Banking Awareness of 21 and 22 November 2023

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

1. FDI equity inflows contracted 7.7% to $9.5 billion in the July-September quarter of FY24.

• Data released by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) showed this contraction in FDI inflow.
• Foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows stood at $10.3 billion a year ago.
• Total FDI into India declined 7.8% on-year to $15.3 billion in the July-September quarter of FY24 from $16.6 billion a year ago.
• The total FDI includes equity inflows, reinvested earnings and other capita.
• According to the data, the equity inflows declined 24% on-year in H1 of FY24 at $20.4 billion.
• Singapore was the top source of equity inflows. It was followed by Mauritius.
• The inflows declined12.8% from the quarter ended June 30, 2023.
• Foreign investments declined in April, May, June, July and August but increased in September.
• Tax havens like the Cayman Islands and Cyprus were among the top 10 sources of overseas investments for India.
• Services sector received the highest inflows of $3.8 billion in the first half.
• It was followed by construction (infrastructure) activities, and the computer software and hardware sectors at $2.4 billion each.
• Among the states, Maharashtra got the highest inflow of $7.9 billion in April-September 2023-24. Maharashtra was followed by Karnataka.

Topic: Banking System

2. Karnataka Bank has partnered with HDFC Life to offer life insurance products to its customers.

• Karnataka Bank’s Executive Director Sekhar Rao said with this partnership, customers of Karnataka Bank will get access to industry leading products.
• This partnership aligns with banks commitment to improving the financial products and services available as a choice to our customers.
• HDFC Life is a long-term life insurance provider headquartered in Mumbai.
• Karnataka Bank is a Scheduled Commercial Bank based in Mangaluru, Karnataka. It is a private sector bank. Srikrishnan Hari Hara Sarma is its MD and CEO.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

3. ACKO, the insurtech company, has partnered with actor R Madhavan.

• It has partnered with R Madhavan as Voice of the Customer to simplify complex insurance questions and help customers make informed decisions.
• With this step, ACKO seeks to ensure customers can rely on the brand for an insurance experience that is transparent and dependable.
• The main goal of the partnership is to deconstruct the language and complexity that frequently confuse the understanding of financial products and to position R Madhavan as a trustworthy representative for insurance clients.
• Alongside the ACKO team, Madhavan will provide informative content aimed at clarifying insurance intricacies and enabling customers to make intelligent choices.   
• ACKO was founded in 2016 by Varun Dua and Ruchi Deepak.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

4. Retail Inflation for agricultural labourers increased marginally from 6.70% in September 2023 to 7.08% in October 2023.

• Retail Inflation for rural workers increased marginally from 6.55% in September 2023 to 6.92% in October 2023.
• Retail inflation for agricultural labourers and rural workers increased marginally due to higher prices of certain food items.
• CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index-Agricultural Labourers) based point to point rate of inflation stood at 7.22% in October 2023.
• CPI-RL (Consumer Price Index-Rural Labourers) based point to point rate of inflation stood at 7.34% in October 2023.
• Food inflation stood at 8.42% for CPI-AL in October 2023 compared to 8.06% in September 2023 and 7.05% during October 2022.
• Food inflation stood at 8.18% for CPI-RL in October 2023 compared to 7.73% in September 2023 and 7.00% during October 2022.
• The All India CPI-AL for October 2023 increased by 15 points to stand at 1,241 points. In September 2023, CPI-AL was 1,226 points.
• The All India CPI-RL for October 2023 increased by 14 points to stand at 1,251 points. In September 2023, CPI-RL was 1,237 points.
• The food group contributed towards the rise in general index of Agricultural Labourers and Rural Labourers.
• Tamil Nadu with 1427 points topped the index (CPI-AL) table whereas Himachal Pradesh with 960 points stood at the bottom.
• Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with 1415 points each topped the index (CPI-RL) table whereas Himachal Pradesh with 1011 points stood at the bottom.
• Amongst states, the maximum increase was experienced by Jammu & Kashmir for both CPI-AL and CPI-RL.
• The minimum increase in both the indexes was experienced by Kerala.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

5. Goldman Sachs expects India’s GDP growth to be at 6.3% in 2024.

• Goldman Sachs released its ‘India 2024 outlook’ and said that repeated supply side shocks will keep headline inflation above 5.1% in 2024.
• As per Goldman Sachs, the rupee will be at ₹83-84 to the US dollar over the next 3-6 months. It is expected to appreciate to ₹82 over a 12-month period.
• According to rating agency ICRA, GDP growth moderates to 7% in July-September 2023 quarter from 7.8% in first quarter of this fiscal.
• Gross Value Added (GVA) growth is estimated to ease to 6.8% in Q2 FY2024 from 7.8% in Q1 FY2024.
• GVA growth is estimated to be driven by services sector and agriculture.
• Centre’s gross capital expenditure rose by 26.4 per cent y-o-y to ₹2.1 lakh crore in Q2 FY2024. It was less than the ₹2.8 lakh crore seen in Q1 FY2024.
• As per ICRA estimates, the industrial GVA growth is to have risen to 6.6% in Q2 FY2024 from 5.5% in Q1 FY2024.
• Goldman Sachs is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company.

Topic: Miscellaneous

6. World Coal Association (WCA) has been renamed as FutureCoal- The Global Alliance for Sustainable Coal.

• This has been done with an aim to modernize and create a sustainable pathway for the coal value chain.
• WCA, a global platform for the coal sector, will cease after almost four decades.
• WCA has rebranded itself into a new identity, FutureCoal after a call from coal and allied sectors to modernize.
• The World Coal Association (WCA) is an international non-profit, non-governmental association.
• It was founded in 1985. It is based in London, United Kingdom.
• It was created to represent the global coal industry. Its CEO is Michelle Manook.
• The association was formerly called the World Coal Institute (WCI). It changed its name in November 2010.

Topic: Reports and Indices

7. Bengaluru has the highest number (1,783) of women-led startups in India according to data from startup data platform Tracxn.

• It is followed by Mumbai and Delhi with 1,480 and 1,195 women-led startups respectively.
• Noida, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad are ranked at the eighth, ninth, and tenth places with 324, 184, and 181 women-led startups respectively.
• Karnataka is the first state in India to provide a grant-in-aid of Rs 50 lakh to encourage innovators.
• According to Tracxn, Zomato, Byju’s, Ofbusiness, Upstox, Lenskart, and Open are among the top 10 women-led startups in India.
• The funding for women-led startups has decreased from 183 startups in 2014 to 7 in 2023.
• As per the data, the number of women-led unicorns from 2008 to 2018 was 14.
• Bengaluru-based neobank Open has two women co-founders. It became the 100th unicorn.
• Other Indian unicorns with at least one women co-founder are Nykaa, Mamaearth, Hasura, Pristyn Care, OfBusiness, Mobikwik, The Good Glamm Group, and Livspace.
• There are currently 14 women-led unicorns in India.

Topic: Appointments

8. Vinay M. Tonse has been appointed as the Managing Director of State Bank of India.

• He has been appointed as the Managing Director of the State Bank of India until 30 November 2025.
• The post was vacant from June after the appointment of Swaminathan Janakiraman as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank.
• Swaminathan Janakiraman served as the Managing Director of the State Bank of India from January 2021 until June 2023.
• Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) recommends directors of state-owned banks and financial institutions.
• The State Bank of India is operated by four managing directors and one chairman.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

9. India’s food subsidy is likely to be Rs 2.3 trillion for FY25.

• The central government food subsidy outlay will likely be Rs 2.3 trillion for the FY25.
• India’s revised estimate of food subsidy for FY24 has increased by Rs 17000 crores to Rs 2.14 trillion.
• The revised food subsidy has increased due to an increase in the minimum support prices (MSP) for key crops.
• The food subsidy budget estimate for FY25 is likely to be around 7% more than the FY24 revised estimate.
• The increase in the food subsidy in the current financial year will not affect the government's aims of containing the fiscal deficit at 5.9% of GDP.
• This year’s MSP increase is the highest since 2018-19 for all rabi and kharif crops.
• The MSP of wheat has been raised by 7.05% to Rs 2,275/quintal for 2024-25.
• Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), the government is providing free grains to the NFSA beneficiaries.

Topic: Appointments

10. Ashok Vaswani has been appointed as MD and CEO by Kotak Bank board.

• The Board of Directors of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. appointed Ashok Vaswani as a Director, Managing Director & CEO of the bank.
• He has been appointed for a period of three years with effect from January 1.
• He will assume charge on January 1 upon the end of Dipak Gupta’s term as the MD & CEO on December 31.
• Earlier, RBI had approved the name of Mr. Vaswani as the MD & CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank.
• Kotak Mahindra Bank:
  • It is India’s 3rd largest private sector bank by market capitalisation.
  • It was founded in 2003. It is headquartered in Mumbai. Uday Kotak is its founder.

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