Daily Current Affairs - 9 April 2015

1) Ramalinga Raju sentenced to 7 years in India's biggest corporate scandal:

--> Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju was sentenced to seven years in jail on 9 April 2015, hours after he was found guilty by of criminal cheating and conspiracy in what is described as India's largest-ever corporate scandal.

--> He has also been fined five crores.

--> In 2009, Mr Raju, who founded Satyam as a family business with his brother and brother-in-law in 1987, said about $1 billion or 94 per cent of the cash on the company's books was fictitious.

--> Satyam Computer Services was at one time considered the gold standard for an outsourcing company.

--> The scandal, which erupted during the IT industry's early boom in India, forced the spotlight on corporate governance. 

2) PM Modi began his three-nation visit:

--> PM Modi began his nine day tour to three countries to highlight his government's agenda of 'Make in India' and explore the possibilities to strengthen the bilateral business relations.

--> Modi will visit France, Germany and Canada with an intention to invite investments having focus on infrastructure and defence sectors, besides cooperation in nuclear and various other areas.

--> The trip aims to set in order the purchase of nuclear reactors and fuel from France and Canada so as to strengthen trade and economic ties.

3) India successfully test-fired nuclear-capable Dhanush missile from ship:

--> India on 9 April 2015 successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km from a naval ship off the Odisha coast.

--> The surface-to-surface Dhanush, a naval variant of India's indigenously-developed Prithvi missile, was test fired from a ship in the Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the defence force.

--> The single-stage, liquid-propelled Dhanush having 350 km range has already been inducted into the armed forces and is one of the five missiles developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).

4) Government blocked Greenpeace India's foreign fundings:

--> Government on 9 April 2015 barred Greenpeace India from receiving foreign funds with immediate effect by suspending its licence for six months and froze all its accounts, alleging it has "prejudicially" affected the country's public and economic interests.

--> The environmental activist group was also served a notice by the government which asked why its registration should not be cancelled permanently.

5) India elected to four key subsidiary bodies of UN ECOSOC:

--> India has been elected to four key subsidiary bodies of the United Nations' agency on economic and social issues, continuing its impressive record of winning elections at the world body.

--> India was elected by acclamation, a form of election that does not use a ballot, to the subsidiary bodies of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) during its coordination and management meeting.

6) IFCI Ltd. now a Government company:

--> Government of India has paved the way for IFCI Ltd, the country's oldest Financial Institution, to become a Government Company with effect from April, 2015 by acquiring 6 Crore Preference Shares of Rs. 10 each of IFCI from certain Public Sector Banks.

--> With this move, now Union Government has 51% stake in IFCI Ltd.

--> IFCI was earlier known as the Industrial Finance Corporation of India and was incorporated on 1 July 1948 as a government company.

--> Till now the Union Govt. had 47.93% stake in it.

7) Moody’s upgraded India’s rating outlook to positive:

--> Global ratings agency Moody’s on 9 April 2015 reaffirmed India’s rating at Baa3 but raised the rating outlook to ‘Positive’ from ‘Stable’.

--> India, however, remains at the last rung of investment grade by all agencies.

--> Moody’s is the first rating agency that has given India a positive outlook.

8) Videocon d2h entered NASDAQ, the US stock exchange:

-->  India’s direct-to-home (DTH)service provider Videocon d2h made its debut on Nasdaq, raising $325 million through issuance of American Depository Receipts (ADR).

--> Videocon d2h has become the first Indian private company since the year 2000 to list overseas, issuing ADR worth $325 million to the public.

--> It also became the first sizeable Indian listing on US exchanges and the first Indian Media company to be listed at Nasdaq.