General Affairs
2 Indian-Origin Entrepreneurs Among Finalists for New Zealand Award
Virbhadra Singh Attacks Centre for Skyrocketing Prices of Pulses
Despite Madhya Pradesh's Drought, One Crop is Flourishing
Bangladesh Seeks Greater Cooperation With Indian Navy
Sensex ends 98 points down; Nifty at 8050-mark; IOB ends 11% down post Q2
FM Arun Jaitley says money laundering to become difficult in next 1-2 years
Reliance Communications acquires Sistema's MTS India in all-stock deal
Maruti, Hyundai record best-ever monthly sales in October
Government preparing roadmap for dealing with tax litigation, says Hasmukh Adhia
2 Indian-Origin Entrepreneurs Among Finalists for New Zealand Award
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WELLINGTON: Two Indian-origin entrepreneurs in New Zealand are among the finalists for the 2015 Women of Influence Awards in the community and not-for-profit category, a media report said today.
Founder of East Tamaki Healthcare Group Ranjna Patel and Westpac and Massey University's Financial Education and Research Centre director Pushpa Wood will compete with 18 other finalists in their category for the prestigious award, stuff.co.nz reported.
Ms Patel's group runs 35 clinics in New Zealand and 14 in Australia. She is one of Australia's largest primary providers. Through this enterprise she provides employment to more than 800 people, many of those in low socio-economic communities.
In 2009, Ms Patel was awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to the Indian community and in 2014 was inducted into the New Zealand Hall of Fame for Women Entrepreneurs.
Ms Wood has worked to improve adult literacy and financial literacy in New Zealand. She acts as an expert witness for the Crown in the area of Indian culture, customs and beliefs.
She specialises in Hindi language and literature and her PhD thesis combined her Hindi language expertise with the religious dimensions of medieval India.
The Women of Influence Awards are jointly presented by Fairfax Media and Westpac bank. The award is designed to identify, recognise and celebrate the most influential women shaping New Zealand.
WELLINGTON: Two Indian-origin entrepreneurs in New Zealand are among the finalists for the 2015 Women of Influence Awards in the community and not-for-profit category, a media report said today.Founder of East Tamaki Healthcare Group Ranjna Patel and Westpac and Massey University's Financial Education and Research Centre director Pushpa Wood will compete with 18 other finalists in their category for the prestigious award, stuff.co.nz reported.
Ms Patel's group runs 35 clinics in New Zealand and 14 in Australia. She is one of Australia's largest primary providers. Through this enterprise she provides employment to more than 800 people, many of those in low socio-economic communities.
In 2009, Ms Patel was awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to the Indian community and in 2014 was inducted into the New Zealand Hall of Fame for Women Entrepreneurs.
Ms Wood has worked to improve adult literacy and financial literacy in New Zealand. She acts as an expert witness for the Crown in the area of Indian culture, customs and beliefs.
She specialises in Hindi language and literature and her PhD thesis combined her Hindi language expertise with the religious dimensions of medieval India.
The Women of Influence Awards are jointly presented by Fairfax Media and Westpac bank. The award is designed to identify, recognise and celebrate the most influential women shaping New Zealand.
Virbhadra Singh Attacks Centre for Skyrocketing Prices of Pulses
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SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for the skyrocketing prices of pulses.
Addressing a public meeting at Rekong Peo in Kinnaur district, some 250 km from Shimla, he said it has become difficult for the common man to survive as the rate of pulses and other vegetables throughout the country have sky rocketed.
"It's not merely by giving lectures that the political objectives could be achieved," he said, adding the government should work for the welfare of the people.
The state government is giving a subsidy to the tune of more than Rs. 250 annually on edibles and pulses to provide cheap ration to the people of the state, the chief minister said.
"The BJP has lost the faith of the people and its leaders in the state are involved in dirty and cheap politics," he said.
The chief minister announced that primary health centre would come up in Chitkul, the last village connected by road in Kinnaur district, and announced enhancement in bed capacity of regional hospital in Reckong Peo from 100 to 200.
To promote tourism, he said the work on Hindustan-Tibet road was in progress and various link roads in the district were being maintained and widened.
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for the skyrocketing prices of pulses.Addressing a public meeting at Rekong Peo in Kinnaur district, some 250 km from Shimla, he said it has become difficult for the common man to survive as the rate of pulses and other vegetables throughout the country have sky rocketed.
"It's not merely by giving lectures that the political objectives could be achieved," he said, adding the government should work for the welfare of the people.
The state government is giving a subsidy to the tune of more than Rs. 250 annually on edibles and pulses to provide cheap ration to the people of the state, the chief minister said.
"The BJP has lost the faith of the people and its leaders in the state are involved in dirty and cheap politics," he said.
The chief minister announced that primary health centre would come up in Chitkul, the last village connected by road in Kinnaur district, and announced enhancement in bed capacity of regional hospital in Reckong Peo from 100 to 200.
To promote tourism, he said the work on Hindustan-Tibet road was in progress and various link roads in the district were being maintained and widened.
Despite Madhya Pradesh's Drought, One Crop is Flourishing
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KATNI DISTRICT, MADHYA PRADESH: In the middle of a second consecutive year of drought, the sight of a lush tur dal crop on his four acres of land is reassuring to farmer Surendra Rai of Hardwara village in Madhya Pradesh's Katni.
Last year Surendra had sown paddy which failed. This year he took a risk and sowed tur dal which requires much less water. The gamble has paid off.
"This year I thought even if there is less rainfall, the tur crop will help me recover some of my investment in farming. So in half I have sowed tur and in the rest paddy which has failed," he said.
But many farmers like Munna Lal in the same village say they would have also sowed pulses if they had been alerted by the agriculture department on time.
"I sowed wheat for the last two years. Had I sowed dal I would have had some yield. The agriculture department did not guide us. They told us nothing," Munna Lal says.
The district administration which has now sought a Rs. 86 crore-relief package from the state government, had seen the drought coming but failed to alert the farmers.
"Centre had also informed in advance that crop yield may be low. It is possible that farmers did not get this information on time from the agriculture department officials. Action should be taken against the concerned officials," Additional Collector Katni, Amarpal Singh, said.
This year in Katni, sowing of Kharif or the monsoon crop came down from 1.3 lakh hectare to 1 lakh hectare, government data shows.
While those who have sown tur dal still hope to make some money, crops have dried up on 72 per cent of the land.
KATNI DISTRICT, MADHYA PRADESH: In the middle of a second consecutive year of drought, the sight of a lush tur dal crop on his four acres of land is reassuring to farmer Surendra Rai of Hardwara village in Madhya Pradesh's Katni.Last year Surendra had sown paddy which failed. This year he took a risk and sowed tur dal which requires much less water. The gamble has paid off.
"This year I thought even if there is less rainfall, the tur crop will help me recover some of my investment in farming. So in half I have sowed tur and in the rest paddy which has failed," he said.
"I sowed wheat for the last two years. Had I sowed dal I would have had some yield. The agriculture department did not guide us. They told us nothing," Munna Lal says.
The district administration which has now sought a Rs. 86 crore-relief package from the state government, had seen the drought coming but failed to alert the farmers."Centre had also informed in advance that crop yield may be low. It is possible that farmers did not get this information on time from the agriculture department officials. Action should be taken against the concerned officials," Additional Collector Katni, Amarpal Singh, said.
This year in Katni, sowing of Kharif or the monsoon crop came down from 1.3 lakh hectare to 1 lakh hectare, government data shows.
While those who have sown tur dal still hope to make some money, crops have dried up on 72 per cent of the land.
Bangladesh Seeks Greater Cooperation With Indian Navy
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NEW DELHI: Bangladesh today sought greater cooperation with Indian Navy to tackle "non-traditional" threats in the sea as the eastern neighbour gets ready to explore oil and natural gas in its waters.
Bangladesh Navy chief Vice Admiral Muhammad Farid Habib, who is on a four-day official visit to India from today, will be reviewing the existing cooperation between the navies and explore future avenues.
"Since the delimitation of maritime border problem has been solved, we are now trying to cooperate. We are trying to patrol in our areas. So in our sea, we also expect lot of gas and oil," said Mr Habib.
He said Bangladesh wants to work with the Indian Navy as there are many non-traditional threats in sea, a reference to piracy and floating armouries among others.
"We cannot tackle those threats alone. It requires cooperation so that we can together fight non-traditional threats and make the area peaceful," the visiting Navy chief said.
Mr Habib added that the Bangladesh is going to buy two used submarines from China for "training" its surface crew and Sonar crew in anti-submarine warfare.
Bangladesh has been seeking to acquire the submarines from China for the past few years.
Mr Habib also paid tributes to Indian soldiers who laid down their lives fighting for his country's freedom in the 1971 War. He recalled that it was India which had first trained its naval officers and helped in setting up the Navy.
Bangladesh Navy is also planning to send a ship as well as high-level delegation during the International Fleet Review in February next year at Visakhapatnam.
Mr Habib's visit is aimed at consolidating existing naval cooperation as well as exploring new avenues.
Areas of cooperation that are proposed to be discussed during the visit include option of coordinated patrolling along International Maritime Boundary Line(IMBL), bilateral exercises between both navies, joint surveillance of Exclusive Economic Zone and cooperation in hydrography.
The two sides will also hold talks on exchange of White shipping information, measures to augment Maritime Security in Bay of Bengal, cooperation and collaboration in ship building as well as cooperation in development of Blue Economy, a naval statement said.
Mr Habib is also scheduled to visit the Western Naval Command in Mumbai and the Garden Reach Shipyard at Kolkata.
NEW DELHI: Bangladesh today sought greater cooperation with Indian Navy to tackle "non-traditional" threats in the sea as the eastern neighbour gets ready to explore oil and natural gas in its waters.Bangladesh Navy chief Vice Admiral Muhammad Farid Habib, who is on a four-day official visit to India from today, will be reviewing the existing cooperation between the navies and explore future avenues.
He said Bangladesh wants to work with the Indian Navy as there are many non-traditional threats in sea, a reference to piracy and floating armouries among others.
"We cannot tackle those threats alone. It requires cooperation so that we can together fight non-traditional threats and make the area peaceful," the visiting Navy chief said.
Mr Habib added that the Bangladesh is going to buy two used submarines from China for "training" its surface crew and Sonar crew in anti-submarine warfare.
Bangladesh has been seeking to acquire the submarines from China for the past few years.
Mr Habib also paid tributes to Indian soldiers who laid down their lives fighting for his country's freedom in the 1971 War. He recalled that it was India which had first trained its naval officers and helped in setting up the Navy.
Bangladesh Navy is also planning to send a ship as well as high-level delegation during the International Fleet Review in February next year at Visakhapatnam.
Mr Habib's visit is aimed at consolidating existing naval cooperation as well as exploring new avenues.
Areas of cooperation that are proposed to be discussed during the visit include option of coordinated patrolling along International Maritime Boundary Line(IMBL), bilateral exercises between both navies, joint surveillance of Exclusive Economic Zone and cooperation in hydrography.
The two sides will also hold talks on exchange of White shipping information, measures to augment Maritime Security in Bay of Bengal, cooperation and collaboration in ship building as well as cooperation in development of Blue Economy, a naval statement said.
Mr Habib is also scheduled to visit the Western Naval Command in Mumbai and the Garden Reach Shipyard at Kolkata.
New Treatment to Target Mutated Cancer Cells
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LONDON: Oxford researchers have found the 'Achilles heel' of certain cancer cells - mutations in a gene which could be targeted with a new drug to kill cancer cells that are resistant to treatment.
It is well known that mutations drive cancer cell growth and resistance to treatment. However, these mutations can also become a weak point for a tumour.
The researchers from University of Oxford in UK found that was the case for cancer cells with mutations in a key cancer gene called SETD2.
"Mutations in SETD2 are frequently found in kidney cancer and some childhood brain tumours, so we were excited when we discovered that a new drug we were studying specifically killed cancer cells with this mutation," said study author Timothy Humphrey from Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology.
Researchers showed that cancer cells with a mutated SETD2 gene were killed by a drug called AZD1775 that inhibits a protein called WEE1.
The team achieved this by exploiting the concept of 'synthetic lethality', where a combination of two factors kills a cancer cell.
This has the potential to be a less toxic and more effective treatment than more standard approaches because it can specifically target cancer cells.
"When WEE1 was inhibited in cells with a SETD2 mutation, the levels of deoxynucleotides, the components that make DNA, dropped below the critical level needed for replication," said co-author Andy Ryan, from University of Oxford.
"Starved of these building blocks, the cells die. Importantly, normal cells in the body do not have SETD2 mutations, so these effects of WEE1 inhibition are potentially very selective to cancer cells," Mr Ryan said.
The research team have also developed a biomarker test to identify SETD2 mutated tumours, something that can be used immediately in cancer diagnosis.
"This novel and exciting finding provides a new scientific basis for precision targeting of some cancers which are currently very difficult to treat, and we are now taking these findings into clinical trials," said Tim Maughan, Clinical Director of the Cancer Research UK/ Medical Research Council Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology.
While there is still work to do before a treatment is available, the hope is that these findings will help to target other cancers with similar weak points and provide a step towards personalised cancer therapy, researchers said.
LONDON: Oxford researchers have found the 'Achilles heel' of certain cancer cells - mutations in a gene which could be targeted with a new drug to kill cancer cells that are resistant to treatment.It is well known that mutations drive cancer cell growth and resistance to treatment. However, these mutations can also become a weak point for a tumour.
The researchers from University of Oxford in UK found that was the case for cancer cells with mutations in a key cancer gene called SETD2.
"Mutations in SETD2 are frequently found in kidney cancer and some childhood brain tumours, so we were excited when we discovered that a new drug we were studying specifically killed cancer cells with this mutation," said study author Timothy Humphrey from Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology.
The team achieved this by exploiting the concept of 'synthetic lethality', where a combination of two factors kills a cancer cell.
This has the potential to be a less toxic and more effective treatment than more standard approaches because it can specifically target cancer cells.
"When WEE1 was inhibited in cells with a SETD2 mutation, the levels of deoxynucleotides, the components that make DNA, dropped below the critical level needed for replication," said co-author Andy Ryan, from University of Oxford.
"Starved of these building blocks, the cells die. Importantly, normal cells in the body do not have SETD2 mutations, so these effects of WEE1 inhibition are potentially very selective to cancer cells," Mr Ryan said.
The research team have also developed a biomarker test to identify SETD2 mutated tumours, something that can be used immediately in cancer diagnosis.
"This novel and exciting finding provides a new scientific basis for precision targeting of some cancers which are currently very difficult to treat, and we are now taking these findings into clinical trials," said Tim Maughan, Clinical Director of the Cancer Research UK/ Medical Research Council Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology.
While there is still work to do before a treatment is available, the hope is that these findings will help to target other cancers with similar weak points and provide a step towards personalised cancer therapy, researchers said.
Business Affairs
Sensex ends 98 points down; Nifty at 8050-mark; IOB ends 11% down post Q2
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Extending losses for the sixth consecutive session, the domestic markets ended lower in trade on Monday after a private survey showed the manufacturing sector cooled to its slowest in nearly two years in October.
The CNX Nifty broke below the 8,000 level for the first time since October 1 but recovered in late trade to end the day at 8,050.80, down 15 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex reclaimed its crucial psychological level of 26,500 to settle 97.68 points down at 26559.15.
Bajaj Auto was the top loser on both the indices and ended the day 4.8 per cent down on BSE after it reported a 9 per cent fall in total vehicle sales for October.
Market breadth remained negative with 16 of the 30 Sensex stocks ending in red.
The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by Markit, fell to 50.7 in October from September's 51.2. The 50-mark divides expansion from contraction.
Falls in Asian markets also dented market sentiment after soft Chinese factory surveys and US consumer spending data raised concerns over the global economic outlook.
Meanwhile, Coffee Day Enterprises , the operator of India's biggest coffee chain, fell as much as 17 per cent in its market debut on Monday, as investors fretted over a generous price tag they said underestimated concerns around its complex structure.
Indian Overseas Bank settled the day 11.29 per cent down after the company reported a net loss of Rs 550.83 crore for the second quarter ending September 30, 2015.
India's volatility index surged over 10 per cent on Monday, its biggest single-day rise since September 22. VIX ended over 8 per cent up.
"Overall the mood is cautious because since the last five days we are seeing losses," Alex Mathews, head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas, said.
Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite ended 1.70 per cent down, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 1.19 per cent at close, while Japan's Nikkei settled the day 2.10 per cent down at 18,683.24.
On Friday, US markets closed in the red due to some late selling pressure after choppy trading on account of mixed economic data.
Lowdown on markets today
2:00 pm
Sensex at 26398.06, down 260 points
Nifty at 7996.20, down 70 points
13:24 pm
Sensex at 26,442.96, down 213.87 points
Nifty at 8,015.50, down 50.30 points
12:08 pm
Sensex at 26,454.99, down 201.84 points
Nifty at 8,013.35, down 52.45 points
11:10 am
Sensex at 26,538.46, down 118 points
Nifty at 8,032.35, down 33 points
9:35 am
Sensex at 26,583.78, down 73.05 points
Nifty at 8,036.10, down 29.70 points
_110215093510.jpg "Sensex ends 98 points down; Nifty at 8050-mark; IOB ends 11% down post Q2")
Extending losses for the sixth consecutive session, the domestic markets ended lower in trade on Monday after a private survey showed the manufacturing sector cooled to its slowest in nearly two years in October.
The CNX Nifty broke below the 8,000 level for the first time since October 1 but recovered in late trade to end the day at 8,050.80, down 15 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex reclaimed its crucial psychological level of 26,500 to settle 97.68 points down at 26559.15.
Bajaj Auto was the top loser on both the indices and ended the day 4.8 per cent down on BSE after it reported a 9 per cent fall in total vehicle sales for October.
Market breadth remained negative with 16 of the 30 Sensex stocks ending in red.
The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by Markit, fell to 50.7 in October from September's 51.2. The 50-mark divides expansion from contraction.
Falls in Asian markets also dented market sentiment after soft Chinese factory surveys and US consumer spending data raised concerns over the global economic outlook.
Meanwhile, Coffee Day Enterprises , the operator of India's biggest coffee chain, fell as much as 17 per cent in its market debut on Monday, as investors fretted over a generous price tag they said underestimated concerns around its complex structure.
Indian Overseas Bank settled the day 11.29 per cent down after the company reported a net loss of Rs 550.83 crore for the second quarter ending September 30, 2015.
India's volatility index surged over 10 per cent on Monday, its biggest single-day rise since September 22. VIX ended over 8 per cent up.
"Overall the mood is cautious because since the last five days we are seeing losses," Alex Mathews, head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas, said.
Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite ended 1.70 per cent down, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 1.19 per cent at close, while Japan's Nikkei settled the day 2.10 per cent down at 18,683.24.
On Friday, US markets closed in the red due to some late selling pressure after choppy trading on account of mixed economic data.
Lowdown on markets today
2:00 pm
Sensex at 26398.06, down 260 points
Sensex at 26398.06, down 260 points
Nifty at 7996.20, down 70 points
13:24 pm
Sensex at 26,442.96, down 213.87 points
Nifty at 8,015.50, down 50.30 points
12:08 pm
Sensex at 26,454.99, down 201.84 points
Nifty at 8,013.35, down 52.45 points
11:10 am
Sensex at 26,538.46, down 118 points
Nifty at 8,032.35, down 33 points
9:35 am
Sensex at 26,583.78, down 73.05 points
Nifty at 8,036.10, down 29.70 points
FM Arun Jaitley says money laundering to become difficult in next 1-2 years
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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday tax evasion and money laundering will become "extremely difficult" in the next 1-2 years, with real-time global automatic exchange of information system coming into effect.
"I am quite certain that the activity is going on in that direction and the next 1-2 years are also going to bring significant results because with almost real-time exchange of information, lives are going to become extremely difficult as far as lawbreakers in that regard are concerned," he said.
In his inaugural speech at international conference on 'Networking the Networks', he said tax evasion and parking of illegal money anywhere in the world is increasingly becoming difficult as G20 has taken an initiative and various international agencies have now stepped in.
"... the world is also increasingly moving towards a situation where you can't shift the profits that you earn in one jurisdiction and erode the capital base of that jurisdiction itself," he said.
At the G20 nations' Australia summit last November, leaders endorsed a new global transparency standard by which more than 90 jurisdictions will begin automatic exchange of tax information, using a common reporting standard by 2017-18.
India is one of the early adopters of the automatic exchange of information standard.
He also said the Regional Centre for South Asia is going to be discussed in the meeting in order to strengthen international cooperation with regard to money laundering and tax evasion.
The South Asian Regional Intelligence Coordination Centre is likely to be set up, with seven member countries, including India, to be part of it.
The other countries are Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said.
"Once it is operational, it will allow South Asia Region to connect with other regional and global platforms and allow quick and secure information exchange to combat global crimes," Adhia said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday tax evasion and money laundering will become "extremely difficult" in the next 1-2 years, with real-time global automatic exchange of information system coming into effect.
"I am quite certain that the activity is going on in that direction and the next 1-2 years are also going to bring significant results because with almost real-time exchange of information, lives are going to become extremely difficult as far as lawbreakers in that regard are concerned," he said.
In his inaugural speech at international conference on 'Networking the Networks', he said tax evasion and parking of illegal money anywhere in the world is increasingly becoming difficult as G20 has taken an initiative and various international agencies have now stepped in.
"... the world is also increasingly moving towards a situation where you can't shift the profits that you earn in one jurisdiction and erode the capital base of that jurisdiction itself," he said.
At the G20 nations' Australia summit last November, leaders endorsed a new global transparency standard by which more than 90 jurisdictions will begin automatic exchange of tax information, using a common reporting standard by 2017-18.
India is one of the early adopters of the automatic exchange of information standard.
He also said the Regional Centre for South Asia is going to be discussed in the meeting in order to strengthen international cooperation with regard to money laundering and tax evasion.
The South Asian Regional Intelligence Coordination Centre is likely to be set up, with seven member countries, including India, to be part of it.
The other countries are Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said.
"Once it is operational, it will allow South Asia Region to connect with other regional and global platforms and allow quick and secure information exchange to combat global crimes," Adhia said.
Reliance Communications acquires Sistema's MTS India in all-stock deal
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Reliance Communications (RCom), India's fourth-largest telecom operator, today announced the acquisition of Russian conglomerate Sistema 's Indian telecom unit in an all-stock deal that will create an operator with 118 million subscribers.
Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) will hold about 10 per cent stake in RCom and pay off its existing debt before closing the deal.
Russian tycoon Vladimir Evtushenkov-controlled AFK Sistema currently holds 56.68 per cent stake in SSTL while Russian government owns 17.14 per cent interest. Shyam Group has 23.98 per cent stake and the rest is owned by small investors.
SSTL offers mobile telephony services under MTS brand across nine telecom circles in the country.
"RCom will acquire approximately 9 million customers and approximately Rs 1,500 crore of annual revenues by virtue of the transaction," the company said in a statement.
The deal will give RCom access to spectrum or airwaves in the 850 Mhz band which can be used for 4G services that it plans to start by the year-end.
Also, it will be able to extend the validity of its licence by 12 years in eight high revenue generating circles of Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, UP (West) and West Bengal.
"RCom will acquire SSTL's most valuable and superior 800/850 MHz band spectrum, ideally suited for 4G LTE services, to complement its own unique nationwide footprint of minimum 5 MHz contiguous 800/850 MHz spectrum aggregating 148.75 MHz," the statement said.
Also, "the validity of RCom's spectrum in 800/850 MHz band in 8 important circles" will be extended by 12 years from 2021 till 2033, it said.
While SSTL will pay off its existing debt, RCom will assume the liability to pay the government installments for SSTL's spectrum, amounting to Rs 392 crore per annum for the next 10 years.
"An appropriate payment/earn-out mechanism has been agreed in relation to disputed spectrum contiguity charges claimed by the Department of Telecommunications," it said.
Sistema had ventured into Indian telecom space in 2007 when he bought 10 per cent stake in Shyam Telelink by paying $ 11.4 million. The stake was raised subsequently.
The merger will not only help RCom compete with present players but also consolidate its position ahead of Mukesh Ambani's foray into sector with 4G services under Reliance Jio brand later this year.
Gurdeep Singh, President & Chief Executive Officer, Consumer Business, RCom, said, "The combination of our wireless businesses, through the demerger of SSTL wireless business into RCom for stock consideration, will generate significant capex and opex synergies for mutual benefit."
Once the deal is approved by the government, RCom will be able to future-proof almost half of the existing telecom circles, where most of its licences are expiring in the next few years.
Its licence in West Bengal will expire in 2017 while around 10-12 licences will expire within 2022-23.
On the other hand, Sistema had bought licence in 8 telecom circles like Delhi NCR in 2013 and are valid till 2033.
SSTL is stated to have a debt and liability of Rs 3,200 crore.
SSTL has the option to pumping in more money to raise its stake in RCom to 50 per cent to help avoid the company from taking further debts.
RCom has a debt of around Rs 32,000 crore.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016 and is subject to customary conditions precedent, including inter alia applicable corporate, regulatory and other approvals.
Post closing of the deal, minority investors of SSTL will be given an option to exchange their shares in SSTL with the pro-rata RCom shares held by SSTL, the statement said.
"The Indian data market is witnessing explosive growth, and SSTL's proven strengths in that space will further enhance RCom's capabilities in delivering a superior experience to our valued customers," Singh said.
Also, SSTL's valuable spectrum holdings in the 800-850 MHz band will strengthen RCom's spectrum portfolio, and extend its ability to provide world class 4G LTE services to customers in 8 important circles in the country till 2033, he added.
Mikhail Shamolin, President and CEO of Sistema, said, "The merger of SSTL and RCom's telecom businesses is a milestone event. Despite the numerous challenges the sector faced in recent years, the combination of two leading data service providers is a clear sign of progress for the Indian telecom industry.
"We are confident that SSTL's entry into the equity capital of RCom as a strategic investor will strengthen the competitive position of the combined company and provide subscribers with superior experience by fast-tracking the growth of LTE technology in India."
RCom ended 2014-15 fiscal with revenue of Rs 21,423 crore and a net profit of Rs 620 crore. Unlisted SSTL ended calendar year 2014 with revenues of Rs 1,347.2 crore. The company did not make public its net profit numbers.
"We believe this transaction underscores SSTL's track record in building the fastest-growing data services provider.
This is an exciting new chapter for India's telecom industry and we look forward to leveraging our companies' combined experience for the development of LTE in India," said Sergey Savchenko, CEO of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd.
Reliance Communications (RCom), India's fourth-largest telecom operator, today announced the acquisition of Russian conglomerate Sistema 's Indian telecom unit in an all-stock deal that will create an operator with 118 million subscribers.
Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) will hold about 10 per cent stake in RCom and pay off its existing debt before closing the deal.
Russian tycoon Vladimir Evtushenkov-controlled AFK Sistema currently holds 56.68 per cent stake in SSTL while Russian government owns 17.14 per cent interest. Shyam Group has 23.98 per cent stake and the rest is owned by small investors.
SSTL offers mobile telephony services under MTS brand across nine telecom circles in the country.
"RCom will acquire approximately 9 million customers and approximately Rs 1,500 crore of annual revenues by virtue of the transaction," the company said in a statement.
The deal will give RCom access to spectrum or airwaves in the 850 Mhz band which can be used for 4G services that it plans to start by the year-end.
Also, it will be able to extend the validity of its licence by 12 years in eight high revenue generating circles of Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, UP (West) and West Bengal.
"RCom will acquire SSTL's most valuable and superior 800/850 MHz band spectrum, ideally suited for 4G LTE services, to complement its own unique nationwide footprint of minimum 5 MHz contiguous 800/850 MHz spectrum aggregating 148.75 MHz," the statement said.
Also, "the validity of RCom's spectrum in 800/850 MHz band in 8 important circles" will be extended by 12 years from 2021 till 2033, it said.
While SSTL will pay off its existing debt, RCom will assume the liability to pay the government installments for SSTL's spectrum, amounting to Rs 392 crore per annum for the next 10 years.
"An appropriate payment/earn-out mechanism has been agreed in relation to disputed spectrum contiguity charges claimed by the Department of Telecommunications," it said.
Sistema had ventured into Indian telecom space in 2007 when he bought 10 per cent stake in Shyam Telelink by paying $ 11.4 million. The stake was raised subsequently.
The merger will not only help RCom compete with present players but also consolidate its position ahead of Mukesh Ambani's foray into sector with 4G services under Reliance Jio brand later this year.
Gurdeep Singh, President & Chief Executive Officer, Consumer Business, RCom, said, "The combination of our wireless businesses, through the demerger of SSTL wireless business into RCom for stock consideration, will generate significant capex and opex synergies for mutual benefit."
Once the deal is approved by the government, RCom will be able to future-proof almost half of the existing telecom circles, where most of its licences are expiring in the next few years.
Its licence in West Bengal will expire in 2017 while around 10-12 licences will expire within 2022-23.
On the other hand, Sistema had bought licence in 8 telecom circles like Delhi NCR in 2013 and are valid till 2033.
SSTL is stated to have a debt and liability of Rs 3,200 crore.
SSTL has the option to pumping in more money to raise its stake in RCom to 50 per cent to help avoid the company from taking further debts.
RCom has a debt of around Rs 32,000 crore.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016 and is subject to customary conditions precedent, including inter alia applicable corporate, regulatory and other approvals.
Post closing of the deal, minority investors of SSTL will be given an option to exchange their shares in SSTL with the pro-rata RCom shares held by SSTL, the statement said.
"The Indian data market is witnessing explosive growth, and SSTL's proven strengths in that space will further enhance RCom's capabilities in delivering a superior experience to our valued customers," Singh said.
Also, SSTL's valuable spectrum holdings in the 800-850 MHz band will strengthen RCom's spectrum portfolio, and extend its ability to provide world class 4G LTE services to customers in 8 important circles in the country till 2033, he added.
Mikhail Shamolin, President and CEO of Sistema, said, "The merger of SSTL and RCom's telecom businesses is a milestone event. Despite the numerous challenges the sector faced in recent years, the combination of two leading data service providers is a clear sign of progress for the Indian telecom industry.
"We are confident that SSTL's entry into the equity capital of RCom as a strategic investor will strengthen the competitive position of the combined company and provide subscribers with superior experience by fast-tracking the growth of LTE technology in India."
RCom ended 2014-15 fiscal with revenue of Rs 21,423 crore and a net profit of Rs 620 crore. Unlisted SSTL ended calendar year 2014 with revenues of Rs 1,347.2 crore. The company did not make public its net profit numbers.
"We believe this transaction underscores SSTL's track record in building the fastest-growing data services provider.
This is an exciting new chapter for India's telecom industry and we look forward to leveraging our companies' combined experience for the development of LTE in India," said Sergey Savchenko, CEO of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd.
Maruti, Hyundai record best-ever monthly sales in October
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Riding high on festive demand, car sales grew at a brisk pace with the market leader Maruti Suzuki India and rival Hyundai Motor India posting their best-ever monthly dispatches in October.
Honda Cars India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors also saw sales rise during the month.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said its domestic sales surged by 24.7 per cent during the month to 1,21,063 units as against 97,069 units in October last year.
"With new models and product refreshments, we are upbeat on the festival season. In anticipation of good retail sales during this time, we have adequately prepared our network. This is the company's highest-ever domestic and total sales number." MSI Executive Director Marketing and Sales RS Kalsi said.
Sales of the company's small cars including, Alto and WagonR increased by 5.2 per cent to 37,595 units compared with 35,753 units in the year-ago month.
Dispatches in the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire and recently launched Baleno rose by 37.7 per cent to 51,048 units during the last month.
Rival Hyundai Motor India also saw its highest-ever monthly domestic sales at 47,015 units last month compared with 38,010 units in October 2014, up 23.7 per cent.
"Hyundai sales of 47,015 units are all-time high with an all-time high sales of Grand i10 at 14,079 units and continued strong performance of modern premium brands Creta and Elite i20/Active," HMIL Senior Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said.
The company expects the growth momentum to continue in the coming months with improving customer sentiments, he added.
Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) also reported a 52 per cent increase in its domestic sales at 20,166 units in October. It had sold 13,242 units in the same month last year.
"The festive demand has led to a strong growth for HCIL during October wherein we recorded our highest monthly sales of this fiscal year," HCIL, Senior Vice President Marketing & Sales, Jnaneswar Sen said.
Mahindra's domestic sales were up 21 per cent 48,815 to units last month as against 40,278 units in October last year.
"We are happy with our performance during October 2015, which has witnessed a positive growth of 20 per cent backed by excellent response garnered from the recently launched TUV300 as well as other brands such as XUV500, Scorpio, Bolero and pickups. We are quite hopeful of this positive growth momentum continuing for the rest of the year," M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said.
Pravin Shah said the advent of the festive season has provided the much needed fillip for the auto industry, especially on the back of the new launches of most manufacturers which has received an encouraging response.
"With the drop in interest rates and the fuel prices remaining benign, we expect the industry to maintain a good growth momentum going forward," he added.
Tata Motors domestic passenger vehicles sales were up 11 per cent at 12,798 units in the period under review compared with 11,511 units last year.
"The growth trend was driven by the cars segment, specifically the new launches," the company said.
In the two-wheeler segment, India Yamaha Motor posted a 29.43 per cent increase in domestic sales at 70,800 units as against 54,698 last year.
"The month has ended on a very positive note for us as our recent launches of new colour variants of FZ-FI, Fazer-FI and single seat YZF-R15S also made it to the growth trajectory," Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt Ltd vice-president Sales & Marketing Roy Kurian said.
Riding high on festive demand, car sales grew at a brisk pace with the market leader Maruti Suzuki India and rival Hyundai Motor India posting their best-ever monthly dispatches in October.
Honda Cars India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors also saw sales rise during the month.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said its domestic sales surged by 24.7 per cent during the month to 1,21,063 units as against 97,069 units in October last year.
"With new models and product refreshments, we are upbeat on the festival season. In anticipation of good retail sales during this time, we have adequately prepared our network. This is the company's highest-ever domestic and total sales number." MSI Executive Director Marketing and Sales RS Kalsi said.
Sales of the company's small cars including, Alto and WagonR increased by 5.2 per cent to 37,595 units compared with 35,753 units in the year-ago month.
Dispatches in the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire and recently launched Baleno rose by 37.7 per cent to 51,048 units during the last month.
Rival Hyundai Motor India also saw its highest-ever monthly domestic sales at 47,015 units last month compared with 38,010 units in October 2014, up 23.7 per cent.
"Hyundai sales of 47,015 units are all-time high with an all-time high sales of Grand i10 at 14,079 units and continued strong performance of modern premium brands Creta and Elite i20/Active," HMIL Senior Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said.
The company expects the growth momentum to continue in the coming months with improving customer sentiments, he added.
Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) also reported a 52 per cent increase in its domestic sales at 20,166 units in October. It had sold 13,242 units in the same month last year.
"The festive demand has led to a strong growth for HCIL during October wherein we recorded our highest monthly sales of this fiscal year," HCIL, Senior Vice President Marketing & Sales, Jnaneswar Sen said.
Mahindra's domestic sales were up 21 per cent 48,815 to units last month as against 40,278 units in October last year.
"We are happy with our performance during October 2015, which has witnessed a positive growth of 20 per cent backed by excellent response garnered from the recently launched TUV300 as well as other brands such as XUV500, Scorpio, Bolero and pickups. We are quite hopeful of this positive growth momentum continuing for the rest of the year," M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said.
Pravin Shah said the advent of the festive season has provided the much needed fillip for the auto industry, especially on the back of the new launches of most manufacturers which has received an encouraging response.
"With the drop in interest rates and the fuel prices remaining benign, we expect the industry to maintain a good growth momentum going forward," he added.
Tata Motors domestic passenger vehicles sales were up 11 per cent at 12,798 units in the period under review compared with 11,511 units last year.
"The growth trend was driven by the cars segment, specifically the new launches," the company said.
In the two-wheeler segment, India Yamaha Motor posted a 29.43 per cent increase in domestic sales at 70,800 units as against 54,698 last year.
"The month has ended on a very positive note for us as our recent launches of new colour variants of FZ-FI, Fazer-FI and single seat YZF-R15S also made it to the growth trajectory," Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt Ltd vice-president Sales & Marketing Roy Kurian said.
Government preparing roadmap for dealing with tax litigation, says Hasmukh Adhia
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The Finance Ministry is preparing a roadmap for dealing with the problem of large number of tax litigations, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said today.
He also said that the Justice R V Easwar panel will look at ways to simplify Income Tax laws though it will not specifically deal with the issues concerning retrospective tax amendment.
"We are preparing a roadmap separately for dealing with the existing tax litigation," he said.
It is believed that the government is considering an option to raise threshold limit for cases to be filed before Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
In the Budget 2014-15 speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that a tax demand of more than Rs 4 lakh crore is under dispute and litigation before various Courts and Appellate authorities.
Adhia said terms of reference for the Committee for simplification of tax laws are there and they will work accordingly.
Last week, the government set up a committee under a former Delhi High Court judge to identify clauses that lead to litigations and suggest modifications to bring predictability and certainty in tax laws.
The committee will study and identify the provisions or phrases in the (Income Tax) Act which are leading to litigations due to different interpretations.
Also, the panel will study and identify the provisions which are impacting the ease of doing business as well as identify the areas and provisions of the Act for simplification in the light of the existing jurisprudence.
The terms of reference of the committee also include giving suggestions on "alternatives and modifications to the existing provisions and areas so identified to bring about predictability and certainty in tax laws without substantial impact on the tax base and revenue collection".
The panel, which will have a term of one year, will set its own procedures for regulating its work.
The Finance Ministry is preparing a roadmap for dealing with the problem of large number of tax litigations, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said today.
He also said that the Justice R V Easwar panel will look at ways to simplify Income Tax laws though it will not specifically deal with the issues concerning retrospective tax amendment.
"We are preparing a roadmap separately for dealing with the existing tax litigation," he said.
It is believed that the government is considering an option to raise threshold limit for cases to be filed before Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
In the Budget 2014-15 speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that a tax demand of more than Rs 4 lakh crore is under dispute and litigation before various Courts and Appellate authorities.
Adhia said terms of reference for the Committee for simplification of tax laws are there and they will work accordingly.
Last week, the government set up a committee under a former Delhi High Court judge to identify clauses that lead to litigations and suggest modifications to bring predictability and certainty in tax laws.
The committee will study and identify the provisions or phrases in the (Income Tax) Act which are leading to litigations due to different interpretations.
Also, the panel will study and identify the provisions which are impacting the ease of doing business as well as identify the areas and provisions of the Act for simplification in the light of the existing jurisprudence.
The terms of reference of the committee also include giving suggestions on "alternatives and modifications to the existing provisions and areas so identified to bring about predictability and certainty in tax laws without substantial impact on the tax base and revenue collection".
The panel, which will have a term of one year, will set its own procedures for regulating its work.
General Awareness
October 2015 Daily News Current Affairs
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- Oct 29, 2015
- Beata Szydło from right-wing Law and Justice party elected as new prime minister of Poland.
- Earthquake of magnitude 7.5 on Richter scale hit Hindukush region of north-eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- Eighth edition of National Seed Congress (NSC) held in Hyderabad to deliberate on advanced seed development technologies and regulatory measures.
- Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China in to import all kinds of fuel in order to ease fuel crisis.
- Reserve Bank of India granted permission to Indian corporate to issue offshore rupee-denominated bonds outside India. Such bonds will attract withholding tax of 5 % and gains arising in case of appreciation of rupee against foreign currency. Capital gains tax will be exempted in this investment.
- India Born Lord Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, Known as Britain's Curry King passed away.
- A team of scientists discovered two complex organic molecules Ethyl alcohol and a simple sugar known as glycolaldehyde on comet Lovejoy. These two complex organic molecules are considered as building blocks of life.
- A newly-installed Tsunami Early Warning System Siren was successfully tested in Mumbai by Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS).
- Oct 28, 2015
- Malaysia Open Women's Tennis 2015 -
- Singles - Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark).
- Doubles - China's Wang Yafan and Liang Chen.
- Violinist and composer Prabhakar won 2015 Lata Mangeshkar Award for Lifetime Achievement by Maharashtra Government.
- Jayant Prasad is appointed as Director General of Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
- China announced Six 100s initiative to help developing countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping said china will make available to developing countries in next five years 100 each of poverty reduction programs, agricultural cooperation projects, trade promotion programs, environment protection programs, hospitals and schools and training centers. China will also set up an Academy of South-South Cooperation and Development, and provide 2 million USD to World Health Organization.
- Madhya Pradesh government has decided to increase quota for women in government jobs from 30 to 33 %. State Cabinet also approved compensation to farmers for repaying 90 thousand rupees on a loan of one lakh rupees.
- Hockey India signed a 3 year Memorandum of Understanding with Sports Authority of India to set hockey as top sport of the country.
- United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution condemning an economic embargo imposed by US on Cuba.
- A per United Nations Asia-Pacific Disaster Report, Asia Pacific is most disaster prone part of the world as it suffered around 1,625 disasters in 2000 - 2014. Disasters affected around 1.4 billion people and 523 billion dollars in economic damage.
- Reserve Bank of India allowed non-resident Indians (NRIs) to subscribe to National Pension System for old age income security.
- China abandoned its three decades-long one-child policy and changed it two-child policy.
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Saudi blogger Raif Badawi has been selected for European Union’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for human rights for 2015. Raif Badawi is author of Free Saudi Liberals website who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in Saudi Arabia for insulting Muslim clerics.
- Founder of Sulabh International Bindeshwar Pathak has been selected for New York Global Leaders Dialogue Humanitarian Award for his contribution to improving sanitation.
- John Pombe Magufuli has been elected as President of Tanzania.
- China's first lunar rover - Yutu has set record for longest stay by a rover on lunar surface for almost two years spent on Moon.
- Indian para-athlete Amit Kumar Saroha won silver in men's club throw F51 event in IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha (Qatar).
- Paul Ryan has been elected as 54th speaker of US House of Representatives.
- Government nominated Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das to Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India.
- Ministry of Civil Aviation released Revised Draft National Civil Aviation Policy aimed. Policy aims to create an eco-system to enable 30 crore domestic ticketing by 2022 and 50 crore by 2027. Similarly, international ticketing to increase to 20 crore by 2027.
- ISRO’s new communication satellite GSAT-15 will be launched on on 10-11-2015 to provide C and Ku band telecommunications and navigation services to India.
- Researchers discovered four new crab species namely Paguristes luculentus, Diogenes canaliculatus, Pagurus spinossior and Afropinnotheres ratnakara in Kerala.
- Oct 27, 2015
- Public broadcaster Doordarshan rated as most watched Hindi channel in terms of time spent per viewer as per Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)'s All India viewership data including rural India.
- Railways announced to start country's first-ever double decker Shatabdi Express between Mumbai and Goa.
- National Disaster Response Force partnered with 30 Public Sector Undertakings to tackle several disasters or emergencies.
- Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off Vigithon marathon organized by Union Bank of India in Mumbai to sensitise people for fight against corruption.
- Government introduced Sin Tax under proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) law that will be effective from 1 April 2016. Sin Tax is an excise tax on products like alcohol, tobacco and gambling considered bad for health or society. This is meant to attract higher revenue and also to discourage people from use of such products or services.
- Renowned Hollywood actress Maureen O’Hara passes away.
- Indian archer Abhishek Verma won silver in Archery World Cup Final men and Deepika Kumari won Silver in Womens Category in Mexico City.
- 2015 Archery World Cup is 10th edition of the annual Archery World Cup organised by World Archery Federation.
- It consists of 4 preliminary stages (Legs) and Finals to be held in Mexico City. Locations are - First leg in Shanghai (China), second leg in Antalya (Turkey) third in Wroclaw (Poland) and Fourth leg in Medellin (Colombia). Finals were held in Mexico City on 17–18 October, 2015.
- South Korea remained is top of Medal Tally in all 4 legs and Finals with 24 Medals, USA second with 19 while Columbia is Third with 6 Medals.
- Indian Archers won 7 Medals in 4 Legs and Finals of World Archery World Cup 2015 as follows -
- First Leg - Indian team comprising Chinglensana, Abhishek Verma and Rajat Chauhan won Bronze in First Leg in Shanghai (China).
- Second Leg - Deepika Kumari won Bronze in Second leg of Archery World Cup 2015 in Antalya (Turkey).
- Third Leg - Mixed pair of Deepika Kumari and Mangal Singh Champia won silver in Third Leg of World Archery Championships 2015 in Poland.
- Third Leg - Indian archer Abhishek Verma won gold by beating Iranian Esmail Ebadi in Third Leg of World Archery Championships 2015 in Poland.
- Fourth Leg - Team comprising Sarvesh Pareek, Sandeep Kumar and Isaiah Rajender Sanam won Bronze in Fourth Leg in Medellin (Columbia).
- Finals - Deepika Kumari won Silver in Finals of Archery World Cup 2015 in Mexico City.
- Finals - Abhishek Verma won Silver in Finals of Archery World Cup 2015 in Mexico City.
- Lewis Hamilton (UK) won USA Formula One Grand Prix .
- 2015 Formula One season -
- Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2015. Calendar is -
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Grand Prix Date Winner Australia 15 March Lewis Hamilton (UK) Malaysia 29 March Sebastian Vettel (Germany) China 12 April Lewis Hamilton (UK) Baharain 19 April Lewis Hamilton (UK) Spain 10 May Nico Rosberg (Germany) Monaco 24 May Nico Rosberg (Germany) Canada 7 June Lewis Hamilton (UK) Austria 21 June Nico Rosberg (Germany) Britain 5 July Lewis Hamilton (UK) Hungary 26 July Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Belgium 23 August Lewis Hamilton (UK) Italy 6 September Lewis Hamilton (UK) Singapore 20 September Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Japan 27 September Lewis Hamilton (UK) Russia 11 October Lewis Hamilton (UK) USA 25 October Lewis Hamilton (UK) Mexico 1 November Brazil 15 November Abu Dhabi 29 November
- Bengali actor Pijush Ganguly passes away.
- Reserve Bank of India allowed Foreign Institutional Investors /Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors to invest up to 74 % of paid up capital of DEN Networks Limited under Portfolio Investment Scheme.
- Jimmy Morales has been elected as Guatemala's president.
- China successfully launched Tianhui-1C mapping satellite by a Long March-2D carrier rocket to boost china's ability to carry out scientific experiments, land resource surveys and disaster relief.
- BlackBerry appoints Narendra Nayak as Managing Director of India operations.
- Yes Bank started its IFSC Banking Unit in GIFT city of Gujarat, aimed to accessing opportunities in international financial markets through large corporate clients requiring foreign currency funding.
- Reserve Bank of India signed memorandum of understanding with Bangladesh Bank for exchange of supervisory information.
- Reliance Industries became first company to sign revised listing agreement with BSE as mandated by SEBI. Earlier, listing agreement was between stock exchange and company and SEBI didn't have regulations on this. SEBI in October gave six-month deadline for all companies to sign the new listing agreement.
- Indian-American farmer Anita Adalja will be recognised as White House Champions of Change for sustainable and climate-smart agriculture by USA.
- South African cricketer Hashim Amla became fastest to score 6000 ODI Runs in 123 Innings. He left Behind India's Virat Kohli, who took 136 innings.
- Jammu and Kashmir will host South Asian Rugby 7’S Championship in 2016.
- K Gupta is appointed as Managing Director of State Bank of India.
- Citibank appointed Samiran Chakraborty as Chief Economist for India.
- Tata Trusts and Harvard University South Asia Institute (SAI) announced collaboration for social and economic empowerment in India.
- British bank Barclays appointed James Staley as new CEO.
- Luxembourg ambassador to United Nations, Sylvie Lucas is appointed as Chair of Inter-Governmental Negotiations on UN Security Council reforms.
- World Bank Report - Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency -
- Overall Ease of Doing Business Rank -
- Singapore is at top, Eritrea is at bottom. India ranked at 130th place (compared to 142nd in 2015). Ludhiana is top in India's Subnational List.
- Segment Wise Ranks -
- Starting a Business - New Zealand at top, India is at 155th.
- Dealing with Construction Permits - Singapore at Top. India is 183rd.
- Getting Electricity - South Korea at top. India at 70.
- Registering Property - New Zealand at top. India is at 138.
- Getting Credit - New Zealand at top.India is at 42.
- Protecting Minority Investors - New Zealand at top. India is at 8.
- Paying Taxes - Qatar and UAE at top. India is at 157.
- Trading Across Borders - 17 other eurozone countries at top. India is at 133.
- Enforcing Contracts - Singapore at top. India is at 178.
- Resolving Insolvency - Finland at top. India is at 136.
- Oct 26, 2015
- Book Indian Family Business Mantras, written by Peter Leach and Tatwamasi Dixit has been released.
- Bidhya Devi Bhandari has been elected as President of Nepal (Third overall and First Female).
- Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi President of Egypt visited India.
- Health and Family Welfare Ministry approved Rs. 17 crore for strengthening of trauma care facilities in Government Hospitals in Himachal Pradesh.
- Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation approved Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur's proposal of testing and promoting new construction technologies.
- Najib Shah has been appointed as Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs.
- Tribal Affairs Minister Shri Jual Oram announced that Government will set up a National Tribal Advisory Council for effecting monitoring of tribal welfare schemes.
- Government will issue Sovereign Gold Bonds in consultation with Reserve Bank of India on November 26, 2015 through banks and designated post offices. Tenor of Bond will be 8 years with exit option from 5th year. Minimum investment will be 2 grams of gold. Investors will be compensated at fixed rate of 2.75 % per annum payable semi-annually.
- Karambir Singh has been appointed as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff.
- 21st BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change was held in Beijing (China). Prakash Javadekar (Minister of State (IC) of Environment, Forests and Climate Change) visited on India's Behalf.
- Oct 25, 2015
- King Mswati III of Swaziland visited India.
- President of National Library of France, Bruno Racine visited India and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to conserve, develop and publicize written heritage.
- Chattisgarh become first state to get government’s approval for affordable housing projects in urban areas under Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana.
- Namibia's Minister for Mines & Energy, Obeth Kandjoze visited India.
- Amarendra Sinha is appointed as Secretary in ministry of Minority Affairs.
- Indian Air Force Chief Arup Raha Visited Brazil.
- Government increased financial assistance from Rs. 2 to 5 lakh for emergency surgery cases under Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi scheme.
- Indian and Sri Lankan Navies started 4th edition of Sri Lanka-India Exercise (SLINEX) in Sri Lanka.
- Income-tax Department launched e-Sahyog project aimed at reducing compliance cost, especially for small taxpayers by addressing issues in income tax returns in convenient manner through internet.
- Government constituted a Committee under R.V. Easwar (Former delhi high court judge) to suggest measures for simplify provisions of Income Tax Act 1961, to further enhance ease of doing business in India.
- Attorney General of Australia, George Brandis QC visited India.
- 3rd BRICS Ministerial Meeting on Science, Technology and Innovation held at Moscow (Russia. Minister for Science, Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan attended on India's Behalf.
- Oct 24, 2015
- 24 Oct - World Polio Day.
- Yachting Association of India (YAI) Senior National Championship 2015 hosted by Indian Navy Watermanship Training Centre in Mumbai.
- 42nd plenary of Committee on World Food Security approved Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises (CFS-FFA) in Rome (Italy) to tackle hunger in protracted crises. Framework suggested 11 principles covering 3 broader areas - Address critical manifestations and build resilience, Adapt to specific challenges and Contribute to resolving underlying causes of food insecurity and under nutrition in protracted crises.
- Committee on World Food Security (CFS) was set up in 1974 for review and follow-up of food security policies. It reports annually to Economic and Social Council of United Nations (ECOSOC).
- World Health Organization released Global status report on road safety 2015. Report reflects information from 180 countries and indicates that road traffic casualites has gone up to 1.25 million per year.
- 24 Oct - United Nations Day. In 1948, United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October as anniversary of Charter of the United Nations.
- Haryana Government announced New Integrated Licensing Policy 2015 for development of Hyper and High Potential Urban Complexes (HHPUC) through models of Transferable Development Rights that prevent need for government to resort to compulsory acquisition of land.
- Builders will sign transferable development rights agreement to use farmers' land for their projects. TDR agreements will ensure that landowners get price from builder for their land. Government will be a custodian of farmers' interests. TDR certificate will be valid for two years.
- Policy will allow builders to set up projects from 100 acres to 25 acres.
- Policy provides for global Floor Area Ratio (FAR) between 1.0 to 1.25 for colony size of 25 acres to 50 acres and above 50 acres, respectively.
- Landowners will be freed in selling FAR to any builder in a large planning unit.
- Each farmer will be eligible to sell his TDR certificate equivalent to 1 FAR at market rates.
- Oct 23, 2015
- Western Digital Corporation accquired SanDisk Corporation for 19 billion USD.
- Hurricane Patricia struck Mexico's Pacific coast with winds upto 165 mph speed.
- Indian-origin Ashok-Alexander Sridharan sworn in as mayor of Bonn in Germany.
- Ratan Tata Invested in Abra, a Silicon Valley bitcoin startup.
- Two mountaineers Arjun Vajpai and Bhupesh Kumar became first to climb 6180 meter unnamed peak in Himachal’s Spiti Valley and named it as Mount Kalam in honour of former President Abdul Kalam.
- Government released commemorative stamp to mark 50 years of raising of Border Security Force.
- Ministry of Information and Broadcasting reconstituted Central Press Accreditation Committee that issues Press Information Bureau (PIB) cards to journalists. Frank Noronha will be chairman of committee.
- Telangana proposed Rs.405.17 cr plan on enhancing water supply in 11 AMRUT cities during 2015-16.
- Global Maternal Newborn Health Conference 2015 held in Mexico City.
- Former South African Cricketer Jacques Kallis appointed as Head Coach of Kolkata Knight Riders IPL Team.
- Seong-Jin Cho of South Korea won 17th International Frederic Chopin Piano competition in Poland.
- Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (USA) report Pakistan Nuclear Forces, 2015 stated that Pakistan has 110 - 130 nuclear weapons as compared to 90 - 110 in 2011. If such trend continues, it could grow to 220 - 250 warheads by 2025, making Pakistan fifth largest nuclear weapon nation after USA, Russia, China and France.
- Russia announced to permanently station a military unit in Arctic by 2018.
- Government approved changes in Payment of Bonus Act 1965 for Industrial workers. Bonus ceiling has been increased from 3500 to 7000 rupees per month. Wage ceiling for getting bonus is also increased from 10000 to 21000 rupees per month.
- Former Cricketer Anil Kumble is named as brand ambassador of Raipur Rangers Champions Tennis League Team.
- Noted criminologist K Chockalingam won Paul H Appleby Award given by Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA).
- Scientists identified a new species of giant tortoise named Chelonoidis donfaustoi on Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.
- USA designated Brett McGurk as Envoy to US-led coalition fighting ISIS.
- Poland and 3 Baltic states-Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia signed agreement on GIPL (Gas Interconnector Poland - Lithuania) to construct first gas pipeline between Poland and Lithuania and end isolation of Baltic Sea region.
- Oct 22, 2015
- Indian Golfer Anirban Lahiri won inaugural Hilton Asian Tour Golfer of the Month award.
- Indian Tennis Player Yuki Bhambri entered top-100 worlwide with rank of 99. He is first Indian since 2010 to enter top - 100 club.
- Tyre manufacturer MRF named South African batsman AB de Villiers as its brand ambassador for 3 years.
- E-commerce firm Snapdeal appointed Anup Vikal as Chief Financial Officer.
- Reliance Capital Asset Management took over Goldman Sachs mutual fund business in India for 243 crores
- Bank of Baroda became second bank after HDFC Bank to join Chillr payment platform that enables payments through a mobile application. Customers of banks integrated with Chillr can use application for sending funds. However, customers of any bank can receive funds using Chillr.
- Bollywood Playback Singer Labh Janjua Passed Away.
- Noted Indian marine biologist Syed Zahoor Qasim passed away. He is considered as founder of Polar Biology in India and was part of first Indian expedition to Antarctica in 1981-82.
- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been awarded 2015 Confucius Peace Prize by China for his leadership and service to pan-Africanism and African independence.
- Autobiography of Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda (Sam Pitroda) Dreaming Big: My Journey to Connect India has been released.
- Alok Rawat became first male person to be appointed as member of National Commission for Women.
- Reserve Bank of India issued Directions to Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks) on implementation of Gold Monetisation Scheme 2015 that will replace existing Gold Deposit Scheme, 1999.
- Gold Deposit Scheme Guidelines -
- Minimum deposit shall be raw gold equivalent to 30 grams of gold of 995 fineness, with no maximum limit for deposit.
- Gold will be accepted at Purity Testing Centres certified by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
- Deposit certificates will be issued by banks in equivalence of 995 fineness of gold.
- Principal and interest of deposit under the scheme will be denominated in gold.
- Designated banks will accept gold deposits under Short Term (1-3 years), Medium (5-7 years) and Long (12-15 years).
- Premature withdrawal will be available subject to a minimum lock-in period and penalty.
- Interest on deposits will start from date of conversion of gold deposited into tradable gold bars after refinement or 30 days after receipt of gold at CPTC or Bank. During the period between receipt and interest accounting, gold will be an item in safe custody held by bank.
- Utilisation of Gold mobilised under GMS
- Banks may sell or lend the gold to MMTC for minting India Gold Coins or to jewellers, or sell it to other designated banks participating in GMS.
- Risk Management under GMS
- Banks will keep a risk management mechanism to manage risk arising from gold price movements in respect of their net exposure to gold.
- Banks may access international exchanges, London Bullion Market Association or use over-the-counter contracts to hedge exposures to bullion prices.
- Samardeep Subandh is appointed as Chief Marketing Officer of e-commerce firm Flipkart.
- First Car-Free Day observed in Delhi on 22 October 2015 to encourage people to use public transport instead of cars.
- Nasser Khan Janjua is appointed as National Security Advisor of Pakistan.
- Japan offered loan of 15 billion dollars (Rs 90,000 crore) at interest rate of less than 1 % for ambitious bullet train project - Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor.
- First World Indigenous Games strated in Palmas (Brazil) with around 2000 indigenous athletes belonging to different indigenous ethnic groups from 30 countries.
- Paragliding World Cup begun in Baijnath town in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh with Snow leopard as official mascot.
- Britain signed nuclear deal with China to build United Kingdom’s first nuclear power plant since 1980s. Deal was signed during visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to UK.
- United Nations' World’s Women 2015 Report -
- Mortality rate among Indian girls below five years is higher than boys with ratio 93 / 100 (100 Female Deaths for every 93 Male Deaths). Higher mortality rate among girls is due to preference for sons and Special treatment for boys in terms of parental investment in nutrition.
- Labour force - Between 1995 and 2013, women’s participation in labour force declined from 72 to 64 % in China and 35 to 27 % in India. India also accounts for 33 % of global child marriages.
- Countries with largest surplus of men are China (5.2 crore) and India (4.3 crore).
- Oct 21, 2015
- 21 Oct - Global Iodine Deficiency Disorders Prevention Day.
- Government approved agreement with Egypt on Maritime Transport.
- Minister of State (IC) for Development of North Eastern, Jitendra Singh launched Mobile Application for Centralized Public Grievances Redress & Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) portal of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).
- Government approved signing of Legal Assistance Treaty in Criminal Matters with Maldives.
- Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area has been divided to enhance administrative structure. Satish Namdeo Ghormade will be Flag Officer of Maharashtra and Murlidhar Sadashiv Pawar will be Flag Officer Gujarat Naval Area.
- PM Narendra Modi released book Warriors Remembered On occasion of Police Commemoration Day on 21st October.
- PM Narendra Modi attended Foundation ceremony of Amaravathi as new capital of Andhra Pradesh. He also laid foundation stone of Shri Venkateswara Mobile and Electronics Manufacturing Hub in Tirupati.
- Indo-China Combined Military Training Exercise HAND-IN-HAND 2015 conducted from 12 to 23 October 2015 at Kunming Military Academy, Yunnan, China.
- Ministry of Urban Development approved first batch of AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) projects for 89 cities worth Rs.2,786 cr in AP, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
- President Pranab Mukherjee presented Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Awards 2014 -
- Sangeet natak Akademi Fellowship has been conferred to S R Janakiraman, M S Sathyu, Vijay Kumar Kichlu and Tulsidas Borkar.
- Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards have been given to 36 Artists in Music, Dance, Theatre and Other categories.
- Sekhar Basu took charge as Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary in Department of Atomic Energy.
- Representatives from 54 African Countries visited India for 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit to be held Oct 26 - 29, 2015 in Delhi.
- 4th India-Africa Trade Ministers' Meeting held in New Delhi.
- President promulgated two ordinances, one for constitution of commercial courts and another to amend Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996.
- National Policy on Capital Goods Draft Policy 2015 by Department of Heavy Industries -
- Government proposed a stable tax and duty structure to promote capital goods sector.
- Aims to Increase share of capital goods contribution from 12% to 20% of manufacturing by 2025.
- Allowing up to 50% CENVAT credit to manufacturers using such products as raw material for more usage of such goods in manufacturing of finished goods.
- Achieve total production of Rs 5 lakh crore by 2025 from current Rs 2.2 lakh crore and Employ about 50 Lakh People by 2050.
- Central Board of Excise and Customs increased limits for making any Tax Evader liable for arrest and prosecution to ensure these powers are not used against small businesses -
- Limit in case of tax evasion (Central Excise and Service tax) has been revised to 1 crore from current values of - 25 lakh (Central Excise), 10 lakh (Service Tax and Customs Duty).
- In cases of outright smuggling or mis-declaration of baggage- limit regarding value of offending goods have been revised from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh. Hovewer, No lower limit for arrest and prosecution in cases of smuggling of fake Indian currency, ammunitions and endangered species.
- Oct 20, 2015
- OCT 20 - International Chefs Day.
- OCT 20 - World Statistics Day. Theme for 2015 is Better Data, Better Lives.
- Justin Trudeau elected as new (23rd) Prime Minister of Canada.
- Jitendra Singh (Minister of State (IC) for Development of North Eastern Region) inaugurated IMS Health Skill Development Center for youth under UDAAN program - aimed at empowering youth of Jammu & Kashmir.
- Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated Indian Police Foundation and Indian Police Institute in Delhi aimed at embarking culture of research and evidence-based policing in India.
- Moody’s released report on global green bonds issues in 2015 -
- In third quarter (Q3) of 2015, global green bond issuance were 7.5 billion USD, which is less than 13.4 Billion USD in Second Quarter (Q2) and more then 6.3 Billion USD in First Quarter (Q1). So far, 27.2 Billion USD Worth of Global Green Bonds have been issued in Three quarters of 2015.
- Moody's expects issuance in Q4 will take total to 40 Billion USD in 2015.
- Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced that Konkan Railway will establish a tunnel technology institute at Goa's Margao town.
- Urvashia Rautela has been named Yamaha Fascino Miss Diva 2015. She is the only person to have won this title Twice. Urvashi will represent India at Miss Universe 2015 pageant to be held on 20-12-2015 in USA.
- Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index report 2015 -
- This Seventh edition of MMGPI report measured retirement income systems of 25 Countries under sub-indices of Adequacy, Sustainability and Integrity. Above 80 Score is called A Grade.
- Overall Score -
- Denmark is rated best retirement system for fourth consecutive year with overall score of 81.7. Netherlands is second with score of 80.5. Denmark and Netherlands are only countries to achieve A grade in history of the index.
- India's 40.3 is lowest score in Pension index of 25 countries. India's score fell from 43.5 in 2014 to 40.3 in 2015. South Korean is second lowest with 43.8 and japan in third lowest with 44.1 Score.
- Sub Indexes
- Australia is ranked at top in adequacy sub index with score of 79.6
- Denmark is at top in Sustainability sub index with score 84.7
- Finland is at top in Integrity sub index with score 92.4
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies nations launched Trident Juncture military exercise at Trapani air force base in Italy with over 36000 troops from more than 30 nations.
- PM Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee on 06-11-2015 will launch a funding clearance mechanism of Rs 1,000 crores named IMPRINT, to get Indian technical institutions to conduct original research in areas where country is dependent on foreign technology.
- PM Narendra Modi inaugurated IDFC Bank that started operations on 1 October 2015 as an Indian Banking company with headquarters in Mumbai. It is a part of IDFC integrated infrastructure finance company. Rajiv B. Lall is its Managing Director & CEO. IDFC Bank initially has 23 branches and is 91st scheduled commercial bank in India.
- Noted Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag announced his retirement from international cricket.
- Renowned Kannada filmmaker Kikkeri Shamanna Lakshminarayana Swamy passed away.
- Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone signed an agreement with India Pulses and Grains Association to handle import and exports of pulses across its ports in India.
- Reva Khetrapal has been selected as Delhi’s new Lokayukta.
- Russia and USA signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to avoid deconfliction and mid-air incidents between their air forces over Syrian skies.
- Environment Ministry extended validity of Environment Clearance from 5 to 7 years to provide more time to corporations manipulate actions and activities.
- Karnataka and Gujarat lifted ban on sale of Nestle's Maggi noodles after clean chit by three government-approved laboratories.
- Uttar Pradesh Government announced to give 50000 rupees monthly pension to Yash Bharti awardees. Yash Bharti Samman was started in 1994 for excellence in literature, fine arts, folk, classical music and sports. Award c arries cash prize of 11 lakh rupees.
- Libya rejected United Nations - backed peace deal that proposed a power-sharing arrangement with rival Islamist-led authorities.
- Oct 19, 2015
- Indian short film An Old Dog’s Diary won prestigious Best Short Film Award at 59th London Film Festival 2015 by British Film Institute. The 11-minute film has been directed by Shai Heredia and Shumona Goel.
- Maharashtra government appointed Shreehari Aney as Advocate General.
- Rajasthan government provided 5 % quota to Gujjars, Raibari, Banjara and Gadiya Lohar communities in educational institutes and government jobs.
- Maharashtra Government declared drought like condition in 14708 villages of total 43000 villages (34 %).
- Reserve Bank of India signed Memorandum of Understanding with Central Bank of United Arab Emirates on Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information. It was signed during visit of Meena Hemchandra, Executive Director of RBI.
- Federation Internationale de Football Association suspended Kuwait Football Association (KFA) for interference of government officials in running of the sport.
- All India Football Federation appointed former India Football captain Baichung Bhutia as advisor for overall issues of the game and Federation.
- United Nations General Assembly elected Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay as non-permanent members on Security Council (UNSC) for two-year terms beginning 1 January 2016.
- Federal court in Madison (Wisconsin, USA) ordered Apple to pay 234 million USD to University of Wisconsin for unathorized use of University of Wisconsin's microchip technology into some products.
- Board for Cricket Control in India assigned title sponsorship of Indian Premier League (IPL) to Brazilian mobile company Vivo.
- Health and Family Welfare minsitry modified National Blood Policy 2002 - It allowed transfer of blood from one blood bank to another in case of shortage AND fixed exchange value for surplus plasma available at blood banks at 1600 rupees per litre.
- As per Cross Border Merger & Acquisition Index of Baker & McKenzie, India was among top 10 investors in USA in 2015 with Indian companies investing 1.7 billion USD, Mostly in Health Care.
- Oct 18, 2015
- Government increased basic customs duty on wheat from 10% to 25% for upto 31.03.2016.
- Tinlianthang Vaiphei is appointed as Chief Justice of Gauhati (Assam) High Court.
- Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu visited Singapore to participate in Infrastructure Finance Summit 2015 organised by World Bank. Mr. Prabhu proposed for need of discussin ginfrastructure financing during G20 summit where he participated as Prime Minister's Sherpa (Special Representative).
- India Hosted Commonwealth Youth, Junior and Senior Weightlifting Championships in Pune, Maharashtra. 6 Indian players of Railways won medals - Matsa Santoshi, Punam Yadav, Chanu,Shri S. Satish Sivalingam won gold,and S. Mirabai Chanu won silver and Minati Sethi won Bronze.
- Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports constituted ‘All India Council of Sports’, headed by V.K. Malhotra. Council will advise on promotion and development of sports and games in the country.
- Serbia's Novak Djokovic won 2015 Shanghai Rolex Masters tennis in men’s singles category by defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France). South African/Brazilian pair of Raven Klaasen and Marcelo Melo claimed men's Doubles by defeating Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.
- India's tennis player Saketh Myneni won 2015 Vietnam Open by defeating Australia’s Jordan Thompson.
- Britain won Sultan of Johor Hockey Cup by defeating Indian junior men's hockey team in Malaysiaa.
- Denmark Open Badminton 2015 -
- Men's Singles - Chen Long (China) won by defeating Hong Kong's Wei Nan.
- Women's Singles - China’s Xuerui Li won by defating P V Sindhu of India.
- Men's Doubles - Chinese Pair of Fu Haifeng China and Zhang Nan defated South Korean Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong.
- Women's Doubles - Chinese Pair of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang defated South Korean Shin Seung-chan and Jung Kyung-eun.
- Mixed Doubles - Chinese Pair of Xu Chen and Ma Jin defated South Korean Ko Sung-hyun and Kim Ha-na.
- Housing.com appointed Mani Rangarajan as Chief Financial Officer.
- Indian IT Firm Infosys acquired USA's Noah Consulting fpr USD 70 Million. Noah is a provider of advanced information management consulting services for oil and gas industry.
- Noted Egyptian writer Gamal al-Ghitani Passed away.
- Book Smita Patil: A Brief Incandescence has been authored by Maithili Rao.
- Powerful Typhoon Koppu (also known as Lando) hit northern Philippines with speed of 240 kph.
- Haryana Government approved Swadhar Greh scheme to assure economic and social security to women in distress.
- Oct 17, 2015
- 17 October - International Day for Eradication of Poverty. Theme for 2015 is Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination.
- Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay has been awarded with Presidential Medal by Salisbury University in Maryland, US for promoting peace and understanding.
- Government approved payment of Performance Related Pay (PRP) to executives of Coal India and its subsidiaries.
- Omid Kordestani is appointed as Executive Chairman of Twitter.
- Jharkhand Government and GAIL signed a Gas Cooperation Agreement for creation of Natural Gas and City Gas Distribution infrastructure to assist construction of Urja Ganga Jagdishpur-Haldia Pipeline.
- Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indian (TRAI) made it mandatory for mobile service providers to compensate consumers call drops with effect from 1 January 2016. MSPs will Credit account of consumer by one rupee for every call drop for upto 3 dropped calls in a day.
- Pakistan and Russia signed an agreement for building a 1100-km gas pipeline from Karachi on Arabian Sea to the eastern city of Lahore.
- China and Indonesia signed a 5.5 billion USD deal to build first high-speed railway in Indonesia. China defeated Japan as a bidder for this huge project in indonesia.
- Aditya Birla Group launched online fashion store Abof.com.
- Oct 16, 2015
- Oct 16 - World Food Day. Theme for 2015 is Social Protection and Agriculture.
- Indian Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi has been selected for prestigious 2015 Harvard Humanitarian of Year Award for his work for ending all forms of violence against children..
- India, United States and Japan navies started 2015 Malabar Naval Exercise of eastern coast in Bay of Bengal and India Ocean.
- Real estate developer Tata Housing tied-up with social networking firm Facebook to sell its affordable homes online.
- Dell Acquired Data Storage Firm EMC Corporation for Biggest Ever Tech Deal of 67 billion US dollars.
- Portugal became first European and 17th Overall country to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on establishment of Nalanda University.
- Supreme Court allowed using Aadhaar cards for central and state schemes, including National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and employee provident fund schemes on voluntary basis.
- Reserve Bank of India formed a single Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) of 2000 crore rupees by merging Financial Inclusion Fund and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund. FIF will be maintained by NABARD.
- Noted Cricketer Zaheer Khan retired from International Cricket.
- R Chandak has been appointed as Director of Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad under Department of Biotechnology.
- M.K. Surana is appointed as chairman and managing director of Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL).
- Leo Puri is appointed as chairman of Association for Mutual Funds in India.
- Paytm e-commerce platform tied up with Mumbai metro to offer online recharges of Smart Cards.
- Bank of Baroda conferred its Maharaja Sayajirao Bhasha Samman to poet and lyricist Prasoon Joshi.
- China launched its new communication satellite APSTAR-9 by Long March-3B carrier rocket. It will cover some three quarters of global population in Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia to provide TV transmission and transponder, data and satellite communication services.
- Kundhavi Kadiresanwas has been appointed as Assistant Director of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Regional Representative for Asia and Pacific.
- Australian Government approved Adani Group’s Carmichael coal mine and rail project in accordance with environment laws of country.
- Government started Science Express Climate Action Special (SECAS) with theme Climate Change to create awareness about challenges and issues associated with Climate Change.
- Myanmar government signed peace accord with 8 of 15 armed minorities groups especially belonging to Kayin and Chin groups to end decades of civil war.
- Chinese construction equipment maker Sany Group proposed to invest 3 billion USD in building 2 GW of green energy units in India over next 5-6 years.
- Test of India's Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile failed when it lost control after about 12 minutes of flight and fell into the Bay of Bengal.
- Supreme Court rejected National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and 99th Constitutional Amendment that sought to give politicians and civil society a final say in appointment of judges to the highest courts. With this veredict, Collegium system as it existed before NJAC Act became operative again.
- Oct 15, 2015
- President Pranab Mukherjee Completed his tour from October 10 to October 15, 2015 to Jordan, Palestine and Israel. He was accompanied by Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
- Jordan -
- Jordan and India signed agreements for cooperation in counterterrorism, defence, trade and investment and agreed to raising trade exchange to 5 billion USD in 5 years.
- India agreed for 100 million USD credit to Jordan.
- President Mukherjee inaugurated a street named after M K Gandhi in Amman.
- Palestine -
- India funded 5 million US dollars grant to Palestine as Budgetary assistance.
- Al-Quds University conferred Honorary Doctorate on President Pranab Mukherjee.
- Israel -
- President Mukjherjee was conferred honorary doctorate by Hebrew University.
- India, Israel signed 10 MoUs to enhance cooperation including Amending Protocol for Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion and Cultural Exchange Program.
- Pranab Mukherjee became 1st Indian President to address Israeli Parliament Knesset.
- Raptor MOU nations agreed to list 12 Vulture Species in Annex I to tackle African Vulture Crisis.
- Oct 15 - Birth Anniversary of Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, Noted Missile Scientist and 11th president of India.
- Environment, forests and climate change ministry launched a 3 year post-doctoral research fellowships for young scientists in name of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.
- Dr Kalam’s birth place Rameswaram declared as AMRUT town.
- Railway Energy Management Company on behalf of North Central Railway for the first time invited Bids for Procurement of 50 MW Power from Open Market. The New process is expected to reduce Cost Per unit for Railways to 3.69 to 6.7 rs/unit.
- Railwsys introduced Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (VIKALP) to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers from 01-11-2015. In this scheme, wait listed passengers of a train can opt for confirmed accommodation in alternate trains.
- Book Specific Learning Disorder: Indian Scenario has been written by Rajesh Sagar, Raman Deep Pattanayak, Manju Mehta of All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi.
- Door Darshan National to telecast a 10 episode programme Hunnarbaaz to make Public aware about Apprenticeship Training Scheme and its utilities in building skill across youth.
- 4th International Tourism Mart inaugurated in Gangtok, Sikkim.
- Malaysia’s Minister of Works Haji Fadillah Bin Haji Yusof visited and with proposal to invest US $ 30 billion in urban development and housing projects in India on behalf of Construction Industry Development Board(CIDB) of Malaysia.
- Union Minister of Civil Aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated International Civil Helicopters Conclave 2015 in New Delhi.
- First National Tribal Carnival will be held in Delhi from February 12 to 17, 2016.
- India in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UN-ISDR) will host 2nd ISDR Asia Partnership (IAP) meeting in New Delhi on Nov 17-19, 2015.
- A.K. Agarwal, Secretary in Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs visited UAE.
- Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is organizing White Cane Day on October 15 to sensitize the common man about the challenges being faced by visually challenged people.
- Nepal elected Onsari Gharti Magar as first woman speaker of parliament.
- Oct 14, 2015
- Government approved MoU between India-Taipei Association (ITA) in Taipei and Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in India for cooperation in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
- Government approved Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of Rs.2904 crores for Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project. It was jointly identified by the India and Myanmar to create mode of transport for shipments from eastern and North-Eastern part of India through Myanmar.
- Government approved MoU between Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of India and Mozambique.
- Former Chief of Naval Staff and Governor of Sikkim, Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani passed away.
- India's Prestigious Missile Complex in Hyderabad to be renamed as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex.
- Ministry of Home Affairs introduced Central Victim Compensation Fund of Rs. 200 crores to support victims of various attacks.
- Sweden's Minister of Housing, Urban Development and Information Technology, Mehmet Kaplan Visited India.
- World’s Best Multinational Workplaces List by Great Place to Work Institute-
- Google topped the list as world’s best company to work for third straight year. Software developer SAS Institute and manufacturing firm W L Gore are second and third.
- India ranks third among global startup ecosystems with over 4,200 new-age companies, as per second edition Start up India – Momentous Rise of the Indian Start-Up Ecosystem by Nasscom and Zinnov.
- Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is chosen as ‘Finance Minister of Year, Asia’ by London-based publication Emerging Markets. The magazine also praised PM Narendra Modi and RBI Governor Raghuram G Rajan for India’s recent economic success.
- China started 1.5 billion USD Zam Hydropower Station in Tibet on Brahmaputra river. It is Considered world’s highest-altitude hydropower station and largest of its kind.
- Reliance Power appointed N Venugopala Rao as Chief Executive Officer.
- Delhi Government launched Bill Banvao, Inaam Pao scheme to encourage people to get proper bills for purchases, with prizes upto 50000 Rs.
- Portugal's Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo received record fourth Golden Boot after topping Europe's goalscoring charts for 2014-15 season by scoring 48 goals in 35 La Liga appearances.
- Jamaican writer Marlon James won 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. He became first Jamaican author to win the prize.
- Iran approved bill to implement nuclear deal with world powers (P5+1 countries). The accord will protect Iran’s nuclear program and will lift international economic sanctions against Iran.
- Tamil Nadu government banned Ketoprofen non-steroid drug to save endangered vulture population.
- A sweet banana species with orange pulp - Musa indandamanensis discovered in Andamans.
- Rajasthan became first state to firm up private investments in affordable housing by signing 27 MoUs worth 12478 crore rupees under Housing for All scheme in housing, healthcare and education sectors.
- Indian female bodybuilder Shweta Rathore won silver in 49th Asian Bodybuilding Championship in Uzbekistan. She became first Indian female bodybuilder to win a medal at continental level.
- Etihad Airways and IBM signed deal worth 700 million USD for improving airline’s operations and security for over 10 years.
- Oct 13, 2015
- Alkesh Sharma is appointed as CEO & MD, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation.
- Bangladesh's Minister for Science & Technology Yeafesh Osman visited India.
- Ministry of Shipping and Directorate General of Lighthouses and proposed to develop 78 lighthouses in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands as tourism centres.
- Indian community in United Kingdom launched 'Modi Express' bus to take travellers on around iconic landmarks ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden visit to UK in November 2015.
- India signed Rs 130 crore deal for 194 microlight aircraft from Slovenian company Pipistrel Aircraft, for use by National Cadet Corps (NCC), Air Force and Navy.
- Telenor India appointed Sharad Mehrotra as new CEO.
- P S Jayakumar took charge as MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda for three years.
- Software services firm Infosys appointed Ranganath D Mavinakere as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
- Alexander Lukashenko has been reelected as President of Belarus for fifth term.
- Malayalam filmmaker I.V. Sasi has been awarded with J.C. Daniel Award 2014 for his contributions to Malayalam entertainment industry.
- Canberra based art gallery in Australia will return 2,000-year-old Indian-origin sculpture of Gautama Buddha to India.
- President of African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina announced that AfDB would triple its annual climate financing to reach 5 billion dollar a year by 2020.
- Oct 12, 2015
- Oct 12 - Foundation day of National Human Rights Commision (Established on Oct 12, 1993).
- India won four-match Men's Hockey series against New Zealand by 2-1.
- Jioji Konrote has been elected as new President of Fiji. Previously he was Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations.
- NASA released report - NASA’s Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration, containing plan for establishing deep-space habitation facilities on Mars by 2030.
- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Maldives for 5th India-Maldives Joint Commission meet.
- Punjab National Bank won Beighton Cup hockey 2015 by defeating Indian Oil Corporation.
- Oct 11, 2015
- Oct 11 - International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC) 2015 theme is The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030.
- India will observe 26 November as Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas) to spread awareness of Indian Constitution and its architecture Dr B R Ambedkar. On 26 November 1949, Indian constitution was adopted by 389 member Constituent Assembly (CA) and it came into force on 26 January, 1950.
- Annual Meetings of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank held in Lima (Peru) during October 7 to 11, 2015. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, RBI Governor Raghuram G Rajan and Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian were part of Indian Delegation.
- Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), Institute of Rolling Stock Engineers (IRSE) and Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineers Association (IRSMEA) organized an international conference on Rail Coach Interiors in New Delhi.
- Khadga Prasad Oli has been elected as new Prime Minister of Nepal after Sushil Koirala Resigned.
- Second meeting of National Executive Council of National Mission for Green India approved Annual Plans of Operations by four States - Mizoram, Manipur, Jharkhand and Kerala for total cost 902 Crore Rupees.
- Gujarat proposed Rs.15,375 cr action plan to ensure basic infrastructure in 31 cities under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) in next five years.
- Nobel Prizes 2015 Winners -
- Physiology / Medicine -
- William C. Campbell (USA) and Satoshi Omura (Japan) for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites.
- Youyou Tu (China) for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria.
- Physics -
- Takaaki Kajita (Japan) and Arthur B. McDonald (Canada) for discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass.
- Chemistry -
- Tomas Lindahl (Sweden), Paul Modrich (USA) and Aziz Sancar (Turkey) for mechanistic studies of DNA repair.
- Literature -
- Investigative journalist Svetlana Alexievich (Belarus).
- Peace -
- Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for contribution to building of pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in wake of Jasmine Revolution of 2011.
- Economics -
- Angus Deaton (UK) for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare.
- Odisha Government launched Mission Abaas urban housing mission to provide affordable houses to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
- Ajay Jayaram of India won 2015 Dutch Open Men’s Singles badminton title by defeating Estonia’s Raul Must.
- China Open Tennis 2015 -
- Men's Singles - Novak Djokovic (Serbia) defeated Rafael Nadal (Spain).
- Women's Singles - Garbine Muguruza (Spain) defeated Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland).
- Men's Doubles - Vasek Pospisil (Canada ) and Jack Sock (United States) defeated Danel Nestor of Canada and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.
- Women's Doubles - Martina Hingis (Switzerland) and Sania Mirza (India) defeated china's Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan.
- Noted Tamil actress Gopishantha (Manorama) Passed Away.
- PM Narendra Modi laid foundation stone of fourth terminal of country’s largest container port – Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai.
- YES Bank received RBI approval to set up a mutual fund, asset management company (AMC) and a trustee company.
- China Launched Nanligong-1 satellite developed by students of Nanjing University to be used for Global Maritime Automatic Identification.
- Lewis Hamilton (UK) won Russian Formula One Grand Prix .
- 2015 Formula One season -
- Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2015. Calendar is -
-
Grand Prix Date Winner Australia 15 March Lewis Hamilton (UK) Malaysia 29 March Sebastian Vettel (Germany) China 12 April Lewis Hamilton (UK) Baharain 19 April Lewis Hamilton (UK) Spain 10 May Nico Rosberg (Germany) Monaco 24 May Nico Rosberg (Germany) Canada 7 June Lewis Hamilton (UK) Austria 21 June Nico Rosberg (Germany) Britain 5 July Lewis Hamilton (UK) Hungary 26 July Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Belgium 23 August Lewis Hamilton (UK) Italy 6 September Lewis Hamilton (UK) Singapore 20 September Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Japan 27 September Lewis Hamilton (UK) Russia 11 October Lewis Hamilton (UK) USA 25 October Mexico 1 November Brazil 15 November Abu Dhabi 29 November
- Oct 10, 2015
- Noted Flautist N. Ramani passed away.
- Sekhar Basu has been appointed as Secretary in Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (Nuclear Chief).
- Kerala government launched Operation Valsalya project to trace, rescue and reunite missing children with their family.
- Patanjali Ayurved tied-up with Future Group under which its products will be available at Big Bazaar, KB’s and EasyDay outlets.
- India’s first Dolphin Community Reserve will be established in West Bengal to protect endangered mammal - Gangetic river dolphins. reserve would be set up in Hooghly River between Malda and Sundarbans.
- Rajashthan Government annouced Rajasthan Startup Policy- 2015 to help the start-up ecosystem in state by setting up 50 incubators and support around 500 innovative start-ups.
- NASA’s New Horizon Spacecraft images revealed blue skies and numerous small exposed regions of water ice on Pluto's Surface.
- Author Nayantara Sehgal returned Sahitya Akademi Award that she had been given in 1986 for her English novel Rich Like Us.
- European Union Launched Operation Sophia as Naval operation against human smugglers and traffickers in Mediterranean Sea.
- India’s Wipro Ltd. and First Book (a non-profit social enterprise) partnered to provide books to children in need across five cities in USA and Canada.
- Government of Andhra Pradesh launched Andhra Pradesh State Enterprise Architecture (e-Pragati) project for transforming the way government services are conceived, delivered and consumed.
- Corporate Affairs Secretary Tapan Ray is appointed to Board of Securities and Exchange Board of India.
- Oct 09, 2015
- Oct 09 - World Egg Day.
- India's Central Board of Excise and Customs Hosted 11th Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) of Directors General-Commissioners of Customs in Goa on 8th and 9th October, 2015.
- Noted music composer Ravindra Jain passed away.
- India signed Protocol for establishment of Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) with Ecuador for strengthening trade relationships.
- Meeting of G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors held in Peru. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and RBI Governor Raghuram G Rajan Participated on India's Behalf.
- India achieved success in its efforts in pursuading Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) to push back High Risk Area (HRA) from 78 degrees East longitude to 65 degrees East longitude in Indian Ocean. It will result in savings of 1500 Crore annually for India’s EXIM trade as reduced insurance premium and freight costs.
- High Risk Area in Indian Ocean in 2011 was set to 65 degrees east longitude from 78 degrees previously, due to increasing Piracy off coast of Somalia / Gulf of Aden / Horn of Africa. This caused burden of 2000 crore annual on India and infiltrated into India's West coast borders.
- India has been constantly pushing on International bodies to push back the HRA mark to 78 degrees East longitude, and now the same has been implemented.
- Sports Minister Sarbanand Sonowal declared assistance of 200 crore to Jammu and Kashmir to boost sporting activities.
- Gurgaon (Haryana) to observe every Tuesday as 'Car-Free Day'. Initiative to be implemented from 22 Sep 2015 onwards (World Car Free Day).
- ICICI Bank became first bank globally to launch service enabling customers to make payments from their smartphones at stores, e-commerce sites etc. without swiping debit card. Service is based on 'mVisa' mobile payment solution from Visa.
- China launched first phase of China International Payment System (CIPS) to boost Yuan’s global usage and cross-border clearing of its currency from Chinese mainland instead of offshore centres abroad.
- Indian Music composer AR Rahman has been named as Cultural Ambassador of Seychelles.
- Expert Appraisal Committee of Ministry of Environment & Forest allowed to import coal with higher ash content of up to 25 % to help domestic thermal power plants use higher grade coal and bring down cost of generation. Currently only 12 % of coal with ash content is allowed to be imported.
- USA Food and Drug Administration approved Keytruda (pembrolizumab) drug for treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
- British researchers developed ASCmeI.T mobile app to help people with autism (difficulty in communicating and forming relationships).
- USA's Gannett Company acquired newspaper company Journal Media Group for 280 million USA dollars.
- Bombay high court ruled against Income Tax Appellate Tribunal order on 3700 crore rupees as capital gain tax in Vodafone transfer pricing case. ITAT has earlier ordered Vodafone to comply with demand of 3700 crore rupees issued by Income Tax authorities. Tax demand is about sale of call centre business of Vodafone to Hutchison in 2007-2008.
- Tata Power launched LED tube light scheme in Mumbai for providing five lights to each household at 525 rupees per piece against market price of 1325 rupees.
- Music Composer A R Rehman has ben chosen for 2015 Hridaynath Mangeskar Award.
- Finance Ministers of 20 nations vulnerable to climate change launched V20 Group during annual meeting of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Lima (Peru). Group aims to pool resources for fight against global warming and is counterpoint to G20 group of leading emerging economies.
- V20 Member Countries are - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam.
- Forbes list of 50 richest families in Asia-
Rank
Name
Net Worth
Source
Citizenship
1
Lee (Byung-Chull) family
26.6 billion dollar
Samsung
South Korea
2
Lee (Shau Kee) family
24.1 billion dollar
Henderson Development
Hong Kong
3
Ambani family
21.5 billion dollar
Reliance Group
India
4
Chearavanont family
19.9 billion dollar
Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group
Thailand
5
Kwok family
19.5 billion dollar
Sun Hung Kai & Co
Hong Kong
6
Kwek / Quek family
18.9 billion dollar
Hong Leong group
Malaysia
7
Premji family
17 billion dollar
Wipro
India
8
Tsai (Wan-Tsai) family
15.1 billion dollar
Cathay Financial
Taiwan
9
Hinduja family
15 billion dollar
Hinduja Group
United Kingdom
10
Mistry family
14.9 billion dollar
Shapoorji Pallonji Group
India
- Oct 08, 2015
- 8 October - World Sight Day. Theme is Eye care for all.
- Oct 08, 2015 - 83rd Indian Air Force Day. IAF was established on 8 October 1932.
- First BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Migration Ministers Meeting held in Sochi (Russia). Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju attended on India's Behalf.
- Hoesung Lee of South Korea has been elected Chairman of Inter-governmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC).
- Indian cyclist Deborah Herold won 1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal at 2015 Taiwan Cup. She became first Indian cyclist to win in women's elite section.
- National Green Tribunal directed all commercial vehicles entering Delhi to pay additional environmental compensation charge.
- Government appointed committee under Anil Baijal recommendations for improving monitoring of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) spending to government -
- Uniform tax treatment for all CSR activities under Companies Act 2013.
- Leniency towards non-compliant companies in first 2 to 3 years.
- Director General of National Cadet Corps, General Aniruddha Chakravarty inaugurated NCC National Games 2015 in Delhi. Game will witness approx 2000 cadets from 17 state directorates.
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Making the international financial architecture work for development report -
- Global growth rate in 2015 is expected to remain 2.5 %. Developed countries will grow at 1.9 %, compared with 1.6 % in 2014. USA's rate of growth will remain 2−2.5 % in 2015.
- India’s GDP will grow at 7.5 % in 2015. As pressure on current account deficit is easing due to lowering oil prices in international market. However, India’s export growth slowed down from 8.5 % in 2013 to 3.2 % in 2014 due to global economy slowdown.
- Russia won Women’s European Volleyball Championship by defeating Netherlands (Venue - Russia).
- Indian nano biotechnology company Nualgi won Popular Choice Awards at Climate CoLab of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge - UK). Nualgi submitted two proposals to reduce power and fuel consumption for sewage treatment and water reuse built around their nano-scale product called Nualgi for 2015 edition of the contest.
- Book Courage to Act - A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath has been written by Ben S. Bernanke.
- Oct 07, 2015
- Book Ruled or Misruled: Story and Destiny of Bihar has been written by Santosh Singh.
- Government approved protocol amending India's Convention and Protocol with Israel and Vietnam for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion.
- Government approved setting up of 3 new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AllMS) at Nagpur in Maharashtra, Manglagiri in Andhra Pradesh and Kalyani in West Bengal under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY). This involves financial implication of Rs.4949 crore.
- Government approved protocol for cooperation in field of blue economy with Seychelles.
- Government approved construction of a National War Memorial near India Gate (New Delhi) in memory of over 22500 Indian soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the country post-independence. Cost of project will be around Rs. 500 crores.
- Government approved Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in sports with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
- Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved implementing World Bank assisted National Watershed Management Project Neeranchal with total cost of $357 million (Rs 2142.30 crore - government share is 50 %) in nine States of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana.
- Minister of State for AYUSH (IC) and Health and Family Welfare, Shripad Yesso Naik inaugurated Dr. D. P. Rastogi Central Research Institute for Homeopathy in Noida (Uttar Pradesh).
- State Secretary for Home Affairs of Sweden, Ann Linde visited India.
- Bangladesh Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha Visited India.
- Railway Protection Force has been Presented with Award of Excellence in Human Trafficking for operation smile.
- Government approved formation of Group 'A' service - Indian Skill Development Service of technical cadre of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSD&E).
- Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Conference 2016 will be held in New Delhi from 8 January to 10, 2016.
- Sergey Karjakin of Russia won 2015 World Cup Chess Championship in Azerbaijanby defeating Peter Svidler (Russia).
- Utkal Alumina International Limited (unit of Aditya Birla Group) launched Saksham project for welfare of communities living in vicinity of its project area in Odisha.
-
Reserve Bank of India relaxed norms of Foreign Portfolio Investors by announcing higher investment limits in government securities to bring additional 1.2 lakh crore rupees by March 2018.
- International Monetary Fund released World Economic Outlook titled Adjusting to Lower Commodity Prices-
- Report projects global growth for 2015 at 3.1 %, It is 0.3 % lower than in 2014. In 2016, growth is expected to rise to 3.6 %.
- India’s growth is expected to rise from 7.3 % in 2015 to 7.5 % in 2016.
- In first meeting of National Sagarmala Apex Committee, Government announced to spend about 70,000 crore rupees on development of major ports. It was chaired by Nitin Gadkari.
- Sagarmala project aims for development of ports along 7,500-km-long coastline to increase cargo traffic three-times in next 5 years. It will benefit around 14 % population of India.
- Saudi Arabia's Raif Badawi and British James Fenton have been awarded with 2015 PEN Pinter Prize annual literary award.
- The Clintons' War on Women has been written by Roger Stone and Robert Morrow
- Oct 06, 2015
- Torpedo Launch and Recovery Vessel ‘INS Astradharini commissioned into Indian Navy.
- Odisha Government launched Amo doli healthcare programme To help patients and pregnant women from inaccessible areas to reach nearest hospital in naxal-affected Rayagada district.
- UCO Bank became worst Performer among public sector banks in 2014-15 with its Gross NPA rising to Total Loans ratio of UCO Bank rising to 8.05 % from 4.47 % in 2014. UCO Bank was followed by Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) with gross NPA rising to 8.30 % and 6.18 %.
- Telangana Government announced 50 % subsidy on purchase of seeds To reduce input costs for farmers.
- US, Japan and 10 Pacific Rim countries signed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement to lower trade barriers and set standards for a raft of other industries. Countries are - USA, Japan, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
- Department of Commerce (Ministry of Commerce & Industry), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) organized international summit on Medical Value Travel India 2015 to promote healthcare services exports from India.
- Oct 05, 2015
- Oct 5 - World Habitat Day (First monday of October). On this occasion, World Wide Fund releasedHidden Himalayas: Asia’s Wonderland report. It stated that 211 new species like sneezing monkey, walking fish and jewel-like snake were discovered in Eastern Himalayas region between 2009 and 2014.
- Minister of State for Agriculture, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan launched KISAN [C(K)rop Insurance using Space technology And geoiNformatics] and Hailstorm App to use Space Technology and geoinformatics technology for improvement in yield estimation and better planning for crop insurance programme.
- Minister of State for Agriculture, Mohanbhai Kundariya visited Lithuania.
- Phase-2 of Mission Indradhanush launched in 352 districts To immunise children and pregnant women against seven vaccine preventable diseases.
- Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany) Visited India. India and Germany signed 18 MoUs on this occasion
- Some Main Agreements are - Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) on Languages, MoU on Solar Energy, Skill Development, Security Cooperation, Aviation Security, Disaster Management, Higher Education, Joint Declaration on IGSTC (Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC), Plant Protection, Railways, Food Safety and manufacturing.
- Germany will provide India more than 2 billion euros ($2.25 billion) for developing a clean energy corridor and solar projects.
- India and Germany Signed Loan Agreements of 125 Millions Euros for Himachal and Andhra Pradesh Green Energy Corridors’ Projects.
- World Congress on Towards Intelligent Mobility –Better Use of Space held at Bordeaux (France). Urban Development Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu attended on India's Behalf.
- Minister of State (IC) of Development of North-Eastern Region, Jitendra Singh released bookIndia’s Creative Continuum-Minority Communities in Craft, containing 18 Identified Crafts from various States. Schemes such as USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/ Crafts for Development) have been detailed in it.
- Shashank Manohar has been elected as President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for second term.
- Ashish Bahuguna, Chairman of the food regulator FSSAI has been given additional charge of its CEO.
- Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) established world’s highest terrestrial centre at 17,600 feet above sea level at Changla near Pengong lake in Ladakh.
- Renowned Telugu Cinema Producer Edida Nageswara Rao passed away.
- 2015 MTB Himalaya Bike Race -
- Luis Leao Pinto (Portugal) won in Men and Catherine Williamson (UK) won in women's category.
- Governing Centre Right coalition parties led by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho won Portugal’s 2015 general elections.
- Renowned Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell passed away.
- Jack Dorsey has been re-appointed as CEO of twitter.
- Islamic State (IS) militants blown up Arch of Triumph in ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.
- As per world bank report, For the first time less than 10 % of world’s population (70 crore people) will be living in extreme poverty by end of 2015, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Previously, World Bank had defined extreme poverty as people living on under 1.25 USD a day. Now it has been revised to 1.90 USD a day. Ending extreme poverty by 2030 is among UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
- Tiruchirapalli Municipal Corporation won Skoch Smart Governance Award for Operational Excellence in Waste Transportation using Information Technology.
- Malaysia ordered shut down of country's schools for two days because of health risks by thick haze from Indonesian forest fires.
- Gas Authority of India (GAIL) will take 10 % stake in Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India or TAPI natural gas pipeline project. Aim of TAPi is to transport natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India.
- China qualified for 2016 Brazil Olympics by winning International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Championship by defeating Philippines.
- Oct 04, 2015
- Sarat Kumar Acharya appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of Neyveli Lignite Corporation.
- Coventry City (England) honoured Ratan Tata (chairman Emeritus of Tata sons) with its highest award for his contributions to West Midlands region of central England.
- Forbes India Leadership Awards 2015 -
- Outstanding Start-up for Year - Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati of Ola
- Nextgen Entrepreneur for Year - Siddhartha Lal of Eicher Motors.
- Entrepreneur with Social Impact - Samit Ghosh (Ujjivan Financial Services)
- Conscious Capitalist Company - Godrej Consumer Products and AMUL
- Best CEO (Multinational Company) - Uday Shankar (Star India)
- Best CEO (Public Sector) - Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI)
- Best CEO (Private Sector) - CP Gurnani (Tech Mahindra)
- Lifetime Achievement Award for Year - RC Bhargava (Maruti Suzuki)
- Entrepreneur for the Year - Uday Kotak (Kotak Mahindra Bank)
- International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Team Rankings 2015. Top 10 teams are -
Ranking
Team
Points
1
Australia
134
2
England
124
3
New Zealand
109
4
India
105
5
West Indies
99
6
South Africa
92
7
Pakistan
81
8
Sri Lanka
74
9
Bangladesh
57
10
Ireland
26
- Oct 03, 2015
- Oct 03 - Unification Day of Germany.
- World Health Organisation removed all limitations on eligibility for Antiretroviral Therapy among people living with HIV.
- Uttar Pradesh government announced to implement National Food Security Act 2013 in three phases with 24, 25 and 26 districts covered in respective phases.
- Pakistan proposed 4-point Peace Initiative with India for better relationships during UN General Assembly. Key points are -
- Pakistan and India should comply with ceasefire on Line of Control in Kashmir.
- Pakistan and India shall should not use force under any circumstances.
- Steps need to be taken to demilitarize Kashmir.
- Both nations should agree to mutual withdrawal from Siachen Glacier, world's highest battleground.
- Zenia Bhumgara of India was conferred with Merlin Award in Mumbai. The award is prestigious honour in field of magic conferred by International Magicians Association (IMS).
- World Trade Organization (WTO) 2015 Annual Report -
- World trade will grow by 2.8 % in 2015 and 3.9 % in 2016.
- Seychelles was admitted as 161st Member of WTO in April 2015.
- India is involved in 43 trade disputes Between 1995 and 2014.
- Oct 02, 2015
- Oct 02 - Birth Anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri.
- Birthday of M K Gandhi is marked as -
- International Day of Non-Violence by United Nations.
- National Anti-Drug Addiction Day.
- Gujarat launched a special Khadi Utsav to promote khadi on this occasion.
- India submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for period between 2015 - 2030 to set India's tone for Conference of Parties-21 to be held in Paris in December 2015 to adopt an environmental new protocol for post-2020 (post Kyoto Protocol) scenario. Key Points are -
- India To reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 % by 2030 from 2005 level.
- To achieve 40 % cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030.
- Create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 - 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
- PM Narendra Modi inaugurated county's first solar powered district court in Khunti (Jharkhand).
- Asian Development Bank will provide $120Million USD Loan to Bangladesh to finance India-Bangladesh power link project to increase transmission capacity from 500 MW to 1,000 MW to meet sharply rising power demand.
- Global Competitiveness Report 2015 by World Economic Forum (Total 140 Countries) -
- India has been placed at 55th position (16 Position up as compared to 71 in 2014) while china is at 28th and Pakistan is 126th.
- Switzerland is at top of the list for seventh year in a row.
- Top 10 countries - Switzerland, Singapore, USA, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong, Finland, Sweden and UK.
- Government notified Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Rules 2015 under Food Security Act, 2013. New rules are -
- Funds available with school may be utilised in case school exhausts funds meant for meal, allowance will be paid to beneficiaries under temporary fund utilization.
- Meal will be tested on monthly basis by accredited Labs.
- Every child in 6 to 14 years (classes I to VIII) will be provided meal with nutritional standards.
- Maharashtra government will impose ‘drought tax’ to raise funds to tackle drought like situations.
- United Nations Human Rights Council adopted resolution on Sri Lanka on report submitted by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue the monitoring of Sri Lanka’s progress in implementation of its recommendations.
- As per International Cotton Advisory Committee, India became largest cotton producer in season ending September 30, 2015 by surpassing China. India produced 6.51 million tonnes cotton while china did 6.48 mt.
- Tony de Brum (Marshall Islands), Sheila Watt-Cloutier (Canada), Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera (Uganda) and Gino Strada (Italy) won the 2015 Right Livelihood Award.
- Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980 by Swedish-German philatelist Jakob von Uexkull. It honours for efforts in environment and international development with prize money of 3-million-kronor.
- Urban Development Ministry announced to allow generation of electricity and compost from municipal solid waste, on the occasion of first anniversary of Swachh Bharat Mission launched on 2 October 2014.
- Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) to oversee operations of Kattupalli Port in Tamil Nadu.
- Google officially converted into new parent company Alphabet Inc.
- Nepal turned to United Nations over alleged obstruction of a key border trade point with India which has resulted in shortage of essential goods like fuel and Others.
- Government found residues of pesticides in 12.50 % of the 20,618 samples of vegetables, fruits, milk and other food items collected from various retail and wholesale outlets across the country.
- Oct 01, 2015
- Oct 01 - World Vegetarian Day.
- Oct 01 - International Day of Older Persons.
- Oct 01 - National Day of China (Proclamation of People's Republic of China in 1949).
- S. Mookerjee has been appointed as Financial Commissioner (FC) (Railways).
- Chief of Naval Staff, RK Dhowan visited Australia.
- India and Indonesia will be conducting inaugral Navy exercise from October 17 - 18, 2015 in Andaman Sea during expanded version of coordinated patrol (CORPAT).
- E-commerce Firm Flipkart appointmed Sriram Venkataraman as chief financial officer (CFO) and Pramod Jain as vice president and head of taxation.
- India will be Chair of G20 Summit in 2018 and New Delhi could host annual G20 summit in 2018.
- Palestinian flag was raised for first time at United Nations headquarters in New York.
- China launched 20th new generation satellite into orbit to support its global navigation and positioning network. A Long March-3B carrier rocket carried the satellite.
- CSIR announced Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology 2015 for 11 scientists. The Prize consists a citation, a plaque and a 5 lakh rupees. Awardees Are - Balasubramanian Gopal, Rajeev Kumar Varshney, D Srinivasa Reddy, Pradyut Ghosh, Jyotiranjan Srichandan Ray, Yogesh Moreshwar Joshi, K Sandeep, Dr Ritabrata Munshi, Vidita Ashok Vaidya, Bedangadas Mohanty, Mandar Madhukar Deshmukh.
- Wuhan Open Women's Tennis 2015 -
- Singles - Venus Williams (USA) won by defeating Garbine Muguruza (Spain).
- Doubles - Indo-Swiss pair of Sania Mirza-Martina Hingis won by defeating Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu.
- American Golfer Jordan Spieth has been named as PGA Tour's Player of Year.
- Odisha police launched 'e-FIR' system under Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) project. It will enable people to send their complaints to police in all districts through newly launched citizen portal www.citizenportal-op.gov.in.
- Navy's INS Sahyadri Visited Vietnam as part of its operational deployment in South China Sea.
- Anup K Pujari has been appointed as CMD of Steel Authority of India Limited. He is also Secretary in Ministry of Steel and secretary in Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
- Oct 29, 2015
- Beata Szydło from right-wing Law and Justice party elected as new prime minister of Poland.
- Earthquake of magnitude 7.5 on Richter scale hit Hindukush region of north-eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- Eighth edition of National Seed Congress (NSC) held in Hyderabad to deliberate on advanced seed development technologies and regulatory measures.
- Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China in to import all kinds of fuel in order to ease fuel crisis.
- Reserve Bank of India granted permission to Indian corporate to issue offshore rupee-denominated bonds outside India. Such bonds will attract withholding tax of 5 % and gains arising in case of appreciation of rupee against foreign currency. Capital gains tax will be exempted in this investment.
- India Born Lord Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, Known as Britain's Curry King passed away.
- A team of scientists discovered two complex organic molecules Ethyl alcohol and a simple sugar known as glycolaldehyde on comet Lovejoy. These two complex organic molecules are considered as building blocks of life.
- A newly-installed Tsunami Early Warning System Siren was successfully tested in Mumbai by Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS).
- Oct 28, 2015
- Malaysia Open Women's Tennis 2015 -
- Singles - Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark).
- Doubles - China's Wang Yafan and Liang Chen.
- Violinist and composer Prabhakar won 2015 Lata Mangeshkar Award for Lifetime Achievement by Maharashtra Government.
- Jayant Prasad is appointed as Director General of Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
- China announced Six 100s initiative to help developing countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping said china will make available to developing countries in next five years 100 each of poverty reduction programs, agricultural cooperation projects, trade promotion programs, environment protection programs, hospitals and schools and training centers. China will also set up an Academy of South-South Cooperation and Development, and provide 2 million USD to World Health Organization.
- Madhya Pradesh government has decided to increase quota for women in government jobs from 30 to 33 %. State Cabinet also approved compensation to farmers for repaying 90 thousand rupees on a loan of one lakh rupees.
- Hockey India signed a 3 year Memorandum of Understanding with Sports Authority of India to set hockey as top sport of the country.
- United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution condemning an economic embargo imposed by US on Cuba.
- A per United Nations Asia-Pacific Disaster Report, Asia Pacific is most disaster prone part of the world as it suffered around 1,625 disasters in 2000 - 2014. Disasters affected around 1.4 billion people and 523 billion dollars in economic damage.
- Reserve Bank of India allowed non-resident Indians (NRIs) to subscribe to National Pension System for old age income security.
- China abandoned its three decades-long one-child policy and changed it two-child policy.
- Saudi blogger Raif Badawi has been selected for European Union’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for human rights for 2015. Raif Badawi is author of Free Saudi Liberals website who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in Saudi Arabia for insulting Muslim clerics.
- Founder of Sulabh International Bindeshwar Pathak has been selected for New York Global Leaders Dialogue Humanitarian Award for his contribution to improving sanitation.
- John Pombe Magufuli has been elected as President of Tanzania.
- China's first lunar rover - Yutu has set record for longest stay by a rover on lunar surface for almost two years spent on Moon.
- Indian para-athlete Amit Kumar Saroha won silver in men's club throw F51 event in IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha (Qatar).
- Paul Ryan has been elected as 54th speaker of US House of Representatives.
- Government nominated Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das to Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India.
- Ministry of Civil Aviation released Revised Draft National Civil Aviation Policy aimed. Policy aims to create an eco-system to enable 30 crore domestic ticketing by 2022 and 50 crore by 2027. Similarly, international ticketing to increase to 20 crore by 2027.
- ISRO’s new communication satellite GSAT-15 will be launched on on 10-11-2015 to provide C and Ku band telecommunications and navigation services to India.
- Researchers discovered four new crab species namely Paguristes luculentus, Diogenes canaliculatus, Pagurus spinossior and Afropinnotheres ratnakara in Kerala.
- Malaysia Open Women's Tennis 2015 -
- Oct 27, 2015
- Public broadcaster Doordarshan rated as most watched Hindi channel in terms of time spent per viewer as per Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)'s All India viewership data including rural India.
- Railways announced to start country's first-ever double decker Shatabdi Express between Mumbai and Goa.
- National Disaster Response Force partnered with 30 Public Sector Undertakings to tackle several disasters or emergencies.
- Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off Vigithon marathon organized by Union Bank of India in Mumbai to sensitise people for fight against corruption.
- Government introduced Sin Tax under proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) law that will be effective from 1 April 2016. Sin Tax is an excise tax on products like alcohol, tobacco and gambling considered bad for health or society. This is meant to attract higher revenue and also to discourage people from use of such products or services.
- Renowned Hollywood actress Maureen O’Hara passes away.
- Indian archer Abhishek Verma won silver in Archery World Cup Final men and Deepika Kumari won Silver in Womens Category in Mexico City.
- 2015 Archery World Cup is 10th edition of the annual Archery World Cup organised by World Archery Federation.
- It consists of 4 preliminary stages (Legs) and Finals to be held in Mexico City. Locations are - First leg in Shanghai (China), second leg in Antalya (Turkey) third in Wroclaw (Poland) and Fourth leg in Medellin (Colombia). Finals were held in Mexico City on 17–18 October, 2015.
- South Korea remained is top of Medal Tally in all 4 legs and Finals with 24 Medals, USA second with 19 while Columbia is Third with 6 Medals.
- Indian Archers won 7 Medals in 4 Legs and Finals of World Archery World Cup 2015 as follows -
- First Leg - Indian team comprising Chinglensana, Abhishek Verma and Rajat Chauhan won Bronze in First Leg in Shanghai (China).
- Second Leg - Deepika Kumari won Bronze in Second leg of Archery World Cup 2015 in Antalya (Turkey).
- Third Leg - Mixed pair of Deepika Kumari and Mangal Singh Champia won silver in Third Leg of World Archery Championships 2015 in Poland.
- Third Leg - Indian archer Abhishek Verma won gold by beating Iranian Esmail Ebadi in Third Leg of World Archery Championships 2015 in Poland.
- Fourth Leg - Team comprising Sarvesh Pareek, Sandeep Kumar and Isaiah Rajender Sanam won Bronze in Fourth Leg in Medellin (Columbia).
- Finals - Deepika Kumari won Silver in Finals of Archery World Cup 2015 in Mexico City.
- Finals - Abhishek Verma won Silver in Finals of Archery World Cup 2015 in Mexico City.
- Lewis Hamilton (UK) won USA Formula One Grand Prix .
- 2015 Formula One season -
- Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2015. Calendar is -
Grand Prix Date Winner Australia 15 March Lewis Hamilton (UK) Malaysia 29 March Sebastian Vettel (Germany) China 12 April Lewis Hamilton (UK) Baharain 19 April Lewis Hamilton (UK) Spain 10 May Nico Rosberg (Germany) Monaco 24 May Nico Rosberg (Germany) Canada 7 June Lewis Hamilton (UK) Austria 21 June Nico Rosberg (Germany) Britain 5 July Lewis Hamilton (UK) Hungary 26 July Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Belgium 23 August Lewis Hamilton (UK) Italy 6 September Lewis Hamilton (UK) Singapore 20 September Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Japan 27 September Lewis Hamilton (UK) Russia 11 October Lewis Hamilton (UK) USA 25 October Lewis Hamilton (UK) Mexico 1 November Brazil 15 November Abu Dhabi 29 November
- Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2015. Calendar is -
- 2015 Formula One season -
- Bengali actor Pijush Ganguly passes away.
- Reserve Bank of India allowed Foreign Institutional Investors /Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors to invest up to 74 % of paid up capital of DEN Networks Limited under Portfolio Investment Scheme.
- Jimmy Morales has been elected as Guatemala's president.
- China successfully launched Tianhui-1C mapping satellite by a Long March-2D carrier rocket to boost china's ability to carry out scientific experiments, land resource surveys and disaster relief.
- BlackBerry appoints Narendra Nayak as Managing Director of India operations.
- Yes Bank started its IFSC Banking Unit in GIFT city of Gujarat, aimed to accessing opportunities in international financial markets through large corporate clients requiring foreign currency funding.
- Reserve Bank of India signed memorandum of understanding with Bangladesh Bank for exchange of supervisory information.
- Reliance Industries became first company to sign revised listing agreement with BSE as mandated by SEBI. Earlier, listing agreement was between stock exchange and company and SEBI didn't have regulations on this. SEBI in October gave six-month deadline for all companies to sign the new listing agreement.
- Indian-American farmer Anita Adalja will be recognised as White House Champions of Change for sustainable and climate-smart agriculture by USA.
- South African cricketer Hashim Amla became fastest to score 6000 ODI Runs in 123 Innings. He left Behind India's Virat Kohli, who took 136 innings.
- Jammu and Kashmir will host South Asian Rugby 7’S Championship in 2016.
- K Gupta is appointed as Managing Director of State Bank of India.
- Citibank appointed Samiran Chakraborty as Chief Economist for India.
- Tata Trusts and Harvard University South Asia Institute (SAI) announced collaboration for social and economic empowerment in India.
- British bank Barclays appointed James Staley as new CEO.
- Luxembourg ambassador to United Nations, Sylvie Lucas is appointed as Chair of Inter-Governmental Negotiations on UN Security Council reforms.
- World Bank Report - Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency -
- Overall Ease of Doing Business Rank -
- Singapore is at top, Eritrea is at bottom. India ranked at 130th place (compared to 142nd in 2015). Ludhiana is top in India's Subnational List.
- Segment Wise Ranks -
- Starting a Business - New Zealand at top, India is at 155th.
- Dealing with Construction Permits - Singapore at Top. India is 183rd.
- Getting Electricity - South Korea at top. India at 70.
- Registering Property - New Zealand at top. India is at 138.
- Getting Credit - New Zealand at top.India is at 42.
- Protecting Minority Investors - New Zealand at top. India is at 8.
- Paying Taxes - Qatar and UAE at top. India is at 157.
- Trading Across Borders - 17 other eurozone countries at top. India is at 133.
- Enforcing Contracts - Singapore at top. India is at 178.
- Resolving Insolvency - Finland at top. India is at 136.
- Overall Ease of Doing Business Rank -
- Oct 26, 2015
- Book Indian Family Business Mantras, written by Peter Leach and Tatwamasi Dixit has been released.
- Bidhya Devi Bhandari has been elected as President of Nepal (Third overall and First Female).
- Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi President of Egypt visited India.
- Health and Family Welfare Ministry approved Rs. 17 crore for strengthening of trauma care facilities in Government Hospitals in Himachal Pradesh.
- Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation approved Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur's proposal of testing and promoting new construction technologies.
- Najib Shah has been appointed as Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs.
- Tribal Affairs Minister Shri Jual Oram announced that Government will set up a National Tribal Advisory Council for effecting monitoring of tribal welfare schemes.
- Government will issue Sovereign Gold Bonds in consultation with Reserve Bank of India on November 26, 2015 through banks and designated post offices. Tenor of Bond will be 8 years with exit option from 5th year. Minimum investment will be 2 grams of gold. Investors will be compensated at fixed rate of 2.75 % per annum payable semi-annually.
- Karambir Singh has been appointed as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff.
- 21st BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change was held in Beijing (China). Prakash Javadekar (Minister of State (IC) of Environment, Forests and Climate Change) visited on India's Behalf.
- Oct 25, 2015
- King Mswati III of Swaziland visited India.
- President of National Library of France, Bruno Racine visited India and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to conserve, develop and publicize written heritage.
- Chattisgarh become first state to get government’s approval for affordable housing projects in urban areas under Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana.
- Namibia's Minister for Mines & Energy, Obeth Kandjoze visited India.
- Amarendra Sinha is appointed as Secretary in ministry of Minority Affairs.
- Indian Air Force Chief Arup Raha Visited Brazil.
- Government increased financial assistance from Rs. 2 to 5 lakh for emergency surgery cases under Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi scheme.
- Indian and Sri Lankan Navies started 4th edition of Sri Lanka-India Exercise (SLINEX) in Sri Lanka.
- Income-tax Department launched e-Sahyog project aimed at reducing compliance cost, especially for small taxpayers by addressing issues in income tax returns in convenient manner through internet.
- Government constituted a Committee under R.V. Easwar (Former delhi high court judge) to suggest measures for simplify provisions of Income Tax Act 1961, to further enhance ease of doing business in India.
- Attorney General of Australia, George Brandis QC visited India.
- 3rd BRICS Ministerial Meeting on Science, Technology and Innovation held at Moscow (Russia. Minister for Science, Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan attended on India's Behalf.
- Oct 24, 2015
- 24 Oct - World Polio Day.
- Yachting Association of India (YAI) Senior National Championship 2015 hosted by Indian Navy Watermanship Training Centre in Mumbai.
- 42nd plenary of Committee on World Food Security approved Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises (CFS-FFA) in Rome (Italy) to tackle hunger in protracted crises. Framework suggested 11 principles covering 3 broader areas - Address critical manifestations and build resilience, Adapt to specific challenges and Contribute to resolving underlying causes of food insecurity and under nutrition in protracted crises.
- Committee on World Food Security (CFS) was set up in 1974 for review and follow-up of food security policies. It reports annually to Economic and Social Council of United Nations (ECOSOC).
- World Health Organization released Global status report on road safety 2015. Report reflects information from 180 countries and indicates that road traffic casualites has gone up to 1.25 million per year.
- 24 Oct - United Nations Day. In 1948, United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October as anniversary of Charter of the United Nations.
- Haryana Government announced New Integrated Licensing Policy 2015 for development of Hyper and High Potential Urban Complexes (HHPUC) through models of Transferable Development Rights that prevent need for government to resort to compulsory acquisition of land.
- Builders will sign transferable development rights agreement to use farmers' land for their projects. TDR agreements will ensure that landowners get price from builder for their land. Government will be a custodian of farmers' interests. TDR certificate will be valid for two years.
- Policy will allow builders to set up projects from 100 acres to 25 acres.
- Policy provides for global Floor Area Ratio (FAR) between 1.0 to 1.25 for colony size of 25 acres to 50 acres and above 50 acres, respectively.
- Landowners will be freed in selling FAR to any builder in a large planning unit.
- Each farmer will be eligible to sell his TDR certificate equivalent to 1 FAR at market rates.
- Oct 23, 2015
- Western Digital Corporation accquired SanDisk Corporation for 19 billion USD.
- Hurricane Patricia struck Mexico's Pacific coast with winds upto 165 mph speed.
- Indian-origin Ashok-Alexander Sridharan sworn in as mayor of Bonn in Germany.
- Ratan Tata Invested in Abra, a Silicon Valley bitcoin startup.
- Two mountaineers Arjun Vajpai and Bhupesh Kumar became first to climb 6180 meter unnamed peak in Himachal’s Spiti Valley and named it as Mount Kalam in honour of former President Abdul Kalam.
- Government released commemorative stamp to mark 50 years of raising of Border Security Force.
- Ministry of Information and Broadcasting reconstituted Central Press Accreditation Committee that issues Press Information Bureau (PIB) cards to journalists. Frank Noronha will be chairman of committee.
- Telangana proposed Rs.405.17 cr plan on enhancing water supply in 11 AMRUT cities during 2015-16.
- Global Maternal Newborn Health Conference 2015 held in Mexico City.
- Former South African Cricketer Jacques Kallis appointed as Head Coach of Kolkata Knight Riders IPL Team.
- Seong-Jin Cho of South Korea won 17th International Frederic Chopin Piano competition in Poland.
- Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (USA) report Pakistan Nuclear Forces, 2015 stated that Pakistan has 110 - 130 nuclear weapons as compared to 90 - 110 in 2011. If such trend continues, it could grow to 220 - 250 warheads by 2025, making Pakistan fifth largest nuclear weapon nation after USA, Russia, China and France.
- Russia announced to permanently station a military unit in Arctic by 2018.
- Government approved changes in Payment of Bonus Act 1965 for Industrial workers. Bonus ceiling has been increased from 3500 to 7000 rupees per month. Wage ceiling for getting bonus is also increased from 10000 to 21000 rupees per month.
- Former Cricketer Anil Kumble is named as brand ambassador of Raipur Rangers Champions Tennis League Team.
- Noted criminologist K Chockalingam won Paul H Appleby Award given by Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA).
- Scientists identified a new species of giant tortoise named Chelonoidis donfaustoi on Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.
- USA designated Brett McGurk as Envoy to US-led coalition fighting ISIS.
- Poland and 3 Baltic states-Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia signed agreement on GIPL (Gas Interconnector Poland - Lithuania) to construct first gas pipeline between Poland and Lithuania and end isolation of Baltic Sea region.
- Oct 22, 2015
- Indian Golfer Anirban Lahiri won inaugural Hilton Asian Tour Golfer of the Month award.
- Indian Tennis Player Yuki Bhambri entered top-100 worlwide with rank of 99. He is first Indian since 2010 to enter top - 100 club.
- Tyre manufacturer MRF named South African batsman AB de Villiers as its brand ambassador for 3 years.
- E-commerce firm Snapdeal appointed Anup Vikal as Chief Financial Officer.
- Reliance Capital Asset Management took over Goldman Sachs mutual fund business in India for 243 crores
- Bank of Baroda became second bank after HDFC Bank to join Chillr payment platform that enables payments through a mobile application. Customers of banks integrated with Chillr can use application for sending funds. However, customers of any bank can receive funds using Chillr.
- Bollywood Playback Singer Labh Janjua Passed Away.
- Noted Indian marine biologist Syed Zahoor Qasim passed away. He is considered as founder of Polar Biology in India and was part of first Indian expedition to Antarctica in 1981-82.
- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been awarded 2015 Confucius Peace Prize by China for his leadership and service to pan-Africanism and African independence.
- Autobiography of Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda (Sam Pitroda) Dreaming Big: My Journey to Connect India has been released.
- Alok Rawat became first male person to be appointed as member of National Commission for Women.
- Reserve Bank of India issued Directions to Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks) on implementation of Gold Monetisation Scheme 2015 that will replace existing Gold Deposit Scheme, 1999.
- Gold Deposit Scheme Guidelines -
- Minimum deposit shall be raw gold equivalent to 30 grams of gold of 995 fineness, with no maximum limit for deposit.
- Gold will be accepted at Purity Testing Centres certified by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
- Deposit certificates will be issued by banks in equivalence of 995 fineness of gold.
- Principal and interest of deposit under the scheme will be denominated in gold.
- Designated banks will accept gold deposits under Short Term (1-3 years), Medium (5-7 years) and Long (12-15 years).
- Premature withdrawal will be available subject to a minimum lock-in period and penalty.
- Interest on deposits will start from date of conversion of gold deposited into tradable gold bars after refinement or 30 days after receipt of gold at CPTC or Bank. During the period between receipt and interest accounting, gold will be an item in safe custody held by bank.
- Utilisation of Gold mobilised under GMS
- Banks may sell or lend the gold to MMTC for minting India Gold Coins or to jewellers, or sell it to other designated banks participating in GMS.
- Risk Management under GMS
- Banks will keep a risk management mechanism to manage risk arising from gold price movements in respect of their net exposure to gold.
- Banks may access international exchanges, London Bullion Market Association or use over-the-counter contracts to hedge exposures to bullion prices.
- Gold Deposit Scheme Guidelines -
- Samardeep Subandh is appointed as Chief Marketing Officer of e-commerce firm Flipkart.
- First Car-Free Day observed in Delhi on 22 October 2015 to encourage people to use public transport instead of cars.
- Nasser Khan Janjua is appointed as National Security Advisor of Pakistan.
- Japan offered loan of 15 billion dollars (Rs 90,000 crore) at interest rate of less than 1 % for ambitious bullet train project - Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor.
- First World Indigenous Games strated in Palmas (Brazil) with around 2000 indigenous athletes belonging to different indigenous ethnic groups from 30 countries.
- Paragliding World Cup begun in Baijnath town in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh with Snow leopard as official mascot.
- Britain signed nuclear deal with China to build United Kingdom’s first nuclear power plant since 1980s. Deal was signed during visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to UK.
- United Nations' World’s Women 2015 Report -
- Mortality rate among Indian girls below five years is higher than boys with ratio 93 / 100 (100 Female Deaths for every 93 Male Deaths). Higher mortality rate among girls is due to preference for sons and Special treatment for boys in terms of parental investment in nutrition.
- Labour force - Between 1995 and 2013, women’s participation in labour force declined from 72 to 64 % in China and 35 to 27 % in India. India also accounts for 33 % of global child marriages.
- Countries with largest surplus of men are China (5.2 crore) and India (4.3 crore).
- Oct 21, 2015
- 21 Oct - Global Iodine Deficiency Disorders Prevention Day.
- Government approved agreement with Egypt on Maritime Transport.
- Minister of State (IC) for Development of North Eastern, Jitendra Singh launched Mobile Application for Centralized Public Grievances Redress & Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) portal of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).
- Government approved signing of Legal Assistance Treaty in Criminal Matters with Maldives.
- Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area has been divided to enhance administrative structure. Satish Namdeo Ghormade will be Flag Officer of Maharashtra and Murlidhar Sadashiv Pawar will be Flag Officer Gujarat Naval Area.
- PM Narendra Modi released book Warriors Remembered On occasion of Police Commemoration Day on 21st October.
- PM Narendra Modi attended Foundation ceremony of Amaravathi as new capital of Andhra Pradesh. He also laid foundation stone of Shri Venkateswara Mobile and Electronics Manufacturing Hub in Tirupati.
- Indo-China Combined Military Training Exercise HAND-IN-HAND 2015 conducted from 12 to 23 October 2015 at Kunming Military Academy, Yunnan, China.
- Ministry of Urban Development approved first batch of AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) projects for 89 cities worth Rs.2,786 cr in AP, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
- President Pranab Mukherjee presented Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Awards 2014 -
- Sangeet natak Akademi Fellowship has been conferred to S R Janakiraman, M S Sathyu, Vijay Kumar Kichlu and Tulsidas Borkar.
- Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards have been given to 36 Artists in Music, Dance, Theatre and Other categories.
- Sekhar Basu took charge as Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary in Department of Atomic Energy.
- Representatives from 54 African Countries visited India for 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit to be held Oct 26 - 29, 2015 in Delhi.
- 4th India-Africa Trade Ministers' Meeting held in New Delhi.
- President promulgated two ordinances, one for constitution of commercial courts and another to amend Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996.
- National Policy on Capital Goods Draft Policy 2015 by Department of Heavy Industries -
- Government proposed a stable tax and duty structure to promote capital goods sector.
- Aims to Increase share of capital goods contribution from 12% to 20% of manufacturing by 2025.
- Allowing up to 50% CENVAT credit to manufacturers using such products as raw material for more usage of such goods in manufacturing of finished goods.
- Achieve total production of Rs 5 lakh crore by 2025 from current Rs 2.2 lakh crore and Employ about 50 Lakh People by 2050.
- Central Board of Excise and Customs increased limits for making any Tax Evader liable for arrest and prosecution to ensure these powers are not used against small businesses -
- Limit in case of tax evasion (Central Excise and Service tax) has been revised to 1 crore from current values of - 25 lakh (Central Excise), 10 lakh (Service Tax and Customs Duty).
- In cases of outright smuggling or mis-declaration of baggage- limit regarding value of offending goods have been revised from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh. Hovewer, No lower limit for arrest and prosecution in cases of smuggling of fake Indian currency, ammunitions and endangered species.
- Oct 20, 2015
- OCT 20 - International Chefs Day.
- OCT 20 - World Statistics Day. Theme for 2015 is Better Data, Better Lives.
- Justin Trudeau elected as new (23rd) Prime Minister of Canada.
- Jitendra Singh (Minister of State (IC) for Development of North Eastern Region) inaugurated IMS Health Skill Development Center for youth under UDAAN program - aimed at empowering youth of Jammu & Kashmir.
- Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated Indian Police Foundation and Indian Police Institute in Delhi aimed at embarking culture of research and evidence-based policing in India.
- Moody’s released report on global green bonds issues in 2015 -
- In third quarter (Q3) of 2015, global green bond issuance were 7.5 billion USD, which is less than 13.4 Billion USD in Second Quarter (Q2) and more then 6.3 Billion USD in First Quarter (Q1). So far, 27.2 Billion USD Worth of Global Green Bonds have been issued in Three quarters of 2015.
- Moody's expects issuance in Q4 will take total to 40 Billion USD in 2015.
- Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced that Konkan Railway will establish a tunnel technology institute at Goa's Margao town.
- Urvashia Rautela has been named Yamaha Fascino Miss Diva 2015. She is the only person to have won this title Twice. Urvashi will represent India at Miss Universe 2015 pageant to be held on 20-12-2015 in USA.
- Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index report 2015 -
- This Seventh edition of MMGPI report measured retirement income systems of 25 Countries under sub-indices of Adequacy, Sustainability and Integrity. Above 80 Score is called A Grade.
- Overall Score -
- Denmark is rated best retirement system for fourth consecutive year with overall score of 81.7. Netherlands is second with score of 80.5. Denmark and Netherlands are only countries to achieve A grade in history of the index.
- India's 40.3 is lowest score in Pension index of 25 countries. India's score fell from 43.5 in 2014 to 40.3 in 2015. South Korean is second lowest with 43.8 and japan in third lowest with 44.1 Score.
- Sub Indexes
- Australia is ranked at top in adequacy sub index with score of 79.6
- Denmark is at top in Sustainability sub index with score 84.7
- Finland is at top in Integrity sub index with score 92.4
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies nations launched Trident Juncture military exercise at Trapani air force base in Italy with over 36000 troops from more than 30 nations.
- PM Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee on 06-11-2015 will launch a funding clearance mechanism of Rs 1,000 crores named IMPRINT, to get Indian technical institutions to conduct original research in areas where country is dependent on foreign technology.
- PM Narendra Modi inaugurated IDFC Bank that started operations on 1 October 2015 as an Indian Banking company with headquarters in Mumbai. It is a part of IDFC integrated infrastructure finance company. Rajiv B. Lall is its Managing Director & CEO. IDFC Bank initially has 23 branches and is 91st scheduled commercial bank in India.
- Noted Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag announced his retirement from international cricket.
- Renowned Kannada filmmaker Kikkeri Shamanna Lakshminarayana Swamy passed away.
- Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone signed an agreement with India Pulses and Grains Association to handle import and exports of pulses across its ports in India.
- Reva Khetrapal has been selected as Delhi’s new Lokayukta.
- Russia and USA signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to avoid deconfliction and mid-air incidents between their air forces over Syrian skies.
- Environment Ministry extended validity of Environment Clearance from 5 to 7 years to provide more time to corporations manipulate actions and activities.
- Karnataka and Gujarat lifted ban on sale of Nestle's Maggi noodles after clean chit by three government-approved laboratories.
- Uttar Pradesh Government announced to give 50000 rupees monthly pension to Yash Bharti awardees. Yash Bharti Samman was started in 1994 for excellence in literature, fine arts, folk, classical music and sports. Award c arries cash prize of 11 lakh rupees.
- Libya rejected United Nations - backed peace deal that proposed a power-sharing arrangement with rival Islamist-led authorities.
- Oct 19, 2015
- Indian short film An Old Dog’s Diary won prestigious Best Short Film Award at 59th London Film Festival 2015 by British Film Institute. The 11-minute film has been directed by Shai Heredia and Shumona Goel.
- Maharashtra government appointed Shreehari Aney as Advocate General.
- Rajasthan government provided 5 % quota to Gujjars, Raibari, Banjara and Gadiya Lohar communities in educational institutes and government jobs.
- Maharashtra Government declared drought like condition in 14708 villages of total 43000 villages (34 %).
- Reserve Bank of India signed Memorandum of Understanding with Central Bank of United Arab Emirates on Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information. It was signed during visit of Meena Hemchandra, Executive Director of RBI.
- Federation Internationale de Football Association suspended Kuwait Football Association (KFA) for interference of government officials in running of the sport.
- All India Football Federation appointed former India Football captain Baichung Bhutia as advisor for overall issues of the game and Federation.
- United Nations General Assembly elected Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay as non-permanent members on Security Council (UNSC) for two-year terms beginning 1 January 2016.
- Federal court in Madison (Wisconsin, USA) ordered Apple to pay 234 million USD to University of Wisconsin for unathorized use of University of Wisconsin's microchip technology into some products.
- Board for Cricket Control in India assigned title sponsorship of Indian Premier League (IPL) to Brazilian mobile company Vivo.
- Health and Family Welfare minsitry modified National Blood Policy 2002 - It allowed transfer of blood from one blood bank to another in case of shortage AND fixed exchange value for surplus plasma available at blood banks at 1600 rupees per litre.
- As per Cross Border Merger & Acquisition Index of Baker & McKenzie, India was among top 10 investors in USA in 2015 with Indian companies investing 1.7 billion USD, Mostly in Health Care.
- Oct 18, 2015
- Government increased basic customs duty on wheat from 10% to 25% for upto 31.03.2016.
- Tinlianthang Vaiphei is appointed as Chief Justice of Gauhati (Assam) High Court.
- Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu visited Singapore to participate in Infrastructure Finance Summit 2015 organised by World Bank. Mr. Prabhu proposed for need of discussin ginfrastructure financing during G20 summit where he participated as Prime Minister's Sherpa (Special Representative).
- India Hosted Commonwealth Youth, Junior and Senior Weightlifting Championships in Pune, Maharashtra. 6 Indian players of Railways won medals - Matsa Santoshi, Punam Yadav, Chanu,Shri S. Satish Sivalingam won gold,and S. Mirabai Chanu won silver and Minati Sethi won Bronze.
- Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports constituted ‘All India Council of Sports’, headed by V.K. Malhotra. Council will advise on promotion and development of sports and games in the country.
- Serbia's Novak Djokovic won 2015 Shanghai Rolex Masters tennis in men’s singles category by defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France). South African/Brazilian pair of Raven Klaasen and Marcelo Melo claimed men's Doubles by defeating Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.
- India's tennis player Saketh Myneni won 2015 Vietnam Open by defeating Australia’s Jordan Thompson.
- Britain won Sultan of Johor Hockey Cup by defeating Indian junior men's hockey team in Malaysiaa.
- Denmark Open Badminton 2015 -
- Men's Singles - Chen Long (China) won by defeating Hong Kong's Wei Nan.
- Women's Singles - China’s Xuerui Li won by defating P V Sindhu of India.
- Men's Doubles - Chinese Pair of Fu Haifeng China and Zhang Nan defated South Korean Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong.
- Women's Doubles - Chinese Pair of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang defated South Korean Shin Seung-chan and Jung Kyung-eun.
- Mixed Doubles - Chinese Pair of Xu Chen and Ma Jin defated South Korean Ko Sung-hyun and Kim Ha-na.
- Housing.com appointed Mani Rangarajan as Chief Financial Officer.
- Indian IT Firm Infosys acquired USA's Noah Consulting fpr USD 70 Million. Noah is a provider of advanced information management consulting services for oil and gas industry.
- Noted Egyptian writer Gamal al-Ghitani Passed away.
- Book Smita Patil: A Brief Incandescence has been authored by Maithili Rao.
- Powerful Typhoon Koppu (also known as Lando) hit northern Philippines with speed of 240 kph.
- Haryana Government approved Swadhar Greh scheme to assure economic and social security to women in distress.
- Oct 17, 2015
- 17 October - International Day for Eradication of Poverty. Theme for 2015 is Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination.
- Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay has been awarded with Presidential Medal by Salisbury University in Maryland, US for promoting peace and understanding.
- Government approved payment of Performance Related Pay (PRP) to executives of Coal India and its subsidiaries.
- Omid Kordestani is appointed as Executive Chairman of Twitter.
- Jharkhand Government and GAIL signed a Gas Cooperation Agreement for creation of Natural Gas and City Gas Distribution infrastructure to assist construction of Urja Ganga Jagdishpur-Haldia Pipeline.
- Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indian (TRAI) made it mandatory for mobile service providers to compensate consumers call drops with effect from 1 January 2016. MSPs will Credit account of consumer by one rupee for every call drop for upto 3 dropped calls in a day.
- Pakistan and Russia signed an agreement for building a 1100-km gas pipeline from Karachi on Arabian Sea to the eastern city of Lahore.
- China and Indonesia signed a 5.5 billion USD deal to build first high-speed railway in Indonesia. China defeated Japan as a bidder for this huge project in indonesia.
- Aditya Birla Group launched online fashion store Abof.com.
- Oct 16, 2015
- Oct 16 - World Food Day. Theme for 2015 is Social Protection and Agriculture.
- Indian Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi has been selected for prestigious 2015 Harvard Humanitarian of Year Award for his work for ending all forms of violence against children..
- India, United States and Japan navies started 2015 Malabar Naval Exercise of eastern coast in Bay of Bengal and India Ocean.
- Real estate developer Tata Housing tied-up with social networking firm Facebook to sell its affordable homes online.
- Dell Acquired Data Storage Firm EMC Corporation for Biggest Ever Tech Deal of 67 billion US dollars.
- Portugal became first European and 17th Overall country to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on establishment of Nalanda University.
- Supreme Court allowed using Aadhaar cards for central and state schemes, including National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and employee provident fund schemes on voluntary basis.
- Reserve Bank of India formed a single Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) of 2000 crore rupees by merging Financial Inclusion Fund and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund. FIF will be maintained by NABARD.
- Noted Cricketer Zaheer Khan retired from International Cricket.
- R Chandak has been appointed as Director of Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad under Department of Biotechnology.
- M.K. Surana is appointed as chairman and managing director of Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL).
- Leo Puri is appointed as chairman of Association for Mutual Funds in India.
- Paytm e-commerce platform tied up with Mumbai metro to offer online recharges of Smart Cards.
- Bank of Baroda conferred its Maharaja Sayajirao Bhasha Samman to poet and lyricist Prasoon Joshi.
- China launched its new communication satellite APSTAR-9 by Long March-3B carrier rocket. It will cover some three quarters of global population in Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia to provide TV transmission and transponder, data and satellite communication services.
- Kundhavi Kadiresanwas has been appointed as Assistant Director of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Regional Representative for Asia and Pacific.
- Australian Government approved Adani Group’s Carmichael coal mine and rail project in accordance with environment laws of country.
- Government started Science Express Climate Action Special (SECAS) with theme Climate Change to create awareness about challenges and issues associated with Climate Change.
- Myanmar government signed peace accord with 8 of 15 armed minorities groups especially belonging to Kayin and Chin groups to end decades of civil war.
- Chinese construction equipment maker Sany Group proposed to invest 3 billion USD in building 2 GW of green energy units in India over next 5-6 years.
- Test of India's Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile failed when it lost control after about 12 minutes of flight and fell into the Bay of Bengal.
- Supreme Court rejected National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and 99th Constitutional Amendment that sought to give politicians and civil society a final say in appointment of judges to the highest courts. With this veredict, Collegium system as it existed before NJAC Act became operative again.
- Oct 15, 2015
- President Pranab Mukherjee Completed his tour from October 10 to October 15, 2015 to Jordan, Palestine and Israel. He was accompanied by Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
- Jordan -
- Jordan and India signed agreements for cooperation in counterterrorism, defence, trade and investment and agreed to raising trade exchange to 5 billion USD in 5 years.
- India agreed for 100 million USD credit to Jordan.
- President Mukherjee inaugurated a street named after M K Gandhi in Amman.
- Palestine -
- India funded 5 million US dollars grant to Palestine as Budgetary assistance.
- Al-Quds University conferred Honorary Doctorate on President Pranab Mukherjee.
- Israel -
- President Mukjherjee was conferred honorary doctorate by Hebrew University.
- India, Israel signed 10 MoUs to enhance cooperation including Amending Protocol for Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion and Cultural Exchange Program.
- Pranab Mukherjee became 1st Indian President to address Israeli Parliament Knesset.
- Jordan -
- Raptor MOU nations agreed to list 12 Vulture Species in Annex I to tackle African Vulture Crisis.
- Oct 15 - Birth Anniversary of Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, Noted Missile Scientist and 11th president of India.
- Environment, forests and climate change ministry launched a 3 year post-doctoral research fellowships for young scientists in name of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.
- Dr Kalam’s birth place Rameswaram declared as AMRUT town.
- Railway Energy Management Company on behalf of North Central Railway for the first time invited Bids for Procurement of 50 MW Power from Open Market. The New process is expected to reduce Cost Per unit for Railways to 3.69 to 6.7 rs/unit.
- Railwsys introduced Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (VIKALP) to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers from 01-11-2015. In this scheme, wait listed passengers of a train can opt for confirmed accommodation in alternate trains.
- Book Specific Learning Disorder: Indian Scenario has been written by Rajesh Sagar, Raman Deep Pattanayak, Manju Mehta of All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi.
- Door Darshan National to telecast a 10 episode programme Hunnarbaaz to make Public aware about Apprenticeship Training Scheme and its utilities in building skill across youth.
- 4th International Tourism Mart inaugurated in Gangtok, Sikkim.
- Malaysia’s Minister of Works Haji Fadillah Bin Haji Yusof visited and with proposal to invest US $ 30 billion in urban development and housing projects in India on behalf of Construction Industry Development Board(CIDB) of Malaysia.
- Union Minister of Civil Aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated International Civil Helicopters Conclave 2015 in New Delhi.
- First National Tribal Carnival will be held in Delhi from February 12 to 17, 2016.
- India in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UN-ISDR) will host 2nd ISDR Asia Partnership (IAP) meeting in New Delhi on Nov 17-19, 2015.
- A.K. Agarwal, Secretary in Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs visited UAE.
- Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is organizing White Cane Day on October 15 to sensitize the common man about the challenges being faced by visually challenged people.
- Nepal elected Onsari Gharti Magar as first woman speaker of parliament.
- President Pranab Mukherjee Completed his tour from October 10 to October 15, 2015 to Jordan, Palestine and Israel. He was accompanied by Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
- Oct 14, 2015
- Government approved MoU between India-Taipei Association (ITA) in Taipei and Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in India for cooperation in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
- Government approved Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of Rs.2904 crores for Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project. It was jointly identified by the India and Myanmar to create mode of transport for shipments from eastern and North-Eastern part of India through Myanmar.
- Government approved MoU between Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of India and Mozambique.
- Former Chief of Naval Staff and Governor of Sikkim, Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani passed away.
- India's Prestigious Missile Complex in Hyderabad to be renamed as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex.
- Ministry of Home Affairs introduced Central Victim Compensation Fund of Rs. 200 crores to support victims of various attacks.
- Sweden's Minister of Housing, Urban Development and Information Technology, Mehmet Kaplan Visited India.
- World’s Best Multinational Workplaces List by Great Place to Work Institute-
- Google topped the list as world’s best company to work for third straight year. Software developer SAS Institute and manufacturing firm W L Gore are second and third.
- India ranks third among global startup ecosystems with over 4,200 new-age companies, as per second edition Start up India – Momentous Rise of the Indian Start-Up Ecosystem by Nasscom and Zinnov.
- Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is chosen as ‘Finance Minister of Year, Asia’ by London-based publication Emerging Markets. The magazine also praised PM Narendra Modi and RBI Governor Raghuram G Rajan for India’s recent economic success.
- China started 1.5 billion USD Zam Hydropower Station in Tibet on Brahmaputra river. It is Considered world’s highest-altitude hydropower station and largest of its kind.
- Reliance Power appointed N Venugopala Rao as Chief Executive Officer.
- Delhi Government launched Bill Banvao, Inaam Pao scheme to encourage people to get proper bills for purchases, with prizes upto 50000 Rs.
- Portugal's Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo received record fourth Golden Boot after topping Europe's goalscoring charts for 2014-15 season by scoring 48 goals in 35 La Liga appearances.
- Jamaican writer Marlon James won 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. He became first Jamaican author to win the prize.
- Iran approved bill to implement nuclear deal with world powers (P5+1 countries). The accord will protect Iran’s nuclear program and will lift international economic sanctions against Iran.
- Tamil Nadu government banned Ketoprofen non-steroid drug to save endangered vulture population.
- A sweet banana species with orange pulp - Musa indandamanensis discovered in Andamans.
- Rajasthan became first state to firm up private investments in affordable housing by signing 27 MoUs worth 12478 crore rupees under Housing for All scheme in housing, healthcare and education sectors.
- Indian female bodybuilder Shweta Rathore won silver in 49th Asian Bodybuilding Championship in Uzbekistan. She became first Indian female bodybuilder to win a medal at continental level.
- Etihad Airways and IBM signed deal worth 700 million USD for improving airline’s operations and security for over 10 years.
- Oct 13, 2015
- Alkesh Sharma is appointed as CEO & MD, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation.
- Bangladesh's Minister for Science & Technology Yeafesh Osman visited India.
- Ministry of Shipping and Directorate General of Lighthouses and proposed to develop 78 lighthouses in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands as tourism centres.
- Indian community in United Kingdom launched 'Modi Express' bus to take travellers on around iconic landmarks ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden visit to UK in November 2015.
- India signed Rs 130 crore deal for 194 microlight aircraft from Slovenian company Pipistrel Aircraft, for use by National Cadet Corps (NCC), Air Force and Navy.
- Telenor India appointed Sharad Mehrotra as new CEO.
- P S Jayakumar took charge as MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda for three years.
- Software services firm Infosys appointed Ranganath D Mavinakere as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
- Alexander Lukashenko has been reelected as President of Belarus for fifth term.
- Malayalam filmmaker I.V. Sasi has been awarded with J.C. Daniel Award 2014 for his contributions to Malayalam entertainment industry.
- Canberra based art gallery in Australia will return 2,000-year-old Indian-origin sculpture of Gautama Buddha to India.
- President of African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina announced that AfDB would triple its annual climate financing to reach 5 billion dollar a year by 2020.
- Oct 12, 2015
- Oct 12 - Foundation day of National Human Rights Commision (Established on Oct 12, 1993).
- India won four-match Men's Hockey series against New Zealand by 2-1.
- Jioji Konrote has been elected as new President of Fiji. Previously he was Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations.
- NASA released report - NASA’s Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration, containing plan for establishing deep-space habitation facilities on Mars by 2030.
- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Maldives for 5th India-Maldives Joint Commission meet.
- Punjab National Bank won Beighton Cup hockey 2015 by defeating Indian Oil Corporation.
- Oct 11, 2015
- Oct 11 - International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC) 2015 theme is The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030.
- India will observe 26 November as Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas) to spread awareness of Indian Constitution and its architecture Dr B R Ambedkar. On 26 November 1949, Indian constitution was adopted by 389 member Constituent Assembly (CA) and it came into force on 26 January, 1950.
- Annual Meetings of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank held in Lima (Peru) during October 7 to 11, 2015. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, RBI Governor Raghuram G Rajan and Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian were part of Indian Delegation.
- Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), Institute of Rolling Stock Engineers (IRSE) and Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineers Association (IRSMEA) organized an international conference on Rail Coach Interiors in New Delhi.
- Khadga Prasad Oli has been elected as new Prime Minister of Nepal after Sushil Koirala Resigned.
- Second meeting of National Executive Council of National Mission for Green India approved Annual Plans of Operations by four States - Mizoram, Manipur, Jharkhand and Kerala for total cost 902 Crore Rupees.
- Gujarat proposed Rs.15,375 cr action plan to ensure basic infrastructure in 31 cities under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) in next five years.
- Nobel Prizes 2015 Winners -
- Physiology / Medicine -
- William C. Campbell (USA) and Satoshi Omura (Japan) for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites.
- Youyou Tu (China) for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria.
- Physics -
- Takaaki Kajita (Japan) and Arthur B. McDonald (Canada) for discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass.
- Chemistry -
- Tomas Lindahl (Sweden), Paul Modrich (USA) and Aziz Sancar (Turkey) for mechanistic studies of DNA repair.
- Literature -
- Investigative journalist Svetlana Alexievich (Belarus).
- Peace -
- Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for contribution to building of pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in wake of Jasmine Revolution of 2011.
- Economics -
- Angus Deaton (UK) for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare.
- Physiology / Medicine -
- Odisha Government launched Mission Abaas urban housing mission to provide affordable houses to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
- Ajay Jayaram of India won 2015 Dutch Open Men’s Singles badminton title by defeating Estonia’s Raul Must.
- China Open Tennis 2015 -
- Men's Singles - Novak Djokovic (Serbia) defeated Rafael Nadal (Spain).
- Women's Singles - Garbine Muguruza (Spain) defeated Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland).
- Men's Doubles - Vasek Pospisil (Canada ) and Jack Sock (United States) defeated Danel Nestor of Canada and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.
- Women's Doubles - Martina Hingis (Switzerland) and Sania Mirza (India) defeated china's Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan.
- Noted Tamil actress Gopishantha (Manorama) Passed Away.
- PM Narendra Modi laid foundation stone of fourth terminal of country’s largest container port – Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai.
- YES Bank received RBI approval to set up a mutual fund, asset management company (AMC) and a trustee company.
- China Launched Nanligong-1 satellite developed by students of Nanjing University to be used for Global Maritime Automatic Identification.
- Lewis Hamilton (UK) won Russian Formula One Grand Prix .
- 2015 Formula One season -
- Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2015. Calendar is -
Grand Prix Date Winner Australia 15 March Lewis Hamilton (UK) Malaysia 29 March Sebastian Vettel (Germany) China 12 April Lewis Hamilton (UK) Baharain 19 April Lewis Hamilton (UK) Spain 10 May Nico Rosberg (Germany) Monaco 24 May Nico Rosberg (Germany) Canada 7 June Lewis Hamilton (UK) Austria 21 June Nico Rosberg (Germany) Britain 5 July Lewis Hamilton (UK) Hungary 26 July Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Belgium 23 August Lewis Hamilton (UK) Italy 6 September Lewis Hamilton (UK) Singapore 20 September Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Japan 27 September Lewis Hamilton (UK) Russia 11 October Lewis Hamilton (UK) USA 25 October Mexico 1 November Brazil 15 November Abu Dhabi 29 November
- Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2015. Calendar is -
- 2015 Formula One season -
- Oct 10, 2015
- Noted Flautist N. Ramani passed away.
- Sekhar Basu has been appointed as Secretary in Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (Nuclear Chief).
- Kerala government launched Operation Valsalya project to trace, rescue and reunite missing children with their family.
- Patanjali Ayurved tied-up with Future Group under which its products will be available at Big Bazaar, KB’s and EasyDay outlets.
- India’s first Dolphin Community Reserve will be established in West Bengal to protect endangered mammal - Gangetic river dolphins. reserve would be set up in Hooghly River between Malda and Sundarbans.
- Rajashthan Government annouced Rajasthan Startup Policy- 2015 to help the start-up ecosystem in state by setting up 50 incubators and support around 500 innovative start-ups.
- NASA’s New Horizon Spacecraft images revealed blue skies and numerous small exposed regions of water ice on Pluto's Surface.
- Author Nayantara Sehgal returned Sahitya Akademi Award that she had been given in 1986 for her English novel Rich Like Us.
- European Union Launched Operation Sophia as Naval operation against human smugglers and traffickers in Mediterranean Sea.
- India’s Wipro Ltd. and First Book (a non-profit social enterprise) partnered to provide books to children in need across five cities in USA and Canada.
- Government of Andhra Pradesh launched Andhra Pradesh State Enterprise Architecture (e-Pragati) project for transforming the way government services are conceived, delivered and consumed.
- Corporate Affairs Secretary Tapan Ray is appointed to Board of Securities and Exchange Board of India.
- Oct 09, 2015
- Oct 09 - World Egg Day.
- India's Central Board of Excise and Customs Hosted 11th Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) of Directors General-Commissioners of Customs in Goa on 8th and 9th October, 2015.
- Noted music composer Ravindra Jain passed away.
- India signed Protocol for establishment of Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) with Ecuador for strengthening trade relationships.
- Meeting of G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors held in Peru. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and RBI Governor Raghuram G Rajan Participated on India's Behalf.
- India achieved success in its efforts in pursuading Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) to push back High Risk Area (HRA) from 78 degrees East longitude to 65 degrees East longitude in Indian Ocean. It will result in savings of 1500 Crore annually for India’s EXIM trade as reduced insurance premium and freight costs.
- High Risk Area in Indian Ocean in 2011 was set to 65 degrees east longitude from 78 degrees previously, due to increasing Piracy off coast of Somalia / Gulf of Aden / Horn of Africa. This caused burden of 2000 crore annual on India and infiltrated into India's West coast borders.
- India has been constantly pushing on International bodies to push back the HRA mark to 78 degrees East longitude, and now the same has been implemented.
- Sports Minister Sarbanand Sonowal declared assistance of 200 crore to Jammu and Kashmir to boost sporting activities.
- Gurgaon (Haryana) to observe every Tuesday as 'Car-Free Day'. Initiative to be implemented from 22 Sep 2015 onwards (World Car Free Day).
- ICICI Bank became first bank globally to launch service enabling customers to make payments from their smartphones at stores, e-commerce sites etc. without swiping debit card. Service is based on 'mVisa' mobile payment solution from Visa.
- China launched first phase of China International Payment System (CIPS) to boost Yuan’s global usage and cross-border clearing of its currency from Chinese mainland instead of offshore centres abroad.
- Indian Music composer AR Rahman has been named as Cultural Ambassador of Seychelles.
- Expert Appraisal Committee of Ministry of Environment & Forest allowed to import coal with higher ash content of up to 25 % to help domestic thermal power plants use higher grade coal and bring down cost of generation. Currently only 12 % of coal with ash content is allowed to be imported.
- USA Food and Drug Administration approved Keytruda (pembrolizumab) drug for treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
- British researchers developed ASCmeI.T mobile app to help people with autism (difficulty in communicating and forming relationships).
- USA's Gannett Company acquired newspaper company Journal Media Group for 280 million USA dollars.
- Bombay high court ruled against Income Tax Appellate Tribunal order on 3700 crore rupees as capital gain tax in Vodafone transfer pricing case. ITAT has earlier ordered Vodafone to comply with demand of 3700 crore rupees issued by Income Tax authorities. Tax demand is about sale of call centre business of Vodafone to Hutchison in 2007-2008.
- Tata Power launched LED tube light scheme in Mumbai for providing five lights to each household at 525 rupees per piece against market price of 1325 rupees.
- Music Composer A R Rehman has ben chosen for 2015 Hridaynath Mangeskar Award.
- Finance Ministers of 20 nations vulnerable to climate change launched V20 Group during annual meeting of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Lima (Peru). Group aims to pool resources for fight against global warming and is counterpoint to G20 group of leading emerging economies.
- V20 Member Countries are - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam.
- Forbes list of 50 richest families in Asia-RankNameNet WorthSourceCitizenship1Lee (Byung-Chull) family26.6 billion dollarSamsungSouth Korea2Lee (Shau Kee) family24.1 billion dollarHenderson DevelopmentHong Kong3Ambani family21.5 billion dollarReliance GroupIndia4Chearavanont family19.9 billion dollarCharoen Pokphand (CP) GroupThailand5Kwok family19.5 billion dollarSun Hung Kai & CoHong Kong6Kwek / Quek family18.9 billion dollarHong Leong groupMalaysia7Premji family17 billion dollarWiproIndia8Tsai (Wan-Tsai) family15.1 billion dollarCathay FinancialTaiwan9Hinduja family15 billion dollarHinduja GroupUnited Kingdom10Mistry family14.9 billion dollarShapoorji Pallonji GroupIndia
- Oct 08, 2015
- 8 October - World Sight Day. Theme is Eye care for all.
- Oct 08, 2015 - 83rd Indian Air Force Day. IAF was established on 8 October 1932.
- First BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Migration Ministers Meeting held in Sochi (Russia). Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju attended on India's Behalf.
- Hoesung Lee of South Korea has been elected Chairman of Inter-governmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC).
- Indian cyclist Deborah Herold won 1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal at 2015 Taiwan Cup. She became first Indian cyclist to win in women's elite section.
- National Green Tribunal directed all commercial vehicles entering Delhi to pay additional environmental compensation charge.
- Government appointed committee under Anil Baijal recommendations for improving monitoring of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) spending to government -
- Uniform tax treatment for all CSR activities under Companies Act 2013.
- Leniency towards non-compliant companies in first 2 to 3 years.
- Director General of National Cadet Corps, General Aniruddha Chakravarty inaugurated NCC National Games 2015 in Delhi. Game will witness approx 2000 cadets from 17 state directorates.
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Making the international financial architecture work for development report -
- Global growth rate in 2015 is expected to remain 2.5 %. Developed countries will grow at 1.9 %, compared with 1.6 % in 2014. USA's rate of growth will remain 2−2.5 % in 2015.
- India’s GDP will grow at 7.5 % in 2015. As pressure on current account deficit is easing due to lowering oil prices in international market. However, India’s export growth slowed down from 8.5 % in 2013 to 3.2 % in 2014 due to global economy slowdown.
- Russia won Women’s European Volleyball Championship by defeating Netherlands (Venue - Russia).
- Indian nano biotechnology company Nualgi won Popular Choice Awards at Climate CoLab of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge - UK). Nualgi submitted two proposals to reduce power and fuel consumption for sewage treatment and water reuse built around their nano-scale product called Nualgi for 2015 edition of the contest.
- Book Courage to Act - A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath has been written by Ben S. Bernanke.
- Oct 07, 2015
- Book Ruled or Misruled: Story and Destiny of Bihar has been written by Santosh Singh.
- Government approved protocol amending India's Convention and Protocol with Israel and Vietnam for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion.
- Government approved setting up of 3 new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AllMS) at Nagpur in Maharashtra, Manglagiri in Andhra Pradesh and Kalyani in West Bengal under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY). This involves financial implication of Rs.4949 crore.
- Government approved protocol for cooperation in field of blue economy with Seychelles.
- Government approved construction of a National War Memorial near India Gate (New Delhi) in memory of over 22500 Indian soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the country post-independence. Cost of project will be around Rs. 500 crores.
- Government approved Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in sports with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
- Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved implementing World Bank assisted National Watershed Management Project Neeranchal with total cost of $357 million (Rs 2142.30 crore - government share is 50 %) in nine States of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana.
- Minister of State for AYUSH (IC) and Health and Family Welfare, Shripad Yesso Naik inaugurated Dr. D. P. Rastogi Central Research Institute for Homeopathy in Noida (Uttar Pradesh).
- State Secretary for Home Affairs of Sweden, Ann Linde visited India.
- Bangladesh Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha Visited India.
- Railway Protection Force has been Presented with Award of Excellence in Human Trafficking for operation smile.
- Government approved formation of Group 'A' service - Indian Skill Development Service of technical cadre of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSD&E).
- Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Conference 2016 will be held in New Delhi from 8 January to 10, 2016.
- Sergey Karjakin of Russia won 2015 World Cup Chess Championship in Azerbaijanby defeating Peter Svidler (Russia).
- Utkal Alumina International Limited (unit of Aditya Birla Group) launched Saksham project for welfare of communities living in vicinity of its project area in Odisha.
- Reserve Bank of India relaxed norms of Foreign Portfolio Investors by announcing higher investment limits in government securities to bring additional 1.2 lakh crore rupees by March 2018.
- International Monetary Fund released World Economic Outlook titled Adjusting to Lower Commodity Prices-
- Report projects global growth for 2015 at 3.1 %, It is 0.3 % lower than in 2014. In 2016, growth is expected to rise to 3.6 %.
- India’s growth is expected to rise from 7.3 % in 2015 to 7.5 % in 2016.
- In first meeting of National Sagarmala Apex Committee, Government announced to spend about 70,000 crore rupees on development of major ports. It was chaired by Nitin Gadkari.
- Sagarmala project aims for development of ports along 7,500-km-long coastline to increase cargo traffic three-times in next 5 years. It will benefit around 14 % population of India.
- Saudi Arabia's Raif Badawi and British James Fenton have been awarded with 2015 PEN Pinter Prize annual literary award.
- The Clintons' War on Women has been written by Roger Stone and Robert Morrow
- Oct 06, 2015
- Torpedo Launch and Recovery Vessel ‘INS Astradharini commissioned into Indian Navy.
- Odisha Government launched Amo doli healthcare programme To help patients and pregnant women from inaccessible areas to reach nearest hospital in naxal-affected Rayagada district.
- UCO Bank became worst Performer among public sector banks in 2014-15 with its Gross NPA rising to Total Loans ratio of UCO Bank rising to 8.05 % from 4.47 % in 2014. UCO Bank was followed by Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) with gross NPA rising to 8.30 % and 6.18 %.
- Telangana Government announced 50 % subsidy on purchase of seeds To reduce input costs for farmers.
- US, Japan and 10 Pacific Rim countries signed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement to lower trade barriers and set standards for a raft of other industries. Countries are - USA, Japan, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
- Department of Commerce (Ministry of Commerce & Industry), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) organized international summit on Medical Value Travel India 2015 to promote healthcare services exports from India.
- Oct 05, 2015
- Oct 5 - World Habitat Day (First monday of October). On this occasion, World Wide Fund releasedHidden Himalayas: Asia’s Wonderland report. It stated that 211 new species like sneezing monkey, walking fish and jewel-like snake were discovered in Eastern Himalayas region between 2009 and 2014.
- Minister of State for Agriculture, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan launched KISAN [C(K)rop Insurance using Space technology And geoiNformatics] and Hailstorm App to use Space Technology and geoinformatics technology for improvement in yield estimation and better planning for crop insurance programme.
- Minister of State for Agriculture, Mohanbhai Kundariya visited Lithuania.
- Phase-2 of Mission Indradhanush launched in 352 districts To immunise children and pregnant women against seven vaccine preventable diseases.
- Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany) Visited India. India and Germany signed 18 MoUs on this occasion
- Some Main Agreements are - Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) on Languages, MoU on Solar Energy, Skill Development, Security Cooperation, Aviation Security, Disaster Management, Higher Education, Joint Declaration on IGSTC (Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC), Plant Protection, Railways, Food Safety and manufacturing.
- Germany will provide India more than 2 billion euros ($2.25 billion) for developing a clean energy corridor and solar projects.
- India and Germany Signed Loan Agreements of 125 Millions Euros for Himachal and Andhra Pradesh Green Energy Corridors’ Projects.
- World Congress on Towards Intelligent Mobility –Better Use of Space held at Bordeaux (France). Urban Development Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu attended on India's Behalf.
- Minister of State (IC) of Development of North-Eastern Region, Jitendra Singh released bookIndia’s Creative Continuum-Minority Communities in Craft, containing 18 Identified Crafts from various States. Schemes such as USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/ Crafts for Development) have been detailed in it.
- Shashank Manohar has been elected as President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for second term.
- Ashish Bahuguna, Chairman of the food regulator FSSAI has been given additional charge of its CEO.
- Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) established world’s highest terrestrial centre at 17,600 feet above sea level at Changla near Pengong lake in Ladakh.
- Renowned Telugu Cinema Producer Edida Nageswara Rao passed away.
- 2015 MTB Himalaya Bike Race -
- Luis Leao Pinto (Portugal) won in Men and Catherine Williamson (UK) won in women's category.
- Governing Centre Right coalition parties led by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho won Portugal’s 2015 general elections.
- Renowned Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell passed away.
- Jack Dorsey has been re-appointed as CEO of twitter.
- Islamic State (IS) militants blown up Arch of Triumph in ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.
- As per world bank report, For the first time less than 10 % of world’s population (70 crore people) will be living in extreme poverty by end of 2015, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Previously, World Bank had defined extreme poverty as people living on under 1.25 USD a day. Now it has been revised to 1.90 USD a day. Ending extreme poverty by 2030 is among UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
- Tiruchirapalli Municipal Corporation won Skoch Smart Governance Award for Operational Excellence in Waste Transportation using Information Technology.
- Malaysia ordered shut down of country's schools for two days because of health risks by thick haze from Indonesian forest fires.
- Gas Authority of India (GAIL) will take 10 % stake in Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India or TAPI natural gas pipeline project. Aim of TAPi is to transport natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India.
- China qualified for 2016 Brazil Olympics by winning International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Championship by defeating Philippines.
- Oct 04, 2015
- Sarat Kumar Acharya appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of Neyveli Lignite Corporation.
- Coventry City (England) honoured Ratan Tata (chairman Emeritus of Tata sons) with its highest award for his contributions to West Midlands region of central England.
- Forbes India Leadership Awards 2015 -
- Outstanding Start-up for Year - Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati of Ola
- Nextgen Entrepreneur for Year - Siddhartha Lal of Eicher Motors.
- Entrepreneur with Social Impact - Samit Ghosh (Ujjivan Financial Services)
- Conscious Capitalist Company - Godrej Consumer Products and AMUL
- Best CEO (Multinational Company) - Uday Shankar (Star India)
- Best CEO (Public Sector) - Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI)
- Best CEO (Private Sector) - CP Gurnani (Tech Mahindra)
- Lifetime Achievement Award for Year - RC Bhargava (Maruti Suzuki)
- Entrepreneur for the Year - Uday Kotak (Kotak Mahindra Bank)
- International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Team Rankings 2015. Top 10 teams are -
- RankingTeamPoints1Australia1342England1243New Zealand1094India1055West Indies996South Africa927Pakistan818Sri Lanka749Bangladesh5710Ireland26
- Oct 03, 2015
- Oct 03 - Unification Day of Germany.
- World Health Organisation removed all limitations on eligibility for Antiretroviral Therapy among people living with HIV.
- Uttar Pradesh government announced to implement National Food Security Act 2013 in three phases with 24, 25 and 26 districts covered in respective phases.
- Pakistan proposed 4-point Peace Initiative with India for better relationships during UN General Assembly. Key points are -
- Pakistan and India should comply with ceasefire on Line of Control in Kashmir.
- Pakistan and India shall should not use force under any circumstances.
- Steps need to be taken to demilitarize Kashmir.
- Both nations should agree to mutual withdrawal from Siachen Glacier, world's highest battleground.
- Zenia Bhumgara of India was conferred with Merlin Award in Mumbai. The award is prestigious honour in field of magic conferred by International Magicians Association (IMS).
- World Trade Organization (WTO) 2015 Annual Report -
- World trade will grow by 2.8 % in 2015 and 3.9 % in 2016.
- Seychelles was admitted as 161st Member of WTO in April 2015.
- India is involved in 43 trade disputes Between 1995 and 2014.
- Oct 02, 2015
- Oct 02 - Birth Anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri.
- Birthday of M K Gandhi is marked as -
- International Day of Non-Violence by United Nations.
- National Anti-Drug Addiction Day.
- Gujarat launched a special Khadi Utsav to promote khadi on this occasion.
- Birthday of M K Gandhi is marked as -
- India submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for period between 2015 - 2030 to set India's tone for Conference of Parties-21 to be held in Paris in December 2015 to adopt an environmental new protocol for post-2020 (post Kyoto Protocol) scenario. Key Points are -
- India To reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 % by 2030 from 2005 level.
- To achieve 40 % cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030.
- Create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 - 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
- PM Narendra Modi inaugurated county's first solar powered district court in Khunti (Jharkhand).
- Asian Development Bank will provide $120Million USD Loan to Bangladesh to finance India-Bangladesh power link project to increase transmission capacity from 500 MW to 1,000 MW to meet sharply rising power demand.
- Global Competitiveness Report 2015 by World Economic Forum (Total 140 Countries) -
- India has been placed at 55th position (16 Position up as compared to 71 in 2014) while china is at 28th and Pakistan is 126th.
- Switzerland is at top of the list for seventh year in a row.
- Top 10 countries - Switzerland, Singapore, USA, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong, Finland, Sweden and UK.
- Government notified Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Rules 2015 under Food Security Act, 2013. New rules are -
- Funds available with school may be utilised in case school exhausts funds meant for meal, allowance will be paid to beneficiaries under temporary fund utilization.
- Meal will be tested on monthly basis by accredited Labs.
- Every child in 6 to 14 years (classes I to VIII) will be provided meal with nutritional standards.
- Maharashtra government will impose ‘drought tax’ to raise funds to tackle drought like situations.
- United Nations Human Rights Council adopted resolution on Sri Lanka on report submitted by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue the monitoring of Sri Lanka’s progress in implementation of its recommendations.
- As per International Cotton Advisory Committee, India became largest cotton producer in season ending September 30, 2015 by surpassing China. India produced 6.51 million tonnes cotton while china did 6.48 mt.
- Tony de Brum (Marshall Islands), Sheila Watt-Cloutier (Canada), Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera (Uganda) and Gino Strada (Italy) won the 2015 Right Livelihood Award.
- Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980 by Swedish-German philatelist Jakob von Uexkull. It honours for efforts in environment and international development with prize money of 3-million-kronor.
- Urban Development Ministry announced to allow generation of electricity and compost from municipal solid waste, on the occasion of first anniversary of Swachh Bharat Mission launched on 2 October 2014.
- Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) to oversee operations of Kattupalli Port in Tamil Nadu.
- Google officially converted into new parent company Alphabet Inc.
- Nepal turned to United Nations over alleged obstruction of a key border trade point with India which has resulted in shortage of essential goods like fuel and Others.
- Government found residues of pesticides in 12.50 % of the 20,618 samples of vegetables, fruits, milk and other food items collected from various retail and wholesale outlets across the country.
- Oct 02 - Birth Anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri.
- Oct 01, 2015
- Oct 01 - World Vegetarian Day.
- Oct 01 - International Day of Older Persons.
- Oct 01 - National Day of China (Proclamation of People's Republic of China in 1949).
- S. Mookerjee has been appointed as Financial Commissioner (FC) (Railways).
- Chief of Naval Staff, RK Dhowan visited Australia.
- India and Indonesia will be conducting inaugral Navy exercise from October 17 - 18, 2015 in Andaman Sea during expanded version of coordinated patrol (CORPAT).
- E-commerce Firm Flipkart appointmed Sriram Venkataraman as chief financial officer (CFO) and Pramod Jain as vice president and head of taxation.
- India will be Chair of G20 Summit in 2018 and New Delhi could host annual G20 summit in 2018.
- Palestinian flag was raised for first time at United Nations headquarters in New York.
- China launched 20th new generation satellite into orbit to support its global navigation and positioning network. A Long March-3B carrier rocket carried the satellite.
- CSIR announced Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology 2015 for 11 scientists. The Prize consists a citation, a plaque and a 5 lakh rupees. Awardees Are - Balasubramanian Gopal, Rajeev Kumar Varshney, D Srinivasa Reddy, Pradyut Ghosh, Jyotiranjan Srichandan Ray, Yogesh Moreshwar Joshi, K Sandeep, Dr Ritabrata Munshi, Vidita Ashok Vaidya, Bedangadas Mohanty, Mandar Madhukar Deshmukh.
- Wuhan Open Women's Tennis 2015 -
- Singles - Venus Williams (USA) won by defeating Garbine Muguruza (Spain).
- Doubles - Indo-Swiss pair of Sania Mirza-Martina Hingis won by defeating Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu.
- American Golfer Jordan Spieth has been named as PGA Tour's Player of Year.
- Odisha police launched 'e-FIR' system under Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) project. It will enable people to send their complaints to police in all districts through newly launched citizen portal www.citizenportal-op.gov.in.
- Navy's INS Sahyadri Visited Vietnam as part of its operational deployment in South China Sea.
- Anup K Pujari has been appointed as CMD of Steel Authority of India Limited. He is also Secretary in Ministry of Steel and secretary in Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
- Oct 29, 2015
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