Banking Awareness March 2018: Week 3

Paytm Received SEBI nod as registered Investment Adviser

Financial services platform Paytm announced its wholly-owned subsidiary; Paytm Money has obtained permission from market regulator SEBI to become a Registered Investment Advisor.
The permission from the Securities and Exchange Board of India will enable the company to roll out property and wealth management outputs to customers over the country.

The authority declared that banks will have to get passport aspects of clients who seek loans above Rs 50 crore.
According to Financial Services Secretary, all current investments of over 50 crore rupees, banks have been asked to get passport aspects of borrowers within 45 days.

ICICI Bank has started instant overdraft ‘InstaOD’ facility for MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) clients in a fully online and paperless manner.
Clients can arrange overdraft facility up to Rs 15 lakh for a year anytime, wherever using the bank’s Internet and mobile banking app.
The overdraft is renewable on a yearly basis, depending on the repayment track reports of the overdraft facility.
The new services will facilitate a few lakh of pre-qualified current account clients of the bank to immediately avail of the services without visiting a branch and presenting physical reports.
ICICI Bank will also give the service for immediate online permission of the overdraft service to MSME customers of other banks quickly.

The State Bank of India has lessened its charges on non-maintenance of an average monthly balance in savings accounts up to 75%, by the end of April 1.
The fees for non-maintenance of AMB for clients in metro and urban centres have been decreased from a maximum of Rs.50 per month to Rs.15 per month +GST.
In semi-urban and rural centres, the fees have been lessened from Rs.40 per month (+GST) to Rs.12 and Rs.10 per month (+GST), sequentially.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) endorsed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
They have agreed under the MoU to support and co-operate with each other for the efficient implementation of the Insolvency Code.

The GST Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley supported the rollout of the inter-state e-Way bill from April 1, submitted the obligation to pay tax on converse charge mechanism until June 30 and continued tax exemption benefits to exporters for another six months.
The TDS and TCS have also been deferred for another 3 months until June 30.
E-Way or electronic-Way Bill for intra-state movement of goods will be proposed in a phased manner April 15 and would comprise all the States by June 1.

Amazon.com Inc. started its first-ever debit card in Mexico, part of a push to promote customers without bank accounts to buy online.
Amazon said that Mexico was the first country where it has offered a debit card, called Amazon Rechargeable, intending to provide consumers with a new method to buy on its website.
Clients that don’t have a credit or debit card will get Amazon Rechargeable an easy and practical way to change cash into a payment method.

The World Bank has proposed India’s GDP growth at 7.3 percent for the next financial year which it states will stimulate further to 7.5 percent in 2019-20.
The World Bank’s semi-annual publication, India Development Update – India’s Growth Story, demands the economy to clock a growth rate of 6.7 percent in the present fiscal ending 31st March.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Solar Alliance (ISA) has signed a cooperation agreement to develop solar energy deployment in Asia and the Pacific.
The agreement envisions solar power generation, solar based mini-grids, and transmission systems for combining solar energy into grids, among others.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) confirmed a MoU with the Reserve Bank of India.
Under the MoU, the RBI and the IBBI will act in partnership for the effective implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and its allied laws and ordinances.