1) Additional Tier 1 Bonds: AT1 bonds, also called perpetual bonds, carry no maturity date but have a call option, but no put option i.e. Investors cannot return these bonds to the issuing bank and get the money but the issuer of such bonds may redeem the bonds if it is getting money at a cheaper rate, especially when interest rates are falling.
- They are like any other bonds but pay a slightly higher rate of interest.
- Banks issue these bonds to shore up their core capital base to meet the Basel-III norms.
- These bonds are also listed and traded on the exchanges. So, if an AT-1 bondholder needs money, he can sell it in the secondary market. Banks issuing AT-1 bonds can skip interest payouts for a particular year or even reduce the bonds’ face value.
- AT-1 bonds are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). If the RBI feels that a bank needs a rescue, it can simply ask the bank to write off its outstanding AT-1 bonds without consulting its investors.
2) Safe Harbour Protection: Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act provides for the Safe Harbour protection to social media giants.
- It says that any intermediary shall not be held legally or otherwise liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available on its platform.
- However, the intermediary should not involve any way in initiating the transmission of the message in question, select the receiver of the transmitted message, and do not modify any information of the transmission.
3) Guindy National Park: Guindy is India’s eighth-smallest national park and one of the very few national parks located inside a city- in the heart of Chennai’s metropolitan area of Tamil Nadu.
- It is one of the last remnants of the tropical dry evergreen forests of the Coromandel Coast.
- The Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest is a unique forest found only in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
4) Yaoshang Festival: The festival is celebrated every year on the full moon of Lamta month (February-March) of the Meitei lunar calendar.
- The festival is celebrated by the Meitei people who are predominantly Hindu.
- It is celebrated at the same time as Holi and is known as ‘Manipur’s version of Holi’.
- The highlight of the festival is the ThabalChongba, a traditional Manipuri folk dance where boys and girls hold hands and sing and dance in a circle.
- The festival marks the rejuvenation of the spirit of life and commemorates the birthday of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
5) Securities-Based Lending: It is the practice of raising a loan by offering your existing investments in stocks/mutual funds/ Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as collaterals.
- These kinds of loans are generally offered to high-net-worth individuals by large financial institutions and private banks. The loan amount depends on the security offered.
- The loan can be used for making purchases like real estate or personal items but not for making further security purchases.
- Due to the inherent volatility in the nature of stocks/mutual funds, the risk of forced liquidation tends to be very high for these loans.
