BANKING 30 December: The RBI committee under the Chairmanship of Deepak Mohanty (Executive Director, RBI) on pushing Financial Inclusion released its report. The committee recommended a slew of measures, including a special deposit scheme for the girl child, government-to-person social cash transfer, and opening interest-free windows (Islamic banking) by banks. This committee (titled ‘Medium-Term path on Financial Inclusion’) was constituted in July 2015 with the objective of working out a medium-term (five-year) measurable action plan for financial inclusion 29 December: Software services company Tech Mahindra Ltd, which is among the 11 firms to get a payments bank licence, launched a mobile wallet called ‘MoboMoney’. ‘MoboMoney’ will allow consumers to complete online as well as offline transactions, including payments at grocery stores, tea vendors and restaurants that accept only cash. The company claims the platform allows transactions as low as Rs.1. Tech Mahindra claimed that it is India’s first commercial rollout of a contact-less payment wallet. 28 December: In a major push to their strategic ties, India and Russia decided to expand cooperation in various sectors as they signed 16 pacts worth €6.4 billion, including on joint manufacture of 226 military helicopters and construction of 12 atomic plants with involvement of local companies in India. These agreements were signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two day visit to Russia. 28 December: The RBI once again extended the date for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes with new ones to 30 June 2016 from 31 December 2015. This is the fifth time RBI extended the deadline that started in January 2014. The old notes, of Mahatma Gandhi series, will continue to remain legal tenders. 28 December: Tata Power has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Development of Russian Far East to explore and develop investment opportunities in the energy sector. 26 December: E-commerce major Amazon has signed an agreement with the National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) aimed at encouraging SMEs to grow business profitably online. 26 December: Indian Railways tied up with ICICI Bank to sell rail tickets through its applications. It is the first time that IRCTC has tied up with a banking entity to sell tickets through the various applications of the bank. For this purpose the bank tied up with Railways’ e-ticketing platform Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). 24 December: India's third largest software major Wipro Ltd. announced the acquisition of US- based back-office firm Viteos Group for alternative investment management industry for $130 million (Rs.861 crore). The initiative will help India's largest information technology company to strengthen its position in outsourcing area of the capital market. 24 December: State Bank of India launched a Mobile App “State Bank Samadhaan” on Google Play Store. This is a Self-Service App and will enable SBI customers to avail a range of services and obtain commonly sought information, without visiting the branch. The App will provide information about deposits, advances, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, EMI calculation, SBI Branch and ATM Locations. 23 December: Private sector lender Axis Bank has partnered with a digital security company, e- Mudhra to start online electronic signature service "e-sign". The new service will facilitate a Aadhaar holder to digitally sign a document within seconds. Axis Bank is the first bank in the country to launch this service. The online signature is legally valid and completely safe. 21 December: The World Trade Organisation (WTO) formally approved Afghanistan’s membership at its 10th ministerial conference in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. It thus became the 164th member of WTO, the global trade body engaged in promoting multilateral trade all over the world. Apart from this Afghanistan has become the 36th least developed country (LDC) to join the WTO. 21 December: Kotak Mahindra Bank launched ‘Phone Phone Mein Kotak’ campaign which will enable consumers to see how mobile banking using Kotak’s app and Hashtag Banking features, has transformed the way people lead their lives. Bank has offered 77 services through its mobile banking app which includes services like, mobile, DTH recharge, e-commerce exchange. 19 December: Rating agency ICRA downgraded United Bank of India's long-term ratings to ‘stable’ from ‘positive’. The long-term ratings of Kolkata-based United Bank of India were constrained primarily due to its weak asset quality and low profitability due to high credit provisioning. 19 December: India's GDP is likely to grow at 7-7.5% for FY 2015-16, lower than the earlier 8.1- 8.5% predicted, according to the Mid-Year Economic Review tabled in the Parliament. 18 December: The Supreme Court ruled that RBI is liable to disclose information about the banks and financial institutions for their action against the loan defaulters including industrialists under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. The Court further ruled that RBI has statutory duty to uphold public interest and not the interest of individual banks. 18 December: Union Finance Ministry made it mandatory to quote PAN (permanent account number) for all transactions in excess of Rs. 2 lakh, regardless of the mode of payment, to curb black money. The new rule, to come into effect from 1 January 2016 will cover purchases of all goods or services, such as gold jewellery or furniture. This includes all payments made through cash, cheques or debit or credit cards. 18 December: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between India and Spain on cooperation in Port matters. The agreement has been signed with an aim to strengthening cooperation and to render sustained mutual assistance and advice on port matters and other related maritime matters. 18 December: The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its ex-post facto approval to an MoU signed between India and its BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) counterparts for strengthening and further developing of energy saving and energy efficiency cooperation based on the principles of equality and mutual benefit. 17 December: The World Bank has approved a $1.5 billion loan for the ambitious clean India campaign to support the government in its efforts to ensure all citizens in rural areas have access to improved sanitation and end the practice of open defecation by 2019. 16 December: IDFC Bank appointed Rajan Anandan, Vice President and Managing Director of Google South East Asia and India, as Independent Director. Rajan Anandan’s appointment expands the Board to 9 Directors, 7 of whom are Independent Directors. 16 December: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced to acquire the ‘South China Morning Post’, an iconic Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper, and other media assets of SCMP Group Ltd for $266 million. This all-cash deal will thus transfer control of the 112-year-old English language newspaper from Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok to Chinese billionaire Jack Ma. 15 December: India and Japan signed 16 agreements in the fields of high-speed trains, defence equipment and technology, security, infrastructure, education and economy including civil nuclear energy, etc. Japan committed $12-billion loan at negligible interest for the India's first "Bullet Train". The agreements were signed after the delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Japanese Prime MInister Shinzo Abe. 15 December: India’s Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow laid the foundation of the $7.6 billion and 1800-kilometre TAPI pipeline project in Mary, Turkmenistan, which will provide India gas for its power plants. They pushed a button which started the welding process of pipes. This pipeline will get operational by December 2019. 15 December: India announced to impose anti-dumping duties for five years on imports of Stainless Steel from China, the European Union and the United States with the objective of protecting the interests of local producers. Imports from South Korea, South Africa, Taiwan and Thailand will also be taxed. The anti-dumping duties, on cold-rolled flat stainless steel products, ranged from 4.6% to 57.4%. 12 December: RBI announced that Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) would be lowered to 20.5% by January 2017. As of now, banks are mandated to invest 21.5% of their total deposits in government securities. According to the new time table SLR would be reduced by 25 basis points to 21.25% as on April 2, 2016. It would fall to 21% by July 9, 2016. It would further be lowered from October 1, 2016 to 20.75%. In the last round of reduction in the SLR would be one 20.50% by January 1, 2017. 12 December: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that it would lend $1 billion to state-run Power Grid Corporation for expanding its transmission capacity in the country. ADB will provide a $500 million government-backed loan and a further $500 million in non-sovereign lending to India's national transmission company, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. 11 December: India and United Kingdom launched a joint initiative 2016: UK-INDIA Year of Education and Research in New Delhi. It was launched by visiting Secretary of State, Business Innovation and Skill of the UK Sajid Javid along with Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani. In 2016, it will allow UK academicians to come to India under Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) programme. 11 December: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Indonesia in the field of new and renewable energy.