LIC AAO Banking Awareness Quiz: 18th March

India’s new e-commerce policy came into effect From February 1, 2019. A new set of policy rules had been formed for the e-commerce companies. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (previously DIPP) gave them a 60-day window period for aligning themselves to the government’s modified foreign direct investment (FDI) rules.

Important Highlights of the new policy: 

1. Bars online retailers from selling products through vendors in which they have an equity interest.

2. Also bars them from entering into exclusive deals with brands for selling products only on their platforms.

3. All online retailers will be required to maintain a level playing field for all the vendors selling their products on the platform, and it shall not affect the sale prices of goods in any manner.

4. Disallows e-commerce players to control the inventory of the vendors. Any such ownership over the inventory will convert it into inventory based model from marketplace based model, which is not entitled to FDI.

5. The e-commerce retailer shall be deemed to own the inventory of a vendor if over 25% of the purchases of such a vendor are through it.

6. Restricts marketplaces from influencing prices in a bid to curb deep discounting. With this, special offers like cashback, extended warranties, faster deliveries to some brands will be prohibited, with the view to provide a level playing field.

National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC) has released Kharif Crop estimation for the year 2018-2019. According to the report, the basmati rice production is expected to decline by 9.24% to 5.18 million metric tonnes.

RBI has released 6th Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement. On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation at its meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to:

1. Reduce the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 6.5% to 6.25% with immediate effect.

2. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 6.0%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.5%.

3. On the supply side, the FAE has placed the growth of real gross value added (GVA) at 7.0% in 2018-19 as compared with 6.9% in 2017-18.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has been renamed as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade with a mandate to deal with matters related to start-ups, facilitating ease of doing business among others.

National Bulk Handling Corporation Pvt. Ltd. or NBHC is an Indian commodity and collateral management company based in Mumbai. NBHC is wholly owned by True North, a private equity major.

The Reserve Bank of India raised the limit of collateral-free agricultural loans to Rs. 1.6 lakh from the current Rs. 1 lakh with a view to help small and marginal farmers. The central bank also decided to set up an internal working group (IWG) to review agricultural credit and arrive at a workable policy solution.

The Government of India, Government of Himachal Pradesh (GoHP) and the World Bank signed a $40 Million Loan Agreement to help bring clean and reliable drinking water to the citizens of the Greater Shimla area, who have been facing severe water shortages and water-borne epidemics over the last few years.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) withdrew the 20% limit on investments by FPIs in corporate bonds of an entity with a view to encourage more foreign investments. As part of the review of the FPI investment in corporate debt undertaken in April 2018, it was stipulated that no FPI should have an exposure of more than 20% of its corporate bond portfolio to a single corporate (including exposure to entities related to the corporate).

National Bulk Handling Corporation Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian commodity and collateral management company based in Mumbai. NBHC is wholly owned by True North, a private equity major.

Washington, D.C., United States is the headquarters of World Bank.

The government of India gets Rs.10000 crore from Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) by additional offering. The government has absorbed approximately Rs.46000 crore by way of disinvestment with the successful offering of Bharat-22 ETF.

India with immediate effect has boosted the Customs Duty on all the goods imported from Pakistan to 200% followed by the day after India repealed Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status from Pakistan. This punitory move followed by the Pulwana Terrorist attack that led to the death of 42 CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force).

The Reserve Bank has announced that it will transfer an interim surplus of 28,000 crore rupees to the central government for the half-year ended 31st December 2018. The central bank follows a July-June financial year and usually distributes the dividend in August after annual accounts are finalised. With this interim transfer, the government will get a total of Rs 68,000 crore from the central bank in the current fiscal. The RBI had transferred Rs 40,000 crore to the government in August 2018.

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is an investment fund traded on stock exchanges, much like stocks.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set up an expert committee, headed by its former governor Bimal Jalan, to suggest how the central bank should handle its reserves and whether it can transfer its surplus to the government. The committee, which has been formed to review the existing economic capital framework (ECF), will have former RBI deputy governor Rakesh Mohan as its vice chairman.