WhatsApp's advantage is that it is the first app millions of Indian check first thing in the morning and innumerable times during the day and night.
More people using the internet for financial and e-commerce transactions has led to job creation in a niche segment. Specialists who can help deal with rising technology (tech) frauds are in high demand amid the surge in electronic transactions during the pandemic. Demand for tech fraud experts has risen upwards of 35 per cent, reveals employment and human resource services company TeamLease Services.
Apple will next week open its first retail store in India, in signs of importance the iPhone manufacturer attaches to the world's fastest growing smartphones market. The company will open its first official store in Mumbai on April 18 and the second in Delhi on April 20. The company at present sells its products in India through exclusive Apple Premium Reseller (APR) stores, large format retail chains like Reliance Digital, Croma etc, mutli-brand retail stores and through e-commerce platforms.
The government on Monday clarified that transactions involving royalty/ technical services fee would be taxable under income-tax and not be liable for equalisation levy that is paid by foreign companies for conducting business with Indian parties, while explaining what would construe online sale of goods or services.
Thanks to a big payout by the group's cash cow, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Sons is set to earn a record-high equity dividend worth nearly Rs 33,350 crore from the group's listed companies for FY23, up 130 per cent from Rs 14,529 crore in FY22. Nearly 90 per cent of this, or around Rs 30,500 crore, is estimated to accrue to Tata Sons while the rest will show up in its profit & loss account for FY24. This is because nearly 80 per cent of the dividend payout by TCS for FY23 was done before the end of the financial year through three quarterly interim instalments and a special one in January this year.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday adjourned till February 25, the hearing on the plea of e-commerce major Amazon, seeking an interim stay over the order passed by fair trade regulator CCI, which suspended the over-two-year-old approval for its deal with Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL). When the matter was called for hearing, a two-member bench expressed its difficulties to take up the matter on Monday, as one of the members is retiring in the next four days, after completing his tenure. In this matter, NCLAT would also have to hear other parties such as fair trade regulator CCI, before passing an order and it would take some more time and then the retiring member would not be a part of the bench.
The probe is being conducted under various sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after the central probe agency recently received a communication from the commerce ministry seeking "necessary action" against e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart pertaining to certain multi-brand retail businesses and an observation made by the Delhi High Court in relation to Amazon.
Ajit Balakrishnan offers a thinking man's guide to the state of ecom in a nation of shopkeepers.
Most players are looking to invest anywhere between $500 million and $1 billion in new ventures in the next couple of years, said experts on this segment.
The e-commerce companies believe the government is using this exercise to take an unauthorised look into their financials, shareholding and operations.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will hear e-commerce major Amazon's interim plea on February 14, seeking a stay over the order passed by fair trade regulator CCI that had suspended the over two-year-old approval for its deal with Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL). A three-member bench on Monday directed to list Amazon's plea on February 14 to pass an interim order and stay the operations of the order passed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in December last year till it finally decides the matter. "The registry is directed to list on February 14 for hearing," said the NCLAT bench. The appellate tribunal also directed to list the appeals filed by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and All India Consumer Product Distributors Federation on the same date.
Despite a firm improvement in the operational metrics of new-age companies during the January-March quarter (Q4FY23), analysts remain cautiously optimistic about their outlook. This is because the shares of these firms are still not risk free, as per analysts, given the companies are yet to make profits. Kranthi Bathini, director-equity strategy at WealthMills Securities says that while the sentiment around these stocks, which includes Paytm and Zomato, has turned positive, it remains to be seen how soon these firms turn profitable and improve margins.
More people working in India's technology industry have lost their jobs in the first six months of 2023 than in the corresponding period in 2022.
The churn in Indian labour markets will be led by technology-driven sectors like artificial intelligence and machine learning (38 per cent), followed by data analysts and scientists (33 per cent) and data entry clerks (32 per cent).
Shivamogga superintendent of police BM Lakshmi Prasad said the arrested persons were working towards fulfilling these ideologies in the country.
Logistics services provider Delhivery is likely to launch its downsized initial public offering (IPO) this week, said people in the know. The Softbank-backed firm may trim its issue size from Rs 7,460 crore to Rs 5,500 crore to align with the volatile market conditions, sources said. Sources added the fresh issue component of the IPO could be reduced to Rs 4,500 crore and the OFS component to Rs 1,000 crore.
Amazon India has decided to shut down 'Amazon Distribution', according to sources. This follows its recent decision to shut its food delivery and edtech offerings. The moves are part of the annual operating planning review process amid global macroeconomic uncertainty. The e-commerce giant is looking to focus on its core businesses, sources said.
'If Threads doesn't become a distinct identity, and just a text version in the shadows of Instagram, then it may fizzle out.'
Salaries in India are expected to increase by 10.3 per cent in 2023, highest among major world economies and Asian peers, according to Aon plc. In 2022, salaries in India witnessed an actual increase of 10.6 per cent in 2022. As per Aon plc's 28th Annual Salary Increase Survey in India, double-digit salary growth will continue in India despite economic volatility, largely as a response to high attrition rates.
The government said that far from targeting any US entity, the purpose was to ensure fairness, healthy competition, and to exercise the ability of governments to tax businesses having a nexus with the Indian market through digital operations.
Future Retail on Saturday said it has missed the due date for payment of Rs 3,494.56 crore to banks and lenders as it could not sell assets due to its ongoing litigation with amazon, impacting its monetisation plans. Future Retail had last year entered into a one-time restructuring (OTR) scheme for COVID-19 hit companies with a consortium of banks and lenders and was to discharge "an aggregate amount of Rs 3,494.56 crore" on or before December 31, 2021. Kishore Biyani-led Future group firm would be "co-operating for completing the monetisation of the specified business within next 30 days" as per directions of the banks to resolve the current situation, said a regulatory filing by Future Retail.
The Union government on Tuesday said it has issued 202 notices to e-commerce players for incorrect declaration of 'country of origin' on products on their platforms in the last one year. The maximum number of such violations were found with respect to electronic appliances, followed by clothing and home products. Out of 217 notices, 202 notices were issued for violations relating to 'country of origin' norm.
The accused robbed them of about Rs 2 lakh on Saturday when they were on their way in a taxi to Gurugram in Haryana to deliver the money.
A hot sale of a Chinese product, whether assembled in India or anywhere else in the world, may make the country of origin rule fall by the wayside. Moreover, its execution is challenging for businesses as there are no clear guidelines or definitions from the authorities on what constitutes 'country of origin'.
'With this revamp the anonymous journey of the user will begin wherein he will not have to sign in every time he accesses the app.'
Reliance Industries on Saturday said its Rs 24,713-crore deal with the Future Group cannot go ahead as secured creditors of the latter have voted against it.
Half the stocks in the Nifty 100 index have seen a reduction in their target price by analysts this year due to fears of lacklustre earnings growth and uncertain economic environment. Adani Green Energy, FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa), Adani Ports & SEZ and Indus Towers are among the companies that have seen the maximum cut in TPs during the first three months of calendar 2023, shows Bloomberg data. On the other hand, Canara Bank, JSW Steel and Bank of Baroda have seen the highest increase in TPs.
Jiomart B2B is the latest among organised supply-chain companies to bite the bullet, shutting down its warehouses, and asking its employees to leave. Why are companies finding it difficult to sustain the supply-chain business? Experts point out that gross margins in supplying fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) are very low.
E-commerce companies that fall within the scope of the equalisation levy include Adobe, Uber, Udemy, Zoom.us, Expedia, Alibaba, Ikea, LinkedIn, Spotify, and eBay.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty Next 50 Index could undergo large-scale changes if the proposed tweaks to its computation methodology get implemented. In a discussion paper floated recently, NSE Indices, which owns and manages a portfolio of over 350 indices under the Nifty brand, proposed that only stocks that are traded in the futures and options (F&O) segment can be part of the index. Currently, as many as 11 non-F&O stocks are part of the Nifty Next 50 Index, which, as the name suggests, represents the next rung of large and liquid securities after the Nifty50.
The cities where services have resumed include Bengaluru, Mysore, Pune, Ludhiana, Noida, Gurugram, Raipur, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Industry experts believe it would be at least 4-5 days before the backlog of orders can be cleared.
The US on Wednesday announced tariffs on six countries, including India, that have imposed or are considering equalisation levy/digital services tax on e-commerce companies but immediately suspended the taxes for up to six months to provide additional time to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation at the OECD and G20. United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai, in a statement, announced the conclusion of the one-year Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted by Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK. "The final determination in those investigations is to impose additional tariffs on certain goods from these countries, while suspending the tariffs for up to 180 days to provide additional time to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation at the OECD and in the G20 process," the statement said.
With 6.44 per cent of shares in his bracket, Jack will continue to exert his influence on China's biggest e-commerce company through his lifetime membership with the Alibaba Partnership, reported CNN.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Amazon and Future group to request the NCLAT to decide the plea challenging the revocation of sanction to the US e-commerce major for its deal with Future group's firm by the Competition Commission of India. The suggestion was made by a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana while adjourning to March 9 the hearing on Amazon's appeal against the January 5 order of the Delhi high court staying the ongoing arbitration proceedings before an arbitral tribunal over Future Retail's Rs 24,500-crore merger deal with Reliance Retail. The bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli, deferred the hearing after brief arguments on being told that the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) is hearing another appeal of Amazon related to the merger deal.
At the heart of the issue is the way e-commerce is defined in the current draft policy.
The Supreme Court made it clear on Thursday it will not allow stalling of the arbitral proceedings pending before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) pertaining to the ongoing legal tussle between US e-commerce major Amazon and the Future Group, saying the sanctity of such proceedings needed to be maintained. "You (Future group and others) cannot keep stultifying the proceeding before the arbitral tribunal and this is just a ploy to delay the proceeding. "These are all ploys by well-heeled parties to delay the arbitration proceeding.
Besides growing tech and digital enhancements, the firms are ramping up the hiring of more delivery partners and reinforcing existing Covid protocols.
US e-commerce giant Amazon has written to Ajay Tyagi, chairman of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), to take action as is necessary to comply with the Supreme Court Judgment, related to the $3.4-billion merger deal between Future Group and Reliance. Amazon has requested Sebi to direct the Indian stock exchanges to withdraw the Observation Letters related to this deal with immediate effect. In January this year, Sebi had given a go-ahead onto Future Group's scheme of arrangement and sale of assets to Reliance, based on which the Bombay Stock Exchange also granted its "no adverse observation" report to the Rs 24,713-crore ($3.4 billion) deal.
Once stability returns to the secondary market, companies that have obtained approval from Sebi will start tapping the market.
E-commerce giant Amazon on Thursday announced a $250 million (about Rs 1,873 crore) fund that will focus on digitising small and medium businesses, and driving innovation in the areas of agri-tech and health-tech in India. "Small and medium sized businesses are often the engine and the lifeblood of economies and I think it's true in India as well. "And we are very passionate about trying to enable acceleration of SMBs in fuelling innovation and the economy in India," Amazon Web Services CEO Andrew Jassy said.