1. IMPS limit increased to Rs.500,000.

a. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to increase the daily transaction limit of IMPS from Rs.200,00 to Rs.500,000.

b. The RBI has maintained an accommodative stance keeping the Repo Rate unchanged at 4%, reverse repo rate at 3.5%.

c. FY 2022 GDP growth projection maintained at 9.5% and the CPI Inflation at 5.3% for the current fiscal year.

2. Piramal Pharma Biz gets a separate identity.

a. Ajay Piramal Group has announced that its Pharmaceutical Business would be demerged and listed as a separate entity on the stock exchange. 

b. With a turnover of Rs.5,776, Piramal Pharma is amongst the top 10 pharma companies in the country by revenue. It draws 48% of its revenue from exports to North America. The pharma business contributes 45% to the group’s turnover.

c. After the demerger, PEL will become a financial services company focused on lending to the real estate sector, while the pharma business will get consolidated under Piramal Pharma Ltd (PPL) and will be listed separately. All existing shareholders of Piramal Enterprises will get four shares in Piramal Pharma Ltd for every one share in Piramal Enterprises.

d. According to analysts, the demerged entities are expected to have a combined market capitalization of around Rs.75,000-80,000 crore, nearly 10-15% higher than PEL’s current market capitalization.

e. Ajay Piramal stated that it is the appropriate time for demerger as both the businesses are growing rapidly.

3. Unemployment, No More?

a. Job creation is expected to have gotten a boost in September. According to estimated the US Labour Department is likely to give a figure of 500,000 for the jobs added in the US Economy. The jobs have nearly doubled from the 235,000 level in August.

b. Hourly wages are also expected to increase 0.4% for September in comparison to August.

c. The unemployment rate is likely to have dropped to 5.1% in September from 5.2% in August.

4.  Acer Laptops; “Made in India”

a. Taiwanese Personal Computer maker Acer has assigned Indian Company Dixon Technologies to make laptops on its behalf in India.

b. Taking the advantage of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme Dixon will start with supplying laptops to the domestic market.

c. The company has set up a plant to manufacture 700,000 laptops in the first phase. The company is optimistic that it will receive larger orders in the second phase and is prepared to increase the capacity to 10,00,000.d.Dixon is also putting up a 2 million per annum plant to make tablets. Talks are on for long-term contracts with global players.

5. Commodities Market adds Energy to its Basket.

a. A decade long dispute between the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) with the Supreme Court giving Green Signal to trade “Energy” as a commodity on the MCX. 

b. This will bring newer products in the commodity exchanges and attract increased participation from generation companies, distribution companies, large consumers, which will eventually deepen the power market. 

c. This will enable the discoms and other large consumers to plan their short-term power procurement more efficiently. Similarly, the commodity exchanges viz. MCX can now introduce financial products viz. Electricity futures will enable the discoms and other large consumers to effectively hedge their risks of power procurement. 

d. As per the CERC regulations, the contracts have to be settled only by physical delivery without netting.

7.  ICICI benefits from HDFC Ban.

a. ICICI Bank Ltd seems to have made the most of the nine-month period when private sector peer HDFC Bank Ltd was barred from issuing new cards by the banking regulator. ICICI Bank issued 1.5 million new credit cards between December 2020 and August 2021.

b. In August, ICICI added 219,084 credit card customers, followed by SBI Card with 162,587 and Axis Bank at 82,619.

8. Government of India releases guidelines for Cyber Security in Power Sector.

a. Ministry of Power in association with Central Electricity Authority has framed Guideline on Cyber Security in Power Sector to be adhered to by all Power Sector Utilities to create a cyber-secure ecosystem. This is the first time that a comprehensive guideline has been formulated on cyber security in the power sector. The guideline lays down required actions for cyber security preparedness across various utilities.

b. It lays down a cyber assurance framework, strengthens the regulatory framework, puts in place mechanisms for security threat early warning, vulnerability management and response to security threats, and secures remote operations and services, among others, it added.

c. The norms are applicable to all responsible entities as well as system integrators, equipment manufacturers, suppliers/ vendors, service providers, and IT hardware and software OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) engaged in the Indian power supply system.

d. The guidelines mandate ICT (Information and Communications Technology) -based procurement from identified 'trusted sources' and 'trusted products' or else the product has to be tested for malware/ hardware trojan before deployment for use in the power supply system network, it stated.

e. It will promote research and development in cybersecurity and open up the market for setting up cyber testing infra in public as well as private sectors in the country.

9. TCS Q2 Results beats estimate.

a. India's Largest IT Services company TCS today reported 14.1 % Y-O-Y growth in its consolidated net profit to Rs 9624 cr for the quarter ended September 

b. Its consolidated revenue from operations grew at 16.8% Y-O-Y to Rs 46,867 crore

c. The company's board also approved an interim dividend of Rs 7 per share  

d. The company said that it added five new clients in the $100 million-plus bracket and 17 new clients in the $50 million-plus category reflecting the strong demand environment.