Ministry of Tourism organises 20th webinar titled 'Uttarakhand Simply Heaven' under

The 20th session of the Dekho Apna Desh webinar series on 16th May 2020 titled “Uttarakhand Simply Heaven” highlighted the potential of tourism in Uttarakhand’s two regions namely Kedar Khand (Garhwal Region) and Manu Khand (Kumaon Region) and touched upon the popular destination like Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Hemkhund Sahib and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Valley of Flowers.

This webinar session was presented by Dr PushpeshPant, an eminent scholar, Food Historian and an expert in International Relations, Ex-Professor of JNU, Mr Ganesh Saili a renowned author, notable photographer and an authority on the history of Uttarakhand and Mr Shashank Pandey, a certified outbound trainer, MD of Aspen Adventures, Rishikesh. The session was moderated by Ms Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism and

Uttarakhand’s Adventure Tourism Potential such as river rafting at Rishikesh and Pittoragarh, winter sports and skiing in Auli, Paragliding at Tehri Dam and Kaushani, innumerable options for trekking available such as Chopta and Pindari Glacier and India’s highest bungee jumping facility in Rishikesh were highlighted by the presenters.

Besdies adventure activities, the session also presented options for experiencing the best of nature by paying a visit to the oldest national park of the country- Jim Corbett National Park, Rajaji Tiger Reserve and UNESCO site of Nanda Devi National Park-exploring the rich diversity of flora and fauna of Himalayan Region.

Uttarakhand’s immense opportunities for developing and exploring rural tourism offerings, the best options for homestays wherein one can experience and feel the real hospitality of the people serving the best of local cuisine also was highlighted by the presenters.

Ms Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General concluded the session stating Uttarakhand ‘Dev Bhoomi’, the Land of Gods is a mesmerizing destination for tourists of all tastes. It is a multi-faceted destination, i.e. from being a sacred and religious site to be an adventure land with rich biodiversity in its purest form.

The Dekho Apna Desh Webinar Series sessions are conducted with active support of National e-Governance Division (NeGD) of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) for those who had missed these webinars, the sessions are now available on the https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbzIbBmMvtvH7d6Zo_ZEHDA/featured and also on all social media handles of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.

The next episode of the webinar scheduled Tuesday 19th May 2020 at 11.00 am, is titled ‘Photowalking Bhopal’ and participants can join the webinar be registering at https://digitalindia-gov.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wLHXyRTGTrK3Vb-ljK8sxQ

Dr Harsh Vardhan participates in the 73rd World Health Assembly through VC

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health & Family Welfare, participated in the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) through Video Conference and highlighted the timely, graded and pro-active measures taken by India towards COVID-19 management.

Union Finance Minister announces several initiatives to boost Education Sector

Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman has announced several initiatives to boost education sector on 17th May in New Delhi. The Minister said that investing in the human capital is equivalent to an investment in productivity and prosperity of the nation. The present pandemic situation has presented new challenges and several opportunities for our education system.

The Minister highlighted that the education sector has taken this opportunity to plan several interventions, particularly in the area of adopting innovative curriculum and pedagogies, concentrating energies on the gap areas, being more inclusive and integrating technology at every stage, to usher in a new era of focussed investment in the human capital.

Finance Minister further said that the government is committed to ensuring learning for all, with equity, so as to cover all students at all levels of education and in all geographical locations, even in the remotest parts of the country.

Union Human Resource Development Minister ‘Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’ expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for giving priority to education sector. He also thanked Union Finance Minister for the initiatives and hoped that they will transform the education system and bring out holistic development of students of the country.

Shri Pokhriyal said that the “One nation, one digital platform” and “one class one channel” will ensure that quality education material will reach the students present in farthest areas of the country. He said that the initiatives will boost the access and equity in education and improve the gross enrolment ratio in the times to come. He also said that due consideration is being given to the Divyang children also and the measures will usher in a new paradigm in the creation of New India.

Union Finance Minister announced the immediate set of initiatives in this direction includes:

1. A comprehensive initiative called PM e-VIDYA will be launched which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education. This will enable multi-mode access to education, and includes: DIKSHA (one nation-one digital platform) which will now become the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content in school education for all the states/UTs; TV (one class-one channel) where one dedicated channel per grade for each of the classes 1 to 12 will provide access to quality educational material: SWAYAM online courses in MOOCS format for school and higher education; IITPAL for IITJEE/NEET preparation; Air through Community radio and CBSE Shiksha Vani podcast;  and study material for the differently abled developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube. This will benefit nearly 25 crore school going children across the country.

 

2. In this time of global pandemic, it is vital that we provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for mental health and emotional wellbeing. The Manodarpan initiative is being launched to provide such support through a website, a toll-free helpline, national directory of counsellors, interactive chat platform, etc. This initiative will benefit all school going children in the country, along with their parents, teachers and the community of stakeholders in school education.

 

3. Government is expanding e-learning in higher education – by liberalizing open, distance and online education regulatory framework. Top 100 universities will start online courses. Also, online component in conventional Universities and ODL programmes will also be raised from present 20 per cent to 40 per cent. This will provide enhanced learning opportunities to nearly 7 crore students across different colleges and Universities.

 

4. There is a need to promote critical thinking, creative and communication skills, along with experiential and joyful learning for the students focussing on learning outcomes. The curriculum must be rooted in the Indian ethos and integrated with global skill requirements. Therefore, it has been decided to prepare a new National Curriculum and Pedagogical Framework for school education, teacher education and early childhood stage to prepare students and future teachers as per global benchmarks.

 

5. A National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission will be launched, for ensuring that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy and numeracy in Grade 3 by 202 For this, teacher capacity building, a robust curricular framework, engaging learning material – both online and offline, learning outcomes and their measurement indices, assessment techniques, tracking of learning progress, etc. will be designed to take it forward in a systematic fashion. This mission will cover the learning needs of nearly 4 crore children in the age group of 3 to 11 years.

India's online video market to touch US$ 4 billion by 2025

The online video market in India is estimated to reach US$ 4 billion by 2025, with subscription services contributing more than US$ 1.5 billion while advertising accounting for US$ 2.5 billion.

The major contribution will be by Google’s YouTube, followed by Disney+ Hotstar.

Disney+ Hotstar is the streaming service owned by Disney India and has potential to acquire 25 per cent of the total online video revenue pie by 2025.

Details of these projections are given under a report titled India Intelligence and Insights: Disney+ Hotstar: The Future of India’s Largest Premium Digital Video Platform brought out by independent research and consultancy services firm Media Partners Asia (MPA).

“In the current COVID situation, audiences are spending more time online and OTT platforms have almost doubled their viewership. This viewership trend is likely to continue at least for a few years. Hence, advertising on the services is likely to surge in the coming years as they increasingly become the choice for content consumption," said Mr Anita Nayyar, head, customer strategy and relationships, ZEE5.

As per the report by FICCI-EY media and entertainment industry report 2020, television advertising in India, on the other hand, is estimated to reach Rs 388 billion (US$ 5.1 billion) by 2022.

“The pay economy for online content will be successful if we work with quality content, and price it in the right manner," said Mr Vishnu Mohta, co-founder of Bengali video streaming platform Hoichoi. “It would happen because the COVID pandemic has catapulted OTT growth by some five years. Things that people would have expected to see in 2025, might happen now."

Mr D Girish, vice-president, strategy at documentary streaming service DocuBay added that the current crisis has expedited the adoption of digital platforms by a large percentage of content consumers.

He added, “SVoD is not dependent on advertising spends by brands that are among the first to be impacted whenever there is a certain corporate or economic downturn; however, greater digital adoption also opens the door for a larger turf for AVoD monetization than in the past."

According to MPA, Disney+ Hotstar could reach 93 million paying subscribers by 2025 at monthly ARPUs (average revenue per user) under US$ 1. Thus, taking subscription revenue to US$ 587 million by 2025 while advertising sales could reach US$ 314 million.

Though, any impact from new services such as gaming or expansion to south east Asia was not considered in report.

The effect of COVID-19 will be seen on the revenue of advertising market with TV bearing the brunt while digital video will also come under pressure. There is no exception by the Disney+ Hotstar’s advertisement packages.

Although, Disney+ enjoyed the benefit of subscription through the first half of 2020 from its launch in April 2020. Regardless the absence of the popular IPL cricket tournament, Disney+ contributed meaningfully to premium tier subscriber growth and remained churn positive through the period, as per MPA analysis.

According to the report, the strengthen of the platform includes sports, local originals, Hollywood entertainment and its super aggregator strategy. In order to increase subscribers, drive viewership and stay ahead of aggressive global and local competition, the company must sustain and accelerate the pace of its investment in product innovation, content creation and acquisition as well as retain its key sports rights. It must also develop new features and services including gaming and the aggregation of more local live and on-demand content.

It was rebranded as Disney+ Hotstar earlier this year, pricing, content mix and tech are main pillars of the Disney+ Hotstar strategy, added the MPA report. Pricing plays the important role as India’s large pay-TV universe only pays US$ 4 per month for a wide range of live TV channels, including sports and entertainment. Annual offers at attractive rates have been the key to creating an online subscription business at scale. Disney has three distinct offerings – Disney+ Hotstar VIP, Disney+ Hotstar Premium and an ad-supported basic tier. The VIP plan is available for Rs 399 (US$ 5.66) a year while the premium subscription comes for Rs 1,499 (US4 21.26).

Disney+ Hotstar’s major differentiation has been its vast aggregation of premium local and international entertainment and sports, driving its present-day addressable market to 100 million plus subscribers.

Disney+ comes with content bundled from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic.

General Atlantic to invest Rs 6,598 crore in Jio Platforms

New York-based private equity giant General Atlantic plans to invest Rs 6,598.38 crore (US$ 936.07 million) in Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in its digital assets subsidiary, Jio Platforms Ltd.

This deal comes just two days ahead of the launch of RIL’s Rs 53,000 crore (US$ 7.52 billion) rights issue and will see General Atlantic pick up a 1.34 per cent stake in Jio Platforms, taking the value of the company at Rs 4.91 trillion (US$ 69.66 billion).

In the last month, with the latest deal, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 67,194.75 crore (US$ 9.53 billion) from marquee tech investors, such as Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners and General Atlantic.

The enterprise value of the Jio Platform has reached Rs 5.16 trillion (US$ 73.20 billion) with the deal with General Atlantic.

“I am thrilled to welcome General Atlantic, a marquee global investor, as a valued partner. I have known General Atlantic for several decades and greatly admired it for its belief in India’s huge growth potential," said Mr Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, RIL. “General Atlantic shares our vision of a digital society for India and strongly believes in the transformative power of digitization in enriching the lives of 1.3 billion Indians. We are excited to leverage General Atlantic’s proven global expertise and strategic insights across 40 years of technology investing for the benefit of Jio."

The idea behind the RIL’s strategy to raise funds through a flurry of stake sales is mainly intended at building confidence among potential investors for its mega rights issue amid a volatile equity market during the COVID-19 crisis.

RIL announced raising of Rs 53,125 crore (US$ 7.54 billion) through a 1:15 rights issue (one new share for every 15 shares held) at an offer price of Rs 1,257 (US$ 17.83) apiece on 30 April 2020 and the issue is set to open on 20 May.

RIL will let its subscribers buy the rights issue shares by only making a part payment now and the rest later because of the uncertainties in the market, giving RIL promoters more time to bring in enough money to fully subscribe to the rights issue. Shareholders, those are willing to subscribe to the rights issue will have to pay 25 per cent on application and the rest in one or more tranches. With 50 per cent shareholding, RIL’s promoter group led by Ambani will need Rs 26,600 crore (US$ 3.77 billion) to subscribe to its portion of the rights issue.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh approves Rs 400 crore Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme

In order to give a boost to domestic defence and aerospace manufacturing, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh has approved the launch of Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS) with an outlay of Rs 400 crore (US$ 56.75 million) for creating state of the art testing infrastructure for this sector. The Scheme would run for the duration of five years and envisages to setup six to eight new test facilities in partnership with private industry. This will facilitate indigenous defence production, consequently, reduce imports of military equipment and help make the country self-reliant.

The projects under the Scheme will be provided with up to 75 per cent government funding in the form of ‘Grant-in-Aid’. The remaining 25 per cent of the project cost will have to be borne by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) whose constituents will be Indian private entities and State Governments. The SPVs under the Scheme will be registered under Companies Act 2013 and shall also operate and maintain all assets under the Scheme, in a self-sustainable manner by collecting user charges. The equipment/systems tested will be certified as per appropriate accreditation.

While majority of test facilities are expected to come up in the two Defence Industrial Corridors (DICs), the Scheme is not limited to setting up Test Facilities in the DICs only.

National Migrant Information System (NMIS) - a central online repository on Migrant Workers - developed by NDMA to facilitate their seamless movement across States

Government of India has allowed the movement of migrant workers by buses and ‘Shramik’ special trains to enable them to travel to their native places.

In order to capture the information regarding movement of migrants and facilitate the smooth movement of stranded persons across States, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has developed an online Dashboard - National Migrant Information System (NMIS).

The online portal would maintain a central repository on migrant workers and help in speedy inter-State communication/co-ordination to facilitate their smooth movement to native places. It has additional advantages like contact tracing, which may be useful in overall COVID-19 response work.

The key data pertaining to the persons migrating has been standardized for uploading such as name, age, mobile no., originating and destination district, date of travel etc., which States are already collecting.

States will be able to visualize how many people are going out from where and how many are reaching destination States. The mobile numbers of people can be used for contact tracing and movement monitoring during COVID-19.

Finance Minister announces Government Reforms and Enablers across Seven Sectors under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan

Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced a Special economic and comprehensive package of Rs 20 lakh crore (US$ 283.73 billion) - equivalent to 10 per cent of India’s GDP on 12th May 2020. He gave a clarion call for or Self-Reliant India Movement. He also outlined five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat – Economy, Infrastructure, System, Vibrant Demography and Demand.

In her opening remarks during the 5th Press Conference here today on stimulus package to fight COVID-19 under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Ms Nirmala Sitharaman referred to the vision laid out by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his address to the Nation on 12th May 2020. Quoting the Prime Minister, Ms Sitharaman said that as a Nation, we stand at a very crucial juncture. COVID-19 Pandemic has brought a message and an opportunity. We need now to build an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.

Smt Sitharaman said that in order to prove the resolve of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, land, labour, liquidity and laws have all been emphasised in Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Package. The crisis and the challenge is an opportunity to build a self-reliant India.

The Finance Minister said today’s announcement is in continuation in the series of reforms. Soon after lockdown, we came up with Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP). As part of the Rs 1.70 lakh crore (US$ 24.12 billion) PMGKP, the Government announced distribution of free food grains, cash payment to women and poor senior citizens and farmers etc. The swift implementation of the package is being continuously monitored. Around 41 crore poor people received financial assistance of Rs 52,608 crore (US$ 7.46 billion) under the PMGKP. The Finance Minister also said PMGKP used technology to do Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to people. We could do what we did because of the initiatives taken during the last few years, she added.

In addition, 84 lakh metric tonnes of food grains have been lifted by States and also more than 3.5 lakh metric tonnes of pulses have been dispatched to various States. And for this, Ms Sitharaman appreciated the concerted efforts of FCI, NAFED and States, giving pulses and grains in huge quantities, despite logistical challenges.

Announcing the 5th and last Tranche of measures towards Government Reforms and Enablers, Ms Sitharaman detailed seven measures for providing employment, support to businesses, Ease of Doing Business, and State Governments as well sectors such as Education and Health.

1. Rs 40,000 crore (US$ 5.67 billion) increase in allocation for MGNREGS to provide employment boost

The Government will now allocate an additional Rs 40,000 crore (US$ 5.67 billion) under MGNREGS. It will help generate nearly 300 crore person days in total addressing need for more work including returning migrant workers in Monsoon season as well. Creation of larger number of durable and livelihood assets including water conservation assets will boost the rural economy through higher production. 

2. Health Reforms & Initiatives

 Public Expenditure on Health will be increased by investing in grass root health institutions and ramping up Health and Wellness Centres in rural and urban areas. Setting up of Infectious Diseases Hospital Blocks in all districts and strengthening of lab network and surveillance by Integrated Public Health Labs in all districts & block level Labs & Public Health Unit to manage pandemics. Further, National Institutional Platform for One health by ICMR will encourage research. And implementation of National Digital Health Blueprint under the National Digital Health Mission. 

3. Technology Driven Education with Equity post-COVID

 PM eVIDYA, a programme for multi-mode access to digital/online education to be launched immediately. Manodarpan, an initiative for psycho-social support for students, teachers and families for mental health and emotional well-being to be launched immediately as well. New National Curriculum and Pedagogical framework for school, early childhood and teachers will also be launched. National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission for ensuring that every child attains Learning levels and outcomes in grade 5 by 2025 will be launched by December 2020. 

4. Further enhancement of Ease of Doing Business through IBC related measures

Minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings has been raised to Rs 1 crore (US$ 0.14 million) (from Rs 1 lakh (US$ 1418), which largely insulates MSMEs). Special insolvency resolution framework for MSMEs under Section 240A of the Code will be notified soon.

 Suspension of fresh initiation of insolvency proceedings up to one year, depending upon the pandemic situation. Empowering Central Government to exclude COVID 19 related debt from the definition of “default” under the Code for the purpose of triggering insolvency proceedings. 

5. Decriminalisation of Companies Act defaults

Decriminalisation of Companies Act violations involving minor technical and procedural defaults such as shortcomings in CSR reporting, inadequacies in Board report, filing defaults, delay in holding of AGM. The Amendments will de-clog the criminal courts and NCLT. 7 compoundable offences altogether dropped and 5 to be dealt with under alternative framework. 

6. Ease of Doing Business for Corporates

Key reforms include:

• Direct listing of securities by Indian public companies in permissible foreign jurisdictions
• Private companies which list NCDs on stock exchanges not to be regarded as listed companies
• Including the provisions of Part IXA (Producer Companies) of Companies Act, 1956 in Companies Act, 2013
• Power to create additional/ specialized benches for NCLAT
• Lower penalties for all defaults for Small Companies, One-person Companies, Producer Companies & Start-ups

7. Public Sector Enterprise Policy for a New, Self-reliant India

Government will announce a new policy whereby -

• List of strategic sectors requiring presence of PSEs in public interest will be notified
• In strategic sectors, at least one enterprise will remain in the public sector, but private sector will also be allowed
• In other sectors, PSEs will be privatized (timing to be based on feasibility etc.)
• To minimise wasteful administrative costs, number of enterprises in strategic sectors will ordinarily be only one to four; others will be privatised/ merged/ brought under holding companies 

8. Support to State Governments

Centre has decided to increase borrowing limits of States from 3 per cent to 5 per cent for 2020-21 only. This will give States extra resources of Rs 4.28 lakh crore (US$ 60.72 billion). Part of the borrowing will be linked to specific reforms (including recommendations of the Finance Commission). Reform linkage will be in four areas: universalisation of ‘One Nation One Ration card’, Ease of Doing Business, Power distribution and Urban Local Body revenues. A specific scheme will be notified by Department of Expenditure on the following pattern:

• Unconditional increase of 0.50 per cent
• 1 per cent in 4 tranches of 0.25 per cent, with each tranche linked to clearly specified, measurable and feasible reform actions
• Further 0.50 per cent if milestones are achieved in at least three out of four reform areas

The Finance Minister concluded by providing a breakup of the stimulus measures provided so far in order to become Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.

38 new mandis integrated with e-NAM; The pan-India electronic agri-produce trading portal reaches milestone of 1000 mandis across 18 States & 3 UTs

38 additional mandis were integrated with the e-NAM platform today, thus achieving milestone of integration of 415 mandis as per the planned target. 38 Mandis integrated are in Madhya Pradesh (19), Telangana (10), Maharashtra (4) and One (1) each from Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala & J&K.

With the overall success of 585 mandis in Phase 1 and further expanding its wings to integrate 415 new mandis in Phase 2, the e-NAM platform now has a total number of 1000 mandis across 18 States & 3 UTs.

The e-NAM is being implemented by the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), being the lead agency for the project under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, with the support of all the e-NAM States/UTs, State Marketing Boards, Mandi secretaries, Supervisors, Quality Assayers, Weighment Operators, Service Providers, Farmers, FPOs, Traders and e-NAM team.

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), a pan-India electronic trading portal was launched on 14th April 2016, by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, with the aim of networking the existing Mandis on a common online market platform as “One Nation One Market” for agricultural commodities in India.

This digital initiative of Government of India provides a single window service for all APMC related information and services, including commodity arrivals, quality assaying, competitive bid offers and electronic payment settlement directly into farmers’ accounts. This online digital market aims at reducing transaction costs, bridging information asymmetries, and helping expansion of market access for farmers and other stakeholders.

In last 4 years the e-NAM has registered a user base of 1.66 Cr Farmers, 1.31 lakh Traders, 73,151 Commission Agents and 1012 FPOs. As on 14th May 2020, total volume of 3.43 Crore MT & 38.16 Lakh numbers (Bamboo & Coconut) collectively crossed a remarkable business milestone worth Rs 1 lakh crore (US$ 14.19 billion) on e-NAM platform. Presently 150 commodities, including Foodgrains, Oilseeds, Fibers, Fruits & Vegetables, are traded on e-NAM.

To address the difficulties faced by the farmers due to the COVID19 lockdown crisis, the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, on 2nd April 2020 launched 3 new modules of e-NAM.

1. FPO Module on e-NAM: This enables FPOs to conduct trade of commodities from their collection centres declared as “Deemed Market” or “Submarket yards”. As on 14th May 2020, 1012 FPOs are registered on e-NAM platform, and have traded 3053 MT of agri-produce worth Rs 8.11 Crore. Among these, 42 FPOs traded from their own collection center through recently introduced FPO module.
2. Warehouse based Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (e-NWR) trading: For e-NWR based trading, WDRA accredited warehouses from Andhra Pradesh (23) and Telangana (14) have been declared as deemed market by respective State Governments. Rajasthan Government has recently declared 138 State Government & cooperative warehouses as submarket yards. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab have initiated   amendments in their respective acts to facilitate warehouse-based trade.
3. Logistics Module: This facilitates transportation of the commodities from farm to Mandis and from Mandis to warehouse/consumption centres. Nine logistic service providers/aggregators linked with 2.3 lakh transporters and 11.37 lakh vehicles have been on-boarded on e-NAM platform.

On May 1, 2020, Inter-Operability between ReMS (Unified Market Portal-UMP) and e-NAM portal was launched. In this new module farmers and traders across ReMS (UMP) of Karnataka and e-NAM platform can conduct inter-platform trade to access more markets for trade using inter-operability features and vice-versa.

These revolutionary steps of e-NAM further strengthen it towards One Nation One Market goal, facilitating farmers, traders and mandis to collectively work together as a cohesive unit to take nation towards online sale and purchase of agri-produce through e-NAM portal.

 

Maruti acquires Sumitomo's stake in JJ Impex; to supply Brezza to Toyota

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), took a slew of decisions, including acquisition of Delhi-based JJ Impex, and supply of Vitara Brezza to Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM).

According to the filing to the BSE, the company said the board has approved acquiring 39.13 per cent equity stake held by Sumitomo Corporation, Japan and 10 per cent held by Sumitomo Corporation India Pvt Ltd in JJ Impex (Delhi) Pvt Ltd, a company engaged in automobile service and repair business.

The acquisition is worth Rs 21.73 crore (US$ 3.08 million) and no government approval is required, the company said.

MSIL said, “After the acquisition, the company shall become the wholly-owned subsidiary of MSIL. MSIL shall have the right to nominate/ appoint all the Directors on the board of the company. The nominee Directors of Sumitomo Group shall resign from the board of the company.”

Another approval given by board is for supply of another product (derivative model of Vitara Brezza currently being manufactured by the company) to TKM. “This will result in incremental sales for the company,” it said.

The appointment of Mr Maheshwar Sahu as an Independent Director of the MSIL for a period of five years (from May 14, 2020 till May 13, 2025) subject to shareholders’ approval in the ensuing annual general meeting has also received approval from boards.

Mr Sahu is an ex-senior civil servant with over 30 years of leadership experience in Central and State governments.