Current Affairs 29th March

National Affairs

1. The Committee to Monitor Tur’s Stock Disclosure was established by DoCA; Led by Nidhi Khare

A committee has been established by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution (MoCAF&PD) to keep an eye on the Tur (Arhar) stock held by importers, millers, traders, and other similar organizations. Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary at DoCA, will preside over it.

This monitoring will be done with the help of state governments.

 

Why was this committee established?

 

In response to reports that market participants have been holding onto stocks despite consistent import arrivals in substantial quantities, this decision has been made. Tur prices went up as a result of this.

 

The all-Indian daily average retail price of Tur was Rs 114.44 per kg on March 27, 2023, an increase of 11.47 percent from March 2022.

 

The all-Indian average daily wholesale price of Tur was Rs 10,462.03 per quintal, an increase of 12.48 percent from March 2022.

 

Key Points:

 

This committee highlights the government’s efforts to combat hoarding and unethical market speculation and to keep Tur prices under control in the coming months.

 

It is important to note that on August 12, 2022, the government issued an advisory to the States/Union Territories (UTs) to enforce stock disclosure for Tur in accordance with the Essential Commodities Act of 1955.

 

Additionally, the government has eliminated the 10% duty that applies to Tur imports from countries other than LDCs (Least Developed Countries), as the duty creates procedural obstacles even for zero-duty imports from LDCs.

 

2. MeitY forms a nine-member task force to transform India into a “nation of product developers and manufacturers.”

In Walk 2023, the Service of Hardware and Data Innovation (MeitY) has

comprised a 9-part team led by Bhuvnesh Kumar, Extra Secretary

(MeitY), to make India an ‘item designer and assembling country’.

Concerning the Task Force:

 

Beyond the ambitious Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, the task force investigates ways to deepen domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing and chart the local production story.

 

In two months, the task force will submit its recommendations.

 

Participants in the task force:

Chairperson: Member convenor:

 

• Bhuvnesh Kumar, Additional Secretary (MeitY) Members include Amitesh Kumar Sinha, joint Secretary (Electronics).

 

• HCL Infosystems founder Ajai Chowdhry;

 

• Dixon Technologies (India) Limited Chairman Sunil Vachani and Lava International Limited Chairman and Managing Director Hari Om Rai

 

• President of Engineering at VVDN Technologies, Vivek Bansal;

 

• Boat Lifestyle co-founder Aman Gupta and Tejas Networks managing director Sanjay Nayak and Vivek Tyagi, the Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Association’s Chairperson.

 

Plan for PLI:

 

In 2020, the PLI scheme for smartphone manufacturing, which cost Rs 36,000 crore, was launched by the Indian government.

 

Global smartphone manufacturers like Foxconn (the Apple contact manufacturer), Wistron, Pegatron, and Samsung, as well as Indian businesses like Dixon Technologies, Lava International, and others, have joined the scheme.

 

In 2021, the Association Bureau of India has likewise endorsed the PLI conspire for White

Products (Forced air systems and Drove lights), to be executed from FY 2021-22 to FY

2028-2029 with an expense of Rs 6238 crore.

 

The PLI plot for White Products is intended to make the air conditioner and Drove Lights

industry in India and make India an essential piece of the worldwide store network.

 

For a period of five years following the base year and one year of gestation, the plan provides an incentive ranging from 6% to 4% of incremental sales.

3. AAR of Gujarat: 71% compensation tax and 28% GST on tobacco sold in gunny bags

Tobacco coated with natural edible gum and sold in personalized gunny bags would be subject to 28% Goods and Services Tax (GST) and 71% compensation cess, according to a ruling from the Gujarat Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR).

 

The decision was made in an application filed by JCP Agro Process (Private) Ltd., which sells farmers’ unprocessed tobacco.

 

Details:

 

AAR stated that the post-coating process does not produce any new products.

 

These items will be subject to 28% GST as raw tobacco leaves that have not been manufactured.

 

The gum-coated tobacco leaves that are provided to customers in personalized gunny bags would be subject to a compensation cess of 71%. Key Points:

 

AAR has also stated that businesses will be subject to a 5% GST on the Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) when they purchase tobacco leaves from farmers.

 

RCM is used to impose GST on buyers when the sellers are unregistered entries, whereas GST is typically imposed on goods sellers.

 

The AAR emphasized that if registered entities perform the “job work” of coating tobacco leaves, they would be subject to 12% GST.

 

Note:

 

The various forms of tobacco or tobacco leaves are subject to varying rates of GST.

 

Loss of compensation:

 

The compensation cess is added to the amount of GST that is applied to a specific supply. The purpose of the compensation cess is to compensate the state that will lose money as a result of the introduction of GST.

 

Section 8 of the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act of 2017 specifies how compensation cess is collected.

International Affairs

1. Faster Reforms Can Give a Boost to India Growth: World Bank

In its report titled “Falling long-term growth prospects: The report Trends, Expectations, and Policies emphasized that the government’s ambitious reform agenda can accelerate India’s potential economic growth. Additionally, it offered suggestions for the banking and infrastructure sectors.

 

Key Points:

 

It prescribes to carry out changes pointed toward smoothing out the capability of Public

Area Banks (PSBs), advancing reasonableness inside the financial area, and cultivating the

development of capital business sectors.

 

In terms of infrastructure, it recommended putting into action the reforms that the Task Force on National Infrastructure Pipeline had proposed as well as enhancing contract enforcement, dispute resolution, and financing.

 

India’s investment growth slowed from an annual average of 10.5% between 2000 and 2010 to 5.7% between 2011 and 21.

Since 2010, India’s potential growth has been estimated to be 6-8% annually.

 

Since increasing female labor force participation has the potential to boost GDP growth by 1.2 percentage points annually from 2022 to 2030, the South Asian region should implement the recommendation.

 

Restrictive labor laws in India hinder the adoption of new technologies and reduce manufacturing productivity by limiting employment opportunities for women.

In the years 2021-22, India’s female labor force participation slightly increased to 32.8%.

 

It anticipates that between 2022 and 2030, global GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth will average 2.2% per year, and that developing country growth will slow to 4% from 6% between 2000 and 2010.

2. G20 Expert Group on Strengthening Multilateral Development Banks

Under the auspices of India’s G20 Presidency, on March 28, 2023, a Group of Twenty (G20) Expert Group on Strengthening Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) was established to ensure that MDBs are equipped to finance a wide range of sustainable development goals (SDGs) as well as transboundary challenges.

 

Before June 30, 2023, the expert group will submit its report to the Indian G20 presidency.

 

The Expert Group’s Goals:

 

The master gathering will set up a guide for a refreshed MDB biological system for the

21st hundred years. In order to better equip MDBs to finance a wide range of SDG and transboundary challenges, the roadmap will include milestones and timelines that address aspects of its evolution, such as its operational approaches and financial capacity.

 

Taking into account the additional capacity that can be derived from the Capital Adequacy Frameworks (CAF) recommendations as well as other sources like funds from the private sector and the public sector, the expert group will evaluate various estimates regarding the scale of funding required by and from the MDBs to address the increased financing needs for SDG and transboundary challenges.

 

Mechanisms for MDBs to work together to better address and finance global development and other issues.

 

Composition of the Expert Group:

 

Co-convenors:

 

Emeritus Harvard University President Lawrence Summers, Professor

Singh NK: Former Chairperson of the Fifteenth Finance Commission of India and President of the Institute of Economic Growth.

 

Members:

 

First, Tharman Shanmugarathnam: Senior minister with the Singaporean government.

 

Maria Ramirez: Former Director-General of South Africa’s National Treasury and Chair of AngloGold Ashanti

 

Fraga of Arminio: Pioneer, Co-CIO Flexible investments and Confidential Value, Gávea

Investimentos and previous Lead representative, National Bank of Brazil.

 

Professor Nick Stern: London School of Economics’ IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government

 

Justin Yifu Lin versus Former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank as well as Professor and Honorary Dean of Peking University’s National School of Development.

 

Rachel Knight: Former Vice-President of the World Bank and Dean of Tufts University’s Fletcher School of International Affairs.

 

Songwe Vera: Former Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa and non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in the Africa Growth Initiative.

3. GTI 2023 by IEP: Afghanistan Most Impacted by Terrorism for Fourth Straight Year, India Ranks 13th

Afghanistan remained the nation most affected by terrorism for the fourth consecutive year, despite assaults and fatalities decreasing by 75% and 58%, respectively, according to the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP)’s Global Terrorism Index 2023.

 

IEP is a non-partisan, independent, and non-profit think tank whose goal is to refocus the world’s attention on peace as a positive, doable, and measurable indicator of human progress and well-being. Its main office is in Sydney, Australia.

 

India came in at number 13, and it was one of the nations with a “high” impact from terrorism.

 

2023 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) The GTI’s tenth edition, GTI 2023, provides a comprehensive summary of the most important global terrorism trends and patterns over the past ten years.

 

The GTI score is determined by weighing terrorist-related incidents, hostage situations, and deaths over a five-year period.

Banking and Finance

1. IDFC First Bank partners Crunchfish to Demonstrate Offline Retail Payments

IDFC First Bank and Crunchfish, a Swedish company, collaborated to pilot a project to demonstrate offline retail payments on March 27, 2023. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) pilot project to enable offline payments will include IDFC First Bank.

 

Using a Digital Cash platform, this pilot project will demonstrate offline retail payments that provide access to digital payments even when there is no network.

 

By facilitating the acceptance of digital payments without the need for a network, this innovation will accelerate financial inclusion in remote areas.

 

Background:

 

This disconnected advanced installment arrangement was planned by Crunchfish as ‘Computerized Money

 

SDK’, for shippers and clients under the RBI’s Administrative Sandbox Program. Under the regulatory facility, HDFC Bank became the first bank to implement “OfflinePay,” a digital payment solution that operates entirely offline, in February 2023.

 

Notably, after receiving approval in September 2022, HDFC Bank has begun the pilot in partnership with Crunchfish, IDFC Bank, and M2P Fintech as part of the RBI’s regulatory sandbox program.

 

Present Situation:

 

Presently, RBI has supported the application to exhibit disconnected installments between IDFC First Bank and HDFC Bank. Additionally, a non-commercial Development and Demonstration Agreement has been signed to grant IDFC First Bank access to the Digital Cash SDK.

A Software License Agreement will set the commercial terms for deployment.

2. SEBI Extends Timelines for Submission of ‘Choice of Nomination’ by existing Trading and Demat Accounts Until September 30, 2023 

The capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has extended the deadline for existing investors with trading and demat accounts to September 30, 2023, instead of March 31, 2023.

 

The giving of a nomination or making a declaration to opt out of a nomination is included in the choice of nomination details.

 

After September 30, 2023, accounts with no report on assignment will be frozen

for exchange and charges.

 

The evaluation of the trading and demat accounts for which the nomination has not been updated and the representations received from the stakeholders have been the basis for the decision.

 

Background: In July 2021, the SEBI instructed all current eligible trading and demat account holders to provide their preferred nomination by March 31, 2022, or else the accounts would be frozen for debits.

 

A further year was added to this, until March 31, 2023.

 

Stock brokers who opted out of nomination on behalf of their clients without their consent were recently warned by India’s largest depository, the National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL), which manages demat assets worth more than Rs 300 trillion.

 

Key Points:

 

In order to update the choice of nomination, stock brokers have been instructed to communicate with their clients on a fortnightly basis via email and text message.

 

In addition, stock exchanges and depositories are required to examine the efforts made by trading members and depository participants for updates on their clients’ “choice of nomination” and provide a report in this regard monthly, seven days after the month’s end.

 

By May 7, 2023, the first such report for the month of April 2023 must be submitted.

3. CRIF Connect Private gets RBI license to Operate as NBFC Account Aggregator 

The CRIF Interface Private, an auxiliary of Bologna(Italy)- based CRIF S.P.A, has

gotten the Save Bank of India’s (RBI) endorsement to begin tasks as an

Non-Banking Monetary Organization (NBFC) Record Aggregator (AA).

 

CRIF Associate is particularly situated to help the two shoppers and monetary

establishments with CRIF’s heritage, information, and experience.

 

It is an end-to-end encrypted platform that, in accordance with guidelines approved by the 

RBI, securely collects and transfers a customer’s financial data among financial institutions with their explicit consent, making data sharing extremely secure.

 

The CRIF Associate application will be accessible on the web and on cell phones.

 

Through the CRIF Associate Application, clients can see all their monetary data in

one spot and to tweak the data they need to impart to the monetary

foundation continuously.

 

More than 82,000 businesses and 10 lakh customers use the services.

4. J&K Bank signs Corporate Agency Agreement With Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance

One of India’s leading insurance companies, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company, has entered into a corporate agency agreement with Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Bank. The bank will be able to sell Bajaj Allianz life insurance starting on April 1, 2023, thanks to the agreement.

 

Narjay Gupta, General Manager and Vertical Head (Cross Selling) for J&K Bank, and Dheeraj Sehgal, Chief Distribution Officer (Institutional Business) for Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company in Pune, Maharashtra, signed the corporate agency agreement.

 

J&K Bank Executive Director Sudhir Gupta attended the signing of the agreement.

Science and Technology

1. With 550 hours of video and audio content, the IGNCA launches the Vedic Heritage Portal.

The Vedic Heritage Portal of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) was launched by Amit Shah, Union Minister of Home Affairs, and G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism. A repository of vedic knowledge and practice from across India is housed in the portal, which was built over the course of seven years at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore.

Varying media recording of around 18000 mantras from the 4 Vedas are posted

online at the Vedic Legacy gateway.

 

Objective: to use technology to preserve knowledge from ancient manuscripts and scriptures for future generations.

 

As a center for research, academic pursuit, and dissemination in the field of the arts, IGNCA was established in 1987 as an independent institution under the Ministry of Culture.

 

Additionally, the IGNCA intends to establish a museum devoted to yajna-related vessels and other Vedic implements.