Banking Awareness of 12, 13 and 14 December 2021

Topic: Banking System

1. Bank of Baroda partners with NPCI to launch bob World Wave.

• Bank of Baroda has partnered with National Payments Corporations of India (NPCI) to launch bob World Wave.
• It is a wearable line of products for payments, integrated with a complete health ecosystem.
• It will allow customers to monitor their Sp02 (saturation of peripheral oxygen), body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure.
• Exclusive 3-months free wellness package is being provided by Bank of Baroda with bob World Wave.
• The wellness package is being provided along with a personal health coach, doctor tele-consultation and interactive video coaching.
• With the device, customers can do contactless payments of up to ₹5,000 in all Near-field communication (NFC) enabled Point of Sale (PoS) devices.

Topic: Appointments

2. Radha Unni appointed as independent director of Kerala-based South Indian Bank.

• Radha Unni has been appointed as independent director of Kerala-based South Indian Bank.
• She was formerly the Chief General Manager of State Bank of India, Kerala Circle.
• South Indian Bank is a private sector bank. It is headquartered at Thrissur in Kerala.

Topic: Miscellaneous

3. Dhan Rekha plan launched by LIC.

• Dhan Rekha plan has been launched by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
• It is a new non-linked, non-participating, individual savings life insurance plan. It offers special premium rates for female lives.
• The minimum sum assured under this plan is ₹2 lakh. There is no limit for maximum sum assured.
• The minimum age at entry ranges from 90 days to eight years. Maximum age at entry ranges from 35 years to 55 years.

Topic: Banking System

4. IPPB partners with NPCI Bharat BillPay to facilitate cash-based assisted bill payments at the doorstep of customers.

• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has partnered with NPCI Bharat BillPay to facilitate cash-based assisted bill payments at the doorstep of customers.
• With this partnership, customers will be able to pay for their recurring bills by visiting their nearest post office also.
• J Venkatramu, Managing Director and CEO, IPPB, said this partnership will empower citizens by enabling bill payments at the doorstep through our ubiquitous network of Gramin Dak Sevaks and postal staff.
• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is a public sector payments bank operated by the India Post. It was started on 1 September, 2018. Its tagline is Aapka Bank, Aapke Dwaar. J. Venkatramu is its MD & CEO.
• NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd (NBBL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India, It came into effect from 1 April 2021. Noopur Chaturvedi is it CEO.

Topic: Appointments

5.  Ashu Suyash appointed by Kotak Mahindra Bank as an independent director on its board.

• Ashu Suyash has been appointed by Kotak Mahindra Bank as an independent director on its board.
• The appointment is for a period of five years with effect from January 24, 2022.
• The appointment is subject to the approval of the members of the bank. Suyash was the Managing Director and CEO of Crisil Ltd.

Topic: Miscellaneous

6. Government releases detailed guidelines for implementing the new Public Sector Enterprises (PSE) Policy for non-strategic sectors.

• Government has released detailed guidelines for implementing the new Public Sector Enterprises (PSE) Policy for non-strategic sectors by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).
• Government has notified the new PSE policy on February 4. The policy envisaged classification of CPSEs into strategic and non-strategic sectors. 
• Under the new guidelines, the closure/privatization process will start with in-principle decision for closure from Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
• Then an inter-ministerial committee will be constituted by DPE to drive the process. The next stage will begin with preparation of draft closure note for each CPSE by IMC.
• This complete exercise should be completed within 3 months from the day of in-principle approval.
• The guidelines provide another two months for vetting of draft closure note by IMC and forwarding to Finance Ministry for approval. The next two months will be used for intimation to the Labour Ministry.
• The guidelines provide a time line of 7 months from the date of in-principle approval from CCEA for completion of closure/privatization process.
• The guidelines provide another 45 days for striking off of the name from the list of Registrar of Companies.

Topic: Indian Economy

7. Retail inflation rate based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to a three month high of 4.9% in November.

• Retail inflation rate based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to a three month high of 4.9% in November.
• In October, it stood at 4.48%. Higher core-inflation (overall inflation minus food and fuel inflation) of 6.08 % led to the increase in headline inflation (measured by CPI).
• Inflation of transport and communications and fuel and light declined in November 2021, it still remained in double-digit.
• CPI inflation is expected to be around 6 per cent in December.

Topic: Miscellaneous

8. Tesla CEO Elon Musk named Time Magazine’s “person of the year 2021”.

• Elon Musk has been named as Time Magazine’s “person of the year 2021”.
• Musk is the Founder and Chief Executive of space exploration company SpaceX.
• He is head of brain-chip start-up Neuralink and infrastructure firm The Boring Company.
• He recently surpassed Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos in terms of net worth and became the world’s wealthiest person.

Read Banking Awareness PDF - 12, 13 and 14 December 2021