Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 07 January, 2014

Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

Expediting its efforts to further relax foreign direct investment (FDI) policy regime, the government has circulated discussion paper on FDI in e-commerce among stakeholders, aiming to usher in the reform before the Lok Sabha elections.
While debating as to whether FDI in e-commerce should be allowed at all, the discussion paper has sought views on the FDI cap in the sector and listed out the merits and demerits of the move.
Presenting both 51 per cent or 100 per cent cap scenario on the FDI in the sector, the paper has raised sticky questions including whether the "existing retail stores get displaced due to e-commerce".
At present, 100 per cent FDI is allowed in business-to-business e-commerce, while business-to-consumer is prohibited.
The government allowed 51 per cent FDI in the multi-brand retail trading (MBRT) in September 2012, with riders including mandatory investment of a minimum 50 per cent towards back-end infrastructure and compulsory 30 per cent sourcing from SMEs.
Another important issue raised in the paper is geographical restriction for e-commerce, as applicable in the FDI policy for MBRT. According to the policy for MBRT, states have been empowered to take decision on notification of towns and cities with population of more than 10 lakh as per 2011 census.
At present, 12 states including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Haryana, J&K, Maharashtra, Manipur, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand allow FDI in multi-brand retail stores.

Big business is aghast at a court ruling which allows the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) to audit books of accounts of private telecom companies. India Inc fears that if CAG is allowed to audit telecom companies and - as has already been made amply clear to the three power distribution companies in Delhi - discoms in Delhi, no business is safe from the prying eyes of the Government.
Delhi's discoms have been voicing shrill protests against any CAG audit, saying their operations do not come under CAG's purview and anyway, they are already audited by auditors who are CAG approved. So then why is the Government unleashing the CAG monster on telecom and power distribution firms? Does it want to scare big business away?
Telecom firms are owned by billionaires such as Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal whereas two of the discoms in Delhi are joint ventures between Reliance ADAG and the state government, the third between the Tatas and the state government.
The state power suppliers are already audited by CAG.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies (VC) like Bitcoin, Litecoin, BBQcoin and Dogecoin and is examining the legal and regulatory framework of VCs. In a press release, RBI stated that Bitcoin and other VCs are exposed to potential financial, operational, legal, customer protection and securityrelated risks.
According to RBI , the creation, trading or usage of VC including Bitcoin, as a medium for payment, are not authorised by any central bank or monetary authority. No regulatory approvals, registration or authorisation is stated to have been obtained by the entities concerned for carrying on such activities.
Bitcoin was created to solve the mathematical solution to double-counting but it grew into an alternate currency system altogether; its value has skyrocketed as more and more people, investors and enthusiasts jumped onto the bandwagon and started transacting in the virtual currency.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not averse to the idea of continuing as the skipper of the the Indian cricket team in all the three formats, saying it would be unfair to burden a new player with the mantle of captaincy with just one year left for the World Cup.
Dhoni had, last year, said that he might have to give up a format to lead India's title defence in 2015 but such a decision would be made only at the end of 2013. Dhoni will be 33 by the time the World Cup starts in Australia and New Zealand.

Young shuttler Aditya Joshi from Madhya Pradesh has become the first male junior badminton player from India to be ranked top in the world.
Aditya, 17, recently got the number one slot in the January rankings of the World Badminton Federation (WBF).
Aditya was at the 11th position till November, but he managed to jump ahead of all the players by achieving 18,776 points.
Aditya started playing badminton in 2001 when he was only five and very soon, he started winning in the categories above his age in the local tournaments.
Within six years, he started proving himself at the international arena and clinched the gold in Remensco junior international tournament held in Russia in 2011. During the same year, he won a gold medal in Asian sub-junior championship held in Japan.
His victory in the national junior championship held at Chandigarh in December 2012 made way for his top ranking.
Aditya was the national champion in 2013 and had won two gold medals in junior international tournament held at Pune and silver in the senior national championship while his age corresponds to junior category.