DAILY GK UPDATE - 10 - 11th April

1.    WB projected economic growth rate of 5.7% for India in 2014-15 fiscal

i. The World Bank on 9 April 2014 projected that the economic growth rate of India for the fiscal year 2014-2015 will be 5.7 percent.

ii. In its forecast the World Bank said that the growth would be backed on the more competitive exchange rate and many large investments going forward. 

iii. World Bank in its latest edition of South Asia Economic Focus has said that the Indian conditions would be bolstered by the permanently more competitive exchange rate and progress towards clearance of important investment projects; India may see an acceleration of growth (factor costs) in financial year 2013-14 to 4.8 percent further increase to 5.7 percent during fiscal year 2014-15.

iv. Apart from this, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its release has also forecasted that the Indian economy would recover from 4.4 percent growth in 2013 to 5.4 percent in 2014. 

2.    Viktor Orban re-elected as Prime Minister of Hungary

i. Viktor Orban was re-elected as Prime Minister of Hungary for the second consecutive four-year term. The results of general elections were announced on 8 April 2014. The General parliamentary elections were held on 6 April 2014.

ii. Out of the total votes casted, Orban's Fidesz party won 133 of 199 parliament seats. The left alliance which was led by Attila Mesterhazy won 38 seats while the far-right Jobbik party won 23 seats.

iii. Orban was first elected as the PM of Hungary in 1998 and for the second time in 2010. His re-election for the second consecutive term does not augur well for the already strained relationship between European Union (EU) and Hungary. 

3.    Gavaskar appoints HDFC chairman as his special advisor for 7th edition of IPL

i. The Interim President of BCCI-IPL Sunil Gavaskar today appointed Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) chairman Deepak Parekh as his special advisor for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League.

ii. Parekh will be a special invitee during the IPL governing council meeting as his vast expertise in financial affairs will enable Gavaskar to ensure smooth functioning of IPL affairs for the next two months.

iii. Former India opener Gavaskar was appointed the interim president of the BCCI-IPL following a direction from Supreme Court as N Srinivasan was asked to step aside from his post pending the completion of the IPL spot-fixing enquiry.

4.    State Bank mops up record $1.25bn in overseas bond sale

i. Nation’s largest lender State Bank of India has mopped up $1.25 billion in overseas debt sale through a dual tranche bond programme, making it the largest ever offering from a domestic issuer.

ii. The bank raised $750 million in 5-year money at US treasury interest rate plus 205 basis points, while it priced the 10-year $500 million issue at 225 bps over the treasury, one of the merchant bankers .

iii. SBI has broken the record set by Oil India earlier this week by raising 25 per cent more than the oil explorer.

iv. The SBI issue is also cheaper than OIL issue as the oil PSU had priced the five-year of $500-million at US treasury rate plus 222.5 bps, and the 10-year money of the same size at treasury plus 272.5 bps.

v. On Tuesday, Oil India had raised $1 billion from a dual tranche issue, making it the single largest dual tranche Reg S issue from the country by then.

5.    Infosys on the hunt for new CEO

i. Infosys said it has begun the search process to select a successor to its Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director S.D. Shibulal.

ii. In a statement, the company said, “The Nominations Committee of the company’s Board of Directors has begun the search to select the successor to Mr. S.D. Shibulal, CEO and MD.”

iii. It added that Mr. Shibulal has expressed his desire to retire as the CEO and MD of the company and as a member of the Board of Directors either on the date of the last board meeting before his superannuation - January 9, 2015 - or when his successor is ready to assume office, whichever date is earlier.

iv. Till now, the CEO position at the company has been held by it co-founder - starting with N.R. Narayana Murthy, followed by Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan and now Shibulal. Once the selection is made, it will be the first time that a non-founder will occupy the post.

6.    Deadly ‘Heartbleed’ virus arrives in Indian cyberspace

i. Indian cyber security sleuths have alerted Internet users against a “highly severe” virus named ‘Heartbleed’, which has set alarm bells ringing across the globe for fear of exposing millions of passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive information to hackers.

ii. The virus prowling in the domestic arena, authorities said, attacks the openSSL of an online system which is the most essential protocol which encrypts information and data transfer over the Internet.

iii. The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In), the nodal agency to combat hacking, phishing and to fortify security-related defences of the country’s Internet domain, fears it could compromise personal data and passwords of a user.

iv. The virus, with derives its name from a ‘bleeding red heart’ motif, has made a number of countries sit up and take notice of its destructive and threatening activities over the last few days.

v. Two days back, Canada’s tax agency had said that it has temporarily cut-off public access to its electronic filling services just three weeks before the tax deadline because of security concerns over the “Heartbleed bug”.

7.    Bandhan Financial starts training its staff for role change

i. With the banking licence in its kitty, microfinance institution Bandhan Financial Services is gearing up to groom its 13,000-odd employees to become bankers.

ii. The non-banking micro-lending firm plans to train around 1,500 employees every month under the guidance of 30 trainers at its 8 centres, said Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Chairman and Managing Director.

Huge customer base

i. The company has three training centres in West Bengal and one each in Assam, Agartala, Bihar, Delhi and Maharashtra.

ii. Largely concentrated in the interiors, Bandhan aims to strengthen its base and convert its existing 55 lakh customer base into its banking clients. The Kolkata-based micro lender, along with Mumbai-based infrastructure lending firm IDFC, received teh Reserve Bank of India's “in-principle” approval to set up a bank last week.

Note: The RBI has given 18 months to both the entities to comply with the requirements .

8.    RBI to banks: Follow norms on sale/ purchase of real estate overseas

i. The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday said banks should ensure that all future transactions relating to purchase/sale of real estate as well as acquiring /letting out property on lease/rental basis at overseas centres are undertaken in accordance with the board-approved policy.

ii. This directive has been issued after it came to the central bank’s notice that some Indian banks have committed certain lapses in purchase/sale of real estate as well as in acquiring/ letting out property on lease/rental basis abroad.

iii. “In order to avoid such lapses in future it is advised that boards of directors of banks should lay down policies and formulate detailed operational guidelines to protect the interest of their respective banks.

iv. While undertaking transactions in the nature of sale and purchase of property and acquiring/letting out property on lease/rental basis at overseas centres, banks should also ensure that they comply with all the applicable laws of the host country /city or locality.

9.    Ratan Tata gets one of Britain's highest awards

i. Ratan Tata, former chairman of the Tata Group that has a large presence in Britain, is to be honoured by Queen Elizabeth with a GBE (Knight Grand Cross), which is one of the highest civilian honours in Britain, it was announced on Thursday.

ii. Tata, who was honoured with a KBE (Knight Commander) in 2009, is to be honoured during this year for his “services to UK/India relations, inward investment to the UK and philanthropy”.

iii. Tata is one of five foreign nationals to be honoured by Queen Elizabeth during 2014.
 iv. The Tata Group employs nearly 60,000 people in the UK, making it one of the largest employers in the country. Tatas’ long-standing engagement with Britain spans various sectors, including philanthropy and academia.

10.  Ratan Tata appointed member of China-backed Board of Boao Forum for Asia

i. Ratan Tata on 10 April 2014 was appointed as a member of the Board of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA).

ii. The post is a rare distinction for an Indian in the Chinese government-backed influential body.

iii. Ratan Tata is one of the 15 members of the Board of BFA.

iv. The other influential personalities includes former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badwai, former Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and former Prime Minister of France Jean-Pierre Raffarin besides former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) is an ordinary member of the forum.

v. The appointment of Ratan Tata to the board of the BFA is seen as part of China's efforts to push closer ties with India.

vi. BFA was formed in 2001 on the lines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It has its fixed address in Bo'ao in Hainan province of China, although the Secretariat is based in Beijing.

11.  Stuart Parkin won Millennium Technology Prize 2014

i. British-American physicist Stuart Parkin won Millennium Technology Prize 2014 for discoveries leading to a thousand-fold increase in digital data storage on magnetic disks.

ii. The Prize is worth of 1 million euro and it was announced by the Technology Academy Finland in Finland on 9 April 2014.

iii. His discoveries facilitated the cloud services and online distribution of social networks, music and film.

About Millennium technology Prize
i. The Millennium Technology Prize was initiated in 2004 by the Technology Academy Finland. It is biennial award given for technological innovations that significantly improve the quality of people’s lives.

ii. Shuji Nakamura of Japan for laser research and Time Berners-Lee for the World Wide Web were the previous winners.

12.  Sachin became 1st Indian cricketer on cover page of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack

i. The 151st edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack published on 9 April 2014 carries a picture of Sachin Tendulkar on its cover page.

ii. With this Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian cricketer, who retired from International cricket in November 2013 and ended his glorious 24-year long career, became the 1st Indian cricketer to be featured on the cover page of the Almanack. 

iii. The yellow page of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack had shown Tendulkar walking out of the Wankhede stadium after completing his last innings against the West Indies in November 2013.

iv. The captured photograph had shown Tendulkar acknowledging the crowd with his bat raised. 

v. The 2014 edition of Wisden Cricketers was published in London. Lawrence Booth is the editor of the edition that carried Sachin on the cover page.

About the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
 

The British-based Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack for the first time was published in 1864 and since then it is being published annually. It is termed as the Bible of Cricket and for the first time the term was used by Alec Waugh in the 1930s in a review for the London Mercury.

  

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