ARTICLES:
FamPay launched India’s 1st numberless card-Famcard
FamPay. India’s first Neobank for teenagers, in partnership with IDFC First Bank launched India’s 1st numberless card, FamCard. FamPay with National Payments corporation of India(NPCI) developed this card. This card is accepted across the RuPay payment network of merchants. It is similar to a debit card which enables teenagers to transact in a cashless manner.
Offers a combination of parental control and independence for teens- It allows the parent to create a FamPool account which is a group account for the family. Through this account parents will be able to track where the money is spent from this account. As for teens, they get their own Wallets.
Online and Offline payments- Minor can make online (UPI & Peer to Peer-P2P) & offline payments without even having to set up a bank account.
Card’s details saved on FamPay App- The details of the card are saved on the FamPay app. There is no need to refer the physical card to fill in details during online transactions.
Flash PIN- For every transaction a ‘Flash PIN’ is generated. Teens can just flash this PIN to the cashier for offline payments without the need of entering the PIN by themselves on the POS machines.
Maintain Zero balance & no hidden cost- They can maintain a zero balance and there are no hidden charge or costs attached to any transactions.
India-Russia to sign Defense Logistics Agreement by year end:
India and Russia are finalizing Defense Logistics Agreement that will enable seamless access to military bases and support facilities. The formal agreement is to be signed between the countries by the end of 2020.
Mutual Benefit: The Agreement will help to simplify interoperability, enable support of military platforms such as aircraft and Warships. Also, the agreement will help India receive steady supply of weapons under Emergency Purchase Clause . The warships of the countries will get access to mutual ports and exclusive economic zones under the agreement. This will help in refueling and picking up supplies.
Port- Under the agreement, Russia vessels can access Vishakhapatnam and Mumbai ports for refueling India can access Russian parts of Arctic. India is looking at Arctic station near futur.
India and Russia are planning to relaunch Chennai-Vladivostok shipping route under their emerging Indo-Pacific region partnership.
Logistics Defense Agreement(LDC)- India has Similar Logistic Defense Agreement with USA, France and Australia. India is holding talks to finalize similar agreement with Japan.
NPCI launched UPI AutoPay feature:
National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) launched UPI AutoPay feature for recurring payments.
With this new facility, customers can enable recurring e-mandate using any UPI application for recurring payments such as mobile bills, electricity bills, EMI payments, entertainment and OTT subscriptions, insurance, mutual funds and loan payments, among others of upto Rs. 2000. If the amount exceeds Rs. 2000, customers have to execute every mandate with UPI PIN.
National Payment Corporation of India(NPCI)- It is an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. It is an initiative of Reserve Bank Of India(RBI) and Indian Banks association (IBA) under the provisions of the payment and Settlement Systems Act,2007.It has been incorporated as a “Not for Profit” Company under the provisions of Section 25 of Companies Act 1956 (now section 8 of Companies Act 2013).
The 10 r promoter banks are State Bank of India. Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Boroda, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank and HSBC. In 2016 the shareholding was broad-based to 56 member banks to include more banks representing all sectors. Location of headquarters of NPCI in Mumbai.
Bombay High Court allows appointment of private persons as Panchayat administrators:
Recently, the Bombay High Court passed an interim order directing that a government servant of the local authority be appointed as an administrator of gram panchayats in Maharashtra. It is for the 15000 panchyats where the terms of these officers have ended for would be ending. These administrators include Sarpanch, Secretary of the Panchayats and gram sevaks. The Court ordered that the administrator to be appointed, should be a government servant or an officer from the local authority. If not available and the appointment of a private individual is to be made, then each such order shall record the reasoms because of which such officer was not available. The criteria that administrators have to be “a resident of the village and on the voters list” is directory, not mandatory in nature.
Gram Panchayat: These are the part of the Panchayati Raj System which has been granted constitutional status by the 73rd Amendment act. This scheme of the PRI system increases cooperation among people, democratic participation and decentralization. The 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats (Gps) in the country have been entrusted to provide basic services in the villages and plan for local economic development and good governance. The Gram Sabha(GS) discusses the development work plans of the GP called Gram Panchayat Development Plan(GPDP) and the elected representatives execute the plans.
Gram Sabha: Gram Sabha is a body consisting of all persons whose names are included in the electoral rolls for the Panchayat at the village level.
The term is defined in the Constitution of India under Article 243(b).
All eligible voters of the village can participate in the Gram Sabha. The decisions taken by the gram sabha cannot be annulled by any other body except itself.
Current RBI Rate(updated 24th July 2020):
Repo Rate: 4.00%
Reserve Repo Rate: 3.35%
Marginal standing Facility Rate: 4.65%
Bank Rate: 4.65%
CRR: 3%
SLR: 18.50%
About Repo Rate:Repo rate is the rate at which the central bank or reserve bank of India (RBI) lends short term money to banks.
Reserve Repo Rate: Reserve Repo Rate is the opposite of Repo Rate. It is rate at which the central bank or reserve bank of India (RBI) borrows money from commercial banks within the country.
Marginal standing Facility Rate: It is the rate at which banks borrow from the RBI in an emergency situation when inter-bank liquidity dries up completely.
Bank rate: Bank rate is the discount rate which is charged by the central bank or RBI for lending funds to commercial banks.
Cash Reserve Ratio(CRR):CRR is a certain percentage of the total bank deposits has to be kept in the current account with central bank which means banks do not have access to that much amount for any economic activity or commercial activity.
Statutory Liquidity Ratio(SLR): It is the minimum percentage of deposits that a commercial bank has to maintain in the form of liquid cash, gold or other securities. It is basically the reserve requirement that banks are expected to keep before offering credit to customers.
