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Financial Awareness from Last 6 Months
February-2020
1. The Bank of Baroda partnered with Care
Ratings for assessing the credit quality of small
and medium enterprises (SME) customers.
Note: State owned Bank of Baroda(BoB) has
partnered with Care Ratings for assessing the
credit quality of small and medium enterprises
(SME) customers. This partnership will help to
grade the credit quality of the bank’s current and
prospective SME customers by processing and
analyzing structured, unstructured and new data
streams.
2. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (NABARD) has given its approval for
loan worth Rs 140 crore at low interest rate to
Punjab State Agricultural Development Bank
(PSADB).
Note: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (NABARD) has given its approval for
loan worth Rs 140 crore at low interest rate to
Punjab State Agricultural Development Bank
(PSADB). This has been done to strengthen as
well as provide financial support to PSADB.
3. Fitch Ratings Inc in its ‘India’s economic
growth outlook’, has estimated India’s GDP
growth rate for the financial year-FY21 at 5.6 %.
Note: Fitch Ratings Inc, an American credit rating
agency in its ‘India’s economic growth outlook’,
has estimated India’s GDP (Gross Domestic
Product) growth to 5.6 % for the financial year-
FY21. For the current fiscal 2019-20 (FY 20), GDP
is projected at 4.6 %.
4. Amazon India has partnered with Eastern
Railways in order to set up a pick-up kiosk at the
Sealdah railway station in Kolkata.
Note: Multinational technology company(MNC)
Amazon India has partnered with Eastern
Railways in order to set up a pick-up kiosk at the
Sealdah railway station in Kolkata, West Bengal.
Previously successful pilot of pickup kiosks in 4
railway stations across Mumbai, Maharashtra was
set up in 2019.
5. The Competition Commission of India (CCI)
approved the proposal for the combination of Yum
Restaurants (India) private Limited (YRIPL) and
Devyani International Limited (DIL).
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Note: The Competition Commission of India (CCI)
approved the proposal for the combination of Yum
Restaurants (India) private Limited (YRIPL) and
Devyani International Limited (DIL). The proposal
is that DIL is going to acquire some Equity
Shareholding and sell some KFC restaurants.
6. The payments bank Paytm has launched an
all-in-one QR (Quick Response), point-of-sale
(POS) device for merchants across India.
Note: Paytm, India’s leading digital payments
company,has launched an all-in-one QR (Quick
Response), point-of-sale (POS) device for
merchants across India & SDK (software
development kit) for third-party integration . With
the help of QR & POS device, businessmen will be
able to get unlimited payments across the
country at zero percent fees through Paytm
wallet, Rupay Cards & all UPI (Unified Payments
Interface) based apps directly.
7. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased
the Insurance cover on bank deposits to Rs 5
lakh.
Note: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
increased the Insurance cover on bank deposits
to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh effective from
February 4, 2020 with a view to giving protection
to depositors. The cover is provided by a wholly
owned subsidiary of the RBI, the Deposit
Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation
(DICGC).
8. Reliance General Insurance Company Limited,
one of the leading insurance companies in India,
has launched a comprehensive health insurance
plan called Infinity.
Note: Reliance General Insurance Company
Limited, one of the leading insurance companies
in India, has launched a comprehensive health
insurance plan called “Reliance Health Infinity”.
Under the plan, the minimum sum insured will be
Rs. 3 lakh while the maximum sum insured limit
will be Rs. 1 crore.
9. As per the new Periodic Labour Force Survey
(PLFS) being conducted by the Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation
(MosPI) the rate of unemployment for 2017-18 is
6.1%.
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Note: As per the new Periodic Labour Force
Survey (PLFS) being conducted by the Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation
(MosPI), the labour force participation is 36.9 %
and the rate of unemployment for 2017-18 is
6.1%. The government is conducting a new PLFS
with new parameters and bigger sample size, and
its results cannot be compared with previous
surveys. It’s an attempt to provide authentic
data.
10. Union Cabinet Approves Amendments to
Banking Regulation Act to regulate Urban Co-
Operative banks.
Note: The Union Cabinet has approved
amendments to the Banking Regulation Act to
empower India’s Central Bank (Reserve Bank of
India) to have better control over urban co-
operative banks and multi-state cooperative
banks. These amendments will apply to the urban
co-operative banks and multi-state cooperative
banks.
11. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will conduct
the “Financial Literacy Week 2020” from
February 10 to February 14, 2020.
Note: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will
conduct the “Financial Literacy Week 2020” from
February 10 to February 14, 2020. The theme of
the Financial Literacy Week 2020 is “Micro, Small
and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)”.
12. To combat the outbreak of novel coronavirus
(nCoV) $2 million as funding approved by the
Asian Development Bank.
Note: The Asian Development Bank(ADB) has
approved to sponsor $2 million as funding to
combat the outbreak of novel coronavirus (nCoV).
Under the funding, regional technical assistance
will be provided in Cambodia, China, Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. ADB has also
partnered with the World Health
Organisation(WHO) and other regional experts to
respond to the 2019 nCoV situation.
13. The Indian government has reported that it
has been received remittance of $118.3 billion.
Note: The Indian govt. has released data of
remittances received in the country since April
2018- September 2019. As per the report around
13.62 million Indian nationals are staying abroad
& around $118.3 billion has been received as
remittance. The foreign countries in which a large
number of Indians were living include Nepal, the
Middle East region, the UK(United Kingdom), the
US(United States), Malaysia and Germany.
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14. The Pension Fund Regulatory and
Development Authority (PFRDA) has doubled the
minimum net worth criterion for pension fund
managers to ₹50 crore.
Note: Now, pension funds are on par with mutual
funds which have to meet a minimum net worth
requirement of ₹50 crores, under SEBI (Securities
and Exchange Board of India) rules. Provision has
also been made for licenses to have indefinite
validity. Earlier, the licenses of pension fund
managers were granted for a period of 5 years.
Now, the license will remain valid until cancelled
by the regulator.
15. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has eased
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) requirement of
commercial banks for 5 years.
Note: In a major step to boost the credit growth,
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has eased Cash
Reserve Ratio (CRR) requirement of commercial
banks for 5- years. So now the banks would not
be needed to maintain the cash reserve ratio
(CRR) for 5- years on their deposits for the
amount equivalent to loans lent to automobiles,
residential housing, and micro, small and medium
enterprises (MSMEs) between 31 Jan-31 July,
2020 from their net demand and time liabilities
(NDTL) for maintenance of the CRR.
16. As per the notified ‘Printing of One Rupee
Currency Notes Rules, 2020, the currency note of
rupees one will of colour of pink green.
Note: The Union Ministry of Finance has notified
‘Printing of One Rupee Currency Notes Rules,
2020’ which will feature bilingual signature of Shri
Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary, Ministry of
Finance. It shall be rectangular 9.7 x 6.3 cms,
with its paper made of 100% (cotton) rag
content.The note will be 110 microns thick,
weighing 90 GSM (Grams per Square Meter).The
pink green colour note will have a design of
grains, which depicts the “agricultural dominance
of the country”.
17. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) published
draft framework to set up new pan-India New
Umbrella Entity for retail payment systems.
Note: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) published
draft framework to set up new pan-India New
Umbrella Entity (NUE) for retail payment
systems. It will be incorporated under the
Companies Act, 2013 and will be given
authorization by Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
under Section 4 of the Payment and Settlement
Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act). RBI has invited
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comments on the draft framework from all
stakeholders.
18. As per the Finance Minister at the end of
September 2019 the public sector banks’ (PSBs)
has recovered bad loan of rupees Rs. 2.03 lakh
crore.
Note: The public sector banks’ (PSBs) bad loans
trimmed to ₹7.27 lakh crore at the end of
September 2019 in comparison to ₹8.96 lakh
crore at the end of March 2018. The information
was provided by Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman on February 10, 2020.
19. The Indian Bank Association’s 15th Annual
Banking Technology Conference, Expo and
Awards 2020 held in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
20. At Indian Bank Association’s 15th Annual
Banking Technology Conference ‘Most Customer
Centric Bank Using Technology’ award won by
South Indian Bank.
Note: South Indian Bank emerged winner in the
‘Most Customer Centric Bank Using Technology’
category and runner up in the ‘Best Payments
Initiative’ category for Small Banks. The awards
were received by Mr. Raphael T J Chief General
Manager (CGM) and Chief Information Officer
(CIO) in south Indian bank and Mr. Sony A Joint
General Manager (JGM) in south Indian bank
21. As per the The Banker’s ‘Top 500 Banking
Brands 2020’ report, IndusInd Bank topped the
list of ‘Highest increase in brand value’ among
global banks.
Note: It’s brand value saw an increase of 122%
over the past 12 months. The bank reported total
assets of Rs 3.1 lakh crore at the end of Q3 FY20.
As a part of the report, the list “Top 50 By Total
Brand Value by Country” has been topped by
China, followed by United States (US) at 2nd
position while Canada and the United Kingdom
(UK) ranked at 3rd and 4th spots. Japan has
moved up to fifth spot. India ranked 8th in this
list in comparison to 10th place in 2019.
22. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has
revised its Global growth forecast for the year
2020 to 2.2 percent.
Note: The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has
revised its Global growth forecast for the year
2020 to 2.2 percent from the previous 2.3
percent. It is because of the Impact in Global
market created by Novel coronavirus outbreak in
China and also the virus starts spreading globally
to put barrier for this.
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23. “We Think Digital” Programme to provide
digital literacy training to 1 lakh women launched
by Facebook.
Note: Facebook launched “We Think Digital”
Programme to provide digital literacy training to 1
lakh women across 7 states, including Uttar
Pradesh (UP),West Bengal & Bihar.It has been
launched in partnership with National Commission
for Women (NCW) and Cyber Peace Foundation.
24. To expand its Unified Payment Interface
(UPI) services to 10 million users, the National
Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has
permitted WhatsApp.
Note: National Payments Corporation of India
(NPCI) has permitted the instant messaging
platform WhatsApp to expand its Unified Payment
Interface (UPI) services to 10 million users.
“WhatsApp Pay”, a payment feature of WhatsApp
has been designed to run on Unified Payment
Interface (UPI). The UPI is developed by the
National Payments Corporation of India. This
facility enables the users do business transactions
or to pay others directly through their bank
accounts.
25. Sujit Prasad will head the Municipal Bonds
Development Committee constituted by the
Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Note: The Municipal Bonds Development
Committee headed by Shri Sujit Prasad,
Executive Director, SEBI .The committee will give
recommendations on policy matters pertaining to
development of municipal debt securities market.
The members of the committee include
representatives from ministry, Municipal
Corporation, lawyers, professionals and market
practitioners.
26. The Central Board of Directors of the RBI
recommended aligning the financial year of RBI
from July-June, with the government’s fiscal year
(April-March) from the year 2020-21.
Note: The meeting reviewed the current
economic situation, global and domestic
challenges and various areas of operations of the
Reserve Bank. The meeting was addressed by
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She was
accompanied by Minister of State for Finance
Anurag Singh Thakur, Finance Secretary Rajiv
Kumar and Expenditure Secretary T V
Somanathan, among other senior officials.
27. The Reserve RBI has started the first tranche
of Long Term Repo Operation (LTROs) by
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conducting a three-year issue worth Rs 25,000
crore.
Note: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
started the first tranche of Long Term Repo
Operation (LTROs) by conducting a three-year
issue worth Rs 25,000 crore for which it received
bids of more than Rs 1.944 lakh crore. The
central bank has accepted bids of ₹25,035 crore.
The RBI will conduct the second issue for Rs
25,000 crore on February 24 which will have one-
year tenor.
28. The Government of India (GoI) has signed a
$ 450 million (mn) loan agreement to support
Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) with the World Bank.
Note: The Government of India (GoI) and the
World Bank(WB) have inked a $ 450 million (mn)
loan agreement to support Atal Bhujal Yojana
(ABHY) – National Groundwater Management
Improvement Program that will be implemented
by the Ministry of Jal Shakti in the states of
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh
(UP) and cover 78 districts.The main aim of this
agreement is to stop the decreasing level of
ground water in India and strengthen the
institutions related to ground water.
29. As per the US-based think tank World
Population Review, Indian economy has become
the fifth largest.
Note: In accordance with the US-based think
tank World Population Review, India has become
the fifth-largest in the world with a GDP of $2.94
trillion overtaking the UK and France in 2019. The
size of the UK economy is $2.83 trillion and that
of France is $2.71 trillion. The list has been
topped by the United states (US) with $21.44
trillion GDP.
30. In order to provide enough credit to
entrepreneurs in the MSME sector, the state
government of Gujarat has signed an MoU with
State Bank of India (SBI).
Note: The agreement was signed between
principal secretary M K Das and SBI Ahmedabad
circle general manager Ramesh Kumar Agarwal in
the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister (CM) Vijay
Rupani.The new MSME Start-ups of the state can
submit an application on either the MSME portal
or to the local nodal agencies.
31. HDFC and SAP concur collaborated with
MasterCard to manage the spending of the
corporate sector.
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Note: HDFC Bank will offer a corporate credit
card for business travellers, providing a one-stop
solution for payment and expense management
during business trips. The card will enable
seamless integration of all business-related spend
into SAP Concur offerings, enhancing employee
experience, increasing visibility, saving money,
and improving efficiency.
32. Kotak Mahindra Bank has received final
approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to
reduce the promoter’s stake to 26 % .
Note: Earlier on January 30, the bank had
conveyed in-principle approval of the RBI to
reduce the promoters’ stake to 26 % of the paid-
up voting equity share capital (PUVESC) within 6
months of the final approval.RBI had asked the
bank to reduce the stake of the promoters to 20
% of the paid-up share capital by 31 March 2018
and 15 % by 31 March 2020.Along with this, the
bank is moving towards bringing back the case
filed against RBI in the Bombay High Court (HC)
for reducing the stake of promoters.
33. SBI Cards has entered into the partnership
with Landmark Group to launch 3 new retail co-
branded credit cards.
Note: The three new retail co-branded credit
cards are Lifestyle Home Centre SBI Card, Max
SBI Card and Spar SBI Card —with 4 Landmark
Group brands – Lifestyle, Home Centre, Max and
Spar. The co-branded cards are available in three
variants. It includes, Base, SELECT and PRIME
and cater to the needs of consumers ranging from
Value for Money to Premium and Super Premium.
Cardholders of any of the above said cards can
enjoy the same benefits across all participating
Landmark brands.
34. For installing 1000 public charging stations
for electric vehicles state-owned Energy Efficiency
Services Limited (EESL) has signed an MoU with
BSNL.
Note: EESL will set up public charging stations in
1000 BSNL sites in a phased manner & also entire
upfront investment on the services pertaining to
the MoU, along with the operation and
maintenance of the charging infrastructure.BSNL
would be responsible for providing the requisite
space & power connections for installing the
charging infrastructure. According to the vision of
National Electric Mobility Programme, EESL has
commissioned 300 AC (Alternate Current) and
170 DC (Direct Current) chargers across India
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and at present, 66 public charging points are
operational in New Delhi, India.
35. National Strategy for Financial Inclusion
(2019-24) has been launched by RBI.
Note:The main motive of the strategy is to
provide access to financial services in an
affordable manner.The Strategy has been
launched after thorough consultation with SEBI,
PFRDA and also Insurance IRDAI.The strategy
was launched based on the recommendations of
the Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee that
worked in consultation with the above agencies.
36. According to ‘The Banker’s Top 500 Banking
Brands 2020’ report, has topped the list of
‘Highest increase in brand value’ among global
banks IndusInd Bank.
Note: The brand value of Induslnd Bank has
increased by 122% over the past 12 months,
making it the highest placed for growth in brand
value, across the globe. The bank reported total
assets of Rs 3.1 lakh crore at the end of Q3
FY20.As a part of the report, the list “Top 50 By
Total Brand Value by Country” has been topped
by China, followed by United States (US) at 2nd
position while Canada and the United Kingdom
(UK) ranked at 3rd and 4th spots.
37. The National Strategy for Financial Inclusion
(NSFI) 2019-24 has been prepared by the
Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee
(FIAC) of the RBI.
Note: In order to promote financial literacy
among customers and to provide access to formal
financial services in an affordable manner, the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released a
National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI)
2019-24. The strategy has been prepared by
Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee (FIAC) of
the RBI in consultation with the Centre, Securities
Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority of India
(IRDAI), and Pension Fund Regulatory and
Development Authority of India (PFRDA).
38. Switzerland central bank has begun testing
world’s 1st digital version of currency, e-krona.
Note: Sveriges Riksbank (or simply the
Riksbank), the central bank of Sweden, had
begun testing its digital version of currency, e-
krona. If this year-long pilot project successful,
this would lead to the creation of world’s 1st
central bank digital currency (CBDC).
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39. National Council of Applied Economic
Research (NCAER) has estimated India’s
economic growth rate to be 4.9 %.
40. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (NABARD), has granted a sum of
Rs. 400.64 crore to Jammu and Kashmir
(J&K).
Note: The amount has been sanctioned under its
‘Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) –
Trench XXV’ for boosting rural infrastructure
during the current financial year-FY (2019-20).
Out of the total amount, Rs. 209.87 crore will be
provided for the construction of 82 rural roads
length of 291 kms & 3 bridges.This will benefit
9.15 lakh people in 19 districts of UT of J&K &
they get all weather improved connectivity to 461
remote villages.
41. To train differently abled people to find jobs
in the banking, financial services and insurance
(BFSI) sector Microsoft has collaborated with the
State Bank of India (SBI).
Note: In the first year of partnership 500
differently-abled youths will be upskilled. As a
part of this partnership, SBI Foundation and
Microsoft will develop an artificial intelligence
powered market so that BFSI industry can
connect more easily with differently abled people
for employment opportunities.
42. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed
to open new branches without prior permission to
Bandhan Bank.
Note: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lifted
the ban on Bandhan Bank & allowed it to open
new branches without prior permission. However,
the RBI came up with some regulatory conditions
& directed the bank to order about 25 % of the
total banking outlets to be opened in rural areas
where banking facilities are not available.
43. Mr. G. Srinivasan will chair the 9-member
committee to examine the possibility of allowing
life insurers offer indemnity based health policies
formed by IRDAI.
Note:After banning life insurers from selling
indemnity-based health policies a few years back
in July 2016, IRDAI has formed a 9-member
committee led by Mr. G. Srinivasan to examine
the possibility of allowing them again and extant
statutory provisions that are applicable in this
regard. The committee, co-chaired by Mr MR
Kumar, Chairman of LIC of India, will have to
submit its recommendations within 2- months.
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44. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has came up
with a new method of calculating India’s growth
through a Working Paper titled “Nowcasting
Indian GDP growth using a Dynamic Factor
Model”.
Note: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has came up
with a new method of calculating India’s growth
through a Working Paper titled “Nowcasting
Indian GDP growth using a Dynamic Factor
Model” under the RBI Working Paper Series,
introduced in March 2011. The Paper is co-
authored by Soumya Bhadury, Saurabh Ghosh
and Pankaj Kumar. The paper introduces the
Dynamic Factor Model of calculating Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), using 12 indicators.
45. 1st non-life insurer in India to use Whatsapp
chatbot for entire services -- Bharti AXA
General Insurance.
Note: Bharti AXA General Insurance becomes the
1st non-life insurer in India to use Whatsapp
chatbot for entire services such as policy
documents delivery, renewal notices & claim
intimation for its customers. It will soon start to
sell private cars, 2 wheelers & Travel insurance
through Whatsapp.
46. RBI mandates banks to link all new floating
rate loans to medium enterprises with external
benchmark from April 1,2020.
Note: In a bid to strengthen monetary policy
transmission, India’s central bank, the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) has ordered banks to link all
their new floating rate loans to medium
enterprises with an external benchmark effective
from April 1, 2020.The external benchmarks will
include Reserve bank’s repo rate, Treasury bill (T-
bill) yields of 3 months or 6 months /any other
benchmark published by the Financial Benchmark
India Private Ltd (FBIL). The banks will have to
reset the external benchmark every 3 months.
47. Rajiv Kumar inaugurated the ‘Baroda
Startup Banking’ service with the objective of
making Bank of Baroda (BoB) a preferred ally of
startup companies.
Note: Finance Secretary Shri Rajiv Kumar has
inaugurated the ‘Baroda Startup Banking’ service
January-2020
1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
launched MANI app for visually challenged to
Identify currency Denomination.
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with the objective of making Bank of Baroda
(BoB) a preferred ally of startup companies and
connecting more than 2,000 startups over the
next 2- years. The initiative was launched
simultaneously in 15 cities across India.
48. Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC)
Capri Global Capital Limited has launched an
SME lending product “UDAAN” for women
entrepreneurs to provide secured loans up to
Rs.40 lakhs.
Note: The Non-Banking Financial Company
(NBFC) Capri Global Capital Limited (CGCL) has
launched an SME (Small and medium-sized
enterprises) lending product “UDAAN” for women
entrepreneurs to provide secured loans upto
Rs.40 lakhs only for Business purpose with the
loan repayment period of 10years to 15 years at
a competitive interest rate after conducting due
diligence.Women borrower has to be the primary
applicant, within the age group of 18-45 years
and must not be more than 60 years of age at the
end of their loan repayment period.
49. To launch co-branded credit card ‘Ka-ching,
HDFC Bank has ties up with IndiGo.
Note: The travel credit card named ‘Ka-ching’-
powered by Mastercard.The co-branded cards are
available in 2 variants. It includes basic ‘6E
Rewards’ and the premium card ‘6E Rewards XL’
& annual membership fee of ‘6E Rewards’ will be
Rs 750 while that of ‘6E Rewards XL’ will be Rs
3,000.
50. To promote UPI as Easy, Safe, and Instant
mode of payment a campaign named “UPI
Chalega” has been launched by NPCI.
Note: National Payments Corporation of India
(NPCI) has launched an industry campaign named
“UPI Chalega” to promote UPI as Easy, Safe, and
Instant mode of payment. The “UPI Chalega”
campaign is aimed to guide users towards the
right usage of Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
and help create a habitual change, use of UPI in
their daily life. NPCI has launched the campaign
in association with the payment ecosystem
players.
Note: The full form of ‘MANI’ is the “Mobile
Aided Note Identifier”. The visually challenged
people can identify the denomination of a
currency note by using the mobile app “MANI”.
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The application also works offline once installed.
MANI application scans currency notes using
camera and gives audio output in Hindi and
English.
2. India may overtake Germany to become
the fourth-largest economy by 2026.
Note: The report titled 'World Economic League
Table 2020' was released by the UK-based
Centre for Economics and Business Research
(CEBR). According to the report, India is
expected to become the fourth-largest economy
by 2026 and the third-largest by 2034. The
CEBR report states that India would surpass
Germany to become the fourth-largest economy
by 2026 and further topple Japan in 2034 to
become the third-largest economy.
3. Health insurance policy in the name ‘Arogya
Sanjeevani’ mandatory for insurance companies
-- IRDAI
Note: The Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority of India (IRDA) has
introduced a standard health cover policy that
must be offered by all general and standalone
health insurers. As per the guidelines issued by
the IRDAI, every general and standalone health
insurer should offer a standard health product,
the Arogya Sanjeevani Policy, with a minimum
sum insured of Rs 1 lakh, with the upper limit of
Rs 5 lakh. The policy term will be for one
year.The Arogya Sanjeevani policy is a first of
its kind standard health insurance product that
will help easy availability of health insurance.
4. Public sector lender Indian Bank has
signed an MoU with the Women Entrepreneurs
Welfare Association (WEWA), Tamil Nadu.
Note: The bank, which has dedicated products
specially designed for women customers, will
provide loans to WEWA members at special
discounted rates. Training will be given to the
WEWA members in the INDSETIs (Indian Bank
Self Employment Training Institutes). WEWA
aims at adding 1,000 members by 2023 and
requested the bank to provide the skill training
to their members as per the interest and choice
of the members.
5. CSC e-Governance Services India Limited
has signed a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) with Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) for
sale of FASTags.
Note: The agreement will facilitate the sale of
PPBL FASTags through the last mile network of
3.6 lakh CSCs, helping realize the government's
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vision of cashless and smooth transit at all toll
plazas across the country. For this, CSC will
integrate its platform with Paytm Payments
Bank to carry out seamless transactions.
FASTags, which work on Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) technology -- have been
made mandatory at toll gates on national
highways.
6. PNB MetLife partnered with RevFin to offer
life cover.
Note: RevFin, a digital lending start-up has
partnered with PNB MetLife India Insurance
Company to provide life insurance to its
customers by bundling life insurance cover on
their loans. This partnership supports financial
inclusion by helping to secure the families of the
borrowers against loan repayment burden in the
event of the unfortunate demise of the borrower
during the loan term. RevFin customers who
have taken a loan to buy an electric three-
wheeler can take advantage of this tie-up, and
cover their outstanding loan amount during the
loan tenure.
7. State Bank of India has introduced One
Time Password (OTP)-based ATM cash
withdrawals.
Note: The step has been taken to reduce the
occurrences of unauthorised transactions
happening at ATMs. SBI introduced one-time
password for every cash withdrawal of Rs
10,000 and above between 8 am and 8 pm. It
has been effective from January 1, 2020 across
all SBI ATMs.
8. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enabled
select banks in India to offer round-the-clock
(24×7) trading in the Indian rupee.
Note: The select banks in India offered Indian
customers foreign exchange rates only in inter-
bank market hours from 9 am – 5 pm. This
decision will also make the offshore currency
markets in countries like Dubai & Singapore less
attractive for Indian investors.
9. Two Indian banks Axis Bank and ICICI
Bank has decided to end their operations in Sri
Lanka.
Note: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has
permitted these two Indian banks to close their
operations in the island nation. The licenses
issued to them will be canceled once the
winding-up operations are complete.
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10. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised
the supervisory action framework for Urban co-
operative banks (UCBs).
Note: According to the guidelines, UCBs, with
deposits of Rs 100 crore and above, will
constitute the BoM, which will be a mandatory
requirement for opening new branches. The
main functions of the Board of Management
(BoM) include recommending action for recovery
of NPAs, One Time Settlement and assisting the
board in monitoring the same.
11. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
granted in-principle approval to Co-operative
Bank to convert to a small finance bank (SFB)
Shivalik Mercantile Co-operative Bank Ltd.
Note: It becomes the first urban cooperative
bank (UCB) to make the transition since the
guidelines came out nearly two years ago.
Approval granted will be valid for 18 months to
enable the applicant to comply with the
requirements under the scheme on the
voluntary transition of the urban co-operative
banks into a small finance bank. Under the
scheme, UCBs with a minimum net worth of ₹50
crores and capital to risk (weighted) assets ratio
of 9% and above are eligible to apply for the
voluntary transition to SFB.
12. According to the National Statistics Office
release, India’s GDP growth during fiscal 2019-
20 is expected at 5%.
Note: The estimated growth of real Gross Value
Added (GVA) in 2019-20 is 4.9% as against
6.6% in 2018-19. The manufacturing sector is
expected to grow at 2% in 2019-20 as
compared to 6.9% in the previous year. The
growth rate in per capita income is estimated at
4.3% during 2019-20, as against 5.6% in the
previous year. The agriculture sector is expected
to see a growth of 2.8% as compared to 2.9%
in the previous year.
13. According to the Deutsche Bank report
Imagine 2030, the Indian economy is likely to
become $7 trillion by 2030.
Note: The Indian economy is expected to
grow almost two and half times from about $3
trillion now and thus it becomes the world’s
third-largest economy. According to the report,
India will grow with the Nominal GDP growth
rate of just over 10% in the next decade.
14. State Bank of India has announced the
'Residential Builder Finance with Buyer
Guarantee' (RBBG) scheme to give a push to
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residential sales and improve homebuyers'
confidence.
Note: Under this scheme, the SBI will issue a
guarantee for the completion of select
residential projects to customers who have
availed home loans from it.The scheme will
focus on affordable housing projects priced up to
2.50 crore rupees in 10 cities initially. Under
RBBG, the guarantee would be given by the
bank until the project gets the Occupation
Certificate (OC).
15. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enabled
selected banks in India to offer forex rates to
Indian clients round-the-clock (24×7).
Note: In effect, this opens up the forex market
in India round the clock, allowing Indians to
hedge their foreign exchange risks at any time
of the day.This will also make the offshore
currency markets in Dubai and Singapore less
attractive for Indian investors.
16. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
amended the KYC norms allowing banks and
other lending institutions regulated by it to use
Video-based Customer Identification Process (V-
CIP).
Note: The V-CIP will make it easier for banks
and other regulated entities to adhere to the
RBI's Know Your Customer (KYC) norms by
leveraging digital technology. The regulated
entities will have to ensure that the video
recording is stored in a safe and secure manner
and bears the date and time stamp. As per the
circular, the reporting entity should capture a
clear image of the PAN card to be displayed by
the customer during the process.
17. Central govt raised India Overseas Bank’s
authorized capital to Rs 25,000 crore.
Note: The Union government in consultation
with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
announced an increase in the authorized capital
of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) to Rs. 25,000
crores from the previously authorized capital of
Rs. 15,000 crores. The authorized capital of a
company/bank/institution is the maximum
amount of share capital a company is authorized
to issue its shareholders.
18. Payment and fintech company PayU have
decided to acquire a controlling stake in digital
credit platform PaySense in a deal valued at
USD 185 million.
Note: After that PayU has also decided to
merge its consumer lending businesses, LazyPay
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with PaySense. , will merge their business
operations to build a full-stack digital lending
platform in India. The founder and CEO of
PaySense Prashanth Ranganathan will lead the
PayU’s credit business in India as the CEO of the
new venture
19. Michael Patra has been appointed as the
deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) for a three-year term
Note: At present, he is serving as an executive
director at the Reserve Bank of India. He
replaces Viral Acharya, who left office on July
23, 2019. He will take over as the fourth deputy
governor at the Reserve Bank.
20. Former Flipkart CEO Sachin Bansal
acquires DHFL General Insurance.
Note: Sachin Bansal (Flipkart co-founder and
former CEO) has acquired DHFL General
Insurance from Kapil Wadhawan-led Wadhawan
Group Capital (WGC) for around Rs 100 crore.
WGC is the parent company of debt-laden
Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) and this
deal is seen as a distress sale.
21. The Global software major Infosys signed a
5-year deal with leading European automotive
logistics firm GEFCO to digitize its worldwide
operations.
Note: Infosys is partnering with the Paris-based
GEFCO to digitize its multi-modal supply chain
solutions and support its digital transformation
over the next five years.
22. The State Bank of India’s research desk has
released its report -- Ecowrap.
Note: In its report, the SBI has lowered its GDP
growth forecast for FY20 to 4.6 percent from the
earlier 5 percent. Also, the latest SBI Ecowrap
report even predicted the growth rate to remain
below 6 percent for the two years in a row.
23. India's leading digital payments company
announced the launch of its all-in-one QR for
merchants across the country -- Paytm.
Note: The QR code will enable the business to
accept unlimited payments through Paytm
Wallet, Rupay Cards and all UPI-based payment
apps directly into their bank account at zero
percent fee. The platform offers a single
reconciliation of all payments through its 'Paytm
for Business' app.Paytm also launched ‘Paytm
Business Khata’, a new service to promotes the
Paytm merchant partners to maintain digital
ledgers of all their customer transactions
including cash and credit.
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24. India’s leading private sector lender HDFC
Bank has launched myApps application to boost
digital payments in India.
Note: myApps is a unique customized suite of
banking products to benefit urban local bodies,
housing societies, local clubs and gymkhanas,
and religious institutions. At present HDFC Bank
is offering four types of applications —
mySociety, myClub, myPrayer and myCity.
myApps will allow institutions to customize their
branding and content. Moreover, the app can be
customized in over 20 languages starting with
Hindi and English
25. To provide Rs. 179 prepaid plan with life
insurance of Rs 2 lakh Airtel joins hands with
Bharti AXA.
Note: On January 19, 2020, Bharti Airtel
Limited has partnered with Bharti AXA Life
Insurance Company Limited to offer Rs 2 lakh
insurance cover to Airtel users with every
recharge of Rs 179 prepaid bundle. The new
plan will be accessible at any Airtel retail store
or on the Airtel Thanks app.
26. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
cancelled the Certificate of Authorization (CoA)
of Vodafone M-pesa Limited
Note: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
cancelled the Certificate of Authorisation (CoA)
of Vodafone M-pesa Limited
after it had voluntarily surrendered the
authorization. Now Vodafone m-Pesa cannot
continue to transact the business of
issuance & will no longer have the right to
provide payment facility as a prepaid instrument
(PPI).
27. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its
World Economic Outlook 2020, has reduced
India’s economic growth forecast for 2019 to
4.8 %
Note: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in
its World Economic Outlook 2020, has reduced
India’s economic growth forecast for 2019 to 4.8
% from 6.1% predicted earlier in October 2019.
The growth projections have been lowered,
citing pressure from non-banking financial
companies (NBFCs) and weak income growth in
rural India.
28. According to the “Global Investment Trend
Monitor report 2020” released by United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) what is India’s rank in attracting FDI
in 2019 -- 8th
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Note: According to the “Global Investment
Trend Monitor report 2020” released by United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD), India ranked 8th among the top 10
countries attracting foreign direct investment
(FDI) in 2019. During this period FDI in India
grew by 16 % to $ 49 billion (bn). This led to a
surge in FDI growth in South Asia (SA), which
recorded a 10% increase in FDI to $ 60 billion.
29. The Reserve Bank of India has been raked
at what position in buying gold abroad among
the central banks of the world -- 6th.
Note: According to World Gold Council(WGC)
report titled “Outlook 2020: Global economic
trends and their impact on gold”, the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) became the sixth largest
buyer when it purchased 25.2 tonnes in first 10
months of 2019 to hedge government’s
sovereign gold bond issue. The central banks of
China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Poland
bought more than India in 2019.
30. The United Nations (UN) has predicted the
India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth
forecast for the year 2019-20 to 5%.
Note: The United Nations (UN) has predicted
the India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
growth forecast for the year 2019-20 to 5% .
Earlier in 2019, it had projected GDP growth
rate of 7.6% for FY 2019-20.
31. The National Payments Corporation of India
(NPCI) has launched a platform to make
payments fast & secure -- “Vajra Platform”.
Note: The National Payments Corporation of
India (NPCI) has launched blockchain
technology-based “Vajra Platform” to make
payments fast & secure. The new platform Vajra
is based on the Distributed Ledger Technology
(DLT). It has been designed with the aim to
offer automatic clearing and settlement of
payments on NPCI products such as unified
payments interface (UPI) and Rupay card & will
significantly reduce the need for manual
reconciliation.
32. Indian private bank has launched India’s
largest API banking portal ICICI Bank.
Note: The ICICI Bank has launched India’s
largest API (application programming interfaces)
Banking portal called ‘ICICI Bank API Banking
portal’(https://developer.icicibank.com/). It
consists of 250 APIs & allows bank’s partner
companies across the globe to sign up on it,
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create an application, select the application, test
it out and get the sample code.
33. First-of-its-kind 24×7 self-service delivery
facility ‘iBox’ was launched by ICICI Bank.
Note: ICICI Bank has launched first-of-its-kind
24×7 self-service delivery tool for customers
called “iBox” at one of its branches in Mumbai,
Maharashtra. The bank has started it in over 50
branches in 17 cities.Under this facility,
customers will now be able to take their debit,
credit card, check book and return check from
the branch close to their home or office.
The iBox terminals are installed outside the
premises of the bank’s branches, which can be
used even after the bank closes.
34. ‘Corporate Loan’ and ‘Ind Surya Shakthi’
two two tailor made credit products were
launched by Indian Bank.
Note: On January 30, 2020 the Indian Bank has
announced the launch of two tailor made credit
products i.e., Corporate Loan and Ind Surya
Shakthi/ Indian Bank Solar which will be
available across the country for the benefit of
the textile sector. The products were launched
during a meeting with high officials of the textile
industry under the Indian Texpreneurs
Federation (ITF), in association with the
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce &
Industry (FICCI) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
35. The National Payments Corporation of India
(NPCI) has approved part of the banks request
to remove interchange fees on UPI & RuPay
card transactions.
Note: The National Payments Corporation of
India (NPCI) has approved part of the banks
request to remove interchange fees on Unified
Payments Interface (UPI) and RuPay card
transactions as long as the merchant discount
rate (MDR) remains zero. In contrast, it still
reviewing other fees like payments service
provider (PSP) fee and switching fees as it is
concerned that the decision will obstruct its
revenues and PSPs like PhonePe & Google-Pay.
NPCI is an umbrella organisation for operating
retail payments and settlement systems,
36. The Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in its “Economic
Outlook Survey 2020”, has projected India’ s
annual median GDP growth for 2019-20 at 5%.
Note: The Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in its “Economic
Outlook Survey 2020”, has projected India’ s
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annual median Gross Domestic Product growth
at 5% for 2019-20. It is in line with the National
Statistical Organisation’s (NSO) projected
growth rate (5%, a 11-year low). FICCI has
hoped that the conditions will improve further
and the country’s growth rate could reach 5.5 %
in 2020-21 (FY 21).
37. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (NABARD) in its State Focus Paper
has estimated credit potential at Rs. 90,395.69
crore for the state of Odisha.
Note: The National Bank for Agriculture and
Rural Development (NABARD) in its State Focus
Paper for Odisha, has estimated Odisha’s credit
potential at Rs 90,395.69 crore for Financial
year FY- 2020-21 with a hike of around 20%
over credit projection of 2019-20.Out of the
total credit potential for priority sector,
agriculture constitutes Rs 43,282.11 crore, in
which, Rs 40,227.79 crore (92.94 %) is
estimated under farm credit, which consists both
crop loans and term loans for agriculture and
allied activities.
38. According to the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI), there have been about 1000 cases of
fraud in the urban cooperative banks
(UCBs).
Note: According to the India’s central bank, the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), there have been
about 1000 cases of fraud in the urban
cooperative banks (UCBs) of the country in the
last 5 fiscal years (FY), in which banks have
incurred losses of 221 crores.
39. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
increased Investment Limits Under Voluntary
Retention Route (VRR) to Rs. 1.5lakh crore.
Note: The Reserve bank of India has made
certain amendments in the Voluntary Retention
Route (VRR) scheme. As per the amendments
the investment limit under VRR has now been
increased to Rs 1,50,000 crores (1.5lakh crores)
from earlier Rs.75,000 crores. The Voluntary
Retention Route (VRR) scheme was introduced
by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2009 in
consultation with the govt of India.
40. For money transfer services Western Union
Company, a leader in cross-border, cross-
currency money movement and payments, has
partnered with Airtel Payments Bank.
Note: Western Union Company has partnered
with India’s largest integrated
telecommunications services company, Bharti
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Airtel’s 2 arms– Airtel Payments Bank & Airtel
Africa Plc, to enable millions of latter’s
customers in India to receive international
remittances in their bank accounts & and Mobile
Wallets across 14 countries in Africa. Airtel
Payments Bank customers will be able to direct
a Western Union money transfer into their bank
accounts 24/7 via their app in real-time. It will
also allow Airtel Payments Bank customer to
withdraw money from its authorized 5 lakh
outlets.
41. The govt of India, Govt of Maharashtra and
the World Bank (WB) signed a loan agreement
of $210 million.
Note: The govt of India, Govt of Maharashtra
and the World Bank signed a loan agreement of
$210 million for Maharashtra’s Agribusiness &
rural transformation project. This project will
help the farmers in Maharashtra to take part in
competitive agriculture value chains, enhance
agribusiness investments thereby increasing
productivity of commodities. All 36 districts of
Maharashtra will be implemented with the
project and would benefit nearly 1 million
farming households.
42. The asset management platform under the
name ‘PIONEER’ has been launched by
IndusInd Bank.
Note: The IndusInd Bank Limited , one of the
leading Private Sector Banks of the country ,
has launched the asset management platform
under the name ‘PIONEER’ Banking. Through
this, services will be provided to high net-worth
customers of IndusInd bank. Along with this,
specially tailored banking services will also be
offered, which will suit the needs of valued
consumers.
43. With the aim to boost foreign inflows,
India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) has increased the short-term investments
by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to 30 %.
Note:With the aim to boost foreign inflows,
India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) has increased the short-term investments
by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to 30 %
from 20 % of the total FPI investment in Central
government securities including Treasury
Bills(T-bills) / state development loans. This rule
also applies in corporate bonds. These directions
are issued under sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the
Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.Till
date, RBI gave exemptions for FPI investments
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in Security Receipts from the short-term
investment limit &the issue limit.
44. For the 1st time India a multilingual voice-
enabled mobile banking application has been
launched by City Union Bank (CUB).
45. Which Co-operative Bank has decided to
convert into a Small Finance Bank (SFB) the
New India Co-operative Bank (NICB).
Note: The New India Co-operative Bank (NICB)
has decided to convert into a Small Finance
Bank (SFB) after being agreed by its
shareholders under Voluntary Transition of
Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks (UCBs) into
SFB. NICB will now approach the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) and Central Registrar of Societies
for further action. The bank is currently
December- 2019
1. Rating Agency S&P (Standard & Poor's) has
reaffirmed the Sovereign Credit Rating of
India at BBB with outlook as stable.
Note: India’s economy continues to achieve
impressive long-term growth rates despite a
recent deceleration. India will maintain its sound
net external position and fiscal deficit will
remain elevated but broadly in line with their
forecast. In the report, S&P has maintained a
stable outlook for India on the basis of their
expectation that over the next two years the
growth will remain strong.
2. Neo-banking platform successfully added
three more accolades to its bouquet at the India
FinTech Awards (IFTA) 2019 --- Razorpay.
Note:The company won awards for the 'Most
Innovative Payment Start-up' and 'Most
Innovative Fintech Product' for its neo-banking
product, RazorpayX. The CEO and Co-founder,
Harshil Mathur was also honoured at the event
as the 'Fintech Leader of the Year'.
3. HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company
has launched the 'my: health Woman Suraksha'
policy.
Note: My: health Woman Suraksha policy is
specially designed to cover women against
numerous illnesses and contingencies they may
face during their lifetime thereby providing
financial aid in case of medical contingencies.
This policy will cover various types of cancers
and related surgeries, pregnancy and neonatal
(newborn baby) complications and assaults and
burns.
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operating in Maharashtra and Gujarat and has
networth of Rs. 230 crores.
46. To fund its rural electrification programme
the Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM bank)
has extended $35.80 million (nearly Rs 250
crore) Line of Credit (LoC) to Suriname.
Note: The Export-Import Bank of India has
extended $35.80 million Line of Credit to
Suriname to fund its rural electrification
programme through solar Diesel Generator (DG)
hybrid Photo-Voltaic (PV) systems in Suriname’s
50 remote villages. Under the LoC, the projects
covered include power, water supply, purchase
of helicopters, and rehabilitation and
upgradation of milk processing plant.
4. Walmart launched a credit card in
partnership with HDFC Bank exclusively for
members of its Best Price Modern Wholesale
“B2B Cash & Carry” stores.
Note: The card is being supported by Diners
Club International which has acceptance of its
own membership card in 185 countries.
Simultaneously, the card was launched at 26
other Best Price Modern Wholesale Store
locations across the country.
5. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is mulling
to amend regulatory guidelines for primary
Urban Co-operative Banks
Note: According to RBI Governor Shaktikanta
Das, the guidelines would primarily relate to
exposure norms for single and
group/interconnected borrowers, promotion of
financial inclusion and priority sector lending.
These measures are expected to strengthen the
resilience and sustainability of UCBs and protect
the interest of depositors. RBI has also decided
to bring UCBs with assets of 500 crore rupees
and above under the Central Repository of
Information on Large Credits - CRILC reporting
framework.
6. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released
guidelines for Licensing of Small Finance
Banks in the Private Sector ’on tap’.
Note: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released
guidelines for ‘on tap’ Licensing of Small Finance
Banks in the Private Sector. Now payments
banks willing to convert themselves into small
finance banks (SFBs) can apply for such a
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licence only after 5 years of operations. The
licensing window will be open on-tap. In the
guideline, the RBI has double the minimum
capital for setting up an SFB to Rs. 200 crores.
7. India’s foreign exchange reserves have
crossed the USD 450 billion.
Note: The foreign exchange reserves have
increased due to strong inflows which enabled
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to buy dollars
from the market. The country’s foreign
exchange reserves were at $451.7 billion on
December 3, 2019, which is an increase of
$38.8 billion over end-March 2019.
8. Online trucking platform has partnered with
private lenders IDFC Bank and Yes Bank to
provide FASTags to truck owners free of cost --
BlackBuck.
Note: Truck owners can order FASTags on
BlackBuck's Boss App, a digital services platform
exclusively for truck fleet owners, and it will be
delivered at their doorstep free of cost until
December 31, 2019. The FASTags on BlackBuck
Boss app are provided in partnership with IDFC
Bank and Yes Bank. The initiative is expected to
help over 3 million trucks in India become
FASTag compliant.
9. The Reserve Bank of India has announced
that all bank customers will be able to transfer
funds through NEFT around the clock on all days
from 16th December 2019.
Note: The RBI had in August announced that all
NEFT transfer facility would be made available
24x7 for customers by December. The first
settlement would take place after 00:30 hours
on December 16, 2019.
10. Investor Education & Protection Fund
Authority (IEPFA) has signed a MoU with Bank
of Baroda for the purpose of creating awareness
among investors and other stakeholders.
Note: The two entities are to collaborate for
educating the masses about the dangers of
fraudulent investment offers and Ponzi schemes.
11. State Bank of India (SBI) has announced
the reduction in its marginal cost of fund-
based lending rate (MCLR) by 10 basis points
across all one-year products.
Note: This is the eighth consecutive cut in MCLR
by the lender this fiscal. The new one-year
MCLR has been cut to 7.90 per cent from 8 per
cent.
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12. National Stock Exchange (NSE) has
launched interest rate options on ten-year
Government bonds.
Note: The exchange recorded a turnover of
5,926 contracts on the first day of its launch.
Interest rate options will provide institutional
investors with the ability to manage risk through
a non-linear product. Interest rate options are
based on the underlying ten-year government
bonds, which are 7.26% 2029 bond and 6.45%
2029 bond.
13. India is providing USD 500 million line of
credit (LoC) to Bangladesh.
Note: Purpose of financing defence-related
procurement in Bangladesh. Export-Import Bank
of India (Exim Bank) entered into an agreement
with Bangladesh’s Armed Forces Division for
Government of India-supported line of credit
(LoC). The agreement under the LoC is effective
for a period of 10 years from the date of signing
of the agreement.
14. V Viswanathan has been appointed as an
Additional Director on the Board of Dhanlaxmi
Bank.
Note: Viswanathan retired as Chief General
Manager of State Bank of Hyderabad in 2017.
Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd is an old private sector
bank headquartered in Thrissur City, Kerala,
India.
15. India's retail inflation in November rose to
5.54%.
Note: Food price inflation (Rural and urban)
climbed 10.01% in November. During the
month, inflation in vegetables shot up to 35.99
per cent, as against 26.10 per cent in October.
Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index
(CPI) was 4.62 per cent in October (2.33% in
November 2018)
16. Global rating agency Moody’s Investors
Service ("Moody's") has lowered its 2019 GDP
growth forecast for India -- 5.6%.
Note: GDP is the final value of the goods and
services produced within the geographic
boundaries of a country during a specified
period of time (normally a year).
➢ ‘GDP growth rate is an important indicator of
the economic performance of a country.
➢ GDP For 2019-20 – 5.6%
➢ GDP For 2020-21 – 6.6%
➢ GDP For 2021-22 – 6.7%
17. National Thermal Power Corporation
Limited (NTPC) has signed a term loan
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agreement for Rs. 5,000 crore with State Bank
of India (SBI).
Note: The loan facility has been extended at an
interest rate linked to 3-Month MCLR of the bank
and has a door to door tenure of 15 years. The
loan will be utilized to part finance the capital
expenditure of NTPC.
18. The US and China have announced phase
one trade agreement to roil the global
economy.
Note: The phase one of the deal requires
structural reforms and other changes to China's
economic and trade regime in the areas of
intellectual property, technology transfer,
agriculture, financial services, and currency and
foreign exchange. The deal says if China breaks
any part of the agreement, the Trump
administration has the ability to re-implement
tariffs. US negotiators are offering to
significantly reduce existing tariffs on Chinese
imports worth about 360 billion dollars.
19. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will waive
NEFT, RTGS transfer charges for savings
account holders.
Note: In an order, RBI instructed banks to
make all online payments done through RTGS
and NEFT free of cost for savings account
holders. The new rule will be effective from 1st
January 2020.
20. The Goods and Services Tax (GST)
Council headed by finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman fixed a uniform tax rate on both
state-run and private lottery -- 28%.
Note: It also decided to rationalize the GST rate
on woven and non-woven bags to 18%. It was
for the first time that the GST Council resorted
to voting to decide on an issue as it fixed a
uniform tax rate on both state and private
lotteries. The GST Council also decided to
exempt upfront amount payable for long term
lease of industrial and financial infrastructure
plots by an entity having 20% or more
ownership of Central or State Government.
21. Union government has signed a USD 490
million loan agreement for public-private
partnership (PPP) project -- Asian
Development Bank (ADB).
Note: This agreement is to upgrade about 1,600
km of state highways and major district roads
(MDRs) from single-lane to two-lane widths in
Madhya Pradesh. An additional $286 million
investment will be mobilized through private
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sector participation under the PPP modality. This
agreement will open a new partnership by
introducing PPP through the Hybrid Annuity
Model (HAM), thereby leveraging government
financing and improving the sustainability of
capital investments.
22. Reserve Bank of India will simultaneously
purchase and sell government securities worth
Rs 10,000 crore under a special Open Market
Operation (OMO).
Note: Such exercises are done by the central
bank when the proceeds from the sale of short-
term securities are used to buy long-term
government securities.
23. State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a loan
agreement worth of USD 277 million with
German development bank for establishing an
energy-efficient housing programme in India --
Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau.
Note: Under the programme, both builders and
homebuyers shall be financed for
developing/purchasing energy-efficient
residential projects that achieve at least 25 per
cent energy savings in comparison to standard
reference buildings. The programme shall be
part of the Indo-German Development Co-
operation, guided by the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development.
24. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will
simultaneously purchase and sell government
securities worth Rs 10,000 crore under a special
-- Open Market Operation (OMO).
Note: The purchase will be for government
securities worth Rs 10,000 crore for the
instrument ‘6.45% GS 2029’.
25. Bank of Baroda has signed an MoU with
the Gujarat government to facilitate the flow of
credit to the MSME sector.
Note: As per the MoU, the financial aid will be
provided for greenfield projects, startups,
women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs from
backward areas. To avail the credit, the BoB
customers should register their request on the
link available single-window portal of the
Gujarat government. BoB will take a further
step,after the lead generated on the portal
submitted to it.
26. Federal Bank has partnered with online
real estate platform for listing and e-auctioning
of immovable properties repossessed by the
bank in recovery proceedings -- Magicbricks.
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Note: The move is aimed at speedy recovery of
the bank’s impaired assets while helping
customers get the best rate in the market for
their properties. The bank has got into a pan-
India arrangement with the housing portal in
order to recover dues in 30 major accounts
amounting to Rs 50 crore in the fourth quarter
of this year. Under the deal, Federal Bank will
leverage on Magicbrick’s reach across
demographic profiles and consumer categories,
removing any geographical restrictions for
buyers.
27. Pine Labs partnered with Kotak Mahindra
Bank to enable EMIs on Kotak debit cards.
Note:Pine Labs, a merchant platform company
and Kotak Mahindra Bank have tied-up to
enable Equated Monthly Instalments (EMI)
payments on Kotak Debit Cards. This
arrangement enables over 10 million eligible
Kotak debit card customers to pay for their
purchases in easy installments through the Pine
Labs POS terminals. Pine Labs has a network of
over 150,000 merchants across India. It will be
a win-win proposition for both consumers and
merchants as EMIs extend the power of
affordability to consumers.
28. In order to the digital transaction in
India, Reserve Bank (RBI) has introduced a
new semi-closed Prepaid Payment
Instrument (PPI).
Note: The new PPI can be used for the
transaction of goods and services up to a limit of
Rs 10,000. This direction was made under
Section 18 read with Section 10(2) of Payment
and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. These PPIs
will enhance the digitization of daily payments
at local shops and retail outlets for the purchase
of daily household goods and services.
29. Nirmala Sitharaman has released a
postage stamp to commemorate distinguished
service and glorious contribution of Directorate
of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in protecting the
nation.
November-2019
1. New Managing Director & Chief Executive
Officer of IndusInd Bank -- Sumant Kathpalia.
Note: He has replaced Romesh Sobti. Kathpalia
is the head of consumer loans at the Hindujas-
promoted lender and his name has been
forwarded to the Reserve Bank for approval.
16
Note: The DRI continues to play an immense
role in countering smuggling as well as in
preserving the cultural heritage and
environment of the country.
30. Pakistan on received USD 452.4 million as a
second tranche of the USD 6 billion loans from
the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Note: The release of the second tranche
amounting to over USD 452 million showed the
IMF's confidence over the government's
economic policies. The IMF had approved the
second tranche of the loan for Pakistan under
the USD 6 billion Extended Fund Facility in a
meeting of its executive board in Washington on
December 20. Pakistan had received the first
tranche from IMF under its loan program in July.
31. IT giant Wipro has partnered with industry
body NASSCOM to start a training platform on
emerging technologies
Note: The Platform will train students on
artificial intelligence, data science, the
internet of things, cybersecurity etc. Through
this platform, Wipro will train 10,000 students
from more than 20 engineering colleges in
India. This is a part of Wipro’s corporate social
responsibility programme, TalentNext, which
aims to enhance the quality of engineering
education by preparing faculty and academic
leaders to train students.
32. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its
latest report has retained India’s economic
growth forecast for FY20 -- 6.1%.
Note: IMF’s projection is much higher than
those by most agencies for FY20. Reserve Bank
of India (RBI): 5%. Standard & Poor’s: 5.1%.
33. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
appointed Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd. as the
UTLBC (Union Territory Lead Bank Convenor) for
the newly carved out -- Jammu and Kashmir
(Union Territory).
Note: State Bank of India (SBI) will be the lead
convenor bank for Union Territory of Ladakh.
2. According to the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) report, South America's Guyana
GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is expected to
be more at 86% in 2020.
Note: This growth expectation had done after
Exxon Mobil Corp.’s discovery of oil at Guyana.
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Guyana’ GDP is to get fourteen times as fast as
China’s GDP in 2020. Guyana is projecting USD
300 million in petroleum revenue in 2020. The
oil sector will represent about 40% of the
economy within five years.
3. Reserve Bank of India has issued
compensation guidelines for whole-time
directors and chief executives of foreign,
private, small finance, payments banks and
local area banks, mandating the cash
component of variable pay at 67%.
Note: If the variable pay is up to 200% of the
fixed pay, at least 50 % of it should be in non-
cash. If the variable pay is above 200%, 67 per
cent of it should be paid via non-cash
instruments.
4. Life Insurance Corporation of India
(LIC) has allowed policyholders to revive
their policies that have lapsed for more than
two years.
Note: Now, The LIC policyholders who bought
their policies after January 1, 2014, could
revive their, Non-linked policies within five
years of the first unpaid premium. Earlier, after
the IRDA Product Regulation 2013 (from 1st
January 2014), the revival period was restricted
to two consecutive years from the date of the
first unpaid premium.
5. The Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (SFB)
has launched an instant digital savings
account (SA) along with Fixed Deposit (FD)
and Privilege Savings Account to offer
distinctive banking and digital services to its
customers.
Note: Instant Digital SA account: This account
has the restriction of Rs 1 lakh deposit. It has
unlimited free transactions on the bank’s own
ATM (automated teller machine) and 6 free
transactions for other bank ATMs per month.
6. The Union Cabinet has decided to set up 25
thousand crore rupees fund to revive stalled
housing projects.
Note: The union government will put in 10
thousand crore rupees in the Alternative
Investment Fund (AIF) while State Bank of
India (SBI) and Life Insurance Corporation
(LIC) will provide 15 thousand crore rupees
taking the total size to 25 thousand crore
rupees. It will finance over 1,600 stalled
housing projects comprising about 4.58 lakh
housing units across the country.
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7. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on prepaid payment
instrument Oxigen Services.
Note: The move was taken in exercise of
powers vested under Section 30 of the Payment
and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for non-
compliance of regulatory guidelines. Oxigen
Services facilitates payment processing and
money transfer services.
8. Global rating agency Moody’s Investors
Service has lowered the outlook on the
government of India's ratings to ‘negative’ from
stable.
Note: It affirmed the Baa2 foreign-currency
and local-currency long-term issuer ratings for
India. Moody's also affirmed India's local-
currency senior unsecured rating and another
short-term local-currency rating. India’s
economy grew only 5.0% year-on-year between
April and June, its weakest pace since 2013
9. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has
launched a new mobile app ‘Farmitra’ to help
the farmers needs and address their worries.
Note: It also resolves with relevant
information, which they can use in optimizing
their farming practices. The app ‘Farmitra’
provides services for even those who are not
customers of Bajaj Allianz. Currently, the
application is implemented in 6 states
(Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana).
10. Reserve Bank has increased the
household income limits for borrowers of Non-
Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and
microfinance institutions (MFIs) from 1 lakh to
1.25 lakh rupees.
Note: The move is aimed at strengthening
credit to those at the bottom of the economic
pyramid in rural areas. Similarly, the limit has
been increased from 1.6 lakh for urban or semi-
urban areas to 2 lakh rupees. The limit has
been increased after taking into consideration
the important role played by microfinance
institutions in delivering credit to those at the
bottom of the economic pyramid and to enable
them to play their assigned role in a growing
economy.
11. State Bank of India has lowered its
lending rates by 5 basis points across all tenors.
Note: It has also sharply slashed the deposits
pricing between 15 and 75 basis points. It will
be effective from 10th of November. This is the
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seventh consecutive cut in lending rates by the
bank this fiscal. The bank also reduced the
interest rate on retail term deposit by 15 basis
points for one year to less than two years'
tenor. The bulk term deposit interest rates have
been reduced by 30 to 75 basis points across
tenors.
12. Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has signed
a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with
SFA as part of the growing Singapore-India
fintech ecosystems.
Note: The MoU was signed during the Fourth
edition of Singapore Fintech Festival. Singapore
Fintech Festival is the world’s largest financial
technology platform along with Singapore Week
of Innovation and Technology conducted from
11-13 November 2019.
13. The economic research team from the
State Bank of India (SBI) has revised India’s
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the FY20 --
5%.
Note: This downgrade was due to global
slowdown in the index of industrial production
(IIP). The SBI economic research team group
has projected the second quarter (July-
September) GDP growth at 4.2% in their report
titled “EcoWrap”.
14. Karnataka Gramin Bank (KGB) has
launched ‘mobile ATMs’ in Kalaburagi, among
several other districts in the Karnataka.
Note: The special vehicle includes an ATM and
a screen to show videos of different banking
schemes. The mobile ATMs will go to the
doorsteps of the farmers and make them aware
of the banking schemes and digital operating
systems.
15. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has launched
an instant digital savings account along with
Fixed Deposit (FD) and Privilege Savings
Account to offer distinctive banking and digital
services to its customers.
Note: Instant Digital SA account: This
account has the restriction of Rs 1 lakh deposit
& has the unlimited free transactions on the
bank’s own ATM (automated teller machine)
and 6 free transactions for other bank ATMs per
month. Instant Fixed Deposit (FD): With
interest rate ranging from 5.5% (7days to 29
days) & up to 8.3% (799 days), the customers
can invest in this account up to a maximum of
Rs. 1 Lakh without a Savings Account.
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16. Moody's Investors Service slashed India's
economic growth forecast for FY 2019 5.6%.
Note: Moody’s says that government measures
do not address the widespread weakness in
consumption demand. Moody's had on October
10 slashed India's economic growth forecast for
2019-20 fiscal to 5.8 per cent from an earlier
estimate of 6.2 per cent.
17. Competition Commission of India (CCI)
has approved the merger of the BNP Paribas
(BNPP) Mutual Fund and the Baroda (BOB)
Mutual Fund, under Section 31(1) the
Competition Act, 2002.
Note: The Proposed Combination relates to the
merger of the BNP Paribas Mutual Fund and the
BOB Mutual Fund. The parties propose to
amalgamate (i) BOB Asset Management
Company (AMC) into BNPP AMC; and (ii) BNPP
Trustee Company (TC) into BOB TC.
18. ICICI Lombard has been partnering with
‘Fino Payments Bank’ to offer non-life
insurance solutions to its customers.
Note: ICICI Lombard has introduced several
innovative insurance solutions that complement
Fina’s technology-enabled platforms and
harness its customer reach. ICICI Lombard and
Fino also launched Dengue and Malaria policy
which covers treatment to Dengue and Malarial
diseases up to Rs. 10,000 at a
19. Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI) has approved stricter disclosure norms
for listed companies.
Note: Accordingly, in case of default in
repayment of loans beyond 30 days, listed
companies will have to disclose the fact of such
default within 24 hours. SEBI has amended
Portfolio Managers (PM) Regulations, 2019
following which net worth requirement of
portfolio managers has been enhanced from
two crores to five crore rupees.
20. The National Council of Applied
Economic Research (NCAER) has pegged
India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth
for 2019-20 at 4.9%.
Note: It lowers its outlook due to the slowdown
in almost all sectors & it is primarily driven by a
simultaneous deceleration of all the drivers of
aggregate demand.
21. The Government of India has issued fresh
rules under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy
Code (IBC) to govern the rescue of non-bank
lenders.
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Note: The new rules are likely to help out
distressed shadow banks and housing
financiers, which have been battling a liquidity
crunch for a year. These entities will be covered
by a special window under the bankruptcy code,
which will be notified from time to time.
22. Reserve Bank of India has superseded
the board of debt-laden Dewan Housing Finance
Corporation Limited (DHFL).
Note: The company is all set to become India’s
first financier to land up in bankruptcy
courts.The central bank superseded the board
“owing to governance concerns and defaults by
DHFL in meeting various payment obligations.
23. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
superseded the board as it "intends to shortly"
initiate the process of insolvency___ Dewan
Housing Finance Corporation Limited
(DHFL)
Note: In January, a web portal accused the
DHFL promoters of committing financial frauds
by creating shell companies.A total of 32 Indian
and foreign banks lent Rs 97,000 crore to DHFL
Group companies with many borrower
companies having the same addresses,
directors, and auditors.DHFL is the fourth-
largest Indian housing finance company based
on loans outstanding as of March.
24. Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI) has doubled the minimum investment
limit for clients of Portfolio Management
Services to Rs 50 lakh.
Note: Currently, the minimum ticket size for
investing in PMS is Rs 25 lakh. The market
regulator also increased the net worth
requirement for PMS to Rs 5 crore from Rs 2
crore earlier, giving the existing portfolio
managers 36 months to meet the enhanced
requirement. The regulator has set a deadline
of 31 days for listed companies to disclose to
the stock exchanges with respect to default.
25. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
constituted a three-member panel to advise the
Administrator of Dewan Housing Finance
Corporation Limited (DHFL)
Note: IDFC First Bank's Non-Executive
Chairman Rajiv Lall, ICICI Prudential Life
Insurance's Managing Director and Chief
Executive N S Kannan and Mutual Funds'
Association AMFI's Chief Executive N S
Venkatesh would be part of the panel. Earlier,
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded DHFL's
19
board and placed the company under an
administrator in the wake of governance issues
and severe liquidity crisis which had led to a
string of defaults.
26. Srei Equipment Finance Ltd has
partnered with United Bank of India (UBI) to
offer loans to the MSME sector and retail
customers under a co-lending arrangement.
Note: The NBFC and the bank jointly organized
Loan Utsavs across 20 cities. According to a
release, loan to value of up to 90 per cent of
the equipment were offered for the tenure of up
to 5 years, while a moratorium of 30-60 days
was also awarded depending on the loan
structure and size.
27. Private sector lender Dhanlaxmi Bank
managing director (MD) and chief executive
officer (CEO) T. Latha has resigned due to
personal reasons.
Note: The resignation has been accepted by
the board and the same has been intimated to
the RBI. Ms Latha was appointed as MD and
CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank for three years.
28. Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has
signed MoU with Indian Bank & Canara
Bank.
Note: The MoU will facilitate a cashless,
paperless and transparent payment system on
the portal and would create an efficient
procurement system for government entities.
GeM is also working with Banks, TReDs and
SIDBI to provide bill discounting and financing
of working capital where the cost of capital is
linked to the performance and rating of a seller
on GeM. This will help sellers in general and
MSMEs, in particular, to access easy credit and
do better business with the government.
29. According to the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), India’s
gross domestic product (GDP) could grow in
2020-24 -- 6.6%
Note: As per the report, China would need to
bridge the gap between demand and supply of
digital talent, while improving digital literacy
and increasing access to digital devices are
critical in India.
30. The Union Cabinet has extended the term
of the 15th Finance Commission by 11
months.
Note: This will suggest formulae for tax
devolution for the 2020-21 fiscal year. It will
give recommendations for devolution of taxes
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and other fiscal matters for five fiscal years,
commencing 1 April 2020. The commission's
chairman is N. K. Singh, and Full-time members
being Ajay Narayan Jha, Ashok Lahiri and
Anoop Singh.
31. Fitch group firm India Ratings and
Research has projected India’s GDP Growth
rate for FY20 (2019-20) at 5.6%.
Note: The new projection suggests that second
quarter of 2019-20 GDP growth is likely to be
4.7%. Fitch Ratings Inc. is one of the big three
credit rating agencies (other two -Moody's and
Standard & Poor's).
32. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has
become the first company to touch a market
capitalization (m-cap) of Rs 10 lakh crore.
Note: Its shares jumped to touch a record high
of Rs 1,581 per piece. A month ago, Reliance
Industries became the first Indian company to
cross a market capitalisation of Rs 9 lakh crore.
October-2019
1. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
announced two contests to promote innovations
and ideas in the payment and settlement
systems.
Note: Shortlisted participants will get an
opportunity to present their ideas before a jury
of eminent persons while outstanding innovators
will be awarded prizes and citations. The contest
will be organised through the Institute for
Development and Research in Banking
Technology (IDRBT), Hyderabad.
2. PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd. has
tied-up with Religare Health Insurance to
offer a product which covers health, death and
illness.
Note: The tie-up will offer the additional earning
opportunity for the life insurer’s distribution
channel partners.The product will be a seamless
integration exercise to ensure that it comes as a
single policy to a customer.
3. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
appointed Jai Bhagwan Bhoria as the PMC
bank's administrator.
Note: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
superseded the Board of Punjab and
Maharashtra Cooperative Bank Limited, Mumbai.
According to an official release, the amount of
withdrawal from the bank allowed to depositors
has been increased from one thousand to ten
20
33. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised
concerns over increasing bad loans from the
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.
Note: According to RBI, the percentage of
MUDRA loans were at 2.52% in 2017-18 (now
raised to 2.89% in 2018-19).It also says that
the number of loans being sanctioned under the
scheme has increased greatly. According to
RBI, out of 182 million MUDRA loans
sanctioned, 3.63 million accounts have
defaulted.
34. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 1.50 crore
on Corporation Bank for non-compliance with
certain provisions of directions.
Note: This action is based on the deficiencies in
regulatory compliance and is not intended to
pronounce upon the validity of any transaction
or agreement entered into by the bank with its
customers.
thousand rupees. The RBI's directives will
remain in force for a period of six months.
4. Bank of Baroda has signed a MoU with the
Indian Army, under which the bank will offer
customized services, along with a host of
facilities to account holders.
Note: The MoU includes free personal accident
insurance cover, free air accident insurance
cover of ₹15 lakh to ₹50 lakh, and an overdraft
facility up to three times the monthly salary.The
features are also applicable for pensioners of the
Indian Army up to the age of 70 years.
5. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has
launched a computer-generated Document
Identification Number (DIN) to ensure
greater transparency and accountability in tax
administration.
Note: According to the CBDT, the DIN system
becomes operative from 1 October 2019. This
system will apply to all kinds of communications
from the income tax department, whether it is
related to assessment, appeals, investigation,
penalty, and rectification among other things.
6. India’s private sector bank ‘Axis Bank’ has
announced the launch a digital fixed deposit
(FD) product -- Express FD.
Note: It allows the customer to open an FD
account in three minutes through the digital
mode without opening a savings account with
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the bank. ‘Express FD’ offers attractive interest
rates, zero issuance fees and no penalty on pre-
mature withdrawal of up to 25% of the amount.
A customer can open an Express FD account by
investing a minimum Rs 5,000 up to Rs 90,000,
for a tenure of 6 to 12 months.
7. Public sector lender ‘Uco Bank’ has
launched three new digital products namely
UCash, Digilocker.
Note: UCash enables customers to withdraw
money from ATMs through mobile banking
without using debit card. Digilocker aims to
eliminate the use of physical documents and
enables sharing of verified electronic
documents.
8. State Bank of India (SBI) has announced a
reduction in its marginal cost of fund-based
lending (MCLR) rate by 10 basis points across
all tenors.
Note: This is the sixth time that the country’s
largest lender has cut its MCLR or minimum
lending rate in the current financial year. The
rate reduction is not applicable to the repo-
linked loans. With this reduction, the one-year
MCLR, to which all the lending rates are linked
to, is set at 8.05% as against 8.15% earlier.
9. Reliance Mutual Fund has been renamed as
Nippon India Mutual Fund.
Note: The organization was renamed following
the purchase of 75% stake in Reliance Nippon
Life Asset Management by Nippon Life
Insurance. Now, Nippon India Mutual Fund has
become the largest foreign-owned Asset
Management Company in India. In Reliance
Mutual Fund, both Reliance Capital and Nippon
Life (Japan’s largest life insurance company)
held 42.88% stake each, while the rest was with
public shareholders.
10. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its
final approval to the Kerala Government for
the formation of the Kerala Bank.
Note: With its formation, the proposed Kerala
Bank will be the largest banking network in the
state. The objective of the formation of the
Kerala Bank was to strengthen the cooperative
sector, while the Opposition had alleged that it
would destroy the traditional cooperative sector.
11. Auto component manufacturer Minda
Industries is acquiring 100% equity capital of
Germany-based Delvis Group for 21 million
euros.
21
Note: The Delvis Group is engaged in
automotive lighting design and engineering. It
comprises of Delvis GmBH and its two wholly
owned subsidiaries Delvis Products and Delvis
Solutions. Minda has a diversified product
portfolio that encompasses safety, security and
restraint systems.
12. The Union Government has constituted a
committee of officers to suggest measures to
augment -- GST revenue.
Note: The panel comprises state-level GST
commissioners of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,
Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab besides
central government officials including Principal
Commissioner of GST and Joint Secretary
(Revenue). The committee has been asked to
suggest urgent measures to arrest the fall in tax
revenues and suggest steps to be taken to
improve revenue collection. The move came in
the backdrop of a decrease in GST collections
in September 2019.
13. US-based Major credit rating agency
Moody's Investors Service estimated that the
Indian economy expected in the financial year
2020 -- 5.8%.
Note: It stated that the Indian economy is
experiencing a pronounced slowdown partly due
to long-lasting factors
14. As per reports on South Asia, The World
Bank (WB) has sharply lowered India's
economic growth projection for FY 20 -- 6%.
Note: The report identified softening
consumption due to slow growth in rural
incomes, domestic demand and credit from
NBFCs as a key challenge. Structural factors
behind the weak investment were the other
concern flagged by the World Bank. Bangladesh
(this fiscal year-7.2%) has become the second-
fastest growing economy in South Asia after
Bhutan.
15. ICICI Bank has announced to launch a new
Fixed Deposit (FD) scheme with free health
insurance -- FD Health.
Note: It will offer the dual benefit of an FD
along with free critical illness coverage with a
sum assured of Rs 1 lakh. The customers will be
offered the insurance cover free of cost for the
first year and thereafter, they can renew it. This
first-of-its-kind offering in the industry provides
the customer with a complimentary critical
illness cover of Rs. 1 lakh from ICICI Lombard
General Insurance Company on opening an FD
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of Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 3 lakhs for the tenure of at
least two years.
16. As per the World Economic Outlook, the
IMF (International Monetary Fund) cut its
forecast for GDP growth for the financial year
2019-20 to 6.1%.
Note: IMF revises GDP growth rate prediction
for 2019 at 6.1% and for 2020 at 7.0%. The
International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an
international organization headquartered in
Washington, D.C . IMF consisting 189
countries working to foster global monetary
cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate
international trade, promote high employment
and sustainable economic growth, and reduce
poverty around the world while periodically
depending on World Bank for its resources.
17. Reserve bank Of India has issued some
instructions and guidelines 'on tap'
authorization of payment systems.
Note: The RBI has been decided to offer on-tap
authorization for Bharat Bill Payment Operating
Unit (BBPOU), Trade Receivables Discounting
System (TReDS) and White Label ATMs
(WLAs).The payment system operators should
ensure interoperability among different retail
payment systems. As per the guidelines,
interested entities should have a minimum of
100 crore rupees net worth and should always
be maintained. TReDS scheme is to facilitate the
financing of invoices and bills of MSMEs drawn
on corporate buyers by way of discounting by
financiers.
18. Mastercard has tied up with M.S. Dhoni to
launch a nationwide initiative to accelerate the
acceptance and adoption of digital payments in
India -- Team Cashless India.
Note: The objective of this initiative to bring
consumers and merchants to the “forefront of
the digital payments dialogue”. Mastercard will
work together with Confederation of All India
Traders (CAIT), acquirer banks and financial
technology companies to support nominated
merchants to deploy digital payments
acceptance infrastructure.
19. US has slapped tariffs on a record 7.5-
billion Dollars-worth of European goods.
Note: Airbus, French wine and Scottish whiskies
are among the high-profile targets. The tariffs
were imposed despite pleas from European
officials for a last-minute reprieve and French
22
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire warning of
retaliation.
20. The India arm of Netherlands-based Home
Credit Group has tied up with a Bank for joint
lending to tap the large unbanked customer
base across the country -- Karur Vysya Bank
(KVB).
Note: It has a total business of about Rs 1.1
lakh crore with a deposit base of Rs 60,000
crore and a loan book of Rs 50,000 crore. Home
Credit India (entry in 2012) has spread its
operations over 179 cities across 20 states and
emerged with the largest penetration is below
Rs 10,000 category with a customer base of one
crore. Karur Vysya Bank is a 103-year-old
scheduled commercial bank headquartered at
Karur in Tamil Nadu.
21. IRDAI has imposed penalties of Rs 1.01
crore on Cholamandalam MS General Insurance
Company Ltd.
Note: The insurer was penalised for violations
observed during an inspection. The penalty of Rs
1 crore is for violation of Clause 15 of Schedule I
of IRDA (Health Insurance) Regulations, 2013
which clearly specifies that no commission shall
be payable to any intermediary on the
acceptance of a ported policy. The other penalty
of Rs 1 lakh is for motor insurance and was for
violating the outsourcing guidelines by agreeing
to payment terms not in the interests of the
insurer.
22. Vreedhi Financial Services (VFS) has
secured a non-banking finance company licence
from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Note: The objective of the licence is to provide
credit and other services to micro-enterprises
operating in tier two-three cities and small
towns. The company will create a digital lending
model by the next financial year.As per the
study conducted by the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), It will address the gap
between the addressable and viable credit in the
micro-enterprises space which is USD 123
billion.
23. As per CSRI’s (Credit Suisse Research
Institute) Global Wealth Report (10th edition),
the global wealth is USD 360 trillion.
Note: India has made contribution of USD 625
billion (nearly 7% of total) to global wealth. The
biggest contribution has come from the US at
USD 4 trillion (45% of total) and China at USD
1.9 trillion (21% of total). Wealth per adult for
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India at USD 14,569 (globally USD 70,849) is
nearly 80% below the global average.
24. The Vijaya Bank Heritage Museum has been
inaugurated at Bengaluru.
Note: The museum has a rare collection of
photos through which the growth of the bank is
showcased. Now, the memories of the erstwhile
Vijaya Bank can be refreshed at a museum
dedicated to its history. On 1st April 2019, the
erstwhile Vijaya Bank, along with the erstwhile
Dena Bank, was amalgamated with Bank of
Baroda.
25. The Union Government e-Marketplace
(GeM) signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with Federal Bank to
offer number of services.
Note: These serviced including the transfer of
funds through GeM Pool Accounts (GPA),
advising of Performance Bank Guarantees (e-
PBG) and Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) to the
registered users on the portal. The MoU will
facilitate a cashless, paperless and transparent
payment system on the portal and would create
an efficient procurement system for government
entities.
26. Indian Overseas Bank unveiled a
healthcare insurance policy through an online
platform in association with Universal Sompo
General Insurance Company Ltd.
Note: The policy offered on a real-time basis to
customers at the branches of Indian Overseas
Bank through the integration of technology of
the two institutions. The co-branded healthcare
policy designed by Universal Sompo General
Insurance is offered with a sum insured from Rs
50,000 to Rs 15 lakh.
27. Insurance regulatory body IRDAI has set up
an 8-member committee to evaluate
applications filed under the -- Regulatory
Sandbox approach.
(September 2019)
1. The Union Cabinet has approved a capital
infusion of Rs 4,557 crore into IDBI Bank.
Note: The capital infusion process will be done
through recapitalization bonds. The Union
government will infuse the capital into the bank
and the bank will buy the recapitalization bonds
from the government on the same day. The
capital infusion is also expected to help IDBI to
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Note: The committee will be headed by
International Institute of Information
Technology (Bengaluru) Director, S Sadagopan.
Regulatory Sandbox (RS) usually refers to live
testing of new products or services in a
controlled/test regulatory environment for which
regulators may permit certain relaxations for the
limited purpose of testing.
28. India signed an agreement with Saudi
Arabia to launch a card in the country__ RuPay
card.
Note: RuPay is a highly secure network that
protects against cyber hacks and is India's
version of Master Card and Visa.
29. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
imposed a penalty of Rs 35 lakh on Tamilnad
Mercantile Bank
Note: The bank has been penalized for “non-
compliance with certain provisions of directions
issued by RBI on frauds classification and
reporting by commercial banks and select FIs
directions 2016”. The headquarters of Tamilnad
Mercantile Bank is located in Thoothukudi, Tamil
Nadu.
30. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its fourth
bi-monthly monetary policy review, reduced the
policy repo rate under the Liquidity Adjustment
Facility (LAF) by 25 basis points.
Note: The Repo Rate under the liquidity
adjustment facility (LAF) reduced by 25 basis
points to 5.15 percent from 5.40 percent with
immediate effect. Consequently, the reverse
repo rate under the LAF stands reduced to 4.90
percent. The Bank Rate and the Marginal
Standing Facility (MSF) rate are reduced to 5.40
percent. Reserve Bank of India has also reduced
the Real GDP Growth for 2019-20 from 6.9% to
6.1%
come out of Prompt Corrective Action
framework of the Reserve Bank of India.
2. The Employees’ State Insurance
Corporation (ESIC) and the State Bank of
India (SBI) have signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) to provide electronic
payment services for beneficiaries of ESIC.
Note: As per an agreement, SBI will provide e-
payment services directly to bank accounts of
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all ESIC beneficiaries and payees without any
manual intervention as an integrated and
automated process. The e-payment
integration would affect the statutory benefit
payments to ESIC beneficiaries as well as other
payees on a real-time basis, reducing time lags
and delays and at the same time, help eliminate
mistakes and errors caused by repetitive and
manual data entries.
3. The Union Cabinet has cleared
recapitalization of IDBI Bank with a one-time
infusion of funds by both the government and
LIC.
Note: It has approved 9,000 crore capital
infusion into IDBI Bank, including 4,557 crores
by the government as one-time re-
capitalization. This will help both IDBI and LIC,
and it shows the government's commitment to
take banking to a sound level.
4. British multinational banking & financial
services company has launched a DigiSmart
credit card Standard Chartered Bank.
Note: The primary focus of the Bank on the
ever-growing segment of millennials. The credit
card will offer instant discounts and benefits
across key e-commerce categories of travel,
entertainment, fashion, groceries, and food
delivery around the year. The new credit card is
available for a nominal monthly fee of only Rs
49. However, this fee (49-rupees) will be
waived off if the spends of the customer are Rs
5,000 or above in the previous month.
5. As per the release of the Finance Ministry,
the GST collection in the month of August stood
at 98 thousand 202 crore rupees.
Note: The total number of GSTR 3B Returns
filed for the month of July up to 31st of
August is around 76 lakhs. The Union
government has settled 23 thousand 165
crore rupees to CGST and 16 thousand 623
crore rupees to SGST from IGST as a regular
settlement. The total revenue earned by the
Central Government and the State
Governments after regular settlement in the
month of August 2019 is 40 thousand 898 crore
rupees for CGST and 40 thousand 862 crores
for the SGST. 27 thousand 955 crore rupees
have been released to the states as GST
compensation for the months of June and July
this year.
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6. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made
mandatory for banks to link retail and
MSME loans to external interest rate
benchmarks.
Note: This new norm will be effective from 1st
of October. Under this norm, banks have to
link all of their new loan products, be it
personal, housing or auto to an external
benchmark rate. Banks have been allowed to
choose any benchmark market interest rate
published by the Financial Benchmarks India
Private Ltd (FBIL).
7. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made
it mandatory for banks to link all new floating-
rate loans for housing, auto and MSMEs (Micro
and Small Enterprises) to external benchmark
like repo from 1st October 2019.
Note: The banks are free to choose one of the
several benchmarks indicated in the circular.
Industry and retail borrowers have been
complaining that banks do not pass on the
entire RBI's policy rate (repo rate) reduction to
them. In 2019, the Reserve Bank has already
reduced the repo or short-term lending rate by
110 basis points, but the banks have reportedly
passed on only up to 40 bps to borrowers.
8. IDBI Bank will introduce two Repo Linked
Products –Suvidha Plus Home Loan and
Suvidha Plus Auto Loan from 10th September
____.
Note: The new Home Loan and Auto Loan
products will be offered to new customers
having good credit score and minimum income
of Rs. 6 lakh per annum. The Suvidha Plus
Home Loan will be offered for up to Rs. 75
Lakh with a tenor of up to 35 years. The
Suvidha Plus Auto loan will be offered for up
to Rs. 25 lakhs covering the on-road price with
a tenor of up to 7 years.
9. ECL Finance Limited has signed a co-
origination agreement with State Bank of
India to increase access to credit for micro,
small and medium enterprises.
Note: It plans to provide business loans,
machinery loans and SME asset-backed loans
ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 50 lakh at a
blended rate of interest. This is the third co-
origination agreement for Edelweiss, after Bank
of Baroda and Central Bank of India.
10. Punjab National Bank (PNB) has put up
for sale nearly a dozen non-performing
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assets (NPA) to recover dues of more than
1,234 crore rupees.
Note: The lender has invited bids from asset
reconstruction companies non-banking financial
companies, banks, financial institutions for 11
NPA accounts. The bank has asked the
prospective bidders to speed up due
diligence.The public lender is set to merge two
peer banks ‘Oriental Bank of Commerce and
United Bank of India’ with itself following the
government's announcement to consolidate 10
public sector banks into four bigger entities.
11. India and Asian Development Bank
(ADB) sign USD 200-million loan agreement for
upgrading rural roads in Maharashtra.
Note: Under the project the roads in rural areas
will improve the condition of about 2100 kilo
metres of rural roads to all-weather standards.
This will boost links between local resident and
economic centres across the state.
12. IDBI Bank & LIC CSL will launch a co-
branded credit card, which will be marketed to
customers, agents, and employees of the
corporation and its subsidiaries.
13. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will
implement an idea to develop a mobile
application with an aim to help the visually
impaired people to identify Currency notes.
Note: For this, RBI has selected Daffodil
Software Pvt Ltd. The application should be able
to identify the denomination of legal tender
banknotes of Mahatma Gandhi Series and
Mahatma Gandhi (New) series by capturing the
image of the notes that are placed in front of
the mobile camera or scrolled across it. The
mobile application should be searchable via
voice option in all app stores.
14. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has
rolled out of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System
Services (AePS).
Note: With the launch of AePS, the India Post
Payments Bank (IPPB) has now become single
largest platform in India for providing
interoperable banking services to customers (of
any bank) by leveraging last mile
unprecedented reach of Indian Postal network.
15. The ‘GST Network’ has decided to make
Aadhaar authentication or physical
verification mandatory for new dealers from
January 2020.
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Note: In the first phase, Aadhaar
authentication will be mandatory for new
dealers.Afterwards, all those enrolled on GSTN
would be asked to provide their Aadhaar
numbers.As refunding is a big issue, the GSTN
decided on complete online refunding from 24th
September this year from a single source,
either by the Central GST or state GST. Those
who do not want to give their Aadhaar numbers
would have to undergo physical verification.
16. The Union Govt. waives three-year lock-in
period on investments made by NRIs in IDFs.
Note: As per Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT) notification, the Union government has
waived the three-year lock-in period on
investments made by non-residents in
infrastructure debt funds (IDFs), to promote
funding in the infrastructure sector.Now, any
amount of interest received by non-resident or
foreign company from investment in such IDFs
is charged at a reduced tax rate of 5%. IDFs
are investment vehicles to accelerate the flow
of long-term debt to the sector.
17. Airtel Payments Bank has launched savings
account services -- Bharosa.
Note: Bharosa savings account would offer Rs 5
lakh personal accident insurance on maintaining
the balance of Rs 500 along with one debit
transaction per month. Customers would also
be eligible for cashback, if they decided to
receive government subsidies in their Bharosa
account or if they made cash deposits in it.
Bharosa savings account customers can also
withdraw cash, check their balance or access a
mini statement of their account at over
6,50,000 AePS (Aadhaar-enabled payment
system) enabled outlets across India
18. The Department of Empowerment of
Persons with Disabilities has developed a
Management Information (MIS) for
stakeholders of Accessible India campaign.
Note: Union Minister for Social Justice and
Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot launched
the MIS portal in New Delhi.The MIS portal will
bring all the nodal ministries and States and
Union Territories on a single platform for
monitoring the progress being made against
each target of Accessible India Campaign.The
portal will be useful in maintaining all the
function on a digital platform and capture data
on a real-time basis.
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19. India Post has expanded speed post
service to six new foreign destinations in Asia,
Europe and South America.
Note: The Department of Posts has announced
commencing of International Speed Post
(EMS) Service to Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Brazil, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and
North Macedonia. Express Mail Service (EMS)
is a premium service that enables its users to
send documents and merchandise faster and
with the added facility of being able to track the
movement of the item on the internet. The EMS
service to these countries will henceforth be
available at major Post offices across India.
20. Ministry of Labour and Employment has
notified rate of interest on Employees Provident
Fund (EPF) for 2018-19 deposits 8.65%.
Note: The EPFO has been settling EPF
withdrawal claims at 8.55% interest rate,
approved for 2017-18.The Employees' Provident
Fund Organisation (EPFO), is an organization
tasked to assist the Central Board of Trustees, a
statutory body formed by the Employees'
Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions
Act, 1952.It is under the administrative control
of the Ministry of Labour and Employment,
Government of India.
21. The Union Finance Ministry has proposed to
slash the corporate tax rate for Domestic
companies.
Note: There are six amendments in the Income
Tax Act and Finance Bill 2019 which will cost Rs
1.45 lakh crore.The corporate tax rate after
surcharge will now be 25.17% inclusive of all
cess and surcharges for domestic companies.
The corporate tax rate has been brought down
from 30% to 22%.The new domestic company
incorporated on or after October 1, 2019, to
pay income tax at 15%.Domestic company to
pay income tax at 22%.Minimum Alternate Tax
(MAT) reduced from 18.5% to 15%.The listed
companies that announced buyback before July
5, 2019, will not be charged tax on buyback of
shares.The enhanced surcharge shall not apply
on capital gains arising on sale of any security
including derivatives in the hands of foreign
portfolio investors.
22. HDFC Bank has announced to organise
1,000 Grameen loan melas over the next six
months with an aim to expand its retail
portfolio.
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Note: These Grameen loan melas (or village
loan fairs) will be held across more than 300
districts and cover around 6,000 villages across
India.Customers can avail of the tractor, auto,
two-wheeler and Agri loans or open current or
savings accounts, it said. Besides, self-help
groups (SHGs) can avail of finance through the
bank’s Sustainable Livelihood Initiative.
23. To celebrate 550th Birth Anniversary of
Guru Nanak Dev the Nepal Rastra Bank has
issued commemorative coins of 2500, 1000
and 100 Nepali rupees.Note: Dr. Chiranjibi
Nepal (Nepal Rastra Bank Governor) and
Manjeev Singh Puri (Indian Ambassador)
released commemorative coins.Shiromani
Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee President
Sardar Gobind Singh Longowal, Jathedar of Akal
Takht Giani Harpreet Singh and many other
prominent Sikh leaders from Punjab also joined
the launching ceremony.on this occasion, a
book "Sikh Heritage of Nepal" was also
released.
24. Bank of Baroda has launched a digital
platform ‘Baroda Kisan’ to provide solutions
for all major agricultural requirements__
Note: The agri-digital platform has been
executed by IT Centre of Excellence (ITCoE) of
Bank of Baroda in partnership with IBM India.
The web-based portal will cater to all the needs
of farmers, including weather forecasts, crop
conditions, the moisture levels of the soil,
information on crop worms, market prices,
special crop-related consultation.
25. ‘Max Bupa Health Insurance Company
Limited’ has announced a bancassurance
corporate agency agreement with a state-
owned bank Indian Bank.
Note: Under the agreement, Max Bupa will
provide comprehensive health insurance
solutions and services to over 40 million
customers of Indian Bank spread across 2800
branch network, through a slew of digital
touchpoints.As part of the tie-up, Max Bupa’s
offerings will include both retail and group
health insurance products besides Indemnity
and Fixed Benefit products.
26. SBI Life Insurance has signed a corporate
agency agreement with city-based Repco Home
Finance Ltd to offer the company’s range of
products to RHFL customers.
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Note: The partnership would see over 148

branches and 27 satellite centres of RHFL
spread across the country to offer SBI Life
Insurance products to its customers
27. The Asian Development Bank (ADB)
lowered growth projection for India by 50 basis
points.
Note:Now, the growth rate is expected at 6.5%
during the current fiscal 2019-20.This is the
second successive lowering of estimates by the
regional development bank in three
months.This reduction is mainly on account of
weaker expansion in the first quarter (April-
June) of the current fiscal.It also predicted that
India is expected to rebound to 7.2% growth in
the FY 2020-21.
28. Airtel Payments Bank and HDFC ERGO
General Insurance Company under the
corporate agency tie-up launched an
innovative -- Mosquito Diseases Protection
Policy (MDPP).
Note: The partnership aims to bring together
the deep distribution network of Airtel
Payments Bank and the strong innovation
pipeline of HDFC ERGO to contribute to
financial inclusion in the country.Mosquito
Disease Protection Policy offers cover
against seven common mosquito-borne
diseases - Dengue, Malaria, Chikungunya,
Japanese Encephalitis, Kala-azar, Lymphatic
Filariasis (Elephantiasis) and Zika virus.

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