Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 23 July 2015

:: Business ::

Apple grows faster in India than China

India is proving to be quite a strong growth engine for Apple, the world's most valuable company that sells the iPhone smartphones, iPad devices and Mac line of computers.
Growth rate in India has surpassed that witnessed in China.
Sales in India were up 93% in April-June against 87% growth in China, according to numbers released by the company, while announcing quarterly results on Tuesday.
However, it must be noted that China is many times bigger for Apple in terms of absolute volume and revenue, contributing almost 25% to the $49.6 billion revenue that the company clocked in April-June quarter.
India, on the other hand, is still a billion-dollar market for Apple, and that too on an annual basis. But, India is moving up fast, say distributors and sellers of Apple's devices.

TRAI disclose firms faulting on call drop service norms

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has named Vodafone, Idea, Reliance and Airtel among the cell phone service providers failing to meet the quality of service norms in Delhi or Mumbai, especially on mobile call drops.
The audit, done by an independent agency in the two metros, on behalf of the regulator, found that Tata (CDMA) in Delhi and Bharti Airtel in Mumbai are the only service providers meeting the benchmark of less than 2 per cent call drops.
In Delhi, the highest call drop rate was that of Reliance (17.29 per cent), followed by Airtel (8.04 per cent), Aircel (5.18 per cent), Vodafone (4.28 per cent) and Idea (2.84 per cent). The call drop rate for Tata (CDMA) stood at 0.84 per cent.
The situation is no better in Mumbai with Idea registering the highest call drop rate of 5.56 per cent, followed by Tata (GSM) (5.51 per cent), Vodafone (4.83 per cent), Aircel (3.19 per cent) and Reliance (2.29 per cent). For Airtel, this was 0.97 per cent.
The TRAI said the drive was conducted in view of complaints on call drops and other network issues on June 23 and June 24 in Mumbai and July 9 to 11 in Delhi.
As per the audit report, barring Tata (CDMA) in Delhi, none of the service providers in Delhi and Mumbai, meets the benchmark for Rx Quality, which measures voice quality during calls.
The number of call drop complaints by mobile phone subscribers has been on the rise, especially in metros. However, operators, on their part, have cited lack of spectrum and delay in its allocation as one of the reasons for network-related issues along with hurdles in installing mobile towers due to radiation issues.
The TRAI report points out that during the last six months around 801 sites in Mumbai and 523 sites in Delhi were shut down due to reasons such as sealing of sites by municipal authorities and radiation-related issues. The closure of each site impacts three to four neighbouring sites and this may lead to increased call drops.

Oil prices slip further on concerns over supply glut

Oil prices slipped, on Wednesday, after the American Petroleum Institute (API), the largest U.S trade association for gas and oil, published that oil inventories increased by 2.3 million barrels in Cushing, Oklahoma.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the most prominent U.S benchmark for crude oil, fell by 58 cents to $50.28 a barrel for September deliveries. Brent North Crude for September, the benchmark for European, African and Middle Eastern crude oil prices, fell 35 cents and was trading in London at $56.69 a barrel at mid-day.
Oil spot prices in July last year were close to $105 per barrel, and prices have fallen more than 10 per cent this month alone.
Crude oil prices have fallen in the last year because of protracted over-supply and weak demand, which is being exacerbated by the Greek crisis and the Chinese stock market fall as well as an expectation that the U. S will raise interest rates this year.
Excess supply is expected to persist with the Iran nuclear deal, which will bring Iran’s oil onto the market in a few months.
The Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC), the cartel of oil producing nations that includes Iran but is led by rival Saudi Arabia, announced that it would not cut back on output. The group said that the oil price dip was likely to be temporary and that demand was likely to pick up.
OPEC’s oil output faces challenges and competition from other energy sources, including U.S shale, as well as internal differences in opinion, with Iran and other smaller oil producing members requesting a cut back in supply in light of falling prices.

:: Sports ::

Hockey magician Major Dhyan Chand to be honoured in British Parliament

Indian hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand will be confered with the 'Bharat Gaurav' Lifetime Achivement Award by NRI orgainsation Sanskriti Yuva Sangstha at the House of Commons inside the British Parliament of July 25.
On behalf of Dhyan Chand, his son and former Indian hockey player Ashok Kumar will receive the award.
Dhyan Chand had helped India win three successive gold medals in Olympics. To his credit, he had scored over 400 goals in his international career.
Dhyan Chand was one of the nominees in 2014 for the prestigious Bharat Ratna, an award which cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and scientist C N Rao eventually received.
In 1936, when India won the gold medal in Berlin Olympics, Hitler offered Dhyan Chand to join the German team but he denied the offer.