Ashok Kumar Gupta, chairman of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), has never minced words while talking about the giant technology companies, referring to them on multiple occasions as "centres for entrenched and unchecked dominance". The anti-trust regulator has, in fact, been cracking down on big technology companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and others, after they were hauled up by regulators and lawmakers in Europe and Australia. However, in several instances, existing regulations have prevented the CCI from going all out against these companies for anti-competitive activities.
Reliance Industries (RIL) has been distilling its investment strategy to meet new goals. The share of the new energy vertical - its key focus area - accounts for more than a fourth (26 per cent) of the total war chest of $6.4 billion, ploughed into acquisitions and picking up stake from 2018 to date, reveals the latest Morgan Stanley data. Nearly half the incremental investments made on deals by RIL between August 2020 and September this year ($3.3 billion) has been spent on new energy - acquiring global companies with technology and expertise.
Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer K Rajaraman on Friday took charge as the new telecom secretary. His joining comes following the superannuation of Anshu Prakash on September 30. "Shri K Rajaraman, IAS (TN:89) takes charge as Secretary, @DoT_India in presence of senior officials of the department," a PIB tweet said. He was serving as the additional secretary for investments at the Department of Economic Affairs before being promoted to the position of secretary, DoT.
Reliance Industries (RIL) was the top-performing index stock on Friday (May 26) and closed the day with gains of 2.8 per cent, against a 1 per cent rise in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex during the day. RIL's performance on the bourses on Friday was, however, an exception, and the stock has struggled to beat the broader market for nearly two years now. The company's share price is currently at the same level as in September 2021, while the benchmark index is up 6 per cent in the period.
The Tata group on Thursday launched its super app, Tata Neu, bringing all its brands in one platform as it seeks to play a major role in the Indian ecommerce space currently dominated by the likes of Amazon and Flipkart.
Shivani Shinde reports. The youngest member of the Tata group, the much-awaited Tata Neu, has finally been launched for people across the country. The 'super app' offers a number of services ranging from financial services to tech, travel and even groceries. The app takes off with a customer base of 120 million, with 2,500 offline stores. According to the Tata group, the app will be a one-stop destination for all consumer needs. The super app also offers a bouquet of financial offers like Unified Payments Interface (UPI), bill payments, loans and insurance. Tata Neu will also provide other services like fashion, gadgets, groceries, travel and health.
'There are occasions when the prices of individual items like food raise inflation; then supply-side measures must be taken.' 'But if there is continued inflation, it means liquidity is aggravating the situation.'
Eleven start-ups completed a programme launched by Gennext Ventures.
India does not have the facilities needed for developing advanced aerospace products. There is only one wind tunnel in the country, the almost six decade old one in the National Aeronautics Laboratory.
Amazon had decided not to participate in the bidding as the company did not find it a viable option for growth in India
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared utilisation of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for provision of mobile connectivity in 7,287 uncovered villages across five states at an estimated cost of Rs 6,466 crore. Briefing media on the Cabinet decisions, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said these uncovered villages of 44 aspirational districts across five states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha will get 4G-based mobile services.
Tata Group chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran on Thursday said the group's recently launched super app Neu is on an open architecture and it will host non-group brands as well. The Tatas finally launched its super app Tata Neu on April 7, after piloting it for months, but the group chairman claimed there was no delay in the commercial launch. Stating that the app has received an overwhelming response in the past seven days of going live, Chandrasekaran said the app is on an open architecture and will host products and services from non-Tata group companies.
The company's net profit was Rs 5,972 crore in the same period of 2014-15 fiscal.
PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 6 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Titan, L&T, NTPC and ICICI Bank.
Jiophone Next will be available from Diwali for Rs 6,499 per unit for customers wanting to buy the smartphone without financing option, Jio and Google said in a joint statement on Friday. Jio is also giving a finance option for the Jiophone Next where users can make an upfront payment of Rs 1,999 and pay the rest in easy monthly instalments spread across 18-24 months, the company said in a statement. "This is the first time that a phone in the entry-level category is getting a financing option.
Indian companies realise several business opportunities ahead of International Yoga Day on Sunday
Billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday said China will feel increasingly isolated as rising nationalism, shift in supply chains and technology restrictions threaten the world's second-biggest economy. This is because globalisation, of which China was seen as the foremost champion, is at an inflection point. "It will look very different from what we had come to accept in a largely unipolar world," he said.
Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday affirmed the ratings of two major Indian IT services companies, Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) and Infosys. In two separate statements, Moody's also retained stable outlook for both the companies. Moody's expects Infosys' revenues to climb by around 13 per cent for the financial year ending March 31, 2023, but moderate to around 8 per cent in the next 2024 fiscal.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Friday backed the proposed data privacy and cryptocurrency bills, saying India is putting in place the most forward-looking policies and regulations. Ambani, who has been a votary of Indians owning and controlling their own data and the nation drafting strict rules around how digital information is stored and shared, said nations have the right to build and protect strategic digital infrastructure. Stating that data is the 'new oil', he said every citizen's right to privacy has to be safeguarded. "India is putting in place the most forward-looking policies and regulations," he said at the Infinity Forum, hosted by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
A *lot* of glamour on this red carpet.
If your flight is cancelled or delayed or you miss one, a travel insurance policy can cover the costs at such times and help you book a new one.
'Sector funds like IT funds should be included only in the satellite portfolio.' 'Limit your exposure to IT sector funds to around 5-10 per cent of your equity portfolio.'
'If you are going to have only a handful of telecom players on whom the entire dream of Digital India rests, it's important they are financially sustainable.'
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Thursday said Jio and Google have jointly developed a power-packed and affordable smartphone 'JioPhone Next', which will be available in the market from September 10. Ambani promised that JioPhone Next will be the most affordable smartphone not just in India but globally. Speaking at RIL's annual general meeting, Ambani asserted that an ultra-affordable 4G smartphone is essential to make India '2G-mukt' (free of 2G).
After lagging behind other segments in the automotive (auto) space over the past few years, two-wheelers are expected to reverse their volume underperformance. After witnessing a 36.3 per cent volume decline over the 2018-19 (FY19) through 2021-22 (FY22) periods, the sector staged a recovery in 2022-23 (FY23), with volumes rising 17 per cent. While volumes are still a quarter lower than the FY19 peak of 21 million units, a double-digit growth trajectory is expected to prolong.
Adani Data Networks said it plans to create a private 5G network for its operations. However, it acquired the spectrum in the last 5G auction alongside three telecom companies. Subsequently, it was granted a unified licence for access services, which enables it to provide telecom services in the country.
Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) has emerged as the country's largest wealth creator, adding a staggering Rs 9.6 trillion over the past five years, according to Motilal Oswal's 26th Annual Wealth Creation Study. In doing so, the Mukesh Ambani-led company has beaten its own record of Rs 5.6 trillion generated in 2014-19. The study covered financial year 2015-16 (FY16) to FY21 and ranks the top 100 companies in descending order of absolute wealth created, subject to the company's stock price outperforming the BSE Sensex. The firms were also ranked according to speed (price CAGR during the period).
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has slapped a penalty of Rs 2,000 crore on Vodafone Idea and Rs 1,050 crore on Bharti Airtel based on sector regulator Trai's recommendation five years ago, according to sources. The DoT has given three weeks time to the telecom operators to pay the penalty, a source said while sharing the content of the demand notice served to the companies on Thursday. When contacted Bharti Airtel spokesperson said, "We are deeply disappointed with the arbitrary and unfair demand based on Trai recommendations of 2016 relating to provisions of point of interconnect to a new operator.
Industry sources said all the iPhone 7 handsets shipped in had been sold out.
The deal, as well as some other strategic and financial investments in works, will help Ambani cut debt at RIL.
With the objective of making India a manufacturing hub for domestic and foreign companies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the 'Make in India' initiative.
Reliance Industries on Friday reported more than doubling of its March quarter net profit to Rs 13,227 crore as improvement in petrochemical and consumer business countered continued weakness in refining business.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday asked private sector companies to clear dues to small businesses within 45 days and admitted that the central departments and enterprises are also not making payments to them on time. She conceded that the Centre, states and state-owned enterprises too have outstanding dues to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The minister said that at a meeting with big businesses here two days ago, she had appealed to them to ensure that the dues of small businesses, who are the backbone of the economy, are cleared on time.
Benchmark Sensex declined 224 points on Wednesday, snapping its four-session winning streak, mainly due to sell-off in IT and pharma counters amid rising concerns over possible aggressive interest rate hikes to tame high inflation. The 30-share index rebounded more than 1,200 points from the early lows before settling at 60,346.97 points, a total loss of 224.11 points or 0.37 per cent compared to Tuesday's closing level. The broader NSE Nifty closed lower 66.30 points or 0.37 per cent at 18,003.75 points.
Fitch Ratings has upgraded Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) rating to 'BBB', one notch above India's sovereign rating, as the company benefits from cash flow generation across diversified business segments and continuation of deleveraging. In a statement, Fitch said it has upgraded RIL's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) to 'BBB', from 'BBB-', with a negative outlook. At the same time, the agency has affirmed RIL's long-term local-currency IDR at 'BBB+' with a stable outlook.
Indians prefer to buy electronic products such as smartphones offline. The reason being the ability to "touch and feel"
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday pitched for using the USO Fund to subsidise smartphones for select groups to help penetrate the digital revolution and said India should make the rollout of 5G or the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks a national priority. As much as 5 per cent of the licence fee paid by telecom operators goes to the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund, which was set up in April 2002 for achieving universal service objectives by providing access to telephone services in rural and remote areas and creation of infrastructure for mobile services and broadband in these areas. However, according to the CAG, less than half of the funds so collected are transferred for the said purpose.
Eyeing a windfall of close to Rs 50,000 crore, the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Tuesday floated the media rights tender for the next five seasons of IPL from 2023 to 2027.
Jio Platforms is expected to use its 388 million mobile phone subscribers as the cornerstone of an e-commerce and digital services business to rival Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart.
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains to close lower for a fourth straight session on Thursday due to selling in IT and banking shares amid weak global equities. The 30-share BSE benchmark settled 98 points or 0.18 per cent lower at 53,416.15. During the day, it hit a high of 53,861.28 and a low of 53,163.77. The broader NSE Nifty also pared initial gains and ended 28 points or 0.18 per cent down to settle at 15,938.65.