News for 'digital inclusion'

Pak, China to go ahead with $10 bn Karachi-Peshawar railway project

Pak, China to go ahead with $10 bn Karachi-Peshawar railway project

Rediff.com28 Oct 2022

Prime Minister Sharif will be visiting Beijing with a high-powered delegation from November 1, 2022, where minutes of the joint coordination committee meeting will be signed.

Mutual funds' SIP collection jumps 31% to Rs 1.5 lakh cr in 2022

Mutual funds' SIP collection jumps 31% to Rs 1.5 lakh cr in 2022

Rediff.com16 Jan 2023

Contributions to mutual fund schemes through systematic investment plans or SIPs remain unfazed from the market volatility in 2022 with inflow growing to Rs 1.5 lakh crore in 2022, a surge of 31 per cent from a year earlier, due to higher retail participation. In comparison, an inflow of Rs 1.14 lakh crore through the route was registered in 2021 and Rs 97,000 crore in 2020, data with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed. Going ahead, SIP numbers are expected to continue to remain strong in 2023 as investors are increasingly appreciating the importance of regular investing through the route, Kaustubh Belapurkar, director - manager research at Morningstar Investment Adviser India, said.

India to grow at over 7% in FY23, says CEA

India to grow at over 7% in FY23, says CEA

Rediff.com20 Sep 2022

Chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Tuesday said Indian economy will grow at over 7 per cent, down from above 8 per cent of growth rate projected in January. He, however, said that the economic momentum and the animal spirits are "unmistakable". "India's own growth rates have come off the projections made in January down to about 7-plus per cent for the current financial year," Nageswaran said speaking at Global Fintech Fest event in Mumbai.

Modi's longest Parliament speech pressed all the right buttons

Modi's longest Parliament speech pressed all the right buttons

Rediff.com10 Aug 2023

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday slammed the opposition alliance INDIA as a collection of arrogant dynasties who will take India back by two centuries as he exuded confidence that people will bless the "garib ka beta" with a record-breaking mandate in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Only 25% of India's workforce is female, says McKinsey report

Only 25% of India's workforce is female, says McKinsey report

Rediff.com20 Jun 2018

The report suggests India in the longer term needs to create far more jobs in the formal organised sector -- 97 per cent of all female worker activity is in the informal sector

Highlights of Budget 2023-24

Highlights of Budget 2023-24

Rediff.com1 Feb 2023

Per capita income has more than doubled to Rs 1.97 lakh in around nine years. Indian economy has increased in size from being 10th to 5th largest in the world in the past nine years. Seven priorities of the Budget, 'Saptarishi', are inclusive development, reaching the last mile, infrastructure and investment, unleashing the potential, green growth, youth power and financial sector.

'Whatever we do, we have to make an impact'

'Whatever we do, we have to make an impact'

Rediff.com26 Jun 2023

'Professors can teach even when they are 90 because they don't lose their skill with words. Go deeper and there's spirituality in it.'

Force for good, says Modi on Quad

Force for good, says Modi on Quad

Rediff.com24 May 2022

Modi said Quad is moving ahead with a constructive agenda for the Indo-Pacific

How To Fix The Jobs Crunch

How To Fix The Jobs Crunch

Rediff.com14 Feb 2023

The only real solution to the jobs crisis, whether in India or abroad, is to direct tech innovation towards job enhancing sectors, and disincentivising job-replacing ones, observes R Jagannathan.

Onboarding of e-commerce giants crucial to ensure success of ONDC

Onboarding of e-commerce giants crucial to ensure success of ONDC

Rediff.com15 Sep 2022

When Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was conceived last December, the idea was to reduce the dominance of e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart. It was also to bring in a level-playing field for small merchants in India's fragmented but fast-growing $1-trillion retail market. However, those goals have changed now as large e-commerce players such as Flipkart, Amazon and Ecom Express are in various levels of talks with the ONDC team. They want to form partnerships like integrating with the network as well as providing their expertise to build it, according to the industry sources.

Use tech to scale up COVID-19 vaccination: Nilekani

Use tech to scale up COVID-19 vaccination: Nilekani

Rediff.com20 Apr 2021

'We are the only country in the world where everybody gets a digital vaccination certificate immediately... Then as we open up, as they did yesterday, which I think is a welcome move, you will have lots and lots of points where people will come in'

Telcos will be able to invest fearlessly: Sunil Mittal

Telcos will be able to invest fearlessly: Sunil Mittal

Rediff.com15 Sep 2021

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal on Wednesday said the telecom sector reforms approved by the Cabinet will ensure that the industry is able to invest fearlessly, and the company will respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to invest and accelerate the country's growth. Among a series of breathers for the stressed telecom sector, the Cabinet has approved the inclusion of revenues earned only from telecom services in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR), and the removal of penalty on dues to be paid to the government prospectively. Mittal congratulated and thanked the government for undertaking these seminal reforms to lift an industry that is at the core of his Digital India vision.

Big Tech Is Rushing To Train AI In Local Languages

Big Tech Is Rushing To Train AI In Local Languages

Rediff.com21 Feb 2023

Indian mobile and Web consumers speak in 30 languages and around 1,600 dialects.

'A Lot Of Demand For Niche Talent'

'A Lot Of Demand For Niche Talent'

Rediff.com11 Aug 2022

'Generic skills are in abundance, but technological advancements have left staple skills redundant.' 'It is why employers are now looking for alternate sources of hiring -- deploying gig workers, looking at Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities for relevant talent.'

No one dare eye a needlepoint of our land, says Amit Shah in Arunachal

No one dare eye a needlepoint of our land, says Amit Shah in Arunachal

Rediff.com11 Apr 2023

The era when anyone could encroach on India's land has passed and no one can dare to eye its border, Home Minister Amit Shah said in Kibithoo, Arunachal Pradesh, on Monday.

Flipkart to buyback employee stock options worth Rs 600 cr

Flipkart to buyback employee stock options worth Rs 600 cr

Rediff.com12 Jul 2021

Walmart-owned Flipkart will undertake a buyback employee stock options worth about Rs 600 crore, according to sources Earlier in the day, Flipkart announced raising $3.6 billion (about Rs 26,805.6 crore) in funding from a clutch of investors that valued the e-commerce major at $37.6 billion (about Rs 2.79 lakh crore). In an e-mail to employees, Flipkart group chief executive officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy lauded the critical role played by the staff in reaching this milestone.

Modi to launch 5G services on Oct 1

Modi to launch 5G services on Oct 1

Rediff.com30 Sep 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the much-awaited 5G services in India on October 1, 2022, an official release said on Friday. According to the release, 5G to be launched by the Prime Minister in select cities, will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years. The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is estimated to reach $450 billion by 2035. Capable of supporting ultra-high-speed internet services, the fifth generation or 5G is expected to unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits, serving as a transformational force for Indian society.

Major PSU banks to go live on account aggregator system by July-end

Major PSU banks to go live on account aggregator system by July-end

Rediff.com21 Jul 2022

After the finance minister directed public sector banks to join the account aggregator (AA) ecosystem, 5-6 major ones, including State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda are expected to go live by July-end. Sahmati, an industry alliance for the AA ecosystem, has been working with PSU banks to get them onboarded for quite some time now. So far, Union Bank of India and Punjab National Bank (PNB) have gone live on the AA ecosystem. While Union Bank has been live for a while, PNB went live earlier this month.

'When India grows, world grows': Modi at UNGA

'When India grows, world grows': Modi at UNGA

Rediff.com25 Sep 2021

Addressing the 76th United Nations General Assembly session here, Prime Minister Modi said that today, every sixth person in the world is an Indian.

Poll star Sitharaman woos middle class, women with tax and savings sops

Poll star Sitharaman woos middle class, women with tax and savings sops

Rediff.com1 Feb 2023

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday raised the personal income tax rebate limit, doled out sops on small savings and announced one of the biggest hikes in capital spending in the past decade as she did a tight rope walk in the Budget between staying fiscally prudent and meeting public expectations in the year before general elections.

'A ban would stop all innovations in cryptocurrencies in India'

'A ban would stop all innovations in cryptocurrencies in India'

Rediff.com9 Dec 2021

'Any entrepreneur who wants to create companies on blockchain will have to move outside India.' 'A ban will also wipe out the entire asset investing class that has built up in India.'

Mutual Funds' Rs 100 Trillion Opportunity

Mutual Funds' Rs 100 Trillion Opportunity

Rediff.com23 Mar 2023

Despite strong AUM growth, MFs lag behind other popular investment avenues. MFs received only 6 per cent of total household savings in 2021-2022.

China sees red over new US-led Indo-Pacific grouping, calls it 'economic Nato'

China sees red over new US-led Indo-Pacific grouping, calls it 'economic Nato'

Rediff.com24 May 2022

As US President Joe Biden launched a new trade deal with 12 Indo-Pacific nations, including India, to enhance trade, economic and investment opportunities, China, which sees the pact as a threat to its dominance in the region, went on the offensive against it, promising more opening up, while the official media here termed it as "economic Nato".

WhatsApp bets big on payments biz in India, plans big investments

WhatsApp bets big on payments biz in India, plans big investments

Rediff.com15 Apr 2022

A day after getting permission to raise its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) user base to 100 million, WhatsApp on Thursday said it has plans to make significant investments in 'payments on WhatsApp' across India, including India-first features and driving adoption. The company, however, did not share details of its plans. The Meta-owned messaging app got its first greenlight for its payments service from the National Payments Council of India (NPCI) in November 2020 with a cap of 20 million users. A year later, in November 2021, the limit was raised to 40 million users.

Nadella 'decodes future', calls to protect AI from bias

Nadella 'decodes future', calls to protect AI from bias

Rediff.com26 Feb 2020

The Hyderabad-born Nadella says it's not the AI engine, but the teams that build it as well as the algorithms to make it intelligent have to be diverse and inclusive, so that the solutions they build do not show up any sort of 'unconscious bias' that they may have.

Infosys completes 8 years of NYSE listing, to ring closing bell

Infosys completes 8 years of NYSE listing, to ring closing bell

Rediff.com11 Dec 2020

Infosys will ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Friday to commemorate its eighth anniversary of listing on the exchange. Infosys CEO Salil Parekh will ring the closing bell in a ceremony to celebrate the company's 2020 achievements, including its eight years of trading on the NYSE, rapid growth in the US, and its recently announced Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Vision for 2030, a regulatory filing said.

Modi, Suga vow to strengthen bilateral strategic ties

Modi, Suga vow to strengthen bilateral strategic ties

Rediff.com24 Sep 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga met in Washington, DC, on Thursday to discuss ways to further cement the bilateral strategic ties ahead of the first in-person Quad meeting to be hosted by US President Joe Biden.

Mr Jaitley, we expect a 'positive' Budget from you

Mr Jaitley, we expect a 'positive' Budget from you

Rediff.com24 Feb 2016

The new Budget would do well to fill up the gaps and pave a strong way forward to ensure that the optimism surrounding it is not short-lived.

Many firsts as Justice Chandrachud completes 100 days as CJI

Many firsts as Justice Chandrachud completes 100 days as CJI

Rediff.com16 Feb 2023

Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud's first 100 days in office saw the Supreme Court take a giant leap towards reforms, especially making courts more technology-friendly, and ensuring relatively fast judicial appointments including those of eight judges to the apex court.

E-commerce firms, start-ups unveil initiatives for women

E-commerce firms, start-ups unveil initiatives for women

Rediff.com8 Mar 2016

Amazon.in has announced the launch of first-of its-kind women-only outlets for delivering products.

'Unlike Twitter, Koo won't charge money for verification'

'Unlike Twitter, Koo won't charge money for verification'

Rediff.com10 Nov 2022

Koo -- the made-in-India rival of Twitter -- will not charge users for a verification badge, its co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna said as he took on the larger rival for allegedly first creating bots and now charging users for verification. Koo, which allows users to express views in Indian languages, has already crossed 50 million downloads and is now flying into the rival's nest, starting a campaign on Twitter by making itself prominently visible on verified handles and offering them better deals on its platform at no cost. Since taking over Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk has set in motion massive changes, sacking employees and talking of levying a $8 charge for 'verified' handles.

What is India's top risk stemming from Covid?

What is India's top risk stemming from Covid?

Rediff.com12 Jan 2022

A fracture of interstate relations could be India's biggest risk coming out of the pandemic. This topped a list of critical risks for India over the next two years, according to Geneva-based World Economic Forum's Executive Opinion Survey (EOS), whose results were released on Tuesday. Other top risks include a debt crisis in large economies, widespread youth disillusionment, failure of technology governance and digital inequality.

Democracy about being with people, within people: Modi

Democracy about being with people, within people: Modi

Rediff.com10 Dec 2021

In a virtual address at the Summit for Democracy hosted by US President Joe Biden, Modi said India would be happy to share its expertise in holding free and fair elections and in enhancing transparency in all areas of governance.

Clarity needed on tax framework for IT industry: Nasscom

Clarity needed on tax framework for IT industry: Nasscom

Rediff.com1 Feb 2021

The government has created a comprehensive budget with sharp focus on sustaining economic activity and investment but more clarity is needed on areas like taxation framework for adopting remote working on a long-term basis, IT body Nasscom said on Monday. The industry association noted that the IT/ITeS (Information Technology-enabled Services) industry has been a key driver of growth and jobs in 2020 and there is an opportunity to significantly accelerate it further. "For the IT sector, one of the biggest needs ahead of us is the development of future business models, with hybrid working becoming a reality. "We look forward for the government to provide clarity on providing a framework in direct taxes and indirect taxes for the industry to adopt WFH/remote working on a long-term basis," Nasscom said in a statement.

Card-less cash withdrawal to be enabled at all ATMs soon, says RBI

Card-less cash withdrawal to be enabled at all ATMs soon, says RBI

Rediff.com8 Apr 2022

In a bid to check fraud, the Reserve Bank on Friday decided to permit all banks to introduce card-less cash withdrawal through ATMs.

CEC, EC give up perks as part of austerity measure

CEC, EC give up perks as part of austerity measure

Rediff.com21 May 2022

According to an Election Commission statement, the two have decided not to avail exemption from income tax on sumptuary allowance and to surrender two of the three Leave Travel Concessions (LTC) available each year.

Strong deal pipeline may boost Q1 show of IT firms: Analysts

Strong deal pipeline may boost Q1 show of IT firms: Analysts

Rediff.com12 Jul 2021

A seasonally-strong quarter, with no immediate impact of the second wave and continued acceleration of digital transformation will allow the IT services sector to report a robust Q1 this financial year. However, key metrics to look out for will be attrition rate and margin lever as they will be impacted by salary hikes. Analysts expect growth for the quarter to be broad-based, with sectors like banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), retail, manufacturing, hi-tech and life sciences driving revenue growth. Analysts across brokerage houses are pegging revenue growth in the range of 1.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

The bank branch is dead; long live the branch

The bank branch is dead; long live the branch

Rediff.com22 Nov 2020

Banks now ride on what is defined as a "banking outlet". This is a fixed-point service unit, manned by either the bank's staff or its business correspondent (BC), where all kinds of services - acceptance of deposits, encashment of cheques, cash withdrawal or lending of money - are provided for a minimum of four hours per day, for at least five days a week. Banks are now turning to reposition the manner in which they acquire customers, report Abhijit Lele and Raghu Mohan.

Denial of justice would lead to anarchy: CJI Ramana

Denial of justice would lead to anarchy: CJI Ramana

Rediff.com14 May 2022

'One of the major challenges to the protection of rule of law and human rights is the inability of the formal justice system to deliver speedy and affordable justice to all'

Should India Inc get licence to operate banks? RBI still undecided

Should India Inc get licence to operate banks? RBI still undecided

Rediff.com16 Dec 2021

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao on Wednesday defended the central bank's decision of not allowing industrial houses to float banks, and said more deliberations are needed before RBI changes its stance on this issue agreed back in 2001. An internal working group (IWG) of the RBI had recommended allowing industrial groups into banking, but late last month the RBI said it kept on hold the two recommendations of allowing industrial houses and large non-banks to float banks. However, RBI had accepted 21 of the 33 recommendations of the group that submitted its report a year ago.