Banking Awareness of 14 and 15 January 2022

Topic: Banking System

1. HDFC Bank chosen as India’s best private bank at Global Private Banking Awards 2021.

• HDFC Bank has been chosen as India’s best private bank at Global Private Banking Awards 2021.
• Professional Wealth Management (PWM) organized Global Private Banking Awards 2021.
• PWM is published by Financial Times, which is the world's leading global business publication.
• PWM specializes in analysing the growth strategies of private banks and the regional financial centres in which they operate.
• HDFC Bank Limited is headquartered in Mumbai. HDFC Bank is India‘s largest private sector bank. It was founded in 1994. CEO of HDFC Bank is Sashidhar Jagdishan.

Topic: RBI

2. New norms for classification of investment portfolio of banks proposed by RBI.

• As per proposed norms, banks’ investment portfolios will be divided into three categories.
• These categories are held-to-maturity (HTM), available for sale (AFS), and fair value through profit and loss account (FVTPL).
• Held-for-trading (HFT) shall be a sub-category within fair value through profit and loss account (FVTPL).
• New norms will come into effect from April 1, 2023. RBI has proposed new norms to align the investment portfolio of banks with the global prudential framework and accounting standards.
• The existing instructions on the prudential norms on classification and valuation of investment portfolio are largely based on Report of Informal Group on Valuation of Banks’ Investment Portfolio.
• The recommendations of the informal group resulted in the issuing of prudential guidelines on the investment portfolio in October 2002. These guidelines form the basis of current norms.

Topic: Banking System

3. Snapdeal joins hand with BOB Financial and NPCI to launch a co-branded contactless RuPay credit card.

• Snapdeal has joined hands with BOB Financial and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch a co-branded contactless RuPay credit card.
• The co-branded credit card will be offered on Rupay platform. Snapdeal-BoB co-branded contactless card will be officially launched by March 2022.
• BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda (BoB).
• Snapdeal is an Indian e-commerce company. It was founded by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.

Topic: Taxation

4. South Indian Bank authorized to collect direct and indirect taxes.

• South Indian Bank has been authorized by RBI to collect direct and indirect taxes on behalf of CBDT and CBIC.
• It has signed an MoU with Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) for the collection of various taxes.
• South Indian Bank’s customers can now pay their direct and indirect taxes through its digital channels as well as through its branches.
• South Indian Bank is a private sector bank. It is headquartered in Thrissur, Kerala.

Topic: RBI

5. Nine NBFCs surrender Certificate of Registration (CoR) to RBI.

• Nine Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) have surrendered their Certificate of Registration (CoR) to RBI.
• The list of nine NBFCs includes Morgan Stanley India Securities, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and others.
• RBI has cancelled their CoR in exercise of powers conferred on it under Section 45-IA (6) of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
• RBI has said that these NBFCs will not transact the business of a Non-Banking Financial Institution, as defined in clause (a) of Section 45-I of RBI Act, 1934.
• Indie Homefin Pvt Ltd (Mumbai) has also surrendered the CoR granted by National Housing Bank (NHB). RBI has cancelled its CoR. It is also included in the list of nine NBFCs that have surrendered their CoR.

Topic: Banking System

6. Paytm Payments Bank become India’s first bank to receive 926 million monthly UPI transactions.

• Paytm Payments Bank has become India’s first bank to receive 926 million monthly UPI transactions.
• It has also become most preferred UPI beneficiary bank. It has remained the largest UPI beneficiary bank throughout the year (except in May 2021).
• During October-December quarter of 2021, it registered a total of 2,507.47 million beneficiary transactions.
• It received 964.95 million beneficiary transactions in the same quarter in 2020. This is a year-on-year increase of 159.85%.
• State Bank of India followed Paytm Payments Bank as the second-largest beneficiary with 664.89 million transactions.
• Beneficiary banks are the banks of the account holder who is receiving money.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

7. Torus Kling Blockchain signs MoU with India INX to launch India’s first crypto backed futures ETF at Gift City.

• Torus Kling Blockchain has signed an MoU with India INX to launch India’s first Bitcoin and Ethereum Futures ETF.
• Bitcoin & Ethereum Futures ETF will be the first crypto-backed futures ETF outside of US.
• Torus Kling Blockchain IFSC is a 50:50 joint venture between Cosmea Financial Holdings (CFH) and Kling Trading India.
• India INX is India’s first international exchange at International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) located at GIFT City. V Balasubramaniam is its Managing Director & CEO.

Topic: Miscellaneous

8. United Nations projects global economic growth for 2022 and 2023 at 4% and 3.5% respectively.

• The United Nations has projected that the world economy will grow by 4% in 2022 and 3.5% in 2023.
• The UN said that new waves of COVID-19 infections, labour market challenges, supply chain issues, and inflation are the main challenges for world economies.
• Indian economy will grow at 6.5% in 2022 and by 5.9% in 2023. Coal shortages and high oil prices could put the brakes on economic activity.
• UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2022 report was launched on 13 January 2022.
• In 2021, the world economy has expanded by 5.5 %, the highest rate of global economic growth in the last four decades.
• Consumer spending, increase in investments, and trade in goods were the main factors of economic recovery in 2021.
• According to the UN report, labour shortage in developed economies has increased the challenge in supply chain management.
• High food and energy prices have increased inflation in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Recovery is very slow in tourism-dependent economies.
• Recently, World Bank has projected that the global economy will grow by 4.1% in 2022 and 3.2% in 2023.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

9. Wholesale inflation declines to 13.56% in December.

• Wholesale inflation declined to 13.56% in December as compared to 14.23% in November.
• Wholesale inflation is also known as producers’ inflation. Retail inflation reached a five month high level of 5.59% in December.
• WPI inflation is high due to an increase in primary food and non-food inflation.
• Primary food inflation increased to 9.6% in December as compared to 0.1% in October.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

10. Goods export in December 2021 grew by 38.91% to $37.81 billion.

• As per quick estimates released by Commerce & Industry Ministry, goods export in December 2021 has grown by 38.91% (year-on-year) to $37.81 billion.
• Imports increased by 38.55% to $59.48 billion in December 2021, compared to the same month last year.
• As a result, the trade deficit widened by 37.92% to $21.68 billion. In April-December 2021, goods exports stood at $301.38 billion.
• Goods exports in April-December 2021 increased by 49.66% over $ 201.38 billion during the period April-December 2020.
• Goods imports in April-December 2021 stood at $443.82 billion. This was 68.91% higher than imports in the same period last year.

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