India

Q 1. For what reason did the Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan stopped using the Jaguar Portfolio car bought for her official use ?

Ans. She found the back seat uncomfortable with less leg room

Q 2. This is a 1938 advertisement for a product, where Rabindranath Tagore is endorsing a brand. Name the brand .

Ans. Cadbury’s Bourn-Vita

Q 3. The current stock market rally is limited to a few stocks even within the large cap category. The stockmarket watchers in India have come up with their own acronym not unilke FAANG in the US. They call it HRITHIK . If the two Hs are HDFC and HDFC Bank. What are the 2 I’s ?

Ans. Infosys and ITC

Q6. Haldivastram is good for balancing tridoshas; it has a +ve effect on blood circulation .Manjisthavastram acts as a blood purifier and is good for skin diseases, arthritis and ulcers. Neelavastram, is cooling and has a calming effect on the nervous system.What are these ?

Ans. Ayurvedic Sarees

Q7. In 1923, two brothers from Sivakasi, P Ayyan and Shanmuga Nadar , went to Kolkata to learn the art of making matchsticks. They returned and set up a unit to make matchsticks. What did they diversify into, that later made Sivakasi a big hub for that category ?

Ans. Firecrackers

Q8. Fearing victimisation despite its stated whistleblowers policy, the ‘Ethical employees’ of #Infosys where did they submit their complaint along with the documents and recordings ?

Ans. US Deptt of Labour

Q9. The Dhan Teras day is also celebrated as the National __ Day. The logo of which is shown here. Fill in the blanks.

Ans. Ayurveda

Q 10. Which state govt has issued a directive to all its departments and PSUs to draw money directly from treasury and not to park money in banks. Even deposits have to be made after careful analysis of banks at the own risk of the officers as DICGC cover is 1 lac only ?

Ans. Odisha

Q 11. 32 years after it was first launched which toffee brand is being relaunched by Lotte India ?

Ans. Coffy Bite

Q 12. What do the first 3 marks denote in Jewellery Hallmarking ? 

Ans. BIS, Purity and Assay Centre

Q 13. Happy Deepavali advt from a global brand. Identify it.

Ans. Omega

Q 14. The two telecom PSUs are being merged. MTNL will become a subsidiary of BSNL. Though both the companies have a long history from the British India era, which of the two was incorporated first as a PSU ? 

Ans. MTNL was carved out of Deptt of Telecom before BSNL

Q15. A change in government policy has been announced by the Union govt in the area of petroleum retailing. Any company can now enter petroleum retailing business with a certain minimum of turnover . What is that figure ?

Ans. Rs 250 crore

Q 16. Remembering the cartoonist R K Laxman on his birth anniversary. Which now defunct airline used the ‘common man’ character created by Laxman as their mascot ?

Ans. Air Deccan

Q 17. This year the #Diwali is on 27th , which bank has paid the salary for the month a few days earlier and released a video on YouTube ?

Ans Axis Bank

Q 18. Which Italian motorcycle will be launched in India in direct competition to Royal Enfield Bullet ?

Ans. Benelli

Q 19. Which Indian company founded in 2008 by Himanshu and Varun Aggarwal, that undertakes cognitive ability, personality, technology and job simulation tests for employers has been acquired by aan Ammerican Company SHL ?

Ans. Aspiring Minds

Q 20. India is likely to join RCEP, a trade bloc. Expand RCEP and how many countries are likely to be part if it.

Ans. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership , 16 countries

Q21. Identify this media and entertainment industry veteran who takes over as the CEO of Broadcast and Audience Research Council ..MTV, Sony, Times TV, Balaji Telefilms , he has led them at diff times.

Ans, Sunil Lulla

Q 22. Sunil Bharti Mittal is a first generation entrepreneur from a political family in Punjab. Today we know him as a Telecom Czar. After mfg bicycle parts, importing generators , he stumbled into telecom. What was his first telecom venture ?

Ans. Push button telephone marketed under the Beetel brand name

Q 23. With which company has Katrina Kaif tied up to launch her brand of cosmetics named Kay Beauty ?

Ans. Nykaa

Q 24. Which film star topped her 12th class exams, did a degree in business, economics and finance from Manchester Business School, worked in Investment Bank and returned to India after the 2008 financial crisis. Joined the Marketing dept of Yash Raj Films. She got screen tested first and then  picked as an actor there

Ans. Parineeti Chopra

Q 25. Brand David , an affiliate of Ogilvy has a lodged a case against Vivo for copyright violation of an advt that it claims uses an idea shown in their pitch to the client. Who is the agency that has executed the ad for Vivo ?

Ans. Dentsu

Q 26. In which large company, whistleblowers who call themselves ‘Ethical employees’ have charged the management of window dressing the accounts ? This has led to a sharp fall in its ADR price also.

Ans. Infosys

Global

Q 27. In which product category is the Swedish company Essity a global market leader ?

Ans. Adult diapers

Q 28. Why have the govts of California and New York State sued the United States Postal Service ? They claim that due to laxity of USPS they are losing revenue.

Ans. Smuggling of cigarettes by Post

Q 29. Closure of which mine in Australia that supplies 90% of the world’s pink diamonds is likely to make the price of pink diamonds soar in future ?

Ans. Argyle mine of Rio Tinto

Q 30. As per Harvard Business Review’s CEO 100 – 2019 there are 3 Indians/ Indian origin CEOs in the Top 10 of the list. Who is ranked the highest among them at No 6 ?

Ans,  Shantanu Narayen of Adobe at No.6, Ajay Banga at No 7 and Satya Nadella at No 9

Q 31. Why is the Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4 % Flyknit a specific model of running shoes in the news ?

Ans. Eliud Kipchoge ran marathon under 2 hours wearing them

Q 32. Nadiem Makarim has been appointed as the Education and Culture Minister of Indonesia. Just before this he was the CEO of a ride hailing company. Name this company

Ans. Go-Jek

Q 33. Which old brand was relaunched by Nissan to target the lower end of the market six years ago is being withdrawn as a part of the cost cutting measures in Nissan post- Ghosn ?

Ans. Datsun

Q 34. He is known as the Grandfather of Silucon Valley Venture Capital. His first investment was in Atari. When Steve Jobs was in Atari , this man funded 150,000 $ to found Apple in 1978. He died on October 25th. RIP. Identify him and his firm.

Ans. Don Valentine

Q 35. Identify this Chinese Internet company from its logo. It is the largest site selling local deals for food, consumer goods etc and it merged with a site with restaurant reviews. It is listed on Hongkong Stock Exchange .

Ans. Meituan Dianping

Q 36. This is Armando , world’s most expensive pigeon. This was bought by a Chinese colombophile ( pigeon fancier) for about $ 1.4 Mn in an auction. This Champion pigeon has won many races but now it has retired. Yet it is estimated that the new owners will recover the costs. How ?

Ans. The male pigeon will be used for breeding and the pigeons borns will be sold in auction at a good price due to the superior genes

Q 37. Why did Russian researchers working on migration of eagles do crowd funding when they ran out of money ?

Ans. The eagles went into countries where the data roaming charges are very high

Q 38. What online service does Tidal provide and what differentiates it with others ?

Ans. Hi-Fi music streaming service

Q 39. How did students in UK exploit the bug on Amazon discount deal to stock up beer , toilet paper, stationery etc before Amazon realised it after 9 days ?

Ans. Amazon ran a promotion for buying any item below 5 Pounds , which had a bug so the same buyer could use the offer repeatedly so they bought many items below that price for 9 days before Amazon realised.

• Compiled by G.Mohan Follow on Twitter @go_mohan