Current Affairs: RBI In News

RBI IN NEWS
1.	The Reserve Bank of India decided to grant in principle approval to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to function as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) in Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).
2.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitted the Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) to buy fully or partly defaulted bonds in the repayment of principal on maturity or principal installment in the case of amortising bond.
3.	Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued revised and uniform guidelines on Internet Banking for all licensed cooperative banks including Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs), Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and Districts Co-operative Banks (DCBs). The cooperative banks have to report commencement of the service to the concerned Regional Office of RBI (and also NABARD in case of StCBs/DCCBs) within one month of operationalisation of this facility.
4.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted in-principle approval to three applicants to set up and operate Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS). Organisations which got in-principle approval was granted are : a) NSE Strategic Investment Corporation Limited (NSICL) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI),Mumbai b) Axis Bank Limited, Mumbai c) Mynd Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon, Haryana
5.	The Reserve Bank has imposed Rs 1 crore penalty on Dhanlaxmi Bank for violation of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) norms.
6.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed the norms of Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) of government debt and also announced higher investment limits in rupee terms in government securities with a view to bring in an additional 1.2 lakh crore rupees by March 2018. The RBI fixed the FPI investment limits in rupee terms and raised the limits in phases to reach 5 percent of the outstanding stock by March 2018.
7.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 15 October 2015 formed a single Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) with a corpus of 2000 crore rupees. The fund was formed by merging the Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund (FITF). The new FIF will be administered by the reconstituted Advisory Board constituted by Union Government and will be maintained by NABARD.
8.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central Bank of United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information.
9.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed non-resident Indians (NRIs) to subscribe to the National Pension System (NPS) enabling them access old age income security. Key acts - • NPS will act as an investment option for NRIs under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999. • NRIs may subscribe to the NPS through normal banking channels and the person is eligible to invest as per the provisions of the PFRDA Act, 2013.
10.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted permission to the Indian corporate to issue offshore rupee-denominated bonds outside India. Such bonds will attract a withholding tax of 5 per cent and gains arising in case of appreciation of rupee against the foreign currency.
11.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified that the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) can now invest up to 74 percent of the paid up capital of DEN Networks Limited under the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS).
12.	The Reserve Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh Bank for exchange of supervisory information.
13.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a Direction to all Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks)on implementation of the Gold Monetisation Scheme, 2015 notified by the Union Government. The RBI issued the direction to banks in exercise of powers conferred on it under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The GMS 2015 will replace the existing Gold Deposit Scheme, 1999.
14.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) declared State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) in line with the D-SIB Framework.
15.	Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to issue coins of 5 rupees denomination to commemorate golden jubilee year ofIndo-Pak War 1965. These coins will be issued under in The Coinage Act, 2011 and will be considered as legal a tender.
16.	In a fresh setback to the beleaguered Sahara India Pariwar, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the license of its holding company Sahara India Financial Corporation Limited (SIFCL).
17.	Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) onSupervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information. The MoU was signed by RBI’s Executive Director Meena Hemchandra and Nepal Rastra Bank’s Executive Director Narayan Prasad Paudel in New Delhi.
18.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted in principle approval to 10 entities to set up small finance banks to provide basic banking services to small farmers and micro industries. The in-principle approval will enable these entities comply with the guidelines on Small Finance Banks and will be valid for 18 months.
19.	In order to encourage overseas funding, the RBI proposed to allow domestic companies to borrow money from pension funds, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and insurance funds as part of the ECBs. The draft framework on External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs), however, proposed to lower the all-in cost borrowing by 0.50 percent to ensure that the funds are borrowed from abroad at a reasonable interest rate.
20.	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced relaxation in norms that allow banks to upgrade credit facilities extended to borrowing entities upon a change in ownership, only if the ownership has been changed outside Strategic Debt Restructuring Scheme (SDR). The Banker’s bank announced that the banks can treat loans to stressed companies that have undergone ownership changes as standard loans, provided the stress was due to operational or managerial inefficiencies.