This post is also available in: हिन्दी (Hindi)
Dear Readers, Daily Current Affairs Questions Quiz for SBI, IBPS, RBI, RRB, SSC Exam 2023 of 18th April 2023. Daily GK quiz online for bank & competitive exam. Here we have given the Daily Current Affairs Quiz based on the previous days Daily Current Affairs updates. Candidates preparing for IBPS, SBI, RBI, RRB, SSC Exam 2023 & other competitive exams can make use of these Current Affairs Quiz.
1) Which organisation has launched the pilot financing scheme called the Mission 50K-EV4ECO for better financing terms in the electric vehicle space (EVS) and strengthening the whole ecosystem?
(a) CCI
(b) RBI
(c) SIDBI
(d) NITI Aayog
(e) SEBI
2) Which of the following bank has partnered with Chennai Metro Rail Limited to launch the Singara Chennai Card (NCMC – National Common Mobility Card)?
(a) Indian Bank
(b) State Bank of India
(c) Indian Overseas Bank
(d) Union Bank of India
(e) Bank of Baroda
3) The State Bank of India (SBI) has reintroduced its special fixed deposit scheme, 400 Days ‘Amrit Kalash’ fixed deposit scheme with _____interest.
(a) 8.2%
(b) 7.1%
(c) 7.6%
(d) 7.3%
(e) 6.9%
4) Northern Arc Capital has facilitated____________ external commercial borrowings (ECB) loan for Credit Access Grameen Limited (microfinance institution).
(a) $20 million
(b) $30 million
(c) $10 million
(d) $25 million
(e) $34 million
5) Which of the following country is planned to bridge the language gap with neighbouring countries?
(a) Indonesia
(b) Nepal
(c) India
(d) Uzbekistan
(e) Sri Lanka
6) Which became the first country in the world to receive regulatory approval to market the malaria vaccine R21/Matrix-M developed by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom(UK)?
(a) Cameroon
(b) Ghana
(c) Gabon
(d) Kenya
(e) Senegal
7) Which of the following countries have announced a common platform for dialogue between bilateral creditors to coordinate the debt restructuring of Sri Lanka?
(a) India
(b) Japan
(c) France
(d) All of the above
(e) Both A and B
8) Recently, Which of the following country has been affected by Cyclone Ilsa?
(a) Canada
(b) Germany
(c) Australia
(d) Philippines
(e) Switzerland
9) Recently, Himachal Pradesh (HP) has been celebrated its _____ anniversary of formation on April 15, 2023.
(a) 57th
(b) 66th
(c) 75th
(d) 49th
(e) 68th
10) Bihu dance performance created a Guinness World Record for the largest traditional dance at a single venue. Bihu is the traditional folk dance of which state?
(a) Assam
(b) Mizoram
(c) Odisha
(d) Jharkhand
(e) Manipur
11) Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) will commission a 1.2 million tons per annum (MTPA) rail and heavy structure modern mill in __________.
(a) Uttar Pradesh
(b) Meghalaya
(c) Assam
(d) Uttarakhand
(e) Odisha
12) Name the e-marketplace that has been launched by Ashok Leyland to facilitate customers in exchanging used commercial vehicles.
(a) Renew-AL
(b) New-AL
(c) Re-AL
(d) Used-AL
(e) None of the above
13) Consider the following statement regarding the recent Ministry of Commerce and Industry report. Which of the following statement is incorrect?
(i) India’s imports in Financial Year 2023 (FY23) rose 16.5 per cent to $714 billion as against $613 billion in FY22 while exports saw a rise of 6% to $447 billion in FY23, up from $442 billion in FY22.
(ii) India’s CAD stood at $18.2 billion or 2.2 per cent of GDP in the quarter ended December 2022.
(iii) Overall export of goods and services together scaled “new heights” and has increased by 14 per cent to $660 billion in 2022-23.
(a) Only (iii)
(b) Both (i) and (ii)
(c) Only (ii)
(d) Both (ii) and (iii)
(e) All (i), (ii) and (iii)
14) As per the recent newspaper report, Which of the following country became the fourth largest import source for India in FY23?
(a) Canada
(b) Ukraine
(c) UAE
(d) Russia
(e) France
15) CCI has approvedthe acquisition of _________ of the equity share capital in Mukand Sumi Special Steel Limited (MSSSL) by Jamnalal Sons Private Limited (JSPL) from Mukand Limited (Mukand).
(a) 6.66%
(b) 9.53%
(c) 4.16%
(d) 2.54%
(e) 5.51%
16) Recently, Which country has conducted the successful test launch of an “advanced” intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)?
(a) Russia
(b) France
(c) Spain
(d) Italy
(e) UK
17) Recently, Aerospace pioneer, Virginia Norwoodpassed away at the age of 86. She belongs to which country?
(a) USA
(b) UK
(c) France
(d) Canada
(e) Germany
18) The CGTMSE has upped the coverage ceiling under its Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme from ₹2 crore to ______ per borrower for credit facilities extended by lending institutions to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs).
(a) ₹5 crore
(b) ₹4 crore
(c) ₹7 crore
(d) ₹8 crore
(e) ₹10 crore
19) Rally driver Craig Breen has recently passed away at the age of 33. He belongs to which country?
(a) Norway
(b) Ireland
(c) Brazil
(d) South Africa
(e) Netherland
20) Every year, World Heritage Day (also known as International day for monuments and sites) has been celebrated on which of the following day?
(a) 16 April
(b) 17 April
(c) 19 April
(d) 15 April
(e) 18 April
Answers :
1) Answer: C
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched a pilot financing scheme Called Mission 50K-EV4ECO for better financing terms in the electric vehicle space (EVS) and to strengthen the whole ecosystem.
Aim :
To strengthen the EV ecosystem, including uptake for two, three and four-wheelers through direct and indirect lending.
The pilot scheme, which is the precursor to EVOLVE scheme by SIDBI-World Bank, has two components -direct lending and indirect lending.
This pilot will be followed by scaling up support to the ecosystem from multilateral support.
2) Answer: B
Chennai Metro Rail Ltd in association with the State Bank of India (SBI) (banking partner) launched the Singara Chennai Card (NCMC – National Common Mobility Card).
About Singara Chennai Card :
The technology for the RuPay NCMC cards has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
The card has a unique feature of a Stored Value Area which can be used to store a maximum amount of 2000 rupees that can be used for ticket purchases in Offline mode
The Singara Chennai cards can be used in Chennai metro stations, and at other metros that accept RuPay NCMC cards, including the MMRDA Mumbai Line 2A & 7; Bangalore Metro; Delhi Metro Airport Line; Kanpur Metro; and for BEST Buses in Mumbai and Kadamba Transport Buses in Goa
3) Answer: B
The State Bank of India (SBI) has reintroduced its special fixed deposit scheme, ‘Amrit Kalash’, for retail customers.
This 400 days term deposit offers a rate of 7.1% for the general customer and a 50 basis point (bps) higher (7.6%) for senior citizens
The scheme is available from April 12, 2023 till June 30, 2023.
Senior citizens will get additional interest of 50 basis points on the scheme.
India’s largest bank had first floated this scheme on February 15, 2023.
It was valid up to March-end 2023.
This scheme comes at a time when the banking system’s deposit growth is lagging credit growth.
Domestic retail term deposits, including non-resident Indian (NRI) rupee term deposits (less than Rs 2 crore), new and renewals, term deposits, and special term deposits are eligible for this specific tenure deposit scheme.
As of March 24, 2023, the banking system’s deposit growth was at 9.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) against credit growth of 14.5% y-o-y.
4) Answer: A
Northern Arc Capital,the technology-enabled diversified financial services platform has structured and arranged $20 million external commercial borrowings (ECB) funding from The Development Bank of Austria, OesterreichischeEntwicklungsbank AG (OeEB) for microfinance institution,CreditAccess Grameen Limited (CA Grameen).
This funding will be utilised by CA Grameen to provide micro-loans to women borrowers from low-income households for income-generating activities, thereby promoting their access to formal financing.
The fundraise comes close on the heels of CreditAccess Grameen’s first ESG fundraise from Swedfund International AB qualifying under the 2X Challenge in 2021.
As a part of the deal process, Northern Arc assisted CreditAccess Grameen in end-to-end Indian financial market scoping, credit analysis, due diligence, transaction structuring and execution.
Northern Arc is a technology-enabled diversified financial services platform that provides credit to MSMEs, households, financial institutions and emerging businesses.
MD & CEO of Credit Access Grameen : Udaya Kumar Hebbar
5) Answer: C
Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has envisaged a special project called ‘The Language Friendship Bridge’ to expand India’s cultural footprint in nations with whom it has historical ties.
India is planning to create a pool of experts in languages spoken in countries like Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan and Indonesia to facilitate better people-to-people exchanges.
It plans to train five to 10 people in the official languages of each of these countries.
As of now, the ICCR has zeroed in on 10 languages: Kazakh, Uzbek, Bhutanese, Ghoti (spoken in Tibet), Burmese, Khmer (spoken in Cambodia), Thai, Sinhalese and Bahasa (spoken in both Indonesia and Malaysia).
6) Answer: B
Ghana has become the first country in the world to receive regulatory approval to market the malaria vaccine R21/Matrix-M developed by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom (UK).
Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority has granted clearance for the use of R21/Matrix-M vaccine.
The vaccine was manufactured by the Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd and submitted through the local agent DEK Pharmaceutical Ghana.
The Serum Institute of India, a leading biotechnology company, has the capacity to produce over 200 million doses of the R21 vaccine on an annual basis.
Key Highlights :
The vaccine has exceeded the World Health Organization’s (WHO) efficacy target of 75%, and will be given specifically to children aged 5–36 months who are at highest risk of death from malaria.
According to the WHO, an estimated 619,000 people died from malaria in 2021, most of them were children in sub-Saharan Africa.
7) Answer: D
Japan, India and France have announced a common platform for dialogue between bilateral creditors to coordinate debt restructuring of Sri Lanka.
This will help in solving the debt crisis of middle-income economies.
It is historic to start the negotiation process with such a broad-based group of lenders.
In Mar 2023, Sri Lanka took a 2.9-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with the huge debt burden.
Key Highlights :
Only low-income countries can apply for debt relief under the G-20’s general framework.
Countries with middle income economies cannot take advantage of this arrangement.
This has put pressure on major economies to come up with an alternative plan, leading to the creation of new platforms.
Sri Lanka owes 7.1 billion dollars in debt to bilateral creditors.
8) Answer: C
Cyclone Ilsa hit a remote stretch of coast in Western Australia near Port Hedland.
The speed of the wind was 218 kilometres per hour-kph (135 mile per hour-mph)onBedout Island just off the coast.
It is the strongest cyclone to hit the region in the last 14 years.
Australia uses a five-tier system to categorise cyclones.
Cyclone Ilsa has been kept in category three.
Cyclones are common on the west coast of Australia.
Tropical Cyclone Monica was the strongest cyclone to hit Australia.
9) Answer: C
Himachal Pradesh (HP) celebrated its 75th anniversary of formation on April 15, 2023.
Chief Minister Shri Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu is presiding over the State level function being held for the first time in 75 years in Kaza in the tribal district of Lahaul-Spiti.
Key Highlights :
In the event, cultural troupes from the districts of the state presented a colourful program which also included the famous Cham dance of Spiti.
On this occasion, the CM also honoured people for their excellent services in various fields.
History :
Himachal Pradesh came into existence on 15th April, 1948.
It was declared a Union Territory (UT) on November 1, 1956.
In 1966, the hilly areas of Punjab were also included in Himachal Pradesh.
Himachal Pradesh was granted full statehood on January 25, 1971 and was the 18th state in the country.
10) Answer: A
The Northeastern state of India, Assam’s Bihu dance (traditional folk dance of Assam) made it to the Guinness World Records with a performance by 11,304 dancers and 2,548 drummers at the Sarusajai Stadium in Guwahati, Assam.
The Bihu performance set two world records, one for the largest traditional dance, and the second record was for the largest musical instrument group.
Bihu dance is a traditional folk-dance performed especially during Bohag Bihu or Rongali Bihu, the spring festival of Assam that marks the beginning of the Assamese New Year.
11) Answer: E
Naveen Jindal promoted Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) will commission a 1.2 million tons per annum (MTPA) rail and heavy structure modern mill at Angul in Odisha, at an estimated cost of ₹3,000 crore.
The new mill will take the steelmaker’s total rail-making capacity to 2.2mn t/yr.
The steel maker owns and operates 1 MTPA rail mill at its Raigarh unit, in Chhattisgarh, where it manufactures speciality rails like 1175 HT, R350 HT, asymmetric rails, and 1080 HH (head hardened) rails for the Railways, metro projects and high-speed freight corridors.
The company’s speciality rails are used in projects of civil-military importance (in India) including in areas of remote connectivity such as the Udhampur -Srinagar -Baramulla Rail link project (USBRL) in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and the Sivok-Rangpo Project in West Bengal (WB).
Currently, there are 51 steel plants in Odisha with a production capacity of 33.1 MTPA.
12) Answer: C
Truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland has launched its e-marketplace ‘Re-AL’ for used trucks.
The marketplace seeks to facilitate customers in exchanging used commercial vehicles and upgrading them to new Ashok Leyland trucks and buses.
The e-marketplace seeks to offer customers a range of features to easily find vehicles of their choice, such as verified vehicle images, validated documents as well as evaluation reports.
Additionally, easier options have been given for sellers to list their vehicles for liquidation
13) Answer: A
India’s imports in Financial Year 2023 (FY23) rose 16.5 per cent to $714 billion as against $613 billion in FY22 while exports saw a rise of 6% to $447 billion in FY23, up from $442 billion in FY22.
This was revealed by the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently.
India’s CAD stood at $18.2 billion or 2.2 per cent of GDP in the quarter ended December 2022.
Total goods exports in 2022-23 rose 6.03% to $447.46 billion.
In comparison to goods exports, services exports are estimated to have grown by 26.79 per cent.
Overall export of goods and services together scaled “new heights” and has increased by 14 per cent to $770 billion in 2022-23.
India’s exports is largely led by petroleum ($94 billion), followed by electronic goods ($23 billion).
14) Answer: D
Russia has moved up 16 ranks to become the fourth largest import source for India in FY 2022-23, with a 369.4 per cent increase (year-on-year) to $46.33 billion, comprising primarily crude and petroleum products, while its share in India’s imports expanded to 6.5 per cent from 1.6 per cent in the previous fiscal.
China’s share in India’s exports in FY2022-23 shrunk to 13.79 per cent from 15.43 per cent in the previous fiscal, but it retained its position as the top import source for the country.
India’s imports from China rose 4.16 per cent to $98.51 billion.
The top destinations for Indian exports in FY2022-23 included the US with exports valued at $78.31 billion, the UAE at $31.33 billion, the Netherlands at $20.90 billion, China at $15.32 billion, Singapore at $11.95 billion, Bangladesh at $11.67 billion and the UK at $11.46 billion.
The UAE was the second largest import source for India during FY2022-23 at $53.24 billion (growth of 18.75 per cent). India’s FTA with the UAE signed last fiscal is likely to have contributed to the rise, the source added.
It was followed by the US, which shipped goods worth $50.24 billion to India in FY2022-23, posting an increase of 15.98 per cent over the previous fiscal.
15) Answer: E
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approves the acquisition of 5.51% of the equity share capital in Mukand Sumi Special Steel Limited (MSSSL) by Jamnalal Sons Private Limited (JSPL) (Acquirer) from Mukand Limited (Mukand).
About JSPL :
JSPL is an unregistered core investment company holding shares in various Bajaj Group Companies.
It is primarily an investment and lending company.
About MSSSL :
MSSSL is engaged in the business of manufacturing, marketing, selling, distribution etc of special and alloy steel hot rolled bars and hot rolled wire rods.
16) Answer: A
The Russian defence ministry has conducted the successful test launch of an “advanced” intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The missile was launched from the Kapustin Yar test site in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region.
Purpose :
To test advanced combat equipment of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
This launch made it possible to confirm the correctness of the circuit design and technical solutions used in the development of new strategic missile systems.
The missile hit the target at the Sary-Shagan training ground in Kazakhstan.
17) Answer: A
Virginia Norwood, an American aerospace pioneer who invented the scanner that has been used to map and study the earth from space for over 50 years, has passed away at the age of 86 in Topanga, Calif.
About Virginia Norwood :
Virginia Tower was born on January 8, 1927, at Fort Totten in New York City, United States (US).
She was best known for her contribution to the Landsat program,having designed the Multispectral Scanner which was first used on Landsat 1.
The scanner has been used for more than 50 years for scanning safe landing sites and mapping our planet from space.
For this invention, NASA has called her “the mother of Landsat.”
In the 1950s and ’60s, she was working at Hughes Aircraft Company, developing instruments.
The Landsat satellites, speeding 438 miles above the surface, orbit the earth every 99 minutes and have captured a complete image of the planet every 16 days since 1972.
18) Answer: A
The Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) has upped the coverage ceiling under its Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme from ₹2 crore to ₹5 crore per borrower for credit facilities extended by lending institutions to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs).
CGTMSE, set up by the Government of India and SIDB I provide guarantee to enable MSEs access credit, reduction in guarantee fee for loans up to ₹1 crore to bring down the cost of credit and doubled the threshold limit for waiver of legal action by lenders while invoking guarantee to ₹10 lakh per claim.
The changes are effective April 1, comes when the loan growth to the MSE segment slowed to 13.2 per cent year-on-year as on February 24, 2023 against 24 per cent y-o-y as on February 25, 2022.
19) Answer: B
Ireland’s top rally driver Craig Breen has passed away at the age of 33 in an accident, due to a crash while driving his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 rally car in a testing session for the 2023 Croatia Rally.
Breen won the WRC Academy Cup in 2011, winning his first event at the 2011 Rallye Deutschland.
He won the 2012 Super 2000 WRC, scoring class wins in the Monte Carlo Rally, Wales Rally GB, Rally France and the Rally of Spain.
20) Answer: E
Every year April 18th is celebrated as World Heritage Day or International day for monuments and sites.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites encourages cultural heritage and a range of the world’s monuments and heritage sites on this day.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites 1982 suggested that April 18 should be celebrated as World Heritage Day.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization in its 22nd general conference in 1983 approved the date.
Since thenInternational Council on Monuments and Sites every year suggests a theme for the celebrations.
This day is not just about the listed sites but all cultural heritage landscapes of global state and local significance.
