Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 27, 28 and 29 December 2020

By PendulumEdu | Last Modified: 03 Mar 2022 12:05 PM IST

Main Headlines:

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

1. Deep sea port to be set up in East Midnapore at Tajpur.

Deep sea port will be set up in East Midnapore at Tajpur and the West Bengal government has invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) for this purpose.
Tajpur is located nearly 200 kms from Kolkata. West Bengal government will invest Rs 4,200 crore in the port project.
The project is likely to get Rs 1500 crore as investments. It will boost the economy and generate jobs in the region.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Seaways Shipping and Logistics Ltd and MOL Logistics (India).
The MOU aims to provide supply chain and turnkey logistics services in India, including warehousing, customs clearance, container line, vessel agency, transportation, bulk cargo handling, supply chain management and procurement.
MOL Logistics (India) is the India unit of MOL Logistics Co Ltd of Japan. Seaways Shipping and Logistics Limited is a company of Seaways Group.
Seaways Group is second largest logistics services provider in India.

Topic: Banking System

Digital lending Platform (DLP) has been launched by Bank of Baroda (BoB) to provide in-principle approval for certain category of loans and to offer Online Loan against Fixed Deposits.
DLP provides in-principle approval for home, car and personal loan in 30 minutes.
DLP facility is available for prospective loan seekers through the website, mobile banking, internet banking and social media.
Bank of Baroda said MSME and agricultural disbursements would also be digitized. The Bank is also offering a pre-approved micro personal loan to select existing customers to shop through offline/online partner channels.
Bank of Baroda’s mobile banking app, m-Connect+, also provides an option to get loan amount into a savings account and convert it to EMIs (Equated Monthly Instalments).
Bank of Baroda:
- It is the third-largest public sector bank in India.
- Chairman: Hasmukh Adhia
- Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank were merged in Bank of Baroda.
- Tagline: India’s International Bank

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

Government may start the process of setting up a Bank Investment Company (BIC) to hold its stake in PSBs.
RBI’s PJ Nayak Committee Report had brought the idea of BIC for discussion in 2014. The committee was formed to review the governance of boards of banks.
Bank Boards Bureau (BBB) was set up by the government in 2016 as per the recommendation of PJ Nayak Committee.
As per to bankers, BIC will help in quick decision without the fear of 3Cs. 3Cs refers to Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Singapore, UK and Belgium are some countries having intermediate investment companies to hold equity in banks.
The report provided SUUTI (Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India) example with respect to Axis bank is similar to BIC. Government is having a stake in Axis Bank through SUUTI, which was established in 2003.
PJ Nayak Committee is also known as Committee to Review Governance of Boards of Banks in India. It was formed on 20 January 2014. PJ Nayak was its chairman. In addition to a chairman, the committee has seven members.

Topic: Indian Economy

A UK based think-tank, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CBER), has predicted that India will become the fifth-largest economy in 2025.
According to the UK think-tank, India will overtake the United Kingdom by 2025, and it will become the third-largest economy by 2030.
India will overtake Germany in 2027 and Japan in 2030. At present, India is the sixth-largest economy in the world.
CEBR has predicted that the Indian economy will grow by 9% in 2021 and 7% in 2020.
Indian economy is one of the Worst- Hit economies by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Indian economy has recorded a GDP contraction of 7.5% in Q2 and 23.9% in Q1.
According to this think-tank, China will become the largest economy in the world in 2029.
Centre for Business & Economic Research (CEBR): It is founded in 2006 in London. It is an economic policy and forecasting research center of the United Kingdom.

Topic: Miscellaneous

Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX) has launched futures trading in natural rubber.
Only four contracts of rubber futures are currently made available for trading. The available contracts will expire in January, February, March and April of 2021.
Acumen Capital Market has become the first company, which made the first trade in MCX rubber contract.
The traders can trade in ‘Ribbed Smoked Sheets4 (RSS4)’ quality for a minimum lot size of 1 tonne through futures contract.
The contract has a tick size (minimum price movement) of Rupee 1. This means that if last traded price was 100, the next two best bids should be 99 and 98. The bid price cannot be 98.50 because the tick size is Rs 1.
Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX):
- It was set up in 2003.
- It is Mumbai based. It is the first listed exchange in India.
- Its CEO is P.S. Reddy.

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

New Bhaupur-New Khurja section of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) has been inaugurated by PM Modi.
New Bhaupur-New Khurja section of EDFC is 351-kilometre long. It is in UP. PM also inaugurated EDFC’s Operation Control Centre (OCC) at Prayagraj.
The OCC is an ecofriendly building having GRIHA4 rating. It has been built as per norms of Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan.
New Bhaupur-New Khurja section is going to benefit local industries given in the next table.

Region/District	Name of Indutry
Pukhrayan region, Kanpur Dehat	Aluminium industry
Aligarh	Locks and hardware
Khurja	Pottery products
Auraiya	Dairy sector
Etawah	Textile production and block printing
Hathras	Asafoetida production
Firozabad	Glassware industry