1. 2-Day Annual Meeting Of AIIB Begins In Mumbai.
The third Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank -AIIB begins in Mumbai today. The two-day event will be held on the theme of Mobilizing Finance for Infrastructure will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
AIR correspondent reports, important events scheduled today include Governor’s seminar in which Finance Ministers of member countries are expected to participate. The topics to be discussed in Governor’s seminar include Mobilising Finance for infrastructure, Connectivity Within and Beyond Asia and Leveraging Finance for Asia’s infrastructure.
Later in the day, there is panel discussion scheduled on the theme Chief Ministers on vision of Infrastructure Development in India. In the evening, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri will be attending a brainstorming and interactive session with the corporate sector.
2. HCL Tech Acquires German IT Firm H&D.
HCL Technologies has acquired German IT and engineering services provider H&D International Group. Through this deal, HCL Tech will attain significant in-country front office and delivery capabilities, which will further enhance its domain expertise in the global automotive sector, according to a press release.
The H&D Group, one of the largest IT service providers in the German automotive industry, has extensive expertise in SAP, computer-aided technologies (CAx), engineering services and customer-specific product development. It operates in over 20 locations globally, said the release.
H&D’s existing delivery centre in Gifhorn, Germany, will become part of HCL Tech’s global delivery footprint and will focus on IT and engineering services both in Germany and globally.
“Germany is a critical market for HCL as we continue to expand our business in Europe. We feel the German market is at an inflection point and it is the right time for HCL to expand and make significant investments her,” said Ashish Gupta, Corporate Vice President at HCL Technologies.
Bernhard Hönigsberg, CEO of H&D Group, said: “By combining H&D’s delivery capabilities with those of HCL, we have an unprecedented opportunity to add tremendous value to the services we provide to support our clients’ IT transformation ambitions. Furthermore, the experience and know-how of HCL and H&D complement each other perfectly and our employees are set to benefit significantly from the new opportunities that lie ahead."
3. Exim Bank Extends $10 Mn Loan Facility To Seychelles.
The Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) today said it has extended USD 10 million worth of line of credit (LOC) to Seychelles for healthcare and procurement of goods and projects. The LOC is the first tranche of the USD 50 million sanctioned by the Exim Bank to the country, a release said.
With this agreement for USD 10 million, Exim Bank, till date, has extended two LOCs to Seychelles, taking the total value to USD 28 million. Earlier this week, the bank had extended two LOCs aggregating USD 31 million to the Republic of Suriname for upgradation of transmission line network and maintenance of Chetak helicopters there.
Exim Bank has 233 LOCs in place at present, covering 62 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the CIS, with credit commitments of around USD 22.86 billion, available for financing exports from India, the release said.
4. Pakistan Placed On FATF’s ‘Grey List’.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed Pakistan on its watch list for not doing enough to counter terror financing during a meeting in Paris, officials said on Thursday.
The listing was done late on Wednesday during a plenary meeting of the global financial watchdog. Pakistan’s caretaker finance minister Shamshad Akhtar is attending the meeting with a delegation.
Pakistan was included in FATF’s “grey list” after it submitted a 26-point action plan to cut off funding for terrorists and groups sanctioned by the UN Security Council, including Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani Network and Taliban.
The FATF had earlier put Pakistan on its grey list between 2012 and 2015.
As the 37-member FATF began assessing Pakistan’s action plan that will be implemented over a period of 15 months beginning next January, the country’s delegation highlighted the steps taken by Islamabad to curb money laundering and terror financing.
Though some reports suggested Pakistan had tried to avert its inclusion in the grey list, sources said a decision in this regard had already been taken during the FATF’s plenary meeting in February. The FATF had only been waiting for Pakistan’s action plan before going ahead with the listing.
Following the decision at the February plenary meeting, Pakistan was asked to prepare an action plan to address the watchdog’s concerns. The plan was completed following negotiations between Pakistan and FATF members, and Islamabad will work “towards effective implementation of the action plan while staying in the grey list”, an official said.
Islamabad will have to deliver on the first goal under the action plan by next January and complete all 26 actions by September 2019.
5. BHEL Inks Pact With Korean Firm For Emission Controlling Equipment.
today said it has inked a pact with South Korean firm NANO Co Ltd for design and manufacture of emission controlling devices for coal-based power plants.
The Technology Collaboration Agreement (TCA) with NANO Co is for design and manufacture of SCR Catalysts for De-NOx application in coal-fired plants, BHEL said in a statement.
The pact will enable BHEL to enhance its offerings for emission control systems (De-NOx applications). NANO Co is a leading manufacturer of SCR Catalysts and associated raw materials and has supplied the Catalysts to various countries such as Germany, France, Italy, China and Taiwan.
6. Mumbai Based Swadhaar FinServe Acquired By RBL Bank.
Private-sector lender RBL Bank Ltd has acquired the 39.52% stake it doesn’t already own in Mumbai-based financial products distribution unit Swadhaar FinServe Pvt. Ltd.
The bank didn’t disclose the value of the all-cash deal citing confidentiality reasons.
The acquisition is in line with the bank’s policy of strengthening its market position in the inclusive finance segment, it said in a stock-exchange disclosure.
RBL Bank bought the stake from investors including Accion, a global non-profit company focussed on fintech and microfinance sectors.
Harjeet Toor, head of retail, inclusion and rural business at RBL Bank, said the bank sees Swadhaar as a vehicle catering to underserved households and small businesses.
“In the future, we will also be looking to leverage Swadhaar’s growing branch network to offer other relevant products to customers in semi-urban and rural markets,” said Toor.
RBL Bank had initially bought a 30% stake in Swadhaar in September 2016.
In November last year, it increased its stake first to 58.4% and subsequently to 60.48%.
Swadhaar works as a last-mile distributor of financial services and products, particularly loans and savings products, to low-income households and microenterprises across India. It has 331 branches across the country.
7. IRDAI Gives Nod To LIC To Buy Stake In IDBI Bank.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has agreed to the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India’s proposal to hike its stake to 51 per cent in IDBI Bank from 10.8 per cent at present. The permission is subject to the corporation bringing down its holding to 15 per cent in future.
The IRDAI board, which met in Hyderabad on Friday, cleared the proposal put forward by the LIC. It will now have to be cleared by the state-owned insurer’s board. According to sources, the corporation believes that having a bank within the group will help increase its share of business through the bancassurance route. An official said, “Private life insurers with a bank within the group generate nearly half their business through the bancassurance channel. In the case of LIC, it is less than 3 per cent.”
LIC, with assets under management of over Rs 30 lakh crore, has been priding itself as the largest financial institution in the country. The insurer had first made a pitch for a banking licence over 16 years ago when SBI got its life insurance licence. Subsequently its housing finance arm LIC HFL had put in an unsuccessful application for a bank licence. The corporation was a founding investor in Axis Bank in the ’90s and had also picked up a 28 per cent strategic stake in Corporation Bank. However, none of these investments served the desired purpose.