Banking Awareness of 23, 24 and 25 October 2021

Topic: Appointments  

1. Sunil Paliwal takes charge as chairperson of Chennai Port Trust.

• Sunil Paliwal has taken charge as chairperson of Chennai Port Trust (ChPT).
• He is a 1993-batch Tamil Nadu Cadre IAS Officer. He is holding the position of Chairman cum Managing Director of Kamarajar Port Limited.
• He succeeds P Raveendran. He will be the chairperson of ChPT for five years upto September 15, 2024, from the date of assumption of charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Topic: Agriculture

2. Combination bio-pesticides should be allowed to promote residue-free agri produce.

• As per Bio-Agri Input Producers Association (BIPA), combination bio-pesticides should be allowed to promote residue-free agri produce.
• The combination bio-pesticides are considered safe to the consumers and the environment as compared the conventional pesticides.
• BIPA will organise a two-day Bio-Agri Conference in Hyderabad with the theme ‘Bio Innovations for Regenerative Agriculture’. It will begin on October 28.
• BIPA is a not-for-profit body of professionals/corporates engaged in activities related to Biological Inputs for sustainable agriculture.

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/ Finance Institutions

3. APEDA suspends accreditation of an organic product certifying agency.

• APEDA has suspended the accreditation of an organic product certifying agency for a year.
• It has barred four agencies from registering any new processor or exporter for organic products certification.
• CU Inspections India Pvt Ltd, ECOCERT India Pvt Ltd, Indian Organic Certification Agency (Indocert) and OneCert International Private Limited are names of some of these agencies.
• APEDA found that OneCert is the certifying agency in the case of four exporters whose shipments of organic products were found flouting the ethylene oxide (ETO) minimum presence norm.
• APEDA said that 36 of the complaints from the EU were against shipments certified by OneCert.
• APEDA has also imposed fines on five firms. The four have also been rated under the high risk category.

Topic: Indian Economy

4. Board of Approvals for SEZs declines Kandla SEZ Industries Association’s request for five-year renewal of approvals for plastic recycling units.

• Board of Approvals (BoA) for SEZs has declined Kandla SEZ Industries Association’s request for a five-year renewal of approvals for plastic recycling units.
• It said that the approval has to be renewed every 18 months. BoA has ruled that the performance of plastic recycling units will be reassessed for further extension.  
• Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change has earlier this year specified tight controls under which plastic recycling units located in Special Economic Zones can operate.
• Based on the Environment Ministry notification, BoA had recently extended approvals to plastic recycling units in SEZs for 18 months, counting from January 2021.

Topic: Miscellaneous

5. Textile ministry notifies setting up of seven PM MITRA parks.

• Textile ministry has notified setting up of seven PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks.
• Setting up of PM MITRA has been notified with a total outlay of ₹4,445 crore to be disbursed over five years.
• The parks will be set up at both Greenfield (not earlier been built on) and brownfield (which has been built on) sites in different States.
• The Ministry has also invited proposals of states having an availability of 1,000+ acres land along with other textiles related facilities & ecosystems.
• For Greenfield PM MITRA park, the Centre will provide capital support of 30% of the project cost, with a cap of ₹500 crore.
• For brownfield sites, the capital support will be extended beyond 30% based on assessment.
• A competitiveness incentive support of ₹300 crore to each PM MITRA park for early establishment of textiles manufacturing units will be provided.
• PM MITRA scheme was approved by the Cabinet earlier this month.

Topic: RBI

6. RBI announces a scale-based regulation of non-banking finance companies.

• RBI has announced a scale-based regulation of non-banking finance companies and capped IPO funding by NBFCs at ₹1 cr per borrower.
• Under the new framework, a ceiling of ₹1 crore per borrower will be placed for financing subscription to an initial public offering (IPO).
• The ceiling on IPO funding will come into effect from April 1, 2022. Overall framework shall be effective from October 1, 2022.
• The regulatory structure for NBFCs shall comprise four layers based on their size, activity, and perceived riskiness. The four layers are base, middle, upper and top layer.
• RBI has also proposed sensitive sector exposure norms for NBFCs in the middle and upper layers.
• Regulatory minimum net owned fund (NOF) for NBFC-Investment and Credit Companies, NBFC-MFI and NBFC-Factors will be increased to ₹10 crore by March 2027.
• RBI said at least one of the directors should have relevant experience of having worked in a bank or an NBFC.

Topic: RBI

7. RBI decides to extend Basel-III Capital framework to All India Financial Institutions (AIFIs).

• RBI has decided to extend Basel-III Capital framework to All India Financial Institutions (AIFIs).
• Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), National Housing Bank (NHB) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) are All India Financial Institutions.
• As per the RBI’s draft Master Direction on Prudential Regulation for AIFIs, AIFIs will implement all the three Pillars of Basel-III capital regulations.
• Pillar 1 covers capital, risk coverage and containing leverage. Pillar 2 covers risk management and supervision and pillar 3 covers market discipline.
• RBI wants AIFIs to achieve minimum total capital of 9 % and capital conservation buffer (CCB) of 2.5 %, with the minimum total capital and CCB adding up to 11.5% by April 1, 2022.
• In the case of NHB, the accounting year is July-June. For NHB, the implementation shall commence on July 1, 2022.
• Capital instruments already issued by the AIFIs which no longer qualify under Basel-III will be allowed to be counted as tier 1 or tier 2 as per the existing rules until their maturity or the first call date.
• RBI has invited comments on the draft Directions from all the stakeholders by November 30, 2021.

Topic: Miscellaneous

8. Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) inaugurates its first offshore office at GIFT-IFSC.

• Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) has inaugurated its first offshore office in India at International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT City in Gandhinagar.
• SGX, through its India entity, SGX India Connect IFSC, also announced the upcoming launch of GIFT Data Connect.
• GIFT Data Connect is a market data infrastructure to set up the NSE IFSC-SGX Connect, which was announced about two years ago.
• GIFT Data Connect allows SGX’s international members to access real-time trading data of NSE’s Nifty contracts.
• Tapan Ray, Managing Director, GIFT City, called the entry of SGX to GIFT IFSC as a landmark step.

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