Daily Gk Updates IDFC, Bandhan get bank licences, coprorate houses left out i. Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday granted banking licences to infrastructure financing firm IDFC and microfinance institution Bandhan from among 25 applicants that included corporate heavyweights ADAG Group, Aditya Birla Group and Bajaj Group. ii. The RBI agreed to consider the application of India Post in consultation with the government and advised other applicants to apply afresh after the central bank comes out with new guidelines on granting licences on tap. iii. The in-principle approval granted (to the two entities) will be valid for a period of 18 months during which the applicants have to comply with the requirements under the guidelines and fulfil the other conditions as may be stipulated by the RBI, the central bank said in a statement. iv. The bank licences were awarded a day after the Election Commission granted approval to the RBI to go ahead with the process. v. The RBI said IDFC and Bandhan were recommended as suitable for grant of in-principle approval by the High-Level Advisory Committee (HLAC) headed by former Governor Bimal Jalan. vi. Other members of the committee were former RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat, former Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman C B Bhave and Nachiket M Mor, Director of the Central Board of Directors of the RBI. vii. At Bandhan, we work to bring the forsaken hope in the lives of the unprivileged section of the community. You are welcome to explore our website and find out how we make a difference to more than 50 lakh families. About Bandhan Financial Services Private Ltd, Bandhan was set up to address the dual objective of poverty alleviation and women empowerment.The microfinance activities are carried on by Bandhan Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. (BFSPL), incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 and also registered as a Non Banking Financial Company (NBFC) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). That apart, Bandhan is also engaged in development work through its not for profit entity. About IDFC Limited: IDFC Limited is Indias leading integrated infrastructure finance player providing end to end infrastructure financing and project implementation services. It is integral part of the countrys development story since 1997, when our company was formed with the specific mandate to build the nation. 2. Pune-Bilaspur superfast premium train i. The railway administration will run a superfast premium express train between Pune and Bilaspur (and vice-versa) via Nagpur to clear the extra rush of summer, a press release said. ii. Train number 8296 will depart from Pune on April 8 (Tuesday) and April 12 (Saturday) at 7.30 p.m. and reach Bilaspur at 3 p.m. It will pass via Nagpur at 8.20 a.m. next day (Wednesday and Sunday), a press release from Nagpur division of Central Railway said. iii. Similarly, train number 8295 will leave Bilaspur at 9.15 p.m. on April 7 and 11 (Monday and Friday) and will arrive at Pune the next day at 4.45 p.m. It will pass via Nagpur at 3.45 p.m. (Tuesday and Saturday). iv. The train will stop at Kopargaon, Manmad, Bhusaval, Nagpur, Gondia, Durg and Raipur in both directions. It will have 20 coaches, including three 2AC, five 3AC and 10 sleeper coaches. 3. Credit card base grows 4% in FY14 i. Credit card base in the country grew 4 per cent in FY14 to 20.3 million cards, according to the Worldline India Card Payment Report 2014. ii. A second consecutive year of growth is encouraging although the growth rate is likely to be slow as card industry players focus more on profitability, the report said. iii. Private sector banks had a larger share of the pie with 54 per cent of cards being issued by them, whereas public sector banks issued 20 per cent and foreign banks issued 26 per cent of the cards. iv. HDFC Bank with 5.1 million cards topped the list with a 27 per cent share, while ICICI Bank with 3.1 million and SBI with 2.8 million cards had a market share of 17 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively. v. According to the report, the average number of credit card transactions per card per year were around 25, while the average spends were Rs 2,900. 4. ISRO set to launch IRNSS 1B tomorrow i. ISRO is set to send its second satellite from Sriharikota tomorrow, which would help put in place the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System. ii. The second of the seven planned satellites for the system, IRNSS 1B would be launched at 5.14 PM from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, where the countdown for the launch was presently proceeding smoothly, ISRO officials said. iii. IRNSS 1B has a mission life of 10 years from the date of launch. ISRO needs to launch at least four of the seven satellites to start the operations of the IRNSS. iv. This is the sixth time, ISRO is using the XL version of the 44.4 metre-tall PSLV. v. The national space agency already launched IRNSS 1A, its first satellite on 1st July last year and it is presently in orbit. vi. IRNSS is similar to US Global Positioning System, Russias Glonass and Europes Galileo. vii. China and Japan too have similar systems named Beidou and Japanese Quasi Zenith Satellite System respectively, ISRO officials said. 5. New President for Computer Society i. HR Mohan has taken over as the President of Computer Society of India from April 1. ii. Mohan, Associate Vice-President (Systems), The Hindu, has been with the Society for over four decades. iii. The Computer Society is the largest association of IT professionals in India with over 90,000 members and 73 chapters. 6. Sahara unable to pay Rs. 10,000 crore for Roy’s bail i. Sahara Group on Thursday expressed its inability before the Supreme Court to immediately pay Rs. 10,000 crore for securing bail of its chief Subrata Roy and its two directors, who have been in jail since March 4, 2014. ii. The group told a bench of justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and J.S. Khehar that it can pay Rs. 2,500 crore immediately and rest Rs. 2,500 crore in cash within three weeks after release of Mr. Roy and two directors, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary. iii. Mr. Roy and the other two directors of the group have been in judicial custody since March 4 for not abiding by the apex court’s order for depositing Rs. 20,000 crore of investors money with SEBI. 7. TN govt declares April 24 as public holiday i. The Tamil Nadu Government has declared a public holiday on April 24 when the state goes for Lok Sabha polls. ii. he Tamil Nadu Government has declared a public holiday on April 24 when the state goes for Lok Sabha polls. 8. Former Australia test batsman Marcus North retires i. Ex-Australia test batsman Marcus North says he will retire from first-class cricket to pursue wine industry business interests in Britain and to play limited stints in English county cricket. ii. North scored 886 runs at an average of 63.28 this season to lead his Western Australia side to its first domestic first-class final in 15 years, losing to New South Wales. iii. The 34-year-old North on Thursday said he plans to honour the final year of his contract with Big Bash Twenty20 side the Sydney Sixers. North says he hopes eventually to coach at the county level in England.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 04:18:52 +0000
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