GENERAL AWARENESS for IBPS PO -2016

----------------------------------

· Rebooting India (Penguin), by Nandan Nilekani , co-authored with Viral Shah.

India is 4^th largest user of cash in the world. In the period 2010-11, the RBI spent nearly Rs 24 billion on printing money, and an additional Rs 455 million on distributing that money nationwide. .

· The End of Money – by journalist David Wolman.

NO country in the world is fully cash less however Belgium has the highest proportion of cashless transactions in the world with 93 percent cashless transactions, followed by France -92 %, Canada 90, UK 89, Sweden-89, Australia 86, Netherlands 85, US 80, Germany 76, South Korea 70, INDIA- 40%

· No full stops in India - latest book by Mark tully former bureau chief of BBC India.

· Cashless methods in India . Cheques, IMPS, UPI(Unified Payment interface) , Mobile Banking, M-wallet, PPI(Pre Paid Instruments), EFT/NEFT, Debit card, Credit cards, RTGS.

· Earlier demonitisations - The first was when Rs1,000, Rs5,000, and Rs10,000 notes were taken out of circulation in January 1946(Before independence). All three notes were reintroduced in 1954. Then under the prime ministership of Morarji Desai The High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Act, on Jan. 16, 1978, deemed the Rs1,000, Rs5,000 and Rs10,000 notes illegal for the second time.

· Prime minister laid the foundation stone of Goa Greenfield (new) international airport on 13.Nov 2016. Minister of civil aviation – P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister of state civil aviation, Jayant sinha, Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar.

· EASE OF DOING BUSINESS RANKING – INDIA and INDIAN STATES

· India's rank in the recently released global Doing Business rankings was a lowly 130th, just one rank up from the previous year's 'revised' ranking of 131st. Prime Minister Modi is keen to ensure that India finds a place in the top 50 countries within a year or two.

· Andhra Pradesh and Telengana have jointly topped the 2016 all-India State/Union Territory-wise Ease of Doing Business rankings, while last-year's topper Gujarat slipped to the third spot. The Bank, along with the Centre's Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) was involved in the process of reviewing the evidence submitted by states/UTs regarding implementation of reforms for the rankings.

· 14^th Nov. World Diabetes day. And Children’s day.

· Impact of demonetization of notes in India – 1) The withdrawal of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes could bring down inflation as some money goes out of circulation, and pull down economic growth in the short term. 2) Bank deposits will increase (specially CASA), this will bring excess liquidity in the banking system and banks will be forced to bring down deposits as well as loan interest rates. 3) deflationary trend will help RBI to bring down Repo rate, we will head towards low interest economy. 4) Economic growth rate will come down in the short term 5) Some parts of the currency gets permanently immobilised as a result of demonetization means will never come back to the system. So RBI liability in respect of currency will come down. 6) Certain sector which had a role of black money like real estate, automobiles, jewellery etc. will be badly hit. 7) Tax compliance will improve, which will increase Govt’s revenue, hence govt. will have more money to expend. 8) counterfeit notes will be eliminated and terrorist activities will be severely hit. 9) It will pave the way for clean and fair elections. Role of black money in elections will be reduced significantly. 10) Big boost to cashless economy , digital payments, e-wallets and credit debit cards.

· Who has the authority to withdraw currency notes in India . Central govt. on the recommendation of Reserve bank of India can declare a currency or part of currency as not legal tender, under section 26(2) of RBI act. RBI can only recommend it. Public notice issued by RBI in leading news paper said “ Government of India vide their notification no. 2652 dated nov.8 2016 have with drawn the legal tender status of RS. 500 and 1000 denominations of bank notes of the mahatma Gandhi series issued by th Reserve Bank of India till Nov. 8 2016. Hence Authority rests with Govt. of India.

· Three main reasons cited for withdrawal of currency- 1) to tackle the menace of counterfeit currency 2) to nullify black money hoarded in cash. 3) To curb funding of terrorism through fake and black money.

· Features of 2000 and 500 new notes Mahatma Gandhi series - Mangalyaan on 2000 and red fort on 500 note. Color Magenta -2000 and stone grey -500. 7 angular bleed lines on 2000 and 5 angular bleed lines on 500 both sides. Swachcha bharat logo , Number small to bigger size. Security thread changing colors from green to blue when tilted.

· How American economy will affect India. – American economy has shown a revival trend for quite some time. Economic growth and activities has increased. Federal reserve is seriously contemplating interest rate increase (similar to repo rate in India) for quite some time. Under trump administration, public expenditure is expected to increase so more borrowing by the govt through bonds. Bonds yield has increased. More expenditure by govt means more money in the economy. This will increase economic activities and spur inflationary trend. Anticipating this, investors have already started withdrawing funds from emerging market countries including India . this outflow has brought the sensex down and rupee is weakening against dollar.

· What is bond yield. - A bond yield is the amount of return an investor realizes on a bond. A bond's current yield, also called "bond yield," is the interest it pays annually divided by the bond's price. When bonds prices in secondary market gets reduced either because of increase in interest rate in economy or possibility of increase in Govt. borrowing then bond yield increases . In America both these factors are at work.

· Currency in circulation in India. Currently Rs 17,54,000 crore worth of notes are in circulation according to the RBI’s database on the Indian economy. Of this Rs 500 notes constituted almost 45% of the currency in circulation while 39% of the notes were of the Rs 1,000 denomination. In value terms. Hence 86% of currency by value in India are of Rs 500 & Rs 1,000 denominations. According to the RBI press conference today, there are 16.5 billion ‘500-Rupee’notes and 6.7 billion ‘1000-rupee’ notes in circulation.

· S4A- Scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed asset. It is restructuring large ticket loans where the project is up and running. Here the lenders are required to separate a sustainable loan from an unsustainable loan. The bank would convert the unsustainable debt into equity or equity related instruments. What are the pre-conditions to be eligible for the scheme
The aggregate exposure of all lenders to the company should be more than Rs 500 crore.
The project should have commenced operations
An external consultant should endorse it as a viable project . How does RBI define sustainable debt?
Simply put, the portion of the loan that can be serviced through the existing cash flow is defined as sustainable debt. RBI has said that sustainable loan should be at least 50% or more of the unsustainable debt. The loan can be approved for S4A only if the Overseeing Committee endorses it.

· Prime minister Shri Narendra Modi visits japan . Prime minister of Japan Shinjo Abe. Highlights – 1) Civil nuclear agreement – India will get nuclear fuel and technology to start new civil nuclear energy projects. this deal makes India the first non-NPT signatory to ink a nuclear pact with Japan. India first conducted nuclear tests in 1974 which was code named 'Smiling Buddha'. A series of nuclear tests were conducted again in 1998 known as the Pokhran-II. The Indian PM, accompanied by Shinzo Abe, traveled to Kobe by the Shinkansen bullet train. The same technology will be deployed for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Railway.

GST . Union Govt proposes 4 GST slabs. The Union Govt has proposed a four-slab rate structure for the new indirect tax regime i.e. Goods & Services Tax (GST) ranging from 0 to 26 per cent. It was proposed at the meeting of the GST Council headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and included representatives from all states in New Delhi. The GST is proposed to be levied at 6% (lower rate), 12% (Standard 1 rate), 18% (Standard 2 rate) and 26% (Higher rates) on the goods and services. It will be 0% on host of goods and services, including food, health and education services, and 26% on luxury items, such as fast-moving consumer goods and consumer durables.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2016, for introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country was accorded assent by the President on 8^th September, 2016, As per Article 279A of the amended Constitution, the GST Council will be a joint forum of the Centre and the States. This Council shall consist of the following members namely: -

a) Union Finance Minister... Chairperson

b) The Union Minister of State, in-charge of Revenue of finance... Member

c) The Minister In-charge of finance or taxation or any other Minister nominated by each State Government... Members.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is chaired by the Union Finance Minister and has Minister of State in charge of revenue and state finance ministers as members.

Interestingly, every decision of the GST council needs to be taken with a three-fourth majority. While the central government’s vote will have a one-third weightage, the votes of all the state governments put together will have a two-third weightage, thus making a near-consensus between the centre and the states an imperative for any major decision. The GST will subsume most of the indirect taxes of the centre and the states including excise duty, service tax, value-added tax, entertainment tax, luxury tax and octroi.

· Typhoon Megi Hits Taiwan., BRICS to set up credit rating agency.

· India, Russia sign 16 agreements across diverse sectors. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 17th India-Russia Annual Bilateral Summit in Goa. 1. Agreement on cooperation in International Information Security.“2. MoU for expansion of bilateral trade and economic cooperation.“3. Shareholder agreement for establishing a Joint Venture to manufacture Ka-226T helicopter in India.“4. MoU for developing smart cities in Andhra Pradesh and Haryana.“5. MoU for setting up an investment fund of $1 billion by the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).”

· India, US Joint Military Training Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2016 concludes.

· India, Russia begin joint military exercise in Vladivostok. The 8th edition of the Indo-Russia joint military exercise ‘Indra 2016’ was flagged off in Vladivostok in Russia. Interestingly though, Russian troops arrived in Pakistan the same day for the first-ever Pakistan-Russia joint military exercise dubbed “Friendship-2016″.

· PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Shaurya Smarak in Bhopal.

· Nation world’s largest solar power plant in TN. Adani Green Energy (Tamil Nadu) Ltd, part of the Adani Group has dedicated to the nation the world’s largest solar power plant of 648 megawatts (MW), set up at Kamuthi in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu.

· Irom Sharmila announces formation of political party named PRJA.Human rights activist Irom Sharmila announced the formation of her political party named Peoples Resurgence and Justice Alliance (PRJA).

· Gurgaon officially renamed Gurugram. Telangana Govt creates 21 new districts 21+10 old.

· Delhi’s Race Course Road renamed as Lok Kalyan Marg.

· 8th BRICS Summit concludes in Goa. The eighth BRICS summit was held in Goa from 15 to16 October 2016. The summit concluded with adaptation of Goa Declaration. The two day summit was attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Michel Temer and South African President Jacob Zuma. The theme for the summit was “Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions”. The ninth BRICS Summit will be hosted by China in 2017.

· Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel prize in literature. The 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. Dylan, 75, has won numerous awards, including twelve Grammys and one Academy Award.

· Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. The Nobel Peace Prize for 2016 has been awarded to Co-lombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his efforts to end his country’s 50-year civil war.

· Three win Nobel chemistry prize for molecular machines. Frenchman Jean-Pierre Sauvage, British born J Fraser Stoddart and Dutch scientist Bernard Feringa on 5th Oct won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing molecular machines.

· Thouless, Haldane & Kosterlitz win the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics. “for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter.”

· Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi. The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi “for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.”

· In the First, Bank deposits cross Rs 100 lakh crore. According to the data first time ever in September month of this year. With demand deposits crossing Rs10 lakh crore and time deposits crossing the Rs 90 lakh crore mark..

· Forex reserves touch record high of $372 billion.

· IMF revises India’s economic growth upwards to 7.6% for FY17 and 18.

· ISRO successfully launches 8 satellites into two different orbits. Among the eight satellites launched, three satellites were from India, three from Algeria and one each from Canada and United States.

· Woman wrestler Geeta Phogat appointed DSP in Haryana Police.

· Antonio Guterres appointed UN Secretary-GeneralPortugal’s former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres was on 13 October appointed as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations by the General Assembly. The 193 member states of the General Assembly adopted the resolution by acclamation, appointing 67-year-old Mr. Guterres as the ninth U.N. Secretary-General to take over from Ban Ki-moon, whose tenure will end on December 31, 2016. Mr. Guterres, who was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015, will assume his new role on January 1, 2017 for a five-year term that can be renewed by member states for an additional five years.

· Jim Yong Kim re-appointed as World Bank President. Jim Yong Kim has been re-appointed as President of World Bank for a second five-year term beginning 1 July 2017.

· Abu Dhabi Crown Prince to be Chief Guest on 2017 Republic Day. The crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will be the chief guest for the 68th Republic Day celebrations on 26 January 2017. Earlier Chief guests of Republic Day parades: 2016- Francois Hollande (French President), 2015-Barack Obama (US President), 2014- Shinzo Abe (Japanese Prime Minister), 2013- Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (King of Bhutan), 2012- Yingluck Shinawatra (Then Prime Minister of Thailand), 2011- Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Then President of Indonesia). It should be noted France holds distinction of being the guest of honour for the maximum five times of Indian Republic Day parade followed by Bhutan (four times); Mauritius and Russia (three times each).

· World’s largest radio telescope built in China. China has built world’s largest radio telescope nicknamed Tianyan (Heavenly Eye” or “The Eye of Heaven) or the five-hundred-metre aperture spherical radio telescope (FAST).

· Book President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Vice President Mohd Hamid Ansari’s book titled “Citizen and Society”

· Neeti aayog index 2016- Agriculture marketing and farmer friendly reforms index . Maharashtra adjudged most farmer friendly state in the country as per neeti aayog index.

· HDFC RAISED 500 crore through MASALA Bonds. The masala bonds are instruments throudh Indian entities can raise funds by accessing overseas capital markets in rupee denominations.

· SBI offers loans at MCLR rates to new customers in the brand name of Hope loan.

· Banking data theft of ATM card was reported in India affecting nearly 32 lakhs customers of five leading banks SBI, AXIS,ICICI, HDFC and YES bank. Banks are either changing ATM cards or asking customer to change their PIN immediately.

· UDAN – Ude desh ka aam nagrik . Low cost flights for regional connectivity. Maximum price capped at 2500/-.

· RBI rates as per monetary policy review 4^th oct. Repo rate cut by .25%. Now REPO rate is 6.25% , Reverse repo -5.75, Bank rate and MSF 6.75 , CRR – 4%, SLR 20.75.

MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE – MEMBERS . The three are academics (Nominated by Govt. of India)— Chetan Ghate, associate professor at Indian Statistical Institute; Pami Dua, director, Delhi School of Economics; and Ravindra H Dholakia, professor of economics at Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. They will be joined by three Reserve Bank members, making up a total of six, with Governor Urjit Patel having a casting vote. The other two members are R Gandhi, deputy governor in charge of monetary policy, and executive director Michael Patra.

NEW GDP CALCULATION FORMULA UNVEILED

India surprised all the experts by recalculating GDP growth for the fiscal year ended March. Using a new calculation method, India’s economy expanded 6.9% that year, well above the 4.7% growth the country had announced earlier.

The change happened because the government brought forward the base year used in GDP calculations by seven years to fiscal 2012. It also switched from using production costs to market prices.

The updated calculation also suggests that manufacturing in the year ended March 2014 was a larger share of India’s economic activity than previously thought—18% instead of 15%—while real estate, hotels and financial and business services constituted a smaller share—51% instead of 60%. Agriculture’s contribution grew to 17% from 14% with the revision.

The change in method of calculation has brought Indian GDP calculations more in line with global practise. For example, IMF’s world economic outlook projections, which all of us used even recently to make India-China comparisons, are not based on factor costs. This used to create confusion in the past, with IMF’s projections turning out to be very different from the Government’s.

Here are 10 things to know about the GDP revision:

1) So far, domestic GDP was calculated at factor or basic cost, which took into account prices of products received by producers.

2) The new formula takes into account market prices paid by consumers. It is calculated by adding GDP at factor price and indirect taxes (minus subsidies). It is in line with international practice and is expected to better capture the changing structure of the Indian economy.

3) The government has also changed the base year for estimating GDP from 2004-05 to 2011-12. This has been done to incorporate the changing structure of the economy, especially rural India.

4) Data for the new GDP series will now be collected from 5 lakh companies (against 2,500 companies earlier), HSBC says. Under-represented and informal sectors as well as items such as smartphones and LED television sets will now be taken into account to calculate the gross domestic product.

5) India's GDP grew at a healthy 6.9 per cent in fiscal year 2013-14 and not 4.7 per cent as reported earlier, according to the revised methodology. This means the previous UPA government was doing much better when it came to managing the economy than what was thought earlier, analysts say.

6) According to Nomura's Sonal Varma, India's manufacturing sector contributed to 17.3 per cent in FY14 GDP (against 12.9 per cent estimated earlier). Private consumer demand was growing at a much faster pace than estimated earlier, perhaps explaining the sustained inflation surge, she added.

7) The revision in GDP does not alter the size of India's economy ($1.8 trillion) nor will it alter key ratios such as fiscal deficit, CAD etc. (as percentage of GDP) for 2013-14. "Our ranking in GDP terms will not change as the size of economy has almost remained the same," chief statistician T.C.A. Anant said.

8) According to Pranjul Bhandari of HSBC, the RBI will assess the new GDP data to set its monetary policy stance. This means the quantum of rate cuts in the coming few months may not be as large as earlier expected because the economy is growing faster-than-estimated. HSBC expects the central bank to cut rates by 75 basis points in 2015. Bank of America Merrill Lynch expects the central bank to cut 100 basis points by April 2016.

9) According to Indranil Sengupta of BofAML, India will grow at 6.6 per cent (against 5.5 per cent forecast) and cross Brazil and Russia in GDP this year to emerge as the second largest BRIC after China.

10) The revised methodology, however, poses several challenges as well. "It is a problem for the government and economists who are trying to understand the exact situation," said D.H. Pai Panandiker of RPG Foundation. "It is even a problem for the RBI, that doesn't have a full view about how the economy is performing."

From the latest GK Megazine Mahindra’s Current affairs – Jan 2015

NASA Spacecraft MAVEN placed in Mars Orbit

New Zealand prime minister John key reelected for third term

US Louisiana university decided to confer doctorate degree to PM Narendra Modi for his work in inclusive growth.

Gujrat cooperative milk marketing federation sells which brand of product – Amul

RBI released Gopalkrishana committee report on HR and capacity building in banks and NBFCs.

Yudh abhyas is the name of joint military exercise between India and US.

WORLD HEART DAY -29^th September.

Ryder cup is associated with Golf.

“And then one day : A memoire “ is the autobiography of Nasirudding shah.

Theme of ASIAN games 2014 – Meet Asia’s future.

Shahrukh khan was conferred Global diversity award at british house of commons.

China open winners Novak Jokovich and Mario sharapoa

MS Dhoni is co owner of football super league Chennaiyuin football club.

World junior chess championship held in Pune in 2014.

Which country has termed mars mission success as The pride of asia – its china .

September 25 declared as Antyodaya divas in memory of pt. Deen dayal upadhyay..

Bengaluru first railway station to get free wi-fi network.

International day of nonviolence was celebrated across the world on 2^nd Oct.

MNREGA allocation for 2014-15 was 33000 crore.

United nations secretary general is Ban Ki –Moon.

World food prize was given to India born plant scientist Sanjay Rajaram for his contribution in increasing global wheat production following green revolution .

49^th Jnanpith award to hindi poet Kedarnath singh.

Pritam munde d/o late Gopinath munde has won her Lok sabha seat by a record margin of nearly 7 lakh votes from Beed constituency in maharashtra.

Chief of naval staff Admiral R.K. Dhowan.

Pakistan accounts for 80% of world polio cases. Pakistan along with Afganistan and Nigeria are the only three countries in the world where polio cases are reported even now.

Sweeden becomes first European country to recognize independent Palestinian state.

Raghuram Rajan gets Euromoney’s best central bank governor 2014 award.

ATM charges beyond 5 on bank ATMs and 3 other bank atms are currently applied only at Metro centres like New delhi , Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad..

RBI and Central bank of Kenya signed MOU on supervisory cooperation.

International internet day observed on 29^th oct to mark the anniversary of first usage of internet to send message in 1969. ( this is different from e-mail, which was invented by VA Shiva Ayyadur in 1978).

In 1978, a 14-year-old named VA Shiva Ayyadurai developed a computer program, which replicated the features of the interoffice, inter-organizational paper mail system. He named his program “EMAIL”. Shiva filed an application for copyright in his program and in 1982 the United States Copyright Office issued a Certificate of Registration, No. TXu-111-775, to him on the program.

World trade centre has been erected again as 104 storey 1776 foot tower , tallest building in US. Its now a single tower instead of twin towers , who are now represented as two fountains in the same premises.

Barcelona football club player Luis Suarez received European Golden boot award 2014.

India won sultan of johor cup under -21 hockey title defeating Britain . tournament was hosted by Malaysia.

Modi adopted village Jayapur near varanasi.

12^th India- ASEAN summit held on 09-12-14 in Nay pyi Taw , capital city of myanmaar (formerly called Burma) President of Myanmaar – U Thien sein.

Ministry and ministers – Rajnath singh (Home) , Sushama Swaraj ( external affairs) , Arun Jaitley ( Finance , corporate affairs, information and broadcastins) , Venkaiah Naidu (Urban development, housing and parliamentary affairs) , Nitin gadkari (Road transport and highways), Manohar parrikar (defence), Suresh Prabhu( Railway) , Sadanand Gowda ( law and justice) , Uma bharati (water resources, River development and Ganga rejunevation) Najma heptullah ( minority affairs) Ram vilas paswan (Food and public distribution) , Kalraj Mishra ( MSME), Maneka Gandhi ( Women and child development) , Ravi shankar Prasad (Communication and IT) J P Nadda ( health) A gajpati raju ( Civil aviation) , Anant Geete ( heavy industry ) , Radha mohan singh (Agrculture) Smriti irani (HRD) Harshwardhan (Science and technology) Dharmendra pradhan (petroleum and gas ) Nirmala sitaraman (Commerce and industries) , Piyush goyal (Power , coal and renewable energy) , Mahesh sharma (Culture and tourism) Prakash jawdekar ( environment and forest), shripad naik (AAYUSH), Sarbanand sonowal ( Youth and sports) ,VK Singh ( statistic and program implementation) Rajiv pratap rudi (Skill development).

SAARC founded in 1985. Fifth meeting of SAARC energy ministers held in new delhi on 16 and 17 october 2014 to strengthen energy cooperation in saarc countries.

21 may – Anti terrorism day observed..

Author of book –half girlfriend –chetan bhagat.

Brazil president reelected for second term – Dilma Rousseff.

Vietnameese PM – Nguyen Tan Dung

GK REVISION

RBI governors – HR Khan, Dr. Urjit Patel, SS Mundra, R. Gandhi.
Dy. Speaker of lok sabha – M Thambidurai of AIDMK party
Pran kumar cartoonist died recently – famous character chacha choudhry
Chairman Public Accounts committee – K V Thomas
Dalbir singh suhag – chief of army staff
Rajiv Gandhi national sadbhavna award – film maker Mujaffar ali
Outstanding parliamentarian award –Arun jaitly 2010, Dr. Karan singh 2011 Sharad yadav -2012
Syndicate bank cmd SK Jain suspended for corruption charges.
BKS Iyengar – renowed yog guru died
RBI proposes new GIRO based online bill payment system – Bharat Bill payment system.
Varishtha pension bima yojana reopened for one year . To be implemented by LIC.
Tata – Singapore airline joint venture – Vistara
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
Human development index 2014 Norway tops , India 135^th , index measures life expectancy , Child mortality, school dropout rate, educational levels, and incomes . published by United nations development program.
20^th commonwealth game – august 14 , organized in august at Glassgow, Scotland. England topped the medal tally , Australia second , India fifth. India (15+30+19=64). Australia won gold in Hockey defeating India. P Kashyap India –gold badminton, Dipika pallikal and joshana chinappa – Gold in Squash.
Lithuania became 19^th member of Euro group among 28 European union states. It will switch on euro currency on 1 jan 15. Euro banknotes and coins were introduced on 1 jan 2002.
OECD Paris based economic research organization – Organisation for economic coopration and development.
RBI –Raguram rajan, IRDA- T.S.Vijayan, SEBI- UK Sinha, SBI – Arundhati bhattacharya, LIC – SK Roy, Indian bank association – TS Bhasin( Indian bank), IOC –B Ashok, HPCL- Nishi vasudev, ONGC – Sudhir vasudev, TRAI- Rahul khullar, CBI – Anil sinha , BPCL- S varadrajan , 14^th Finance commission – Dr. Y.V. Reddy, Kotak mahindra bank – Uday Kotak, ICICI – Chanda Kochar , BMB-Usha Anant subramanium , Axis bank – Shikha sharma, Chief Economic Advisor to FM – Arvind subramanium , FM – Arun jaitly, minister of state for finance – Jayant sinha, Finance secretary – Rajiv mahirshi, Secretary Deparment of Financial services – Dr. Hasmukh Adhia.
SCORES– Sebi Compalint Redress System
Chairman National commission of women – Lalitha kumarmangalam.
Chief justice of India – H L Dattu.
Ecuador launched first digital currency in the world.
Boko haram – Islamic militant group operative in Nigeria
ISIS – militant group active in IRAQ Islamic state of Iraq and Syria.
International Blue economy seminar held in Bangla desh . it refers to Oceanic economic activities
PM visits Japan – Prime minister Shinzo Abe. Major agreements, Varanasi will be developed like quoto city of japan, 500 million dollar loan to India for infrastructure development., Mumbai ahmedabad high speed railway , cooperation in the area of new and renewable energy , solar plant in gujrat .
Australian PM Tony abott visited India, signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement. Australia has about a third of world uranium resources .
HRD ministry launches swachh vidhyala campaign by building toilets in schools with ppp model.
Hindi domain .bharat lauched.
Implementation of Basel 3 norms – period extended by one year up to 31-03-19 by RBI.
Mobile banking on low cost basic mobile will also be made available on USSD platform. Unstructured supplementary service data
US OPEN 2014 Croatia Marin cilic won first grand slam title defeating kei nishikori of japan . Women’s final won by serena Williams defeating caroline wozniaki.
US Open – Sania mirza and brazilian Bruno soares lifted mixed double title.
Pankaj adwani only Indian to have won both world billiard and snooker championships.
Hindi divas – 14^th September
P. Sadashivam , former chief justice of India , recently appointed Governor of kerala.
National sports day 29^th august.
Tamilnadu chief minister after J Jailalitha is O Panneerselvam.
Man booker prize 2014 given to Australian author Richard flangan on his book The narrow road to the deep north.
Kishor kumar award to lyricist sameer
NOBLE PRIZE 2014

SN	SUBJECT	NAMES	WORK
1	Physiology	John o keef , may-brit and Edward moser	GPS system of the brain
2	physics	Isamu Akasaki , hiroshi amino, namakura	Invention of blue LED
3	Chemistry	Eric Betzig, stphen hell, ashburn	Conversion of microscope to nenoscope
4	Literature	French author Patric modiona
5	Peace	kailash satyarthi , Malala yousufzai	Child labour and education to girls
6	Economics**	Jean tirole French economist	Study of monopolistic behavior in market

It was added later.

** Originally economics discipline was not included in Noble prizes.

Shanty swaroop bhatnagar awards are given for scientific research in India , given by CSIR, Council for scientific and industrial research.
Leela Samson appointed chairperson of sangeet natak academy.
In a country wide referendum , Scotland voted in favour of continuing with UK .
Umbrella revolution , a unique method of protest against Chinese dominance in hongkong.
Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Venezuela and Spain Thursday were elected as the new non-permanent members of the Security Council for a two years term by the UN General Assembly. five permanent and veto-wielding members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US. At present India is not a member of security council (whether permanent or non permanent)
China test fires 10000 km missile Dongfeng-31B.
India – Canada signed nuclear deal during Canadian foreign minister John baired visit to India oct.14.
India 55^th on global hunger index 2014 up from 63^rd last year.
Home ministry approval for name change of Banglore to Bengaluru.
Cabinet approves Ahmedabad metro project.
Sansad adarsh gram yojana launched by PM on 11 oct 14 , birth anniversary of loknayak jayprakash narayan.
PM Launches SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN on 2-oct 2014 , birth aniversay of mahatma Gandhi. UPA Nirmal bharat abhiyan merged into it. PM’s Navratna for this abhiyan – Goa governor Mridula sinha, Sachin tendulkar, shashi tharoor, Baba RAMDEV, Kamal Hasaasn, Priyanka chopra, Salman khan , Anil Ambani, TV serial team of tarak Mehta ka ulta chashma. Its logo is Ghandhiji’s spectacles and slogan is ek kadam swachhata ki aur.
New CMs- Haryana –manoharlal khattar, Maharashtra –devendra fadnavis
On Purchasing Power Parity China is world largest economy , followed by US and then India on 3^rd position.
REIT – Real Estate Investment trust InvIT – Infrastructure investment trusts
Diesel price deregulated on 18 oct 14. No subsidy will be given on it ,like petrol . prices will be market driven.
PM Launches Deendayal upadhyay Shramev jayate karyakram for labour reforms. 17 OCT
PM launches “Make in India: campaign 25 sept 2014 to put India on global manufacturing map, facilitate inflow of new technology and create millions of jobs in India.
Honda to set up world largest plant in Gujrat Vitthalpur 80 km from Ahmedabad.
Apple most valuable brand in world.
Cricket champions league 2014 won by Chennai super kings defeating Kolkata Knight riders.
Asian games. 17^th asian games held in INCHEON, south korea. From 19 sept to 4^th oct. China topped the medal tally (151+108+83=342) .followed by south korea and japan .India 8^th position (11+10+36=57) . Flag bearer – sardar singh hockey.

First event	1951 Asian Games in New Delhi, India
Last	2014 at Incheon in south korea
Next	2018 Indonesia Jakarta

After 16 years India won gold medal in hockey. Gold in men’s and women’s Kabbadi, marycom –boxing, jitu rai shooting, sania mirza –mix doubles tennis,seema punia –discuss throw, Yogeshwar dutt –wrestling.

PM USA visit- Modi addressed UN General assembly in Hindi. Shri A B Vajpayee was first Indian prime minister in 1977 to address the UNGA in hindi. Later he addressed the Indian migrants at Madison square in Newyork. On 30^th sept. Modi officially met obama in Washington.
MOM – Mars Obiter mission on 24 sep 2014 was successfully put in to the mar’s orbit. It took 322 days to go from earth to mars orbit.
Windows latest version available in the market is windows 8.1. windows 10 is about to be launched next year.
Facebook CEO mark juckerberg visited India.
Indian airforce day -8 oct.
Kailash satyarthee- nobel peace price winner 2014 associated with Bachpan bachao abhiyaan
New president of afganistan – Ashraf Ghani Ahmadjai.\
Ist International Sanskrit conference held – uttarakhand .
Gandhinagar (gujrat) will host next Prawasi bharatiya diwas.
India’s official entry to oscar this year will be Liar’s Dice, a hindi film by Geetu Mohandas featuring Gitanjali thapa and Nawajuddin siddiqui.
Prime minister of fiji – Bainimarama voreqe
Indigo airlines has purchased 250 latest airbus to its fleet costing Rs. 1.55 lakh crore, biggest ever contract by a single airline.
SBI –launched new accounts for kids of 10 year and above PEHLA KADAM and PEHLI UDAN on teachers day . similarly ICICI launched SMART STARS scheme for minors. RBI recently allowed minor operated accounts to inculcate savings habit in childrens. No overdraft can be given to them as monor can not enter into a loan contract as per law. Such accounts will permit all facilities like ATM, Cheque book, net banking , mobile banking etc. The only condition is that minor should be able to put uniform signatures.
SBI links ATM usages , withdrawals at branch and other facilities to balance of account. Limits the number of branch withdrawal to four a month for balances up to 25000/- . Also no. of other banks ATM free access will be 3 and own bank ATM will be 5 per month for such customers.
SBI share to be split in 1 to 10 ratio. Currently SBI share face value is Rs. 10/- . it will now be split into 10 share of Rs.1/- each, to increase liquidity of its shares.
India tops Global inward remittances with 70 billion dollar with its emigrant work force of 14 mn people across the world.
TFA – Trade facilitation agreement under discussion at World trade organization
STPI Software technology parks of India
Sachin tendulkar’s autobiography –playing it my way.

Purchasing power parity PPPs are the rates of currency conversion that equalize the purchasing power of different currencies by eliminating the differences in price levels between countries. In their simplest form, PPPs are simply price relatives that show the ratio of the prices in national currencies of the same good or service in different countries. PPPs are also calculated for product groups and for each of the various levels of aggregation up to and including GDP.

The basket of goods and services priced for the PPP exercise is a sample of all goods and services covered by GDP. The final product list covers around 3,000 consumer goods and services, 30 occupations in government, 200 types of equipment goods and about 15 construction projects. The large number of products is to enable countries to identify goods and services which are representative of their domestic expenditures.

· Sardar patel national housing mission – to provide houses to all by 2020 was announced by Urban development and housing minister Venkiah Naidu on world habitat day (6 Oct). Three crore houses would be built by 2022 for economically weaker sections.

· Vadodara to be gujrat ‘s cultural capital.

· Kerala to achieve total primary education by April 2015 under Athulyam project.

· Semi high speed train with a top speed of 160km between Delhi – Agra “ Gatimaan express “ to be launched this year.

· Third navigation satellite IRNSS1C ( out of seven satellite series) was successfully launched on 18 oct. 14. After completion of project India will have its own global positioning system at par with that of USA.

· PM –man ki baat on 3^rd oct with a radio broadcast. A separate forum has been created on website mygov.in where citizens can share their views with the government. Second broadcast was on 2^nd Nov. 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to bring back "every penny of the poor man's money" stashed abroad as untaxed or black money

· Justice MB Shah, who heads the special committee tasked by the Supreme Court to probe the black money issue, said the investigation will be completed by March 31, the deadline set by the court.

· Hero Indian super league : Football tournament like IPL Cricket with eight teams on board. Tournament in progress.

· Hindi aurhor Govind mishra gets saraswati samman for 2013 for his novel Dhool Paudhon par .

SYLLOGISM : CERTAIN CLARIFICATIONS

1) Earlier there was a confusion that if a given conclusion is true in all cases then calling it a possibility is wrong or right . example .

Statement – No A is B Conclusion – some B are not A is a possibility.

Statement – All silvers are gold and All Metals are silver

Conclusion – All metal is gold is a possibility.

In one magazine ( Banking and you) such conclusions were answered as wrong and in the other (BSC) it was given as right conclusion.

I checked up on internet and found following explanation for this . “ Since any conclusion to hold true , it has to be possible “ so possibility is the previous stage of certainity or we can say possibility is a subset of certainity .

Hence such conclusions should be marked as correct.

Excerpts from the net are given below for your ready reference.

Statement 1- All As are Bs
Statement2- All Bs are Cs
Conclusion : All A being C is a possibility.
My question is, since All A being C is a certainty and not merely a possibility, does the conclusion hold true? (Because possibility is probably a subset of certainty??)
Thanks. Any help is appreciated.

DmitryFarber

Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Joined: 22 Mar 2011

Posts: 405

Followers: 133
Kudos [?]: 248 [0], given: 12
Re: Syllogism doubt [#permalink] 14 Apr 2013, 08:24

Expert's post

Absolutely. In order for something to be true, it has to be possible, and we know from the statements that all As are Cs. Imagine negating the conclusion--"It is not possible that all As are Cs." That can't be right.
However, this is pretty far afield from the GMAT. Does this relate to some trouble you've been having with the test?
_________________

Few more clarifications.

2)      Statements like “ Only A are B” should be treated as All B are A but not All A are B.



3)      Statement – Some A are not B also has a valid conclusion “ All A are not B” This conclusion is different from “ No A is B “ ( which is wrong as conclusion, because this is just one possibility , other one being Some A are B)

                                        ---------------------------------------------------
Current affairs : Important topics

SECOND BIMONTHLY MONETARY POLICY

Second Bi monthly monetary policy announced by RBI on 3^rd June 2014. SLR reduced by 50 basis point to 22.5% of total deposits. Repo rate unchanged at 8% , CRR 4%, Reverse Repo 7% , MSF and Bank rate 9%.
RBI decided to follow the recommendation of Dr. Urjit Patel Committee to consider retail inflation (Consumer price index) for policy rates determination. Retail Inflation target set by RBI is 8% by Jan. 2015 and 6% by Jan 2016.
For the year 2013-14 as a whole, India’s current account deficit (CAD) narrowed sharply to 1.7 per cent of GDP, primarily on account of a decline in gold imports. The ongoing shrinking of import demand. Robust inflows of portfolio investment, supported by foreign direct investment and external commercial borrowings, kept external financing conditions comfortable and helped add to reserves.
As a prudential measure, the eligibility limit for foreign exchange remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) had been reduced to US$ 75,000 last year. In view of the recent stability in the foreign exchange market, it has been decided to enhance the eligible limit to US$ 125,000 without end use restrictions except for prohibited foreign exchange transactions such as margin trading, lottery and the like.
Indian residents and NRIs are now allowed to carry a maximum of Rs.25000/- while leaving India. Earlier it was Rs.10000/- only.
As per Dr. Urjit Patel’s recommendations, it is decided to reduce the liquidity provided under the export credit refinance (ECR) facility from 50 per cent of eligible export credit outstanding to 32 per cent with immediate effect. Instead , introduced a special term repo facility of 0.25 per cent of NDTL to compensate fully for the reduction in access to liquidity under the ECR with immediate effect.
Continue to provide liquidity under 7-day and 14-day term repos of up to 0.75 per cent of NDTL of the banking system.
Current Limits of borrowing under Repo (0.25% ), Term Repo 7 and 14 days (0.75%), Special term repo for ECR(0.25%), MSF(1.0%) of bank’s NDTL Deposits. Only MSF is allowed from SLR securities limits. All other facilities require banks to have additional securities in stock, over and above SLR limits.

Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIBs)

IIBs announcement was part of budget speech of 2013-14 , in pursuance of which RBI has released first lot of IIBs in June 2013. The Reserve Bank of India sold 10 billion rupees worth of 10-year bonds at a real yield of 1.44 percent over the wholesale price index. The central bank sold the debt on behalf of the government.
Inflation protection will be provided on principal and interest both.
India is relaunching the sale of inflation-index bonds after a previous failed attempt in 1997, when the government had only linked the principal to inflation.
It has a dual purpose of providing protection against inflation to investing public and make the investment in gold less attractive.
Like any other Govt. security and bonds issue , issuance of IIBs would be within the Govt market borrowing programme of about Rs. 579,000 crore for 2013-14.
Principal amount will increase in proportion with inflation rate and interest will be given on inflated principal amount.
20% of the Issue amount will be earmarked for Retail investors through noncompetitive bidding and rest will be auctioned in the primary debt market.

India’s Economic growth : Various projections

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 8^th Oct 2013 cut its projection for India's economic growth to 3.75 per cent from the earlier forecast of 5.6 per cent for 2013-14
The Economic Survey, presented a day before the Budget, projected economic growth in a range of 6.1-6.7 per cent for the year.
It crashed to a four-year low of 4.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2013-14.
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council cut its forecasts to 5.4 per cent from its earlier estimates of 6.4 per cent for 2013-14.

India's GDP Growth Projection by various multi-lateral agencies and banks for 2013-14
	Earlier Projection of GDP growth (%)	Revised Projection of GDP growth (%)
Pre budget Economic survey (Finance ministry)	6.1 to 6.7
PMEAC C.Rangarajan	6.4	5.4
Indian Budget 2013-14	6.5	6.5
IMF*	5.6	*3.75
World Bank	6.1	5.7
HSBC	5.5	4
OECD**	5.9	5.3
Asian Development Bank	6	4.7
Bank of America Merill Lynch	5.8	5.5
BNP Paribas	5.2	3.7
HSBC	5.5	4
Nomura	5	4.2
JP Morgan	5.1	4.1
CLSA	5	4.2
CRISIL	5.5	4.8
Fitch Ratings	5.7	4.8
Barclays	5.3	4.7

* at market price while calculating it at factor cost comes to 4.25%

NEW BANK LICENSING IN PRIVATE SECTOR

RBI GUIDELINES FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS.

· The Union Finance Minister had made an announcement in his budget speech for 2010-11 that the RBI was considering giving some additional banking licences to private sector players. Non-Banking Financial Companies could also be considered, if they meet the RBI’s eligibility criteria.

· Over the last two decades, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) licensed twelve banks in the private sector. This happened in two phases. Ten banks were licensed on the basis of guidelines issued in January 1993.(icici, hdfc,axis etc.) The guidelines were revised in January 2001 and two more licences were issued.(Kotak mahindra and Yes bank).

· All private and public sector Indian owned and managed companies. All existing NBFCs.

· Promoter / Promoter Group will be permitted to set up a bank only through a wholly-owned Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC).

· NOFHC will separate the promoter group’s parent business from banking and financial activities.

· The minimum paid up capital of the proposed banking company should be 500 crore.

· The NOFHC shall hold minimum 40% of the total capital.

· The NOFHC will be registered as a non-banking financial company (NBFC) with the RBI.

· Notwithstanding the current FDI policy, where foreign shareholding in private sector banks is allowed up to a ceiling of 74 per cent of the paid-up voting equity capital, the aggregate non-resident shareholding from FDI, NRIs and FIIs in the new private sector banks shall not exceed 49 per cent of the paid-up voting equity capital for the first 5 years from the date of licensing of the bank.

· At least 50 per cent of the Directors of NOFHC shall be totally independent of the Promoter or Promoter Group entities and their major customers and major suppliers⁴.

· Any acquisition of shares which will take the aggregate holding of an individual / entity / group to the equivalent of 5 per cent or more of the paid-up voting equity capital of the bank, will require prior approval of RBI.

· The bank shall open at least 25 per cent of its branches in unbanked rural centres (population up to 9,999 as per the latest census) to avoid over concentration of their branches in metropolitan areas and cities which are already having adequate banking presence.

· After the cut off date July 1, 2013 for application for new banking licenses, RBI has released the name of all applicants. In all the central bank received 26 applications. To name a few like Corporates like…Tata Sons, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Reliance Capital and L & T Finance, NBFCs like LIC Housing Finance, IDFC limited, IFCI, Edelweiss Financial Services, Indiabulls Housing Finance, India Infoline, J M Financial, Magma Fincorp, Muthoot Finance and Shriram Capital, Public sector units like Indiapost, IDFC etc.

· RBI has set up the committee under Bimal Jalan for bank licences, Usha Thorat (former RBI Deputy Governor), C B Bhave (former Sebi chairman) and Nachiket Mor (financial sector expert)...We will try our best to do it by January 2014," RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said at a press conference here after a board meeting. Rajan said the central bank would endeavour to do "as much as possible" before RBI Deputy Governor Anand Sinha, who looks after new bank licences, retires in January 2014.

National Food Security Bill 2013

· Initially issued by President as an Ordinance on 5^th July 2013 , later introduced in the parliament and after due clearance by Lok Sabha and Rajya sabha , it was finally signed into law on 21 september 2013.

Ordinance Vs parliament route : Cabinet decided to implement it through Ordinance route. After being cleared by the cabinet an ordinance goes to the President for approval and becomes a law as soon as President signs it. Later on Govt. needs to get it passed in both houses of Parliament within six months failing which it becomes null and void. It is just reverse of normal law making process of parliament where a bill is presented in parliament and after being passed from both the houses it goes to President for signature. The ordinance route is resorted to by the governments when parliament is not in session and immediate action is required.
Food security bill - Highlights. 1) It guarantees 5 Kg. of rice or wheat or coarse cereals per month per person at Rs. 3, 2, and 1 respectively however, 2.43 crore Antyodaya Anna Yojna (poorest of the poor) beneficiaries will continue to get their legal entitlement of 35 kg a household a month. Around 67% (two third ) population will be covered with 75% in rural and 50% in urban areas. 3) States will identify the beneficiaries and will also implement the programme under the Targeted Public Distribution Scheme. . 4) Total Govt. spending estimated to be Rs. 1,25,000 Crore per year but after deducting current PDS expenditure of Rs. one lac crore , additional burden will be 25000 crores. 5) Eldest women will be considered as head of the family and ration card will be issued in her name. 6) Pregnant and lactating mothers and children within the age group of 6 months to 6 years will be provided cooked nutritious food from aanganbadi kendra. . 7) maternity benefit of Rs. 6000/- will be provided to pregnant women. 8) Adhar cards will be extensively used for identification of beneficiary. 9) PDF will be revamped and computerised. Audit and other checks will be put in place. 9) No distinctions between BPL and APL families, but states need to decide the cut off point for APL families to keep the benefits confined to 50% urban and 75% rural population.

12^TH Five year plan 2012-2017

Chairman : Manmohan Singh (prime minister remains ex officio chairman)

Deputy Chairman : Montek singh Ahluwalia

Process :- Planning Commission prepares, cabinet clears and National Development Council finally approves it.
The government on 4th october 2012 approved the 12th five year plan (2012-17) document . After the cabinet clearance, the plan for its final approval was placed before Country's apex policy making body the National Development Council (NDC), which has all chief ministers and cabinet ministers as members and is headed by the Prime Minister.
Plans to achieve annual average economic growth rate of 8 per cent. During the 11th Plan (2007-12), India has recorded an average economic growth rate of 7.9 per cent.
The theme of the Approach Paper is “faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth”
Seeks to achieve 4 per cent agriculture sector growth during 2012-17. The growth target for manufacturing sector has been pegged at 10 per centThe total plan size has been estimated at Rs.47.7 lakh crore, 135 per cent more that for the 11th Plan (2007-12).
plans to bring down the poverty ratio by 10 percent. At present, the poverty is around 30 per cent of the population.
Areas of main thrust are Infrastructure, health and education.
Total Direct benefit transfer on food , petroleum and fertilizers by the end of plan period.

Budget 2013-14 : Highlights

Personal income tax – Tax credit of Rs.2000 for income up to 5 lakh. Surcharge of 10 per cent for taxable incomes above Rs. 1 crore. (No. of such persons in the country – 42800).
Commodities transaction tax levied on non—agriculture commodities futures contracts at 0.01 per cent
Tax Deducted at Source to be fixed at 1% on land deals over Rs 50 lakh
Modified GAAR norms to be introduced from April 1, 2016.
First home loan from a bank or housing finance corporation upto Rs. 25 lakh entitled to additional deduction of interest upto Rs. 1 lakh.
All towns of India with a population of 10000 or more will have an LIC branch and one other public sector insurance company.
Income limit for the tax-saving Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme is raised to Rs. 12 lakh from Rs. 10 lakh
All public-sector banks have assured the Finance Minister that they will all have ATMs in their branch areas by 2014
India's first women's bank as a PSU proposed, Rs. 1,000 crore working capital announced.
Rs 7 lakh crore target fixed for agri credit for 2013—14 compared to Rs 5.75 lakh crore in the current year.
Green revolution in east India significant. Rice output increased in Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal;
Rs 80,194 crore allocation for Ministry of Rural Development in 2013—14. About Rs 33,000 crore for MGNREGA
The Right to Education Act is firmly in place, says Chidambaram, while announcing Rs. 27,250 crore to Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyaan in FY14.
Fiscal Deficit for 2013-14 is pegged at 4.8 percent of GDP. The Revenue Deficit will be 3.3 percent for the same period.
Plan Expenditure placed at Rs. 5,55,322 crore. It is 33.3 percent of the total expenditure while Non Plan Expenditure is estimated at Rs. 11,09,975 crore. Total Rs 16,65,297 crore.
Rs. 14,000 crore will be provided to public sector banks for capital infusion in 2013-14.
Rs. 1000 crore Nirbhaya fund allotted to Ministry of Women and child development.

14^th FINANCE COMMISSION

Chairman : Shri Y.. V. Reddy . former Governor of RBI. The five-member panel is to submit its report by October 31, 2014.
Constituted on on 1^st Jan 2013 Time period – 5 Years.
Till date 13 Finance commissions have been constituted and submitted their report. The 13nth chairman was Dr. Vijay Kelkar.
Its regular functions include determination of formula for sharing tax proceeds between center and states, enforce fiscal discipline.
Apart from its recommendations on the sharing of tax proceeds between the Centre and the States which will apply for a five-year period beginning April 1, 2015, the Commission has been asked to suggest steps for pricing of public utilities such as electricity and water in an independent manner and also look into issues like disinvestment, GST compensation, sale of non-priority PSUs and subsidies.

MICRO SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

What is the definition of MSME? LIMITS

A.1. The Government of India has enacted the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006 in terms of which the definition of micro, small and medium enterprises is as under:
(a) Enterprises engaged in the manufacture or production, processing or preservation of goods as specified below:
(i) A micro enterprise is an enterprise where investment in plant and machinery does not exceed Rs. 25 lakh;
(ii) A small enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in plant and machinery is more than Rs. 25 lakh but does not exceed Rs. 5 crore; and
(iii) A medium enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in plant and machinery is more than Rs.5 crore but does not exceed Rs.10 crore.
In case of the above enterprises, investment in plant and machinery is the original cost excluding land and building and the items specified by the Ministry of Small Scale Industries vide its notification No.S.O.1722(E) dated October 5, 2006.
(b) Enterprises engaged in providing or rendering of services and whose investment in equipment (original cost excluding land and building and furniture, fittings and other items not directly related to the service rendered or as may be notified under the MSMED Act, 2006 are specified below.
(i) A micro enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in equipment does not exceed Rs. 10 lakh;
(ii) A small enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in equipment is more than Rs.10 lakh but does not exceed Rs. 2 crore; and
(iii) A medium enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in equipment is more than Rs. 2 crore but does not exceed Rs. 5 crore.

Q.3. What is meant by Priority Sector Lending?

A.3. Priority sector lending include only those sectors as part of the priority sector, that impact large sections of the population, the weaker sections and the sectors which are employment-intensive such as agriculture, and Micro and Small enterprises.

BASIC SAVINGS BANK DEPOSIT ACCOUNT
AND BSBDA -SMALL

1. Query

Whether the guidelines issued on ‘no-frills’ account with 'nil' or very low minimum balances will continue even after the introduction of ‘Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’?

Response

No. In supersession of instructions contained in circular DBOD.No.Leg. BC.44/09.07.005/2005-06 dated November 11, 2005 on No Frill accounts, banks have now been advised to offer a 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account' to all their customers vide DBOD.No.Leg.BC.35/09.07.005/20012-13 dated August 10, 2012, which will offer minimum common facilities as stated therein. Banks are required to convert the existing 'no-frills' accounts’ into 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts'.

What are KYC norms applicable to BSBDA accounts? Are there any relaxations in KYC norms for BSBDAs?

Response

The 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account' would be subject to provisions of PML Act and Rules and RBI instructions on Know Your Customer (KYC) / Anti-Money Laundering (AML) for opening of bank accounts issued from time to time. BSBDA can also be opened with simplified KYC norms. However, if BSBDA is opened on the basis of Simplified KYC, the accounts would additionally be treated as “BSBDA-SMALL account” and would be subject to the conditions stipulated for such accounts as indicated in para 2.7 of Master Circular DBOD.AML.BC.No. 11/14.01.001/2012-13 dated July 2, 2012. .

9. Query

Can I have a ‘Small Account’ in ABC Bank as per the Government of India Notification No.14/2010/F.No.6/2/2007-E.S. dated December 16, 2010. Can I have additionally a 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’?

Response

No, the BSBDA customer cannot have any other savings bank account in the same bank.. If 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’ is opened on the basis of simplified KYC norms, the account would additionally be treated as a 'Small Account' and would be subject to conditions stipulated for such accounts as indicated in paragraph 2.7 of Master Circular DBOD.AML.BC.No.11/14.01.001/2012-13 dated July 02, 2012 on 'KYC norms / AML standards / Combating of Financing of Terrorism (CFT) / Obligation of banks under PMLA, 2002'.

10. Query

What are the conditions stipulated for accounts which are additionally to be treated as ‘BSBDA-Small Account’?

Response

As notified in terms of Govt of India notification dated December 16, 2010, BSBDA-Small Accounts would be subject to the following conditions:
i. Total credits in such accounts should not exceed one lakh rupees in a year.
ii. Maximum balance in the account should not exceed fifty thousand rupees at any time
iii. The total of debits by way of cash withdrawals and transfers will not exceed ten thousand rupees in a month
iv. Foreign remittances can not be credited to Small Accounts without completing normal KYC formalities
v. Small accounts are valid for a period of 12 months initially which may be extended by another 12 months if the person provides proof of having applied for an Officially Valid Document.
vi. Small Accounts can only be opened at CBS linked branches of banks or at such branches where it is possible to manually monitor the fulfilments of the conditions

11. Query

What kinds of services are available free in the 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’?

Response

The services available free in the 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’ will include deposit and withdrawal of cash; receipt / credit of money through electronic payment channels or by means of deposit / collection of cheques at bank branches as well as ATMs.
12. Is there requirement of any initial minimum deposit while opening a BSBDA as per the circular dated August 10, 2012?

Response

There is no requirement for any initial deposit for opening a BSBDA.

13. Query

Whether banks are free to offer more facilities than those prescribed for ‘Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’?

Response

Yes. However, the decision to allow services beyond the minimum prescribed has been left to the discretion of the banks who can either offer additional services free of charge or evolve requirements including pricing structure for additional value-added services on a reasonable and transparent basis to be applied in a non-discriminatory manner with prior intimation to the customers. Banks are required to put in place a reasonable pricing structure for value added services or prescribe minimum balance requirements which should be displayed prominently and also informed to the customers at the time of account opening. Offering such additional facilities should be non - discretionary, non-discriminatory and transparent to all ‘Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’ customers. However such accounts enjoying additional facilities will not be treated as BSBDAs.

14. Query

If BSBDA customers have more than 4 withdrawals and request for cheque book at additional cost, will it cease to be a BSBDA?

Response

Yes. Please refer to response to the above query (Query No.13).
However, if the bank does not levy any additional charges and offers more facilities free than those prescribed under BDBDA a/cs without minimum balance then such a/cs can be classified as BSBDA.

15. Query

Whether the existing facility available in a normal saving bank account of Five free withdrawals in a month in other banks ATMs as per IBA (DPSS) instructions will hold good for BSBDA?

Response

No. In BSBDA, banks are required to provide free of charge minimum four withdrawals, through ATMs and other mode including RTGS/NEFT/Clearing/Branch cash withdrawal/transfer/internet debits/standing instructions/EMI etc It is left to the banks to either offer free or charge for additional withdrawal/s. However, in case the banks decide to charge for the additional withdrawal, the pricing structure may be put in place by banks on a reasonable, non-discriminatory and transparent manner by banks.

16. Query

Are the banks free to levy Annual ATM Debit Card charges?

Response

Banks should offer the ATM Debit Cards free of charge and no Annual fee should be levied on such Cards.

17. Query

Whether Balance enquiry in ATMs also should be counted within the four withdrawals permitted under BSBDA?

Response

Balance enquiry through ATMs should not be counted in the four withdrawals allowed free of charge at ATMs.

18. Query

If a customer of BSBDA agrees not to have ATM Debit card should the bank give ATM debit card by force?

Response

ATM debit cards may be offered at the time of opening BSBDA and issued if the customer requests for the same in writing. Banks need not force ATM debit cards on such customers.

ATM Rules
Q.6. Can these cards be used at any bank ATM in the country? Is the customer charged for the same?
Ans 6. Yes. The cards issued by banks in India may be used at any bank ATM within India. However the savings bank account holders can transact a maximum of five transactions free at other bank ATMs in a month, which is inclusive of all types of transactions, financial and non-financial, beyond which the customer can be charged by his/her bank.
Q. 11. Is there any time limit for the card issuing banks for recrediting the customers account for a failed ATM transaction indicated under Q No. 10?
Ans 11. As per the RBI instructions (DPSS.PD.No. 2632/02.10.002/2010-2011 dated May 27, 2011), banks have been mandated to resolve customercomplaints by recrediting the customers account within 7 working days from the date of complaint.
Q. 12. Are the customers eligible for compensation for delays beyond 7 working days?
Ans 12. Yes. Effective from July 1, 2011, banks have to pay customers Rs. 100/- per day for delays beyond 7 working days. The compensation has to be credited to the account of the customer without any claim being made by the customer.If the complaint is not lodged within 30 days of transaction, the customer is not entitled for any compensation for delay in resolving his / her complaint.

G8 Summit

Permanent G8+1 participants

The 40th G8 summit is to be held in Russia in 2014.

The 39th G8 summit was held on 17–18 June 2013 in London.

The official theme of the summit was tax evasion and transparency. However, the Syrian civil war dominated the discussions. A seven-point plan on Syria was agreed after much debate. Other agreements included a way to automate the sharing of tax information, new rules for mining companies, and a pledge to end payments for kidnap victim releases. The United States and the European Union agreed to begin talks towards a broad trade agreement.

The composition of the G8 summit is a perennial topic. The G8 summits have considered the President of the European Commission as a permanently welcome participant in all G8 meetings and decision-making since 1981.^{Members are CANADA, FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, JAPAN, RUSSIA , UK, US}

The Five Pillars of Raghuram Rajan

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has big plans to reform India’s financial sector during his term as the central bank chief.
His strategy takes a cue from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who this summer unveiled a plan for boosting Japan’s growth based on three elements, which Mr. Abe calls arrows.
“They have three arrows, I have five pillars,” Mr. Rajan said at an event of The Institute of International Finance in Washington D.C. earlier this month. “Five pillars of reform over the next few years,” he said.
Here they are:
Pillar 1: Monetary policy framework.
“We’ve got to get our monetary policy framework clear and understood by the broader public,” said Mr. Rajan.
In September, the RBI set up a committee to review its objectives and suggest measures to strengthen the effectiveness of the bank’s monetary policies.
“And of course, also, bring it up to modern standards of transparency and credibility,” Mr. Rajan said at the event in Washington.
Pillar 2: Reform India’s banking system.
In his inaugural speech as RBI governor, Mr. Rajan announced that banks will be able to open new branches in India without taking permission from the regulator, which was required until recently.
“That may be something many countries take for granted. But we didn’t have that. But now, we have free branching completely in India,” said Mr. Rajan in Washington.
He said the RBI was considering a plan to issue new bank licenses on tap, meaning anyone can apply to set up a bank at any time. In India up to now, the RBI has given licenses only in certain periods.
The RBI will also soon come out with new rules for foreign banks, that would give them an option to set up shop as local companies in India, as opposed to their current structure of setting up as branches of a foreign parent.
Mr. Rajan said foreign banks which set up wholly-owned subsidiaries will get “near national treatment”, including the freedom to set up numerous branches, which they don’t enjoy right now.
Pillar 3: Liberalizing Indian markets.
“We want to deepen Indian markets – deepen corporate debt market, the government debt markets, the money markets, as well as derivatives markets (including) interest rate derivatives, currency derivatives,” said Mr. Rajan. He added, however, that some of this will have to wait till the local markets calm down for a prolonged period.
Pillar 4: Financial inclusion.
Mr. Rajan said that India would look to use technology increasingly to bring financial services to millions of unbanked people in smaller towns and rural areas.
“We have a committee which is looking into how we should do this better,” said Mr. Rajan.
Pillar 5: Dealing with financial distress.
“Whether it be corporate distress, or financial institution distress: we need to improve our mechanisms to make it simpler, cleaner, and less value-reducing,” said Mr. Rajan.
He has previously said that India needs to accelerate the working of Debt Recovery Tribunals and Asset Reconstruction companies, so that bad loans sitting on the books of Indian banks are processed quickly. That will free up banks to lend more to financially healthy companies that need money.
Mr. Rajan said in Washington that India has already taken several steps toward the goals described above, such as increasing the amount of investment foreign investors can bring in, and simplifying routes for their investments.
“We can…make a tremendous advance on the financial side over the next few years,” said Mr. Rajan.

Bargad Aashram desk

Pages

Current topics

Permanent G8+1 participants

The 40th G8 summit is to be held in Russia in 2014.

The 39th G8 summit was held on 17–18 June 2013 in London.

The Five Pillars of Raghuram Rajan

3 comments:

Statement 1- All As are Bs Statement2- All Bs are Cs Conclusion : All A being C is a possibility. My question is, since All A being C is a certainty and not merely a possibility, does the conclusion hold true? (Because possibility is probably a subset of certainty??) Thanks. Any help is appreciated.



DmitryFarber Manhattan GMAT Instructor Joined: 22 Mar 2011 Posts: 405 Followers: 133 Kudos [?]: 248 [0], given: 12	Re: Syllogism doubt [#permalink] 14 Apr 2013, 08:24 Expert's post Absolutely. In order for something to be true, it has to be possible, and we know from the statements that all As are Cs. Imagine negating the conclusion--"It is not possible that all As are Cs." That can't be right. However, this is pretty far afield from the GMAT. Does this relate to some trouble you've been having with the test? _________________