Aam Aadmi Party returns to power for 3rd consecutive term in Delhi
Aam Aadmi Party has come back to power in Delhi for the third term, winning Assembly elections with a thumping majority of 62 out of 70 assembly seats. This is for the second time that the party has swept the election-winning more than two-third of the seats.
Bhartiya Janata Party has won 8 seats, five more than the last assembly. However, the party managed to increase its vote share by over 6 percent from last elections.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal dissolved the Sixth Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. A new order will be issued for the formation of the Seventh Legislative Assembly.
Amazon Web Services to invest $1.5 b for two data centres in India
E-commerce major Amazon’s cloud computing arm AWS (Amazon Web Services) is reportedly investing about $1.5 billion to set up two data centres in India. These data centres will come up in Hyderabad, where it already has a huge presence. The US-based firm is in the process of getting statutory clearances from the State and Central governments to set up the datacentres.
AWS is a major player in cloud computing services.
BSNL, Air India, MTNL highest loss-making PSUs for third consecutive year: Survey
ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation and NTPC were the top three profitable PSUs in 2018-19, whereas BSNL, Air India and MTNL incurred highest losses for a third consecutive year, according to a survey tabled in Parliament.
The Public Enterprises Survey 2018-19, which maps the annual financial performance of all central PSUs, revealed that the top 10 companies in the red claimed a whopping 94.04 percent of the total losses made by all the 70-loss making CPSEs during the year.
The top three profit making PSUs including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation and NTPC contributed 15.3 per cent, 9.68 per cent and 6.73 per cent, respectively to the total profit earned by all profitable CPSEs.
Total income of all CPSEs during 2018-19 stood at Rs 24,40,748 crore compared to Rs 20,32,001 crore in 2017-18, showing a growth of 20.12 per cent.
As per the survey, there were total 348 CPSEs (central public sector enterprises) as on March 31, 2019 out of which 249 were operational. The remaining 86 were under construction and 13 were under closure or liquidation.
Covid-2019 is official name for disease caused by new coronavirus says WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the official name for the disease caused by the new coronavirus is Covid-2019. It comes after the death toll from the virus passed one thousand. Tens of thousands of people have been infected.
The word coronavirus refers to the group of viruses it belongs to, rather than the latest strain. Researchers have been calling for an official name to avoid confusion and stigmatisation of any group or country.
First Part of Budget Session of Parliament concludes
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till 2nd March. They were adjourned after completion of the general discussion on Union Budget 2020-21 in the first part of the Budget session. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replied to the discussion on Union Budget in both the houses.
The minister asserted that the government has maintained fiscal discipline under its regime. Ms. Sitharaman said, the nominal GDP of the country has increased from two trillion dollars in 2014-15 to 2.9 trillion dollars by 2019-20. She said the GST collection has been consistently improving and one lakh crore mark has been surpassed in the last six months of current fiscal.
Gulmarg all set to host five day National Winter Games from March 7
World-famous Ski destination Gulmarg is all set to host a five-day national winter games event from 7th March under the banner of Khelo India.
There will be 30 events under five major activities- snowboarding, snow skiing, cross country, snow show in which 800 players from across India would participate.
IDBI Bank again posts loss
IDBI Bank posted a net loss of Rs. 5,763 crore for the quarter ended December 31,2019 on account of a one- time hit of Rs. 6,273 crore for exercising the option for lower tax, compared with a loss of Rs. 4,185 crore reported during the same period of the previous year. The bank had reported Rs 3,458.84 crore loss in the September quarter.
Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) for the quarter fell to 28.72 per cent from 29.43 per cent in September quarter and 29.67 per cent in the year-ago quarter.
Infosys to buy US firm Simplus for $250 million to accelerate cloud capabilities
Infosys Ltd informed the stock exchanges it will acquire Simplus, one of the fastest growing Salesforce platinum partners in the US and Australia for up to $250 million. The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.
Iraqi capital Baghdad receives 2nd snowfall in a century
Iraqis awoke to see Baghdad covered in snow for the first time in more than a decade. The last recorded snowfall in Baghdad was in 2008, but that was brief and mostly slushy. Before that, it had been a century since the capital saw any snowflakes.
Moody’s downgrades Indusind Bank to ‘negative’
Moody’s Investors Services has revised the outlook on IndusInd Bank ratings to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’, while affirming the private lender’s ratings, to account for the risk of further asset quality deterioration.
The ratings agency noted that over the last few quarters, the bank has seen a deterioration in its asset quality, particularly in the corporate segment. Tight refinancing conditions for borrowers were a key trigger for the crystallisation of nonperforming loans (NPLs).
In particular, the bank has a relatively higher exposure to real estate compared to other banks at around 8% of its loan book at 31 December 2019.
The bank could also be negatively impacted by the ongoing stress in the telecommunications sector, the report added.
New Zealand clinch three-match ODI series against India at Mount Maunganui
New Zealand defeated India by five wickets in the third ODI Cricket and clinched the series 3-0 at Mount Maunganui. India posted a challenging 296 for 7 but the Kiwis overhauled the target with 17 balls to spare. This is first whitewash that India has suffered in an ODI series in more than a decade.
Sophie Devine becomes 1st cricketer to hit 5 successive 50-plus scores in T20Is
New Zealand captain Sophie Devine became the first international cricketer to score five consecutive 50-plus consecutive scores in Twenty20 International cricket. Sophie achieved this feat when she played a brilliant knock of 105 against South Africa in her side’s 69-run win.
Sophie had scored 72 against India last February and followed it up with unbeaten 54, 61 and 77 earlier in the series against South Africa.
SPG only secures PM, CRPF covers 56 VIPs: Govt
The Special Protection Group (SPG) only has the prime minister under its cover while the CRPF secures 56 important people in the country, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday. According to a recent amendment in the SPG Act, the force now protects the prime minister and members of his immediate family residing with him at his official residence.
Sudan to hand over Ex-Prez Omar al-Bashir to International Criminal Court
Sudan’s rulers have agreed to hand over ex-President Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face genocide and war crimes charges. Bashir is accused of serious crimes in a conflict that broke out in Darfur in 2003 which led to the deaths of three lakh persons.
Syndicate Bank’s Q3 profit rises fourfold
Government-owned Syndicate Bank said its net profit in the October to December quarter (Q3 FY20) increased four-fold to Rs 435 crore from Rs 108 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year on declining bad loans.
Gross bad loans or non-performing assets (NPAs) came down to 11.33 per cent of gross advances as on December 31, 2019, from 12.54 per cent at the end of the same month a year ago.
The bank made higher provisioning of Rs 1,287 crore for bad loans during the quarter as compared to Rs 910 crore in Q3 FY19.
US approves sale of Integrated Air Defence Weapon System to India
The US has approved the sale of an Integrated Air Defence Weapon System to India for an estimated cost of $1.9 billion to modernise its armed forces and to expand its existing air defence architecture to counter threats posed by air attacks.
The IADWS package includes a range of sensors, weapons systems, and support equipment. This announcement comes shortly before an anticipated trip to India by U.S. President Donald J. Trump later this month. Trump is expected to visit India for a two-day trip between February 23 and 26
