Biz Quizzard 400

Presenting the current affairs quiz for the week November 21 - 26. Hope you enjoy it.

1. Eight Indians have made it to Thinkers 50 - a bi-annual global ranking of 50 most influential thinkers. Which Indian chief executive is ranked at 40 in this list?

2. Which MNC has announced plans to launch a $1 shoe in India?

3. Which company in the financial sector is running a campaign with the baseline ‘Changing Rules. Changing Lives.’?

4. Which watch maker has teamed with ace designer Tarun Tahiliani to come up with two new exclusive ranges targeted at women customers?

5. Which NRI tycoon recently sold a stately home in north London’s Regent’s Park for £120 million, the highest figure ever paid in the UK for a single private residence?

6. Which MNC is facing angry comments on the social networking media for pricing its latest product costlier in India than anywhere else in the world?

7. Which airport has superseded Mumbai as the busiest in the country?

8. Which MNC has topped the Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators 2011 list?

9. Which tobacco giant last week launched legal action against Australian laws forcing tobacco products to be sold in drab, plain packaging from late next year?

10. Which beverage brand is commemorating its silver jubilee with a new campaign ‘Soch Badlo'?

11. Which stock exchange last week said it will merge with Osaka Securities Exchange Co Ltd (OSE) to create world's No.3 exchange?

12. Which well known business personality has launched a mobile application, titled JaxtrSMS, which allows users to send text messages for free?

13. Which company last week released an ad in the print media celebrating 100 million customers?

14. Cigna, one of America’s largest health insurers, has entered into a joint venture agreement with which business group to sell covers to the middle-class in India through a direct distribution model?

15. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will shortly issue Rs 100 notes of the Mahatma Gandhi-2005 Series. What will be the additional feature?

16. Which well known maverick business personality has estimated the brand value of his name to be worth $3 billion?

17. Which company has joined hands with Healthfore (a division of Religare Technologies Ltd), and with Fortis Hospitals as knowledge partner, to launch Mediphone to provide timely medical advice to people living in rural, semi urban and even urban areas in Northern region?

18. Vikram Akula has stepped down as the executive chairman and director from the board of directors of which company?

19. Which four-decade old Indian company has launched a Hollywood-based production and financing company, which will produce international content?

20. Who will succeed Ratan Tata as chairman of the $83-billion (over Rs 4.30 lakh crore) Tata group?

21. Which company is claiming a category breakthrough in advertising: the world’s first Runway Musical?

22. Which bottled water major is planning to set up its own exclusive retail outlets in India as it looks to counter shopkeepers pushing rival brands?

23. Which country has surpassed the US to become world's largest smartphone market by volume in Q3?

24. Which company has launched two low-cost smartphone models as part of its strategy to boost usage of third-generation (3G) data services in the country?

25. A new train called Vivek Express was flagged off recently. What is its claim to fame?

26. Which actress has been roped in as the brand ambassador for jewellery manufacturer Gitanjali Group’s new brand, Gdivas?

27. The 7.7% stake in Walt Disney of which well known business personality, the biggest shareholder of the company, has been transferred to a trust led by Laurene Powell?

28. German luxury car maker BMW last week launched its pre-owned car business in India. What has it been branded as?

29. Who has been named UK's 'most powerful Asian’?

30. Neuland Laboratories, Birla Pacific Medspa and Fineotex Chemical were in the news recently because of which celebrity investor?

31. Four former corporate leaders - Ravi Kiran, Suhail Kazmi , Sanjay Barkataki and Subodh Srivastav - last week announced a new startup focused on businesses in tier -II and tier - III towns. What is it called?

32. Which insurance company has launched a new brand campaign, 'The one thing I have learnt'?

33. For which brand has RK Swamy BBDO created a new campaign titled 'Your Time, Your Place, Your Moods' for the International markets?

34. Which company has launched a new on-ground campaign, 'Travel-O-Dance' as an extension to its 360 degree marketing campaign, 'Creating Happy Travellers'?

35. Which brand released an ad in the print medium on 26/11 to celebrate the 90th birthday of its founder?

36. Which insurance company is advertising on television (TVC currently on air) with the positioning ‘Future guaranteed’?

37. Prachi Desai and Farhan Akhtar can be seen in the television commercial (currently on air) for which water purifier brand?

38. Staying with Prachi Desai, the actor is endorsing which shampoo brand (TVC currently on air)?

39. Which south-based English daily is set to launch its Delhi edition on December 11?

40. Model and actor Nargis Fakhri is endorsing the women’s line of which apparel brand?

Please mail your answers on or before next Sunday to rajeevkondapalli@gmail.com with Biz Quizzard 400 as the subject.

Happy learning!
rajeev kondapalli

Biz Quizzard 399

Presenting the current affairs quiz for the week November 14 - 19. Hope you enjoy it.

1. Which MNC group’s yacht making firm Princess has announced its formal entry into India and is aiming to sell up to five luxury boats in the next year?

2. ITC Hotels has rebranded the 140-key Chola Sheraton property in Chennai. What is it now known as?

3. Which well known chain in India has launched its international brand Espression in the country?

4. Experimenter gallery in Kolkata’s Gariahat area is playing host to an exhibition called “Two Stages of Invention” by artists collective CAMP (Critical Art & Media Practices). The exhibition is based on which event/ expose that had raised a furore in the nation? (this is still a business quiz)

5. Which well known Ayurveda consumer products company is celebrating its diamond jubilee year?

6. Business and numerology. Which bank launched 11 new branches on 11.11.11?

7. Which company is advertising its iTube TV (television commercial currently on air)?

8. Which company, in partnership with The Times of India, has created a new Guinness World Record for “most blood glucose level tests conducted within eight hours”?

9. Which automobile MNC has appointed Lowell Paddock as president and managing director of its India operations, effective January 1, 2012?

10. The daughter of which celebrity couple has joined US network NBC News as a special correspondent?

11. The promoters of which well known business group have formed a joint venture with global investment banking firm Espirito Santo Investment Bank (ESIB) for equity research brokerage businesses in India?

12. The board of directors of which MNC bank has confirmed Sergio Ermotti as chief executive officer, less than two months after he replaced Oswald Gruebel on an interim basis?

13. Which bank has unveiled ‘breeze banking’ services in India to allow clients to customise banking services using the internet, smartphone technology and social media?

14. In which city has LinkedIn Corp opened a research and development center, the professional social-networking site's first such office outside North America?

15. Which company will acquire heritage Swiss watch brand Favre Leuba for euro 2 million?

16. Percept/H has launched a campaign ‘Jawab hum denge’ for which client?

17. Which brand last week grabbed global attention with its new campaign “Unhate”, a series of six images showing world leaders, including Obama and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, in a mouth-to-mouth kiss?

18. Which company last week launched its mid-sized sedan, Rapid in India?

19. Belgium has conferred the “Commandeur of the Order of Leopold II”, one of the country’s highest civilian distinctions, on which Indian business personality?

20. Purti sugar mills plans to increase crushing capacity of its three sugar mills by 2,000 tonnes crushed per day (tcd) to 8,500 tcd next year. The company is led by which well known political personality?

21. Which business group has formed a joint venture with Telephonics, a unit of US-based diversified Griffon Corporation, to provide surveillance and communication devices to the Indian defence sector as well as for civilian use?

22. Which actor is featured in the print ad for Franco Leone shoes?

23. Which pharmaceutical firm will acquire Japan’s I’rom Pharmaceutical Co for an undisclosed sum as it looks to expand footprint in the country?

24. Which well known retail chain is going for an image makeover with a new logo and tagline ‘Naye India ka Bazaar’?

25. Online retailer Exclusively.in has launched shersingh.com, a contemporary range of apparel for men and women, with which cricketer as brand ambassador and investor?

26. The British government’s treasury department has decided to sell state-owned Northern Rock bank to which well known business group for £747 million?

27. Mountain Dew, Kurkure, Coke and Kinley have crossed what milestone this year?

28. Which company has launched a new jewellery brand, Mia, targeted at working women?

29. Who has been named '2011 Businessperson of the Year' by Fortune magazine?

30. Which company has acquired the rights to the Chetan Bhagat’s Revolution 2020, to be made in to a major motion picture?

Please mail your answers on or before next Sunday to rajeevkondapalli@gmail.com with Biz Quizzard 399 as the subject.

Happy learning!
rajeev kondapalli

Biz Quizzard 398

Presenting the current affairs quiz for the week November 07 - 12. Hope you enjoy it.

1. Which company has been ranked the country’s best company for investor-relations practices in the first-ever such ranking for India, compiled by Investor Relations Global Rankings?

2. Which company has struck an agreement with Claire’s Stores Inc, one of the world’s leading fashion jewellery and accessories retailers, to bring the brand to India?

3. Who has been appointed to the board of Warwick Business School, becoming the first Indian to be a part of the well-known British institution's board?

4. Sales of German-made Lunor Classic Rund PP have increased dramatically recently. Why?

5. According to the latest report of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), what important milestone did India cross in September?

6. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH) last week announced its entry in the breakfast space with the launch of oats under which brand?

7. Channels will go to press conference only if invited, story not to run on breaking news band, no astrology show to be done on this issue and the duration of story to be around a minute/90 seconds. These guidelines circulated by the Broadcast Editors’ Association are for which event?

8. Which well known sanitaryware brand has donned a new logo, the first time since its launch 31 years ago?

9. Manisha Girotra has quit as managing director and chairperson of the Indian operations of which MNC bank?

10. Which company has become the first corporate to set up a subsidiary that will run schools across the country?

11. Crane manufacturing company Anupam Industries has formed a new joint venture with which well known Japanese company to manufacture port cranes and material handling equipment for domestic and global markets?

12. Haresh Chawla has quit as the group chief executive officer of which media entity?

13. Rajesh Jejurikar has quit as the CEO of the automotive division of which company?

14. Which US-based consumer durables firm last week announced its entry into the Indian home appliances market?

15. Who has been named as the most powerful woman in Indian business according to Fortune magazine?

Please mail your answers on or before next Sunday to rajeevkondapalli@gmail.com with Biz Quizzard 398 as the subject.

Happy learning!
rajeev kondapalli

Biz Quizzard 397

Presenting the current affairs quiz for the week October 31 - November 05. Hope you enjoy it.

1. US advertising giant Omnicom has sealed a deal to gain control of which Indian advertising agency?

2. French car maker Renault unveiled its third passenger car for the Indian market. What has it been branded as?

3. Which company last week inducted Nita Ambani on its board?

4. According to a report, the maiden flight of ‘Phantom Eye’, a drone that can stay in air for 4 days, is just days away. Which company is behind Phantom Eye?

5. Which global sport-lifestyle brand has roped in cricketer Yuvraj Singh as its new brand ambassador?

6. Which MNC has appointed Harish Kohli as the new managing director of its India operations?

7. Philippines-based SPi Global is set to acquire Laserwords, a BPO focused on publishing industry. Which Indian group owns Laserwords?

8. Forbes last week unveiled its list of the world's most powerful people in 2011. Who, ranked at no. 5, is the first corporate executive on the list?

9. Frenny Bawa has resigned as the managing director for Indian operations of which MNC?

10. Which business group has decided to establish eight malls, named “Mall of Joy”, in the next 30 months at a cost of Rs 1000 crores?

11. Which company will take a majority control in the joint venture that is proposed to be carved out of the two-wheeler business of Mahabharat Motors Manufacturing Company (MMMC)?

12. Which company has secured a relief from the Delhi High Court which restrained a local garment manufacturer, Lodha Garments, from promoting its apparel under the phonetically identical trademark?

13. Which skincare brand has roped in Madhuri Dixit as the brand ambassador?

14. Which celebrity has become the Mumbai franchise owner for the all new motorsport racing league i1 Super Series?

15. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India has launched the cheapest and smallest in the Range Rover series of SUVs. What has it been branded as?

Please mail your answers on or before next Sunday to rajeevkondapalli@gmail.com with Biz Quizzard 397 as the subject.

Happy learning!
rajeev kondapalli