INDIA | Pixr8 News

1May By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

INDIA

India Will Receive $35-40 Billion Worth Impact Investments By 2025

India is projected to see impact investments worth up to USD 40 billion by 2025 as the country is in a "sweet spot" with high potential to deliver solutions for various problems, according to global grouping GIIN. Based in New York, the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) is a not-for-profit group that works to promote impact investments and has around 230 members. Generally, impact investments refer to those made with the aim of having a social and environmental impact along with the investors getting financial returns. GIINs Advisor for South Asia, Anil Sinha said, there has been tremendous development in India around impact investing activities in the last five years and the country is in a sweet spot. "In India, about USD 4 billion has been invested as part of impact inv...

Indian Government Propose New Manufacturing Scheme To Apple

30Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA, News

Indian Government Propose New Manufacturing Scheme To Apple

The government wants iPhone maker Apple to consider a new manufacturing scheme offering duty benefits to set up its plants in the country. "Apple had asked for a set of concessions. For a period of 15 years all the components that Apple imports, they want them to be free of duty. We have a phased manufacturing programme (PMP) because we want more and more value addition to come to the country. We want them to understand how this PMP will work and how they can dove tail into that," Ministry of Electronics and IT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters today. She was speaking on the sidelines of the annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has approved PMP and the government set to notify it. "Right now the value...

28Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

Google Expanded Support For Nine More Indian Languages

Google has expanded support for nine more Indian languages, including Gujarati, Punjabi, Malayalam and Kannada, across various products to ensure more people can access Internet in a language of their choice. Powered by 'neural machine translation', users will be able to translate between English and nine widely-used Indian languages — Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Malayalam and Kannada. The new technology translates full sentences instead of doing it in pieces and therefore, offers better quality translation. The new translation capability will be available for Google Search and Maps -- both on mobile and desktop. "India today has 234 million Indian Language users who are online, compared to 175 million English web users. We expect another 300 mill...

27Apr By Ankita SinghNo Comments

INDIA

Big Economy Boost- Indian PM Flags Off First Flight Under UDAN Scheme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the maiden Shimla-New Delhi flight under a government scheme called UDAN or "Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik" to boost regional air connectivity. The flight is being operated by Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India. The airline has deployed its 42-seater ATR plane on this sector. The prime minister also simultaneously flagged off regional connectivity scheme (RCS) flights on the Kadapa, Hyderabad and Nanded-Hyderabad sectors through video- conferencing. With the RCS scheme, the government aims at connecting 45 unserved and under-served airports and make flying affordable by capping fares at Rs 2500 per seat/ hour. Five airlines were awarded 128 routes under the scheme last month after a bidding process. Under t...

25Apr By RishabhNo Comments

INDIA

Indian Space Agency ISRO Develops “Solar Calculator” Android App

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today said its Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre has developed an android app for computing the solar energy potential of a place. Developed at the behest of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the app is considered to be a "very useful" tool for installation of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels that is used for tapping solar energy, it said. The ISRO said the app provides monthly and yearly solar potential and the minimum and the maximum temperatures at any location. It also displays the location of a place on the satellite image as well as the days length there during different periods in a year. According to the ISRO, features of the app include providing of solar energy potential at any given location, the requ...

22Apr By reutersNo Comments

INDIA

India Plans Home Delivery of Petroleum Products

India is considering a plan for home delivery of petroleum products to consumers if they make a pre-booking to cut long queues at fuel stations, the oil ministry tweeted on Friday. About 350 million people come to fuel stations every day, it said. Annually 25 billion rupees (USD 387.00 million) worth of transactions takes place at fuel stations. India, the world's third biggest oil consumer, will be introducing daily price revision of petrol and diesel in five cities from May 1, ahead of a nation-wide roll out of the plan. “Options being explored where petro products may be door delivered to consumers on pre booking” @dpradhanbjp (1/2) — Petroleum Ministry (@PetroleumMin) April 21, 2017 “This would help consumers avoid spending excessive time and long queues at fuel stations...

Royal Enfield Rides into Brazilian Market

21Apr By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

INDIA, News

Royal Enfield Rides into Brazilian Market

Niche bike maker Royal Enfield today announced its entry into Brazil, the fourth largest two-wheeler market in the world. The company has entered the Latin American country with three models-- Bullet 500, Classic 500 and the Continental GT cafe racer. It has set up its second direct distribution subsidiary outside India in Brazil, with having established the first such entity in the US in 2015. The newly-formed subsidiary - Royal Enfield Brazil - at Sao Paulo will sell bikes to dealers, as well as conduct all front-end development and support activities such as marketing and after-sales in the country. A flagship store has also been opened in the city. "We are delighted to be formally entering Brazil, and are able to offer our motorcycles to a whole new group of customers, that...

BHIM App Reaches Near 20 Million Downloads

21Apr By AdityaNo Comments

INDIA

BHIM App Reaches Near 20 Million Downloads

Indigenous digital payments app BHIM has recorded close to 20 million downloads so far, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Tuesday said. "We have close to 20 million downloads of BHIM app," Kant said at an event here. On December 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the app for fast and secure cashless transactions using mobile phones. BHIM is a platform designed to make payment through UPI and USSD modes simpler. Digital payment channels like mobile wallets, USSD and RuPay have seen massive uptake and rise in transactions post demonetisation.

20Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

Indian Govt is Working on Data Protection Law

The government is working on exclusive framework on data protection to strengthen privacy provisions and check misuse of personal information, a top official said. IT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said that the government has "already taken cognisance of the fact that data is being put out indiscriminately in certain cases". She said that the IT ministry is working on exclusive framework of privacy rules which will be soon placed in public domain for consultation. "We have written to banks, all ministries and states to ensure that citizens data is treated as sacrosanct and is used only the purpose for which it is collected. If any body found violating this, action will be taken in accordance with law," Sundararajan told reporters at an IAMAI event here. She was responding to que...

16Apr By AdityaNo Comments

INDIA

Indian Finance Ministry Receives Over 38,000 Mails on Black Money Email id

The email address launched by the Finance Ministry for getting tips about black money received over 38,000 emails, but only 16 per cent of them were forwarded for further inquiry, CBDT said in a reply to an RTI query earlier this month. Jitendra Ghadge, a city-based Right To Information activist, had asked for information about response to the email address 'blackmoneyinfo@incometax.gov.in', launched last December. The Central Board of Direct Taxes said in its reply dated April 7 that 38,068 emails were received, and 6,050 or about 16 per cent of them were forwarded to the respective Director Generals Of Income Tax (Investigation) for further inquiry. The remaining 32,018 emails were closed without any action, it said. To Ghadge's query about number of "false" emails received, ...

Now Earn Rs 10 For Every Person You Refer to The BHIM App

14Apr By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

INDIA

Now Earn Rs 10 For Every Person You Refer to The BHIM App

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday suggested an easy way for youngsters to make a quick buck this summer vacation. He said for every person you introduce to the BHIM app, you will get a cash back of Rs 10. "If you refer a mere 20 people a day to the app, you can earn Rs 200," he said. Notably, the PM had recently expressed gratitude to the people saying over the last few months the country had witnessed an atmosphere in which people in large numbers participated in the digital payment, the 'Digidhan' movement. Pushing for a less-cash economy, PM Narendra Modi said the government's 'DigiDhan' movement for digital payment is a step towards curbing the menace of corruption. While paying rich tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar on his 126th birth anniversary at the Deekshabhoomi here, ...

13Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Most Followed World Leader on Instagram

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as the most followed world leader on photo-sharing app Instagram with a whopping 6.9 million followers, surpassing US President Donald Trump. Modi, who has put out 101 posts till date, is also the most "effective world leader" on the platform, a conclusion that was reached based on the comments and likes that his posts garner. The findings are part of a global study, "World Leaders on Instagram", that analysed the activity of around 325 Instagram accounts of heads of state and government and foreign ministers over the last one year. Trump, who occupies the second spot, has 6.3 million followers while Pope Francis is in third place with 3.7 million followers, ahead of the White House account with 3.4 million followers. The study, undertak...