DAILY GK 25 JAN 2025
1.
BRAND FINANCE GLOBAL 500 2025
·
According to the 19th Global
500 2025 report published by Brand Finance, Apple has
retained its position as the world’s most valuable brand,
with a brand value of USD 574.5 billion (bn).
·
Tata Group (USD 28.6 bn) is
the most valuable Indian brand for the 15th
consecutive holding 60th spot in the list.
·
In Global rank, Apple is followed by Microsoft (USD
461.1 bn) on the 2nd, and Google (USD
413 bn) on 3rd respectively.
·
WeChat (95.2) has been
ranked as the world’s strongest brand for the 2nd
consecutive year followed by Nike (94.7) on
the 2nd spot and Google (94.3)
on the 3rd position.
·
United States of America (USA)
has the greatest number of brands (193) in the list followed by China
and Germany on the 2nd and 3rd place, with 69 and 27 brands
respectively.
·
India got 8th place in the list
with the number of brands 15.
·
HCL Technologies (HCLTech) has
emerged as world’s fastest-growing
IT services brand in 2025, while Infosys has
achieved the highest compound annual
growth rate among IT services brands over the past 5 years (at 18.2%).
·
The
‘e&’, telecommunications brand has
become the fastest-growing brand in the world in
2025 with an eight-fold increase in brand value to USD 15.3 billion.
·
According to the Brand Finance Global 500
2025 report, the top five Indian brands
are Tata Group, Infosys, HDFC Group, Life Insurance Corporation(LIC),and
Reliance Group.
2.
FORBES 2025 BILLIONAIRES LIST
·
According to the World’s
Billionaires List 2025 released by Forbes, Elon
Musk secured the top spot with a net worth of USD 433.9
billion largely driven by
SpaceX’s valuation of USD 350 billion.
·
Amazon
founder Jeff Bezos has secured the 2nd position
with USD 239.4 billion while Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg bagged the 3rd spot by surpassing
Oracle founder Larry Ellison net worth of USD 211.8 billion.
·
The United
States of America (USA) is on the top with a
record 813 billionaires, followed by China with 473 and India on
the 3rd spot with 200 billionaires.
3. LA PEROUSE 25 MULTINATIONAL NAVAL
EXERCISE
·
The
Indian Navy (IN), along with eight Indo-Pacific nations, is participating in the 5th
edition of the La Perouse 25 multinational naval exercise.
·
The exercise is being conducted in the
strategic maritime straits of Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok,
which serve as crucial routes for global maritime trade between the Indian
Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
·
The
exercise involves naval forces from nine nations: India, Australia, Canada,
the United States of America (USA), France, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the United Kingdom (UK), and Singapore.
·
The
Indian Navy participated with its destroyer Indian Naval Ship (INS) Mumbai while other nations have deployed various
advanced vessels.
·
A
highlight of the exercise is the use IORIS (Indian
Ocean Regional Information Sharing) system.
4.
EXERCISE DEVIL STRIKE
·
The
Indian Armed Forces conducted ‘Exercise Devil Strike’, a
joint exercise involving the elite airborne forces of the Indian Army (IA)
and the Indian Air Force (IAF) at the training areas and firing ranges, validating critical drills and
improving operational preparedness..
·
The
exercise has improved combined operational capabilities and reaffirmed the
readiness of the Indian Armed Forces to protect the interests of the country
and respond effectively to any emerging threat.
·
Chief
of the Army Staff (COAS) – General Upendra Dwivedi
·
Motto – Seva Parmo Dharma (Service Before Self)
·
Chief
of the Air Staff (CAS) – Amar Preet Singh
·
Motto – Nabha Sparsham Deeptam(Touch the sky with Glory)
5. BLUE ORIGIN LAUNCHED ‘NEW GLENN
ROCKET’
·
Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P., the American space technology
company headquartered in Washington, founded by Amazon’s Executive
Chairman Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its reusable ‘New
Glenn(NG) rocket’ on a first test flight, from Cape Canaveral
Space Force Station in Florida, the USA.
·
The
rocket was named after John Glenn who
was the first American to orbit Earth.
·
The mission named NG-1, included
a first-stage booster landing in the Atlantic Ocean, while the rocket’s second
stage continues towards orbit
·
SpaceX’sStarship,
founded by Elon Musk, is the largest rocket ever built, standing about 400
feet (123 meters) tall.
6.
ISRO DISPATCHES CREW MODULE FOR FIRST UNCREWED MISSION OF
GAGANYAAN
·
Bengaluru (Karnataka) based Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC)
of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) dispatched the Crew Module for the first uncrewed mission of Gaganyaan
(G1) to Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, Andhra
Pradesh (AP).
·
It has completed the integration of the
liquid propulsion system.
·
The Crew Module Propulsion System (CMPS)
is a bi-propellant Reaction Control
System (RCS) designed for precise three-axis control (Pitch, Yaw, and Roll) for
the crew module.
·
The control will be initiated following
separation of service module during the descent and re-entry phase until the
deployment of parachute-based deceleration system.
·
It
has 12 thrusters, each producing 100N (Newton) thrust,
as well as a propellant feed mechanism and high-pressure gas bottles.
·
The
Crew Module Uprighting System (CMUS) designed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
(VSSC) was also included into the module at LPSC.
·
Gaganyaan, a crewed spacecraft being
developed by the
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The first crewed flight is planned
for 2026.
·
India
would become the 4th nation to launch its own crewed spacecraft,
after Russia, the United States of
America(USA), and China.
·
Gaganyaan
will consist of two parts, the Crew Module (CM) and the Service Module (SM),
which together will form the orbital module.
·
ISROChairman – Dr. V. Narayanan
·
Headquarters – Bengaluru,
Karnataka
·
Established – 1969
7.
INDIA OPEN BADMINTON 2025
·
Paris
Olympic gold medalists Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and
South Korea’s An Se Young won the Men’s and Women’s
Singles titles in the finals of India Open Super 750
badminton tournament 2025 held at the KD Jadhav
Indoor Hall in New Delhi,
·
Axelsen
defeated Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu in
the Men’s Singles
·
A
Se Young defeated Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in
the women’s singles final.
·
The
total prize money for the India Open 2025 was USD 950,000.
·
The
India Open, officially known as the Yonex Sunrise India Open is
an annual badminton event which has been held in India since 2008.
·
It was held for the first time in 1973.
8.
KHO KHO WORLD CUP 2025
·
The
Indian men’s and women’s teams won
the KhoKho World Cup 2025 titles in their respective finals of the 1st edition
of the Kho Kho World Cup 2025 held at the
Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
·
The
Indian men’s Kho Kho team beat Nepal by 54-36
·
The
women’s team defeated the Nepalese team by 78-40 in the finals.
·
The Indian men’s team was captained
by Pratik Waikar
·
The Women’s team was captained by Priyanka
Ingle.
·
They won their three Group A matches and
then defeated Bangladesh and South Africa in
the quarter-finals and semi-finals,
respectively.
·
This inaugural edition of the competition
was backed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), and featured 20 men’s and
19 women’s teams.
·
The
second edition of Kho Kho World Cup will take place in Birmingham, England in
2026-27.
·
A Kho Kho team consists of 9 active players, with 3
substitutes available. Players alternate between chasing, defending, and
tagging opponents.
·
Kho Kho was demonstrated at the Berlin 1936 Olympics,
alongside other indigenous Indian sports like kabaddi and mallakhamb.
9.
ITF TENNIS WORLD CHAMPIONS 2024
·
The
International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced Jannik Sinner (Italy)
as ‘Men’s ITF World Champion 2024’
and Iga Natalia Świątek (Poland) as ‘Women’s ITF World Champion 2024’
·
With this, Jannik Sinner became the first
Italian player to receive this award.
·
Iga Natalia Świątek was awarded the
ITF honor for the second time, after 2022.
·
Men’s Doubles Champions - Marcelo Arévalo González (El
Salvador) & Mate Pavic (Croatia)
·
Women’s Doubles Champions- Sara Errani & Jasmine Paolini
(Italy)
·
ITFHeadquarters- London
10.
VIJAY HAZARE TROPHY 2024-25
·
Karnataka secured their 5th title after defeating Vidarbha by
36 runs in the finals of 2024-25 edition of Vijay Hazare
Trophy(VHT) held at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara, Gujarat.
·
Karnataka
was captained by Mayank Anurag Agarwal while Vidarbha
was captained by Karun Kaladharan Nair.
·
The 23rd edition of Vijay Hazare Trophy
was held with 38 teams competing in 135 matches.
·
Karnataka
has won their previous 4 titles in 2013-14, 2014-15, 2017-18 and 2019-20.
·
Vidarbha
captain Karun Nair was named Player of
the Tournament for scoring 779 runs while India and Punjab
pacer Arshdeep Singh topped the bowling charts
with 20 wickets.
·
The VHT
(officially known as the IDFC First Bank VHT), is the annual One day domestic tournament organised by the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
·
The
tournament was renamed as Vijay Hazare Trophy in the 2007-08 edition,
named after Indian batsman Vijay Samuel
Hazare.
11.
RBI RELEASED NBFC UPPER LAYER LIST
·
The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the list of Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) in the Upper Layer (UL)
segment under the Scale Based Regulation (SBR) for NBFCs for the year 2024-25.
·
RBI has retained Tata
Sons Private Limited in the NBFC UL list despite its request
to de-register as a NBFC, is under examination.
·
The updated list comprises 15 companies that include Life Insurance
Corporation of India (LIC) Housing Finance Limited (HFL), Bajaj Finance Limited
(BHL), and Shriram Finance Limited (SFL), among others.
·
Muthoot
Finance Limited (MFIN), a flagship of Muthoot Group is the only gold loan NBFC included in RBI’s ‘UL’ list for 3
consecutive years.
·
Piramal Enterprise Limited (PEL), which qualified for
inclusion on the list based on scoring, has
been eliminated for the year 2024-25 due to on-going reorganization in the
business group.
12.
TOP 25 GLOBAL BANKS BY MARKET CAP
·
London,
based data analytics and research company Global Data Plc released
a report on the Top 25 Global Banks
by Market Capitalization in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024, with
the New York, based JP Morgan Chase & Co remains
as the world’s largest bank by market capitalization
(MCap) recording an increase of 37.2% to USD 674.9 billion by
the end of Q4 of 2024 from Q4 of 2023.
·
USA-based Bank of America Corporation (BAC)
secured the 2nd position with USD 337.2 billion,
while China-based Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) ranked
3rd with USD 328.2 billion.
·
India’s HDFC bank Limited
dropped from 7th to 13th position compared to
Q4 2023, ICICI bank Limited moved up one spot
to 19th from 20th position, and State Bank of India
(SBI) retained its 24th position.
13.
PARAKRAM DIWAS 2025 – JANUARY 23
·
Parakram Diwas, also known as the Day of Valour, is observed annually
across India on 23 January to commemorate the birth
anniversary of one of the Indian freedom fighters Subhash
Chandra Bose, popularly called as Netaji.
·
The
Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), based in
Hyderabad, Telangana has been selected for the Subhash Chandra
Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar 2025 in the institutional category
for its outstanding contributions to disaster management.
14.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF EDUCATION 2025 – JANUARY 24
·
The United Nations (UN)’s International
Day of Education (IDE) is annually observed across the globe
on 24 January to celebrate the role of education in
peace and development.
·
The 2025
theme of IDE is “AI and education: Preserving
human agency in a world of automation”.
·
On
3 December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the
resolution A/RES/73/25 proclaiming 24 January of every year as International Day
of Education.
·
The resolution was co-authored by Nigeria
and 58 other UN Member States.
·
UNESCO Director-General (DG)- Audrey
Azoulay
·
Headquarters– Paris, France
·
Member Nations- 194
·
Established–1945
15.
NATIONAL GIRL CHILD DAY 2025- JANUARY 24
·
National Girl Child Day (NGCD) is
annually observed across India on 24th January to
promote awareness about the rights of a girl child and to promote the
importance of their education, health, and nutrition.
·
The
theme of the NGCD 2025 is
“Empowering the Future of India”.
·
NGCD
was established in 2008 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD).
16.
BOOK-PARLIAMENT: POWERS, FUNCTIONS & PRIVILEGES
·
The
Vice-President (VP) of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar launched
the book “Parliament: Powers, Functions & Privileges; A Comparative
Constitutional Perspective” in New Delhi
·
The
book was authored by Dr. KS Chauhan,
17.
BOOK- WILD FICTIONS
·
A
new book named ‘Wild Fictions’ by AmitavGhosh was
released
·
The book explores climate change,
societal issues, and political instability in “time of monsters” addressing urgent global crises
like biodiversity loss, climate change, and emerging diseases.
·
He
is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction including The Shadow Lines, The Glass Palace, The
Hungry Tide, the Ibis Trilogy Gun Island, The Great Derangement, The Nutmeg’s Curse, Jungle Nama and The Living Mountain.
·
In
2019 he was the 1st English-language
writer to receive the ‘Jnanpith Award’, India’s highest literary honour for
his writings on the planetary crisis and climate change.
