Banking Awareness of 7, 8 and 9 June 2023

Topic: Awards and Prizes

1. Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank has won the national award for Atal Pension Yojana (APY) enrolment. 

• The bank has received the award from Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) for significant enrolment under APY.
• Chairman of KVGB received the award from Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Government of India and Deepak Mohanty, Chairman of PFRDA.
• Shreekant M Bhandiwad is the Chairman of Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB).
• Under APY, KVGB enrolled 3,42,852 (cumulative) accounts.
• 76,569 accounts were enrolled by the bank during 2022-23 against the target of 50,320. It achieved the target ahead of the schedule.
• PFRDA’s target was average 80 accounts per branch. The bank has achieved average 121 accounts per branch.
• APY provides a safety net for informal sector workers for getting pre-defined pension after 60 years.
• Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank is an Indian Regional Rural Bank sponsored by Canara Bank. It is headquartered in Dharwad, Karnataka.
• Atal Pension Yojana:
  • The subscribers of the scheme of this scheme will receive a minimum monthly pension ranging from one thousand to five thousand after 60 years of age.
  • The pension will depend on the contributions made by the subscriber.
  • It is open to all bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 40 years.

Topic: RBI

2. The phase-in period for urban co-operative banks (UCBs) to meet priority sector lending (PSL) targets has been increased until March 31, 2026.

• This has been done to ease the implementation challenges faced by the UCBs.
• RBI governor said incentives will be provided to those UCBs that have achieved the targets as on March 31, 2023.
• As of March-end 2023, the priority sector lending (PSL) target was 60% of advances.
• The priority sector lending (PSL) targets for urban co-operative banks (UCBs) were revised in 2020.
• They were required to achieve the revised targets till March 31, 2024.
• As per the revised targets, 75% of advances of UCBs shall comprise priority sector loans, which include loans to micro, small and medium enterprises, export credit, housing, education, and agriculture.
• PSL targets of UCBs were increased by RBI from 40% in March 2020 to 75% by March 2024.
• In Priority Sector Lending, banks give specific portion of their lending to sectors specified by RBI.
• Agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Export Credit, Education, Housing, Social Infrastructure, Renewable Energyand Others are categories under priority sector.
• Urban Co-operative Banks:
  • These are the primary banks that are located in urban and semi-urban areas. They primarily lend to small borrowers and businesses.
  • These are classified as scheduled and non-scheduled urban co-operative banks. These are partly regulated by RBI.

Topic: Banking System

3. Bank of Baroda has launched UPI facility in ATMs.

• With the launch of this facility, cash can be withdrawn via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in all ATMs of Bank of Baroda.
• The aim of the new facility is to protect bank customers from cloning, impersonation and fraud.
• In this facility, a unique QR code is generated for every transaction.
• ATM UPI service allows customers to avail only two transactions per day per account at a limit of ₹5,000.
• RBI has ordered banks to offer Interoperable Cardless Cash Withdrawal (ICCW) option.
• Interoperable Cardless Cash Withdrawal (ICCW) option allows people to withdraw their money from ATM without using ATM cards.
• Bank of Baroda:
  • It is a public sector bank of India. It is headquartered in Vadodara, Gujarat.
  • Its chairman is Hasmukh Adhia. Debadatta Chand is its MD&CEO.
  • Its tagline is India’s International Bank. It was founded in 1908.

Topic: Banking System

4. Google Pay has launched UPI verification via Aadhaar card.

• With the help of this feature, customers will be able to register for UPI without the need of debit card.
• To activate UPI through Aadhaar, customers need to have a valid phone number linked to their bank.
• The phone number should also be registered with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
• PhonePe has launched account aggregator service after the receipt of RBI NBFC licence.
• With account aggregator service, customers can share their financial data like insurance policies, bank statements for services like loans, and new insurance.
• Google Pay is a mobile payment service. It is developed by Google.
• Unified Payments Interface (UPI):
  • It is an instant real-time payment system for transferring money in bank accounts.
  • It was launched in 2016. It was developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Topic: RBI

5. RBI announced its second bi-monthly policy for this fiscal (2023-24).

• RBI Monetary Policy Committee has decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent.
• The Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate will remain at 6.25% and the marginal standing facility and the bank rates stand at 6.75%.
• According to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, the central bank has kept stability as a priority. The fundamentals of the domestic economy are improving.
• RBI has maintained pause for second time in a row. It has also kept repo rate unchanged in the previous monetary policy review of April 2023.
• RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said Consumer Price Inflation has moved to tolerance band during March-April 2023.
• He said that the CPI headline inflation will remain at 5.1% for 2023-24.
• However, Headline Inflation is above the target of 4 per cent and is expected to remain so during 2023-24.
• RBI MPC has kept the GDP growth projection at 6.5 percent for 2023-24. GDP growth is expected to be 8% in Q1FY 24, 6.5% in Q2 FY24, 6% in Q3FY24, and 5.7% in Q4 FY24.
• Now, banks can issue RuPay pre-paid Forex cards. It will expand the scope of an e-rupee voucher.
• According to RBI, around 50 per cent of the Rs 2000 denomination notes have been deposited or exchanged by citizens.
• There were around total of 3.62 lakh crore 2 thousand notes in circulation. Out of which 1.8 lakh crore have been deposited or exchanged by the customers.
• RBI governor said that under the pilot project Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) testing will be done with 1 million customers by the end of June.
• RBI permitted non-bank Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuers to issue e-RUPI vouchers.
• Next meeting of MPC is scheduled for August 8-10, 2023.

Topic: Banking System

6. Millennia Credit Card has been introduced by HDFC Bank.

• The card has contactless technology. This allows customers to ‘Tap and Pay’ via POS machine.
• The card also provides cashback and reward points on Amazon, Flipkart, and other e-commerce platforms.
• It also offers 1% cashback on offline purchases and smart EMI.
• People can use HDFC Millennia Credit card for Amazon, Flipkart, BookMyShow, Cult.fit, and Myntra to earn 5% cashback points.
• It offers a maximum reward of ₹1000 in every billing.
• The card is available to both self-employed and salaried persons. For this card, minimum age limit is fixed at 21 and maximum age is fixed at 40.
• People who earn ₹35,000 gross salary are eligible and self-employed people with an annual income of ₹6 lakh or above are eligible.
• HDFC Bank:
  • HDFC Bank is India's largest private sector bank. It is India’s second largest lender after the State Bank of India.
  • It is headquartered in Mumbai. It was founded in 1994. The CEO of HDFC Bank is Sashidhar Jagdishan.

Topic: Banking/Financial Schemes

7. For 2023-24, PFRDA has decided a target of 1.34 crore enrolments for Atal Pension Yojana (APY).

• In 2022-23, the enrolment of 1.2 crore was achieved. This was against the target of 1.13 crore fixed for fiscal 2022-23.
• Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) has asked the banks to promote APY by activating their all branches in urban areas.
• Banks have been convinced to go for e-APY. E-APY provides for digital onboarding to the scheme.
• As of 01 June 2023, the number of subscribers to APY is 5.4 crore. 
• APY is a pension scheme for informal sector and for people in 18-41 years age bracket.
• Under this scheme, subscriber would get a lifelong minimum guaranteed pension of ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 per month from the age of 60 years. The pension would depend on contributions of subscriber.

Topic: RBI

8. RBI has permitted all factors to take part as financiers on TReDS platforms.

• RBI has done this to increase the availability of financiers on TReDS (Trade Receivables Discounting System).
• All entities that are allowed to undertake factoring business under the Factoring Regulation Act, 2011 (FRA) have now been permitted to take part as financiers on TReDS platforms.
• TReDS transactions come under the ambit of factoring business.
• Presently only banks, NBFC-Factors and Other financial institutions can be financiers.
• The insurance facility for TReDS transactions has also been allowed by RBI to help financiers to hedge default risk.
• Now insurance players will become the fourth participants on TReDS platforms, along with MSME sellers, buyers and financiers.
• As of now, three entities operate the three TReDS platforms in the country. C2FO Factoring Solutions has been given in-principle authorisation.
• The three entities are A.TREDS (Invoicemart), Receivables Exchange of India (RXIL) and Mynd Solutions (M1 exchange).
• Trade Receivables and Discounting System (TReDS):
  • It is an electronic bill discounting platform regulated by RBI. It is endorsed by the central government.
  • It is an electronic platform to help in financing/discounting of trade receivables of MSMEs through multiple financiers.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

9. The government has approved the third revival package for BSNL.

• The total outlay of the third revival package is 89 thousand 47 crore rupees.
• The authorized capital of BSNL will increase from one lakh 50 thousand crore rupees to two lakh ten thousand crore rupees.
• The revival package includes an allotment of 4G and 5G spectrum for BSNL through equity infusion.
• With this spectrum allotment, BSNL will be able to provide pan India 4G and 5G services.
• It will be able to provide 4G coverage in rural and uncovered villages under various connectivity projects.
• BSNL will also be able to provide Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services for high-speed internet.
• The first revival package for BSNL and MTNL was approved by the government in 2019. It amounted to 69 thousand crore rupees.
• The second revival package for BSNL and MTNL was approved by the government in 2022. It amounted to 1.64 Lakh Crore rupees.

Topic: World Economy

10. The global economic growth cut to 2.1% from 3.1% by the World Bank due to interest rate hike.

• On 6 June, the World Bank (WB) stated that the global economy is in a precarious state and is heading towards a slowdown.
• It is because sharp interest-rate increases has hit activity and stirred the vulnerabilities in lower-income countries.
• In its latest outlook, the World Bank projects that the international economy will grow by only 2.1% in 2023, after expanding by 3.1% in 2022.
• According to the World Bank's 'Global Economic Prospects' report released on 6 June, the new growth forecast for the year 2023 is slightly better than the previous estimate in January.
• The World Bank had said in January that global growth would be only 1.7% this year.
• To combat rising inflation, the Federal Reserve and other central banks have raised interest rates significantly.
• Apart from this, due to Russia's attack on Ukraine, there is also a crisis of energy and food supply. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are also still present.
• Despite this, the World Bank feels that in the year 2024, the global economy will be able to achieve a growth rate of 2.4%.
• The World Bank has projected the Indian economy to grow at 6.3% this year, which is the highest among major countries.
• India's growth rate in the year 2022 was 7.2%.
• The World Bank has predicted a growth rate of 1.1% in the year 2023 for the world's largest economy America.
• The growth rate of the European Union has been projected to be 0.4% for this year.
• The World Bank has raised the growth forecast for China to 5.6%.
• The growth rate in Japan has been estimated to decrease from one percent to 0.8%.

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