India

Q 1. What is RBI setting up for lenders to get 360 degree view of the borrowers on a real time basis ?

Ans. Public Credit Registry

Q 2. What electricals brand was bought by Qimat Rai Gupta from Haveli Ram Gandhi in 1971 ?

Ans. Havells got its name from Haveli

Q 3. What is short for Dhanvantri Trayodashi, an important day for jewellery and durable marketers ?

Ans. Dhan Teras

Q 4. Under what brand names is Patanjali’s apparel division Paridhan launching various apparels ?

Ans. Aastha, Sanskar and Livfit

Q5. Who has released this emotional short video commercial on the occasion of Diwali ?

Ans. HP Printers

Q6. In which European country has Mukesh Ambani taken e-residency and has formed a JV for e-governance ?

Ans. Estonia

Q7. What unique capability does the launch of INS Arihant add to the Indian defence ?

Ans. INS Arihant is a nuclear submarine. It provides nuclear launch capabilities from water, giving India the capability to launch from air , land and water.

Q8. Raghuram Rajan said that the board of RBI should be like X, but not like Y. X and Y are ?

Ans. X- Rahul Dravid, Y- Sidhu

Q9. In a move to improve availability of credit to MSMEs , an online mode of securing loans has been announced by government from public sector banks. This loans will be given within what time limit ?

Ans. 59 minutes

Q 10. Amazon has recently launched Amazon Audible service in India. What is this service ?

Ans. Audio books subscription service

Q 11. What innovation by the likes of L’Oreal and Godrej, later followed by others has expanded the market for ‘creme based hair dyes in India ?

Ans. Marketing of creme based hair dyes in sachets

Q 12. Country Delight, O’leche, iOrganic, Binsar are niche startups retailing what product ?

Ans. Milk from farm to home

Q 13, Which iconic building is owned by the company Associated Buildings Company Ltd ?

Ans. Bombay House

Q14. Lulu International is a chain of hypermarkets that operates in many countries. In India they have a huge mall in Kochi. Where is the HQ of Lulu ?

Ans. Abu Dhabi

Q 15. The Union cabinet has approved strategic disinvestment of the PSU Dredging Corporation of India. Who will be the acquirer of the govt’s 73 % stake ?

Ans. Consortium of four ports namely Vizag, Kandla, Paradeep and  JNPT

Q 16. Who is the newly appointed Chairman of Competition Commission of India ?

Ans. Ashok Kumar Gupta

Q 17. Name this startup founded by Sridhar Gundiah which is a network distribution platform that helps the small retailers in rural India , Karnataka to start with, to procure over 50000 products , many not available through the traditional channel

Ans. StoreKing

Q 18. Name this renowned Indian Economist who was a Professor at Yale University. He was recognised by Indian govt with a Padma Bhushan .He passed away today. RIP,

Ans. Dr T.N.Srinivasan

Global

Q 19. Which leading phone maker has released an ad for enrolling in an upgrade programme by saying ‘ Get the phones we can’t show you yet ‘ ?

Ans. Samsung

Q 20. SAP has acquired Qualtrics a 300 Mn $ revenue generating company for 8 billion $. What capability does this acquisition bring to SAP ?

Ans. Survey software capability

Q 21. Akihiko Kondo of Japan married Hatsune Miku this month attended by around 40 guests. What was unusual about the bride ?

Ans. Hatsune Miku is a 3D Hologram of a virtual reality singer

Q 22. On 11th November  , the e-commerce sites in China like Alibaba group did record sales, far exceeding Black Friday in US or Diwali in India. What is the day called ?

Ans. Singles Day

Q 23. As the cities are getting crowded and polluted , many city dwellers are looking at moving away or atleast joining farm collectives where they can live closer to nature. This movement started in UK and such places slightly away from cities have a name. What are they called ?

Ans. Transition towns

Q 24. With which other Icelandic airline is Iceland Air announced a merger ?

Ans. WoW Air

Q 25. In this picture is Tom Stuker with the crew of United Airlines. What achievement of his is being honoured by United Airlines ?

Ans. 20 Million Miles clocked by Tom Stuker on United Airlines

Q 26. Which news agency has developed ‘AI Synthetic Anchors’ using Artificial Intelligence to read news similar to real news readers ? Availability 24×7 for reading Breaking News is one big advantage

Ans. Xinhua

Q 27. Which international magazine has changed hands from Meredith to Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon ?

Ans. Fortune

Q 28. Which country ranks No 1 in the Ease of Doing Business as per the recent World Bank Report ? India is 77.

Ans. New Zealand

Q 29. “Our own information, from the everyday to the deeply personal, is being weaponized against us with military efficiency” Who said this recently about the biggest risk of technology ?

Ans. Tim Cook of Apple

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan 

India

Q 1. Identify this businessperson and her company

Ans. Devita Saraf of Vu television..VU is now one of the largest selling TV being sold through e-commerce channels

Q 2. Name this co-operative bank with operations in Maharashtra mainly and HQed in Mumbai that celebrated its centenary this September

Ans. Saraswat Bank

Q 3. Between which two locations is Pepsi moving containers containing foods and snacks on inland waterways in India for the first time by MV R N Tagore ?

Ans. Kolkata and Varanasi on National Waterway No 1

Q4. Supreme Court has asked Delhi govt to implement withdrawal of vehicles beyond a certain age to fight pollution better . What upper age limit has been prescribed ?

Ans. 10 years for diesel vehicles and 15 years for petrol vehicles

Q5. India is largely a market for commuter bikes. Of late, a few ‘Super bikes’ are getting launched by companies like Motoroyale Kinetic . What is a super bike ?

Ans. More than 600 cc approx

Q6. With which country has India signed a 75 Bn $ currency swap agreement that will help India manage the foreign exchange volatility better ?

Ans. Japan during PM Modi’s recent visit

Q7. Deloitte India Technology Fast 50 companies 2018 was brought out recently, a list of fastest growing startups in India. Which city has the largest number i.e 11 in this list ?

Ans. Bengaluru

Q8. Who will be soon launching an SUV named KICKS ?

Ans. Nissan

Q9. ITC has entered the pouch milk market , first in Bihar and later Kolkata. It has been launched as an extension of their existing brand with Svasti tagged to it. Which existing brand is being extended ?

Ans. Aashirvaad

Q 10. Which Indian corporate major was involved in the construction of the Statue of Unity, i.e Sardar Patel’s statue at Kevadia, Gujarat ?

Ans. Larsen and Toubro

Q 11. Which section of the RBI Act empowers the government to consult and give instructions to the governor to act on certain issues that the government considers serious and in public interest ?

Ans. Section 7

Q 12 . Most technology companies are big consumers of energy. They try to be socially conscious by using green and clean energy as much as possible or totally. Which tech co is the largest buyer of renewable energy in the world

Ans. Google

Q 13. After Nexa, Maruti Suzuki has launched a new showroom channel with Varun Dhawan as a brand ambassador, what is this channel called ?

Ans. Maruti Suzuki Arena

Q 14. India has shown a significant improvement in the Ease of Doing Business rankings published recently from 100 to 77  Who publishes it ?

Ans. World Bank

Q 15. Which is the brand being endorsed by Dhoni here ? The TVC also has Watson and Bravo

Ans. Peter England

Global

Q 16. It is seen as an example of a product that did not live upto it’s hype and original promise. This plane was introduced by Airbus as a double decker plane that could carry large number of passengers in 2007. Even it’s original buyer Emirates is going slow in adding this plane now ?

Ans. Airbus A380

Q 17. Microsoft is betting on three technologies for the future, artificial intelligence, quantum computing  and mixed reality. What is mixed reality and how is it different from augmented reality ?

Ans. From the Intel site 

Augmented Reality
AR overlays digital information on real-world elements. Pokémon GO* is among the best-known examples. Augmented reality keeps the real world central but enhances it with other digital details, layering new strata of perception, and supplementing your reality or environment.

Mixed Reality
MR brings together real world and digital elements. In mixed reality, you interact with and manipulate both physical and virtual items and environments, using next-generation sensing and imaging technologies. Mixed Reality allows you to see and immerse yourself in the world around you even as you interact with a virtual environment using your own hands—all without ever removing your headset. It provides the ability to have one foot (or hand) in the real world, and the other in an imaginary place, breaking down basic concepts between real and imaginary, offering an experience that can change the way you game and work today.

Q 18. World over airlines are an industry where the governments often run them for prestige as a flag carrier. Which airline is ‘should be shut down’ as per the country’s Finance Minister because it has been loss making since 2011 ?

Ans. South African Airways

Q 19. If Apple is into computers and devices, what is the brand OPPLE in ?

Ans. Lighting

Q 20. As a method of monetisation, where would WhatsApp be putting advertisements to start with ?

Ans. Advertisements in the “status” of the members

Q 21. Why are restaurants in US cutting down their size and replacing some of their tables and chairs with shelves, even as their business is growing ?

Ans. Food delivery is growing faster and less guests are visiting restaurants

Q 22. With which company would you associate Pablo Isla who has been voted once again as the best performing CEO in the world by HBR  ?

Ans. Inditex , the company behind Zara

Q 23. Nearly 60% of crude oil trade globally is done with Brent crude price as the reference. What or where is Brent ?

Ans. The Brent oil field is in the North Sea off Scotland

Q 24. Who are the 2 CEOs in this picture and which major deal has been announced by them ?

Ans. James M Whitehurst (Red Hat) and Ginni Rometty ( IBM) – Acquisition of Red Hat by IBM for 34 Bn $

Q 25. Name this cartoon character that celebrates its 90th birthday today. The company behind it is putting all its might behind it . This character despite its age is still the most popular cartoon character .

Ans. Mickey Mouse

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan 

India

Q 1. The Saif Ali Khan – Radhika Apte Hindi film BAAZAAR released this week is a film based on which market ?

Ans. Stock Markets

Q 2 . In a rare occurrence in Indian corporate history, which Chairman Emeritus has been unceremoniously removed from which board of directors by a letter ?

Ans. Vijaypat Singhania of Raymonds

Q 3. Which chocolate co is launching its KISSES product in India recently ?

Ans. Hershey’s

Q  4. Allahabad has been renamed as Prayagraj, hence an Allahabad Bank question. Which foreign bank once owned a majority stake in Allahabad Bank, but used to operate it separately ?

Ans. Chartered Bank

Q5. After what recent events is Mukesh Ambani being labelled as the new cable king of India ?

Ans. Acquisition of controlling stakes in Hathaway Cable and DEN Networks by Reliance Industries which are in the cable TV business

Q6. This fruit got a GI tag recently. Name the fruit and the place

Ans. Muzaffarpur Shahi Litchi

Q7. Why has Maruti Suzuki decided to withdraw their model Omni from the market ?

Ans. Unable to meet the latest safety norms , particularly the crash safety norms

Q8. What CSR initiative has the Indian govt started with the IT industry for the employees to volunteer ?

Ans. Self4society

Q9. In order to bid and perhaps acquire Essar Steel, Arcelor Mittal was forced to repay debt of which other Steel co by the Hon’ble Supreme Court ?

Ans. Uttam Galva Steel and KSS Petron

Q 10. Which lady banker has joined Reliance Industries as an independent Director ?

Ans. Arundhati Bhattacharya , former Chairman of SBI

Q 11. Nowhera Shaik was arrested recently in Hyderabad for running a Ponzi scheme that duped small investors to the extent of Rs 900 crores . What was the name of this group?

Ans. Heera Group

Q 12. Where has the first kiosk for transacting in cryptocurrencies come up in India ? The entrepreneurs were arrested subsequently

Ans. Bengaluru is where Unocoin set up its kiosk

Q 13. Out of the approx 419,000 H-1 B visa holders currently in USA, what % are Indians ?

Ans. Approx 74 %

Q 14. Which Indian coffee recently won the Gold Medal for the best coffee pod in the Prix Epicures OR 2018 Award in Paris, France ?

Ans. Araku valley coffee

Q 15. Name the pioneering video news agency in India that is now a leader in this category. 49 % of its stake is owned by Reuters

Ans. Asian News International, popularly known as ANI

Q 16. In which state has for the first time in India, the retail prices of diesel are higher than that of petrol ?

Ans. Odisha

Q 17. Which Indian company  has struck a deal to buy brands Complan, Nycil and Glucon D from Kraft Heinz which earlier belonged to Heinz ?

Ans. Zydus Wellness

Q 18. Kerala has amended the Shops and Establishments act through an ordinance. What rights does this give the employees ?

Ans. The right to sit

Q 19. Which Indian marketing veteran has written the book ‘The 2 Minute Revolution ‘ ?

Ans. Sangeeta Talwar who was associated with the launch Maggi noodles, hence the name

Q 20. Why a recent bid for Essar Steel has sent shock waves and created controversy in the IBC resolution ?

Ans. The bid came from Ruias for the full amount of dues to the creditors . As Ruias are the original promoters of Essar Steel this created shock waves. The committee of Creditors had identified Arcelor Mittal as the succesful bidder

Global

Q 21. Identify this logo/ flag .

Ans. Dutch East India Company. The biggest company globally of its times.  VOC stood for Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie

Q 22. Google this morning announced it’s bringing its A.I.-powered _____ technology to Google Image Search. The idea is to allow web searchers to learn more about what’s in a photo. Fill in the blanks.

Ans. Lens

Q 23. Which Indian American has been appointed by Trump as the Chairman of his energy panel, federal Energy regulatory Commission (FERC) ?

Ans. Neil Chatterjee

Q 24. Who owns the appliance brand Kenmore and why it was not sold through Amazon until 2017 ?

Ans. It is a private label of Sears. Sears has filed for brankruptcy protection. Kenmore appliances were sold exclusively through Sears outlets only. In 2017, it decided to sell through Amazon also .

Q 25. World Bank has said in a recent report that nearly 10 % of population in the world lives in extreme poverty. What is the extreme poverty line used by World Bank ?

Ans. US 1.9 $ per day

Q 26. What connects AirBnB, Dropbox, Stripe , Reddit , Coinbase and many more such startups ?

Ans. All received seed funding and were incubated by  Y Combinator

Q 27. Which is the first AI powered ETF launched in US that uses IBM.Watson to pick and trade stocks ?

Ans. AIEQ short for AI Power Equity ETF by Equbot, San Francisco USA

Q 28. 10 years ago Android was launched . It has proven to be one of the best acquisitions for Google. At what price did they buy Android then ?

Ans. Approx 50 Mn $, though the exact price is undisclosed.

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan

India

Q 1. Which Indian news channel has launched India’s first mobile live TV channel that works in portrait mode only ?

Ans. NDTV HOP is the new mobile TV channel

Q 2. October 15th was the birth anniversary of Former President APJ Abdul Kalam. In which IIM did he deliver a lecture after which he collapsed and passed away ?

Ans. IIM Shillong

Q 3. Why did the advertiser withdraw this advertisement and the TVC released in Bengal during Durga Puja ?

Ans. Advertisement depicts consumption of non veg during Durga Puja/ Navratri .

Q 4. ITC has launched Charmis cream in Indian market. It is an old brand owned by another FMCG co earlier. Which one ?

Ans. Colgate Palmolive

Q 5. The Big Reverse by Meera Sanyal is a book chronicling which event in India’s recent economic history ?

Ans. Demonetisation

Q 6. Which unit of SAIL had an unfortunate accident of pipe blast yesterday leading to loss of lives and injuries ?

Ans. Bhilai Steel Plant

Q 7. Which gadget has a new campaign that says how pets are afraid of crackers and prefer music this festive season #shoryasangeet ?

Ans. Saregama Carvaan

Q 8. Which foods company is test marketing a mobile ” All Day Breakfast ” vans in Delhi ?

Ans. Nestle with  their Nesplus cereals , Maggi etc

Q 9. On October 11th Amitabh Bachchan celebrated his 74th birthday, the news came that the Govt has approved the closure of the company he worked for in Kolkata. Which company did he work for ?

Ans. Bird & Co.

Q 11. The company that manages Prithvi Shaw has accused Swiggy, FreeCharge of ‘Ambush marketing’ after his century in his debut test. What is ‘ambush marketing’ ?

Ans. Rival Co. trying to link itself to an event which already has an official / approved sponsor. A brand trying to show association with an event, without officially sponsoring it. It was coined by Jerry Welsh in the 1980s.

Global

Q 12. Which country has been ranked No 1 as per the recently released World Bank’s Human Capital Index report ?

Ans. Singapore

Q 14. Between which two airports has Singapore airlines started the world’s longest haul flight of 10,400 miles  & 18 hour 40 mins long ?

Ans. Singapore Changi and Newark International

Q 15. Which is the world’s biggest car market in terms of volumes ?

Ans. China

Q 16. Why are several businessmen from the west boycotting the investment conference in Saudi Arabia dubbed as ‘Davos in the desert’ ?

Ans. In protest against the killing of Jamal Khashwoggi by Saudi Arabia at its consulate in Turkey

Q 17. Which publication came up with the Big Mac index in 1986 to use the purchasing power parity theory to determine whether a currency is overvalued or undervalued based on the prices of Big Mac in the two countries ?

Ans. The Economist

Q 18. For their work in which area has Romer and Nordhaus been awarded the Nobel prize in Economics for 2018 ?

Ans. Climate change and technological innovation

Q 19. In all Apple product advertisements, the time shown is 9:41 AM. Only in one product the time shown is different , which one ?

Ans. Apple Watch because they follow the anlaog watch advt norms of showing hands at 10 and 2.

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan

India

Q 1. Which is the only Indian company featuring in the list of 50 Genius Companies of 2018 brought out by the TIME Magazine ?

Ans. PayTM

Q 2. What is the regional connectivity scheme of connecting unconnected and underconnected airports launched in 2017 known as ?

Ans. UDAN ( Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik)

Q 3. Which Chinese smartphone brand has launched lifestyle products such as luggage, apparels in India to enhance and capitalise on brand affinity ?

Ans. Xiaomi

Q 4. Name the production house started by Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vikas Bahl and Madhu Montena in 2011 that has decided to disband itself after one of their founders has been called out for ‘sexual harrassment” ? 

Ans. Phantom Films

Q 5. Despite US having imposed sanctions on Iran from November, Indian refiners will continue to buy Iranian crude oil. They will pay in which currency ?

Ans. Indian Rupees

Q 6. Alleged Conflict of interest in loans given to which group is at the root of ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochchar’s investigation leading to her early retirement decision ?

Ans. Videocon Group

Q7. From October 1 which stock exchange started having trading in commodities like gold and silver also ?

Ans. Bombay Stock Exchange

Q8. What campaign will this vehicle be used for in India ?

Ans. The vehicle will educate Indians about responsible use of Whatsapp

Q9. Ugly behaviour from a large group of over 1200 people from India forced Royal Caribbean cruise to issue a full refund to all the other passengers. The passengers belonged to a gutkha co. Which one ?

Ans. Kamla Pasand

Q 10. What brand name prefix was given to the name of Dr Murthy, entrepreneur -politician-Founder of GITAM University from his first venture in Vizag. He passed away recently RIP

Ans. Goldspot Murthy

 Q 11. This 79 year old fitness fanatic started his career as an IAS, later became the first Chairman of GAIL, then worked in top jobs in pvt sector at HCL, Tech Mahindra. Now he is on the IL &FS board.

Ans. Vineet Nayyar

q 12. Earlier M & M used to stand for Mahindra and Mohammed. Who was Mohammed and what happened to him ?

Ans. Ghulam Mohammed, he migrated to Pakistan after partition in 1947 and became its first Finance Minister

Q 13. Zebpay has closed down recently. What was Zebpay ?

Ans. India’s oldest cryptocurrency exchange

Q 14. In the recently released YRF Film Sui Dhaaga , the full name includes the tag line

A. Make in India B. Made in India

C. Start-up India  D. Incredible India 

Ans. B. Made in India

Q 15. Google honoured this Indian with this doodle recently . Identify this social entrepreneur and the institution he built

Ans. Govindappa Venkataswamy…Founder of Aravind Eye Hospitals in Madurai

Q 16. Kabir Jeet Singh on his return from UK after doing an MBA opened a fast food chain with its first outlet in Gurugram. Now it is expanding India wide what is it called

A. KJS      B. Paratha King

C. Singhway  D. Burger Singh 

Ans. Burger Singh

Global

Q 17. Which landmark passenger plane completed  50 years recently. It was launched on 30th September 1968

.Ans. Boeing 747 also known as Jumbo Jet

Q 18. She has been selected as the Chief Economist at IMF. Name her

Ans. Gita Gopinath

 Q 19. Who has been appointed as the new CEO of General Electric ? He is the first outsider to get the top job .

Ans. Larry Culp , he had trned around Danaher corp earlier

Q 20. For what has Google signed a deal with Apple recently where Google will pay a large amount to Apple ?

Ans. making Google as the default search engine in Safari browser in all Apple devices

 Q 21. ” We listened to our critics and we decided we want to lead ‘ – said Jeff Bezos of Amazon. Who was leading the critics and what decision did Bezos announce ?

Ans. Bernie Sanders proposed “Stop Bezos Act” . This made Bezos to revise the hurly wage to be revised to U S $ 15 per hour

Q 22. Forbes has come out with a list of most regarded companies in the world . Which company has been rated No 1 in the world ?

Ans. Walt Disney

 Q 23. An examination and evaluation of a firm’s or individual’s financial information for use as evidence in court. It can be conducted in order to prosecute a party for fraud, embezzlement or other financial claims is called a _______ ?

Ans. Forensic Audit

Q 24. Another Indian American will replace Sridhar Ramaswamy as the Head of the Advertising business at Google as he leaves to join a VC firm. Name him.

Ans. Prabhakar Raghavan

Q 25. Dr Denis  and Nadia Murad have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018. To which countries do they belong to ?

Ans. Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq

Q 26. What is one of the most popular use of Corozo , also known as Vegetable Ivory ?

Ans. Buttons

 Q 27. General Electric recently took a huge ‘impairment charge” of 23 Bn $ for its power business. What is “impairment charge” ?

Ans. Impairment is an accounting principle that describes a permanent reduction in the value of a company’s asset, normally a fixed asset. If it’s found that the book value of the asset exceeds the cash flow or benefit of the asset, the difference between the two is written off and the value of the asset declines on the company’s balance sheet.

Q 28. The legendary ad copy by David O’Gilvy ‘At 60 miles per hour the loudest noise in the new ______ comes from the electric clock ‘ Fill in the blank

Ans. Rolls Royce

Q 29. What % of Internet bandwidth worldwide is consumed by Netflix according to a recent report ?

Ans, 15 % of the world and 19 % of US

Q 30. What prank done by the painter Banksy in a painting auctioned by Sotheby’s has created a furore in the art world ?

Ans. There was an inbuilt shredder which got triggered immediately after auction , so the painting shredded itself

Q 31. WSJ has come out with a list of innovation hubs in the world based on the venture capital funds they attracted. As expected San Francisco which has the silicon valley is No 1. What is No 1 among non US cities and World No 2 ?

Ans. Beijing

Q 32. For their work in which area has Paul Romer and Willia, Nordhaus been awarded the Nobel prize in Economics for 2018 ?

Ans. Climate Change and Technological Innovation

Q 33. What is the name of the central bank of China , equivalent of India’s RBI ?

Ans. People’s Bank of China

Q 34. Which Google service has decided to close down as it could not establish itself in the social networking platform market ?

Ans. Google Plus

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan 

India

Q 1. Which steel major has acquired the steel making division of Usha Martin Industries on a slump sale basis ?

Ans. Tata Steel

Q 2. With which scam tainted group was Sandesara family associated with ? They are absconding and are apparently in Nigeria.

Ans. Sterling Biotech

Q 3. Kabir Jeet Singh on his return from UK after doing an MBA opened a fast food chain with its first outlet in Gurugram. Now it is expanding India wide what is it called ?

A, Paratha King    B. KJS

C. Singhway           D. Burger Singh 

Ans. Burger Singh

A. DHFL      B. Yes Bank

C. Infibeam Avenues     D. IL & FS 

Ans/ Infibeam Avenues

A.  Bandhan Bank    B. Kotak Bank

C. IDFC Bank              D. Yes Bank 

Ans. A. Bandhan Bank

Q 6. When rumours started emerging thing that Yes Bank promoters were selling

their stake to what did Rana Kapoor , compared his Yes Bank shares with ?

Ans. Rana Kapoor said his Yes Bank shares were ” Diamonds are Forever “.

Q 7 . What was the main reason the minority shareholders of Apollo Tyres, rejected

the re- election of Neeraj Kanwar as a director ?

Ans. The institutional nominees were peeved with the high and rising compensation of

Neeraj Kanwar

Q8 . Which travel related brand has brought out a TV Commercial with the tagline

Kerala Is  Open with the idea of reviving tourism after the floods 

 

 

Ans.  Samsonite  

Q 9. The Union Telecom minister Manoj Sinha announced that TRAI would soon be

renamed  as DCRAI. Expand DC in DCRAI.

Ans. Digital Communications

Q 10. What is the increase in customs duty announced by govt on ‘non-essential’

imports like AC, refrigerators and washing machines recently to keep the Current

Account Deficit  in  check ?

Ans. From 10 % to 20 % the customs duty has been increased

Q 11. Greenply has set up a plywood mfg facility in a African country. It appears the

advtg  campaign on Indian TV by this country as a ‘ocean of timber tales’ has borne

fruit. Name the country

Ans. Gabon

Q 12.  Where is the head quarters of the defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders

and Engineers , which is currently having an open IPO ?

Ans. Kolkata

Q 13.  Ashwin Choksi passed away recently. He was the Non-Executive Chairman of

which Indian paint major ?

Ans. Asian Paints Ltd

Q 14. One of the important points in the Rafale deal controversy is the “offset

clause’.  What is offset in the context of defence deals ?

Ans. Offset in defence deal means the compensation made by the manufacturer in terms

of value addition in the product in the ordering country.

Q 15 . Which company is acquiring Pandora the music streaming service for 3.5 Bn $ ?

Ans. Sirius XM

Q 16. Marillyn  Hewson has been voted as the Most Powerful Woman by Fortune this

year. With which company is she associated with ? 

 

Ans. Lockheed Martin

Q 17. Who has acquired the luxury brand Versace for $ 2.1 Bn ?

A. Michael Kors  B. Chanel

C. LVMH               D. Gucci

Ans. A. Michael Kors

Q 18.  Which of the following cities was selected as the European Green Capital for

the year 2019 ?

Ans. Oslo

Q 19.  Who has asked Elon Musk to step down as the Chairman of Tesla Motors for 3 years ?

A. Board of Directors   B. Auditors

C. Federal Govt              D. SEC

Ans. D. SEC

Q 20.  Which is the first German car company to announce stoppage of making

diesel engines ?

Ans. Porsche

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan 

India

Q 1. Unimoni is the key sponsor of the ongoing Asia Cricket Cup. Its HQ is in Abu Dhabi and in owned by NRI B.R.Shetty. The main business of Unimoni is 

A. Travel Agency   B. Money Transfer

C. Mobile Services  D. Trading 

Ans. B. Money transfer

Q 2. Govt has announced the merger of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank to create a large bank. After merger what would be its rank in India in terms of size ?

Ans. 3rd largest behind SBI and ICICI Bank

Q 3. With whom has Voltas created a JV to launch home appliances like washing machines, dish washers , microwaves etc ?

Ans. Voltas Becko is a JV between Voltas and Arcelik, a Turkish company

Q 4. What measure announced by SEBI will help the mutual fund investors and hurt the AMCs and distributors ?

Ans. Cut on the ceiling for Total Expense ratio ( TER) for mutual funds on a graded scale based on Assets Under Management ( AUM)

Q 5. Which Indian co is behind the brand BKT that has signed up as one of the sponsors of Big Bash League in Australia ?

Ans. Balkrishna Industries Ltd, leading exporter of off-road tires

Q 6. Where has the Veer Surender Sai airport inaugurated by PM recently come up ?

Ans. Jharsuguda, Odisha

Q 7. Who is the newly appointed Chairman of SAIL ?

Ans. Anil Kumar Chaudhary

Global

Q 12. Who founded Tesla Motors in 2003 ? It is not Elon Musk

Ans. Martin Eberhard and marc Tarpenning

Q 13. What is the rationale given by Tim Cook to justify the high prices of over 1000 $ for the newly launched iPhones ?

Ans. iPhones replace many devices like camaera, cam corder, music player etc

Q 14. What scare in Australia has led retail chain Woolworth’s to stop sewing needle sales immediately ?

Ans. Needles were found inside fruits like strawberry that created a panic among customers

Q 15. A large life insurance co in US has made it mandatory to wear activity trackers like Fitbit or Apple Watch for issuing new policies. Name the company.

Ans. John Hancock Life Insurance

Q 16. Here is a Wal-Mart employee wearing a VR (Virtual Reality) Headset. What programme has Wal-Mart launched using this technology ?

Ans. Training

Q 17. “We tend to overestimate the impact of a new technology in the short term, even as we underestimate its longer term impact”. What is this law or principle known as ?

Ans. Amara Law

Q 18. WhatsApp is the No 1 in the messenger market . Which messenger is No 2 worldwide ?

A. Facebook Messenger  B. Viber

C. WeChat  D. Line

Ans. A. Facebook Messenger

Q 19. US is trying to stop China from procuring defence supplies from Russia based on CAATSA. Expand CAATSA.

Ans. Countering America’s adversaries through Sanctions Act

Q 20. Which European bank is involved in a major money-laundering scandal that has led to the resignation of its Chief Executive ?

Ans. Danske Bank

Q 21. A sandwich chain Taylor Gourmet with 19 outlets, 17 in Washington DC has closed down because it started losing business after 

a. Its owner met Trump

b. Worms were found 

c. competition from Subway

Ans. a. Its owner met Trump last and since then the business has been going down because of adverse publicity in social media

Last week the blog page crossed 25 lakh hits. IBQ thanks all the readers.

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan