Correct Answer :   Fino Payments Bank

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Fino Payments Bank on Thursday (13th March 2023) said it has renewed its association with Rajasthan Royals (RR) for Season 16 of India’s biggest premier cricket competition. Fino Bank will be RR’s official digital banking partner.

* The bank made its maiden foray with the mega sporting event last season by partnering with RR as the digital payments partner.

* The 16th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will begin on Friday, March 31, at 7:30 pm. There are 10 teams that will lock horns with each other and vie for the trophy.

* “The new season’s engagement is expected to be a notch higher as the bank aims to connect with RR’s large fan base across social media platforms to increase its digital footprint. Importantly, the newly launched FinoPay digital savings account is expected to get more traction through this engagement," Fino Payments Bank said in a statement.

* As the digital banking partner, along with the core messages of convenience, accessibility, proximity and trust, the bank would look to drive brand visibility and increase FinoPay app downloads. The app helps open digital savings account, an everyday banking account for routing small, daily spends, according to the statement...

Source : News18

Correct Answer :   Amit Kshatriya

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Amit Kshatriya, a decorated Indian-American software and robotics engineer was appointed as the first head of NASA's newly-established Moon to Mars Programme that will help the agency ensure a long-term lunar presence needed to prepare for humanity’s next giant leap to the Red Planet.

* Kshatriya will serve as NASA's first head of the office, with immediate effect, the agency announced on Thursday (30th March 2023).

* The new office aims to carry out the agency’s human exploration activities on the Moon and Mars for the benefit of humanity.

* “The golden age of exploration is happening right now, and this new office will help ensure that NASA successfully establishes a long-term lunar presence needed to prepare for humanity’s next giant leap to the Red Planet," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

* “The Moon to Mars Programme Office will help prepare NASA to carry out our bold missions to the Moon and land the first humans on Mars,” Nelson explained.

* As directed by the 2022 NASA Authorisation Act, the Moon to Mars Programme Office focuses on hardware development, mission integration and risk management functions for programmes critical to the agency’s exploration approach that uses Artemis missions at the Moon to open a new era of scientific discovery and prepare for human missions to Mars, according to the press release.

* This includes the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, human landing systems, spacesuits, Gateway, and more related to deep space exploration...

Source : India Today

Correct Answer :   Godrej Capital

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Godrej Group, through its financial services arm, Godrej Capital and State Bank of India (SBI) 31st March 2023 signed a strategic MOU to deepen their partnership wherein State Bank of India would provide various financial products and offerings.

* For decades, both SBI, its group companies, and the Godrej Group have played an important role in the growth of our country’s economy. With this partnership, they hope to continue their contributions to building the nation.

* Pirojsha Godrej, Chairperson of Godrej Capital, said, “This partnership is a big step forward in making financial solutions more accessible and affordable. Together, we aim to unlock opportunities for financial inclusion and build a long-term, sustainable franchise, helping drive India’s growth story forward.”

* Dinesh Khara, Chairman of SBI, speaking on the announcement, said, “We are happy to embark on this exciting partnership with Godrej Capital.

* Aim :  To capitalize on synergies that will empower our customers and accelerate the growth of our economy. In addition, we will focus on delivering financial solutions to the Godrej group.”

* This association leverages the strengths of both groups by facilitating a gamut of financial services provided by the Bank, including, and not limited to, banking products, credit cards, wealth management, Life Insurance, and General Insurance as preferred partners.

* Manish Shah, MD and CEO of Godrej Capital added, “We are excited about this partnership between two of the most reputed brands in the country. Financial services have always been the leading indicators of growth of the economy, and the two groups coming together is a milestone we want to leverage in building a sustainable organization.”

* Godrej Capital has, so far, disbursed over INR 5000 crores since inception in November 2020 across housing, SME, and MSME loans. It has expanded its presence across 11 cities in India and aims to expand its footprint to 30 cities across India in the next 12 months.

Correct Answer :   Axis Bank

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* Private sector lender Axis Bank and Shriram Housing Finance Limited (SHFL) on Thursday (30th March 2023) announced partnership under the co-lending model through the Yubi Co.Lend platform.

* Through this partnership, both the lenders will offer secured MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) loans and home loans to the middle and low-income segment borrowers based in rural and semi-urban regions.

* The partnership will leverage the financial expertise of Axis Bank, and loan processing technology of SHFL to assess the credit profile of borrowers and provide them loans at competitive interest rates.

* This partnership will cater to potential customers who are either new to credit or untapped by larger institutions and build a secured loan book, it said, adding, the collaboration will leverage the tech platform, Yubi to process loans seamlessly as per the co-lending guidelines..

Source : Money Control

Correct Answer :   Narendra Modi Stadium

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IPL 2023 : The 16th edition of Indian Premier League will begin today i.e. on 31 March 2023 at 7:30 PM IST. IPL 2023 will begin with a clash between heavyweights Chennai Super Kings and defending champions Gujarat Titans.

* The opening ceremony will be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

* The T20 cricket extravaganza will be played across 12 venues with the Narendra Modi Stadium hosting the opener while the final of the tournament will be played on 28 May 2023 at the same venue in Ahmedabad.

* Livestream of the event will be available on the Jio Cinema OTT app for free.

Who are performing at the opening ceremony?

The opening ceremony of this year's IPL will also have an element of music as Arijit Singh will perform at the event. Actress Tamannaah Bhatia and Rashmika Mandana will also be performing at the opening ceremony of IPL 2023. Apart from them, many other celebs from the film industry will be preforming. Some reports have stated that Katrina Kaif, Tiger Shroff will also be performing at the opening ceremony..

Source : Mint

Correct Answer :   Haryana

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Indian Railways has successfully completed 100% electrification of railway network in the state of Haryana in March 2023 and with this achievement, Haryana has become the first state in India to have 100% electrified railway network.

* The electrification project covers the existing broad gauge network of 1,701 route kilometres in Haryana.

* Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated the people of the state for this achievement.

* The completion of this project will reduce the dependence of Indian Railways on imported crude oil and also save foreign exchange.

* Electrification of Railways will help reduce carbon emissions and contribute towards the goal of a sustainable and environment-friendly transport system in India.

* Indian Railways is working towards achieving 100% electrification of its railway network in the country to increase efficiency, reduce dependence on fossil fuels and promote clean energy sources.

* Electrification of the railway network will also significantly reduce air pollution caused by diesel locomotives, thereby improving air quality.

* Recently (February 2023), 100% railway electrification was also done in Uttar Pradesh. Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Division is the first 100 per cent electrified rail division of Indian Railways.

About Indian Railways :

* It is one of the largest railway networks in the world and was established in 1853 during British colonial rule.

* Indian Railways covers a vast network of over 67,000 km, connecting almost every corner of the country.

* It operates a variety of trains including local passenger trains, express trains, superfast trains and luxury trains.

Correct Answer :   Andhra Pradesh

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The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) conducted Regional Search and Rescue exercise during 28 -29 March 2023 at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.

Exercise Aim : To simulate a real time maritime distress scenario and highlight the functioning of Search and Rescue (SAR) organisation for a mass rescue operation. The exercise involved all stakeholders with effective use of available resources towards M-SAR (Maritime Search and Rescue) contingency efficiently.

* The exercise simulated an Offshore Support vessel (OSV) carrying more than hundreds of passengers that reported a distress call of major fire onboard off Kakinada.

* Maritime Rescue Sub Centre (MRSC) Kakinada coordinated with all resource agencies to save the lives in distress. The state disaster contingency plan was invoked to support the operations at sea.

* External Fire Fighting of the distressed vessel, Abandon ship drill, deployment of Rescue boat, Jason Cradle, Scramble net, Life raft, life buoy, surveillance by drone, de-induction of casualty rescue by helicopter and medical management were conducted during the exercise.

* The ashore preparations included setting up of Incident Command Post, Triage for treatment of casualties and necessary facilities for management of critical casualties.

* Sea area off Kakinada was chosen as the venue for the exercise considering the large-scale exploration and production activities in the Krishna Godavari basin which makes the area potential to emergencies necessitating large scale SAR response.

* The two-day long workshop and exercise enhanced knowledge and understanding, promoting cooperation and coordination amongst member agencies for a Mass Rescue Operation (MRO), wherein the efforts of a single agency may not be sufficient...

Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   Naveen Jindal

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The University of Texas at Dallas has conferred Indian industrialist Naveen Jindal with a lifetime achievement award in recognition of his accomplishments in industry, politics and education.

* An alumnus of the University of Texas at Dallas' 1992 batch, Jindal received the award in a ceremony held on March 25, 2023.

* Jindal is the second person to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Texas at Dallas after Nobel Laureate Aziz Sancar.

* As a student at the university, Jindal served as both Student Government vice president and president and earned the Student Leader of the Year Award. He was recognized with the University's Distinguished Alumni award in 2010.

* To celebrate the success of their distinguished alumni, the University of Texas at Dallas honoured him by rechristening their School of Management as the Naveen Jindal School of Management in 2011.

* The lifetime achievement award is the highest honour that the University of Texas Dallas bestows on alumni, to recognize a graduate whose extraordinary contributions have bettered society, transformed the university and inspired others to reach new heights of excellence....

Source : DH

Correct Answer :   Shakib Al Hasan

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Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan became the all-time leading wicket-taker in T20 Internationals during Bangladesh’s 2nd T20I against Ireland in Chattogram on Wednesday (29th March 2023).

* Shakib’s total wickets tally now stands at 136, two more than Tim Southee’s 134. The Bangladesh all-rounder started the contest with 131 wickets to his name and picked a fifer.

* Shakib got the wickets of Ross Adair, Lorcan Tucker,Gareth Delany, Harry Tector and George Dockrell during the innings, with Dockrell being the milestone wicket.

* He finished the four over quota with figures 5-22. Earlier in the match, Shakib struck 38 runs off 24 deliveries as Bangladesh mounted 202 runs in the rain-reduced 17-over match.

* Shakib reached the record tally in 114 matches. His career bowling-average stands at 20.67 at an economy rate of 6.80. He will be in action for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League 2023..

Source : The Hindu

Correct Answer :   YES Bank

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YES Bank has issued its first electronic-Bank Guarantee (e-BG) in partnership with National E-Governance Services Limited (NeSL).

* The API integration with the Digital Document Execution (DDE) platform of NeSL has enabled complete digitisation of the existing paper-based process for issuance and maintenance of Bank Guarantee (BG).

* This includes digital stamping and signing, which significantly reduces the issuance turnaround time (TAT).

* The NeSL portal will manage the entire lifecycle of the bank guarantee including issuance, amendment, invocation and cancellation, enabling trade finance stakeholders to access the documents from this secure repository, it said in a release.

* Given our market leadership in the digital payments space, YES Bank aims to be the leader in the trade finance digitisation domain as well,” Ajay Rajan, Country Head – Digital and Transaction Banking Group at YES Bank, said.

* The integration with NeSL is in line with the bank’s other collaborations with public digital utilities like Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Account Aggregator (AA), and Government e-Marketplaces (GEM), to accelerate digitisation and enable ease of doing business for MSME and corporate customers.

* An e-BG issued through NeSL’s 24X7 platform becomes instantly available and the beneficiary can access it on completion of a simple and one-time registration process...

Source : The Hindu Businessline