Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 30 and 31 October 2020

1. National Accreditation Board for Certification Body (NABCB) grants accreditation to National Productivity Council (NPC)

• National Accreditation Board for Certification Body (NABCB) has granted accreditation to the National Productivity Council (NPC), which carries out inspections/audits for statutory bodies like WDRA and FSSAI.
• Accreditation granted by NABCB to NPC conforms to ISO 17020:2012, which is a standard for competence of bodies doing inspections and impartiality and consistency of inspections done by them.
• The accreditation is for doing inspection and audit of Food Safety Audit and Scientific Storage of Agricultural Products. The accreditation (recognition) is valid for three years.
• NPC is empaneled with Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) as an accreditation and inspection agency since 2011 and with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as an auditing agency.
• NABCB is a part of Quality Council of India (QCI). Its governing board has 18 members. Chairman of QCI nominates chairman of NABCB’s governing board. It grants accreditation to Certification bodies and Inspection Bodies.
• NPC comes under the administrative control of Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
• It was formed in 1958. It is an autonomous, tri-partite (having three parties), non-profit organization.

2. Siddhartha Mohanty may be appointed as MD of LIC

• Current CEO of LIC Housing Finance Ltd., Siddhartha Mohanty, may be appointed as Managing Director (MD) of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
• Bank Board Bureau (BBB) has recommended his name for the position of MD of LIC. BBB has kept Mini Ipe on the reserve list.
• The name of the person to fill the vacancy of MD of LIC will be finally approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) after consideration of BBB’s recommendations.
• MR Kumar is current chairman of LIC. It has four MDs. They are Vipin Anand, T. C. Suseel Kumar, Mukesh Kumar Gupta and Raj Kumar.
• Life Insurance Corporation (LIC):
  • It was formed in September 1956. Government of India completely (100%) owns LIC.  It is headquartered in Mumbai.
  • LIC owns 51% stake in IDBI Bank, nearly 9% stake in Axis Bank and 10 % stake in Yes Bank.
  • M R Kumar is its chairman. Chairman and four Managing Directors (MDs) form the executive board of LIC.
  • Its slogan is slogan yogakshemam vahamyaham (Your welfare is our responsibility).

3. Grasim Industries partners with Lubrizol Advanced Materials

• Grasim Industries has partnered with Lubrizol Advanced Materials for setting up chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) resin plant in India.
• The production of CPVC is likely to start by 2022 at Grasim’s Chlor-alkali unit located at Vilayat in Gujarat.
• CPVC resin is used in hot and cold water pipes. The plant is likely to be single largest site for CPVC resin production globally.
• Lubrizol is the largest manufacturer of CPVC resin globally. Grasim Industries is a company of Aditya Birla Group.

4. Government allows imports of potato from Bhutan without license

• Government has allowed imports of potato from Bhutan without license till January 31, 2021.
• Government has taken this step to increase the supply of potato and to control its prices.
• Normally imports of potato require permission from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
• In its notice, DGFT has also provided procedure for potato imports under TRQ (tariff rate quota) scheme.
• In TRQ scheme, specific quantity of a commodity can be imported at zero or low rate of customs duty.     

5. SBI partners with edX

• SBI has partnered with edX, a global non-profit education platform.
• SBI will offer its Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) through edX from November onwards.
• Initially, three courses will be offered through the platform.
• edX is an American Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider company. Anant Agarwal is the CEO of edX.
• State Bank of India (SBI):
  • It is a nationalized public sector bank and largest lender of India.
  • Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is the largest non-promoter shareholder in SBI.
  • It is headquartered in Mumbai. Its tagline is The Banker to Every Indian.
  • Its chairman is Dinesh Kumar Khara.

6. Government working to bring BIS under Ministry of Commerce and Industry

• Government is working to bring the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) under Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• As per the reports, Government has decided two weeks deadline for completing transfer of BIS to Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Currently, BIS comes under Department of Consumer Affairs under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
• BIS was formed in 1986. It was earlier known as Indian Standards Institution (ISI). Its headquarters are in New Delhi. It has 25 members. It has five regional offices in Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Delhi.
• Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is ex-officio President of the BIS.

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