• HDFC Bank partnered with Marriott Bonvoy, the esteemed travel program by Marriott, to launch 'Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card'. This pioneering co-branded card will operate on the Diners Club platform, which is a part of the globally recognized Discover Global Network.
• The newly launched credit card comes packed with travel benefits, designed to elevate cardholders' travel journeys. This partnership between HDFC Bank and Marriott Bonvoy signifies a strategic move to cater to the growing trend of post-pandemic "revenge spending" on both domestic and international travel.

• Government of India is launching an ‘Invoice incentive Scheme’ by the name ‘Mera Bill Mera Adhikaar’ to encourage the culture of customers asking for bills for all purchases. Under the scheme, invoices will be drawn at regular intervals monthly and quarterly.
• Bills can be uploaded on Mobile App ‘Mera Bill Mera Adhikaar’ available on IOS and Android or on web portal ‘ It will be initially launched in the, Puducherry, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and states of Assam, Gujarat & Haryana. This scheme is being implemented in association with State Governments.

• The Information Technology (IT) hub of Madhya Pradesh, Indore has secured first position in Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan-2023, conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board.
• According to a release, in the category of cities with a population of over 10 lakhs in the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan-2023, Indore has secured the first position, Bhopal ranked fifth, Jabalpur 13th and Gwalior 41st. Environment Minister Hardeep Singh Dang has congratulated the departmental officers and employees for the success in the efforts being made towards environmental conservation.

• On concluding the BRICS Summit in South Africa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emplaned for Greece for a visit on the invitation of his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis. PM Modi would be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the country in 40 years.  This visit is aimed at fortifying the bilateral relationship between India and Greece, and it comes at the invitation of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
• As Prime Minister Modi arrived in the Greek capital of Athens, he was warmly greeted by the Indian community residing in Greece. A symbolic gesture of cultural exchange was presented as they gifted him with a traditional Greek headdress, symbolizing the bridging of cultures and the strong ties that the two nations share.

• The BRICS bloc of developing nations agreed to admit Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates in a move aimed at accelerating its push to reshuffle a world order.
• The expansion adds economic heft to BRICS, whose current members are China, the world's second-largest economy, as well as Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. BRICS started in 2001 as BRIC, an acronym coined by Goldman Sachs for Brazil, Russia, India, and China. South Africa was added in 2010.

• Bengaluru-based tech-giant Infosys signed Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal as its ambassador for a three-year period. Nadal’s first collaboration with the company will be in the development of an AI-powered match analysis tool, a personalized tool that will be available in real-time to Nadal’s coaching team to simultaneously track insight from his live matches.
• IT giant Infosys has roped in tennis legend Rafael Nadal for a three-year partnership. In a BSE filing, Infosys said, "Globally acknowledged as one of the legends in sports, he also has had the ability to change with the changing rigors of tennis over the years. Nadal is a perfect embodiment of what it takes individuals or business leaders to evolve and continually navigate their next.

• The Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), the apex body of the Indian Electric Vehicle industry, has announced the appointment of R K Misra, Co-founder of Yulu Bikes and Director at Magna Yuma, as its new President for 2023-24.
• The members of SMEV also appointed the following for the year 2023-24. Misra apart from being a co-founder of Yulu is also credited to have founded and exited Tenet Technologies (Sold to Hughes) and Traveljini.com (sold to ICICI Ventures) post which he decided to leave the corporate world to engage with the issues of Public Policy and governance.

• PM Modi presented special gifts to the BRICS leaders including South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, First Lady of South Africa Tshepo Motsepe, and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. PM Modi gifted Bidri a pair of 'Surahi' from Telangana to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
• The Prime Minister also gifted a Nagaland shawl to the First Lady of South Africa Tshepo Motsepe. In addition, PM Modi also gifted Gond Painting from Madhya Pradesh to the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

• State-owned engineering firm Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has successfully manufactured the first set of indigenous selective catalyst reactors (SCR) Catalysts for limiting NOx emissions from thermal power plants. The first set of indigenously manufactured SCR catalysts for the 5x800 MW Yadadri Thermal Power Station in Telangana. Combustion of coal converts the nitrogen bound in coal to form products such as nitric oxide , nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O). These products are collectively called oxides of nitrogen (NOx), a major pollutant.

• An esteemed Indian-American mathematician and statistician Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao, commonly known as C. R. Rao passed away at the age of 102. Dr C.R Rao born on September 10, 1920, in Hadagali, a town in the present-day Karnataka state of India.
• Rao pioneered several fundamental statistical concepts such as the Cramer–Rao inequality and Rao–Blackwellization, concepts that appear in undergraduate textbooks on statistics and econometrics. He was instrumental in developing research and training programs at Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).

Download Daily GK PDF of 25 August 2023