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

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/ Financial Institutions

1. Cabinet approves the revised guidelines for providing DTH services in India.

• Cabinet has approved the revised guidelines for providing DTH services in India.
• Under the new guidelines, the direct-to-home (DTH) license will be issued for 20 years with further renewal every 10 years.
• Cabinet has also decided to revise license fee from 10% of Gross revenue (GR) to 8% of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).
• Currently, license fee is calculated annually. Now, it will be calculated quarterly. Cabinet has also approved a proposal to allow DTH operators to operate platform channels to a maximum of 5% of their total channel carrying capacity.  
• They will be charged a one-time non-refundable registration fee of Rs. 10, 000 per PS (Platform Service) channel.
• Ministry of Commerce Industry had already allowed 100% FDI in DTH. But, only 49% FDI was possible due to guidelines of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Now, 100% FDI will be allowed after revised guidelines.
• Cabinet has also allowed sharing of Infrastructure between DTH operators. Now, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will issue revised DTH guidelines to bring into effect the decision of cabinet.

Topic: Miscellaneous

2. Coal Import Monitoring System (CIMS) to become effective from 1 February 2021.

• As per the notification issued by Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Coal Import Monitoring System (CIMS) will become effective from 1 February 2021.
• Importers will be required to provide advance information about import of items and get an automatic registration number. The validity of the automatic registration number will be 75 days.
• To obtain registration number, importers will pay registration fee of ₹1 per thousand on Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) value. The registration fee would be subject to minimum of ₹500 and maximum of ₹1 lakh.
• CIMS would be applicable for different categories of coal including anthracite, bituminous, coking, and steam.
• The notification also provides list of items. The Bill of Entry on or after February 1 for these listed items will be governed by CIMS.
• Earlier, import management system was introduced by government for a number of steel items.
• A Bill of Entry is a legal document that enables importers to claim Input Tax Credit (ITC) on goods.
• Directorate General of Foreign Trade:
  • It is an attached office under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
  • It is responsible for administering laws regarding foreign trade and foreign investment in India.
  • Its headquarters is in New Delhi. Amit Yadav is currently serving as Director-General of DGFT.

Topic: Appointments

3. Appointment of Sandeep Batra as Executive Director of ICICI Bank approved by RBI.   

• Appointment of Sandeep Batra as Executive Director of ICICI Bank has been approved by RBI for a period of three years with effect from December 23, 2020.
• He has been working with ICICI Group for the last 20 years. In November 2019, the proposal for his appointment as executive director of ICICI Bank was rejected by RBI.
• RBI rejected the proposal after SEBI imposed a fine on Sandeep Batra in case involving the merger of Bank of Rajasthan.
• But, in September 2020, Securities Appellate Tribunal made changes to SEBI order imposing penalty on Mr. Batra and converted the penalty into a warning.
• ICICI Bank (ICICI Bank Limited) is a private sector bank. Girish Chandra Chaturvedi is chairman of its board of directors. Its MD & CEO is Sandeep Bakhshi.

Topic: Banking/Financial Schemes

4. Indian Army and Bank of Baroda signed an MoU for Baroda Military Salary Package.

• Indian Army and Bank of Baroda signed an MoU for Baroda Military Salary Package.
• The main aim of this MoU is to provide banking service to serving and retired Indian Army personnel.
• Under this MoU, Bank of Baroda will provide Personal Accidental Insurance cover, Permanent Total Disability cover, Partial disability Cover and Air Accident Insurance Cover.
• It will also provide Higher Education Cover and Girl Child Marriage Cover in case of death of serving personnel.
• The other benefits provided under this agreement include unlimited free ATM transactions, discount on locker rental, and free remittance through RTGS. 
• Bank of Baroda:
  • It is the third-largest public sector bank in India.
  • It was founded in 1908.
  • Chairman: Hasmukh Adhia
  • Headquarters: Vadodara

Topic: Banking System

5. ‘Infinite India’ platform launched by ICICI Bank.

• ‘Infinite India’ platform has been launched by ICICI Bank to provide banking solutions and value-added services to foreign companies planning to set up business in India.
• The platform will offer services such as the incorporation of a business entity, corporate filings, licenses and registrations, HR services, compliances and taxation.
• The platform will help foreign companies and provide them hassle-free experience of doing business in India.
• ICICI bank is recognized as Authorised Dealer Category 1. It is allowed to authorize setting up of offices (liaison office, branch office and project office) in India within Foreign Exchange Management (FEMA) Act 1999.
• Under the FEMA Act 1999, RBI has permitted three types of Authorised Money Changers (AMCs) and Authorised Dealer Category -I Banks (AD Category–I Banks) is one of them.
• Authorised Dealers Category - II (ADs Category–II) and Full Fledged Money Changers (FFMCs) are remaining two AMCs approved by RBI.      

Topic: Corporates/Companies

6.  Two plants of Emami Limited get WHO-GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and Certificate of Pharmaceutical Products (CoPP) certification.

• Two plants of Emami Limited have got WHO-GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and Certificate of Pharmaceutical Products (CoPP) certification.
• The two plants are located at Vapi and Masat in Valsad District, Gujarat. They produce healthcare products under Zandu brand.
• The certification is for over 40 Ayurvedic products. It is valid for three years. Emami has also received the same certification in 2017 for 11 products under Zandu brand.
• In India, Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) grants WHO-GMP and CoPP for individual products after inspection and evaluation of manufacturing facility by representatives from the Central Drug Standards Control Organization.
• Emami is a Kolkata based Indian conglomerate (multi-industry) company.

Topic: Reports and Indices

7. Infosys becomes top ITeS player of 2020 as per the ITeS Power Movers 2020 Report by Wizikey.

• Infosys has become top Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS) player of 2020 as per the ITeS Power Movers 2020 Report by Wizikey.
• Among the top ITeS player of 2020 as per the ITeS Power Movers 2020 Report, TCS is ranked at second place. Wipro is ranked at third place. IBM and Cognizant are ranked at fourth and fifth place, respectively.
• The report by Wizikey also says that Work from Home and Destination Hiring are new emerging trends in 2020.
• The report provides a list top 25 players in the Indian ITeS sector. Dell, HP, Cisco, and Oracle are top ITeS players in the Enterprise Product category.  Wizikey is a PR- SaaS (Software as a Service) start-up.

Read Banking Awareness PDF - 23 and 24 December 2020