Banking Awareness Questions for IBPS PO and Clerk | 17th October 2018

The Union Government, Rajasthan and the World Bank signed a USD 250 million Development Policy Loan (DPL) to support Rajasthan in improving the performance of its Electricity Distribution Sector under the State’s ‘24x7 Power for All’ program.

The Central government and the World Bank have signed 300 million dollar loan agreements for India Energy Efficiency Scale up Programme. They signed 220 million dollar Loan Agreement and an 80 million Guarantee Agreement for the Efficiency Scale-Up Program.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned an amount of Rs 335 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) to West Bengal. The fund, alloted in August, would be used for 158 minor irrigation projects and 23 flood protection projects.

HDFC ERGO, India's third-largest non-life insurance provider in the private sector, announced the launch of 'E@Secure', a Cyber Insurance Policy for individuals. This policy aims at providing comprehensive protection to individuals and their families against any cyber-attacks, cyber frauds or digital threats that could lead to a financial loss and or reputational loss. HDFC ERGO is a non-life insurance provider in the private sector and its headquarters in Mumbai.

The government of India has doubled the monetary limit to 20 lakh rupees for filing loan recovery application in the Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRT) by banks and financial institutions. As per the Finance Ministry, the move is aimed at helping reduce pendency of cases in DRTs.

SBI has appointed Anshula Kant as Managing Director of the Bank. She has been appointed to the post for 2 years. Prior this appointment, Kant was the bank's Deputy Managing Director. With this appointment, SBI now has four MDs - PK Gupta, DK Khara and Arijit Basu.

The Union Government has appointed former Reserve Bank of India governor Bimal Jalan as the head of the panel that has been tasked with selecting India’s next chief economic advisor (CEA). The panel will screen the applications received and conduct interviews. The move comes two months after the government sought applications for the post after previous CEA Arvind Subramanian resigned from office.

Axis Bank announced that Amitabh Chaudhry has been appointed as its managing director & CEO from January 1, 2019, for a period of three years. Mr. Chaudhry, the MD & CEO of HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company at present, will take the charge at India’s third largest private sector bank after incumbent Shikha Sharma steps down on December 31, 2018. Mr. Chaudhry, 54, has been associated with HDFC Life since January 2010.

India’s current account deficit (CAD) widened to a four-quarter-high at 2.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) in April-June period on the back of rising crude oil prices, from 1.9% of GDP in the January-March quarter of 2017-18, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

With concerns being raised on some proposals of the draft e-commerce policy, the government has set up a group of secretaries to look into the issues. The group will be chaired by the secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Ramesh Abhishek is the Secretary of Department Of Industrial Policy & Promotion.

In a move aimed at creating a payments acceptance network for unorganized retail including small merchants and kirana stores where consumers can make payments, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has partnered with Financial Software and Systems (FSS). FSS a payments technology company to ensure that micro-merchants are able to accept payments over any channel – online, unified payments interface (UPI), quick-response (QR) codes, Aadhaar and IPPB accounts. FSS will also provide merchant management and settlement solutions including on-boarding fee calculation, reconciliation and settlement.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu participated in G-20 trade and investment ministerial meeting at Mar del Plata in Argentina. Issues including increasing protectionism challenges to promote global commerce and the new industrial revolution were discussed at the meeting.

The Reserve Bank to purchase government securities (G-secs) worth Rs 10,000 crore in September 2018, a move aimed at inducing liquidity in the system. The purchase of the government securities will be done through Open Market Operations (OMO).

The government has announced an array of steps to check the rising Current Account Deficit (CAD), and the fall in rupee. The steps include removal of withholding tax on rupee-denominated bonds known as Masala bonds issued till March 2019, relaxation for Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI), and curbs on non-essential imports. 

The steps to be taken by the government to attract dollar inflows into the country include: 

Reviewing of mandatory hedging condition for infrastructure loans. 

To permit manufacturing sector entities to avail of External Commercial Borrowing (ECBs) up to $50 million with minimum maturity of one year, instead of the earlier limit of three years. 

Removing restrictions with respect to FPI exposure limit of 20 per cent in corporate bond portfolio to a single corporate group or company or entity and 50 per cent of any issue of corporate bond. Removal of withholding tax on rupee-denominated bonds known as Masala bonds issued till March 2019. 

Removing restrictions on Indian banks, market making in masala bonds, including restrictions on underwriting of masala bonds. Relaxation for Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) and curbs on non-essential imports.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has approved Rs 65,634.93 crore loan so far to 93 prioritised irrigation projects under the government's flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY). The NABARD is funding the central and state share of 99 prioritised irrigation projects under the PMKSY through long term irrigation fund (LTIF). It is mandated to provide Rs 70,000 crore loan to these projects to be completed by 2019.