Correct Answer :   5.5%

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* Global rating firm Moody’s Investors Services on Wednesday (1st Mar 2023) raised India’s growth projection to 5.5 per cent in 2023, up from the earlier projection of 4.8 per cent in November 2022, and to 6.5 per cent in 2024.

* India’s growth rate in 2023 is the highest among G20 countries, according to Moody’s projection. It’s followed by China with 5 per cent growth and Indonesia 4.8 per cent.

* The US is expected to grow by 0.9 per cent, the Euro area by 0.5 per cent, Japan 1.5 per cent and the UK by -0.4 per cent.

* According to government data released on Tuesday(28th Feb 2023), India’s GDP growth declined to 4.4 per cent in the December 2022 quarter as against 6.3 per cent growth in the September 2022 quarter.

* The rating firm also expects further rate hikes in the US totalling 50 basis points to 75 bps over the next two to three meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), taking the terminal rate up to as high as 5.25 per cent to 5.50 per cent.

* In the case of India, the upward revisions additionally incorporate the sharp increase in capital expenditure budget allocation to Rs 10 lakh crore (3.3 per cent of GDP) for fiscal year 2023-24, up from Rs 7.5 lakh crore for the fiscal year ending in March 2023, according to Moody’s..

Source : Indian Express

Correct Answer :   Tejinderpal Singh Toor

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Former Asian Games champion, Shot Putter "Tajinderpal Singh Toor" improved his record by 1cm on his way to gold in men’s shot put in the second AFI national throws competition on Wednesday (1st March 2023).

* Toor, looking to break the 20m barrier, throws beyond 19.51m but had to settle for a best performance of 19.95m.

* Tajinderpal Toor, the 2018 Asian Games gold medalist, showed supremacy in the shot put ring and left Karanveer Singh struggling to find his rhythm late in the day of the competition.

* Karanveer fouled in the first two attempts and with his brilliant efforts of 19.35m and 19.54m in his last two attempts, he bagged the silver medal. It was Toor’s performance and Karanveer’s last two attempts that lit up the arena as expected.

* The best efforts from Haryana’s Manjeet put Praveen Kumar of Rajasthan in second place in the men’s Discus Throw event. Manjeet showed his explosive energy at the end of the competition to send the Discus over 51.24m to earn the gold medal. Army’s Praveen has thrown the Discus to 50.88m on his second try to hold the lead till Manjeet’s superb final try.


AFI National Throws Competition: Results

Men Shot Put : 1. Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Haryana) 19.95m (New Meet Record. Old: 19.94, Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Patiala, 2022); 2. Karanveer Singh (Punjab) 19.54; 3. Sahib Singh (Delhi) 18.77.

Discus Throw : 1. Manjeet (Haryana) 51.24m; 2. Praveen Kumar (Rajasthan) 50.88; 3. Deepak Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 49.72.

Hammer Throw :  1. Yuvraj Jakhar (Rajasthan) 52.69m; 2. S Dinesh (Tamil Nadu) 52.32; 3. Meraj Ali (Uttar Pradesh) 51.71.

Women Discus Throw : 1. Kalavathi Basappa (Karnataka) 44.83m; 2. Nandhini Vellaichamy (Tamil Nadu) 43.50; 3. MN Sushma (Karnataka) 42.98.

Hammer Throw : 1. Rekha Singh (Uttarakhand) 54.44m; 2. Manju Bala (Rajasthan) 53.83; 3. Amreen Subramanyam (Karnataka) 46.71..

Source : Kreedon

Correct Answer :   Citi Bank

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Axis Bank has completed the acquisition of the consumer business of Citibank. India's third largest private sector bank has acquired the consumer businesses of Citibank in India.

The deal is part of a global business strategy by Citigroup to expand its operations in 13 countries, including India by the year 2021.

This was followed by the announcement of the decision to wind up retail banking operations. For this Axis Bank will pay up to Rs 12,325 crores to Citibank.

Correct Answer :   D Gukesh

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* Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh has been honoured with Player-of-the-Year award by the Asian Chess Federation (ACF) for clinching the gold medal with a record-breaking score of 9/11 in the 44th Chess Olympiad at Mahabalipuram last year (2022).

* In March 2022, Gukesh became only the sixth Indian to break the 2700 Elo-rating mark, and the youngest Grandmaster from the country to be rated above 2700.

* The All India Chess Federation (AICF) bagged the ‘Most Active Federation’ award conferred during the ACF annual summit

Correct Answer :   Vinod Kumar Shukla

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* Hindi writer Vinod Kumar Shukla (87) has won the 2023 PEN America award for lifetime achievement in literature.

* It is one of the most coveted literary prizes worldwide.

* His acclaimed novels like Naukar Ki Kameez (1979) and poetry collections like Sab Kuch Hona Bacha Rahega (1992).

* He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award in 1999 for Naukar Ki Kameez, the Atta Galatta-Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize in 2019, and the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award in 2020..

Source : Money Control

Correct Answer :   India

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The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s visionary leadership gets global recognition. GSM Association (GSMA) has conferred Government Leadership Award 2023 to India for implementing best practices in telecom policy and regulation.

* Speaking on the occasion of India receiving the award, The Minister for Communications, Electronics & IT and Railways, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw said “GSMA Awards represent global recognition of the telecom reforms carried out by PM Shri Narendra Modi ji.

* We all have seen the effect of reforms. RoW permissions which used to take more than 230 days, now get approval within 8 days. More than 85% mobile tower clearances are now instantaneous.

* With nearly 1 Lakh sites in 387 districts, India’s 5G roll-out is one of the fastest in the world. Indian telecom sector has emerged as a sunrise sector and the whole world has taken note of this rise.”

* GSMA, which represents more than 750 mobile operators and 400 companies in the telecom ecosystem, recognizes one country every year. India was declared winner in the ceremony held at Mobile World Congress Barcelona on 27 Feb, 2023.

* ‘Digital India’ vision of PM Shri Narendra Modi, Government brought in structural and procedural reform in September 2021. Thereafter, several initiatives were carried out such as licensing reforms, creation of PM Gati Shakti Sanchar Portal, streamlining Right of Way (RoW), spectrum reforms, satellite reforms etc...

Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   Anupama Upadhyay

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Former world junior no. 1 Anupama Upadhyaya and Mithun Manjunath registered contrasting victories to clinch the women’s and men’s singles titles at the 84th Senior National Badminton Championship at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Tuesday (28th Feb 2023).

* Eighteen-year-old Anupama got the better of Aakarshi Kashyap 20-22, 21-17, 24-22 in an hour and 18 minutes in the women’s singles final before Mithun dominated the men’s singles summit clash against Priyanshu Rajawat for a 21-16, 21-11 victory in just 38 minutes.

* Top seeds Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly were crowned the new women’s doubles champions while T Hemanagendra Babu and Kanika Kanwal clinched the mixed doubles crown.

* S Kushal Raj and S Prakash Raj wrapped up the proceedings by clinching the men’s doubles title.

* The women’s singles final was a topsy-turvy affair with both players fighting for every point.

* The experienced Aakarshi fought back from 11-15 in the opening game by winning seven of the next eight points and pocketed the game on second game point.

* But the reversal only made Anupama more determined to go on the offensive as she began with a 3-0 lead in the second, extended it to 9-1 and then maintained the advantage to force the decider.

* The 18-year-old from Haryana looked like running away with the title and prize purse of Rs 3.25 lakh when she opened up a 17-10 lead in the decider. But Aakarshi wasn’t willing to give up.

Winners List :

Women’s singles : Anupama Upadhyaya bt Aakarshi Kashyap 20-22, 21-17, 24-22

Women’s doubles : Gayatri Gopichand/Treesa Jolly bt Kavya Gupta/Deepshikha Singh 21-10, 21-9

Men’s singles : Mithun Manjunath bt Priyanshu Rajawat 21-16, 21-11

Men’s doubles : S Kushal Raj/S Prakash Raj bt Akshan Shetty/Deep Rambiya 8-21, 21-19, 21-8

Mixed doubles : T Hemanagendra Babu/Kanika Kanwal bt Siddarth Elango/Khushi Gupta 21-17, 21-16.

Source : The Hindu

Correct Answer :   Chandrayan-3

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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully conducted the flight acceptance hot test of the CE-20 cryogenic engine.

* The Engine will power the Cryogenic Upper Stage of the LVM3 launch vehicle for the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

* The space agency said the test was successfully conducted on 24th February 2023, at the ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu.

* ISRO said, the hot test was carried out for a planned duration of 25 seconds at the High Altitude Test Facility.

* All the propulsion parameters during the test were found satisfactory and closely matched with predictions.

* The Space agency said, the cryogenic engine will be further integrated with the propellant tanks, stage structures and associated fluid lines to realise the fully integrated flight cryogenic stage.

* This flight acceptance hot test comes a day after the Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully completed the crucial EMI-EMC (Electromagnetic Interference/ Electromagnetic Compatibility) test.
 
* Chandrayaan-3 interplanetary mission has three major modules - the Propulsion module, Lander module and Rover. The mission’s complexity calls for establishing radio-frequency (RF) communication links between the modules.

* Chandrayaan-3 is India’s third moon mission and is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.

* The mission is slated to be launched later this year (2023) by Launch Vehicle Mark 3 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   4.4%

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India's Gross Domestic Production (GDP) registered a growth of 4.4% in the October-December third quarter of the current fiscal (2022-2023).

* "GDP in the third quarter of 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 40.19 lakh crore, as against Rs 38.51 lakh crore in third quarter of 2021-22, showing a growth of 4.4 percent," the Union ministry of statistics said in a release.

* The 2022-23 fiscal, the real GDP is estimated to grow at 7 percent as compared to 9.1 percent in 2021-22, the ministry statement said. While Nominal GDP for the year is estimated to grow at 15.9 percent..

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   16.8%

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Indian banks' credit growth doubled to 16.8% in the October-December quarter from a year earlier (2022-2023), data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday (27th Feb 2023) showed.

* Bank credit had expanded by 8.4% in the quarter ended December 2021 and 17.2% in the quarter ended September 2022, as per the data.

* The growth in credit was led by bank branches in metropolitan centres, which accounted for nearly 60% of the total credit by banks, the RBI said. Urban, semi-urban and rural centres also recorded double-digit credit growth, it added.

* The growth of state-owned lenders' credit portfolios jumped, rising by 15.7% during 2022 as compared with 4.7% in 2021. Corresponding growth for private banks remained higher, however, at 19.1%, from 13.1% in 2021, as per the data.

* With India's economy on the mend following the COVID pandemic, credit offtake has improved and most banks now expect double-digit credit growth for the current financial year ending in March 2023.

* Deposit growth, on the other hand, has lagged credit growth for most banks, despite the RBI's rate-setting panel increasing the policy repo rate by 250 basis points since May last year.

* Banks' aggregate deposits increased by 10.3% year-on-year in the December quarter, up from 9.6% in the same quarter of the previous year, led by growth in term deposits, the data showed.

* Deposit mobilisation by state-run banks recorded an 8.8% year-on-year growth in the December quarter, lower than the 13.2% growth in deposits with private sector banks.

* Banks' credit-deposit (C-D) ratio rose further to 75.9% in the December quarter, up from 74.8% in the previous quarter and 71.6% in the quarter ended December 2021, according to the data..

Source : Business Standard