First Multi Currency Contactless Card Service launched by Axis Bank.
- Axis Bank has launched the first Contactless Debit, Credit and Multi-Currency Forex Card in association with VISA payWave in the country.
- The Bank will offer a contactless debit/credit cards to its 1.7 million premium customers which also enables withdrawal of 15 currencies via Multi-Currency Forex facility.
- The Bank will upgrade 50,000, of its point of sale (PoS) machines across the country to facilitate contactless cards operations
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) gave its approval for tie up of banks with insurers.
- The IRDAI’s new Bancassurance model guidelines which will be notified soon.
- Earlier, banks were not allowed to have insurance agency tie-ups with more than one insurer.
- According to latest decision by IRDAI banks can tie up with nine insurers from three segments viz. life, non–life and standalone health.
- It will not be binding on banks and they are free to take their call.
Union Cabinet gave its ex-post-facto approval for the MoU between American and India to establish the PACEsetter Fund.
- PACEsetter Fund is a fund that supports the Promoting Energy Access through Clean Energy (PEACE) an initiative between US and India through Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE).
- Both the countries has raised corpus of about 8 million US dollars (Rs. 50 crore) on a 50:50 sharing basis.
Om Prakash Munjal, founder of Hero Cycle and a leading industrialist passes away at DMC Hero Heart Centre, Ludhiana on 13 August. He was 87.
About Om Prakash Munjal :
- He was born on 26 August 1928 in Kamalia, Punjab (then British India).
- He moved with his family to Amritsar in 1944 to start a bicycle spare parts business with his three brothers.
- The complete manufacturing of bicycle was started in 1956 under brand name Hero.
- This unit became the first bicycle manufacturing unit in India which produced 639 bicycles in that first year.
- Om Prakash has received the Udyog Rattan Award from Punjab Government, Punjab Rattna award, The Samman Patra award towards for the contribution to exchequer of the Punjab state government and The Indira Gandhi National Unity award to recognize his social contribution.
Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh (PAHAL) Scheme make into the Guinness Book of World Records.
- PAHAL scheme acknowledged as the world’s largest cash transfer program (households) by the Guinness Book of World Records.
- The scheme was formally launched as Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG subsidy in 2013 in 291 districts under the aegis of Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Former IAS officer Om Prakash Rawat appointed as Election Commissioner by President Pranab Mukherjee.
- His tenure will be of more than three years which will end in December, 2018 i.e. till he attains the age of 65 years. Other two members are Nasim Zaidi (Chief Election Commissioner) and A K Joti (EC).
About Om Prakash Rawat :
- He was born on 2 December 1953 and is a 1977 batch IAS officer from Madhya Pradesh cadre.
- He had served at various important portfolios at Centre and state level during his career.
- He had also served as a Director in the Defence Ministry in 1993.
- He has also served as Principal Secretary to then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to Babu Lal Gaur from 2004 and 2006.
- He also had served as Secretary at Department of Public Enterprises in the Ministry of Heavy Industries from 2012 till December 2014 when he retired.
NTPC signed two MoUs with National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) for skill development training in eastern states and Bihar.
- NTPC will provide skill training to 5000 youth and women across 22 locations with special focus on the eastern states.
- The MoU is for two years with a project cost of Rs 6.5 Crore.
- As per second MoU NTPC will train over 25000 candidates in services and manufacturing sectors across under-served locations in Bihar. The MoU is for five years with a project cost of Rs 30 crore.
- Both the projects will be funded by NTPC and executed by NSDC through its Training Partners.
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India and Slovak Republic signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on technical cooperation in railway sector.
MoU was signed in New Delhi by Ganga Ram Agarwal, Secretary of Railway Board of India and Zigmund Bertok, Ambassador of Slovak Republic to India.
The potential cooperation areas mentioned in the MoU are:
- Infrastructure building and management– station development and workshop modernization
- Information & communication technologies especially for passenger amenities
- Modernisation of rolling stock
- Modernisation of Signaling & Telecom
- Any other area mutually agreed between the Parties, falling within the scope of this MoU