GK Update 16th February, 2017

i. The International Coin Fair was inaugurated at Kanakakunnu Palace in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala by the Kerala state Minister for Tourism, Cooperation and Devaswoms Kadakampally Surendran.

ii. The three day exhibiton 13-15 February, 2017 has been organized by the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC).The exhibition has been organized to showcase more than 2,500 coins from around 500 regions including those from the time of empires and princely states.It would also feature the collection of Justin Gilbert Lopez who holds a Guinness world record for the largest coin collection of nearly 310 countries.

i. Government has allocated an amount of Rs 500 crore to India Post Payments Bank for the financial year 2017-18 to help it in setting up 650 branches across country by September 2017.

ii. As per Output-Outcome Framework for Schemes 2017-18 for the Department of Posts released that out of the allocated amount, Rs. 125 crore has been allocated as capital infusion into corporate entity for India Post Payments Bank” and Rs 375 crore as grant in aid to India Post Payments Bank (IPPB).

ii. Besides, Rs 110.83 crore has been allocated for establishing e-commerce, parcel booking, international business centres, Rs 73.5 crore for estates management, Rs 32 crore for mail operations and Rs 17.7 crore for equipments and IT infrastructure in rural post offices.Apart from this, government has allocated Rs 3.8 crore for setting up 246 offices and 200 outlets for providing better access to communication and financial services.

i. According to the global financial services major Nomura, the GDP growth of India is estimated to remain low at 5.7% in the January-March quarter due to the effect of demonetization of high value currency.

ii. Nomura expects the economic growth to slow from 7.3% GDP growth in the July-September 2016 to 6% in the October-December 2016 quarter and further to 5.7% in the first quarter of 2017 ending March 2017. However, the growth is also expected to recover after the first quarter of 2017 due to remonetization and wealth redistribution.

i. France based UNESCO organised the two-day Nature Fest at the World Heritage Site Great Himalayan National Park (GNHP) at Sairopa in Kullu district in the state of Himachal Pradesh.

ii. The festival was organised in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and would be attended by prominent conservationists.A media workshop held on the sidelines and Discussion on nature conservation to discuss various aspects of environmental journalism.

i. The ‘name and shame campaign’ initiated by Catholic Syrian Bank Employees and Retirees against wilful defaulters in Kerala seems to have started paying dividends.

ii. Of the 30 defaulters identified by the bank with dues of more than Rs50 lakh each, 10 borrowers have already approached the bank with settlement proposals, following dharnas organised at 20 locations in the State.

iii. According to EJ Kurien, DGM in charge of Asset Recovery, the bank has already received firm assurance for payments worth Rs25 crore from defaulters.The bank is now looking at getting these accounts closed before March.

iv. However, non-availability of adequate cash with the borrowers post demonetisation is posing a challenge, he stated.The benefit derived from the campaign is that the bank has succeeded in sending a strong message to defaulters not to avoid loan repayments.

i. IDFC Asset Management Company launched an open-ended fixed income fund  named Credit Opportunities Fund in Mumbai which is expected to raise the revenue of the company in the range of Rs 300 crore-500 crore within the NFO period itself.

ii. A new fund offer (NFO) is the first time subscription offer for a new scheme launched by the asset management companies (AMCs).

iii. A new fund offer is launched in the market to raise capital from the public in order to buy securities like shares, govt. bonds etc. from the market.The Credit Opportunities Fund will open for subscription on February 14, 2017 and close on February 27, 2017.

iv. It will reopen for continuous sale and repurchase from March 6, 2017.The new fund scheme aims to optimise the higher risk associated with the credit fund category.

i. International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, has teamed up with Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC) to conduct training programmes for Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs).

ii. The training programmes will be on ‘movable asset financing’ and ‘commercial credit reporting’. For this purpose, two engagement letters have been signed between IFC and FIDC, a representative body for NBFCs, especially those engaged in asset financing.

iii. Such programmes are expected to enhance the awareness, expertise and professionalism of NBFCs, especially the large number of small and medium sized NBFCs catering to the credit needs in rural and semi-urban areas.

iv. These training programmes would be conducted at various centres across the country under the guidance of leading consultants from the World Bank Group.

i. Nilesh Shivji Vikamsey was elected as the new President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) for the year 2017-18.The 40-member Central Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) also elected Naveen N D Gupta as the Vice-President for the year 2017-18.

ii. Prior to this, Vikamsey served as vice-president and has been the member of ICAI since 1985 while Gupta was Chartered Accountant of ICAI for more than 20 years. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) was established under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 passed by the Parliament of India with the objective of regulating accountancy profession in India.The council has 32 elected members and eight are nominated by the Central government

i. Pakistani Career diplomat Tehmina Janjua was appointed as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.She is the first women to be appointed on the post and will serve as the 29th Foreign Secretary of Pakistan.

ii. Tehmina Janjua will replace outgoing foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and assume office in the first week of March 2017.Presently, she was serving as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to  Tehmina Janjua Athe United Nations in Geneva since October 2015.

i. Former correspondent of the Press Trust of India,  T V Parasuram passed away. He was 93.

ii. Parasuram has won a Harvard Niemen Fellowship in journalism. He had served as the correspondent for The Indian Express for two decades.

iii. He has authored two books -‘ A Medal for Kashmir’, and ‘Jewish Heritage in India‘

i. Legendary American jazz singer Al Jarreau passed away in Los Angeles. He was 76.

ii. Al Jarreau was nicknamed as ‘Acrobat of Scat’  for his unique singing style and was best known for his 1981 album ‘Breakin’ Away and singing the theme song to the popular 1980’s TV show Moonlighting.

i. Australian cricketer Adam Voges has decided to retire from all formats of international cricket after playing his last match as captain of the team Prime Minister’s XI against Sri Lanka in Canberra.

ii. Voges has played only 20 Tests for Australia after debuting at the age of 35 in 2015 and became the oldest debut centurion when he scored an unbeaten 130 against West Indies in Dominica.

i. Jehan Daruvala became the first ever Indian to claim the New Zealand Grand Prix at Jehan Daruvalathe Chris Amon Circuit in Manfeild, New Zealand.

ii. With this win, Jehan, a Force India F1 team racing driver, scored 781 points in the Toyota Racing Series having 15-race held in January-February and was placed in fifth position.

iii. Australia’s Thomas Randle became the first Australian to win the Toyota Racing Series with 855 points followed by Brazilian Pedro Piquet (850 pts) at second and Dutch driver Richard Verschoor (843) at third.

i. Mumbai based Kush Bhagat has been awarded the Candidate Master (CM) title by the World Chess Federation body, FIDE on February 14, 2017 for his outstanding performance in Western Asian Youth Chess championship 2016 at UAE.

ii. Kush, a second grade student from Hill Spring International School has presented tremendous performances in the past 6 months.