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