Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 22, 23 and 24 August 2020

1. Appointment of Rajiv Kumar as new election commissioner

• Rajiv Kumar has been appointed as election commissioner after the resignation of Ashok Lavasa. 
• Ashok Lavasa has resigned with effect from August 31.
• Rajiv Kumar will serve for five years till his retirement in 2025.
• Rajiv Kumar is currently serving as chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). Earlier, he was a finance secretary.
• He has undertaken key banking reforms and played a role in the merger of banks. During his tenure, Rs 3-lakh crore recapitalization of banks was done.
• An election commissioner can serve till six years or till the age of 65, whichever is earlier. Under Article 324, President appoints election commissioners.
• Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB):
  • It was formed in 1987. It comes under the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
  • It has a part-time or full-time Chairperson. In addition to a part-time or full-time Chairperson, PESB has three full-time members.

2. Deloitte and SBI Capital to be hired to help LIC prepare for initial share sale

• The central government may hire Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India and SBI Capital Markets to help Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) prepare for the initial share sale.
• Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India and SBI Capital Markets will help LIC in evaluating its capital structure and in reworking its financial statement.
• LIC was formed on September 1, 1956. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India. Its chairperson is M R Kumar. Its slogan is slogan yogakshemam vahamyaham (Your welfare is our responsibility).

3. Deloitte to be appointed for carrying out an audit of MIAL accounts

• SBI will appoint Deloitte for carrying out an audit of Mumbai International Airport Ltd’s (MIAL) account.
• Earlier, CBI has started an investigation against MIAL and its parent company, GVK Holdings. The preliminary money laundering case was filed against MIAL and GVK Holdings by Enforcement Directorate.
• SBI being the lead lender for the company facing allegations of fraud, the law requires SBI to examine allegations of fraud.
• Earlier, SBI had appointed Ernst & Young (EY) for carrying out audits of Jet Airways financials.
• In August 2019, Grant Thornton was appointed to carry out an audit of Reliance Home Finance.

4. Rs 30 crore raised by GoAir

• Rs 30 crore has been raised by Wadia group-owned GoAir in June.
• In April 2020, Rs 15 crore worth loan was also obtained by GoAir.
• Due to Covid-19 and increasing debt, GoAir is struggling financially.
• In July 2020, GoAir’s rating was downgraded to Ind BBB+ from ‘IND A-’ by a credit rating agency, India Ratings.
• GoAir is a Mumbai-based Indian low-cost airline. It started domestic operations in 2005 and international operations in 2018. Its CEO is Vinay Dube.

5. Aadhar authentication based GST registration

• Finance Ministry has said that Aadhar authentication based GST registration has been made operational from August 21.
• Aadhar authentication, GST registration can be obtained in 3 days. But, non Aadhar authentication takes 21 days.
• GST registration is required for business dealing in goods and having an annual turnover of more than 40 lakh rupees if the original place of business is not in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, and Uttarakhand.
• If the original place of business is in any of these states, GST registration is required for business dealing in goods and having an annual turnover of over 20 lakh rupees.
• For the suppliers of services in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura, the turnover limit for obtaining GST registration is more than 10 lakh rupees. The limit is more than 20 lakh rupees in the case of suppliers of services in other states.
• Aadhar based authentication was approved by GST Council to expand the tax base.
• GST Council is a constitutional body constituted under Article 279A of the Indian Constitution to make recommendations to the Central and State Governments on issues related to GST. Union Finance Minister heads it.

6. Coverage under PMFBY decreases sharply

• In Kharif 2020, the number of farmers covered and area insured under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) has decreased sharply.  
• In Kharif 2020, only 1.28 crore farmers were covered under PMFBY. This is a decrease of 32% from Kharif 2019.
• The area insured stood at 189 lakh hectares. It was 288 lakh hectares in 2019.
• The coverage under PMFBY has decreased because many states did not participate in the scheme this year.
• States are announcing their schemes to help farmers. Gujarat has launched Mukhya Mantri Kisan Sahay Yojana.

• PMFBY:
  • It is a yield-based crop insurance scheme. It was launched on February 18, 2016, from Kharif 2016.
  • It replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and the Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
  • All Food & Oilseeds crops and Annual Commercial/Horticultural Crops are covered under this scheme.  

7. Malware Emotet returns

• Malware Emotet has returned into action since July 17.
• Emotet ceased production in February 2020, and its botnet activity stopped.
• A new report by Kaspersky has found that phishing attacks have become more targeted in 2020.
• In cybercrime, phishing means obtaining personal information such as usernames, passwords, and details about credit cards through fraudulent emails and messages.
• Emotet is malware. Malware is software designed to damage a computer, server, or computer network. Trojan horses, worms, ransomware are some types of malware.      
• Emotet is also known as Geodo and Mealybug. Detected for the first time in 2014, Emotet primarily spreads through spam emails.

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