Banking Awareness of 29, 30 and 31 August 2023

Topic: Banking System

1. Aadhaar-based enrolment for social security schemes has been launched by State Bank of India.

• SBI has launched a facility, which allows customers to enroll in social security schemes by just providing Adhaar card.
• SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara unveiled the new feature.
• The new feature will be available at the bank’s Customer Service Points.
• The facility has been launched to simplify the process of enrolling in various social security schemes.
• Customers will only need their Aadhaar cards to enroll in schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, and the Atal Pension Yojana.
• Customers will not need to carry their passbooks to the Customer Service Points (CSPs).

Topic: Banking System

2. IDFC First Bank has acquired title sponsorship rights for all BCCI international and domestic home matches.

• IDFC First Bank will be the Title Sponsor for all international matches (both women and men) played in India.
• It will also be the Title Sponsor for all domestic cricket matches like Irani Trophy, Duleep Trophy, and Ranji Trophy organized by the BCCI.
• It will also be the Title Sponsor for all junior cricket (Under 19 and Under 23) matches held in India.
• It will be the Title Sponsor for all international cricket matches played in India and all domestic tournaments for the next 3 years.
• The collaboration will start with the 3-match ODI series against Australia, which is scheduled to start next month (September 2023).
• IDFC First Bank is an Indian private-sector bank. It was founded in 2015. It is headquartered in Mumbai. V. Vaidyanathan is its MD & CEO.

Topic: RBI

3. RBI has authorized Bandhan Bank to disburse civil pension.

• It has been selected as an authorised pension disbursement bank on behalf of the Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) for civil pensioners.
• To operationalise the disbursement process, Bandhan Bank will integrate with the office of Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO).
• With this authorisation, Bandhan Bank is entitled to disburse pensions to the Central Government employees in Civil Ministries and Departments (other than Railways, Posts, and Defence).
• It is also entitled to disburse pensios to the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Union Territory Administrations without legislatures, retired Judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court, and All India Service Officers.
• The payment of pensions to former Members of Parliament and the payment of pensions and other amenities to former Presidents and Vice Presidents of India are also covered under the scheme.
• Bandhan Bank is a private sector bank. It is headquartered in Kolkata. Dr. Anup Kumar Sinha is its current chairman. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh is its MD and CEO.
• Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO):
  • It was established with effect from 1st January, 1990.
  • It is a subordinate office under the Office of the Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance, and Department of Expenditure.

Topic: Banking System

4. UPI watch has been launched by Proxgy for street vendors.

• Kadi is worn like a wristwatch. Kadi removes the use of sound boxes for payment alerts.
• It offers single-touch QR display. It is priced under Rs 1,000.
• It is a UPI watch for hawkers and street vendors working in less formal settings.
• Kadi uses a display settlement process running on 4G NarrowBand-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) technology for real-time payment alerts.
• It has added features such as health tracking and daily insurance at Rs 1.
• Proxgy is an innovative IoT solutions company. Pulkit Ahuja is founder of Proxgy.

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

5. A penalty of Rs 40 lakh has been imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on the NTPC Ltd for gun jumping.

• CCI has imposed the penalty because NTPC had acquired 35.47% stake in Ratnagiri Gas & Power without notifying CCI ahead of consummation of transaction.
• CCI has given 60 days to NTPC to pay the penalty.
• CCI has found that NTPC is liable to penalty under Section 43 A of Competition Act.
• In gun jumping, parties to a combination fail to notify the CCI about a combination prior to its consummation or violate the 210-day standstill obligation.   
• In gun jumping, false declaration is also made on the notice sent to CCI.

Topic: Miscellaneous

6. Rajasthan's Priyan Sain won the title of Miss Earth India 2023 during the Miss Divine Beauty 2023 l final held on August 26 in New Delhi.

• She received the crown from the reigning Miss Earth from Korea Mina Sue Choi.
• Earlier, Priyan participated in Miss Rajasthan 2022 where she finished as first runner-up.
• Praveena Aanjna clinched the title of Miss International India 2023. Pema Choden Bhutia and Tejaswini Shrivastava were announced as runner-up.
• Dr Sonali Ghosh will become the first woman field director of Kaziranga National Park.
• She will be the first woman to hold charge as director of the 118-year-old Kaziranga National Park.
• Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam.

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

7. IIT Bombay joined hands with HSBC for research in green hydrogen.

• The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) has collaborated with Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) to promote green hydrogen production.
• The main aim of this partnership is to revolutionise the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and scalability of green hydrogen and to make it a strategic alternative fuel.
• IIT Bombay will invite project proposals under the Innovation in Green Hydrogen programme.
• The proposals will be evaluated by a steering committee comprising representatives from HSBC India, professors, and faculty members from multidisciplinary areas.
• This partnership will support the government’s National Green Hydrogen Mission.
• As per the National Green Hydrogen Mission, India is aiming to develop a green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT (million metric tons) per annum by 2030.

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

8. India handed over the presidency of B20 to Brazil.

• Under the G20 Presidency, India's B20 Presidency worked under the theme of Vasaudeva Katumbakam (One Earth, One Family, One Future).
• The B20 Summit is the official G20 dialogue forum with the global business community.
• India hosted the three-day summit from 25th to 27th August with the theme R.A.I.S.E – Responsible, Accelerated, Innovative, Sustainable and Equitable Businesses.
• B20 India Chair N Chandrasekaran said that more than 1500 global business delegates and experts from 55 countries participated in it.
• During this period, India worked on nine important themes which included the empowerment of women and youth, the transition towards an Artificial Intelligence world, building a global resilient supply chain, and financing for the global economic recovery.
• India's B20 presidency has been recognized for its effective process, participation, and consensus-building in formulating 54 policy recommendations over the past nine months.
• B20 was established in 2010, and is among the most prominent Engagement Groups in G20, with companies and business organizations as participants.
• The B20 aims to provide concrete actionable policy recommendations on priorities to promote economic growth and development.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings 

9. India will host the first-ever global AI summit in October. 

• First-ever Global India AI 2023 Summit will be hosted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on October 14 and 15. 
• India assumed the chairmanship of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) in 2022. 
• Global India AI 2023 Summit will promote local innovation and AI-deployed public infrastructure tools will be showcased. 
• At the summit, global experts will showcase AI’s applications in healthcare, governance, and next-generation electric vehicles, future AI research trends. 
• The Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) is an international initiative to guide the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence (AI).
• India’s first AI school launched in Kerala’s capital city, Thiruvananthapuram.
• The school, Santhigiri Vidyabhavan, utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to improve the learning experience.
• The AI school is a result of a partnership between iLearning Engines (ILE) USA and Vedhik eSchool.

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