Banking Awareness Weekly Dose

1. According to information disclosed on 2 March 2015, an agreement was signed between the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during February 2015 that sets inflation target for the RBI. What is this target? – To bring inflation down to 6% by January 2016

2. The National Payments Corporation of India on Friday announced linking of 15 crore Aadhar cards with various bank accounts in India. With this achievement NPCI has moved a step closer to map its target of linking all 17 crore DBT accounts with Aadhaar numbers by 30 June 2015. 

3. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 4 March 2015 lowered its policy repo rate by 25 basis points. This was the second cut this year on the back of easing inflation and a government commitment to fiscal discipline. What is the new Repo rate after this cut? – 7.5%

4. What important recommendation pertaining to domestic financial institutions (DFIs) was given by the 14th Finance Commission that was tabled in the Parliament on 24 February 2015? – A dedicated panel should be constituted for DFIs

5. One-rupee notes are all set to come back into circulation as the government has decided to restart printing the currency after more than two decades. “The Reserve Bank of India will soon put in circulation currency notes in one rupee denomination. The notes will be printed by the Government of India,” Reserve Bank said .

6. Which state-owned bank of Britain has decided to close its banking operations in India as disclosed recently? – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)

7. International rating agency Moody’s on 3 March 2015 downgraded the ratings of some securities of which two public-sector banks? – Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank

8.  Inflation targeting was in news recently as Union Government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 20 February 2015 signed an agreement on Monetary Policy Framework. As per the agreement, RBI accepted to focus on flexible inflation targeting. Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation targets below six per cent by January 2016 and four per cent from 2016-17, with a band of plus/minus two per cent. 

9. The proposed merger of Forwards Markets Commission (FMC) with SEBI as announced in the Union Budget on 28 February 2015 is expected to sound a death knell for the so-called ‘dabba trading’. What is meant by ‘dabba trading’? – Illegal trading in commodities market

10. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut down repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.5 percent from 7.75 percent, with immediate effect citing that the fiscal consolidation was better than what numbers show and that the combined fiscal deficit is much lower due to the government transferring more funds to the states. However, RBI has kept the cash reserve ratio (CRR) unchanged at 4 percent. 

11. The report of the 14th Finance Commission was tabled in the Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 24 February 2015. How much raise in share of states in central taxes has been suggested in this report that has been accepted by the Union Govt.? – 10%

12. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Economic Survey for 2015-16 in the Parliament on 27 February 2015. What the growth forecast is for fiscal year 2015-16 as disclosed in the Survey? – 8.1 to 8.5%

13. Giving a boost to affordable housing, the RBI eased the norms for home loans for up to Rs 10 lakh by allowing banks to include stamp duty and registration charges to the cost of a unit. These charges used to form around 15 per cent of the cost of the house and place a burden on borrowers.

14. Indian capital market regulator SEBI has recently asked individual investment advisers providing opinion on securities or public offers through TV channels or other media platforms to get them registered with it. This is being done with an aim to safeguard Indian markets from any manipulative research reports. These individuals would be registered in which capacity by SEBI for the same? – “Research Analysts”

15. According to the data pertaining to mutual fund industry released on 5 March 2015 the assets under management for the mutual fund industry crossed a milestone figure for the first time during February 2015. What is this milestone figure? – Rs. 12 lakh crore.