News for 'digital inclusion'

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.

'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.

'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.'

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.

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.

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.

'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.'

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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.

'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.

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.

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.

Debate, don't spread falsehood: Airtel on Net neutrality

Debate, don't spread falsehood: Airtel on Net neutrality

Rediff.com19 Apr 2015

Company has already reached out to its customers and employees

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.

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.

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.

Bresnan denies racism claim but apologises to Rafiq

Bresnan denies racism claim but apologises to Rafiq

Rediff.com17 Nov 2021

Commentator David 'Bumble' Lloyd also took to Twitter to apologise to Rafiq after he was accused of making disparaging comments on Asian cricketers to a third party.

India is a very special and important country: Zuckerberg

India is a very special and important country: Zuckerberg

Rediff.com15 Dec 2020

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday said India is a very special and important country with a remarkable entrepreneurship culture, as he sought to push deeper the just-launched payments services that allow users to make payments over WhatsApp. Last month, Facebook-owned WhatsApp received approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for rolling out its payments services in India. In 2018, WhatsApp started testing its UPI-based payments services in India -- a global first -- with about a million users.

Sitharaman bets big on infra spending to take highway to growth

Sitharaman bets big on infra spending to take highway to growth

Rediff.com1 Feb 2022

While she primed up spending on infrastructure to create jobs and boost economic activity, Sitharaman did not tinker with income tax slabs or tax rates. Her Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 2022 proposed a massive 35 per cent jump in capital expenditure to Rs 7.5 lakh crore, coupled with rationalisation of customs duty, an extension of time for setting up new manufacturing companies and plans for starting a digital currency and tax crypto assets.

PM may announce these health sector initiatives in I-Day speech

PM may announce these health sector initiatives in I-Day speech

Rediff.com14 Aug 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to announce a host of initiatives for the health sector on Independence Day with the highlights being the 'Heal in India' and 'Heal by India' projects and a roadmap to eliminate sickle cell disease by 2047, official sources said.

Govt issues guidelines for online classes by schools

Govt issues guidelines for online classes by schools

Rediff.com14 Jul 2020

The guidelines have been framed by the ministry, following concerns raised by parents about schools conducting online classes like regular schools, which has increased children's screen time after the COVID-19 pandemic mandated a shift from classroom teaching to online learning as schools continue to remain shut for over four months.

RBI's retail direct scheme could be a game changer

RBI's retail direct scheme could be a game changer

Rediff.com12 Nov 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday launch two schemes of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that may go a long way in changing how the household sector invests, and complains if anything goes wrong with their savings. These schemes - retail direct and an integrated ombudsman - will be launched by the Prime Minister virtually, in the presence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. With the introduction of retail direct, a common man can directly take a position in government securities (G-Sec), considered to be the safest asset class a sovereign can offer.

This is the next battleground for PhonePe, Amazon and Google

This is the next battleground for PhonePe, Amazon and Google

Rediff.com10 Oct 2020

The size of the Indian financial services market could touch around $340 billion in the next few years.

Students going abroad: PM nudges pvt firms to expand medical education

Students going abroad: PM nudges pvt firms to expand medical education

Rediff.com26 Feb 2022

His remarks assume significance at a time when a large number of Indian students, many of them studying medicine, have been stuck in Ukraine following the Russian attack on that country.

e-Payment regulations stuck as RBI unwilling to cede control

e-Payment regulations stuck as RBI unwilling to cede control

Rediff.com15 Dec 2016

Watal panel had suggested an independent payments regulator be set up.

COVAX urges equal recognition of WHO approved vaccines

COVAX urges equal recognition of WHO approved vaccines

Rediff.com2 Jul 2021

Calling for 'equal recognition of vaccines', COVAX on Thursday urged all governments to recognise as 'fully vaccinated' those people who have received COVID-19 vaccines deemed safe by World Health Organisation, saying any move that restricts travel of people based on the vaccines they have received is 'counter-effective, both in spirit and outcome'.

India Wants World's Money, But Not World's Modernity

India Wants World's Money, But Not World's Modernity

Rediff.com14 Oct 2022

A bit of economic reforms stalled and decisions delayed -- what Narayana Murthy spoke of -- don't hurt if a country's compassionate and inclusive social fabric has survived intact; if the country is happy, observes Shyam G Menon.