Top Headlines - 18.03.2016

Top Headlines - 18.03.2016
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1. India ranked 118th out of 156 countries in a global list of the happiest nations, down one slot from last year on the index and coming behind China, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Denmark is on the top spot in this list. This list is published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), a global initiative for the United Nations.

2. Times Magazine said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among ‘The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet’ for the second year in a row in this year’s unranked list. The list includes US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, TV star Kim Kardashian and her husband Kayne West, author J K Rowling, former Olympic athlete Caitlyn Jenner and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.

3. Public sector lender SBI has tie-up with taxi-aggregator Uber to provide instant vehicle finance to 'driver-partners' on the latter's platform. The scheme would encourage skilled drivers to overcome liquidity crunch and excess documentation requirements to become an entrepreneur.

4. Second largest Private Sector HDFC Bank has launched SmartUp Banking Service, a dedicated solution for startups, to fulfill all their banking needs. This service has been launched in association with Zone Startups India (ZSI).

5. Oxford University Professor Sir Andrew Wiles has been awarded the Abel Prize by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters for solving a three-century-old mathematical mystery.

6. IRCTC and Pawan Hans have joined hands under an agreement that would allow flyers to book tickets through IRCTC website.

7. Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT service company announced that it has launched a peer-to-peer lending solution 'Vipps' in Norway for its client DNB, the largest financial services group in that country.

8. The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation and an Indonesia-China joint venture firm for the Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway signed a concession agreement.

9. India Signs USD 35 Million Loan Agreements with the World Bank for Madhya Pradesh Citizen Access to Responsive Services Project.

10. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) minister level meet at Pokhara.