65605080 65581678 NEW YORK: Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc , on Thursday said the conglomerate has begun repurchasing its stock for the first time since 2012, and has added a "little" to its already huge stake in Apple Inc .Speaking on CNBC television, Buffett also said investors remain better off owning a basket of stocks than 30-year bonds and other fixed-income sec urities, as U.S. businesses benefit from a strong economy. "Business is good across the board," he said. "It was good two years ago, it keeps getting better."Buffett, who turned 88 on Thursday, was in Manhattan to dine at the Smith & Wollensky steak house with the person who in June agreed to pay $3,300,100 at an annual charity auction to eat lunch with him.65607809

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2PQ174s

Following majority stake acquisition by diversified engineering company, Greaves Cotton in Coimbatore-based, EV Company, Ampere Vehicles, the latter will turn into a subsidiary and founder Hemalatha Annamalai would continue as CEO, a company official told ET.Additionally, non-promoter stakes owned by Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus, Tata Group and Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder Infosys will also be bought by Greaves, the official said. The amounts invested by both Tata and Gopalakrishnan remain undisclosed. In the first phase of the acquisition, Greaves will acquire 67% of the company at Rs 77 crores by December 31, 2018. Following this, the company can acquire another 13% in a span of three years, at its discretion for Rs 75.5 crores. Established in 2008, Ampere is an electric mobility company, founded by first generation entrepreneur Annamalai and is into the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of battery operated electric vehicles for personal mobility, industrial applications and materials movement, like electric cycles, electric two wheelers, electric three wheelers and custom built EVs.The company has reported revenue of Rs 18.5 crores in FY18 thus far, according to a note released by Greaves Cotton on the BSE.According to Greaves, the objectives of the acquisition are to accelerate development of clean energy technology solutions for last mile mobility and address a wider range of customer segments with clean energy mobility solutions. Greaves intends to leverage its distribution, aftermarket and service strengths to help Ampere grow more rapidly, according to a press note issued by the company. It also said the acquisition in the electric mobility segment “underscores the strategic intent of Greaves.”Nagesh Basavanhalli, MD & CEO, Greaves Cotton, said, "With this strategic acquisition, we will be able to address a wider range of customer segments with clean energy mobility solutions. Greaves and Ampere will be a synergistic combination of our excellence in frugal engineering & manufacturing with a new age electric mobility solutions company.”Shares of Greaves Cotton closed 7.8% higher on Thursday at Rs 158.10 following news of the majority stake acquisition.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2omg69R

MUMBAI: Sajjan Jindal's JSW Energy has promised to sweeten the offer for Pragyaraj Power to have an upper hand over Resurgent Power- which is backed by Tatas - who has also bid for the asset, said two senior officials aware about the development.The development comes within days of Resurgent Power making an improved bid over JSW Energy’s offer for Prayagraj Power to lenders.In a letter sent to lender late on Thursday evening, JSW Energy has not mentioned any particular amount that they would offer but they have specifically sought an opportunity to “better the offer”, said officials quoted above. Resurgent Power’s bid involves upfront cash payment of Rs 6,000 crore to acquire Prayagraj Power and 15% equity for the lenders. While JSW Energy’s offered involved 15% equity to lenders but is worked out to Rs 3,740 crore since it was laced with conditions. Prayagraj Power has outstanding loans of Rs 11,000 crore and lenders own 89% stake in the company which operates a 1,980 MW thermal power plant near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.JSW Steel original offer stood at Rs 5940 crore with a clause that they would not be liable to pay any tax over dues involved in this transaction. A report by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCooperssaid that tax liability could be as high as Rs 2200 crore and effectively JSW Steel offer amounted to Rs 3740 crore.In a letter to lenders, JSW Energy has said “we wished you had given us an opportunity to discuss the terms offered by Resurgent Power and the parameters on the basis you are entertaining such unsolicited offer. We are more than pleased to address your concern and better our offer.” The company has also indicated that they are open to offer higher upfront cash amount and absorb tax liabilities. The company has sought a meeting with lenders where they would make a revised offer. Although lenders have already issued a letter of intent to Resurgent Power, they are very delighted about receiving an improved bid as it would reduced their losses.Prayagraj Power is one of the seven power accounts identified by lenders where they see a possibility of a resolution outside the bankruptcy court. Banks are in race against time after the Reserve Bank of India mandated them to revolved all distressed assets above Rs 2000 crore or refer them to bankruptcy court by early next week.Resurgent Power is fund jointly floated by the Tata Group and ICICI Ventures, with focus on acquire power sector assets.The Tata Group and JSW are also in the race to acquire Bhushan Power & Steel, where JSW Steel improved its offer by 60% after lenders declared the Tatas as the highest bidder.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2ouJ7jT

It is on pace to reach USD 1.7 billion in 2018, an increase of 12.5 per cent over 2017, according to the latest forecast from Gartner.

from https://ift.tt/2MYmbY3

NEW DELHI: Why are global consumer goods companies such as IKEA headed to India? It's the country's burgeoning middle class that holds out the promise of rapidly growing consumption. The domestic consumption is set to treble to $4 trillion by 2025 as rising affluence levels drive changes in consumer behavior and spending patterns that have big implications for companies, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group released last year. About 40 per cent of the population would be living in urban areas by 2025, and city dwellers would account for over 60 per cent of consumption, it said. India's middle class is rising when it's shrinking in European and North-American countries. The report points out stagnation of the middle class in leading economies. This stagnation is either due to households falling below the middle-class threshold or others escaping and becoming rich. In the developed countries of North America and Europe, the middle class is large but stagnating in numbers. In fact, it is squeezed between the two ends, growing even slower than overall population growth.Here are some of the big global companies that India's growing middle-class has attracted:IKEAThe world’s largest furniture and home products company recently invested in India by opening its maiden store in Hyderabad. IKEA is clearly targeting top layers of India's middle class that is increasingly travelling to the west and has exposure to the western brands. The IKEA store is testimony to the fact that India's middle class is maturing with the emergence of a segment that is willing to spend money on international brands. IKEA plans to open dozens of more stores in India in the coming few years because it sees a large opportunity in India's rising middle class. NetflixThe American over-the-top media services provider Netflix launched its India operations in January 2016 and has been able to capture significant market share here, with a focus on the top 10-20 million internet consumers. According to Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos, India is the fastest investment it has ever made and the largest investment it has made to date in local original programming. With stupendous growth in internet users in the country, Netflix hopes to hit a jackpot in India. “The next 100 million is from India. We are at 120 million across the world,” Reed Hastings, the chairman of the online streaming company, said recently. “It’s the most phenomenal example anywhere in the world of low Internet costs, expansion of 4G. We didn’t see that coming and we just got lucky on that one,” he said. Harley DavidsonHarley-Davidson sells 16 models in India ranging from Street 750 with starting price of Rs 525,000 to CVO LIMITED tagged at Rs 4.9 million. But now it is planning to reach out to the rising middle class. The Iconic US superbike maker is planning to enter into a 250-500cc range which is usually considered a choice of middle class in India. Harley Davidson is planning to give tough competition to Royal Enfield. It may even offer an upgrade option to thousands of Royal Enfield owners. It also plans to add lighter, smaller and more accessible products through 2022 in its electric motorcycles portfolio. It will kick-start with the launch of its first electric motorcycle, LiveWire in 2019. Harley-Davidson believes that consumer spending on discretionary and premium products is reaching critical mass in India and neighbouring countries. The company expects India’s 250-500cc motorcycle segment to grow at more than 25% annually through 2021, which presents a big potential growth opportunity. "If you look at the demographic in India, it is much younger than the US. We are seeing an emerging middle-class who are looking for lifestyle-oriented products. And our products are not only motorcycles, it's a complete range of lifestyle brand," Peter MacKenzie, MD, told ET in March.WalmartWith large parts of India's population coming online due to cheap smartphones and low data prices, the e-commerce market is expected to boom. Recently, when American multinational retail biggie Walmart bought a 77% stake in India's largest online retailer Flipkart, it bet on hordes of India's new middle class buying stuff online. What made Walmart bet so heavily on a company that is not even close to profitability and more importantly, why would it want to cough up $16 billion for a 77% stake? The answer lies in the future of e-commerce it sees in India. The rise in India's middle class and penetration of internet in the hinterland offer a vast e-commerce opportunity in near future. "We have been operating in India since 2009 and have been very impressed with the progress. One of the things we are most excited about is ecommerce in India, which we expect to grow four times that of average retail. Flipkart is already capturing a large portion of this growth and well positioned to lead the market in the future," CEO Doug McMillon said.AmazonIn June 2013, online retailer Amazon launched its first website (www.amazon.in) in India. In five years, it has managed to build a dominant position organically with a 30% e-commerce market share compared to Flipkart group (including Myntra & Jabong), that has a nearly 40% market share, according to a recent Citi report. Amazon India has ploughed in billions of dollars in its Indian business, expecting to lead in the market that is set to explode with growth of the middle class and internet. In May this year, just when Flipkart was being acquired by Walmart, Amazon India received a fresh infusion of Rs 2,600 crore from its parent company for its marketplace business, one of the largest by the Seattle firm in its India business. This brought Amazon’s total investment in Amazon Seller Services, its main marketplace business in India, to more than Rs 20,000 crore. According to a recent ET report, Amazon is teaming up with Goldman Sachs and homegrown private equity fund Samara Capital to form a consortium for the acquisition of Aditya Birla Group’s food and grocery supermarket chain at an enterprise valuation of Rs 4,500-5,000 crore. The reason behind Amazon;s aggressive investment in India is the bright future it sees in India's e-commerce market, a business fuelled by a rising middle class.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2MHGud3

India and China are in talks to update a 12-year-old defence agreement and establish a hotline between the two defence ministries as part of confidence building measures, a top PLA official said today.During Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi last week, the two sides had in-depth discussions on how to further implement the important consensus reached between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian said.Modi and Xi, during their first-ever informal summit in Wuhan in April, reached a consensus on managing various aspects of India-China relations including the two militaries, especially in the backdrop of the Doklam standoff.The hotline between the two militaries -- Indian Army and People's Liberation Army (PLA) -- was regarded as a major Confidence Building Measure as it would enable both the headquarters to intensify communication to avert tensions between border patrols and to avoid standoffs like Doklam.Tensions between India and China reached their peak during a 73-day standoff in Doklam near Bhutan over Beijing's construction of a road in the area. The standoff ended after both sides agreed to disengage.Wu said both the countries are also in consultations to work on a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the defence ministries."In 2006, India and China signed an MoU on defence exchanges and cooperation. The Indian side conveyed its willingness to sign a new version of the MoU. China holds a positive attitude towards it and the two sides are in communication with each other," Wu said.The 2006 MoU focussed on maintaining frequent exchanges between the leaders and high-level functionaries of the defence ministries, annual defence dialogue and holding joint military exchanges among others."If the dragon and elephant dance together, they will both gain and it will help Asia continue to be prosperous. If they compete and fight with each other, it will benefit neither but others," Wu said."We hope and willing to work together with India to actively implement the consensus reached by the two heads of the state to enhance communication and coordination, to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, to appropriately manage our differences and to facilitate our military relationship in a healthy steady manner," Wu said, adding that Wei had extended an official invitation to Sitharaman to visit China.Wei's talks with the Indian leaders focussed on "how to deepen security and military exchanges and cooperation and how to strengthen defence confidence building measures," Wu said, highlighting the salient aspects of Wei's visit to India."They specifically talked about setting up an exchange mechanism for visits between the two defence ministries, set up a direct confidential phone line between the two defence ministries, strengthening exchanges at all levels including defence authorities, theatre commands and different services."They also talked about setting up a hotline on border issues between adjacent military commands. They also talked about how to better play the role of defence and security consultations mechanism and the meeting mechanism between the working delegations of the defence ministries," Wu said replying to a question on how China views the outcome of Wei's visit to India.The discussions between the two sides include a direct phone line between the two defence ministries and regional military units, Wu said.On the delay over the establishments of a direct hotline between the two military headquarters, he said that the two sides are in talks about the specifics."In the next phase the two sides will keep contacting and coordinating with each other regarding the specifics," Wu said.So far both the militaries have not been able to operationalise efforts to establish a hotline facility between their military headquarters due to procedural issues, officials said.Stressing on the importance of good relations between the two countries, Wu said China and India are very important countries in Asia and have important responsibilities in maintaining regional peace and stability.

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

NEW DELHI: Why are global consumer goods companies such as IKEA headed to India? It's the country's burgeoning middle class that holds out the promise of rapidly growing consumption. The domestic consumption is set to treble to $4 trillion by 2025 as rising affluence levels drive changes in consumer behavior and spending patterns that have big implications for companies, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group released last year. About 40 per cent of the population would be living in urban areas by 2025, and city dwellers would account for over 60 per cent of consumption, it said. India's middle class is rising when it's shrinking in European and North-American countries. The report points out stagnation of the middle class in leading economies. This stagnation is either due to households falling below the middle-class threshold or others escaping and becoming rich. In the developed countries of North America and Europe, the middle class is large but stagnating in numbers. In fact, it is squeezed between the two ends, growing even slower than overall population growth.Here are some of the big global companies that India's growing middle-class has attracted:IKEAThe world’s largest furniture and home products company recently invested in India by opening its maiden store in Hyderabad. IKEA is clearly targeting top layers of India's middle class that is increasingly travelling to the west and has exposure to the western brands. The IKEA store is testimony to the fact that India's middle class is maturing with the emergence of a segment that is willing to spend money on international brands. IKEA plans to open dozens of more stores in India in the coming few years because it sees a large opportunity in India's rising middle class. NetflixThe American over-the-top media services provider Netflix launched its India operations in January 2016 and has been able to capture significant market share here, with a focus on the top 10-20 million internet consumers. According to Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos, India is the fastest investment it has ever made and the largest investment it has made to date in local original programming. With stupendous growth in internet users in the country, Netflix hopes to hit a jackpot in India. “The next 100 million is from India. We are at 120 million across the world,” Reed Hastings, the chairman of the online streaming company, said recently. “It’s the most phenomenal example anywhere in the world of low Internet costs, expansion of 4G. We didn’t see that coming and we just got lucky on that one,” he said. Harley DavidsonHarley-Davidson sells 16 models in India ranging from Street 750 with starting price of Rs 525,000 to CVO LIMITED tagged at Rs 4.9 million. But now it is planning to reach out to the rising middle class. The Iconic US superbike maker is planning to enter into a 250-500cc range which is usually considered a choice of middle class in India. Harley Davidson is planning to give tough competition to Royal Enfield. It may even offer an upgrade option to thousands of Royal Enfield owners. It also plans to add lighter, smaller and more accessible products through 2022 in its electric motorcycles portfolio. It will kick-start with the launch of its first electric motorcycle, LiveWire in 2019. Harley-Davidson believes that consumer spending on discretionary and premium products is reaching critical mass in India and neighbouring countries. The company expects India’s 250-500cc motorcycle segment to grow at more than 25% annually through 2021, which presents a big potential growth opportunity. "If you look at the demographic in India, it is much younger than the US. We are seeing an emerging middle-class who are looking for lifestyle-oriented products. And our products are not only motorcycles, it's a complete range of lifestyle brand," Peter MacKenzie, MD, told ET in March.WalmartWith large parts of India's population coming online due to cheap smartphones and low data prices, the e-commerce market is expected to boom. Recently, when American multinational retail biggie Walmart bought a 77% stake in India's largest online retailer Flipkart, it bet on hordes of India's new middle class buying stuff online. What made Walmart bet so heavily on a company that is not even close to profitability and more importantly, why would it want to cough up $16 billion for a 77% stake? The answer lies in the future of e-commerce it sees in India. The rise in India's middle class and penetration of internet in the hinterland offer a vast e-commerce opportunity in near future. "We have been operating in India since 2009 and have been very impressed with the progress. One of the things we are most excited about is ecommerce in India, which we expect to grow four times that of average retail. Flipkart is already capturing a large portion of this growth and well positioned to lead the market in the future," CEO Doug McMillon said.AmazonIn June 2013, online retailer Amazon launched its first website (www.amazon.in) in India. In five years, it has managed to build a dominant position organically with a 30% e-commerce market share compared to Flipkart group (including Myntra & Jabong), that has a nearly 40% market share, according to a recent Citi report. Amazon India has ploughed in billions of dollars in its Indian business, expecting to lead in the market that is set to explode with growth of the middle class and internet. In May this year, just when Flipkart was being acquired by Walmart, Amazon India received a fresh infusion of Rs 2,600 crore from its parent company for its marketplace business, one of the largest by the Seattle firm in its India business. This brought Amazon’s total investment in Amazon Seller Services, its main marketplace business in India, to more than Rs 20,000 crore. According to a recent ET report, Amazon is teaming up with Goldman Sachs and homegrown private equity fund Samara Capital to form a consortium for the acquisition of Aditya Birla Group’s food and grocery supermarket chain at an enterprise valuation of Rs 4,500-5,000 crore. The reason behind Amazon;s aggressive investment in India is the bright future it sees in India's e-commerce market, a business fuelled by a rising middle class.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2MHGud3

Spending on information security products and services by companies in the country is expected to touch USD 1.9 billion in 2019 as they focus on building detection and response capabilities, a report said today.It is on pace to reach USD 1.7 billion in 2018, an increase of 12.5 per cent over 2017, according to the latest forecast from Gartner."Continued focus on building detection and response capabilities are bolstering security spending in India," said Siddharth Deshpande, research director, Gartner.Highly publicised and high-impact security incidents like the recent cyber theft at Pune-based Cosmos Bank, reinforce the need for organisations to treat security and risk management as a top business priority.Existing global data privacy regulations like the general data protection regulation (GDPR), as well as upcoming national-level regulations like the country's proposed personal data protection bill, are also raising awareness of security and risk management issues.The five key enterprise security product segments that will bolster growth in 2019, according to Gartner, are integrated risk management software, data security, infrastructure protection, identity and access management and network security equipment.The report also said that organisations continue to feel the pressure to find the right people with the right skills to grow their security teams, particularly given the 24/7 nature of security operations functions.This ongoing skills shortage, in turn, is driving demand for security services, particularly security outsourcing, managed security services and security consulting, according to Gartner.It estimated that the security services market in the country will grow from USD 885 million in 2018 to USD 1 billion in 2019, an increase of 13 per cent year on year."CISOs are increasingly concerned about the quality of security services currently available, creating an opportunity for new security services providers that can offer higher quality services," said Deshpande.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2MYmbY3

The advisory asks people to watch out for unusual signs and symptoms in children including social withdrawal, low mood, sudden outbursts of anger and loss of interest in routine activities.

from https://ift.tt/2Ntl1Rc

Wipro, India’s third largest software services company, has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA) to drive blockchain technology adoption in the transportation Industry. The company that it intends to use this platform to help ideate platform-agnostic blockchain standards for the logistics and transportation industry. BiTA, founded in 2017 by experienced tech and transportation executives as a forum for development of blockchain standards and providing educational resources for transportation sector, has members such as FedEx, Uber Freight, Daimler, Bridgestone, Logiflex, Blockarray, Google, SAp, Salesforce among others. The group provides a platform to develop and embrace common frameworks and standards using which industry participants can build innovative blockchain applications. Wipro, which helps global organizations in their blockchain adoption journey through its comprehensive suite of offerings, will focus on driving the design and development of production-grade blockchain solutions for industry use cases, leveraging its strong portfolio of patents and IPs, pre-built frameworks, and other assets, said the company in a statement. “We look forward to working closely with Wipro’s blockchain experts to drive enterprise scale blockchain adoption for global transportation organizations, specifically around use cases such as supply chain traceability, trade finance, provenance, fraud detection and compliance management,” Craig Fuller, managing director, BiTA, was quoted in the Wipro statement. Srini Pallia, President, Consumer Business Unit, Wipro, said the company would “look forward to actively contributing to the standards for the use of blockchain in the transportation industry”. “We will collaborate with BiTA and our customers to take a business use-case approach and leverage blockchain to solve complex new-age logistics and transportation issues.”

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2PPAr3O

Do it for your skin and your health.

from CNET How To https://ift.tt/2N28PKl

The group provides a platform to develop and embrace common frameworks and standards using which industry participants can build innovative blockchain applications.

from https://ift.tt/2PPAr3O

Android mobile phones will take around 85 per cent share of the global market in 2018 as volumes are expected to grow at a five-year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 2.4 per cent, with shipments approaching 1.41 billion in 2022, an IDC report said on Thursday.Apple is expected to grow by 2.1 per cent in 2018 and iPhones would grow at a five-year CAGR of two per cent, thus, reaching volumes of 238.5 million by 2022, said the market research firm IDC.According to IDC's "Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker 2018", a more interesting trend happening with Android shipments is that the average selling prices (ASPs) are growing at a double-digit pace.The firm expects Android ASPs to grow 11.4 per cent in 2018 to $262, up from $235 in 2017. The upward trajectory would continue through the forecast, but at a more tempered low single-digit rate from 2019 and beyond."With two out of three new iPhones expected to be larger than six inches, Apple will not be left behind in the 2018 race for increased screen real estate," said Melissa Chau, Associate Research Director, IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers."You could say the term 'phablet' is becoming less relevant now that most smartphones will ship with larger screens, and when folding screens start coming into play in the medium term, this screen trend will evolve in new directions," Chau added.However, the global smartphone market is expected to decline again in 2018 and the market would experience low single-digit growth from 2019 through the end of 2022.IDC expects smartphone shipments to decline 0.7 per cent in 2018 to 1.455 billion units, down from 1.465 billion in 2017.The market, however, will return to positive growth in the second half of 2018 with volumes up 1.1 per cent compared to the second half of 2017, said the IDC.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2MD2wNH