Topic: Corporate/Companies
1. The opening of two exclusive-women branches has been announced by Shriram General Insurance Company.
- The exclusive-women branches are located in Ludhiana and Jaipur.
- Sundaram Direct has also opened its first all-women branch in Chennai.
- Sundaram Direct is a division of Sundaram Finance.
- Shriram General Insurance Company is a joint venture of the Shriram Capital Pvt Ltd and Sanlam Ltd.
- Sanlam Ltd is a South African financial services group.
- Shriram Capital Pvt Ltd is the holding company of the Shriram group’s financial services business.
Topic: Corporates/Companies
2. Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company (AMC) has launched a digital campaign.
- The campaign is called ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’.
- Kotak Mahindra AMC has launched the campaign to drive the culture of digital literacy among the women fraternity on International Women’s Day (08 March 2023).
- As part of the campaign, women employees of Kotak group are showcased sharing their stories about empowering other women in their lives.
- Kotak Mahindra AMC is the asset manager for Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund.
Topic: Banking System
3. Credit card outstanding in January 2023 increased 29.6% and reached an all-time high level of ₹1.87 lakh crore.
- According to RBI’s latest data, the credit card outstanding has recorded a growth of more than 20% in the 10 months of the current fiscal.
- Highest growth of 30.7% was recorded in June.
- Credit card spending has shown consistent growth for the last few months.
- In January 2023, card spends stood at ₹1.28 lakh crore as against ₹1.26 lakh crore in December 2022.
- Since last 11 months, credit card spends have been consistently above ₹1-lakh-crore mark.
- The top five credit issuers in the country are HDFC Bank, SBI Card, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Bank.
- As per RBI data, the annual growth in credit card outstanding in January 2023 was 29.6%.
- During December 2022, e-commerce spends accounted for about 60% in total credit card spends.
- At end-January 2023, number of credit cards issued by different banks were nearly 8.25 crore.
Topic: Banking System
4. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (SFB) has partnered with Max Life Insurance Company.
- The partnership is to offer insurance products to customers of Ujjivan SFB.
- Under the partnership, Ujjivan SFB will offer savings, protection, retirement and group life insurance plans to over 73 lakh customers of the bank.
- Under the partnership, two will enable to bridge the gap on the demand side for insurance services, especially in the rural and underbanked areas.
- Max Life Insurance Company is an Indian life insurance company. It is headquartered in New Delhi.
- It is the largest non-bank private sector life insurer in India. It is a joint venture between Max Financial services and Axis Bank.
- Ujjivan Small Finance Bank:
- It was set up by Ujjivan Financial Services Limited (UFSL). It started banking operations from February 1, 2017.
- It is a Scheduled Small Finance Bank. It is headquartered in Bengaluru.
Topic: Banking/Financial Schemes
5. Mudra loans disbursal is likely to create an all-time record in the current financial year.
- Mudra loans disbursal in the current financial year has surpassed total disbursements of last year.
- According to the latest data, loans worth ₹3.56-lakh crore have been sanctioned.
- Out of this, loans worth ₹3.48- lakh crore have been disbursed as of March 3, 2023.
- In the last financial year (FY22), the loans worth ₹3.39 lakh crore were sanctioned and loans worth ₹3.31 lakh crore were disbursed.
- Mudra loans are given in three categories. These categories are Shishu (up to ₹50,000), Kishor (above ₹50,000 and up to ₹5 lakh) and Tarun (above ₹5 lakh and up to ₹10 lakh).
- In absolute number, the amount disbursed has grown in 2022-23 as against 2021-22.
- Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana was launched in April 2015. It was launched for providing loans to non-corporate and non-farm small/micro enterprises.
Topic: Banking System
6. A Mega Currency Chest has been opened by Bandhan Bank in Kolkata, West Bengal.
- This is the bank’s third mega currency chest. Other two are located in Patna and Guwahati.
- The mega currency chest was inaugurated by Gunveer Singh, Chief General Manager of the RBI.
- This chest would facilitate fresh currency circulation and help the bank serve its clientele batter.
- Bandhan Bank is a private sector bank. It is headquartered in Kolkata. Dr. Anup Kumar Sinha is its current chairman. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh is its MD and CEO.
Topic: Banking System
7. Daily Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transactions crossed 36 crore.
- This is an increase of 50% from 24 crore in February 2022.
- In value terms, daily UPI transactions are worth ₹6.27 lakh crore. This is a growth of 17% from ₹5.36 lakh crore in February 2022.
- RBI governor stated these facts while launching the Digital Payments Awareness Week.
- He also stated the overall monthly digital payment transactions crossed the level of 1,000-crore transactions each month during the past three months (since December 2022).
- In volume terms, UPI transaction number exceeded 800 crore in January 2023.
- National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) recorded the highest ever daily volume of 3.18 crore transactions on February 28.
- UPI was launched in 2016. UPI transactions’ volume has increased from 0.45 crore in January 2017 to 804 crore in January 2023.
- UPI transactions value has increased from ₹1,700 crore to ₹12.98 lakh crore during the same period.
Topic: RBI
8. RBI launched a mission to popularize digital payments among masses.
- On the occasion of Digital Payments Awareness Week 2023, the Reserve Bank of India has launched the mission 'Har Payment Digital' on 6 March.
- It aims to make every citizen a digital payment user. The awareness week is being observed from 6 March to 12 March 2023.
- The theme of the campaign is – “Digital Payment Apnao, Auron ko bhi Sikhao” (Adopt digital payments and also teach others).
- Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the objective of “Har Payment Digital” is to make digital payments easier and more convenient for new users.
- He said that this would encourage people to adopt digital payments.
- He informed that from December 2022, more than one thousand crore transactions have taken place every month through payment systems in the country.
- He said that under the G-20 theme of promoting digital public infrastructure, the Regional Offices of the Reserve Bank will organize public participation programs to promote the acceptance and use of digital payments.
- The Reserve Bank will also launch '75 Digital Villages' program to mark the completion of 75 years of independence.
- Under '75 Digital Villages' program, Payment System Operators (PSOs) will adopt 75 villages across the country. They will convert them into digital payment enabled villages.
- Launching the Mission “Har Payment Digital”, the Governor appealed to – Banks, Non-Banking Financial Institutions, Payment System Operators, Digital Payment Users to adopt digital payments and educate others about the features of digital payments.
Topic: Taxation
9. Myntra is ineligible for input tax credit (ITC) on the gift vouchers that are sourced from third party and offered to customers participating in loyalty program.
- Karnataka Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (KAAAR) has given this ruling recently while disposing an appeal filed by e-commerce retailer, Myntra.
- KAAAR said gift vouchers are neither goods nor services.
- KAAAR said that primary condition for eligibility to ITC is that there should be an inward supply of either goods or services or both on which tax is charged by the supplier.
- Eligibility and conditions for taking ITC are dealt in section 16 of CGST Act. Norms for apportionment of credit and blocked credits are dealt in section 17.
- Sub section 5(h) of section 17 says that ITC will not be available in case of “goods lost, stolen, destroyed, written-off or disposed of by way of gift or free.”
- KAAAR settled the application of Myntra on the basis of the sub section 5(h) of section 17.
- According to section 103 of the CGST Act, the order of AAR or AAAR are binding on the applicant and the jurisdictional officer of the applicant.
- Myntra is a major Indian fashion e-commerce company. It is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
10. India remained net importer of steel for the fifth continuous month in February 2023.
- Steel exports declined 50%. Non-alloyed steel exports declined 67%.
- Steel imports were recorded at 0.59 mt, which is a 44% increase over the same month last year.
- Steel exports in February 2023 stood at 0.58 mt, which is 50% decrease over 1.16 mt reported in the year-ago period.
- India remained a net importer of steel for six of the 11 months of FY23. However, it managed to remain a net exporter of steel.
- From April to February, exports were higher than imports by 0.30 mt.
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
11. India's per capita income has almost doubled since 2014-15.
- According to National Statistics Office (NSO) data, India’s per capita income has reached ₹1.72 lakhs in 2022-23 from ₹86,647 in 2014-15.
- India's per capita income has increased with a growth rate of 15.8%.
- For the years 2020-21 and 2021-22, Per capita income at the current prices was estimated at ₹1,27,065 and ₹1,48,524 respectively.
- After adjusting for inflation (constant prices), the per capita income has increased by 35 per cent from Rs 72,805 in 2014-15 to Rs 98,118 in 2022-23.
- From 2014 to 2019, the average growth of India's per-capita income was 5.6% per annum.
- Health, Education, and Economic and Social mobility have seen improvements.
- As per the NSO, the per capita income in both real and nominal terms have declined during the Covid period. It has improved in the fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23.
- India has become the world's fifth-large economy by overtaking the United Kingdom.
Topic: Miscellaneous
12. A new programme, 'FinEMPOWER', launched by BSE & UN Women India at the Bombay Stock Exchange on 6 March.
- This is a one-year joint capacity building program between BSE and UN Women to empower women towards financial security.
- In commemoration of International Women's Day, BSE and UN Women India collaborated to organise the 'Ring the Bell for Gender Equality ceremony,' which aims to accelerate BSE's investment in women leaders and entrepreneurs.
- Mr. Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD & CEO, BSE, along with Ms. Susan Ferguson, Country Representative of UN Women India, jointly rang the bell for gender equality.
- UN Women:
- It is a United Nations entity. It works for gender equality and women empowerment.
- It was formed in July 2010. It became operational in January 2011.
- Sima Sami Bahous is its current head (executive director). It is headquartered in New York City, United States.
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