Information technology company Wipro has filed a lawsuit against its former chief financial officer Jatin Dalal who joined rival Cognizant this month. Earlier in September, Cognizant had announced Dalal will succeed Jan Siegmund, and will report to the company’s chief executive officer Ravi Kumar S. Wipro has initiated legal proceedings in civil court in Bengaluru.

Though Wipro and Cognizant didn’t  respond to queries, it is said Dalal has requested the court to move the matter to arbitration and that a hearing is scheduled on January 3. Dalal joined Wipro in 2002 and became chief financial officer in April 2015 and also assumed additional responsibilities as President beginning in December 2019.

Previously, he was CFO of Wipro’s Global IT Business from 2011 to 2015, and prior to that, he served as Wipro’s UK head of finance for the Europe region and as the global finance head of energy & utilities, health care, and manufacturing business units.

The reason for the legal action is unclear. This comes days after the IT company filed a complaint against Mohd Haque, a former senior vice-president and head of healthcare and medical devices- Americas, alleging a violation of the non-compete clause in his employment contract. He moved from the company before expiration of the non-compete clause that was set until August 1, 2023.

He joined Cognizant recently. Wipro has seen many senior-level exits this year including operations head Sanjeev Singh, India business head Satya Easwaran, Americas Two CFO Nithin V Jaganmohan, iDEAS business head Rajan Kohli, and Americas One CFO Kamini Shah. Senior VP Ashish Saxena also exited the firm recently.

Banks’ asset quality has improved to a decadal high by the end of September 2023 quarter.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its banking trend report for 2022-23 says that the gross non-performing asset (GNPAs) of scheduled commercial banks fell to the decadal low of 3.2% at end of September 2023. As per the report, the amount of NPAs decreased for all bank groups, except small finance banks.

The share of large borrowal accounts (with total exposure of Rs 5 crore and above) in total advances declined to 46.4% at end-March 2023 from 47.8% a year ago.  Their contribution to total NPAs also fell during the year to 53.9% from 64.0%. The SMA-1 and SMA-2 ratios, which indicate potential stress, declined across bank groups for overall as well as large borrowal accounts.

Special Mention Account-1 or SMA-1 is a loan account where the outstanding amount, either fully or partially, has not been repaid for 31-60 days. SMA-2 are accounts where the amount due is for 61-90 days. Once the amount is due for 91 days, it is classified as NPA.

Country’s largest telecom service provider Reliance Jio is working with the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay to launch a Bharat GPT programme. Akash Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, announced this initiative during the institute’s annual Techfest.

Ambani also mentioned that the company is planning to introduce an operating system for television and has already begun developing one. The Jio Chairman further said, “At present we have only scratched the surface with large language models and generative AI, and the next decade will be defined by these applications.”

Regarding artificial intelligence, Ambani said it would transform every area of products and services. The company plans to launch artificial intelligencenot only as a vertical inside its organisation but also horizontally across all our sectors. 

The Indian Olympic Association on Dec 27 formed a three-member panel to look after wrestling in the country. The sports ministry suspended the Wrestling Federation of India on Dec 24 , three days after the elections, for not following the constitution in making decisions. The ministry had requested the IOA to form a committee to oversee the day-to-day affairs of the WFI.

The IOA had a long deliberation and fell back on their trusted administrator former Wushu Association of India president Bhupinder Singh Bajwa. He was named as the chairperson of a three-member panel and will look into the affairs of the WFI. The other two members of the panel are hockey Olympian MM Somaya and former international badminton player Manjusha Kanwar.

Star gymnast Dipa Karmakar will compete at the Senior Artistic Gymnastics National Championships after a gap of eight years in Bhubaneswar next week.

The prestigious event will be held here from January 2 to 4.

Besides Dipa, the championship will feature the likes of Tokyo Olympian Pranati Nayak, Yogeshwar Singh, Rakesh Patra, Tapan Mohanty, Saif Tamboli, and Gaurav Kumar among others.

Q1. Name the wrestler  who on Dec 26  announced through a letter to the Prime Minister that she will be returning her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award, protesting against the election of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh-loyalist Sanjay Singh as the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president ?

1. Sakshi Malik
2. Vinesh Phogat
3. Anita Sheoran
4. Chanu Saikhom Mirabai
5. None of These

Q2. The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Coca-Cola are thrilled to announce an eight-year global partnership encompassing ICC World events across all three formats, up until the end of

1. 2028
2. 2029
3. 2030
4. 2031
5. None of These

Q3. Name the South Korean actor who is  best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film "Parasite" and who  was found dead  on Dec 27 in an apparent suicide ?

1. Lee Sun-kyun
2. Gong Yoo
3. Kim Soo-hyun
4. Park Seo-joon
5. None of These

Q4. Name the person who has been appointed  as the head of  the 3-member ad hoc committee by the Indian Olympic Association to run the suspended the Wrestling Federation of India ?

1. Manjusha Kanwar
2. MM Somaya
3. Bhupinder Singh Bajwa
4. MS Dhoni
5. None of These

Q5. The Union Cabinet on  Dec 27  gave its approval for widening of the 135-km stretch of Khowai-Harina road in

1. Tripura
2. Manipur
3. Mizoram
4. Assam
5. None of These

Answers

1-----------------2    Vinesh Phogat

2-----------------4   2031

3-----------------1  Lee Sun-kyun

4------------------3  Bhupinder Singh Bajwa

5-------------------1  Tripura

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Dec 27  met families of three civilians who were found dead after being detained by the Army, and assured them that justice will prevail. “Please have faith in us. Nobody can bring back to life of those who have died. But there will be justice,” Singh told the family members in Rajouri.

The three civilians — Safeer Hussain, 43, Mohd Showket, 27, and Shabir Ahmad, 32, — were among eight persons detained by the Army for questioning after an ambush on an Army convoy killed four soldiers on December 21. The bodies of three civilianc were found at the ambush site on December 22. The five others were allegedly tortured and are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Rajouri.

Eight governors from Russia will participate in the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Summit, scheduled from January 10 to 12 in Gandhinagar. Russia is one of the 25 nations that have agreed to be partner countries for the summit.

Rushikesh Patel, minister of health and family welfare of Gujarat, said  that the Vibrant Gujarat Summit will offer participants the opportunity to explore investment possibilities in various sectors, with the state aiming to attract investments worth Rs 3.37 lakh crore. With robust bilateral trade reaching $49.36 billion in 2022-23 and 161.22 per cent increase in trade in the first six months of the current fiscal, the two nations have set a bilateral investment target of $50 billion by 2025.

Meanwhile, on December 4, Russian ambassador Denis Alipov had met Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in Gandhinagar to discuss strengthening cooperation with the state.