General Awareness Quiz for Bank Mains Exams 2023-12th November

Q1. Which of the statements is true about ‘Corporate Debt Market Development Fund (CDMDF)?

(a) This fund is guaranteed by the National Credit Guarantee Trust Company (NCGTC)

(b) The fund will have protection offered by DICGC in the event of a default.

(c) The backstop facility of the fund will be managed by the National Stock Exchange

(d) The CDMDF will have an initial corpus of Rs 30,000 crore contributed mostly by mutual funds

(e) All are true

Q2. The 12th edition of the joint military exercise “Ex Ekuverin” between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force has commenced at ___________.

(a) Auli, Uttarakhand
(b) Chaubatia, Uttarakhand
(c) Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
(d) Pune, Maharashtra
(e) Nagpur, Maharashtra

Q3. Which company recently launched India’s First Health Insurance Platform with Monthly Subscriptions in July ’23?

(a) Paytm

(b) PhonePe

(c) Freecharge

(d) Razorpay

(e) BharatPe

Q4. Which of the following is a Priority Sector Lending Certificate (PSLC)?

(a) PSLC General

(b) PSLC Small and Marginal Farmer

(c) PSLC Agriculture

(d) PSLC Micro Enterprises

(e) All of the above

Q5. RBI uses Open Market Operations (OMOs) to influence the money supply in the economy. What does an “OMO purchase” by RBI involve?

(a) RBI sells government securities to banks

(b) RBI buys government securities from banks

(c) RBI lends money to commercial banks

(d) RBI borrows money from commercial banks

(e) RBI issues new currency notes to the public

Q6. What are the three tenors in which Treasury bills or T-bills, short-term debt instruments issued by the Government of India, are currently issued?

(a) 91 days, 182 days, and 360 days

(b) 91 days, 182 days, and 364 days

(c) 91 days, 180 days, and 360 days

(d) 90 days, 180 days, and 360 days

(e) 91 days, 182 days, and 365 days

Q7. In which company did the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) recently raise its stake to 8.68% from 6.68%?

(a) Indian Oil Corporation Limited

(b) Steel Authority of India Limited

(c) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

(d) National Thermal Power Corporation

(e) None of the above

Q8. When were Treasury Bills first issued in India?

(a) 1907

(b) 1917

(c) 1927

(d) 1937

(e) 1957

Q9. What is the characteristic difference between Treasury Bills (T-bills) and Cash Management Bills (CMBs)?

(a) T-bills have higher interest rates than CMBs.

(b) CMBs have generic characteristics of T-bills but are issued for maturities less than 91 days.

(c) T-bills are issued by the Reserve Bank of India, while CMBs are issued by commercial banks.

(d) CMBs have longer maturities compared to T-bills.

(e) T-bills are available for purchase by individuals, while CMBs are restricted to institutional investors.

Q10. Which of the following is the first urban cooperative bank in India to receive a license from RBI to operate as a small finance bank?

(a) Shivalik Small Finance Bank

(b) AU Small Finance Bank

(c) Equitas Small Finance Bank.

(d) Fincare Small Finance Bank

(e) Utkarsh Small Finance Bank

Solutions

S1. Ans. (a)
Sol. Only Statement (a) is true.
Details:

• This fund is guaranteed by the National Credit Guarantee Trust Company (NCGTC).
• The proposed CDMDF will have an initial corpus of Rs 3,000 crore contributed by mutual funds.
• The government has approved 10-time leverage of the fund (Additional corpus), thus CDMDF may raise funds up to Rs 30,000 crore.
• This fund is guaranteed by the National Credit Guarantee Trust Company (NCGTC) and the backstop facility will be managed by SBI Mutual Fund.

S2. Ans. (b)
Sol. The 12th edition of joint military exercise “Ex Ekuverin” between the Indian Army & the Maldives National Defence Force has commenced at Chaubatia, Uttarakhand from 11 to 24 June 2023.

Details:

• Ekuverin meaning ‘Friends’ is a bilateral annual exercise conducted alternatively in India and Maldives.
• A platoon strength contingent from Indian Army and Maldives National Defence Force will be participating in 14 days long exercise.
• The exercise is aimed at enhancing interoperability in Counter Insurgency/ Counter Terrorism Operations under the UN mandate and carry out joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations.
• The focus is to share best practices, and enhance coordination and cooperation between both the forces at tactical level.

S3. Ans. (b)
Sol. PhonePe launches India’s first health insurance platform with monthly subscriptions.
Details About PhonePe:

• PhonePe is an Indian digital payment and financial technology company headquartered in Bengaluru, Gka, India.
• PhonePe was founded in December 2015, by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer.
• The PhonePe app, based on the Unified Payments Interface, went live in August 2016.

S4. Ans. (e)
Sol. All of the above are Priority Sector Lending Certificates (PSLCs).
Details:

• Priority Sector Lending Certificates (PSLCs): Enables Bank ‘A’ which has failed to meet PSL target to meet the target by purchasing a PSL certificate from another Bank ‘B’, which has exceeded the target.
  There is no transfer of loans under the PSLC mechanism.
• PSLC General, PSLC Small and Marginal Farmer, PSLC Agriculture & PSLC Micro Enterprises.

S5. Ans. (b)
Sol. When the RBI wants to infuse liquidity into the banking system and increase the money supply, it conducts OMO purchases. In this process, the RBI buys government securities from commercial banks or financial institutions.
Details:

• The payment made by the RBI to the banks increases their reserves, leading to more funds available for lending and investment.
• Open Market Operations (OMOs) is a monetary policy tool used by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to regulate the money supply in the economy.
• It involves the buying and selling of government securities (such as bonds) in the open market by the RBI.

S6. Ans. (b)
Sol. Treasury bills or T-bills, which are money market instruments, are short-term debt instruments issued by the Government of India and are presently issued in three tenors, namely, 91 days, 12 days, and 364 days.

S7. Ans. (b)
Sol. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has increased its stake in Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), a Maharatnas Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) under the Ministry of Steel, by 2.001% (8.26 crore shares) through an open market acquisition, at an average price of Rs 66.18 per unit.
Details:
With this acquisition, LIC has raised its stake from 6.68% to 8.68%.

S8. Ans. (b)
Sol. Treasury Bills were first issued in India in 1917.
S9. Ans. (b)
Sol. The CMBs have the generic character of T-bills but are issued for maturities less than 91 days.
Details:

• Cash Management Bills (CMBs) are short-term money market instruments issued by the Government of India to manage its short-term cash flow mismatches.
• These bills are used to meet the temporary cash requirements of the government when its expenditure exceeds its revenue collection.

S10. Ans. (a)
Sol. Shivalik Small Finance Bank commenced its operations as a small finance bank (SFB) with effect from April 26, 2021. It was the first urban cooperative bank in India to receive a license from RBI to operate as a small finance bank.
Shivalik Small Finance Bank Static Facts:

• Headquarters: Noida