Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
1. India’s exports declined 10.3% to $34.98 billion in May 2023.
- India’s imports have fallen 6.6% to $57.1 billion. Imports were recorded at $61.13 billion in May 2022.
- Trade deficit for May 2023 has widened to 5-months high level of $22.12 billion as per quick estimates released by the Commerce & Industry Ministry on 15 June 2023.
- The exports have fallen for the fourth continuous month in May 2023.
- The exports have fallen due to decline in sectors like petroleum products, gems & jewellery, engineering items, chemicals and readymade garments.
- Slowdown in the developed world have continued to impact demand.
- Government is working on a trade strategy to address slowdown in developed world.
- Government has identified 40 countries with 85% share of India’s exports.
- In May 2023, exports increased in 13 of the 30 key sectors. Some of these sectors are electronic goods, other cereals, oil meals, spices, iron ore, and oil seeds.
- Exports during April-May 2023 have fallen 11.41% to $69.72 billion.
- Imports during April-May 2023 declined 10.24% to $107 billion.
- Trade deficit during April-May 2023 stood at $37.26 billion. This was 7.95% lower than trade deficit during April-May 2022.
- In April-May 2023, India’s top five export markets were the US, the UAE, the Netherlands, China and the UK.
- China, Russia, the US, the UAE and Saudi Arabia were its top import sources in April-May 2023.
Topic: Miscellaneous
2. India has asked for exemption for MSMEs from Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) of the European Union (EU).
- Under CBAM, import taxes will be imposed on certain identified carbon-intensive items like steel and aluminium when they will be imported to the bloc (EU).
- Import levies will be applicable from 2026. In the starting, they will apply on cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilizers, electricity and hydrogen.
- The transitional phase for CBAM will start from 01 October 2023 and run until the end of 2025.
- From 1 October, exporters of seven carbon-intensive sectors to the European Union will report on the emissions embedded in the items subject to the mechanism (CBAM).
- During the CBAM’s transitional phase, traders will only report the greenhouse gas emissions embedded in their imports subject to the mechanism without paying any financial adjustment.
Topic: Banking System
3. NaBFID has raised ₹10,000 crore.
- It has raised ₹10,000 crore via maiden issuance of listed bonds of 10-year duration at a coupon rate of 7.43%.
- NaBFID’s infrastructure bonds (unsecured non-convertible debt securities) were oversubscribed.
- This was the largest debt issuance by an All India Financial Institution (AIFI).
- NaBFID has received in-principle listing approvals from BSE and NSE.
- National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) was established in 2021. It was set up by an Act of the Parliament.
- It was set up to address the gaps in long-term non-recourse finance for infrastructure development.
- Central Government holds entire shareholding of the NaBFID. It has invested equity of ₹20,000 crore and provided a grant of ₹5,000 crore.
Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings
4. The third and final W20 engagement group meeting concluded on 16 June 2023.
- The meeting ended with a call to countries to partner in carrying forward the communique.
- The W20 Communique 2023 provides actionable recommendations to be included in the G20 Leaders’ Declaration.
- It urged the leaders to provide a minimum 15% tax break for women-led tech and tech-enabled start-ups.
- It urged that a minimum of 5% of the new Global Minimum Corporate Tax should be allocated to fund women-owned and led MSMEs in growth sectors.
- The Communique recommended action across five priority areas.
- On 15 June, the meeting of the W-20 on the third and final working group began at Mahabalipuram near Chennai.
- This year, the theme of summit was ‘Women-Led Development- Transform, Thrive and Transcend’.
- In 2015, the Women 20 (W20), official G20 engagement group was created under Turkey's presidency of the G20. It aims to focus on gender equality.
Topic: Miscellaneous
5. Supreme Court bench has ruled that Competition Act applies to Coal India Limited (CIL).
- Three Judge Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice KM Joseph has given this ruling on 15 June 2023.
- The SC ordered there is no merit in Coal India’s argument that the Competition Act will not apply to it because it (Coal India) is governed by the Nationalisation Act.
- In many cases, Competition Commission of India (CCI) has earlier decided that CIL (Coal India Limited) violated the Competition Act, 2002 by abusing its dominant position.
- CIL’s argument was that the Nationalisation Act envisaged that the mines would be operated as a monopoly in the national interest.
- CCI argued that there was no anomaly in CIL being subject to the Competition Act.
Topic: Banking System
6. “ActivMoney” feature has been launched by Kotak Mahindra Bank for savings account holders.
- Under this, customers will get Fixed Deposit (FD) like interest up to 7% on their savings account.
- They will be able to access their funds anytime without any penalty on foreclosure.
- Through ActivMoney, excess funds in the account that exceed a certain level are automatically transferred into an FD, allowing consumers to receive a higher interest rate on their savings.
- Default minimum threshold is ₹25,000 for Savings/Salary/811 accounts and ₹50,000 for current accounts.
- Kotak Mahindra Bank:
- It was India’s 3rd largest private sector bank in terms of assets and by market capitalisation as of November 2021.
- It was founded in 2003. It is headquartered in Mumbai. Uday Kotak is its MD & CEO.
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
7. National Stock Exchange (NSE), Maharashtra government and Moneybee Institute have collaborated.
- They have collaborated to create awareness among the public about investing in the capital markets.
- NSE, Technical Education Department, Maharashtra, and Moneybee Institute have signed a tri-partite memorandum of understanding (MoU).
- Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sold 4.54% stake in Central Depository Services (India) Ltd (CDSL) for ₹468 crore.
- BSE sold 47.44 lakh shares. Out of these, ICICI Prudential Technology Fund bought 5.28 lakh shares.
- As of March-end 2023, BSE had held 20% stake or 20.90 crore shares in CDSL.
- Central Depository Services Limited:
- It is the second Indian central securities depository based in Mumbai. It was founded in 1999.
- It facilitates holding and transacting in securities in the electronic form.
- It also facilitates settlement of trades on stock exchanges.
Topic: Banking System
8. An all-in-one payment device has been launched by Acemoney.
- This device incorporates micro ATM, Aadhaar ATM, and POS in a single device.
- The device will act as point of sale (POS) device and enable merchants to offer other services.
- With the help of the device, customers will be able to withdraw cash using biometric system. They can also deposit money in their bank accounts.
- The device has a large touch screen display and thermal printing facility.
- Cash transactions on the device can be done using cards from any bank.
- BBPS facility has also been provided to facilitate all kinds of recharging and bill payments.
- Earlier, Acemoney launched offline UPI ATM card, which were for making financial transactions through a keypad phone without internet connectivity.
- It has also launched wearable ATMs and ATM at doorstep service. Acemoney is a leading fintech company.
Topic: Banking System
9. Paytm has launched a UPI software development kit.
- This kit has been launched for customers to make payments to online merchants without system failure.
- UPI SDK assures fail-proof transactions. With the help of Paytm UPI SDK, users will be able to pay directly from bank accounts through UPI PIN without jumping between merchant and payment app.
- The Paytm UPI SDK is the smallest and lightest in the market.
- Paytm UPI SDK presently supports transactions via UPI-linked bank accounts and RuPay credit cards.
- Paytm:
- Parent organization: One97 Communications
- Headquarters: Noida
- Founder and CEO: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Topic: Banking System
10. Walmart-backed PhonePe has launched its own in-app payment gateway to help MSMEs in India.
- It has joined Paytm, Razorpay, PayU, Pine Labs, and others by setting up a payment gateway with no extra charges such as setup fees or maintenance costs for small and medium business owners.
- Most payment gateways charge 2% on transaction fee.
- The aim of PhonePe’s payment gateway is to help merchants save up to ₹8 lakh, who have monthly sales of ₹1 lakh.
- In June 2023, PhonePe announced account aggregator services.
- PhonePe is an Indian digital payments company. It is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Sameer Nigam is its CEO.
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