Daily News

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India's trade deficit widens

India’s merchandise trade deficit widened to $14.62 billion in May 2018.

But cumulative value of exports for the period April-May 2018-19 was $54.77 billion as against $48.65 billion registering a positive growth of 12.58% in dollar terms and 16.37% in rupee terms over the same period last year.

Did you Know

The balance of trade is the difference between the value of a country's imports and exports for a given period. The balance of trade is the largest component of a country's balance of payments.
The balance of payments is a statement of all transactions made between entities in one country and the rest of the world over a defined period of time, such as a quarter or a year.

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Maharashtra seeks World Bank support

Two projects of Maharashtra were mooted for the World Bank’s assistance: rural transformation through sustainable livelihood in 10,000 villages and a multimodal transport corridor in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

World Bank agreed to provide support for rural solar grid and drought mitigation.

Did you Know

Governor of Maharashtra- Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao
Chief Minister of Maharashtra- Devendra Fadnavis
World Bank CEO - Kristalina Georgieva

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India to host European Union Film Festival

The EU Film Festival 2018 will be held from 18 - 24 June in Delhi.

The European Union Film Festival is organized by Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India partnering with the Delegation of the European Union and embassies of EU Member States in various city film clubs.

Did you Know

The EU consists of 28 countries and they have a set up of common institutions where decisions on matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level.
By creating a frontier-free single market and a single currency (the euro) which has been adopted by 19 Member States, the EU has given a significant boost to trade and employment. It is also at the forefront of policies on sustainability.

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RBI relaxes norms for FPI investment in bonds

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed its norms on FPIs which forbade investing more than 20 per cent of their portfolios in bonds issued by a single corporate group.

This relaxation is extended only to those FPIs which had invested before April 27 of this year.

Did you Know

Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) consists of securities and other financial assets passively held by foreign investors. It does not provide the investor with direct ownership of financial assets and is relatively liquid depending on the volatility of the market.

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ICICI Bank's ratings downgraded

Fitch has downgraded its support rating for ICICI Bank from ‘2’ to ‘3’ and but outlook on ICICI Bank is still ‘stable’.

It has revised the outlook on Axis Bank to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’.

Support ratings reflect expectation of a moderate probability of extraordinary state (government) support, if required. This is due to private ownership and lower systemic importance compared to larger banks.

Did you Know

ICICI Bank Headquarters- Mumbai
Managing Director & CEO of ICICI Bank - Chanda Kochhar
Axis Bank Headquarters- Mumbai
MD & CEO of Axis Bank- Shikha Sharma

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IDBI Bank to appoint a transaction advisor

IDBI Bank to appoint a transaction advisor to offload 25 per cent stake held by IDBI Capital Market in mutual fund subsidiary IDBI Asset Management Company (AMC).

IDBI Capital Market, the investment banking arm, will reduce stake in the AMC from the current 33 per cent.

IDBI AMC is the 24th largest domestic AMC in terms of AUM.

Did you Know

IDBI Bank Managing Director & CEO- Mr. Mahesh Kumar Jain
IDBI Bank Headquarters – Mumbai

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NPA write-offs by Public-sector Banks

Public sector banks have written off bad loans worth Rs 1.20 trillion, which is nearly one-and-a-half times more than their total losses posted in 2017-18.

Till 2016-17, 21 state-owned banks made combined profit while in 2017-18, they posted a staggering loss of Rs 853.7 billion.

SBI alone has written off bad loans of Rs 401.96 billion, nearly 25 per cent of the total write-offs during 2017-18. This was followed by Canara Bank (Rs 83.1 billion), Punjab National Bank (Rs 74.07 billion) and Bank of Baroda (Rs 49.48 billion).

Did you Know

Write-off in banking parlance means that the bank has made 100 per cent provision from its earning against that account. Following this, NPA is no longer part of its balance sheet.

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Citigroup to pay for manipulation charges

Citigroup has agreed to pay USD 100 million to settle charges that its bankers manipulated an important interest rate used to price everything from credit cards to mortgages.

The Citi bank was charged for manipulating London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor).

Did you Know

Libor is a benchmark rate that some of the world's leading banks charge each other for short-term loans. It stands for Intercontinental Exchange London Interbank Offered Rate and serves as the first step to calculating interest rates on various loans throughout the world.

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"Scout"- First-ever browser controlled by voice

Mozilla, the maker of the Firefox browser, is working on an internet browser which can be controlled by the user’s voice.

The browser is named as "Scout".Mozilla Scout will be a first-of-its-kind fully voice controlled browser.

Did you Know

Google currently has a mic support function that allows users to search via voice commands.

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Mike McCormack wins International Dublin Literary Award

Irish author Mike McCormack won International Dublin Literary Award for his novel Solar Bones.

The novel Solar Bones is a 270-odd-page novel written in a single sentence.

The prize money awarded is 100,000 euros, or approximately Rs 80 lakh.

Did you Know

The International Dublin Literary Award, earlier known as Impac, receives a long list of books from librarians around the world. The panel of authors then selects one ‘unsuspecting writer’ as the recipient of the award and the prize money.