Banking Awareness October Set 1 by Dr.

Gaurav Garg

Q) Which company has received the in-principle approval from Reserve Bank set up Bharat Bill Payment
Operating Unit (BBPOU)?
A.Microland B.Quest Global
C.Cynapse D.Vakrangee

Vakrangee gets RBI nod to set up BBPS unit to handle billing services
● Vakrangee (VL) has received in-principle authorisation to set up and operate BBPOU under the Payment and
Settlement Systems Act, 2007 from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
● Vakrangee can now directly handle payment and aggregation of payment services relating to bills under the scope of
BBPS (Bharat Bill Payment System).

Q) Bajaj Allianz along with which company has launched the ‘Digital Suraksha Group Insurance‘ to cover online financial
frauds?
A.Paytm B.Amazon
C.Flipkart D.PhonePe

Flipkart, Bajaj Allianz launch cyber insurance to cover online financial frauds
● This insurance compensates for direct financial loss (up to the sum insured) due to unauthorised digital financial
transactions as a result of identity theft arising out of cyber-attacks, phishing/spoofing and SIM-jacking.
● Customers can opt for a one-year cover at premiums as low as Rs 183 for a cover of Rs 50,000.

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance in News

● Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company launched a real time virtual assistance called “Smart Assist”.
● Launched insurance cover for Pet Dogs.
● Brand Ambassador of the Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance - Ayushmann Khurrana.

Q) Which bank has launched a green initiative named “IB-eNote”?

A.Canara Bank B.Bank of India
C.Indian Bank D.Punjab National Bank

Indian Bank launches another Green-Tech Initiative, ‘IB-eNote’

● Indian Bank, a premier Public Sector Bank, has launched another green initiative, IB-eNote that enables a totally
paperless working environment.
● The IB e-Note is a tool that enables processing and tracking of notes put up by various offices digitally.
● This green initiative is expected to improve Turnaround Time considerably, besides saving on cost of paper, printing
and other administrative expenses.
● Indian Bank also unveiled 'Ind Guru', an e-learning platform for its employees that offers technology enabled solutions
aimed at capacity building.

Indian Bank in News

● Indian Bank has introduced a Kisan credit card loan scheme for fishermen in Tamil Nadu.
● M. Gopalakrishnan, former Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank passed away.
● Indian bank merged with Allahabad Bank.
● 'MSME Prerana' is an online business mentoring programme for MSMEs launched by Indian Bank.
● HQ – Chennai
● MD/CEO - Ms. Padmaja Chunduru

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Q) RBI has set the ways and means advances (WMAs) limit at Rs. _____lakh crore for the central government for the
second half of the fiscal year?
A.Rs 1.25 lakh crore B.Rs 1.50 lakh crore
C.Rs 1.10 lakh crore D.Rs 1.75 lakh crore

What exactly is Ways and Means Advances (WMA)?

● It is a facility for both the Centre and states to borrow from the RBI. These borrowings are meant purely to help them
to tide over temporary mismatches in cash flows of their receipts and expenditures.
● Section 17(5) of the RBI Act, 1934 authorises the central bank to lend to the Centre and state governments subject to
their being repayable “not later than three months from the date of the making of the advance”.
● The interest rate on WMA is equal to the repo rate and on overdraft, it is two per cent above the repo rate. The current
repo rate is 4 percent.

Q) Leading stock exchange BSE has signed a pact with which bank to empower the small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
listed on the platform?
A.Axis Bank B.ICICI Bank
C.Yes Bank D.HDFC Bank

BSE
● Managing Director & CEO - Ashish Kumar Chauhan
● Chairman - Justice Vikramajit Sen

Yes Bank in News

● Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) acquired 4.23% of YES Bank via open market purchase.
● Yes Bank took possession of Reliance Centre, the HQ of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.
● Yes Bank partnered with UDMA Technologies to launch its digital wallet solution ‘Yuva Pay’ mobile app.
● Yes bank partnered with fintech startup “Affordplan” to launch ‘Swasth Card’, a co-branded healthcare card.
● Yes bank acquired 24.19 per cent in Dish TV.

Q) Which bank has approved USD 241 million loan for Mumbai Metro and USD 500 million for the
Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) Project?
A.New Development Bank B.International Monetary Fund
C.World Bank D.Asian Development Bank

Q) Which financial institution has announced a special refinance facility to support the government''s Water, Sanitisation and
Hygiene (WASH) programme?
A.RBI B.NABARD
C.SIDBI D.SEBI

NABARD launches refinance scheme for WASH programme, earmarks Rs 800 cr for FY''21
● NABARD - National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
● An amount of Rs 800 crore has been earmarked for this purpose for the financial year 2020-21.
● NABARD will provide concessional refinance to all eligible financial institutions, including commercial banks,
regional rural banks and cooperative banks, with a repayment period of up to 36 months.

Q) State Bank of India (SBI) has appointed whom as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO)?
A.Sanjiv Chadha B.Charanjit Singh Attra
C.Sriram Kalyanaraman D.Siddhartha Mohanty

Q) Which Bank has partnered with Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) to offer digital payment solutions to small retailers?
A.State Bank of India B.Punjab National Bank
C.Bank of India D.Canara Bank

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SBI, HUL partner to provide digital solutions to small retailers
● SBI will provide paperless instant overdraft facility to retailers to enable payments to distributors. It will also provide
UPI-based solutions to HUL's retailers to assist with cashless payments
● Under this collaboration, the bank will offer instant paperless overdraft facility of up to Rs. 50,000 to retailers for
their billings with distributors as well as financing facility to HUL’s distributors

SBI in News
● State Bank of India is providing liquidity support of USD 16.20 million for local businesses in Maldives.
● Ashwani Bhatia appointed as the Managing Director (MD) of the State Bank of India.
● ‘Second Innings Tap VRS-2020‘ scheme.
● Loan product named “SAFAL” for organic cotton growers.
● SBI – 2nd in EASE 2.0 index.
● TITAN watch company and State Bank of India have launched India’s first contactless payment watch.
● SBI started a programme by the name “Mahila Atmanirbharshil Aachani” (Women Self-Reliance programme) in
Assam.

Q) Reserve bank of India has excluded how many public sector banks from the Second Schedule of the RBI Act?
A.Three B.Six
C.Four D.Two

RBI excludes six PSBs from Second Schedule of RBI Act; cites merger
● The RBI has excluded six public sector banks from the Second Schedule of the RBI Act following their merger with
other banks.
● The six banks are Syndicate Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), United Bank of India, Andhra Bank,
Corporation Bank, and Allahabad Bank.
● These six banks merged with other public sector banks (PSBs) with effect from April 1.
● OBC and United Bank of India merged into Punjab National Bank;
● Syndicate Bank into Canara Bank;
● Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank into Union Bank of India;
● and Allahabad Bank into Indian Bank.
● After the consolidation , there are now seven large PSBs, and five smaller ones.
● There were as many as 27 PSBs in 2017.
● The total number of PSBs in the country has now come down to 12.

Q) M. Gopalakrishnan, who passed away recently, was the former Chairman and Managing Director of which Bank?
A.Punjab National Bank B.Bank of Baroda
C.Indian Bank D.Canara Bank

Q) Which Bank has introduced a Kisan credit card loan scheme for fishermen in Tamil Nadu?
A.State Bank Of India B.Indian Bank
C.Bank of Baroda D.Punjab National Bank

Indian Bank launches Rupay Kisan credit card scheme for TN fishermen
● The features of the scheme include the availability of revolving credit up to ₹2 lakh, 7 percent interest rate, interest
subvention of 3 per cent for those who repay the loan within a period of one year.
● The loan can be renewed once in a year. There is no restriction on the number of credit and debit transactions.
● This loan will be provided under Mudra scheme.

Q) Which bank has launched a financial inclusion and literacy initiative 'Gram Sampark Abhiyan‘?
A.State Bank of India B.Bank of Baroda
C.Punjab National Bank D.Indian Bank

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PNB launches financial inclusion initiative Gram Sampark Abhiyan
● State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched a financial inclusion and literacy initiative ''Gram Sampark
Abhiyan'' to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
● The nationwide campaign was launched by Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar.
● The campaign is centred on four key themes -- digital, credit, social security and financial literacy that will encapsulate
various activities and prescribes the cherished theme of ''Aatmanirbhar Bharat'‘.
● This campaign will culminate on December 31, 2020 covering 526 districts in 24 states, including Maharashtra, Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Odisha, Manipur, Tripura and Telangana.

Q) Who has become the new Chairman of State Bank of India for a period of three years?
A.Vinod Kumar Yadav B.Rajesh Tiwari
C.Dinesh Kumar Khara D.Sanjeev Nandwani

● Union Bank of India MD and CEO Rajkiran Rai G is new chairman of Indian bank association
● State Bank of India's chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara has been elected as the deputy chairman of the association.

Q) Union government has appointed whom as the member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI?
A.Ashima Goyal B.Jayanth R Varma
C.Shashanka Bhide D.All of the above

Govt appoints Ashima Goyal, Jayanth R Varma, Shashanka Bhide as MPC members
● As per the RBI Act, the three new members would have four-year terms.
● Mr. Bhide is senior advisor at the National Council for Applied Economic Research, while Ms. Goyal is a professor at
the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research.
● Mr. Varma is professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Q) Who has been appointed as the new deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India?
A.M Rajeshwar Rao B.Prasanna Kumar Mohanty
C.Revathy Iyer D.Tarun Bajaj

Govt appoints M Rajeshwar Rao as new deputy governor of RBI

● He succeeds NS Vishwanathan as the central bank’s fourth deputy governor.
● The RBI's other three deputy governors are B P Kanungo, M K Jain and Michael Debabrata Patra.

Q) Which bank has tied up with Vistara to launch a co-branded forex card that can load up to 16 currencies?
A.Yes Bank B.HDFC Bank
C.ICICI Bank D.Axis Bank

Axis Bank in News

● Axis Bank - AI-powered multilingual voice bot “AXAA”.
● SOFT POS.
● Axis Bank to buy 17% stake in Max Life.

Q) Who has been appointed as the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of India Post Payments Bank?
A.J Venkatramu B.Rishi Gupta
C.Anubrata Biswas D. Bhavesh Gupta

Q) 'MSME Prerana' is an online business mentoring programme for MSMEs launched by which Bank?
A.Yes Bank B.Punjab National Bank
C.Axis Bank D.Indian Bank

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FM Nirmala Sitharaman launches Indian Bank's business mentoring programme for MSMEs
● The programme will be available in local languages and aimed at empowering entrepreneurs via skill development
and capacity building workshops..
● The initiative is in collaboration with Poornatha & Co.

Q) The Monetary Policy Committee of RBI in its third bi-monthly monetary policy has pegged the Repo Rate at what
percent?
A.4.0% B.3.2%
C.4.2% D.4.5%

RBI’s 3rd Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2020-21 Released

● One major announcement was that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
will make real-time gross settlement (RTGS) 24x7x365 from December.

Q) The World Bank has projected India’s GDP to contract by what percent in FY-21?
A.8.6% B.9.6%
C.6.3% D.7.1%

Q) Who has been re-elected as the Chairman of Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI)?
A.Kapil Bakshi B.Ketan Kher
C.Anurag Sharma D.Nilesh Shah

● Saurabh Nanavati (Chief Executive Officer, Invesco Asset Management (India) Private Limited.) has been re-elected
as the Vice-Chairman of AMFI.

Q) NABARD has inked three MOUs with which bank for various projects in Gujarat?
A.Punjab National Bank B.State Bank of India
C.Bank of Baroda D.Indian Bank

Q) Who is the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Jammu & Kashmir Bank?
A.Sanjiv Chadha B.Sriram Kalyanaraman
C.Nalin Shinghal D.Rajesh Kumar Chhibber

Q) According to World bank, how many people will be pushed into extreme poverty by 2021?
A.150 million B.120 million
C.250 million D.180 million

Coronavirus may push 150 million people into extreme poverty by 2021 end: World Bank
● Releasing its flagship biennial report on poverty and shared prosperity, the multilateral development lender said that an
additional 88 million to 115 million people will fall into extreme poverty - defined as living on less than $1.90 a day
-in 2020.
● The report said this could grow to 111 million to 150 million by the end of 2021.

Q) Which bank has partnered with Apollo Hospitals to launch The HealthyLife Programme?
A.HDFC Bank B.ICICI Bank
C.Axis Bank D.Yes Bank

HDFC Bank partners with Apollo Hospitals for holistic healthcare solution
● The programme is created exclusively for HDFC Bank customers who will get round the clock access to emergency
Apollo Doctor at No Cost on Apollo 24|7 along with a plethora of benefits such as choice of payment options and ease
of finance for treatments at all Apollo Hospitals.

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Q) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under on-tap targeted long-term repo operations (TLTRO) will provide how much
on-tap funds to banks?
A.Rs 2 trillion B.Rs 1 trillion
C.Rs 0.5 trillion D.Rs 1.5 trillion

RBI to conduct on-tap TLTRO worth Rs 1 trillion to nudge credit growth

● The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will provide banks on-tap funds up to Rs 1 trillion to give loans to sectors having
multiplier effects on growth.
● The sectors, which could benefit from this move, include construction, real estate, and micro finance.
● RBI will provide these funds under on-tap targeted long-term repo operations (TLTRO) at floating rate linked to the
policy rate for up to three years. At present, the repo rate is 4 percent.
● For the time being, the scheme will be available till March 31, 2021.
● Under the scheme, banks can also extend loans and advances to these sectors.
● Experts believe this move will bring liquidity to small and medium-sized non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)
and housing finance companies (HFCs).
● This facility is useful to financial sector firms that may not have been able to get funds under the special liquidity
scheme or the previous TLTROs.

Q) Which among the following has launched the same-day settlement facility for all kinds of fund transfers on its payment
gateway?
A.PhonePe B.BHIM
C.Paytm D.Google Pay

Paytm launches same-day bank settlement for businesses

● The minimum amount that can be transferred is ₹50, and the maximum amount is ₹2 lakhs in a single transfer request.
● The merchants can define frequencies and the funds will transfer automatically. Frequencies can be once a day, twice a
day or even three times a day.

Q) Which Bank in collaboration with Google Pay and Visa has launched its ACE Credit Card?
A.HDFC Bank B.Axis Bank
C.Yes Bank D.ICICI Bank

Q) The Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has extended a Line of Credit (LoC) of USD 400 million to which
country?
A.Bhutan B.Nepal
C.Maldives D.Indonesia

Exim Bank extends USD 400 million soft loan to Maldives for financing connectivity project
● With the signing of the above agreement, Exim Bank has till date extended three LoCs worth a cumulative USD 1.2
billion to Maldives, on behalf of India.

SBI Card, American Express ink strategic partnership

● SBI Card, India's largest pure play credit card issuer, and American Express, the globally integrated payments
company, have entered a strategic partnership.
● With this partnership, SBI Card's top end products - SBI Card ELITE and SBI Card PRIME will be available on
American Express' global network.

Digital payments soar manifold in 5 years to FY20: RBI

● Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, digital payments have grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 55.1% - from
593.61 crore in the year to March 2016 to 3,434.56 crore in the year to March 2020.
● In absolute terms, value has grown from ₹920.38 lakh crore to ₹1,623.05 lakh crore during this period, clipping at an
annual compounded rate of 15.2%.

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BOB Financial Solutions Limited partners with Mastercard
● BOB Financial Solutions (BFSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda (BoB) along with Mastercard,
launched four new credit cards catering to its customers across segments, including affluent as well as the first-time
credit card owners.
● Two other credit cards are launched with eminent professional institutions of the country.
● Eterna – On the World Mastercard program, Eterna will cater to the distinctive needs of the NBFC’s affluent
customers. It will be offered to customers part of the Radiance program of Bank of Baroda, as well as other affluent
customers within and outside BoB
● Swavlamban – This card redefines “by Invitation only”, as it targets the low-income employees of select corporates
and SMEs which have a banking relationship with BoB. Swavlamban will be an invitation only product in the initial
phase
● Two co-branded cards in partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and the Institute of
Cost Accountants of India (ICMAI).
● These will be offered exclusively to Chartered Accountants and Cost and Management Accountants respectively.

Chqbook launches India's first 'Financial Control Center

● Chqbook, India's first Neobank for small business owners like kiranas, merchants, chemists, and others running
proprietorships, announced the launch of its new mobile platform.
● With this launch, Chqbook brings world-class financial services to a massive underserved segment.
● Positioned as the 'Financial Control Center' for India's 60 million small business owners, Chqbook's mobile app will
place the power of managing day-to-day financial requirements as well as access to other financial products in their
hands and on-demand, helping to save valuable time, effort, and money as they grow their business.
● With the launch today of its new Mobile App, Chqbook plans to scale to over 50 cities and expects to increase its
customer base by one million during this financial year

EarlySalary Launches 'Salary Card' Powered by RuPay

● The lending platform EarlySalary has launched a 'Salary Card' in collaboration with the National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) to democratise the digital payments system.
● The 'Salary Card' is a zero-touch digital card that will provide instant access for salaried professionals, enabling them
to make instant purchases across thousands of merchants across India.
● Powered by RuPay, the card comes with features that allow consumers the flexibility of setting up a dynamic credit
limit to suit their shopping, medical, travel, entertainment, and other needs.

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