Banking and Financial Awareness Digest: November 2022

RBI Launches First Digital Rupee

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the pilot project of the first digital rupee in India.
Earlier, the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget-2022 announced the rolling out of digital currency by the RBI.
The RBI identified 9 banks for their participation in the launch of digital currency:

As per the RBI, the launch of digital currency will serve as an additional option to the currently available forms of money.
It further said that the launch of the digital rupee was not to replace but to complement the available forms of money.
Digital Rupee or Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is an electronic form of money (e-Money) that is issued by a central bank (in India, the RBI).

The Bank of Baroda (BoB) partnered with VISA to launch two premium Debit Cards for its customers.
The two premium Debit Cards are:

The Indian Badminton superstar and BoB’s brand endorser, PV Sindhu, unveiled the two Debit Cards.
The two premium Debit Cards have been designed by BoB’s High Network Individual (HNI) customer segment.
The joining fee for:

Existing customers can apply for these two premium Debit Cards through any branch or BoB’s mobile application.

HDFC ERGO launched a first-of-its-kind satellite index-based Farm Yield Insurance Policy.
It is an insurance policy in which a satellite index will be used to provide localized coverage at the farm level.
Based on the satellite data, the insurance policy will provide full coverage for the entire crop cycle, i.e. from sowing to harvesting.
The insurance policy will cover:

The threshold value of the yield will be calculated using the historical satellite image data and the insured crop will be compared to it to determine if the yield is lost.
HDFC ERGO is a joint venture between HDFC Ltd. (51%) and ERGO International AG (49%) that was established in 2002 with its headquarters in Mumbai. The current CEO of the company is Ritesh Kumar.

The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) partnered with Zaggle to launch contactless Credit Cards on the RuPay network.
The primary objective of the partnership between the NPCI and Zaggle is to meet the ever-increasing demand amongst Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) along with corporates regarding credit cards.
In order to make business travel more convenient, the NPCI has made sure to make credit cards compatible with both international and domestic transactions.
The other features of credit cards include:

Zaggle is a Software as a Service (SaaS) Financial Technology (FinTech) company that was established in 2011 with its headquarters in Mumbai. The current CEO and MD of the company is Avinash Godkhindi.

The Bank of India (BoI) launched a special Fixed Deposit (FD) scheme for its customers.
The “Star Super Triple Seven Fixed Deposit” scheme was launched by the Bank of India (BoI).
The scheme will offer an interest rate of 7.25% on a 777-day deposit period.
For senior citizens, the scheme will offer an interest rate of 7.75% on a 777-day deposit period.
At the launch event, the BoI also announced a raise in the interest rate of its already existing 555-day FD Scheme to 6.30%.
The bank also raised the interest rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) on other maturities between 180 days and 5 years.
The Bank of India is a Government of India-owned public sector bank that was established in 1906 with its headquarters in Mumbai. The current CEO and MD of the bank are Atanu Kumar Das.

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