Daily GK Update - 6th February 2015

Daily GK Update for today

Sanjeev Kaushik has taken over as Executive Director of India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd ( IIFCL).

Dr M. O. Garg, apponted as a Director of the CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research)

Managing Director and CEO of NPCI - A.P Hota
India is planning to unify different payment mechanisms to create a cashless ecosystem in the country.
The National Payment Corporation of India is building a single interface platform for all transactions.
Users will be able to initiate transactions using smartphone and payment can happen on a real-time, on a 'Request Response' basis.
The significance of this development is that merchants would not have to struggle to link with their banks.

Chairman of HAL - T Suvarna Raju
The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has bagged a major defence contract, valued at around Rs 1090 crore, for the supply of 14 Do-228 aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The HAL Do-228 aircraft will be manufactured by the company's Transport Aircraft Division at Kanpur.

Features of HAL-DO-228s :

It is having highest fuel carrying capacity of (2850 litres) due to integral fuel tanks in wings
low structural weight ensured through use of advanced composite materials
wide wheel base for better stability and short take-off and landing capability
The aircraft can take off from around 700 m and land within 575 m

The RBI released the final guidelines for enabling banks to have unhindered credit flow to sectors such as infrastructure, power and ports during difficult times.
All this process of releasing credits for above sectors in difficult time is known as CCCB (Countercyclical Capital Conservation Buffer).In this process banks save up on good days for tough times.
It also aims to reduce the overexposure of the banking system during good times because banks have been found to lend excessively and often carelessly during good time.
All banks operating in India (both foreign and domestic) should maintain capital for Indian operations under CCCB framework.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget for 2015-16, is likely to target around Rs 43,000 crore from disinvestment proceeds.
Jaitley would present the Budget for 2015-16 on February 28.
In the current financial year, the government has raised about Rs 24,400 crore through stake sale in the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and CIL.
The government has lined up a host of companies for a possible disinvestment, including IOC, NMDC, BHEL, Nalco, Dredging Corporation, PFC and REC.
The major PSUs where government holding currently stands at more than 75 per cent include Coal India, NHPC, NMDC and SJVN.
There are 7 companies where the government's stake is 90 per cent and these include MMTC, Hindustan Copper, HMT, National Fertlisers, Neyveli Lignite Corp, State Trading Corp and State Bank of Mysore.

ADB Head office – Manila,(capital of Phillipines)
ADB President Takehiko Nakao praises the government's efforts to introduce a National Goods and Services Tax. It would unify internal markets and support economic growth by removing tax distortions
ADB's projected economic growth to rise to 6.3 per cent in 2015-16 from 5.5 per cent this financial year. These estimates are based on the base year of 2004-05.

Cabinet has approved the additional charge of the post of Chairperson, FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) to Mr Bhanu Pratap Sharma, Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare.

Alibaba is the world's biggest and most valuable ecommerce firm.It has finally moved to pitch its flag in India. It had signed a deal to buy a 25% stake in Indian mobile payments and ecommerce platform Paytm owner One97 Communications.

All India Football Federation (AIFF) today appointed Nicolai Adam as head coach of the Indian U-17 national team for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Adam is presently working as the head coach of the U-19 national team of Azerbaijan and will take charge from April 1.