Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 18 February 2022

::National::

Nepal to become first country to deploy India's UPI platform

Nepal will be the first country to adopt India's UPI system, which will play a pivotal role in transforming the digital economy of the neighbouring country, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said.
NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of NPCI, has joined hands with Gateway Payments Service (GPS) and ManamInfotech to provide the services in Nepal.
GPS is the authorised payment system operator in Nepal and ManamInfotech will deploy Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in that country.
The collaboration will serve the larger digital public good in Nepal and bolster interoperable real-time person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions in the neighbouring country, NPCI said in a statement.
"Nepal shall be the first country outside of India to adopt UPI as the payments platform driving the digitalization of cash transactions and furthering the vision and objectives of the Nepal Government and Nepal Rastra Bank as the Central bank," it said.
It will also enable the way forward for real-time cross-border P2P remittances between Nepal and India, NPCI said. UPI service has created a significant positive impact in India in terms of the country's digital payment transformation, Rajesh Prasad Manandhar, CEO of GPS said.
"We expect UPI in Nepal would play a pivotal role in transforming the digital economy of the country and dreams of building a less-cash society," he said.
In 2021, UPI enabled 3,900 crore financial transactions valuing USD 940 billion, which is equivalent to approximately 31 per cent of India's GDP.

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::International::

Nepal to become first country to deploy India's UPI platform

This collaboration will enable the last-mile consumers in Nepal to reap the benefits of an open interoperable payments system driving immediate payment transfers between bank accounts and merchant payments in real-time.
Nepal will be the first country to adopt India's UPI system, which will play a pivotal role in transforming the digital economy of the neighbouring country, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said.
NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of NPCI, has joined hands with Gateway Payments Service (GPS) and ManamInfotech to provide the services in Nepal.
GPS is the authorised payment system operator in Nepal and ManamInfotech will deploy Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in that country.
The collaboration will serve the larger digital public good in Nepal and bolster interoperable real-time person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions in the neighbouring country, NPCI said in a statement.
"Nepal shall be the first country outside of India to adopt UPI as the payments platform driving the digitalization of cash transactions and furthering the vision and objectives of the Nepal Government and Nepal Rastra Bank as the Central bank," it said.
It will also enable the way forward for real-time cross-border P2P remittances between Nepal and India, NPCI said. UPI service has created a significant positive impact in India in terms of the country's digital payment transformation, Rajesh Prasad Manandhar, CEO of GPS said.
"We expect UPI in Nepal would play a pivotal role in transforming the digital economy of the country and dreams of building a less-cash society," he said.
In 2021, UPI enabled 3,900 crore financial transactions valuing USD 940 billion, which is equivalent to approximately 31 per cent of India's GDP.
"Manam has always been part of major digital transformation across the various regions of the world, we believe this partnership will eliminate all the barriers of payment transformation within Nepal and across the border thereby transforming the regional economy," Naga BabuRamineni, Director of Manam said.

::Economy::

India to Indonesia: Emerging Asia central banks run out of room to wait

Emerging Asia’s central banks have enjoyed room to pause on monetary policy and focus on supporting growth, but pressure to shift course may be building as their global counterparts turn more hawkish and if inflationary pressures build at home.
India, Indonesia and Thailand kept their benchmark interest rates at record lows last week, and the Philippines also stood pat Thursday, as they navigate tentative economic recoveries amid continued virus outbreaks.
But a more aggressive U.S. tightening cycle and oil’s rise toward the highest since 2014 could change the thinking of the region’s policy makers, most of whom have indicated plans to stay accommodative for as long as needed to get their economies on firmer footing. A shift, which some markets are pricing in as sooner than earlier expected, could mean tighter financing conditions and higher borrowing costs.
“Monetary authorities may prefer to wait and see until their economic recovery continues through the first half of 2022,” said Steve Cochrane, chief APAC economist at Moody’s Analytics. “But there’s a risk they may have to act earlier than planned.”
At the Group of 20 meetings of central bank chiefs and finance ministers this week, Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo urged his counterparts to coordinate the exit from pandemic-era policies to make sure emerging economies don’t suffer from spillovers that will restrict their ability to support recovery.

DFS Secretary Sanjay Malhotra nominated as a director on SBI board

State Bank of India (SBI) said the government has nominated Financial Services Secretary Sanjay Malhotra as a director on its board.
The country's largest lender said it received a notification from the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, informing about the nomination on February 16, 2022.
"(T)he central government hereby nominates Sanjay Malhotra (secretary, Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services) as director on the central board of directors of State Bank of India, with immediate effect and until further orders, vice Debasish Panda," SBI said in a regulatory filing.
A day earlier, the RBI had informed that the central government had nominated Malhotra as a director on the RBI's central board.

::Science and tech::

Indian mining company Vedanta to manufacture semiconductors in India

In a recent development, Anil Agarwal led Vedanta and Taiwan's Foxconn are all set to manufacture semiconductors in India. Earlier this week the duo announced the signing of an MOU to form a joint venture company that will manufacture semiconductors in India. This is a first-of-its-kind joint venture between the two companies that is slated to support Indian Prime Minister NarendraModi's vision to create an ecosystem for semiconductor manufacturing in India.
According to the MOU signed between the two companies, Vedanta will hold the majority of the equity in the JV, while Foxconn will be the minority shareholder. As per a press release, Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal will be the Chairman of the joint venture company.
The targeted project plans are aimed at investing in manufacturing semiconductors and are expected to provide a significant boost to the domestic manufacturing of electronics in India. This is reportedly among the first joint ventures in the electronics manufacturing space after the announcement of the policy.
The release cited that discussions are currently ongoing with a few state governments to finalize the location of the plant. The collaboration between Vedanta and Foxconn follows the Indian government's recent policy announcement for the Electronics Manufacturing & PLI scheme for incentivizing organizations that can contribute towards the development of this sector.
The Indian government had recently announced aRs 76,000 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for semiconductor and display manufacturing in an attempt to boost local production. While Vedanta Group is a globally diversified group of companies with a presence in metals, mining, oil & gas, power, telecom, and glass, Taiwanese firm Hon Hai Technology Group(Foxconn) is one of the world's leading electronics manufacturers.

::Sport::

Michael Masi replaced as F1 race director after Abu Dhabi controversy

Michael Masi, who will be offered a new role within the FIA, will be replaced by NielsWittich and Eduardo Freitas who will share the race director job as part of a wider restructuring of the sport's refereeing process unveiled on Thursday by the governing body's president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Australian Michael Masi has been replaced as Formula One race director in the wake of the title-deciding safety car controversy in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the governing FIA's new president said
Wittich, who worked in German touring car series DTM, was already set to step up into the role of Masi's deputy this year having been part of race control last season.