Banking Awareness of 15, 16 and 17 June 2024

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

1. Gujarat has won award for maximum wind power installed capacity.

• Gujarat won the first rank award at an event organised under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
• The event was held to commemorate Global Wind Day on 15 June 2024.
• The event has a central theme of “Pawan–Urja: Powering the Future of India”.
• Gujarat had 11,823 MW of installed wind power capacity at the end of May 2024.
• Tamil Nadu had 10743 MW and Karnataka is ranked third with 6312 MW.
• Gujarat is second to Rajasthan (22,180 MW) in solar power with installed solar power capacity of 14182 MW.
• Renewable energy capacity of Gujarat was highest among all states at the end of May 2024.  It stood at 28200 MW.
• Gujarat has fixed target of achieving cumulative 100 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Topic: Taxation

2. Government has reduced windfall tax on petroleum crude with effect from 15 June.

• Earlier, windfall tax on petroleum crude was ₹5,200 per metric tonne. It has now been cut to ₹3,250 ($38.90) per metric tonne.
• The tax has been kept unchanged at zero for diesel and aviation turbine fuel.
• The windfall tax is revised every fortnight.
• On 1 June, government has reduced the windfall tax on petroleum crude from ₹5,700 to ₹5,200 per metric tonne.
• India started taxing crude oil production and exports of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel from July 2022.
• This was done to regulate private refiners wanting to sell fuel overseas instead of locally to benefit from high refining margins.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

3. India’s textile exports have increased by 9.59% in May 2024.

• In May 2024, India’s textile exports have grown despite unfavorable conditions in major markets like EU, US and West Asian nations.
• India’s apparel exports have also grown by 9.84% in May 2024.
• In May 2024, cumulative exports of textiles and apparel grew by 9.70% over May 2023.
• India’s overall exports for May 2024 increased to 68.29 billion US Dollars.
• This was a year-on-year increase of 10.2% according to Commerce Ministry data released on 14 June.
• During April-May 2024, India’s textile exports showed a growth of 6.04% over the previous year.
• During the same period, apparel exports showed a growth of 4.46% over the previous year.
• The US, UAE, Netherlands, UK, China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Germany, and France were among India’s top ten export markets.
• Merchandise exports increased 9.1% to USD 38.13 billion. Service exports increased 11.7% to USD 30.16 billion.

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

4. NEC Corporation India has been selected by PFRDA as a System Integrator (SI) for PFRDA-TRACE.

• NEC Corporation has been designated as SI for six years.
• In February 2024, PFRDA has invited bids from potential bidders to be selected as SI for PFRDA-TRACE under Technology Architecture (TARCH) project.
• In April 2024, four bidders were selected by PFRDA for technical evaluation to select a SI.
• The four selected bidders were Bahwan Cybertek, Inspira Enterprise India, NEC Corporation India and Trigyn Technologies.
• PFRDA-TRACE (tracking, reporting, analytics, and compliance e-platform) is a digital platform of PFRDA.
• It will function as an all-inclusive tool enabling intermediaries to provide reports on regulatory and supervisory compliance.
• Additionally, it will be a platform for data and report sharing with PFRDA, function monitoring, and workflow facilitation for PFRDA departments to examine and monitor.

Topic: RBI

5. Rupees 1.45 crore fine has been imposed by RBI on Central Bank of India.

• RBI fined Central Bank of India for approving a working capital demand loan against money owed to the government in the form of subsidies to a company.
• In a few cases of unlawful electronic transactions, the Central Bank of India also neglected to credit (shadow reversal) the associated sum to clients' accounts in a timely manner.
• RBI imposed a penalty of ₹96.4 lakh on Sonali Bank PLC for non-compliance with some norms, which include the KYC Directions, 2016.
• Sonali Bank PLC is the main state-owned leading public commercial bank in Bangladesh.

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

6. SEBI has issued warning to JM Financial over non-convertible debentures (NCDs) issuances.

• The warning is related to JM Financial Ltd’s role as a Merchant Banker relating to certain past public issuances of NCDs.
• In March 2024, RBI took action against JM Financial Products Ltd (JMFPL).
• RBI found certain serious deficiencies about loans sanctioned by the company for IPO financing and NCD subscriptions.
• JM Financial owns a 99.71% stake in JMFPL. JM Financial is an Indian financial services group. It is headquartered in Mumbai.

Topic: Banking System

7. A fine of over Rs 1.66 crore has been imposed by Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) on Axis Bank.

• FIU has imposed this fine on Axis Bank for failing to detect fraud NSG account.
• The bank failed to detect and report suspicious transactions involving a fraudulent account created in the name of the NSG counter-terrorist force.
• FIU’s order under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) found Axis Bank employees complicit in a large-scale fraud.
• The FIU comes under the Union Finance Ministry.
• Similar to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), it is an organisation charged with implementing specific provisions of the anti-money laundering legislation. 
• FIU scrutinises the measures used by banks and other financial establishments classified as 'reporting entities' under the PMLA to prevent money laundering and fraudulent transactions.
• Under the PMLA, banks, stock exchanges, insurance companies and other financial bodies are included in reporting entities.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

8. India’s goods exports have grown 9.1% to $38.13 billion in May 2024.

• Imports increased 7.7% to $61.91 billion. The textile sector has shown a growth of nearly 10% in May.
• The merchandise trade deficit increased to a seven-month high level of $23.78 billion in May.
• The merchandise trade deficit in May 2024 was 5.5% higher than the deficit in May 2023.
• The merchandise trade deficit in May 2024 was 24.5% over April’s trade deficit of $19.1 billion.
• Compared with April, imports in May were 14.4% higher and exports increased 8.9%.
• 7.4% growth was recorded in exports of engineering goods in May.
• Several sectors, including electronics (23%), drugs and pharma products (10.45%), and plastics and linoleum (16.6%) have shown double digit growth.
• Imports of gold reached $3.33 billion in May 2024. This is a three-month high level.
• Gold imports had tripled year-on-year in April to $3.11 billion. The value of silver imports increased by more than 400%.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

9. WPI food index increased from 5.52% in April to 7.40% in May.

• Wholesale food prices have skyrocketed month-on-month in May.
• Official data show that the Whole Price Index for food items rose from 5.52% in April to 7.40% in May.
• Among food grains, prices of cereals, paddy, pulses, vegetables, potatoes, onions and fruits increased.
• According to official data from the Commerce Ministry, overall wholesale inflation in India, based on the Wholesale Price Index, rose to 2.61% in May, compared to 1.26% in April.
• This high inflation in May was due to rise in prices of food products, crude petroleum and natural gas, mineral oils and other manufacturing industries.
• In May, annual retail inflation stood at a 12-month low of 4.75%, down from 4.83% in April.
• Retail inflation or consumer price index was 5.7% in December last year, and has been declining since then.

Topic: RBI

10. Aurionpro Payments' plea to become an online payments aggregator has been approved by the RBI.

• On June 13, Aurionpro Payment Solutions said its payment gateway brand, AuroPay, has received RBI approval under the Payments Settlements Act, 2007 to operate as an online payments aggregator.
• The approval from RBI enables the company to act as an online payment aggregator to provide digital payment services to merchants across the country.
• The Navi Mumbai-based technology solutions company caters to the needs of banking, mobility, payments, and government sectors.
• Aurionpro was founded on October 31, 1997.

Read Banking Awareness PDF - 15, 16 and 17 June 2024