USA administration has put India in the ‘Strategic Trade Authorisation-1 (STA-1) list of countries. It will ease the exports of high-tech items, acknowledges the security as well as an economic relationship between the both largest democratic countries.
USA President- Donald Trump, Capital- Washington DC.
India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart will make a renewed attempt at a customer loyalty programme as it seeks to challenge Amazon’s subscription service. Flipkart Plus will be a no-fee, points-based programme for regular customers of Flipkart.
Amazon founder- Jeff Bezos, Flipkart- Sachin & Binny Bansal.
HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh was reappointed as a non-executive director on the board of country’s largest mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd (HDFC). He has been at the helm of HDFC for close to 30 years.
HDFC- HQ at Mumbai. Vice Chairman & CEO- Keki Mistry
Former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi has been chosen for 24th ‘Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award’ for promoting communal harmony and peace. The award will be presented on August 20, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Notable recipients - Mother Teresa, Mohammed Yunus, Sunil Dutt.
Payments solution provider Razorpay has said that it has partnered with Bharti Airtel to help the latter’s customers make seamless online payments through UPI (Unified Payment Interface) on the telecom firm’s website and mobile app.
Developer of UPI-National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has come up with India’s first state energy efficiency preparedness index to combat the climate change. The index will help track the progress in managing the energy footprint of states and the country.
BEE- Body under Ministry of Power. Foundation- 1st March 2002.
China has successfully launched an optical remote sensing satellite, as part of its high-resolution Earth observation project which will also provide data for the Belt and Road Initiative. The Gaofen-11 satellite was launched on a Long March 4B.
President of China- Xi Jinping, Capital- Beijing
According to a study published in Antarctic Science, the planet’s largest colony of king penguins France’s remote ‘Ile aux Cochon island’ has declined by nearly 90% in three decades. Recent satellite images show barely 2,00,000 penguins remaining.
France President- Emmanuel Macron, Capital- Paris.
A government of India has detected GST evasion worth Rs 3,026 crore in the last one year in relation to misuse of input tax credit and non-payment of taxes. Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
GST was implemented on 1st July 2017. GST Day- 1st July.
State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) is awaiting the final go-ahead from the RBI to merge its existing operations with the newly registered local SBM Bank (India) Ltd. It seeks to become the first foreign bank to incorporate a local subsidiary in the country.
Capital of Mauritius- Port Louis, Currency- Mauritian rupee.