july-eng-15

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RBI/ BANKING/BUSINESS NEWS THIS MONTH

1 July: The Union Government approved 643 crore rupees drinking water and sewerage project

for Shimla town for World Bank funding. Under the project, World Bank will provide a loan of 514

crore rupees and remaining 129 crore rupees will be provided by the state government as

counterpart funding over a project period of three years. The project would help the people of

Shimla and adjoining Special Planning Area in addressing the chronic water shortage problem

and also sewerage connectivity.

1 July: Country's second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank launched '30-min auto' and '15-

min 2-wheeler' loan schemes, for which customers have to provide only their biometric details.

The 30-minute auto loan is available for HDFC Bank customers, as well as others. With this

technology-enabled solution, loans for two-wheelers can also be approved within 15 minutes.

2 July: Infosys has launched a mobile app, the 'Finacle SME Enable' to help banks enhance support

and service for their small and medium business enterprise (SME) customers. The mobile-based

financial and business management solution will provide banks SME customers real-time access

to their account information and relevant financial management tools to manage their day-to-

day business operations in a self-service mode.

2 July: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and JCB International Co. Ltd, a subsidiary

of Japan's JCB Co. Ltd., entered into a partnership for payment cards issuance and acceptance.

Under the pact, JCB cards will be accepted at all NPCI locations in India. The partnership will also

include the issuance of RuPay/JCB international cards by NPCI member banks that will be globally

accepted through the JCB network. These cards will be launched in the second half of 2016.

3 July: Greece became the first developed nation to default on International Monetary Fund

(IMF) debt. It became a defaulter after it missed the deadline for payment of 1.7 billion dollar

(1.5 billion euro) to IMF. According to IMF's Fund spokesman Gerry Rice, Greece has too much

debt to return and it can get finance from the IMF only if it repays the loan.


3 July: Countrys largest bank State Bank of India (SBI) announced its tie-up with travel company

MakeMyTrip.com. This partnership includes partnership with personal banking unit for consumer

facing propositions including EMIs on purchase of holidays & international travel, customized

travel products like Forex cards and travel products. On the other hand MakeMyTrip customers

will be able to access special offers from SBI on debit/credit cards and personal financing.

4 July: Just 4.6% of all rural households in the country pay income tax while such households with

salaried income are close to 10%, the first Socio-Economic and Caste Census released in eight

decades said. According to the Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 the percentage of

Scheduled Caste (SC) households paying income tax was 3.49% while Scheduled Tribe (ST) tax-

paying rural households were mere 3.34%.

4 July: Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has been launched across the country on 3rd July 2015.

With the launch of nationwide MNP, mobile users can retain their numbers despite changing

states/circles across the country, without incurring any roaming charges. Telecom operators such

as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Uninor, MTS, Reliance Communications, Videocon

Telecom, BSNL and MTNL have already announced the launch of full MNP.

4 July: According to the data released by World Bank in Washington the size of Indian economy

stood at $2.06 trillion at the end of 2014. It has almost doubled in size since the financial crisis

hit the country in 2008, and has more than quadrupled from the start of this millennium. Indias

growth rate, at 7.4% in 2014, makes it the fastest growing major economy along with Chinas.

4 July: The World Bank announced to provide $650 million loan for a major project of Indian

Railways, the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor project. Construction of the Eastern Dedicated

Freight Corridor will help speed up the carrying of goods between Ludhiana in the west of India

and Kolkata in the east. This huge project will span 1,840 kms (1,140 miles) across the North India.

The loan is the third from the World Bank to help fund the freight corridor.

6 July: Google India, Tata Trust and Intel have started a unique initiative to educate rural women

about internet and create awareness towards it. These companies joined hands to launch a

programme 'Internet Saathi'. Under the programme 1,000 specially- designed bicycles equipped

with internet devices will be sent into remote villages. The aim of the initiative is to create

awareness towards internet among 5 lakh Indian rural women in the next 18 months.

6 July: The countrys largest public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) launched Project

Tatkal, an initiative to provide doorstep services and expedite Home Loan Application (HLA)

process. The project will help home loan applicants to get the loan within 10 days after receipt

of application form and relevant supporting documents.


6 July: State-run operator BSNL launched a pre-paid card linked mobile wallet service which

would allow its customers to transfer money, pay for services as well as withdraw cash of up to

Rs. 1 lakh. The wallet service, Speed Pay, allows a customer to load money even if he does not

have a bank account. The money loaded in the mobile wallet can be transferred to a bank account

and even withdrawn at bank branches or at BSNL outlets.

7 July: Corporation Bank has become the first bank to launch the MUDRA Card. Hasmukh Adhia,

secretary, department of financial services, union ministry of finance launched the first MUDRA

(Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) card under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

(PMMY) for small entrepreneurs. Mudra Card based on the RuPay platform. PMMY aims to fund

micro units in manufacturing, trading and services sectors with affordable credit upto Rs. 10 lakh.

7 July: Reserve Bank of India prohibited the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in manufacturing of

tobacco products, though activities such as retail and wholesale trading fall under the sectoral

restrictions. According to RBI notification Foreign direct investment (FDI) is prohibited in the

manufacturing of cigars, cheroots, cigarillos and cigarettes of tobacco or of tobacco substitutes.

Foreign direct investment in other activities relating to these products including wholesale cash

and carry, retail trading shall be governed by the sectoral restrictions laid down in the FDI policy.

7 July: China unveiled an Internet Plus scheme, aiming to integrate the Internet with traditional

industries and fuel economic growth. Chinas Internet Plus action plan will integrate mobile

Internet, cloud computing, big data with modern manufacturing, to encourage the healthy

development of e-commerce, industrial networks, and Internet banking, and to help Internet

companies increase their international presence.

8 July: Euclid Tsakalotos, the deputy foreign minister of international economic affairs and chief

coordinator of the country's negotiating team over the debt deal with lenders, has been

appointed as new Finance Minister of Greece after Yanis Varoufakis resigned from the post

because Greek voters delivered an overwhelming "No" vote in a referendum on whether to

accept more austerity measures in return for new bailout cash.

8 July: Taking a step towards digitalisation, Union Bank of India launched a slew of initiatives such

as IMPS at branches and M-passbooks for its customers. The bank has become the first lender to

launch immediate payment service (IMPS) through branches for its retail and corporate

customers by integrating the platform to its core banking solution. This will allow customers to

instantly transfer funds to any account from the branch. The limit has been set at up to Rs. 2 lakh


per day. The digital passbook or M-passbook feature will enable customers to view account

statement on mobile.

9 July: Sriram Kalyanaraman, Director-Business Development, Equifax Credit Information

Services Pvt. Ltd has been appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, National

Housing Bank for a period of five years from the date of his taking over the charge. The

appointment of Shri Kalyanaraman is unique in its way as he is the first person form the Private

Sector to head a Public Sector Financial Institution.

9 July: According to World Bank India's rural employment guarantee programme MNREGA has

been ranked as the world's largest public works programme, providing social security net to

almost 15 percent of the country's population. According to World Bank Group's report 'The State

of Social Safety Nets 2015', India is among the five middle-income countries running the world's

largest social safety net programmes. India's Mid-day meal scheme has been classified as biggest

school feeding programme benefiting 105 million beneficiaries.

9 July: China named Jin Liqun as the first Chief of the Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure

Investment Bank (AIIB), which is being established as an alternative financial entity to World Bank

and IMF. Jin Liqun is a former Finance Minister of China. AIIB is a multilateral development bank

proposed by the government of China to provide finance to infrastructure projects in the Asia

region.

9 July: State-run IDBI Bank has signed an agreement with Mudra Bank for refinancing of loans

given to small enterprises. As per the agreement, the Bank will offer credit facilities up to Rs. 10

lakh to micro enterprises, at a competitive interest rate under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

(PMMY) and Mudra will be providing refinance assistance to the bank for eligible sanctioned loan

cases.

11 July: Vodafone India, the telecom service providers, has entered into a strategic tie-up with

Walmart India. This tie-up will enable business members of six Best Price Modern Wholesale

stores, owned and operated by Walmart India, to make payments using M-Pesa from their mobile

anywhere, anytime. The first-of-its-kind partnership with Walmart India, gives all its members,

including small businesses such as kiranas/resellers, the benefit of sending money through their

mobile phones instantly and securely and run their customer facing businesses more efficiently

and in hassle-free manner.

11 July: MakeMyTrip, RBL Bank, Inox wind and IRCTC are among the firms that have made it to

the Fortune Next 500 list of Indian companies, which has been topped by iPhone distributor

Redington India. Redington India tops the list with annual revenue of over Rs. 1,690 crore


followed by Inox Wind (Rs 1,689 crore), ISMT (Rs 1,685 crore), Emcure Pharmaceuticals (Rs

1,683.5 crore) and Orientcraft (Rs 1,683 crore).

11 July: Country's second largest IT services firm Infosys has signed a multi-million euro deal with

Deutsche Bank. Under the terms of the agreement, Infosys will provide services like

development, application maintenance, digital and mobility, package implementation and

testing services across the Deutsche Bank Group.

13 July: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed mass transit system (MTS) operators like Mumbai

Metro, Delhi Metro, Indian Railways, etc. to issue pre-paid cards to their customer. This is

expected to provide a huge relief to the commuters who face problems while purchasing tickets.

RBI guidelines also say that the balance in the prepaid instrument issued by the MTS should not

exceed Rs. 2,000 at any point of time. Also, MTS would not be allowed to refunds cash that is

stocked in the pre-paid instruments (PPI). These PPIs will have a minimum validity of 6 months

from the date of issue.

13 July: The World Bank and Norway has approved an amount of 55 crore dollars for education

sector in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Group has signed an agreement with Norway for result

based financial help in the education sector. Under this agreement both states will get a separate

loan of 55 crore dollars. Loan to the state of Bihar is sanctioned for capacity addition of Primary

teachers in Bihar while Madhya Pradesh will get the financial help for higher education reforms.

13 July: Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has signed a multilateral agreement to

cooperate with New Development Bank (NDB) along with other member development banks of

BRICS nations. New Development Bank (NDB) is promoted by the BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia,

India, China, and South Africa. The agreement was signed between Exim Bank Chairman and

Managing Director Yaduvendra Mathur and Chairpersons or Presidents of other member

development banks of BRICS in Ufa, Russia during the BRICS Summit 2015.

15 July: In order to leverage Indian creativity, expertise, and resources to identify and scale

innovative solutions, the FICCI and the World Bank announced their partnership to advance the

Millennium Alliance (MA) initiative. The agreement was signed to formalize a shared

commitment to support sustainable and scalable innovative solutions in the identified priority

areas of sanitation, education, healthcare, clean energy and agriculture.

17 July: The Reserve Bank of India constituted a committee to work out a medium-term (five-

year) action plan for financial inclusion. The 14-member panel will be headed by RBI executive

director Deepak Mohanty. The Committee will work to spread the reach of financial services to

unbanked population.


20 July: Competition Commission of India (CCI) slapped Rs. 671 crore penalty on four state-run

insurance companies -- National Insurance, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and United

India Insurance -- for cartelisation and indulging in anti-competitive practices. It is being

considered as the biggest fine in the insurance sector of the country. Competition Commission

has imposed a penalty of Rs. 251.07 crore on New India Assurance, Rs. 162.8 crore on National

Insurance, Rs. 156.62 crore on United India Insurance and Rs. 100.56 crore on Oriental Insurance,

respectively.

20 July: The World Bank Group (WBG) and China signed an agreement to set up a trust fund to

help reduce poverty. The fund aims to enhance the WBG-China cooperation and leverage

financial and knowledge-based resources to help developing countries achieve inclusive and

sustainable development. The fund worth $50 million is expected to start later this year.

20 July: India signed a pact with the World Bank for $250 million financial assistance for Andhra

Pradesh Disaster Recovery Project which will help the state enhance its capacity to respond

promptly and effectively in times of crisis. The project, through its different components, will

provide both direct and indirect benefits to Andhra Pradesh. The beneficiaries include

populations of the affected coastal areas, specifically four heavily impacted districts of

Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari.

21 July: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) retained its India GDP growth projection for FY 2015-

16 at 7.8 percent and 8.2 percent in 2016-17, but cautioned that delay in reforms relating to land

acquisition and GST could hamper growth. Indian economy grew 7.3 percent in 2014-15. ADB,

however, has cut its growth forecast for developing Asia to 6.1 percent from the earlier 6.3

percent.

21 July: The Reserve Bank of India signed a special currency swap agreement with the Central

Bank of Sri Lanka that will allow the latter to draw up to $1.1 billion. Under the arrangement, the

Sri Lankan bank can draw up to $1.1 billion for a maximum period of six months. Earlier in March,

RBI had signed a Currency Swap Agreement with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for $400 million

under the existing SAARC Currency Swap Framework within the overall limit of $2 billion.

22 July: The International Monetary Fund named Maurice Obstfeld, a widely respected

economist known for his work on how policies spill over into the global economy, as the

emergency-lenders next chief economist. Obstfeld, a University of California, Berkeley, professor

and a member of the White Houses Council of Economic Advisers, will replace Olivier Blanchard

in September.


24 July: Unveiling a set of 13 corporate governance principles for the banking sector, the BCBS

has said that regulators should set corporate governance guidelines in line with these principles,

besides addressing expectations for checks and balances, clear allocation of responsibilities,

accountability and transparency among the members of the board, senior management and

within the bank.

24 July: Non-resident Indians (NRIs) can invest in National Pension System (NPS) to get a social

security cover, pension regulator PFRDAs Chairman Hemant Contractor has said. While RBI has

communicated to PFRDA about NRIs being eligible to make such investments, the government

will shortly come out with a clarification on Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) guidelines

to facilitate non-resident Indians to invest in National Pension System (NPS), he said.

29 July: Axis Bank, Indias third largest private sector bank, has signed a $200 million 7-year

bilateral loan deal with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The deal will help bolster Axis Banks

efforts of improving farm efficiency by extending customized and affordable agriculture credit to

farmers. The bank would effectively leverage its extensive semi urban and rural branch network

to deliver agriculture credit.

30 July: India signed a loan agreement of 300 million US dollars with Asian Development Bank

(ADB) for its flagship programme National Urban Health Mission (NUHM). The main of the NUHM

is to improve the health status of the countrys urban population. The loan agreement is titled

Supporting National Urban Health Mission and it seeks to reinforce ongoing government efforts

under the NUHM to develop health systems in urban areas that can deliver quality health services

to the urban poor and vulnerable.

NATION THIS MONTH

1 July: Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated the Integrated Security System

(ISS) at four railway stations in Mumbai comprising Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST),

Dadar, Kurla and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT). The ISS was installed with a total cost of

21.72 crore rupees. The ISS is aimed at improving security on Railway premises, ensuring

safety of the people and averting terror attacks. It has a total of 118 CCTV cameras.

2 July: Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel has become the worlds third largest mobile operator

with 303 million subscribers. It operates in 20 countries. According to World Cellular

Information Service (WCIS) Bharti Airtel has moved up one position in the global rankings.

China Mobile is the top mobile operator in the world with 626.27 million subscribers.

Vodafone Group of UK ranks second with 403.08 million subscribers.

3 July: Literacy rate in rural areas was pegged at 71 percent in 2014, compared to 86

percent in urban areas, while among the age group of seven years and above, male


literacy rate was found higher than the female literacy rate, according to NSSO survey.

Among the age group of seven year and above, the male literacy rate was registered at

83 per cent vis-a-vis the female literacy rate of 67 per cent.

4 July: Partaking in 'Digital India' week, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal

launched the state Portal ePMS (Electronic Projects Management System) to fast track

infrastructural development. The project was kicked off to enhance efficiency, bring

transparency, boost the investor confidence, revive the investment cycle, eliminate the

human interaction and improve the communication between industries to Government

(B2G), State to Centre (G2G), or vice versa (G2B).

4 July: The Union Cabinet approved the institutional framework for the National Skill

Development Mission 2015. The Mission will provide a strong institutional framework at

the Centre and States for implementation of skilling activities in the country. The Union

Cabinet also gave its approval for a new scheme called Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee

Yojana (PMKSY). The Yojana was approved with an outlay of 50,000 crore rupees over a

period of five years (2015-16 to 2019-20). Its aim is provide convergence to existing

schemes of water management, thus bringing efficiency to the use of water.

4 July: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar launched a new automation software, ARPAN

3.0 for the over 12 lakh soldiers of the Indian Army which would provide them easy access

to their service records including pay and leave details and transfer and postings among

others. The roll out of ARPAN 3.0 (Army Record Office Process Automation 3.0) is aimed

at digitisation of Indian Army's 45 Record Offices pan India in one year time.

6 July: The Maharashtra government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

with global technology major Cisco for making Nagpur a smart and safe city. This MoU is

for making Nagpur a smart and safe city with the help of modern technology and use of

Internet to improve quality of life. It envisages for effective and fast delivery of services

like CCTV, intelligent transport system, integrated command and control, environmental

monitoring, improved health services in coordination with Nagpur Municipal corporation.

8 July: Latest UNICEF data showed that both child stunting and the number of

underweight children in India had fallen to a historic low for 2013-14. According to the

Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC) conducted by the UNICEF, the Indian 4 states--Tamil

Nadu, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Tripura have successfully reduced the proportion of

underweight adolescent girls. Uttar Pradesh accounts for more than 50% of the children

under the age of five years who are underdeveloped.

9 July: Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, the railway coach manufacturing entity of

the Indian Railways, became the first in the world to have manufactured 50,000 railway

coaches. Union Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu released the 50,000th coach manufactured

by ICF. To mark this occasion the Rail Minister also dedicated the New LHB Coach (Modern

Passenger Coach) Manufacturing Unit in ICF itself to the nation.


10 July: The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) the government

company tasked to promote renewable energy has launched a new loan scheme in

order to promote rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) power projects. The scheme will provide

loans at the interest rate of 9.9 to 10.75 percent to the system aggregators and the

developers. The scheme was launched by Union Minister of State for Power, Coal, New &

Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal.

10 July: Telangana government and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-

Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to improve

profitability of farmers. The MoU was signed by C. Parthasarathi, Secretary and Agri-

Production Commissioner; Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary, IT, Electronics & Communications;

and ICRISAT Director General David Bergvinson. Under this MoU, the organisation will

provide Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based knowledge sharing

platforms and other agricultural innovation initiatives to farmers in order to improve their

productivity.

11 July: Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA), a unique initiative developed by the Ministry

of Human Resource Development with the objective to inculcate a spirit of inquiry,

creativity and love for Science and Mathematics in school children was launched by the

former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. This is the Phase I of RAA, while Phase II of RAA

will be launched in January, 2016 for higher education under which model science labs

will be established in all districts of the North Eastern States.

14 July: The foundation stone for an international Internet gateway was laid by Union

Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at Tripuras capital Agartala. This

Internet gateway is being established in an effort to create a hassle-free and potent

Internet link for the northeastern states. The Agartala Internet Gateway would become

third international Internet gateway in India after Mumbai and Chennai. This gateway will

comprise of the optical fibre cable (OFC) link between Akhaura (near Agartala) and Coxs

Bazar (Bangladesh).

15 July: In fresh trials, India has test-fired its indigenously developed Nag an anti-tank

guided missile, which can hit a target upto 7 km, from a helicopter at a firing range in

Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Three-round trial of helicopter-launched Nag (HeliNa) missile were

conducted at the Chandhan firing range. HeliNa is a helicopter-launched version of Nag

and has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).

16 July: To address the growing problems of pollution, congestion and shortage of

housing stock for the poor and middle class in Delhi, the Ministry of Urban Development

has approved the Transit Oriented Development Policy (TOD) for Delhi. Minister of Urban

Development M. Venkaiah Naidu has cleared the Policy which is expected to recast Delhis

landscape as part of review of Master Plan for Delhi 2021. TOD is a key policy initiative


for low-carbon, high-density, compact, mixed land use and sustainable development by

minimizing travel time for citizens, promoting use of public transport, reducing pollution

and congestion in the national capital.

17 July: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, gave its

approval for signing and ratification of an Inter-Governmental agreement between India

and Armenia, on cooperation in the field of Agriculture. This agreement will promote

cooperation through short and medium term programs, within the framework of the joint

activities mentioned in the agreement. The agreement will promote understanding of

best agricultural practices in the two countries and will be mutually beneficial.

17 July: Union Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated Gandhidham-Tuna Tekra Port Rail

Line (Gujarat), a newly constructed broad-gauge railway-line which is the first Non-

Government Railway Project of Indian Railways. The 11-km long Gandhidham-Tuna Tekra

Port rail line connects Gandhidham in Kutch district of Gujarat with the Tuna-Tekra Port

which are ports situated around 20 km west of Kandla in Gulf of Kutch in the state.

20 July: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, gave its

approval for forming an expert group under the Chairmanship of Arvind Panagariya, Vice-

Chairperson, NITI AAYOG, to classify the Caste names returned in the Socio-Economic and

Caste Census, 2011 (SECC). The expert group will be serviced by the Ministry of Social

Justice and Empowerment and Tribal Welfare.

20 July: Union Women and Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi along with

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh inaugurated country's first 'One stop Centre' for

women who have been victims of various kinds of violence in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The

victims of rape, dowry harassment, domestic violence, human trafficking, child marriage,

infanticide and sati etc. will get medical aid, protection and also help in filing FIRs, legal

advice and psychological counselling.

20 July: The Haryana government appointed Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra as its

brand ambassador for the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign to promote the cause of

the girl child. She has bagged many awards including national and filmfare awards.

Parineeti was chosen for the campaign as she hailed from the state's Ambala town. The

campaign was launched from Haryana as the state has the worst sex ratio at 879 females

per 1,000 males. The child sex ratio in Haryana is worst among all states in the country.

22 July: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Career Service (NCS) Portal

at the 46th session of Indian Labour Conference as part of an endeavour to modernise all

government-run employment exchanges. This portal aims to create a direct market place

for workers and employers. The portal aims to bring on board around 20 million job

seekers already registered with employment exchanges across India. It also aspires to

bring 900,000 establishments and companies on the portal. The NCS will offer registration

for job aspirants and employers for free.


23 July: Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

launched the Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan, a countrywide campaign to create mass

awareness and capacity building for safe and hygienic food. The campaign planned by CII

and its partners including Consumer Organization VOICE, and National Association of

Street Vendors of India (NASVI), is an effort towards building a culture of food safety in

the country.

24 July: Seven Indian companies, including Reliance Industries and Tata Motors, are

among the worlds 500 largest companies, according to a list compiled by Fortune that

has been topped by retail giant Walmart. While Indian Oil, Reliance, Bharat Petroleum,

Hindustan Petroleum, and Oil and Natural Gas slipped in rankings from the previous year,

Tata Motors and SBI improved in rankings.

25 July: NITI Aayog has constituted an expert panel to suggest ways to promote

innovation and entrepreneur friendly ecosystem for pushing job growth. The group will

also workout the detailed contours of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Self-Employment

& Talent Utilisation (SETU). The Expert Committee has been constituted under the

Chairmanship of Prof. Tarun Khanna, Director, South Asia Institute, Harvard University

and Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School, USA.

25 July: Puducherry became the first city to send its nomination for the Smart City

mission as the Union Territory of Puducherry nominated its capital city for inclusion in this

ambitious project. Puducherry which has a population of 6,57,209 has done well in

respect of several Stage-1 evaluation criteria and scored 75 of the possible 100 marks.

27 July: In a major welfare measure for women employees in Jammu and Kashmir, the

state government has approved Child Care leave for them for a period of two years to

look after their children. As per the new provision, a women employee can avail a

maximum period of 730 days of child care leave during her entire service for taking care

of her two eldest children, an official spokesman said.

27 July: The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has finalised a new Green

Highways (Plantation and Maintenance) Policy, 2015 to tree-line 140,000 kilometres

of national highways. Under this policy, one per cent of the civil cost of national highway

development projects will have to be set aside for the planting of trees in a planned

manner, covering both existing NH sections and new routes that would be added to the

network.

27 July: Centre has said foreign direct investment amounting to USD 1.31 million has been

received in the defence sector in last three years and current year. Minister of State for

Defence Rao Inderjit Singh said that since the opening up of FDI in defence sector in 2012,

34 proposals involving foreign investment have been approved so far. He also said that a

total 287 industrial licenses have been issued till date in defence sector.


27 July: Prime Minister of India has launched various development projects at Patna:

Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana; inaugurated the Daniawan-Bihar Sharif new

railway line; flagged off the Rajgir-Bihar Sharif-Daniawan-Fatuha passenger train and

Patna-Mumbai AC Suvidha Express; dedicated to the nation the permanent IIT Campus at

Patna; and inaugurated the construction of the first phase of the Jagdishpur-Haldia

pipeline project.

28 July: Rajesh Exports Ltd (REL) has announced acquisition of 100% stake in Valcambi,

the world's largest gold refinery. The cash deal was settled on an investment of $400

million, which means, REL will maintain the globally acclaimed management of Valcambi.

REL hopes to expand revenues and profitability of both the companies. Valcambi is the

worlds largest precious metals refining company, headquartered in Switzerland.

28 July: Battling the Maggi controversy, global giant Nestle recalled its current India chief

Etienne Benet to Switzerland head office and appointed Suresh Narayanan as his

successor -- the first Indian to get this position after a gap of over 16 years. Narayanan

will take charge as the new Managing Director of Nestle India with effect from August 1.

30 July: Union Government has announced to roll out e-tourist visa facility to Chinese

nationals from July 30, 2015. Hong Kong and Macau nationals will also be provided with

e-tourist visa facility along with Chinese citizens. This decision was taken in lines with

promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard during his visit to China in

May 2015. It should be noted that PM Modi had made this announcement

notwithstanding frequent issuance of stapled visa by Chinese to Indian citizens from

Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

GLOBE- TROT THIS MONTH

2 July: Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani, in an unprecedented move for the first time

nominated a female to the post of judge in Afghanistan's Supreme Court. He has appointed Anisa

Rasouli to the post of judge. Anisa Rasouli, the head of the Afghan Women Judges Association and

a former juvenile court judge, is the only female nominated to the nine-member bench.

2 July: The US and Cuba announced the opening of embassies in each other's capitals, a major

step in re-establishing diplomatic ties severed in 1961. Relations had been frozen since the early

1960s when the US broke links and imposed a trade embargo with the Communist island. But the

US and Cuba agreed to normalise relations at the end of 2014.

2 July: Cuba has become the first country to eliminate the transmission of HIV and syphilis from

mother to child, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The World Health

Organization hailed what it called one of the greatest public health achievements possible. Only

two children in the country were born with HIV and five with syphilis in 2013.


4 July: The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, inducted the Old City

of Sanaa to the list of World Heritage in danger due to the serious damage done amid clashes

between Shiite Houthi rebels and pro-government forces in Yemen. The decision was made during

the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee in Bonn, Germany, while the Old Walled City

of Shibam in Yemen and the ancient Iraqi city of Hatra were also added to the list.

7 July: Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on his six-nation tour to attend the BRICS summit

in Russia and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Modi will visit five Central Asian

nations--Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to deepen strategic

relations and energy cooperation. He is scheduled to travel from July 6 to 13 to five Central Asian

countries and Russia where he will attend the summits of BRICS and SCO.

8 July: On the first leg of his visit to Central Asian countries and Russia, Prime Minister Narendra

Modi reached Uzbekistan. He held talks with Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov on key bilateral

and regional issues including the situation in Afghanistan. India and Uzbekistan inked 3 pacts to

boost cooperation between their foreign offices and in the field of culture and tourism.

8 July: Japan committed 6.1 billion US dollars (750 billion Japanese Yen) in Official Development

Assistance (ODA) to Mekong Region countries for the next three years. The decision was taken by

Japan during the 7th Mekong-Japan Summit held in Tokyo. The decision to provide the

development aid to Mekong countries was taken in line with the Development Cooperation

Charter approved by the Japans Cabinet in February 2015. The Mekong region countries include

Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

9 July: India and Kazakhstan inked 5 agreements, including defence, railways and uranium supply,

as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev on

his second leg of visit to the Central Asian countries. Both sides also agreed to collaborate closely

in the framework of the International North South Transport Corridor and through bilateral

initiatives to improve surface connectivity.

9 July: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kazakhstan premier Karim Massimov launched the first

exploratory drilling of the Satpayev oil block by India's OVL and KazMunaiGaz. The two leaders

launched the drilling through live video conferencing. ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) -- the overseas arm

of state-run ONGC -- had in 2011 picked up 25 percent stake in the Satpayev oil block in the North

Caspian Sea. The Satpayev oil block is an offshore field in the Northern Caspian sea, with potential

reserves estimated at 1.8 billion barrels.

9 July: India has overtaken the US to become the world's third largest steel producer and is

working towards achieving 300 million tonnes (MT) target in the next 10 years. So far India was

the 4th largest steel producer in the world only after China, Japan and the US. Last year the growth

in crude steel production in India was more than 8 percent.

10 July: 7th BRICS Summit commenced in Ufa, Russia on 9th July with the theme, "BRICS

partnership: A powerful factor for global development". The summit is being attended by Russian

President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Indian Prime Minister Narendra


Modi, South African President Jacob Zuma and Chinese President Xi Jinping. In a significant step

in economic cooperation, Russia's Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) signed an MoU with India's

Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) for funding of hydro-generation projects.

10 July: Russian oil firm Rosneft announced to buy 49 percent stake in Essar Oil, the firm that

owns India's second biggest oil refinery. Both the firms signed a non-binding Term Sheet in this

regard. Also, a Long Term Crude Oil Supply Agreement by the two firms was signed in Ufa, Russia

for import of 10 million tonnes a year of crude oil for a period of 10 years. This contract has been

signed in pursuance to the Key Terms executed between the two companies in December 2014

at New Delhi.

11 July: India will host the next BRICS Summit in 2016. This was announced in the 7th BRICS

Summit held in Russian city of Ufa in Bashkortostan. The eighth BRICS Summit will be organised

in New Delhi in 2016 - four years after India organised the fourth summit in 2012. India would

become BRICS chairperson from February 2016.

11 July: India and United States (US) signed Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) to implement

the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The agreement will promote transparency on

tax matters between the two countries. As per the IGA, FFIs in India will be required to report tax

information about US account holders directly to the Indian Government which will, in turn, relay

that information to the IRS. The IRS will provide similar information about Indian account holders

in the United States.

13 July: India and Turkmenistan signed 7 agreements for enhancing cooperation in a number of

sectors during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fourth leg of his Central Asian tour to

Turkmenistan. The agreements were signed in the fields of defence, supply of chemical products,

foreign affairs, sports, science and technology, medicine and tourism.

13 July: India and Pakistan were accepted as full members of the Shanghai Cooperation

Organisation (SCO), a regional grouping including China and Russia. This decision was taken at the

15th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in Russia. India, which has had an

observer status for the past 10 years, will technically become a member by next year after

completion of certain procedures.

14 July: India and Tajikistan inked agreements in the field of culture and human resource

development after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tajikistans President

Emomali Rahmon. This is the last leg of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 6-nation tour of Central

Asian countries. As part of the agreement, India is to set up computer labs in 37 schools in

Tajikistan.

14 July: India and Kyrgyzstan signed four agreements including one on bolstering defence

cooperation and holding annual joint military exercises during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's

fifth leg of his Central Asian tour to Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev and

Narendra Modi signed four key agreements including on cooperation in defence and culture

fields. Two MoU were also signed for cooperation between the Election Commissions of the two


countries and on cooperation in the sphere of Standards, a move that will help economic

relations.

15 July: India and Georgia signed a MoU in New Delhi, for cooperation in the field of election

management and administration. The major aims of MoU are: promotion of exchanges of

knowledge and experience in electoral processes; exchange of information, materials, expertise

and training of personnel; production and distribution of materials pertaining to electoral

systems, voting technology, voters education and awareness, and participation of women and

minorities in electoral process.

16 July: India is the highest recipient of US economic assistance according to USAID. The US

provided USD 65.1 billion as economic assistance to India between 1946 and 2012, according to

the US Agency for International Development (USAID) statistics. It was the highest among the

economic assistance provided to 200 countries and regions by the US during the period. India is

followed closely by Israel, which got USD 65 billion.

16 July: In an historic event, comprehensive deal on Irans nuclear programme was reached on

which brought to end a 13 year stand-off between Iran and western powers that had threatened

to trigger a new war in the Middle East. The agreement between Iran and P5+1 group (five

permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely China, France, Russia, the United

Kingdom, and the United States, plus Germany) was reached after clearing final obstacles included

a compromise between Washington and Tehran that would allow U.N. inspectors of press for

visits to Iranian military sites as part of their monitoring duties.

17 July: The Russian government has chosen Anil Ambani's Pipavav shipyard for a 'Make in India'

naval frigate order that is likely to exceed $3 billion, making it the private sector's biggest-ever

warship-building project. Russia, which has been keen to build the frigates at a Russian shipyard,

was firmly told last year that the order would only be placed through the Make in India route but

it would have the flexibility to choose an Indian partner for the project.

17 July: Global aircraft maker Boeing and Tata Advanced Systems signed a pact to collaborate in

aerospace and defence manufacturing as well as to tap into integrated systems development

opportunities, including unmanned aerial vehicles. The companies, under the memorandum of

understanding, intend to access markets jointly for products and platforms developed together

by Boeing and TASL. The collaboration, which is in line with the government's 'Make in India'

initiative, will not only work in the domestic market but will also be for international markets.

20 July: Canada has been named as the most reputable nation in the world, in a recent survey on

how countries are perceived across the world. The north American country reclaimed the top spot

in the Reputation Institute's annual report, which looks at the government, environment and

economy of 55 nations. The top five countries in the survey are Canada, Norway, Sweden,

Switzerland and Australia.

20 July: The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the

signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Canada in the field of Civil


Aviation. MoU will help in deepening the bilateral cooperation and enhancing the experience and

technical knowledge in the field of Civil Aviation between India and Canada.

20 July: Indian-origin John Paul Joy Alukkas has made it to the list of Asia's top 10 wealthiest

millennials, with a personal fortune of USD 820 million. The 29-year-old Alukkas, Executive

Director Joyalukkas group has been ranked 8th wealthiest on the Wealth-X list of millennials --

defined as those born from 1981 to 1997, as per the global wealth intelligence and prospecting

company. The list was topped by the 34-year-old Yang Huiyan (USD 6.1 billion) - Vice Chairman of

Country Garden Holdings.

21 July: India and Russia signed an agreement in defence sector. In a move aimed at boosting

Indias defence sector, 200 helicopters will be manufactured in the country with Russian

collaboration as part of intensification and diversification of their strategic ties. According to

Indian Ambassador to Russia P.S. Raghavan the agreement is one of the several new defence

projects on which the two countries are working on, including under the ambit of Make in India

programme.

21 July: With bilateral trade extremely low, India and Russia have initiated steps to remove the

hindrances and boost commerce by signing an agreement in the area of customs and moving to

liberalize business visas. The bilateral trade during the last year was just $9.51 billion. The two

countries have fixed a trade target of $30 billion to be achieved by 2025.

23 July: Anil Ambani-led Reliance group company Pipavav Defence has signed an agreement with

Russia's company JSC Ship Repairing Centre for medium refits and life certification of 877 EKM

submarines in India. This will also mark the first time the work for refit of submarines is being

considered for the private sector in India. The indicative value of work proposed to be undertaken

by the proposed JV is approximately Rs. 11,000 crore.

23 July: India has jumped to the eighth position for tourist arrivals in Australia till May this year,

with over 27.5 percent more Indians choosing the country as their travel destination. According

to latest official data released by Tourism Australia (TA), India was ranked Australia's tenth largest

inbound market for visitor arrivals in 2014 but figures during the five months this year has moved

India to eighth position.

23 July: China and Taiwan inked a landmark deal that will see water pumped from the Chinese

mainland to a Taiwanese-controlled archipelago, in another sign of warming ties between the

rivals. The agreement will see water pumped from China's southeastern province of Fujian to the

100,000 residents of Taiwan's Kinmen County by 2017.

23 July: China has begun building the worlds largest amphibious aircraft. Amphibious aircraft can

fly in the sky and can also be used in the water. The assembly of the domestically developed AG-

600 seaplane started in Zhuhai city. The AG-600s overall specifications, such as the maximum

takeoff weight and flight range, are better than other amphibious planes in the world. The aircraft

can carry 50 people during a maritime search and rescue mission.


23 July: India and Singapore signed Technical Agreement (TA) on sharing white-shipping

information to enhance maritime cooperation between the two navies. The agreement was

signed during the visit of Navy chief Admiral R.K. Dhowan to Singapore. The White-shipping refers

to commercial shipping information about movement of cargo ships. The Singapore Navy and the

Indian Navy conduct the Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) together annually.

24 July: India and Russia pursue joint programmes in a few areas of space research. Indian Space

Research Organisation (ISRO) and Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) have signed a new

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on expansion of cooperation in the field of the

exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. There is no transfer of space technology

envisaged under this MoU.

25 July: China announced to provide cash assistance of $10 million to help quake-ravaged Nepal

in its reconstruction process. Nepal and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on

this following a bilateral meeting on Post Disaster Reconstruction Plan at Nepal's finance ministry.

25 July: Pakistan will buy eight submarines from China in a multi-billion dollar deal that will boost

Pakistani navy's maritime capabilities. An agreement was reached during a meeting between

Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Xu Ziqin, President of state-owned China Shipbuilding &

Offshore International Company Limited (SCOC)-- the trade arm of China Shipbuilding Industry

Corporation. The two sides in-principle agreed on the sale of eight submarines that China will

provide to Pakistan Navy.

27 July: WTO members has finalised a deal to cut tariffs on $1 trillion worth of information

technology products in a boost for producers of goods ranging from video games to medical

equipment. The agreement to update the WTO's 18-year-old Information Technology Agreement

(ITA) adds more than 200 products to the list of goods covered by zero-tariff and duty-free trade.

27 July: Singapores Foreign Affairs and Law Minister will address an industry symposium in India

on 27th July as part of the city-states 50th anniversary of Independence celebrations. K

Shanmugam will address the Singapore Symposium 2015, which will host dignitaries and experts

in a discussion and exchange with South Asian countries on issues pertinent to the region.

28 July: India has seen the second biggest outflow of high net worth individuals in last 14 years,

with as many as 61,000 millionaires shifting base to abroad due to reasons like tax, security and

child education. According to a joint report by New World Wealth and LIO Global the change in

domicile, along with a rise in second citizenship applications, has increased dramatically since the

turn of the century. Some 61,000 uber-rich Indians have changed domicile between 2000 and

2014, second only to China, which saw an outflow of 91,000 ultra-rich persons in the same period.

29 July: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her delegation to the UK signed 21

MoUs with the UK in the fields of industry, health, education and urban development. The

agreements were signed during a bilateral meeting at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

According to Britain's Minister of State for Employment Priti Patel these MoUs will help bring the

UK and West Bengal ever closer, and unleash the potential of India-Britain relationship.


29 July: The World Trade Organization formally accepted Kazakhstan as its member, ending nearly

two decades of negotiations. Meeting at its headquarters in Geneva, the WTO General Council

approved the membership terms finalised last month. With this Kazakhstan has become the

WTO's 162nd member state.

29 July: Union Government sanctioned 1000 crore rupees for the laying of 15.06 km long tracks

to connect Indian Railways with Bangladesh through the North East. The Indo-Bangla Rail link

would be completed by 2017 and the entire route will be constructed by IRCON.

30 July: Government of Sri Lanka inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with search

engine giant Google to launch the Google Loon project in the country. As per the MoU, Google

will place 13 high-altitude balloons over the island nation to provide affordable high-speed 3G

(3rd Generation) internet services to the entire country. It is also expected that this project will

provide free Wi-Fi connectivity across Sri Lanka. Successful implementation of this project will

make Sri Lanka the first country in the world to have Internet access covering the whole country

with the government support.

30 July: The United States named a new special envoy to Syria, the third since the war began four

years ago, as Washington seeks a political solution to the conflict. Michael Ratney, an Arabic

speaker who served as US consul general in Jerusalem, and as a diplomat in Iraq, Lebanon,

Morocco and Qatar, replaces Daniel Rubinstein.

APPOINTMENTS/RESIGNATIONS THIS MONTH

1 July: Infrastructure financing firm IDFC appointed former Comptroller and Auditor

General of India (CAG) Vinod Rai as independent director. The appointment has been

made with immediate effect. Vinod Rai also worked as Financial Services Secretary. He

was director on several boards including the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and

Life Insurance Corporation of India.

1 July: Senior IPS officer Y.C. Modi, who had been part of a Supreme Court-appointed

Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed 2002 Gujarat riots cases, has been appointed

as Additional Director in the CBI. Modi is a 1984 batch IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya

cadre. He has been appointed in place of Archana Ramasundaram, who was recently

moved out of the CBI and appointed as Director, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

1 July: Nandkumar Saravade has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the

Data Security Council of India (DSCI). He will take over from the current officiating CEO,

Rama Vedashree, Vice-President of Nasscom. Saravade was, until recently, working as an

independent advisor on fraud and security to Ernst & Young (EY) and ICICI Bank. Till

September 2013, he was the South Asia head of security, investigation and vigilance

function for Citibank.


3 July: The government appointed U.P. Singh, a Joint Secretary in Oil Ministry, as the

interim chairman of state-run Oil India Ltd, after appointment of a regular head was

delayed because of questions being raised on the shortlisted candidate. U.P. Singh, Joint

Secretary (Exploration), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas assumed the additional

charge of Chairman and Managing Director in place of S.K. Srivastava who superannuated.

3 July: Balvender Kumar IAS (UP: 1981) took over as Secretary Ministry of Mines in New

Delhi. Before joining the Ministry of Mines, Balvender Kumar was holding the charge of

Vice-Chairman, Delhi Development Authority under Ministry of Urban Development. He

took over the charge from Dr. Anup K. Pujari.

3 July: Congress leader K.A. Sabarinathan was sworn-in as a legislator of the Kerala

legislative assembly. In the results for the Aruvikara by-election announced,

Sabarinathan, 31, secured 56,448 votes to defeat former speaker and Minister M.

Vijayakumar, 67, of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), who secured 46,320

votes.

3 July: Dr. Anup K. Pujari took over as Secretary Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

(MSME). He is a 80th batch IAS officer. He succeeds Madhav Lal who superannuated on

June, 30 2015. Before joining the Ministry of MSME, Dr. Pujari was holding the charge of

Secretary, Mines. Pujari has served the Central and Karnataka Govt. in various capacities.

6 July: Commodore C.D. Balaji (Retd) took charge as the Director of the Aeronautical

Development Agency (ADA) and Programme Director of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

He succeeded P.S. Subramanyam, a distinguished Scientist, who superannuated on 30

June 2015. Prior to this appointment, Balaji, an outstanding scientist, was Project Director

of the LCAs naval version.

9 July: Sriram Kalyanaraman, Director-Business Development, Equifax Credit Information

Services Pvt. Ltd has been appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer,

National Housing Bank for a period of five years from the date of his taking over the

charge. The appointment of Shri Kalyanaraman is unique in its way as he is the first person

form the Private Sector to head a Public Sector Financial Institution.

10 July: Sunil Bharti led Bharti Enterprises appointed Rahul Bhatnagar as its new

Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer. Bhatnagar takes over from Manoj Kohli,

who has assumed the role of Executive Chairman, SBG Cleantech -- a JV between

SoftBank, Bharti and Foxconn for renewable energy.

10 July: Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav appointed Justice Kalyan Shrestha as the new

chief justice of the country. The president appointed Shrestha, 64, as the new chief justice

on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. He has been appointed to the post

after the retirement of Ram Kumar Prasad Saha.

11 July: Ashok K. Lahiri, a former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), was named as the first

Chairman of Bandhan Bank during the announcement of appointment of Board of


Directors of the bank was made. Chandra Sekhar Ghosh will be the MD and CEO of the

bank. The bank will start its operations from 23 August 2015 and will be inaugurated by

the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.

11 July: Credit Information Bureau India Ltd (CIBIL), Indias leader in credit information,

has appointed Satish Pillai as its new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Pillai

succeeds Arun Thukral who retires this year after a decade.

13 July: Cipla, the country's leading company in Pharma sector, has appointed Samina

Vaziralli as Executive Director on its board. Vaziralli is the daughter of M.K. Hamied, Vice

Chairman of the Board of Cipla. She is part of the core leadership team and has been with

the company since 2011. Earlier, she worked at Goldman Sachs's investment

management department. Vaziralli brings diverse experience of working in the US, the

UK, and more recently India.

13 July: NRI entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria has been appointed as the President of

the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA). He will replace Baroness Usha

Prashar as she steps down, having served the maximum term of nine years. Hyderabad

born Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra Beer, is also the Chancellor of the University of

Birmingham.

15 July: Lieutenant General Man Mohan Singh Rai has been appointed as the Vice-Chief

of the Indian Army. Rai will succeed Lt Gen Philip Campose, who will superannuate the

office on 31 July 2015. Presently, Rai is working as the Eastern Army Commander.

16 July: Global financial services hub Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) has

appointed Ajay Kumar Pandey as its new Managing Director and Group CEO. Pandey will

take over the charge from August 1. Pandey will replace the current head of GIFT,

Ramakant Jha, who has been associated with the project since November 2009. Jha will

move to Mumbai as CEO of IL&FS's Smart City initiative.

16 July: Madhya Pradesh government has appointed former Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni

as the Chairman of Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA). After his retirement

from the post of chief secretary, the 1972 batch IAS officer also served as the Chairman

of MP Electricity Regulatory Commission.

21 July: Prashant Pathrabe was appointed as the new Director of Pune-based Film and

Television Institute of India (FTII) by the Union Govt. Prashant Pathrabe is the Director of

National Film Archive of India (Pune) and he has been given the charge of FTII Director as

additional charge. Pathrabe, an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad joined the Indian Information

Service in 1993. He replaced D.J. Narain.

22 July: Bhanu Pratap Sharma was given additional charge of Chairperson of Food Safety

and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Sharma is an IAS officer of 1981 batch from Bihar

cadre. Sharma was given this additional charge of FSSAI for three months or till the


appointment of a regular incumbent. Currently, he is the Secretary of Union Ministry of

Health and Family Welfare.

22 July: Pankaj Munjal was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Hero

Motors Group. He succeeded O.P. Munjal, who was elevated to the position of Chairman

Emeritus. Pankaj Munjal joined the Hero group in 1988 as a trainee and was appointed as

its Co-Chairman and Managing Director in December 2011.

23 July: All India Football Federation President and senior NCP leader Praful Patel and

Souter Vaz have retained their posts as President and Secretary of the Western India

Football Association (WIFA) respectively. Former Union Minister Patel, who is also the

Vice President of the Asian Football Confederation, and Vaz were re-elected unopposed.

27 July: Roelant Oltmans is new coach of the Indian hockey team, replacing Paul van Ass,

who was sacked after a bitter spat with Hockey India President Narinder Batra. The 61-

year-old Dutchamn will be at the helm of affairs at least till next years Olympic Games in

Rio de Janeiro. Van Ass was the fourth foreign coach to be shown the door

unceremoniously ever since Hockey India took over the reins of the game in 2009.

29 July: Qualcomm Incorporated has appointed former BlackBerry India head Sunil

Lalvani as vice president and president of Qualcomm India, as Avneesh Agrawal, senior

vice president and president of Qualcomm India and South Asia exits the company.

Lalvani has more than 20 years of experience in sales, business development, strategic

planning and business operations across the IT and telecom sectors

30 July: Union Government appointed Ram Sewak Sharma as the new Chairman of

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the regulating body of Indian telecom

sector. R.S. Sharma, an engineering post-graduate from IIT Kanpur and a 1978 batch IAS

officer of Jharkhand cadre, was till now Secretary, Information Technology Department.

He will have tenure of 3 years. He succeeded Rahul Khullar who retired from post on 14

May 2015.

30 July: Union Government appointed Ashish Bahuguna as the Chairman of food safety

regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Former Agriculture

Secretary, Bahuguna's tenure will be of three years and he succeeded K. Chandramouli

whose tenure ended in January 2015. Since then the position was lying vacant and the

Health Secretary Bhanu Pratap Sharma was given the interim charge of chairman of FSSAI.

Bahuguna is a 1978-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Rajasthan cadre

who retired from the post of Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture in February 2015.


AWARDS/HONOURS/WORLD TITLES/NEW DISCOVERIES THIS MONTH

1 July: Bollywood stalwarts Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Indian

cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni are among the world's 100 highest-paid celebrities,

according to the Forbes' annual list which is topped by American boxer Floyd

Mayweather. The Forbes 2015 list of 'Celebrity 100: The World's Top-Paid Entertainers

2015' has been topped by Floyd Mayweather with earnings of 300 million dollars.

Breaking into the elite global club, Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan are tied for the

71st rank with earnings of 33.5 million dollars each. Akshay Kumar is at 76th spot (USD

32.5 million). Dhoni is ranked 82nd (USD 31 million dollars).

2 July: Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was conferred with Peru's one of the highest

awards 'Grand Officer' for social work and mission to deliver peace through his foundation

'The Art of Living'. Earlier the government of Colombia honoured him with the country's

highest civilian award for his contribution to peace.

3 July: Noted scientist Sanjeev Galande has been selected for the prestigious G D Birla

award for 2014 for his pioneering research in the field of epigenetics and molecular cell

biology. Galande is a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research

(IISER) in Pune and is widely respected for his works in genomics and related areas. He is

the 24th recipient of the award.

4 July: Indian-American Professor R. Paul Singh has been named as the 2015 Global

Confederation for Higher Education Associations for Agriculture and Life Sciences World

Agriculture Prize laureate. The award will be formally presented on September 20, during

a ceremony at Nanjing Agricultural University, Jiangsu Province, China.

6 July: Dr. Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of Brac, the largest non-governmental

organisation on the planet, has been awarded the World Food Prize 2015 for his

unparalleled work on reducing poverty in Bangladesh and 10 other countries. Abed

established Brac formerly known as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee

in 1972.

6 July: Four Indian-Americans, including top US attorney Preet Bharara, are among 38

distinguished personalities who have been honoured with this year's prestigious "Great

Immigrants: The Pride of America" award. Among other Indians honoured with the top

annual award by the prestigious New York-based Carnegie Corporation are Rakesh

Khurana, Dean of Harvard College and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership and

Development; Madhulika Sikka Executive Editor, Mic and Abraham Verghese, eminent

physician, professor and author.


7 July: Hyderabad House, Vigyan Bhawan and Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan have topped the

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) ratings, leaving behind 49 government buildings including

Rashtrapati Bhawan in the capital that were screened for overall cleanliness. The three

buildings scored 20 points each while Rashtrapati Bhawan and South Block were ranked

6th with 14 points each. The survey was conducted by the Central Public Works

Department (CPWD).

10 July: The Film Society of Jodhpur was conferred with the Pritiman Sarkar Award 2014-

15 for the fourth time for being the best film society in Northern Region in raising

awareness and film appreciation. The award was presented by the Federation of Film

Societies of India (North Region). The award was given in recognition of screening of a

series of films by the society in 2014-15 in Jodhpur to mark 100 glorious years of Indian

cinema under the Incredible Journey of Indian Cinema.

10 July: Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka entered Guinness World Records for

spending most number of days in the space. He achieved the feat by spending 804 days

on the International Space Station (ISS). He surpassed cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, also a

Russian, record of 803 days, 9 hours and 41 minutes in the space which Sergei achieved

across six missions from 1998 to 2005. Padalka, who is the commander of the crew on the

ISS, is scheduled to return to earth in September 2015. It means he would have spent a

total of 877 days in space by then.

14 July: Buddha In A Traffic Jam film has won the best original screenplay in a Foreign

Language award at the Madrid International Film Festival. The film is a political satire

directed by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri. It stars Arunoday Singh and Mahi Gill in a lead role

along with Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi and introduces Anchal Dwivedi.

15 July: An India-based software products and technology services company is among the

winners of the prestigious Microsoft Country Partner of the Year Award for 2015, a

recognition that honours the technology giants partner achievements across the globe.

Comparex India Pvt. Ltd, headquartered in New Delhi, was honoured, along with 110

awardees by Microsoft, at its Worldwide Partner Conference 2015.

15 July: Tata Steel's West Bokaro Division was conferred with the Golden Peacock

Environment Management Award (GPEMA) 2015 during 17th World Congress on

Environment Management organised in New Delhi. It was presented by the Union

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar to Sanjay Rajoria,

General Manager of West Bokaro, Tata Steel of Jharkhand.

15 July: Olivia Jordan of Oklahoma was crowned Miss USA 2015.The competition was held

in Lusiana. The 26-year-old winner was followed by first runner-up Ylianna Guerra, 22, of

Texas, and second runner-up Anea Garcia, 20, of Rhode Island.


16 July: Frost & Sullivan, USA presented the 2015 Asia Pacific Economic Development

Innovation: Policy and Program Implementation Excellence Award in Manufacturing to

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion for the Make in India initiative. Frost &

Sullivan, a US based Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth

and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation, and leadership. The award is in

recognition of the outstanding contribution of the Make in India programs vision and

implementation excellence to simplify the regulatory framework, reinforce connectivity

and incentivize investments.

16 July: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced to give Yash Bharti award

to noted Urdu poet Anwar Jalalpuri for translating Shlokas of the Bhagvad Geeta into Urdu

verses. It is one of the most prestigious awards of Uttar Pradesh. Jalalpuri has translated

the Shrimad Bhagwad Gita into over 1,700 Urdu couplets.

17 July: An Indian American woman is among 12 faith leaders to be honoured as

"Champions of Change" by the White House for their efforts in protecting environment

and communities from the effects of climate change. Sunita Viswanath, the only Indian

American to figure in the list, has been selected for her work to encourage Hindus to take

care of the environment. Working with women's and human rights organisations for

almost three decades, Sunita is co-founder and active board member of human rights

organisation, Women for Afghan Women.

17 July: Modern Indian artist Sayed Haider Raza, has been conferred with the highest

French civilian honour, The Legion of Honour for his peerless achievements. The award

was bestowed by Ambassador Francois Richier at a function at the French Embassy. The

French honour was conferred on the 93-year-old artist in acknowledgment of his peerless

achievements transcending all boundaries, the lasting ties he has forged between France

and India, and his continuing artistic quest straddling nations, cultures, religions and

philosophies.

17 July: Varanasi has been chosen as City of Music by UNESCO under the Creative Cities

Network. The city of Varanasi has been chosen in the music category under UNESCOs

Field of Excellence plan. The inclusion of Varanasi in this prestigious list paves the way

for representing the cultural heritage of the holy city on the world stage through the

UNESCO project.

20 July: A PSU of Ministry of Railways, namely, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. bagged

the 12th National Awards for Excellence in Cost management 2014. Col Rajyavardhan

Rathore (Retd.), AVSM, Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting presented

the award to RailTel in a function. This award is organized by The Institute of Cost

Accounts of India. RailTel has won the award in the category of Public- Service Sector

(Medium).


21 July: The Kerala Tourism has bagged this year's Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)

award for its Muziris Heritage Project in the 'Heritage & Culture' category. The award,

sponsored by the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), went to the Muziris

Heritage Project for its conservational efforts, uniqueness and impact on local

community. The flagship project of the government of Kerala is one of the biggest

heritage conservation projects of modern India.

21 July: The French government has knighted veteran South African freedom fighter

Ahmed Kathrada for his life-long service to the community. The award is part of the

National Orders of the Legion of Honour established by Napoleon Bonaparte in May 1802.

Kathrada, 85, became the confidante of anti-apartheid icon and former South African

president Nelson Mandela.

21 July: An Indian-origin doctor has received the honorary fellowship by one of the

leading British Universities for his contribution to the community as a general practitioner

and medical educator. 77-year-old Shiv Pande has been awarded an honorary fellowship

of the University of Central Lancashire.

22 July: Actress-politician Hema Malini has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement

Award for Art and Cinema. The 66 years old actress was honoured by the Bank of Baroda

on the occasion of its 108th Foundation Day on July 20

22 July: The British government has decided to honour India's greatest hockey player

Major Dhyan Chand with 'India Pride Award'. In British Parliament's House of Commons

this award will be presented to him on 25th July. On behave of Dhyan Chand, his son

Ashok Chand and former captain of Indian hockey Ashok Kumar has been invited to

London for the award. One of the world's best hockey players Dhyan Chand won Gold

medals in three Olympics: 1928, 1932, 1936. In 1956 he was awarded the country's third

highest civilian honor, the Padma Bhushan.

24 July: Nobel prize winner Peter Higgs has joined the ranks of Charles Darwin and Albert

Einstein by winning the worlds oldest scientific prize, the Royal Societys Copley Medal,

for his pioneering work on the theory of the Higgs boson, which was discovered in 2012.

The Copley medal was first awarded by the Royal Society in 1731, 170 years before the

first Nobel Prize.

24 July: Indian hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand will be conferred with the Bharat

Gaurav Lifetime Achivement Award by NRI orgainsation Sanskriti Yuva Sangstha at the

House of Commons inside the British Parliament of July 25. On behalf of Dhyan Chand, his

son and former Indian hockey player Ashok Kumar will receive the award

25 July: Pulitzer winning Indian-born American doctor Siddhartha Mukherjee has been

nominated for an Emmy Award for the documentary series on cancer based on his book

'The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer'. The six-hour programme based and

titled after Mukherjee's Pulitzer Prize-winning 2010 book Produced and co-written by US


filmmaker Ken Burns, the documentary titled "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies" is a

six-hour series for American TV channel PBS and is based on Mukherjee's book.

25 July: Ravi Kailas, Chairman and CEO, Mytrah Energy, was named the Wind Power

Person of the year 2015 at the 3rd World Renewable Energy Conference in New Delhi.

The award was conferred on him by the Renewable Energy Expert Committee headed by

Dr. Praveen Saxena, Former Advisor, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.

27 July: Veteran mountaineer Nalini Sengupta is set to become the first Puneite to have

a Himalyan peak christened in her honour. Sexagenarian Sengupta, who has scaled

several summits till now, was bestowed with his honour recently after trekkers of

Giripremi, a noted mountaineering institute in the city, conquered peak 5260 in the

Hamta pass region in Himalayas and decided to name it as Mount Nalini, to salute her

persistent efforts to inculcate mountaineering in youngsters since 1970

28 July: Helena Ndume of Namibia and Jorge Sampaio of Portugal were awarded the first-

ever Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize by the United Nations (UN) at the UN Headquarters

in New York. Ndume, a female ophthalmologist, was awarded for treating blindness and

eye-related illnesses in Namibia and throughout the developing world. While Jorge

Sampaio, the former President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006 and also the former mayor

of Lisbon from 1989 to 1995, was awarded for his contribution to his country for his

struggle for the restoration of democracy in Portugal.

30 July: Whistleblower Indian forest officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who was removed from the

post of Chief Vigilance officer at AIIMS, and founder of NGO Goonj Anshu Gupta are the

two Indians selected for this year's prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award. Three others

who have been selected for the award include Kommaly Chanthavong from Laos, Ligaya

Fernando-Amilbangsa from Philippines and Kyaw Thu from Myanmar. They will be

formally conferred the Magsaysay Award on 31 August at the Cultural Center of the

Philippines.

SPORT THIS MONTH

1 July: Brazilian racer Nelson Piquet Jr won the FIA Formula E Championship title

of the 2014-15 season. He beat Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi. He won the title

after finishing seventh in the final race held at Battersea Park in London, the UK.

Piquet drove for Chinese team Nextev. It is the first such championship held by

FIA, the global governing body for auto racing events.

1 July: Khalin Joshi was the best-placed Indian golfer as he finished tied sixth at

the USD 76,000 Bali National Golf Championship. Joshi carded one-under 71 and

finished at five-under 288 in tied sixth place. Also finishing in top-10 was Himmat

Rai (74) in tied ninth and Chiragh Kumar (75) was tied 15th. At the top, Matthew


Giles of Australia sank a clutch birdie putt on the last hole to win the Bali National

Golf Championship title by one-shot.

2 July: Goa has been selected to host FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017. Goa would be

one of the six centres in the country that are provisionally selected to host

forthcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 matches. FIFA has provisionally shortlisted

other centres like Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Navi Mumbai and New Delhi besides

Goa as the World Cup venues.

2 July: Star shot putter Inderjeet Singh and half-miler Jinson Johnson clinched their

third gold in a row at the third and final leg of Asian Athletics Grand Prix Series

2015 held in Thailand's Chantaburi. With this gold, both Inderjeet and Johnson

completed their golden hat-trick as they had bagged the yellow metal in their

respective events in the first and second legs. Johnson led men's 800m final all

through with a timing of 1:50.56 while Inderjeet produced a best effort of 19.83m

to take the top honours.

2 July: Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta won the

Commonwealth Chess Championship after settling for a quick draw with

Arghyadip Das in the ninth and final round. Gupta made eight points out of a

possible nine. In the women's section, Padmini Rout won gold medal by defeating

S. Vijayalakshmi.

4 July: A woman assistant subinspector (ASI) of Rajasthan Police Athletics Team

Sapna, who represented Indian police team won a gold medal in the 5 km race

walk event in the World Police Games 2015, held in Virginia, USA. Sapna

completed the event in 26.14 minutes, which is a new police games record.

7 July: United States lifted the FIFA Womens World Cup 2015 for the third time.

In the finals played at Vancouver, Canada, USA scored 4 goals in the first 16

minutes to dethrone Japan, 5-2 and win their first World Cup since 1999. England

defeated Germany, 1-0 to finish third.

7 July: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain won the 2015 Formula 1 British

Grand Prix title by winning the final race held at the Silverstone Circuit in

Northamptonshire, England. This is his second consecutive British Grand Prix title

win. While his teammate Nico Rosberg stood second, Ferrari driver Sebastian

Vettel came at the third position. Both the drivers belong to Germany.

7 July: Chile created history by winning the Copa America tournament for 2015,

football's most prestigious competition, organised in South America. The host

team defeated the much-fancied Argentina by 4-1 on penalties to win the

tournament in the finals played at Santiago. This was the first Copa America title

for Chile. Chile had reached Copa America finals four times (1955, 1956, 1979 and


1987) times without winning the tournament. Peru finished at third place in Copa

America 2015.

7 July: India won the South Asian Basketball (SABA) Championship title. In the final

of the 4th edition of the championship played at the Kanteerava Stadium in

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India defeated Sri Lanka 93-44. India was also the winner of

third SABA Championship. With this win, India qualified for the FIBA Asia

Championship in China. FIBA Asia Championship will be played in September 2015.

8 July: India has won a record 156 medals, including 89 gold and 50 silvers, in the

World Police and Fire games held in the suburb of the American Capital. Topping

this tally on medal haul was Richa Mishra from Central Reserve Police Force, who

won six golds and two silvers in swimming events. This is for the first time that the

Indian contingent's medal tally has crossed 100.

8 July: Aseel Shaheen (Kuwait) made history by becoming the first-ever Arab

woman to officiate at Wimbledon Tennis Tournament 2015. Wimbledon tennis

tournament is a traditional competition organised by All England Club, which

primarily houses British match officials. She is a line judge and is one of around

350 men and women officiating at Wimbledon 2015.

8 July: Fiji broke the record for the biggest win in international football with a 38-

0 victory over Micronesia. This match was played under Pacific Games 2015. Fiji

trounced the Federated States of Micronesia by 38-0 to break Australias long

standing record of 31-0 a

july-eng-15

Documents

jcb cards

hdfc bank customers

forex cards

debitcredit cards

world bank funding

payment cards issuance

income tax

sewerage project