[1/2] CEO of NBCUniversal Jeff Shell attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., July 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidNBCUniversal Chief Executive Jeff Shell is leaving after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, following a complaint that prompted an investigation, parent company Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) said on Sunday.
“I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret,” Shell said in a statement.
“I’m truly sorry I let my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues down.”
Shell, who had been with Comcast for about two decades, leaves immediately. He did not respond to a request for comment.
The former chairman of NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment took over as CEO in 2020, replacing Steve Burke. He oversaw the media company’s broad portfolio of businesses, including the Universal film studio and television business, the Peacock streaming service and Universal’s theme parks.
Comcast did not immediately name a successor.
At a time when rival studios were investing heavily in streaming in a race to add subscribers, Shell adopted a more conservative approach.
Peacock, conceived under his predecessor, would preserve the familiar television business model – which relies on advertising – instead of relying exclusively on subscription revenue. The subscription approach has been embraced by Netflix Inc. (NFLX.O), which long avoided commercials.
Peacock has made gains, though it is smaller than rival services. It surpassed 20 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2022, thanks to the FIFA World Cup and the addition of NBC shows. The division’s losses also deepened from a year earlier.
That is one challenge Shell’s successor will confront, along with the decline of the traditional television business.
Shell’s senior team will now report directly to Comcast President Mike Cavanagh, Comcast said in a company-wide email that was made available to Reuters.
CNBC’s Fast Money discussed the fundamental’s of Elon Musk’s three major businesses on Thursday evening, focusing on the large dip Tesla’s stock has taken since late March.
Panelist Dan Nathan, a principal at RiskReversal Advisors, tore into Musk’s recent moves regarding Twitter, particularly the large amount of debt he took on to buy the social media company, and predicted Tesla’s stock will continue to slide.
“I actually think it’s going probably break 100, which is where I was in January, and my price target is 69 to the downside. That might seem a little aggressive on 4/20 on a day that it was just Elon day here,” Nathan said. Tesla’s stock was at $207 a share at the end of March and at $165 a share by the close of the market Friday.
“But to me, I think there’s something else going on here with Tesla,” Nathan continued, offering a brutal indictment of Musk’s business:
We know that he had been selling Tesla shares all year last year to fund his purchase of Twitter. We know that SpaceX has been for sale. He’s been looking to raise capital that way. You know, if this stock were to continue to go lower, if they are pushing out a manned trip to the moon, and that’s what the whole idea of this rocket launch was today on Twitter, they just marked down from $44 billion to $20 billion, got $13 billion.
This is not a generally very liquid person. He used to be able to get whatever lines that he wanted to, but now he’s got all these banks on the hook for this debt that he can’t service based on Twitter’s businesses. So to me, he might be entering the endgame here a little bit for being the CEO of all of these companies and being that levered.
And now when you look at this stock right here, it’s broken. The fundamentals have shifted. Not a single analyst on the street downgraded the stock. Okay. There’s plenty of price target downgrades.
They will be downgrading the stock lower. I’m just telling you that people over the next 3 to 6 months or so and that’s when you have a situation where, you know, who knows if he’s going to be in control of this company in the not so distant future, because it doesn’t seem like the “Elon aura” is playing out right now, the three biggest companies.
“So even putting aside this sort of pivot, because they did sort of pivot yesterday when they were saying we examine pricing on a weekly basis, we’re going to keep cutting prices to keep the volume up. That’s growth at all costs. That’s sort of a growth mode company for a company that may not necessarily be in growth mode right now. But putting that aside, you think the stock goes to 69 because he is to extend it, that there’s a liquidity issue,” replied host Melissa Lee.
PM’s visit is expected to address important issues in each of the regions where he’ll inaugurate key developmental projects
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to embark on a two-day tour across the country, covering four different regions from April 24-25. The tour will begin in Delhi, followed by visits to Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, and the Union Territory in the West before concluding in Delhi.
On the morning of April 24, PM Modi will start his journey from Delhi and travel approximately 500 kilometers to Khajuraho. From there, he will proceed to Rewa to participate in the National Panchayati Raj Day program. Upon completion, he will return to Khajuraho, travelling a distance of 280 kilometers.
The next stop on his itinerary is Kochi, covering an aerial distance of about 1,700 kilometers, where he will participate in the Yuvam Conclave. The following morning, PM Modi will travel from Kochi to Thiruvananthapuram, covering a distance of approximately 190 kilometers. In Thiruvananthapuram, he will flag off the Vande Bharat Express and dedicate and lay the foundation stone for various projects.
The PM will then proceed to Silvassa via Surat, travelling a distance of about 1570 kilometers, where he will visit the NAMO medical college and dedicate and lay the foundation stone for various projects.
After Silvassa, he will head to Daman for the inauguration of Devka seafront, followed by a visit to Surat, covering about 110 kilometers. From Surat, he will return to Delhi, covering an additional 940 kilometers, concluding his two-day tour.
The company has sought 5000 acres of suitable land in Konkan and has shown interest in investing Rs 80,000 crore in the state.
Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel (AMNS), a joint venture between the world’s leading steel companies, ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel, has shown willingness to set up plant in Konkan. The company has sought 5000 acres of suitable land in Konkan and has shown interest in investing Rs 80,000 crore in the state, a statement from the state government has said.
A meeting between the top officials of the company and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis along with top bureaucrats from various departments of the state government took place at the Sahyadri state guest house on Friday. The meeting had followed the company having expressed interest in setting up a plant in the state, government officials said.
Land near sea port, space in BKC
The company had sought five thousand acres of land near sea port which would also have good rail and road connectivity. Also, the company had sought space at BKC for its corporate headquarters. During the discussions, Fadnavis said that principally about 1000 acres of land from the area bordering Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg district can be offered to the company. Hence it was decided to have a separate meeting to decide upon procedural aspects related to finalizing the location and land acquisition for the additional requirement of the land can be organized with the officials from maritime board and MIDC.
SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft exploded minutes after liftoff in an uncrewed test flight from South Texas on Thursday, cutting short a key step in Elon Musk’s development of a rocket vessel to eventually take humans to the moon and Mars.
SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft, atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, explodes after its launch from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
The flight test was the first for Starship mounted atop the company’s new Super Heavy rocket, and the first launch ever for that lower-stage booster, which SpaceX has touted as the most powerful launch vehicle on Earth.
Even though the two-stage rocket ship made it less than halfway to the edge of space, climbing to just under 25 miles (40 km), the flight achieved a primary objective of getting the new vehicle off the ground at liftoff despite some of its engines failing.
While SpaceX officials were heartened by the outcome, the mission fell short of reaching several objectives.
The plan was for Starship to soar into space at least 90 some miles (150 km) above Earth before it would re-enter the atmosphere and plunge into the Pacific near Hawaii.
But SpaceX said in a statement afterward that the spacecraft “experienced multiple engines out” during its ascent, then “lost altitude and began to tumble,” before the “flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and the ship.”
Musk, SpaceX’s founder, chief executive and chief engineer, had appeared eager to temper expectations in remarks made Sunday that downplayed the odds of a successful first flight. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told a conference in February that the “the real goal is to not blow up the launch pad.”
By that measure, the debut flight of Starship with its booster rocket represented a milestone in SpaceX’s ambition of sending astronauts back to the moon and ultimately to Mars, as a major partner in Artemis, NASA’s newly inaugurated human spaceflight program.
NASA chief Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on Twitter, saying, “every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward.”
LAUNCH, THEN FIERY ‘DISASSEMBLY’
The two-stage rocket ship, standing taller than the Statue of Liberty at 394 feet (120 meters), blasted off from the company’s Starbase spaceport on the southern tip of Texas along the Gulf Coast east of Brownsville. SpaceX hoped, at best, to pull off a 90-minute debut flight into space but just shy of Earth orbit.
A live SpaceX webcast showed the rocket ship rising from the launch tower into the morning sky as the Super Heavy’s Raptor engines roared to life in a ball of flame and billowing clouds of exhaust and water vapor.
But less than four minutes into the flight, the upper-stage Starship failed to separate as designed from the lower-stage Super Heavy, and the combined vehicle was seen tumbling end over end before blowing apart.
The pad and surrounding area were cordoned off well in advance of the test, SpaceX said. Any debris from the explosion should have landed over the water in areas placed off-limits by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The spacecraft reached a peak altitude of about 24 miles (39 km) before its fiery disintegration, SpaceX said. The company also noted that the rocket reached the critical launch point of maximum aerodynamic pressure before appearing to lose control.
SpaceX officials on the webcast hailed the liftoff as a welcome accomplishment.
A throng of SpaceX workers shown during the webcast watching a livestream together at the company’s headquarters near Los Angeles cheered wildly as the rocket cleared the launch tower – and again when it blew up.
‘LEARNED A LOT’
Musk, shown seated in the Starbase mission control room in Boca Chica, Texas, wearing a headset, said on Twitter afterwards that the next Starship test launch would be in a few months.
“Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch,” he tweeted. Musk, who purchased Twitter last year for $44 billion, is also CEO of electric carmaker Tesla Inc.
SpaceX principal integration engineer John Insprucker, one of the webcast commentators, said the experience would provide a wealth of data to inform further flight tests.
The road to Thursday’s accident has not been without previous tests and setbacks.
A stationary test firing of the Super Heavy while bolted to a platform managed to ignite just 31 Raptor engines in February, and an earlier static firing test in July 2022 ended with the vehicle’s engine section exploding.
Before that, SpaceX had test-launched prototypes of Starship’s top half in five short flights to an altitude of 6 miles (9.7 km), seeking to perfect its return landing capability. All but one crashed in flames.
The spectacular nature of Thursday’s loss of the first fully integrated Starship-and-booster vehicle during its introductory launch further highlighted challenges SpaceX faces moving beyond its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, the centerpiece of the company’s satellite launch business.
Image Credits: Jim Watson/AFP/ (collage by TechCrunch) / Getty Images
Microsoft is dropping Twitter from its advertising platform next week, nearly two months after Twitter announced that it will begin charging a minimum of $42,000 per month to users of its API, which include enterprises and research institutions.
Users began receiving emails about its new pricing details in early March, per a Wired report that observed at the time that the new pricing scheme “prices out nearly everyone.”
With its $2.15 trillion market cap and roughly $100 billion cash on hand at the end of last year, Microsoft obviously has the money to pay Twitter what it wants, so the move appears to be a bit of a statement, even as Microsoft is declining to elaborate further about its decision.
Specifically, what it told its customers today is that, “Starting on April 25, 2023, Smart Campaigns with Multi-platform will no longer support Twitter,” and that “Digital Marketing Center (DMC) will no longer support Twitter starting on April 25, 2023.”
The moves mean users will no longer be able to access their Twitter account, or create, schedule or otherwise manage tweets through Microsoft’s free social media management service.
As Mashable notes in a related report, companies that use Microsoft Advertising will still be able to manage and create content for Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn through the platform.
Unsurprisingly, Twitter owner Elon Musk finds the move galling, even threatening today on Twitter to take legal action.
Apparently referring to Microsoft’s licensing arrangement with the AI outfit OpenAI — which trained its powerful AI models on a “vast corpus of diverse text data from the internet,” per OpenAI’s own popular chatbot ChatGPT — Musk tweeted today of Microsoft’s decision, “They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.”
There is reason for some animus between Microsoft and Twitter. In addition to striking a licensing arrangement with OpenAI, Microsoft has invested many billions of dollars into OpenAI, which Musk co-founded in 2015 and left several years later. He has periodically bashed it since, including on Twitter. He also more recently announced he was planning a rival initiative.
A semiconductor plant comes out with a large semiconductor disc, which is then processed to make electronic chips.
Vedanta Ltd Chairman Anil Agarwal. |
Vedanta group is expecting to start building its Rs 1.5 lakh crore semiconductor plant in October-December this year and producing electronic chips by the first half of 2027, senior company officials said on Tuesday.
Vedanta Semiconductor and Display business, global managing director, Akarsh Hebbar and Vedanta-Foxconn Semiconductors Limited CEO David Reed in a joint interview with PTI said the group has submitted all the technology tie-ups to the government and banks are comfortable in funding the project cost in the ratio of 70 and 30 (from the company) after adjusting subsidy.
“We are planning by the fourth quarter of this year to have the first shovel ceremony. We are working on everything to have revenue by 2027. We would have this start with 5,000 wafers in the first part of 2027. And then, we will incrementally take that up to 40,000 wafers a month,” Reed said.
He noted that the company will also make 28 nm wafers simultaneously as it will need the same equipment that works for 40 nm.
A semiconductor plant comes out with a large semiconductor disc, which is then processed to make electronic chips.
Vedanta will also set up OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) plant that will process the semiconductor wafers for making them usable by automobile and electronics companies.
“We are bringing in tried and tested technology – 28 nm, 40 nm, which is the best for ICT devices, automobiles, smartphones, which are…decently priced. With semiconductors and displays, we will be making 60 per cent of every electronic device inside India. That is what will really make it self-sufficient…Atmanirbhar as our Prime Minister calls it,” Hebbar said.
The joint venture of Indian conglomerate Vedanta and electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn has finalised the Dholera Special Investment Region near Ahmedabad for setting up their semiconductor and display manufacturing facility.
US and China dominate the list of cities that are home to the world’s super rich, report says
New York is home to the world’s highest concentration of resident millionaires at 340,000, a report by Henley & Partners has found. AFP
New York City is home to the world’s highest concentration of resident millionaires at 340,000, a report has found.
Tokyo and San Francisco Bay Area are ranked second and third, with resident millionaire populations of 290,300 and 285,000, respectively, according to Henley & Partners, which tracks private wealth and investment migration trends worldwide, and global wealth intelligence provider New World Wealth.
London dropped to fourth place on this year’s list with 258,000 resident high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), followed by city-state Singapore with 240,100, Henley & Partners said in the report, which focuses on people with a net worth of $1 million or more.
Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Sydney round out the top 10 wealthiest cities globally, according to the report.
“Traditional wealth magnets such as Monaco and Dubai have also experienced especially strong millionaire growth over the past decade,” Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth, said.
“The average wealth of a person living in Monaco exceeds $10 million, making it the top-ranked city on a wealth per capita basis.
“Dubai is another established international wealth centre, with its low tax rates making it a magnet for migrating millionaires from all over the world. Approximately 3,500 HNWIs moved to the city in 2022 alone.”
The world’s ultra-wealthy shed a combined $10 trillion, or 10 per cent, from their net worth in 2022, driven by the triple “shock” of global economic uncertainty, the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, a March report by property consultancy Knight Frank said.
The super-rich in Europe were at the centre of the crisis, with ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) losing an average of 17 per cent from their fortunes, Knight Frank said in The Wealth Report 2023.
Knight Frank defines UHNWIs as people who possess a net worth of $30 million or more, including primary residences and second homes not held as investments.
New York is also home to the most centimillionaires — people with a net worth of $100 million or more in investable assets — in the world at 724, followed by the San Francisco Bay Area with 629 and Los Angeles at 480, the Henley & Partners research found.
However, San Francisco Bay Area is home to the most billionaires globally at 63, followed by New York City with 58 and Beijing at 43.
Dubai hosts 68,400 millionaires, 206 centimillionaires and 15 billionaires, according to the report. Abu Dhabi is home to 24,200 millionaires, 68 centimillionaires and four billionaires.
Meanwhile, the US and China dominate the list of fastest-growing cities when it comes to resident millionaires over the past decade, the report said.
China’s Hangzhou topped the list in this respect, with millionaire growth of 105 per cent between 2012 and 2022, the data showed.
Shenzhen and Guangzhou also enjoyed significant HNWI expansion over the past decade, at 98 per cent and 86 per cent, respectively.
Accounting giant Ernst & Young is cutting 3,000 jobs in the US, citing “overcapacity” in parts of the company.
The announcement comes days after the firm called off plans to break up its auditing and consulting divisions.
EY said the decision was unrelated to that review, but was “part of the ongoing management of the business”.
The cuts affect about 5% of its US workforce, London-based EY said, promising “comprehensive support” to those affected.
EY said it had made its cuts “after assessing the impact of current economic conditions, strong employee retention rates and overcapacity in parts of our firm”.
The move comes as corporate America is bracing for an economic downturn.
Rival KPMG has also reportedly announced job cuts in the US, while Accenture and McKinsey are among the big names to have announced redundancies in recent months.
Accenture is slashing 19,000 jobs or roughly 2.5% of staff globally, while McKinsey is reportedly cutting about 1,400 roles or 3% of its employees.
The Financial Times, which first reported the EY cuts, said they primarily affected the consulting side of the business.
Nancy Faeser, German Ministry of interior, attends the news conference following the refugee summit at the German ministry of interior in Berlin, Germany, February 16, 2023. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi
Germany’s Interior Ministry is examining all Chinese components that are already installed in the country’s 5G network, Minister Nancy Faeser was quoted as saying on Sunday, as Berlin re-evaluates its relationship with top trade partner China.
“We have to protect our communication networks,” Faeser told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, adding that the examination’s three priorities were identifying risks, averting dangers and avoiding dependencies.
“This is especially true for our critical infrastructure,” she said.
Germany has been considering banning certain components from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in its telecoms networks, a government source told Reuters last month, in a potentially significant move to address security concerns.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasised that crypto assets is an issue that requires immediate attention from the G20 and the response has to ensure that they do not lose any potential benefits while protecting economies from harm.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses during a seminar on ‘India’s Digital Public Infrastructure – Stacking Up the Benefits’, in Washington DC, USA, Friday, April 14, 2023. (PTI Photo)
Issues related to crypto assets require immediate attention and the response of the G20 has to ensure that they do not lose any potential benefits while protecting economies from harm, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.
Sitharaman was part of a brainstorming session on “Macrofinancial Implications of Crypto Assets” with G20 finance ministers and central bank governors at the IMF’s headquarters here on Friday. India currently holds the rotating annual presidency of G20 countries.
Issues related to crypto have emerged as a major point of discussion among G20 countries and there is unanimity among member nations about the urgency to regulate this sector. The brainstorming session was attended by global experts on this issue.
In her remarks, Sitharaman said the G20 acknowledges the work of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in bringing out key elements of policy and regulatory framework.
She also said a synthesis paper, which would integrate macroeconomic and regulatory perspectives of crypto assets, is required.
Income Tax Benefits For Salaried Employees Filing ITR: There are certain deductions that any salaried employee can avail of while filing their income tax returns. There are certain deductions like standard deduction which are provided to employees in both the old and new tax regimes. But some tax benefits will not be available to employees opting for the new tax regime. Before you finalise your tax regime, take a look at which one is more beneficial for you and then make a decision.
Here are some tax benefits that are available to salaried employees:
Deduction u/s 80C, 80CCC and 80CCD (1):
Employees can get a combined deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh under these sections for payments made against life insurance premium, provident fund, pension scheme of the central government, or annuity plan of LIC or any other insurer towards the pension scheme. This deduction is available only under the old tax regime.
Section 80CCD(2):
Both the old and new tax regime offer deduction towards contribution made by an employer to central government’s pension scheme. If the employer is a public sector unit, state government or other organisation, the deduction limit is 10 percent of the salary. If the employee works for the central government, the deduction limit is 14 percent of the salary.
Home Rent Allowance:
The old tax regime also allows salaried taxpayers to claim deduction under Section 10 (13A) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The HRA is calculated on the basis of salary, rent paid, city of residence and HRA paid by employer.
Deduction u/s Section 24(b):
Those opting for the old tax regime can avail deduction u/s 24(b) for interest paid on home loans for self-occupied property. Those choosing the new tax regime can avail deduction on interest on home loans on rented property.
Standard deduction:
A flat deduction of Rs 50,000 is available under both tax regimes. Employees can avail the benefit regardless of the number of jobs they have changed.
Accenture Jobs: Taking to Linkedin, the IT major has posted multiple job vacancies, including services marketing executive partner, media relations – capital markets, analyst relations writer specialist, and more
Accenture’s Big Decision Techies Shouldn’t Miss Photo : iStock
Accenture jobs latest news: After slashing 19,000 jobs, global IT services firm Accenture is reportedly hiring for multiple job roles in India. Taking to Linkedin, the IT major has posted multiple job vacancies, including services marketing executive partner, media relations – capital markets, analyst relations writer specialist, and more. Once you click on the link, it will redirect the candidate to Accenture’s job portal.
CONFUSION PERSISTS ON JOB CUTS IN ACCENTURE
Meanwhile, employees at the tech giant are still wondering if their jobs are safe or not. If reports are to be believed, the human resource team of Accenture still hasn’t revealed any details about the layoffs.
The company had earlier mentioned that it won’t immediately terminate employees and that the layoffs will continue over the next 18 months. “Over the next 18 months, these actions are expected to result in the departure of approximately 19,000 people (or 2.5 per cent of our current workforce), and we expect over half of these departures will consist of people in our non-billable corporate functions,” Accenture said in the regulatory filing.
The UK is set to be one of the worst performing major economies in the world this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It says the UK economy’s performance in 2023 will be the worst among the 20 biggest economies, known as the G20, which includes sanctions-hit Russia.
The IMF predicts the UK economy will shrink this year, although this is a small upgrade from its last forecast.
It also warned of a “rocky road” for the global financial system.
It follows the collapse of two US banks last month, closely followed by a rushed takeover of Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse by its rival UBS, which sparked fears of another financial crisis.
The IMF had already forecast that the UK would experience a downturn this year and be bottom of the pile of the G7 – a group of the world’s seven largest so-called “advanced” economies, which dominate global trade and the international financial system. The UK topped the group in 2022 during the pandemic rebound.
It now expects the UK economy to shrink by 0.3% in 2023 and then grow by 1% next year.
Although the UK is forecast to have the worst economic performance this year, the IMF’s latest prediction is slightly better than its previous expectation of a 0.6% contraction, made in January.
IMF researchers have previously pointed to Britain’s exposure to high gas prices, rising interest rates and a sluggish trade performance as reasons for its weak economic performance.
Forecasts are made to give a guide to what is most likely to happen in the future, but they are not always right. For example, previous IMF forecasts picked up fewer than 10% of recessions a year ahead of time, according to an analysis it conducted of recessions around the world between 1992 and 2014.
Responding to the latest IMF’s predictions, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “Our IMF growth forecasts have been upgraded by more than any other G7 country.
“The IMF now say we are on the right track for economic growth. By sticking to the plan we will more than halve inflation this year, easing the pressure on everyone.”
But Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow chancellor, said the estimates showed “just how far we continue to lag behind on the global stage”.
“This matters not just because 13 years of low growth under the Tories are weakening our economy, but because it’s why families are worse off, facing a Tory mortgage penalty and seeing living standards falling at their fastest rate since records began,” she added.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said the forecast was “another damning indictment of this Conservative government’s record on the economy”.
A number of forecasters think the chances of a recession in the UK this year are declining. An economy is usually said to be in recession if it shrinks for two consecutive three-month periods.
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility now expects the economy to contract by 0.2% this year but avoid a recession.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey also said recently that he was “much more hopeful” for the economy, and it was no longer heading into an immediate recession.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on Monday, issued an advisory to airlines reiterating the existing provisions in place to deal with unruly passengers.
The advisory came on the day when Air India deboarded an unruly male passenger who caused physical harm to two cabin crew members onboard a Delhi-London flight, which returned to the national capital shortly after departure.
The DGCA stressed that there are provisions under the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) for action to be taken by the airline to deal with unruly passengers. The advisory also highlighted the responsibilities of pilots, cabin crew members and the director of inflight services as mentioned in the CAR.
“Such incidents have potential of compromising the safety of aircraft operations,” the DGCA advisory said.
DGCA regulations provide for classifying unruly passenger behaviour into three levels and such people can face flying bans for varying periods. Unacceptable behaviour such as physical gestures, verbal harassment and unruly inebriation are classified as level 1 while physically abusive behaviour like pushing, kicking or sexual harassment will be classified as level 2. Life-threatening behaviour such as damage to aircraft operating systems, physical violence like choking and murderous assault will be considered level 3.
In Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad 10 grams of 22-carat gold is at Rs 55,390 and 24-carat gold at Rs 60,420.
Gold, silver in green; Check prices in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata | File Photo
Gold and silver prices on Tuesday traded in green on the Multi Commodity Exchange after witnessing a fall for the last two days.
The June Gold futures was up by Rs 198 at Rs 60,261 per 10 grams, whereas silver futures expiring in May were at Rs 74,696 per kilogram, up by Rs 373.
June Gold futures in the last week hit its all-time high of Rs 61,181 per 10 grams on Wednesday before settling at Rs 60,954. Silver futures on the other hand hit the highest level in 32 months at Rs 74,618 per kg with a dip of Rs 38.
Gold prices
In Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad 10 grams of 22-carat gold is at Rs 55,390 and 24-carat gold at Rs 60,420.
In Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai, 10 grams of 22-carat gold is at Rs 55,540, Rs 55,440, and Rs 55,990, respectively.
Elon Musk travels to Miami later this month in an effort to mollify advertisers as he grapples with the reality of a traditional, difficult, media business.
He will face a tough crowd at the conference of MMA Global, a key digital marketing trade association. Earlier this week, Semafor obtained emails among some of America’s top marketing executives who are concerned about Musk attitudes on, in particular, race.
In one email, McDonald’s chief marketing and customer experience officer Tariq Hassan described Musk’s acquisition as “a situation post-acquisition that objectively can only be characterized as ranging from chaos to moments of irresponsibility.” He also said that “for many communities, his willingness to leverage success and personal financial resources to further an agenda under the guise of freedom of speech is perpetuating racism resulting [in] direct threats to their communities and a potential for brand safety compromise we should all be concerned about.”
He wasn’t alone: Colgate-Palmolive’s vice president and general manager of consumer experience and growth said in an email to the group that she was “both excited for the success of the conference while also mindful of the harmful and often racist rhetoric of Elon Musk.”
A Twitter executive, Chris Riedy, was on the leaked thread, and earnestly thanked the CMOs for their brutal feedback.
Riedy, who Musk put in charge of Twitter’s advertising in November, appeared to be speaking for Twitter despite having been widely reported to have been laid off in a round of cuts in February.
In fact, a senior marketing executive familiar with the situation said, Riedy was quickly un-fired, but lost his role running the company’s sales organization. Its senior members now report directly to Musk. (Riedy didn’t respond to an inquiry.)
Since buying Twitter late last year, Musk has clearly been caught between a drive to turn Twitter into a good business, and an impulse to turn it into an ideologically-informed morality play.
To the degree he’s focused on the business, he’s run through the options many media operators consider: Advertising, tiered subscriptions, paid content, and other conventional options. In 2021, when Twitter was public, about 90% of its revenue came from advertising.
But Musk’s outspoken conservative political views and occasional direct attacks on his customers have deeply damaged that ad business. The new Twitter owner himself has acknowledged that many top advertisers have paused advertising since he took over, resulting in a steep decline in revenue.
He also appeared in recent days to be focused on building a subscription news business to rival Substack, although the newsletter company values itself at $585 million — about 3% of what Musk values Twitter at — and reported revenue of $12 million in 2021, the last year for which numbers were public. Musk may be trying to compete with Substack, or to force the newsletter company to sell to him, but even at its best it would represent a rounding error in the $5 billion in ad revenue Twitter reported in 2021.
Twitter’s decision on Friday to partially limit engagement on posts with Substack links immediately angered some of the newsletter company’s writers, who also happen to be some of Twitter’s more prolific posters. Prominent Substacker and Twitter poster Josh Barro said he wouldn’t be using Twitter until the platform reversed its Substack policy. Journalist Matt Taibbi, who was granted access by Musk to Twitter documents for his Twitter Files reporting series, also said that he planned to leave the platform due to Twitter’s new rules.
“In recent months, Musk has leaned heavily on certain prominent Substack writers (including Taibbi, Bari Weiss, and Michael Shellenberger) to share his narrative about the past and present management of Twitter,” Barro wrote on Saturday. “He has recognized some writers on this platform as important counterweights to traditional media outlets, and now he’s telling them to fuck off. This move is not aligned with any version of what you might take to be his goals about speech on the internet.”
Tesla Inc is opening a factory in Shanghai, capable of producing ten thousand Megapack energy product per year, to supplement output of Megapack factory in California, the company said in a tweet on Sunday.
The news was first reported by Chinese state media outlet Xinhua.
Elon Musk’s automaker will break ground on the plant in the third quarter and start production in the second quarter of 2024, Xinhua reported from a signing ceremony in Shanghai.
Complementing a huge existing Shanghai plant making electric vehicles, the new factory will initially produce 10,000 Megapack units a year, equal to around 40 gigawatt hours of energy storage, to be sold globally, Xinhua said.
With the new Shanghai plant, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will take advantage of China’s world leading battery supply chain to ramp up output and lower costs of its Megapack lithium-ion battery units to meet rising demand of energy storage globally as the world shifts to use more renewable energy.
Tesla generates most of its money from its electric car business, but Musk has committed to grow its solar energy and battery business to roughly the same size.
Chinese battery giant CATL has also been deepening its collaborations with clients including Tesla in energy storage battery supplies, which its Chairman Robin Zeng expected to have a larger market than batteries powering electric vehicles (EV).
Tesla currently has a Megafactory in Lathrop, California, capable of manufacturing 10,000 Megapacks per year.
The company began producing Model 3 cars in Shanghai in 2019 and now is capable of producing 22,000 units of cars per week.
Tesla planned to expand the Gigafactory Shanghai, its most productive automaking plant, to add an annual capacity of 450,000 units, Reuters reported last May.
The U.S. company, however, had grappled with rising inventory in Shanghai as demand started weakening in the third quarter, leading to aggressive price cuts in its major markets globally in January.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon issued a series of stark criticisms of Elon Musk, highlighting his financial ties to China.
Musk, the CEO of electric car giant Tesla and the latest owner of Twitter, visited Shanghai, China, on Saturday, reportedly to pay a visit to the city’s Tesla Gigafactory plant. Bloomberg also noted in its report on the visit that Musk may be meeting with other local Chinese authorities during the visit as well.
In light of the news, Bannon, who served as chief strategist for Donald Trump during the first seven months of his presidency, took to the conservative social media platform Gettr with multiple posts about Musk’s links to China, going so far as to call the company his “Paymasters.”
“Musk Heads to Home Office to Kowtow to His Paymasters The CCP,” Bannon wrote in one post, linking to the Bloomberg report about Musk’s China visit.
Later, Bannon shared another post linking Musk’s tumultuous leadership at Twitter to the situation: “Musk Lies Almost as Frequently as He Breathes….He Overpaid by 2x for The Crime Scene Known as Twitter …Now His Paymasters in Beijing Demand He Screws Everyone to Get Their Money Back.”
The latter post included a link to a Mediaite story covering the recent feud between Musk and journalist Matt Taibbi. Once a contributor for Rolling Stone, late last year Taibbi collaborated with Musk on the “Twitter Files,” a reporting series alleging that past Twitter leadership engaged in widespread censorship, often of conservative accounts, at the behest of government entities. Subsequent investigations of the claims have found that they misrepresented numerous aspects of Taibbi’s central premise, including the number of tweets that were flagged as problematic and the fact that most of the entities flagging them to Twitter were non-government.
Taibbi recently announced that he would be backing away from Twitter, amid indications that it was taking steps to block links to Substack, a newsletter platform favored by reporters like himself. The changes came as Substack introduced Notes, a new service compared to the functionality of Twitter and hailed by some as an alternative to the Musk-owned.
Tesla vehicles are shown at a sales and service center in Vista, California, U.S., June 3, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Blake
A California Tesla owner on Friday sued the electric carmaker in a prospective class action lawsuit accusing it of violating the privacy of customers.
The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California came after Reuters reported on Thursday that groups of Tesla employees privately shared via an internal messaging system sometimes highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras between 2019 and 2022.
The lawsuit, filed by Henry Yeh, a San Francisco resident who owns Tesla’s Model Y, alleges that Tesla employees were able to access the images and videos for their “tasteless and tortious entertainment” and “the humiliation of those surreptitiously recorded.”
“Like anyone would be, Mr Yeh was outraged at the idea that Tesla’s cameras can be used to violate his family’s privacy, which the California Constitution scrupulously protects,” Jack Fitzgerald, an attorney representing Yeh, said in a statement to Reuters.
“Tesla needs to be held accountable for these invasions and for misrepresenting its lax privacy practices to him and other Tesla owners,” Fitzgerald said.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
The lawsuit said Tesla’s conduct is “particularly egregious” and “highly offensive.”
It said Yeh was filing the complaint “against Tesla on behalf of himself, similarly-situated class members, and the general public.” The complaint said the prospective class would include individuals who owned or leased a Tesla within the past four years.
The IMF chief on Thursday said that the world economy is expected to grow at less than 3 per cent this year, with India and China expected to account for half of global growth in 2023.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva warned that a sharp slowdown in the world economy last year following the raging pandemic and Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine would continue this year.
The period of slower economic activity will be prolonged, with the next five years witnessing less than 3 per cent growth, “our lowest medium-term growth forecast since 1990, and well below the average of 3.8 per cent from the past two decades,” she said.
“Some momentum comes from emerging economies — Asia especially is a bright spot. India and China are expected to account for half of global growth in 2023. But others face a steeper climb,” she explained.
“After a strong recovery in 2021 came the severe shock of Russia’s war in Ukraine and its wide-ranging consequences — global growth in 2022 dropped by almost half, from 6.1 to 3.4 per cent,” Georgieva said.
Georgieva said slower growth would be a “severe blow,” making it even harder for low-income nations to catch up.
“Poverty and hunger could further increase, a dangerous trend that was started by the Covid crisis,” she explained.
Her comments come ahead of next week’s spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, where policy-makers will convene to discuss the global economy’s most pressing issues.
Going by sources, Blockchain and crypto are complementary
From storing data in a digital decentralised ledger to simplifying documentation, Blockchain has come a long way. According to the Business Research Company, the global blockchain services market is projected to grow from $4.7 billion in 2023 to $19.76 billion by 2027. “ Blockchain mostly remains a solution in need of a problem. There are inherent challenges for large-scale decentralization, particularly around cost and time, which prevent its adoption,” Utkarsh Sinha, managing director, Bexley, a boutique investment bank firm, told FE Blockchain.
One of the biggest advantages of Blockchain is that it facilitates traceability across the entire supply chain. Typically Blockchains store data in a digital decentralised ledger. As a result, it provides instant access to the status or authenticity of a product. Furthermore, smart contracts are yet another essential element of the Blockchain ecosystem. It is believed to simplify documentation such as licenses and certificates, among others. This reduces overall costs while eliminating reliability on third parties.“The Blockchain market is experiencing unprecedented growth and Web3 will help blockchain innovations to grow to $164 billion by 2029-30,” Pratik Gauri, co-founder, CEO, 5ire.
By Steve Stecklow, Waylon Cunningham and Hyunjoo Jin
LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Tesla Inc assures its millions of electric car owners that their privacy “is and will always be enormously important to us.” The cameras it builds into vehicles to assist driving, it notes on its website, are “designed from the ground up to protect your privacy.”
But between 2019 and 2022, groups of Tesla employees privately shared via an internal messaging system sometimes highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras, according to interviews by Reuters with nine former employees.
Some of the recordings caught Tesla customers in embarrassing situations. One ex-employee described a video of a man approaching a vehicle completely naked.
Also shared: crashes and road-rage incidents. One crash video in 2021 showed a Tesla driving at high speed in a residential area hitting a child riding a bike, according to another ex-employee. The child flew in one direction, the bike in another. The video spread around a Tesla office in San Mateo, California, via private one-on-one chats, “like wildfire,” the ex-employee said.
Other images were more mundane, such as pictures of dogs and funny road signs that employees made into memes by embellishing them with amusing captions or commentary, before posting them in private group chats. While some postings were only shared between two employees, others could be seen by scores of them, according to several ex-employees.
Tesla states in its online “Customer Privacy Notice” that its “camera recordings remain anonymous and are not linked to you or your vehicle.” But seven former employees told Reuters the computer program they used at work could show the location of recordings – which potentially could reveal where a Tesla owner lived.
One ex-employee also said that some recordings appeared to have been made when cars were parked and turned off. Several years ago, Tesla would receive video recordings from its vehicles even when they were off, if owners gave consent. It has since stopped doing so.
“We could see inside people’s garages and their private properties,” said another former employee. “Let’s say that a Tesla customer had something in their garage that was distinctive, you know, people would post those kinds of things.”
Tesla didn’t respond to detailed questions sent to the company for this report.
About three years ago, some employees stumbled upon and shared a video of a unique submersible vehicle parked inside a garage, according to two people who viewed it. Nicknamed “Wet Nellie,” the white Lotus Esprit sub had been featured in the 1977 James Bond film, “The Spy Who Loved Me.”
The vehicle’s owner: Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, who had bought it for about $968,000 at an auction in 2013. It is not clear whether Musk was aware of the video or that it had been shared.
Musk didn’t respond to a request for comment.
FILE – Elon Musk departs the Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Court House in San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2023. A federal appeals court ruled Friday, March 31, 2023, that a 2018 Twitter post by Musk, CEO of Tesla, unlawfully threatened Tesla employees with the loss of stock options if they decided to be represented by a union. (AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy, File)
To report this story, Reuters contacted more than 300 former Tesla employees who had worked at the company over the past nine years and were involved in developing its self-driving system. More than a dozen agreed to answer questions, all speaking on condition of anonymity.
Reuters wasn’t able to obtain any of the shared videos or images, which ex-employees said they hadn’t kept. The news agency also wasn’t able to determine if the practice of sharing recordings, which occurred within some parts of Tesla as recently as last year, continues today or how widespread it was. Some former employees contacted said the only sharing they observed was for legitimate work purposes, such as seeking assistance from colleagues or supervisors.
LABELING PEDESTRIANS AND STREET SIGNS
The sharing of sensitive videos illustrates one of the less-noted features of artificial intelligence systems: They often require armies of human beings to help train machines to learn automated tasks such as driving.
Since about 2016, Tesla has employed hundreds of people in Africa and later the United States to label images to help its cars learn how to recognize pedestrians, street signs, construction vehicles, garage doors and other objects encountered on the road or at customers’ houses. To accomplish that, data labelers were given access to thousands of videos or images recorded by car cameras that they would view and identify objects.
Tesla increasingly has been automating the process, and shut down a data-labeling hub last year in San Mateo, California. But it continues to employ hundreds of data labelers in Buffalo, New York. In February, Tesla said the staff there had grown 54% over the previous six months to 675.
Two ex-employees said they weren’t bothered by the sharing of images, saying that customers had given their consent or that people long ago had given up any reasonable expectation of keeping personal data private. Three others, however, said they were troubled by it.
“It was a breach of privacy, to be honest. And I always joked that I would never buy a Tesla after seeing how they treated some of these people,” said one former employee.
Another said: “I’m bothered by it because the people who buy the car, I don’t think they know that their privacy is, like, not respected … We could see them doing laundry and really intimate things. We could see their kids.”
One former employee saw nothing wrong with sharing images, but described a function that allowed data labelers to view the location of recordings on Google Maps as a “massive invasion of privacy.”
David Choffnes, executive director of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern University in Boston, called sharing of sensitive videos and images by Tesla employees “morally reprehensible.”
“Any normal human being would be appalled by this,” he said. He noted that circulating sensitive and personal content could be construed as a violation of Tesla’s own privacy policy — potentially resulting in intervention by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which enforces federal laws relating to consumers’ privacy.
A spokesperson for the FTC said it doesn’t comment on individual companies or their conduct.
To develop self-driving car technology, Tesla collects a vast trove of data from its global fleet of several million vehicles. The company requires car owners to grant permission on the cars’ touchscreens before Tesla collects their vehicles’ data. “Your Data Belongs to You,” states Tesla’s website.
In its Customer Privacy Notice, Tesla explains that if a customer agrees to share data, “your vehicle may collect the data and make it available to Tesla for analysis. This analysis helps Tesla improve its products, features, and diagnose problems quicker.” It also states that the data may include “short video clips or images,” but isn’t linked to a customer’s account or vehicle identification number, “and does not identify you personally.”
Carlo Piltz, a data privacy lawyer in Germany, told Reuters it would be difficult to find a legal justification under Europe’s data protection and privacy law for vehicle recordings to be circulated internally when it has “nothing to do with the provision of a safe or secure car or the functionality” of Tesla’s self-driving system.
In recent years, Tesla’s car-camera system has drawn controversy. In China, some government compounds and residential neighborhoods have banned Teslas because of concerns about its cameras. In response, Musk said in a virtual talk at a Chinese forum in 2021: “If Tesla used cars to spy in China or anywhere, we will get shut down.”
Elsewhere, regulators have scrutinized the Tesla system over potential privacy violations. But the privacy cases have tended to focus not on the rights of Tesla owners but of passers-by unaware that they might be being recorded by parked Tesla vehicles.
In February, the Dutch Data Protection Authority, or DPA, said it had concluded an investigation of Tesla over possible privacy violations regarding “Sentry Mode,” a feature designed to record any suspicious activity when a car is parked and alert the owner.
“People who walked by these vehicles were filmed without knowing it. And the owners of the Teslas could go back and look at these images,” said DPA board member Katja Mur in a statement. “If a person parked one of these vehicles in front of someone’s window, they could spy inside and see everything the other person was doing. That is a serious violation of privacy.”
The watchdog determined it wasn’t Tesla, but the vehicles’ owners, who were legally responsible for their cars’ recordings. It said it decided not to fine the company after Tesla said it had made several changes to Sentry Mode, including having a vehicle’s headlights pulse to inform passers-by that they may be being recorded.
A DPA spokesperson declined to comment on Reuters findings, but said in an email: “Personal data must be used for a specific purpose, and sensitive personal data must be protected.”
REPLACING HUMAN DRIVERS
Tesla calls its automated driving system Autopilot. Introduced in 2015, the system included such advanced features as allowing drivers to change lanes by tapping a turn signal and parallel parking on command. To make the system work, Tesla initially installed sonar sensors, radar and a single front-facing camera at the top of the windshield. A subsequent version, introduced in 2016, included eight cameras all around the car to collect more data and offer more capabilities.
Musk’s future vision is eventually to offer a “Full Self-Driving” mode that would replace a human driver. Tesla began rolling out an experimental version of that mode in October 2020. Although it requires drivers to keep their hands on the wheel, it currently offers such features as the ability to slow a car down automatically when it approaches stop signs or traffic lights.
In February, Tesla recalled more than 362,000 U.S. vehicles to update their Full Self-Driving software after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it could allow vehicles to exceed speed limits and potentially cause crashes at intersections.
As with many artificial-intelligence projects, to develop Autopilot, Tesla hired data labelers to identify objects in images and videos to teach the system how to respond when the vehicle was on the road or parked.
Tesla initially outsourced data labeling to a San Francisco-based non-profit then known as Samasource, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The organization had an office in Nairobi, Kenya, and specialized in offering training and employment opportunities to disadvantaged women and youth.
In 2016, Samasource was providing about 400 workers there for Tesla, up from about an initial 20, according to a person familiar with the matter.
By 2019, however, Tesla was no longer satisfied with the work of Samasource’s data labelers. At an event called Tesla AI Day in 2021, Andrej Karpathy, then senior director of AI at Tesla, said: “Unfortunately, we found very quickly that working with a third party to get data sets for something this critical was just not going to cut it … Honestly the quality was not amazing.”
A former Tesla employee said of the Samasource labelers: “They would highlight fire hydrants as pedestrians … They would miss objects all the time. Their skill level to draw boxes was very low.”
Samasource, now called Sama, declined to comment on its work for Tesla.
Tesla decided to bring data labeling in-house. “Over time, we’ve grown to more than a 1,000-person data labeling (organization) that is full of professional labelers who are working very closely with the engineers,” Karpathy said in his August 2021 presentation.
Karpathy didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Tesla’s own data labelers initially worked in the San Francisco Bay area, including the office in San Mateo. Groups of data labelers were assigned a variety of different tasks, including labeling street lane lines or emergency vehicles, ex-employees said.
At one point, Teslas on Autopilot were having difficulty backing out of garages and would get confused when encountering shadows or objects such as garden hoses. So some data labelers were asked to identify objects in videos recorded inside garages. The problem eventually was solved.
In interviews, two former employees said in their normal work duties they were sometimes asked to view images of customers in and around their homes, including inside garages.
“I sometimes wondered if these people know that we’re seeing that,” said one.
“I saw some scandalous stuff sometimes, you know, like I did see scenes of intimacy but not nudity,” said another. “And there was just definitely a lot of stuff that like, I wouldn’t want anybody to see about my life.”
As an example, this person recalled seeing “embarrassing objects,” such as “certain pieces of laundry, certain sexual wellness items … and just private scenes of life that we really were privy to because the car was charging.”
Aided by a weakening greenback and plunging treasury yields, gold prices zoomed on Wednesday. In the domestic markets, as measured by spot prices in the national capital, gold price rallied ₹1,025 to touch a life-time high of ₹61,080 per 10 grams, as per HDFC Securities. In the previous trade, the precious metal had settled at ₹60,055 per 10 grams. “Spot gold prices in the Delhi markets traded at ₹61,080 per 10 grams, up ₹1,025 per 10 grams. In the domestic market gold prices crossed the ₹61,000 level per 10 grams to a fresh life-time high,” Saumil Gandhi, senior analyst-commodities at HDFC Securities, said.
Silver also zoomed ₹1,810 to ₹73,950 per kilogram. The dollar eased after weak US economic data fanned expectations that the Federal Reserve might loosen its monetary policy trajectory.
Bullish sentiment in bullion In the overseas market, both gold and silver were quoting higher at $2,027 per ounce and $24.04 per ounce, respectively. Comex gold prices rose to a fresh 13-month high on Tuesday, up by 1.9% and closed at $2,038.2 per troy ounce.
“Recent sets of economic data from the US have pointed to a slowing economy and improved the conviction that the Fed may not need to raise rates much further and could even pause the tightening cycle in May,” said Ravindra V Rao, VP-head commodity research, Kotak Securities.Investors now see a 59.2% probability the Fed will leave the fed funds rate steady during the May FOMC meeting. A note by Chirag Mehta, CIO & Ghazal Jain, fund manager at Quantum AMC on April gold price outlook said that markets are now pricing in a less hawkish Fed and only one more rate hike this year. A pause in the Fed’s hiking cycle will be supportive of gold prices, they added.
Comex gold prices rallied in Asian trading hours on Wednesday and have surged more than 1.8% since March 2022 amid data showing lower than estimated US jobs openings. Additionally, US dollar index and bond yields declined post US macro data which boosted bullish sentiment in bullion, Gandhi said.
Banking system liquidity has improved in recent days after having been in deficit towards the end of March. Credit: Reuters Photo
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is widely expected to raise its benchmark rate on Thursday for the seventh consecutive meeting and leave the door open for more increases to bring inflation back within its target range, economists said.
A large majority of economists, 49 of 62, said the RBI would lift its repo rate by 25 basis points to a seven-year high of 6.75 per cent at the conclusion of its three-day meeting on April 6. The central bank has already raised rates by 250 basis points since May last year.
“The need for another rate hike is driven by elevated level of core inflation which has remained near or above 6 per cent since middle of 2021,” said Gaura Sen Gupta, an economist with IDFC FIRST Bank.
Retail inflation rose 6.44 per cent year-on-year in February, easing from 6.52 per cent in January but has remained above the central bank’s mandated target range of 2 per cent-6 per cent for 10 out of the last 12 readings.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy components, was also expected to have stayed high between 6.05 per cent-6.12 per cent in February, according to estimates from three economists.
Unseasonal rains could keep food prices high and a surprise decision by OPEC and its allies to cut output recently has also pushed up oil prices which could add to imported inflation.
“The policy space to focus on inflation is lent by domestic growth conditions holding-up, supported by urban consumption and services sector recovery,” Sen Gupta said.
India’s manufacturing sector expanded at its fastest pace in three months in March while services industry growth eased slightly from February’s 12-year high, private business surveys conducted by S&P Global showed.
A few economists, however, said that signs of turmoil in the US and European banking sector could lead to tighter financial conditions and a steeper global slowdown. Early signs of a slowdown in India are also visible in easing imports and plateuing bank credit demand.
“Risk management considerations mean that MPC will opt for a pause in April,” said A Prasanna, head of research at ICICI Securities Primary Dealership. The committee will retain its option to hike later by maintaining its phrase ‘withdrawal of accommodation’, he said, essentially holding on to its tightening bias.
The Reuters Poll showed that a majority of respondents, 20 of 36, expect the central bank would maintain its ‘withdrawal of accommodation’ stance while the remaining 16 said it would shift to neutral.
LVMH chair becomes only third person – after Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos – to ever amass such wealth
Bernard Arnault’s fortune increased by $2.4bn on Tuesday to hit $201bn, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images
The fortune of Bernard Arnault, the world’s richest person, has topped $200bn for the first time as shares in his French LVMH luxury goods empire hit a record high.
The 74-year-old has become only the third person in history to amass an estimated fortune above the $200bn (£160bn) threshold. Tesla’s Elon Musk and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have previously hit the milestone before their fortunes dropped back as technology companies’ share prices fell.
Arnault’s fortune increased by $2.4bn on Tuesday to $201bn, according to the daily-updated Bloomberg billionaires index. His wealth has increased by $39bn so far this year as shares in LVMH have risen 30%, thanks to soaring demand for luxury goods among the world’s wealthy.
The French billionaire is $25bn richer than Musk, whose fortune has been knocked by his $44bn purchase of Twitter and a 50% fall in the value of the electric car company Tesla over the past year. Musk is Tesla’s co-founder, chief executive and 13% shareholder.
Bezos, who was the first person to hit the $200bn milestone in August 2020, is the world’s third-richest person, with a $128bn fortune.
Arnault is the chairman and chief executive of LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moët & Chandon champagne. Its shares have shot up by more than 150% in the past three years, hitting a new high of €853 on Wednesday morning.
LVMH last year achieved record sales of €79.2bn and has begun a €1.5bn share buyback programme, which has helped further lift the share price.
Arnault, who co-founded the luxury goods group 35 years ago and is its majority shareholder, recently appointed his children to key roles within the business. In January, his eldest child, Delphine, was named the head of Christian Dior, the second-biggest brand in the empire. Her brother Antoine was promoted to run the holding company that controls LVMH and the Arnault family fortune.
Mukesh Ambani has regained his spot as Asia’s richest person after rival Gautam Adani tumbled to No. 24, Forbes said in its Billionaire 2023 list released on Tuesday.
“Adani was the world’s third-richest person on January 24, when he was worth nearly $126 billion. A report issued by US short-seller Hindenburg Research later that day, however, sent his companies’ shares plummeting,” Forbes said.
His net worth is now $47.2 billion and is the second richest Indian behind Ambani.
With a net worth of $83.4 billion, Ambani, 65, was ranked at No. 9 on the world billionaire list.
“Last year, Ambani’s oil-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries became the first Indian company to surpass $100 billion in revenue,” Forbes said.
Ambani, it said, sidestepped speculation about succession by giving his children key roles last year: Older son Akash is the chairman of telecom arm Jio Infocomm; daughter Isha is the head of the retail business; and younger son Anant works in Reliance’s new energy ventures.
The 25 richest people in the world are worth a collective $2.1 trillion, according to Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list, down a combined $200 billion from $2.3 trillion in 2022.
“Two-thirds of the top 25 are poorer than they were last year, compared to around half of the list overall,” it said.
No one lost more than Jeff Bezos as Amazon shares crashed by 38 per cent. The drop lopped $57 billion from Bezos’ fortune and knocked him from No. 2 in the world in 2022 to No. 3 this year.
This year’s second-biggest loser, Elon Musk, had it worse. He lost his title of the world’s richest person after his pricey purchase of Twitter, which he funded in part by the sale of Tesla shares, helping to spook investors.
Musk, who is worth $39 billion less than a year ago, is now No. 2.
With $211 billion net worth, Bernard Arnault, the French luxury goods tycoon, tops the list for the first time on the back of a banner year at LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany & Co., among others.
Musk, 51, with $180 billion net worth, is ranked No. 2, followed by Jeff Bezos with $114 billion net worth.
“There are a record number of Indians on Forbes’ 2023 list of the World’s Billionaires – 169 in all, up from 166 last year. But their combined wealth faced a reality check, dropping 10 per cent to $675 billion, from $750 billion on the 2022 list,” Forbes said.
The majority of that decline came from one high-profile saga: the stock rout of companies in the Adani Group, following a January report of fraud allegations by short-seller Hindenburg Research (allegations the Adani Group has denied).
“The infrastructure and commodities tycoon, who briefly became the world’s second richest person last September and was the world’s third richest person for most of January, slipped to No. 24 globally. He is now India’s second wealthiest citizen,” it said.
Adani’s elder brother Vinod was estimated to be worth nearly $10 billion “but not counted as an Indian billionaire due to his Cyprus passport,” it said.
With the sheen off the tech sector, software magnate Shiv Nadar’s fortune tumbled 11 per cent from a year ago to $25.6 billion, but he retained his position as the country’s third-richest person.
Despite declining demand for Covid-19 vaccines, India’s vaccine king Cyrus Poonawalla — whose portfolio includes listed financial services firm Poonawalla Fincorp as well as privately held vaccine giant Serum Institute of India — held onto his spot as the country’s fourth richest person, though his net worth fell 7 per cent from a year ago to $22.6 billion.
Gautam Adani, founder and chairman, Adani EnterprisesBCCL
After rising for two sessions, the sell-off in Adani group stocks resumed on Monday amid reports of a probe by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) into the group’s offshore dealings.
As a result, the Adani group’s combined market capitalisation fell by ₹21,987 crore on Monday, kicking off the FY23 on a negative note.
According to a Reuters report, SEBI is investigating a potential breach of rules regarding related party transactions in deals involving at least three offshore entities with links to Gautam Adani’s brother, Vinod Adani.
Reacting to the news, eight out of the ten Adani group stocks closed in the red on Monday, with Adani Green falling the most and accounting for a third of the total decline in the group’s market capitalisation.
In January, the Hindenburg report which kickstarted a massive fall in Adani group stock prices – alleged that it identified 38 shell entities in Mauritius, either controlled by Vinod Adani or his close associates.
“Many of the Vinod Adani-associated entities have no obvious signs of operations, including no reported employees, no independent addresses or phone numbers and no meaningful online presence,” the report had said.
Since the report was published, the combined market capitalisation of the Adani group has declined by ₹11.81 lakh crore – from ₹21.96 lakh crore on January 24 to ₹10.15 lakh crore today.
Four Adani group stocks still down at least 50%
Four Adani group stocks are still down at least 50% of their value since January 24. Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission have declined the most, while Ambuja Cements and Adani Ports & SEZ have been the most resilient.
Gross goods and services tax (GST) collections, including the proceeds of the compensation cess, came in at Rs 1.61 trillion in March (February transactions), the second-highest monthly mop-up ever, taking the government’s total receipts from the indirect tax to Rs 18.1 trillion for the fiscal year 2022-23.
A recovery in economic activities, high inflation and rush among businesses to clear dues before the close of the financial year have helped boost the collections. (IE)
Gross goods and services tax (GST) collections, including the proceeds of the compensation cess, came in at Rs 1.61 trillion in March (February transactions), the second-highest monthly mop-up ever, taking the government’s total receipts from the indirect tax to Rs 18.1 trillion for the fiscal year 2022-23. The Centre is learnt to have garnered GST revenue, including cess of Rs 8.42 trillion, in the fiscal year, as against the revised estimate of Rs 8.54 trillion (Central GST of Rs 7.24 trillion and cess of Rs 1.3 trillion).
A recovery in economic activities, high inflation and rush among businesses to clear dues before the close of the financial year have helped boost the collections. The gross revenue in 2022-23 was 22% higher than that last year, the finance ministry said on Friday, adding that the average gross monthly collection for the full year was Rs 1.51 trillion as against Rs 1.23 trillion in FY22.
GST collection in March 2023 was 13% higher than Rs 1.42 trillion in March 2022. On a sequential basis, the mop-up was a little over 7% higher than Rs 1.5 trillion collected in February 2023.
“It is for the fourth time in the current financial year that the gross GST collection has crossed Rs 1.5 trillion,” it further said. Prior to this, the highest ever GST collection was in April 2022 at Rs 1.67 trillion. March also witnessed the highest ever collection of integrated GST (IGST) which is applied on imports and inter-state transactions, as well as the highest number of return filing, indicating further improvement in compliance.
According to the data, of the gross GST revenue collected in March, central GST (CGST) was Rs 29,546 crore, state GST (SGST) was Rs 37,314 crore, IGST was Rs 82,907 crore (including Rs 42,503 crore collected on import of goods) and cess was Rs 10,355 crore (including Rs 960 crore collected on import of goods).
The government has settled Rs 33,408 crore to CGST and Rs 28,187 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue of the Centre and the states in March 2023 after IGST settlement was Rs 62,954 crore for CGST and Rs 65,501 crore for SGST.
“During the month, revenue from import of goods was 8% higher and the revenue from domestic transaction (including import of services) are 14% higher than the revenue from these sources during the same month last year,” the ministry said.
As much as 93.2% of statement of invoices (in GSTR-1) and 91.4% of returns (in GSTR-3B) of February were filed till March 2023 as compared to 83.1% and 84.7%, respectively, same month last year.
“Various government initiatives on the technology front to improve GST compliance appears to show the actual effect in the form of GST collection rising each month. While various parts of the world are hit by recession, India has managed to see growth as indicated by overall tax collection,” noted Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner, EY.
The company stated that these changes will help ‘reduce food waste and be better for the environment’
Google’s new cost-cutting measures; stop free snacks, laundry services and other employee perks: Report | Image: Wikipedia (Representative)
Google has reportedly announced new cost-cutting measures. The company has decided to focus on key matters, including “prioritising its work in AI,” as reported Business Insider.
“This work is particularly vital because of our recent growth, the challenging economic environment, and our incredible investment opportunities to drive technology forward- particularly in AI,” read the memo, which was signed by Ruth Porat, Google’s chief financial officer, and Prabhakar Raghavan, the company search lead, on behalf of all PA and Functional leads. The report added that the announcement was made in a memo released by Google.
To cut down cafes and micro kitchens
The company has also stated that employees will no longer be able to take advantage of cafes, micro kitchens, and other facilities, according to the report.
The company stated that these changes will help ‘reduce food waste and be better for the environment’.
The memo also stated, “We’re adjusting our office services to the new hybrid workweek. Cafes, MicroKitchens and other facilities will be tailored to better match how and when they are being used. Decisions will be based on data. For example, where a cafe is seeing a significantly lower volume of use on certain days, we’ll close it on those days and put more focus instead on popular options that are close by.”
Google’s layoff
The new cost-cutting measure comes months after Google announced that the company will “cut 12000 jobs.”
In a memo, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company had reviewed its products, people and priorities, leading to job cuts across geographies and tech. He said it’s a “different economic reality”.
“The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here,” said Pichai.
Lofty goal signals return to the digital-payments playbook of PayPal’s early days
Behind Elon Musk’s gamble to turn Twitter Inc. into a company worth more than $250 billion is a beloved idea he has hung on to for more than two decades: digital banking.
The billionaire entrepreneur has talked in dribs and drabs about what Twitter 2.0 might ultimately look like under his control. But late last week, he gave employees a taste of how grandiose his plans are, telling them he envisions Twitter being worth more than 10 times its current value of around $20 billion.
Key to his effort, he has said, is putting the social-media company at the center of users’ financial lives. It is a remake that harks back to the early days of his professional career and his first major corporate setback at a startup called X.com, now known as PayPal.
The early success of the digital-payments company gave Mr. Musk the fortune he parlayed into Tesla Inc., the car maker, and SpaceX, the rocket company. But his inglorious end as the startup’s CEO—ousted while on a trip with his first wife—meant he never got to personally bring his full plan to fruition.
Now, the 51-year-old is painting a world where Twitter users can effortlessly send money to each other, earn interest on deposits and much more through an app. That digital ideal closely resembles his original vision for X.com before it merged with another similarly focused firm to eventually become PayPal.
“I think it’s possible to become the biggest financial institution in the world,” Mr. Musk said in March at a Morgan Stanley conference.
There, he talked about his ambitions for diversifying Twitter after revamping its struggling ad business, which has traditionally made up around 90% of its sales. Analysts say it is possible Twitter, as a payment vehicle, could dramatically boost its revenue.
But as with Mr. Musk’s past experiences in automotive and aerospace, his aspirations face huge challenges, including entrenched players and regulatory hurdles.
So far, Twitter has made only nascent moves toward a payments and finance future. In November, the company took one of the first steps toward becoming a payments processor, filing paperwork with the U.S. Treasury. It now has to register for a license in each state where it plans to do business. Twitter hasn’t yet registered in California, according to a government database.
And Mr. Musk hasn’t talked as much about these plans in his public discussions around his $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter in late October. Rather, he has focused on his view that the platform needed to do more to ensure free speech.
Twitter’s revenue fell to $3 billion last year, he has said, from about $5 billion in 2021 amid an advertiser pullback. On top of dramatic cost-cutting and layoffs, Mr. Musk has seen an exodus of workers unhappy with his new approach.
Last week, he tried to signal to remaining workers that they could benefit greatly from their collective success, rolling out an employee stock plan for the private company that valued it at about $20 billion. He also told them that he sees a “clear, but difficult, path” to being worth more than $250 billion at some point.
That number compares with financial giants, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., which has a market value of about $380 billion, and Bank of America Corp., worth almost $230 billion. PayPal Holdings Inc., which isn’t technically a bank, is valued at around $85 billion.
Mr. Musk didn’t give a timeline and he didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Motivating workers with the potential of a big payday is a familiar playbook Mr. Musk uses at his other companies. In 2015, for example, he drew some collective eye-rolling from Wall Street when he claimed Tesla, then valued at around $25 billion, would in a decade’s time match Apple Inc., then worth about $700 billion.
Tesla surpassed that $700 billion valuation and became the first auto maker to be worth more than $1 trillion in 2021. Since then, its valuation has fallen to around $620 billion.
Policy seeks to support international trade using rupee and increased limit of exports through courier to Rs 10 lakh per consignment
After years of delay, the much expected Foreign Trade Policy 2023 released on Friday aims to boost exports to $2 trillion by 2030 by shifting from incentives to a remission and entitlement-based regime.
The policy seeks to support international trade using the rupee and increased the limit of exports through courier to Rs 10 lakh per consignment from Rs 5 lakh.
It also has an amnesty scheme for failing to fulfil export obligations.
Analysts said the policy does not have a clear road map, while the ambitious aim of the rupee trade lacks details and more measures are needed to boost e-commerce trade.
“We have ensured there is no end date to this policy, it will be updated from time to time,” said director-general of foreign trade Santosh Sarangi.
Trade analyst Biswajit Dhar of the JNU said: “The FTP is silent on some of the long-standing bottlenecks, including the inverted duty structure that continues to plague exporters.
“The FTP should have provided a well-thought-out plan to ensure that the textile and clothing sectors are among the better-performing exporters.
“Focus on this labour-intensive sector was vital, especially when the labour market is going through a prolonged slump.”
Amnesty scheme
The policy provides relief to exporters who are unable to fulfil their obligations against the export promotion capital goods (EPCG) scheme. It introduces an amnesty scheme for one-time settlement of default in export obligation.
All pending cases of default can be regularised on payment of customs duties that were exempted and interest at the rate of 100 per cent of the duties exempted.
“One of the most litigated issues pertaining to non-fulfilment of export obligations under the Advance Authorization and EPCG schemes can now be settled under the new Amnesty Scheme. The actual quantum of benefit offered under the Scheme will only come to light once the fine print of the new FTP is released,” Shashi Mathews, Partner, IndusLaw, said.
Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 99.11 per litre as against Rs 98.61 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 89.87 per litre to Rs 90.42, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.
The prices of petrol and diesel on March 27 were once again hiked across the country. Petrol price on Sunday was hiked by 50 paise a litre and diesel by 55 paise, taking the total increase in rates since resumption of daily price revision less than a week back to Rs 3.70-3.75 per litre.
Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 99.11 per litre as against Rs 98.61 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 89.87 per litre to Rs 90.42, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.
Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxation.
This is the fifth increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22. On all the previous four occasions, prices had been increased by 80 paise a litre – the steepest single-day rise since the daily price revision was introduced in June 2017.
Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani on Friday resigned as director of Reliance Power and Reliance Infrastructure, following markets regulator SEBI order restraining him from associating with any listed company.
“Anil D Ambani, non-executive director, steps down from the board of Reliance Power in compliance of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) interim order,” Reliance Power said in a BSE filing.
In a separate filing to the stock exchange, Reliance Infrastructure said that Anil Ambani has stepped down from its board “in compliance of SEBI interim order”.
Sebi in February barred Reliance Home Finance Ltd, industrialist Anil Ambani and three other individuals from the securities market for allegedly siphoning off funds from the company.
The regulator also restrained Ambani and three others from “associating themselves with any intermediary registered with Sebi, any listed public company or acting directors/ promoters of any public company which intends to raise money from the public till further orders.”
The two Reliance Group companies said that Rahul Sarin has been appointed as an Additional Director in the capacity of Independent Director for a term of five years on Friday on the boards of RPower and RInfra, subject to approval of members at the general meeting.
The board of directors of the company unanimously reposed full trust in Ambani’s leadership and invaluable contribution to steering the company through great financial challenges and towards being potentially debt-free in the course of the coming financial year, the firms said.
They also said that the boards look forward to an early closure of the matter and inviting Ambani back to provide his vision and leadership to the company in the interest of all stakeholders.
A gender-equal world is still a utopian concept, and while the journey of change has taken flight, there’s still a long way to go. We may be in 2022, but any discourse around menstrual hygiene and sexual wellness is often suppressed by the age-old patriarchal norms. Fortunately, there are several entrepreneurs who are ‘breaking the bias’ and shattering convention to create a safe space for women. These new-age brands cater to the needs of those with vulvas and provide them with solutions that help to enhance their quality of life.
This International Women’s Day, we caught up with some prominent changemakers, who are making a difference with their brands.
1. Neha Kant, Founder and Director — Clovia
Lingerie has always been spoken about in hushed tones in our country. It is hardly uncommon for women to be glared at, when they walk into a lingerie store to shop for innerwear. The experience is rather uncomfortable since these shops are mostly run by men.
For Neha, who grew up in Haridwar, it was her mother, who would do underwear shopping for her. Everything was based on trials and guesswork, which left the young girl devoid of confidence. When she stepped out of her hometown to pursue her higher education, started working in New Delhi and travelled abroad, Neha realised that the evolution of innerwear had not kept pace with the fast-changing outerwear fashion.
“To bridge the existing gap in the lingerie space, I decided to dive into the business with the help of my husband and was ably supported by a tech specialist and an experienced lingerie expert. That’s how Clovia was born in 2013,” she says.
The brand believes in bringing world-class products to Indian customers at the right price point. They have a proprietary algorithm based on ‘Clovia’s Fit Test’, which asks women five questions about their body type and accordingly recommends the right bra.
“Earlier this year, we also launched Bra-Bot, an online AI-based chatbot curated to help one buy the right innerwear and other categories. This is part of Clovia’s continued effort to bring its online shopping experience closer to an assisted offline store experience,” she adds.
Clovia launches 200+ styles per month and over 75% of the inventory is less than 30 days old. They also offer 75+ sizes across 12+ categories and address 18 body types.
The brand has also recently ventured into the personal care category to cater to the needs of new moms and urban millennial women.
2. Tanvi Johri, Co-founder and CEO — Carmesi
Like several other women, Tanvi, too, was a victim of rashes caused by sanitary napkins and would dread her period every month. Although she tried looking for alternatives, there was no solution in sight. Another issue that troubled her was the unhygienic disposal of sanitary napkins.
“I started researching more about these things, and that’s when I realised that rashes are taken seriously only when they appear on the face or are associated with beauty. These allergies are triggered by the use of certain ingredients in sanitary napkins. This is what I wanted to change with Carmesi,” she says.
The eco-conscious brand makes biodegradable sanitary napkins using plant-based materials like corn fibre that are devoid of harsh chemicals. These sanitary napkins also come with a disposable bag made from oxo-biodegradable material.
Carmesi has always been big on innovation and has also launched products that may be too niche, but try and provide a solution to women’s problems.
“We created the world’s first and only solution to bra stress called BREASE, after taking into account the challenges of women in our office. The product may not be getting us too much revenue, but our customers love it,” she says, adding that they have also launched a natural deodorant roller with 95% natural ingredients, and an entire skincare range for hormonal acne.
Apart from selling other period care and intimate care products, Carmesi has also made inroads into hair removal, and the health and nutrition category. As they continue to grow by leaps and bounds, Carmesi also plans to make its presence felt in the offline space.
3. Aruna Chawla, Founder — Salad Condoms
How many times have you felt awkward walking up to a pharmacist, and asking for a condom? The feeling is all too familiar, right? This is exactly what happened with Aruna. As a consumer psychologist, she studied purchase patterns and buying behaviour closely and came up with Salad, a non-toxic, eco-conscious, and ultra-thin vegan condom brand.
As the youngest woman to start a condom brand in India, she had her fair share of challenges and was subjected to lewd remarks on social media. It wasn’t just trolling that she had to deal with — it was a hard task to convince manufacturers to associate with her brand, but eventually, she succeeded.
Aruna has been “open and transparent” in her approach and that reflects in everything Salad does. Scan the QR code on the packaging, and you can read all about the ingredients that go into making the condom. Moreover, Salad is the only condom brand that not only focuses on pleasure but also emphasises on the health angle. “Salad has committed 15% of its profits to enable sex education in schools and colleges in India. We are also building a new product that’s under beta testing right now that will help users learn the language of their bodies anytime, anywhere,” says Aruna.
4. Sujata Pawar, Founder — Avni
Sujata had an unpleasant encounter with commercially-available sanitary pads that resulted in rashes eight years ago. When she started looking for options, there was nothing skin-friendly and environmentally-friendly that was available. That’s when she and her husband (also the co-founder), Apurv Agrawal, worked together to create Avni, a reusable cloth pad that is also India’s first tested cloth pad.
Sujata believes that increased awareness around menstrual hygiene and wellness has helped women in both urban and rural areas to look for sustainable period care. Today, Avni is also aggressively engaging with NGOs and menstrual educators across India to provide education, awareness, and product distribution in rural areas.“Our pads are fully hand-stitched by rural women, and we are also enabling livelihood generation. The company isn’t simply interested in being a personal care brand; it also wants to make menstrual health ‘normal,” says Sujata.
The brand has already attracted over 18,000 clients since its start. They have also developed India’s first 24×7 period helpline to ease the transition and assist women in developing a long-term period habit.
5. Swathi Kulkarni, Co-founder and CEO — Elda Health
Elda was conceived out of personal experiences of the founders, navigating through puberty, pregnancy, to midlife concerns. Since women play foundational roles in families, and even workplaces, their health often takes a back seat. That’s what Swathi wanted to address with Elda.
“Elda educates women around their midlife concerns. Our app hosts a spectrum of audio, video, and text content that’s specifically tailored for Indian women. We believe normalising these concerns is the first step to making them better. Moreover, women have access to scientific tools to assess themselves and follow interventions through Elda’s predictive technology,” she shares.
The holistic team at Elda also provides programs that help manage menopause, weight, stress, and other symptom-specific concerns. “Technology enables us to reach out to millions of women today to educate them about their health concerns, and provide them with tools to manage themselves better,” concludes Swathi.
A massive rise in oil prices, across-the-board uptick in global prices of industrial commodities, a resurgent agri-sector and a higher share of manufactured goods are the main reasons behind India reaching the government’s annual export target.
(Representative image)
India has, for the first time, met the government’s annual export target since 2014. The country crossed the crucial threshold of $400-billion annual merchandise export target.
“India set an ambitious goods export target of $400 billion and achieved it for the first time. I congratulate our farmers, weavers, MSMEs, manufacturers and exporters for this success,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.
Pointing out the target was achieved nine days ahead of schedule, Modi tweeted that this translated to $33 billion worth of exports every month, $1 billion of exports every day, and $ 46 million worth of exports every hour of the year.
The Commerce Department is expected to release further details later in the day, but available data shows that cumulative exports had grown by 45.8 percent in April-February FY22 (2021-22) as compared to the same period of FY20 (2019-20). Total exports stood at $374 billion till February, up from $256.5 billion in 2019-20. Only the last two months had seen an economic downturn, owing to COVID.
After a difficult FY21, marked by lockdowns and restrictions, exports had started rising at the end of the financial year. In the current financial year, they have risen every month till February. All major categories of exports have risen consistently. Moneycontrol takes a deep dive into India’s export sector to see what went right.
The Income Tax department conducted raids at Hiranandani group at 24 locations across Chennai, Bengaluru, and Mumbai in the foreign assets case. In Lok Sabha, Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said that all toll collecting points which are within 60 kilometre of each other on the national highways will be closed in the next three months. Meanwhile, a Russian court banned Meta-controlled Facebook and Instagram in the country on March 21, calling its parent company “extremist.”
I-T raids at premises linked to Hiranandani group in foreign assets case
The Income Tax department conducted raids at the Hiranandani group. Raids are being conducted at 24 locations across Chennai, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, sources told CNBC-TV18.
Infosys buys Germany-based digital marketing agency Oddity for 50 million euros
India’s second-largest software services firm Infosys acquired Oddity, a Germany-based digital experience, marketing agency for a cash consideration of up to 50 million euros.
Raid at Omaxe led I-T dept to Rs 3,000 crore ‘unaccounted’ income
Income tax department’s raid on Omaxe, a prominent real estate group of north India led the team to Rs 3,000 crore unaccounted income apart from unaccounted cash worth Rs 25 crore and unaccounted jewellery worth Rs 5 crore.
MARKET
Zomato shares erase initial gains; company to launch 10-minute food delivery service
Shares of Zomato rose as much as 1.5 percent on Tuesday after the online food delivery platform on Monday said it will deliver food in record 10 minutes, starting with Gurugram next month. However, the stock failed to hold on to initial gains and slipped into the red.
A daily round-up of the most interesting articles to help jump-start the day.
1. Wall Street refocuses on risk as stocks dip, oil climbs
US stocks on Monday gave back some of the previous week’s gains and oil prices climbed as the conflict in Ukraine continued. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 197.09 points, or 0.57 percent, to 34,557.84, the S&P 500 lost 17.31 points, or 0.39 percent, to 4,445.81 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 160.70 points, or 1.16 percent, to 13,733.14.
2. Watch out
Take a look at these key events
Today:
SBI Life board to mull interim dividend
Gate 2022 score card release
DU Academic Council meet Tomorrow:
Pushkar Singh Dhami likely to oath as Uttarakhand CM
Oppo K10 to launch in IndiaCOVID vaccination for children in 12-14 age group to begin in MP
3. Big Story
Don’t foresee India facing sanctions but RBI’s forex reserves well-diversified, says Governor Das
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) foreign exchange reserves are “well dispersed” and diversified, Governor Shaktikanta Das said on March 21, rejecting concerns about the central bank being crippled if the country faced sanctions similar to Russia in the future.
4. Coronavirus Check
New COVID-19 cases hover below 2k mark for second day in a row
India reported 1,549 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest since 30 March 2020, taking the total number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the country to 4,30,09,390 even as active cases continued to decline.
5. Tech Tattle
iPhone 14 specifications surface online
iPhone 14 specifications have surfaced online. Apple is expected to host the iPhone 14 launch event in September, where it will unveil four new iPhone models. There will not be an iPhone 14 mini and Apple will instead replace it with a larger 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max, according to reports.
6. Auto
Tata Motors drives in Altroz DCA, price starts at Rs 8.09 lakh
Tata Motors on Monday said it has launched its premium hatchback Altroz with dual-clutch automatic transmission, priced between Rs 8.09 lakh and Rs 9.89 lakh (ex-showroom).
7. Tailpiece
You can travel to these countries with no quarantine if fully-vaccinated
With a dip in coronavirus cases in most countries, international travel is opening up. In India, regular international flights are set to resume on March 27. If you are planning a holiday, here is a list of countries you can travel to hassle-free.
Automobile giants Toyota, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai have assured the government they will bring flex engine vehicles in six months, a move that can reduce India’s dependence on crude oil, shorten a huge import bill and also lessen emissions.
Flex engines allow vehicles to run on 100 per cent petrol or 100 per cent ethanol.
Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari at a sugar and ethanol conference Sunday said the Centre was also exploring ways to increase the use of ethanol in the aviation sector in order to reduce transportation energy costs. To this end, he called upon sugar factories to make a shift to the conversion of sugar into ethanol.
“If sugar production goes ahead as it does now, it will be harmful for the industry in times to come,” he warned leaders of sugar and allied industries saying, “what is good for our future is to reduce the production of sugar and increase production of ethanol.”
The government is working to bring cryptocurrencies under the ambit of Goods & Services Tax ( GST ) in order to tax the entire value of transactions. Crypto exchanges are currently taxed at 18% slab of GST on services provided to users under the financial services category.
Photo : ET Now Digital
The government is working to bring cryptocurrencies under the ambit of Goods & Services Tax (GST) in order to tax the entire value of transactions. Crypto exchanges are currently taxed at 18% slab of GST on services provided to users under the financial services category.
GST officials are of the view that cryptos investing is akin to betting by nature and are therefore similar to casino, lottery, gambling, and horse racing, which are taxed at 28% of GST on the entire value, according to a PTI report. On the other hand, GST on transactions related to buying or selling gold is 3%.
“We’re looking at whether cryptocurrencies can be classified as products or services, and whether it can be deemed an actionable claim,” an GST officer told PTI.
Gautam Adani added $49 billion to his wealth last year – more than the net addition of wealth by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault.
Gautam Adani adds $49 bn wealth in 2021, higher than Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk
New Delhi:
Gautam Adani, India’s and Asia’s second-richest person, added $49 billion to his wealth last year – more than the net addition of wealth by the top three global billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault, the 2022 M3M Hurun Global Rich List said on Wednesday.
Mukesh Ambani, who runs the oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries, continues to be the richest Indian with a wealth of $103 billion, a 24 per cent rise year on year.
Adani, the head of the ports-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group, is a close second, with his wealth surging 153 per cent to $81 billion.
In the last 10 years, while Ambani’s wealth has grown 400 per cent, Adani has seen a 1,830 per cent increase, the list said.
HCL’s Shiv Nadar is ranked third with USD 28 billion wealth, followed by Serum Institute’s Cyrus Poonawalla (USD 26 billion) and steel magnate Lakshmi N Mittal ($25 billion).
“Gautam Adani, 59, is the biggest gainer in the M3M Hurun Global List 2022 and added USD 49 billion to his wealth last year,” M3M Hurun Global Rich List said in a statement. His net wealth addition is “more than top three global billionaires such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault.”
LIC had, on February 13, filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for LIC IPO (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic)
LIC IPO: With stock markets still facing headwinds amid uncertainties around the Ukraine conflict, the Centre has decided to put on hold its LIC IPO decision for some time and wait for the financial market to stabilize. The LIC IPO will now happen only in the next financial year, chances are that the issue may hit the market by mid-May if market conditions are stable. However, any further delay could will require additional regulatory requirements, sources told News18.com.
Since Russia’s invasion, uncertainty has been surrounding the country’s biggest IPO. The government’s sale of about 31.6 crore shares or a 5 per cent stake in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), which was estimated to fetch around Rs 60,000 crore to the exchequer, was originally planned to be launched in March.
The government has time till May 12 to launch the initial public offering without filing fresh papers with regulator Sebi, according to sources. The only additional requirement till then will be an addendum to the draft red herring prospectus on the insurer’s December quarter results, News18 has learned from sources.
Paytm Payments Bank: Paytm Payments Bank will be allowed to add new customers only after reviewing the central bank’s IT audit reports.
Indian cellphone-based digital payment platform Paytm (AFP photo)
New Delhi: After the RBI directed it to stop opening new accounts, Paytm Payments Bank said on Monday that a report claiming it had leaked data to Chinese firms was “false and sensationalist”. Paytm Payments Bank said it was fully compliant with the data localisation rules of the RBI and the entire data of the bank resides in the country.
A recent Bloomberg report claiming data leak to Chinese firms is false and sensationalist.
Paytm Payments Bank is proud to be a completely homegrown bank, fully compliant with RBI’s directions on data localisation. All of the Bank’s data resides within India.
Last week, the RBI directed Vijay Shekhar Sharma- promoted Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) to stop opening new accounts amid “material supervisory concerns” observed in the bank.
Paytm Payments Bank said that this moratorium will not affect any existing customers of Payments Bank. However, users cannot sign up for Payments Bank’s service until further notice. Meanwhile, existing customers can continue to transact on the Paytm platform.
“All of the Bank’s data resides within the country. We are true believers of the Digital India initiative, and remain committed to driving financial inclusion in the country,” PPBL said in a statement as quoted by news agency PTI.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has ordered an IT audit of Paytm Payments Bank. IT audit means that the company’s IT infrastructure i.e. software is capable of bearing the burden of many customers, what are the flaws in it and why they are coming, all these will be investigated.
According to the statement issued by RBI, Paytm Payments Bank will have to first take RBI’s permission to add new customers, then it can add new customers with itself. The bank will be allowed to add new customers only after reviewing the central bank’s IT audit reports.
Physical gold dealers in India were forced to offer the steepest discount in six years last week to lure customers put off by a jump in domestic prices, with some people in top Asian hubs selling their bhttps://readselective.com/india/gold-in-india-tr…r-high-discounts/ullion to cash in on the rally.
Appreciating asset: Gold coins and bars sit on a tray inside a jewellery store in Mumbai. A bullion dealer says some consumers are selling their old jewellery to take advantage of elevated prices. — Bloomberg
Earlier last week, global benchmark spot gold prices rose to near an all-time high of US$2,020.47 (RM8,474.86) as investors sought refuge from uncertainties spurred by the Ukraine crisis.
Local gold prices in India, traditionally the biggest gold consumer after China, jumped to 55,558 rupees (RM3,036) per 10 grammes, not far from the all-time high of 56,191 rupees (RM3,071) hit in 2020.
The price surge hammered demand and prompted dealers to offer discounts as high as US$77 (RM322.98) an ounce over official domestic prices – inclusive of 10.75% import and 3% sales levies – versus US$27 (RM113.25) in the week prior to last week.
China placed the 17.5 million residents of the southern city of Shenzhen into lockdown for at least a week, seeking to halt a growing Covid-19 outbreak with a move that could cause disruption and production delays in the key technology hub and port.
The lockdown, which came after virus cases doubled nationwide to nearly 3,400, will be accompanied by three rounds of city-wide, mass testing, according to a government notice. The measure, announced Sunday, followed earlier restrictions placed on Shenzhen’s central business district, and will last until March 20.
All bus and subway systems were shut, and businesses, except those providing essential services, have been closed. Employees were told to work from home if they can. Residents will be barred from leaving Shenzhen — home to the headquarters of giants Huawei Technologies Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., as well as one of China’s busiest ports — except in limited situations.
The city is home to the China headquarters and a key manufacturing facility of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Apple Inc.’s main maker of the iPhone and other products. The surge in infections in the city is thought to be linked to an unbridled outbreak in neighboring Hong Kong, where about 300,000 people are currently in isolation or under home quarantine. A Covid flareup in Shanghai has also seen most schools returned to online learning and travel into the city restricted. Bus services from other provinces were halted, and China’s aviation regulator is in discussion with airlines about diverting all international flights into the financial center, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
Ashneer Grover, who quit fintech platform ‘BharatPe’ that he co-founded amid serious allegations of financial wrongdoings against him and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, allegedly “purchased a Porsche” when he was at BharatPe and “told multiple people at the company that he spent $130,000 on a dining table”, media report said.
According to Bloomberg, office frugality clashed with the couple’s apparently glitzy lifestyle, rubbing some employees the wrong way.
Grover and his wife upgraded their modest home for a rented penthouse and renovated another luxury property.
He also purchased a Porsche and told multiple people at the company that he spent $130,000 on a dining table, the report said citing employees.
As the startup expanded, the company’s staff said Grover pushed them relentlessly.
Nothing could have prepared Ola customers for the alarming notification that popped up on their mobile phones yesterday. The cab aggregator company — in a move that has been widely criticised on social media — decided to share a notification reading “8 missed calls from mom” with several of their customers. Needless to say, the clickbait not go down well. Where a single missed call from one’s mother is enough to induce anxiety, Ola’s notification had people panicking until they realised it was nothing more than a marketing ploy promoting a 40 per cent discount on certain services.
“‘8 missed calls from mom’, followed by a 40% off promo! This is a terrible clickbait by Ola,” one Twitter user wrote while sharing a screenshot of the notification.
'8 missed calls from mom', followed by a 40% off promo! This is a terrible clickbait by Ola. Pic via @kartik679 on LinkedIn. pic.twitter.com/QBzIF86510
