The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 26th May 19 | PDF Download

Non Banking Finance companies

• All NBFCs are either deposit taking or Non-deposit taking. If they are non-deposit taking, ND is suffixed to their name (NBFC-ND).
• The NBFCs which have asset size of Rs.100 Crore or more are known as Systematically Important NBFC. They have been classified so because they can have bearing on financial stability of the country. The Non-deposit taking NBFCs are denoted as NBFC-NDSI. Under these two broad categories, the different NBFCs are as follows:

1. Asset Finance Company(AFC) : The main business of these companies is to finance the assets such as machines, automobiles, generators, material equipment, Industrial machines Non Banking Finance companies
2. Investment Company (IC) : The main business of these companies is to deal in securities.
3. Loan Companies (LC) The main business of such companies is to make loans and advances (not for assets but for other purposes such as working capital finance etc.)
4. Infrastructure Finance Company (IFC): A company which has net owned funds of at least Rs. 300 Crore and has deployed 75% of its total assets in Infrastructure loans is called IFC provided it has credit rating of A or above and has a CRAR of 15%.
5. Systemically Important Core Investment Company (CIC-ND-SI): A systematically important NBFC (assets Rs. 100 crore and above) which has deployed at least 90% of its assets in the form of investment in shares or debt instruments or loans in group companies is called CIC-ND-SI. Out of the 90%, 60% should be invested in equity shares or those instruments which can be compulsorily converted into equity shares. Such companies do accept public funds.
6. Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF-NBFC): A debt fund means an investment pool in which core holdings are fixed income investments. The Infrastructure Debt Funds are meant to infuse funds into the infrastructure sector. The importance of these funds lies in the fact that the infrastructure funding is not only different but also difficult in comparison to other types of funding because of its huge requirement, long gestation period and long term requirements.

• In India, an IDF can be set up either as a trust or as a company. If the IDF is set up as a trust, it would be a mutual fund, regulated by SEBI. Such funds would be called IDF-MF. The mutual fund would issue rupee-denominated units of five years’ maturity to raise funds for the infrastructure projects.
• If the IDF is set up as a company, it would be an NBFC; it will be regulated by the RBI. The IDF guidelines of the RBI came in September 2011. According to these guidelines, such companies would be called IDF-NBFC.
• An IDF-NBFC is a non-deposit taking NBFC that has Net Owned Fund of Rs 300 crores or more and which invests only in Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and post commencement operations date (COD) infrastructure projects which have completed at least one year of satisfactory commercial operation and becomes a party to a Tripartite Agreement.

7. Non-Banking Financial Company – Micro Finance Institution (NBFCMFI): NBFC-MFI is a non-deposit taking NBFC which has at least 85% of its assets in the form of microfinance. Such microfinance should be in the form of loan given to those who have annual income of Rs. 60,000 in rural areas and Rs. 120,000 in urban areas. Such loans should not exceed Rs. 50000 and its tenure should not be less than 24 months. Further, the loan has to be given without collateral. Loan repayment is done on weekly, fortnightly or monthly installments at the choice of the borrower.
8. Non-Banking Financial Company – Factors (NBFC-Factors) Factoring business refers to the acquisition of receivables by way of assignment of such receivables or financing, there against either by way of loans or advances or by creation of security interest over such receivables but does not include normal lending by a bank against the security of receivables etc. An NBFC-Factoring company should have a minimum Net Owned Fund (NOF) of Rs. 5 Crore and its financial assets in the factoring business should constitute at least 75 percent of its total assets and its income derived from factoring business should not be less than 75 percent of its gross income.

Choose Coprrect

1. The Dooars or Duars are the alluvial floodplains in northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the Brahmaputra River basin
2. The Doon Valley is an unusually wide, longitudinal valleys south to Shivalik Hills in in the states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana India

(A)Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Both
(D) None

• The Dooars or Duars are the alluvial floodplains in northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the Brahmaputra River basin. This region is about 30 km (19 mi) wide and stretches over about 350 km (220 mi) from the Teesta River in West Bengal to the Dhanshiri River in Assam. The region forms the gateway to Bhutan. It is part of the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion.
• Dooars means ‘doors’ in Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magahi and Telugu languages. Ther e are 18 passages or gateways between the hills in Bhutan and the plains in India. This region is divided by the Sankosh River into Eastern and Western Dooars, consisting of an area of 880 km2 (340 sq mi). The Western Dooars are also known as the Bengal Dooars, and the Eastern Dooars also as the Assam Dooars. Dooars is analogous with the Terai in northern India and southern Nepal.
• Duars are terai floodplains. They are made up of lose sediments brought down by Himalayan rivers and deposited each season. Since they are fine sediments the streams more often than not shift course and spread the load over broad tracts. Some streams disappear underground and reemerge only later. This makes duars very damp regions. Duars are not the peneplains though. They may have considerable height and are great for growing crops like tea and coffee.
• The Doon Valley is an unusually wide, long valley within the Shivalik Hills in the Lesser Himalayas, in the states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana India. Within the valley lies the city of Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand state.
• Duns are longitudinal valleys formed as a result of folding when Eurasian plate and Indian plate collided.
• They are formed between Lesser Himalayas and Shiwaliks. These valleys are deposited with coarse alluvium brought down by Himalayan rivers. Passes are naturally formed ways or low points which facilitate moving across the mountain without climbing its full height. They were formed during the formation of the mountain. Eg: Bomdi La pass(Arunachal Pradesh), Shipki La pass(Himashal Pradesh), Nathu La pass(Sikkim).

Q.02 Choose correct sequence of given continents in decreasing order of their percentage of of Earth’s land :
(A) NA, SA , AF, EU
(B)AF ,NA , SA ,EU
(C) NA ,AF ,EU ,SA
(D) AF ,NA , EU , SA

• AFRICA – 20%
• NORTH AMERICA – 16 %
• SOUTH AMERICA –10 %
• EUROPE – 8 %
• Ordered from largest in size to smallest, they are:
• Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia
• Islands are frequently grouped with a neighbouring continent to divide all the world’s land into geopolitical regions. Under this scheme, most of the island countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean are grouped together with the continent of Australia to form a geopolitical region called Oceania.
• Greenland, with a surface area of 2,166,086 square kilometres (836,330 sq mi) is considered the world’s largest island, while Australia, at 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi) is deemed the smallest

Q.03 CHOOSE CORRECT MATCHES FOR RAILWAY ZONES AND HEADQUARTERS :

1. Northern Railway – Lucknow
2. North Eastern Railway – GUWAHATI
3. Eastern Railway – Sealdah
4. South Eastern Railway – SECUNDERABAD
5. Central Railway – BHOPAL

(a) 1 ,2 ,3, 4
(b) 2 ,3 5
(c) ALL (d)
(d)3 ONLY

•  Indian Railways divides its operations into zones, which are further subdivided into divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of 73 divisions.

Q.04

1. ABIDJAN
2. CARACAS
3. QUITO
4. SACRAMENTO
5. SHARJAH CHOOSE OPTIONS FROM WEST TO EAST :

(A) 1,3,2,4,5
 (B) 4,3,2,1,5
(C) 5,4,3,2,1
(D) 1,2,3,4,5
Q.05 Which are the regions of commercial dairy farming :

1. north india
2. north western Europe
3. Canada
4. South eastern Australia

(A) 1 & 2
(B) 1 , 3 & 4
 (C) 2 ,3 ,4
(D) all

• Worldwide, the largest milk producer is India (more than 55% buffalo milk), the largest cow milk exporter is New Zealand, and the largest importer is China. The European Union with its present 28 member countries produced 158,800,000 metric tons (156,300,000 long tons; 175,000,000 short tons) in 2013(96.8% cow milk), the most by any politico-economic union.

Q.06 Major tobacco growing areas are :

1. Gujrat
2. Andhra Pradesh
3. Uttar Pradesh
4. Meghalaya

(A) 1,2,4
(B) All
(C) 2,3,4
 (D)1,2,3

• India is the world’s 2nd largest producer of tobacco with an estimated annual production of 800 million kgs. Tobacco occupies a meagre 0.24% of the country’s total arable land area. It is grown largely in semi-arid and rain-fed areas where the cultivation of alternative crops is economically unviable.
• Tobacco is grown in the following 13 States in India: 1. Andhra Pradesh 2. Assam 3. Bihar 4. Chhattisgarh 5. Gujarat 6. Karnataka 7. Madhya Pradesh 8. Maharashtra 9. Odisha 10. Tamil Nadu 11. Telangana 12. Uttar Pradesh 13. West Bengal
• This variety of tobacco is grown in only three States in India viz. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana. Studies conducted by the Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI), Rajahmundry, have shown that FCV tobacco is more remunerative than other crops grown in the region, and is difficult to substitute.
• Between the period 2007-08 to 2013-14, gross farmer earnings have almost doubled.
• By virtue of the dominant role played by this commercial crop, the Indian Central Tobacco Committee (ICTC) established Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI) in Rajahmundry have shown that FCV tobacco is more remunerative than other crops grown in the region, and is difficult to substitute.
• Between the period 2007-08 to 2013-14, gross farmer earnings have almost doubled.
• By virtue of the dominant role played by this commercial crop, the Indian Central Tobacco Committee (ICTC) established Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI) in Rajahmundry (Andhra Pradesh) in 1947. The Institute was under the administrative control of ICTC, Madras from 1947 to 1965 and subsequently transferred to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi. ICAR acts as a repository of information and provides consultancy on agriculture, horticulture, resource management, animal sciences, agricultural engineering, fisheries, agricultural extension, agricultural education, home science, and agricultural communication. It has the mandate to co-ordinate agricultural research and development programmes and to develop linkages at national and international level with related organisations to enhance the quality of life of the farming community.

Q.07 Correct matches
(A)1 & 2
(B)2 only
(C)1 & 3
(D) all

• Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States
• Located at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers, Pittsburgh is known as both “the Steel City” for its more than 300 steel-related businesses, and as the “City of Bridges” for its 446 bridges
• Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township but began to expand “at an astonishing rate” around the turn of the 19th century. Manchester’s unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution,and resulted in it becoming the world’s first industrialised city.
• Manchester’s history is concerned with textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. The great majority of cotton spinningtook place in the towns of south Lancashire and north Cheshire, and Manchester was for a time the most productive centre of cotton processing, and later the world’s largest marketplace for cotton goods. Manchester was dubbed “Cottonopolis” and “Warehouse City” during the Victorian era
• Detroit is best known as the center of the U.S. automobile industry, and the “Big Three” auto manufacturers General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler are all headquartered in Metro Detroit.

Q.08

1. Baghmara : gold
2. Bailadila : iron ore
3. Hutti : coal Choose

correctly matched :
 (A) 1 & 2
(B) 1 & 3
(C) 2 & 3
(D) All

• Vedanta Limited, a global diversified natural resource company, won the nation’s firstever gold mining lease auctioned by the Chhattisgarh government,
• The gold mine at Baghmara in Baloda Bazar district, about 140 km north-east of Raipur, is one of the oldest explored deposit of the precious metal in Central India.
• India imports about 1,000 tonnes of gold every year and the precious metal is the second-highest component of the imports bill after crude oil.
• Bailadila-14 mine is the first large scale open cast mechanised iron ore mine in India for which DPR was prepared by NMDC. The mine has the distinction of having unique down-the-hill conveyor system passing through a tunnel to transport iron ore from crushing plant to processing plant.
• Hutti Gold Mines also spelled as Hatti is a town in Raichur district in the Indian state of Karnataka
• Hutti Gold Mines Limited (HGML) is a company located in the state of Karnataka, India and engaged in the mining and production of gold. This was first established as Hyderabad Gold Mines in 1947. With the closing of Kolar Gold Fields in 2001, this is the only company in India which produces gold by mining and processing the gold ore. Owned by the Government of Karnataka, HGML has two plants located in Hutti and Chitradurga. HGML mines gold from its main gold mine located in Hutti and other satellite mines.

Q.09
Resources : largest producer

1. Gold : China
2. Silver : South Africa
3. Diamond : Australia

CHOOSE CORRECT MATCH :
(A) 1 only
(B) 1 & 3
(C) 2 & 3
(D) ALL

• The World Gold Council states that as of the end of 2017, “there were 187,200 tonnes of stocks in existence above ground”.
• As of 2017, the world’s largest gold producer by far was China with 455 tonnes.
• The second-largest producer, Australia, mined 270 tonnes in the same year, followed by Russia with 250 tonnes
• Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia, a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, which forms a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which dissolves silver and base metals, a property that has long been used to refine gold and to confirm the presence of gold in metallic objects, giving rise to the term acid test.
• Gold also dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but this is not a chemical reaction.
• A relatively rare element, gold is a precious metal that has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other arts throughout recorded history. In the past, a gold standard was often implemented as a monetary policy, but gold coins ceased to be minted as a circulating currency in the 1930s, and the world gold standard was abandoned for a fiat currency system after 1976.
• it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. The metal is found in the Earth’s crust in the pure, free elemental form (“native silver”), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining.
• Silver has long been valued as a precious metal. Silver metal is used in many bullion coins, sometimes alongside gold: [4] while it is more abundant than gold, it is much less abundant as a native metal.
• Mexico was the top producer of silver (5,000 tonnes or 18.7% of the world’s total of 26,800 t), followed by China (4,060 t) and Peru (3,780 t).
• Today, silver metal is primarily produced instead as a secondary byproduct of electrolytic refining of copper, lead, and zinc, and by application of the Parkes process on lead bullion from ore that also contains silver. In such processes, silver follows the non-ferrous metal in question through its concentration and smelting, and is later purified out. For example, in copper production, purified copper is electrolytically deposited on the cathode, while the less reactive precious metals such as silver and gold collect under the anode as the so-called “anode slime”. This is then separated and purified of base metals by treatment with hot aerated dilute sulfuric acid and heating with lime or silica flux, before the silver is purified to over 99.9% purity via electrolysis in nitrate solution.

Russia

• Russia holds what is believed to be the world’s largest and richest diamond resources. They are the world’s largest producer and exporter of rough diamonds by volume. In 2014, Russian miners extracted an estimated 38-39 million carats of diamonds. The main miner is ALROSA, which has a near monopoly on diamond mining in the country, accounting for well over 90% of the country’s annual production. Mines: ALROSA mined 36.2 million carats of diamonds in 2014. Most of Russia’s (and ALROSA’s) mining deposits and current mining activities are in the Russian republic Yakutia, in the Siberian region of the country.

Botswana

• Botswana is the leading diamond-producing country in terms of value, and the second largest in terms of volume. This is the home base of De Beers, and the source of most of its production today. In 2013, Botswana produced 23.2 million carats with a stated value of $3.63 billion.
• Roughly 49% of diamonds originate from Central and Southern Africa, although significant sources of the mineral have been discovered in Canada, India, Russia, Brazil, and Australia. They are mined from kimberlite and lamproite volcanic pipes, which can bring diamond crystals, originating from deep within the Earth where high pressures and temperatures enable them to form, to the surface. The mining and distribution of natural diamonds are subjects of frequent controversy such as concerns over the sale of blood diamonds or conflict diamondsby African paramilitary groups. The diamond supply chain is controlled by a limited number of powerful businesses, and is also highly concentrated in a small number of locations around the world.

Q.10 Choose correct options :

1. Longitude of jabalpur’s location is between those of indore and bhopal
2. Lattitude of aurangabad’s location is between those of vadodara and pune 3. Bengaluru is situated more southward than Chennai

(A) 1 & 3
(B) Only 2
 (C)2 & 3
(D) All
Q.11 Which among the following covers the highest percentage of forest area in the world :
(A)Temperate coniferous forests
(B)Temperate deciduous forests
(C)Tropical monsoon forests
(D)Tropical rain forests

• Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial biome found in temperate regions of the world with warm summers and cool winters and adequate rainfall to sustain a forest. In most temperate coniferous forests, evergreen conifers predominate, while some are a mix of conifers and broadleaf evergreen trees and/or broadleaf deciduous trees. Temperate evergreen forests are common in the United States of America, areas of regions that have mild winters and heavy rainfall, or inland in drier climates or mountain areas. Temperate coniferous forests are found mainly in the Northern Hemisphere in North America, Europe, and Asia, but some are found in the Southern Hemisphere. A separate ecoregion, the tropical coniferous forests, occurs in more tropical climates.

Q.12 Correct sequence of descending order of length of these rivers :
(A)Godavari , mahanadi , narmada , tapi
(B)Godavari ,narmada ,mahanadi ,tapi
(C)Narmada, godavari ,tapi , mahanadi
(D)Narmada , tapi , godavari , Mahanadi

• Godavari : 1465 KM
• Narmada : 1312 KM
• Mahanadi : 858 km
• Tapi : 724 km

Q.13 Choose incorrect :

1. India is 3rd largest producer of nitrogenous fertilizer in world
2. India 3rd largest steel producer in the world
3. India 2nd largest producer of silk in the world 4. India is the 2nd largest producer of coal in world

(a) 1 & 4
(b) 1 & 2
(c)2 only
(d) 2 & 4

• India today is the third largest producer of nitrogenous fertilizers in the world only behind China and USA. At present, there are 30 large size units in the country producing urea (as on date 29 are functioning) 21 units produce DAP and complex fertilizers, 5 units produce low analysis straight nitrogenous fertilizers. Besides, there are about 80 small and medium scale units in operation producing single super phosphate (SSP). The total installed capacity of fertilizer production, which was 119.60 LMT of nitrogen and 53.60 LMT of phosphate as on 31.03.2004, has marginally increased to 120.61 LMT of nitrogen and 56.59 LMT of phosphate as on 31.03.2011.

SILK

• India was the world’s third-largest steel producer in 2017. The growth in the Indian steel sector has been driven by domestic availability of raw materials such as iron ore and cost-effective labour. Consequently, the steel sector has been a major contributor to India’s manufacturing output.
• The Indian steel industry is very modern with state-of-the-art steel mills. It has always strived for continuous modernisation and upgradation of older plants and higher energy efficiency levels.
• Indian steel industries are classified into three categories such as major producers, main producers and secondary producers.
• Government of India’s focus on infrastructure and restarting road projects is aiding the boost in demand for steel. Also, further likely acceleration in rural economy and infrastructure is expected to lead to growth in demand for steel.
• The Union Cabinet, Government of India has approved the National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017, as it seeks to create a globally competitive steel industry in India. NSP 2017 targets 300 million tonnes (MT) steel-making capacity and 160 kgs per capita steel consumption by 2030.
• Metal Scrap Trade Corporation (MSTC) Limited and the Ministry of Steel have jointly launched an e-platform called ‘MSTC Metal Mandi’ under the ‘Digital India’ initiative, which will facilitate sale of finished and semi-finished steel products.
• The Ministry of Steel is facilitating setting up of an industry driven Steel Research and Technology Mission of India (SRTMI) in association with the public and private sector steel companies to spearhead research and development activities in the iron and steel industry at an initial corpus of Rs 200 crore (US$ 30 million).

The coal giants

• As a result, China produced 3,242 MT of coal in 2016, dwarfing the world’s second biggest producing nation, India, which accounted for 9.7%, or 708 MT, of the world’s total in 2016.
• This is according to the latest Key World Energy Statistics report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which provides data for the 10 largest coal-producing nations, including third-placed US, which produced 9.2%, or 672 MT, and Australia, which produced 6.9%, or 503 MT in 2016.
• Indonesia, meanwhile, produced 6.3%, or 460 MT, of the world’s coal last year, while sixth-placed Russia produced 5%, or 365 MT.
• he recent Cabinet decision to open up coal mining to commercial miners, who will now have the freedom to sell coal in the open market, is an interesting development.
• For decades since its nationalisation, the public sector Coal India Limited (CIL) has dominated coal production in India, producing some 82 per cent of Indian domestic coal (figures from financial year 2014- 15), and becoming the largest coal miner in the world by production.
• CIL is also the single largest employer in the mining sector in India, and the only one allowed to sell coal in the market (besides Singareni Collieries Company Limited or SCCL, the second-largest producer but an order of magnitude smaller in size

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