Daily Current Affairs January 04 2024 | Latest News | Download PDF

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CURRENT AFFAIRS : BANKING & FINANCE

RBI Directs Banks to Conduct Annual Review of Accounts Inoperative for Over a Year

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to annually review accounts that have not seen customer-induced transactions for over a year, and term deposit accounts where there is no explicit renewal mandate and the funds have not been withdrawn after maturity.

Key Highlights :

• Penalty Waiver for Inoperative Accounts : It also barred banks from levying penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance in any account classified as inoperative or for activation of inoperative accounts.
• The instructions are part of fresh guidelines for inoperative accounts and unclaimed deposits to reduce the quantum of unclaimed deposits and frauds and improve grievance redressal.
• Comprehensive Framework Guidelines : The revised framework follows a review by the central bank and includes measures to be put in place by banks on classification of such accounts, their periodic review, ways to prevent fraud, expedite grievance redress, trace account holders or their nominees/heirs, claims settlement, and the account closure process.
• Applicability and Effective Date : The guidelines are applicable to all commercial and co-operative banks and will come into effect from April 1, 2024.
• However, they will not be applicable for zero-balance accounts opened for credit of scholarship amount or Direct Benefit Transfer under Central and State government schemes.
• Communication Requirements : Under the new framework, banks will be required to inform account and deposit holders through letters, email or on their registered number that there has been no activity in the last one year, and caution them that the account will become ‘inoperative’ if no operations are carried out during the ‘extended period’ of the next one year.
• Public Disclosure of Unclaimed Deposits : Banks will also need to display details of unclaimed deposits, which have been transferred to the RBI-maintained Depositor Education and Awareness Fund(DEA), on a monthly basis on their website or branches.
• Activation Process Information : Banks are obligated to provide information on the activation process for inoperative accounts and claiming balances in unclaimed deposits.
• Long-Term Unclaimed Balance Transfer : Currently, the credit balance in any deposit account that has been inoperative for at least 10 years, or any amount that has been unclaimed for 10 years, is required to be transferred by banks to the DEA Fund.
• Regulatory Authority : These instructions are issued in exercise of the powers conferred by Sections 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

About RBI :

• Established : 1 April 1935
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• Governor : Shaktikanta Das
• Deputy Governors : Swaminathan Janakiraman, Michael Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao, T Rabi Sankar

Small Finance Banks Launch “Small Banks: Empowering Big Dreams” Initiative

• While each small finance bank (SFB) has a different tagline to capture customers’ attention, they will also have a common one-“Small Banks: Empowering Big Dreams” to highlight the success of their business model to all stakeholders.
• Uma Shankar Paliwal, CEO, Association of Small Finance Banks of India (ASFBI), observed that over the last 7 years, SFBs have given a good account of themselves, fulfilling the purpose, of meeting the financial needs of the marginalised sections of society for which they were allowed to be set up by RBI.

Key Highlights :

• SFBs are mandated to lend at least 75% of their total advances to priority sectors such as agriculture, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), education, housing, and others.
• Further, at least 50 per cent of their loan portfolio should comprise loans and advances of up to ₹25 lakh.
• 10 SFBs commenced operations in the 2016-2017.
• In 2021, Shivalik Mercantile Co-operative Bank transitioned to become an SFB.
• In 2021, Unity SFB was given a license on the condition that it take over the fraud-hit Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank.
• The tagline “Small Banks: Empowering Big Dreams” reflects the philosophy of all 12 SFBs.
• Each SFB has its own tagline. For example, Equitas SFB has “Beyond Banking” as its tagline, ESAF SFB (Joy of Banking), Jana SFB (‘Likho Apni Kahani’/‘Write Your Destiny’) and Suryoday SFB (A Bank of Smiles).
• As of March-end 2023, high-cost term deposits constituted about 68 per cent of SFBs’ total deposits of ₹1,91,372 crore.
• The balance of 32 per cent were CASA deposits.
• In its latest “Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India”, RBI noted that SFBs serve a critical role in delivering credit to under-banked segments.
• However, many SFBs have low CASA deposits and a greater reliance on bulk term deposits, often acquired at higher rates, especially from cooperative banks.

RBI Broadens Coverage of Card-on-file Tokenization to Include Banks Issuing Debit Cards

• In order to make digital payments more secure, safe and sound the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has now enabled card-on-file tokenization (CoFT) through card-issuing banks and institutions.

About Card-on-File Tokenization :

• Tokenization refers to the replacement of actual credit and debit card details with an alternate code called the “token”.
• It is a combination of card, token requestor and device.
• The card detail when stored with a merchant is known as card-on-file (CoF).
• This token is a randomly generated string of characters that has no intrinsic value and is meaningless outside of the context of a specific transaction.
• The token is used as a surrogate for the actual card details, making it more secure to store and transmit.

Requirements for enabling CoFT through card issuers :

• Generation of CoFT tokens for a card can be enabled through mobile banking and internet banking channels.
• The token can be generated only on explicit customer consent and with AFA (additional factor authentication) validation.
• The cardholder may tokenize the card at any time of their convenience, either on receipt of the new card or at a later stage.
• The cardholder can select the merchants with whom he/she wishes to maintain tokens.
• The card token so issued may be either by the card network or the issuer or both.

Advantages :

• Tokenization replaces a debit or credit card’s 16-digit number with a unique token that is specific to just your card and is valid for one merchant at a time.
• The token masks the true details of your card, so in case there is a data leak from the merchant website, the fraudster cannot misuse the card.

Muthoot FinCorp Secures ₹200 Crore through Private Placement of NCDs from SBI

• Muthoot FinCorp, the flagship company of Muthoot Pappachan Group (Muthoot Blue), has announced ₹200 crore investment by State Bank of India (SBI) in the non-convertible debentures (NCDs) under private placement with a face value of ₹1 lakh for each NCD.
• The maturity/tenure options of this issue is 5 years with half yearly being the frequency of the interest payment.
• The secured issued NCDs is rated as AA-/stable by CRISIL and listed on the debt market segment of BSE.
• CEO of Muthoot FinCorp : Shaji Varghese

What are Non-Convertible Debentures (NCD)?

• Non-Convertible debentures are long-term debt instruments issued by companies that carry a fixed interest rate for the investment tenor.
• The issuer redeems these at maturity and is not eligible for conversion into equity shares at maturity.
• Typically, NCDs are less risky than equity investments since they provide a fixed rate of return.
• NCDs benefit investors with increased returns, low risk, liquidity, and tax benefits.
• Some Non-Convertible Debentures in India also offer additional benefits, such as a higher interest rate for senior citizens or those who apply during the initial subscription period.

Types of Non-Convertible Debentures:

• Secured NCDs
• Company assets are collateral for secured NCDs, and the risk is relatively lower. Consequently, interest rates on secured NCDs also tend to be lower.
• Non-Secured NCDs
• Non-secured non-convertible debentures do not have any underlying collateral.
• Hence, it tends to be high-risk and offers attractive interest rates.
• Usually, companies with strong creditworthiness issue non-secured NCDs

RBI Increases Bulk Deposit Limit for Large Urban Cooperative Banks 6.66 Times to ₹1 Crore and Above

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to increase the bulk deposit limit for large urban co-operative banks (UCBs).
• The earlier limit was ₹15 lakh and above.
• The new bulk deposit limit is ₹1 crore and above.

Key Highlights :

• Applicability to Tier 3 and Tier 4 UCBs : The new bulk deposit limit of ₹1 crore and above is applicable to UCBs in Tier 3 (with deposits more than ₹1,000 crore and up to ₹10,000 crore) category.
• It is also applicable to UCBs in Tier 4 (with deposits more than ₹10,000 crore) category.
• Exception for Other UCBs : According to RBI, all other UCBs (other than scheduled UCBs in Tiers 3 and 4) will continue to have a bulk deposit limit as “single rupee term deposits of ₹15 lakh and above.”
• Uniform Rate of Interest for Lower Deposits : As per Co-operative banking experts, with the increased bulk limit, customers’ placing deposits below this threshold of ₹1 crore and above will get a uniform rate of interest.
• Earlier, customers could negotiate the rate of interest since a deposit of ₹15 lakh and above was taken as a bulk deposit by all UCBs till now.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

VP Jagdeep Dhankhar to inaugurate Startup Expo in Kathua

• Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will inaugurate the Startup Expo in Kathua.
• Twenty-five startups from Northern States will showcase their products at the expo.
• Six women Entrepreneurs will also participate in the startup expo.
• The theme of the expo is Emerging Startup Trends in North India.
• Union Science and Technology Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, a lot of development took place in the field of startups in the last nine years.
• The number of Startups in the country has grown to over one lakh from about 350 in 2014.

IIT Madras targets incubating 100 startups across various sectors in 2024

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is targeting incubating at least 100 start-ups across various sectors next year, in 2024.
• Kamakoti said the institute is working hard towards maintaining the number 1 ranking in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
• IITM has been ranked No.1 in the ‘Overall’ Category for the fifth consecutive year in India Ranking 2023 released by NIRF, Ministry of Education.
• The Institute has also been ranked No.1 in the ‘Engineering Institutions’ category in the same Rankings for eight consecutive years – from 2016 to 2023.
• Some of the top developments of the institute in 2023 include the launching of IIT Madras Zanzibar Campus; the launch of the School of Sustainability and the School of Data Science & Artificial Intelligence.
• In 2023, the Supreme Court signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IIT Madras for collaborating on using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies for transcription tools, summarization of page transcript, translation Tool.

FinMin allows 30th tranche of electoral bonds

• The Centre has approved the issuance of the 30th tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale.
• The window for purchase and encashment of electoral bonds will be available till January 11.
• Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding.
• The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened in March 2018.
• The latest window — the 30th tranche —comes ahead of the general elections due later this year.
• State Bank of India (SBI), in the XXX Phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash electoral Bonds through its 29 authorised branches w.e.f. January 2 to January 11, 2024.

Key Highlights

• Electoral bonds can be purchased by Indian citizens or entities incorporated or established in the country.
• Only the Political Parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than one percent of the votes polled in the last General Election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State, shall be eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds.
• Electoral bonds are encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank.
• SBI is the only authorised bank to issue electoral bonds.
• The Finance Ministry further said electoral bonds will be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment will be made to any payee political party if the bond is deposited after the expiry of the validity period.

India to become world’s largest metallurgical coal importer by 2026

• India will become the largest metallurgical coal importer in the world by
• According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global metallurgical coal trade will increase by about 2% to 353 million tonnes (MT) in 2026.
• Rise in India’s metallurgical coal imports will be aided by growing industrialization, higher steel consumption and limited availability of coking coal.
• The IEA predicted that rising imports from other countries will balance off a decline in metallurgical coal imports into China of roughly 28 MT, or 28% compared to 2023.
• IEA said imports into India will increase by 2026, by 16 MT (or 21%).
• According to IEA, the global metallurgical coal imports are expected to have increased by about 11% y-o-y to 352 MT in 2023.
• As per the IEA, China and India have been the main drivers of this surge, with China overtaking India to regain its position as the largest importer of metallurgical coal.
• IEA added it is expected China’s imports have increased by 56% y-o-y to 100 MT.
• India’s imports are expected to have increased by 17% to 78 MT.
• IEA pointed out India is increasingly replacing Australian metallurgical coal with Russian.

Govt extends tenure of PLI scheme for Auto industry by a year with partial amendments

• The tenure of the PLI scheme for the automobile industry has been extended by the government by a year.
• The tenure of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Automobile and Auto Components has been extended by the government by one year with partial amendments.
• Under the amended scheme, the incentive would apply for five consecutive financial years, beginning from the financial year 2023-24 (FY24).
• The distribution of incentives will take place in the next financial year 2024-25.
• The scheme also clarifies that an approved applicant would be eligible for benefits for 5 consecutive financial years, but not more than the financial year ending March 31, 2028.
• Further, the amendments state that if an approved company fails to meet the prescribed selling price increase limit in the first year, it will not get any incentive for that year.
• However, it will still be eligible for benefits in the following year if it meets the threshold calculated based on a 10% year-on-year increase over the earlier year’s threshold.
• The amendment also includes changes in the table showing the incentive outlay, taking the total indicative incentive amount to Rs 25,938 crore.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurates all-girls Sainik school in Mathura

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated India’s first all-girl Sainik School at Vrindavan in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh.
• Samvid Gurukulam Girls Sainik School has been opened under the initiative of opening 100 new Sainik Schools in partnership mode with NGOs/private/state government schools in all states/union territories.
• Training at the CBSE-affiliated school will be given by ex-servicemen.
• It has a strength of around 870 students.
• The admission of girl children to Sainik Schools from the 2021-22 academic session was approved by the Defense Ministry.
• The decision was taken after the success of the pilot project started by the Defence Ministry in Sainik School, Chhingchhip, in Mizoram.
• The main objective behind opening 100 new Sainik Schools is to provide quality education to the students in tune with the National Education Policy (NEP).
• The inspiration for setting up the Sainik Schools came from the Royal Indian Military College (RIMC) and Royal Indian Military Schools.
• The objective of the Sainik Schools is to prepare the students to lead as officers in the Defence Services of the country.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Russia and NASA Extend Joint ISS Flights Until 2025

• Russian and United States (US) space agencies have agreed to keep working together to deliver crews to the International Space Station (ISS) until at least 2025.
• Aim : “To guarantee the presence of at least one representative of Roscosmos on the Russian segment and the presence of at least one representative of NASA on the American segment.”

Key Highlights :

• The station was designed between 1984 and 1993.
• The International Space Station Program brings together international flight crews, multiple launch vehicles, globally distributed launch and flight operations, training, engineering, and development facilities, communications networks, and the international scientific research community.
• ISS partners the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan – are for the moment only committed to operate the orbiting laboratory until 2024, though US officials have stated they want to continue until 2030.

About Russia :

• President : Vladimir Putin
• Prime Minister : Mikhail Mishustin
• Capital : Moscow
• Currency : Ruble

About NASA :

• Established : July 29, 1958
• Headquarters : Washington, D.C, United States of America
• Administrator : Bill Nelson

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Former Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya was appointed as head of the 16th Finance Commission

• Arvind Panagariya, the former Vice Chairman of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) , has been named as the head of the 16th Finance Commission.
• Meanwhile, Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey will hold the post of secretary to the commission.
• The chairman and other members of the 16th Finance Commission shall hold office from the date on which they respectively assume office up to the date of submission of report or October 31, 2025, whichever is earlier.
• The report of the commission shall be made available by October 31, 2025, covering a period of five years commencing on April 1, 2026.
• The panel’s predecessor, the 15th Finance Commission, which was set up on November 27, 2017, was chaired by the member of the erstwhile Planning Commission, NK Singh.
• The recommendations of this commission are valid for a period of six years from April 1, 2020, that is till the financial year 2025-26.

About Arvind Panagariya :

• Arvind Panagariya served as the first vice chairman of the NITI Aayog, a policy think tank created by the government of India and chaired by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, from 2015 to 2017.
• He is also former chief economist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and has worked with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in various capacities.
• He also served as India’s G20 Sherpa and led the Indian teams that negotiated the G20 Communiqués.
• Panagariya, who is currently a professor of Indian political economy at Columbia University, New York.

About Finance Commission : 

• The Finance Commission is a constitutional body in India that plays a crucial role in fiscal federalism.
• The Finance Commission is constituted under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution.
• It is formed every five years or at such intervals as deemed necessary by the President.
• The Finance Commission comprises a Chairman and four other members.
• The Chairman should be a person having experience in public affairs.
• The 4 other members should be selected from amongst the following-
• A judge of the high court or one qualified to be appointed as one.
• A person who has specialised knowledge of finance and accounts of the government.
• A person who has wide experience in financial matters and in administration.
• A person who has special knowledge of economics.
• Members are appointed by the President, and they bring diverse expertise, including economics, finance, and public administration
• Currently, India shares 41% of federal taxes with states as recommended by the 15th panel.

What is the role of finance commissions :

• Finance commissions are independent constitutional bodies with a key role to play in the division of the Centre’s net tax proceeds between Central and state governments keeping in mind the fiscal needs of the states.
• All central taxes other than those meant for states and the specific surcharges and cesses levied by the Centre form part of this divisible pool of tax revenue.
• The finance commissions decide the extent of the Centre’s revenue to be shared with the states and the formula for dividing it among states.
• The commission is a key pillar of fiscal federalism.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

CCI approves acquisition of  control/stake in Reliance Capital Limited by IndusInd International Holdings Limited, IIHL BFSI (India) Limited, and Aasia Enterprises LLP

• Fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared the proposed stake acquisition in Reliance Capital by IndusInd International Holdings Ltd, IIHL BFSI (India) Ltd, and Aasia Enterprises.
• Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) is an RBI-registered non-banking, non-deposit-taking systemically important company (NBFC-CIC-ND-SI).
• It is engaged in the financial service sector.
• The combination relates to the acquisition of a controlling stake in Reliance Capital Ltd by IndusInd International Holdings Ltd, IIHL BFSI (India) Ltd, and Aasia Enterprises.
• In July,2023 Hinduja group-owned IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL), the promoter of IndusInd Bank, announced a USD 1.5-billion capital-raising plan to fund the proposed acquisition of Reliance Capital and increase its stake in the lender.
• The board of the Mauritius-registered IIHL also decided to increase its holding in Reliance Capital to 26 per cent from the present 15 per cent.
• In June, the lenders of the crippled Reliance Capital accepted the revised Rs 9,661 crore bid by IndusInd International Holdings.
• In November 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded the board of Reliance Capital in view of payment defaults and serious governance issues.

About CCI :

• Founded : 14 October 2003
• Headquarters : New Delhi, Delhi
• Chairperson : Ravneet Kaur
• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is the chief national competition regulator in India.
• It is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and is responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 to promote competition and prevent activities that have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : STATE NEWS

Kerala Introduces K-Smart Tech Solution for Streamlining Local Self-Government Services

• Aimed at making available all services of local self-government institutions over a uniform digital platform, Kerala has introduced K-Smart (Kerala Solutions for Managing Administrative Reformation and Transformation), the first of its kind project in the country.
• It is for the first time that a system that makes available the entire gamut of services of a department in a single click is being introduced in the country.
• Initially, K-Smart will be operational in corporations and municipalities and later will be rolled out in grama panchayats as well.
• It is embedded with an Integrated Messaging System that facilitates delivery of the acknowledgment receipt of complaints and applications in the portal that can be accessed through login of the applicant or complainant as also via Whatsapp and email.

About Kerala:

• Capital: Thiruvananthapuram
• Chief Minister: Pinarayi Vijayan
• Governor: Arif Mohammad Khan
• National Parks: Periyar National Park, Mathikettan National Park, Eravikulam National Park, Silent Valley National Park, Indira Gandhi National Park

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

Record 8.18 crore Income Tax Returns filed so far in current financial year

• A record eight crore 18 lakh Income Tax Returns, ITRs were filed in the current financial year.
• This is nine per cent more than the total ITRs filed in the last fiscal.
• According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes, around 7.5 crore ITRs were filed last year during the same period.
• To encourage taxpayers to file their ITRs and forms early, over 103 crore outreaches were made through targeted e-mail, SMS and other creative campaigns.
• The e-filing Helpdesk team handled over 27 lakh queries from taxpayers to support the taxpayers proactively during the peak filing periods.

Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal launches e-commerce start-up OppDoor

• Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has launched new e-commerce start-up OppDoor, business-to-business (B2B) platform.
• The software services platform says it will help emerging ecommerce brands expand globally.
• OppDoor, is a ‘managed services platform for global expansion’.
• OppDoor delivers fully managed Amazon services aimed at expanding private label brands across multiple regions globally.
• The start-up is housed under a Singapore-registered entity which was earlier called Three State Ventures but has now been named OppDoor.
• Bansal’s venture fund is also called Three State Ventures.
• Curefoods, PhonePe and Acko are among his prominent start-up bets.
• Bansal co-founded Flipkart with fellow IIT-Delhi graduate Sachin Bansal (not related) in 2007 in Bengaluru.
• Sachin Bansal divested his entire 5 per cent holding in Flipkart to Walmart for about $1 billion in 2018 — the time of its acquisition by the retail giant.

Windfall levy on domestically produced crude raised, lowered on export-bound diesel, Aviation Turbine Fuel.

• The Finance Ministry has raised the Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED), better known as windfall gain levy on domestically produced crude, to ₹2300 per tonne from ₹1300.
• However, such levy on export-bound diesel and jet fuel was reduced to NIL.
• To date, windfall levies on diesel and jet fuel (Aviation Turbine Fuel or ATF) were ₹0.50 and ₹1.
• All the changes are coming into effect from 1st January. Such a levy on export-bound petrol will continue at NIL.
• This decision has been taken as crude prices saw some rise earlier.
• This will likely impact oil exploration companies such as ONGC and Oil India.
• Cutting the windfall levy on diesel and ATF for export will impact Reliance Industries and Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy as primary fuel exporters.
• India first imposed windfall profit taxes on July 1, 2022, joining several nations that tax supernormal profits of energy companies.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOUS AND AGREEMENT

REC Limited signs MoU with Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, to Finance Multi-Modal Infrastructure Projects up to Rs. 35,000 crores over next 5 Years

• REC Limited has entered into an MoU with Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) to finance up to 35,000 Crores for Infrastructure Projects to be executed by RVNL over the next 5 years.
• These projects constitute multi-modal logistics hub projects, rail infrastructure projects, road, port, and metro projects where RVNL has forayed into.
• Director (Finance), REC, Shri Ajoy Choudhury and Director (Operations), RVNL, Shri Rajesh Prasad signed the MoU in the presence of Shri V.K Dewangan, CMD, REC; Shri Sanjeeb Kumar, Director (Finance), RVNL; Smt. Anupam Ban, DPE, RVNL and other senior officials from REC and RVNL.
• REC Limited, a Maharatna CPSE established in 1969, under the Ministry of Power, provides long-term loans and other finance products for the Power-Infrastructure sector comprising Generation, Transmission, Distribution, Renewable Energy and new technologies like Electric Vehicles, Battery Storage and Green Hydrogen.
• More recently, REC has also diversified into the Non-Power Infrastructure sector comprising Roads & Expressways, Metro Rail, Airports, IT Communication, Social & Commercial Infrastructure (Educational Institution, Hospitals), Ports and Electro-Mechanical (E&M) works in respect of various other sectors like Steel and Refinery.
• The loan book of REC exceeds Rs 4,74,275 Crore.
• RVNL, a “Schedule ‘A’ Navratna” Central Public Sector Enterprise under Ministry of Railways, caters to about 30% of infrastructure requirements of Indian Railways and has also pioneered implementation of large infrastructure projects under PPP model.
• RVNL is primarily undertaking Railway projects and has also made forays into road, port, irrigation and metro projects, many of which have forward and/or backward linkages with Railway infrastructure one way or the other.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NASA Reinitiates Spacecraft Mission to Study ‘God of Chaos’ Asteroid Apophis                          

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has relaunched the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to intercept the ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid Apophis as it approaches Earth’s orbit.
• The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has returned from deep space after collecting samples from the space rock Bennu.

Key Highlights :

• The spacecraft has been renamed OSIRIS-APEX (Origin, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Apophis Explorer).
• OSIRIS-APEX is now tasked with studying the asteroid Apophis, which is expected to have a close pass by Earth in 2029.
• Apophis is known as the “God of Chaos” and is anticipated to fly by Earth on April 13, 2029, at a distance of about 20,000 miles.
• Scientists initially estimated a 3% chance of the asteroid colliding with Earth, but subsequent observations ruled out a collision in 2029.
• In 2021, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory released an animated video depicting the orbital trajectory of asteroid Apophis.
• NASA indicates that Apophis’ close encounter with Earth will lead to changes in the asteroid’s orbit and the length of its day.
• The close encounter could potentially cause earthquakes and landslides on Apophis, exposing material beneath the asteroid’s surface.
• OSIRIS-APEX will study Apophis shortly after its close pass, providing insights into how its surface changes as it interacts with Earth’s gravity.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

World Braille Day: 4th January

• World Braille Day 2024 is observed on the 4th of January 2024.
• After its inventor, “Braille,” the term was given.
• When Louis Braille was a young child, he inadvertently injured himself in the eye with his father’s awl, which caused him to lose his vision.
• He spent time at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in France starting at the age of 10 when he developed and improved the raised-dot technique that eventually became known as Braille.
• Braille finished his work by creating a code based on cells with six dots that allowed a fingertip to quickly go from one cell to the next while still feeling the full unit with one touch. Braille eventually gained acceptance as the primary method of written information for blind people on a global scale. Unfortunately, Braille was unable to witness the usefulness of his creation. Two years before the Royal Institute started teaching Braille, in 1852, he passed dead.
• The United Nations General Assembly recognized Braille as a wonderful tool that gave the blind and visually handicapped access to a wide range of opportunities (UNGA).
• The date January 4 was designated as World Braille Day in November 2018.
• The next year, the first-ever World Braille Day was marked and recognized as a global holiday.
• The UNGA picked the day for the celebration in a declaration, which also happens to be Louis Braille’s birthday. World Braille Day on January 4 is one event that we love to see people get together to celebrate and support.

Daily CA One- Liner: January 4

• Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will inaugurate the Startup Expo in Kathua.
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is targeting incubating at least 100 start-ups across various sectors next year, in 2024.
• The Centre has approved the issuance of the 30th tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale.
• India will become the largest metallurgical coal importer in the world by
• The tenure of the PLI scheme for the automobile industry has been extended by the government by a year.
• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated India’s first all-girl Sainik School at Vrindavan in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh
• A record eight crore 18 lakh Income Tax Returns, ITRs were filed in the current financial year.
• Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has launched new e-commerce start-up OppDoor, business-to-business (B2B) platform.
• The Finance Ministry has raised the Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED), better known as windfall gain levy on domestically produced crude, to ₹2300 per tonne from ₹1300.
• REC Limited has entered into an MoU with Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) to finance up to 35,000 Crores for Infrastructure Projects to be executed by RVNL over the next 5 years.
• World Braille Day 2024 is observed on the 4th of January 2024.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to annually review accounts that have not seen customer-induced transactions for over a year, and term deposit accounts where there is no explicit renewal mandate and the funds have not been withdrawn after maturity.
• While each small finance bank (SFB) has a different tagline to capture customers’ attention, they will also have a common one-“Small Banks: Empowering Big Dreams” to highlight the success of their business model to all stakeholders.
• In order to make digital payments more secure, safe and sound the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has now enabled card-on-file tokenization (CoFT) through card issuing banks and institutions.
• Muthoot FinCorp, the flagship company of Muthoot Pappachan Group (Muthoot Blue), has announced ₹200 crore investment by State Bank of India (SBI) in the non-convertible debentures (NCDs) under private placement with a face value of ₹1 lakh for each NCD.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to increase the bulk deposit limit for large urban co-operative banks (UCBs) is ₹1 crore and above.
• Russian and United States (US) space agencies have agreed to keep working together to deliver crews to the International Space Station (ISS) until at least 2025.
• Arvind Panagariya, the former Vice Chairman of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) , has been named as the head of the 16th Finance Commission.
• Fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared the proposed stake acquisition in Reliance Capital by IndusInd International Holdings Ltd, IIHL BFSI (India) Ltd, and Aasia Enterprises.
• Aimed at making available all services of local self-government institutions over a uniform digital platform, Kerala has introduced K-Smart (Kerala Solutions for Managing Administrative Reformation and Transformation), the first of its kind project in the country.
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has relaunched the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to intercept the ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid Apophis as it approaches Earth’s orbit.