Mumbai, July 6 (IANS) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday that it has imposed a penalty of Rs 1.32 crore on Punjab National Bank for non-compliance with regulations on ‘Loans and Advances – Statutory and Other Restrictions’ and breach of KYC norms.

The RBI has in its statutory inspection found that PNB “sanctioned working capital demand loans to two State Government-owned Corporations against amounts receivable from Government by way of subsidies/refunds/reimbursements.”

PNB also failed to preserve the records pertaining to the identification of customers and their addresses obtained during the course of business relationships in certain accounts.

The RBI also said that the action against PNB is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transactions or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 6 (IANS) India’s major ride-hailing company Ola has exited Google Maps and has shifted to its own Ola Maps for cab operations.

Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and Chairman of the Ola group said that through this move, the company will save nearly Rs 100 crore per year.

Last month Aggarwal cut all his ties with Microsoft Azure and shifted his company’s entire workload to in-house Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm Krutrim.

In a social media post, he asked users to check Ola apps and update if required.

Aggarwal said on X, “After Azure exit last month, we’ve now fully exited Google Maps. We used to spend ₹100 cr a year but we’ve made that 0 this month by moving completely to our in-house Ola maps! Check your Ola app and update if needed.”

Aggarwal announced many more new features like street view, NERFs, indoor images, 3D maps, drone maps, etc will be integrated into Ola maps soon.

“Many more features coming soon – street view, NERFs, indoor images, 3D maps, drone maps, etc!” Aggarwal said in a social media post.

In October 2021, Ola acquired Pune-based geospatial services provider company GeoSpoc.

Currently, Ola Maps provides services to its flagship ride-hailing app Ola cabs.

At the time of the Krutrim AI launch, Ola announced that it would provide a mapping solution within its Cloud services.

Recently, Aggarwal said that “early next year is when you can see our own cells in our own products.”

Ola is building a battery cell gigafactory in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri District.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 6 (IANS) India’s electricity production went up by a robust 15.06 per cent to 167.55 billion units in May this year compared to 145.61 billion in the same month last year, as demand surged amid the scorching heat wave, according to the monthly report of Central Electricity Authority.

Thermal power, generated mainly from coal-and gas-based plants, contributed 127.87 billion units which represented a 14.67 per cent increase over the same month last year.

The demand for electricity peaked at a record high of 250GW on May 30 as an extended heat wave across North India kept electricity demand elevated in May and most of June. The peak power demand is projected to go up to 260GW in 2024-25.

With the monsoon gathering pace to cover the entire country ahead of schedule and temperatures coming down in the northern states, the peak demand is currently at around 200GW.

Hydropower generation is expected to increase with the reservoirs getting replenished during the monsoon. In May, electricity generation from large hydro projects rose 9.92 per cent to 11.62 billion units.

Renewable energy projects, excluding hydro, generated 22.50 billion units, 18.34 per cent more than the year-ago period.

The power ministry has directed domestic coal-based plants to blend 6 per cent imported coal till September in order to ensure that sufficient electricity is generated to meet demand.

With India clocking an economic growth of 8.2 per cent, the highest among the major economies, the demand for power has also shot up due to the increased economic activity.

The Government is also considering taking a relook at the power demand projections in order to plan for creating more generation capacity in the next five years.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) As the Indian stock market keeps touching new highs amid a record bull run, over 42.4 lakh new demat accounts were opened in the month of June, the highest account opening rate since February.

In May, 36 lakh new demat accounts were opened, according to data from the Central Depository Service and National Securities Depository. The total demat accounts are now at more than 16.2 crore.

This is the fourth time when new demat openings crossed 40 lakh in a single month. The feat was earlier achieved in December 2023, January 2024 and February this year.

On Thursday, Sensex and Nifty made a new all-time high of 80,392 and 24,401 respectively. According to market experts, the return of FIIs to the domestic market and the expectation of a rate cut in September are supporting market sentiment.

After a run-up of 7 per cent in the last month, analysts expect the market to consolidate at a higher zone. “In the coming week, we expect stock and sector-specific action as the market starts taking cues from Q1FY25 earnings. On the macro front, investors will look out for inflation data that will be released by India, the US, and China,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

–IANS

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Mumbai, July 5 (IANS) Financing Women Collaborative (FWC), an initiative of Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) on Friday announced new collaborations to support women entrepreneurs by strengthening their access to finance at a workshop held here.

As part of the workshop, Anna Roy, Mission Director, WEP and Principal Economic Adviser, NITI Aayog, launched several initiatives.

Key highlights included the announcement of a partnership between MAVIM and MSC under FWC to improve access to finance through alternative credit rating mechanisms and work with banks to offer more tailored products for women entrepreneurs in Maharashtra.

An MoU exchange between WEP and GroW Network founded by AfD, SIDBI, and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation; launch of the “Seher” program by TU CIBIL and launch of the Shine program in partnership with CreditEnable to strengthen the credit readiness of women-led enterprises were other initiatives announced to benefit women entrepreneurs.

Additionally, SEWA Bank’s commitment to reaching out to more women entrepreneurs as a member of FWC was also announced.

The event included an engaging session exploring “Perspectives on encouraging banks to finance women beyond SHG groups” and a panel discussion titled “Accelerating women’s access to finance: Unlocking the potential of the women-led economy for achieving Vision 2047.”

The meeting was organised by WEP in partnership with TransUnion CIBIL (TU CIBIL) and MicroSave Consulting (MSC).

Key dignitaries included senior officials from NITI Aayog, RBI, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of MSME, SIDBI, public-sector banks, private-sector financial institutions, CSOs/NGOs, and women entrepreneurs who attended the workshop.

WEP, incubated in NITI Aayog in 2018 as an aggregator platform, transitioned into a public-private partnership in 2022. WEP aims to strengthen India’s women entrepreneurship ecosystem.

It provides a forum for all ecosystem stakeholders across government, business, philanthropy, and civil society to collaborate, converge, and align their initiatives towards scalable, sustainable and effective programs, enabling a larger impact for women entrepreneurs.

WEP has over 20 public and private sector partners collaborating to strengthen women entrepreneurs in India.

FWC, an initiative of WEP launched in September 2023, aims to enhance access to finance for women entrepreneurs in India. It is chaired by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and co-chaired by TU CIBIL, with MSC as its secretariat.

FWC brings together the financial service sector and organisations working with women entrepreneurs to create a supportive financing ecosystem for women.

–IANS

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