Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 24 December 2019

1. Minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan allowed to open NRO account in 2018 by RBI

• In 2018, the Reserve Bank of India made an amendment in Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) Regulations, 2016, to allow minorities (Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists) from Bangladesh and Pakistan living in India to open an NRO account.
• This decision was taken by RBI one year before Parliament amended the Citizenship Amendment Act 1955 to provide citizenship to these minorities from Bangladesh and Pakistan.
• Non-Resident Ordinary Rupee Account Scheme (NRO):
  • It is a saving or current account that is held by non-resident Indians to manage the income earned in India.
  • It can be opened as a joint account with one or more NRIs or Indian citizens.
  • The account gets converted into the regular account once Indian citizenship is acquired.

2. RBI purchased long term G-secs worth Rs 10,000 crore

• The Reserve Bank of India has purchased long-term government securities (G-secs) worth Rs. 10,000 crore and sold four short-term securities of Rs. 6,825 crore through Open Market Operations (OMO).
• The RBI accepted bids of worth Rs. 10,000 crore out of the total bids received of Rs. 20, 826 crore.
• Open Market Operations is an instrument through which RBI sells or purchases government securities and treasury bills.
• It is a tool that helps RBI in regulating the money supply. RBI purchases G-secs to increase the money supply in the market and sell them to reduce the money supply.

3. Pine Labs partners with Kotak Mahindra Bank

• Pine Labs has partnered with Kotak Mahindra Bank to enable EMI payments on Kotak Debit Cards.
• It will help 10 million customers to pay for their purchases in installments via Pine Labs POS terminals.
• Pine Labs is a merchant platform company that has a network of more than 1.5 lakh merchants across India.
• Kotak Mahindra Bank:
  • It is an Indian private sector bank.
  • Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
  • CEO: Uday Kotak

4. New prepaid payment instrument for digital transactions launched

• The Reserve Bank of India has launched a new semi-closed prepaid payment instrument for digital payments of goods and services up to Rs. 10,000.
• The instrument can be loaded or reloaded only from a bank account.
• The amount loaded during any month should not cross the limit of Rs. 10,000 and the total amount loaded during a financial year should not be more than Rs. 1,20,000.
• The introduction of this instrument will enhance the user experience and will promote small value digital payments.
• Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs):
  • These are the pre-loaded instruments that are used for settling payments for the purchase of goods and services.
  • These are of three kinds- Closed system, Semi-closed and Open PPIs. In the case of closed and semi-closed systems, cash withdrawals are not permitted.