GK Updates - 7 July | Banking Quiz

Using an ATM? First tap it to see if you are being duped!

I.Next time you go to an ATM, just tap it mildly before inserting your card. It might be having a skimmer to steal your card data.

II.There has been sharp rise in the inter-state tech-crime gangs which are targeting ATMs in different cities from time to time, warn police.

III.One such major gang was nabbed by the police here recently which brought a frightening modus operandi into light.

IV."Our investigation revealed that highly-qualified technocrats are involving in this crime to fraudulently draw money from customers accounts of different banks,’’ G Pala Raju, Deputy Commissioner of Policy, Central Crime Station (CCS), told Business Line here on Thursday.

V.According to him, hi-tech skimmers (which look-like layers) were being inserted in the protruding socket of ATM machines meant for cards. A tiny camera will be kept above the key-pad on which personal identification number is punched.

VI.Once this is done in a particular ATM by a team of fraudsters, it would wait for four to five hours. "In busy hours/locations about 50 customers or so would use cards in this time. After obtaining data, they print it on duplicate cards which will be used to draw money from other states/cities,’’ the official explained.

VII.The incidence of crime is “high and increasing” as cops also received alerts from their counter parts in other states.

HOW TO CHECK?

I.Mostly unmanned ATMs and those without CC cameras are turning easy targets for the fraudsters. There were cases when ATMs with cameras were also hit. Police mainly have three suggestions. First, banks should be more alert and should monitor cc camera footages on a regular basis. Second, security personnel should be deployed.

II."More importantly, ATM technology should be upgraded so that the data could not be stolen with skimmers,’’ Raju said while adding that the police department was also working checking the crimes.

III.Banks, however, have their own view point. When contacted Andhra Bank CMD CVR Rajendran said the gangs are shuttling between different cities/ATMs to avoid being caught. "Most of the banks including us already installed cameras in ATMs.

IV."But what is if somebody blocks the camera? On the technology side, there have been constant efforts to prevent data theft,’’ he added.

V.Not surprisingly, the worst-hit are customers. P Ramesh Rao, a customer of a leading private bank, here had lost Rs 2.3 lakh in a similar fraud. "The bank refused to honour my complaint for a long time and after that insisted that I should file a FIR. Why should I file... I did not lose from my side? Its bank’s responsibility to protect my money,’’.

Sumangal Group MD arrested on charges of money laundering

I.The Managing Director of the Sumangal Group, Subrata Adhikari, is said to have been arrested from Mumbai on charges of money laundering.

II.The Sumangal Group had been involved in various deposit-taking and ponzi schemes in West Bengal and the neighbouring states. Money collection was made through the ‘Flexi Potato Purchase Scheme’.

III.The Potato Flexi Bonds promised sky-high returns based mainly on purchase and sale of potatoes.

IV.“A team of Kolkata police officers from the Detective Department arrested Adhikhari from a guest-house yesterday night,” Pallab Kanti Ghosh, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), told Business Line.

V.The charges levelled against him include money laundering and raising money through ponzi schemes.

VI.The group is allegedly said to have amassed deposits upwards of Rs. 100 crore.

Amazon launches Tamil books store

I.Tamil book lovers now have a new address to shop for all their favourite books in their language.

II.Online portal Amazon India on Monday launched Tamil books store with a wide selection of over 8,000 titles making it the largest Tamil book store in India, the company said in a statement.

III.The Tamil book store will offer more than 1,500 popular titles for next day delivery in 20 cities across the country, including Chennai, it said.

IV.There will be a wide selection ranging from Classics, Literature, Fiction, Biographies, Business and Finance, Self-help, Cook books to Children’s books and more.

V.Customers can select the books from famous authors such as Kalki S Krishnamoorthy, Kannadhasan, Sujatha, Balakumaran, Sandilyan, Indra Soundarajan, Madhan, Vairamuthu, Jeyamohan and Jayakanthan.

Navi Mumbai Metro misses deadline; may start operations by 2017

I.The first phase of the ambitious 23.4-km Belapur CBD to Khandeshwar Metro project in the neighbouring Navi Mumbai is now expected to begin operations only by 2017 after missing the original deadline of 2014.

II.The project deadline is extended as the implementing body, Cidco, has decided to increase the width of the coaches so as to align with the Mumbai Metro.

III.Accordingly, the first phase of the over Rs. 2,500 crore 11.1-km corridor from Belapur CBD to Pendhar has missed the deadline of 2014 and will hopefully be launched by 2017 as Cidco has to give time to its rolling stock vendor, Ansaldo to rework the coaches, from the earlier planned width of 2.9 metres to 3.2 metres.

President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Governor for Mizoram and Nagaland

I.President Pranab Mukherjee on 6 July 2014 appointed Governor for Mizoram and Nagaland.

II.Governor of Gujarat, Kamla Beniwal was transferred and appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of her term.

III.Vakkom Purushothaman, the Mizoram Governor, transferred and appointed as Governor of Nagaland for the remainder of his term. Vakkom will continue to hold the additional charge of the office of the Governor of Tripura.

M S Mehta appointed as CEO of Reliance Infrastructur

I.M S Mehta was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Reliance Infrastructure on 7 July 2014. He took charge as CEO for a period of five years.

II.He replaced Lalit Jalan, who held the post of CEO of Reliance Infrastructure for more than seven years.

About M S Mehta

• MS Mehta is a mechanical engineer and done MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

• Earlier, he was working with Vedanta Resources as its Group CEO for five years.

• He also served as CEO of Hindustan Zinc and also worked with Lloyds Steel.

Indian Railways joins Twitter

I.Indian Railways has launched its official page on Twitter. It will also be present in Facebook and YouTube.

II.Railways phone enquiries number -- 139 --will become toll free soon, said minister of state for railways.

III.The Railways will also launch a new number -- 022-45012222-- tomorrow where people can dial in and hear the Budget, said Arvind Gupta, advisor to the Railway Ministry for the project.

Wadhwani Foundation appoints CTO, Chief eLearning & eContent Officer

I.The Wadhwani Foundation today announced the appointment of Bhasker Sharma and Clark Quinn to key positions of Chief Technology Officer and Chief eLearning & eContent Officer respectively.

II.These senior appointments at the Foundation are strategically linked to its growing global footprint and strengthening plans towards leveraging digital technology to create disruptive models for entrepreneurship education and workforce training & development, said the foundation in a release. The proven strategic and execution driven technical skill-sets that Bhasker and Clark bring to the Foundation will enable innovative models for delivery of entrepreneurial and workforce education by integrating technology into curriculum in a blended learning format.

RInfra appoints M S Mehta as CEO

I.Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra), a part of the Reliance (Anil Ambani) Group, has appointed M S Mehta as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company with effect from July 7, 2014.

II.He will take over as CEO from Shri Lalit Jalan, who has been elevated as Director - Corporate Strategy and Affairs.

AP Govt wants Chittivalasa jute mill re-opened

I.The AP Government on Sunday directed the management of Chittivalasa jute mills at Tagarapuvalasa in Visakhapatnam district to re-open it immediately. Lockout was declared in the mill on April 20, 2009, and since then it has remained closed in spite of several attempts to get it re-opened during the past five years.

II.After a meeting initiated by Minister for Higher Education Ganta Srinivasa Rao at the Circuit House and attended by Minister for Labour K. Atcham Naidu and top officials, it was decided to convene a meeting with the owners of the mill to lift the lockout.

III.Labour Commissioner B. Ramanjeneyulu, Joint Labour Commissioner S. Lakshminarayana, Chittivalasa Jute Mill Workers’ Union President K.K. Varahala Raju, INTUC district President Mantri Rajasekhar, district General Secretary Neerukonda Ramachandra Rao and others attended.

IV.The meeting was convened by Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, who represents Bhimili constituency. Jute mill workers’ union President Varahala Raju said it was a welcome move on the part of the Government. The Kolkata-based management should respond positively and assist in getting the mill re-opened as more than 5,000 workers are dependent on it.

ICICI Bank coin exchange mela

I.The country’s largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, had in June organised coin exchange melas across 20-odd branches in the city.

II.The mela was held within the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

III.According to a release issued by the bank, more than 500 customers participated in the programme, and coins worth nearly Rs 7 lakh – having denominations of Rs 10, Rs 5, Rs 2 and Rs 1 – were exchanged.

IV.The bank periodically organises these 'Coin Exchange Melas' to offer the facility of "exchanging acceptable soiled and mutilated currency notes with coins" free-of-cost.

V.Even, people who are not customers of the bank, can themselves avail of the facility.

VI.ICICI Bank has over 150 branches in the city, along with two round-the-clock Touch Banking branches.

Kvitova won the Women’s Wimbledon Tennis Open

I.Petra Kvitova of Czechslovakia on 5 July 2014 won the women’s single of Wimbledon Tennis Open of 2014. To win her second title, she defeated the Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0.

II.With this win, Kvitova collected a reward of 1760000 Pound and the Venus Rosewater Dish, symbol of the greatest prize in the women’s game. Kvitova won her first Wimbledon title in 2011 by defeating Maria Sharapova.

III.On the other hand, Bouchard (20-years-old) became the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam final.

IV.Sixth seeded, Kvitova with this win, will move up to fourth in the world rankings.

Williams stays number one in rankings, Wimbledon champ Kvitova fourth

I.Serena Williams of the United States has retained top spot in the latest world rankings released by the WTA Monday, while Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova moved up to fourth.

II.Kvitova of the Czech Republic has gained two places from sixth but still trails Li Na (China) and Simona Halep (Romania) behind Williams, who is top with an advantage of 2,550 points.

III.The other big winner in the rankings is defeated Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard. The Canadian has broken into the top 10 in seventh position having started the latest grand slam in 13th.

Djokovic defeats Federer to win second Wimbledon title

I.Two great players nudged each other to even greater heights to produce a Wimbledon final that will go down as one of the finest in its history. One of them, Novak Djokovic, would eventually lift the trophy having beaten his opponent Roger Federer in five close sets 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4.

II.But the scoreline and the victory seemed to pale before the tennis itself, which was the real winner as these two champions outplayed themselves. This was a match that was undeserving of being assessed by the twists and turns and the thrills and spills, even if there was enough of that edge-of-the-seat suspense which left the audience gasping.

III.The first set went along customary lines with both players dominating on serve. While the Djokovic service game seemed impregnable, Federer stayed on course to level at 6-6.

Novak Djokovic becomes world number one after Wimbledon victory

I.Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon victory returned him to the top of the latest world rankings, released by the ATP Monday.

II.Serbian Djokovic has moved above Rafael Nadal of Spain to top the rankings by 460 points. Defeated finalist Roger Federer has skipped compatriot Stan Wawrinka to claim third.

III.Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria has moved up four spots to enter the top 10 in ninth place while 2013 Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has dropped five spots to 10th.

IV.ATP top 10 as of July 7 (previous ranking in parenthesis): 1. (2) Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 13,130 points 2. (1) Rafael Nadal, Spain, 12,670 3. (4) Roger Federer, Switzerland, 6,100 4. (3) Stan Wawrinka, Switzerland, 5,770 5. (6) Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, 4,410 6. (9) Milos Raonic, Canada, 3,920 7. (7) David Ferrer, Spain, 3,875 8. (8) Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina, 3,360 9. (13) Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria, 3,270 10. (5) Andy Murray, Britain, 3,040.