1) State Bank of India celebrates 66th Foundation Day
•The oldest commercial bank in the country, State Bank of India, SBI, is celebrating its 66th year on 1st July. SBI descends from the Bank of Calcutta founded in 1806 through the Imperial Bank of India.
•The Bank of Madras merged into the other two presidency banks, the bank of Calcutta and the bank of Bombay to form the Imperial Bank of India which in turn became the State Bank of India on this day in 1955.
2) Government keeps interest rates on Small Savings Schemes unchanged for Q-2
•The government of India has announced that the rate of interest on Small Savings Schemes for the second quarter (July-Sept) of 2021-22 will remain unchanged as the last quarter (April-June) of 2021-2022. It must be noted that the Government notifies the Interest rates for small savings schemes on a quarterly basis.
3) Digital India completed 6 years of journey on July 1
•Digital India has completed its 6 years of journey on July 1, 2021. Digital India is a government’s flagship scheme to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. This unique flagship programme of the Government of India was launched on 1 July 2015 with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
•It started as an attempt to improve access to critical Government services by making the country digitally empowered through improved infrastructure and connectivity. The programme has been enabled for several important Government schemes, such as BharatNet, Make in India, Startup India and Standup India, industrial corridors, etc.
•With the help of Aadhaar, Government has provided digital identity to 129 crore people of India. Jandhan bank Accounts, mobile phones, and Aadhaar (JAM) helped the government in providing benefits of the different schemes through digital platforms.
4) India records current account surplus of 0.9% in FY21
•According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India, India reported a current account surplus of 0.9% of GDP in FY 21. In FY 20 there was a current account deficit of 0.9%. The reason for the Current Account Surplus in FY21 is a sharp contraction in the trade deficit to US$ 102.2 billion from US$ 157.5 billion in 2019-20. India has seen a Current account surplus for the first time in 17 years.
5) Rafael unveils Sea Breaker AI missile with 300 km range
•Israeli defence electronics company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has unveiled Sea Breaker, a 5th generation long-range, autonomous, precision-guided missile system, which can precisely target sea and land targets up to a range of 300 kilometres. Sea Breaker features an advanced imaging infra-red seeker, which can engage stationary or moving targets in a diverse range of land and marine environments.
•Sea Breaker can be launched from naval platforms, varying in size, and from fast attack missile boats to corvettes and frigates. The land version is a central part of the shore defence, based on Rafael’s highly mobile SPYDER launchers. The battery architecture supports standalone launchers, or operation as an integrated solution, with a command and control unit (CCU) and various sensors, based on customer requirements.
6) Indian Navy warship conducted military drill with South Korean vessel
•Indian Navy warship conducted military drill with South Korean vessel in the East China Sea. The Navy partnership exercise is aimed at enhancing interoperability and facilitating the exchange of best practices with partner navies in the maritime domain. Indian Navy’s indigenous ASW Corvette INS Kiltan undertook the exercise with Republic of Korea’s Ship ROKS Gyeongnam, a Daegu-class frigate, on June 28.
7) India’s 1 indigenous drone defence dome‘Indrajaal’ developed by Grene Robotics
•India’s 1st indigenous drone defence dome ‘Indrajaal’ has been developed by Hyderabad-based Grene Robotics. As per the company, the drone defence dome – ‘Indrajaal’ is capable of autonomously protecting an area of 1000-2000 sq km against aerial threats. It protects the area by assessing and acting on aerial threats such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and Low- Radar Cross Section (RCS) targets.
•The company said that cutting-edge technologies such as UAVs, Smart Swarms, etc. have been for the first time used in India to drop explosives next to the Mi-17 hangar at Jammu Air Base.
8) Andhra CM launches ‘YSR Bima’ scheme
•Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched the ‘YSR Bima’ scheme with new guidelines, where the government itself will directly pay the insurance amount to the family of the deceased to make the insurance claims easier.
•In order to support 1.32 lakh families through the YSR Bima scheme, the State government allocated Rs 750 crores for the year 2021-22. In the last two years, the State government had spent Rs 1307 crore for YSR Bima.
9) ICICI Bank launches ‘Salute Doctors’, banking solution for doctors
•ICICI Bank has launched India’s most comprehensive banking solutions for medical doctors. Titled as ‘Salute Doctors’, the solution offers customized banking as well as value-added services for every doctor, beginning from a medical student to a senior medical consultant to an owner of a hospital or a clinic.
•The solutions, are mostly digital and instant, designed to cater to the professional, business, lifestyle and wealth banking requirements of doctors and their families. The initiative is powered by ICICI STACK, a digital banking platform with nearly 500 services that helps customers of the Bank to avail the services digitally and seamlessly.
10) HDFC Bank launches ‘Salaam Dil Sey’ initiative
•HDFC Bank launched a SalaamDilSey initiative to show gratitude to doctors for their tireless service during the pandemic, to pay tribute to doctors across the country. SalaamDilSey encourages one and all to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution of doctors and provides a platform to show their gratitude to doctors, who are bravely fighting the pandemic, at the risk of their own lives.
•As part of this initiative, the bank has created a web platform www.salaamdilsey.com wherein the general public can logon on to the microsite and share the thank you message for doctors which can be immediately shared via e-mail, social media, and WhatsApp.
