Banking Awareness of 21, 22 and 23 June 2022

Topic: Miscellaneous

1. IT resources of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and NPCI have been declared as ‘critical information infrastructure’.

• The Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) issued a notification in this regard on 16 June 2022.
• Government can declare any data, database, and IT network or communications infrastructure as Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) to protect the digital asset.
• According to Information Technology Act 2000, “Critical Information Infrastructure” has been defined as “computer resource, the incapacitation or destruction of which shall have a debilitating impact on national security, economy, public health or safety”.
• The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) is the nodal agency to protect the Critical Information Infrastructure in India. It was formed in 2014.
• CIIs will be protected from unauthorized access, modification, use, disclosure, disruption, and incapacitation.
• Any person who attempts to get access to a protected system violates a law. He can be punished with a jail term of up to 10 years.

Topic: Banking System

2. Online savings bank account opening facility using V-CIP has been launched by Karnataka Bank.

• The online savings bank account opening facility using Video-based Customer Identification Process (V-CIP) is available on corporate website of the bank.
• With this facility, customers can open a saving bank account through online process.
• Also, they can complete KYC (know your customer) verification through a video call.
• Karnataka Bank is a Scheduled Commercial Bank based in Mangaluru, Karnataka. It is a private sector bank.

Topic: Reports and Indices

3. India will require $27.9 billion every year to achieve its aim of wind and solar capacity installation of 450 gigawatts by 2030.

• As per Financing India’s 2030 Renewable Ambition report, Indian companies could help India achieve 86% of its 2030 goals.
• As per Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India’s dependence on coal will drop from 53% of installed capacity in 2021 to 33% in 2030.
• India’s power generation capacity grew by 118% between 2011 and 2021.
• Renewables’ share of capacity reached 37% in 2021 from 31% in 2012.
• Solar power capacity has expanded the fastest. It reached 60 GW in 2021 from less than 1 GW in 2011.
• BloombergNEF (BNEF) issued the report in association with the Power Foundation of India (PFI). 
• BloombergNEF (Bloomberg New Energy Finance) is a strategic research provider).

Topic: Reports and Indices

4. Debt-GSDP ratio of Punjab is projected to be more than 45% in 2026-27 as per a study by RBI.

• Five states are identified as highly stressed states from among 10 states in an RBI study on state finances.
• These five states are Bihar, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal.
• Rajasthan, Kerala and West Bengal are projected to exceed the debt-GSDP (gross state domestic product) ratio of 35% by 2026-27.
• Taking into consideration the debt-GSDP ratio in 2020-21, Punjab, Rajasthan, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, MP, UP and Haryana are states with the highest debt burden as per the study.
• The study says these 10 states account for around half of the total expenditure by all state governments in India. Other findings of the study are listed next.
  • Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Punjab exceeded both debt and fiscal deficit targets for 2020-21 set by the 15^th Finance Commission (FC-XV).
  • Kerala, Jharkhand and West Bengal exceeded the debt target.
  • Madhya Pradesh exceeded the fiscal deficit target.
  • Haryana and Uttar Pradesh achieved both debt and fiscal deficit targets.
  • Rajasthan, Kerala and West Bengal are projected to exceed the FC-XV targets for debt and fiscal deficit in 2022-23 (BE).

Topic: Banking/Financial Schemes

5. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given one year extension to existing PLI scheme in telecom.

• It has also amended guidelines for PLI scheme for Telecom and Networking Products to introduce design-led manufacturing with additional incentive rates.
• Production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme was notified by DoT on February 24, 2021, with a financial outlay of Rs 12,195 crore.
• The existing PLI beneficiaries can choose FY22 or FY23 as the first year of incentive.
• DoT has also given approval to the addition of 11 new telecom and networking products to the existing list.
• The allocation for MSMEs has been increased to Rs 2,500 crore from Rs 1,000 crore.
• The PLI Scheme for Telecom and Networking Products has been amended to give an additional incentive rate of 1 % over and above existing incentive rates to Design-Led Manufacturing.
• The amended guidelines have also removed the condition of 15% cap on investment to be made for research and development.
• The Telecom equipment manufacturer using 50% of Made in India components are eligible for the design-linked incentive.

Topic: Agriculture

6. Maize (corn) exports from India cross $1-billion mark in 2021-22 after a gap of seven years.

• Maize shipments had reached a nine-year low of $142 million in 2019-20.
• Lower supplies from producers like Argentina and Brazil over the past two years worked in favour of Indian exporters.
• Bangladesh has emerged as the largest buyer of Indian maize during the past two years. It displaced Nepal.
• India’s maize production has witnessed a steady increase over the past decade.

Topic: RBI

7. RBI has extended deadline for implementation of 3 specific credit-card related provisions by three months.

• These provisions are contained in RBI’s “Credit and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct” Directions.
• Three provisions will now come into effect from October 1, 2022.
• One provision requires card-issuers to obtain One Time Password (OTP) based consent from the cardholder for activating a credit card if the customer has not activated it for over 30 days since issuance.
• “Master Direction – Credit Card and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2022” were issued by RBI in April 2022.

Topic: Banking System

8. Neobanking platform Freo has partnered with Equitas Small Finance Bank to launch digital savings account.

• The digital savings account is named Freo Save. Freo Save will offer quick access to credit & shopping.
• Freo is Bengaluru-based neobanking platform. Freo has become the first consumer neobank in India to provide full-stack neo-banking products.
• Freo was started as MoneyTap in 2016. It is India’s first credit-led neobank.

Topic: Banking System

9. CBI has booked Wadhawans of DHFL for cheating a consortium of 17 banks in biggest-ever bank fraud of ₹34,614 crore.

• Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an FIR based on a complaint filed by Union Bank of India, which was leading the consortium of 17 banks.
• The consortium was formed in July 2010 to lend ₹42,871.42 crore to DHFL.
• As per data in CBI’s FIR, the State Bank of India was the worst hit, having an NPA of ₹9,898 crore, which is exactly the amount DHFL borrowed from it.

Topic: Reports and Indices

10. India is world’s fourth largest gold recycler as per World Gold Council (WGC) report.

• India recycled 75 tonnes of gold in 2021. China is the world’s largest gold recycler as per the WGC report titled 'Gold refining and recycling'.
• China recycled 168 tonnes of gold. China is followed by Italy, which is ranked at 2^nd position with recycling of 80 tonnes of gold.
• US is ranked third with recycling of 78 tonnes of gold in 2021.
• As per the report, India’s gold refining capacity increased by 1,500 tonnes (500%) in 2021 from 300 tonnes in 2013.
• As per the report, the scale of formal refining has increased and the scale of unorganized refining has fallen.
• The report notes that the share of gold dore in overall imports has increased from just 7% in 2013 to around 22% in 2021.
• The report also notes that India recycles little of its own stock of gold - about 8% of the global scrap supply.

Read Banking Awareness PDF - 21, 22 and 23 June 2022