India

Q 1. Which housing finance company will be merging with Bandhan Bank through a share swap deal ?

Ans. Gruh Finance

Q 2. Which is the first port Indian govt  will operate outside India ?

Ans. Chabahar Port in Iran

Q 3. The Union Govt will be bringing a constitutional amendment to reserve 10 % of jobs and seats in higher education for economically weaker section among forward castes. What is the annual income being fixed for defining EWS ? 

Ans. Below Rs 8 lakhs p.a

Q 4. Who has been declared a Fugitive Economic Offender, a first under the act, by the Bombay High Court last week ?

Ans. Vijay Mallya

Q 5. Who has been appointed as the Chairman of the RBI’s committee on digital payments ?

Ans. Nandan Nilekani

Q 6. With which company would you associate the Zoodles , a chain of Chinese QSR outlets and Dariole , a baked goods and coffee chain ?

Ans. Speciality Restaurants Ltd

Q7. This NIT- Calicut IIM – B grad from a humble background is making waves with his startup in the food business. Name this entrepreneur and his company

Ans. P.C.Mustafa , iD Fresh, the company that makes and supplies idli, dosa dough, paneer and now filter coffee decoction

Q8. What is the main source of conflict between the government backed Khadi and Village Industries Commission and the upmarket ethnic retailer Fabindia ?

Ans. Use of the word khadi by Fabindia in their promotion

Q 9. Which politician is bringing a Private Member’s Bill in the Indian parliament that will allow employees to reject phone calls and e-mails after office hours and in weekends ? This is with an aim bring about employee welfare and restore work-life balance

Ans. Supriya Sule of NCP

Q 10. Interstate sale of vegetables is now happening due to e-NAM. Tomatoes from Uttarakhand are sold to UP traders and cauliflowers grown by UP farmers are sold to Uttarakhand traders. Expand e-NAM

Ans. Electronic – National Agricultural Market

Q 11. Ardh Kumbh Mela is starting from Jan 15th at Prayagraj. It is a great test ground for test marketing and sampling of new products and ideas. Which brand of toothpaste is offering ‘dant snaan’ through toothpaste dispensers spread widely in the mela ?

Ans. Dabur Red

Q 12. Which brand of terry towels known more for its exports is launching a mass market product Quickdry towel with the tagline ” Towel jo jaldi sookhe aur jaldi sookhaye ” ?

Ans. Welspun

Q 13. In which fast growing product/ service category connects these startups Beardo, Ustraa, Let’s shave, The Man Company ?

Ans. Men’s grooming products like shaving cream, beard gel, trimmers etc

Q 14. Meera Sanyal, banker , Politician , author RIP. Before joining politics she was chairperson of which bank ?

Ans. RBS Bank

Q 15. Which Indian business group that has management control over the Eveready Industries is considering sale of stake ?

Ans. Williamson Magor Group

Q 16. Which brokerage has become India’s leading broker during the period April to Dec 2018 ?

Ans. Zerodha

Q 17. International Advertising Association for the first time has an Indian President, . Srinivas Swamy of RK Swamy Hansa Group. He has managed to get the 44th World Congress to India. Where is it being held from Feb 20- 22 in India ?

Ans. Kochi

Q 18. Toyota and Suzuki have entered into a cross-badging alliance under which Toyota will make minor modifications to a Maruti Suzuki model and sell , similarly Maruti would sell a Toyota model under a new name . Which models will be cross-badged first in India ?

Ans. Baleno of Maruti and Corolla of Toyota

Q 19. The GST Council has recommended that the threshold for small businesses to be registered for GST be increased from a revenue of Rs 20 lakhs per annum to ?

Ans. Rs 40 lakhs per annum

Q 20. Which humble vegetable gets reviled in the Uber Eats campaign urging young people to explore other options when that vegetable is on the table ?

Ans. Tinda

Q 21. For his name in which scam has the NSE Chairman Ashok Chawla resigned ?

Ans. Aircel-Maxis deal

Q 22. India’s aviation industry is growing at over 15 % p.a. Most airlines are adding new routes and frequency in domestic and international routes. They are also adding planes. What is the total no of planes with Indian airlines approx.

Ans. 645 planes

Q 23. Indian car market became the 3rd largest in volume terms in 2018. Which country did it displace to become No 3 ?

Ans. Germany

Q 24. Who has received the first ever Philip Kotler Presidential Award ?

Ans. Narendra Modi

Q 25. Which new social network calls itself ‘ The social network by women, for everyone’ ?

Ans. Bumble

Q 26. Given below is today’s Google Doodle. To whom does it dedicate it and what was the man’s contribution ?

Ans. Sake  Dean Mahomed… first Indian to publish a book in English, founder of Hindoostanee Coffee House in England, Introduced the concept of shampoo to British

Global 

Q 27. What is the significance of the ‘egg’ in this topical advt from Durex ?

Ans. The picture of egg has become the most liked picture on Instagram , surpassing Kylie Jenner

Q 28. Slack the SanFrancisco based co that makes enterprise internal messaging and content sharing software is going for a Direct IPO soon. Spotify did a direct IPO last year. What is a ‘Direct IPO’ ?

Ans. A direct IPO means it does not use any underwriters or merchant bankers to market the issue or pre-book the issue

Q 29. What is the name of the free but ad supported video streaming service launched by Amazon owned IMDB ? It is available in US only

Ans, iMDB Freedive

Q 30. Jeff Bezos and his wife Mackenzie announced their divorce after 25 years of marriage. Where did Jeff met his wife ?

Ans. At D.E .Shaw where they worked .

Q 31 . What is the new name of the Softbank backed company ‘WeWork’ known for providing co-working spaces for companies ?

Ans. We Company

Q 32 . Identify this new logo of an old brand

Ans. Mastercard

Q 33. CES, earlier known as Consumer Electronics Show is the premier trade show for products in this industry. Where is it held every year in January ?

Ans. Las Vegas , USA

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan 

India

Q 1. Morbi in Gujarat was the town known for being the hub of clocks manufacturing, now which industry overshadows the clock industry in Morbi ?

Ans. Ceramic Tiles

Q 2. In the 3 way merger between Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank which bank’s equity will get expanded by issuing shares to the other banks’ shareholders ?

Ans. Bank of Baroda shares will be issued to shareholders of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank

Q3. Which Indian banker calls the late Ramakant Achrekar his cricket guru ? He had to leave cricket after a head injury ?

Ans. Uday Kotak

Q4.  Under what section of Companies Act, did NCLT allow govt of India to open the financial accounts of last 5 years of ILFS and subsidiaries ?

Ans. U/s 130 of the Companies Act

Q5.  For a brief time last week which Indian conglomerate’s market capitalisation became the highest, surpassing the Tata Group ?

Ans. HDFC Group

Q6. SEBI has approved side-pocketing in mutual funds. What does it mean ?

Ans. Separation of bad or risky assets into a separate scheme in debt mutual funds

Q7. The new e-commerce policy announced by govt will benefit whom the most ?

Ans. The new policy is expected to benefit the offline retailers most

Q8. In which state are 15 miners trapped inside a coal mine since December 13 ?

Ans. Meghalaya

Q9. Which company will be assembling iphones in India in 2019 on behalf of Apple ?

Ans. Foxconn in Tamil Nadu

Q 10. Cabinet has cleared the Gaganyaan project in which 3 Indians will go to space by 2022. What is the budget ?

Ans. Rs 10,000 crore

Q 11. In the year 2018 which asset class would have given you the best return ?

A. Equity     B. Gold        C. Debt MFs        D. Bank FDs

Ans. Bank FDs

Q 12. Hyundai will launch a sporty premium hatchback named Veloster next year. How many doors would it have ?

Ans. 3 doors . One big door on driver side and 2 on the other side

Q 13. Who has been appointed by govt to head the committee to make the Economic Capital Framework of RBI ?

Ans. Bimal Jalan, former RBI Governor

Q 14. HUL is facing charges of profiteering under GST. What is profiteering in the context of GST ?

Ans.T he benefits of GST Rate cut are not passed on to the consumers.

Q 15. In which category is the company Studds Accessories Ltd a market leader in India ?

Ans. Helmets

Global

Q 16. In what business is the Beijing based BITMAIN ?

Ans. Cryptocurrency chips

Q 17. Name the Indian American who is slated to take over as the President and CEO of Federal Express worldwide from January 2019

Ans. Rajesh Subramaniam

Q 18. Who has replaced Hillary Clinton as the most admired American woman in the Gallup poll of Americans ?

Ans. Michelle Obama

Q 19. Identify this airline industry icon who passed away at 87 recently . RIP

Ans. Herb Kelleher of South West Airlines

Q 20.  Name this 90 year old Canadian billionaire who started life as a used car salesman and runs a string of John Deere dealerships now and other businesses. He still drives his own pick-up truck. 

Ans. Jim Pattison

Q 21. Cambridge dictionary has selected ‘nomophobia’ as the word of 2018. It means ‘fear’ of ? 

Ans. Nomophobia is the irrational fear of being without your mobile phone or being unable to use your phone for some reason, such as the absence of a signal or running out of minutes or battery power.

Q 22. When a company’s share price is ‘under water’ what does it mean ?

Ans. When the share price falls below the IPO price at which it was issued

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan 

India

Q 1. PM Modi inaugurated the longest rail – road bridge in India called Bogibeel bridge on Dec 25 2018 . Over which river is this bridge ?

Q 2. Who has acquired the controlling stake in the Max healthcare chain of hospitals that will make the combined entity the largest hospital chain in North India ?

Q 3. Which retail group has launched its Retail 3.0 strategy that combines digital and bricks and mortar and calls it the TATHASTHU model ?

Q 4. In the recently released big budget Kannada and other language Film KGF , what does G stand for ?

Q5. Name this 83 year old brand that represents the handloom weavers of Tamil Nadu. It has seen a remarkable turnaround under a new leadership in the last 4 years.

Q6. As per a recent report from the delivery service Swiggy’s which dish was the most ordered item by Indians in the last one year ?

Q7. SEBI has announced that they will soon come out with a ‘sandbox’ policy. What is a ‘sandbox’ ?

Ans. The Sandbox policy will allow companies to test products in a closed environment, a particular geography or among a set of users, before they are allowed roll out commercially meeting all regulations.

Q8. Which 2 Public Sector banks are investors in the Life Insurance co. Star Union Daichi ?

Q 10. Which company merged with KPIT and now will be demerged into two separate companies from January 2019 ?

Q 12. Why is India’s drug regulator conducting raids on Johnson and Johnson and seizing talcum powder ?

Q 13. What is the new name for the merged entity formed by the merger of IDFC Bank and Capital First ?

Global

Q 14. Name this fund manager and philanthropist . He is called the Father of Hedge Funds and as a philanthropist he advocates liberal democracy and open society. He has been named the FInancial Times person of 2018.

Ans. George Soros

Q 15. Goodyear has withdrawn out of Venezuela due to the economic crisis there . What severance benefits it is offering its workers ?

Ans. 10 tyres each

Q 16. When Elon Musk wanted to name his company Tesla , he found it was already taken. He later bought it for 75000 $. What was the alternate name thought for Tesla ?

Ans. Faraday

Q 17. Identify this logo.

Ans. Python – the programming language

Q 18. What is the business of Cronos a Canadian company where Altria Group, the maker of Marlboro has invested ?

Ans. Marijuana

Q 19. John Rockefeller had a Family Office in 1882. It has become popular in the last decade or so. What is a ‘family office’ ?

Ans. Family offices manage families’ wealth, administer assets and often other services, from paying bills to succession-planning

• Compiled by G.Mohan @go_mohan 

India

Q 1. After the merger of HUL and GSK Consumer Healthcare what would be the share of GSK in HUL ?

Ans. 5.7 %

Q4. Who has Govt appointed as the Chief Economic Adviser in place of Arvind Subramanian ?

Q7. Which event in Udaipur helped Mumbai airport to create a new record of handling 1007 flights in a single day ?

 Q8. Where has INOX launched its first LED screen based on Samsung’s ONYX technology ?

Q9 . Arundhati Bhattacharya has taken over as the Chairperson of SWIFT India. Expand SWIFT

Q 10. When the newly appointed RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das retired as Secretary from Govt of India in 2017 what parting gift did he receive from the Govt ?

Q 11. What new product category has Titan entered the Indian market with the brand name TANEIRA ?

Global

Q 12. The original designer of the I Love NY is not happy with the Amazon’s version. Who was the original designer in 1977 ?

Ans. Milton Glaser

Q13. Identify this business executive who was India head of Facebook and has now become a fund manager with SoftBank

Ans. Kirthiga Reddy

Q14. Which country has announced that to emphasize its focus on environment , it is making public transport through train , trams and buses entirely free for all , a first in the world ?

Ans. Luxembourg

Q15. Infiniti is luxury car division of which auto maker ?

Ans. Nissan

Q 16. Samsung has replaced another advertiser as the brand with the biggest advertising spend worldwide. Who has it replaced ?

Q 17. In financial lingo, what are ‘Munis’ ?

Ans. Municipal Bonds

Q19. This 7 year old is the highest earning You Tube star . Name him and his estimated earnings

Ans. Ryan , Ryan ToysReview is the YouTube channel. 22 Million $

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan

India

Q 1. In which country have 7 Indian IL&FS employees held as hostage by the local employees for non payment of salaries ?

Ans. Ethiopia

Q 2. What business is the startup EV Motors India in ?

Ans. Network of charging stations

Q 3. Who is behind the newly launched digital entertainment company Dharmatic Entertainment ?

Ans. Karan Johar

Q 4. What does Dabur call its Chyawanprash that is Sugar Free ?

Ans. Dabur Chyawanprakash sugar free

Q 5. SBI Mutual Fund is launching its first Smart Beta Fund. What are Smart Beta Funds ?

Ans. A smart Beta ETF is a type of exchange-traded fund that uses alternative index construction rules instead of the typical cap-weighted index strategy, in a transparent way. It takes into account factors such as size, value and volatility.

Q 6 Which Maruti model that was launched in 2005 has hit sales of 2 Million cars since its launch recently ?

Ans. Maruti Swift

Q 7. Where is India’s largest floating solar energy project of 150 MW being implemented by Solar Energy Corporation of India coming up ?

Ans. Rihand Dam on the UP-MP border

Q8. Revv, the car rental company has come up with a unique offer called OPEN not offered in India before. What is unique about it ?

Ans. New cars, over 25 different models ,  are available on rentals with no down payment and road tax upfront payment

Q9. As air pollution news occupies headlines, consumer durable marketers are pushing air purifiers. Most air purifiers use HEPA filters. Expand HEPA

Ans, High efficiency Particulate Air

Q 10. Which model of Bajaj Auto has Rajiv Bajaj accepted as his  biggest failure ?

Ans. Bajaj Discover 100

Q 11. Which state in India receives the largest amount by way of remittances from abroad ?

Ans. Kerala

Q 12. Why is there a threat of over 1,00,000 ATMs closing down by next year in India ?

Ans. The new safety regulations for ATMs will increase the costs so much that ATMs will become unremunerative

 

Global

Q 12. In which country chess has become so popular and fashionable that there are chess bars, chess art , chess fashion etc thanks to a world champion ?

Ans. Norway -because of Magnus Carlssen

Q 13. The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. It is the official start of the holiday season , then why is it called Black Friday ?

Ans. Black friday in the shopping sense dates from the 1960s and was originally used with reference to congestion created by shoppers; it was later explained as a day when retailers’ accounts went from being ‘in the red’ to ‘in the black’.

Q 14. Name this Chevrolet car model that was launched in 1950s and it peaked in 1960s. It was a big status symbol among filmstars that it was mentioned in a Kishore Kumar song. Now it is being withdrawn by GM

Ans. Chevrolet Impala

Q 15. What is unique about the CEO Beth Ford of Land O’Lakes a Fortune 500 company ?

Ans. First CEO who had openly announced her LGBT status

Q 16. In the US cities, Bird , Scoot, Skip and Lime are becoming a rage in the various cities. What are they ?

Ans. e-scooters on rent

Q17. 5G phones and networks are.expected to be launched commercially worldwide in early 2019. One of its key feature is eMBB. What is eMBB ?

Ans. Enhanced  mobile broadband

Q 18. WPP the advertising group,.has announced the merger of two of its advertising arms worldwide to create an integrated agency . Which two arms are being merged and what would be its new name ?

Ans. Wunderman and JWT will merge to form Wunderman Thomson

Q 19. Which is the biggest online travel agency in China ?

Ans. CTrip

Q 20. Name this US based fast food chain founded by Truett S. Cathy. It runs in his strong Christian beliefs so remains closed on Sundays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. He has instructed that his family can sell it but not take it public.

Ans. Chick Fil- A

Q 21 Force India will no longer be seen in the 2019 F1 season. In what name will that team appear after the change of owners ?

Ans. Racing Point

Q 22. What is the name of the late stage venture capital fund of Alphabet Inc with HQ is San Francisco ?

Ans. CapitalG

Q 23. By announcing that they have launched their last satellite , which communications major has announced the end of Satellite TV as we know it ?

Ans. AT & T ‘s DirectTV division

Q 24. Who is the producer of a small film called ROMA in a few theatres in US, UK , Canada with little publicity ? Yet, it is making news

Ans. Roma has been produced by Netflix which does not release it in theatres. The film has got a theatre release to make it eligible for Oscar

Q 25. In India Sony has Sony Liv OTT streaming service. What is the OTT service from Sony in US called ?

Ans. Playstation Vue

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan

India

Q1 Which technology/ industry will be regulated in India by the Digital Sky platform from December 1, 2018 ?

Ans. Drones

Q2 Alyque Padamsee , who passed away last week  was an advtg legend. He is known for his campaigns for Liril, Surf, Bajaj etc. Which newspaper was launched with a memorable ad campaign with the tagline ‘unputdownable’ by him

Ans. The Telegraph

Q3. Which Indian automobile group is part of the venture that has relaunched the vintage motorcycle brand JAWA ?

Ans. Mahindra

Q4. Former IndiGo head Aditya Ghosh has joined as CEO of which organisation ?

Ans. OYO

Q5. What technique used by freight trains in Indian Railways will make the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani faster ?

Ans. Push and pull technique where there are engines at both ends

Q6. Which state in India receives the largest amount by way of remittances from abroad ?

Ans Kerala

Q7. Why is there a threat of over 1,00,000 ATMs closing down by next year in India ?

Ans. Nearly 50% ATMs are likely to shut due to unviability of operations caused by recent regulatory guidelines for ATMs hardware and software upgrades, new mandates on cash management standards and cassette method of loading cash.All new compliances have an additional cost element.

Q8. Name this brand that has nearly 54 % share globally in the chocolate spreads market. Its nearest rival has a mere 2 % share 

Ans. Nutella

Q9. In which country chess has become so popular and fashionable that there are chess bars, chess art , chess fashion etc thanks to a world champion ?

Ans. Norway because of Magnus Carlssen

Q10. After a rather fierce competition among cities to get Amazon’s HQ2 which two cities were finally chosen as the second headquarters ?

Ans. New York City and Northern Virginia

• Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan