GK Updates - 13 April | Banking Quiz

RBI to issue Rs 500, Rs 100 notes of 2014 printing year

1.The Reserve Bank will shortly issue banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 100 denominations in the Mahatma Gandhi series with 2014 as the printing year.

2.The RBI will shortly issue Rs 500 denomination banknotes incorporating rupee symbol on the obverse and reverse, with inset letter’E’ in both the numbering panels, in the Mahatma Gandhi Series—2005,” RBI has said.

3.Besides that, Rs 100 denomination banknotes will also be issued in the same series.

4.Currencies of both the denominations will bear the signature of RBI Governor Raghuram G Rajan.

5.RBI said the design of these banknotes will be similar in all respects to Rs 500 and Rs 100 banknotes printed in Mahatma Gandhi series—2005 issued earlier.

6.Also, all the banknotes in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 100 issued by the RBI in the past would continue to be legal tender, it said.

7.The RBI has been introducing banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series since 1996. It has so far issued notes in the denominations of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in this series.

FII inflows in Indian equities at $1.3 bn in April

1.Foreign investors have so far pumped in a staggering ₹7,764 crore ($1.3 billion) in the domestic stock market this month, primarily on hopes of a strong reformist government after the general elections.

2.Total investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in equities since January 2014 has risen to ₹29,960 crore ($4.94 billion).

3.Market analysts say FIIs are bullish on India, expecting a strong reformist government taking charge after the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

4.Analysts are of the view that a positive outlook towards the Indian equity market would continue in the coming weeks.

5.FIIs were gross buyers of shares worth ₹44,335 crore and sellers of stocks to the tune of ₹36,571 crore in the week to April 11, resulting in a net inflow of ₹7,764 crore ($1.3 billion), according to SEBI data.

6.Foreign investors, however, pulled out ₹2,897 crore from the debt market during the period under review.

7.FIIs, the main driver of the equity market, pushed up the BSE’s benchmark Sensex by 243 points, or 1.08 per cent, so far this month.

8.Last month, overseas investors had invested ₹20,077 crore in Indian stocks as compared to ₹1,404 crore in February and ₹714 crore in January.

India Inc to offer 10.3% raise to employees this fiscal: Survey

1.Indian companies are likely to shell out an average salary increment of 10.3 per cent in the current fiscal with employees in pharma, health care and life sciences projected to get 12.4 per cent raise, says a survey.

2.The overall average increment is 0.3 per cent points lower than the previous fiscal (10.6 per cent), because of slow economic growth and lower attrition.

3.The findings are part of a survey conducted by Deloitte India, Human Capital Consulting.

4.Companies in pharmaceutical, healthcare and life sciences are expected to dole out an average raise of 12.4 per cent, highest across sectors in 2014-15. It is marginally lower compared to 12.6 per cent in the previous fiscal.

5.Given the overall mood of the economy, the retail sector will maintain a conservative estimate and is likely to offer the lowest average increment at 9.1 per cent

Bank of India loans $200 mn to Air India for purchase of 3 Dreamliners

1.For the first time, Indian banks have started evincing interest in financing aircraft purchase, with State-run Bank of India (BoI) extending a loan of $200 million to Air India to finance the acquisition of three Dreamliners, official sources said today.

2.The national carrier would use the amount to acquire these Boeing 787s, before offering them to leasing companies for sale and leaseback arrangement, under which one sells an asset and leases it back, thereby continuing to use the asset but no longer owning it.

3.BoI has given a standalone loan of $200 million for three of these airplanes, the sources said, adding that BoI and the State Bank of India had earlier taken a share of financing aircraft purchase.

4.The airline plans to raise $500 million in this financial year through bridge loans to finance five Dreamliners.

5.Air India has also received credit of $288 million from Standard and Chartered Bank to pay off the bills for the fuel its planes pick abroad, besides purchase of simulators and spare parts

Tendulkar, Ganguly foray into football, win Indian Super League bids

1.Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly were among the host of high-profile winning bidders as the organisers of the much-anticipated Indian Super League today unveiled the eight franchises for the event that is set to take Indian football by storm.

2.The bid winners for the eight franchises of the league, which is scheduled to be held in September-November, was announced here by organisers IMG-Reliance after evaluation of the bids by a seven-member panel.

3.Tendulkar bagged the Kochi franchise along with PVP Ventures while Ganguly, who bid by forming a consortium with Spanish League giants Atletico Madrid and businessmen Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjeev Goenka and Utsav Parekh, won the Kolkata franchise.

4.PVP has presence in real estate, media and entertainment and also owns Hyderabad Hotshots the inaugural Indian Badminton League champion team. Prasad Potluri, Chairman & Managing Director - PVP Ventures Ltd, in a statement said “We look forward to developing the Kochi club in the Indian Super League and are proud to partner with one of India’s greatest sportsmen, Sachin Tendulkar. We will tap the potential talent as also channelise the fervor and passion for football across the country to enhance the quality and competitive level of the sport. The following and enthusiasm of football in the southern part of the country presents a fertile opportunity for us to execute our plans and leverage global expertise for the development of a world class club.”

Former Coal Secretary PC Parakh's book release on Monday

1.Former Coal Secretary PC Parakh is set to release his book on Monday in New Delhi and is likely to come out with some significant revelations on administration and governance including his stint as the Union Coal Secretary.

2.This book release comes within days of release of a controversial book by Sanjaya Baru, who had served as media advisor to the Prime Minister during 2004-2008, wherein he highlighted how Sonia Gandhi had access to important files even before the Prime Minster Manmohan Singh.

3.The former senior bureaucrat was in the news lately when the apex investigating agency CBI named him for alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks for Hindalco.

4.Speaking to Business Line over telephone, Parakh said that the book is all about his experiences over the past three decades right from his entry into civil service till his superannuation.

Air India gets Rs 1,200-cr loan for planes

1.Air India has secured a $200-million (Rs 1,200-crore) bridge loan from the Bank of India for financing the purchase of two Boeing 787s. The loan has a tenure of twelve months and carries an interest of four per cent, an airline executive said. The aircraft are pledged as security against the loan. Air India has thirteen B-787s and will induct two more by end- May to launch services to Moscow and Rome Milan.

2.Totally, Air India has 27 Boeing 787s on order and will be taking deliveries of 20 of them by end of March 2015.

Agriculture and livestock emissions up 14%: FAO

1.Between 2001 and 2011, emission of carbon dioxide from crops and livestock rose 14 per cent---from 4.7 billion tonnes to 5.3 billion tonnes---, showed data compiled by the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

2.In 2011, this accounted for 39 per cent of the sector’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from enteric fermentation increased 11 per cent between 2001 and 2011. Emissions during the application of synthetic fertilisers accounted for 14 per cent of agricultural emissions (725 million tonnes of carbon dioxide) in 2011; this is the fastest-growing emission source in agriculture, having increased 37 per cent since 2001. Greenhouse gases resulting from biological processes in rice paddies, which generate methane, account for 10 per cent of total agricultural emissions, while the burning of savannahs accounts for five per cent.

3.In 2011, 45 per cent of agriculture-related greenhouse gas emissions were recorded in Asia, followed by the Americas (25 per cent), Africa (15 per cent), Europe (11 per cent), and Oceania (four per cent). This distribution was fairly constant through the 2001-2011 period. In 1990, however, Asia’s contribution to the global figure was less (38 per cent), while Europe’s was much higher (21 per cent).

Millions of Android devices vulnerable to Heartbleed bug

1.Millions of smartphones and tablets running Google Inc's Android operating system have the Heartbleed software bug, in a sign of how broadly the flaw extends beyond the internet and into consumer devices.

2.While Google said in a blog post on April 9 that all versions of Android were immune to the flaw, it added the "limited exception" was one version dubbed 4.1.1, released in 2012.

3.Security researchers said that version of Android was still used in millions of smartphones and tablets, including the popular models made by Samsung, HTC and other manufacturers. Google statistics show 34 per cent of Android devices use variations of the 4.1 software. The company said less than 10 per cent of active devices were vulnerable. More than 900 million Android devices have been activated worldwide.