ECONOMY QUIZ

NATIONAL PAYMENTS CORPORATION OF INDIA (NPCI) - SERVICES AND PRODUCTS OFFERED

➡️ Unified Payments Interface (UPI) - real-time interbank payment system for sending or receiving money.

➡️ RuPay - Domestic Card Scheme of India, like Visa/Master Card

➡️ National Financial Switch (NFS) - Network of shared ATMs in India.

➡️ National Common Mobility Card - contactless smart card

➡️ National Electronic Toll Collection (NeTC) - for toll collection using FASTag, employs RFID technology for toll collection directly while the vehicle is in motion.

➡️ Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) - UPI Mobile App for Consumers

➡️ BHIM Aadhaar - UPI with Aadhaar Biometrics

➡️ National Unified USSD Platform (NUUP) also known as *99# - USSD service for UPI mobile banking

➡️ Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) - Fast Payment Method

➡️ Bharat Bill Pay System (BBPS) - Utility Bill Payments (electricity, telecom, DTH, gas, water bills etc. through a single window)

➡️ National Automated Clearing House (NACH) - A centralised clearing service for low value transactions that are repetitive and periodic in nature.

➡️ Cheque Truncation System (CTS) - Cheque Clearing System

➡️ Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) - Aadhaar Micro ATM network

➡️ BharatQR - Interoperable QR Code

Question 837.

Types of ATMs

White-label ATM - owned and operated by a non-banking entity while cash is provided by a sponsored bank.

Brown-label ATM - owned by bank but its operation and maintenance is outsourced to a third-party.

Green-label ATM - used for Agricultural transactions

Orange-label ATM - used for share transactions

Yellow-label ATM - used for e-commerce

Pink-label ATM - used for women banking

ECONOMIC MELTDOWN

● An economic meltdown is an extraordinary event that is not necessarily a part of the standard economic cycle.

● It is a breakdown of a national, regional, or territorial economy that typically follows a time of crisis.

● It can occur due to financial deregulation, like the 2008 great recession, or an unexpected crisis, like the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hence, pair 1 is not correct.

ECONOMIC RECESSION

● Recession is slow down in effective demand for goods and services slow down in the economy implies a short-run decline in the growth rate.

● It refers to a significant decline in general economic activity in a designated region.

ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN

● The slow down is a situation in which GDP growth slows but does not decline.

● A cyclical slowdown is a period of weak economic growth that occurs at regular intervals.

● A structural slowdown is a more deep-rooted phenomenon signifying weak economic growth for over a long time.

● It occurs due to a shift driven by disruptive technologies, changing demographics, and/or change in consumer behavior.

SPECIAL DRAWING RIGHTS (SDR)

➤ The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries’ official reserves.

➤ It is also known as paper gold.

➤ The SDR serves as the unit of account of the IMF and some other international organizations.

➤ IMF Quota (the amount contributed to the IMF) of a country is denominated in SDRs.

➤ Members' voting power in IMF is related directly to their quotas.

➤ The SDR is neither a currency nor a claim on the IMF.

➤ Rather, it is a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of IMF members. SDRs can be exchanged for these currencies.

➤ The value of the SDR is calculated from a weighted basket of major currencies.

➤ SDR basket includes the U.S. dollar, the euro, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, and British pound.

➤ The interest rate on SDRs or (SDRi) is the interest paid to members on their SDR holdings.

AMERICAN DEPOSITARY RECEIPT (ADR)

➤ ADRs are a mechanism to trade non-US stocks on the US Stock Exchanges.

➤ Indian enterprises which want to raise capital in the US can use ADRs by issuing shares on the American Stock Exchanges.

➤ ADRs also allow US people to invest in non-US corporations and receive dividends in US dollars.

GLOBAL DEPOSITARY RECEIPT (GDR)

➤ Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) are a type of depositary receipt.

➤ It is a form of bank certificate that works like stock in a foreign company.

➤ It is a method for a firm to obtain capital from the international market.

➤ GDRs are issued by a depository bank located outside the company's domestic boundaries.

GDRs are traded on European stock exchanges, while ADRs are traded on US stock exchanges.

NATIONAL FINANCIAL SWITCH

● The National Financial Switch is the largest interconnected network of automated teller machines (ATMs) in India.

● It was developed by Institute of development and research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), Hyderabad.

● NPCI has allowed any bank offering the core banking services round the clock with or without ATM can be a part of this national financial switch through a sponsor bank.

● Objective - To enable the non-scheduled cooperative banks and other regional rural banks to access the wide network of ATMs in the country.

Thereby, enabling the customers of such banks to access banking services through any ATM of a connected bank.

Zero-Coupon Bonds

Zero-coupon bonds are usually issued at discounted rate and purchased at par value (face value) on maturity. So, investor gets some profit on it.

For Basal III recapitalisation of Public Sector Banks, Government sold Zero-Coupon Bonds at face value to Punjab and Sind Bank.

ZCBs were sold at the rate of ₹ 5500 crore, would be repurchased by government at ₹5500 crore on maturity.

It is non-transferable in nature (Punjab and Sind Bank cannot resell it to any third-party)

Benefit is recapitalization without impact on fiscal deficit.

RBI has the authority to issue currency notes in the country, except coins (all types) and one rupee note which are issued by Ministry of Finance, Govt of India.

The One Rupee note bears the signature of Finance Secretary, not of the RBI Governor.

Govt of India issues all types of coins. The RBI distributes/circulates the coins on behalf of the Govt.

Commemorative Coins are also released by Ministry of Finance.

Excerpt from the RBI website

The Government of India has the sole right to mint coins. The responsibility for coinage vests with the Government of India in terms of the Coinage Act, 1906 as amended from time to time. The designing and minting of coins in various denominations is also the responsibility of the Government of India. Coins are minted at the four India Government Mints at Mumbai, Alipore (Kolkata), Saifabad (Hyderabad), Cherlapally (Hyderabad) and NOIDA (UP).

💰 Bitcoins - Digital/virtual money (virtual currencies are decentralised. They are unregulated, not controlled by any Govt authority such as a central bank)

💰 Gold coins - Commodity money (have instrinsic value)

💰 Currency notes - Fiat money which govt guarantees as legal tender (instrically useless, but serves as medium of exchange because it has the backing of govt.)

💰 Cheques and drafts - Fiduciary money

Fiduciary money refers to money backed up by trust between the payer and payee.

Cheques and drafts are examples of fiduciary money as these are accepted as a means of payment on the basis of trust but not on the basis of any order of the government.

Amongst all the taxes, corporation tax is the single largest source of Govt revenue, followed by GST and income tax.

Corporation tax contributes 21 paise to every rupee earned by the Govt, whereas the income tax contributes 16 paise to every rupee collected by the Govt.

Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP Scheme)

Objectives:

1) To reimburse taxes and duties paid by exporters.

2) To boost the growth of Indian export sector.

It will replace the existing MEIS Scheme.

It is a scheme for exporters to reimburse taxes and duties paid by them such as VAT, coal cess, mandi tax, electricity duties and fuel used for transportation which are not getting accepted or refunded under any other existing mechanism.

Clarion Clipperton Zone - A modern EL Dorado

Lying between Hawaii and Mexico, and spanning some 1.7 million square miles – that’s bigger than India’s total land area – the seabed in this area of the Pacific Ocean is believed to contain billions of dollars worth of nickel, cobalt and rare earth metals.

Question 249.

One of the main aims of India's Deep Ocean Mission is to explore and extract Polymetallic Nodules.

These are small potato-like rounded accretions composed of minerals such as manganese, nickel, cobalt, copper and iron hydroxide.

They lie scattered on the Indian Ocean floor at depths of about 6000m and their size can vary from a few mm to cm.

These metals can be extracted and used in electronic devices, components of smartphones, batteries and solar panels.