DOC-20240627-WA0026.PDF

Regulatory Bodies By Veer Ashutosh Veer Ashutosh Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Banking and Financial Awareness from Important Newspapers: April 2024 PIB RBI Notifications SEBI Circulars Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for...

Regulatory Bodies By Veer Ashutosh Veer Ashutosh Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Banking and Financial Awareness from Important Newspapers: April 2024 PIB RBI Notifications SEBI Circulars Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books HDFC Bank to Divest 100% Stake in Education Arm: Shares in Focus SBI Mutual Fund Acquires 3% Stake in Savita Oil Technologies Karnataka Bank raises Rs 600 cr through qualified institutional placement. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books RBI’s DIGITA Initiative: Curbing Illegal Lending Apps. DIGITA will verify digital lending apps, aiding law enforcement by marking unverified apps as unauthorized. This enhances transparency and accountability in the sector. Digital India Trust Agency (DIGITA) RBI’s Collaboration with IT Ministry and Google Whitelisting Efforts: RBI has provided a list of 442 digital lending apps to the IT Ministry for whitelisting with Google, enhancing app legitimacy. App Removal by Google: Google has removed over 2,200 digital lending apps from its app store between September 2022 and August 2023, aligning with RBI’s regulatory directives. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books IRDAI announces final rules on surrender value from April 1. For non-single premium life insurance policies, a guaranteed surrender value will be provided upon payment of premiums for at least two consecutive years. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Merger Announcement: AU Small Finance Bank and Fincare Small Finance Bank SEBI Unveils SCORES 2.0: Enhancing Investor Complaint Redress System What is SCORES? SCORES is a web-based centralized grievance redress system of SEBI launched in 2011. SCORES enables investorsto lodge and follow up on their complaints and track the status of redressal of such complaints online from anywhere. This enables market intermediaries and listed companies to receive complaints online from investors, redress such complaints, and report redressal online. An investor who is not familiar with SCORES or does not have access to SCORES can lodge complaints in physical form at any of the offices of SEBI. Such complaints would be scanned and also uploaded in SCORES for processing. Complaints can be lodged on SCORES for any issues covered under the Sebi Act, Securities Contract Regulation Act, Depositories Act, and rules and regulations and provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Key Features of SCORES 2.0 It will feature reduced and uniform timelinesfor redressal of investor complaints, which is 21 calendar days from the date of receipt of the complaint. An auto-routing of complaintsto the concerned regulated entity will be facilitated to eliminate time lapses, if any, in the flow of complaints. Designated bodies will have to monitor the timely redressal of investors’ complaints. There will be two levels of review. The first review will be by the ‘designated body’ if the investor is dissatisfied with the resolution provided by the concerned regulated entity. The second review will be by SEBI if the investor is still dissatisfied after the first review. If there is non-adherenceto the prescribed timelines by the regulated entity, then there would be auto-escalation of the complaint to the next level. SCORES 2.0 will be integrated with the KYC Registration Agency database for easy registration of the investor on SCORES. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Canara Bank introduces Canara Heal, addressing healthcare expenses, and Canara Angel, a tailored savings account for women with unique benefits. Additional launches include Canara UPI 123PAY ASI. Digital SHG Initiative – Canara SHG e-MONEY: Launched in collaboration with RBIH to offer seamless doorstep digital services to Self-Help Groups (SHGs), marking a significant milestone in financial inclusivity. CCI Approval: Axis Bank’s Stake Acquisition in Max Life Insurance TATA AIG General Insurance Company Limited, a leading general insurance provider, has launched "Travel Guard Plus", a comprehensive travel insurance product that redefines complete coverage for travellers with an array of bundle plans. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books The World Bank projects India's output growth to reach 7.5 perecnt in FY24 before moderating to 6.6 percent in FY25. Star, PhonePe launch India's first monthly payment insurance policy UPI Usage Up By 56% Y-O-Y In H2 2023, Says Worldline India Digital Payments Report UPI transactions grew to 65.77 billion in H2 2023, while the total value of transactions surged by 44 per cent to Rs 99.68 trillion. UPI remained the dominant player in the payment system in India, though the average ticket size declined by 8 per cent from Rs. 1,648 to Rs. 1,515. The report said that the point of sale (PoS) terminals grew by 26 per cent to 8.56 million, with private sector banks dominating the space with 73 per cent market share and public sector banks accounting for 18 per cent. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions grew by 77 per cent, up from 21.84 billion in H2 2022 to 38.73 billion in H2 2023, while the value of transactions grew from Rs. 15.66 trillion to Rs. 25.43 trillion in the same period, a growth of 62 per cent y-o-y. For P2P transactions, the average ticket size grew 4 per cent y-o-y from Rs. 2,649 to Rs. 2,745, while that for P2M transactions decreased from Rs. 720 to Rs. 656, a drop of 9 per cent. In terms of volume and value, PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm were the dominant UPI app players. The total number of cards in circulation grew modestly, up by 6 per cent to 1.384 billion. Credit cards saw the highest growth y-o-y at 21 per cent to 97.9 million, followed by prepaid cards at 13 per cent to 325 million and debit cards at 2 per cent to 960.80 million. The top-five issuers of credit cards were HDFC Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, while the top-five issuers of debit cards were SBI, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India and HDFC Bank. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has deferred the implementation of new regulations governing exchange-traded forex derivatives to May 3. Exchange-traded currency derivatives are jointly regulated by RBI and Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). RBI permitted users of ETCDs to take positions up to $10 million per exchange without having to provide evidence on the underlying exposure. The limit of $10 million per exchange was subsequently amended and currently stands at a single limit of $100 million combined across all exchanges, Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books J&K Bank Introduces Virtual ATM Facility in Collaboration with Paymart India. The RBI has imposed a penalty of ₹1 crore on IDFC First Bank for non-compliance with certain directions on ‘Loans and Advances – Statutory and Other Restrictions’. The central bank has also imposed a penalty of ₹49.7 lakh on LIC Housing Finance for breach of norms. SIDBI Partners with KarmaLife to Offer Micro Loans for Gig Workers Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Sebi's security management systems, ops control get ISO certification The regulator has obtained the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification for Information Security Management System at the Primary Data Centre; Security Operations Control (SOC) and Network Operations Control (NOC) Operations; and Information Security Management System at the Disaster Recovery site State-owned Union Bank of India on has raised $500 million (about Rs 4,200 crore) from foreign markets to fund overseas business growth. The fund was arranged by Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai Branch Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Mudra Loans Surge Past ₹5 Lakh Crore Mark in FY24 Disbursements totaled ₹5.20 lakh crore, a significant increase from ₹4.40 lakh crore in the previous fiscal year. Notably, nearly 70% of the beneficiaries of these loans are women. ICICI Lombard Partners with Policybazaar to Expand Insurance Distribution HDFC Bank Becomes First Private Bank to Open Branch in Lakshadweep Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books India’s unicorn count down for the first time since 2017: Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2024 The US continued to lead the unicorn tally with 703 unicorns followed by China with 340 unicorns and India with 67 unicorns. Hurun’s previous years’ unicorn index reported 68 unicorns in India in 2023 and 2022, 54 in 2021, and 21 in 2020 and 2019. According to the report, Indian founders co-founded 109 unicorns outside of India in comparison to just 67 in India. Hoogewerf said that of the unicorns founded outside of India, significantly all were in the USA (95), led by the Bay Area, with 4 in the UK, 3 in Singapore and 2 in Germany. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books General Insurance industry grows 12.78% in FY24 Non-life insurers posted a 12.78 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in gross direct premium underwritten in 2023-24 (FY24), reaching Rs 2.89 trillion, compared to 16.4 per cent in the previous financial year. Public sector general insurers clocked an 8.99 per cent growth in premium to Rs 90,344.49 crore, whereas their private sector counterparts witnessed a 17.53 per cent increase to Rs 1.55 trillion. The State Bank of India (SBI) and Standard Chartered Bank India carried out a Credit Default Swap (CDS) trade worth ₹25 crore on 4th April 2024. This marked the first such transaction after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued fresh guidelines for the instrument. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Bengaluru-based fintech firm PhonePe have entered into a two-year strategic partnership to promote the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for Indians travelling in Singapore. The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has informed that its online Aadhaar ATM (AEPS) service allows customers to receive cash in the comfort of their homes without even visiting a bank or the nearest ATM. Maximum transaction Limit is 10,000/-. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) upgrades India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for fiscal year (FY) 2024 ending on 31 March 2025 from 6.7% to 7% and 7.2% in FY2025. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Bengaluru-based fintech firm PhonePe have entered into a two-year strategic partnership to promote the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for Indians travelling in Singapore. The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has informed that its online Aadhaar ATM (AEPS) service allows customers to receive cash in the comfort of their homes without even visiting a bank or the nearest ATM. Maximum transaction Limit is 10,000/-. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) upgrades India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for fiscal year (FY) 2024 ending on 31 March 2025 from 6.7% to 7% and 7.2% in FY2025. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Neobank Revolut India gets in-principle nod for PPI license from RBI NPS assets under management record 30.5% YoY growth in 2023-24 to touch ₹ 11.73 lakh Crore (₹ 8.98 lakh crore). This growth was largely fuelled by the 9.47 lakh new subscribers who onboarded NPS from the non-government sector. Of these 9.47 lakh new subscribers, 8.10 lakh were from the ‘all citizen model ‘ and 1.37 lakh were Corporate employees. The total number of NPS and APY subscribers as of March 31 this year stood at 7.36 crore, up 16.28 per cent over 6.32 crore in year ago. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) has invested $200 million (over Rs 1,650 crore) in iBus Network And Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, a digital infrastructure solutions company in India, to support the growth of the country's digital infrastructure. NIIF is a government-backed entity established to provide long-term capital to the country’s infrastructure sector. The Indian government has a 49% stake in NIIF with the rest held by foreign and domestic investors. It was set up in December 2015 as a Category-II Alternate Investment Fund. NIIF manages about $5 billion of capital commitments across four funds, each with its distinct investment strategy. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Karnataka Bank has partnered with FISDOM to offer 3-in-1 (savings, demat and trading accounts) through the bank's mobile banking app 'KBL Mobile Plus’. CAMS receives RBI approval to operate as online payment aggregator Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC) has entered into a strategic partnership with Bank of India (BOI) to introduce mortgage guarantee-backed home loan products. LIC Increases Equity Stake in Hindustan Unilever by Over 5% RBI’s Ban on Bank of Baroda World App: Strengthening Measures Against Cyber Fraud. SBI Life Launches IdeationX: Pioneering Life Insurance Innovation Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Funding among Indian fintech startups surged 59 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) to $551 million in the first quarter (Q1) of calendar year (CY) 2024, up from $346 million in the previous quarter, according to a report by market intelligence platform Tracxn. India ranked third globally in terms of funding raised by fintech companies, behind the US and China PayU partners with PayPal to enhance cross border payments for Indian merchants Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services has entered a joint venture with BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, to foray into wealth management and broking businesses in the country. The company had already partnered with BlackRock to launch an asset management business in India. Jana Small Finance Bank announced that it has partnered with Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Ltd to offer life insurance products to the customers of the bank. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Senior citizen deposits total Rs 34 lakh crore, a 150% growth in 5 years UNCTAD pegged Indian economy's growth at 6.5% for 2024 against the 6.7% growth recorded the previous year. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Amidst a critical phase of preparing for a ₹300 crore rights issue, Dhanlaxmi Bank secures RBI approval for Ajith Kumar KK as its new Managing Director & CEO. Bandhan Life Insurance, formerly known as Aegon Life Insurance, has rebranded itself with the tagline ‘Bharat Ki Udaan, Bandhan Se’, reflecting its commitment to empowering the aspirations of India. Airtel Payments Bank Launches NCMC-enabled Debit and Prepaid Cards Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Three Indian Banks Lead in Asia-Pacific: Top 50 Rankings by Assets. The report reveals that SBI, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank have secured positions among the top 50 banks in the Asia- Pacific region based on their assets, marking significant progress for Indian banks. The collective assets of these banks surged by an impressive 50.5% year-on-year to $1.51 trillion in 2023. State Bank of India holds the 20th position, HDFC Bank ranks 33rd, and ICICI Bank occupies the 48th spot in the prestigious rankings. PHDCCI predicts India's economy to grow at 8-8.3% this fiscal year, reaching a GDP of USD 34.7 trillion by 2047. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Amazon Pay is planning to kick off credit services on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform as part of a deal with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Banker Deepak S Parekh resigns as HDFC Life Chairman, succeeded by Keki Mistry pending IRDA approval. IRDAI marks 25th anniversary with slew of regulatory reforms Final rules on surrender value: Policies surrendered within three years saw a decrease in surrender value, while those surrendered between the fourth and seventh years witnessed a marginal increase. Mandatory e-insurance: IRDAI mandated the digitisation of insurance policies across all categories to streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and improve accessibility for policyholders. Revisions to health insurance regulations: Key revisions include trimming the pre-existing condition waiting period from four years to three and lowering the moratorium period from eight years to five. Moreover Age restriction in health insurance is removed. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Kotak Mahindra Bank Share Plunges 10% on RBI Action National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) unveiled its Climate Strategy 2030 document which aims to address India’s need for green financing. Accelerating Green Lending Market-Making Role Internal Green Transformation Strategic Resource Mobilisation India requires approximately $170 billion annually to reach a cumulative total of over $2.5 trillion by 2030 As of 2019-20, India garnered about $49 billion in green financing, merely a fraction of what is needed. With the majority of funds earmarked for mitigation, only $5 billion was allocated towards adaptation and resilience, reflecting the minimal private sector engagement in these areas due to challenges in bankability and commercial viability Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books AU Small Finance Bank (AU SFB) launched an array of products including Rupay credit card and ATM insurance. Among the latest offerings are two innovative credit cards: the AU SPONT Rupay Credit Card and Secured Credit Card - NOMO (No Missing Out), developed in collaboration with NPCI and VISA, respectively. The NOMO Credit Card marks AU SFB's debut into the realm of secured credit cards, backed by a fixed deposit. First time in Indian banking industry, AU SFB has launched ATM Insurance, for the convenience of customers to buy insurance through AU SFB's ATMs with their debit card. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books SBI Card MILES Launches Three Travel-Focused Credit Card Variants IndusInd Bank, in collaboration with Circularity Innovation Hub India Private Limited (CIH), has achieved a significant milestone by successfully executing the Reserve Bank of India’s pilot program on programmable Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This pioneering initiative aims to revolutionize agricultural finance by targeting farmers for carbon credit generation. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Nabard partners with RBI Innovation Hub to fast-track digital agri lending. NABARD said it will integrate its e-KCC loan origination system portal with the Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit (PTPFC) of Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI. Through the integration with PTPFC, about 351 district and state cooperative banks and 43 RRBs will gain access to a range of services including digital state land records, satellite data, KYC, credit history and transliteration for more effective credit underwriting The collaboration will streamline the lending process and reduce the turnaround time for loans from three to four weeks to just five minutes for India's 120 million farmers Groww Mutual Fund has received SEBI's approval to launch the Nifty Non-Cyclical Consumer Index Fund through a new fund offering (NFO) Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Hitachi Payment Services introduces upgradable ATMs in India, offering banks flexibility to convert them into Cash Recycling Machines (CRMs) as needed. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Commercial Paper Issuances Surge to Four-Year High. RBI's move to raise risk weights on bank loans to NBFCs prompts a spike in quarterly commercial paper (CP) issuances. HDFC Life, one of India's leading insurers, and Peerless Financial Products Distribution Ltd. (PFPDL) have entered into a corporate agency tie-up. This partnership would enable PFPDL to distribute life insurance products of HDFC Life to its customers. Ericsson and the Foundation for Innovation & Research in Science & Technology (F.I.R.S.T) at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur have announced a two-year strategic partnership to drive innovation in Mobile Financial Services (MFS) and Fintech solutions. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed Gurugram-based company TalkCharge to refund the prepaid funds held in the wallets of its customers. This directive comes as TalkCharge has been issuing Prepaid Payment Instruments (Wallets) without proper authorisation from the central bank. Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books Use Code: Y581 for Video Courses and Y581S for Test Series and E-Books RBI/SEBI Circular Refer the Separate files that have been provided for RBI and SEBI Circulars