Daily Current Affairs 25th February, 2022

Daily Current Affairs 25 February 2022 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Signature tune of ‘Vande Bharatam’ released
In a celebration under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the event on International Mother Language Day named “Ekam Bharatam” along with a cultural evening was hosted by the Ministry of Culture at IGNCA, Delhi on 22nd February 2022. The signature tune for “Vande Bharatam” composed by Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej and Oscar contender Bickram Ghosh was released by Minister of State for Culture & External Affairs Smt. Meenakashi Lekhi.

• The ‘Vande Bharatam’ song was produced for Vande Bharatam, Nritya Utsav of Ministry of Culture presented at Rajpath,New Delhi for the national Republic Day event 2022.

Govt launches Ombudsperson App for smooth functioning of MNREGA scheme
Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh has launched Ombudsperson App for MNREGA. This app will facilitate hassle free reporting, categorization of grievances and disposal of complaints by Ombudsperson. The app will also ensure tracking and timely passing of awards by Ombudsperson.

WEF, National Institute of Urban Affairs sign MoU to collaborate on jointly designed ‘Sustainable Cities India program’
The World Economic Forum and the National Institute of Urban Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on a jointly designed Sustainable Cities India program. The program is aimed to create an enabling environment for cities to generate de-carbonization solutions. The program also intends to enable cities to decarbonize in a systematic and sustainable way that will reduce emissions and deliver resilient and equitable urban ecosystems.

• The World Economic Forum’s Net Zero Carbon Cities’ mission is aimed to create an enabling environment for clean electrification resulting in urban decarbonization and resilience.

Sonowal inaugurates dredging museum in Visakhapatnam
Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterway Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated a state-of-the-art Dredging Museum at DCI premises. The museum displays models of different types of dredgers, ancillary crafts, vintage photo shoots and various technological artefacts and historical milestones of this dredging behemoth from the Port city.

IAF to participate in multi-nation air exercise ‘Ex Cobra Warrior 22’ in UK from 6th to 27th March
Indian Air Force will participate in a multi-nation air exercise Ex Cobra Warrior 22 at Waddington in United Kingdom from 6th to 27th March. IAF Light Combat Aircraft LCA Tejas will participate in the exercise along with fighter aircraft of UK and other leading Air Forces.

• The exercise is aimed at providing operational exposure and sharing best practices amongst the participating Air Forces, thereby enhancing combat capability and forging bonds of friendship.

IBM unveils cyber security hub in Bengaluru
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) has launched a cybersecurity hub in Bengaluru to address the concerns of its clients across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

• The security hub will be one of the only two centres globally. The other one is in the US. IBM said it is a “multi-million dollar investment in its resources to help businesses prepare for and manage the growing threat of cyberattacks to organizations across the APAC region.”

Boeing delivers 12th P-8I Maritime Patrol Aircraft to India
Boeing delivered the 12th P-8I maritime patrol aircraft to India, on February 19. This is the fourth of four additional aircraft delivered under the options contract signed by the Ministry of Defence in 2016.

• The P-8I is an integral part of the Indian Navy’s fleet and has surpassed 35,000 flight hours since it was inducted in 2013. The aircraft, with its exceptional maritime surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, versatility, and operational readiness, has proven to be an important asset to the Navy.

India to set up first IIT in UAE under new trade deal
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) will establish its first branch in the UAE as part of the India-UAE trade deal signed on February 18.

• This will be the first time an IIT will be established outside India.
• Presently, there are 23 IITs in India, which are located in various regions of the country offering undergraduate, postgraduate and doctorate level programmes.

RBI cautions public against using car pooling app sRide
Reserve Bank of India has alerted citizens that a car-pooling application by the name ‘sRide’ is being run without the required permissions. In a press release, the RBI said, the Gurgaon-based sRide Tech Private Limited is operating a semi-closed wallet without obtaining the requisite authorisation under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

• As such, any person dealing with sRide Tech Private Limited will be doing so at their own risk.

BANKING & FINANCE

RBI Mandates NBFCs to Enable CFSS By 30 September 2025
As per the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) instructions, Non-banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) with 10 or more fixed point service delivery units in the upper and middle layer, as of 1 October 2022, will need to compulsorily implement ‘Core Financial Services Solution (CFSS)’ within 30 September 2025. NBFC executes its business operations via a fixed-point service delivery unit. Its workers or outsourced agents operate it. It displays uniform signage with the NBFC’s name and works under NBFC’s administrative control.

• CFSS renders a hassle-free customer interface in digital transactions and offerings related to products and services with an anytime and anywhere facility.
• As per the framework of NBFCs, the middle layer comprises all deposit-seeking NBFCs, regardless of the asset size, non-deposit seeking NBFCs with an asset size of Rs 1,000 crore and more.
• The upper layer consists of finance firms that RBI recognises. The upper layer of NBFCs needs to ensure CFSS implementation happens at least in 70% of the fixed point service delivery units on or before 30 September 2024.
• RBI also mentioned that NBFCs with lesser than ten fixed point service delivery units don’t need to implement CFSS. They could choose to implement for their benefit.

RBI cancels registration certificate of PC Financial Services
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the certificate of registration issued of PC Financial Services Pvt Ltd, according to an official statement.

• Accordingly, PC Financial Services will not be able to transact the business of a NBFI (Non-Banking Financial Institution).
• PC Financial Services was primarily engaged in mobile app-based lending operations through an app called ‘Cashbean’.
• The CoR of the company has been cancelled on account of supervisory concerns such as gross violations of RBI directions on outsourcing and Know Your Customer (KYC) norms.

RBI announces dollar/rupee two-year sell buy swap auction
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a US Dollar/Rupee two-year sell buy swap auction with a view to elongating the maturity profile of its forward book and smoothen the receivables relating to forward assets.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Moody’s raises India’s growth forecast to 9.5% for 2022
American credit rating agency, Moody’s Investors Service has raised India’s growth forecast to 9.5 percent from 7 percent for the calendar year 2022.

• The agency revised its growth projection for India citing a stronger-than-expected economic recovery from the national lockdown of 2020 and the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-2021.
• Moody’s have raised the 2022 calendar year growth forecasts for India and maintained the forecast for 5.5 percent growth in 2023. This translates into 8.4 percent growth in fiscal year 2022-23 and 6.5 percent growth in fiscal year 2023-24.

India Ratings pegs FY22 GDP growth at 8.6% on data revision
India Ratings has revised downwards its GDP growth forecast for 2021-22 to 8.6% from the consensus 9.2% projected earlier. Earlier, foreign brokerage Barclays has projected a GDP growth of 6.6% for the quarter ended December, 2021 (Q3FY22) and 10% growth for the full financial year 2021-22.

Standard Chartered, IATA tie up for payment platform for airline industry
Global banking group Standard Chartered has partnered with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to launch a payment platform for airline industry in India.

• In addition to existing payment options such as credit cards, IATA Pay will be a new payment option that enables participating airlines to offer instant payment options such as UPI Scan and Pay and UPI Collect (Request to Pay).
• It also said that following the launch in India, Standard Chartered will be supporting the rollout of IATA Pay in other markets as well.
• IATA Pay in India is powered by Standard Chartered’s Straight2Bank Pay, a payment platform that helps online merchants digitalise collections via multiple payment options through a single global connectivity.

EaseMyTrip partners insurtech firm Toffee for tailored travel insurance plans
EaseMyTrip, an online travel platform, has partnered with Toffee Insurance, an insurtech company, to provide innovative and tailored travel insurance solutions to its customers. As a part of this association, Toffee Insurance will manage all travel insurance products for added value and provide extra protection to customers of EaseMyTrip cancelling flight bookings due to medical emergencies.

Currency manufacturing headquarters declared as prohibited place by MHA
Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India, the headquarters manufacturing the printed currency and bank notes in the national capital has been declared a “prohibited place” under the British-era Official Secrets Act (OSA) by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

• The manufacturer printed the new series of notes of denomination ₹2,000 and ₹500 in 2016.

Mastercard partners with SBI Payments to boost digital payments acceptance infrastructure in Guwahati, Lucknow and Varanasi
As an extension of its flagship campaign ‘Team Cashless India’, Mastercard organized three on-ground engagements in Guwahati, Lucknow and Varanasi to generate greater awareness and understanding of digital payments. Mastercard Team Cashless India volunteers partnered with the Auto Rickshaw Association in Lucknow, All Assam’s Restaurant Association (AARA) in Guwahati, local shopkeepers, and Boat Union in Varanasi to bolster the digital payments infrastructure in their respective cities.

APPOINTMENTS

Sanjeev Sanyal appointed full-time member of Economic Advisory Council to PM
Noted economist and historian Sanjeev Sanyal has been inducted as a full-time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), the panel’s chairman Bibek Debroy announced on February 22.

• Sanyal, who is currently serving as the Finance Ministry’s principal economic adviser, had been working since the 1990s with the financial markets. His addition to the EAC-PM is expected to aid the top advisory body.

Rakesh Sharma reappointed as MD&CEO of IDBI Bank
IDBI Bank‘s board has approved the reappointment of Rakesh Sharma as the managing director and chief executive officer (MD&CEO) of the bank for a period of three years, effective March 19, 2022.

Nitin Paranjpe to be HUL’s non-executive Chairman, Sanjiv Mehta to continue as CEO & MD
Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) announced the separation of the position of Chairman of the Board and the CEO and managing director.

• The country’s biggest consumer goods firm has appointed Nitin Paranjpe, currently chief operating officer of Unilever as a non-executive Chairman of the company with effect from March 31, 2022. Sanjiv Mehta will continue as the chief executive officer and managing director.

SCIENCE

Astronomers discover massive radio galaxy 100 times larger than the Milky Way
Astronomers have discovered the largest radio galaxy ever, stretching at least 16 million light-years through space, new research shows.

• The galaxy — named Alcyoneus after the son of Ouranos, the Greek primordial god of the sky — was discovered about 3 billion light-years from Earth by a “stroke of luck,” according to a statement from Leiden University in the Netherlands.
• Radio galaxies house supermassive black holes at their cores.

BOOKS

‘The Great Tech Game’ penned by Anirudh Suri
Indian author, Anirudh Suri has come out with his new book titled “The Great Tech Game: Shaping Geopolitics and the Destinies of Nations.’ It has been published by HarperCollins India. In this book, the author lays out a roadmap for how any country must develop its own strategic plan to succeed in this technology-dominant era.

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