Banking Awareness of 22, 23 and 24 September 2024

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

1. According to the Statistics Ministry, women's unemployment rate has increased.

• The Statistics Ministry reported that between July 2023 and June 2024, the unemployment rate for women increased by 30 basis points to 3.2%.
• The overall unemployment rate stayed steady at 3.2%.
• According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2023–2024, the unemployment rate for those over 15 has decreased from 3.3% to 3.2%.
• More than one lakh households were surveyed (more than 55,000 in urban regions and more than 46,000 in rural areas).
• Over 4.18 lakh people were surveyed, with over 2.4 lakh living in rural areas and over 1.7 lakh in urban areas.
• According to data, the unemployment rate in rural areas decreased from 5.3% in 2017–18 to 2.5% in 2023–24.
• The unemployment rate in urban areas decreased from 7.7% to 5.1%.
• Men's unemployment fell from 6.1% to 3.2% during the same time period, while women's unemployment decreased from 5.6% to 3.2%.
• The percentage of those without jobs among those in the labour force is known as the unemployment rate.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

2. The compliance window for the necessary dematerialisation of existing shares of producer companies has been extended by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

• Previously, producer companies had to finish dematerialization of their shares by September 30, 2024.
• They now have time until the end of March 2028 to complete the process of full compliance.
• The MCA issued a mandate in October 2023 requiring all private companies, with the exception of small companies, to dematerialise their current shares by the end of September 2024.
• Additionally, private companies were required to exclusively issue newly issued securities in dematerialised form.
• A "Producer Company" is a type of corporate entity created specifically for farmers and other producers who work primarily in agriculture and related fields.
• They are recognized as a company by the Companies Act, which makes it easier for them to obtain finance and improve post-harvest management. 
• Only "Primary Producers" or "Producer Institutions" are the owners and members of such entities, and member equity is not available for public trading.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

3. EPFO recorded the highest number of net members in July.

• Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added a record 19.94 lakh net members in July 2024.
• It is the highest recorded increase since payroll data tracking began in April 2018.
• The net member enrolment under EPFO was 16.70 lakh in June 2024.
• The youth group (18-25 age group) recorded the highest-ever net payroll additions at 8.77 lakh.
• Around 3.05 lakh new female members joined EPFO in July 2024.
• In July 2024, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, and Gujarat’s share was 59.27 per cent of the total net member additions.
• Maharashtra led among the States/UTs with a contribution of 20.21 per cent of the total new members.
• 38.91 per cent of net additions came from expert services.

Topic: Banking System

4. UPI transaction value increased to ₹1,669 lakh crore during the first five months of FY 2024-25.

• The transaction volume of digital payments has increased to 8,659 crore during the first five months of FY 2024-25.
• The UPI transaction value has increased from ₹1 lakh crore to ₹200 lakh crore at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 138%.
• During five months (April-August FY2024-25), the total transaction value has increased to ₹101 lakh crore.
• During the same time, transaction volume has increased to 8,659 crore.
• The value of transactions has increased from ₹1,962 lakh crore to ₹3,659 lakh crore at a CAGR of 11%.
• The total number of digital payment transactions has grown from 2,071 crore in FY 2017-18 to 18,737 crore in FY 2023-24 at a CAGR of 44%.
• UPI transactions has grown from 92 crore in FY 2017-18 to 13,116 crore in FY 2023-24 at a CAGR of 129%.
• Currently, UPI is live in 7 countries. These include UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France, and Mauritius.

Topic: Reports and Indices

5. HSBC's flash India Composite Purchasing Managers' Index declined to 59.3 in September 2024.

• HSBC's flash India Composite Purchasing Managers' Index stood at 60.7 in August.
• In September, the flash composite PMI for India increased a little slower pace.
• In 2024, this was the slowest growth that was recorded.
• Throughout the month, there were comparable patterns in both the manufacturing and service sectors.
• Even so, the growth rate continued to be significantly higher than the long-term average.
• The indicator for the services sector dropped from 60.9 in August 2024, its lowest level since November, to 58.9 in September 2024.
• The indicator for the manufacturing sector dropped from 57.5 to 56.7, an eight-month low.
• HSBC's flash India Composite Purchasing Managers' Index is compiled by S&P Global.

Topic: Appointments

6. Krishnan Venkat Subramanian (KVS Manian) has assumed charge as the Managing Director & CEO (MD & CEO) of Federal Bank.

• He has taken charge with effect from 23 September 2024 for a period of three years.
• Shyam Srinivasan retired as MD & CEO of the Bank on September 22, 2024. He headed the bank for 14 years.
• Manian was the Joint Managing Director (MD) of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd till April 30, 2024.
• Federal Bank is an Aluva (Kerala)-headquartered private sector bank.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

7. India economy to be third-largest by 2030-31: S&P Global

• As per S&P Global India, India will become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030–31.
• India is projected to grow at an annual rate of 6.7 per cent.
• India emerged as the fastest-growing large economy with gross domestic product (GDP) growth at the rate of 8.2 per cent in the financial year (FY) 2024.
• S&P Global research further stated that India must develop infrastructure and geopolitical strategies regarding its extensive coastline.
• Around 90 per cent of India's trade is seaborne which required robust port infrastructure to manage increasing exports.
• As per the World Bank and S&P Global’s Container Port Performance Index 2023, only three Indian ports found a place among the top 50.
• India's medium-term prospects are healthy and filled with opportunities in multiple sectors.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

8. Biometric authentic solution for Card Payments has been launched by PayU.

• Flash Pay is the biometric authentic solution for card payments.
• It was unveiled by PayU at the Global FinTech Festival (GFF) 2024.
• Flash Pay is designed to improve security and to make the payment experience simple. It is also designed to increase transaction success rates.
• Advanced device-based biometric technologies, such fingerprint or face recognition, are used by Flash Pay to quickly and securely authenticate payments.
• Customers are no longer dependent on conventional OTP-based authentication because transactions are processed in less than ten seconds.
• This eliminates the need to wait for the delivery of the OTP, lowers the possibility of manual errors, and removes the possibility of fraud related to OTP sharing.
• Across all major card networks, Flash Pay offers merchants a single point of contact for card payment authentication.
• Advanced security features like device binding and jailbreak detection are also included in Flash Pay.
• At GFF 2024, FlashPay was effectively demonstrated in collaboration with South Indian Bank.
• PayU is one of India's leading digital financial services providers with Prosus as an investor.

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

9. PM Narendra Modi attended the sixth annual Quad Leaders Summit in Wilmington, Delaware.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a visit to USA from 21 to 23 September.
• Members of the Quad group discussed a variety of issues ranging from climate change to critical emerging technologies.
• Ahead of the Quad summit, Prime Minister Modi held a bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden on 21 September.
• He also hold bilateral meetings with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese and Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida.
• On September 23, Mr Modi addressed the 'Summit of the Future' at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
• ‘Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow’ was the theme of this summit.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

10. India signed the IPEF bloc's agreements on a clean and fair economy.

• India signed the 14-member IPEF (Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity) bloc's agreements to improve cooperation in the field of a clean and fair economy.
• These agreements would help to develop, access, and deploy clean energy and climate-friendly technologies.
• It would catalyze investment and strengthen measures for anti-corruption, tax transparency, etc.
• India signed and exchanged the first-of-its-kind agreements focused on Clean Economy, Fair Economy and the IPEF Overarching arrangement.
• India has also signed an IPEF agreement, which is an administrative pact to set up an oversight ministerial-level mechanism.

Read Banking Awareness PDF -22, 23 and 24 September 2024