Top GKToday’s News Headlines-18 April 2020

April 18, 2020

Here are Top GKToday’s News Headlines for 18 April, 2020

INDIA

COVID 19: DRDO develops Automatic Mist Based Sanitiser Dispensing Unit and UV Sanitisation Box & Hand-held UV device
IIT Ropar designs ‘WardBot’ to deliver food, medicines to COVID-19 patients in isolation wards without human intervention
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launches “Kisan Rath” Mobile App to facilitate transportation of foodgrains and perishables during lockdown

ECONOMY & CORPORATE

RBI cut reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 3.75%; benchmark repo rate kept unchanged at 4.40%
The cut in reverse repurchase rate is to discourage banks from parking cash with the RBI and encourage them to lend
RBI raises Ways and Means Advances limit for States by 60% over and above the level as on 31 March 2020
RBI announces TLTRO 2.0 (targeted long-term repo operation) for Rs 50,000 crore, targeted at lower-rated debt instruments from NBFCs and HFCs
RBI lowers liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) for banks to 80% from 100%
LCR requires banks to hold enough high-quality liquid assets such as short-term government bonds
RBI allows NBFCs to extend the date for commencement of commercial operations (DCCO) for loans given to commercial real estate by additional one year without considering it as restructuring
RBI allows NBFCs to extend the date for commencement of commercial operations (DCCO) for loans given to commercial real estate by additional one year without considering it as restructuring
In relief to borrowers and banks, RBI exempts accounts with moratorium benefits from asset recognition norms for 90 days
RBI announces Rs 50,000 crore special refinance facilities for NABARD (Rs 25,000 crore), SIDBI (Rs 15,000 crore), & NHB (Rs 10,000 crore)
RBI debars commercial and cooperative banks from paying dividends to shareholders and promoter groups
NCAER’s Business Confidence Index (N-BCI) declines to 77.3 in Q4 of 2019-20 from 111.2 in Q3
India’s GDP growth may slide to 1.1% in 2019-20: SBI Ecowrap report
Foreign exchange reserves up by USD 1.815 billion to USD 476.475 billion for the week to April 10

WORLD

NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan, Jessica Meir and Russian space agency Roscosmos’ Oleg Skripochka return to earth from the International Space Station after more than 200 days in space