• Srei Equipment Finance has bagged a euro 10 million (about Rs 87 crore) loan from KfW IPEX-Bank to facilitate German exports to India.

• The financing is backed by cover from Euler Hermes.

• Through this arrangement, KfW IPEX-Bank will provide modern and energy-efficient construction machinery for use in Indian infrastructure projects.

• The financed machinery from a German construction machine manufacturer includes asphalt machines, road pavers and rollers, said a press statement issued by Srei.

* SBI Mutual Fund has unveiled Magnum Children’s Benefit Fund - Investment Plan, an open-ended fund for parents to invest for their children.

* The scheme, open for subscription from September 8, is a part of SBI Magnum Children’s Benefit Fund that currently has Savings Plan, a predominantly debt-oriented offering.

* The scheme will predominantly invest in equity and equity-related instruments, said SBI MF, including Equity ETFs with a minimum of 65% going up to 100%, debt including Debt ETFs and money market instruments upto a maximum of 35% in REITS and InvITs up to 10% and up to 20 % in Gold ETFs.

* The new plan for children aged 1 year going up to when he/she is 14 years old.

* There would be a lock-in period for at least 5 years or till the child attains age of majority, whichever is earlier.

* Mahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd (Mahindra Insurance Brokers) enter into an online insurance broking business to provide digital services to the customers of its insurance brokerage through PayBima, a portal which said to be launched soon.

* It a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Limited(Mahindra Finance).

* PayBima will help Mahindra insurance broking services to transform it into a “phygital” model that will leverage its feet-on-the-street agents at over 400 locations in the country, with the digital aggregation and settlement services.

* The critical part of Mahindra Insurance Brokers Operations on the portal will be settlement of claims.

* Mahindra Insurance Brokers will give its customers the options to compare and buy different policies through its partnership with leading public and private insurers, while the portal will also provide advanced assistance in registering and settling claims.

* In accordance with the report on “Household Social Consumption: Education in India as part of 75th round of National Sample Survey(NSS) – from July 2017 to June 2018″ conducted by National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) Andhra Pradesh (AP) is the worst performer at 66.4% followed by Rajasthan at 69.7%, Bihar (70.9%), Telangana (72.8%), Uttar Pradesh (73%) and Madhya Pradesh (73.7%).

* As per the report Kerala again emerged as the most literate state in the country with 96.2% literacy followed by Delhi (88.7%), Uttarakhand ( 87.6%), Himachal Pradesh (86.6%) and Assam (85.9%).

* The overall literacy rate in India is pegged at 77.7% where rural areas have 73.5% literacy rate and urban areas has 87.7%.

* Bank of India (BoI) launched “Signature Visa Debit Card” for the affluent/high net worth individuals maintaining an average quarterly balance of ₹10 lakhs and above.

* This international contactless debit card will be available in metal and plastic variants.

* This card will have a spending limit of up to ₹5 lakhs on POS & e-commerce and ₹1 lakh on ATM

• The Indian arm of Fitch Ratings, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has projected India’s FY21 GDP growth forecast at -11.8% as against its earlier prediction of -5.3%.

• The rating agency estimates the economic loss in FY21 to be Rs 18.44 lakh crore.

• The rating agency also expects India’s GDP to rebound and grow at 9.9% year-on-year in FY22 primarily due to the weak base of FY21.

• The Indian economy contracted by a record 23.9% in 1st (April-June) quarter of FY21, which is much higher than Ind-Ra’s forecast of 17.0% due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (lockdown).

• As per the EASE Banking Reforms Index 2.0, Bank of Baroda has been placed at the first spot.

• State Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) got the 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

• The Indian Banking Association (IBA) makes EASE (Enhanced Access and Service Excellence) reform index.

• The aim of this index is to bring fruitful change in the PSBs by brining in healthy competition among these PSBs and by encouraging them to learn from each other.

• State Bank of India is planning to launch a loan product, SAFAL, primarily focussed on organic cotton growers who don't have any credit history.

• The bank is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in a big way for generating business.

• Currently, the bank has more than 40 Machine Learning based models which it uses across the spectrum for business, risk mitigation, fraud management.

• The bank has built a capability which is unmatched in the banking industry.

• CRISIL has projected India’s GDP rate at -9% for the financial year 2020-21 (FY21).

• CRISIL revising its forecast down from 5% owing to uncertainty over the spread of Covid-19 and lack of adequate financial support from the government.

• For FY22, Crisil has projected India’s GDP to grow at 10%.

• For the next three years, between fiscals 2023 and 2025, CRISIL projects the Indian GDP to average a growth of 6.2% annually.

• Mastercard has launched a digital currency testing platform aimed at helping central banks test their digital currencies.

• The platform will allows central banks to test how proposed central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) would work in real life.

• The system will also demonstrate how consumers can use central bank digital currencies to pay for goods and services wherever Mastercard is accepted worldwide.

• The new protocol would help financial institutions understand the feasibility of CBDCs and allow them to explore new use cases, including issuance at a local or regional level.