GK Updates - 2 April | Banking Quiz

Nitta Gelatin appoints new MD

1.Sajiv K Menon has taken charge as the Managing Director of the Kochi-based Nitta Gelatin India Ltd .

2.The company is a joint venture between the Japanese major Nitta Gelatin Inc and KSIDC. It produces Gelatin, Ossein, and Collagen Peptide among others with wide applications in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and other industries.

3.Sajiv Menon has taken over from G Suseelan, who retired as the Managing Director of teh company on March 31.

Michael Mayer appointed brand head of VW cars

1.Michael Mayer has been appointed Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India. He will take over responsibility as the new brand head for Volkswagen passenger cars in India with effect from June 1.

2.Mayer (45) who currently holds responsibility for market planning of Volkswagen Passenger Cars European Sales Division located in Wolfsburg, Germany, holds a degree in Engineering and Business Administration and has been with the Volkswagen since 1993.

3.He has worked on a number of factory planning projects with assignments in China and Portugal. Amongst the various positions he held in Volkswagen passenger cars, Mayer also headed sales for the Western European Region. In his function at Volkswagen Group, he oversaw the worldwide wholesale development activities.

4.He also worked at Bentley Motors Ltd. for six years as both head of its European retail development activities and regional director for UK and Europe with operational responsibility for the Bentley brand in Europe, including Russia and Central Asia.

IDFC, Bandhan get bank licences

1.IDFC and Bandhan Financial Services will be the two new private banks that the RBI has chosen to grant the new licences.

2.IDFC or the Infrastructure Development Finance Company is Mumbai-based infrastructure finance player while Bandhan is a Kolkata-based microfinance firm. It is after ten years that the central bank is issuing new bank licenses. In the last round of licensing Kotak Mahindra Bank and Yes Bank were set up.

3.The RBI on Wednesday gave an “in-principle” approval to the two of the 25 applicants to set up banks under the Guidelines on Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector issued in February, 2013. The decision to grant “in-principle” approval has been taken after consulting the Election Commission, given that the Code of Conduct for the coming elections is in force.

4.The approval will be valid for 18 months during which the applicants have to comply with the requirements under the guidelines and fulfil the conditions stipulated by the RBI. Post the satisfactory compliances, IDFC and Bandhan would be considered for grant of a licence for commencement of banking business under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Until a regular licence is issued, the applicants would be barred from doing banking business.

5.Among the 25 applicants finalised were corporates such as Reliance Capital, Aditya Birla Nuvo, L&T Finance Holdings Limited and SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited among others. Tata Sons had withdrawn its application in November last year.

Airtel, IBM announce new 5-year services partnership

1.IBM has signed a new five-year agreement with Bharti Airtel to manage telecom operator’s infrastructure and application services in India. The financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

2.This agreement builds on the 10-year relationship between the two organisations, which has driven the co-creation of industry leading telco solutions and customer-centric services, according to a statement issued on Wednesday.

3.The agreement is based on Airtel’s IT vision that defines the next generation of services and to offer services to its customers through solutions leveraging cutting edge technology.

4.The new model offers Airtel greater flexibility to scale services and adapt in real-time to changing market dynamics and offer a differentiated customer experience leveraging IBM's industry solutions and global experience.

5.“As we embark on the next phase of Airtel's growth journey, I am confident that the agreement with IBM will help us offer innovative and cutting edge products and services to our customers, enabling us achieve our vision of being the most loved brand,” said Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia).

Axis Bank launches 30-year home loan for low income segment

1.Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank announced the launch of ‘Asha Home Loan’, a 30 year home loan product for first time home buyers in the lower income segment based on the family income.

2.Marking the bank’s 20th Anniversary, the ‘Asha Home Loan’ product will offer loans to customers with family income of Rs 8,000 - 10,000 per month and above. “The customers can pool their family income instead of depending on their individual income only. The product offers loans as small as Rs 1 lakh and upto Rs 15 lakh in small towns (population less than 10 lakh) and up to Rs 25 lakh in larger towns (population greater than 10 lakh),” the bank said in a statement.

3.The ‘Asha Home Loan’ product will be available in both floating and fixed rate options to both salaried and self-employed resident Indians.

4.“The appraisal methodology has been formulated keeping in mind the profile of this customer segment. Asha Home Loans offers loans up to 90 per cent of the market value of the property,” the statement said.

5.Jairam Sridharan, Head Consumer Lending and Payments, Axis Bank, said, “We see tremendous potential in the affordable housing segment. The customer segment having lower level of income and aspiring to own their first house in the peripheral areas of Tier1 cities or within Tier II and III cities has largely remained untapped.”

6.The bank further said that the demand from this segment is largely towards smaller property configurations in order to meet their basic requirement of owning a house, and hence the product enables customers to purchase properties with an area measuring 325 sq ft and above. Loans can be obtained for new, resale, ready, under construction property, as well as for purchasing a plot and constructing a house thereon.

SBI extends offer period on special home loan rates for women

1.The country’s largest lender State Bank of India extended the date of the special interest rates on home loan for women borrowers. The interest rates were reduced by 15 to 35 basis points on December 20, 2013.

2.The special rates have been extended beyond March 31, 2014, till further notice, SBI said in a statement.

3.The bank will continue to offer 10.15 per cent to women borrowers on home loans up to Rs 75 lakh and 10.30 per cent for loans above Rs 75 lakh.

4.Further, women customers who are the sole applicants or first of the co-applicants and also the sole or first of the co-owners of the property are given additional reduction of 5 bps to 10.10 per cent and 10.25 per cent for loans up to Rs 75 lakh and above Rs 75 lakh respectively.

Karnataka Bank appoints 9 AGMs

Karnataka Bank has promoted nine of its Chief Managers as Assistant General Managers. The new appointees are Sunil P Garde, Rajkumar PH, Kalyani R Rao, Ramesh Bhat, Raja BS, Prakash Kumar, Sumana Ghate, Vishweshwara M, and Girish MR.

Bharti SoftBank invests $14 mn in mobile messaging app ‘hike’

1.India's home grown version of a messaging app called hike, launched in December 2012, has received a second round of funding of $14 million (around ₹83.7 crore) from Bharti Soft Bank to further fuel it's growth.

2.Bharti Soft Bank is a joint venture between leading business group Bharti Enterprises and telecommunications company Bharti Airtel and SoftBank, which is an internet company that aims to provide a range of mobile services.

3.hike, an instant messaging platform which is run by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal, had received $7 million (around ₹41.8 crore) in its initial round of funding a year ago, around April 2013.

4.On its website, hike claims to have gone from 5 to 15 million users in just nine months. With over 80 per cent of the app’s users under the age of 25 and a majority of its users from India, hike says it’s available globally on iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, S40 & S60.

5.The second round of funding would help the company double down on growth, and expand its team. The company says it wants to exit 2014 as the number one messaging platform for the youth.

EDC offers $500-mn package for Reliance Industries

1.Export Development Canada (EDC), an export credit agency, has announced a $500-million package for Reliance Industries Ltd. The transaction is among the largest financing packages that EDC has ever extended in Asia.

2.The agency has provided the financing in response to the increasing business that RIL has been undertaking with Canadian companies since 2004. The new package will help diversify the company's funding sources and extend the maturity profile of its long-term debt in a cost effective manner, RIL said in a media statement.

3.Reliance Industries has been partnering a wide section of Canadian suppliers for materials, equipment and services across the hydrocarbon businesses over the last four to five years. It is also engaging with Canadian companies for telecom business rollout, Srikanth Venkatachari, Joint Chief Financial Officer, RIL, said in a statement.

4.The company has more than a decade-long relationship with EDC, and this deal will provide further impetus to foster trade between RIL and Canadian companies over the coming years, Venkatachari added.

Erich Nesselhauf to become CEO and MD of Daimler India CV

1.Daimler Trucks today announced top level management changes with Erich Nesselhauf set to take over as Managing Director and CEO at Daimler India Commercial Vehicles from June 1.

2.Currently Vice President-Supply Chain at DICV, he will replace Marc Llistosella, who takes over as Trucks Asia and DICV Head Marketing, Sales and After-sales with effect from June 1, the company said in a statement.

3.Nesselhauf will be in-charge of the entire DICV operations in India, and report to Llistosella.

4.Llistosella would continue to report to President and CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) and Head of Daimler Trucks Asia, Albert Kirchmann.

5.“He will lead all marketing, sales and after-sales related areas of Daimler Trucks Asia, including DICV and MFTBC, Japan and will continue to oversee DICV’s Indian operations, overall,” the company said.

6.Besides, Kai-Uwe Seidenfuss, currently MFTBC Senior Vice-President, Sales and After-sales, will become Head-Corporate Audit at Daimler AG, effective June 1.

7.DICV, which is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Germany’s Daimler AG, produces medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles for the Indian volume market, under the brand name BharatBenz.

India claim number one spot in ICC rankings

1.Riding on their superb unbeaten run in the World Twenty20 Championships so far, the Indian cricket team toppled Sri Lanka to clinch the top spot in the ICC rankings issued today.

2.“India has moved ahead of Sri Lanka into the number-one position on the Reliance ICC T20I Team Rankings Table,” the ICC said in a statement.

3.India gained seven ratings points after remaining unbeaten in their group engagements in Bangladesh to finish on 130, bringing them on par with Sri Lanka.

4.But when ratings were calculated beyond the decimal point, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side found itself ranked higher.

5.With both India and Sri Lanka through to the semi-finals, both have a chance to either retain or reclaim the number-one position.

6.In the other change in the table, West Indies and Australia have swapped positions. West Indies are now ranked fifth with a gain of five ratings points and are now on 115.

7.Australia, on the other hand, have moved down a place to sixth with a drop of five ratings points to end on 110.

8.In all, 13 of 16 teams ranked on the rankings table have featured in the tournament.