TN has topped in disbursement of agriculture credit by giving away loans worth Rs 1,63,289 Cr out of a total of Rs 10,33,183 Cr distributed across India till December 31 this fiscal. Andhra Pradesh & UP were 2nd & 3rd in agricultural credit disbursals.
Kerala, which is not a major agricultural State, came fourth.
To bridge a temporary cash flow mismatch, the Government, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, has decided to mobilise Rs 51,000 crore more through auction of Treasury-Bills (T-Bills) during the remaining period of quarter ending March 2020.
Earlier estimated cost of borrowing via T-Bills- Rs 24,000 Cr.
To bring in better synergy in the activities, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has signed a MoU with Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC). The MoU is aimed at addressing the obstacles faced by FPOs.
APEDA is under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank chaired a meeting on Research in Indian Traditional Knowledge Systems in New Delhi. Objective of the meeting was to ensure the development of the society by coordinating the ancient & modern genres of knowledge.
He cited the example of Yoga as an Indian Knowledge System.
A Tabletop Exercise between the IAF & the Myanmar Air Force was conducted at Prayagraj on the theme of HADR. The objectives of the exercise include planning of HADR operation in each scenario, learn best practices & executing mission during HADR disasters.
20-member team of IAF participated in the exercise.
Honourable Finance Minister in his Budget Speech on 1st February 2018 had announced setting up of two Defence Industrial Corridors in the country. In pursuance to the said announcement, it has been decided to develop one such corridor in Uttar Pradesh.
The investment of Rs. 3700 crores were announced for this.
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved procurement of 83 indigenous Tejas fighter aircraft for Indian Air Force. The Defence Acquisition Council also accorded approval for acquisition of indigenous Defence equipment for about 1,300 crore rupees.
Chief of Indian Air Force- Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria.
One contract and two Letters of Offer and Acceptance (LOAs) have been concluded with the US side for procurement of Helicopters and Self Protection Suite. Countries such as US, Russia, France, Germany, Israel, UK are leading exporters of defence equipment.
The delivery of the helicopters will commence from May 2021.
Department of Social Justice & Empowerment launched a scheme namely ‘Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana’ on 1 April 2017 with the objective to provide the senior citizens, living BPL & suffering from any of age-related disability with such assisted living devices.
The Scheme is implemented through ALIMCO.
The Moody’s Investors Service changed its outlook for the global shipping industry to negative from stable. It now expects the Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation & Amortization of rated shipping companies to decline by around 6% to 10% in 2020.
EBITDA growth of 2019 was almost 40%.
498 ongoing Railway Projects including 188 New Lines, 55 Gauge Conversion & 255 Doubling Projects of total length 49,069 Km, costing Rs. 6.75 lakh Cr are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution. Rs 47,841 Cr have been included in 2020-21 Budget.
Piyush Goyal is the current Union Minister for Railways.
Moody's Investors Service lowered its outlook for the global base metals industry to negative on slowing global growth due to the spread of coronavirus. The revised forecast puts US GDP growth in 2020 at 1.5% and at 2.1% for the G-20 countries overall.
GDP forecast of European area- 0.7%, China at 4.8%.
RBI has received Rs 27,096 Cr worth of bids in the fifth long-term repo operations conducted for an amount of Rs 25,000 Cr with a tenure of 3 years. Earlier this week, RBI had announced to conduct additional LTROs for up to a total amount of Rs 1 lakh Cr.
Bid to cover ratio is 1.1.
STMicroelectronics has tied up with Aligarh Muslim University of UP, to jointly develop technology for solar-powered, wireless charging stations in India. Both STMicroelectronics and AMU will bring parts of their home-grown technologies to the projects.
STMicroelectronics is a French multinational company.
A rampaging ATK claimed an unprecedented 3rd Indian Super League title triumph with a 3-1 victory over arch-rival Chennaiyin FC. ISL is a football league in India. For sponsorship reasons, the competition is officially known as Hero Indian Super League.
Final held without spectators owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bill that seeks to convert Directorate General of Civil Aviation & 2 other existing bodies under the Civil Aviation Ministry into statutory bodies was passed by Lok Sabha. It also seeks to give statutory status to Bureau of Civil Aviation Security & AAIB.
AAIB- Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau.
Ordnance Factories are observing their 219th foundation day on 18th of March. The first Ordnance Factory, now known as the Gun and Shell Factory in Kolkata was established on 1801. Ordnance Factories are a conglomerate of 41 ordnance factories under OFB.
Ordnance Factory Board Headquarters- Kolkata.
India and Saudi Arabia agreed that an exercise at level of G-20 similar to SAARC efforts on March 15 will be useful to address Covid-19 pandemic. PM Modi had a telephone conversation with the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi Arabia currently holds G-20 Presidency.
L&T Technology Services Limited, a pure-play engineering services company, signed a multi-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur to collaborate on research in industrial and infrastructure cybersecurity.
They will together set-up a Center of Excellence in the campus.
Google has appointed former IBM executive, Karan Bajwa as Managing Director of Google Cloud in India. He will be responsible for driving all revenue and go-to-market operations for Google Cloud's portfolio that includes Google Cloud Platform and G Suite.
Bajwa will also work with Global System Integrators (GSIs).
Journalists Prachi Salve of Indiaspend & Pradeep Dwivedi of Dainik Jagran has been selected for the 1st prize in the Road Safety Media Fellowship 2019. B. Raveendra Shetty of Vijaya Karnataka along with Purnima Singh of Times Now Hindi are at 2nd place.
The fellowship is given by Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi.
Iraqi President Barham Salih has appointed Adnan al-Zurfi as the country's new prime minister-designate in the latest bid to resolve a months-long political crisis. Al-Zurfi has 30 days to form his cabinet which he must then put to a vote of confidence.
Al-Zurfi will replace caretaker PM- Adel Abdul Mahdi.
SBI has entered into an agreement to acquire 6.825% stake in Zero Mass. As part of the deal, the Bank has sold its entire stake in A Little World to the Zero Mass. ZERO Mass Pvt. Ltd. was founded by Anurag Gupta, Founder and Director on 20 March 2007.
The deal is to be completed by March 31, 2020.
The book titled ‘My Encounters in Parliament’ authored by Bhalchandra Mungekar an Indian economist, former member of Rajya Sabha, was released in the presence of former Vice President- Hamid Ansari CPI General Secretary D Raja & NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
CPI Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yechury was also present.
Swiss firm Roche Diagnostics India received the license for conducting coronavirus tests after approval from DCGI. It became the 1st private firm to get such permission after the govt. decided to allow accredited private labs to test for COVID-19.
Drug Controller General of India (DCGI)-V. G. Somani.
Bajaj Auto approved the re-appointment of Rajiv Bajaj as MD & CEO. He has worked with Baja Auto since 1991 in the areas of Manufacturing & Supply Chain.The board also approved the appointment of Gita Piramal as independent director of the company.
Bajaj Auto's 1st launch was that of the Vespa 150 in the yr 1960
