Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 7, 8 and 9 October 2020

1. SWAMIH fund achieving progress

• Finance Minister has said that Special Window for Affordable & Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) fund is achieving the progress.
• Under the fund, 33 projects worth ₹4,197 crores have been finally approved as on October 5. Due to the approval of 33 projects, 25,048 units will be completed.
• Cabinet has approved ₹25,000 crores worth SWAMIH fund in November 2019 as a Category II Alternate Investment Fund (AIF). SBICAP Ventures manages the fund.
• ₹10,000 crores was to come from government sources and the rest was to be raised from investors.
• The fund received ₹10,530 crore from 14 investors by December 2019.  
• SWAMIH (Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing):
  • Finance Minister announced SWAMIH on September 14, 2019.
  • Cabinet approved the scheme on November 2, 2019.

2. Paytm announces creation of a ₹10-crore investment fund for Mini App developers in India

• Paytm has announced the creation of a ₹10-crore investment fund for Mini App developers in India.
• The investment terms of the fund will be kept lenient to encourage Indian developers to port their apps or create new apps for the mini app platform.
• The announcement was made during the Paytm Mini App Developer Conference, which was held online.
• Paytm’s founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, has said that Paytm expects to sign up 1 million apps on its new platform by April 2022.
• In April 2022, Google will make Play Store billing mandatory for Indian developers and charge 30% transaction fee for all in-app purchases.
• Paytm will make payment avenues (Paytm Wallet, Paytm Payments Bank and UPI) freely available and will not charge any listing fee to mini-app developers. It will charge 2% fee on credit cards.
• In August 2020, Paytm and Paytm first games were removed by Google as they violated the gambling policy of the Play Store.
• Paytm:
  • Parent organization: One97 Communications
  • Headquarters: Noida
  • Founder and CEO: Vijay Shekhar Sharma

3. Blue Acorn iCi to be acquired by Infosys

• Infosys will acquire Blue Acorn iCi, a US-based consultancy and Adobe Platinum partner.
• The acquisition will take for up to $125 million and may be completed by the third quarter of 2021.
• Earlier in May 2018, Infosys has acquired WongDoody, a US-based digital creative and consumer insights agency.
• Infosys is a Bengaluru headquartered Indian company providing business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. Its CEO is Salil Parekh.

4. Three MoUs signed between NABARD and SBI to provide credit support for various projects

• NABARD has signed three Memoranda of Understanding with State Bank of India to extend credit support for various projects in Gujarat.
• It is signed for financing joint liability groups and Self-Help Groups-support.
• It will provide credit support to Farmer Producers’ Organizations and watershed development project.
• NABARD:
  • It is an apex development finance institution that provides credit for agriculture and other economic activities in rural areas.
  • It is fully owned by the Government of India.
  • It was formed on 12 July 1982.
  • Chairman: Shri Govinda Rajulu Chinthala
  • Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra

5. API Integration of PM SVANidhi & SBI portal to ease the processing of loan applications

• Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has launched the Application Programming Interface (API) for the integration of the PM SVANidhi Portal and the State Bank of India (SBI) portal to ease the loan application processing.
• A seamless flow of data between the PM SVANidhi Portal and SBI’s eMudra Portal will be facilitated.
• It will accelerate the loan sanctioning and disbursement process.
• Its aim is to provide benefits to street vendors seeking capital under the PM SVANidhi scheme.
• Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs is likely to have similar integration with other banks.
• PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi – PM SVANidhi Scheme:
  • The scheme was launched on 1 June 2020 to help street vendors affected by COVID-19.
  • It is a central sector scheme fully funded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
  • It provides a working capital loan of Rs. 10,000 to street vendors without any collateral.
  • On the loan’s timely or early repayment within a year, the vendors are eligible to get an interest subsidy of 7% per annum through Direct Benefit Transfer quarterly.
  • This scheme targets to benefit 50 Lakh street vendors.

6. Mukesh Ambani tops 2020 Forbes India Rich List for 13^th consecutive time

• Mukesh Ambani has topped the 2020 Forbes India Rich List for 13^th consecutive time.
• Gautam Adani and Shiv Nadar are ranked at 2^nd and 3^rd place in 2020 Forbes India Rich List.
• Fifty Indians on the list of India’s top 100 richest in 2020 have gained despite the Covid-19 pandemic and crisis.
• Collective net worth of India’s top 100 richest increased by 14% to $517.5 billion from 2019.
• Mukesh Ambani added $37.3 billion to his net worth and his net worth increased to %88.7 billion. He collected over $ 20 billion from investors for Jio Platforms.
• India’s second richest person in Forbes 2020 India Rich List, Gautam Adani’s net worth increased by 61% to $25.2 billion.
• India’s second richest person in Forbes 2020 India Rich List, Shiv Nadar’s net worth is $ 20.4 billion.
• Chairman of Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), Cyrus Poonawalla, is the person who has entered new into the top 10 Indian richest people in 2020 Forbes India Rich List. He is 6^th richest Indian on the list.
• Total nine Indians have entered the new list. Some of the new entrants in the list are Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Nithin and Nikhil Kamath, Vinod Saraf, Arun Bharat Ram and Chandrakant and Rajendra Gogri.
• In percentage terms, Biocon’s chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was highest wealth gainer.
• R.G. Chandramogan is ranked at 100^th place in the 2020 Forbes India Rich List.

7. Dinesh Kumar Khara took over as new Chairman of SBI

• Dinesh Kumar Khara has taken over as the new Chairman of State Bank of India.
• He will be the 26^th Chairman of SBI.
• He replaced Rajnish Kumar, whose three-year term ended on 6^th October.
• Prior to this, he served as the chief executive of SBI Funds Management Pvt Limited (SBIMF).
• Last year, he served as the chairman of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
• Dinesh Kumar Khara has been appointed as Chairman of SBI for three years.
• State Bank of India (SBI):
  • It is a nationalized public sector bank and largest lender of India.
  • In 2017, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Indore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore and Bharatiya Mahila Bank were merged with State Bank of India.
  • Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is the largest non-promoter shareholder in SBI.
  • Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
  • Tagline: The Banker to Every Indian

8. New e-bidding platform for natural gas pricing approved by Cabinet

• A new e-bidding platform for natural gas pricing has been approved by Cabinet.
• The platform has been approved to promote market price discovery of natural gas. In market price discovery, the interactions between buyers and sellers will help in deciding the price of natural gas in the marketplace.
• So, the platform has been approved to promote interaction between sellers and buyers of natural gas.
• The launching of the platform will incentivize gas producers to invest more in increasing natural gas production.
• Under the administered pricing mechanism, the government currently administers prices of 75-80% of natural gas produced.
• 84 MMSCMD (million metric standard cubic meter per day) of natural gas is produced by India and the same amount is imported.

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