February Banking CA

Current Affairs Study PDF
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Current Affairs Study PDF – February 2022

Current Affairs for Competitive Exam
Table of Contents
NATIONAL AFFAIRS ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
CABINET APPROVALS ................................................................................................................................................. 6
LAUNCHES & INAUGURATION ................................................................................................................................... 6
FESTIVALS ................................................................................................................................................................. 19
OTHER NEWS ............................................................................................................................................................ 22
STATE NEWS ................................................................................................................................................................. 48
GOVT SCHEMES ............................................................................................................................................................. 57
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS ........................................................................................................................................... 66
VISITS ............................................................................................................................................................................. 72
FOREIGN VISIT .......................................................................................................................................................... 72
BANKING & FINANCE NEWS ........................................................................................................................................ 75
BANKING NEWS ........................................................................................................................................................ 75
RBI IN NEWS .............................................................................................................................................................. 75
LOANS ISSUED BY BANKS ........................................................................................................................................ 84
AGREEMENTS & MoUs SIGNED................................................................................................................................ 87
OTHER BANK NEWS ................................................................................................................................................. 91
FINANCE NEWS ....................................................................................................................................................... 107
ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS ................................................................................................................................... 114
MoU’s & AGREEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................... 123
COMMITTEES & MEETINGS ....................................................................................................................................... 139
SUMMITS, EVENTS & CONFERENCE.......................................................................................................................... 141
INDEX ........................................................................................................................................................................... 149
RANKING .................................................................................................................................................................. 149
REPORTS .................................................................................................................................................................. 155
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 164
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS ........................................................................................................................... 175
ACQUISITION & MERGERS ......................................................................................................................................... 188
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY........................................................................................................................................... 194
DEFENCE ...................................................................................................................................................................... 205
EXERCISE ................................................................................................................................................................. 205
TESTING ................................................................................................................................................................... 207

OTHER DEFENCE NEWS ......................................................................................................................................... 209
SPORTS ......................................................................................................................................................................... 212
OBITUARY .................................................................................................................................................................... 225
BOOKS & AUTHORS..................................................................................................................................................... 230
IMPORTANT DAYS ...................................................................................................................................................... 237
APPS & WEB PORTAL ................................................................................................................................................. 257
ENVIRONMENT ........................................................................................................................................................... 260

Kerala CM Inaugurates 3rd Edition of ‘Huddle Global 2022’; KSUM Partners with Google for
Startups to Foster Global Links
During the ‘Huddle Global 2022’, Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) collaborated with Google to launch Google for
Startups Accelerator, India to attach native startups with the worldwide startups and to leverage Google’s
programme which comprises mentorship and coaching of startup groups to assist scale up their options.
• The third edition of the 2 day ‘Huddle Global 2022’ organised by KSUM was inaugurated by Chief Minister
Pinarayi Vijayan.
Benefit of the Partnership:
The initiative will join KSUM to an elite group of the world’s prime accelerators, permitting it to share info and
leverage assets, it mentioned.
• With this collaboration India will become a part of a rising community of prime, unbiased accelerators
throughout Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia.
• Paul Ravindranath, will head Google for Startups Accelerator, India.
About KSUM:
KSUM is the nodal company of the Kerala authorities for entrepreneurship improvement and incubation actions.
Establishment – 2006
CEO – John M Thomas
Assam to Launch 4 Year Mentorship Programme “Project Arohan” to Hone student’s skills
The government of Assam is set to launch a 4-year mentorship programme – “Project Arohan” – to mentor the
students of Assam and to hone their skills.
• Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister(CM) of Assam, met with Anita Rajan, Chief Executive officer CEO) of
Tata STRIVE, the skill development initiative of Tata Trusts, to seek cooperation for Project Arohan.
GOVT SCHEMES
Ministry of Heavy Industries Notifies Phase II of Capital Goods Scheme
Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has notified “Scheme on Enhancement of Competitiveness in the Indian
Capital Goods Sector- Phase-II” for providing assistance to Common Technology Development and Services
Infrastructure with the financial outlay of Rs. 1207 crores.
• Out of the total financial outlay, the budgetary support will be Rs 975 crore and the remaining Rs 232 crore
would be the contribution from industry.
• The objective (phase II) – To enhance the competitiveness of the capital goods sector that contributes at
least 25 percent to the manufacturing sector and also to expand and enlarge the impact created by phase I
pilot scheme.
About the Scheme:
There are six components under the Scheme for Enhancement of Capital Goods Sector Phase II, namely:
• Identification of Technologies through Technology Innovation Portals;
• Setting up of four New Advanced Centres of Excellence and augmentation of Existing Centres of Excellence;
• Promotion of skilling in Capital Goods Sector–creation of Qualification packages for skill levels 6 and above;
• Setting up of four Common Engineering Facility Centres (CEFCs) and augmentation of existing CEFCs;
• Augmentation of Existing Testing and Certification Centres;
• Setting up of ten Industry Accelerators for Technology Development.
Click here to know more about the guidelines.
Ministry of Heavy Industries:
Union Minister – Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey (Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh)
Minister of State – Krishan Pal Gurjar (Faridabad, Haryana)
According to the Centre, the total Funds utilised under the Scheme on ‘Enhancement of Competitiveness in Indian
Capital Goods Sector’ in the financial year 2020-21 is ₹54.22 crore.

Government approves continuation of Scheme of Assistance to NSFs with an outlay of Rs. 1575
crore
The Union Government approved the continuation of Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations
(NSFs) with an outlay of Rs. 1575 crore for 15th Finance Commission Cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26).
Highlights:
i.The Scheme of Assistance to NSFs is the flagship Central Sector Scheme (CSS), that provides financial support to
the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
ii.It is the main source of funding for preparation of national athletic teams for all major National and
International competitions.
• NSFs will use the funds to conduct national coaching camps, procure sports equipment, provide training of
international standards, provide sports science support etc.
iii.The outlay will support the NSFs to train and field national teams for national and international upcoming
competitions including the Commonwealth and Asian Games of 2022, Olympics & Paralympics in 2024 and the
Asian & Commonwealth Games in 2026.
Note – Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) is a scheme under the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports to train
Olympic bound Indian athletes.
About Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports:
Union Minister- Anurag Singh Thakur (Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh)
Minister of State- Nisith Pramanik (Cooch behar, West Bengal)
Ministry of Tourism Included Punaura Dham under PRASHAD Scheme

The Ministry of Tourism has included the destination of Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi in the Ramayana Circuit of
Swadesh Darshan Scheme. The Punaura Dham has been included under the PRASHAD Scheme (Pilgrimage
Rejuvenation And Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive) of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
This was proposed by the State government of Bihar.
Punaura Dham:
i.Punaura Dham, located in Punaura village, is the birthplace of Goddess Sita.
ii.The shrine compound includes a Ram Janaki Temple and a pond called Sita Kund and a Hall.
Projects approved under the PRASHAD Scheme:
i.Thirthankar Circuit in Vaishali- Arrah- Masad- Patna- Rajgir- Pawapuri- Champapuri under Jain theme.
• The development of the circuit was approved in the year 2016-2017 at the cost of Rs 37.20 Crore, as of
today, around Rs 26.11 Crore has been released.
ii.Spiritual Circuit at Sultanganj – Dharamshala – Deoghar under Spiritual theme.
• The development of the circuit was approved in the year 2016-2017 at the cost of Rs 44.76 Crore, as of
today, around Rs 42.52 Crore has been released.
iii.Buddhist circuit:
• The development of the Buddhist circuit and the construction of a convention centre at Bodh Gaya at the cost
of Rs 98.73 Crore was approved in 2016-2017. An amount of Rs. 93.22 Cr. has been released till date.
iv.Gandhi Circuit at Bhitiharwa – Chandrahia – Turkaulia under Rural theme
• The development of the Gandhi Circuit at a cost of Rs. 44.65 Crore was approved in 2017-2018. An amount
of Rs. 35.72 Cr. has been released till date.
v.Pilgrimage Circuit in Mandar Hill & Ang Pradesh under Spiritual theme
• The development of Pilgrimage Circuit at a cost of Rs. 47.53 crore was approved in 2017-18. An amount of
Rs. 38.02 Cr. has been released till date.
About PRASAD scheme:
i.PRASAD scheme (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation And Spiritual Augmentation Drive) was launched in 2014-2015
under the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
ii. The name of the scheme was changed from PRASAD to “National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and
Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)” in October 2017.
iii.The scheme focuses on developing and identifying pilgrimage sites across India for enriching the religious

tourism experience.
Aim:
• To promote the development and promotion of religious tourism in India.
• To integrate pilgrimage destinations in a prioritised, planned and sustainable manner to provide a complete
religious tourism experience.
Government Continues RYSK Scheme for Another 5 years

The Central Government has decided to continue the Scheme of “Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram
(RYSK) for another 5 years from 2021 -22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs.2,710.65 crore rupees.
• Objective – To develop the personality and leadership qualities of the youth and to engage them in nation
building activities.
About RYSK scheme:
i.The RYSK scheme is the flagship Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
ii.Beneficiaries – The youth in the age-group of 15 to 29 years (according to the definition of ‘youth’ in the
National Youth Policy, 2014).
In case of programme components specifically meant for the adolescents, the beneficiaries are in the age-group of
10-19 years.
iii.The RYSK Scheme programme includes Skilling and Handholding Atma Nirbhar Bharat, Combating COVID-19,
Mass Awakening and Action Campaign, Establishing Disaster Risk Reduction and Preparedness Teams and Youth
led Fit India Movement.
Implementation of the scheme:
i.The programmes of RYSK Scheme are implemented through seven sub-schemes: – (i) Nehru Yuva Kendra
Sangathan(NYKS) (ii) National Youth Corps (NYC) (iii) National Programme for Youth & Adolescent Development
(NPYAD) (iv) International Cooperation (v) Youth Hostels (YH) (vi) Assistance to Scouting & Guiding
Organizations (vii) National Young Leaders Programme (NYLP).
• Under the NYKS Sub-Scheme, at present there are about 50.34 Lakh youth volunteers enrolled through 2.57
Lakh Youth Clubs and cover 623 Districts across India.
Grants:
The Ministry of Youth Affairs has been granted the fund of 41.60 crore for creation of the National Yuva
Volunteer Registry under the RYSK Scheme.
Other Facts:
i.The National Youth Parliament is being organised under the RYSK Scheme and the 1st National Youth
Parliament was organised in 2018-19.
ii.The Ministry also collaborates with United Nations (UN) Agencies like UN Volunteers (UNV)/United National
Development Programme (UNDP) and the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) on various youth related
issues.
iii.During 2020-21, the National Youth Parliament was organized in 36 States/UTs with the participation of
2,34,353 youths.
Recent related news:
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports has decided to extend the ‘Khelo India’ scheme from 2021-22 to 2025-26 at
an estimated cost of Rs. 8750 Crore as furnished under the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) memorandum
to the Ministry of Finance
About Ministry for Youth Affairs and Sports:
Union Minister – Anurag Singh Thakur (Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh)
Minister of state – Nisith Pramanik (Coochbehar, West Bengal)
PMKSY Scheme Extended Till FY26 with Rs 4,600 Crore Outlay

Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY), a flagship scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing
Industries(MoFPI) has been extended for a period of 2021-2022 to 2025-2026 (till March 2026). The
government of India(GoI) has allocated Rs 4600 crore for the scheme.

• The GoI launched the Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing
Clusters(SAMPADA) in 2017 with an allocation of Rs 6000 crore.
• In August 2017, the scheme was renamed as PMKSY, incorporating several ongoing schemes of the MoFPI
like Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, Food Safety and Quality Assurance
Infrastructure, Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters, Creation / Expansion of Food Processing and
Preservation Capacities and Operation Greens.
Govt sanctions construction of 60,000 homes under PMAY(U) in 5 States

Central Government of India gave approval to the project proposals for the construction of more than 60,000
houses in 5 states including Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan under
the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U), during the 58th meeting of Central Sanctioning and
Monitoring Committee (CSMC).
• The virtual meeting was chaired by Manoj Joshi, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
Highlights:
i.The meeting discussed the issues pertaining to grounding and construction of houses in different States under
different verticals of PMAY(U).
ii.At Present, the total number of sanctioned houses under PMAY(U) stand at 114.04 Lakhs, of which around
93.25 Lakh have been grounded for construction and around 54.78 Lakh are completed and delivered to the
beneficiaries.
iii.The total investment under the Mission is INR 7.52 Lakh crore, with INR 1.87 Lakh Crore as direct assistance
from the Central Government. So far, Central Assistance amounting to INR 1.21 Lakh Crore has already been
released.
Booklets on ‘Transformative Reforms Towards Housing for All’ & Proceedings of ‘Awas Par Samvaad’
released by Manoj Joshi
A booklet titled ‘Transformative Reforms Towards Housing for All’ was released by Manoj Joshi, Secretary,
MoHUA.
• It covers chapters and illustrations about the transformative journey of PMAY(U).
i.Proceedings of ‘Awas Par Samvaad’ also released. It is the first- of-its-kind initiative in the urban housing
sector and was conducted as an activity under ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ (AKAM).
ii.The booklets on ‘Transformative Reforms Towards Housing for All’ and Proceedings of ‘Awas Par Samvaad’ can
be downloaded from https://pmay-urban.gov.in/
About Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban):
i.It is a flagship Mission of Government of India being implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
(MoHUA).
• It envisions provision of ‘’Housing for All by 2022’’ target.
Launched- 25th June, 2015.
Four components of PMAY-U:
i. In-situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR)
ii.Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS)
iii.Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP)
iv.Beneficiary-led Individual House Construction/ Enhancement (BLC-N/ BLC-E)
Ministry of Education Approved “NILP” a new scheme of Adult Education

The Ministry of Education (MoE) approved a new scheme “New India Literacy Programme (NILP) which is also
known as Nav Bharat Literacy Program” for upcoming 5 years (FY 2022-27) to cover all the aspects of adult
education to align with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
• MoE replaced the term “Adult Education” with “Education for All” to cover non-literates of the age of 15
years and above with the help of “Online Teaching, Learning and Assessment System (OTLAS)” in
collaboration with National Informatics Centre, National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).

• The total estimation of NILP is Rs.1037.90 crore, in which the Central government and State government
share Rs 700 crore and Rs 337.90 crore respectively.
Objective:
The objective of the scheme is to include foundational literacy and numeracy components with necessities of 21st
century such as:
i.Critical life skills (includes financial literacy, digital literacy, commercial skills, health care and awareness, child
care and education, and family welfare).
ii.Vocational skills development (for local employment).
iii.Basic education (includes preparatory, middle, and secondary stage equivalency) and
iv.Continuing education (includes engaging holistic adult education courses in arts, sciences, technology, culture,
sports, and recreation, as well as other topics of interest or use to local learners, such as more advanced material
on critical life skills).
Implementation of the Scheme:
i.The scheme is implemented to registered volunteers and accessed through online mode.
ii.The training, orientation, workshops of volunteers, will be organised through face-to-face mode.
iii.Materials and resources to be provided through digital mode.
iv.Performance Grading Index (PGI) for State/UT and district level will show the performance of States and UTs to
implement the scheme and achievements on yearly basis by weighing both the physical and financial progress
through the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) portal.
v.Priority and Saturation in Literacy- The age cohort of 15-35 will be saturated first followed by ages 35 and
above. Priority will be given in terms of categories to the Girls and women, SC/ST/OBC/Minorities, Persons with
Special Needs (Divyangjans), Marginalized/ Nomadic/ construction workers/ laborers/etc.
About Ministry of Education (MoE):
Cabinet Minister – Dharmedra Pradhan (Constituency – Deogarh, Odisha)
Minister of State – Subhas Sarkar (Constituency – Bankura, West Bengal) , Annpurna Devi, Rajkumar Ranjan
Singh.
Government Extends Capacity Development Scheme till March 31,2026

The Union Cabinet approved for the continuation of the Capacity Development (CD) scheme of Ministry of
Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) till 31st March 2026 or further review, whichever is earlier
with an outlay of Rs. 3,179 crore approved during 15th Finance Commission.
• The scheme comprises the main scheme, capacity development and two sub schemes viz. Support for
Statistical Strengthening (SSS) and Economic Census (EC).
About Capacity Building (CD) Scheme:
The CD scheme is an ongoing Central Sector Scheme (CSS) of the Ministry of Statistics & Programme
Implementation (MoSPI) with an overall objective to augment infrastructural, technical and manpower
resources for enabling availability of credible and timely official statistics.
• The CD scheme contains all statistical and data management activities of MoSPI that generates and
maintains the official statistical system of India.
• The scheme also facilitates evidence-based decision making and for policy planning by the government.
About SSS:
i.Support for Statistical Strengthening (SSS) is an ongoing sub scheme of the CD Scheme, which aims to improve
the statistical capacity and operations of State Statistical Systems for collecting, compiling and disseminating
reliable official statistics.
About Economic Census(EC):
i.Economic Census (EC) sub-scheme conducted periodically gives the complete count of all non-farm economic
establishments located within the geographical boundary of India.
ii.Economic Census provides disaggregated information on various operational and structural variables of all
such establishments of the country.
iii.Its database provides valuable inputs for policy makers to design economic development and employment

generation related strategies in States/Districts.
Additional Info:
i.Ministry is to continue the following newly initiated surveys, namely, Annual Survey of Services Sector
Enterprises (ASSSE), Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) and Time Use Survey (TUS).
ii.The surveys namely ASSSE and ASUSE will bridge the existing data gap for information required in the services
sector and un-incorporated sector, which contributes to a major share in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The TUS
provides data on activities of individuals, particularly time disposition of women, which are not presently
reflected in country’s GDP.
About Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI):
Ministers of state (independent Charges) – Rao Inderjit Singh (Gurugram, Haryana)
Rajasthan Tops Solar Electrification under Saubhagya Scheme

Rajasthan has the maximum households electrified through the ‘solar-based standalone system’ under
the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – ‘Saubhagya’ scheme launched by the Centre in October
2017.
• Aim – To achieve universal household electrification by providing last mile grid connectivity and electricity
connections to all households in rural and all poor households in urban areas.
About Saubhagya scheme:
i.The scheme was launched with an outlay of Rs. 16,320 crore including Gross Budgetary Support of 12,320
crores. Hill states of Himachal Pradesh (HP) and Sikkim including Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir
(J&K) had no beneficiaries under the scheme.
ii.Under the Saubhagya scheme, around 1,23,682 households were electrified in Rajasthan, followed by
Chhattisgarh (65,373), Uttar Pradesh (53,234), Assam (50,754), Bihar (39,100), Maharashtra (30,538), Odisha
(13,735), Madhya Pradesh (12,651).
iii.Under the Saubhagya Scheme, 2.817 crore households were electrified up to 31st March 2021, including
4.16 lakh through solar-based standalone systems.
iv.The provision of solar based standalone systems were also provided across un-electrified households where
grid extension is neither feasible nor cost effective.
About Ministry of Power:
Union Minister – Raj Kumar Singh (Arrah, Bihar)
Minister of state – Krishan Pal (Faridabad, Haryana)
Government Approves Continuation of RUSA Scheme till 31st March 2026

The Government has approved the continuation of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)
scheme till 31st March 2026 with an expenditure of 12,929.16 crore rupees. The new phase of the scheme
would support around 1,600 projects.
• Out of Rs 12,929.16 crores of expenditure, the centre will share Rs 8,120.97 crore and the state will
share Rs 4,808.19 crore.
Highlights:
i.The new phase of the scheme has been designed to implement some of the recommendations of the New
Education Policy (NEP).
ii.It aims to reach out to the unserved & underserved areas, remote and rural areas, difficult geographies,
Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas, North East region (NER), aspirational districts, tier-2 cities and areas with
low Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER).
Features of the New Scheme:
Under the new phase of the scheme, State Governments will support Gender inclusion, Equity Initiatives,
Enhances employability through vocationalisation and skill upgradation.
• Grants will be provided for strengthening both accredited and non-accredited Universities and Colleges
for undertaking various activities including teaching-learning in Indian languages.

• Besides State Universities will be supported for Multi-Disciplinary Education and Research including
support on creation of new Model Degree Colleges.
About RUSA:
i.RUSA is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), operating in mission mode for funding the state government
universities and colleges with an aim at providing strategic funding to eligible state Higher Educational
Institutions to achieve equity, access, and excellence.
• The Ministry of Education (MoE), formerly known as the Ministry of Human Resource
Development (MoHRD) is the nodal agency administering RUSA which was launched in 2013.
ii.The central funding to the scheme will be in the ratio of 60:40 for general category states, 90:10 for special
category states and 100% for union territories.
The Central Government has decided to continue the Scheme of ‘Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran
Karyakram (RYSK)’ for another 5 years from 2021 -22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs.2,710.65 crore
rupees that aims to develop the personality and leadership qualities of the youth and to engage them in
nation building activities.
About Ministry of Education (MoE):
Union Minister – Dharmendra Pradhan (Rajya Sabha Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of State – Annpurna Devi (Kodarma,Jharkhand) ; Dr. Subhas Sarkar (Bankura, West Bengal); Dr.
Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (Inner Manipur, Manipur)
Govt Enters Its 7th Year of Implementing PMFBY & To Launch ‘Meri Policy Mere Hath’-Doorstep
Distribution Drive
The government has successfully entered into the 7th year of implementing Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima
Yojana (PMFBY), since its launch on 18th February 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Sehore,
Madhya Pradesh (MP).PMFBY will launch ‘Meri Policy Mere Hath’ drive.
Launch of ‘Meri Policy Mere Hath’
• The PMFBY scheme will be launching a doorstep distribution drive,‘Meri Policy Mere Hath’ to deliver
crop insurance policies to the farmers in all implementing States in the upcoming Kharif season.
• The doorstep distribution drive aims to ensure all farmers are well aware and equipped with all
information on their policies, land records, the process of claim and grievance redressal under PMFBY.
About PMFBY:
i.PMFBY is a flagship scheme of the Government of India that aims to provide financial support to farmers
suffering from crop loss or damage arising out of natural calamities.
• As on 4th February, 2022, Around 36 crore farmers have been insured under PMFBY, with over INR
1,07,059 crores of claims have already been paid under the scheme.
ii.The PMFBY was revamped in 2020 enabling voluntary participation of the farmers and also included
convenience in reporting crop loss within 72 hours of the occurrence by farmers through Crop Insurance
App, Common service Centre (CSC) or the nearest agriculture officer.
• The claim benefits will be transferred electronically into the bank accounts of the eligible farmer.
iii.The scheme also enables farmers to submit their grievances at the grassroots level through its State or
District Level Grievance Committee.
• The grievances shall be resolved through Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities
such as Crop Insurance Week which is celebrated twice bi-yearly, PMFBY Paathshaala, social media
campaigns, a toll-free helpline and email communication.
Implementing Agency:
The Scheme shall be implemented through a multi-agency framework by selected insurance companies
under the overall guidance & control of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers

Welfare (DAC&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) and the concerned State in
coordination with various other agencies; viz Financial Institutions and Government Departments.
Features of PMFBY:
Some of the key features of the scheme includes, Integration of land records with the PMFBY’s National
Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP), Crop Insurance mobile app, remittance of premium through NCIP, a subsidy
release module and a claim release module through NCIP.
Financial assistance:
The scheme will provide financial assistance to around 85 % of the most vulnerable farmers, who are small
and marginal farmers, enrolled with PMFBY.
Note – The use of drones for crop insurance was announced in the 2022-23 budget which will further
strengthen the integration of technology.PMFBY completed its 6 years of implementation.
Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) has amended the guidelines of Sub-Mission
on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) to provide a 100 percent grant (up to Rs 10 lakh) to Agricultural
Institutes for the purchase of drones for Farming and its allied activities until 31st March 2023.
About Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW):
Union Minister – Narendra Singh Tomar (Morena, Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of state – Sushri Shobha Karandlaje (Udupi Chikmagalur, Karnataka) ;Kailash Choudhary (Barmer,
Rajasthan)
Central Govt approved continuation of Umbrella scheme of BIM from 2021-22 to 2025-26
On February 21, 2022, the Central Government approved the continuation of the Central Sector Umbrella Scheme
of ‘Border Infrastructure and Management (BIM)’ over the 15th Finance Commission Cycle from 2021-22 to
2025-26, at a cost of Rs 13,020 crore.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is responsible for the improvement of BIM.
Key Points:
i.This continuation will strengthen the border infrastructure for improving border management, policing and
guarding the borders.
ii.The BIM scheme will help in the creation of infrastructure such as construction of border fence, border flood
lights, technological solutions, border roads and Border Outposts (BOPs)/Company Operating Bases (COBs) to
secure the Indo-Pakistan, Indo-Bangladesh, Indo-China, Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Myanmar borders.
iii.India’s border with Pakistan is 3,323 km long, including about 775 km of the Line of Control (LoC). The length
of the border is 4,096.7 km with Bangladesh, 3,488 km with China, 1,751 km with Nepal, 699 km with Bhutan,
1,643 km with Myanmar.
About India’s International Land Border:
i.India has 15,106.7 Km of land border and a coastline of 7,516.6 Km including island territories.
ii.In pursuance of Group of Ministers recommendations on Border Management, the Department of Border
Management was created in the Ministry of Home Affairs in January, 2004.
MoW&CD extends PM CARES for Children Scheme till February 28 2022

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoW&CD) extended the time period PM CARES scheme for
Children till 28 February 2022 (earlier, valid till 31 December 2021).
• It covers all children who have not completed 18 years of age at the time of death of their parents, surviving
parent, legal guardian, adoptive parents or single adoptive parent due to COVID 19 pandemic. Starting from
11 March 2020 to 28 Feb 2022.
• PM CARES – Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund.
• Applications can be submitted at https://pmcaresforchildren.in.
Key points:
i.The scheme was launched on May 29, 2021. The MoW&CD is the nodal Ministry entrusted with the

responsibility of facilitating the PM CARES for Children scheme, in collaboration with other Ministries, States and
District Administration.
ii.It provides support through gap funding for ensuring education, health, monthly stipend from the age of 18
years.
• Around worth Rs 10 lakh of aid assistance will be provided to the beneficiary on attaining 23 years of age.
About Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoW&CD):
Cabinet minister- Smriti Zubin Irani(Constituency- Amethi, Uttar Pradesh)
Minister of state-Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai (Constituency- Surendranagar, Gujarat)
GoI Celebrates 3rd Anniversary of PM-KISAN

24th February 2022, marks the 3rd anniversary of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme.
It was launched on 24th February in 2019 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.
• It is 100% Funded by the central government under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
(MoAFW)
• Objective – To provide income support to all landholding farmer’s families irrespective of the land size in
order to meet their expenses related to agriculture and domestic needs.
About PM-KISAN scheme:
i.Under the Scheme, Farmers will receive an amount of Rs.6000 per year in 3 equal instalments of Rs.2000
directly into their bank accounts.
• So far, ~1.80 lakh crore rupees have been transferred directly into the bank accounts of the farmer families
under the PM -KISAN Scheme.
ii.Initially, the Scheme provided income support to all families of Small and Marginal Farmers having cultivable
land up to 2 hectares which was then expanded to cover farmers irrespective of the size of their landholdings.
Budget Allocation 2022-23:
Government of India(GoI) has allocated Rs 68,000 Crore for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)
in the Union Budget 2022-23, which is just 4.6 per cent higher than the Budget Estimates of Rs 65,000 crore for
2021-22 and only 0.74 per cent higher than the revised estimates of Rs 67,500 crore for the current financial
year(FY22).
About Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW):
Union Minister – Narendra Singh Tomar (Constituency – Morena, Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of State (MoS) – Shobha Karandlaje (Constituency – Udupi Chikmagalur, Karnataka) ;Kailash
Choudhary (Constituency – Barmer, Rajasthan)
GoI Approves Continuation of IVFRT Scheme till March 2026

The Government of India (GoI) has approved for the continuation of Immigration Visa Foreigners Registration
Tracking (IVFRT) Scheme till March 31, 2026 with a period of five years which starts from April 1,2021 and its
financial outlay is Rs 1,364.88 crore.
• In order to Modernize and upgrade the Immigration services, “Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration
& Tracking (IVFRT)” has been identified and included as one of the MMPs to be undertaken by the Ministry
of Home Affairs under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).
Aim And Objective of IVFRT:
i.The aim is to provide a secure and integrated service delivery framework that facilitates legitimate travellers by
strengthening national security.
ii.The main objective for the continuation of IVFRT is the modernization and up-gradation of Immigration and
Visa services.
Functions of IVFRT:
i.The project interlink and optimise the immigration, visa issuance, registration of foreigners and tracking of their
movements in India.

Recent Related News:
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar made a 5-day official visit to Israel from 17-21 October 2021 to
strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries. This was S Jaishankar’s 1st visit to Israel as EAM.
About Ministry of External Affairs (MEA):
Union Minister – Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (Rajya Sabha Gujarat)
Minister of State – VMuraleedharan (Rajya sabha – Maharashtra); Meenakashi Lekhi (New Delhi, NCT of Delhi);
Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (Inner Manipur, Manipur)
BANKING & FINANCE NEWS

BANKING NEWS
RBI IN NEWS
Highlights of the Sixth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy of FY21-22
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) 6-members Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had met on 8th, 9th and 10th
February 2022 and released its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy statement for FY22 (April 2021 – March 2022).
Policy Rates:
I.RBI kept the rates under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged (maintains status quo) for the 10th
consecutive time i.e. it decided to continue with the accommodative stance to mitigate the impact of COVID-19
on the economy and to revive and sustain growth on a durable basis.
II.The unchanged Policy rates are as follows:
Category Rates
Policy Rates
Policy Repo Rate 4.00%
Reverse Repo Rate 3.35%
Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate 4.25%
Bank Rate 4.25%
Reserve Ratios
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) 4.00%
Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) 18.00%
III.About Monetary Policy Stances:
Monetary Policy Stances of RBI are classified into Dovish, Hawkish, Accommodative, and Neutral.
i.Hawkish stance: This monetary policy stance supports high interest rates to keep inflation in check. Because of
the high interest rates, borrowing i.e. taking loans from banks and other sources will be reduced.
ii.Dovish: It is a stance opposite to the Hawkish stance and this monetary policy stance involves low-interest
rates. Low-Interest Rates would induce the consumers to take loans from Banks.
iii.Accommodative: This stance will be used to allow the money supply to rise in line with national income and
the demand for money.
• RBI will use the accommodative stance to expand the overall money supply to boost the economy when the
economic growth is slowing down.
iv.Neutral: In this stance, the Key Policy Rates are neither increased or decreased.
a.MPC’s Assessments on growth and inflation:
-Growth
i.India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection for FY23 is projected at 7.8 percent with 17.2
percent at Q1; 7.0 percent at Q2; 4.3 percent at Q3; and 4.5 percent at Q4.

ii.NSO Data: As per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on January 7, 2022 India’s real GDP
growth for FY22 was placed at 9.2 percent. The NSO also revised real GDP growth for FY21 to (-) 6.6 percent from
the provisional estimates of (-) 7.3 percent.
iii.India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by US$ 55 billion in FY22 (up to February 4, 2022) to US$ 632
billion.
-Inflation
i.Consumer Price Index (CPI)/Retail inflation was projected at 5.3 percent in FY22, with 5.7 percent in Q4.
ii.CPI inflation for FY23 is projected at 4.5 percent with 4.9 percent at Q1 ,5.0 percent at Q2, 4.0 percent at Q3,
and 4.2 percent at Q4.
iii.The government retained the inflation medium-term target at 4 percent with the lower and upper tolerance
levels of 2 percent and 6 percent, i.e. within a band of +/- 2 percent.
Member of MPC:
The MPC meeting was headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das the other 5 members of the committee include,
Shashanka Bhide, Ashima Goyal, Prof. Jayanth R. Varma, Mridul K. Saggar, and Michael Debabrata Patra
Global Economy:
In the January 2022 World Economic Outlook of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised the global output
and trade growth projections for 2022 to 4.4 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively (down from 4.9 percent and
6.7 percent previously).
b.MPC’s Measures on Payment and Settlement Systems:
-Enhancement of the Cap under e-RUPI from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh
Background:
i.e-RUPI(Prepaid digital Vouchers using UPI), the ‘person and purpose-specific’ one-time cashless and
contactless voucher-based prepaid electronic digital payment solution was developed by the National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) (run on its UPI (Unified Payments Interface) platform) and launched in August
2021 to strengthen the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and the financial inclusion of unbanked citizens. Click here
to know more
ii.The voucher which could be used by individuals, corporates or governments has the limit of Rs 10,000 per
voucher and each voucher can be used / redeemed only once.
Note – At present, the voucher is used largely for Covid-19 vaccination purposes.
Current Enhancement:
Currently, RBI has proposed to increase the limit on amount for e-RUPI vouchers issued by Governments to Rs
1,00,000 per voucher and allow use of the voucher multiple times (until the amount of the voucher is completely
redeemed).
-Enhancing NACH Mandate Limit for TReDS Settlements
Background:
i.Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS), which facilitates discounting / financing of receivables of
MSMEs, was launched by the RBI to support the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector.
ii.TReDS settlements are carried out through mandates in the National Automated Clearing House (NACH)
system. Currently, the amount of the NACH mandate is capped at Rs 1 crore.
iii.To encourage innovation and competition through increased participation, ‘on-tap’ authorisation of TReDS
operators was introduced by RBI in October 2019.
Current Extension:
RBI has proposed to increase the National Automated Clearing House (NACH) mandate limit for settlements
related to the invoice discounting mechanism for MSMEs through TReDS to Rs 3 crore from Rs 1 crore to
enhance the ease of financing and the growing liquidity requirements of MSMEs.
Note – MSME sector contributes 30 percent to India’s GDP and employs over 110 million people.
c.Liquidity Measures undertaken by RBI:
-Extension of Term Liquidity Facility of Rs 50,000 crore till June 30, 2022
RBI has proposed to extend the term-liquidity facility of Rs 50,000 crore by three months till June 30, 2022. The
facility was offered in May 2021 to emergency health services.

Background:
i.In May 2021, RBI announced an on-tap liquidity window of Rs 50,000 crore with 3 years of maturity and at repo
rate till March 31, 2022 (End of FY22) under the priority sector lending classification.
ii.Banks could lend under this scheme for vaccine manufacturers; importers of vaccines and COVID-19 related
drugs manufacturers and suppliers of oxygen and ventilators; patients for treatment etc.
iii.To deliver loans to borrowers under this scheme banks need to create a COVID-19 loan book and park their
surplus liquidity in the book with the RBI under the reverse repo window at a rate that is 25 bps lower than the
repo rate or, 40 bps higher than the reverse repo rate.
Note – Banks have deployed their own funds to the tune of Rs 9,654 crore (up to February 4, 2022) towards
COVID-19 related emergency health services.
-Extension of On-tap Liquidity Window for Contact-intensive Sectors
RBI has proposed to extend the liquidity window of Rs 15,000 crore for certain contact-intensive sectors by
three months i.e. up to June 30, 2022.
Background:
i.In June 2021, RBI opened a separate liquidity window of Rs 15,000 crore with tenors of up to 3 years at the repo
rate till March 31, 2022 – for certain contact-intensive sectors.
ii.Banks were eligible to park their surplus liquidity up to the size of the COVID-19 loan book, created under this
scheme with the RBI. The amount in this COVID-19 loan book attracted a rate which is 25 bps lower than the repo
rate or, 40 bps higher than the reverse repo rate.
Note – Banks have deployed their own funds to the tune of Rs 5,041 crore (up to February 4, 2022) to the entities
under contact intensive sector.
d.Other Measures undertaken by RBI:
-Enhancement of Limits under VRR to Rs 2.50 lakh crore
RBI has increased the investment limit under the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR) for foreign portfolio
investors (FPIs) from 1.5 lakh crore to Rs 2.50 lakh crore (increased by Rs 1 lakh crore) with effect from April 1,
2022.
Background:
i.In March 2019, RBI has introduced the scheme of VRR to encourage FPIs to undertake long-term investments in
Indian debt markets (in government and corporate debt securities).
ii.Objective: The VRR was formed with an objective to provide a separate channel, broadly free of macro-
prudential controls, to FPIs with long-term investment horizons.
iii.Initially, the aggregate investment limit was Rs 40,000 crores for VRR-Govt and Rs 35,000 crores for VRR-Corp.
iv.In January 2020, the investment limit under VRR increased to Rs 1,50,000 crores (1.5lakh crores).
-CDS: Guidelines for Credit Default Swaps (CDS) were last issued in January 2013 and they were reviewed and
draft guidelines were issued on February 16, 2021. Currently, the final Directions are issued.
-Permitting Banks to deal in Foreign Currency Settled – Rupee Derivatives Market
i.RBI has decided to allow banks in India to undertake transactions in the offshore Foreign Currency Settled-
Overnight Indexed Swap (FCS-OIS) market with non-residents and other market makers.
ii.Objective: To reduce the segmentation between the onshore and offshore markets, enable more efficient price
discovery and further deepen the interest rate derivatives market in India.
iii.Banks could participate through their branches in India, their foreign branches or through their IFSC
(International Financial Services Centres) Banking Units.
Existing Provisions:
i.In June 2019, Banks in India have already been permitted to offer Rupee interest rate derivatives such as OIS to
non-residents.
ii.Overseas entities were also allowed to undertake OIS transactions for purposes other than hedging with banks
in India either directly or on a back-to-back basis through a foreign branch/parent/group entity (foreign
counterpart) of the market-maker in India.

-Master Direction:
RBI proposes to issue master directions for comments of stakeholders and members of the public – (i) Reserve
Bank of India (IT Outsourcing) Directions, 2022; and (ii) Reserve Bank of India (Information Technology
Governance, Risk, Controls and Assurance Practices) Directions, 2022.
On January 20, 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conducted an Overnight variable rate repo (VRR) auction for
Rs 50,000 crore under liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) to infuse liquidity, instead of its usual fixed-rate
overnight reverse repo window, as Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection tightened liquidity this week.
About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):
Establishment– April 1, 1935
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Governor– Shaktikanta Das
Deputy Governors– Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao, T. Rabi Sankar.
RBI: Bank’s Non-food Credit Growth Increased to 9.3% in December 2021

As per the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data on ‘Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit – December 2021’ the
bank’s non-food credit registered a growth of 9.3 percent (on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis) in December 2021 as
compared to 6.6 percent in December 2020.
• The improvement in credit growth is mainly due to the credit growth in all 4 segments such as agriculture
and allied activities, industry, services and personal loans.
Highlights of the sectoral deployment of bank credit:
i.Credit to Agriculture and Allied activities continued to perform well, registering a robust growth of 14.5 percent
in December 2021 as compared to 7.7 per cent in December 2020.
ii.Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit – December 2021:
Sector December 2021 December 2020
S.no
1 Gross Bank Credit (II + III) 9.20% 6.60%
2 II.Food Credit -4.20% 10.80%
3 III. Non-food Credit 9.30% 6.60%
4 Agriculture and Allied Activities 14.50% 7.70%
5 Industry 7.60% 0.40%
a.Micro and Small 20.50% 1.30%
b.Medium 86.50% 17.10%
c.Large 1.30% -0.50%
6 Services 10.80% 8.00%
a. Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) 13.40% 3.70%
7 Personal Loans 14.30% 8.80%

Key Points:
i.Within the industry, credit growth to all engineering, chemicals & chemical products, infrastructure, mining &
quarrying, petroleum, coal product & nuclear fuels, textiles and wood & wood products, etc, accelerated in
December 2021 as compared to December 2020.
ii.Credit growth to basic metal & metal products, cement & cement products, construction, food processing, glass
& glassware, paper & paper products, etc, have contracted in December 2021 as compared to December 2020.
iii.Housing remained the prime driver of overall growth in the personal loans segment.
As per the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) annual report namely ‘State Finances: A Study of Budgets of 2021-22’
combined debt-to-GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio of states is expected to remain at 31 percent by end-March
2022, which is worryingly higher than the target of 20 percent to be achieved by 2022-23 (FY23).
Establishment – 1st April 1935
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
Governor – Shaktikanta Das
Deputy Governors – Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao, T. Rabi Sankar
RBI Cancels Licence of Maharashtra-Based Independence Co-operative Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has cancelled the licence of Independence Co-operative Bank Limited in
Nashik, Maharashtra and ceases to carry on banking business, with effect from 3rd February 2022, as the bank
does not have adequate capital and earning prospects to pay its present depositors in full.
Causes for Cancellation:
i.The bank does not comply with the provisions of Section 11(1) and Section 22 (3) (d) read with Section 56 of the
Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
ii.The bank has failed to comply with the requirements of Sections 22(3) (a), 22 (3) (b), 22(3)(c), 22(3) (d) and
22(3)(e) read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949;
iii.The continuance of the bank is prejudicial to the interests of its depositors.
• Following the cancellation of the licence, the bank is prohibited from conducting the ‘banking’ business
(including acceptance of deposits and repayment of deposits) as defined in Section 5(b) read with Section
56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
Credit issue to the Bank’s Depositors (Under DICGC Act, 1961):
i.On liquidation, every depositor will receive deposit insurance claim amount of his/her deposits up to a
monetary ceiling of Rs. 5,00,000 (Rupees Five lakh only) from Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee
Corporation (DICGC) subject to the provisions of the DICGC Act, 1961.
ii.As on January 27, 2022, DICGC has disbursed Rs. 2.36 crore of the total insured deposits under the provisions
of Section 18A of the DICGC Act,1961 based on the willingness received from the concerned depositors of the
bank.
What is Liquidation?
It is the process of converting a company’s assets into cash and using those funds to repay the company’s debts as
much as possible.
About Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC):
Establishment – July 15, 1978
Chairman – M. D. Patra
Government Undergoes Switch Operation of Rs.1,19,701 Crore

The Government of India (GOI) has done a conversion switch transaction of its securities with the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) on January 28, 2022 for an amount of Rs. 1,19,701 crore (face value).
• Objective – The GOI undertakes switch operations with RBI and also with market participants to smoothen
the liability profile as well as for market development.

About the Transaction:
i.The transaction involved buying back securities that are being matured in FY 2022-23, FY 2023-24 and FY
2024-25 from the RBI and also issuing fresh securities for equivalent market value, to make the transaction cash
neutral.
• The transactions were carried out using Financial Benchmarks India Private Limited (FBIL) prices as on
January 28, 2022.
What is GoI’s switch/conversion transaction?
The switch transactions is made with an objective of smoothening the liabilities (money) that should be given by
the banks to the individual or an organisation using Financial Benchmarks India Private Limited
About Reserve Bank of India:
Establishment – 1st April 1935 (under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934)
Deputy Governors – Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, M.Rajeshwar Rao, T.Rabi Sankar
Indian Company’s ECB Jumps 19 Percent to USD 23.28 Billion in 9M FY22

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, the overseas borrowings of Indian companies stood at USD
23.28 billion in the first 3 quarters of the FY22 (April, 2021 -December, 2021) as against USD 19.53 billion
during FY21 (April-December, 2020) and had jumped over 19 percent in the first nine months of the current
fiscal (9MFY22).
Highlights:
i.ECBs for the on-lending or sub-lending in the 1st 9MFY22 (April 2021 to December 2021) stood at USD 6.72
billion which was higher than USD 6.67 billion raised by the non-banking lenders in FY21.
ii.ECBs for refinancing of rupee loans (USD 3.70 billion), modernisation (USD 1.67 billion), capital goods Import
(USD 1.54 billion) and rupee expenditure (USD 976 million) in 1st 9MFY22 have exceeded the entire FY20.
About Growth:
i.The total credit growth of Banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) will improve by 9 percent to
11 percent in fiscal 2023 with the broad-based recovery in the economy and support of both retail and wholesale
verticals.
ii.The current increase in overseas borrowing is mainly due to low interest rate advantage and it would taper
down once the United States Federal Reserve (US Fed Reserve) raises the rate.
• The growth happens when domestic companies interest increases towards low-cost overseas funds amid
pick up in economic activity and forthcoming interest rate hike by the (US Fed Reserve).
About External Commercial Borrowings (ECB):
An external commercial borrowing (ECB) refers to the loans taken from non-resident lenders i.e. the foreign
companies with a minimum average maturity (3 years) which can be availed through the automatic or the
approval route.
• ECBs include commercial bank loans, buyers’ credit, suppliers’ credit, securitized instruments such as
floating rate notes and fixed rate bonds etc,.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued two draft documents viz, Foreign Exchange Management (FEM) (Non-
debt Instruments – Overseas Investment (OI)) Rules, 2021 and FEM (OI) Regulations, 2021 by rationalising the
existing provisions that are governing overseas investment.

RBI Extends Restrictions on Karnataka’s Millath Co-Operative Bank till May 7, 2022
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the restrictions on Millath Co-Operative Bank, Devangere
(Karnataka) by another three months, from February 8 2022 to May 7, 2022.
• According to the RBI, the other terms and conditions of the directives will remain unchanged during the
latest three-month extension.
Highlights:
i.As per the directions issued first on May 10, 2019, withdrawals were capped at Rs 1,000 from any account. The
directions have been periodically extended till now without major change.
ii.The directions also include no new loans, new investments or taking on any new liabilities, including borrowing
of funds or paying any other liabilities can take place without RBI approval.
iii.RBI has passed these restrictions, in the exercise of its powers conferred on it by sub-section (1) of Section 35A
and Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act 1949.
Governor- Shaktikanta Das
Headquarters- Mumbai, Maharashtra
Founded- 1 April 1935
RBI Extends Deadline for NBFCS to meet new NPA Upgradation Norms till September 2022
On February 15, 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the deadline for non-banking financial
companies (NBFCs) to comply with new Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) classification norms (the norms are
issued by RBI in November 2021) to September 2022 from the earlier deadline of March 2022.
• Background: As per the ‘Prudential norms on Income Recognition, Asset Classification and Provisioning
pertaining to Advances – Clarifications’, which was issued by RBI on November 15, 2021, the loan accounts
that are classified as NPAs could be upgraded as ‘standard’ asset only if entire arrears of interest and
principal are paid by the borrower.
• Currently, the NBFCs are provided with a timeline till September 2022 to implement the above provision.
RBI’s Clarification for Certain Provisions:
i.Definition of ‘out of order’:
a.Existing Clarification provided by RBI :
Cash credit/Overdraft (CC/OD) account is classified as NPA if it is ‘out of order’. An account will be treated as ‘out
of order’ under the following 3 conditions.
• The outstanding balance in the CC/OD account remains continuously in excess of the sanctioned
limit/drawing power for 90 days, (or)
• The outstanding balance in the CC/OD account is less than the sanctioned limit/drawing power but there are
no credits continuously for 90 days, (or)
• The outstanding balance in the CC/OD account is less than the sanctioned limit/drawing power but credits
are not enough to cover the interest debited during the previous 90 days period.
b.Current Clarification:
• Currently, RBI has clarified that, the definition of ‘out of order’ as applicable to all loan products being
offered as an OD facility, including those not meant for business purposes and/or which entail interest
repayments as the only credits.
• The ‘90 days period’ for determination of ‘out of order’ status of a CC/OD account should be inclusive of the
day for which the day-end process is being run.
ii.RBI clarified that if the borrowers have more than one credit facility from a lending institution then the loans
classified as NPA will be upgraded to standard category only if all dues are paid.
iii.RBI does not make any changes to the requirements related to reporting of information to CRILC (Central
Repository of Information on Large Credits).
iv.The November 2021 norms does not interfere with the extant guidelines on implementation of Indian
Accounting Standards (Ind AS) by NBFCs.

Note – Under the Ind-AS guidelines that are being followed by NBFCs, the delinquent loans are classified as gross
stage-1 (loans overdue by up to 30 days), gross stage-2 (loans overdue between 31 and 89 days) and gross stage-
3 (loans overdue for over 90 days). There is no categorisation of standard and bad loans for NBFCs under this
system.
NPAs Classification:
i.For all categories of NBFCs, the current NPA classification norm was changed to the ‘overdue period of more
than 90 days’ i.e. debt is classified as non-performing when loan payments have not been made for a period of 90
days.
ii.However, in many NBFCs, the NPA classification is made after the end of 90 or 180 days.
On December 28, 2021, the RBI released the ‘Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2020-21’, which
presents the performance of the banking sector, including co-operative banks, and NBFCs during FY21 and FY22
(till December 2021).
The gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio of SCBs (Scheduled Commercial Banks) declined from 8.2 percent
at end of March 2020 to 6.9 percent at end-September 2021.
Goldhub:RBI Emerges 2nd Largest Buyer of Gold in 2021;Central Bank of Thailand Tops
According to Goldhub, an official website of the World Gold Council that maintains all the data regarding
precious metal, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has emerged as the 2nd largest buyer of Gold among the
world’s Central Banks in 2021.RBI bought 77.5 metric tonnes in 2021.
• As per Goldhub, India’s official gold reserves is the 9th largest in the world.
Highlights:
i.At the end of December 2021, RBI gold reserves stood at 754.1 tonnes, which amounts to 6.22 per cent of India’s
forex reserves. As per RBI data, India’s total reserves at the end of December 31, 2021 stood at $633.61 billion,
including gold reserves worth $39.405 billion.
ii.Among the world banks, the Central Bank of Thailand is the largest buyer in 2021 that bought 90 metric
tonnes of gold, Hungary bought 63 tonnes, tripling its gold reserves.
Note- Goldhub is the official website of World Gold Council that maintains all the data regarding precious
metal(Gold).
About World Gold Council:
Headquarters – London, United Kingdom
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – David Tait
RBI cancels licence of Maharashtra’s Mantha Urban Cooperative Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the licence of Mantha Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd., Mantha,
District Jalna, Maharashtra. In this regard, the bank ceases to carry on banking business w.e.f. February 16, 2022
to safeguard the interests of its depositors.
• The apex bank also prohibited the cooperative bank from conducting the business of ‘banking’ which
includes acceptance of deposits and repayment of deposits as defined in Section 5(b) read with Section 56 of
the Banking Regulation (BR) Act, 1949 with immediate effect.
Reason behind closing of Mantha Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd.
i.The bank does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. It does not comply with the provisions of
section 11(1) and section 22 (3) (d) read with section 56 of the BR, 1949.
ii.It also failed to comply with the requirements of section 22(3) (a), 22 (3) (b), 22(3)(c), 22(3) (d) and 22(3)(e)
read with section 56 of the BR Act, 1949.

Point to be noted:
i.On liquidation, every depositor is entitled to receive deposit insurance claim amount of his/her deposits up to a
monetary ceiling of Rs 5,00,000/- (Rupees Five lakh only) from Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee
Corporation (DICGC) subject to the provisions of the DICGC Act, 1961.
ii.As per the data submitted by the bank, more than 99% of the depositors are entitled to receive full amount of
their deposits from DICGC.As on January 27, 2022, DICGC has sanctioned ₹39.95 crore of the total insured
deposits under the provisions of Section 18A of the DICGC Act, 1961 based on the willingness received from the
concerned depositors of the bank.
Establishment– April 1, 1935
Governor– Shaktikanta Das
Deputy Governors– Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao, T. Rabi Sankar
RBI Directed NBFCs to Implement CFSS by September 2025

On 23rd February 2022 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directed certain Non-Banking Financial
Companies (NBFCs) to mandatorily implement ‘Core Financial Services Solution (CFSS)’ by 30th September
2025.
• Background: In October 2021, RBI introduced the ‘Scale Based Regulation’ (SBR) framework for NBFCs and
mandated NBFCs with 10 and more branches to adopt Core Banking Solution with effect from October 01,
2022.
Timeline for implementation of CFSS:
i.As per the framework, currently RBI has directed the NBFCs – Middle Layer and NBFCs – Upper Layer with 10
and more ‘fixed point service delivery units’ as on 1st October 2022 to implement CFSS (similar to the Core
Banking Solution (CBS) adopted by banks) on or before September 30, 2025.
• Special Timeline for NBFC-Upper Layer: NBFC – Upper Layer should implement CFSS at least in 70
percent of ‘fixed point service delivery units’ on or before September 30, 2024.
ii.The implementation of CFSS is not mandatory in NBFC – Base Layer and NBFC – Middle and Upper Layers with
fewer than 10 fixed point service delivery units.
About Core Financial Services Solution (CFSS):
CFSS shall provide customer interface in digital offerings and transactions relating to products and services by
enabling integration of NBFCs’ functions, providing centralised databases and generating suitable MIS for both
internal purposes and regulatory reporting.
• A quarterly progress report on implementation of CFSS should be submitted by the concerned NBFCs to the
Senior Supervisory Manager (SSM) Office of RBI (from quarter ending 31st March 31, 2023).
What is a fixed point service delivery unit?
i.A fixed point service delivery unit is a place of operation from where the business activity of non-banking
financial intermediation is carried out by a NBFCs through its own staff or by outsourcing and it functions under
the administrative control of the NBFC concerned.
ii.Administrative Offices and Back Offices which do not have any direct interface with customers will not be
considered as a ‘Fixed point service delivery unit’.
Note – The above directions are issued by RBI under Sections 45L and 45M of RBI Act,1934.
About NBFC- Middle Layer and Upper Layer:
i.NBFC-Middle Layer: It includes all deposit taking NBFCs (NBFC-Ds), irrespective of asset size and Non-deposit
taking NBFCs with Rs.1000 crore and above as asset size.
• Additionally, NBFCs undertaking activities, like standalone primary dealers, infrastructure debt fund, core
investment companies, housing finance companies, infrastructure finance companies, also come under the
Middle Layer.
ii.The NBFC – Upper Layer includes NBFCs that are specifically identified by RBI.

In October 2021, RBI introduced a revised regulatory framework for non- banking finance companies (NBFCs)
named ‘Scale Based Regulation (SBR) to regulate the NBFCs based on their size, activity, complexity and
interconnectedness within the financial sector.
Deputy Governors – T. Rabi Sankar, M. Rajeshwar Rao, Michael Debabrata Patra, Mahesh Kumar Jain
RBI cancels CoR of PC Financial Services operating ‘Cashbean’ app

On 24 February 2022, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) canceled the certificate of registration (CoR) issued to PC
Financial Services Private Limited, Delhi due to increase in complaints against usurious rate of interest and
unfair recovery practices being followed by several digital lenders.
• The action was taken under Section 45-IA (6) (iv) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
• The PC Financial Services Private Limited used to carry out its lending operations through an app
called Cashbean.
Highlights:
i.It is the first instance when such regulatory action taken against an entity
ii.It is now debarred from transacting the business of a Non-Banking Financial Institution (NBFI) under RBI Act,
1934.
iii.The company has also violated Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and was also found to be charging usurious
rates of interest and other charges to its borrowers in an illegal manner. It was also using the RBI and the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) logos for recovery from borrowers in violation of the Fair Practices Code.
iv.Earlier the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) seized bank gateway funds worth Rs 288 crore belonging to
PC Financial Services vide three seizure orders issued under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange
Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).
Governor-Shaktikanta Das
Founded-1 April 1935
About PC Financial Services Private Limited:
Directors- Shishir Shah, Vaibhav Mishra, Raghuvir Gakhar
Headquarters- Gurugram, Haryana
LOANS ISSUED BY BANKS

ADB Lends Record USD 4.6 Billion Loans to India in 2021
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided a record USD 4.6 billion in sovereign lending to India in 2021 for
17 loans, including USD 1.8 billion towards coronavirus (COVID-19) response.
• Out of 1.8 billion COVID-19-related assistance, USD 1.5 billion was towards vaccine procurement and USD
300 million was to strengthen primary health care (PHC) in urban areas for future preparedness.
About ADB funding:
i.The ADB’s regular funding programme to India is made to support transport, urban development, finance,
agriculture, and skills building.
ii.ADB adopts a multidisciplinary approach and incorporates Finance Plus elements based on its comparative
advantage, knowledge base and value addition to maximise the development impact of its operations.
• ADB has extended a USD 2.2-billion support for 12 state projects, committed to its geographically balanced
programming and its strategic engagement includes knowledge support to navigate emerging development
challenges.

Major Fundings:
i.The major ADB’s funding for India in 2021 included the project portfolio of transforming cities
into economically vibrant and sustainable communities.
• This included India’s national urban flagship missions to enhance access to water, sanitation, and
affordable housing and promote performance-based fiscal transfer to urban local bodies; enhancing mobility
through metro network expansion in Bengaluru; and strengthening flood-risk management in Chennai’s
urban areas.
• Funding towards the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme will improve the
manufacturing competitiveness and the ADB-supported Chennai-Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor
connectivity improvement project will stimulate industrial development.
Other projects:
ADB’s project funding also includes rural connectivity improvement, agribusiness network development, the
establishment of a skills university to promote industry-aligned skills, and capacity building for project design.
India’s Portfolio:
i.The ADB’s India portfolio comprised 69 projects worth USD 15.5 billion as of 31st December 2021.
ii.ADB also committed USD 274 million to private sector projects in 2021 for COVID-19 support, highways
improvement, energy efficiency, affordable housing and increasing farmer incomes.
iii.In future, ADB will assist India’s fast, green and inclusive economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by
expanding investments in health and education; micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs); public
sector management and climate initiatives.
Recent related News:
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has trimmed the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecasts for developing
Asia for 2021-2022 in its Asian Development Outlook Supplement Report of December 2021, to 7 percent, down
from its earlier projection of 7.1 percent (September 2021), and 2022 growth to 5.3 percent, down from 5.4
percent.
About Asian Development Bank (ADB):
Established – 1966
Headquarters – Manila, Philippines
President – Masatsugu Asakawa
ADB Country Director for India – Takeo Konishi
Member Countries – 68 members (49 from Asia and Pacific regions)
World Bank, GOI signed USD 115 million loan agreement for REWARD Project
The Government of India (GoI), and the World Bank signed loan agreements of USD 115 million to
implement the “Rejuvenating Watersheds for Agricultural Resilience through Innovative
Development” (REWARD) Project in the states of Karnataka and Odisha with the support of the respective
governments.
Financial structure-
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD),lending arm of World Bank
Group financing will support the $115 million loan has a maturity of 15 years, including a grace period of 4.5
years.
• Karnataka with $60 million ,
• Odisha with $49 million , and the remaining $6 million will be for the central government’s Department
of Land Resources.
REWARD Project:
This project is an initiative of the Department of Land Resources (DoLR), Ministry of Rural Development
(MoRD) and World Bank. It is proposed as a 6 years project, from 2021 to 2026 and one of the
largest watershed management programs in the world.
Objectives:
• To improve land and water conservation and climate resilience in selected watersheds

• To strengthen capacities of national and state institutions to deliver more effective science-based
watershed development programs in the country.
i.It will be funded in 70:30 proportion, 70% assistance will be provided by the World Bank and 30% by the
State Governments.
ii.The participating states are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
iii.The project is also supporting thePrime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojna (Watershed Development
Component) (WDC-PMKSY) with DoLR.
Key points:
i.The Government of India committed to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 and
doubling farmers’ income by 2023.
Note- In the 14th Session of the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD), India committed to restoration of 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 to
achieve an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
ii.The introduction of diverse agro-based activities, which help to provide sustainable livelihoods to the
people residing in the watershed area.
About World Bank:
Headquarters- Washington, D.C. United States
President– David Malpass
Founded-1944
Motto- ‘’Working for a World Free of Poverty’’
IIFL Home Finance signs $68-million loan agreement with ADB for affordable Green Housing
IIFL Home Finance Limited (IIFL HFL), a 100% subsidiary of IIFL Finance Limited, signed a loan agreement of
USD 68 million (INR ~507 Crore) with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide the financial support for
affordable green housing for lower-income women borrowers in India.
What is Green Housing?
It mainly focuses on the efficient use of “energy, water, and building materials. These houses are designed to be
environmentally more sustainable and climate resilient.
Key points:
i.The funding pattern includes up to USD 58 million direct loan by the ADB and a USD 10 million concessional
loan by the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector (CFPS) in Asia.
ii.Under the ADB’s loan, 80% will be lended to women borrowers or co-borrowers and 20% will be allocated to
financing mortgages for green certified homes for low-income households.
iii.The CFPS loan will support green housing portfolio projects of IIFL and also provide assistance to incentivizing
developers to adopt green certification standards in building climate resilient affordable housing.
About IIFL Finance Limited (IIFL):
Chairman- Nirmal Jain
Executive Director & CEO- Monu Ratra
Founded-1995
Headquarters- Gurugram, Haryana
About Asian Development Bank (ADB):
In 2020, ADB appointed Former Election Commissioner of India (2018-20) Ashok Lavasa as its vice-president
(V-P) for private sector operations and public-private partnerships.
Headquarters- Mandaluyong, Manilla, Philippines
President-Masatsugu Asakawa (Japan)
Founded-1966

AGREEMENTS & MoUs SIGNED
SBI & Tata Power Partners for Financing Solar Projects
On 31 January 2022 State Bank of India (SBI) signed an agreement with Tata Power Solar Systems for financing
solar projects.
• SBI has also set up a dedicated centralised processing cell – ‘Surya Shakti Cell’, at the Ballard Estate
in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• Objective – To provide a new direction to solar projects financing in India.
About the partnership:
i.The partnership is in line with the global objectives of the Conference of Parties 26 (COP26) Agreement in
reducing the carbon footprint.
ii.The Surya Shakti cell will process all the loan applications for solar projects (with a capacity of up to 1
MegaWatt) sourced from across India for solar installation by business entities and households.
iii.SBI aims to provide an end-to-end digital platform to loan applicants for financing solar projects.
• SBI will also offer a complete solution at competitive rates for solar projects.
About State Bank of India (SBI):
Establishment – 1 July, 1955
Managing Director (MD) – C.S. Setty, Ashwani Bhatia, Swaminathan.J, Ashwini Kumar Tewari
Chairman – Dinesh Kumar Khara
EXIM Bank Signed USD 500m LoC Agreement with Sri Lanka
In February 2022, the Export Import (Exim) Bank of India signed a USD 500 million Line of Credit
(LoC) agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka to support the country to overcome its current fuel
shortages. The LoC will last for 1 year at a ‘nominal’ interest rate, of under 2 percent.
Financial Support from India:
i.The emergency LoC financial support was announced after the virtual meeting between the External Affairs
Minister of India S Jaishankar and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa, which was held on January 15,
2022.
ii.In January 2022 the Indian government announced a billion-dollar assistance package in addition to other
balance of payment support to Sri Lanka for their economic crisis. On January 13, 2022, India extended a USD 400
million currency swap to Sri Lanka.
iii.India also postponed USD 500 million due for settlement to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), to support the
island nation in coping with its dollar crunch.
Economic crisis in Sri Lanka:
i.The island nation is currently struggling with a shortage of almost all essentials, due to the lack of dollars to pay
for the imports.
ii.The Sri Lankan government might invite bids from Indian suppliers to finalise its import. In addition to the
dollar crisis, the country is also suffering from the inability to import fuel, leading to frequent reports of
shortages, as well as power failures.
Note – Recently, Sri Lanka has decided to purchase 40,000 metric tonnes of petrol and 40,000 metric tonnes of
diesel from the Indian Oil Corporation (India) to face the fuel and energy crisis.
About Export Import (EXIM) Bank of India:
Managing Director – Harsha Bangari
Kotak General Insurance ties up with CARS24 to provide Motor Insurance for Used Cars
Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Company Limited signed an agreement with Cars24 Financial Services Private
Limited (CARS24 Financial Services) to provide motor insurance services to used car buyers.

Key points:
i.Under the partnership, used car buyers from Cars24 will be directly provided with Kotak General Insurance’s
comprehensive motor insurance plans.
ii.The partnership will provide a trustworthy and faster way to avail motor insurance with a fully digital
insurance process.
iii.Customers can also avail cashless claims servicing at Kotak General Insurance’s platform of garages and enable
convenient claim settlement services.
About Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Company Ltd:
MD & CEO- Suresh Agarwal
About Cars24 Financial Services Private Limited:
i.CARS24 Financial Services Private Limited is a professionally managed Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC)
registered with the Reserve Bank of India(RBI)
ii.It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CARS24 Services Private Limited.
Headquarters– Gurugram, Haryana
SIDBI inks MoU with CDAC to collaborates in Cyber Security & allied Sectors
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), a premier R&D (Research and Development)
organization under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), to boost collaboration in
Cyber Security and Allied sectors.
What is in the MoU?
Under the agreement both SIDBI and C-DAC will collaborate to explore innovation and use of emerging
technologies in the areas of Cyber Security, AI (Artificial Intelligence)/ Machine Learning (ML), block chain, etc.
and related training and capacity building aspects in the Banking Sector.
Note – In August 2021, SIDBI launched ‘Digital Prayaas’ an app-based digital lending platform to facilitate loans
to entrepreneurs from low-income groups.
Signatories:
The agreement was signed between Sudatta Mandal, Deputy Managing Director, SIDBI, and Magesh E, Executive
Director, C-DAC.
About Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI):
It acts as the Principal Financial Institution for Promotion, Financing and Development of the Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector.
Headquarters- Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Chairman & MD- Sivasubramanian Ramann
Founded- 2nd April 1990
DBS Bank India signs a pact with Stellapps Digital Network to promote digitisation in Dairy
Sector
DBS Bank India signed a partnership agreement with Stellapps Digital Network, a leading dairy-tech startup
company, as its banking partner to promote digitisation of small dairy industries across India.This initiative aligns
with DBS Bank commitment to supporting lives and livelihoods through better business and responsible
financing.
Highlights:
i.Digitisation of the dairy value chain will improve productivity and quality of milk, transparency and traceability
in the supply chain, thereby improving incomes and financial inclusion amongst dairy farmers.
Note- As per UN-FAO data on Dairy Market for 2020, India is the World’s largest Milk producer with 194.8
Million Tones of production, while China is the largest Milk importing country.
ii.Under the agreement, Stellapps Digital Network and DBS Bank will provide dairy farmers with access to funds
required for digitisation.

• The partnership is expected to indirectly benefit 20,000 farmers at present and around 100,000 dairy
farmers in the near future.
iii.Stellapps, through its IoT (Internet of Things) based solutions and digital data, offers cloud-based grading of
milk. It brings transparency for the farmers in the quantity and quality of milk supplied and the income derived
from it.
iv.Presently, Stellapps’s digital milk procurement system helps 250 dairy processors, touches over 2.8 million
dairy farmers, and provides digital data on over 13 million liters of milk per day.
About DBS Bank India:
In November 2020, Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) was amalgamated with DBS Bank India.
Operating – 1994
Head Office – Mumbai, Maharashtra (Currently 12 branches in India)
About Stellapps:
Established– 2011 (IIT Madras incubator startup)
CEO – Ranjith Mukundan
Head Office– Bangalore, Karnataka
Aditya Birla Health Insurance Signed a Bancassurance Partnership with Utkarsh SFB
Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co. Limited. (ABHICL), a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital Ltd., has signed a
bancassurance agreement with Utkarsh Small Finance Bank (SFB) for the distribution of health insurance
products across India through the Bank’s network.
• Through the agreement, the health insurance plans of ABHICL will be available for purchase to more than 2.7
million customers of the Bank across 642 branches in 214 districts spread across 19 states and 2 Union
Territories in India.
• The bancassurance partnership will increase insurance penetration in India by enabling the ABHICL to reach
the tier II and tier III markets with insurance solutions.
• Through the current partnership, ABHICL has 12 bancassurance partners with over 51,120 direct
distributors across India.
About Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co. Limited. (ABHICL):
CEO – Mayank Bathwal
LKP Securities signs pact with HDFC Bank to Launch 3-in-1 Account
LKP Securities Ltd signed an agreement with HDFC Bank Ltd to offer a special 3-in-1 online account. The 3-in1
account facilitates swift fund transfer between the bank account and trading account as clients no longer have to
go through a lengthy authentication process.
Objective:
To deliver an efficient experience by offering ease of opening trading, demat and bank account in a seamless
manner.
Key points:
i.The 3-in-1 account offers several benefits including no annual maintenance charges (AMC) for one year from the
trading account opening date and waiver on brokerage charges of up to Rs 500 for one month from the date of
demat account opening.
ii.The customers of LKP Securities Ltd can complete their bank account opening formalities and gain added
benefits of broking and demat account.
• The demat and trading accounts also provide the facility to trade in other segments like commodities and
currency.
iii.The 3-in-1 online account also provides services for customers to start trading in NSE (National Stock
Exchange of India Ltd), BSE(formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and MCX (Multi Commodity Exchange) shares,
using the mobile trading app GETSETGROW@LKP.

• The customers of LKP Securities Ltd can also apply for all IPOs using the app with E-IPO and trade in the
futures and options market.
About LKP Securities Ltd:
Managing Director- Pratik M Doshi
About HDFC Bank Ltd:
CEO& MD- Sashidhar Jagdishan
BoB Signs MoU with Assam Rifles to Provide Central Forces Salary Package
On 15th February 2022 Bank of Baroda (BoB) had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Assam
Rifles, the oldest paramilitary force, to provide the ‘Baroda Central Forces Salary Package (BCFSP)’ to all
personnel of the Assam Rifles, both serving and retired.
• The MoU was signed by Colonel P S Singh, Colonel Administration, Head Quarters, Directorate General,
Assam Rifles and Debarata Das, Zonal Manager, Kolkata Zone, BoB.
Benefits Offered through the agreement:
i.BoB will offer services such as free unlimited transactions at all Bank ATMs, free remittance services like
National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT)/ Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) online or through branch, free
debit card, free unlimited demand draft facilities, 50 percent discount on locker rentals, 100 percent waiver on
Demat annual maintenance charges and 75 percent waiver on issuance charges for Gift and Travel cards.
ii.It also offers special benefits like Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) and a co-branded credit card.
• PAI –In case of death, cover to the serving and retired Assam Rifles personnel between the age group of 18-
70 years. For on-duty personnel, the cover will be Rs. 43.75 lakh and for off-duty personnel, Rs. 35 lakh.
• Disability – For total Disability, the cover will be Rs 35 lakh and for partial disability, it is Rs 17.5 lakh
About Bank of Baroda (BoB) :
Establishment – 20 July 1908
Headquarters – Vadodara, Gujarat (Head office), Mumbai, Maharashtra (Corporate centre)
CEO & Managing Director (MD) – Sanjiv Chadha
Tagline – India’s International Bank
SIDBI Partners with Bihar government to Promote MSME Sector

The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has signed 2 memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with the Industries Department of Government of Bihar, and the Bihar Industrial Area
Development Authority (BIADA) to promote the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.
• The first MoU was exchanged by Manish Sinha, General Manager, SIDBI and Pankaj Dixit, IAS Director
(Technical Development), GoB. Second MoU was exchanged by Sinha and Bhogendra Lal, ED (H.Q.), BIADA.
• Bihar is the 14th state of India with which SIDBI has partnered to strengthen MSME. SIDBI will place an
expert agency with the state industries department of Bihar.
About the MoU:
i.Under the 1st MoU Bihar’s Industry Department, will work with Project Management Units (PMUs) of SIDBI.
ii.According to the 2nd MoU, SIDBI will work in close coordination with BIADA to benefit MSMEs who want to set
up any industrial unit on the plot allotted by BIADA to promote industrialisation in Bihar.
About Bihar:
Governor – Phagu Chauhan
Airport – Gaya International Airport, Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport, Darbhanga Airport
Zoological park – Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park
NHPC Signs Pact with HDFC Bank to Monetise RoE of Chamera-I Power Plant
On 24th February 2022 State-owned National Hydropower Generation Company (NHPC) limited signed a facility
agreement with HDFC bank limited to securitise return on equity (RoE) of its 540 MegaWatt (3 X 180

MegaWatt) Chamera-I Power Plant in Himachal Pradesh for 10 years.
About the agreement:
i.The facility agreement is in compliance with the Regulation 30 of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
(Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015
ii.The amount of securitization facility has arrived Rs. 1,016.39 crore at 5.24% per annum and the discounting
rate is linked with 3 months Treasury bills (T-Bills).
iii.Background – In December 2021, NHPC’s board had approved the proposal for monetisation by
securitisation through a bidding process of RoE of Chamera-1 Power Station (3 X 180 MW), Himachal Pradesh and
further to monetise RoE of one or more power stations for 5 or 10 or 15 years in one go or rollover.
About Chamera-I Power Station:
i.Chamera-I Power Plant (3 x 180 MW) is an underground powerhouse with an installed capacity of 540
MW houses 3 units of 180 MW capacity each designed which generates 1664.56 million units of hydropower
from river Ravi in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.
• The power plant comprises a 121 metre high, 295-metre long concrete arch-gravity dam with a 9.5-metre
diameter, 6.414-kilometre long headrace tunnel.
ii.The beneficiary states/Union Territories (UTs) of the powerhouse are Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Delhi,
Himachal Pradesh (HP), Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), Punjab, Rajasthan and Chandigarh.
About HDFC Bank Limited:
Managing Director & CEO– Sashidhar Jagdishan
Tagline– We understand your world
OTHER BANK NEWS

SEBI Restructures High-Power Advisory Committee on Settlement Orders and Compounding of
Offences
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Capital markets regulator has restructured its four-member high-
power advisory committee on settlement orders and compounding of offences.
• The panel will work as per SEBI (Settlement Proceedings) Regulations, 2018.
About the Committee:
i.The committee was earlier headed by Vijay C Daga, retired judge of the High Court of Bombay and now it will be
chaired by Jai Narayan Patel, former chief justice of Calcutta High Court.
ii.New Members – SEBI has listed M S Sahoo, a former chairperson at Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India,
and Poornima Advani, ex-chairperson of National Commission for Women, as new members of advisory
committee.
iii.PK Malhotra, former law secretary in the Ministry of Law & Justice will continue as a member of the
committee.
About Settlement Proceedings Regulations:
i.In January 2022, SEBI has amended the SEBI (Settlement Proceedings) Regulations, 2018, called the SEBI
(Settlement Proceedings) (Amendment) Regulations, 2022 where an alleged wrongdoer can settle a pending
case with the regulator without admission or denial of guilt by paying a settlement fee.
• According to the amendment, the timeline for filing settlement applications has been reduced to 60
days from the current 180 days.
ii.Further, the period for submission of revised settlement terms form, after the Internal Committee (IC), has been
rationalised to 15 days which will be from the date of the IC meeting. The current rule allows 10 days plus
additional 20 days. Click here to know more
About Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):
Establishment – 12th April 1992 (In accordance with SEBI Act 1992)
Chairman – Ajay Tyagi

BSE Gets SEBI Nod for Trading in Electronic Gold Receipts
On 9th February 2022 Market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) gave final approval to
the BSE Limited (Formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) for trading in electronic gold receipts (EGR), a form of
shares in demat accounts, that paves way for spot bullion exchange.
• The Finance Ministry has specified EGR as ‘securities,’ under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act 1956.
• BSE’s rival Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) plans to launch spot trading in commodities, especially
bullion.
Highlights:
i.The spot bullion platform launched by the BSE will test its technology superiority since it will have the first
mover advantage in the segment.
ii.Spot bullion will enable the common public, jewellers and others to purchase gold in an exchange platform
instead of physical gold bars, with the transparency of rate and purity which is a matter of suspicion in physical
shops.
iii.Recently, SEBI has issued framework for operationalising the gold exchange, wherein the gold will be traded in
the form of EGRs.
iv.As per the rules notified by SEBI, entire EGR transaction has been divided into three tranches — creation of
EGR, trading of EGR on stock exchange and conversion of EGR into physical gold.
v.To lower the costs associated with withdrawal of gold from the vaults, EGRs have been made ‘fungible’ and
‘interoperability between vault managers’ have been allowed.
• The gold can be bought and stored in vaults until physical delivery is demanded.
About BSE Limited:
It is Asia’s first & the Fastest Stock Exchange in world.
CEO & MD – Ashishkumar Chauhan
SEBI restructured Advisory Committee on Investor Protection and Education Fund, now Chaired
by G Mahalingam
On 10 February 2022, the SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) restructured its advisory committee
on Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF), under the Chairmanship of Gurumoorthy Mahalingam.
Highlights:
i.The advisory committee on IPEF is an eight-member committee which will take G Mahalingam, former Whole
Time Member of SEBI, as its new Chairperson.
• In 2013, the committee was established by the SEBI to find out ways and means to best utilize the investor
protection and education fund.
ii.Earlier the committee was headed by Abraham Koshy, former professor of Indian Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad (IIM-A), Gujarat.
iii.The committee is mandated to recommend investor education and protection activities for utilization of the
SEBI IPEF.
Members of Committee:
i.SEBI inducted new members in the panel including Vijay Kumar Venkataraman, Mrin Agarwal.
ii.A Balasubramanian and M G Parameswaran will continue as a member of the committee.
iii.The committee also includes three SEBI Officials – GP Garg, N Hariharan and Jayanta Jash.
About Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):
Founded– 12th April 1992 in accordance to SEBI Act 1992
Chairperson- Ajay Tyagi

SEBI extends deadline for Client-Level Segregation & Monitoring of Funds
On February 24, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) extended the deadline for the
implementation of Client Level Segregation of Funds and Monitoring of Collateral at Stock Brokers to May 2, 2022
from February 28, 2022.
• The guidelines on client-level segregation were notified in 2021 by SEBI amid instances of misuse of client
collateral by brokers.
• This is the second time SEBI has extended the deadline for these rules. Earlier, it was supposed to be
implemented from December 1, 2021.
About SEBI’s Segregation & Monitoring of Funds norms:
The new rules for segregating and monitoring are aimed at further strengthening the protection of client
collateral from misuse by Trading Member (TM) or Clearing Member (CM) and default of such members and
other clients.
i.TM and CM have to report disaggregated information (segment-wise and asset type-wise break-up) of each
client collateral. Besides, CM will be required to maintain at least 50% of the total collateral in the form of cash or
cash equivalents (futures and options, currency, and commodities) with Clearing Corporations (CCs).
• CMs guarantee trade settlement to stock exchanges on behalf of clients.
ii.At the individual client level, a client can have allocation of cash equivalent, less than the value of non-cash
collateral provided by the client. The minimum 50% cash equivalent collateral requirement will not be applied at
the client level.
About Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI):
Establishment– 1992
Chairman– Ajay Tyagi
Narayan Rane Inaugurated MSME Conclave 2022 in Sindhudurg, Maharashtra; Launches Union
Bank MSME RuPay Credit Card
On February 25-26, 2022, a two-day MSME Conclave 2022 organized in Sindhudurg, an administrative district of
the Konkan division in Maharashtra which was inaugurated by Union Minister Narayan Tatu Rane, Ministry of
Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME). It was organized by the Ministry of MSME.
• The Conclave aims to promote entrepreneurship and trade opportunities for MSMEs in the Konkan region
with the use of technology, product development and skilling.
• Union Minister also inaugurated Coir Board Regional Office at Kankavali in Sindhudurg. As part of the 2-
Day MSME Conclave by the Ministry of MSME, B.B Swain, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium
Enterprises, chaired the MSME Conclave for National SC/ST Hub (MSME- NSSH) at Sindhudurg in
Maharashtra
Objective:
The objective behind this conclave is to make Sindhudurg region a top industrial sector which will create
employment opportunities. Currently, most of the residents of Sindhudurg had to leave the city for job
opportunities and to earn a living.
Launch of Union Bank MSME RuPay Credit Card:
During the conclave, the Union Minister Narayan Rane launched the Union MSME RuPay Credit Card which is
being offered by Union Bank of India in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• This card is a simplified payment mechanism for MSMEs to meet their business-related operational
expenses.
• The Union Minister also distributed the first batch of RuPay cards to select MSME entrepreneurs.
Benefits by RuPay Card:
i.It offers anytime digital payments that will reduce the demand for cash withdrawal, interest-free period and will
carry interest rate similar to the rate charged for loans.
• MSME borrowers will get an interest-free credit period of up to 50 days on their business spends.
ii.It also offers the EMI (Equated Monthly Instalment) facility for business-related purchases.

iii.MSMEs will also get specially curated business services on this card that will bring their business on most of
the digital platforms.
iv.It will also enable banks to monitor the transactions at granular level.
v.It includes accidental insurance coverage, lounge access, rewards being offered by NPCI on RuPay cards,
additional features and business services for the MSMEs.
Rs 200 Crore MSME Technology Centre to be set up in Sindhudurg
The Union Minister also announced the establishment of MSME-Technology Centre with an outlay of Rs 200
Crore in Sindhudurg, Maharashtra.
• It will provide the best of technology, incubation, and advisory support to the industry, especially MSMEs, to
enhance their competitiveness.
• It will also provide skilling services for the employed and unemployed youth of the area to enhance their
employability.
Narayan Rane inaugurates KONBAC-SFURTI Bamboo Cluster at Kudal
The Union Minister, Narayan Rane inaugurated the KONBAC SFURTI (Konkan Bamboo and Cane Development
Centre – Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries) bamboo cluster at Kudal, a town in
Sindhudurg to support 300 artisans.
• The cluster will be set up with Ministry of MSME funding of Rs 1.45 crore.
• This will attract people to the bamboo business and will be beneficial for locals.
About KONBAC :
It is an independent non-profit organization with a fully developed facility for designing, prototyping and
producing premium bamboo products for Indian and international markets.
About SFURTI:
It is an initiative by the Ministry of MSME to promote Cluster development. The scheme organizes traditional
industries and artisans into clusters to make them competitive and to provide employment for traditional
Industry artisans and rural entrepreneurs.
Other Participants:
Secretary MSME, B.B Swain; Chairman, Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Vinay Kumar Saksena; Director
KONBAC Mohan Hodavadekar, among others
Other Highlights of Conclave:
i.The Minister distributed electric potter wheels, bee boxes and Agarbatti making machines to rural artisans of
Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg District and adjoining areas.
ii.He also felicitated 25 Khadi artisans and handed over certificates on completion of training.
iii.Sanction letters were handed over to 10 PMEGP (Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme)
beneficiaries who will associate with self-employment activities of Khadi and Village Industries Commission
(KVIC).
Points to be noted:
i.MSME Ministry has set up nearly 2000+ new manufacturing units in Konkan resulting in creation of 16,400
direct employment.
• To support these projects, the Ministry has disbursed a subsidy amount of Rs 71.65 crore.
ii.The Central Government is promoting entrepreneurship and employment creation in the region by rigorous
implementation of flagship programs like PMEGP, SFURTI, Honey Mission and Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana for
empowerment of potters.
Union Bank of India has entered into a strategic co-lending partnership with Home First Finance Company India
Ltd (HomeFirst) to offer home loans to customers at competitive interest rates.
About Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME):
Union Minister– Narayan Tatu Rane (Constituency- Maharashtra)
Minister of State– Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma (Constituency- Jalaun (SC), Uttar Pradesh)

BSE inks pact with 4 regional associations to promote EGRs
BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) announced its collaboration with four regional associations from
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu after receiving in-principle approval from SEBI to launch the Electronic Gold
Receipts (EGR) segment to promote such products.
Objective:
The agreement aimed to provide impetus for the growth and development of the commodities segment with the
proposed EGR market.
Key points:
i.The BSE signed pacts with four associations, which includes Thirunelveli Gold Silver Diamond Jewellery Traders
Association, Nanded Sarafa Association, Saraf Suvarnkar Sangthna Pusad, and Ghadchiroli Zila Sarafa Association.
• Together these associations represent over 1,000 members involved in jewelry and bullion trade.
ii.Under the agreement, the stakeholders of these associations will be able to get the knowledge and expertise to
support innovations and development in spot trading for gold.
• The agreement will also help over 140 members mitigate price risks of gold and procure highest quality of
the yellow metal and enhance transparency in pricing.
About BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange):
Chairman – Vikramajit Sen
Founded – 1875
Headquarters- Mumbai, Maharashtr
Banks to Transfer 15 NPA Accounts worth Over Rs 50,000 crore to NARCL in FY22
As per the statement of State Bank of India’s (SBI) Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, Banks will be
transferring 15 stressed assets (i.e. Non-Performing Asset (NPA) accounts) aggregating worth over Rs 50,000
crore by March 31, 2022 (i.e. within FY22) to the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL)/bad
bank to clean up their books.
• The initial 15 stressed assets (each above Rs 500 crore) account for 60 percent of the 38 identified stressed
assets worth around Rs 82, 845 crores (~Rs.83000 Crores), which was agreed by Banks to be transferred to
NARCL.
The Process:
i.Once the bad loans are transferred to NARCL, a trust will be set up for each loan account, and the debt resolution
will be handled by India Debt Resolution Co. Ltd (IDRCL), which will not carry any balance sheet (The balance
sheet will be with the NARCL).
ii.IDRCL will handle the resolution process under an exclusive arrangement.
iii.NARCL will acquire the identified assets by paying the lenders with 15 percent of the acquisition value in cash
and 85 percent via Security Receipts (SRs).
iv.Padmakumar Nair, Chief General Manager from State Bank of India’(SBI)s stressed assets vertical, will manage
NARCL, and Manish Makharia, Executive Vice President (EVP) & Head, Alternative Investment Funds (AIF), SBI
Mutual Fund, with be heading IDRCL.
• The SRs will be secured by Government of India guarantee for their face value. In September 2021, the Union
Cabinet approved a government guarantee of up to Rs 30,600 crore to back SRs for 5 years that will be
issued by NARCL.
• Initially, it was estimated that ₹2 lakh crore of bad loans would be transferred to the bad bank but since
some accounts have been resolved, the figure has come down to about ₹1.5 lakh crore.
Key Facts about NARCL:
Background:
i.In July 2021, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) incorporated the NARCL also known as Bad Bank /Asset
Reconstruction Company (ARC) after its registration with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Click here to know
more
ii.In October 2021, the RBI, gave a licence to the Rs 6,000 crore NARCL to start operations as the bad bank.

About NARCL:
i.NARCL was created in collaboration with both Public and Private Sector Banks (PSBs), and Indian Banks’
Association (IBA) to aggregate and consolidate stressed assets for their subsequent resolution.
ii.51 percent of NARCL will be owned by PSBs and the remaining by private-sector lenders.
Vedanta ties up Rs 8,000-cr facility with Union Bank of India to take over Majority of Syndicated
Facility
Vedanta Ltd has tied up a facility of Rs 8,000 crore (replacement facility) with Union Bank of India at 7.75% to
take over a majority of the syndicated facility after multiple discussions with potential lenders.
• This replacement facility was availed on December 28, 2021 to take over the existing Syndicated facility to
reduce the overall interest cost of the company and to prepay high-cost debt raised at over 10% two years
ago.
• Vedanta has pledged 14.8% shares of Hindustan Zinc with Union Bank as security among other things.
What is a syndicated facility?
A loan or other credit facility provided by more than one lender to a borrower (or associated borrowers) under
the common terms and conditions
Vedanta Profile of Syndicated facilities:
i.During 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vedanta Ltd had tied up a syndicated facility of Rs 10,000 crore with
State Bank of India (SBI) as the lead bank at a running cost of 10.5%.
ii.It prepaid Rs 10,000-crore term loans availed from four local banks at over 10% in December. Of the Rs 10,000
crore prepaid, Rs 8,000 crore was raised from Union Bank, Rs 500 crore each was raised from IDBI Bank and
Canara Bank as non-convertible debentures in the last week of December, and Rs 1,000 crore was from internal
accruals.
Union Bank of India has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Small Industries
Corporation Ltd (NSIC) under ‘NSIC Bank Credit Facilitation Scheme’ to support Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSMEs) with credit requirements.
About Vedanta Limited:
It is an Indian multinational mining company.
Chief Executive Officer– Sunil Duggal
Headquarter- Mumbai, Maharashtra
PNB, Patanjali launch Contactless Credit Cards in partnership with NPCI

Punjab National Bank (PNB), and Patanjali Ayurved Limited (PAL) have launched two co-branded contactless
credit cards in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) viz. PNB RuPay
Platinum and PNB RuPay Select. These will be offered on NPCI’s RuPay Platform.
• Contactless credit cards have an embedded chip that permits you to make transactions by placing your
card within a few inches of the PoS terminals.
Benefits of Newly Launched Cards:
Customers will get many benefits and spend-based waivers through these cards which include the following:
i.A welcome bonus of 300 reward points on activation.
ii.Purchase of Patanjali products will attract cash backs @2% for transactions above Rs 2500 (Maximum Rs 50
per transaction), loyalty points, insurance cover, and more.
iii.Complimentary domestic and international airport lounge access, PNB Genie Mobile Application for card
management, addon card facility, lucrative reward points on spends, along with cash advance/revolve, EMI
(Equated Monthly Installment), and auto-debit facilities.
Credit Limit:
PNB RuPay Platinum– Rs 25,000 to Rs 5 lakhs
PNB RuPay Select– Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakhs

Insurance Cover:
PNB RuPay Platinum– Insurance cover of Rs 2 lakhs for Accidental Death and Personal Total Disability
PNB RuPay Select– Insurance cover of Rs 10 lakhs for Accidental Death and Personal Total Disability
Joining Fees:
PNB RuPay Platinum– Zero joining fee and an annual fee of Rs 500,
PNB RuPay Select– Joining fee of Rs 500 and an annual fee of Rs 750.
The annual fees will be waived off if card is used at least once in each quarter in the preceding year.
ICICI Lombard Partners Airtel Payments Bank to Offer Cyber Insurance

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company has partnered with Airtel Payments Bank to offer insurance
solutions against cyber crimes and financial frauds to its customers.
About the Policy:
The cyber insurance solution from ICICI Lombard provides financial protection to customers against potential
financial fraud relating to banking, credit or debit card; identity theft; phishing or email spoofing.
• The policy provides a 90-day discovery period followed by a 7-day reporting period.
Who can avail?
Customers of Airtel Payments Bank can purchase this insurance policy using the ‘Airtel Thanks’ app with ZERO
wait period and allows users to make multiple claims during the policy tenure, within the limits of the insured
amount opted for.
About Airtel Payments Bank:
In 2021 Airtel Payments Bank had launched ‘Airtel Safe Pay’, the safest way to pay online which became the
cyber insurance solution.
Establishment – January 2017
Headquarters – New Delhi, Delhi
Managing Director (MD) & CEO – Anubrata Biswas
About ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company:
ICICI Lombard offers technology-driven solutions such as the ‘IL TakeCare App’ where customers can purchase
policies, manage claims, and renew policies
MD & CEO – Bhargav Dasgupta
RBL Bank partners with Creditas Solutions to Automate Loan Collections

RBL Bank (formerly The Ratnakar Bank Limited) has partnered with Creditas Solutions for its SaaS (software as a
service)-based ‘Neo Collections’ platform to automate loan collections. This platform, powered by Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technology, is a Do It Yourself (DIY) debt management platform that
helps customers to monitor, manage and pay their dues.
• Creditas Solutions, a global technology company in the field of delinquency management.
Key Points:
i.This partnership will enable the bank to offer its customers a convenient, seamless and a non-intrusive
repayment experience.
ii.Customers can access their consolidated account information anytime, on any device and choose the most
convenient payment option for repayments of service debt, schedule an EMI (Equated Monthly Installment) plan
or opt for payment resolution options.
About RBL Bank (formerly The Ratnakar Bank Limited):
Managing Director & CEO– Rajeev Ahuja (Interim)
Headquarter– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Chatbot– RBL Cares
Tagline – Apno ka Bank

Tata Group Picks SBI, BoB, HDFC to Finance Air India’s Old Debt
The Tata Group has chosen State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BoB) and HDFC Bank as preferred bankers
for India’s largest international airline, ‘Air India’ which was recently taken over by Tata sons from the
Government of India.
• Tata Sons availed a Rs 10,000-crore loan from SBI and a Rs 5,000-crore loan from BoB that are unrated,
unsecured, and pegged at 4.25% interest rate annually. (The loan acquired from HDFC is unknown yet).
• The new debt availed by the Tata Group will be used to refinance Air India’s debt at over 10%.
Background:
i.In January 2022, Tata Group had received sanction letters from at least 12-15 banks, offering about Rs 35,000
crore to finance the debt of Air India.
• The loans sanctioned by banks were in response to Tata Group seeking Rs 23,000-crore 1-year loan.
ii.Of the Rs 23,000 crore that Tata proposed to raise, Rs 18,000 crore was for acquisition of Air India, and Rs
5,000 crore for its working capital.
About Tata Sons & Air India:
i.Talace, promoted by Tata Sons, has acquired Air India, offering Rs 18,000 crore which includes Rs 15,300
crore for the airline’s existing debt and Rs 2,700 crore in cash to pay the government.
ii.As per the agreement, Tata Sons will retain all the employees of Air India at least for a year in its fleet of 117
aircraft.
iii.Tata operates Vistara in partnership with Singapore Airlines and AirAsia India in partnership with Malaysia’s
AirAsia Bhd.
About State Bank of India:
Managing Director (MD) – C.S. Setty, Ashwani Bhatia, Swaminathan.J, Ashwini Kumar Tewari
NABARD launches ‘JIVA Programme’ to promote Natural Farming under its existing Watershed & Wadi
Programmes
On 9 February 2022, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) launched the ‘JIVA
programme’ to promote natural farming under its existing watershed and wadi programmes in 11 states.
Objective:
To effectively implement the principles of agroecology long-term sustainability and transform the pre-existing
social and natural capital towards efficient farming.
Key points:
i.JIVA is an agroecology based programme, an amalgamation of several projects under the watershed programme
of NABARD and will be implemented in 11 states covering five agro-ecological zones, which are in ecologically
fragile and rain-fed areas.
ii.The JIVA programme will be implemented on a pilot basis in 25 projects across the 11 states covering five agro
ecological zones with investment of Rs 50,000 per hectare.iii.Each project will be implemented in 200 hectares of
land in every selected village, and the learnings from which will be used for further implementation to the whole
village.
About National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD):
• It is a statutory body established under ‘National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981’.
• It is the apex banking institution to provide finance for Agriculture and rural development.
Chairman- G R Chintala
Founded- 12th July 1982
SBI partners with NSE Academy to offer Financial Literacy Courses

The State Bank of India (SBI) partnered with NSE Academy to launch five online courses to promote financial
literacy courses through NSE Knowledge Hub platform, an online Massive Open Online

Courses (MOOCs) platform.
Objective:
To provide a deeper understanding of different aspects of bankings to banking professionals, students and other
learners.
Key points:
i.These courses are a mixture of theory and operational aspects. It will provide an effective understanding of
fundamentals of banking, compliance, lending norms and a host of other topics.
• The courses also comprise real-life case studies and scenarios for learning.
5 courses curated by SBI:
• “Banking Fundamentals” which provides basic banking knowledge.
• “MSME Lending in a Nutshell”, that is designed especially for SME (Small Medium Enterprises)
entrepreneurs, Banking professionals.
• “Electronic Payment System in India”, it offers basic information on electronic and digital payment systems.
• “Priority Sector Lending Norms” provides insights into the significance of Priority sector lending and
guidelines
• “NRI Business & Compliance”, it empowers learners with knowledge of rules and regulations governing NRI
(Non Resident Indian) Business and compliance.
Note – SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) portal by the Indian government is
the World’s Largest MOOC platform.
Chairperson- Dinesh Kumar Khara
Founded- 1 July 1955
Paisabazaar Partners with RBL bank to Offer Credit Card

Paisabazaar.com, a digital platform for consumer credit, has partnered with RBL Bank Limited to offer ‘Paisa on
Demand’ (PoD), a credit card that will be exclusively available on the Paisabazaar platform.
Aim – To build products that offer integrated services for the large under-served segments across India.
Highlights:
i.The credit card from RBL Bank will be lifetime free with a digital onboarding process.
• It provides options of availing personal loans from RBL Bank, using the same credit limit at normal personal
loan rates to customers.
ii.This is the 3rd product under Paisabazaar’s neo-lending strategy through which a credit line for prime and
super prime segments, through a paperless and presence-less process is created.
• In September 2021, Paisabazaar had launched a credit card, designed for new-to-credit or subprime
consumers named ‘Step UP’, that provides benefits of a credit card and also facilitates building credit score.
About Paisabazaar.com:
Headquarters – Gurugram, Haryana
CEO & Co-founder – Naveen Kukreja
About RBL Bank Limited:
MD & CEO – Rajeev Ahuja (Interim)
Tagline – apno ka bank
Yes Bank Launches an Annual Start-up Program – ‘Agri Infinity program’

On 14th February 2022 Private sector lender Yes Bank Limited announced the launch of an annual startup
enabler program, YES BANK Agri Infinity, which seeks to co-develop digital financial solutions for the food and
agriculture ecosystem by mentoring entrepreneurial ventures in the field.
• The program will last up to 6 months, based on the maturity and readiness of the solution.

Eligibility:
i.Agri-fintech startups working on financial innovations across the food and agriculture value chain: could include
origination, farmer on-boarding, farmer KYC, credit scoring, risk assessment, monitoring and mitigation,
disbursement & recovery solutions and cash management systems among others.
ii.Food and agritech start-ups.
iii.Pivoting into agri-fintech and exploring the opportunity of adding a financing layer to their core proposition.
iv.Looking at prototyping and rolling out modern digital cash management and transaction banking solutions
across the food & agriculture value chain.
Benefits:
i.The eligible start-ups will receive Mentoring by senior banking professionals on credit scoring models, risk
assessment and risk mitigation.
ii.Start-ups will also get access to the lender’s digital banking infrastructure and network including collaborative
opportunities to pilot new solutions and fundraising advisory.
iii.The program will also enable opportunities to work with bankers to design and prototype innovative digital
financial solutions.
iv.The eligible start-ups will receive the guidance and support necessary to develop their solutions and apply
them across the agricultural value chain
About Yes Bank Limited:
CEO & Managing Director (MD) – Prashant Kumar
Tagline – Experience Our Expertise
‘U-Turbo’ Platform-KVB, UNANU Technologies tie-up for Digital Freight Finance

Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) has partnered with the Chennai-based UNANU Technologies for digital freight finance
to fund transport contractors using the end-to-end logistics technology platform.
• KVB is the first bank to introduce digital freight financing through a marketplace in the banking sector.
• UNANU has built the Freight Financing System within their suite of software platforms.
Highlights:
i.‘U-Turbo – a marketplace’, is the module, through which one can on-board logistics companies and shippers to
Freight Financing programme.
ii.The technology platform will provide a complete flow of transactions from picking up the material from shipper
(Proof of Pick up) until it reaches the destination (Proof of Delivery).
• Tracking of the truck is also provided with the associated software/hardware during the transit.
iii.The digitised document at each stage is captured for the verification purpose of the bank and the invoices are
raised to the shipper by the transport contractors which helps KVB in funding.
About Karur Vysya Bank (KVB):
Headquarters – Karur, Tamil Nadu
CEO & Managing Director (MD) – B. Ramesh Babu
Tagline – Smart Way to Bank
About Unanu Technologies:
Headquarters – Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Founder & CEO – Srini Sundar
Standard Chartered Bank Launches Interest-only Home Loan Facility

Standard Chartered Bank, India has launched the ‘interest-only home loan’ facility for completed residential
properties where borrowers can pay only the interest without principal deduction during a limited period.
• This facility is available to both new and existing clients of Standard Chartered Bank.

About the facility:
i.Borrowers can choose to pay only the interest amount without principal through Equated Monthly
Instalment (EMI) for an initial period of up to 1-3 years, after which it will be treated like a normal loan account
where the EMIs comprise of both the principal and interest till the maturity of the loan.
• Borrowers can also start their full instalments earlier with no penalty fees.
ii.The facility is available for a loan amount ranging from Rs 35 lakh to Rs 3.5 crore with the maximum tenure
of 30 years for salaried individuals and 25 years for self-employed individuals.
iii.Clients can also avail the Interest Only Home Loan facility to transfer their existing home loans from another
financier to Standard Chartered.
IndusInd Bank empaneled with e-NAM Portal to facilitate Digital Transactions

The Small Farmers Agri- Business Consortium (SFAC) has empanelled Induslnd Bank with the National
Agriculture Market (e-NAM) portal to facilitate digital collection and settlement services, for
facilitating transactions between farmers and traders across India.
Highlights:
i.Induslnd Bank will be directly integrated with e-NAM platform to provide safe and hassle free payments,
clearing and settlement services to the farmers and traders.
ii.It will offer various transaction services through digital modes including multi-net banking, debit
card, NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer), RTGS (Real-time gross settlement), IMPS (Immediate Payment
Service) and UPI (Unified Payments Interface) to the buyer and seller of the agriculture produce.
iii.As of January 2022, there are over 1.7 crore farmers, and 1.8 lakh traders registered on e-NAM. The total value
of agri-produce traded on eNAM is about ₹1.72 lakh crore.
About IndusInd Bank:
Headquarters- Pune, Maharashtra
MD & CEO- Sumant Kathpalia
Founded- April 1994
About Small Farmers Agri- Business Consortium (SFAC):
SFAC is an autonomous society promoted by the Department of Agriculture, cooperation and farmer welfare of
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW). It was registered under Societies Registration Act of
1860.
Established- 8th January, 1994
Managing Director- Neelkamal Darbari
About National Agriculture Market (eNAM):
It is an online trading platform for agricultural commodities. The market facilitates farmers, traders and buyers
with online trading in commodities.
Founded- 2016
Under- Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW)
Fisdom Partners with BoM to Offer Wealth Management Services

Fisdom, a wealth-tech company partnered with Bank of Maharashtra (BoM), to offer wealth management
products and services to over 29 million customers of the bank.
• Aim – To distribute the wealth products and services including the mobile banking app and internet
banking.
Highlights:
i.The wealth management offerings will enable customers of BoM to invest into mutual funds (MF) through Maha
Mobile, BoM’s Mobile Banking App and Internet Banking facility.
ii.Customers can view all the details related to funds and also can track the performances of mutual funds real-
time.
About Bank of Maharashtra:
Establishment – 16 September 1935

Headquarters – Pune,Maharashtra
Managing Director (MD) & CEO – A S Rajeev
Tagline – Ek Parivaar, Ek Bank (One Family One Bank)
Kotak Mahindra Bank, Ezetap Partners to Offer Integrated PoS Solutions

In February 2022, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd has partnered with Ezetap to provide integrated point of sale
(PoS) solutions across 4,000 locations in India to increase its PoS product base across merchant segments,
including retail enterprises and government customers.
Key Points:
i.The partnership will enable the bank’s merchants who are mostly preferring to pay through cards or digitally
through their apps over cash to make payments using Ezetap’s integrated solution to avail various value-added
services through its PoS product.
ii.The partnership will strengthen the bank’s presence in the digital payments market space.
iii.PoS Device: They are the electronic devices that will be used by retail merchants like grocery or any other
category of retail business to collect payments against the goods and services from customers through non-cash
modes like debit and credit cards, QR (Quick Response) code or even SMS.
About Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd:
MD & CEO – Uday Kotak
Tagline – Let’s Make Money Simple
JusPay Launches ‘Openppi’ Software For Interoperablility of PPIs

On 17th February 2022 JusPay, a Softbank-backed digital payments infrastructure provider announced a
software stack named ‘OpenPPI’ that helps Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) such as digital wallets
implement and comply with Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) PPI interoperability rules.
• Implementing PPI Interoperability will increase the adoption of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and PPIs.
Highlights:
i.The OpenPPI solution will enable interoperability for PPIs through the UPI and can comply with the new rules
using an end-to-end secure cloud solution.
• The rules will accelerate small and convenience payments from cash to PPI instruments and wallets.
ii.In December 2021, Juspay raised USD 60 million(~Rs 457 crore) in a funding round led by SoftBank Vision
Fund II (SoftBank invested USD 50 million while remaining from the existing investors VEF and Wellington
Management).
What is Interoperability?
Interoperability allows to transfer money by scanning UPI QR code and pay from wallets or cards just like a bank
account with multiple possibilities for wallet use.
Note – In May 2022 The RBI said that all prepaid cards and wallets that are full-KYC compliant must be fully
interoperable and mutually compatible by March 31, 2022.
Deputy Governors – Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, M. Rajeshwar rao, T.Rabi Sankar
SIDBI Launches ‘Waste to Wealth Creation’ Programme in West Bengal

Sivasubramanian Ramann, Chairman and Managing Director(CMD) of Small Industries Development Bank of
India (SIDBI) virtually inaugurated the ‘Waste to Wealth Creation’ Programme, designed for the women in
Sundarbans in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

• The programme is a part of the SIDBI’s Mission Swavalamban which aims to support the artisans to
become sustainable.
• Under this programme, the women will make ornaments and showpieces from the fish scale.
About Waste to Wealth Creation’ Programme:
i.Under the ‘Waste to Wealth Creation’ Programme, SIDBI will offer benefits to 50 women in directly generating
revenues from alternate livelihoods.
ii.Each of the women will become a trainer for replicating and sharing the knowledge among the other aspiring
women.
SIDBI’s Mission Swavalamban:
The Mission Swavalamban supports the women entrepreneurs of Baikunthapur in Sunderban in their journey
from Subsistence to Sustenance through various interventions under the brand S3Sundari Swavalamban
Sarathi in partnership with Baikunthapur Tarun Sangha (BTS).
Additional info:
Under the project “CARE – Cyclone Amphan Rebuilding Efforts”, SIDBI is supporting the women in taking up
multifarious cottage-based entrepreneurship on handicrafts, Shop-on-Wheels and others for supporting alternate
livelihood.
About Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI):
SIDBI is the apex regulatory body for the overall licensing and regulation of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprise(MSME) finance companies in India.
SIDBI, established under an Act of Parliament in 1990, is operated by the Department of Financial Services,
Ministry of Finance
CMD– Sivasubramanian Ramann
Headquarter– Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Paytm Payments Bank Signs as Acquiring Partner for e-RUPI Service

On 21st February 2022, Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) announced that it is an official acquiring partner
for ‘e-RUPI vouchers’, which will be accessible at offline stores across India.
• The PPBL has also partnered with ‘One97 Communications Limited’ (OCL) owns Paytm for improving its
strong merchant base.
• Paytm’s merchants will be able to collect payments through e-RUPI by scanning the voucher, and entering
the amount to be paid directly into their bank accounts.
About e-RUPI:
i.e-RUPI, a Government of India’s (GOI) initiative is a cashless and contactless prepaid voucher – based digital
payment solution through which, the users could send e-RUPI e-Voucher/coupon in the form of SMS-string or QR
code (instead of Money) to the beneficiaries’ mobile.
• The vouchers were developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on its Unified Payments
Interface (UPI) platform.
ii.The digital payment solution was launched in August 2021 for the convenience of digital payments without
accessing formal banking services or smartphones. Click here to know more
iii.Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the cap on e-RUPI vouchers issued by the government
to Rs 1 lakh per voucher from Rs 10,000 and allowed beneficiaries to use the voucher multiple times until fully
redeemed.
About Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL):
i.The PPBL is a joint venture, with OCL holding a 49% stake and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma the
remaining 51%.
ii.PPBL also enables users to avail benefits of Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT), social welfare schemes benefits like
LPG gas subsidy, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) payments, Old Age
Pension, Scholarships directly into the beneficiary’s bank account.
Headquarters – Noida, Uttar Pradesh (UP)
Managing director (MD) & CEO – Satish Kumar Gupta

JPMorgan Becomes First Bank to Enter the Metaverse, Opens a Lounge in Decentraland
JPMorgan Chase & co, the largest financial institution in the United States (US) has become the 1st bank to
arrive in the metaverse, a virtual world based on blockchain technology with the opening of a lounge
named ‘Onyx’ in blockchain technology-based virtual world Decentraland.
• Onyx refers to JPMorgan’s suite of Ethereum-based services and released a report exploring how businesses
can find opportunities in the metaverse
Highlights:
i.Users can create their virtual avatars, build virtual spaces and roam in the lounge.
ii.JPMorgan also revealed a white paper for exploring opportunities for brands and consumers in the metaverse
with which the users could navigate the metaverse and use it potentially.
Note – In January, Samsung opened a version of its New York store in Decentraland, and in November, Barbados
established a metaverse embassy.
About Metaverse:
i.Metaverse is a virtual reality world where users can do multiple activities like games, shopping, and
interaction with others just like they do in the real world.
• The metaverse uses Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) for interaction and has become an
efficiently used technology to enhance user experience.
• The Metaverse has its own currency and Forex (foreign exchange), to which JP Morgan wants to serve.
ii.In future Metaverse would almost influence every sector with an estimated yearly revenue of over USD 1
trillion.
About JPMorgan Chase & co:
Headquarters – New York, United States
Chairman & CEO – Jamie Dimon
HDFC Bank Partnered with ICEPL to Finance Asia’s Largest Bio-CNG Plant ‘Gobar-Dhan’
HDFC Bank has collaborated with Indore Clean Energy Private Limited (ICEPL) to fund the conversion process
of 550 tonnes/day of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) into Compressed Biogas (CBG) at the Gobar-Dhan plant , the
largest Bio-CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) plant in Asia located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh (MP).
• This is the largest waste to energy project funded by HDFC Bank under its ESG (Environmental, Social, and
Governance) commitments to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change and make the bank carbon
neutral by 2031-2032.
• The plant is expected to treat 50% of municipal waste generated in Indore City and convert to 100% green
products (biogas and manure).
Key Points:
i.ICEPL is promoted by Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF), which is the largest climate impact fund in India with
investors like NIIF (National Investment and Infrastructure Fund) & Government of UK (United Kingdom).
ii.ICEPL has a 20-year concession agreement with Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) for procurement of
municipal solid waste and converting it to CBG.
iii.On February 19, 2022, Prime Minister (PM) of India Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated Gobar-Dhan plant
to treat 550 tonnes/day of wet organic waste and produce 17,000 kg/day of CNG and 100 tonnes/day of organic
compost.
About HDFC Bank:
Managing Director & CEO– Sashidhar Jagdishan
Tagline– We understand your world

TripMoney Partners with SBM Bank India to Launch Global Credit Card
TripMoney, the fintech arm of MakeMyTrip (MMT), and SBM Bank India have partnered to launch a rupee-
denominated secure credit card, ‘TripMoney Global Card’ powered by Visa that can be used across over 150
countries.
• The card offers multiple value-added benefits, including zero forex mark-up, lifetime free validity, and 100
percent digital in-app card management.
• The customers can load money in Indian Rupee (INR) as security and also track balances in INR.
Features of the card:
i.The card has been designed with several built-in advanced security features such as instant lock and unlocks
through the Mobile application while travelling.
ii.The card mainly focuses on international travellers, including the student population, who prefer lifestyle
benefits with advanced digital money management features.
iii.The card does not carry any hidden charges such as currency exchange conversion across Point of Sale (POS),
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), and e-commerce websites.
iv.Cardholders can avail offers up to Rs 70,000 on MMT and Goibibo on flights, hotels and holidays.
• The cardholders are also entitled to complimentary membership of the invite-only loyalty programs of both
the brands, MMT Black and GoTribe.
About SBM Bank (India):
Managing Director & CEO – Sidharth Rath
SIB Introduces Two New Services for Customers – SIBerNet, SIB Express
South Indian Bank (SIB) has introduced two new services by enabling SIBerNet and SIB Express to enhance
both ‘remittances to’ (outward remittances) and ‘remittances from’ (inward remittances).
• The online outward remittances are enabled through Net Banking and inward remittances through National
Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI’s) Unified Payment Interface (UPI) mode.
About Outward Remittances – ‘SIBerNet’
i.Resident Indian customers can initiate Online Foreign Outward Remittances 24×7 online including on holidays
in USD currency through internet banking platform ‘SIBerNet’ in more than 100 currencies across the globe.
• The outward remittance request in other currencies can be initiated during market hours.
ii.Under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permits resident individuals to
remit up to USD 2,50,000 or equivalent in other currencies in a financial year.
• The remittances could be for the purposes like family maintenance, gift, education, emigration, travel for
medical treatment and private visits.
About Inward Remittances – ‘SIB Express’
The bank introduced another new service feature for inward remittances – ‘SIB Express’ which will enable Non-
Resident Indian’s (NRIs) to send money to their relatives or their own Non Resident External (NRE) account /
Non Resident Ordinary (NRO) account in India instantly through NPCI’s UPI mode.
• This facilitates partner exchange houses with cross border inward remittances under the Rupee Drawing
Arrangement.
About South Indian Bank (SIB):
Establishment – 1946 (under the RBI Act)
Headquarters – Thrissur, Kerala
Managing Director (MD) & CEO – Murali Ramakrishnan
IATA & Standard Chartered Bank Launch New Payment Platform in Indian Airlines Industry
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) joins hands with Global banking group ‘Standard Chartered
Bank’ to launch its new payment platform “IATA Pay” for the Indian airline industry to enable instant airline
payment.

i.IATA Pay in India is based on Standard Chartered’s Straight2Bank Pay.
ii.Straight2Bank Pay is a multiple payment options mode, made through a single global connectivity.
About IATA Pay
i.In addition to credit card payment the IATA Pay will be a another payment option for fast money transfer.
ii.IATA Pay provides instant payment options such as Unified Payment Interface (UPI) Scan and Pay and UPI
Collect.
iii.The IATA Pay simplifies the payment process and provides industry-wide e-commerce solutions.
iv.It eliminates the acquiring fee to card acquirers and also avoids bilateral integrations with multiple service
providers.
v.It focuses on open banking and real-time payment solutions that will serve as a cost-effective alternative to
conventional payment methods.
vi.The service is also available in European markets, and boosts the UPI.
Note:
In 2021, the two partners – IATA and Standard Chartered had launched IATA EasyPay in India, a pay-as-you-go
payments solution.
• IATA EasyPay is a voluntary payment option that is available to all accredited Agents provided they have an
IATA EasyPay Account open with available funds.
About Standard Chartered Bank India:
CEO – Zarin Daruwala
Star Health, South Indian Bank enters into Bancassurance Partnership to Offer Health Insurance
South Indian Bank (SIB) has joined hands with Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited as a
corporate agent to provide innovative health insurance products for the SIB’s ~6.5 million customers spread
over 923 branches across India.
• The SIB’s customers can avail benefits of Star Health’s retail insurance products and group affinity products
through the SIB’s distribution channels.
• The partnership will enable the South Indian Bank customers to financially safeguard themselves from rising
healthcare costs.
• Star Health and Allied Insurance is India’s first Standalone Health Insurance provider.
About South Indian Bank (SIB):
Headquarters – Thrissur, Kerala
MD & CEO – Murali Ramakrishnan
Tagline – Experience Next Generation Banking
About Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited:
Headquarters – Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Wholetime Director & CEO – V. Jagannathan
NDB : First Multilateral Agency To Open Office in Gift City

New Development Bank (NDB) will become the 1st multilateral agency to open an office in the Gujarat
International Finance Tec (Gift) City, Gujarat which will start its operation by the mid of May 2022.
• NDB also expects to partner with the newly launched National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and
Development (NBFID) to support crucial infrastructure projects in India.
• NDB was set up in 2014 by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and started
operations in 2015 at Shanghai, China (headquarters) with the objective of mobilising resources for
infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS as well as other emerging markets.

FINANCE NEWS
IRDAI Enables Small Entrepreneurs to Tap Insurance Companies for Surety Bonds
On February 01, 2022, while presenting Union Budget 2022-23 in Parliament, Union Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman has encouraged the use of surety bonds as a substitute for bank guarantees in case of government
procurement and also for gold imports to reduce indirect costs for suppliers and work-contractors.
Key Points:
i.Background: In January 2022, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) approved
a new product and issued norms under IRDAI (Surety Insurance Contracts) Guidelines 2022 for the issue of
surety bonds by insurance companies.
• It will enable Small suppliers and work contractors to tap insurance companies for surety of their
payments without collateral instead of depending on bank guarantees.
ii.The new product is expected to be more expensive than a bank guarantee as it will be provided without
collateral. It will also expand the scope of guarantees for people who were not in the formal financial system.
Requirements of Underwriting of Surety Insurance Business:
As per the guidelines the Insurance companies could offer 6 types of sureties namely, advance payment bond, bid
bond, contract bond, customs and court bond, performance bond and retention money.
General Provisions:
i.A general insurer can commence a surety insurance business if it has 1.25 times the solvency margin that it is
required to keep.
• If at any point in time the solvency of the insurer goes below the required level, the insurer has to stop
underwriting the new surety insurance business until its solvency margin is restored.
ii.The underwritten premium in a financial year for any general insurers from the surety insurance business
should not exceed 10 percent of the total gross written premium subject to a maximum of Rs 500 crore.
iii.Insurance companies could work together with banks or NBFCs (Non-Banking Finance Companies) to share
risk information, technical expertise to monitor projects, cash flow amongst other aspects. Click here to know
more
Additional Info – The Union budget 2022-23 has also proposed the payment of annuity and lump sum amount to
the differently-abled dependent during the lifetime of parents/guardians, i.e., on parents/ guardians attaining the
age of 60 years.
About Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI):
Establishment – 2000 (following the recommendations of the Malhotra Committee report)
Headquarters – Hyderabad, Telangana
Dukaan, Simpl Partners to Provide BNPL Services to its Merchants

Dukaan, a platform that supports Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMB) to set up online stores and sell
products digitally, has partnered with Simpl, a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform, to provide BNPL services to
merchants of Dukaan.
Key Points about Dukaan:
i.Dukaan is a startup established in 2020 (under COVID-19) to enable D2C (Direct-to-consumer) and SMB
merchants to set up online stores and sell products digitally.
ii.The application has integrated with various service providers from logistics to fulfillment and intends to build
the operating system for the modern D2C brand.
iii.The startup will empowers small businesses both online sellers and brick and mortar shops and its
sellers’customers to access high-quality products.
Key Points about Simpl:
i.Simpl, which is being India’s fastest growing BNPL platform is on a mission to make payments invisible and
money intelligent.
ii.It enables merchants to give their customers checkout through one click, pay-later facility, and buyer
protection, to enable them to feel secure and safe while shopping online.
ii.With Simpl, merchants could provide consumers with an easy, safe and intuitive user experience.

About Simpl:
Headquarters – Bengaluru, Karnataka
Co-founder and CEO – Nityanand Sharma
Edelweiss General Insurance launches Sector’s 1st AI Voice Bot for automated Motor Claims
Edelweiss General Insurance launched an AI (Artificial Intelligent) powered voice bot for automated
registration of motor claims. It is powered by Yellow.ai platform.
• The end-to-end AI Voice Bot is the first of its kind services in the General Insurance industry in India.
Highlights:
i.The AI voice bot is currently available in Hindi, English and Hinglish, enabling real time registration of claims
that work 24/7.
ii.Initially it is introduced for garage owners and will be extended to all customers in upcoming months.
• The AI bot can also answer queries asked by the garage representatives of EGI and also provide the services
like claims registration number, speech recognition models without any human involvement.
Note – AU Small Finance Bank recently launched “QR (Quick Response) Code Sound Box” to boost its digital
payment services.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
AI is the ability of a computer or a robot which is controlled by installed programmes to do tasks that are usually
done by humans.
About Edelweiss General Insurance:
CEO– Shanai Ghosh
LIC & Policybazaar partners for Digital Distribution of Life Insurance Products
On 3rd February 2022, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Policybazaar.com made an alliance to
digitally offer a wide range of Life Insurance and investment products to its customers across India. This is LIC’s
first association with a private insurance aggregator, which has mainly relied on its 1.33 million agents for
distributing products.
Objective:
To facilitate seamless digital distribution of life insurance products and boost financial inclusion across India.
Key points:
i.The alliance will provide insurance services in smaller cities to ensure financial inclusion and social security.
ii.It will increase its penetration digitally in rural and remote areas and offer a wide range of term and investment
products to the customers.
iii.Policybazaar.com, the flagship platform of PB Fintech Limited, is the largest online insurance marketplace in
India.
• It distributes products of 51 insurance companies including life, general, and standalone health insurance
companies.
About Policybazaar.com:
CEO – Sarbvir Singh
Founded – 2008
About Life Insurance Corporation (LIC):
Chairperson- M R Kumar
HDFC ERGO launches Cyber Sachet Insurance Policy to counter Digital Risks
HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company (HDFC ERGO) launched ‘Cyber Sachet Insurance Policy’ to mitigate
cyber-related digital risks for individual customers and keep them internet insured.

About Cyber Sachet Insurance Policy:
i.It is a cyber insurance product providing protection against the all kinds of risks in the digital world at the most
affordable price. It is structured into 14 sections with customization options to meet their individual
requirements.
• The digital risk includes online fraud, email spoofing, phishing, identity theft, online shopping, reputation
restoration, financial loss, and Data Loss, and Cyber Bullying, among others.
ii.Customers can be internet insured with a pocket-sized insurance cover at a nominal premium of less than Rs 2
per day. The sum insured ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 5 crores for choice of covers opted for by the customer.
Need behind this product:
Amid pandemic, there is an increasing number of cyber-crime attacks across the globe. According to the National
Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), India recorded 50,035 cases of cyber-crime in 2020 i.e. an 11.8% surge in such
offences over 2019. In order to overcome this scenario, this cyber insurance product has been launched.
Point to be noted:
HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company is a 51:49 Joint Venture (JV) between Housing Development Finance
Corporation (HDFC) Limited, and ERGO International AG, the primary insurance entity of Munich Re Group.
HDFC Ergo General Insurance & Visa Partnered For Insurance cover on Select Bank Cards
HDFC Ergo General Insurance (HDFC ERGO) entered into a first-of-its-kind partnership with Visa to offer
curated insurance covers for Visa’s Platinum card holders for select public sector banks.
• The policy will offer fraud insurance cover for an amount up to Rs 1 lakh to all Visa Platinum Credit & Debit
Cards of participating issuers.
• Due to COVID-19, the payment using card usage was increased and it was accepted as a preferred mode of
payment.
Key Points:
i.Through the partnership with Visa, HFDC Ergo intends to insure the risk of fraudulent transactions and enable
the issuing banks to offer zero liability to their cardholders.
ii.Under the tie-up, Visa will offer a complimentary fraud insurance cover for its Platinum Debit & Credit
cardholders across participating issuers to ensure the protection of cardholders from the event of card fraud.
iii.The insurance policy under the partnership is applicable for Visa’s Platinum cardholders and it will provide
security to Visa’s partner banks.
iv.Under the program, Visa is the master policyholder and the insurance coverage is provided by HDFC ERGO
General Insurance Co. Ltd., complimentary to Visa Platinum cardholders of participating banks.
v.RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has mandated banks to offer zero liability to cardholders for frauds reported.
vi.As per the data of RBI, fraudsters have gradually stolen Rs. 615.39 crore in more than 1.17 lakh cases of credit
and debit card frauds over 10 years.
About HDFC ERGO General Insurance Co. Ltd:
HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Ltd. is a joint venture between HDFC Ltd., India’s premier Housing
Finance Institution and ERGO International AG, the primary insurance entity of Munich Re Group.
MD & CEO – Ritesh Kumar
DMI Finance, Google Pay Partners to Offer Digital Personal Loans to Google Pay Users
DMI Finance Private Limited (DMI Finance) launched a digital personal loan product on Google Pay to provide
reliable credit access to pre-qualified users of Google Pay, the digital wallet platform.
• Through the partnership, DMI Finance intends to disburse up to Rs 1 lakh per loan, which would be
repayable over a maximum of 36 months. The product is being launched across more than 15,000 pin codes.
• The launch of the loan product will include the advantages of the digital loan disbursal process of DMI
Finance and the Google Pay’s customer experience.
• The loan product will also include new-to-credit users.

• Users who are eligible for the loan are pre-qualified using criteria set by DMI Finance. The loan product is
available for those eligible users through Google Pay.
About DMI Finance Private Limited (DMI Finance):
Co-Founder & Joint Managing Director – Shivashish Chatterjee; Yuvraja C. Singh
PayU Announces Integration with BigCommerce to Boost SMB Digitalization

On 15th February 2022 PayU announced its integration with BigCommerce, an Open Software as a
service (SaaS) e-commerce platform for fast-growing and established brands to boost Server Message
Block (SMB) Digitalization
• PayU can now provide payment infrastructure & solutions to BigCommerce’s small-to-medium-sized
merchants in India.
Highlights:
i.The BigCommerce platform provides e-commerce services to retailers, including online store creation, search
engine optimization, hosting, marketing and security.
ii.After the integration by PayU, businesses can directly integrate their BigCommerce store with PayU to offer
India-specific online payment methods like Unified Payment Interface (UPI).
Advantages of integration:
i.Global BigCommerce merchants will get access to more than 100 local payment methods in India including
credit cards, debit cards, UPI, wallet and net banking.
ii.Merchants can initiate refunds directly from their BigCommerce store and can also check their refund status
without switching to PayU infrastructure.
• Merchants get easy access to all transaction data like sales & refunds, view graphical representation of
trends and reports of transactions processed over a period of time.
About PayU:
i.PayU is regulated under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that provides online payment solutions to businesses
through local payment methods.
ii.PayU also developed LazyPay in 2017, an alternate lending platform to offer credit solutions.
About BigCommerce:
Headquarters – Austin, Texas, United States(US)
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Brent Bellm
Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance Launches Flexi Edge

Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) Life Insurance has launched its new insurance plan, ‘Flexi
Edge’, a non-linked participating individual savings life insurance plan that enables the customers with the ability
to prioritise their long-term savings.
About Flexi Edge:
i.Flexi Edge addresses the growing needs of customers starting from savings to income and unplanned or
recurring expenses; along with providing life cover to the policy holder in the unfortunate event of the death.
• Additionally, the Flexi Edge plan will also provide Premium Protection Benefit, Deferred Survival Benefit
Facility
ii.The plan also offers the customers the flexibility to choose from 3 plan options depending on their
individualistic requirements,
Plan 1:
Flexi Savings – This is a basic Savings Structure that offers benefits equal to 100 percent of sum assured, loyalty
additions and accrued bonuses at end of the policy term.
• Once the insurance plan is coupled with Premium Protection Benefit, it becomes an ideal investment to take
care of a child’s education & other needs even in absence of parents.

Plan 2:
Flexi Income – This helps in taking care of income needs and increasing expenses of the policy holder and offers
a benefit equal to 50 percent of the sum assured at the end of premium payment term in addition to guaranteed
income & cash bonus every year post completion of premium payment term till end of policy term.
• The policyholder will further receive sum benefits equal to 100 percent of Sum Assured and accrued
bonuses at end of the policy term.
Plan 3:
Flexi Care – The plan offers Cash Bonus every year from end of the 2nd policy year till end of the policy term
(100-age at entry) along with sum benefits equal to accrued guaranteed additions at Milestone Age.
• Additionally, the policy holder will receive a sum benefit equal to 100 percent of Sum Assured and bonuses
at the end of the Policy Term.
About Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance:
Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Canara
Bank (51%), HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Limited (26%) and Punjab National Bank (23%).
Managing Director (MD) and CEO – Anuj Mathur
BSE Ebix Partners with LIC for Distribution of Insurance Products

On 17th February 2022 BSE Ebix Insurance Broking Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture of BSE and Ebix Fincorp Exchange
Pvt. Ltd., signed an insurance broker agreement for the distribution of Life Insurance
Corporation’s (LIC) products.
• Aim – To offer customer centric solutions backed by technological innovations and best in class services.
Highlights:
i.Under this agreement, BSE Ebix will offer their clients insurance products offered by LIC such as Life and Health,
using its omni-channel digital presence.
ii.BSE-EBIX aims to reach every citizen of India and provide insurance solutions to customers.
About BSE:
BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) established in 1875, is Asia’s first, India’s leading exchange group and the
world’s fastest Stock Exchange with a speed of 6 microseconds.
About BSE Ebix:
BSE Ebix had beta launched its operations on February 7, 2020, with the offering of private car and two-wheeler
auto insurance.
Headquarters – Mumbai – Maharashtra
Chairman & CEO – Robin Raina
BFSL & IRCTC Launches Co-branded RuPay Contactless Credit Card – ‘IRCTC BoB RuPay card’
Bank of Baroda (BOB) Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of BoB, and the Indian
Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) have launched a co-branded contactless credit
card, ‘IRCTC BoB RuPay card’.
• The card offers maximum savings to frequent railway travellers and the card users will also get multiple
benefits for shopping across other categories like groceries, fuel etc.,
Benefits of IRCTC BoB RuPay card:
i.The card provides 1% transaction fee waiver for the customers on all train ticket bookings and 1% offer
as fuel surcharge waiver across all petrol pumps in India.
ii.Customers will be provided with 1,000 bonus reward points for purchase worth Rs.1,000 or more within 45
days of card issuance.
iii.The card is also used to transact at international merchants and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) through
the JCB network.
Other benefits:

i.The customers earn up to 40 reward points (per Rs 100 spent) on 1AC, 2AC, 3AC, CC, or EC bookings made
through the IRCTC website or mobile app.
• It also offers 4 reward points (per Rs.100 spent) on grocery and departmental stores and 2 reward points
on other categories.
ii.The reward points can be redeemed on the IRCTC website and IRCTC mobile app, after linking their Loyalty
Number (printed on the co-branded credit card) with their IRCTC login ID.
iii.Cardholders can also enjoy 4 complimentary visits per year at partner railway lounges.
About Bank of Baroda (BOB) Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL):
Established – 1994
Managing Director (MD) & CEO – Shailendra Singh
Headquarter – Mumbai, Maharashtra
Mastercard Partners With SBI Payments To Boost Digital Payments Infrastructure in Guwahati,
Lucknow & Varanasi
Mastercard, as an extension of its flagship campaign ‘Team Cashless India’ along with SBI Payments partnered
with the Auto Rickshaw Association in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, All Assam’s Restaurant Association (AARA)
in Guwahati, Assam, local shopkeepers, and Boat Union in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh to boost the digital
payments infrastructure.
Key Highlights:
i.In Guwahati, Mastercard collaborates with All Assam’s Restaurant Association (AARA) in line with the
Government’s ‘Digital Northeast Vision 2022’ which equips restaurant and hotel owners with a safe, seamless,
secure mode of payment to consumers.
ii.In Lucknow, Mastercard partnered with local transport bodies, including the Auto Rickshaw Association, to
enable more than 700 auto-rickshaw drivers to accept digital payments.
iii.In Varanasi, Mastercard partnered with the Boat Union to encourage over 1,000 members to accept digital
payments from tourists and also local shopkeepers committed to digital payments which has increased tourism.
• Nearly 80 percent of micro-merchants in the Northeast region are not equipped with digital payment
acceptance infrastructure.
Note – India’s digital payments industry has seen a growth from FY 2017-18 with 1,459.02 crore transactions till
FY 2020-21 with 4,371.18 crore transactions.
About Team Cashless India Campaign:
Launched – 2019
i.The Team Cashless India campaign is part of Mastercard’s worldwide commitment to bring 1 billion
people and 50 million micro-businesses into the digital economy by 2025.
ii.Through the campaign, Mastercard first encourages people to nominate merchants for digital payments, then
works with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and acquirer partners to support the nominated
merchants for digital payments acceptance infrastructure.
About MasterCard:
Headquarters – New York, United States (US)
CEO – Michael Miebach
Edelweiss General Insurance partners Ashv Finance for MSME loan protection Plans
Digital Insurer Edelweiss General Insurance (EGI) has collaborated with Ashv Finance, a tech-led NBFC to provide
financial protection to the latter’s loan debtors.
• Under this, EGI will utilize Ashv Finance reach of small business owners across India and offer them easy and
friendly, tech powered solutions, coupled with superior customer experience.
Key Points:
i.Ashv will offer timely credit to small businesses and MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) while EGI will
provide health insurance cover to all the customers of Ashv Finance in all major cities across the country.

ii.The policy will provide security against the business loan taken in case the borrower has an unfortunate
incident of accident or critical illness.
• The policy will also provide daily cash benefit in case of any hospitalization.
iii.The health cover offered will depend on the loan amount and loan tenure opted by the customer.
iv.The business loan and the insurance policy will be processed together digitally and with zero paperwork.
About Edelweiss General Insurance (EGI):
Executive Director & CEO– Shanai Ghosh
About Ashv Finance:
Director & CEO– Nikesh Kumar Sinha
JICA approved Rs 1,000-crore river clean-up project in Pune

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) approved the tender for cleaning up rivers Mula, Mutha and
Mula-Mutha (confluence of both rivers) of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) area. The project will cost
around Rs 1,000 Crore for pollution abatement of rivers.
Objective:
To improve the water quality by augmenting sewage collection systems, sewage treatment facilities and
improving sanitation in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) area.
Highlights:
i.The Mula and Mutha are the most polluted city Pune, which later meets Krishna River in Western Ghats and
finally empties into the Bay of Bengal.
ii.JICA will provide assistance to mitigate pollution of Mula, Mutha and Mula-Mutha and living conditions of
localites.
iii.The funding assistance would be in the form of construction of sewer lines, pumping stations and treatment
plants for treatment of the sewage before its discharge into Mula, Mutha and Mula-Mutha rivers.
• The project implemented would involve 55 km of trunk lines and 11 new sewage treatment plants (STP)
with capacity of 396 million liters per day (MLD).
• The sewer network of over 113 km, 4 sewage pumping stations and 24 community toilets will be
constructed.
Major rivers of Western Ghats:
• Krishna River- it originated from Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra.
• Bhima River- it is the major tributary of the Krishna River, flowing through Maharashtra and Karnataka
states, western India.
• Godavari river-it originates from Trimbakeshwar, Nasik in Maharashtra and is the longest river in
Southern India and is also known as ‘Dakshina Ganga’.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
President- Shinichi Kitaoka
Founded– 1974
Headquarters-Tokyo, Japan
EaseMyTrip Partners with Toffee to Provide Travel Insurance Solutions

EaseMyTrip has partnered with Toffee Insurance, one of the fastest-growing InsurTech companies, to offer
a first-of-its-kind, free-of-charge, full refund medical policy that provides the additional travel flexibility for
customers.
• Through the free of charge policy, the customers will get a complete refund including the money deducted by
airlines.
• The policy can be claimed by uploading a doctor’s prescription citing the medical illness.

About the policy:
i.Toffee Insurance will manage all travel insurance products for EaseMyTrip customer’s cancelling flight bookings
caused due to medical emergencies.
• This is an end-to-end digital integration that enables the digitization of the entire insurance process.
ii.To avail this service, a customer has to choose this policy while booking their ticket on EaseMyTrip’s website
and app.
About EaseMyTrip:
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Nishant Pitti
ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS

Chennai Super Kings Becomes India’s 1st Unicorn Sports Enterprise
Four-time Indian Premier League (IPL) winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK), has become the country’s 1st sports
Unicorn with its market cap having touched a high of Rs 7,600 crores and its share in the grey market trading in
the Rs 210-225 price band.
• Currently, CSK has a market cap more than its parent entity, India Cements. On January 29, 2022, India
Cements’ market cap stood at Rs 6,869 crores.
Key Points:
i.Reasons behind increase in market cap: Winning of 4th IPL title in Dubai, and addition of two new franchises
to the upcoming season at record prices.
ii.CVC Capital acquired the rights for the Ahmedabad franchise for Rs 5,625 crore and the Sanjiv Goenka-led RPSG
(RP-Sanjiv Goenka) Group bought the Lucknow franchise (Lucknow Super Giants) for Rs 7,090 crore.
iii.The shares of Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited (CSKCL), which controls CSK, had hit an all-time high in the
unlisted market on October 26, 2021, increasing from Rs 110-120 per share to crossing the Rs 220-mark in trade
within a week.
What is Unicorn?
Unicorns are privately held start-up companies having a valuation of more than USD 1 billion.
Additional info – Currently, India has the 3rd largest number of Unicorns in the world. As per the Global Unicorn
Index 2021 report released by the Hurun Research Institute, India ranked at 3rd (by adding 33 ‘unicorns’ in 2020)
by displacing the United Kingdom (UK) to the 4th spot.
About Indian Premier League (IPL):
It is an annual Twenty20 cricket league usually held in a two-month window between March and May. Founded
by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
The league came into existence in 2008 with 8 franchises. The league’s format is similar to that of the Premier
League of England and the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States.
Indian Economy Contracts by 6.6% in 2020-21: NSO data

On 31 January 2022 The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation (MoSPI), released the First Revised Estimates of National Income, Consumption Expenditure,
Saving and Capital Formation for the financial year 2020-21.
• The data showed that the Indian economy contracted by 6.6 percent in 2020-21 as against the earlier
estimate of 7.3 percent in May 2021.
• The NSO has also revised downward the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth number for 2019-20
to 3.7 percent as against the earlier estimate of 4 percent.
Previous Estimation: Under the 1st revision released in January 2021, real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12)
prices for 2019-20 stood at Rs 145.69 lakh crore with 4 percent growth.

Key Points of NSO’s 1st Revised Estimates for 2020-21:
a.GDP:
i.Nominal GDP or GDP at current prices for 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 198.01 lakh crore as against Rs 200.75
lakh crore for 2019-20, showing a contraction of 1.4 per cent during 2020-21 as compared to growth of 6.2
percent during 2019-20.
ii.The Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices for the years 2020-21 stands at Rs 135.58 lakh crore as
against Rs 145.16 lakh crore in 2019-20, showing a contraction of 6.6 percent during 2020-21 as compared to
growth of 3.7 percent during 2019-20.
b.Gross Value Added (GVA):
i.GVA at basic prices has declined by 1.6 percent during 2020-21 against the growth of 6.9 percent during 2019-
20.
ii.The real Gross Value Added (GVA) at constant (2011-12) basic prices showed a decline of 4.8 percent in
2020-21 against 3.8 percent in 2019-20.
iii.Sector Wise growth rates: The growth rates of the Primary sector (comprising Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing
and Mining & Quarrying), Secondary sector (comprising Manufacturing, Electricity, Gas, Water Supply & Other
Utility Services, and Construction) and Tertiary sector (Services) have been estimated as 1.6 percent, -2.8
percent and -7.8 percent in 2020-21 as against a growth of 4.5 percent, -1.4 percent and 6.3 percent,
respectively in 2019-2020.
c.Consumption Expenditure:
i.The Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) at current prices is estimated at Rs.120.33 lakh crore for
2020-21 as against Rs.122.37 lakh crore in 2019-20.
ii.Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GFCE):
• The expenditure at current prices is estimated at Rs. 23.93 lakh crore for the year 2020-21 as against Rs.
22.01 lakh crore during 2019-20.
• The expenditure at constant (2011-12) prices the estimates of GFCE for 2019-20 stood at Rs. 14.84 lakh
crore and Rs. 15.38 lakh crore for the year 2020-21.
d.National Income:
i.Nominal Net National Income (NNI) or NNI at current prices for the year 2020-21 stands at Rs 171.94 lakh
crore as against Rs 177.17 lakh crore in 2019-20, showing a contraction of 2.9 percent during 2020-21 as against
a growth of 6 percent.
ii.Per Capita Income (Per Capita NNI) at current prices is estimated at Rs 1,32,115 in 2020-21 and Rs 1,26,855 in
2019-20.
iii.Gross National Disposable Income (GNDI) at current prices is estimated at Rs. 200.86 lakh crore for 2020-21
while the estimate for the year 2019-20 stands at ₹204.22 lakh crore
e.Savings: Gross Saving during 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 55.92 lakh crore against Rs 59.96 lakh crore during
2019-20.
f.Gross Capital Formation (GCF) at current prices is estimated at Rs. 54.03 lakh crore for 2020-21 compared to
Rs. 61.61 lakh crore during 2019-20.
Click here for official link
In September 2021, The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released its ‘Trade and
Development Report 2021’ which predicted India’s GDP to grow by 7.2 percent in 2021, whereas the Global
Growth rate is projected at 5.3 percent.
About Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI):
India’s GDP expected to grow 7.8% in FY23: Crisil Report

On February 2, 2022, Domestic rating agency CRISIL (formerly Credit Rating Information Services of India
Limited) has estimated FY23 real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth at 7.8% as compared to 9.2% in FY22,
and 8.5% projected in Economic Survey 2021-22.

• The agency expects the nominal GDP growth at 12-13% in FY23, higher than the 11.1% Budget Estimate
2022-2023.
• It also projected headline inflation for FY23 to average 5.2%.
Key Points:
i.As per CRISIL, the Union Government’s proposal of boosting capital expenditure and going slow on fiscal
consolidation is in the right direction.
ii.On the global front, the growth is expected to slow in FY23 as major economies will withdraw monetary and
fiscal stimulus. This will directly affect India’s growth as exports are a key demand driver of domestic growth.
iii.Brent crude will average up to USD 85 a barrel as against USD 70.44 in 2021. Energy prices especially that of
crude oil, are likely to firm up.
India Ratings pegs FY22 GDP growth of India at 8.6%

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has revised downwards its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth forecast of
the Indian economy for 2021-22 to 8.6% from the consensus 9.2% projected earlier.
• As per it, the National Statistical Organisation (NSO) will likely peg the FY22 real GDP growth at Rs 147.2
lakh crore i.e. 8.6% in its second advance estimate of national income. NSO forecasted 9.2% in the first
advance estimate released on January 7, 2022.
Key Points:
i.IRR estimates Q1 and Q2 of FY22 may decline by 90-110 basis points than estimated earlier and the Q3 and Q4
may come in at 5.6% and 5.1%, respectively, down from 6% and 5.7% estimated earlier.
ii.The major reason for this downward revision is the upward revision of FY21 GDP to Rs 135.6 lakh crore in the
first revised estimate of national income for FY21, which was released on January 31, 2022. As a result, GDP for
FY21 is improved to (-) 6.6% from the provisional estimate of (-) 7.3% released on May 31, 2021.
iii.Earlier, foreign brokerage Barclays has projected a GDP growth of 6.6% for the quarter ended December, 2021
(Q3FY22) and 10% growth for the full financial year 2021-22.
Moody’s Rises India’s GDP Forecast to 9.5% for 2022, 8.4% for FY23
On 24th February 2022 Moody’s Investors Service raised India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast
to 8.4 percent for FY23 (1st April 2022 – 31st March 2023) and 9.5 percent for 2022 though higher oil prices
and supply issues will reflect in growth.
• It also estimated that the GDP growth forecast for 2023 stands at 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent for FY24
(1st April 2023 – 31st March 2024).
• Earlier they had projected the growth for 2022 as 7 percent.
Highlights:
i.Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection, retail activity and Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) becomes the core
reason for the projection in GDP.
ii.The Union budget 2022-23 has prioritised growth, with a 36 percent increase in allocation to capital
expenditure (compared to Budget Estimates of 2021-22) to 2.9 percent of GDP for FY23.
• Note – The Economic Survey of India has projected India’s GDP to expand between 8 percent and 8.5 percent
in 2022-23 whereas the Budget has projected GDP growth between 7.6 percent and 8.1 percent in real terms.
iii.Other projections – Moody’s collective estimation of the G-20 economies shows reduced estimates of 4.3
percent in 2022 from 5.9 percent in 2021.
About Moody’s Corporation:
Headquarters – New York, United States (US)
President & CEO – Rob Fauber
NSO Data: India’s Retail Inflation reached a 7-month high of 6.01% in January 2022
National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), has released the
All India Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Base 2012=100 and corresponding Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI)
for Rural (R), Urban (U) and Combined (C) for January 2022.

• As per the NSO data, the Retail inflation rate based on CPI has increased to a seven-month high of 6.01
percent in January 2022, crossing the 6 percent mark.
• Inflation Target– The government has directed RBI (Reserve Bank of India) to retain the medium-term
target for CPI inflation of 4 percent within a band of +/- 2 percent (i.e. with the lower and upper tolerance
levels of 2 percent and 6 percent).
Key Points:
i.The CPI inflation in December 2021 has been revised to 5.66 percent from 5.59 percent. The retail inflation in
January 2021 was about 4.06 percent and the previous high CPI inflation was 6.26 percent in June 2021.
ii.As per the NSO data, the inflation in the food basket was 5.43 percent in January 2022 as against 4.05 percent in
December 2021.
iii.The producers’ inflation, based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), decreased to 12.96 percent in January
2022 as against 13.56 percent in December 2021.
iv.All India Inflation rates (%) based on CPI (General) and CFPI:
January 2022 (Provisional) December 2021 (Final) January 2021
Indice R U C R U C R U C
CPI General 6.12 5.91 6.01 5.36 5.9 5.66 3.23 5.13 4.06
CFPI 5.18 5.88 5.43 3.39 5.08 4.05 1.11 3.36 1.96
v.All India year-on-year inflation rates:
Description Inflation Rate (%), January 2022 (Provisional)
Cereals and Products 3.39
Oils and Fats 18.7
Meat and Fish 5.47
Vegetables 5.19
Fuel and Light 9.32
Note – In February 2022, the RBI has projected the CPI inflation for FY22 at 5.3 percent and FY23 at 4.5 percent.
About Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI):
Minister of State (Independent Charge) – Rao Inderjit Singh (Gurugram, Haryana)
CMIE: India’s Unemployment Rate in January 2022 Falls to 6.57%; Lowest since March 2021
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd.(CMIE), the unemployment rate of India has
declined to 6.57% in January 2022, the lowest since March 2021(6.50%). In January 2022, the unemployment
rate in urban India is at 8.16% and the unemployment rate in rural India is at 5.84%.
• Telangana has reported the lowest unemployment rate with 0.7% followed by Gujarat (1.2 per cent),
Meghalaya (1.5 per cent) and Odisha (1.8 per cent).
• Haryana has reported the highest unemployment rate with 23.4% followed by Rajasthan (18.9%) and
Tripura (17.1%).
CMIE estimated that as of December 2021, the number of unemployed in India were at 53 million. In December
2021, 35 million people in India were actively looking for work (23%or 8 million were women).
SBI Projected India’s GDP Growth For FY22 at 8.8% and Q3 FY22 at 5.8%
The report by the State Bank of India’s (SBI) economic research department (ERD), ‘Ecowrap’ has reduced India’s
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth projection for FY22 to 8.8 percent from its earlier forecast of 9.3 percent.
• With the current projection, the real GDP will be around Rs 2.35 lakh crore/1.6 percent more than the pre-
pandemic FY20 real GDP of Rs 145.69 lakh crore.
• The SBI’s nowcasting model forecasts the country’s GDP to grow at 5.8 percent in Q3 (October-December,
2022) of FY22.

Key Fact of the report:
i.The report noted that India’s economy was expanded by 8.4 percent in Q2 FY22 but, the GDP growth in that
period was slower than the 20.1 percent expansion in Q1 FY22.
• The ‘nowcasting model’ developed by SBI was based on the 41 high-frequency indicators associated with
industry activity, service activity, and the global economy.
ii.The report stated delay in liquidity normalisation and further softening impact on government security yields
from the current 6.7 percent towards about 6.55 percent.
iii.The high-frequency indicators reported a weakening of demand in Q3 of FY22, which is also continuing to
January 2022.
iv.In accordance with the rural demand indicators, two-wheeler and tractor sales have continued to decline since
August 2021.
v.In the case of urban demand indicators, consumer durables and passenger vehicle sales have reduced in Q3
FY22. The domestic air traffic also weakened due to the spread of the Omicron variant.
vi.The report stated that the government could offer livelihood loans, up to Rs 50,000 to the rural poor.
• If the government bears a 3 percent interest subsidy, on a portfolio of Rs 50,000 crore, the outlay would be
only Rs 1,500 crore during FY23.
Managing Directors – C.S. Setty, Ashwani Bhatia, Swaminathan.J, Ashwini Kumar Tewari
Chairman – Dinesh Kumar Khara
Gems and Jewellery sector to achieve export target of 40 Billion dollar in 2022
On February 18-21, 2022, the Inaugural Ceremony of India International Jewellery Show Signature (IIJS) 2022
was held, where it was stated that Gems and Jewellery sector is expected to achieve an export target of 40
Billion dollars in 2022.The Event was organised by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC)
in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• The event was addressed by Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• The sector is expected to register a growth of 6.5% over the pre-Covid levels (2019).
Key Points:
i.Union Budget include a reduction in import duty on cut & polished diamonds from 7% to 5%.
ii.IIJS Signature 2022 will have well-defined and simplified product sections which include Gold & Gold CZ
Studded Jewellery; Diamond, Gemstone & Other Studded Jewellery; Silver Jewellery, Artifacts & Gifting Items;
Loose Stones, and Laboratories & Education.
Reason for its Export Hike:
i.India and UAE free trade pact which is expected to give a boost to New Delhi’s gems and jewellery exports on the
back of a possible waiver of the 5% (MFN) import duty on gold, platinum and silver jewellery by the UAE.
ii.Our Gold and Diamond trade contributes about 7% to our GDP and employs over 50 Lakh persons. The exports
already stand at $32 billion in January, 2022.
iii.India has agreed to concessional import duties on gold imports of up to 200 tonnes per year. India imported
about 70 tonnes of gold from the UAE in 2020-21.
Piyush Goyal Chaired a Meeting on Revamping Department of Commerce To Achieve $2Trillion

Export Target by 2027
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal Chaired a Meeting on Revamping Department of
Commerce To Achieve $2 Trillion Export Target by 2027 and to become a future ready establishment of the
Government by utilizing new age capabilities.
• Along with the Department of Commerce, there will be fortification, and consistent strengthening of trade
and investment promotion bodies including the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

Key Points:
i.As a part of transformation, a strengthened negotiation ecosystem and a dedicated ‘Trade Promotion Body’ is
proposed to look at the overall promotion strategy, export targets, and execution.
ii.An inter-ministerial Trade Remedies Review Committee including the Ministry of Commerce and Industry,
Ministry of Finance, and line ministries is also proposed for transparency in investigation outcomes.
iii.There will be strengthening of negotiations via multi-skilled negotiation teams; and separation between
bilateral and WTO (World Trade Organization) negotiations has been envisioned.
iv.Centralization and digitization of trade facilitation processes have been recommended for ease of compliance
and scheme administration.
v.Rehauling data and analytics ecosystem via centralized data management and embedded analytics capabilities
in the Department of Commerce has been proposed.
Sri Lanka to Buy Fuel from Indian Oil to Face Energy Crisis
Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Energy has decided to purchase 40,000 metric tonnes petrol and 40,000 metric tonnes
diesel from the Indian Oil Corporation (India) as part of the Sri Lankan government’s bid to face the current fuel
and energy crisis.
• Sri Lanka is currently facing a severe foreign exchange crisis with falling reserves and the country is
struggling with a shortage of almost all essentials, due to the lack of dollars to pay for the imports.
• Sri Lanka has imposed power cuts at peak hours as the state power entity is unable to obtain fuel to run
turbines.
About LIOC:
The Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC), the Sri Lankan subsidiary of India’s oil major Indian Oil Corporation
(IOC), has been in operation in Sri Lanka since 2002.
Background:
i.In January 2022 the Indian government announced a billion-dollar assistance package in addition to other
balance of payment support to Sri Lanka.
ii.The billion-dollar loan credit facility is to prevent the food crisis while allowing for the import of items and
medicines.
• Additionally, the Indian government has extended a $500 million-Line of Credit (LOC) to Sri Lanka for urgent
fuel imports
About Sri Lanka:
Prime Minister – Mahinda Rajapaksa
Capital – Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Currency – Sri Lankan Rupee
‘Tata Sky’ Rebrands Itself as ‘Tata Play’

Tata Sky, one of the largest Direct to Home (DTH) platforms, has rebranded itself as ‘Tata Play’ to expand its
television-cum-OTT (Over-The-Top) offerings in combined packages. Tata Play has added Netflix to 13 OTT
services, including Amazon Prime Video and Disney+Hotstar, as part of its ‘Binge packs’.
• Tata Play Limited is a joint venture(JV) between Tata Sons and TFCF Corporation (formerly known as
Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc.) and is now a part of the Walt Disney Company.
• Tata play was incorporated in 2001 and launched its services in 2006.
• The logo has been created by Venturethree, London, and the campaign has been designed by Ogilvy India.
HPCL Launches Branded Store ‘Happy Shop’

The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has launched convenience stores under the brand
name ‘HappyShop’. ‘HappyShop’ is a non-fuel retail sector of HPCL. The new happy shops are opened at the
HPCL’s Auto Care Centre, Bandra West in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Millennium Retail Outlet in Visakhapatnam,
Andhra Pradesh.
• The customers of the HPCL will be able to browse and shop the goods through the HP Pay App.

• ‘Paani@Club HP’ the packaged drinking water of HPCL is also marketed across the retail outlets of HPCL.
MoSPI Projects GDP Deflator Forecast for FY23 at 3-3.5%

The Ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) projected India’s gross domestic
product (GDP) deflator for FY23 at 3 to 3.5 percent.
The Government’s own projection on real GDP growth for FY23 is at 7.6-8.1 percent and the union budget
projected nominal GDP growth rate to be 11.1 percent for FY23.
• Economic Survey 2021-22 projected a real GDP growth rate of 8-8.5 percent in FY23.
• GDP Projection in the Budget is based on advance estimates of ‘National Statistical Office’ (NSO).
Note – RBI projected India’s real GDP growth of 7.8 percent in FY23 and retail inflation of 4.5 percent for FY23.
About GDP Deflator:
GDP deflator, or implicit price deflator, is a measure of inflation. GDP deflator is available only on a quarterly basis
along with GDP estimates.
GDP Deflator is calculated by dividing nominal GDP by real GDP and multiplying by 100 (Nominal GDP/ Real GDP
X 100).
Nominal GDP
Nominal GDP is measured at current prices and is the market value of goods and services which are produced in
an economy which is not adjusted to inflation.
Real GDP
Real GDP is nominal GDP adjusted for inflation. If prices change from one period to the next but actual output
does not, real GDP would be remain the same. Real GDP reflects changes in real production. If there is no inflation
or deflation, nominal GDP will be the same as real GDP.Real GDP is calculated by dividing nominal GDP over a GDP
deflator.Real GDP is measured at constant prices.
About Ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI):
Dabur India Ltd Becomes India’s 1st 100% Plastic Waste Neutral FMCG Company
Dabur India Limited(Dabur), one of India’s leading Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, announced
that the company has become India’s 1st 100% Plastic Waste Neutral company.
Dabur is the first FMCG company to achieve this feat.
• Dabur collects, processes and recycles the same amount of plastic waste that is sold in its product packaging
in a year, as a result of this the company has become a ‘Plastic Waste Neutral company’.
• Dabur India Limited is the 4th largest FMCG Company in India and the world’s largest Ayurvedic and Natural
Health Care Company.
Plastic Waste Management Initiative of Dabur:
i.Dabur launched its plastic waste management initiative in 2017-2018.
ii.Under this initiative, as of February 2022, Dabur has collected a total of over 54,000 MT of plastic waste from
across India.
Key Points:
i.The company has collected, processed and recycled around 27,000 MT of post-consumer plastic waste from all
over India in the 2021-22 financial year.
ii.This includes all types of plastic waste such as PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) and HDPE (High Density
Polyethylene) bottles, Pilfer Proof(PP) Cap sand labels to multi-layered plastics and beverage cartons.
iii.Dabur is set to achieve the target of collecting, processing and recycling over 22,000 MT of post-consumer
plastic waste in 2021-2022.
About Dabur India Limited:
CEO– Mohit Malhotra
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi

BHEL bags order to supply Compact Heat Exchanger sets for HAL’s Tejas Aircraft
On February 14, 2022, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has received an order from Hindustan
Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to manufacture, assemble, test and supply compact heat exchanger sets for its 83 LCA
(Light Combat Aircraft) Tejas MK1A aircrafts.
Key Points:
i.The BHEL’s Heavy Plates and Vessels Plant (HPVP), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) is the sole supplier of heat
exchangers for LCA Tejas to HAL since 1996. These are augmented to meet International Aero Standards
(AS9100).
ii.The BHEL-HPVP and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Bangalore (Karnataka) have jointly designed
and developed 13 different types of compact heat exchangers for Environmental Control System (ECS) and
Secondary Power System (SPS) of LCA MK-1 programme.
iii.BHEL is also currently working with DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) for the
development of Air Cycle Machine based Liquid Cooling System (LCS) for Aircraft POD application for LCA MK-2.
iv.BHEL-HPVP has dedicated, intricate manufacturing and inspection facilities for manufacturing state-of-the-art
Compact Heat Exchangers for different types of aircrafts manufactured by HAL.
Brio Hydroponics signs with Israeli Firm to Launch Rain Safety Approach
BRIO Hydroponics, an Ahmedabad based agritech startup, made a joint venture with an Israeli firm Pic-Plast
Limited for a rain protection technique that will help grow plants hydroponically. The JV will set up India’s first
Rain Technology Nethouse with Solarig Net House kit.
Objective
i.The startup is to boost the production of blueberries hydroponically to sell at an affordable price.
Note
Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture which involves growing plants, usually crops,
without soil, by using mineral nutrient solutions in an aqueous solvent.
Process of Pic-Plast
The process involves implementing a rain defence layer on the hydroponics plant in the course of rains and taking
it away when there is no rain.
Techniques of Hydroponics
i. “Pure hydroponics” with no media to mature but a nutrient drinking water-soluble film is made use of. It also
improves the best leafy veggies via Nutrient Film Approach (NFT).
ii. “Aggregate hydroponics” with all vegetables that flower and yield fruits developed in an inert media, typically
substantial-excellent cocopeat.
About Brio Hydroponics
CEO – Amit Kumar Verma
Headquarters – Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
NHPC Sets Up New Subsidiary ‘NREL’ for Development of RE & Small Hydro and Green Hydrogen
Projects
NHPC Limited (Ltd),has set up a new wholly owned subsidiary company namely ‘NHPC Renewable Energy
Limited (NREL)’, for development of Renewable Energy, Small Hydro and Green Hydrogen based business
of NHPC Ltd.
• As per a BSE, the NREL was registered with the Registrar of Companies, National Capital Territory
(NCT) of Delhi & Haryana, on 16th February 2022.
Highlights:
i.Currently, NHPC’s total installed generation capacity stands at 7071 megawatt (MW) which includes 100
MW of Solar or Wind energy-based plants.
• Another 5999 MW of Hydro plants and 105 MW of Solar plants are under construction.
ii.The 1st part of the National Hydrogen Policy, was unveiled which allows free inter-state wheeling of
renewable energy used in the production of green hydrogen and ammonia, among other things.

iii.The government’s focus is on renewable energy and clean energy with a target of 500 GigaWatt (GW) by
2030.
Background:
i.In December 2021 The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management and National
Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog approved the formation of the separate renewable energy
unit.
• This unit shall develop Renewable Energy Projects either in Stand-alone mode or through formation of
Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in collaboration with other agencies.
Keynote:
i.NHPC has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Ltd (RRECL) for
development of 10,000 MW renewable energy projects / parks in Raja
ii.State-owned NTPC has already incorporated NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd for its expansion in the clean
energy space.
About NHPC Limited:
Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) – Abhay Kumar Singh
Headquarters – Faridabad, Haryana
Three Decades of Partnership: Sonata Software and Microsoft Launched ‘Microsoft Cloud for
Retail’
Microsoft in its partnership with Sonata Software launched ‘Microsoft Cloud for Retail’. Sonata Software
provides the best retail Platforms through world-class Internet Protocol (IPs), in-house migration and
modernisation tools, engineering services for the retailers.
• The partnership with Microsoft Cloud for Retail is to enhance capabilities, emphasis on leveraging data,
elevating the shopping experience, building real-time, sustainable supply chains, and empowering store
associates.
• The Sonata Connected Retail solution is available through Microsoft AppSource.
India Expects Growth in Fuel Demand at 5.5% in FY23

According to the estimates released by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), under the Ministry of
Petroleum & Natural gas, India’s fuel demand is likely to grow 5.5 percent in FY23.
• According to government estimates India’s fuel consumption (especially oil demand) in FY23 could rise
to 214.5 million tons (MT) from the revised estimates of 203.3 MT for FY22.
• In 2019-20, India had consumed 214.1 MT of petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and LPG.
• FY22 (April-December 2021): Demand for petroleum products grew by 4.9 percent in FY22 (April-December
2021). Fuel consumption was 148.3 MT during the same period.
Other Data:
i.In FY23 Local demand for gasoline (mainly used in passenger vehicles) is expected to rise by 7.8 percent to
33.3 million tons, while gasoil consumption shows a slow growth of 4 percent to 79.3 million tons.
ii.Consumption of aviation fuel would increase by nearly 50 percent to 7.6 million tons in FY23, compared to the
revised estimate of 5.1 million tons in FY22.
ii.Demand for petcoke (alternative to coal) could increase 2.8 percent to 14.8 million tons, while demand for
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (cooking fuel) is estimated to grow 4.5 percent to 29.7 million tons.
iii.Naphtha consumption is projected to rise by 3.3 percent to 15 million tonnes.
About Ministry of Petroleum & Natural gas:
Union Minister – Hardeep Singh Puri (Rajya Sabha Uttar Pradesh)
Minister of state – Rameswar Teli (Constituency – Dibrugarh, Assam)

February Banking CA

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February Banking CA

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Current Affairs Study PDF

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Current Affairs Study PDF – February 2022

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Ministry of Tourism Included Punaura Dham under PRASHAD Scheme

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Government Continues RYSK Scheme for Another 5 years

PMKSY Scheme Extended Till FY26 with Rs 4,600 Crore Outlay

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Govt sanctions construction of 60,000 homes under PMAY(U) in 5 States

Ministry of Education Approved “NILP” a new scheme of Adult Education

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Government Extends Capacity Development Scheme till March 31,2026

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Rajasthan Tops Solar Electrification under Saubhagya Scheme

Government Approves Continuation of RUSA Scheme till 31st March 2026

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MoW&CD extends PM CARES for Children Scheme till February 28 2022

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GoI Celebrates 3rd Anniversary of PM-KISAN

GoI Approves Continuation of IVFRT Scheme till March 2026

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BANKING & FINANCE NEWS

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RBI: Bank’s Non-food Credit Growth Increased to 9.3% in December 2021

2 II.Food Credit -4.20% 10.80%

3 III. Non-food Credit 9.30% 6.60%

4 Agriculture and Allied Activities 14.50% 7.70%

5 Industry 7.60% 0.40%

a.Micro and Small 20.50% 1.30%

b.Medium 86.50% 17.10%

c.Large 1.30% -0.50%

6 Services 10.80% 8.00%

a. Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) 13.40% 3.70%

7 Personal Loans 14.30% 8.80%

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RBI Cancels Licence of Maharashtra-Based Independence Co-operative Bank

Government Undergoes Switch Operation of Rs.1,19,701 Crore

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Indian Company’s ECB Jumps 19 Percent to USD 23.28 Billion in 9M FY22

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RBI cancels licence of Maharashtra’s Mantha Urban Cooperative Bank

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RBI Directed NBFCs to Implement CFSS by September 2025

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RBI cancels CoR of PC Financial Services operating ‘Cashbean’ app

LOANS ISSUED BY BANKS

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SIDBI Partners with Bihar government to Promote MSME Sector

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OTHER BANK NEWS

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