DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 18.07.2018 TO 20.07.2018 ECONOMY Jana Small Finance Bank launches commercial operations A micro-finance company-turned-Jana Small Finance Bank headquartered in Bengaluru began its operations for greater financial inclusion. One of the 10 financial institutions to get banking license from the Reserve Bank of India in April 2017, Jana aims to be an inclusive digitised bank serving all customer segments and communities across the country. With its ―paise ki kadar‖ (value for money) catchphrase, the bank offers better returns than state-run and other private banks with 8.5 per cent interest rate on fixed deposits for 366 days. Small finance bank SFBs was recommended by the NachiketMor committee on financial inclusion. Individuals/professions with 10 years of experience in finance, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), micro finance companies, local area banks are eligible to set up SFBs The minimum paid-up equity capital for small finance banks shall be Rs. 100 crore. They are established as public limited companies in the private sector under the Companies Act, 1956. They are governed by the provisions of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, Banking Regulation Act, 1949 Have 25% branches in unbanked area. 75% of its net credits should be in priority sector lending and 50% of the loans in its portfolio must in 25 lakh range. SFBs have to maintain Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) as per RBI norms. At least 50 per cent of its loan portfolio should constitute loans and advances of up to Rs. 25 lakh. At net worth of Rs 500 crore (US$77 million), listing will be mandatory within three years. Small finance banks having net worth of below Rs 500 crore (US$77 million) could also get their shares listed voluntarily. Promoter's contribution-The promoter's minimum initial contribution to the paid-up equity capital of such small finance bank shall at least be 40 per cent. If the initial shareholding by promoter in the bank is in excess of 40 per cent, it should be brought down to 40 per cent within a period of five years. The promoter's minimum contribution of 40 per cent of paid-up equity capital shall be locked in for a period of five years from the date of commencement of business of the bank. Further, the promoter‘s stake should be brought down to 30 per cent of the paid-up equity capital of the bank within a period of 10 years, and to 26 per cent within 12 years from the date of commencement of business of the bank. Government to infuse Rs 11,336 crore capital in 5 public sector banks by September-end (a) Union Finance Ministry is planning to infuse additional capital close to Rs 11,336 crore in 5 more public sector banks (PSBs) by September 2018-end. These five state-owned banks are Punjab National Bank (PNB), Corporation Bank, Andhra Bank, Allahabad Bank and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). (b) Within capital infusion plan of these five PSBs, PNB is expected to get highest amount of Rs 2,816 crore. Corporation Bank is will get Rs 2,555 crore followed by Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 2157 crore), Andhra Bank (Rs 2,019 crore) and Allahabad Bank (Rs 1,790 crore). (c) This round of capital infusion will be done through issuance of recapitalisation bonds and not directly from Budget. This additional capital will help these banks to meet minimum regulatory capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and enable them to make interest payments on certain bonds on time. (d) The latest round capital infusion in these 5 PSBs will be part of remaining Rs 65,000 crore out of Rs 2.11 lakh crore capital infusion announced by Union Government for two financial years. (e) In October 2017, Union Government had announced Rs 2.11 lakh crore capital infusion programme, under which PSBs were to get Rs 1.35 lakh crore through recapitalisation bonds, and balance Rs 58,000 crore through raising of capital from market and remaining through budgetary support. (f) The government has already infused Rs 80,000 crore out of Rs 1.35 lakh crore through recapitalisation bonds in PSBs and balance will be done during this financial year (2018-19). An All-Women Branch inaugurated at Jammu and Kashmir Bank As a step towards women empowerment, the state‘s first all-women branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank has been inaugurated. First Lady Usha Vohra e-inaugurated the first ‗All-Women Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank‘ at a function organised at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC). NABARD award for Repco Micro Finance Repco Micro Finance Ltd, a non-banking finance company promoted by Repco Bank, received Nabard 2018 award for its service to self-help group (SHG) linkage in Tamil Nadu for the fiscal year 2017-18. Since its inception, the NBFC has disbursed loans amounting to Rs 2,500 crore to over 10 lakh beneficiaries through 50,000 SHGs. SGH (1) A self-help group (SHG) is a village-based financial intermediary committee usually composed of 10–200 local women or men. (2) The Central government, as part of the existing National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), plans to facilitate women- led self-help groups (SHGs) by giving them bank loans of over Rs 1,00,000 and up to Rs 3,00,000 for undertaking various activities at easy interest rates. (3) Under the same, all women SHGs that avail off loans up to Rs 3,00,000 from banks are charged interest at the rate of 7 per cent per annum and they also get additional interest subvention of 3 per cent of timely repayment, which brings down their effective rate of interest to just 4 per cent per annum. (4) India has around 2.5 million self-help groups in rural areas. Parliament nod for merger of subsidiary banks with SBI (a) Parliament has passed State Banks (Repeal and Amendment) Bill, 2017 to merge six subsidiary banks with State Bank of India after it was approved by Rajya Sabha. The bill already has been passed in Lok Sabha in 2017 Monsoon session of Parliament. 1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar-750015 1 Ph. : (0674) 6556677, 8093556677. Web : www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected] DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS – 18.07.2018 TO 20.07.2018 (b) The bill repeals two Acts namely State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959, and State Bank of Hyderabad Act, 1956. These two acts had established State Bank of Bikaner, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Travancore. These banks were subsidiaries of SBI. By repealing these two acts, five subsidiary banks will be merged with SBI. (c) The Union Cabinet in February 2017 had approved merger of five associate banks along with Bharatiya Mahila Bank with SBI. RBI to issue new Rs 100 notes in lavender colour, existing series to still be valid. (a) The Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue new Rs 100 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (new) series. (b) The new denomination will have the motif of ‗Rani ki vav‘ – a stepwell located on the banks of Saraswati river in Gujarat‘s Patan – on the reverse, depicting the country‘s cultural heritage. The base colour of the note is lavender. The note has other designs and geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour scheme on both sides. (c) RANI KI VAV is a memorial built in Patan, Gujarat for the 11th-century king Bhima. The new notes are Lavender- coloured and have 16 silent features — back and front. (d) The new banknote will also be smaller in dimensions (66 mm × 142 mm) compared to the currently circulated notes (73mm X 157 mm). (e) All Rs 100 banknotes issued by the Reserve Bank in the earlier series will also continue to be legal tender. Flipkart’s PhonePe Acquires POS platform Zopper Retail Flipkart‘s digital payment subsidiary PhonePe has acquired Zopper Retail – a hyperlocal Point of Sale (POS) platform for small and medium businesses. The acquisition is a part of the company‘s strategy to aggressively ramp up its offline business. India fastest growing economy in Asia; on track to meet FY18 target: ADB (a) According to a report by Asian Development Bank (ADB), India continues to be the fastest growing economy in Asia and is on track to meet current fiscal year‘s projected growth of 7.3 per cent. (b) It further said, Indian economy‘s growth will further accelerate to 7.6 percent in 2019, as measures taken to strengthen the banking system and tax reform boost investment. (c) Asian Development Bank-Headquarters: Manila, Philippines, President: Takehiko Nakao (d) Founded: 19 December 1966, Membership: 67 countries India’s growth story intact; GDP to grow around 7.5%: FICCI (a) According to industry body Ficci, despite short-term challenges India‘s economic growth story remains intact and the country‘s GDP is expected to grow around 7.5 per cent in the current financial year. (b) The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is an association of business organisations in India. Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by GD Birla and Purushottam Das Thakurdas, it is the largest, oldest and the apex business organisation in India.It is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation. NATIONAL Government to hand-deliver 11 crore Ayushman Cards (a) The government will print and hand-deliver about 110 million ‗family cards‘ for the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in a major public contact programme by organising ‗Ayushman Pakhwaras‘ in villages as it seeks to implement the Prime Minister‘s signature move.