Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 10 and 11 September 2021

Topic: Miscellaneous

1. All unorganised sector workers to be covered under ESIC.

• All unorganised sector workers will be covered under Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
• This decision was taken recently at 185^th meeting of the Central Board of Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
• The meeting also decided to constitute a "special committee”. This committee will submit a detailed report on the basic facilities, which have to be set up and to decide the contributions and benefits of workers.
• At the meeting, the central board of ESIC has also taken the decision to extend unemployment allowance under Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana up to June 30, 2022.

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

2. FSSAI may tighten labelling norms for pan masala and breads.

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) may tighten labelling norms for pan masala and breads.
• FSSAI is looking to bring in amendments for this purpose. As per draft amendments, FSSAI has proposed that health warnings must cover 50 % of the front of the pack of products.  
• Pan masala packs are required to carry the health warning ‘chewing of pan masala is injurious to health’.
• But, there was no labelling regulation regarding the size and display of the health warning on pan masala products.
• The FSSAI draft also proposes changes in the nomenclature of breads. As per the draft, breads can be labelled as whole wheat bread only if it is made of flour comprising at least 75 % of whole wheat flour.
• Wheat bread or brown bread needs to be made with at least 50 % whole grain flour.

Topic: Appointments

3. A G Thankappan assumes charge as the Chairman of Spices Board.

• A G Thankappan has assumed charge as the Chairman of Spices Board.
• He assumed office in presence of Spice Board Directors and senior officials at Sugandha Bhavan, the headquarters of Spices Board in Kochi.
• He said that his focus would be on improving spices exports and protect the interest of spice growers in the country.
• Spices Board is a government and regulatory and export promotion agency for Indian spices. It is headquartered in Kochi, Kerala.

Topic: Banking System

4. Axis Bank announces listing of its $600 million Sustainable AT1 notes on India INX and NSE IFSC exchanges.

• Axis Bank has announced listing of its $600 million Sustainable Additional Tier 1(AT1) notes on India INX and NSE IFSC exchanges.
• The Bank said that AT1 notes are now being listed on Singapore, London and India INX and NSE IFSC exchanges.
• Last week, the bank has announced the issuance of these Sustainable AT1 notes in the overseas markets through its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) branch at GIFT City.

Topic: RBI

5. RBI develops escalation matrix for redressal of customer complaints of SGB investors.

• RBI has developed escalation matrix for redressal of customer complaints of Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) investors.
• As per RBI, nodal officer/s of the Receiving Office (RO) will be the first point of contact for queries/complaints of customers.
• Receiving Office (RO) include public sector banks and some private sector banks.
• If the issue is not resolved, an escalation matrix at the ROs will be used to resolve customer grievances.
• RBI said that investors can approach RBI if there is no response from RO within one month of lodging the complaint or the investor is not satisfied with the response of the RO.

Topic: Appointments

6. Cuemath appoints former Chief Operating Officer of Swiggy, Vivek Sunder as its CEO.

• Cuemath has appointed the former Chief Operating Officer of Swiggy, Vivek Sunder as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• Cuemath founder Manan Khurma will now become the chairman. Cuemath is an online math learning platform.  
• Both appointments will be effective from October 1, 2021.

Topic: Report and Indices

7. Unemployment rate rose to 10.3% in October-December 2020: NSO survey.

• The unemployment rate for all ages in urban areas rose to 10.3 percent in October-December 2020 as compared to the corresponding months a year ago.
• According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), the unemployment rate for all ages in urban areas was 13.3 percent in July-September 2020.
• As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), the unemployment rate for 15 years or above for 2019-20 was 17.2 percent. The unemployment rate for 2018-19 was 16.9 percent and 2017-18 is 17.2 percent.
• NSO had launched the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in 2017. Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) gives an estimate of the unemployment rate, Worker Population Ratio (WPR), and Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR).
• Recently, Labour Bureau has started the All India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey (AQEES) to provide quarterly estimates of employment in major sectors.
• The unemployment rate (UR) is the percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force.

Read Banking Awareness PDF -10 and 11 September 2021