Banking Awareness of 23, 24 and 25 June 2024

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

1. In the fourth quarter of FY24, India's current account balance showed a surplus following a ten-quarter gap.

• This resulted from a reduced trade deficit, rapid growth in services exports, and high remittances.
• For the whole fiscal year, the current account deficit (CAD) more than halved to a seven-year low.
• In Q4 (January-March) FY24, the nation's current account balance showed a surplus of $5.7 billion (0.6 percent of GDP).
• This was compared to a deficit of $8.7 billion (1% of GDP) in the previous quarter.
• With net services received of $42.7 billion, it was more than the $39.1 billion than was one year ago.
• According to the Reserve Bank of India’s statement on “Developments in India’s Balance of Payments, “this helped to explain the surplus in the current account balance”.
• India's CAD was $1.3 billion (0.2 percent of GDP) in the year-ago period.
• The CAD was valued at $23.2 billion in FY24 as opposed to $67 billion in FY23.
• The difference between the total of imports and income payable and the total of exports of goods and services plus income receivable is known as the current account balance.
• The local currency usually depreciates when a nation's current account is in deficit.

Topic: Banking System

2. The percentage of banks' total term deposits that provide an interest rate increase of 7% increased to 64.4%.

• As at March-end 2024, 58.9% of bank term deposits had interest rates ranging from 7% to 8%.
• As of the end of March 2023, this proportion stood at 30.3% of TDs.
• Data from the RBI shows that 5.5% of TDs had interest rates higher than 8%.
• As of the end of March 2023, this figure accounted for 3.4% of TDs.
• Currently, the maximum interest rate that State Bank of India will give on a TD with a tenure of 2 years to less than 3 years is 7%.
• Currently, the largest private sector bank, HDFC Bank, is giving a maximum interest rate of 7.25 percent on a term loan with a duration of 18 months to less than 21 months.
• AU Small Finance Bank, the largest small finance bank/SFB, now offers a maximum interest rate of 8% on a term deposit (TD) with a duration of 18 months.
• Currently, the highest interest rates that Ujjivan SFB and Suryoday SFB are offering are 8.50 percent for a TD with a term of "15 months" and 8.65 percent for a TD with a duration of "2 years & 2 days."
• As of March 31, 2024, bank credit and deposits had grown by 19.3% and 13.5%, respectively, year over year.

Topic: Agriculture

3. The centre imposed stock limit on tur and chana until September 30 with immediate effect.

• It will apply to wholesalers, retailers, big chain retailers, millers and importers.
• It will prevent hoarding and unscrupulous speculation. It will also improve affordability to the consumers.
• Government issued the Removal of Licensing Requirements, Stock Limits and Movement Restrictions on Specified Foodstuffs (Amendment) Order, 2024 with immediate effect from June 21, 2024.
• Stock limits of tur and chana including kabuli chana has been prescribed.
• The stock limits include 200 tonnes for wholesalers, 5 tonnes for retailers including at each retail outlet of big chain.
• The stock limit is maximum 200 tonnes at depot for the big chain retailers.
• For millers, the maximum stock limit is equal to 25% of the yearly installed capacity or the quantity equivalent of the last three months of production, whichever is higher.
• It is requested of importers that they release imported tur and chana stock 45 days after the date of customs clearance.
• In May, the government eliminated the 66% import charge on chana in an effort to increase domestic supply.
• Over the past ten years, India's reliance on imports of pulses has decreased from thirty percent to ten percent.
• The New Model Pulses Village initiative, according to Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, would be launched during the current kharif season.

Topic: Appointments

4. A K Singh has been appointed as an additional director on the board of Bandhan Bank.

• He has been appointed by RBI for a period of one year. He retired as chief general manager of RBI.
• Bandhan Bank's founder and chairman C S Ghosh is to retire from the bank on July 9.
• RBI had earlier appointed its serving official on the board of private sector lender RBL Bank.
• Bandhan Bank is a private sector bank. It is headquartered in Kolkata. Dr. Anup Kumar Sinha is its current chairman. It was founded in 2015.

Topic: Appointments

5. Paul Thomas has been elected as Chairperson of the board of Sa-Dhan.

• Paul Thomas is MD & CEO of ESAF Small Finance Bank. He was the co-chair of the Sa-Dhan.
• Sadaf Sayeed, CEO of Muthoot Microfin, and Mukul Jaiswal, MD, Cashphor Micro Credit has been elected as Co-Chairs of Sa-Dhan.
• Sayeed has been re-elected for the second term on the board of Sa-Dhan.
• Association’s Annual General Body meeting was held on June 21st.
• Sa-Dhan:
  • It is an association of microfinance and impact finance institutions.
  • It is an RBI appointed Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) for Microfinance Institutions.
  • It is the first as well as largest association of community development finance institutions in India.

Topic: Reports and Indices

6. India dropped to the 15th spot in 2023 from the 8th position in 2022 in terms of FDI inflows.

• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows to India declined by 43% in 2023 to $28 billion.
• India remained in the top five for both kinds of FDI—greenfield projects and international project finance deals.
• In 2022, India’s FDI inflows had risen by 10 per cent to $49 billion.
• India emerged as the fourth-largest host country for Greenfield project announcements in 2023.
• France, Australia, China, the US and India registered the largest absolute drops in FDI inflows.
• As per the UNCTAD, developed countries were strongly affected by the financial transactions of multinational enterprises.
• In Asia, FDI fell by 8 per cent to $621 billion. China remains the second-largest FDI recipient in the world.
• India along with Bangladesh, China, Singapore and Thailand released policies for supporting the banking industry.

Topic: Taxation

7. At its 53rd meeting, GST Council recommended a uniform GST rate of 12% on all steel, iron, and aluminium milk cans.

• 53rd GST Council meeting was held on 22 June 2024 in New Delhi.
• After meeting, FM Nirmala Sitharaman said that services provided by the Indian Railways to the common man will not attract any GST.
• These services include the sale of platform tickets, facility of retiring rooms and waiting rooms, and battery-operated car services.
• The council has recommended uniform rate of 12% GST on all carton boxes and cases of both corrugated and non-corrugated paper or paperboard.
• This is a step that will benefit the apple growers of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
• Biometric-based Aadhaar authentication will be rolled out on an all-India basis.
• This step will allow the government to combat fraudulent input tax credit claims through fake invoices.
• The council has recommended the extension of time limit to provide details and returns in the form GSTR-4 from 30th April to 30th June. This will help small taxpayers.
• Another recommendation of GST council is waiving of interest and penalties for demand notices that have been issued under Section 73 of the GST Act.
• The Council has recommended monetary limits of Rs 20 lakh for the GST Appellate Tribunal, Rs 1 crore for the High Court and Rs 2 crore for the Supreme Court for filing appeals by the department.
• The maximum pre-deposit amount for submitting an appeal before the appellate body has been recommended by the Council to be lowered from 25 crore rupees CGST and 25 crore rupees SGST to 20 crore rupees CGST and 20 crore rupees SGST.      

Topic: Committees/Commissions/Taskforces

8. A seven-member panel has been notified by Ministry of Education to reform process of competitive exams.

• Former ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan will head the high-level committee of experts.
• The committee has been formed to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through the National Testing Agency (NTA).
• The committee will give recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, structure and functioning of the NTA and improvement in data security protocols.
• The committee will give its report to the Ministry of Education within two months.
• Other six members of the committee are given below.
  • Former AIIMS-Delhi director Randeep Guleria
  • University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor BJ Rao
  • Professor emeritus in IIT-Madras' Department of Civil Engineering K. Ramamurthy
  • People Strong co-founder and Karmayogi Bharat board member Pankaj Bansal
  • IIT-Delhi Dean of Student Affairs Aditya Mittal
  • Education Ministry Joint Secretary Govind Jaiswal

Topic: Appointments

9. Pradeep Singh Kharola has replaced Subodh Kumar Singh as new Director General (DG) of National Testing Agency (NTA).

• Pradeep Singh Kharola is a 1985 batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer.
• Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved assignment of additional charge of the post of DG, NTA, and Ministry of Education to Pradeep Singh Kharola.
• Kharola is Chairman and Managing Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation.
• He has been given additional charge till appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
• National Testing Agency:
  • It was established in November 2017. Pradeep Kumar Joshi is the current chairperson of NTA.
  • It is an autonomous agency under the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education.
  • It has been established to conduct entrance examinations for admission/fellowship in higher educational institutions.

Topic: Reports and Indices     

10. India secured 63rd position in the Energy Transition Index.

• The World Economic Forum has released the Energy Transition Index.
• India has been ranked 63rd on the Global Energy Transition Index.
• Sweden has topped the Index, and Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and France are in the top five of the Index.
• In the report, 107 out of the 120 countries demonstrated progress in energy transition journeys in the past decade.
• Over the last decade, populous countries like India and China showed an 8% improvement in the Energy Transition Index.
• With an annual investment of around $10 billion, India is driving the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and the production of green hydrogen.
• WEF also highlighted India's focus on using energy for income generation and supporting microenterprises through the productive use of renewable energy sources.
• WEF lauded India’s efforts in clean energy infrastructure, with renewable energy and biomass contributing 42% of its power generation capacity.
• As per the report, the energy transition for a more equitable, secure and sustainable energy system has lost momentum due to increasing uncertainty worldwide.

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