DAILY GK UPDATE - 2nd April

1.    Election Commission allows RBI to issue new bank licences

i. With the Election Commission giving the green signal, the central board of directors of the RBI is expected to clear the list of companies eligible to get a bank licence at its meeting on Wednesday.

ii. The decks for the crucial meeting were cleared after the Election Commission Tuesday allowed the central bank to proceed with granting the licences, the first such exercise in more than a decade.

iii. The Bimal Jalan committee has already completed the process of selecting applicants for issues of new banking licenses expected to be announced by March 31.

iv. The Reserve bank of India (RBI) aims to boost these industry statistics via issuance of new banking licenses, especially financial inclusion statistics. While this step would improve the assets to GDP and credit to GDP ratio, whether financial inclusion would be achieved is debatable.

v. Permission to set up new banks in the sector dominated by PSU banks is considered one of the most significant reforms in the sector. 

vi. Allowing corporate houses to set up banks for the first time after a bulk of the sector was nationalised in 1969 has been quite a controversial step. The plan for new bank licences was announced in the budget for FY2011 but took time to flesh out.

2.    RBI adopts new CPI as key measure of inflation

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Raghuram Rajan, on Tuesday, said that the central bank had adopted the new Consumer Price Index (CPI) (combined) as the key measure of inflation.

ii. Earlier, RBI had given more weightage to Wholesale Price Index (WPI) than CPI as the key measure of inflation for all policy purposes.

iii. Some recommendations of Urjit R. Patel Committee report have been implemented, including adoption of the new CPI (combined) as the key measure of inflation.

iv. This also includes explicit recognition of the glide path for disinflation, transition to a bi-monthly monetary policy cycle, progressive reduction in access to overnight liquidity at the fixed repo rate, and a corresponding increase in access to liquidity through term repos, and introduction of longer-tenor term repos as well as, going forward, term reverse repos.

3.    Economy can grow at 6.5% in FY15: CII chief

i. India can achieve 6.5 per cent economic growth, provided systemic reforms are carried out quickly by the new Government, said Ajay S Shriram, President of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

ii. With slowing growth and high inflation adversely impacting employment, the CII will urge the next Government to focus on reviving growth and generating new jobs.

iii. The industry chamber also outlined its key priorities for the coming year. It plans to focus on 10 areas � education, skills, economic growth, manufacturing sector growth, investments, ease of doing business, export competitiveness, legal and regulatory architecture, labour law reforms and entrepreneurship.

4.    Fiscal deficit likely to be within 5.1% in FY14: Citi

i. India�s fiscal deficit for 2013�14 fiscal is likely to be in the range of 5 � 5.1 per cent of the GDP, global financial major Citigroup said today.

ii.While the April�February deficit is pegged at 5.3 per cent of GDP, the final print may be a tad lower due to revenue push and expenditure cuts seen in March, the last month of 2013�14 fiscal year, it said

iii. The official data showed yesterday that the fiscal deficit widened to Rs 5,99,299 crore in the April�February period of FY14, or 114.3 per cent of the target.

iv. The Citigroup report further said that although the government may not fully achieve its FY14 divestment targets, the recent stake sale in SUUTI holdings (Axis bank Rs 5500 crore) and successful introduction of CPSE ETF (about Rs 4200 crore) augurs well for subsequent years.

5.    World Bank to double lending to India, China, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia

i. Jim Yong Kim, the President of World Bank on 1 March 2014 announced that the bank would nearly double its lending capacity to boost support for middle countries like India, Brazil, China, Mexico and Indonesia.

ii. The announcement was made at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington because the bank thinks that these countries would provide an insight to poorer countries in solving their problems like poverty. 

iii. In the announcement, Jim Yong Kim said that these five countries will benefit by being able to borrow another 2.5 billion dollars a year over and above their current limits. He also said that this increase in lending capacity will boost annual lending to middle income countries from the current 15 billion dollars a year to 26-28 billion dollars.

About World Bank Group and its work
i. The World Bank is a financial and technical assistance institution for developing counties around the world. It has set two goals to achieve by 2030 and they are 
ii. End extreme poverty by decreasing the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day to no more than 3 percent 
iii. Promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40% for every country

iv. The World Bank was established in 1944 and at present have more than 120 offices worldwide.
v. World Bank is headquartered in Washington DC
vi, Jim Yong Kim became the 12th president of the World Bank Group on 1 July 2012

6.    RBI capped WMA limit for central government at 35000 crore rupees for 2015 first half

i. RBI in consultation with Union Government on 1 April 2014 capped the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) limits for the first half of the new financial year 2014-15 (April 2014-Sep 2014) at 35000 crore rupees.  

ii. This notification of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is aimed at triggering fresh flotation of market loans when the government utilises 75 percent of the WMA limit. The second half of the limit would be fixed in September 2014.

iii. Under the notification of the WMA limit, the Reserve Bank had retained the flexibility for revision of the limits at any time in consultation of the government. The flexibility would be used in consideration of the prevailing circumstances. 

iv. As per the notification, the government will have to maintain a minimum balance of not less than 100 crore rupees with RBI on Fridays, on the date of closure of government�s financial year and on 30 June i.e. the closure of the annual accounts of the RBI and not less than 10 crore rupees on other days. s

7.    Japan announced 15000 crore loan for 5 Indian Projects

i. Japan announced Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan for more than 15000 crore rupees for 5 Indian Projects on 31 March 2014. This is the largest amount in the history of the ODA loans ever signed in the single occasion.

ii. The loan agreement was signed by Rajesh Khullar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the Union Finance Ministry and Takeshi Yagi, ambassador of Japan to India.

iii. Indian Projects covered under loan are: New and Renewable energy development Project, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Energy Saving Project, Haryana Distribution System Upgradation Project, Delhi Mass Rapid Transport System Project. iv.

8.    India increased the scholarships for Omani Students

i. India increased the scholarships for Omani student from 125 to 150 on 1 April 2014. The scholarships were increased under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. Since the first issuance of 50 scholarships to Omani students in 2011-12 to 150, the increase has been of 200 percent.

ii. India increased the scholarships for Omani student from 125 to 150 on 1 April 2014. The scholarships were increased under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. Since the first issuance of 50 scholarships to Omani students in 2011-12 to 150, the increase has been of 200 percent.

iii. India increased the scholarships for Omani student from 125 to 150 on 1 April 2014. The scholarships were increased under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. Since the first issuance of 50 scholarships to Omani students in 2011-12 to 150, the increase has been of 200 percent.

9.    PM of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov resigns

i. Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov has resigned today. It has been accepted by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Akhmetov was appointed Prime Minister in September 2012.

10.  India claim number one spot in ICC rankings

i. Riding on their superb unbeaten run in the World Twenty20 Championships so far, the Indian cricket team toppled Sri Lanka to clinch the top spot in the ICC rankings issued today

ii. �India has moved ahead of Sri Lanka into the number-one position on the Reliance ICC T20I Team Rankings Table,� the ICC said in a statement.

iii. India gained seven ratings points after remaining unbeaten in their group engagements in Bangladesh to finish on 130, bringing them on par with Sri Lanka.

11.  Viswanathan Anand raises to No. 3 in FIDE world chess rankings

i. Viswanathan Anand ranked World number 3 in the rating list released by FIDE on 1 April 2014. Anand with the Victory at the Candidates Tournament held in Russia in March 2014 has moved five places ahead from 8 to 3 with 2785 Elo points.

ii. According the rating list, Magnus Carlsen of Norway with Elo points 2881 ranks no 1 and Levon Aronian of America with 2812 ranks 2.

Indians in the rating list
� P Harikrishna ranks 25 with 2726 points 
� K Sasikiran ranks 66 with 2680 points

About FIDE
World Chess Federation (Federation Internationale des Echecs knon as FIDE from its French acronym) founded in Paris 1924. It was recognized by the International Olympic Committee as International Sports Federation in 1999.