Daily GK Update 08th February, 2017

 Daily GK Update 08th February, 2017

RBI's Monetory Policy February 2017 : Keeps repo rate unchanged at 6.25%

i. RBI governor Urjit Patel led Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept the key repo rate unchanged at 6.25% in the first monetary policy review of 2017 and after Budget 2017. 

ii. Limit on cash withdrawal from savings banks accounts to be relaxed in 2 stages. From 20 February, 2017 limit to be increased from Rs 24k to Rs 50K. From 13 March, 2017 there will be no limit on cash withdrawal from savings bank accounts. 

iii. 9.92 lakh crore new notes infused into market as on January 27, 2017.Inflation seen at 4-4.5% for April-September,2017. For January-March, 2017 CPI stay below 5%

Policy rates:

Repo Rate- 6.25%

Reverse Repo Rate- 5.75%

Marginal Standing Facility Rate- 6.75%

Bank Rate-  6.75%

Reserve Ratio:

CRR- 4%

SLR- 20.50%

3-day global conference on Nuclear Terrorism to begin in New Delhi

i. The Implementation and Assessment Group Meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism begins in New Delhi. Nearly 150 delegates from various partner countries and international organisations will take take part in the three-day event. 

ii. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar will inaugurate the meet organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Department of Atomic Energy.

iii. The meeting highlights India’s commitment to global nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. 

SC clears plan to verify mobile phone users through Aadhaar

i. The Supreme Court has approved the government‘s plan to record the identification details of mobile subscribers through an e-KYC (Know Your Customer) mechanism linked to Aadhaar in a bid to enhance national security and prevent fake users.

ii. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar asked the government, represented by Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi, to put in place the mechanism within a year. 

iii. The mechanism would cover at least 100 crore mobile phone subscribers, 90% of whom use pre-paid cards.

International Conference & Exhibition on Terrestrial & Satellite Broadcasting held in New Delhi

i. The 23rd edition of International Conference and Exhibition on Terrestrial & Satellite Broadcasting was held in New Delhi. The 3-day conference was organized by the Broadcast Engineering Society (India). 

ii. The theme of the conference is 'Hybrid Technologies in Broadcasting New Opportunities'. In this EXPO, nearly 300 companies from 25 countries displayed their products directly or through their dealers and distributors in India. 

Over 13,000 Divyangs have been given jobs by Centre

i. Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh stated that 13 thousand Divyangs have been given jobs in various central government departments. 

ii. Talking to media in New Delhi yesterday,Dr Singh said efforts are on to fill all the 15,694 vacancies in the central government. He said till now nearly 84% of vacant posts meant for Divyangs have been filled.

No cash withdrawal limit from March 13,2017:RBI

i. The Reserve Bank of India announced that the cash withdrawal limit on savings accounts will be scrapped from March 13, 2017 . 

ii. Further, the current limit of withdrawal fixed at ₹24,000 per week will be raised to ₹50,000 per week from February 20,2017 the RBI added. The limits on bank withdrawals were placed after demonetization

Federal Bank ties up with data portal for loans against warehouse receipts

i. Federal Bank has partnered with leading online data and information portal Commodity Online for the distribution of loans against warehouse receipts and collateral management services across the country.

ii. Commodity Online will roll out an agri commodity financing platform through its flagship portal www.commodityonline.com where farmers and traders can track commodity markets and warehouses online and get financing for their commodities quickly.

iii. According to Mohan K, Deputy General Manager (SME & Agri), Federal Bank, the bank’s partnership with Commodity Online enables it to aggressively get into the online space to provide financing for agri commodities with collateral management across India.

Bank of Baroda, IFFCO launch co-branded debit card for farmers

i. In a novel initiative that would push digitalisation and cashless economy, Bank of Baroda (BOB) has tied up with IFFCO, a cooperative, to provide co-branded debit cards with inbuilt overdraft facilities to the farmers.

ii. In this regard, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between G.B.Panda, General Manager (government relationship) BOB and Yogendra Kumar, General Manager (Marketing) IFFCO.

iii. Under this MOU, two lakh co-branded debit cards will be issued to the farmers beginning with the state of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Subsequently more cards will be issued across rest of India.These co-branded debit cards will be exclusively used for the purchase of IFFCO products only.

iv. BOB has agreed to issue the co-branded debit cards to the farmers with an overdraft limit of Rs. 2,500 per cardholder.BOB will also provide 2500 PoS machines initially at the various locations across India recommended by IFFCO at mutually agreed terms and conditions.

ICICI Securities partners with Saxo Bank

i. ICICI Securities, a subsidiary of ICICI Bank, has entered into a strategic partnership with Saxo Bank, an online multi-asset trading and investment specialist.

ii. This partnership will offer Saxo's trading and investment capabilities via a digital platform to Indian investors.

iii. It will enable ICICI Securities' 4 million clients of ICICIdirect.com to diversify their investments outside of the domestic Indian market and access multi-asset investment opportunities on 36 stock exchanges across 24 countries, through SaxoTraderGo.

iv. Clients opting for these services to invest outside India will gain access to third party research with Tradingfloor.com.

HDFC Bank, KMB go live with Bharat Bill Payment System

i. Private sector lenders HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are live with the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) that is aimed at easing utility and other repetitive bill payments for consumers.

ii. The BBPS is a centralised system created by the National Payments Corporation, involving banks and non-banks and allows agents to access bill payments services in an interoperable manner, HDFC Bank stated. 

iii. A customer can pay multiple bills from a single platform without the hassle of visiting multiple websites or issuing individual cheques, or also registering billers with her bank for standard instructions for debit.

Adani appoints Purdie as CEO for renewable energy unit in Australia

i. The Adani Group has appointed Jennifer Purdie as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for its renewable energy business unit in Australia in a bid to drive its plans to become the largest renewable energy player in the country.

ii. Adani’s aim is to become the largest renewable energy industry participant in Australia with a total capacity of 1,500 MW in the near term.

HDIL to launch budget homes in Mumbai Metropolitan Region

i. Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd will soon launching its new budget homes brand in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

ii. Through this brand, HDIL aims at making quality housing at affordable prices accessible to a wider section of people.

iii. Under this brand, HDIL will provide affordable homes within Rs. 50 lakh inclusive of stamp duty and registration in Mumbai’s suburbs and within Rs. 20 lakh, including stamp duty and registration charges, in the Vasai–Virar region.

Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos wins Senate confirmation vote

i. In United States, Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump's controversial nominee for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, by the slenderest possible margin. 

ii. US Vice-President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote to secure her cabinet role, splitting the chamber 50-50. 

Foreign direct investment zooms 60 pc to USD 4.68 bn in Nov 2016
i.With the government taking steps to improve ease of doing business and relax regulations, foreign direct investment into the country surged by 60% to USD 4.68 billion in November 2016.
ii. The FDI stood at USD 2.93 billion in November 2015.During the period, India received maximum FDI from Singapore, Mauritius, the UK, the US, the Netherlands and Japan, an official stated.

National Badminton Championship: Sourabh Verma clinches Men’s Singles title

i. Sourabh Verma clinched the Men’s Singles title defeating Lakshya Sen in the 81 st Senior National Badminton Championships tournament played in Patna. Sourabh beat Lakshya Sen 21-13, 21-12. 

ii. Rituparna Das claimed the Women's Singles title defeating Reshma Karthik in the tournament. Second seed Rituparna defeated 9th seed Reshma 21-12, 21-14.

iii. In Women's doubles event, the pair of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant clinched the title defeating the pair of Shikha Gautam and Sanyogita Ghorpade 21-9, 21-11. 

iv. In the mixed doubles, the duo of Satwik Sai Raj and Maneesha K defeated Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan 21-14, 21-18 to claim the title.In Men's doubles event, the duo of Satwik Sai Raj and Chirag Shetty clinched the title defeating Nand Gopal K and Sanyam Shukla 21-17, 16-21 and 21-16.