Current Affairs 10th March

National Affairs

1. The Arabian Sea served as the epicentre of India’s largest wargame, TROPEX-2023.

“Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise” (TROPEX-23), an operational-level biennial exercise that took place across the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in 2023, reached its zenith in the Arabian Sea.

 

The Indian Navy’s most recent comprehensive exercise program included Coastal Defence Exercise Sea Vigil 2022, Amphibious Exercise 2023 (AMPHEX 2023), and TROPEX-23, which ran for four months from November to March of that year.

 

TROPEX-23:

 

The TROPEX 2023 event took place in the Indian Ocean, including the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, and lasted three months, from January to March 2023. It covered approximately 21 million square nautical miles.

 

It covered a distance of approximately 4300 nautical miles (nm) from the north to the south up to 35 degrees south latitude, and it also covered a distance of 5000 nm from the Persian Gulf to the North Australian coast in the east.

 

Nearly 75 aircraft, six submarines, and over 70 ships from the Indian Navy participated in TROPEX 23.

 

The overall exercise program included Coastal Defense Exercise Sea Vigil 2022 and Amphibious Exercise 2023 (AMPHEX 2023).

 

The Indian Army, Indian Air Force (IAF), and Indian Coast Guard (ICG) all participated heavily in these exercises.

 

The Indian Navy’s combined fleets’ combat readiness to operate in a multi-threat environment was evaluated during TROPEX 2023.

 

Key Points:

 

The exercise, which took place in phases both in the harbor and at sea, included live weapon firings and other elements of combat operations.

 

In order to validate and refine the Navy’s Concept of Operations, all surface combatants of the Indian Navy, including destroyers, frigates, corvettes, submarines, and aircraft, are put through complex Maritime Operational deployments as part of the exercise.

 

As part of the joint final phase, Union Minister Rajnath Singh and representatives from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) paid a visit to the newly commissioned Indian Navy Ship (INS) Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier.

 

In order to become “Combat Ready, Credible, Cohesive, and Future Proof,” the Indian Navy is credited with pioneering the “Make in India” initiative and adopting Aatmanirbharta.

 

Sea Vigil 2022 In November 2022, India’s largest “Pan-India” Coastal Defence Exercise, “Sea Vigil-22,” were held across the country’s 7516 km of coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

 

The purpose of the 2018 National Level Coastal Defence Exercise dubbed “Sea Vigil” is to verify the various measures taken to improve maritime security following the 2008 “26/11” attack.

 

The biannual Tri-Services Amphibious Exercise (AMPHEX 2023) took place in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, in January 2023.

 

The largest AMPHEX ever held was AMPHEX 2023, which was the first time the exercise was held in Kakinada.

International Affairs

1. 2023 City Index: India has the fifth-most female billionaires in the world.

A new International Women’s Day study report from City Index 2023, which was based on the analysis of Forbes’ live billionaire tracker in March 2023, reveals that India has the fifth-highest number of female billionaires worldwide.

 

With nine female billionaires in each of Australia and Hong Kong, India and Hong Kong are tied for fifth place.

 

With a family fortune of USD 16.96 billion, Indian politician and businesswoman Savitri Jindal is India’s richest woman.

 

With 92 female billionaires, the United States leads the list, with more than twice as many as China, which has 46.

 

With 80% of the female billionaires with the highest net worth, the United States leads the list.

 

With 32 female billionaires, Germany comes in third, led by German automobile heiress Susanne Klatten (USD 27.58 billion).

Banking and Finance

1. The NSE and BSE have designated 15 stock exchanges as Qualified Stock Brokers.

 

15 trading platforms have been designated as Qualified Stock Brokers (QSBs) by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) since. July 1, 2023, in accordance with a directive issued in February 2023 by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

 

Zerodha Broking, 5paisa Capital, HDFC Securities, ICICI Securities, Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers, Angel One, IIFL Securities, Kotak Securities, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Angle One, Global Capital Market, Jainam Broking, Nextbillion Wealth and Investment, Sharekhan Ltd, and RKSV Securities India are all examples of these companies.

 

It is in line with SEBI guidelines from January 2023 that, among other things, say that certain stock brokers should be designated as QSBs based on their size and scale of operations.

2. SEBI restricted the option of stock exchange share buybacks.

 

Mechanism 

 

Companies conducting share buybacks through the stock exchange were subject to restrictions on bids, prices, and volumes on March 8, 2023, by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

 

Companies currently have two choices for share buyback: a tender offer and a stock exchange. On March 9, 2023, the new regulations went into effect.

 

The SEBI (Buy-Back of Securities) (Amendment) Regulations, 2023, which came into effect on February 7, 2023, prompted this decision.

 

In addition, investors were urged by SEBI to link their Permanent Account Number (PAN) with their Aadhaar number by March 31, 2023, in order to ensure that the securities market would continue to function normally.

3. Yes Bank, Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd made Co-lending Partnership to offer Home Loans

 

Yes, Bank and Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd. formed a strategic partnership in March 2023 to provide homebuyers with housing loans.

 

Customers from lower and middle-class families will benefit from the partnership’s convenient home finance solutions.

 

Options for home financing include, but are not limited to, a Home Loan for Salaried Employees, a Loan for the Purchase and Construction of Plots, a Home Improvement Loan, a Loan Against Residential Commercial Property, a Balance Transfer, and Top Up.

 

The partnership is based on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) co-lending framework, which lets banks and non-bank financial companies work together to give credit to the unbanked and underserved parts of society.

 

Partnership for co-lending:

 

Co-lending allows two lending institutions to collaborate on loan distribution. Companies will be able to find customers, evaluate their credit, and distribute funds thanks to the association.

Economy and Business

1. Maharashtra, Gujarat lead in FDI inflows in April-December of FY23

Maharashtra and Gujarat saw positive growth during the three quarters of the current fiscal year (FY23), from April 2022 to December 2022, according to data from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

 

Between April and December of FY23, FDI inflows into Maharashtra increased by 19% year-over-year (y-o-y), reaching Rs 85,186 crore, compared to Rs 71,858 crore in FDI inflows between April and December of FY22.

 

In comparison to Rs 15,321 crore in April-December of FY22, FDI inflows into Gujarat more than doubled to Rs 32,349 crore in FY23.

 

FDI equity inflows into Karnataka were Rs 70,015 crore between April and December of FY23, ranking second behind Maharashtra. However, this was a 45 percent decrease from Rs 1.28 crore between April and December of FY22.

 

It is to be noticed that Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat have overwhelming majority of FDI inflows into India. Between October 2019 and December 2022, 68% of the country’s FDI equity inflows (in dollars) came from these three states alone.

 

Key Features:

 

Due to rising interest rates set by major central banks and fears of a global recession, overall FDI inflows into India decreased by 9% between April and December of FY23.

 

Rajasthan’s FDI inflows increased by 61% to Rs 6,021 crore, the highest among smaller states.

 

FDI inflows in Tamil Nadu decreased by 15% year-over-year from April to December of FY23, reaching Rs 14,956 crore.

 

Between April and December of FY23, the sector of computer software and hardware received the most inflows, totalling Rs 63,819 crore. However, when compared to April through December of FY22, its value decreased by 16%.

 

Between April and December of FY23, inflows into the service sector increased by 31% to Rs 52,189 crore (Rs 39,797 crore).

 

FDI streams to the car area saw the steepest downfall of 77% y-o-y to Rs

10,015 crore during April-December of FY23.

Science and Technology

1. ISRO Receives NISAR Satellite, Jointly Developed by NASA & ISRO

An Earth observation satellite called NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) (NISAR) was given to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on March 8, 2023, from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is located in California, United States of America. A C-17 aircraft from the United States Air Force carried NISAR to Bengaluru, Karnataka.

 

The NISAR:

 

NASA and ISRO collaborated on the development of the Earth-observing mission NISAR.

 

NISAR was intended to be an effective demonstration of radar’s utility as a scientific instrument. NISAR will notice Earth’s territory and ice-covered surfaces with 12-day

routineness on rising and plummeting passes, examining Earth on normal each 6

days for a standard 3-year mission.

 

Earth’s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces, and ice masses will be measured by the mission, providing data on biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise, groundwater, and many other applications.

 

Background:

 

NASA and ISRO entered into a partnership to work together on and launch NISAR on September 30, 2014.

 

The launch of the mission into a near-polar orbit is planned for 2024 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

 

Goal: to use cutting-edge radar imaging to take global measurements of the causes and effects of land surface changes.

 

The decadal survey, which was conducted in 2007 by the National Academy of Science, was a response to this mission idea and the partnership that came out of it.

 

The commitment of NASA and ISRO:

 

The mission will be able to observe a wider range of changes thanks to the availability of two optimized radars from NASA and ISRO, each of which is optimized in its own unique way.

 

The 2,800 kilogram satellite is a dual-frequency imaging radar satellite because it has both L-band and S-band SAR instruments.

 

L-band SAR, a high-rate science data communication subsystem, GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers, a solid-state recorder, and a payload data subsystem are all provided by NASA for the mission.

 

The GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) launch system, the S-band radar, and the associated launch services are all provided by ISRO.

 

NISAR will be the first satellite mission to measure changes in our planet’s surface that are less than a centimetre across using two distinct radar frequencies (L-band and S-band).