1. _____________________ Finance Commission (FCC) headed by NK Singh constituted Advisory Council to advise Commission on issue or subject related to Terms of Reference (ToR) to quell (control) strong opposition from some states over 2011 census. It will also help commission in broadening its ambit and understanding to seek best national and international practices on matters pertaining to fiscal devolution ?
2. As major relief to budding entrepreneurs, government allowed startups to avail tax concession only if total investment including funding from angel investors does not exceed INR Rs _________________ crores. Also, An angel investor picking up stakes in a startup should have minimum net worth of 2 crore or should have an average returned income of over Rs 25 lakh in preceding 3 financial years
3. As per Ministry of Finance, Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collected in month of April 2018 was INR 1.034 Lakh crores, consisting ___________________ (IGST) of 50548 crores as Biggest Component (Others are Central GST, State GST and cess). April 2018 is first ever month in which GST collection surpassed 1 lakh crore mark.
4. _______________ (APY) Scheme’s subscriber crossed 1 Crore on completion of 3 years of Its launch (May 9, 2015), With current number of subscribers standing at 1.10 Crores.
- APY is a guaranteed Pension Scheme that focuses on unorganised sector workers which constitute more than 85% of workforce. Under It APY, guaranteed pension of 1000 - 5000 will be given at the age of 60 years depending on contribution by subscribers.
- The Scheme has generated around 9.10 % CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) since its inception till March 2018.
5. BSE Ltd (earlier known as ___________________) became first Indian exchange to be designated as Designated Offshore Securities Market (DOSM) by US Securities and Exchange Commission (US-SEC). It will allow sale of securities to US investors through trading venue of BSE without registration of such securities with US SEC. It will ease trades by US investors in India and also enhance attractiveness of Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs) amongst US investors.
6. ___________________ signed agreement with CDSL Commodity Repository (CCRL), for pledge finance under repository ecosystem for accredited warehouses. It will boost confidence among bankers and other stakeholders like depositors and warehouse service providers. It becomes first public sector bank to become the repository participant.
7. CBDT notified A Protocol to amend existing __________________ (DTAA) between India and Kuwait, for avoidance of double taxation and for prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.
8. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) released all ________________ e-filling forms for taxpayers, For e-filling of the taxpayers for assessment year 2018-19. New ITR forms require the salaried taxpayers to break down their salary and for businessmen to provide their GST number and turnover.
- ITR-1 is called ‘Sahaj’ and is for the salaried person earning upto Rs. 50 lakh. 3 crore taxpayers used this file for previous year.
- ITR-2 is for the individuals and ‘HUF’ (Hindu Undivided Families) having income from profits and gains in business including NRIs.
- ITR-3and ITR-4 can be filled by HUFs having income under head business and profession.
- An individual of 80 years and above or any HUF or whose income is Rs. 5 lakh and less can file for returns in ITR-1 and ITR-4.
9. Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 4th quarter (January-March) Q4 of 2017-18 for FY 2017-18 -
- GDP (at 2011-12 prices) in fourth quarter (Q4) registered growth rate of _________________________, compared to 5.6, 6.3 and 7.0 % respectively in first three quarters of 2017-18. Good Growth in agriculture, manufacturing and construction sectors (11.5%) contributed to overall growth.
- GDP at constant (2011-12) prices for 2017-18 is estimated at 130.11 lakh crores, showing growth rate of 6.7 % over 2016-17.
- At sectoral level, growth rate of GVA at constant (2011-12) prices in Q4 for agriculture & allied sectors, industry and services sectors are estimated at 4.5 %, 8.8 %, and 7.7 %.
- Per capita income (at 2011-12 prices) during 2017-18 is estimated to eb INR 86668, compared to INR 82229 for 2016-17 (growth of 5.4 %).
- GDP at current prices for 2017-18 is estimated at 167.73 lakh crores, growth rate of 10.0 % over 2016-17.
10. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) approved Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of _________________ based Telenor India. Bharti Airtel will buy Telenor India in a no-cash deal and will take over its outstanding spectrum payments of Rs 1650 crores.
11. Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO)’s approved _________________ interest on PF for 2017-18, lowest since 2012-13. It provided 8.5%in 2016-17, 8.8% in 2015-16 and 8.75% in 2013-14 & 2014-15. This will be applied to all 120 offices of EPFO and all 5 crore subscribers.
- EPFO also decided to cut Administrative Charges by 15 Basis Points to .5% (from .65%), enabling over 5 lakh employers to save about Rs. 900 crore annually.
12. FIH Mobile, subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group (leading global contract manufacturing giant), written off an additional $40 million of its $200 million investment in online marketplace _________________.
13. ________________ will launch Whatsapp Pay, a payment service for its whatsapp platform. It will be partnering with HDFC , AXIS, ICICI and SBI banks.
14. Financial Firm ______________ acquired Chennai-based online ticketing platform TicketNew, owned by Orbgen Technologies, for approx $40 million.
15. Financial services platform MobiKwik launched Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on its platform via its own Virtual payment address (VPA) handle _______________.
16. _________________ Payments Bank launched severral digital products, in addition to mobile banking app BPay launched in 2017. New initiatives include Unified Payments Interface (UPI), net banking, easy digi savings account and FasTag for making digital payments at toll plazas.
17. GST Council approved simplified return filing process, Including measures like -
- One monthly Return.
- Unidirectional Flow of invoices - Seller needs to upload unidirectional flow of invoices anytime during month. This would be valid document to avail input tax credit by buyer.
- Simple Return design and easy IT interface.
- No automatic reversal of credit - There will not be any automatic reversal of input tax credit from buyer’s side on non-payment of tax by seller.
- Due process for recovery and reversal will be carried out through a due process of issuing notice and order.
- Transition - There will be a three stage transition in the new system.
- Stage I will be the present system of filing of return GSTR 3B and GSTR 1. GSTR 2 and GSTR 3 shall continue to remain suspended.
- In stage 2, new return will have facility to upload invoice-wise data and also for claiming input tax credit on self declaration basis.
- Content of return and implementation - Return will be simplified by reducing amount of information required to be filled.
- GST Council also approved to make GST Network (GSTN) a government body, with Govt. acquiring _________________________ stake, up from 49 % Currently.
18. Government raised customs duty on wheat from 20 % to _______________, to curb cheaper imports and protect domestic growers. Import duty on walnut shell has also been increased from 30 % to 100 %. ?
19. Government reconstituted Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) to include secretaries from revenue department AND Ministry of Information Technology (MeitY) and Chairman of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Currently ______________). It will make FSDC more broad-based to incorporate changes in economic regulatory framework.
20. Government’s Bank Note Paper Mill India (BNPM) received environment clearance (EC) from Environment Ministry to increase production of bank note paper from 12,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) to 16,000 TPA at its Mysuru unit in _________________ ?
21. ____________________ launched Digital Loans against Mutual Funds, in partnership with transfer agaent CAMS. It aims to reach out to customers in tier 2 and 3 markets and bring them into the digital lending fold and reducing time for availability of loan through mutual funds. Ticket size of the loans will range from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore at an interest rate of 10.5 -11%.
22. __________ launched its innovation lab for digital business, headed by Rohan Angrish. It aims to create technology from scratch and help better digital business. The innovation fund for this project with partnered concerns is INR 100 crores.
23. IIM-______________________’s Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) launched Bharat Inclusion Initiative to build knowledge and foster innovation and entrepreneurial activity across areas such as financial inclusion, livelihood, education and health. It will aim at channelizing $25 million over 3-4 years ?
24. India signed ______________________ million loan agreement with World Bank to provide additional financing for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) Rural Roads Project. Govt. will build 7,000 km of climate resilient roads, out of which 3,500 km will be constructed using green technologies.
25. India signed a loan agreement worth ______________________ million with World Bank for National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan), to help reduce stunting in children 0-6 years of age from 38.4% to 25% by 2022. POSHAN (PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment) Abhiyaan was launched by PM Modi on 8th March 2018 at Jhunjhunu (Rajasthan).
26. India signed a loan agreement worth USD 21.7 Million with World Bank's IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) for Strengthening of Public Financial Management in __________________.
27. Indian GDP Growth Forecasts (May 2018) -
- According to Fitch group company BMI Research, Indian GDP Growth will be 7.3% in FY 2018-19.
- As per Harvard University (__________________________), India will be fastest growing economy for coming decade and will grow at 7.9% annually, ahead of China & US.
- Asian Development Bank Projected India's Growth Rate to be 7.3 % in 2018 & 7.6 % in next Fiscal, higher than 6.6 % in 2017.
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Asia and Pacific Regional Economic Outlook report stated that India will be fastest-growing economy in 2018 with growth rate of 7.4%. It will rise to 7.8% in 2019. Report also said that China and India contribute 45% to global growth.
- According to UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP), India’s economy is projected to grow 7.6% in 2018-19.
- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) expects India’s economy to grow at 7.3-7.7 % in 2018-19.
- Moody’s Investors Service report predicted India’s GDP growth forecast for 2018-19 at 7.3% and 7.5% for 2019-20.
28. Indian IT Firm Infosys acqured WongDoody Holding Company, a US-based digital creative and consumer insights agency, for ______________________ million.
29. Indian Oil Corporation emerged as India's most profitable state-owned company for 2nd consecutive year, with profit of INR 21346 crores in 2017-18, followed by ONGC (19945 crore). Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is most profitable company for 3rd straight year(INR _____________________ crores).
30. _____________________ will sell 8.26 % stake (from total 14 % stake) in Universal Sompo General Insurance.
31. ____________________ government decided to cut excise duty on fuel to effect a INR 1 per litre reduction in petrol and diesel prices, starting June 1. It is first state to slash taxes on fuel after recent huge rally in prices.
32. ___________________ is first south Indian state to be visited by 15th Finance Commission, headed by N K Singh. It will assess state's finances and progress made in socio-economic field and other developmental factors.
33. ______________________ launched Free Intraday Trading, to allow traders to do intra-day trading without paying any brokerage per trade. Intraday trading refers to buying and selling a security on same day.
34. Manila (________________________) based Asian Development Bank approved $375 million loan to improve irrigation in Madhya Pradesh and help increase farmer’s income. Total cost is $535.1 million and rest $160.71 million will be given by government. Estimated time of completion is September 2025, doubling irrigated to 2 million hectares land by 2025.
35. Ministry of Commerce and Industry created _________________________ (DGTR) in Department of Commerce, by amending Allocation of Business Rules 1961.
- DGTR will be apex authority for administering trade remedial measures including anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguard measures. It will merge Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied duties (DGAD) AND Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS).
- It will provide trade defence support to our domestic industry and exporters in dealing with increasing instances of trade remedy investigations instituted against them by other countries. Creation of DGTR will result in savings of 49 posts to Government on account of merging DGAD and DGS. Thus, its establishment will be in line with Government’s goal of “Minimum Government Maximum Governance.
36. Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX) launched India’s first copper options contracts, to provide physical market participants additional instrument to hedge their price risk. It has lot size of ___________________ tonne in three contracts expiring in June, August and November 2018.
- Copper is third-most-consumed industrial metal, after iron and aluminium. In last few years, refined copper demand has surged in sectors like electrical, electronic products and industrial machinery.
- Copper ore production in India was 3846 thousand tonnes in 2016-17 and demand for refined copper was 820 thousand tonnes in FY16.
- Options give buyer right to buy or sell an underlined at present price on a future date. They are of two types: puts (right to sell) and calls (right to buy). Options are a better hedging instrument as compared to futures for hedgers.
- Copper options contracts will be optimal tool for stakeholders to mitigate price risk in copper, giving copper industry greater flexibility to take on price risk.
37. NMDC and NLC India will invest over USD 26 million for setting up an R&D facility for developing innovative technologies in iron and steel making. Australian Securities Exchange, India's Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and NMDC will sign Master Project Agreement (MPA) with ECT to establish world's first Australian-designed Coldry and Matmor plant in ________________.
38. National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) sanctioned INR 5000 crores for __________________ government farm loan waiver, To help waiver loans of small and marginal farmers.
39. National Stock Echange (NSE) approved ____________________ to be empanelled as‘Settlement Bank’ for National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC). It is already empanelled as a ‘Clearing Bank’ for BSE, NCDEX, MCX. Bank now will provide different services to members, including Settlement and Clearing, electronic fund transfer and ‘anywhere’ banking and free of cost fund transfer across all centres of NSE’s members.
40. ____________ Payments Bank launched a program named AshaKiran aimed at educating rural women about financial services. ?
41. Punjab National Bank reported net loss of Rs ______________________ crores for Q4 quarter ending March 2018, as Biggest ever quarterly loss for any bank in Indian Banking History. It has been mainly due to provisions towards bad loans, and being badly hit by Nirav Modi led scam that has cost PNB INR 14357 crores, through unauthorised letters of undertaking and domestic loans.
- India's Biggest Bank State Bank of India (SBI) also reported record losses of INR 7718 crores in January-March quarter, mainly due to higher provisions for bad loans. All public sector banks have posted huge losses for concerned period due to NPA issues.
42. ________ Updates -
- Imposed penalty of INR 5 crores on South Indian Bank (SIB) for non-compliance with its directions on Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms, Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and treasury function.
- Modified norms (that were set up in 2015) for setting up International Financial Services Centres (IFSC) Banking Units (IBUs) by banks in IFSCs, applicable to IBUs set up in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) and other IFSCs to be set up in India.
- It has been mandated for parent bank to maintain at all times minimum capital of US $ 20 million to its IBU.
- Parent bank will be also required to provide Letter of Comfort for extending financial assistance, in form of capital support to IBU.
- Released final guidelines prescribing 100 % net stable funding ratio (NSFR) for banks aimed at maintaining adequate liquidity for more resilience.
- NSFR is a long-term liquidity measurement included in Basel III liquidity standards. It is amount of available stable funding (ASF) relative to amount of required stable funding (RSF).
- 100 % NSFR guideline requires banks to fund their activities with more stable sources of funding on an ongoing basis.
- NSFR would be applicable for Indian banks at stand-alone as well as consolidated level. For foreign banks operating as branches in India, the framework would be applicable on stand-alone basis (i.e., for Indian operations only).
- Announced to buy 10000 crores INR of government bonds via open market operation (OMO), after failing to sell all debt it had offered to bidders, yielding 7.75%. Participants should submit their offers on RBI Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system.
- Has put Govt Owned Dena Bank under prompt corrective action (PCA) framework, barring Dena Bank from extending loans, due to mounting non-performing assets (NPAs) and losses. Dena Bank is 12th Govt. Owned bank to face PCA action by RBI.
- Instructed Pune based Rupee Co-op Bank of Pune to continue its banking services, under Restrictions that were first imposed on February 22 ,2103 to August 2013 and that was extended 8 times till May 2018.
- Directed banks authorised to deal in foreign exchange (Authorised Dealer-I Banks) to share data with Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). This requires a banking company to furnish information relating to foreign exchange transactions made or received by any person to receiving authority (DRI). DRI is top investigative agency for issues related to violation of Customs Act.
43. Reliance Industries received environment clearance for expansion of its petrochemical complex at Nagothane in Raigad district of __________________, at cost approx 2338 crores.
44. Retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) launched View Pension PassbookService for pensioners on Umang App (___________________), to allow them view their pension passbook on mobile phones.
45. SEBI issued detailed framework for Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation of __________________________ (FPIs). SEBI also stated that non-resident Indians (NRIs), overseas citizens of India (OCI) cannot be beneficial owners of FPIs, they can only obtain an FPI licence on condition that they limit their roles to investment advisors and do not invest their money.
46. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and Common Service Centres (CSC) Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) signed MoU for providing financial support ________________ (VLEs) in CSCs. SIDBI will extend financial support to VLEs of CSCs, with minimum one year of operation, under its Direct Financing Window.
- CSC SPV will approve list of VLEs, within 25 km distance of SIDBI Branch Offices. Maximum project outlay must be 3.50 lakh and term loan requirement not exceeding 2 lakh per project.
47. _____________________ became first Indian company to reach 7 lakh crores INR market capitalisation. It is followed by Reliance Industries (5.8 Lakh crores), HDFC Bank (5.2 Lakh crores), HUL (3.4 Lakh crores) and ITC (3.3 Lakh crores).
48. Tata Steel's subsidiary Bamnipal Steel Ltd (BNPL) acquired 72.65 % stake in Bhushan Steel Ltd (BSL) for Approx INR ________________________ crores. It will help banks recover NPAs amounting to over 36,000 crores. Tata Steel acquired 79 crore share at Rs 2 each. It was finalised under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 (IBC).
49. US retail giant Walmart accquired ______________________ stake in India’s largest online retailer Flipkart for $16 billion. It will be India’s largest acquisition and world’s biggest purchase of an ecommerce company.
- It will include $2 billion of fresh investment, pegging value of Flipkart at $22 billion.
- Flipkart cofounder Sachin Bansal exits with approx INR 7000 Crores Cash, while other cofounder Binny Bansal will remain on board.
50. _______________ has launched E-catering facility on 23 major stations, to enable passengers to pick a food item from wide range of menu from wide range of restaurants and food chains.
51. World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) extended ______________________ mn loan to EESL to scale up energy efficiency program (2 loans for $220 million and 1 for $80 million).
- India Aims to avoid lifetime greenhouse emissions of 170 million tonnes of CO2 and 10GW of additional generation capacity. This would be over 50 percent of the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency target of 19.6 GW.
52. ______________________ will roll out a capacity building project with farmers in Haryana and Rajasthan under its ‘Livelihood and Water Security’ CSR initiative, aiming at sustainable agricultural practices and digital literacy.
53. _______________ launched Agenda 25×25, a framework aimed at creating a synergetic startup environment for budding women entrepreneurs in India. Agenda 25X25 is geared towards ensuring that by 2025, at least 25% of all entrepreneurs in India are women.