Banking Awareness of 8 and 9 November 2023

Topic: Reports and Indices

1. In terms of digital maturity score, Indian banks are outperforming their international counterparts relative to the global average.

• Deloitte India’s survey-based report “Digital Banking Maturity (DBM)” said this recently.
• The report also said Indian banks also have opportunity to grow further and become “Digital Champions”.
• 304 banks in 41 countries were covered in the survey. The top ten percent performers were recognized as “Digital Champions”.
• Digital Champions were followed by “Digital smart followers,” “Digital adopters,” and “Digital latecomers,”.
• Indian banks scored 3% higher than the global average in mobile banking. They scored 1% higher in internet banking.
• As per the report, Indian banks received the titles of “Digital smart followers” and “Digital adopters”.
• “Digital Champions” provide a compelling user interface to customers.
• On an average, Digital Champions showed 0.1% higher return on assets and 1.5% higher return on equity compared with their peers. 

Topic: Reports and Indices

2. Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL) has released ‘India Finance Report 2023’.

• The report was released by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on 07 November 2023.
• The report is themed ‘Connecting the Last Mile’. The report provides an in-depth assessment of Indian NBFCs.
• As per the report, an increase in the percentage of unsecured loans in the portfolios of NBFCs has resulted from a contractionary trajectory in monetary policy.
• By examining annual and quarterly time series data from FY06 to FY23, it can be seen that NBFCs took on more risk after a contraction in monetary policy.
• The policy repo rate was lowered by the RBI from 5.15% in March to 4% in May 2020 due to the pandemic.
• After staying there for two years, the rate was raised to 6.50% between May 2022 and February 2023.
• When bank credit supply declines after a contractionary monetary policy move, NBFCs are more in demand for credit.
• The inability of NBFCs to satisfy this demand impedes the monetary policy transmission.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

3. RBI has won businessline’s Changemaker of the Year 2023 Award.

• RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das accepted the award on behalf of RBI.
• R.K. Singh Union Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy presenting Changemaker Award of the Year 2023 to RBI Governor.
• RBI has won the award for steering India through the turbulent period of the Covid pandemic.
• Amul was named the iconic changemaker of the year.
• Jayen Mehta, Managing Director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), received the award.
• Power minister R K Singh gave away the awards at the fifth edition of the event.
• In the fifth edition of the event, awards were given in six categories.
• These categories were digital transformation, social transformation, financial transformation, young changemaker, iconic changemaker, and changemaker of the year.
• The digital transformation winner was Stellapps Technologies. It is a start-up working on digitising the dairy sector.
• In social transformation category, two winners were HerKey and EducateGirls. HerKey aims to reverse the female brain drain.
• EducateGirls is an NGO that aims to improve access and quality of education for girls.
• Financial Transformation was awarded to Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.
• The young changemaker award was won by Shrinidhi RS.
• Shrinidhi RS is the creator of CherriLearn. CherriLearn is an app which offers gamified lessons in regional languages to children of standards 1-5.

Topic: RBI

4. RBI has given approval to PayGlocal for payment aggregator license.

• It has received in-principle approval from RBI for Payment Aggregator (PA) license.
• After completion of the process, PayGlocal will be able to onboard merchants onto its platform for online payment processing.
• PayGlocal is a cross-border focused payments platform provider.
• It was founded in 2021 by Prachi Dharani, Rohit Sukhija and Yogesh Lokhande.

Topic: Appointments

5. Centre has appointed two deputy managing directors of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

• Goverdhan Singh Rawat and Ajay Kumar Sood has been appointed as Deputy Managing Directors (DMDs) of NABARD.
• Goverdhan Singh Rawat has been appointed for five years from taking charge or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
• Ajay Kumar Sood has been appointed with effect from taking charge until his superannuation on August 31, 2027, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
• Goverdhan Singh Rawat and Ajay Kumar Sood were earlier chief general managers in NABARD.
• NABARD was founded in July 1982. It is headquartered in Mumbai. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance.
• NABARD is current headed by a full-time Chairman (K V Shaji). There are 2 posts of Deputy Managing Directors.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

6. Sweden's Saab has become the first foreign company to bag 100% FDI in India's defence projects.

• Currently, India allows only 74% FDI in the defence sector under the automatic route.
• After that, clearance can be obtained on a case-by-case basis. The rules for clearance were relaxed in 2015.
• Saab has set up a new company – Saab FFV India to make the new generation of the Cal-Gustaf M4 system.
• A new facility to manufacture shoulder-fired rockets will be set up by Saab in Haryana.
• It will be the first time that Saab will manufacture shoulder-fired rockets outside Sweden.
• The shoulder-fired rockets are already in extensive use by the Indian armed forces.
• A Rs 500 crore proposal from Saab was cleared in October.
• In 2016, a French company DCNS sought approval for 100% FDI to set up an Indian subsidiary but it could not get the required permissions.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

7. Kerala received the Global Responsible Tourism Award 2023.

• For promoting sustainable and women-inclusive initiatives, Kerala Responsible Tourism Mission received the Global Responsible Tourism Award 2023.
• Kerala received the award in the 'Best for Local Sourcing - Craft and Food' category.
• The Kerala Responsible Tourism Mission has been selected for this award along with Eswatini, a landlocked country in southern Africa.
• The Kerala Responsible Tourism Mission is implementing women-friendly tourism projects with the help of the UN.
• The Kerala Responsible Tourism Mission received the Responsible Tourism Global Award for the second time.
• Global Responsible Tourism Award:
  • It was instituted by the Responsible Tourism Partnership and the International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT).
  • It is being given in six categories.

Topic: Miscellaneous

8. The government has released an advisory to social media intermediaries to recognize misinformation and deepfakes.

• Centre has said social media intermediaries shall make reasonable efforts to identify misinformation and deepfakes.
• According to the Ministry of Electronics and IT, such cases need to be handled quickly, well within the deadlines set down in the IT Rules 2021.
• According to the advisory, such content must be removed within 36 hours of reporting.
• If intermediaries fail to act as per the relevant provisions of the IT Act and Rules, they will attract Rule 7 of the IT Rules, 2021.
• The failure to act as per the relevant provisions of the IT Act and Rules could render the organisation liable to lose the protection available under Section 79(1) of the IT Act.
• According to Section 79(1) of the IT Act, any social media intermediary that hosts or makes available any information, data, or communication connection to a third party will not be subject to legal action.
• Rule 7 of the IT Rules, 2021 empowers aggrieved individuals to take platforms to court under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
• Deepfakes refer to the manipulation of facial appearance through machine learning and artificial intelligence.

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