India accelerate its low-carbon energy development

♦ The World Bank has approved a $1.5-billion loan to help India accelerate its low-carbon energy development. The funds will be used to promote a market for green hydrogen, electrolysers, and increased renewable energy penetration.

♦ This is the second round of funding from the World Bank towards India's green energy push. In June 2023, the World Bank approved the $1.5-billion First Low-Carbon Energy Programmatic Development Policy Operation to accelerate India’s development of low-carbon energy.
 

Reserve Bank of India

♦ The Reserve Bank of India with the concurrence of the Government of India has decided to put in place a revised Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC countries for the period 2024 to 2027. Under this Framework, the Reserve Bank would enter into bilateral swap agreements with SAARC central banks, who want to avail of the swap facility. 

♦ Under the Framework for 2024-27, a separate INR Swap Window has been introduced with various concessions for swap support in Indian Rupee. The total corpus of the Rupee support is Rs 250 billion.

♦ The RBI will continue to offer swap arrangement in US$ and Euro under a separate US Dollar/ Euro Swap Window with an overall corpus of US$ 2 billion. 
 

Brand Finance Report 2024

♦ According to the Brand Finance Report 2024, Tata Group has retained its position as India’s most valuable brand. Tata Group has a 9% growth in brand value to $28.6 billion. Infosys too retained the second spot on the list of most valuable Indian brands with a steady 9% growth in brand value (USD 14.2 billion). HDFC Group has ranked third with a valuation of $10.4 billion.

♦ The other companies on the list are:

♦ LIC Group (4th rank) - $10.1 billion, Reliance Group (5th) - $8.4 billion, SBI Group (6th) - $8.2 billion, Airtel (7th) - $7.7 billion, HCLTech (8th) - $7.6 billion, Larsen & Toubro Group (9th) - $7.2 billion, Mahindra Group (10th) - $6.6 billion.

World Investment Ranking in 2023

♦ India ranked 15 in the World Investment Ranking in 2023 released by the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows to India plummeted by 43 percent in 2023 to $28 billion amid a global decline of 2 percent. India was ranked eighth in the 2022 report, attracting inflows worth $48 billion. 

♦ The USA topped this list, followed by China, Singapore and Hong Kong, China.

National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP)

♦ The government monetised assets worth Rs.1.56 lakh crore under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) in 2023-24, lower than the target of Rs.1.8 lakh crore, NITI Aayog said. Under the NMP, taking the total monetisation to Rs.3.85 lakh crore in three years since the launch of the programme in 2020-21. 

♦ The Ministries of Road Transport and Highways monetised assets, worth Rs.40,314 crore in FY24, while the amounts for the coal ministry were Rs.56,794 crore, Power (Rs.14,690 crore), Mines (Rs.4,090 crore), Petroleum, and Natural gas (Rs.9,587 crore), Urban (Rs.6,480 crore), and Shipping (Rs.7,627 crore). All these ministries achieved 70 per cent of their monetisation targets.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB)

♦ The Asian Development Bank (ADB) sanctioned a $170 million (Rs.1418 crore) loan to enhance India’s health systems by aiding in implementing the National Health Policy 2017. This policy aims to ensure universal access to high-quality healthcare services across the country. 

♦ The funding will help fill the gaps in policy, legislative, and institutional governance and structures, as well as contribute to India’s goal of providing universal access to high-quality and affordable healthcare services.

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)

♦ India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has partnered with Ria Money Transfer to provide convenient and affordable doorstep financial services to customers in remote areas across the country. This partnership will increase people’s access to banking services at their doorstep & help them withdraw only to the extent they need immediately, ensuring they get saved from the earlier hassles and risks, thereby experiencing financial inclusion in true sense, leading to their long-term economic growth.  

♦ Through this partnership, the International Inward Money Transfer service will initially be available at over 25 thousand Post Office locations, with an expected reach to over One Lakh locations through the Post Offices. 

Nvidia Corporation

♦ Nvidia became the world's most valuable company with a market capitalization of about $3.3 trillion on 19 June 2024. This company is now ahead of Microsoft and Apple.

♦ Nvidia Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California

Fitch Ratings

♦ Fitch Ratings has raised India's growth forecast for FY25 to 7.2% from 7% earlier on 18 June 2024. The ratings agency has also raised its world growth forecast for 2024 to 2.6% from 2.4% earlier. 

♦ The Indian economy grew at an impressive rate of 8.2 percent in FY24, driven by a stronger-than-expected expansion of 7.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

♦ While the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates growth at 7 per cent, S&P Global Ratings and Morgan Stanley project a growth rate of 6.8 per cent. Moody’s Ratings and Deloitte India estimates India’s GDP to grow at 6.6 per cent in 2024-25 fiscal.

Monetary Policy Committee

♦ The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%. The MPC has revised its GDP growth forecast upwards from the earlier 7% estimate to 7.2% for the financial year 2024-2025. 

♦ RBI has kept inflation figures unchanged for financial year 2025 at 4.5%. 
 

SBI Mutual Fund (SBI MF)

♦ SBI Mutual Fund (SBI MF) made history by becoming the first fund house in the country to achieve the Rs.10 trillion milestone in Assets Under Management (AUM). The growth in MF AUM hinges on both the appreciation in assets held by schemes and fresh inflows.

♦ As of April 2024, SBI accounted for Rs 2 trillion of SBI MF’s AUM. Over Rs 5 trillion of the AUM was in direct plans, with the remaining Rs 2.2 trillion linked to other distributors.

The World Economic Forum

♦ The World Economic Forum published Technology Pioneers 2024 list on 6 June 2024. The list has total 100 leading tech startups which are focused on applying new breakthroughs in AI to develop clean energy solutions, healthcare innovation and progress in biotech, space and neurotechnology.

♦ A total of ten Indian startups are present in this list. They are: 

1. Pixxel: Developing hyperspectral satellite imagery to capture geospatial data. 
2. Niramai: Developing a novel AI-based test for detecting early-stage breast cancer, which is affordable, portable and non-invasive. 
3. Sarvam AI: Building foundation AI models and platforms for their use with a focus on Indian languages and use cases.
4. Amperehour: Creating dispatchable renewable energy generating plants.
5. Cropin: Developing a farm monitoring and management solution to help farmers geo-tag their farms, digitize farm records, monitor crop productivity and improve farm activity.
6. Entri: Giving access to learning and upskilling programmes in Indian local languages.
7. HealthPlix: Developing AI-powered electronic medical records software for the healthcare sector.
8. International Battery Company: Manufacturing large-sized rechargeable prismatic li-ion nickel manganese cobalt batteries. 
9. NxtWave: Providing AI-driven, vernacular-based coding courses. 
10. String Bio: Producing next-generation ingredients for agriculture, animal feed and human nutrition from GHG gases.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

♦ The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network has set a new record by processing 14.04 billion transactions in May 2024, up from 13.3 billion in April. UPI is operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). By value, UPI transactions amounted to Rs.20.45 lakh crore in May, compared to Rs.19.64 lakh crore in April.

♦ In May, the average daily transaction amount was Rs 65,966 crore, with an average daily transaction count of 453 million, reflecting a 49 percent year-on-year growth.