RBI Announced its First Policy Review Post-demonetisation
- India’s central bank RBI announced to maintain the benchmark interest rate at 6.25% in its first monetary policy review since the demonetisation, on December 6, 2016.
- Ahead of the announcement, many expected the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Uijit Patel, to lower the repo rate, or key lending rate, by 25 basis points.
- This was RBI’s first policy review since Prime Minister Narendra Modi stunned the nation on November 8 by announcing a ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1000 bank notes. The move was part of a crackdown on black money.
Read Also – SSC Current Affairs
BANKING CURRENT AFFAIRS
Allahabad Bank Merged AllBank Finance with Itself
- Public sector Allahabad Bank on December 23, 2016 merged its wholly-owned subsidiary AllBank Finance Limited (ABFL) with itself.
- The ABFL offers basket of fee-based financial services such as IPO management, debt/loan syndication, trusteeship services (debenture trustee/security trusty) structured finance, placement of equity shares to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs), investment advisory and portfolio management services.
SBI Adopted a Village to Make it Cashless
- India’s largest lender SBI stepped on the gas towards a cashless economy as the banking behemoth has adopted a village in Maharashtra where it will drive all residents to transact digitally on December 23, 2016.
- Shirki, a village in Pen Taluka in Maharashtra is now the epicentre for the SBI, which will promote Aadhaar number-based merchant payments in the light of demonetisation.
- Under this initiative, the bank volunteers have been meeting the families in the village and have enabled them to open bank accounts and seed their Aadhaar numbers, which is the only pre-requisite for enabling the entire village to become cashless.
Paytm Launched ‘Each One, Teach One’ to Increase Digital Inclusion
- Paytm announced a programme to increase the digital inclusion in the country wherein it is calling upon consumers and merchants across India to teach others on j how to use Paytm to pay and accept money, on December 15, 2016.
- The campaign is aimed at transforming user behavior and further accelerating the country’s ongoing shift from cash to digital payments.
- As a part of the drive, Paytm has also announced an incentive including Rs one crore grand prize along with additional prizes like motorcycles, smartphones, laptops and other exciting gifts. All users transacting between December 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017 are eligible to win these prizes.
- The company has also announced Rs 2100 in scholarship for 10000 users who help increase digital inclusion and adoption of Paytm and certificates for one lakh further users across all major districts.
