General Affairs
Congress Rebel Vijay Bahuguna For Early Polls In Uttarakhand
-
DEHRADUN: Leader of rebel Congress legislators Vijay Bahuguna today said a failed Appropriation Bill and the former chief minister Harish Rawat's refusal to resign were enough ground for President's Rule in Uttarakhand but advocated early elections in the state so that people could decide which way to go.
"Harish Rawat and Assembly Speaker alone are to be blamed for the imposition of President's Rule. The Speaker declared a failed legislation as passed. Rawat refused to resign despite being reduced to a minority.
"Had he resigned someone else would have become chief minister and the state would not have come under Central rule," Mr Bahuguna told reporters in Dehradun on the sidelines of a programme to mark his father and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna's birth anniversary.
Noting that President's Rule is imposed only for a specific period, Mr Bahuguna said he is in favour of early elections in the state so that people could decide which way they wanted to go.
"President's Rule has been imposed 126 times in the country. It is always imposed for a specific period after which it has to come to an end.
"I for one want early elections in the state so that people get a chance to decide which way they want to go," the former chief minister, who is among the nine rebel Congress legislators who revolted against Mr Rawat, said.
When asked what his father would have done if he were the chief minister and faced a similar situation as Mr Rawat did in the state Assembly, Mr Bahuguna said, "He would have gone straight to the Raj Bhawan and submitted his resignation.
"People of the last generation did politics of dignity which is nowhere in evidence today. Love of the chair is above everything else."
Earlier, Mr Bahuguna placed a flower garland on the statue of his father in the heart of the city along with other rebel legislators including Harak Singh Rawat and Subodh Uniyal, Umesh Sharma Cow.
DEHRADUN: Leader of rebel Congress legislators Vijay Bahuguna today said a failed Appropriation Bill and the former chief minister Harish Rawat's refusal to resign were enough ground for President's Rule in Uttarakhand but advocated early elections in the state so that people could decide which way to go."Harish Rawat and Assembly Speaker alone are to be blamed for the imposition of President's Rule. The Speaker declared a failed legislation as passed. Rawat refused to resign despite being reduced to a minority.
"Had he resigned someone else would have become chief minister and the state would not have come under Central rule," Mr Bahuguna told reporters in Dehradun on the sidelines of a programme to mark his father and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna's birth anniversary.
Noting that President's Rule is imposed only for a specific period, Mr Bahuguna said he is in favour of early elections in the state so that people could decide which way they wanted to go.
"President's Rule has been imposed 126 times in the country. It is always imposed for a specific period after which it has to come to an end.
"I for one want early elections in the state so that people get a chance to decide which way they want to go," the former chief minister, who is among the nine rebel Congress legislators who revolted against Mr Rawat, said.
When asked what his father would have done if he were the chief minister and faced a similar situation as Mr Rawat did in the state Assembly, Mr Bahuguna said, "He would have gone straight to the Raj Bhawan and submitted his resignation.
"People of the last generation did politics of dignity which is nowhere in evidence today. Love of the chair is above everything else."
Earlier, Mr Bahuguna placed a flower garland on the statue of his father in the heart of the city along with other rebel legislators including Harak Singh Rawat and Subodh Uniyal, Umesh Sharma Cow.
Teach BJP A Lesson For Dislodging My Government: Harish Rawat To People
-
DEHRADUN: Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat has asked the people of the state to teach a befitting lesson to the BJP, accusing it of hatching a conspiracy to topple an elected government.
Mr Rawat held rallies at Tharali, Narayanbagad, Karnaprayag and Gopeshwar in Chamoli district yesterday and asked people to teach a befitting lesson to the BJP, accusing it of hatching a conspiracy to topple an elected government, creating political instability in the state and derailing its development.
He addressed the rallies as part of the second phase of his save democracy yatra to mobilise public opinion against the imposition of President's Rule in the state.
He said though he had no idea when the clouds of political uncertainty will lift from Uttarakhand, Assembly elections are not far away and people had a chance to teach a lesson to those guilty of derailing the state's development.
Assembly elections in Uttarakhand are due early next year.
Mr Rawat also highlighted the decisions taken by him in "public interest" at the two Cabinet meetings he chaired during the brief revival of his government recently in the wake of the High Court's verdict revoking President Rule in the state on which a stay was put by the Supreme Court just a day later.
Though their implementation will depend largely on what the Supreme Court rules on April 27, Mr Rawat took nearly a dozen populist decisions at the two Cabinet meetings with an eye on Assembly polls including reappointment of guest teachers and hiking their salary to 15,000 per month, setting up a committee to look into reduction of land circle rates, a pension of Rs. 3,100 for identified statehood agitationists, an increase of Rs. 200 in the pensions of widows, old women and the handicapped.
Pradesh Congress president Kishore Upadhyay, who accompanied the former chief minister, claimed large crowds attended the rallies.
This is the second phase of Mr Rawat's save democracy yatra which covered constituencies of rebel legislators in its first phase.
Mr Rawat held rallies at Tharali, Narayanbagad, Karnaprayag and Gopeshwar in Chamoli district yesterday and asked people to teach a befitting lesson to the BJP, accusing it of hatching a conspiracy to topple an elected government, creating political instability in the state and derailing its development.
He addressed the rallies as part of the second phase of his save democracy yatra to mobilise public opinion against the imposition of President's Rule in the state.
He said though he had no idea when the clouds of political uncertainty will lift from Uttarakhand, Assembly elections are not far away and people had a chance to teach a lesson to those guilty of derailing the state's development.
Assembly elections in Uttarakhand are due early next year.
Mr Rawat also highlighted the decisions taken by him in "public interest" at the two Cabinet meetings he chaired during the brief revival of his government recently in the wake of the High Court's verdict revoking President Rule in the state on which a stay was put by the Supreme Court just a day later.
Though their implementation will depend largely on what the Supreme Court rules on April 27, Mr Rawat took nearly a dozen populist decisions at the two Cabinet meetings with an eye on Assembly polls including reappointment of guest teachers and hiking their salary to 15,000 per month, setting up a committee to look into reduction of land circle rates, a pension of Rs. 3,100 for identified statehood agitationists, an increase of Rs. 200 in the pensions of widows, old women and the handicapped.
Pradesh Congress president Kishore Upadhyay, who accompanied the former chief minister, claimed large crowds attended the rallies.
This is the second phase of Mr Rawat's save democracy yatra which covered constituencies of rebel legislators in its first phase.
IITs Have Been Asked To Teach Sanskrit: Smriti Irani
-
NEW DELHI: IITs have been asked to teach Sanskrit language for facilitating study of science and technology as reflected in its literature, Lok Sabha was told today.
A panel, chaired by former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswami, in its report had suggested that Indian Institutes of Technology or IITs may facilitate study of science and technology as reflected in Sanskrit literature along with inter-disciplinary study of Sanskrit and modern subjects, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said in a written reply.
"Accordingly, IITs have been requested to teach Sanskrit language especially with reference to study of works which contain scientific knowledge," Ms Irani said.
NEW DELHI: IITs have been asked to teach Sanskrit language for facilitating study of science and technology as reflected in its literature, Lok Sabha was told today.A panel, chaired by former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswami, in its report had suggested that Indian Institutes of Technology or IITs may facilitate study of science and technology as reflected in Sanskrit literature along with inter-disciplinary study of Sanskrit and modern subjects, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said in a written reply.
"Accordingly, IITs have been requested to teach Sanskrit language especially with reference to study of works which contain scientific knowledge," Ms Irani said.
Jewellers Back On Strike, Shops Shut For 3 Days On Excise Duty
-
NEW DELHI: Jewellers and bullion traders in several parts of the country, including Delhi, today resumed their strike, demanding rollback of the one per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery.
Most of the shops and jewellery showrooms are closed today in the national capital and other major cities, Vice-President of the All India Sarafa Association, Surinder Kumar Jain told PTI.
Striking associations in different parts of the country have collectively decided to go for a complete closure of bullion markets for three days in major as well as small towns, Mr Jain said.
Jewellers and artisans in the industry staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi today extending support to the strike call given by different associations in the country.
Jewellery shops in several parts of Rajasthan including Jaipur, Jodhpur and Kota and nearly 3,000 jewellery establishments in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh are also closed.
Major associations such as All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) and India Bullion & Jewellers Associations, however, are not supporting the strike.
"We are already in negotiations with the government and there is a positive outcome. The government has already issued three circulars and will soon come out with a notification over simplification of implementation of excise duty on non-silver jewellery," Ashok Minawala, Director (GJF) said.
Kanpur Sarafa Association has threatened to go on indefinite strike again if their demands are not fulfilled.
"If our demands not fulfilled, we will be forced to go for an indefinite strike," said Mohan Aggarwal of the association.
Jewellers had temporarily called off their 42-day strike on April 13 for 12 days after the government's assurance that there will be no harassment by excise officials.
The Centre has constituted a panel under former Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahri to look into the demands of the jewellers.
The panel will look into issues related to compliance procedure for the excise duty, including records to be maintained, forms be filled, operating procedures and other relevant issues.
NEW DELHI: Jewellers and bullion traders in several parts of the country, including Delhi, today resumed their strike, demanding rollback of the one per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery.Most of the shops and jewellery showrooms are closed today in the national capital and other major cities, Vice-President of the All India Sarafa Association, Surinder Kumar Jain told PTI.
Striking associations in different parts of the country have collectively decided to go for a complete closure of bullion markets for three days in major as well as small towns, Mr Jain said.
Jewellery shops in several parts of Rajasthan including Jaipur, Jodhpur and Kota and nearly 3,000 jewellery establishments in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh are also closed.
Major associations such as All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) and India Bullion & Jewellers Associations, however, are not supporting the strike.
"We are already in negotiations with the government and there is a positive outcome. The government has already issued three circulars and will soon come out with a notification over simplification of implementation of excise duty on non-silver jewellery," Ashok Minawala, Director (GJF) said.
Kanpur Sarafa Association has threatened to go on indefinite strike again if their demands are not fulfilled.
"If our demands not fulfilled, we will be forced to go for an indefinite strike," said Mohan Aggarwal of the association.
Jewellers had temporarily called off their 42-day strike on April 13 for 12 days after the government's assurance that there will be no harassment by excise officials.
The Centre has constituted a panel under former Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahri to look into the demands of the jewellers.
The panel will look into issues related to compliance procedure for the excise duty, including records to be maintained, forms be filled, operating procedures and other relevant issues.
India Seeks Time To Implement Paris Climate Agreement
-
NEW YORK: India has sought time to implement the Paris climate agreement, saying it should not be done in "haste" and all countries should be allowed to follow their national processes.
"A debate about early entry into force of the Paris Agreement is unfortunate. Early ratification can be understood, but it will take time as per the national processes of approval," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said at the Major Economies Forum Meeting in New York yesterday.
"We should not make haste because Paris Agreement is to be implemented post 2020. There is enough time for ratification and all countries should be allowed to follow their national processes," he said.
According to reports, the US and China are leading a push to bring the Paris climate accord into force much faster aided by a typographical glitch in the text of the agreement.
India on April 22 signed the historic deal along with more than 170 nations, marking a significant step that has brought together developing and developed nations for beginning work on cutting down greenhouse gas emissions.
"Paris agreement is a historical achievement for mankind. All countries should implement it in letter and spirit. After signing of Paris agreement, developed world needs to immediately ratify the Kyoto Protocol second commitment period and should present enhanced pre-2020 actions," he said.
The minister also urged developed nations to announce their "enhanced" pre-2020 climate action plans and undertake the "urgent" task of mobilising $100 billion, lack of which will hamper implementation of nationally determined contributions of developing countries.
"The second urgent task to be done is Mobilisation of $100 billion. Without this crucial mobilisation, many of the developing countries cannot implement their nationally determined contributions," Mr Javadekar said.
He said the need of the hour is to lay out the complete institutional mechanism for building up on the Paris accord.
"The plan to work for the first meeting of Ad hoc group on Paris Agreement (APA) and additional works by Subsidiary Body for Implementation and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBI/SBSTA)...should be prepared in consultation with all stake holders as issues covered under these bodes have a direct bearing on the Provisions of the Paris Agreement. There is a need for coherence between COP, APA, SBI, SBSTA and other institutions," he said.
Observing that India has led from the front as far as pre-2020 action is concerned, he said that though it is not mandated to take pre-2020 actions as per Kyoto Protocol, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has showcased to the world that if there is political will, there is a way.
"India has shown its leadership by action. It is now actions of developed countries which will be watched by the world against the backdrop of India's proactive achievements," he said.
Noting that the "real" issue is pre-2020 actions of both the developed as well as developing countries, Mr Javadekar said the pre-2020 actions of developed nations should be in accordance with the principles and provisions of the Convention.
"It should be comprehensive, covering all relevant sources, sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases, and adaptation as well as finance, technology development and transfer, including of cost effective technologies," he said.
Elaborating about India's actions, Mr Javadekar said that coal cess which has been increased from 70 cents per tonne in 2014 to $6 per tonne in 2016 is a "bold" action and if developed countries follow India, they can easily mobilise $100 billion per annum, which has remained "elusive" till now.
He termed the government's decision to tax polluting vehicles and incentivising electric and hybrid vehicles as a "major step in the right direction".
"World's largest program launched by India of 175 GW of renewable energy is on track. A new major initiative to expand metro network in next five years to 1,300 km from present 300 km is an ambitious initiative in providing clean public transport to more than 10 million commuters.
"LED bulb program has succeeded beyond any calculations and has already achieved 100 million target and in next four years it will achieve target of 700 million bulbs," he said.
NEW YORK: India has sought time to implement the Paris climate agreement, saying it should not be done in "haste" and all countries should be allowed to follow their national processes."A debate about early entry into force of the Paris Agreement is unfortunate. Early ratification can be understood, but it will take time as per the national processes of approval," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said at the Major Economies Forum Meeting in New York yesterday.
"We should not make haste because Paris Agreement is to be implemented post 2020. There is enough time for ratification and all countries should be allowed to follow their national processes," he said.
According to reports, the US and China are leading a push to bring the Paris climate accord into force much faster aided by a typographical glitch in the text of the agreement.
India on April 22 signed the historic deal along with more than 170 nations, marking a significant step that has brought together developing and developed nations for beginning work on cutting down greenhouse gas emissions.
"Paris agreement is a historical achievement for mankind. All countries should implement it in letter and spirit. After signing of Paris agreement, developed world needs to immediately ratify the Kyoto Protocol second commitment period and should present enhanced pre-2020 actions," he said.
The minister also urged developed nations to announce their "enhanced" pre-2020 climate action plans and undertake the "urgent" task of mobilising $100 billion, lack of which will hamper implementation of nationally determined contributions of developing countries.
"The second urgent task to be done is Mobilisation of $100 billion. Without this crucial mobilisation, many of the developing countries cannot implement their nationally determined contributions," Mr Javadekar said.
He said the need of the hour is to lay out the complete institutional mechanism for building up on the Paris accord.
"The plan to work for the first meeting of Ad hoc group on Paris Agreement (APA) and additional works by Subsidiary Body for Implementation and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBI/SBSTA)...should be prepared in consultation with all stake holders as issues covered under these bodes have a direct bearing on the Provisions of the Paris Agreement. There is a need for coherence between COP, APA, SBI, SBSTA and other institutions," he said.
Observing that India has led from the front as far as pre-2020 action is concerned, he said that though it is not mandated to take pre-2020 actions as per Kyoto Protocol, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has showcased to the world that if there is political will, there is a way.
"India has shown its leadership by action. It is now actions of developed countries which will be watched by the world against the backdrop of India's proactive achievements," he said.
Noting that the "real" issue is pre-2020 actions of both the developed as well as developing countries, Mr Javadekar said the pre-2020 actions of developed nations should be in accordance with the principles and provisions of the Convention.
"It should be comprehensive, covering all relevant sources, sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases, and adaptation as well as finance, technology development and transfer, including of cost effective technologies," he said.
Elaborating about India's actions, Mr Javadekar said that coal cess which has been increased from 70 cents per tonne in 2014 to $6 per tonne in 2016 is a "bold" action and if developed countries follow India, they can easily mobilise $100 billion per annum, which has remained "elusive" till now.
He termed the government's decision to tax polluting vehicles and incentivising electric and hybrid vehicles as a "major step in the right direction".
"World's largest program launched by India of 175 GW of renewable energy is on track. A new major initiative to expand metro network in next five years to 1,300 km from present 300 km is an ambitious initiative in providing clean public transport to more than 10 million commuters.
"LED bulb program has succeeded beyond any calculations and has already achieved 100 million target and in next four years it will achieve target of 700 million bulbs," he said.
Business Affairs
Sensex ends 159 points down, Nifty below 7,900 ahead of derivatives expiry, RIL top loser
-
Extending losses for the second consecutive session on Monday, the S&P BSE Sensex settled the day 159 points lower, while broader CNX Nifty closed below its key 7,900-mark.
The headline indices tumbled tracking negative trend seen in Asian markets ahead of key central bank meetings in the United States and Japan later this week. Caution also prevailed as monthly derivatives contracts are due to expire on Thursday, traditionally marking a volatile period in markets.
The 30-share index ended the day at 25,678, down 159.21 points, while broad-based 50-share index quoted 7,855, down 44.25 points at close.
Market breadth turned negative with 21 of the 30 Sensex components ending the day in red.
Marketmen also monitored the next session of Parliament which commenced today after a month long recess.
"There are multiple events including central bank meetings and F&O expiry scheduled for this week so market participants are a bit cautious ahead of those," said Rikesh Parikh, vice-president of equities at Motilal Oswal Securities.
Among decliners, Reliance Industries fell 2.18 per cent despite posting its highest quarterly profit since December 2007 after the energy firm said it would raise capex by more than expected this fiscal year due to downstream operations and spending on upcoming launch of 4G services.
Meanwhile, Cairn India shed 4.13 per cent after the oil and gas explorer posted a quarterly loss, hit by an impairment charge.
Auto parts maker Motherson Sumi Systems dropped 4.43 per cent after its customer Volkswagen posted a 4.1-billion-euros operating loss because of a diesel emissions test-rigging scandal.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel was the best performing stock on both the headline indices and gained 1.7 per cent after the telecom major said it is considering a final dividend, or a share buyback, or a combination of both for FY16.
Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.42 per cent, Japan's Nikkei lost 0.76 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.76 per cent.
Extending losses for the second consecutive session on Monday, the S&P BSE Sensex settled the day 159 points lower, while broader CNX Nifty closed below its key 7,900-mark.
The headline indices tumbled tracking negative trend seen in Asian markets ahead of key central bank meetings in the United States and Japan later this week. Caution also prevailed as monthly derivatives contracts are due to expire on Thursday, traditionally marking a volatile period in markets.
The 30-share index ended the day at 25,678, down 159.21 points, while broad-based 50-share index quoted 7,855, down 44.25 points at close.
Market breadth turned negative with 21 of the 30 Sensex components ending the day in red.
Marketmen also monitored the next session of Parliament which commenced today after a month long recess.
"There are multiple events including central bank meetings and F&O expiry scheduled for this week so market participants are a bit cautious ahead of those," said Rikesh Parikh, vice-president of equities at Motilal Oswal Securities.
Among decliners, Reliance Industries fell 2.18 per cent despite posting its highest quarterly profit since December 2007 after the energy firm said it would raise capex by more than expected this fiscal year due to downstream operations and spending on upcoming launch of 4G services.
Meanwhile, Cairn India shed 4.13 per cent after the oil and gas explorer posted a quarterly loss, hit by an impairment charge.
Auto parts maker Motherson Sumi Systems dropped 4.43 per cent after its customer Volkswagen posted a 4.1-billion-euros operating loss because of a diesel emissions test-rigging scandal.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel was the best performing stock on both the headline indices and gained 1.7 per cent after the telecom major said it is considering a final dividend, or a share buyback, or a combination of both for FY16.
Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.42 per cent, Japan's Nikkei lost 0.76 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.76 per cent.
Moody's calls for govt fund infusion into banks
-
Given their weak solvency position, India's public sector banks (PSBs) will not be able to raise funds from the market and the government will have to provide them capital support to avoid the risk of downgrade in their credit profiles, ratings agency Moody's said on Monday.
"Given the weak solvency position of many PSBs, we expect the remedial measures will require substantial external capital. With little chance of banks accessing the capital markets in the near term, we expect much of the capital support will be required from the Indian government," Moody's Investors Service Group vice president Alka Anbarasu told journalists via conference call.
"From a timing perspective, the front-ending of problem loans recognition and provisioning requirement has brought upfront the capital requirements of Indian public banks. Hence, unless the government revises upwards its capital infusion plan, there will be negative pressure on the credit profiles of these banks," she said.
Moody's currently rates 11 PSBs, including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank and IDBI.
PSBs are currently engaged in an asset quality review following a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directive, which has led to an increase in bad loans and provisioning.
Industry body Assocham said last week that the slowdown in steel, textiles, aluminium and others coupled by ongoing Asset Quality Review (AQR) is likely to push banks' stressed assets to Rs.10 lakh crore mark in the fourth quarter of 2015-16.
"At the end of December (2015), the total stressed assets of all the banks were at Rs.8 lakh crore which is expected to see a significant jump in the current quarter itself," said a study by the industry body.
It said total stressed assets of banks rose four-fold to Rs.7.40 lakh crore by the end of March 2015 from Rs.2.33 lakh crore as of March 2011.
Assocham noted that in nine months from April to December 2015, gross non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, rose by Rs 1 lakh crore from Rs 2,98,641 crore to Rs 4,01,590 crore.
In percentage terms, gross NPA ratio of public sector banks shot up from 5.43 per cent in March 2015 to 7.30 per cent by December 2015, the study said.
Assocham highlighted that mounting loans have made 11 PSBs report losses of Rs 12,867 crore in Q3 of 2015-16.
At the first meeting of the recently-formed Bank Board Bureau (BBB) held earlier this month at the RBI headquarters in Mumbai, the issues of NPAs was discussed as well as strategies for recapitalising banks.
In this connection, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said at the bankers' conclave "Gyan Sangam" in Gurgaon last month that the government will infuse additional capital over and above the Rs 25,000 crore provded in the 2016-17 budget and ensure that banks are adequately capitalised.
Given their weak solvency position, India's public sector banks (PSBs) will not be able to raise funds from the market and the government will have to provide them capital support to avoid the risk of downgrade in their credit profiles, ratings agency Moody's said on Monday.
"Given the weak solvency position of many PSBs, we expect the remedial measures will require substantial external capital. With little chance of banks accessing the capital markets in the near term, we expect much of the capital support will be required from the Indian government," Moody's Investors Service Group vice president Alka Anbarasu told journalists via conference call.
"From a timing perspective, the front-ending of problem loans recognition and provisioning requirement has brought upfront the capital requirements of Indian public banks. Hence, unless the government revises upwards its capital infusion plan, there will be negative pressure on the credit profiles of these banks," she said.
Moody's currently rates 11 PSBs, including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank and IDBI.
PSBs are currently engaged in an asset quality review following a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directive, which has led to an increase in bad loans and provisioning.
Industry body Assocham said last week that the slowdown in steel, textiles, aluminium and others coupled by ongoing Asset Quality Review (AQR) is likely to push banks' stressed assets to Rs.10 lakh crore mark in the fourth quarter of 2015-16.
"At the end of December (2015), the total stressed assets of all the banks were at Rs.8 lakh crore which is expected to see a significant jump in the current quarter itself," said a study by the industry body.
It said total stressed assets of banks rose four-fold to Rs.7.40 lakh crore by the end of March 2015 from Rs.2.33 lakh crore as of March 2011.
Assocham noted that in nine months from April to December 2015, gross non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, rose by Rs 1 lakh crore from Rs 2,98,641 crore to Rs 4,01,590 crore.
In percentage terms, gross NPA ratio of public sector banks shot up from 5.43 per cent in March 2015 to 7.30 per cent by December 2015, the study said.
Assocham highlighted that mounting loans have made 11 PSBs report losses of Rs 12,867 crore in Q3 of 2015-16.
At the first meeting of the recently-formed Bank Board Bureau (BBB) held earlier this month at the RBI headquarters in Mumbai, the issues of NPAs was discussed as well as strategies for recapitalising banks.
In this connection, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said at the bankers' conclave "Gyan Sangam" in Gurgaon last month that the government will infuse additional capital over and above the Rs 25,000 crore provded in the 2016-17 budget and ensure that banks are adequately capitalised.
Cabinet likely to approve Ultra Mega Power Projects bid paper soon: Piyush Goyal
-
The Union Cabinet is likely to give green signal soon to standard bid document which will facilitate auctioning of domestic coal-based four or five Ultra Mega Power Projects, entailing an investment of Rs 30,000 crore each.
Cabinet clearance will enable auctioning of the UMPP projects in the current fiscal which include Banka in Bihar and Tilaiya in Jharkhand.
"We have already taken out the documents for Cabinet approval. They may come up this week or the next week," Power Minister Piyush Goyal told PTI during his recent visit to the US.
Simultaneously, "we are in dialogue" with several states where UMPPs have to be bid out, he said.
"The Tilayea UMPP in Jharkhand has to be bid out again.
The Banka UMPP in Bihar has to be bid out. There is a project in Andhra Pradesh that would also be bid out. I think there would be one in Cheyyur in Tamil Nadu. Four or five are anvil," the Minister said.
The Power Ministry is also in the process of finalising the standard bid document for imported coal-based UMPPs. Once that is done, UMPPs like Cheyyur in Tamil Nadu can go under hammer.
Earlier, the bid document for domestic coal could not be put up before the Cabinet due to some legal glitch. Government had planned to float tenders for three UMPPs in 2015-16.
In the 2015 Budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the government propose to set up five new UMPPs of 4,000 MW each, in the plug-and-play mode.
All clearances and linkages would be in place before the projects are awarded by a transparent auction system. This should unlock investments to the extent of Rs 1 lakh crore, Jaitley had said.
The government had aborted bidding for Cheyyur (Tamil Nadu) and Bedabahal (Odisha) projects in January last year due to tepid private sector response.
The private firms, which had participated in the first round of bidding for both the projects, withdrew their bids citing difficulties in securing finances for these projects.
In the case of Tilaiya UMPP, all power procurers have signed the termination notice served by Reliance Power to end the contract for the project.
Reliance Power, in August 2009, had won rights to set up a 3,960-MW power plant at Hazaribagh in Jharkhand after bidding a levelised tariff of Rs 1.77 per unit, but couldn't start work on the project as the state government had not provided the required land even after more than five years.
The Union Cabinet is likely to give green signal soon to standard bid document which will facilitate auctioning of domestic coal-based four or five Ultra Mega Power Projects, entailing an investment of Rs 30,000 crore each.
Cabinet clearance will enable auctioning of the UMPP projects in the current fiscal which include Banka in Bihar and Tilaiya in Jharkhand.
"We have already taken out the documents for Cabinet approval. They may come up this week or the next week," Power Minister Piyush Goyal told PTI during his recent visit to the US.
Simultaneously, "we are in dialogue" with several states where UMPPs have to be bid out, he said.
"The Tilayea UMPP in Jharkhand has to be bid out again.
The Banka UMPP in Bihar has to be bid out. There is a project in Andhra Pradesh that would also be bid out. I think there would be one in Cheyyur in Tamil Nadu. Four or five are anvil," the Minister said.
The Power Ministry is also in the process of finalising the standard bid document for imported coal-based UMPPs. Once that is done, UMPPs like Cheyyur in Tamil Nadu can go under hammer.
Earlier, the bid document for domestic coal could not be put up before the Cabinet due to some legal glitch. Government had planned to float tenders for three UMPPs in 2015-16.
In the 2015 Budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the government propose to set up five new UMPPs of 4,000 MW each, in the plug-and-play mode.
All clearances and linkages would be in place before the projects are awarded by a transparent auction system. This should unlock investments to the extent of Rs 1 lakh crore, Jaitley had said.
The government had aborted bidding for Cheyyur (Tamil Nadu) and Bedabahal (Odisha) projects in January last year due to tepid private sector response.
The private firms, which had participated in the first round of bidding for both the projects, withdrew their bids citing difficulties in securing finances for these projects.
In the case of Tilaiya UMPP, all power procurers have signed the termination notice served by Reliance Power to end the contract for the project.
Reliance Power, in August 2009, had won rights to set up a 3,960-MW power plant at Hazaribagh in Jharkhand after bidding a levelised tariff of Rs 1.77 per unit, but couldn't start work on the project as the state government had not provided the required land even after more than five years.
The fate of earlier investigations into information from tax havens shows that the probe into Panama Papers may also not lead anywhere.
-
The recent leak of papers of a Panama-based law firm that helped people and companies open companies and trusts in tax havens has added fuel to the politically sensitive issue of black money. However, investigations into names revealed in earlier such exposes have rarely led to prosecutions or detection of big unaccounted money. In fact, in many cases, the people named were not found to have done anything wrong as opening companies or trusts in tax havens is not illegal per se.
According to the finance ministry, in a similar expose in 2013 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the organisation behind the Panama leaks too, names of 700 Indians had come up for having "business connections with offshore entities". Of these, 434 were Indian residents. A total of 184 people admitted to the links. But as of now, just 52 prosecution complaints have been filed by the Income Tax (I-T) Department, while 20 cases are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The department could detect a credit of only Rs 2,000 crore in these accounts.
In 2011, too, the government had got information about 628 Indians having accounts in HSBC, Switzerland. It could trace 569 people, of which 214 cases were found "not actionable on account of no balance or (beneficiaries) being non-residents or non-traceable", according to the finance minister. The I-T department has filed 154 prosecution complaints. The ED is investigating 23 cases.
The 11.5 million documents of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca have names of 500 Indians, including industrialists, renowned lawyers, ex-cricketers and celebrities. Some big names include DLF promoter K.P. Singh and family members, IndiaBulls owner Sameer Gehlaut, Apollo Group Chairman Onkar Kanwar, Gautam Adani's elder brother Vinod Adani, besides Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The papers say they have formed offshore companies or trusts in jurisdictions such as British Virgin Islands, Bahamas and Panama that are known for lax tax laws.
Public outrage at such revelations is not uncommon. The government was, therefore, quick to react, with the finance minister warning Indian residents with undisclosed assets and bank accounts abroad against such "adventurism". It also set up a committee of officials from the tax department, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Reserve Bank of India to investigate the matter.
Will the investigations be different this time or is this mere posturing by the government?
Taxing Task
"There are many legal ways of sending money abroad. It is wrong to say that one has done anything wrong just because one's name has appeared in the list," says Himanshu Sinha, Partner, Direct Tax, Trilegal. He says investigators have to work hard to find the source of money invested in the overseas company or trust that is under the lens.
Many named in the Panama leaks have already given similar explanations. In an interview to a website, well-known lawyer Harish Salve said his investments in the British Virgin Islands-based company were legal, and the details were declared in tax returns. While many in the list may have invested legally, there could be some who might have violated the country's tax laws. However, establishing this is difficult.
"These lists require a lot of investigation as what they have is names of people and companies. We have to find out if they are shareholders, owners or just directors of these companies. We have to see if they have put money in the companies, if there are bank accounts somewhere, and only then can we do anything," says an official of the Central Board of Direct Taxes. He says the I-T department will see if these people have declared these assets in their returns.
An official from the ED, which is probing 43 such cases from the earlier leaks, says the investigations are at different stages. "In some cases, there are violations; in some cases, the names are those of NRIs (so no violations) ... in some cases, companies were formed but there were no operations," he says. He listed a number of reasons why investigating such cases was difficult. "These are civil offences and so foreign countries do not usually cooperate. For other countries to cooperate, there is requirement of dual criminality, which means the offence must be culpable under the law of the other country as well," he says. Availability of limited information is another factor that makes such cases hard to pursue. "A person may have a company, say, in British Virgin Islands, but it is difficult to establish if he has any operations in that country. In many cases, the accused deny involvement as the documents usually do not have their signature," he says. Both Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have denied having such accounts.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has expressed hope that once bilateral information exchange treaties come into force from 2017, such cases will be easy to trace. However, experts says these treaties, too, have limitations.
"Even if India signs tax information exchange agreements, everything will depend on the willingness of the government concerned to share information. Economies of many of these countries survive on financial secrecy," says Sinha of Trilegal. The tax information exchange treaty does not require a country to share information if this requires changes in its tax laws and administrative practices.
If the past experience is anything to go by, nothing much is likely to come out of the recent leaks either.
The recent leak of papers of a Panama-based law firm that helped people and companies open companies and trusts in tax havens has added fuel to the politically sensitive issue of black money. However, investigations into names revealed in earlier such exposes have rarely led to prosecutions or detection of big unaccounted money. In fact, in many cases, the people named were not found to have done anything wrong as opening companies or trusts in tax havens is not illegal per se.
In 2011, too, the government had got information about 628 Indians having accounts in HSBC, Switzerland. It could trace 569 people, of which 214 cases were found "not actionable on account of no balance or (beneficiaries) being non-residents or non-traceable", according to the finance minister. The I-T department has filed 154 prosecution complaints. The ED is investigating 23 cases.
The 11.5 million documents of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca have names of 500 Indians, including industrialists, renowned lawyers, ex-cricketers and celebrities. Some big names include DLF promoter K.P. Singh and family members, IndiaBulls owner Sameer Gehlaut, Apollo Group Chairman Onkar Kanwar, Gautam Adani's elder brother Vinod Adani, besides Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The papers say they have formed offshore companies or trusts in jurisdictions such as British Virgin Islands, Bahamas and Panama that are known for lax tax laws.
Public outrage at such revelations is not uncommon. The government was, therefore, quick to react, with the finance minister warning Indian residents with undisclosed assets and bank accounts abroad against such "adventurism". It also set up a committee of officials from the tax department, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Reserve Bank of India to investigate the matter.
Will the investigations be different this time or is this mere posturing by the government?
Taxing Task
"There are many legal ways of sending money abroad. It is wrong to say that one has done anything wrong just because one's name has appeared in the list," says Himanshu Sinha, Partner, Direct Tax, Trilegal. He says investigators have to work hard to find the source of money invested in the overseas company or trust that is under the lens.
Many named in the Panama leaks have already given similar explanations. In an interview to a website, well-known lawyer Harish Salve said his investments in the British Virgin Islands-based company were legal, and the details were declared in tax returns. While many in the list may have invested legally, there could be some who might have violated the country's tax laws. However, establishing this is difficult.
"These lists require a lot of investigation as what they have is names of people and companies. We have to find out if they are shareholders, owners or just directors of these companies. We have to see if they have put money in the companies, if there are bank accounts somewhere, and only then can we do anything," says an official of the Central Board of Direct Taxes. He says the I-T department will see if these people have declared these assets in their returns.
An official from the ED, which is probing 43 such cases from the earlier leaks, says the investigations are at different stages. "In some cases, there are violations; in some cases, the names are those of NRIs (so no violations) ... in some cases, companies were formed but there were no operations," he says. He listed a number of reasons why investigating such cases was difficult. "These are civil offences and so foreign countries do not usually cooperate. For other countries to cooperate, there is requirement of dual criminality, which means the offence must be culpable under the law of the other country as well," he says. Availability of limited information is another factor that makes such cases hard to pursue. "A person may have a company, say, in British Virgin Islands, but it is difficult to establish if he has any operations in that country. In many cases, the accused deny involvement as the documents usually do not have their signature," he says. Both Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have denied having such accounts.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has expressed hope that once bilateral information exchange treaties come into force from 2017, such cases will be easy to trace. However, experts says these treaties, too, have limitations.
"Even if India signs tax information exchange agreements, everything will depend on the willingness of the government concerned to share information. Economies of many of these countries survive on financial secrecy," says Sinha of Trilegal. The tax information exchange treaty does not require a country to share information if this requires changes in its tax laws and administrative practices.
If the past experience is anything to go by, nothing much is likely to come out of the recent leaks either.
Leading pharmaceutical firms have concluded a challenging year. Things may not change anytime soon.
-
Last year saw India's top pharmaceutical companies go through one of their most challenging, if not the worst, periods in recent memory.
Over the past 12 to 18 months, many have got warnings from the US Food and Drug Administration, or USFDA, for not conforming to certain good manufacturing practices. The list includes Sun Pharmaceuticals, Dr Reddy's, IPCA Laboratories, Cadila Healthcare, Cadila Pharmaceuticals and Mylan Laboratories. This forced them to put in place costly corrective measures even as sales to their biggest market was affected. The US accounts for 40 per cent-plus sales of most big Indian pharmaceutical companies. In 2014/15, for instance, Dr. Reddy's 47 per cent sales came from the US; for Lupin, the figure was 45 per cent. This was just one issue. Another big problem, say experts, is commoditisation of the generics business, which is forcing the companies to invest in niche specialty areas.
What's more, attempts to make up for these losses by selling more to emerging markets did not succeed due to weakening currencies of these countries. "For most, the year has been challenging on two counts - one from the regulatory standpoint and the other from the point of view of emerging markets," says Saumen Chakraborty, Dr. Reddy's President & Chief Financial Officer and head of IT & business process excellence functions.
Emerging markets account for 20-25 per cent sales of leading pharmaceutical companies such as Dr. Reddy's, Glenmark, Torrent and Sun. However, these countries, too, failed to come to their rescue due to the weakness in their currencies. The fall in Brazilian Real from 2.8 to 3.8 against the dollar, for instance, meant a sharp dip in revenue in dollar terms. Several big emerging countries such as Russia, Brazil and South Africa are big exporters of commodities. That's why the movement of Rouble is linked to oil prices, while rand moves with prices of metals, especially that of copper and diamond. Real moves closely with prices of oil and other commodities that Brazil exports in large quantities. This hit Indian companies. For example, Dr. Reddy's reported a 28 per cent year-on-year decline in revenues from emerging markets in the third quarter of 2015/16. For Glenmark, the decline was over 18 per cent. The figures for other companies were not very dissimilar.
Another roadblock was approval for the launch of generics in the US. This was especially true of companies such as Sun and Dr. Reddy's that had been given warnings by the USFDA. Dr. Reddy's, for instance, got just a couple of approvals, as against 12-15 that it gets in a typical year. However, there were exceptions to this, too. Some, in fact, ended up with more approvals. Glenmark, for instance, got 18 approvals (four tentative) as against five in the previous year.
All this forced many to pin hope on the Indian market. But even here, latest sales data indicate that the companies have reasons to worry. "March sales grew 6.4 per cent, the lowest this financial year. The last time sales growth was poor was in November 2015 (9.1 per cent)," says a report by AIOCD AWACS, which tracks pharmaceutical retail sales in India.
While retail sales are usually subdued in the last month of a financial year, this year the figure was much less compared to what the market was expecting. One reason, says the AIOCD AWACS, was the ban on 344 fixed dose combinations that included some major brands of cough syrups such as Corex (Pfizer's) and Phensedyl (Abbott's). Plus, there was no additional demand driver, unlike last year, when an outbreak of swine flu pushed up sales of anti-infectives and pain killers. The industry is also waiting to see the full impact of other regulatory measures such as price controls.
All this is not good news for those banking on the Indian market for growth. For instance, in the third quarter, Dr. Reddy's revenues from India rose 34 per cent from the corresponding quarter of the previous year (partly due to acquisition of a few established brands of Belgian company UCB in India). However, in March, the growth was 7 per cent. For Cipla, it was 3.5 per cent, while for Zydus, it was 5.9 per cent, though three players among the top 10 still managed to grow in double digits - Lupin (20.6 per cent), Sun (12.3 per cent) and Mankind (11.9 per cent).
Last year saw India's top pharmaceutical companies go through one of their most challenging, if not the worst, periods in recent memory.
Over the past 12 to 18 months, many have got warnings from the US Food and Drug Administration, or USFDA, for not conforming to certain good manufacturing practices. The list includes Sun Pharmaceuticals, Dr Reddy's, IPCA Laboratories, Cadila Healthcare, Cadila Pharmaceuticals and Mylan Laboratories. This forced them to put in place costly corrective measures even as sales to their biggest market was affected. The US accounts for 40 per cent-plus sales of most big Indian pharmaceutical companies. In 2014/15, for instance, Dr. Reddy's 47 per cent sales came from the US; for Lupin, the figure was 45 per cent. This was just one issue. Another big problem, say experts, is commoditisation of the generics business, which is forcing the companies to invest in niche specialty areas.
What's more, attempts to make up for these losses by selling more to emerging markets did not succeed due to weakening currencies of these countries. "For most, the year has been challenging on two counts - one from the regulatory standpoint and the other from the point of view of emerging markets," says Saumen Chakraborty, Dr. Reddy's President & Chief Financial Officer and head of IT & business process excellence functions.
Emerging markets account for 20-25 per cent sales of leading pharmaceutical companies such as Dr. Reddy's, Glenmark, Torrent and Sun. However, these countries, too, failed to come to their rescue due to the weakness in their currencies. The fall in Brazilian Real from 2.8 to 3.8 against the dollar, for instance, meant a sharp dip in revenue in dollar terms. Several big emerging countries such as Russia, Brazil and South Africa are big exporters of commodities. That's why the movement of Rouble is linked to oil prices, while rand moves with prices of metals, especially that of copper and diamond. Real moves closely with prices of oil and other commodities that Brazil exports in large quantities. This hit Indian companies. For example, Dr. Reddy's reported a 28 per cent year-on-year decline in revenues from emerging markets in the third quarter of 2015/16. For Glenmark, the decline was over 18 per cent. The figures for other companies were not very dissimilar.
Another roadblock was approval for the launch of generics in the US. This was especially true of companies such as Sun and Dr. Reddy's that had been given warnings by the USFDA. Dr. Reddy's, for instance, got just a couple of approvals, as against 12-15 that it gets in a typical year. However, there were exceptions to this, too. Some, in fact, ended up with more approvals. Glenmark, for instance, got 18 approvals (four tentative) as against five in the previous year.
All this forced many to pin hope on the Indian market. But even here, latest sales data indicate that the companies have reasons to worry. "March sales grew 6.4 per cent, the lowest this financial year. The last time sales growth was poor was in November 2015 (9.1 per cent)," says a report by AIOCD AWACS, which tracks pharmaceutical retail sales in India.
All this is not good news for those banking on the Indian market for growth. For instance, in the third quarter, Dr. Reddy's revenues from India rose 34 per cent from the corresponding quarter of the previous year (partly due to acquisition of a few established brands of Belgian company UCB in India). However, in March, the growth was 7 per cent. For Cipla, it was 3.5 per cent, while for Zydus, it was 5.9 per cent, though three players among the top 10 still managed to grow in double digits - Lupin (20.6 per cent), Sun (12.3 per cent) and Mankind (11.9 per cent).
General Awareness
NICL AO Exam General Awareness Solved Paper (Exam Held On: 12-04-2015)
-
-
1. Which of the following is the largest general insurance company of India on the basis of gross premium collection inclusive of foreign operations?
(a) United India Insurance Company Limited (b) Oriental Fire and General Insurance Company Limited
(c) New India Assurance Company Limited (d) Agriculture Insurance Company of India
(e) National Insurance Company Limited (Ans : c)
2. The proposed Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA Bank) will have a Credit Guarantee corpus of–
(a) Rs. 15,000 cr (b) Rs. 10,000 cr (c) Rs. 3,000 cr (d) Rs. 20,000 cr (e) Rs. 5,000 cr (Ans : c)
3. The chemical name of 'caustic soda'is–
(a) Potassium Hydroxide (b) Aluminium Oxide (c) Sodium Hydroxide (d) Sodium Chloride (e) Sodium Bicarbonate (Ans : c)
4. The term 'Front-end load' is associated with–
(a) Term Deposits (b) Term Loans (c) Insurance Policies (d) Mutual Funds (e) Government Securities (Ans : d)
5. When an insurer passes some part of or all risks to another insurer called Reinsurer, this type of insurance is called–
(a) Self Insurance (b) Dual Insurance (c) Void Insurance (d) Two Fold Insurance (e) Re-insurance (Ans : e)
6. The capital of the 'People's Republic of China' is–
(a) Taiwan (b) Hong Kong (c) Shanghai (d) Beijing (e) Shenzhen (Ans : d)
7. A complaint can be lodged with the insurance ombudsman by an aggrieved–
(a) Corporate Policy Holder (b) Trust/Association holding an Insurance Policy (c) Sole-Proprietor of a firm holding the Insurance Policy
(d) Individual Policy holder (e) Partnership Firm (Ans : d)
8. Which of the following teams won the Santosh Trophy, the main state competition in Indian Football?
(a) Punjab (b) Assam (c) Services (d) West Bengal (e) Maharashtra (Ans : c)
9 "Joko Widodo" has been elected as President of–
(a) Indonesia (b) Mexico (c) Argentina (d) Ukraine (e) Austria (Ans : a)
10. The FIBA cup is associated with which among the following sports ?
(a) Table Tennis (b) Basketball (c) Hockey (d) Football (e) Cricket (Ans : b)
11. An agency which holds electronic records of insurance policies issued to individuals is known as–
(a) Insurance Depository (b) Insurance Attorney (c) Stock Insurance Company
(d) Insurance Actuary (e) Insurance Repository (Ans : e)
12. A life insurance policy which provides coverage at a fixed rate of payments for a limited period of time is known as–
(a) Whole Life Insurance (b) Variable Universal Life Insurance (c) Term Life Insurance
(d) Universal Life Insurance (e) Permanent Life Insurance (Ans : c)
13. 'Tribhuvan International Airport' is situated in–
(a) Port Louis, Mauritius (b) Paro, Bhutan (c) Jakarta, Indonesia (d) Kathmandu, Nepal (e) Bangkok, Thailand (Ans : d)
14. Under the recently re-launched "Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana" (VPBY) for senior citizens, the insured person can receive a monthly pension ranging from–
(a) Other than those given as options (b) Rs. 100/- to Rs. 5,000/- (c) Rs. 500/- to Rs. 5,000/-
(d) Rs. 1,000/- to Rs. 10,000/- (e) Rs. 50/- to Rs. 500/- (Ans : c)
15. Lia Van Leer of Israel who recently died at the age of 90 years is a pioneering figure in the field of–
(a) Cultural Studies (b) Farm Productivity and Profitability (c) Human Computer Protection
(d) Film Programming and Archiving (e) Film Photography (Ans : d)
16. Against-a global average of 50% the female labour force participation rate in India is found to be–
(a) 23% (b) 53% (c) 33% (d) 63% (e) 13% (Ans : c)
17. Who amongst the following has recently been appointed by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region as the Brand Ambassador of the North East region ?
(a) Mary Kom (b) Sarjubala Devi (c) Suman Bala Devi (d) M. Thomas Meiter (e) Likhmabam Sushila (Ans : a)
18. The Cabinet Minister for Civil Aviation in the Union Council of Ministers is–
(a) Shri Ananth Kumar (b) Shri Radha Mohan Singh (c) Shri Anant Geete (d) Shri Jual Oram (e) Shri Ashok Gajapati Raju (Ans : e)
19. It is a joint venture between Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), one of India's leading housing finance institution and–
(a) Standard Life (b) Prudential Life (c) Sun Life (d) Max Life (e) Aviva India (Ans : a)
20. According to the Stockholm International Peace - Research Institute (SIPRI), which one of the following is the world's biggest importer of arms during the five year period from 2010 to 2014 ?
(a) India (b) Iran (c) Germany (d) Pakistan (e) China (Ans : a)
21. PM recently inaugurated the first of the eight Coastal Surveillance Radar Systems (CSRS) being set up by India in which of the following countries?
(a) Mauritius (b) Sri Lanka (c) Maldives (d) Seychelles (e) Philippines (Ans : d)
22. The traditional new year celebrations 'Rongali Bihu' which is celebrated with fun in abundance by all people irrespective of caste, creed and belief in the Indian state of–
(a) Goa (b) Assam (c) Telangana (d) Andhra (e) Odisha (Ans : b)
23. The 'Kaziranga National Park' is situated in the Indian state of–
(a) Assam (b) West Bengal (c) Uttarakhand (d) Chattisgarh (e) Bihar (Ans : a)
24. The Japanese encephalitis, a virus borne disease, which claimed many deaths in India recently, affects which part of the human body?
(a) Kidney (b) Brain (c) Lungs (d) Intestine (e) Heart (Ans : b)
25. The "Pudhu Vazhvu Scheme" is an empowerment and poverty reduction initiative launched by –
(a) Tamil Nadu (b) Andhra (c) Kerala (d) West Bengal (e) Telangana (Ans : a)
26. Which of the following noted Gandhians, is known - for his rendition of Gandhi katha – stories on the Mahatma's life, which he took across the world and received much acclaim for it?
(a) S. N. Subbarao (b) Rajmohan Gandhi (c) Mahadev Desai (d) Narayan Bhai Desai (e) Chandi Prasad Bhatt (Ans : d)
27. Which of the following organization processes insurance claims or certain aspects of employee benefit plans for a separate entity?
(a) Insurance Broker (b) Insurance Surveyor (c) Third Party Owner (d) Insurance Agent (e) Third Party Administrator (Ans : e)
28. The 'National De-worming Day' is observed in India every year on–
(a) 10th June (b) 10th April (c) 10th March (d) 10th February (e) 10th May (Ans : d)
29. Under the Sukanya Samridhi Yojana (SSY), the interest is payable by the Bank at the rate of–
(a) 8% (b) 8.7% (c) 8.5% (d) 8.9% (e) 9.2% (Ans : e)
30. What is the minimum number of employees is a firm covered by the retirement fund body Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) for providing social security net?
(a) Ten (b) Twenty (c) Thirty (d) Fifteen (e) Forty (Ans : b)
31. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), is a trade and investment agreement under negotiation between the–
(a) European Union and United States (b) European Union and India (c) "World Trade Organization and India"
(d) European Union and China (e) India and United States (Ans : a)
32. The currency of the 'Republic of Mauritius' is–
(a) Other than those given as options (b) Mauritian Riya (c) Mauritian Rial (d) Mauritian Rupee (e) Mauritian Rufiyaa (Ans : d)
33. "One Life is Not Enough" is an autobiography of–.
(a) Prime Minister Narendra Modi (b) Natwar Singh (c) Dr. Manmohan Singh (d) Sharad Pawar (e) APJ Abdul Kalam (Ans : b)
34. Future Group is an Indian private conglomerate, which is known for having a significant prominence in Indian retail and fashion sector, with popular supermarket chain–
(a) Hyper City (b) Easy Day (c) More (d) D-Mart (e) Big Bazaar (Ans : e)
35. In the recent Finance Bill-2016 place before the parliament Government proposed the merging of commodity futures market regulator, Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with–
(a) IRDA (b) PFRDA (c) SEBI (d) RBI (e) FLSRC (Ans : c)
36. An insurance purchased by agricultural producers to protect themselves' against either the loss of their crops due to natural disasters or loss of revenue due to declines in the prices of agricultural commodities is known as–
(a) Crop Insurance (b) Third Party Insurance (c) Gap Insurance (d) Marine Insurance (e) Auto Insurance (Ans : a)
37. 'Discovered in 1866, the 'Mesabi Iron Range' is the chief deposit of iron ore in the–
(a) South America (b) Russia (c) Australia (d) Europe (e) United States (Ans : e)
38. According to latest Economic Census released by National Statistical Association, which state has emerged top among states having more household enterprises ?
(a) Haryana (b) Maharashtra (c) Tamil Nadu (d) Karnataka (e) Rajasthan (Ans : c)
39. Tasmania' is an island state and is part of the–
(a) Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (b) Commonwealth of Marina Islands (c) Commonwealth of Australia
(d) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (e) Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Ans : c)
40. United Nations Industrial Development Organization that promotes industrial development is the specialized agency of the United Nations. It is headquartered in–
(a) Rome, Italy (b) New York, USA (c) Vienna, Austria (d) Paris, France (e) Gland, Switzerland (Ans : c)
- 1. Which of the following is the largest general insurance company of India on the basis of gross premium collection inclusive of foreign operations?
(a) United India Insurance Company Limited (b) Oriental Fire and General Insurance Company Limited
(c) New India Assurance Company Limited (d) Agriculture Insurance Company of India
(e) National Insurance Company Limited (Ans : c)
2. The proposed Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA Bank) will have a Credit Guarantee corpus of–
(a) Rs. 15,000 cr (b) Rs. 10,000 cr (c) Rs. 3,000 cr (d) Rs. 20,000 cr (e) Rs. 5,000 cr (Ans : c)
3. The chemical name of 'caustic soda'is–
(a) Potassium Hydroxide (b) Aluminium Oxide (c) Sodium Hydroxide (d) Sodium Chloride (e) Sodium Bicarbonate (Ans : c)
4. The term 'Front-end load' is associated with–
(a) Term Deposits (b) Term Loans (c) Insurance Policies (d) Mutual Funds (e) Government Securities (Ans : d)
5. When an insurer passes some part of or all risks to another insurer called Reinsurer, this type of insurance is called–
(a) Self Insurance (b) Dual Insurance (c) Void Insurance (d) Two Fold Insurance (e) Re-insurance (Ans : e)
6. The capital of the 'People's Republic of China' is–
(a) Taiwan (b) Hong Kong (c) Shanghai (d) Beijing (e) Shenzhen (Ans : d)
7. A complaint can be lodged with the insurance ombudsman by an aggrieved–
(a) Corporate Policy Holder (b) Trust/Association holding an Insurance Policy (c) Sole-Proprietor of a firm holding the Insurance Policy
(d) Individual Policy holder (e) Partnership Firm (Ans : d)
8. Which of the following teams won the Santosh Trophy, the main state competition in Indian Football?
(a) Punjab (b) Assam (c) Services (d) West Bengal (e) Maharashtra (Ans : c)
9 "Joko Widodo" has been elected as President of–
(a) Indonesia (b) Mexico (c) Argentina (d) Ukraine (e) Austria (Ans : a)
10. The FIBA cup is associated with which among the following sports ?
(a) Table Tennis (b) Basketball (c) Hockey (d) Football (e) Cricket (Ans : b)
11. An agency which holds electronic records of insurance policies issued to individuals is known as–
(a) Insurance Depository (b) Insurance Attorney (c) Stock Insurance Company
(d) Insurance Actuary (e) Insurance Repository (Ans : e)
12. A life insurance policy which provides coverage at a fixed rate of payments for a limited period of time is known as–
(a) Whole Life Insurance (b) Variable Universal Life Insurance (c) Term Life Insurance
(d) Universal Life Insurance (e) Permanent Life Insurance (Ans : c)
13. 'Tribhuvan International Airport' is situated in–
(a) Port Louis, Mauritius (b) Paro, Bhutan (c) Jakarta, Indonesia (d) Kathmandu, Nepal (e) Bangkok, Thailand (Ans : d)
14. Under the recently re-launched "Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana" (VPBY) for senior citizens, the insured person can receive a monthly pension ranging from–
(a) Other than those given as options (b) Rs. 100/- to Rs. 5,000/- (c) Rs. 500/- to Rs. 5,000/-
(d) Rs. 1,000/- to Rs. 10,000/- (e) Rs. 50/- to Rs. 500/- (Ans : c)
15. Lia Van Leer of Israel who recently died at the age of 90 years is a pioneering figure in the field of–
(a) Cultural Studies (b) Farm Productivity and Profitability (c) Human Computer Protection
(d) Film Programming and Archiving (e) Film Photography (Ans : d)
16. Against-a global average of 50% the female labour force participation rate in India is found to be–
(a) 23% (b) 53% (c) 33% (d) 63% (e) 13% (Ans : c)
17. Who amongst the following has recently been appointed by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region as the Brand Ambassador of the North East region ?
(a) Mary Kom (b) Sarjubala Devi (c) Suman Bala Devi (d) M. Thomas Meiter (e) Likhmabam Sushila (Ans : a)
18. The Cabinet Minister for Civil Aviation in the Union Council of Ministers is–
(a) Shri Ananth Kumar (b) Shri Radha Mohan Singh (c) Shri Anant Geete (d) Shri Jual Oram (e) Shri Ashok Gajapati Raju (Ans : e)
19. It is a joint venture between Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), one of India's leading housing finance institution and–
(a) Standard Life (b) Prudential Life (c) Sun Life (d) Max Life (e) Aviva India (Ans : a)
20. According to the Stockholm International Peace - Research Institute (SIPRI), which one of the following is the world's biggest importer of arms during the five year period from 2010 to 2014 ?
(a) India (b) Iran (c) Germany (d) Pakistan (e) China (Ans : a)
21. PM recently inaugurated the first of the eight Coastal Surveillance Radar Systems (CSRS) being set up by India in which of the following countries?
(a) Mauritius (b) Sri Lanka (c) Maldives (d) Seychelles (e) Philippines (Ans : d)
22. The traditional new year celebrations 'Rongali Bihu' which is celebrated with fun in abundance by all people irrespective of caste, creed and belief in the Indian state of–
(a) Goa (b) Assam (c) Telangana (d) Andhra (e) Odisha (Ans : b)
23. The 'Kaziranga National Park' is situated in the Indian state of–
(a) Assam (b) West Bengal (c) Uttarakhand (d) Chattisgarh (e) Bihar (Ans : a)
24. The Japanese encephalitis, a virus borne disease, which claimed many deaths in India recently, affects which part of the human body?
(a) Kidney (b) Brain (c) Lungs (d) Intestine (e) Heart (Ans : b)
25. The "Pudhu Vazhvu Scheme" is an empowerment and poverty reduction initiative launched by –
(a) Tamil Nadu (b) Andhra (c) Kerala (d) West Bengal (e) Telangana (Ans : a)
26. Which of the following noted Gandhians, is known - for his rendition of Gandhi katha – stories on the Mahatma's life, which he took across the world and received much acclaim for it?
(a) S. N. Subbarao (b) Rajmohan Gandhi (c) Mahadev Desai (d) Narayan Bhai Desai (e) Chandi Prasad Bhatt (Ans : d)
27. Which of the following organization processes insurance claims or certain aspects of employee benefit plans for a separate entity?
(a) Insurance Broker (b) Insurance Surveyor (c) Third Party Owner (d) Insurance Agent (e) Third Party Administrator (Ans : e)
28. The 'National De-worming Day' is observed in India every year on–
(a) 10th June (b) 10th April (c) 10th March (d) 10th February (e) 10th May (Ans : d)
29. Under the Sukanya Samridhi Yojana (SSY), the interest is payable by the Bank at the rate of–
(a) 8% (b) 8.7% (c) 8.5% (d) 8.9% (e) 9.2% (Ans : e)
30. What is the minimum number of employees is a firm covered by the retirement fund body Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) for providing social security net?
(a) Ten (b) Twenty (c) Thirty (d) Fifteen (e) Forty (Ans : b)
31. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), is a trade and investment agreement under negotiation between the–
(a) European Union and United States (b) European Union and India (c) "World Trade Organization and India"
(d) European Union and China (e) India and United States (Ans : a)
32. The currency of the 'Republic of Mauritius' is–
(a) Other than those given as options (b) Mauritian Riya (c) Mauritian Rial (d) Mauritian Rupee (e) Mauritian Rufiyaa (Ans : d)
33. "One Life is Not Enough" is an autobiography of–.
(a) Prime Minister Narendra Modi (b) Natwar Singh (c) Dr. Manmohan Singh (d) Sharad Pawar (e) APJ Abdul Kalam (Ans : b)
34. Future Group is an Indian private conglomerate, which is known for having a significant prominence in Indian retail and fashion sector, with popular supermarket chain–
(a) Hyper City (b) Easy Day (c) More (d) D-Mart (e) Big Bazaar (Ans : e)
35. In the recent Finance Bill-2016 place before the parliament Government proposed the merging of commodity futures market regulator, Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with–
(a) IRDA (b) PFRDA (c) SEBI (d) RBI (e) FLSRC (Ans : c)
36. An insurance purchased by agricultural producers to protect themselves' against either the loss of their crops due to natural disasters or loss of revenue due to declines in the prices of agricultural commodities is known as–
(a) Crop Insurance (b) Third Party Insurance (c) Gap Insurance (d) Marine Insurance (e) Auto Insurance (Ans : a)
37. 'Discovered in 1866, the 'Mesabi Iron Range' is the chief deposit of iron ore in the–
(a) South America (b) Russia (c) Australia (d) Europe (e) United States (Ans : e)
38. According to latest Economic Census released by National Statistical Association, which state has emerged top among states having more household enterprises ?
(a) Haryana (b) Maharashtra (c) Tamil Nadu (d) Karnataka (e) Rajasthan (Ans : c)
39. Tasmania' is an island state and is part of the–
(a) Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (b) Commonwealth of Marina Islands (c) Commonwealth of Australia
(d) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (e) Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Ans : c)
40. United Nations Industrial Development Organization that promotes industrial development is the specialized agency of the United Nations. It is headquartered in–
(a) Rome, Italy (b) New York, USA (c) Vienna, Austria (d) Paris, France (e) Gland, Switzerland (Ans : c)
No comments:
Post a Comment