Category: All Current Affairs

Mumbai malls, shops, eateries to remain open round the clock

The Maharashtra Cabinet approved its ‘Mumbai 24 hours‘ policy allowing malls, multiplexes and shops to remain open round-the-clock in the city from 27th January, as stated by Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray. He also said keeping shops, malls and eateries open in the night was not mandatory.

In the first phase, shops, eateries and theatres in malls and mill compounds situated in non-residential areas like Bandra-Kurla Complex and Nariman Point will be allowed to remain open. Excise rules have not been touched and pubs and bars will close as usual at 1.30am.

Among the likely early-birds joining the late-night bandwagon are: the Oberoi Mall and The Hub in Goregaon, Growel 101 in Kandivali, R-City Mall in Ghatkopar, Atria Mall in Worli, Phoenix Market City in Kurla, High Street Phoenix in Lower Parel, CitiMall in Andheri, and many even have multiplexes within their premises, besides security and parking.

In another decision, cabinet has made the film “Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior” tax-free in the state. The film is based on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s trusted lieutenant Tanaji Malusare who had played a pivotal role in capturing the Sinhagad Fort. The movie that released on 10th January has already grossed over 150 crore rupees.

India’s first e-waste clinic in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

The country’s first e-waste clinic is being opened in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh . It will enable segregation, processing and disposal of waste from both household and commercial units. The clinic is jointly setting up by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Electronic waste will be collected door-to-door or could be deposited directly at the e-waste clinic. The CPCB will provide technical support to the clinic. The e-waste clinic has been prepared in junk low floor bus. The bus is decorated with e-waste material from outside and inside.

A TV has been also installed in it, in which documentary films on the subject of environmental damage caused by e-waste will be shown. The e-waste clinic is being started on the basis of a three-month pilot project. If this project is successful, e-waste clinics will be established at other places in the country.

Apollo Hospitals in collaboration with Bajaj Finserv launches ‘Health EMI card’

Apollo Hospitals Group in collaboration with Bajaj Finserv has launched a “Health EMI Card” to enable easy EMI financing for healthcare. It would enable to convert the medical expense into no cost EMIs that can be repaid over a period of 12 months. The card offers a credit limit of up to Rs 4 lakh and covers nearly 600 procedures for patients, according to Rajeev Jain, managing director of Bajaj Finance Limited.

The cards would be accepted across all Apollo Hospitals in the country. It also features a personal accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. The cards are digitised and customers can have it available once they download the wallet app. The card would also cover the entire family.

Google Cloud and Bharti Airtel to offer G Suite to SMBs

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel partners with Google Cloud to offer G Suite to small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) in India as part of its integrated information and communication technology portfolio. G Suite is a set of intelligent apps including Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar designed with real-time collaboration and machine intelligence to bring people together and help them work smarter and safer.

The agreement will provide a platform for both companies to tap growth opportunities in India, which ranks amongst the fastest growing economies and has the second highest number of internet users in the world. Airtel serves over 2,500 large businesses and over 500,000 SMBs and technology startups across India.

IRDAI approves ICICI Lombard to pilot five projects under Sandbox

ICICI Lombard has received approval from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s (IRDAI) to pilot five innovative applications and programs in its health and motor portfolio under the Sandbox Project. ICICI Lombard is to pilot the five proposals from February 1, 2020 to July 31, 2020. This is the highest number given to any company under the IRDAI introduced project.

The insurer has secured approval for APP Monitored Diabetes Mellitus Wellness Program, APP Monitored Dyslipidaemia Management Program under the health insurance portfolio, Pay As You Use (PAYU) policies for Private Car, Pay How You Use (PHYU) policies for Private Car and Single owner multiple vehicle (Motor floater policy).

This methodology allows insurers to launch and test a product with a select group of people for a period of six months, after which, on the basis of the results of the pilot run and the feedback, it will be launched commercially for the public.

All-in-one app with multilingual chat-bot launched by City Union Bank

City Union Bank has introduced its multilingual interactive voice based all-in-one mobile app, through which the customers can converse with the chat-bot ‘Ask Lakshmi’ of the app in Tamil, English, Hindi or Telugu. They can converse for the general banking needs including transactions such as balance enquiry, mini statement, fund transfer over voice/ text instructions.

This new app covers all the financial and non-financial transactions such as fund transfer, bill payments, opening & closing of deposits, opening & closing of loan on deposits, balance enquiry, statement of account, stop payment of cheque, set card limit, handle wallet/ UPI and invest in Mutual Funds through simple guided interaction.

RBI buys Rs 10,000 cr long-term and sells Rs 2,950 cr short-term securities

The Reserve Bank of India bought Rs 10,000 crore worth of long-term securities and sold Rs 2,950 crore worth of short-term government bonds in the fourth special open market operation (OMO) auctions.

In the OMO purchase auction, the RBI received bids worth Rs 26,887 crore for two types of securities, 7.32 per cent 2024 and 6.45 percent 2029, but accepted only Rs 10,000 crore of bids. For 7.32 per cent-2024, it got 157 bids and accepted 40 bids.

The RBI offered to sell two government securities, 7.80 per cent 2021 and 7.94 per cent 2021, through the OMO. It received Rs 35,375 crore of bids but accepted Rs 2,950 crore of bids.

Training launch of nuclear-capable missile ‘Ghaznavi’ in Pakistan

Pakistan conducted a successful training launch of nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile ‘Ghaznavi‘. The missile is capable of delivering multiple types of warheads upto a range of 290 kilometers. The launch aimed at rehearsing operational readiness procedures during day and night, was a part of Field Training Exercise of Army Strategic Forces Command.

The launch was witnessed by Lt Gen Nadeem Zaki Manj, Director General Strategic Plans Division, Commander Army Strategic Forces Command, senior officers from Strategic Plans Division, Army Strategic Forces Command, Scientists and Engineers of the strategic organisations.