Current Affairs Update – 12th May, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs based on Banking, Finance, Insurance, Appointments, Sports and other news for 12th May, 2016. These are important for the upcoming UIIC AO 2016, SBI PO Mains 2016 and SBI Clerk Mains 2016.

• At a time when most Indian banks
  profitability has been marred by high levels of bad loans and provisions, Kotak
  Mahindra Bank’s earnings reflect the rise of yet another superior class bank
  despite the challenging times.
• The private lender which recently
  toppled ICICI Bank to emerge as India’s 2nd most valued private bank reported a
  32% rise in its net profit for the quarter ended March 2016. Its net profit
  stood at Rs 695.78 crore as compared with Rs 527.14 crore a year ago.
• Analysts expect that the bank
  will continue to draw huge premiums due to its tightly controlled asset quality
  and lower credit costs.

• Mobile payment and commerce
  platform Paytm, which has been registering strong growth in online purchase on
  automobiles, is looking at launching vehicle financing and insurance shortly.
• The company has seen online
  purchase of cars and bikes treble. Paytm sold over 1000 bikes in the month of
  April this year, contributing to 5% of Hero Electric’s pan India total monthly
  sales.
• In order to expand and
  consolidate its footprint in the automobile market, Paytm will launch vehicle
  financing this month, and will soon after offer insurance service through third
  party partners.
• Presently, Paytm has over 800
  dealers already functioning in their network and local commerce is being used
  to build this category.
• Apart from Hero Electric,
  Mahindra launched Gusto 125 model exclusively on Paytm in April. An user can
  book the motorcycle variant as per the ex-showroom price that he wishes to
  purchase through the Paytm app. Dealers in the Paytm network consequently
  execute the orders.

• The Reserve Bank of India has
  imposed a monetary penalty of ₹
  2 lakh on Jalgaon District Co-operative Bank Ltd.
• In a statement, the central bank
  said this penalty is for violation of provisions under the Banking Regulation.
  Act, 1949 (as applicable to co-operative societies) relating to remission of
  debt due to Jalgaon DCC Bank by Jalgaon Starch Factory in which the then
  directors of the bank had interest, without obtaining prior permission from
  RBI.
• RBI said it had issued a
  showcause notice to the bank in response to which the bank has submitted a
  written reply.

• ICICI Bank on Thursday launched
  the country’s first contactless business credit card in association with Jet
  Airways for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their employees.
• Christened ‘Jet Airways ICICI
  Bank Business Advantage Card’, India’s largest private sector bank, in a
  statement said, this co-branded credit card will help customers to save on
  their business expenses.
• It will also provide customers
  opportunities to earn JPMiles on both spends as well as repayments of credit
  card on a list of business expense categories, including travel, dining, office
  stationery, online advertising and vendor payments.
• The reward will be in the form of
  JPMiles, that is allocated to both the SME and the cardholder/s as per the
  Miles Split Ratio Module (MSRM) chosen by the SME.

• Notwithstanding delays in
  domestic policy reforms, India’s economy “is slowly gaining momentum” and “is
  projected to grow by 7.3 per cent this year,” a United Nations report forecast
  on Thursday.
• The World Economic Situation and
  Prospect report, in its mid-2016 update, has said India is expected to achieve
  a 7.5 per cent GDP growth in 2017 and the economic prospects of the South Asian
  region will be “contingent” on the growth trajectory of India and Iran.
• “India’s economy is slowly
  gaining momentum, with an expected GDP growth of 7.3 and 7.5 per cent in 2016
  and 2017, respectively.
• “Despite some delays in domestic
  policy reforms and enduring fragilities in the banking system, investment
  demand is supported by the monetary easing cycle, rising FDI, and government
  efforts towards infrastructure investments and public-private partnerships,” the
  report, released here said.

• Swiss Re launched a corporate
  accelerator, ‘InsurTech’, to help startups develop business solutions for the
  insurance sector in India.
• The themes identified for the
  programme include the Internet of Things, systems of engagement and smart
  analytics.
• InsurTech provides an opportunity
  for startups to develop products and business case.
• During the InsurTech programme,
  startups will have access to the global expertise and insights from the Swiss
  Re team, mentors from the industry and technical enablement to work effectively
  from Swiss Re’s office in Bengaluru, the company said in a news release.

• India and five other nations,
  including China and Israel, signed a pact Thursday for automatic exchange of
  information on tax issues and develop new tools and standards for tackling tax
  base erosion and evasion.
• The signing ceremony took place
  Beijing.
• Other countries which have
  already signed the pact include Australia, France, Germany, Japan,
  Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Italy and the UK.
• The pact allows all signatories
  to bilaterally and automatically exchange Country-by-Country Reports with each
  other.

• Axis Bank on Thursday announced
  the elevation of Rajesh Dahiya and Rajiv Anand as Executive Directors with
  immediate effect.
• The private sector bank said
  Dahiya and Anand have also been inducted on the board, as additional directors,
  further strengthening the board.
• Dahiya and Anand have been
  elevated as Executive Director (Corporate Centre), and Executive Director (Retail
  Banking), respectively.
• Prior to their elevation, Dahiya
  and Anand were Group Executive & Head Corporate Centre and Group Executive
  & Head Retail Banking, respectively.

• President Pranab Mukherjee on 11
  May 2016 signed the warrant for the appointment of four judges to the Supreme
  Court. These include three chief justices of high court and one senior
  advocate.
• These names were recommended by
  the Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur on 4 May
  2016.  

The recommended ones were

• Justice AM Khanwilkar of the
  Madhya Pradesh High Court
• Justice DY Chandrachud of the
  Allahabad High Court
• Justice Ashok Bhushan of the
  Kerala High Court to the Supreme Court

• L Nageshwar Rao: Fourth
  appointment

• Oscar winning music composer A R
  Rahman today agreed to be the Goodwill Ambassador of the Indian Olympic
  contingent, joining cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, ace shooter Abhinav Bindra and
  Bollywood star Salman Khan.
• Tendulkar, Salman and Olympic
  gold medallist Bindra had earlier accepted the role offered by the Indian Olympic
  Association.
• The IOA said that it has also
  received an official written confirmation from Rahman.

• The Uttar Pradesh government on
  11 May 2016 gave its nod to develop nearly 200-km long bicycle highway from
  Agra to the lion safari in Etawah. The plan aims at encouraging eco-tourism in
  the vicinity of the Taj Mahal.
• The highway was approved in a
  Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

• The highway will not run along
  the Agra-Etawah main road but will cover various historical and tourism
  centres.
• Starting from eastern gate of the
  Taj Mahal, it will cover areas such as Raja Bhoj ki Haveli, Bateshwarnath
  Temple, Mela Kothi Jarar, Naugava ka Quila and other rural areas to reach lion
  safari in Etawah.

• Integrated Underwater Harbour
  Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS) and Mine Warfare Data Centre (MWDC)
  were inaugurated on 11 May 2016.
• They were inaugurated by Flag
  Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral HCS Bisht, at
  the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam.
• The two Harbour Defence Systems
  would enhance the Navy’s surveillance capability and response to security
  threats.
• Both the IUHDSS and MWDC will
  function under the control of the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Andhra Pradesh)
  Commodore Sanjiv Issar.

• Kotak Mahindra Bank Chief Uday
  Kotak, who has a net worth of about $7.1 billion, is the sole Indian in Forbes’
  list of 40 of the most powerful people in the financial world who control the
  flow of trillions of dollars around the global economy.
• 57-year-old Kotak is ranked 33rd
  in the Forbes list of ‘Money Masters: The Most Powerful People In The Financial
  World’ topped by Blackstone Group’s CEO Stephen Schwarzman, who has a net worth
  of $10.2 billion and oversees assets worth $344 billion.
• It said the 40 financiers on the
  list dominate the world of money, from banking to buyouts, trading to
  takeovers.

• Shashank Manohar on 12 May 2016
  was elected unanimously and unopposed as the Chairman of the International
  Cricket Council (ICC) by the Board.
• Manohar is the first elected
  independent Chairman of the Cricket governing body and will serve for two-year
  term with immediate effect.
• He resigned from the post of
  President of Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) on 10 May 2016.
• Before his election, the ICC Full
  Council approved constitutional amendments to accommodate the new position of
  an independent ICC Chairman.

• Charlotte Edwards, England’s
  women cricket team captain, announced her international retirement on 11 May
  2016.  In her 20-year cricket career, she
  captained England for ten years and became one of the most influential women in
  British Sport.
• Edwards took the decision
  following England’s 2016 World T20 campaign, where they lost in the semi-finals
  against Australia.
• The 36-year-old, Edwards will
  continue to play at domestic level including the first edition of the
  forthcoming Women’s Super League.

• The International Cricket Council
  (ICC) on 11 May 2016 announced that it has lifted the provisional suspension
  imposed on Sri Lanka wicket-keeper batsman Kusal Perera.
• The decision was taken after
  withdrawal of the disciplinary charges against Perera that were made in
  December 2015. The pronouncement came after the WADA-accredited laboratory in
  Qatar withdrew its original Adverse Analytical Finding following further
  investigations.
• As a result, Perera can now
  return to domestic and international cricket with immediate effect.

• Golden State Warriors guard
  Stephen Curry on 10 May 2016 was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the
  second straight year.
• With this, he became the first unanimous
  winner in the award’s 61-year history after a record-breaking contribution to
  the Warriors’ historic season.
• Stephen Curry, the 11th person to
  win back-to-back MVP awards, swept all 131 first-place votes including 130 from
  a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters and one from the Kia MVP fan vote. He
  secured 1310 points to top in the list.

• Brazil’s Senate voted on Thursday
  to impeach President Dilma Rousseff after months-long fight that laid raw the
  country’s fury over corruption and economic decay, hurling Latin America’s
  largest country into a political turmoil just months before it hosts the Summer
  Olympics.
• Ms. Rousseff’s enraged backers
  called the move a coup d’etat and threatened wide-scale protests and strikes.
  Her foes, meanwhile, insisted that she had broken the law, and that the
  country’s deep political, social and economic woes could only be tackled with
  her on the sidelines.
• The 55-22 vote means that Ms.
  Rousseff’s ally-turned-enemy, Vice-President Michel Temer, will take over as
  acting President later on Thursday while she is suspended. The Senate has 180
  days to conduct a trial and decide whether Ms. Rousseff should be permanently
  removed from office.

• The book titled Chaos and
  Caliphate: Jihadis and the West in the Struggle for the Middle East authored by
  Patrick Cockburn was in news in the first week of May 2016.
• The book was in news because it
  exposes how millions of people were killed by a series of disastrous Western
  interventions in West Asia.

• Famous West Indian cricket
  writer, commentator and journalist Tony Cozier passed away on 11 May 2016 in
  Barbados. He was 75.
• Tony Cozier: The voice of West
  Indies cricket
• Born on 10 July 1940, Winston
  Anthony Lloyd Tony Cozier was a cricket writer and commentator on West Indian
  cricket from 1958 until his death.
• He was described as having an
  encyclopaedic knowledge of cricket.

Regards

Team ExamPundit