Banking Awareness of 15, 16 and 17 November 2023

Topic: Corporates/Companies

1. JSW got award to develop Greenfield port in Karnataka for Rs 4,119 crore.

• JSW Infrastructure will develop an all-weather, deep-water, Greenfield port at Keni Port in Karnataka on a public private partnership basis.
• The proposed Keni Port is located between Mormugao Port in the north and New Mangalore Port in the south.
• Keni Port would have modern and environment-friendly mechanised facilities for handling cape-size vessels.
• Initially, its capacity will be 30 MTPA (million tonnes per annum).
• Keni Port will serve the industries in the area covering Bellary, Hosapete, Hubballi, Kalaburagi, and South Maharashtra.
• JSW Infrastructure Ltd is a part of the JSW Group.
• It is India’s 2nd largest commercial port operator in terms of cargo handling capacity in FY23.

Topic: RBI

2. RBI has ordered Bajaj Finance, a NBFC, to stop giving of loans via eCOM and Insta EMI Card.

• RBI ordered stopping of the sanction and disbursal of loans by Bajaj Finance via eCOM and Insta EMI Card with immediate effect.
• RBI has ordered this due to non-adherence by Bajaj Finance to the RBI’s digital lending guidelines, especially the non-issuance of Key Fact Statements (KFS) to the borrowers under these two lending products.
• Deficiencies in the Key Fact Statements issued in respect of other digital loans sanctioned by Bajaj Finance are also the reason.
• RBI has taken action under Section 45L(1)(b) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
• RBI introduced the Digital Lending norms in September 2022.
• These norms required regulated entities to issue a ‘key fact statement’ to borrowers before execution of the loan in a standardised format.
• Key fact statement contains information like APR (annual percentage rate) and the recovery mechanism.
• It also contains information on details of a grievance redressal officer designated specifically for digital lending, and details of the applicable cooling-off or ‘look-up’ period.
• Bajaj Finance Limited is a subsidiary of Bajaj Finserv. It is an Indian non-banking financial company (NBFC) headquartered in Pune.

Topic: RBI

3. RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 90.92 lakh on Axis Bank.

• The penalty has been imposed for non-compliance with KYC, code of conduct guidelines.
• The bank failed to preserve customer identification records. It did not obtain declarations from customers during the opening of current accounts.
• Axis Bank failed to comply with directions issued by RBI on ‘Reserve Bank of India (Know Your Customer (KYC)) Directions, 2016’ and ‘Loans and Advances – Statutory and Other Restrictions’.
• It also failed to comply with ‘Guidelines on Managing Risks and Code of Conduct in Outsourcing of Financial Services by banks’ and ‘Code of Conduct for Opening and Operating Current Accounts’.
• RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 42.78 lakh on Manappuram Finance.
• Manappuram Finance failed to adhere to certain guidelines. It did not transfer surplus amounts to the borrowers from the auction of gold articles pledged by the borrowers during April 01, 2021, to September 30, 2022.

Topic: Banking System

4. UCO Bank stopped IMPS service due to internal technical glitch.

• UCO Bank has made the IMPS channel offline for its customers as a precautionary measure.
• A technical issue in IMPS was observed from 10-13 November.
• Transactions initiated by holders of other banks resulted in credit to the account holders in UCO Bank without actual receipt of money from the banks.
• UCO Bank (formerly United Commercial Bank) is a central public sector bank under the ownership of Ministry of Finance.
• It was established in 1943. Its headquarters is in Kolkata. Its founder was G D Birla. Ashwani Kumar is its MD and CEO.
• IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) is an instant payment inter-bank electronic funds transfer system. It is available 24x7 throughout the year including bank holidays.

Topic: Reports and Indices

5. MFIs gross NPA declined from 5.6% in FY22 and 5.2% in FY21 to 2.7% in FY23, as per MFIN’s India Microfinance Review for FY23. 

• Microfinance Industry Network (MFIN)’s India Microfinance Review for FY23 is titled ‘Micro Matters: Macro View’.
• Portfolio at Risk (PAR) for NBFC-MFIs has gradually improved post-pandemic.
• Over 30-day PAR have fallen from 22.44% in June 2021 to 10.5% in March 2023.
• The total microfinance loan portfolio grew 22 per cent y-o-y to ₹3.48 lakh crore as of March 2023.
• 46% microfinance lenders had repayment tenure of 18-24 months. The share of 18-24 month loans increased for the past three years.
• 30% of loans had a tenure of over 24 months. The share of 0-12-month loans declined.
• Average microfinance ticket size increased 6.3% y-o-y to ₹41,391 in FY23.
• The share of East and Northeast states declined to 34.9% from 37.7 % a year ago.
• Bihar has emerged as the top state in terms of portfolio outstanding.

Topic: Reports and Indices

6. India’s food security has risen over the past five years, says GRFC 2023.

• People in 58 countries need urgent food assistance, says GRFC 2023.
• Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2023 has been prepared by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
• According to the risk index of the report, India’s food security was far better based on the 2020-22 average than China and the Russian Federation. Food insecurity was the highest in Iran.
• The GRFC estimated that more than a quarter of a billion people were acutely food insecure.
• In 2022, 36% (51.3 million) of the population analysed for the report faced high levels of acute food insecurity in five countries in Asia.
• These countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• Conflict was the main driver of acute food insecurity in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
• GRFC also provides data for malnutrition. It says 4.15 million children under 5 years were estimated to be suffering from wasting in 2022. Out of these, one million were severely wasted.
• In Bangladesh, people in the Cox’s Bazaar area face food insecurities.

Topic: RBI

7. Norms for unsecured personal loans for banks and NBFCs have been tightened by RBI.

• A decision has been taken to increase the risk weights with regard to consumer credit exposure of commercial banks, both outstanding as well as new, including personal loans.
• It excludes housing loans, education loans, vehicle loans, and loans secured by gold and gold jewelry.
• The risk weight on consumer credit for banks and NBFCs has been increased by RBI from 100% to 125%.
• Under the current rules, the banks must keep ₹8 for every ₹100 lent for personal loans.
• Under the new rules, they will keep 25% higher, or ₹10 on every ₹100 lent.
• RBI has also raised the risk weights on credit receivables by 25 percentage points to 150% and 125% for banks and NBFCs, respectively.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

8. India’s exports increased by 6.21% to 35.57 billion dollars in October 2023.

• India’s exports stood at 31.6 billion dollars a year ago.
• India’s imports increased to 65.03 billion dollars in October 2023, as against 57.91 billion dollars recorded in October 2022.
• Merchandise exports from April to October 2023 stood at around 245 billion.
• From April to October of 2023, the expected value of services exported was above 192 billion US dollars.
• According to the Commerce and Industry Ministry, 22 of the 30 key sectors exhibited positive growth in October 2023.
• These sectors include Iron Ore, Ceramic Products and Glassware, Processed Items, Cotton Yarn, and Handloom Products among others.

Topic: Miscellaneous

9. 66 Indians got Cyprus’s Golden Passport between 2014 and 2020.

• Indian Express, in partnership with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), reported this, as part of Cyprus Confidential.
• Cyprus Confidential is a worldwide offshore probe of 3.6 million documents.
• The golden passport scheme was launched in 2007. It was also known as the ‘Cyprus Investment Programme’.
• This programme allowed financially prominent individuals to obtain Cypriot citizenship.
• Vinod Adani, Pankaj Oswal and real estate baron Surendra Hiranandani were among 66 Indians who obtained “golden passport”.
• Vinod Adani is Gautam Adani’s elder brother who came under spotlight in Hindenburg Research’s investigation.
• Pankaj Oswal is chairman and founder of Burrup Holdings Limited.
• Cyprus repealed its “golden passport” scheme. It stopped receiving new applications on November 1, 2020.
• There is only one Indian on the list of proposed revocations of Cypriot passports – Anubhav Aggarwal.
• The Nicolatos Commission’s inquiry report states that Aggarwal was implicated in the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam.

Read Banking Awareness PDF - 15, 16 and 17 November 2023