Topic: Banking System
1. Karnataka Bank has received ASSOCHAM award at the 8th ‘MSMEs Excellence Awards Ceremony and Summit’ in New Delhi.
- The bank has received the ‘Best MSME Bank of the year - Winner’ award among the private banks.
- Gopalakrishna Samaga B, DGM (Credit Marketing Department) of Karnataka Bank, has received the award on behalf of the bank from Narayan T Rane, Union MSME Minister.
- Karnataka Bank is a Scheduled Commercial Bank based in Mangaluru, Karnataka. It is a private sector bank.
Topic: RBI
2. RBI has extended Rajeev Ahuja’s term as interim MD and CEO of RBL Bank by three months.
- Rajeev Ahuja’s extended term will be effective from March 25, 2022 or till the appointment of a regular MD and CEO, whichever is earlier.
- RBI had earlier approved Ahuja’s appointment as interim MD and CEO for a period of three months with effect from December 25, 2021.
- RBL Bank is a Mumbai based Indian private sector bank. It was earlier known as Ratnakar Bank.
Topic: Banking System
3. NPCI will launch UPI Lite to enable small value transactions in an offline mode.
- UPI Lite will at present be launched as a pilot. Pilot for UPI Lite will start in the next 10 days.
- Upper limit of a UPI Lite payment transaction will be Rs 200. Total limit of a UPI Lite balance for an on-device wallet will be Rs 2,000.
- UPI Lite will be offline but will require a smartphone. About 75% of the total volume of retail transactions in India is below Rs 100.
- UPI was launched in 2016. In February 2022, 452.74 crore payments were made through UPI.
- NPCI has set a target of 1 billion UPI transactions daily in the next three to five years.
- National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI):
- It was formed in 2008 by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
- It is a “Not for Profit” Company headquartered in Mumbai.
Topic: Miscellaneous
4. Ukraine has legalized cryptocurrencies.
- Ukrainian President has signed virtual assets bill, which legalizes cryptocurrencies.
- Foreign and Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchanges will now be allowed to operate legally.
- Banks will also be allowed to open accounts for crypto companies.
- National Securities and Stock Market Commission and National Bank of Ukraine will regulate virtual assets.
- Ukrainian government has recently associated with FTX exchange to convert crypto contributions attempting to help in Ukraine’s war effort into fiat currency.
Topic: Banking System
5. Axis Bank has won IFR Asia’s Asian Bank of Year and India Bond House Award.
- Axis Bank has been awarded the International Financing Review (IFR) Asia’s Asian Bank of Year award for its expertise in Asian investment banking space.
- It ranks first in India in Debt capital markets (DCM) with 17.1% market share. It achieved third position in Equity Capital Markets (ECM).
- Axis Bank has also won Best DCM House in India Award at Finance Asia’s Country Awards in 2022.
- It was the only local house to serve as a global coordinator for record Rs. 183Bn Paytm IPO.
- Axis Bank is the third-largest private sector bank in India. It is headquartered in Mumbai. Its MD & CEO is Amitabh Chaudhary.
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
6. Index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector for January 2022 stood at 124.7.
- As per the latest statistics from Indian Bureau of Mines, the cumulative growth between April 2021 and January 2022 has shown a year-on-year increase of 14.2%.
- Production level of coal in January 2022 stood at 796 lakh tonnes. Production level of lignite stood at 46 lakh tonnes in January 2022.
- Gold production increased 13.3% year-on-year (YoY). Natural gas (utilised) stood at 2,767 million cubic metres in January 2022.
- Petroleum (crude) production stood at 25 lakh tonnes. Bauxite production in January 2022 increased by 13.4% YoY.
- In January 2022, iron ore production has shown a contraction of 4.9% YoY.
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
7. Central government has extended merger notification exemption by a period of 5 years till June 2027.
- For the next 5 years, companies entering into combinations will not be required to notify the Competition Commission of India (CCI) of combinations within 30 days.
- As per Competition law, companies are required to notify combinations within 30 days before they are implemented.
- In June 2017, central government had granted exemption from this requirement for five years.
- Companies failing to notify within 30 days time limit faced the risk of non-compliance or delay in receiving approval from CCI.
- As per Competition Act, 2002, acquisition of one or more enterprises by one or more persons or merger or amalgamation of enterprises is termed as a combination of such enterprises and persons.
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
8. In February 2022, retail inflation for agricultural labourers remained unchanged.
- Retail inflation for rural workers increased by one point in February 2022.
- As per data released by Labour Bureau, CPI for farm workers is 1,095 and 1,106 for rural workers.
- 14 states have shown an increase of 1 to 10 points in the case of agriculture workers.
- Five states showed a decrease of 4 to 5 points in the case of agriculture workers.
- Tamil Nadu did not show any change. It topped the index table and Himachal Pradesh stood at the bottom.
- Rajasthan has shown a maximum rise in CPI for farm workers. Kerala recorded the maximum fall in the case of both the agriculture workers and farm workers.
Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions
9. SEBI has amended rules governing alternative investment funds.
- The amended regulations concerning Category III AIFs came into effect from 16 March 2022.
- Category III AIFs can invest not more than 10% of investable funds in an investee company, directly or through investment in units of other AIFs.
- Funds such as hedge funds, Private investment in public equity (PIPE) Funds, etc. are registered as Category III AIFs.
- Large value funds for accredited investors of Category III AIFs can invest up to 20% of investable funds in an investee company, directly or through investment in units of other AIFs.
- Category III AIFs may compute an investment limit of 10% of either the investable funds or the scheme's net asset value for investment in the listed stock of an investee firm.
- Large value funds for accredited investors of Category III AIFs may calculate investment limit of 20% of either the investable funds or the net asset value of the scheme.
- New norms are called SEBI's AIF Regulations, 2022. AIF rules govern venture capital funds, private equity funds, SME funds, hedge funds among others.
Topic: Banking/Financial Schemes
10. 'Credit Guarantee Scheme for Subordinate Debt’ for MSME has been extended till 31 March 2023.
- 'Credit Guarantee Scheme for Subordinate Debt’ was launched on 24 June 2020.
- Under this scheme, the credit facility is provided to promoters of stressed MSMEs through lending institutions.
- The scheme was initially up to March 31, 2021, but later it was extended up to 31 March 2022.
- The ‘Distressed Assets Fund- Subordinate Debt for Stressed MSMEs’ was created on May 13, 2020.
- The government has provided ₹20,000 crores subordinate debt to MSMEs and ₹3 lakh crores under Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS).
- According to government data, nearly 1,623 MSMEs closed their operation from April 2020 to October 2021.
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