Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 23 December, 2013

Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

23 December 2013

Air India Plans to Sell, Leaseback 7 More Boeing 787 Dreamliner Aircraft

Air India Ltd. has invited bids from leasing companies to sell seven additional Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, and hire them back on monthly rentals as part of its strategy to raise cash.
The national carrier currently operates 11 Dreamliner jets. It expects to take delivery of three more planes through February from Boeing Co., expanding the total fleet to 14, according to tender documents seen by The Wall Street Journal.
Air India has already sold and leased back seven of the 11 Dreamliner jets it currently operates. The so-called sale-and-lease-back model of aircraft financing is common in the airline industry. When making bulk orders, airlines negotiate attractive deals with manufacturers, and some would later sell the aircraft at a premium to leasing companies, which would in turn rent the aircraft back to the airlines for fixed monthly payments.
Air India--one of the first customers for the Dreamliner--ordered a total of 27 planes in January 2006. The carrier hopes to complete taking delivery of all the planes in 2016.
Designed to carry 256 passengers, the Dreamliners have also opened up new destinations for Air India, such as Australia. It has also replaced older jets on its fleet on some international routes with the new planes.
But the Dreamliners have also been mired by technical glitches. In January, lithium-ion batteries on 787s overheated in two separate incidents, prompting a global grounding for four months. Air India itself faced problems while operating the jet, including an overheating oven on a domestic flight in India, and the cracking of an outer windshield on a flight from New Delhi to Sydney.

A big push to ‘Made in India’ cars

In a sign of its growing stature in car manufacturing, India is emerging as an export hub of global auto firms not just for small cars but also for big cars such as mid-size sedans and utility vehicles (UVs).
Export of big vehicles has been on the rise as an increasing number of global brands are now selling India-built sedans and UVs in other markets.
During April-November 2013, exports of sedans reported a growth of 29 per cent at 77,987 units when compared with 60,512 units in a year-ago period. Share of big cars in total car exports has increased to 21 per cent from about nine per cent in March 2012.
Export of entry-level sedans (include Hyundai Accent, Maruti Swift Dzire and Toyota Etios sedan) and mid-size sedans (Nissan Sunny, Volkswagen Vento and Ford Fiesta, among others) grew by 28 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively, during the period.
In 2012-13, exports of these vehicles more than doubled at 91,478 units when compared with 43,903 units in the previous year, according to statistics of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
Europe’s largest car maker Volkswagen has also been selling ‘Made in India’ Vento across three continents. Recently it started shipping the cars to Mexico, which will become the single largest export market for Volkswagen India.
Along with sedans, UVs are also scripting a success story with their exports increasing to 23,556 units from 4,793 units during April-November 2012 period. Currently, Renault is the largest UV exporter from India, followed by Ford and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Gold comes off all-time high, silver declines during 2013

Gold prices slipped from its peak level and was poised to end 2013 below last year's closing price after the government increased customs duty to 10 per cent and imposed import restrictions to contain increasing demand for the precious metal.
As of December 21, the price of 10 grams of gold had fallen Rs 840, or 2.76 per cent, from last year's close, while silver had lost Rs 13,630, or 23.57 per cent, per kg.
The government took steps to curb imports of gold after concerns about the country's current account deficit (CAD). In the previous financial year, the CAD climbed to a record high of 4.8 per cent of GDP on the back of higher gold imports and slowing exports.
Import duty on gold was increased to 6 per cent in January. Two more hikes followed -- to 8 per cent in June and to 10 per cent in August.
The Reserve Bank of India, too, imposed restrictions on gold imports for banks, such as curbs on granting advances for the purchase of gold in any form, including primary gold, bullion, jewellery, coins, units of gold exchange traded funds and units of gold mutual funds.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram appealed to citizens to refrain from buying gold and help the government's efforts to trim the widening CAD as the depreciating Indian currency continued to cause worries.
The government's measures brought down gold prices although it remained out of reach for the common man.

Fourth Indian bowler to claim 300 wickets in Test cricket : Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan got his 300th Test wicket under the African sun, when he dismissed Jacques Kallis in the first Test at the Wanderers Stadium.
In a career spanning innumerable tours, plentiful wickets and countless desolate nights of coping with injury-induced self-doubt, Zaheer is back again in the African continent, refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to rattle batsmen with his potent mix of swing and pace.
It has been a comeback to cherish and one that augurs well for M.S. Dhoni’s men.
That performance catapulted Zaheer onto the bigger leagues while also offering fresh hope to Indian cricket, tainted as it was after the match-fixing controversy.
That series also brought to the fore another young and energetic talent — Yuvraj Singh — who had blasted an 84 in that match.

New Zealand win series

Kane Williamson completed his second half-century of the match to take New Zealand to an eight-wicket victory in the third and final test against West Indies and seal the series 2-0 after lunch on the fourth day in Hamilton.
The hosts finished on 124-2 with Hamish Rutherford unbeaten on 48 and Ross Taylor on two, having hauled in a meagre target of 122.
Taylor, who scored an unbeaten 217 in the series-opener in Dunedin and 129 in Wellington, shone again in New Zealand's first innings in Hamilton with 131 and was named man of the match.
New Zealand had not beaten a top-eight nation in a series since they beat West Indies 2-0 in 2006. Until their innings and 73-run victory at the Basin Reserve last week, they had not won a test in more than 12 months.