HENCY R SHAH AND ASSOCIATES

“Massive Cyber Attack Targets 12,000 Indian Government Websites: National Security at Risk” A hacking group known as “Hacktivist Indonesia” has announced its intention to target 12,000 Indian government websites in the near future. The Ministry of Home Affairs’ Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) has circulated an alert to all agencies, Central and State government wings, stating that the group has circulated a list of websites they plan to attack. While authorities have noted that the hackers could be operating within or outside the country, the location or origin of ‘Hacktivist Indonesia’ remains unknown. The group has been linked to cyber attacks in Sweden, Israel and the US. However, the Indian government has reassured the public that its websites are “updated” and “capable” of handling such threats, and the alert was circulated on the basis of inputs received by its Cyber Threat Intelligence wing following open-source intelligence. The list reportedly includes thousands of...

  US Banks Collapse: Could the US bank crisis be blessing in disguise for Nifty bulls, OR are we heading back to 2008? A week after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed, First Republic Bank is considering a sale following a dramatic 60 percent drop in its stock price over the past week. The bank also received $70 billion in emergency loans from JP Morgan Chase and the Federal Reserve. Eleven of the biggest U.S. banks Thursday announced a $30 billion rescue package for First Republic Bank in an effort to prevent it from becoming the third to fail in less than a week and head off a broader banking crisis. The rescue package brought back memories of the 2008 financial crisis, when banks collectively came to the aid of weaker banks in the early days of the crisis. Banks then bought each other in hurried deals in order to keep the crisis from spreading further. With FIIs pulling out more dollars from India after back-to-back collapse of three US banks, including Signature and...

India’s G20 presidency will be inclusive, decisive, action-oriented India will formally begin its G20 presidency on December 1 and host the next summit in New Delhi in September 2023. India will make the G20 a “catalyst for global change” and its presidency of the group in 2023 will be inclusive and action-oriented. As the G20 presidency was handed over to India by Indonesia, Modi said the country will work for collective action on global challenges such as food and energy security. In an address at the closing session, Modi noted India is taking charge of the G20 at a “time when the world is simultaneously grappling with geopolitical tensions, economic slowdown, rising food and energy prices and the long-term ill-effects of the pandemic”. “Together, we will make the G20 a catalyst for global change,” he added. India’s theme of G-20 chairmanship – ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’. Modi said India will strive to ensure the G20 “acts as a global prime mover to envision new ideas and a...

Digital Rupee is the future of money Almost nine months after the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman first spoke about the digital currency in parliament, the digital rupee was launched in India. The pilot project launched by the RBI is for wholesale transactions in the bond market. The retail phase for the customers, however, will be launched sometime later. Digital Rupee or CBDC is a new digital form of money issued by central banks. The digital rupee rollout is a big step ahead in India’s digital transformation. It will be an excellent opportunity for India since it will potentially increase the ease of doing business, as well as improve resilience and security of the entire payments infrastructure. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that the first pilot in Digital Rupee - Retail segment is planned for launch within a month in select locations. The central bank said that nine banks -- State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank,...