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Top Banking/Finance Committees 2015-16: Deepak Mohanty Committee On Financial Inclusion
Top Banking/Finance Committees 2015-16: Deepak Mohanty Committee On Financial Inclusion
The RBI committee on pushing Financial Inclusion submitted its report on 28 December
2015. The committee recommended a slew of measures, including a special deposit
scheme for the girl child, government-to-person social cash transfer, and opening
interest-free windows (Islamic banking) by banks. Who headed this committee?
Deepak Mohanty (Executive Director, RBI)
The committee (titled Medium-Term path on Financial Inclusion) was constituted in July
2015 with the objective of working out a medium-term (five-year) measurable action
plan for financial inclusion. It was chaired by Deepak Mohanty, RBI executive director.
Union Govt. should consider a welfare scheme (Sukanya Shiksha) for promoting
financial inclusion of women that can be jointly funded by the Central and State
governments
Need for better use of the mobile banking facility for Government-to-Person
(G2P) payments, and this would push government in its financial inclusion drive
The committee pressed for digitisation of land records to increase formal credit to
all agrarian segments
The committee, which was reviewing the public-private partnership model (PPP model)
of infrastructure development, has recommended improving the financing of such
projects. Who was heading this committee on PPP Model, which submitted its report on
19 November 2015? Vijay Kelkar
The committee analysed the risks involved and the existing framework of risk-
sharing between the project developer and the government in the PPP model and
gave its recommendations. The report of the Committee has recommended reviving
the PPP model and redesigning it by introducing best international practices and by
improving capacity building.
Arvind Arvind Subramanian Committee on GST
The govt. committee on the proposed goods and services tax (GST) suggested how
much standard rate of GST as disclosed on 4 December 2015? 16.9-19.9%
The committee recommended that the standard GST rate be in the range of
16.9-17.9%. The standard rate would apply to most goods and services under the
new indirect tax regime.
The report of the Sumit Bose Committee recommended that the choice of
withdrawal of all financial products, except those pertaining to pensions, should
remain with the investor. It clearly said that financial products should have flexible
exit options and the cost of exit must be limited. Currently, products such as unit-
linked insurance plans (ULIPs) have a lock-in period of at least five years. It was
increased from three years following a spate of customer complaints prior to
September 2010, when market volatility led to poor returns for policyholders, who
exited early.
A.P. Shah Committee on MAT
During 2015 the RBI announced how many reductions in the all-important Repo
Rate? Four
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 22 January 2015 came out with which
guideline on loan cost for countrys commercial banks? It directed all banks to
display all costs associated with loans on their website
From 25 November 2015 the Union Govt. extended the usage criterion of the
RuPay debit cards under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in order to
avail of the in-built insurance cover to 90 days. What was the usage criterion till
now? 45 days
Union Govt. on 6 November 2015 imposed how much Swachh Bharat Cess on
all services? 0.5%
The govt. committee on the proposed goods and services tax (GST) has
suggested how much standard rate of GST as disclosed on 4 December 2015?
16.9-19.9%
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 13 February announced it would soon put in
circulation currency notes with the denomination of Re 1. When printing of Re. 1
notes was discontinued by the govt. due to higher printing costs? November
1994
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 17 April 2015 came out with which important
proposal pertaining to term deposits? It proposed to allow banks to offer
differential interest rates for term deposits
The World Bank on 14 September 2015 released the first ever ranking of States
on the Ease of Doing Business in India. The rating assessed states over a six-
month period from January to June 2015 on the issue of implementation of ease of
doing business policy. Which state topped this list? Gujarat
What was the GDP growth rate of the Indian economy during the second quarter
(July-September) of 2015-16, as disclosed in the data released by the Central
Statistics Office (CSO) on 30 November 2015? 7.4%
What will be the total corpus of the new Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) that was
announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 15 October 2015? Rs. 2,000
crore
What was the notified interest rate (notified on 20 January 2015) for investments
in Sukanya Samriddhi Account (SSA), the special deposit scheme for girl child that
was launched on 22 January 2015? 9.1% p.a.
The Union Govt. on 1 April 2015 revamped the procedure for appointment of
non-official directors (NoDs) on the Boards of public sector banks, insurance
companies and financial institutions. What the new age limit for appointment of
NoDs is, as prescribed in these guidelines? Less than 67 years
The signing ceremony of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) took
place at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 29 June 2015. 50 founding
members of AIIB, including India, signed on the articles of AIIB that determine each
countrys share and the lenders initial capital. What is Indias stake in AIIB? 8.52%
(India is its second largest shareholder with a stake of 8.52% and voting share of
7.5%. The voting shares are based on the size of each member countrys economy
and not contribution to the Banks authorised capital. Chinas shareholding is
30.34% and it has retained 26.06% of the voting rights with veto powers for certain
key decisions)
The Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group
(WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the 2015 WBG/IMF Annual
Meetings was held between 6 and 12 October 2015 at which city? Lima (Peru)
Which African country during June 2015 started the process of demonetization to
legally end its virtually worthless local currency which had witnessed hyper-inflation
as high as 500 billion per cent in the recent times? Zimbabwe
What is the name of the m-wallet (mobile wallet) application of State Bank of
India (SBI) that was launched by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 18 August 2015?
SBI Buddy
Which bank on 4 July 2015 became the first in the country to launch the MUDRA
Card, under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) scheme? Corporation
Bank
Which bank launched Indias first contactless debit and credit card on 7 January
2015 that enables one to make payments by just waving the card near merchant
terminals instead of swiping the same? ICICI Bank
Countrys largest private bank ICICI Bank on 25 May 2015 launched which new
password service for its customers? Voice Password Service
ICICI Bank on 20 April 2015 launched a new payment service called Tap-n-Pay
which enables customers make over-the-counter payments without using cash. This
first-of-its-kind payment service was launched in collaboration with which IT
company? Tech Mahindra
Who won the Nobel Prize in Economics for 2015 as announced on 12 October
2015? Angus Deaton (United States)
Which noted banker of India was on 11 May 2015 appointed as the first President
of the $100-billion New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS countries, to be
based in Chinas financial hub Shanghai? KV Kamath
Who was named as the first Chief of the Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure
Investment Bank (AIIB), which is being established as an alternative financial entity
to the U.S. and Europe-dominated banking institutions? Jin Liqun
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan was elected as the Vice-Chairman of the Bank of
International Settlement (BIS) on 10 November 2015. With this he became the first
Indian central bank Governor to become the vice-chairman of BIS. BIS is
headquartered in which Swiss city? Basel
On 5 January 2015 who was named as the first Vice-Chairman of the newly
announced NITI Aayog (Policy Commission), which replaced Planning
Commission? Arvind Panagariya
Small Banks
Ushering another banking revolution in the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on
16 September 2015 accorded in-principal approval for 10 small finance banks. These
banks will focus on small geographies for operations but with a strong capital base.
Which 10 entities were selected for these small banks? 1) Au Financiers 2) Capital
Local Area Bank 3) Disha Microfin 4) Equitas Holdings 5) ESAF Microfinance 6)
Janalakshmi Financial Services 7) RGVN (North East) Microfinance 8) Suryoday
Micro Finance 9) Ujjivan Financial Services and 10) Utkarsh Micro Finance
Payments Banks
In an important step for Indias banking sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 19
August 2015 granted its in-principle approval to setting up Payments Banks to 11
entities and individuals. The RBI had received 41 applications for payments banks by
end of deadline in February this year. Which are these 11 entities and individuals to get
approval for payments bank? 1) Aditya Birla Nuvo 2) Airtel M Commerce Services
3) Cholamandalam Distribution Services, 4) Department of Posts 5) Fino PayTech
6) National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL), 7) Reliance Industries 8) Tech
Mahindra, 9) Vodafone m-pesa (Entities) and 10) Dilip Shanghvi and 11) Vijay S.
Sharma (Individuals)
MUDRA
MUDRA Bank, an ambitious initiative to provide boost to Indias micro and small
business entities, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a programme
held in New Delhi on 8 April 2015. What is the full expansion of the term MUDRA?
Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency
The signing ceremony of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) took place at
the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 29 June 2015. 50 founding members of AIIB,
including India, signed on the articles of AIIB that determine each countrys share and
the lenders initial capital. What is Indias stake in AIIB? 8.52% (India is its second
largest shareholder with a stake of 8.52% and voting share of 7.5%. The voting shares
are based on the size of each member countrys economy and not contribution to the
Banks authorised capital. Chinas shareholding is 30.34% and it has retained 26.06% of
the voting rights with veto powers for certain key decisions)
CIPS
China on 8 October 2015 launched the much anticipated international payment system
that seeks to provide global dimensions to its currency Yuan. What is the name of this
payment system? China International Payment System (CIPS)
Money-Order Service
India Post, the postal department of Govt. of India, on 1 April 2015 closed its 135-year
old Money Order (MO) service. The Money Order service, which provided pan-India
door-delivery of funds to a payee from over 155,000 post offices, was an integral part of
the department since 1880. India Post is now focusing on which 2 postal remittance
services? Electronic Money Order (eMO) and Instant Money Order (iMO)
The Union Govt. during March 2015 established a fund with a corpus of Rs. 500 crore
which seeks to keep prices of perishable farm commodities under control through
suitable market interventions. What is the name of this fund? Price Stabilization
Fund (PSF)
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation for retail
payment system in India, on 18 February 2015 launched a unified platform for providing
a single payment interface across all systems. What is the name of this interface that
will enable all account holders to send and receive money from their smartphones with
a single identifier? Unified Payment Interface (UPI)
Gold Monetisation Scheme
Union Cabinet on 9 September 2015 announced the Gold Monetisation Scheme under
which gold in any form can be deposited with banks for a period of one to 15 years.
What is the primary objective of this scheme? To bring out the huge amount of gold
that is being kept idly by Indians
Panch Deep
The Union Government on 4 January 2015 announced Rs. 1,900 crore for e-
governance project Panch Deep. This project seeks to achieve what? To automate
all transactions between the organisations and employees with regard to ESIC
Education Portal
What is the name of the first dedicated portal for the benefit of students seeking
educational loans that was launched during August 2015 by the Union Govt.? Vidya
Lakshmi
Chit Funds
The Reserve Bank India (RBI) on 11 June 2015 gave permission to which investor
segment to invest in regulated chit funds in India? Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)