Economy and Banking Current Affairs January 2017

ADB Granted Loan to Help India Build its Longest River Bridge

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $500 million loan to build a bridge across India’s Ganges river on November 15, 2016.
• The 9.8 km road bridge in the North-eastern State of Bihar will be India’s longest river bridge and will provide vital transport links between the northern and southern parts of the State and with neighbouring Nepal.
• The new Ganga Bridge, to be located near Patna, will span both channels of the Ganges river and serve as an alternate route to the existing Ganga Bridge, which has begun to deteriorate.
• Bihar, the third most populous state in India with over 100 million inhabitants, has poverty levels above the national average, with seven out of 10 of the State’s, poorest districts located in the North.

Federal Bank to Open its First Overseas Branch in Dubai

• Federal Bank has received the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s permission to open its first international branch at the Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai on November 14, 2016. The proposed branch at Dubai will help the Bank serve its Non-Resident clientele better.
• Federal Bank has an IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City). The Federal Bank limited is a major Indian commercial bank in the private sector, headquartered at Aluva, Kochi (Kerala).
• The Bank was incorporated on April 23, 1931 as the Travancore Federal Bank Limited, Nedumpuram under the Travancore Companies Regulation Act, 1916.

First Small Finance Bank Kicked-off its Operation

• Capital Small Finance Bank, India’s first small finance bank, was launched on November 13, 2016. It opened 10 new branches on its inaugural day.
• The Jalandhar-headquartered bank had been operating as Capital Local Area Bank since January, 2000 with 47 branches in five districts of Punjab. It is‘among the 10 entities that were given the in-principle approval by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set-up small finance banks.
• While inaugurating the bank, Nirmal Chand, regional director of RBI, Chandigarh, said it was a historic day for i the banking sector in India as it would be reckoned as a day when small finance banks were introduced into the banking system. The RBI had granted approval to 11 entities for launching payments banks in August, 2015. It had given approval to IDFC and Bandhan to start universal banks in 2015.

Licence to Ujjivan for Small Finance Bank Issued

• Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Limited, subsidiary of the company, Ujjivan Financial Services Limited has been issued licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on November II, 2016 to set-up Small Finance Bank business.
• However, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Limited also requires getting necessary approvals, registrations and licensing from various departments of the RBI and other agencies before starting the banking business.
• Once the required approvals are granted, the Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Limited will commence its operations of a Small Finance Bank. Ujjivan belongs to the top three league of India’s microfinance sector.
• Ujjivan started operations as an NBFC in 2005 with the mission of providing a full range of financial services to the economically active poor who are not adequately served by financial institutions. On October 7, 2015, Ujjivan received an in-principle approval from the RBI to set-up a SFB.

City Union Bank Launched India’s First Banking Robot

• The City Union Bank (CUB) became the first bank in India to introduce a robot to deal with customer queries on November 11, 2016. Called Lakshmi, the robot is based on the IBM Watson Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine.
• Lakshmi is based in a CUB branch in Chennai and is currently the only version of a ‘humanoid banker’ CUB has got. However, there are plans to introduce 25-30 robots across the bank’s key branches by the end of this year if Lakshmi proves a success with customers.
• Lakshmi speaks English, can gesture and engage in conversations. It can interact with customers on more than 125 subjects, including interest rates on loans and checking the account balance.