Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 28, 29 and 30 May 2020

By PendulumEdu | Last Modified: 31 May 2020 19:04 PM IST

Main Headlines:

1. Antitrust allegations against Google

Google is facing antitrust allegations for promoting its own payments app through its Android store.
The allegation is being examined by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
As per the complainant, Google's use of its Android store to promote its payments app allows Google to abuse its dominant market position and gives it unfair advantage.
The complaint against Google was filed in February. This is the third complaint against Google.
In 2018, the CCI had imposed a fine of 21 million dollars on Google for search bias.
In 2019, a probe was started by CCI as it was alleged that Google is misusing its dominance to prevent Smartphone makers from choosing alternative versions of its mobile operating system, Android.
Google Pay was released as Android Pay in 2015. It was released as Goggle Pay in 2018.

RBI had imposed fines on Citibank, Bharat Co-operative Bank, TJSB Sahakari Bank, and Nagar Urban Co-operative Bank.
RBI had imposed fine on Citibank as the bank failed to act as per Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and RBI directives.
As per RBI directives, Citibank should have complied with RBI's directive on verifying data in Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) database and got No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from lending banks when opening current accounts.
Bharat Co-operative Bank, which is based in Mumbai, did not comply with RBI's directions on Income Recognition and Classification (IRAC) norms.
TJSB Sahakari Bank, which is based in Thane (Maharashtra) also failed to comply with RBI's directions on IRAC norms.
Nagar Urban Co-operative Bank, which is based in Ahmednagar (Maharashtra) failed to comply with RBI's directions on IRAC norms, Management of Advances and Exposure Norms.
Citibank is a foreign bank. It is headquartered in New York. Its CEO is Mary McNiff.

BharatSwipe, which is BharatPe's card accepting machine with zero Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), may become operational in June.
Co-founder and CEO of BharatPe, Ashneer Grover has said that BharatSwipe is going through testing phase.
In April, BharatPe has added two new products in its app. They are Paisa Bolega and BharatPe Balance.
While PaisaBolega gives the merchant voice alerts of transactions, BharatPe Balance shows the shopkeeper total available money.
BharatPe allows merchants to receive UPI payments through BharatPe QR. It provides merchants one interface for all UPI apps like PayTm, PhonePe, etc.

Adani Power's subsidiary, Pench Thermal Energy has signed a PPA with Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Limited (MPPMCL).
As per the agreement, Pench Thermal will buy 1,230 MW power from MPPMCL.
The power will be bought from a new yet to be established power station 1,320 MW capacity. The fuel for power will come as per the SHAKTI policy.
Pench Thermal Energy is wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Power. It was earlier named as Adani Pench Power.
SHAKTI (Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala (Coal) Transparently in India) policy got government approval in May 2017 and amended in March 2019. It aims to improve coal allocation to power plants.

Implementation date of power of attorney norms has been extended by SEBI from June 1, 2020 to August 1, 2020.
Power of attorney norms are related with power of attorney that clients give to trading member or clearing member.
In February 2020, SEBI had issued guidelines in relation with obligations to be given through pledge and repledge in depository system.
Depository system is needed for electronically transferring the shares. It is a bank-like organization for keeping securities of people owning shares.

Minister of Power and Finance Commission had discussed details of new scheme worth ₹3 lakh crore for power distribution companies (discoms).
The new scheme will amalgamate other schemes of Ministry of Power and will be for five year period.
Earlier, Finance Commission has given recommendations on power sector in its report for FY 2020-21. The Commission is yet to give its report for FY2021-2026.
Ministry is also considering other reforms for better health of discoms. They include new tariff policy.
Second set of reforms will come after the first set of discom reforms under Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY). UDAY was started in November 2015.

Thierry Delaporte has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Wipro.
His appointment will be effective from July 6. Earlier, he has served as Capgemini Group's Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Salil Parekh, who is Infosys's current CEO& MD, has also earlier served as deputy CEO of Capgemini Group.
Wipro's current CEO and MD, Abidali Neemuchwala will leave his post on June 1. Rishad Premji will see Wipro's operations till July 5.
Thierry Delaporte will report to Wipro's chairman, Rishad Premji.
Wipro has also appointed a new independent director on its board for five years. His name is Deepak M Satwalekar.
Satwalekar has also served as MD of HDFC Ltd and MD and CEO of HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd. He has also served as consultant to following organizations.
- Asian Development Bank
- United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
- United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)