Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

13 January 2014

Newly built dam bursts in Himachal during trial

• A newly built dam with capacity of 12,000 cubic metres near Manali collapsed during its first trial, with authorities ordering a probe into the shocking incident. The newly built reservoir of 4.8 MW Aleo Electric Project-2 at Pirni burst during its first trial but there was no causality as the dam collapsed on the side of the river.

• The water flowed into the river Beas and no labourers were on the site. Manali SDM Vinay Dhiman said that there was no intimation from the promoters of the power project regarding the trial run.

• He said that a departmental inquiry would be conducted to ascertain the cause of collapse of the dam. Company officials were unavailable for comment. The incident sparked panic among locals, especially in Pirni — the “adopted” village of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

• Locals claimed that had the water flown towards the Aleo Bridge, localities downstream would have been washed away, including the nearby labour camp, resulting in huge casualties. The reservoir with 12,000 cubic meter capacity was filled for the first time since its construction and was being tested.

RBI buying dollars in spot market & selling it in forward market to stabilise rupee

• The Reserve Bank of India, under Governor Raghuram Rajan, seems to have changed its strategy when it comes to defending the fragile rupee and managing liquidity.

• The central bank, which earlier used to sell dollars in the local markets, is now increasingly buying the US currency in the spot market and selling it in the forward market. The revised strategy seems to be having a bearing on the non-deliverable forwards, or NDF, market.

• The move, experts say, is aimed at not only stabilising the local currency but also managing liquidity, as there was a surge in inflows after banks were allowed to swap Foreign Currency (Non-Resident) Accounts (Banks), or FCNR (B), proceeds for a premium.

Sebi tightens norms

• Tightening norms for issue of participatory notes (P-Notes) by overseas investors, Sebi has barred "unregulated" foreign funds from dealing in offshore derivative instruments even if their investment managers are appropriately regulated by their concerned regulators.

• The guidelines, which are part of the newly notified Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) Regulations, have come into force with immediate effect. They provide for stricter oversight of P-Notes, the preferred route for overseas high net worth individuals (HNIs) and hedge funds for investing in the Indian market.

• Earlier, according to the draft regulations by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, it had been proposed that only 'Category-III,' or high-risk foreign investors, would be barred from issuing P-Notes.

• However, the gazette notification that brought the FPI guidelines into force also prohibits certain entities under 'Category-II,' or medium-risk investors, from issuing P-Notes.

• P-Notes, or offshore derivative instruments, are mostly used by overseas HNIs, hedge funds and other foreign institutions to invest in Indian markets through registered foreign institutional investors (FIIs), while saving on time and costs associated with direct registrations.

• The new FPI regime has classified foreign investors into three groups based on their risk profile and would eventually replace existing categories such as FIIs, their sub-accounts and qualified foreign investors.

• Category-I FPIs, entities with the lowest risk, would include foreign governments and government-related foreign investors.

• Category-II FPIs would include appropriately regulated broad-based funds, university funds, university-related endowments and pension funds, among others.

• Category-III FPIs would include all others not eligible under the first two categories.

Venus William’s first round exit in Australian Open

• American tennis star Venus Williams has been knocked out of the Australian Open tournament in the first round itself following a 2-6 6-4 6-4 defeat by Russian Ekaterina Makarova on the opening day of the first Grand Slam event of the year.

• The seven-time Grand Slam champion has fueled speculation that her glittering career might be nearing its end following her third opening-round exit from her past six Grand Slam appearances, after losing in the first round just three times in her first 54 majors.

• According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 22nd seed Makarova survived a spirited start by Williams to win the game and will next face unseeded Italian Irina Falconi, who beat Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3 6-1.

• In other first-round matches on day one, ninth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany beat Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3 0-6 6-2, Belgian 18th seed Kirsten Flipkens defeated Britain's Laura Robson 6-3 6-0 and unseeded Australian Casey Dellacqua accounted for Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-2, the report added.

Winning start for David Ferrer in Australian Open

• World No 3 David Ferrer got his Australian Open challenge off to an impressive start with a straight-sets win over Alejandro Gonzalez.
• Ferrer needed just over two hours to see off the Colombian with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory.
• The Spaniard, who lost to Novak Djokovic in 89 painful minutes in the semi-final 12 months ago, will now take on Adrian Mannarino in the second round.
• Ferrer is joined in the next round by fellow top-10 ranked stars Stanislas Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych and Richard Gasquet
• Berdych, the seventh seed, disposed of Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-3 6-4 6-3 in 110 minutes.
• Wawrinka, seeded eighth, was in complete control as he led Andrey Golubev 6-4 4-1 on Hisense Arena when a calf injury force the Kazakh player to retire.
• Ninth seed Gasquet put his injury doubts behind him as he edged out fellow Frenchmen David Guez 7-5 6-4 6-1.

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