Daily Current Affairs, 05th April 2019

1) 7th Foreign Office Consultations Between India and Italy Held In Delhi

•The 7th Foreign Office consultations between India and Italy were held in New Delhi. The Indian side was led by Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs, A. Gitesh Sarma. The Italian side was led by Director General of Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Luca Sabbatucci.

•These consultations were aimed to provide an opportunity to review the follow-up actions taken after the visit of Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in October 2018 as well as the entire range of bilateral relations.

2) India Inks MoU To Set Up Agriculture, Rural Development Institute In Malawi

•India has signed an MoU with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Consultancy Service (NABCONS) for setting up the India-Africa Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development (IAIARD) in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa.

•Ministry of External Affairs signed with NABCONS for setting up IAIARD, an attempt to complement the efforts of the Government of India to enhance capacity in the areas of agro-financing and entrepreneurship development for African countries.

3) CS Rajan Appointed MD of IL&FS

•CS Rajan has been appointed Managing Director while Vineet Nayyar named as Executive Vice-Chairman of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS). Rest of the new board comprises of Bijay Kumar as the deputy managing director and GC Chaturvedi, Nand Kishore, Malini Shankar, and N Srinivasan as non-executive directors.

4) BIS and IIT-Delhi Inks MoU On Standardisation and Conformity Assessment

•The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has inked an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) to collaborate in the field of standardisation and conformity assessment. The MoU was signed by IIT Delhi Director Professor V Ramgopal Rao and Director General of BIS Surina Rajan. 

•According to the MoU, IIT Delhi will provide infrastructure support for research and development projects of relevance to standardisation and BIS will provide financial support to IIT Delhi for projects.

5) RBI Tweaks LCR Norms To Boost Liquidity

•In a bid to further improve the cash position of banks, RBI has tweaked Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) norms to provide an additional 2% window to lenders. As per RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, this move will harmonise the liquidity requirements of banks and release additional money for lending. LCR indicates the proportion of highly liquid assets held by banks to ensure their ability to meet short-term obligations.

6) BSE, India INX Become First Indian Exchanges To Sign MoU With Moscow Exchange

•BSE (earlier known as Bombay Stock Exchange) and India International Exchange (India INX) have signed a memorandum of understanding with Moscow Exchange (MOEX) to connect investor community and companies in both countries besides allowing a capital formation platform.

•BSE and India INX are the first Indian exchanges to enter into the MoU with Moscow exchange. The exchange companies have agreed to the secondment of senior personnel to enhance understanding of activities in each other’s market.

7) Paytm Money Receives SEBI Approval To Start Stock Broking Services

•The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given approval to Paytm Money the investment and wealth management platform of the mobile payments company to start offering broking services. It had applied for the licence in October 2018. Paytm Money has also received membership of NSE and BSE.

8) BSNL Gets Licence For WiFi On Flights

•State-owned telecom service provider Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has received a licence from the Department of Telecommunications to provide Internet and mobile services on flights. BSNL and its satellite partner, Inmarsat, will be able to offer in-flight connectivity to airlines.