General updates: Important Financial and Banking Affairs 18th March with PDF download

Bandhan Bank, has signed an agreement with Avenues India Pvt Ltd, a payment solution provider, to provide merchants with seamless access to point-of-sales (POS) and payment gateway products.
Merchants are expected to have a faster and “more direct” access to POS machines, payment gateways, and competitive financing options, the bank said in a release.

Private insurer Future Generali India Insurance Company (FGII) has entered into a corporate agency tie-up for its products with public lender UCO Bank.
The PSU lender will provide a window at its bank branches for marketing FGII’s offerings. Apart from UCO, the company has tie-ups with over 100 banks across the country.

The Government has decided to extend Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian’s tenure by two more years, till October 2019.
He was appointed as the CEA in October 2014 for a three-year tenure.
He was closely involved in drafting the Goods and Services Tax Act.

The Goods and Services Tax Council has approved a 15% ceiling on the cess to be levied on aerated drinks and luxury cars over and above the maximum proposed GST rate of 28%.
The enabling laws for the States and the Union Territories were also approved at the Council’s meeting on Thursday, paving the way for the adoption of the new indirect tax regime.

The Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) on NW-1 is being implemented with the financial and technical support of the World Bank.
The Project entails development of fairway with 3 meters depth between Varanasi and Haldia (Phase-I) covering a distance of 1380 km.
NW-1(Allahabad-Haldia) is longest and NW-3 (Kollam-Kozhikode) is shortest of all the five national water ways.

The Centre has appointed Dilip S Shanghvi as Member on the Western Area Local Board of RBI, for a period of four years with effect from March 11.
Besides the Central Board of Directors, the RBI has four local boards for the western, eastern, northern, and southern areas.
The functions of the local boards include advising the Central Board on local matters and to represent territorial and economic interests of local cooperative and indigenous banks.

The newly appointed Chairman of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Shri Manhar Valji Bhai Zala along with two members Smt. Manju Diler and Shri Dalip Kallu Hathibed assumed his office.
Welcoming the new Chairman and the members, Secretary of the Commission Shri Narain Dass said that the Commission can now work in a more effective manner as the posts of the Chairman and the members were lying vacant for the past almost one year.

The Govt has taken a decision for modification in the EPF Scheme,1952 to add a new paragraph 68 BD under which a member of EPF, being a member of a cooperative society or a housing society having at least 10 members of EPF, can withdraw upto 90% from the Fund for purchase/construction of dwelling house.
It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, GoI.

The govt has launched the Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) scheme to monitor grievances in govt schemes and projects.
A total of 156 projects and 37 programmes/schemes and Public grievances of 16 sectors have been reviewed so far.
The projects are at different stages of implementation and are monitored regularly by the concerned ministry.

The Union cabinet on 15 March 2017 approved a MoU between Lal Bahadur Shastru National Academy if Administration (LBSNAA), Mussorie and Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management (NIPAM),
The MoU signed will be signed in the field of capacity building of public officials of Nambia and others training acticities for the benefits of both the institutes.

General updates