Dear Readers, Here we have given the list of Important Weekly Current Affairs of Apr 15th to 21st 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

• World Hemophilia Day is celebrated on April 17th every year & the theme is "Access for All: Prevention of Bleeds as the global standard of care".
• 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.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : NATIONAL NEWS

• The Centre has extended ceasefire agreements with three Naga groups National Socialist Council of Nagaland-NK (NSCN-NK), National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Reformation (NSCN-R) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland-K-Khango (NSCN-K-Khango) for one year.
• The Ministry of Steel approved 13 task forces for ‘Green Steel’.
• The Ministry of Education has released a pre-draft version of National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for School Education and has sought feedback from various stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, teacher educators, experts, scholars and professionals.
• The Finance Ministry has set up a four-member committee under the chairmanship of Finance Secretary TV Somanathan to suggest measures to improve the pensionary benefits of government employees covered under the National Pension System (NPS).
• The “Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative (APPI)” will be launched by the Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that rainfall will be 96% of the long-period average of 87 cm.
• The Central government has tightened the fund flow rulebook on Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) even further and for the first time has also brought in a ‘penal interest’ clause for delays in fund transfers by states.
• UGC released new regulations for the grievance redressal of students.
• 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.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).
• Union Minister of State for Tourism Shripad Naik inaugurated the Seven-day SCO Millets Food Festival.
• PM Modi will inaugurate Northeast’s first AIIMS in Guwahati.
• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) have collaborated to promote innovation in the agricultural sector.
• In a first-of-its-kind move, the Ministry of Railways has started using Harmonised System of Nomenclature (HSN) codes for the classification of commodities in freight transportation.
• The Government has set a seven-day timeline to report old invoices on e-invoice IRP (Invoice Registration Portal) for tax assessees having annual turnover of ₹100 crore or more.
• DRDO Industry Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE) has been inaugurated at the IIT Hyderabad (IITH).
• The Energy Transition Advisory Committee has recommended a ban on diesel four-wheelers from cities with a million-plus population by 2027.
• Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda has launched a new scheme “Marketing and Logistics Development for Promotion of Tribal Products from North -Eastern Region (PTP-NER)” in Manipur.
• President Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the five-day National Panchayat Awards Week & the theme of the National Panchayat Awards Week Celebrations is “Panchayaton ke Sankalpon ki Siddhi ka Utsav”.
• PM Modi will inaugurate the first Global Buddhist Summit in New Delhi.
• 'YUVA PORTAL' has been launched by Union Minister Jitendra Singh in New Delhi.
• The All-India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), under the Ministry of AYUSH, has organized a two-day national conference 'SRIJNA' on infertility in women in New Delhi.
• SC set up a five-judge Constitution bench to hear same-sex marriage petitions.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• 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).
• Japan, India and France have announced a common platform for dialogue between bilateral creditors to coordinate the debt restructuring of Sri Lanka.
• Cyclone Ilsa hit a remote stretch of coast in Western Australia near Port Hedland.
• India has made a generous contribution of $500,000 ( ₹09 crore) to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women.
• The 2023 Group of 7 (G7) Ministers’ Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment was held on 15-16 April, 2023 in Sapporo, Japan.
• Syria has become the largest 'narco-state' in the world.
• India celebrates a key milestone in its Group of Twenty (G20) Presidency with the hosting of its 100th G20 meeting, the Meeting of Agriculture Chief Scientists (MACS) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh (UP).
• Nepal has become a founding member of the International Big Cats Alliance initiated by India (IBCA), an initiative by the Government of India (GoI).

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BANKING & FINANCE

• DBS Bank India Limited, a 100% subsidiary of Singapore headquartered DBS Bank, will by June, 2023 roll out its proprietary credit cards.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has authorised private sector lender Karnataka Bank to collect direct and indirect taxes on behalf of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
• City Union Bank Limited (CUB) has launched India's first voice biometric authentication for logging into its mobile banking app.
• Canara Bank in partnership with NPCI Bharat BillPay (NBBL) has launched cross-border inward bill payment services for Indians based in Oman.
• The country’s largest private-sector lender, HDFC Bank, is planning to raise up to Rs 50,000 crore (about $6 billion) through bonds including additional tier (AT) I, tier II, and infrastructure bonds in the next 12 months.
• HDFC Bank has signed a “Master Inter Bank Credit Agreement” with Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) for a USD 300 million line of credit.
• HDFC Asset Management Company (AMC) has launched 3 index schemes – HDFC S&P BSE 500 Index Fund, HDFC NIFTY Midcap 150 Index Fund, and HDFC NIFTY Small-cap 250 Index Fund.
• Capital Market Regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) unveiled its new logo on its 35th Foundation Day at a ceremony conducted at the SEBI Head Office in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• Private sector lender YES Bank has become the first Indian company to have over 50 lakh shareholders, according to the shareholding pattern of the bank on March 31, 2023.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has simplified the application process for the registration of core investment companies (CICs).
• According to provisional data released by the General Insurance Council (GIC), India's non-life insurers reported growth in the high teens in fiscal 2023 due to robust performance across segments.
• Walmart Inc-owned Indian payments firm PhonePe had raised an additional $100 million (Rs 820 crore) from General Atlantic (GA) from United States (US) based private equity firm and other investors as part of its ongoing $1 billion fundraise to expand into the lucrative lending space.
• IRB Infrastructure Trust, sponsored by IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd was listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) becoming the first private InvIT to be listed.
• Go Digit General Insurance Ltd has refiled its preliminary IPO (Initial Public Offering) papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) after making certain changes to its employee stock appreciation rights scheme.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) notified a framework for the upfront collection of funds from eligible issuers of debt securities.
• Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched the pilot financing scheme Called Mission 50K-EV4ECO for better financing terms in the electric vehicle space (EVS) and to strengthen the whole ecosystem.
• 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).
• The State Bank of India (SBI) has reintroduced its special fixed deposit scheme, ‘Amrit Kalash’, for retail customers.
• 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, Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (OeEB) for microfinance institution,CreditAccess Grameen Limited (CA Grameen).
• HDFC Ltd stated that the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has cleared a proposal for change in control of HDFC Capital Advisors Limited (HCAL), a subsidiary of HDFC Limited and a co-investment portfolio manager subject to certain conditions.
• As per the India Digital Payments Annual Report for 2022 released by global payments player Worldline India, the most preferred medium for digital payments was Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in
• The South Indian Bank has launched 2 flexible saving products namely, SIB SEAFARER and SIB PULSE for its non-resident Indian (NRI) customers. 
• AU Small Finance Bank (AU SFB), India’s largest small finance bank, has become the first commercial bank in India to integrate with the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), to launch bill payment services through video banking. 
• Private insurer ACKO General Insurance in partnership with Ola Electric and Ather Energy launched an "Extended Battery Warranty" plan, targeting electric vehicle (EV) owners. 
• On the occasion of the Centenary year of the Karnataka Bank, the bank has launched a Special campaign "KBL Centenary Mahotsav" for Home loan from 17, April 2023 to 17 July 2023.
• IndusInd Bank’s GIFT City IBU (IFSC Banking Unit) branch has entered into a $100 million long-term loan agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to foster the growth of Japanese construction equipment companies in India.
• The board of the country's biggest lender State Bank of India (SBI) approved long-term fund raising of up to $2 billion (about Rs 16,000 crore) for FY24 through bonds.
• The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has constituted a 4 member working group on asset reconstruction companies (ARCs).
• Indian Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tamil Nadu (TN) e-Governance Agency (TNeGA), a state nodal agency under the Information Technology & Digital Services (IT&DS) Department Government of Tamil Nadu, for integrating Indian Bank Payment Aggregator for the e-Governance Applications of various departments in TN.
• RBL Bank has launched an innovative Digital Fixed Deposit (FD) scheme available to new-to-bank customers.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : STATE NEWS

• The famed Gond painting of Madhya Pradesh (MP) has received the prestigious Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
• The famous Cumbum Paneer Thratchai from Tamil Nadu, commonly known as Cumbum grapes has received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
• Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary of Uttar Pradesh (UP) has for the first time recorded photographic proof of
• Festivals of Vaisakhi, Vishu, Rongali Bihu, Naba Barsha, Vaisakhadi, Meshadi, Naba Barsha and Puthandu Pirappu are being celebrated in different parts of the country.
• Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah urged people to visit Kibithoo -“India’s first village” in Arunachal Pradesh to enjoy its natural beauty and take inspiration from its history.
• Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari inspected Zojila Tunnel ,Asia's longest tunnel which will establish all-weather connectivity between the Union Territories (UT) of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
• Telangana Chief Minister (CM) Shri K Chandrasekhar Rao unveiled the 125-ft tall bronze statue of BR Ambedkar in Hyderabad, to mark the 132nd birth anniversary of the architect of the Indian Constitution.
• Himachal Pradesh (HP) celebrated its 75th anniversary of formation on April 15, 2023.
• 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.
• 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 Chief Minister (CM) of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami launched ‘A-HELP’ (Accredited Agent for Health and Extension of Livestock Production) programme at Survey of India Auditorium Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
• The Andhra Pradesh (AP) government has renamed the proposed Bhavanapadu port in the Srikakulam district as Mulapeta greenfield port at the request of the locals.
• The government of Kerala, under Chief Minister Shri Pinarayi Vijayan has adopted a Water Budget, a first-of-its-type initiative in India to tackle water shortage in summer.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has granted site clearance for the Sabarimala Greenfield Airport Project in Kottayam, Kerala. 

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BUSINESS NEWS

• Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based retail inflation declined to 5.66 % in March 2023.
• Cost Inflation Index (CII) for Financial Year 2023-24 has been kept at 348.
• Miniratna Category-I Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) status has been accorded to Solar Energy Corporation of India.
• Truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland has launched its e-marketplace ‘Re-AL’ for used trucks.
• The Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) has upped the coverage ceiling under its Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme from ₹2 crores to ₹5 crores per borrower for credit facilities extended by lending institutions to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs).
• 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 $442billion in FY22.
• India's annual Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation declined to a 29-month low of 1.34 per cent in March 2023 as input prices continued to moderate.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the cost of KYC has reduced from ₹700 to ₹3 because of Aadhaar.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the re-appointment of Sanjay Agarwal as Managing Director (MD)& Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jaipur-headquartered AU Small Finance Bank for 3 years with effect from 19 April 2023 till April 18, 2026.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of Sekhar Rao as interim managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Karnataka Bank.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : AWARDS & HONOURS

• Renowned social worker and reformer Dattatreya Narayan Dharmadhikarialias Appasaheb Dharmadhikari will be honoured with the Maharashtra Bhushan Award by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
• Utsa Patnaik has been chosen for the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award 2023.
• Raj Subramaniam, the Indian-American CEO of global transportation giant FedEx, has been presented with the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest civilian award given by India to persons of Indian origin and Indian diaspora.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approves the acquisition of certain shareholding of BTS Investment 1 Pte. Ltd. (BTS Investment) &Bodhi Tree Systems VCC (BTS VCC) (Targets) by NBC Universal Media, LLC (NBC Universal) (Acquirer) a wholly-owned subsidiary of Comcast Corporation under Section 31(1) of the Competition Act, 2002.
• 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).

CURRENT AFFAIRS : DEFENCE NEWS

• The first phase of Exercise Cope India-23 (CI23) began at West Bengal’s Panagarh Air Force base, also known as Air Force Station Arjan Singh.
• The Indian Navy is set to collaborate with the Bengaluru, Karnataka-basedRaman Research Institute (RRI) to develop secure maritime communications using quantum technology.
• Indian Navy conducted the bi-annual coordinated exercise Prasthan along with other defence, state and civilian agencies in the offshore area development off Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• An Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent will depart for France, to participate in Multilateral Military exercise, Exercise Orion at Mont-de-Marsan, an Air Force base of the French Air and Space Force (FASF).
• The Indian Navy is procuring weapons and equipment worth more than USD 300 million (over Rs 2,400 crore) from the United States of America (USA). 

CURRENT AFFAIRS : MOU & AGREEMENTS

• The Department of Science and Technology signed an MoU with the Indian Navy for developing secure maritime communications.
• The National Mission for Clean Ganga has signed an agreement with 49 universities.
• The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai) has partnered with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) to build over 1,000 certified green projects across India in the next two years, and 4,000 projects by 2030.
• NHAI incorporated company Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) signed an MoU with the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve to carry out Electronic Tolling.
• Indian Oil Corporation is planning to set up a joint venture with US-based clean energy technology company LanzaJet Inc and multiple domestic airlines for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
• India has signed an MoU with the World Food Programme for sending 10,000 metric tonnes of wheat to the people of Afghanistan.
• The Tamil Nadu government signed a memorandum of understanding with a well-known footwear maker for an investment of ₹2,302 crore in the state.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• The European Space Agency (ESA) is all set to launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Juice, mission from its spaceport in French Guiana on an Ariane 5 launcher.
• Elena Geo Systems, a Bengaluru-based space technology company, launched Indigenous Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) chip at the Defence Space Symposium, to reduce dependence on the American Global Positioning System (GPS).
• The Russian defence ministry has conducted the successful test launch of an "advanced" intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
• Kenya successfully launched its first operational earth observation satellite, ‘Taifa-1 satellite,’ into orbit.
• NASA's asteroid-hunting spacecraft, Lucy, captured its first views of four Jupiter Trojan asteroids that are thought to be leftover from the formation of the solar system.
• Turkish President Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan unveiled Türkiye's largest warship and the world's first unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) carrier, TCG Anadolu, has been delivered to the country's navy.
• To show off its strength against the United States of America (USA) and South Korea's giant military exercise, North Korea tested its second nuclear-capable underwater attack drone “Haeil-2" test.
• The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore in collaboration with NASA-Caltech from the United States (US) and Sweden’s University of Gothenburg has developed a low-cost camera setup which can provide multispectral imaging of 4 chemical species in a flame using a single DSLR camera.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : RANKING & REPORTS

• Uttar Pradesh superseded Rajasthan and became the third state of the country in terms of a number of connections and tap water connections under ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’.
• India’s rank improved by six spots in the global Business Environment Rankings.
• India is ranked 5th in the list of countries with the most AI investment as per Stanford University’s annual AI Index report.
• Russia has moved up 16 ranks to become the fourth largest import source for Indiain FY 2022-23, with a 369.4 percent 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.
• World of Statistics has shared the ranking of the world's "most criminal countries", on the list, Venezuela has been ranked top, followed by Papua New Guinea (2), Afghanistan (3), South Africa (4), Honduras (5), Trinidad (6), Guyana (7), Syria (8), Somalia (9) and Jamaica (10),
• The US became India’s largest trading partner in FY23.
• Bengaluru with 29 million transactions worth USD 65 billion emerged on top in digital payment transactions.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BOOKS & AUTHORS

• Vinod Rai is the author of the book titled 'Transforming the Steel Frame: Promise and Paradox of Civil Service Reform
• The new book ‘Gandhi: Siasat aur Sampradayikata’ written by journalist, and writer Piyush Babel is available in Hindi.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SPORTS NEWS

• Peru was pulled out of hosting the men's Under-17 World Cup after FIFA stated that the country is not ready to hold the tournament later this year.
• New Zealand’s Kim Cotton becomes the first woman on-field umpire in full-member men's international cricket.
• Legendary Indian cricketers MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Mithali Raj, Suresh Raina and Jhulan Goswami have received the Honorary Life Membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
• Indian men’s football team jumped to the 101st position in the latest ranking released by football’s world governing body FIFA.
• A total of seven medals have been won by Indian women wrestlers at the Asian Wrestling Championships held in Astana, Kazakhstan.
• The Indian duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Harmanpreet Kaur has added another feather to their outstanding crown after bagging the Wisden Almanack's leading cricketer in the World awards.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : OBITUARIES

• Former Mahindra Group chairman and industrialist Anand Mahindra’s uncle Keshub Mahindra has passed away at the age of 99
• A renowned theatre artist and co-founder of Delhi’s Akshara Theatre Jalabala Vaidya passed away at the age of 86.
• Noted actress and theatre artist Uttara Baokar passed away at the age of 79 in Pune city of Maharashtra.
• Veteran Liberation Warfighterand legendary public health activist Zafrullah Chowdhury passed away at the age of 81 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• 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.
• 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.