COVID 19 and its Impact on Global as well as Indian Economy

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.

How Will Increasing Debt Levels Impact Bitcoin’s Price?

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.

Finance Minister unveils EASE Roadmap for Banking of the Future EASE 3.0 Reforms

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.

Guidelines on Merchant Acquiring Business – Regional Rural Banks

RBI allows RRBs to act as merchant acquiring banks using Aadhaar Pay – BHIM app and POS terminals.

RBI issues new debit and credit card rules to improve convenience and security

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.

Introduction of a new type of semi-closed Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) – PPIs upto ₹ 10,000/- with loading only from bank account

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.

Availability of National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) System on 24×7 basis

With effect from December 16, 2019 RBI has asked banks to Extend NEFT facility 365/24*7 .

RBI Governor met CEOs of Public Sector Banks on 19th July 2019

RBI Governor Shri Shaktikanta Das held a meeting today with the CEOs of the public sector banks and the Chief Executive of Indian Banks Association (IBA) on the 19th July 2019. The Governor acknowledged discernible improvements in the banking sector while underscoring that several challenges still remain to be addressed, particularly with regard to the…

RBI Launches Complaint Management System (CMS)

RBI Governor launched  Complaint Management System on 24th June 2019. Complaint Management System(CMS) is a software application to facilitate RBI’s grievance redressal processes. Members of public can access the CMS portal at RBI’s website “Complaint Management System by RBI” to lodge their complaints against any of the entities regulated by RBI. It symbolizes RBI’s commitment…

RBI releases draft “Enabling Framework for Regulatory Sandbox”

In view of the growing significance of FinTech innovations and their interface with the financial sector as well as financial sector entities, the Financial Stability and Development Council – Sub Committee had decided to set up a Working Group (WG), to look into and report on the granular aspects of FinTech and its implications, so…