Current affairs for CSEET

• Digital payments across the country registered a growth of 24.13 per cent in a year through September 2022, as per the RBI's Digital Payments Index which measures the adoption of online transactions. The newly-constituted RBI's Digital Payments Index (RBI- DPI) stood at 377.46 in September 2022 against 349.30 in March 2022 and 304.06 in September 2021. The index is published on a semi-annual basis(i.e. twice a year) from March 2021 onwards with a lag of four months

• HDFC Bank, one of the leading private sector banks of India, has partnered with National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) Limited, a global talent development corporation, to build a large pool of skilled Virtual Relationship Management professionals for the banking industry. Virtual Relationship managers (VRMs) act as one point of contact for all requirements or issues of bank's managed customers.

• Edelweiss General Insurance has rebranded itself as Zuno General Insurance Limited (Zuno GI), which is a new age digital insurer with an aspiration to reimagine and redefine Insurance to make it easy, friendly, and transparent

• Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the RBI, announced that a pilot programme to introduce coin vending machines that use QR codes will begin shortly. In response to the outcome of the monetary policy for the year 2023, the Central Bank Governor announced that the RBI will introduce a coin vending machine that uses a QR code to improve accessibility to coins

• Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) has launched India’s first public issue of municipal bonds intending to raise up to Rs 244 crore to fund a solar power project. This would be the first time a municipal body is targeting individual investors in India.

• The Reserve Bank of India said it has cancelled the registration of Pune-based Kudos Finance and Investments and Mumbai-based Credit Gate for regulatory lapses in lending practices. With cancelled Certificate of Registration(CoR), the two NBFCs should not transact the business of a non-banking financial institution, the RBI said in a statement.

• Public sector Indian Overseas Bank has launched the facility of issuance of e-BG (Electronic Bank Guarantee) scheme in association with the National e-Governance Services Ltd. The e-BG is an instrument issued by the city-headquartered bank in which the bank undertakes to guarantee a specific amount against the non- fulfillment of some action/performance of the applicant.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) due to insufficient capital and earning potential revoked the licence of Madhya Pradesh's Garha Co-operative Bank, Guna. According to a statement from the RBI, approximately 98.4% of the depositors of the cooperative bank are eligible to receive the full value of their savings from the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC).

• The NSE has got the greenlight from the capital markets regulator to launch its Social Stock Exchange, the board said. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had given an in-principle approval to National Stock Exchange (NSE) for setting up the exchange last December

• The Adani Group acquired the strategic Israeli port of Haifa for USD 1.2 billion and vowed to transform the skyline of this Mediterranean city as part of its decision to invest more in the Jewish nation, including opening an artificial intelligence lab in Tel Aviv. Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, whose business empire was rocked by allegations of fraud by US short seller Hindenburg Research, appeared alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for signing of the deal to takeover Haifa Port, and spoke of investment opportunities.

• Indian-American student at Harvard Law School, Apsara Iyer has been elected president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, becoming the first woman from the community to be named to the position in the prestigious publication’s 136-year history. She was elected the 137th president of the Harvard Law Review, which was founded in 1887 and is among the oldest student-run legal scholarship publications.

• Bill Gates has acquired a minority stake in Heineken Holding NV, the controlling shareholder of the world’s second-largest brewer, for about $902 million. The Microsoft founder and philanthropist picked up 3.8% of Heineken Holding, according to a filing by the Dutch regulator AFM. He bought 6.65 million shares in Heineken Holding, in his individual capacity, and another 4.18 million shares through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust

• Bill Gates has acquired a minority stake in Heineken Holding NV, the controlling shareholder of the world’s second-largest brewer, for about $902 million. The Microsoft founder and philanthropist picked up 3.8% of Heineken Holding, according to a filing by the Dutch regulator AFM. He bought 6.65 million shares in Heineken Holding, in his individual capacity, and another 4.18 million shares through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust

• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has recently launched a chatbot to help people get an answer to their queries related to the Aadhaar card. It is called "Aadhaar Mitra". The Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML)-a based chatbot can answer queries related to Aadhaar enrolment number, PVC Card order status, and complaint status, among other things. It is available in both English and Hindi languages.

• D2C(Direct to Consumer) personal care brand Pilgrim has announced its first-ever ESOP scheme. It has earmarked 10% of its shares to the ESOP pool for 100% of its employees, it said in a statement. About 30 employees who have spent a year in the company will be able to benefit from this scheme. With this announcement, Pilgrim aims to acknowledge and reward the efforts of the employees who’ve led the brand’s growth over the last 3.5 years, along with driving wealth creation

• Reliance Consumer Products Limited, the FMCG firm and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures Limited announced a strategic partnership with Sri Lanka-headquartered Maliban Biscuit Manufactories Limited. Maliban, a biscuit manufacturer, has been well-known for the last 70 years for its range of quality products including biscuits, crackers, cookies, and wafers. According to the partnership, the company has expanded its product’s reach to global markets and exports to over 35 countries across five continents.

• The 2nd Indian Rice Congress 2023 was inaugurated in Cuttack by President Droupadi Murmu in the presence of Odisha Governor Prof. Ganeshi Lal, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, and Odisha Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Fisheries, and Animal Resource Development, Ranendra Pratap Swain.