today's GK

Canara Bank is conducting “due diligence” of the beleaguered Amanath Cooperative Bank, considering a possible takeover, said R.K. Dubey, chairman and managing director of Canara Bank on Saturday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a media conference convened to announce the bank’s financial results, Mr. Dubey said, “The due diligence process is expected to be completed in 15 to 20 days.”

Asked if Canara Bank is under pressure to take over the cooperative institution, Mr. Dubey said, “We are aware of its problems, but somebody has to bail it out.”

Asked whether the bank, which has been slapped with a moratorium by the Reserve Bank of India against allowing withdrawals of more than Rs. 1,000 by depositors, would not become a burden, Mr. Dubey said, “Of course, we are aware of the moratorium by the Central bank, but we will also consider other factors, including how many (loan) accounts are secured, before we take a decision on the matter.” He said he was aware the cooperative bank was saddled with “some NPAs”. “But we are also aware that the institution has a network of 16 metropolitan branches and ATMs,” he added.

Jet Airways launched week-long sale of low-fare domestic tickets.The one-way economy fares would be 1777 rupees, 2777 rupees and 3777 rupees for sectors less than 750 km, between 750-1,000 km and over 1000 km respectively. Fuel surcharge would be part of the ticket cost but the passenger would have to pay the applicable taxes. The tickets would be non-refundable and a date change would be permitted at a charge of 1200 rupees per sector, as per the existing practice. The Jet move is a limited-period bonanza to attract more passengers during the lean season when air traffic is low.

In spite of financial trouble, the Indian airline industry has been experiencing, the low-fare war between airlines has never abated in the past months, with the latest initiator being SpiceJet earlier this year with other airlines following suit. Jet's decision to offer low fares indicated an improvement in its cash flow following its stake sale deal with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.

Though the Jet-Etihad deal is yet to get the nod of the Union Cabinet, Jet in February concluded sale and leaseback of three pairs of its slots at London Heathrow airport to Etihad at a price of around 70 million US dollars.

World’s first talking robot Kirobo was successfully sent into space on 4 August 2013 by Japanese Scientists. The robot was sent by H2B rocket from the island of Tanegashima. The rocket carried food, water and other supplies. Kirobo will serve as a companion for Japanese astronauts.

Kirobo was put through a series of zero-gravity and other safety tests prior to sending him into space. Kirobo is 34 centimetres tall and can speak Japanese. It will provide emotional support for people in space.

The main features of kirobo are as following:-
• Kirobo will talk to JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata when he arrives at the space station in November 2012.
• The name of Kirobo is a merging of Kibo and robot.
• Kirobo was designed by scientists and engineers at the University of Tokyo.
• It is equipped with voice-recognition and face-recognition technology, as well as a camera, emotion recognition software and natural language processing.

Arundhati Bhattacharya on 2 August 2013 was appointed the managing director and chief financial officer of the State Bank of India(SBI). She is the first managing director at SBI which is India's largest bank. Arundhati succeeded Diwakar Gupta who retired a couple of days ago.
The SBI has four managing directors, five deputy managing directors and 18 chief general managers apart from its chairman. Its other managing directors are A. Krishna Kumar, Hemant G. Contractor and S Visvanathan. SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri will be retiring in September 2012.
There are several other women who have made it to the top in domestic banking and financial services.

The list of women occupying major posts in domestic banking and financial services;
• Chanda Kochhar is the managing director & CEO of ICICI Bank,
• Shikha Sharma heads Axis Bank while Naina Lal Kidwai is the country head of HSBC India.
• Kalpana Morparia is the chief executive officer at JP Morgan India Pvt Ltd.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also had women occupying top posts.
• Shyamala Gopinath, K.J. Udeshi and Usha Thorat have all been deputy governors.
• Vijayalakshmi R. Iyer is the chairperson and managing director of Bank of India.
• Archana Bhargava is the chairperson & managing director of United Bank of India and S.A. Panse heads Allahabad Bank.

India on 3 August 2013 created history by recording their first-ever five-match ODI series whitewash on foreign soil. The Indian team, under Virat Kohli, achieved the feat when they thrashed Zimbabwe by 7 wickets in the fifth and final one-dayer at Bulawayo. Sent in to bat first, the hosts made a paltry 163 in 39.5 overs. India overhauled the target of 164 by making 167 for three in 34 overs.

Earlier, Man of the Match Amit Mishra notched up a career-best six-wicket haul in the Zimbabwe innings. Claiming 18 wickets in the series, the leg spinner also equalled the world record of compatriot Javagal Srinath for most wickets in a bilateral ODI series.