With Rahul showing a significant lead over Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi in opinion polls across southern India but lagging in the north, the Congress believes his contesting from the south will help galvanise cadres.
Experts said the builders will now factor in their losses arising from the removal of input tax credit when they pass on the benefits to end users while the latter may want the entire GST cut to be given to them.
Some of the key proposals of the agenda relate to transforming the banking sector, addressing agrarian distress, countering hate crimes and discrimination, and spurring employment generation.
The founding members of The E-Commerce Council of India include Snapdeal, ShopClues, UrbanClap, Shop101, Flyrobe and Fynd, among others.
An industry source said the Act would create high-entry barriers for new service providers and limit customer choice
Currently, the company is present in over 259 Indian cities, with over 8,700 buildings (hotels and homes) and more than 173,000 rooms.
The party's research department team, which Rajya Sabha member M V Rajeev Gowda heads, has sifted through the suggestions received in the last five months, and the manifesto is slated to be released later this month, reports Archis Mohan.
Within 24 hours of the announcement of poll dates, traction on poll-based apps has risen drastically, report Karan Choudhury and Neha Alawadhi.
"The season averaged maximum temperatures in Himachal Pradesh, West Rajasthan, Konkan, Goa, Coastal Karnataka, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh are likely to be higher than normal by 0.5-1.0 degree Celsius," the Met department has said in its forecast.
Among other things, taking note of complaints against several Chinese e-commerce players such as Shein, Ali Express etc for sending shipments as 'gifts' to customers in India and avoiding duties, the government has now mandated that all e-commerce sites and apps must have a registered business entity. This will be the importer on record and subject to customs rules, report Subhayan Chakraborty, Neha Alawadhi and Karan Choudhury.
For potato farmers in the north and wheat growers in the eastern parts -- particularly in Jharkhand, Bihar, and Odisha -- the recent rains could in fact be beneficial.
The Congress surveys, at least until now, have indicated the nationalistic fervour over the Pulwama terror attack is more an effort by mainstream media outlets, like news channels and newspapers, to shape a particular narrative, when the people on the ground are still asking basic questions of livelihood, jobs and better price for farm produce.
Policy lays out a 5-year road map seeking creation of 3.5 mn jobs and promoting 10,000 start-ups.
With the insistence on data centres to be onshore, entities in real estate believe there is going to be a rise in demand for specialised Grade-A commercial spaces to set these up.
A normal monsoon will augur well for the country's agriculture sector and boost crop yields. However, good rains - and surplus crops - could also depress prices, hurting farm income, unless adequate steps are taken.
While the new norms are part of the draft policy's guidelines to fight counterfeit and fake products on platforms, they might end up helping brands and e-commerce firms sign exclusive sale deals.
Ministry of home affairs and the IT ministry are planning to have a series of discussions with representatives from Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Google on issues around national security and the problem of fake news. Asking for decryption keys from WhatsApp to track conversations on the chat app is also part of the agenda.
'Co-living is a phenomenon that is bound to strike the right chord with young people everywhere and India will lead the charge as the testing ground for all such ideas.'
Going ahead with its festive sales as per schedule, companies such as Flipkart, Jabong, and Myntra are having week-long Valentines' Day sales, offering discounts of as much as 80 per cent. Amazon India is also offering discounts of almost 40 per cent.
The duo spent almost $400 million in 2018 on rapid expansion as well as discounting to gain new customers, and Uber Eats has managed to edge out Foodpanda by 2 million orders.