Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 07 May, 2015

Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

With the aim to help the Banking Industry with defaulting borrowers, Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has notified new norms for banks to convert their debt into equity in distressed companies. The decision to tweak the pricing formula for conversion of debt into equity would also pave the way for bankers to have a larger say in activities of a distressed company by acquiring majority stake and taking over the management.
At present, banks can convert debt into equity in cases of bad loans, but there have been regulatory issues with regard to distressed listed companies. The new pricing formula have simplified this procedure.
With the changed norms, pricing would be based on "fair value" with some safeguards and conversion into equity can only happen when the lenders have acquired at least 51 per cent stake in the concerned company. The relaxation in terms of pricing would be subject to the allotment price being as per a fair price formula prescribed and not being less than the face value of shares.
Equity shares allotted would be locked in for one year from the date of trading approval, in case "consortium of banks and financial institutions may transfer their shareholding to an entity before completion of the lock-in period subject to continuation of the lock-in on such shares for the remaining period with the transferee." Other requirements would be available if conversions are undertaken as part of proposed Strategic Debt Restructuring scheme of Reserve Bank.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, has approved the proposal of Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion to review of the investment limit for cases requiring prior approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) / Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), as provided in the Consolidated FDI Policy Circular effective from April 17, 2014. Amended provisions in this regard are as under:
(a) The Minister of Finance who is in-charge of FIPB would consider the recommendations of FIPB on proposals with total foreign equity inflow up to Rs.3000 crore.
(b) Recommendations of FIPB on proposals with total foreign equity inflow of more than Rs.3000 crore would be placed for consideration of CCEA.
(c) The CCEA would also consider the proposals which may be referred to it by the FIPB / the Minister of Finance (in-charge of FIPB).
(d) The FIPB Secretariat in the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) will process the recommendations of FIPB to obtain the approval of Minister of Finance and the CCEA.

The Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) measures performance of eight infrastructure industries, viz Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity, compiled at the base year of 2004-05. The cumulative growth rate of ICI during April-March, 2014-15 was 3.5 % as compared to 4.2 % during corresponding period of previous year. However, the production index of various core industries has displayed variation in both direction and magnitude. Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizer and Steel have contributed to the lower growth in overall index during April-March, 2014-15 as compared to corresponding period of previous year.

INS 'Sardar Patel', India's latest Naval establishment is set to be commissioned at Porbandar, Gujarat by the Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel on May 9, 2015.
The commissioning of INS Sardar Patel at Porbandar would enable the Navy to augment its infrastructure and organisational effectiveness in Gujarat. It would improve coordination and synergy with other maritime agencies
The base would improve the logistic support being provided to the Indian Navy units deployed in the Northern Arabian Sea, including that along the International Maritime Boundary Line with Pakistan.
Gujarat has India's longest coastline of 880 NM. Gujarat's ports collectively handle about 300 million tons of cargo annually. This is about 30% of the total cargo handled in the ports of India.

A 22-member Indian team will participate in the first-ever Asian athletics youth championships to be held in Doha from May 8 to 11.
Promising talents such as Beant Singh (800m), Jisna Mathew (200m and 400m), high jumper Tejaswin Shankar, hammer throwers Abhishek Drall and Ashish Jakhar are part of the side.
The Indian team was selected on the basis of the athletes’ performances in the National youth championships at Goa in April. The Asian meet will help the athletes prepare for bigger events such as the World youth championships and the Commonwealth Youth Games slated to be held later this year.