Roadmap for Banking of the Future
Daily Current Affairs – 31 March 2023
This post contains the current affairs for 31 March 2023. These current affairs are important for banking exams, insurance exams and other competitive exams like IBPS PO and Clerk, SBI PO and Clerk, RBI Assistant and Grade B, etc. You can also attempt our Current Affairs Quiz after reading our daily current affairs.
National
India’s second largest and World’s third-largest cricket stadium to be developed in Jaipur
- The world’s third-largest and India’s second largest cricket stadium is proposed to be set up in Jaipur village, Chonp.
- For this, the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) has signed an MoU with Vedanta’s Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL).
- The stadium would be named as Anil Agarwal International Cricket Stadium, Jaipur.
- Read More here
Banking & Economy
Centre hikes interest rates on small savings schemes for April-June Quarter (Q1) of FY24
- The Union Ministry of Finance has raised the interest rates on different small savings schemes between 10-70 basis points for the April to June quarter of financial year 2023-2024.
- The revised interest rates will be applicable from the financial year starting April 01, 2023.
- This is the third time in past 9 months, that the interest rates on small savings schemes have been increased.
- The interest rates on small savings schemes range from 4.0 percent to 8.2 percent for April-June 2023.
- Only, the interest rate for Public Provident Fund (PPF) scheme and Post Office Savings Account have been kept unchanged during this period.
- Click here for Various Interest Rates for Quarter1 (April-June) of 2023-24
Piyush Goyal releases dynamic Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023
- The Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal announced the Foreign Trade Policy 2023, on March 31, 2023.
- The 2023 foreign trade policy has the vision to take India’s goods and services exports to $2 trillion by 2030.
- The FTP 2023 will come into effect from April 1, 2023.
- Read more here
Axis Bank launches India’s first pocket-sized swipe machine ‘MicroPay’, based on ‘PIN on Mobile technology’
- India’s third largest private sector lender Axis Bank has launched ‘MicroPay’, country’s first pocket-sized swipe machine, for accepting digital payments.
- The ‘MicroPay’ has been launched along with Ezetap by Razorpay and MyPinpad as the technical solution partners.
- MicroPay is based on ‘Pin on Mobile’ technology, that converts a merchant’s smartphone into a Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal
- Read more here
Ranking
India’s Rank drop by 6 positions at 144 in The Passport Index 2023 by Arton Capital
- India has been ranked at 144th spot in “The Passport Index” 2023.
- The mobility score of India in the 2023 index is 70.
- The Passport Index 2023 ranked passports of 199 countries..
- In 2022, India’s rank was 138, with a mobility score of 73..
- The index is released by financial advisory firm Arton Capital, to rank a country’s passport, based on its access to other nations.
- The countries are ranked on the basis of the mobility score, which is calculated on provisions like a visa-free visit, visa on arrival, an eVisa (if used within three days), and electronic travel authorisation.
- The Passport Index 2023 ranking is topped by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), having mobility score of 181.
- UAE is followed by Sweden, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria, have joint mobility score of 174.
Appointment
SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh is new President of ASSOCHAM
- Ajay Singh, the Chairman & Managing Director of SpiceJet, has been appointed as the new President of the industry body Assocham.
- He replaces Sumant Sinha, Managing Director of Renew Power.
- The New-Delhi based Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) is a non-governmental trade association, which represents the interests of trade and commerce in India, and acts as an interface between issues and initiatives
Important Days
International Day of Zero Waste: 30 March
- The first International Day of Zero Waste is being observed on March 30. The celebration will be held on an annual basis from now on.
- On 14 December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to proclaim 30 March as International Day of Zero Waste. The resolution was put forward by Turkiye, along with 105 other countries.
- The day is jointly facilitated by UNEP and UN-Habitat.
- The main objective of International Day of Zero Waste is to raise awareness about how zero-waste initiatives contribute to the advancement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- This can be done through promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns and urban waste management.
- Zero-waste initiatives will lead to sound waste management and minimize/prevent waste.
- This in turn will help to address the triple planetary crisis:
- protect the environment,
- enhance food security and
- improve human health and well-being.
International Transgender Day of Visibility 2023 : 31 March
- The International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) occurs annually on March 31.
- TDOV aims to raise awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, while also celebrating their contributions to society.
- The day was founded by US-based transgender activist Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009.
World Backup Day 2023 : 31 March
- World Backup Day is marked every year on March 31.
- The day reminds us to protect our precious digital documents as we’ve become more reliant on technology.
- It is a day for people to learn about the increasing role of data in our lives and the importance of regular backups.
- Originally, the World Backup Day began as World Backup Month, by a hard drive company named Maxtor which was later acquired by Seagate Technology.
International Day of Drug Checking 2023 : 31 March
- The International Day of Drug Checking takes place on March 31 every year since 2017 to ensure people are educated on drugs and aware of their effects.
- The day aims to promote harm reduction initiatives of drugs and reduce drug-related risks.
