7th April Daily Updates

1. RBI keeps Key Rates unchanged

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the repo rate unchanged at 7.5% in its monetary policy review. Along market expectations, Raghuram Rajan also kept the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 4%. 

ii. Rajan kept policy rate unchanged awaiting clarity on impact of unseasonal rains on food inflation even as he wanted banks to pass on benefits of previous two rate cuts.

iii. The RBI will await the transmission by banks of its front-loaded rate reductions in January and February into their lending rates. Transmission of policy rates to lending rates has not taken place so far despite weak credit off take and the front loading of two rate cuts, said RBI. 

2. Dena Bank inked MoU with Life Insurance Corporation

i. Dena Bank on 6 April 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India to provide insurance cover to all Aadhaar-linked savings account holders of the bank in the age group of 18 to 50 years. 

ii. The insurance cover will be provided under the Prime Minister’s Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJBY) scheme. The scheme will come into effect from 1 June 2015.

iii. The bank said that people who join the scheme before completing 50 years can continue to have the risk of life cover up to the age of 55 years.

3. World Health Day 2015 observed globally 

i. World Health Day (WHD) 2015 was observed globally on 7 April 2015. The theme for the year is "From farm to plate, make food safe."

ii. The theme was selected by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to bring focus on growing global burden of food borne diseases and underscore the need for coordinated cross-border action across the entire food supply chain i.e. from farm to plate.

iii. The day is celebrated every year since it was first celebrated in 1950 to mark the anniversary of the WHO formation in 1948. 

4. Yuvraj set to begin new innings as businessman with YouWeCan Ventures

i. Cricketer Yuvraj Singh is set to start his new innings as businessman with YouWeCan Ventures, aiming to support young entrepreneurs by investing in startups across sectors.

ii. Yuvraj will put about INR 50 crore - mostly his own money - over a period of 3-5 years in the fund, YouWeCan Ventures. The fund is expected to raise around INR 300 crore from other investors during the period.

iii. YouWeCan Ventures will mainly fund startups in sports products, healthcare, travel and tourism, services and fashion, e-commerce and hospitality. The plan is to offer seed capital ranging from INR 10 lakh to INR 25 lakh.

5. Indian origin UK School Boy Gets top Physics Prize on Einstein Model

i. An Indian origin school boy Pratap Singh, 15, in the UK has been chosen for a prestigious prize this year for the Institute of Physics (IOP) Prize, that carries 500 pounds sterling and a trip to a national physics-related activity.

ii. Pratap Singh was given the award for carrying out a verifying experiment on the effect of Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity. 

iii. He was presented the award at the Bing Bang Fair held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) Birmingham

6. Steel Companies partnered with Union Ministry of Steel to set up Steel Research & Technology Mission

i. Major Indian Steel Companies signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Union Ministry of Steel for setting up of Steel Research and Technology Mission of India (SRTMI) in New Delhi.

ii. The primary objective of SRTMI is to promote collaborative Research and Development (R&D) programmes between the ministry and steel industries in priority areas of national importance in the steel sector.

iii. The participating steel companies in this initiative are Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Tata Steel, JSW Steel of Jindal Group, Jindal Steel and Power Limited, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and Metallurgical & Engineering Consultants (India) Limited (MECON).

7. Xiaomi to partner with Snapdeal and Amazon, no more exclusive to Flipkart

i. Chinese phone maker Xiaomi ended its exclusive partnership with Flipkart and joined hands with new online partners Amazon and Snapdeal to sell its products in the country.

ii. Xiaomi's India head Manu Jain announced these new partnerships on Twitter and tweeted that customers can now purchase Mi products from Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, The Mobile Stores and Airtel India stores.

iii. The company has just completed five years of operations in the country. 

8. Dronavalli Harika wins bronze in World Women’s chess championship

i. Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika won the bronze medal along with Swedish Grandmaster Pia Cramling by virtue of making it to the semi-finals of World Women's chess championship.

ii. Harika lost to the eventual winner Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine in the semi-finals.

iii. Muzychuk bagged the title after defeating Russian Natalija Pogonina 2.5-1.5 in the four-game final. She had earlier defeated top seeded Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy in the quarters.