Banking Awareness of 3, 4 and 5 February 2024

Topic: Banking System

1. Among public sector banks, Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has the fastest growth rate when it comes to deposit mobilisation.

• In the third quarter ending December 2023, just two of the twelve public sector banks—Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) and State Bank of India (SBI)—saw double-digit increase in deposits.
• During the quarter, Bank of Maharashtra saw an increase in deposits of 17.89%, while SBI recorded a growth of 12.84 percent.
• In absolute terms, however, SBI's total deposits were roughly 18.5 times more at ₹45,67,927 crore than Bank of Maharashtra's ₹2,45,734 crore.
• The Central Bank of India came in third place with a 9.53 percent growth in deposits, followed by a 9.10 percent increase at Punjab National Bank.
• Bank of Maharashtra remained at the top of the list with 50.19 percent of low-cost CASA deposits. It was followed by Central Bank of India with 48.98%.
• Higher levels of CASAs (current account and savings accounts) assist banks in maintaining low funding costs.
• In terms of asset quality, as of December 31, 2023, Bank of Maharashtra and State Bank of India had the lowest gross non-performing assets (NPAs), with 2.04% and 2.45%, respectively.
• The banks with the lowest net non-performing assets (NPAs) were Indian Bank and Bank of Maharashtra, with 0.53 percent and 0.22 percent, respectively.
• All 12 PSBs combined reported a net profit of ₹98,355 crore for the first nine months of FY'24, compared to ₹104,649 crore for the entire year of FY'23.
• With a highest 253 percent quarterly net profit gain (₹2,223 crore), PNB was followed by Bank of India (₹1,870 crore) and Union Bank of India (₹3,590 crore) at 62 and 60 percent, respectively.
• But net profit fell by 35.49 percent, 22.97 percent, and 69.44 percent, at three banks.
• SBI, UCO Bank, and Punjab & Sind Bank were these three banks.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

2. 50 lakh shares of One 97 Communications have been bought by Morgan Stanley for ₹244 crore.

• Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) has bought these shares for ₹487.2 apiece.
• One 97 Communications is the parent company of Paytm.
• The company said that its services will continue to remain operational beyond February 29.
• It said the directives from RBI are on Paytm Payments Bank and not Paytm.
• Recently, RBI has directed Paytm Payments Bank to halt all deposits and credit transactions after February 29, 2024.
• Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company.

Topic: Reports and Indices

3. HSBC India services PMI increased to 61.8 in January.

• HSBC India Composite PMI Output Index stood at 61.2 in January 2024 from 58.5 in December 2023.
• The growth of services sector and fastest expansion in manufacturing in four months caused six-month high overall HSBC India Composite PMI Output Index.
• Services sector increased at the fastest pace in six months in January.
• Output prices increased at their slowest rate since February 2023.
• The HSBC final India Services Purchasing Managers' Index is compiled by S&P Global.
• It increased to 61.8 in January 2024 from 59.0 in December 2023.

Topic: Taxation

4. Government has increased windfall tax on crude petroleum.

• It has increased windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil from ₹1,700 per tonne to ₹3,200 per tonne.
• The tax is levied in the form of Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED).
• SAED on export of diesel, petrol, and jet fuel or ATF, has been kept at nil.
• The revised rates have become effective from 3 February, 2024.
• India first imposed windfall profit taxes on July 1, 2022.
• The tax rates are reviewed every fortnight. They are reviewed based on average oil prices in the previous two weeks.
• Windfall tax is imposed on oil companies making windfall, or exceptionally high profits.

Topic: Appointments

5. AU Small Finance Bank has appointed Harun Rashid Khan as non-executive chairman.

• HR Khan is the former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• His tenure started from the date of taking charge, January 30, 2024.
• He assumed charge from Raj Verma. Raj Verma’s tenure as Part-time Chairman ended on January 29, 2024.
• He will continue on the position until the completion of his first tenure as Independent Director of the Bank, December 27, 2024.
• AU Small Finance Bank (SFB):
  • It was founded in 1996 as AU Financiers (India) Ltd.
  • In 2017, AU Financiers (India) Ltd became a small finance bank.
  • It is headquartered in Jaipur. Its chairman is Raj Vikash Verma.

Topic: Appointments

6. Pawan Kumar has taken charge of Chief Adviser (Cost) in Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.

• Pawan Kumar assumed charge after approval from Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
• Kumar is an officer of the Indian Cost Accounts Service under Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.
• Earlier, he was holding the charge of Additional Chief Adviser (Cost).
• He has played a key role in the development of a web-based Online Dashboard for performance evaluation of CPSEs in Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Finance.
• A leading think tank had honoured this initiative with gold award in the e-Governance category in 2022.

Topic: Reports and Indices

7. RBI’s Digital Payments Index increased from 395.57 in March 2023 to 417.77 in September 2023.

• RBI’s Digital Payments Index (DPI) has increased across all parameters.
• It was driven by growth in payment enablers, payment performance, and consumer centricity across the country.
• March 2018 is the base period for the RBI-DPI. This means that the DPI score for March 2018 is taken as 100.
• In September 2019, the DPI stood at 173.49. This increased to 217.74 in September 2020.
• This further increased to 304.06 in September 2021.
• RBI publishes DPI on a semi-annual basis with a lag of four months. 
• RBI DPI consists of five broad parameters. These parameters measure the penetration of digital payments in India. The parameters and their weights are given below.
  • Payment Enablers (weight 25 per cent)
  • Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors (weight 10 per cent)
  • Payment Infrastructure – Supply-side factors (weight 15 per cent)
  • Payment Performance (weight 45 per cent)
  • Consumer Centricity (weight 5 per cent)

Topic: Miscellaneous

8. UPI has been formally launched at Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

• It was formally launched at a Republic Day reception held in France.
• Indian tourists can now buy tickets for the Eiffel Tower via UPI.
• Eiffel Tower is the first merchant to offer UPI payments in France.
• France has become the first European country to accept UPI.
• India and France pledged to foster a healthy ecosystem and form partnerships in 2023 to empower their citizens and guarantee their full participation in the digital century.
• A deal was signed by France's Lyra Collect and NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) to deploy the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) throughout France.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India and France have decided to adopt the UPI payment method and that it will start at the famous Eiffel Tower, while on a visit to France in July of last year.
• The UPI is India's mobile-based payment system. It allows people to make payments through a virtual payment address created by the customer.
• NIPL was incorporated on April 3, 2020 as a wholly owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• NIPL is devoted to the deployment of RuPay and UPI outside of India.

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

9. PM Modi laid the foundation stone of the Talabira Thermal Power Project of NLC India Limited in Odisha.

• The Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) Talabira Thermal power project worth more than Rs 27,000 crore will be established in Sambalpur, Odisha.
• The government has approved the setting up of 3 x 800 MW Ultra Super Critical Thermal Power Plant at Talabira through NLCIL.
• Coal infrastructure projects of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited including First Mile Connectivity (FMC) projects - Bhubaneswari Phase-I in Talcher Coalfields in Angul district and Lajkura Rapid Loading System (RLS) has been inaugurated by PM Modi.
• He also dedicated a 50-km-long second track of Jharsuguda-Barpali-Sardega rail line phase-1 built by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited to the nation.
• NTPC Darlipali Super Thermal Power Station (2x800 MW) and NSPCL Rourkela PP-II Expansion Project (1x250 MW) in Sundargarh district has been also dedicated to the nation.
• PM Modi also laid the foundation stone of NTPC Talcher Thermal Power Project, Stage-III (2x660 MW) in Angul district.
• He also laid the foundation stone of the Nagpur Jharsuguda Natural Gas Pipeline Section (692km) of Mumbai-Nagpur-Jharsuguda pipeline project.

Topic: Reports and Indices

10. India secured the 93rd position in the Global Corruption Index.

• According to the Transparency International report, India ranked 93rd position in the Global Corruption Index with a score of 39.
• More than two-thirds of the 180 ranked countries scored below 50 on the Global Corruption Index.
• The corruption perceptions index uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
• In 2023, India's overall score was 39 while in 2022, it was 40. India's rank in 2022 was 85.
• Denmark secured the first position for the sixth consecutive year. Finland and New Zealand secured second and third positions respectively.
• The top 10 countries on the index include Norway (84), Singapore (83), Sweden (82), Switzerland (82), the Netherlands (79), Germany (78), and Luxembourg (78).
• The global average corruption perceptions index score remains at 43.
• In South Asia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka remain at 133rd and 115th positions respectively.
• Somalia, Venezuela, Syria, South Sudan, and Yemen are in the bottom spots in the ranking.

Read Banking Awareness PDF - 3, 4 and 5 February 2024