General CA-Sep-2023

General CA-Sep-2023

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Miscellaneous Events

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das ranked top central banker globally

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has been ranked as the top central banker globally by US-based Global Finance magazine. He has been rated ‘A+’ in the Global Finance Central Banker Report Cards 2023. He has been placed at the top of the list of three central bank governors who have been rated A+. Grades are based on a scale from A to F for success in inflation control, economic growth goals, currency stability, and interest rate management. Switzerland Governor Thomas J Jordan and central bank chief of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong follow Das.

Roberto Campos Neto of Brazil, Amir Yaron of Israel, Harvesh Kumar Seegolam of Mauritius and Adrian Orr of New Zealand.

Shaktikanta Das was conferred on the award of ‘Governor of the Year’ at London’s Central Banking Awards 2023 in June

Bhargav Dasgupta steps down as MD & CEO of ICICI Lombard General Insurance

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company announced the resignation of its MD & CEO Bhargav Dasgupta. Dasgupta, who was appointed as the MD & CEO of the general insurer in May 2009, served the company for over 14 years. Following the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced the appointment of Bhargav Dasgupta as vice-president for Market Solutions for three years. In his new role at ADB, Dasgupta will oversee the operations of its Private Sector Operations Department and the Office of Markets Development and Public–Private Partnerships.

ADB:

1. Headquarters: Mandaluyong, Philippines
2. Founded: 19 December 1966
3. President: Masatsugu Asakawa
4. Membership: 68 countries

Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch steps down

Rupert Murdoch has resigned as chairman of Fox Corp and News Corp marking the end of an over 70-year career during which he built a business empire stretching from Australia to the US. His older son, Lachlan Murdoch, 52, will become sole chairman of News Corp and will continue as Fox Corp’s executive chair and CEO which finally settles all questions of succession within the Murdoch family. The Fox founder’s decision to step down comes just months after his news network paid over $787. 5 million to settle a defamation suit filed by voting equipment company Dominion. Murdoch is also the owner of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.

Fox Corporation:

1. Founded: March 19, 2019
2. Founder: Rupert Murdoch
3. Headquarters: New York City, U. S.

Ex-Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang quits as cloud division head

Alibaba’s former chief executive Daniel Zhang has unexpectedly stepped down as head of the company’s cloud computing division. The move comes as part of a leadership transition at Alibaba, which had already said that Zhang would cede the position of group chair to co-founder Joseph Tsai and would hand over the role of group chief executive to Eddie Yongming Wu. Zhang, who was Alibaba’s chief executive for eight years. Wu will now take over as head of the cloud division, one of China’s largest by market share. Zhang took over from Alibaba’s charismatic co-founder Jack Ma as chief executive in 2015, and as chair in 2019.

Uday Kotak resigns as CEO of Kotal Mahindra Bank

Uday Kotak, the founder and promoter of Kotak Mahindra Bank, has stepped down from his role as Managing Director & CEO. Kotak, who has played a pivotal role in the institution’s growth over the past 38 years, will continue to be associated with the bank as a Non-Executive Director. His term as Non-Executive Director will extend for a period of five years, not liable to retire by rotation. Dipak Gupta, who has been a fulltime director of the bank since January 1999 and was designated as the Joint Managing Director on January 1, 2012, will take on the duties of Managing Director & CEO as an interim arrangement. This arrangement is set to continue until December 31, 2023, subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India and the bank’s members.

Indore has been adjudged the best Smart City while Madhya Pradesh has been chosen as the top state in the Smart Cities Mission.

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry named Indore the best city and Madhya Pradesh the best state in the Smart Cities Mission in its India Smart Cities Awards 2022. Surat and Agra were named second and third best among cities and Tamil Nadu second in states, with the third prize being shared by Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. A total of 66 winners in different categories were announced the awards would be presented by President Droupadi Murmu at a ceremony in Indore on September 27. The cities were selected based on their ranking in terms of progress of projects,project outcomes and presentations submitted for the awards. Indore has topped the cleanliness rankings under the Swachh Bharat Mission, being named the cleanest city for the past six years in a row. Madhya Pradesh, too, won the tag of the cleanest state in the Swachh Survekshan 2022. In the Smart Cities awards, Indore had shared the first place with Surat last time. In the Smart Cities Awards 2022, Coimbatore’s project of model roads, restoration and renovation of lakes was ranked the best in the category of built environment, while Jabalpur won the award for its incubation centre in the economy category. Chandigarh’s public bike sharing and e-governance services won in the mobility and governance categories, respectively. Chandigarh also won the overall award in the Union Territory category.

Prosus & Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk steps down

Bob van Dijk, the CEO of Prosus and Naspers, is stepping down as CEO and board member of both companies. He is stepping down effective immediatelv after almost 10 ears of leadership. He will continue as a consultant to the group until September 30 2024. Meanwhile Ervin Tu has been named interim CEO of Naspers and Prosus.

Prosus & Naspers:

1. Industry: Investments
2. Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. Chairman: Koos Bekker
4. CFO: Basil Sgourdos

Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer Panos Panay Quits Company After 19 Years

Panos Panay, Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer (CPO) who leads Windows development and the Surface line, is leaving the company after 19 years. Notably, Mr. Panay joined Microsoft in 2004 as one of the company’s group program managers and became the person in charge of supervising the Surface hardware division as well as other products. He was named the company’s chief product officer in 2018 and was promoted to executive vice president after a successful Windows 11 launch in 2021.

Infosys only Indian firm in TIME magazine’s World’s 100 Best Companies list

IT giant Infosys is the only Indian company in TIME magazine’s World’s 100 Best Companies of 2023 list. Infosys has been placed at the 64th spot in the list that is topped by tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet and Meta Platforms. Infosys, which has an overall score of 88. 38, has an employee satisfaction rank of 103. Founded by seven engineers in 1981, Infosys is today the second-largest Indian IT company by 2020 revenue figures. TIME looked at three dimensions to identify the top-performing companies in the world: Employee Satisfaction, Revenue Growth, and Sustainability (ESG). Another Indian professional services company was featured among the top 200 on TIME’s World’s Best Companies 2023 list – Wipro ranked at 174.

The 10 best companies in the world accore to TIME:

1. Microsoft
2. Apple
3. Alphab Meta Platforms
4. Accenture
5. Pfizer
6. American Express
7. Electricite de Franc
8. BMW Group
9. Dell Technologies follow the tech giant.

Defence Exercise of the Month

SIMBEX

The Singapore – India annual Naval Maritime Bilateral Exercise between the Indian Navy and Republic of Singapore Navy has started. The SIMBEX enhances interoperability and mutual understanding between two navies. The Exercise is conducted in two phases. The Harbour Phase includes wide range of professional interactions, cross-deck visits, Subject Matter Expert Exchanges and sports fixtures. The Sea phase of SIMBEX includes exercises of air- defence, gunnery firing, anti-submarine and other maritime operations. Ranvijay, Kavaratti, and Sindhukesari, Long-Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft P81 participate in the exercise. SIMBEX is the longest naval exercise that Indian Navy has with any other country. Units of both the navies will hone their war-fighting skills with multi-discipline operations jointly in the Maritime domain.

ASEX-01N

Indonesia kicked off the first joint military drills by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc on Batam island amid rising maritime tension with China in the South China Sea region. The five-day ASEAN Solidarity Exercise-01 Natuna (ASEX-01N) exercise, will be held at Indonesia’s Natuna Islands near the South China Sea. Military personnel from all ASEAN member countries, including East Timor will participate. The non-combat drills are aimed at cooperation and strengthening strategic partnership among the member countries.

Indonesia:

1. Capital: Jakarta
2. President: Joko Widodo
3. Vice President: Ma’ruf Amin
4. Currency: Indonesian rupiah

Bright Star-23

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is participating in Exercise ‘BRIGHT STAR-23’ in Egypt. Contingents from the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Greece and Qatar are also part of this. This is for first time that when IAF is participating in this defence exercise. The Indian Air Force contingent will consist of five MiG29, two IL-78, two C-130 and two C-17 aircraft

INDIA-INDONESIA-AUSTRALIA

TRILATERAL MARITIME EXERCISE

Indian Navy’s indigenously built warship INS Sahyadri, participated in the maiden trilateral Maritime Partnership Exercise with the ships and aircraft from the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Indonesian Navy. The trilateral exercise provided an opportunity for the three maritime nations to strengthen their partnership and improve their collective capability to support a stable, peaceful and secure Indo-Pacific region. The exercise also provided the opportunity for the participating navies to benefit from each other’s experience and expertise. Complex tactical and manoeuvring exercises, cross-deck visits and crossdeck landings of integral helicopters were conducted for training of crew and enhancement of interoperability. INS Sahyadri, the third ship of the indigenously designed and built Project-17 class multirole stealth frigates was built at Mazagon Dock Ltd, Mumbai and is commanded by Capt Rajan Kapoor

YUDH ABHYAS

The 19th edition of YUDH ABHYAS will be conducted in Alaska, USA. It is an annual exercise conducted jointly by the Indian Army and the US Army. The Indian Army contingent comprising 350 personnel will participate in this edition of the exercise. The lead battalion from Indian side is affiliated to MARATHA Light Infantry Regiment. The both sides will practice a series of tactical drills to enhance interoperability in conducting UN peacekeeping operations. The exercise will also involve exchange of views and best practices in drills on a wide spectrum of combat skills, including combat engineering, obstruction clearance, mine and Improvised Explosive Devices warfare.

United States:

1. Capital: Washington, D.C.
2. President: Joe Biden
3. Vice President: Kamala Harris
4. Currency: US Dollar

Important Days of the Month – October