Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions
1. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) entered the Silver Jubilee year on 19 April 2024.
- As IRDAI celebrates its Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary), its focus is on implementing the reforms announced in March.
- IRDAI was constituted as the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) in 1999 after the recommendations of the Malhotra Committee report. IRDA was later renamed IRDAI.
- It was constituted as an autonomous body to regulate and develop the insurance industry.
- It was incorporated as a statutory body on April 19, 2000.
- IRDAI has powers to frame regulations under Section 114A of the Insurance Act, 1938.
- An important turning point in the history of regulatory governance has been reached in the silver jubilee year when the IRDAI replaced 34 regulations with six.
Topic: Agriculture
2. In order to provide distinct clusters for various crops around the nation, the Centre intends to alter its agriculture sector schemes.
- Farmers may profit from this since it will enable them to sell their produce right at the door when industry and processors start looking for raw materials from the local level.
- Farmers will be encouraged to use the cluster technique when they will receive financial incentives.
- The implementation of the cluster model will assist the government in launching crop planning.
- This was Ashok Dalwai committee's recommendation to double farmers' income.
- Additionally, the committee had suggested that Rainfed Agro-Economic Zones (RAEZ) be defined by the Agriculture Ministry.
- Additionally, it has advised the Agriculture Ministry to create a prospective rainfed crop zoning tailored to agro-ecology.
- Doubling Farmers’ Income (DFI) Committee was set up under Ashok Dalwai on 13 April 2016.
Topic: Awards and Prizes
3. Ratan Tata has received the KISS Humanitarian Award 2021.
- Founder of KIIT and KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences), Achyuta Samanta, presented the award during the award ceremony.
- Tata Group Chairman N. Chandrasekaran and three-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej attended the award ceremony.
- Tata’s receipt of the award was originally announced in 2021. However, it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Ratan Tata is Chairman Emeritus of the Tata Group. He is a renowned industrialist and philanthropist.
- The KISS Humanitarian Award was established in 2008 by Achyuta Samanta.
- It aims to acknowledge organizations and individuals that epitomize humanitarian work on a global scale.
Topic: Banking System
4. Three Indian banks have found place in top 50 lenders in Asia-Pacific by assets according to a report by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
- In 2022, only two Indian banks (HDFC Bank and SBI) were included in the list of top 50 lenders.
- ICICI Bank has entered new in the list of top 50 Asia-Pacific lender list.
- Three Indian banks in the list of top 50 banks had combined asset of $1.51 trillion in 2023. Their assets increased sharply by 50.5% year-on-year.
- In the list, the ranking of HDFC Bank jumped from 46 in 2022 to 33 in 2023.
- Its valuation jumped to $464.34 billion in 2023. This was over 51% higher than 2022.
- SBI has continued to maintain its position as India’s largest bank by assets.
- The ranking of SBI improved from 21 in 2022 to 20 in 2023. Its assets jumped to $780.05 billion in 2023.
- The size of Indian lenders is still significantly less than that of their Chinese and Japanese counterparts, even with the year-over-year increase in valuation of Indian lenders.
- The top 50 lenders in the Asia-Pacific region by assets, as ranked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, were dominated by mainland banks from China in 2023.
- Lenders with headquarters in Mainland China held the top four positions on the ranking.
- By the end of 2023, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. was still the largest bank in both the world and the area.
- On the regional list, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. rose to the second position.
- The largest drops in the annual ranking were experienced by lenders with headquarters in South Korea and Japan.
Topic: Appointments
5. Saurabh Garg has been given additional charge of Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
- Department of Personnel and Training assigned additional charge of MoSPI Secretary to Garg.
- He currently holds the charge of Secretary, Department of Social Justice & Empowerment.
- As per the order, the new appointment will be there till the appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
- GP Samanta completed the tenure as MoSPI Secretary on 15 April 2024.
- Samanta was appointed as Chief Statistician of India-cum-Secretary MoSPI for two years in April 2021.
- His term was then extended by one year in April 2023.
Topic: Appointments
6. Ajith Kumar KK became CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank.
- RBI has approved the appointment of Ajith Kumar KK as the managing director and chief executive of Dhanlaxmi Bank for three years.
- He has taken the place of JK Shivan.
- Before the appointment, Ajith Kumar KK was serving as the chief human resources officer at Federal Bank.
- Dhanlaxmi Bank is an Indian private-sector bank based in Thrissur, Kerala.
- Intel has made Santhosh Viswanathan as its India region head.
- Intel also announced the appointment of Hans Chuang as General Manager (GM) of SMG Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ).
- Intel is an American multinational corporation and technology company.
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
7. For the fiscal year 2023–2024, India's net direct tax collections increased 17.7% to 19.58 lakh crore rupees.
- In the preceding fiscal year, India's net direct tax receipts totaled 16.64 lakh crore rupees.
- India's net direct tax receipts during FY24 exceeded the budgetary forecast by 1.35 lakh crore rupees, or 7.4%.
- 18.23 lakh crore rupees was the budgeted forecast for direct tax collection for the preceding fiscal year.
- Later on, the amount was increased to 19.45 lakh crore rupees. The preliminary actual receipts were 13,000 crore rupees higher than the revised estimate.
- Prior to accounting for refunds, the gross collection of direct taxes for 2023–2024 increased by 18.5% to 23.37 lakh crore rupees in FY23.
- Gross revenue from personal income taxes was 12.01 lakh crore rupees. Their annual growth was 24.26 percent.
- It increased by 25.23 percent in net terms to 10.44 lakh crore rupees recorded the year before.
- In 2023–2024, the government refunded 3.79 lakh crore rupees in direct taxes.
- With respect to the 3.09 lakh crore rupees it issued in 2022–2023, this represents a 22.74 percent rise.
Topic: Corporates/Companies
8. National Fertilizers Ltd received “Navratna” status.
- The Department of Public Enterprise has granted "Navratna" status to National Fertilizers Ltd.
- For the December quarter, National Fertilizers Limited’s consolidated net profit was ₹150.9 crore, a decline of 73%.
- The revenue dropped 25.2% YoY to ₹7,581 crore for the December quarter.
- The 'Navratna' is a group of top-performing Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).
- It receives greater autonomy and financial powers from the Centre in recognition of its performance.
- National Fertilizers Limited:
- It produces chemical fertilisers, bio-fertilizers and industrial chemicals.
- It is headquartered in Noida. It was established on 1 September 1979.
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
9. India’s outward FDI declined 39% to $28.64 billion in FY24.
- India’s overseas direct investment declined by 39 per cent to $28.64 billion in the year ending March 2024.
- According to the RBI data, outward FDI is represented by total financial commitment. It was $46.96 billion in the year ended March 2023.
- Out of the total overseas direct investment, $9.62 billion was made through the equity route.
- The equity contributed around 34 per cent of the total financial commitment made in FY2024.
- The loan commitments stood at $5.24 billion as against $7.73 billion in FY2024.
- The overseas guarantees issued by the Indian companies were around $14 billion as compared to $20.09 billion in FY2023.
- In FY2024, the highest outward FDI was witnessed in March.
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
10. India imported 58 million tonnes (mt) of coking coal in FY24, the highest amount in ten years.
- Over a ten-year period, imports increased by more than 20% and by 7% year over year (from 54.3 million tonnes in FY23).
- Russia's supply is at multi-year highs, with 6.4 million tonnes in FY24.
- This was an increase of 200% year over year (from 2.3 mt in FY23) and 300% over a six-year period (from 1.6 mt in FY19).
- India is still one of the world's top importers of coking coal.
- During the past ten years, imports of coking coal have ranged from 47 to 54 million tonnes.
- Australia remained the leading supplier of coking coal for FY24. It represented 34.2 mt, or 59%, of all shipments.
- 18% of coal exports six years ago came from Australia, 3% came from Russia, and 8% came from the United States.
- Russia surpassed nations like Canada and Mozambique to become the third-largest supplier of coking coal.
- India produced 52 mt of sponge iron in FY24, growing 20% year over year from 43 mt in FY23.
- India produced 143 mt of crude steel in the previous fiscal year, a rise of almost 14%. A year earlier, 127 million tonnes of steel were produced.
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