Current Affairs Aug 21, 2015

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1. Kerala has a new entry on GI list: It’s an Onam gift for the banana farmers here. The nendran banana variety, Changalikodan, has been accorded the Geographical Indication (GI) status.

2. China to build $10 billion N-plants in Pakistan: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on 20th August inaugurated construction work on a China-backed $10 billion nuclear power plant. The Karachi Nuclear Power Plant II (Kanupp II) with the capacity to produce 1,100MW electricity is being built with the assistance of China, which has become the biggest investor in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan.

3. Lateral hiring for top jobs in govt. banks to end: Less than a week after unveiling a revamp plan, Indradhanush, for public sector banks, the Union Finance Ministry indicated that no more private sector professionals would be hired for senior management positions in these banks.

4. Payments banks will revolutionise banking: Rajan: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan, said Payments banks are an add-on to the banks rather than competitors. “Payments banks will be feeders into the universal banks. Payments banks can’t do some thing universal banks can do.”

5. Less than 4% women become senior managers in India: A report released by management consultancy firm, McKinsey India states that While in Asia, the average is around 11 per cent, in India only about four per cent of women make it to the highest echelons of the corporate world. “In India, [in the corporate sector] the number of women at the entry level is 25 per cent and in the mid-level management it comes down to 16 per cent. In the senior level, it decreases further to four percent,” said the report

6. Volkswagen ships 100,000th India-made car to Mexico: Volkswagen India announced that its plant in Chakan near Pune, has shipped its 100,000 ‘Made in India’ car for the Mexican market. The Pune facility has achieved this milestone in less than two years after starting the export of cars to Mexico.

7. Real estate developers must lower prices: Rajan: Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said that real estate prices need to come down in order to ease lending norms for home loans. The governor's comments come at a time when unsold housing stocks are at a two-year-high and developers continue to hold on to prices despite a sharp fall in transactions.

8. World No. 1 Saina signs Rs 25 crore deal with sports management group IOS: Star India shuttler Saina Nehwal has signed a two-year deal with leading sports management group, IOS Sports & Entertainment. IOS will manage Saina's endorsements, appearances, brand profiling, patents, licensing and digital rights, images and visibility on social networking sites. IOS will target around 25 crore over the two years.

9. Russian firm signs deal for third unit at Kudankulam: Russian nuclear equipment supplier OMZ Izhorskiye Zavody has signed a deal with Indian partners of state nuclear agency Rosatom for the production of the reactor for Unit 3 at Kudankulam.

10. Railway man Ashwani Lohani to be Air India CMD: The government chose Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation chief Ashwani Lohani to be the next AI chairman and managing director. The appointments committee of Cabinet gave 57-year-old Lohani, a 1980 batch Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers officer, a tenure of three years at AI.