CURRENT AFFAIRS 27TH APRIL

Indian Para-Shooter Mona Aggarwal Claimed A Gold Medal In Women's 10m Air Rifle At World Shooting Para Sport Tournament In Changwon, Korea

In Para-Shooting, Indian para-shooter Mona Aggarwal claimed a gold medal in women’s 10m air rifle while Army man Amir Ahmed Bhatt secured a silver in 25m pistol at the World Shooting Para Sport tournament in Changwon, Korea.
37-year old Mona claimed the R2-10 metre air rifle standing SHl gold medal with a score of 250.8 in the final.
It was her second World Cup title of the year following her win in the same event at the World Cup in New Delhi last month, when she sealed a Paralympic quota.
Slovakia’s Veronica Vadovicova won the silver and Swedish shooter Anna Benson won a bronze medal.

Congruent Solutions appoints Mahesh Natarajan as Chief Revenue Officer

Congruent Solutions, a leading provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and outsourced plan administration services to the US retirement industry announced the appointment of Mahesh Natarajan as its Chief Revenue Officer (CRO).
Natarajan is an acknowledged techno-business leader in the insurance and retirement industry, having spent over 25 years with Cognizant serving clients in the US.
In his new role, Natarajan will be responsible for strengthening strategic relationships with clients and partners, driving growth and transformation.
The company’s CORE suite of modular and integrated solutions delivers outsized savings, enhances customer retention, and provides a superlative experience to plan providers, recordkeepers, and TPAs. Congruent is committed to helping the retirement plan industry navigate the ever-changing landscape and deliver a seamless retirement experience for its participants.

SJVN inaugurates India's first multipurpose Green Hydrogen pilot project

Power major SJVN Ltd has achieved a significant milestone with the inauguration of India’s first multipurpose Green Hydrogen Pilot Project at its 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station (NJHPS) in Himachal Pradesh’s Jhakri.
The Green Hydrogen produced from the combined heat and power project will be utilised for the High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) coating facility of NJHPS to meet its combustion fuel requirements. In addition, it will also generate electricity through its fuel cell of 25 kW capacity.
The state-of-the-art Green Hydrogen pilot project is set to produce 14 kg of Green Hydrogen daily in eight hours of operation.
The hydrogen produced will be stored at a pressure of 30 bars in six storage tanks, with a total storage capacity of 12 m3. The project will produce hydrogen using an alkaline electrolyser of 20 Nm3/hour capacity, which would be powered by renewable energy supplied from the 1.31 MW solar power plant of SJVN in Wadhal, Shimla.
Besides generating power, the Green Hydrogen will also be used for high-velocity oxygen fuel coating of turbine underwater parts.

NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System Launched Into Space

NASA successfully launched its Advanced Composite Solar Sail System spacecraft from New Zealand.
Riding atop Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, the innovative spacecraft aims to utilise sunlight for propulsion.
Scheduled to orbit 1,000 kilometres above Earth, the solar-charged craft boasts an impressive 80-square-meter measurement post-deployment, which occurs approximately 25 minutes after liftoff.
Initially slated for a two-month mission duration, NASA anticipates the solar sail’s eventual descent following its primary phase of operation.
NASA highlighted the mission’s focus on testing the system’s performance, underscoring the significance of this pioneering venture in space exploration.
The oven-sized CubeSat serves as the spacecraft’s heart, propelling it when solar particles are directed toward the solar sail.

Indian passport 'second cheapest' in the world, next only to UAE's; offers visa-free access to 62 countries

A recent study has revealed that the Indian passport ranks as the second cheapest passport to obtain worldwide. It holds the distinction of being the most cost-effective in terms of “cost per year” of validity.
Notably, an Indian passport holder can travel to 62 nations visa-free.
The UAE passport clinches the top spot as the most affordable passport globally, surpassing all others in terms of both acquisition cost and the number of countries offering visa-free access.
In its study, Australian firm Compare the Market AU conducted comparison of passport acquisition costs across various countries. It evaluated their cost-effectiveness per year of validity and their value based on the number of nations offering visa-free access.

Deloitte projects India's FY25 GDP growth at 6.6% as exports rebound

Deloitte India estimates India’s GDP growth at 6.6 per cent in the current fiscal helped by consumption expenditure, exports rebound and capital flows.
In its India’s economic outlook report, Deloitte said the rapid growth of the middle-income class has led to rising purchasing power and even created demand for premium luxury products and services.
With the expectation that the number of middle-to-highincome segments will be one in two households by 2030/31, up from one in four currently, we believe this trend will likely become further amplified, driving overall private consumer expenditure growth.
Deloitte has revised India’s economic growth prediction for last fiscal to a range of 7.6 to 7.8 per cent. In January, the firm had projected growth for 2023-24 fiscal in the range of 6.9-7.2 per cent.
The country’s GDP growth is estimated to reach around 6.6 per cent in FY 2024-25 and 6.75 per cent in the year after, as markets learn to factor in geopolitical uncertainties in their investment and consumption decisions, Deloitte said in its quarterly update to its economic outlook.

Crisil ESG Ratings receives market regulator Sebi approval for ESG scoring

Crisil ESG Ratings & Analytics received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) as a Category 1 provider of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings.
After the overhaul of the norms for ESG rating providers (ERPs) by the market regulator last year, ESG scoring businesses required registration and certification.
Crisil ESG Ratings, a unit of Crisil, was incorporated to comply with the same mandate.
The rating provider launched its ESG scoring business in 2021 and now tracks over 1,000 companies across 65 sectors.
The company said that this business will now be transferred to the subsidiary Crisil ESG Ratings.

Cred introduces offline QR code 'scan & pay' service

Fintech company Cred has launched a UPI-based ‘Scan and Pay’ service that enables members to use any QR code for payments directly from their bank accounts.
The launch move marks Cred’s foray into the offline payments space dominated by PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm.
Cred has been pushing its UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payments feature aggressively.
The company said the feature will be convenient to make offline retail payments at large format stores.
Such stores comprise supermarkets, fast-food joints, beauty salons, fashion boutiques, and various lifestyle retailers. The focus is on tnerchants with substantial average transaction amounts and whose patrons predominantly opt for credit card payments.
Regardless of the payment method used, Cred will offer users rewards for each transaction. Users may deduct these benefits from their credit card expenses.

IndiGo places $5 billion order for 30 A350-900 widebody aircraft

IndiGo placed an order with European plane maker Airbus for 30 A350-900 widebody aircraft at a deal estimated to be between $4 billion and $5 billion.
To meet growing demand in the country’s air travel market, Indian carriers have made four significant aircraft orders since last year.
In February 2023, the Tata-run Air India Group placed an order for 470 planes: 250 with Airbus and 220 with American plane maker Boeing.
In June 2023, IndiGo made the world’s largest aircraft order by signing a deal for 500 A320neo family planes from Airbus.
In January 2024, the new airline Akasa Air placed an order for 150 B737 MAX aircraft with Boeing.

Germany, France sign deal in Paris on developing future weapons system

The French and German defence ministers signed an agreement in Paris for a joint Franco-German-led armaments project worth billions of euros, which includes the development of a next-generation main battle tank.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu signed the memorandum of understanding in an effort to jointly develop the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), which aims at replacing the countries’ current main battle tanks.
The MGCS project is expected to replace Germany’s Leopard 2 and France’s Leclerc main battle tanks.
Germany is to play a lead role in developing the MGCS, which is a counterpart to the joint Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project being led by France, which includes the development of a next-generation fighter jet, as well as drones and other systems.
Note: In May 2021, Germany, France and Spain reached an agreement in principle on the FCAS, which is worth billions, following a lengthy struggle over industrial policy.