INSURANCE AND LOAN POLICY 2015

NEW INSURANCE POLICY AND LOANS 2015:

Banking-Finance	P Only	Most bank use magnetic stripe based credit / debit cards. RBI ordered them to switch to only EVM chip-based and PIN-enabled cards from 1st September because Sept.1 because they protect against counterfeit (skimming) and lost and stolen card fraud. ⇒ State Bank of India (SBI) in association with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched ‘State Bank RuPay Platinum Debit Card’ for high networthy individuals. It gives 5% cash-back on utility bill payments, 1% fuel surcharge waiver and complimentary airport lounge access.
BoP	OLF	USTR’s Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Rights for 2015. India still kept under “Priority Watch List” for his failure to protect IPR of American companies. Matter already covered in old article on the same topic.
Fiscal Policy	M+I	Money scams & laundering: ⇒ 6 crore peoples’ 80,000 crores stuck in ponzi schemes. While Enforcement Directorate (ED) confiscates the money, it’s not quickly given back to investors. ⇒ 3 main challenges in money laundering are (1) Hawala trade (illegal transfer of funds by skirting the legal banking route (2) TBML: Trade-based money laundering (TBML) i.e. under-invoices or over-invoices the trade receipts (3) accommodation entries i.e. criminal sets up a company only on paper. Launches IPO at face value, later ‘jack up’ its value several times to escape capital gains tax.
Fiscal Policy	OLF	Niti Ayog full time member Economist Bibek Debroy suggests we should shift the start of financial year from 1st April to Diwali because of our agricultural seasons.
HRD	Ignored	⇒ 3 SAI athletes attempt suicide after alleged ragging by seniors at Water Sports Centre at Punnamada. ⇒ DU student organization promoting “Kaali stories” against Fairy tales. Theme will be same- people live happily every after but they’ll brown / black skinned instead of fair white skin.
HRD	P+M	Cabinet approves 3 social security schemes (1) Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) (3)  Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) (3) Atal Pension Yojana (APY)
HRD	P+M	Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY): 1 year accidental death-cum-disability cover. ⇒ 2 lakh for death ⇒ 2 lakh if both eyes, hands, legs gone ⇒ 1 lakh if 1 eye,hand,leg gone. ⇒ 18 to 70 y.o. savings account holders eligible. ⇒ Premium of Rs.  12 per annum per subscriber, auto-debited from your bank account. Breakup: 10 Rs. To insurance company, 1 rupee to agent, 1 rupee to bank ⇒ Validity 1 year, can be renewed. ⇒ General insurance companies – public and private sector, will be implementing this.
HRD	P+M	Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana: (PMJJBY) ⇒ 1 year life insurance cover worth Rs.2 lakh rupees ⇒ Death by any reason eligible ⇒ LIC and other life insurance companies to implement ⇒ premium: 330 per year per person, auto debited from bank savings account. Breakup: 289 to Insurance co. Rs.30 to agent, Rs.11 to bank ⇒ eligible 18-50 years savings account holder. If he has multiple savings account- he can join only once.
HRD	P+M	Atal Pension Yojana (APY): ⇒ for unorganized workers, pension after 60 years age. ⇒ Rs.1k, 2k, 3k, 4k and 5k per month, depending on contribution by the client. ⇒ eligibility: 18 to 40 years ⇒ PFRDA to implement, money autodebited from your bank account ⇒ Government to contribute equal amount in the fund, if you’re not an income tax payer, and not covered in any other social security scheme of Government such as EPFO, Coal Mines, Tea plantation, Seamen’s provident fund, J&K employee PF etc. ⇒ Previous Swavlamban scheme had similar feature- Government to co-contribute in unorganized sector worker’s NPS account. Now all those Swavlamban accounts to be migrated to Atal Pension Yojana, unless the client wants to opt out. Then he’ll continue in NPS.
HRD	OLF	National Food Security Act, 2013 wants to give Subsidised food grains to 67% of the population. But so far only 11 states Complied with the legal provisions such as identifying beneficiaries, computerisation of PDS, setting a vigilance committees, modern storage infrastructure etc. therefore union Government has asked the remaining states to hasten the process of implementing NFSA. Government also clarified they are not going to follow FCI-Shanta Kumar Committee suggestion to curtail NFSA to only 40% of the population.
industry-agro	OLF	CAG criticizes implementation of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) launched in 2007. Saying 62% of the projects failed to achieve targets. And tones of cases where Benefits did not reach the intended beneficiaries
Industry-MFG	OLF	Under Handloom (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985 – certain garments and traditional handloom items can’t be copied by powerloom/machine operater textile companies. But under pressure from powerloom lobby, Government aiming to repeal this law, so powerloom operators can make cheap version of those handloom items. Pro= cheaper the better. Anti=livelihoood of weavers.
Industry-Service	OLF	Competition Commission of India (CCI) gives clean chit to online retail majors — Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Jabong and Myntra for lack of evidence in predatory pricing /cartel formation etc.⇒ Amazon India launches ‘Service Provider Network’ (SPN) to help MSME sell their goods through Amazon website. ⇒ Andhra Government talking with flipkart, snapdeal, amazon to help sell handloom products online.
infra	OLF	Virtual Network Operator (VNO) is an operator giving services to an end consumer by using the underlying network of an NSO (Network Service Operator). VNO works like a reseller for telecom operators and bill directly to customers. TRAI recommended Government to allow such entities in India.
infra	OLF	Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Aims to auction ~135 FM radio frequencies for Metro and small cities. Government aims to collect around 1500 crore rupees from this. Although target is challenging because FM radio operations have become very expensive because music companies demand too much royalties for playing the songs. Advertisement revenue is becoming unsustainable to continue running the channel for free.
infra	P Only	Kazi Nazrul Islam (KNI) Airport in West Bengal is India’s country’s first private greenfield airport. PM Modi planning to  Inaugurate it and become first passenger.
infra	P+M	Inland waterways: China, Europe >40% goods moved through inland waterways, while in India hardly 3%. ⇒ We’ve Total inland water way >14,000 kms. ⇒ Cost of transporting goods per kms: road- Rs.1.5, Rail-Rs.1, inland waterway just 30 paise. Till now we had five laws for five inland water ways viz. (1) Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system (Allahabad-Haldia-1620 km); (2) Brahmaputra (Dhubri-Sadiya-891 km) (3) West Coast Canal (Kottapuram-Kollam) along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals-(205 km) (4) Kakinada-Puducherry canals at Godavari and Krishna rivers (1078 km) (5) East Coast Canal at Brahmani river and Mahanadi delta rivers (588 km). ⇒ National Waterways Bill 2015 consolidates them into a single law. ⇒ 7th Sch. Entry 24 allows union to make laws on inland waterways- their shipping, navigation. ⇒ this new bill wants to create 101 waterways.