GK Updates - 24 May | Banking Quiz

Nawaz Sharif to attend Modi’s swearing-in ceremony

I.Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi in Delhi, ending a two-day suspense over his decision amid reports that there was stiff opposition from hardliners in the establishment.

II.A spokesperson of the Prime Minister's Office and Pakistan Foreign Ministry confirmed that Sharif will travel to Delhi to attend Modi’s oath taking ceremony on Monday.

III.The delay in Sharif confirming his attendance in the oath ceremony is being attributed to opposition from hardliners in the army establishment.

IV.Sharif took the decision to accept the Indian invitation after a series of consultations with his close aides, the Dawn reported, citing unnamed sources.

V.Modi has invited all the leaders of member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to the ceremony.

Indian-American student Akhil Rekulapelli won National Geographic Bee Championship

I.Indian-American student Akhil Rekulapelli on 21 May 2014 won the National Geographic Bee championship in Washington, USA.

II.Ameya Mujumdar from Florida stood second, while California's Tuvya Bergson-Michelson finished third. Ameya Mujumdar is also an Indian American student.

III.Akhil won the 50000 US dollar college scholarship given to the winner of the National Geographic Bee Championship. Akhil also received a trip to the Galapagos Islands with National Geographic's Lindblad Expeditions.

IV.Eighth grade student Akhil Rekulapelli belongs to Virginia. He started with a School Bee competition in Ashburn and advanced to the national championship after excelling in both regional and state geography bees.

IDBI Bank to add 600 branches this fiscal, says Batra

I.IDBI Bank plans to set up 600 branches this fiscal, taking its overall branch network to 2,000 branches, its Deputy Managing Director, B.K.Batra has said.

II.In 2013-14, this public sector bank had added nearly 400 branches, taking the overall branch network as at end March 2014 to 1,400 branches, he said.

III.IDBI Bank, which is completing ten years of existence as a commercial bank this year, will look to add another 700 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) during the current fiscal, Batra told BusinessLine.

IV.As on date, IDBI Bank had a ATM network of 2,300 ATMs, which is now proposed to be enhanced to 3,000 ATMs this fiscal.

V.In the first 40 years of its existence, IDBI (as development finance institution) had operated out of just 17 offices. IDBI turned into a commercial bank (IDBI Bank) in 2004.

IVRCL auditor resigns

IVRCL Ltd has informed the BSE that the company has joint statutory auditors and one of them, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, has resigned as Statutory Auditor. The company has decided to continue with the other auditor Chaturvedi & Partners till the conclusion of the ensuing AGM.

NCDEX launches internationally aligned sugar contracts

I.National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) on Friday launched sugar contract, which will be available for October onwards contracts and is aligned with the global market so that industry can protect itself from volatility in prices.

II.The new contract has been designed in partnership with apex industry body Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), NCDEX said in a release issued here.

III.Currently, NCDEX offers sugar contracts expiring in June 2014, July 2014, August 2014 and September 2014 for trading.

IV.The modified contract will be applicable for all contracts expiring in and after October 2014.

V.This will allow mills to benefit from price discovery and risk management for a longer term.

Praveen Singhal is MCX interim CEO

I.Multi Commodity Exchange of India has appointed Praveen Singhal as interim CEO of the exchange.

II.The decision was taken in a board meeting held on Friday.

III.Being the senior most executive member and the person responsible to take care of the day-to-day affairs of the exchange, Parveen Kumar Singhal, Executive Vice-President of the exchange, has been entrusted the responsibility of a CEO till a new Managing Director and Chief Executive is appointed, said the exchange.

Tata DoCoMo names Gujarat head

Tata DoCoMo has appointed Amitabh Bhatia as Geography Head of Mobility Business Unit for Gujarat Circle. Bhatia is responsible for overseeing the company’s operations and business in Gujarat market. His prior assignments were in Madhya Pradesh-Chattisgarh, Maharashtra & Goa, Gujarat and Bihar.

Shazia Ilmi, Capt Gopinath quit AAP

I.In a major setback to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a key founder member Shazia Ilmi quit the party on Saturday citing ‘lack of inner party democracy”.

II.Capt. G.R Gopinath, who launched the first Indian low-cost carrier, also made an announcement to quit the Aam Aadmi Party.

III.Addressing a crowded press conference here to announce her resignation, Ilmi, who contested and lost the Delhi Assembly election as well as the recent Lok Sabha election from Ghaziabad, blamed a ‘clique that had encircled Kejriwal’ for her decision to quit.

Yahoo Labs bets big on Indian talent

I.Yahoo Labs, a scientific research lab that was once described as the secret weapon of former CEO Carol Bartz, definitely wants to take advantage of the great talent pool in India, according to Beverly Harrison, Director of Mobile Research at Yahoo Labs in California.

II.The online advertising giant established a research lab site in Bangalore in 2008, which specializes in the areas of mobile, search and Yahoo Answers.

III.“We finished one project with people in Bangalore last year…that was looking at gestural interactions for television interfaces, which was for Yahoo’s connected TV group. India has amazing schools, amazing technical schools and amazing graduates from those schools,” Dr. Harrison told this correspondent on Friday.

IV.“From the Labs side we mostly hire PhDs and some number of engineering support staff. There’s such a great talent pool there [in India], and we want to take full advantage of that. I think India makes huge contributions and that’s why they are constant collaborators on many of our projects… hopefully that continues in the indefinite future,” she added.

Some relief for taxpayers likely

I.With Narendra Modi’s Finance Minister expected to be in office by next week, the Ministry has begun drafting components of the full budget 2014-15, likely to be presented in Parliament in early July. Taxpayers in the lower income-tax slabs can look forward to some relief.

II.The budget will be one of the first major statements of the Modi government’s policy thrust, especially on the agenda of economy revival.

III.The outgoing Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, presented an interim budget on February 17.

IV.At least three high-level officials in the Ministry told The Hindu that the budget ideas for the consideration of the new Finance Minster were being compiled from informal feedback, the Prime Minister-designate’s speech in Parliament on May 20 where he mentioned continuity in policy and the BJP poll manifesto; and inputs from industry lobbies.

V.“The FM just might even reject all of these points but the idea is to give him a head start,” said a source, adding there was a strong possibility that the new government would give some relief to income-tax payers, especially those salaried. As the scope for drastically increasing tax revenue is low given the economic slowdown, on the one hand, and the expenditure on subsidies and interest payments on government debt is mounting, on the other, the proposed strategy is to come up with innovative ideas for new sources of non-tax revenue.

VI.Though it would need amendments to some Acts, the Ministry is seeking recourse to resources such as the Investor Protection Fund and the cess on coal and diesel. Also on the list is raising revenue from assets lying idle such as plantations and auction of natural resources. Some of the Ministry’s proposed new non-tax revenue sources fall within States’ jurisdiction. For instance, auctions for car VIP registration numbers. The Ministry is also proposing innovative user charges on public services such as for assured uninterrupted power supply. A strong case is being made for widening the tax net. One option is to tax agricultural income if it is less than 25 per cent of the total taxable income of an individual. A major expenditure reform to curb fiscal deficit is a graded move from subsidies to direct benefit transfers.

Zuma sworn in as South Africa's President for second term

I.Jacob Zuma was on Saturday sworn in as South African President for a second term in the presence of thousands of guests in Pretoria.

II.Mr. Zuma, whose African National Congress won the May 7 elections with 62 per cent of the vote, was sworn in by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng at the government complex Union Buildings.

III.More than 40 foreign leaders in attendance included the Presidents of Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritius, Madagascar and the Vice-Presidents of Gambia, Angola, Sudan and Gabon.

IV.The ceremony began with a gun salute and inter-faith prayers, followed by a recital of the preamble of the Constitution.

SBI exploring ways to declare Mallya ‘wilful defaulter’

I.State Bank of India, which has an exposure of Rs 1,600 crore to grounded airline Kingfisher, today said it is exploring ways to declare the carrier’s promoter Vijay Mallya as a ‘wilful defaulter’.

II.“We are looking at various ways to declare Vijay Mallya a wilful defaulter and trying build a strong case in that regard,” an SBI source said.

III.The source said that as per RBI guidelines, it would have to be proven that the borrower had diverted funds which he taken from the bank and not paying up despite having the ability to pay.

IV.“If we are sure on these two points, then the bank will declare Mallya a wilful defaulter,” the source said.

V.A person declared wilful defaulter would lose directorships in companies and would never be able to borrow further.

VI.SBI leads a 17-member consortium of lenders that is trying to recover dues running into over Rs 7,500 crore in principal alone from Kingfisher Airlines. SBI has the maximum exposure of Rs 1,600 crore to the airline, which has been grounded since October 2012.

VII.The loan to Kingfisher Airlines had become bad, forcing the bank to go for provisioning of the loan amount.

VIII.The bank had also got symbolic possession of Kingfisher Villa at Goa, valued at less than Rs 100 crore.

Hindustan Motors declares suspension of work at Bengal plant

I.Hindustan Motors Ltd declared a “suspension of work” at its Uttarpara plant in West Bengal on Saturday. In a statement, the company said: “The suspension of work will enable the company to have some space to restructure the organisation, debts, etc. As of today the company has been trying to restructure a running organisation – the suspension of work will, we are hoping, allow us to focus more on the restructuring”.

II.The statement further said the promoters (CK Birla group) have been funding losses for several years by divesting some of the business units and also monetising some investments. Efforts to find strategic investors have also not materialised and the company faces a critical shortage of funds.

III.“The company’s efforts are falling short of the large liabilities that have been accumulated. The management has every intention to significantly pay off existing liabilities as well as limit future liabilities and also to bring down the outstanding dues to statutory authorities, employees and lenders,” Hindustan Motors said.

Microsoft launches new initiative for start-ups

I.In a bid to give an additional boost to the start-up ecosystem, Microsoft has announced partnerships with iSPIRT, Nasscom and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).

II.These initiatives come under the umbrella of Microsoft Ventures, which is solely focussed on creating a technology ecosystem for start-ups and will not involve any investments in these start-ups. Under this umbrella, Microsoft has launched a new initiative called ThinkNext for which it has partnered with iSPIRT, a breakaway group that is trying to further the cause of software product companies in India.

III.This partnership is the next step in the Microsoft Accelerator programmes, which is aimed at start-ups and was set up to handhold companies from incorporating their businesses to finding investors. “ThinkNext is going beyond that and is a bid to increase our connect with start-ups,” said Ravi Narayan, Director, Microsoft Ventures in India. The announcement of this venture was made on the sidelines of 17 start-up companies finishing their four-month accelerator programme.

IV.The ThinkNext initiative aims to increase Microsoft’s footprint in the start-up segment. “In an accelerator programme, it is one start-up at a time but with this, Microsoft can go beyond the accelerator stage and help in building companies,” said Sharad Sharma, co-founder and governing council member of iSPIRT. Further, iSPIRT will help Microsoft in completely understanding the software product ecosystem, the kinds of deals happening in that segment and what is driving those decisions.

Mumbai Indians beats DD by 15 runs

I.Mumbai Indians carved out a 15-run victory over Delhi Daredevils in a must-win match and remained in the hunt for a play-off berth in the Indian Premier League match here on Fridayy.

II.After squandering an electrifying start given by openers Michael Hussey and Lendl Simmons, MI lost plot as their last eight wickets fell for 33 runs to be all out for 173.