Banking Current Affairs

Banking Current Affairs for 25 May 2023

Table of Contents

BANKING & FINANCE

RBI to pull out 2,000 rupee notes from active circulation; Exchange/Deposit until September 30, 2023

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to withdraw the Rs 2000 denomination banknotes
from circulation.
It asked all to exchange these notes by September 30, 2023.
The withdrawal is similar to a previous withdrawal of notes in 2013-2014 (and not the demonetization).
RBI’s 19 regional offices and other banks will start taking ₹ 2,000 notes for exchange with lower denomination one from May 23, 2023 to on or before Sep 30, 2023 (4 months).
In order to ensure operational convenience and to avoid disruption of regular activities of bank branches, exchange of Rs 2,000 notes into notes of other denominations can be made up to a limit of Rs 20,000 at a time at any branch.

Reason behind its Withdrawal :

A majority (89%) of the ₹2000 denomination notes were issued prior to March 2017 and are at the end of their estimated life-span of 4-5 years.
The total value of these banknotes in circulation has declined from ₹6.73 lakh crore at its peak of March 31, 2018 (37.3% of Notes in Circulation) to ₹3.62 lakh crore, constituting only 10.8% of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023.

Key Highlights :

The Clean Note Policy seeks to give the public good-quality currency notes and coins with better security features, while soiled notes are withdrawn out of circulation.
Clean Note Policy is a policy adopted by RBI to ensure availability of good quality banknotes to the members of the public.
The RBI had earlier decided to withdraw from circulation all banknotes issued prior to 2005 as they have fewer security features as compared to banknotes printed after 2005.
However, the notes issued before 2005 continue to be legal tender.
As per Section 22 of the RBI Act 1934, RBI has the sole authority to issue banknotes in India.
RBI Act 1934 empowers RBI to issue all the banknotes except 1 Rs. note.
Every currency note, other than Rs. 1 rupee note, bears on its face a promise from the Governor of RBI.
The one rupee note carries the name of India’s Finance Secretary.
Banknotes of ₹2,000 denomination were introduced after ₹1000 and ₹500 banknotes
were demonetised on November 8, 2016.

What is Demonetisation?

Demonetisation is the process through which a nation’s economic unit of exchange loses its legally enforceable validity.
It is a drastic intervention into the economy that involves removing the legal tender status of a currency.

Previous Demonetisation :

In 1946, RBI demonetized 1000- and 10000-rupee notes.
In 1978, the government demonetized 1000-, 5000-, and 10000-rupee notes in order to curb the menace of black money.
On November 8, 2016, PM Modi announced the decision of the government to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in a bid to tackle corruption.
With fulfilment of that objective, printing of ₹2000 banknotes was stopped in 2018-19.
The 3 segments which will be affected by this move will be gold & jewellery, real estate and political parties.
At a time only 10 notes of ₹2,000 can be exchanged.
Anyone can come back again as the restriction is at a time.
The latest RBI decision impacts just about 11% of currency in circulation and therefore will probably trigger little chaos.

About RBI :

Established : 1 April 1935
Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Governor : Shaktikanta Das
Deputy governors : Mahesh Kumar Jain,M. Rajeshwar Rao, Michael Patra and T. Rabi Shankar

12 Public sector banks' total profit crosses ₹1 lakh crore-mark in FY23

Public sector banks’ (PSB) cumulative profit crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark in the financial year ended March 2023, with market leader State Bank of India (SBI) accounting for nearly half of the total earnings.

Key Highlights :

From posting a total net loss of Rs 85,390 crore in 2017-18, the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have come a long way as their profit touched Rs 1,04,649 crore in 2022-23, according to an analysis of their financial results.
These 12 PSBs witnessed 57% increase in total profit compared to Rs 66,539.98 crore earned in 2021-22.
In percentage terms Pune-based Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) had the highest net profit growth with 126% to Rs 2,602 crore, followed by UCO with 100% rise to Rs 1,862 crore and Bank of Baroda (BoB) with 94% increase to Rs 14,110 crore.
However, in absolute terms, SBI has reported an annual profit of Rs 50,232 crore in 2022-23, showing an increase of 59% over the preceding financial year.
Except for the Punjab National Bank (PNB), other PSBs have reported impressive annual increases in their profit after tax.
PNB posted a 27% decline in annual net profit from Rs 3,457 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 2,507 crore in the year ended March 2023
The PSBs which reported an annual profit in excess of ₹10,000 crore are Bank of Baroda (₹14,110 crore) and Canara Bank ( ₹10,604 crore).
Other lenders like Punjab and Sind Bank posted an
annual profit growth 26% ( ₹1,313 crore), Central Bank of India 51% ( ₹1,582 crore), Indian Overseas Bank 23%
( ₹2,099 crore), Bank of India 18% ( ₹4,023 crore), Indian Bank 34% ( ₹5,282 crore) and Union Bank of India 61% ( ₹8,433 crore)
PSB is a turnaround story from record losses to record profit.
The government has implemented a comprehensive 4R strategy:
Recognising NPAs transparently
Resolution and recovery
Recapitalising PSBs
Reforms in the financial ecosystem.
As part of the strategy, the government infused an unprecedented Rs 3,10,997 crore to recapitalise PSBs during the last 5 financial years from 2016-17 to 2020-21.
In the latest March quarter or the fourth quarter of 2022-23, the PSBs’ profit cumulatively increased more than 95% to Rs 34,483 crore.

NPCI introduces CVV-less payments for tokenized cards

RuPay has introduced the CVV (Card Verification Value) free payment experience for its debit, credit and prepaid cardholders who have tokenized their cards on the merchant application or web page.
RuPay is a home-grown card network developed by National Payments Corporations of India (NPCI).
Tokenization is a simple technology to secure card transactions without sharing clear or real card
details with the merchants.
VISA has also launched CVV-free tokenized transactions for domestic payments in India adhering to the guidelines issued by the RBI.

About CVV :

Card Verification Value (CVV) is a three or four-digit number located on the back of a physical debit or credit card.
It is used as an additional security measure to ensure that the person making the transaction is a legitimate cardholder.
The RBI had made it mandatory for all credit and debit card data used in online, point-of-sale, and in-app transactions to be replaced with unique tokens.
RuPay went live on Card on File Tokenization in 2021, in line with RBI’s guidelines, for its domestic e-commerce transactions to ensure better security for all its cardholders.

About Rupay :

RuPay, an Indian multinational financial services and Payment Service System, was launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2014, with the objective of creating a less cash economy in India.
The process of tokenization adopted by RuPay is in line with RBI’s guidelines.

About NPCI :

Established : 2008
Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
MD & CEO : Dilip Asbe
The NPCI is an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India, is an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

NATIONAL NEWS

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the International Museum Expo 2023

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the International Museum Expo 2023 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.
He also inaugurated a virtual walkthrough of the upcoming National Museum at the North and South Blocks.
The International Museum Expo is being organized as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 47th International Museum Day.
The International Museum Expo is being organized as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 47th International Museum Day (IMD).
The IMD theme for this year is ‘Museums, Sustainability and Well Being’.
The Museum Expo is designed to initiate a holistic conversation on Museums with museum professionals to enable them to evolve as cultural centers that play a pivotal role in India’s cultural diplomacy.
The Mascot of the International Museum Expo is a contemporized version of the
Dancing Girl made of wood in the Chennapatnam art style.
The Prime Minister also unveiled the Mascot of the International Museum Expo, the Graphic Novel – A Day at the Seum, the Directory of Indian Museums, the Pocket Map of Kartavya Path, and Museum Cards.

Government policies improve overall energy efficiency of ACs

India’s energy efficiency policies have not only led to improvement in overall energy efficiency of AirConditioners but also accelerated the deployment of highly Energy Efficient inverter technology.
As per the data from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power, for split Room Air-Conditioners (RACs), the overall energy efficiency improvement is 43% for 1-Star and 61% for the 5- Star level.
On the other hand, the overall energy efficiency improvement for window RACs is 17% for 1-Star and 13% for 5-Star level.
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) launched the Star Labelling program for fixedspeed Room Air Conditioners (RACs) in 2006 as a voluntary initiative, and the program became mandatory in 2009.
BEE revised the energy performance thresholds (Minimum Energy Performance Standard-MEP) for RACs covered under the program on a biennial basis from 2009 – 2018.
In 2015, BEE launched a voluntary labelling program for inverter RACs, and made the program mandatory in January, 2018.

MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar launches 3rd Semicon India FutureDESIGN Roadshow at IIT

Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar launched the 3rd Semicon India Future Design roadshow at IIT Delhi, with an aim to encourage innovation, facilitate investment and catalyse the Startups ecosystem in the semiconductor design and manufacturing space.
The primary objective of this initiative is to attract investments from across the world and help build a vibrant semiconductor design and manufacturing ecosystem.
PM Modi ji has announced Rs 76,000 crores as outlay for semiconductor sector to fulfil the vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat.
Already there are 27 semicon startups and the number will soon go up to 100.
These include setting up an Indian Semiconductor research center (ISRC) that will work in collaboration with top institutions like the IITs for coming up with cuttingedge semiconductor research.
The MeitY has set up ChipIN Centre at C-DAC Bangalore to dedicate its services to semiconductor design community of the country.
The facility acts as one-stop centre to provide semiconductor design tools, fab access, virtual prototyping hardware lab access to fabless chip designers from Startups and Academia.
The MoU s exchanged between C-DAC Bangalore and Ansys to nurture chip design using Ansys EDA tools hosted at ChipIN Centre.
Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, introduced an NB-IoT (Narrowband Internet of Things) chipset specifically for the Indian market.

Shri Hardeep S. Puri launched MoHUA’s mega campaign ‘Meri LiFE, Mera Swachh Shehar’

Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep S. Puri launched MoHUA’s mega campaign ‘Meri LiFE, Mera Swachh Shehar’.
Reuse and upcycling of common household goods has been an integral part of Indian culture.
Taking a cue from this shared habit, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)’s campaign titled – ‘Meri LiFE, Mera Swachh Shehar’ is launched to champion the RRR’s of waste management- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
Urban India is increasingly adopting the principles of making ‘Wealth’ from waste with citizens actively refurbishing old items for reuse.
This is giving an impetus to the overall zero-waste ecosystem under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0
This nationwide campaign aims to highlight cities to setup ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (RRR) Centres, one stop collection centres, for citizens to contribute clothes, shoes, old books, toys and used plastic to be reused or recycled.
The RRR Centres are scheduled to be launched nationwide on 20th May, 2023.
The Union Minister also launched the RRR Theme song contest.
The contestants can write, compose, sing and submit a theme song and win attractive prizes.
The contest opens on the MyGov platform from 20th May till 18th June, 2023.
The Meri LiFE, Mera Swachh Shehar will culminate on 5th June, 2023 with the Pledge for LiFE, which will be undertaken by everyone on the occasion of World Environment Day as well as l cleanliness drives across all cities.

Jal Jeevan Mission Reaches 12 Crore Rural Households

Under Azadi ka Amrit Kaal, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) celebrates a new milestone of ensuring safe and clean
drinking water through taps to more than 12 Crore rural households of the country.
At the time of the announcement of launch of JJM by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15th August 2019, only 3.23 Crore (16.64%) households in villages had access to piped water connection.
As on date, 5 States (Goa, Telangana, Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab) and 3 UTs (Puducherry, D&D and D&NH and A&N Islands), have reported 100% coverage.
Himachal Pradesh at 98.35%, followed by Bihar at 96.05%, are also poised to achieve saturation in the near future.
Goa, Haryana, Punjab, A&N Islands, Puducherry, D&NH and D&D are ‘Har Ghar Jal certified States/ UTs i.e., in these states/ UTs, the villagers have confirmed through Gram Sabhas that ‘all households and public institutions’ in the village are getting adequate, safe and regular supply of water.
In the 112 aspirational districts of our country, at the time of the launch of the Mission, only 21.64 lakh (7.84%) households had access to tap water which has now increased to 1.67 Crore (60.51%).
Working on the motto of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas aur Sabka Prayas, Jal Jeevan Mission is marching towards achieving SDG 6, i.e., safe and affordable water to all, through the provision of safe water through taps to all households, schools, anganwadis and other public institutions, in rural areas.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw launches Citizen Centric Portal named Sanchar Saathi Portal

The Union Minister of Communications recently launched a citizen-centric Sanchar Saathi portal.
The portal aims to provide various reforms and services related to mobile connections and telecommunications.
It has been developed by C-DoT under the Department of Tele-communications (DoT) to prevent frauds such as identity theft, forged KYC, banking frauds etc.
The three reforms are being introduced as part of the portal’s framework:
CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register): It enables the tracking and blocking of lost or stolen phones anywhere in the country.
Know your mobile connections: It allows users to check the number of mobile connections issued in their name by logging in using their mobile number.
This feature helps identify any unauthorized or unwanted connections, which can be blocked immediately.
ASTR (Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition powered Solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification): This AI-based technology facilitates mobile connection analysis and includes features such as IMEI-based phone theft information messaging to law enforcement agencies and the owner. It also enables blocking of any number associated with a particular IMEI and the tracking of stolen mobile devices.
The portal and its reforms aim to enhance transparency, security, and accountability in the telecom sector.

Government makes unique ID mandatory for doctors

Doctors will now have to get a Unique Identification Number (UID) to be able to practice medicine in the country, as per the new regulations by the National Medical Commission (NMC).
NMC has been constituted by an act of Parliament known as the National Medical Commission Act, 2019.
It has replaced the Medical Council of India (MCI), constituted under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956).
NMC regulates medical education and medical professionals.
The Commission grants recognition of medical qualifications gives accreditation to medical schools, grants registration to medical practitioners, monitors medical practice and assesses the medical
infrastructure in India.
Headquarters: New Delhi ,
National Medical Commission consists of 33 members including Chairman (medical professionals only), 10 ex-officio members and 22 partime members.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WHO launches global network to detect infectious disease threat

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a global network to help swiftly detect the threat from infectious diseases, like COVID-19, and share the information to prevent their spread.
The International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) will provide a platform for connecting countries and regions, improving systems for collecting and analysing samples.

About IPSN :

The IPSN is a global network of pathogen genomic actors.
It is hosted by the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence.

Aim :

To help ensure infectious disease threats are swiftly identified and tracked and the information shared and acted on to prevent catastrophes like the Covid pandemic.
The IPSN supports ongoing disease surveillance and will help detect and fully characterize new disease threats before they become epidemics or pandemics.
The network will rely on pathogen genomics to analyse the genetic code of viruses, bacteria and other diseasecausing organisms to understand how infectious and deadly they are and how they spread.
COVID-19 highlighted the critical role pathogen genomics plays when responding to pandemic threats.
As pointed out by the WHO, without the rapid sequencing of the SARS CoV-2 virus, vaccines would not have been as effective and would not have become available as quickly.

About WHO :

Established : 7 April 1948
Headquarters : Geneva, Switzerland
Director General : Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

STATE NEWS

Telangana Home Minister Mohamood Ali launches 'SAHAS' an initiative towards making workplaces safer for women

Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali launched the initiative called ‘Sahas’ in the presence of Director General of Police Anjani Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (DGP), Women Safety Wing Shikha Goel,
Femina Miss India Manasa Varanasi and senior representatives from industry.
SAHAS, is the first of its kind initiative in the country, involving collaboration.

About SAHAS :

SAHAS, which means Courage, is a programme that aims at strengthening the support ecosystem for women who face workplace sexual harassment.
Under the initiative, the Sahas Microsite, Sahas Sathi Chatbot, Sahas Whatsapp Number, Forum and online support facilities were launched.

About Telangana :

Governor : Tamilisai Soundararajan
Chief Minister : K. Chandrashekar Rao
National Park : Mrugavani National Park,KBR National Park,
Wildlife Sanctuary : Pakhal Lake And Wildlife Sanctuary, Eturnagaram Sanctuary,Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

IDBI Bank appoints Jayakumar S. Pillai as Deputy Managing Director

The Board of Directors of IDBI Bank approved the appointment of Jayakumar S. Pillai as Deputy Managing Director (DMD) on the Bank’s Board for 3 years.
IDBI Bank has two Deputy Managing Director (DMD) positions.
It currently has one DMD -Suresh Khatanhar.
The other DMD – Samuel Joseph Jebaraj moved to the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) as Deputy Managing Director (Lending & Project Finance) in early April 2023.

About Jayakumar S. Pillai :

Jayakumar S. Pillai has 32 years experience in Canara Bank.
He has also worked as Chief Executive of Canara Bank’s UK operations for over 4 years and gained experience in International banking.
He also worked as Wing Head in the Bank’s mid corporate credit department in HO.
He is presently working as Chief General Manager and Circle Head in Canara Bank, Mumbai.

About IDBI Bank :

Founded : 1 July 1964
Headquarters : Mumbai,Maharashtra
MD & CEO : Rakesh Sharma
Owner: Life Insurance Corporation of India (49.24%); Government of India (45.5%).
The IDBI Bank Limited is a development finance institution under the ownership of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the Government of India (GoI).

SP Singh Baghel Takes Charge As Minister of State under Health Ministry

Prof. S.P. Singh Baghel has been assigned as Minister of State (MoS ) in the Health and Family Welfare Ministry.
According to the Rastrapati Bhavan communique, the President as advised by the Prime Minister has allocated the portfolio.
Previously he was serving as MoS in the Law and Justice Ministry.
Earlier, MoS for Parliamentary Affairs and Culture, Arjun Ram Meghwal was assigned the independent charge as Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice in addition to his existing portfolios.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju who was serving as Union Minister for Law and Justice will hold the portfolio of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

IMPORTANT DAYS

Commonwealth Day 2023 - May 24

Commonwealth Day is celebrated every year on May 24.
The theme for Commonwealth Day 2023 was ‘Forging a sustainable and peaceful common future’.
This day is observed as a holiday in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Commonwealth Day is celebrated to remind the Birth Anniversary of Queen Victoria
Empire Day was first observed in the UK in 1904 by Reginald Brabazon.
This day is observed on the birth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth.
In the era of 1977, Commonwealth Day was observed on the second Monday in March.
This day was observed by the Commonwealth of Nations.
In 1898, Canadian leader Clementina Trenholme introduced an Empire Day to Ontario schools on Queen Victoria’s birthday.
British Empire League promoted this Commonwealth Day formerly known as Empire Day as a holiday.
Usually, all over the world, Commonwealth Day is observed on the second Monday of March every year.

Post Views: 249

Blog