1. Gujarat tops in ease of doing business in India: World Bank Report
i. Gujarat has been placed to top position in World Bank’s first ever ranking of States on the ease of doing business in India.
ii. The World Bank report titled Assessment of State Implementation of
Business Reforms was released in New Delhi under the aegis of the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
iii. The inaugural edition of report reflected the ease of doing business in all Indian States at sub-regional level.
iv. All States were assessed over a six-month period from January to
June 2015 on the basis of percentage scores in a 98-point reforms
agenda. The Union Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, CII,
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI and KPMG
were involved in the exercise.
v. The largest recipients of foreign investments Maharashtra and Tamil
Nadu were placed at eighth and twelfth position with less than 50 per
cent scores.
2. SBI Card launches credit card for online shopping
i. SBI Card, a leading credit card issuer, on Tuesday announced a
strategic partnership with 7 of India's biggest e-commerce players for
its newest offering, the SimplyCLICK SBI Card.
ii. This is billed as the first-ever credit card that is focused on online shopping across diverse categories.
iii. For this new credit card, SBI Card has partnered Amazon India,
BookMyShow, Cleartrip, FabFurnish, Food Panda, Lens Kart and Ola Cabs --
all frontrunners in their respective categories.
iv. Launching the SimplyCLICK SBI Card in the presence of the strategic
partners, Vijay Jasuja, CEO, SBI Card, said that SimplyCLICK has been
inspired by the needs and aspirations of the generation that is always
online.
3. RBI, Nepal Rastra Bank ink MoU for supervisory information exchange
i. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Supervisory Cooperation and
Exchange of Supervisory Information.
ii.
The MoU was signed by RBI’s Executive Director Meena Hemchandra and
Nepal Rastra Bank’s Executive Director Narayan Prasad Paudel in New
Delhi.
iii. By signing the MoU, RBI is seeking to promote greater co-operation and share supervisory information among the authorities.
iv. So far RBI has signed 27 such MoUs, one Letter for Supervisory
Co-operation (LSC) and one Statement of Co-operation (SoC) in this
regard.
4. Malcolm Turnbull Is Sworn In as Australia’s New Prime Minister
i. The party coup to install Malcolm Turnbull as Australia’s fourth
prime minister in just over two years has exposed deep unease about the
resource-dependent country’s sharply slowing economy and a political
system that lets small groups of politicians oust elected leaders.
ii.
The 60-year-old former investment banker unseated Tony Abbott as leader
of the ruling Liberal-National coalition government late Monday in a
party rebellion, as voter surveys pointed to defeat for the ruling
Liberal-National coalition at federal elections due next year. Mr.
Turnbull was sworn in on Tuesday and became the country’s 29th prime
minister.
iii. Australia’s economy expanded just 0.2% in the second quarter from
the first, the slowest pace in four years, as China’s slowing economy
translates into less construction of skyscrapers, bridges and
railways—hurting demand for raw materials like iron ore.
iv. The latest ouster caps nearly a decade of instability in Australian
politics that has splintered both major political parties.
v. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a lobby group, said
with business and investment confidence already fragile, lawmakers
needed to put the tumult behind them and get on with providing the
stable government that voters were looking for.
5. FreeCharge Partners Yes Bank, Fino PayTech to Launch Wallet Solution
i. Snapdeal-owned mobile transactions platform FreeCharge announced its foray into the wallets space in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
ii. FreeCharge has partnered with Yes Bank and payment bank licensee
Fino PayTech to launch the service, which will go live in a few weeks.
The company claims that its wallet is able to reduce checkout times to
under 10 seconds.
iii.
Kunal Shah, CEO and co-founder, FreeCharge, said that the wallet was
equipped with state of the art technology and a robust partner network,
"making it a truly game-changing service that will bring value to
consumers and our partners in the ecosystem."
iv. "At Snapdeal we are building an ecosystem that powers billions of
digital commerce transactions. With the launch of the FreeCharge Digital
Wallet, we will now play an even more intrinsic role in our customers'
lives," Kunal Bahl, CEO and co-founder, Snapdeal said.
v. While FreeCharge already has a credit-based wallet-like feature in
its app called 'FreeCharge Credits', that gets credited when a
transaction is unsuccessful. By partnering with a payment bank licensee,
FreeCharge can integrate the wallet with savings bank accounts via IMPS
and NEFT transfers and issue ATM and debit cards.
6. Kerala: 200 people in Sastamnada village pledge organs for donation
i.
Organ donation is the need of the hour and the Kerala government has
been on a drive to boost it in the state. Now 200 people from Sastamnada
village have come forward to pledge their organs for donation.
ii. The Kerala Network of Organ Sharing was launched by the Department
of Health as registry. Now, 200 people from the Sastamnada village will
give letters stating their intent to donate their organs to the KNOS
nodal officer Dr. Noble Gracious on September 20.
iii. The KNOS website shows that the waitlist for kidneys is 1083 at
this point. More people coming forward to donate organs will help those
in need is the KNOS opinion. Last year there were only 58 cadaver donors
in the state.
7. IFC’s ‘Suryoday’ in rural Rajasthan
i. IFC’s Lighting India program that aims to provide safe, affordable,
and quality solar lights to people with limited or no access to
electricity, is increasing the availability of solar lighting products
in rural parts of Rajasthan through a consumer awareness campaign,
Suryoday.
ii. The campaign, delivered in partnership with solar products’ rural
distributor Frontier Markets, has reached over 250 villages and about
15,000 people in Sawai Madhopur, Jhunjhunu, Jaipur, and Dhaulpur
districts of Rajasthan, IFC said in a statement.
iii. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is a global development
institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets.
8. Paytm introduces cashless payments in educational institutions
i. Paytm has introduced cashless payments in educational institutions,
which will enable users to pay school fees and dues, cafeteria bill, buy
uniforms, books and merchandise.
ii.
Paytm, the country’s India’s largest mobile commerce platform, has tied
up with several premium educational institutions from pre-schools to
colleges such as IIT Mandi, Universal Education Trust, KN Modi
University, Vidyamandir Classes, Made Easy, Career Launcher, Jamboree,
Primus Public School, Bengaluru and Swaminarayan Gurukul Vidyalaya,
among others.
iii. Paytm is in advanced stage discussions with all leading IITs, IIMs, central and state universities.
iv. As per a Fitch report, the Indian education sector’s market size is
estimated at $109.84 billion in FY15, which makes India the world’s
third largest market for education by size.
9. Brian Close: Former England and Yorkshire captain dies, aged 84
i. The Yorkshireman is the youngest player to have won a Test cap for
England, making his debut as an 18-year-old against New Zealand in 1949.
ii. Close, who was known for his brave batting, captained his country
seven times in 22 Tests, and led Yorkshire to four County Championship
titles.
iii. Former England captain Michael Vaughan, who was coached by Close at Yorkshire, called him "a true inspiration".
iv. Close, who lived in Baildon, West Yorkshire, died on Sunday. He leaves a widow, a son and a daughter.
v. Left-handed batsman Close, who bowled as an off-spinner, made nearly
35,000 runs during a first-class career that spanned 37 years, ending at
the age of 55 in 1986.
