Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 10 December 2019

1. Walmart and Amazon India to train and support MSMEs

• Walmart's Walmart Vriddhi programme targets 50,000 small businesses.
• Under the programme, Indian suppliers will be encouraged to make online and offline customers all over the world.
• Walmart and NGO Swasti will start 25 training institutes to train MSME entrepreneurs.
• Amazon India, in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry, will list and sell products and services of MSMEs online to help them in developing their businesses further.
• Amazon India also aims to train MSMEs in different businesses through workshops, roadshows and e-commerce training.

2. The Recycling of Ships Bill, 2019 passed by Parliament

• Rajya Sabha has approved the Recycling of Ships Bill 2019.
• Lok Sabha passed the bill last week.
• The bill aims to regulate the recycling of ships in India and put a limit on the use of hazardous materials on ships.
• The bill is in line with, Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009.
• India's 7516-km coastline offers good scope for the ship recycling industry.

3. MCLR reduced by banks

• SBI has cut one-year MCLR by 10 basis points (bps).
• HDFC Bank and Bank of India have cut their MCLR by up to 15 bps and 20 bps respectively.
• The cut will make MCLR-linked home, car, and other retail loans cheaper.
• Repo-rate linked SBI also offers home loans.
• Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR):
  • It is the lowest lending rate at which banks are allowed to lend.
  • It was introduced by RBI from 1 April 2016.

4. Codeshare agreement between Vistara and Lufthansa

• Vistara and Lufthansa have signed a Codeshare agreement that allows an airline to buy tickets for its passengers on partner carriers.
• Under the agreement, 'LH’ designator code will be added to flights operated by Vistara every day to cover 10 cities of India.
• They have earlier signed interline partnerships. It allows two airlines to supply and accept tickets of flights operated by partner airlines.
• Vistara (CEO): Leslie Thng
• Lufthansa (CEO): Carsten Spohr

5. Stable outlook for India's power sector

• In its latest Asia-Pacific 2020 outlook for the power sector, Moody’s has kept the outlook for India's power industry stable.
• Moody’s also referred to the implementation of a letter of credit mechanism of the Ministry of Power.
• The power ministry has decided that distribution licensees are required to open and keep enough Letter of Credit as Payment Security Mechanism within Power Purchase Agreements after 1^st August 2019.