Current Affairs: 4 January 2017

Housing finance major HDFC has cut benchmark lending rates by up to 0.90 percentage point
The state-run Bank of India has also announced cut in lending rates
Taking a cue from the top PSU banks, country's largest mortgage lender HDFC today reduced its home loan rates by up to 0.45 per cent.
Loans up to Rs 75 lakh will attract interest rate of 8.7 per cent per annum, while it will be 8.75 per cent for higher amounts, HDFC said in a statement. A woman applicant will get a discount of 0.05 per cent in interest rate.
HDFC's earlier benchmark rate was 9.1 per cent.

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Paytm has received final approval of the Reserve Bank to formally launch its payments bank and it expects to start operations next month.
Payments banks can accept deposits from individuals and small businesses of up to Rs 1 lakh per account.
Last month, One97 Communications had restructured its business ahead of the launch of the Payments Bank, merging the wallet business with payments bank operation.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi has partnered with digital payments firm MobiKwik.
This partnership was announced to enable a cashless payment facility for doctors, staff and patients using the company's mobile wallet.

Anshu Jain, the former Deutsche Bank AG co-chief executive officer, is joining Cantor Fitzgerald LP as president, restarting his career at a much smaller firm after leaving Germany's largest bank amid mounting legal and regulatory problems.
Jain, 53, will help the closely held company expand in areas including fixed-income and equities trading as well as prime brokerage, Cantor Chairman and CEO Howard W. Lutnick said Monday in a phone interview.
The firm is looking to capitalize as stiff regulations force global investment banks, including many in Europe, to pare businesses and pull back from some clients.

The Reserve Bank has appointed Surekha Marandi as Executive Director and will look after financial inclusion, among other departments. Marandi took charge yesterday. She replaces U S Paliwal, who retired on December 31, 2016.
As Executive Director, Marandi will look after Consumer Education and Protection Department, Financial Inclusion and Development Department and Secretary's Department, the central bank said in a notification.
Prior to being promoted as ED, Marandi was Principal Chief General Manager and Chief Vigilance Officer in the Reserve Bank

After petrol and diesel, buying and paying for cooking gas (LPG) online will get consumers a discount of Rs. 5 per cylinder.
State-owned fuel retailers, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) will offer "an upfront discount of Rs. 5 on every LPG refill to all LPG customers who will book and pay for it online," an official statement said here.
To provide cash-less transactions, the government had asked oil companies to pay consumers 0.75 per cent discount on cashless fuelling of petrol and diesel at petrol pumps.

For the benefit of voters, candidates, election staff as well as the Election Commission of India (ECI), the district administration of Ludhiana has developed a mobile application named "ECI360". Developed by Harpreet Singh Chandokefrom a company named "01 Synergy" on behalf of the district administration and a brainchild of deputy commissioner Ravi Bhagat, this mobile app would prove beneficial for all the stakeholders of upcoming assembly elections.
Besides, a web-based application to be used by ECI, CEO, DEO and RO named "RoNET" has been developed that would specifically to enable them to know what exactly they are required to do and when; without burdening them with an additional reporting forum.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal will launch the web portal and a Mobile App for one of India’s most talked about scheme—-or the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) for operational and financial turnaround of state power distribution companies.
The App and the web portal, to be launched by Goyal on Wednesday will provide all details on the scheme including the number of states joining the scheme as also the progress achieved by each state under various parameters listed under the scheme—-including AT&C losses, cost of electricity, bonds issued and others.

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