18

th
May
1) The Reserve Bank of India on 2 April 2014 granted in-principle approval of bank licences to which two entitites? IDFC
Limited and Bandhan Financial Services Private Limited (These two firms pipped to post 23 other applicants, which
included some well-known financial and industrial houses like Muthoot Finance, Reliance Capital, Tata Sons, IFCI, Aditya
Birla Nuvo, Bajaj Finserv, LIC Housing Finance, L&T Finance Holdings and Shriram Capital. IDFC was established in 1997 and
acts as aspecialized financial intermediary for infrastructure projects. Bandhan Financial is Indias largestmicro
finance institution with over 4.5 lakh borrowers and was set up in 2002)
.
2) Who was appointed as the new Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 3 April 2014? R. Gandhi (He
was appointed by the Union Govt. for a period of three years. The appointment follows Anand Sinha relinquishing his
charge as Deputy Governor in mid-January 2014. The RBI now has four Deputy Governors KC Chakrabarty, HR Khan, Urjit
Patel and R. Gandhi. However, KC Chakrabarty too had announced his retirement and RBI is also seeking a replacement for
him)
.
3) The Finance Ministry released a draft of the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) on 1 April 2014. This draft focuses on raising more
revenue from high net worth individuals, while leaving the slabs unchanged for others. In this draft high slab of income-tax
has been proposed for individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) belonging to super-rich category. What is the
criterion of income for this super-rich category? Annual income above Rs. 10 crore
.
4) What is the proposed tax slab for super-rich individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) in the draft of the Direct
Taxes Code (DTC), which was released on 1 April 2014? 35%
.
5) What is the proposed additional tax on those earning over Rs 1 crore through dividend income in the draft of the Direct
Taxes Code (DTC), which was released on 1 April 2014? 10%
.
6) In its first bi-monthly monetary policy statement issued on 1 April 2014, the RBI announced which major relief for
saving bank account holders? It asked banks to cut down services on low-balance accounts and do away with fines (In
this regard the RBI said that it proposes to frame comprehensive consumer protection regulations based on domestic
experience and best global banking practices. Instead of levying penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance
in ordinary savings bank accounts, banks should limit services available on such accounts to those available to basic
savings bank deposit accounts and restore the services when the balances improve to the minimum required level)
.
7) Private sector bank Axis Bank on 27 March 2014 launched its own Kisan Credit Card, which is aimed at helping farmers
access liquidity round-the-clock. The bank claimed that it is first new generation private sector bank to launch an
electronic Kisan Credit Card on the RuPay platform. In which year the Kisan Credit Card scheme was launched? in
1998 (The scheme was introduced in August 1998 and since then, a host of banks, a majority of them in the state-run
space, have launched such cards)
.
8) The capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 29 March 2014 got back the power to
act against ponzi schemes, illegal deposit schemes and assess call data records in securities-related offences after the SEBI
Ordinance was re-promulgated. This happened after the Finance Ministry managed to get the nod of the Election
Commission and Cabinet on re-promulgation of the SEBI Ordinance and finally from the President. Under this ordinance,
which pooled money schemes would be compulsorily registered with the SEBI? Schemes with deposits over Rs. 100
crore (This Ordinance lapsed on 17 January 2014 after the Government failed in getting the Securities (laws) Amendment
Bill passed in the monsoon, winter and extended winter session of the 15th Lok Sabha, which was adjourned sine die on
21 February 2014)
.
9) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 27 March 2014 extended the deadline for implementation of Basel III norms by the
Indian banks to 31 March 2019. What was the earlier deadline for implementation of this norm? 31 March 2018 (Under
this norm Indian banks need to have a core capital ratio of 8% and a total capital adequacy ratio of 11.5% against the
present 9%. The norm has been devised to strengthen the regulation, supervision and risk management of the
banking sector)
.
10) Who was appointed as the new President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) during March 2014? Ajay S.
Shriram (Ajay S. Shriram is the Chairman and Sr. Managing Director of DCM Shriram Ltd and he was elected as the
President of CII for 2014-15. He succeeds S Gopalakrishnan of Infosys as the new President. Naushad Forbes, Director,
Forbes Marshall, has been elected as the Vice-President)
.
20
th
April
1) Who headed the committee on Credit Information Reports (CIRs), which submitted its report to the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) during March 2014? Aditya Puri, Chairman of HDFC Bank (This committee recommended that customers
should be given a free copy of their credit profile as it would help in promoting financial discipline among loan seekers.
The committee also recommended use of common data formats and a common data quality index that could assist credit
institutions in determining the gaps in data)
.
2) Which infrastructure finance company during March 2014 received RBI approval to set up a minimum of 9,000 white
label ATMs (WLAs) in the next three years in rural India? SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd (The company received a
certificate of authorisation from the RBI to set up, own and operate a payment system for WLAs effective 25 March 2014.
Through these WLAs, the infrastructure financial institution will be able to take financial products and services of the
sponsor bank to the doorstep of the rural population)
.
3) What is the name of the pre-paid/remittance provider associated with the m-Pesa platform, which during March 2014
started a pan-India inter-bank money transfer service by joining hands with the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) of the
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)? Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd (MCSL) With this tie-up, an MCSL (m-
Pesa) user can send money tocustomers of any IMPS-enabled bank using NPCIs remittance platform. The National
Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is the umbrella organisation of all retail payment systems in India, set up with the
support of the Reserve Bank of India and Indian Banks Association (IBA). Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) is a
remittance processing platform offered by NPCI that offers instant, 24X7, electronic funds transfer through mobile,
Internet or ATM between banks and pre-paid providers)
.
4) Union Government on 21 March 2014 sold its 9% stake in which private sector bank? Axis Bank(The stake was
divested through the Specified Undertaking of UTI (SUUTI), which was formed in 2003 is an offshoot of erstwhile UTI and
held 20.72% in Axis Bank. The other promoters of the bank are Life Insurance Corporation, General Insurance
Corporation, New India Assurance and National Insurance Company)
.
5) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 19 March 2014 allowed five domestic private banks to import gold. This decision is
expected to give a boost to gold supplies and bring down premiums gold prices in India, which is the worlds second-
biggest consumer after China. Which 5 banks are these? HDFC Bank , Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank
and YES Bank (Experts of the global gold market believe that this could be a significant step towards easing of tough curbs
on the metal imposed last year to cut the countrys trade deficit)
.
6) Which state scored the highest in monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) report rankings for urban areas
which was released during March 2014 by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO)? Haryana (Haryanas MPCE
stood at Rs. 3817 and it was followed by Kerala (Rs. 3,408) and Maharashtra (Rs. 3,189). Among urban areas, Bihar (Rs.
1,507) shows the lowest monthly per capita consumption expenditure. The 68th round survey on level and pattern of
consumption expenditure was conducted by the NSSO between July 2011 and June 2012)
.
7) Which state scored the highest in monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) report rankings for rural areas
which was released during March 2014 by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO)? Kerala (Keralas MPCE
stood at Rs. 2,669 and it was followed by Gujarat (Rs. 2,581) and Punjab (Rs. 2,345). Among rural areas, Orrisa (Rs. 1,003)
displayed the lowest MPCE. The 68th round survey on level and pattern of consumption expenditure was conducted by
the NSSO between July 2011 and June 2012)
.
8) What is the name of the Deputy Governor of the RBI who resigned on 20 March 2014? KC Chakrabarty (He resigned
on personal grounds three months ahead of completion of his term. Chakrabarty was appointed as Deputy Governor in
June 2009 for a period of three years. In 2012, he got an extension of two years)
.
9) Indian market regulator SEBI on 19 March 2014 passed an order against Financial Technologies (FTIL), declaring it as not
fit and proper to hold any shares directly or indirectly in any stock exchangeor clearing corporation. FTIL presently holds
equity stakes in which stock exchanges of the country? MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX), National Stock Exchange (NSE),
Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE), Vadodara Stock Exchange (VSE) and MCX-SX Clearing Corporation (MCX-SX CCL) As per
this SEBI order, all these holdings will need to be disposed of within 90 days. In December 2013, the Forward Markets
Commission (FMC) had declared FTIL as not fit and proper to hold two per cent or more of the equity share capital in
the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX))
.
10) Union Govt. on 18 March 2014 launched the exchange traded fund of Central public sector enterprises (CPSE-ETF)
hoping to raise Rs 3,000 crore. The long awaited CPSE-ETF is an open-ended scheme comprising of shares of 10 Central
public sector enterprises and it includes ONGC, Coal India Limited, GAIL, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Rural Electrification
Corporation (REC), Oil India Limited (OIL), Container Corporation of India Limited (CCIL), Power Finance Corporation (PFC),
Engineers India Limited (EIL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). Which financial entity is managing this ETF? Goldman
Sachs India MF (The CPSE-ETF tracks an index fund but trades like a stock on the exchange and is yet another avenue for
the Union Govt. for selling its stake in CPSEs)
9
th
April
1) Which round of Inflation Expectations Survey was launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 3 March 2014?
35
th
(These inflation expectations are to be based on subjective assessments of about 5,000 households across 16 cities.
The survey seeks qualitative responses from households on price changes (they foresee in general prices as well as prices
of specific product groups) in the next three months as well as in the next one year and quantitative responses on current,
three-month ahead and one-year ahead inflation rates)
..
2) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 3 March 2014 extended the deadline for the public to exchange currency notes
printed before 2005 up to which date? 1 January 2015 (Now the public would be able to exchange currency notes
printed before 2005 by 1 January 2015. The RBI on 22 January 2014 had announced that it would withdraw from
circulation all pre-2005 currency notes from 1 April 2014. Post-2005 notes have added security features and help in
curbing the menace of fake currency)
..
3) Which PSU bank sold its entire stake in credit information provider Credit Information Bureau of India Limited (CIBIL) to
Transunion International Inc (TII) during March 2014? Central Bank of India (Central Bank had 5% stake in CIBIL while TII
is the majority shareholder in CIBIL at 27.5%. State Bank of India and ICICI Bank carry 10% each, while rest of 2.5% is with
Sundaram Finance Ltd. Among others, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, Citicorp Finance
(India), HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and HDFC Ltd each hold 5% stake in CIBIL)
..
4) Union Government on 28 February 2014 approved the proposal to ensure Rs. 1,000 minimum monthly pension under a
scheme of Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). This pension would be provided under which EPFO scheme?
Employees Pension Scheme-95 (EPS-95)
..
5) The Union government on 4 March 2014 announced raising the interest rates on select fixed deposit schemes offered
by post offices. Maximum increase of 0.2% per annum (20 basis points) was announced on which two schemes offered by
post offices? 1-year term deposit and 2-year term deposit (The interest on these two schemes was raised from the
present 8.2% per annum to 8.4% per annum. On the other hand rate of interest was raised by 0.10% (10 basis points) on
3-year term deposit, 5-year term deposit and 5-year recurring deposit schemes. This increase would come into effect from
1 April 2014)
..
6) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 13 March 2014 hiked the trade related remittance limit from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh per
transaction. What was the reason for this increase? Increase in the number of transactions handled
by exchange houses (There is a rapid increase in the number of the permitted transactions under the Rupee Drawing
Arrangements (RDAs) due to rapid developments in the communication facilities)
..
7) Nishi Vasudev on 1 March 2014 became the first woman to become head of a prominent blue-chip PSU. Which PSU is
this? Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd. HPCL (She replaced Subir Roy Choudhury)
..
8) Who took over as the new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Allahabad Bank on 11 March 2014? Rakesh
Sethi (Prior to this elevation, Sethi was an executive director at Punjab National Bank)
..
9) Which two state-owned companies on 14 March 2014 bought 10% government stake in Indian Oil Corp (IOC) for Rs
5,340 crore? Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) In off-market transactions, ONGC and OIL bought
5% stake each at Rs. 220 per share. This stake sale doubled governments disinvestment proceeds for the current fiscal to
Rs 10,434 crore. An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram had on 28
February 2014 decided to sell the stake in IOC, the nations largest oil firm, at a discount of 10% through an off-market
deal)
..
10) Which state was ranked as the most industry-friendly state in a Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu study sponsored by the
Planning Commission? Haryana (This study shows that Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are the top three
industry-friendly states in the country. Orissa occupied fourth positioned whereas fifth place was given to Andhra Pradesh.
Bihar ranks sixth, while Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Nagaland followed it. Among the bottom five states West
Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam, Goa and Jharkhand occupied top five places respectively. This study was commissioned by
the Planning Commission in 2013 and consultancy firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu was asked to rate states based on
certain parameters that would help them improve the regulatory ecosystem for the manufacturing sector. However the
report was not officially released due to the Model Code of Conduct imposed by the Election Commission)
18
th
March
) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) during February 2014 gave its approval for foreign equity
participation up to 74% of the paid-up capital of which private bank based in Kerala? Federal Bank (The 74% foreign
equity permission comes with sub-limit of 49% for FIIs and 24% for NRIs)
.
2) State-run United Bank of India (UBI), which is going through serious financial mess on account of huge increase in non-
performing assets (NPAs), is expected to be provided with how much additional funds by the union govt. to meet its
capital requirements? Rs. 1,000 crore (The bank will issue perpetual non-cumulative preference shares to the govt. to
over the crisis created by its ballooning NPAs. UBIs CMD Archana Bhargava had quit the post last week citing health
problems. The bank had been earlier stopped from issuing any loans above Rs. 10 crore by the RBI)
.
3) Indias first all-women bank Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) during February 2014 tied up with which public-
sector general insurance company for launching 3 health insurance products for women account holders of the bank?
New India Assurance (These policies, BMB Sakhee, BMB-Nirbhaya and BMB-Parivar Suraksha provide customised package
of health insurance policies from New IndiaAssurance. While Sakhee Policy aimed at rural women, offers covers up to Rs
50,000, the Nirbhaya schemes offers cover limit up to Rs 5 lakh. Parivar Suraksha offers family floater facilities)
.
4) During February 2014 who became the first Indian to be elected President of Administrative Tribunal of the Asian
Development Bank (ADB)? Lakshmi Swaminathan (Swaminathan is the seventh president of the Tribunal. She is the first
Indian to become the president of the Tribunal. Of the previous six presidents, two had been from the US, two from
Philippines, one from Sri Lanka and one from the UK. Swaminathan is a jurist in administrative law and was the vice
chairman of the Principal Bench at Delhi of the Central Administrative Tribunal. Manila headquartered ADB consists of 64
member countries, including India)
.
5) Indias first Post Office Savings Bank ATM was inaugurated on 27 February 2014 by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram at
Chennai (Indias first Post Office Savings Bank ATM was inaugurated at Thiyagaraya Nagar Head Post Office in Chennai.
This initiative of opening Post Office Savings Bank ATM is part of the governments Rs. 4,909 crore IT modernisation
scheme for the Department of Posts specified in the interim budget for 2014-15)
.
6) Ennore port was on 26 February 2014 officially renamed as Kamarajar Port Ltd. The decision, which came a few days
ago in the form of Union Cabinet approval, was formalised with Union Shipping Minister GK Vasan unveiling a plaque at a
function organised by the port at Chennai on 26 February. Tamil Nadu has the maximum number of major ports (three) in
India. Which are the other two major ports in Tamil Nadu? Chennai and Tuticorin
.
7) What is the name of the volatility index launched by the National Stock Exchange on 26 February 2014 which has been
based on the index options prices of Nifty? India VIX (India VIX would provide future contracts facility to investors and
would help investors hedge near-term volatility risks in their equity portfolio. India VIX indicates the investors perception
of the markets volatility in the near term. The index depicts expected market volatility over the next 30 calendar days. A
high India VIX value would suggest that the market expects significant increase in volatility, while a low value indicates the
reverse. India VIX and Nifty have a negative correlation)
.
8) Who was appointed as the new Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC
Ltd.) on 26 February 2014? Dinesh K. Sarraf (The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the
appointment of Sarraf, who at present is the Managing Director of ONGCs overseas arm, ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL).
Sarraf replaces Vasudeva who turned 60 on 25 February and retires on 28 February. The Union Govt. earlier rejected Oil
Minister M. Veerappa Moilys proposal to give Sudhir Vasudeva a post-retirement extension. ONGC Ltd. is Indias most
profitable company)
.
9) What is the name of the bitcoin exchange, which was once the largest bitcoin exchange in the world and which on 25
February 2014 came to news for virtually disappearing from the internet with many millions of dollars of customer
deposits? Mt. Gox (Mt. Goxs website was down on 25 February and its founder was unaccounted-for during the day.
MtGox is a Tokyo-based exchange which allowed users to trade Bitcoins for US Dollars and several other currencies.
MtGox was going through some serious problems after news surfaced that almost 750,000 bitcoins (currently worth more
than 200m) were missing in the exchange and this theft went unnoticed for several years)
.
10) Which public sector undertaking (PSU) was during February 2014 kept out of the proposed Central Public Sector
Enterprises (CPSE) Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)? PowerGrid Corporation (With the exitof PowerGrid Corporation the
CPSE ETF would now consist of 10 PSU firms. These 10 PSUs are ONGC, Coal India Limited, GAIL, Indian Oil Corporation
(IOC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), Oil India Limited (OIL), Container Corporation of India Limited (CCIL), Power
Finance Corporation(PFC), Engineers India Limited (EIL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). The proposed CPSE ETF will
serve as an additional mechanism for the government to monetise its shareholdings in those CPSEs that eventually form
part of the ETF basket)
12
th
March
1) Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presented the Vote-on-Account on 17 February 2014, which would take care
of union expenses until the governments term ends in May 2014. What the expected fiscal deficit was for 2013-14, as
announced in this vote-on-account? 4.6% of GDP (The fiscal deficit, which is the gap between expenditure and revenue,
was 4.9% of GDP in the previous financial year. Earlier fiscal deficit was expected to be around 4.8%. As per current
indications, the fiscal deficit has come down mainly on account of expenditure compression and higher realisationfrom
the 2G spectrum auction)
.
2) What is the expected agricultural growth rate for 2013-14, as announced in the Vote-on-Account on 17 February 2014?
4.6%
.
3) Union govt. announced a moratorium on interest for educational loans in the Vote-on-Account presented on 17
February 2014. With this announcement 9 lakh student borrowers are expected to benefit to the extent of Rs. 2,600
crore. Educational loans taken before which year would be given moratorium on interest? 2009
.
4) What is the total outlay for defence for 2014-15, as announced in the Vote-on-Account on 17 February 2014? Rs.
2,24,000 crore, which is 10% more than that of 2013-14
.
5) A venture capital fund for scheduled castes (SCs) with an initial capital of Rs. 200 crore was announced in the Vote-on-
Account presented on 17 February 2014. Which financial entity would set up this VC fund? IFCI
.
6) Which two business segments were exempted from the service tax in the Vote-on-Account presented on 17 February
2014? Blood banks and provider of rice warehousing facilities
.
7) What is the name of the proposed agency for better management of the governments borrowings which was
announced by the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in his vote-on-account on 17 February? Public Debt
Management Agency PDMA (Chidambaram announced that the Centre is ready with the Public Debt Management
Agency Bill and that the proposed agency will be established as a non-statutory body and is expected to begin work in the
next fiscal. Former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had first announced setting up of PDMA in his budget speech of
2011-12. The PDMA is expected to consist of RBI officials, civil servants and people from the private sector)
.
8) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during February 2014 constituted a committee to examine the recommendations of the
Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) relating to capacity building in the banking sector. The committee
has been tasked with the responsibility of identifying capacity building requirements keeping in view the role of financial
sector and what it should deliver. Who is heading this 9-member committee? G Gopalakrishna (G Gopalakrishna is an
Executive Director in the RBI. The committee will examine the skills required at various levels/operations to deliver on the
required role and also identify qualifications relevant to specific areas of operation in banks and non-banks. Further, it will
evolve methodologies for prescribing certification for required qualifications)
.
9) What is the name of the chairperson and managing director of Kolkata-headquartered United Bank of India (UBI), who
took voluntary retirement on 20 February 2014? Archana Bhargava (Archana Bhargava was appointed as United Banks
CMD in April 2013 and her appointment was up to February-end 2015. Her retirement comes in the wake of a surge in bad
loans and the bank posting a loss in the third quarter. United Banks gross non-performing assets jumped 194%
to Rs. 8,545.50 crore (includes fresh slippage of Rs. 3,172 crore in the October-December quarter) as at December-end
2013 against Rs. 2,902 crore as at December-end 2012)
.
10) India Post (Dept. of Posts) on 13 February 2014 launched electronic Indian Postal Order (e-IPO) for Indian
Citizens living in India. e-IPO facilitates paying online fee for which purpose? For seeking information under the RTI (e-
IPO is a facility to purchase an Indian Postal Order electronically for paying RTI fee online through e-Post Office Portal
(https://www.epostoffice.gov.in) or India Post web-site (www.indiapost.gov.in). After paying the fee online one just need
to annex the print-out of the receipt to the RTI application. Earlier last year the Department had launched the e-IPO on
22 March 2013 for Indian Citizens living abroad across the globe).
23rd Feb
1) RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan announced on 12 February 2014 that in coming days Indian citizens without a bank
account would be able to withdraw cash from an ATM (automated teller machine) with the help of mobile technology.
Payment banks will play important role in facilitating this system under which a payment system will facilitate funds
transfers from bank account holders to those without accounts through ATMs. Which committee had recently
recommended establishment of payment banks? Nachiket More Committee on Financial Inclusion (The interesting
proposal essentially is that the sender can go to an ATM with a participating bank and ask the money to be withdrawn
from his account. The intermediary then processes the payment and sends a code via mobile to the recipient. The
recipient takes that code to the nearest ATM of that participating bank, punches in the code and withdraws the money)

2) Till February 2014, the Reserve Bank of India has issued the certificate of authorisation to how many non-bank entities
for setting up and operating white label ATMs (WLAs) in India? Four (The entities which got the permission are Tata
Communications Payment Solutions; Prizm Payment Services, Mumbai; Muthoot Finance , Kochi and Vakrangee Limited,
Mumbai. In June 2012, the RBI issued guidelines permitting non-bank entities to set up and operate WLAs in the
country after seeking the RBIs authorisation under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. Prior to this, only
banks were permitted to set up and operate ATMs in India. As many as 17 entities had sought the RBI nod for WLAs.
WLAs serve customers from all banks and will be connected with the entire ATM network in the country)

3) Plastic notes in the denomination of Rs. 10 will be introduced on a trial basis in which five cities in the second half of
2014, as stated by the Union Government on 7 February 2014 in the Parliament? Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Shimla and
Bhubaneswar

4) Indian public sector banks went on a two-day strike from 10 February 2014 after the conciliation effort made by the
Central Chief Labour Commissioner to avert the all-India bank strike scheduled failed. Which bank union made a call for
this strike? United Forum of Bank Unions UFBU (The talks between the UFBU and the Indian Banks Association over a
five-year wage revision package, held in New Delhi on 6 February 2014 failed as UFBU alleged that the bank managements
had nothing new to offer)

5) What is the name of Indias first public sector unit (PSU), the revival plan for which was approved by the Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 13 February 2014? ITI Limited, which was formerly known as Indian
Telephone Industries Ltd (The company was established in 1948 and was incorporated in 1950 under the then Mysore
Companies Act, 1938 and later converted as the first PSU of the country to assist the Government in the sensitive and
strategic telecommunication field. The company was referred to the Board of Industrial and Financial Restructuring (BIFR)
in 2004-05 and declared a sick company. BIFR had recommended a revival plan for ITI Ltd. The revival plan will be
supported through financial restructuring by fund infusion of Rs. 4,156.79 crore)

6) Which company will become Indias first telecom player to be fully owned by a foreign company following approval of
companys FDI proposal by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 6 February 2014? Vodafone (The
CCEA on 6 February approved the telecom major Vodafones Rs 10,141 crore (or $1.6 billion) proposal to buy out minority
shareholders in its Indian unit. This is the single largest foreign investment in the telecom sector)

7) The Indian Banks Association (IBA) during February 2014 issued an advisory to banks to ensure business continuity
after Microsoft ends support for its popular Windows XP operating system on 8 April 2014. In its advisory it drew the
attention of banks to a study by Microsoft in which it claimed that very large number of Indian public
bank branches would become vulnerable following the U.S.-based firms decision to stop support to Windows XP. How
many public sector bank branches were claimed to be affected? 34,000 (The fiscal impact of this could be as much as a
loss of business opportunity worth Rs.1,100 crore in a day and a loss of income worth Rs.330 crore over a period of three
days. Windows XP launched in October, 2001 is three generations behind the latest operating system Windows 8,
which was launched in October, 2012)

8) Who will head the 7
th
Central Pay Commission which will revise salaries of over 50 lakh central government employees
and remuneration of 30 lakh pensioners? Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, former Judge of the Supreme Court (The
composition of the 7th Central Pay Commission was approved by the Prime Minister recently. The other members of the
Commission, include, Oil Secretary Vivek Rae (full time Member), NIPFP Director Rathin Roy (part-time Member) and OSD
in Expenditure Department Meena Agarwal (Secretary). The Commission has been mandated to submit its report in two
years time and its recommendations would be implemented from January 1, 2016. Earlier in September 2013, the Prime
Minister had approved setting up of the 7th Pay Commission)

9) The National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) demanded immediate reconstitution of the erstwhile Banking
Services Recruitment Board (BSRB) to save banks from staff crunch and work overload. NOBW claimed that due to
disbanding of BSRB recruitment process in the banking sector has almost come to a standstill and as a result banking
transactions have suffered. When was BSRB disbanded? in 2005 (This demand was made at NOBWs Golden Jubilee
Celebrations held at Nagpur on 3 February 2014. NOBW also claimed that most of the staff in the public sector banks was
working beyond their specific limit, thereby affecting not only their output but also the overall functioning of the
institutions)

10) Who took over as Asian Development Banks new Country Director for India on 3 February 2014? Teresa Kho (She
was heading the Bangladesh Resident Mission of ADB and replaced Hun Kim, who is now Deputy Director General of ADBs
South Asia Department in Manila)
16th Feb
1) India Post (Indian postal department) during January 2014 announced an ambitious plan to installas many as 3,000
ATMs and 1.35 lakh micro-ATMs at its post offices across the country for savings account holders. This plan was rolled-out
by installing three ATMs in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore on 5 February 2014 and ramping it up gradually. What is the
tentative deadline given by India Post for installing these 3,000 ATMs and 1.35 lakh micro-ATMs? September
2015 (Under this plan, 1,000 ATMs with the India Post branding will be put in within the first year, which will be ramped
up massively to 3,000 in the next 18 months. To start with, the ATMs can be used only by 26 crore savings account-holders
who save with the postal department but India Post hopes that within six months of the launch, it will get the
interoperability permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Postal savings are worth around Rs 6.05 trillion, which is
half the savings in the largest lender SBI and more than double that of the largest private sector lender ICICI Bank)
.
2) What is the new Repo Rate after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan on 28 January 2014 increased it
by 0.25% under RBIs third quarter monetary policy review? 8% (This move is expected to translate into higher EMIs and
push up the cost of borrowing for corporates. Consequently, the Reverse Repo Rate under the Liquidity Adjustment
Facility (LAF) will be revised to 7% and the marginal standing facility rate and bank rate to 9%. However, the RBI kept the
cash reserve ratio (CRR) unchanged at 4% as liquidity seems to be comfortable)
.
3) The RBI released the Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments Report along with the third quarter monetary policy
review on 28 January 2014. What is RBIs broad expectation about economic growth rate (GDP Growth Rate) during 2013-
13? GDP growth rate will remain below 5% (The RBI said the growth is expected to fall below 5% in 2013-14 in absence
of pick-up in manufacturing sector, but likely to recover to 5.5% in the next financial year (2014-15). In the first half of
2013-14, the GDP growth was at 4.6%)
.
4) What is the name of a new fund announced on 27 January 2014 by the National Innovation Council (NInC) and the
Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to combine innovation and the dynamism of enterprise to solve the
problems of citizens at the bottom of the economic pyramid in India? India Inclusive Innovation Fund IIIF (The fund,
launched by Sam Pitroda, head of the NInC, is an autonomous Rs. 500-crore fund, with the Union Government
contributing 20%. The balance will come from public sector banks, financial institutions, insurance companies,
multilateral/bilateral development agencies, Indian & global corporates)
.
5) What was the GDP growth rate figure for Indian economy for 2012-13 declared by the Union Government on 31
January 2014? 4.5% (This GDP growth rate is 0.5% lower as compared with the earlier estimate of 5% on account of
subdued performance in agriculture, mining and manufacturing. Growth in 2012-13 is the lowest in a decade, with the
previous low of 4% recorded in 2002-03. The estimates for 2012-13 were released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO)
under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation)
.
6) The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) on 30 January 2014 raised the subsidised LPG cylinder quota from 9
to 12 per year per household. It also decided to put on hold the direct benefittransfer scheme for LPG which linked
payment of subsidy directly into the bank accounts of the consumers under the Aadhaar platform. After increase in the
cap on subsidized LPG cylinders what percentage of LPG cylinders are now covered by subsidisd cylinders? Around
97% (Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily disclosed that 89.2% of the 15 crore LPG consumers use up to
nine cylinders in a year and only 10% have to buy the additional requirement at the market price. After the quota is raised
to 12, about 97% of the LPG consumers would be covered by subsidised LPG)
.
7) In a first of its kind venture, six public sector undertakings (PSUs) including state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
(BHEL) and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) on 29 January 2014 announced joining hands to set up worlds
largest 4,000 MW ultra mega solar power project in Rajasthan. Where in Rajasthan this solar plant spread across 19,000
acres is going to be established? Sambhar (The project will be the largest single location solar plant spread across 19,000
acres at Sambhar in Rajasthan. It entails an investment of Rs. 7,500 crore in the first phase. The JV will have equity of 26%
from BHEL, 23% from SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India), 16% from SSL (Sambhar Salt Ltd), 16% from PGCIL, 16%
from SJVNL (Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam) and 3% from REIL (Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited))
.
8) Indias first monorail Mumbai Monorail was opened for the general public on 2 February 2014 after being inaugurated
on 1 February. Which authority owns and operates this monorail project? Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development
Authority (MMRDA) The Rs. 3,000-crore Mumbai Monorail project is being implemented in two phases. The MMRDA
has already spent Rs. 1,900 crore of Rs. 3,000 crore allocated for the project, including the civil work for the second phase.
Commercial operations of the 8.9-km first phase connecting Wadala-Chembur stations on the northeastern fringe of
Mumbai metropolis commenced on 2 February with the first train leaving the Wadala station at 7am. The Mumbai
Monorail is not just the first in the country, but across the subcontinent. Monorails are in operation in China, Japan,
Singapore, Australia, Dubai, Europe, and the Americas
.
9) Vakrangee Ltd., which is engaged in providing e-governance solutions, recently came to news for banking related
activities. Why? It has received final authorization for operating White Label ATM (WLA) license from Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) Under, the RBI license, the company is entitled to set up and run minimum 15,000 ATMs across the country
in next three years. White label ATMs are those which are not run by the Banks but by a non- banking entity in its own
brand name (like Vakrangee ATM) after passing through all the stringent qualification and due-diligence process
undertaken by RBI)
.
10) Tata Chemicals on 23 January 2014 celebrated its platinum jubilee (75
th
year) and on this occasion companys
Managing Director R. Mukundan rang the opening bell on the Bombay Stock Exchange. At which place 75 years back Tata
Chemicals established its first centre of salt and soda ash production? Mithapur Gujarat (Tata Group was associated
with Mithapur in 1939 when it took over the Okha Salt Works at Mithapur near Okha. Mithapur, situated between Okha
and Dwarka, is a small colony supported by Tata Chemicals Limited, which is one of the flagship companies of the Tata
Group)
9th Feb
1) To promote women entrepreneurship, the countrys first womens bank the Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) has
chosen to do away with collateral for loans availed by women. The BMB will provide collateral-free loans for amounts up
to Rs 1 crore. Which entity would cover the risk under this initiative? - Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small
Enterprises CGTMSE (The CGTMSE is a credit guarantee scheme, where a premium is paid either by the lender or the
applicant, provides a guarantee cover for up to 80% of loans availed by women owned or operated micro- and small
enterprises. For loans availed for smaller amounts such as Rs 20,000, the bank will completely waive off
the requirement for collateral)
..
2) In a major overhaul of foreign investment regime, the government is considering splitting overseas inflows into two
categories Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with a minimum composite cap of
49%. The proposal envisages an aggregate automatic limit of 24% of FPI, which may be raised up to the extent of FDI
permitted under the automatic route. Constituting two categories for foreign investments is considered by which panel?
Mayaram Panel (The government had set up a four-member committee headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Mayaram
to define FDI and FII and remove the ambiguity between them. The Committee submitted its final report during the last
week of January 2014)
..
3) Who was the head of RBIs committee on strengthening monetary policy framework, which in its recommendations has
suggested that the target for inflation should be set at 4% with a band of +/- 2% around it? Urjit Patel, Deputy Governor
of the RBI (This inflation target is in view of vulnerability of the Indian economy to supply/external shocks and the
relatively large weight of food in Consumer Price Index (CPI))
..
4) The Reserve Bank of India during January 2014 constituted an 8-member expert committee to review the governance of
bank boards in India, which includes examining the ownership and salarystructure of banks. Who heads this committee?
PJ Naik, former Chairman and CEO of Axis Bank (The committee will review the regulatory compliance requirements of
the board of directors ofbanks, judge what can be rationalised and where requirements need enhancements, examine the
working of the boards, including whether adequate time is being devoted to issues of strategy, growth, governance and
risk management)
..
5) Which bank came to highlight during January 2014 for declaring an interim dividend of 9000%, which is said to be the
highest in Indias banking industry? Tamilnad Mercantile Bank TMB(Tuticorin-based TMB took a decision to this effect
at a meeting held on 18 January 2014. This dividend stands at Rs. 900 per share of Rs 10 each, for the fiscal ending March
2014. This is the second year in a row that the bank has declared such a high dividend. The banks board had approved a
dividend of Rs 750 per share for 2008-09 and Rs 1,000 per share the following year)
..
6) Who retired as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 20 January 2014? Anand Sinha (With Anand
Sinha relinquishing his charge as Deputy Governor, the RBI re-allocated his portfolios among the remaining three Deputy
Governors K.C. Chakrabarty, H.R. Khan and Urjit Patel. Sinha was in-charge of eight departments, including
Departments of Banking Operations and Development, Risk Management, Information Technology and Expenditure and
Budgetary Control)
..
7) The Union Government on 20 January 2014 allowed the establishment of an ad hoc authority to recommend the pricing
of the passenger and cargo segments. What is the name of this authority? Rail Tariff Authority (Rail Tariff Authority will
have a Chairman and four members. The decision to have an ad hoc arrangement through a government resolution was
taken because establishing it through an executive order, as had been desired by the Cabinet, was not feasible given that
under the Railway Act only the Railway Board can decide on the prices of rail services. For constitution of the RTA, an
amendment to the Railway Act, 1989, is also necessary)
..
8) A prominent Indian credit rating agency along with four other rating agencies from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin
America during January 2014 launched a new credit rating outfit ARC Ratings S.A. The network-based rating agency would
provide credit rating services to cross-border corporates in terms of accessing global capital. Which Indian rating is
involved in this initiative? CARE Credit Analysis and Research (ARC Ratings will be an equally held entity and have its
operational headquarters in London. Each partners shareholding is capped at a maximum of 25%. ARC will rate sovereign
debt, financial institutions, non-financial corporations as well as structured products)
..
9) Chinas economy grew by 7.7% in 2013, which is far below the standards of China worlds second-largest economy.
The economic growth rate of 2013 is the lowest since which year? 1999 (2013s growth is the lowest in 14 years. This
marks the slowest growth since 1999, when China grew 7.6%. The previous decade saw record double-digit growth, with
the country defying the global slowdown to grow 10.4% in 2010 as it unveiled a massive $ 586 billion stimulus. This
declining growth underlines the challenges faced by China as it grapples with rebalancing and reviving a slowing down
economy)
..
10) Which stock exchange retained its position as the worlds largest bourse in terms of equity trades for the second
consecutive year in 2013? Indias National Stock Exchange (NSE) NSE recorded almost 145 crore equity trades on its
platform last year, a gain of 3% from 2012, making it the biggest among 51 global peers, according to data with the World
Federation of Exchanges (WFE). Rival exchange BSE slipped one place to eighth position. Although it has more than 4,000
listed companies, the BSE recorded 34.46 crore trades last year, a drop of 3% compared to 2012. Chinas Shenzhen Stock
Exchange recorded 129 crore trades, climbing three places to become the second-largest bourse in the world. Trades on
the Shenzhen SE, which pushed NYSE Euronext to third place, rose 38% from 2012
25th Jan
1) According to announcement made by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 12 January 2014 the Centre has
revised its target upwards to opening 10,000 new bank branches a year. This has been part of Centres initiative of taking
banking services to rural areas. What was the earlier target? 7,000 branches (From the coming financial year, it has been
revised to open 10,000 branches a year and through this, an additional 55,000 new jobs are expected to be created)
.
2) Which major bank during January 2014 came out with plans to outsource the management of some of its ATMs by
taking calls from vendors? State Bank of India (SBI called for a Request for Proposal(RFP) from vendors to manage about
7,843 cash dispensers (ATMs). Vendors will be expected to have all capabilities to remotely capture and initiate
appropriate action in the event of any problems at these cash dispensers. They will be expected to ensure that the
downtime of these ATMs in metro and urban areas is less than 3%, while it is less than 6% in rural areas. SBI had 32,777
ATMs as of 30 September 2013. It has expanded its network steadily in the past few years, adding about a third of its
network (about 11,000 ATMs) in the past 18 months. ATM operations have however not been profitable)
.
3) Retirement fund-body the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on 13 January 2014 decided to increase the
rate of interest on Provident Fund deposits to 8.75 per cent for 2013-14, a move that will benefit about 5 crore
subscribers. What was the present rate of interest for EPFO subscribers? 8.5% (The Central Board of Trustees, which is
the apex decision-making body of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), met on 13 January and approved
the interest rate. The EPFOs recommendation will now be vetted by the Finance Ministry. Once the ministry approves the
decision, the interest would be credited to the accounts of subscribers. The EPFO is estimated to have an income of Rs
20,796.96 crore in the current financial year)
.
4) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during January 2014 clarified that the provision of prior RBI nod applies for
establishments from Hong Kong and Macau to set up business or related activities in India. As per the existing conditions
this provision pertaining to RBIs approval applies on which 6 countries? Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Iran, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka (As per the existing conditions under the Foreign Exchange Management Regulations, no entity or citizens of
these 6 countries is allowed to set up any branch office or a liaison office or a project or any other such business activity
without prior permission of the RBI)
.
5) The government Union on 10 January 2014 gave its approval to the plan to form an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
comprising scrips of 11 bluechip state-owned companies, which will be offered in the market with a view to garnering Rs
3,000 crore this fiscal. Which are the 11 state-owned companies (PSUs) involved in this ETF plan? ONGC, Coal India
Limited, GAIL, Power Grid, REC, Oil India Limited, Container Corporation of India, Power Finance Corporation, Indian Oil
Limited, Engineers India Limited and Bharat Engineering Limited (ETF is a security that tracks an index, a commodity or a
basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange. The PSU ETF would comprise shares of various
profitable state-owned companies. The composition of ETF and weightage of the shares of individual PSU in the index has
been decided by the EGoM)
.
6) SEBI on 10 January 2014 notified new norms empowering its Chairman to order search and seizureoperations during
investigations, while necessary safeguards have also been put in place to protect rights of affected persons. This would
add extra power to SEBIs crackdown against fraudsters. What is the name of the ordinance promulgated by the Union
government in September 2013, which had conferred explicit powers on SEBI Chairman to authorise investigating
authority or any other officer of SEBI to conduct search and seizure under the SEBI Act? Securities Laws (Amendment)
Second Ordinance, 2013 (The new norms providing SEBI with powers to conduct search and seizure have been finalised
after taking into account suggestions from public and other stakeholders to draft regulations, which were issued in
November 2013)
.
7) Which bank during January 2014 became the first Indian domestic private sector bank to have a branch presence in
China? Axis Bank (Axis Bank recently opened its branch in Shanghai after receiving permission from the China Banking
Regulatory Commission (CBRC). The branch will engagein foreign currency businesses that includes all business approved
by the banking supervision and regulatory authorities of the China. With opening of Shanghai branch, Axis Banks overseas
presence has grown to eight one each in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Colombo, and Shanghai, two representative
offices at Dubai and Abu Dhabi and an overseas subsidiary in London)
.
8) Which private asset management company (AMC) January 2014 became the first private sector fund house to launch an
inflation indexed fund that aims to provide inflation-adjusted returns to investors? Deutsche Asset Management India
DAMI (DAMIs scheme, DWS InflationIndexed Bond Fund is an openended debt fund and will open for subscription
on 16 January 2014, and close on 27 January. Inflation indexed bonds (IIBs) are instruments where interest payment and
principal are linked to whole sale price index (WPI) inflation and these bonds are currently available at an attractive yield
of 3.6% above WPI. Government has been issuing IIBs on a monthly basis since June, 2013 and the current outstanding
issuance stands at Rs 6,500 crore as of now)
.
9) SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) Chairman UK Sinhas term was extended by 2 years during January 2014.
Sinha will now head the regulatory body till 16 March 2016. Among the last four chairmen, Sinha is the only one whose
term has been extended. Who is the only SEBI chief to have held the post for a longer duration than Sinha? D.R.
Mehta (Mehta served as SEBI Chairman for 7 years (1995-2002). Sinhas three predecessors GN Bajpai (2002-2005), M
Damodaran (2005-2008) and CB Bhave (2008-2011) had only got a three-year terms)
.
10) The three day 12
th
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) was held between 7-9 January 2014 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
What was the theme of this years PBD? Engaging Diaspora: Connecting Across Generations (PBD is celebrated on
9
th
January every year to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India. January 9 was
chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion since it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Pravasi
(non-resident citizen), returned to India from South Africa, led Indias freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians
forever)
13th Jan
1) The committee constituted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBIs) to promote financial inclusion headed by Nachiket Mor
in its report, presented to the RBI on 7 January 2014, recommended universal electronic bank accounts to all Indian
citizens above the age of 18 years. What is the deadline for opening these bank accounts as recommended by the
committee? 1 January 2016 (The committee has recommended that an instruction to open the bank account should be
initiated by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) after the issue of an Aadhaar number to an individualover
the age of 18. It also recommended that the RBI should issue a circular indicating that no bank can refuse to open an
account for a customer who has adequate KYC proof which specifically includesAadhaar)

2) Which country became the 18
th
member of Eurozone on 1 January 2014? Latvia (The former Soviet republic on the
Baltic Sea recently emerged from the financial crisis to become the EUs fastest-growing economy. Latvia was given final
clearance to join Eurozone on 9 July 2013 by finance ministers of the 28-nation European Union. It should be noted that
28-member EU is a political entity and represents the interest of all of Europe whereas Eurozone is a currency block of 18
nations that have accepted Euro as a common currency. Not all countries of EU use Euro as currency (Britain still uses
Pound as its currency))

3) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 31 December 2013 dismissed rumours that it has stopped banks from accepting
scribbled currency notes from 1 January 2014 and announced that banks will continueto accept currency notes with
scribbling. However, it reiterated that writing or scribbling on banknotes works against its policy to keep currency notes
clean and sought co-operation from public, institutions and others in keeping the banknotes clean by not writing anything
on them. What is the name of this policy which was released during 2013? Clean Note Policy (RBI in 2013 had said it
has been noticed that at certain branches of banks, the practice of writing/scribbling on the body ofthe bank notes
continues to remain in vogue. Under the present system of mechanised processing of banknotes inscription or scribbling
on any part of the banknote would render it to be classified as unfit for reissue)

4) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 23 December 2013 warned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including
bitcoins, of financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security related risks. Why was this warning given by the
RBI for bitcoins type currency, which is digital or virtual currency that uses peer-to-peer technology to facilitate instant
payments? Because bitcoins as a medium for payments are presently not authorised by any central bank or monetary
authority in India (Bitcoin is an alternative currency, which uses cryptography for security, making it difficult to
counterfeit. Bitcoin issuance and transactions are carried out collectively by the network, with no central authority. The
central bank said it was keeping watch at the developments relating to certain electronic records claimed to be
decentralised digital currency such as bitcoins, litecoins, bbqcoins, dogecoins and their usage or trading in the country)

5) Union government during December 2013 announced decision to covert the National Institute for Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (NIMSME) into the National SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) University. NIMSME is situated at
Hyderabad (This decision was announced at the golden jubilee celebrations of NIMSME held on 21 December 2013 at
Hyderabad)

6) Who on 20 December 2013 was appointed as the first woman managing director of the Life Insurance Corporation of
India (LIC) by the Government? Usha Sangwan (She became the first woman MD in corporations history since its
establishment in 1956. With this appointment, LIC is set to function at its full strength of four MDs after almost two years.
These would be S B Mainak, Sushobhan Sarkar, Sangwan and V K Sharma)

7) Indian financial markets were left surprised by Reserve Bank of India (RBIs) mid-quarter monetary policy review
released on 18 December 2013 as all key policy rates were left unchanged in this review presented by RBI Governor
Raghuram Rajan. The short-term lending rate was kept unchanged at 7.75%, while the cash reserve ratio (CRR) remained
at 4%. Why markets were left surprised with this move? Because markets had expected another 25 bps hike in the short-
term lending rate due to persistent high inflationary pressure (The RBI said it will take calibrated action in the future,
based on inflationary trends and action by the US Federal Reserve)
Key highlights of RBIs mid-quarter review of monetary policy
- Key policy rate, cash reserve ratio unchanged
- Repo rate unchanged at 7.75%; cash reserve ratio unchanged at 4%
- RBI to wait for more data before taking policy action
- Outlook on global growth continues to remain moderate

8) According to the statistics given by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) during December 2013,
the average number of policies sold by an agent of LIC was almost 10 times that of his private sector counterpart. LICs
agents managed their outperformance last year too, when the life insurance business was on a slide. What was the
average policy sale figure for an LIC agent as disclosed by the IRDA? 29 Policies (LIC has an agency force of 11.72 lakh
while private companies have 9.49 lakh agents working for them)

9) The much-anticipated inflation indexed bonds, linked to consumer prices were made available for sale for a week
beginning 23 December 2013. What was the name of these bonds which sought to protect consumer savings from price
rise by offering returns over and above inflation at the retail level? Inflation Indexed National Savings Securities
Cumulative

10) The Ministry of Environment and Forests announced on 20 December 2013 that the ecologically-sensitive Western
Ghats will remain off-bounds for mining, quarrying, sand mining and other industrial activities. This move comes after a
high-level working group recommended that all destructive industrial activities, that include mining and thermal power
plants, should be banned in the region. Who headed this group? K. Kasturirangan, Member (Science), Planning
Commission (The group recognised about 37% of the Western Ghats, covering about 60,000 square km, to be ecologically
sensitive)
12th January
1) National Stock Exchange (NSE) during December 2013 completed how many years of its establishment? 20 years (NSE
was founded in 1992 and started trading operations in 1993. It was the first in India to start electronic trading and was
successful in bringing about a paradigm shift in the way trading and settlements were done. NSE has a market
capitalisation of more than US$989 billion and 1,635 companies listed as on July 2013 and is the largest stock exchange in
India)
.
2) Who was appointed as the new Chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) during
December 2013? Harsh Kumar Bhanwala (Bhanwala succeeds Prakash Bakshi, who retired as NABARD Chairman in
September 2013. Before this appointment Bhanwala was an Executive Director at India Infrastructure Finance Company
Ltd (IIFCL), a state-owned infrastructure lender. His term will be for 5 years)
.
3) Who was appointed as the new Finance Secretary of India on 10 December, 2013? Sumit Bose(Bose takes place of
R.S. Gujral, who retired during November 2013. Gujral was also looking after the expenditure department. Sumit Bose is
an IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre (1976 batch) and was the senior-most secretary in the Finance Ministry that has
two other secretaries- Arvind Mayaram (economic affairs) and Ratan P Watal (expenditure). He is due to retire in March
2014)
.
4) Top 30 loan defaulters of public sector banks (PSBs) account for more than one-third of total gross non-performing
assets (NPAs) of state-run lenders. This information was given in the Parliament on 10 December, 2013. According to this
information what is the ratio of top 30 NPAs as a percentage of gross NPAs, in respect of public sector banks, as on
September 2013? 35.5% (This figure stands at 38.8% for all banks in India. The gross non-performing assets (GNPA)
amount of top 30 accounts of public sector banks (PSBs) stood at Rs. 72,174 crore, while for all banks it was Rs. 91,667
crore at the end of September 2013. In case of nationalised banks, the top 30 defaulters contributed 43.8 per cent to the
GNPA with Rs. 55,663 crore. The GNPAs of the SBI Group, comprising SBI and its five associates, were worth Rs. 71,620
crore at the end of first quarter of the current fiscal)
.
5) Which private sector bank during December 2013 joined hands with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCIL)
to introduce eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer) norms in its branches? HDFC Bank (The eKYC procedure will enable
a consumer to walk in with an Aadhaar number and open an account by getting his fingerprint scanned. HDFC Bank will
install biometric readers for scanning fingerprints at most of its branches in a few months. The banks systems will pull all
data stored online with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) including name, address, birth date and
photograph)
.
6) The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), in its memorandum given during December 2013 to the Finance Minister,
has kept which demand prominently which has huge support of bank employees all over the country? Working for five-
days in a week (Trade unions in the banking sector have raised this demand as part of their bipartite wage negotiations
with the Indian Banks Association. With alternative channels such as ATMs, Internet and mobile banking in place, the
unions feel that the time is ripe for moving to a five-day week. Unions argue that not only Central and State Government
ministries/departments but even the Reserve Bank of India follows the five-day work schedule. However, another section
of bankers were of the opinion that five-day week was not advisable as it would come in the way of efforts towards
financial inclusion)
.
7) Which natural gas pipeline inaugurated by the Prime Minister on 3 December, 2013 is the first one to connect Southern
India to the national grid? Dabhol Bangaluru Gas Pipeline of GAIL (The Dabhol Bangaluru gas pipeline is 1,000 km
long and has been put-up with an investment of around Rs. 4,500 crore. The pipeline starts at Dabhol in Maharashtra and
passes through Belgaum, Dharwad, Gadag, Bellary, Devanagere, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Ramanagaram, Bengaluru Rural and
Bengaluru Urban districts)
.
8) More than a year after allowing FDI in multi-brand retail, the government on 17 December 2013 received the first
application to open stores under this category. Which company gave this application to set-up multi-brand retail stores in
India with an Indian group? Tesco Plc. (Tesco Plc. is a UK-based retailer and it has sought approval to open retail stores
in India with an investment of $110 million in joint venture with Tata Group. The joint-venture Trent Hypermarket, will
trade in products under 14 categories and plans to open three to five stores every financial year. The government in
September 2012 had allowed 51% FDI in multi-brand retail with certain riders)
.
9) Which public sector bank is the only Indian bank to have a branch in Bangkok (Thailand) and it during December 2013
received the Reserve Bank of India (RBIs) approval for opening a second branch here? Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) IOB
will open the second branch before the end of March 2014. IOB had few years back roped in Deloitte to devise a strategy
for the banks overseas expansion)
.
10) State-run Indian Oil Corp has emerged as the countrys biggest company in terms of annualrevenue, followed by
Mukesh Ambani-led private sector giant Reliance Industries at the second place, as per an annual list of Fortune 500
companies in India in Fortune magazines Indian edition released during December 2013. Among the top ten companies in
this list, the highest number of companies is from which sector? Energy Sector (There are as many as seven energy
companies in the top 10 list. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) was the biggest with annual revenue of Rs 4,75,867 crore, followed by
Reliance Industries (RIL) with a full-year revenue of Rs 4,09,883 crore. This is followed by Bharat Petroleum (Rs 2,44,822
crore) at the third place and Hindustan Petroleum (Rs 2,17,771 crore) at fourth. Other entities in the list are State Bank of
India (5th rank), Tata Motors (6th), ONGC (7th), Tata Steel (8th), Essar Oil (9th) and Coal India (10th))
22 Dec 2013
1) The Standing Committee on Finance headed by Yashwant Sinha has recently given what suggestion to the Union
Government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the issue of new bank licenses? It has suggested to desist from giving
new bank licences to industrial houses (Banking being a highly leveraged business involving public money and public
welfare, it will be more in the fitness of things to keep industry and banking separate, the Standing Committee on Finance
has suggested. It urged to ensure that no recurrence of the pre-nationalised situation happens, when the management of
private banks deployed their funds to extend undue favour to their own industrial owners without regard to social
priorities determined by Government)

2) According to the recently released list of biggest bank defaulters by the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), as
much as 25% of the total non-performing assets (NPAs) in public sector banks (excluding SBI) are accounted by 50
corporates. Which is the corporate with largest outstanding in this list? Kingfisher Airlines (Vijay Mallya promoted
Kingfisher Airlines owes Rs. 2,673 crore as per the combined NPA list of PSU banks. It is followed by Winsome Diamond
(Rs. 2,660 crore) and Electrotherm India Limited (Rs. 2211 crore). The total NPAs of public sector banks (excluding SBI)
stood at Rs. 1,64,461 crore. Top 50 corporate defaulters have defaulted Rs. 40,528 crore of bank loans. According to
AIBEA, it has released the name of these defaulters as the RBI and the govt. are not publishing them)

3) Which entity on 3 December, 2013 announced plans to set up a MFIs Credit Information Bureau to enable Microfinance
Institutions (MFIs) to secure credit on faster and better terms? Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd. CIBIL (Under this
initiative CIBIL is planning to rope in MFIs as members. Currently, CIBIL is operating four bureaus consumer, retail,
mortgage and fraud. Prior to approving individual loans, public sector banks and financial institutions seek CIBIL credit
information reports and credit score of an applicant. An individual is given points by the CIBIL TransUnion ranging from
300 to 900 (highest), based on his loan repayment pattern for the last few months. The credit score is updated every
month. Individuals with 800 points are the most sought after by banks)

4) Which practice has been made compulsory from 1 December, 2013 with regard to use of debit card at retail outlets?
Mandatory punching of debit card PIN number after swiping (This is intended to make bank debit card transactions
more secure. In June 2013, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had extended the deadline for implementation of mandatory
PIN punching at Point-of-Sales (PoS) and merchant outlets till 30 November, 2013 following representation of banks.
According to the report of a RBI working group early cases of domestic counterfeit and skimming are being observed as far
as debit cards are concerned. Card skimming is the illegal copying of information from the magnetic strip of a credit/debit
card)

5) Insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) recently decided to stop selling 34 policies, including popular policies
like Jeevan Anand, Jeevan Madhur and Jeevan Saral during December 2013. What is the main reason for this decision of
LIC? To comply with new regulatory guidelines(These policies are not in conformity with the provisions of new
regulations on non-linked insurance products, linked insurance products and health insurance products. The Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) had extended the deadline for implementation of new individual product
regulations for the life insurance industry by three months to 31 December 2014. The new guidelines are aimed at
making insurance policies more customer-friendly)

6) Which major industrial group of the country on 27 November, 2013 withdrew its application with the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) for a banking licence? Tata Sons, which is the holding company of the Tata Group (It thus became the second
industrial group after Videocon-promoted Value Industries to opt out of the race for banking license that now has 25
entities in the fray. For Tata Sons, the constraining factor was the RBI guideline for new bank licences that required all
financial services entities in a group to be necessarily owned by the non-operating financial holding company (NOFHC). To
comply, the Tatas would have had to re-organise the existing financial services structure of the Group. The Tata move
comes just two months before the final licences for new banks are to be issued by the RBI)

7) Six financial institutions Germanys Deutsche Bank, Frances Societe Generale, Britains RBS and RP Martin and United
States JP Morgan and Citigroup, were imposed fines totalling 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) by the European Union on 4
December, 2013. What is the reason for imposition of this hefty penalty? For manipulating interest-rate
benchmarks (These banks were involved in manipulating interest rate derivatives denominated in the euro and the
Japanese yen. There had been suspicions about rate-rigging during the 2008 financial crisis, but the scandal reached full
force last year when Barclays bank became the first to settle a fine for attempting to falsify the Libor benchmark.
Germanys Deutsche Bank faces the stiffest penalty with a total fine of 725 million euros, followed by Frances Societe
Generale with 446 million euros and Britains RBS with 391 million euros)

8) What ease in norms for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) involved in insurance joint-ventures was announced by
the RBI on 28 November, 2013? They have been allowed to hold more than 50% in such companies (As per existing
norms, an NBFC could not hold more than 50% of the paid-up capital of an insurance joint-venture)
15
th
Dec 2013
1) Following the attack on a woman at an ATM in Bangalore during November 2013, the BankEmployees Federation of
India (BEFI) urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to drop which plan associated with increasing the penetration of ATMs
in the country? White-label ATMs (Under the plan of White-label ATMs, it would be the responsibility of the private
agencies to locate, install, and maintain these ATMs. White-label ATMs can be opened by even those entities which are
not in banking operations. BEFI is of the view that security is a major issue with White-label ATMs. Indias first white-label
ATM IndiCash was started during 2013 by Tata Communications Payment Solutions Ltd. (TCPSL), a subsidiary of Tata
Communications)
.
2) The first all-women Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) was launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 19 November,
2013 with the inauguration of the first branch of the bank. This first branch of BMB was inaugurated at Air India building
at Nariman Point in Mumbai (The bank is being started with seven branches (Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati,
Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow) initially. The bank plans to reach a branch size of 25 in the next four months and
thereafter add about 75 banks every year. The capital base for this bank is Rs. 1,000 crore)
.
3) What is a special fact associated with the Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), which was launched on 19 November, 2013 on
the occasion of the 96th birthday of late Indira Gandhi? BMB is the first bank started in the public sector space by an
Act of Parliament (Other banks in public sector were nationalised in two tranches in 1969 and 1980)
.
4) What are the main points pertaining to non-performing assets (NPAs) of Indian banking sector mentioned in the
recently released RBI report Trends and Progress of Banking Report 2012-13?
Gross NPAs as per cent of gross advances for scheduled commercial banks stood at 3.6% as at March 2013 as
against 3.1% previous fiscal
Net NPAs as per cent of net advances for banks stood at 1.7% in FY13 as against 1.3% previous year
As the end of March 2013, the gross NPAs of Indian banking industry stood Rs. 1,94,000 crore. Public sector banks
had highest amount of bad loans at Rs. 1,65,000 crore followed by private sector banks at Rs. 21,000 crore and
foreign bank at Rs. 7,900 crore
The deterioration in asset quality was most perceptible for the SBI group with its NPA ratio reaching a high of 5 per
cent at end March 2013
Deterioration in asset quality in 2012-13 was primarily on account of the non-priority sector
.
5) Market regulator SEBI on 18 November, 2013 said that a single Self Regulatory Organisation (SRO) would be put in place
for the oversight of for all mutual fund distributors. SRO is expected to beselected from among which three applicants?
Institute of Mutual Fund Intermediaries (IMFI),Organisation of Financial Distributors (OFD) and Financial Planning
Standards Board India (FPSB) (The proposal to set up an SRO to regulate the mutual fund distribution business was
mooted in August 2012, while a detailed framework in this regard was approved by the SEBI board in June 2013. The
deadline for submitting applications for SRO was 31 July, 2013. The decision to set up an SRO followed concerns about
mutual fund distributors not being regulated and complaints against them for mis-selling products. The SRO will assist SEBI
and ensure a cordial relationship between mutual fund houses and distributors)
.
6) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 19 November 2013 directed public sector banks (PSBs) to provide loans to women
self-help groups (SHGs) at what rate of interest to avail the benefit of interest rate subvention scheme under the
Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana-Aajeevika (SGSY) scheme? 7% per annum (As per this RBI notification, all women
SHGs will be eligible for interest subvention to avail the credit upto 3 lakh Rupees at 7% per annum. SGSY is an initiative by
the government to provide sustainable income to poor people living in rural areas of the country)
.
7) The net profit of Indias largest commercial bank SBI stood at Rs 2,375 crore during the second quarter of 2013-14 as
against Rs 3,658 crore in the previous year period. What was the main reason for this 35% slump in net profits? The
bank made higher provisions to hedge against rising bad loans during the quarter (The bank set aside Rs 2,645 crore
during the quarter as a cover against potential bad loans. In the same period last year, the bank had set aside Rs 1,837
crore. The amount of the banks non-performing loans rose by 30% to Rs 64,206 crore (Rs 49,202 crore, a year ago))
.
8) On 18 November, 2013 which banks were designated by the RBI to collect advance income tax payments? SBI, ICICI
bank, HDFC Bank, PNB, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Baroda
.
9) The Rapid Metro in Gurgaon, which will connect Delhi Metro commuters to six key places within the city, was
inaugurated on 14 November, 2013. This project is a public-private partnership (PPP) project between which two entities?
HUDA (Haryana Urban Development Authority) andIL&FS Rail Ltd. (Rapid Metro timings will be in sync with Delhi
Metro, so that commuters wont have to wait for the local loop train. While there are a total of six stations in the network,
the one at Shankar Chowk will become operational later as work is still not complete)
.
10) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 25 November 2013 widened the definition of infrastructure lending sub category in a
bid to swiftly expedite these projects. Which sub-category was added to the infrastructure lending sub category by the RBI
to widen its definition? Hotels, with project cost of more than 200 crore rupees being built anywhere in India and of
any star rating (The list will also include convention centres with project cost of more than Rs. 300 crore. Various sub-
sectors under the categories such as Transport, Energy, Water & Sanitation, Communication, Social and Commercial
Infrastructure come under infrastructure lending)
8
th
Dec 2013
1) Who on 12 November, 2013 was appointed as the first Chairperson and Managing Director of Bharatiya Mahila Bank
(BMB), the first all-women bank of India? Usha Anathasubramaniam(Usha assumed her charge on the same day. Prior
to her appointment she was the Executive Director with Punjab National Bank (PNB))

2) What was the guideline issued by the RBI on 29 October, 2013 pertaining to transaction-based SMSes by banks? The
RBI asked banks to charge customers for transaction SMS alerts on the basis of usage, instead of imposing a fixed fee, to
ensure equity and be reasonable (In its guideline the RBI said that fees based on actual usage are necessary to ensure
reasonableness and equity in charges levied by banks. In March 2011, the RBI had set guidelines for banks to send online
alerts to customers for all types of transactions, irrespective of the amount. However, the central bank had not issued
rules on charging customers for these alerts)

3) The RBI on 29 October, 2013 allowed the commercial banks to revise the periodicity of interest payments. This
guideline was announced under RBIs Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2013-14 by Governor Raghram Rajan.
The guideline will now enable savings bank account and term deposit holders to earn interest at shorter intervals. What is
present practice of interest payment adopted by banks? At present banks pay interest on savings and term deposits at
quarterly or longer intervals (RBI had deregulated the savings interest rates of banks in 2011)

4) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan on 29 October, 2013 hiked the repo rate by 25 basis points in the
October monetary policy review. The repo rate is now at 7.75%. What was the main reason for increasing the repo rate?
Increase in inflation during the past few months(Wholesale price index (WPI) inflation touched 6.46% in September
while consumer price indexinflation was at 9.84%. Both these measures have been way beyond the comfort level of the
RBI. Repo rate is the rate at which banks borrow short term funds from RBI)

5) RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on 29 October, 2013 cut the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate by 25 bps to 8.75% in
the October monetary policy review. What was the significance of this move from the view of repo rate? The gap
between the repo rate and the MSF rate is now back to 100 bps, which signals the return to normalcy in currency
markets. The MSF is an emergency window that banks borrow from when faced with a funds crunch

6) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on 6 November, 2013, permitted wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS) of foreign banks to
acquire domestic private sector banks as well as set up branches anywhere in the country. It also allowed foreign bank
subsidiary to list on local stock exchanges. What is the maximum holding above which foreign bank subsidiaries would not
be able to hold in domestic private sector banks? 74% (It is the sectoral cap for overall foreign investment and would
apply in this case too)

7) What was Indias unemployment rate during the five year period ending 2009-10, data pertaining to which was released
by the National Sample Survey Organisation on 26 October, 2013? 2.8% (This displayed fall of 1% in unemployment rate
from 3.8% during previous 5-year period. The data pertaining to unemployment rate was based on NSSOs
8
th
Quinquennial survey on employment and unemployment conducted in the 66
th
round of NSS during July 2009 to June
2010)

8) Which city witnessed maximum unemployment rate during the five year period ending 2009-10, as stated in the latest
NSSO report released on 26 October, 2013? Patna (Patna witnessed unemployment rate of 13.2% during this period and
it was followed by Kanpur which witnessed 7.7% unemployment)

9) Which city witnessed minimum unemployment rate during the five year period ending 2009-10, as stated in the latest
NSSO report released on 26 October, 2013? Bhopal (Bhopal witnessed an unemployment rate of just 0.1% during this
period. Gujarats Surat was in second place with unemployment rate of 0.6%)

10) Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) retained his title as Indias wealthiest person for sixth year in a
row. His networth stood at $21 billion. NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal (USD 16 billion) also continues to hold the second
position in this list released by the Forbes magazine. Who pushed IT czar Azim Premji of Wipro to fourth position to
become third richest Indian? Dilip Shanghvi (Sun Pharmas Shanghvi jumped to third place with about 50% surge in his
wealth to $13.9 billion while Azim Premjis wealth stood at $13.8 billion. Other people on this list include Pallonji Mistry
(5
th
position with $12.5 billion), Hinduja brothers (6
th
position with $9 billion), Shiv Nadar (7
th
position with $8.6 billion), Adi
Godrej (8
th
position with $8.3 billion), Kumar Mangalam Birla (9
th
position with $7.6 billion) and Sunil Mittal (10
th
position
with ($6.6 billion)