Current Affairs 15th July 2019

Current Affairs 15th July 2019 - Important Points

• Who has been appointed World Bank MD and CFO ? - Anshula Kant
• Indian Duo win Bronze Medal at World Tour Platinum Australian Open in - Australia
• Which film won best Feature Film award at SAARC film festival ? - Nagarkirtan
• Extension of market hours  recommended by - RBI’s Working Group

Current Affairs 15th July 2019 - Details

Who has been appointed World Bank MD and CFO ? - Anshula Kant

Anshula Kant, MD, SBI, has been designated as MD and CFO of World Bank. She will be the first female Chief Financial Officer of World Bank. Her designation was declared by David Malpass, World Bank’s President.
Significant Highlights

• Since September 2018 she has been a Managing Director and member of the World Bank Board.
• While performing her role as Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer, Anshula Kant will be
  answerable for financial and risk management of World Bank Group and will report World Bank’s
  President.
• Among other significant management responsibilities, her functioning will be risk management and
  oversight of financial reporting. She will also work closely with World Bank CEO on mobilization
  of International Development Association and other financial resources.
• International Development Association is a member of World Bank Group. It is an International financial institution that suggests concessional loans and grants to world’s poorest developing nations.
  More about Anshula Kant
• She is a Graduate in Economic Honours from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi and
  Post-Graduate in Economics from Delhi School of Economics.
• She has offered post of Chief Financial Officer of SBI. As State Bank of India’s Chief Financial
  Officer, she handles 38 dollar billion of revenues and sum assets of 500 dollar billion World Bank.
• She has above 35 years of expertise in finance and banking sector. Stewarding SBI, she greatly
  enhanced capital base and attentive on long-term sustainability of organisation within her mandate.
• She has detained direct responsibility for State Bank of India’s Risk, Compliance and Stressed Asset
  Portfolio and headed creation of several investment opportunities while authorizing risk management via bank.

Indian Duo win Bronze Medal at World Tour Platinum Australian Open in - Australia

The Indian pair of G. Sathiyan and Anthony Amalraj secured Bronze Medal in Men’s Doubles at
World Tour Platinum Australian Open Table Tennis 2019 organised in Geelong near Melbourne,
Australia.
Significant Highlights

• The duo went down with 12-14, 9-11, 8-11 against top seed Korean pair of Jeoung Youngsik and
  Lee Sangsu.
• The Korean pair could not be pinned-down despite being stretched in first game.
• The Indian duo G. Sathiyan and Anthony Amalraj fought really well before bowing out in semi-finals.
  This was India’s 1st ever Medal in Australian Open, which is a Platinum programme.
• This lone Bronze Medal was only silver lining as other Indians failed to cross preliminary-round
  hurdles in all events. This comprised Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan as the only 2 Indians who could
  make it to third round of qualifying matches in men’s singles prior bowing out.
  More about 2019 ITTF World Tour
• It is 24th edition of International Development Association’s professional table tennis world tour. It
  is planned from 17th January 2019 to 15th December 2019.
• Total number of Tournaments are 12+ Grand Finals.
• The tournaments in 2019 tour is further divided in 2 Categories-

1. World Tour (6)
   2. World Tour Platinum (6) which offers higher prize money and extra points towards the International
   Development Association World Tour standings. The points gained determine qualifiers for
   International Development Association World Tour Grand Finals in December 2019.

Extension of market hours  recommended by - RBI’s Working Group

An Internal Working Group of Reserve Bank of India on Comprehensive Review of Market Timings has recommended calibrated extension of Currency Market- Foreign Exchange Market hours, from 9am to 9pm for both Over the Counter and Exchange Traded. Presently, the markets close at 5pm.
Significant Highlights of Draft Report
As per to the draft report planned by Reserve Bank of India’s working group, although extension of
market timings is anticipated to deliver advantages including upgraded onshore price discovery,
better pricing of post-market hours information and possible shift of offshore volumes to onshore
however, there is a view that it may demand higher costs to shareholders.
The central bank is in process of revising and rationalising Forex regulations so as to deliver
flexibility in operation in currency markets, which would permit calibrated extension of market
timings.
Recommendations by Working Group-

Call Market’s timings could be prolonged till 6pm. As Real Time Gross Settlement-RTGS system is
operational till such time.
For Bond Market, on account of lack of demand from partakers group suggested that the
government bond market timing can be retained and the market be closed at 5pm.
For G-Sec Trading, presently there have been no requests from any market participants pursuing
extension of market hours for G-sec trading.
Most of the Foreign portfolio investments, investing in India already have Asian base and therefore
the internal group signifies that ranging timings may not lead to larger volume and indicates that
feedback from market also supports that present timings are above adequate.
Moreover, regarding products, involvement and position both for residents and non-residents,
extension of market hours would complement these policy measures.

Which film won best Feature Film award at SAARC film festival ? - Nagarkirtan

Director Kaushik Ganguly’s Bengali outing Nagarkirtan, has won big prestigious 2019’s SAARC film festival, taking 4 awards in total, including Best Feature Film.
Significant Highlights
Nagarkirtan, is a love story of a trans-female and flautist, starring Riddhi Sen and Ritwik Chakraborty.
It is a censoriously applauded film that swept many National Awards in 2018.
Nagarkirtan was bestowed with Best Feature Film, Best Original Score awards, Best Director and
Best Actor.
More about SAARC Film Festival

• It is organised by South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Cultural Centre.
  Present year is 9th edition of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation film fest held in
  Colombo, Sri Lanka.
• South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Film Festival has made a reputation as being
  very significant platform and focal point for promoting and celebrating some of the best films from
  South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation region.
  SAARC Film Festival 2019
• It will emphasis on movies directed in South Asia and first screened after 1st May 2017.
• 2 other Indian movies secured awards at 2019 edition of festival.
• Best Short Film’ award for Na Bole Wo Haram, which is a 20 minutes movie by debutant director
  Nitish Patan.
• Special Jury Award for Direction and Story award for ‘Walking With the Wind’, by Praveen
  Morchhale.