Banking and Financial Awareness 38 1) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 23 September, 2013 announced a 13-member committee to frame

e a clear and detailed vision for financial inclusion/deepening across the country. This committee named The Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households is being headed by Nachiket Mor, member on the RBIs Central Board of Directors (The committee members are: Bindu Ananth (President, IFMR Trust); Prakash Bakshi (Chairman, Nabard); Bharat Doshi (Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services); A. P. Hota (Managing Director and CEO, National Payments Corporation of India); Sunil Kaushal (CEO, Standard Chartered Bank India); Roopa Kudva (MD and CEO, Crisil); Zia Mody (Managing Partner, AZB & Partners); S. S. Mundra (CMD, Bank of Baroda); Vikram Pandit (former CEO, Citigroup); Ramesh Ramanathan (Chairman, Janalakshmi Financial Services) and Shikha Sharma (MD & CEO, Axis Bank)) <<<<<<<<<<<<<< 2) In what seemed like an unexpected move Reserve Bank of Indias (RBIs) newly appointed Governor Raghuram Rajan in his maiden Monetary Policy Review on 20 September, 2013 raised the repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF). He thus kept RBIs focus on controlling inflation, which it felt would be above the expected levels in the current fiscal. What is the new Repo Rate? 7.5% (Repo Rate was increased by 25 basis points from its earlier level of 7.25%) <<<<<<<<<<<<<< 3) What were the main highlights of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajans first monetary policy review presented on 20 September, 2013 since taking office on 4 September? Following are the main highlights of Raghuram Rajans first monetary policy review Repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) increased by 25 basis points from 7.25% to 7.5% with immediate effect (This move clearly reiterated the fact that RBI is still keeping its focus on bringing down the inflation. Consequently, the Reverse Repo Rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 6.5%, and the bank rate stands reduced to 9.5% with immediate effect) Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate reduced by 75 basis points from 10.25% to 9.5% with immediate effect The minimum daily maintenance of the cash reserve ratio (CRR) reduced from 99% of the requirement to 95% effective from the fortnight beginning 21 September, 2013 (This move was aimed at inducing liquidity into the system) Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) kept unchanged at 4.0% (CRR is the portion of deposits that banks are required to maintain with the RBI in cash) (With these changes, the MSF rate and the bank rate are re-calibrated to 200 basis points above the repo rate) <<<<<<<<<<<<<< 4) A high-level panel on 23 September, 2013 submitted to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram its report on the alleged irregularities at the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL). The panel in its report recommended two sets of measures to deal with the NSEL issue and also the problem of regulatory gaps in oversight of spot exchanges. Enforcement action has been recommended against NSEL and the persons behind the company. Who headed this panel on NSEL?

 Arvind Mayaram, Economic Affairs Secretary 5) Air India tied up with which public-sector bank to launch a co-branded credit card that provides numerous privileges to the holder? SBI (This newly launched credit card has been named Air India SBI Credit Card and it allows a customer spending Rs 5 lakh in a year to earn up to three Delhi-Mumbai return tickets on Air India. The launch of this credit card marks the beginning of a new collaboration between the two major public sector entities (Air India and SBI). State Bank of India is also the leader of a consortium of banks that have helped Air India in its financial restructuring exercise. SBI Cards is a joint venture between SBI and GE Capital) <<<<<<<<<<<<<< 6) Insurance Regulatory and Development Authoritys (IRDAs) insurance repository system was launched by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 16 September, 2013. This repository system, which is claimed by IRDA as the first-of-its-kind in the world is situated in Hyderabad (The objective of creating an insurance repository is to provide policyholders the facility to keep insurance policies in electronic form (like shares are kept in Demat account). Five companies have been given the status of insurance repositories and have been provided with a licence that will be valid till 31 July, 2014. Insurers can enter into agreements with one or more repositories) <<<<<<<<<<<<<< 7) SEBI on 16 September, 2013 notified new norms for angel investors, who provide funding to companies at their initial stages. This has been done with an objective of giving encouragement to entrepreneurship in the country by financing small start-ups. What are the important points under this notification? Angel investors have been allowed to be registered as Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), which is a newly created class of pooled-in investment vehicles for real estate, private equity and hedge funds Investments under angel investing restricted between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 5 crore Angel funds can make investments only in those companies which are incorporated in India Angel funds needs to be invested in a firm for at least three years Angel funds can be availed for companies not older than 3 years Angel funds are required to have a corpus of at least Rs 10 crore and minimum investment by an investor should be Rs 25 lakh <<<<<<<<<<<<<< 8) How much advance tax for second quarter of present financial year was paid by countrys largest commercial bank State Bank of India (SBI), as announced by it on 15 September, 2013? Rs. 1,120 crore (This was about 40% less than that paid during the corresponding period last year when it paid Rs. 1,820 crore. The advance tax pay-out decline from SBI comes amid a period of

gloom on the economic front, with the quarterly GDP growth falling to a four-year low of 4.4 per cent for the April-June period) <<<<<<<<<<<<<< 9) An advanced universal banking solution named Finacle 11E was launched on 18 September, 2013 by a leading IT company of India. This banking solution has been developed to enable banks of all sizes to rapidly modernize their operations. Which company launched this solution? Infosys (Finacle is a range of CBS banking solutions developed by Infosys for Indian banks) <<<<<<<<<<<<<< 10) The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) opened its tour programme in India at Delhi under the aegis of the Department of Electronics & Information Technology on 17 September, 2013 to promote the features of a new standard for application developers. Which new standard is this which is expected to meet the goal of Open Web Platform? HTML 5 (HTML 5 is the next evolution of web development standards by which application developers create end-user experience. One of the most important benefits of HTML 5 is that it is capable of making the Web useful on mobile and wireless devices, which will be next paradigm shift for internet growth in India. HTML 5 is intended to subsume not only HTML 4, but also XHTML 1 and DOM Level 2 HTML. W3W also held its tours programmes to promote HTML 5 at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkota and Pune) Banking and Financial Awareness 37 1) State Bank of India (SBI) recently tightened its eligibility conditions for its four-wheeler loan scheme with a view to minimising possible defaults. From now on persons with an annual income of Rs. 6 lakh or more will get SBIs car loans. What was SBIs eligibility condition for availing car loan till now? An annual income of Rs. 2.5 lakh or more (For SBI account holders, the limit has been raised to Rs 4.5 lakh per annum. The rationale for increase in the eligibility criteria is to revise the gross income limit upwards in view of moderation in the economy) 2) The Forward Markets Commission (FMC), chief regulator of forwards and futures commodity markets in India, will, henceforth, be overseen by the Ministry of Finance. FMC was under which ministry/department till now? Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry of Food (This decision was taken at the highest level, and notified in the wake of alleged scam in National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL). The decision has been approved by President Pranab Mukherjee) <<<<<<<<<<< 3) Which private sector bank during September, 2013 launched Branch on Wheels, an initiative to offer basic banking services in remote areas which have so far been devoid of banking facilities?

 ICICI Bank (Branch on Wheels is a mobile branch of the bank, which will offer basic banking products and services such as savings accounts, loans, cash deposit/withdrawal, account balance enquiries, statement printing and funds transfer/DD/PO collection, among others. It will also have an ATM. Banks first Branch on Wheels was launched in Kolhapur, Maharashtra and it will cover four unbanked villages) <<<<<<<<<<< 4) Newly appointed RBI Governor on 4 September, 2013 announced constitution of a committee to take a close look at rising NPAs and suggest steps to improve the recovery of bad debts. Who has been appointed as the head of this committee? K C Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor of the RBI <<<<<<<<<<< 5) BRICS nations on 5 September, 2013 gave further impetus to the proposed formation of a $100-billion Currency Reserve Fund (CRF) by announcing individual contributions to the fund. What is the agreed individual contribution of the 5 BRICS countries to this fund? China $41 billion, Brazil, India and Russia $18 billion each and South Africa $5 billion (The fund would eventually allow the five nations to access the fund to deal with short-term volatility in their capital flows, which might negatively impact their currencies. The idea of such a fund found traction in the last BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa, earlier this year) <<<<<<<<<<< 6) What were the main highlights of the Economic Outlook 2013-14 released by Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C. Rangarajan on 13 September, 2013? GDP growth for 2013-14 lowered to 5.3%, from 6.4% in April, 2013 Current Account Deficit (CAD) highlighted as main concern, estimated to come down to $70 billion or 3.8% of GDP Agriculture growth pegged at 4.8% Industrial growth pegged at 2.7% Services growth to decelerate to 6.6%, from 7.1 % in 2012-13 Trade deficit projected at $185 billion Gold imports seen at $38 billion Net capital inflows to come down to $61.4 billion from $89.4 billion <<<<<<<<<<< 7) President Pranab Mukherjee during September, 2013 gave his approval to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill (PFRDA), 2011. The bill seeks to establish, develop and regulate pension funds to protect the interests of subscribers to schemes of pension funds and assures minimum returns to subscribers. This bill seeks to grant statutory status to which entity to empower it to regulate National Pension Scheme (NPS)? Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority PFRDA (The bill would also provide subscribers a wide choice to invest their funds for assured returns, like opting for government bonds as well as in other funds depending on their capacity to take risk) <<<<<<<<<<<

8) Raghuram Govind Rajan took over as the 23th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 4 September, 2013. On this day itself he came out with a slew of measures, including more trade settlement in rupees to rescue the battered financial markets and hinted at a shift in focus from inflation control, pursued by his predecessor D. Subbarao, to boosting growth. He announced setting up of an outside panel of experts to screen applications for new bank licenses. Who was appointed as the head of this expert panel? Bimal Jalan, Former Governor of the RBI <<<<<<<<<<< 9) Which company came to news for raising a bond issue of $49 billion on 11 September, 2013, which is the largest corporate bond deal in the world till date? Verizon (Verizon is an American telecommunications and broadband company. The sale dwarfs the previous record, Apples sale of $17 billion in bonds in April. Proceeds from the sale will help Verizon buy the rest of its U.S. wireless business from partner Vodafone. On September 2, 2013, it was announced that Verizon would buy the remaining stake that Vodafone owns in their join venture Verizon Wireless for $130 billion. This deal is the third largest in corporate history) <<<<<<<<<<< 10) What is the name given to Googles next version of Android-based operating system (Android 4.4) for smartphones and tabs? KitKat (Android 4.4 KitKat was announced as the name for companys upcoming new Androidbased operating system for mobile devices. This name is in keeping with Googles penchant for giving tasty names to its software for powering mobile devices. The list of Android software names over the years includes Cupcake, Donut, Froyo, Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean. KitKat is a chocolate-covered wafer created by British-based Rowntrees, now produced worldwide by Nestle. Google claims that Android software powers more than a billion smartphones or tablets worldwide) <<<<<<<<<<< Banking and Financial Awareness 36 1) What instruction pertaining to home loans was issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 3 September, 2013 to banks? The RBI asked banks to link the disbursal of home loans to stages of construction (This instruction was issued with an objective to protect the interests of buyers and contain the fallout of some innovative housing finance schemes. RBI in its instruction mentioned that upfront disbursal should not be made in cases of incomplete/under-construction/green field housing projects. The notification follows the introduction by some banks of innovative housing loan schemes in association with developers/builders, where upfront disbursal of housing loans is made to builders without being linked to the various stages of construction) <<<<<<<<<<< 2) How much loan amount was written-off by the public sector banks of India during the January-March quarter of 2012-13 as announced by the Union Govt. in Parliament on 30 August, 2013?

Rs. 14,549 crore (The public sector banks made recovery of bad assets to the tune of Rs 16,464 crore during this period. Banks resort to write off bad loans only after exhausting all other possible avenues for recovery or when the asset coverage is not enough) <<<<<<<<<<< 3) From 1 September, 2013 a new radiation norm put in place by Telecom Ministry came into effect for companies manufacturing or importing mobile phones for sale in India. According to this norm what is the maximum prescribed SAR (specific absorption rate) for mobile phones in India? 1.6 watt over a gram of human tissue, if a consumer uses it for six minutes (With the new SAR norm, India would become one of few countries that are following the most stringent norm of 1.6 watt a kg average over six minutes period on 1 gram of human tissue. Old stock of handsets available in Indian market can be sold but no fresh stock of non-compliant mobile phones will be allowed to be sold from 1 September) <<<<<<<<<<< 4) What was the growth rate of GDP (gross domestic product) for Indian economy for the first quarter of the final year (April-June 2013)? 4.4% (This growth rate of GDP was slowest since the 2008 global financial crisis. It is lower than the 5.4% growth logged in April-June last year and 4.8% in January-March this year. Main reason for slow growth rate has been attributed to poor performance registered by countrys manufacturing and mining sector. While manufacturing output fell 1.2 per cent, mining declined 2.8 per cent during this period) <<<<<<<<<<< 5) What are the important features of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012 that was passed by the Lok Sabha on 29 August, 2013? The bill proposes that land cannot be acquired for any private projects unless they fall in the following categories: infrastructure projects, industrial corridors, mining, investment and manufacturing zones, sports, healthcare, transport projects, and space programme The bill proposes that farmers and landowners be paid up to four times the market value for land acquired in rural areas, and two times the market value in urban areas The consent of 80% of land owners is needed for acquiring land for private projects and of 70% landowners for public-private projects The Bill only sets a bottom line for fair compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement in the case of land acquisition and State governments are free to further improve upon it <<<<<<<<<<< 6) In view of continuous decline in the value of Indian Rupee, what step was taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for helping three state-owned oil marketing companies (IOC, HPCL and BPCL) who require a large amount of foreign exchange for meeting their import bills? A special window was opened for meeting their daily foreign exchange requirement (This special window will provide forex swap facility to these 3 companies which require $88.5 billion every month for the import of an average 7.5 million tonnes of crude oil. The RBI decision is aimed at curbing volatility in the forex market. Under the swap facility the RBI

will sell/buy USD-INR forex swaps for fixed tenor with the oil marketing companies through a designated bank) <<<<<<<<<<< 7) In an effort to boost forex inflows, the Finance Ministry has worked out a strategy for as many as 10 public sector entities to tap Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) to raise at least Rs 15,000 crore in foreign currency. This will be part of a tax-free bond issue. Which 10 public sector entities are these? NHB, IIFCL, Indian Railway Finance Corporation, HUDCO, Rural Electrification Corporation, Power Finance Corporation, National Highway Authority of India, NTPC, NHPC and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (This is the first time that such funds have been allowed to be part of a tax-free bond issue. SWFs are normally state-owned, with funds collected from budget and trade surpluses. The money is normally invested in real and financial assets at home and abroad. Oil-rich West Asian nations own many of the worlds largest SWFs. A tax-free bond is an instrument where investors do not have to pay tax on interest. Such an instrument is normally a long-term one, and the money raised is deployed in long-term infrastructure projects) <<<<<<<<<<< 8) Which mutual fund company recently launched an auto premium payment system in collaboration with Life Insurance Corporation to enable its mutual fund investors to pay their insurance premium? LIC Nomura Mutual Fund (Under the scheme, mutual fund investors will have a facility of paying their premium on time without any hassles. Through the facility, the premium amount of the investor on due date will be remitted to LIC by LIC Nomura Mutual Fund, out of the investors fund. No additional charge will be levied for availing this facility) <<<<<<<<<<< 9) The Indian Rupee fell sharply on 28 August, 2013 to hit a record low of 68.80 to the dollar. This was its biggest single-day percentage fall since how many years? 18 years (This was the largest single-day percentage fall of the Indian Rupee since October 1995. The partially convertible rupee closed at 68.80 per dollar, compared to its close of 66.24 on 27 August. The unit also posted its biggest fall in absolute terms ever, dropping 256 basis points on the day) <<<<<<<<<<< 10) Leading mobile phone manufacturer Nokia Corporation of Finland on 3 September, 2013 announced signing an agreement to sell substantially all of its Devices & Services business, license and patents in an all-cash deal of 5.44 billion. The company expects to gain 3.2 billion from this deal. To which company is Nokia selling its business? Microsoft Corporation (The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014, subject to approval by Nokia shareholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. After the deal closure Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop, will move to Microsoft Corp.) Banking and Financial Awareness 35

1) Which bank of Andhra Pradesh came into news during August, 2013 for having opened about 1.5 lakh no-frills accounts in eight districts on a single day as part of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme of the Union Govt.? Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank APGVB (The 638 branches of the bank together opened 72,122 accounts while the banks financial inclusion machinery under branch-less banking business correspondents model opened 75,320 no-frills accounts at 64 villages in Warangal district. These accounts, opened with zero balance and seeded with Aadhar Cards, will be uploaded on NPCI Mapper along with other banks to join Aadhar Payment Bridge to facilitate electronic fund transfer like subsidies, scholarships etc., from the government departments concerned) <<<<<<<<<<< 2) On 23 August 2013 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the auction of two 48days Government of India Cash Management Bills (CMBs). What is the primary benefit of issuing ICMBs? CMBs allow the RBI to meet the temporary cash flow mismatches of the Government of India (CMBs are flexible instruments for the RBI as they are issued at times of requirement. They allow the RBI to have lower cash balances and issue fewer long-term notes) <<<<<<<<<<< 3) Who is heading the seven-member Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC), which was constituted by the Union Govt. on 26 August, 2013 to have a comprehensive review of existing tax laws and suggest a stable tax administration? Parthasarathy Shome (Apart from Shome, the commission will have Y G Parande and Sunita Kaila as full-time members while M K Zutshi, S S N Moorthy, M R Diwakar and S Mahalingam will be parttime members. TARCs tenure will be of 18-months. Setting-up of this commission was announced by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the Union Budget 2013-14 with an objective of reviewing the application of tax policies and tax laws) <<<<<<<<<<< 4) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 23 August, 2013 announced imposition of a total of Rs. 6.50 crore monetary penalty on six public sector banks for violation of rules relating to know your customer and anti-money laundering. Which 6 public sector banks are these? Allahabad Bank (Rs. 50 lakh), Bank of Maharashtra (Rs. 50.1 lakh), Corporation Bank (Rs. 1.50 crore), Dena Bank (Rs. 2 crore), IDBI Bank (Rs. 1 crore) and Indian Bank (Rs. 1 crore) This penalty was imposed after the RBI carried out a scrutiny of books of accounts, internal controls, compliance systems and processes at these banks <<<<<<<<<<< 5) Which private sector bank claimed to have opened its 500th branch during August, 2013? Yes Bank (Yes Bank, which is the fourth largest private sector bank of India, also claimed that it has achieved its presence in all 28 states and 7 union territories of the country) <<<<<<<<<<< 6) As per information furnished by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), what was the life insurance penetration rate in India in the year 2012? 3.17% (The penetration of life insurance sector in India has increased from 2.15% in 2001 to 3.17% in 2012 which is above that of Brazil, Russia, Malaysia, Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Australia,

Germany but below France, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Insurance coverage in a country is generally measured by insurance penetration, which is the ratio of premium underwritten in a given year to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)) <<<<<<<<<<< 7) Cheraman Financial Services Limited (CFSL), which became the first Islamic financial services company to be launched in India, started its operations in which Indian state during August, 2013? Kerala (The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had given its approval to CFSL to launch banking operations based on the concept of Islamic banking in Kerala. CFSL, a Sharia-compliant nonbanking financial company (NBFC), has been formed by a group of Gulf-based NRI businessmen led by P Muhamed Ali and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has a 11% stake in it) <<<<<<<<<<< 8) Nishi Vasudevas name came to news during August, 2013 when she was selected by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) to head a Navratna category PSU and thus is on the way to become the first-ever woman to head a Navratna PSU. She is expected to take over as the Chairman and Managing Director of which PSU in March, 2014? Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd HPCL (PESB selected her name after interviewing seven other candidates for top post at HPCL. The PESBs recommendation will now go to the Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry, which after getting the mandatory clearances, including those from Central Vigilance Commission and CBI will send it to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet for necessary clearance and approval) <<<<<<<<<<< 9) According to the latest data released by the Planning Commission on 17 August, 2013 more than 40 crore 29 lakh Aadhaar numbers have been issued till 31st July, 2013 in the country. Which state is leading in issuing Aadhaar numbers, as stated in this data? Andhra Pradesh (With 65,941,390 Aadhaar numbers issued till 31st July Andhra Pradesh is the leading state as far as issue of Aadhaar numbers is concerned. It is followed by Maharashtra with 62,697,942 and Madhya Pradesh with 27,773,394 Aadhaar numbers. Only 1,848 Aadhaar numbers were issued in Arunachal Pradesh by 31st July. Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has reiterated that the target of 60 crore Aadhaar enrolments will be achieved by 2014) <<<<<<<<<<< 10) Which state on 20 August, 2013 became the first to launch the food security scheme for its citizens? Delhi (UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi launched the scheme in Delhi by giving away food security ration cards to beneficiaries along with a 5-kg packet of rice. Delhi was the first State to clear the scheme) <<<<<<<<<<<

Banking and Financial Awareness 34 1) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) transferred its surplus profit to the government for the year ended June 2013, which is the highest amount to be transferred by the RBI to the government, except year 2007. How much amount was transferred as surplus profit to the govt.? Rs. 33,010 crore (This is more than a 100% jump over Rs 16,010 crore that the RBI transferred in the previous year. In 2007, gave Rs 45,719 crore as surplus profit. However, out of this, Rs 34,308 crore was accounted by the money generated by its stake sale in State Bank of India. The RBI transferred Rs 15,009 crore in 2010-11, Rs 18,759 crore in 2009-10 and Rs 25,009 crore in 2008-09) <<<<<<<<<<<<< 2) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 14 August, 2013 cut down the amount of foreign exchange an Indian may use to invest or spend abroad from the current annual limit of $2,00,000 to $75,000 (This means Indian citizens would not be able to take out more than $75,000 in a year by way of travel or investment. In addition to this RBI imposed a restriction on Indians from making an investment in a property abroad. These measures were announced in a bid to check the drain on foreign exchange reserves in the country) <<<<<<<<<<<<< 3) State Bank of India (SBI) on 17 August, 2013 achieved another milestone by opening its .branch. 15,000th (The 15,000th Branch of the SBI was inaugurated by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram at Tamil Nadus Sooranam, a Christian dominated area, and the 15,001st branch of the bank at Kalayarkovil, a Hindu dominated area nearby) <<<<<<<<<<<<< 4) State Bank of Indias (SBIs) net profits for the quarter ended 30 June, 2013 stood at Rs. 3,241 crore against Rs. 3,752 crore in the last year for the same quarter, thus recording a 14% dip. What was the main reason for this fall in profits as disclosed by the bank? Huge increase in bad loans (SBIs bad loans increased by Rs 9,702 crore to Rs 60,891 crore as of 30 June, 2013) <<<<<<<<<<<<< 5) An inter-ministerial committee constituted to suggest steps to contain the rising current account deficit (CAD) suggested higher taxes for non-essential imports with a view to curbing inward shipments and containing the current account deficit CAD. These suggestions form part of the recommendations made by the committee set up by Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Who is the Chairman of this committee? Rajat Bhargava, Joint Secretary (Budget Division) This committee has suggested higher taxes on those non-essential items which do not add to inflationary pressures. The Committee has also suggested a list of non-essential items the import of which could be compressed, with a view to bridge the trade gap. Trade gap in the first quarter of the current financial year stood at over $ 50 billion) <<<<<<<<<<<<<

6) Indian Parliament on 8 August 2013 passed the Companies Bill, 2012, which replaced the 58-year old legislation with radical changes. What is the name of the old bill which was replaced by this legislation? Companies Act, 1956 (The new Companies Bill was passed after a wait of almost two decades and it seeks more transparency in corporate functioning in India. The bill is also a lot less bulky than the existing 1956 Act, with 470 sections as against the current 658 sections) <<<<<<<<<<<<< 7) Union Govt. on 7 August 2013 allowed import of steel for major industrial projects without quality certification. The objective behind this exemption is to give a push to the infrastructure sector of the country. The exemption will be available for projects in the field of infrastructure, petroleum, manufacturing products involving high end technologies, nuclear reactors, defence, chemical and petro-chemicals and fertiliser sectors. What is the prescribed investment limit for the projects to get this exemption? Not less than Rs. 1,000 crore (This announcement was made in a notification made by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). The easing import norms came amidst domestic steel manufacturers demanding government to hike duty on imports to prevent steel dumping in the country) <<<<<<<<<<<<< 8) The Finance Ministry on 14 August, 2013 announced that public sector insurance company Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) can increase its investments in companies up to 25% under special circumstances. What is the present investment limit of LIC in companies? 20% (LICs investment norm at present is settled at 20% but in special circumstances it can now go up to 25%. LIC for long has been perceived as the last resort for the govt. to meet its disinvestment target, though the Centre denies it) <<<<<<<<<<<<< 9) What is the name of a proposed commission that will look into removing ambiguity and establishing a stable and non-adversarial tax administration in the country and establishment of which was approved by the union govt. during August, 2013? Tax Administration Reform Commission TARC (Union Govt. has approved setting up of TARC on 13 August, 2013. TARC will be a seven member commission including a Chairman. The main objective of TARC will be to review the application of tax policies and tax laws in India in the context of best global practices and recommend measures to strengthen the capacity of the tax system in India) <<<<<<<<<<<<< 10) On 15 August 2013 the visa-on-arrival facility for tourists visiting India was extended to four more cities. Which are these four cities which have been extended this facility? Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram (The visa-on-arrival facility was earlier available only for the four metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai). At present visitors from 11 countries (Japan, Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia) are eligible to get this facility. The visa-on-arrival scheme has contributed to an increase in the number of tourists from these countries and the government was in the final

stages of consultations on allowing the facility to citizens of another 10 countries, including Germany, France and Russia) <<<<<<<<<<<< Banking and Financial Awareness 33 1) Which body is the regulator of commodity derivatives markets in India, which would be given more teeth to ensure that National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) settles the Rs 5,600crore dues to investors, as announced by the Union Govt. on 7 August 2013? Forward Markets Commission FMC (NSEL is facing the problem of settlement after it suspended trade in one-day forward contracts on 31 July 2013 following the government direction. On 6 August 2013, NSEL stopped trading in e-series contracts in gold in anticipation of the notification to this effect) <<<<<<<<<<< 2) Union Govt. on 2 August 2013 gave its approval for setting up of a fund to help six PSUs, to make them compliant with the 10% minimum public holding norm of market regulator SEBI. What is the name assigned of this newly approved fund? Special National Investment Fund (SNIF). Six sick PSUs which will be covered under this proposed fund are HMT, ITI, Scooters India Limited, Andrew Yule, Fertilizer and Chemical Limited (Travancore) and Hindustan Photo Films Limited <<<<<<<<<<< 3) Union Govt. on 6 August 2013 disclosed that six Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) have been closed in the country in the last 5 years. Which six CPSEs are these? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Bihar Drugs & Organic Chemicals Ltd. (in Bihar), Indian Oil Technologies Ltd. (in Delhi), Brushware Ltd. (in UP), Pyrites Phosphastes & Chemicals Ltd. (in Bihar), National Instruments Ltd. (in Bihar) Bharat Yantra Nigam Ltd. (in UP))

4) Union Govt. on 2 August 2013 unveiled the long awaited Unified License norms for the telecom sector. What are the main features of this new norm? The new norm provides for delinking of spectrum from operational permits and allows companies to offer services using any technology. Telecom companies would be allowed to offer mobile and fixed-line services using any technology. They can also provide Internet TV services. It allows companies to offer intra and inter-circle roaming, but bars operations from acquiring subscribers in areas where they dont own a license The licenses acquired under this new norm will be valid for 20 years, and will be renewable for another ten years Telecom companies will have to pay a license fee of eight per cent of annual revenues from telecom services. All telecom companies will have to migrate to the new licensing regime upon expiry of their current permits <<<<<<<<<<<

5) Union Govt. relaxed the norms for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the multi-brand retail on 1 August 2013 with a view to attract more investments and transparency in the sector. What are the major norms which were relaxed? Multi-brand retailers like Walmart are now required to source 30% of their products from the small and medium enterprises of India only at the time of starting the business Now state governments will have the right to grant permission to open a multi-brand retail store in cities of their states (Earlier 53 urban centers with a minimum population of 1 million were made eligible for opening-up of multi-brand retail stores) Now the norm of 50% investment in the back-end infrastructure for the retailers will be applicable, only during the first tranche of investments (within three years) of up to 100 million dollars <<<<<<<<<<< 6) Who will be the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as announced by the Finance Ministry on 6 August 2013? Raghuram Rajan, who is at present the Chief Economic Advisor to the Govt. of India (Rajan will succeed the current RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao whose 5-year term ends on 4 September 2013. He has formerly worked as the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. Rajan has been a gold medalist at IIT-Delhi and IIM-Ahmedabad and he will be the 23rd Governor of Indias central bank) <<<<<<<<<<< 7) Who was appointed as the first woman Managing Director (MD) of State Bank of India (SBI) on 3 August 2013? Arundhati Bhattacharya (Prior to this she was the managing director of SBI Capital, the merchant banking arm of the bank) <<<<<<<<<<< 8) Who took over as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Central Bank of India during August, 2013? Rajeev Rishi (Rishi was Executive Director of Indian Bank till now and his tenure will be for 5 years) <<<<<<<<<<< 9) The first arrest for default in paying which tax was made during August, 2013 after union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram finalized and approved applicable provisions of CrPC (criminal procedure code) to arrest such offenders? Service Tax (A courier company owner at Kolkata was arrested for allegedly evading service tax of about Rs. 70 lakh in the first such case) <<<<<<<<<<< 10) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 7 August 2013 disclosed that it had imposed a penalty of Rs. 5,62,555 on the State Bank of India (SBI) on 12 July 2013 for violation of currency chest norms. Which currency chest of SBI was found deficient in following these norms? Secunderabad Branch of SBI, in Andhra Pradesh (The penalty was levied in connection with deficiencies and lapses in the operation and maintenance of the currency chest at the Secunderabad branch of SBI)

<<<<<<<<<<< Banking and Financial Awareness 31 1) All public sector banks have been asked to set up ATMs in all branches to enable customers in rural pockets to do banking round-the-clock. What is the deadline for setting-up branch-ATMs for these banks? March 2014 (Finance Minister P. Chidambaram reiterated this while inaugurating the 5,999th branch of Punjab National Bank in Tirupattur, Tamil Nadu on 28 July, 2013) <<<<<<<<<<< 2) Who was chosen as the head of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on theGoods and Services Tax (GST) on 22 July, 2013? Abdul Rahim Rather, Jammu & Kashmir Finance Minister (The post of Chairman of the Finance Ministrys committee on Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been lying vacant since 17 June 2013 when Bihar Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi resigned following the JD(U)BJP split in the state. Rather, who is also a senior National Conference leader, was chosen to head the panel at a meeting of state Finance Ministers held at New Delhi) <<<<<<<<<<< 3) What was the GDP projection for 2013-14 as announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)on 30 July, 2013 while delivering the first quarter review of its Annual Policy for 201314? 5.5%, which is lower than RBIs previous projection of 5.7% (Weighed down by a weak rupee, the RBI chose to keep all key interest rates unchanged and asked the government to take urgent steps to rein in the high current account deficit. This was the last quarter review for RBI Governor D. Subbarao, who is slated to retire days before the next mid-quarter review on 18 September 2013. RBIs second quarter policy review will be made on 29 October 2013) <<<<<<<<<<< 4) The Securities Law Amendment Ordnance, 2013, which was promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee on 18 July, 2013, provides more powers to Indias market regulator SEBI to crackdown ponzi schemes running in the country. Under the promulgated ordnance, what is the prescribed corpus size of pooled public-funds, over which SEBI gets power to carry out its crackdown for non-compliance? Rs. 100 crore or more (The ordnance provides SEBI the powers to regulate any pooling of funds under an investment contract involving a corpus of 100 crore rupees or more and attach assets in case of non-compliance. The ordinance was promulgated by the President following the powers granted to him by Clause 1 of Article 123 of Constitution) <<<<<<<<<<< 5) Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on 23 July, 2013 resigned from the board of directors of the RBI in view of conflict of interest over the issue of fresh bank licenses, as one of the companies of his group has applied to RBI for banking license. Which company is this? Aditya Birla Nuvo, which is one of the 26 companies who have applied for banking license <<<<<<<<<<< 6) Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma during July 2013 announced major liberalization in the upper limits of foreign direct investment (FDI) in

sectors such as defence, telecom, insurance, retail, etc. What were the major announcements made in FDI limits? New clause of raising FDI in Defence sector, under which FDI in state-of-the-art segment of defence manufacturing can be raised from 26% through approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). However, for the rest of the defence sector FDI upper-limit remains at 26% In single-brand retail FDI upto 49% will be through automatic route, while approval of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will be required for FDI above 49% In multi-brand retail also FDI upto 49% made through direct route 49% FDI in insurance sector approved through automatic route (Present limit for FDI through automatic route was 26%) FDI limit through automatic route in power exchange sector set at 49% 100% FDI in telecom sector cleared by the union govt. The condition of divestment to Indian partner in tea sector cancelled and now stakes can be divested to third-parties also FDI cap in asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) through automatic route set at 49% while FDI above it (till 100%) will be through FIPB approval <<<<<<<<<<< 7) Planning Commission on 23 July 2013 released a report on the trends in poverty in India. The report dealt comprehensively on impact on poverty reduction due to measures taken by the governments, especially the present UPA Govt. What were the main highlights of this report? Average decline in the poverty ratio between 2005 and 2012 was 2.18% per year as compared to 0.74% per year during 1993-2005 The absolute number of people below the poverty line declined from 407.1 million in 2004-05 to 269.3 million by 2011-12 Poverty in the country stood at 21.9% in 2011-12 as compared to 37.2% in 2004-05 In 2011-12 poverty in rural areas stood at 25.7% while it was 13.7% in urban areas Highest poverty rate of 39.93% was recorded in Chhattisgarh (2011-12) Lowest poverty rate of 5.09% was recorded in Goa (2011-12) (This report drew its conclusions on the Suresh Tendulkar poverty line formula. Under this formula, the Planning Commission drew the national poverty line at Rs. 816 per capita per month in rural areas and Rs. 1,000 per capita per month in urban areas) <<<<<<<<<<< 8) What is the name given to 5-Kg LPG cylinder scheme, which was given approval by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on 24 July, 2013? Free Trade LPG Scheme (Under the Free Trade LPG Scheme, Company Owned Retail Outlets (COCO) of oil marketing companies will sell 5-kg LPG cylinders at Non-domestic (commercial) prices. Pilot project of this scheme will be launched in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore. The prospective customer at the time of first sale would only be required to give a copy of Voter I-Card, Driving license, Pan Card, Aadhaar Card, Bank Pass book, Employees ID, Passport, Student ID or any other such document that can act as a proof of identity. This scheme has been made especially for those citizens who are always on the move due to their professional requirements) <<<<<<<<<<<

9) What is the name of the book written by Jean Dreze and Indian Nobel winning economist Amratya Sen, which has created a lot of controversy of-late about what should be the ideal model of governance? An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions (The book created controversy with economists like Jagdish Bhagwati expressing their displeasure about economic policies advocated by Amartya Sen in this book) <<<<<<<<<<< 10) What is the name given to a newly announced scheme under which a free mobile handset will be provided to one member of every rural household who has completed 100 days of work under MGNREGA? Bharat Mobile Scheme (Under this scheme the handset will be provided preferably to a woman member of family. A brief of this proposed scheme was made by the union govt. on 30 July, 2013. The provided handset will be non-transferable as it will later also be used in customized transfer of benefits under the direct transfer scheme of the central govt.) <<<<<<<<<<< Banking and Financial Awareness 30 1) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 15 July 2013 imposed fines totaling Rs. 49.5 crore on 22 public and private sector banks for violating KYC/anti-money laundering norms. How many banks were given cautionary letters following an expose made by an online portal? Seven (These seven banks are Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and State Bank of Patiala. A penalty of Rs. 3 crore each was imposed on 7 banks which were State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and Federal Bank. The United Bank of India, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Punjab National Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank and Andhra Bank were slapped a penalty of Rs. 2.5 crore each. A penalty of Rs. 2 crore each was imposed on Yes Bank, Vijaya Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Dhanlaxmi Bank. The other banks which were penalised by the RBI include Deutsche Bank, Development Credit Bank, ING Vysya Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Ratnakar Bank) <<<<<<<<<<<< 2) Which PSU bank became the first to take unusual step of publishing photographs of loan guarantors along with that of borrowers who have failed to repay their loans? Allahabad Bank (Allahabad Bank on 9 July 2013 published photographs of three guarantors for a bank loan worth Rs. 314 crore which had not been repaid. PSU banks recently decided to apply pressure on loan guarantors along-side the defaulters. The move came on heels of 39 listed banks reporting a 36% rise in NPAs (non-performing assets) to Rs. 1,79,431 crore as on 31 March 2013) <<<<<<<<<<<< 3) Union Govt. on 9 July 2013 hiked the import duty on sugar to 15% in an effort to help the sugar industry clear Rs. 9,000 crore cane arrears to farmers. What was the import duty on sugar before this move?

 10% (The duty of both raw and white (refined) sugar was raised to 15% as sugar imports had been putting pressure on domestic prices and have prevented millers from clearing cane arrears to farmers. The hike in duty was aimed at curbing import of sugar and improving the bearish sentiment in domestic market. This would, however, lead to rise in sugar prices across the country) <<<<<<<<<<<< 4) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 8 July 2013 allowed NBFCs (non-banking finance companies) to access the external commercial borrowing (ECB) market. What was the category defined for such NBFCs by the RBI? Asset Finance Companies or AFCs (This name was given as NBFCs involved in asset financing have been allowed to access the ECB market. The access is subject to certain conditions including availing of ECB under the automatic route with minimum average maturity of five years to finance import of infrastructure equipment for leasing to infrastructure projects) <<<<<<<<<<<< 5) Which country will become 18th member of the Eurozone from 1 January 2014? Latvia (Economy and finance ministers from the 28 European Union (EU) countries gave the final green light to Latvia on 9 July 2013 to join the eurozone on 1 January. Latvia emerged from a crisis in 2008-09 to become the fastest-growing economy of the EU, having posted GDP growth of more than five percent year-on-year in both 2011 and 2012. It should be noted that 28-member EU is a political entity and represents the interest of all of Europe whereas Eurozone is a currency block of 17 nations that have accepted Euro as a common currency. Not all countries of EU use Euro as currency (Britain still uses Pound as its currency)) <<<<<<<<<<<< 6) In the biggest foreign investment pullout from India, worlds largest steel maker ArcelorMittal on 17 July 2013 scrapped its $12 billion (Rs. 50,000 crore) steel plant proposed to be set up in an eastern state. Which state is this? Odisha (ArcelorMittal blamed inordinate delays in acquiring land and securing iron ore linkages for scrapping this deal. This plant was proposed to be set up in Keonjhar district of the state) <<<<<<<<<<<< 7) The govt. on 17 July 2013 approved a proposal to amend SEBI Law for providing more powers to crack down on ponzi schemes. What specific additional powers would be provided to SEBI after the amendments comes into effect? a) Direct powers to carry out search and seizure operations and attachment of assets b) Power to seek information, such as telephone call data records, from any person or entities in respect of any securities transaction (Ponzi schemes are schemes which offer very heavy or extraordinary returns to investors and are generally not very transparent about their business operations) <<<<<<<<<<<< 8) What will be the name of Indias first all-women bank, announcement for which was done in the Union Budget of 2013-14? Bharatiya Mahila Bank BMB

(The present deadline for launch of this bank is 1 November 2013 and the bank is expected to have 39 branches across the country in its first year) <<<<<<<<<<<< 9) Market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on 16 July 2013 said that PSUs (public sector undertakings) not fulfilling the minimum public holding, would face action. What are the salient features of minimum public holding norms of the SEBI?

All listed PSUs are required to fulfill the minimum public shareholding norms, after which the Government will hold a maximum of 90% shares, while the remaining will be owned by the general public, banks, financial institutions or mutual funds. Due date for this norm to be complied with is 8 August 2013 All private sector listed companies were required to achieve at least 25% public shareholding by 3 June 2013 (SEBI had taken action against the promoters and directors of 105 non-compliant companies <<<<<<<<<<<< 10) First major economic reform was announced in China on 19 July 2013 since Xi Jinping became the President in March 2013. What is this major economic reform? Decontrol of lending rates for banks with which banks in China will be able to set their own lending rates (This move was seen as a step to address the problem of economic slowdown and declining growth. Competitive bank lending rates is expected to result in lowering the cost of acquiring funds for business) Banking and Financial Awareness 29 1) How many applications were received by the Reserve Bank of India for new banking licenses in the private sector till 1 July 2013, which was the deadline for submission of applications? 26 (The 26 applicants include players from the corporate sector, govt.-owned institutions, NBFCs (non-banking financial companies) and micro-finance institutions) <<<<<<<<<<< 2) Telecom Commission, an inter-ministerial body, on 2 July 2013 gave its approval for raising foreign direct investments (FDI) limit in the telecom sector to 100%. What is the present FDI limit? 74% (Present FDI limit is 74%, where 49% of investment in a telecom entity can be done through automatic route and FIPB approval is required for raising further stake. This approval of Telecom Commission however needs cabinet approval. This approval is expected to provide fresh funds to telecom operators to lower their financial burden. According to a recent presentation of industry body COAI, the debt of the telecom industry stood at Rs. 1,85,720 crore at the end of 2011-12) <<<<<<<<<<< 3) Which Indian corporate become the first to sell a long-tenure rupee debt instrument of 50year to raise money? Mahindra & Mahindra

(M&M recently raised Rs. 500 crore through sale of a 50-year unsecured bond sale programme, thus becoming the first Indian corporate to do so. This bond issue of M&M is indicative of the increasing confidence of investors in corporate Indias long term prospects. The 50-year bonds with bullet redemption will carry an interest rate of 9.55% per annum) <<<<<<<<<<< 4) The proposal of which private sector bank to raise Rs 2,650 crore through qualified institutional placement (QIP) from overseas was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 27 June 2013? YES Bank (YES Bank proposes to increase the foreign equity participation upto 60 per cent through a QIP of its equity shares to eligible non-resident investors. The proposal was cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in April, but since the investment was of more than Rs 1,200 crore, a CCEA nod was required which was given on 27 June) <<<<<<<<<<< 5) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved Oil Ministrys proposal to price all domestically produced natural gas as per a formula suggested by a panel. This resulted in near doubling of natural gas prices to $8.4 from 1 April next year, a move which will cause power tariffs, urea costs and CNG prices to go up. This approval was based on suggestions of a panel headed by Dr. C. Rangarajan, Prime Ministers Economic Advisor (This pricing formula for natural gas would come into effect from 1 April 2014, just when Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)s KG-D6 formula of $4.2/mmBtu runs out. The Rangarajan formula would be applicable for 5 years) <<<<<<<<<<< 6) Status of the public sector enterprise Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), was upgraded recently. What is its new status? Schedule A enterprise (It was earlier Schedule B enterprise and its upgradation reflects its improved profitability and turnover. MRPL can now aspire for Navratna status with this upgradation. MRPL is a unit of ONGC) <<<<<<<<<<< 7) SEBI on 25 June 2013 approved new set of rules, making it mandatory for the companies to buyback at least 50% of their repurchase offers with the objective of safeguarding the interest of public shareholders. What was the existing limit of the mandatory buy-back? 25% (SEBI also changed the period of buyback and from now buyback is to be completed in 6 months against existing norm of 12 months) <<<<<<<<<<< 8) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 21 June 2013 approved the proposal to allow power producers to pass on higher cost of imported coal to consumers, which is expected to result in an increase in power tariff for consumers by a minimum of 15 to 17 paise per unit. This pass through mechanism will be applicable for thermal power plants commissioned after which year?

2009

(Capacity of power plants commissioned after 2009 is approximately 78,000 megawatts <<<<<<<<<<< 9) What was the average monthly per capita expenditure (MCPE) of the poorest of the poor in the country, as stated in a report of 68th round of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) released on 20 June 2013? Rs. 521.44 in rural areas and Rs. 700.50 in urban areas (This report also stated that these poorest of the poor persons constitute roughly about 5% of the total population of the country. This effectively means that the poorest of the poor survive on just Rs. 17 per day in rural areas and Rs. 23 a day in urban areas. NSSOs 68th round of survey is based on samples consisting of 7,496 villages in rural India and 5,263 urban blocks except some remote areas, during July 2011-June 2012) <<<<<<<<<<< 10) Which financial services company (among those also involved in gold business), became the first company in the country to suspend gold sales across all its businesses? Reliance Capital (According to a statement made by the company on 21 June 2013, the company suspended sale of gold coins and gold in all other available forms, including as an investment product across all its businesses and subsidiaries. Of late there have been growing concerns over huge gold imports hurting the countrys economic strength) <<<<<<<<<<< Banking and Financial Awareness 28 1) Indias first ever white label ATM was started at Chandrapada, a rural village in Thane district near Mumbai on 27 June 2013. This ATM was started by Tata Communications Payment Solutions Ltd. (TCPSL), a subsidiary of Tata Communications. What is the brand name of this range of white ATMs? Indicash (Last year, the Reserve Bank of India, had allowed corporates to set up white label ATMs to increase the penetration of ATMs in several areas of the country. These ATMs are to be operated by non-banking corporates and organisations and will provide ATM services to customers of all banks) <<<<<<<<<<< 2) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during June 2013 extended the time to set up new banks in India, under which the promoter group has to set up a non-operative financial holding company (NOFHC) and the bank. However, the deadline for submission of application has been unchanged and remains 1 July 2013. By how much time the above said extension has been provided? Six months (Now promoters will get 18 months of time to set up NOFHC from the date of in-principle approval for bank from the RBI. Earlier 12 months were given by the RBI. With this extension the promoters will now get more time to operationalise the banking business) <<<<<<<<<<< 3) How many mini LIC offices were inaugurated by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 25 June 2013?

 300 (These offices would provide facilities for premium collection and other policy related services. These 300 mini offices were inaugurated through video-mode) <<<<<<<<<<< 4) Indias first SEBI-registered venture capital fund for Dalits was launched by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 6 June 2013. What is the name of this fund? DICCI SME Fund (This venture fund has been initiated by the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DICCI). It aims to raise Rs. 500 crore over 10 years and finance dalit entrepreneurs to set up businesses. The fund was launched with an initial contribution of Rs. 10 crore by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)) <<<<<<<<<<< 5) What was total inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI) during 2012-13 as announced in the pertaining data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)? $22.42 billion (FDI inflow declined by 38% as compared to 2011-12, during which these inflows stood at $35.12 billion) <<<<<<<<<<< 6) The government on 20 June 2013 approved Planning Commissions proposal to merge the 147 Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) and bring it down to 70 across various sectors for effective implementation and monitoring of the 12th Five Year Plan. During last month, a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Sharad Pawar had approved merging of 147 CSS into 70 schemes. The merger proposal is in line with recommendations of which committee? Chaturvedi Committee (For better utilisation of funds under CSS, the panel of ministers had approved transferring of funds from the central government to the state consolidated funds and not directly to the implementing agencies. The Chaturvedi Committee had suggested bringing down CSS to 59 from 147 to avoid overlap) <<<<<<<<<<< 7) The 39th Summit of G-8 (Group of Eight Developed Nations) was held on 17 and 18 June 2013 at Northern Ireland (G8 includes 8 countries Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the US, the UK and European Council. In a major development on the sidelines of this summit, the United States and Russia agreed to end violence in Syria despite having different stances to solve this problem) <<<<<<<<<<< 8) Who on 14 June 2013 was appointed as the new Chairman of Life Insurance of India (LIC)? SK Roy (Roy was appointed LICs Managing Director (MD) last month and he was also in the race for the post of chairman. He has now succeeded DK Mehrotra, whose term ended on 31 May 2013) <<<<<<<<<<<

9) A high-powered committee on Rationalisation of Investment Routes and Monitoring of Foreign Portfolio Investments, recently suggested doing away with registration of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) with market regulator SEBI and reducing the know-yourcustomer (KYC) process for well regulated entities. Who is the chairman of this highpowered committee? KM Chandrasekhar, former Cabinet Secretary (This committee was set up in December 2012. The committee in its set of recommendations also called for merging FIIs and Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) into one class Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) and has proposed to keep the aggregate investment limit for FPIs at 24% and 10% for NRIs) <<<<<<<<<<< 10) A Bangladeshi commission has proposed the Government takeover or split of the famous Grameen Bank into how many parts, which attracted criticism from several quarters? 19 Parts (Grameen Bank founded by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus is to be broken up into 19 separate organisations to decentralise the banks operations and management as proposed by a Bangladeshi commission, which was formed to suggest steps to restructure the bank. The commission also suggested that Grameens legal status be amended with the government owning at least 51 per cent. Grameen Bank has been in dispute with the Bangladesh Govt. Founded as a statutory body under a law offering ownership to its client members, Grameen lent more than USD 11 billion to millions of people mainly women to help them gain financial independence from poverty cycles) <<<<<<<<<< Banking and Financial Awareness 27 1) What was the growth rate of GDP for Indian economy for 2012-13 as per the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on 31 May 2013? 5% (This is the lowest annual rate of growth in a decade. However, economy staged a feeble recovery in the fourth quarter (Jan-Mar) of 2012-13 during which the GDP growth stood at 4.8% as against 4.7% in the previous quarter (Oct-Dec 2012) 2) The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) has asked for complete overhaul of the current Indian financial sector regulatory architecture, if India wants to become $14 trillion economy by 2015. What are the main recommendations of FSLRC, which has submitted its report to the Finance Ministry in March 2013? a) Creation of a unified financial agency that would subsume sectoral regulators like IRDA, PFRDA, etc b) Limit the role of the RBI to monetary management c) Introduction of Indian Financial Code (IFC) for replacing the current regulatory regime (IFCs draft was also included in this report) 3) What was Indias fiscal deficit during 2012-13 as announced by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on 31 May 2013?

 4.9% (This is lower than the targeted deficit of 5.2%. The Centres fiscal deficit stood at Rs. 4,89,890 in 2012-13 as against the budgeted deficit of Rs. 5,20,925 crore. This is the first time in over two years that the Centres fiscal deficit was below 5% and was achieved through higher revenues and a compression in expenditure. Fiscal deficit in 2011-12 was a record 5.9%) 4) State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) plans to open how many new branches in the current fiscal, which is the golden jubilee year of the bank? 100 (Jaipur based SBBJ is a subsidiary of State Bank of India (SBI) and had 1,037 branches as on 31 March 2013) 5) How many cooperative banks failed in 2012-13, resulting in credit insurance company Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) paying nearly Rs. 160 crore to depositors? 13 (Among the 13 cooperative banks, which failed to repay deposits to customers, nine are from Maharashtra, two from Gujarat and one each from Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. DICGC is a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India) 6) Indian market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) completed how many years of its establishment on 24 May 2013? 25 years (SEBI was formed on this day in 1988 by an order of Govt. of India. It was given statutory powers in 1992 through the SEBI Act, 1992) 7) How much were the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the State Bank of India (SBI) for year ended 31 March 2013 as declared on 23 May 2013? Rs. 51,189 crore (NPAs stood at Rs. 39,676 crore in the previous year. SBIs gross NPA as a percentage of total loan rose to 4.75%, which is the highest among Indian banks. NPAs represent portion of bad loans) 8) Infosys founder NR Narayan Murthy was reappointed as Chairman of the company, as announced by the company on 1 June 2013. What is the name of Mr. Narayan Murthys son who was also included in the reconstituted board of Infosys and who would function as Executive Assistant to Narayan Murthy? Rohan Murthy (With Narayan Murthys reappointment, the current chairman K.V. Kamath would step down from his position as Chairman of the Board and will take up the position of Lead Independent Director)

9) Banking operations of ICICI Bank was hit for a few hours on 1 June 2013 due to some technical problems in Finacle, the platform on which ICICI Banks online operations are carried out. Which company is the developer of Finacle? Infosys Limited 10) Indian Air Force (IAF)s first fighter air base in South India was inaugurated by Defence Minister AK Antony on 27 May 2013. Where is this air base situated? Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu (IAFs state-of-the-art Su-30MKI combat aircraft will be stationed at this new air base. The establishment of the premier fighter base is important in the view of current geo-political scenario and threat perception in the peninsular region and in the Indian Ocean) Banking and Financial Awareness 26 1) SBI Chairman Pratip Choudhuri recently said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should be made regulator of all home loans in the country. Who are regulators of home loan segment in India at present? RBI is the regulator of home loans provided by all commercial banks while National Housing Bank (NHB) is the regulator of loans provided by housing finance companies like HDFC Limited, LIC Housing Finance Co. Ltd., etc. 2) With an objective of tightening the norms for algorithmic trading (algo), market regulator SEBI on 21 May 2013 made it mandatory for the users to have their systems audited every six months and increased penalties on errant stock brokers. What is algo trading? In market parlance, algorithmic or algo trading refers to orders generated at a superfast speed by use of advanced mathematical models that involve automated execution of trade 3) According to a report released by Switzerland-based Financial Stability Board (FSB) on 18 May 2013, what is the total estimated size of shadow banking business in India? Over $670 billion (nearly Rs. 37 lakh crore) Shadow banking is generally referred to involvement of financial intermediary in aiding credit creation without regulatory oversight 4) According to data released by the PFRDA ((Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority) on 15 May 2013, the National Pension Scheme (NPS) gave better returns than EPF (Employees Provident Fund) and GPF (General Provident Fund) during the year 201213. Which scheme of NPS gave the best return during the fiscal? Private Corporate Debt (Funds under this segment generated 14.19% returns. Performances of other funds/schemes are as follows Private Govt. Debt 13.52%, Swavlamban 13.40%, State Govt. 13%, Central Govt. 12.39% and Equity Fund 8.38%. In contrast EPF scheme gave returns of 8.5% in 201213 while GPF offered a return of 8.8%. EPF manages retirement savings of over 6 crore

formal sector workers while GPF takes care of retirement savings of govt. employees recruited before 2004) 5) Which stock exchange launched countrys first dedicated debt trading platform on 13 May 2013? NSE (This new debt trading platform is expected to provide an opportunity to retail investors to invest in corporate bonds on a liquid and transparent exchange platform. The mutual funds, insurance companies and pension funds are also expected to participate after guidelines for the same are issued by the SEBI) 6) The proposal of the Ministry of Shipping for establishing two new major ports in the country was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 9 May 2013. These new ports are to be established in which states? Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal (Dugarajapatnam port is to be established in Andhra Pradesh whereas a new port at Sagar Island is to be established in West Bengal. Dugarajapatnam port is to come at Dugarajapatnam village in Nellore district. This will be the second Union governmentcontrolled port in Andhra Pradesh after the one in Visakhapatnam. The proposed Sagar Island port in West Bengal would solve capacity handling problems pertaining to two present ports in the state, Kolkata Docks at Kolkata and Haldia Dock Complex at Haldia) 7) What was the growth rate of Indias industrial output (as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP)) for 2012-13, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on 10 May 2013? 1% (This is the lowest growth in IIP since 1991-92, when the industrial output grew by just 0.6%. IIP growth rate during 2011-12 stood at 2.9%. However, IIP during March 2013 stood at 2.5%, which is the highest in last 5 months) 8) RBI Governor D. Subbarao on 9 May 2013 highlighted a tool for dealing with the probable shortage of cash in the Indian economy. Which tool is this, which could be utilized as and when situation demands? Open Market Operations OMO (RBI Governor pressed on OMO to deal with the problem of liquidity in the system. OMOs are the market operations conducted by the RBI by way of sale/ purchase of Government securities to/ from the market with an objective to adjust the rupee liquidity conditions in the market on a durable basis. Last fiscal, the RBI injected liquidity to the tune of Rs. 1.5 lakh crore through OMO purchase auctions) 9) Indian mutual funds sold how much net funds during the fiscal year 2012-13 as disclosed in the latest data compiled by market regulator SEBI?

Rs. 22,749 crore

(This is the highest net outflow for a single fiscal since 2000-01 when funds had pulled out shares worth Rs. 27,670 crore. Net mutual fund sale means a situation when sales of mutual funds exceeds its purchase) 10) Union Govt. informed the Parliament on 7 May 2013 that there is no potential for massive increase in employment in agriculture sector and the sector is projected to contribute no increase in the 11th Five Year Plan. How many agricultural workers are projected to lose job in the 12thFive Year Plan, as stated by the govt.? About 4 million Banking and Financial Awareness 25 1) The Union Cabinet recently decided that women self help groups (SHGs) will get bank loans at 7% interest rate per annum under its flagship programme, National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). What is the existing interest rate under NRLM? 11.5% to 14% per annum (Total burden due to this reduction in interest rate for 2013-14 has been estimated at Rs. 1,650 crore, of which the Centre will bear Rs. 1,400 crore and the remaining will be met by state governments. This reduction will bring the rate of interest for women SHGs at par with the rate at which banks lend to farmers) 2) RBI came up with its annual monetary policy statement on 3 May 2013. What was the economic growth rate proposed for the Indian economy for the current fiscal of 2013-14 in this statement? 5.7% (In comparison the growth rate during 2012-13 was at decades lowest level of 5%) 3) In its annual monetary policy statement of 3 May 2013, RBI Governor D. Subbarao highlighted which measure as the biggest threat to monetary policy? Widening Current Account Deficit or CAD (CAD is the difference between inflow and outflow of foreign currency) 4) What is the new repo rate after RBI announced a cut of 25 basis points in its annual monetary policy statement of 3 May 2013? 7.25% (No changes were announced in cash reserve ratio (CRR), which stays at 4%. Repo rate is now at its lowest level since May 2011) 5) Which stock exchange recently launched an Islamic equity index especially for Islamic investors? Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) This equity index includes 500 stocks of those companies that fulfill Islamic finance principles like staying away from business of alcohol, tobacco and gambling-related products. BSE had also launched Indias first Islamic index in 2010

 6) A six-member inter-ministerial committee was constituted by the Union Govt. recently to suggest measures for enhancing exports from countrys micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). Who is the head of this committee? R S Gujral, Finance Secretary (MSME contributed about 8% in countrys GDP and 40% in countrys total exports. However, of-late this sectors contribution has been decreasing and new reports suggest that MSMEs contribution in exports have dwindled to around 36%. Indias total exports are also experiencing continuous decline) 7) Who was elected as the new President of Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) on 26 April 2013? Takehiko Nakao of Japan (Nakao will take charge from Haruhiko Kuroda, also from Japan, who resigned from the ADB top post to assume the charge of Bank of Japan governor) 8) What was Indias total indirect tax collection (actual) during 2012-13, as announced on 25 April 2013? Rs. 4.74 lakh crore (The revised estimate for indirect tax collection for the year was Rs. 4.68 lakh crore. Total excise duty collection stood at Rs. 1,76,457 crore whereas total customs collection stood at Rs. 1,65,896 crore during the year. Better than expected collections have provided a major relief to the govt. in meeting the fiscal deficit target of 5.2% of GDP for 2012-13) 9) What was the projected growth rate for Indian economy for 2013-14 as suggested recently by the Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC)? 6.4% (The PMEAC on 23 April 2013 suggested that the downturn for Indian economy has bottomed out and if investments are pushed towards completion the economy can spring back from the 5% rate of growth recorded in 2012-13) 10) How many life insurance policies were sold during 2012-13 (till December 2012), as per an announcement made in the Rajya Sabha on 23 April 2013 by Minister for State for Finance? 2.69 crore (The sale of life insurance policies has been witnessing a continuous downtrend since 201011. In 2010-11 total number of policies sold stood at 4.81 crore. This figure came down to 4.41 crore in 2011-12. Decline in number of life insurance policies is attributed to fall in sales of unit-linked insurance segment and general market trends) Banking and Financial Awareness 24 1) Which bank will replace state-run Bank of India (BoI) as the trustee bank for the National Pension System (NPS) from July 2013 onwards?

 Axis Bank (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority(PFRDA) had appointed Bank of India as Trustee Bank for NPS for a period of 5 years. The NPS Trustee Bank facilitates fund transfers across various entities of Central Record Keeping Agency system Nodal Offices, Pension Fund Managers and Annuity Service Providers) 2) A new medi-claim facility for holders of kisan credit cards (KCCs) was launched on 24 April 2013 by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. This new facility is being offered to KCC holders of which bank? Dena Bank (This facility is being provided by Dena Bank in association with the United India Insurance Company (UIIC) and is the first such initiative launched by any bank in India) 3) Market regulator SEBI on 22 April 2013 allowed 47 entities to set up AIFs. What is the meaning of AIF? AIF stands for Alternative Investment Funds, which is a newly created class of pooledin investment vehicles for real estate, private equity and hedge funds, over a period of ten months 4) What is the name of a new network launched by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on 19 April 2013, which aims to improve implementation of policies, programs, and projects, which the 12th Five Year Plan has declared as the critical necessity for accelerating more inclusive and faster growth? India Backbone Implementation Network IBIN (IBIN has been modeled on the very successful Total Quality Movement (TQM) in Japan which in the 1960s and 70s transformed the capability of Japanese organizations in the private and public sectors to deliver results. The IBIN movement will disseminate techniques and skills for collaboration, coordination, and better planning through a network of agencies in the country. The partners in the expanding network already include more than two dozen institutions such as the Administrative Staff College of India, the Indian School of Business, SEWA, WISCOMP, UNDP, GIZ, the World Bank, FISME and other business associations) 5) Which country was the largest recipient of remittances from the World Bank during 2012 as per announcements made by the bank on 20 April 2013? India (India received $69 billion worth of remittances from the bank. India was followed by China (USD60 billion), the Philippines (USD24 billion), Mexico (USD23 billion) and Nigeria and Egypt (USD21 billion each)) 6) What is the name of Indias 6th commodity exchange which started its operations on 19 April 2013? Universal Commodity Exchange or UCX (UCX is promoted by Commex Technology in joint venture with IDBI Bank, IFFCO, NABARD and REC. Other 5 existing commodity exchanges of India are NCDEX, MCX, ICEX, NMCE and ACE) -

7) In view of heavy economic sanctions against it, Iran recently suggested which countrys name to India, where India should deposit rupee payments for crude oil? Russia (Iran suggested that India should deposit rupee payments in a local branch of a Russian bank and withdraw them in roubles in Moscow to pay the Iranians (Iran has not received 55% payment component from India since February 2013 after the closure of Euro deposits through Turkeys Halk Bankasi. The balance 45% is parked in the Iranian account of Indias UCO Bank with a large chunk remaining unutilized) 8) How much increment in dearness allowance (DA) for central govt. employees was approved by the Union Cabinet on 18 April 2013? 8% 9) The Jnanpith Award, which is Indias most prestigious literary award, is to be awarded to which literary personality for year 2012, as announced by the Jnanapith Award selection committee on 17 April 2013? Ravuri Bharadhwaja, Telugu novelist, short-story writer and poet for his work Paakudu Raallu (Jnanpith Award was constituted in 1961 and was first awarded to Malayalam author G. Sankara Kurup in 1965. 2012s award is 48th edition of this prestigious award) 10) Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), which is Indias largest retirement fund manager, is set to tighten norms for premature withdrawals by discontinuing a practice that allows its subscribers to pay for their life insurance policies from their PF account. Which para of the EPF Scheme, 1952 deals with this issue that the EPFO is now planning to delete? Para 62 (This para permits a member to direct the PF department to finance the premium on his or her LIC cover by using the funds of PF account) Banking and Financial Awareness 23 1) IndiaFirst Life Insurance, which introduced many revolutionary insurance products such as Indias first money-back health insurance plan, is a joint-venture of which three associates? Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and Legal & General 2) What is Reserve Bank of India (RBI)s deadline for Indian commercial banks to avail chip-based debit and credit cards for all their customers who do international transactions? 30 June 2013

3) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 4 April 2013 announced decontrol of countrys sugar sector after accepting the recommendations of a committee on sugar price decontrol. Who was the Chairman of this committee, which submitted its report on 27 March 2013 to the Union Govt.?

 Dr C. Rangarajan, Chairman Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister 4) Which two archaic policies pertaining to sugar control were abolished by the govt. in the announcement made to decontrol sugar sector of the country? A) The levy sugar mechanism has been abolished for 2 years. Under this mechanism, the sugar producing companies were liable to sell 10% of their produce to the government at subsidised rates of Rs10 per kg less than the open market price (This move is expected to result in release of almost 3 million metric tonnes of sugar from the ambit of subsidized prices) B) The regulated release order mechanism has been abolished. Under this mechanism sugar companies had to sell only a certain percentage of their produce in the open market 5) What procedure has been adopted recently by public sector banks (PSBs) for sale of properties to recover payments from defaulting borrowers in order to ensure a free, fair and transparent process? e-auction (During the last meeting of general managers (recovery/legal) of all PSBs held in December 2012, it was advised that all auctions of immovable properties, under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002 be carried out through e-auctions. The PSBs have started implementing the same advice) 6) Who took over the reins of NSE (National Stock Exchange), Indias largest stock exchange on 1 April 2013? Chitra Ramakrishna (She took over the post of CEO from outgoing Ravi Narain) 7) Premium for motor insurance is to be increased by an average of how much from 1 April 2013, as announced by the insurance regulator IRDA recently? 20% (However, these rates are way below the hike proposed in the exposure draft floated in February 2013) 8) A decision to set up a contingency relief arrangement (CRA) worth $100 billion was taken at the 5th BRICS Summit on 27 March 2013. Which country would be the largest contributor to the CRA? China (China would contribute $41 billion to CRA, while India, Russia and Brazil would contribute $18 billion each. South Africa is to contribute the remaining $5 billion to the corpus of CRA. The decision to set up BRICS Development Bank (BDB) was also endorsed at the summit but the members failed to reach an understanding on the capitalisation of the new bank with China insisting on a $100 billion corpus while countries such as India were more comfortable with $50 billion) 9) Debt-ridden Mediterranean island country Cyprus on 25 March 2013 finally secured the $13 billion (10 billion Euro) bailout-package offered by the Euro Zone and thus avoided the

country from a banking system collapse and bankruptcy that could have destabilized the entire euro area. What are the important terms that Cyprus has to implement in return for this bailout-package, which Cyprus was earlier unrelenting to undertake? A) Cyprus has to drastically shrink its banking sector, which has become oversized, unprofitable and uneconomical B) It has to cut its fiscal budget and cut-away wasteful expenditures C) It has to start the process of privatization of its state assets D) Cyprus has to implement comprehensive set of structural reforms in the country (Cyprus has been shut out of international markets for almost two years. The bailout-package has been provided by a group of 17 European countries, who are collectively called as Euro Zone nations) 10) Which are the three states where High Courts were established on 23 March 2013, with which the number of high courts in India increased from 21 to 24? Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura (Announcement about establishment of these three new high courts was made on 25 January 2013) Banking and Financial Awareness 22 1) The term Actuarial is associated with which field? Insurance (Actuarial is a science which calculates premium amount for different types of life insurance policies. This is done by using various models like life expectancy, risk quotient and complex statistical and mathematical models. Actuarial is a very important field of insurance industry) 2) Who was the head of a committee constituted under the 12th Five Year Plan in 2011, to give recommendations on state and welfare of the urban poor in India? Prof. Amitabh Kundu 3) Concept of Tobin Tax is associated with which field? Foreign Exchange Transactions (It is a tax proposed in 1978 by Prof. James Tobin, the Nobel Prize Winner for Economics, to be implemented on foreign exchange transactions) 4) What type of money transfer takes place in the RTGS (real time gross settlement system? Inter-bank money transfer (Transfer from one bank account to another) 5) What function is performed by the RBI under Open Market Operations? RBI primarily tries to stabilize the money flow in the banking system through Open Market Operations (It buys and sells government bonds on the open market to do so. It is part of RBIs Monetary Policy tools to manipulate and maintain supply of money and short term interest in the economy) 6) Who is the author of the book The Rediscovery of India?

 Lord Meghnad Desai 7) Which agency/institution is the regulatory authority for home loans in India? National Housing Bank (NHB) 8) What is the meaning of term MPLADS which often appears in newspapers? Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme 9) The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC), which was set up about two years ago, submitted its final report to the govt. on 22 March 2013. This report recommends a comprehensive review of the current financial sector regulatory architecture and legislation. Who is the Chairman of FSLRC? Justice BN Shrikrishna, former Judge of Supreme Court 10) The Union govt. on 25 March 2013 announced reduction in interest rates offered under several small savings schemes like PPF, NSC, post office savings, etc. This reduction in interest rates was announced following govt.s decision last year to link the small savings returns with the market rate. This decision was taken into effect after govt. implemented recommendations of which committee some time ago? Shyamala Gopinath Committee (This committee had suggested that returns should be in sync with market rates determined by the returns offered by other securities. Hence the govt. has to announce new interest rates at the beginning of the financial year, which was what exactly done on 25 March 2013. The change in interest rates would come into effect from 1 April 2013) Impact on major tools of Small Savings : PPF (Public Provident Fund) : Annual rate of interest reduced from 8.8% to 8.7% NSC (National Savings Certificate 5 yr) : Annual rate of interest reduced from 8.6% to 8.5% NSC (National Savings Certificate 10 yr) : Annual rate of interest reduced from 8.9% to 8.8% Senior Citizens Saving Scheme (SCSS) : Annual rate of interest reduced from 9.3% to 9.2% Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) of 5 years maturity : Annual rate of interest reduced from 8.5% to 8.4% Savings Deposit Scheme : Unchanged at 4% Banking and Financial Awareness 21 1) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has again extended the deadline for acceptance of nonCTS cheques in a circular released by it on 18 March 2013. What is the last date for acceptance of non-CTS cheques now? 31 July 2013 (Earlier this deadline was fixed at 31st March 2013) 2) Express Remit is the brand name of an international remittance facility by which bank? SBI

3) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to come out with polymer (plastic) currency notes in near future. Of how much denomination the first set of polymer notes will be? Rs. 10 4) What is the meaning of Green Banking Channel? It is a concept of paperless banking to augment environment conservation through paperless banking transactions, which are also faster than conventional transactions 5) Which sector of Indian Economy is maximum dependent on economic developments in advanced nations? Service Sector (Also known as Tertiary Sector) 6) Which is the only banking institution of the country in which 100% stake is held by the RBI? National Housing Bank (NHB) 7) RBI introduced the Base Rate System (BRS) from which date? 1 July 2010 (It replaced the earlier Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR). BRS includes all those elements of the lending rates that are common across all categories of borrowers and in it no bank could lend below the base rate. Main drawback of the BPLR system was that under it banks could lend below BPLR) 8) In the capital markets, the term arbitrage is used with reference to? Simultaneous purchase and sale of securities to make profits from price 9) Indias largest bank the SBI recently announced plans to open how many branches spread all over the country in the next fiscal year? 1200 (SBI also announced plans to open 8 overseas branches) 10) Which is Indias first corporatised port, that has recently launched an issue of tax-free bonds to raise up to Rs. 1,000 crore? Ennore, Tamil Nadu (Ennore is the first port in the country to be managed by a corporate set up Ennore Port Limited (EPL)) Banking and Financial Awareness 20 1) Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) were established in India of recommendations of which committees report? Narasimhan Committee

(The Narasimham committee on rural credit recommended the establishment of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) on the ground that they would be much better suited than the commercial banks or co-operative banks in meeting the needs of rural areas. Initially, five RRBs were set up on October 2, 1975. Accepting the recommendations of the Narasimham committee, the government later passed the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976) 2) Which was the first public sector bank to come out with the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its employees? Punjab National Bank PNB (in 2000) 3) Who is the head of a newly constituted 4-member panel, which would give clear definitions of FDI (Foreign Direct Investments) and FII (Foreign Institutional Investors) with an aim to remove ambiguity over the two types of foreign investments? Arvind Mayaram (Secretary, Economic Affairs) 4) It was announced in the Union Budget 2013-14, that all public sector banks would have ATMs at all of their branches. What is the deadline for implementation of this announcement? 31 March, 2014 5) Announcement of Indias first all-woman bank was made in the Union Budget 2013-14. How much initial capital would be provided by the Union Govt. to open this bank? Rs. 1,000 crore (The proposed bank will lend mostly to women and women run businesses, support women SHGs (self help groups) and womens livelihood) 6) Which three private sector banks were charged on 14 March 2013 by independent investigative journalist, Aniruddha Bahal of Cobrapost.com, of being allegedly involved in widespread money laundering activities? ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank (Cobrapost.com conducted numerous sting operations to vindicate its stand) 7) During March 2013, which company/corporation was chosen by pension fund regulator PFRDA as the default annuity service provider for subscriptions exiting from the New Pension System (NPS) and seeking withdrawal of accumulated pension wealth? Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) 8) What is the name of Microsofts new version of its popular office suit, which was launched on 4 March 2013 especially for Indian small businesses and enterprises? Office 365 (Main feature of Office 365 is the cloud-based support for its users) 9) The interim pension regulator PFRDA has recently allowed fund managers for the private sector National Pension System (NPS) to invest directly into equities. What was the investment regulation for NPS till now?

 Till now fund managers of NPS could only invest in equities indirectly, i.e., through mutual funds (NPS, which has been set up for private citizens, has an option for investing up to 50% of a subscribers corpus in equities) 10) Financial sector regulators The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), on 8 March 2013 joined hands by signing an agreement under the auspices of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC). What are the main objectives of this move? These regulators would monitor financial conglomerates (FCs) of the country as well as approve a national strategy for financial education (The term FC stands for financial conglomerates and applies to financial groups like ICICI, SBI and HDFC, which are engaged in varied financial activities like banking, mutual funds, insurance and private equity) Banking and Financial Awareness 19 1) Which are the two public sector banks, in which union govt. has its full stake (100% ownership)? A) Punjab and Sind Bank B) United Bank of India (UBI) 2) What was the savings rate in the country during 2011-12, as announced in the Economic Survey 2012-13? 30.8 per cent (This rate was the lowest in last eight years, with the household financial savings declining by almost Rs. 90,000 crore as compared to 2010-11. Financial savings take the form of bank deposits, life insurance funds, pension and provident funds and shares and debentures) 3) Which is the latest internet browser launched by Microsoft on 26 February 2013? Internet Explorer 10 (Microsoft is still the dominant player in the desktop browsing market but Googles Chrome and Mozillas Firefox have recently dented the market of Microsoft significantly) 4) How many months service extension was given to RBIs Deputy-Governor Anand Sinha on 26 February 2013? 11 months (Sinha was to retire on 28 February 2013 but with this extension his tenure will extend till 18 January 2014) 5) What was the recommended rate of interest for 2012-13 as suggested by the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for its beneficiaries?

 8.5% per annum (This recommendation was made by the CBT on 25 February 2013. Union Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Khadge heads this board. Returns for EPFO beneficiaries for 2011-12 stood at 8.25% per annum) 6) Indias premier cyber security agency Computer Emergency Response Team (CERTIn) on 24 February 2013 issued an advisory to internet users about a spam attack that hijacks search engine requests leading to slow browsing and opening up of suspect websites. What is the name of this Trojan virus? Bamital (Bamital is a malware designed to hijack search engine results. Clicking on any of the displayed search results redirects users to an attacker controlled command-and-control server) 7) Which major British bank recently started laying-off its employees in India as part of closure of its retail and commercial banking operations in the country? RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland. RBS had sold its Asian assets to Australia and New Zealand Banking) Corp. recently to comply with its bailout norms) 8) An Indian Institute of Agri-Biotechnology (IIAB) was announced in the Union Budget 2013-14. In which city this proposed institute will be established? Ranchi (Jharkhand) 9) Two changes were made in the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) in the Union Budget 2013-14. What are these changes? a) Benefit for 3 years would now be available for investors in RGESS instead of the present 1 year b) Limit for investing in this scheme has been raised from earlier Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 12 lakh (i.e., now an investor with annual income of Rs. 12 lakh can also take benefit of this scheme, which is for first time investors in equity and mutual funds) 10) It was announced in the Union Budget 2013-14 that every town with a specific population will have an LIC branch. What was the announced specification of such towns? Towns with population of over ten thousand (10,000+) Banking and Financial Awareness 18 1) What are the important features of the term Universal Banking, as used in context of Indian banking? A) Universal Banking provides a mix of commercial as well as investment banking B) Universal Banking also provides unique facility of availing services of banks located in any part of the world at any time

2) Banking industry faces a plethora of risks in its area of operations. Which is the largest type of classified risk, which poses highest risks to a banking establishment? Operational Risk (This type of risk mainly arises from banks internal activities and comes to fore due to banks processes, banks dealing with different people and banks various systems. Operational banking risks have been classified in Basel II regulations) 3) What are the two most important features of the Second Green Revolution, which is being implemented by the union govt. and this nomenclature is very much in vogue in recent times? A) Second Green Revolution is being implemented mainly in Eastern states (West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Eastern UP) and North-Eastern states (Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal and Meghalaya) of the country B) Second Green Revolution gives emphasis on increasing productivity of rice crop as against First Green Revolution, in which emphasis was on wheat 4) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides funds to countries mainly to fulfill which obligation? To overcome balance of payment (BoP) problems of temporary and short-term nature 5) Banks in India traditionally use which system of payment and settlement? Simultaneous Net Payment (SNP) 6) Headquarter of the Reserve Bank of India is located in which city? Mumbai 7) Which type of working segment generally faces highest risk element as explained by the Pyramid of Poverty Index? Temporary workers, informal salaried employees and workers employed in household chores 8) Whenever an Indian resident requires foreign currency in lieu of Indian rupee, the bank provides this to him/her at which prevailing rate? Foreign exchange rate 9) A Brush of Life is a book written by which renowned artist? Satish Gujral (noted painter) 10) Which Indian stock-exchange launched Carbonex, countrys first carbon-based thematic index which provides facility of assessing environment risks and opportunities to the investor? BSE (This index was launched in 2012 and takes a strategic view of organisational commitment to climate change mitigation)

Banking and Financial Awareness 17 1) After the nationalization of 14 banks in 1969 and 6 in 1980, the Reserve Bank of India has (RBI) given licenses in two phases. How many banks were given banking licenses in these two phases? 12 banks 2) How many banks were given banking license by the RBI in the first phase in 1993-94 and which were the banks? 10 banks (all private) These 10 banks were Axis Bank Limited, Bank of Punjab, Centurion Bank, Development Credit Bank, Global Trust Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Times Bank 3) How many banks were given banking license by the RBI in the second phase in 20032004? 2 banks (Kotak Mahindra Bank and Yes Bank) 4) Which private bank opened with much fanfare in 90s, collapsed and was later merged with the Oriental Bank of Commerce in August 2004? Global Trust Bank (GTB) 5) What are the important guidelines issued by the RBI for opening new banks in India, as announced on 22 February 2013? Private firms, public sector entities and NBFCs are eligible to set up a bank The initial minimum paid-up equity capital to be Rs. 500 crore Applicants should be financially sound with a 10-year track record Application for opening new bank should be via Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC) NOHFC to initially hold a minimum 40% stake in the bank for 5 years, which should be brought down to 15% over 12 years The new bank has to get listed within 3 years of the commencement of business Foreign shareholding in the new bank to be capped at 49% for the first 5 years At least 25% of branches of a new bank should be set up in unbanked rural areas 6) Who took over as the new Chairman of insurance regulator IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) on 21 February 2013? TS Vijayan, former Chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India (Vijayans tenure will be for a period of 5 years. He took place of Hari Narayan who retired on 20 February 2013 after being at the helm of the authority for about 5 years) 7) Indian insurance sector regulator IRDA on 19 February 2013 re-introduced the process of automatic clearance to life insurance products in view of demands of various stakeholders of the life insurance industry. In which year this system was dispended with by IRDA?

 in 2007 (All products filed from 1 April 2013 would be given this benefit. IRDA has dispensed with the submission of policy documents under File and Use or the automatic clearance system in 2007) 8) Indias largest credit card issuer HDFC Bank has recently started replacing some of its points of sale (PoS) machines at a few merchant establishments. This has been done in view of which problem the banking industry is facing, associated with credit cards? Cases of skimming have been witnessed in India of late, wherein the card data is copied illegally in an otherwise legitimate transaction, only to be used fraudulently later (HDFC Bank is one of the largest players in merchant acquisition space with close to 2.5 lakh machines and about 6.4 million credit cards) 9) In a major move, the govt. has formally begun the process of separating the national grid operator Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) from state-owned transmission utility Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL). This move has been taken due to which reason? India witnessed two successive grid failures in 2012 and it was thought necessary that POSOCO should be given functional autonomy, freedom to recruit staff and payment of higher pay scales for its employees (POSOCO is entrusted with the task of running one of the largest synchronous interconnections in the world. In spite of such a huge responsibility POSOCO currently operates just as a subsidiary of PGCIL, instead of being an independent grid manager) 10) Who was conferred with the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace for 2011 on 18 February 2013? Social Worker Ela Bhatt, the founder of SEWA (Self Employed Womens Association) The prize was given by the President Pranab Mukherjee Banking and Financial Awareness 16 1) What is the meaning of scheduled bank, which is often used in banking terminology in India? A bank is said to be Scheduled bank when it has been permitted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to undertake banking operations under the RBI Act and therefore its name appears in Schedule II of the RBI 2) Govt. of India provides subsidized interest rates for availing housing finance facility for lower strata of people. What is the lowest interest rate charged for this group of people? 1 % per annum 3) When a bank accepts deposits for giving loans and for investment, it is playing role of what type of financial institution?

 Financial intermediary 4) What is the meaning of ever-greening of loan? Under ever-greening, banks provide additional loans to stressed borrowers (who are unable to repay their loans). This type of loan is often given indirectly, to enable them to repay existing loans. That can keep a loan from becoming non-performing asset (NPA), but it exposes bank to additional risk 5) When a person opens an account in a bank, the bank is a __________ towards the person? Debtor (He is liable to pay the person the amount deposited whereas the person opening the account is a creditor for the bank) 6) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) discontinued circulation of 25 paise coins from which date, from which the 25-paise ceased to be a legal tender? 30 June 2011 7) 14th Ministerial Level Meeting of BASIC group was organized in Chennai during February 2013, in which four member countries of the group gave priority to implementation of Green Climate Fund by industrialized countries. Which four countries are members of BASIC group? Brazil, South Africa, India and China 8) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently fixed upper limit on rate of interest that can be charged by micro finance institutions (MFIs) in the country. Deputy Governor of RBI K.C. Chakraborty on 16 February 2013 announced this upper limit at a seminar on MFIs organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Moscow. What is this upper limit of interest, above which MFIs cannot charges from individuals? 26 % p.a. 9) Seeking to unfreeze idle gold in the country, the RBI made which two announcements on 14 February 2013 to make the Gold Deposit Scheme (GDS) more attractive? 1) Lowering the investment time period of GDS and 2) Allowing mutual funds to participate in the scheme 10) What was the important fact associated with Indias inflation figure for January 2013, which stood at 6.22%, as announced by the govt. on 14 February 2013? It was the lowest inflation rate of last three years Banking and Financial Awareness 15 1) Which act pertains to effectively dealing with the problem of non-performing assets (NPAs) in Indian banking?

 SARFAESI Act (The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI) This act empowers Banks / Financial Institutions to recover their non-performing assets without the intervention of the Court) 2) Which public sector oraganisation/undertaking provides insurance and risk cover to exporters in India? ECGC (Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Limited) 3) What is the name given to group/groups of dedicated people who act as major catalysts in disbursal of small-sized loans given by micro-finance institutions (MFIs)? Self-help groups (SHGs) 4) Some years ago Govt. of India permitted foreign investments in LLP firms, with a view to receive more foreign investments and foreign exchange. What is meant by the acronym LLP? Limited Liability Partnership 5) Generally no interest is given by banks to which type of bank account? Current Account (These type of accounts are opened mainly to facilitate businesses in smooth running of their operations and facilities such as unlimited withdrawals, unlimited deposits, bulk cheque clearing, bulk payments, etc. are given for such account. Saving is not the primary objective of current account holders) 6) A new bank note paper mill is soon to be established in which city of Karnataka? Mysore 7) Generally, what is the designation of head of public sector undertakings (PSUs) and PSU banks in India? Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) 8) The 17-member bank consortium which kick-started the process of recovery of loans from troubled Kingfisher Airlines, formed a sub-group of four banks to oversee the loan recovery. Which four banks constitute this newly formed sub-group? State Bank of India (SBI), IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of India (Kingfisher Airlines owe about Rs. 8,000 crore to these 17 banks) 9) Worlds biggest airline was created on 14 February 2013 with the merger of two of the largest airlines of United States US Airways and American Airlines. This merger deal was worth $11 billion. What is the name of the newly created airline?

 American Airlines (But this new airlines would be run by Doug Parker, CEO of US Airways. This merger would reduce the number of major airlines in the United States to four the new American Airlines, United, Delta and South West) 10) Which corporation procures, issues and transports food-grain under Public Distribution System (PDS) and is perceived as backbone of PDS? Food Corporation of India (FCI) Banking and Financial Awareness 14 1) What is the primary objective of policy of Financial Inclusion, which is being adopted and implemented with much zeal by the Indian banking industry? Provide access to banking services to people living in far-flung areas 2) What were the important recommendations of Kelkar Committee on financial consolidation, which was presented during September 2012? a) Implement goods and service tax (GST) b) Bring down excise and service tax rates to 8% and c) Making PAN no. compulsory for all financial transactions 3) The rate of interest, below which banks cant offer or disburse loans, is called Base Rate 4) Union govt.s ambitious Food Security Bill, 2011 divides the whole Indian population in which two distinct categories? Ordinary Family (who are ineligible to get food subsidy) andPrioritized Family (who are eligible to get food subsidy) 5) Which international financial institution provides Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to countries? International Monetary Fund (IMF) 6) What is the meaning of teaser loans, that was offered by banks sometimes ago, and whose practice was restricted by the RBI later? Teaser loan is a type of loan under which rate of interest is kept low in the initial tenure of loan but increases in the following years 7) Which institution is the primary custodian of foreign exchange funds in India? Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 8) A specialized institute for imparting courses and providing training in corporate affairs and its legalities, named Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) is being established in which township in vicinity of Delhi?

 Manesar (Haryana) 9) What is the upper limit for investing in the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS), which was announced in the General Budget 2012-13? Rs. 50,000 (Under this scheme, first-time equity investors can invest up to Rs 50,000 in approved stocks and mutual funds and claim income tax deduction on 50 per cent of the amount under Section 80 CCG of the Income Tax Act.) 10) Generally the terminology Invisible Exports is associated with which category of exports? Export of services (generally services provided as outsourcing) Banking and Financial Awareness 13 1) What is the upper limit of amount, which can be transferred through the RTGS (real time gross settlement system), which has now became one of the most relied money transfer system used in the Indian banking system? No upper limit has been declared 2) From which date interest rate on saving bank accounts was deregulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)? 25 October 2011 3) When a bank offers loan to purchase a luxury product, this type of loan is generally classified in which category of loans by the banking industry? Loans for durable consumer goods 4) SBI had sometimes back launched Tiny Cards with biometric identification features. These type of cards were launched under which ongoing banking initiative? Financial Inclusion 5) The govt. closed the Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) scheme after accepting several proposals of the Shyamla Gopinath committee. KVP scheme was closed with effect from 30 November 2011(Interest rates on small-saving instruments were also increased on recommendations of this committee) 6) Hawala deals are banned in India under provisions of which act? Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 7) Which state became the first state in the country to pass a bill to impose regulations on interest rates being charged by micro-finance institutions (MFIs)?

 Andhra Pradesh 8) KYC (know your customer) directives, which have been strictly adhered to by Indian banks from many years now, have been prepared by which institution? Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 9) Govt. share holding in public sector banks could not be less than ________ per cent at any time? 51 (Fifty one) 10) Which FMCG brand became the first FMCG brand of the country to cross sales figure of Rs. 5,000 crore? Parle G, the biscuit brand of Parle Products (This sales comprises of retail sale value of Parle G brands of biscuits in 2012) Banking and Financial Awareness 12 1) Which South-American country on 8 February 2013 announced decision to devalue its currency by half as devaluation is expected to push up prices in this heavily import-reliant economy? Venezuela (Venezuelan currency bolivars devaluation became effective on 13 February 2013) 2) Finance Minister P. Chidambaram simultaneously inaugurated 101 branches of which public sector bank on 9 February 2013? State Bank of India (SBI) 3) The Reserve bank of India on 8 February 2013 directed which two categories of banks not to grant loans for purchase of gold in any form in order to check the significant rise in import of the precious metal in recent years? Central co-operative Banks (CCBs) and State Co-operative Banks (SCBs) 4) Which stock exchange became Indias newest stock exchange on 9 February 2013 after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated it? MCX-SX (This newest stock exchange of India is competing against two established stock exchanges of the country NSE and BSE) 5) Indias newest stock exchange MCX-SX started formal stock trading operations on 11 February 2013 with first days total trade worth Rs. 12.53 crore. MCX-SX started with how many companies admitted for trading in its capital market segment?

 1,116 companies 6) Who are the promoters of countrys first infrastructure debt fund (IDF), which was launched by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 9 February 2013? Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India and the IL&FS Group (IDF has primarily been set up to provide long term finance available for complete lifecycle of infrastructure projects) 7) A committee was recently set up by the Union Environment Ministry to review the kinds of projects that require environmental clearance from the Centre. Who is the head of this committee? K. Kasturirangan, Member, Planning Commission 8) How much additional cash subsidy was announced on 11 February 2013 by the union govt. for state-owned fuel retailers for current fiscal year to make up for the revenue they lost on selling auto and cooking fuel below cost? Rs. 25,000 crore 9) Which major coffee producing country on 8 February 2013 declared a national emergency over the spread of coffee rust disease, which has affected almost 70 per cent of coffee plantation in the country? Guatemala (Coffee rust and fungus has affected coffee produce Guatemala as well as other South and Central American countries like Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador) 10) The Supreme Court on 7 February 2013 directed Karnataka Govt. to release 2.44 tmcft. of water to Tamil Nadu after accepting the report of a commission on this matter. Which commission submitted its comprehensive report to the Supreme Court on Cauvery dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka? The Central Water Commission CWC (the commission prepared its report after visiting Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur on February 5 2013. Supreme Court also rejected Tamil Nadus plea for releasing 9 tmcft. of Cauvery water) Banking and Financial Awareness 11 1) The Union Cabinet on 7 February 2013 approved enhancing the authorised capital of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to Rs. _________ from Rs. 5,000 crore and expanding its scope of operations? Rs. 20,000 crore 2) An RBI panel on 6 February 2013 proposed a slew of measures like mandatory quoting of PAN card numbers for high-value purchases, restriction on gold loans and check on NBFC

branches dealing with gold loans. These proposals were given in view of rising gold imports which has widened countrys current account deficit (CAD). Who is the head of this panel? K.U.B. Rao, an RBI officer (Gold import is the second major contributor to the CAD after oil. Gold import in AprilDecember stood at USD 38 billion. In 2011-12 fiscal it was USD 56 billion) 3) Union govt. on 6 February 2013 constituted an advisory panel for the electricity sector with an objective to iron out the issues impacting the growth of the sector. Who is the head of this panel? Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Power Minister (This panel also includes industry leaders like Cyrus P Mistry (Chairman, Tata Sons), Anil Ambani (Chairman ADAG), Pratip Chaudhuri (Chairman, SBI) and Chanda Kochhar (MD, ICICI Bank) and many senior govt. officials. The panel will delve into the problems plaguing the power sector, the most important being the raw material insecurity which threatens to upset the electricity production targets) 4) The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) deferred a plan to make Aadhaar numbers mandatory for new entrants to the scheme after facing problems in enrolment. From which date quoting of Aadhaar numbers was going to become mandatory? 1 March 2013 5) On 6 February 2013 UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi launched a new universal child health screening for birth defects and deficiencies that can lead to disabilities. Where was this new programme launched? Palghar, a tribal block in Thane district of Maharashtra (This programme was launched under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) 6) Who is the latest mobile service operator to join hands with ICICI Bank in its mobile banking service called Mobile Money? Aircel (ICICI Bank has already launched this service with Vodafone and Tata Docomo earlier. The service allows the unbanked population of ICICI and Aircel to transfer money instantly and safely through the mobiles without even connecting to data services. This service is made available initially in Tamil Nadu) 7) Which mobile operator recently launched a new service called Apna Chaupal, a service primarily targeted towards rural and semi-urban users? Airtel (This service provides a plethora of agriculture-related information to users through a toll free number 58080) 8) What is the name of a newly formed association, formed recently by 30-odd software companies of India, which is going to evolve as an alternative to NASSCOM?

 Indian Software Product Industry Round Table or iSpirt (iSpirt has been formed by Indian software companies who believe that NASSCOM would not be able to provide more growth avenues to them in future. However, iSpirt members clearly stated that they see no conflict with NASSCOM) 9) What is the new name of MetLife India Limited, after Punjab National Bank (PNB) signed an agreement to acquire 30 per cent stake in the company on 4 February 2013? PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Limited (PNB MetLife Insurance was also launched officially by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 4 February 2013) 10) Fred Turner, who died during January 2013, was associated with which famous brand of the US? McDonalds (Turner was a former Chairman and CEO of McDonalds and was instrumental in popularizing the brand worldwide) Banking and Financial Awareness 9 1) In February 2013, who was appointed as the head of a panel constituted by Steel Ministry to give its recommendations for appointment of Chairman of National Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC)? Arun Maira (Member, Planning Commission) NMDC has been without a chairman for more than oneand-half year now 2) Which two public sector undertakings (PSUs) were granted the Maharatna status by union govt. on 1 February 2013? BHEL and GAIL (This will provide these two PSUs greater financial and functional autonomy and ensure better valuation of their shares) 3) What was the fiscal deficit of the centre during the April-December 2012 period according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA)? Rs. 4.04 lakh crore or 78.8 per cent of the total Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs. 5.14 lakh crore for the pertaining period 4) The Union Cabinet on 31 January 2013 approved a revival package for the ailing public sector unit Scooters India Limited (SIL). How much financial assistance would be provided to SIL under this package? Rs. 200 crore

5) A seven-member expert committee was constituted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on 29 January 2013 to review the institutional framework of Prasar Bharti. Who was made head of this committee? Sam Pitroda, the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure (Jawahar Sircar, CEO Prasar Bharati, has been made convener of this committee) 6) What is the name of newly constituted committee to take decisions on investments, whose first meeting was held on 30 January 2013? Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI) 7) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 29 January 2013 reduced repo rate by 25 points, which is expected to bring down interest rates. RBI also reduced cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 25 points. What are the new repo rate and CRR after this decrease? Repo Rate 7.75 per cent and CRR 4.25 per cent (Repo rate was first cut in current fiscal during April 2012, when it was reduced by 50 points) 8) A day after resolving the contentious Central Sales Tax (CST) issue, state finance ministers on 29 January formed how many sub-committees to look into some remaining roadblocks for implementation of GST? Three (One sub-committee will deal with integrated GST (IGST), another sub-committee will address issues pertaining to revenue neutral rates (RNR) and Place of Supply Rules (PSR). The third sub-committee will deliberate mostly on service tax rules) 9) First exit of a stock exchange as per SEBIs guidelines was marked with SEBI allowing a stock exchange to exit in its position as a stock exchange. Which is the stock exchange to make this exit? Hyderabad Securities and Enterprises Limited (erstwhile Hyderabad Stock Exchange (HSE) There are currently 25 stock exchanges across the country, most of which are nonoperational and only five have been trading on their platform which includes NSE, BSE, MCX, USE and CSE. Regional stock exchanges started losing their business after BSE and NSE launched nationwide trading terminals 10) Who is the Chairman of the committee, which was set up by the Planning Commission to recommend detailed methodology for identification of BPL families in urban India? SR Hashim Banking and Financial Awareness 9 1) Major financial newspapers of the country reported in January 2013 that a committee has recently supported views of banks, in which they had rejected RBI proposal to start portability scheme for bank accounts in India. Who was the head of this committee?

 Vijay Chugh (Chief GM of the RBI) The committee led by him has supported claim of bank authorities that this scheme is unfeasible as it would tantamount to huge upgrades in related software 2) A call was given to use Golden Triangle approach to tackle global economic problems and to rejuvenate global economy, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) held during January 2013 at Davos in Switzerland. What is Global Triangle approach? Global Triangle approach means better collaboration between governments, companies and the civil societies 3) Recently argument in favour of a tax on super-rich is gaining currency in India. What is currently the supposed definition of super-rich in India in the looking for possibility of a higher tax on super-rich by the Finance Ministry? Persons with an annual income of Rs. 1 crore and above 4) What are the important recommendations of a RBI committee on banking loans released during January 2013? Banks should be allowed to reset interest on long-term loans instead of charging a fixed-rate throughout the loan period and increasing loan-tenure up to 30 years to decrease EMIs 5) Which country contributed highest FDI into India during the period of Apr-Nov 2012 according to latest data pertaining to FDI inflows released by the Commerce Ministry during January 2013?

Mauritius (It topped the list with FDI equity inflow worth US $ 7209 million during the mentioned period. Singapore and UK were listed as second and third respectively in the list) 6) Who was appointed as the new Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Bank of Baroda (BOB) on 21 January 2013? S.S. Mundra (Mundra was Executive Director at Union Bank of India till now, where K. Subrahmanyam was appointed to fill in the vacancy created by Mundras appointment) 7) The Finance Ministry raised the import duty on gold and platinum by 2 per cent on 21 January 2013 with a view to reduce import bill of these precious metals which has affected Indias trade balance. What is the new import duty on gold and platinum after this raise? 6 per cent (on gold) and 4 per cent (on platinum) 8) Which company became the first to give application to the govt. under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) according to an announcement made by Finance Ministry in January 2013? Bosch Electronics (Companys application was for an incentive worth Rs. 550 crore)

9) Economic policy makers and industry players of India have been pitching to make which Indian city a reinsurance hub on the lines of Singapore, which has emerged as a reinsurance hub of Asia? Mumbai (Apart from Singapore, New York, London, Japan, Dubai, Bermuda and Shanghai are the top reinsurance hubs of the world at present. A hub requires a proper regulatory, tax and framework on the lines of a global financial centre) 10) Who are the four personalities to be awarded with the Padma Vibhushan, Indias second highest civilian award, announced on the occasion of countrys 64th Republic Day? Prof. Yash Pal (noted physicist), Roddam Narasimha (space scientist), Raghunath Mohapatra (renowned sculptor) and S. Haider Raza (painter) Banking and Financial Awareness 8 1) Indian market regulator SEBI with a view to safeguard the interest of small shareholders vis--vis promoters and other large investors during company takeovers, on 18 January 2013 brought the entities holding more that .per cent stake under its insider trading regulations? 5 per cent 2) During January 2013 the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food and Consumer Affairs suggested the entitlement of food under the National Food Security Act to what percent of Indian populace which will be known as inclusive category? 67 percent (These beneficiaries would be identified by the state government for the public distribution system of the subsidized rice and wheat. The remaining 33 per cent populace will be known as exclusive category who are tax-payers and have pucca houses of their own) 3) Indian market regulator SEBI with a view to safeguard the interest of small shareholders vis--vis promoters and other large investors during company takeovers, on 18 January 2013 brought the entities holding more that .per cent stake under its insider trading regulations? 5 per cent 4) 10th Knowledge Millennium Summit, which was inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee at New Delhi during January 2013, was organized by which leading commerce and industry association of India? ASSOCHAM 5) By how much was the opening price of sale of spectrum used by mobile operators on the CDMA platform was slashed on 17 January 2013 by the union cabinet? by Half or 50% (The decision to cut the reserve or base price for pan-India spectrum in the 800 megahertz band to Rs. 9,100 crore from earlier price of Rs. 18,200 crore was taken by the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh)

6) According to an income tax (IT) clarification made by the IT Department on 17 January 2013 software companies can send software engineers to clients abroad and claim deemed export benefits. This tax sop for software companies is being provided on recommendations of which committees report? N Rangachary Committees report on taxation of the information technology sector 7) The union govt. during January 2013 decided to remodel the National Investment Fund (NIF) and use disinvestments proceeds to buy back shares of public sector enterprises as well as recapitalization of banks and insurance firms. From which date this remodeling and other related announcement would come into effect? From 1 April 2013 8) A leading state-run power equipment manufacturing company in January 2013 informed the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) about its reduction in capacity utilization by 60-70 per cent due to huge pending receivables, piling inventories and a drying order book. This company is also experiencing a very serious cash-crunch. Which is the company? BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) 9) Who was appointed as the new CEO (India and South Asia) of Indias largest mobile communications company Bharti Airtel Limited on 15 January 2013? Gopal Vittal (He will take place of outgoing CEO Sanjay Kapoor (wef 1 March 2013), who resigned from the company after serving the company for about 15 years) 10) Who led the Indian delegation to the annual meet of the World Economic Forum (WEF) held during January 2013 at Davos in Switzerland? Kamal Nath (Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs Minister) Banking and Financial Awareness 7 1) Union govt. approved how much stake sale in govt.-owned Engineers India Limited (EIL) on 10 January 2013? 10 % (Govt. is aiming to realize Rs. 800 crore through this stake sale and this is part of govt.s ongoing initiative on disinvestment) 2) A Supreme Court-appointed Central Vigilance Committee has recently recommended abolition of fair price shops being run by private individuals due to very high level of corruption in operations of such entities. Who is the chairman of this committee? Justice (Retd.) DP Wadhwa

3) The union cabinet on 10 January 2013 approved a capital infusion package that would help improve liquidity and maintain capital adequacy ratios of about 10 public sector banks. How much fund has been released for this infusion? Rs. 12,517 crore 4) The Planning Commission recently suggested that the Indian Railways should implement its ambitious high-speed rail (HSR) corridor project by beginning with which sector instead of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor, which railways had insisted upon? Delhi-Agra corridor 5) As part of Indias National Solar Mission, countrys first solar power plant was inaugurated by PR Fonroche (a joint-venture between Indias PR Clean Energy and Frances Fonroche) on 10 January 2013 in Rajasthan. Where is this plant located? in Gajner (near Bikaner) 6) What was the percentage hike in tuition fee for the students studying at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) from the session of 2013-14, as announced by the IIT Council on 7 January 2013? 80 per cent hike (With this hike the fees from 2013-14 would be Rs. 90,000 per annum from the present Rs. 50,000 per annum. The fee was hiked Rs. 25,000 p.a. to Rs. 50,000 p.a. during 2008-09) 7) The first wind power project of the state-owned National Aluminium Co. Limited (NALCO) was commissioned during January 2013 at Gandikota in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh (This is a 50 megawatt power plant built with an investment of Rs. 275 crore and has been commissioned in assistance with Suzlon) 8) A major fire broke out at which terminal of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on 5 January 2013, in which several lakh liters of petroleum product was gutted? Hazira, Surat (Gujarat) 9) Which company claimed the top spot for 20th consecutive year in a list of companies who were granted patents in the United States in 2012? IBM (IBM was granted highest number of patents for 2012 according to the IFI Claims Patents Services) 10) Which state topped a newly released report titled Economic Freedom of the States of India 2012, which measures Indian states in terms of economic freedom, inclusive growth and governance? Gujarat

(Gujarat replaced Tamil Nadu from the top spot in year 2012. This report was released by former RBI Governor and Rajya Sabha member Bimal Jalan) Banking and Financial Awareness 6 1) India will start implementing Basel III norms, which comprises of new global capital rules for banks, from which date? 1 April 2013 (Under Basel III norms, Indian banks will have to hold core capital of at least seven percent of risk-weighted assets) 2) S. Raman, who was appointed as the third whole-time member of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) recently, is former Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of which bank? Canara Bank 3) The ceiling for foreign direct investment (FDI) in asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) was raised by the union govt. from 49 to . per cent recently? 74 4) The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is setting up its data centre, which is going to be a state-of-the-art, energy efficient, captive Green Data Centre and would be built as per global standards. Where this data centre of UIDAI is being established? Manesar (Haryana) 5) Who is the Chairman of a newly set-up five-member committee, which will suggest measures to lower the high costs of Air Indias operations and improve its utilization of resources? Prof. Ravindra H. Dholakia (Professor of IIM Ahmedabad) 6) Who was named as Worlds richest person in the latest edition of Bloomberg Billionaire Index which was released recently? Carlos Slim (The telecom tycoon of Mexico, with a wealth over $70 billion. Richest Indian in this index was Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani with a wealth of about $24 billion) 7) The govt. announced constitution of 14th Finance Commission on 2 January 2013, which is to give its final report on 31 October 2014. Who was appointed as the Chairman of 14th Finance Commission? Y.V. Reddy (former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India) 8) Who was appointed as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India on 3 January 2013 in place of Subir Gokarn, who retired on 31 December 2012?

 Urjit Patel 9) Union govt.s ambitious Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) programme was rolled out in how many districts of the country on 1 January 2013? 20 districts (Earlier the programme was to be initiated in 51 districts of the country but due to technical glitches and teething problems the programme was started in 20 districts. Govt. announced on 31 December 2012 that scheme would be extended to 11 more districts on 1 February 2013 and to another 12 districts on 1 March 2013) 10) What crisis was the US facing, which was resolved on 1 January 2013, after the Congress voted in favour of a White House compromise bill? This bill averted Americas longest running fiscal cliff and without this bill every taxpayer in America would have faced tax rises from 1 January 2013. This bill is a shortterm, temporary compromise that will impose tax rises on the 2 per cent wealthiest Americans and would spare the working-class and middle-class Banking and Financial Awareness 5

1) According to the latest figures released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), which private-sector insurance company has overtaken PSU Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in terms of profits for 2011-12 to become most profitable insurance company of the country? ICICI-Prudential (a 12-year old joint-venture between ICICI Bank and UK-based Prudential Life Insurance) 2) Which edition of National Development Council (NDC) was held in New Delhi on 27 December 2012, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and was attended by Chief Ministers of almost all states of India? 57th 3) The Sakhir Declaration was done recently at the end of summit meet of which organization? The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCCs 33rd Summit Meet was held in Sakhir in Bahrain) GCC is a political and economic union of the Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf and located on or near the Arabian Peninsula 4) Who was appointed recently as the first Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal the apex body constituted under a 2010 Act for deciding cases pertaining to environmental protection and conservation of forests and natural resources? Justice Swatanter Kumar, a Judge of the Supreme Court

5) As per the data released by the Planning Commission of India, which state recorded fastest growth rate of 10.6 per cent per annum between 2006-10, leaving behind states like Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra? Bihar (Bihar was followed by Orissa, Maharashtra, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat in this list) 6) The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on 26 December 2012 approved the proposal of IKEA, a furniture majors Rs. 10,500 crore project, which is the largest FDI in single-brand retail so far in India. IKEA is a company based in which country? Sweden 7) Which airline on 21 December 2012 made a national record of flying over 50 thousand passengers? Air India (Air India carried 50,765 passengers on this single day, comprising of 35,246 domestic passengers and 15,519 international passengers) 8) Which panel has recently come up with an outlook on challenges and options in the implementation of the National Food Security Bill (NFSB), which is to guarantee food availability to all? Ashok Gulati Panel (Ashok Gulati is the Head of the Commission of Agricultural Costs (CAC)) 9) Which Indian CEO was top ranked among Indian CEOs in a global study on the 100 best performing Global CEOs by the Harvard Business Review (HBR) to be published in HBRs January-February 2013 edition? YC Deveshwar (CEO of ITC Limited, who was ranked seventh in the list. This list was decided after evaluating how much total shareholders returns has changed over a time from CEOs first day in office to 31st August 2012) 10) A pact was signed between the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and a public sector bank on 24 December 2012 to set up a $ 2 billion fund to fund core sector projects as well as improving bilateral investments between the two countries. Which Indian PSU bank was involved in this pact? State Bank of India Banking and Financial Awareness 5 1) According to the latest figures released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), which private-sector insurance company has overtaken PSU Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in terms of profits for 2011-12 to become most profitable insurance company of the country?

 ICICI-Prudential (a 12-year old joint-venture between ICICI Bank and UK-based Prudential Life Insurance) 2) Which edition of National Development Council (NDC) was held in New Delhi on 27 December 2012, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and was attended by Chief Ministers of almost all states of India? 57th 3) The Sakhir Declaration was done recently at the end of summit meet of which organization? The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCCs 33rd Summit Meet was held in Sakhir in Bahrain) GCC is a political and economic union of the Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf and located on or near the Arabian Peninsula 4) Who was appointed recently as the first Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal the apex body constituted under a 2010 Act for deciding cases pertaining to environmental protection and conservation of forests and natural resources? Justice Swatanter Kumar, a Judge of the Supreme Court 5) As per the data released by the Planning Commission of India, which state recorded fastest growth rate of 10.6 per cent per annum between 2006-10, leaving behind states like Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra? Bihar (Bihar was followed by Orissa, Maharashtra, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat in this list) 6) The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on 26 December 2012 approved the proposal of IKEA, a furniture majors Rs. 10,500 crore project, which is the largest FDI in single-brand retail so far in India. IKEA is a company based in which country? Sweden 7) Which airline on 21 December 2012 made a national record of flying over 50 thousand passengers? Air India (Air India carried 50,765 passengers on this single day, comprising of 35,246 domestic passengers and 15,519 international passengers) 8) Which panel has recently come up with an outlook on challenges and options in the implementation of the National Food Security Bill (NFSB), which is to guarantee food availability to all? Ashok Gulati Panel (Ashok Gulati is the Head of the Commission of Agricultural Costs (CAC))

9) Which Indian CEO was top ranked among Indian CEOs in a global study on the 100 best performing Global CEOs by the Harvard Business Review (HBR) to be published in HBRs January-February 2013 edition? YC Deveshwar (CEO of ITC Limited, who was ranked seventh in the list. This list was decided after evaluating how much total shareholders returns has changed over a time from CEOs first day in office to 31st August 2012) 10) A pact was signed between the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and a public sector bank on 24 December 2012 to set up a $ 2 billion fund to fund core sector projects as well as improving bilateral investments between the two countries. Which Indian PSU bank was involved in this pact? State Bank of India Banking-and-Financial-Awareness-4 1) Which life insurance companys claim settlement ratio has been best among Indian life insurance companies according to a latest report of IRDA released in December 2012? Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), whose claim settlement was the highest at 97.42 per cent as against average of 89.34 per cent of Indias private life insurance companies and industry average of 96.26 per cent 2) Which are the top three states with largest forest-cover in the country according to the recently released State of Forest Report 2011? Madhya Pradesh (forest cover of 77,700 sq. Km), Chattisgarh (55,674 sq. km) and Maharashtra (50,646 sq km) 3) India signed a Free Trade Agreement with which group of countries on 20 December 2012, which would be beneficial in enhancing the trade to around 100 billion dollar by 2015? ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) 4) ASEAN-India Commemorative Meet, which was held between 20 and 21 December 2012 at Delhi, was held to commemorate which event between India and ASEAN? Completion of 20 years of friendship and relation between India and ASEAN 5) What is the new name of Hyderabad franchisee of IPL, which replaces Deccan Chargers after Chennai-based Sun Group acquired rights of this franchisee from Deccan Chronicle? Sunrisers Hyderabad (name and new logo of this franchisee was unveiled on 20 December 2012)

6) Which govt. department topped the list of govt. departments in 2011 against whom a maximum number of complaints of corruption were received by the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC)? Railways 7) Which Swiss bank on 19 December 2012 agreed to pay fines to the tune of $1.5 billion for its role in manipulating LIBOR rates? UBS 8) What is the name of the bill passed by the Lok Sabha on 18 December 2012, which seeks to strengthen banking regulations in the country? Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2011 (This bill seeks to raise voting rights of investors in private sector banks to 26 per cent from present 10 per cent and also allows RBI to supersede boards of private sector banks to increase the cap on their voting rights to 10 per cent from 1 per cent

9) What is the name of the bill which was passed by the Lok Sabha on 18 December 2012 and will take the place of Companies Act, 1956? Companies Act, 2011 (This new bill focus on more transparent operation of registered companies, would enhance social security of workers and would try to provide greater safety to investors) 10) What is the number of constitutional amendment passed by the Rajya Sabha on 17 December 2012 which provides reservation in promotions for SC/ST govt. employees? 117th Constitutional Amendment Banking and Financial Awareness Part 3 1) The RBI on 17th December 2012 allowed property developers to borrow money from overseas through External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) for which type of housing projects? Low-cost housing projects 2) Which ad agency has made Ideas Cellulars new jingle Honey Bunny, which has become one of the most popular jingles of all time in just a few days of its launch? Lowe Lintas 3) The Finance Ministry scaled down its growth projection for Indian economy from 7.6 per cent to what levels for the current fiscal year of 2012-13, which is the lowest GDP growth estimate in a decade. Between 5.7 per cent to 5.9 per cent

4) It was reported in newspapers recently that the govt. is considering measures like offering gold-linked savings and gold-backed financial instruments to bring down the overall demand for gold. Due to which primary reason the need to reduce demand for gold is arising of-late? Due to deteriorating current account deficit (CAD) mainly on account of high gold imports 5) A state-of-the-art International Pharma Trade Centre and Research and Innovation Council was proposed to be set-up by which state govt. of India recently? Andhra Pradesh (This world-class set up is proposed to be set up in Hyderabad) 6) Which Indian companies claimed first, second and third spot amongst in the recently released Fortune 500 list of Indian companies based on revenue generated by companies? Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) 7) The RBI on 15th December 2012 proposed tighter norms for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) with regard to capital requirements, risk weights, provisioning norms and asset classification. The bank proposed has stake transfer of NBFCs for more than how much percent will now require RBIs prior approval? More than 25 per cent 8) The union govt. organized for the first time a national meeting on 17 December 2012 for its official handling critical information infrastructure in states and at the Centre as internet is emerging as the fifth domain of warfare. The meeting is in run up to the notification of which new centre to be established soon? National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) 9) Which state became the first state in the country where ration subsidy is directly transferred to beneficiaries account in which beneficiary is recognized through Aadhar Card? Delhi 10) Which bank recently launched the e-Gift Card facility in India? Axis Bank (A customer can buy and send a card of his choice by either e-mailing or sending an SMS to their loved ones) Banking and Financial Awareness Part 2 1) Who created history by being elected as FICCIs (Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) first woman President on 15 December 2012? Naina Lal Kidwai

(Country Head of HSBC India Naina Lal Kidwai took place of RV Kanoria) 2) What is the name of a new index launched by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on 14 December 2012, that is constituted by the SMEs listed on the BSE SME (small and medium enterprises) platform? SME IPO Index (This index aims at tracking the current primary market conditions in the Indian capital market and measure the growth in investors wealth over a period) 3) The deadline for bank account holders to continue using their old format non-CTS cheques was extended by the RBI by how many months in an announcement made on 14th December 2012? 3 months (old-format non-CTS cheques can now be used till 31st March 2013) 4) Which private bank leads amongst all banks in India as far as number of customers using mobile banking facility is concerned according to data released by Indian govt.? HDFC Bank (Around 1.72 crore customers of HDFC Bank use mobile banking facility) 5) What is the new name given to the proposed National Investment Board (NIB) after the union cabinet cleared to set up a new body to expedite projects over Rs. 1,000 crore by setting timelines for concerned ministries? Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI) 6) How much subsidy was approved by the Inter Ministerial body on telecom on 12 December 2012 for state owned BSNL for giving support to its landline operations in rural areas? Rs. 1500 crore 7) Under market regulator SEBIs new guidelines unveiled on 13 December 2012, stock exchanges will not be able to accept single orders for stock, equity derivatives or ETFs of more than what amount? Rs. 10 crore 8) Which are the two major bank associations of India which on 13 December 2012 threatened to go on strike to protest against the proposed Banking Laws (Amendment) Act 2012? Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) and All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) 9) Which senior Indian officer was re-elected as the Chairman of the United Nations Panel for External Auditors for 2013?

 Vinod Rai (Indias Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) 10) Which UK-based bank is to pay a record $1.92 billion amount as settlement money to US authorities on charges of transferring billions of dollars for nations like Iran and enabled Mexican drug cartels to move money illegally through its US subsidiaries? HSBC Banking Awareness and Financial Awareness Part 1 1) Which Indian stock exchange is going to join the list of exchanges such as Deutsche Borse AG, London Stock Exchange (LSE), NYSE Euronext and Singapore Exchange whose shares are traded on the stock exchanges? Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 2) Under whose chairmanship a committee was formed to review BSNLs operations in 2009-10, which had recommended selection of the best professionals from the private sector at market rates, and appointment of an eminent person from the private sector as chairman? Sam Pitroda 3) Who heads the panel constituted by the Palnning Commission to consider issues relating to Producers Price Index (PPI) and revision of the Wholeasale Price Index (WPI)? Saumitra Choudhury 4) As per the finance ministry data, the maximum number of financial inclusion accounts have been opened in which state during year 2011-12? Uttar Pradesh 5) According to Indian market regulator SEBIs latest announcement on 8 December 2012, the promoters of a listed company need to have made their shareholding disclosures at least how many years before any transfer of shares between themselves without triggering an open offer for public investors? 3 years 6) What was the margin of victory for the motion seeking Rajya Sabhas approval for allowing 51% FDI in Indias retail sector? 123 109 7) Which company took place of Indian IT solutions company Infosys in the listings on the NASDAQ 100, after Infosys shifted its listing from NASDAQ to NYSE? Facebook 8) It is expected that the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) would come down due to a measure taken by the union govt. What is that measure

 The Petroleum Ministry agreed to bring ATF prices under the purview of PNGRB (Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board) 9) Who was appointed as advisor to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram with the rank of state minister in December 2012? Parthasarathy Shome (who is also Chairman of Committee on General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR)) 10) Which Indian private sector bank launched iWish, an online recurring deposit product targeted primarily at young depositors, on 5 December 2012? ICICI Bank (In this new deposit, unlike regular recurring deposits, investors will not be penalised for missing a monthly installment. However, they will have to make up for the missed payments in the subsequent months)