Yes Bank became the First Lender in India to hike Deposit Rates

Yes Bank became the first lender to hike lending and deposit rates. Others may follow as the RBI move has tightened liquidity in the markets. Yes Bank said it would hike its deposit rates by 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent in select tenors effective from 1August 2013. Yes Bank took this step following the RBI’s decision to keep key policy rates unchanged and cut growth forecast.

This provides an opportunity for retail depositors to lock in higher rates on term deposits. The bank has also decided to hike its base rate by a quarter percent to 10.75 percent effective from Thursday. This will make lending by the bank costlier.
In the first quarter review of the monetary policy, the RBI had left all key policy rates unchanged to support the Rupee to stay stable. The repurchase, or the repo rate, the interest that commercial banks pay to the RBI on short-term borrowings, has been left unchanged at 7.25 percent, and so has the reverse repo rate at 6.25 percent.

The cash reserve ratio (CRR), or the share of deposits banks must keep with the central bank, is also maintained at 4 percent. Earlier this month, the central bank had taken a number of measures to squeeze liquidity out of the banking system, in order to ensure stability in the currency markets.

Yes bank is India’s fourth largest private sector lender.

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE MCQs FOR IBPS PO EXAM

1. The Reserve Bank of India increased the Bank Rate on July 15, 2013. What is the present Bank Rate? 
1) 8.25%
2) 9.25%
3) 10.25%
4) 9% 
5) 10%

2. Which State/Union Territory has been ranked first amongst 35 States and Union Territories with regard to Financial Inclusion, according to a recent CRISIL report?
1) Puducherry 
2) Chandigarh 
3) Kerala
4) Tamil Nadu 
5) Andhra Pradesh

3. The 2013 FIFA Under-20 World Cup was held in Turkey in June-July 2013. Which country won the tournament for the first time? 
1) France 
2) Uruguay 
3) Ghana 
4) Iraq 
5) Turkey 

4. Hemant Soren became the Chief Minister of which of the following states on July13, 2013?
1) Bihar
 2) Chhattisgarh 
3) Uttarakhand 
4) Jharkhand 
5) Madhya Pradesh

5. Who has been appointed as the Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)?
1) Girija Vyas 
2) Sudha Sharma 
3)Kushal Singh
4) Krishna Tirat
5) Aruna Roy

6. Who was honored with the National Lata Mangeshkar Award in May 2013? (This award is instituted by the Madhya Pradesh government) 
1) A.R. Rehman 
2) Hariharan 
3) Shreya Ghoshal 
4) Shaan 
5) None of these 

7. Books and Authors are given. Identify the mismatched pair?
1) In Custody ---Anita Desai 
2) Sea of Poppies---Amitav Ghosh 
3) The Argumentative Indian ---Amartya Sen 
4) Unaccustomed Earth---Jhumpa Lahiri 
5) River of Smoke---V.S. Naipaul

8. Ethanol as a viable bio-fuel can be obtained from?
1) Paddy 
2) Potato 
3) Sugarcane 
4) Wheat
5) Tobacco 

9. Who among the following Padma Shri winners is not a sportsperson?
1) Yogeshwar Dutt 
2) Girish Nagarajegowda 
3) Dingko Singh 
4) Premlata Agrawal 
5) Vandana Luthra

10. Other than Venezuela, which one among the following from South America is a member of OPEC? 
1) Argentina 
2) Brazil 
3) Ecuador 
4) Bolivia 
5) Chile

11. KB Kookmin Bank is based in?
1) Japan 
2) South Korea
3) China
4) Malaysia 
5) Singapore

12. Crystal Award is given by?
1) APEC
2) IBRD 
3) WHO 
4) WEF 
5) WTO 

13. Which one of the following was the earliest event to take place?
1) Establishment of LIC 
2) Nationalization of SBI 
3) Enactment of Banking Regulation Act 
4) Introduction of First Five Year Plan 
5) Nationalization of SBI Associate Banks 

14. Who is the Chairman of the National Water Resources Council?
1) Prime Minister
2) Minister of Water Resources 
3) Minister of Environment and Forests 
4) Minister of Science and Technology 
5) None of these

15. Which of the following is not a pharmaceutical company?
1) Chevron 
2) Piramal India 
3) Pfizer
4) Zydus Cadila 
5) Sanofi-Aventis 

16. Who among the following is a football player?
1) Fernando Alonso 
2) Kimi Raikkonen 
3) Lewis Hamilton 
4) Sebastian Vettel 
5) Fernando Torres 

17. Organizations and their Headquarters are given below. Which of the following pairs is not correctly matched?
1) ADB---Manila 
2) World Bank -Washington 
3) APEC---Singapore 
4) ASEAN---Bangkok 
5) WTO---Geneva 

18. The founder of World Economic Forum?
1) Robert Zoellick 
2) Paul Krugman 
3) Pascal Lamy 
4) John Galbraith 
5) Klaus Schwab 

19. The 10 non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) are elected by the General Assembly for a term of?
1) 1 year 
2) 2 years 
3) 3 years
4) 4 years 
5) 5 years

20. Which one of the following Car makers does not belong to Japan? 
1) Toyota 
2) Honda 
3) Nissan 
4) Suzuki
5) Hyundai 

21. Identify the mismatched pair?
1) Bank Rate---10.25% 
2) Repo Rate---7.25% 
3) Reverse Repo Rate---6.25% 
4) CRR---4.25%
5) SLR---23% 

22. Who among the following was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan Award this year?
1) Late Rajesh Khanna 
2) Vijay Kumar Saraswat 
3) Gayatri Spivak 
4) Raghunath Mohapatra 
5) Abdul Rashid Khan 

23. The General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) will come into force from?
1) April 1, 2014
2) April 1, 2015 
3) April 1, 2016
4) April 1, 2017 
5) April 1, 2018 

24. 'An Angel in the Cockpit' is written by?
1) Vijay Mallya
2) Vijaypat Singhania 
3) Kiran Bedi 
4) Ratan Tata 
5) None of these 

25. The small borrowers in rural areas still prefer to take informal route for their credit needs. Which of the following is the informal route of credit?
1) Credit cards 
2) Debit cards 
3) RRBs 
4) Commercial banks 
5) Money lenders 

Answers
1) 3 2) 1 3) 1 4) 4 5) 3 6) 2 7) 5 8) 3 9) 5 10) 3
11) 2 12) 4 13) 3 14) 1 15) 1 16) 5 17) 4 18) 5 19) 2 20) 5
21) 4 22) 4 23) 3 24) 2 25) 5 

BANKING AWARENESS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. Banks in our country normally publicize that additional interest rate is allowed on retail domestic term deposits of?
a) Minors 
b) Married Women
c) Senior citizens 
d) Government Employees 
e) Rural residents

2. When the rate of inflation increases?
a) Purchasing power of money increases
b) Purchasing power of money decreases
c) Value of money increases
d) Purchasing power of money remains unaffected
e) Amount of money in circulation decreases

3. A centralized database with online connectivity to branches, internet as well as ATM-network which has been adopted by almost all major banks of our country is known as?
a) Investment Banking
b) Core Banking
c) Mobile Banking
d) National Banking
e) Specialized Banking

4. Which of the following is NOT considered a money market instrument?
a) Treasury Bills
b) Repurchase Agreement
c) Commercial Paper 
d) Certificate of Deposit
e) Shares and Bonds

5. Which of the following is necessary while opening deposit accounts in banks?
a) Will
b) Registration 
c) Nomination
d) Indemnity
e) Guarantee

6. Which of the following is not a banking term?
a) Letter of credit
b) MIBOR
c) Factoring services 
d) Entry load
e) None of these 

7. Which of the following organizations issue the rules of global trade? 
a) IMF
b) World Trade Organization
c) Foreign trade
d) G-20
e) None 

8. One single statement that depicts the financial position of a Bank and / or Business enterprise at a given point of time is called: 
a) Statement of product details 
b) Foreign exchange
c) Balance Sheet
d) Balance of payment
e) Trading and Manufacturing account 

9. The Reverse Mortgage scheme is launched to give benefit to which of the following groups of society? 
a) Persons below 60 yrs 
b) Senior Citizens
c) Unemployed youth
d) Orphans 
e) All

10. One of the major challenges banking industry is facing these days is curbing deliberate efforts of some people to bring money earned through illegal activities in circulation. Which of the following act is passed to prevent this activity? 
a) Payment & settlements Act
b) Control money supply Act 
c) Narcotics and Psychotropic substance Act
d) Prevention of Money laundering Act
e) None

11. Which of the following scheme is not meant for investment purposes?
a) National saving certificate 
b) Infrastructure bonds 
c) Mutual funds
d) Letter of credit 
e) None of these 

12. Basel norms which are important regulatory stipulations are meant for which sector? 
a) Insurance 
b) Banking 
c) Micro finance 
d) Pension funds
e) None 

13. Systematic investment Plans relates to:
a) Mutual Funds 
b) Life Insurance Companies
c) Commercial Banks
d) Post office savings schemes 
e) None

14. Euro money is the official currency of?
a) NATO
b) UN
c) European
d) Germany and England
e) None of these 

15. Which of the following is an example of cash less purchase? 
a) Debit card
b) Credit card
c) ATM withdrawal
d) All of the above 
e) None

16. Whose signature appears on Indian Rs. 100 note? 
a) Finance Minister 
b) RBI Governor
c) Finance Secretary
d) Chairman, Planning Commission
e) None 

17. While discussing investments there is a mention of short term government security. What is this investment?
a) Debenture
b) Mutual funds
c) Treasury bill 
d) Share
e) None of these 

18. NBFCs are an important part of the Indian financial system. what is meant by this term? 
a) New Banking Financial Companies 
b) Non Banking Financial Companies 
c) Neo Banking Financial Confederation
d) Non banking Fiscal Companies

19. Banking loan against property requires the asset to be free from encumbrances. What does it mean? 
a) The asset to be free from any liability
b) The asset to be properly registered 
c) The property to be fully constructed 
d) The asset should not have multiple owners 
e) None 

20. RBI stipulates a healthy mix of CASA in the business figures of banks. What is CASA? 
a) Customer Analysis and Savings Pattern
b) Cost Appreciation and selling Analysis
c) Current Account and saving Account
d) Credit and savings Aggregate
e) None of these 

21. Which one of the following is not an electronic banking delivery channel?
a) Mobile Vans
d) Mobile Phone Banking 
c) Internet Banking
d) Tele Banking
 e) ATM

22. The Rate at which the domestic currency can be converted into foreign currency and vice-versa is known as the ____
a) Exchange rate
b) MIBOR 
c) Inter bank Call money rate
d) Base rate 
e) LIBOR

23. Now-a-days Banks are selling third party products. Example of third party product is:
a) Mutual funds
b) Term deposits
c) Credit cards
d) All of these
e) None 

24. Electronic Clearing Service in banks can be availed only by:
a) Individuals 
b) Corporates 
c) Senior Citizens 
d) All of these 
e) None

Answers

1) c; 2) b; 3) b; 4) e; 5) c; 6) d; 7) b; 8) c; 9) b; 10) d; 
11) d; 12) b; 13) a; 14) c; 15) d; 16) b; 17) c; 18) b; 19) a; 20) c;
21) a; 22) a; 23) a; 24) d;