Daily Current Affairs 12th March, 2021

Daily Current Affairs 12 March 2021 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

UP gets its 8th Airport in Bareilly
Flight operations at the much-awaited Bareilly airport have started. With this, Bareilly becomes the eighth airport to operate in Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Prayagraj and Hindon.

• The airport has been upgraded for commercial flight operations under UDAN – RCS.
• With this, Bareilly becomes the 56th airport to be successfully operationalized under UDAN. 

India-Uzbekistan joint military exercise DUSTLIK II commences in Ranikhet
The India – Uzbekistan joint military exercise DUSTLIK II commenced in Foreign Training Node Chaubatia, Ranikhet in Uttarakhand.

• This is the Second Edition of annual bilateral joint exercise of both armies. It will continue till the 19th of this month.
• 45 Soldiers each from Uzbekistan and Indian Army are participating in the exercise.
• Both contingents will be sharing their expertise and skills in the field of counter terrorist operations in mountainous or rural or urban scenarios under UN mandate.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Switzerland tops UN’s global e-commerce index 2020, Indian ranked 71
Switzerland replaced the Netherlands at the top of UNCTAD’s Business-to-Consumer E-commerce Index 2020, which ranks 152 countries on their readiness to engage in online commerce.

• Top 5 countries are Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Singapore, United Kingdom. The two largest B2C e-commerce markets in the world, China and the United States, rank 55th and 12th respectively in the index.
• India remains, by far, the most prepared country for e-commerce in South Asia. It moved up four notches from its previous year’s position to rank 71st. Sri Lanka ranked 91, Nepal at 113rd position and Bhutan at 114th position.
• Afghanistan and Pakistan – the least and the second-least prepared country for e-commerce respectively.

Switzerland votes to ban burqa, niqab in public places
Voters in Switzerland narrowly backed a proposal to ban full-face coverings like burqa and niqab in public places, except sites of worship. The right-wing Swiss People’s Party put across the proposal.

• As many as 51.21 per cent of voters voted in support of the controversial proposal in the referendum.
• According to reports, the approval by voters means that facial covering will be banned in all publicly accessible places, including on the streets, in public offices, on public transport, in restaurants, shops and in the countryside.

BANKING & FINANCE

DBS Bank India joins hands with TRRAIN to facilitate youth employment
DBS Bank India announced its partnership with TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers & Retail Associates of India), a non-profit engaged in training and placement of youth in e-commerce & retail sectors.

• The partnership will support youth from low-income households by providing them with long-term employment opportunities.  
• Through the partnership, DBS will facilitate the skills training and employment of individuals affected by the pandemic and persons with disabilities through a one-year-long pan-India program, a combination of classroom and online training sessions.
• Once the training is complete, candidates will be recruited by leading industry partners in the retail and e-commerce sector across Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities. The program aims to train and secure jobs for over 800 individuals by the end of 2021.

Magicbricks ties up with Razorpay and HDFC Bank for credit card rent pay
Magicbricks has partnered with Razorpay and HDFC Bank to create a secure online solution for rent payments through credit cards with an eye on the 10-million rental residential household market.

• The deferment of a large spend which has a credit period of around 45 days also translates into a month’s interest of approximately 1%. 
• The feature also enables tenants to earn rewards points and offers available on credit card payments. The tenant needs to provide details of the landlord, make payments through credit cards and the landlord will receive the payment based on his bank details or UPI ID.

RBI removes PCA restrictions on IDBI Bank
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has removed IDBI Bank from restrictions placed on it due to its poor capital, asset quality and leverage position four years ago.

• It was noted that as per published results for the quarter ending December 31, 2020, the bank is not in breach of the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) parameters on regulatory capital, net NPA and leverage ratio.

Cholamandalam, Karur Vysya Bank come together for co-lending business
Cholamandalam Investment and Finance company has inked a partnership with private sector Karur Vysya Bank for co-lending business, eyeing to garner a larger market share across segments.

• The co-lending business was a great opportunity for banks and non-banking finance companies to draw upon the strength of each other.
• It would significantly help Cholamandalam and Karur Vysya Bank to expand the reach to new customer segments across the country.

Mastercard, Samsung Electronics, & Samsung Card sign MoU to develop biometric cards
Mastercard, Samsung Electronics’ System LSI Business, and Samsung Card has announced signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop a biometric card that features a built-in fingerprint scanner to authorize transactions securely at in-store payment terminals.

• Under the partnership, the companies aim to provide faster and secure payment experiences. The biometric authentication capability allows safer interactions and reduces physical contact points by eliminating the need to enter a PIN on a keypad.
• It also offers an additional layer of security to currently available credit cards by verifying the cardholder’s identity via a unique fingerprint.

State Bank of India leads in MeitY Digital Payment Scorecard
Country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has topped the list of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology’s (MeitY) Digital Payment Scorecard for 3 consecutive months.

• The scorecard tracks Commercial Banks’ performance on various digital parameters.
• SBI remained the top remitter bank by recording the highest UPI transaction volume of nearly 64 crores having a user base of 13.5 crores.
• According to SimilarWeb, SBI’s internet banking service is ranked first in terms of online traffic in the banking credit and lending category and is used by over 8.5 crore customers.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

WE Hub ties up with Australian govt. to back women entrepreneurs
WE Hub, India’s first and only state-led incubator to foster and promote women entrepreneurship to start up, scale up and accelerate with global market access, announced ‘UPSurge’, a collaboration with the Australian government.

• UPSurge is a pre-incubation programme to aid women entrepreneurs from across India to achieve financial independence.
• It follows the first WE Hub/Australia collaboration ‘Community Slate’ which concluded in 2020. Australia was WE-Hub’s first international partner.
• The 12-week pre-incubation programme gives participants skills to help them systematically gauge the feasibility of their ideas and develop them into a sustainable business, by instilling entrepreneurship to the participants.

IBM signs MoU with U’khand Government to introduce STEM for Girls
IBM announced a collaboration with Samagra Sikhsha Uttarakhand, the Government of Uttarakhand’s education mission, to introduce the ‘IBM STEM for Girls’ program in 130 secondary and higher secondary schools across five districts in the state.

• The collaboration is part of a three-year program between IBM and Uttarakhand State Government with the American India Foundation as the implementation partner to increase the participation of girls and women in STEM careers.
• The program will advance the skills and careers of close to 25,600 students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields.

NTPC to commission India’s largest floating solar power plant at Ramagundam by May
Telangana is all set to host India’s biggest floating solar power plant with a capacity of 100 MW. The project expected to be opened in May, is being set up at Ramagundam thermal power plant reservoir near Peddapalli district. 

• The solar project is commissioned by the energy conglomerate National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).
• The solar project which is estimated to cost around Rs 423 cr will have 4.5 lakh photovoltaic panels. The solar panels will cover 450-acre area of the reservoir and can be expanded in the future.

APPOINTMENTS

Arcil appoints Pallav Mohapatra as new MD & CEO
Asset reconstruction company Arcil said it has appointed Pallav Mohapatra as the new chief executive officer and managing director.

• Mohapatra will be responsible for leading the strategic direction and growth journey of the organization.
• Prior to this, Mahapatra was the MD & CEO of Central Bank of India where he was responsible for turning around the bank by overseeing sharp reduction in net bad loans and revamping of working and human resources systems.

AWARDS

Class of 2021: Deepika Padukone joins the list of WEF’s new Young Global Leaders
Actor Deepika Padukone and several Indian citizens and India-origin persons joined the list of the Young Global Leaders (YGLs) compiled by the World Economic Forum.

• They join a group of Nobel Prize recipients, Pulitzer winners, heads of state and chief executive officers committed to improving the state of the world.
• Announcing its 2021 class of YGLs, the WEF said these are the world’s most promising 112 tomorrow’s leaders under the age of 40 and are involved in activities ranging from advocating for public healthcare to campaigning for inclusivity in medical research.
• The 2021 YGL class members from the academia and research field include Devi Sridhar (University Lecturer in Global Health Politics, University of Oxford, UK), Adriana Cargill (independent Journalist, USA), Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (captain of Bangladesh cricket team) and Rohan Ramakrishnan (founder and CEO of the ASEAN Post, Malaysia).
• From the business field, there are Nirvana Chaudhary (managing director of Nepal’s Chaudhary Group), Shreevar Kheruka (managing director and CEO of Borosil India) and Srikanth Bolla (CEO of Bollant Industries, India).
• Members from the civil society and social entrepreneurship arena include Amit Paley (CEO of The Trevor Project, USA), Anulika Ajufo (principal of the UK’s Soros Economic Development Fund) and Deepika Padukone (founder of the Live Love Laugh Foundation, India).
• Others on the list include Vasudha Vats (global commercial lead/ senior director, Pfizer, USA), Vivek Ramaswamy (founder and CEO of Roivant Sciences, USA), Ameya Prabhu (managing partner of UAP Advisors, India) and Maleeka Bokhari (parliamentary secretary for law and justice, Pakistan).
• The list also include Aditi Avasthi (founder and CEO of Indiavidual Learning, India), Gazal Kalra (co-founder of Rivigo, India), Hitesh Wadhwa (vice-president for strategic initiatives at Tech Mahindra, India), Hriday Ravindranath (chief technology and information officer, Global Services at BT Group, India) and Suren Aloyan (founder, chairman and CEO, Dasaran, Armenia).

Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou wins Mo Ibrahim Prize
The 2020 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership has been awarded to Mahamadou Issoufou, President of Niger, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation announced.

• President Mahamadou Issoufou served two five-year terms as President of Niger from 2011 to 2020.
• He is the sixth recipient of the Ibrahim Prize, which recognises and celebrates excellence in African leadership.

BOOKS & AUTHORS 

“Karunanidhi: A Life” book by A.S. Panneerselvan
The book titled “Karunanidhi: A Life” written by the biographer A.S. Panneerselvan has been released recently.

• The book tells the story of the man who became a metaphor for modern Tamil Nadu, where language, empowerment, self-respect, art, literary forms and films coalesced to lend a unique vibrancy to politics.

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