1) Union Govt. on 16 July 2013 came out with major reform in FDI (foreign direct investment), with increase in FDI in a segment of defence sector. For which segment of defence manufacturing, the upper limit of FDI has been raised? – State-of-the-art defence manufacturing (It should however, be noted that FDI limit for defence as a general sector remains unchanged at 26%) 2) What was the total number of registered companies in India as on 31 May 2013 as declared by Ministry of Corporate Affairs on 16 July 2013? – 13.21 lakh (However, 1.44 lakh of these firms are dormant and have not filed their annual returns for past three years. Of these, as many as 2.6 lakh companies have been closed for various reasons including court order and voluntary winding up, while another 30,435 firms are in the process of being liquidated) 3) Supreme Court on 16 July 2013 lifted the ban on dance bars in Maharashtra while upholding the right of women who dance at bars to pursue their profession. The court dismissed Maharashtra govt.’s appeal to forbid dancing in bars and said that prohibition violated the right to carry out one’s profession in a non-discriminatory manner. When this ban was imposed by the Maharashtra govt.? – On 15 August 2005 (Bombay High Court had earlier quashed this ban, which was challenged in the Supreme Court by the Maharashtra Govt.) 4) Which global steel-conglomerate on 16 July 2013 announced its decision to scrap its proposed 6-million tonne steel plant in Karnataka? – POSCO (South Korea’s POSCO had signed an MoU with the Karnataka government at a Global Investors Meet in Bengaluru in June 2010 to set up a steel plant with annual production capacity of 6 million tonnes in the state. However, progress on land acquisition was held back due to agitation by some farmers and religious leaders and finally, land acquisition was halted in July 2011. Total proposed investment in this plant stood at around Rs. 30,000 crore) 5) A few measures were announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 15 July 2013 to deal with rupee volatility. What measures are these, which helped rupee gain in comparison to dollar on 16 July 2013? The measures are - a) Raising the lending rate for commercial banks by 200 basis points b) Increasing the marginal standing facility (MSF) to 10.25% from 8.25% ((The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) is the rate at which banks can borrow from the central bank at an increased rate against government securities during times of tight cash. It was introduced in year 2011-12), and c) Plan to sell Govt. of India securities worth Rs. 12,000 crore in the open market on 18 July 2013 6) What date has been set for Presidential elections in Pakistan, which will replace incumbent Asif Ali Zardari? – 6 August 2013 (The date was announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan on 16 July 2013. This election, thus will be held over a month earlier than expected and is being seen as a move to hasten the exit of Zardari. Zardari had earlier announced that he will not run for a second term) 7) India ’s National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) was asked by the central government not to launch contracts of new commodities until the government finalizes a new regulatory framework. NSEL is owned by which company? – Financial Technologies ( India ) Limited (Since February 2012, the Forward Markets Commission, which regulates the futures exchanges, has been overseeing the functioning of spot exchanges. A new framework to regulate the spot exchanges is expected in the next three-four months. The NSEL clocked an annual turnover of Rs.600 crore in the year ended March 2013, and has 67 running contracts on the exchange, with sugar and rice contributing to most of its volumes) 8) NASA announced discovery of 14th moon of Neptune, which was discovered by Mark Showalter of SETI Institute and was captured by the Hubble telescope recently. What is the name designated to this newest moon of Neptune? – S/2004 N1
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 04:07:41 +0000
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