Category: Economy

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been awarded a 10-year mandate to administer and enhance customer experiences for the Teachers’ Pension Scheme in England and Wales.

The Teachers’ Pension Scheme is the second-largest public sector pension scheme in the UK with over 2 million members.

TCS has been chosen by the Department for Education (DfE) to administer and improve customer experiences for the scheme. It will manage the scheme administration services using its future-ready, digitally enabled, omnichannel platform powered by TCS BaNCS™. The TCS platform will facilitate accurate administration of pension records, seamless benefit payments, effective scheme finance management, proactive member engagement, and easy access to information.

The IT company aims to deliver a digital-first, self-service pension experience, providing scheme employers and members with anytime, anywhere access to their account information. The platform will also offer personalised insights to help individuals gain a better understanding of their pension plan, empowering them to make informed decisions, the statement from the company said.

TCS plans to establish a service hub in Darlington, expanding its existing presence in the UK. The company has a significant workforce spread across 30 locations throughout the country.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in India are expected to reach 1 billion per day by the financial year 2026-27, accounting for 90% of the retail digital payments, said a report by PwC India.

Calling it the UPI a “game-changer” in India’s digital payments ecosystem, PwC says since its launch in 2016 has gained massive acceptance, thanks to features such as instant transactions and credit to beneficiaries in real time; seamless integration of multiple use cases; using application programming interfaces (APIs); convenience in making payments due to interoperability; secured mode of payments; no additional costs to customers; and adaptive framework for mobile networks and fintechs.

The data in the report said that UPI grew from 18 million transactions and ₹69.61 billion in financial year 2016–2017 to 83,751 million transactions amounting to ₹1,39,204 billion in the year 2022–2023, contributing to a compound annual growth rate of 234% in transactions and 196 percent in value.

The linkage of credit cards on UPI, international transactions enabled through UPI, and credit lines on UPI will bring in additional revenue and provide benefits to all ecosystem players, says the report. It also advised that since the NPCI has recommended an interchange fee up to 1.1 percent of the transaction value to be levied on PPI-UPI transactions greater than ₹2,000, Merchant Discount Rate for small merchants should be waived.

Saudi Arabia has said that it will cut down in July the amount of oil it sends to the global economy by one million barrels per day (bpd), as the OPEC+ alliance of major oil-producing countries tackle failing oil prices and a looming supply surplus.

The kingdom said on June 4 that it would make these production cuts next month to support the sagging cost of crude after two earlier production cuts by OPEC+ members could not drive prices higher.

OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, reached a deal on output policy after seven hours of talks at its headquarters in Vienna. It was decided to extend earlier cuts in supply through the end of 2024 by a further 1.4 million bpd. Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman later said in a news conference that Riyadh could extend the cut beyond July if needed.

The group has also lowered the targets for Russia, Nigeria and Angola to bring them into line with their actual current production levels. In contrast, the United Arab Emirates was allowed to raise output.

OPEC+ pumps around 40 percent of the world’s crude, and its policy decisions can have a major impact on oil prices. Last year, it agreed to a cut of 2 million bpd, amounting to 2 percent of global demand. In April, it agreed to a surprise voluntary cut of 1.6 million bpd from May till the end of 2023.

Countries raised a record $95 billion in 2022 by charging companies for emitting carbon dioxide, but prices are still tremendously low to drive changes necessary to meet the Paris Agreement, said the World Bank in a report released in May.

In a statement, Jennifer Sara, Global Director, Climate Change Group, World Bank Group, said that even in difficult economic times, governments are prioritising direct carbon pricing policies to reduce emissions. However, to really drive change at the scale needed, the world needs to see big advances both in terms of coverage and price.

Many countries are using a price on carbon emissions to help meet their climate goals in the form of a tax, or under an emissions trading, or cap-and-trade, system. Presently, there are 73 global carbon pricing instruments in use, compared with 68 when the World Bank issued its 2022 report last May, covering around 23 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The figure raised in 2022 in carbon revenues was higher from around $84 billion raised in 2021.

In 2017, a report by the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices indicated that carbon prices need to be in the $50-$100 per tonne range by 2030 to keep a rise in global temperatures below 2 deg C — the upper end of the limit agreed upon in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

As of April 1, 2023, less than 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are covered by a direct carbon price at or above the range recommended by 2030. Adjusted for inflation, those prices would now need to be in the range of $61-$122 tonne, the World Bank report said.

Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong has warned that the calls to “de-risk” – rather than “decouple” – from China could lead to a more fragmented and decoupled world economy, which in turn, will split the world into competing regional blocs. There will be less trade, less investments and less diffusion of ideas, driving the world, especially Asia – where millions were lifted out of poverty, thanks to globalisation and trade – will end up worse off than before.

Addressing business leaders, academics and the media at the annual Nikkei forum Future of Asia in Tokyo on June 1, Wong made the statement in response to the discussion at the recent Group of Seven (G7) summit of advanced economies in Hiroshima in May. At the G7 summit, leaders introduced the term, de-risking, in their communiqué for the first time, trying to capture it more positively than their previous term, decoupling. De-risking means reducing “excessive dependencies” in critical supply chains such as by not over-relying on any country for the supply of materials or as a market.

In his speech, Wong, who is also Singapore’s Finance Minister, observed how geopolitical lines are clearly starting to be drawn. He said that there are signs of global foreign direct investment flows “becoming more concentrated among countries that are geopolitically aligned. This marks a significant change from the last three decades of globalisation, when investors assigned capital based on business considerations, and companies worked all over the world and linked up in global supply chains.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to expand the pilot for the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the fiscal year (FY) 2023-24, said the central bank’s annual report released on May 30.

The CBDC, referred to as digital rupee or e₹, will now be taken to more banks and locations in this financial year. “RBI aims at expanding ongoing pilots in CBDC-Retail and CBDC-Wholesale by incorporating various use cases and features,” the report said.

On October 31, 2022, the central bank launched the first pilot of digital rupee in the wholesale segment and identified nine banks to participate. The pilots for the wholesale and retail CBDC were started on November 1, 2022 and December 1, 2022, respectively. The nine lenders include State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BOB), Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC.

The retail digital rupee, or e₹, can be used by people for day-to-day transactions.

Eight banks are participating in the retail pilot project, including SBI, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank, BOB, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Under the pilot project, banks can invite selective customers and merchants to try the services through their mobile applications. After this, these users can make peer-to-peer transactions and peer-to-merchant transactions.

Global experts have agreed to produce a draft treaty to end plastic pollution. Environmental advocates welcomed the result of the five days of United Nations’ talks in Paris on plastic pollution recently, while expressing concern that the petroleum industry and some governments would water down the eventual treaty, as most plastic is made from fossil fuels.

The UN delegates at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for Plastics on June 2 agreed to produce an initial draft before their next meeting in Kenya in November. The committee is charged with developing the first international, legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, on land and at sea.

A coalition led by the governments of Norway and Rwanda, and environmental groups, want to end plastic pollution altogether by 2040 by cutting production and limiting some chemicals used in making plastics. Countries with big petroleum industries such as the US, China and Saudi Arabia are more focused on plastic recycling, and want rules based on nations instead of across-the-board limits.

Globally, more than 430 million tonnes of plastic is produced annually, two-thirds of which are short-lived products that soon become waste, ending in the ocean and, often, working their way into the human food chain, the UN Environment Program said in an April report. Plastic waste produced globally is set to almost triple by 2060, with about half ending up in landfill, says the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

India has extended the $1 billion credit facility to Sri Lanka for another year.

The State Bank of India (SBI) and the Sri Lankan government signed an agreement in March last year at the height of the country’s economic crisis. India on May 30 extended its $1 billion credit line to Sri Lanka to help the island nation hit hard by an extraordinary economic crisis to acquire food, medicine and other essential items. Since last year, the credit facility has been used for urgent procurement of fuel, medicine, food items and industrial raw materials, as per the requirements and priorities of Sri Lanka.

“India reaffirms its commitment to the people of Sri Lanka. The Amendment Agreement signed in presence of Honourable Minister @ShehanSema today will enable Sri Lanka to use the $1 billion Indian credit facility for the procurement of medicine, food, and other essentials for one more year,” the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka tweeted.

India extended multi-pronged assistance of about $4 billion to Sri Lanka last year, through multiple credit lines and currency support, in line with India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka also announced on May 30 that it has commenced the preliminary work to resume the abandoned Japan-funded Light Rail Transit project.

Morgan Stanley, in its latest report, has said that in a short span of 10 years, India has gained positions in the world order with significant positive consequences for the macro and market outlook.  

The report, India Equity Strategy and Economics: How India Has Transformed in Less than a Decade has predicted that India will emerge as a key driver for Asia and drive a fifth of global growth in the coming ten years.

Morgan Stanley has based its report on 10 big changes, mainly due to India’s policy choices, and their implications for its economy and market. These are Supply-side Policy Reforms, Formalisation of the Economy, Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, Digitalising Social Transfers, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Flexible Inflation Targeting, Focus on FDI, India’s 401(k) Moment, Government Support for Corporate Profits, and MNC Sentiment at Multi Year High, the report added.

Noting its achievements over the years, the report said in 10 years, India’s base corporate tax rate has stayed below 25 per cent, while for new companies with operations commencing before March 24, it has stayed at 15 per cent. In terms of infrastructure development, there has been significant development in national highways, broadband subscriber base, renewable energy and railway route electrification.

The South African government granted diplomatic immunity to all international participants, including Russia President Vladamir Putin and other Russian officials, at BRICS-related events to be held in the country. South Africa, which currently chairs the bloc, is currently hosting the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting in Cape Town (1-2 June).

The immunities and privileges in terms of the United Nations Convention grant immunity from personal arrest or detention. A gazetted notice was issued by the South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor for the Diplomatic Immunity and Privileges Act to be granted to all international officials at BRICS-related events in the country.

“Immunity from personal arrest or detention and from seizure of their personal baggage, and, in respect of words spoken or written and all acts done by them in their capacity as representatives, immunity from legal process of every kind,” the document reads.

A warrant for Putin’s arrest was issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague in March, and since South Africa is a member of the formation, it is obliged to arrest Putin when he is in the country. Despite this, South Africa, as the current chair of the BRICS alliance, has officially invited Putin to the 15th BRICS summit at Durban in late August 2023. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is currently attending the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in Cape Town.