Page 14 - Banking Finance August 2023

ROUNDUP

World Bank approves customer deposit accounts from a The update is part of Amazon Global
seven-year high. Selling, the retailer's e-commerce ex-
$255.5-mn loan for better
ports program, that has grown to
technical education in In- RBI panel suggests mea- more than 1.25 lakh Indian exporters
since its launch in 2015. Sellers from
dia sures for internationa-
over 200 Indian cities are part of the
The World Bank has approved a USD
lisation of rupee; inclusion Amazon Global Selling program. The
255.5 million loan for improving the
quality of technical education in gov- of INR in IMF's SDR program helps Indian exporters list
their products across 18 Amazon mar-
ernment-run institutions in India. Over A Reserve Bank of India-appointed
ketplaces such as the US, the UK, the
the next five years, the project will working group on Wednesday recom-
UAE, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy,
support around 275 government-run mended various measures, including
France, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey,
technical institutions in selected states inclusion of the rupee in the Special
across the country, benefitting more Drawing Rights (SDR) basket and Brazil, Japan, Australia, and Singapore
than 350,000 students each year. recalibration of the foreign portfolio and then sell to over 200 markets glo-
investor (FPI) regime to accelerate the bally.
The Multidisciplinary Education and
pace of internationalisation of the ru-
Research Improvement in Technical
pee.
Education Project will support improv- Threads now fastest grow-
ing student skills and employability by The recommendations by an Inter-De-
ing app ever, hits 100 mil-
focusing on better research, entrepre- partmental Group (IDG), headed by
neurship, and innovation; and improve RBI Executive Director Radha Shyam lion users
governance in technical institutions. Ratho, were placed on the RBI
Meta's Twitter rival Threads has
website.
As part of the project, students will get passed 100 million users in just 5 days
access to upgraded curricula including The group was constituted by RBI since its launch. Threads has also taken
emerging technologies in communica- Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar to re- ChatGPT's crown as the fastest grow-
tion and climate resilience. They will view the position of the rupee as an ing consumer product ever. Threads
also benefit from better internship and international currency and to frame a
was launched on 6 July 2023 with the
placement services, including opportu- road map for the internationalisation
aim of becoming "the public conversa-
nities to network with professional as- of the domestic currency.
tion app with 1 billion people on it".
sociations, World Bank said.
Internationalisation of the rupee is a
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced
process that involves increasing use of
Indians' funds in Swiss the milestone of reaching 100 million
the local currency in cross-border
users in just 5 days since launch in a
banks down 11% transactions.
post on Threads. He also noted that
Funds parked by Indian individuals and
demand for the social media app is
firms in Swiss banks, including through Amazon expects $8 billion
'mostly organic' and that many promo-
India-based branches and other finan-
in exports from India this tions haven't even been turned on yet.
cial institutions, declined by 11 per cent
in 2022 to 3.42 billion Swiss francs year OpenAI's generative AI-based chatbot,
(nearly Rs. 30,000 crore), annual data Exports by Indian sellers to Amazon ChatGPT, had reached 10 million daily
from Switzerland's central bank marketplaces the world over are on users in 40 days after launch and 100
showed. track to surpass $8 billion in 2023, said million daily active users in about two
a top executive at the company. months after launch. At the time,
The decline in aggregate funds of In-
ChatGPT had become the fastest prod-
dian clients with Swiss banks, from a 14- The business update comes over a year
year-high of CHF 3.83 billion in 2021, after the global e-commerce market- uct to reach 100 million daily active
follows two consecutive years of in- place had doubled targets to achieve users, beating Instagram, TikTok and
crease and was largely driven by a $20 billion in cumulative e-commerce other social media giants by a wide
sharp plunge of nearly 34 per cent in exports from India by 2025. margin.

14 | 2023 | AUGUST | BANKING FINANCE