Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness

Main Headlines:

1. Improved form 26AS for ITR filing

Government has announced that improved form 26AS will be available for Income Tax Return (ITR) filing from current assessment year.
The form will have additional details about high value financial transactions taken during last financial year.
As improved form 26 AS will have extra details specified in Statement of Financial Transactions (SFTs), it will help taxpayers in ITR filing.
Part E section of Form 26AS show type of transaction, name of SFT filer, date of transaction, number of parties involved in transaction, amount of transaction, mode of payment and remarks.
New form 26AS was notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in May, 2020.
Income Tax (IT) department generates annual consolidated tax statement, called form 26AS.
All taxpayers can access this form from the website of income tax department with the help of Permanent Account Number (PAN).
IT department is monitoring information of transactions of high value since FY 2015-16.

Case filed by Whatsapp against Israeli cyber firm NSO group for development of Pegasus software will be continued in US.
The NSO group tried to prevent the case by saying that its clients are government actors.
The case was filed by Whatsapp in October 2019.
NSO Group has developed Pegasus software, which was used for surveillance over activists, journalists and lawyers all over the world.
Whatsapp had revealed that it had informed authorities in May and September 2019 about surveillance.
Whatsapp was released in January 2009. It was acquired by Facebook in February 2014. It was originally programmed by Brian Acton and Jan Koum.

Kaizad Bharucha or Sashidhar Jagdishan may become next MD and CEO of HDFC Bank.
Aditya Puri, who is the current MD and CEO of bank, will retire in October.
Kaizad Bharucha is currently Executive Director of HDFC Bank. He is also a member of bank's Credit Approval Committee.
Sashidhar Jagdishan is the Group head or change agent at HDFC Bank.
In April 2020, the bank's board has finalised three candidates for the position of MD and CEO.

CarVal Investors may again negotiate its Rs 2,300-crore bid for buying Uttam Value Steel Ltd and Uttam Galva Metallics under the IBC.
CarVal has now said that Covid-19 has caused decline in demand in steel sector, which has affected valuation significantly.
As per Crisil, demand in steel sector may decline by 14-17% this fiscal.
In March, National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had approved US-based fund CarVal's bid.

Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has asked Glenmark to clarify on pricing of Fabiflu.
A legislator has complained that the drug should be affordable as Government has supported the drugmakers in fast-track approvals of new drugs.
Glenmark is a Mumbai-based Indian pharmaceutical company.
Fabiflu (favipiravir) is a recently launched Covid-19 drug.

KritiScan, UV Baggage Disinfection System has been co-developed by ARCI and Vehant Technologies, Noida.
International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad is Department of Science and Technology's autonomous R&D Centre.
The disinfection baggage system is UV-C light based. It allows chemical free disinfection. The process of disinfection is dry.
The wavelength of UVC light is 254nm. It has germicidal (germ killing) properties. It kills the virus by destroying the genetic material of virus.