Daily Current Affairs March 23 2023

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BANKING & FINANCE

RBI imposes Rs 2.27 crore penalty on RBL Bank for non-compliance

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹2.27 crore on private sector lender RBL Bank for not complying with certain directives on loan recovery agents.
• The RBI noticed “deficiencies in regulatory compliance” after it examined complaints received against the Mumbai-based lender’s recovery agents during the financial years 2018-19 to 2021-22.
• The penalty has been imposed for non-compliance with certain provisions of the directions issued by it on ‘Internal Ombudsman Scheme, 2018’, ‘Fair Practices Code for Lenders’, ‘Credit Card Operations of Banks’, ‘Managing Risks and Code of Conduct in Outsourcing of Financial Services by banks’ and ‘Recovery Agents engaged by Banks’.

About RBL Bank : 

• Founded : 1943.
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• MD & CEO : R. Subramaniakumar
• RBL Bank, formerly known as Ratnakar Bank, is an Indian private sector bank.

Axis Bank & Autotrac Finance Limited enters into co-lending partnership through Yubi   

• Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank and Autotrac Finance Limited Ltd (AFL), a Gurgaon based Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) , announced its strategic partnership under the co-lending model through the Yubi Co.Lend platform.
• Through this partnership, both lenders will offer ‘New Tractor Loans’ for the Agricultural and Allied activities to cater the financial needs of the rural segment in India.

Key Highlights : 

• The partnership will leverage the wide customer experience of Autotrac Finance and deep financial expertise of Axis Bank to enable easy credit availability for farmers at an optimal interest rate.
• The digital co-lending platform allows the partnership to scale-up fast at a lower operating cost, offering a superior customer experience.
• Autotrac Finance has an advantage of ready access to a robust customer base and dealers across rural and semi-urban regions in 18 States.

About Yubi : 

• Headquarters : Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
• Founder and CEO : Gaurav Kumar
• Yubi, formerly known as CredAvenue, is an Indian fintech company that connects businesses with financial institutions, banks and other lenders through its digital platform.

About AFL : 

• AFL is the wholly-owned subsidiary of International Tractors Limited, with a focus on rural and agri-business finance.

About Axis Bank : 

• Founded : 3 December 1993
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• MD & CEO : Amitabh Chaudhry
• Tagline : Badhti Ka Naam Zindagi

PSU banks’ gross NPA declines from 14.6% in Mar 2018 to 5.53% in Dec 2022     

• The government has taken various reforms following which asset quality of public sector banks (PSBs) has improved significantly with gross NPA ratio declining from the peak of 14.6% in March 2018 to 5.53% in December 2022.
• All PSBs are in profit with aggregate profit being ₹66,543 crore in 2021-22, and that further increased to ₹70,167 crore in the first 9 months of the current financial year.
• At the same time, resilience has increased with the provision coverage ratio of PSBs rising from 46% to 89.9% in December 2022.

Key Highlights : 

• Adding capital adequacy ratio of PSBs improved significantly from 11.5% in March 2015 to 14.5% in December 2022.
• Total market cap of PSBs (excluding IDBI Bank, which was categorised as private sector bank in January 2019) increased from ₹4.52 lakh crore in March 2018 to ₹10.63 lakh crore in December 2022.
• The government implemented a comprehensive 4R strategy of Recognising NPAs transparently, Resolution and recovery, Recapitalising PSBs, and Reforms in the financial ecosystem.
• As per the information provided by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), the total estimated vehicle fleet is 30.48 crore (excluding data from Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Lakshadweep), of which 16.54 crore vehicles are uninsured.
• Since 2016, government has given ‘in-principle’ approval for strategic disinvestment of 36 cases of public sector enterprises (PSEs) and/or subsidiaries/ units/ joint ventures of PSEs/ banks.
• Of the 36 cases, 33 are being handled by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and 3 cases are being handled by the respective Administrative Ministry/Department.

New York Community Bank to buy failed Signature Bank for $2.7 billion                                

• According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), New York Community Bank has agreed to buy a significant chunk of the Signature Bank in a $2.7 billion deal after it became the third-largest US bank to fail since the 2008 crisis.

Key Highlights : 

• The 40 branches of Signature Bank will become Flagstar Bank.
• Flagstar is one of New York Community Bank’s subsidiaries.
• The deal will include the purchase of $38.4 billion in Signature Bank’s assets, a little more than a third of Signature’s total when the bank failed a week ago.
• The $60 billion in Signature Bank’s loans will remain in receivership and will get sold off in time.
• Signature Bank was the second bank to collapse, roughly 48 hours after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
• The New York- based lender in the tristate area in recent years focused on cryptocurrencies as a potential growth business.
• After Silicon Valley Bank failed, depositors became nervous about Signature Bank’s health due to its high amount of uninsured deposits as well as its exposure to crypto and other tech-focused lending.
• By the time it was closed by regulators, Signature Bank was the third largest bank failure in U.S. history.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

CCI Clears Reliance Retail’s Acquisition Of Metro Cash & Carry India

• The Competition Commission of India has approved Reliance Retail Ventures’ (RRVL’s) acquisition of METRO Cash & Carry India for a cash consideration of Rs 2,850 crore.
• RRVL is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, while METRO Cash & Carry India is engaged in wholesale operations in India.
• In December last year, RRVL had signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 100 per cent stake in the German firm Metro AG’s wholesale operations in India.
• METRO India began operations in India in 2003 and was the first company to introduce a cash-and-carry business format in the country.
• It currently operates 31 large format stores across 21 cities with about 3,500 employees.
• Steffen Greubel, chief executive officer, METRO AG.

About CCI:

• Founded: 14 October 2003
• First executive: Dhanendra Kumar
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Chairperson: Ashok Kumar Gupta

Loans worth over Rs 30,000 crore sanctioned to women entrepreneurs since 2016

• Under the Stand-Up India scheme, 1.75 lakh loans amounting to Rs 39,517 crore as of February has been sanctioned since the launch in April 2016.
• A total of 1.40 lakh loans amounting to Rs 32,161 crore were sanctioned to women entrepreneurs.
• The data was shared by the minister of state in the finance ministry Bhagwat Karad in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
• Launched in April 2016, the scheme facilitates loans from SCBs between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to at least one SC or ST borrower and one-woman borrower per bank branch.
• The purpose of granting the loan is for setting up of greenfield enterprise in the manufacturing, services or trading sector.

Yuva Utsav on theme of ‘Panch Pran of Amrit Kaal- India @2047’ organised in Mizoram

• The first ever of its kind, a Yuva Utsav on the theme of ‘Panch Pran of Amrit Kaal – India @2047’ was organised in Siaha district of Mizoram.
• The festival, which is being organised by the Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) all across the country, has evoked huge enthusiasm among the students and youth of the district.
• On the occasion, Chief Guest of the programme, local legislator Dr. K.Beichhua Siaha said that it is a huge opportunity for the youth to take part in va rious talent hunt programs in the Youth Festival.
• The Yuva Ustav is being celebrated marking the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in the spirit of Yuva Shakti.
• It aims to spread the ideals and values of India’s Freedom Struggle and to generate appreciation about the diverse spiritual and cultural heritage of the country among the masses.

“Women and Men in India 2022” released: MoSPI

• Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the 24th issue of “Women and Men in India 2022” (an annual statistics released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation).
• India’s sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) is expected to improve to 952 by 2036, up significantly from 943 in 2011, according to the Women and Men in India 2022 report released.
• The sex ratio at birth went up by three points to 907 in 2018-20 from 904 in 2017-19, the report by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation noted.
• But women are still largely left out of the labour force, restricting their scope of financial independence.
• India’s Labour Force Participation Rate defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force in the population for those above 15 years of age has been on the rise since 2017-2018.
• However, women are severely lagging behind men.
• The rate was 77.2 for males and 32.8 for females in 2021-22, with no improvement in this disparity over the years, the report showed.
• The average wage earned per day by casual labourers in work other than public works only further highlights the disparity men in rural areas earn more than women in urban areas.

IFFCO, Coal India to manufacture Nano DAP for three years: govt

• The government said fertiliser cooperative major IFFCO and state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) will manufacture Nano DAP for a period of three years.
• Di Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is the second most widely consumed fertiliser after urea in the country.
• A notification in this regard was issued, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwanth Khuba said in his written reply to the Lok Sabha.
• The minister further said IFFCO has informed that it is setting up a Nano DAP plant at its Kalol unit, Gujarat with a production capacity of 2 lakh bottles of 500 ml per day.
• The report has indicated that with the use of Nano DAP as seed treatment and foliar application, there is a possibility of saving of granular DAP (Di Ammonium Phosphate) conventionally applied.
• Nano DAP is the second product from the nano stable after nano urea that is being promoted in a big way by the government to cut subsidies and promote efficient use of plant chemicals.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : STATE NEWS

Maharashtra Government to launch second phase of Jalyukt Shivar project                                        

• Government of Maharashtra has decided to launch the second phase of Jalyukt Shivar project.
• It is a scheme that targets drought-prone areas by Undertaking water conservation measures.

Aim : 

• To make the state drought-free by removing water scarcity in 5000 villages per year.

Key Highlights : 

• The scheme attempts to arrest maximum run-off water during the monsoon months, in village areas known to receive less rainfall..
• Under the scheme, decentralised water bodies are installed at various locations within villages to enhance the groundwater recharge.
• he ‘Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyaan’ was started in 2014.
• In the first phase, planned during 2015 – 2019, Jalyukta Shivar envisaged making 5,000 villages drought-free, every year.

About Maharashtra : 

• Governor : Ramesh Bais
• Chief Minister : Eknath Shinde
• Capital : Mumbai
• National Park : Tadoba National Park, Navegaon National Park
• Wildlife Sanctuary : Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, Rehekuri Blackbuck Sanctuary

CURRENT AFFAIRS : ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

HSBC buys UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank for ₹99, gets deposits worth US$ 8.1bn                                

• The United Kingdom (UK) Treasury and the Bank of England have facilitated a private sale of the UK subsidiary of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank to HSBC Holdings Plc’s ‘ring-fenced subsidiary’ for 1 pound sterling (₹99).
• The move secures the deposits of over 3,000 SVB UK customers with deposits of more than $US8.1 billion.
• The acquisition makes “excellent strategic sense” for the bank’s UK business and strengthens its commercial banking franchise and enhances the ability to serve innovative and fast-growing firms.
• The dramatic collapse of the SVB Financial Group which focuses on tech start-ups was the biggest in the United States since the 2008 crisis and threatened a significant impact on tech companies operating in the UK.
• Meanwhile, the US government has also reassured depositors; a new lending programme has been offered by the Federal Reserve with Treasury funds.
• That was as a second major bank shut down; Signature Bank, with over $110 billion in assets, is the third-largest failure in American history.
• HSBC CEO : Noel Quinn

UBS to buy Credit Suisse for nearly $3.25 billion to calm turmoil  

• Banking giant Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) is buying troubled rival Credit Suisse for almost $3.25 billion, in an effort to avoid further market-shaking turmoil in the global banking system·
• UBS has decided to acquire the Swiss bank Credit Suisse which is heading towards a financial crisis.
• The announcement has been made following emergency negotiations between Switzerland’s two banks and the country’s financial regulators.
• Credit Suisse, a 167-year-old bank, has been the biggest name ensnared in market turmoil unleashed by the recent collapse of U.S. lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, forcing it to tap $54 billion in central bank funding last week.
• With the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, a solution has been found to secure financial stability and protect the Swiss economy in this exceptional situation.

About UBS : 

• Founded : 1912
• Headquarters : Zürich, Switzerland
• Chairman: Colm Kelleher.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

Journalist Dhanya Rajendran to receive Chameli Devi Jain Award for 2022

• The News Minute co-founder and editor-in-chief Dhanya Rajendran has been named the 2022 recipient of the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women media persons.
• The award, named after freedom fighter Chameli Devi Jain was instituted in 1982 by The Media Foundation and seeks to honour extraordinary Indian women journalists.
• Chameli Devi Jain awardees include some of the best known and respected names in Indian journalism.
• They have pioneered and popularised a new journalism in terms of themes and values – such as social development, politics, equity, gender justice, health, war and conflict, and consumer values,.
• This year’s award jury comprised former NDTV journalist Nidhi Razdan, Indian Express‘s rural affairs and agriculture editor Harish Damodaran, and the Press Trust of India’s Bhasha editor Nirmal Pathak.

Bengaluru Wins First-Ever Partnership for Healthy Cities Award for effectively enforcing smoke-free laws at Global Summit

• Capital of Karnataka, Bengaluru, has received Partnership for Healthy Cities award at a summit in London for effective implementation of smoke-free laws effectively.
• Bengaluru has also received a cash prize of $ 1,50,000.
• The global summit brought together officials from more than 50 countries to discuss public health concerns.
• As per BBMP Chief Commissioner, Bengaluru has been applauded for its efforts to curb public smoking.
• Bengaluru’s effort has resulted in a reduction of public-place smoking from 18.2% in 2017 to 13.3% in 2021.
• The number of display signs of no-smoking in Bengaluru have also increased from 23.1% in 2017 to 75% in 2021.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOUS AND AGREEMENT

Government signs MoU with Prajapati Brahma Kumari for spreading message of Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

• Department of Social Justice and Empowerment signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Prajapati Brahma Kumari Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, Mount Abu in New Delhi for spreading the message of Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, NMBA, among youth, women and students.
• The MoU was signed in the presence of Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dr Virendra Kumar, MoS in the Ministry Ramdas Athawle and senior members of the Brahma Kumaris management.
• NMBA is a flagship programme of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment which is currently operational in 372 districts of the country with an aim to create awareness about ill effects of substance abuse among the youth.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Mr Lalit Kumar Gupta appointed as CMD of Cotton Corporation of India                                     

• Mr Lalit Kumar Gupta has been appointed as Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) for 5 years.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Mr Lalit Kumar Gupta.
• Mr Gupta was recommended for the post of CMD of CCI by the PESB panel.

About Mr Lalit Kumar Gupta : 

• Mr Lalit Kumar Gupta is a Chartered Accountant (CA) certified by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
• He joined CCI in August 1994.
• He is also a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).
• He is currently holding the position of Director (Finance) in CCI.

About CCI : 

• Established : 1970 under the Companies Act 1956.
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• The CCI is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India,

Virat Kohli named Luxor’s brand ambassador                                  

• Stationery manufacturer Luxor Writing Instruments Private Limited has appointed cricketer Virat Kohli as its new brand ambassador.
• He will represent Luxor’s stationery products and help the company increase its appeal among young writers.
• He will also help to enhance the market position in the country.
• Indian stationery brand Luxor has partnered with Schneider Pens of Germany to introduce a premium range of creative writing instruments in India.

About Luxor International Private Limited

• Establishment : 1963
• Headquarters : Noida
• Managing Director : Pooja Jain Gupta

About schneider pens :

• Establishment -1938
• Founder -Christian Schneider

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

RailTel bags order worth Rs 287.57 crore from C-DAC                                        

• State-owned RailTel Corporation of India Ltd has received the work order from Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) for supply, installation, integration, testing and commissioning of IT infrastructure in green field data centre at New Delhi and Bengaluru along with training and support amounting to Rs 287.57 crores (including taxes).“
• The data centres will facilitate C-DAC in building up its capacity for secure, big data enterprise applications.
• The C-DAC is the premier R&D organisation of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). 
• The delivery period of the project is 300 days.
• The C-DAC is undertaking creation of this greenfield, turnkey project to build a suite of Big Data enterprise Applications.
• The complete solution is to be spread over two geographical locations, one hosting both the data centre and the Business Continuity Plan (BCP), and the other hosting the Disaster Recovery (DR) site.

About RailTel : 

• Founded : September 2000
• Headquarters : New Delhi, Delhi, India
• Chairman and Managing Director : Sanjai Kumar
• RailTel, a “Mini Ratna (Category-I)” Central Public Sector Enterprise is an information and communications technology (ICT) provider and one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country owning a pan-India optic fibre network on exclusive Right of Way (ROW) along Railway track.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS NEWS

Swimmer Sampanna Ramesh Shelar becomes fastest Indian in U21

• Pune-based swimmer, Sampanna Ramesh Shelar has become the fastest Indian in under 21 group to swim across the Palk S trait from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanuskodi in Tamil Nadu in 5 hours and 30 minutes.
• The previous record was 8 hours and 26 minutes.
• His swim commenced at 6.00 am from Talaimannar and he reached Dhanushkodiat 11.26 am completing the distance of 29 Kms.
• He is a Bachelor of Physical Education student and trains under the guidance of Mr. Jitendra Khasnis.
• With this achievement, Mr. Shelar is planning to do solo swims across the English & Catalina Channels soon, to eventually complete swimming across the seven oceans popularly known as the Oceans Seven Challenge.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

World Meteorological Day: March 23

• World Meteorological Day is celebrated on March 23 every year all over the world and it is an annual event.
• The day is celebrated as the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and it concentrates on the behaviour of Earth’s atmosphere.
• In 1873, The First Weather Organization was formed and the International Meteorological association is formed to exchange information about weather across national borders.
• On March 23rd, 1953, The International Meteorological Organization becomes the World Meteorological Organization, which it still is today.
• On March 23rd, 1961, The first World Meteorological Day is observed, on the anniversary of the organization’s creation.

Daily CA One-Liner: Mar 23

• The Competition Commission of India has approved Reliance Retail Ventures’ (RRVL’s) acquisition of METRO Cash & Carry India for a cash consideration of Rs 2,850 crore
• Under the Stand-Up India scheme, 1.75 lakh loans amounting to Rs 39,517 crore as of February has been sanctioned since the launch in April 2016.
• The first ever of its kind, a Yuva Utsav on the theme of ‘Panch Pran of Amrit Kaal – India @2047’ was organised in Siaha district of Mizoram
• Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the 24th issue of “Women and Men in India 2022” (an annual statistics released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation)
• The government said fertiliser cooperative major IFFCO and state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) will manufacture Nano DAP for a period of three years
• The News Minute co-founder and editor-in-chief Dhanya Rajendran has been named the 2022 recipient of the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women media persons
• Capital of Karnataka, Bengaluru, has received Partnership for Healthy Cities award at a summit in London for effective implementation of smoke-free laws effectively
• Department of Social Justice and Empowerment signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Prajapati Brahma Kumari Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, Mount Abu in New Delhi for spreading the message of Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, NMBA, among youth, women and students.
• Pune-based swimmer, Sampanna Ramesh Shelar has become the fastest Indian in under 21 group to swim across the Palk S trait from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanuskodi in Tamil Nadu in 5 hours and 30 minutes
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹27 crore on private sector lender RBL Bank for not complying with certain directives on loan recovery agents.
• Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank and Autotrac Finance Limited Ltd (AFL), a Gurgaon based Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) , announced its strategic partnership under the co-lending model through the YubiLend platform.
• The government has taken various reforms following which asset quality of public sector banks (PSBs) has improved significantly with gross NPA ratio declining from the peak of 14.6% in March 2018 to 53% in December 2022.
• According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), New York Community Bank has agreed to buy a significant chunk of the Signature Bank in a $2.7 billion deal after it became the third-largest US bank to fail since the 2008 crisis.
• Government of Maharashtra has decided to launch the second phase of Jalyukt Shivar project.
• The United Kingdom (UK) Treasury and the Bank of England have facilitated a private sale of the UK subsidiary of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank to HSBC Holdings Plc’s ‘ring-fenced subsidiary’ for 1 pound sterling (₹99).
• Banking giant Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) is buying troubled rival Credit Suisse for almost $3.25 billion, in an effort to avoid further market-shaking turmoil in the global banking system·
• Mr Lalit Kumar Gupta has been appointed as Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) for 5 years.
• Stationery manufacturer Luxor Writing Instruments Private Limited has appointed cricketer Virat Kohli as its new brand ambassador.
• State-owned RailTel Corporation of India Ltd has received the work order from Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) for supply, installation, integration, testing and commissioning of IT infrastructure in green field data centre at New Delhi and Bengaluru along with training and support amounting to Rs 287.57 crores (including taxes).“
• World Meteorological Day is celebrated on March 23 every year all over the world and it is an annual event