1. RBI PROPOSES LONG-TERM FINANCE BANK: Reserve Bank of India has proposed setting up of Long-Term Finance Banks, specially to fund infrastructure and greenfield projects of industries. The minimum capital requirement will be Rs. 1,000 crore.As per the eligibility criteria, big Industrial houses cannot take more than 10% stake in these banks. These banks will be exempt from opening branches in rural and semi urban areas and will not lend to agriculture and weaker sections of the society.

2. BANKS GET TIME TILL JUNE 30 TO OBTAIN PAN FROM ACCOUNT HOLDERS: The tax department has given banks three more months till June 30^th to obtain Permanent Account Number (PAN) or Form-60 from all account holders as it looks to tighten the grip around tax evaders. After an estimated Rs. 15 lakh crores in junked currency notes coming back into the banking system post demonetization, the tax department has started analysing the bank deposit trends.

3. NO DEADLINE FOR INTRODUCTION OF SHARIA BANKING IN INDIA: Islamic or Sharia Banking is a finance system based on the principles of not charging interest, which is prohibited under Islam. Responding to an RTI application, the RBI has said that it has not taken any steps to introduce “Sharia Banking window”  in banks across India. However, on instructions from the central Government RBI has examined the legal, technical and regulatory issues in this respect and has submitted a detailed report to the government.

4. FINANCE MINISTRY MAY ASK SEBI TO EXTEND PUBLIC FLOAT DEADLINE FOR PSBs: As per the Public Float guidelines of SEBI, government stake in Public Sector Undertakings should be 75% or less by August 2017. There are seven public sector banks where the government holding is above 75%, post second round of capital infusion in March 2017. Efforts are being made to reduce the government stake and to meet SEBI’s public float guidelines but in case some banks are unable to do so then the government will seek exemption in such cases.

5. AMAZON GETS RBI NOD FOR E-WALLET IN INDIA:Amazon India has received approval to launch its own digital wallet, paving the way for the online retailer to gain a slice of India’s fast growing digital payments business. Amazon’s new wallet service will try to address a vital problem in the world of payments as it will help customers to bypass the two-step authentication process for online payments using credit or debit cards thus making the process smoother for online shoppers.

6. RBI TALKS TOUGH ON WEAK BANKS: The Reserve Bank of India has come out with a revised set of “ Prompt Corrective Action” (PCA) – steps that it will take to get failed banks on track. Banks with unsound financials may face the prospects of a merger or winding up or even risk their board and management being sacked by RBI. These are some of the extreme measures/steps that the Central Bank has in mind for banks that badly breach the threshold for bad loans and minimum capital requirements. RBI has said that a shortfall of the common equity tier I capital by 3.625% from the prescribed limits, then that bank will be identified as a likely candidate for resolution through tools like amalgamation, reconstruction or even winding up. There are new trigger points for the net non-performing assets as well, which call for tougher actions.