General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - December 2018

Dec 2018

Jun 02, 2022

Cashfree Payments Partners NPCI for Tokenization of RuPay Cards

Payments and API banking solutions company Cashfree Payments partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to provide tokenization solutions on RuPay cards for its merchants.
Cashfree Payments' tokenization solution 'Token Vault' helps merchants provide their customers with the option to save cards on the merchant website or app and process card payments securely while being RBI compliant. With this partnership, Cashfree Payments becomes a certified and compliant payment tokenization service provider across key card networks like RuPay, Mastercard and Visa.
Token Vault supports all major card types: credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, and corporate cards.

SEBI Imposes Monetary Penalty on IIFL for Misusing Client Funds

Capital markets regulator SEBI imposed a penalty of Rs. 1 crore on India Infoline Ltd (IIFL) for alleged misutilisation of client securities. The order came after SEBI conducted multiple inspections of the books of account of IIFL, now known as IIFL Securities Ltd, for the period April 2011 to January 2017.
It was found that the IIFL had misused funds credit balance clients for settlement obligation of its debit balance clients for 30 days and the total misutilisation was in the range of Rs. 26.04 crore to Rs. 294.73 crore ranging from 4.01 per cent to 45.97 per cent. Consequently, the market watchdog slapped a total fine of Rs. 1 crore on the firm and also noted that certain violations are repetitive in nature.

Centre Releases Rs. 86,912 crore to States, Clears GST Compensation Dues

Ahead of the compensation regime for goods and services tax (GST) that ends in June, the Centre released the entire compensation of Rs. 86,912 crore due to states. This step was taken to help states in managing their resources. It was also to ensure that their programmes — especially expenditure on capital — were carried out successfully during the fiscal year. The full compensation was made even when the cess fund had an inadequate balance of just Rs. 25,000 crore.
Of the Rs. 86,912 crore released to states, Rs. 47,617-crore compensation was due up to January, Rs. 21,322 crore was due for February-March, and Rs. 17,973 crore was due for April-May. Under the compensation regime, the Centre is mandated to compensate states until June 30 for any loss in revenue under the GST. The government had clarified earlier that the compensation period may not be extended beyond the June-end deadline.

Jan Aushadhi Stores Surpassed the Rs. 100 crore Revenue Threshold

Jan Aushadhi stores surpassed Rs. 100 crore for the first time. More than 1,600 generic pharmaceuticals, 250 surgical equipment, nutraceuticals, Ayush products, and Suvidha Sanitary pads are available in Jan Aushadhi locations. The Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) is implemented by the Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI).
Total sales in May 2021 were Rs. 83.77 crore. The government has set a goal of increasing the number of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs) to 10,000 by March 2024, with the goal of providing excellent medications at affordable prices to the ordinary man, particularly the underprivileged. At the moment, the country has 8,735 such outlets spread throughout 739 districts.

Indian Economy Grew 8.7% in 2021-22: National Statistics Office

The Indian economy expanded at its fastest pace in nearly 22 years in 2021-22, but growth slowed to a four quarter-low in the three months to January-March due to the impact of the curbs imposed against the backdrop of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Data released by the National Statistical Office showed the economy growing by 8.7% in 2021-22 while growth in the January-March quarter slowed to 4.1%. To put the numbers in context, the 8.7% expansion comes against the backdrop of a very low base as the economy contracted by 6.6% in the previous period due to the impact of one of the strictest lockdowns in the world to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest numbers for 2021-22 makes India one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, although the momentum of expansion in the months ahead would be tested by high inflation and the need to raise interest rates to combat price pressures.

Jun 01, 2022

Israel and the United Arab Emirates Sign the first Arab Free Trade Deal

Israel inked its first free trade agreement with an Arab country, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The agreement was signed in Dubai by Israel's Economy and Industry Minister Orna Barbivay and the UAE's Economy Minister Abdalla Bin Touq Al Marri. According to an official statement released by Israel's Ministry of Economy and Industry, the comprehensive, significant, and ground-breaking agreement is expected to increase bilateral trade in goods and services, increase Israeli exports to the United Arab Emirates, and provide customs exemption on 96% of trade between the countries: food, agriculture, cosmetics, medical equipment, medication, and more.
The commercial pact with Israel will usher in a new era in the Middle East. This agreement will boost economic growth and reinforce the notion that working together is the only way to build long-term, sustainable economies in a complicated environment.

Retired SBI Senior Executive Natarajan Sundar Joins NARCL as MD CEO

Former State Bank of India exexutive Natarajan Sundar joined National Assets Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) as managing director and CEO. Sundar is a banking veteran having served SBI for over 37 years and retired as Dy MD and Chief Credit Officer of the bank. NARCL, a the special purpose vehicle set up as a joint initiative of Public and Private Sector Banks, is expected to takeover bad loans from banks and focus on resolution and recoveries.
Malvika Sinha, retired Executive director of Reserve Babk of India ( RBI), also joined the Board of NARCL as an independent director. Sinha is a career central banker, having joined RBI in 1982 and served across Regulation, Supervision, Foreign exchange and Government and Bank Accounts in RBI.

May 31, 2022

LIC Introduces Bima Ratna

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), India's largest insurer, launched "Bima Ratna" – a non-linked, non-participating, individual, savings life insurance plan. The new plan, which is aimed at the domestic market, provides both protection and savings.
The key features of the plan include Death benefits, Survival benefits, Maturity benefits, Guaranteed Additions, Settlement Options, Grace Period and Revival solutions among other things. The Bima Ratna plan from LIC provides financial assistance to the policyholder's family in the case of the policyholder's untimely death during the policy term. It offers for periodic payments for the policyholder's survival at specified intervals to address various financial demands.
Premiums can be paid on a yearly, half-yearly, quarterly, or monthly basis (monthly premiums can only be paid through the National Automated Clearing House (NACH)) or by deductions from salary.

Reliance Jio Starts Mobile Telephony Service on Kedarnath Trek Route in Uttarakhand

Badrinath-Kedarnath Mandir Samiti chairman Ajendra Ajay inaugurated the mobile and data services of Reliance Jio on the Kedarnath trek route. With this, Reliance Jio became the first operator to give mobile and data connectivity on the trek route between Gaurikund and the Himalayan shrine. Pilgrims en route to the temple will now stay connected with their loved ones through voice or video calls.
After a gap of two years during which the yatra was interrupted due to the Covid pandemic, there is a huge rush of pilgrims in 2022 for the Himalayan temples. A full capacity tower has been installed at Sonprayag, a very important halt location, in accordance with the plan to install five towers between Gaurikund and Kedarnath.

World's Richest Man, Elon Musk Was 2021's Highest Paid CEO

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk topped the list of the most highly compensated CEOs on the Fortune 500 list in 2021. After Musk, the 10 most highly compensated Fortune 500 CEOs of 2021 are all tech and biotech CEOs, including the heads of Apple (Tim Cook), Netflix (Reed Hastings), and Microsoft (Satya Nadella).
In 2021, Musk realised compensation worth almost $23.5 billion, from exercising some Tesla stock options awarded in a 2018 multiyear "moonshot" grant. According to the Fortune 500, that was by far the biggest paycheck a CEO ever received.

May 30, 2022

RBI's Banknote Survey Revealed that ₹100 Banknote was the most Preferred

RBI's Banknote Survey of Consumers findings revealed that Rs. 100 was the most preferred banknote while Rs. 2,000 was the least preferred denomination.
Among coins, Rs. 5 denomination was the most preferred whereas Re. 1 was the least preferred.
Watermark of Mahatma Gandhi's image followed by windowed security thread was the most recognized security feature as per the survey.
Survey took the sample of 11,000 respondents from rural, semi-urban, urban and metropolitan areas.

US Trumps China as India's Top Trading Partner

The US surpassed China to become India's top trading partner in 2021-22, according to the data of the Commerce Ministry. In 2021-22, bilateral trade with the US was at $119.42 billion while that with China was $115.42 billion. In 2021-22, exports to the US increased to $76.11 billion from $51.62 billion in the previous fiscal. In contrast, exports to China were at $21.25 billion from $21.18 billion in 2020-21.
Imports from the US also rose to $43.31 billion as compared to about $29 billion in 2020-21. But imports from China jumped much more sharply to $94.16 billion from $65.21 billion in 2020-21.
China occupied the top slot as India's trading partner from 2013-14 till 2017-18 and also in 2020-21. The third spot in 2021-22 was occupied by the UAE with total trade of $72.9 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia ($42.85 billion), Iraq ($34.33 billion) and Singapore ($30 billion).

Govt. Launches Indian Business Portal to Help Indian Exporters Get Global Visibility

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel launched the Indian Business Portal in New Delhi. The portal will serve as an international trade hub for Indian exporters and foreign buyers. The portal is a business to business digital marketplace to empower small medium enterprises exporters, artisans and farmers to identify new markets for their products and grow their sales globally.
Indian Business Portal was developed by Federation of Indian Export Organisations to provide Indian Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) exporters, artisans and farmers, and foreign buyers a business to business marketplace on a single digital window.

May 29, 2022

Govt. Brings Import of Paper under Compulsory Registration from Oct 1

In a bid to protect the domestic paper industry, the commerce and industry ministry decided to make registration compulsory for importing major paper products such as newsprint, handmade paper, envelopes, among others. All imports arriving on or after October 1, 2022 will be governed by the Paper Import Monitoring policy that aims to put an end to dumping of such products and address the issue of re-routing of goods through other countries in lieu of trade agreements.
This order will be applicable on a range of paper products such as newsprint, handmade paper, wallpaper base, duplicating paper, coated paper, uncoated paper, litho and offset paper, tissue paper, parchment paper, carbon paper, wall paper, envelops, toilet paper, cartons, account books, labels, bobbins, among others.
Paper products like currency paper, bank bond and cheque paper, security printing paper, among others, have been excluded from the monitoring system.

Number of Rs. 2000 Currency Notes Continue to Decline

The number of bank notes of Rs. 2000 denomination steadily declined over the years to touch 214 crore or 1.6 per cent of the total currency notes in circulation at the end of March 2022, according to RBI annual report. The total number of currency notes of all denominations in circulation stood at 13,053 crore as of March, up from 12,437 crore from the year-ago period.
In value terms also, the Rs. 2000 denomination notes dipped from 22.6 per cent of the total value of currency notes in circulation to 17.3 per cent at the end of March 2021 and further to 13.8 per cent at the end of March 2022.
In volume terms, Rs. 500 denomination constituted the highest share at 34.9 per cent, followed by Rs. 10 denomination bank notes, which constituted 21.3 per cent of the total bank notes in circulation as on March 31, 2022. The Rs. 500 denomination notes accounted for 31.1 per cent share at the end of March 2021 and 25.4 per cent as of March 2020. In value terms, these notes rose from 60.8 per cent to 73.3 per cent from March 2020 to March 2022.

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