• India finished third in the medals tally at the Commonwealth Games 2018 with 66 medals (26 Gold, 20 Silver and 20 Bronze). Only Australia with 198 medals and England with 136 were ahead. India’s maximum medals came from shooting (16).

• World number one Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth won his career’s first Commonwealth Games singles Silver medal. In the final, the 25-year-old Indian lost to Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei.

• Shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated world number three PV Sindhu in the first-ever all-Indian women’s singles final at the Commonwealth Games. Nehwal is the only Indian female badminton player to win singles gold in Commonwealth Games history.

• Veteran Bollywood actor Dharmendra will be conferred with the prestigious Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement and filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani with Raj Kapoor Special Contribution awards.

• As part of the drive to double the income of farmers by 2022,the government has raised the authorised capital of NABARD by six times from 50 billion to Rs 300 billion to help it increase its lending to the rural economy. Nabard is the main agency for implementing RIFD (Rural Infrastructure Development Fund) scheme. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala is the Chairman of NABARD. Its headquarters are in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• Shares of private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd beat India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) for the first time to become the second most valued bank in the country. HDFC Bank Ltd is the country’s most valuable bank with a market capitalisation of Rs.5.04 trillion.

• Pune-based 17-year-old swimmer Sampanna Ramesh Shelar has set a world record to double cross the Bangla Channel.  Shelar, is the first person to swim to and fro from Saint Martin’s Island Jetty to Teknaf in Bangladesh, also known as the Bangla Channel. He has completed the journey of 32.2 kilometres in 9 hours and 10 minutes.

• A Loan Agreement for IBRD loan of USD 48 million for the “Meghalaya Community – Led Landscapes Management Project (MCLLMP)” was signed with the World Bank.

• The Union Government has stated that the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana or PMGSY is well on its way to achieving the target by March 2019. Sensing the importance and urgency of rural roads for national development, the target date for completion of PMGSY-I has been preponed from 2022 to 2019.

• The World Bank has projected a growth rate of 7.3% for India this year and 5% for 2019 and 2020.

• Every April 17 World Haemophilia Day is observed worldwide to increase awareness of haemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders. The theme of WHD 2018 is ‘Sharing Knowledge Makes Us Stronger’.

• The Pulitzer Prizes for 2018 has been announced in the USA. Following are the winners of the Pulitzer Prize 2018.

1. Fiction- Andrew Sean Greer’s “Less”has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
2. Drama- Cost of Living, by Martyna Majok.
3. History- The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, by Jack E. Davis (Liveright/W.W. Norton).
4. Biography- Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Fraser (Metropolitan Books).
5. Poetry- Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016, by Frank Bidart (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

• Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank Ltd became one of the top 50 most valuable publicly traded firms in India. The market capitalization of Bandhan Bank was at Rs.64,000 crore, claiming 50th rank, according to BSE data. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd is the most valuable company in India.

• Yes Bank has announced the launch of ‘Yes GST’, an OD (over draft) facility for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Through this, an MSME can avail OD up to Rs.1 crore, based on their annual turnover, backed by GST returns. YES BANK is India’s fifth largest private sector Bank.

• The much-awaited bridge ‘Ib Setu’ built over the Ib river in Sambalpur district was thrown open to the public by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The 5-km-long bridge is the State’s second longest bridge. Hirakud Dam built on Mahanadi River is also situated in Odisha.

• India has won an election to a crucial non-governmental organisation committee in the United Nations. It topped the election held by the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations in the Asia Pacific States category.

• Every year, 18th April is celebrated Worldwide as World Heritage Day to create awareness about Heritage among communities. This year the theme is ‘Heritage for Generations’.

• Aditi Rao Hydari will receive Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award 2018 for the Best Leading Lady (Critics Award) for her memorable performance in Bhoomi.

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF)has stated that India is expected to grow at 7.4% in 2018 and 8% in 2019.

• Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has launched a health scheme of the Assam government named Atal Amrit Abhiyan that offers free medical care of up to 2 lakh rupees for every individual from Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) families. The cashless scheme Atal Amrit Abhiyan will cover 92 percent of the state’s population with annual income below 5 lakh rupees. Note: CM of Assam:-Sarbananda Sonowal. Governor of Assam:- Jagdish Mukhi.

• According to the database of the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) for April 2018, India is now the world’s sixth largest economy, displacing France. The Top 3 economies of the world are: The United States, China,  Japan.

• As per the 2018 Commonwealth Innovation Index,India fetched 10th position in the index topped by the United Kingdom, Singapore and Canada. There are total 53 Commonwealth nations.

• The Most Film Friendly State Award was announced by the Chairman of the Jury, Shri Ramesh Sippy. State of Madhya Pradesh was conferred the award for the Most Film Friendly State. Note: Kanha National Park (famous for Tiger Reserve) is situated in Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh CM:- Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Governor:- Anandiben Patel

• The country’s biggest lender, State Bank of India (SBI)has come up with an alternate and convenient method of cash withdrawal for its customers. The bank is now providing facilities of cash through ‘Cash@POS’  Under this, the debit card holders of SBI and all other banks can withdraw cash from PoS machines installed by SBI across various merchant locations. A customer can withdraw Rs.1000 in Tier I and Tier II cities whereas Rs.2000 can be withdrawn in Tier 3 to Tier 6 cities per day per card.

• Swaziland’s King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch, officially changed the name of his country to the ‘Kingdom of eSwatini’.eSwatini in a Swazi language stands for ‘place of the Swazi’.

• Karan Johar has become the first-ever Bollywood filmmaker to get a place at the famous Madame Tussauds.  The process has begun in London and it will take about six months for the wax figurine to be ready.

• According to the TRA Brand Trust Report 2018,the State Bank of India was the most-trusted bank (both public and private sector) in the country and ICICI Bank topped the chart among the private ones.

• Private sector lender Yes Bank has received the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval to open two representative offices in London and Singapore.

• ‘Son of Dreams’ was unveiled as official Mascot of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China. The tournament will take place in eight Chinese cities from August 31 until September 15.

• The Union Cabinet approved the promulgation of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance 2018, which would empower the government to seize the domestic assets of those deemed by a relevant court to be fugitive economic offenders.

• Britain’s Prince Charles will succeed his mother Queen Elizabeth II as the Head of the Commonwealth. The Secretary-General of Commonwealth is Patricia Scotland.

• Indian animation pioneer and multiple National Award winner Bhimsain Khurana had passed away. Khurana was known for films like “Gharaonda” and for iconic animation shorts like “Ek Anek Ekta”.  His unforgettable work includes “Ek chidiya, anek chidiya” song. In 1970, he made his debut with his first animation short “The Climb”, which earned him the Silver Hugo Award in the Chicago Film Festival.