The link between NPAs and frauds at govt-run banks

Mint explains why rising incidence of bank frauds is a cause of concern for RBI, the Centre and people with savings and deposits in these banks

Govt eases lending rules for weak NBFCs

The govt said it would allow PSBs to get partial guarantees against the purchase of BBB+ rated securities of NBFCs in addition to existing norms for AA or higher rated assets

India assures global investors of payment security for green energy investments

• Delegates from 200 countries, including India, are attending the 25th Conference of Parties (COP) currently underway in Spain
• This comes in the backdrop of India running the world’s largest renewable energy programme which would require $80 billion till 2022

Vodafone Idea denies talks with Brookfield, Edelweiss to sell assets

• The fact that the firm intends to monetise its optic fibre business, data centre was disclosed in the Sept quarter report on 14 Nov 2019, Vodafone Idea said
• The company seeks to raise over $2.5 billion from asset sales ahead of a January deadline to pay statutory dues

NBFCs to grow at decadal low levels of 6-8% in FY20, says Crisil

• NBFCs and HFCs are expected to report to a decadal low growth in AUM of 6-8% in FY20, compared with around 15% last fiscal, Crisil said
• Constrained funding access with rising borrowing costs, de-risking of loan book, a slowing economy are behind this slow growth of NBFCs, said Crisil

MTNL shareholders’ meet 8 Jan on plans to raise ₹6,500 cr, asset monetisation

• The government in October had announced a revival package that included the merger of MTNL with BSNL
• BSNL employs 1.76 lakh people across the county, while MTNL has around 22,000 employees

Non-banks’ AUM may grow at 10-yr-low in FY20

• Constrained funding access, rising borrowing costs, slowing economy will lead to slow growth, says report
• Overall borrowings by the sector between July and September 2019 were the lowest in the last four quarters since September 2018

India’s coal power usage set to shrink for first time in 14 years

• Coal generation fell for a fourth month in November, the longest such streak in government data going back to 2005
• When demand is down, utilities end up reducing offtake from costlier coal plants, and buy more from other sources

Netflix’s ‘The Irishman’ viewed by 26 million households: Ted Sarandos

• Sarandos said 26.4 million households had already made its way through at least 70% of the three-and-a-half hour film
• The Robert De Niro and Al Pacino-starrer is expected to draw about 40 million household views in the first 28 days of streaming

DoT cracks whip, tells telcos to pay pending AGR dues fast

• DoT has asked telecom licencees to speed up the process of self-assessment of AGR based dues and the payment of over ₹1.47 trillion and submit comprehensive representation on previous issued demands latest by 13 Dec 2019
• The deadline for payment of AGR dues is 23 January 2020

Publicis Groupe appoints Anupriya Acharya as CEO, South Asia

• In the newly created role, Acharya will be leading Publicis Groupe's country agenda across India and Sri Lanka
• Acharya started her career at Ogilvy in 1994 and had worked at a number of agencies before joining Publicis Groupe in 2013

Too Yumm! partners with Amazon Prime Video for Inside Edge 2

• In the series, Too Yumm! will be one of the sponsors of a fictional cricketing league PowerPlay League
• Inside Edge, now in its second season, is a sports drama thriller that stars, among others, Vivek Oberoi, Angad Bedi, Richa Chadha

Grofers expands operations to 27 cities

• Grofers has expanded its services to 27 cities from 14, including concentric circles such as Vadodara, Meerut, Rohtak, Panipat, Agra, and Durgapur, said CEO Albinder Dhindsa
• Grofers aims to give millions more people access to affordable groceries

Non-metro cities, regional languages drive Hotstar growth in 2019

• This year, Hotstar registered more than 400 million downloads—twice the number of installs as 2018
• India’s non-metros users contributed 63% to the total entertainment video consumption in 2019 on Hotstar

Salman Khan to endorse Pepsi in India

• The brand will associate itself with Khan’s next big release Dabangg 3
• The actor will be seen in a 360 degree commercial in 2020 that will take forward Pepsi’s “SWAG” themed campaign

Jio brings back ₹149, ₹98 recharge plans. Check validity, data, talktime

• Jio now has five categories of prepaid recharge plans with the cheapest one starting from ₹98
• Jio says its new plans results in 25% savings for its customers

SBI gets a ₹11,932 crore bad loans jolt from RBI

• Regulator finds that the lender under-reported its NPA numbers for FY19
• Others including Union Bank, UCO, Lakshmi Vilas and Yes Bank have also reported a divergence in NPA numbers for FY19

Blockchain developer, AI specialist top new emerging jobs: LinkedIn

• India is seeing a rise in digital transactions, and therefore industries are ramping up investments in Blockchain
• Bengaluru is the top talent hub for the creation of these jobs in addition to being the third largest startup hub in the world

Banijay Asia to bring action adventure slate with Bear Grylls to subcontinent

• The joint venture is likely to play out in terms of other kinds of content later
• The first green-lit title is due to be announced in the coming weeks

Vodafone found to have fastest 4G network in Delhi-NCR region: Report

• According to Ookla, these results are based on speed tests done by 4G users across the length and breadth of Delhi-NCR region
• The fastest 4G speeds in Delhi-NCR is based on analysis by Vodafone of Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data