Banking Current Affairs - April 2015 (4th Week)

1) Anjan Lahiri named new CEO of Birlasoft:  Former Sasken chief executive and Mindtree co-founder Anjan Lahiri has been appointed chief executive of BirlaSoft, the information-technology arm of the CK Birla Group.

2) Tata Teleservices to drop DoCoMo from its telecom brand Tata Docomo: Tata Teleservices has decided to drop the brand DoCoMo from its telecom brand Tata Docomo months before its agreement with Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo to use the brand ends. In June 2014, Tata and NTT DoCo-Mo reached an understanding under which Tata Teleservices was allowed to use the Tata Docomo brand name for at least a year. As part of the understanding, NTT DoCoMo agreed to let Tata use the brand name in lieu of a "marginal royalty".

3) New income tax forms put on hold: The new income tax return forms, requiring stringent disclosures, are on the hold for now. The tax authorities have made several additions to the income tax return forms for the assessment year 2015-16 seeking details about foreign assets and income from any source outside the country, and details of all bank accounts held in India at any time during the previous year.

4) IAS, IPS officers need government approval before accepting gifts of over Rs 5,000: IAS and IPS officers will now need to take prior permission from the Union government before accepting gifts, including free transportation, boarding and lodging, worth more than Rs 5,000.

5) Elector's Photo Identity Card(EPIC) or  Aadhaar enough to get PAN card: An EPIC or Aadhaar document will now be enough for any individual to obtain PAN card as the Income Tax Department has relaxed the cumbersome procedure of having multiple documents to prove one's own identity. 

6) ICICI launched near-field communications-enabled payment service 'Tap-n-Pay': Largest private sector lender ICICI Bank in collaboration with Tech Mahindra launched a payment service 'Tap-n-Pay' based on the near-field communications (NFC) technology, enabling customers make over-the-counter payments without using cash. It can be used for merchant payments by merely tapping a NFC-enabled mobile phone or a tag on the counter.

7) Federal Bank offers health insurance of Rs 1 lakh for new accounts:  South-based lender Federal Bank announced it will be offering a health insurance of Rs 1 lakh for all new savings accounts under a tie-up with Max Bupa.

8) BHEL commissioned 250-mw thermal power plant in Gujarat: State-owned power equipment maker BHEL has commissioned a 250-mw coal-based thermal power plant in Gujarat.

9) Government introduced bill to raise investment limits for MSME units: Government on 20 April 2015 introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to enhance the investment limits for micro, small and medium enterprises and also made a provision for enhancing it further through a notification. The investment limits in plant and machinery for the micro enterprises is proposed to be raised to Rs 50 lakh, of small enterprise to Rs 10 crore and medium enterprise to Rs 30 crore. The existing limit are Rs 25 lakh, Rs 5 and Rs 10 crore respectively.

10) Airtel-Vodafone JV deployed Wi-Fi network in Supreme Court premises: FireFly Networks, an equal joint venture between Vodafone India and Bharti Airtel, has equipped the Supreme Court of India with a 24x7 Wi-Fi network with services currently being provided by the local unit of the British telecom major.