Daily GK Update :31st July 2015

1. Centre to put Rs 20,000 crore more as capital infusion in public sector banks this year.

i. The government has decided to infuse capital to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore in public sector banks, Financial Services Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said. 50%, or Rs 10,000 crore of this money will find its way to "weak" banks. 

ii. This money is likely to strengthen balance sheets of banks reeling with high non-performing assets and bad loans. In his union budget for the fiscal presented in February, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the government has earmarked slightly under Rs 8000 crore for capital infusion purposes for the current year. 

iii. The finance ministry is setting up a rating system for public sector banks where their performance will be measured. Still in the planning stage, some of the criteria that are under discussion for the rating are the number of Jan Dhan accounts and financial inclusion programmes that banks have implemented, and the quantum of retail advances undertaken by them against their corporate advances.

iv. Under this method, a higher rated bank will enjoy equity support from the government unlike the practice earlier when government used to support the weaker banks with equity erosion.

2. Rajendra Srivastava of Singapore Management Univ to be next dean of ISB.

i. Rajendra Srivastava, the Provost and Deputy President and Professor of Marketing at Singapore Management University, will be the next Dean of Indian School of Business (ISB) with effect from January 1, 2016.

ii. This was announced by Adi Godrej, Chairman of the ISB Board, here on Friday. Srivastava will succeed Ajit Rangnekar, the outgoing Dean, who has held this position since January 2009.

iii. This was announced by Adi Godrej, Chairman of the ISB Board, here on Friday. Srivastava will succeed Ajit Rangnekar, the outgoing Dean, who has held this position since January 2009.

iv. Prior to SMU, he held distinguished research chairs and senior management positions at the University of Texas at Austin and Emory University in Atlanta. He has an MBA and PhD (Business Administration) from the University of Pittsburgh, an MS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Rhode Island, and a B.Tech (Mechanical Engineering) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

3. BHEL signs three MoU in Kazakhstan for power projects.

i. Bharat Heavy Electronics Limited (BHEL) has signed three strategic agreements with Kazakhstan companies in order to deepen its roots in Central Asia.

ii. BHEL will work with JSU on projects of mutual interest; JSU is the national power utility of Kazakhstan having a major share in the Kazakh power sector.

iii. BHEL will work with KUS in the energy sector for design and construction of power plants. KUS is one of the largest utility companies in the Kazakh power sector specifically work in power generation; transmission and sale of heat and electricity. It is owned by the $ 9 billion assets Ordabassy Group.

iv. BHEL will work with Kaznex Invest for co-operation in executing projects in Kazakhstan. Kaznex Invest works under the Ministry of Investments and Development of Kazakhstan, it is national export and investment agency of Kazakhstan.

4.  India’s 10 companies in Forbes Asia Fabulous 50 list.

i. Forbes Asia Fabulous 50 list released on the eve of its 10th Anniversary has listed 10 Indian companies which stands second after China in terms of number of companies listed.

ii. This year’s list was also dominated by Chinese companies, over 25 Chinese companies made to the list against 16 last year.

iii. China’s Tencent continued to be at the top on chart, which now worth $ 176.5 bn. South Korea has third highest number of companies with four firms after China and India, whereas Malaysia, Singapore, and Philippines have two firms each and Japan, Indonesia have one firm each on the list.

iv. Indian companies that made to the list are: HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin, Sun Pharma Industries, Motherson Sumi Systems, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors and Titan.

v. Among the fifty companies HDFC Bank was named as Asia Fab 50’s “brightest star” as it has made to the list nine times that is more than any other company in the list.

vi. Forbes selects The ‘Fab 50′ companies from the pool of 1,116 firms that have at least $ 3 billion in annual revenue or market cap.

5. Japan’s Nikkei buys Financial Times in $1.3-bn deal.

i. The two leading financial news operations from Europe and Asia are now together, as Nikkei Japanese media group is going to buy the Financial Times from Britain’s Pearson in a $1.3 billion.

ii. Financial Times acquisition is a triumph for Nikkei as this is the biggest acquisition ever by any Japanese media organisation.

iii. This acquisition has brought an opportunity to Nikkei newspaper to expand its readers outside its home market.

iv. Pearson a 171-year-old international media company sold FT as it wanted to expand its education business. Pearson owned FT for nearly 60 years.

6. DIPP accepts ADB, JICA plans on industrial corridors.

i. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has given nod to Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for their conceptual development plan (CDP) report on Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) and Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) respectively.

ii. On 22 April 2015, Andhra Pradesh government approved to take loan assistance from ADB for the development of proposed Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) project. The conceptual development plan report was in pipeline to receive nod from DIPP to carry forward it’s on ground development.

iii. VCIC is envisaged from Kolkata to Tuticorin (in Tamil Nadu) also known as East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC). ECEC in its first phase focuses on the Vizag-Chennai section which runs from Vishakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh to Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

iv. The recent report sanctioned by DIPP includes development of three industrial nodes in first phase they are; Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Tumkur( Karnataka) and Ponneri ( Tamil Nadu).

7.  India to surpass China’s population by 2022: UN Report.

i. India is going to become the most populous nation in the world by surpassing China in 2022.

ii. It was revealed in recently released United Nation’s report titled ‘World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision’ indicating India’s population growth within next seven years.

iii. India will become most populous nation, six years earlier than it was previously forecasted and will retain the top spot till year 2100.

iv. At present, China which is world’s populous country with approximately 1.38 billion population while, India has 1.31 billion.

v. India’s population around and after 2022, is projected to grow for several decades. It will be around to 1.5 billion in 2030 and 1.7 billion in 2050.