08 November 2016

How can I exchange old Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes?

Modi has taken a bold and effective step to curb black money. If you don’t have a black money, it should not bother you much. Your hard earned money will always be yours. You have enough time and opportunities to exchange the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes to legally valid currency notes.
  1. You can deposit in your account in any bank or post starting from 10/11/2016 to 30/12/2016. There is no limit for this deposit.
  2. Once you deposit your Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes, you can withdraw in legally valid currency notes up to Rs 10000 per day and Rs 20000 per week from the bank or post offices.
  3. One can exchange the notes at banks or head and sub post offices producing identification documents like PAN, EPIC, Adhar, Passport etc. This kind of exchange of notes is capped at Rs 4000 upto 24/11/2016 and Rs 20000 from 25/11/2016 to 30/12/2016.
  4. Even if you can not exchange your old Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes during the given period up to 30/12/2016, you can exchange notes at specified RBI offices with a declaration up to end of this financial year.
  5. One can withdraw up to only Rs 2000 at ATMs as of now from 10/11/2016 and it will be increased to Rs 4000 soon.

06 November 2016

GK for Bank Exams: Weekly Digest: Oct 30 to Nov 5, 2016

AP tops in energy efficiency

  • The World Bank has ranked A.P. as number one in ‘Energy Efficiency Implementation Readiness’ with followed by Rajasthan, Karnataka and Maharashtra
  • World bank report titled: ‘India’s State Level Energy Efficiency Implementation Readiness”

GST Updates: Council fixes 4-level GST rate structure

  • Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be levied at multiple rates ranging from 0 per cent to 28 per cent.
  • Ultra luxuries, demerit and sin goods, will attract 28 per cent GST
  • Two standard rates of 12 per cent and 18 per cent would be applied on the bulk of the goods and services. This includes fast-moving consumer goods.
  • Lowest slab of 5 per cent will be for items of common consumption.
  • Other necessary items including food will not have any tax.

Google ties up with ASI for virtual tour of monuments

Google has tied up with the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) to develop 360 degree virtual tours of 280 monuments across the country

RBI allows banks to raise funds via masala bonds

  • The Reserve Bank of India has allowed Indian banks to raise funds through issuance of rupee-denominated bonds overseas (also called masala bonds)
  • Banks can issue perpetual debt instruments qualifying for inclusion as Additional Tier-1 capital under the extant Basel-III capital regulations.
  • They can also issue long-term rupee-denominated bonds overseas for financing infrastructure and affordable housing.

IDFC Bank using micro-ATMs

A micro-ATM at a glance, it looks like a large tablet. It has an attached biometric scanner and thermal printer and is Aadhaar-enabled and interoperable. It can do everything a regular ATM can — and more. Using multiple identifiers — whether it is your mobile number, Aadhaar number, debit card number or bank account number, one can perform all basic banking transaction, do an account opening, deposit cash into any bank account, withdraw money from your account, undertake balance enquiry, get your statements, make funds transfers, remittances, etc


IPPB to synergie with financial services biz of India Post

  • Payments banks can accept demand deposits — current deposits and savings bank deposits from individuals, small businesses and other entities, but with a condition that balances do not exceed Rs. 1 lakh. They can neither accept fixed deposits and NRI deposits nor can they give loans.
  • The primary objective of a payment banks is to further the cause of financial inclusion by providing small savings accounts and payments/remittance services to migrant labour workforce, low-income households, small businesses.
  • The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is planning to create a mechanism whereby balances over this limit get automatically transferred to the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB).
  • Payments banks are planning to overcome these drawbacks using tie up with other banks. The full-time banks are also interested in marketing their loans and other products through payment banks.
  • Reliance Industries and State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Airtel Payments Bank, ICICI Bank and FINO PayTech to foray into the payments bank space as joint ventures.

Ease of Doing Business Reforms Ranking 2015-16

  • Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the World Bank conducted the “Ease of Doing Business Reforms Ranking 2015-16.
  • Andhra Pradesh and Telangana jointly topped in the ranking. 

29 October 2016

GK for Bank Exams: Weekly Digest: Oct 23 to 29

 ‘One India’ concept for ease of doing business

  • The Centre is working with State governments to introduce a ‘One India’ concept.
  • It is the most ambitious ‘ease of doing business’ initiative so far.
  • In ‘One India’ concept investors will need to fill only a single e-form for investing and doing business anywhere in India.
  • Currently, firms are mandated to complete multiple forms at the Central and State levels, and it gets more complicated as each State has different requirements and regulations.

Tata Sons sacks Cyrus Mistry

  • The Tata Sons board on Monday sacked Cyrus Mistry from the post of Chairman.
  • Mr. Mistry, who had earlier headed the Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s construction business.
  • The Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which has 18.4 per cent in Tata Sons.

Haji Ali gives women access to sanctum sanctorum

Haji Ali Dargah Trust on Monday conceded before the Supreme Court that it has resolved to allow women to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the famed dargah in Mumbai on a “par with men”

Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India

  • Less than a third of all bank deposits in value terms in the country is insured by the RBI arm Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (DICGC).
  • DICGC insurance is available at Rs. 1 lakh for both principal and interest per depositor, per bank.
  • Deposit insurance in India covers all commercial banks, local area banks, regional rural banks and co-operative banks.
  • The deposit insurance coverage limit is applied separately to deposits in each bank.
  • If a bank goes belly up, then the DICGC pays the insured amount to the depositor

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key’s visit to India

  • New Zealand Prime Minister John Key visited India.
  • Capital of New Zealand  is Wellington
  • Largest city is Auckland
  • Currency is New Zealand dollar

National Ayurveda Day

  • National Ayurveda Day to be celebrated throughout the Country on 28th October
  • The Government of India has decided to celebrate National Ayurveda Day every year on the occasion of Dhanwantari Jayanti.

Urja Ganga

Urja Ganga is the gas pipeline project aims to provide piped cooking gas to residents of Varanasi 

Ease of doing business rankings

  • India is at the 130th position in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking for 2017.
  • The index was released as part of the World Bank’s annual report Doing Business 2017.
  • Performance of BRICS nations: Russia-40, South Africa-74 and China-78, Brazil-123.

Man Booker Prize 2016

Paul Beatty has become the first US author to win the Man Booker Prize for his novel “The Sellout”


23 October 2016

GK for Bank Exams: Weekly Digest: Oct 16 to 22

Banknotes of the denomination of Rs. 2,000 will be in circulation soon.

  • The Reserve Bank of India has very nearly completed preparations for introducing new high-value currency of Rs 2,000
  • The notes have already been printed, and their dispatch from the currency printing press in Mysuru has commenced.
  • Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited, a subsidiary of RBI prints the notes and has 4 printing press: Mysore (Karnataka), Salboni(West Bengal), Nasik (Maharashtra), Dewas (Madhya Pradesh).
  • The highest denomination note printed by the RBI was the Rs. 10,000 note in 1938 and in 1954. They were demonetised in 1946 and 1978, respectively.
  • There has been no official word on the introduction of new notes either from the RBI or the government hence the news is not authenticated.
  • Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes together accounted for 86.4 per cent of the total value of notes in circulation.
  • It costs a little over Rs. 3 to produce a Rs. 1,000 note, the lowest in terms printing costs as a proportion of value.
  • As of March 2016, the value of banknotes in circulation was Rs. 16,41,500 lakh crore, an increase of 14.9 percent over the previous year.

Regional air connectivity (RCS) scheme or UDAN

  • The Government kick-started the regional air connectivity scheme (RCS) in the name of "Ude Desh ka Aam nagrik" or UDAN.
  • The government has invited proposals from operators to fly to airports which do not have regular flights.
  • This is a plan to connect small towns by flights whose fares will be capped at Rs 2,500 for a one-hour flight
  • This scheme will be funded by levying a fee on aircraft landing at bigger airports.
  • For helicopters, half-an-hour ride under the scheme would cost Rs 2,500 and for over one-hour duration, the cap would be Rs 5,000.
  • On each RCS route, the minimum frequency of flights would be 3 and a maximum of 7 in a week.

FinMin announces fresh tranche of gold bonds

  • SGB- Sovereign Gold Bonds are government securities denominated in grams of gold. They are substitutes for holding physical gold.
  • Eligible investors include individuals, HUFs, trusts, universities, charitable institutions, etc.
  • Minimum investment in the Bond shall be one gram with a maximum buying limit of 500 grams per person per fiscal year (April – March).
  • The Bonds bear interest at the rate of 2.75 per cent per annum on the amount of initial investment.
  • Interest will be credited semi-annually (Half yearly) to the bank account of the investor.
  • The price of a bond will be fixed in Indian Rupees on the basis of the previous week’s (Monday – Friday) simple average price for gold of 999 purity published by the India Bullion and Jewellers’ Association Ltd.
  • The issue price will be disseminated by the Reserve Bank of India.
  • Though the tenor of the bond is 8 years, early encashment/redemption of the bond is allowed after the fifth year from the date of issue on coupon payment dates.
  •  The bond will be tradable on Exchanges if held in demat form.

Ashok Leyland unveils India-made e-bus

The Hinduja flagship Ashok Leyland has launched its first locally designed, engineered and produced battery electric bus series called Circuit. (Battery for these buses will be imported from the US).

HDFC raises Rs.500 crore via masala bonds

News: HDFC said it has raised Rs.500 crore through rupee-denominated bonds from overseas investors (Junk)
What are Masala Bonds? They are simply rupee-denominated bonds by Indian companies sold to overseas investors say in USA or Europe to raise money. (Remember for exam)

Duterte declares Philippines’ ‘separation from the U.S.’

  • Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte declared his separation from long-standing ally the United States
  • The Philippines is a South-east Asian country in the Western Pacific, comprising more than 7,000 islands
  • Its capital is Manila
  • The Philippine Peso is the currency of Philippines

Meeting on Mahadayi

  • Mahadayi river dispute is between Goa, Maharastra and Karnataka.
  • The river flows in Goa and Karnataka only, Maharashtra is simply a neighbour.
  • The river originates in the Western Ghats in the Belgaum district of Karnataka
  • The Mandovi flows through Goa pouring into the Arabian Sea
  • The sharing of the waters of this river is a cause of dispute between the governments of Karnataka and Goa
  • Karnataka government proposes to divert some water from the Mahadayi river to the Malaprabha river and Goa opposes for that.
  • The Mahadayi Water Tribunal has to decide on the sharing of this

BRICS meet declaration pledges to fight terror

  • 8th BRICS summit Goa ended with Declaration which pledged opposition to terrorism.
  • BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
  • They meet once a year in a summit to discuss the major issues. The summit is being held in the countries in order BRICS, i.e next summit in 2017 would be in China.

New Development Bank

  • The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank is a multilateral development bank operated by the BRICS nations.
  • The bank's primary focus of lending will be infrastructure projects.
  • President- K.V. Kamath (Former head of ICICI Bank).
  • Headquarters of the bank is in Shanghai, China.

BRICS agrees to set up credit rating agency

  • BRICS agreed to set up an independent rating agency.
  • Why they want a separate rating agency? New Development Bank president K.V. Kamath had expressed concerns over methodologies of the three global agencies (S&P, Fitch, Moody’s) saying that these constrain growth in emerging nations.
  • Rating of multilateral banks like the BRICS-promoted NDB by these global agencies were affected by the parent countries’ ratings, despite having deep capital buffers

Experts say Saraswati did exist

  • An expert committee of geologists, archaeologists and hydrologists say they have found evidence of the course of the river Saraswati, a mythological river mentioned in the Rigveda.
  • The seven-member committee, headed by Professor K.S. Valdiya of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR).
  • The Yamuna, Sutlet and Ghagghar were all once part of the Saraswati, the shrinking of which is linked to the decline of the Harrapan civilisation.
  • Saraswati originated from Adibadri in the Himalaya to culminate in the Arabian Sea through the Rann of Kutch.

15 October 2016

GK for Bank Exams: Weekly Digest: Oct 9 to 15

Anti Dumping duty on narrow woven fabric from China

  • The Finance Ministry has imposed anti-dumping duty on narrow woven fabric (hook and loop Velcro tapes) from China.
  • An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value. Dumping is a process where a company exports a product at a price lower than the price it normally charges on its own home market.

Brazil Wins Inaugural Brics U – 17 Football Tournament

  • Brazil has lifted the 1st BRICS U-17 Football Tournament 2016 held at Goa. In the Finals they defeated South Africa 5-1. 
  • The BRICS U-17 Football Cup is a U-17 Football tournament to be played among teams of five BRICS countries - economic block formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The 1st historic edition was played in Goa, India.

ICICI Bank executes remittance transactions using blockchain technology

  • ICICI has successfully executed transactions in international trade finance and remittance using blockchain technology in partnership with Emirates NBD.
  • ICICI is the first bank in the country and among the first few globally to exchange and authenticate remittance transaction messages as well as original international trade documents related to purchase order, invoice, shipping and insurance, among others, electronically on blockchain in real time.

Death of Thailand’s King

  • King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, one of the longest-reigning monarchs in history, died at age 88.
  • Bhumibol ascended to the throne 70 years ago, making him the world's longest-reigning monarch before his death.
  • Also known as Rama IX -- a reference to his lineage stretching from Rama I, the founder of the Chakri dynasty -- Bhumibol commanded great love and respect within Thailand.
  • Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is the king's appointed successor.