1. Ramco Systems signs a multi-million-dollar agreement in Malaysia
- Chennai-based software company, Ramco Systems has signed multi-million-dollar agreement in Malaysia.
- The agreement has been signed with a leading utilities and infrastructure group in Malaysia for digital transformation across group’s ports and logistics operations.
- Due to this agreement, over 50% of all port operations in Malaysia will be managed with the support of Ramco’s enterprise platform.
- Ramco Systems is a Chennai-based software and services provider. It CEO is Virender Aggarwal.
2. ICICI Bank to carry out assessment of farmer’s creditworthiness through satellite data
- ICICI Bank has completed pilot study for assessment of farmer’s creditworthiness through satellite data and will scale up the scheme to 63,000 villages all over India.
- Pilot study for assessment of farmer’s creditworthiness through satellite data was done in 500 villages in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
- Contactless land verification through satellite data has decreased the timing for creditworthiness assessments to few days.
- 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.
- Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) established ICICI Bank in 1994. It is headquartered in Mumbai. Its tagline is Hum hai na, Khayal Apka.
3. FSSAI makes No-GM declaration on imported food crops mandatory
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has made No-GM declaration on 24 imported food crops mandatory from January 1, 2021.
- As per FSSAI order, importers of these food crops should mandatorily declare that the products are not genetically-modified and have non-GM origin.
- Every consignment of these 24 imported products should accompany a non-GM-origin-cum-GM-free certificate. It should be issued by competent national authority of the exporting country.
- FSSAI has brought out the order to ensure that only non-GM food crops are imported to India. It is considering draft regulation on GM foods.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI):
- It was established in August 2011 under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
- It is a statutory body. It is headquartered in New Delhi.
- Rita Teotia is its current chairperson. It consists of a chairperson and 22 members.
- Along with state food authorities, FSSAI is responsible for the implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
- It has six regional offices. They are located in Delhi, Guwahati, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cochin, and Chennai.
4. RBI to dissolve BCSBI
- RBI has decided to dissolve Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI).
- RBI had set up BCSBI in 2006. It was set up to formulate codes of conduct for voluntary adoption by banks to ensure fair treatment of customers.
- Since 2006, RBI has taken following steps for protection of consumers.
- Setting up of Consumer Education and Protection Department (CEPD)
- Issuing of Charter of Customer Rights (CoCR)
- Strengthening of Ombudsman mechanism
- CEPD administers Banking Ombudsman Scheme and acts as nodal department for BCSBI.
- RBI will also merge Banking Ombudsman Scheme of 2006, Ombudsman Scheme for NBFCs (2018) and Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions of 2019 into one scheme.
5. Greenko Energies and NVVN signed an MoU
- A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Greenko Energies and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVN), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC Ltd.
- The MoU has been signed to explore possibility of development of flexible and dispatchable power supply solution that is based on renewable energy.
- Greenko Energies is developing 40 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of pumped hydro storage projects across 6 States in India.
- Greenko Energies is a Hyderabad based renewable energy company financially supported by GIC of Singapore and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
- NVVN is a Power Trading Company having highest category Trading License ‘I’ from CERC.
6. Microsoft adds 15 new dialects to its Neutral TTS service
- Microsoft has added Hindi, English (India) and 13 other new dialects to its Neural Text to Speech (Neural TTS) service.
- Neural TTS comes under Microsoft’s Azure Cognitive Services. It converts text to lifelike speech and provides customizable voices and fine-tuned auto control.
- Total 110 voices and over 45 languages are currently supported in Microsoft TTS.
- Microsoft is an American multinational technology company. It is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, United States. Its CEO is Satya Nadella. It was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975.
7. $5 million raised by Verloop.io
- $5 million has been raised by Verloop.io, a platform that enables Business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses to automate conversations with customers.
- The funding has been raised by Verloop.io in its Series A funding. Series A funding was led by Alpha Wave Incubation, IDFC Parampara and Kris Gopalakrishnan.
- Gaurav Singh is the founder and CEO of Verloop.io. It was founded in 2015.
8. CBIC announces measure for faster clearance of the good imported by the PSUs
- As a measure for faster clearance of the good imported by PSUs, CBIC has allowed PSUs to pay customs duty within 14 days after they clear goods imported by them through Customs.
- CBIC has first started the scheme for delayed payment of Customs duties in November 2016.
- The scheme was meant only for importers, which were recognized by CBIC as Authorized Economic Operators.
- The scheme of delayed payments of customs duties is part of CBIC’s Turant Customs programme.
- Turant Customs programme is being implemented in phases till 1st January 2021. Its main component is Faceless Assessment. The first phase of programme was launched by CBIC at Bengaluru and Chennai in June 2020.
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