Current Affairs Aug 20, 2015

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1. RBI Cleared 11 payments banks: The Reserve Bank of India 'in principle' cleared 11 entities - including department of posts, top conglomerates such as Reliance Industries and Aditya Birla Group, telecom giants like Ariel and Vodafone, and a number of tech and finance companies - to set up 'payments banks'. Unlike ‘universal banks’ as the regular banks are called payments banks can accept deposits up to Rs.1 lakh only.

2. Snapdeal loss rises five times to Rs 1,350 crore: E-tailer Snapdeal's valuations may have risen from around $2 billion to $4.7 billion in a matter of a year but so have its loss - which shot up five times - as the Delhi-based company doled out discounts to grab buyers and acquired companies at hefty valuations.

3. India accepts invitation to victory parade in Beijing: Ending weeks of speculation, India has accepted China’s invitation to a military parade in Beijing on September 3 to celebrate the end of World War II. Union Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh will represent India.

4. Ansals to go free in Uphaar case: After 18 years of legal battle by the next of kin of victims of the gruesome fire in Uphaar cinema in the capital, the Supreme Court allowed real estate magnates Gopal and Sushil Ansal to walk free after asking them to pay a fine of Rs. 60 crore for negligence leading to the death of 59 people.

5. Corporation Bank cuts base rate: Corporation Bank has reduced its base rate, or minimum lending rate, by 10 basis points. The bank informed the stock exchanges that it will reduce the base rate from 10 per cent to 9.9 per cent with effect from August 24. In the last revision on June 1, Corporation Bank had reduced the base rate from 10.25 per cent to 10 per cent.

6. E-commerce industry makes $1.2m revenue in every 30 seconds: The global e-commerce industry generates over $1.2 million revenue in every 30 seconds with Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter contributing $5,483, $4,504 and $4,308 respectively, reveals a joint study conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) and Deloitte.

7. PM Narendra Modi proposes, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina welcomes joint disaster management operations: PM Narendra Modi suggested a joint exercise of disaster management forces of South Asian countries for a collective response to natural calamities as he held talks with visiting Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina.

8. Xiaomi launches upgraded operating system MIUI 7: Smartphone-maker Xiaomi launched MIUI 7, the latest upgrade to its Android-based operating system, which includes many new features designed for India.

9. PMMY Loans to Double to Over Rs. 1Lakh Crore by March: To fund the unfunded, the finance ministry plans to launch a month-long campaign for loans under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana(PMMY) in the next 10 days and hopes to double loan disbursement to the small business sector to over Rs. 1 lakh crore during the fiscal.