Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 25 June 2022

::National::

Goa celebrates 'Sao Joao' festival after 2-year Covid induced hiatus

The people of Goa celebrated the Sao Joao festival, the feast of St John the Baptist with traditional enthusiasm after a two-year coronavirus-induced gap.
Revellers across the state jumped into water bodies across the state to mark the occasion. The colourful, theme-based floats are also a traditional part of the festivities.
In images shared by news agency ANI, the people can be seen wearing flower and fruit crowns, and featuring colourful floats on boats. One such float featured the football sport with a FIFA trophy in the centre. India is currently hosting the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2022.
The festival is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, who baptised Lord Jesus on the river of Jordan and is celebrated at the onset of monsoon. Siolim, a village in North Goa, hosts a traditional canoe parade on the occasion of Sao Joao.
Silvester Fernandes, President of the Siolim Sao Joao Committee, told news agency PTI that the celebrations were on hold for the last two years due to the pandemic, but this year festivities were at pre-coronavirus level. “Several hundred locals and also tourists arrived here (Siolim) to witness the colourful canoe parade,” Fernandes said. Goa on Friday recorded 149 new cases of Covid-19 that raised the tally of infections to 2,47,820, an official from the state health department said. The coastal state is now left with 926 active cases.

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::International::

Democrats vow to help women who must travel for abortions

Democratic leaders across the nation vowed Friday to help women who travel to seek abortions and to shield patients and medical professionals from being pursued by authorities in states where the procedure becomes outlawed after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
On the West Coast, the Democratic governors of California, Washington and Oregon issued a joint “multi-state commitment,” saying they will work together to defend patients and care providers.
In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper, also a Democrat, emphasized the importance of the November election in the state where the GOP controls the General Assembly but lacks veto-proof majorities to severely restrict or outlaw abortion.
“Democratic governors are the last line of defense against these types of extreme bills,” he said.
It was a strategy echoed by President Joe Biden, who told the nation Friday that Democratic victories at the state level in November could thwart efforts to ban abortion.
All three states anticipate an influx of people seeking abortions, especially as neighboring conservative states move to outlaw or greatly restrict the procedure.
The governors also pledged to “protect against judicial and local law enforcement cooperation with out-of-state investigations, inquiries and arrests” regarding abortions performed in their states.
Elsewhere, some companies reiterated or announced plans to help pay for employees to travel to other states to get reproductive care.
For example, Seattle-based Starbucks said it will reimburse abortion travel expenses for employees enrolled in its health care plan if a legal provider isn’t available in their home state or within 100 miles of their home.

::Economy::

RBI explores ways to ensure customer safety while dealing with PPIs

The Reserve Bank is considering various options to ensure that customers are not put at risk on account of activities of non-bank fintech players with regard to prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), sources said.
Earlier this week, RBI issued an advisory clarifying that non-bank prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers cannot load their wallets and cards from credit lines or preset borrowing limits.
Such practice, if followed, should be stopped immediately and any non-compliance will attract penal action, the advisory said.
According to sources, the idea behind the issuance of the advisory was to ensure customer safety and also to stress the fact that any business that requires an authorization or a licence should not be done by someone else without authorization or licence.
The RBI is in discussion with the players and exploring options to deal with the situation, sources said.
Innovation should not be based on regulatory arbitrage so various options are being explored including devising a framework and greater disclosure for non-bank fintech players issuing prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) players, sources said.
PPIs are instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services, financial services, and remittance facilities, against the value stored therein.
The RBI is of the view that if one entity requires some licence to do a certain thing, the central bank cannot allow some other entities in the name of innovation do the same thing without regulation.
Besides, sources also said that the actual amount involved is not actually very high.

Annapurna Fin eyes Rs 8,500 cr in assets by March 23; mulls SME credit arm

With fresh capital infusion of $15 million from French financial institution Proparco, Bhubaneshwar-based MFI Annapurna Finance Ltd expects to grow assets under management (AUM) by over 25 per cent to Rs 8,400-8,500 crore by March 2023.
The micro finance institution (MFI) has raised a total of $100 million in equity from impact investors and financial institutions during the past 15 months. In March 2021, Nuveen Global Impact Fund put in $30 million, followed by $20 million from DEG in November that year and $35 million from Encourage Capital, Accion and existing investor Oikocredit in December 2021.
Annapurna will use the funds to grow its loan book, invest in technology, expand geographically and further its vision of enabling financial inclusion at scale.
Satyajit Das, chief financial officer, AFL, said the latest funding will suffice to support business growth for 18-20 months. After that, the MFI may again have to raise some capital, though the amount may not be that big ($100 million). He did not dwell on the company's valuation. Its Capital Adequacy ratio (CAR) was 29.78 per cent in March 2022, up from 27.71 per cent in March 2021.
Annapurna Finance's AUM stood at about Rs 6,600 crore in March 2022, up from Rs 5,000 crore in March 2021. The lender is expanding laoans to the SME segment. This would be be done through a subsidiary, Das said.
Asked about the time-line for listing of stock, Das said listing is definitely on cards as it would enable shareholders to exit, but it will depend on aspects like market conditions. There could be secondary sales via private placements.

::Science and tech::

India's latest communication satellite GSAT-24 successfully launched

The GSAT-24 satellite, built by ISRO for NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), was successfully launched by French company Arianespace from Kourou in French Guiana (South America).
GSAT-24 is a 24-Ku band communication satellite weighing 4180 kg with pan-India coverage for meeting DTH application needs.
It was the first "demand driven" communication satellite mission undertaken by NSIL post space sector reforms.
NSIL, a Government of India company under the Department of Space, has leased the entire satellite capacity to Tata Play.
GSAT-24 was launched on-board Ariane-V VA257 flight from the Guiana Space Centre, Europe's spaceport in Kourou.

::Sports::

Tejaswin Shankar now in CWG squad but awaits final clearance from IOA

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) informed the Delhi high court that high jumper Tejaswin Shankar was included in India's team for the Commonwealth Games, subject to the Indian Olympic Association increasing the quota of the athletics contingent.
Shankar, who is studying in the United States, achieved the AFI set qualification standard of 2.27m at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships at Eugene, Oregon recently, representing Kansas State University.
However, AFI excluded him from the squad, saying neither the mark came in a meet in India nor he had asked for an exemption from competing at home. Shankar, who also holds the national record in the event (2.29m), filed a writ petition in court saying he had asked for exemption from chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair and that his credentials as a medal prospect for the country at the Birmingham Games cannot be overlooked. The court had asked AFI to consider his selection.