Sunday 25 October 2015

RBI raised funds for Financial Inclusion


The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 15 October 2015 formed a single Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) with a corpus of 2000 crore rupees. The fund was formed by merging the Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund (FITF).
The RBI also finalised the new scope of activities and guidelines for utilisation of the new FIF in consultation with the Union Government. The new FIF will be administered by the reconstituted Advisory Board constituted by Union Government and will be maintained by NABARD.

Guidelines of Financial Inclusion Fund
• The overall corpus of the new FIF will be 2000 crore rupees.
• Contribution to FIF would be from the interest differential in excess of 0.5 percent on RIDF and STCRC deposits on account of shortfall in priority sector lending kept with NABARD by banks.
• All the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile FITF as well as prior commitments from FITF for projects already sanctioned will be transferred to/reimbursed from FIF.
• The Fund will be in operation for another three years or till such period as may be decided by RBI and Union Government in consultation with other stake holders.

Objective of Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF)
• To support developmental and promotional activities with a view to securing greater financial inclusion
• The development and promotional activities include creation of FI infrastructure across the country, capacity building of stakeholders, creation of awareness to address demand side issues, enhanced investment in Green Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solution and increased technological absorption capacity of financial service providers/users.
• The fund shall not be utilized for normal business/banking activities.
• To help create an eco-system that would support banks investment for future business expansion.
• To mobilise significant investment required for further facilitating investments from banks and other financial institutions in addition to ICT-BC (Information Communication Technology – Business Correspondent) model as a mode for expanding banking operations in the unbanked areas
• To address the key concerns which would help scaling the FI efforts like lack of proper connectivity, lack of training facilities for BCs, evolution of an appropriate business model, etc.

Purposes of Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF)

• Support for funding the setting up and operational cost for running Financial Inclusion & Literacy Centers in sync with the objective of Union Government for setting up Financial Literacy Centers up to the block level under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).
• Setting up of Standard Interactive Financial Literacy Kiosks in Gram Panchayats and any other financial literacy efforts under taken by banks in excluded areas
• Support to NABARD & Banks for running of Business & Skill Development Centers including R-SETIs (to the extent not provided by State Governments) to impart skill sets necessary for undertaking income generating activities and for providing forward linkages for marketing activities.
• Sharing the cost of Government projects in connection with laying of last mile fibre optic network, funding of other technological or infrastructure related projects involved in improving or creating network connectivity, etc; in excluded areas.

Eligible Institutions that can seek support from Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF)
• Financial Institutions viz, Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks and NABARD.
• Eligible institutions with whom banks can work for seeking support from the FIF:-
  • Non Government Organisations
  • Self-Help Groups
  • Farmer's Clubs
  • Functional Cooperatives
  • IT enabled rural outlets of corporate entities.
  • Well-functioning Panchayats
  • Rural Multipurpose kiosks / Village Knowledge Centres
  • Common Services Centres (CSCs) established by Service Centre Agencies (SCAs) under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).
  • Primary Agricultural Societies (PACs)
Background
The Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund (FITF) were constituted in the year 2007-08 for a period of five years with a corpus of 500 crore rupees each to be contributed by Government of India (GOI), RBI and NABARD in the ratio of 40:40:20.

The guidelines for these two funds were framed by the Union Government itself. In April 2012, RBI decided to fund FIF by transferring the interest differential in excess of 0.5 percent on RIDF and STCRC deposits on account of shortfall in priority sector lending.

Union Government raised custom duty on import of Wheat


Union Government on 19 October 2105 raised the basic customs duty on wheat to 25 percent from 10 percent. This increase will be valid till 31 March 2016.

A statement from the Ministry of Finance said that the duty has been raised in view of the continued fall in international prices of wheat and the anticipated adverse impact of increased imports during the first half of financial year 2015-16.

The increase in custom duty will presumably help protect Indian farmers against cheaper imports.International wheat prices have fallen considerably over 2014. The price of wheat in the US was 216 dollars a tonne on 16 October 2015, which was -25.7 percent of what it was in 2014.

Apart from this, the government also exempted specified biodiesel from central excise duty.

However, its inputs namely, RBD Palm Stearin, Methanol and Sodium Methoxide are chargeable to central excise duty leading to CENVAT credit accumulation.

Central excise duty has been exempted on RBD Palm Stearin, Methanol and Sodium Methoxide used in the manufacture of such biodiesel subject to actual user condition for a period up to 31 March 2016.

Global Green Bond 3rd Qtr Report


Moody’s Investors Service on 19 October 2015 released a report on the global green bonds market titled Third Quarter Issuance Lags, but COP21-Linked Increase Is Likely.

The report says that in the third quarter (Q3) of 2015, the global green bond issuance reached 7.5 billion dollar, compared to bond issuance of 27.2 billion dollar in Q3 2014. But the increase is down from Q2, Moody's expects issuance will pick up in the last quarter and exceed 40 billion dollar for the full year 2015.

Major highlights of the report
• Issuance continued to break new ground in the third quarter in terms of noteworthy and first-time transactions
• 7.6 billion dollar issued in Q3 lagged the 13.4 billion dollar that came to market during the second quarter of the year, but did outpace the first quarter's 6.3 billion dollar.
• Based on the 9-month average monthly volume of 3.02 billion dollar, green bonds would end the year at 36.3 billion dollar, or just shy of the 36.5 billion dollar issued in 2014.
• The organisation expects the volume will pick up towards the end of the year to coincide with the December 2015 United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC) Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris and is likely to exceed 40 billion dollar for the full year 2015.
• Moody's further notes that nearly half of the third quarter's issuance proceeds, or about 4 billion dollars, are being earmarked for renewable energy projects. This is followed by 18.8%, or about 1.7 billion dollar, earmarked for sustainable water management followed closely by 1.6 billion dollar allocated to energy efficiency projects.
• Investment-grade issuance continued to dominate in the third quarter, but high-yield green bonds gained as a share of all Moody's-rated green bond transactions.
• Nearly 18% of issuance in the third quarter was attributable to below-investment grade issuers, up from just 5% in the second quarter.
Highlights in case of India
• India has set a target of 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022
• India that came up as an early leader in Asia’s incipient green bond is expected to be a prominent driver of regional issuance in coming years.
• India has established itself as an early leader in Asia’s nascent green bond market, with three India-based issuers came to market in third quarter (July to September 2015).
• It is expected that along with China, India will be a prominent driver of regional issuance in coming years, given ambitious targets on building out renewable energy capacity
What is a green bond?
A green bond, like any other bond, is a fixed-income financial instrument for raising capital through the debt capital market. In its simplest form, the bond issuer raises a fixed amount of capital from investors over a set period of time, repaying the capital when the bond matures and paying an agreed amount of interest (coupons) along the way.

Bhartiya Mahila Bank won Asian Banker Achievement


Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) has won The Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015. The award was presented to the BMB in the Technology Implementation category of Best Outsourcing Project (New Bank).
Usha Ananthasubramanian, Chairman and Managing Director of BMB received the award at a function held in Hongkong as a part of The Asian Banker Summit 2015. About Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB)
* BMB is India’s first all-women public sector bank and was formally launched on November 19, 2013.
* Its objective is to focus on the banking needs of the women and promote economic empowerment.
* It also seeks to address the gender related issues and will be helpful in financial inclusion.
* In Budget 2013-14, Union Government had approved Rs 1,000-crore seed capital for the bank.
* Headquarter of Bharatiya Mahila Bank is located in New Delhi.

Thursday 22 October 2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR RBI GRADE B EXAM


Samardeep Subandh has been appointed as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart. In his role as CMO, Subandh will be the primary custodian of Flipkart brand. He will focus on gaining deeper customer insights, driving high level of creativity, raising the level of customer centricity and quality in all communication. He will directly report to Mukesh Bansal, Head of the e-commerce platform of the company and also will be leading the social media communication charter for the company. Samar has rich experience of over 17 years in the consumer goods industry and has spent 15 years with Hindustan Unilever across various sales, marketing and business assignments. He was instrumental in kicking off the go-to-market (GTM) transformation journey in India in his last assignment as Chief Sales officer of Marico.
Read more at: /category/current-affairs-2015/business-economy-current-affairsSamardeep Subandh has been appointed as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart. In his role as CMO, Subandh will be the primary custodian of Flipkart brand. He will focus on gaining deeper customer insights, driving high level of creativity, raising the level of customer centricity and quality in all communication. He will directly report to Mukesh Bansal, Head of the e-commerce platform of the company and also will be leading the social media communication charter for the company. Samar has rich experience of over 17 years in the consumer goods industry and has spent 15 years with Hindustan Unilever across various sales, marketing and business assignments. He was instrumental in kicking off the go-to-market (GTM) transformation journey in India in his last assignment as Chief Sales officer of Marico.

Read more at: ategory/current-affairs-2015/business-economy-current-affairsSamardeep Subandh has been appointed as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart. In his role as CMO, Subandh will be the primary custodian of Flipkart brand. He will focus on gaining deeper customer insights, driving high level of creativity, raising the level of customer centricity and quality in all communication. He will directly report to Mukesh Bansal, Head of the e-commerce platform of the company and also will be leading the social media communication charter for the company. Samar has rich experience of over 17 years in the consumer goods industry and has spent 15 years with Hindustan Unilever across various sales, marketing and business assignments. He was instrumental in kicking off the go-to-market (GTM) transformation journey in India in his last assignment as Chief Sales officer of Marico.

Read more at: egory/current-affairs-2015/business-economy-current-affairs  Samardeep Subandh has been appointed as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart. In his role as CMO, Subandh will be the primary custodian of Flipkart brand. He will focus on gaining deeper customer insights, driving high level of creativity, raising the level of customer centricity and quality in all communication. He will directly report to Mukesh Bansal, Head of the e-commerce platform of the company and also will be leading the social media communication charter for the company. Samar has rich experience of over 17 years in the consumer goods industry and has spent 15 years with Hindustan Unilever across various sales, marketing and business assignments. He was instrumental in kicking off the go-to-market (GTM) transformation journey in India in his last assignment as Chief Sales officer of Marico.

Read more at: http://currentaffairs.gktoday.in/category/current-affairs-2015/business-economy-current-affairs    

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