Current Affairs search results for tag: economicsbusiness

1. Economics/ Business

Tags: Economics/Business

1. NSE launches Digital Index

• NSE Indices, the subsidiary company of National Stock Exchange (NSE) has launched Nifty India Digital Index.
• This is a sector specific index which aims to track the performance of a portfolio of stocks that broadly represent the Digital theme within basic industries like software, e-commerce, IT enabled services, industrial electronics and telecom services companies.
• The Nifty Digital Index will include stocks of 30 largest companies in the chosen    basic industries sectors.
• The index is expected to act as a benchmark for asset managers and be a reference index tracked by passive funds in the form of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), index funds and structured products.
• The base date for the index is April 01, 2005 and base value is 1000. Index reconstitution will be done on a semi-annual basis.

2. WPI Inflation at 13 months high

• Wholesale Inflation in India increased to 14.2% in the November month 2021 as compared to 2.29% in November 2020.
• This was the eight successive month that saw wholesale inflation inflation in double digits.
• This was also the highest wholesale inflation since 1991. 

3. ADB reduces India’s expected growth rate for 2021-22.

• The Asian Development Bank has released its Asian Development Outlook Report.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has marginally lowered its growth projection for the Indian economy to 9.7% in 2021-22, from 10% estimated in September.
• The bank cited the lower than expected 8.4% growth in the July to September quarter and expects supply chain factors such as chip shortages and rising semiconductor prices to continue to suppress growth.

4. 12,892 companies removed from Registrar of Companies in 2020-21

• According to the Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, 12,982 companies' licences have been cancelled by the Registrar of Companies in 2020-21.
• Under section 248(2) of the Companies Act 2013, the Registrar of Companies has the power to remove a company from its list of companies and cancel its license.

5. Bengaluru based Neo-banking platform Open acquires Finin

• Bengaluru based, Google-backed business-focused Open has acquired consumer neobanking startup Finin for $10 million in a cash-and-stock deal. 
• Open, is Asia’s first neobanking platform for SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) and startups.
• It operates an SME banking platform and also provides banks with infrastructure to launch their own digital banks.

6. PMJDY accounts increased from 60.38% in March’17 to 85.70% in November’21

• According to the Government of India the number of Pradhan Mantri Jandhan Yojana (PMJDY) account holders in India was 43.94 crore and 31.78 crore Rupay Debit card was issued to the PMJDY account holder as on 24 November 2021. 
• It covers 85.70% of the household in India as of November 2021.
• It was 60.38%in March 2017.

7. RBI fines ICICI bank and PNB

• Reserve Bank of India has imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakhs on the ICICI bank for not following the RBI direction on the “levy of charges on customer for the non maintenance of minimum balance in Saving accounts “
• RBI has fined Punjab National Bank Rs 1.80 crore for not following RBI directions on holding shares of a company as collateral .

8. PSU Banks go on 2-days strike

• Bank unions under the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) have declared a nationwide strike on December 16 and 17 against the proposed privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs).
• The Public sector bank unions demand that the government withdraw the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
• The Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (has not been introduced in the parliament) will enable the privatisation of the two public sector banks in India.
• NITI Aayog has shortlisted Indian Overseas Bank and Central Bank of India for the proposed privatisation of the public sector banks.
• The strike has been called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine unions, including the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW).

9. Indian and Vietnam sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) towards promoting scientific and technical cooperation in marine science and ecology

• The agreement was signed between the Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr.Jitendra Singh and the visiting Vietnamese   Natural resources & Environment Minister, Tran Hong Ha.
• The MoU is the first agreement related to marine science and ecology between the two countries.

10. INDIA, KFW sign Euro 442.26 million loan for Surat Metro Rail Project

• The Government of India and the Germany Development Bank – KFW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau)  signed a Euro 442.26 million loan for the Surat Metro Rail project in Gujarat.
• The total cost of the project is Euro 1.50 billion, out of which KfW is financing Euro 442.26 million. 
• The project is co-financed by the French Development Agency, AFD (Agence Française de Développement) which will provide a Euro 250 million loan.
• The total length of the Surat Metro is 40.35 Km.

11. IFSCA sets up a committee for creating a Framework for transfer of stressed loans from domestic lenders to permitted financial institutions in IFSC

• The International Financial Services Service Authority (IFSCA) has set up a committee to create a framework for transfer of stressed loans from domestic lenders to permitted financial institutions in the International Financial Service Center (IFSC).
•  Chairman of the committee : Shri G. Padmanabhan, Former Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India
• Stressed loan means a loan which is not being repaid by the borrower on time and has defaulted on its loan repayment.

12. Hindalco to buy Hydro’s aluminium extrusion plant in Andhra Pradesh

• Hindalco Industries Ltd. of the Aditya Birla Group will buy  Hydro’s aluminium extrusions enterprise in India for ₹247 crore.
• Hydro is a Norwegian company which has a 15000 tonnes per annum   aluminium extrusion plant at Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh.

13. ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel to set up a steel plant in Odisha

• The Government of Odisha has approved the Investment proposal of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel to set up an integrated steel plant in Kendrapara district of Odisha with an investment of Rs.1.02 lakh crore.
• ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel, is a  joint venture between the world’s 2nd largest steel manufacturing company, ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel.
• The integrated plant will have steel-making capacity of 24 million tonnes per annum and will generate 16,000 direct employment. 
• The approved project is the largest project in the manufacturing sector in the country. 
• This facility will also produce 18.75 million tonnes of cement annually, making it the largest cement manufacturing plants in the country

Note: 

• ArcelorMittal is based in Luxembourg, Europe.
• Nippon Steel is based in Tokyo, Japan.

14. HPCL Launches High Octane Power100 Fuel

1. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited has launched the Power100 ultra-premium fuel for supercars and bikes. 
2. Power100 is one of the highest octane rating petrol in India. 
3. It has superior anti-knocking properties to improve engine power resulting in faster acceleration, better fuel economy, and smooth ride.
4. XP100 by Indian Oil is the first and the only other 100 Octane fuel in India.

2. Economics/Business

Tags: Economics/Business

1. Contribution of Manufacturing of MSME sector

In a statement to the Rajya Sabha the Union Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprise(MSME) Narayan Rane gave information about the contribution of the MSME sector in Indian Economy:

• The  share of the MSME manufacturing in All India manufacturing gross value output during the year 2018-19 and 2019-20 were 36.9% and 36.9% respectively.
• The share of export of specified MSME related products to All India exports during 2019-20 and 2020-21 was 49.8% and 49.4% respectively.

2. City Union Bank Launches payment keychain “On the Go”

• Private sector lender City Union Bank (CUB), in collaboration with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and manufacturing partner Seshaasai, has unveiled ‘On-the-Go’ contactless wearable keychains for debit cards.
• The device would enable customers to make fast payments up to ₹5,000 in all RuPay enabled point-of-sale devices without entering a PIN,
• For payments above ₹5,000, customers would need to tap and then enter the PIN.

Headquarters of City Union Bank :Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu.

3. RBI to extend UPI to feature ­phone users

The UPI facility will soon be extended to feature phone users. At the moment, the unified payments interface (UPI) — the single largest retail payments system in the country in terms of volume of transactions for small value payments — is available only for smartphones.

• It will help to further deepen digital payments and make them more inclusive, ease transactions for consumers, facilitate greater participation of retail customers in various segments of financial markets and to enhance the capacity of service providers.
• This will be done by leveraging innovative products from the RBI’s regulatory sandbox on retail payments.

4. RBI to mop up surplus liquidity as it ‘rebalances

The monetary policy panel of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to increase the amount of money absorbed through variable-rate reverse repo (VRRR) auctions.

• Variable-rate reverse repo (VRRR)is a tool used by RBI to absorb excess liquidity from the banking system. Since Jan 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been taking out about ₹2 lakh crore from the banking system every two weeks. It has now decided to increase that figure substantially by around 14 Lakh Crore by the next two fortnights till the end of December 2021.

5. Paytm Payments Bank gets ‘scheduled bank’ status from RBI

• Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has included “Paytm Payments Bank Limited”, a subsidiary of One97 Communications, in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
• As per RBI Act 1934, banks satisfying the RBI that its affairs are not being conducted in a manner detrimental to the interests of its depositors, are included in the second schedule.

6. Imports made up 86% of India's gold supply between 2016-2020: WGC

According to the   World Gold Council(WGC)’s ‘Bullion Trade in India’ report:

• Imports made up 86% of India’s gold supply between 2016-2020, and inbound shipments continue to grow despite high import duty.
• In 2020, India imported 377 tonnes of gold bars and dore from over 30 countries, of which 55% came from just two countries — Switzerland (44%) and the UAE (11%).

3. Economics/Business

Tags: Economics/Business

1. Visa complains to US govt about India backing local rival RuPay

• The Visa company issued a statement to the U.S. during a meeting between company executives, including U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Catherine Tai and CEO Alfred Kelly. It has complained to the government that domestic payments rival RuPay is promoting India's "informal and formal" manner. Due to this, American Visa Company has suffered loss in India.

2. Government approves strategic disinvestment of Central Electronics Ltd.

• The Union Government announced that it has approved the strategic divestment of Central Electronics Ltd (CEL) - a CPSE under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).
• The winning bid was by Nandal Finance and Leasing Ltd for Rs 210 crore.
• The Alternative Mechanism (AM) on strategic disinvestment comprises Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh.

3. Direct tax collection grew by 68%

• According to the Union Minister of State of Finance, the Net Direct Tax Collection figures for the FY- 2021-22 as on 23.11.2021 are at Rs 6,92,833.6 crore showing a growth of 67.93 percent and 27.29 percent over the net collection figures for the corresponding period FY 2020-21 and FY 2019-20.

4. RBI Supersede Reliance Capital Board

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on November 29 said it has superseded the board of Reliance Capital due to the defaults of the company in meeting various payment obligations.

RBI has appointed  Nageswar Rao Y, former executive director of Bank of Maharashtra as the Administrator of the Company.

5. Indian Economy grew by 8.4% in July-September 2021-22(2nd Quarter). 

The National Statistics Office, under the  Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, has released the economic data regarding the second quarter (July-September) of  2021-22. 

• The Gross Domestic Product(GDP)at constant price grew by 8.4% as compared to the same period last financial year.
• The growth rate in the first six month of the current financial year is 13.7 %.

6. GST Collection Increased

Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections hit ₹1,31,526 crore in November, the second highest since the GST was implemented in July 2017 and the second month in a row that collections have crossed ₹1.3 lakh crore.

• Revenues for November were 25% higher than the same month last year and 27% over the pre-pandemic levels of 2019-20.

7. 30 Billion Dollar of India-China Trade Deficit in First two quarters of Financial Year 2021-22

• India’s trade deficit with China stood at $30.07 billion during April­-September 2021 as per Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

8. Debt to GDP Ratio of States Worrying as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Report

The Combined Debt ­to GDP ratio of states is expected to remain at 31% by end­ March 2022

This is published by RBI in its report ‘State Finances: A Study of Budgets of 2021­-22’

According to the report the target was 20% for 2021-22, so the estimated figures are really worrying.

9. Export Dip widens Trade Deficit to record 23.27 Billion Dollars

• India’s merchandise exports (also known as tangible exports or retail exports) slipped below the $30 ­billion mark for the first time in eight months in November to $29.88 billion, even as imports rose sharply