Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 30 August 2015

:: India & world ::

Africa presents $35 bn opportunity for Indian IT companies: Nasscom

The IT companies in India are eyeing $35 billion opportunities in the burgeoning African market to expand business as they aim to reduce dependence on the U.S. and the U.K. markets, which presently accounts for about 80 per cent of their revenues.
“Africa presents a huge opportunity for us. There are 50 plus countries with a population of over one billion people. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is seen as a catalyst for development and is high on the agenda of many African governments,” Shivendra Singh, VP - Global Trade Development, National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) told The Hindu .
According to Nasscom, the partnership will help Indian companies “de-risk from over dependence on the English speaking markets” and it will enable African countries to leverage the maturity of Indian companies, at the same time given them access to large pool of specialist manpower at the mid management level.
Nasscom, in association with Telecom Equipment & Services Export Promotion Council and the Government of India is also organising a two-day Indo-Africa ICT expo in Nairobi, Kenya on September 28-29. The event, in which over a 100 companies will be participating, will focus on how African countries can use Indian IT’s domain knowledge to build an inclusive IT ecosystem.

:: Business ::

Paradox of a dwindling world economy and a growing India

There are three major crisis faced by the Indian financial markets since the opening up of the Indian Economy in 1992 — The South-east asian currency crisis in 1997; global financial crisis in 2007 with the fall of investment bank, Lehman Brothers: and the slump in the Chinese economy witnessed this week.
While the intensity of the fall in financial markets was less in 1997 as the country was not exposed much to the global economy at that point of time, the impact was heavier in 2015.
“We were able to protect our markets because of our strong macro economic fundamentals,” says N. S. Venkatesh, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of IDBI Bank.
The fears of China economy slump have made the market very nervous. “But I believe this (fear) has been overdone,” says Mr. Venkatesh.
For Indian markets, as inflation has been climbing down, monsoon near normal and currency being one of the better currencies compared to Malaysian Ringgit, Indonesian Rupiah and South African Rand, the economy could withstand any financial onslaught.
The markets would stabilise at current levels and will see an upward trajectory reflecting the growth potential for the country.
The fall in commodity prices, particularly the crude oil will help us reducing the subsidy burden for the government and will in turn help better fiscal management and reduction in inflation expectations.
In 1997, other economies, especially, the emerging market economies (EMEs) were over-heated with the foreign funds entering their real estate and stock markets. However, India’s premature stage of openness (of economy) helped the country from a wild attack of withdrawal of foreign funds as witnessed in other countries.
When global financial crisis erupted in 2007, the country’s economy was well protected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with Dr. Y.V. Reddy at the helm.
The proactive regulatory regime perceived by higher capital as well as higher risk weight age for real estate loans, the central bank was able to kept the asset bubbles at bay. This legacy had been continued by Dr. D. Subbarao also.
The RBI, as a regulator, has always been ensuring that short-term hot money flows are discouraged which has helped the country to withstand all financial turbulences from 1997. “Even when look at the preference of the country, we attract long term flows from real money investors such as pension funds, insurance funds and sovereign wealth funds,” says Mr. Venkatesh. This would enable the economy to withstand any financial turmoil, together with the built up of adequate foreign reserves.

Chinese crisis

Devaluation of Yuan by People’s Bank of China (PBoC) on August 11 and 12 led to major volatility in global markets and competitive devaluation in currencies by a few emerging markets
Even though on REER (Real Effective Exchange Rates) basis, Yuan doesn’t seem to be undervalued but the timing of devaluation (slowing growth in China and plunging stock market) exacerbated the market reaction as market participants took this as a signal that Chinese authority are going to use currency devaluation as a tool to spur growth,” says Vinod Garg, Director, QuantArt, a foreign exchange advisory firm.

Bombardier bullish on Indian market

Canada-based Bombardier Inc.’s rail unit is bullish about the opportunities in India, buoyed by thrust given to the sector in the Railway budget and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet projects such as high speed trains and smart cities.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had announced an investment outlay of Rs.8.5 lakh crore ($125 billion) to transform the Indian Railways in the next five years in the Railway budget.
Bombardier Transportation is also evaluating to offer solutions such as light metro/monorails/light rail vehicles for smart cities, he added.
The firm is already pursuing various metro projects such as Bengaluru Metro Phase-II, Nagpur Metro, Ahmedabad Metro and Mumbai Metro Phase-III along with metro projects for signalling systems only in Noida Metro and Greater Noida Metro.

:: Sports ::

Sania receives Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award

In the backdrop of two legal cases, 16 sportspersons and five coaches were among those who were honoured at the National Sports and Adventure Awards ceremony in the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan here on Saturday.
Tennis ace Sania Mirza was conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award even as the Karnataka High Court sought clarifications from the Union Sports Ministry following a petition from Paralympian H.N. Girisha challenging the Ministry’s decision.
Sania, a multiple Grand Slam champion, is the second tennis player to get the honour and the first to receive the award from President Pranab Mukherjee.
Predictably, Sania, who flew in ahead of the US Open, was the most sought-after sportsperson of the evening.
The event lost some sheen as five out of 17 selected for the Arjuna Award could not be present due to international assignments and other compulsions.

Indian,s women hockey team make it to Rio

The Indian women’s hockey team has become the 10th side to qualify for next year’s Rio Olympics. India had last played in the Olympics in 1980, the year in which women’s hockey made its debut in the mega event, and finished fourth after losing to the Soviet Union in the bronze medal match.
According to a statement issued by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Saturday, India qualified after England defeated Spain in the semifinals of the Euro Hockey Championships in London, which ensured that the only teams who can now win the event have already qualified for Rio through the Hockey World League Semifinals — the Netherlands and England (as Great Britain).
This is the first time when the Indian women made it to the Olympics through the qualification system.