4,57,000 barrels per day
What is it? India’s oil imports from Iran in the first three months of this financial year, according to India’s oil ministry.
Why it’s important? Iran has replaced Saudi Arabia as the largest supplier of oil to India. It’s up from 2,79,000 bpd during the same period last year, and is driven by better deals from Iran including inexpensive shipping and extended credit periods.
Tell me more: It comes amidst escalating tension between Iran and United States. US President Donald Trump tweeted Iran would face dire consequences “the like of which few throughout history have suffered before” if it made threats against the United States.
One million percent
What is it? Venezuela’s inflation rate by end of the year as projected by International Monetary Fund.
Why is it important? It could turn out to be one of the worst hyperinflationary crises in modern history. The projection was to signal that “the situation in Venezuela is similar to that in Germany in 1923 or Zimbabwe in the late 2000’s,” IMF director Alejandro Werner wrote in a blog.
Tell me more: The country’s central bank stopped publishing inflation data, and the legislature said the consumer prices are up 46,305 % this year. Venezuela’s economic crisis was triggered by a sharp fall in oil prices in 2014, which brought the state’s revenues down. Unable to sustain its social welfare programmes rolled out by previous government headed by Hugo Chavez, it started printing more currency, leading to high inflation.
52%
What is it? Percentage of Indian IT security managers who reported a data breach last year, according to a survey by technology firm Thales.
Why is it important? This is higher than global average of around 36%. It’s true of earlier years too, with 75% of Indian respondents saying there was a data breach in the past, compared to 67% global average. The results come from a survey of over 1,200 senior IT security managers globally (100 of them in India) between October-November 2017.
Tell me more: Earlier this month, a report by IBM security and Ponemon Institute placed the average cost of data breach in India at $ 1.77 million, up 7.9% from 2017, but lowest in the world.
24
What is it? The number of banks and financial institutions that have signed an inter-creditor agreement.
Why is it important? The agreement will help these banks to resolve bad loans problems faster. 12.5% of all loans given by Indian banks are categorised as bad loans. The agreement effectively gives the lead lender a bigger say in recovery of loans from defaulters.
Tell me more: This is a part of Project Sashakt, a five pronged mechanism to solve India’s NPA problem. The agreement was signed by 17 public sector banks, including State Bank of India, five private sector banks and two financial institutions.
60 billion times per minute
What is it? The spinning speed of a rotor created by researchers at Purdue University.
Why is it important? This is the fastest man-made spinning object, and could help study quantum mechanics and virtual particles that may temporarily appear in a vacuum.
Tell me more: The researchers created a nanoscale rotor, made from silica, and levitated it in high vacuum using a laser. It is over 100,000 times faster than a high-speed dental drill. Scientists have been fighting a race to make the fastest spinning object to study the behaviour of materials in extreme conditions. A previous record was an object that could spin 600 million times a minute.
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