Banking Awareness of 26 and 27 January 2022

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

1. $150-million India-UAE venture capital fund launched to boost growth of start-ups in India.

• $150-million India-UAE venture capital fund has been launched to boost growth of start-ups in India and UAE.
• The VC Fund will be funded by investors across UAE, India and wider GCC countries. It has been launched from India Pavilion at EXPO2020 Dubai.
• The launch of the fund was announced by Ajai Chowdhry, HCL Founder and Chairman-Start-up Committee, FICCI.
• The fund will aim to invest in a minimum of 50 demonstrated and validated start-ups based in India and UAE over a period of 5 years.

Topic: Taxation

2. Finance Ministry imposes anti-dumping duty on ‘Axles for Trailers’ from China.

• Finance Ministry has imposed anti-dumping duty on ‘Axles for Trailers’ from China for a period of five years.
• The duty ranges from $0.16 to $0.31 per kilogram based on producer and exporter from China.
• In October 2021, Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of ‘Axles for Trailers’ from China.
• Anti-dumping duty on ‘Axles for Trailers’ was imposed in 2016. It is due to end this month.

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

3. Solar power sector adds about 11.88 GW during January-December 2021.

• Solar power sector has added about 11.88 GW during January-December 2021 period.
• This is the highest ever new capacity addition till now. Previous highest capacity addition was in 2017. In 2017, solar power sector added 9.6 GW to the grid.
• In 2021, total corporate funding in Indian solar power sector saw 81% increase at $27.8 billion, highest in the past 10 years.
• The solar power sector also attracted highest amount of venture capital funding since 2010.
• Renewable sector added about 3350 MW of new capacity for December 2021 quarter as compared to 1924 MW in December 2020 quarter.
• As of December, India’s total grid-connected renewable power capacity stood at 104.88 GW.
• Out of this, solar power accounts for 49.36 GW. Wind power segment has cumulative installed capacity of 40.01 GW.
• Small hydro power and bio power had an installed capacity of 4.84 GW and 10.61 GW respectively.
• The share of renewables in overall installed power capacity increased to nearly 27 % as of December.

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

4. Nearly a third of top 500 companies have not yet complied with SEBI’s requirement to split the post of Chairperson and Managing Director.

• Nearly a third of top 500 companies have not yet complied with SEBI’s requirement to split the post of Chairperson and Managing Director.
• As on 13 January 2022, 155 companies have the same person as Chairperson and MD and CEO. 245 of the top 500 firms are in compliance.
• April 2022 is the deadline to split the post of Chairperson and Managing Director.
• In the starting, SEBI had asked top 500 listed companies to separate the roles of Chairperson and MD and CEO by April 1, 2020. However, the deadline was later extended by two years.

Topic: Banking System

5. ICICI Bank imposes a penalty of Rs 2 lakh on Independent Director Rama Bijapurkar.

• ICICI Bank has imposed a penalty of Rs 2 lakh on Independent Director Rama Bijapurkar.
• The penalty has been imposed for violation or infringement of the bank’s Code and the SEBI Regulations while purchasing the bank’s shares.
• Bijapurkar have stepped down as Independent Director with effect from January 23.
• 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: Indian Economy/Financial Market

6. India’s imports from China increased to $97.5 billion in 2021.

• India’s imports from China had increased to $97.5 billion in 2021.
• India’s imports from China went up 46.1% from $66.7 billion in 2020.
• India’s exports to China increased to a record high of $28.1 billion in 2021.
• India’s exports to China went up 34.9% from $20.9 billion in 2020.
• India’s total trade with China in 2021 was worth $125.7 billion.
• India’s trade deficit with China reached to a record high $69.4 billion in 2021, up from $45.9 billion in 2020.
• China was India’s second largest trading partner in the April-November period, after the US.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

7. Electronics exports expected to increase from projected US$15 billion in 2021-22 to US$120 billion by 2026.

• Recently released 5-year roadmap and Vision Document for Electronics sector mentions electronics exports are expected to increase from projected US$15 billion in 2021-22 to US$120 billion by 2026.
• Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, in association with India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA) has recently released 5-year roadmap and Vision Document for Electronics sector.
• The roadmap and Vision Document is titled as “300 billion dollar Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing & Exports by 2026”.   
• The roadmap is 2nd volume of two-part Vision Document. The first part was released in November 2021.
• The first part was titled “Increasing India’s Electronics Exports and Share in GVCs”.
• India’s domestic electronics market is estimated to reach at best $150-180 billion from the current $65 billion over the next 4-5 years.
• Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has said that exports of $120-140 billion is critical to reach the $300 billion mark for electronics manufacturing.

Topic: Banking System

8. Government notifies amalgamation of PMC Bank with Unity SFB.

• Government has notified amalgamation (merger) of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Ltd (PMC Bank) with Unity Small Finance Bank.
• The amalgamation (merger) came into force from January 25, 2022.
• All the branches of the PMC Bank will function as branches of Unity SFB from January 25, 2022.
• Unity SFB is a joint venture between Centrum Group and BharatPe. It started operations as a SFB with effect from November 1.
• Unity SFB will take over all the assets and liabilities of PMC Bank. Depositors of PMC Bank will get their money back over a period of 3-10 years.
• It will in the starting pay the amount received from Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation to all the eligible depositors of PMC Bank.
• This amount would be an amount equal to the balance in their deposit accounts or Rs 5 lakh, whichever is less.
• In December 2021, RBI had extended the restrictions on PMC Bank till March 2022.
• According to the Banking Regulation Act, the draft scheme of amalgamation is required to be placed before the government for its sanction. RBI had placed PMC Bank under regulatory restrictions in 2019.

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