Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 16 and 17 May 2021

By PendulumEdu | Last Modified: 17 May 2021 16:30 PM IST

Main Headlines:

Topic: Indian Economy

1. India showing steady increase in blue-collar job opportunities.

India is showing a steady increase in blue-collar job opportunities and demand for skilled manpower was higher in telecom, logistics, apparels and retail sectors as per listings on ASEEM Portal.
Aatmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM) portal was launched in July 2020 by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Bengaluru-based Betterplace Safety Solutions, in partnership with National Skill Development Corporation, developed the portal.
Blue-collar jobs refer to working-class persons who perform manual labour across sectors such as farming, construction, shipping, trucking, manufacturing and excavation.

Topic: Banking System

SBI will sell three non-performing asset (NPA) accounts next month to recover dues of over Rs 235 crore.
SBI has placed Heavy Metal and Tubes Ltd, Khare and Tarkunde Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and Elize International Ltd for sale to recover dues of over Rs 235 crore.
E-auction of Heavy Metal and Tubes and Khare and Tarkunde will be carried out on June 7. E-auction of Elize will be on June 8.

Topic: Appointments

Four senior SEBI officials are contending for the post of whole-time members.
The names of contenders are Nagendraa Parakh, S Ravindran, Anand Baiwar and Amarjeet Singh. They all are presently working as Executive Directors.
The term of four whole-time members in the SEBI will end this year. Their names are SK Mohanty, Ananta Barua, G Mahalingam and Madhabi Puri Buch.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):
- SEBI was set up in 1988 and given statutory status in 1992. Its headquarters is located in Mumbai.
- In addition to a chairman, SEBI currently has four whole-time members and three part-time members.

Topic: Appointments

Appointment of P Sitaram, Executive Director (ED), as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of IDBI Bank has been approved by IDBI Bank’s Board of Directors.
P Sitaram will replace incumbent ED & CFO Ajay Sharma. His appointment will become effective from June 1, 2021.
The appointment of Sunit Sarkar, ED (In-Situ) as Internal Auditor of the Bank has also been approved by IDBI Bank’s Board of Directors.
He will take the place of MV Phadke, ED & Internal Auditor. Sunit Sarkar’s appointment will become effective from June 1, 2021.
Recently, consortium of lenders led by IDBI Bank has allowed C Sivasankaran to take ownership of his company by paying an amount higher than the liquidation amount.
C Sivasankaran was Aircel Founder. He has defrauded IDBI of Rs 600 crore.

Topic: World Economy

Indian industry is against the proposed tariff action by the US.
US has proposed tariff action in retaliation against India’s imposition of Digital Service Tax (DST) on non-resident e-commerce operators.
In its representation to United States Trade Representative’s Section 301 investigations, Indian industry said that 25% additional tariff proposed by US would not help to eliminate DST.
In June 2020, the US started an investigation under Section 301 of the US Trade Act, 1974, against the taxation on digital services by India and other countries.
In January 2021, US announced that India’s levy of DST is discriminatory and actionable.
In March 2021, US proposed 25% retaliatory tariffs on about 40 products such as shrimps, wooden furniture, gold, silver and jewellery items and basmati rice.

Topic: Reports and Indices

India has got more than USD83 billion in remittances in 2020 as per a World Bank report.
India’s remittances in 2020 have shown a decline of just 0.2 % from the previous year. In 2019, India had received USD83.3 billion in remittances.
China received USD59.5 billion in remittances in 2020. It received USD 68.3 billion in 2019.
China stood at second place in terms of global remittances for 2020. The decline in India’s remittances is mainly due to a 17% decline in remittances from UAE.
In terms of remittances, India and China are followed by Mexico (USD42.8 billion), the Philippines, Egypt, Pakistan (USD26 billion), France and Bangladesh.
In its latest Migration and Development Brief, World Bank said that remittances remained resilient in 2020 despite Covid-19 outbreak.
As per the World Bank, remittances outflow from India was USD7 billion in 2020. It was USD7.5 billion in 2019.
Remittance outflow was the maximum from US (USD68 billion), followed by UAE (USD43 billion), Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Germany, and China.