Current Affairs Update - 20 Feb, 2015

Categories:

1. Banking/RBI/Budget-2015
2. India
3. World
4. Appointments
5. Obituaries

• Foreign shareholding in Hathway Cable & Datacom Ltd has reached the prescribed limit and foreign investors would not be allowed to purchase further shares in the company, the RBI said today.
• The foreign shareholding through GDRs/ADRs/FDI/NRI/PIO/ FIIs/RFPIs in Hathway Cable & Datacom Ltd has reached the prescribed threshold limit, RBI said in a notification.
• As of quarter ended December 2014, FIIs held 33.82 per cent shares in Hathway Cable & Datacom.
• FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors), NRIs (Non Resident Indians) and PIOs (Persons of Indian Origins) can invest in primary and secondary capital markets in India through Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS).

• Digital wallet provider Paytm is looking to set up 30,000 to 50,000 retail outlets where its 2.4 crore customers can load cash on their digital wallet.
• The company is also looking to enrol retailers - mostly kirana stores - as merchants for accepting digital payments.
• To encourage users to hold funds in its prepaid account, the company on Thursday said it has linked its wallet to the banking system to enable cash withdrawals from it.
• The other advantage is that once Paytm is linked to their bank accounts, customers will find it easier to fund their accounts. As of now, customers fund their accounts through credit cards, debit cards and net banking. But funding accounts using a card involves a transaction cost paid to the card issuer.

• The government today said up to 26 per cent FDI in insurance companies will be allowed through automatic route, as it notified rules to increase foreign direct investment ceiling in the sector to 49 per cent.
• The rules have been prepared based on extensive consultations with all the relevant departments and organisations, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
• According to the rules, foreign equity investment cap of 49 per cent is applicable to all Indian insurance companies.
• The companies, the Ministry said, should not allow the aggregate holdings by way of total foreign investment in their equity shares by foreign investors, including portfolio investors, to exceed 49 cent of their paid-up equity capital.

• India may slash its food and fuel subsidy bill by about $8 billion in next week's budget, two sources said, but despite the impressive headline, the cut is not as radical as free market champions had hoped for in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first full budget.
• Most of the 20 per cent cut in the budget for subsidies results from lower global oil prices rather than structural changes, with the government's appetite for reform tempered by a heavy local election defeat in New Delhi this month.

• India seen cutting 2015/16 subsidy bill by one fifth: sources
• Fuel subsidy seen down by nearly two-thirds
• Defeat in Delhi assembly elections weighs on subsidy reforms
• Govt plans to shift more funds to boost manufacturing
• Finance Minister to present 2015-16 budget on Feb. 28

• Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in the first week of February 2015 finalised new oil subsidy sharing formula between the public sector oil refining companies and oil marketing companies. It finalised the new norms after consultations with the Union Finance Ministry and Chief Economic Adviser.
• Under the new formula, the upstream companies or the oil refining companies’ contribution towards subsidy sharing would be as follows:
• No contribution towards subsidy for crude oil price less than and equal to 60 dollars per barrel
• 85 percent contribution towards subsidy for crude oil prices exceeding 60 dollars per barrel and less than or equal to 100 dollars per barrel
• 90 percent contribution towards subsidy for crude oil prices exceeding 100 dollars per barrel
• The new formula is supposed to come into effect starting from October 2015

• Assam’s Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on 19 February 2015 advocated for Naturonomics for Assam and other North Eastern (NE) states to usher in a robust economy in the region.
• Naturonomics means using right blend of nature and economics for sustainable development in the region. As part of this, the government would give adequate impetus on tea, bamboo, food processing and other agro-based industries to stimulate the industrial growth of the State.
• He coined the term while speaking at the inauguration of the first-ever Assam International Trade and Industrial Fair at Jorhat.

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 19 February 2015 approved the continuation of the incentive scheme for marketing and promotion services of raw sugar production during the current sugar season (October-September) of 2014- 15.
• The approval was granted for raw production of 14 lakh metric tonne of sugar.
• The CCEA also fixed uniform rate of export subsidy at 4000 rupees per metric tonne for 2014-15 sugar season which is much higher than 3371 rupees per tonne fixed in 2014 for August-September period.

• Chief Minister (CM) of Bihar Jitan Ram Manjhi resigned on 20 February 2015 and recommended the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly. He resigned before the trust vote.
• Governor of Bihar KN Tripathi accepted his resignation. 
• He was elected by the Janata Dal (United) Party as the 23rd Chief Minister of Bihar following Nitish Kumar's resignation. Nitish Kumar had resigned from the post of CM after his party’s poor show in Lok Sabha Elections 2014.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monogrammed bandhgala suit that had kicked up a political storm was on Friday sold for Rs 4.31 crore at an auction that saw a scramble among the bidders on the final day for the two-piece ensemble.
• The pin—striped navy blue suit that Modi wore for his Summit meeting with US President Barack Obama on January 25, went to Surat—based diamond trader Lalji Patel and his son after intense bidding in the dying moments of the auction.

• Zen Technologies and Rockwell Collins have announced their decision to collaborate in military flight simulation by unveiling a next generation rotary wing simulator at Aero India 2015.
• The two companies have recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to combine their strengths in simulation and training to offer advanced and high fidelity aviation solutions.
• The strategic alliance between Zen Technologies and Rockwell Collins will produce solutions while also ensuring cost benefits for customers across the region since the alliance’s capabilities are indigenised, including in software, electronics and visuals.

• Supreme Court (SC) appointed panel on road safety headed by Justice (retd) KS Radhakrishnan submitted its report before the apex court in the third week of February 2015.
• In its report, the panel has recommended for ban on sale of alcohol on highways, both National and State highways, to curb the menace of road accident.
• The panel said that except Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland none of other states have framed a road safety policy so far.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 February 2015 launched the nationwide Soil Health Card Scheme in Suratgarh town of Sriganganagar district, Rajasthan. The nationwide scheme will help farmers to scientifically analyse the soil of farms in the country.
• The scheme aims at helping farmers in improving productivity by appropriate use of nutrients or fertilisers.
• Under the plan, 14 crore Soil Health Cards will be issued to farmer of the country in a span of 3 years. Around 3 crore farmers will be covered under the project in financial year 2014-15.

• It would contain all basic information and crop-wise recommendations of nutrients or fertilizers required for farms of different soil types.
• It will carry crop-wise recommendation of fertilizers required for farm lands and other inputs to increase the productivity of individual farmer.

• India and the US on 19 February 2015 held their first-ever bilateral dialogue on the United Nations (UN) and other multilateral issues in Washington.
• The dialogue was held in the spirit of the Delhi Declaration of Friendship which was released during the visit of US President Barack Obama to India in January 2015.
• Besides discussing the UN issue, the dialogue between the two countries also focused on international peace and security, peacekeeping operations, counter-piracy, the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the UN Human Rights Council, and other matters of mutual interest.

• Two tropical cyclones Marcia and Lam hit Australia on 20 February 2015. This is the first time that two cyclones have hit Australia at one time.
• Tropical cyclone Marcia is a category five storm and it made the landfall at central Queensland and left a trail of destruction over Yeppoon and Rockhampton.
• On the other hand Cyclone Lam is a category four storm which made landfall in the Northern Territory.
• Earlier, in 1977 and 1986 also two cyclones had crossed Australia at once but they were not as severe as tropical cyclones Marcia and Lam.

• Tapan Misra, Scientist and Deputy Director, Microwave Remote Sensing Area of ISRO’s Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, has assumed the office of the Director, SAC.
• Tapan Misra graduated in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, in 1984. He was awarded the prestigious Sir JC Bose National Talent Search (JBNSTS) Scholarship in 1981.
• He began his career at SAC as digital hardware engineer responsible for the development of Quick Look Display System of X-band Side Looking Airborne Radar in the year 1984.

• Legendary Urdu poet Dr. Kalim Ahmed Ajiz died on 15 February 2015 in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. He was 90.
• At the time of death, Ajiz was serving as the Chairman of the Urdu Advisory Committee, Government of Bihar. He was a retired professor of Patna University.

Books For 2015 Banking/Insurance Exams