Daily Current Affairs – March 26, 2024
Daily Current Affairs - Banking - March 26, 2024
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National News
India’s national organic production body approves 4 new certifying agencies
- India’s National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) has given accreditation to four new certifying bodies (organisations), while removing curbs on Fair Cert Certifications allowing it to register new processors and traders.
- The four new organisations are GSCI Pvt Ltd for the west zone, Agroland Services Pvt Ltd and Krushi Certification Pvt Ltd for the north zone and Cert India Pvt Ltd for crop production, processing and handling.
- National Accreditation Board (NAB) under NPOP has decided to restrict three agencies from making new registrations, while also not permitting Fair Cert to certify organic cotton.
International News
High Commission of India In Colombo Unveils Buddhist Exhibition At Sri Sambodhi Maha Vihara Temple
- The High Commission of India in Colombo unveiled a Buddhist Exhibition at Sri Sambodhi Maha Vihara Temple.
- This exhibition serves as a vibrant tapestry, weaving together India’s profound Buddhist legacy through a collection of evocative photographs depicting pivotal moments from the life of the Buddha and showcasing revered pilgrimage sites across India.
- This exhibition marks the second installment in a series of mobile exhibitions organized by the High Commission, each to be unveiled at different Buddhist places of worship on every Poya day throughout the year.
- Sri Lanka – Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (legislative) Colombo (executive and judicial) (Capital) – Sri Lankan rupee (Currency) – Ranil Wickremesinghe (President) – Dinesh Gunawardena (Prime Minister) – Sinhala & Tamil (Official Language)
Banking and Finance
Ujjivan Small Finance partners with Veefin Solutions for MSME growth
- Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has partnered with Veefin Solutions Ltd to enhance supply chain finance offerings for MSMEs, addressing the sector’s working capital needs.
- It aims to provide end-to-end solutions, bridging the credit gap in the MSME sector and fostering inclusive growth.
- Ujjivan Small Finance Bank – 01/02/2017 (Founded) – Bangalore (HQ)- Ittira Davis (MD & CEO)
ICRA: Bank direct lending to NBFCs to moderate at ₹1.7-1.9 trillion in FY25
- According to rating agency ICRA, with increased risk weights and exposure reaching sectoral limits, bank direct lending to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) in the country is expected to be ₹1.7-1.9 trillion in the next financial year (FY25).
- The incremental direct bank lending to NBFCs was ₹1.61 trillion in the 10-month of the current financial year (FY24).
- In November 2023, RBI hiked risk weight by 25 per cent where it (risk weight) was below 100 per cent, signalling the regulator’s concerns about high pace of bank lending to NBFCs.
- According to RBI data, the outstanding bank loans to NBFCs stood at ₹15.03 trillion in January 2024.
- Bank lent ₹3.08 trillion to finance companies in FY23.
- It was much lower at ₹73,831 crores in FY22.
- The estimated incremental direct bank lending of ₹1.7-1.9 trillion for FY25 would be about 33 per cent of the total base case incremental funding requirements of the sector (₹5.3-5.5 trillion) in FY25.
- This is against meeting an estimated 38 per cent of incremental funding requirements in FY24 via direct lending.
- ICRA Limited (ICRA) – 1991 (Founded) – New Delhi (HQ) – Arun Duggal (Non-executive Chairman)
Federal Bank partnered with NPCI for contactless payments
- Federal Bank has launched a RuPay smart key chain called ‘Flash Pay’ for contactless NCMC (National Common Mobility Card) payments at enabled metro stations and PoS terminals.
- Customers can make payments up to ₹5,000 without a PIN, whereas those over ₹5,000 will require PIN
- The per day limit at any PoS terminal has been capped at ₹1 lakh.
- ‘Flash Pay’ allows users to make secure payments with just a tap, eliminating the need for physical cards or cash.
- Through the ‘Flash Pay’ device, users can make payments at millions of merchants, with built-in security features such as tokenisation and encryption to ensure that transactions are safe and secure.
- Federal Bank – 23/04/1931 (Founded) – Aluva, Kochi (HQ) – Shyam Srinivasan (MD & CEO) – “Your Perfect Banking Partner” (Tagline)
Business and Economy
S&P Global raises India’s growth forecast to 6.8% for FY25
- S&P Global upped India’s growth forecast by 40 basis points to 8 per cent during Fiscal Year 2024-25.
- However, it is still lower than the 6 per cent growth forecast for the current fiscal.
Science and Technology
Asteroid named after Professor Jayant Murthy of Bengaluru
- International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named an asteroid after Jayant Murthy, who was acting director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) before his retirement in 2021.
- The asteroid 2005 EX296 has been designated as (215884) Jayantmurthy.
- The announcement was made by the IAU through its Working Group on Small Bodies Nomenclature.
- The asteroid (215884) Jayantmurthy was discovered by W. Buie at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, USA, in 2005 and has been named after Prof. Murthy in recognition of his work in the NASA New Horizons Science Team to observe the ultraviolet background radiation in the universe.
- The asteroid goes around the Sun in an orbit that lies between that of Mars and Jupiter once every 3 years.
- He joins the ranks of earlier directors of IIA — M.K. Vainu Bappu and Prof. J.C. Bhatacharyya — who also have asteroids named after them — 2596 Vainu Bappu (1979 KN) and 8348 Bhattacharyya (1988 BX).
- International Astronomical Union (IAU) – 1919 (Founded) – Paris, France (HQ) – Debra Meloy Elmegreen (President)
Nature
Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Farmers’ Welfare releases new dwarf coconut variety and two hybrid cocoa varieties
- Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Farmers’ Welfare and Food Processing Industries Shobha Karandlaje released a new dwarf coconut variety named ‘Kalpa Suvarna’ and two new hybrid varieties of cocoa developed by the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) at a farmers’ meet organised by the institute at its Kidu Research Station, in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka.
- ‘Kalpa Suvarna’ variety is ideal for tender coconut and copra production.
- The variety starts flower 30-36 months after planting.
- Its fruits are large-sized, oblong, and green in colour.
- Its tender nut water content is 431 ml and the copra content is around 186 grams with an oil content of 5%.
- The variety yields 108 to 130 nuts per palm every year under good management.
- It is recommended for cultivation in Karnataka and Kerala.
- New species of deep-sea isopod discovered off
- The coca varieties – VTL CH I and VTL CH II – released have high fat and nutrient contents.
- The VTL CH I is a high yielder and can be cultivated as an inter-crop both in arecanut and coconut plantations.
- It is suitable for traditional Karnataka and Kerala belts and Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh also.
- The VTL CH II is also a high yielder.
- It is tolerant to black pod rot which is high in high rainfall region.
- It is suitable for Karnataka and Kerala.
- We will also release it for Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
- The yield of both the varieties is 5 kg to 2.5 kg dry bean per tree per year.
New species of deep-sea isopod discovered off Kollam named after ISRO
- Researchers have named a new species of deep-sea isopod discovered off the Kollam coast after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- The tiny fish-parasitic crustacean, belonging to the genus Brucethoa, was recovered from the base of the gill cavity of the Spinyjaw greeneye, a marine fish.
- The new species has been named Brucethoa isro in honour of the Indian space agency’s a paper on the finding published in the journal Systematic Parasitology.
- The new species was identified by T. Aneesh, Assistant Professor at the Seto Inland Sea Carbon Neutral Research Centre, Hiroshima University; A.K. Helna of the Regional Forensics Science Laboratory, Kannur; and A. Biju Kumar, Department Head, Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala.
- This same team had in 2020 described Brucethoa as a new genus from India.
- Giant isopods are important scavengers in the deep-sea benthic environment. They are mainly found from the gloomy sublittoral zone at a depth of 170 m (560 ft).
Appointments
Luis Montenegro was named as Prime Minister of Portugal
- Portugal’s president named Luis Montenegro, head of the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD), as the country’s new prime minister.
- He would succeed António Costa.
- Portugal – Lisbon (Capital) – Portugese (Official Language) – Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (President) – Luis Montenegro (Prime Minister) – Euro (Currency)
Pavan Davuluri appointed as Microsoft Windows and Surface chief
- Microsoft named Pavan Davuluri as its new Windows and Surface chief, per an internal memo from a senior executive.
- He is an alumuni of IIT Madras.
- Google’s parent Alphabet is led by Madurai-born Sundar Pichai, also an IIT alumnus.
- Microsoft itself has Satya Nadella as chief executive, who has headed the company since 2014.
- Ravi Kumar S of Cognizant, Arvind Krishna of IBM, Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks, YouTube’s Neal Mohan and Shantanu Narayen of Adobe are some of the other prominent Indian-origin CEOs of global tech companies.
Reports
Hurun Global Rich List 2024
- According to the latest Hurun Global Rich List 2024 report, Mumbai has dethroned Beijing as Asia’s billionaire capital.
- The report unveils a total of 3,279 billionaires globally, with 167 additions in the past year.
- While China maintained its lead with 814 billionaires, India added nearly 100 new billionaires, while China saw a decline of
- The top 10 cities with billionaires include, New York, London, Mumbai (3rd), Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Moscow, New Delhi (9th), and San Francisco.
- The top 10 nations with billionaires include, China, the US, India (3rd), the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Italy, France and Brazil.
- The top 10 global billionaires include, Elon Musk (Tesla), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Bernard Arnault (LVMH), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway), Steve Ballmer (Microsoft), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Larry Page (Alphabet), Mukesh Ambani (Reliance industries) (10th).
Awards and Recognitions
Michel Talagrand awarded with 2024 Abel Prize
- The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has decided to award the Abel Prize for 2024 to France Mathematician Michel Talagrand for his work in probability theory and stochastic processes.
- From the outset, the development of probability theory was motivated by problems that arose in the context of gambling or assessing risks.
- The common theme in Michel Talagrand’s groundbreaking discoveries is working with and understanding the random processes we see all around us.
- It has now become apparent that a thorough understanding of random phenomena is essential in today’s world.
- For example, random algorithms underpin our weather forecasting and large language models.
- The Abel Prize is given for three specific areas of Talagrand’s work: Suprema of stochastic processes, Concentration of measures and Spin glass.
- The Abel Prize is funded by the Norwegian Government and amounts to NOK 7.5 million.
- It is awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and presented by King Harald V.
- The Abel Prize is named after Niels Henrik Abel, Norway’s greatest mathematician throughout the times.
- His mathematics have served as a base for a number of major technological breakthroughs, there amongst the development of the internet.
- The Abel Prize was established by the Norwegian Parliament (The Storting) in 2002, on the occasion the 200-year anniversary of his birth.
- The first Abel Prize laureate was Jean-Pierre Serre of France in
- As of 2024, 27 members were awarded with the Abel Prize.
- Norway – Oslo (Capital) – Norwegian krone (Currency) – Harald V (Monarch) – Jonas Gahr Støre (Prime Minister) – Norwegian & Sámi (Official Language)
Sports News
Virat Kohli becomes 1st Indian with 100 fifty-plus scores in T20s
- Virat Kohli achieved a significant landmark during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Punjab Kings clash as he got to his 100th fifty-plus score in T20 cricket with his knock at the Chinnaswamy stadium.
- He got to his fifty off just 31 balls against PBKS during the chase of 177.
- He joined Chris Gayle and David Warner as the third player to reach the landmark in T20 cricket.
Carlos Sainz Jr wins Australian F1 Grand Prix 2024
Position | Player | Country | Company |
1 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Spain | Ferrari |
2 | Charles Leclerc | Monaco | Ferrari |
3 | Lando Norris | United Kingdom | McLaren |
Important Days
Purple Day For Epilepsy 2024
- Purple Day For Epilepsy is annually observed on March 26.
- The day raises awareness about epilepsy, a neurological condition that affects millions of people worldwide.
- The first ever Purple Day event took place in March 2008.
- Epilepsy is a condition where the nerve cell activity in the brain is disrupted, which further causes seizures.
- It can be caused by genetic factors or brain injuries like trauma or stroke.
- Theme – “Lets Talk About Epilepsy”
Daily Current Affairs - March 26, 2024 - Consolidated
- India’s national organic production body approves 4 new certifying agencies
- High Commission of India In Colombo Unveils Buddhist Exhibition At Sri Sambodhi Maha Vihara Temple
- Ujjivan Small Finance partners with Veefin Solutions for MSME growth
- ICRA: Bank direct lending to NBFCs to moderate at ₹1.7-1.9 trillion in FY25
- Federal Bank partnered with NPCI for contactless payments
- S&P Global raises India’s growth forecast to 6.8% for FY25
- Asteroid named after Professor Jayant Murthy of Bengaluru
- Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Farmers’ Welfare releases new dwarf coconut variety and two hybrid cocoa varieties
- New species of deep-sea isopod discovered off Kollam named after ISRO
- Luis Montenegro was named as Prime Minister of Portugal
- Pavan Davuluri appointed as Microsoft Windows and Surface chief
- Hurun Global Rich List 2024
- Michel Talagrand awarded with 2024 Abel Prize
- Virat Kohli becomes 1st Indian with 100 fifty-plus scores in T20s
- 2024 Australian Grand Prix
- Purple Day For Epilepsy 2024