1. Airtel Payments Bank partnered with ______________ to boost to enable ______'s 14,000 fuel stations to act as banking points for Airtel Payments Bank ?
2. Shubh Aarambh Home Loans scheme has been launched by ____________, which will see 12 equated monthly installments (EMIs) waived off (4 EMIs each after 4th, 8th and 12th year from the of disbursement) on regular repayments of loans of up to Rs 30 lakh ?
3. As per report, _____________ accounts for over 27 % of total amount owed to public sector banks by wilful defaulters, with 1,762 wilful defaulters owing INR 25,104 crores. Punjab National Bank (PNB) is 2nd with 1,120 wilful defaulters Owing INR 12,278 crores. ?
4. Bajaj Finance picked ______________ stake in Mobile wallet Firm MobiKwik for approx Rs 225 crore. Aim is to offer Bajaj Finance's lending (purchase finance, credit card, mortgage loans and personal loans) and insurance products through MobiKwik app ?
5. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) launched bespoke mobile wallet to enable its existing 10 crore customers to make Bill payments, developed by _____________ on behalf of BSNL ?
6. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved Scheme of providing Budgetary Support under Goods and Service Tax (GST) Regime for eligible industrial units in Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and North Eastern States including Sikkim.
- Budgetary support of INR 27,413 crore for said Scheme has been approved for period from 1-7-2017 till 31-03-___________ for industrial units located in aforesaid States which availed benefit of Central Excise exemption prior to GST implementation.
7. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved revision in the procedure and mechanism for strategic disinvestment, recommended by DIPAM (_______________). It will enable completion of strategic disinvestment transactions.
- Setting up an Alternative Mechanism (AM) to decide on matters relating to terms of sale from stage of inviting of Express of Interests (Eols) till inviting of financial bid.
- Enabling Core Group of Secretaries (CGD) to take policy decisions with regard to procedural issues and consider deviations for effective implementation of decisions of CCEA.
8. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved closing of loss making Central PSU ________________________, under Ministry of Railways ?
9. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved renaming Central Sector Scheme - SAMPADA (_____________________) as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY).
- SAMPADA was approved in May 2017, to supplement agriculture, modernize processing and decrease Agri-Waste.
- PMKSY with an allocation of Rs. 6,000 crore is expected to handle 334 lakh MT agro-produce valuing over 1 Lakh Crores INR, benefit 20 lakh farmers and generate over 5 lakh employment by 2020.
10. Cabinet approved proposal of Finance Ministry to amend Schedule of Section 8 of GST (Compensation to a State) Act 2017, allowing GST Council to hike maximum rate of compensation cess levied from current cap of 15% to _________________.
- Final decision to increase compensation cess will be taken by GST Council. Hike in rate of compensation cess will be levied on SUVs, mid-sized, large and luxury cars.
11. ________________ launched 2 new digital services for online payments - payment settlement mechanism Bharat QR (Quick Response) and Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS). NPCI Also permitted Spice Digital to operate as a Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit ?
12. ___________ will raise $400 million as part of its $2 billion medium-term note programme, by issuing a benchmark dollar bond with tenor of 5 years. Bond sale will be drawn through London branch of Bank and bonds will be listed on Singapore Stock Exchange. Rating agency Moody’s assigned a Baa3 rating to the issue ?
13. CHOICE (________________________) launched ‘Point-of-Sale’ product stargeted at mass-market segment - PoS - Easy Bima Plan. It is first PoS product for company and is a pure term insurance plan ?
14. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) extended deadline for linking of Aadhaar with PAN till 31 _________________ 2017. Aadhaar - PAN linkage is mandated through Section 139 AA (2) of Income Tax Act 1961 which says that person having PAN as on 1 July 2017 and is eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities ?
15. ________ offered instant credit cards for its Net banking customers. Customer is allowed a credit limit of up to 80% of the deposit or a maximum of 3 lakh ?
16. Commodity derivatives bourse MCX (___________) received Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) approval to launch India’s first gold options contract with bi-monthly duration. The option will also have existing gold kilo futures contract as its underlier ?
17. Corporation Bank won best performance awards for SHG-bank linkage program for ____________________ for 2015-16 and 2016-17 from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). It formed more than 1.32 lakh self-help groups (SHGs) ?
18. ___________ has been appointed by Cab Aggregator Major Uber as its CEO ?
19. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) (Commerce and Industry Ministry) will release a new industrial policy by October 2017, to replace National Manufacturing Policy (NMP) released in ____________.
- It will review existing foreign direct investment (FDI) policy regime to facilitate greater technology transfer. Policy will aim to attract $100 billion of FDI in a year, up from $60 billion in 2016-17.
- DIPP has adopted consultative approach for formulating industrial policy by setting up six thematic focus groups - Manufacturing and MSME, Technology and Innovation, Infrastructure, Investment, Trade and Fiscal Policy, Ease of Doing Business and Skills and Employability for Future.
20. Digital wallet app Samsung Pay tied up with _____________ to store higher variants of Bank's debit cards on app, turning Samsung smartphones into electronic card-holders and users can pay at point-of-sale (PoS) terminals with just a tap on cards stored in Samsung Pay ?
21. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented 2nd volume of Economic Survey 2016-17 on last day of monsoon session of Parliament. It has been authored by Chief Economic Adviser ______________________ and his team. Key Highlights are -
- Transparency of Rules Act (TORA) has been proposed, to help citizens overcome an opaque mesh of complicated rules that often leads to corruption and endless litigation.
- TORA is needed as At present due to opaque mesh of regulations prevalent in India make life of ordinary citizens (as well as businesses) difficult as it is not easy for ordinary citizens for them to navigate the multitude of rules, regulations, forms, taxes and procedures imposed by various tiers of government.
- Fiscal Developments -
- Fiscal Deficit -
- Kept Under 3.5 % of GDP in 2016-17 and expected to decline to 3.2 % of GDP in 2017-2018. Fiscal deficit target of 3 % of GDP under FRBM framework is projected to be achieved in 2018-19.
- Reforms undertaken in Budget 2017-18 are Integration of Railway Budget with Union Budget, advancing of date of the Budget to February 1, elimination of the classification of expenditure into ‘plan’ and ‘non-plan’ etc. Introduction of Goods and Services Tax from July 01, 2017 has been most highlighted reform among all.
- Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Energy -
- India ratified Paris Agreement on 2nd October 2016. India’s actions for the post-2020 period are based on its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). NDC targets to lower the emissions intensity of GDP by 33 - 35 % by 2030 from 2005 levels, to increase share of non-fossil based power generation capacity to 40 % of installed electric power capacity(cumulative) by 2030, and to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 Gt CO2e through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
- India has ambitious targets of increasing renewable energy capacity to 175 GW by 2022. This includes 100 GW of solar, 60 GW of wind, 10 GW of biomass, and 5 GW of small hydro power capacity.
- A number of initiatives have been taken in the Indian financial sector also. In the renewable energy segment, bank loans of up to Rs.15 crore for solar-based power generators, biomass-based power generators, wind mills, micro-hydel plants, etc. will be considered part of Priority Sector Lending. External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) norms have been further liberalized so that green projects can tap this window for raising finance across the borders.
- External Sector
- India’s balance of payments improved in 2016-17, as a result of low and falling trade and current account deficits and moderate and rising capital inflows, resulting in further accretion of foreign exchange reserves.
- India’s exports increased 12.3 % in 2016-17 and a marginal decline in imports by 1.0 % resulted in narrowing down of trade deficit to US$ 112.4 billion (5 % of GDP) in 2016-17 as compared to US$ 130.1 billion (6.2 % of GDP) in 2015-16.
- Current account deficit (CAD) narrowed down to 0.7 % of GDP in 2016-17 from 1.1 % of GDP in 2015-16
- Net capital inflows were slightly lower at US$ 36.8 billion (1.6 % of GDP) in 2016-17 as compared to US$ 40.1 billion (1.9 % of GDP) in the previous year, mainly due to fall in NRI deposits.
- Gross FDI inflows to India increased to US$ 60.2 billion in 2016-17 from US$ 55.6 billion in 2015-16. FDI equity inflow of 43.4 Billion USD in Financial Year 2016-17, which is highest ever FDI Equity inflows.
- Mauritius, Singapore and Japan have been top three source countries of FDI inflows to India contributing 36.2%, 20% and 10.8%, respectively, during 2016-17, according to survey.
- Among major economies running current account deficit, India is second largest foreign exchange reserve holder after Brazil with reserves at US$ 386.4 billion as on 7th July, 2017.
- India’s aggregate external debt stock at end-March 2017 stood at US$ 471.9 billion registering a decline of US$ 13.1 billion (2.7 %) over end-March 2016. Ratio of external debt to GDP fell to 20.2 % from 23.5 %.
- Agriculture and Food Management - Several multi-dimensional Agricultural and Food Management Reforms Measures have been suggested -
- Challenges Include -
- Small Operational Land Holdings - Average farm size in India is small and declining since 1970-71.
- Credit - Predominance of informal sources of credit for farmers is a concern. Moreover, there is regional disparity in the distribution of agricultural credit.
- Problems like Post - harvest losses, availability of quality planting material and lack of market access for horticultural produce of small farmers.
- Reforms suggested -
- Price risks in agriculture and allied sectors - Strengthening and building marketing infrastructure along the entire value chain.
- Production risks - Share of irrigated area should be expanded by increasing the coverage of water saving irrigation systems like micro irrigation systems.
- To Increase productivity of crops, Standards should be set and enforced for better quality, pest and disease resistant seeds.
- Trade and domestic policy changes should be announced well before sowing and should stay till arrivals and procurement is over.
- Enhance women’s involvement in the dairy projects.
- Formal and institutional credit should be provided in timely and affordable manner to small and marginal farmers.
- Industry and Infrastructure -
- Industrial performance moderated from 8.8 % during 2015-16 to 5.6 % in 2016-17. Industrial growth as per Index of Industrial Production (IIP) new series of 2011-12 shows overall IIP growth at 5 % in 2016-17 as compared to 3.4 % last year. Index of Eight Core Industries growth during 2016-17 was 4.8 % as compared to 3.0 % in 2015-16.
- Steps taken by government have borne fruit since imports of Steel by India have declined by 36.2 % while exports have risen by 102 % in 2016-17. It has been helped by imposition of Minimum Import Price (MIP) to counter dumping of Steel into Indian markets.
- Apparel sector is a highly employment intensive industry especially for women. Government in June 2016 approved Rs.6,000 crore special package for textile & apparel sector.
- Indian Railways registered freight earnings at Rs.104339 crore (P), registering negative growth of 4.5 % over 2015-16 due to carrying larger volume of low fare freight in 2016-17. Passenger earnings were Rs.46280 crore (P) registered an increase of 4.5 % during 2016-17.
- Government launched the UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana) for financial turnaround of power distribution companies in November 2015. 26 states and 1 UT which have joined UDAY scheme account for outstanding debt of Rs. 3.82 lakh Cr. So far, 15 states have issued UDAY bonds totaling Rs.2.09 lakh Cr. and DISCOMs have issued Bonds worth Rs. 0.23 lakh Cr.
- After introduction of UDAY, National average (all UDAY states) of AT&C loss has come down to 20.2 % in FY 2017 from 21.1 % in FY 2016.
- Under Smart Cities Mission, 57 projects worth Rs.941 crore have already been completed as of April 2017. An estimated additional 462 projects worth Rs.15307 crore are likely to be completed through 2018.
22. GST Council recommended increasing maximum ceiling of cess leviable on motor vehicles falling under headings 8702 and 8703 including SUVs, to ____________ instead of present 15%. Such vehicles Include mid-segment, large cars, SUVs and motor vehicles which can carry 10 - 13 Persons ?
23. Goods and services tax (GST) collections exceeded revenue target for first month (July 2017) with INR __________________ crores collections. Different Components (Approx) CGST - 15000 Crores, SGST - 23000 Crores, IGST - 47000 Crores, Cess - 7000 Crores ?
24. Government approved ________ disinvestment through strategic sale of Central Electronics Limited (CEL), with net worth approx 50 crores ?
25. Government approved raising EBR (____________________) upto Rs. 9020 crore during 2017-18 by NABARD through issuance of Bonds for ensuring lending at 6% per annum under borrowings for implementation of Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) works of 99 ongoing prioritized irrigation projects under PMKSY.
- Several irrigation projects taken up under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) were languishing due to inadequate provision of funds. To cater to large fund requirement and ensure completion of these projects, Government created Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF) in NABARD with an initial corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore for funding of Central and State share for identified ongoing projects under PMKSY (AIBP and CAD).
- To make loan from NABARD attractive for states, rate of interest was kept around 6% by providing requisite cost free funds to NABARD every year during 2016-17 to 2019-20 on which interest cost would be borne by Govt. of India.
26. Government disinvested _____________ of its stake in Hindustan Copper Limited through Offer for Sale (OFS), raising approx 400 crores ?
27. Government imposed penalty of USD ____________ million (1,700 crores) on Reliance Industries and its partners for producing less than targeted natural gas from eastern offshore KG-D6 fields in 2015-16.
28. Government launched a new ETF (______________________) named BHARAT 22, consisting 22 stocks of CPSE's, PSB's & strategic holding of SUUTI.
- It is more diverse as Compared to energy heavy CPSE ETF, and has a Diversified portfolio with 6 sectors (Basic Materials, Energy, Finance, FMCG, Industrials & Utilities).
- Bharat 22 Index will be rebalanced annually. ICICI Prudential AMC will be the ETF Manager and Asia Index Private Limited (JV BSE and S& P Global) will be the Index Provider.
29. Government ruled that Banks importing gold and precious metals will have to pay ____________ tax under GST which can be claimed as input tax credit ?
30. _______________ launched a software update to enable point-of-sale (PoS) machines to accept payments through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), BharatQR, SMS Pay and bank’s mobile wallets, in addition to traditional mode of swiping cards. For this, POS machines are to be updated with a free software ?
31. ______________ launched instant credit cards enabling its savings account customers to get a credit card instantly, in a completely digital and paperless manner, initially available for some pre-qualified customers who can apply for card online and generate card details and start shopping using it instantly. The credit limit is up to Rs 4 lakh, based on pre-checked bureau scores.
32. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund launched new website ___________________ to help users plan their investments according to their future financial goals. It guides users to plan their big spends, tax investments and corpus required during retirement ?
33. IDFC Bank partnered with digital payments company _____________, to launch IDFC Bank Benefits as a payment solution for corporates that digitizes employee spends and claims, making the process simple, real-time and paperless ?
34. In 3rd Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Review by RBI, Repo rate has been cut by 25 basis points. New Monetary Policy rates stand at-
- Repo Rate - _________ %
- Reverse Repo - 5.75 %
- Bank Rate - 6.25 %
- Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate - 6.25 %
- CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) - 4 %
- SLR(Statutory Liquidity ratio) - 20 %
35. Income Tax Department imposed INR ______________ crores penalty on tax demand of same amount on a unit of Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd, over its decade-old sale of mobile phone business in India to Vodafone India. Vodafone in 2007 acquired 67% stake in mobile-phone business owned by Hutchison Whampoa (now part of CK Hutchison) ?
36. India signed Global Environment Facility (GEF) Grant Agreement with World Bank for USD _____________ Million for “Ecosystems Service Improvement Project” ?
37. India's GDP growth declined to ____________ in Q1 (April - June) of FY 2017-18, with growth in manufacturing sector declining rapidly. This is slowest quarterly GDP growth since January-March quarter in 2014. GDP Growth was 7.9 % Strong in Q1 of FY 2016-17 and 6.1% in Q4 of FY 2016-17 ?
38. ICEX (______________) launched world’s first diamond futures contracts to provide exporters with a hedging tool, enabling companies involving in cut and polished gems business to better hedge price risks. ICEX has started trading in 1 carat/100 cent contracts and eventually in future will add 50 cent and 30 cent contracts.
- Note that India is a global diamond polishing hub where 14 out of every 15 rough diamonds in the world are polished.
39. Indian Navy's Band participated in International Military Music Festival "Spasskaya Tower" held in Moscow (_____________). A 66-member Indian Navy band also joined historic Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in the UK ?
40. Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart received investment of ____________ Billion from Japan's SoftBank Vision Fund, world’s largest technology-focused investment fund. This is as biggest ever private investment in an Indian technology company.
- Flipkart is now world's 3rd most funded private company with almost $7 billion capital raised so far. Top 2 are both ride hailing platforms – Chinabased Didi Chuxing ($15 Billion) and US based Uber ($12.9 billion).
41. India signed US$ ___________ million Loan agreement with Beijing (China) based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for Gujarat Rural Roads Project. ?
42. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) launched a Central Database of all Insurance Sales Persons in country, Named as _______________ ?
43. ____________ became First Private Sector Bank to roll out an Aadhaar Enrollment Centre, at its Nelson Manickam Road Branch in Chennai ?
44. _______________ launched an Aadhaar-based integrated outward forex remittance service Remit for both customers and non-customers. It offers a paperless process that enables users to register online using Aadhaar and PAN numbers, and initiate remittances instantly ?
45. Leading FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) Britannia Industries will set up its largest plant in ____________ in a food park at Ranjangaon, with investment of INR 1000 crores ?
46. Lok Sabha passed Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2017 to replace Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance 2017 and amend Banking Regulation Act _____________ to insert provisions for handling cases related to stressed assets or non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks. Key Features -
- It enables Central government to authorize Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to direct banking companies to resolve specific stressed assets by initiating insolvency resolution process, as per Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.
- It empowers RBI to issue directions to banks for resolution of stressed assets from time to time.
- It inserts provision to make above provisions applicable to the SBI and its subsidiaries and also Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).
47. Lok Sabha passed National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill 2017 that amends NABARD Act 1981. Key features -
- Capital of NABARD is increased to INR _______________ crores from 5000 crores, with additional capital allowed in consultation with RBI.
- Government must hold at least 51% capital share of NABARD. and .04% shares of NABARD held by RBI (valued 20 crores) will be transferred to Government.
48. Lok Sabha passed State Banks (Repeal and Amendment) Bill 2017 that repeals State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act 1959 and State Bank of Hyderabad Act 1956. It also amends State Bank of India (SBI) Act ______________ to remove references to subsidiary banks and powers of SBI to act as an agent of the RBI for subsidiary banks?
49. Messaging app________________ acquired Bengaluru-based tech start-up Creo for an undisclosed amount ?
50. Ministry of Commerce and Industry will shut down over 100-year-old DGSD (___________________), government's procurement arm. Now public procurement of goods and services will be managed by Government’s e-market platform (GeM) ?
51. Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) and Mahindra Agri Solutions signed MoU to provide agriculture related price information, through their recently launched mobile application _________________?
52. NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) signed loan agreement for Rs. ___________ crore with ICICI Bank for partially funding its capital expenditure, with tenure of 15 years ?
53. National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned Loan of INR 1349.55 crores to ___________ government for creation of rural infrastructure in the state under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) ?
54. National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved merger between Aircel and Reliance Communications wireless business and sale of Reliance's tower business to _____________'s Brookfield. RCom and Aircel will ot have to get permission from Supreme Court before filing their merger plea. Merged entities will be called as 'Aircom' and both will have 50% equity stake ?
55. ____________ customers will have to pay charges for depositing cash above Rs. 5,000 (down from 25000 Currently) in a non-base branch even if it is located in same city. Customer will have to pay Re 1 per Rs 1,000 for above Rs 5,000 cash deposit or part thereof with a minimum of Rs 25 per transaction.
56. Power transmission utility Powergrid received loan of USD _________ million from Asian Development Bank (ADB) for its various projects ?
57. Public procurement portal Government eMarketplace (GeM) and industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have signed a MoU to establish _____________, a GeM -Industry forum. GeMSamvad aims to create awareness about online purchase of goods and services by government agencies and departments ?
58. __________ (PNB) introduced biometric attendance, to enforce punctuality among employees. Timings will be uploaded in HR system automatically ?
59. RBI Stated that out of _____________ regional rural banks (RRBs), Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank and Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank recorded net profit of more than Rs 150 crore during 2016-17. Overall, 49 RRBs recorded net profit in 2016-17.
60. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will pay INR _________ crore dividend to government for year ended June 30, less than half of what it paid in 2016 (65,876 crores) ?
61. Reserve Bank of India advised banks to make Aadhaar linkage mandatory for availing short-term crop loans up to Rs ___________ in 2017-18, To ensure hassle-free benefits to farmers under Interest Subvention Scheme.
- To provide short-term crop loans to farmers at an interest rate of 7 % during 2017-18, RBI decided to offer interest subvention of 2 % to lending banks on use of their own resources.
62. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) directed companies that fail to disclose any default on payment of interest or repayment of principal to banks or financial institutions within ___________ day, from October 1 Onwards ?
63. Solar energy services company Freyr Energy tied up with ____________ to offer term loans ranging from Rs 5 to 50 lakh for up to 5 years, for solar rooftop installations in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh ?
64. ______________ announced waiver of up to 100% of processing fee on car loans, personal gold loans and personal loans for 2017 festive season. Bank has waived processing fee on car loans till 31st December 2017 and half of he processing fee on personal gold loans till 31st October 2017 ?
65. ________ has launched a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiative Gram Seva, which will work in areas of health, education, environment and rural infrastructure. It will partner with NGOs to carry out CSR initiatives under which it adopt 5 villages each from 10 village panchayats with each village getting around Rs 2.40 crore over 3 years. Bank also held Home Loan Utsav in Bengaluru, offering 0.25% concession in interest rates?
66. State Bank of India will raise INR ______________ crores by allotting Basel-III compliant bonds to various investors. It will allot 20,000 AT1 Basel-III compliant non-convertible, perpetual, subordinated bonds in the nature of debentures. Bonds will carry a coupon rate of 8.15% per annum with a call option after 5 years ?
67. Substantial increase observed in number of Income Tax Returns(ITRs) filed, with over _________ Crore ITRs filed as compared to 2.26 Crore ITRs last year ?
68. _____________ became first power utility to introduce a QR code based bill payments system in India. QR code linked to Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will be printed on electricity bills and customers can scan QR code with BHIM app or any other UPI linked app and pay bills ?
69. _____________ Ltd has been given scheduled bank status by RBI. Currently, It has 65 branches in 10 states / UTs?
70. _______________ signed Bancassurance agreements with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and Cholamandalam MS General Insurance for distribution of their insurance products. Similar Bancassurance tie up has been signed between DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance Company and Dhanlaxmi Bank ?
71. Tech Firm ______________ launched Budding Star Programme, a program aimed at Flipkart employees to help them achieve their dreams by providing them financial assistance and paid leaves, open for employees who have completed 6 months with company. ?
