Economy and Banking Current Affairs September 2015 (Part 2)

‘Bandhan Bank’ Started Work as Commercial Bank

• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated ‘Bandhan Bank’ as a full-fledged scheduled commercial bank on August 23, 2015. With this, Bandhan is the first micro finance company to transform into a bank. IDFC Bank, which also got a license along with Bandhan last year, will begin its journey on October 1, 2015.
• Bandhan Bank will primarily cater to the unorganised sector like daily wage earners and women running small businesses. These segments had been its borrowers for a decade. As a bank, it will also offer savings, remittance and insurance services and try to raise its stake in the bottom of the pyramid customers.
• The company has 67 lakh micro finance borrowers and their accounts have been formally transferred to the new entity, creating around Rs 10000 crore strong loan portfolios to start with Bandhan begun operation with 500 branches, a majority of these are in the Eastern region including West Bengal.

LIC Launched New Unit Linked Insurance Plan

• The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India launched a new scheme Endowment Plus on August 19, 2015 across the country. It offers both investment and insurance options during its term. The plan has a policy term of 10-20 years and partial withdrawal is allowed after 5 years subject to conditions.
• Under the investment options, the person can opt for a bond fund for low risk, secured and balanced funds for mid risks and growth fund for long term capital growth with up to 4 investment switches can be done in a policy year free of cost.

See Also – National Current Affairs October 2015 (Part 2).

3 Indian Companies are Among World’s Most Innovative Firms

• As per Forbes list released on August 20, 2015, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Sun Pharma Industries are the three Indian companies ranked at 41, 64 and 71 respectively have been named among the world’s 100 most innovative companies.
• Firms need seven years of public financial data and $ 10 billion in market cap, to be included in the list. Forbes said only those industries are included that are known to invest in innovation. California-Based Tesla Motors .has topped the list whose market capitalization is of $ 25.5 billion.
• Hindustan Unilever had over 35 brands spanning 20 distinct categories. Sun Pharma, India’s largest drugs company appears on the list for the fourth straight time. India’s largest IT company TCS, appeared on the list for the eighth time.

BSE Set-up New System for Reporting Suspicious Trades

• The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has asked its members on August 18, 2015 to report on a monthly basis details of the Suspicious Transaction Reports submitted to the government’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
• The trading members are required to submit the data through a specific FIU-STR module of the online gateway BSE Electronic Filing System (BEFS) as on March 31, 2015. Thereafter, the members would need to report the number of STRs filed with FIU on a monthly basis.
• The members have been asked to provide details of their registration with the FIU, as also the information about the principal officer and the designated directors for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) compliance.

Anti-dumping Duty Imposed on ‘Linen’ Fabric

• The Finance Ministry of India has imposed definitive anti-dumping duty of $ 0.75 per metre and $ 0.63 per metre on ‘flax’ or ‘linen’ fabric imports from China and Hong Kong respectively on August 17, 2015.
• This duty would be applicable only on those flax fabrics with flax content of over 50%. In this regard, Jaya Shree Textiles, a unit of Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited, had filed the petition seeking continuation of anti-dumping duty on ‘flax’ fabric imports from China and Hong Kong.
• Based on the recommendations of the Designated Authority in the commerce ministry in its sunset review, the revenue department has now imposed anti-dumping duty on ‘flax’ fabric imported from China and Hong Kong.

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