DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 4TH JAN 2017
(Daily News India)
1.
BHIM BECOMES MOST POPULAR ANDROID APP IN INDIA
i.
Govt's online payments app, BHIM that was launched by PM Modi to simplify
digital payments is now the number one free app on Google Play Store.
ii.
BHIM - which stands for Bharat Interface for Money - is named after Dr BR
Ambedkar.
2.
INDIA RANKS 3RD AMONG COUNTRIES OFFERING HIGHEST SALARIES TO EXPATS
i.
India has ranked 3rd among the countries offering the highest average annual
salary to expatriates.
ii.
Switzerland topped the list to offer highest average salary of about $188,275 a
year to expats that was almost twice the global average, while Hong Kong was
listed third.
3.
PM MODI INAUGURATES INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS AT TIRUPATI
i.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the 104th Indian Science Congress at the Sri
Venkateswara University in Tirupati.
ii.
‘Science and Technology for National Development’ would be the theme of the
Indian Science Congress.
iii.
The basic aim of the 104th Congress was to focus on strengthening the
scientific research in the country to make India among top three countries in
the world in the field of Science and Technology by 2030.
4.
BANKS CUT LENDING RATES: CORPORATE, HOME LOANS TO BE CHEAPER
i.
A day after PM Narendra Modi announced an interest subvention for home loans of
up to Rs. 12 lakh and asked banks to keep the poor and middle class at the
focus of their activities many PSUs and private banks reduced their benchmark
lending rate by up to 1.48 percent.
ii. State Bank of India, other lenders
including state-owned Oriental Bank of Commerce and largest private sector
lender ICICI Bank and Andhra Bank announced a cut in the marginal cost of funds
based lending rate following demonetisation.
iii.
SBI along with PNB and Union Bank of India, yesterday reduced the lending rate
by a good 0.9%.
iv.
The reduction in lending rates may lead to an increase in credit taking
frequency which has moderated substantially putting burden on balance sheet of
banks.
v.
The Union Government has kept interest rates on Small Savings Schemes like PPF
and Sukanya Samriddhi Account, Kisan Vikas Patra, and Senior Citizens Savings
Scheme unchanged for the January-March quarter.