Dear Readers, Here we have given the list of Important Weekly Current Affairs of Apr 01st to 07th Apr 2023. Candidates those who are preparing for Upcoming SBI Clerk 2023 and other competitive exams can make use of it.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

• On April 1st, 2023, Utkal Diwas or Odisha Foundation Day is celebrated all over the state of Odisha, India
• On April 2nd of this current year World Autism Awareness Day 2023 is observed all over the world

• International Day for Mine Awareness 2023 is observed all over the world on April 4th.
• Every year, National Maritime Day in India is celebrated on 5th of April.
• World Health Day 2023 is observed all over the world on 7th April.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

• Prime Minister inaugurates the Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference at IARI Campus, PUSA New Delhi
• Income Tax Department has extended the due date to June 30 from the earlier deadline of March 31.
• The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) carried out its 78th round of the Multiple Indicator Survey (MIS)
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the final final report of the sixth assessment cycle.
• India has become the first country in the world to estimate the Tuberculosis (TB) burden in-country and launch its own mathematical system to estimate the disease burden.
• The Centre announced that it has increased the upper age limit by 5 years of the ombudsman of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) to 70 years
• Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav launched Aravalli Green Wall Project
• According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Global goods trade is expected to increase by 1% in the first quarter of 2023
• The Centre said the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate Scheme has been announced in the Budget with a deposit facility up to two lakh rupees in the name of women or girls for a tenure of two years at a fixed interest of 7.5 per cent
• Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw travelled on the first trial run of a track-mounted trolley on the world’s highest arch bridge constructed on the Chenab river
• The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has given the target to most of the airports to achieve 100 percent use of Green Energy by 2024 and Net Zero by 2030.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted India’s first public transport ropeway to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi
• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has formed a nine-member task force with the primary goal to make India a ‘product developer and manufacturing nation
• Govt has planned to borrow ₹88 Lakh Crore for the first half of the financial year 2023-24
• Ministry of Defence signed Rs 19,600 crore contracts for 11 Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPV) and 6 Next Generation Missile Vessels (NGMV)
• Sericulture Fair was organized at Yogiraj Baba Gambhirnath Auditorium
• Union Minister for Urban Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep S. Puri has said that by October 2024, a target has been set to make 1,000 cities in the country 3-star garbage-free cities
• The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has amended PNGRB (determination of natural gas pipeline tariff) under the mission of “One Nation, One Grid and One tariff
• In Union Budget 2023-24, Union Finance Minister Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman announced the revamping of Credit Guarantee Scheme for Micro & Small Enterprises with effect from 01.04.2023, with an infusion of Rs 9,000 crore to the corpus to enable additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of Rs. 2 lakh crore and the reduction in the cost of the credit by about 1 per cent
• Government has launched a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely, “New India Literacy Programme” (NILP) for implementation during five years from the FYs 2022-23 to 2026-27 with financial outlay of Rs.1037.90 crore out of which Rs.700.00 crore is Central share and Rs.337.90 crore is the State share
• Education Ministry selected 9000 schools for Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme
• Ministry of Commerce Piyush Goyal has unveiled Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023 to raise India’s goods and services exports to two trillion dollars by 2030

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• 26 per cent of the world's population does not have safe drinking water and 46 per cent lack access to safely managed sanitation, according to a report published by UNESCO at the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York

• United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mr Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan known by his initials MBZ, has appointed his eldest son Mr Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed as crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich capital of the Gulf state.
• The Second G20 Sherpas meeting under India’s G20 Presidency is scheduled to take place from March 30 to April 2, 2023, in Kumarakom, Kerala.
• The United States (US) Georgia Assembly has passed a resolution condemning Hinduphobia, making it the first American state to take such a legislative measure.
• Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced the creation of a new national airline called Riyadh Air.
• The United Kingdom (UK) has signed a deal to join a trade pact with 11 Asia and Pacific nations, 3 years after it officially left the European Union (EU).
• Finland becomes the 31st member of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), in a historic strategic shift provoked by Moscow's war on Ukraine, which doubles the US-led alliance's border with Russia.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE NEWS

• Bihar's West Champaran's 'Mircha' rice has been awarded the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has lauded the grant of the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Ladakh wood carving also known as ‘Ladakh Shingskos’
• The Banarasi Paan, celebrated in Amitabh Bachchan's iconic song ‘Khaike paan banaras wala’ received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the final final report of the sixth assessment cycle.
• On the beginning of the centenary of the Vaikom Satyagraha Tamil Nadu (TN) Chief Minister (CM) Shri M.K. Stalin announced that his government was planning a year-long celebration of the movement that was launched to end caste discrimination in a temple in colonial Kerala.
• With urban heat islands raising an alarm, in a first in India, Telangana is set to launch the Telangana Cool Roof Policy 2023-28 to reduce temperatures in Hyderabad and other urban areas in Telangana.
• Tiwa tribesmen celebrate Yangli festival in Karbi Anglong district of Assam.
• The Union Information and Broadcasting Minister congratulated Anjali Sharma of Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh (HP) for conquering South Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro peak wearing a Gaddi dress (Luanchadi).
• VA Tech Wabag Ltd, a Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN)-headquartered water technology focussed on municipal and industrial users, has bagged a design, build, operate (DBO) an order from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) for building a 400 million litres per day (MLD) sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant at a total cost of about ₹4,400 crore.
• Eravikulam National Park (ENP), the natural habitat of Nilgiri tahr in Munnar, has a new attraction a Fernarium setup inside the park.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

• EPFO has fixed 8.15% interest rate on employees’ provident fund deposits for 2022-23.
• Women own a little over one-third of deposit accounts but only one fifth of the total deposit amount in scheduled commercial banks, a report by the Statistics Ministry showed
• In order to limit the maximum rate of GST compensation cess on pan masala, cigarettes, the government has made amendments to the Finance Bill
• Mahindra & Mahindra said World Bank Group arm IFC will invest Rs 600 crore in a new unit of the company, which is being incorporated to scale up the last-mile electric mobility business
• The government has raised returns on most small savings schemes for the April to June quarter, barring the Public Provident Fund (PPF) whose returns have been static at 7.1% for the last three years
• Sagar-Setu app of National Logistics Portal (Marine) has been launched in New Delhi
• Employees contributing over ₹2.50 lakh to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will be liable to pay tax on interest even in case of death
• India's fiscal deficit for FY23 touched 14.54 trillion rupees in the 11 months through February - nearly 83% of annual estimates
• Nokia has changed its iconic logo after nearly 60 years to revamp its brand identity for the first time in the company’s history
• The combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) increased by 6.0 per cent (provisional) in February 2023 as compared to the Index of February 2022.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND ECONOMY

• Public sector lender Union Bank of India (UBI) becomes the first bank in the country to open a Special Rupee Vostro Account (SRVA) through its corresponding bank in Malaysia i.e. India International Bank of Malaysia (IIBM). 
• Geojit Credits, a non-banking financial company, announced the launch of ‘Loan Against Mutual Fund’ (LAMF). 
• Bank of Maharashtra (BoM), a premier public sector bank in the country, has inaugurated its first dedicated Branch for start-ups at Pune,Maharashtra.
• The World Bank has lowered its forecast for India's economic growth in the current fiscal year that started on April 1 to 6.3% from 6.6%.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) slashed its India growth forecast for FY24 to 6.4% from 7.2% estimated earlier, citing risks arising from global and domestic factors.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rejected all bids received for the 91-day Treasury bill (T-bill) for the first time since February 2016.
• The World Bank’s (WB) Board of Executive Directors approved a USD 100 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to help Odisha strengthen its early forecasting systems for improved disaster response.
• Public sector banks (PSBs) could recover only 14% of the written-off loans worth Rs 7.34 lakh crore in the last 5 years ending March 2022
• The World Bank has approved a USD 363 million loan to Karnataka under “Karnataka Sustainable Rural Water Supply Program” (KSRWSP)
• The Centre has increased the upper age limit by 5 years of ombudsman of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) to 70 years.
• The State Bank of India (SBI) has announced a donation of ₹48 lakh for the plantation of 32,000 tree saplings at Garden City University, Bengaluru, in association with an NGO, That’s Eco Foundation, as part of its corporate social responsibility.
• The Union Ministry of Finance has increased the interest rates on various small savings schemes between 10-70 basis points (bps) for the first quarter (Q1) of the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) starting from April 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023.
• Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank and Shriram Housing Finance Limited (SHFL), a leading Affordable Housing Finance Company, announced a strategic partnership under the co-lending model through the Yubi Co.Lend platform.
• The State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest financial institution, announced the launch of its coffee table book ' The Banker to Every Indian,' which celebrates 75 years of India's independence and SBI's glorious 200-year history.
• Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co Ltd (ABHICL), a part of Aditya Birla Capital Ltd.’s (ABCL) health insurance joint venture, announced a bancassurance collaboration with public sector lender UCO Bank for the distribution of health insurance products through the bank’s branches across India.
• Godrej Capital Limited, the financial services arm of the Godrej Group has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the State Bank of India (SBI) to strengthen their partnership, where the bank would provide various financial products and offerings.
• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) announced that Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation of India Limited (GIC Re), and New India Assurance Co are still considered Domestic Systemically Important Insurers (D-SIIs) for the financial year 2022-23.
• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), in collaboration with Airtel, has launched WhatsApp Banking Services for IPPB customers in New Delhi, enabling them to access banking services on their mobile phone.
• India's fiscal deficit for FY23 touched 14.54 trillion rupees in the 11 months through February - nearly 83% of annual estimates.
• Ambit Finvest has partnered with SKALEUP, the digital technology services arm of Bajaj Finserv Direct, to develop a D2C (direct-to-customer) instant loan application to give business loans to MSME (Micro Small & Medium Enterprises) business owners
• The world’s second largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, announced that AMNS Luxembourg Holding SA, the parent company of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India), has entered into a $5 billion loan agreement with a consortium of Japanese banks to finance the company's expansion plans in India.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a 15.6 billion United States (US) dollar support package for Ukraine to assist with the conflict-hit country’s economic recovery.
• According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) India's current account deficit (CAD), which is the difference between the inflow and outflow of foreign exchange, has narrowed to $18.2 billion or 2.2% of Gross domestic product (GDP) in the October to December quarter (Q3FY23) from 4.4% of the GDP in the quarter ending September.
• DBS Bank India has launched an innovative investment solution, ‘digiPortfolio’, on its digibank platform.
• The capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) imposed restrictions on placement of bids, price and volume on companies going for buyback of securities through stock exchange route.
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has directed all investors to link their Permanent Account Number (PAN) with their Aadhaar numbers by Mar 31, 2023 for the continuation of seamless transactions in the securities market.
• Walmart-owned fintech company PhonePe has launched a new consumer-facing application, Pincode, which will be integrated into India's Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) framework.
• Karur Vysya Bank Ltd. (KVB) has entered into a pact with SBI Life Insurance to market the latter’s insurance schemes through its branches.
• HDFC Bank has launched Regalia Gold Credit Card, a super-premium credit card in its Regalia range of credit cards.
• India’s largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI), has once again extended the SBI “WECARE” Senior Citizens’ Term Deposit programme.
• SBM Bank India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of foreign lender State Bank of Mauritius (SBM), has blocked the corporate credit cards it offered in partnership with several fintech players in India following a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) diktat to update their 'know your customer' (KYC) details.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

• Having being awarded Guinness World Records and two Asia Book of Records earlier, Maha Metro Nagpur was honoured with the prestigious Asia Book of Records certification for three different categories
• J&K’s Aaliya Mir gets Wildlife Conservation Award
• Students’ Welfare Mission, popularly known as Tapoban, has won the Children’s Champion Award 2023
• Nepalese Wicketkeeper-batsman Aasif Sheikh has been declared the winner of the 2022 Christopher Martin-Jenkins Spirit of Cricket Award
• India’s e-commerce market is projected to grow from $83 billion in 2022 to $150 billion in 2026, according to FIS 2023 Global Payments Report
• Mayurbhanj district of Odisha has been listed by TIME Magazine among the 50 extraordinary destinations to explore in its list of the World’s Greatest Places of 2023

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

• Sudha Shivakumar has been appointed as the 40th National President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Ladies Organization (FLO), a women-led and women-focused business chamber from South East Asia for the term 2023-24.
• Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL) announced the appointment of Mr Kenichi Umeda as its new Managing Director (MD).
• Axis Securities Limited has appointed Mr Pranav Haridasan as its new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for a tenure of 3 years.

• The former Ambassador of Israel to India Mr Ron Malka has been appointed as Executive Chairman of Haifa Port Company (HPC), which is owned by a consortium of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) and Israel’s Gadot Group.

• SpiceJet’s chairman & managing director Mr Ajay Singh has assumed charge as the president of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
• The Vice-President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the Chancellor of Panjab University appointed Prof. (Dr.) Renu Cheema Vig, as the Vice Chancellor of Panjab University.
• Star Sports, India’s Home of Sports, announced Bollywood superstar and sports aficionado Ranveer Singh as its brand ambassador.
• Retirement fund manager Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) approved appointment of UTI AMC and SBI Mutual Fund as its fund managers for 3 years.
• Tata Power Company Limited (TATA Power) has re-appointed Mr Praveer Sinha as the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director for a period of 4 years from May 1, 2023, to April 30, 2027.
• An Indian-origin software and robotics engineer Mr Amit Kshatriya has been appointed as first head of American space agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA's) newly-established Moon to Mars Programme.
• PTC India Limited, the leading provider of power trading solutions in India, announced that Dr Rajib Kumar Mishra has taken over as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the company.
• Vice-Admiral Mr Sanjay Jasjit Singh became the new Vice-Chief of Naval Staff (VCNS) of the Indian Navy.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed Mr Neeraj Nigam as the new Executive Director (ED).
• Mr Gianni Infantino was re-elected as the president of Fédération internationale de football association (FIFA) until 2027 at the 73rd Congress of the body in the Rwandan capital Kigali.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING AND REPORTS

• According to the Hurun Global Rich List released Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani became the only Indian to feature in the list of top 10 billionaires across the world
• According to the annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Report 2021-22, agriculture sector has the highest estimated percentage distribution of female workers followed by manufacturing
• The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi has entered the list of top 50 institutions for engineering in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023

CURRENT AFFAIRS: ENVIRONMENT

• A Moray Eel fish of the Genus Gymnothorax has been discovered by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) from the Cuddalore coast, Tamil Nadu
• In another major achievement in the animal science field after getting success in buffalo cloning, the National Dairy Research Institute (ICAR-NDRI) has become the first institute in the country to produce a cloned calf of cattle

CURRENT AFFAIRS: ACQUISITION AND MERGERS

• Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has increased its shareholding in BATA India.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOUS AND AGREEMENT

• The Ministry of Rural Development has signed MoUs with 19 ‘Captive Employers’ for the training and placement of 31,000 rural youths under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY).
• Vedanta's Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) for the development of world’s 3rd largest cricket stadium in the village Chonp in Jaipur
• NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC Green Energy Limited, has signed Term Sheet with Green ko ZeroC Pvt Ltd (A Greenko Group Company) to Supply 1300 MW Round the Clock RE Power for powering Greenko’s upcoming Green Ammonia Plant at Kakinada, India

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE NEWS

• The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed 3 contracts at a total cost of nearly 5400 crore for Indian Army (IA) & Indian Navy (IN) under Buy (Indian – IDMM (Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured) category to bolster the defence capabilities of India.
• The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) conducted Regional Search and Rescue (SAR) exercise during 28 -29 March 2023 at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh (AP).
• The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed contracts with Indian shipyards for acquisition of 11 Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPV) and 6 Next Generation Missile Vessels (NGMV) at an overall cost of approx. Rs 19,600 crore, in a huge boost to achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence,
• Ministry of Defence (MoD) inked a contract with BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL) for procurement of Next Generation Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries (Long range) {NGMMCB (LR)} and BrahMos Missiles at an approximate cost of over Rs 1,700 crore under Buy (Indian) Category.
• The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a contract with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bangalore, Karnataka for procurement of 13 Lynx-U2 Fire Control Systems for Indian Navy at a total cost of over Rs 1,700 crore under Buy {Indian – IDMM (Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured)} category.
• The 10th Edition of Indian Navy(IN)- Sri Lanka Navy(SLN) bilateral maritime exercise SLINEX-2023 is scheduled at Colombo, Sri Lanka from 03 - 08 April 2023.
• The Indian Air Force (IAF) and the US Air Force (USAF) are set to conduct the Cope India exercise from April 10 to 21,2023 at the Kalaikunda airbase in West Bengal.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• The private space vehicle company Skyroot Aerospace has test-fired its 3D-printed Dhawan II engine for a duration of 200 seconds in Telangana.

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released images of Earth captured by the Earth Observation satellite (EOS-6) satellite.
• Nokia has announced plans to launch a 4G mobile network on the moon.
• The Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has successfully conducted a field firing test of its latest 3rd generation man-portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM), Amogha-III. 
• Hyderabad based Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) entered into a partnership with the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), Bhubaneswar, an Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Institute for the commercial development of vaccines against Hemorrhagic Septicemia, also called Aeromonas Septicemia, Ulcer Disease or Red-Sore Disease in freshwater fish.
• Amazon.com plans to launch its first internet satellites to space in the first half of 2024 as it prepares to vie with Elon Musk's SpaceX and others to provide broadband internet globally.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out the landing experiment of the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD) programme at the Aeronautical Test Range in Challakere, Karnataka.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPS AND PORTALS

• BharatPe cofounder Ashneer Grover’s new venture Third Unicorn Pvt Ltd has launched a fantasy sports app Crickpe – almost a week ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament
• The Prime Minister has launched an app called 'Call Before u Dig’.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS NEWS

• Germany's World Cup-winning midfielder Mesut Ozil announced his retirement from football at the age of 34
• The Krishna Prakash set another record by swimming from the Gateway of India (located on Chhatrapati Shivaji Marg in South Mumbai) to the famous Elephanta Caves

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BOOKS AND AUTHORS

• Ghulam Nabi Azad's autobiography "Azaad" will be released on April 5 in New Delhi.
• Penguin Random House India (PRHI) announced, the English version of Nepali novel "Phoolange" will be released on April 17

CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES

• Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP), Girish Bapat, passed away, at the age of 73.
• Veteran Malayalam novelist, short story writer & two-time Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award winner Sarah Thomas passed away at the age of 88 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
• Oscar-winning Japanese pop pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto has passed away at the age of 71 in Tokyo, Japan.
• Former India all-rounder Salim Durani has passed away at the age of 88 in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
• An actor in the popular HBO series The Wire, Lance Reddick, passed away. at the age of 60.