Weekly CA Quiz: March 2020 1st week

All new floating rate loans given to medium enterprises will be linked with external benchmarks from April 1, according to the Reserve Bank of India.

According to the the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) India’s fiscal deficit touched 128.5 per cent of the whole year budget target at January-end.

 The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) announced that the Indian team will not take part in the upcoming ISSF World Cup Shotgun in Cyprus due to coronavirus spreading in some countries other than China.

The government has given a six-month extension to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman Ajay Tyagi whose term at the helm was ending on February 29.

 The Reserve Bank of India has approved the appointment of Sumant Kathpalia as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IndusInd Bank.

Veteran editor Sreekar Prasad has entered the Limca Book of Records for ‘films edited in most number of languages’. He has edited films in 17 languages, namely Tamil, English, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, Nepali, Marathi, Sinhalese, Karbi, Mishing, Bodo, and Pangchenpa.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 10,000 Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs) all over the country in Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh.

World Productivity Congress, the world’s largest convention for productivity development, is back in India after a gap of 45 years.

Punjab University took it right down to the wire as it clinched two gold medals on the final day to emerge as the champion of the inaugural edition of the Khelo India University Games, that concluded recently.

 Rafael Nadal secured his 85th ATP Tour title with a resounding win over Taylor Fritz in the Mexican Open final in Acapulco.

Former Indian hockey player Balbir Singh Kullar, who was a part of the 1968 Olympics bronze-winning team, has passed away. He was 77.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Savitribai Phule Pune University on academic grounds.

An international yoga festival Antar Rashtriya Yog Mahotsav began in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand with yoga teachers and practitioners from eleven countries taking part in the week-long event.

China has taken over as president of the UN Security Council for the month of March 2020, pledging to promote solidarity and cooperation in this capacity.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a total of USD 4 million (about ₹29 crore) to help developing countries in Asia and Pacific to fight the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Fitch Solutions yesterday announced lowering its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for India for fiscal 2019-2020 to 4.9 per cent from 5.1 per cent earlier, citing weak domestic demand and supply chain disruptions due to the coronavirus outbreak.

 Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar has launched a mobile application named ‘Fuel Humsafar’ for delivery of diesel at doorsteps of Housing societies, hotels and hospitals in the national capital region.

Nokia’s Board of Directors has appointed Pekka Lundmark as President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia. Lundmark is expected to start in his new role on September 1, 2020.

National Chambal sanctuary has been declared as an eco-sensitive zone by the central government.

World Wildlife Day is observed on March 3 every year to raise awareness of endangered animals and plants, and ways to fight against wildlife crime.World Wildlife Day 2020 theme is ‘Sustaining all life on Earth’.

 The Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) announced that Pune will host the annual session of 108th Indian Science Congress on January 3-7, 2021.

Food aggregator Zomato has inked a strategic partnership with RBL Bank and Mastercard to launch a co-branded credit card, a move that will enable it to offer broad-based benefits to its consumers. The two partners aim to get one million cardholders in the next 24 months.

Paytm Insurance Broking (PIBPL), a subsidiary of Paytm, has got a brokerage licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to sell life and non-life insurance products.

As coronavirus reaches more than 60 countries, the World Bank Group has pledged to make available an initial package of up to USD 12 billion to assist countries coping with the health and economic impacts of the global outbreak.

Global agency OECD lowered its India’s GDP growth forecast to 5.1 per cent from the earlier projection of 6.2 per cent for 2020 on concerns of impact of deadly coronavirus on the domestic as well as the global economy.

 Indian men’s hockey team has climbed to the fourth position, their highest since the inception of FIH world rankings in 2003, in the recently released table.

 India’s 16-year-old batting sensation Shafali Verma has risen 19 slots to reach the number one spot in the ICC Women’s T20I batting rankings.

The 29th edition of the prestigious Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament has been postponed from April to September due to the fast-spreading coronavirus.

Suddhananda Mahathero, foremost Buddhist religious leader and chief abbot of Kamalapur Dharmarajika Buddhist Mahabihar, passed away while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dhaka. He was 87.

The World Hearing Day is celebrated annually on 3 March. The aim of this day is to raise global awareness among the general public and policy makers about hearing loss and ear and hearing care (EHC).The theme for WHD this year is the “Hearing for life, don’t let hearing loss limit you”.

 Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat named Gairsain in Chamoli district as the state “summer capital”.

 Financial assistance to the tune of Rs 1.51 crore has been sanctioned to Kaziranga National Park during the financial years 2018-19 and 2019-2020 under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

 Luxembourg becomes the first country to offer a free public transport system as the government tries to reduce particularly dense car traffic. The country abolished the fares for trains, trams and buses.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development said it has infused Rs 1.46 lakh crore in the rural banking system during the current fiscal.

According to a report released by US-based think tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI), India has the third-highest trade-related illicit financial flow among over 135 countries with a whopping USD 83.5 billion escaping the government’s tax net owing to trade-based money laundering tactics.

 The Badminton World Federation (BWF) shifted the Asia Championships 2020 from Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, to Manila, in the Philippines.

Irish architects Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara have been awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize for “consistent service to humanity as evidenced by a body of built work” and for leading the way for women in a male-dominated profession.

 Government of India appointed the current Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey as the new Finance Secretary. Pandey replaces current Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar.

 State-owned NBCC received National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approval to takeover debt-laden Jaypee Infratech, restoring hopes of homebuyers finally getting their promised flats in next four years.

Ride-hailing major Uber sold its food delivery business in India to food-tech giant Zomato for $206 million.

 Former United Nations chief Javier Perez de Cuellar passed away in Lima, the capital of his native country Peru. He was 100.

 Fourth Global Ayurveda Festival, GAF will be held at Kochi in Kerala from 16th to 20th May. A curtain raiser event was organized in New Delhi this evening for the GAF. The theme for the five-day event is Ayurveda Medical Tourism: Actualizing India’s credibility.

Government has envisaged replacement of all the level crossings on National Highways by Road Over Bridges or Road Under Bridges under the Setu Bharatam scheme.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has constituted a committee to examine and recommend Community Forest Resources (CFR Guideline) under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA).

 Markets regulator Sebi said it has launched a mobile application ‘Sebi SCORES ‘for convenience of investors to lodge grievances in Sebi Complaints Redress System (SCORES).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said a “moratorium” has been imposed on Yes Bank stressing that the bank’s financial capability has undergone a steady decline largely due to inability of the bank to raise capital.

Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has decided to decrease the interest rate of employees provident fund to 8.5 percent from 8.65 percent for 2019-2020, announced by Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar.

Google announced to open a Delhi cloud region in 2021. This will be the company’s second cloud region in India since it launched the Mumbai region in 2017.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) has decided that Mumbai, India, will be put forward to a vote of the IOC Members to host the IOC Session in 2023.

The prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai and Delhi are among the top 50 engineering colleges across the globe, according to subject-wise QS World Rankings 2020.

The Freedom in the World 2020 report ranks India at the 83rd position, along with Timor-Leste and Senegal. This is near the bottom of the pile among the countries categorised as “Free”, with only Tunisia receiving a lower score. India’s score fell by four points to 71, the worst decline among the world’s 25 largest democracies this year.

Consulting firm MicroSave Consulting (MSC) in a report titled ‘The real story of women’s financial inclusion in India’ says the Modi government’s flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), has helped raise women’s ownership of bank accounts from 43 per cent in 2014 to 77 per cent in 2017.

The International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup, scheduled to be held in New Delhi from March 15 to 26, has been postponed amid coronavirus outbreak, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) confirmed.

Anurag Srivastava will replace Raveesh Kumar as the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

SBI Life Insurance said it has re-appointed Sanjeev Nautiyal as managing director and chief executive officer of the company with effect from March 10, 2020.

Mr Daren Tang is set to be the new director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) after winning a vote in Geneva. He will replace Australian Francis Gurry.