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OICL AO study materials
OICL AO study resources

OICL AO: General Awareness (with special reference to Insurance and Banking)

OICL AO · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

General Awareness (with special reference to Insurance and Banking)

General Awareness with special reference to Insurance and Banking tests current financial and insurance events plus static institutions. Expect RBI policy rates, banking terminology, government schemes, insurance companies and regulators, appointments, and insurance or banking current affairs.

Core rules

  • Know the RBI policy corridor: repo is the rate at which RBI lends to banks against government securities; reverse repo and the Standing Deposit Facility absorb liquidity; CRR and SLR are reserve requirements.
  • IRDAI is the insurance regulator, established under the IRDA Act, 1999, with headquarters in Hyderabad.
  • Insurance history: life insurance was nationalised in 1956 (LIC); general insurance in 1972 (GIC, later four subsidiaries).
  • Schemes: PMJJBY (life cover), PMSBY (accident cover), APY (pension), MUDRA (micro-enterprise loans).

Worked example

Question: Which RBI rate is charged when RBI lends to a bank against government securities? Reasoning: Lending by RBI injects liquidity and is done at the repo rate. Reverse repo and SDF are absorption tools, while CRR and SLR are reserve ratios. Answer: repo rate.

Traps

Confusing CRR with SLR; mixing insurance FDI limits with banking FDI; using outdated scheme amounts; guessing current appointments from memory instead of a recent revision source. For OICL, link general awareness to insurance terms such as premium, claim, policyholder and regulator.