18th April, 2023

1. Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises has increased the coverage ceiling under its Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) from ₹2 crore to ₹5 crore per borrower for credit facilities extended by lending institutions to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs).
2. Union Tourism Minister G Krishan Reddy and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dr Virendra Kumar have flagged off the Bharat Gaurav Tourist train to mark the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station in New Delhi.
3. ISRO has announced that NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) will map the most earthquake-prone regions in the Himalayas.
4. Ministry of Textile has announced to “soon” launch an ecommerce portal for artisans and rural weavers across India to showcase their traditional craft.
5. Andhra Pradesh government has renamed Bhavanapadu Port in Srikakulam District as Mulapeta Port on a request from the farmers.
6. Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) has signed an MOU with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) to conduct the defence exams in 13 local languages, other than Hindi and English.
7. North Korea carried out an underwater nuclear attack drone named “Haeil-2”
8. Kenya launched its first operational earth observation satellite named “Taifa-1” onboard a SpaceX rocket from the United States.
9. China successfully launched Fengyun-3G into space, its first satellite dedicated to measuring precipitation, especially heavy rainfalls during catastrophic weather in global regions, which could provide a powerful tool for monitoring and forecasting of global meteorological disasters.
10. UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has released “The status of women in agrifood systems” report.
11. According to provisional data of the commerce ministry, the US has emerged as India’s biggest trading partner in FY23, with USD 128.55 billion worth of bilateral trade in 2022-23.
12. Citi India has completed its first blockchain-enabled Letter of Credit (LC) transaction on Contour for its client Cummins India Limited (Cummins), a diversified industrials manufacturing company.
13. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) notified a framework for the upfront collection of funds from eligible issuers of debt securities.
14. India’s forex reserves increased by USD 6.306 billion to USD 584.755 billion for the week ended April 7.
15. April 15 – Himachal Pradesh Statehood Day (75th edition; created in 1948)
16. April 16 – World Voice Day; Theme – Your Voice Matters
17. April 17 – World Hemophilia Day; Theme – Access for All: Prevention of bleeds as the global standard of care”
18. Rajasthan’s Nandini Gupta has been crowned Femina Miss India World 2023.
19. Union Home Minister Amit Shah conferred the ‘Maharashtra Bhushan-2022’ Award on social reformer Appasaheb Dharmadhikari.
20. Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports and Information & Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur has announced to spend Rs 3,200 crores under the Khelo India campaign in the next 5 years.

National News

1. Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises has increased the coverage ceiling under its Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) from ₹2 crore to ₹5 crore per borrower for credit facilities extended by lending institutions to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs).
   • The annual guarantee-fee (AGF), which is generally passed on to the borrowers for loans up to ₹10 lakh has been reduced to 0.37% (from 0.75%) and for loans above ₹10 lakh up to ₹50 lakh to 0.55% (from 1.10%).
   • The AGF for loans above ₹50 lakh up to ₹1 crore is 0.60%; above ₹1 crore up to ₹2 crore (1.20%); and for loans above ₹2 crore up to ₹5 crore (1.35%).
   • Earlier, there was a single slab of ₹50 lakh up to ₹2 crore for which the AGF was 1.20 per cent.
   • The changes are effective April 1, 2023.

2. Union Tourism Minister G Krishan Reddy and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dr Virendra Kumar have flagged off the Bharat Gaurav Tourist train to mark the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station in New Delhi.
   • This train will cover the prominent places associated with life of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar and the Buddhist heritage to give a holistic experience to the tourists about India’s cultural Heritage.
   • These theme-based tourist circuit trains are in line with the “Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat” and DekhoApnaDesh initiatives to promote domestic tourism.
     Source: News on Air
3. ISRO has announced that NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) will map the most earthquake-prone regions in the Himalayas.
   • The data this will generate can potentially give advance warning of land subsidence, as recently observed in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, as well point to places that are at greatest risk from earthquakes.
   • The total cost of NISAR is $900 million. It will be launched in January 2024.
     Source: The Hindu
4. Ministry of Textile has announced to “soon” launch an ecommerce portal for artisans and rural weavers across India to showcase their traditional craft.
   • India Post will take care of the logistics for transportation of goods from producers to end consumers.
   • The Ministry of Electronics and IT’s network of nearly 4,00,000 common service centres (CSCs) — which run digital kiosks in rural areas — will help the artisans accurately photograph, upload and package their products.
   • In the first phase, the Textile Ministry has identified 100 clusters of artisans and mapped them with the CSCs.
     Source: Economic Times

State News

1. Andhra Pradesh government has renamed Bhavanapadu Port in Srikakulam District as Mulapeta Port on a request from the farmers.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

Memorandum of Understand

1. Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) has signed an MOU with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) to conduct the defence exams in 13 local languages, other than Hindi and English.
   • The new arrangement will be effective from January 1, 2024.

     Source: The Hindu

International News

1. North Korea carried out an underwater nuclear attack drone named “Haeil-2”
   Source: Republic World
2. Kenya launched its first operational earth observation satellite named “Taifa-1” onboard a SpaceX rocket from the United States.

   Source: Reuters

3. China successfully launched Fengyun-3G into space, its first satellite dedicated to measuring precipitation, especially heavy rainfalls during catastrophic weather in global regions, which could provide a powerful tool for monitoring and forecasting of global meteorological disasters.

   Source: Reuters

Reports And Indices

1. UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has released “The status of women in agrifood systems” report.
   • As per the report, closing the gender gap in farm productivity and the wage gap in agrifood systems would increase global gross domestic product by 1% (or nearly USD 1 trillion).
   • This would reduce global food insecurity by about 2 percentage points, reducing the number of food-insecure people by 45 million.

     Source: Official report of FAO

Banking and Economy

1. According to provisional data of the commerce ministry, the US has emerged as India’s biggest trading partner in FY23, with USD 128.55 billion worth of bilateral trade in 2022-23.
   • The bilateral trade was increased by 7.65% as against USD 119.5 billion in 2021-22.
   • The bilateral trade between India and China has declined by about 1.5% to USD 113.83 billion during 2022-23 as against USD 115.42 billion in 2021-22.

     Source: Economic Times

2. Citi India has completed its first blockchain-enabled Letter of Credit (LC) transaction on Contour for its client Cummins India Limited (Cummins), a diversified industrials manufacturing company.
   • The transaction took place on Contour, a global digital trade finance network, powered by blockchain technology, that enables multiple parties – banks, corporates, and logistic partners – to collaborate seamlessly and securely in real-time on a single platform.
   • Citi is a founding member bank of Contour.
     Source: The Hindu Business Line

3. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) notified a framework for the upfront collection of funds from eligible issuers of debt securities.
   • The set guideline is to build the Settlement Guarantee Fund of the Limited Purpose Clearing Corporation (LPCC).
   • The new framework allows the stock exchanges to collect an amount of 0.5 basis points of the issuance value of debt securities per annum, based on its maturity value.
   • This collected amount would be placed in an escrow account before the allotment of the debt securities.
   • Within one working day of the amount receipt, the amount will be transferred to the LPCC bank account. Afterwards, LPCC will disclose the contribution of each issuer in the fund.
   • The new framework will come into force from 1 May 2023.
     Source: Business World

4. India’s forex reserves increased by USD 6.306 billion to USD 584.755 billion for the week ended April 7.
   • In October 2021, India’s forex reserves reached an all-time high of USD 645 billion.
   • RBI’s forex reserves comprise of gold, foreign currency, IMF’s Special Drawing Rights, and IMF’s Reserve Tranche.
     Source: Economic Times

Important Days

1. April 15 – Himachal Pradesh Statehood Day (75th edition; created in 1948)
   Source: News on Air
2. April 16 – World Voice Day; Theme – Your Voice Matters
   Source: Dysphonia International

3. April 17 – World Hemophilia Day; Theme – Access for All: Prevention of bleeds as the global standard of care”
   Source: World Foundation for Hemophilia’s website

Awards

1. Rajasthan’s Nandini Gupta has been crowned Femina Miss India World 2023.
   Source: Times of India

2. Union Home Minister Amit Shah conferred the ‘Maharashtra Bhushan-2022’ Award on social reformer Appasaheb Dharmadhikari.
   • The award carries a prize money of Rs 25 lakhs.
     Source: Hindustan Times

Sports

1. Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports and Information & Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur has announced to spend Rs 3,200 crores under the Khelo India campaign in the next 5 years.
   • With this, the best facilities will now be available to the players across the country.

     Source: News on Air

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