Walmart India appoints Ashwin Mittal as CFO

Walmart India has appointed Ashwin Mittal as chief operating officer and Javier Rojo as real estate and business development head. Mittal  will replace incumbent CFO Jill Anderson as he will be soon repatriated back to Walmart in US. Ashwin Mittal is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA) has rich work experience of 25 years in multinational companies, including Yum Restaurants and Silicon Graphics Cray.

 NPCI links 15 crore bank accounts with Aadhaar number

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has successfully linked 15 crore Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) accounts with the Aadhaar numbers. Beneficiaries of all types of government subsidies /benefit transfers are expected to be brought under the linkage programme very soon. Such a framework of electronic benefit transfer will not only be unique but also be one of the largest in the world. The extent of leakage prevented due to this unique system will be visible on completion of running the scheme for about a year.

NASA spacecraft creates history, enters dwarf planet’s orbit

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has created history by becoming the first mission to achieve orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres with an aim of providing new insights and capturing images from the distant world. The spacecraft was approximately 38000 miles (61000 kilometers) away from planet Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet’s gravity. “Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet,” .

Prime Minister inaugurates two 600 MW Thermal Power Units in Khandwa, M P

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated two units each of 600 Mega Watt (MW) capacity in Shree Singaji Thermal Power Project in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. Shree Singaji Thermal Power Plant is a coal-fired project. It is owned and developed by Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited (MPPGCL).

Kerala Assembly speaker G Karthikeyan passes away

Senior Congress leader and Kerala Assembly Speaker G Karthikeyan passed away in Bangalore, Karnataka. He was 66. Karthikeyan died while he was undergoing treatment in Bangalore after he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He had been elected to the state assembly in 1982, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011.

Saina Nehwal becomes first Indian woman to qualify for All England final

Saina Nehwal beat China’s unseeded Sun Yu 21-13, 21-13 in semis to become the first Indian woman to enter the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships. Only two Indians Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Prakash Padukone (1980) have won the tournament till date. Her opponent in the final is sixth seed and current world champion Carolina Marin of Spain.