DAILYGK 5-7 JULY 2025
1.
US OPEN BADMINTON 2025
·
Indian badminton player Ayush
Shetty (World No. 34) clinched his maiden
Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour title by
defeating Canada’s Brian Yang (World No. 33) in the
Men’s Singles final of the 2025 US Open Badminton Tournament.
·
In the women’s singles final 16-year-old
Tanvi Sharma created history by becoming the youngest
Indian to reach a BWF World Tour final.
·
Although she finished as runner-up, losing to
USA’s Beiwen Zhang .
2.
RBI GUIDELINES ON DUE DILIGENCE
OF AEPS TOUCHPOINT OPERATORS
·
RBI issued final guidelines for
the due diligence of Aadhaar Enabled
Payment System (AePS) Touchpoint Operators(ATOs) to
streamline onboarding and enhance fraud risk management.
·
These guidelines are issued under the
Payment and Settlement Systems (PSS) Act, 2007, to
safeguard customers from identity theft and maintain trust in the AePS.
·
The new guidelines have defined ATO as an individual onboarded by
the acquiring bank who operates the AePS touchpoint, using Aaadhar
number and biometrics or One-Time Password (OTP) authentication.
·
Acquiring banks are now required to conduct due diligence before
onboarding ATOs, in line with the Customer Due Diligence (CDD) or Know Your
Customer (KYC) norms outlined in RBI’s ‘Master Direction – Know Your
Customer(KYC), 2016’.
·
As per RBI’s guidelines, if an ATO remains inactive for 3 consecutive
months, which means no financial transaction has been carried out for a
customer during this time period, then, in such case, acquiring bank is required to carry out KYC of ATO before allowing
him/her to resume operations.
3.
INDIA’S EXTERNAL DEBT RISES TO USD 736 BILLION
·
RBI reported that India’s external debt
rose by 10% to USD 736.3 billion (bn)
at the end of March 2025, compared
to USD 668.8 bn at the end of March 2024.
·
The external debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio increased to 19.1%
at end-March 2025 from 18.5% at end-March 2024.
·
The valuation effect reduced the increase in external debt
from USD 72.9 bn to USD 67.5 bn at end-March 2025 over end-March 2024.
·
Valuation
effect due to the appreciation of the US dollar vis-Ã -vis
the Indian rupee and other currencies amounted to US$ 5.3 billion.
·
The long-term debts
with
original maturity of above one year was recorded at USD 601.9 bn.
·
The short-term debt (maturity less than one year) stood at USD 134.5 bn, declining to
18.3% of total external debt at the end-March 2025 from 19.1% at end-March
2024.
·
The
ratio of short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves
rose slightly to 20.1%, up from 19.7% at end of March 2024.
·
Short-term
debt on a residual maturity basis, which includes both
long-term debt maturing within the next 12 months and short-term debt by
original maturity accounted for 41.2% of
total external debt at end-March 2025, down from 43.4% (March 2024).
·
It also stood at 45.4% of foreign exchange reserves, compared to 44.9% at end-March
2024.
4.
INDIA’S FIRST UPI-POWERED BANK BRANCH
·
Bengaluru based Slice (Garagepreneurs
Internet Private Limited), a leadingfintech
company, launched the Slice Unified Payments
Interface (UPI) Credit Card and opened India’s
first UPI powered bank branch in Koramangala,
Bengaluru
·
The new branch and its ATM allow all key
banking services via UPI, including digital onboarding, cardless cash
withdrawals, and deposits.
5.
SBI MARKS 70 YEARS
·
State Bank of India (SBI),
India’s largest bank, commemorated its 70th anniversary
·
SBI announced the “Solar Rooftop
Programme”to support India’s Renewable Energy(RE) transition.
·
This initiative aligns with India’s
commitment to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2070.
·
SBI’s Solar Rooftop Programme
aims to solarise 4 million (mn) homes by
the Financial Year 2026-27 (FY27), promoting clean energy adoption at the
household level.
·
It has undertaken a mission to plant 9 lakh trees in the Cauvery basin
while also supporting underprivileged students and persons with disabilities.
6.
RBI BI-ANNUAL FINANCIAL STABILITY REPORT (FSR)
·
RBI released the half-yearly publication of the ‘Financial Stability Report, June 2025’, which presents the
collective assessment of the Sub
Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) on current
and emerging risks to the stability of the Indian financial system.
·
As per the macro tests conducted by the RBI, the GNPAs of the
46 banks may marginally rise to 2.5% in March
2027, to 5.6% and 5.3%, under adverse scenario 1 and adverse scenario 2,
respectively.
·
With respect to Sector-wise GNPA, the agriculture
had the highest contribution to GNPA at 6.1% and on the other hand Personal
loan at 1.2%.
·
The write-offs
to GNPA ratio for SCBs moved up marginally to 31.8% in 2024- 25 from 29.5%
in the previous year, led by Private Banks (PVBs) and Foreign Banks (FB).
·
The FSDC is a non-statutory apex council under the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
·
The council is chaired by the Finance Minister.
·
The
RaghuramRajan Committee (2008) on financial sector reforms
had first proposed setting up of FSDC.
7.
INDIA RANKS 3RD GLOBALLY IN FINTECH STARTUP FUNDING
·
Bengaluru (Karnataka) based Tracxn Technologies Limited,
a leading market intelligence platform, has launched a report titled, “Geo
Semi-Annual India Fin Tech Report (SEA TECH)-H1 2025.
·
India’s financial technology sector has
ranked third in startup funding globally, following the United States of America
(USA) and the United Kingdom (UK).
·
India’s FinTech Sector raised a total
of USD 889 million in the first half of the year (
January to June) H1 2025, a 26% decline from USD 1.2 billion in H2 2024 and a
5% drop from USD 936 million in H1 2024.
·
Bengaluru continued to lead the
fintech funding landscape, accounting for 55% of total funding, followed
by Mumbai at 14%.
8.
NATIONAL STATISTICS DAY 2025 – JUNE 29
·
The day commemorates the birth anniversary
of Professor Prasanta Chandra (P.C.) Mahalanobis,
who is known as the Father of Modern Statistics in India.
·
The
2025
theme for National Statistics Day is “75 Years of National
Sample Survey(NSS)”, celebrating the survey’s major role in supporting
data-driven policies over decades.
9.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PARLIAMENTARISM 2025 – JUNE 30
·
The United Nations
(UN’s) International Day of Parliamentarism is
also known as World Parliament Day.
·
The
theme of the International Day of Parliamentarism 2025 is “Achieving
Gender Equality, Action by Action“, highlights efforts to increase
women’s participation in legislatures globally.
·
The day marks the anniversary of the
founding of the Inter-Parliamentary
Union (IPU), the world’s first political multilateral organisation,
established on 30th June 1889 in Paris,
France.
·
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Headquarters- Geneva,
Switzerland.
10.
NATIONAL DOCTOR’S DAY 2025 – JULY 1
·
The day commemorates the birth and death anniversary
of Bharat Ratna awardee Dr.Bidhan Chandran Roy (BC Roy),
a distinguished physician and the second Chief Minister (CM) of West
Bengal (WB).
·
The
theme of National Doctors’ Day 2025 is “Behind
the Mask: Who Heals the Healers?”, highlighting the psychological and
emotional challenges faced by doctors.
11.
GOODS AND SERVICES TAX DAY 2025 – JULY 1
·
The
theme for 2025 GST Day is “GST-Simplifying Taxes:
Empowering Citizens,” reflecting efforts to streamline tax
processes and strengthen compliance.
·
GST was launched in India on 1
July 2017. On 30 June 2018, the Government of India (GoI) decided to
celebrate 1 July every year as ‘GST Day’.
·
The first GST Day was observed on 1
July 2018 to mark one year of this major tax reform.
·
In the Financial Year 2024-25 (FY25),
India’s GST collection achieved its highest-ever gross collection of Rs.22.08
lakh crore, recording 9.4% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth from Rs. 20.18
lakh crore in FY24.
·
As of 30 April 2025, India has more than 1.51 crore active GST-registered taxpayers.
12.
NATIONAL CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS DAY 2025 – JULY 1
·
Before the establishment of the ICAI,
accountancy in India was supervised under the Indian Companies Act
1913 by the British Government.
·
In 1930, the
Government of India(GoI) maintained a Register
of Accountants, and professionals listed were called Registered Accountants.
·
An
expert committee was formed in 1948 to
recommend reforms.
·
Based on its recommendation, the Chartered
Accountants Act, 1949 was passed by the Parliament
of India, leading to the establishment of the ICAI on 1st
July 1949 to regulate and develop the Chartered Accountancy
profession in India.
·
The
ICAI is a statutory body operated under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MoCA),
GoI.
·
ICAI is recognised as the world’s second-largest professional
accounting body, with over 3.8 lakh members and more than 8 lakh students
pursuing the Chartered Accountancy course as of 2025.
·
In 2025, ICAI marked its 77th anniversary .
13.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF COOPERATIVES – JULY 5, 2025
·
The United Nations (UN) International Day
of Cooperatives (ICD) is annually observed across the
globe on the 1st Saturday of July .
·
The Day also commemorates the
establishment of the International
Cooperative Alliance (ICA), one of the oldest Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGO), and one of the largest organizations by the number of people
represented.
·
The
2025 theme is “Cooperatives: Driving Inclusive and
Sustainable Solutions for a Better World”.
