Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the Daily Current Affairs 4 April 2018. These are important for the upcoming SBI Clerk Examination.
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Finance and Banking
Jio Payments Bank begins its operation
- The Reserve Bank said on Wednesday that Jio Payments Bank commenced its banking services from Tuesday. Reliance Industries Ltd was one of the 11 applicants which were issued in-principle approval for setting up a payments bank in August 2015.
- Jio Payment Bank Limited is a 70-30 joint venture between Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited and India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI).
- “Jio Payments Bank Limited has commenced operations as a payments bank with effect from April 3, 2018,” RBI said in a notification.
- Telecom major Bharti Airtel was the first to begin payment bank services in November 2016.
- Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma promoted Paytm Payments Bank began operations from May 2017 last year while FINO Payments Bank Limited kicked-off in in June last year.
- Birla group’s Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank was the latest in this space whose operations were started from February 22 this year.
- While, the Department of Posts, which also got a license for a payment bank is yet to start its services formally, who is running services on pilot basis currently.
India’s first blockchain implementation goes live
- Three trade receivable discounting systems (TReDS)—digital invoice discounting platforms—approved so far by the RBI have jointly implemented a blockchain solution, which is expected to help reduce frauds in bills discounting or receivable financing.
- The platforms—RXIL, A.TReDS and M1xchange—had been set up to bring together buyers, sellers and financiers for discounting the MSME invoices and provide them with timely funding.
- This is billed as India’s first live blockchain implementation in the enterprise financial segment.
- US-based MonetaGo has designed and implemented the production solution.
ICICI Bank launches social media-based remittance service for NRIs
- Leading private lender ICICI Bank announced the launch of a service that enables Non Resident Indians (NRIs) to send money to a beneficiary in India using social media platforms like WhatsApp and e-mail.
- Christened ‘Social Pay’, this first-of-its-kind service is available on Money2India (M2I), the bank’s app for remittances. This new facility will enable NRIs to send money conveniently to their friends and family.
- To transfer money, users need to generate a secure link from the M2I app and share it with the beneficiary on their social media profile or email for adding his/her bank details. This link, which is valid for 24 hours is secured with a four digit code set by the sender, which he/she shares with the beneficiary. The beneficiary then validates the passcode before adding the bank details. The M2I user then re-verifies and confirms the payment details on the app to complete the transaction in a safe and secure manner.
IndusInd Bank launches the Girl Power Programme
- IndusInd Bank in association with the JSW Foundation launched the IndusInd Bank Girl Power Programme to support junior as well as established girl athletes. This power-packed Programme supports girl athletes from various parts of the country and in different individual sports disciplines, so as to enable them to compete on a global stage.
- The Programme has been set-up to not just to groom world-class athletes, but to also provide a holistic development for them. The IndusInd Bank Girl Power Programme will support over 60 female athletes across 6 disciplines of boxing, judo, wrestling among others.
- Apart from skill set training, the Programme also covers their overall development. These girls are provided with a tailor-made school education Programme and a sense of ‘home’ under the institute’s foster care Programme. This way, the young girls can enjoy the warmth of home, the guidance of experts and also excel at academics.
- The ‘IndusInd Bank Girl Power Programme’ aims to support gender inclusiveness in sports.
Financial Intelligence Unit slaps Rs 9 crore fine on Bank of Baroda in 2015 forex remittance scam case
- The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has slapped Rs 9 crore penalty on Bank of Baroda for “failing” to adhere to anti-money laundering norms, and not having an effective system to report suspicious transactions linked to the Rs 6,000 crore scam in its Delhi-based branch.
- The FIU has levied the maximum penalty of Rs 1 lakh, as stipulated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), for each instance of “delayed” filing of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) by the state-owned bank in the case.
- The central financial intelligence gathering and dissemination agency under the Ministry of Finance is empowered to investigate and levy penalities on banks and other financial intermediaries, under the PMLA, if they fail to comply with anti-money laundering procedures.
- After about three years of investigation, the FIU has held that the bank failed on at least five counts in detecting wrongdoing and instances of money laundering at its branch in Ashok Vihar in Delhi, where a Rs 6,000 crore forex remittance scam had been reported in 2015.
PayPal introduces online FIRC for ease of Indian sellers, freelancers
- International payments platform PayPal has digitised the Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC) application process for the ease of Indian sellers and freelancers.
- With the new process, PayPal sellers receiving payments from across the globe can apply for an FIRC online by filling a form on the PayPal website and paying the FIRC fee via NEFT as opposed to the previous process of a Demand Draft (DD), reducing tedious paper work.
- “Indian online sellers and freelancers are expected to contribute as much as 40 per cent towards future revenue generation and economic growth. We see immense potential in the India SMEs, freelancers and merchants, and aim to streamline the payment process for them as they chase their aspirations,” said Narsi Subramanian, Director, Growth, PayPal India.
- He added that by simplifying the process of accepting international transactions, we want to encourage sellers to tap the global marketplace.
- FIRC is a document that acts as a testimonial for all the inward remittances entering India.
Government sets up IT Grievance Redressal Mechanism to address the grievances of taxpayers on GST Portal
- The GST Council on April 4, 2018 delegated its powers to an IT Grievance Redressal Committee to approve and recommend the steps to be taken to redress the grievance and provide relief to the taxpayer.
- The relief could be in the nature of allowing filing of any Form or Return prescribed in law or amending any Form or Return already filed.
- However, this mechanism will not be available to the individual taxpayer who face problems like poor internet connectivity or failure of power supply.
India
Delhi to become the first state to issue licences with the mother’s name
- Delhi has taken on the responsibility of changing this age-old practice. In a progressive step towards gender equality, Delhi’s transport department will soon allow its citizens to provide your mother’s name instead of your father’s in the driving licence application as per the TOI report.
- The Delhi RTO has been increasingly updating its provisions. Last year, they developed an automated driving test to bring down corruptive practices in acquiring a permanent driving licence.
- So far, the application for a driver’s license requires you to provide your father’s name and in case of married women, her husband’s name
- If the mother’s name is mentioned in several cases, the applicants are keen on providing the same as their guardian
- Delhi, a state which has set a record of women safety issues in the past few years, takes this step and actually implement the same, it can change the notion of the state for the entire world.
India, Azerbaijan agree for global action on terrorism
- India and Azerbaijan on Wednesday agreed for a global and concerted action to combat terrorism, stating that both sides had zero tolerance on the issue.
- At a joint press meet with her Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj said, “India and Azerbaijan shared the view that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is a global scourge that requires global action in the spirit of zero tolerance, including by rooting out terrorist safe havens, disrupting terrorist networks, and financing channels and halting cross-border movement of terrorists.”
- She underlined that New Delhi was seeking to consolidate and strengthening its relations with Baku in various sectors.
India, Russia review military technical cooperation projects
- India and Russia have reviewed ongoing military technical cooperation projects , including measures to promote joint industrial activities under the ‘Make in India’ programme with respect to defence production.
- Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is on a three-day visit to Russia to attend VII Moscow Conference on International Security from April 3-5, met Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov in Moscow on Tuesday.
- They also discussed participation of Russia in DefExpo India -2018 to be held in Chennai from April 11 to 14 2018.
India, Japan and US hold trilateral meeting
- India, Japan and the United States on April 4, 2018 participated in the ninth trilateral meeting in New Delhi.
- The main focus of this ‘Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group’ was on connectivity, counter-terrorism and other regional and global issues.
- The meeting was held in the backdrop of the ongoing trade war between China and the USA that erupted after both sides imposed tariffs on each other’s goods.
Appointments
Nitin Rao appointed CEO of Reliance Wealth Management
- Reliance Wealth Management Ltd., a subsidiary of Reliance Capital Ltd., on Wednesday announced appointment of Nitin Rao as its new Chief Executive Officer.
- In this newly-created role, Rao will report to Anmol Ambani, Executive Director at Reliance Capital, and will be responsible for driving a more broad-based strategy for growing the wealth management offering to high net worth individuals.
- Rao joins Reliance Wealth Management after 19 years at HDFC Bank, where he was Executive Vice President – Private Banking Group and Third Party Products, and had built its wealth business ground up into a significantly dominant leadership position.
Reports
India ranks 3rd among nations facing most cyber threats: Symantec Report
- India ranked third in the list of countries where the highest number of cyber threats were detected, and second in terms of targeted attacks in 2017, according to security software firm Symantec.
- “India is ranked third among list of countries globally where most of the threats were detected and it is second in terms of targeted attacks,” Tarun Kaura, Director, Enterprise Security Product Management, Asia Pacific and Japan, Symantec said.
- The United States led the pack, followed by China at the second spot, according to the company’s Internet security threat report (ISTR).
- India was ranked second globally when it comes to spam and phishing (misleading emails, weblink etc). However, complex cyber attacks — ransomware and network attacks in India increased in terms of global percentage.
World
US proposes USD 50 billion tariffs on 1300 Chinese products
- The United States on April 3, 2018 announced additional tariffs of 25 percent on 1300 products imported from China that could amount to USD 50 billion.
- Sectors subject to the proposed tariffs include industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics, and machinery.
- The list will undergo further review in a public notice and comment process, including a hearing.
Turkey launches construction of first-ever nuclear plant
- The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan along with Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 3, 2018 launched the construction of Turkey’s first-ever nuclear power plant in Mersin region, a large port city on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey.
- The launch of the project was conducted by the two Presidents through video conferencing. The total estimated cost of the power plant would be around 20 billion dollars.
- Once completed the power station will contribute around 10 percent to the electricity needs of Turkey, which is significant as the nation has few energy resources of its own.
United Nations terror list has 139 Pakistan entries
- The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on April 4, 2018 identified 139 Pakistani terrorist individuals and entities who have lived in Pakistan or operated from there.
- The list included the names of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its chief Hafiz Saeed, Osama bin Laden’s heir apparent and Al Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri, Harkatul Mujahideen, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and others.
- Hafiz Saeed is also listed as a person wanted by Interpol for his involvement in terrorist activities.
- The list also includes Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian national who has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi.
Indonesia declares emergency after port city oil spill
- Indonesia on April 3, 2018 declared a state of emergency around a port on Borneo island after a large oil spill and fire killed four people.
- Disaster mitigation officials were able to control the blaze in the port city of Balikpapan but were still working to contain the spill.
- Balikpapan, in East Kalimantan, is the major mining and energy hub and home to one of the few oil refineries in the country.
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