Mumbai, Jul (PTI): State-run Bank of Baroda today signed agreements with 10 companies promote micro and small business entrepreneurs.

These companies are from e-commerce, logistics, service providers and traditional small business which contribute 31 per cent to GDP and 45 per cent of exports and employ over 100 million.

The companies with which the MoUs have been signed include Flipkart (to offer collateral free working capital loan to merchants selling on their platform), Swiggy (to finance two-wheelers for its driver partners), and Xpressbees, Carzonrent, Uber (financing cars, three-wheelers buys and refinancing driver partners) and from the old economy DICCI, Lava and three others.

These MoUs with will help enhance the bank's footprint in the MSME eco-system and is an endeavour to simplify operational processes and to improve access to finance for them from early to growth stage, the bank said.

As of March 2018, the bank has financed about 5.37 lakh micro entrepreneurs with aggregate outstanding of Rs 32,766 crore. ********** HMSI launches Navi variant at Rs 44,775

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India has launched a new edition of Navi bikes at Rs 44,775 offering a new stylish fuel gauge and metal muffler protector to provide for more convenience and tubeless tyres.

The Navi is powered by a 109-cc engine and was . first launched at the 2016 Auto Expo and is the first fully developed model by Honda R&D India from concept development to commercial production. ********** SRDC rebranded as International Institute of Gemology

Gemological institute SRDC has been re-branded as IIG (International Institute of Gemology) and will introduce contemporary courses on gems, diamonds, jewellery designing and merchandising.

The institute has so far trained over 1,00,000 students and is the only institutes that provides training in rough diamond assortment, it said in a release today. ********** Flipkart, Hotstar in pact

Online streaming platform Hotstar and e-commerce player Flipkart today jointly launched a shopper audience network to bring together unique audience based insights to video advertising.

Developed by Flipkart, the network uses deterministic audience-based insights to help brands connect with users by leveraging its understanding of users' purchase journey and the massive scale of true intent video ads, the companies said in a statement.

It will help serve personalised advertising to over 150 million users across categories, providing them the right tools to better attribute and measure the impact of their digital ad spends. PTI DS SM BEN BEN SRE SRE SRE