News in Shorts: 20 March 2024

• It endeavours to offer collateral-free loans of up to ₹10 lakh to start-ups and entrepreneurs at interest rates of upto 10 per cent and will be approved within ten minutes.

GeM-SAHAY app: It was launched in 2021 to address the credit availability challenges faced by sole proprietors on GeM.

GeM’s ‘Start-up Runway’ Initiative: It gives start-ups direct visibility with the buyers of the public procurement portal.

About GeM Portal:  GeM was launched in 2016 as a government-to-business platform.

• It offers an end-to-end e-marketplace to facilitate e-procurement of commonly used goods and services required by the Centre, states, and public sector undertakings. 

About State Development Loans (SDL):

• About: It is a bond issued by state governments to fund their fiscal deficit.
• Manager: These loans are managed by the RBI.
• Rate: The SDL coupon rates are marginally higher than those of GOI-Secs.  
  • G-Sec is a tradable instrument issued by the Central Government to raise money from the public to finance the fiscal deficit. 
• Eligible Security: SDL are eligible securities for the RBI under LAF Repo operations. 
• Limit: Each state can borrow up to a set limit under Article 293(3) of the Constitution. 
• This limit has been fixed under the FRBM Act to 3% of their Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

ETF:  An ETF is a basket of securities that trades on an exchange just like a stock does.

• It offers investors a way to pool their money in a fund that makes investments in stocks, bonds, or other assets and, in return, to receive an interest in that investment pool.
• ETF share prices fluctuate all day as the ETF is bought and sold and thus, it differs from mutual funds, which only trade once a day after the market closes.

Types of ETFs:

Index-Based ETFs: These ETFs seek to track a securities index like the S&P 500 stock index and generally invest primarily in the index’s component securities.  

Actively Managed ETFs: Actively managed ETFs are not based on an index.  Instead, they seek to achieve a stated investment objective by investing in a portfolio of stocks, bonds, and other assets.

Gaia AI Project: It analysed company disclosures on carbon emissions, green bond issuance and voluntary net-zero commitments.

• With the traditional approach, each additional key performance indicator(KPI) and each new institution requires the analyst to either search for the information in public corporate reports or contact the institution for information.
• With Gaia, adding new KPIs or new institutions is quick and easy. This makes it possible to extract and analyze a multitude of KPIs from a large number of institutions.

AI tokens:  These refers to cryptocurrencies that are specifically developed to fuel AI-based projects, applications, and services.

• These tokens serve either as a means of payment for transactions on the AI platform or as a way of conferring governance rights to holders.

Some Examples of AI Tokens: Scotty the AI, eTukTuk, Nosana, and Artificial Liquid Intelligence – An ecosystem built to enhance AI ownership.

Cryptocurrency: It is a digital form of currency secured by Blockchain Technology that operates decentralised, free from government or institutional control. Ex- Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.