Current affairs June 2021 - CSEET

1. RBI: ATM cash withdrawal rule changed Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has changed some rules regarding cash withdrawal from automated teller machine (ATM). These ATM cash withdrawal rule changes include higher charges on transactions beyond the free permissible limit, a new free ATM transaction limit and a rise in interchange fee.

The new ATM charges as defined by RBI are as under:

1. Free cash withdrawal limit from own bank: Bank customers can now do five free financial and non-financial transactions every month from their own bank ATMs.

2. Free ATM transaction limit from other banks: ATM cardholders can do three free financial and non-financial transactions in metro centres while five in the non-metro transaction from other bank ATMs

3. Charges on ATM cash withdrawal beyond the free limit: RBI allowed banks to increase charges on ATM transactions beyond the free ATM transaction limit.

4. Rise in interchange fee: Interchange fee per transaction changed from Rs 15 to Rs 17 for

financial transactions while from Rs 5 to Rs 6 for non-financial transactions in effect from August 1, 2021.

1. New charges on ATM withdrawal beyond the free transaction limit: Bank customer will have to pay Rs 21 (currently it is Rs 20) for each ATM cash withdrawal beyond the free transaction limit

in effect from January 1, 2022.

1. ICICI Bank has announced that it has tied up with SWIFT to offer a facility that helps overseas partner banks to send instant remittances on behalf of their customers to the beneficiary in India. The beneficiary gets the credit to the bank account instantly. This makes ICICI Bank the first bank in Asia-Pacific and the second globally to offer the inward payments. With this new service, we continue to live up to our commitment to offering customer-centric solutions enabling quick and hassle-free money transfers."

2. The RBI has imposed a penalty aggregating to Rs 6 crores on Bank of India and Punjab National Bank for contravention of norms, including one related to “Frauds – Classification and Reporting”. A penalty of Rs 4 crores has been imposed on the Bank of India and Rs 2 crores onPunjab National Bank.

3. NITI Aayog has recommended divesting government stake in the Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) as part of the privatisation initiative announced in the Union Budget. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, had announced privatising two public sector banks (PSBs) and one general insurance company in 2021-22. As per the new PSE (Public Sector Enterprise) policy for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, NITI Aayog is entrusted with the task to suggest names of PSUs in strategic sectors to be merged, privatised, or made subsidiaries of other PSUs.

4. Ministry of Finance has allowed housing finance companies (HFCs) with asset size of over Rs. 100 crore to recover the dues using SARFAESI law. This move is expected to be a shot in the arm for thousands of small HFCs, as it will facilitate quick recovery of dues and encourage these companies to lend more. Earlier HFCs with assets over Rs. 500 crore (and notified by Finance Ministry) were allowed to use SARFAESI law to recover dues.

5. S&P Global Ratings cut India’s FY22 growth forecast for the current fiscal to 9.5 per cent, from 11 per cent earlier, and warned of the risk to the outlook from further waves of COVID pandemic. It also projected India’s growth at 7.8 per cent in the next fiscal ending March 31, 2023

6. The National Skill Development Corporation and WhatsApp announced an alliance to launch the Digital Skill Champions Program that aims to train India’s youth on digital skills, in order to make them employment ready. The partnership identifies two broad areas of collaboration viz., WhatsApp Digital Skills Academy and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) and WhatsApp Business App Training sessions

7. Microsoft Corp, named Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella as its new chairman. He took over as the software giant’s CEO in 2014, succeeding Steve Ballmer. He is credited with bringing new energy to the company, founded in 1975. The company also appointed former chairman John Thompson as a lead independent director.

8. Wipro has touched Rs 3 trillion in market capitalisation for the first time, becoming the third Indian IT firm to achieve the milestone after Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys. The company won its largest deal ever from German retailer Metro and has seen deal wins of $7.1 billion. India has a total of 13 listed firms that have crossed the Rs 3 trillion m-cap. Wipro now ranks 14th.

9. External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar has chaired the meeting of BRICS foreign ministers through video conferencing. Foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa participated in this meeting. In this meeting, Ministers agreed to cooperate on the pillars of political and security, economic and finance, and People to people and cultural exchanges.

10. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi virtually addressed the 5th edition of VivaTech. VivaTech is one of the largest digital and startup events of Europe, held in Paris every year since 2016. PM Modi was invited as a Guest of Honour to deliver the keynote address at VivaTech 2021, which has been organised from 16-19 June 2021 in Paris. During his address, PM Modi invited the world to invest in India based on the five pillars: Talent, Market, Capital, Eco-system and, Culture of openness.

11. International Energy Forum (IEF) announced that India has agreed to host the 9th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable (AMER9). The 9th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable will be held in 2022. Dates of this conference will be announced later and it will take forward the understandings reached in the previous meeting in Abu Dhabi during 2018.

12. India is scheduled to host a two-day virtual summit on green hydrogen, with countries like Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa set to take part in it. The countries will discuss their initiatives around the emission-free fuel. Hydrogen, when produced by electrolysis using renewable energy is known as Green Hydrogen which has no carbon footprint. The event will be anchored by India's state-run power major NTPC