GK Updates - 26 May | Banking Quiz

Narendra Modi becomes India's 15th Prime Minister

Narendra Damodardas Modi, 63, sworn in as the 15th Prime Minister of India at the biggest-ever swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Canara Bank opens new circle office at Tirupati

I.Canara Bank has created new circle office and opened e-lounge at the temple town of Tirupati.

II.According to RK Dubey, CMD of the bank, the Tirupati Circle will be the 37th circle office of the bank and covers six districts of Andhra Pradesh and 63 branches – Ananatapur (22 branches) Chittoor (11), Kadapa (4), Kurnool (13), Nellore (5) and Prakasam (8) districts.

III.Dubey said the bank is planning to open two more circle offices in Vijayawada and Warangal.

IV.The total business of the Tirupati Circle is around ₹3,994 crore consisting of ₹2,054 crore of deposits and ₹1,939 crore of advances.

V.The farm financing is to the tune of ₹1,304 crore, to the small and medium and enterprises ₹347 crore and to the priority sector ₹1,750 crore.

Nawaz Sharif arrives in India for Modi’s swearing-in ceremony

I.Carrying a “message of peace”, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived here today to attend Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.

II.Sharif, who is accompanied among others by his wife Kulsoom Nawaz and his son Hussain Nawaz, arrived at the technical Air Force base in Palam.

III.Pakistan wants to good relations with India and I am going to New Delhi with a “message of peace”, Sharif said in his informal talks to media just before the departure from Lahore airport.

IV.Sharif also said that all issues can be solved through talks.

V.63-year-old Modi, who led BJP to an astounding victory in the Lok Sabha polls, last week extended invitation to SAARC leaders including the Pakistan premier.

VI.It is first ever visit by a Pakistan leader to India to attend the oath taking ceremony of a prime minister-designate.

NASA discovers huge crater on Mars

I.A huge new crater on the surface of Mars — spanning half the length of a football field — has been discovered by a NASA spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet.

II.Researchers found the largest fresh meteor-impact crater ever firmly documented with images captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

III.The crater spans half the length of a football field and first appeared in March 2012.

IV.The impact that created it likely was preceded by an explosion in the Martian sky caused by intense friction between an incoming asteroid and the planet’s atmosphere.

V.This series of events can be likened to the meteor blast that shattered windows in Chelyabinsk, Russia, last year. The air burst and ground impact darkened an area of the Martian surface about 8 km across.

Current account gap narrows to 1.7% of GDP in FY’14

I.Helped by a sharp moderation in imports, especially of gold, India’s current account deficit (CAD) sharply narrowed to 1.7 per cent of GDP, or $32.4 billion, in FY’14 from 4.7 per cent in FY’13, Reserve Bank said today.

II.“Contraction in the trade deficit, coupled with a rise in net invisibles’ receipts, resulted in a reduction of the CAD to $32.4 billion, or 1.7 per cent of GDP, from $87.8 billion, or 4.7 per cent of GDP in 2012-13,” it said.

III.For the March quarter, CAD, a measure of the inflow and outflow of foreign currency, stood at $1.2 billion, or 0.2 per cent of GDP, as against $18.1 billion, or 3.6 per cent of GDP, in the same period previous fiscal, the RBI said.

IV.The highest ever CAD reported last fiscal had led to a slew of problems, including a heavy drop in the rupee, which touched an all-time high of 68.85 against dollar last August.

V.The high CAD had led to a series of unconventional steps by the Government and the RBI to curb imports, especially on gold which have paid off handsomely.

VI.On trade deficit front, RBI said the recovery in exports and the import moderation led to a sharp recovery in the gap to $147.6 billion in FY14 as against the $195.7 billion in FY13.

VII.The net inflows declined to $48.8 billion during the just-concluded fiscal, as against $89 billion in the previous fiscal, the RBI said, attributing this to lower foreign direct investment flows, net repayment of loans and trade credit and advances.

VIII.During the fiscal 2013-14, contribution of services in the balance of payments (BoP) increased to 12.3 per cent at $73 billion, up from the $64.9 billion.

IX.In the final quarter of FY14, gold imports were down by nearly two-thirds to $5.3 billion, down from $15.8 billion in the previous fiscal, the apex bank said.

X.Trade deficit for the quarter narrowed by about a third to $30.7 billion from $45.6 billion in the year-ago period.

Kochadaiiyaan rakes in Rs 42 cr worldwide

I.Rajnikanth’s latest flick Kochadaiiyaan has earned Rs 42 crore as gross collections worldwide at the opening week-end , according to Eros International, which released the film.

II.The movie earned about Rs 30 crore at the domestic box office and overseas box office collections stood at Rs 12 crore.

III.The movie was released in 2D and 3D in six languages across 3,000 screens worldwide.

Forex reserves jump by $15.5 b in FY-14

I.Foreign exchange reserves surged by $15.5 billion in the financial year ended March 2014, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said today.

II.The RBI today released the sources of variation in foreign exchange reserves during 2013-14.

III.According to the weekly statistical supplement released on March 28, 2014, the reserves stood at $303.67 billion.

IV.“On balance of payments basis (excluding valuation effects), the foreign exchange reserves increased by $15.5 billion during FY14 compared to an increase of $3.8 billion during FY13,” the RBI data said.

V.The reserves in nominal terms, which includes the valuation effects, has increased by $12.2 billion in FY14 as against a decline of $2.4 billion in the same period of the preceding year.

VI.The valuation loss, reflecting the cross currency movements and the decline in gold prices, amounted to $3.3 billion in FY14 as compared to a valuation loss of $6.2 billion last year, the RBI said.

Real Madrid defeated Atletico Madrid 4-1 to win 10th UEFA Champions League Football title

I.Real Madrid on 24 May 2014 defeated Atletico Madrid 4-1 at Lisbon to win their 10th UEFA Champions League Football title and first since 2002.

II.The highlight of the match was that all the three winning goals by Real Madrid was done in the extra-time play after the match was tied 1-1 in the 90-minutes play. The three goals in the extra-time on part of Real Madrid were done by Gareth Bale, Marcelo goal, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

III.It was Madrid's fourth win in as many finals and came in the club's 200th match in the competition – a landmark previously reached by only one club, Manchester United.

Singapore became the top source of FDI into India replacing Mauritius: DIPP

I.Singapore became the top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India. Singapore replaced Mauritius to become the number one source of FDI. This was revealed by the FDI data for March 2014 of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Union Ministry of Commerce Industry and Textiles.

II.As per the data, India attracted 5.98 billion US dollar FDI from Singapore in 2013-14 while Mauritius invested only 4.85 billion US dollar in India in 2013-14. The total FDI flows from Singapore accounted for about 25 per cent of FDI inflows in 2013-14.

III.Overall FDI into India grew by 8 percent year-on-year to 24.3 billion US dollar in 2013-14. India needs about 1 trillion US dollar foreign investment by March 2017 to overhaul infrastructure such as ports, airports and highways and boost growth.

Avinash Kaul appointed CEO of IBN18 Network

I.Network18 today appointed Avinash Kaul as CEO of IBN18 Network.

II.Kaul will be responsible for the day-to-day operational, strategic and financial management of the general news network. He has been given the mandate for the TV18’s consolidation and diversification.

III.B Saikumar, Group CEO, Network18, said: “Avinash brings a very successful track record as a leader and a wealth of knowledge about the media and broadcasting industry. Now, as we gear up for an ambitious phase of growth, I am convinced that he has the inclusive skills and leadership that are needed to steer us through. He has our best wishes and support."

IV.With a career spanning over 16 years, Kaul has rich experience in a variety of roles in sales, marketing and general management across genres like news and entertainment , movie and lifestyle in India.

V.Prior to this, Kaul held the position of CEO - TV Division of BCCL, managing Times Now, ET Now and Zoom. He has also worked in leadership and various capacities in networks like Star, NDTV Media and Discovery Networks among others.

Anticipating India - The Best of National Interest authored by Shekhar Gupta released

I.The Book entitled Anticipating India - The Best of National Interest written by Shekhar Gupta, the editor-in-chief of The Indian Express was released on 24 May 2014.

II.The book has captured India’s political territory and trends of Shekhar Gupta’s 900-odd columns spread through 19 years. The columns are a part of the column, National Interest of Indian Express that was started by Shekhar Gupta in November 1997.

IDBI Bank to add 600 branches, 700 ATMs this fiscal

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

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

III.IDBI Bank, which is completing 10 years of existence as a commercial bank this year, will look to add another 700 automated teller machines during this fiscal, Batra told Business Line here on Friday.

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

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

Japan won AFC Women’s Asian Football Cup 2014

I.Japan won the AFC Women's Asian Football Cup 2014 on 25 May 2014. In the final held in Vietnam, Japan football team defeated defending champion Australia 1-0. This is Japan’s first-ever AFC Women’s Asian Cup since it started competing in the event in 1977.

II.In the final, the winning and the only goal was scored by Japanese Azusa Iwashimizu.

III.With this win, Japan became the first country to simultaneously hold both the FIFA Women’s World Cup (2011) and AFC Women’s Asian Football Cup (2014).

IV.Aya Miyama, the captain of Japan, was awarded the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for her efforts.

PASS Tech appoints Parimala Hariprasad as Delivery Director

I.PASS Technologies, one of Europe's leading on-demand software testing services providers, has appointed Parimala Hariprasad as Delivery Director to bolster growth in the Asia-Pacific region. Hariprasad will operate out of the company's Bangalore delivery centre, the company said in a statement.

II.Prior to joining PASS Technologies, Hariprasad was associated with Moolya Software, a Bangalore-based testing services provider and has also worked with Oracle, McAfee and others.

Nitesh Kumar appointed Bata India MD (Retail)

I.Bata India Ltd has appointed Nitesh Kumar as its Managing Director (Retail) with effect from May 21, 2014.

II.Kumar, who joined Bata India in 2003 from McDowell & Co. Ltd. (now USL Limited), was the Managing Director of Bata Shoe Company (Thailand) Ltd. and subsequently as the Managing Director - Bata Shoe Company (Bangladesh) Ltd prior to his new role.

III.With over 11 years of rich experience in Retail– Profit, Sales, Business Development, Expansion, Merchandising and Buying, Kumar will be responsible for the Bata Retail Stores with a focus on store expansion and growth of existing stores. He will be supporting Mr. Rajeev Gopalakrishnan, Group Managing Director – Bata Emerging Markets - India.

IV.The company has also appointed Anjal Bnasal as an Independent Director. Bansal is the Managing Director of Spencer Stuart’s Indian business. Based in Mumbai, she also co-led the firm’s Asia Pacific Board & CEO practice.

Malavath Poorna of Andhra became youngest woman to climb Mount Everest

I.Malavath Poorna, a 13-years and 11-month old girl of Andhra Pradesh on 25 May 2014 became the youngest woman to climb the Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world. In this expedition, Poorna was accompanied by Sadhanapalli Anand Kumar, a 16-year old from the same state. Anand became the first Dalit to conquer the tallest peak.

II.Poorna is from Nizambad district of Andhra Pradesh and Anand is from Khammam district. The two carried photographs of BR Ambedkar and former IAS officer SR Sankaran to the top of the world. Both of them are the students of Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Educational Society.

III.Poorna and Anand in November 2013 were among a dozen of teenagers to become the youngest group to climb Mount Renock at a height of 17000 feet in Kanchenjunga after initially being denied for the training for being too young. During this expedition, Poorna and Mohan Prasad were the youngest in the team.