Banking Awareness PYQs

The correct answer is September 1, 2018.

Key Points

• The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) was launched on September 1, 2018.
• The post office’s IPPB provides customers savings and current accounts, along with services including bills and utility payments, remittance and money transfer, direct benefit transfers and enterprise and merchant payments.
• IPPB has tied up with Bajaj Alliance and PNB Met Life to offer insurance policies.

The correct answer is 50%

• Regional rural banks: These were set up based on the recommendation of the Narsimham Committee report (1975), through the Regional Rural Banks Act of 1976. The first Regional Rural Bank was set up in 1975 by the name Prathama Grameen Bank.
• The equity of RRBs is held by the stakeholders' following proportion–
• Central Government- 50% share.
• State Government- 15% share.
• The Sponsor Bank- 35% share.

• Jio launched its Payment bank facilities in India in association with SBI in a 70 : 30 venture of Reliance Industries and SBI.
• CEO & MD-H. Srikrishnan
• Payment banks are the differentiated banks launched in order to promote Financial Inclusion in India. These banks can accept deposits upto Rs. 1 lakh from the customers but cannot issue credit card or loans to them.
• Airtel Payment Banks were the first payment banks to launch their services in India.

The correct answer is Axis Bank.

• Axis Bank has announced the launch of its ACE Credit Card in India in collaboration with Google Pay and Visa.
• The card is meant to help with digital payments.

Key Points

• The company is also offering 4 per cent-5 per cent cashback for expenses on food ordering, online grocery delivery, cab rides for transactions made on partner merchant platforms such as Swiggy, Zomato, BigBasket, Grofers and Ola.

The correct answer is HDFC Bank.

Key Points

• HDFC Bank was ranked as India’s top brand for the seventh consecutive year in a row in the 2020 BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands rankings, released by WPP and Kantar.
• LIC, Tata Consultancy Services, Airtel, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Jio, Flipkart, Paytm and State Bank of India were among the other brands ranked in the top 10 most valuable brand rankings.

The correct answer is ICICI Bank.

• ICICI Bank has announced the launch of ‘Home Utsav’.
• It is a virtual property exhibition that digitally showcases real estate projects by renowned developers from key cities across the country.
• It is available for everyone, including ICICI Bank’s customers and those who are not customers.
• It offers them enhanced convenience, as they can simply browse through these projects online.

• The government has announced the merger of ten public sector banks into four banks.
• It announced the merger of Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank with Punjab National Bank as well as the merger of Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank.
• The merger of Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank and the consolidation of Indian Bank with Allahabad Bank was also announced.

The correct answer is Civil Servants

• Cabinet gave its nod to Mission Karmayogi - National Programme for skill development of civil servants.
• The scheme will lay the foundation for capacity building for Civil Servants so they remain entrenched in Indian culture while they learn from best practices across the world.
• It will be open to all government employees, to equip them with domain, functional and behavioural competencies.
• Mission Karmayogi aims to prepare the Indian Civil Servants for the future by making them more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled.
• The Prime Minister's HR Council will be the apex body to provide direction to these capacity building reforms.
• To cover around 46 lakh Central employees, a sum of Rs 510.86 crore will be spent over a period of 5 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
• A Special Purpose Vehicle, 100% government owned, will be set up to own and operate the online platform and facilitate digital learning.
• Cabinet also approved the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill to be introduced in Parliament, to make Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi and English as official languages for the Union Territory.

Option 2 is correct:

• Bank of Baroda has launched ‘Insta Click Savings Account’, a digital self-assisted online savings account, for all its customers.
• The bank’s Insta Click Savings Account will offer innovative digital offerings for customers, from the comfort of their homes.
• The Insta Click Savings Account uses a new form of digital KYC and Aadhar based OTP authentication of the customer, which can be operated from the bank's website, through Mobile phone, IPad, Laptops, and PC.
• Hence, account holders can open an account through digital KYC and Aadhar based OTP authentication.
• The Insta Click Savings Account also offers the customers an option to subscribe to a wide range of digital channels like Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, UPI, and Debit Card.
• MD and CEO of BOB: Sanjiv Chadha

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• Revenue Deficit is defined as the difference between the revenue receipts and the revenue expenditure of the government in a financial year.
• A positive revenue deficit implies that the revenue generated is not sufficient to service the needs of the government functioning.
• Therefore, the government has to borrow and also sell its assets to meet the expenses.

The correct answer is option 1 i.e. Simplilearn.

• Simplilearn, a global provider of digital skills training, has announced its partnership with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
• Through this collaboration, Simplilearn will host more than 1,000 hours of free learning in digital skills and technologies for learners across India.
• Aspirants can find program details on NSDC's eLearning portal - eSkill India.

The correct answer is India.

Key Points

• Hurun Report has released the Hurun Global Rich List 2020. The Hurun Global Rich List 2020 is a ranking of the US-Dollar billionaires in the world.
• The 9^th edition of the Hurun Global Rich list ranked 2,816 billionaires from 71 countries and from 2,182 companies.
• Some key facts of the list:
• Among the countries, the list has been topped by China with 799 Billionaires and USA stood on the 2^nd position with 626 Billionaires.
• Among individuals, Jeff Bezos has topped the list of rischest person in the world with the total wealth of US$ 140 Bn.
• For the 5^th time, Beijing (China) remained the capital of world’s billionaire with 110 billionaires living at the place.
• Total four individuals recorded wealth of over US$ 100 Bn.
• Mukesh Ambani stood 9^th in the global rich list along with Larry Page and Steve Ballmer with a wealth of US$ 67 Bn. Mukesh Ambani was also the only one from Asian region in the top-10 list.

Here is the list of top ten countries in Hurun Global Rich List 2020:

The correct option is option ( 1 ) i.e TCPSL

• TCPSL is Tata communications payment solutions limited was the first company to get a licence from RBI to open WLA ATM in India in Mumbai.
• White Label ATM  (WLA) is established and run by NBFC(Non-Banking Financial Company).
• Non-banking entities which formed under Companies act 1956 can open White Label ATMs.
• Such non-banking entities should have a net worth of 100 crores.
• WLA is like a normal ATM but cash deposit is not a feature of WLA.
• The purpose to open WLA is to expand the geographical area of availability of ATMs.

Option 3 is correct i.e World Bank

• The Centre government, in collaboration with the World Bank, has decided to convert a large area of ravines in Gwalior-Chambal belt of Madhya Pradesh into arable land.
• A decision in this regard was taken in a virtual meeting with World Bank representative Adarsh Kumar, who said the bank is keen to work in Madhya Pradesh.
• More than 3 lakh hectares of rugged land is not cultivable and if this area is improved, then this will help in the integrated development of the Bihad area in Gwalior–Chambal region.
• The project will not only help in improving agricultural development and environment but will also create employment opportunities and lead to substantive development of the region.
• World Bank:
• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
• President: David Malpass

The correct answer is option 3.

• The Fortune India 500 is a ranking of the top 500 corporations in India compiled on the basis of latest sales and gross revenue figures
• Indian Oil Corporation Continued on top place in the 2018 Fortune India 500 rankings, while Reliance Industries and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation were second and third respectively.
• In the 2017 list, Indian Oil Corporation topped the 2017 Fortune India 500 rankings, and Reliance Industries was listed second. The next three places were taken by State Bank of India, Tata Motors, and Rajesh Exports, respectively.
• In the 2011 list, Indian Oil Corporation, Reliance Industries, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation dominate the list in the second year.

Fiscal Deficit is the difference between the total income of the government (total taxes and non-debt capital receipts) and its total expenditure. While calculating the total revenue, borrowings are not included. Hence, Fiscal Deficit is- Budget expenditure- Budget receipts excluding borrowings.

• A fiscal deficit situation occurs when the government’s expenditure exceeds its income. This difference is calculated both in absolute terms and also as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. A recurring high fiscal deficit means that the government has been spending beyond its means.
• The government describes fiscal deficit of India as “the excess of total disbursements from the Consolidated Fund of India, excluding repayment of the debt, over total receipts into the Fund (excluding the debt receipts) during a financial year”.

What constitutes the government’s total income or receipts?

It has two components revenue receipts and non-tax revenues.

1. Revenue receipts of the government

• Corporation Tax
• Income Tax
• Custom Duties
• Union Excise Duties
• GST and taxes of Union territories.

2. Non-tax revenues

• Interest Receipts
• Dividends and Profits
• External Grants
• Other non-tax revenues
• Receipts of union territories

Expenditures of the government:

• Revenue Expenditure
• Capital Expenditure
• Interest Payments
• Grants-in-aid for creation of capital assets

Fiscal Deficit formula: 

Fiscal Deficit = Total expenditure of the government (capital and revenue expenditure) – Total income of the government (Revenue receipts + recovery of loans + other receipts)

• If the total expenditure of the government exceeds its total revenue and non-revenue receipts in a financial year, then that gap is the fiscal deficit for the financial year.
• The government meets fiscal deficit by borrowing money. In a way, the total borrowing requirements of the government in a financial year is equal to the fiscal deficit in that year.

• Parliament exercises control over executive committees through Parliamentary Committees.
• Indian constitution mentions two types of Parliamentary committees:-

1. Standing committee - They are permanent in nature. They are of six types namely:-

• Financial committee.
• Department standing committee.
• Committees to Inquire.
• Committees to Scrutinize and Control.
• Committees relating to the day-to-day business of the house.
• Housekeeping committees.

2. Ad-hoc committee - These committees are select or joint committees appointed for the matter of bills. They temporary and cease to exist on completion of the task assigned to them

• Other Parliamentary Committees are:-
• Public account committee
• Estimate committee
• Standing committee

The correct answer is Facebook.

• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has partnered with Facebook

1. It will launch a free and comprehensive training programme for teachers and students of its affiliated schools.
2. It will be provided from August to November 2020 in virtual mode.
3. The programme will cover teacher training on augmented reality.
4. Students training will be based on digital safety and online well-being,

• CBSE:

1. Chairman - Rahul Singh
2. Headquarter - Delhi
3. Founded - 1962

• Facebook:

1. CEO - Mark Zuckerberg
2. Headquarter - California, US
3. Founded - February 2004

Option 4 is correct:

• The Ministry of Finance notified the appointment of Devendra Kumar Singh as Central Government nominee Director on the Board of Directors of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
• Currently he is serving as Additional Secretary & Development Commissioner in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
• He will replace Ram Mohan Mishra, with immediate effect and until further order.
• He was the Member Secretary of the Second Task Force on Transaction Cost in Exports which aimed to evolve a strategy towards reducing transaction costs in terms of specific problems for export and import.
• Chairman & Managing Director of SIDBI: Shri Mohammad Mustafa

The correct answer is 20 lakh.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the budget announced the expansion of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme under which 20 lakh farmers would be provided funds to set up standalone solar pumps.

Key Points

• While presenting the budget for 2020-21, the minister said that farmers would be provided funds to set up grid-connected 15 lakh solar pumps.
• The previous Modi government in February last year had unveiled the PM KUSUM scheme with an outlay of ₹34,422 crores.
• Ms Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha that the scheme has removed farmers’ dependence on diesel and kerosene and linked them to solar energy.
• The scheme also enables the farmers to set up solar power generation capacity and sell it to the grid.

Additional Information

• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme was initiated by Government of India to increase the income of farmers and provide a source for irrigation and de-dieselize the farm sector.
• PM-Kusum Yojana got its administrative approval in March 2019 and guidelines were framed in July 2019.
• This scheme was launched by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for the installation of solar pumps and other renewable power plants across the nation.