Marketing

Marketing Questions For The Interview

1. What is Marketing?
Ans: Marketing is the process of determining consumer demand for a product or service , motivating its sale and distributing it into ultimate consumption at a profit.

2. What are the differences between Selling and Marketing ?

	Selling	Marketing
1	It is an operational activity	Marketing is a concept which involves identification of customer needs and promoting the product to get it sold. Thus, selling is the part of marking
2.	It is product oriented i.e. . it deals with sales forecast and sales volume	It is consumer oriented i.e. It deals with consumer taste and preferances.
3.	Selling encashes profitable opportunity	It convertss customer needs into saleable opportunity

3. What is marketing management? 
Ans : It is the process of planning and executing the conception , pricing , promotion and distribution of goods , service , 

and ideas to create exchanges with target groups that satisfy customer and organizational objectives.

4. What are the key functional aspects of Marketing Management ?
Ans :  
1. Analysis : This involves understanding the customer needs and identifying the target market.
2. Planning: This involves designing the marketing programmes and tactics to promote products in targeted market.
3. Implementation: Implementing the plan.
4. Control : This involves the use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques including budgetary control , control of marketing mix etc to evaluate the progress of implemented plan.

5. What is a product ?
Ans : “Product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention , acquisition, use or consumption ” (Kotler)

6. What is service ?
Ans: Kotler and Bloom defined service as “ any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything.

 Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product “

7. What are the differences between product and service ?
Ans :  

Product	Service
Tangible	Intangible
Homogeneous	Heterogeneous
It can be kept in stock	Production and consumption happen simultaneously.Thus, it can’t be kept in stock
Transfer of ownership	No transfer of ownership
It is a thing	It is an activity or process

8. What are the 4 Ps of marketing OR what is marketing mix ?
Ans : 1.Price  2. Product 3. Place 4. Promotion

9. What are 4 Cs of marketing?
Ans : 
1. Customer needs and wants
2. Cost to the customer
3. Convenience
4. Communication
   
10. What are the 7 Ps of Service Marketing ?
Ans :  
1. Product (i.e. service)
2. Price
3. Promotion
4. Place
5. People ( Employees involved in delivering service to customers)
6. Physical Evidence
7. Process

11. What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ?
Ans : 
Maslow categorized customer’s needs into 5 types
1. Physiological needs : food , drink , sleep
2. Safety needs : protection from threatening situation and economic security.
3. Social needs : friendship , affection and sense of belonging
4. Esteem needs : self respect , recognition , status and success
5. Self – actualization : self – fulfillment.

12. What is a product life cycle?
Ans : 
Product life can be divided into 4 stages.
1. Introduction : Period of  initial low sales and slow pick up in the market. Eg : net banking and mobile banking.
2. Growth : Sales grow rapidly due to fast increasing market acceptance resulting in substantial improvement in profits. Eg: RTGS and NEFT.
3. Maturity : A slowdown in sales growth rate leading to peaking of sales , due to the potential buyers having been fully tapped.
4. Decline : Sales at this stage experience a declining rate of growth and profits erode. Eg : Demand Draft.

13. What are the two costs which have to be considered while pricing bank products?
Ans: 1. Interest Cost   2. Service Cost

14. What are the distribution channels involved in banking services?
Ans: 
1. Bank Branch
2. Telephone Banking and Call Centers
3.  Automated Teller Machines
4. Virtual Branches and Automated Video Banking.


15. What is Banking Codes Standards Board of India (BCSBI).? 
Banking Codes Standards Board of India (BCSBI)
The Reserve Bank of India established BCSBI in 2007 to ensure that the common consumer of financial services from the banking industry gets what he/she has been promised.

 The Board operates as an independent and autonomous body. Membership of BCSBI is voluntary and open to scheduled banks.

From 2015, performance ratings of Banks on customer services will be put in public domain by Banking Codes Standards Board of India (BCSBI).
BCSBI is rating banks on customer services on 5 parameters:

• Information dissemination
• Transparency
• Customer-centricity
• Grievance redressal system
• Customer feedback

BCSBI rated 48 banks for customer service of which only 5 scored high ratings; 25 were rated above average; 17 average; and one below average. 

The ratings will be made public in 2015. However, banks are not allowed to use these ratings to solicit business.
Code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers

The Code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers is a Code of Customer Rights, which sets minimum standards of-

 banking practices that member banks have to comply with when they deal with individual customers. 

The Code provides protection to customers and explains the manner in which banks are supposed to deal with customers in their day-to-day operations.

Marketing

Marketing Notes

MARKETING: Marketing is a social and managerial process through which needs and wants of individual/organisation are satisfied by the exchange of goods and services.

NEED: Need can be defined as something that is necessary for survival.
Ex: Drinking water when thirsty is a need.

WANT: It can be called as different ways of satisfying need.
Ex: Drinking coca-cola(or frooti) when thirsty(options avail.)

Selling works on PUSH strategy,whereas marketing works on PULL strategy.

Selling is always a subset of marketing,marketing is a superset.Sales related with short term relations and marketing focuses on long term relations.

Purpose of selling is to make profit immediately.(Ex: general stores)

Purpose of marketing is to make customer satisfaction and to maintain long term relations.(Ex:DELL service)

Customer: A customer is the recipient of good/service/idea obtained from a seller.

Consumer: The one who consumed or utilises good/product is called as consumer. A customer may or may not be a consumer.
Ex: A father purchases a 5star for his son, here father is the customer and son is the  consumer.

Steps in marketing: 

• Marketing research 
• Product management 
• Price 
• Promotion 
• Place 
• After sales service 
• Feedback 

Types of consumer goods: 
Consumer goods (such as bread, milk,paper, sugar) that are bought often and consumed routinely.

Impulse: Purchased suddenly on stimuli(Ex:chocolates kept at billing counter).
Shopping goods: Goods which are occasionally purchased,cost is moderate. People invest time and efforts.Brand may be considered.
Ex:Textiles,watches,costumes.

Special goods: Goods which are purchased very rarely as they are very expensive.one or two outlets are available.people are extremely brand conscious.
Ex: Jewellery,paintings,BMW cars.

Unsought goods: Even though customers are not interested,he/she forced to buy because of some obligations.
Ex: Insurance policies,ice box for the dead.

Niche market: Market which focuses on particular segment and creating distinct image.
Ex: nano car.

Customised product: Customer requirements are taken into account.

Augmented product: Improvement made by the manufacturer voluntarily.

Potential product: Which may introduce in the future depending on technological and economic resources of the firm.

Unique selling proposition(USP): A quality feature design which is available only in one product which is not in other products.
Ex: bajaj pulsar,yamaha fz.

Product mix: All different range of products offered by a company.
Ex: TATA offering salt to airways.

Product width: No. of categories in a product mix.
Ex: hair care,skin care etc.

Product depth: No. of alternatives in each category.
Ex: soap category:lux,cinthol,pears,lifebuoy.

Product line: continuous and consistent availability of the product in the market.

Product life cycle:
It analyses sales and profit of a product through four stages.

STAGE SALES PROFIT 

Types of Pricing: 
Price is the monetary value given by the customer for the exchange of goods and services.

Follow leader: Adjust the prices according to the dominant player in the market.
Ex: apple (smart phones).

Cost plus: Keeping price just above the cost price to recover the operational expenditure.
Ex: R.K.(ramakrishna) MATH spoken english book for 25/- only

Penetration: Keeping prices low initially when a product is released for the first time.
Ex: sakshi paper for only 2/- with full color pages instead of 3/-

Predatory: keeping the prices low to kill competitors and later increasing it after the competitors left the market.
Ex: Stores like Walmart will effect the kirana stores in the same way.

Skimming: opposite of predatory,keeping prices very high initially when there is no competition and later decreasing it to match the competition.
Ex: Iphone.

Psychological pricing: Offering different ranges of prices to give psychological comfort to the buyer.
Ex: 499,299,599/- customer thinks that it is only in 400's,200's & 500's range.

Deceptive pricing: Promotion tactics disguise customer from knowing the actual price.
Ex: Koti market(Hyderabad) goods,initially,seller will tell the price of a luggage bag as 500/-later on bargaining he will give it to 100/-

Promotion: Purpose is to create awareness about a product in the market.

Advertisements: Paid form of impersonal communications.

Publicity: Ads, hoardings, pamphlets.

Direct selling: DSA approaches buyer personally at their doorsteps to know the consumer behaviour.(very effective but expensive too).

Aggressive marketing: Style of promoting a product which is very forceful or energetic due to increase in the competition.

Co-branding: Promotion of two related products through common brand.
Ex: Nike and Apple brought fitness and music together by developing a wireless music kit  along with the shoes.

Place: Product should be made available at a convenient location to the customers.

Length of the channel: no. of intermediaries between actual producer and the final consumer.

Push: Forced to buy the goods by keeping offers like buy 1 get 2.

Pull: Pleasure to buy the goods like android mobiles. Cold call: Persuading or motivating a customer to buy immediately who is in dilemma.

Customisation: Modifying basic products as suitable to the customers.

Standardisation: Offering same product of same quality globally.

Consumer black box: What goes on in the minds of the customer actually at the time of buying a product.

Societal marketing: Marketing for a social cause(CSR-corporate social responsibility)

Ethical marketing: Explaining positives and negatives in a realistic manner about a product for the benefit of the customers.

Purpose of marketing research is to identify need and want of the customer through primary and secondary data.

Primary data is collected through survey,secondary data is collected through official record.

Best approach for exploratory research is observation.

Best approach for casual research is experimental.

Best approach for descriptive research is survey.

Giffen goods: Giffen good is an inferior good with the unique characteristic that an increase in price actually increases the quantity of the good that is demanded. 

This provides the unusual result of an upward sloping demand curve.This happens because of the interactions of the income and substitution effects.

 Depending on whether the good is inferior or normal, the income effect can be positive or negative as the price of a good increases.

Blue ocean strategy- Requires communication skills,innovation skills and motivation.
Data mining means analysing data stored with back office staff.

Marketing

Marketing

         Quick Notes:

1. Marketing  is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling that product or service.

2. Mass Marketing means marketing the mass produced goods.

3. Strategic marketing means decision making process that involves the analysis of the internal capabilities and external environment of a company.

4. Stimulation marketing means there is no demand for the product and people are not interested to purchase the product hence special offers are given to stimulate the people.

5. Synchrome marketing means irregular demand.

6. De-marketing means the demand for the product exceeds the supply.

7. Producer goods means goods which are priced high and required a few to produce other goods in the industry ex: lathe, motor etc

8. Consumer goods are required in large number and directly used by the consumer.

9. Derived goods means the demand for the product is derived from the demand of other products ex:

 the selling of stabilizer depends upon the selling of TV’s and refrigerator.

10. The client of an advertising agency is called Customer.

11. CRM means Customer Relationship Management.

12. Segmentation of consumer market is based on consumer characteristics and consumer responses.

13. B2B means – business to business

14. Database marketing is direct form of marketing.

15. A Buyers Market means supply exceeds demands

16. Niche market means a specified market for the target group.

17. HNI marketing means High Networth Individual.

18. Relationship marketing is useful for cross selling of products.

19. Good public relations indicate

• Improved marketing skills
• Improved brand image
• Improved customer service

20. Marketing functions includes

• Designing new products
• Advertisements
• Publicity
• After sales service

21. Effective selling skills depends on

• Effective lead generation
• Sales call planning
• Territory allocation
• Effective communication skills

22. Marketing channels mean

• Delivery period
• Delivery outlets
• Delivery time
• Delivery place

23. Marketing information means

• Knowledge level of marketing staffs
• Information about marketing staff
• Information regarding share market
• Knowledge of related markets

24. A DSA means Direct Selling Agent.

25. Service marketing resorted to in Insurance companies and banks.

26. Service marketing is same as

• Internet marketing
• Telemarketing
• Internal marketing
• Relationship marketing

27. Market segmentation helps to determine target groups.

28. The seven P’s of marketing

• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promoting
• Process
• People
• Physical Evidence

29. SWOT – Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats.

30. Standard marketing practices include lowering the selling price.

31. USP of a product means Unique Selling Proposition.
“Rosser Reeves” coined the term USP.

32. MBO means Management by Objectives (“Peter Drucker”)

33. AIDA – Attention Interest Desire Action

34. BTL – Below the line

35. Right-time marketing is an approach to marketing which selects an appropriate time and place for the delivery of a marketing message.

36. A group of related products manufactured by a single company is called product line.

37. MDSS – Marketing Decision Support System.

38. Target group for the marketing of Internet Banking – All the computer educated customers.

39. Innovation means new ideas and product designing.

40. Service after sale is not the function of marketing staff.

41. A good seller should have the following quality/qualities

• Devotion to the work
• Sympathy
• Submissive

42. Planned cost service means – additional profit on same cost.

43. A non-traditional, low-cost, flexible and highly effective marketing is termed as Gorilla marketing.

44. The aim of successful marketing is to increase the outlet of the seller.

45. Low end market means a market for lower price products.

46. The strategy used to charge different prices for the same product is called price discrimination.

47. The system designed to support marketing decision making is – marketing information system.

48. Conversion in marketing means converting suspect into prospect.

49. MC means – Marginal Cost.

50. Personalized marketing (also called personalization, and sometimes called one-to-one marketing) is an extreme form of database marketing. 

Personalization tries to make a unique product offered for each customer.

Marketing

Marketing

• Market: It is a physical place or an environment where sellers and buyers meet together to exchange goods and services.
• Marketing: It is the sum total of all activities that are related to the free flow of goods from the producer to the customer. 
• Getting the right goods & services, to the right people, at the right place, at the right time and at the right price.
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• Marketing Management: It is the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping and growing customers through creating, 
• delivering and communicating superior customer value.
• Market Research: It is a process of collection and analyzing information regarding customer needs and buying habits, 
• the nature of competition in the market, prevailing prices, distribution network, effectiveness of advertising media etc for arriving at a decision.
• Relationship Marketing: It is basically building mutually satisfying long term relationships with key parties like customers, 
• suppliers, distributors and other marketing partners in order to earn and retain their business.
• Direct Marketing: It consists of a manufacturer selling directly to the final customer. It is also called zero level channel. 
• The major examples are door-to-door sales, telemarketing, Internet selling etc.
• Packaging: It involves putting the goods in attractive packets according to the convenience of consumers. 
• Well designed packages can build brand equity and drive sales.
•  The package is the buyer's first encounter with the product and is capable of turning the buyer on or off.
• Personal Selling: It is a part of promotional activity. It involves communicating directly with the target audience through paid personnel of the company or its agents for making sales.
• SWOT Analysis:

                 

PEST Analysis:

               

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• Marketing Mix (4P's):

               Product, Price, Place, Promotion

• Viral Marketing: Marketing by the word of mouth having a high pass route from person to person is called viral marketing.
•  It can create a splash in the market place to showcase a brand and its noteworthy features.
• Product Policy: It is concerned with defining the type, volume and timing of the products a company offer for sale.
• Rights of consumers: Right to safety, Right to be informed, Right to choose, Right to be heard Right to seek redressal, Right to consumer education.
• Cross Selling: An exposure to various other unutilized services of the bank to a customer is called cross selling.
•  It also includes identifying customer needs, matching the products to customer needs, 
• convincing the customers of product benefits & responding to questions and objections of customers.
• SME's: It stands for Small & Medium Enterprises.
• Market Expansion: It is growth in sales through existing and new products by adopting competitive strategies.
•  It includes expanding the total market, defending market share, expanding market share etc.
• Product Diversification: It refers to manufacturing or distributing more than one product by the producer or dealer.
• Marketing Plan: It is a written document that summarizes what the marketer has learned about the market place and indicates how the firm plans to reach its marketing objectives. 
• It is the one of the most important outputs of the marketing process.
• Green Marketing: It is a new environment friendly marketing technique.
• Product Elimination: It is a process of removing product from the product line (it is a group of products that are closely related to each other).
• Drip Marketing: The method of sending promotional items to clients is called drip marketing.
• Selling: It is confined to persuasion of consumers to buy firm's goods and services. It involves the transfer of ownership of goods to create possession utility.
• Bench Marketing: A comparison of the business processes with competitors and improving prevailing ones is called bench marketing.
• Qualities of a good seller: Devotion to the work, Submissive, Sympathy, Active mind set, Communication skill, Creativity, Motivation.
• Prospect: A 'likely' interested customer of the bank is termed as a prospect.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): It allows the company to discover whom its customers are,
•  how they behave and what they need or want. It also enables the company to respond appropriately, coherently and quickly to different customer opportunities.
• Call: In marketing, calling the prospective customer is known as a call.
• Sales Forecasting: It is the expected level of company's sales based on a chosen marketing plan an assumed marketing environment. 
• It involves sales planning, sales pricing, distribution channels, consumer tastes etc.
• Motivation: It refers to inspiring one self and others to perform better.
• Branding: The essence of a product, its quality and competitiveness displayed in the form of letters, symbols and colours is known as branding.
• Sales Forecasting: The method of estimating volume of sales that a company can expect to attain within a planned period is called sales forecasting.
• Marketing for Growth: 

                               

• Advertising: Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.
• Segmentation: The process of dividing a market into a number of sub markets is known as market segmentation. 
• Positioning: The development of marketing mix to influence a customer's perception of a brand is called positioning.
• Consumer Behaviour: A consumer's buying behaviour is influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors.
• Promotion: When a marketer persuades a person or group of prospective buyers, the communication is termed as promotion.
• Product Life Cycle (PLC): It is the life period of product in the market. The different stages includes Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Decline.
• Bancassurance: Bancassurance simply means selling of insurance products by banks. In this arrangement, insurance companies and banks undergo a tie-up,
•  thereby allowing banks to sell the insurance products to its customers.
• Consumer Goods: Goods meant for personal consumption by the households or ultimate consumers are called consumer goods. It includes items like groceries, cloths etc.
• Industrial Goods: Goods meant for consumption as use as inputs in production of other products orprovision of some service are termed as industrial goods.
• Demarketing: Marketing aimed at limiting market growth; for example, some governments practice demarketing to conserve natural resources, 
• and organizations use a demarketing approach when there is so much demand that that are unable to serve the needs of all potential customers adequately.

Marketing

Marketing 

Marketing:

Marketing is nothing but to Tell about your product and to sell it.

The technical definition is

“Marketing is the process of planning and executing the concepts, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas/goods/services to satisfy individual's/organizational”.

Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling that product or service.

There are several types of marketing are there, some of them are

• Bench Marketing: The Bench Marketing is nothing but the comparison of the business processes with competitors and improving prevailing ones.
• Drip Marketing: Drip Marketing is sending promotional items to Clients.
• Viral Marketing: Viral Marketing is marketing by the word of the mouth, having a high pass rate from person to. The best example for this is creating a 'buzz' in the industry.
• Guerilla Marketing: Guerilla Marketing is an Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources (Maximum results from Minimum resources)
• Social Media Marketing: Marketing using online communities, social networks, blog marketing etc is called the social media marketing.
• Internet Marketing: M marketing of products or services over the Internet is called Internet Marketing. It is also known as i-marketing, 
• web-marketing, online-marketing, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and e-Marketing.
• Digital Marketing: The marketing which uses digital advertising is called digital marketing. Television, Radio, Internet, mobile etc.
• Direct Marketing: If the company directly reaches to the customers on a personal basis (ex : phone calls, private mailings, etc) 
• rather than traditional channel of advertising (like TV, Newspapers, etc) then that type of marketing is called the Direct Marketing. There are a number of types in direct marketing. Some of them are

1. Direct Mail Marketing: Advertising material sent directly to home and business addresses (This is the most common form of direct marketing)
2. Telemarketing: It is the second most common form of direct marketing, in which marketers contact consumers by phone.
3. Email Marketing: This type of marketing targets customers through their email accounts (you might have observed them in your e mails too)

• Indirect Marketing: It is the distribution of a particular product through a channel that includes one or more re-sellers.

Difference between Direct and Indirect Marketing:

Direct marketing is where the consumer hears about a product or service from a sales person or associate, representing the company offering the product or service.

Indirect marketing is where the consumer hears about a product or service from a third party. The third party could consist of word of mouth from another customer, radio, television, newspaper, or billboards.

For example, an advertisement may ask the prospect to call on a free phone number, mail in a response or order, or click on a link to a website. This is an example of marketing is Direct Marketing.

Example of Indirect marketing is Katrina Kaif, as she markets LUX but she doesn’t own that company.

Product Life Cycle (PLC): Product life cycle is a business analysis that attempts to identify a set of common stages in the life of commercial products.

 In other words the 'Product Life cycle' PLC is used to map the lifespan of the product such as the stages through which a product goes during its lifespan.

IMPORTANT ABBREVIATIONS:

Ad: Advertising

MKT: Marketing

B2B: Business to Business

F500: Fortune 500

EM: Email

DM: Direct Mail

ABM: Account Based marketing

TAP: Targeted account programs

DM: Digital Marketing

SE: Search Engine

SERP: Search Engine Results Page

SEM: Search Engine Marketing

SEO: Search Engine Optimization

SMM: Social Media Marketing

SMO: Social Media Optimization

PPC: Pay Per Click

PPA: Pay Per Action

PPI: Pay Per Impression

PPL: Pay Per Lead

CTR: Click through rate

CPC: Cost Per Click

CPL: Cost Per Lead

CPS: Cost Per Sale

CMS: Content Management System

CRM: Content Relationship Management

MAP: Marketing Automation Platform

SFA: Sales Force Automation

BI: Business Intelligence

MLM: Multi Level Marketing

FDI: Foreign Direct Investment

POP: Point of Purchase Display

R&D:  Research and Development

UPC: Universal Product Code

POS: Point of Sale Display

ROI: Return on Investment

CLS: Costumer Location System

RPM: Resale Price Maintenance

VAT: Value Added Tax

CR: Concession Rate

DRA: Direct Response Advertising

CLV: Customer Lifetime Value

eCommerce: Electronic Commerce

CRM: Customer Relationship Management

NPD: New Product Development

ROMI: Return on Marketing Investment

LTV: Life Time Value

BDI: Brand Development Index

CDI: Category Development Index

MR: Market Research

AIM: Alternative Investment Market

MS: Market Share

TMV: True Market Value

MAA: Marketing Authorization Application

MS: Market Surveillance

WOMM: Word of Mouth Marketing

IDRA: Industries Development and Regulation Act

UX: User Experience

GRS: Gross rating Point

BEP: Break Even Point

PAN: Permanent Account Number

IMF: International Monetary Fund

EOQ: Economic Order quality.

Daily GK Update 22nd August 2017

Have you attempted the Current affairs Quiz of 21st August!! Do it Now

1. National Sports Awards 2017 Announced

i. National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over a period of four year, Arjuna Award is given for consistently outstanding performance for four years, Dronacharya Award for coaches for producing medal winners at prestigious International sports events, Dhyan Chand Award for life time contribution to sports development.

ii. The Union Government announced the National Sports Awards. Para athlete Devendra and hockey player Sardar Singh will be honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.

More Details of  National Sports Awards 2017

2. FDI jumps 37% to $10.4 billion during April-June 2017 

i. Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country grew by 37 per cent to USD 10.4 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal. According to the figures of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), India had received USD 7.59 billion FDI during April-June 2016-17.

ii. The main sectors which attracted the highest foreign inflows include services, telecom, trading, computer hardware and software and automobile. The bulk of the FDI came in from Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Japan. 

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• FDI is a major source of non-debt financial resource for the economic development of India.
• FDI and Portfolio Investment in Public Sector Banks are subject to overall statutory limits of 20 percent.
• DIPP was established in 1995 and has been reconstituted in the year 2000.

3. ONGC board approves HPCL takeover of 51.11% stake

i. The board of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, ONGC, has given 'in-principle' approval to acquire government's 51 (point) 11 per cent stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd. The government had approved the sale of its 51.11 per cent stake in oil refiner HPCL to India's largest oil producer ONGC. The deal will be completed within a year.

ii. The government had also constituted a committee headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan and road minister Nitin Gadkari to work out the modalities of the sale. Jaitley had in his Budget for 2017-18 talked about creating an integrated oil behemoth.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• HPCL is a Government of India Enterprise with a Navratna Status, and a Forbes 2000 and Global Fortune 500 company. 
• Dinesh K Sarraf is the Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC).
• Registered Office & Corporate Headquarters of HPCL is in Mumbai.

4. Home Minister Rajnath Singh launches digital police portal 

i. A digital police portal under the CCTNS project, which aims to create a national database of crimes and criminals has launched by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The digital police portal will provide the citizen, facility for online complaint registration and request for antecedent verification. 

ii. The police portal will provide 11 searches and 46 reports from the national database for state police and central investigation agencies. Central investigating and research agencies have also been provided logins to the digital police database to access crime statistics.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• CCTNS stands for Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems Project or the crime and criminal tracking network system.
• Kiren Rijiju is current Union Minister of State for Home Affairs of India.

5. Android Oreo released by Google

i. Keeping up its tradition of naming its Android upgrades with delectable desserts, Google has launched its version 8.0 o the operating system as Android Oreo.

ii. The Oreo boasts of a two times faster boot speed, autofill option, and a longer battery life. The new update comes with a Picture-in-Picture feature that allows the user to see two apps simultaneously.

6. NABARD Approves Rs 1,350-cr loan to Rajasthan Government

i. The National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned a loan assistance of Rs 1,349.55 crore to the Rajasthan government for the creation of rural infrastructure in the state under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). 

ii. The sanction includes assistance for construction of two rural drinking water supply projects, strengthening/ rehabilitation of 1,614 rural roads and modernisation of three major irrigation projects.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• The government of India created the RIDF in NABARD in 1995-96, with an initial corpus of Rs.2,000 crore.
• NABARD came into existence on 12 July 1982 by transferring the agricultural credit functions of RBI and refinance functions of the then Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC). 
• Dr Harsh Kumar Bhanwala is the Chairman of NABARD since 18th December 2013.

7. IOC to Invest Rs 52,000 cr in Paradip Refinery Post Pact with Odisha Govt

i. State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will invest about Rs 52,000 crore in expanding Paradip refinery in Odisha and setting up petrochemical complex after the Odisha State Government agreed to restore part of tax incentives.

ii. Odisha Government has agreed to restore part of tax incentives and has agreed to give Rs 700 crore per annum of an interest-free loan for 15 years to make up for the withdrawn incentive.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Headquarters of IOC is located in New Delhi.
• Sanjiv Singh is the current Chairman of IOC.

8. AIADMK Merger: O Panneerselvam Sworn in as Deputy CM of Tamil Nadu

i. O Panneerselvam was on 21 August 2017 sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister (CM) of Tamil Nadu, following the much-speculated merger of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) factions.

ii. The two factions of the AIADMK merged six months after their split following the death of then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Panneerselvam was appointed as the Coordinator of the merged AIADMK.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Governor of Tamil Nadu is Vidyasagar Rao.

9. India Football Star Oinam Bembem Devi Receives Arjuna Award

i. Oinam Bembem Devi, the flagbearer of Indian women's football for over the past two decades was named the winner of the prestigious Arjuna Award. Bembem becomes the second Indian woman footballer to win the award, the first being Shanti Mullick in 1983.

ii. Bembem is the 25th Footballer to have won the Arjuna Award, the last being Subrata Paul in 2016. In addition, she was also awarded the AIFF Woman Footballer Award twice, in 2001 and 2013.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

President of All India Football Federation is Praful Patel.

10. I & B Ministry Constituted 40-Member Preview Panel for IFFI

i. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on 21 August 2017 constituted a 40-member 'preview committee’ for the International Film Festival of India 2017, which is going to be held in Goa.

ii. While filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has been chosen as the convenor of the committee. Besides this, the I and B Ministry also constituted a new 13-member steering committee and a 12-member technical committee, which will be headed by Jahnu Barua and Nagesh Kukunoor respectively.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is scheduled to be held in Goa from 20 – 28 November 2017.
• Information and Broadcasting minister of India are Smriti Zubin Irani.

11. Swasth Bachche, Swasth Bharat Programme Launched

i. Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Prakash Javadekar launched the ‘Swasth Bachche, Swasth Bharat’ Programme in Kochi, Kerala.

ii. Javadekar also launched the Health and Fitness Profile Card along with the programme. The programme is an initiative of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to prepare a physical Health and Fitness Profile Card for more than 12 lakhs of Kendriya Vidyalaya students.