Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 25 January, 2014

Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

Emerging Asian economies will contribute less to global growth this year than earlier expected, even as their major trading partners in the West show signs of recovery, according to Reuters poll .
From China to India, Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand, more than 225 economists polled and have collectively downgraded or left unchanged growth estimates for nine of the top 13 economies in Asia outside of Japan.
At a time when developed economies are expected to beat last year's growth rates, the results imply that Asia, the recent engine of world growth, may see its contribution diminish.
After stunning the world by clocking over 10 per cent growth on average for the last three decades, China started last year to wean itself off credit and investments and changed track toincrease domestic consumption.
As a result, its growth rate has steadily dipped. Data this month showed the economy grew 7.7% in the last quarter of 2013.
Economists predict a 7.4% average growth rate this year, which would be the slowest expansion since 1990, and a further cooling to 7.2 per cent next year.
Infrastructure bottlenecks are seen by analysts as the key reason Asia is unable to benefit from weak food prices globally.

Bangalore has less than half the population of the Delhi National Capital Region and Mumbai. It's smaller than Kolkata. Yet, it's today the biggest market for books in India. And publishers say it has among the most sophisticated and discerning readers.
For Flipkart, India's biggest bookseller, Bangalore accounts for its biggest sales, followed by Mumbai and Delhi. For rival online retailer Amazon, Bangalore is a clear leader, followed by Hyderabad and then Mumbai. The company says in the past six months, Bangalore has contributed almost twice in terms of units sold as compared to Hyderabad.
Most attribute this phenomenon to the emergence of Bangalore as a city with a strong base of young, working professionals over the past decade, thanks to the IT revolution.

The sudden exit of VP Agrawal, the chairman of Airports Authority of India, came after the Central Vigilance Commission declined to approve the extension granted to him by theministry of civil aviation on January 1. Agrawal had completed a term of five years as the chairman of India's largest and state-owned airport operator.
Agrawal was immediately replaced by ministry of civil aviation's joint secretary Alok Sinha, who was given additional charge as the AAI chairman till a permanent replacement is found. Sinha's work was related to airports over the past one-and-a-half years at the civil aviation ministry.
With the ministry of civil aviation in a race against time to complete the pre-bid processes relating to the privatisation of airports, a revision of the draft model concession agreement would have meant more delays.
The current model concession agreement was redrafted by the Key Infrastructure Development cell of the AAI after the ministry of civil aviation had rejected a draft prepared by Planning Commission member Gajendra Haldea in October. As per a timeline set by the Prime Minister's Office in June last year, the process of privatisation was to be completed by March-end.

Jyoti Randhawa, one of India's top professional golfers, will represent city-based Dec-Ellora Laqshya Mumbai team in the Rs 1.2 crore prize money Louis Philippe Cup tournament to be held in Mumbai from February 17-22.
Jeev Milkha Singh, Anirban Lahiri, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Siddikur Rehyman, SSP Chowrasia, Rashid Khan and Himmat Rai, among others, are competing in the third edition of the event, featuring nine teams and offering Rs 36 lakh to the winning outfit and Rs 24 lakh to the losing finalist.
Incidentally, this is the first time Jeev would be playing in the metropolis as part of the Shubhkamna Delhi outfit.
The teams are Navratna Ahmedabad, Puravankara Bangalore, TAKE Chennai, DLF Gurgaon, Jaypee Greens Greater Noida, AVT Kolkata, Dev-Ellora Laqshya Mumbai, Krrish Colombo and Shubhkamna Delhi.
The tournament is sanctioned by the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and conceived and promoted by RN Golf Management (RNGM).

India regained its No. 1 ranking in the ICC ODI list after Australia lost its fourth One- Day International against England by 57 runs thereby dropping to the second place in the 13-team table.
As per the latest ICC table, India is back on top with 117 points while Australia is second with 116 points.
India lost its No. 1 spot in the ODI rankings recently , when it lost to New Zealand in the second ODI. But in order to maintain its top rank, India must win the third ODI against the Black Caps — failing which it will again lose its top position.