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Reliance, Aditya Birla, Future Group, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Apply For Payments Bank Permits The RBI deadline for applying for the payments banks ended on 2 February 2015. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd., Future Group, UAE Exchange India, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, IIFL, PayTM and Oxigen are the prominent bidders for the payments banks which will offer services such as remittances and deposits. Payments banks will be allowed to not only accept cash, but also pay it out, boosting their appeal for low-income savers. They will, however, not be allowed to provide loans but they can partner other banks as their agents to provide loans. Reliance Industries  joined hands with state-run behemoth SBI, while Bharti Airtel has partnered Kotak Mahindra Bank for seeking payments bank licences. Union Govt. has decided to rename the second phase of JNNURM […]

Leander Paes – Martina Hingis win Australian Open mixed-doubles title Leander Paes and Martina Hingis beat French-Canadian pair of Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor in straight sets (6-4,6-3) in the mixed doubles final in Melbourne. This title is 15th Grand Slam title for both Paes and Hingis. Leander Paes has won 7th mixed doubles titles and 8th doubles Grand Slam titles in his illustrious career. On the other hand Martina Hingis has won her 10th doubles Grand Slam apart from her 5th singles titles. Paes has highest number of Slam victories among Indians, ahead  of one-time partner Mahesh Bhupati (12). Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray to win fifth Australian Open title […]

Canister-based nuclear capable Agni-V missile test fired successfully India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed, intercontinental surface-to-surface nuclear capable ballistic missile ‘Agni-5’, which has a strike range of over 5000 kms and can carry a nuclear warhead of over one tonne, from Wheeler’s Island off Odisha coast. Sergio Mattarella elected as President of Italy Italy’s parliament has elected constitutional court judge Sergio Mattarella as the country’s president. He will Italy’s 12th president and succeed Giorgio Napolitano who had resigned earlier in January 2015 citing reason of poor health before his 2020 expiry term. 35th National Games inaugurated in Thiruvananthapuram … […]

This test is based on the daily GK capsules posted through this week. The test has 10 questions to be answered within 10 minutes. Click on read more to take the test. […]

Current Affair One –Liner (January) Union Government changes the name of 65­ year ­old Planning Commission as "NITI Aayog" or National Institution for Transforming India with some major changes in the structure. Lithuania became the 19th country to adopt the euro as a currency on 1 January 2015. PM Narendra Modi addresses 102nd Indian Science Congress 2015 at University of Mumbai. Prime Minister Narendra Modi nominated Columbia University economist Arvind Panagariya as vice­-chairman of the NITI Aayog. The chief executive officer and co­founder of Google Larry Page named as the Businessperson of the Year for 2014 by Fortune magazine. 9th January: Two-days annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas began in Gandhinagar, Gujrat. Maithripala Sirisena takes oath as the new President of Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015 in Gandhinagar in the presence of US Secretary of State John Kerry, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki­ moon and [...]

Base year revision impact: FY14 GDP at 6.9%, FY13 at 5.1% The government revised India’s 2013-14 GDP growth estimate to 6.9% from 4.7%. The 2012-13 growth estimate was revised to 5.1%from 4.5%. The new measurement of gross domestic product (GDP) includes under-represented and informal economic sectors as well as new items such as smart phones and LED television sets. This move will make it easier for the government to meet fiscal deficit goals. A change in base year also has been implemented and the new base year is 2011-12 instead of 2004-05. The base year is altered every five years and the change in measure of GDP data is to bring it in line with global standards. The base year was last changed in 2010. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe appointed as Chairman of African Union […]

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar appointed as new Foreign Secretary Dr. S. Jaishankar is at present India’s Ambassador to the United states. His name was cleared by Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will be replacing incumbent Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh whose tenure was curtailed with immediate effect. US tech giant Apple reports largest quarterly profit in history Apple reported a net profit of $18bn (£11.8bn). It is the biggest quarterly profit ever made by any public company in World and broke the previous record of Exxon Mobil which had earlier topped by making $15.9 billion profit in 2012. Apple’s revenue had grown to $74.6 billion in 2014 from $57.6 billion in 2013 i.e. reporting 30% increase in profit. This was mainly due to record sales of iPhones by the company. Chinese Yuan has recently become top five most-used currencies in the world […]

US President Barack Obama’s 3-day visit to India US President Barack Obama arrived in India on Sunday morning on a three-day state visit during which he will attend the Republic Day parade as chief guest and also hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is first American President to be Chief Guest of India’s Republic Day celebrations 2015 as well as he became the first sitting U.S. president to visit India twice. Pooja Thakur- first woman officer to lead guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan Wing Commander Pooja Thakur has become the first woman officer to lead the ceremonial Guard of Honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Wing Commander Pooja Thakur belongs to the administrative branch of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and is currently posted at ‘Disha’, the publicity cell under the Directorate of Personnel Officers at the Air Force Headquarters. India, U.S. sign three Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) on smart [...]

5th National Voter’s Day to be observed on 25th Jan In order to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process, Government of India has decided to celebrate January 25 every year as ‘National Voters’ Day’ (Hindi: राष्ट्रीय मतदाता दिवस). It started from January 25th 2011 to mark Commission’s foundation day. The theme for the 5th National Voter’s Day (NVD) is Easy Registration, Easy Correction. RBI’s aggressive dollar buying propels India’s forex reserves to life-time high […]