Monthly Current Affairs Capsule December 2020
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Monthly Current Affairs Capsule December 2020 Monthly Current Affairs- December 2020 S No Table of Contents Page No 1. Banking & Finance 02 2. Business and Economy 26 3. Government schemes 31 4. National 33 5. State 77 Page 1 of 178 Get to Download Our Special Paid PDFs | Get High Standard Mock Test Series for all Bank Exams If there are any suggestions/ errors in our PDFs Feel Free to contact us via this email: [email protected] Monthly Current Affairs Capsule December 2020 6. International 112 7. Summits and Conferences 126 8. Ranks and Indices 134 9. Appointments 140 10. Agreements and MoU signed 142 11. Recent Committees 148 12. Sports 149 13. Defence 160 14. Awards 162 15. Science and Technology 166 16. Books and Authors 171 17. Important Days and Themes 174 18. Obituaries 176 Banking & Finance Union Bank Completes Integration of All Branches of Corporation Bank with Itself • Union Bank of India has completed the IT integration after which all the branches of erstwhile Corporation Bank have come fully under its fold as part of the amalgamation exercise. • With this IT integration, all of erstwhile Corporation Bank, including service and specialised branches, have been fully integrated with Union Bank of India (UBI). Page 2 of 178 Get to Download Our Special Paid PDFs | Get High Standard Mock Test Series for all Bank Exams If there are any suggestions/ errors in our PDFs Feel Free to contact us via this email: [email protected] Monthly Current Affairs Capsule December 2020 • Along with this feat, the bank has successfully rolled out internet banking, mobile banking, UPI, IMPS, FI gateway, treasury and Swift for erstwhile Corporation Bank customers thereby enabling them to transact seamlessly across branches and delivery channels of UBI. Extra Shots: Union Bank HQ: Mumbai CEO: Rajkiran Rai G Corporation bank HQ: Mangalore RBI directs HDFC bank to stop issuance of new credit cards The Reserve Bank of India has advised HDFC Bank to temporarily stop: • launch of the digital business activities planned under its Digital 2.0 program (to be launched) and • issue of new credit cards to customers • This step has been taken by RBI in view of repeated outages in the HDFC bank’s internet banking/ mobile banking/ payment utilities over the past two years. • The latest such event occurred on November 21, 2020. The reason given by HDFC bank for this was power failure in its primary data centre. • RBI in its order to HDFC bank, has advised the Bank’s Board to examines the lapses and fixes accountability. Extra Shots: • Governor: Shaktikanta Das • Headquarters: Mumbai • Founder: British Raj • Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata • Deputy Governors: M. D. Patra, B.P. Kanungo, M. K. Jain and M Rajeshwar Rao HDFC Bank HQ: Mumbai CEO: Sashidhar Jagdisan RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 4%; Predicts GDP for FY21 at -7.5% • The Reserve Bank of India in its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meet held between December 2-4, 2020 has kept the policy rates unchanged as under: • Policy Repo Rate- 4.00% • Reverse Repo Rate- 3.35% • Marginal Standing Facility Rate- 4.25% • Bank Rate- 4.25% • CRR- 3% Page 3 of 178 Get to Download Our Special Paid PDFs | Get High Standard Mock Test Series for all Bank Exams If there are any suggestions/ errors in our PDFs Feel Free to contact us via this email: [email protected] Monthly Current Affairs Capsule December 2020 • SLR- 18.00% • The MPC continued with the accommodative stance. • The MPC has predicted the real GDP growth for FY21 at (-)7.5%. Extra Shots: • Governor: Shaktikanta Das • Headquarters: Mumbai • Founder: British Raj • Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata • Deputy Governors: M. D. Patra, B.P. Kanungo, M. K. Jain and M Rajeshwar Rao Fitch affirms SBI's IDR at BBB-minus with negative outlook Fitch Ratings has affirmed State Bank of India's (SBI's) long-term issuer default rating at BBB-minus with a negative outlook. • The agency has also affirmed the bank's viability rating at bb, support rating floor at BBB-minus and support rating at 2. • The negative outlook on SBI's IDR mirrors the outlook on India's sovereign rating of BBB-minus which was revised to negative from stable on June 18 due to the impact of the escalating coronavirus pandemic on India's economy. • The operating environment for Indian banks remains challenging despite a moderate revival in economic activity due to gradual easing of the lockdown since May. • Fitch revised India's fiscal year ending March 2021 real GDP to minus 10.5 per cent from minus 5 per cent in September but expects India's real GDP to rebound to 11 per cent in FY22 but largely as a result of the low base. Extra Shots: Fitch HQ: New York, United States Facebook-backed digital coin Libra renamed Diem Facebook-backed cryptocurrency Libra has been rebranded “Diem” in a renewed effort to gain regulatory approval by stressing the project’s independence. • The independent organisation, Libra Association, which runs the Libra project will also be renamed as the Diem Association. • Diem is a Latin term meaning “day”. • Libra received criticism because of the possibility of it threatening the traditional government-run financial systems, which may result in upending of financial stability and threatening of privacy. Sensex breaches 45,000 mark as RBI keeps repo rate unchanged • The benchmark equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) scaled new highs during the morning trade following the outcome of the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) where the central bank kept its repo and reverse repo rates unchanged. Page 4 of 178 Get to Download Our Special Paid PDFs | Get High Standard Mock Test Series for all Bank Exams If there are any suggestions/ errors in our PDFs Feel Free to contact us via this email: [email protected] Monthly Current Affairs Capsule December 2020 • The S&P BSE Sensex breached the 45,000-mark for the first time ever to touch 45,023.79, while the broader Nifty 50 touched its fresh high at 13,248.25 during the intraday trade Extra Shots National Stock Exchange HQ: Mumbai RBI: • Governor: Shaktikanta Das • Headquarters: Mumbai • Founder: British Raj • Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata • Deputy Governors: M. D. Patra, B.P. Kanungo, M. K. Jain and M Rajeshwar Rao Asian Development Bank approves $190 mn loan to upgrade power distribution system in Bengaluru • Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD 190 million (over Rs 1,400 crore) loan for modernisation and upgradation of power distribution system in Karnataka's capital city of Bengaluru. • The funding for the Bengaluru Smart Energy Efficient Power Distribution Project by ADB includes a USD 100 million sovereign loan and a USD 90 million without sovereign guarantee loan to Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM). • BESCOM is one of five state-owned distribution utilities and the largest in Karnataka. • The project will convert 7,200 kilometer (km) of overhead distribution lines to underground cables with the parallel installation of 2,800 km of fiber-optic communication cables. About ADB Headquarters - Mandaluyong, Manila, Philippines Founded - 19 December 1966 President - Masatsugu Asakawa Membership - 68 Countries Axis Bank and Rupifi launch credit card for MSMEs • Axis Bank strengthened its offerings for the MSME segment with the launch of a business credit card in partnership with Rupifi, an embedded lending fintech company that provides financial solutions to MSMEs. • The co-branded credit card, powered by Visa • Rupifi partners with established B2B marketplace and aggregator platforms across sectors including food, grocery, pharma, agri- commodities, e-commerce, fashion, logistics, transport and industrial goods. Page 5 of 178 Get to Download Our Special Paid PDFs | Get High Standard Mock Test Series for all Bank Exams If there are any suggestions/ errors in our PDFs Feel Free to contact us via this email: [email protected] Monthly Current Affairs Capsule December 2020 • There is a joining fee of Rs 1,000 and there are no annual fees for the co-branded card. It’s a revolving card with 51 days interest free credit period. • The average credit limit offered will be in the range of Rs 1 and 2 lakh per month Extra Shots: About Axis Bank: 3 rd largest Private Sector Bank In India Headquarters - Mumbai , Maharashtra MD and CEO - Amitabh Chaudhry About Rupifi: Co-founder and CEO, Rupifi - Anubhav Jain, Headquarters - Bangalore, Karnataka RTGS To be Made 24X7 from December 14 • Presently RTGS system is available for customers between 7:00 AM and 6:00 PM. • On 24x7 availability of Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System, the RBI stated it has been decided to make RTGS available round the clock on all days of the year with effect from 00:30 hours on December 14, 2020. • The Reserve Bank announced a slew of measures including enhancing the limit for contactless card transactions to Rs 5,000 and making RTGS transaction facility available round the clock from December 14. • The RBI also decided to increase the limit for contactless card transactions to Rs 5,000 from Rs 2,000 at Point of Sale (PoS) terminals from January 1, 2021 Extra Shots: • Governor: Shaktikanta Das • Headquarters: Mumbai • Founder: British Raj • Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata • Deputy Governors: M. D. Patra, B.P. Kanungo, M. K. Jain and M Rajeshwar Rao RBI increases limit for Processing of e-mandates for recurring transactions on card transactions • The Reserve Bank of India has increased the limit for processing e-mandates / standing instructions on cards and Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) and UPI for recurring transactions without the need of Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000.