NATIONAL NEWS
UNEP signs MoU with Maharashtra govt for implementing climate change actionsThe UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government to support its 'Majhi Vasundhara' campaign, an initiative with regard to the energy and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
- The beginning of a new partnership between UN Environment Programme and the Government of Maharashtra will support the state in the implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures," said a statement from UN office.
Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) has become the first Union Territory to be integrated with the National Single Window System, which is expected to give a boost to investments in the region, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said. This marks a major leap in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) in the Union Territory.
- The National Single Window System (NSWS) is linked with India Industrial Land Bank (IILB) which hosts 45 industrial parks of J&K. It will help Investors to discover available land parcels in J&K.
- Fourteen states/UTs onboarded on NSWS include Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The government has released around 28,414 crore rupees for 100 Smart Cities, out of which nearly 23,669 crore rupees have been utilized till 21st of last month.
- In a written reply, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri said as per the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) Guidelines, the Centre will provide financial support to the extent of 48 thousand crore over five years.
- He said, so far, these smart cities have tendered out 6,721 projects worth 1,88,506 crore rupees. Besides, work orders to the tune of 1,62,908 crore rupees for 6,124 projects have been issued. In addition to this, he said, 3,421 projects worth 58 thousand 735 crore rupees have been completed.
- The Minister informed that the period of implementation of SCM has been extended upto June 2023 and all Smart Cities are expected to complete their projects within the stipulated time.
India has agreed to provide a grant to Sri Lanka to implement a ‘Unitary Digital Identity framework’, apparently modelled on the Aadhaar card. The government of Sri Lanka has decided to speed up the implementation of a Unitary Digital Identity framework in the country.
- The personal identity verification program is a digital tool that can represent the identities of individuals in cyberspace, and the identification of individual identities that can be accurately verified in digital and physical environments by combining the two devices.
The Monitoring and Evaluation ecosystem in India is set to receive a boost with the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) and the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog joining hands.
- The premier B-School and the country’s top policy maker, DMEO, NITI Aayog, inked a historic Statement of Intent (SoI) on Institutional Partnership that will focus on strategic and technical collaboration to strengthen the overall monitoring and evaluation environment in India, with special focus on building a data monitoring and evaluation stack.
Indian Footwear and Leather Development Programme (IFLDP) (erstwhile IFLADP) has been approved for continuation from 2021-22 with an approved financial outlay of ₹1,700 crore, said the ministry of commerce in a statement.
- IFLDP aims at the development of infrastructure for the leather sector, address environmental concerns specific to the leather sector, facilitate additional investments, employment generation and increase in production.
- Under the IDLS, with a proposed outlay ₹500 crore, assistance would be provided to the sectoral units for their modernization/capacity expansion/technology up-gradation on or after 1 January 2020.
BANKING & FINANCE
RBI announces Bi-monthly policy; Maintains status quo in policy ratesThe Reserve Bank of India maintained status quo in policy rates as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep the policy repo rate at 4% to keep the stance accommodative.
- While announcing the Bi-monthly policy RBI Governor Shakti Kant Das said, MSF rate and bank rate will remain unchanged at 4.25%. Reverse repo rate will also remain unchanged at 3.35%.
- He projected real GDP growth at 9.2% for 2021-22 and said that it is modestly above level of GDP for 2019-20. Real GDP growth for 2022-23 was projected at 7.8%. At the same time he also pointed out the persistent rise in international commodity prices, surge in volatility of financial markets and supply bottlenecks which can pose risks to these projections.CPI inflation for 2022-23 was projected at 4.5%.
- He added that policy actions of RBI have yielded desired results and it is now turning to rebalance liquidity. He announced that Variable Rate Repo operations of varying tenures will henceforth be conducted as and when warranted.
- Secondly, variable rate repos and variable rate reverse repos of 14-day tenures will operate as the main liquidity management tool. He informed that from March 1, 2022, fixed rate reverse repo and MSF operations will be available only during 5.30 PM to 11.59 PM on all days, instead of from 9.00 AM to 11.59 PM.
- He also announced some additional measures like extension of On-tap Liquidity Facilities for Emergency Health Services and Contact-intensive Sectors, voluntary retention route (VRR) - Enhancement of Limits, Review of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) Guidelines, Permission for Banks to deal in Foreign Currency Settled - Rupee Derivatives Market etc.
HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company has announced the launch of its cyber sachet insurance policy aimed at mitigating cyber-related, digital risks for individual customers and keeping them internet insured.
- Customers can be internet insured with a pocket-sized insurance cover at a nominal premium of less than ₹ 2 per day. The sum insured ranges from ₹ 10K to ₹ 5 crores for choice of covers that include financial loss, reputation loss, data loss and recovery, cyber liability protection, smart home devices, and cyber bullying.
- The policy offers value for money through affordable premiums and an option to extend the cover to other family members.
RBL Bank has partnered with Creditas Solutions for its ‘Neo Collections’ platform.
- The private sector lender will utilise the SaaS-based platform to accelerate efficiency in collections across the loan cycle, said.
- Powered by AI and ML technology, the platform is built to automate strategies for reaching out to customers individually in an empathetic manner and motivate them to repay loans.
The IPO-bound national insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is not only the world's largest when it comes to home-market share with over 64.1 per cent of the total gross written premium as of 2020 but also the one that offers the highest return on equity at 82 per cent, apart from being the third largest in terms of life insurance premium, says a Crisil report.
- While for LIC the market share has been steadily declining--down from 100 per cent in the pre-2000 era to 71.8 per cent in 2016 and further down to 64.1 per cent in 2020, for SBI Life, which is the second largest in the country, the same was only 5 per cent in 2016 and 8 per cent in 2020, Crisil said in a report prepared in November 2021 which is not yet made publicly available.
- Market share elsewhere, the Chinese market is dominated by Ping An Insurance and China Life Insurance, with 21 per cent (GWP at USD 74.13 billion) and 20 per cent (USD 69.65 billion). The largest Japanese player Nippon Life’s market share is only 16.2 per cent (USD 39.84 billion).
DBS Bank India announced that it has partnered with Stellapps, a leading dairy-tech startup, as its banking partner to promote digitisation amongst small dairies across India.
- This initiative aligns with DBS' commitment to supporting lives and livelihoods through better business and responsible financing. The partnership is expected to indirectly benefit 20,000 farmers at present and around 100,000+ dairy farmers in the near future.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
ReNew Power commissions Gujarat’s first wind-solar hybrid projectReNew Power y said that it has set up Gujarat’s first wind-solar hybrid project at the Chlor-Alkali unit of Grasim Industries in Vilayat, Bharuch, in southern Gujarat.
- The first phase of the hybrid project, with 17.6 MW commercial-scale wind-solar, commenced operations last week and is expected to generate 80 million units of renewable energy every year, the renewable energy company said.
The Indian Institute of Management-Sambalpur (IIM-S) inked a pact with e-commerce giant Flipkart to promote works of weavers and artisans through the digital platform.
- As per the pact, Flipkart and IIM-S will extend support and promote small businesses, artisans and weavers by leveraging technology, e-commerce platform, and market insights.
- As part of the MoU, IIM-S will identify clusters of artisans and weavers within Odisha to put them on board with Flipkart’s Samarth program connecting their businesses to a pan-India customer base.
APPOINTMENTS
Aníbal Torres Vásquez appointed as PM of PeruPeru’s Justice Minister Anibal Torres took over as the nation’s fourth prime minister in just over six months, as President Pedro Castillo tries to restore stability after weeks of political turmoil.
- The latest reshuffle comes amid continued internal struggles within the government that have defined the left-wing leader’s first months as president.
- Torres, 79, has been the head of the Justice Ministry since the current government took power in July.
AWARDS
Atal Tunnel certified by World Book of Records as World's Longest Highway TunnelAtal Tunnel has officially been certified by the World Book of Records as the World's Longest Highway Tunnel above 10 thousand Feet.
- Director General of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhry received the award for the stupendous achievement of the organization in constructing this engineering marvel connecting Manali to the Lahaul - Spiti Valley.
- Atal Tunnel was dedicated to the Nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 3rd October 2020. The 9.02 kilometers long strategically significant Atal Tunnel, that runs under the Rohtang Pass was constructed on the Manali - Leh Highway under the challenging conditions of freezing temperatures in extremely difficult terrain.
For the first time, the Karyaksham Khaasdar (Efficient Member of Parliament) award for the year 2020-21, given in the memory of late Madhavrao Limaye by Sarvajanik Vachanalay, Nashik, will be conferred on Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.
- The scope of the award has been extended from this year. From this year onwards, the award besides the Members of the Legislature (MLA/MLC) Members of Parliament (MP) will also be eligible to receive this coveted award.
- Late Madhavrao Limaye was a senior socialist leader of the old generation of Nashik. He has done a great job as a member of the Legislative Council. Late Limaye was a journalist, writer and social, educational guide and activist.
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