• Axis Bank Ltd, Mastercard India & Worldline India partnered to launch a digital point-of-sale(POS) solution ‘Soft POS’, the 1st financial payments service in India to transform everyday smartphones into merchant POS terminals. It helps offline merchants and Kirana stores accept payments using their smartphones.

• Through this app merchants who traditionally accept cash payments will now have a simpler and more secure way to manage transactions.

• The app allows banks to have complete visibility of a merchant’s transactions, which makes it easier for small merchants to get business loans.

• Merchants can accept contactless payments directly by their own Android smartphones, this functionality is called “Tap on Phone” which means a cardholder can tap his/her contactless card on the merchant Smartphone with NFC functionality and so encourages social distancing.

• DBS Bank has partnered with Transport Corporation of India Limited (TCIL) to facilitate real time payments for truck drivers.

• The solution has been set up under the aegis of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). DBS RAPID (Real-time APIs by DBS) and UPI payments, provides a seamless integration with the company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

• By this solution, TCIL truck drivers will receive an instant credit into their bank account, which they can then swipe at terminals or withdraw cash using ATMs.

* Recently, an expert panel constituted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has recommended allowing non-profit organisations to directly list on Social Stock Exchanges (SSE).

* Allowing non-profit organisations to directly list through issuance of bonds in the form of zero coupon or zero principal bonds.

* Zero-coupon bond is a debt security that does not pay interest but instead trades at a deep discount, drawing a profit at maturity, when the bond is redeemed for its full face value.

* This would help to access funds from donors, philanthropic foundations and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spenders as they will be encouraged to buy zero coupon bonds.

* Recently, ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service downgraded India’s sovereign ratings from Baa2 to Baa3.

* Baa3 is the lowest investment grade in Moody’s rating ladder.

* This means, India is just one notch above the non-investment grade or junk grade.

* Moody’s had upgraded the country’s rating to Baa2 in November 2017.

* According to Moody, India’s real GDP growth rate will contract by 4% in 2020-21 due to the shock from the coronavirus pandemic and related lockdown measures.

* It expects the economy to grow 8.7% next financial year and closer to 6% in the subsequent year.

• the Union Cabinet approved hike of Minimum Support Price of 14 Kharif crops.

• The Minimum Support Price of Paddy has been increased by Rs 53 per quintal. The MSP of paddy has been fixed at Rs 1,868 per quintal for the year 2020-21. The rates of pulses, oil seeds and cereals have also been increased.

• The MSP of cotton has been increased from Rs 5,255 per quintal to Rs 5,515 per quintal.

• Private sector lender YES Bank has acquired 24.19% stake in Dish TV, India’s largest direct-to-home (DTH) company in terms of subscribers, by invocation of 44.53 crore pledged shares.

• As of March 31, Dish TV promoters owned 54.56% stake in the company, out of which over 93% was pledged with the lenders.

• Following the transaction, Dish TV promoters led by Jawahar Goel will only have just 30.37% stake in the company.

• But before as on March 31, 2020 they owned 54.56% stake in the company, out of which over 93% was pledged with the lenders.

• Vakrangee Limited has entered into a partnership with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to distribute latter’s micro insurance products in unserved and underserved areas through its Nextgen Vakrangee Kendra network spread across India.

• Vakrangee kendras will also act as a renewal premium collection point for all micro insurance policies of LIC irrespective of whether these policies have been procured at the kendra or not.In addition, Follow up for Collection and remittance of renewal premium of LIC’s micro insurance policies will be enabled at the kendras.

• Vakrangee Limited is a technology company based in Mumbai (Maharashtra).

• IndusInd Bank Limited, an Indian new generation bank, has introduced a first-of-its-kind facility for customers to open current accounts (CA) through its ‘Indus Corporate’ mobile app.

• Current account can be opened for all types of businesses including proprietorships, partnerships and private and public limited companies through this facility.

• The process of opening a current account in the bank with the mobile app will be paperless and the account will be opened in a few hours.

• Bank officials will go to the customer’s home and gather information about them and his/her business on a real-time basis and verify it.

• National Statistical Office launched the Annual Report of Periodic Labour Force Survey.

• According to the survey, the worker population ratio increased to 35.3% as compared to 34.7% in 2017-18.

• The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% in the period July 2018 to June 2019 as compared to 6.1% in the same period 2017-18.

• The Labour Force participation rate increased to 37.5% as compared to 36.9% in 2017-18.

• The survey has also found that the worker population went up to 35.3% as compared to 34.7% in the year 2017-18.

• In Urban India, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7% in 2018-19 from 7.8% earlier. Also, the female participation rate improved in both rural and urban India from 17.5% to 18.6%.

• Airtel Payments Bank has collaborated with Mastercard to create customised financial products for Indian farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

• These financial products particularly for those territories where there is less access to bank administrations.

• The coordinated effort will unite Mastercard’s worldwide and nearby involvement with developing advanced financial solutions and Airtel Payments Bank’s circulation system to arrive at the last mile and its large customer base.