- The government has amended the National Policy on Biofuels – 2018 which has advanced the target of 20% blending of ethanol in petrol to ESY 2025-26 from 2030.
- Awards
- It is a remarkable achievement for Tata Steel to be recognised as 2023 Steel Sustainability Champion by the World Steel Association.
- MOUs
- IIT Roorkee and NCDR Taiwan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop scientific and academic cooperation and scientific research to promote relations and mutual understanding between the two institutions.
- The key objective of the MoU is mutually developing technology solutions to natural hazards, including earthquakes, landslides, floods, debris flow, and compound disasters.
- Important Days:
- World Liver Day 2023 is a day to raise awareness about liver-related disorders and diseases. It is observed on April 19 every year1234. The theme for this year is ‘Be Vigilant, Do Regular Liver Check-Up, Fatty Liver Can Affect Anyone.’
- Banking:
- The State Bank of India (SBI) board has approved a plan to raise up to $2 billion in long-term debt through foreign currency bonds in FY 2023-24.
- Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) and Indian Bank have signed an MoU to integrate Indian Bank Payment Aggregator for e-governance applications of various departments in Tamil Nadu. This will enable online payment and collection through various channels like debit/credit cards, UPI payment wallets, net banking, e-challans and e-UPI. The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister for information technology department T Mano Thangaraj. This is a significant step towards improving the efficiency and convenience of e-governance services in the state.
- RBL Bank has launched an innovative Digital Fixed Deposit (FD) scheme for new-to-bank customers. This scheme will enable customers to book the Digital FD within minutes without having to visit a branch or open a savings account with the bank. The digital FD offers an interest rate of up to 7.8% for a tenure of 15 months to 725 days, which is higher than most other banks. The digital FD also comes with benefits such as hospital daily cash benefit, digital savings account, and customer testimonials.
- Reports and Index
- India ranks third in the world with 68 unicorns, up 14 from last year and 47 since pre-COVID in Hurun’s Global Unicorn Index 2023. The top three unicorns from India are BYJU’S ($22 billion), Swiggy ($16.5 billion) and Dream11 ($15 billion). India ranks third in the world after USA (666) and China (316) in terms of the number of unicorns. India also has 70 unicorns co-founded by Indians outside of India, mostly in the US. India’s unicorn ecosystem is diverse and covers sectors such as edtech, fintech, food delivery, logistics, ecommerce and gaming.
