Banking awareness

1)According to announcement made by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 12 January 2014 the Centrehas revised its target upwards to opening 10,000 new bank branches a year. This has been part of Centre’s initiative of taking banking services to ruralareas. What was the earlier target? –7,000 branches(From the coming financial year, ithas been revised to open 10,000 branches a yearand through this, an additional 55,000 new jobsare expected to be created)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….2)Which major bank during January 2014 came out with plans to outsource the management ofsome of its ATMs by taking calls from vendors? –StateBank of India(SBI called for a Request for Proposal (RFP) from vendors tomanage about 7,843 cash dispensers (ATMs). Vendors will be expected to have all capabilities to remotely capture and initiate appropriate action in the event of any problems at these cash dispensers. They will be expected to ensure that the downtime of these ATMs in metro and urban areas is less than 3%, while it is less than 6% in ruralareas. SBI had 32,777 ATMs as of 30 September 2013. It has expanded its network steadily in the past few years, adding about a third of its network (about 11,000 ATMs) inthe past 18 months. ATM operations havehowever not been profitable)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3)Retirement fund-body the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on 13 January 2014 decided to increase the rate of interest on Provident Fund deposits to8.75 per cent for 2013-14, a move that will benefit about 5 crore subscribers. What was the present rate of interest for EPFO subscribers? –8.5%(The Central Board of Trustees, which is the apex decision-making body of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), met on 13 January and approved the interest rate. The EPFO’s recommendation will now be vetted by the Finance Ministry. Once the ministry approves the decision, the interest would be credited to the accounts of subscribers. TheEPFO is estimated to have an incomeof Rs 20,796.96 crore in the current financialyear)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4)The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during January 2014 clarified that theprovision of prior RBI nod applies for establishments from Hong Kongand Macau to set up business or related activities in India. As per theexisting conditions this provision pertaining to RBI’s approval applies on which 6 countries? –Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Iran, Pakistan and SriLanka(As per the existing conditions under the Foreign Exchange Management Regulations, no entity or citizensof these 6 countries is allowed to set up any branch office or a liaison office or a project or any other such business activitywithout prior permission of the RBI)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….5)The government Union on 10 January 2014 gave its approval to the plan to form an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) comprisingscrips of 11 bluechip state-owned companies, which will be offered in the market with a view to garnering Rs 3,000 crore this fiscal. Which arethe 11 state-owned companies (PSUs) involved in this ETF plan? –ONGC, Coal India Limited, GAIL, Power Grid, REC, Oil India Limited, Container Corporation of India, Power Finance Corporation, Indian Oil Limited, Engineers India Limited and Bharat Engineering Limited(ETF is asecurity that tracks an index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange. The PSU ETF would comprise sharesof various profitable state-owned companies. The composition of ETF and weightage of the shares of individual PSU in the index has been decided by the EGoM)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6)SEBI on 10 January 2014 notified new norms empowering its Chairman to order search and seizure operations during investigations, while necessarysafeguards have also been put in place to protect rights of affected persons. This would add extrapower to SEBI’s crackdown against fraudsters. What is the name of the ordinance promulgated by the Union government in September 2013, which hadconferred explicit powers on SEBI Chairman to authorise investigating authority or anyother officer of SEBI to conduct search and seizure under the SEBI Act? –Securities Laws (Amendment) Second Ordinance, 2013(The new norms providingSEBI with powers to conduct search and seizure have been finalised after taking into account suggestions from public and other stakeholders to draft regulations, which were issued in November 2013)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7)Which bank during January 2014 became the first Indian domestic private sector bank to have a branch presence in China? –Axis Bank(Axis Bankrecently openedits branch in Shanghai after receiving permission fromthe China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC). The branch will engage in foreign currencybusinesses that includes all business approved by thebanking supervision and regulatory authorities of the China. With opening of Shanghai branch, Axis Bank’s overseaspresence has grown to eight –one each in Singapore, HongKong, Dubai, Colombo, and Shanghai, two representative offices at Dubai and Abu Dhabi and an overseas subsidiary in London)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….8)Which privateasset management company (AMC)January 2014 became the firstprivate sector fund house to launch an inflation indexed fund that aims to provide inflation-adjusted returnsto investors? –Deutsche Asset Management India – DAMI(DAMI’s scheme, ‘DWS Inflation—Indexed BondFund’ is an open—ended debt fund and will open for subscription on 16 January 2014, and close on 27 January. Inflation indexed bonds (IIBs) are instruments where interest payment and principal are linked to whole sale price index (WPI) inflation and these bonds are currently available at an attractive yield of 3.6% above WPI. Government has been issuing IIBs on amonthly basis since June, 2013and the current outstanding issuance stands at Rs 6,500 crore as of now)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9)SEBI (Securities and Exchange Boardof India) Chairman UK Sinha’s term was extended by 2 years during January 2014. Sinha will now head the regulatory body till 16 March 2016. Among the last four chairmen, Sinhais the only one whose term hasbeen extended. Who is the only SEBI chief to have held the post for a longerduration than Sinha? –D.R. Mehta(Mehta served as SEBI Chairman for 7 years (1995-2002). Sinha’s three predecessors – GN Bajpai (2002-2005), M Damodaran (2005-2008) and CB Bhave (2008-2011) – had only got a three-year terms)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10)The three day 12thPravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) was held between 7-9 January 2014 at Vigyan Bhawan,New Delhi. What was the theme of this year’s PBD?–Engaging Diaspora: Connecting Across Generations(PBD is celebrated on 9thJanuary everyyear to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India. January 9 was chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion since itwas on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Pravasi(non-resident citizen), returned to India from South Africa, ledIndia’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever)