Current Affairs Sep 2018 - Banking, Finance, & Business
1 - RBI cancels the license of Bhilwara Mahila Urban Co-operative Bank
As per the report, RBI has cancelled the license of Bhilwara Mahila Urban Co-operative Bank, as it does not have sufficient capital and earning prospects.
As a result of the cancellation of its licence, Rajasthan based Bhilwara Mahila Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd. is prohibited from conducting the business of banking.
2 - SBI Hikes Benchmark Lending Rate by 0.2
The State Bank of India increased its benchmark lending rates or marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 0.2 per cent and it is effective from the September 1, 2018. As a result of this, home, auto, and other loans are costlier now.
With this, SBI's overnight and one-month tenors' MCLR stands at 8.1% as against 7.9%. Such rate hike by the SBI comes a month after the Reserve Bank of India hiked benchmark lending rate (repo rate) by 25 basis points to 6.5 per cent.
3 - World Bank Approve 929.89 Crore for Shimla's Water Supply Project
The World Bank has approved Rs. 929.89 crore as financial assistance for a water supply and sewerage project for the state capital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. The assistance will be made as a development policy loan. However, the final negotiation meeting for this loan sanction will be held on October 24, 2018.
As per the official report, the city receives 30-32 MLD on an average every day and the residents are getting water once in three-four days in summer, whereas this city requires about 40 MLD every day.
4 - RBI Released New Rule to Refund Damaged Currency Note
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced new guidelines for exchanging the damaged currency notes. In the previous guidelines, the newly published currency i.e. 2,000 and 200 currencies were not covered.
After the demonetisation in November 2016, the RBI has introduced a new series of notes of varying sizes (smaller notes of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, and Rs 500). Besides, two new currencies, Rs 200 and Rs 2,000 also released, which were not in use earlier. Owing to such new currencies with different dimensions, the RBI has amended its rules to cover the new notes.
5 - NABARD Approved Rs 65,635 Cr Loan for Irrigation Projects
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has approved Rs. 65,634.93 Crore loan for prioritized 93 irrigation projects. This project will be done under the government flagship scheme namely Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).
Likewise, the NABARD is planned to fund the central and state share of 99 prioritised irrigation projects under the PMKSY through long term irrigation fund. It would provide a total of Rs 70,000 crore loan to these projects, which will be completed by 2019.
6 - Government Raised Interest Rate on Small Savings Schemes
The government has raised the interest rates on small savings schemes, including National Savings Certificate (NSC) and Public Provident Fund (PPF), by up to 0.4 % for the October-December quarter. Interest rates for small savings schemes are normally notified on a quarterly basis.
Interest rate for the five-year term deposit raised to 7.8%; recurring deposit raised to 7.3%; and Senior Citizens Savings Scheme has been raised to 8.7%. The interest on the senior citizens' scheme is paid quarterly.
Public Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificate (NSC) will have an annual interest rate of 8% as compared to existing 7.6%, while Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) will have 7.7% and will mature in 112 months as against 118 months in the previous quarter.
The girl child savings scheme Sukanya Samriddhi account will earn higher interest rate of 8.5%, 0.4% more than the current rate. Term deposits of one-three years will have 0.3% higher interest rate.
