Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 23 and 24 February 2020

By PendulumEdu | Last Modified: 28 Feb 2020 10:47 AM IST

1. Bilateral trade between India and USA becomes more than bilateral trade between India and China

In 2018-19 and April-December months of 2019-20, bilateral trade between India and the USA was more than bilateral trade between India and China.
In April-December months of 2019-20, bilateral trade between India and USA was $68 billion.
In April-December months of 2019-20, bilateral trade between India and China was $64.96 billion.
In 2018-19, bilateral trade between India and USA was $87.95 billion.
In 2018-19, bilateral trade between India and China was $ 87.07 billion.
India is having trade surplus ($ 16.85 billion in 2018-19) with the US and its imports as well as exports with the US are increasing.
India is having a trade deficit ($53.56 billion in 2018-19) with China, and its imports, as well as exports with China, are declining.
Between 2013-14 and 2017-18, China was the country having the highest trade with India. Before China, UAE was having the highest trade with India.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has proposed setting up of governing board for CCI in draft Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
As per the proposal, the board will be formed for the supervision and management of CCI.
Members of CCI and secretaries of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and MCA will also be part of the board. The Board will also have four part-time members.
Draft Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2020, has been formed as per the recommendation of the Competition Law Review Committee (CLRC).

Central Bank of India (CBI) may sell its complete stake in Cent Bank Home Finance (CBHFL).
Central Bank of India (CBI) is a government-owned bank having 64.40 % stake in CBHFL.
CBHFL is a housing finance company. Along with CBI, Housing & Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), Unit Trust of India (UTI) and National Housing Bank (NHB) are also having a stake in CBHFL.
RBI has imposed operational restrictions on CBI under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework.
CBI may also sell its stake in Indo Zambia Bank. Along with CBI, other stakeholders in Indo Zambia bank are Bank of India (BoI), Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Zambia government.

Due to pending regulatory approvals and clearances, the merger of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) may not be completed by April 1.
Though the cabinet has approved the merger, share swap ratio has not been decided yet and regulatory approvals like shareholders' consent are pending.
The merger of PSBs was announced by Government in August 2019.
United Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce will be merged with Punjab National Bank.
Syndicate Bank and Allahabad Bank will be merged with Canara Bank and Indian Bank, respectively.
Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank will be merged with Union Bank of India.
Share swap ratio is the ratio in which the shares of a bank which is to be merged with another bank will be exchanged with shares of acquiring bank.
For example, Syndicate Bank is being merged with Canara Bank and the Share swap ratio has been fixed at 20:1. This means that 20 shares of Syndicate Bank will be exchanged with 1 share of Canara Bank.

The government has notified 28% GST rate for lotteries from March 1.
The decision for a uniform GST rate was made at the December meeting of the GST council.
GST council has voted on a single rate of 18% or 28% as per the recommendation of an eight-member group of ministers.
Currently, state-owned agencies run lotteries and levy 12% GST. But, 28% GST is imposed on state-authorized lotteries.