GK Tornado for Bank Exams
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gradeup.co/banking-insurance gradeup.co/banking-insurance GK Tornado for Bank Exams Dear readers, This GK Digest is a complete docket of important news and events that occurred in last 5 months (August – 15 January 2017). The GK Digest is important and relevant for all upcoming banking exams. RBI in News 1. RBI Keeps interest rate unchanged - On February8th, 2017 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy review, kept key policy rates unchanged. Current Policy & Reserve Rates Repo Rate 6.25% Reverse Repo Rate 5.75% Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) 4.00% Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) 20.50% Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) 6.75% Bank Rate 6.75% Below are the basic definitions of the Policy Rates - (i) Repo Rate – It is the rate at which RBI lends money to commercial banks. (ii) Reverse Repo rate – It is the rate at which RBI borrows money from commercial banks. (iii) Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) – The share of net demand and time liabilities (deposits) that banks must maintain as cash balance with the Reserve Bank. (iv) Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) – The share of net demand and time liabilities (deposits) that banks must maintain in safe and liquid assets, such as, government securities, cash and gold. (v) Bank Rate – It is the rate at which the Reserve Bank is ready to buy or rediscount bills of exchange or other commercial papers for long term. (vi) Marginal Standing Facility Rate (MSF) – The rate at which the scheduled banks can borrow funds from the RBI overnight, against the approved government securities is termed as MSF. Note: Basis points – ‘one’ Basis Point is a unit equivalent to 0.01% i.e. 1/100th of a percent. 2. RBI appoints Surekha Marandi as the new Executive Director. She will look after consumer education and protection department, financial inclusion and development department. 3. RBI has approved increase in MSS ceiling to Rs. 6 lakh crore from Rs. 30,000 crore. The move aims to manage extra liquidity after increase in deposits post demonetisation. Note: MSS are securities issued with the objective of providing RBI with a stock of securities with which it can intervene in the market for managing liquidity. These securities are not issued to meet government’s expenditure. 4. Prof. Viral Acharya has been appointed as the New Deputy Governor of RBI. The other Deputy Governors include – R. Gandhi, N. S. Vishwanathan and S. S. Mundra. 5. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cuts India’s GDP growth forecast for FY 17 to 7.1% from 7.6 %. The move comes after disruption in economic activity and demand compression because of demonetisation 6. RBI has opened a second office of the Banking Ombudsman in New Delhi, considering the significant increase of the banking network. The first office of the banking ombudsman at RBI, New Delhi, would have control over Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir. The second office would have jurisdiction over Haryana. 7. The Reserve Bank of India increase the limit of the Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 per month and Rs. 50,000 for Merchant Bank to facilitate digital transactions. 8. The Reserve Bank of India increased the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) for incremental deposits between September 16 and November 11 to 100% while the current CRR is 4%, effective from November 25, 2016 gradeup.co/banking-insurance 9. The RBI has planned to open “Islamic window” in conventional banks. Aim: Gradual introduction of Sharia-compliant (interest-free banking) in the country. 10. Construction company Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) became India’s first firm to get Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) approval for debt recast under Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A). 11. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted start-ups to raise external commercial borrowings (ECBs) of up to $3 million in a financial year for three-year tenure. 12. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the Report of the Internal Working Group (IWG) on Rationalisation of Branch Authorisation Policy. The Group is chaired by Lily Vadera, Chief General Manager, and Department of Banking Regulation. 13. RBI had introduced new Rs. 2000 note – the key features of the notes are as follows – The new note measures 166 x 66 mm, slightly smaller than the ₹1,000 denomination which was measured at 177 x 73 mm. The color of the new note is magenta. The denominational numeral 2,000 will be written in the Devnagari script and, in micro letters, RBI and 2,000 on the left side of the banknote. The new denomination will see the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at the centre. To celebrate India's Mars mission, the notes will carry an image of the Mangalyaan, depicting the country's first venture into interplanetary space, and the logo and tagline of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The reverse side features a motif of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). There will be a windowed security thread with the inscriptions ‘Bharat’ (in Devnagari), RBI and 2,000 on banknotes with colour shift. The colour of the thread changes from green to blue when the note is tilted. The guarantee clause, governor's signature with promise clause and RBI emblem have been shifted to the right in the new notes, with the portrait and electrotype watermarks appearing right next to them. There will be a ashoka pillar emblem to the right of the Mahatma Gandhi portrait and electrotype (2000) watermarks. It will also have seven bleed lines and a rectangle as an identifying shape; as per the RBI guidelines, these are the identification and salient features for the visually impaired. The security features of the Rs 2,000 note include latent images, coloured strip security threads and watermarks. There will also be a latent image with the denomination numeral that would be visible when the note is held at a 45-degree angle at eye level. 14. The Reserve Bank of India has issued a new batch of Rs 500 notes in Mahatma Gandhi (New) series with the inset letter R in both the number panels. 15. RBI constitutes Tarun Ramadorai Committee on Household Finance - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) constituted a committee to look at various facets of household finance in India. The Committee will be chaired by Tarun Ramadorai, Professor of Financial Economics, University of Oxford. 16. RBI formed single Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) with Rs. 2000 crore corpus. The fund was formed by merging the Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund (FITF). This fund will support the developmental and promotional activities covered under the financial inclusion initiatives. 17. The Reserve Bank of India has extended the timeline for full implementation of the Basel III capital regulations from March 31, 2018 to March 31, 2019. 18. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the deadline for deployment of Aadhar-enabled devices that process card transactions using Aadhaar-based biometric authentication___30th June 2017. 19. Interest subvention scheme announced by RBI for Women Self-Help Groups – Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directed all commercial and Co-operative banks to provide loans to women self-help groups (SHGs) in rural areas at 7 percent per annum. Key points – The loans will be provided for the financial year 2016-17 under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) in 250 districts. All women self-help groups (SHGs) will be eligible for interest subvention on credit up to three lakh rupees at 7 percent per annum. All banks will be subvented to the extent of difference between the weighted average interest charged and 7%, subject to the maximum limit of 5.5% for 2016-17. gradeup.co/banking-insurance SBI Bank in News 1. The State Bank of India (SBI)recently launched its India’s largest lender in 37 countries through 198 mobile wallet application ‘State Bank MobiCash’ in offices. partnership with ____Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited 7. SBI declares Silchar as its 5th zone in North East - The (BSNL) State Bank of India (SBI) has declared Silchar as its 5th Note - MobiCash’ will allow users to deposit cash zone in North East to facilitate banking issues for the customers of the region. The 5th zone will further help to through BSNL retail outlets and withdraw funds from cater the banking needs of the people of Mizoram, their account. Tripura and Manipur along with the Barak Valley of 2. The bank has tied up with online portal North east India. “magicbricks.com” to conduct joint marketing 5. SBI launches SBI Mingle, a social media banking activities___ State Bank of India platform - State Bank of India (SBI) had launched SBI Note - To kick start the MOU, SBI and Magicbricks has Mingle, a social media banking platform for Facebook launched the “Seal the Deal” campaign. The campaign and Twitter users. will show case SBI approved projects on the The SBI Mingle will allow SBI’s customers to access Magicbricks platform. This mega online property show various banking services via these social platforms. will be the first housing carnival in the industry at this 8. SBI launches IT Innovation Start-up Fund to assist scale. start-ups – SBI launched IT Innovation Start-up Fund to 3. State Bank of India adopts Shirki Village in Pen support start-ups in the financial technology (fintech) Taluka, Maharashtra to promote Aadhar based space. The fund has corpus of 200 crore rupees. It will Merchant payments. provide assistance of up to 3 crore rupees to a company 4. Mahila e-Haat, an online marketing platform ties up registered in India for promoting their business with India Post and SBI to offer more payment options.