Daily GK: 20th November 2014

1.    Kotak Mahindra acquire ING Vysya Bank

i. Kotak Mahindra Bank, on Thursday, announced its decision to acquire ING Vysya Bank in an all-share deal.

ii. Kotak Mahindra Bank informed the BSE after market hours that the board of directors of the company had

considered and granted its approval for the amalgamation of ING Vysya Bank with Kotak Mahindra Bank.

iii. The Board has approved the share swap ratio of 725 equity share of Rs. 5 each of Kotak Mahindra Bank for every 1,000 equity shares of Rs. 10 each held in ING Vysya Bank. Post-amalgamations, shareholders of ING Vysya Bank will receive shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank in the aforementioned ratio, resulting in change in shareholding of Kotak Mahindra Bank.’
Note: The last merger to happen in the private sector banking space was in 2010 when Bank of Rajasthan was acquired by ICICI Bank.

2.    SBI to lend $ 1 billion to Adani Group to build Australian coal mine

i. The infrastructure conglomerate, whose founder, Gautam Adani, has signed a memorandum of understanding for a loan of up to $1 billion from the SBI for the mine, rail and port project, which it aims to build by end-2017.

ii. The loan, which would be one of the largest extended by an Indian bank for an overseas project, was announced as Mr. Adani was in Brisbane with a business delegation for the G20 summit, which Mr. Modi attended over the weekend.

3.    RBI allows FIIs to buy equity in Yes Bank

i. The Reserve Bank today said FIIs can buy equity shares in private lender Yes Bank as shareholding by foreign investors has gone below the prescribed limit.

ii. The RBI has removed Yes Bank from its caution list of monitoring foreign investment following the dip in shareholding by foreign investors below the prescribed limit.

iii. Equity shares of Yes Bank can now be purchased through primary market and stock exchanges,” it added.

iv. As per the data available on the BSE, FIIs held 46.30 per cent in Yes Bank as of quarter ended September 2014.

4.    Exim Bank to set up Rs1,500-cr fund to assist ship-building industry

i. To give a boost to ship building in the country, the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) is planning to set up a dedicated Rs1,500-crore fund with Government support.

ii. This proposal comes in the backdrop of the slump in global demand for ships and boats in 2012 and 2013 and foreign vessels accounting for a lion’s share (almost 90 per cent) in overseas cargo traffic handled at Indian ports.

iii. According to an Exim Bank study, the development of a successful ship building sector has been pivotal to the rapid and robust economic development in most countries in the world with long coastal boundaries.

iv.  Ship building industry has the potential to significantly contribute to national GDP.

5.    Tech Mahindra acquires US based LCC for $240 million

i. Tech Mahindra Ltd., India’s fifth largest software services exporter, has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire US-based Lightbridge Communications Corporation (LCC) for $240 million.

ii. LCC is a global network services leader. The transaction is expected to close by fourth quarter of Tech Mahindra’s fiscal year 2015.

iii. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, LCC is one-of-the world’s largest independent global providers of network engineering services to the telecommunications industry, with more than 5,000 employees in over 50 countries, said a statement by Tech Mahindra in Hyderabad on Thursday.

iv. With this acquisition, Tech Mahindra will also be addressing a rapidly growing market opportunity as telecommunications companies and enterprises accelerate the network upgrade cycle.

6.    Mozilla Firefox replaces default Google search engine with Yahoo

i. Yahoo will supplant Google’s search engine on Firefox’s Web browser in the U.S., signalling Yahoo’s resolve to regain some of the ground that it has lost in the most lucrative part of the Internet’s ad market.

ii. The five-year alliance announced on Wednesday will end a decade-old partnership in the U.S. between Google Inc. and the Mozilla Foundation, which oversees the Firefox browser.

iii. Even though Chrome is now more widely used, Firefox still has a loyal audience that makes more than 100 billion worldwide search requests annually.

7.    China and Australia signed a MoU on bilateral Antarctic cooperation

i. China and Australia on 18 November 2014 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on bilateral Antarctic cooperation.

ii. The MoU was signed in the presence of the President of China Xi Jinping and Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott in Hobart, Australia’s gateway to Antarctica.

iii. President of China Xi Jinping is on three nation tour to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji with Australia being the first leg of his visit.

8.    45th International Film Festival of India begins in Goa

i. 45th International Film Festival of India began at Panaji in Goa a short while ago. Mega Star of Indian Cinema Amitabh Bachchan is the chief guest of opening function. 
ii. The Festival will be opened with screening of a film of renowned Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Indian Panorama will be inaugurated tomorrow with the screening of Elizabeth Ekadashi directed by Paresh Mokashi.

9.    Assam Zoo set to become the first zoo in world to have the critically endangered Pygmy Hog

i. Assam State Zoo in Guwahati in the third week of November 2014 decided to have the critically endangered pig Pygmy Hog (Porcula salvania). Pygmy Hog is the rarest and smallest wild pig in the world. 
ii. With this decision, Assam State Zoo is set to become the first and only zoo of the world to have this critically endangered species of pigs. 
iii. The Zoo took the decision to have the Pigmy Hogs as they are on the brink of extinction, and they want to make the zoo a captive breeding centre for the critically endangered mammals.
iv. The Pygmy Hog Research and Breeding Centre at Basistha, Assam will provide the pigs to the Assam zoo.

About Pygmy Hog (Porcula salvania)
Pygmy hog is the smallest and rarest of wild pigs available in Assam. At present number of this critically endangered mammal are around 200 only. The species measures about 65 cm in length and 25 cm in height. It weighs around 8 to 9 kilograms. 

10.  Rampal Singh Jatin arrested by Haryana Police from his ashram in Hisar

i. Rampal Singh Jatin was in news because he was arrested by Haryana Police on 19 November 2014 from his fortified Satlok Ashram in Hisar of Haryana. He is famous as Sant Rampal and is a self-styled Godman.

ii. He was arrested after two weeks of intense attempts by police to arrest him that involved rioting in which scores of persons were injured and around 5 persons were killed.

iii. He was arrested under fresh cases of sedition, criminal conspiracy and rioting. Rampal will be produced in the Haryana and Punjab High Court on 20 November 2014.

Problem that led to Court order and his arrest

Rampal in 2006 criticised Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj his criticism led to violent clashes at Karontha ashram between the followers of two sects, in which an Arya Samaj follower was killed. Following the death of the follower of Arya Samaj, Rampal was charged with murder, and was arrested but was released in 2008 after spending several months in jail.

11.  Airbus to sign deal with Delta for 50 planes

i. European aerospace giant Airbus is poised to sign a deal to deliver 50 long-haul carriers to US Delta Airlines in a contract worth $14 billion at catalogue prices.s

ii. Under the terms of the deal, Airbus will deliver 25 A350-900s, the company’s new long-haul carrier that this month received certification from the US Federal Aviation Authority, a source close to the negotiations said on condition of anonymity, sources told AFP today.

iii. The other 25 planes will be A330-neos, an updated version of its wide-body medium-haul jet with fuel saving engines which is slated to enter into service at the end of 2017.

12.  World Tour Golf Championship gets underway in Dubai

i. World Tour Golf Championship gets underway at Jumeirah Golf states in Dubai today.

ii. Top Golfers including the defending champion Henrik Stenson - the man in form this season - Rory Mcllroy, Justine Rose, Jamie Donaldson along with Stephen Gallacher are among the big names participating in the tournament.

13.  Indian-origin hotel doorman Kottarapattu Chattu died

i. Kottarapattu Chattu Kuttan of the venerable Galle Face Hotel in Colombo died on 18 November 2014 after a brief illness. He was 94.

ii. He was Sri Lanka's oldest hotel doorman, who served world leaders like Lord Mountbatten, Princess Elizabeth, Emperor Hirohito, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Richard Nixon at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo for 72 years

iii. The Galle Face Hotel, founded in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1864, is the oldest hotel east of Suez.

14.  Srikanth breaks into top 10 in badminton ranking

i. Owing to his recent title victory at the China Open in Fuzhou, K. Srikanth climbed up six places to achieve a career-best 10th in the men’s singles category of the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday.

ii. Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal also jumped up a place to move up the ladder to number 4 in the women’s singles rankings, even as P.V. Sindhu managed to maintain her 10th position in the list.