Surajeet Das Gupta &Amp; Ruchika Chitravanshi

Stories by Surajeet Das Gupta &Amp; Ruchika Chitravanshi

Omicron: Europe-like surge may mean 1.4 mn cases a day

Omicron: Europe-like surge may mean 1.4 mn cases a day

Rediff.com   18 Dec 2021

'We have to ensure the European situation does not occur in India and we don't see a spread like theirs.'

Realme Eyes Top Spot In Mobile Market

Realme Eyes Top Spot In Mobile Market

Rediff.com   18 Dec 2021

'Last year we sold 18 million phones in India, this year we should do 23-24 million, and next year our target is to hit 40 million.'

Telecom gear makers want PLI scheme extended by a year

Telecom gear makers want PLI scheme extended by a year

Rediff.com   15 Dec 2021

With the spectrum auction now delayed till at least next May, the expected 5G orders for telecom equipment have not been sealed, the companies point out. Surajeet Das Gupta reports.

PE firm Multiples looks to raise $10 billion by 2030

PE firm Multiples looks to raise $10 billion by 2030

Rediff.com   13 Dec 2021

Of the amount, the home-grown private equity player founded by Renuka Ramnath plans to deploy $8 billion in various companies as part of its blueprint for growth.

Realme overtakes Samsung, grabs second spot in smartphone market

Realme overtakes Samsung, grabs second spot in smartphone market

Rediff.com   13 Dec 2021

Mobile device maker Realme has overtaken South Korean giant Samsung to grab the second spot in the branded smartphone market, with 18 per cent volume share in October this year, revealed Counterpoint Research. Its rival Samsung ended October with 16 per cent share. Xiaomi (including its brand POCO) was at 20 per cent; Vivo at 13 per cent. The ascent brings Realme closer to its ambition to reach the No. 1 berth by 2022 when it hopes to sell over 40 million smartphones annually.

'We have enough risk capital'

'We have enough risk capital'

Rediff.com   10 Dec 2021

'Should we shortchange our investors by exiting early?'

Health expenditure's share in GDP down

Health expenditure's share in GDP down

Rediff.com   7 Dec 2021

The share of total health expenditure as part of the gross domestic product (GDP) went down to 3.3 per cent in 2017-18 from 3.8 per cent in the previous two years, according to the national health account data released on Monday by the health ministry. The share of government expenditure as part of total expenditure as well as GDP has gone up from from 3.78 per cent to 5.12 per cent between 2013-14 and 2017-18, which could also explain a decline seen in out of pocket expenditure in 2017-18. Health ministry also emphasised the increase in the government health expenditure as part of the total GDP from 1.15 per cent in 2013-14 to 1.35 per cent in 2017-18.

Omicron: 'Vaccine immunity may be less effective'

Omicron: 'Vaccine immunity may be less effective'

Rediff.com   7 Dec 2021

'Antiviral treatment will have no change. Spike protein change may affect the immunity protection.'

Telecom companies may ring in 5G services on Independence Day

Telecom companies may ring in 5G services on Independence Day

Rediff.com   4 Dec 2021

The government is engaged in talks with telecom firms for a launch of commercial 5G services in some cities by Independence Day and has assured them that spectrum auction will take place in April-May, providing them a three to four-month window for the rollout. A top executive of a leading telecom gear company said the deadline was feasible in some cases. "It can be achieved in some cities as it will take us 4-6 weeks to deploy a network, once the equipment or components have reached India.

10 mn unused Covid vaccine doses lying with private hospitals

10 mn unused Covid vaccine doses lying with private hospitals

Rediff.com   1 Dec 2021

With around 2 million Covid vaccine doses likely to get wasted in December, leading hospital chains have now started to give it gratis to citizens. Sohini Das and Ruchika Chitravanshi report.

Bollywood Bets On Sooryanvanshi Effect

Bollywood Bets On Sooryanvanshi Effect

Rediff.com   27 Nov 2021

Buoyed by Sooryavanshi's success, the Hindi film industry is banking on 25-30 big movies lined up with a collective cost tag of Rs 2,000 crore.

Govt targets 'left-out' people in fresh Covid-19 vaccination push

Govt targets 'left-out' people in fresh Covid-19 vaccination push

Rediff.com   24 Nov 2021

The Union health ministry has directed states to identify all left-out people and ensure everyone gets their Covid jab through initiatives such as workplace vaccination, as part of the government's "Har Ghar Dastak" campaign. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a review meeting on vaccination progress with Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Puducherry on Monday. In a tweet, the minister said, "Spoke about augmenting Govt's #HarGharDastak vaccine campaign. Requested help from religious leaders, NGOs & political groups to speed-up vaccination coverage." Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has asked state officials that workplace vaccination should be organised for targeting people due for their doses.

Chip shortage delays Ola Electric scooter deliveries

Chip shortage delays Ola Electric scooter deliveries

Rediff.com   22 Nov 2021

Ola Electric is moving the delivery for the first batch of its electric scooters to between December 15 to the end of the month, a two- to four-week delay from its earlier schedule, due to a shortage of chipsets and electronic parts. The first batch of deliveries were scheduled for November 30 but the company decided to delay them after a meeting between its factory team and the global supply chain on Saturday. It became clear that the late delivery of chips and electronic parts was only 'getting worse', sources told Business Standard. Ola has apologised to customers for the delay and said it is "ramping up production as fast as we can so that you can get your Ola S1 at the earliest". It has stopped taking any new bookings until the chip shortage has eased, say sources.

90% chipmakers have design footprint in India: Intel

90% chipmakers have design footprint in India: Intel

Rediff.com   16 Nov 2021

As many as 2,000 chips are annually designed in India by semi-conductor and fabless companies, Intel India managing director Prakash Mallya said in a conversation with Business Standard. Mallya was reiterating the importance of India in the semi-conductor sweepstakes. "As much as 90 per cent of the semi-conductor companies have a design footprint in India.

Chip shortage may last up to two years, say Qualcomm and Intel

Chip shortage may last up to two years, say Qualcomm and Intel

Rediff.com   4 Nov 2021

Leading microchip providers Qualcomm and Intel say the chip shortage might last anything between four months to a year, perhaps even two years, depending on the various product categories - mobile devices, ICE, electric vehicles, appliances, data centres. Prakash Mallya, MD, Intel India and vice president, sales and marketing and communications group, said the spike in demand was huge, and cut across segments from PCs, phones, appliances and auto leading to the shortage.

Meesho charts disruptive strategy, to deliver free in non-tier 1 towns

Meesho charts disruptive strategy, to deliver free in non-tier 1 towns

Rediff.com   1 Nov 2021

Social e-commerce platform Meesho is set to disrupt the food and grocery market by offering free home delivery on all orders in over 200 below Tier 1 cities in a year's time, in the first phase. It is also disrupting the monetization model by focusing primarily on advertising revenues rather than commissions from sellers, as distinct from its competitors. The move is expected to challenge the big players in the sector which include Jio Mart, Tata's Big Basket, Amazon, Grofers, and others, many of which have minimum prices for free delivery.

Telecos vie for more space in Indian Space Association

Telecos vie for more space in Indian Space Association

Rediff.com   20 Oct 2021

Indian Space Association (ISpA) chairman Jayant Patil has said that the executive council will debate whether it can include more telecom companies as founding members. The response came after some leading telcos said that they had been asked to be core members but preferred to be inducted as founding members. The key founders of the ISpA include the Bharti group through two companies (OneWeb and Airtel), L&T, Nelco, Walchandnagar, Alpha Designs and MapmyIndia.

Tata Group airlines to be top on 10 busiest routes

Tata Group airlines to be top on 10 busiest routes

Rediff.com   20 Oct 2021

Tata Group, which will now include Air India, Vistara, and Air Asia, has the highest market share of departures on the top 10 routes in the country. According to the data from Caladrius Aero Consulting, which tracked the departure data for eight airlines in August and September, Tata Group is ahead on all the top 10 routes ranked in accordance with the number of departures in August-September 2021. On the top 100 routes in terms of departures, Tata Group is ahead of its chief rival IndiGo on 30 of them.

Focus on second dose as India inches closer to 1 billion jabs

Focus on second dose as India inches closer to 1 billion jabs

Rediff.com   18 Oct 2021

Experts, however, feel that given the intensity of the second wave and the high single dose coverage, India is in a good position to avoid any drastic wave in the near future.