'It can be used to build three-wheelers, vans, too'
Fintech major PhonePe on Wednesday announced the launch of its homegrown Indus Appstore specifically for the Indian market, in a bid to compete with global incumbents like Google Play Store and Apple's App Store. The Indus Appstore is PhonePe's attempt at creating a more competitive and localised mobile app store economy for India, which is already the world's largest market for mobile apps.
Hard disk maker Seagate Technology on Thursday entered the retail segment in India with the launch of three external hard disk drives.
Smart devices maker Samsung continued to lead the smartphone market in the country for the fourth consecutive quarter in July-September with a 17.2 per cent market share, market research firm Counterpoint said on Wednesday. Shipments of iPhone maker Apple crossed 2.5 million units in the reported quarter thereby registering an all-time high in a quarter, according to the Counterpoint's Monthly India Smartphone Tracker report. "Samsung maintained its leading position for the fourth consecutive quarter with a 17.2 per cent share driven by the success of its A and M series.
State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, is on an outsourcing overdrive. After outsourcing the back-office work in foreign offices, the bank has now decided to rope in external agencies to set up automated teller machines to save on capital expenditure and reduce the rollout time. It plans to initially outsource 500 ATMs to vendors, including original equipment manufacturers.
Smartphones are full-featured mobile phones with personal computer like functionality with camera and email capabilities with a complete personal organiser. "We are working with our OEMs to bring to market smartphones with full in-built HSDPA (advance version of 3G mobile functions) next year," Qualcomm India and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation President Kanwalinder Singh told PTI.
In the last four months, the Centre has been reviewing all the "Buy-Global" cases that are in the contracting phase right now, Jaju said.
'We are seeing one of the highest discounts in recent years across companies.' 'October is a crucial month with several festivals coming up.'
The government on Monday said it was planning to make it mandatory for original equipment manufacturers to load fonts of major Indian languages in computers to facilitate language computing.
A meeting of the major steel consumers of the country will be held on Thursday to chalk out a detailed strategy amidst indications that steel producers may hike prices following increase in railway freight rates, industry sources said in Kolkata.
Low-cost carrier IndiGo has asked American aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (PW) to quickly provide engines for the airline to press its grounded planes back into service, sources said on Wednesday. The airline wants to increase its domestic frequency to fill the supply-side void created after Go First's exit, they added. Go First stopped operating flights from May 3 after filing an insolvency application with the National Company Law Tribunal.
The US tech major is planning to begin local production of its upcoming iPhone 12 by next April - within six months of its launch.
With the Supreme Court turning down Google's plea for a stay on the CCI order, the tech giant on Friday said it is reviewing the details of the decision which is limited to interim relief and did not decide the merits of the appeal. The company said it remains committed to users and partners and "will cooperate with the CCI on the way forward in parallel with our appeal." In a setback to Google, the Supreme Court on Thursday endorsed the order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) declining to grant an interim stay on the imposition of Rs 1,337 crore penalty on the US tech major by the competition regulator for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the Android mobile device ecosystem.
Claiming to be saddled with faulty equipment from China, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) on Monday called for a boycott of sports apparatus made in that country after the violent face-off in eastern Ladakh killed 20 Army personnel last week. The IWLF ordered four weightlifting sets, comprising barbells and weight plates, from Chinese company ZKC last year. The body said that the equipment turned out to be faulty and the weightlifters are no longer using them.
The institutional portion was subscribed 143 times, the wealthy investor portion by 360 times and the retail investor portion by 24.5 times.
Domestic automobile retail sales rose 10 per cent in June driven by sales growth across various segments, including passenger vehicles and two-wheelers, automobile dealers body FADA said on Thursday. Total retail sales last month rose to 18,63,868 units from 17,01,105 units in the year-ago period. Passenger vehicle retail sales increased 5 per cent to 2,95,299 units as against 2,81,811 units in June 2022.
Automobile retail sales in India rose 11 per cent in September as better supplies from manufacturers enabled dealers to ramp up customer deliveries amid the ongoing festive period, Federation Of Automobile Dealers Associations said on Tuesday. Last month, total retail sales stood at 14,64,001 units as compared to 13,19,647 units in September 2021. FADA noted that October is expected to witness even better overall sales due to the festive season further gathering steam.
Regulators must learn from past mistakes and act swiftly to prevent Big Tech from monopolising the AI ecosystem, argue Payal Malik and Nikita Jain.
InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of India's leading airline IndiGo, delivered a better than expected performance across most parameters in Q2FY24. The company posted its fourth consecutive quarter of net profit of Rs 188 crore. It had reported a loss of Rs 1,583 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
Germany-based Mutares SE & Co will acquire 80 per cent controlling stake in Mahindra & Mahindra's French unit Peugeot Motocycles. In a statement, the Mumbai-based auto major on Thursday said Mutares has submitted an irrevocable binding offer to acquire 50 per cent of equity and a controlling stake of 80 per cent in France-based Peugeot Motocycles (PMTC). As part of the deal, Purple, a fully-owned entity of Mutares Holding, would invest 7 million euros in PMTC, which would entitle it to a 50 per cent shareholding and 80.01 per cent voting rights in the French firm.
The semiconductor chip supply for the electric two-wheeler industry has normalised but the prices are up by nearly 50 per cent compared to pre-pandemic period, said Eric Vas, president, Urbanite, the electric vehicle (EV) business of Bajaj Auto. "It (the supply) has improved greatly. It has pretty much normalised. The problem is the cost. "The costs remain very high. Hopefully, the costs will start correcting themselves over this fiscal year," he said in an interview with Business Standard.
"Now the gof India has decided to soon initiate procurement from local industries to reduce import dependence," he said. Reddy, the Union Minister of State for Home, said for many years India was dependent on worldwide Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for procuring arms and ammunition.
The push given to rooftop solar installation in the Interim Budget ties in with its high rate of adoption in Tier-II and -III cities of India. If original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automobile industry, government, and the solar sector are to be believed, in cities of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Kerala, 45-50 per cent of electric-vehicle (EV) users are employing rooftop power to charge their vehicles. This is compared to the national average of 25 per cent, say industry sources.
111 light helicopters have to be built indigenously through joint ventures between Indian and foreign firms.
Dealers across brands are slashing prices by Rs 20,000 to over Rs 1 lakh, depending on the car model.
The Tata group is planning to invest $90 billion in new industries such as mobile components plant, semiconductor, electric vehicles, batteries, renewables energy and e-commerce by 2027. The Tata group's investment in India is far higher than the $75-billion investments planned by Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries and $55-billion investment planned by the Adani group in the next five years in the country, the Economist reported recently. The investment by the Tata group is a shift in its strategy to focus more in the home markets instead of international markets where the group lost money.
Automobile retail sales in India rose to a record high in November, aided by the best ever monthly performance across passenger vehicle and two-wheeler segments, dealers' body FADA said on Wednesday. The overall retail sales stood at 28,54,242 units last month, 18 per cent higher over 24,09,535 units in November 2022. Passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales rose to 3,60,431 units as compared to 3,07,550 units in the year-ago period, registering a growth of 17 per cent.
Stocks of defence-related companies have been firing on all cylinders on the bourses in calendar year 2023 (CY23). Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Bharat Electronics (BEL), Bharat Dynamics (BDL), Data Patterns, MTAR Tech, Cochin Shipyard and GRSE have rallied in the range of 21-96 per cent so far this year. By comparison, the BSE Sensex is up 8 per cent. The gains have been sustained on the back of robust export opportunities, a healthy project pipeline and the government's continued push for local manufacturing and indigenisation of defence equipment.
The presence of the private sector at a prestigious military training institution is an important acknowledgement of its growing capabilities in designing and manufacturing cutting edge aerospace and defence equipment, reports Ajai Shukla.
Exporters on Thursday sought a fund of Rs 750 crore for three years to tap USD 25 billion export potential in the US, aiming to seize potential opportunities that may arise as the US President-elect, Donald Trump, has threatened to impose high tariffs on Chinese goods. In its pre-Budget meeting with the finance ministry, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ashwani Kumar has also demanded extension of the five per cent Interest Equalisation Scheme (IES).
Will it be Noel Tata, Ratan Tata's half brother?
The reason? Price of open cell panels has gone up 15%. One of the main components in the manufacturing of TV sets, open cells contribute to 60%-65% of the manufacturing cost.
'The aim is also to probe how the ministry and testing agencies made negligence in examining these OEMs, so that such negligence is avoided in the future.'
The shortage of semiconductors globally is expected to persist through 2021 and recover to normal levels by the second quarter of 2022, which will constrain the production of many electronic equipment types this year, according to research firm Gartner. Semiconductors play a crucial role in everything, right from computers to appliances, communication devices, transportation systems to critical infrastructure. The breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic had temporarily disrupted semiconductor shipments.
Her reasoning is simple, "It's a Tata company. No shareholder will let go of this opportunity," she told Business Standard. When asked if the other reason for lining up for the IPO is the technology sector and the fact that the combination of Tata and tech is happening after almost two decades, she replied: "The name of the company and the group matter. Tata means stability and credibility," she added.
There is little appetite among combat aircraft engine makers to share the IP that results from a co-creation project. But Rolls-Royce is willing to walk the Aatmanirbhar talk.