WhatsApp on Wednesday announced the expansion of its payments service in India to make it easier for people transacting with businesses to pay for purchases directly in the chat, with a choice of UPI apps, including rival digital payment options, as well as credit and debit cards. Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg asserted that India is leading the world in people and businesses embracing messaging. WhatsApp said it is working with partners Razorpay and PayU "to make paying for something as simple as sending a message", as the Meta-owned platform unveiled a host of new features to woo businesses in India's booming commerce market.
'I've never seen such cooperation before. Problem solving. Everyone working together. And truthful.' 'Someone from the prime minister's office was there the entire time, at the table, one of the team.' 'Now you have to figure out how to get them out. And I'm just gonna sit here patiently.' 'But if you annoy me, I could actually ruin the whole game for you and for the people in here, which is the avalanche'.
'The private sector believes that some enablers in labour-intensive sectors like apparel, toys, tourism, and media retail, can unlock a lot of jobs.'
Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Thursday said the economy is expected to grow at 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal notwithstanding deficient rains in August. India recorded economic growth of 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2023-24 against 13.1 per cent in the year-ago period. India's economy in Q1 grew at the fastest pace in a year, on the shoulders of a boost in capital expenditure both at central and state levels, along with stronger consumption demand, especially in rural areas, and improved performance in the services sector, he said.
Average monthly GST collection rose from Rs 90,000 crore during the first year of its implementation -- 2017-2018 -- to Rs 1.68 trillion during 2023-2024, representing an 87 per cent rise.
Early retirement is not just about money and calculators. It is more about rediscovering your passions, strengthening bonds, and living a life filled with purpose, connection, and lasting happiness. It's about reclaiming your life, explains Vatsal Ramaiya.
Speaking at the CII's partnership summit in Jaipur, Azevedo who is the Director General of WTO, also said the member countries should implement the trade facilitation agreement on time as it would help in reducing cost of commerce and boosting exports.
"The new food supply pipeline has also made it easier to supply better food in larger quantities to them, which is a good thing. Otherwise the situation remains the same," said Negi, who spoke to his brother.
You will be as smitten with this Singaporean soup as I was.
As India's stock rises, the resolution of the border row may become even more difficult, warn Harsh V Pant and Kalpit Mankikar.
India has been at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.
The Doha Round of talks of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) faces a new challenge and if some statements emanating after the General Council meeting on July 25 at Geneva are to be taken at face value, this could derail the process of trade liberalisation through a multilateral route for some time.
'In anything in life, privilege helps.' 'Privilege means access. Access means connections.' 'Does it help? Of course, it does. In whatever you do.'
Our journey was filled with challenges due to the identity we carried with us. But now we are 'Bharatiya Nagriks'
'India has gone digital. They talk about the success of India's Chandrayaan mission but they cannot evacuate our people trapped for around a week'
In a turn of events, India on Friday said it was "hopeful" talks for a global deal on easing Customs norms, or a trade facilitation agreement (TFA), would be revived in September, even as it failed to meet the July 31 deadline due to lack of consensus among members over food stockholding and farm subsidies.
The seventh round of talks between protesting unions and three central ministers ended inconclusively on Monday as the farmer leaders insisted on the repeal of the three contentious farm laws right from the beginning, even as the government listed various benefits from the Acts.
'If the mandis were not working in Delhi, or the onion market in Nashik got affected, or there were disruptions because of unloading or loading in any sector in south India, we intervened.'
Emphasising that various issues are on agenda at the G20 under India's leadership.
China on Monday said Sri Lanka has allowed its satellite and missile tracking ship to berth at the Hambantota port on Tuesday, but declined to reveal details of talks with Colombo leading to the bankrupt island's government reversing its earlier stand to defer the high-tech vessel's entry.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday pledged to make 30 million 'Lakhpati Didis', up from the 10 million rural women who have already achieved the feat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday released the BJP's manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The manifesto says the ruling party will continue the quarterly financial disbursements under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN) yojana.
We are ready to talk but will not accept any condition now," said a farmer's leader.
LIVA Miss Diva Supranational 2023 Sonal Kukreja shares her summer hair and skincare routine.
India is currently using two vaccines for COVID-19 -- one developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and the other developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology. Both the vaccines are being manufactured within the country by domestic firms.
'This is the victory of the people of Gujarat who want real development, not the hype of development.'
As hard bargains continue for the next four days at the picturesque tourist resort of Indonesia, the ministers., including from the influential developed countries will try and reach agreements on providing windows to the developing nations for their food security programmes and a pact to free the global trade from the procedural hassles at the customs.
Confident of securing a massive majority in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday outlined his vision for his next five-year term saying the Modi 3.0 government will put all its might to strengthen the foundation of 'Viksit Bharat' or a developed nation.
The BJP had registered a one-sided victory on all the 17 SC-reserved seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But in 2019, out of these 17 seats, it lost Nagina and Lalganj seats to the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The decision preceded long hours of tense negotiations and last minute hiccups from Argentina and Pakistan
Trade ministers from 162 WTO countries will gather in Kenya's capital from Dec. 15-18 to work on an agreement to liberalise global trade.
'Farmers have been sent notices in which the government is threatening that if you will join the movement, then we will impound your ancestral properties.' 'We will seal your bank accounts.' 'We will revoke the passports of your kids.'
The Indian government has demanded that the year be changed to a more recent period, taking into consideration the rise in food prices and rate of inflation.
'it's not just youth in India who are left behind because of their inability to find jobs; nearly two-thirds of Indian women of working ages do not participate at all in the paid labour force.'
Addressing the food security concerns is important as India is still has 190 million hungry people, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth said at an event organised by a global think-tank The Club of Rome.
Some leaders also threatened that they will boycott the scheduled sixth round of talks with the government on Wednesday at Vigyan Bhawan, while others said their next course of action will depend on what amendments the government assures in writing, which they claimed was promised by Shah in Tuesday's meeting.
'Modigate is snowballing into a huge thing with the electorate. The BJP is in for huge punishment by the electorate.'
Earlier in April, Pfizer said that it had offered a not-for-profit price for its vaccine for the government immunisation programme in India and it remains committed to continuing engagement with the government to make the vaccine available in India.
'If we want real democracy, the economy itself will need to be democratised.'
The hapless voters fervently hope that they get to make a more equal choice in the next election and political discourse in the country becomes positive and more enlightened. One wonders if the masses would become more politically aware to discern good intent and performance from gimmickry, notes Biswajit Dasgupta.
