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Standards) Convention). India is a signatory in these conventions. -Business Line Hundreds of employees of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on Friday took out a protest rally against the proposed divestment of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of the steel- maker. The protestors demanded that the Centre withdraw its proposal and save the steel plant as it is one of the biggest and profitable public sector undertakings in the state. The Union Cabinet had cleared the privatisation of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), DIPAM (Department of Investment & Public Asset Management) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted on February 3. -Economic Times       -06-02-2021 *(Compiled by Canara Bank Officers' Union-Team Kerala- affiliated to All India Bank Officers' Association)*

The RBI has decided to gradually restore the cash reserve ratio (CRR) in two phases in a non-disruptive manner. This move is based on a review of monetary and liquidity conditions. CRR, which is the slice of deposits that banks maintain with the RBI, will go up from 3% to 3.5% effective from March 27, 2021, and to 4.0% effective from May 22, 2021. -Business Line The NABARD has disbursed ₹16,500 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) during the current FY so far (up to Jan 31, 2021). Cumulative disbursements under the fund, which was started in 1995 to create social assets in rural India, stood at ₹3,10,849 crore as on Jan 31, 2021, NABARD said in a statement. -Business Line Punjab National Bank has received loan restructuring requests worth Rs 12,000 Cr out of the 40,000 Cr it had anticipated on account of stress due to the Covid -19 pandemic on businesses and individuals, the bank's MD Mallikarjuna Rao said. -Business Standard Punjab & Sind Bank today said its net loss in Dec quarter 2020 -21 spiralled to Rs 2,375.53 Cr on higher provisions for bad loans. The Bank had posted a net loss of Rs 255.49 Cr in the same period a year ago. In Sep quarter also, the bank had a loss of Rs 401.27 Cr. -Moneycontrol.com Punjab National Bank's MD & CEO S S Mallikarjuna Rao is confident that the bank will record profits in the fourth quarter and achieve the overall indicated profit of ₹2,000 Cr for the current fiscal, despite pandemic induced challenges. -Business Line The proposed bad bank to resolve stressed assets should do much better after a year of its operations, said Punjab National Bank MD S S Mallikarjuna Rao. -Economic Times The Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) should adopt modern technology, Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman, SBI said. The video-Know Your Customer (KYC) facility will also be shortly launched in RRBs, he said. -Business Line Digital payments Co PhonePe has retained its monthly pole position in the UPI-app tally for volume as well as value in Jan 2021. The Co processed 968.72 million UPI transactions involving nearly Rs 1.92 lakh Cr. PhonePe volume was more than 100 million transactions higher than Google’s 853.53 million transactions worth Rs 1.77 lakh Cr. Paytm Payments Bank, however, remained the distant third player with a volume of 332.69 million worth Rs 37,845.76 Cr. The combined transaction volume of the 3 leading UPI apps accounted for 93.5% share of the total Jan volume of 2,302.73 million while the value share stood at 94.5% of Rs 4.31 lakh Cr, according to the data released by the NPCI. -Financial Express India now has forex reserves of over $590 billion, the highest ever, up by $119 billion over the previous year, while the external debt is $554 billion, making the country a "net creditor", Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said here today. -Business Standard A few months ahead of Assembly elections, the Govt in Tamil Nadu announced waiver of Rs 12,110 Cr crop loans availed by 16.43 lakh farmers from cooperative banks. Making the announcement in the state assembly, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said the scheme would come into immediate effect and a Govt Order shall be issued while the required financial allocation would be made in the interim budget. -Business Standard Interest of more than ₹2.5 lakh earned annually from contribution to EPF or Govt Provident Fund (GPF) will not be taxed retrospectively, Expenditure Secretary TV Somanathan clarified.  -Business Line The World Federation of Trade Unions, an umbrella organisation of various trade unions across the world, has written to International Labour Organisation (ILO) seeking its intervention in the farmers’ protest. In a letter, the WFTU has argued that the Govt of India is ill-treating the protesting farmers and agriculture workers and that it is a violation of ILO conventions C011 (Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention), C098 (Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention), C141 (Rural Workers’ Organisations Convention) and C144 (Tripartite Consultation (International Labour

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Oil companies had hiked the price of Petrol by 23 paise per litre and diesel by 26 paise a litre today. Petrol price climbed to Rs 84.20 a litre in the national capital. This marks the highest ever price at which petrol has been sold in New Delhi, surpassing the earlier high of Rs 82 a litre that was recorded on Oct 4, 2018. -Business Standard Shares of IDFC First Bank moved higher by 7% to Rs 44.20 on the BSE today, gaining 11% in the past two trading days, after the bank reported strong retail loan growth during Oct-Dec quarter (Q3 FY21). The stock of the bank was trading close to its 52-week high level of Rs 45.50 touched on Jan 15, 2020. -Business Standard USD/INR 73.31 Sensex 48,093.32 BSE Bankex 36491.77 Nifty 14,137.35 Nifty Bank 31956.00 -07-01-2021

The RBI today cancelled the certificate of registration of 3 NBFCs. These are UP-based Abhinav Hire Purchase Limited, Gurgaon-based Jupiter Management Services Private LTD and Assam-based N.E Leasing and Finance Pvt Ltd. 6 other NBFCS surrendered their certificate of registration, the RBI said. -Moneycontrol.com Advances by banks seem to be slowly on the rise as provisional data from the third quarter suggest. While asset quality continues to remain a concern, lenders say it is likely to be better than previously estimated. “Restructuring requests are lower than expected and largely lesser than the provisioning for it. Most borrowers have shown a willingness to pay. The pain is likely to be lesser than initially thought of but everyone is cautious,” said a bank official. -Business Line Central Bank of India and NABFOUNDATION, today, entered into a MoU, whereby working capital will be provided by the bank to all SHGs which have an account with it and undertake the Nabard-sponsored ‘My Pad My Right’ project. -Business Line SBI today said it has concluded the issuance of $600 million (about Rs 4,500 Cr) from bonds to fund expansion of overseas business. The fund raised through senior unsecured fixed rate notes having maturity of 5.50 years and coupon of 1.80% payable semi-annually under Regulations, SBI said in a regulatory filing. "The bonds will be issued through our London branch as of Jan 13, 2021, and shall be listed on Singapore Stock Exchange and India International Exchange, GIFT City,” it said. -Moneycontrol.com Punjab National Bank has announced an alliance with the IIT, Kanpur and the Foundation for Innovation & Research in Science & Technology (FIRST) to set up Fintech Innovation Centre that would act as a vehicle to explore solutions in digital lending, payments and cyber security. The partnership will facilitate research and develop technological solutions to address challenges and explore opportunities in the BFSI space, the bank said. -Economic Times India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) today said J Venkatramu, former senior executive of Equitas Small Finance Bank, has taken charge as its MD & CEO. His appointment is effective from Oct 29, 2020. -Economic Times High Court of Telangana has issued a 3 weeks’ notice to IRDAI, RBI and Dept of Financial Services (DFS) to respond to a Public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the court of chief justice pertaining to irregularities in appointment of M Pulla Rao as executive director of IRDAI. According to the PIL filed by a social activist, IRDAI’s executive director Mr. Rao was a former RBI senior official and was appointed by IRDAI in 2011 in violation of appointment norms. -Economic Times The union Govt has allowed the employees' provident fund organisation (EPFO) to invest in public sector debt exchange traded funds (ETFs) such as Bharat Bond. The Govt has amended the labour ministry's notification in this regard. -Business Standard The US Trade Representative (USTR) has termed India’s Equalisation Levy (also known as Google Tax) on e-commerce companies as ‘discriminatory’. India, however, has said that it is not discriminatory and it would take appropriate action in the matter keeping in view the overall interests of the nation. -Business Line The private sector is willing to support and augment Govt's capacity across the value chain of COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration, industry body FICCI today said. -Moneycontrol.com To encourage individuals to continue their risk cover amid the coronavirus pandemic, LIC today launched a campaign where lapsed policies can be revived. LIC has launched a Special Revival Campaign starting from Jan 7 till March 6 for its customers to revive their lapsed individual policies subject to certain conditions.  -Financial Express

*Explained: What are the new safety features in cheques above Rs 50,000?* Banks will enable a new system for all account holders issuing cheques for amounts of Rs 50,000 and above. *What is the Positive Pay System for cheque transactions?* The concept of Positive Pay involves a process of reconfirming key details of large-value cheques. On January 1, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will introduce the ‘Positive Pay System’ for cheque transactions above Rs 50,000 in a bid to enhance safety and eliminate frauds. *What is the Positive Pay System for cheque transactions?* The concept of Positive Pay involves a process of reconfirming key details of large-value cheques. Under this process, the issuer of the cheque submits electronically, through channels like SMS, mobile app, Internet banking and ATM, certain minimum details of that cheque (like date, name of the beneficiary, or payee and amount) to the drawee bank, details of which are cross-checked with the presented cheque by Cheque Truncation System (CTS). Any discrepancy is flagged by CTS to the drawee bank and presenting bank, who then take redressal measures. *What type of cheques will come under Positive Pay?* Banks will enable the new system for all account holders issuing cheques for amounts of Rs 50,000 and above. While availing of this facility is at the discretion of the account holder, banks may consider making it mandatory in case of cheques for amounts of Rs 5,00,000 and above. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will develop the facility of Positive Pay in CTS, and make it available to participant banks. *What will be the new dispute redressal mechanism?* Only those cheques that are compliant with the new system will be accepted under the dispute resolution mechanism at the CTS grids. Member banks may implement similar arrangements for cheques cleared or collected outside CTS as well. The RBI has already told banks to create adequate awareness among their customers on features of the Positive Pay System through SMS alerts, displays in branches, ATMs, as well as through their websites and Internet banking. The Positive Pay System will be implemented from January 1, 2021. *What will be the share of Positive Pay in overall cheque transactions?* The new measure will cover approximately 20 per cent and 80 per cent of total cheques issued in the country by volume and value, respectively. The Cheque Truncation System (CTS) for clearing cheques is operational pan-India, and presently covers 2 per cent and 15 per cent of total retail payments in terms of volume and value respectively. The average value of a cheque cleared in CTS presently is Rs 82,000. The CTS-2010 standard specifying minimum security features on cheque leaves acts as a deterrent against cheque frauds, while standardisation of field placements on cheque forms enables straight-through-processing by use of optical or image character recognition technology. The RBI says the Positive Pay system is to augment customer safety in cheque payments and reduce instances of fraud occurring on account of tampering of cheque leaves. Banks had recently witnessed a rise in frauds involving high-value cheques. The RBI announced the introduction of Positive Pay System for CTS on August 6. 📣📣📣

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