To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day. In recognition of the pivotal role that youth can play in addressing challenges bees and other pollinators are facing, World Bee Day 2024 focuses on the theme "Bee engaged with Youth."
Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications & IT has brought out a Commemorating Postage Stamp on Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala, the great Buddhist thinker and visionary from Sri Lanka. Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar received the first stamp released commemorating the completion of 200 years of Indian Origin Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The Minister highlighted that Swami Vivekanand and Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala together represented the two great religions at the World Parliament of Religions held at Chicago in 1893.
The student enrollment under the Scheduled Caste category has grown by 44 per cent, from 46 lakh in 2014-15 to 66 lakh in 2021-22. According to a report of the National Commission for Backward Class, minority female student enrollment also witnessed over 42 per cent increase, from over 10 lakh in 2014-15 to 15 lakh in 2021-22.
Female SC enrollment increased by 51 per cent, whereas that of ST students went up by 65.2 per cent. According to the report, during the academic year 2020-21, a 27 per cent reservation for OBC students was implemented in Central Schools, resulting in over 34 thousand OBC children securing admissions.
The Indian team picked up its first medals in the World Para Athletics Championships with high jumper Nishad Kumar and 200 metres runner Preethi Pal winning a silver and bronze in Kobe, Japan. Kumar, a Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist, cleared 1.99 metres to finish second in the men’s T47 high jump final and pick up India’s first medal on the third day of competition.
American Roderick Townsend won the gold with a jump of 2.05 metres.
In Boxing, India’s reigning world champion, Nikhat Zareen and another boxer Minakshi clinched gold medals at the Elorda Cup 2024 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Indian pugilists concluded their Elorda Cup 2024 campaign with 12 medals, including two gold, two silver and eight bronze medals.
Nikhat in the women’s 52 kg category, triumphed over Zhazira Urakbayeva of Kazakhstan with a 5-Nil victory, while Minakshi defeated another Uzbekistan boxer Rahmonova Saidahon, 4-1 in the women’s 48 kg event.
State-owned Bank of Maharashtra recorded the highest growth rate last fiscal in terms of total business and deposit mobilisation among public sector lenders at a time when most banks are facing difficulty in achieving double-digit growth.
The Pune-headquartered lender has registered a 15.94 per cent rise in the total business (domestic) in FY24, followed by the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) with 13.12 per cent growth, according to published financial numbers of the public sector banks (PSBs).
BoM continued to maintain its top spot in terms of growth in deposit mobilisation, with a 15.66 per cent rise in FY24. It was followed by SBI (11.07 per cent), Bank of India (11.05 per cent) and Canara Bank (10.98 per cent). Out of 12 public sector banks, only these four lenders could log a double-digit growth in deposits in the financial year 2023-24.
In terms of low-cost CASA deposits, the Bank of Maharashtra continued to top the chart with 52.73 per cent growth, followed by the Central Bank of India with a 50.02 per cent rise at the end of March 2024. With regard to loan growth, the Kolkata-based UCO Bank was a tad higher at 16.38 per cent, followed by BoM at 16.30 per cent.
In terms of capital adequacy ratio, the Bank of Maharashtra was leading PSBs at 17.38 per cent, followed by Indian Overseas Bank at 17.28 per cent and Punjab & Sind Bank at 17.16 at the end of FY24.
Shareholders and non-convertible debenture (NCD) holders of IDFC First Bank have approved a proposal to merge parent IDFC Ltd with the lender. The proposal was passed by the overwhelming majority of 99.99 per cent of the NCD holders.As part of the composite scheme of amalgamation, IDFC FHCL would first merge with IDFC and then IDFC into IDFC First Bank Ltd.
Under the proposed reverse merger scheme, an IDFC shareholder will get 155 shares for every 100 shares she/he holds in the bank. Both stocks have a face value of Rs 10 each. IDFC was an infra lender in the private sector space, and following its bigger peers like ICICI and IDBI, it also launched a banking subsidiary in 2015 -- IDFC Bank.
Fusion Micro Finance has entered into a loan agreement with the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for an overall facility of $25 million, the company said in a release. The microfinancier has received an initial disbursement of $20 million as external commercial borrowing (ECB).
State Bank of India has executed transaction documents to acquire a 6.125 per cent stake in CCIL IFSC Limited for ₹6.125 crore.CCIL IFSC, which will be incorporated with an authorised and paid-up capital of ₹200 crore and ₹100 crore, respectively, will operate the foreign currency settlement system and act as a clearing house and system operator at the IFSC within GIFT City
Yes Bank has launched premium banking services under the label ‘Yes Grandeur’ targeting elite and rising affluent class to drive business growth. The exclusive banking program, tailored to meet distinctive financial and lifestyle needs, has an eligibility threshold of average monthly balance of ₹5 lakh or a Net Relationship Value (NRV) of ₹20 lakh, with additional
consideration given to loan relationships. Customers can also avail zero cross-currency markup charges on international debit card spends, complimentary airport lounge access, and lifestyle privileges across brands like Taj, ITC Hotels, Disney+ Hotstar, SonyLIV, Amazon, among others.
According to the BCG CCI Proprietary Income Model, India’s affluent segment is projected to expand 2.3 times over the next decade leading to a major shift in consumer banking dynamics. A report by PRICE highlights that India’s middle class is expected to nearly double, comprising 61 per cent of the total population by 2046-2047.
Renowned Hindi writer and Padma Shri recipient Malti Joshi died on 16 May. She was 90. Popularly known as “Malwa ki Meera”, Joshi was awarded the Padma Shri by the then President Ramnath Kovind in 2018.Some of her most popular works include “Madhayantar”, “Pataakshep”, “Parajay”, “Ek Ghar Sapno Ka”, “Woh Tera Ghar, Ye Mera Ghar”, and her novel “Aurat Ek Raat Hai”.
She wrote more than 60 books in Hindi and Marathi languages.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister have passed away in a helicopter crash. The eighth President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisolsadati, more popularly known as Ebrahim Raisi, was a principlist and a Muslim jurist, who became the Iranian President in 2021. Ebrahim Raisi was born on December 14, 1960.
Lai Ching-te of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was sworn in as the self-governing island’s new President. A trained physician Lai succeeds Tsai Ing-wen to lead the democracy amid increasing threats from China, which claims the self-governing island as its territory. Taiwan has had an independent government since 1949.
Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, was also officially sworn in. She was Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US from 2020 to 2023 and formerly served as a DPP lawmaker for several terms.
Narayanan Vaghul, a doyen of Indian banking who was instrumental in bringing up ICICI, passed away at his residence in Chennai. A banker par excellence, Vaghul, who received the Padma Bhushan award in 2009, was the youngest Chairman of a bank when he helmed the Bank of India at the age of 44.
