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09 March 2023 | Banking Awareness & Current Affairs

Shriram General Insurance Company has announced the opening of two exclusive female branches.

The only-women locations are in Ludhiana and Jaipur. In Chennai, Sundaram Direct also opened its first branch that is exclusively for women. A division of Sundaram Finance is Sundaram Direct. A joint venture between Shriram Capital Pvt Ltd and Sanlam Ltd is the Shriram General Insurance Company. A South African financial services company is called Sanlam Ltd. The holding company for the financial services division of the Shriram group is Shriram Capital Pvt Ltd.

A digital campaign has been launched by Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company (AMC).

DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality is the name of the campaign. On International Women’s Day, Kotak Mahindra AMC launched a campaign to promote a culture of digital literacy among women (08 March 2023). As part of the campaign, female Kotak Group employees are highlighted as they share their personal experiences with empowering other women. The asset manager for Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund is Kotak Mahindra AMC.

The amount owed on credit cards increased by 29.6% in January 2023 to an all-time high of Rs. 1.87 lakh crore.

The credit card outstanding has increased by more than 20% in the first ten months of the current fiscal year, according to the most recent data from the RBI. In June, growth reached its highest point of 30.7%. Spending on credit cards has increased steadily over the past few months. Card spending was 1.28 lakh crore in January 2023 compared to 1.26 lakh crore in December 2022. Spending on credit cards has consistently exceeded the $1 billion mark for the past 11 months. HDFC Bank, SBI Card, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Kotak Bank are the top five credit issuers in the nation.

According to information from the RBI, the annual growth in credit card debt as of January 2023 was 29.6%. About 60% of all credit card spending in December 2022 was on online purchases. Nearly 8.25 crore credit cards were issued by various banks as of the end of January 2023.

Max Life Insurance Company has partnered with Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (SFB).

Through the partnership, Ujjivan SFB customers will be able to purchase insurance products. More than 73 lakh bank customers will have access to savings, protection, retirement, and group life insurance plans thanks to the partnership with Ujjivan SFB. Two will be able to close the demand-side insurance service gap as a result of the partnership, particularly in rural and underbanked areas. India’s Max Life Insurance Company provides life insurance. Its main office is in New Delhi. It is India’s biggest private sector life insurer outside of banks. It is a partnership between Axis Bank and Max Financial Services.

The disbursement of Mudra loans is likely to set a new record in the current fiscal year.

The amount of Mudra loans disbursed during the current fiscal year has surpassed all previous disbursements. The most recent data show that loans totaling 3.56 lakh crore have been approved. As of March 3, 2023, loans totaling 3.48 lakh crore have been disbursed from this. In the most recent fiscal year (FY22), loans totaling $3.39 trillion were approved and $3.31 trillion were disbursed. Three types of Mudra loans are offered. Shishu (up to 50,000), Kishor (above 50,000 and up to 5 lakh), and Tarun (above 5 lakh and up to 10 lakh) are these categories. When compared to 2021–2022, the amount disbursed increased in absolute terms. In April 2015, the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana was introduced. It was established to offer loans to small and micro businesses that are not corporations or farms.

In Kolkata, West Bengal, Bandhan Bank has opened a Mega Currency Chest.

The third mega currency chest owned by the bank. Other two are located in Patna and Guwahati. Gunveer Singh, the RBI’s Chief General Manager, opened the enormous currency chest. This chest would make it easier to circulate new money and would improve the bank’s ability to serve its customers. A private sector bank is Bandhan Bank. Its main office is in Kolkata. Its chairman at the time was Dr. Anup Kumar Sinha. Its CEO and MD are Chandra Shekhar Ghosh.

The number of UPI (Unified Payment Interface) transactions per day exceeded 36 crore.

Compared to February 2022’s 24 crore, this represents a 50% increase. The daily value of UPI transactions is 6.27 lakh crore. From 5.36 lakh crore in February 2022, this represents an increase of 17%. During the introduction of the Digital Payments Awareness Week, RBI Governor stated these facts. He added that over the previous three months, the total monthly volume of digital payment transactions had surpassed 1,000 billion (since December 2022). In terms of volume, UPI transactions in January 2023 totaled more than 800 crore. On February 28, National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) saw its highest daily volume ever with 3.18 crore transactions. UPI first debuted in 2016. From 0.45 crore in January 2017 to 804 crore in January 2023, there were more UPI transactions. The value of UPI transactions increased during that time from 1,700 crore to 12,98 lakh crore.

RBI started a campaign to make digital payments more widely accepted.

The Reserve Bank of India launched the “Har Payment Digital” mission on March 6 to coincide with Digital Payments Awareness Week 2023. Every citizen will eventually be able to use digital payments. The week of awareness is observed in 2023 from March 6 through March 12. “Digital Payment Apnao, Auron ko bhi Sikhao” is the campaign’s slogan (Adopt digital payments and also teach others). The goal of “Har Payment Digital,” according to Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das, is to make digital payments simpler and more practical for new users.

According to him, this would promote the use of digital payments. He stated that since December 2022, the nation’s payment systems have processed more than a billion transactions each month. He stated that the Regional Offices of the Reserve Bank will organize public participation programmes to promote the acceptance and use of digital payments in line with the G-20 theme of promoting digital public infrastructure. In addition, the Reserve Bank will introduce the “75 Digital Villages” initiative to commemorate the achievement of 75 years of independence. Payment System Operators (PSOs) will adopt 75 villages nationwide as part of the “75 Digital Villages” programme. They will transform them into villages with electronic payment systems.

The Governor announced the launch of the “Har Payment Digital” mission and urged banks, non-banking financial institutions, payment system operators, and users of digital payments to adopt these methods of payment and inform others about their advantages.

Gift cards provided by third parties to customers who participate in loyalty programmes are not eligible for input tax credit (ITC) by Myntra.

This decision was recently made by the Karnataka Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (KAAAR) in response to an appeal made by the online retailer Myntra. Gift certificates are neither goods nor services, according to KAAAR. According to KAAAR, the main requirement for eligibility to the ITC is that there must be an inward supply of either goods or services, or both, on which the supplier has charged tax.
Section 16 of the CGST Act deals with the prerequisites and conditions for claiming an ITC. Section 17 deals with credit allocation rules and blocked credits. ITC is not offered if “goods are lost, stolen, destroyed, written off, or disposed of as a gift or free” according to Subsection 5(h) of Section 17. Myntra’s application was resolved by KAAAR in accordance with Section 17’s Subsection 5(h). The applicant and the jurisdictional officer of the applicant are subject to the AAR’s or AAAR’s orders, per section 103 of the CGST Act. A significant Indian fashion e-commerce company is Myntra. Bengaluru, Karnataka, is home to its headquarters.

In February 2023, India continued to import steel on a net basis for a fifth straight month.

Exports of steel fell by 50%. Exports of non-alloyed steel decreased 67%. In comparison to the same month last year, steel imports increased by 44% to 0.59 mt. The amount of steel exported in February 2023 was 0.58 mt, a 50% drop from the 1.16 mt reported in the same month the previous year. For six out of the eleven months of FY23, India continued to be a net importer of steel. However, it was still able to export steel on a net basis. Exports outpaced imports from April to February by 0.30 mt.

Since 2014–15, India’s per capita income has almost doubled.

Data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) show that India’s per capita income increased from 86,647 in 2014–15 to 1.72 lakhs in 2022–23. India has experienced a 15.8% increase in per capita income. At current prices, per capita income was estimated to be $1,27,065 for 2020–2021 and $1,48,524 for 2021–2022 respectively. The per capita income has increased by 35% from Rs 72,805 in 2014–15 to Rs 98,118 in 2022–23 after accounting for inflation (constant prices). The average annual growth in per capita income in India from 2014 to 2019 was 5.6%. The areas of health, education, and social and economic mobility have all improved. The per capita income has decreased during the Covid period, according to the NSO, both in real and nominal terms. In the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 fiscal years, it has gotten better. India has surpassed the United Kingdom to take over as the fifth-largest economy in the world.

A brand-new initiative called “FinEMPOWER” was introduced on March 6 at the Bombay Stock Exchange by BSE and UN Women India.

In order to empower women towards financial security, BSE and UN Women have collaborated on a one-year capacity building programme. BSE and UN Women India worked together to organise the “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality ceremony” in observance of International Women’s Day. This ceremony aims to hasten BSE’s investment in female leaders and business owners. The bell for gender equality was jointly rung by Mr. Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD & CEO, BSE, and Ms. Susan Ferguson, Country Representative of UN Women India.