INDIA | Pixr8 News

22Mar By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

Zomato introduces tamper-proof packaging in 10 Indian cities

New Delhi: India's leading online food ordering platform Zomato has pushed tamper-proof packaging in 10 Indian cities to add an extra layer of safety for food deliveries. The safety seals are made from a single material polymer and are completely reusable and recyclable. The company would also launch biodegradable versions of packaging, Zomato said in a statement. "This packaging will be 100% tamper proof once the food is sealed by the restaurant, the packet can only be opened by cutting off the top-end strip," it added. In the first phase, this packaging is introduced in 10 cities Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Nagpur and Vadodara it said in a statement. Subsequently, it would be introduced in over 180 cities where Zomato's onlin...

18Mar By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

ED probing if Amazon, Flipkart violated Indian foreign exchange law

New Delhi: Investigation has been initiated against e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart for alleged violation of foreign exchange law, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Monday informed the Delhi High Court. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani noted the submissions of the ED that a case has been registered under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against the two companies and disposed of a PIL which has alleged that the e-commerce giants were violating foreign direct investment (FDI) norms. The court had earlier sought response of the central government, Amazon and Flipkart to the plea which has sought a probe into the alleged FDI violations. The ED, in its reply filed through central government standing counsel Amit Mahajan, ha...

31Jan By AdityaNo Comments

INDIA

India’s GST Collection is Close 9.71 Lakh Crore

GST collections in January crossed Rs 1 lakh crore-mark after a gap of 2 months, the Finance Ministry said Thursday. "The total gross GST Revenue collected in the month of January, 2019 has today crossed Rs 1 lakh crore. This has been a significant improvement over collection of Rs 94,725 crore during last month and Rs 89,825 crore during the same month last year," the ministry tweeted. This is the third time in current fiscal that GST collections have crossed the Rs one lakh crore-mark. Previously in April and October, the collections had surpassed this milestone. "Gross GST Revenue in Jan 2019 crossed Rs 1 lakh crore... This has been achieved despite huge reduction in tax rates for various items benefitting poor, farmers & middle class," Finance Minister Piyush Goyal tweete...

19Jan By NitishNo Comments

INDIA

Indian Government Bank will Sell 26% Equity of its Payment Services

State Bank of India (SBI) Saturday said Hitachi Payment Services (HPY) has agreed to pick up 26 percent stake in SBI Payment Services Private Limited (SPSPL), a card acceptance and digital payment platform. The same deal announcement were also done in 2018 but somehow it didn't happen. After allotment of the shares, SBI shareholding in SPSPL will become 74 per cent from existing 100 per cent, the bank said in a statement. However, it did not disclose the financial details of the deal. The JV will provide various payment options to customers and merchants focusing on areas such as the rollout of a nationwide card acceptance infrastructure, quick response (QR) code acceptance, Unified Payment Interface (UPI), mass transit sector and e-commerce businesses. At the end of FY1...

15Jan By AnkitaNo Comments

INDIA

India Gets its Biggest Startup Incubator in Kerala

India got its largest startup ecosystem Sunday when Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated here a 1.8-lakh-square-feet facility housing incubation set-ups across a string of segments in modern technology. The Integrated Startup Complex under the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) includes the ultra modern facilities of Maker Village that promotes hardware startups, the BioNest that promotes medical technologies, BRINC which is the country’s first international accelerator for hardware startups; BRIC which aids developing solutions for cancer diagnosis and care, and a Centre of Excellence set up by industry majors such as UNITY. Overall the Kerala Government is working for the state to have a total area of 2.3 crore sq ft of IT space (up from 1.3 crore sq ft last year). The o...

9Jan By reutersNo Comments

INDIA

India Forms Panel for Digital Payments, led by Infosys’ Chairman Nandan Nilekani

India’s central bank has constituted a panel with Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani as its head in a bid to deepen digital payments in Asia’s third-biggest economy. The five-member panel, which includes a former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), will identify ways to widen financial inclusion via the use of digital payments and suggest measures to “strengthen the safety and security of digital payments”, the central bank said in a statement. In 2017-18, card payments in India rose 43 percent from the previous year to 10.61 trillion rupees ($151.21 billion), while payments through state-backed unified payments interface rose 16 times year-on-year to 1.01 trillion rupees, according to RBI data released in August. India’s digital payments are expected to grow five-f...

2Jan By AdityaNo Comments

INDIA

‘161 Indian IPO’s garner $5.52 bn till November in 2018’

Indian stock exchanges ranked second globally in terms of number of initial public offerings (IPOs), raising USD 5.52 billion from 161 offerings till November this year, according to a report. At the BSE and the National Stock Exchange, there were only two IPOs in fourth quarter of this calendar year, compared with nine and three in fourth quarter of 2017 and third quarter of 2018, respectively, said EY India IPO Trends: Q4 2018 report. A similar trend was witnessed in the small and medium enterprise (SME) market. There were eight IPOs in fourth quarter of 2018, compared with 31 and 42 in fourth quarter of 2017 and third quarter of 2018, respectively, showing a drop of 74 per cent and 81 per cent, respectively, it said. Industrial sector -- construction and engineering -- was the...

RBI Creates Compliance Portal to Track Cyber Fraud

29Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

INDIA

RBI Creates Compliance Portal to Track Cyber Fraud

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would set up a compliance and tracking system portal to tackle the multiplication of cyber-fraud and seeks to establish a better redressal mechanism for consumers. With digital transactions gaining traction, RBI’s customer-protection measures are seen as a bid to promote and improve confidence in the digital channel. This will support the government's objective of creating a ‘less-cash’ economy. “The Reserve Bank is actively engaged in improving customer service in banks by addressing existing inadequacies and the need to benchmark it against international standards in order to instil timeliness and quality by harnessing technological developments and appropriate incentives to facilitate change,” the RBI said in its Report on Trends an...

28Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

INDIA

Internet Access in India has Surpassed 50-crore Mark

The number of internet connections in India has grown by 65% from March 2016 to cross the 50 crore mark in 2018, in line with the target set by the Narendra Modi government three years ago. As per the latest information from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), by the end of September 2018, there were 56 crore narrowband and broadband connections in India. Comparatively, there were just 34 crore connections as of March 31, 2016, which increased to 42 crore by March 31, 2017. By March 31, 2018, the total number of internet connections stood at 49 crore. That number increased to 51 crore internet connections at the end of June this year before the figure touched 56 crore as of September 30, 2018. Union telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had stated, “My...

Uber Ties Up with Delhi Metro For Last Mile Connectivity

27Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

INDIA

Uber Ties Up with Delhi Metro For Last Mile Connectivity

US based hide hailing major Uber has partnered with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to improve first-mile/last-mile connectivity. As part of this partnership, Uber will set-up kiosks across designated metro stations for Uber Rider Assistants to facilitate riders to book an Uber ride even without the App. It will also place signages at selected locations in the stations and have an earmarked area for Driver-Partners that will help create a dedicated pick-up area. Mangu Singh, Managing Director, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), said that their agenda is to make mobility seamless by providing access to feeder transportation and to help their passengers reach their ultimate destinations. "With this collaborative partnership with cab aggregators like...

26Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

INDIA

Facebook Hikes Legal and Advertising Expenses in India

The social networking giant Facebook has doubled its annual spending on legal and advertising expenses and investment in India, underlying the complexity of challenges it faces from regulators to deal with the enormous amounts of incendiary messages exchanged on its platform. The Menlo Park-based company is going through one of its toughest years after its image took a drubbing for privacy breaches and data misuse. In India, the government and regulators are watching how the social-media giant is dealing with privacy concerns, especially when the country goes to the polls next year. For 2017-18, Facebook India’s advertising and promotional spends went up by as much as 122% to Rs 94 crore, while its legal department saw costs shooting up by around 85% to Rs 78 crore. ...

22Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments

INDIA

India’s Smartphone Shipments to Hit 160 Million Next Year

Smartphone shipments in 2019 is expected to reach upto 160 million in India. India is expected to be the only major smartphone market to grow in 2019, following on from a strong 2018, compared with China. This compares with over an expected 150 million in 2018, compared with around 134 million in 2017. The Indian smartphone market is estimated to have grown 12% on year when global smartphone market is estimated to decline for the first time ever in a single year. Growth in the world’s fastest growing smartphone market revived in 2018 backed by a contraction in product replacement and upgradation cycles as a result of aggressive smartphone launches across price-points and an array of product financing schemes, discounts and buy-back offers, a trend which is likely to follow through...