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Banking & Economy PDF – September 2019
Table of Contents
Banking, Finance & Economy News: September 2019 ......................................................................... 2
Banking, Finance & Economy Q&A: September 2019 ........................................................................ 53
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Banking, Finance & Economy News: September 2019
Govt accepts the resignation of SBI’s MD Anshula Kant, following her appointment as MD and CFO
of the World Bank
On September 1, 2019, The Central Government has accepted the resignation of Anshula
Kant, Managing Director (MD) of State Bank of India (SBI). This comes after her appointment as the MD
and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of World Bank Group.
Key points:
i. Anshula is from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. She is a graduate in Economic Honours from Lady Shri Ram
College for Women and a Post-Graduate in Economics from Delhi School of Economics.
ii. She has more than 35 years of expertise in finance, banking will be responsible for financial and risk
management of the World Bank Group. She will also have to work closely with the World Bank CEO on
the mobilization of the International Development Association (IDA) of WB and other financial resources.
iii. She joined SBI in 1983 as a probationary officer (PO) and also worked as the Deputy MD of
Operations for National Banking Group. She has been a Managing Director and member of the Board
since September 2018.
About SBI:
♦ Headquarters: Mumbai
♦ Founded: 1 July 1955
♦ Chairman: Shri Rajnish Kumar
♦ Tagline: The Nation banks on us; Pure Banking Nothing Else; With you all the way
About World Bank:
♦ Headquarters: Washington, D.C, U.S.
♦ President: David Malpass
♦ Chief Executive Officer: Kristalina Georgieva
ECL Finance Ltd and Central Bank of India entered into an agreement to co-lend to MSMEs
On September 1, 2019, A leading Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) & a subsidiary of Edelweiss
Financial Services, ECL Finance Limited and Central Bank of India (CBI) have entered into an
agreement for priority sector lending to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). Key points:
i. This is the first such partnership which was made following the announcement of a progressive co-
origination policy issued by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India)in September 2018.
ii. Under this agreement, businessmen will be given loans for various types of products, machinery, and
other activities.
iii. Many MSMEs are unable to take loans due to high-interest rates and lack of banking services. Under
this partnership, loan facility will be provided to MSMEs working in more than 100 cities of the country.
iv. With this innovative model of loan, MSMEs will be able to take advantage of loans at the cheap
interest rate and this will help them to grow their business.
About Central Bank of India:
♦ Founded: 21 December 1911
♦ MD and CEO: Pallav Mohapatra
♦ Tagline: Build A Better Life Around Us, Central to you since 1911
About ECL Finance Ltd:
♦ Founded: 2005
♦ Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Sabka Vishwas – Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme operationalised from 1st September 2019
Sabka Vishwas legacy dispute resolution scheme for taxpayers announced by finance minister
Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2019-20 union budget has started off with its operation from September 1,
2019, and will be operational till December 31, 2019.
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Key points
Aim: The scheme aims to free taxpayers in closing their pending disputes related to legacy Service Tax
and Central Excise cases which are now included under Goods and Service Tax(GST).
Two components: The two main components of the scheme are Dispute resolution and Amnesty
(pardoning of cancelling offence).
Dispute resolution:
It functions in Dissolving the legacy cases of Central Excise and Service Tax included in GST and taking
legal
cases: 60% relief of the confirmed duty amount for a sum less than or equal to Rs. 50 lakhs whereas it is
40%, if the confirmed duty amount is more than Rs. 50 lakh.
iii.voluntary disclosure: The person availing the Scheme will only have to pay the full amount of
disclosed duty.
Case type Amount range relief
Pending case Less than or equal to Rs. 50 lakhs. 70%
Pending case Greater than Rs. 50 lakh 50%
Non pending case Less than or equal to Rs. 50 lakh. 60%
Non pending case Greater than Rs. 50 lakh 40%
About legacy tax:
It is a tax levied on the privilege of passing title by will to property, especially personal property.
About income tax department:
Founded- 1860.
Headquarters- New Delhi.
Minister responsible– Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Paytm Money promotes Pravin Jadhav as its MD and CEO

On September 1, 2019, Paytm Money has promoted Pravin Jadhav as its Managing Director (MD) and
Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Prior to this, Jadhav was in the position of full-time director.
Key points:
i. The company also plans to invest Rs 250 crore in the next 2 years as it is expected to start a new
business including share bronzing, NPS(National Pension Scheme) in the financial year 20(FY 2019-20).
ii. Praveen has made Paytm Money as the largest mutual fund investment platform in India. Prior to
Paytm Money, he has worked with Rivify and Rediff.com.
iii. Paytm Money is a wholly-owned subsidiary of One97 Communications, the company operating
Paytm.
About Paytm:
♦ Headquarters: Noida, Uttar Pradesh
♦ Founded: 2010
♦ Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
ICICI becomes the country’s first bank to deploy ‘Robotic Arms’ for counting currency at its chests
ICICI Bank(Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India), the leading private sector lender,
has become the 1st bank in India to deploy industrial ‘robotic arms’ to count millions of notes in
currency chests across the country. 14 machines (robotic arms) have been deployed in 12 cities so that
all these can count 6 million notes in a working day or about 1.80 billion notes annually.
Key points:
i. Robotic arms operate continuously and seamlessly, without any breaks, using different sensors at more
than 70 parameters.
ii. These 14 robots have been deployed in New Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Bengaluru,
Hyderabad, Bhopal, Sangli, Mangaluru, Raipur, Siliguri, and Varanasi.
iii. This will bring more precision and flexibility in handling large amounts of notes.
About ICICI Bank:
♦ Founded: 5 January 1994
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♦ Managing Director & CEO: Mr. Sandeep Bakhshi
♦ Tagline: Hum Hai Na, Khayal Apka
Cabinet approves Rs 9,300 crore package capital infusion for IDBI Bank
On September 2, 2019, Information and Broadcasting(I&B) Minister Prakash Javadekar stated that the
central Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Government of India(GoI) has
approved a capital infusion of Rs 9,300 crore in IDBI Bank(Industrial Development Bank of India).
The objective behind the government’s move is to increase the bank’s capital base.
Key points:
i. Out of Rs 9,300 crore, the government (49%) will give Rs 4,557 crore, while Rs 4,743 crore will be
given by LIC- Life Insurance Corporation (51%).
ii. LIC completed the acquisition of a controlling 51% stake in the troubled IDBI Bank in January 2019.
After this, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed IDBI Bank in the category of private sector bank.
iii. IDBI Bank was placed under the immediate corrective action framework of RBI. It prohibits loans to
companies and branch expansion, increments and other regular activities. This infusion will be through
recap bonds ( Government infusing capital into the bank and the bank buying the recap bond from
Government the same day) will help the bank to come out of RBI’s Prompt Corrective Action (PCA)
framework sometimes in 2020.
iv. The Bank has over 800 branches, about 1.5 crore retail customers and has about 18,000 employees.
About IDBI Bank:
♦ MD & CEO: Rakesh Sharma
♦ Tagline: Aao Sochein Bada
India increases contribution to Global Fund, $ 22 mn for 6th cycle

On September 3, 2019, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan stated that the
central government will contribute $22 million to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria
(GFTAM) for the 6th replenishment cycle (2020-22), an 10% jump of the amount US$ 20 million
contributed in the 5th cycle. So far, India has contributed US$ 46.5 million till 2019.
key points:
i. India stands strong to its long-standing partnership with the Global Fund in fighting the epidemics of
these three diseases(AIDS- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, TB- Tuberculosis, and Malaria) & has
now become the first among G20 (an international forum for the governments and central bank
governors from 19 countries and the European Union), BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa) and implementer countries to announce the pledge for the 6th Replenishment cycle.
ii. India adequately financing to eliminate three diseases has now stepping towards to strengthen health
systems and save 16 million more lives across the world.
iii. since the year 2002, India has a strong partnership with the Global Fund both as recipient and as a
donor. Global Fund support with the amount of US $ 2.0 billion so far has made to fight against three
diseases. It has allocated US$ 500 million to India for the present funding cycle (2018-21).
About Global Fund:
♦ Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
♦ Founded: 28 January 2002
Panel on Fintech related issues formulated by the ministry of finance submits its final report
On September 2, 2019, An Inter-Ministerial committee set up by the Ministry of Finance, Department of
Economic Affairs, Government of India(GoI) on Fintech (Financial technology) related issues headed
by Shri Atanu Chakraborty, DEA(Department of Economic Affairs) Secretary, submitted its final report
“‘Steering Committee on Fintech related issues 2019 ” to the Finance and Corporate Affairs
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.
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Key recommendation:
i. Framework: In a view to protect consumers from digital services, the panel recommends to form a
comprehensive legal framework.
ii. Development of Fintech space: The report highlights the present landscape of the Fintech space in
India as well as globally. It documents key issues relating to the development of Fintech & makes
recommendations focusing on how fintech can be leveraged to promote the financial inclusion of
MSMEs(Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises).
iii.Financing: The panel in its report recommends that the RBI(Reserve Bank of India) may consider
using fintech in financing space for MSMEs in the form of cash-flow basis, development of an open-API
MSME stack (Application Programming Interface) based on TReDS data(Trade Receivable Discounting
System) verified by GSTN(Goods and Service Tax Network) & a standardised and trusted e-invoice
infrastructure designed around TReDS-GSTN integration.
iv. Technology and risk reduction: It recommends the ministry to encourage insurance companies and
lending firms to use drone and remote sensing technology for cropland, damage and location
assessments to help risk reduction in insurance/lending business & also recommends Department of
Financial Services(DFS) to jointly work with PSU(public sector undertaking) banks to reduce fraud and
security risks.
v. Credit registry for farmers: It recommends NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development )to create a credit registry for farmers by using fintech along with core banking solutions
(CBS) offered by agri-financial institutions, including cooperative societies.
vi. Digitization of Land records: The panel suggested to set up dedicated National Digital Land Records
Mission based on a common National Land Records Standards with State Land and Registration
departments for standardization & modernization of land records to make land ownership data online to
financial entities.
vii.Progress review: The panel also favoured to set up an inter-ministerial steering committee on
fintech applications in the department of economic affairs (DEA) to monitor the progress of the report.
viii.Adoption of RegTech: It has also recommended adoption of regulation technology (or RegTech) by
all financial sector regulators and develop an institutional framework for specific use-cases of
supervisory technology (or SupTech).
ix. Setting up of team for coordination on FinTech: A dedicated team on Digital Economy and Fintech
is being set up in the Investment Division, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance for
coordination on FinTech with relevant Ministries.
Others: The other members of the committee are Secretary (MeitY), Secretary (DFS), Secretary (MSME),
Chairperson (CBIC), CEO (UIDAI), Deputy Governor (RBI), Executive Director (SEBI), CEO, Invest India
with Additional Secretary (Investment).
DBS lowers India’s FY20 GDP growth to 6.2%

The DBS bank (formerly Development Bank of Singapore Ltd) based in Singapore has reduced India’s
GDP to 6.2% from its previous forecast of 6.8%. The bank also expects for another GDP (Gross Domestic
Product) rate cut by 15-25 bps in the month of December. The DBS in its report “India: More policy
support likely after weak Q2 growth” stated that severe slowdown in India’s GDP lowered the trajectory
for the year and is expected to grow in FY21(Fiscal Year 2021).
About DBS bank:
♦ Founded-1968.
♦ Chairman- PeterSeah.
♦ Chief Executive Officer(CEO)-Piyush Gupta.
T N Manoharan taskforce on secondary market for corporate loans submits its report to RBI
On September 3, 2019, A 6-member taskforce on secondary market for corporate loans, headed by
Canara Bank Chairman TN Manoharan has submitted its report to RBI (Reserve Bank of India) Governor
Shaktikanta Das.
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Key recommendations:
i. Self-Regulatory Body: RBI’s task force proposed to setting up of a Self-Regulatory Body for the
standardization of corporate loan documents.
ii. Central Loan Registry: It also favoured to set up Central Loan Contract Registry and online loan sales
platform, which enable to conduct auctions and sale of secondary market loans.
iii. Relaxation: It also recommended easing rules around the securitization of loan assets by suggesting
to consider single loan securitization to incentivize investors to acquire loans through the secondary
market mechanism.
• Background: At present, the securitization process is permitted only for a high volume of
homogenous assets.
iv. FPIs: It also called to ease the regulations to enable foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to directly
purchase distressed loans from banks.
• Background: Currently FPIs are permitted to invest in stressed assets through asset
reconstruction companies (ARCs).
v. Boosting the secondary market: It also proposed to amend regulations provided by the entities of
SEBI(Securities and Exchange Board of India), IRDA(Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority)
and PFRDA(Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority) to allow wider participation of non-
banking firms such as mutual funds, insurance companies, and pension funds in trading the securities.
This move will develop the secondary market.
• Background: Currently, only the banks and NBFCs are the participants in the primary and
secondary loan markets. Globally, secondary loan market is participated by diverse and high
number of groups, including investment banks, commercial banks, hedge funds, pension funds,
mutual funds, insurance companies, private equity funds, and specialist loan brokers.
vi. On May 29, 2019, The 6- member Task Force on Development of Secondary Market for Corporate
Loans under the Chairmanship of T. N. Manoharan, Chairman, Canara Bank was constituted by RBI.
The composition of the panel include,
• Shri V. G. Kannan, Chief Executive, Indian Banks’ Association
• Shri Bahram Vakil, Founding Partner, AZB and Partners
• Anand Srinivasan, Additional Director (Research), CAFRAL
• Sajjid Z. Chinoy, Chief India Economist, J P Morgan
• Shri Abizer Diwanji, Head – Restructuring & Turnaround Services, EY India
vii. The RBI will now placed the report for public comments by September 30, 2019.
About RBI:
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Founded: 1 April 1935
Deputy Governors: 4 (BP Kanungo, Mahesh Kumar Jain, N S Vishwanathan & the 4th is yet to be
appointed).
Joint India- NDB workshop on Enhancing NDB’s engagement awith the India private and public
sector held in New Delhi
On September 3, 2019, Joint India- New Development Bank (NDB) workshop on Enhancing NDB’s
engagement with the Indian private and public sector was held for a day in New Delhi. It was co-
organized by NDB and the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance of the
Government of India.
Key Points:
• Guests: It was co-chaired by Shri K. Rajaraman, Additional Secretary of DEA, Mr. Xian Zhu, Vice
President and Chief Operations Officer (COO) of NDB. There were more than 100 representatives
from Indian public and private sector, including Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, Member of BRICS Business
Council and the former President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI).
• Requirement: India needs an investment of about $1.30 trillion in the infrastructure sector over
the next 5 years.
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• Areas of NDB financing: Priority areas of NDB financing comprises of transportation (metro,
inter-city mobility), digital infrastructure, agriculture (irrigation, agricultural supply chain,
storage) and social sector (education, healthcare, skilling). NDB can consider raising green bonds
for financing water and sanitation projects. It can also provide credit enhancement to
municipalities for raising bonds.
• Present status: NDB has approved 28% of the loan to India which is the second highest amongst
the BRICS ( Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries. Highest loan was allocated to
China. States like Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Assam have received the
funds.
• NDB may setup a regional center in India in future to expand its local footprint in India.
About NDB:
♦ It is the first Multilateral Development Bank established by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa) nations.
♦ India holds 20% stake in the bank.
♦ Headquarters: Shanghai, China
♦ President: KV Kamath
Panel set by IRDAI to revisit 3-yr old trade credit insurance guidelines
On September 2, 2019 the insurance regulator IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
of India) has set up a 9-member panel headed by New India Assurance Company Ltd (NIACL) Chief
Managing Director(CMD) Atul Sahai, in order to review its three-year old guidelines (set up in 2016) on
trade credit insurance due to the changing market requirements.
Key points
i. Panel’s role: The panel which has to submit its report within 3 months, would study the scope of
changes and suggest suitable amendments to be added or changed to the guidelines based on Terms of
Reference(ToR) after complete examination on the current guidelines.
ii.Trade credit Insurance:It is a risk management product, given to business entities by private as well
as governmental export credit agencies to protect them from loss due to credit risks. The policy provides
coverage against delay in payment or non-payments of credit also.
iii. ToR:It means the purpose and structures of a project, committee, meeting, negotiation, or any similar
collection of people who have agreed to work together to accomplish a shared goal.
About IRDAI:
♦ Founded- 1999.
♦ Headquarters- Hyderabad, Telangana.
♦ Chairperson-Subhash Chandra Khuntia.
♦ Act- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999.
About NIACL:
♦ Headquarters- Mumbai.
♦ Founder- Sir Dorabji Tata.
♦ Founded- 1919.
♦ Nationalised- 1973.
ESIC entered into an agreement with SBI for direct benefit transfer facility for all ESIC
beneficiaries
On September 3, 2019, A multidimensional social system tailored to provide socio-economic protection
to worker population, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has signed a memorandum
of understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of India (SBI) for the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
facility to all the insured beneficiaries of ESIC.
Key points:
i. As per the agreement, SBI will provide e-payment services to all the beneficiaries of ESIC directly in
their bank account. It will be integrated with the enterprise resource planning (ERP) processes of ESIC
through its cash management product (CMP) e-payment technology platform & automated process
7|Page
without any human intervention.

ii. SBI will provide real-time benefits to the beneficiaries of ESIC as well as other payment recipients by
e-payment. It will save time, reduce payment delays, and it will also help to eliminate errors caused by
repetitive and manual data entries.
iii. The agreement was signed by Shri Rajkumar, DG (Director General), ESIC and Shri Sunil Wadhera,
DGM, SBI.
About ESIC:
♦ Founded: 24 February 1952
♦ Headquarters: New Delhi
♦ It is a Statutory Body and the administrative Ministry is Ministry of Labour and Employment,
Government of India(GoI).
♦ ESI: Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) is a self-financing social security and health insurance scheme for
Indian workers & the fund is managed ESIC according to rules and regulations stipulated in the ESI Act
1948.
About SBI:
♦ Chairperson: Rajnish Kumar
♦ Tagline: The Nation banks on us; Pure Banking Nothing Else; With you all the way.
India ranks 9th among the top 10 individual nations in gold reserves with US ranking 1st in the
list
On September 4, 2019, the World Gold Council (WGC) released the 2019 list of gold reserves in each
country. The list was topped by United States(US) with gold reserves of 8,133.5 tonnes followed by
Germany (3,366.8 tonnes) at second place. India entered the top 10 list this year ranking at 10th spot
surpassing Netherlands (612.5 tonnes) whereas it is ranked at 9th position in terms of individual
countries with 618.2 tonnes, as the International Monetary Fund(IMF) ranks third (2,451.8 tonnes) in
the gold reserve list.
Key points
i. India’s previous report: In the previous report of 2018 India’s gold reserve stood at 607 tonnes and
also it’s gold reserve has grown from 357.8 tonnes in the first quarter of 2000 to 618.2 tonnes at present.
India’s neighbouring country Pakistan stood at 45th position (64.6 tonnes) in 2019 list.
Rankings:
Rank Country
1 United States
2 Germany
3 International Monetary Fund(IMF)
4 Italy
5 France
10 India (overall, including IMF)
9 India (individual country ranking, excluding IMF)
About WGC:
♦ Headquarters- United Kingdom(UK).
♦ Founded- 1987.
♦ Chief Executive Officer (CEO)- David Tait.
♦ President- David Harquail.
Loans will be cheaper from October 1, 2019 as RBI makes repo-linked interest rates mandatory
The Country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has asked banks to link all new types of
floating-rate loans (home, auto loans & and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME)) to external
benchmark like repo rate from October 1, 2019.
8|Page
Key points:
i.Reason: The move comes after the borrowers of industry and retail loans have been complaining that
despite the reduction in the repo rate by the Reserve Bank, commercial banks are not giving full benefits
to the consumers. RBI has cut the repo rate by 110 basis points(bps) in 2019, but only up to 40 bps of
this benefit has been given to consumers by banks.
ii.Benefit: With this decision, the benefit of the reduction in policy interest rates is expected to reach the
borrowing consumers relatively fast & all kinds of loans are to be cheap.
iii. External benchmark: The external benchmark will be the repo rate fixed by the Reserve Bank / the
Treasury bill of 3 months or 6 months /any other benchmark published by the Financial Benchmarks
India Private Ltd (FBIL). Banks will be exempt to add margin if they want to spread as much as they want
above the benchmark. The banks will have to re-set the external benchmark every 3 months.
iv. The Customers who are on existing MCLR /Base Rate/BPLR(Benchmark Prime Lending Rate) system
can switch over to a new benchmarked loan after repayment or renewal of their existing loan.
v.1st bank: The State Bank of India (SBI) is the 1st bank to link some of its loans to repos. After many
more banks have also linked their loans to repo / any other external standard.
vi. Background: The Reserve Bank formed the Internal Study Group (ISG) – (Chairman: Dr. Janak Raj) in
August 2017 to review the working of the Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) System,
that recommended linking of loans to external standards.
About RBI:
Governor: Shaktikanta Das
Headquarters: Mumbai
Standard Chartered Bank launches new “DigiSmart” credit card

On September 4, 2019, The Standard Chartered Bank, a British multinational banking and financial
services company has launched its “DigiSmart” credit card primarily focused on the ever-growing
segment of millennials. Key points:
i. The new credit card is available for a nominal monthly fee of only Rs 49. However, this fee will be
waived off if the spends of the customer are Rs 5,000 or above in the previous month.
ii. Instant discounts and other benefits make this card special. Key e-commerce portals, travel,
entertainment, fashion, grocery and food delivery can be discounted on various categories of products.
iii. Standard Chartered Bank has partnered with several companies such as Myntra, Grofers, Yatra,
Zomato, Ola and INOX in the initial phase to offer customers with discounts and other benefits.
About Standard Chartered Bank:
♦ Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
♦ Chairman: Jose Vinals
♦ Tagline: Your Right Partner
ECL Finance Ltd and State Bank of India entered into an agreement to co-lend to MSMEs
A leading Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) & a subsidiary of Edelweiss Financial Services, ECL
Finance Limited and State Bank of India (SBI) have entered into an agreement for priority sector
lending (PSL) to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
Key points:
i. This partnership was made following the announcement of a progressive co-origination policy issued
by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India)in September 2018. This is a third such co-origination tie-up for
Edelweiss after the Bank of Baroda(BoB) and Central Bank of India(CBI).
ii. The partnership will help provide the timely disbursal of loans to MSMEs for the growth of their
business.
iii. This agreement comes close on the SBI setting up a special NBFC alliance department for priority
sector lending.
About SBI:
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♦ Chairman: Shri Rajnish Kumar
♦ Tagline: The Nation banks on us; Pure Banking Nothing Else; With you all the way
About ECL Finance Ltd:
♦ Founded: 2005
CBDT signed 26 advance pricing agreements (APA) during April – August 2019
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed 26 Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) of the
taxation issue in the first five months (April – August 2019) of the current financial year 2019-20.
Key points:
i. The number of such agreements entered by CBDT has reached 297. These include 32 bilateral
APAs (BAPAs). Of these, 26 APA so far the year 2019, one agreement has been reached with the
UK(United Kingdom) on a bilateral basis while the remaining 25 agreements have been unilateral. These
agreements have been with entities in information technology (IT), banking, semiconductor, power,
pharmaceutical, hydrocarbon, publishing, and automobiles sectors
ii. The multinational transactions covered under all these agreements include,
• Contract manufacturing
• Provision of software development services
• Back office engineering support service
• Provision of back office (ITeS) support services
• Provision of marketing support services
• Payment of royalty for use of technology and brand
• Trading and distribution
• Payment of charter charges
• Corporate guarantee
• Intra-group services
• Interest on financial instruments
iii. The agreements made with national and international companies to deal with the problem arising out
of their value transfer issues so as to avoid future tax disputes in a fair and transparent manner.
About CBDT:
♦ Formation: 1944
♦ Headquarters: New Delhi.
♦ Chairperson: Pramod Chander Mody
India’s FDI grew by 28% to $16.33 bn in Q1 FY 2019-20; Singapore emerged as the largest source
According to the official data from the Commerce and Industry Ministry, Government of India,
the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India grew by 28% to $16.33 billion in the first quarter
(Q1)- April-June 2019-20. FDI inflows in April-June of 2018-19 was $12.75 billion.
Key Points:
i. Maximum foreign inflows: Services Sector ($2.8 billion), computer software and hardware ($2.24
billion), telecommunications ($4.22 billion), and trading ($1.13 billion) received the maximum foreign
inflows during April-June 2019-20.
ii. Sources: Singapore emerged as the largest source of FDI in India during April-June 2019-20
with $5.33 billion investment, followed by Mauritius ($4.67 billion), the United States ($1.45 billion),
the Netherlands ($1.35 billion), and Japan ($472 million).
About Ministry of Commerce & Industry:
♦ Minister In-charge: Piyush Goyal (Rajya Sabha- Maharashtra)
MoU signed between MCX & ZCE for co-operation and the exchange of information
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Multi Commodity Exchange of
India (MCX) and Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE), a commodity exchanges in China, for co-
10 | P a g e
operation and the exchange of information. It will help in cooperation between the two exchanges in
areas like knowledge sharing, education & training, organizing events and exploration of the areas of
mutual interests between the exchanges.
Key Points:
i. MCX trades commodity futures contracts in bullion, base metals, energy and agricultural commodities,
options on Gold, Silver, Crude Oil, Copper and Zinc futures.
ii. ZCE offers commodity futures with both Agricultural and non-agricultural products like Cotton,
Rapeseed Oil, Seed & Meal, Sugar, Flat Glass, Methanol, Pure Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Thermal Coal,
option products on White Sugar and Cotton.
About MCX:
♦ Founded: November 10, 2003
♦ MD & CEO: P.S. Reddy
About ZCE:
♦ Founded:1990
♦ President: Jun Xiong
CRISIL revises GDP growth of India to 6.3% FY2020

On September 4, 2019, Indian credit rating agency CRISIL (formerly Credit Rating Information Services
of India Limited) has reduced the India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth to 6.3% for FY20 (Fiscal
Year 2020) from its previous estimate of 6.9%. The lower GDP growth forecast states about the India’s
deep economic slowdown and is broad-based than suspected.
About CRISIL:
♦ Founded- 1987.
♦ Headquarters- Mumbai, Maharashtra.
♦ Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO)- Ashu Suyash.
MSME ministry launched updated Credit linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS)
In the 2-day event (September 5& 6, 2019) of national workshop on ‘Credit Linked Capital Subsidy and
Delayed Payment of MSMEs’ held at New Delhi, the Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises Shri Nitin Gadkari has launched the updated Credit linked Capital Subsidy Scheme
(CLCSS) to enable micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) access to capital.
Key points:
i. U.K. Sinha committee:
Gadkari stated that the government will take a decision on the recommendations of the U.K. Sinha
committee which had been set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the strength of micro, small and
medium enterprises (MSME) sector. The Finance Secretary and MSME Secretary will give a final report
on the recommendations of the committee after consultation with the parties concerned & it will be
implemented in 15 days after that.
Recommendation:
• The committee suggested to create a Rs 5,000 crore distressed asset fund for domestic MSMEs
hurt by demonetization, the GST(Goods and Service Tax) and an existing liquidity crunch.
• The committee also suggested the government to make PAN (Permanent Account Number)
numbers a ‘Unique Enterprise Identifiers’ for procurement, availing government-sponsored
benefits, and other purposes.
ii. About CLCSS scheme:
• It offers an upfront subsidy of 15 % on institutional credit up to Rs 1 crore for MSMEs sectors in
the specified 51 sub-sectors.In the new updated scheme, there is an additional 10 % subsidy for
Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes(ST) entrepreneurs while special provisions have
been offered for 117 ‘aspirational’ districts, hill states and the northeastern region in India.
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• Benefits: The scheme would be crucial in raising MSME contribution to gross domestic product
(GDP).The current stake in the scheme is to be increased from 29 % to 50 %. Also, exports from
the region will have to be increased from the current 40 percent to 50 percent.
• Background: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, Government of India(GoI)has
approved an outlay of Rs 2,900 crore for the scheme In February 2019.
Delayed payments:
Gadkari stated that committee was being formed under the MSME secretary to oversee the issue of
delayed payments. The central government takes effective steps to improve the TReDS (Trade
Receivables Discounting System) platform and the online bill discounting platform, which helps sectors
of MSMEs to raise funds by selling their trade receivables to corporate.
• The ministry has already notified that all companies registered with Companies Act, 2013 with a
turnover of more than Rs.500 crore as well as all Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) to get
themselves on the TReDS. But as per the government data, only 27 CPSEs and about 750
corporates have registered under the platform.
• The Centre provided a 30-day window period for all pending goods and services tax (GST) dues
owed to MSMEs.
Gadkari asked all the stakeholders to use MSME Samadhan Portal to collect data about wilful
defaulters, register themselves on stock exchanges &the ministry assured them that the ministry
will launch a marketing portal ‘Bharat Craft’ for the marketing of their products.
About MSME ministry:
• Founded: 2007
• Headquarters: Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi
• Secretary: Dr. Dinesh Rai
RBI barred ESFB from opening new branches

The apex bank of the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred the Equitas Small Finance
Bank (ESFB) from opening new branches. The decision comes after ESFB missed the deadline to list its
shares on stock exchanges.
Key Points:
i. It also froze the salary of ESFB’s Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer
(CEO), Vasudevan PN.
ii. As per the RBI’s licensing conditions issued in November 2014, a small finance bank’s shares have to
be mandatorily listed on the stock exchanges within 3 years of touching a net worth of Rs 500 crore & 3-
year period of ESFB lapsed on September 4, 2019. It had received the license in July 2016.
iii. RBI has warned ESFB that it may impose more restrictions if it fails to make “satisfactory progress”
towards listing its shares.
About ESFB:
♦ Headquarters: Chennai
♦ Founded: 2007
UPI transactions reaches 918 million, crossed all time high of 900 million mark for August,2019
On September 5, 2019 the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has released a data on the new
record created by Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions that reached an overall high of 918
million transactions worth Rs 1.54 lakh crore by the end of August, 2019 crossing the 900 million
transaction mark.
Key points
i. Reason: The new milestone in transaction was due to increase in adoption to payment channel and
improved smartphone usage in certain states. The payment adoption increased by 11.6% and by 5.5% in
value in the month of July with 822 million transactions leading to value Rs 1.46 lakh crore in the month.
ii. 1 billion transaction: A milestone of 1 billion transaction mark is expected between September and
December months of 2019.
State analysis: Government data Digidhan dashboard shows that Andhra Pradesh tops in the UPI
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transactions with 17 transactions per person followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha,
whereas the least transaction is made by Chattisgarh with 0.08 transactions per person.
About UPI:
It is a real time payment system connecting multiple bank accounts in a single mobile application. Owned
by NPCI, it caters to the Peer to Peer system (transactions done without an intermediary like a bank)
Pilot Launch: 11th April 2016 (by Dr. Raghuram G Rajan, former Governor, Reserve Bank of India at
Mumbai).
Official launch: 25th August 2016.
Banks begin in-principle approval of retail loan in 59 minutes

All 19 public sector banks (PSB) including State Bank of India(SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank
of Baroda (BOB) have initiated in-principle retail loan approval for customers availing housing and
personal loans under the online lending platform ‘PSB Loans in 59 Minutes’.
Key points:
i. Currently, this platform is providing loan approval to the MSME(Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises)
sector. Through this platform, in-principle approval will also be started soon for vehicle loans.
ii. Applicants can choose the bank and the product they like, and will fastly avail home and personal
loans, irrespective of whether they have an account with any of the available banks.
iii. The government launched the platform in 2018 for small businessmen and MSMEs, in which they
were provided loans up to Rs 1 crore in less than an hour.
iv. More than 50,706 proposals had received in-principle approvals and 27,893 proposals been
sanctioned as of 31 March 2019, as per the latest figures.
New GDP series to align with global method unveiled by the Union Government
On September 6, 2019, Union government unveiled a linked back-series of India’s growth numbers
from 1950-51 to 2003-04, with 2011-12 as the base year with an aim to arrange the GDP (Gross
Domestic Products) figures from past years with the new internationally accepted methodology that
facilitates comparisons.
Key Points:
i. When a new series of National Accounts Statistics is introduced with an updated base period, it is
customary to link the old series to the series on the new base period.
ii. Prior 2004-05, the GDP estimates were compiled by adopting the splicing method, retaining the same
growth rates of aggregates as in the old series.
iii. The current series uses the MCA-21 database that was stabilized after 2010-11. MCA-21, an e-
Governance initiative of Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA), is a portal that allows electronic filings of
various documents under the Companies Act and that data is used in GDP estimates.
Under IBC, government plans to waive off the debts of small distressed borrowers
Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas notified that there are plans to waive off the debts of small
distressed borrowers using the ‘fresh start’ provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
It would be for the most distressed individuals within the economically weaker section (EWS). The
waiver will cost Rs 10,000 crore per annum.
Key Points:
i. Discussions are held by the government with the microfinance industry to select the criteria for the
proposed waiver for small distressed borrowers from the EWS.
ii. Criteria: There are various thresholds for ‘fresh start’ which includes the gross annual income of the
debtor does not exceed Rs 60,000. The aggregate value of the debtor’s assets should not be more than Rs
20,000 and that the aggregate value of the qualifying debts does not exceed Rs 35,000. He should not
own a dwelling unit, irrespective of whether it is encumbered or not.
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RBI selects Daffodil Software Pvt Ltd for developing mobile app for visually impaired
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) selected Daffodil Software Pvt Ltd to develop a mobile phone-based
application for visually impaired people to identify currency notes. It informed the Bombay High Court
that an internet connection would not be required for its proposed mobile application.
Key Points:
i. Out of the 16 vendors, 5 made into the final ranking to develop the application.
ii. Intaglio printing based identification marks are present in the banknotes of Rs 100 and above
denominations to help nearly 80 lakh blind or visually impaired people of India.
iii. The proposed mobile app will help to identify the denomination of notes of Mahatma Gandhi Series
and Mahatma Gandhi (New) series by capturing the image of the notes placed in front of the mobile
camera. It will generate “audio notification” intimating the currency note denomination to the user if the
image is captured correctly, else intimating the user to try again in case of image is not readable.
ADB will provide $200 million loans to Maharashtra for rural road project
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $ 200 million (about Rs 1,400 crore) loan to
upgrade about 2,100 kilometers of rural roads to all-weather standards in Maharashtra’s 34 districts for
better connecting rural areas with markets and services.
Key points:
i. Under the project, a provision of contractual maintenance for 5 years following construction has also
been provided.
ii. In addition to the loan amount, $1 million will be provided for institutional strengthening of the
Maharashtra Rural Roads Development Association in areas such as road asset management, road safety,
climate-resilient design and construction, and web-based real-time project monitoring.
iii. The project will develop road safety, road asset management, contract management, and climate-
resilient design.
About Maharashtra:
♦ Capital: Mumbai
♦ Chief Minister: Devendra Fadnavis
♦ Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari
♦ National Parks: Chandoli National Park, Nawegaon National Park, Gugamal National Park, Pench
National Park, Sanjay Gandhi (Borivilli) National Park, Tadoba National Park
♦ Wildlife Sanctuaries: Amba Barwa WLS, Bor WLS, Great Indian Bustard WLS,
Lonar WLS, Melghat WLS, Gangewadi New Great Indian Bustard WLS, etc.
About ADB:
♦ Headquarters: Mandaluyong, Manila, Philippines
♦ President: Takehiko Nakao
IPPB launched AePS services

On September 9, 2019, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and
Law & Justice Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad announced that India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has
launched Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) Services at the first anniversary of its business
operations. With this, IPPB became the single largest platform in the country for providing interoperable
banking services to the customers of any bank including the 34 crore Jan Dhan account holders.
Key Points:
i. With the help of AEPS services anyone with a bank account linked to Aadhaar can carry out basic
banking services like cash withdrawals and balance enquiry irrespective of the bank they hold their
account with. Thus, it will benefit the unbanked and underbanked customers and help in doorstep
banking access to millions of underbanked customers.
ii. In August 2019, the transaction value of AePS stood at Rs. 10,034.12 crores.
iii. To avail these services, a customer with an Aadhaar linked account can authenticate his/her identity
with fingerprint scan & Aadhaar authentication to complete a transaction.
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About IPPB:
IPPB has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity
owned by Government of India. It was launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on September
1, 2018. The fundamental mandate of IPPB is to remove barriers for the unbanked & underbanked and
reach the last mile leveraging the Postal network comprising 155,000 Post Offices (135,000 in rural
areas) and 300,000 Postal employees.
India announces $1 mn disaster relief aid for Bahamas as it is affected by Hurricane Dorian
On September 8, 2019, The Government of India (GoI) announced humanitarian assistance of $1
million as immediate disaster relief to help people in The Bahamas affected by Hurricane (tropical
cyclone) Dorian which has caused large scale destruction. The death toll is more than 40 and is likely to
increase.
Overview of the report submitted to RBI by a panel headed by Harsh Vardhan for the
development of housing finance securitisation market
The panel headed by Harsh Vardhan, senior advisor, Bain and Co., for the development of housing
finance securitisation market has submitted its report to the governor of the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) Shaktikanta Das.
Key Points:
i. Background: The six-member committee was set up by RBI on May 29, 2019.
ii. Creation of Intermediary: The panel suggested that the National Housing Bank (NHB) should create
an intermediary for standard-setting and market-making for the instruments. Intermediary could
operate either directly through the NHB, the Indian Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC), or the RBI
could set up a new organisation.
iii. Ownership in the intermediary: The new entity would have 51% ownership by the government
through the NHB initially. The government ownership in the entity would then be gradually reduced to
26% over a period of 5 years. The remaining capital of 49% may be initially raised from multilateral
agencies. It will start with Rs 500 crore of initial capital and it would be allowed to invest in each pool it
securitizes to the extent of 5% of the pool, or 5% of its own capital base, whichever is lower.
iv. Need for securitisation: Securitisation is needed to widen the pool of resources available to Housing
Finance Companies (HFCs). Except for the top 5 HFCs, which account for over 85% of the loans, the
remaining HFCs are dependent on bank loans and refinancing from the NHB. There are at least 90 HFCs
registered with NHB.
v. Need of HFCs: India will need anywhere between 80 million and 100 million additional housing units
by 2022. The building costs will be Rs 100 trillion to Rs 115 trillion.
vi. PTCs: It suggests pass-through certificates (PTCs)- a form of securitisation where pooled assets are
sold to a special purpose vehicle which issues securities against those assets. But in India, most of the
securitisation happens under direct assignment (DA) route, which is actually a form of loan sell-down.
PTC is just a quarter of the total volume of the securitisation market. Therefore, there should be a
balance between the DA and PTC forms of securitisation, so that the interests of small players are
protected.
vii. Listing: PTCs issued in mortgaged-backed securitisation should be mandatorily listed if the
securitisation pool is larger than Rs 500 crore.
viii. Loan origination standards: NHB should undertake efforts to establish the loan origination
standards, at least for affordable housing loans, on a priority basis and set up the infrastructure for
obtaining and disseminating pool performance data for all securitisation transactions.
ix. Remedy for lack of standardisation: The best option to drive lack of standardisation in the near- to
medium-term would be a credible intermediary that can not only evolve these standards with industry
inputs but also commit capital to securities that adhere to these standards.
x. Exemption: The central government should exempt mortgage-backed securitisation from stamp duty
as has been done in the case of asset reconstruction companies (ARCs).
xi. Standardised stamp duty: The government could also consider standardised stamp duty on
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assignment of mortgage pools and cap them at a reasonable level across all states.
xii. Digital registry: In order to ensure that public records are maintained for such exempt transactions,
a requirement to register such transactions through a digital registry such as the Central Registry for
Securitisation Assets Reconstruction and Security Interest (CERSAI) with a nominal registration fee
can be considered.
xiii. Linking home loans pricing to an external benchmark: The committee has recommended that
home loans pricing should be linked to an external, objectively observable benchmark such as the repo
rate.
xiv. Comments: The RBI has invited comments from the stakeholders by September 13, 2019.
About RBI:
♦ Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
Finance ministry notifies code of conduct for non-official directors of PSBs

The Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance of the Government of India has issued
a code of conduct for non-official directors (NOD) of Public Sector Banks (PSBs). The boards of the
banks will have to send an annual performance report which rates a director based on professional and
ethical conduct, and contribution to the board.
Key Points:
i. This was brought out to establish certain measures to improve corporate governance. The ‘Code for
NODs’ will be in addition to the existing ‘Guidelines on Role and Responsibilities’ and ‘Do’s and Don’ts’
for NODs issued by the Finance Ministry in September 2002.
ii. The director’s performance will be measured on various parameters like avoidance of direct or
indirect conflict of interest, acting according to rules and in the best interest of the bank, avoiding any
gain to self or associates and maintaining confidentiality.
iii. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) already has the code for independent directors under
the Companies Act.
India Ratings cuts FY20 growth forecast for NBFCs to 10-12%

On September 9, 2019 credit rating agency India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) downgraded growth
forecast for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) to 10-12% from the previous estimate of 15%
due to slowdown in economic activity. It also revised NBFC’s outlook from stable to ‘negative’ while large
ticket Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) are maintained at negative outlook.
Key points
i. Other factors for rate cut: Fall in auto industries’ sales, slowed rural infra activity, challenges faced in
the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sectors, the slowdown in real estate and moderation in
refinancing opportunities.
ii. End of repayment exemption: The NBFCs providing loans to real estate companies may further
come under pressure in the first half of 2020 when 70,000 crore advances would no longer be preferred
as mandatory repayment exemption.
iii. Recovery measures: The finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) have also announced
recovery measures in August 2019, to provide additional liquidity support of Rs 20,000 crores by the
National Housing Bank to NBFCs and HFC’s resulting in Rs 30,000 crore liquidity.
iv. India’s GDP forecast: Recently Ind-Ra had also reduced the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) forecast to
6.7% for FY20 from its previous estimate of 7.3% in August, 2019.
About (Ind-Ra):
Ind-Ra is a 100% owned subsidiary of the Fitch Group.
Managing Director(MD) & Chief Executive Officer(CEO)-RohitkaranSawhney(Since 2017).
UNCTAD released a report titled ‘Digital Economy Report 2019’

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released the first ever Digital
Economy Report (DER) titled “Digital Economy Report 2019 – Value Creation and Capture:
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Implications for developing countries”. DER was formerly known as the Information Economy
Report. It examines the scope for value creation and capture in the digital economy by developing
countries.
Highlights of DER 2019
Following are the highlights of the report:
Main components of the digital economy
The 3 main components of the digital economy as stated in the DER 2019 include:
• Core aspects: Core aspects or foundational aspects of the digital economy comprises of
fundamental innovations (semiconductors, processors), core technologies (computers,
telecommunication devices) and enabling infrastructures (Internet and telecoms networks).
• Digital and IT sectors: It includes key products or services that rely on core digital technologies,
including digital platforms, mobile applications and payment services.
• Digitalizing sectors: It includes those products where digital products and services are being
increasingly used e.g. for e-commerce.
Global Internet Protocol (IP) traffic
• Global Internet Protocol (IP) traffic has grown from about 100 gigabytes (GB) per day in 1992 to
more than 45,000 GB per second in 2017.
• By 2022, global IP traffic is projected to reach 150,700 GB per second.
Value in digital economy
• Estimates of the size of the digital economy range from 4.5% to 15.5% of the world’s GDP (Gross
Domestic Product).
• Regarding value added in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector,
the United States and China together account for almost 40% of the world’s total.
• ICT sector is the largest in Taiwan Province of China, Ireland, and Malaysia.
• The global computer services industry is dominated by the United States.
• India has the largest share among developing countries in the computer services industry. Also,
India ranked fourth in terms of growth in the share of the ICT sector’s value-added in GDP
between 2010 and 2017.
• In “Share of ICT services in total exports of services: Top 20 countries,
2017”, India ranked 2nd which is topped by Ireland. India is the largest developing-country
exporter of such services.
• In 2018, digitally deliverable service exports amounted to $2.9 trillion, or 50% of global services
exports. In the least developed countries (LDCs), such services accounted for an estimated 16% of
total services exports, and they more than tripled from 2005 to 2018.
• Google has nearly 90% of the market for Internet searches. Facebook accounts for two-thirds of
the global social media market and is the top social media platform in more than 90% of the
world’s economies.
• The global value of e-commerce is estimated by UNCTAD to have reached $29 trillion in 2017,
which is equivalent to 36% of GDP.
• The drivers of value creation in the digital economy include the digital platforms and the central
role of data and digital intelligence in the digital economy.
• The three of the largest producers of telecommunication services are developing countries,
namely China, India and Brazil.
Factors for the rapid rise to dominance of the digital giants
Digital giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, WeChat etc have achieved strong market positions in
certain areas. The factors for the rapid rise to dominance include
• Network effects (i.e. the more users on the platform, the more valuable it becomes for everyone).
• The platforms’ ability to extract, control and analyse data.
• Once a platform begins to gain traction and starts offering different integrated services, the costs
to users of switching to an alternative service provider start to increase.
• Investment in research and development (R&D) and lobbying in domestic and international
policy-making circles.
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• Strategic partnership between multinational enterprises (MNEs) in traditional sectors and global
digital platform corporations.
Recent trends in emerging Digital economy
Following are the recent trends in the digital economy:
• Blockchain technologies
• Three-dimensional (3D) printing (additive manufacturing)
• Internet of things (IoT)
• 5G mobile broadband
• Cloud computing
• Automation and robotics
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics
Top 10 countries (2017) in emerging E-commerce sales
Rank Country Total ecommerce sales As a share of
(($ billion) GDP (%)
1 United States 8883 46
2 Japan 2975 61
3 China 1931 16
4 Germany 1503 41
5 Republic of Korea 1290 84
6 United Kingdom 755 29
7 France 734 28
8 Canada 512 31
9 India 400 15
10 Italy 333 17
Estimated cross-border Business to Customer (B2C) sales: Top 10 merchandise exporters of
2017
Rank Country Cross border B2C sales ($ billion)
1 United States 102
2 China 79
3 United Kingdom 31
4 Japan 18
5 Germany 15
6 France 10
7 Canada 8
8 Italy 4
9 Republic of Korea 3
10 Netherlands 1
Other Highlights:
• Geographically, the development of the digital economy is highly uneven.
• The digital era requires updating of competition and taxation policies.
• New policies at national and international levels are needed to build an inclusive digital economy.
• The United States and China account for 75% of all patents related to blockchain
technologies, 50% of global spending on the Internet of Things (IoT), and more than 75% of the
world market for public cloud computing.
• At the current scenario, the only mandatory rule on data localisation in India is by the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) for payment systems. Other one is the Draft Personal Data Protection Bill,
2018 which consists of specific requirements on cross-border data transfers.
About UNCTAD:
♦ Established: 1964
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♦ Secretary General: Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi

♦ Reports published by UNCTAD:
• Information and Economy Report/ DER
• World Economic Situation and Prospects Report
• Trade and Development Report
• World Investment Report
• The Least Developed Countries Report
• Technology and Innovation Report
• Commodities and Development Report
An internal group of RBI to assess the adequacy of forex reserves

An internal group of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will frame a formal mechanism to assess the
adequacy of its foreign exchange (forex) reserves. RBI had recently adapted the fresh Economic Capital
Framework (ECF) as recommended by Bimal Jalan Committee on ECF which noted that RBI’s forex
reserves in 2008 were higher than India’s external debt.
Key Points:
i. The panel will study whether forex reserves are adequate or not and how much reserves are adequate
to cover various risks.
ii. At present, the forex reserves (more than $400 billion) are lower than India’s total external liabilities
($1 trillion) and even lower than total external debt ($500 billion).
iii. As on August 16, 2019, India’s forex reserves stood at $430.5 billion, an increase of $17.6 billion over
March 31, 2019 ($412.9 billion).
About RBI:
♦ Governor: Shaktikanta Das
IDBI & LIC CSL to launch a co-branded credit card

The Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI Bank) and Life Insurance Corporation of India
Credit Cards Services (LIC CSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of LIC, will launch a co-branded credit card.
It will be marketed to customers, agents, and employees of the corporation and its subsidiaries. At
present, IDBI Bank offers 5 credit card variants as LIC has ties up with Axis Bank and Corporation Bank
for issuance of credit cards under co-branded/white label agreements.
About IDBI Bank:
♦ Tag Line: Aao Sochein Bada
About LIC:
♦ Tag Line: Zindagi ke Saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi
Karnataka Bank MD & CEO MS Mahabaleshwara inducted into IBA’s Managing Committee
On September 11, 2019, The Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Karnataka
Bank, M S Mahabaleshwara was included in the Managing Committee of Indian Banks
Association (IBA). He was elected unopposed from the private sector member banks category.
i. This announcement was made during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of IBA held at Mumbai,
Maharashtra.
ii. The total membership of IBA stands at 253 consisting of public sector, private sector and foreign
banks.
IFC & FIDC sign a MoU to train NBFCs

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group and the Finance Industry
Development Council (FIDC), a representative body of asset and loan Financing of Non-Banking
Financial Company (NBFC), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to train the NBFCs in India
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on “Commercial Credit Reporting” with an objective to build the capacities of NBFCs to improve
reporting and enquiring on Commercial Credit Information Data from the Credit Bureaus.
i. Training will be conducted under the guidance of leading consultants from the World Bank Group in
India at different centers.
About IFC:
♦ Formed: July 20, 1956
♦ Headquarters: Washington, DC, US
♦ CEO: Philippe Le Houérou
About FIDC:
♦ Registered with: RBI
♦ Director General: Mr. Mahesh Thakkar
About NBFC:
It is a company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 of India, engaged in the business of loans and
advances, acquisition of shares, stock, bonds, hire-purchase insurance business or chit-fund business,
agriculture, industrial activity and sale, purchase and construction of immovable property.
SBI revises service charges for deposits and withdrawals from October 1, 2019
On September 12, 2019 the State Bank of India(SBI) has announced revision in charges of deposits and
withdrawals that will be effective from October 1, 2019. The new revision is applicable to cash
withdrawals, non-maintenance in Average Monthly Balance(AMB) and deposits.
CBDT notifies E-assessment Scheme 2019 for faceless scrutiny of income tax return
On September 12, 2019, The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notified the e-assessment scheme
2019 for conducting faceless scrutiny assessment of income tax returns (ITR). It will be established at
regional and national level with auto-allocation of different scrutiny matters.
Key Points:
i. The E-assessment Scheme, 2019 was framed in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3A)
of section 143 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
ii. The National e-assessment Centre will facilitate the conduct of e-assessment proceedings in a
centralised manner.
iii. Information will be communicated to the taxpayers and assessment centres in an electronic form and
it will be digitally authenticated.
iv. The assessee will not make personal appearance at centres and the assessment will be governed by
certain predetermined risk assessment criteria and other pre-fixed broad parameters.
v. The scrutiny notice will be issued to the individual under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 if
he has under-reported his income or overstated losses and the assessee must file his response to the
National e-assessment Centre within 15 days from the date of receipt of notice.
About CBDT:
♦ Parent Organization: Ministry of Finance
♦ Chairman: Pramod Chandra Mody
RBI panel chaired by Mahesh Kumar Jain suggests to set up of a federal body like GST council for
the agriculture sector
On September 13, 2019, The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) panel has suggested creating an institution like
the GST (Goods and Services Tax ) Council to implement reforms in the agricultural sector. It was also
recommended to transfer subsidy directly to the account and avoid debt waiver.
Key recommendations:
i. Banks are required to develop a management information system (MIS) to sanction loans against gold
as collateral in core banking solution (CBS) platform for better monitoring of end-use of funds.
ii. The panel stated that subsidy on interest subvention or agricultural credit should be converted into
direct benefit transfer (DBT) like LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) and fertilizer with an overall limit of Rs
3 lakh per individual farmer through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) mode.
iii. Banks should increase credit supply for agricultural activities and give consumption loans to farmers
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up to Rs 1 lakh.
iv. The panel has also stated that the central government should insist on states to update the process of
digitization and land records in due time. State governments should give banks access to digitized land
records. After this, banks should not insist on submitting documents of land from those taking
agricultural loans.
v. As per the Model Land Leasing Act proposed by NITI Aayog(National Institute for Transforming
India)/ Land Licensed Cultivators’ Act, 2011 of Andhra Pradesh, the state governments having a highly
restrictive legal framework should be encouraged to reform their legal framework.
vi. The panel stressed to revise priority sector lending (PSL) norms and the National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development (NABARD) should increase the corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund
(RIDF) in central, eastern & northeastern states over a period of time.
vii. In a bid to increase credit supply to agriculture activities, the panel suggested that the government to
set a target for working capital and term loan towards allied activities under ground-level credit flow
(GLC).
viii. It also suggested easing the guidelines for making easy available credit for allied activities of up to Rs
2 lakh.
ix. Central Government works together with state governments to set up a credit guarantee fund for the
agriculture sector on the lines of credit guarantee schemes implemented in the MSME sector(Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises).
x. It stressed to create a centralised database of the Indian agriculture sector which will help in planning
policy formulation.
xi. without any intermediaries, the limit of Rs 3 lakh for waiving collateral security by the banks in case
of tie-up arrangements should be revisited to Rs 5 lakh under the existing KCC (Kisan Credit Card )
norms subject to the condition that the tie-up arrangements are between the producers and processing
units.
xii. The Reserve Bank of India has created the Internal Working Group (IWG) to Review Agricultural
Credit chaired by Mahesh kumar Jain on February 13, 2019.
other member of the panel include , Ashok gulati, surekha marandi, Amalorpavanathan, Rajiv ranjan,
J.P.Sharma, Sonalai sen Gupta.
About RBI:
♦ Founded: 1 April 1935
RBI proposes new rule to set up Rs 200 crore minimum capital for SFB under ‘on tap’ license
regime
On September 13, 2019 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has framed new guidelines in licensing Small
Finance Banks(SFB) under ‘On-tap’ regime in order to make more participants in the finance banking
section. As per the new guideline, the SFBs should have Rs. 200 crores minimum capital except for such
small finance banks which are converted from Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs). UCB’s should initially
have at least Rs.100 crores from the start of the operation, however, it should make it to Rs. 200 crores
capital within 5 years, from the date of commencement of business.
Guidelines and background in brief:
i. On- tap licencing: It is a time-efficient feature that will allow eligible parties to obtain license on-
demand basis and without the need to wait. RBI allows license to the applicants throughout the year.
ii. Revised guidelines:
• Promoters of payment banks can hold 40% stake in an SFB for a lock-in-period of 5 years. This
can be brought down to a maximum of 30% within 10 years and then to a maximum of 15% in the
15 years.
• CAR: The proposed CAR is to be maintained at 15%.
iii. Listing: RBI maintained that SFBs will be listed within three years of reaching a net worth of Rs 500
crores.
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iv. Eligiblity/Entities to be covered: Small private entities, payment banks, NBFCs (Non-Banking
Financial Company), Micro Finance Institution(MFI), and cooperative banks to apply for the SFB status
having successful track record of running their businesses for at least a period of five years, can also opt
for conversion into small finance banks after complying with all legal and regulatory requirements.
v. Payment bank new features: Promoters of payment banks in its eligibility under non-operating
financial holding company (NOFHC) structure, will be able to expand its operations in accepting deposits
of any amount and also lending money, as previously they were restricted to lend money and were also
deprived to collect deposits above Rs.1lakh. Their main focus will be on small scale industries, farmers
and Small and Medium Enterprises(SME)
• Functions of payment banks as SFB: They can provide remittances, have Automated Teller
Machines(ATM) and also sell pensions. Previously payment banks were allowed to sell Mutual
Funds(MF), third party loans and insurance.
vi. Entities that are not eligible: Only small private entities can apply for SFB and no large industrial
and public sector entities will be allowed to become SFB. Business groups, autonomous bodies, joint
venture companies and promoters of universal banks will also not be allowed to become SFB.
vii. Holding company: In the case of holding company (a company that holds another company), it can
hold another financial firm, but it shouldn’t do the same business as that of an SFB.
viii. Previous guidelines:
• In the previous guideline of 2014, SFBs should have minimum capital of Rs. 100 crores for
operation.
• Promoters can hold 40% in an SFB and can be brought down to 26% within 12 years of operation.
• CAR: The Capital Adequacy Ratio(CAR) should be maintained as commercial banks at 9%.
ix. First SFBs: 10 SFBs were given licence initially in 2015. They are Ujjivan, Janalakshmi, ESAF
(Evangelical Social Action Forum), Equitas, Au Financiers, Capital Local Area, Disha, RGVN, Suryoday and
Utkarsh. Out of these 10 SFBs 8 SFBs were included in the second schedule of the RBI Act, 1934.
About SFB:
♦ They are generally a niche banks (banks focussing on a particular sector alone) in India offering basic
banking services especially to small businesses, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries,
and the unorganized sector.
♦ Registeration: They are registered as public ltd company under the Companies Act, 2013.
♦ License: SFBs are licensed under Section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
RBI reduces the risk weight on consumer credit required by banks from 125 % to 100 %
On September 12, 2019, The country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut the risk
weight of consumer credit, including personal loans from 125 % to 100 %.
Now banks will be able to give more loans to customers for purchasing consumer products such as
mobile phones, home appliances, two-wheelers, and three-wheelers.
Key points:
i. This will reduce the cost of banks on personal loans, consumer loans and they can reduce the interest
rates for them. However, this exemption has not been given in the case of credit cards.
ii. Risk weight is actually the capital that banks have to keep separately in the provision that if the loan is
default then it will not be difficult. For all loans considered unsecured like personal loans, credit cards,
till now there was a provision to keep a risk weight of at least 125 %.
About RBI:
RBI increases loan exposure limit of banks to a single NBFC (excluding gold loan companies) from
15% to 20%
On September 13, 2019, As announced in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies dated
August 7, 2019 on ‘Harmonisation of single counterparty exposure limit for banks’ exposures to a single
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NBFC with general single counterparty exposure limit’, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made
amendments in the Large Exposures Framework (LEF). It has increased the bank’s loan exposure limit
to a single NBFC (non-banking financial company) to 20% from 15% of its eligible capital base.
However, this is not applicable to gold loan companies.
Key points:
i. Whereas, the general single counterparty exposure limit is 20%, which can be extended to 25 % by
banks’ Boards under unusual circumstances.
ii. The decision will help boost credit supply to the crisis-ridden banking sector.
iii. The liquidity crunch in the NBFC sector has hit hard the retail loan segment in India leading to decline
in consumer sector lending.
About NBFC:
It is a financial institution that does not have a full banking license or is not supervised by a national or
international banking regulatory agency. It facilitates bank-related financial services, such as investment,
risk pooling, contractual savings, and market brokering. They are not providing the cheque book nor
saving account and current account. It only takes fixed deposit or time deposits.
IMF cuts India’s GDP growth to 7% from 7.3% for FY20

On September 13, 2019 the International Monetary Fund(IMF) has reduced the Gross Domestic
Product(GDP) growth rate of India to 7% from its previous estimate of 7.3% which is much weaker than
expected by IMF. This rate cut is attributed to uncertainty in corporate and environmental regulatory in
some Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC).
Key points
i. This economic growth rate is expected to rise to 7.2 % FY21, which is also a downgraded projected
growth rate of 7.5 in the earlier report.
About IMF:
♦ Formed- 27 December 1945, after Brettonwood conference in 1994.
♦ Headquarters- Washington, D.C. (United States(US))
♦ Chief economist- Gita Gopinath.
♦ Director- Christine Lagarde
NPCI reduced merchant discount rate on RuPay Debit Card to 0.60 % on transactions above Rs
2,000
An umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems, National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) has rationalized merchant discount rate (MDR) on transactions with RuPay
debit cards. The new rate will be effective from 20 October 2019.
key points:
i. MDR has been revised to 0.60 percent on transactions above Rs 2,000. There will be a maximum of Rs
150 per transaction. Currently, MDR of 0.90 percent is charged on transactions above Rs 2,000. The
maximum limit was fixed at Rs 1,000 per transaction.
ii. Bharat QR (Quick Response) i.e. card-based QR transactions also reduce MDR to 0. 50 percent has
been reduced and the maximum MDR will be Rs 150 per MDR.
iii. This rebate given on debit card transactions will be applicable to all types of Point of Sale (POS). Apart
from this, the new rate will also be applicable on Ecom and BharatQR code based merchant transactions.
iv. The lowering the MDR rate and lowering the cap would now encourage businesses to deal with debit
cards.
v. MDR: It is the is the rate charged to a merchant for payment processing services on debit and credit
card transactions.
About NPCI:
♦ Founded: 2008
♦ MD and CEO: Dilip Asbe
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Overview of union minister of finance & corporate affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman’s presentation
on measures to boost economic growth
On September 14, 2019, Union minister of finance & corporate affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman made
another presentation on the measures to boost economic growth. Earlier the announcements were made
on August 23 and 30, 2019 regarding the series of measures to enhance economic growth of India.
i. Over Rs 70,000 crore package for the exports and real estate sectors was announced, including setting
up of a stressed asset fund.
ii. Inflation has been kept very much below the 4% mark.
iii. Buying new homes will become easier and more affordable in the country as Rs 10,000 crore special
window has been announced.
Launched schemes
Following are the measures launched by the Government recently and follow ups have been done:
• The E-assessment Scheme (Launched under section 143(3A) of the Income Tax Act 1961 notified
on 12.09.2019)
• Document Identification Number (DIN) (Circular No.19/2019 issued on 14.08.2019)
• Compounding of Past Offences (Circular No. 25/2019 issued on 09.09.2019)
• Prosecution Easing Measures (Circular No. 24/2019 issued on 09.09.2019)
• Partial credit guarantee scheme for banks to buy assets of Non-Banking Financial Companies
(NBFCs) has been implemented.
• Measures are being taken to improve credit outflows from banks.
• Transmission of interest rate cuts are being effected by banks
Measures to boost exports
Export promotion measures taken by the government in the last few years were highlighted in the
presentation. The new measures include the following:
Category: Incentives and Taxation
Extension of Reimbursement of Taxes & Duties for Export promotion scheme
• Scheme for Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Product (RoDTEP) will replace Merchandise
Exports from India Scheme (MEIS). It will come into effect from January 1, 2020.
• Existing dispensation in textiles of MEIS + old Rebate of State Levies (RoSL) will continue up to
31.12.2019
• Textiles and all other sectors which currently enjoy incentives upto 2% over MEIS will transit into
RODTEP from January 1, 2020.
• In effect, RODTEP will more than adequately incentivize exporters than existing schemes put
together.
• Revenue foregone projected at up to Rs. 50,000 crores.
• The government is already providing Rs 40,000-45,000 crore refunds under existing schemes.
Fully automated electronic refund route for Input Tax Credits (ITC) in GST
• Fully electronic refund module (FORM GSAT RFD-01) for quick and automated refund of Input
Tax Credits(ITC) in Goods and Service Tax (GST) is near completion and will be implemented by
the end of September 2019.
• This is expected to monitor and speed up ITC refunds.
Category: Export Finance
Expanding scope of Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS) by ECGC
• Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) will expand the scope of Export Credit Insurance
Scheme (ECIS).
• It will offer higher insurance cover to banks lending working capital for exports.
• Premium incidence for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will be moderated
suitably.
• It is expected that the initiative will cost about Rs 1700 crper annum.
• This will enable reduction in overall cost of export credit including interest rates, especially to
MSMEs.
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Revised Priority Sector Lending (PSL) norms for Export Credit

• Priority Sector Lending (PSL) norms for Export credit have been examined and enabling
guidelines are under consideration of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• This will release an additional Rs. 36,000 crores to Rs 68,000 crores as export credit under
priority sector.
Effective monitoring of Export Financing by Department of Commerce
• Data on Export Finance is regularly published by RBI.
• Export Finance will be actively monitored by an Inter Ministerial Working Group in Department
of Commerce, tracked through a dashboard, reviewed with institutions and active intervention
will be carried out.
Category: Export Facilitation
Leverage technology to reduce “Time to Export or Turn-around time”
• Technology will be further leveraged by timely completion of ongoing initiatives to further reduce
“Time to export” – through seamless process digitization of all export clearances
(port/airport/customs, etc) and elimination of offline/manual services.
• An action plan to reduce Time to export/turn-around time in airports and ports benchmarked to
international standards will be implemented by December 2019.
• Actual turnaround times will be published in real time for each port and airport to push them to
improve performance
• An Inter-Ministerial Group will be made accountable for this.
Annual mega shopping festivals
A mega shopping festival similar to the world-famous Dubai Shopping Festival, will be conducted at 4
places in India in March 2020 on themes of gems and jewellery, handicraft/yoga/tourism, textiles and
leather.
Category: Free Trade Agreements (FTA)
Special FTA Utilisation Mission
• FTA Utilisation Mission, headed by a Senior officer in the Department of Commerce, will be set up
to work exclusively with Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and export houses and
to utilise concessional tariffs in each FTA.
• It will enhance awareness of preferential duty benefits among MSMEs, disseminate and facilitate
compliance requirements (Rules of Origin/ Certificate of Origin, etc.) under FTAs for importers
and exporters.
• It will set goals for FTA utilization and put in place an effective FTA monitoring system.
Online “Origin Management System”
• An Online “Origin Management System” for exporters to enable them to obtain Certificates of
Origin – CoO (under Rules of Origin) will be launched in the next few weeks by Directorate
General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in collaboration with Exports Inspection Council (EIC).
• This is expected to significantly improve ease of doing business for exporters.
Category: Engineering
Time bound adoption of mandatory Technical Standards
• A Working Group on Standards will be set up in the Department of Commerce to work with
industry to lay down a roadmap for adoption of Standards, time lines and enforcement.
• This is expected to be a big boost in enabling Indian products overcome Non-tariff barriers in
exports.
Affordable testing and certification infrastructure
• Affordable testing and certification infrastructure will be adequately expanded and developed in
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode to enable exporters to get all internationally accepted
tests and certification to be done within India.
• This will reduce costs of adoption of standards and certification for Indian exporters to meet
national standards of FTA partners.
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Category: Handicrafts
Enable handicrafts industry to effectively harness e-commerce for exports
• Special dispensation for facilitating and on-boarding handicrafts artisans and handicraft
cooperatives directly on e-commerce portals and enable seamless exports.
• Mass enrollment of artisans across India with help of M/o Textile and organisations like Tribal
Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED), Cottage Industries
Exposition Ltd (CIE) etc.
Measures to Boost Housing Sector
Relaxation of ECB guidelines for Affordable Housing
• ECB- External Commercial Borrowing guidelines will be relaxed to facilitate financing of home
buyers who are eligible under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in consultation with RBI.
• This is in addition to the existing norms for ECB for affordable housing.
House Building Advance
• The interest rate on House Building Advance shall be lowered and linked with the 10 Year
Government Securities (G Sec) Yields.
• Government servants contribute to a major component of demand for houses. This will encourage
more government servants to buy new houses.
Special Window for affordable and middle income Housing
• A Special Window to provide last mile funding for housing projects which are non- NPA (Non
Performing Assets) and non-National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Projects and are Net worth
positive in affordable and middle income category to be set up.
• The objective is to focus on construction of unfinished units.
• Union government on the lines of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), can
contribute to the fund while the rest of the investors would be LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of
India) and other institutions and Private capital from banks / sovereign funds /development
finance institutions (DFIs) etc.
• The Fund shall be set up as a Category – II AIF trust and would be professionally run with experts
from Housing and Banking Sector.
• Stress fund of Rs 20,000 crorefor real estate: It will provide last-mile funding for housing
projects that are not in bankruptcy court or already tagged as bad debt and will benefit nearly 8.5
lakh home buyers.
• Fund size : 10,000 croreto be contributed by GOI and roughly the same amount from outside
investors.
About Ministry of Finance:
♦ Founded: 29 October 1946
Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan to head expert panel to examine non-personal data
regulation
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) has framed an 8-membered high-level panel
headed by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan to study issues related to non-personal data and
suggest the ways to regulate non-personal data.
Key points:
i. The taskforce of the panel is to have a separate and independent consultation on non-personal data,
and decide the contours regulation of personal data, whether as guidelines, rules, or a separate policy.
ii. IT (Information Technology )Ministry asked a group seeking clarifications on some points on the
regulation on community, anonymous or e-commerce data and case for mandating free access to such
data. The draft Data Protection Bill 2019, submitted by the Justice Srikrishna Committee on 18 July 2018,
is yet to be tabled in Parliament.
iii. Additional / joint secretary of Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, National
Association of Software and Services Companies President Debjani Ghosh, National Informatics Centre
Director General Neeta Verma, Avanti Finance Chief Technology Officer(CTO) Lalitesh Katragadda,
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Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi Professor Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, IT for

Change member Parminder Singh and Joint Secretary MeitY Gopalakrishnan S are the other members of
the high level committee.
Indian banks’ 2018-19 savings deposits stood at Rs 39.72 lakh crore

According to the Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy 2018-19 released by the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) on September 15, 2019, the aggregate savings deposits in the Indian private and
public sector banks (PSBs) reached Rs 39.72 lakh crore as on March 31, 2019. The foreign banks had a
share of Rs 58,630 crore.
Key Points:
• Savings deposits: The total savings deposits with commercial banks (including foreign banks) in
2018- 19 stood at Rs 40.31 lakh crore, up from Rs 36.55 lakh crore in 2017-18.
• Credit growth:The PSB credit growth for Q1 June 2019-20, increased to 8.7%. The aggregate
deposits growth stood at 6.7%. The credit growth of foreign banks stood at 5.4% and the
aggregate deposits growth was 19.3%. Bank credit between April and June 2019 grew by 11.7%,
against a growth of 11.1% in April and June 2018. But it was lower than the 13.1% growth in bank
credit in the Q4 of 2018-19.
• GDP growth: India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth recorded for the Q1 2019-20 is 5%
which is at a six-year low.
• Deposits: Aggregate deposits grew 10.1% in the quarter ended June 30, 2019 against 7% of Q1
2018. This is the highest growth since the quarter ended June 2017 (12.6%).
• Growth statistics: Private banks registered a growth of 16.3% in aggregate deposits and of
17.5% in bank credit in the first quarter of the fiscal, against public sector banks that had a
deposit growth of 6.7% and bank credit growth of 8.7% in the same quarter.
About RBI:
RBI allows all recurring bill payments through BBPS

On September 16, 2019 the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has extended the use of the Bharat Bill Payment
System(BBPS) for all recurring(repetitive) payments such as school fees, insurance premiums and
municipal taxes, Equated Monthly Installments (EMI) on a voluntary basis except for prepaid recharges
to extend the scope and coverage of BBPS.
Key points
i. Current facility: The BBPS is currently available only in 5 segments. They are Direct To Home (DTH),
electricity, gas, telecom and water.
ii. The biller categories are expected to increase the user base of BBPS according to analysts.
About BBPS:
i. BBPS was formed in the year 2013 under the aegis of National Payments Corporation of India(NPCI)
which acts as authorized Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU).
ii. The NPCI sets protocols for technical and business requirements for participants of BBPS and also
undertakes clearing and settlement activities.
iii. Formation: The BBPS was formed after theCommittee headed by G. Padmanabhan – RBI’s former
Executive Director was in 2013 to study giro based payment’s feasibility and implementation.
Giro: Payment transfer from one bank account to another bank account and initiated by the payer, not
the payee (person to whom money is paid).
About RBI:
♦ Governor- Shaktikanta Das.
♦ Founded- 1 April 1935, Kolkata.
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Government exempts 2% TDS on cash payments of over Rs 1 crore made through APMCs
Finance Minister of India Smt Nirmala Sitharaman notified that 2% Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on
cash payments above Rs 1 crore made through Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) will
be exempted and it is set to be effective from October 1, 2019. This is aimed to discourage cash
transactions and move towards a less-cash economy.
Other announcements:
i. An additional 15% depreciation was declared to be allowed on motor vehicles purchased between
August 23, 2019, and March 31, 2020, taking the depreciation rate to 45%.
ii. The depreciation on cars purchased during the period was declared at the rate of 30% as against the
normal rate of 15%.
iii. For buses, lorries and taxis, the depreciation rate was increased to 45% from 30%.
About TDS:
It is the collection of revenue at the very source of income. It is essentially an indirect method of
collecting tax which combines the concepts of “pay as you earn” and “collect as it is being earned.”
About Depreciation:
Depreciation is the reduction in value of tangible fixed assets like plants and machinery, buildings,
vehicles, etc due to normal usage, wear and tear, new technology or unfavourable market conditions.
Code for Responsible Lending (CRL) for the micro-credit industry launched by MFIN, Sa-Dhan and
FIDC
In order to bring more transparency & address customer-centric issue, the Code for Responsible
Lending (CRL) for the microcredit industry was jointly launched by Microfinance Institutions
Network (MFIN), the RBI-recognised self-regulatory organization & and industry association for the
microfinance industry, Sa-Dhan along with FIDC(Finance Industry Development Council) at Sa-
Dhan’s 15th Annual National Conference 2019 held in New Delhi.
Key points:
i. A revised industry Code of Conduct (CoC) was also unveiled during the Conference for Microfinance
Institutions (MFIs) that will act as a binding and requisite set of guidelines with respect to lending
exercises.
ii. The revised microfinance code mandates that only three microcredit entities can lend loans to a single
client and cap the size of total lending to Rs 1 lakh per microfinance customer (a person who has an
annual household income of Rs 1 lakh in rural India and Rs 1.6 lakh in urban India). It also bars lending
to a customer whose loan has turned non-performing & lending will not be allowed without update
credit bureau report.
iii. More than 90 microcredit entities have signed up for the code, with more expected to endorse it.
iv. At present, a wide range of credit lenders such as NBFC-MFIs(Non-Banking Financial Company- Micro
finance Institutions), banks, small finance banks (SFBs), NBFCs and Non-profit/Section 8 MFIs, under
different regulatory framework, provide micro-credit to over 5 crore women customers from low-
income households.
v. Banks hold 40.9 % share of the total micro-credit at the end of June 2019 while NBFC-MFIs are the
second largest lender registering for 30.2 % share. SFBs (Small Finance Banks) have a share of 17%,
NBFCs 10.8 % and other MFIs witnessed for 1% share.
ECGC introduces ‘NIRVIK’ scheme to provide 90% insurance cover on the loan amount of
exporters: Piyush Goyal
On September 16, 2019, The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) has released a new Export
Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS) called NIRVIK (Niryat Rin Vikash Yojana) to ease the lending of loan to
exporters so that they can get loans easily from banks. The details of the scheme were shared by Union
Minister of Commerce and Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal during a press conference at New Delhi.
Central government will also give support of 8,500 crore rupees to ECGC in the next five years.
Key points:
i. The scheme provides 90% insurance cover on the loan amount of exporters & it covers on both
principal and interest. The insurance cover will include both pre and post-shipment credit. At present
28 | P a g e
ECGC provides credit guarantee of up to 60 % loss for both Principal and Interest.The enhanced cover
mandates that foreign and rupee export credit interest rates should be below 4 % and 8 5 respectively
for exporters.The ECIS support will be effective for 5years.
ii. Small Exporter, who has an Outstanding Limit below 80 crores can get ECGC’s insurance premium rate
for 0.60 per annum and for those exceeding Rs.80 crore, it will be 0.72 per annum for the same enhanced
cover.
Banks will pay premium on a monthly basis on the Principal & Interest to ECGC as the cover is offered
for both outstandings. Under the scheme, inspection of bank documents and records by ECGC officials
shall be mandatory for losses exceeding Rs.10 crore as against the current Rs.1crore.
iii. Under this arrangement, if an Exporter is unable to repay the loan and makes an insurance claim, then
ECGC will pay 50% of the claim amount within 30 days.
About ECGC:
♦ Founded :30 July 1957
♦ Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra,
♦ Chairman & MD : Geetha Muralidhar
♦ It provides export credit insurance support to Indian exporters and is controlled by the Ministry of
Commerce. Government of India.
ZestMoney join hands with PayU for cardless EMI payment

On September 17, 2019, Consumer lending platform, ZestMoney has partnered with PayU, a fintech firm
that provides payment technology to online merchants to offer cardless EMI (equated monthly
installment) payment option to consumers.
Key points:
i. With this partnership, more than 2,500 merchants that are equipped with PayU, Billdesk, Cashfree, and
Razorpay can start accepting ZestMoney (which has over 3,500 unique data points (2,500 data points for
new to credit) to ease risk decisioning) as a payment solution quickly.
ii. ZestMoney, which has diverse customer base spread across different segments and risk profiles, aims
to offer loans of amount starting from Rs 1,000 – Rs 5 lakh as per the demand of the customer anywhere.
About ZestMoney:
♦ Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka
♦ Formation: 2015
♦ CEO: Lizzie Chapman
About PayU:
♦ Founded: 2002
♦ Parent organization: Naspers
♦ CEO: Laurent Le Moal
Visa in partnership with BillDesk to launch interface for recurring payments , “standing
instructions (SI) Hub”
On September 16, 2019, Visa Inc, the world’s leader in digital payments technology and BillDesk, an
Indian online payment gateway company have partnered for the launch of SI (standing instructions )-
Hub which is a smooth and secure way to make recurring payments using cards with a one-time
enrollment. This comes after the introduction of guidelines for e-mandate on cards for recurring
transactions by RBI(Reserve Bank of India).
Key points:
i. Banks & merchants will now be able to provide recurring payments/ standing instructions (SI) services
(powered by BillDesk’s SI-Hub and Visa’s global recurring transaction framework for merchant-initiated
transactions) to their customers to help control payment across utilities, subscription services, and
mutual fund SIPs(systematic investment plan), etc.
ii. As per the report by the World Bank, lower-middle-income category pays an average of 42 utility bills
in a year, of these only 3 are paid digitally.
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About Visa Inc:

♦ Founded: 1958
♦ Headquarters: California, United States
♦ CEO: Alfred F. Kelly Jr.
About BillDesk:
♦ Founded: 2000
♦ Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra
♦ Founder(s) :M.N. Srinivasu Ajay Kaushal Karthik Ganapathy
Airtel Payments Bank launched ‘Bharosa’ savings account

On September 17, 2019, Airtel Payments Bank, a public limited company with its headquarters in New
Delhi has launched “Bharosa” savings account services with the aim of deepening the financial
inclusion in India.
Key features of the account:
i. Customers of Airtel Payments Bank will get personal accident insurance up to Rs 5 Lakh, even with the
minimum balance of 500. However, the customer will need to make a debit transaction at least once a
month.
ii. If the account holder transfers the government subsidy to this account, then the bank will also offer
cashback on each transaction.
iii. The customers can withdraw cash, check their balance or access a mini statement of their account
from any of the outlets across India that have AePS (Aadhaar-enabled payment system) enabled.
iv.Airtel Payments Bank was the first payments bank to start its operations in India. It provides
convenient digital banking services to customers through a network of over 500,000 banking points in
all states of India.
About Airtel Payment Bank:
♦ Headquarters : New Delhi
♦ MD, CEO : Anubrata Biswas
EPFO to credit 8.65% interest in over 6 crore accounts for 2018-19

Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar
Gangwar notified that over 6 crore members of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will
get 8.65% interest on deposits, which will be credited to the accounts, for 2018-19 after the approval
from the Ministry of Finance. The decision was made on February 21, 2019.
Key Points:
i. At present, EPFO pays an interest rate of 8.55% for 2018-19 under Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF)
withdrawal claims. The 8.55% interest rate on EPF deposits was fixed for 2017-18.
ii. The rate which was increased to 8.65% for the year 2018-19 was the first increase in the past 2 years.
iii. As per EPFO’s estimates, there would be a surplus of Rs 151.67 crore after providing an 8.65% rate of
interest for 2018-19 on EPF.
iv. The Central Board of Trustees (CBT) is the apex decision-making body of the EPFO.
Other announcements:
i. Ministry is in the process of developing infrastructure in newly established union territories Ladakh
and Jammu & Kashmir.
ii. Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) will start a 100-bed hospital Srinagar and a 30-bed
hospital in Leh.
iii. 2 offices of EPFO in Srinagar and Jammu will also be established.
iv. Ministry is working for over 40 crore unorganized workers in India to provide suitable work
environment.
About EPFO:
♦ Founded: 4 March 1952
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♦ Central Provident Fund Commissioner: Sunil Barthwal

♦ Parent Organization: Ministry of Labour & Employment
Govt waives 3-year lock-in period on NRI investments in IDF bonds

On September 17, 2019, In order to boost foreign investment in the infrastructure sector, waived off
the 3-year lock-in period for investments made by Non-Resident Indians(NRI) in Infrastructure Debt
Funds (IDFs), as notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
Key points
• To enhance infrastructure project flows of long term debt, tax law amendments were made in
2011 to provide an income tax exemption to IDFs.
• Tax rate for foreign companies: To attract offshore investments in IDFs which act as long term
debt accelerators, any non-resident or foreign companies that receives interest amount, is
charged at a reduced tax rate of 5%.
• 3-year lock in period guidelines: Transferring Rupee denominated bonds of IDF by an NRI to
another NRI outside India, are not considered as transfers for capital gain purpose and no capital
gain tax is charged on such transfers. These benefits will be available only when IDF is set up
under prescribed guidelines and fulfill certain conditions. One of such conditions is an investment
made by an NRI in bonds should be subjected to a 3-year lock-in period except where the transfer
is made to another non-resident. Thus, NRI investors can now transfer IDF bonds freely.
• Govt. investment plan: Recently the govt has planned to invest Rs 100 lakh crore in the
infrastructure sector by 2024-2025 with the task force headed by economic affairs secretary
Shri Atanu Chakraborty.
• IDF: They are investment pools sponsored by commercial banks and Non-Banking Financial
Companies (NBFC) in India where domestic and overseas investors, especially pension and
insurance funds can invest through bonds issued by IDF.
About CBDT:
Formation- 1944.
Chairperson- Pramod Chandra Mody.
President of ADB Takehiko Nakao resigns

On September 17, 2019, The president of Asian Development Bank (ADB), Takehiko Nakao has
announced his resignation effective from January 16, 2020. The new president will be elected in
accordance with an open, transparent and merit-based principle.
Key points:
i. Takehiko joined as the president of ADB on April 28, 2013.
ii. With ADB, he has expanded the operation of the organization from $ 14 billion in 2013 to $ 22 billion
in 2018 & also integrating more advanced technologies into projects of ADB.
iii. He played a major role in merger of Ordinary Capital Resources and concessional lending operations
of the Asian Development Fund (ADF) and the launch of ‘Strategy 2030’, etc.
About ADB:
♦ Headquarters: Mandaluyong, Philippines
♦ Membership: 68 countries
♦ Purpose: Social and Economic Development
UAE tops in non-residents investments in Indian MFs with the share of 16%
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) emerged as a top nation
in making non-resident investments in Indian mutual funds (MFs). As of March 31, 2019, the foreign
liabilities of units in Indian MFs made by UAE stood at Rs 14,979 crore, registering a share of 16%.
Key Points:
i. The second place was acquired by the United States (US) with Rs 8,989 crore (9.6% share) followed
by the United Kingdom (UK) with Rs 7,751 crore (8.3% share).
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ii. The top 3 nations were the largest investors together accounting for one-third of the MF units held by
non-residents.
iii. Non-resident investments, led by the UAE, in Indian MFs at Rs 93,340 crore ($13.5 billion) as of
March 2019 exceeded the investments made by MFs in the form of overseas equity investments at Rs
4,482 crore ($ 0.7 billion).
iv. Non-resident investments (foreign liabilities) registered a rise by 8.95% from Rs 85,670 crore in
March 2018.
v. MF units held by non-residents in Mauritius and Singapore declined after the amendment of Double
Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).
vi. Non-resident investments from Singapore declined from Rs 6,897 crore to Rs 5,683 crore and
investments from Mauritius declined from Rs 5,649 crore to Rs 3,831 crore.
vii. The preferred investment destinations for Indian MF companies are the US (44.6% in total foreign
assets) and Luxembourg (41.1%).
viii. Foreign liabilities of Asset Management Companies (AMCs) at $3.3 billion exceeded the foreign
assets which stood at $0.1 billion in March 2019.
ix. Net foreign liabilities of AMCs increased by 68% in 2019.
x. Non-residents in the UK held over half of the foreign liabilities of AMCs in March 2019 and AMCs’
equity liabilities to non-residents in Japan, Mauritius and Hong Kong declined.
xi. Overseas assets of AMCs were largely held in Guernsey, Mauritius and Singapore.
About Mutual Fund:
A Mutual Fund is an investment scheme operated by professional money managers where money is
collected from the people and invested in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments,
and other assets.
About DTAA:
The DTAA is a tax treaty signed between India and another country ( or any two/multiple countries) so
that taxpayers can avoid paying double taxes on their income earned from the source country as well as
the residence country.
Till March 31, 2020, Banks to not declare stressed assets of MSMEs as NPAs: Sitharaman
On September 19, 2019, After meeting with the heads of public sector banks(PSB) to discuss various
issues, including follow up on transmission of monetary policy rates, Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman stated that in order to overcome the slowdown in the economy and increase business
activities, the government asked banks not to declare stressed loans of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSMEs) as Non Performing Assets (NPAs) until March 31, 2020.
Key points:
i. Public Sector Banks will also hold an open meeting with NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Companies)
and retail borrowers in 200 districts before September 29, 2019 with the intention of giving loans to
farmers, retail loan creditors , loans for housing, vehicles and other purposes. In the second phase, such
meetings named “Shamiana meetings” will be held in 200 other districts from October 10 – October 15,
2019. That is, there will be meetings of this kind in 400 districts in total. They will focus on ‘RAM’
category – retail, agriculture and MSMEs.
ii. On September 5, 2019, Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has asked banks to link all new types of floating-
rate loans (home, auto loans & and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME)) to external
benchmark like repo rate from October 1, 2019 for the welfare of the consumers.
About Stressed assets:
♦ Stressed assets = NPAs + Restructured loans + Written off assets.
♦ NPAs: It means a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a
period of 90 days.
♦ Restructured loans: The assets of the loan which got an extended repayment period, reduced interest
rate, converting a part of the loan into equity, providing additional financing, or some combination of
these measures.
♦ Written off assets : A write off is the process of removing assets from the accounting records and
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financial statements of the bank, which tend to write off assets because the assets are no longer available
or valid.
Reserve Bank bars unregulated fintech firms from accessing the consumer credit data
On September 16, 2019, The country’s central Bank, Reserve Bank Of India(RBI) has directed the
banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to stop sharing the pattern of consumer’s credit
information held by credit information companies (CICs) with analytics firms , IT (Information
Technology) companies, institutional agents and unregulated parties. The banking bodies have been
given 15 days time period to implement the measure. Key points:
i. The report by RBI highlights that such data sharing actions are against the Credit Information
Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 (CICRA) and any further default will face strict actions and penalties.
ii. The data will be provided by Banks & NBFCs to 4 consumer credit reporting agencies Equifax,
Experian , TransUnion CIBIL ( Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited) and CRIF High Mark and it
will be confidential manner.
iii. The decision will strongly affects digitally lending institutions that rely on their partner banks &
NBFCs to get access consumer data by using credit companies.
About RBI:
♦ Formation: 1 April 1935
SEBI sets up committee to suggest structure and norms for social stock exchanges
On September 19, 2019 Capital market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has
formed a 15-member committee headed by Ishaat Hussain, Director at State Bank of India(SBI)
Foundation and former Tata Sons Director, to suggest possible measures and regulations in creating the
‘social stock exchanges’. The formation of this committee comes after Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman’s maiden union budget speech to take the capital markets closer to inclusive growth and
financial inclusion.
Key points
i. Committee’s work: The work of the committee is to examine and make recommendations for the
social stock exchanges within the securities market domain in order to facilitate the fund raisings by
social enterprises and voluntary organizations.
ii. Committee members: The committee members include T V Mohandas Pai (Chairman of Manipal
Global Education and former director of Infosys), RoopaKudva of Omidyar Network India, Amit Chandra
of Bain Capital, Saurabh Garg (Principal Secretary to Odisha government), Shamika Ravi (Brookings India
Director of Research and member of PM’s Economic Advisory Council), Vineet Rai of Aavishkaar Venture
and Girish G Sohani of BAIF Development Research Foundation and other members from stock
exchanges, corporate and economic affairs.
About SEBI:
♦ Founded- 12 April 1992.
♦ Chairperson- Ajay Tyagi.
OECD lowers India’s economic growth forecast for 2019-20 to 5.9% from 7.2%
On September 20, 2019, As per the intergovernmental economic organisation, OECD (Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development ) latest “Interim Economic Outlook” with title “Warning:
Low Growth Ahead”, India’s GDP (gross domestic product) growth expected to grow by 5.9 per cent for
2019 (FY-Fiscal Year 2020) and 6.3 % in 2020 (FY21).
Key points:
i. Scaling down: It cut its forecast for FY20 to 5.9 % by 1.3 percentage points & for FY21 to 6.3 % by 1.1
percentage points ( which is higher than projected for china-5.7%) due to a broad-based slowdown in
consumption and investment demand in India.
ii. Global Growth: OECD also predicted the global growth to 2.9 percent for 2019 & 3 % growth for the
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2020 due to trade war between the US (United States) and China that affects global growth momentum
toward the low point last seen during the financial crisis.
iii. India is one of the 7 nations whose economic growth projections are slashed down by the OECD by
more than 0.6 % points. The other countries are Argentina, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and
Australia.
iv. Other ratings: For FY 20,The World Bank (WB) projected India’s GDP growth rate remained at
7.5%,IMF (International Monetary Fund) -7%, ADB(Asian Development Bank)-7%, Economic Survey of
the finance ministry -7%, Reserve BankIndia(RBI)-6.9%.
About OECD:
♦ Headquarters: Paris, France
♦ Founded: 30 September 1961
♦ Secretary-General: José Ángel Gurría
Samuel Joseph Jebaraj appointed as DMD of IDBI Bank for 3 years

The Board of Directors (BoD) of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI Bank) approved the
appointment of Samuel Joseph Jebaraj as Deputy Managing Director (DMD) for a period of 3 years
with effect from September 19, 2019, succeeding KP Nair. This is the first major appointment on the
Bank’s Board after Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) acquired a majority stake of 51% (January
2019) in the bank.
i. He currently serves as Chief General Manager of the Loan Administration and Human Resources
Management Groups of the Bank.
About IDBI Bank:
♦ Tagline: Aao Sochein Bada
Reserve Bank comes out with a new order regarding ‘failed’ transactions
The country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with a new order for banks
and payment system operators regarding the failed transaction of customers. Under this, the time
period has been fixed for the disposal of grievances and auto reversal of the amount on the failed
transaction for the banks, which has been termed as Turn Around Time (TAT).
Key points:
i. Banks will have to pay compensation to the customers if there is no settlement or reversal of the
transaction within this time period. This compensation will be as per Rs 100 per day after completion of
the time period. This RBI order will come into effect on October 15, 2019.
ii. Under this decree, all Authorized Payment Systems like ATM (Automated Teller
Machines)Transaction, Card to Card Fund Transfer, PoS (Point of Sale) Transactions, Cardless e-
Commerce, IMPS (Immediate Payment System) Transaction, UPI (Unified Payments
Interface)Transactions, Aadhaar Enabled Transaction, National Automated Clearing House (NACH) and
Mobile app transaction will be covered.
Transaction and compensation details
Description of the Matter Timeline of auto Compensation
incident reversal of from bank on
transaction delay
ATM Transaction Money was deducted from Transaction Day + 5 Rs 100 / day
customer’s bank account but cash Days Maximum (T + after
was not withdrawn 5) completion of
T + 5 period
Card to card transfer The amount debited from one Maximum 1 day after Rs 100 / day
card but did not reach another transaction (T + 1) after
card completion of
T + 1 period
Transactions from Money was deducted from the Transaction Day + 5 Rs 100 / day
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PoS machine, account but the merchant did not Days Maximum (T + after
including cash get confirmation or charge slip 5) completion of
was generated. T + 5 period
E-commerce where Money deducted from account Transaction Day + 5 Rs 100 / day
card is not present but merchant did not get Days Maximum (T + after
confirmation 5) completion of
T + 5 period
Transactions from The amount was deducted from Transaction Day + 1 Rs 100 / day
IMPS the account but did not reach the Day Maximum (T + 1) after
recipient’s account for Beneficiary Bank completion of
T + 1 period
Fund transfer from Amount deducted from account Transaction Day + 1 Rs 100 / day
UPI but did not reach beneficiary Day Maximum (T + 1) after
account for Beneficiary Bank completion of
T + 1 period
Payment to merchant Money was deducted from Transaction Day + 5 Rs 100 / day
from UPI account but merchant did not get Days Maximum (T + after
confirmation 5) completion of
T + 5 period
Aadhaar enabled Money deducted from account Transaction day + 5 Rs 100 / day
payment system but merchant did not get days maximum (T + after
(AePS), including confirmation / did not reach 5) for credit completion of
Aadhaar beneficiary account in fund adjustment T + 5 period
transfer
Aadhaar Payment Delay in credit of money in Transaction Day + 1 Rs 100 / day
Bridge System (APBS) beneficiary account Day Maximum (T + 1) after
for Beneficiary Bank completion of
T + 1 period
National Automated Delay in credit or reversal of Transaction Day + 1 Rs 100 / day
Clearing House money in beneficiary account Day Maximum (T + 1) after
(NACH) for Beneficiary Bank completion of
T + 1 period
Prepaid Payment Money in PPI of Beneficiary not Transaction Day + 1 Rs 100 / day
Instruments (PPIs) – credited / Money deducted from Day Maximum (T + 1) after
Card / Wallet PPI but merchant did not get completion of
confirmation T + 1 period
Note: T means day of transaction.
RBI revises guidelines on concurrent audit system as per the recommendations of an expert
committee headed by Y.H. Malegam
On September 20,2019, Following the recommendations of an expert committee headed by Y.H.Malegam,
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised the guidelines on concurrent audit system.
Key Highlights:
i. Tenure: As per the new guideline, concurrent auditors will be appointed for a period of not more than
3 years as against earlier tenure of 5 years & the age limit for retired staff of concurrent auditors will be
capped at 70 years.
ii. Coverage: The detailed purview of work for concurrent auditors, coverage of business/branches is
left to the discretion of the internal audit head of banks, with the prior approval of the Audit Committee
of the Board of Directors (ACB) or Local Management Committee ((LMC) for the case of foreign banks) of
the bank.
iii. Appointment of Auditors: The banks having the option of selecting whether concurrent audit should
be done by the bank’s own staff or external auditors will remains to be left to the discretion of individual
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banks. They should be experienced, well trained and sufficiently senior person. They must be
independent of the branch/business unit, where concurrent audit is conducted.
iv. Accountability: The appointment will be cancelled if any serious acts of omission or commission are
noticed in their (concurrent auditors ) working. All banks should frame a policy for fixing accountability
in these cases.
v. Remuneration: ACB/ LMC of the bank will decide the remuneration, which is to be paid to external
concurrent auditors. The remuneration should meet the scope and coverage of audit, required skill sets,
staff numbers and the time to be spent for the audit.
vi. Review of effectiveness: Effectiveness of the Concurrent Audit system and the performance of the
concurrent auditors will be reviewed by the ACB/ LMC of the bank on an annual basis & take required
steps to strengthen the system.
vii. Reporting System: After getting approval from the ACB/ LMC , Banks’ Internal Audit Department
should develop a reporting system in a structured format.
RBI &SEBI jointly working on a framework for accurate exchange of borrower data between
banks and CRAs
India’s central Banking Institution, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the regulator for the securities
market in India, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India ) are jointly working on a framework
that will freely enable exchange of borrower information between banks and credit rating agencies
(CRAs) in more accurate manner.
Key points:
i. Aim : The joint framework aimed at bridging the gap between the default rates divulged by rating
agencies differed from the report computed by the RBI’s Central Repository of Information on Large
Credits (CRILC), a borrower-level database focusing on systemically important credit exposures.
ii. Background: A working group of officials from financial sector regulators including members of the
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and Pension Fund Regulatory and
Development Authority(PFRDA) have found out these divergence in data in meeting held on September
9, 2019. An internal analysis undertaken by RBI also notified theses differences at the recent meeting.
iii. Reason for differences: This divergence is due to the banks’ reluctance to exchange on any data
about delays in payment of principal/interest to CRAs. Also, the CRAs do not have access to CRILC. Banks
usually report to CRILC credit data set on all their borrowed customers having total fund based and non-
fund based exposure of ₹5 crore & above.
iv. Mandate: RBI will also advise the banks to update the borrower data with CIC (credit information
companies) regularly and to maintain the quality of the information.
v. On September 16, 2019, RBI has directed the banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to
stop sharing the consumer’s credit data held by credit information companies (CICs) with analytics firms
, IT (Information Technology) companies, institutional agents and unregulated parties.
About CRAs:
It is a company that assigns credit ratings, which rate a debtor’s ability to pay back debt by making timely
principal and interest payments and the likelihood of default.
About RBI:
♦ Formation: 1 April 1935
About SEBI:
♦ Chairperson: Ajay Tyagi
RBI increased the loan sanction limit for small exporters to Rs 40 crore per borrower from Rs 25
crore
On September 20, 2019, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased the loan sanction limit for small
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exporters as priority sector lending (PSL) by banks to Rs 40 crore per borrower from Rs 25 crore in
order to boost credit to the export sector.
Key Points:
i. The existing criteria of ‘units having a turnover of up to Rs 100 crore’ was removed.
ii. Existing guidelines for domestic scheduled commercial banks to classify ‘incremental export credit
over corresponding date of the preceding year, up to 2% of adjusted net bank credit or credit equivalent
amount of off-balance sheet exposure, whichever is higher’ under PSL will continue to be applicable.
iii. No changes were made in the present instructions with respect to foreign banks.
About PSL:
Priority sector lending is a mandatory requirement under which lenders are required to devote a portion
of their advances to empower focused groups of the economy. All sectors put together, this adds up to
42% of the total lending for each bank.
Overview of the 37th GST Council meeting for 2019 held in Panaji, Goa
The 37th Good and Service Tax (GST) Council Meeting under the Chairmanship of Union Finance &
Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman was held in Panaji, Goa on September 20, 2019. It
was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur, Chief
Minister of Goa Shri Pramod Sawant, Finance Ministers of States & Union territories (UTs) and senior
officers of the Ministry of Finance.
Decisions in respect to rates related to goods
The council took the various decisions in respect to rates related to goods which will be effective from
October 1, 2019.
Reduction in GST rates
Goods Original Reduced
Rate rate
(new)
Parts of Slide Fasteners 18% 12%
Marine Fuel 0.5% (FO) 18% 5%
Wet Grinders(consisting of stone as a grinder) 12% 5%
Dried tamarind & Plates and cups made up of leaves/ flowers/bark 5% Nil
Cut and polished semi- precious stones 3% 0.25%
Specified goods for petroleum operations undertaken under Hydrocarbon 5%
Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP)
Exemptions from GST/ IGST
The following was exempted from GST/ Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST):
• Imports of specified defence goods not being manufactured indigenously (upto 2024).
• Supply of goods and services to FIFA (International Federation of Association Football ) and other
specified persons for organizing the Under-17 Women’s Football World Cup 2020 in India.
• Supply of goods and services to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for specified projects in
India.
Increase in GST rates
Goods Original Increased rate
Rate (new)
Goods falling under chapter 86 of tariff like railway wagons, coaches, 5% 12%
rolling stock (without refund of accumulated ITC-Indian Tariff Code)
Caffeinated Beverages 18% 28% + 12%
compensation
cess
Measures for Export Promotion
Exemption was given from GST/IGST:
i. At the time of import on Silver/Platinum by specified nominated agencies.
ii. Supply of Silver/Platinum by specified nominated agency to exporters for exports of Jewellery.
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iii. Inclusion of Diamond India Limited (DIL) in the list of nominated agencies eligible for IGST exemption
on imports of Gold/ Silver/Platinum so as to supply at Nil GST to Jewellery exporters.
iv. A uniform GST rate of 12% on Polypropylene/Polyethylene Woven and Non- Woven Bags and sacks,
whether or not laminated, of a kind used for packing of goods (from present rates of 5%/12%/18%).
GST concession in certain cases for specific period
• Exemption to Fishmeal for the period 01.07.17 to 30.09.19. Any tax collected for this period shall
be required to be deposited.
• 12% GST during the period 1.07.2017 to 31.12.2018, on pulley, wheels and other parts (falling
under Heading 8483) and used as parts of agricultural machinery.
• Passenger vehicles of engine capacity 1500 cc in case of diesel, 1200 cc in case of petrol & length
not exceeding 4000mm designed for carrying upto 9 persons attract compensation cess of 1% for
petrol and 3% for diesel vehicle.
• Council recommended same compensation cess rate for vehicles having these specifications
(length and engine capacity) but designed for carrying more than 10 persons but upto 13 persons.
(Presently these vehicles attract compensation cess at the rate of 15%).
• It recommended lower 12% cess on 1,500 cc diesel, 1,200 cc petrol vehicles with capacity to carry
up to 13 people.
Other miscellaneous changes
• Aerated drink manufacturers shall be excluded from composition scheme.
• Option to pay GST at the rate of 18% on transaction value at the time of disposal of specified
goods for petroleum operations (on which concessional GST rate of 5% was paid at the time of
original supply) provided that the goods are to be certified by Director General Hydrocarbon
(DGH) as non-serviceable.
• Restriction on refund of compensation cess on tobacco products.
• It Prescribed modalities for allowing concessions on spare parts imported temporarily by foreign
airlines for repair of their aircraft, while in India in transit in terms of the Chicago Convention on
Civil Aviation.
• Certain other changes of technical nature for the sake of clarity in application of notification were
made.
Clarifications as regards applicability of GST rate in respect of certain goods recommended by
GST Council which inter-alia includes
• Mere heating of leguminous vegetables (gram/lentil) for removing moisture, or to soften and puff
it or removing the skin, and not subjecting to any other processing or addition of any other
ingredients (salt, oil etc.) would be classified under HS code 0713.
• All “mechanical sprayers” falling under HS Code 8424 would attract 12% GST.
• Parts like Solar Evacuation tubes for solar power based devices like solar water heater, solar
steam generation systems, would be eligible to 5% GST rate.
• Exclusive parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with a medical device (falling
under heading 9018, 9019, 9021 or 9022) would fall in respective headings and attract GST at the
concessional rate of 12%.
• Almond milk is classifiable under HS code 22029990 and attracts GST rate of 18%.
• Imported stores for Navy would be entitled to exemption from IGST.
Decisions in respect to rates related to services
The council took the various decisions in respect to rates related to services which will be effective from
October 1, 2019.
Rate reduction sector wise:
Hospitality and tourism:
i. Reduced rate of GST on hotel accommodation service is as follows:
Transaction Value per Unit (Rs) per day GST
Rs 1000 and less Nil
Rs 1001 to Rs 7500 12%
Rs 7501 and more 18% (28% till now)
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ii. The GST rate on outdoor catering services other than in premises having daily tariff of unit of
accommodation of Rs 7501 was reduced from present 18% with ITC to 5% without ITC. It is made
mandatory for all kinds of catering.
iii. Catering in premises with daily tariff of unit of accommodation is Rs 7501 and above will remain at
18% with ITC.
Job work service
• On supply of job work services in relation to diamonds, GST rate was reduced from 5% to 1.5%
• On supply of machine job work such as in engineering industry, GST rate was reduced from 18%
to 12%, except supply of job work in relation to bus body building which would remain at 18%.
Sector wise exemption
Warehousing
Exemption was given to prospectively services by way of storage or warehousing of cereals, pulses,
fruits, nuts and vegetables, spices, copra, sugarcane, jaggery, raw vegetable fibres such as cotton, flax,
jute etc., indigo, unmanufactured tobacco, betel leaves, tendu leaves, rice, coffee and tea.
Transportation
The validity of conditional exemption of GST on export freight by air or sea was increased by another
year, i.e. till 30.09.2020.
Insurance
• Exemption was given to Bangla Shashya Bima Yojana (BSB) crop insurance scheme of West
Bengal Government.
• Exemption of the services of life insurance business provided or agreed to be provided by the
Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (under Ministry of Home Affairs) Group Insurance Funds to
their members under the respective Group Insurance Schemes of these Central Armed
Paramilitary forces.
Export promotion
• Exemption of the services provided by an intermediary to a supplier of goods or recipient of
goods when both the supplier and recipient are located outside the taxable territory.
• Notification will be issued under Section 13(13) of IGST Act notifying the place of supply of
specified R&D (research & development) services provided by Indian pharma companies to
foreign service recipients, as the place of effective use and enjoyment of a service i.e. location of
the service recipient.
• It clarified that the place of supply of chip design software R&D services provided by Indian
companies to foreign clients by using sample test kits in India is the location of the service
recipient and section 13(3)(a) of IGST Act, 2017 is not applicable for determining the place of
supply in such cases.
Miscellaneous
• Registered authors were given an option to pay GST on royalty charged from publishers under
forward charge and they need to observe regular GST compliance.
• Indication should be made on grant of liquor licence by State Governments against payment of
license fees as a “no supply” to remove implementational ambiguity on the subject.
• Exemption of services related to FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup 2020 similar to existing
exemption given to FIFA U17 World Cup 2017.
Rationalization/ Trade Facilitation measures
• Allowance to the payment of GST on securities lending service under reverse charge mechanism
(RCM) at the merit rate of 18% and GST on securities lending service for period prior to RCM
period shall be paid on forward charge basis. IGST shall be payable on supply of these services
and in cases where Central GST (CGST)/ State GST (SGST)/ Union Territory GST (UTGST) have
been paid, such taxpayers will not be required to pay tax again.
• Allow RCM to suppliers paying GST at 5% on renting of vehicles, from registered person other
than body corporate (LLP, proprietorship) when services are provided to body corporate entities.
Recommendations related to laws & procedures
The council recommended the following Law & Procedure related changes :
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i. Relaxation was given for filing the annual returns for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for
FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 as under:
• Waiver of the requirement of filing FORM GSTR-9A for Composition Taxpayers for the said tax
periods;
• Filing of FORM GSTR-9 for those taxpayers who have aggregate turnover up to Rs. 2 crores was
made optional for the said tax periods.
ii. A Committee of Officers will be formed to examine the simplification of Forms for Annual Return and
reconciliation statement.
iii. Extension of last date for filing of appeals against the orders of Appellate Authority before the GST
Appellate Tribunal as the Appellate Tribunals are yet not functional.
iv. In order to nudge taxpayers to timely file their statement of outward supplies, imposition of
restrictions on availment of input tax credit by the recipients in cases where details of outward supplies
are not furnished by the suppliers in the statement under section 37 of the CGST Act, 2017.
v. New return system will be introduced from April, 2020 (earlier proposed from October, 2019), in
order to give ample opportunity to taxpayers and the system to adapt and accordingly specifying the due
date for furnishing of return in FORM GSTR-3B and details of outward supplies in FORM GSTR-1 for the
period October, 2019 – March, 2020.
vi. Issuance of circulars for uniformity in application of law across all jurisdictions:
• procedure to claim refund in FORM GST RFD-01A subsequent to favourable order in appeal or any
other forum;
• eligibility to file a refund application in FORM GST RFD-01A for a period and category under
which a NIL refund application has already been filed;
• clarification regarding supply of Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS services) (in
supersession of Circular No. 107/26/2019-GST dated 18.07.2019) being made on own account or
as intermediary.
vii. Rescinding of Circular No.105/24/2019-GST dated 28.06.2019, from the beginning,which was issued
in respect of post-sales discount.
viii. Suitable amendments in CGST Act, UTGST Act, and the corresponding SGST Acts in view of creation
of Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
ix. Integrated refund system with disbursal by single authority to be introduced from 24th September,
2019.
x. In principle decision to link Aadhaar with registration of taxpayers under GST and examine the
possibility of making Aadhar mandatory for claiming refunds.
xi. In principle decision to prescribe reasonable restrictions on passing of credit by risky taxpayers
including risky new taxpayers.
About Ministry of Finance:
♦ Founded: 29 October 1946
Madhukar Kamath elected as the chairman of the ABC for 2019-20

Madhukar Kamath was elected as the chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) for 2019-20
succeeding Hormusji N Cama. He is the chairman emeritus of an advertising firm DDB Mudra group and
mentor of Interbrand India. He has more than four decades of experience in advertising and marketing
services.
About ABC:
♦ Founded: 1948
Max Bupa and Indian Bank signed bancassurance corporate agency agreement
On September 21, 2019, A state-owned bank, Indian Bank has signed a bancassurance agreement with a
standalone health insurance player, Max Bupa to provide Max bupa’s suite of health insurance products
to its customers.
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Key points:
i. Services: Max Bupa’s comprehensive health insurance solutions and services will be available in Indian
bank’s over 40 million customer base spread across its 2800 branch network.
ii. Portfolio: The product portfolio comprises Max Bupa’s both retail & group health insurance products
besides Indemnity and Fixed Benefit products.
iii. Infinity: Max Bupa will equip proprietary digital platform, “ Infinity” that integrates with the bank’s
systems, in which customers can purchase the health insurance product of their choice quickly and avail
their policy documents at the Indian bank branch itself.
iv. InstaInsure: In addition, Max Bupa will design digital seller application called “InstaInsure” that
enable Indian bank to sell Max Bupa products through handheld devices in safe , secure and simplified
manner. The relationship managers of the bank can use the app to outright the sale exercise, including
the collection of payment electronically from customers.
v. Penetration: In South India, Indian Bank has a strong presence. Through this partnership, Max Bupa
will deepen the penetration of its wide range of product offers and enable more customers to access their
risk solutions anytime, anywhere.
About Indian Bank:
♦ Founded: 15 August 1907
♦ Headquarters : Chennai, Tamil Nadu
♦ MD & CEO: Ms. Padmaja Chunduru
♦ Tagline: Your Tech-friendly bank
About Max Bupa:
♦ Founded: 2008
♦ MD & CEO: Ashish Mehrotra
BoB launches agri digital platform called “Baroda Kisan”

On September 21, 2019, Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services
company,Bank of Baroda (BoB) has launched an agriculture digital platform called “Baroda Kisan” in
Bardoli, Surat,Gujarat. It is a web-based portal that can also be accessed by farmers through mobile.
Key points:
i. The digital portal will address all the various needs of farmers, including weather forecasts, crop
conditions, the moisture levels of the soil,vital information on crop worms, market prices, special crop-
related consultation, inputs for purchase of seeds ,fertilisers, pesticides, agricultural equipment on rent,
consultancy services and innovative financing options for the sale of agricultural products.
ii. BoB has also launched a system for centralised processing offices of agricultural proposals in two
places, Gandhinagar in Gujarat Hyderabad in Telangana.
iii. The bank introduced 2 loan schemes (loan for construction/refurbishment of toilets and domestic
drinking water facilities & loans for construction of houses in rural areas).
iv. On March 27, 2019, BoB has signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 6 firms namely
Skymet Weather Services, Weather Risk Management Services, BigHaat, Agrostar India, EM3 Agri
Services and Poorti Agri Services to develop “Baroda Kisan”.
About BoB:
♦ Founded : 20 July 1908
♦ Headquarters : Alkapuri, Vadodara, Gujarat
♦ MD & CEO : PS Jayakumar
♦ Tagline : India’s International Bank
India’s IMPS rated as the world’s best real-time payment service in 6th annual Flavours of Fast
report for 2019 by FIS
The Jacksonville, United States (US) based research firm Fidelity National Information Services (FIS)
in its 6th annual Flavours of Fast report for 2019 rated India’s Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) as
the world’s best real-time payment service in comparison to the similar facilities of 54 countries. It
received the only 5+ rating. It is rated highest in FIS’s ‘Faster Payments Innovation Index 2019’.
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Key Points:
i. Australia, Denmark, Poland, Romania, Singapore, and Sweden received a 4+ rating.
ii. India witnessed a 10-fold increase in value and 8-fold increase in transaction volumes through IMPS in
2018.
iii .25 crore people in India still do not have phones and there are less than 40 lakh POS (Point of Sales)
devices.
iv. Real-time payments systems have increased 35% globally in 2018 and nearly four-fold since 2014.
v. Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and QR (Quick Response) codes are the digital payment alternatives
in India.
About IMPS:
It is an instant payment inter-bank electronic funds transfer system in India founded on 22 November
2010. It is managed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
SEBI tightens guidelines for debt mutual fund applicable from April 1, 2020
On September 22, 2019,In order to improve the risk management & ensure sufficient liquidity, the
regulator for the securities market in India, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has
tightened the rules for mutual funds, in which it make it mandatory for liquid schemes to hold at
least 20 % in liquid assets such as cash and cash equivalents like treasury bills and repo on government
securities.
The new guideline comes into force from April 1, 2020.
Key points:
i. In addition, It will not allow asset management company (AMC) to charge fees for investment
management & advisory for the parking of funds in short-term deposits of scheduled commercial banks.
This rule will be applicable from May, 2020.
ii. Before making additional fresh investments, AMC will have to ensure compliance with the
requirement if the investment exposure in liquid assets drops below 20 % of net assets of the liquid
scheme.
iii. SEBI also not permitted liquid and overnight schemes from investing in short-term deposits, debt and
money market instruments having structured obligations or credit enhancements provisions. But, debt
securities with government guarantee will be debarred from such restriction.
iv.If the investor who dropped out from the liquid fund within 7 days of his/her investment, the mutual
Fund shall levy exit load on them. But the requirement to levy exit load shall not be applicable to any
investments made in liquid funds before the prescribed date.
v. An industry standards organisation,AMFI (Association of Mutual Funds in India) has been asked to
provide the minimum exit load in a liquid fund in consultation with SEBI on a graded basis.
vi. Instead of existing 2 pm, the cut-off timings for applicability of Net Asset Value (NAV- the value of an
entity’s assets minus the value of its liabilities), for the purchase of liquid units & overnight funds will be
at 1:30 pm.
Debt Mutual Fund:
Mutual funds with fixed maturity date & fixed rate of interest, is known as Debt Mutual Fund. It is a mix
of debt or fixed income securities such as Treasury Bills, Government Securities, Corporate Bonds, Money
Market instruments and other debt securities of different time horizons.
About SEBI:
Chairperson: Ajay Tyagi
Paisalo Digital inks co-origination of loan agreement with Bank of Maharashtra

On September 20, 2019, Paisalo Digital (Formerly known as S.E Investments Limited) has signed its
second co-origination of loan agreement with major public sector bank in India, Bank of Maharashtra
(BoM) with the aim to necessitate the joint contribution of credit flow by BoM and Paisalo Digital. The
arrangement also involve sharing of risks & gains between them.
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Key points:
i. On August 12, 2019, Paisalo digital has signed the 1st co-origination loan agreement (designed at
Rs.10,000 to 2 lakh) with State Bank of India (SBI) to pay out 200,000 loan applications in 2019 (FY-
Fiscal Year 2020).
About Paisalo Digital:
♦ Managing Director: Sunil Agarwal
♦ Headquarters: New Delhi.
♦ It is a leading systemically important non-deposit taking NBFC(Non Banking Financial Company),
registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and is in operations since the year1992.
♦ Objective : To ensure rural development, self-employment, and women-empowerment on small
finances . It has AUM (Assets Under Management) of over 2000 crore and a net worth of Rs. 671.9 crore.
About BoM:
♦ Founded :1935
♦ Headquarters: Pune, Maharashtra
♦ MD & CEO: A. S. Rajeev
♦ Tagline: One Family One Bank
Bharti Airtel & Bharti AXA Life Insurance tie up to offer pre-paid plan with insurance protection
cover
On September 23, 2019, An Indian global telecommunications services company, Bharti Airtel has tied
up with Bharti AXA Life Insurance, one of the best insurance companies in India to offer prepaid plan
for its users along with insurance protection plan.
Key points:
i. Special Plan & insurance cover: Airtel has brought a special prepaid plan of Rs 599, in which
customers will get 2GB (gigabyte) data per day, unlimited calling and 100 SMS (Short Message Service)
per day on any network, as well as a life insurance cover of Rs 4 lakh from Bharti AXA Life Insurance.
ii. Validity: There will be a validity of 84 days on this recharge. After 3 months, this insurance cover will
be automatically maintained on every recharge.
iii. Eligibility: This plan of insurance cover with Airtel prepaid plans will be available for people
between 18 and 54 years of age. For this, no paperwork is required nor medical certificate of any kind is
needed. On the request of the customer, a copy of the insurance will also be delivered to the customer’s
doorstep. Airtel has developed a special system for this, through which this entire process is completed
within a few minutes.
iv. At present, this prepaid plan of Airtel which provides insurance cover is available to customers of
Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry circle and to be extended pan-India in a few months.
About Bharti Airtel:
♦ Founder: Sunil Bharti Mittal
♦ Headquarters :New Delhi, India
♦ Chairman: Sunil Bharti Mittal
♦ MD & CEO: Gopal Vittal
About Bharti AXA Life Insurance:
♦ Founded: 2005
♦ Headquarters: Mumbai,Maharashtra
♦ Managing Director and CEO : Vikas Seth
RBI approves the reappointment of Shyam Srinivasan as MD & CEO of Federal Bank for another
year
The apex bank of the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the reappointment of Shyam
Srinivasan, aged 57, as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Federal
Bank for another year with effect from September 23, 2019 until September 22, 2020. With this, he will
serve the bank as the head for a decade (September 23, 2010-September 22, 2020).
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About Federal Bank:

♦ Headquarters: Aluva, Kochi, Kerala
♦ Tagline: Your perfect banking partner
RBI bans PMC Bank, account holders will not be able to withdraw more than 1000 in a day
On September 23, 2019, The country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
prohibited Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Limited (PMC) on business transactions of
any kind for the next 6 months following the detection of alleged irregularities. The RBI has taken this
action under section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
Key points:
i. Under this decree, no depositor can withdraw more than 1,000 thousand money from his savings
account, current account or any other deposit account. Apart from this, the issuance of new loans of the
bank has also been banned.
ii. As on March 2019, PMC Bank had business of Rs 20,000 crore consisting of Rs 11,617 crore deposits
and Rs 8,383 crore advances.The bank will do business with restrictions till further notice or directions
by RBI.
iii. The bank has 137 branches in 6 states including those in New Delhi. It had 3.76% gross non-
performing assets (NPAs) and net 2.19 % NPAs as at the end of March 2019.
About PMC Bank:
♦ Formation:1983
♦ Chairman :S.Waryam Singh
SBI Life Insurance & Repco Home Finance signs corporate agency agreement
On September 24, 2019, Repco Home Finance Ltd (RHFL ),an Indian banking and financial services
company has signed corporate agency agreement with SBI (State Bank of India) Life Insurance, a
leading life insurance company in India to provide SBI Life’s range of products to its customers.
Key points:
i. SBI Life Insurance will now be available in RHFL’s over 148 branches and 27 satellite centres of RHFL
spread across the country.
ii. Through this partnership, SBI Life Insurance will reach more new customers across geographies to
meet their diverse insurance needs.
iii. The corporate agency agreement was signed by RHFL CFO T Karunakaran, General Manager K Prabhu
and SBI Life, Regional Director, E Thirumudi Pandian in the presence of Repco Home Finance Ltd MD and
CEO, Yashpal Gupta and others.
About SBI Life Insurance:
♦ Founded : March 2001
♦ MD & CEO: Mr. Sanjeev Nautiyal
About RHFL :
♦ Founded: 2000
♦ Headquarters: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Federal Bank and Pine Labs join hands to provide monthly EMIs for offline debit card
transactions
On September 23, 2019, Pine Labs, an Indian merchant platform company has joined hands
with Federal Bank,a Private Sector, scheduled commercial bank in India to offer EMIs (equated
monthly instalments) for offline debit card transactions.
Key points:
i. Federal Bank’s 57 lakh debit card customers will now be able to instantly avail loans on EMI at the
Pine Labs terminals.
ii. The tie-up focused on technology and analytics to deliver customer-centric digital services.
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iii. Pine Labs currently offers credit and debit card EMI services in over 1.20 lakh stores across 85,000
merchants in India. It has created a network of 90 brands and 19 banking and financial institutions.
About EMI:
A fixed payment amount made by a borrower to a lender at a specified date each calendar month.
Equated monthly installments are used to pay off both interest and principal each month.
About Federal Bank:
♦ Founded : 2 December 1949 (as Federal Bank)
♦ Founder : K.P Hormis
♦ Headquarters: Kochi, Kerala
♦ MD & CEO : Shyam Srinivasan
♦ Tagline: Your Perfect Banking Partner
About Pine Labs:
♦ Founded :1998
♦ Headquarters : Noida,Uttar Pradesh
♦ Executive Chairman : Lokvir Kapoor
♦ Chief Executive Officer: Vicky Bindra
Nilesh Shah got appointed as Chairman of AMFI

On September 23, 2019, The Managing Director (MD) of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co
Ltd., Nilesh Shah has been appointed as Chairman of the Association of Mutual Funds in
India (AMFI) at its board meeting held in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Key points:
i. He will replace Nimesh Shah, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, ICICI (Industrial Credit
and Investment Corporation of India )Prudential AMC, who was appointed to the position in the year
2018.
ii. The AMFI board has also elected Saurabh Nanavati, Chief Executive Officer, Invesco Mutual Fund as its
new vice-chairman.
iii. Nilesh has over 25 years of experience in capital markets and market related investments.
iv. At present, there are 15 members in AMFI board of these 7 are from the top ten fund houses and 4
each from mid and small sized AMCs(asset management company).
About AMFI:
Founded: 1995
ADB cuts India’s GDP growth forecast to 6.5% from 7% for FY 2019-20
On September 25, 2019, The Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its Asian
Development Outlook (ADO) 2019 update cut India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth
to 6.5% from 7% for FY 2019-20 after the growth slowed down to 5% in the Q1 April–June FY 2019-20
which is a six-year low in the first quarter. Key Points:
i. The reasons for the decline are an unexpected decline in manufacturing and investment, subdued
lending by banks and other financial institutions, stress in the rural economy, and a weakening external
outlook.
ii. It predicted that India is expected to rebound to 7.2% growth in the FY 2020-21.
iii. South Asia’s growth forecasts are lowered to 6.2% for 2019 and 6.7% for 2020.
PV Sindhu named as brand ambassador of Visa for 2 years

On September 24, 2019, An Indian professional badminton player, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (PV
Sindhu) has been named as the brand ambassador of Visa, Inc, an American multinational financial
services corporation for two years.
Key points:
i. Sindhu will promote the brand through advertising campaigns & also become an athlete member of
Team Visa for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
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ii. Team visa: It is a global athlete support program of Visa aimed at assisting the athletes who aspire to
the Olympic and Paralympic podiums. The athletes of this program are selected on the basis of their
string of good competitive performance at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, irrespective of their
nationality and background. Till now it has supported more than 400 Olympic, Paralympic athletes, and
hopefuls from around the globe.
iii. Assistance: The payment company will offer financial assistance & financial literacy training to these
athletes.It supports the Olympic Games as a worldwide sponsor since 1986 & has signed a contract
through 2032 as a partner.
PV Sindhu
Sindhu (Hyderabad,Telangana) became the first Indian to win gold in the 2019 Badminton World
Federation (BWF) World Championships, an annual tournament was held from August 19-25, 2019 at St.
Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland.She is also the recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award (highest
sporting honour, named after Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India), and Padma Shri,India’s 4th
highest civilian award.
About Visa Inc:
♦ Founded: 1958
♦ Headquarters: California, United States
♦ CEO: Alfred F. Kelly Jr.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games:
♦ Host city: Tokyo, Japan
♦ Schedule: 24 July, 2020 – 9 August, 2020
♦ Stadium: New National Stadium
PNB launches 1st of its kind Preventive Vigilance portal to facilitate all staff to contribute towards
arresting procedural lapses
On September 25, 2019, In order to promote vigilance awareness,the Punjab National Bank(PNB) has
introduced 1st of its kind Preventive Vigilance (PV) portal to facilitate all staff members to contribute
towards arresting procedural lapses and unhealthy practices at a function held at PNB Corporate Office,
chaired by Sharad Kumar,Central Vigilance Commissioner.
Key points:
i. In a bid to promote a central theme of ‘Integrity – A way of Life’, the bank introduced e-pledge mission,
social outreach through technological platforms & modern technology based solutions through the
Preventive Vigilance (PV) portal.
About PNB:
♦ Founded: 19 May 1894
♦ Managing Director: Sunil Mehta
♦ Tagline: The Name you can Bank Upon
Airtel payments bank joins hands with HDFC ERGO to offer mosquito-borne diseases protection
policy
On September 26, 2019, India’s first Payments Bank, the Airtel Payments Bank has joined hands with
India’s leading private sector general insurance company, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company to
offer unique Mosquito Diseases Protection Policy (MDPP) to protect against mosquito-borne diseases.
Key points:
i. This partnership aims to contribute to the financial inclusion of the country through the strong
distribution network of Airtel Payments Bank and strong innovation of HDFC ERGO (Housing
Development Finance Corporation Ltd).
ii. The MDPP will provide cover on 7 common mosquito-borne diseases, including Dengue, Malaria,
Chikungunya, Japanese Encephalitis, Kala-azar, Lymphatic Filariasis (Elephantiasis) and Zika virus. The
product, which is part of HDFC Ergo’s ‘wallet insurance portfolio’, will be offered to Airtel Payments Bank
remittance consumers at a nominal premium of Rs 99 per year.
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iii. At present, the policy available to over 40 lakh remittance customers of Airtel Payments Bank. This
segment of consumers consists mostly of migrant workers, who are usually the sole earners of the family.
iv. This pocket-friendly product is quite different in the insurance industry, being the only policy that
provides the insured with the benefit of the sum assured even when hospitalized for 24 hours for
treatment.
About Airtel Payments Bank:
♦ Founded :2019
♦ MD, CEO: Anubrata Biswas
About HDFC ERGO:
♦ Founded: 2002
♦ Managing Director & CEO: Mr. Ritesh Kumar
Hyundai motor signs agreement with BoB for vehicle finance

On September 25, 2019, Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) has signed an agreement with Bank of
Baroda (BoB) to provide preferred financing to its dealers and consumers. Under this partnership, BoB
will create a detailed financing structure (as per its existing product program of supply chain finance)
for customers and dealers, which will help the bank expand its presence in the Hyundai Motor India
Limited network.
About HMIL:
♦ Founded :6 May 1996
♦ Headquarters: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
♦ CEO :Mr. Seon Seob Kim
About BoB:
♦ Founded :20 July 1908
♦ Headquarters :Vadodara, Gujarat
♦ MD & CEO : P. S. Jayakumar
♦ Tagline: India’s International Bank
UNCTAD estimates India’s economic growth rate at a 7-year low of 6% in CY 2019 from 7.4% in
2018
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its Trade and
Development Report 2019 forecasted India’s economic growth rate at a 7-year low of 6% in calendar
year (CY) 2019 from 7.4% in 2018. Key Points:
i. The estimates were reduced due to sharp fall of growth to 5.8% in the first quarter of CY19, the risk of
shadow banking in countries such as India and China, lower-than-targeted tax collections and limited
public spending. But still, India’s economy to be world’s 2nd fastest growing at 6% and China is first.
ii. It also expressed concerns over Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and suggested that it needs to
rebuild multilateralism around the idea of a ‘Global Green New Deal’.
About UNCTAD:
♦ Formation: 30 December 1964
♦ Secretary General: Dr Mukhisa Kituyi
HDFC Bank retains the top spot in India’s Most Valuable Brand for the 6th consecutive year: WPP
and Kantar Millward Brown report 2019
As per the report, “BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2019 ranking” released by WPP
and Kantar Millward Brown, HDFC Bank (Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited) was
declared the country’s most valuable brand for the sixth consecutive year with the brand value of $
22.70 billion (1.61 lakh crore rupees). LIC ( Life Insurance Corporation of India) stood at number two
with a brand value of Rs 1.43 lakh crore.
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Key points:
i. The aggregate value of the top 75 brands rose to $228.2 billion, increasing at a moderate 6 % against
2018, far slower than 34 % recorded in 2017.
ii. Other companies at top 10: Kotak Mahindra Bank came in at number six followed by Asian Paints
(7th).Maruti Suzuki slipped from 6th to 8th. Jio’s brand value grew by 34% in the last one year & ranked
number 9 on the list.It Ranked 10thin 2018. ICICI bank (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of
India)got the 10th place in the chart.
Top 5 Valuable Brands of the Country
Rank Brand Category Brand value (Rupees) Change in
value
1 HDFC bank Bank 1.61 Lakh Crore + 5%
2 LIC Insurance 1.43 Lakh Crore + 2%
3 TCS (Tata Consultancy Technology 1.29 Lakh Crore + 21%
Services)
4 Airtel Telecom 72,988 Crore -10%
5 SBI (State Bank of India) Bank 59,640 crores + 7%
About the BrandZ top 75Most Valuable Indian Brands Ranking :
It was commissioned by WPP(a British multinational advertising and public relations company). The
valuation behind the brands was conducted by brand equity research experts Kantar.
About HDFC bank:
♦ Founded :August 1994
♦ Headquarters :Mumbai, Maharashtra
♦ Managing Director :Aditya Puri
♦ Tagline: We Understand Your World
About WPP:
♦ Founded: 1971
♦ Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
♦ Chief Executive Officer :Mark Read
Kristalina Georgieva is the IMF’s new chief, becomes 2nd woman to get the post
Bulgaria’s economist Kristalina Georgieva (66) has been elected as the new head of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). She will be the second woman chief of the 189-member IMF & will take over
as Managing Director of the IMF on October 1, 2019. She will replace Christine Lagarde, who resigned
from her post after being elected president of the European Central Bank (ECB).
Key points:
i. Prior to this, she was the Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank in January 2017. She was also the
interim president of the World Bank Group from February 1 – April 8,2019.
ii. Georgieva received a PhD (postgraduate doctoral degree) in Economic Sciences from the University of
National and World Economy, Bulgaria, and an MA (Master of Arts) in Political Economics and Social
Sciences degree obtained at this university from 1977 to 1991.
iii. She has served in the European Commission as the Commissioner for International Cooperation,
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response. After that, she was also the Vice President of the
commission for Budget and Human Resources.
About IMF:
♦ Formation: 27 December 1945
♦ Headquarters: Washington, D.C. U.S
♦ It is an international organization which promotes international monetary cooperation and provides
policy advice and technical assistance to help countries build and maintain strong economies.It presently
has 189 member countries
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PNB MetLife & Religare Health Insurance join hands to offer insurance products covering health,
death and illness
On September 26, 2019, PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd, one of the leading life insurance
companies in India has joined hands with Religare Health Insurance to bundle and sell the live covers of
Religare comprising health, death and illness.The policy package will be offered from mid December
2019. Key points:
i. With this integration, the customer of PNB MetLife will get this in a single policy.
ii. Target : PNB MetLife is targeting about 18-20% growth in 2019 (FY –fiscal year 20) & increase the
number of branches to 200 from 107 within 2 years time.
It has the largest life insurance market Maharashtra, New Delhi and Karnataka & Tamil Nadu. It has the
blended total premium policy of about ₹4,000 crore in its last fiscal (2018- FY 19) & in 2019 it logged
₹1,200 crore with around 18-20 % business growth.
About PNB MetLife India Insurance:
♦ Founded: 2001
♦ Managing Director & CEO: Ashish Kumar Srivastava
♦ It an associate of Punjab National Bank (PNB), wherein MetLife International Holdings Inc and PNB are
the shareholders to the extent of 26% and 30% respectively.
About Religare Health Insurance:
♦ Establishment : July 2015
♦ Headquarters: Gurgaon, Haryana
President & CEO of eBay Devin Wenig resigns

The President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of eBay Mr. Devin Wenig, aged 52, resigned from his
post. The company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr. Scott Schenkel, will serve as an interim CEO of
the firm.
i. Mr. Wenig had joined the firm in 2011 and appointed as CEO in 2015.
About Ebay:
♦ Founded: September 3, 1995
♦ Headquarters: San Jose, California, United States
RBI Placed Lakshmi Vilas Bank Under Prompt Corrective Action(PCA) Framework
On September 27, 2019, The country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put the Prompt
Corrective Action (PCA) Framework against Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) after an inquiry against the
directors of the bank over the alleged fraud.
Key points:
i. RBI puts the bank in PCA due to reasons like high net NPA (Non Performing Assets), insufficient capital
to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRR) and Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) negative RoA (Return on assets)
for two consecutive years and high leverage, based on the on-site inspection under the Risk Based
Supervision carried out for the year ended 31 March, 2019. The bank’s net NPA registered at 7.49%,
capital adequacy ratio was at 7.72% and its RoA was -2.32% as on March 2019.
ii. The Economic Offenses Wing of the Delhi Police is investigating allegations of fraud and criminal
breach of trust against the directors on the board of the bank. An FIR (first information report) has been
lodged against the directors on a complaint from Religare Finvest Limited ( RFL ), which stated that the
bank has rigged its FD (fixed deposit) of Rs 790 crore.
iii. United Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Central Bank of India, IDBI Bank (Industrial
Development Bank of India )and UCO Bank are currently under PCA framework.
iv. About NPA: A non performing asset (NPA) is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest
payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days.
v. About RoA:It is a profitability ratio that provides how much profit a company is able to generate from
its assets.
vi.About CRR: is the amount of funds that banks have to maintain with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
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at all times.
vi.About CET 1: It is a component of Tier 1 capital that consists mostly of common stock held by a bank
or other financial institution.
About PCA:
To ensure that banks don’t go bust, RBI has put in place some trigger points (on the basis of Capital
Adequacy Ratio (CAR- a metric to measure balance sheet strength), NPA and ROA ) to assess, monitor,
control and take corrective actions on banks which are weak and troubled. The process or mechanism
under which such actions are taken is known as PCA.The objective of putting it in the PCA is to improve
the performance of the bank and to keep it free from any adverse effect on daily functioning.
About LVB: In April, LVB’s board approved a merger with mortgage financier Indiabulls Housing
Finance Ltd in an all stock deal. The merged entity, will be called Indiabulls Lakshmi Vilas Bank. The
proposed merger had also got the Competition Commission of India (CCI) nod in June.
Founded :1926
Headquarters: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Non – Executive Chairman: Shri. B K Manjunath
Tagline: The Changing Face of Prosperity
Basel-based BIS launches ‘green’ bond fund for central banks to promote green finance
On September 26, 2019, In the latest dimension of global central bank’s interest in environmental
sustainability, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has launched a dollar green bond fund
enabling central banks around the world to invest in “green bonds”.
Key points:
i. Aim: The primary aim of this initiative is to let the central banks incorporate environmental
sustainability into reserve management without destroying assets & value of their reserves.
ii. About the bond: It is an open-ended bond & drawn the pool of assets from a global group of central
banks to develop green finance through sizeable climate-friendly investments. It is structured under the
swiss law & will be managed in-house by Asset Management handout of BIS, which is owned by 60
central banks. These are denominated in US dollars.
iii. Eligibility: The bonds which have eligible for inclusion in the fund should have a minimum rating of
A- and adhere to the International Capital Market Association’s (ICMA) Green Bond Principles or the
Climate Bond Standard published by the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI).
iv. Scenario: Although the green bond market is small, it is growing rapidly with fourfold in size over a
period of 4-year, from some $50 billion in 2014 to $230 billion in 2018.
v. Institutional investors having assets worth $11 trillion have now pledged to divest from fossil fuel
assets and shift to renewables, especially since the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
About Green Bond:
It is a bond whose proceeds are used to fund environment-friendly projects related to clean water,
renewable energy, energy efficiency, river and habitat restoration, acquisition of land, or mitigation of
climate change impacts.
The first entity to issue green bonds was the World Bank, which began the practice in 2008.
About BIS:
Established :17 May 1930
Headquarters: Basel, Switzerland
Membership : 60 central banks
General manager: Agustín Carstens
DHFL Board approves Vaijinath M. Gavarshetty as its CEO & and key managerial personnel from
October 1, 2019
On September 28, 2019, The board of directors of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL- a
deposit-taking housing finance company) has approved the appointment of Vaijinath M. Gavarshetty as
its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and key managerial personnel of the company with effect from
October 1, 2019. He will succeed Harshil Mehta. Harshil Mehta resigned in Feb 2019 after that Kapil
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Wadhwan, chairman and managing director of DHFL, held the additional responsibility of CEO.
Key points:
i. Vaijinath has over 33 years of professional experience in Banking with State Bank of India (SBI) in
various capacities & positions, including as Chief General Manager (CGM) and head of SBI’s Real Estate &
Housing Business Vertical and also as a nominee Director on the Board of a Corporate.
ii. After retirement, he has been working as an advisor with India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation,
Syndicate Bank as also Kuliza Technologies Pvt. Ltd and with Pranjal International Resolutions Pvt. Ltd.,
Mumbai, he served as a member of the Advisory Board.
iii. From the second half of 2018 (FY-Fiscal year 2019), DHFL has been under substantial financial stress
when the then CEO Harshil Mehta stepped down from the post.
About DHFL:
♦ Founder: Rajesh Wadhawan
♦ Headquarters: Mumbai,Maharashtra
♦ Chairman & Managing director: Kapil Wadhawan
Nepal Central Bank issued 3 coins bearing Sikh emblem to commemorate 550th birth anniversary
of Guru Nanak Dev
On September 27, 2019, The Governor of Nepal’s Central Bank ‘Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)’, Dr.
Chiranjibi Nepal & Indian Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri have jointly released three coins (100, 1000
and 2500 Nepali rupees) bearing the Sikh symbol to commemorate the 550th Birth Anniversary of
Guru Nanak Dev. These coins will be available in the market from September 30, 2019, as they possess
monetary value.
Key points:
i. A book titled “Sikh Heritage of Nepal” based on the Sikh heritage of Nepal was also launched in the
program. This book has been published by BP Koirala India-Nepal Foundation in association with the
Indian Embassy in Nepal.
ii. Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee President Sardar Gobind Singh Longowal, Jathedar of
Akal Takht Giani Harpreet Singh and many other prominent Sikh leaders from Punjab were also present
during this occasion.
Guru Nanak dev :
He was Nirguna Bhakti saint and social reformer was born at Nankana Sahib (formerly known as Rai
Bhoi Di Talwandi) near Lahore, Pakistan on April 15, 1469. He was the first Sikh Guru and founder of
Sikhism. The verses composed by him were collected in Adi Granth, written in Gurmukhi script. Guru
Nanak Jayanti festival celebrates the birth of Guru Nanak.
He is said to have visited Balaju area on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal five hundred years ago.
The 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev will be celebrated on 12 November 2019.
About NRB:
♦ Headquarters: Kathmandu, Nepal
About Nepal:
♦ Capital: Kathmandu
♦ Currency: Nepalese rupee
♦ President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari
♦ Prime Minister: Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli
Paytm & Aegon Life Insurance signed corporate agency agreement

On September 27, 2019, Indian life insurance provider, Aegon Life Insurance has signed a Corporate
Agency Agreement with Paytm, an Indian e-commerce payment system to offer comprehensive life
insurance products.
Key points:
i. As per this agreement, Paytm will distribute Aegon Life products to its customers. The product
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portfolio comprises existing and co-created tailor-made propositions.

ii. Through this partnership, Aegon Life will deepen the penetration of its product offers and enable more
policy holders to access their risk solutions.
About Paytm :
♦ Founded : 2010
♦ Headquarters :Noida, Uttar Pradesh
♦ CEO and MD: Pravin Jadhav
About Aegon Life Insurance :
♦ Founded :2008
♦ Headquarters : Mumbai
♦ MD & CEO : Mr. Vineet Arora
SEBI relaxes norms to allow smart cities raise funds through ‘Muni Bonds’
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) eased its norms to allow smart cities to raise funds
through ‘Muni Bonds‘. The entities working in areas of city planning and urban development work,
including municipalities, special purpose vehicles (SPVs) set up under the central government’s
ambitious ‘Smart Cities Mission’ can also raise funds through debt securities.
Key Points:
• Background: SEBI had issued its Issue and Listing of Debt Securities by Municipalities (ILDM)
Regulations nearly 5 years ago and since then 7 municipalities have raised nearly Rs 1,400 crore
by issuing their debt securities, which are commonly known as ‘Muni Bonds’.
• Reason: Amendments were made to provide greater flexibility in raising funds and for
strengthening protection for investors.
• Requirements like the appointment of a monitoring agency, filing of viability certificate or
Detailed Project Appraisal Report, setting up of a separate project implementation cell,
maintenance of 100% asset cover with the specification of resources and mandatory backing of
state or central government were withdrawn.
• SEBI has allowed this route for other structures where a group of municipalities pools their
resources together to jointly raise funds through the issuance of bonds. These structures are
generally known as Pooled Finance Development Funds (PFDF).
• Rules pertaining to creation of escrow accounts were eased.
• The existing regulations (withdrawn now) allow issuance of only revenue bonds with a minimum
tenure of 3 years and a maximum of 5 years, if it is a public issue.
• In case of private placements, the minimum subscription amount per investor currently at Rs 25
lakh has been reduced to Rs 10 lakh to align it with the regulations for corporate bonds.
• Any offer (private placement) or invitation made to qualified institutional buyers shall not be
considered while calculating the limit of 200 persons.
About Muni Bonds/Municipal Bonds:
It is a debt security issued by a state, municipality or county to finance its capital expenditures, including
the construction of highways, bridges or schools.
SEBI eases buyback rules for companies with housing finance, NBFC arms
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) eased its norms for buyback (repurchase) of shares by
listed companies, which is governed by the Buyback Regulations of SEBI & Companies Act, especially
those having subsidiaries in housing finance and Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) segments.
Key Points:
• Background: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs had permitted the government companies
carrying out non-banking finance and housing finance activities to launch buybacks resulting in
up to 6:1 debt to equity ratio post the share repurchase.
• The financial statements of the companies would be considered on both standalone and
consolidated basis to determine the maximum permissible buyback size and other related
requirements.
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• The buyback offer cannot exceed 25% of the aggregate paid-up capital and free reserves of the
company and an approval from the shareholders is required through a special resolution in case
the size exceeds 10%.
• A buyback is permitted only if the ratio of the aggregate of secured and unsecured debts owed by
the company after the buyback is not more than twice the paid-up capital and free reserves,
unless a higher debt-to-equity ratio is specified under the Companies Act.
• At present, the post-buyback debt-to-equity ratio is up to 2:1, except for companies for which a
higher ratio has been notified under the Companies Act, based on both standalone and
consolidated basis.
• If the debt to equity ratio on consolidated basis exceeds 2:1 threshold, buybacks would be allowed
after excluding the subsidiaries that are NBFCs and housing finance companies regulated by the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or National Housing Bank (NHB). The standalone debt to equity ratio
of all such excluded subsidiaries should not exceed 6:1.
• Earlier, Sebi had proposed to keep this threshold at 5:1.
About buyback of shares:
It is when a company buys its own outstanding shares to reduce the number of shares available on the
open market. Companies buy back shares for a number of reasons, such as to increase the value of
remaining shares available by reducing the supply or to prevent other shareholders from taking a
controlling stake.
About debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio:
It is used to evaluate a company’s financial leverage. It’s formula is as follows:
D/E Ratio = Total Liabilities divided by Total Shareholders’ Equity
Banking, Finance & Economy Q&A: September 2019

1)Government of India accepts the resignation of Anshula Kant on September 1,2019, she served
as the Managing Director(MD) of which of the following bank ?
Answer – State Bank of India(SBI)
Explanation:
On September 1, 2019, The Central Government has accepted the resignation of Anshula Kant, Managing
Director (MD) of State Bank of India (SBI). This comes after her appointment as the MD and Chief
Financial Officer (CFO) of World Bank Group.
2)Which bank has entered into an agreement with ECL Finance Limited for priority sector lending
to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) ?
Answer – Central Bank of India (CBI)
Explanation:
On September 1, 2019, A leading Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) & a subsidiary of Edelweiss
Financial Services, ECL Finance Limited and Central Bank of India (CBI) have entered into an agreement
for priority sector lending to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
3)Name the scheme, which aims to free taxpayers in closing their pending disputes related to
legacy Service Tax and Central Excise cases which are now included under Goods and Service
Tax(GST) .
Answer – Sabka Vishwas
Explanation:
Sabka Vishwas, which is a legacy dispute resolution scheme for tax payers announced by finance
minister NirmlaSitharaman in the 2019-20 union budget, has started off with its operation from
September 1, 2019 and will be operational till December 31, 2019.The scheme aims to free taxpayers in
closing their pending disputes related to legacy Service Tax and Central Excise cases which are now
included under Goods and Service Tax(GST).
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4)How much percentage is relieved for the taxpayers if an amount less than or equal to Rs. 50
lakh for a pending case .
Answer – 70%
Explanation:
Pending cases: 70% relief from the duty demand if an amount less than or equal to Rs. 50 lakh whereas it
is 50% if it is more than Rs. 50 lakh.
Case type Amount range relief
Pending case Less than or equal to Rs. 50 lakhs. 70%
Pending case Greater than Rs. 50 lakh 50%
Non pending case Less than or equal to Rs. 50 lakh. 60%
Non pending case Greater than Rs. 50 lakh 40%
5)Which entity has appointed Pravin Jadhav as its Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) on September 1, 2019 ?
Answer – Paytm Money
Explanation:
On September 1, 2019, Paytm Money has promoted Pravin Jadhav as its Managing Director (MD) and
Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Prior to this, Jadhav was in the position of full-time director. The company
also plans to invest Rs 250 crore in the next 2 years as it is expected to start a new business including
share bronzing, NPS(National Pension Scheme) in the financial year 20(FY 2019-20).
6)Which becomes India’s first bank to deploy ‘Robotic Arms’ at its currency chests to count
millions of notes across the country?
Answer – ICICI Bank
Explanation:
ICICI Bank(Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India), the leading private sector lender, has
become the 1st bank in India to deploy industrial ‘robotic arms’ to count millions of notes in currency
chests across the country. 14 machines (robotic arms) have been deployed in 12 cities so that all these
can count 6 million notes in a working day or about 1.80 billion notes annually.
7)How much funds have been infused to IDBI Bank(Industrial Development Bank of India)?
Answer – Rs 9,300 Crore
Explanation:
On September 2, 2019, Information and Broadcasting(I&B) Minister Prakash Javadekar stated that the
central Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Government of India(GoI) has
approved a capital infusion of Rs 9,300 crore in IDBI Bank(Industrial Development Bank of India). The
objective behind the government’s move is to increase the bank’s capital base.
8)GFTAM is in news recently, what does ‘A’ stands for __________ .

Answer – A – AIDS
Explanation:
A stands for AIDS in GFTAM. The full form of GFTAM is Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria.
9)How much funds are contributed by India to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFTAM)
for the 6th replenishment cycle (2020-22)?
Answer – $22 million
Explanation:
On September 3, 2019, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan stated that the
central government will contribute $22 million to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFTAM) for
the 6th replenishment cycle (2020-22), an 10% jump of the amount US$ 20 million contributed in the 5th
cycle. So far, India has contributed US$ 46.5 million till 2019.
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10)Who headed the Inter-Ministerial committee, that submits the report titled “Steering
Committee on Fintech related issues 2019 ” ?
Answer – Atanu Chakraborty
Explanation:
On September 2, 2019, An Inter-Ministerial committee set up by the Ministry of Finance, Department of
Economic Affairs, Government of India(GoI) on Fintech (Financial technology) related issues headed by
Shri Atanu Chakraborty, DEA(Department of Economic Affairs) Secretary, submitted its final report
“‘Steering Committee on Fintech related issues 2019 ” to the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.
11)What is the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of India for the FY20 as per DBS bank (formerly
Development Bank of Singapore Ltd) ?
Answer – 6.2%
Explanation:
The DBS bank (formerly Development Bank of Singapore Ltd) based in Singapore has reduced India’s
GDP to 6.2% from its previous forecast of 6.8%. The bank also expects for another GDP (Gross Domestic
Product) rate cut by 15-25 bps in the month of December. The DBS in its report “India: More policy
support likely after weak Q2 growth” stated that severe slowdown in India’s GDP lowered the trajectory
for the year and is expected to grow in FY21(Fiscal Year 2021).
12)Who heads the 6-member taskforce on secondary market for corporate loans, which has
submitted its report to Reserve Bank of India(RBI) recently ?
Answer – TN Manoharan
Explanation:
On September 3, 2019, A 6-member taskforce on secondary market for corporate loans, headed by
Canara Bank Chairman TN Manoharan has submitted its report to RBI (Reserve Bank of India) Governor
Shaktikanta Das.
13)Where was the Joint India- New Development Bank (NDB) workshop on Enhancing NDB’s
engagement with the India private and public sector held ?
Answer – New Delhi
Explanation:
On September 3, 2019, Joint India- New Development Bank (NDB) workshop on Enhancing NDB’s
engagement with the India private and public sector was held for a day in New Delhi. It was co-organized
by NDB and the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance of the Government of India.
14)Name the head of the 9-member panel which is formed in order to review Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority of India(IRDAI) three-year old guidelines (set up in 2016)
on trade credit insurance due to the changing market requirements .
Answer – Atul Sahai
Explanation:
On September 2, 2019 the insurance regulator IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
of India) has set up a 9-member panel headed by New India Assurance Company Ltd (NIACL) Chief
Managing Director(CMD) Atul Sahai, in order to review its three-year old guidelines (set up in 2016) on
trade credit insurance due to the changing market requirements.
15)Which bank has signed a MoU with the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) for the
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) facility to all the insured beneficiaries of ESIC ?
Answer – State Bank of India (SBI)
Explanation:
On September 3, 2019, A multidimensional social system tailored to provide socio-economic protection
to worker population, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of India (SBI) for the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) facility to
all the insured beneficiaries of ESIC.
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16)Name the organization which released the 2019 list of gold reserves of each country.
Answer – World Gold Council (WGC)
Explanation:
country.
17)Which country topped the World Gold Council (WGC)’s 2019 list of gold reserves ?
Answer – United States(US)
Explanation:
country. The list was topped by United States(US) with gold reserves of 8,133.5 tonnes followed by
Germany (3,366.8 tonnes) at second place. India entered the top 10 list this year ranking at 10th spot
surpassing Netherlands (612.5 tonnes) whereas it is ranked at 9th position in terms of individual
countries with 618.2 tonnes, as the International Monetary Fund(IMF) ranks third (2,451.8 tonnes) in
the gold reserve list.
18)To which of the following rate, banks were recommended to link all new types of floating-rate
loans (home, auto loans & and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME)) by Reserve Bank of
India(RBI) ?
Answer – Repo Rate
Explanation:
The Country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has asked banks to link all new types of floating-
rate loans (home, auto loans & and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME)) to external
benchmark like repo rate from October 1, 2019.
19)Which bank has entered into an agreement for priority sector lending (PSL) to Micro, Small
and Medium Enterprises (MSME) with ECL Finance Limited after Bank of Baroda(BoB) and
Central Bank of India(CBI) ?
Answer – State Bank of India (SBI)
Explanation:
A leading Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) & a subsidiary of Edelweiss Financial Services, ECL
Finance Limited and State Bank of India (SBI) have entered into an agreement for priority sector lending
(PSL) to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
20)FBIL was in news recently, what does ‘B’ stands for __________ .
Answer – B – Benchmarks
Explanation:
B stands for Benchmarks.The full form of FBIL is Financial Benchmarks India Private Ltd.
21)Which bank has launched “DigiSmart” credit card primarily focused on the ever-growing
segment of millennials ?
Answer – Standard Chartered Bank
Explanation:
On September 4, 2019, The Standard Chartered Bank, a British multinational banking and financial
services company has launched its “DigiSmart” credit card primarily focused on the ever-growing
segment of millennials.
22)Which organization has signed 26 Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) of the taxation issue in
the first five months (April – August 2019) of the current financial year 2019-20 ?
Answer – Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)
Explanation:
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed 26 Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) of the
taxation issue in the first five months (April – August 2019) of the current financial year 2019-20.The
number of such agreements entered by CBDT has reached 297. These include 32 bilateral APAs (BAPAs).
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Of these, 26 APA so far the year 2019, one agreement has been reached with the UK(United Kingdom) on
a bilateral basis while the remaining 25 agreements have been unilateral.
23)Which country emerged as the largest source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India in
the first quarter (Q1)- April-June 2019-20 ?
Answer – Singapore
Explanation:
According to the official data from the Commerce and Industry Ministry, Government of India, the
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India grew by 28% to $16.33 billion in the first quarter (Q1)- April-
June 2019-20. FDI inflows in April-June of 2018-19 was $12.75 billion.Maximum foreign inflows:
Services Sector ($2.8 billion), computer software and hardware ($2.24 billion), telecommunications
($4.22 billion), and trading ($1.13 billion) received the maximum foreign inflows during April-June
2019-20.Sources: Singapore emerged as the largest source of FDI in India during April-June 2019-20
with $5.33 billion investment, followed by Mauritius ($4.67 billion), the United States ($1.45 billion), the
Netherlands ($1.35 billion), and Japan ($472 million).
24)Name the commodity exchange of India, that has signed MoU with Zhengzhou Commodity
Exchange (ZCE) for co-operation and the exchange of information .
Answer – Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX)
Explanation:
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX)
and Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE), a commodity exchanges in China, for co-operation and the
exchange of information. It will help in cooperation between the two exchanges in areas like knowledge
sharing, education & training, organizing events and exploration of the areas of mutual interests between
the exchanges.
25)What is the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) growth of India for the FY20(Fiscal Year 2020) as
per CRISIL (formerly Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited) ?
Answer – 6.3%
Explanation:
On September 4, 2019, Indian credit rating agency CRISIL (formerly Credit Rating Information Services
of India Limited) has reduced the India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth to 6.3% for FY20 (Fiscal
Year 2020) from its previous estimate of 6.9%. The lower GDP growth forecast states about the India’s
deep economic slowdown and is broad-based than suspected.
26)Which committee has suggested to create a Rs 5,000 crore distressed asset fund for domestic
MSMEs hurt by demonetization, the GST(Goods and Service Tax) and an existing liquidity crunch ?
Answer –U.K. Sinha committee
Explanation:
Gadkari stated that the government will take a decision on the recommendations of the U.K. Sinha
committee which had been set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the strength of micro, small and
medium enterprises (MSME) sector. The Finance Secretary and MSME Secretary will give a final report
on the recommendations of the committee after consultation with the parties concerned & it will be
implemented in 15 days after that. Recommendation: The committee suggested to create a Rs 5,000
crore distressed asset fund for domestic MSMEs hurt by demonetization, the GST(Goods and Service Tax)
and an existing liquidity crunch.
27)Which small finance bank was barred from opening new branches by Reserve Bank of
India(RBI) ?
Answer – Equitas Small Finance Bank (ESFB)
Explanation:
The apex bank of the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred the Equitas Small Finance Bank
(ESFB) from opening new branches. The decision comes after ESFB missed the deadline to list its shares
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on stock exchanges. It also froze the salary of ESFB’s Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer
(CEO), Vasudevan PN.
28)UPI was in news recently, what does ‘I’ stands for _________ .
Answer – I – Interface
Explanation:
I stands for Interface in UPI. The full form of UPI is Unified Payments Interface.
29)How much million, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions have reached an overall
high by the end of August 2019 ?
Answer – 918 million
Explanation:
On September 5, 2019 the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has released a data on the new
record created by Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions that reached an overall high of 918
million transactions worth Rs 1.54 lakh crore by the end of August, 2019 crossing the 900 million
transaction mark.
30)Under which online platform, all 19 public sector banks (PSB) have initiated in-principle
retail loan approval for customers availing housing and personal loans ?
Answer – PSB Loans in 59 Minutes
Explanation:
All 19 public sector banks (PSB) including State Bank of India(SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of
Baroda (BOB) have initiated in-principle retail loan approval for customers availing housing and
personal loans under the online lending platform ‘PSB Loans in 59 Minutes’.
40)IBC was in news recently, what does ‘B’ stands for ____________ .
Answer – B – Bankruptcy
Explanation:
B stands for Bankruptcy in IBC.The full form of IBC is Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).This was in
news recently because Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas notified that there are plans to waive
off the debts of small distressed borrowers using the ‘fresh start’ provisions of the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Code (IBC). It would be for the most distressed individuals within the economically weaker
section (EWS). The waiver will cost Rs 10,000 crore per annum.
41)Which firm was selected by Reserve Bank of India(RBI) to develop a mobile phone based
application for visually impaired people to identify currency notes ?
Answer – Daffodil Software Pvt Ltd
Explanation:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) selected Daffodil Software Pvt Ltd to develop a mobile phone based
application for visually impaired people to identify currency notes. It informed the Bombay High Court
that an internet connection would not be required for its proposed mobile application.
42)Name the bank that provides $200 million (about Rs 1,400 crore) loan to upgrade about 2,100
kilometers of rural roads in Maharashtra for better connecting rural areas with markets and
services.
Answer – Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Explanation:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $ 200 million (about Rs 1,400 crore) loan to upgrade
about 2,100 kilometers of rural roads to all-weather standards in Maharashtra’s 34 districts for better
connecting rural areas with markets and services.
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43)Which country has announced the humanitarian assistance of $1 million as an immediate

disaster relief to help people in The Bahamas affected by Hurricane Dorian ?
Answer – India
Explanation:
On September 8, 2019, The Government of India (GoI) announced humanitarian assistance of $1 million
as immediate disaster relief to help people in The Bahamas affected by Hurricane (tropical cyclone)
Dorian which has caused large scale destruction. The death toll is more than 40 and is likely to increase.
44)AePS was in news recently, what does ‘A’ stands for _________ .
Answer – A – Aadhaar
Explanation:
A stands for Aadhaar.The full form of AePS is Aadhaar Enabled Payment System .
45)Which payment bank has launched Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS) Services to
become the single largest platform in the country for providing interoperable banking services to
the customers ?
Answer – India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)
Explanation:
On September 9, 2019, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and
Law & Justice Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad announced that India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has launched
Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) Services at the first anniversary of its business operations.
With this, IPPB became the single largest platform in the country for providing interoperable banking
services to the customers of any bank including the 34 crore Jan Dhan account holders.
46)Who headed the 6 member committee, that has submitted its report to the governor of the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shaktikanta Das regarding development of housing finance
securitisation market ?
Answer – Harsh Vardhan
Explanation:
The panel headed by Harsh Vardhan, senior advisor, Bain and Co., for the development of housing
finance securitisation market has submitted its report to the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
Shaktikanta Das.The panel suggested that the National Housing Bank (NHB) should create an
intermediary for standard-setting and market-making for the instruments. Intermediary could operate
either directly through the NHB, the Indian Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC), or the RBI could set
up a new organisation.
47)What is the initial capital of the intermediary, which will be created by National Housing Bank
(NHB) for standard-setting and market-making for the instruments by the panel headed by Harsh
vardhan ?
Answer – Rs. 500 crore
Explanation:
The panel suggested that the National Housing Bank (NHB) should create an intermediary for standard-
setting and market-making for the instruments. Intermediary could operate either directly through the
NHB, the Indian Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC), or the RBI could set up a new
organisation.Ownership in the intermediary: The new entity would have 51% ownership by the
government through the NHB initially. The government ownership in the entity would then be gradually
reduced to 26% over a period of 5 years. The remaining capital of 49% may be initially raised from
multilateral agencies. It will start with Rs 500 crore of initial capital and it would be allowed to invest in
each pool it securitizes to the extent of 5% of the pool, or 5% of its own capital base, whichever is lower.
48)PTC was in news recently, what does ‘C’ stands for __________ .
Answer – C – Certificates
Explanation:
C stands for Certificates. The full form of PTC is Pass-Through Certificates.
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49)To which designation of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Department of Financial Services,
Ministry of Finance of the Government of India has issued a code of conduct?
Answer – Non-official Directors
Explanation:
The Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance of the Government of India has issued a code
of conduct for non-official directors of Public Sector Banks (PSBs). The boards of the banks will have to
send an annual performance report which rates a director based on professional and ethical conduct, and
contribution to the board.
50)What is the growth forecast of the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) for the year 2019
-20 as per the India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) ?
Answer – 10-12%
Explanation:
On September 9, 2019 credit rating agency India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) downgraded growth
forecast for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) to 10-12% from the previous estimate of 15% due
to slowdown in economic activity. It also revised NBFC’s outlook from stable to ‘negative’ while large
ticket Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) are maintained at negative outlook.
51)Which organization has released a report titled ‘Digital Economy Report (DER) 2019’, which
examines the scope for value creation and capture in the digital economy by developing countries
?
Answer – United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Explanation:
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a report titled ‘Digital
Economy Report (DER) 2019’. DER was formerly known as the Information Economy Report. It examines
the scope for value creation and capture in the digital economy by developing countries. Global Internet
Protocol (IP) traffic has grown from about 100 gigabytes (GB) per day in 1992 to more than 45,000 GB
per second in 2017. By 2022, global IP traffic is projected to reach 150,700 GB per second.
52)Which country has the largest share among developing countries in computer services
industry ?
Answer – India
Explanation:
India has the largest share among developing countries in computer services industry. In 2018, digitally
deliverable service exports amounted to $2.9 trillion, or 50% of global services exports. In least
developed countries (LDCs), such services accounted for an estimated 16% of total services exports, and
they more than tripled from 2005 to 2018.
53)ECF was in news recently, what does ‘C’ stands for ___________ .
Answer – C – Capital
Explanation:
C stands for Capital.The full form of ECF is Economic Capital Framework (ECF).
54)An internal group of which organization will frame a formal mechanism to assess the
adequacy of its foreign exchange (forex) reserves ?
Answer – Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
Explanation:
An internal group of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will frame a formal mechanism to assess the
adequacy of its foreign exchange (forex) reserves. RBI had recently adapted the fresh Economic Capital
Framework (ECF) as recommended by Bimal Jalan Committee on ECF which noted that RBI’s forex
reserves in 2008 were higher than India’s external debt.
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55)Which bank has partnered with Life Insurance Corporation of India Credit Cards Services (LIC
CSL) to launch the co-branded credit card ?
Answer – Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI Bank)
Explanation:
The Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI Bank) and Life Insurance Corporation of India Credit
Cards Services (LIC CSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of LIC, will launch a co-branded credit card. It will
be marketed to customers, agents, and employees of the corporation and its subsidiaries. At present,
IDBI Bank offers 5 credit card variants as LIC has ties up with Axis Bank and Corporation Bank for
issuance of credit cards under co-branded/white label agreements.
56)Name the insurance company which is the pension fund manager of the Scheme “Kisan Maan-
Dhan Yojana”(KMY) .
Answer – Life Insurance Corporation of India(LIC)
Explanation:
Life Insurance Corporation of India(LIC) is the pension fund manager of the scheme “Kisan Maan-Dhan
Yojana”(KMY).The supervisor of this scheme is Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare(MAFW).
57)Name the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Karnataka Bank, who
was included in the Managing Committee of Indian Banks Association (IBA) .
Answer – M S Mahabaleshwara
Explanation:
On September 11, 2019, The Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Karnataka
Bank, M S Mahabaleshwara was included in the Managing Committee of Indian Banks Association (IBA).
He was elected unopposed from the private sector member banks category. This announcement was
made during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of IBA held at Mumbai, Maharashtra. The total
membership of IBA stands at 253 consisting of public sector, private sector and foreign banks.
58)Which organization has signed an MoU with International Finance Corporation (IFC) to train
the NBFCs in India on “Commercial Credit Reporting” to improve reporting and enquiring on
Commercial Credit Information Data from the Credit Bureaus ?
Answer – Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC)
Explanation:
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group and the Finance Industry
Development Council (FIDC), a representative body of asset and loan Financing of Non-Banking Financial
Company (NBFC), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to train the NBFCs in India on
“Commercial Credit Reporting” with an objective to build the capacities of NBFCs to improve reporting
and enquiring on Commercial Credit Information Data from the Credit Bureaus.Training will be
conducted under the guidance of leading consultants from the World Bank Group in India at different
centers.
59)Which bank has revised the service charges for deposits, cash withdrawals, non-maintenance
in Average Monthly Balance(AMB) from October 1, 2019 ?
Answer – State Bank of India(SBI)
Explanation:
On September 12, 2019 the State Bank of India(SBI) has announced revision in charges of deposits and
withdrawals that will be effective from October 1, 2019. The new revision is applicable to cash
withdrawals, non-maintenance in Average Monthly Balance(AMB) and deposits.
60)Name the organization, which notified the e-assessment scheme 2019 for conducting faceless
scrutiny assessment of income tax returns (ITR) .
Answer -Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)
Explanation:
On September 12, 2019, The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notified the e-assessment scheme
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2019 for conducting faceless scrutiny assessment of income tax returns (ITR). It will be established at
regional and national level with auto-allocation of different scrutiny matters.
61)Under which act, E-assessment Scheme, 2019 was framed ?

Answer- Income-tax Act, 1961
Explanation:
The E-assessment Scheme, 2019 was framed in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3A) of
section 143 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
62)LEF was in news recently, what does ‘E’ stands for __________ .
Answer – E – Exposures
Explanation:
E stands for Exposures.The full form of LEF is Large Exposures Framework.
63)What is the revised loan exposure limit of banks to a single NBFC (excluding gold loan
companies) by Reserve Bank of India ?
Answer – 20%
Explanation:
On September 13, 2019, As announced in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies dated
August 7, 2019 on ‘Harmonisation of single counterparty exposure limit for banks’ exposures to a single
NBFC with general single counterparty exposure limit’, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made
amendments in the Large Exposures Framework (LEF).It has increased the bank’s loan exposure limit to
a single NBFC(non-banking financial company) to 20 % from 15 % of its eligible capital base. However,
this is not applicable to gold loan companies.
64)What should be the minimum capital of Small Finance Banks(SFB) as per RBI’s new guidelines
under ‘On-tap’ regime?
Answer – Rs. 200 crores
Explanation:
On September 13, 2019 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has framed new guidelines in licensing Small
Finance Banks(SFB) under ‘On-tap’ regime in order to make more participants in the finance banking
section. The new guideline is thatthe SFBs should have Rs. 200 crores minimum capital within 5 years of
its operation. They (SFB) should initially have at least Rs.100 crores for start of operation however it
should make it to Rs. 200 crores capital within 5 years.On- tap licencing: It is a time-efficient feature that
will allow eligible parties to obtain license on-demand basis and without the need to wait. RBI allows
license to the applicants throughout the year.
65)CAR was in news recently, what does ‘A’ stands for ________ .
Answer – A – Adequacy
Explanation:
A stands for Adequacy. The full form of CAR is Capital Adequacy Ratio.
66)Who heads the RBI panel, that has suggested to set up a federal body like GST council for the
agriculture sector & also recommended to transfer subsidy directly with an overall limit of Rs 3
lakh per individual farmer through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) mode?
Answer – Mahesh Kumar Jain
Explanation:
On September 13, 2019, The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) panel chaired by Mahesh Kumar Jain has
suggested creating an institution like the GST (Goods and Services Tax ) Council to implement reforms in
the agricultural sector. It was also recommended to transfer subsidy directly to the account and avoid
debt waiver. The panel stated that subsidy on interest subvention or agricultural credit should be
converted into direct benefit transfer (DBT) like LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) and fertilizer with an
overall limit of Rs 3 lakh per individual farmer through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) mode.
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67)Who chaired the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which has approved proposals for
procurement for the India armed forces Services, worth Rs 2000 crore as part of the “Make in
India” initiative ?
Answer – Rajnath Singh
Explanation:
On September 13, 2019 the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) under the ministry of defence chaired by
Shri Rajnath Singh (defence minister) has approved proposals for procurement, for the India armed
forces Services, worth Rs 2000 crore as part of the “Make in India” initiative.
68)What is the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) growth rate of India for the FY20 by International
Monetary Fund(IMF) ?
Answer – 7%
Explanation:
On September 13, 2019 the International Monetary Fund(IMF) has reduced the Gross Domestic
Product(GDP) growth rate of India to 7% from its previous estimate of 7.3% which is much weaker than
expected by IMF. this rate cut is attributed to uncertainty in corporate and environmental regulatory in
some Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC).This economic growth rate is expected to rise to 7.2 %
FY21, which is also a downgraded projected growth rate of 7.5 in the earlier report.
69)Which bank has approved to provide Rs 3,000 crore to grant mini and mega food parks across
India ?
Answer – World Bank(WB)
Explanation:
Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Rameswar Teli stated that the World
Bank has approved to sanction Rs 3,000 crore to grant mini and mega food parks across India,
particularly in Northeast so that processing of grains produced by farmers is done optimally, and help
promote farmers’ income.He also suggested India Inc to set up food processing units in India in which the
element of subsidies go to an extent of 75 %.
70)MDR was in news recently, what does ‘M’ stands for ___________ .
Answer – M – Merchant
Explanation:
M stands for Merchant.The full form of MDR is Merchant Discount Rate.
71)What is the revised Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on RuPay Debit Card on transactions
above Rs 2,000 by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) ?
Answer – .60%
Explanation:
An umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems, National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) has rationalized merchant discount rate (MDR) on transactions with RuPay
debit cards. The new rate will be effective from 20 October 2019. MDR has been revised to 0.60 percent
on transactions above Rs 2,000. There will be a maximum of Rs 150 per transaction. Currently, MDR of
0.90 percent is charged on transactions above Rs 2,000. The maximum limit was fixed at Rs 1,000 per
transaction. Bharat QR (Quick Response) i.e. card-based QR transactions also reduce MDR to 0. 50
percent has been reduced and the maximum MDR will be Rs 150 per MDR.
72)Who will head the 8-membered high-level panel to study issues related to non-personal data
and suggest the ways to regulate non-personal data ?
Answer – Kris Gopalakrishnan
Explanation:
The newly formed 8-membered high-level panel headed by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan to
study issues related to non-personal data and suggest the ways to regulate non-personal data.
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73)Which ministry has framed an 8-membered high-level panel to study issues related to non-
personal data and suggest the ways to regulate non-personal data ?
Answer – Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity)
Explanation:
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) has framed an 8-membered high-level panel
headed by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan to study issues related to non-personal data and
suggest the ways to regulate non-personal data.
74)Who presented the measures to boost economic growth on September 14, 2019 ?
Answer – Nirmala Sitharaman
Explanation:
On September 14, 2019, Union minister of finance & corporate affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman made
another presentation on the measures to boost economic growth. Earlier the announcements were made
on August 23 and 30, 2019 regarding the series of measures to enhance economic growth of India.
75)How much revenue(Approximately) is allocated to boost exports and real estate sectors in
India by finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman recently ?
Answer – Rs 70,000 crore
Explanation:
Over Rs 70,000 crore package for the exports and real estate sectors was announced, including setting up
of a stressed asset fund.Inflation has been kept very much below the 4% mark.Buying new homes will
become easier and more affordable in the country as Rs 10,000 crore special window has been
announced.
76)Name the new tax refund Scheme, which will replace Merchandise Exports from India Scheme
(MEIS) & will come into effect from January 1, 2020.
Answer – Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Product (RoDTEP)
Explanation:
Scheme for Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Product (RoDTEP) will replace Merchandise Exports
from India Scheme (MEIS). It will come into effect from January 1, 2020.Existing dispensation in textiles
of MEIS + old Rebate of State Levies (RoSL) will continue up to 31.12.2019. Textiles and all other sectors
which currently enjoy incentives upto 2% over MEIS will transit into RODTEP from January 1, 2020.In
effect, RODTEP will more than adequately incentivize exporters than existing schemes put together.
77)How much Stress fund was announced to boost real estate ?

Answer – Rs 20,000 crore
Explanation:
Stress fund of Rs 20,000 crore for real estate: It will provide last-mile funding for housing projects that
are not in bankruptcy court or already tagged as bad debt and will benefit nearly 8.5 lakh home buyers.
The Fund shall be set up as a Category – II AIF trust and would be professionally run with experts from
Housing and Banking Sector.
78)To how much amount of aggregate savings deposits in the Indian private and public sector
banks (PSBs) reached as on March 31, 2019 as per the Handbook of Statistics on the Indian
Economy 2018-19?
Answer – Rs 39.72 lakh crore
Explanation:
According to the Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy 2018-19 released by the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) on September 15, 2019, the aggregate savings deposits in the Indian private and public sector
banks (PSBs) reached Rs 39.72 lakh crore as on March 31, 2019. The foreign banks had a share of Rs
58,630 crore. i. Savings deposits: The total savings deposits with commercial banks (including foreign
banks) in 2018- 19 stood at Rs 40.31 lakh crore, up from Rs 36.55 lakh crore in 2017-18.
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79)What is the GDP(Gross Domestic Product) growth of India in Q1(Apr-June) for the year 2019-
20 as per the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) ?
Answer – 5%
Explanation:
India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth recorded for the Q1(Apr-June) 2019-20 is 5% which is at a
six-year low.
80)BBPS was in news recently what does ‘P’ stands for ___________ .
Answer – P – Payments
Explanation:
P stands for Payments.The full form of BBPS is Bharat Bill Payment System(BBPS).
81)Which of the following payments has been allowed through the Bharat Bill Payment
System(BBPS) by Reserve Bank of India as on september 16, 2019 ?
Answer – Recurring Payments
Explanation:
On September 16, 2019 the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has extended the use of the Bharat Bill Payment
System(BBPS) for all recurring(repetitive) payments such as school fees, insurance premiums and
municipal taxes, Equated Monthly Installments (EMI) on a voluntary basis except for prepaid recharges
to extend the scope and coverage of BBPS.
82)How much percent of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on cash payments above Rs 1 crore made
through Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) will be exempted from October 1,
2019 ?
Answer – 2%
Explanation:
Finance Minister of India Smt Nirmala Sitharaman notified that 2% Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on
cash payments above Rs 1 crore made through Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) will be
exempted and it is set to be effective from October 1, 2019. This is aimed to discourage cash transactions
and move towards a less-cash economy.
83)Which organization has launched the Code for Responsible Lending (CRL) along with Sa-Dhan
along with FIDC(Finance Industry Development Council) in order to bring transparency &
address customer-centric issue ?
Answer – Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN)
Explanation:
In order to bring more transparency & address customer-centric issue, the Code for Responsible Lending
(CRL) for the microcredit industry was jointly launched by Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN),
the RBI-recognised self-regulatory organization & and industry association for the microfinance
industry, Sa-Dhan along with FIDC(Finance Industry Development Council) at Sa-Dhan’s 15th Annual
National Conference 2019 held in New Delhi.
84)Name the new Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS) launched by Export Credit Guarantee
Corporation (ECGC) to ease the lending of loan to exporters .
Answer – NIRVIK (Niryat Rin Vikash Yojana)
Explanation:
On September 16, 2019, The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) has released a new Export
Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS) called NIRVIK (Niryat Rin Vikash Yojana) to ease the lending of loan to
exporters so that they can get loans easily from banks. The details of the scheme were shared by Union
Minister of Commerce and Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal during a press conference at New Delhi.
Central government will also give support of 8,500 crore rupees to ECGC in the next five years.
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85)How much percent insurance cover will be provided to the exporters on the loan amount
through the NIRVIK (Niryat Rin Vikash Yojana) Scheme ?
Answer – 90%
Explanation:
The scheme provides 90% insurance cover on the loan amount of exporters & it covers on both principal
and interest. The insurance cover will include both pre and post-shipment credit. At present ECGC
provides credit guarantee of up to 60 % loss for both Principal and Interest.The enhanced cover
mandates that foreign and rupee export credit interest rates should be below 4 % and 8 5 respectively
for exporters.The ECIS support will be effective for 5years.
86)Which consumer lending platform has partnered with PayU to offer cardless EMI (equated
monthly installment) payment option to consumers ?
Answer : ZestMoney
Explanation:
On September 17, 2019, Consumer lending platform, ZestMoney has partnered with PayU, a fintech firm
that provides payment technology to online merchants to offer cardless EMI (equated monthly
installment) payment option to consumers. With this partnership, more than 2,500 merchants that are
equipped with PayU, Billdesk, Cashfree, and Razorpay can start accepting ZestMoney (which has over
3,500 unique data points (2,500 data points for new to credit) to ease risk decisioning) as a payment
solution quickly.
87)Name the entity, that has partnered with Visa Inc, the world’s leader in digital payments
technology to launch SI(standing instructions )-Hub to make recurring payments using cards with
a one-time enrollment.
Answer : Billdesk
Explanation:
On September 16, 2019, Visa Inc, the world’s leader in digital payments technology and BillDesk, an
Indian online payment gateway company have partnered for the launch of SI (standing instructions )-
Hub which is a smooth and secure way to make recurring payments using cards with a one-time
enrollment. This comes after the introduction of guidelines for e-mandate on cards for recurring
transactions by RBI(Reserve Bank of India).
88)Which Payment bank has launched “Bharosa” savings account services by which customer can
get personal accident insurance up to Rs 5 Lakh, even with the minimum balance of Rs.500 ?
Answer - Airtel Payments Bank
Explanation:
On September 17, 2019, Airtel Payments Bank, a public limited company with its headquarters in New
Delhi has launched “Bharosa” savings account services with the aim of deepening the financial inclusion
in India. Customers of Airtel Payments Bank will get personal accident insurance up to Rs 5 Lakh, even
with the minimum balance of 500. However, the customer will need to make a debit transaction at least
once a month.
89)What is the interest rate provided on deposits over 6 crore accounts of the Employees’
Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for the year 2018-19 ?
Answer - 8.65%
Explanation:
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar
Gangwar notified that over 6 crore members of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will
get 8.65% interest on deposits, which will be credited to the accounts, for 2018-19 after the approval
from the Ministry of Finance. The decision was made on February 21, 2019.
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90)IDF was in news recently, what does ‘I’ stands for ________ .
Answer- I – Infrastructure
Explanation:
I stands for Infrastructure. The full form of IDF is Infrastructure Debt Funds.
91)How many years lock in period was waived off by the government of India on NRI investments
in Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs) to boost foreign investment in the infrastructure sector ?
Answer- 3 year
Explanation:
On September 17, 2019 the govtin order to boost foreign investment in the infrastructure sector, waived
off the 3-year lock in period for investments made by Non-Resident Indians(NRI) in Infrastructure Debt
Funds (IDFs), as notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
92)Which Bank’s president, Takehiko Nakao has announced his resignation effective from
January 16 , 2020 ?
Answer - Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Explanation:
On September 17, 2019, The president of Asian Development Bank (ADB), Takehiko Nakao has
announced his resignation effective from January 16, 2020. The new president will be elected in
accordance with an open, transparent and merit-based principle.President of ADB Takehiko Nakao
resigns. Takehiko joined as the president of ADB on April 28, 2013.
93)Which country’s non-resident investments in Indian mutual funds (MFs) was topped with Rs
14,979 crore, registering a share of 16% as on March 31, 2019 ?
Answer - United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Explanation:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) emerged as a top nation in
making non-resident investments in Indian mutual funds (MFs). As of March 31, 2019, the foreign
liabilities of units in Indian MFs made by UAE stood at Rs 14,979 crore, registering a share of 16%
94)Untill which date, government asked banks not to declare stressed loans of Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as Non Performing Assets (NPAs) ?
Answer - March 31, 2020
Explanation:
On September 19, 2019, After meeting with the heads of public sector banks(PSB) to discuss various
issues, including follow up on transmission of monetary policy rates, Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman stated that in order to overcome the slowdown in the economy and increase business
activities, the government asked banks not to declare stressed loans of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSMEs) as Non Performing Assets (NPAs) until March 31, 2020.
95)CIC is in news recently, what does ‘I’ stands for __________ ?

Answer - I – Information
Explanation:
I stands for Information in Credit Information Companies (CICs).
96)Name the act, by which Reserve Bank RBI) bars unregulated fintech firms from accessing the
consumer credit data ?
Answer - Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 (CICRA)
Explanation:
On September 16, 2019, The country’s central Bank, Reserve Bank Of India(RBI) has directed the banks
and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to stop sharing the pattern of consumer’s credit
information held by credit information companies (CICs) with analytics firms , IT (Information
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Technology) companies, institutional agents and unregulated parties. The banking bodies have been
given 15 days time period to implement the measure. The report by RBI highlights that such data sharing
actions are against the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 (CICRA) and any further
default will face strict actions and penalties.
97)Who will head the committee constituted by Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI) to
suggest possible measures and regulations in creating the ‘social stock exchanges’ ?
Answer - Ishaat Hussain
Explanation:
On September 19, 2019 Capital market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has
formed a 15-member committee headed by Ishaat Hussain, Director at State Bank of India(SBI)
Foundation and former Tata Sons Director, to suggest possible measures and regulations in creating the
‘social stock exchanges’. The formation of this committee comes after Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman’s maiden union budget speech to take the capital markets closer to inclusive growth and
financial inclusion.
98)What is the GDP (gross domestic product) of India for the year 2019 (FY-Fiscal Year 2020) as
per Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) ?
Answer - 5.9%
Explanation:
On September 20, 2019, As per the intergovernmental economic organisation, OECD (Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development ) latest “Interim Economic Outlook” with title “Warning: Low
Growth Ahead”, India’s GDP (gross domestic product) growth expected to grow by 5.9 per cent for 2019
(FY-Fiscal Year 2020) and 6.3 % in 2020 (FY21).
99)To which bank, Samuel Joseph Jebaraj was appointed as the Deputy Managing Director (DMD)
for a period of 3 years ?
Answer - Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI Bank)
Explanation:
The Board of Directors (BoD) of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI Bank) approved the
appointment of Samuel Joseph Jebaraj as Deputy Managing Director (DMD) for a period of 3 years with
effect from September 19, 2019, succeeding KP Nair. This is the first major appointment on the Bank’s
Board after Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) acquired a majority stake of 51% (January 2019) in
the bank.
100)TAT was in news recently, what does ‘A’ stands for __________ .
Answer - A – Around
Explanation:
A stands for Around.The full form of TAT is Turn Around Time.
101)What is the timeline of auto reversal of transaction for a bank, when the amount debited
from one card but did not reach another card(card to card transfer) as per new guidelines of
Reserve Bank of India(RBI) ?
Answer- 1 day after failed transaction
Explanation:During the Card to card transfer, if the amount debited from one card but did not reach
another card then the respective bank has to pay back the amount to the customer in 1 day after failed
transaction.
Description of the Matter Timeline of auto Compensation from
incident reversal of bank on delay
transaction
ATM Transaction Money was deducted from Transaction Day + Rs 100 / day after
customer’s bank account but cash 5 Days Maximum completion of T + 5
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was not withdrawn (T + 5) period

Card to card transfer The amount debited from one card Maximum 1 day Rs 100 / day after
but did not reach another card after transaction (T completion of T + 1
+ 1) period
Transactions from Money was deducted from the Transaction Day + Rs 100 / day after
PoS machine, account but the merchant did not 5 Days Maximum completion of T + 5
including cash get confirmation or charge slip was (T + 5) period
generated.
E-commerce where Money deducted from account but Transaction Day + Rs 100 / day after
card is not present merchant did not get confirmation 5 Days Maximum completion of T + 5
(T + 5) period
102)How much compensation will the bank has to pay if they fail to settle the amount debited
during the failed transaction after the completion of time period ?
Answer - Rs 100 per day
Explanation:
The country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with a new order for banks and
payment system operators regarding the failed transaction of customers. Under this, the time period has
been fixed for the disposal of grievances and auto reversal of the amount on the failed transaction for the
banks, which has been termed as Turn Around Time (TAT). Banks will have to pay compensation to the
customers if there is no settlement or reversal of the transaction within this time period. This
compensation will be as per Rs 100 per day after completion of the time period. This RBI order will come
into effect on October 15, 2019.
103)How many days deadline was given to bank when the customer’s amount was deducted from
the account but did not reach the recipient’s account through the IMPS (Immediate Payment
System) ?
Answer -1 day after failed transaction
Explanation:
Description of the Matter Timeline of auto Compensation
incident reversal of from bank on delay
transaction
Transactions from The amount was deducted from Transaction Day + 1 Rs 100 / day after
IMPS the account but did not reach the Day Maximum (T + 1) completion of T + 1
recipient’s account for Beneficiary Bank period
Fund transfer from Amount deducted from account Transaction Day + 1 Rs 100 / day after
UPI but did not reach beneficiary Day Maximum (T + 1) completion of T + 1
account for Beneficiary Bank period
Payment to merchant Money was deducted from Transaction Day + 5 Rs 100 / day after
from UPI account but merchant did not get Days Maximum (T + completion of T + 5
confirmation 5) period
Aadhaar enabled Money deducted from account Transaction day + 5 Rs 100 / day after
payment system but merchant did not get days maximum (T + completion of T + 5
(AePS), including confirmation / did not reach 5) for credit period
Aadhaar beneficiary account in fund adjustment
transfer
Aadhaar Payment Delay in credit of money in Transaction Day + 1 Rs 100 / day after
Bridge System beneficiary account Day Maximum (T + 1) completion of T + 1
(APBS) for Beneficiary Bank period
National Automated Delay in credit or reversal of Transaction Day + 1 Rs 100 / day after
Clearing House money in beneficiary account Day Maximum (T + 1) completion of T + 1
(NACH) for Beneficiary Bank period
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Prepaid Payment Money in PPI of Beneficiary not Transaction Day + 1 Rs 100 / day after
Instruments (PPIs) – credited / Money deducted from Day Maximum (T + 1) completion of T + 1
Card / Wallet PPI but merchant did not get period
confirmation
104)NACH was in news recently, what does ‘C’ stands for ________ .
Answer - C-Clearing
Explanation:
C stands for Clearing.The full form of NACH is National Automated Clearing House.
105)Who headed the expert committee, that has recommends Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to
revise the guidelines on concurrent audit system ?
Answer -Yezdi Hirji Malegam
Explanation:
On September 20,2019, Following the recommendations of an expert committee headed by Yezdi Hirji
Malegam, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised the guidelines on concurrent audit system.
106)What is the tenure of concurrent auditors as per the revised Reserve Bank of India(RBI)’s
guidelines on Concurrent Audit System ?
Answer - 3 Years
Explanation:
As per the new guideline of RBI, concurrent auditors will be appointed for a period of not more than 3
years as against earlier tenure of 5 years & the age limit for retired staff of concurrent auditors will be
capped at 70 years.
107)CRILC was in news recently, what does ‘R’ stands for _________.
Answer - R – Repository
Explanation:
R stands for Repository.The full form of CRILC is Central Repository of Information on Large Credits.
108)Which organization has partnered with RBI for creating a new framework aimed at bridging
the gap between the default rates divulged by rating agencies & the report computed by the RBI’s
Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC)?
Answer- Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI)
Explanation:
India’s central Banking Institution, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the regulator for the securities
market in India, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India ) are jointly working on a framework that
will freely enable exchange of borrower information between banks and credit rating agencies (CRAs) in
more accurate manner.
109)Expand CRA ?
Answer - CRA – Credit Rating Agency
Explanation:
The full form of CRA is Credit Rating Agency.
110)What is the increased loan limit for small exporters sanctioned by Reserve Bank of
India(RBI) in order to boost credit to the export sector ?
Answer - Rs 40 crore
Explanation:
On September 20, 2019, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased the loan sanction limit for small
exporters as priority sector lending (PSL) by banks to Rs 40 crore per borrower from Rs 25 crore in
order to boost credit to the export sector.
70 | P a g e
111)Who chaired the 37th Good and Service Tax (GST) Council Meeting ?
Answer - Nirmala Sitharaman
Explanation:
Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman .It was attended by Union Minister of State for
Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur, Chief Minister of Goa Shri Pramod Sawant, Finance
Ministers of States & Union territories (UTs) and senior officers of the Ministry of Finance.
112)Where was the 37th Good and Service Tax (GST) Council Meeting held ?
Answer - Panaji, Goa
Explanation:
Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman was held in Panaji, Goa on September 20, 2019. It
was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur, Chief
Minister of Goa Shri Pramod Sawant, Finance Ministers of States & Union territories (UTs) and senior
officers of the Ministry of Finance.
113)Who was elected as the chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) for the year
2019-20 ?
Answer - Madhukar Kamath
Explanation:
Madhukar Kamath was elected as the chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) for 2019-20
succeeding Hormusji N Cama. He is the chairman emeritus of an advertising firm DDB Mudra group and
mentor of Interbrand India. He has more than four decades of experience in advertising and marketing
services.
114)Which bank has signed a bancassurance agreement with Max Bupa to provide Max bupa’s
suite of health insurance products to its customers ?
Answer -Indian Bank
Explanation:
On September 21, 2019, A state-owned bank, Indian Bank has signed a bancassurance agreement with a
standalone health insurance player, Max Bupa to provide Max bupa’s suite of health insurance products
to its customers.
115)Name the agriculture digital platform launched by Bank of Baroda (BoB) which addresses
various needs of farmers, including weather forecasts, crop conditions,etc?
Answer - Baroda Kisan
Explanation:
On September 21, 2019, Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services company,Bank
of Baroda (BoB) has launched an agriculture digital platform called “Baroda Kisan” in Bardoli,
Surat,Gujarat. It is a web-based portal that can also be accessed by farmers through mobile.
116)Which was rated as the world’s best real-time payment service as per FIS’s ‘Faster Payments
Innovation Index 2019’ recently ?
Answer - Immediate Payment Service (IMPS)
Explanation:
The Jacksonville, United States (US) based research firm Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) in
its 6th annual Flavours of Fast report for 2019 rated India’s Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) as the
world’s best real-time payment service in comparison to the similar facilities of 54 countries. It received
the only 5+ rating. It is rated highest in FIS’s ‘Faster Payments Innovation Index 2019’.
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117)Which organization has tightened the rules for debt mutual funds of India for improving risk
management and ensuring sufficient liquidity?
Answer - Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI)
Explanation:
regulator for the securities market in India, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has tightened
the rules for mutual funds.The new guideline comes into force from April 1, 2020.
118)How much percent of liquid assets like cash and government securities are mandated to
hold by liquid schemes from April 1, 2020, as per the new guidelines of Securities and Exchange
Board of India(SEBI) ?
Answer - 20 %
Explanation:
regulator for the securities market in India, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has tightened
the rules for mutual funds, in which it make it mandatory for liquid schemes to hold at least 20 % in
liquid assets such as cash and cash equivalents like treasury bills and repo on government securities.
119)AMC was in news recently, what does ‘M’ stands for ______________ ?
Answer - M – Management
Explanation:
M stands for Management.The full form of AMC is Asset Management Company (AMC).
120)Which bank has signed a co-origination of loan agreement with Paisalo Digital with the aim
to necessitate the joint contribution of credit flow ?
Answer - Bank of Maharashtra (BoM)
Explanation:
On September 20, 2019, Paisalo Digital (Formerly known as S.E Investments Limited) has signed its
second co-origination of loan agreement with major public sector bank in India, Bank of Maharashtra
(BoM) with the aim to necessitate the joint contribution of credit flow by BoM and Paisalo Digital. The
arrangement also involve sharing of risks & gains between them.
121)Name the telecommunications services company, which has tied up with Bharti AXA Life
Insurance to offer prepaid plan for its users along with insurance protection plan?
Answer - Bharti Airtel
Explanation:
On September 23, 2019, An Indian global telecommunications services company, Bharti Airtel has tied up
with Bharti AXA Life Insurance, one of the best insurance companies in India to offer prepaid plan for its
users along with insurance protection plan.
122)Who was appointed as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
Federal Bank ?
Answer -Shyam Srinivasan
Explanation:
The apex bank of the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the reappointment of Shyam
Srinivasan, aged 57, as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Federal Bank for
another year with effect from September 23, 2019 until September 22, 2020. With this, he will serve the
bank as the head for a decade (September 23, 2010-September 22, 2020).
72 | P a g e
123)Which Co-operative Bank was prohibited from business transactions of any kind & its
depositor are restricted to withdraw a maximum of Rs.1,000 by Reserve Bank of India(RBI) ?
Answer - Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Limited
Explanation:
On September 23, 2019, The country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has prohibited Punjab
and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Limited (PMC) on business transactions of any kind for the next 6
months following the detection of alleged irregularities. The RBI has taken this action under section 35A
of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
124)Which Insurance Company has signed corporate agency agreement with Repco Home
Finance Ltd (RHFL) to sell its insurance products to the customer of RHFL ?
Answer -State Bank of India(SBI) Life Insurance
Explanation:
On September 24, 2019, Repco Home Finance Ltd (RHFL ),an Indian banking and financial services
company has signed corporate agency agreement with SBI (State Bank of India) Life Insurance, a leading
life insurance company in India to provide SBI Life’s range of products to its customers.
125)Which bank has signed with Pine Labs to offer EMIs (equated monthly instalments) for
offline debit card transactions ?
Answer -Federal Bank
Explanation:
On September 23, 2019, Pine Labs, an Indian merchant platform company has joined hands with Federal
Bank,a Private Sector, scheduled commercial bank in India to offer EMIs (equated monthly instalments)
for offline debit card transactions.
126)Who has been appointed as Chairman of the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) on
September 23, 2019 ?
Answer -Nilesh Shah
Explanation:
On September 23, 2019, The Managing Director (MD) of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co Ltd.,
Nilesh Shah has been appointed as Chairman of the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) at its
board meeting held in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
127)What is the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of India for the FY 2019-20 as per the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) ?
Answer - 6.5%
Explanation:
On September 25, 2019, The Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its Asian
Development Outlook (ADO) 2019 update cut India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth to 6.5%
from 7% for FY 2019-20 after the growth slowed down to 5% in the Q1 April–June FY 2019-20 which is a
six-year low in the first quarter.
128)Name the financial services corporation, which has roped Indian professional badminton
player, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (PV Sindhu) as their brand ambassador for two years?
Answer - Visa
Explanation:
On September 24, 2019, An Indian professional badminton player, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (PV Sindhu)
has been named as the brand ambassador of Visa, Inc, an American multinational financial services
corporation for two years. Sindhu will promote the brand through advertising campaigns & also become
an athlete member of Team Visa for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
73 | P a g e
129)Which bank has introduced 1st of its kind Preventive Vigilance (PV) portal to facilitate all
staff members to contribute towards arresting procedural lapses ?
Answer - Punjab National Bank(PNB)
Explanation:
On September 25, 2019, In order to promote vigilance awareness,the Punjab National Bank(PNB) has
introduced 1st of its kind Preventive Vigilance (PV) portal to facilitate all staff members to contribute
towards arresting procedural lapses and unhealthy practices at a function held at PNB Corporate Office,
chaired by Sharad Kumar,Central Vigilance Commissioner.
130)Name the policy launched by Airtel Payments Bank with HDFC ERGO General Insurance
Company recently to protect its customers from mosquito-borne diseases?
Answer - Mosquito Diseases Protection Policy (MDPP)
Explanation:
On September 26, 2019, India’s first Payments Bank, the Airtel Payments Bank has joined hands with
India’s leading private sector general insurance company, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company to
offer unique Mosquito Diseases Protection Policy (MDPP) to protect against mosquito-borne diseases.
131)Which motor company has signed an agreement with Bank of Baroda (BoB) to provide
preferred financing to its dealers and consumers ?
Answer - Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL)
Explanation:
On September 25, 2019, Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) has signed an agreement with Bank of
Baroda (BoB) to provide preferred financing to its dealers and consumers. Under this partnership, BoB
will create a detailed financing structure (as per its existing product program of supply chain finance) for
customers and dealers, which will help the bank expand its presence in the Hyundai Motor India Limited
network.
132)What is the economic growth rate of India for the calendar year (CY) 2019 as per the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Trade and Development Report 2019
?
Answer - 6%
Explanation:
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its Trade and Development
Report 2019 forecasted India’s economic growth rate at a 7-year low of 6% in calendar year (CY) 2019
from 7.4% in 2018.
133)Which organization has topped in the WPP and Kantar Millward Brown report titled “India’s
Most Valuable Brand for the 6th consecutive year 2019” ?
Answer - HDFC Bank
Explanation:
As per the report, “BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2019 ranking” released by WPP and
Kantar Millward Brown, HDFC Bank (Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited) was declared
the country’s most valuable brand for the sixth consecutive year with the brand value of $ 22.70 billion
(1.61 lakh crore rupees). LIC ( Life Insurance Corporation of India) stood at number two with a brand
value of Rs 1.43 lakh crore.
134)Name the second women, who has been elected as the chief of International Monetary Fund
(IMF) ?
Answer - Kristalina Georgieva
Explanation:
Bulgaria’s economist Kristalina Georgieva (66) has been elected as the new head of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). She will be the second woman chief of the 189-member IMF & will take over as
74 | P a g e
Managing Director of the IMF on October 1, 2019. She will replace Christine Lagarde, who resigned from
her post after being elected president of the European Central Bank (ECB).
135)Which insurance company has tied up with Religare Health Insurance to offer insurance
products covering health, death and illness ?
Answer- PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd
Explanation:
On September 26, 2019, PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd, one of the leading life insurance companies
in India has joined hands with Religare Health Insurance to bundle and sell the live covers of Religare
comprising health, death and illness.The policy package will be offered from mid December 2019.
136)Which firm’s President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Devin Wenig resigned recently
?
Answer- Ebay
Explanation:
The President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of eBay Mr. Devin Wenig, aged 52, resigned from his
post. The company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr. Scott Schenkel, will serve as an interim CEO of the
firm.Mr. Wenig had joined the firm in 2011 and appointed as CEO in 2015.
137)PCA was in news recently, what does ‘C’ stands for ____________ ?
Answer- C – Corrective
Explanation:
C stands for Corrective.The full form of PCA is Prompt Corrective Action.
138)Which bank was placed under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework by Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) due to reasons like high net NPA (Non Performing Assets) ?
Answer-Lakshmi Vilas Bank(LVB)
Explanation:
On September 27, 2019, The country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put the Prompt
Corrective Action (PCA) Framework against Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) after an inquiry against the
directors of the bank over the alleged fraud.RBI puts the bank in PCA due to reasons like high net NPA
(Non Performing Assets), insufficient capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRR) and Common Equity
Tier 1 (CET1) negative RoA (Return on assets) for two consecutive years and high leverage, based on the
on-site inspection under the Risk Based Supervision carried out for the year ended 31 March, 2019.
139)CAR was in news recently, what does ‘A’ stands for ____________ ?
Answer- A – Adequacy
Explanation:
A stands for Adequacy.The full form of CAR is Capital Adequacy Ratio.
140)To which entity, Vaijinath M. Gavarshetty was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) and key managerial personnel ?
Answer- Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd(DHFL)
Explanation:
On September 28, 2019, The board of directors of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL- a
deposit-taking housing finance company) has approved the appointment of Vaijinath M. Gavarshetty as
its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and key managerial personnel of the company with effect from
October 1, 2019. He will succeed Harshil Mehta. Harshil Mehta resigned in Feb 2019 after that Kapil
Wadhwan, chairman and managing director of DHFL, held the additional responsibility of CEO.
141)Which country’s Central bank has released three coins (100, 1000 and 2500 denomination)
bearing the Sikh symbol to commemorate 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ?
Answer-Nepal
Explanation:
75 | P a g e
On September 27, 2019, The Governor of Nepal’s Central Bank ‘Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)’, Dr. Chiranjibi
Nepal & Indian Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri have jointly released three coins (100, 1000 and 2500
Nepali rupees) bearing the Sikh symbol to commemorate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak
Dev. These coins will be available in the market from September 30, 2019, as they possess monetary
value.
142)Which Life Insurance company has signed an corporate agency agreement with Paytm to
offer comprehensive life insurance products ?
Answer-Aegon Life Insurance
Explanation:
On September 27, 2019, Indian life insurance provider, Aegon Life Insurance has signed a Corporate
Agency Agreement with Paytm, an Indian e-commerce payment system to offer comprehensive life
insurance products.As per this agreement, Paytm will distribute Aegon Life products to its customers.
The product portfolio comprises existing and co-created tailor-made propositions.Through this
partnership, Aegon Life will deepen the penetration of its product offers and enable more policy holders
to access their risk solutions.
143)Name the organization which eased its norms to allow smart cities raise funds through ‘Muni
Bonds‘ ?
Answer-Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
Explanation:
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) eased its norms to allow smart cities raise funds through
‘Muni Bonds‘. The entities working in areas of city planning and urban development work, including
municipalities, special purpose vehicles (SPVs) set up under the central government’s ambitious ‘Smart
Cities Mission’ can also raise funds through debt securities.
144)What is the minimum subscription amount per investor for a private placements to align it
with the regulations for corporate bonds ?
Answer- Rs 10 lakh
Explanation:
The existing regulations (withdrawn now) allow issuance of only revenue bonds with a minimum tenure
of 3 years and a maximum of 5 years, if it is a public issue. In case of private placements, the minimum
subscription amount per investor currently at Rs 25 lakh has been reduced to Rs 10 lakh to align it with
the regulations for corporate bonds. Any offer (private placement) or invitation made to qualified
institutional buyers shall not be considered while calculating the limit of 200 persons.
145)Under which act, buyback (repurchase) of shares by listed companies especially those having
subsidiaries in housing finance and Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) segments governed ?
Answer- Buyback Regulations of SEBI & Companies Act
Explanation:
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) eased its norms for buyback (repurchase) of shares by
listed companies, which is governed by the Buyback Regulations of SEBI & Companies Act, especially
those having subsidiaries in housing finance and Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) segments
76 | P a g e
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Banking, Finance & Economy News: September 2019 ......................................................................... 2

Banking, Finance & Economy Q&A: September 2019 ........................................................................ 53

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Banking, Finance & Economy News: September 2019

Paytm Money promotes Pravin Jadhav as its MD and CEO

♦ Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra

India increases contribution to Global Fund, $ 22 mn for 6th cycle

DBS lowers India’s FY20 GDP growth to 6.2%

without any human intervention.

Standard Chartered Bank launches new “DigiSmart” credit card

♦ Founded: 1 July 1955

CRISIL revises GDP growth of India to 6.3% FY2020

RBI barred ESFB from opening new branches

Banks begin in-principle approval of retail loan in 59 minutes

IPPB launched AePS services

Finance ministry notifies code of conduct for non-official directors of PSBs

India Ratings cuts FY20 growth forecast for NBFCs to 10-12%

UNCTAD released a report titled ‘Digital Economy Report 2019’

♦ Secretary General: Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi

An internal group of RBI to assess the adequacy of forex reserves

IDBI & LIC CSL to launch a co-branded credit card

IFC & FIDC sign a MoU to train NBFCs

IMF cuts India’s GDP growth to 7% from 7.3% for FY20

Revised Priority Sector Lending (PSL) norms for Export Credit

Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi Professor Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, IT for

Indian banks’ 2018-19 savings deposits stood at Rs 39.72 lakh crore

RBI allows all recurring bill payments through BBPS

ZestMoney join hands with PayU for cardless EMI payment

About Visa Inc:

Airtel Payments Bank launched ‘Bharosa’ savings account

EPFO to credit 8.65% interest in over 6 crore accounts for 2018-19

♦ Central Provident Fund Commissioner: Sunil Barthwal

Govt waives 3-year lock-in period on NRI investments in IDF bonds

President of ADB Takehiko Nakao resigns

Samuel Joseph Jebaraj appointed as DMD of IDBI Bank for 3 years

Madhukar Kamath elected as the chairman of the ABC for 2019-20

BoB launches agri digital platform called “Baroda Kisan”

Paisalo Digital inks co-origination of loan agreement with Bank of Maharashtra

About Federal Bank:

Nilesh Shah got appointed as Chairman of AMFI

PV Sindhu named as brand ambassador of Visa for 2 years

Hyundai motor signs agreement with BoB for vehicle finance

President & CEO of eBay Devin Wenig resigns

Paytm & Aegon Life Insurance signed corporate agency agreement

portfolio comprises existing and co-created tailor-made propositions.

Banking, Finance & Economy Q&A: September 2019

8)GFTAM is in news recently, what does ‘A’ stands for __________ .

43)Which country has announced the humanitarian assistance of $1 million as an immediate

61)Under which act, E-assessment Scheme, 2019 was framed ?

77)How much Stress fund was announced to boost real estate ?

95)CIC is in news recently, what does ‘I’ stands for __________ ?

was not withdrawn (T + 5) period

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