1. Banks Board Bureau (BBB) recommended 15 executive directors to be elevated as managing directors (MD) at various public sector banks (PSBs). BBB is headed by ______________.
2. 28th GST Council Meeting Held in New Delhi -
- Rates on several commodities slashed. GST Council has left just 35 items in highest tax bracket of ___________________ %, including automobiles, digital cameras, tyres, yachts, aircraft, aerated drinks and cigarettes. Rate reductions in 28th GST Council Meet will cost government approx 7000 crores.
- Notable amendments -
- Composition dealers to be allowed to supply services (other than restaurant services), for upto a value not exceeding 10% of turnover in preceding financial year, or Rs. 5 lakhs, whichever is higher. Council members have unanimously voted for bringing into effect theincreased threshold limit of Rs. 1.5 crore from existing Rs 1 crore as soon as possible.
- Threshold exemption limit for registration in the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,Sikkim and Uttarakhand to be increased to Rs. 20 Lakhs from Rs. 10 Lakhs.
- Reverse charge mechanism deferred for a year till 30th Sept 2019.
- Creation of GST Appelate Tribunal with National Bench at New Delhi and Regional Benches at Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. Amount of pre-deposit payable for filing of appeal before Appellate Authority and Appellate Tribunal to be capped at 25 Crores and 50 Crores respectively.
- Regular taxpayers with turnover up to Rs 5 crores can opt to file GST return on a quarterly basis against earlier limit of Rs. 1.5 crores. Return can be either ‘Sahaj’ or ‘Sugam’, wherein the first one, report only B2C supplies and the other report both B2B & B2C supplies.
- Regular taxpayers with turnover over 5 crores have to file monthly returns, THRIUGH NEW SYSTEM NAMED UPLOAD – LOCK – PAY TAX.
- Notable Slashed Rates -
- 28% to 18% -
- Refrigerators, freezers and other refrigerating or freezing equipment including water cooler, milk coolers, refrigerating equipment for leather industry, ice cream freezer etc.
- Washing machines, Vacuum cleaners, Domestic electrical appliances
- Televisions upto the size of 68 cm
- Lithium-ion batteries
- 28% to 12%
- Fuel Cell Vehicle. Further, Compensation cess shall also be exempted on fuel cell vehicle.
- 8%12%/5% to Nil -
- Supply of Multimodal Transportation (Service)
- Stone/Marble/Wood Deities
- Sanitary Napkins,
- Circulation and commemorative coins, sold by Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd [SPMCIL] to Ministry of Finance.
- 18% to 5% -
- Ethanol for sale to Oil Marketing Companies for blending with fuel
- Solid bio fuel pellets
- 5% GST is being extended to footwear having a retail sale price up to Rs. 1000 per pair. Footwear having a retail sale price exceeding Rs. 1000 per pair will continue to attract 18%.
- IGST @5% on Pool Issue Price (PIP) of Urea imported on Govt. account for direct agriculture use, instead of assessable value plus custom duty.
3. ______________ Govt. released State Credit Plan (banking) 2018-19, aiming to improve banking services in state.
- Under it, 194220 INR Crores are allocated for development purpose, with Priority Sector (agriculture and allied activities, SME, poor people for housing, students for education) allocated 144220 crores. Non-priority sector has been allocated 50000 crores.
4. As per Financial Data of Public Sector Banks in FY 2017-18 -
- Gross NPA ratio for PSBs is 14.6% in 2017-18. In the last 25 financial years, the gross NPA ratio for PSBs was highest in FY 1993-94 at 24.8%. PNB is followed by ___________________ with loss of 8,238 Crores.
- All PSBs Except Indian Bank and Vijaya Bank reported net losses in FY 2017-18, with PNB posting biggest ever loss of 12,283 Crores. It is mainly due to PNB was hit by recent huge scams.
- Vijaya Bank reported net profit of 727 Crores and Indian Bank posted Profit of 1,259 Crores.
- IDBI Bank has most Percentage of NPAs (28 %), followed by Indian Overseas Bank (25.3 %).
- Finance Ministry will infuse approx 11336 crores in 5 PSBs by September 2018 - PNB (2,816), Corporation Bank (2555), Indian Overseas Bank (2157), Andhra Bank (2019) and Allahabad Bank (1790).
5. As per Prime Database Investment Bankers League table for FY 2017-18, _______________________ is India’s top investment bank for equity issuances by private sector companies.
6. Asian Development Bank approved lining project of Son canal in Shahabad – Bhojpur region of ____________________, to help agri-sector in this region. Cost of this project is USD 503 million (Rs 3272.49 crore) out of which USD 352 million is being provided by ADB.
7. Astrosat, India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory, captured images of a special galaxy cluster that is more than 800 million light years away from Earth. Named _________________, it is made of 3 separate clusters of galaxies that are all merging with one another to eventually form a single massive cluster in future.
8. Banks and Financial Institutions (FIs) signed ____________________________________ (ICA) aimed at faster resolution of stressed assets of 50 crore or more which are under consortium lending. It has been signed by 22 govt banks, 19 private banks and 32 foreign banks as part of project ‘Sashakt’.
- Under it, lead lender (having highest exposure) will be authorised to formulate resolution plan for operation turnaround of assets which will be presented to lenders for their approval.
- Decision making under ICA framework will be by way of approval of majority lenders i.e. lenders with 66% share in exposure.
9. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) signed agreement with ________________________ (BME) for growth of commodity derivatives markets in non-ferrous metals complex. BSE and BME will work jointly on initiatives to deepen understanding of commodity market among stakeholders.
10. CSC SPV, a Special Purpose Vehicle under Ministry of Electronics & IT signed agreement with _________________ to enable its three lakh Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) managing Common Services Centers operate as Banking Correspondents of Bank. _______________ will also support CSC SPV in converting 1000 identified villages into Digi Gaon (Digital Villages) this year.
11. Central Board of Direct Taxation extended deadline for PAN-Aadhaar linking from June 30 2018, to ______________ 31, 2019, as 5th time extension in deadline for individuals to link their PAN with their Aadhaar. Over 16.65 crore PANs out of 33 crore were linked with Aadhaar till March 2019.
12. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has developed mobile app ‘______________’ to protect interest of consumers. It will allow customers to verify their bill if any GST amount mentioned is of genuinely registered person or not.
13. Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) has been transferred from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and brought under ___________________'s Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). Earlier, Budget 2018 amended Central Road Fund Act 2000, and renamed Central Road Fund as Central Road and Infrastructure Fund.
14. Department of Telecom (DoT) gave final approval to merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, after Idea and Vodafone India jointly paid inr 7268 crores under protest. Both the entities will now approach Registrar of Companies (RoC) for stipulated filings for approval, completing last leg of formalities.
- Merged identity will be known as ‘Vodafone Idea’ that will create India's largest telecom company. Kumar Mangalam Birla will be Non-Executive Chairman of Vodafone Idea while Balesh Sharma will be CEO.
- Vodafone will hold _______________ percent of the combined entity and Idea promoters will hold 26.1 percent of entity.
15. _____________ received RBI approval to open offices in Bahrain, Kuwait and Singapore. It is awaiting local clearances before starting operations there.
16. Finance Ministry approved ______________________ Committee’s suggestions of a 5-pronged strategy to tackle Non-Performing Assets (NPA), in report titled Sashakt. 5 pronged strategy includes SME resolution approach, Bank-led resolution approach, AMC/AIF led resolution approach, NCLT/IBC approach AND Asset-trading platform.
- Highlights nine guiding principles aimed at the operational turnaround of the banking sector in a manner that will create jobs and enhance the value of public sector banks.
- Resolution of bad assets below Rs 50 crore to be done within 90 days.
- Resolution of consortium loans between Rs 50-500 crore to be done within 180 days, using a BLRA (Bank Led Resolution approach).
- Loans above Rs 500 crores will be dealt via AMC/AIF-led resolution process.
- Recommendations included creating platforms where banks can trade in bunched loan assets.
- Committee suggested setting up of an AMC with an equity contribution from banks, foreign funds and infrastructure funds such as the National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF). AMC could be set up under an existing Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) like Arcil Ltd which is already promoted by banks.
17. Finance Ministry announced to keep interest rates on small savings schemes unchanged for July-September quarter. Interest rates are (in %)
- 5 yr Senior citizen Savings Scheme (paid quarterly) - _____________________
- Meant for people above 60 years of age. Only one deposit, not exceeding Rs. 15 lakh, is allowed in this scheme. It is payable from date of deposit of March 31/ September 30/ December 31 in first instance and thereafter, interest is payable on March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31.
- Savings Deposits - 4
- Public Provident Fund (PPF) - 7.6
- A long-term investment option that offers benefits of EEE on income tax. EEE means that PPF returns are exempt from income tax, maturity amount is tax-free and main investment qualifies for a deduction under section 80C of Income Tax Act. Interest on PPF accounts is compounded yearly.
- National Savings Certificate (NSC) - 7.6
- NSC certificates can be purchased from post offices, with tenure of 5 to 10 years. NSCs offer benefits under Section 80C of Income Tax Act. Interest is compounded annually but paid on maturity.
- Kisan Vikas Patra - 7.3
- A Long-term savings plan that can be purchased from post offices. It can be encashed after 2.5 years. Interest is compounded annually. Amount invested doubles in 118 months.
- Sukanya Samriddhi Account - 8.1
- A legal guardian/ natural guardian, on behalf of a girl child, can open this account in post offices or banks. This account matures in 21 years after deposit of money for 15 years. This scheme gives a triple income tax benefit (no tax on amount invested, amount earned as interest and amount withdrawn). It is compounded and calculated on a yearly basis.
- Term Deposit (1-5 years) - 6.6-7.4
- 5 year Recurring Deposit - 6.9
18. Financial Firm Paytm patrtnered with __________________ Investor SoftBank to launch a payments service in _________, to be launched by SoftBank’s joint venture company PayPal. It ia aimed at increasing quantity of cashless payments in Japan, which are currently only 20 % of total transactions.
19. Financial Services Firm Oxigen and _____________ Small Finance Bank partnered to roll out the Branchless Banking services, using Oxigen's flagship Point of Sale device called Oxigen Micro ATM Super PoS.
20. ________________ subsidiary PhonePe acquired Zopper Retail – a hyperlocal Point of Sale (POS) platform for small and medium businesses.
21. Foreign direct investment in India grew at 5 year lowest rate of 3% in 2017-18 (total FDI USD _________________ billion). Compared to FDI Growth of 8.67% in 2016-17, 29% in 2015-16 and 27% in 2014-15.
22. _________________ announced Launchpad Accelerator India, as a new mentorship program developed for startups in India, utilising Machine Learning/AI to develop solutions for India’s local needs. This is a 3 month accelerator.
23. Government announced that Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme will be open to all potential researchers from 2019 and not limited to candidates from IISc, IITs, NITs, IIEST and IISERs. It was decided after Government failed to find adequate number of candidates for PMRF this year (Only 135 fellowships offered against _______________ positions).
- PMRF will be implemented for period of seven years beginning 2018-19 at total cost of Rs. 1650 crores.
- B. Tech/Integrated M.Tech/M.Sc students streams will be offered direct admission in PhD programme in IITs/IISc. Selected students will be offered monthly fellowship of Rs.70,000 for first two years, Rs.75,000 for 3rd year and Rs.80,000 in 4th and 5th years.
- Each selected fellow students will be also provided research grant of Rs.2.00 lakh for period of 5 years.
24. Government imposed safeguard duty of __________________ on import of solar cells from China and Malaysia, to help domestic solar cell manufacturing sector.
25. Government proposed to bring down number of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) to __________________ from present 56, to enable them to minimize their overhead expenses, optimize the use of technology, enhance the capital base and area of operation and increase their exposure.
26. Government reduced minimum yearly deposit required under girl child savings scheme Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, to Rs _________________ from Rs 1,000 earlier.
- It was launched as a small savings scheme under Beti Bacho Beti Padho (BBBP) in January 2015. Under it, guardian of a girl child can open an account in her name until she attains age of 10 years. Deposits can be made up to 14 years from date of opening of account. Maximum investment amount on yearly basis is Rs 1.50 lakh.
- Girl child can withdraw 50% of money after reaching age of 18 for higher education. It will get interest rate of 9.1%. Account will remain operative until girl child reaches 21 age.
27. HCL surpassed ________________ to become India's third biggest software services firm in 1st Quarter of FY 2018 - 19, marking first change in pecking order of India's $167 billion information technology (IT) outsourcing industry in 6 years. HCL's revenue increased 0.8% to $2.05 billion.
28. ______________________ left past Russia's Sberbank to become most valuable bank in emerging market outside China. Its current market capitalisation is $78.4 billion against Sberbank's $74.4 billion.
- Chinese banks are leading in emerging market, with Industrial & Commercial Bank of China topping with market cap of $273.4 billion.
- Globally, America's JPMorgan Chase is most valuable with a market cap of $353 billion, followed by Bank of America at $282 billion.
- four banks from India that rank among world's 500 most valuable companies. HDFC Bank is followed by Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India.
29. _____________ securities launched Mutual Funds transactional capabilities on Facebook Messenger through their virtual assistant Arya, with theme The Pace of Innovation.
30. _________________ topped states in per capita revenue collection under GST and has become fourth highest generator of e-way bills in country. State also widened tax base by 82.22 %, with 19 % hike in revenue collections.
31. ________________'s mortgage loan portfolio crossed INR 1.5-trillion milestone, making it largest private player in this segment. It is targeting to grow it to Rs 2 trillion by FY20.
32. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will go live with 650 branches in addition to 3,250 access points co-located at post offices in August 2018.
- IPPB was incorporated in August 2016, with __________________ Government of India equity.
- IPPB also has been given permission to link around 170 million postal savings bank (PSB) account with its account.
- IPPB will offer interest of 4.5% on deposits up to 25,000, 5% on deposits of 25,000-50,000 and 5.5% on 50,000-100,000
33. India became world's 6th biggest economy, pushing __________________ into 7th place, according to updated World Bank figures for 2017.
- India's gross domestic product (GDP) amounted to $2.597 trillion at end of last year, against $2.582 trillion for ______________
.
- Top 10 Economies are (Trillion USD) - USA (19.39), China (12.24), Japan (4.87), Germany (3.68), UK (2.62), India (2.59), ______________ (2.58), Brazil (2.07), Italy (1.93), Canada (1.65)
- In terms of Per Capita Income, India has $1940 Annual Per Capita Income.
34. India will provide tariff concessions on 3,142 products to ____________________ (APTA) members, from July 2018, as per results of fourth round of negotiations under APTA. With this,coverage of preferences of total tariff lines for each member will come of 10,677 tariff lines (up from 4,270 items at conclusion of 3rd Round).
- APTA is an initiative under United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UN ESCAP) for trade expansion through exchange of tariff concessions among developing country members of Asia Pacific Region.
35. India's National Stock Exchange signed agreement with _________________'s Nasdaq for a suitable platform and technology backbone to effectively tap post–trade delivery capabilities.
- Earlier, NSE’s current clearing and settlement system operated by National Securities Clearing Corporation Limited (NSCCL). Under new agreement, Nasdaq will deliver a customised real-time clearing, risk management and settlement technology to NSE.
36. IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company (JV of _______________, Andhra Bank and Legal and General (UK)) tied up with Oxigen Services India Pvt. Ltd., to establish distribution of its insurance products at Oxigen retail outlets.
37. Indian GDP Growth Forecasts (July 2018) -
- International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut India’s GDP growth forecast by 10 basis points to 7.3% in 2019 and by 30 basis points to ____________________________ in 2020. India still remains fastest growing country among major economies in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
- Asian Development Bank stated that India will remain fastest growing economy, with 7.3 % growth in 2018-19 and 7.6 % in 2019-20.
- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) predicted India’s economic growth will rise to 7.4% in 2018 and 7.5% in 2019. China’s GDP growth is projected to moderate to 6.7% in 2018 and to 6.4% in 2019.
- FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) predicted India’s economic growth at 7.5 % in FY 2018-19.
38. India’s biggest power producer NTPC signed term loan agreement with _______________ Bank for availing a loan of INR 1500 crores.
39. Iran overtook Saudi Arabia to be 2nd largest supplier of crude oil to Indian public sector firms during 1st Quarter of this fiscal (April-June 2018). Top 3 Crude Oil suppliers to India are -
- ____________ - 7.27 million tonnes
- Iran - 5.67 million tonnes
- Saudi Arabia - 5.22 million tonnes
40. ____________________Small Finance Bank launched its commercial banking operations, being last microfinance company to convert itself into a small finance bank (SFB), 3 years after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave its approval. It was earlier called Janalakshmi Financial Services. About Small Finance Banks -
- Existing non-banking financial companies (NBFC), microfinance institutions (MFI) and local area banks (LAB) can apply to become small finance banks.
- Minimum net worth Required is INR 100 Crores.
- 75% of its net credits should be in priority sector lending and 50% of the loans in its portfolio must in 25 lakh (US$38,000) range.
- Promoters stake will be at least 40% initially but must be brought down to 26% in 12 years.
- At net worth of INR 500 crores, listing will be mandatory within 3 years. SFBs with net worth under 500 crores could also get their shares listed voluntaril.
- It shall be required to maintain a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 15 % of its risk weighted assets (RWA) on a continuous basis.
41. __________________ Budget 2018 - 19, Presented by new CM H. D. Kumaraswamy (Janata Dal) -
- Announced a partial farm loan waiver of over 34000 crores, which will benefit those farmers whose borrowings are less than Rs 2 lakhs. Farmers who repaid loan within time will be credited the repaid loan amount or 25000 whichever is less.
- Several Taxes have been hiked, to make up for expenses due to the loan waiver -
- Tax on Petrol hiked from 30 to 32 %, resulting in hike of INR 1.14 per litre in Petrol Prices.
- Tax on Diesel hiked from 19 to 21 %, resulting in hike of INR 1.12 per litre in Diesel Prices.
- Additinal INR 1000 Crores Excise revenue targeted by hiking taxes by 4% in all 18 different slabs of Liquor.
- Tax on electricity hiked from 6 to 9 %.
42. __________________ registered biggest increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2017, as inflows from overseas jumped 300% in the 12 months ended March 2018.
43. ______________ government allocated inr 15 crores for implementation of a pension scheme for senior journalists, called Acharya Balshastri Jambhekar Sanman Yojana.
44. Manappuram Finance accriured _________________ % stake in Indian School Finance (ISFC), for over 212 crores. ISFC lends to educational institutions like private schools, vocational colleges and institutes, coaching centres etc. to build infrastructure.
45. Mobile infrastructure company Bharti Infratelgot Competition Commission of India (CCI) approval for merging its operations with Indus Towers, valued at _______________ crores. It will create one of largest mobile tower entities worldwide with 1.63 lakh towers in all 22 telecom circles.
- Bharti Airtel and Vodafone will jointly control combined company, with Vodaphone having 29.4 % Airtel will have 37.2 %. Indus Towers is valued at INR 71500 crores.
46. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) launched Centre for Climate Change in Lucknow (___________________), as first of its kind centre in South East Asia.
47. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) exited its helicopter service provider Pawan Hans by selling its entire _______________ stake. Rest is held by government, which is already on offer for sale.
48. Private Sector Lender ______________ Bank reported a net loss of INR 120 crores for Q1 of 2018 (Apr - June), on account of rising bad loans and treasury losses. This is the first time that it has reported losses from its India operations. Bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 53,464 crores (8.81% of total advances).
49. ________________ Updates__________
- Its Chairman Mukesh Ambani became Asia's richest person, (replacing Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Co-founder Jack Ma). Mr. Ambani's net worth stands at $44.3 billion.
- Launched its fiber to the home (FTTH) broadband service - JioGigaFiber and Jio phone 2 (Priced 2999).
- JioGigaFiber is company's foray into broadband market of country. It will be rolled out from Aug 15, 2018 and will offer Minimum 100 MBPS speed. It is expected to bring competition in broadband sector which does not have many big players.
- Beaten Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to become most valued company in India, with RIL's market capitalisation being INR 7.44 trillion as compared to TCS' INR 7.39 trillion.
- It is India’s Most profitable and largest Tax Payer in private sector (Goods and Services Tax (GST), Excise and Customs Duty, and Income Tax), paying 9844 crores in FY18 as Tax.
- Shareholders approved Mukesh Ambani as Chairman and Managing Director for another 5 years
50. ___________________ Updates -
- Allowed Bank of China to operate in India, becoming 2nd Chinese bank to operate in India, after Industrial & Commercial Bank of China that began Indian Operations in Jan 2018. UK’s Standard Chartered has highest, 100 branches in India as of now, among all foreign banks in India.
- Made it compulsory to incorporate purchaser’s name on face of payment instrumens like demand draft, pay order, banker’s cheques and other instruments to prevent money laundering. This directive will come into effect from 15th of September 2018.
- Cancelled licence of Alwar Urban Co-operative Bank in Alwar (Rajasthan), due to irregularities in functioning.
- Will shortly issue INR 100 denomination banknotes with lavender as base colour in Mahatma Gandhi (New) series, wit motif of ‘Rani Ki Vav’ (the queen’s stepwell located at Patan, Gujarat). Dimension of new note will be 66 mm×142 mm.
51. SBI and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) partnered to provide collateral-free credit through Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) in ______________. MOU was signed for promotion and credit linkage of 2,000 JLGs during current year.
52. Several Indian public and private banks started new AI technologies, to improve operational efficiency.
- SBI -
- SBI Intelligent Assistant (SIA) - A smart chat assistant that efficiently resolves queries of NRI customers .
- Innovation Centre - Will explore AI Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to make banking process more efficient.
- Credit card issuer SBI Card also launched ELA’ (Electronic Live Assistant), a virtual assistant for customer support and services.
- Bank of Baroda -
- Baroda Brainy - artificial intelligence robot.
- Digital Lab - hi-tech digital branch equipped with advanced gadgets.
- _____________ -
- emPower app - App will have Chatbot and artificial intelligence based e-commerce payments.
53. Tata Steel and _______________ steel giant Thyssenkrupp will set up a 50:50 joint venture, to be called as Thyssenkrup Tata Steel BV. It will be second-largest steelmaker in European steel sector after Lakshmi Mittal's Arcelor Mittal.
54. ______________ today will raise up to Rs. 1,500 crore by issuing equity shares in one or more tranches, amid rise in NPAs and Losses.
55. World Bank group member International Finance Corporation (IFC) invested _____________ million in Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd. (M&M), To give financial assistance to small and medium enterprises.
56. ______________ received SEBI approval to start mutual fund business, named Yes Asset Management (India) Limited (YAMIL). It will have its Headquarters in Mumbai.
57. _____________ unveiled 7th Transformation Series Challenge with theme Tech for Urban Development. It will focus on Collaborative Innovation – Collaboration as a Service (CaaS) for harnessing innovative solution from young professionals for issues of national importance. CaaS is an extension of the bank’s ART (alliances and relationships driven by technology) philosophy.
58. e-Commerce retailer _____________ partnered with video streaming service Hotstar to launch a video advertisement platform called Shopper Audience Network. It will allow brands to target consumers through personalized video ads on Hotstar.
