Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 22, 23 and 24 August 2021

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

1. CCI imposes ₹200-crore penalty on Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL).

• Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a penalty of ₹200-crore on Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL).
• CCI had found that MSIL had a Discount Control Policy in which its dealers were restrained from offering discounts to the customers beyond those prescribed by MSIL.
• If the dealer wanted to offer additional discounts, prior approval of MSIL was mandatory. If the dealer violated Discount Control Policy, it was threatened with the imposition of penalty.
• CCI passed an order against MSIL for indulging in anti-competitive conduct of Resale Price Maintenance (RPM) in the passenger vehicle segment by implementing Discount Control Policy.

Topic: Miscellaneous

2. Textile Ministry plans 5-year extension to an ambitious scheme for funding waste water management projects and R&D for cleaner technologies.

• Textile Ministry has plans of a 5-year extension to an ambitious scheme for funding waste water management projects and R&D for cleaner technologies.
• Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS) was launched during the 12^th Five Year Plan (2012) with a total cost of ₹500 crore.
• IPDS was launched to address environmental issues faced by textile processing units such as pollution caused by discharge of untreated effluents.
• It has already been extended once for three years in December 2017. Textile sector accounted for 11.8% of total goods exports in 2019-20.
• India has a share of 5% of global trade in textiles and apparels. Textile sector provides direct employment to over 45 million people.

Topic: Committees/Commissions/Taskforces

3. Weaker UCBs should explore voluntary merger or conversion into a non-banking society.

• As per recommendations of RBI’s Expert Committee on UCBs, weaker urban co-operative banks (UCBs) should explore voluntary mergers or conversion into a non-banking society.
• NS Vishwanathan, a former Deputy Governor of the RBI, headed the committee.
• It emphasized that all-inclusive directions (AID) should be treated on a par with moratorium under Section 45 of the Banking Regulation Act.
• If all-inclusive directions are imposed, a bank should not continue to operate under AID beyond the time limit permitted to keep a bank under moratorium - 3 months extendable by a maximum of another 3 months.
• Some UCBs have been under AID for many years. Currently, about 50 UCBs are under AID.
• The committee observed that RBI may begin the resolution process as soon as a UCB reaches Stage III under the Supervisory Action Framework (SAF).
• A Stage III UCB is one that has a capital to risk-weighted assets ratio/CRAR of less than 4.5 % and/or net non-performing assets/NNPAs of greater than 12%.
• The committee also observed that RBI can prepare a scheme of compulsory amalgamation or reconstruction of UCBs, like banking companies.

Topic: Banking System

4. Karnataka Bank plans to raise up to Rs 6,000 crore debt capital during current financial year.

• Karnataka Bank has plans to raise up to Rs 6,000 crore debt capital during current financial year.
• The bank will seek shareholders' approval in the annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled for September 2.
• The private sector bank has also planned to raise equity capital by issuing 15 crore shares through a qualified institutional placement (QIP).
• Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) is a way of raising funds. QIPs can be issued to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) like Schedule Commercial Banks, Mutual Funds and FIIs.

Topic: Banking System

5. Paytm and HDFC Bank enter into strategic partnership.

• India’s largest payments platform, Paytm and largest private sector bank, HDFC Bank have entered into a strategic partnership.
• Two market leaders will drive innovative digital solutions for financial transformation in India by combining their strengths in banking, lending and digital payments space.
• Talking about the partnership, Bhavesh Gupta, CEO of Paytm said that the partnership will further strengthen the financial services ecosystem in India.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

6. National Monetisation Pipeline launched by Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.

• National Monetisation Pipeline has been launched by Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on 23 August at New Delhi.
• National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) comprises a four year pipeline of brownfield infrastructure assets of Central Government.
• It will provide visibility to investors. It will serve as a medium-term roadmap for the Asset Monetisation initiative of the Government.
• The pipeline has been developed by NITI Aayog, in consultation with infrastructure line ministries.
• NMP estimates aggregate monetisation potential of Rs 6.0 lakh crores through core assets of Central Government during four-year period, from FY 2022 to FY 2025.
• Union Budget 2021-22 laid a lot of emphasis on Asset Monetisation as a means to raise innovative and alternative financing for infrastructure creation.

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

7. India’s largest Floating Solar photovoltaic (PV) Project commissioned by NTPC.

• India’s largest Floating Solar photovoltaic (PV) Project has been commissioned by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Ltd.
• The floating solar PV project is a project of 25 MW on the reservoir of NTPC’s Simhadri thermal station in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
• It is also the first solar project to be set up under the Flexibilisation Scheme, notified by the Government in 2018.
• It has the potential to generate electricity from more than 1 lakh solar PV modules.
• The project would help to light around 7,000 households and save 1,364 million litres of water per annum.
• NTPC also has plans to set up a hydrogen-based micro-grid system on a pilot basis at Simhadri.
• NTPC aims to install 60 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2032. It is also India's first energy company to declare its energy compact goals as part of the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE).

Topic: Corporates/Companies

8. AI-enabled chatbot Urja launched by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).

• AI-enabled chatbot Urja has been launched by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).
• Urja is a virtual assistant with AI/NLP (Artificial Intelligence/Natural Language Processing) capabilities and trained on over 600 use cases.
• It is designed to deliver a seamless self-service experience and enable quick resolution of consumer queries/issues.
• It has been made available on the company website to make BPCL’s customer interface comprehensive and digitally integrated.
• Project Anubhav was initiated by BPCL to deliver its retail and commercial customer base a consistent, superior and unified experience across multiple touchpoints.
• As part of Project Anubhav, Urja represents an integrated communication platform that connects all BPCL communication to any channel, unifying all customer touchpoints.
• Urja chatbot today speaks in 13 languages. Over 45% of conversations with Urja are in non-English languages.
• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd is a Maharatna oil refining and marketing company. Its headquarters are located in Mumbai.

Read Banking Awareness PDF -22, 23 and 24 August 2021