Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 24 December 2021

::National::

Army launches messaging application

The army has launched a messaging application with features such as multi-level security and message prioritisation.
In a statement, the defence ministry said the Army Secure IndiGeneous Messaging Application (ASIGMA) is a new generation, state-of-the-art, web-based application. It added a team of Corps of Signals has developed it in-house.
The ministry said the application was being deployed as a replacement of the Army Wide Area Network messaging application, which has been in service for 15 years.
“The application (ASIGMA) has been fielded on Army-owned hardware and lends itself to lifetime support with future upgrades. The bespoke messaging application meets all futuristic user requirements and boasts of an enhanced user experience,” said the statement.
The ministry said the application will meet the army's real-time data transfer and messaging requirements, especially in the backdrop of the current geopolitical-security environment. It added the app is in line with the government’s Make in India initiative.
“The Indian Army has braced automation in a major way, especially post COVID-19 outbreak, and is taking substantial steps towards paperless functioning. ASIGMA will further boost these efforts and will add to the host of other applications already being employed by the Army over its captive pan Army network,” the ministry said.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

Japan approves record defence budget amid China threats

Japan’s cabinet approved a record defence budget of 5.4 trillion yen ($47.2 billion) for the year starting in April, as it seeks to bolster its ability to fend off threats from neighbouring China.
The figure marks the 10th straight increase in annual defence spending and exceeds a ceiling of 1% of the gross domestic product that the pacifist country has largely maintained for decades. The plan follows record defence spending in a supplementary budget passed by parliament this week.
China Summons Japan Envoy, Rips Abe for Taiwan Invasion Warning
Japan’s military budget is modest by comparison with its ally the U.S., at an estimated $778 billion for 2020, and China at $252 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The overall budget must be passed by parliament before it is officially enacted next year.
The U.S., Japan Reach Deal on Payments for Hosting American Troops
Ties between Japan and China turned increasingly chilly after Beijing’s clampdown on Hong Kong in 2020 and ships from both countries continue to chase one another around islands they both claim in the East China Sea. Japanese officials, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, have also become increasingly outspoken about the need to prepare for a contingency around Taiwan.

::Economy::

FIBAC 2021: India Inc spoilt for choice as funding avenues open up

Companies are increasingly becoming demanding seeking services and pricing, irrespective of their sizes, as banks lose the monopoly of being the only source of funding to firms, senior bankers discussed at the Day 2 of FIBAC 2021.
“The corporates are now spoilt for choice. Banks, NBFCs, markets, and even private equity, everyone is willing to lend to corporates. And as the economy grows, the avenues are all going to expand,” said Ashwani Bhatia, managing director for corporate banking and global markets at State Bank of India.
Earlier, the large companies had this power, but increasingly medium-sized and even smaller companies are negotiating hard, the panelists said. This is a big change in the corporate lending environment in India, the panelists said.
Banks, as entities that lend using their balance sheet, must get a way to find a seat amidst the non-balance sheet lenders, said K V S Manian, whole-time director and group president, corporate banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
If you look at the last three, four, or five years, this is not actually restricted only to the top clients but is straddling the entire line. Even the mid-market and the smaller clients are way more sophisticated. They are basically looking at banks for solutions and not for profits," Balasubramanian said. The solutions, too, are case-specific and banks have to now offer those, making customer engagement plans “extremely challenging.” The firms have become “very, very price-conscious”, but willing to give concessions for better quality advice.
Bankers agreed that talent is becoming the real differentiators, and the banking industry is leaning more towards specialists.
Rajiv Anand, deputy managing director-designate at Axis Bank, said traditionally, banks have looked at the balance sheet growth and, over the years, have given away the “creamier part particularly to the foreign banks”.
However, the specific advantages the foreign banks had 15-20 years ago, in terms of technology and talent, is no longer their exclusive.
In the Indian context, “larger corporates want to consolidate their relationships with four or five banks, which the current account circular (by the RBI) is only exacerbating,” said Anand.

RBI extends card tokenisation rule by 6 months after industry request

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the deadline for wiping off card data on merchant sites and applying tokenisation by another six months as merchants and payments companies expressed their inability to meet the December 31 deadline.
In a statement on its website, the central bank said “at the request of industry stakeholders”, the timeline is being extended until June 30, 2022.
After that, all card data “shall be purged”. In addition to tokenisation, industry stakeholders must devise an alternative mechanism to handle recurring e-mandates, equated monthly instalment (EMI) options, etc. or any post-transaction activity that currently involves the storage of card-on-file data by entities other than card issuers and card networks.
AshishAgarwal, vice-president and head of policy, Nasscom, said this extension was valuable and would mitigate business and payments risks for customers.
“We really hope the #Banks and other ecosystem players look at this extension with responsibility and comply with the timeline now.”
SijoKuruvilla, executive director, Alliance of Digital India Foundation, said “thanks to the RBI for listening to stakeholders and acknowledging the readiness challenges. The extension gives a breather to all players in the payment ecosystem.”

::Science and tech::

DRDO successfully tests Pralay missile for second day in a row

India successfully tested the locally developed surface-to-surface missile Pralay, the second test of the conventional missile in two days, the defence ministry announced.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) tested the missile from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast. It has a range of 150 to 500 kilometre, depending on payload, and can be launched from a mobile launcher.
“In Thursday’s launch, the missile was tested for heavier payload and different range to prove the precision and lethality of the weapon,” the ministry said in a statement.
The launch was monitored by range sensors and instruments, including telemetry, radar and electro-optic tracking systems deployed along India’s eastern coast and ships positioned near the impact point.
The flight test met all the mission objectives, the ministry said.
The twin flight tests came days after India tested an advanced variant of the Agni class of missiles from the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island test facility on December 18.
The other variants of the Agni missiles developed by DRDO include the 700-km Pakistan-specific Agni-I, the 2,000-km range Agni-II, the 3,000-km range Agni-III, 4,000-km range Agni-IV and the 5,000-km range Agni-V missile.
The Agni P test came a week after India successfully tested a new locally-developed anti-tank missile and concluded a series of tests of extended range rockets also developed indigenously, weapons that will be inducted into the armed forces shortly.
The weapons successfully tested on December 11 were the helicopter launched stand-off anti-tank (SANT) missile and Pinaka extended range (ER) rocket systems.

::Sport::

Indian team retain no 3 position in FIH men's ranking, women's slip to 9th spot

The Indian men's hockey have retained their third spot in the FIH hockey rankings behind Australia and Belgium who are ranked first and second respectively.
The Indian women's team on the other hand has slipped to the ninth spot of the FIH rankings whereas the Netherlands are at the numerouno spot.
The Indian men's team reached their best ever ranking of third-ever since the FIH rankings were introduced this year. The Olympics bronze medallist have retained their position with 2296.038 points after finishing a disappointing third in the Asian Champions Trophy losing to Japan in the semi-final and beating arch-rivals Pakistan to end up with a bronze medal.