Banking & Financial Awareness January 2019: Week III

Cabinet approves Rs.6,000 crore capital infusion in Exim Bank

In order to expand the business of Export-Import Bank of India, the Union Cabinet has approved an infusion of Rs. 6000 crore in EXIM Bank. It would also enable it to augment capital adequacy and support Indian exports with enhanced ability
It has been decided to issue recapitalisation bonds by the government of India to the tune of Rs. 6,000 crore for capital infusion in Export-Import Bank of India
The equity will be infused in two tranches of Rs. 4,500 crore in 2018-19 and Rs. 1,500 crore in 2019-20, respectively.

It was established by the Government of India in 1982 under Export-Import Bank of India Act 1981
It is the apex financial institution for financing, facilitating and promoting the country’s international trade.
It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

The government of India has constituted an eight-member ministerial panel with Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar as the convener.
The panel will study and resolve issues that are hurting the lottery business in the country as a result of implementation of the Goods and Services Tax
Currently, GST on lotteries run by state governments is 12% while those operated by private distributors is 28%. GoI intends to keep the rates 28% while the state governments are inclined towards maintaining a distinction.
As per the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the GoM, the panel will examine any other issue related to enforcement including the legal frame work, so as to prevent evasion of tax on lottery and suggest appropriate tax rate to address the problem.

The government has composed of a seven-member Group of Ministers (GoM) to examine and suggest ways to resolve the issues plaguing the real estate sector after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
A lower GST rate of 5% is one of the demands of industry players. Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel will head the panel that has eight terms of reference set for it.
At present, GST is levied at an effective rate of 12% (standard rate of 18% minus 6% abatement for land value) on premium housing and effective rate of 8% (12% minus 4% abatement) on affordable housing on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate wasn’t issued at the time of sale.

Suggest ways for a scheme to address the problems facing both developers and buyers
Examine various aspects of levying GST on transfer of development rights and development rights in a joint development agreement and suitable model.
Check legality of inclusion or exclusion of land or any other ingredient in the scheme and suggest a valuation mechanism.

The Finance Ministry has directed the public sector banks to gradually bring down the government's equity to 52 per cent.
The decision is taken in a bid to align with the best corporate practices.
Contraction of government stake will help banks to meet 25 per cent public float norms of market regulator SEBI.

Punjab National Bank has appointed Agyey Kumar Azad as the Executive Directo.
He served as the General Manager at Bank of India and was posted at Nairobi, Kenya, as Country Head.
At present, PNB has two Executive Directors. The other existing Executive Director is LV Prabhakar.

The Maharashtra government has tied up with YES Bank, under its e-PDS State programme, to onboard fair price shops (FPS) as Business Correspondent Agents.
YES Bank will onboard close to 40 per cent of all fair price shops in Maharashtra, spanning 12 districts

Fair Price Shops will provide banking services such as small-value cash deposits into any bank account, including domestic remittances and withdrawal from any bank account via Aadhaar-enabled payment system.
The shops will also be able to collect digital payments through Aadhaar-enabled payments for ration, and will also offer value-added services such as bill payments and mobile recharges.

ICICI Bank has launched new premium savings account for upwardly-mobile male customers, named ‘The ONE’. It is available in two variants - Magnum and Titanium

The option of opting for health and term life insurance.
Waives the processing fees for home loans for account holders
The bank provides an Amazon Gift Card on specified debit card spends, using which they can join Amazon Prime.
The account holders of the Titanium variant will also recieve a complimentary one-year subscription of Zomato Gold.

HDFC Standard Life Insurance changed its name to HDFC Life Insurance following the receipt of relevant approvals from regulatory authorities
The change in name is effective right off the bat and the company will henceforth operate under the name HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd

The Reserve Bank of India has drawn up a new External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) framework allowing all eligible borrowers to raise up to $750 million per financial year under the automatic route, replacing the existing sector-wise limits.
The framework provides a special dispensation to public sector oil marketing companies to curb volatility in the forex market arising out of dollar demand for crude oil purchases
RBI has allowed raise ECB, with an overall ceiling of $10 billion, for working capital purposes with a minimum average maturity period (MAMP) of three years under the automatic route without mandatory hedging and individual limit requirements.

The minimum maturity period for the ECB will be three years.
The framework allows manufacturing companies to raise up to $50 million per financial year with a maturity period of one year.
If the ECB is raised from a foreign equity holder and utilised for working capital, general corporate purposes or repayment of rupee loans, the maturity period will be five years.
As per the policy, call and put option, if any, cannot be exercised prior to the completion of the minimum average maturity.

RBL Bank has signed a MoU with Nasscom to provide customised credit solutions to micro, small and medium enterprises.
The partnership will include services such as simplified assessment procedure and processing and competitive pricing, and joint working groups with representations from both entities to track the progress of the proposals submitted.