Friday, March 29

INDIA

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Indian Govt Will Release Aadhaar Linked e-payments App Soon
INDIA, News

Indian Govt Will Release Aadhaar Linked e-payments App Soon

Government will soon launch a mobile application to facilitate Aadhaar-linked digital payments and roll out a nation-wide programme to train over 1 crore people on e-payments. "We are going to promote Aadhaar-enabled payment system (AEPS) in coordination with Finance Ministry. About 40 crore bank accounts have been linked to Aadhaar," IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters today. He said that the government is working on a plan to connect rest of the accounts with Aadhaar numbers. He said that there are biometric devices which can be connected to smartphones and convert a smartphone into a Point of Sale (PoS) machine. "We are developing a UPI enabled mobile application. It will be available in 2-4 days. Customer feed Aadhaar number, scan finger on the biometric,...
Indian PM Modi Wins Online Reader’s Poll For TIME Person of The Year
INDIA, News

Indian PM Modi Wins Online Reader’s Poll For TIME Person of The Year

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won the online reader's poll for TIME Person of the Year 2016, beating out other world leaders like US President-elect Donald Trump, incumbent US leader Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Modi won with 18 percent of the vote when the poll closed last night, getting significantly more votes than his closest contenders, including Obama, Trump and Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange, who all received 7 percent of the 'yes' vote. Modi was also placed far ahead of other prominent figures of this year, like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (2 percent) and US Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (4 percent), Time said. Time's editors will decide the final Person of the Year later this week, but the online poll results provide a look at how the world...
From Cash to Cashless: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Sudden Move To Promote Digital Payment
INDIA, News

From Cash to Cashless: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Sudden Move To Promote Digital Payment

As calls for going cashless grow louder in India, a key challenge being faced globally is to check the continuing rise in the total value of currency in circulation and their share in the overall GDP -- a trend particularly visible in the US, Switzerland and Euro area. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi's sudden move to cancel the legal character of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in the fight against black money and corruption, the focus is all the more high on digital payments as the way forward. However, experts feel that continuing rise in the circulation of currencies in economic activities could well be a key impediment in the transformation to a cashless and digital economy. India's cash to GDP ratio, an indicator of the amount of cash used in the economy is around 12 to...
Facebook Launched “Express Wi-fi” Under Internet.org in India
INDIA, News

Facebook Launched “Express Wi-fi” Under Internet.org in India

Months after it received flak for allegedly violating net neutrality with Free Basics, social networking giant Facebook is now testing a new model for public Wi-Fi deployments for offering quality internet access in rural parts of the country. According to Facebook's Internet.org page, the company's "Express Wifi" is live in India and it is "working with carriers, internet service providers and local entrepreneurs to help expand connectivity to underserved locations around the world". "...are expanding to other regions soon," it added. However, Facebook did not indicate if the Wi-Fi will provide limited access of a few websites, like its Free Basics, or provide full access. Express Wifi empowers local entrepreneurs to help provide quality internet access to their neighbours and mak...
Demonetisation Effect: SBI Collects Rs 1,14,139 Cr Deposits in Last 7 Days
INDIA

Demonetisation Effect: SBI Collects Rs 1,14,139 Cr Deposits in Last 7 Days

State Bank of India today said it collected Rs 1,14,139 crore in deposits in last seven days after the government announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The bank saw 240.90 lakh cash deposit transactions between November 10 and November 16 up to 7 PM, SBI said in a statement here today. The government announced to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8. Banks were opened for transactions from November 10 but were closed on November 14 on account of Gurunanak Jayant in major parts of the country. The country's largest lender exchanged Rs 5,776 crore of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes since November 10. It said there were 151.93 lakh cash withdrawal transactions amounting to Rs 18,665 crore in the last seven days. People are allowed to exchange Rs 4,500 wor...
Patanjali Ayurved to Invest Rs 1,300 Crore in Assam
INDIA

Patanjali Ayurved to Invest Rs 1,300 Crore in Assam

Patanjali Ayurved, the FMCG venture promoted by Yoga guru Ramdev, will hire around 5000 people at its upcoming Rs 1,300-crore facility in Assam by the end of this fiscal year. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today laid the foundation stone of the Patanjali Herbal and Mega Food Park at Balipara in Sonitpur district. "The unit will give direct employment to 5000 people and benefit one lakh farmers. The complete profit from the Food Park will be dedicated for the welfare of Assam by setting up school and skill development centres in each district," Ramdev said at a function. "The unit will give direct employment to 5000 people and benefit one lakh farmers. The complete profit from the Food Park will be dedicated for the welfare of Assam by setting up school and skill developme...
India’s Imports From China to See a Major Decline: Report
CHINA, INDIA

India’s Imports From China to See a Major Decline: Report

Demand for Chinese products in India is decelerating and imports from the country would see a "major hit" in the coming months, according to a report, which revealed a significant shift in the consumption pattern of Indian consumers towards domestic products. The analysis by the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry said increasing competitiveness of India's production capabilities to match its Chinese counterparts due to the improvement in the ease of doing business was another factor responsible for the trend. Indian production capabilities are becoming competitive as compared with China because of many reasons such as improvement in the ease of doing business. Also, there is a significant shift in the consumption pattern of Indian consumers from the Chinese products to domestic p...
Indian Govt. and Linkedin Sign MoU to Create More Jobs For Students
INDIA

Indian Govt. and Linkedin Sign MoU to Create More Jobs For Students

Leading global professional network LinkedIn today said it has signed an agreement with the human resource development ministry to create more job opportunities for Indian students. As part of the MoU, LinkedIn's 'Placements' product will be adopted by all Indian colleges affiliated with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the company said in a release issued here. 'Placements' provides a level-playing field for all students, regardless of their location or college and allows them to take an online assessment test, which gives them direct access to thousands of openings in 35 top corporates in India, it added. "We're excited to work with the HRD ministry and AICTE to help students get greater access to the 'Placements' product. Our objective with 'Placements' is to ...
Foxconn $5 Billion Investment is Not Going Anywhere, Says Devendra Fadnavis
INDIA

Foxconn $5 Billion Investment is Not Going Anywhere, Says Devendra Fadnavis

As per the news that Taiwan-based tech giant Foxconn may shy away from its proposed USD 5 billion investment in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the company is "not going anywhere" and hoped issues raised by it will be resolved soon. "Foxconn had issues pertaining to the Central government. The company wants its manufacturing costs here to match those in China," he said while speaking to reporters at his residence 'Varsha' here. The world's largest electronics contract manufacturer plans to set up manufacturing units in India, which boasts of the world's second-largest base of mobile phone users, to mitigate rising labour costs in China and also lower manufacturing cost of iPhones. Fadnavis said the company, which counts Apple, Xiaomi, Blackberry and Amazon...
India Allows Startups to Raise up to $3 Million Each via ECB
INDIA

India Allows Startups to Raise up to $3 Million Each via ECB

India has allowed start-ups to raise up to USD 3 million each in a fiscal year via the external commercial borrowings (ECB) route, the country's central bank said in a statement on Thursday. Overseas branches or subsidiaries of Indian banks will not be allowed to lend to start-ups via the ECB framework, the Reserve Bank of India statement (RBI) said. The RBI did not specify the maximum cost at which start-ups can raise money via ECB and said it will be mutually agreed between the borrower and the lender. Typically, the central bank specifies the maximum cost for financial institutions to raise money via ECB.   About ECB According to wikipedia, an external commercial borrowing(ECB) is an instrument used in India to facilitate the access to foreign money by Indian corporat...
Indian Industry Body CII is Not Happy With World Bank’s Doing Biz Ranking of India
INDIA

Indian Industry Body CII is Not Happy With World Bank’s Doing Biz Ranking of India

Expressing "surprise and disappointment" over India's ranking in the World Bank's ease of doing business index, industry body CII said it has not captured key reforms undertaken by the government. "We are a little surprised by the ranking," CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee told reporters here. India's ranking of 130th is not in tandem with the effort's being made by the government to improve business environment in the country, he said. CII Past President Sunil Kant Munjal said: "This result was surprising and disappointing because one can see the kind of work happening in the government". In the World Bank's latest 'Doing Business' 2017 report, India's place remained unchanged from last year's original ranking of 130 among the 190 economies that were assessed on various p...
Ban on Pak Artists, Nation First: Mukesh Ambani
INDIA

Ban on Pak Artists, Nation First: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Monday joined issue with those opposing a ban on Pakistan artists in India, saying the nation should come first and not art and culture. "I am absolutely clear about one thing -- for me, it is always country first. I am not an intellectual, so I don't understand all these. But undoubtedly like for all Indians, India is the first for me," Ambani said in Mumbai on Monday. The billionaire businessman was answering questions from the audience on ban on Pakistan actors and other artists at the 'Off the Cuff' show organised by The Print, a digital media outfit owned by senior journalists Shekhar Gupta and Barkha Dutt. Asked whether he would join politics, Ambani replied in the negative, saying "I am not made for politics." The statement from the ri...