Top Careers & You

General Knowledge
GK Notes - November

Economy/Business
Six Major Central Banks Permanently Made Currency Swap Accords Six major central banks in the world made currency swap arrangements permanent as a prudent liquidity backstop in case of future global financial strains. Previously these banks had temporary bilateral currency swap arrangements. The major central banks are 1. The Bank of Japan 2. U.S. Federal Reserve 3. European Central Bank 4. Bank of England 5. Central bank of Canada 6. Central bank of Switzerland Bharti Airtel Signed an Agreement with the Warid Group Bharti Airtel entered into an agreement with the Warid Group to acquire its Congo operations with the objective of strengthening its stronghold in the African market. The acquisition will make Airtel the largest mobile operator in the Republic of Congo with around 2.6 million customers. At present, Airtel is the second largest operator in that country with over 1.6 million customers, while Warid is the third largest with around one million customers. This is the second acquisition by Airtel in the African continent. It had acquired Warids Uganda operations earlier in 2013. SBI Increased Lending Rates by 0.20 Percent Indias largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) increased its lending rates by 0.20 percent with effect from November 7, 2013. The bank increased the base rate or the minimum lending rate to 10 percent from 9.80 percent. The Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) was also increased by 0.20 percent from 14.55 percent to 14.75 per cent. SBI increased fixed deposit rate by 0.2 percent on select maturity. SBI had last raised base rate by 0.10 percent to 9.80 percent in September 2012. RBI Allowed Third Party Payment for Export and Import Transactions The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed third party payment for export and import transactions. The procedure relating to payments for exports or imports was liberalised taking into account the evolving international trade procedure. Banks are allowed to receive the payments for export of goods/software from the third party. The order of RBI also permits the banks to make payments to the third party for imports of goods. The third party refers to an entity other than the buyer or the seller.

_________________________________________________________________________________
Crack any exam easily with TCY Analytics at TCYonline.com

Top Careers & You General Awareness

General Knowledge
GK Notes - November

Bharat Suresh Joshi Appointed as British Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai Bharat Suresh Joshi has been appointed as British Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai. He succeeds Mike Nithavrianakis. About Bharat Suresh Joshi He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1995. He has had diplomatic postings to Gambia, Dhaka and Qatar. He is the first person of Indian origin to represent the British mission in Chennai. It is an indication of the growing influence and spread of the diaspora in the UK. India and Vietnam Signed Treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners India and Vietnam signed a treaty on transfer of sentenced prisoners in the jails in the two countries. The treaty would allow prisoners of the two countries to be near their families and they will have to serve the remaining part of their sentences. This process will help to facilitate the process of their social rehabilitation. The two sides also held bilateral talks on security matters, issues of training, capacity building, cyber security, cyber crime, transnational crime, terrorism and disaster management. There are 20 other countries with which India has signed such agreements. Syria Chemical Weapons Equipment Destroyed: OPCW The Joint OPCW-UN Mission confirmed that Syria has completed the functional destruction of all critical equipments that it had declared for manufacturing chemical weapons. By doing so, Syria has met the deadline set by the OPCW Executive Council to complete as soon as possible and in any case not later than 1st November 2013, the destruction of chemical weapons production and mixing or filling equipments. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is presently involved in destroying Syria's stockpiles of chemical weapons.The Joint OPCW-UN Mission has inspected 21 of the 23 sites declared by Syria, and 39 of the 41 facilities located at those sites. The two remaining sites were not visited due to safety and security concerns. But Syria declared those sites as abandoned and that the chemical weapons programme items they contained were moved to other declared sites, which were inspected. G. K. Pillai Appointed as the Chairman of MCX-SX G.K. Pillai, the former Union Home Secretary was appointed as the Chairman of the MCX-SX. Thomas Mathew, the former acting Chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation has also been appointed as the Vice President of the bourse. The appointments were cleared by the board of directors and have been also cleared by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). In October 2013, SEBI had also renewed the license of the exchange after extensively examining the same. FDI Inflows into the Service Sector Declined by 47.5 Percent As per the data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows into the service sector declined by 47.5 percent to 1.19 billion US dollars during the April-August 2013 period. The service sector, which includes banking, insurance, outsourcing, R&D, courier

_________________________________________________________________________________
Crack any exam easily with TCY Analytics at TCYonline.com

Top Careers & You

General Knowledge
GK Notes - November

and technology testing, had received FDI (foreign direct investment) worth 2.28 billion US dollars in AprilAugust 2012 period. The service sector contributes over 60 percent to Indias GDP. In 2012-13, foreign investment in the segment declined to 4.83 billion US dollars from 5.21 billion US dollars in 2011-12.The other sectors where foreign inflows declined during the first five months of this fiscal as compared to the previous year include construction development (township and housing), power and metallurgical industries. On the whole, during the April-August 2013 period, FDI has increased by only 4 percent to 8.46 billion US dollars, from 8.16 billion US dollars in the same period last fiscal. India Successfully Launched its Maiden Mars Mission from Sriharikota India's premier space agency, ISRO, successfully launched its historic mission to Mars from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. It is Indias first mission to the Red Planet. The mission follows Indias successful 2008-2009 Chandrayaan-1 moon probe, which discovered water molecules in the lunar soil. The total cost of the Mars mission is 73 million US dollars. The satellite is scheduled to reach the Mars orbit in September 2014 and is designed to circle the Red Planet in an elliptical orbit of 366 km x 80000 km. Sunita Sharma Appointed as the MD and CEO of the LIC Housing Finance Sunita Sharma was appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of LIC Housing Finance. She is the first women MD and CEO of the company since its inception in 1989. She succeeded V. K. Sharma who was elevated to the post of Managing Director of LIC. Before being elevated to the MD and CEO of the LIC Housing Finance, Sunita Sharma was executive director of investments at LIC. She has 30 years experience in insurance field. Union Cabinet Approved the Visa Waiver Agreements with Poland, Slovenia and Lithuania The Union Cabinet approved the visa waiver agreements with Poland, Slovenia and Lithuania. This move will help the Indians with diplomatic passports to visit the three countries. The agreements would be signed very soon. The CCEA (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs) cleared a proposal to disinvest 17 percent of paid up capital for Follow on Public Offering (FPO) of the state owned power grid corporation of India. As per the Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, 13 percent of fresh equity by the Public Sector Company and 4 percent stake sale by the government includes under the FPO. A similar agreement was cleared with Cuba in first week of November 2013. By now India has similar agreements with about 50 countries that include Japan, Russia and Israel. Agni-1 Missile Test Fired from Wheeler Island off Odisha Coast India successfully test fired the indigenous Agni-1 missile from Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. The user trial of the 12 tonnes bomb was conducted from Chandipur in Balasore district of Odisha. Agni-1 can travel a distance of 700 kilometers. The 15 metre long missile can carry a payload of 1000 kilograms. It has a specialised navigation system that ensures it to reach the target with a high degree of accuracy and precision.

_________________________________________________________________________________
Crack any exam easily with TCY Analytics at TCYonline.com