FINANCE CURRENT AFFAIRS

JANUARY WEEK II
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Contents
“Airtel Payments Bank Limited” in the Second Schedule of RBI Act, 1934 ........................................... 2
Cancellation of Certificate of Authorisation .......................................................................................... 2
Retail Direct Scheme – Market Making ................................................................................................. 3
Master Circular on Bank Finance to NBFCs ........................................................................................... 4
India’s First Cryptocurrency Index ......................................................................................................... 6
Consultation paper for Review of SEBI (Collective Investment Schemes) Regulations, 1999 .............. 8
Eligibility criteria of Specified User for Credit Information Companies .............................................. 11
RBI ups threshold for LCR maintenance by banks ............................................................................... 12
Apple becomes first company to touch $3 trillion market cap ........................................................... 12
RIL’s largest ever foreign currency bond issue .................................................................................... 13
NPCI sets standardised limits on AePS transactions ............................................................................ 13
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) ....................................................................................... 14
RBI Sets Up a Fintech Department ...................................................................................................... 15
Framework for operationalizing the Gold Exchange in India .............................................................. 16
Best Private Bank ................................................................................................................................. 19
SEBI bans 6 from securities market ..................................................................................................... 19
Monetary Penalties by RBI ................................................................................................................... 20

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“Airtel Payments Bank Limited” in the Second

Schedule of RBI Act, 1934
 Airtel Payments Bank has been categorised as Scheduled Bank by the RBI after it was
included in the 'Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934'

A bank mentioned in the Second Schedule of the Reserve Bank of India Act is known as
''Scheduled Commercial Bank''.

 With this, the payments bank aims to pitch for government-issued Requests for Proposals
and primary auctions and undertake both Central and State Government business besides
participating in government-operated welfare schemes.

Cancellation of Certificate of Authorisation

RBI in exercise of the powers conferred on it under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007,
has cancelled the Certificate of Authorisation (CoA) of the below mentioned Payment System
Operators (PSOs):

Sr. Company's Name Payment System Date of Reason for

No. Authorised Cancellation Cancellation
1. Muthoot Vehicle & Asset Issuance and Operation of 31.12.2021 Non-compliance
Finance Limited Prepaid Payment with regulatory
Instruments requirements
2. Eko India Financial Issuance and Operation of 31.12.2021 Non-compliance
Services Private Limited Prepaid Payment with regulatory
Instruments requirements

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Following the cancellation of the CoA, these companies cannot transact the business of issuance
and operation of Prepaid Payment Instruments.

However, customers or merchants having a valid claim, if any, on these companies as PSOs, can
approach them for settlement of their claims within three years from the date of cancellation.

Retail Direct Scheme – Market Making

 RBI Retail Direct Scheme was launched on November 12, 2021 for providing one-stop access
to facilitate investment in Government Securities by retail investors.

 RBI has now notified the market making scheme under the RBI Retail Direct Scheme.

 Why- To promote retail participation in government securities by providing prices/quotes to

retail direct gilt (RDG) account holders enabling them to buy and sell securities

 Applicable entities- All Primary Dealers.

“Primary Dealers” means entities authorized by RBI to undertake primary dealership

activities in Government Securities

Obligations of Primary Dealers

To provide liquidity in the secondary market, a market making arrangement, wherein the primary dealers
shall be present on the NDS-OM platform throughout market hours and respond to buy/sell requests
from Retail Direct Gilt Account Holders (RDGAHs)

'NDS-OM', or Negotiated Dealing Segment Order Matching, refers to the RBI's screen-based,
anonymous electronic order matching system for trading in government securities in the secondary
market.

 Under the RBI Retail Direct Scheme, retail investors (individuals) have the facility to open an
online Retail Direct Gilt Account (RDG Account) with RBI. These accounts can be linked to their
savings bank accounts.
 The RDG Accounts of individuals can be used to participate in the issuance of government
securities and secondary market operations through the screen-based NDS-OM

Simplified KYC for transaction with RDG account holders

 Primary dealers will rely on the Know Your Customer (KYC) verification of the RDG account
holders done under the retail direct scheme.
 No further KYC verification is required for transacting with RDG account holders on the RFQ
segment of NDS-OM.

The 'Request for Quotes (RFQ) segment' refers to the on-screen negotiation system of the RBI's
NDS-OM system

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Facilities/Incentives for fulfilling the obligations

 Switching securities with RBI - A special Switch window will be opened for PDs every month,
wherein PDs may switch the illiquid/semi-liquid securities acquired through RFQ segment from
RDG account holders with liquid securities from RBI.

 All successful trades under the Retail Direct scheme will be reckoned towards fulfilling the annual
target for turnover with mid-segment and retail investors prescribed to each PD respectively.

Master Circular on Bank Finance to NBFCs

 Purpose- To lay down the Reserve Bank of India's regulatory policy regarding financing of
NBFCs by banks.
 Application- To all Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks).

 Reserve Bank of India has been regulating the financial activities of the Non-Banking
Financial Companies and all Non-Banking Financial Companies including Housing Finance
Companies have to be mandatorily registered with the Reserve Bank of India.

The credit related matters of banks have been progressively deregulated by RBI consistent
with the policy of bestowing greater operational freedom to banks in the matter of credit
dispensation.

In the context of mandatory registration of NBFCs with the Reserve Bank, most of the
aspects relating to financing of NBFCs by banks have also been deregulated.

However, in view of the sensitivities attached to financing of certain types of activities

undertaken by NBFCs, restrictions on financing of such activities continue to be in force.

Bank Finance to NBFCs registered with RBI

 The ceiling on bank credit to NBFCs has been withdrawn in respect of all NBFCs which are
statutorily registered with RBI and are engaged in principal business of asset financing, loan,
factoring and investment activities.

 Accordingly, banks may extend need based working capital facilities as well as term loans to all
NBFCs registered with RBI and engaged in infrastructure financing, equipment leasing, hire-
purchase, loan, factoring and investment activities.

 Banks may also extend finance to NBFCs against second hand assets financed by them.

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 Banks may formulate suitable loan policy with the approval of their Boards of Directors within the
prudential guidelines and exposure norms prescribed by the Reserve Bank to extend various kinds
of credit facilities to NBFCs.

Bank Finance to NBFCs not requiring Registration

 Few categories of NBFCs are exempted from certain provisions of RBI Act, 1934 including the need
for registration.
 For such NBFCs not needing registration with the Reserve Bank, banks may take their credit
decisions on the basis of usual factors like the purpose of credit, nature and quality of underlying
assets, repayment capacity of borrowers as also risk perception, etc.

Activities not eligible for Bank Credit

The following activities undertaken by NBFCs, are not eligible for bank credit:

 Bills discounted / rediscounted by NBFCs, except for rediscounting of bills discounted by NBFCs
arising from sale of commercial vehicles and two wheeler and three wheeler vehicles, subject to
some conditions
 Investments of NBFCs both of current and long-term nature, in any company / entity by way of
shares, debentures, etc.
 Unsecured loans / inter-corporate deposits by NBFCs to / in any company.
 All types of loans and advances by NBFCs to their subsidiaries, group companies / entities.
 Finance to NBFCs for further lending to individuals for subscribing to Initial Public Offerings (IPOs)
and for purchase of shares from secondary market.

Prudential ceilings for exposure of banks to NBFCs

 Banks’ exposures to a single NBFC (excluding gold loan companies) will be restricted to 20 percent
of their eligible capital base (Tier I capital).
However, based on the risk perception, more stringent exposure limits in respect of certain
categories of NBFCs may be considered by banks.

 Banks’ exposures to a group of connected NBFCs will be restricted to 25 percent of their Tier I
Capital.

 The exposure of a bank to a single NBFC which is predominantly engaged in lending against
collateral of gold jewellery (i.e. such loans comprising 50 per cent or more of their financial
assets), shall not exceed 7.5 per cent of the bank’s capital funds (Tier I plus Tier II Capital).

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However, this exposure ceiling may go up by 5 per cent, i.e., up to 12.5 per cent of banks’ capital
funds if the additional exposure is on account of funds on-lent by such NBFCs to the infrastructure
sector

 Banks may also consider fixing internal limits for their aggregate exposure to all NBFCs put
together.

India’s First Cryptocurrency Index

What
 CryptoWire, a global crypto super app launched India's
first index of Cryptocurrencies - IC15.

 The IC15 tracks and measures the performance

of the top 15 widely traded liquid cryptocurrencies
listed on leading crypto exchanges of the world.

 CryptoWire's Index Governance Committee,

comprising domain experts, industry practitioners,
and academicians, will maintain, monitor, and
administer the index while rebalancing it every quarter.

 The Base Value of the index is set at 10,000 and the base
date is April 1, 2018.

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 Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano,

Litecoin, Binance Coin, Chainlink, Polkadot, Uniswap,
Dogecoin, Solana, Terra, Avalanche, and Shia Inu will
be the constituents of IC15.
Why
 The index enables crypto enthusiasts, investors, and
investment managers to monitor the performance of
cryptocurrencies in the global markets.

 Purpose- empowering knowledge on crypto and

blockchain ecosystem

 An index that captures over 80 per cent of market movement is, thus, a fundamental market
tracking and assessing tool to base decisions on and enhance transparency.

 It presents an easy solution to follow for having a diversified portfolio.

 Acts as a performance benchmark for fund managers, facilitates accurate replication of the
index, and be the preferred index for the creation of index-linked products in
the cryptocurrency trading marketplace.

Tell me more

 Is it legal?

 Investing in crypto assets is allowed in India but the laws are not clear as to how they are
regulated and taxed.

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 Sebi chairman recently asked mutual fund houses not to launch crypto-based funds until the
Centre comes out with clear regulations. This means asset management companies for now
won’t be able to launch crypto funds based on IC15.
 However, in absence of any regulations, crypto platforms can offer products based on the
index.
 The crypto bill, called the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill,
2021, was expected to get Parliament's approval this winter session but it could not be
done.
 RBI,which is not excited about the private crypto coins, has said it is working to launch its
own cryptocurrency.

Consultation paper for Review of SEBI (Collective

Investment Schemes) Regulations, 1999
A Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) is any scheme or arrangement made or offered by
any company, which pools the contributions, or payments made by the investors, and
deploys the same. Despite the similarity between the CIS and MF regarding the pooling
of savings and issuing of securities, they differ in their investment objective. While MF
invests exclusively in securities, CIS confine their investment to plantations and real
estate.

CIS is a pooled investment vehicle in closed ended investment space and the units of the
schemes are to be listed on exchange. With no limit on minimum investment by the investor,
retail investors are the primary target investor base for CIS.

 The objective of the consultation paper is to seek comments / views from the public on the
proposals that are intended to:

 strengthen the regulatory framework for Collective Investment Schemes (CIS)

 empower the Collective Investment Management Company (CIMC) to effectively
discharge their responsibilities towards the investors of the schemes.

[CIMC is an entity whose object is to organise, operate and manage a CIS.]

 SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations notified in the year 1996 to regulate mutual funds have
since undergone several amendments to enhance transparency and disclosures, to address
the emerging issues, to improve operational efficiency, to protect the interest of investors,
to facilitate development and growth and to strengthen the regulatory framework for
mutual funds in India.
On the other hand, CIS Regulations, notified in the year 1999, have not been reviewed since
then.
With a view to removing any regulatory arbitrage among various pooled investment vehicle
as available to the retail investors, it is important that the regulatory requirement for CIS as
a pooled investment vehicle should be aligned or matched with those for Mutual Funds.

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 Existing Provisions and Proposals

1.

2.

Proposal- A cap on cross-shareholding in CIMCs to 10 per cent to avoid conflict of interest

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3.

Proposal
 In order to align the interest of the CIMC and its key employees with the unitholders of the
CIS, the regulator has suggested that the CIMC should have a continuing interest of not less
than 2.5 per cent of the corpus or Rs 5 crore, whichever is lower, in the form of investment
in CIS.
 Further, a minimum of 20 per cent of the salary of the designated employees of the CIMC
should be mandatorily invested in the units of CIS in which they have a role/ oversight.

4.

Proposal:
 Each CIS should have a minimum subscription amount of INR 20 Crore
 Each CIS should have a minimum of 20 investors and no single investor should account for /
hold more than 25% of the AUM of such scheme.

In order to avoid the potential risk of controlling the scheme by few individuals or investors,
there is a need to maintain minimum number of investors in any CIS

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Eligibility criteria of Specified User for Credit

Information Companies
 RBI has released the eligibility criteria for entities to be categorised as 'Specified User' of
Credit Information Companies (CICs).

Specified user includes person or

institution obtaining credit information
Credit Information Company (CIC) is an independent
from CIC and using the same for the
third-party agency that collects financial data of
permitted uses as per Regulations,
individuals pertaining to their loans, credit cards and
which includes:
other related information and shares with its members,
who generally happen to be banks and other financial
 making effective credit decisions
institutions.
 deterring concurrent borrowers
Lending money involves risks. In order to mitigate such and serial defaulters
situations, due diligence is exercised in evaluating the  reviewing and evaluating risk of
credit worthiness of the customer before extended any its customers
offer of loan or a credit card. This process of evaluation  judging credit worthiness of a
is assisted by the services of CICs borrower etc.

 The criteria sets out the requirements for the entities to become eligible as Specified User of
CIC

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RBI ups threshold for LCR maintenance by banks

RBI has increased the threshold for deposits and other funds of non-financial small businesses by 50
per cent to Rs 7.5 crore for the purpose of maintenance of Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR). The
existing cap was Rs 5 crore.

LCR require banks to hold a buffer of high-quality liquid assets sufficient to

deal with the cash outflows encountered in an acute short term stress
scenario.
The goal is to ensure that banks have enough liquidity for a 30-days stress
scenario if it were to happen

 Objective- To better align RBI regulations with Basel norms and also enable banks to
manage liquidity risks more effectively.

 Applicability- All Commercial Banks other than Regional Rural Banks, Local Area Banks and
Payments Banks.

 Hence, all commercial banks should maintain LCR if they receive deposits and other
extension of funds of Rs.7.5 crore and above from non-financial small business customers.

By 'extensions of funds' RBI means funds in banks in the form of retail exposures which are
generally considered as having similar liquidity risk characteristics to retail accounts.

Apple becomes first company to touch $3 trillion market cap

 Apple hit a market cap of $3 trillion briefly during trading on Jan 3rd. On the first day of
trading in 2022, company's shares hit an intraday record high of $182.88, putting Apple's
market value just above $3 trillion.
 The milestone is mostly symbolic and it represents
investor recognition of Apple’s success over the past
few years as the company has reported several
record-breaking quarters of big growth in all of its
product lines.
 The world's most valuable company reached the
milestone as investors bet that consumers will
continue to shell out top dollar for iPhones,
MacBooks and services such as Apple TV and Apple Music.

Market capitalization, commonly called market cap, is the market value

of a publicly traded company's outstanding shares.
Market capitalization is equal to the share price multiplied by the
number of shares outstanding.

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RIL’s largest ever foreign currency bond issue

 Reliance Industries Ltd launched its mega bond sale as the company sought to raise $3-5
billion from offshore investors.
 This will be the largest-ever bond sale by an Indian company tapping overseas money and
the year's first fundraising from the country.
 The proceeds will be used primarily to refinance existing debt and parts of it can also be
used for financing capital
expenditure or general
corporate purposes.
 It received bids to the tune of
about $11-12 billion i.e it was
oversubscribed nearly three
times.

NPCI sets standardised limits on AePS transactions

In what could make transactions through Aadhaar enabled Payments Systems more standardised
and help customer, the NPCI has introduced limits for cash withdrawals and mini statements on
AePS Transactions.

 According to the guidelines, acquiring banks will have to implement a maximum limit of five
approved cash withdrawal transactions per customer per terminal per day.

[AePS financial transactions are growing significantly year on year basis. To compensate,
acquirer for the infrastructure cost; issuer pays interchange to acquirer for the financial
transactions. Acquirer shares some portion of interchange income to its BC partners as
commission. However, in order to earn more commission; BC partners are splitting the
single transaction amount to multiple transactions.]

[The bank which whose device has been used is acquirer bank. It is the one that allows its
infrastructure (terminal, BC services and cash) to be used by customer of some other bank.
Issuer is the bank in which the user hold his/her account and Aadhaar is mapped for doing
AEPS Transactions.]

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 Issuers will implement a standardised limit of a minimum of five approved cash withdrawal
transactions per month for every customer.
Post five transactions, issuer banks can either decline the request or charge a fee. A few of
the larger acquiring banks had set lower limits for the number of cash withdrawals per
customer. This step will ensure uniformity and standardisation of transactions.
 Further, issuers will also implement a standardised limit of a minimum of five mini
statement transactions per customer per month.
 Two-factor authentication For enhanced security.
Acquirers must implement two-factor authentication for login of business correspondents,
agents and merchants at least once a day with one of the factors as Aadhaar based
biometric authentication.
Two factor authentication shall also be required in case of change in BC, agent or merchant
operating the terminal.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

 Recently, former RBI governor Urjit Patel has been appointed vice-president of the Beijing-
based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
He will be one of the five vice presidents of the AIIB with a three-year tenure

AIIB
 It is a multilateral development
bank with a mission to improve social
and economic outcomes in Asia.
 It aims to connect people, services
and markets that over time will
impact the lives of billions and build a
better future by investing in
sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors.

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 It is headquartered in Beijing (China) and began its operations in January 2016.

 Its Goals include:
 Fostering sustainable economic development, create wealth and improve
infrastructure connectivity in Asia by investing in infrastructure and other productive
sectors.
 Promote regional cooperation and partnership in addressing development challenges
by working in close collaboration with other multilateral and bilateral
development institutions.
 Promote investment in development of infrastructure and other productive sectors,
utilize the resources at its disposal for financing such development contributing to
the harmonious economic growth of the region.

AIIB and India

 The AIIB has approved more loans for India than any other member of the bank.
 China is its biggest shareholder and India is the second-largest.
 The AIIB has funded 28 projects in India amounting to USD6.7 billion.
 It has recently emphasised green projects and supporting public health initiatives during
the Covid-19 pandemic, besides infrastructure.
 In October 2021, India applied for loans from the AIIB and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to
procure 667 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines with the ADB expected to lend USD1.5 billion
and the AIIB around USD500 million, under the ADB’s Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility
(APVAX) initiative.
 Last year (2021), the AIIB also approved a USD356.67 million loan to the Indian government
to support the expansion of the Chennai metro rail system.

RBI Sets Up a Fintech Department

FinTech
• FinTech is generally described as an industry
that uses technology to make financial
systems and the delivery of financial services
more efficient.
• FinTech is broadly used to describe emerging
technological innovations in the financial
services sector, with ever increasing reliance
on information technology

Fintech Department
 Acknowledging the dynamically changing financial landscape, RBI has set up an internal
fintech department from January 4, 2022.
 It will further the focus to the area and innovation in fintech sector in keeping pace with
the dynamically changing landscape.
 Besides giving an impetus to fintech innovation, the new fintech department of the RBI will
look into regulations.

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 The new department has been created by subsuming the FinTech Division of Department of
Payment and Settlement Systems, Central Office (DPSS).

[Fintech unit was set up in the Department of regulation for acting as a central point of
contact in bank for all activities related to fintech in 2018. The unit was subsequently
transferred to Department of payment settlement system and a fintech division was formed
within DPSS.]

• DPSS as a separate department of the Reserve Bank, came into

existence in March 2005.

• Some of its functions include:Policy formulation in respect of

payment and settlement systems, Authorisation of payment and
Department of settlement systems/operators, Regulation, Supervision and
Payment and monitoring of payment and settlement systems
Settlement Systems
• Payment and settlement systems in India includes cheque based
clearing systems, , National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT)
System, electronic payments using debit and credit cards,
prepaid payment instruments, mobile banking, internet banking,
etc.

 The department will be headed by Ajay Kumar Choudhary, who was recently promoted to
becoming an executive director at the RBI.
 The fintech department will report to RBI’s central administrative division.

Fintech Department Role

 The department will promote innovation in the fintech sector.
 It will identify the challenges and opportunities associated with it and address them in a
timely manner.
 It will also provide a framework for further research on the subject that can aid policy
interventions by the Bank.
 Accordingly, all matters related to the facilitation of constructive innovations and
incubations in the fintech sector, which may have wider implications for the financial
sector/markets and falling under the purview of the Bank, will be dealt with the Fintech
Department.
 All matters related to inter-regulatory coordination and internal coordination on fintech
shall also be dealt with by the Department.

Framework for operationalizing the Gold

Exchange in India
 SEBI has come out with a framework for operationalising the gold exchange, wherein the
yellow metal will be traded in the form of electronic gold receipts (EGRs).

 The stock exchange desirous of trading in EGRs may apply to SEBI for approval of trading in
the new segment.

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 The new framework will come into force with immediate effect.

 This comes after the government, through a notification on December 24, declared
"electronic gold receipts" as 'securities' under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act 1956.

Separately, the regulator through a notification on December 31, notified rules for vault
managers paving the way for operationalising gold exchange.
SEBI(Vault Managers) Regulations, 2021, focus on creating electronic gold receipts (EGRs).

 SEBI would regulate the entire ecosystem of the proposed gold exchange. It would be the
sole regulator for the exchange, including for vaulting, assaying gold quality, and fixing
delivery standards.

Framework for Gold Exchange in India

Instrument

The instrument for trading in Exchange shall be referred to as ‘Electronic Gold Receipts’
which are electronic receipts issued on the basis of a deposit of physical gold.

New and existing recognized stock exchanges may launch and deal in EGRs, in a new segment.

Structure of the transactions

The entire transaction has been divided into following three tranches:

First Tranche Second Tranche Third Tranche

Creation of EGR Trading of EGR on stock Conversion of EGR into Physical
exchange/s Gold

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Common interface

A common interface will be developed by Depositories, which will be made accessible to all the
entities i.e., Vault Managers, Depositories, Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations.

• The Vault Manager on receipt of physical gold shall record the

relevant information in the common interface and create the
EGR.
• The Vault Manager shall ensure that no EGR is created without
the presence of corresponding physical gold in its vaults.
• The EGR shall reflect in the demat account of the beneficial
First Tranche
owner maintained with the Depository Participant.
• The Depository shall take necessary action to make EGR/s
tradeable on the stock exchange/s.
• The Vault Manager and the Depository shall regularly reconcile
the data of EGR’s created and the corresponding physical gold
lying in the vaults.

• Stock exchanges shall allow trading of the EGR’s on continuous

basis.
Second Tranche • Clearing Corporation shall settle the trades executed on the
stock exchange/s, by way of transferring EGR/s and cash to the
buyer and seller of EGR/s, respectively.

• Beneficial owner of EGR intending to obtain physical gold against

the EGR/s shall request the Depository for the same.
• The Depository, in turn shall forward such request/s to the Vault
Manager.
Third Tranche • The Vault Manager after delivering the gold to the beneficial
owner and simultaneously extinguishing such EGR/s, shall share
the required data with the Depository for reconciliation.
• The Depository, in turn, shall send the information about the
extinguished EGR/s, to the stock exchange/s and clearing
corporation/s to carry out necessary revision in the records.

Trading and Product denomination

EGRs shall have same trading features as available to “securities” defined under SCRA, 1956.

Stock exchanges may launch contracts with different denomination for trading and / or
conversion of EGR into gold

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Fungibility and Inter-operability

To lower the costs associated with withdrawal of gold from the vaults, EGRs have been made
"fungible" and "interoperability between vault managers" have been allowed.

Fungibility means, the EGR’s created by the
Vault Manager/s, shall not be linked with the
unique bar reference number of the physical
gold, i.e., gold deposited against EGR1 can be
delivered against conversion of EGR2 into gold.
Inter-operability between Vault Managers”
means the physical gold deposited at one
location of a Vault Manager, can be withdrawn
from different location of same or different
Vault Manager

Disclosing the Charges

 The storage and withdrawal charges will be levied by the vault managers and be collected
by the depository from the beneficial owner of EGRs, for onward payment to the vault
managers.
The charges will be disclosed by the vault managers upfront to the public at large.

 The clearing corporations will empanel assaying agencies for checking the purity of gold, if
required by the beneficial owner of the EGR at the time of withdrawal of gold from the
vaults.
However, the charges towards assaying, transportation will be borne by such beneficial
owner. Such assaying charges will be disclosed upfront to the public at large.

Best Private Bank

 HDFC Bank has been adjudged Best Private Bank in India at the Global Private Banking
Awards 2021, organised by Professional Wealth Management (PWM).
 For the Global Private Banking Awards 2021, PWM received over 120 submissions which
were reviewed by a panel of 16 judged from four continents.
 Published by the Financial Times - the world's leading global business publication -
Professional Wealth Management (PWM) specialises in analysing the growth strategies of
private banks and the regional financial centres in which they operate.

SEBI bans 6 from securities market

 SEBI has banned 6 persons from securities market till further orders for alleged involvement
in using social media platforms like Telegram and Twitter to artificially influence stock prices
and make illegal profits.

 The six persons are Himanshu Mahendrabhai Patel, Raj Mahendrabhai Patel, Jaydev Zala,
Mahendrabhai Bechardas Patel, Kokilaben Mahendrabhai Patel and Avaniben Kirankumar
Patel.

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 The regulator also impounded bank accounts of the six persons for an amount of Rs 2.84
crore.

 These entities have been found violating Sebi norms for prevention of fraud and research
adviser regulations considering that they were passing on stock tips without being registered
with Sebi.

 Modus Operandi
Certain entities actively operating through social media channels are first taking a position
(purchasing shares) in small cap companies in bulk quantities and then sending baseless and
fraudulent messages indicating strong possibilities of immediate price hike in such scrips
through such social media channels thereby instigating others to take bullish position in
those scrips.
Ultimately after the prices go up, they take contrary positions (selling their previously
acquired shares) thereby making profits out of such trades executed under such fraudulent
scheme and device.

Monetary Penalties by RBI

January 4, 2022
What- RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹1 lakh on Gayatri Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd., Jagtial,
Telangana

Why- for contravention of / non-compliance with provisions of Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and certain
provisions of the directions issued by RBI contained in the Master Circular on Exposure Norms and
Statutory / Other Restrictions – UCBs.

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