Banking Awareness of 1 and 2 November 2023

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

1. Fiscal deficit in first half (April–September period) of current fiscal year reached over 39% of Budget Estimate (BE).   

• Fiscal deficit for April–September period of FY24 was higher than 37% for the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
• Railways, fertiliser, and road ministries led the government spending during first half of the current fiscal as per the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data released on 31 October 2023.
• The ministries that need to increase spending in the coming six months to achieve the budget target include Petroleum & Natural Gas and Co-operation.
• Fiscal deficit is the difference between expenditure and income.
• Net tax revenues for April-September period were ₹11-lakh crore (49.8% of annual estimate).
• This amount was higher than ₹10.12-lakh crore in the same period last year.
• Corporate tax collections increased 20% year-on-year (y-o-y) to ₹4.51-lakh crore.
• Total expenditure during April-September period stood at ₹21.19-lakh crore. This was 47.1%of the yearly target.
• This was higher than ₹18.24-lakh crore in April-September period of last year.
• In September, revenue expenditure decreased by 4% to ₹3.3-lakh crore.
• Capital expenditure (capex) increased by 29% to ₹1.2-lakh crore. This was the highest in any month in H1 of FY2024.
• Six months of income and expenditure data are used to make final a revised estimate for the current fiscal year.
• Based on trend, allocation for ministries and departments with low expenditures could be reduced. In government parlance, this exercise is known as reprioritisation.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

2. Only one Maharatna (ONGC) is included in the list of the top ten profit-making companies of India Inc in FY23, according to the ERD’s special report.

• SBI and LIC are two public sector financial institutions in the list of top 10 most profitable companies.
• However, they remain conspicuous by their absence in the Maharatnas list, said SBI’s economic research department (ERD).
• Of the thirteen Maharatna CPSEs, only ONGC is sufficiently similar to SBI and LIC.
• SBI, LIC and ONGC may be even distinguished as Amrit Ratna to recognise their contribution in nation building for Amrit Kaal.
• Life Insurance Corporation (LIC):
  • It was formed in September 1956. Government of India completely (100%) owns LIC.  It is headquartered in Mumbai.
  • Its slogan is yogakshemam vahamyaham (Your welfare is our responsibility).
• Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC):
  • It was formed in 1956. It is headquartered in New Delhi. Arun Kumar Singh is its Chairman and CEO.
  • It comes under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation is a subsidiary of ONGC.

Topic: RBI

3. For a name change, cooperative banks should contact the Department of Supervision (DoS) at the RBI.

• No cooperative bank's name change may be approved by the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) or the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS).
• As per RBI’s direction, cooperative bank should contact DoS of the concerned Regional Office for the grant of No Objection Certificate (NOC).
• The approval of cooperative bank’s general body will be mandatorily required while submitting requests of name change to RBI.
• RBI referred to the notification of the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act of 2020 and emphasized in terms of Section 49B, CRCS/RCS cannot approve the name change of cooperative bank unless the RBI certifies that it has no objection to name change.
• Furthermore, under Section 49C, a cooperative cannot maintain an application for the confirmation of a bye-law modification unless the RBI certifies that the modification is acceptable.
• RBI has issued directive to urban co-operative banks, state co-operative banks and district central co-operative banks on “Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act 2020 - Change in Name of Co-operative Banks”.
• The process for the name change is to be followed by the bank even if the name change is because of government notification.

Topic: Committees/Commissions/Taskforces

4. A taskforce has been constituted by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

• This taskforce will study different aspects of the bancassurance channel, including mis-selling.
• IRDAI said the banks’ contribution as corporate agents is only 5.93% of non-life premium and 17.44% of the new business premium for life insurance for FY23.
• The chairperson of the taskforce will be J. Meena Kumari, Executive Director (Life), IRDAI.
• It will have Yegna Priya Bharat, Surya Kumar, and J. Anita as members. Taskforce will also include industry representatives.
• Its terms of reference include suggesting the regulatory stipulations on the market conduct requirements of bancassurance partners.
• It will also study the effectiveness of the existing model and recommend ways and means of improving the efficiency.
• It will examine the international best practices in this model.

Topic: RBI

5. Manoranjan Mishra has been appointed as Executive Director by RBI.

• He will look after three departments as Executive Director.
• These three departments are the Enforcement Department, Risk Monitoring Department, and Department of External Investments & Operations.
• He has been appointed with effect from November 01, 2023.
• He was serving as Chief General Manager in the Department of Regulation.

Topic: Reports and Indices

6. PMI Manufacturing declined to 55.5 in October 2023.

• PMI’s decline to 55.5 is the slowest rate of expansion since February, according to the S&P Global Market Intelligence report.
• In September 2023, manufacturing PMI stood at 57.5.
• The survey’s new orders index declined to a one-year low.
• Consumer goods were behind most of the slowdown.
• Current reading for PMI showed an improvement in the health of the sector for 28th month continuously.
• Current reading of PMI was above its long-run average of 53.9. 
• Manufacturing has a share of around 14% in India’s Gross Value Added (GVA).

Topic: Taxation

7. GST collections increased to ₹1.72 lakh cr in October.

• This is the second-highest ever level, next only to April 2023.
• GST collection for October is 13% higher compared to a year ago.
• In October 2022, the collection stood at Rs 1.52 lakh crore.
• The highest-ever Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue was recorded in April 2023 at Rs 1.87 lakh crore.    
• The average gross monthly collection of GST in the FY24 is Rs 1.66 lakh crore. This is 11% higher than the year-ago period.

Topic: Reports and Indices

8. According to the Fairwork India 2023 report, BigBasket is the best organisation for gig workers in India.

• The report ranks Zomato, Swiggy, Urban Company and BluSmart, all in second place. Porter, and Ola came in last in the ranking.
• Professors Balaji Parthasarathy and Janaki Srinivasan were the Principal Investigators of the report.
• In the report, each company is judged on the basis of five factors.
• These factors are Fair Pay, Fair Contract, Fair Management, Fair Representation, and Fair Conditions.
• Each factor carried two points. This implied a company could get 10 points maximum and 0 points minimum.
• Ola has scored zero out of 10 points for the third year in a row.
• The Fairwork India team noted that EV-based ride-hailing platform BluSmart operates on an “asset-light” model.
• According to the report, the only platforms with a minimum wage policy are BigBasket, Flipkart, and Urban Company.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

9. UST has won the 2023 Mahatma Award for sustainable and impactful corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

• UST has won award for CSR in areas like education, health, livelihood, environment, and disaster relief.
• It is a leading digital transformation solutions company.
• Smita Sharma, Global Programme Manager, CSR, UST, received the 2023 Mahatma Award from Amit Sachdeva, CSR man of India and Founder of the Mahatma Award.
• The award is an initiative of Aditya Birla Group. It was given on Gandhi Jayanti.
• Adopt-a-School programme is one of the many CSR initiatives of the company. 
• It impacts over 32,000 students in India and Mexico.
• UST has pledged $100,000 to support victims of the conflict in Ukraine.

Topic: Miscellaneous

10. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has removed the Cayman Islands from its grey list.

• It has added Bulgaria to the grey list in its review published on 27 October 2023.
• FATF has also removed Panama, Jordan and Albania from the grey list.
• The Cayman Islands was added to the grey list in 2021.
• It was in the news during the investigation into charges made by Hindenburg Research against the Adani Group.
• As per the National Securities Depository (NSDL) website, 385 foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) registered in India are based in the Cayman Islands.
• Cayman Islands is seen as an important jurisdiction for both FPI and FDI flows into India.
• The jurisdictions included in the grey list are placed under increased monitoring.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

11. The Index of Eight Core Industries recorded 8.1% growth in September 2023 on an annual basis.

• In August 2023, the Index of Eight Core Industries had grown 12.1%.
• Index of Eight Core Industries grew 7.8% YoY during April and September 2023-24.
• In September 2023, positive growth was recorded in the production of coal, steel, electricity, natural gas, refinery products, cement and fertilisers over the corresponding month of last year.
• In September 2023, coal sector output grew 16.1%. It was higher than 12.1% in September 2022. It was lower than the 17.9% output of the coal sector in August 2023.
• The output of the crude oil sector declined marginally by 0.4% in September 2023. A decline of 2.3% was recorded in September 2022. In August 2023, the output of the crude oil sector grew by 2.1%.
• The output of natural gas and refinery products increased 6.5% and 5.5%, respectively, in September 2023.
• The output of fertilisers grew 4.2%. The output of steel and cement increased 9.6% and 4.7% each.
• Electricity sector output declined from 15.3% in August 2023 to 9.3% in September 2023.

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