand 2021.

• In the list of top 100 CEOs in Brand Finance Brand Guardianship Index 2021, Mastercard’s Ajay Banga secures the 1st rank.From India, 5th rank- Rajesh Gopinathan(TCS).

PFC raises USD 500 Million: Largest Tenor Bond Issuance from India in 2021

Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has successfully raised USD 500 Million through issuance of USD Denominated Bonds under ‘Reg S route’. The Bonds have a Fixed Coupon of 3.35% and will mature on May 16, 2031 making it the Longest Tenor Bond Issuance from India since the start of 2021.

RIL Gets world’s 1st Carbon-Neutral Oil from Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, US

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has received 2 million barrels cargo of ‘carbon-neutral oil’ from Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (OLCV), a division of US oil major Occidental on January 28, 2021 at Jamnagar, Gujarat. It is the world’s 1st consignment of carbon-neutral oil and is also the energy industry’s 1st major petroleum shipment.RIL to become a net zero-carbon company by 2035

Tabreed, IFC to invest USD 400 Million in India & Southeast Asia

United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) National Central Cooling Company or Tabreed & International Finance Corporation (IFC) are set to invest USD 400 Million (~2900 Crore) in Capital deployment in India & South-East Asian countries for building cooling service infrastructure. The focus areas of Investment will be district cooling, trigeneration & cooling as a service offering. The Government of India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) estimates an eight-fold increase in Cooling service demand through to 2038.

Google.org to support 1 Million Women Entrepreneurs in rural India

Google.org the Philanthropic arm of Google will support 1 Million women entrepreneurs in rural India by providing them with business tutorials, mentorship & accelerator programmes through Google’s newly launched ‘Women Will’ web platform. A grant of USD 500, 000 will be provided to NASSCOM (National Association of Software & Service Companies) Foundation for supporting 1 Lakh women agriculture workers with digital and financial literacy. Google also launched a global org Impact Challenge for Women & Girls.

Gautam Adani Becomes World’s Biggest Wealth Gainer in 2021; Beats Jeff Bezos & Elon Musk

On March 16,2021 , Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani become the World’s Biggest Wealth Gainer in 2021, ahead of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk as per the recent Bloomberg Billionaires Index.Gautam Adani gained USD 16.2 billion & was followed by Google Co-founder Larry Page, who gained 14.3 billion USD.As per Bloomberg Billionaires Index, now he became the 26th richest person in the world.

FDI Equity Inflows grew 28% to $54.18 billion in April-January 2020-21

As per the Commerce and Industry Ministry data released on April 4, 2021, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows into the country during April-January 2020-21(first ten months of FY21) grew up by 28% to $54.18 billion in comparison with the April-January of FY20 which stood at $42.34 billion.Total FDI flow (which includes reinvested earnings) during April-January in FY21 increased by 15% to $72.12 billion over the FY20.It is the highest ever for the first ten months of a financial year.

Flipkart Partners With Adani Group to Strengthen its Presence in India

Flipkart, an e-commerce marketplace, made a strategic two-prong partnership with Adani Group to strengthen its supply chain and technology infrastructure. Under the two-prong partnership one with Adani Logistics Limited for forming fulfilment centre and the other with Adaniconnex Private Limited for data centres creation.

LT Foods becomes 1st Company to be certified by UN-backed Sustainable Rice Platform

India-based LT Foods Limited became the 1st company at the global level to be certified with the highest level of verification – L3, by UN-backed Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) ecolabel. It will enable the company to use the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) verified logo on packs of Rice produced by verified 1, 000+ farmers growing sustainable rice.

JNPT Hired ‘SBI Caps’ as a Transaction Advisor for Privatization of JNPCT

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has hired SBI Capital Markets Ltd. (SBI Caps), subsidiary of State Bank of India (SBI) to act as transaction advisor for the privatization of the J N Port Container Terminal (JNPCT). JNPT has appointed SBI Caps as the transaction advisor for the PPP project which is estimated to cost Rs.863.31 crores.

Adani Group Became 3rd Indian Conglomerate To Cross 100 Billion USD mcap

Adani Group became the 3rd Indian conglomerate to cross 100 billion USD in market capitalization(mcap). On 6th April the total mcap of the 6 listed companies of Adani Group at the close of trading was Rs.7.84 lakh crore(106.8 billion USD).

The other 2 Indian conglomerates to cross 100 billion mcap are Tata Group and Reliance Industries limited.

Wipro Became 3rd Largest Indian IT Firm & sets to Reach Net-zero GHG Emissions by 2040

Wipro Ltd regained its position as the third-largest Indian IT services company by market capitalization(market-cap) of Rs 2.65 trillion by surpassing Noida-headquartered HCL Technologies’ Rs 2.62 trillion market cap. TCS remains at the top of the list of IT companies. Wipro announced its plan to achieve Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 2040 during World Earth Day and committed an intermediate target to achieve a 55 per cent reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 compared to its base year of 2016-17 (April-March).