Current Affairs May 22-23, 2015

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Current Affairs May 23, 2015

1. Indian film Masan wins the Critics prize in the 68th Cannes film festival: The film was directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and narrates the story of characters connected with The Ganges.
2. Ireland the first country to constitutionally legalise same sex marriage: Ireland is has allowed same sex marriage by amending the constitution by referendum.
3. Arcelor Mittal and SAIL sign mou to set up steel plant in India: Under this project a state of the art cold rolling mill with all attendant facilities will be set up in India through a joint venture between Arcelor Mittal and SAIL.
4. Sindri unit of the Fertiliser corporation of India to be revived: The Sindri unit of the FCI was lying dormant from 2002 onwards. The union cabinet has taken a decision to revive this unit to meet the growing demand for urea.
5. Pethia Striata a new fish species discovered in Tunga Bhadra river: This new species was found in two streams of Tunga Bhadra river. It has a different pattern of scales and a black spot near the tail.

Current Affairs May 22, 2015

1. NPAs: Banks get 2 years to spread loss on sale of assets: To encourage banks to purge their books of bad loans, the RBI has extended incentives, whereby the shortfall (arising in cases where the sale value is lower than the net book value )can be spread over two years, for sale of assets up to March 31, 2016.
2. 40 major companies account for 50% of bank bad loans: The Centre has told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance that 40 major companies in the country account for 50 per cent of the total non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans in various banks.
3. IDFC Bank will generate significant profit from day one- Rajiv Lall: IDFC will carry out a soft-launch of its bank in June, before starting full-fledged operations in early October. IDFC Chairman Rajiv Lall, will be the vice-chairman and managing director of IDFC Bank.
4. Government relaxes FDI norms for NRIs, PIOs, OCIs: The Union Cabinet approved a relaxation of policy on investment proposals from Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs), treating them at par with Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in this regard.
5. Labour ministry proposal: Take-home salary to take a hit after changes in PF Act: Labour ministry proposal has also sought to increase PF deductions to 12 per cent of the contributing wages from the current rate of 10 per cent.
6. SBI ties up with Snapdeal, PayPal to up digital reach: A day after tying up with Amazon India, State Bank of India (SBI) inked MoUs with with Snapdeal and PayPal to increase its presence in the digital space.
7. RBI eases remittance, ECB norms: In a step towards liberalising the country’s external sector, the Reserve Bank of India announced two measures that would enable higher remittances and also ease the process of raising funds through external commercial borrowings (ECB).