Dear Readers, Here we have given the list of Important Weekly Current Affairs of Apr 15th to 21st Apr 2024. Candidates those who are preparing for Upcoming SBIClerk 2024 and other competitive exams can make use of it.

Weekly Current Affairs April 15th to 21st PDF Download

CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

• World Haemophilia Day is celebrated on April 17th every year.
• Every year, April 18th is celebrated as World Heritage Day or International Day for monuments and sites.
• Every year April 21st is celebrated as National Civil Service Day.
• The annual event of World Earth Day falls on April 22 &the theme is Planet vs Plastics.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BANKING & FINANCE

• The Manila-based lending agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) stated that the inflation rate in Pakistan is expected to be 25% in the current fiscal year(2024) -the highest in all of Asia.
• HDFC ERGO General Insurance has launched Paws n Claws, an extensive insurance policy specifically designed for pet dogs and cats.
• Leading private life insurer Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has collaborated with Meta (formerly known as Facebook) to introduce premium payment options on WhatsApp.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked lenders to provide ‘key fact statement’ (KFS) to the borrowers of all new retail and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) term loans sanctioned on or after October 1, 2024, including fresh loans to existing customers.
• In a significant move, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has placed several constraints on the Mumbai-based Sarvodaya Co-operative Bank.
• Punjab National Bank (PNB), one of the largest Public Sector Banks in India, celebrated its 130th Foundation Day in the city and across the country.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth projection for 2024-25 by 30 basis points to 6.8% in its update to the World Economic Outlook (WEO).
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued draft rules to regulate point-of-sale payment service providers (PA-P) after releasing guidelines for online payment aggregators like Razorpay and Cashfree.
• Global ratings firm Fitch has affirmed the ratings of several public sector banks and maintained a stable outlook for them, Fitch has affirmed the ratings of Canara Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda New Zealand, Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, and Bank of India New Zealand at BBB-.
• India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC), announced its strategic partnership with Bank of India (BOI), one of India's largest public sector banks, to offer innovative mortgage guarantee-backed home loan products.
• BNP Paribas, the largest bank in the eurozone, has agreed to purchase a 9% stake in Belgian insurer Ageas from China's Fosun Group for approximately 730 million euros ($780 million), becoming the largest shareholder in Ageas.
• Paytm owner One97 Communications (OCL) received approval from the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) to start the user migration from the existing Paytm Payments Bank UPI handle to the new Payment System Provider (PSP) bank handles.
• ICICI Lombard, the largest private sector general insurer, reported an 9% increase in its net profit for the March quarter, reaching Rs 520 crore compared to Rs 437 crore in the year-ago period.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued two draft directions regarding the regulation of Payment Aggregators (PA), specifically focusing on physical Point-of-Sale (PoS) activities, net worth requirements, and licensing prerequisites.
• The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India (GoI) launched the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) on April 1, 2013, by restructuring the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY).
• The share of senior citizen term depositshasdoubled in the last five years to 30 per cent in fiscal year 24 as many have locked in their savings at higher interest rates before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) starts cutting rates.
• Interest subvention scheme on Credit to Women Self Help Group (SHG) during the year 2024-25 for all Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks and Small Finance Banks in all districts.
• According to the Reserve Bank of India's report-Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks' Outlook 2022-23, the advances of Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) to the priority sector surged more than 27% in the financial year 2023, compared to the previous year.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed penalties totalling Rs 60.3 lakhs on 5 cooperative banks i.e. Rajkot Nagarik SahakariBank :Rs 43.30 lakh, Kangra Co-operative Bank (New Delhi), Rajdhani Nagar Sahkari Bank (Lucknow), and Zila Sahakari Bank, Garhwal (Kotdwar, Uttarakhand): Rs 5 lakh, District Co-operative Bank (Dehradun):Rs 2 lakh for contravention of various regulatory norms.
• NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited. (NBBL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), in association with State Bank of India (SBI), has onboarded SBI National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) on its Bharat BillPay platform for the convenience of travellers.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has expanded hedging options for resident entities by allowing them to hedge exposure to gold price risk using Over-the-Counter (OTC) derivatives in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), in addition to derivatives on exchanges.
• The Finance Ministry has notified a new Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit for various satellite-related activities under the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-Debt Instruments) Rules.
• Aditya Birla Capital has introduced its omnichannel Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) platform called ABCD, aiming to simplify finance with the tagline "Everything Finance as Simple as ABCD".
• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will review its decision to implement a 30% cap on the market share of payment players offering Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services by the end of 2024.
• Bengaluru-based fintech unicorn Cred received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its Payment Aggregation (PA) business.
• Bank credit grew by 16% during the fiscal year, the highest growth rate in the last 10 years, indicating a stronger appetite for lending among banks.
• South Indian Bank has signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland Limited for financing their dealers under the Bank’s dealer finance program.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

• The government has asked all the e-commerce companies to remove drinks and beverages, including Bournvita, from the health drinks category from their portals.
• India may boost the sale of green bonds this fiscal year to finance sustainable infrastructure projects riding the increased global interest in Indian government securities & the government, which has already decided to borrow ₹12,000 crore via green bonds in the first half of FY25, may borrow a total of ₹20,000 crore–25,000 crore through such bonds during the full year.
• India has added a record renewable energy capacity of 18.48 GW in 2023-24, which is over 21 per cent higher than 15.27 GW a year ago, according to the latest data of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.
• India and Mauritius recently signed an amendment to their Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) that includes a principal purpose test (PPT) aimed at preventing tax avoidance.
• India remains the top choice for enterprises looking to expand their digital services portfolio and companies are expected to increase spending on AI, data analytics and cybersecurity, according to industry body Nasscom.
• Ramkrishna Forgings Ltd has received an order of Rs 270 crore from a consortium led by BHEL to supply bogie frames of Vande Bharat train sets.
• India donated 35 ambulances and 66 school buses to various organisations across Nepal, enhancing the local infrastructure in the health and education sectors.
• The Indian government announced an increase in the windfall tax on petroleum crude& Effective from April 16, the tax rate has been raised to 9,600 rupees ($114.99) per metric ton, up from the previous rate of 6,800 rupees.
• India has lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000, according to the latest data from the Global Forest Watch monitoring project.
• To promote the global brand of Kasturi Cotton, the Center will set up dedicated testing laboratories in six states i.e Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, and Karnataka.
• The central government-owned news television channel DD News has undergone a makeover by changing the colour of its logo from bright red to beaming saffron.
• The government has notified specifications of a new product 'Nano Urea Plus' fertiliser to be manufactured by cooperative IFFCO in the country in the next three years.
• Industry body PHDCCI came up with 10 key enablers to help India become a “developed country” (Viksit Bharat) by 2047 and ramp up its per capita income to $21,000 by that year.
• For the first time in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, seven members of the Shompen tribe, a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTGs) of Great Nicobar Islands exercised their voting rights for the lone Lok Sabha seat in the union territory.
• Amara Raja Infra Pvt Ltd has secured a 700 MWp solar project from Greenko in Andhra Pradesh.
• Archer Aviation, backed by Stellantis and Boeing, aims to begin trials of its electric air taxi in India next year, ahead of a planned commercial launch in 2026.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

• The annual rate of inflation based on all India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) number is 0.53% (Provisional) for March, 2024 (over March, 2023).
• India’s exports are estimated to reach 776.68 billion dollars in financial year 2023-24, surpassing last year’s highest record.
• Brokerage firm Groww emerged as the largest broker in India with a market share of 23.4 per cent and an active client base of 5 million in the Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24).
• Hong Kong's securities regulator approved the first spot bitcoin and ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a milestone on the way to becoming Asia's first city to accept the popular cryptocurrencies as a mainstream investment tool.
• UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its report released that India grew by 6.7 per cent in 2023 and is expected to expand by 6.5 per cent in 2024, continuing to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) upped its growth projection for India by 30 basis points to 6.8 per cent for the current fiscal year.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

• The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has chosen Kristalina Georgieva to serve as the IMF Managing Director for a second consecutive 5-year term, commencing on October 1, 2024.
• In a significant development, Senior Bureaucrat Vandita Kaul, a seasoned professional with a wealth of experience in financial services and banking, has been appointed as the Secretary of the Department of Posts& She will succeed Vineet Pandey upon his superannuation.
• Arjun Mohan, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Byju’s India, resigned from his position a little over 6 months after he took over, with founder Byju Raveendran resuming daily operational responsibilities.
• Fintech firm BharatPehas elevated its interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and chief financial officer Nalin Negi to full-time chief executive officer.
• The Central Government has given Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Saurabh Garg the additional charge of Secretary of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• Vivek Aggarwal, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been granted a 6-month extension on his additional charge as Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-India).
• The UCO Bank Board elevated Rajesh Upadhyay, Zonal Head, Bhopal Zonal Office to General Manager of the Bank.
• Vice Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, currently serving as the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, has been appointed as the next Chief of the Naval Staff by the Government of India (GoI).
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of 3 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers to the Additional Secretary level positions.
• Rakesh Kumar Verma:Rakesh Kumar Verma, a 1993-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary in the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• Suman Billa : Suman Billa, a 1996-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism.
• Aradhana Patnaik:Aradhana Patnaik, a 1998-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary in the Department of Health & Family Welfare.
• Himani Pande:Himani Pande, also a 1998-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
• Kamal Kishore Soan:Kamal Kishore Soan, a 1998-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Labour & Employment.
• Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will step down from his position on May 15, after two decades in office &Lawrence Wong will succeed him as the next Prime Minister.
• Indian Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan has been appointed as an ambassador for the Bundesliga Dream India project.
• Intel, a leading United States (US)-based semiconductor company, has appointed Santhosh Viswanathan as the Managing Director for its newly established India region.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of Ajith Kumar K.K as the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Dhanlaxmi Bank for 3 years with effect from the date of taking charge & Kumar is set to succeed K. Shivan, whose term was set to end on 29 January 2024.
• OpenAI has hired Pragya Misra as its first employee in India, appointing her as the head of government relations.
• The Government has approved the appointment of Narpat Singh from the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) to the post of Railway Adviser in the High Commission of India, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

• The US President’s Gold Volunteer Service Award was presented to India's Jain spiritual leader Lokesh Muni.
• Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Trust has announced the annual Dr Malcolm Adiseshiah National Award 2024 for two professors.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

• Ashok Soota-promoted Happiest Minds Technologies has executed a share purchase agreement to acquire 100% equity interest in Macmillan Learning India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Macmillan Group, USA, for cash consideration of ₹4.5 crore.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOUS AND AGREEMENT

• Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, for cooperation in Research and Technology/Product Development — in the areas of Semiconductors, Quantum Technologies and Drones.
• Engineers India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Detect Technologies for real-time artificial intelligence (AI) based monitoring of construction sites.
• Jio Financial Services and BlackRock Group have entered into a 50:50 JV for wealth management and broking businesses.
• State-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) has signed an agreement with Noida International Airport to construct a pipeline for jet fuel supply.
• Veranda Learning Solutions Ltd. (VLS) announced that its subsidiary Veranda XL Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd. had entered into a business transfer agreement with Kochi-based Logic Management Training Institute Pvt. Ltd. to acquire the latter’s business with effect from April 1.
• ReNew Energy Global (ReNew) signed an initial agreement with JERA, Japan’s largest power generation company, to jointly evaluate developing a green ammonia production project in India.
• Deloitte India has announced an alliance with Yotta Data Services to provide clients access to NVIDIA GPU computing infrastructure and accelerate the development of new AI applications.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING AND REPORTS

• Delhi airport has been named among the world's top 10 busiest airports for 2023 in a list topped by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
• The United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) State of World Population - 2024 report -- "Interwoven Lives, Threads of Hope: Ending Inequalities in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights" -- revealed that India's population is estimated to double in 77 years.
• Even as the retail inflation rate in the country eased to a 10-month low of 4.85 per cent, it was the highest in Odisha among major states in March.
• Hindustan Zinc Limited a Vedanta group company in the zinc-lead-silver business has now become the 3rd largest silver producer globally as per the World Silver Survey 2024 conducted by ‘The Silver Institute’, USA.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : DEFENCE NEWS

• The defence ministry has issued a tender to state-run plane-maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the proposed acquisition of 97 light combat aircraft (LCA Mk-1A) to strengthen the Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) capabilities at a time the force is grappling with a shortage of fighter squadrons.
• The 5th edition of the 'Dustlik' Joint Military Exercise between India and Uzbekistan is scheduled to take place in the Termez District of Uzbekistan for a duration of 14 days, starting from April 15, 2024 to 28 April 2024.
• Man Portable Anti-tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) Weapon System, indigenously designed and developed by the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), has been field evaluated in different flight configurations several times to prove the technology with high superiority.
• Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), the premier shipbuilding yard in the country set up in 1941, has initiated the construction of India's first indigenously designed Fleet Support Ship (FSS) for the Indian Navy, marking a significant milestone.
• A state-of-the-art Submersible Platform for Acoustic Characterisation and Evaluation (SPACE) was inaugurated by the Secretary, the Department of Defence (R&D) and Chairman of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Dr Samir V Kamat at Underwater Acoustic Research Facility, Kulamavu in Idukki, Kerala.
• The Indian Army and Indian Air Force (IAF) celebrated the 40th anniversary of Operation Meghdoot (Cloud Messenger), which commenced on April 13, 1984.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful flight test of the Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile (ITCM) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• Command Hospital, Pune has become the first government hospital across the country to procure and conduct such implants.
• President Joe Biden announced that Japanese astronauts would participate in future National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) lunar missions, emphasizing closer ties between the United States (US) and
• Russia successfully test-launched its Angara-A5 space rocket for the first time from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS NEWS

• Third seeds Arjun Kadhe and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan beat second seeds Piotr Matuszewski and Matthew Romios 7-6(5), 6-4 in the doubles final of the $82,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
• Indonesian shuttler Jonatan Christie captured his first continental title by beating home favourite Li Shi Feng in the men’s singles final at the 2024Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, People's Republic of
• Stefanos Tsitsipas completed a Monte Carlo Masters trophy hat-trick, holding off Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-4 in a display of “ruthless” tennis.
• Indian grapplers Radhika and Shivanee Pawar won silver and bronze medals respectively at the 2024 Asian Wrestling Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
• A dominant Mohun Bagan defeated Mumbai City FC 2-1 to win their maiden ISL League Shield.
• Mykolas Alekna broke the longest-standing world record in men's athletics, producing a mammoth 74.35-meter discus throw to shatter the nearly 38-year-old previous best mark.
• In Chess, India’s D. Gukesh stayed on top of the leaderboards after playing out a draw against the joint leader Ian Nepomniachtchi in round ten of the FIDE Candidates 2024 at the Great Hall in Toronto, Canada.
• Three-time World Champion Rashmi Kumari beat K Nagajothi 25-8, 14-20, 25-20 in the women’s final of the 51st National Carrom championship organised by the Madhya Pradesh Carrom Association.
• The Indian team has secured 2 Silver and 2 Bronze medals in the 13th European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO) 2024 held in Tskaltubo, Georgia.
• 29-year-old former world champion Kento Momota announced that he was retiring from badminton, citing mental and physical issues amid a lean patch at the highest level.
• Balraj Panwar secured India’s first Paris Olympicsquota in rowing by securing third position in the men’s single scull event of the 2024 World Asian and Oceanian Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta at Chungju in South Korea.
• In wrestling, India’s star woman grapplers, Vinesh Phogat, Anshu Malik, and Reetika Hooda, clinched the Paris Olympics 2024 quota at the Asian Olympic qualifiers in Kyrgyzstan’s Bishkek.
• In the Candidates Chess Tournament, India’s D. Gukesh produced another brilliant victory in the 12th round, defeating the bottom-placed Nijat Abasov at the Great Hall in Toronto, Canada.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BOOKS AND AUTHOR

• Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie’s memoir "Knife" has been released.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : OBITUARIES

• Derek Underwood, England's best spinner in the post-World War II era, who gave a torrid time to the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, passed away at the age of 78.
• Acclaimed Carnatic musician K.G. Jayan, the father of front-line Malayalam actor Manoj K. Jayan, passed away at the age of 90.
• Bernd Hoelzenbein, the 1974 World Cup-winning striker for Germany, passed away at the age of 78.
• The former England batter Raman Subba Row passed away at the age of 92