Current Affairs Update – 29th May, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 29th May, 2015.

• The Reserve Bank of India on 28 May 2015 released the Draft Guidelines on Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) under Basel III Framework on Liquidity Standards for banks.
• The Reserve Bank proposed to make NSFR applicable to all banks in India from 1 January 2018. The objective of NSFR is to ensure that banks maintain a stable funding profile in relation to their assets and off-balance sheet activities.
• A sustainable funding structure can reduce the probability of erosion of a bank’s liquidity position due to disruptions in its regular sources of funding that would increase the risk of its failure and potentially lead to broader systemic stress.
• The NSFR limits overreliance on short-term wholesale funding, encourages better assessment of funding risk across all on-off balance sheet items and promotes funding stability.
• Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) is defined as the amount of available stable funding relative to the amount of required stable funding.
• It measures the amount of longer-term, stable sources of funding employed by an institution relative to the liquidity profiles of the assets funded and the potential for contingent calls on funding liquidity arising from off-balance sheet commitments and obligations.

• The Finance Ministry has issued a notification to allow an individual to spend $2.5 lakh abroad in a year. This comes almost three months after the Reserve Bank of India announced raising the same.
• Earlier, the limit was $1.25 lakh dollar, but with forex reserves getting stronger at over $353 billion, a higher limit has been notified.
• The higher limit can be used by an individual for private visits to any country (except Nepal and Bhutan), gift or donation, going abroad for employment, emigration, maintenance of close relatives abroad, travel for business, or attending a conference or specialised training, medical expenses and studies abroad.
• The RBI reduced the eligibility limit for foreign exchange remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) to $ 75,000 in 2013. With stability in the foreign exchange market, this limit was enhanced to $ 1.25 lakh dollar without end-use restrictions, except for prohibited foreign exchange transactions such as margin trading, lotteries and the like.
• On a review of the external sector outlook and as a further exercise in macro prudential management, the RBI on February 3, decided to enhance the limit under the LRS to $ 2.5 lakhs per person per year.

• Government-owned lender State Bank of India launched Online Customer Acquisition Solution (OCAS), an online platform to apply for home loans, car loans, education loans and personal loans.
• The application will help the customers gauge their eligibility and get a quote personalised to their requirement. The customer will instantly get an e-approval on filling the online form. Thereafter, the Bank officials will contact the customer and complete all the loan formalities,” SBI said in a statement.
• Customers can even upload all necessary documents online, reducing the processing time of their loan. A similar application will shortly also be launched on the mobile platform as well.
• SBI has been going aggressive on its technology platform, in an attempt to change the way public sector banking is viewed.

• In the first year under the Narendra Modi-led NDA rule, India has grown 7.3 per cent as against 6.9 per cent last year.
• The Central Statistics Office (CSO), which released the quarterly estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter (January-March) of 2014-15, has revised the growth rate for the previous quarter (Jul-Sep) from 8.2 per cent to 8.4 per cent.
• The IIP of manufacturing registered a growth rate of 2.3 per cent during the whole year of 2014-15 and the manufacturing sector grew by 8.4 per cent during Jan-Mar 2015.
• Agriculture, however, grew marginally by 0.2 per cent.
• The per capita net national income during 2014-15 is estimated to have attained a level of Rs. 74,104.

• The Prime Minister has approved the appointment of Pradeep Kumar Sinha, a 1977 batch IAS officer, as the next Cabinet Secretary, with effect from June 13.
• He succeeds Ajit Seth. Mr. Sinha is a UP cadre IAS officer and is presently serving as Secretary in the Ministry of Power.
• The Prime Minister has also approved that Mr. Sinha may be appointed as OSD in the Cabinet Secretariat with effect from the date of assumption of charge, till June 12, 2015.
• The Cabinet Secretary is the senior-most civil servant in the Government of India. The Cabinet Secretary is the ex-officio head of the Civil Services Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and head of all civil services under the rules of business of the Government of India.

• G Satheesh Reddy, Distinguished Scientist & Director, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad has been appointed as the Scientific Advisor to Manohar Parrikkar, Minister of Defence.
• The 52-year-old is an expert in navigation and avionics technologies. He joined the organisation in 1986. He led the conceptualisation, design, development and productionisation of Inertial Sensors, according to an official release.
• He led the development of avionics technologies in the critical areas of navigation, embedded computers, control, guidance, simulation, RF and infrared imaging seekers, satellite systems, power supplies, telemetry, ground systems and cybernetics for the Indian missile programme and other defence programmes.

• The University of Oxford said today that it had nominated a female vice-chancellor for the first time in its history, naming terrorism expert Professor Louise Richardson to the chief executive role.
• Richardson, who has previously taught at Harvard and is currently vice-chancellor of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, will be the first woman to hold the position since it was created in 1230.
• Subject to confirmation from the university's 5,000- strong parliament, Congregation, the Ireland-born Richardson, who is 56, will take over on January 1, 2016 and serve a seven-year term.

• Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as Nigeria's new head of state today in a ceremony mixing military pomp with cultural tradition after he won the first opposition victory over a sitting president in the nation's history.
• The 72-year-old took the oath of office before the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Supreme Court President Mahmoud Mohammed, to begin a four-year term in which he faces difficulties from the outset.
• Buhari's win over outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan in March 28 polls and the subsequent inauguration of a long-time opposition leader were not expected, added Nwankwo.

• Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja of Wodeyar dynasty on 28 May 2015 was crowned as the 27th Maharaja of erstwhile kingdom of Mysuru.
• The 22-year-old adopted heir to the Wodeyar dynasty was coronated at a grand ceremony that took place in the hallowed precincts of Durbar Hall at the Amba Vilas Palace in Mysuru, also known as the city of palaces.
• The grand ceremony was attended by around 1000 special invitees and pontiffs from the region including former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and state ministers KJ George, RV Deshpande, DK Shivakumar, Srinivasa Prasad and Roshan Baig and Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao.

• Microsoft on 27 May 2015 announced to open the India’s first Digital Experience Centre in Vadodara, Gujarat. Microsoft will open the centre in collaboration with the Vadodara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).
• The centre aims to bring to life these experiences for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurs and educational institutions and help them leverage contemporary cloud technology to drive business growth as well as enhance skills and promote learning.
• In addition to SMEs, Microsoft and VCCI will also help educational institutions to adopt technology that will prepare future generations for the mobile-first, cloud-first world.
• As a part of this initiative, Microsoft's latest innovative cloud-computing based offering Edu-Cloud will help education institutions enhance digital learning and teaching by providing them with access to digital content and free access to Office 365 on Windows-powered tablets.

• Two Indian-origin women have made it to Forbes' inaugural list of America's 50 richest self-made women, sharing the honour with high-achievers such as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, media mogul Oprah Winfrey and singer Beyonce.
• India-born Neerja Sethi, with a net worth of USD 1.1 billion, has been ranked 14th on the list of the most successful self-made women in the US while London-born Jayshree Ullal comes in at the 30th spot with a USD 470 million net worth.
• Sethi, 60 co-founded IT consulting and outsourcing company Syntel with her husband, billionaire Bharat Desai, in 1980.
• She served as Syntel's treasurer during its first 16 years of operations and is currently the vice president of corporate affairs, a role she has had since the company's inception, Forbes said.
• Through their family foundation, the couple pledged USD 1 million in 2014 to the University of Michigan to develop a start-up accelerator.

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