DAILY GK UPDATE 22ND FEB.

1.    India 19th largest exporter in world: Govt

i. India is the 19th largest exporter with a share of 1.7 pc in the worldwide merchandise trade; on the other hand, the country is the 12th largest importer with a share of 2.5 pc in 2011.
ii. Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said: "As per WTO's International Statistics, 2012, in merchandise trade, India is 19th largest exporter in the world with a share of 1.7 per cent and 12th largest importer with a share of 2.5 per cent in 2011,"

iii. Recently, the government has extended a 2 percent interest subsidy scheme for labour intensive sectors till March 2014, 

2.    T. S. Vijayan, Took Over as the Chairman of IRDA

i. T. S. Vijayan, the former LIC chief took over as the Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) on 21 February 2013.

ii. Vijayan will succeed J. Hari Narayan. J. Hari Narayan completed the five-year term on 20 February 2013. 

iii. The tenure for IRDA chairman is five years or till 65 years.

NOTE: T. S. Vijayan will take over as the Chairman of IRDA when the entire industry is facing meltdown. The challenges which will be faced by him include taking the insurance industry to rural areas as well as simplifying the insurance products.

3.    RBI releases final guidelines for new bank licenses

i. The Reserve Bank has released final guidelines for issue of licences to new banks in private sector. 

ii. RBI says, entities or groups in private sector, public sector and Non-bank financial companies - NBFCs are eligible for seeking bank licence. 

iii. RBI has set 49 per cent cap on foreign holding in new banks and minimum paid-up equity capital at 500 crore rupees.

4.    Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels Ltd. (BHPV) Merged With BHEL

i. The Union Cabinet of India approved merger of Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels Ltd. (BHPV) Vishakhapatnam with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) on 21 February 2013. After the merger, BHVP will be a unit of BHEL. 

ii. Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels Ltd. (BHPV) 

Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels Ltd. (BHPV) is the engineering and heavy fabrication company which was established back in 1966 in Andhra Pradesh. The company had suffered immense loss because of various reasons.

iii. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) acquired BHPV in 2008 as 100 percent subsidiary. However, because BHVP was a separate company, therefore it was not able to derive complete benefits.

5.    NTPC Signed Loan Agreement with Banks

i. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) tied up a term loan facility of 250 million US dollars with the State Bank of India, New York Branch as well as Singapore Branch of Mizuho Corporate Bank Limited. 

ii. The agreement for the loan was signed in New York.

iii. The loan will empower NTPC for making use of the proceeds of loan towards capital expenditure for procurement of goods and services for new as well as ongoing projects.

iv. It will also help NTPC in modernization as well as renovation of stations of this corporation. 

v. The loan signed by NTPC will carry a floating rate of interest associated to LIBOR. It also has door to door maturity of 7 years. 

NOTE: With execution of this term loan facility, NTPC raised a total of 750 million US Dollars in 2012-2013 fiscal year, which is the maximum amount allowed under the Automatic Route of the ECB guidelines issued by the Central Bank of India- RBI.

6.    Ratan Tata Awarded with Life Time Achievement Award 2012

i. Ratan Tata, the former head of Tata Group was awarded the life time achievement award 2012 by Ernst & Young on 21 February 2013. 

ii. He was given away the award for displaying great role for the Indian businessmen on global business level. 

iii. The entrepreneur of the year (2012) award was given away to Adi Godrej, Godrej Group Chairman. 

iv. It is important to note that entrepreneur of the year award is an only business award which is based on self-nomination. 

7.    Ashwin, Clarke sparkle on day 1

i. Australia were 316 for 7 at stumps on the opening day of the first cricket test against India in Chennai today. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. 

ii. Ravichandran Ashwin captured six of the seven Australian wickets that fell today.One wicket was claimed by R.Jadeja. Aussies were 126 for 2 at lunch but by tea, their score stood at 215 for 5. 

iii. Skipper Michael Clarke helped Australia win the spin battle against India and he remained unbeaten with 103. 

iv. Veteran Indian off spinner Harbhajan Singh is playing his 100 test in Chennai and pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar is making his debut for India in this test.

8.    Bopanna-Fleming in semis of ATP Open 13

i. Rohan Bopanna and his British partner Colin Fleming fought their way to the semifinals of the ATP Open 13, edging past James Cerretani and Adil Shamasdin, in Marseille, France.

ii.India's singles challenge had ended with the defeat of Somdev Devvarman, who went down fighting against Australia's Bernad Tomic in the second round