Banking Awareness of 20, 21 and 22 March 2022

Topic: Taxation

1. Government is attempting to classify cryptocurrencies as either a good or a service under the GST law.

• Currently, government levies 18% GST only on service provided by crypto exchanges.
• GST law does not specify how cryptocurrencies should be classified.
• As per the tax officers, cryptos are similar in nature to lottery, casinos, betting, gambling and horse racing.
• Lottery, casinos, betting, gambling and horse racing have 28% of GST on the entire value.
• From April 1, a 30% Income Tax plus cess and surcharges will be levied on crypto currency transactions.
• In Budget 2022-23, 1% TDS was proposed on payments towards virtual currencies beyond Rs 10,000 in a year. This provision will come into effect from July 1, 2022.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

2. Rating agency Fitch has cut India’s GDP forecast for FY 2022-2023 from 10.3% to 8.5%.

• It has revised GDP growth forecast for current fiscal by 0.6 percentage points to 8.7%.
• While cutting India’s GDP forecast, the agency cited high energy prices because of Russia-Ukraine war.
• In its Global economic Outlook-March 2022, the agency said that global supply shock is hitting post-Covid-19 pandemic recovery.
• Fitch has cut world GDP growth forecast by 0.7 percentage points to 3.5%.
• Russia supplies nearly 10% of world's energy, which include 17% of natural gas and 12% of oil.

Topic: Committees/Commissions/Taskforces

3. Supreme Court appointed 3-member committee has recommended that three farm laws should not be repealed.

• The committee submitted its report to the Supreme Court on 19 March, 2021. The report has been made public on 21 March 2022.
• The committee has recommended many changes in the farm laws. It recommended that states should be given freedom to make Minimum Support Price (MSP) system legal.
• It also recommended abolishing of Essential Commodity Act or substantial liberalization of its provisions.
• It further recommended formation of an Agriculture Marketing Council (AMC) similar to GST Council.
• AMC was to be headed by the Minister of Agriculture, with all States and UTs as members.
• The committee said that States can be given flexibility in implementation and design of the laws, with approval from centre.
• It gave the option of setting up of Farmers Courts at district level under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 by the state governments.
• The Committee recommended MSP and procurement support policy needs to be revised with a cap on procurement of wheat and rice in line with the needs of Public Distribution System (PDS).
• As per the Committee, beneficiaries of PDS should be given freedom to choose cash transfer equal to MSP plus 25% for every kg of grain entitlement or get wheat or rice.
• Three members of the committee were Anil Ghanwat, Ashok Gulati and Pramod Kumar Joshi. The committee was headed by Ashok Gulati. Bhupinder Singh Mann withdrew from the Committee.
• Parliament had repealed three farm laws in November 2021. They came into force in June 2020. The three laws were:
  • Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act
  • The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act
  • The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 

Topic: Appointments

4. Indian economist Jayati Ghosh has been appointed by UN to high-level advisory board on effective multilateralism.

• Ghosh has been appointed to a 12-member board that will be supported by the United Nations University's Centre for Policy Research.
• She is also a member of the UN's high-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs.
• The setting up of Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism has been announced by UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres on 18 March 2022.
• Former Liberian President and Nobel laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven will co-chair it.
• UN Secretary-General's report on ‘Our Common Agenda’ was released in September 2021. It proposed a Summit of the Future in 2023.
• The new advisory board will be asked to build on the ideas in ‘Our Common Agenda’.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

5. Merger of BBNL with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to be completed this month.

• BSNL CMD Pravin Kumar Purwar said that government has taken policy decision to merge BBNL with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).
• With the merger, BSNL will get 5.67 lakh kilometer of optical fibre network. BSNL already have 6.8 lakh kilometer of optical fibre cable network.
• Bharat Broadband Nigam Ltd (BBNL) was formed in February 2012 to lay optical fibre network across 2.5 lakh village panchayats across the country using Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
• BSNL CMD said that provision of around ₹45,000 crore has been made for BSNL in budget.
• Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL):
  • It was founded in 2000. It is a Public Sector Undertaking wholly owned by Government of India.
  • Pravin Kumar Purwar is its chairman & MD. It is headquartered in New Delhi.
  • It provides telecom services all over India except Delhi and Mumbai.

Topic: Miscellaneous

6. Japan announced that it will invest ₹3.2-lakh crore over next five years in India.

• Japan has made this announcement of investment target of five trillion yen ($42 billion or Rs 3.2 trillion) in next five years after 14th India-Japan Annual Summit.
• India and Japan have signed six agreements after the 14^th India-Japan Annual Summit.
• PM Modi and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida addressed a special session on India-Japan Economic Forum.
• During the Forum, Suzuki group’s investment of ₹10,400 crore in a new EV unit and battery making facility in its Gujarat unit (Maruti Suzuki) was also announced.
• On the occasion, Gujarat government and Maruti Suzuki signed an agreement under the scrappage policy.

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/ Financial Institutions

7. Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) has exempted small sized M&A deals from CCI merger control norms for 5 more years.

• MCA has said that small sized M&A deals need not be reported or notified to Competition Commission of India till March 2027.
• In small sized M&A deals, target has an asset size of less than ₹350 crore or turnover of less than ₹1,000 crore.
• The exemption was granted for five years by the government in March 2017.
• With the notification of Sections 5 and 6 of the Competition Act, 2002, the Indian merger control regime took effect on June 1, 2011.

Topic: Agriculture

8. India’s maize exports have increased 28.5% to $816.31 million in April-January FY22.

• In April-January period of last financial year, India’s maize exports stood at $634.85 million.
• Some major importers of India’s maize are Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.
• Maize is the third most important cereal crop in India after rice and wheat.
• It is grown throughout the year in India. It is mainly a Kharif crop.
• It is primarily cultivated in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
• Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh are the highest producer of Maize in India followed by Bihar.

Topic: Appointments

9. Rajesh Gopinathan reappointed as MD and CEO of TCS for five years.

• He has been appointed as MD and CEO from February 21, 2022 to February 20, 2027.
• N Ganapathy Subramaniam has been reappointed as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director from February 21, 2022 to May 19, 2024.
• Rajesh Gopinathan has been MD and CEO of TCS since 2017.
• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS):
  • It is an Indian multinational information technology services company.
  • It is headquartered in Mumbai. Its largest campus located in Chennai. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group.

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