Banking Awareness of 24, 25 and 26 August 2022

Topic: Appointments

1. Former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), Dr. K Subramanian’s appointment as Executive Director (India) at the IMF has been approved.

• Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved his appointment.
• He will begin his tenure on November 1, 2022. He has been appointed for three years.
• Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian will succeed Dr. Surjit Bhalla.
• Dr. Bhalla, a renowned economist, was appointed in 2019 as the Executive Director for India on the board of the International Monetary Fund.
• International Monetary Fund (IMF):
  • The IMF is an international organisation to promote global monetary cooperation.
  • Its headquarters is located in Washington DC. It was established in 1945.
  • The Managing Director of IMF is Kristalina Georgieva.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

2. An agreement has been signed by Flipkart with Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad.

• Flipkart has signed the agreement to provide Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) access to markets.
• Flipkart will work with FPOs and SHGs through training and capacity building initiatives to provide them understanding of quality and pricing.
• IIMR will help FPOs and SHGs with necessary infrastructure.
• Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company. It is headquartered in Bangalore. It is incorporated in Singapore as a private limited company. Kalyan Krishnamurthy is its CEO.

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

3. National Conference of Labour Ministers of all States and Union Territories addressed by PM Modi on 25 August.

• PM Modi said that 29 labour laws have been converted into four simple labour codes.
• The two-day National Conference of Labour Ministers of all States and Union Territories is being held at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.
• It is being organized by the Union Labour and Employment Ministry.
• The main purpose of the conference is to discuss labour-related issues.
• It will bring synergy between the Centre and State Governments in formulating better policies related to labour.
• The conference have four thematic sessions, which are given below:
  • Integrating e-Shram portal for onboarding social security schemes to universalize social protection.
  • Swasthya se Samriddhi for improving medical care through ESI hospitals run by State Governments and integration with PMJAY
  • Framing of rules under four Labour Codes and modalities for their implementation
  • Vision Shramev Jayate @ 2047

Topic: Appointments

4. Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) has recommended 14 candidates to panel for Executive Directors.

• The executive directors for public sector banks for the year 2022-23 will be appointed from this panel.
• Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) has said that the appointments will be made from the panel, subject to vacancies in the year 2022-23.
• The names of recommended candidates are given in the next table.

Topic: Banking System

5. Scheduled commercial banks’ credit growth increased to 14.2% in June from 10.8% a quarter ago as per RBI.

• It increased to 14.2% in June from 6% a year ago as per RBI.
• Aggregate deposit growth (y-o-y) was in the range 9.5-10.2% during the last five quarters.
• RBI has released its statement on ‘Quarterly statistics on deposits and credit of SCBs: June 2022’.
• As per the RBI statement, credit-deposit (C-D) ratio in June increased to 73.5% at all-India level from 70.5% a year ago.
• C-D ratio increased to 86.2% for metropolitan branches of banks from 84.3% a year ago.
• RBI said credit growth has been broad-based. All the population groups, all the bank groups and all the regions of the country recorded double-digit annual credit growth in June.
• Deposit growth lagged behind credit growth in the recent period.
• Metropolitan branches continued to account for over half of the bank deposits.
• The share of metropolitan branches in bank deposits increased marginally over the last one year.
• RBI said the share of current account and savings account (CASA) deposits in total deposits has been rising over the last 3 years.
• It has increased from 42% in June 2020 to 44.5% in June 2022.

Topic: Miscellaneous

6. Edelweiss General Insurance (EGI) has partnered with Health Ministry to help create digital health IDs for all in the country.

• Customers of Edelweiss General Insurance will be able to generate their unique ABHA number through the company’s website.
• ’ABHA’ or the Ayushman Bharat Health Account is a 14-digit number.
• It helps users to share and access their health records digitally with registered healthcare providers.
• ABHA is presently optional. National Health Authority (NHA) is responsible for implementing it under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

Topic: RBI

7. RBI has removed the business restrictions imposed on American Express Banking Corp (AEBC).

• RBI has removed restrictions imposed on AEBC on on-boarding of new domestic customers with immediate effect.
• RBI has removed restrictions in view of the satisfactory compliance demonstrated by AEBC with RBI’s April 2018 circular on “Storage of Payment System Data.”
• By order dated April 23, 2021, RBI had prohibited AEBC from on-boarding new domestic customers onto its card network from May 1, 2021.
• In June 2022, RBI had lifted restrictions imposed on Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte. Ltd. on on-boarding of new domestic customers.

Topic: Appointments

8. IDFC Ltd’s Board has approved Mahendra N Shah’s appointment as MD - Designate with immediate effect.

• He will be Managing Director (MD) with effect from October 1, 2022, till September 30, 2023.
• This will be subject to approval of shareholders of the company and other statutory/regulatory approvals.
• Sunil Kakar’s term as MD & CEO of the company will end on September 30, 2022.

Topic: Miscellaneous

9. Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100 will be released by Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister (EAC-PM) on 30 August 2022.

• The Competitiveness Roadmap is a collaborative endeavor between EAC-PM, The Institute for Competitiveness, and Professor Michael E. Porter and Dr Christian Ketels from Harvard Business School.
• The Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100 is based on the framework developed by Professor Michael E. Porter.
• India@100 is a roadmap for our country’s journey towards its centennial year.
• The roadmap stands to inform and guide the way for India to become a higher-income country by 2047.
• The document will be released in the presence of Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman EAC-PM, Amitabh Kant, Sherpa, G-20, Sanjeev Sanyal, Member, EAC-PM.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

10. All criminal prosecutions under the Benami Act started before October 25, 2016 will now be considered void after Supreme Court ruling.  

• All confiscation proceedings under the Benami Transaction Prohibition Act (in short, Benami Act) that were started before October 25, 2016 will also be considered void after Supreme Court ruling.
• Supreme Court struck down a provision of Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act of 1988.
• The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act of 1988 has the provision of punishment of a maximum jail term of three years or a fine or both for those indulging in Benami transactions.
• A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices C T Ravikumar and Hima Kohli declared the provision unconstitutional on the ground of being arbitrary.
• Supreme Court declared section 3(2) of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 as unconstitutional.
• Supreme Court also states that the 2016 amended law will apply only prospectively, and not retrospectively.
• Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act 1988:
  • It came into force on 5 September 1988 and it prohibits certain types of financial transactions.
  • It defines a 'Benami' transaction as a transaction in which property is transferred to one person for a consideration paid or provided by another person.
  • It was amended in 2016 as an attempt to curb black money.

Read Banking Awareness PDF of 24, 25 and 26 August 2022