Capital markets regulator Sebi on 13 April 2015 unveiled a new mechanism for tendering and settlement of shares through stock exchanges that will make which process easy?: Delisting, buyback and takeover offers
Explanation: This circular would be applicable to all the offers for which public announcement is made on or after July 1, 2015. For all impending offers, acquirer/promoter/company would have the option to follow the existing mechanism:
-In case an acquirer or any person acting in concert with the acquirer who proposes to acquire shares under the offer is not eligible to acquire shares through stock exchange due to operation of any other law, such offers would follow the existing 'tender offer method'," Sebi said in a circular.
-In case of competing offers under Takeover Regulations, if one of the acquirers is ineligible to acquire shares through stock exchange mechanism, then all acquirers would follow the existing 'tender offer method'.
he acquirer would have to appoint a stock broker registered with Sebi for the offer. Such broker may also undertake transactions on behalf of sellers. In case of offer under Takeover Regulations, the merchant banker would have to finalise the basis of acceptance of the shares depending upon the level of acceptances received in the offer.
Government on 13 April 2015 has selected about a dozen PSUs including IOC, National Fertilizers, MMTC, Hindustan Copper and ITDC for stake sale to achieve the current fiscal's disinvestment target of what amount?: Rs 41,000 crore
Explanation: The government has budgeted to raise Rs 41,000 crore through PSU stake sale in the current fiscal and another Rs 28,500 crore through strategic stake sales. Thus as per the roadmap, 10 per cent stake each would be diluted in Engineers India Ltd (EIL), NALCO, NMDC and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). As much as 15 per cent stake would be up for sale in National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL), Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL), India Tourism and Development Corp (ITDC), State Trading Corp (STC) and MMTC, sources added. Besides, the government plans to dilute 5 per cent stake each in BHEL, NTPC, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) and Dredging Corporation (DCIL).
The Department of Posts (DoP) notified on 13 April 2015 that it will soon seek Cabinet approval for Rs 240 crore for setting up which bank?: Post Bank of India
Explanation: The DoP, which has applied for a payment bank licence, has a hybrid model in mind to operate Post Bank of India thus DoP has plans to set up Post Bank of India under payment bank licence. As per RBI guidelines, payment banks would offer a limited range of products such as demand deposits and remittances. They will not be allowed to undertake lending activities and will be initially be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs 1 lakh per individual customer. They will be allowed to issue ATM or debit cards as also other prepaid payment instruments, but not credit cards. The Department expects revenue of over Rs 550 crore from PBI in first 5 years.
Mutual funds pumped in over Rs 40,000 crore in equity markets in 2014-15, making it their first net inflow in how many years for an entire fiscal.?: 6 (six) years
Explanation: The huge inflows also helped the MF industry reach around Rs 12 lakh crore mark in Assets under management (AUM) at the end of the financial year. Thus, Mutual fund managers invested a net sum of Rs 40,722 crore in 2014-15 while they pulled out over Rs 14,000 crore in the preceding financial year as per SEBI. However, industry body Association of Mutual Funds of India's (Amfi) decision to put one percent cap on upfront commission paid to distributors may impact the sector. In comparison, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) made a net investment of over Rs one lakh crore into equity markets during the fiscal ended last month. Mutual funds are investment vehicles that pool funds collected from investors to invest in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and other assets.
India's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at which city became operational on 10 April 2015?: Gandhinagar
Explanation: India's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT City. The IFSC regulatory regime allows Indian and foreign stock exchanges to set up separate bourses within IFSC as subsidiaries, while market entities from India and abroad would be allowed to operate there by providing issuance and trading in depository receipts and debt securities of domestic as well as overseas companies. IFSC rules allow companies incorporated outside India to raise money in foreign currencies by issuance and listing of their equity shares on stock exchanges within the IFSC, where individual and institutional investors from India and abroad, including NRIs, would be allowed to trade. The capital and other requirements have been relaxed for some time for exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories to set shop in the IFSC. Mutual funds and Alternative Investment Funds set up in the IFSC can also invest in the securities listed.
Dena Bank on 6 April 2015 signed agreement with which Insurance company to provide insurance cover to its savings account holders under the Prime Minister's Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJBY) scheme?: Life Insurance Corporation - (LIC)
Explanation: Account holders in the age group of 18 to 50 years can avail of the product under which LIC will give a life cover of Rs 2 lakh in case of death of the insured person at a nominal premium of Rs 330 per annum. The bank customers can join the scheme between 1 June 2015 to 31 May 2016. Dena bank will have separate branches for claim settlement. The bank currently has 1.2 crore savings accounts and is targeting to extend the life cover benefit to all the customers.
The I-T department has so far collected Rs 6,85,972 crore Direct Tax during the year gone by against the projected target of Rs 7,05,000 crore for fiscal year 2015, thus falling short of Rs 19,028 crore as per the data internally released by the department on 4 April 2015. However, which 2 states are able to meet their targets?: Delhi and Bangalore
Explanation: New Delhi alone has collected Rs 1,02,083 crore in tax, up from Rs 86,619 crore in the previous fiscal year, whereas Mumbai was able to mop up 2,26,305 crore, short of the Rs 2.30 lakh crore last fiscal year. The department revised the direct tax collection to Rs 7,05,000 crore for the fiscal 2014-15 against the initial projection of Rs 7,36,000 crore in view of the sluggish economic growth however officials believe that the figures are yet to come from some regions and once all the figures are in, which may take more than a week, the target would be met. The official blamed the shortfall on sectors such as manufacturing which witnessed a slow growth.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch which Bank on 8 April 2015 in Delhi?: MUDRA bank or the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd. bank
Explanation: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch MUDRA bank or the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd. bank on 8 April 2015 in Delhi. Kindly find 10-point brief points to this story.
1) The bank will be an agency to refinance micro-finance institutions and will also act as regulator for the sector.
2) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his first full-year Budget in February had proposed the creation of MUDRA bank with a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore and credit guarantee corpus of Rs 3,000 crore.
3) MUDRA bank is expected to benefit about 5.77 crore small business units.
4) Among others, the bank will benefit small manufacturing units, shopkeepers, fruit and vegetable sellers, beauty parlour owners, truck operators, hawkers, artisans in rural and urban areas with financing requirements up to Rs 10 lakh.
5) MUDRA bank will be responsible for regulating and refinancing all micro-finance institutions (MFIs) which are in the business of lending to micro or small business entities engaged in manufacturing, trading and services activities.
6) MUDRA bank would lay down policy guidelines for micro/small enterprise financing business, registration of MFI entities, regulation of MFI entities and accreditation /rating of MFI entities.
7) "The initial products and schemes under this umbrella have already been created and the interventions have been named 'Shishu', 'Kishor' and 'Tarun' to signify the stage of growth/development and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit/entrepreneur," the Finance Ministry said.
8) 'Shishu' would cover loans up to Rs 50,000 while 'Kishor' above Rs 50,000 and up to Rs 5 lakh. 'Tarun' category will cover loans of above Rs 5 lakh and upto Rs 10 lakh.
9) The Finance Ministry said measures to be taken up by MUDRA are targeted towards mainstreaming young, educated or skilled workers and entrepreneurs including women entrepreneurs.
10) Banks, particularly dominant state lenders who are already under pressure over bad loans, have largely held back from lending to a sector where debt repayment installments can often be less than the cost of pursuing the payment.
Retirement fund body has achieved another milestone in the process of digitising its operations by updating how many PF accounts for 2014-15 in a day?: 15.54 crore PF accounts
Explanation: It has happened in the history of EPFO for the first time that accounts of all EPF member accounts have been updated on 1st April itself. However the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is required to update PF accounts for a fiscal till September 30 after the end of that financial year. But the task for 2014-15 was completed on April 1. Therefore, after digitization now tt has been found that 6,56,06,009 accounts are active and 8,08,56,444 accounts are inoperative. As many as 89,58,296 accounts are already settled.
Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) was re-launched during November 2014 and on 7 April 2015 Union Govt. has planned which step to promote it?: It has roped in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to sell KVP certificates
Explanation: Kisan Vikas Patra (hugely popular small saving scheme of the 1990s) has failed to accumulate much interest and collected just Rs 1,100 crore in 2014-15. Gross collections for KVP were as high as Rs 21,631.16 crore in 2010-11, which was the year before it was discontinued. KVP is presently issued through Post Offices only but now the Union Govt. has decided to sell KVPs through PSBs also. However, comparing to this scheme another small saving scheme was launched last year int he name of Sukanya Samriddhi Account (SSA), is fast gaining popularity with over 27 lakh accounts already opened under it.
