• Zuzana Caputovawon Slovakia’s presidential election, making her the country’s first female head of state.

• The amalgamation of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank into the Bank of Baroda (BoB)has come into effect and all branches of the former two will function as branches of BoB. Post the merger, Bank of Baroda has become the third largest bank in the country. Note: MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda is P. S. Jayakumar. Headquarter of Bank of Baroda is in Vadodara. 

• The Reserve Bankset the average base rate to be charged from borrowers by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and micro-finance institutions (MFIs) at 9.21% for the first quarter of the next fiscal (April-June).  RBI, on the last working day of every quarter, comes out with the average of the base rates of the five largest commercial banks for the purpose of arriving at the interest rates to be charged by NBFC-MFIs to its borrowers in the ensuing quarter. Note: RBI 25th Governor: Shaktikant Das, Headquarters: Mumbai, Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.

• Manu Sawhneytook over as the International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive  Officer (CEO). Sawhney has been working alongside the outgoing CEO David Richardson for the last six weeks. Note: Chairperson:  Shashank Manohar, Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

• As per a report by OpenSignal, which is named as ‘OpenSignal’s Hottest city for 4G Availability’, Dhanbad, which is also known as the coal capital of India has the highest 4G availability of 3%,out of the 50 largest cities of India, followed by Ranchi which has 95% of 4G Availability. 

• Switzerland’s Roger Federerlifted his 101^st career title at the Miami Open. Federer is now behind only America’s Jimmy Connors with 109 career singles titles.

• South Korea defeated India to win the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup which was held at Azlan Shah Stadium in Ipoh, Malaysia.

• The 2019 India Open,officially the YONEX-SUNRISE India Open 2019, was a badminton tournament which took place at  D. Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi, India. Viktor Axelsen of Denmark defeated India’s Srikanth Kidambi to win the men’s singles category while Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand won in Women’s singles category.

• For the second year in succession, Telangana ranks number 1 in the e-Learning training program of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India.

• Chile announced that it will allow visa-free entry to Indians holding valid US Visa.

• Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management (RNAM)has joined hands with Google to enable the customers of Reliance Mutual Fund to carry out voice-based financial transactions. With this, RNAM becomes the first company in India, to provide a conversational interface that would help customers regarding funds transactions.

• Kotak Mahindra Bank becomes first lender to charge for UPI use, starting 1st of May 2019.For each Kotak Bank account, the first 30 UPI fund transfers will be free, after which a charge will be levied on all fund transfers from the bank account. This will be applicable across all platforms, including Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay or Truecaller Pay among others.

• Indian shooterscontinued their dominance claiming five gold medals on the final day of the Asian Airgun Championships to sign off with a total of 25 medals in Taoyuan, Taipei. India finished with 16 gold, 5 silver, and 4 bronze medals.

• World Autism Awareness Day was observed on 2^nd April. The theme for this year is’Assistive Technologies, Active Participation’.

• The Indian Army has successfully built the longest (260-feetlong) suspension bridge ‘Matiri Bridge’ over the Indus River in the Leh-Ladakh region.

• ‘Kandhamal Haldi’,a variety of turmeric indigenous to southern Odisha, has earned the Geographical indication (GI) tag from Intellectual Property India, an organization functioning under the auspices of the Union ministry of commerce & industry. Note: Odisha CM: Naveen Patnaik, Governor: Ganeshi Lal.

• Japanhas announced that the name of its new imperial era, set to begin on 1 May, will be ‘Reiwa’, signifying order and harmony. The country’s current era, Heisei, will end in April.

• Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflikahas resigned from the post.

• South Korealaunches the world’s first fully-fledged 5G mobile networks.

• The Indian Publishing company, Garuda PrakashanPrivate Limited, launched its book ‘Saffron Swords- Centuries of Indic Resistance to Invaders’. Written by Manoshi Sinha Rawal, it is a book on 52 unsung warriors of India from the last 1300 years.

• Saurav Ghosalbecame the first Indian male squash player to enter the top 10 in latest Professional Squash Association (PSA) world rankings. Indian women squash players Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal had earlier reached top 10 in the world rankings.

• Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)decided to: (1) Reduce the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points to 6.0%. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 5.75%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.25%.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)in consultation with the government of India has set the limits for Ways and Means Advances (WMA) for the first half of the financial year 2019-20 (April 2019 to September 2019) at Rs 75000 crore.  WMA is the temporary loan facility provided by the RBI to the center and state governments. The WMA scheme was introduced in 1997 to meet any temporary mismatches in the receipts and payments of the government.

• The UAEhonoured PM Narendra Modi with the Highest Civilian Award ‘Zayed Medal’ for giving a “big boost’ to bilateral strategic ties.

• Vipin Anandhas taken charge as Managing Director of Life Insurance Corporation of India. Note: MR Kumar is the present Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

• International Mine Awareness Day (IMAD)is organized across the world on 4th of April. The Theme for IMAD 2019 is “United Nations Promotes SDGs – Safe Ground – Safe Home”.

• WhatsApplaunched an India-focused fact-checking feature to combat fake news and rumours starting with the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

• State-owned telecom service provider Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)has received a licence from the Department of Telecommunications to provide Internet and mobile services on flights. BSNL and its satellite partner, Inmarsat, will be able to offer in-flight connectivity to airlines.

• BSE (earlier known as Bombay Stock Exchange) and India International Exchange (India INX) have signed a memorandum of understanding with Moscow Exchange (MOEX) to connect investor community and companies in both countries besides allowing a capital formation platform. BSE and India INX are the first Indian exchanges to enter into the MoU with Moscow exchange. Note: BSE MD & CEO: Ashishkumar Chauhan.

• TheSecurities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given approval to Paytm Money, the investment and wealth management platform of the mobile payments company, to start offering broking services.

• In a bid to further improve the cash position of banks, RBI has tweaked Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) normsto provide an additional 2% window to lenders.  LCR indicates the proportion of highly liquid assets held by banks to ensure their ability to meet short-term obligations.

• Rating agency Fitch retained India’s sovereign rating at ‘BBB-‘, the lowest investment grade,with a stable outlook for the 13th straight year. Note: Fitch Headquarters- New York CEO- Paul Taylor, Founded- -1914.

• Phayeng Village in Imphal West district of Manipurhas become India’s first carbon-positive settlement. A village is given carbon-positive tag if it sequesters more carbon than it emits, slowing accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and mitigating effects of climate change. Phayeng Village is scheduled caste village of the Chakpa community.

• David Malpass has been appointed as the President of the World Bank.He has replaced Former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim who left in January 2019.

• The board of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) approved the merger of theprivate sector lender with Indiabulls Housing Finance (IBH) through a share swap deal.

• In India, the National Maritime Dayis celebrated every year on April 5. The theme of the 56th edition of the National Maritime Day is “Indian Ocean-An Ocean of opportunity”.

• Praful Patel, president of All India Football Federation (AIFF),has become the first Indian to be elected as a member of FIFA Executive Council.

• India’s first indigenously designed and developed ‘Dhanush’ artillery gunwas inducted in the Indian Army. Note: General Bipin Rawat is the present Chief of Army Staff of Indian Army.

• Tata Steelhas been named as the ‘Global Slag Company of the Year’ at the 14th Global Slag Conference and Exhibition 2019. 

• April 7of each year marks the celebration of World Health Day. The theme of World Health Day 2019 is ‘Universal health coverage (UHC): Everyone, Everywhere’.

• The Guwahati Railway Stationhas become the first ever railway station in the Indian Railways to get an ISO certification from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for “providing passenger amenities in a clean and green environment.” Many types of ISO certification exist and the one received by Guwahati Railway Station is ISO-14001, which is for Environment Management System as per international norms which were upgraded in 2015. Thus, the station’s certificate reads ISO 14001: 2015. Note: ISO stands for “International Organisation for Standardisation” that is responsible for establishing the standard in different areas of activities.

• The US designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)a foreign terrorist organisation. It is the first time that the US has designated an entity of another government as a terrorist organization, placing a group with vast economic resources that answer only to Iran’s supreme leader in the same category as al-Qaida and the Islamic State.

• The joint military training exercise between the Indian Army and the Sri Lankan Army, ‘Exercise Mitra Shakti’concluded in Sri Lanka.

• Military forces of India and Singaporegot together to participate in a joint exercise ‘Bold Kurukshetra–2019’ in Babina Cantonment in Jhansi.

• President Ram Nath Kovindhas released the national ranking of higher institutes by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) in New Delhi.  Indian Institute of Technology Madras topped the rankings while the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore bagged the second rank followed by IIT Delhi. Delhi University’s Miranda House was ranked the best among colleges across the country.

• As per the World Bank Report, Indiaretained its position as the world’s top recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending a whopping USD 79 billion back home in 2018.

• The Reserve Bank of Indiacame out with guidelines for banks to set up new currency chests, which include a minimum area of 1,500 square feet for strong room. The new chests should have a processing capacity of 6.6 lakh pieces of bank-notes per day. The currency chests should have CBL of Rs 1,000 crore, subject to ground realities and reasonable restrictions, at the discretion of the Reserve Bank.

• The World Homoeopathy Day 2019was observed across the world on April 10 to commemorate the birth anniversary of the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr Christian Fredrich Samuel Hahnemann.

• Google parent Alphabethas beaten Amazon to launch one of the first commercial drone delivery businesses. Alphabet made its first delivery in Canberra (Australia).

• London (capital city of the UK) is the first cityin the world to implement a 24-hour, seven day a week Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), inside which vehicles will have to meet tough emissions standards or face a charge. Note: Theresa May is the PM of the United Kingdom.

• Emirates Islamic became World’s 1st Islamic Bank to launch banking via WhatsApp. It announced the launch of Chat Banking services for customers via WhatsApp, marking a global first in the Islamic banking sector.

• According to data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), HDFC Asset Management Co. Ltdranks 1st in terms of assets.

• SUN Group Chairman Vikramjit Singh Sahney was elected as the new president of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) – India.

• The government has announced that Karnam Sekar (MD and CEO of the erstwhile Dena Bank) will take over as MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bankfrom July 1. Also,  A. Sankara Narayanan will move to Canara Bank as MD and CEO.

• Team India Captain Virat Kohlihas been named as the Wisden Almanack’s ‘Leading Cricketer of the Year’ for the third straight time.