Banking Awareness of 6 and 7 March 2024

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

1. The Bloomberg Emerging Market (EM) Local Currency Government Index and associated indices will incorporate India FAR bonds.

• Beginning on January 31, 2025, and lasting for ten months, the inclusion will be done gradually by Bloomberg.
• Prior to this, JP Morgan had declared that India would be included in its extensively monitored emerging market debt.
• The Indian government securities (G-Sec) market may see a billion-dollar in foreign investment if Indian bonds are included in these two important indices.
• This might strengthen the rupee and cause the yields on Indian bonds to decrease.
• With effect from April 1, 2020, the RBI has created a new route called Fully Accessible Route (FAR) for non-resident investments in G-Secs after consulting with the government.
• Over the course of the ten months concluding in October 2025, the weight of FAR bonds will increase monthly in increments of 10% of their entire market value.
• They will be fully market valued and weighted in the indices in October 2025.
• India will join China and South Korea as markets that exceed the 10% cap once it is fully incorporated into the Bloomberg Emerging Market 10% Country Capped Index.
• India is anticipated to rank third under the market cap weighted version of the index, behind South Korea and China.
• Bloomberg is a global business and financial information service provider. It is headquartered in US.

Topic: RBI

2. JM Financial Products has been instructed by the RBI to stop financing against shares and debentures.

• Regarding loans authorized by the company for IPO funding as well as NCD subscriptions, RBI found a few serious deficiencies.
• JM Financial Products Ltd. (JMFPL) was instructed by the RBI to immediately stop sanctioning and disbursing loans in relation to initial public offerings (IPOs) of shares.
• Additionally, JMFPL was instructed by RBI to immediately stop and refrain from approving and disbursing loans in exchange for the subscription of non-convertible debentures (NCDs).
• Based on the information provided by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), RBI conducted a limited examination of the company's accounts.
• RBI noted that the company functioned as both a lender and a borrower.
• In addition to breaking regulatory requirements, the RBI stated that the company's governance practices raise grave concerns.
• On 4 March 2024, the RBI had requested that IIFL Finance Ltd. to stop authorizing or paying out gold loans immediately.
• At 99.71 percent, JM Financial is the sole owner of JMFPL.

Topic: Banking/Financial/Govt Schemes

3. Vikas Spoorty, a new loan scheme, has been launched by Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB).

• KVGB has launched this scheme to strengthen the rural credit delivery system.
• This scheme will also motivate the common man to take up income-generating activities on a smaller scale.
• This scheme is aimed at meeting the genuine credit needs of small entrepreneurs.
• Under this scheme, hassle-free loan would be provided without the collateral security.
• As part of this scheme, a minimum loan of Rs50,000 and a maximum of Rs2,00,000 would be provided.
• However, the customer is required to open a daily deposit (pigmy) account.
• The customer shall contribute regularly to it for the repayment of instalment and interest for the loan.

Topic: Appointments

4. The appointment of BK Divakara as whole-time director of CSB Bank has been approved by RBI.

• RBI has approved his appointment for a period of three years.
• CSB Bank, a private sector bank, will now obtain shareholders’ approval for this appointment. 
• Divakara was already working at CSB Bank as Head-Strategy & Corporate Legal.
• Before joining CSB Bank, he was Executive Director with Central Bank of India for five years since 2014.
• CSB Bank is an Indian private sector bank. It is headquartered at Thrissur, Kerala.

Topic: RBI

5. The merger of Fincare Small Finance Bank (SFB) with AU SFB has been approved by RBI.

• The merger of two small finance banks will be effective from 1 April, 2024.
• With effect from 1 April 2024, all the branches of Fincare Small Finance Bank will function as branches of AU Small Finance Bank.
• The merger was approved by the board of bank in October 2023.
• The merger received shareholder approval in November 2023.
• The merger of Fincare Small Finance Bank with AU Small Finance Bank (SFB) was approved by Competition Commission of India (CCI) in January 2024.

Topic: Miscellaneous

6. The process of onboarding local partners to begin lithium exploration in Argentina has been started by the Mines Ministry.

• The Ministry of Mines has commenced lithium exploration in Argentina through KABIL with the objective of decreasing reliance on imports and promoting green energy.
• KABIL is in charge of the process of exploration. In January 2024, KABIL purchased five lithium brine blocks.
• Approximately ₹200 crore will be spent over the course of five years on development and exploration.
• The brine blocks are spread over an area of about 15,703 hectares in the Catamarca district of Argentina.
• Lithium is known as white gold. It is widely utilized in batteries and energy storage devices. Currently, imports are used to meet India's lithium needs.
• KABIL (Khanij Bidesh India Ltd):
  • It is a joint venture between National Aluminium Company Ltd. (NALCO), Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) and Mineral Exploration & Consultancy Limited (MECL).
  • It comes under the aegis of Ministry of Mines. It was incorporated in August 2019. 

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

7. Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurated India’s first Small Scale LNG Unit of GAIL.

• This unit of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is situated at its Vijaipur LPG plant in Madhya Pradesh.
• Union Minister Puri also inaugurated 201 CNG Stations in 17 States.
• He inaugurated CNG stations through video conferencing at a function in New Delhi in the presence of Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameshwar Teli.
• GAIL’s 201 CNG stations are spread across 52 geographical areas.
• He reiterated that government’s vision is to raise the share of natural gas in the primary energy basket to 15 percent by 2030.
• He said that the establishment of a gas-based economy depends on the development of the National Gas Grid (NGG).
• It also depends on a widespread City Gas Distribution (CGD) network that links the supply and consumption centers.
• The Minister stated that by 2030, the nation will have around 120 million PNG connections and about 17,500 CNG stations, according to the Minimum Work Plan that CGD companies had submitted.

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

8. PM Modi inaugurated India's first underwater metro service in Kolkata.

• He inaugurated India's first under-river metro tunnel in Kolkata.
• Metro will take 45 secs to cover 520 metre-stretch under Hooghly River.
• The tunnel is part of the Kolkata Metro's East-West Metro corridor that links Howrah Maidan to Esplanade.
• PM Modi also inaugurated the Kolkata metro’s Kavi Subhash--Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Taratala-Majerhat sections.
• The Howrah Metro Station is the deepest metro station in India. It is 33-meter below surface.
• The Majerhat Metro Station is an elevated metro station. It will also include a canal.
• PM also laid the foundation stone for the extension of the Pune Metro Rail project Phase 1 between Pimpri-Chinchwad Metro and Nigdi.
• He inaugurated and laid foundation stone for many connectivity projects worth Rs 15,400 crores in Kolkata.

Topic: Miscellaneous

9. India's 1st Green Hydrogen Plant in the Stainless Steel Sector has been inaugurated at Jindal Stainless Limited, Hisar, Haryana.

• It has been inaugurated by Union Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
• This will be the world’s first off-grid Green Hydrogen plant for the stainless steel industry.
• This will be the world’s first Green Hydrogen plant with rooftop and floating solar.
• It will cut down carbon emissions by about 2,700 Metric Tons per annum.
• It will cut down 54,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions during the next two decades.
• While speaking on the occasion, Union Minister highlighted that India has evolved from a net importer to net exporter and aims to become world's largest producer of crude steel.
• The National Green Hydrogen Mission was launched in 2023.
• It was launched with an outlay of about twenty thousand crore rupees.
• It was launched to make India a Global Hub for the production, usage and export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives.

Topic: Banking System

10. The RBI’s UDGAM platform for unclaimed deposits now has 30 banks registered.

• According to the RBI, 30 banks are enabling customers to use the UDGAM platform to look up their unclaimed funds or accounts.
• RBI said that the onboarding procedure for the remaining banks is now underway.
• In terms of value, the 30 banks account for around 90% of the unclaimed deposits in the RBI's DEA Fund.
• UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits-Gateway to Access inforMation) is an online portal. It has been developed by RBI.
• It makes it easier for registered customers to centrally search unclaimed deposits and accounts from several banks in one location.
• The UDGAM platform allows users to search all unclaimed deposits and accounts included in the RBI's Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund.
• The total amount of unclaimed deposits was Rs 42,270 crore as of March 2023.

Read Banking Awareness PDF - 6 and 7 March 2024