'The Indian govt's initiatives on EVs are very strong and customers want to buy EVs. This will make the country's conversion to EVs faster than other markets, and I hope even faster than the US'
By 2025, Uber projects that 25,000-30,000 cars -- or 12 to 16 per cent of vehicle additions -- would be EVs, reports Surajeet Das Gupta.
Rahul Bajaj was transparent, outspoken, and not ready to bend the rules, says R C Bhargava.
Mutliplexes want the gap between a film's release in theatres and on OTT to be doubled from 4 to 8 weeks.
'The opening up of theatres is well-timed to coincide with the festival season and give a big push. We expect box office collections to reach 2019 levels when they stood at Rs 10,000 crore.' Surajeet Das Gupta reports.
The onslaught of Chinese mobile brands is virtually obliterating Indian brands, especially in terms of value. According to industry estimates based on excise and Custom duty trends, the value share of Indian brands (across smartphones and feature phones, operator phone sales - which is mostly Jio phones - and the value of phones smuggled into the country) has dropped to a mere 1.2 per cent in January-October 2021 compared to 25.4 per cent in the calendar year 2015. In the same period, the Chinese have established their domination, hitting a value share of 64.5 per cent, up from 17.8 per cent.
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.
'It leads to more investment, more money put in R&D, expansion and modernisation.'
'When 99.9 per cent of the most vulnerable are above 65, I see no logic in this sweeping lockdown in a country in which 94 per cent are below 65.' 'The most sensible thing to do would be to recalibrate this unnecessary lockdown as soon as possible.'
'By the end of 2022, we expect the installed base of 5G smartphones in India to reach 80-85 million.'
Discussion has started between blank check companies in the US and Indian PEs on possible deals in certain key sectors.
Or else customers will face capacity shortages and high fares.
It is not the first time the history of the Godrej family is being written. In its centenary year in 1997, film journalist and former editor of Filmfare and Screen B K Karanjia had, at the behest of the industrial family, penned a voluminous two-part history, tracing their trials and tribulations since 1897. So, what made the family want to tell its story again 25 years later? And not through another book, but through a completely different medium?
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have enough capacity to absorb over 113.9 million Vodafone Idea subscribers who are on 4G if Vodafone Idea has to shut operations.
The merits and demerits of the telcos' 5G strategy however is clearly dependent on the financial muscle of players, reports Surajeet Das Gupta.
Known for its phones and emerging from nowhere in the segment, it might take on the scooter Goliaths.
Jet has come under regulatory scrutiny twice this year.
'In the first phase, you might allow 30 per cent of the workforce to come in and see how it goes,' says industrialist Harsh Goenka.
'There is definitely a skill war, or a talent war going on.'
Jet is the largest player in the Mumbai airport, with over 110 domestic slots and 30 international slots from the city.
Star earned ad revenues of around Rs 30 billion during last year's IPL. Whether it hits last year's figure will depend on how the economy picks up during the festival season.
UV Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd has made the highest bid of Rs 16,000 crore to buy Anil Ambani group's Reliance Communications and Reliance Telecom, which are in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Last year it was the highest bidder for taking over Aircel's assets for an upfront payment of Rs 150 crore. Surajeet Das Gupta and Dev Chatterjee dig deeper to find out more about this little known company.
'There were two options before the government -- create a complex, cumbersome law, which will cause a tremendous amount of compliance challenges for startups or say let's go back and do a clean slate, where we do a framework of laws and policies'
Huawei willing to place its software code with government.
Consumers can expect a 5G launch in the country soon. Telecom companies (telcos) say if auctions take place on time - the target is July - they would be able to offer some services in a few cities by the end of this year and a full roll-out from 2023. But the question is: will 5G turn the tables for telcos financially? Will average revenue per user (ARPU) improve? Will mobile consumers upgrade to 5G quickly and pay more? Will the expanded functions that 5G enables drum up sufficient revenues? In simple terms, will telcos make more money?
Akash Ambani's first big job as he takes over as chairman of Reliance Jio, the group's telecom arm, is a no-brainer - he has to get his company through the long-awaited 5G auctions that are a few weeks away. But his bigger job, analysts said, will be to lead the transformation of the telecom company into a tech giant, a process that is underway as it seeks to list in the US. Insiders said there has been plenty of debate within the company's top executives on the auction strategy.
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.
'Revival is happening slowly.' 'But that is, if the pandemic is controlled.'
Recently, world headlines buzzed with Elon Musk's announcement that he was shelving his audacious bid for social media platform Twitter. Away from the media spotlight, questions are being asked about the maverick billionaire's plans in India, too. A few days ago, a Reuters report said Musk's flagship Tesla had put on hold its plan to launch electric cars in India.
Air India, SpiceJet, IndiGo and AirAsia India ready to fill in the gap.
'12% of all our global trips are done in India.'
'There is no doubt at all that Jio's disruption of the mobile broadband market was a turning point for India's digital economy.'
Amazon Prime leads the race to buy digital rights for Bollywood blockbusters with Hotstar and Netflix trailing far behind.
'We showcased about 20 use cases in 5G trials in Pune and Gandhinagar and some of them were interesting and innovative.' 'However, which ones will take off and which ones would not be relevant, we don't know yet.'
Gulabo Sitabo was made with a budget of Rs 40 crore to Rs 45 crore. Amazon Prime bought the streaming rights for Rs 60 crore to Rs 65 crore, helping the producers make over Rs 20 crore.
Some years ago, Rakesh Gangwal reportedly said his relationship with Rahul Bhatia evolved in an amazing friendship, which he termed 'blind trust'. The question is whether that is under scrutiny now.
The Tata group's tryst with mobile services, with either CDMA or GSM technology, did not really fly, forcing it to close operations and write off losses. Now the group is back in the big game, this time straddling the telecom equipment, network and technology space in India as well as the global market. To this end, it is leveraging the opportunities that flow from 5G technology through open radio access network, or O-RAN. Recently, the Tata Sons' subsidiary Panatone Finvest acquired 43.3 per cent in Bengaluru-based telecom equipment manufacturer Tejas Network for Rs 1,850 crore and announced it would buy another 26 per cent of the voting capital through an open offer.
He has slashed his price by half after retiring. Now his rates are in line with Amitabh Bachchan or Ayushmann Khurrana. In 2012 he had 22 endorsements, now he has 40!
iPhone SE 2020 is one of the popular phones like Apple 11, which is the biggest seller in the domestic market.