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Table of Contents

SI No. Topic
1. Top 100 Current Affairs of December
2. Top 50 Banking Affairs of December
3. Important Banking and Financial Abbreviations in News
4. India’s rank in various Indices
5. National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA)

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Top 100 Current Affairs of December

Persons in News
1. Pranab Kumar Das has been appointed as the new Chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes
and Customs (CBIC).

2. Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) India appointed former SBI
chief Arundhati Bhattacharya as the new Chairman of its board.

3. Krishnamurthy Subramanian is the new Chief Economic Advisor of India.

4. Harsh Vardhan Shringla was appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the United States.

5. Pu Zoramthanga (Mizo National Front) is the new CM of Mizoram (Governor: Rajasekharan).

Kamal Nath (Indian National Congress) is the new CM of MP (Governor: Anandiben Patel).

Bhupesh Baghel (Indian National Congress) is the new CM of Chhattisgarh (Governor: Anandiben
Patel).

Ashok Gehlot (Indian National Congress) is the new CM of Rajasthan. Sachin Pilot is the Deputy
CM. (Governor: Kalyan Singh).

K Chandrasekhar Rao (Telangana Rashtra Samithi, TRS) is the new CM of Telangana (Governor: E.
S. L. Narasimhan)

6. Union government has appointed Brijendra Pal Singh, (of television series CID) as the new
president of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

7. Arti Chhabra Srivastava has been appointed as the first full-time Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO)
of SEBI.

8. Shaktikanta Das who is India’s former economic affairs secretary and current member of the Finance
Commission has been appointed as the new (25th) governor of the RBI.

9. South African (Capital: Pretoria (executive) Bloemfontein(judicial) Cape Town (legislative),

Currency: Rand) President Cyril Ramaphosa will be chief guest at India’s 70th Republic Day
celebrations on 26 January 2019.

10. Ajay Narayana Jha is the new Finance Secretary of India.

Schemes
11. The number of sites under PRASAD scheme has now reached to 41 in 25 states after, the
union government has included Gangotri and Yamunotri in Uttarakhand, Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh
and Parasnath in Jharkhand under Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation
Drive (PRASAD).

12. Union Cabinet has approved Agriculture Export Policy, 2018 with aim to double farmer’s income
by 2022 and to double agricultural exports from present US$ 30+ Billion to US$ 60+ Billion by
2022.

13. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched a new programme for transparency and
awareness on various government schemes, called- the Peoples Empowerment Enabling Transparency
and Accountability or PEETHA.

14. NITI Aayog unveiled its comprehensive national Strategy for New India dubbed as ‘Strategy for
New India @75’, defining clear objectives for 2022-23. The document contains 41 chapters which have
been categorized in 4 sections. They are: Drivers, Infrastructure, Inclusion and Governance.

15. The Union Cabinet has approved a budget of Rs 10,000 crore for India’s Gaganyaan project
which aims to carry three human beings for a maximum period of seven days in space.

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16. Odisha government announced a Rs 10,000 crores Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and
Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme to empower small, marginal & landless farmers as well as
landless labourers.

Events
17. Foundation stone of Institute of High-Altitude Medicinal Plants (IHAMP) was laid by Union
Ministers Jitendra Singh and Shripad Yesso Naik in Bhaderwah in Doda district, J&K.

18. 17-day long International Gita Mahotsav 2018 was held in Kurukshetra, Haryana. Mauritius
was the partner country and Gujarat was the partner state.

19. 15th edition of a two-day Global SME Business Summit was organized by the Ministry of MSME
and CII in New Delhi. The theme of the event was ‘Building Partnerships through Global Value Chains.’

20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the sixth center of International Rice
Research Institute South Asia Regional Centre (IRRI SARC) in Varanasi.

21. 3rd edition of the annual river festival, Dwijing Festival was recently held on the bank of River
Aie at Chirang district, Assam.

22. A conference on the theme ‘Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India – New Paradigm for
Stressed Assets’ organised by IBBI was held at the Indian Consulate in New York.

23. “Partner Forum” a forum to discuss about the improvement in the health and well-being of women,
children and adolescents was recently inaugurated by PM Modi.

24. Two-day Regional Conference on ‘Good Governance – Focus on Aspirational Districts’ was
held at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

25. Indian Owl Festival, India’s first owl fest, was held at Pingori village in Purandar taluka of Pune,
Maharashtra.

26. The 24th meeting of Conference of Parties (COP-24) to United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) began at Katowice, Poland (Capital: Warsaw, Currency: Zloty).

27. In 2018 G - 20 summit held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, next G -20 summit (2019) would be
held in Japan. PM Modi announced that India will host G20 Summit in 2022, when it celebrates its
75th year of Independence.

The theme of the 2018 edition of the Summit was: “Building Consensus for Fair and Sustainable
Development”.

28. National Children’s Science Congress was recently held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha (CM: Naveen
Patnaik, Governor: Ganeshi Lal). Theme: “Science, Technology, and Innovation for a Clean, Green and
Healthy Nation.”

29. The first bilateral air exercise SHINYUU Maitri-18 between Japanese Air Self Defence Force (JASDF)
and Indian Air Force (IAF) began at Air Force Station Agra.

30. Hornbill Festival of Nagaland was recently observed commenced along with 55th Statehood Day.

31. The Special Forces of India and United States completed the final manoeuvres of their three-day
tactical exercise called ‘Vajra Kaya‘ which is part of their joint military drill ‘Vajra Prahar 2018’ in Jaipur.

Awards
32. Manika Batra was awarded the “Breakthrough Star of the year” in the 2018 International
Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Star Awards held in Incheon, Korea.

33. Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai was honored by Harvard University in
the United States for her work promoting girls’ education.

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34. Renowned English fiction writer Amitav Ghosh has been selected for Jnanapeeth award,
2018. His notable work is the Ibis triology of which the first volume is Sea of Poppies (2008); second
volume is River of Smoke (2011); and third volume is Flood of Fire (2015).

35. Rattan Lal (President of the International Union of Soil Science (IUSS)), has won the
Glinka World Soil Prize 2018 for his outstanding contribution to sustainable soil management.

36. Tata Steel bags Prime Minister’s Trophy for the ‘Best Performing Integrated Steel Plant’ for
the year 2016-17.

37. Union Ministry of Agriculture had selected Jharkhand for “Krishi Karman” award in the rice
category.

38. The Chief Minister of West Bengal has been awarded the Skoch Chief Minister of the Year
Award for the year 2017 recognizing her contribution in the overall development of West Bengal.

39. Union Government has launched Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskaar annual
awards to recognise the excellent work done by individuals and institutions in the country in the
field of disaster management.

40. The Madhya Pradesh Government has conferred the annual Tansen Samman upon eminent
Sitar Player Manju Mehta for her contribution in the field of Hindustani classical music.

Ranks
41. According to the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) (Headquarter: Geneva,
Switzerland) the number of patents granted by India shot up by 50 per cent in 2017. India ranked
10th in the number of patents given last year while China topped the list.

42. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) have placed four Indian Public Sector
Undertakings among world’s top 100 arms producers. Indian Ordnance Factories (37th rank)
Hindustan Aeronautics (38th rank) Bharat Electronics (64th rank) Bharat Dynamics (94th rank).

43. According to a study by Global Carbon Project, India is the fourth highest emitter of carbon
dioxide in the world, accounting for 7 percent of global emissions in 2017.

44. Himachal Pradesh, Kerala (both have a score of 69), and Tamil Nadu (score: 66) have been
ranked on top 3 positions of the first-of its- kind Sustainable Development Goals index released by
NITI Ayog. UP with a score of 42 was ranked last.

45. Niti Ayog has released the second Delta Ranking of the 111 districts under Aspirational Districts
programme (total districts in the programme are 115). The five districts which have shown most
improvements are Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu), Nuapada (Odisha), Siddharth Nagar (Uttar
Pradesh), Aurangabad (Bihar) and Koraput, Odisha.

46. Indian Stock market overtook Germany’s (Capital: Berlin, Currency: Euro) recently to become
the world’s seventh largest stock market.

47. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh released the list of top 10 performing police stations across
the nation, the top three police stations in India for 2018 are Kalu (Bikaner, Rajasthan), Campbell
Bay (Andaman & Nicobar Islands) and Farakka (Murshidabad, West Bengal).

48. India has been ranked at 108th position (same as that of 2017) in the recently released Gender
Gap Index 2018 by World Economic Forum. Iceland has topped the rankings.

49. Gujarat Ranked Best Performer in first ever States Start-up Ranking 2018 released by
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) at an event in New Delhi.

50. Arton Capital launched the passport index named – Global Passport Power Rank 2018, in which
United Arab Emirates (UAE) topped the charts, among 197 nations, as the nation having the most
powerful passport. India has been ranked 68.

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National
51. UK’s Cambridge Dictionary has confirmed “nomophobia” the inaugural People’s Word of the
Year (2018).

52. Union Government has constituted six-member committee headed by NITI Aayog Vice
Chairman Rajiv Kumar to look at selling as many as 149 small and marginal oil and gas fields
of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) to private and foreign companies
to boost domestic output.

53. Indian Railways launched a software named- ‘e-Drishti’, that will enable the Union Railway
Minister Shri. Piyush Goyal to keep track of punctuality of trains as well as freight and passenger earnings
from anywhere in the country.

54. ISRO has successfully launched country’s first advance earth observation satellite Hyper
Spectral Imaging Satellite.

55. Indian Space Research and Organisation (ISRO) made GSAT – 11, India’s heaviest and most-
advanced communication satellite was launched on board of Ariane 5 VA-246 rocket from Kourou
Launch Base, French Guiana.

56. Kerala has become first state in the country to have four international airports with the
inauguration of Kannur airport. The first commercial flight from this airport was of Air India to Abu
Dhabi. The other three international airports are Trivandrum International Airport, Cochin International
Airport and Calicut International Airport.

57. ‘Of Counsel: The Challenges of the Modi-Jaitley Economy’ written by former chief economic
adviser Arvind Subramanian was launched in Mumbai.

58. The seventh edition Hand-in-Hand Military exercise between India, China has been organised
in Chengdu, China.

59. According to Oxford Economics report, the top 10 fastest growing cities in the world from 2019
to 2035 are in India. Gujarat’s Surat tops the list followed by Uttar Pradesh’s Agra.

60. The Kaiga Atomic Power Station of Karnataka has created a new world record, with one of its
units functioning continuously without any interruption for more than 940 days, previously world
record was held by Heysham power station of the United Kingdom.

61. India’s largest Cancer Institute, National Cancer Institute (NCI), was opened recently in
Jhajjar, Haryana.

62. ISRO successfully launched the communication satellite GSAT-7A which will tremendously boost
Indian Air forces’ communication capabilities.

63. The Indian Coast Guard has launched ‘Operation Oliva’ to ensure the safe mid-sea sojourn of
breeding Olive Ridley sea turtles in Gahirmatha marine sanctuary area, Devi river mouth, and
Rushikulya beach of Odisha.

64. Recently a severe cyclone “Phethai” hit coastal Andhra Pradesh and North Tamil Nadu.

65. Delicacy of Nalanda district of Bihar, Silao Khaja which is popular among the tourists visiting
Buddhist sites of Rajgir and Nalanda was granted GI tag by Geographical Indications Registry at
Chennai.

66. Railways have developed a new AI-powered robot named USTAAD (Undergear Surveillance
through Artificial Intelligence Assisted Droid) which examines parts of the coach in real time with an HD
camera and transmits them over WiFi.

67. PM Modi inaugurated India’s longest rail cum road bridge of 4.94 km Bogibeel bridge, which
on the river Brahmaputra between Dibrugarh and Dhemaji districts of Assam (CM: Sarbananda
Sonowal, Governor: Jagdish Mukhi.)

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68. Recently, Odisha forest department added another olive ridley mass nesting site Bahuda
Rookery at the beach on Bahuda river mouth in Ganjam district, Odisha. The two other renowned
nesting sites of Olive Ridley turtles are Gahirmatha and Rushikulya also in Ganjam District.

69. The Union Government has decided to rename Ross, Neil and Havelock islands of Andaman as
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island, Shaheed Dweep, and Swaraj Dweep, respectively.

70. Prime Minister recently released a commemorative stamp and coin on the Paika Rebellion
at the IIT, Bhubaneshwar campus. He also announced setting up of a chair on the Paika Rebellion, in
Utkal University, Bhubaneswar.

71. The union government released a commemorative coin worth Rs 100 in honour of former prime
minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 94th birth anniversary. Sadaiv Atal, the Samadhi of Atal Bihari
Vajpayee (near Rajghat) was dedicated to the nation on the birth anniversary (25 December,
celebrated as Good Governance day) of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

72. “A Rural Manifesto – Realising India’s Future through her Villages” authored by BJP MP
Varun Gandhi was released in Bengaluru recently.

73. Kuno, in Madhya Pradesh, was notified as ‘national park’.

International
74. Turkmenistan (Capital: Ashgabat, Currency: Manat) where social media sites including Facebook
and WhatsApp are banned, launched its own and the first Turkmen messaging app “BizBarde”.

75. Recently Italy’s (Capital: Rome, Currency: Euro) Mount Etna volcano erupted resulting in
numerous earthquakes and Indonesian (Capital: Jakarta, Currency: Rupiah) Mount Soputan
volcano also erupted which is one of the most active volcanoes of Indonesia.

76. Gitega has been declared as the new political capital of Burundi (Currency: Franc),
Bujumbura, the previous capital of Burundi will serve as the economic capital of the country.

77. Indian-American Shree Saini has won Miss India Worldwide 2018 title at a pageant held in New
Jersey.

78. Merriam-Webster has declared ‘Justice’ as the 2018 Word of the year. As per Merriam-Webster
the word ‘Justice’ is used in many phrases like racial justice, social justice and obstruction of justice.

79. Luxembourg (Capital: Luxembourg, Currency: Euro) became the first country to abolish all
fares on public transport by 2019.

80. Recently, Australia surpassed Qatar to become the world’s leading exporter of Liquified
Natural Gas (LNG) for the first time.

81. Mexico’s (Capital: Mexico City, Currency: Peso) Vanessa Ponce de Leon won the Miss World
2018 crown at the 68th edition of the prestigious Miss World grand event held in the Chinese city,
Sanya.

82. Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered at his country’s Istanbul consulate in October
was named Time Magazine’s “Person of the year”.

83. India has the highest number of ‘stunted’ children in the world and nearly a third of all stunted
children worldwide are to be found in India as per recently released WHO’s Global Nutrition Report,
2018. About 46.6 million children in India suffer from stunting due to poor nutrition intake in the long
term and repeated infections.

Sports
84. Madhya Pradesh batsman Ajay Rohera scored 267 unbeaten and broke the 25-year-old record
of Amol Mazumdar on his first-class debut against Hyderabad in a Ranji Trophy match in Indore.

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85. MC Mary Kom was recently honoured with “Meethoileima” title (means Outstanding Queen) by
Manipur government.

86. Steel Authority of India’s Hockey Academy wins 115th Aga Khan Gold Cup tournament by
beating Army XI Danapur in New Delhi.

87. India’s junior golfer Arjun Bhati wins US Kids Junior Golf World Championship held in Malaysia.

88. Belgium (Capital: Brussels, Currency: Euro) defeated Netherlands to win the 14th edition
(their 1st title) of Hockey WC held in Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. Belgian Arthur Van
Doren was awarded as the Best Player of the World Cup 2018.

89. PV Sindhu recently created history as she became the first Indian to win the BWF World Tour
Finals.

90. BCCI has appointed W V Raman as Indian women’s cricket team coach, he replaces Romesh
Pawar.

91. Kabaddi World Cup Winning Captain Anup Kumar announces retirement from the game.

92. Lewis Hamilton was awarded with Drivers’ Driver of the Year after claiming the 5th World
Drivers’ Championship.

93. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting became the 25th Australian cricketer to be officially
inducted into the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Hall of Fame.

94. Croatia’s (Capital: Zagreb, Currency: Kuna) football captain Luka Modric was named the Balkan
Athlete of the year beating Men’s tennis world number one player Novak Djokovic.

Obituaries
95. Legendary filmmaker and Phalke awardee, Mrinal Sen, passed away in Kolkata.

96. Night angel of Assam’ singer Dipali Borthakur passed away recently.

97. Famous Bengali poet Nirendranath Chakraborty passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal recently.

98. Classical singer Pandit Arun Bhaduri passed away recently.

99. Public Relations Officer (PRO) in the Prime Minister’s office and senior journalist Jagdish
Thakkar passed away recently.

100. Renowned historian Mushirul Hasan, passed away recently.

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Top 50 Banking and Business Affairs of December

1. Union Government has inked $31 million loan agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB)
(Headquarter: Manila, Philippines) for Infrastructure Development Investment program in Tamil
Nadu. Also, a loan agreement of $60 million was signed with the bank for financing project for
renovation, protection and community-based flood risk management activities along the
Brahmaputra river in Assam.

2. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India Rajiv Mehrishi was elected as Vice-Chair of United
Nations (UN) Panel of Auditors at its annual meeting held in New York.

3. RBI has set up a six-member expert committee, headed by its former governor Bimal Jalan,
to review the economic capital framework of the central bank i.e. to suggest how the central bank
should handle its reserves and whether it can transfer its surplus to the government.

4. The IDFC Bank (Headquarter: Mumbai) has merged completely with the non-banking financial
company Capital First into a new entity to be called as IDFC First Bank.

5. OBOPAY, the global financial technology company, announced the launch of a new generation
pre-payment instrument called- OBOPAY Card-in partnership with Federal Bank and Mastercard.

6. RBI has decided to have “rule-based dynamic limit” for total Outstanding External Commercial
Borrowings (ECBs) to 6.5% of GDP.

7. Union government has constituted a seven-member panel to select managing directors of public
sector insurance companies. The panel would be headed by Banks Board Bureau (BBB) chairman B
P Sharma.

8. To decrease the transaction cost and enhance the ease of doing business, Central Board of Indirect
taxes and Customs (CBIC) recently notified the Korean Won and Turkish Lira in the list of
currencies for exchange rate. This takes the total currencies in the list to 20.

9. ESAF Small Finance Bank (headquarters: Thrissur, Kerala) has received the RBI approval to
operate as a scheduled bank. Now five scheduled banks operate from Kerala other four are Federal
Bank, South Indian Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank, and Dhanlaxmi Bank.

10. RBI has shortlisted six major IT companies, TCS, Wipro, IBM-India, Capgemini Technology
Services India, Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India, and Mindtree Ltd. to set up digital Public
Credit Registry (PCR) to capture details of all borrowers and willful defaulters.

11. Punjab National Bank (PNB) (Headquarter: New Delhi) in collaboration with Uttar Pradesh
government launched a special card called PNB Rupay card, for Kumbh Mela 2019.

12. RBI launched a ‘Survey on Retail Payment Habits of Individuals (SRPHi)’ in 6 cities- New
Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Guwahati to capture payment habits of individuals and
this will provide some idea about awareness and usage habits of digital payment products.

13. As per recently released Public Enterprises Survey 2017-18, Indian Oil Corporation, ONGC,
and NTPC were the top three most profitable PSUs in 2017-18.

14. According to report - “In the Dark: How Much Do Power Sector Distortions Cost South Asia,” India’s
power sector has an “efficiency” gap that costs the Indian economy 4.13% of GDP a year, equivalent to
$86 billion in the fiscal year 2016.

15. According to Bloomberg, with the market capitalization valued at Rs 10.40 lakh crores, Deepak
Parekh-led HDFC group overtook Tata Group become the country’s largest conglomerate.

16. During Bhutanese (Capital: Thimpu, Currency: Ngultrum) PM Dr. Lotay Tshering’s recent visit to
India, India announced to provide grant assistance of INR 4500 crores towards Bhutan’s 12th
Five Year Plan. Also, recently India has decided to give USD 1.4 billion aid to the island nation
of Maldives (Capital: Male, Currency: Rufiyaa).

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17. Reserve Bank of India has cleared a proposal to give existing Rs 1000- crore corpus to Small
Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for funding microfinance institutions (MFIs).

18. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) (Headquarter: Beijing, China) had approved a $400
million loan for a Water Sanitation Project in Andhra Pradesh.

19. Union Government has raised its contribution to National Pension System (NPS) for its
employees from 10% to 14%. Government also has decided to make NPS fully tax free.

20. Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) announced extension of credit facility of USD 500
million to Tanzania (Capital: Dodoma, Currency: Shilling) for water supply projects in the country.

21. Asian Development Bank in its Outlook Supplement has retained India’s growth forecast at
7.3% for current fiscal (FY – 19) and 7.6% in the following fiscal (FY – 20).

22. Jana Small Finance Bank (Headquarter: Bengaluru) in association with the Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI) has launched Jana Bankable Debit Card.

23. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced creation of a 12-member committee of
senior officials chaired by S K Dash for a fresh cadre review and restructuring of the Income Tax
Department

24. IRDAI, has decided to cover its customers under standalone compulsory personal accident
(CPA) from January 1, 2019. Also, in a recent decision IRDAI, had raised the minimum insurance
cover for owner-driver to Rs 15 lakh from Rs. 1 lakh for an annual premium of Rs 750.

25. National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) partnered with IIT-Madras
to provide re-skilling/upskilling of four million people on digital skills.

26. Paisabazaar.com and Karnataka Bank entered into a partnership to offer the bank’s home
loan product to customers on the Paisabazaar’s platform.

27. IMF announced that global debt has reached an all-time high of USD 184 trillion. According
to the statement, more than half of the global debt is being borne by 3 countries- the United States,
China and Japan.

28. European Parliament approved a free trade agreement between Japan and the EU, covering 635
million people and almost one-third of the world’s economy in one of ‘world’s largest’ free trade deal.

29. Pakistan government approved the issuance of “Panda Bonds” in Chinese currency.

30. As per RBI’s ‘Trends & Progress of Banking in 2017-18’ report, system-wide Gross Non-
Performing Assets (GNPA) of banks rose to 11.2% or at Rs 10.39 trillion in FY18 from 9.3% in FY-
17.

31. As per financial Services Secretary, Rajiv Kumar, Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) of Public
sector bank has gone up from 46.04 percent as of March 2015 to 66.85 percent as of September
2018, PCR gives an indication of the provision made against bad loans from the profit generated. Higher
the PCR, lower is the unexposed part of the bad debt.

32. World Bank has unveiled US $200 billion in climate action investment for 2021 to 2025 to
fight impact of climate change.

33. Consultancy firm Bain & Company’s latest report states that, India has the fastest growing online
retail market among top global economies. India had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 53%
from 2013 to 2017.

34. FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) approves the merger with GlaxoSmithKline
Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH India) through an-all equity deal, valuing the total business of the
latter at 31,700 crores.

35. HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company and Federal Bank, announced tie-up for the distribution of
HDFC ERGO’s range of non-life insurance offerings to the customers of the bank through its network
branches.

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36. RBI retained its earlier prediction of GDP i.e. GDP growth for the year 2018-19 would be 7.4%.
Also, GDP of first quarter of the next financial year 2019-2020 is projected to be 7.5%.

Repo Rate: 6.5 per cent.

Reverse repo rate: 6.25%

Marginal Standing Facility stands: 6.75%.

Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR): 19.5%

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): 4%.

37. According to World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief, India will retain its position as
world’s top recipient of remittances in 2018, receiving a total remittance of $80 billion from its
diaspora.

38. ICICI Securities (I-Sec), a brokerage firm, launched the ‘e-ATM’ instant fund credit feature
to enable real-time payments in bank accounts upon selling stocks in Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The payment is made directly to the bank accounts to within 30 minutes and the limit is Rs. 50,000 per
client per day.

39. RBI recently made Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) code mandatory for all market transactions
regulated by it. The LEI is a 20-character unique identity code assigned to entities who are parties
to a financial transaction.

40. European Central Bank (ECB) launched a new pan-European smartphone payment system
called TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) in Rome.

41. RBI increased the interest subsidy, called the Interest Equalisation Rate, to 5 per cent from 3
per cent on post and pre-shipment export credit for MSME sector to boost the exports in the MSME
sector.

42. RBI announced the date of implementation of the Net Stable Funding Ration (NSFR) norms
to be from April 1, 2020. The ratio is defined as the amount of available stable funding (ASF) in relation
to the amount of required stable funding (RSF). ASF is defined as the portion of capital and liabilities
expected to be reliable over a year.

43. According to EY FinTech Adoption Index, India has the second highest FinTech adoption
rate among digitally active consumers at 52 percent, only second to China at 69 percent.

44. Fitch Ratings, in its report- Global Economic Outlook, slashed India’s GDP growth forecast
to 7.2 per cent for current fiscal.

45. Lalit Kumar, a 1995-batch Indian Economic Service (IES) officer has been nominated by the
government as its nominee on private sector ICICI Bank.

46. Central Statistics Office (CSO) recent report shows that Indian economy grew at 7.1 per cent
in the second quarter (July-September) of 2018-19.

47. State Bank of India has roped in Asian Games gold medallist Swapna Barman (associated with
the game Heptathlon) as brand ambassador for its digital app YONO (You only need one).

48. In a recent estimate Moody’s expects the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India to be
7.2 per cent in FY – 19 and 7.4 per cent in the next fiscal.

49. ICICI Bank projected the GDP to increase to 7.4% in 2019-20. Its growth forecast for FY2019
is at 7.2 mainly due to slow consumption.

50. As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s latest report India’s current account deficit (CAD) widened
to 2.9% of the GDP in the July-September quarter of the current fiscal.

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IMPORTANT BANKING AND FINANCE ABBREVIATIONS IN
NEWS
ABBREVIATION FULL-FORM & EXPLANATION
PCR Public Credit Registry
A public credit registry is an
information repository that collates
all loan information of individuals
and corporate borrowers. A credit
repository helps banks distinguish
between a bad and a good
borrower.
PCE Partial Credit Enhancement
Credit enhancement is a method
whereby a company attempts to
improve its debt or credit
worthiness.
The purpose of PCE bonds issued is
to refinance any existing debts of
NBFCs/HFCs.
LCR Liquidity Coverage Ratio
LCR refers to highly liquid assets
held by financial institutions to
meet short-term obligations.
ECB External Commercial Borrowings
ECB is basically a loan availed by an
Indian entity from a non-resident
lender.
NSFR Net Stable Funding Ratio
The NSFR is defined as the amount
of available stable funding relative
to the amount of required stable
funding.
LEI Legal Entity Identifier
LEI is a code of 20 characters
assigned to entities who are parties
to a financial transaction.
PCR Provision Coverage Ratio
PCR gives an indication of the
provision made against bad loans
from the profit generated. Higher
the PCR, lower is the unexposed
part of the bad debt.
CAD Current Account Deficit
CAGR Compound Annual Growth Rate
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WHY in NEWS?
RBI has shortlisted six major IT
companies- TCS, Wipro
Capgemini Technology Services
India, Dun & Bradstreet
Information Services India and
Mindtree Ltd and IBM India, to
set up a digital PCR for capturing
details of all borrowers and wilful
defaulters.
RBI recently allowed banks to
provide PCE to bonds issued by
the systemically important non-
deposit taking non-banking
financial companies (NBFC-ND-
SIs).
RBI increased the Facility to
Avail Liquidity for Liquidity
Coverage Ratio (FALLCR) from
the existing 11% to 13% of
NDTL, essentially implying that
banks can now dip into
government bonds held under
SLR to the extent of 15 %of
NDTL, which will ease up
liquidity pressure.
RBI has reduced the mandatory
hedging provision to 70 per cent
from 100 per cent to ease the
ECB norms.
RBI announced the date of
implementation of the Net
Stable Funding Ration (NSFR)
norms to be from April 1, 2020.
RBI recently made LEI code
mandatory for all market
transactions regulated by it.
As per financial Services
Secretary, Rajiv Kumar, PCR of
Public sector bank has gone up
from 46.04 percent as of March
2015 to 66.85 percent as of
September 2018.
As per RBI’s latest report India’s
CAD widened to 2.9% of the GDP
in the July-September quarter of
the current fiscal.
India has the fastest growing
online retail market among top
global economies. India had a
CAGR of 53% from 2013 to
2017.
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IRAC Income Recognition & Asset RBI recently penalised some

Classification banks like J&K Bank, Deutsche
It means that the banks should Bank, South Indian Bank etc for
recognise each borrowal account violating IRAC norms.
subject to its income generation
and accordingly classify the
accounts.
TReDs Trade Receivables e-Discounting Under Government’s support
System and outreach initiative for
It is an online electronic MSMEs sector companies with a
institutional mechanism for turnover more than Rs. 500
facilitating the financing of trade crores, to be brought on the
receivables of micro, small and TReDS platform. Also, recently
medium enterprises (MSME) Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL)
through multiple financiers. has become the first public
sector enterprise to make a
transaction on the "TReDS
platform".
ETP Electronic Trading Platforms As per RBI any entity wanting to
Trading on electronic platforms is operate as an ETP, has to obtain
being encouraged across the world the permission of the RBI and
as it enhances pricing must also possess and maintain
transparency, processing efficiency a minimum net-worth of Rs 5
and risk control. crore at all times.
ETPs enable better market
surveillance and, therefore,
discourages market abuse and
unfair trading practices.
VRR Voluntary Retention Route Under VRR route, a foreign
portfolio investor will be required
to invest a minimum of 67% of
the committed portfolio size
within the one-month period.
After this FPIs will be eligible to
invest in any government
security, corporate debt
instruments, including
commercial papers.
LoC Line of Credit Recently India has decided to
A LoC is an arrangement between a extend LoC of $200 million to
financial institution – usually a bank Uzbekistan through Exim Bank.
– and a customer that establishes
the maximum loan amount the
customer can borrow.
MOPAD Multi Option Payment Acceptance State Bank of India launched a
Device payments machine called
MOPAD.
NFS National Financial Switch Sarvatra Technologies has
National Financial Switch is the launched ‘Sevalia Urban Co-
largest network of shared operative Bank’ as 450th co-
automated teller machines in India. operative bank on National
Financial Switch NFS.
MFIs Micro Finance Institutions RBI has cleared a proposal to
Micro Finance Institution is an give existing Rs 1000- crore
organization that offers financial corpus to Small Industries
services to low income populations. Development Bank of India
(SIDBI) for funding MFIs.

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India’s Rank in various recent Indices (September-

December)
Index Rank Comment
Misperception Index 12th Thailand was ranked first
Gender Gap Index 108th Iceland topped the rankings
2018 by World
Economic Forum
Global Carbon Project, 4th (7% of total Top three emitters-China (27%), the US
highest Carbon emissions) (15%), the European Union (10%)
Dioxide emitter
Climate Change 11th No countries were in the top three ranks
Performance Index because none did well in all categories
2019 assessed, Sweden was ranked fourth
Global Passport Power 68th UAE topped
Rank 2018
WIPO’s World 10th The number of patents granted by India
Intellectual Property shot up by 50% in 2017
Indicators 2018 report
Expedia Vacation 1st India is now officially the most vacation
Deprivation Report deprived country in the world.
2018
Global talent ranking, 53rd Switzerland topped the rankings
IMD Business School,
Switzerland
Which? Travel; safest 17th Iceland is the safest country to visit
country to visit
World Bank’s latest 77th New Zealand topped the rankings
Ease of Doing Business
2019 report
Report on web-borne 12th
threats by
cybersecurity
company, Kaspersky
Lab.
Henley and Partners’ 81st Japan has the best passport as per the
annual passport index index
Brand Finance’s 9th USA has the most brand value
annual Nation Brands
2018 report
World Economic Forum 58th USA has topped the rankings
(WEF)’s Index on Most
Competitive Economy
for 2018.
Global Passport Index 66th Singapore topped the rankings
2018 Global Hunger 103rd
Index
Oxfam World 147th
inequality index
RTI rating by Access 6th Afghanistan topped the rankings
Info Europe
World Bank’s Human 115th Singapore topped the rankings
Capital Index
Cigarette Package 5th
Health Warnings:
International Status
Report 2018
Government e- 28th Norway topped the rankings
Payments Adoption
Ranking (GEAR)

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Economic Freedom in 96th Hong Kong and Singapore again topped the
the World by Centre index
for Civil Society (CCS)
Institute of Health 158th Finland topped the rankings
Metrics and Evaluation
report on investments
in education and
healthcare.
human development 130 Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland and
rankings by United Germany led the ranking
Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)
Nuclear Security Index 19th Australia and Switzerland were joint first
by Nuclear Threat
Initiative (NTI)

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NATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING AUTHORITY (NFRA)

What is NFRA?

NFRA is an independent regulator for the auditing profession. NFRA is one of the key changes brought in
by the Companies Act, 2013. It began operations on October 01, 2018.

What is its structure?

The regulator consists of a Chairperson, three full time members and nine part-time members. Former
IAS officer Sridhar Rangachari, was appointed its first chairperson recently.

Chairperson and full-time members would be selected through a search-cum-selection committee headed
by Cabinet Secretary.

Why was it required?

In recent times, we saw multiple scams hitting the corporate world/ Banking world. Nirav Modi case,
instantly comes to our mind.

A need for establishing an audit regulator in the wake of such accounting scams was genuinely felt, a
task which was till now being performed by the self-regulatory body, ICAI.

This led to the new Companies Act 2013 introducing a clause (Section 132) allowing the central
government to set up the NFRA as a quasi-judicial body to regulate aspects of accounting and auditing.

What are its powers and functions?

The introduction of NFRA basically means that there will now be a clear separation of the regulator from
those regulated.

It will have the power to review, inspect, investigate, and oversee the quality of service of the certified
accounting professionals. Moreover, it will have the power to recommend penal actions against auditors
for lapses of duties as well as debar an audit member or a firm.

Now, auditors will have to file an annual return with the NFRA on or before 30th April every year.

The NFRA will regulate accounting and audit standards and quality of service of auditors of:

• All companies whose securities are listed in India or outside.

• Unlisted companies with a paid-up capital of not less than Rs 500 crore or an annual turnover of
not less than Rs 1,000 crore.
• Also, companies having outstanding loans, debentures and deposits of not less than Rs 500 crore
as on March 31 of immediately preceding financial year.
• Insurance companies, banking companies and companies engaged in the generation or supply of
electricity.
• Large offshore subsidiaries and associates of the above companies if their income or net worth
exceeds 20 percent of the income or net worth of the parent companies.

Other important Points

1. Recently a committee headed by Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Shri Sudhanshu
Pandey, was formed in accordance to the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of
S. Sukumar versus The Secretary, ICAI.

2. The committee also found establishment of the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) as
a necessary institutional reform which would align the Indian audit landscape with the global position.

3. Now after the constitution of NFRA, India is eligible to become a member of the International
Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR).

4. Now since there is a separate body for regulating, now, ICAI will be able to pay more attention to
educating and training current and future members.

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5. The decision is expected to result in improved foreign/domestic investments, enhancement of

economic growth, supporting the globalisation of business by meeting international practices, and
assist in further development of audit profession.

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