Asian Development Bank & Fourth Partner Energy sign $14.

7mn loan agreement to build solar

power plant in Tamil Nadu
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Fourth Partner Energy Private Limited (Fourth Partner)
an Independent Power Producer (IPP) signed a long-term loan of up to 1.2 billion Indian rupees
(about $14.7 million) to construct and operate a 25-megawatt solar photovoltaic-based power
plant to increase clean and low-cost energy supply to commercial and industrial customers.

The power plant, located in Tirunelveli district in the state of Tamil Nadu in India, is expected to
generate about 50.7 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually and will directly sell power to
commercial and industrial users.
This is ADB’s 1st direct financing to a renewable energy plant.
Fourth Partner is India’s leading renewable energy solutions platform, focused on building and
financing renewable energy projects for commercial and industrial consumers.
Environmental Impact :
Nearly 41,700 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year will be avoided through the plant, which
would otherwise have been generated by conventional fossil fuel plants.
RBI Authorised Bandhan Bank For Disbursing Civil Pension
In a significant move, Bandhan Bank has received authorization from the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) to serve as an authorised pension disbursement bank.
This authority is granted on behalf of the Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) of the
Ministry of Finance, with a specific focus on civil pensioners.
The bank will collaborate with the CPAO and the Ministry of Finance to implement the pension
disbursement process.
Bandhan Bank's authorization empowers it to distribute pensions to a range of beneficiaries,
primarily central government employees who are part of civil ministries and departments.
Notably, this scheme excludes pensioners from the railways, posts, and defence sectors.

About Bandhan Bank :

Founded : 2015
Headquarters : Kolkata, West Bengal, India
MD & CEO : Chandra Shekhar Ghosh
IIT Bombay partners with HSBC to support innovation-led green hydrogen initiatives
The Indian Institute of TechnologyBombay (IIT-B) has partnered with Hong Kong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation (HSBC) to pursue technological advancements towards making green
hydrogen production more efficient, cost-effective, and scalable.
The collaboration was inaugurated by Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Minister for Finance
and Corporate Affairs, in Delhi on August 24, 2023.
The focus will be on innovative projects that will help position green hydrogen as a strategic
alternate fuel; help in building a robust, green hydrogen economy and achieve the government’s
vision of an energy-independent nation.
This partnership will help boost the government’s National Green Hydrogen Mission focused on
providing policy support towards achieving global leadership in the green hydrogen transition.

About Ministry of Electronics & IT :

Cabinet Minister : Ashwini Vaishnaw
Minister of State : Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Shriram Housing Finance Collaborates with IFC to Advance Environmentally Friendly
Affordable Housing Finance in India
Shriram Housing Finance Limited (SHFL), a leading affordable housing finance company, having in over 130
branches in India with 65,000 customers and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World
Bank, announced a partnership to launch an affordable green housing lending product for self-constructed
homes in India.
The project will deploy IFC’s Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiency (EDGE) certification tool for the
affordable self-construction segment customers and impact monitoring tool (CAFI) for reporting of green
affordable housing.
It will also provide training 7 capacity building for SHFL teams on the principles & applications of the EDGE
software, standards and certification system.

About IFC :
Established : July 20, 1956
Headquarters : Washington, D.C., United States
Managing Director : Makhtar Diop
Membership : 186 countries
The IFC is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management
services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries.
Fitch Maintains BBB- Rating with Stable Outlook for SBI and 5 Other Public Sector Banks
Fitch Ratings has reaffirmed the credit ratings of 6 major public sector banks in India including State Bank of
India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BoB), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Canara Bank, Bank of India (BoI), and Union
Bank of India (UBI), have all received a BBB- rating with a stable outlook.
In addition to the BBB- rating with a stable outlook.
BBB-
Among these banks, SBI has been identified as having the highest probability of receiving extraordinary state
support.
The stable outlook aligns with the sovereign rating of the country.
Meanwhile, the rating agency also affirmed the long-term rating of the second largest state-owned lender
Bank of Baroda and its New Zealand subsidiary BBB- with stable outlook.
PhonePe enters stock broking business with launch of Share.Market app
Walmart-backed payments giant PhonePe has introduced its stock broking platform, named
Share(dot)Market, as part of its efforts to diversify its financial services.
The new mobile app will allow users to trade and invest in stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs
(exchange-traded funds).
It will be available as a mobile app and a dedicated web platform, enabling retail investors to buy
stocks, engage in intra day trades, buy curated WealthBaskets and mutual funds.
The FinTech giant aims to tap into the growing interest in stock trading and investing among its
user base with this new launch.
Share(dot)Market charges a one-time onboarding price of Rs 199 that includes benefits such as
zero brokerage up to Rs 400 on trades till March 31, 2024.

About Phonepe :
Established : 2015
Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra
Founder & CEO : Sameer Nigam
Mastercard Introduces ALT ID Solution to Enhance Online Payment Security
Mastercard, a global technology company in the payments industry, has introduced an ALT ID
(Alternate Identifier) solution for guest checkout transactions.
ALT ID is a custom-made capability developed by Mastercard to create an alternate identifier for
the real card numbers provided by cardholders during guest checkout transactions on e-
commerce platforms.
The primary purpose of this solution is to enhance online payment security for both merchants
and consumers.
The new ALT ID solution is designed for cardholders who carry out transactions without saving
their cards, creating and storing an alternate identifier for each card, enhancing the security of
such online payments.

About Mastercard :
Founded : 1966
Headquarters : New York, United States of America
CEO : Michael Miebach
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das Receives 'A+' Rating in Global Finance Central Banker Report
2023
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has been awarded an 'A+' rating in the
Global Finance Central Bank Report Card 2023.
According to Global Finance, Das has been ranked at the top position in the list of 3 central bank
governors worldwide.
The A+ category in the report also includes 2 other central bank governors: Thomas J. Jordan of
Switzerland and Nguyen Thi Hong of Vietnam.
The grades in the report are based on a scale from 'A' to 'F' and evaluate central bank governors'
performance in areas such as inflation control, economic growth goals, currency stability, and
interest rate management.
An 'A' grade signifies excellent performance, while 'F' indicates outright failure.
Punjab National Bank Introduces PNB GST Sahay App for Instant Loans Based on GST Invoices
for MSMEs
State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched the PNB GST Sahay App, a mobile
application based on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Sahay scheme, an end–to-end digital
product under which lending can be done using GST invoices.
With this integration, PNB has become the 1st public sector bank to enable seamless credit flow
to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by integrating GST invoices into the lending
process.
The PNB GST Sahay App makes the entire loan process digitised and helps eliminate any manual
intervention for borrowers and makes the process more costeffective, fast, and smooth.
This app will directly credit the loan amount into the borrower’s current account maintained
with the bank.
It will bridge the gap between the applicant/borrower and the bank.