No more remembering or resetting passwords.

from CNET How To https://ift.tt/2LM0TIg

When offered, it works great.

from CNET How To https://ift.tt/2MEs2Cm

There are more than a dozen unlimited data plans offered by the four major US carriers. We compare them all to help you navigate the fine print and save your patience.

from CNET How To https://ift.tt/2wz7jVH

Sometimes being frugal can be wasteful and dangerous.

from CNET How To https://ift.tt/2wtA2Mz

Everything you need for awesome burgers, hot dogs, grilled salad and so much more.

from CNET How To https://ift.tt/2NBx1An

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) today said it has bagged a contract worth Rs 1,907 crore from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) for package-7 of Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway project.The contract involves the development of package-7 from 296 km to 347 km, which is a part of Maharashtra government's flagship Rs 46,000-crore and over 700 km long Samruddhi Mahamarg project, a statement said.The scope of work includes design, engineering, procurement and construction of six-lane expressway and associated structures and project facilities.The work is expected to be completed in 30 months from the appointed date."This marquee project will add great value to our order book, which now exceeds Rs 10,000 crore in the state itself, along with other prestigious projects like the Versova-Bandra Sea Link and Mumbai Metro elevated packages," said Arun Gupta, chief executive officer - EPC, RInfra.He further said the company is keenly pursuing project opportunities worth around Rs 2 trillion to increase its EPC (engineering procurement construction) order book to Rs 50,000 crore by the current financial year.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2wtNyQ6

NEW DELHI: In a potential setback for the health ministry, the Delhi High Court on Thursday suspended for a month its ban on private companies from making and selling oxytocin as it continues to hear cases to stop the move. The court will hear the case next on September 12, lawyers present during the proceedings on Friday told ET."This is an interim move for the court to provide enough room to hearing all the arguments in this case," said one of the persons present during the hearing on condition of anonymity.Oxytocin is a hormone drug used to induce labour in pregnant women and stall post-partum bleeding.The ban was to come into effect from Saturday and would have restricted the production and sale of oxytocin in the country to public sector manufacturer Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (KAPL). The centre had announced the move in order to prevent the drug's illegal supply and misuse in cattle.The government's ban, if implemented, would impact drug makers like Mylan and Pfizer. While Mylan is one of the companies that has opposed the ban in court, ET reported on July 26 that Pfizer already stopped manufacturing the drug and was planning to exhaust its finished inventory of the product within two month's time.ET had also reported then that the impending ban had sent hospitals into a panic-buying mode. Patient activist group All India Drug Action Network has also filed a Public Interest Litigation to stop the ban, citing reasons such as KAPL not being equipped to handle the required demand of the drug.ET is awaiting responses to queries sent to Mylan and AIDAN on this development and will update this article.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2oqbm2U

Probity watchdog CVC has directed all banks, insurance companies and central government departments to rotate employees working in sensitive posts to check frauds. Citing its earlier directive in this regard, it said one of the reasons for frauds was non-implementation of the rotational policy. "It is once again reiterated that rotational transfers of officers continuing beyond three years may be strictly carried out from sensitive seats/posts," the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) said in a directive to public sector banks, insurance companies and central government departments. It, however, clarified that the Commission's advice is for change from the sensitive seat/post, and not necessarily from the station, which is to be governed by the policy of respective organisations. The CVC had in May this year asked banks and insurance companies to effect rotational transfers in respect of those officers in sensitive posts who are continuing beyond three years. The move assumes significance as many big ticket frauds have been reported recently from the banks. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing fraud of over Rs 13,000 crore allegedly involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems. "Analysis of frauds that have taken place in public sector banks as well as other organisations show that one of the reasons for such frauds was non-implementation of the rotational policy," the CVC's latest directive reads. It has asked heads or Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs), who act as distant arm of the Commission to check corruption, to strictly ensure that the rotational policy is implemented in their respective organisations. The CVC has also sought a compliance report from them in this regard.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2N4gZlr

By Anirban Nag and Vrishti BeniwalThe world’s fastest-growing major economy isn’t growing nearly fast enough.That may seem like an absurd description for India, an economy the International Monetary Fund expects to expand 7.3 percent in the fiscal year through March 2019 and 7.5 percent in the next. Yet the reality is that even at its current pace, India is having trouble creating enough new jobs for its massive workforce or enough wealth to broaden its middle class.With its demographic tailwind and massive developmental needs, Asia’s third-biggest economy should be growing at double-digit rates. Holding India back are glacial economic reforms, a fragile banking sector, rigid labour laws and a spotty educational system that imparts limited skills to the 12 million young people who enter the job market each year.Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to address these challenges. He’s introduced a nationwide consumption tax, an insolvency code for companies and a program to boost domestic manufacturing under his signature Make in India campaign.Yet analysts generally agree that more needs to be done to open up the economy, attract foreign capital and generate the kind of wealth and business opportunities that has broadened the middle class in China, whose $12.2 trillion economy is more than four times as big as India’s ($2.6 trillion).“It hasn’t embraced global trade and foreign direct investments in the way China aggressively succeeded,” said Jim O’Neill, a former Goldman Sachs Asset Management chair and ex-commercial secretary to the U.K. Treasury and who coined the acronym BRIC in 2001 to describe Brazil, Russia, India and China as a group.“India has created big wealth for a limited number of people at the highest income levels, but it hasn’t created a massive pool of consumers by creating hundred of millions of middle income class,” he said. 65618220 India’s economy has averaged 7 percent growth since its reforms began in 1991 under Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. China, by contrast, expanded by an average of almost 10 percent each year since its economic opening and modernization started some 40 years ago.The latest pulse check for India’s economy comes Friday. Economists forecast gross domestic product expanded 7.6 percent in the three months through June from a year earlier.With more than 90 percent of India’s labor force employed in the nation’s informal economy, the government has struggled to produce reliable jobs data to even get an accurate read on the level of joblessness in India. A glimpse into just how dire the job market is came in March, when the government announced 90,000 vacancies at the state-run Indian Railways, the nation’s biggest civilian employer, and a staggering 28 million people applied.The rail jobs pay a minimum of Rs 216,000 per year -- a princely amount in a country where per-capita income is about $1,800, versus more than $8,800 in China.India should be enjoying a demographically powered economic dividend at this stage of its development. It’s one of the youngest countries in the world with a median age of 28, compared to China’s 37 and 47 in Japan.Yet economic gains from favourable demographics aren’t automatic. A lot depends on whether the government can harness that dividend and overcome the population’s skill shortage. And time is ticking -- in 2040 the share of the population that’s of working-age is set to start declining.According to Ejaz Ghani, a World Bank senior economist and India expert, there’s concern that India’s job challenge will remain long into its future. One worry is that India will join the global trend toward more protectionism, limiting its manufacturing and technological progress. Another challenge is that the growing use of digital technologies would create more skilled and productive jobs while displacing less-skillful and labour-intensive positions.“Growth, education, home ownership, better economic security, and a desire for more durable goods are the cause and consequence of young demographics. But demographic dividend can also transform into a curse,” he wrote earlier this year.What Our Economists Say... A massive, young, rural workforce could turbocharge growth, or torpedo political stability. China solved the problem by going from farm to factory. For India, entrenched global supply chains and domestic policy failures mean that path will be difficult to follow. Another is more accessible. India is going from the farm to services.-- Abhishek Gupta, India economist, Bloomberg EconomicsFor more, see our India InsightThe jobs void risks tarnishing the country’s image as an investment destination, stoking social unrest and posing a threat to Prime Minister Modi’s re-election bid early next year. That explains why employment creation is a top priority for Modi after he made a campaign promise to create 10 million jobs each year. As he nears the end of his five-year term, he doesn’t have any credible numbers to show that he’s met that goal.In his defence, Modi has said there are enough jobs and the data doesn’t properly reflect the job creation during his tenure. From commissioning fresh field surveys to using payroll data, he has tried multiple ways to measure employment generation in the country.However, there is also evidence that Modi’s policies have created economic setbacks.Data provided by private research firm, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt., show 1.5 million jobs were lost immediately after a ban on large-denominated money notes was imposed in late 2016. And last July’s chaotic introduction of a consumption tax adversely affected labour-intensive sectors like farming and construction.Those twin blows dragged India’s growth to a sub-par 6.6 percent in the financial year ended March 2018.Eswar Prasad, a professor at Cornell University and an ex-IMF official, says a sustained growth of 7-7.5 percent will lead to a healthy increase in per-capita income over time. However, there is a vast gap between China and India that needs to be bridged.“The key requirements for sustaining high growth are to develop and reform the financial system, free up labour markets, improve physical and soft infrastructure, and maintain fiscal and monetary discipline,” he says.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2N28dEl

Main worry is oil prices are likely to go even higher, Fatih Birol, ED, International Energy Agency, tells ET Now. It will be great if we see production increase coming 65612202 65597378 65620319 from the OPEC alliance countries, says BirolEdited excerpts: Supply chain issues seem to be hitting hard leading to a big spike in crude prices. What is your own analysis? I am not happy that my expectation that crude prices would go up, are turning out to be true because the higher prices we are experiencing today at about $77 are neither good news for the global economy, nor good news for the oil importing nations like India. But my worry is that there are many reasons why we may well see prices going up even higher. First, we expect strong oil demand growth by this year and next, to about 1.5 million barrels per day. This is very strong compared to historical averages. But on the supply side, we are seeing that there are serious challenges. Number one and the most important one is Venezuela is a major oil supplier. Venezuelan oil production in two years’ time has halved from more than 2 million barrels per day to today around 1 million barrels per day. We may see further decline in Venezuelan oil production. Secondly, in many countries in Middle East there are serious geopolitical as well as domestic problems which may hamper their export and production capacities and this is definitely not good news in addition to Venezuela on the supply side. To sum up, strong oil demand growth, serious constraint on the important suppliers’ side may well mean a further tightening of oil markets towards the end of this year. This in turn may well mean that there can be upward pressure on the oil prices. How prolonged could this rally in crude be? In the next six months or so, Venezuela suddenly and completely reversed would be rather an optimistic expectation. But later on we may well see oil coming from other countries. Even in the current period of time, it will be great if we see production increase coming from the OPEC alliance countries. This will be something which would be good news for countries like India, China and other major oil importing counties and for their economic stability. What is the thinking at the OPEC level? What production levels would they see the output at and also, is there any angle with the Saudi Aramco IPO being delayed? It is very difficult for me to know the thinking in OPEC countries. But what I would like to see is the head of the international agency talking with many governments around the world, as I had a wonderful, fruitful discussion with minister Dharmendra Pradhan here. I would like to see that the production from the OPEC countries increase especially in the next few quarters and comfort the markets, not putting further pressure on the prices. When it comes to the Saudi IPO question, this has to be discussed with the Saudi authorities but I am very much supportive of the Saudi Arabia pulling up its economy and diversifying its economic efforts. In fact, very soon, we will be coming out with a major report about the need of major oil producing countries to diversify these economies slowly but surely in order to address some of the challenges that their economies are facing today and could face more seriously in years to come. What are the key monitorables from now on? What should crude oil watchers keep an eye out for? In the oil markets, we have look very carefully at how oil demand is moving and if it moveing as strong as we expect it to. This is the pressure factor. Second, if the decline in Venezuela output somehow slows down, that will be good news. Venezuela is something to watch out for and also the geopolitical developments in key Middle East and North African countries like Iran, Lybia and Iraq. I wish to see Saudi Arabia and its allies increasing production. I will be watching it closely and I hope to see more oil, more volumes to come from Saudi Arabia to comfort the markets and to put downward pressure on the price increase. How do you see consumption trends at the end of large consumers like India and China panning out? When we look at IEA numbers, we see that the two major drivers of oil demand growth are China and India. This is driven by the mobility, by cars, trucks but more and more by the petrochemical industry which is a major user of oil. On top of that, in both of these emerging giants, aviation jets are playing an increasingly bigger role in the higher oil demand. We are sure that India and China with their increasing economic activity, with the strong population growth prospects and greater emphasis on petrochemicals will continue to drive global oil demand growth in the years to come.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2C2F47L

Sadbhav Engineering today said it has received letter of acceptance (LOA) from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation for road project worth Rs 1,620 crore. The order is for construction of access controlled Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway (Maharastra Samruddhi Mahamarg) in Maharashtra in district Washim. "The company has received Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from Maharashtra State Road Development Corpn. Ltd. (A Government of Maharashtra Undertaking) for the road project/work for a negotiated contract value of Rs 1,620 crore," Sadbhav Engineering said in a BSE filing. In a separate filing, the company said it has also been declared the successful bidder (Ll) for other road and irrigation projects worth Rs 1,299.98 crore. Shares of the company were trading 0.30 per cent lower at Rs 280.25 apiece on the BSE.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2LJovNJ

NEW DELHI: Smartworks, a provider of managed workspaces, opened its second facility in Chennai on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), bringing its total footprint in India to over 1.2 million sq. ft, according to a release.The facility at OMR, Chennai is spread across 85,180 sq. ft. with a seating capacity of 1,500 seats. With this launch, Smartworks is taking its total number of centers in India to 15 across nine cities: Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai. Launched three months ago, Smartworks first center in Chennai at Guindy was fully occupied by more than 10 companies within two months as demand for shared workspaces in the city is increasing. Currently, Smartworks has brought on board several clients, counting Tata Communications, Microsoft, Arcelor Mittal, Amazon, Carrier, Daikin, Lenovo, Bacardi, Swiggy, Rivigo, Otis and OLX among its 500+ strong client base.Speaking of the launch in Chennai, Smartworks founder, Neetish Sarda said, “Chennai is witnessing a rise in demand for office spaces. This is a huge accomplishment for us. Chennai is fast emerging as a destination for information technology, outsourcing, manufacturing and enterprises, that has led to entry of global firms here.”65620251 He added, “The facility in OMR complements our already functional Smartworks facility in Guindy was booked out 100% within two months of its launch which has led to the opening of this new facility in OMR. We are bullish on the sector we operate in and see ourselves expanding very fast in the next three years, targeting 10 million sq. ft.” In its one of a kind collaboration, Smartworks announced its association with Episource, a US headquartered company with operations across India and the Philippines. In their recent expansion with Smartworks, they have occupied eight of the ten floors at OMR Centre, seating 1,400 of their new employees.65620253 “Outsourcing our office management to co-working operators allows us to focus on our core competency— medical record review services,” said Sishir Reddy, CEO, Episource.The OMR area of Chennai is the IT corridor of the city. The area offers a good mix of residential and office complexes, contemporary structures, swanky eateries and a growing number of entertainment zones.With demand for customized workspaces growing rapidly across Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities, Smartworks is targeting 10 million sq. ft. of managed office space over the next three years.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2PTo3A0

To tap into the country’s increasing demand for utility vehicles, the South Korean carmaker would make half a dozen SUVs and crossovers for the local market. Hyundai’s pricing range would be pretty wide – from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 40 lakh – to compete in a segment that accounts for one in four personal-transport vehicles sold in Asia’s no. 3 economy.Once the models are introduced, Hyundai will have the majority of its portfolio as crossovers and SUVs – with options at every 1-lakh-rupee price point. According to several people in the know of Hyundai Motor’s plans, more than 60% of the company’s local product line-up will consist of crossovers and UVs i.e. 8 out 13 vehicles in future.Hyundai has set itself the target of selling a million vehicles per annum by the end of this decade, and the sub-4 metre SUV, Qxi, is critical to achieving the goal.Y K Koo, MD of Hyundai Motor India, told ET that in the immediate future, the company would have built a customer base of over 4 lakh Creta owners who would be looking for an upgrade: Hyundai does not want its current Creta owners to go to competition."SUV is a very important market; we are going to be strengthening our portfolio both below Creta and above Creta,” Y K Koo said. “The Qxi and Micro SUV can address the affordable end of the market. We also want to retain our existing Creta customers who will be looking for an upgrade going ahead , and we will not allow these customers to go to competition (Toyota Fortuner).”He did not share specifics of the future product pipeline.Qxi will be the first to hit the roads in 2019 and a beginning point for the roll out of range of SUVs. The Qxi will take on the likes of Ford EcoSport and Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. This launch will be followed by new generation i20 Active and Creta.While the current Creta is addressing the compact SUV buyers, after 2020 Hyundai wants to offer a 7-seater version of Creta codenamed SU2i, followed by 5- and 7-seater Tucson (NX4i) to take on the Jeep Compass and Toyota Fortuner. It will also make a Micro SUV to challenge Mahindra KUV. Learning from the past below par performance of Tucson and Santa Fe which were either imported as fully built or in a knocked down form, Hyundai aims to locally manufacture the Tucson twins to compete strongly against Jeep Compass and Toyota Fortuner respectively. The Kona EV will also be assembled in the second half of next year.The utility vehicle segment has been the fastest growing in India, with volumes more than doubling in the last five years to almost 9.2 lakh units per year. The segment is set to see more than 50 new introductions in the coming three to five years from various automakers, expanding the size of the segment to 1.5 million units over the next three-four years, say industry sources.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2NwnR7Z

BENGALURU: Indian shares will hit a new record high by year-end despite being rated as expensive, strategists polled by Reuters said, citing high oil prices and election uncertainty as the biggest downside risks to the main index. While the tit-for-tat tariff war between the United States and China has hurt emerging markets and pushed the rupee to an all-time low, the benchmark BSE Sensex Index has gained nearly 14 percent this year and hit a lifetime high of 38,989 on Aug 29, outperforming other major global indices. That comes at a time when India's perennial problem of higher inflation is reappearing due to rising oil prices and also as global monetary policy is shifting to a tightening bias. Despite those concerns and increasing uncertainty ahead of national elections next year, Indian stocks have scaled several fresh highs and are forecast to continue that uptrend. The BSE Sensex is forecast to rise another 2 percent and hit a new high of 39,500 by end-December from Wednesday's close, according to the poll of around 50 strategists taken August 23-30. It is expected to gain a further 4 percent next year. The latest bullish consensus was an upgrade from predictions in a May poll as the index has already breached the end-2018 level forecast back then, largely driven by expectations for strong corporate earnings. Indeed, all 15 strategists who answered an extra question said company earnings growth has yet to peak in India. "Strong macro-economic factors overall will push the index further up. Tax growth, good monsoon rains, rising consumption in the core industries and recovering corporate earnings will support," said SP Tulsian, an independent investment adviser. Asia's third-largest economy took a hit from a ban of high-value currency notes in late 2016 and a hasty implementation of a goods and services tax in July last year, but recovered smartly. It has regained top spot as the world's fastest-growing major economy, a position another Reuters poll said it would retain, supported by increased government spending before 2019 elections which will also benefit stocks. "Elections will confirm whether PM Narendra Modi gets to serve a second term, and continue with his business-friendly policies after his popularity dropped following demonetisation and a premature GST implementation," said KK Mittal, investment advisor at Venus India. However, the cost of India's biggest import commodity, oil, has risen and pushed inflation higher which could compel the Reserve Bank of India to tighten policy a lot faster and earlier than expected, weighing on stocks. "A steep rise in oil prices coupled with depreciating currency is indeed a risk for the equity market which is not being priced-in right now," wrote Rajat Agarwal, strategist at Societe Generale. While many Asian bourses have shown negative returns this year on capital outflows from emerging markets, Indian stocks have outperformed even as international investors have turned into net sellers this year. But a majority, 30 of 42 strategists who answered a separate question, said Indian shares were expensive. The remaining 12 said they were fairly valued and none said they were undervalued. The price-to-earnings or PE ratio - a widely used measure for stock valuation - for the BSE Sensex is well above its long-term average and just a touch below a 10-year high. "Valuations clearly suggest Indian stocks are very expensive at the moment. I have never seen such levels of PE multiples sustaining for a longer period of time," said CA Rudramurthy, managing director at Vachana Investments.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2NbE6L3

The dangers people are seeing in terms of frontier sovereign debt have nothing to do with the excellent position of the 24 emerging markets, Teresa C Barger, Co- 65618301 65609407 65603979 founder & CEO, Cartica Capital, tells ET Now.Edited excerpts: The headline that is really hitting us this morning has been the rupee hitting 71 against dollar. What are you making of the emerging market turmoil in both equities as well as currencies? Given that the rupee is at a record low, is it the new normal or could there be some signs of revival in the US dollar? Emerging markets are in balance in terms of current account with neither surplus nor deficit. While debt has gone up, so has GDP. Debt as a percentage of GDP has not gone up and foreign exchange coverage for their debt has gone way up. So, emerging markets are actually poised very well macroeconomically.Part of that is having learnt the lessons of taper tantrum in 2013, I do not see actual emerging markets turmoil. Argentina as a frontier market and it is not an emerging market. Turkey is one but it is a sentiment driven issue there and I see concern for frontier debt markets that somehow has come into the conversation about equity markets. I find it very irritating because the dangers people are seeing in terms of frontier sovereign debt have really nothing to do with the quite excellent position of the 24 emerging markets. Your largest AUM exposure is in India at 32% plus. Is the bipolar move of the index versus the broader markets an irritant or considering you are such a stock-specific, long-only fund, it does not really matter? Not really. We are long-term investors and this spring was difficult in India because there was the budget with long-term capital gains tax and the rebalancing of portfolios which had gotten out of control in smallcaps and midcaps. So, there was a lot of selloff in smallcaps and midcaps. But it has rebalanced quite nicely and the best performing part of our portfolio was India. We are not concerned on that front. Last time when we chatted, I recall you mentioned that high governance and good quality banks is something what you would like. HDFC Bank, RBL, breakaway from these governance problems like ICICI Bank. The alpha chases are sitting very happy looking at the month to date returns because stocks have done great. But somehow the market leadership is now migrating towards value. So, hyper growth, hyper price has been taken over by reasonable growth and reasonable valuations. Teresa C Barger: We are long-term investors and we are very concerned about not taking any reputational or so called headline risk. We would always stick with what we think are high quality management teams and good governance. If you got a high integrity team that has some issues on governance that are fixable, that is fine as well. But we are really going to go for quality and would stick with what the highest integrity, well governed companies. Expensive valuations aside, the going is getting tough. Not only are Eicher sales volumes worrying, but Harely also wants to enter the same segment. You got TVS which is coming out with a bike. Do you think that for Eicher both earnings momentum and PE expansion days are over? You have cut down Eicher stake. First of all, Harely is not going to enter the market for many years and we have had lots of conversations about this. There is also a school of thought that says having another player in mid-sized motorcycle business (250 to 750 cc market) would expand the market for Enfield. It is going to take a long time for Harley to get in there and build up supply chains. Plus, Eicher has spectacular margins. One should be worried about it in five, six, seven, eight years and even then we might find it to be a positive. When there was Coke-Pepsi competition, they both increased the market. The push for Eicher is to have people switch from 100 -150 cc bikes to 500 cc bikes. This will happen with better roads and infrastructure in India.So, investing in infrastructure companies is the way to go. Are you planning to change your position when it comes to TVS? There is a growing fear about that price war initiated by Bajaj Auto. How are you approaching the theme? We have looked at that quite seriously but so far, we are very pleased that other people have not taken them up on the offer to lower their prices. So while that had been a concern for us when the news came out, actually it is more detrimental to Bajaj than it is to the class as whole. While consumption is a favourite theme with most fund managers and not just you, the Indian retail segment is drawing a lot of interest with a lot of M&A buzz. Has it caught your attention yet? Do you want to test waters here? It is very hard to find enough in that segment. We have nothing against it. I do think that e-commerce will come to the fore in India as it has elsewhere, in a fairly big way. Offline retailers have to be very careful and obviously we have had some new news on Flipkart. I do not know if that is going to make a difference to their operations but it has just been a more difficult area in India with far more regulations than other places. We are not really in retailing per se in that many places although we are in restaurant chains and they have done very well for us. Is there any other change that you may have made in your India portfolio in the previous quarter? In India, there are no secrets. Everyone knows exactly what we do as it is the only place in the world. I am sure you all know as soon as we do something. It is high quality, has very good management teams, very good governance and we are really are quite happy with India as we are now. We also like India as a hedge against possible continued policy disruptions coming from the US because it is not that exposed. We like that quite a lot. What about trade war between US and China? Is that an event risk which you think markets are already building in the price? Suddenly one is getting a sense that the problems between Mexico and US is getting sorted out because Donald Trump is not taking such a hard line on Mexico. What is your view on the impact of trade war on markets?There are some risks in it. Today there is a lot of trade news. There was NAFTA news. News on whether Canada could sign it by Friday; news that Trump was going to impose perhaps tariffs on $200 billion of goods from China on September 6 and market had very muted reaction to that. There is going to be really a short-term versus long-term reaction. In the long run, the country that protects itself does more harm to itself than it inflects on its trade partner. According to Merrill Lynch, if the tariffs play out fully and there are retaliations, the US consumer get hurt twice as badly as consumers. In the long run, it is not a very positive thing for the US and people will start to get hurt. For this year, it could be quite difficult and we can see some sentiment reaction on the trade wars.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2PSzaJq

Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Friday said that it is migrating its Indian data to cloud service providers Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure with infrastructure in India. The migration will be completed by the end of 2018. All new Indian user data since July 1 is already being stored in local servers and all existing user data on mi.com/in/ will be fully migrated to servers in India by mid-September 2018, the company said, adding that the migration will result in a jump in access speed.The data migration would cover all Indian user data across Xiaomi e-commerce platform, Mi Community (in.c.mi.com), Mi Cloud, MIUI (Xiaomi Market, feed, Mi Video, advertising, Mi Messaging, push notifications, etc) and Mi TV.Prior to this, all Indian user data used was stored in AWS servers across Singapore and the United States.Manu Jain, Vice President, Xiaomi and Managing Director, Xiaomi India: “At Xiaomi, data privacy and security are of utmost importance to us. We are taking one more step towards user data security and privacy by bringing our cloud services to India for all local data needs. It’s something our teams have been working tirelessly on and I am glad we have been able to turn this around for our India users. With the data stored locally and encrypted end to end, users will be able to enjoy greater access speeds.” He continued, “Xiaomi is committed to India and data protection and using cloud servers in India is another step in that direction for us. We will continue to work on this aspect and ensure a heightened user experience for all our users in India.”

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2PnNl89

Prior to this, all Indian user data used was stored in AWS servers across Singapore and the United States.

from https://ift.tt/2PnNl89

65616161 NEW DELHI: Aditya Birla Group on Friday said that Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have completed the merger to create the countey's largest telecom company with 408 million active subscribers and a revenue market share of 32.2%.“We wish to inform you that pursuant to filing of the NCLT orders with the relevant Registrars of Companies on 31st August, 2018, the Scheme has become effective on even date and the merger of VMSL (Vodafone Mobile services Ltd)and VIL (Vodafone India Ltd) with the Company has been completed,” said Idea Cellular in a regulatory filing on Friday.The new board of 12 directors (including six Independent directors ) of just merged Vodafone Idea met on Friday morning with Kumar Mangalam Birla as the chairman.“Today, we have created India’s leading telecom operator. It is truly a historic moment. And this is much more than just about creating a large business. It is about our Vision of empowering and enabling a New India and meeting the aspirations of the youth of our country,” said Birla. “As Vodafone Idea, we are partnering in this initiative by building a formidable company of international repute, scale and standards,” he added.The new company will be headed by Balesh Sharma who said that the “company has the scale and resources to ensure sustainable customer choice and introduce new technologies”. He added that the new team will cater to both retail and enterprise customers with “new products, services and solutions”. Vodafone Idea will have a spread of 15,000 branded stores and 1.7 million retail touchpoints across the country. The merger which has been in the making for well over a year is expected to face the challenges of stiff competition from Bharti Airtel and Jio. It has a debt of Rs 1.09 lakh crore but has the option to monetise an 11.15% stake in Indus Towers which would equate to a cash consideration of Rs. 5100 crore .In the joint entity , UK based Vodafone Group owns 45.2% stake while Aditya Birla Group has 26% stake , both on fully diluted basis. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday had approved the merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, clearing the last hurdle to allow the creation of India's largest mobile phone company with the most number of subscribers and revenue share, displacing Bharti Airtel which has held the top spot for some 15 years.The largest merger in the sector now leaves three major players – Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Vodafone Idea – to fight it out for over a billion subscribers in a market which is seeing surging demand for data amid rick bottom tariffs as the country moves to 4G from 3G and smartphones become more affordable.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2wH3fmz

The fault lines in the economy are only getting deeper with each passing day. The rupee, which plunged to a new all-time low on Thursday, is the biggest casualty, even as the widening current account and fiscal deficits are posing new risks to the economy managers.And with fuel prices touching new highs every day, it is a raw deal for the common man, too. Rising crude oil prices are sure to push up the trade deficit, which is already ruling high. Remember, the spike in petrol and diesel prices will have a recoil effect on inflation, forcing the central bank to adopt a more hawkish approach while framing the monetary policy.The bad loan menace is another big problem which has already pushed several power companies to the brink. Looks like the economy is gasping for breath, taking a heavy toll on the confidence levels of industry and investors.Interestingly, the macro-economic concerns come at a time when the Modi government is pitching for a ratings upgrade with S&P. In November last year, S&P had ruled out an upgrade in India's sovereign rating, pointing to ballooning government debt and the slow growth in revenue collection.Political party leaders and economists analysed the state of the economy on a special edition of ET NOW’s India Development Debate. Here are the key takeaways:PANEL VIEWMYTHILI BHUSNURMATHCONSULTING EDITOR, ET NOWRBI, as is common with central banks of all emerging market countries and even for some of the developed countries for that matter, always intervenes when they feel that movement is too sharp. So, what the RBI is doing in the process of intervention is to ensure that the depreciation is gradual and not too dramatic. So that’s what the RBI has been doing for the past couple of weeks. Given the fact that we have over $400 billion reserves, I think $25 billion is not a large amount to spend.R GOPALANEX-SECY, DEPT OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRSTrade deficit is one factor that contributes to the value of the rupee but there are other activities going on outside where the EM currencies are facing a bit of a problem. We have dollar strengthening, you have got oil price increasing — all these factors are contributing to weakening of the rupee. On the eve of elections, there’s always a tendency to slip the fisc a bit. There will be some slippages but there will be a greater attempt to see that the slippages are very marginal.SAUGATA BHATTACHARYACHIEF ECONOMIST, AXIS BANKThere are signs of some slippages; borrowings are relatively higher front-loaded again at this point of time. Tax collection is not that buoyant and robust as we had earlier expected. But to the government’s credit, the fisc is not that big a problem at this point of time. More than the fiscal, I think the immediate problem at this point of time is the current account deficit.JAIMINI BHAGWATIFORMER AMBASSADOR AND RBI CHAIR PROFESSOR — ICRIERRBI’s latest report mentions that the rupee is heavily overvalued. If you look at real effective exchange rates against six major currencies, the rupee is something like 25per cent overvalued even now. So, you have systematically high interest rates, both nominal and real in India compared to the USA. We have systematically avoided allowing the rupee to correct over the past, at least five, if not 10 years.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2wzbO2J

KOLKATA: Gold is selling at a premium of $1 per ounce in the domestic market with demand picking up ahead of the festive season.On Wednesday, the metal was available in the local market at Rupee30,950 per 10 gm, inclusive of the goods and services tax (GST).“There is an expectation in the market that gold will touch Rupee32,000 per 10 gm (without GST) by Diwali. So, people have started buying,” said Surendra Mehta, national secretary of India Bullion & Jewellers Association. Bullion traders and jewellers expect festive season demand to be 5-10per cent higher than last year’s despite prices moving up in the local market due to weakness in the rupee. Internationally, gold prices dropped by $98 per ounce since January 1, but Indians have not been able to take advantage of this due to a weak rupee which crossed the 70-mark against the dollar. Mukesh Kothari, director, RiddiSiddhi Bullions, said that premium on gold may rise as demand has started picking after the recently-concluded ‘India International Jewellery Show’, which attracted orders worth Rupee8,000 crore. Gold has lost its appeal as a safe-haven asset in the international market, having fallen over 7.5per cent so far this year, amid international trade disputes and the Turkish currency crisis, with investors increasingly turning to the US dollar instead.“In India, we might not see investment demand for gold in the upcoming festive season. It will only be jewellery sales. Overall, we are expecting a demand growth of 4-5per cent over last year,” said Joy Alukkas, chairman of Joyalukkas.The World Gold Council is positive about demand for the metal in India in the second half of 2018. “In India, gold premiums are positive again, showing a tilt towards buying. While there were devastating floods, expectations remain positive for H2 as consumers prepare for their traditional buying period,” the WGC said.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2LJ5vyT

Mumbai: HDB Financial Services, the unlisted non-banking subsidiary of HDFC Bank, has seen its value zoom to Rs 90,000 crore, thanks to the frenzied deals in its shares in the unofficial market. In the wake of the strong listing of HDFC Asset Management Co early in August, investors are making a beeline for HDB, driving the shares up by 40 per cent in the last one month.Brokers doing deals in the unlisted space said affluent investors are buying HDB shares at Rs 1,150 a share compared to Rs 850 a piece in July. Value pickers, who lapped up these shares late in 2016, have already made a killing. Two years ago, the stock was trading at Rs 175-200 a piece.At Rs 1150 per piece, the stock is trading at a price to book value of 14.5 times. Most of its listed NBFC peers are trading at 5-10 times their price to book value.The frenzied appetite for HDB shares is on the hopes that the company would come up with an IPO in the next 12 months. HDB Financial sells consumer loans, enterprise loans and asset finance.A spokesperson for HDFC Bank did not reply to an email seeking comment.Hopes are high from HDB given that investors have made strong listing gains in HDFC Asset Management and HDFC Standard Life in November.“Investors have made money in both the IPOs of HDFC Standard Life Insurance and HDFC Asset Management in the last one year. HDFC is a brand that they trust and they strongly believe this will be the next company from the group to come up with an IPO,” said Sandip Ginodia, CEO, Abhishek Securities, a firm which deals in unlisted securities.HDFC Standard Life, which listed at a 19 per cent premium to its IPO price of Rs 290 in November, is currently trading at Rs 467, 61 per cent above its issue price. HDFC Asset Management Co, which offered its shares at Rs 1,100, now trades at Rs 1,834, giving a 67 per cent return to its investors.Ginodia said demand for these shares are from the rich investors, who have been willing to pay a premium for these shares. Most of the sellers have been HDB employees who got stock options.“This company has done well consistently over the last few years. I have keep on getting calls from investors wanting to buy the stock but I am holding on because I have faith in the management and the current CEO. He has kept the top management together and ensured that the company has maintained its asset quality,” said a shareholder who has held on to his shares since receiving it in employee stock options.Currently 95.87 per cent of the shares have been held by promoter HDFC Bank, according to the HDB annual report, though it is down from 96.20 per cent last year as the company issued some more ESOPs during the year.The company’s net profit increased 36 per cent to Rs 952 crore in the fiscal year ended March 2018 from Rs 699 crore a year earlier riding on a 24 per cent jump in revenues to Rs 7,062 crore from Rs 5,715 crore a year earlier. Total loan book has increased to Rs 34,981 crore from Rs 25,287 crore a year ago.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2PSbF2Y

NEW DELHI: After hitting its fresh all-time low of 71-mark against the US dollar in opening trade, the local currency was trading 17 paise down at 70.91.Month-end dollar demand from importers and rising crude oil prices in the international market during the last couple of sessions mainly pressurised the local currency. The rupee on Thursday plunged 15 paise at 70.74 against dollar.With a fall of 9.90 per cent, rupee is worst performing currency in Asian on year-to-date basis. It has fallen 3.30 per cent in August so far, most among Asian peers. Oil and toil, Trump and turmoil- trifecta driving the emerging markets right now. Rupee cannot be immune to that. Life used to so simple, when stronger dollar used to mean lower oil prices. Now situation has become demanding for the Rupee, as oil and stronger dollar overseas is eating through all defences of the central bank, according to Kotak Securities.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2N6haN8

By Mihir SharmaApparently there’s a pot of gold in Indian retail, and big players from around the world want to dip in. Many of them are likely to come up empty-handed.The volume of high-profile announcements in the sector recently has been remarkable. Walmart Inc. led with a $16 billion deal to buy Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd., India’s largest e-commerce retailer; China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. will retain its holdings in Flipkart as well. After pouring billions into India to compete with Flipkart, Amazon now says it hopes to pick up a substantial stake in Future Group, which runs over 1,000 brick-and-mortar stores across the country. Google is interested in Future Group too, as is the shopping arm of Indian payments company Paytm, which is funded by Softbank Group Corp. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is also betting on Paytm, whose fortunes will depend greatly on whether e-commerce takes off in India, paying over $300 million for 3 to 4 percent of the company.Sure, there are a lot of Indians and they’re getting richer; Indian retail is a growing industry. But the current wave of enthusiasm looks excessive. Consider the excitement surrounding Paytm. The company is only in retail as an afterthought. It’s really a digital payments company that depends on a “wallet,” which you fill up from your bank account or your credit card. After spending hard on promotions and incentives, the company accounts for 22 percent of the volume of banking transactions in India — but still only 0.25 percent of the value.The company — which opposition parties in India accuse of cozy ties with the current government — has expanded on the back of favorable regulatory and policy decisions. The initial boost came from a 2014 central bank decision to kill “one-click” credit card transactions, which forced apps like Uber to switch to using wallets. Then it benefited hugely from the government’s decision to invalidate high-denomination notes, which made Indians worry about using cash. Now it hopes to profit from the government’s attempt to force consumers and companies to store data locally, by setting up cloud infrastructure locally.Where online shopping fits into this is unclear, unless the company is looking to diversify, worried that its products won’t be able to compete over the long run against the kind of cutting-edge mobile payment systems pioneered by China’s Tencent. It’s rare to meet anyone who’s actually bought anything on Paytm Mall: Flipkart and Amazon still have 80 percent of the market, and Paytm Mall’s Chinese-style direct linking of customers to offline retailers has caused consistent quality issues that force it to regularly delist sellers. It’s interesting that Berkshire Hathaway was quick to insist that Buffett himself had nothing to do with its investment.Amazon’s interest in Future Group makes a little more sense. The U.S. behemoth has been expanding into offline retail elsewhere and, in India, groceries already form a significant part of its sales; the company expects groceries and consumables to make up more than half of its business in five years.Still, the thinking here seems a bit schizophrenic. On the one hand, Amazon is tying up with the small mom-and-pop shops that continue to dominate the Indian market, through Amazon Now. On the other hand, it seems to think that Future Group’s bigger stores are a good investment. The company’s first instinct was probably correct. If organized grocery delivery in India is going to take off, it will be thanks to someone who uses the extensive networks already put in place by local vendors.Finally, investors worried about Walmart’s purchase of Flipkart because the price seemed too high for the education in e-commerce that Bentonville thought it was buying. Companies can’t simply pick up what they learn in India and apply it everywhere else. Indian consumers have special needs — they’re untrusting, for one, and price-sensitive, for another. They’re unlikely to build up big data trails on any one e-commerce site: Indians shop around constantly for the best deal. However attractive on the surface, India’s retail market isn’t like those elsewhere; it demands new models. Flipkart revolutionized e-commerce in India thanks to its cash-on-delivery option, since customers here prefer to hold an item in their hand before they pay for it. But it’s important to distinguish between genuine innovation and workarounds meant to avoid regulatory hassles, such as India’s ban on e-commerce companies holding their own inventory. Before reaching for their wallets, international players need to figure out if a model is genuinely adapted to Indian shoppers’ needs and, ideally, should wait for payments, tax and inventory regulations to settle down before spending billions on scaling up. Foreign companies and investors had better also keep in mind that the giant Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries is preparing its own push into shopping. Fresh after using the steady profits of its oil business to upend Indian telecommunications — forcing a series of mergers and exits — Reliance now wants to expand its Jio telecom brand into shopping, among other sectors. Anyone betting on dominating retail in India will have to beat Reliance at home. They could be in for an expensive lesson.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2NAK98I

Petrol and diesel prices, already hovering near record levels, are poised to soar further as the head of the International Energy Agency sees robust global demand rapidly outpacing dwindling supply, boosting crude rates.Indian economy remains vulnerable to oil price fluctuations, which makes it important for the country to diversify sources of supply, use biofuels, and to reduce energy consumption by cars, trucks and factories, Fatih Birol, executive director of Paris-based IEA, told ET in an interview.Diesel prices rose to a record high this week, while petrol is close to its highest-ever level and the steep depreciation of the Indian rupee has not helped. The rupee has fallen 10% this year hit a record low of Rs 70.82 on Thursday. India imports about 80% of the oil it consumes, which means petrol and diesel would be about Rs 6 per litre cheaper had the rupee held steady this year.“The coming few months are difficult months. The global oil demand growth is much stronger than the historical averages, led by China, India among other countries. But when we look at the supply side, we see a big problem of Venezuela oil production declining sharply. There’s a free fall,” Birol said.Global prices would rise unless the oil cartel OPEC, which has cut output to boost price, increases supply significantly, he said.“If the OPEC alliance countries don’t increase their production significantly in the next months to come, we may see tightening of the global oil markets towards the end of this year. This may well put a pressure on the prices. It is already at $75 per barrel today,” he added.Brent prices have been firming up on account of lower output in Venezuela and US sanctions that restrict crude oil export from Iran, the third-largest OPEC producer. 65614442 Birol said Venezuelan oil production had halved in the last couple of years, an unprecedented event in the history of a major oil producing country, which is exerting further pressure on global supply.Talking about the trends in the global energy market, Birol said that while the US has emerged as the ‘undisputed’ leader of oil and gas production, India is driving the growth in energy demand globally and both countries are well-positioned to expand energy trade between them.“I think global oil imports is a vulnerability for the Indian economy, so (they should) not only try to diversify where imports come from, but reducing the growth of oil imports is itself very important. Therefore, improvement in efficiency of trucks, cars, petrochemical industry, is extremely important,” said Birol, who was in the city to deliver the 17th Darbari Seth Lecture organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).He said India's decision to increase the use of biofuels in the transportation sector is timely and will be instrumental in reducing the country’s oil imports. “This is the only way, and we hope oil prices don’t go up, and it doesn’t pinch the economic growth of India,” he said.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2wshDzt

There has been no change in the processing of H-1B visas, the Trump Administration has said ahead of next week's two-plus-two dialogue between India and the US, during which External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is expected to raise the issue. "We are already raising the issue formally at various fora. We are speaking on it with the White House, with state administration as well as with Congressmen... We will raise it humbly at the 2+2 dialogue on September 6 in New Delhi," Sushma Swaraj told the Rajya Sabha last month. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior official of the administration acknowledged that it was prepared for India raising the H-1B issue at the 2+2, but added that it would not have much to say as the policy remained the same and was undergoing review. "The Trump Administration's executive order has called for a broad review of the US worker visa programme known as H-1B in the interest of ensuring that they are administered in a way that doesn't disadvantage US workers or wages," the official said. "But there has been no change to the processing of H-1B visas. So it's really impossible for me to speculate on the outcome and any possible changes to the system. It is obviously an issue that is important to India," the official added.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2PjUhTG

By John Micklethwait, Margaret Talev and Jennifer JacobsPresident Donald Trump said he would pull out of the World Trade Organization if it doesn’t treat the US better, targeting a cornerstone of the international trading system.“If they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO,” Trump said Thursday in an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News. Trump said the agreement establishing the body “was the single worst trade deal ever made.”A US withdrawal from the WTO potentially would be far more significant for the global economy than even Trump’s growing trade war with China, undermining the post-World War II system that the US helped build.Trump said last month that the US is at a big disadvantage from being treated “very badly” by the WTO for many years and that the Geneva-based body needs to “change their ways.”US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has said allowing China into the WTO in 2001 was a mistake. He has long called for the US to take a more aggressive approach to the WTO, arguing that it was incapable of dealing with a non-market economy such as China.Lighthizer has accused the WTO dispute-settlement system of interfering with US sovereignty, particularly on anti-dumping cases. The US has been blocking the appointment of judges to the WTO’s appeals body, raising the possibility that it could cease to function in the coming years.In the Oval Office interview, Trump said at the WTO “we rarely won a lawsuit except for last year.” “In the last year, we’re starting to win a lot,” he added. “You know why? Because they know if we don’t, I’m out of there.”For all of his complaints about the WTO, Trump’s administration has continued to file cases against other members. Earlier this week it launched a case against Russian duties on US products that it argues are illegal.Countries that bring complaints to the WTO tend to prevail and defendants in trade disputes lose.But WTO data also shows that the US does slightly better than the WTO average in both cases it brings and that are brought against it, said Simon Lester, a trade analyst at the Cato Institute, a Washington policy group that favors more open international trade.Of the 54 cases brought by the US over the life of the WTO, Washington won at least one finding in its favor in 49, or 91 percent, Lester said. Of the 80 cases brought against it, a WTO panel had ruled against it in at least one aspect in 69 cases, or 86 percent of the time.The Trump administration has taken his complaints a step further by arguing that the WTO’s dispute settlement system is broken and in need of a major overhaul.The EU has been leading an effort to propose reforms to try and defuse the conflict. Officials from the EU and Japan visited Washington last week to discuss potential changes as well as joint efforts to take on China at the WTO.Since World War II, successive US presidents have led efforts to establish and strengthen global trading rules, arguing that they would bring stability to the world economy.The WTO was created in 1994 as part of a US-led effort by major economies to create a forum for resolving trade disputes.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2POxAbz

Quidich Innovation Labs’ CEO Rahat Kulshreshtha and team had finally cracked it. They literally took this year’s Indian Premier League to the skies using drones, after a chase of nearly three years and obtaining permissions from 17 different agencies.Throughout the IPL, viewers could finally distinguish between the various venues as Quidich’s city shots made it clear where a game was being played. Drone shots like Mumbai’s famous Queen’s Necklace near Wankhede stadium put TV viewers in the thick of action. Drones had really arrived on the big stage.“The IPL had nine venues. For a TV viewer at home, all nine look the same. The moment you add a drone, you get interesting connections of the stadium and the city. The relatability is a lot more. We were able to add augmented reality (AR) on a drone, live interactive graphics,” said Kulshreshtha.That was just the beginning. With India’s long-awaited drone policy released this week, the domestic drone market is poised to take off. For Kulshreshtha, the policy means potentially bringing down the permissions requirement to a handful.No more regulatory quagmire. While recreational drone usage will pick up, what the policy will really open up is the largely untapped business-to-business (B2B) market, giving drone companies the chance to innovate and truly spread their wings.THE INITIAL RUNWAYSome early uses of drones cropped up only around half a decade ago. Mumbai-based Francesco’s Pizzeria in 2014 used a four-rotor drone to deliver food from its Lower Parel outlet to a customer in nearby Worli. That drew sufficient buzz for the pizzeria but also the police, who said using drones to deliver orders posed a security risk.Around the same time, several drone startups too started coming up. Soon, there were discussions on the need for regulating the space.“The thing to highlight is the significant change in mindset from the time when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was probably thinking it didn’t have the bandwidth for unmanned aviation, to now where Jayant Sinha wants to bring the most progressive drone regulation anywhere in the world,” said Anirudh Rastogi, managing partner at Ikigai Law (formerly TRA Law). “We may be further from that, but that is the mindset change. It is phenomenal.” Sinha is the minister of state for civil aviation. 65616338 Rastogi was a pioneer in pushing for regulations to govern the unmanned drone sector. His firm, which specialises in nascent technology areas like drones and crypto currency, has extensively commented on the various draft guidelines proposed by the regulator.For drone startups, the early days meant trying to understand how to navigate in an unregulated space.65616339 The basic revelation was simple — use drones for ‘DDDR’ jobs, or dull, dirty, dangerous and repetitive tasks. So startups like Aarav Unmanned Systems and Skylark Drones targeted areas that required people to travel large terrains for inspections in sectors like mining, energy and agriculture.Goldman Sachs Research estimates a $100 billion global market opportunity for drone companies by 2020.65616344 Aarav CEO Vipul Singh and his cofounders spent two years at IIT-Kanpur understanding and experimenting with design systems and algorithms. Only in 2015 did they land their first corporate client.“There was no financial backing, things took time. We were testing in a closed environment. But not for commercial applications. Almost at the end of the second year, we got our first project,” said Singh. Though startups managed to land pilots with a few private businesses and government projects, it was not smooth sailing, with conglomerates still waiting for clarity on regulations before pumping money into big drone projects.Skylark Drones cofounders TR Mughilan and Mrinal Pai spent a good amount of time trying to figure out their business model before deciding that B2B was the way forward.“Enterprise use case is where problems were not solved. In this case, the drone hardware is only 30-40% of the value chain. Everything beyond that is processing, interpreting data and figuring how to serve it to the end industry,” said Pai.The B2B opportunity for drone startups is huge. For example, a mine survey could take a three or four member team four-six days, but a drone can do that in a day. All you need is a trained drone operator and a good data interpretation software.While enterprises were cautiously testing the waters, government agencies too were jumping on to the bandwagon.Given the fast pace of government projects, for instance, “you need to validate and monitor progress. That is where drones will play a big part,” said Kulshrestha of Quidich. “If you look at the Railways, there are 8-10 live tenders presently.”Not just the Railways, the National Highways Authority of India and various state governments are floating tenders for various large projects.The building blocks were all set. All that was lacking was a proper regulatory framework.THE POLICY HAS LANDEDGiven the dominating presence of China’s DJI drones, most Indian drone companies have decided to focus on building expertise in software solutions for various industries. The India Drone Policy 1.0, announced this week, looks to promote just that.“In the global context, in terms of civilian drone hardware... no competitor has been able to match the Chinese hardware prowess. India’s policy is about how you fly drones and how you can create a globallycompetitive industry in our context, when we are not the ones who currently own the hardware,” said Tanuj Bhojwani, a volunteer at software policy think-tank iSPIRT.Bhojwani led the Digital Sky effort, which is the central platform for all official communications between drone pilots and the DGCA. It will be used to register drones, request for permissions, and file reports and logs of all flights.In probably a global first, India’s drone policy has introduced a ‘No Permission- No Takeoff’ (NPNT) clause. It means drone hardware have to be configured in such a way that unless regulatory permission is given, the drone cannot take off. Digital Sky has demarcated the Indian airspace into three distinct categories: Red (no-fly zones), Yellow (restricted permissions), and Green (all access). 65616346 Drones have been classified as Nano (less than or equal to 250 grams), Micro (250 grams to 2 kg), Small (2 kg to 25 kg), Medium (25 kg to 150 kg), and Large (greater than 150 kg). Drones heavier than 2 kg will require registration and permits to fly. These drones can be flown only by pilots who have cleared DGCA-approved training.Also, drones must only be flown during daylight, while maintaining full visual line of sight at all times. The policy has also designated test sites across states to experiment.FLYING FORWARDAccording to Bhojwani, the policy creates “a high-trust environment” and allows for “unbundling of services.” “You can say ‘I want this picture in this area.’ An Uber-like platform for drones can come up. You put in a request and anyone in the country serves it. And you can trust them, because if they do not have permission they cannot fly. The drone itself won’t take off. It brings in trust,” said Bhojwani.He believes the policy will usher in a new idea of “drone micro-entrepreneurs.” These drone entrepreneurs need not necessarily be experts in say agriculture, telecom or mining, all they need to know is how to expertly fly a drone. The data it mines can be separately inspected by experts or any end user.But certain aspects of the policy could do with some clarity.“They have stuck to daytime flying only. There are some use cases where nighttime flying should be permitted. Say for industrial uses, work does not stop at night. Even from a safety perspective, it is all contained. Also, indoor flying is permitted, but there is a clause which says ‘flying is allowed only in the daytime.’ Does it mean I can’t fly indoors at night?” said Rastogi of Ikigai Law.Minor chinks apart, the drone industry is hopeful as the next version of the policy is expected to be more progressive. But most certainly, the policy has ushered in a bright start and the collective opinion is that the funding gates will open too.“The level of investment is almost negligible in the drone space compared to startups from domains such as ecommerce and hyperlocal, as investor confidence was low given that there was no clarity on the legality of drones. That will change now. The confidence will go up. Going forward, the industry is going to be predominantly B2B,” said Vignesh Santhanam, marketing head at Quidich and president of Drone Federation of India, a collective of drone startups. India Drone Policy 1.0: A Summary*Digital Sky has demarcated the airspace into three distinct categories: Red (no-fl y zones), Yellow (restricted permissions) and Green (all access)*Drones are classifi ed as Nano (less than or equal to 250 grams), Micro (250 grams to 2 kg), Small (2 kg to 25 kg), Medium (25 kg to 150 kg), and Large (greater than 150 kg)*Nano category drones do not require to be registered for identifi -cation or permissions on the Digital Sky platform as long as they are fl own under the height of 15 metres*Drones in the micro category need to be registered and ask for permission before fl ying. As long as these are fl own under 60m, no permit, pilot licences or security clearances are required*Drones heavier than 2 kg have to be registered and need permits to fly. These can only be handled by a pilot who has cleared DGCA prescribed training courses. These drones can be fl own up to an altitude of 120 metres*Drones must only be flown during daylight and maintain full visual line of sight at all times*Drones must not drop/discharge material without explicit clearance Drones must not be operated from mobile platforms like moving vehicles*Digital Sky is built around the principle of ‘No Permission-No Takeoff.’ Only if a drone is compliant with this principle, can it even be registered. Digital Sky will be in charge of handling fl ight permissions*A preflight permission request will contain the geo-fence and timespan outside of which a drone cannot fl y. The drone will not turn on if it does not have a valid permission from Digital Sky*A written notice to the local police station is also required prior to operations (with the exception of Nano drones below 15 metres)SOURCE: CAN-I-FLY.SKYLARKDRONES.COM

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2Ny1A9P

Gland Pharma, the Hyderabad-based injectable maker which was bought by Chinese drug giant Fosun in September 2017, has called for presentations, or pitches in industry parlance, from both local and foreign investment bankers to take the company public in 2019, two people with direct knowledge of the plan said.“The company has been in discussions with individual investment bankers for a public offer,” one of the two persons said. "Now, they have called for presentations from investment bankers."A public listing of the company could be the first by a Chinese one on the Indian bourses, which will use the capital to grow their business in India instead of being funded by its parent in China.Pitches from investment bankers indicate the first intention of a private company to gauge the expectation of investors, possible listing value of the company, and get the perspective of both local and foreign bankers on the business. Gland Pharma, which is owned 74% by the Chinese major, is seeking a valuation of $3 billion, which is more than twice that of the valuation it was bought in September 2017. Fosun had purchased 74% stake of the Indian drug maker for $1.1 billion, valuing the company at around $1.25 billion.Fosun did not respond to an emailed questionnaire from ET till press-time on Thursday.The company had to struggle with the Indian government to receive regulatory approvals as the government feared monopoly of Chinese drug makers in India. The Shanghai-listed Fosun acquired 74% in Gland for $1.1 billion last September, giving an exit to the American private equity fund KKR, but did not give full exit to the Indian promoters Ravi Penmetsa and his father PVN Raju.Under the agreement between the two companies, the founder shareholders had the right to exercise a put option within one year of the end of the share purchase agreement to sell their residual stake for a consideration of up to $355 million.The Gland IPO is planned in a way to offer an exit to the promoters who are expected to offload 10% of their stake during the IPO, according to people closely involved with the development.“Gland/Fosun is in the process of hiring investment bankers for taking the company public in India, and the IPO is expected to hit the market by the middle of next year,” said a second person closely involved with the development.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2NyGrwn

KOLKATA|NEW DELHI: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, clearing the last hurdle to the creation of India’s largest mobile phone company with the most subscribers and revenue share, displacing Bharti Airtel, which has held the top spot for about 15 years. A senior executive of the Aditya Birla Group, of which Idea Cellular is a part, confirmed the NCLT nod, saying “announcements would be made on Friday”. The new entity will kick off with 440 million subscribers, a 34.7% revenue market share (RMS), revenue of more than Rs 60,000 crore and combined debt of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore. The largest merger in the sector now leaves three major players — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Vodafone Idea — to fight it out for over a billion subscribers in a market that is seeing surging demand for data amid rock-bottom tariffs as the country moves to 4G from 3G and smartphones become more affordable.Pricing Power May Return to SectorSector experts expect pricing power to gradually return to the sector — over a year or so — as the effects of rapid consolidation play out. Two years of brutal price wars have savaged revenue and profits.65616167 The NCLT approval is the final clearance needed before registration of the merged entity, Vodafone Idea Ltd, which will remain listed. The new board will be constituted after registration with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Some circle-level executives have been told that September 3 could be Day Zero of the combined entity. Idea’s shares closed marginally higher by 0.71% at Rs 49.85 on the BSE Thursday. Vodafone and Idea didn’t respond to ET’s emailed queries.The final approval came nearly two months after the June 30 deadline the two companies had set. Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao had said he expected the merger to close in August during a visit to India last month.Analysts had underlined the importance of an early completion of the merger as both Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have been rapidly losing ground to Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio Infocomm. Jio, which officially launched services in September 2016, has dislodged both the Idea and Vodafone standalone entities on RMS.Potent RivalThe merged entity should clock as much as $10 billion in savings over time, making it a more potent rival for Bharti Airtel and Jio, according to analysts. “The market and customers will now see how the new company deploys and catches up with its 4G rollout, in which it has been a laggard,” ex-Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor said.He said a new telecom leader had emerged and the markets would be watching closely. “The countdown for deliveries has begun and financial synergy is an integral part of this merger,” Kapoor said. Rohan Dhamija, partner and head of India and Middle East at Analysys Mason, said, “The merged entity would need to very quickly change focus from internal integration to winning externally in the market, besides investing significantly in enhancing 4G network capacity to effectively compete with Jio and Airtel.”Credit Suisse analysts said Idea’s financial pain in the run-up to the merger might be deeper.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2LGj8z5

KOLKATA|NEW DELHI: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, clearing the last hurdle to the creation of India’s largest mobile phone company with the most subscribers and revenue share, displacing Bharti Airtel, which has held the top spot for about 15 years. A senior executive of the Aditya Birla Group, of which Idea Cellular is a part, confirmed the NCLT nod, saying “announcements would be made on Friday”. The new entity will kick off with 440 million subscribers, a 34.7% revenue market share (RMS), revenue of more than Rs 60,000 crore and combined debt of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore. The largest merger in the sector now leaves three major players — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Vodafone Idea — to fight it out for over a billion subscribers in a market that is seeing surging demand for data amid rock-bottom tariffs as the country moves to 4G from 3G and smartphones become more affordable.Pricing Power May Return to SectorSector experts expect pricing power to gradually return to the sector — over a year or so — as the effects of rapid consolidation play out. Two years of brutal price wars have savaged revenue and profits.65616167 The NCLT approval is the final clearance needed before registration of the merged entity, Vodafone Idea Ltd, which will remain listed. The new board will be constituted after registration with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Some circle-level executives have been told that September 3 could be Day Zero of the combined entity. Idea’s shares closed marginally higher by 0.71% at Rs 49.85 on the BSE Thursday. Vodafone and Idea didn’t respond to ET’s emailed queries.The final approval came nearly two months after the June 30 deadline the two companies had set. Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao had said he expected the merger to close in August during a visit to India last month.Analysts had underlined the importance of an early completion of the merger as both Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have been rapidly losing ground to Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio Infocomm. Jio, which officially launched services in September 2016, has dislodged both the Idea and Vodafone standalone entities on RMS.Potent RivalThe merged entity should clock as much as $10 billion in savings over time, making it a more potent rival for Bharti Airtel and Jio, according to analysts. “The market and customers will now see how the new company deploys and catches up with its 4G rollout, in which it has been a laggard,” ex-Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor said.He said a new telecom leader had emerged and the markets would be watching closely. “The countdown for deliveries has begun and financial synergy is an integral part of this merger,” Kapoor said. Rohan Dhamija, partner and head of India and Middle East at Analysys Mason, said, “The merged entity would need to very quickly change focus from internal integration to winning externally in the market, besides investing significantly in enhancing 4G network capacity to effectively compete with Jio and Airtel.”Credit Suisse analysts said Idea’s financial pain in the run-up to the merger might be deeper.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2LGj8z5

You do too much swiping as it is.

from CNET How To https://ift.tt/2NxJSTT

BENGALURU: The Solar Energy Corporation of India’s revised wind tender following cancellation of the earlier one has attracted a marginally better response as transmission issues continue to worry developers. The original tender for 2,000 MW attracted bids of 1,200 MW— 300 MW each from four developers. This led to SECI cancelling the tender.SECI, a government company mandated to implement the nation’s renewable energy agenda, then scaled down the tender to 1,200 MW, which has drawn bids of 2,290 MW, sources said.However, at 1.9 times the offer, the response in the latest SECI auction compares poorly with previous auctions, which attracted bids for three to four times the offer made in the tenders. While the technical bids had to be submitted by Wednesday, the actual reverse auction will take place shortly.Developers are worried that transmission facilities won’t be adequate for the wind and solar projects that have been auctioned. About 7,000 MW of wind projects have been auctioned since they began early last year.Transmission facilities at the best wind energy producing sites — located chiefly in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat — are close to being fully used up. Only eight states in India have wind speeds high enough to produce wind energy.“More substations and transmission lines need to be built urgently for evacuation. Unless these issues get resolved, we won’t be participating in future wind bids connecting to the inter-state transmission system (ISTS),” said a developer.“The more the projects that are bid out, the more the need for ISTS connectivity, and the more will be the challenges,” said another developer.Similarly, transmission constraints may pose problems for another 12,000 MW of solar projects likely to be commissioned this financial year. Tariffs are expected to remain at the same level in the forthcoming SECI auction.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2C1l9Gr

Earlier this month, news about growing concerns over the salaries of employees of two Indian airline companies hit the headlines. Jet Airways, a listed entity, made public its financial woes, asking employees to take a 25% wage cut. Meanwhile, India’s national carrier, Air India — delaying payday every month for some time now with August seeing the longest delay — kept mum, apart from an internal memo that blamed “circumstances beyond control”.No surprises there. As a public sector utility (PSU), this is how Air India is supposed to be: vague, and lacking accountability. Over the last few years, the incumbent government has struggled to figure out what it can do with the loss-making airline that has an albatross of debts around its neck.It sought approval for a Rs 980 crore funds infusion in end-July. There is pressure to seek more. Surely, the sarkari bag is running out of tricks to keep Air India flying. The revival plan of 2012 has already seen more than Rs 27,000 crore being pumped in. This may be a good time to try thinking outside the box.Take the recent efforts in March to privatise the airline, offering a 76% stake to the best bidder. It found no takers. Air India has a debt of Rs 48,000 crore on its balance sheet, and a similar amount in accumulated losses.Even with GoI backing it, the airline should be considered bankrupt. Answers can’t be found in the case histories of past PSU disinvestments. There are, however, some pointers in the present. Why not take a close look at the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) that is sorting out private sector companies with crippling debt?Air India need not go all the way. Instead, it could learn what can work for it. The most attractive part of the process monitored by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is the clean break that it provides a new owner. First, the debt is paid off in full. Second, the former promoter and its vestiges are also exorcised. Can this kind of a clean slate be offered to a bidder for Air India?This means that the government will not only not hold any equity in the airline or its subsidiaries, but it will also not commandeer a couple of aircraft each time the prime minister, the president or the vice-president decides to travel abroad. Each such visit takes the two aircraft plus staff out of service for a few weeks, given the necessary maintenance checks. A full separation of GoI from Air India will mean the creation of a fleet of aircraft for official government use, to be maintained by Air India, the service provided at arm’s-length pricing.Any solution from the IBC kit will also mean cleaning up the airline’s debt with the proceeds made from the sale. For that, not just the government, but the larger polity must accept that the country’s exchequer can’t find a surplus while selling a bankrupt company.There is no way a stake sale in Air India can help lower the fiscal deficit.Meanwhile, we, as a nation, can also get rid of sentimental notions about Air India going back to the Tatas, its original founders, or, for that matter, to any existing major airline. Most of the suitors for Jet Airways’ equity today are private equity players. Surely, some of the international funds will also be interested in Air India if a clean slate is offered. It is not unusual for flag carriers. The largest shareholders for Australia’s Qantas, for instance, are JPMorgan, HSBC and Citi.For it to fly, that idea will surely need political gumption and salesmanship of the highest order. Not quite the stuff agovernment might want on its plate in an election year. In fact, the sell-off is already on the backburner.Improving operations at the airline, and ensuring that its planes keep taking to the skies, may be the only options now. But GoI needs outside help, and there is a prototype tried out by the steel ministry last year. In April 2017, the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) engaged with veteran steel industry majors and a consulting firm to turn around its steel plants.Among others, it brought in former Tata Steel deputy managing director Tridibesh Mukherjee, and B N Singh, who has led both PSU and private sector steel firms. They worked alongside Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and were responsible to help turn around specific steel plants. SAIL started recording quarterly profits from the second quarter of 2017-18.Can Air India think along those lines and let, say, former IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh or Air Deccan founder GR Gopinath offer their expertise to turn the ailing airline around? Fingers crossed, but don’t hold your breath.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2olyJL0

TOKYO: In five years, you may be able to take a ride from Gurgaon to Connaught Place in Delhi, or from Mumbai airport to Churchgate in the heart of the city, in a matter of minutes through aerial e-taxis run by Uber.The taxi aggregator is looking to start its ridesharing service Uber Air in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru by 2023, company officials said. The fares in the short term are likely to be around Rs 200 for a km, and Uber believes it could fall to Rs 50 per km.“We are announcing a shortlist of five countries where Uber Air can immediately transform transportation and take our technology to new heights,” said Eric Allison, head of Uber Aviation Programs. “Starting in approximately five years, Uber customers in launch cities will be able to push a button and get a flight on demand,” he said. Besides India, Uber has selected Japan, France, Brazil and Australia for launching its air ridesharing service.Uber also wants to launch dronebased food delivery service in Indian metros under Uber Eats.The blueprint for these plans was revealed at Uber Elevate Summit in Tokyo on Thursday.Uber’s air taxis would take off from its own sky ports built atop high rise buildings, which would serve as stations in a high volume urban aviation network.Uber has entered into partnerships with aircraft manufacturers that are developing electric VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicles, including Embraer, Bell, and Boeing.Uber’s eVTOL requirements specify that these flights have a cruising speed between 150-200 miles per hour, a cruising altitude of 1,000-2,000 feet, and be able to do trips of up to 60 miles on a single charge.“Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru are some of the most congested cities in the world, where traveling even a few kilometres can take over an hour,” a senior Uber executive said. “Also, through scale we’re planning to offer economical fares.”The executive said Uber was in touch with various regulators in India whose approval would be needed to launch both the air taxi sharing and drone delivery services.“In our interaction with Indian government, we have found them more than willing to adopt new transportation technology,” the executive said, requesting not to be named.Last year, Uber had announced its intention to launch flight demonstrations of Uber Air in Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles in 2020 and commercially available trips by 2023.(The reporter was in Tokyo at the invitation of Uber)

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2BX0GT2

Earlier this month, news about growing concerns over the salaries of employees of two Indian airline companies hit the headlines. Jet Airways, a listed entity, made public its financial woes, asking employees to take a 25% wage cut. Meanwhile, India’s national carrier, Air India — delaying payday every month for some time now with August seeing the longest delay — kept mum, apart from an internal memo that blamed “circumstances beyond control”.No surprises there. As a public sector utility (PSU), this is how Air India is supposed to be: vague, and lacking accountability. Over the last few years, the incumbent government has struggled to figure out what it can do with the loss-making airline that has an albatross of debts around its neck.It sought approval for a Rs 980 crore funds infusion in end-July. There is pressure to seek more. Surely, the sarkari bag is running out of tricks to keep Air India flying. The revival plan of 2012 has already seen more than Rs 27,000 crore being pumped in. This may be a good time to try thinking outside the box.Take the recent efforts in March to privatise the airline, offering a 76% stake to the best bidder. It found no takers. Air India has a debt of Rs 48,000 crore on its balance sheet, and a similar amount in accumulated losses.Even with GoI backing it, the airline should be considered bankrupt. Answers can’t be found in the case histories of past PSU disinvestments. There are, however, some pointers in the present. Why not take a close look at the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) that is sorting out private sector companies with crippling debt?Air India need not go all the way. Instead, it could learn what can work for it. The most attractive part of the process monitored by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is the clean break that it provides a new owner. First, the debt is paid off in full. Second, the former promoter and its vestiges are also exorcised. Can this kind of a clean slate be offered to a bidder for Air India?This means that the government will not only not hold any equity in the airline or its subsidiaries, but it will also not commandeer a couple of aircraft each time the prime minister, the president or the vice-president decides to travel abroad. Each such visit takes the two aircraft plus staff out of service for a few weeks, given the necessary maintenance checks. A full separation of GoI from Air India will mean the creation of a fleet of aircraft for official government use, to be maintained by Air India, the service provided at arm’s-length pricing.Any solution from the IBC kit will also mean cleaning up the airline’s debt with the proceeds made from the sale. For that, not just the government, but the larger polity must accept that the country’s exchequer can’t find a surplus while selling a bankrupt company.There is no way a stake sale in Air India can help lower the fiscal deficit.Meanwhile, we, as a nation, can also get rid of sentimental notions about Air India going back to the Tatas, its original founders, or, for that matter, to any existing major airline. Most of the suitors for Jet Airways’ equity today are private equity players. Surely, some of the international funds will also be interested in Air India if a clean slate is offered. It is not unusual for flag carriers. The largest shareholders for Australia’s Qantas, for instance, are JPMorgan, HSBC and Citi.For it to fly, that idea will surely need political gumption and salesmanship of the highest order. Not quite the stuff agovernment might want on its plate in an election year. In fact, the sell-off is already on the backburner.Improving operations at the airline, and ensuring that its planes keep taking to the skies, may be the only options now. But GoI needs outside help, and there is a prototype tried out by the steel ministry last year. In April 2017, the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) engaged with veteran steel industry majors and a consulting firm to turn around its steel plants.Among others, it brought in former Tata Steel deputy managing director Tridibesh Mukherjee, and B N Singh, who has led both PSU and private sector steel firms. They worked alongside Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and were responsible to help turn around specific steel plants. SAIL started recording quarterly profits from the second quarter of 2017-18.Can Air India think along those lines and let, say, former IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh or Air Deccan founder GR Gopinath offer their expertise to turn the ailing airline around? Fingers crossed, but don’t hold your breath.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2olyJL0

NEW DELHI: China’s Inhe Meters in consortium with an Indian auto component maker has emerged as the lowest bidder for alarge smart meter contract, quoting close to 43% less than the market price. The company has caught the attention of domestic meter manufacturers who have associated concerns of cyber security and sub-standard equipment with the Chinese player.France’s EDF Suez has emerged as the second lowest bidder while home-grown Larsen & Toubro also stands a chance of winning part of the smart meters global tender called by state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) for procurement of five million smart meters, sources said. Indian industry has raised cyber security concerns in giving the order to foreign firms, since smart meters transfer and store consumer data.Senior officials speaking on condition of anonymity told ET that the fear of Chinese meter manufacturers accessing database of Indian consumers is unfounded. “Whether it is a Chinese meter or European, they go through a tight procedure as per IS-16444 (approved by Bureau of Indian Standards). Whatever data the meter will be sending to the back-end IT application, will be hosted on the cloud platform.There are around seven layers of cyber security on the cloud platform, which we are using, and this is as per the guidelines of ministry of electronics and information technology,” said an official closely associated with the tender.Inhe Meters along with its Indian partner Jay Motors quoted a price of Rs 2,000 per meter against the market price of about Rs 3,500 for such interactive devices. EDF Suez and L&T have agreed to match the price, sources said. EESL board is expected to meet soon to approve the winners of the contracts.“Inhe Meters is only providing the technology support to Jay Auto, which will be manufacturing the smart meters in India,” the official quoted above said. State-owned ITI Ltd bagged 50% of the previous tender for procurement of five million smart meters floated in November last year. The company outbid L&T in a reverse auction, quoting a price of Rs 2,503 per meter.Major smart meter companies including Landys & Gyr, Secure Meters and Aspen Electric have not participated in the tender. Power minister R K Singh had earlier asked equipment makers to supply meters at a price of Rs 1,400 a piece.Under the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna (Uday scheme), state power distribution companies have to implement smart meters part of the operational parameters. However, Uday dashboard shows that states are lagging behind as just 1% of the targeted implementation has taken place.Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA) director general Sunil Misra said handing over smart meters contracts to Chinese companies is fraught with risks of substandard equipment, data and cyber security but most importantly goes against the spirit of public procurement policy 2017 issued by the department of industrial policy and promotion.The revised public procurement policy encourages domestic manufacturing through purchase preference to domestic equipment manufacturers. As per the proposal, if a foreign firm emerges as lowest bidder in a government tender, it will get only 50% of the tender. Indian manufacturer whose quoted price for the tender will be within 20% of the lowest price bid would be eligible for purchase preference, provided it matches the lowest price.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2LHt37e

Private sector lender Yes Bank today said it has received RBI's approval for continuance of Rana Kapoor as MD and CEO of the bank till further notice from the central bank.In June this year, Yes Bank's shareholders had approved the re-appointment of Rana Kapoor as the chief executive and managing director for three years, subject to final approval from the Reserve Bank of India."We wish to inform you that the Bank has received the RBI's approval that Rana Kapoor may continue as Managing Director & CEO of YES Bank till further notice from RBI," the bank said in a regulatory filing.Kapoor is the Founder, Managing Director and CEO of Yes Bank.Prior to establishing Yes Bank, Kapoor was CEO and Managing Director, and main Managing Partner of Rabo India Finance (RIF) (a corporate finance and investment banking organisation).Yes Bank was incorporated in November 2003 under the Companies Act, 1956 and received the certificate of commencement of business on January 21, 2004.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2LAr1WF

Jet Airways Thursday said it has received communication from a body of the ministry of corporate affairs seeking clarifications in response to a complaint received by it.“Jet Airways has received communication from the office of Registrar of Companies seeking comments/ clarifications and explanations in response to a complaint received by their office. The Company is taking necessary steps to submit its response in this regard,” said a spokesperson at the airline, without elaborating.The Registrar of Companies (RoC) takes care of company registration in India, completes reporting and regulation of companies and their directors and shareholders, and also oversees government reporting of various matters including the annual filling of various documents.A media report earlier in the day said the RoC has ordered a “formal inspection of Jet Airways”. It added that the RoC has filed a preliminary report with the ministry of corporate affairs, based on which the ministry has authorised inspection under section 206 (5) of the Companies Act 2013. The law vests it with the power to call companies for information, inspect their books and conduct enquiries. The report cited an unnamed government official as saying that the RoC in its preliminary report has found substantial grounds for further investigation against Jet and a detailed enquiry into its books of accounts. It said it is probing allegations of money laundering at Jet.In response to a similar earlier media report, Jet had on August 20 told the exchanges that it had received no letter from the ministry.This is the latest in a line of headwinds that the financially stressed airline has had to tackle in the last one month.Jet’s senior management last month took pay cuts by as much as a quarter. The company requested its pilots and technicians to take similar cuts but was refused. News that it had given 60 days to its employees for survival sent its shares to a three year low. Jet denied the same. Meanwhile, the chief of India’s biggest lender State Bank of India said the airline was on its stressed loans list. Jet reacted with a denial. Later Jet deferred its earnings announcement saying its auditors hadnt presented them to the board. It later clarified it had sought more time from them.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2PTw6gf