Daily Current Affairs and GK | 28 September 2024

Topic: Indian Economy

1. Central government will collect ₹20,000 crore by issuing ‘Sovereign Green Bonds’ in the second half (October-March) of the financial year 2024-25.

• The green bonds will be issued in four tranches. Each tranche will be valued at ₹5,000 crore.
• The first tranche will consist of a 10-year Sovereign Green Bond.
• It is scheduled for issuance between November 25 and November 29.
• A 30-year bond worth ₹5,000 crore will be issued from December 9 to December 13.
• The third tranche is set for January 27 to January 31. It is again a 10-year bond.
• The final tranche will consist of a 30-year green bond. It will be issued between February 17 and February 21.
• Sovereign Green Bonds are a form of government debt.
• Their purpose is to provide funding for initiatives that aid India's shift to a low-carbon economy.
• The money raised will specifically go towards supporting environmentally friendly projects in the public sector and other environmentally sustainable initiatives.

Topic: Indian Economy

2. Government will borrow ₹6.61 lakh crore during October-March.

• Bonds worth ₹6.61 lakh crore will be sold by the government during October-March period of current fiscal.
• Overall borrowing for fiscal is likely to be less than ₹ 14.01 lakh crore (total budget estimates).
• ₹7.4 lakh crore were borrowed by the government during April-September period.
• ₹6.61 lakh crore, or 47.2%, of the gross market borrowing of ₹14.01 lakh crore scheduled for FY 2024–2025 is expected to be borrowed in the second half.
• In the second half, there will be 21 weekly auctions for borrowing.
• The combined amount of the three-, five-, and seven-year bonds will be 23.5% of the entire amount borrowed.
• The bonds with maturities of 10 and 15 years would account for 24.8% and 13.2% of the total, respectively.
• Bonds with terms of 30 years, 40 years, and 50 years would have respective shares of 12.1%, 15.9%, and 10.6%.
• With the maximum duration of 364 days, the government will grossly borrow ₹2.47 lakh crore using treasury bills.
• Every week, the government plans to sell treasury bills worth ₹19,000 crore.
• These bills are interest-free. These are redeemed at face value after being issued at a discount.
• The Ways and Mean Advances for the October–March period have been set by the RBI at ₹50,000 crore.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

3. World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2024 will be hosted by India.

• India will host the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) 2024 from October 15 to 24 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
• This will be preceded by the Global Standards Symposium (GSS) on October 14.
• It is organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), on every four years.
• Its main aim is to define the work program, working methods, and structure of study groups for ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T).
• 1,800 to 2,000 delegates from 193 member countries, global standardization bodies, and the telecom/ICT industry will attend this summit.
• ITU is an agency of the United Nations for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). It was established in 1865.
• India has been a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) since 1869 and a member of the ITU Governing Council since 1952.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

4. India and Uzbekistan signed an Investment Treaty.

• To boost investor confidence, India and Uzbekistan signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Khodjayev Jamshid Abdukhakimovich signed this treaty.
• The Bilateral Investment Treaty will ensure appropriate protection for Uzbekistan investors in India and Indian investors in Uzbekistan.
• It will boost the confidence of investors by providing a minimum standard of treatment and non-discrimination.
• It will also ensure transparency, transfers and compensation for losses.
• This will pave the way to increase bilateral investments.

(Source: News on AIR)