Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 26, 27 and 28 January 2021

By PendulumEdu | Last Modified: 28 Jan 2021 19:25 PM IST

Main Headlines:

Topic: Indian Economy

1. FDI equity inflow into India increased by 37% from $32.11 billion to $43.85 billion.

In April-November of FY21, FDI equity inflow into India increased by 37% from $32.11 billion in April-November 2019 to $43.85 billion.
In April-November of FY21, total FDI increased by 22% from $47.67 billion in April-November 2019 to $58.37 billion. Total FDI includes reinvested earnings.
FDI equity inflow and total FDI were highest ever for the first eight months period of a financial year.
As per investment trends monitor of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), global FDI in 2020 decreased by 42% from $1.5 trillion in 2019 to $859 billion.
As per UNCTAD’s investment trends monitor, FDI into India increased by 13% in 2020. Major economies such as the UK, the US and Russia witnessed decline in FDI inflows.
UNCTAD’s investment trends monitor report says that China was the world’s largest FDI recipient.
In World Investment Report 2020, UNCTAD has estimated 5% to 10% decline in FDI in 2021.
Equity capital, reinvested earnings and other direct capital are three components of FDI as per International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Topic: Indian Economy

New policy for disinvestment of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) is likely to be announced.
On 17 May, Finance Ministry had announced disinvestment policy as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
Finance Minister had then announced that government would notify a list of strategic sectors requiring presence of PSEs.
Currently, the number of Central PSEs (CPSEs) is more than 200. Out of them, 55 are listed. Government may increase the disinvestment target to ₹3-lakh crore or more in the budget.
Government had announced disinvestment target of ₹2.10-lakh crore for 2020-21. Out of this, ₹1.20-lakh crore is to come from stake sale in CPSEs and ₹90,000 crore from stake sale in LIC and IDBI Bank.

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

With the flagging off of first fleet of electric buses by Lieutenant Governor of A&N, electric buses have been introduced in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) is supplying 40 electric buses to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
NVVN is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NTPC Ltd. It is developing charging infrastructure in cities and has won bid for providing 90 electric buses in Bengaluru.

Topic: Reports and Indices

In its World Economic Outlook Update January 2021, IMF lowered its estimate for India’s GDP contraction in FY21 by 2.3%.
In its World Economic Outlook October 2020, IMF estimated a contraction of 10.3%.
In World Economic Outlook Update January 2021, IMF’s GDP growth projection for India in 2021 is 11.5%.
IMF’s estimate for GDP contraction is more than government’s first advance estimate of 7.7%.
IMF’s projection for growth in global economy is 5.5% in 2021 and 4.2% in 2022. In its World Economic Outlook Update January 2021, IMF estimated global growth contraction for 2020 at -3.5%.

Topic: Appointments

Ritesh Tiwari has been appointed as Executive Director, Finance & Chief Financial Officer of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL).
His appointment will become effective from May 1, 2021. He will replace Srinivas Phatak.
Hindustan Unilever Limited is an Indian company. Its CEO is Sanjiv Mehta. Lakmé Cosmetics and Kwality Walls are its subsidiaries.

Topic: Reports and Indices

As per the Upskilling for Shared Prosperity report, investment in upskilling can increase global GDP by $6.5 trillion by 2030.
Upskilling for Shared Prosperity is a report by World Economic Forum (WEF) and PwC, a multinational professional services network of firms.
It was released during the World Economic Forum’s online Davos Agenda Summit.
As per the report, 53 lakh new jobs could be created by 2030 by increasing investment in upskilling and reskilling of workers.
India’s additional employment potential is second highest after US. Additional GDP potential is third highest in India after China and US.

Topic: Appointments

United Nations has appointed Jayati Ghosh to high-level advisory board on economic, social affairs.
High-level advisory board will give recommendations to UN Secretary-General for responding to socio-economic challenges in the post-Covid-19 world.
Along with other personalities, Jayati Ghosh will form second UN High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs. She is an Indian development economist.
In June 2018, United Nations High-level Advisory Board (HLAB) on Economic and Social Affairs was formed.

Topic: Agriculture

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) of copra.
MSP of copra has been kept at Rs 10,335 per quintal for 2021 season. It is an increase of Rs 375 over 2020 rates.
Minimum Support Price (MSP) is made available for 23 crops on the basis of recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP). The names of 23 crops are given below.

Cereals	Pulses	Oilseeds	Commercial crops
Paddy, wheat, maize, bajra, jowar, ragi and barley	Chana, arhar/tur, urad, moong and masur	Rapeseed-mustard, groundnut, soyabean, sunflower, sesamum, safflower and nigerseed	Cotton, sugarcane, copra, raw jute

Topic: Miscellaneous

World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda Summit will be addressed by PM Modi.
WEF’s Davos Agenda is being organized on 25-29 January 2021. WEF’s Davos Agenda will be a sign of launch of Great Reset Initiative of World Economic Forum.
During the summit, architect Sir David Adjaye and photographer Sebastião Salgado won 27^th annual Crystal Award.
WEF founder Klaus Schwab’s latest book titled ‘Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy that Works for Progress, People and Planet’ was released. WEF’s physical annual meeting will be held in May in Singapore.
World Economic Forum (WEF):
- It was founded in January 1971 by Klaus Schwab.
- It is headquartered in Cologny, Switzerland.
- Its motto is “committed to improving the state of the world”.