1. Apple becomes first company to hit $3 trillion market value
Tags: Economics/Business
Apple Inc became the first company in the world to have a $3 trillion stock market value.
- Investors believe that the consumers will continue to purchase Apple's iPhones, MacBooks and services such as Apple TV and Apple Music.
- Apple shared the $2 trillion market value club with Microsoft Corp, which is now worth about $2.5 trillion. Alphabet, Amazon.com Inc and Tesla have market values above $1 trillion.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Apple is: Tim Cook
The Headquarters of Apple: Cupertino, California, United States
2. India spent record $55.7 bn on gold imports in 2021
Tags: Economics/Business
India splurged a record $55.7 billion on gold imports in 2021, buying more than double the previous year’s total weightage.
- India is the world's second biggest gold consuming nation after China.
- India imports most of its gold from Switzerland followed by the UAE.
- This is majorly due to the price drop which favoured retail buyers and also due to increased demand for weddings that were delayed when the pandemic first hit.
- The 2021 gold import bill easily doubled the $22 billion spent in 2020, and surpassed the previous high, set in 2011, of $53.9 billion.
- In volume, India imported 1,050 tonnes in 2021 compared to the 430 tonnes imported in 2020. This amount is the highest in the last decade.
3. RBI approves small offline e-payment
Tags: Economics/Business
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 3rd January 2022, issued a framework allowing offline payments up to Rs 200 per transaction, subject to an overall limit of Rs 2,000.
- The offline digital payment means a transaction that does not require internet or telecommunication Connectivity and payments can be carried out face-to-face (proximity mode) using any channel or instrument like cards, wallets, and mobile devices.
Delayed Alerts
- These transactions will not require an additional factor of authentication (AFA).
- Since the transactions are offline, alerts (SMS and / or e-mail) will be received by the customer after a time lag.
Push to digital transactions:
- These offline transactions are expected to give a push to digital transactions in areas with poor or weak internet or telecom connectivity, particularly in semi-urban and rural areas.
- The framework incorporates the feedback received from the pilot experiments on offline transactions conducted in different parts of the country during the period from September 2020 to June 2021.
Important Point:
The overall limit for all transactions is of Rs 2,000 until the balance in the account is replenished. Balance replenishment can only occur in an online mode.
Reserve Bank of India
Headquarters: Mumbai
Founded: 1st April 1935
Governor: Shaktikanta Das
4. Railways earned ₹500 cr. from Tatkal ticket sale
Tags: Economics/Business
The Indian Railways has earned ₹403 crore from tatkal ticket fares, an additional ₹119 crore from premium tatkal ticket fares, and ₹511 crore from dynamic changes in 2020-21.
- The national transporter earned ₹1,033 crore from these three categories in the financial year 2020-21 despite much of its normal operations remaining suspended through most of the year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- The transporter had earned ₹1,313 crore from dynamic fares, ₹1,669 from tatkal tickets and ₹603 crore from premium tatkal tickets in 2019-20, when there were no restrictions in train operations.
The Railways said that it earned ₹240 crore from dynamic fares, ₹353 crore from tatkal tickets and ₹89 crore from premium tatkal charges in the financial year 2021-22 till September.
5. ATM withdrawal charges increased
Tags: Economics/Business
From 1 January 2022, banks have increased the penalty charges on the ATM withdrawal beyond the permissible limit.
RBI has allowed the banks to impose a maximum fine of Rs 21 plus GST of 18% on per excess ATM transaction.
According to the RBI:
- Banks have to allow its account holder a minimum three free transactions from other bank ATMs (financial and/or non-financial) in metros and five in non-metros per month
- Banks have to allow its account holder a minimum five free transactions (financial and/or non-financial) every month from their own bank ATMs.
- Financial transaction means withdrawal of cash from ATM
- Non-financial transaction means non cash transaction like balance enquiry, etc.
- Metro ATM transaction means transaction done in ATMs located in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad .
- ATM stands for Automated Teller Machine
6. RBI Data on Indian Economy
Tags: Economics/Business
RBI has released Developments in India’s Balance of Payments during the Second Quarter (July-September) of 2021-22 report.
Key Features of India’s Balance of Payment in second quarter of 2021-22:
- India’s current account balance recorded a deficit of US$ 9.6 billion (1.3 percent of GDP) in second quarter in 2021-22 as against a surplus of US$ 6.6 billion (0.9 percent of GDP) in first quarter of 2021-22
- The deficit in the current account in second quarter of 2021-22 was mainly due to widening of trade deficit to US$ 44.4 billion from US$ 30.7 billion in the preceding quarter and an increase in net outgo of investment income.
- Net foreign direct investment recorded an inflow of US$ 9.5 billion, lower than US$ 24.4 billion a year ago.
- Net foreign portfolio investment was US$ 3.9 billion as compared with US$ 7.0 billion in second quarter 2020-21.
7. Wheat Export Jumps to $872 mn in April-Oct 2021
Tags: Economics/Business
- In the first seven months (April-October) of the current financial year (2021-22), India’s wheat exports in terms of volume rose by more than 527 per cent to 3.2 Million Tonne (MT) from 0.51 MT reported during April-October period of 2020-21.
- In terms of value, India’s wheat exports in the current fiscal (April – October) rose by 546 per cent to $ 872 million from $ 135 million reported during the same period of the previous fiscal.
- Bangladesh was the main export market for Indian Wheat.
- In 2020-21,The top ten importing countries for Indian wheat were Bangladesh, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar, Indonesia, Oman and Malaysia.
Note
- India is the largest exporter of Rice in the world and in wheat it is not even in the top 10 exporting countries.
- One million is equal to 10 Lakhs.
8. IRDAI extends D-SII tag of LIC,GIC and New India Insurance
Tags: Economics/Business
- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has kept government owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC),and New India Insurance as Domestic Systemically Important Insurers (D-SIII) for 2021-22.
- Last year also the same insurance companies were in the D-SIII list.
- D-SIII means that they are so important to the insurance sector in India that if any of these companies fails then it will cause massive problems for the insurance sector as a whole.
- D-SIII means these companies are perceived to be too big or too important to fail.
- These Companies will be subjected to close watch and regulation of the IRDAI.
IRDAI
- It was set up in 1999
- Its Headquarters is at Hyderabad
- It is the regulator of the Insurance sector in India.
- It was set up on the recommendation of R.N. Malhotra Committee set up by the government of India in 1993 on the Insurance sector.
9. Government forms a panel on Energy Transition Strategy
Tags: Economics/Business
- The Government of India has set up the Energy Transition Advisory Committee headed by former petroleum secretary Mr. Tarun Kapoor.
- The committee will suggest a transition roadmap for the oil and gas sector so that India can achieve its target of zero carbon emissions by 2070.
10. Government asks banks to lend only on negotiable Warehouse receipts
Tags: Economics/Business
- The Government of India has asked the bank to provide loans only against Negotiable Warehouse Receipt(NWR) and electronic-NWR or e-NWR.
- This will encourage more warehouses to seek WADA(Warehouse Development Regulatory Authority ) registration and help in the development of the organised Warehousing system in India .
- At present only 10% of the warehouses in the country are registered with WADA.
- Farmers and businessmen can store their agricultural produce in WADA registered warehouses and can get a loan from banks against the receipt issued by the warehouses.
- RBI has recently increased the loan limit for banks lending against NWR and e-NWR to Rs 70 Lakh from Rs 30 Lakhs per borrower .
- However, RBI did not increase the loan limit of the NWR issued by non regulated warehouses.
According to the Government of India the total cold storage capacity is 37.83 million tonnes and the warehouse capacity is 173.65 million tonnes in India.
