Banking Awareness of 9, 10 and 11 June 2024

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

1. Retail inflation for industrial workers declined to 3.87% in April 2024.

• Retail inflation for industrial workers stood at 4.2% in March 2024.
• Consumer Price Index-Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) numbers for February, March, and April were released by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on 7 June 2024.
• Year-on-year inflation for March 2024 stood at 4.20% as against 5.79% in March 2023, according to labour ministry.
• Year-on-year inflation for April 2024 stood at 3.87% as against 5.09% in April 2023.
• Year-on-year inflation for February 2024 stood at 4.90% as against 6.16% in February 2023.
• For February 2024, the All-India CPI-IW increased by 0.3 points to 139.2 points.
• For March 2024, it decreased by 0.3 points and stood at 138.9 points.
• For April 2024, the All-India CPI-IW increased by 0.5 points, and stood at 139.4.
• The Labour Bureau is an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment.
• The Labour Bureau compiles Consumer Price Index, for Industrial Workers every month.
• It is compiled on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country.
• Government uses the CPI-IW for fixing dearness allowance of employees and dearness relief of pensioners.
• All-India Consumer Price Index Numbers For Agricultural And Rural Labourers for March, and April have also been released by the Ministry.
• In March 2024, the year on year inflation rates for CPI-AL and CPI-RL stood at 7.15%, and 7.08%, respectively.
• In April, 2024, the year-on-year inflation rates for CPI-AL, and CPI-RL, stood at 7.03%, and 6.96%, respectively.
• In March, 2024, both the CPI-AL, and CPI-RL increased by 1 point.
• In April, 2024, the CPI-AL increased by 4 points and CPI-RL increased by 5 points.
• All-India Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL), and Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) are also compiled by the Labour Bureau every month.
• They are compiled on the basis of retail prices collected from 600 villages spread over 20 States.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

2. ₹1.39 lakh crore has been released by centre to the states under the devolution mechanism.

• With this release, nearly ₹2.79 lakh crore has been devolved to the States upto June 10, 2024.
• By way of the devolution mechanism, the States receive 41% of the tax revenue collected by the Centre, as per the formula devised by the Finance Commission.
• With a share of more than ₹25,000 crore, Uttar Pradesh received the largest share.
• Madhya Pradesh (more than ₹10000 crore) and Bihar (₹14,000 crore) followed Uttar Pradesh.
• The State Governments will be able to expedite development and capital expenditures as a result.
• Over ₹12 lakh crore is allocated in the Interim Budget 2024–25 for the devolution of taxes to the States.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

3. Finance Ministry (FM) has fixed an upper limit of ₹10 crore for arbitration.

• FM has fixed this limit for cases to be brought in. This has been done to expedite arbitration procedure to resolve commercial dispute involving government or Public Sector Enterprise (PSE) as one party.
• Finance Ministry (FM) has also said that arbitration clause should not be included in large contracts by default.
• If arbitration is allowed under contracts, it might only be used for disputes with a value less than ₹10 crore.
• This refers to the value of the dispute (not the contract’s value, which could be much higher).
• Contracts must specifically mention that arbitration will not be used as a form of dispute resolution in cases involving more than ₹10 crore.
• A High Level Committee (HLC) should be set up to resolve high value cases.
• The committee should consist of a retired judge and a retired top official or technical expert.
• When an HLC is established, an attempt should be made to directly negotiate with the opposing party and present a provisional solution proposal before the HLC. HLC can also be used as mediator.

Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market

4. Equity mutual funds have shown a record 83% increase in inflows and reached ₹34,697 crore in May 2024.

• Equity mutual funds have surpassed the ₹30,000 crore mark for the first time.
• Inflows into the equity schemes of mutual funds stood at ₹18,917 crore in April.
• The gross SIP contribution increased by 3% to ₹20,904 crore. The net SIP increased 7% to ₹9,226 crore.
• Small and mid-cap schemes attracted maximum flows of ₹2,724 crore (₹2,208 crore) and ₹2,605 crore (₹ 1,793 crore).
• Overall, MF assets under management increased further to ₹58.91-lakh crore in May.

Topic: Appointments

5. Inder Pal Singh Bindra has been appointed as Secretary, Competition Commission of India (CCI).

• Bindra is an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. Bindra will replace Anupama Anand.
• Anupama Anand has resigned. Anand was appointed in September 2023 for 3 years.
• Bindra was posted as an officer in the income tax department.
• He has now been appointed to the post on deputation basis for three years.
• In CCI, the Secretary serves as the nodal officer on behalf of the commission for making or receiving all statutory communications.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

6. Asian Banker awarded SEBI the "Best Conduct of Business Regulator" title.

• The Asian Banker has awarded SEBI the "Best Conduct of Business Regulator" award in Asia Pacific in recognition of its contributions to strengthening the regulatory framework governing India's securities markets.
• The award was received by Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, Whole-time Member, SEBI, at a function held in Hong Kong.
• The SEBI is actively working towards instantaneous settlement.
• T+1 settlement was introduced in a phased manner in 2021, which was fully implemented from January 2023.
• The move has provided investors faster access to their funds after trade execution and settlement, thereby increasing market efficiency and liquidity.
• Through stringent enforcement and innovative regulatory practices, SEBI has significantly improved the conduct of business in the country's financial markets, ensuring fair treatment of consumers and strong market integrity.
• The Asian Banker creates platforms to build a greater sense of community amongst players across the financial services industry, from traditional banks and digital disruptors to fintech and platform players.
• It also publishes rankings and ratings of institutions, people and processes for setting high standards in the delivery of financial products and solutions.

Topic: Appointments

7. PNB MetLife has appointed Sameer Bansal as MD and CEO.

• He will succeed Ashish Srivastava. He is currently serving as the Chief Distribution Officer.
• His appointment is effective from 1 July 2024 and subject to regulatory approvals.
• Ashish Srivastava has been appointed MD of MetLife Inc.’s Global Shared Services team in India.
• PNB MetLife Insurance is a joint venture between MetLife International Holdings LLC and Punjab National Bank.

Topic: RBI

8. A Digital Payments Intelligence Platform will be set up by RBI to tackle digital payments frauds.

• The announcement was made by Governor Shaktikanta Das during the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on June 7.
• RBI has continuously implemented measures to promote digital payments and ensure their security to maintain consumer confidence.
• But despite these efforts, the rise in digital payment fraud points to the urgent need for a comprehensive system-wide approach to prevent and mitigate such problems.
• The Payments Intelligence Platform will facilitate network-level intelligence and real-time data sharing across the digital payments ecosystem.
• This will enhance the ability to detect and respond to fraudulent activities quickly and effectively.
• To take this initiative forward, RBI has constituted a committee headed by former NPCI MD and CEO AP Hota. 
• Various aspects of setting up the platform will be examined by the committee to ensure that it meets the requirements and effectively secures the digital payments landscape.

Topic: Reports and Indices

9. Households spent most on ‘beverages, refreshments and processed food: Consumption expenditure survey 2022-23.

• Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022–23.
• In rural and urban areas, Household consumption expenditure on ‘beverages, refreshments and processed food’ was most common among food items in 2022–23.
• In rural areas among all major states, Haryana spent the most on 'milk and milk products’ with 41.7% of the total expenditure.
• In urban areas, Rajasthan has spent the most on 'milk and milk products’ at 33.2 per cent, followed by Haryana (33.1%) and Punjab (32.3%).
• Kerala spent the most on ‘egg, fish & meat’ at 23.5 per cent.
• Among major states, ‘Beverages, processed food’ share was highest in total food consumption.
• Tamil Nadu is in the first position on expenditure on beverages and processed food.
• In rural India, the household expenditure on ‘beverages, refreshments, and processed food’ was about 46 percent.
• It was followed by milk and milk products (8.33 per cent) and vegetables (5.38 per cent).
• The share of cereals and cereal substitutes was 4.91 per cent of the total consumption spending.
• In rural India, the highest share of monthly per capita expenditure on ‘conveyance’ among non-food items was recorded in Kerala (18.9%).

Topic: Appointments

10. Kamal Kishore Soan took over the additional charge of Director General of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

• Kamal Kishore Soan took over additional charge on 31 May 2024.
• Kamal Kishore Soan is an IAS officer from Jharkhand cadre.
• Kamal Kishore Soan is currently serving as an Additional Secretary and Director General, Labour Welfare in the Ministry of Labour & Employment.
• Employees' State Insurance Corporation:
  • It was founded in 1952.
  • It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
  • It was set up under the ESI Act 1948 for the implementation of the ESI scheme.

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