oliveboard January 2021 Monthly Current Affairs CLICK HERE TO PREPARE FOR IBPS, SSC, SBI, RAILWAYS & RBI EXAMS IN ONE PLACE Bolt is a series of GK Summary ebooks by Oliveboard for quick revision oliveboard.in www.oliveboard.in Table of Contents Banking & Finance ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Economy .................................................................................................................................................................... 7 National .................................................................................................................................................................... 10 International ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 States/UTs.............................................................................................................................................................. 17 Sports ........................................................................................................................................................................ 27 Agreements & MoUs .......................................................................................................................................... 29 Schemes ................................................................................................................................................................... 38 Appointments & Resignations ...................................................................................................................... 40 Awards...................................................................................................................................................................... 44 Ranks & Reports .................................................................................................................................................. 46 Important Days .................................................................................................................................................... 50 Summit & Conferences ..................................................................................................................................... 52 Science & Technology ....................................................................................................................................... 55 Defence .................................................................................................................................................................... 58 Books & Authors .................................................................................................................................................. 61 Obituary ................................................................................................................................................................... 63 Person in news ..................................................................................................................................................... 68 Insurance ................................................................................................................................................................ 69 India & World ........................................................................................................................................................ 70 Environment .......................................................................................................................................................... 71 Apps & Portals ...................................................................................................................................................... 73 Acquisitions & Mergers .................................................................................................................................... 75 Agri-Business ........................................................................................................................................................ 77 External Affairs .................................................................................................................................................... 78 Legal .......................................................................................................................................................................... 78 PSUs ........................................................................................................................................................................... 79 Committees ............................................................................................................................................................ 80 www.oliveboard.in 2 www.oliveboard.in Banking & Finance 1. IFSCA becomes associate member of global lobby group International Organization of Securities Commissions(IOSCO) Membership will provide IFSCA (regulator of financial institutions at IFSC) the platform to exchange information & learn from best practices of the regulators of other well established financial centres. IOSCO brings together world's securities regulators. GIFT IFSC: 1st international financial services centre in India. 2. RBI launches Digital Payments Index(DPI) to capture extent of digitisation of payments; DPI grew 2x in March 2020 v March 2018. RBI-DPI has 5 broad parameters: Payment Enablers, Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors, Payment Infrastructure –Supply-side factors, Payment Performance and Consumer Centricity; March 2018 is the base period, with a DPI score of 100. DPI for March 2019 & March 2020 work out to 153.47 & 207.84. 3. RBI makes Legal Entity Identifier mandatory for large-value transactions in RTGS/NEFT from April Mandatory LEI system for all payment transactions of value ₹50 crore & above undertaken by entities (non-individuals) using RBI-run Centralised Payment Systems. LEI is a 20-digit number used to uniquely identify parties to financial transactions worldwide. In India, it can be obtained from LEI Ltd, subsidiary of CCIL 4. RBI unveils guidelines for Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme to boost digital payments An advisory council (AC) under RBI deputy governor BP Kanungo has been constituted for managing the fund. It will be operational for 3 years effective from January 1, 2021 & may be extended for 2 more years. Fund has a corpus of ₹345 crore. Fund aims to create payment points in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres 5. CMS Info Systems to set up 3,000 ATMs for SBI by March; to invest Rs 200 crore The outsourced model or Brown Level ATM (BLA) is managed by the service provider on behalf of bank. Most of these ATMs are offsite ATMs. CMS provides end-to-end ATM management service. Rs 200 crore will be for setting up & hire 2000 employees for managing. CMS Info Systems President Manjunath Rao 6. SMCB: First Urban Cooperative Bank in India to receive a commercial banking license under voluntary transition scheme Shivalik Small Finance Bank (SSFB) will start its banking operations from April 2021. It has received the commercial banking license from banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 22 year old Shivalik is the first & largest multi-state UCB in UP. SMCB: MD&CEO:Suveer Kumar Gupta; HQ:Saharanpur,UP 7. Bandhan Bank signs MoU with Indian Army to provide banking services to Army personnel Bandhan Bank Shaurya Salary Account will have zero balance facility with 6% interest on balance above Rs.1 Lakh, unlimited free ATM transactions, waiver of issuance &annual charge on Shaurya Visa Platinum Debit Card,offers protection for self & assets etc. Bandhan Bank: MD & CEO:Chandra Shekhar Ghosh; HQ:Kolkata 8. RBI fully operationalised College of Supervisors to strengthen supervision CoS will have a full-time Director supported by a 6 member Academic Advisory Council (AAC). N S Vishwanathan is the chairperson to the council.Rabi Narayan Mishra is the director.CoS was functioning in a limited way in virtual mode since May 2020. 9. IDFC Mutual Fund unveils new pan India campaign #PaisonKoRokoMat,Investor Awareness initiative IDFC Mutual aims to shift the conversation regarding wealth creation from the traditional to the contemporary.Urges savers to overcome their inertia and become investors by exploring www.oliveboard.in 3 www.oliveboard.in the smart and modern mutual fund vehicle for their investments.IDFC Mutual is managed by IDFC AMC; CEO & MD: Vishal Kapoor 10. RBI to conduct Variable Rate Reverse Repo auction on Jan 15 for notified amount of Rs 2 lakh crores In order to restore normal liquidity management operations in a phased manner, RBI to conduct variable rate reverse repo auction of Rs 2 lakh crore on Jan 15. Repo rate is the rate of interest rate at which the central bank lends short term money to banks. Usual duration of variable-rate term repo is 7, 14 & 28 days. 11. RBI cancels the licence of Osmanabad's Vasantdada Nagari Sahakari Bank; 99% depositors to get full deposits back Continuance of bank is prejudicial to the interests of its depositors & it would be unable to pay its present depositors in full. It is now prohibited from conducting business of ‘banking’ as defined in Section 5(b) read with Section 56 of BRA,1949. Every depositor will get deposits up to Rs.5 lakh from DICGC. 12. NSE launches futures