1. ADB agreed to grant USD 926 Million Loan for Mumbai Metro Rail Project
- The loan agreement of USD 926 Million has been signed in order to operationalize two lines for the Mumbai Metro Rail System.
- This is the Single Largest Infrastructure Project Loan provided by ADB in history.
- It will fund Metro lines totalling about 58km which includes 2A (Dahisar to D. N. Nagar), 2B (D. N. Nagar - Bandra - Mandale) and 7 (Dahisar (E) to Andheri (E)).
2. RBI has constituted a panel under Usha Thorat on Offshore Rupee markets
- It will be a 8 member task force.
- Its aim will be to ensure stability of the external value of the domestic currency.
- The motive is to develop deep and liquid on-shore financial markets that will act as a price setter of the Rupee globally.
3. PSBloansin59minutes.com has emerged as the largest fintech lending platform
- The portal PSBloansin59minutes.com was launched in November 2018 by PM Narendra Modi.
- The portal provides loans amounting up to Rs 1 crore to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in just 59 minutes.
- Loans worth Rs. 300 billion have been provided and disbursements of around Rs. 250 billion have also been done.
- Loan disbursal time reduced to 7-8 working days.
- The average ticket size (ATS) for new borrowers is Rs 27 lakh and which is Rs 34 lakh for repeat borrowers.
4. RBI slapped penalty of Rs. 11 crores on five banks for non-strengthening of ‘SWIFT’ related controls
- The penalty has been slapped on four PSUs and one private sector bank.
- The penalty for PSUs is as follows:
- Union bank - Rs 3 crores
- Dena bank - Rs 2 crores
- IDBI bank - Rs 1 crore
- Karnataka bank - Rs 4 crores
- The penalty has been imposed for the delay caused in following the guidelines mentioned in Time bound implementation and strengthening of SWIFT related controls which was issued by the Reserve Bank of India on 20th February 2018.
5. India has signed a loan agreement with the World Bank for USD 25.2 million.
- It has been signed between Government of India, the state Government of Chattisgarh and the World Bank.
- The support would cover expenditure planning, investment management, budget execution, public procurement and accountability.
6. IDBI Bank got govt nod to handle import and export transactions with Iran
- It has been done in order to boost the trade between India and Iran amidst US sanctions on Iran.
- Earlier UCO bank used to handle the payments during previous sanctions.
7. RBI has notified 2% interest subsidy through “Interest subvention scheme” for short-term crop loans
- RBI has decided to offer guaranteed financial support of 2% per annum for short term crop loans upto Rs.3 lakhs for farmers at an interest rate of 7%.
- For those farmers who are repaying loans promptly will get an additional 2% interest subvention under the scheme. Then the effective rate of short term crop loans to be 4% per annum.
8. AU Small Finance Bank has partnered with the Acko General Insurance
- The first India's digital insurer, AU Small Finance Bank Ltd. has announced its partnership with a new age insurance company, Acko General Insurance Limited and is now able to provide customized insurance products to its customers.
9. United bank and HDFC life has signed Bancassurance deal
- Through this partnership, United bank's customers will be able to take advantage of HDFC life's expertise in life insurance products, distribution and customer services.
10. India has signed a loan agreement with the World Bank for Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery project
- The agreement of 96 million US dollars has been signed with the World Bank for the additional financing of Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery project.
11. India and ADB has signed a loan agreement
- The loan agreement of 26 million US dollars has been signed to provide additional financing for improving drainage infrastructure in Dibrugarh town of Assam under the ongoing Assam Urban Infrastructure investment program.
