The collection of which kind of taxes has surpassed the revised estimates by Rs 4,000 crore to reach Rs 5.46 lakh crore for the fiscal ended March 2015, despite a slowdown in the manufacturing sector?: Indirect taxes
Explanation: Indirect tax collection growth is linked to industrial output. The growth in factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew by 2.5 per cent during April-January period of 2014-15, reflecting the slowdown. However, the total collection as on March 31 is Rs 5,46,479 crore, based on the provisional report as against revised estimates of Rs 5,42,325 crore for 2014-15.
Which Bank on 1 April 2015 has filed draft papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to raise up to Rs 400 crore through an initial public offer (IPO) to shore up its capital base?: Catholic Syrian Bank
Explanation: The bank will issue equity shares aggregating up to Rs 4,000 million. Besides, the mid-sized private lender is considering to garner up to Rs 150 crore via pre-IPO placement. The issue is being managed by ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company. This is the eighth draft document filed with Sebi to float an IPO, since January.
Sensex logs a hefty rise of 25 percent in 2014-15, benchmark Sensex on 31 March 2015 capped its best show in how many years mainly driven by surge in foreign inflows.?: six (6) fiscal years
Explanation: Indian companies raised a staggering Rs 58,801 crore through equity markets in the financial year that ended on 31 March 2015, the best funds mop-up since 2010-11 fiscal. Thus during the fiscal 2014-15, Sensex has gone up by 5,571.22 points, or 24.88 percent to 27,957.49 from 22,386.27 on March 31, 2014. The gauge had touched all-time high of 30,024.74 on March 4 this year. Also the NSE's Nifty zoomed by 1,786.80 points, or 26.65 percent, to settle the fiscal at 8,491 after scaling lifetime high of 9,119.20 on March 4 this year.
On 31 March 2015, Reserve Bank has taken very bold step and notified relaxation of investor positions in which kind of Market?: Exchange-traded currency derivatives (ETCD) market
Explanation: The limit for domestic importers of goods and services to take hedging positions in ETCD markets has been doubled to 100 percent of the higher of the average of their last three years' imports turnover or the previous year's turnover. The limit for domestic entities and Foreign Portfolio Investors to take foreign currency positions in the USD-INR pair on ETCD market has been increased to USD 15 million per exchange and an aggregate limit of USD 5 million equivalent per exchange for EUR-INR, GBP-INR and JPY-INR pairs. Non-resident Indians may be allowed to participate in the ETCD markets in future based on this experience.
The Reserve Bank of India on 30 March 2015 has issued guidelines that would help banks show better profit numbers for fiscal year 2014-15. Under this the central bank has allowed lenders to draw half the countercyclical buffer to make provision against which kind of loans and will help them report reduced losses against such loans.?: Bad Loans
Explanation: Countercyclical provisioning buffer is created in good times. It can be utilised during economic downturns when banks are often required to make unusually high bad loan provisions. As per the Analysts, the move would come as a major relief to banks since most lenders expected bad loans to go up this fiscal year as there was poor demand for fresh loans even as the share of bad loans rose due to weak economic growth.
Under the credit plan (2015-16) Andhra Pradesh government has released of Rs 14,617.14 crore for which district to boost agriculture and other allied sectors ?: Guntur district
Explanation: The credit plan for 2014-15 was decided at Rs 12,491.43 crore. Under the plan, Rs 9,182.54 crore are allocated for agriculture and other allied sectors, Rs 1704.39 crore for industries, Rs 1,729.11 crore for other priority sectors and Rs 2001.14 crore for non-priority sectors.The Andhra Pradesh agriculture minister Pulla Rao appealed to bankers to provide loans to farmers and unemployed youths.
Guidelines for which category of bonds was announced by SEBI on 22 March 2015, which will help the Union Govt. in its “Smart Cities” plan?: Municipal Bonds
Explanation: Municipal bonds, also to be known as “Muni Bonds”, would allow authorities to raise funds including for setting up of smart cities, by raising funds from the public and from the institutional investors. All the municipal authorities, desiring of issuing these bonds, would need to have a strong financial track record and such bonds would be listed on the stock exchanges. This kind of bonds products are very popular among investors in developed nations like United States, where they have attracted investments totaling over $500 billion and are among preferred avenues for household savings. Thus, in December 2014, SEBI had floated draft norms for ‘Issue and Listing of Debt Securities by Municipality’.
Sebi on 22 March 2015 relaxed its norms by dropping which rule which is required on investment by an individual, for funds from low-risk foreign investors.?: The '20-25 rule', which required a minimum of 20 investors and a cap of 25 percent
Explanation: After this relaxation, it will enable local fund managers to manage offshore funds effectively and also garner more offshore business in the future in comparison to existing rule where fund manager who is managing a domestic scheme, is allowed to manage an offshore fund subject to three specific conditions:
1) The first requires the investment objective and asset allocation of the domestic scheme and of the offshore fund to be the same.
2) The second condition requires at least 70 percent of the portfolio to be replicated across both the domestic scheme and the offshore fund.
3) The third condition, which was being considered as the most stringent by the industry, requires that the offshore fund should be broad-based with at least 20 investors with no single investor holding more than 25 percent of the fund corpus.
Majority of offshore funds follow MSCI India Index as their benchmark while none of the local funds follow MSCI India Index. The composition of MSCI India Index is different as compared to local benchmarks such as Nifty, Sensex, CNX 500, BSE 100 or BSE 200. Sebi has classified FPIs into three categories, with the first two broadly being low-risk foreign institutions that include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, banks, mutual funds, insurers, multi-lateral institutions and well-regulated foreign entities including portfolio managers.
Sebi on 23 March 2015 allowed Jaipur Stock Exchange Ltd (JSEL) to exit as a which biz Category from the nation's capital markets.?: Bourse Biz
Explanation: The central government had granted recognition to JSEL, as a stock exchange on January 9, 1989, initially for a period which was renewed from time to time. Last renewal by Sebi was for a period of one year commencing on January 9, 2014 and ending on January 8, 2015. According to Sebi, Jaipur Stock Exchange Limited - JSEL had complied with the regulator's exit norms and made payment of necessary dues to the regulator, including 10 per cent of the listing fee and the annual regulatory fee.
The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) is planning to participate in the bidding process of which kind of fund, which will be rolled out by the government to boost the agricultural marketing system?: Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF)
Explanation: In order to develop a common national market for farm commodities through e-platform, the Department of Agriculture (DAC) has approved Rs 200 crore for a central scheme for promotion of agricultural market through ATIF to be implemented between 2014-15 and 2016-17. Thus, National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) signed an agreement with the Karnataka Government to form a joint venture company to modernize Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC). NCDEX will roll out pilots to modernize APMC in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The leading commodity exchange is also in talks with States like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to modernize APMCs in line with Karnataka.
