Banking & Economy August 2023

Twitter renamed to X, iconic blue bird replaced with new logo

Twitter has been renamed to X. The social media platform’s iconic blue bird logo was replaced with the new logo of X. The new logo depicting a white ‘X’ on a black background was also unveiled. Earlier, the site’s billionaire owner Elon Musk also announced that the url x.com will now redirect to Twitter.com.

Twitter:

Founded: March 21, 2006
Founders: Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, Evan Williams
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Amazon invests $120 mn to build satellite processing hub in US

World Bank okays $1. 5 bn financing for India’s low carbon transmission

The World Bank has cleared $1. 5 billion financing to accelerate India’s low carbon transition. The funding will incentivise India’s transition towards low-carbon energy by scaling up renewable energy, developing green hydrogen and stimulating climate finance for low-carbon energy investments. The programme will support the successful implementation of the National Green Hydrogen Mission that aims to stimulate $100 billion in private sector investment by 2030. The lowcarbon hydrogen energy is produced by electrolysis of water powered by renewable energy.

World Bank:

Established: July 7, 1944
Headquarters: Washington, D. C. , U. S.
President: Ajay Banga
MD: Axel van Trotsenburg
MD and CFO: Anshula Kant
Chief Economist: Indermit Gill

SBI to set up new trustee company for managing the CDMDF

State Bank of India will set up a new trustee company as its wholly-owned subsidiary for managing the Corporate Debt Market Development Fund (CDMDF). SBI Funds Management Ltd (SBIFML), the asset management company (AMC) of SBI Mutual Fund, has been identified as the investment managercum-sponsor of CDMDF. SBI has a 62. 53 percent stake in SBI Funds Management Ltd. The fund will act as a safety net to buy high-quality corporate debts when the bond market gets stress. This will make investors feel more secure. It will also improve the trading of these debts by setting up a system that can step in and help during tough market situations.

State Bank of India:

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Chairman: Dinesh Kumar Khara
CFO: Kameshwar Rao Kodavanti

Bank of India becomes first bank to offer Mahila Samman Savings Certificate Bank of India has become the first bank to officially roll out Mahila Samman Savings Certificate (MSSC) scheme. The account will mature after two years from the date of opening. Accounts under this scheme can be opened until March 31, 2025. The scheme offers an interest rate of 7. 5% per annum, compounded quarterly. Individual girls or women can open an account under the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate scheme or a guardian can open an account on behalf of a minor girl. While the minimum investment is Rs 1,000, any sum in multiples of Rs 100 can be deposited, up to a maximum limit of Rs 2 lakh. Individuals can open multiple accounts with a gap of three months between each account, subject to the overall investment cap of Rs 2 lakh.

Bank of India:

Founded: 7 September 1906
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
MD & CEO: Rajneesh Karnatak

IDFC First Bank Announces Merger with IDFC Ltd

IDFC First Bank Limited’s board has given its approval for the merger of IDFC Limited with IDFC First Bank. The proposed merger will consolidate the two entities into a single institution and simplify the corporate structure. The announcement comes just days after the $40 billion merger between HDFC and HDFC Bank.

The share exchange ratio for the merger has been set at 155 equity shares of IDFC First Bank for every 100 equity shares of IDFC Limited.

IDFC First Bank:

Founded: October 2015
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
MD & CEO: V. Vaidyanathan

SBI launches interoperable cardless cash withdrawal through ATM

The largest public sector lender, State Bank of India (SBI) revamped its digital banking application ‘YONO for Every Indian’ and further launched Interoperable Cardless Cash Withdrawal (ICCW) facilities. The facility was launched by SBI as part of the 68th Bank Day celebrations. Further, under the Interoperable Cardless Cash Withdrawal facility, both the customers of SBI and other banks can withdraw cash seamlessly from ICCW-enabled ATMs of any bank by using the ‘UPI QR Cash’ functionality. Also, in the interoperable facility, the transaction will be facilitated through a single-use dynamic QR code displayed on the ATM screen. Users can conveniently withdraw cash by employing the Scan and Pay feature available on their UPI application.

HDFC Ltd merge into HDFC Bank

The merger of India’s largest housing finance company, the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), and the largest lender by market cap, HDFC Bank, is effective from July 1. Adding the market capitalisation (mcap) of both the entities, the combined value would be around Rs 14. 7 lakh crore. This would make HDFC Bank the fourth largest bank in the world in terms of mcap, moving ahead of the likes of Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. The bank already has the largest mcap among all Indian banks. Following the completion of the merger, it would also have second largest mcap behind Reliance Industries.HDFC was founded in 1977 under the leadership of HT Parekh, also known as Hasmukhbhai.

HDFC Bank:

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India,
Chairman: Atanu Chakraborty
CEO: Sashidhar Jagdishan

World Bank approves $391 million for Assam, Tripura

The World Bank’s Board of executive directors approved a total of $391 million investment to improve access to high-quality healthcare services and boost economic opportunities for Assam and Tripura. The World Bank’s (WB) focus in Assam will be improving the health sector while in Tripura, road infrastructure and adding technology boost to agriculture are in the pipeline. The $251 million variable spread loan for Assam and $140 million loan for Tripura are from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), administered by WB, with a maturity of 10. 5 years, including a five-year grace period.

S&P retains India’s growth projection at 6% for FY24

S&P Global Ratings retained India’s GDP growth forecast at 6 per cent saying it will be the fastest growing economy among Asia Pacific nations. In its quarterly economic update for Asia-Pacific, S&P Global Ratings forecasted the same growth for Vietnam and the Philippines alongside India. In its latest report, S&P has kept the GDP growth forecast for India unchanged for the current and the next fiscal, FY25 partly on account of domestic resilience. S&P said retail inflation is likely to soften to five percent this fiscal from 6. 7 percent, and the RBI is expected to cut interest rates only early next year. S&P has lowered the growth forecast for China to 5. 2 percent from 5. 5 percent for 2023.

S&P Global Ratings:

Founder: Henry Varnum Poor
Headquarters: New York, U. S.
President: John Berisford

Infosys signs ₹3,700-crore deal with Denmark’s Danske Bank

India’s second-largest IT services firm Infosys said it has been selected by Denmark-based Danske Bank as a partner to accelerate the lender’s digital transformation. The deal is valued at $454 million (over ₹3,700 crore) for five years. Infosys will also acquire the bank’s IT centre in India, where more than 1,400 professionals are employed. Infosys will collaborate with Danske Bank to strengthen their core business with greater digital, cloud and data capabilities. The announcement comes a week after bigger rival TCS bagged a $1. 1 billion deal from UK’s NEST.

Infosys:

Infosys is the second-largest Indian IT company, after Tata Consultancy Services

Founded: 2 July 1981
Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Chairman: Nandan Nilekani
MD & CEO: Salil Parekh

Tags: August-2023