General Awareness Important Questions III

 India International bank in Malaysia will be operational by October:India International Bank (Malaysia) - which is a three-way joint venture between Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank and Andhra Bank – will entail a total investment of $100 million (approximately Rs 450 crore). Bank of Baroda, which holds the majority stake at 40 per cent, will invest about Rs 180 crore, while Indian Overseas Bank (35 per cent) and Andhra Bank (25 per cent) about Rs 157 crore and Rs 112 crore respectively in the joint venture, according to Mr M.D. Mallya, Chairman and Managing Director, BoB. The bank would be operational by October, he said, while talking to newspersons on the sidelines of a banking conclave organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Thursday. (BL dt 12.08.2011 p.6)

RBI survey pegs down GDP growth to 7.9%:
India’s GDP growth projection for the current financial year has been pegged down to 7.9 per cent from the earlier projection of 8.2 per cent, according a Reserve Bank of India Survey. In its First Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2011-12 on July 26, the RBI had stuck to its baseline projection of real GDP growth for the current year at 8.0 per cent. The Survey of Professional Forecasters on Macroeconomic Indicators had revised the real GDP growth rate forecast downwards to 8.2 per cent in its May survey from 8.5 per cent in the earlier survey. The latest round of survey has revised projections for agriculture, industry and services growth to 3.5 per cent (3.1 per cent in the May survey), 7.4 per cent (8.2 per cent) and 9.0 per cent (9.6 per cent) respectively. (BL dt 13.08.2011 p.4)

India BBB rating stays, says S&P:
Standard and Poor’s has said there is no immediate threat to India’s sovereign debt rating of BBB, though loose fiscal policy and the government’s inability to carry forward economic reforms could have implications in the medium term.“We do not see an immediate impact on India’s sovereign rating (BBB-/Stable) resulting from the lowering of the US sovereign rating to AA+,” Standard & Poor’s sovereign analyst Mr Takahira Ogawa told PTI. S&P recently lowered the sovereign rating of the US to AA+ from AAA. The ratings are opinions that reflect the ability and willingness of the rated entity to meet financial obligations. The decision to lower the sovereign rating of the US had deleterious consequences for stock markets all over the world, including India. (DH dt. 16.08.2011 p. 14)

SBI net drops 46% in Q1 on higher bad loan provisioning:
Higher provisioning for NPAs and depreciation on investments dented State Bank of India’s net profits for the first quarter ended June 30, 2011 to Rs 1,584 crore, down 46 per cent decline over Rs 2,914 crore recorded in same period last year. The sharp fall was despite a 32-per cent increase in NII at Rs 9,700 crore (Rs 7,304 crore) and an 18 per cent increase in operating profit at Rs 7,242 crore (Rs 6,134 crore). However, the latest quarterly net profit was much higher than the Rs 20.88-crore recorded in the last quarter of fiscal 2010-11. (BL dt 14.08.2011 p.1)

SEBI wants powers to see phone call, e-mail records:
The SEBI has sought powers to seek e-mail and call records from telecom service providers. This move, the market regulator hopes, will help it prevent black money entering the market as also keep an eye on insider trading. The Minister of State for Finance, Mr Namo Narain Meena, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply on August 12 (unstarred question no 2091) that SEBI also wants to be in the list of law enforcement/investigating agencies that includes the CBI and the IB. A formal request has been sent to the Department of Telecommunications. Though getting call records from the phone service providers may not be difficult, tracking e-mail records could be. Most e-mail service providers such as Google, Yahoo, Hotmail have their servers based outside India. Even security agencies have been trying to get access to these services in vain. (BL dt 16.08.2011 p.1)

Banking on performance:
The rules of the game are changing for public sector bank staff. A number of banks are rolling out performance-based incentives for their officers and clerical staff numbering about 10 lakh. This, feel experts, would to ‘better’ the performance of the PSBs. “We are in the process of formulating a scientific system to encourage performance by structured incentives which will be implemented soon,” Ms Archna Bhargava, Executive Director, Canara Bank, told Business Line. Banks can spend at least one per cent of their profits on performance incentives, she added. (BL dt 17.08.2011 p.1)

SBI hopes to see net profit grow to Rs 2,500 crore in Q2:
Having posted a decline in profit for two successive quarters, State Bank of India hopes to clock an increase in its bottomline to Rs 2,500 crore in the second quarter on account of lower provisioning against bad loans. “We expect to turn in another Rs 7,200 crore of operating profit. If you leave out the one-off provisions, which had happened due to raising of prudential norms and also the investment provision, we expect a normal provisioning of Rs 2,500-3,000 crore,” State Bank of India Chairman Mr Pratip Chaudhuri said. “So we would possibly look at a net profit of Rs 2,500 crore. This is broad indication, but we would get a number after we see August investments,” he said.
(ET dt. 17.08.2011 p. 11)

Banking doors set to open for India Inc:
Indian companies may have reasons to rejoice, as the RBI is likely to allow some of them an entry into the banking space. The entry will, of course, be subject to stiff riders. Real estate companies, however, may not be as lucky as they are among four sectors that will find the banking doors locked. According to a government official, the RBI is expected to come out with draft guidelines on allowing new private banks by next Monday, as the finance ministry and the central bank have resolved their differences on most of the contentious issues. The official said foreign direct investment (FDI) in new banks may be capped at 49% for now, as the RBI was not in favour of higher FDI. In a discussion paper released in August last year, the central bank had suggested capping FDI in new banks at 49% in the first 10 years, which could be subsequently raised to 74%. The ministry was open to a higher cap. The number of new licences to be issued has not been decided yet and the call will be taken by the RBI. The guidelines were more or less final, but the regulator would want to give a one-month window to all stakeholders to give their suggestions on the draft, said the official. (BS dt. 18.08.2011 p. 1)

Syndicate Bank likely to buy 26% in Aviva Life:
Aviva Life has emerged as the front-runner for tying up with Syndicate Bank for its proposed insurance joint venture. According to sources, the Manipal-headquartered lender is likely to pick up 26% stake. Mohit Burman, director of fast-moving consumer goods major, the Dabur Group, holds 74 per cent stake. The rest is held by UK’s Aviva. A Syndicate Bank official said the bidding process was still on and the bank was yet to decide on the insurance partner. “We have just finished receiving the financial bids and would shortlist three-four players on the basis of financial bids. Then, we would take the final call,” said a senior bank official. However, according to sources involved with the deal, Avia Life is better placed, as it is willing to offer significant equity. (BS dt. 18.08.2011 p. 6)

General Awareness Important Questions II

Here is the second set of Important GK (general awareness) questions related to banking industry for upcoming IBPS Bank commont written test 2011.

Subbarao to be RBI Governor for 2 more years:
The Government has given Dr D. Subbarao, two-year extension as the Governor of the RBI. He will hold office till 2013. “The Prime Minister has approved the extension of the term of Dr Subbarao as Governor of the RBI for a further period of two years with effect from September 5, 2011 up to September 4, 2013,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.This move is meant to give an impression of stability to the economy, sources told Business Line. Secondly, in the current global economic situation, bringing a new person at the helm would not be seen as a wise step, they said. (BL dt. 10.08.2011 p.1)

Foreign investors can invest in MFs:
In a further liberalisation of the portfolio investment route incorporating the industry’s suggestions for a more vibrant debt market for the infrastructure sector, the Centre on Tuesday permitted a new category of qualified foreign investors (QFIs) to invest up to $13 billion in equity and debt schemes of mutual funds (MFs). Announcing this, for which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued separate notifications to set the investment norms as market regulators, a Finance Ministry statement said: “It has been decided that the aggregate investments by qualified foreign investors (QFIs) in equity schemes of the mutual funds under direct and indirect routes shall be subject to a ceiling of $10 billion.’’ (The Hindu dt. 10.08.2011 p. 19)

Signs MoU with PSU insurers:
Vijaya Bank has signed an MoU with United Insurance Co. Ltd. Under MoU, it will distribute life insurance and general insurance products of United India Insurance Co Ltd. The bank will also distribute insurance products of LIC, the bank said in a statement. (BS dt. 09.08.2011 p. 5)

Plan FY 12: SBI to raise capital via rights issue:
State Bank of India plans no further consolidation of its associate banks with itself during the current fiscal, Chairman Mr Pratip Chaudhuri has said. This comes even as the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, recently indicated that the Government would not be averse to considering merger proposals involving State Bank of India and its associate banks in 2011-12. The State Bank of India management's "time and bandwidth" during this fiscal would be devoted to raising additional capital of Rs 20,000 crore through a rights issue, besides addressing issues such as asset quality and international expansion, Mr Chaudhuri told reporters after a meeting of the bank's board. (BL dt. 07.08.2011 p. 1)

SBI to open 800 branches this fiscal:
State Bank of India plans to open 800 more branches in 2011-12 taking its total network to over 14,000 branches. "We are planning to open 700-800 branches in the current financial year against 650 set up during the last fiscal," the SBI Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer, Mr Diwakar Gupta, told PTI. New branches would be spread across all the 14 circles, he said. At the end March,2011, the total number of branches was 13,542 while the number of ATMs stood 20,084 across the country. Besides, the bank is also looking at expanding its overseas network. The bank would look at increasing its presence in the neighbouring countries in CIS(Common wealth of Independent States)countries. SBI has 156 offices across 32 countries, including US, UK, Singapore, Canada and the Mauritius. The focus of these offices is India related business and the international needs of the bank's foreign customers, in addition to conducting retail operations. Currently, the overseas business contributes about 16% to the bank's total business. The number of foreign offices increased from 142 as on March 31, 2010 to 156 as on March 31, 2011 spread across 32 countries. (BL dt 08.08.2011 p.7)

Banks can now issue prepaid instruments to listed cos:
In a bid to widen the scope of prepaid payment instruments, the Reserve Bank of India has permitted banks to issue such instruments to listed corporate entities for onward issuance to their employees. Currently, prepaid instruments are issued by banks to: government organisations for onward issuance to the beneficiaries of government sponsored schemes for loading of funds from such schemes; and financial institutions for loading of one-time/periodical payments by these entities to their customers. Banks also issue such instruments to beneficiaries under money transfer service scheme for loading of cross-border inward remittances received by them. Further, prepaid gift instruments are issued by banks, non-banking finance companies and other persons. (BL dt. 05.08.2011 p. 6)

SIDBI to widen refinance window:
Banks’ appetite for refinance from the Small Industries Development Bank of India is expected to increase to about Rs 30,000 crore in the current financial year against Rs 22,900 crore last year, according to a top official of the development financial institution. With deposit rates rising by almost 250 basis points (a basis point is equivalent to 0.01 percentage point) in the last one year or so, banks are finding refinance from SIDBI comparatively cheaper. Lucknow-headquartered SIDBI gives refinance against term loans granted by banks to industrial concerns for setting up industrial projects in the small-scale sector as also for their expansion/modernisation/diversification. (BL dt. 02.08.2011 p. 6)

RBI to issue new Rs 10 notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it will shortly issue Rs 10 denomination bank notes with inset letter 'B' in both numbering panels in Mahatma Gandhi series 2005 bearing the signature of RBI Governor Dr D Subbaro. Except for the change in the inset letter, the design of these notes to be issued now is similar in all respects to the banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi series 2005 issued earlier. All banknotes in the denomination of Rs 10 issued by the bank in the past will continue to be legal tender, the press release said. (DH dt 02.08.2011 p.15)

New bank licences on the back burner:
Companies with ambition of setting up a bank will have to wait longer. The much-hyped grant of new bank licences has been put on the back burner, as the Government is not keen to go ahead. Sources familiar with the developments said the government had conveyed its view that the matter be set aside to Reserve Bank of India, the authority for issuing fresh licences. RBI had framed draft guidelines for new bank licences and submitted these to the Finance Ministry for its views. The ministry is yet to formally get back to RBI. “RBI and the government had reached a consensus on most of the important issues in the draft guidelines, including grant of licences to corporate houses. The government had also agreed to amend the RBI Act to vest more power with the regulator. Things have slackened after that,” said a source. (BS dt. 01.08.2011 p. 1)

Post offices to seek nod to convert into banks:
The humble post office is all set to undergo a radical change with a proposal to convert over 1.5 lakh post offices across the nation into full fledged banks on the anvil. Telecom Minister Mr Kapil Sibal wants to reach out to the masses in the rural areas with modern banking facilities through the post offices. “We want to commercialise the department. We will seek a licence from the RBI to convert all our post offices into banks,” Mr Sibal told PTI. The post offices currently offer financial services like savings bank, postal life insurance, pension payments and money transfer services. Its total corpus stood at Rs 5,82,832.90 crore as on March 31, 2011. (DNA dt. 01.08.2011 p. 11)

Punjab & Sind Bank seeks Rs 990 cr from Centre:
Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB) has sought capital support of Rs 990 crore from the Central Government to fund business growth, a top official of the bank has said. “It will be pure equity. We have made a request to the Government for capital infusion through preferential allotment route. The capital infusion if done will be made at a premium and near market price,” Mr P. K. Anand, Executive Director, PSB, said. The last time Government infused capital in PSB was in 2005 and the amount pumped in was Rs 500 crore, officials said. Later on, the Government had converted equity capital of Rs 550 crore into preference shares as well as long-term debt. (BL dt. 31.07.2011 p. 18)

Canara Bank gets new executive director:
The Government of India has appointed Mr Ashok Kumar Gupta, General Manager of Punjab National Bank, as the Executive Director of Canara Bank. He succeeds Mr Jagdish Pai K.L., who retired on June 30. According to a press release from Canara Bank, Mr Gupta assumed office on Thursday. He started his career as management trainee in Punjab National Bank in 1976. He also served as the Managing Director of PNB GILTs, a subsidiary of PNB. Before his elevation to the post of Executive Director of Canara Bank, Mr Gupta was in Chandigarh as Field General Manager for Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Chandigarh. (BL dt. 30.07.2011 p. 6)

PNB to accept 'cash' from door steps:
Punjab National Bank said it would start accepting cash up to the value of Rs.2 crore from the premises of its customers, facilitating high value cash collection at their door steps. "We will soon start our new initiative in Chandigarh, where we will be accepting high amount of cash from customers' premises," GM Rohtash Kumar said. The minimum amount of cash to be collected from customers' premises would be Rs 1 Lakh, with maximum ceiling of Rs 2 crore without any charge. A dedicated team of bank officials will be set up which will look after door step banking services. The bank would also allow making payments to customers as per their requirement but within ceiling of Rs 2 crore.
(DH dt 26.07.2011 p.15)

Canara Bank may hire 3,000 personnel this year:
Canara Bank is likely to fill-up 3000 vacancies in various categories during this year, according to its Executive Director, Ms Archana S Bhargava. Speaking to newspersons on Friday, Ms Bhargava said apart from clerks, probationary officers, and agricultural officers, specialist positions in areas such as information technology would also be filled-up. “We have significant retirements which are to be replaced and branch expansion programme during the current year,’’ she said. Over 250 branches were likely to be added before March 2012 to the present network of 3,350 branches, she added. As part of its focus on microfinance and Self Help Group (SHG) linkage, three new microfinance branches would be opened in Andhra Pradesh. (BL dt. 23.07.2011 p. 15)

Canara Bank to open branches in 7 nations:
Aiming to expand its overseas footprint, Canara Bank said on Thursday that it plans to open offices in seven countries, including Germany and US soon. The bank had already received the permission to open a branch in Germany, while in other countries including US, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and Australia, the process of getting permission has started, the bank’s ED Smt. Archana S Bhargava told reporters. Currently, the Bank has overseas branches in the UK, Hong Kong and China. It also has a joint venture with SBI in Moscow. The Bank, which has around 3,300 branches at present in the country, is also planning to add another 300 by end of this fiscal, she said adding that most of the new branches will be opened in rural and semi urban areas. She also said that the Bank has its presence in 452 districts of the total 644 districts in the country. As corporate social responsibility, bank has opened four computer training centres to impart free computer training to poor unemployed youth. Earlier, bank’s first specialised Government Business branch was opened at National Archives of India (NAI) office premises on Thursday. (DH dt. 22.07.2011 p. 17)

General Awareness Important Questions I

Here is the set of Important genereal awareness questions for the upcoming IBPS bank common written exam, the subsequent sets will be posted later stages.

State Bank of Mysore, National Insurance join hands:
State Bank of Mysore has announced three deposit schemes with free accident death insurance cover for savings bank and term deposit accounts. The bank has tied up with National Insurance Company. “This is an additional service we are offering for our customers. This will be on a trial basis, and we hope to come up with more such products in the future,” said Mr Dilip Mavinkurve, Managing Director, State Bank of Mysore. The schemes will offer insurance cover initially for one year and will be subject to review at the end of one year. These new products - MyBank Suraksha Savings account, MyBank Suraksha Savings Plus account and MyBank Suraksha Deposit account will be offered through the group insurance model to individuals, excluding NRI customers. (BL dt. 22.07.2011 p. 23)

Snag in your ATM? If unresolved, get Rs 100 a day:
Ever thought that you could get paid by an ATM? Well, that is now a distinct possibility, thanks to RBI’s decision. If an ATM-related complaint isn’t redressed within seven days, it can potentially earn you Rs 100 a day. The Reserve Bank of India has reduced the mandatory time for resolving complaints related to ATM transactions to a week from the earlier 12 days, starting July 1. Complaints include wrong debits, non-receipt of cash and receipt of a lesser amount than specified in a withdrawal. It is important that one should immediately register his/her complaint with the bank, as the mandatory compensation after seven days is not applicable if the complaint is not brought to the notice of the bank within 30 days. (BL dt. 17.07.2011 p. 1)

SBI, ICICI Securities among four to manage PF corpus:
State Bank of India, ICICI Securities Primary Dealership, Reliance Capital and HSBC Asset Management will manage the Rs 3.5 lakh crore-retirement corpus for three years, beginning September 1, 2011. The decision was announced on Thursday by the Central Board of Trustees, the tripartite decision-making body of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). The selection was done after evaluating the bids on both financial and technical grounds. Eighty per cent weightage was given to technical qualifications and 20 per cent to financial quotations, an official release said. Expressing hope of getting good returns for close to 5 crore provident fund depositors this year, the Union Labour Minister, Mr Mallikarjun Kharge said, “We will see their performance for one year, and based on that, an appropriate decision will be taken by the trustees for extensions.” Sources said ICICI Securities had quoted the lowest rate of 3 paise annually for managing Rs 10,000. Reliance Capital quoted a rate of 4 paise, HSBC AMC 36 paise and SBI Re 1. (BL dt. 15.07.2011 p. 9)

BoB to open 10-12 overseas branches:
Public sector lender Bank of Baroda plans to open 10 to 12 overseas branches in the current fiscal. “We have plans to open another 10 to 12 branches in the current financial year in our various overseas territories. That would take our branch and office network abroad to around 100 by March, 2012, Bank of Baroda C&MD Mr M D Mallya said. (BS dt. 11.07.2011 p. 2)

Cost of convenience:ATM Charges Changes
Walking into any bank's ATM and checking your account balance will come at a cost now. From July 1, banks have clubbed together all the services, some which were being offered free earlier, and started charging from the sixth service. So whether you withdraw cash, go for balance enquiry or take a mini statement, there will be a cost.

• Cash withdrawal: Allows cash withdrawals up to specified limit. Maximum charge is Rs.20/-

• Balance enquiry: Check the existing balance on ATM screen or get a printout, maximum charge is Rs.8.50/-

• Mini Statement: Some banks list out the previous six or ten transactions in the account, Maximum charge is Rs.8.50/-

• Pin change: Change the pin number for one ATM card, maximum charge is Rs.8.50/-

(BS dt 08.07.2011 p.5)

State Bank of India pushing ahead with green channel counters:
SBI has started over 5,000 green channel counters (GCCs) at its branches across the country, according to the Chairman, Mr Pratip Chaudhuri. The GCC aims at providing customers with a simple, secure and quick way of executing banking transactions without carry passbooks or filling in pay-in-slips/withdrawal forms, or drawing cheques. All that is needed is the ATM-cum-Debit-Card and PIN for identifying the customer and his account. Cash deposits, cash withdrawals and funds transfers to the tune of Rs 40,000 per transaction are enabled through GCC. Registration of mobile numbers for the bank’s Mobile Banking Service will be introduced shortly through GCCs. In the last one year, 16 lakh transactions have been routed through GCCs, said the SBI chief. (BL dt. 02.07.2011 p. 6)

Gurgaon fraud: Citi fined R25 lakh:
The Reserve Bank of India has fined Citibank a sum of Rs 25 lakh under Section 47(A)(1)(b) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, which deals with the contravention of guidelines and instructions relating to know-your-customer (KYC) and anti money laundering (AML) regulations. In a statement on Monday, Reserve Bank of India said the bank’s failure to follow the KYC/AML guidelines, while opening accounts, led to the perpetration of a fraud at its Gurgaon branch. The Reserve Bank of India had issued a show cause notice to the bank on April 21st in response to which the bank submitted a reply dated May 6, 2011. After considering the facts and the bank’s reply, Reserve Bank of India concluded that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of the penalty.In December last year Citibank discovered a fraud at it's Gurgaon branch, perpetrated by an employee estimated at over Rs 400 crore. (FE dt. 05.07.2011 p. 18)

Post offices to offer core banking solution by next year:
In its exercise to boost its profitability, the Department of Posts (DoP) plans to introduce core banking solution besides setting up India Post ATMs and debit cards for its customers. “We have set a target of bringing in core banking solution by 2012. It will ensure smooth online transactions. We are giving some e-payment services, but they are fragmented,” a DoP official said. He said the work for setting up 1,000 India Post ATMs was in advanced stage and DoP had held parleys with vendors on this front. “We will also issue debit cards to our existing savings account-holders,” the source added.
(FE dt. 05.07.2011 p. 18)

19 banks to hold common exam for officers’ posts in Sept:
The Institute of Banking Personal Selection (IBPS) has notified the Common Written Examination on behalf of the participating banks on Wednesday. Except SBI, almost all other major banks have come together for conducting the exam. SBI has its own set up for recruitment which is also being handled by IBPS. A score in the IBPS exam is now mandatory for selection of probationary officers/management trainees, as per the IBPS notification. (BL Dt. 07.07.2011 p.6)

Important General Awareness I

1.   UNO Secretary General -- Ban Ki-moon
2. President world Bank-----Robert Zoellick
3. Wimbeldon Men's Single--Novak Djokovic
4. Wimbeldon Women's Single-- Petra Kvitova
5. Benazir Bhutto Party-----Pakistan Peoples Party
6. First Railway Line in India-1853
7. Princes of wales cup associated with--Golf
8. CRR ( Cash Reserve Ratio ) -- 6%
9. SLR Rate -- 24%
10. Vice President of India.. Mr. Hamid Ansari
11. SEBI Chairman.........Mr. U K Sinha
12. Chairman 13th Finance Commission----Mr. Vijay L Kelkar
13. Solicitor General of India....Mr. Gopal Subramaniam
14. Tag line Distinctly Ahead associated with which company.. Bajaj\
15. Oldest Stock Exchange in Asia... BSE(Bombay stock Exchange)

The above are the first set of Important General Awareness Question for the  the IBPS Common written exam for Banking jobs in India 2011

Exam Pattern

With exam date on September 18, 2011 its just barely more than one month to go for, hence the preparation should me hard and smart for this short interval of time. As the exam is happening for the first time there are many apprehension among the aspirants as what will come in exam and for professional exam giver what to attempt and what to leave.

Here we will be first analyzing the  exam pattern so that we can mold ourselves accordingly.

Test Paper                                     No of Question            Marks                   Time

1. Reasoning                                        50                         50
2. English Language                             50                         50     The total time 
3. Quantitative Aptitude                       50                         50     for this section of
4. General Awareness                         50                         50    exam is 150 Minutes
5. Computer Knowledge                     50                         50

6. Descriptive Paper on English Composition                            25          60 Minutes
(Essay, Précis, Letter Writing etc)

All the comments and queries are welcomed regarding exam pattern for IBPS Common written exam 2011.