Current Affairs Daily Digest – October 30 2019
1. RIL becomes the worlds sixth largest energy entity with high m cap
Mukesh Ambani led-Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has become the world’s sixth-largest energy entity with high market capitalization. RIL overtook British oil major BP Plc in terms of market capitalization to become the world’s sixth-largest energy entity.
RIL hit a market cap (m-cap) of $130.76 billion on 30 October compared with BP Plc’s $128 billion. The shares of RIL traded at Rs.1,466 on the BSE. It has gained over 31% so far in 2019. Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest energy entity, that pumps about 10% of the world’s crude. It has emerged as the most profitable company in 2018.
2. The 5th International Conference on ROADTECH was held
The 5th International Conference on ROADTECH (Sustainable Roads and Highways-Smart Use of Available Resources for Green and Sustainable Roads) was held in New Delhi on 30 October. Union Minister of State for Road Transport V.K. Singh addressed the meeting.
3. DPIIT to introduce exercise to ease FDI norms
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) launched a new exercise to relax India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) norms. The decision was made in an inter-ministerial meeting held at DPIIT to discuss further opening up in sectors, especially where 100% FDI is not allowed on the automatic route.
Earlier, the government opened FDI in contract manufacturing and eased norms for overseas investors in single-brand retail and coal mining.
4. Justice N Venkatachala passed away
Former judge of the Supreme Court (SC), Justice N Venkatachala, has passed away at the age of 89.
Justice N Venkatachala:
Venkatachala was born in July 1930. Justice Nanje Gowda Venkatachala obtained his law degree from Mysore University. In November 1955, he enrolled as an advocate in the then High Court of Mysore (now Karnataka). He practiced civil, criminal and constitutional matters in Bangalore.
5. Three Indian-origin CEOs featured in HBR’s top 10 best-performing CEOs
Three Indian-origin chief executive officers (CEOs) have been featured in ‘The Best-Performing CEOs in World, 2019′ list of world’s top 10 best-performing chief executives. The list is compiled by the Harvard Business Review (HBR) and features 100 CEOs.The list has been topped by American technology company NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang.
Indian CEO’s: Among the world’s top 10 best-performing chief executives on list, three spots have been occupied by Indian-origin CEOs. The 6th spot is held by Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, followed by MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, ranked 7th and Microsoft chief Satya Nadella on 9th spot. The list also features India-born CEO of DBS Bank Piyush Gupta on 89th spot.
6. October 29: Odisha Disaster Preparedness Day
Odisha Disaster Preparedness Day and National Day for Disaster Reduction is observed every year on 29 October to commemorate destruction brought by Super Cyclone 1999 and to prepare ourselves for future disasters.
Theme of Odisha Disaster Preparedness Day for year 2019- ‘Empowering Community for Disaster Resilience’.
7. Rafael Grossi elected new Director General of IAEA
Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina has been appointed as the new Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations’ nuclear watchdog. The Argentine diplomat will succeed late Yukiya Amano as the new chief of IAEA.
8. India-Saudi Arabia sign MoUs during PM Modi visit
PM Modi visited Saudi Arabia to attend the Future Investment Initiative. During his visit, the two sides held bilateral talks during which they reviewed historical and close relations between the countries.
9. India signs MoU with Saudi Arabia to launch RuPay card in Gulf Kingdom
India signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to launch the RuPay card in the country, making it the third nation in the West Asia to initiate India’s digital payment system which will benefit not only the 2.6 million Indians in the Gulf Kingdom but also Haj and Umrah pilgrims.
10. Microsoft set to invest $200 mn in Ola, boost connected car tie-up
Ride-hailing company Ola is set to unveil a connected car project in partnership with Microsoft Corp., which will also invest around $200 million in Ola’s parent, ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, two people aware of the deal said.
Microsoft will acquire around 4.5% in ANI Technologies as part of the deal, one of the two people said on condition of anonymity. News agency PTI first reported the fundraise.
11. IIM-Calcutta is best B-school in India, 17th in world: Financial Times Masters in Management Rankings 2019
Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta has ranked 17 globally in the latest Financial Times’ Masters in Management Rankings 2019. Its two-year Masters in Business Administration (earlier Post Graduate Programme in Management) has advanced by six ranks this year. The institute has ranked first among the five Indian B-Schools listed in the FT rankings.
12. IIIT Hyderabad researchers create first ever Indian Brain atlas
Researchers at the IIIT Hyderabad said that the first ever Indian Brain Atlas (IBA) has been created. They stated that the next step is to prepare atlases for different age groups to study age related affects on brain anatomy.
The average brain size of an Indian was smaller in height, width and volume in comparison to people of the Caucasian and eastern races.
13. RBI slaps Rs 1 cr penalty on Bandhan Bank over promoter holding norms
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed Rs 1 crore penalty on Bandhan Bank for non-compliance with promoter holding norms.
The RBI said that the bank was required to bring down the shareholding of its “non-operative financial holding company” to 40 per cent of its paid-up equity capital within a period of three years from the date of commencement of business of the bank.
