Daily GK Updates - 17th February, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Tata Teleservices subsidiary m-RUPEE tied-up with IRCTC: m-RUPEE, a subsidiary of Tata Teleservices announced that it has tied up with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation to provide additional payment gateway.

2. CBDT resolves international tax disputes worth Rs 5,000 crore under Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP).

3. Coal India Ltd arm to set up country’s largest coal washery in Korba district of Chattisgarh.

4. HCL Technologies wins $2.8 billion deal from Volvo, largest IT outsourcing deal in recent times: The deal involves HCL buying the IT technology arm of Volvo for $138 million that mandates it to take over 2500 employees and 40 customers of Volvo globally on its rolls.

5. Amazon to acquire online payment service provider Emvantage Payments Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed amount.

6. Uber inks pact with Maharashtra government to create 75000 jobs.

7. Prithvi-II missile, capable of carrying up to 1000 kg warhead test fired from ITR Chandipur.

8. Union Government launched Non Tax Receipt Portal: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched Non-Tax Receipt Portal (NTRP) to electronically collect over Rs 2 trillion annually in non-tax receipts.

9. India’s 1^st lightest gun ‘Nidar’ launched: India’s first indigenously developed lightest revolver Nidar weighing merely 250 grams was successfully launched to ‘boost’ the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

10. World’s cheapest Smartphone ‘Freedom 251’ is going to be launched by Ringing Bells: Noida based Ringing Bells is all set to launch the world’s cheapest 3G smartphone at just Rs 251 in India today.

11. Punjab National Bank declared Vijay Mallya led United Beverages Holdings Ltd as wilful defaulter.

12. Amazon launched ‘Tatkal’ initiative for small and medium businesses to go online and sell products on Amazon.

13. BAE Systems, Mahindra join hands for Howitzer facility.

14. Union Cabinet clears LIGO-India Gravitational Wave observatory.

15. Cabinet approves collaboration between AYUSH and WHO.

16. West Bengal Government launched Utkarsh Bangla Scheme for school-dropouts: The scheme is aimed at giving vocational training to school dropouts in the field of Tailoring, driving, repairing television and other electronics. Each Youth will get training ranging from 400 to 1200 hours.

17. Haryana, South Korean state of Chungcheongbuk to collaborate on technology and development.

18. Flipkart hires Fidelity International’s India head Nitin Seth as Chief People Officer.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Taylor Swift received the Best album of the Year award for her album ‘1989’.

2. 1^st Silk Road train arrives in Tehran from China: The train had started its journey from China’s eastern Zhejiang province and it took 14 days to reach final destination.

3. 3^rd US-Asean summit session begins in California: The summit between leaders from the Associations of Southeast Asian Nations and the United States has begun in California.

4. PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk led Ukrainian Government survived no-confidence motion.

5. Indo-British Asif Kapadia won 2016 Grammy Award for Best Music Film.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. SBI launches SBI e-Smart SME e-Commerce Loan: The sellers can apply for loan online and get immediate sanction-thereby enabling ‘loans at the click of a button’.

2. SBI, Thomas Cook tie up for Holiday Savings Account for online customers: The country’s largest lender SBI travel firm Thomas Cook to offer a recurring deposit to the bank’s customers to save for their future holiday.

3. Yes Bank partnered with UltraCash partner to launch payments service.

SPORTS:

4. Dominic Thiem defeated Nicolas Almargo to win ATP Argentina Open.

5. Indian women football team defeated Nepal to bag gold at 12^th South Asian Games.

6. Jauna Murmu, Ranjit Nayak included in Target Olympic Podium Scheme that was formulated with the objective of identifying and supporting potential medal prospects for 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.

7. ICC Cricket for Good and UNICEF launched Team Swachh clinics in partnership with BCCI.

8. Badminton Asia Cup: India beats Singapore, enters quarterfinals.

9. Indian Railways won 36^th National Chess Team Championship.

10. 2016 South Asian Games concluded, India finished at top with 308 medals.

AWARDS:

11. Fashion designer Manish Arora conferred Knight of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest honour.

OBITUARIES:

12. Former UN General Secretary B. Ghali passed away at the age of 93 in Cairo, Egypt.

13. Renowned Malayalam writer Kakkattil passed away at the age of 62.