DAILY GK -3-4 APRIL 2025
1. INDIAN GRAND PRIX 1
·
Gurindervir
Singh, sprinter
from Patial village, Jalandhar, Punjab, set a new national record
in the men’s 100m event at the Indian Grand Prix 1 held at
the SAI South Centre in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
·
Gurindervir
Singh set a new national record in the men’s 100 meters, clocking
10.20 seconds and surpassing the previous record of 10.23
seconds set by Manikanta Hoblidhar in October 2023.
2. INDIAN OPEN SQUASH
·
Anahat
Singh, India’s
top-ranked women’s squash player, secured the JSW Indian
Open women’s singles title, at the Bombay Gymkhana in Mumbai.
·
The
17-year-old defeated Helen Tang from Hong Kong China.
·
In
the men’s singles final, Kareem El Torkey of Egypt defeated India’s Abhay
Singh.
3. MEN’S ASIA CUP HOCKEY 2025
·
The
historic city of Rajgir in Bihar was designated as
the host city for the Hero Asia Cup 2025.
·
The
Hero Asia Cup 2025 is
the 12th edition of the men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament.
·
It
will feature eight teams, including India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, China, and
Malaysia, with the remaining two teams qualifying through the Asian Hockey
Federation (AHF) Cup.
·
This
tournament is crucial as it serves as a qualifier for the 2026 FIH (International
Hockey Federation) Men’s World Cup, to be jointly hosted by Belgium and
the Netherlands.
4. TASHKENT OPEN AGZAMOV MEMORIAL TITLE
·
Indian
Chess Grandmaster (GM) Nihal Sarin, triumphed at the 18th edition
of the 2025 Tashkent Open Agzamov Memorial in Tashkent,
Uzbekistan.
·
He
clinched the title with an unbeaten score of 8 out of 10, finishing half a
point ahead of the second-place finisher, Russian GM Sanan Sjugirov.
·
‘Nihal
Sarin’ was awarded a prize of USD 20,000 (approximately Rs.17 lakh).
·
Women
FIDE Master (WFM) Shubhi Gupta
(India) emerged as the top female performer, securing 44th place overall
with a score of 6/10.
5.
RBI PENALTIES ON HDFC BANK, PUNJAB & SIND BANK, AND KLM
AXIVA FINVEST
·
HDFC Bank was fined Rs.75 lakh for
non-compliance with RBI’s Know Your
Customer (KYC) regulations.
·
PSB was fined Rs.68.20 lakh for not reporting of borrowers with non-fund
exposures of Rs.5 crore or more to
the RBI’s Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) and permitting Basic Savings Bank Deposit
Account (BSBDA) holders to open extra
savings account.
·
KLM Axiva Finvest was fined Rs.10 lakh for not
complying with dividend declaration
requirements.
6.
SMALL SAVINGS SCHEME INTEREST RATES FOR Q1FY26
·
The Department of
Economic Affairs (DEA) under the Ministry of Finance
(MoF) announced that Small Savings Scheme (SSS) interest
rates will remain unchanged, for 1st
Quarter of Financial Year 2025-26 (Q1FY26) i.e. from April 1,
2025 to June 30, 2025.
·
Post Office Savings Deposit(POSD) 4.0%
·
1-Year Post Office Time Deposits (POTD) 6.9%
·
Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) 7.5%
(will mature in 115 months)
·
Public Provident Fund (PPF) 7.1%
·
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) 8.2%
·
National Savings Certificate (NSC) 7.7%
·
Senior Citizens’ Savings Scheme (SCSS) 8.2%
·
The Shyamala Gopinath Committee formulated
the method for determining SSS interest rates in January 2023.
7.
SEBI NEW GUIDELINES FOR INTRADAY INDEX DERIVATIVE MONITORING
·
Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued
new guidelines for monitoring of intraday position limits for exchanges and clearing
corporations (CCs).
·
As per the new norms, stock exchanges will
monitor position limits for index derivatives on an intraday basis, with effect
from April 1, 2025.
·
SEBI
has also clarified that no penalties will be imposed
for breaching existing position limits
during the trading day until further notice.
·
For index options, the end-of-day
limits are set at Rs
500 crore (net) and Rs 1,500 crore (gross).
·
Intra-day limits are Rs 1,000 crore (net) and Rs 2,500
crore (gross).
·
For
index futures, the end-of-day
limit has been increased from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,500 crore, with an intra-day
limit of Rs 2,500 crore.
·
SEBI
has extended the deadline for Regulated
Entities (REs) to adopt Cybersecurity and Cyber Resilience Framework (CSCRF) until June
30, 2025, a 3-month extension from the original date.
8.
RBI ALLOWS STANDALONE PRIMARY DEALERS (SPDS) IN REPO
OPERATIONS
·
Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) has permitted Standalone Primary Dealers (SPDs)
to participate in all repo operations across
tenures, removing previous restrictions
that limited their role primarily to overnight liquidity management.,
excluding the Marginal Standing Facility
(MSF), and selectively in long-term Variable
Rate Repo (VRR) operations.
·
The RBI’s decision allows SPDs easier
access to funds, aims to manage liquidity and address the ongoing shortage as
the financial year ends on 31st March 2025.
·
RBI
addresses the prevailing liquidity deficit of
Rs.1.58 lakh crore (as of March), enhancing the ability of SPDs to
efficiently manage short- and long-term liquidity needs.
9.
IREDA SECURED JPY 26 BILLION ECB FACILITY
FROM SBI TOKYO
·
Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency
Limited (IREDA), ‘Navratna’ Central Public Sector
Enterprise (CPSE) under the control of Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy (MNRE) has signed Japanese Yen (JPY)
26 billion (Rs 1,476 crore) facility agreement for raising External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) from
India’s largest Public Sector Bank (PSB), State Bank of India (SBI)’s Tokyo branch in Japan.
·
This facility agreement also includes a
green shoe option of JPY 10 billion.
·
This
unsecured loan facility is signed for a period of 5 years and
will be repaid in a single payment at maturity.
·
As
per IREDA, the landed cost (following hedging) is projected to be
less than 7%.
·
IREDA is a Non-Banking Financial
Institution (NBFI),
which is engaged in promoting, developing and extending financial support to
set up sustainable projects.
10.
NET
CLAIMS OF NON-RESIDENTS ON INDIA INCREASES BY USD 11 BILLION
·
The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released India’s latest International Investment Position (IIP)
data.
·
As
per IIP data, net claims of
non-residents on India increased by USD 11 billion, to USD
364.5 billion during the 3rd Quarter (Q3: October to December) of
Financial Year 2024-25 (FY25).
·
The
data showed decrease in foreign assets of Indian residents by USD 40.1
billion and also, the claims of non-residents’
in India decreased by USD 29.1 billion.
·
As
per RBI’s latest data, India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) has
increased slightly to USD 11.5 billion, which accounts 1.1% of
country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), during Q3FY25 from USD 10.4 billion
(1.1% of India’s GDP) during Q3FY24, amid increase in service exports.
11.
RBI
INCREASES LIQUIDITY FACILITY LIMIT FOR STANDALONE PRIMARY DEALERS
·
Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) has announced to increase the aggregate
limit available to Standalone Primary
Dealers (SPDs) under the Standing Liquidity Facility at
the existing repo rate, from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore,
with effect from (w.e.f) April 02, 2025.
·
Earlier
in March 2025, RBI allowed SPDs to participate in all repo operations,
irrespective of the tenor conducted by the central bank.
·
Previously,
SPDs were permitted to participate in all overnight liquidity management
operations, except the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF).
·
Primary Dealer (PD): It refers to a RBI-registered
Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) that is authorised to buy and sell
Government Securities (G-Secs), in terms of the ‘Guidelines for Primary Dealer
in Government Securities Market’ dated March 29, 1995.
·
PDs in India have been classified into two different categories: SPDs and Bank PDs.
·
SPDs: These entities are either
subsidiaries of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) or incorporated abroad or
incorporated under the companies act and registered as NBFCs.
·
Standing Liquidity
Facility: It is
a window through which SPDs borrow money from RBI at the repo rate.
·
VRR: It acts as a means to
infuse short-term liquidity into the banking system. It is a process through
which RBI allows banks to borrow at a rate determined by the market generally
lower than Repo rate for a maximum period of 14 days.
12. THEME FOR 2025 YOGA DAY- YOGA FOR
ONE EARTH, ONE HEALTH
·
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi announced ‘Yoga for One Earth, One Health’ as
the theme for 2025 International Day
of Yoga (IDY).
·
The
1st ever IDY was observed on June 21, 2015.
·
In
December 2014, the UNGA adopted the resolution and proclaimed June 21 as IDY to
be observed annually worldwide.
·
In
2016, Indian Yoga was inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific,
and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’s
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
·
This
year IDY activities will revolve around
10 unique signature events to mark the 11th edition of the global event,
which makes it the most expansive and inclusive.
13.
WORLD PIANO DAY 2025 – MARCH 29
·
World Piano Day is observed
annually across the globe on the 88th day of the year (typically March
28 or 29) to symbolize the 88 keys of a
standard piano.
·
In 2015,
World Piano Day was established by Nils Frahm, German pianist and composer.
·
The first World
Piano day was observed on 29th March 2015.
14.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ZERO WASTE 2025 – 30 MARCH
·
The United Nations (UN)’s International
Day of Zero Waste also known as Zero Waste Day is
annually observed across the globe on 30 March to
underscore the significance of bolstering global waste management.
·
Theme, “Towards Zero
Waste in Fashion and Textiles”.
·
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Headquarters– Nairobi, Kenya.
15. NIXI HOSTED UA DAY 2025
·
The
3rd Universal Acceptance Day (UA Day)
2025 celebration was held in New Delhi
·
The
National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), under
the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), hosted
a hybrid Universal Acceptance (UA) Day
2025
·
Theme
of an event – “Connecting
the Unconnected – Building a Multilingual Internet for Viksit Bharat,” aimed
to promote UA and foster a more
inclusive digital ecosystem in India.
·
During
Universal Acceptance Day 2025, the ‘Bhashini Portal’,an initiative
by the Government of India,was highlighted for advancing linguistic inclusivity and digital accessibility.
·
The
first UA Day was established by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) with the support of Universal Acceptance
Steering Group (UASG) on 28 March 2023.
16. WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY 2025 –
APRIL 2
·
The United Nations (UN’s) World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) is
observed annually across the globe on April 2 to raise
awareness about Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD)
17. INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S BOOK DAY
2025- APRIL 2
·
International
Children’s Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated worldwide on 2
April annually to commemorate the birth anniversary of Hans
Christian Andersen, the Danish author celebrated as the “father of
modern fantasy”.
·
Netherlands is the official sponsor of
ICBD 2025, under the theme “The freedom of imagination” to inspire young
readers.
18. BOOK THE GREAT CONCILIATOR: LAL
BAHADUR SHASTRI
·
A
new biography, “The Great Conciliator: Lal Bahadur Shastri and the
Transformation of India“, authored by historian and former Indian
Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sanjeev Chopra, has been
released.
·
The
book revisits Shastri’s iconic slogan, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan,”
