Current Affairs Today: 13th March 2025 | Daily GK Update
State News
1. What symbol did Tamil Nadu replace in its state budget logo?
Answer: Tamil Nadu replaced the Indian Rupee symbol (₹) with the Tamil letter ‘ரூ’ in its FY 2025–26 budget logo, asserting linguistic identity and opposing Hindi imposition.
Banking News
2. What initiative did IIFL Finance launch on Women’s Day?
Answer: IIFL Finance rebranded seven branches as all-women ‘Shakti’ branches in Delhi NCR and Mumbai to promote gender diversity and financial inclusion.
3. Who was appointed Head of Security Operations at ICICI Bank?
Answer: Kamal Wali was appointed to lead ICICI Bank’s Security Operations Center, bringing 18+ years of cybersecurity experience.
Defence News
4. What maritime agreement is India set to sign with Mauritius?
Answer: India will sign a white shipping agreement with Mauritius to exchange commercial shipping data, enhancing maritime security in the Western Indian Ocean.
Business News
5. What financial instrument was approved for Power Finance Corporation?
Answer: The Finance Ministry authorized PFC to issue Zero Coupon Bonds worth ₹10,000 crore, offering returns via discounted issue price and full redemption value.
Economy News
6. Which country became the top source of FDI into Dubai in 2024?
Answer: India topped the list with 21.5% of total FDI into Dubai, surpassing the U.S., France, U.K., and Switzerland.
7. What was India’s retail inflation rate in February 2025?
Answer: Retail inflation dropped to 3.61%, a seven-month low, driven by falling food prices and broad-based moderation.
8. What was the IIP growth rate for January 2025?
Answer: India’s Index of Industrial Production grew by 5.0%, led by manufacturing, mining, and electricity sectors.
Awards News
9. Who won the ACM A.M. Turing Award 2024?
Answer: Andrew G. Barto and Richard S. Sutton were honored for their pioneering work in Reinforcement Learning, including temporal difference and policy-gradient methods.
10. Who became the first Indian to win the Ramsar Award?
Answer: Jayshree Vencatesan received the Ramsar Award for ‘Wetland Wise Use’ for her work with Care Earth Trust in Chennai.
11. Which airport won the ASQ Award for Best in Asia-Pacific?
Answer: Delhi International Airport won the 2024 ASQ Airport Experience Award for Best Airport Over 40 Million Passengers in Asia-Pacific.
12. Which company won double gold at SKOCH Awards 2025?
Answer: Muthoot Microfin received two Gold Awards for digital financial inclusion and innovative insurance solutions.
Summits & Conferences
13. What was the focus of the Water Sustainability Conference 2025?
Answer: Held in New Delhi, it emphasized Industrial Water Use Efficiency and introduced the 5th ‘R’—Respect—alongside Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recharge.
14. What was India’s message at the 4th ‘No Money for Terror’ Conference?
Answer: India called for global cooperation to counter terror financing, highlighting threats from digital networks and cross-border fund flows.
15. What did India showcase at the UNCSW 2025 session?
Answer: Union Minister Annpurna Devi reaffirmed India’s commitment to gender equality and launched the 7th Rashtriya Poshan Maah.
Sports News
16. Who won ICC Player of the Month for February 2025?
Answer: Shubman Gill (India) won the Men’s award, and Alana King (Australia) won the Women’s award for their outstanding performances.
17. Who topped the medal tally at Khelo India Winter Games 2025?
Answer: The Indian Army emerged as overall champions, securing the most gold medals across events held in Leh and Jammu & Kashmir.
Science & Technology
18. What are NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions?
Answer: SPHEREx will map early galaxies using infrared detectors, while PUNCH will study the Sun’s corona and solar wind to understand space weather.
Schemes News
19. What is PM-YUVA 3.0 and who is it for?
Answer: Launched by the Ministry of Education, PM-YUVA 3.0 mentors young authors under 30 to promote Indian literature and global book culture.