To address the ‘risk concentration’ of only one platform and offer consumers more options, the RBI in 2020 invited private companies to bid for a license to set up a new platform.
• NUE (New Umbrella Entity), a digital platform which will be for-profit and be allowed to charge fees for online transactions, unlike the existing system
• The new entity or entities will be able to earn interest from the float that customers maintain in their online shopping accounts
Lakshmi Vilas Bank is the third Bank after the PMC and Yes Bank to be placed under Moratorium in the recent times. The financial position of The Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd. (the bank) has undergone a steady decline with the bank incurring continuous losses over the last three years, eroding its net-worth. In absence of any viable strategic plan, declining advances and mounting non-performing assets (NPAs), the losses are expected to continue. The bank has not been able to raise adequate capital to address issues around its negative net-worth and continuing losses. Further, the bank is also experiencing continuous withdrawal of deposits and low levels of liquidity.
RBI brings in norms to curb malpractices by lending apps. RBI had to bring in these norms as hundreds of lending apps have mushroomed over the past year or so. RBI has made banks or NBFCs directly responsible for the actions of the digital platforms they have tied up with. RBI said that digital platforms and lenders must make adequate efforts towards the creation of grievance redressal mechanism.
Things are moving fast with the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. On March 12 WHO declared that the virus is now a pandemic and President Trump announced 30 day ban on all travel from EU to the US. If the virus spread continues the Analysts fear that the Global Economy may slip into recession. If the Economy slips into recession it will slip for two consecutive quarters i.e. six months period. The Supply chains are affected. Various sectors such as Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Service, Transportation, Tourism, Hospitality industry etc will badly impacted. Digital Banking and Online Shopping will increase.
Debt is often compared to being a double-edged sword. Countries can borrow money to stimulate growth and large internal projects, affording their citizens a better economy to accumulate wealth and a higher quality of living. However, this debt comes with interest, and many countries end up in a vicious cycle of borrowing or printing more money to pay off their debts.
The more money a country borrows, the more it has to pay back in the future. This means future generations will end up having to pay off the interest of debt borrowed in the past, reducing their ability to spend money on things they really need.
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled EASE 3.0, the Public Sector Bank (PSB) Reforms Agenda 2020-21 for smart, tech-enabled banking, and the PSB EASE Reforms Annual Report 2019-20 on February 26, 2020 during an event in New Delhi.
RBI allows RRBs to act as merchant acquiring banks using Aadhaar Pay – BHIM app and POS terminals.
The central bank has asked the banks to no longer issue contactless cards by default; and has also allowed the card users to enable, disable cards for online use. RBI believes the move will improve user convenience and increase the security of card transactions.
RBI launches new prepaid payment instrument for digital transactions up to Rs 10,000. The amount loaded in such PPIs during any month will not exceed Rs 10,000 and the total amount loaded during the financial year will not exceed Rs 1,20,000.
With effect from December 16, 2019 RBI has asked banks to Extend NEFT facility 365/24*7 .