Banking Awareness of 29 and 30 July 2022

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

1. The India’s manufacturing sector attracted FDI worth $21.34 billion in 2021-22, which is 76% more than the last year.

• As per Commerce Ministry, FDI equity inflows in the manufacturing sectors have increased by 76% in FY 2021-22 (USD 21.34 billion) compared to previous FY 2020-21 (USD 12.09 billion).
• Singapore (27.01%), USA (17.94%), Mauritius (15.98%), Netherlands (7.86%) and Switzerland (7.31%) were the top five sources of FDI in India in FY 2021-22.
• According to the UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR) 2022, India is in the 7th spot among 20 countries.
• India received the highest annual FDI inflows of USD 84,835 million in FY 21-22, USD 2.87 billion more than last year.
• During FY 2021-22, India received FDI from 101 countries. In India, FDI is permitted through the automatic route up to 100 percent in non-critical sectors.

Topic: Agriculture

2. Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar launched 11th Agriculture Census.

• Narendra Singh Tomar has also launched the Data Collection Portal/App.
• The use of mobile apps for data collection will accelerate the digitalization of the land record.
• The fieldwork for the agricultural census will begin in August 2022.
• It will be the first time data collection for agricultural computations will be done on smartphones and tablets.
• Agricultural computations will also contribute to the mapping of crops.
• The agriculture Census is conducted on every five years.
• Agricultural Census provides information on different agricultural parameters such as area of ​​operational holdings, their size, class-wise distribution, land use, tenancy and cropping pattern, etc. at the minute level.

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

3. Union Cabinet has approved Competition (Amendment) Bill.

• It will introduce changes to the governing structure of the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
• It will amend the Competition Act, 2002. It will modify the substantive provisions in the law to address the needs of new age markets.
• It will make competition regulation more robust by addressing regulatory gaps. It will clarify provisions in the existing law.
• Competition Act, 2002:
  • It was passed by the Parliament in the year 2002. President gave assent in January 2003.
  • It replaced the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act, 1969.
  • It was amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007 and again by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2009.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

4. The combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) increased by 12.7% as compared to the Index of June 2021.

• Ministry of Commerce and Industry has revised final growth rate of ICI for March 2022 to 4.8% from its provisional level of 4.3%.
• Last month the output growth for February 2022 was also revised upwards to 5.9% from provisional level of 5.8%.
• The Ministry has said that the growth rate of ICI during April-June 2022-23 was 13.7% (provisional) as compared to the corresponding period of last FY.
• Eight core sectors’ output growth declined to 12.7% in June from 18.1% in May.
• All sectors except crude oil registered an increase in production. Crude oil output dropped 1.7% from a year ago period.
• The eight core industries have weightage of 40.27 percent in the index of industrial production (IIP).
• Eight core industries are Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity.

Topic: RBI

5. RBI has temporarily permitted merchants and payment aggregators to save the Card-on-File (CoF) data.

• However, they can save data for a maximum period of “Transaction Date + 4 days” or till the settlement date, whichever is earlier.
• This is only for the settlement of transactions where cardholders decide to enter the card details manually.
• RBI said the data shall be used only for settlement of transactions. It must be purged (removed) after that.
• Acquiring bank can store CoF data until January 31, 2023, for handling other post-transaction activities.
• RBI said that there will be no change in the date of implementation of the requirements relating to “Restriction on Storage of Actual Card Data.
• All entities, except card issuers and card networks, shall purge the CoF data before October 1, 2022.
• In Card-on-File transactions, merchants are authorized by cardholders to store their payment information and to bill their accounts for future purchases.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

6. Centre’s fiscal deficit reached 21% during April-June quarter of current fiscal.   

• Fiscal deficit stood at 18 percent during the corresponding period of last fiscal.
• However, fiscal deficit is not likely to breach the Budget Estimate of 6.4 percent.
• Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said the government would stick to its projected target of Budget FY 2023.
• As per Ind-Ra, the fiscal deficit in FY23 will be in the range of 6.2-6.4 percent of GDP.
• According to Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data, centre received around ₹5.96-lakh crore and incurred expenditure of ₹9.47-lakh crore during three months.
• This resulted in fiscal deficit of over ₹3.51-lakh crore. Fiscal deficit is the difference between expenditure and income.

Topic: Banking System

7. Carlyle Group and Advent International will invest ₹8,900 crore in YES Bank.

• They will make an investment for a cumulative stake of up to 20 percent in the bank.
• Yes Bank will raise ₹8,900 crore, which will include ₹5,100 crore through shares and ₹3,800 crore through share warrants.
• The capital raise is subject to the approval of the bank’s shareholders.
• YES Bank is also looking to sell stressed loans worth ₹48,000 crore to an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC).
• Yes Bank was founded in 2004. It is headquartered in Mumbai. Prashant Kumar is its MD and CEO. It is a private sector bank.

Topic: Banking System

8.  Bank credit has shown growth of 13.7% in June 2022 as compared with 4.9% a year ago as per RBI.

• According to RBI’s sectoral deployment of bank credit statement, credit to agriculture and allied activities grew by 13% in June 2022 as compared with 10.6% a year ago.
• Credit to industry has shown 9.5% growth in June 2022 against a contraction of 0.6% in June 2021 according to RBI.
• According to RBI, credit to medium industries increased by 47.6% in June 2022 as compared with 59% last year.
• Credit growth to micro and small industries increased to 29.6% in June 2022 from 11.6% a year ago according to RBI.
• As per RBI, credit to large industries has shown a growth of 3.3% against a contraction of 4.8 % during the same period.
• Credit growth to services sector increased to 12.8% in June 2022 as compared with 4.0% a year ago as per RBI.
• As per RBI data, personal loans segment grew by 18.1% in June 2022, mainly driven by housing and vehicle loan segments.
• SBI’s Economic Research Department, in its report “Ecowrap”, has said that sector-wise credit data for June 2022 shows substantial improvement in incremental credit to each and every sector.

Topic: Banking System

9. Bandhan Bank has opened its first ever currency chest.

• The currency chest is located in Deedargunj, Patna. It will help in cash management in the city and enhance customers’ convenience.
• Union Bank of India (UBI) has set “RACE” - grow RAM (retail, agriculture and MSME) loans, improve Asset quality, increase CASA (current account, savings account deposits) and increase Earnings - as its goal for the year.
• UBI is currently the fifth largest public sector bank (PSB) in the country.
• A Manimekhalai, who took charge of UBI as MD & CEO on June 3 as its first woman chief, wants the bank to become the third largest PSB in the next couple of years.
• 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.

Topic: Miscellaneous

10. Roshni Nadar continues to be the richest woman in India.

• Beauty product focused brand Nykaa owner, Falguni Nayar, is the richest self-made woman with a net worth of Rs 57,520 crore, as per the Kotak Private Banking-Hurun list 2021.
• Nayar saw a 963% increase in her wealth in 2021. Nayar is the second richest woman overall.
• HCL Technologies’ chairperson Roshni Nadar’s net worth increased 54% to Rs 84,330 crore in 2021.
• Net worth of Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw declined 21%. She is third richest woman in the country with a wealth of Rs 29,030 crore.
• The list of 100 women includes only Indian women, who are born or brought up in India and who are actively managing their businesses or are self-made.
• These 100 women now contribute 2 percent of India’s nominal GDP.
• Kanika Tekriwal (33 years old) of Bhopal-based Jetsetgo is the youngest self-made woman on the list.
• The list also includes three professional managers - Indra Nooyi, Renu Sud Karnad of HDFC and Shanti Ekambaram of Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

11. PM Modi launched India’s first international bullion exchange, India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX), in Gujarat.

• He launched IIBX at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) near Gandhinagar.
• He laid the foundation stone for the headquarters building of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
• He launched NSE IFSC-SGX Connect platform, which will deepen liquidity in derivative markets at GIFT-IFSC.
• IIBX was announced in the 2020 Union Budget. Ashok Gautam took charge as the first MD and CEO of IIBX in February 2022.
• IIBX will allow qualified jewellers to directly import gold. Currently, there are 56 jewellers registered on the IIBX.
• Entities must have a minimum net worth of Rs 25 crore and 90% of their average annual turnover in the previous three fiscal years must come from sales of goods classified as precious metals to become qualified jewellers.
• Non-resident Indians and institutions can also participate on the exchange after registering with the IFSCA.
• The IIBX will submit a report to IFSCA on a monthly basis providing details of transactions in bullion by qualified jewelers.
• Gold 1 kg 995 purity and gold 100 gm 999 purity with a T+0 settlement (100% upfront margin) are expected to trade at IIBX initially.
• A cumulative storage capacity for about 125 tonnes of gold and 1,000 tonnes of silver is planned at the GIFT City.
• International Financial Sevices Centres Authority (IFSCA):
  • It has been established on April 27, 2020 under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019.
  • It is an authority for the development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in India.

Read Banking Awareness PDF of 29 and 30 July 2022