Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 18, 19 and 20 July 2021

Topic: Banking System

1. Paytm Payments Bank may soon apply for conversion to Small Finance Bank.

• Paytm Payments Bank may soon apply for conversion to Small Finance Bank (SFB) as disclosed by One 97 Communications (Paytm) in the draft red herring prospectus filed by it (Paytm) with SEBI recently.
• If Paytm Payments Bank will be converted into SFB, it will be able to carry out additional banking activities such as lending.
• Existing payments banks with a successful track record of at least five years can apply for conversion into SFB under the existing RBI guidelines for ‘on tap’ licensing of Small Finance Banks in the private sector.
• In 2017, RBI had granted Paytm Payments Bank licence to operate as a payments bank.
• One 97 Communications owns 49% equity interest in Paytm Payments Bank. Vijay Shekhar Sharma owns the rest 51%.
• A payments bank is like any other bank without involving any credit risk. It cannot provide loans or issue credit cards.
• It can accept demand deposits up to ₹2 lakh, offer remittance services, mobile payments/transfers/purchases.
• It can also offer other banking services like ATM/debit cards, net banking and third-party fund transfers.

Topic: Indian Economy

2. Government notifies hike in FDI limit in pension fund management from 49% to 74%.

• Government has notified a hike in the FDI limit in pension fund management from 49% to 74% under National Pension System (NPS).
• In March, Parliament gave the approval to increase the FDI limit in the insurance business from 49% to 74%.
• Four out of seven Pension Fund Managers (PFMs) managing the NPS corpus have significant foreign investments.
• Their names are HDFC Pension Management, ICICI Prudential Pension Funds, Kotak Mahindra Pension Fund and Aditya Birla Sun Life Pension Management.
• Other three PFMs for NPS are LIC Pension Fund, SBI Pension Funds and UTI Retirement Solutions.
• As on July 10, 2021, NPS assets under management (AUM) stood at about Rs 6.2 lakh crore.
• PFRDA chairman Supratim Bandyopadhyay said that NPS AUM may rise over 30% year-on-year to near Rs 7.5 lakh crore in FY22.
• PFMs were charging only 0.01% as fund management fee. PFRDA allowed them to charge up to 0.09% if the PFM’s AUM is less than Rs 10,000 crore.
• PFRDA has also allowed more fund managers to enter into the NPS sector by applying to the regulator at any point (on tap) in time in FY22.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

3. Authum Investment and Infrastructure to acquire Anil Ambani-led Reliance Commercial Finance (RCFL).

• Authum Investment and Infrastructure will acquire Anil Ambani-led Reliance Commercial Finance (RCFL) on completion of the resolution process.
• Lenders have approved the ₹1,629 crore bid of Authum. The resolution will lead to overall debt reduction of Reliance Capital by over Rs 9,000 crore.
• Authum Investment and Infrastructure is a Non-Banking Finance Company.
• RCFL offers a wide range of products including loans against property, MSME/SME loans, infrastructure financing, education loans and micro financing.

Topic: Miscellaneous

4. Anthony Di Iorio, a Co-Founder of the Ethereum network quits Crypto industry.

• Anthony Di Iorio, a Co-Founder of the Ethereum network has quitted the Crypto industry.
• He is one of eight founders of the popular blockchain platform Ethereum. He helped build the popular blockchain platform Ethereum.
• He said that he plans to sell Decentral Inc., and refocus on philanthropy and other ventures.
• Decentral Inc. is a Toronto-based innovation hub and software company focused on blockchain technologies.
• Back in 2013, Di Iorio co-founded Ethereum, which has become the home of many of the crypto projects.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

5. Acquisition of Videocon group by Vedanta group’s Twinstar Technologies stayed by NCLAT.

• Acquisition of Videocon group by Vedanta group’s Twinstar Technologies stayed by National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
• NCLAT has stayed in acquisition on an appeal filed by the Bank of Maharashtra.
• The bank alleged that payment to dissenting financial creditors through convertible debentures (NCDs) and equities are provided in the resolution plan. The bank alleged that this is not permissible under IBC.
• The NCLT had earlier approved the offer made by Twinstar Technologies. Twin Star Technologies, under Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta group, has offered ₹2,962.02 crore to acquire Videocon.

Topic: Agriculture

6. India’s non-basmati rice exports likely to exceed last fiscal’s record shipments of 13.08 million tonnes (mt).

• India’s non-basmati rice exports are likely to exceed last fiscal’s record shipments of 13.08 million tonnes (mt).
• India also exported 4.6 mt of Basmati rice. Totally rice exports brought in ₹65,297 crore against ₹45,426 crore in 2019-20.
• According to the Government's advance estimates, rice exports have increased, primarily due to non-Basmati shipments.
• Basmati exports were 15 % lower in April and the trend continued in May. India is the world’s largest rice exporter.

Topic: Agriculture

7. Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) establishes a dairy investment accelerator.

• Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) has established a dairy investment accelerator under its Investment Facilitation Cell.
• Dairy investment accelerator will offer investors specific inputs for the evaluation of opportunities.
• Dairy investment accelerator would also generate awareness about ₹15,000-crore Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development fund to support entrepreneurs, private companies, MSME, Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs).
• The benefits available under the fund include 3% interest subvention on loans, two-year moratorium with a six-year repayment period and ₹750 crore credit guarantee.
• India is the largest milk producer contributing 23% of global milk production.
• Annual milk production in India has increased by 6.4 % (CAGR) in the past five years.

Topic: Miscellaneous

8. Kajal Chakraborty won Norman Borlaug National Award.

• Kajal Chakraborty has won Norman Borlaug National Award for Excellence in Agricultural Research.
• He is a Principal Scientist at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. The award was instituted by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
• The award is announced once in five years. It carries a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.
• In addition to a cash prize, the scientist will be given a research grant of Rs 1.5 core to conduct a challenging research project for five years.

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