Recent Banking and Financial Developments in India

Here are some recent developments in the financial and banking realms.

• K.V. Kamath 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 China’s financial hub Shanghai.
  
• Lok Sabha on 13 May 2015 passed The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015 by a voice vote. The Bills amends the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 in order to make cheque-bounce filing of cases more convenient for check payees (person who receives the cheque). 
• According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the number of outstanding credit cards at the end of December was 20.29 million.
• Mangaluru-headquartered Corporation Bank recently dropped plans to take over the assets and liabilities of a Maharashtra-based cooperative bank named Rupee co-operative bank license was cancelled by the RBI in 2013.
• Private-sector Federal Bank on 18 May 2015 ventured into credit card segment with the launch of a co-branded credit card with SBI.
• The new Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) was announced in the Union Budget 2015-16 with the aim of replacing both the present Gold Deposit and Gold Metal Loan Schemes. The new scheme will allow the depositors of gold to earn interest in their metal accounts and the jewellers to obtain loans in their metal account.
• The Union Finance Ministry announced that it was able to contain the fiscal deficit for 2014-15 at 4% of GDP against 4.1% set to be achieved in the Union Budget.
• The revenue deficit was estimated at 2.8% of the as against the revised estimate of 2.9% of GDP, marking a sharp improvement over 3.2% for 2013-14.
• The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 13 May. The amendments to the Companies Act, 2013, which came into effect from 1 April 2015, are designed to address some issues raised by stakeholders.
• India’s largest banking entity State Bank of India (SBI) has launched Online Customer Acquisition Solution (OCAS), an online platform to apply for loans.
• India’s largest private sector lender Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) Bank has launched voice password facility for users.
• India’s largest public sector lender, State Bank of India (SBI) has signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with e-commerce giant Amazon. The MoU seeks to identify and tap the potential areas of collaboration for payments and commerce solutions between both signatory parties.
• ICICI Bank’s first branch in China was inaugurated in Shanghai, a major global financial hub. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of ICICI Bank’s MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar. Earlier in 2003, ICICI Bank had opened a representative office in China.
• India’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) has launched contact-less credit and debit cards sbiINTOUCH. sbiINTOUCH is based upon latest near-field technology (NFC) that enables customer to transact using the card by just tapping or waving it against the reader of the POS. SBI is also proving a fraud liability cover of 1 lakh rupees on these cards.
• According to a latest report of the World Bank, 43 % of India’s bank accounts were lying dormant in 2014.

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