Banking Awareness of 6, 7 and 8 September 2023

Topic: Banking/Financial/Govt Schemes

1. Union Cabinet has approved ₹1,165-cr funds for Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

• This funding is for Industrial Development Scheme (IDS), 2017 for these states.
• It will meet committed liabilities under the scheme up to 2028-29.
• It will generate direct employment opportunities for about 48,607 people by 774 registered units.
• This scheme was announced in 2018. The total financial outlay of ₹131.90 crore was allocated.
• This allocated fund has been exhausted during the financial year 2021-22.
• Under the scheme, all eligible and existing industrial units will be given Central Capital Investment Incentive for Access to Credit (CCIIAC) at 30% of the investment in plant and machinery with an upper limit of ₹5 crore.
• They will be provided CCIIAC on their substantial expansion in the manufacturing and service sector located anywhere in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
• The units are also eligible for reimbursement of 100% insurance premium on insurance of building and plant & machinery for maximum 5 years from the starting of commercial production/operation.

Topic: Regulatory Bodies/Financial Institutions

2. The acquisition of up to 29.9% equity stake in RHI Magnesita NV by Ignite Luxembourg Holdings has been approved.   

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of stake.
• The proposition combination leads to an indirect acquisition of RHI Magnesita India Limited (RHIM India).
• Ignite Luxembourg is a newly formed company. It is incorporated in Luxembourg.
• It is owned by investment funds that are indirectly sponsored and controlled by Rhône Capital LLC.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

3. India’s external debt increased by 0.9% to $624 billion in FY23.

• As per Finance Ministry report, India’s current foreign exchange reserve is sufficient to cover around 93% of total debt.
• As on August 25, forex reserve was at $594.86 billion.
• The report highlighted a valuation gain of $20.6 billion as of end-March 2023.
• India’s external debt as a ratio to GDP decreased to 18.9% as of end-March 2023. It decreased to 20% as of end-March 2022.
• The debt service ratio stood at 5.3%. The long-term debt formed 79.4% of the total external debt. The short-term debt was 20.6%.
• As on December 2022, total global debt was $9.32 trillion. For India it was $613.1. India was placed at the 22nd position.
• Sovereign External Debt (SED) accounted for 21.3% of the total external debt. It increased 1.9% to $133.3 billion as of end-March 2023.
• Non-SED accounted for 78.7% of the total external debt. It increased 0.6% to $491.3 billion as of end-March 2023.
• SED and non-SED have increased in absolute terms as of end-March 2023.
• SED and non-SED have reduced in terms of ratio to GDP.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

4. Mastercard and KredX have partnered to transform B2B payments.

• As part of the partnership, Mastercard will integrate its commercial card services into the KredX platform.
• The new platform has features like dynamic discounting, early payment options, and price discovery mechanisms.
• These features enable enterprises and vendors to enhance their cash flow management significantly.
• The platform serves as an end-to-end procure-to-pay solution for businesses.
• The aim of this collaborative platform is to address other common challenges encountered in B2B payments like protracted accounting and reconciliation processes, limited vendor acceptance, and frequent chargebacks.
• KredX is a supply chain finance platform. Manish Kumar is its CEO and Founder.
• Mastercard is the world's second-largest payment-processing firm. It is headquartered in New York, USA.

Topic: Banking System

5. RuPay NCMC Prepaid Card has been launched by SBI.

• It has been launched to facilitate easy digital ticketing fare payments in metro, buses, water ferries, parking, etc., through a single card.
• National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) can also be used for making retail and e-commerce payments.
• State Bank of India is also implementing an NCMC-based ticketing solution in MMRC Metro Line 3 and Agra Metro.
• SBI Card has launched ‘SimplySAVE Merchant SBI Card’ for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
• It offers MSMEs interest-free short-term credit. The SimplySAVE Merchant SBI Card can be linked to UPI for payments through UPI-enabled third-party apps.

Topic: Appointments

6. RBI has given approval to the appointment of Dipak Gupta as Kotak Bank interim MD.

• RBI has given approval for a period of two months, effective from September 2, 2023.
• Gupta’s term will last till November 1, 2023. Approved tenure is less than the proposed appointment schedule of four months till December 31, 2023.
• On September 2, Uday Kotak announced that he will step down as the MD and CEO of the bank.
• Kotak will remain as a non-executive director on the board of the bank. 

Topic: Banking System

7. NPCI launched new payment options on payment platforms UPI.

• Newly launched payment options include conversational transactions.
• RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the launch of the products by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) at the ongoing Global Fintech Festival in Mumbai on 06 September 2023.
• The products will help UPI achieve the target of 100 billion transactions per month.
• NPCI has partnered with AI4Bharat at IIT Madras to co-develop Hindi and English payment language models.
• Hello! UPI is one of the products. It will make possible voice-enabled UPI payments via apps, telecom calls, and Internet of Thing (IoT) devices in Hindi and English.
• The credit line on UPI facility will allow customers to access pre-sanctioned credit from banks via UPI.
• Users will be able to send and receive money offline using LITE X product.
• The UPI Tap & Pay facility will allow customers to simply tap Near Field Communication- (NFC-) enabled QR codes to complete their payments.
• Global Fintech Fest (GFF) is the largest fintech conference.
• It is jointly organized by the NPCI, the Payments Council of India (PCI), and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC).

Topic: Appointments

8. Mahavir Lunawat has been appointed as Chairman of Association of Investment Bankers of India (AIBI).

• Mahavir Lunawat, Managing Director of Pantomath Capital Advisors, has been appointed for two years starting this month.
• AIBI chairperson represents Investment Bankers on the Primary Market Advisory Committee of SEBI.
• Arjun Mehra and Prem D’Cunha serve as its Vice Chairmen.
• In 1993 AMBI was incorporated as a Public Limited Company.
• In 2010, the name of AMBI was changed to Association of Investment Bankers of India (AIBI).
• AIBI is the investment banking industry's only representative to all statutory authorities, particularly SEBI.

Topic: Appointments

9. Nasscom has appointed Rajesh Nambiar as its chairperson.

• Rajesh Nambiar is chairman and managing director of Cognizant India.
• Previously, he was the vice chairperson. He succeeds Anant Maheshwari, former president, Microsoft India.
• Debjani Ghosh is the President of Nasscom.
• National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom):
  • It was established in 1988 as an association of the software industry.
  • It is the premier trade body and chamber of commerce of the Tech industry in India.

Read Banking Awareness PDF - 6, 7 and 8 September 2023