Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Compendium Part 1 PDF
Compendium Part 1 PDF
· India has become the first country in the world to issue Biometric Seafarer Identity
Document (BSID), which captures the facial biometric data of seafarers.
· A book on Barack Obama, former United States (US) President, titled "Obama: The
Call of History" has been written by Peter Baker, the Chief White House
Correspondent for The New York Times. It gives an in-depth account of Obama's
years in office.
Café Coffee Day has appointed SV Ranganath as its interim Chairman after the death
of founder-chairman VG Siddhartha.
VG Siddhartha Hegde was an Indian billionaire and businessman from Karnataka. He
was the founder of the cafe chain Café Coffee Day and served as its chairman and
managing director.
· SBI Shanghai Branch linked up with National Advance Payment System of China
State Bank of India’s Shanghai branch has become first Indian bank to link up with
National Advance Payment System of China.
National Advance Payment System was launched in 2008 by People’s Bank of China
provides real-time settlement services for all payments.
· RBI has decided to allow fund transfers through NEFT on a 24×7 basis
RBI has decided to allow fund transfers through NEFT on a 24×7 basis from
December.
RBI had last month removed charges it levied on NEFT and RTGS transactions.
National Electronic Funds Transfer is an electronic funds transfer system maintained
by the Reserve Bank of India.
· India’s Forex Reserves has spotted the highest ever valuation of $430.57 bn
India’s forex reserves have spotted the highest ever valuation of $430.57 bn due to
rise in foreign currency assets.
Foreign Currency Assets (FCA) is the largest component of the forex reserve.
Foreign exchange reserves is money or other assets held by a central bank or other
monetary authority so that it can pay its liabilities, if needed, such as the currency
issued by the central bank, as well as the various bank reserves deposited with the
central bank by the government and other financial institutions.
Public sector Bank, Canara Bank has launched India’s first OTP facility for ATM
withdrawals. This additional factor of authentication protects from unauthorized
ATM cash withdrawals for cardholders.
Now Canara Bank ATMs get safer and more secured with OTP facility on cash
withdrawals above ₹10,000 in a day.
1. USA Tennis Player Serena Williams with estimated total earnings of $29.2 million
2. Japan Tennis Player Naomi Osaka with estimated total earnings of $24.3 million.
Liverpool Football player Virgil van Dijk has won UEFA's Player of the Year award. He
was beating Barcelona captain Lionel Messi and Juventus superstar Cristiano
Ronaldo, while England footballer Lucy Bronze taking the Women's Player of the
Year award.
UEFA also handed out positional awards for male players, with Van Dijk for
Champions League Defender of the Season.
· FAME scheme
Department of Heavy Industry has sanctioned 5595 electric buses under second
phase of ‘Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles’ (FAME) scheme.
The FAME India (Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles)
Scheme is an incentive scheme for the promotion of electric and hybrid vehicles in
the country.
Ultimate objective of the scheme is to promote electric mobility and the scheme
gives financial incentives for enhancing electric vehicle production and creation of
electric transportation infrastructure.
Phase I: started in 2015 and was completed on March 31st, 2019.
Phase II: started from April 1st, 2019, will be completed by March 31st, 2022.
Bharatcraft Portal will provide a platform for MSMEs to markets and sell their
products. Government has set a target to increase the contribution of MSMEs in the
manufacturing sector to 50% in the next five years
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has declared Ocean Energy as renewable
energy status. It has clarified to all stakeholders that energy produced using various
forms of ocean energy such as tidal, wave and ocean thermal energy conversion and
shall be eligible for meeting the non-solar Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO).
India has signed a deal to acquire R-27 Air-to-Air Missiles from Russia to be equipped
on Su-30MKI combat aircraft.
Jyske Bank of Denmark has launched the world’s first negative interest home loan
rate where the interest charge is minus 0.5% a year.
Negative interest rates effectively mean that a bank pays a borrower to take money
off their hands, so they pay back less than they have been loaned.
United Arab Emirates will honour Prime Minister Modi with the ‘Order of Zayed’.
The Order of Zayed is the United Arab Emirates’ highest civil decoration.
· Indonesia’s New Capital
· RuPay in Bhutan
Prime Minister Modi has launched RuPay Card in Bhutan by making a purchase at
Simtokha Dzong.
Reserve Bank of India and Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan would integrate the
financial switches of the two countries in order to simplify cross border transactions.
RuPay card scheme was conceived and launched by National Payments Corporation
of India on 26 March 2012.
It was created to fulfil the Reserve Bank of India’s vision to have a domestic, open
and multilateral system of payments. RuPay facilitates electronic payment at all
Indian banks and financial institutions.
Amazon has opened its largest-ever campus in Hyderabad which can accommodate
15000 employees.
Amazon is an American multinational technology company based in Seattle,
Washington that focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and
artificial intelligence. It is considered one of the Big Four technology companies
along with Google, Apple, and Facebook.
The Statue of Unity in Gujarat and Soho House in Mumbai were featured in Time’s
list of world’s Greatest Places 2019.
Soho House is an 11-storey building that comprises a library, a movie theatre with 34
seats and a rooftop bar and swimming pool, overlooking the Arabian Sea.
Akademik Lomonosov is the world’s first floating nuclear power plant is currently
being built at the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Floating nuclear power stations are vessels designed by Rosatom.
They are self-contained, low-capacity, floating nuclear power plants. The stations are
to be mass-produced at shipbuilding facilities and then towed to the destination
ports of the cities and towns experiencing deficit of power due to industrialization.
· The King Hamad Order of the Renaissance
PM Modi was conferred ‘The King Hamad Order of the Renaissance’ by the King of
Bahrain.
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has launched the RuPay card, making
the UAE the first country in the Middle East to initiate the Indian indigenous system
of electronic payment. RuPay card scheme was launched in 2012 to fulfil the Reserve
Bank of India's vision to have a domestic, open and multilateral system of payments.
RuPay facilitates electronic payment at all Indian banks and financial institutions.
India has already launched the RuPay card in Singapore and Bhutan.
India has been invited as a special guest in the summit. PM Narendra Modi will
address sessions on the environment, climate, oceans and digital transformation at
the G7 Summit.
· State-run oil refiner Indian Oil Corporation Ltd will set up a 1 Giga Watt (GW) plant
to make batteries used for running electric vehicles (EVs) in partnership with an
overseas start-up using a non-lithium ion raw material. The move fits well with the
government's strategy to facilitate the adoption of EVs in the country's energy
basket, and cut the fuel import bill. It also supports a key element of the EVs industry
batteries and their recharge.
· Anshula Kant of India has been appointed as MD and CFO of World Bank.
Apple Inc. has acquired Intel’s Smartphone Modem Business for $1 billion.
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company
headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in the Silicon Valley.
Reebok has signed Actress Katrina Kaif and Varun Dhawan as its new brand
ambassador in India.
Reebok is an English footwear and apparel company, subsidiary of German sports
giant Adidas since 2005.
Indian Passport was ranked 86th position with a mobility score of 58.
1. Japan and Singapore
2. South Korea, Germany and Finland
3. Denmark, Italy and Luxembourg
Brand Finance has released India’s 100 Most Valuable Brand 2019 List.
1. Tata, 2. LIC, 3. Infosys, 4. SBI, 5. Mahindra Group, 6. HDFC
ADB has cut India’s GDP Growth Rate from 7.2% to 7.0% for FY20.
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 19
December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of
Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines.
USA based Ebix has acquired travel portal Yatra Online for $337.8 million.
Yatra.com is an Indian online travel agency and travel search engine. It is based in
Gurugram, Haryana. It was founded by Dhruv Shringi, Manish Amin and Sabina
Chopra in August 2006.
‘Internet Saathi’ is an initiative of Google India and Tata Trusts which is aimed at
facilitating digital literacy among women in rural India.
It will be expanded to villages in Punjab and Odisha.
Chief of ‘Internet Saathi’ Google India: Neha Barjatya.
Aditya Birla Payments Bank has announced the shutting down of its operation.
Aditya Birla Payments Bank was a joint venture between Grasim and Vodafone Idea.
According to IMF, India’s GDP growth is expected to grow by 7% in 2019-20 and 7.2%
in 2020-21.
Google has acquired Israeli-US cloud storage start up ‘Elastifile’ for around $200
million.
Startup Elastifile will join Google Cloud post-acquisition.
International Business Machines Corp acquired a software company Red Hat Inc in
$34 billion for the ramp-up its cloud computing business. This is the company’s
biggest acquisition in its more than 100-year.
GST Council has decided to reduce GST rate on Electric Vehicles to 5% from August 1.
This follows government announcing ₹1.5-lakh income tax deduction on loan
interest for purchasing Electric Vehicles.
Microsoft has acquired data privacy, governance service firm BlueTalon. BlueTalon
helps enterprises set policies for how their employees can access their
data. BlueTalon works with leading Fortune 100 companies to eliminate data
security blind spots and gain visibility and control of data.
Deposits in bank accounts opened under Jan Dhan scheme have crossed the Rs 1
lakh crore mark.
As per the latest finance ministry data, the total balance in over 36.06 crore Pradhan
Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts was at Rs 1,00,495.94 crore as on July 3.
The PMJDY was launched on August 28, 2014, with an aim to provide universal
access to banking facilities to the people in the country.
· UJALA scheme
· Launch of Chandrayaan-2
· STRIDE Scheme
Pradhan Mantri Laghu Vyapari Maan-Dhan Yojana was launched by the Union labour
and Employment ministry for retailers and small traders.
A minimum monthly pension of Rs 3000/month to small shopkeepers, retail traders,
and the self-employed people aged between 18-40 years after they attain 60 years
of age.
It is an extension of Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan.
Kaiga Atomic Energy station, Karnataka set a World Record in continuous operation
of 962 days by Unit-1 of Kaiga Generating Station.
Kaiga Generating Station is a nuclear power generating station situated at Kaiga,
near the river Kali, in Uttar Kannada district of Karnataka, India.
The plant has been in operation since March 2000 and is operated by the Nuclear
Power Corporation of India. It has four units.
South Central Railway has commissioned the longest electrified tunnel in India.
It is between Cherlopalli (Andhra Pradesh) and Rapuru (Andhra Pradesh) stations is
6.6 km long
Sri Lanka has become fifth country in the World Health Organisation (WHO)
Southeast Asia region to eliminate measles.
The other countries in the region which have achieved this feat are Bhutan,
Maldives, DPR Korea and Timor-Leste.
· Wimbledon 2019
· Tour de France
The ICC World Test Championship will be a league competition for Test cricket run by
the International Cricket Council, starting in 2019.
It is intended to become the premier championship for Test cricket.
It is to be played over two years
It will start from 1 August 2019 with the first Test of the 2019 Ashes series and finish
with a final at Lord’s in England in June 2021.
Bollywood actor Anupam Kher is coming out with his autobiography, "Lessons Life
Taught Me Unknowingly".
Anupam Kher is one of the most prolific actors in the Indian film industry who has
acted in over 530 films in several languages, both in India and the West.
British consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser named PepsiCo executive Laxman
Narasimhan to succeed Rakesh Kapoor as chief executive officer.
Narasimhan, PepsiCo's global chief commercial officer, will join Reckitt as CEO-
designate and be appointed to the board on July 16. He will become group CEO on
September 1.
Om Birla, a two-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament (MP) from
Rajasthan, was unanimously elected as the 17th Lok Sabha Speaker. Om Birla was
elected to the 17th Lok Sabha from the Kota-Bundi constituency.
· Qu Dongyu becomes first Chinese to head FAO
Qu Dongyu becomes the first Chinese national to head the UN's Food and
Agriculture Organization.
Qu Dongyu will replace Brazil's Jose Graziano da Silva. He is a biologist by training
and has 30 years of experience in developing digital technologies in agriculture and
introducing micro credit in rural areas.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the extension of Amitabh
Kant’s tenure as the CEO of NITI Aayog beyond June 30, 2019 to June 30, 2021.
NITI Aayog: National Institution for Transforming India.
NITI Aayog CEO: Amitabh Kant, Vice Chairman: Rajiv Kumar.
Warner Media, part of AT&T Inc, has appointed Ann Sarnoff as the chief executive
officer of Warner Bros. Ann Sarnoff has become the first female CEO of Warner Bros.
She will be replacing Kevin Tsujihara.
ONGC, India’s top oil and gas producer, has toppled Indian Oil Corp (IOC) to regain the
crown of being the country’s most profitable public sector company. According to
earnings statements of the listed companies, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) reported
a 34 per cent jump it’s in 2018-19 fiscal net profit to Rs. 26,716 crore.
In comparison, IOC registered a net profit of Rs 17.274 crore for the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2019. ONGC, in the previous two financial years, had lost the most profitable
PSU tag to IOC.
To encourage digital payments, the Nandan Nilekani committee has suggested a host of
measures, including elimination of charges, round-the-clock RTGS and NEFT facility, and
duty-free import of point-of-sales machines.
The committee, which was appointed by the RBI, had submitted its suggestions on
promoting digital payments to Governor Shaktikanta Das last month.
· Indian Oil, BPCL And HPCL Ink JV For Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG Pipeline Project
Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd
(HPCL) had signed a joint venture in New Delhi for Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG Pipeline
Project. They will be laying the world’s longest LPG pipeline from Kandla (Gujarat) to
Gorakhpur (UP).
The Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG Pipeline is estimated to cost about Rs 10,000 crore. It would
be implemented by a Joint Venture Company of Indian Oil with 50% shareholding. BPCL
and HPCL will have 25% share each.
The World Bank retained its forecast of India's growth rate at 7.5% for the current
financial Year 2019/20.
In its Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank also mentioned that growth
rate is expected to remain the same for the next two fiscals.
IT Industry icon Azim Premji will retire as Executive Chairman of Wipro with effect from
30th July 2019. He led the company for 53 years. He will continue to serve on the board
as Non-Executive Director and founder Chairman. His son Rishad Premji, Chief Strategy
Officer and a board member will take over as the Executive Chairman of the company.
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL), which retails brands such as Louis Philippe,
Peter England and Van Heusen, has acquired ethnic apparel and lifestyle retailer
‘Jaypore E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd‘ which sells ethnic fashion merchandise under its own
brand ‘Jaypore’ for Rs 110 crore.
The Reserve Bank of India constituted a six-member committee to review the ATM
interchange fee structure with a "view to increase the ATM deployment in the unbanked
areas".
The committee will be led by V G Kannan, Chief Executive, Indian Banks Association.
· Dell has emerged as the most trusted brand in India in 2019: TRA
According to a report released by brand analytics firm TRA Research, “Dell” has emerged
as the most trusted brand in India in 2019. With 31% Brand Trust Index (BTI) difference
from Dell, auto brand Jeep makes a dramatic entry in the second spot. LIC and Amazon
are ranked on the third and fourth spots and Apple iPhone emerged as India’s fifth most
trusted brand.
Facebook has announced a digital currency called Libra that will allow its billions of
users to make financial transactions across the globe.
Libra is being touted as a means to connect people who do not have access to traditional
banking platforms. Technology to make transactions with Libra will be available as a
standalone app as well as on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger platforms as early
as 2020.
In its latest Global Economic Outlook, the global rating agency Fitch lowers India's
growth forecast from 6.8% to 6.6% for the current fiscal, as manufacturing and
agriculture sectors showed signs of slowing down over the past year.
Fitch also retained its GDP growth forecast for the next fiscal (2020-21) at 7.1% and 7.0%
for 2021-22.
Randstad rates Amazon India as country’s most attractive employer brand. Microsoft
India emerged as the runner-up.
As per the study, salary and employee benefits continue to be the top driver, while
choosing an employer for the Indian workforce, followed by work-life balance and job
security.
In Football, Liverpool breezed past Tottenham at Madrid to win the Champions League
for the sixth time. In the all-English showpiece, the Reds got the better of Spurs with a 2-
nil win. Mohamed Salah put Liverpool in front after just two minutes when he converted
a penalty following a handball by Moussa Sissoko. Last season, Liverpool had lost to Real
Madrid, 1-3, at Kiev.