Daily Current Affairs 2 October 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.
NATIONAL NEWS
Govt sets up panel to screen all Chinese foreign investment proposals
India has set up a screening panel to vet all Chinese foreign investment proposals and those considered “non-controversial” could be approved.
- More than 100 proposals involving foreign direct investment (FDI) from China are pending.
- The screening panel is headed by the home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and has the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary as a member.
NITI Aayog, Embassy of Netherlands ink pact to support decarbonization & energy transition agenda
NITI Aayog and Embassy of the Netherlands, New Delhi have signed a Statement of Intent to support the decarbonization and energy transition agenda for accommodating cleaner and more energy.
- Through this collaboration, NITI Aayog and the Dutch Embassy seek a strategic partnership to create a platform that enables a comprehensive collaboration among stakeholders and influencers, including policymakers, industry bodies, OEMs, private enterprises, and sector experts.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
India to build 100-bedded hospital, 22,000-seater stadium in Maldives
India will build a 100-bedded cancer hospital and a 22,000-seater cricket stadium in Hulhumale, Maldives, under the USD 800 million Line of Credit (LoC) that was extended to the country last year.
- This project will build on the already close bilateral cooperation in the health sector and include a robust component of human resource development .
- Projects covered under the LoC include several infrastructure development projects.
BANKING & FINANCE
NABARD to undertake Sanitation Literacy Campaign in 2,000 villages
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development(NABARD) is embarking on a Sanitation Literacy Campaign (SLC) from October 2 to promote literacy on ‘WASH’ (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) in 2,000 villages across the country covering one lakh rural population.
- The objective of the campaign, which would continue till January 26, 2021, is to focus on inculcating significant behavioural changes towards adapting good hygiene and sanitation practices.
- NABARD also said that under the Swachh Bharat Mission, it has actively supported Government of India in construction of 3.29 crore household toilets by sanctioning and disbursing an amount of Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 12,298 crore, respectively.
RBI fixes Centre’s WMA limit at Rs 1.25 lakh crore for second half of FY 2020-21
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set the ways and means advances (WMAs) limit at Rs 1.25 lakh crore for the central government for the second half of the fiscal year (October 2020 to March 2021) .
- The central bank further said it may trigger fresh floatation of market loans when the government utilises 75 per cent of the WMA limit.
- Meanwhile, the finance ministry said the government will borrow Rs 4.34 lakh crore in the second half of the current fiscal to meet its expenditure requirement amid the COVID-19 crisis afflicting the country’s economy.With this the government revised the borrowing target to Rs 12 lakh crore in May as against Rs 7.8 lakh crore approved in the Budget 2020-21.
SBI signs MoU with HUL for an end to end digital solutions for ecosystem
India’s largest lender State Bank of India has entered into a partnership with FMCG major Hindustan Unilever to offer corporate solutions to its trade partners.
- The partnership aims to make availing of credit easy for channel partners, provides UPI based payment solutions and PoS terminals to retailers & distributors
- The objective of the partnership is to augment the width of credit and will be beginning a pilot in Mumbai and Bengaluru.
RBI defers Basel III provisions amid covid uncertainty
The Reserve Bank of India deferred implementation of provisions made under Basel III capital due to uncertainty related to Covid crisis.
- In two separate notifications, RBI said it would push back the final tranche of the capital conservation buffer (CCB) and the implementation of net stable funding ratio by six months.
- RBI had asked banks to build up CCB of 2.5% in stages. The final stage of 0.625% was to be kept from 30 September 2020. This has been deferred to 1 April, 2020. The RBI had earlier deferred the implementation by six months from 31 March 2020.
- As per the guidelines, banks in India were required to maintain NSFR of 100% from 1 April 2020. The RBI has now deferred it for a second time to 1 April 2021.
BRICS Bank approves loans for Mumbai Metro, Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Rapid Rail
The New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS countries has approved loan for Mumbai metro and for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project.
- $241 million loan for the Mumbai metro rail-II project will be used for implementing a metro rail line 6 with a length of 14.47 km in Mumbai
- A loan of $500 million has been approved for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS project.
Banks Sanctions Rs 1.86 Lakh Cr to 50 Lakh MSMEs Under Credit Guarantee Scheme
The Finance Ministry said banks have sanctioned loans of about Rs 1.86 lakh crore to 50 lakh business units under the Rs 3-lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector, impacted by slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Over 27 lakh MSME units have received about Rs 1,32,246 crore till September 29.The scheme is the biggest fiscal component of the Rs 20-lakh crore Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package.
- As reported on 29.09.2020, by 12 Public Sector Banks, top 24 Private Sector Banks & 31 NBFCs, the total amount sanctioned to Non-Individual & individuals, under the 100 per cent Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme stands at Rs 1,86,469 crore, of which Rs 1,32,246 crore has already been disbursed to 27,09,027 borrowers,”.
APPOINTMENTS
Crown prince Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah becomes Kuwait’s new ruling emir
Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah became the oil-rich nation’s new ruling emir, after the death of his half-brother Sheikh Sabah al- AhmadAl- Sabah at the age of 91.
- Sheikh Nawaf, 83, had served as the crown prince since 2006, jumping a traditional order of alternating rule between the Al Jaber and the Al Salim branches of the country’s ruling family.
Twitter appoints Rinki Sethi as New Information Security Head
Twitter Inc appointed Rinki Sethi, a former information security executive at IBM, as its chief information security officer.
- Sethi had previously worked as the vice president of information security at cyber-security firm Palo Alto Networks Inc.
RBI Approves Appointment of CoD to Run Dhanlaxmi Bank Till Appointment Of CEO
Dhanlaxmi Bank said that the RBI has approved a three-member interim committee of directors, to run the private sector bank after the shareholders voted out its MD and CEO Sunil Gurbaxani.
- The committee of directors (CoD) will be constituted with G Subramonia Iyer as chairman and G Rajagopalan Nair and P K Vijayakumar as its members.
AWARDS
Founder Of Sari Recycling Project Wins Goldman Sachs And Fortune Global Women Leaders Award
Rayana Edwards, the South African who started a project to empower women to recycle saris into internationally-acclaimed fashion garments, has been named as a joint winner of this year’s Goldman Sachs and Fortune Global Women Leaders award(USD 25,000).
- The other winner was Emma Dicks, founder of CodeSpace Academy, a coding school.
- The annual award is made possible through a partnership between the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women program and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women franchise, and is given each year to outstanding women from around the world who are working to empower others in their communities and countries.
IMPORTANT DAYS
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
The month of October is observed as breast cancer awareness month to increase awareness of the disease.
- There are about 1.38 million new cases and 458 000 deaths from breast cancer each year (IARC Globocan, 2008). Breast cancer is by far the most common cancer in women worldwide, both in the developed and developing countries.
- WHO promotes comprehensive breast cancer control programmes as part of national cancer control plans. The recommended early detection strategies for low- and middle-income countries are awareness of early signs and symptoms and screening by clinical breast examination in demonstration areas.
World Vegetarian Day
World Vegetarian Day is observed annually around the planet on October 1 to promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism.
- This day is celebrated to encourage and bring awareness about a vegetarian diet.
International Day of Non-Violence
The United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Non-Violence is a global observance that promotes non-violence through education and public awareness. It is annually held on October 2 to coincide with renowned Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.
- This day is referred to as Gandhi Jayanti in India.
- The objective of the day is to “disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness”.