PEOPLE NEWS: September 2019

Monday, September 30, 2019

Azam pips Kohli to become third quickest to 11 ODI tons

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2nd ODI: Azam, Shinwari shine as Pakistan beat Sri Lanka

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Pakistan to replace UN envoy Maleeha Lodhi

Pakistan is replacing its Permanent Representative to the United Nations just 72 hours after its Prime Minister Imran Khan returned home after what was portrayed domestically as a star performance on the Kashmir issue. Lodhi is being replaced by Munir Akram, a former envoy who is being sent back for a second stint in New York after a break of nearly 15 years.

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2nWvcpw

Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries wants bellwether tag back

Tech firm will make strategic bets in sectors like Cloud, digital engineering, data and IoT.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2mx8oMS

PM didn't endorse Trump's candidature: Jaishankar

"I think, please, look very carefully at what the Prime Minister said. My recollection of what the Prime Minister said was that candidate Trump had used this ("Abki baar, Trump sarkar"). So PM is talking about the past," external affairs minister S Jaishankar said.

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2o0JFAQ

India look to reinforce supremacy vs South Africa

Victory in the three-match series would see India break the record of 10 straight home series wins they currently hold with Australia. Virat Kohli's India registered their 10th home series win with a 2-0 sweep over the West Indies last year. They have not lost a home series since 2013.

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2oJG76k

India look to reinforce their supremacy in familiar conditions against South Africa

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Manchester United held by Arsenal as both struggle to shine

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Won't like any state to tell us what to buy: India

"We have always maintained that what we buy — the sourcing of military equipment — is very much a sovereign right," Foreign minister S Jaishankar told reporters ahead of a meeting with secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2n4ONnz

Yuvraj says India doesn't need No.4 batsman

Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh once again took a dig at the Indian team's middle-order ordeal. Harbhajan Singh tweeted on Sunday that why Suryakumar Yadav is overlooked despite scoring heavily in domestic cricket and Yuvraj responded by saying that India doesn't need No.4 batsman as their top order is very strong.

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2oyVJJO

India needs to get a move on to transform urban mobility

Nasscom report flags the need to shift towards cleaner tech.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2nYYHqW

In eye of storm, CG Power CEO Neelkant resigns

MUMBAI: CG Power & Industrial Solutions Managing Director and CEO KN Neelkant has resigned from his post after being sent on leave since instances of financial irregularities came to light that may have caused the company to lose Rs 3,000 crore.Sources told ET that the board of the company asked Neelkant to step down, as the company is trying to resolve its debt issues and a change in promoter group and management is understood to be a prerequisite for creditors for restructuring the company's debt. The banking sector is dealing with huge stressed assets, and in the current environment, it is unlikely that banks would restructure debt of a company if the promoter has come under the scanner.Prior to this, CG board asked Chairman Gautam Thapar and Chief Financial Officer VR Venkatesh from their positions for their alleged role and is now engaging with its lenders to resolve the debt issue faced by the cash-strapped company.Speaking to ET exclusively post the board meeting Neelkant said, "The turn of events in today's board Meeting is indeed quite saddening and it is all the more disheartening to see that the disclosure released by the company to the stock exchanges, reflects a picture different from the amicable separation which was discussed in today’s board meeting. Unfortunately, while it was me who had flagged the suspicious transactions earlier this year and despite my having been widely credited for the operational turnaround of the company, I was asked to go on leave and have now been asked to step down".A CG Power executive involved with the development told ET, “Mr Neelkanth was the one who over the last few years has made wrong representation about the company's accounts to the board, the audit committee and other stakeholders; such as analysts, banks etc. It's a voluntary resignation, not forced.”Another executive told ET that the board was of the view that as CEO and MD, he cannot be absolved of responsibilities.71384395 CG Power notified the exchanges that Neelkant tendered his resignation orally at the board meeting on Monday, which was recorded through video-conferencing. “Given the ongoing investigations and enquiries, the board of directors accepted K.N. Neelkant's resignation, subject to and without prejudice to any of the company's rights, contentions, entitlements and remedies, whether in law or in equity, including the right to subsequently undertake actions, if needed, towards termination for cause,” the board said in a statement.CG Power set up an operations committee (OC) to preserve value in the company after creditors of parent company Avantha Holdings started invocation of pledge of shares. This committee was informed of some irregular financial transactions that were executed by the top brass of CG without following due processes and board approvals. Subsequently, the company appointed law firm Vaish Associates which found that at least nine transactions were undertaken wrongfully, which included related party transactions and round tripping, that may have led to CG losing Rs 3,000 crore.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2mregHi

How to put India's shadow banks on firmer ground

By Andy MukherjeeWhen a well-capitalized shadow bank’s credit rating goes from A+ to D in 10 days, it shows how fragile lending to India’s builders has become. It also highlights the policy error of not addressing the root of the problem: land.In June, three months before the unexpected default by Altico Capital India Ltd., I proposed a land bank that would buy stalled property projects from struggling developers. The bank would pay with government-backed debt securities, which the builders would use to repay loans.To see how this could prevent liquidity problems from cascading into solvency issues, consider the Altico default. The Clearwater Capital Partners-backed firm missed a measly $2.8 million interest payment after its tight but manageable repayment schedule of $135 million became a squeeze at $233 million in the financial year that started April 1. The 63 cents of equity behind every dollar Altico owed to its creditors was of little help. Spooked by its $900 million-plus loan book for residential and commercial real-estate projects, two lenders exercised put options or reset the interest rates so high that they had to be prepaid.India’s banks are rapidly losing faith in the shadow financiers that lend to property builders. A year after the collapse of IL&FS Group, a specialist infrastructure financier, the crisis of confidence is getting worse. Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. shares fell as much 38% on Monday after the central bank imposed lending restrictions on Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd., a deposit-taking institution the financier has been trying to merge with to bolster its funding sources.71384366 The nervousness with shadow banks isn’t about the quality of their retail loans, which are still fairly resilient. It’s their lumpy advances that are worrying investors. Dewan Housing Finance Corp., which defaulted in June, underwrites mortgages, but it also has $5 billion of exposure to developers. As banks try to restructure Dewan, a contentious issue is the haircut they’ll have to take if the lender is forced to sell its builder loan book at a deep discount.Prospective buyers are bound to haggle. There’s no assurance that the builders will complete and sell the apartments. The evidence points to the contrary. Many private funds that began investing in Indian real estate six to nine years ago have been unable to return even the principal to investors, despite repeatedly extending the life of the investments. India’s delayed apartment units are a $22 billion mess, according to the website Moneycontrol, which notes several reasons. Amid a cyclical slowdown, demand for premium housing has collapsed; shantytown rehabilitation got stuck in a compliance and clearance quagmire; and nobody bothered to fix the broken plumbing – the regulator looked the other way even as the fund managers kept collecting fees.Now everyone’s woken up. The $1.4 billion last-mile fund that the Indian government has proposed to finance completion of mothballed middle-income and affordable housing units won’t even skim the surface of the stress. That’s because this money won’t be available to builders whose debt has already been marked down by banks as nonperforming or those that are facing insolvency proceedings. While New Delhi’s reluctance to bail out private industry is understandable, it must recognize that the second-highest number of in-court insolvency cases in India involve real-estate firms. A solution that sidesteps them will be of little help.71384374 Instead of lending them money, New Delhi should force developers to disgorge delayed projects to a land bank. They’ll get a fair value, but in the form of special sovereign-guaranteed bonds that must be used to repay loans. If a lighter balance sheet allows builders to complete other projects and exit the crisis stronger, fine. If not, they’ll go into bankruptcy – but with a lower debt load. As a government entity, the land bank would be able to obtain construction clearances more easily. To boost the value of its real estate holdings, it could also be allowed more liberal building-height and land-use norms. It could then auction blocks to developers and use the proceeds to redeem the bonds. If executed well, taxpayers might even end up making a profit. And buyers will get the homes they’ve paid for.What’s more, once a land bank is operational, it could even take over and sell the surplus land held in India’s public-sector enterprises. That would generate fiscal resources for the government. But that’s for later. The more urgent need is to reduce the risk to the financial system by forcing the real-estate industry to deleverage. Shares of Piramal Enterprises Ltd. fell 7% on Friday, and slid another 5.5% on Monday, after the Economic Times reported that talks for a $1 billion capital injection by SoftBank Group Corp. into the Mumbai-based conglomerate’s housing finance unit had fallen through. The sticking point was developer loans, the report added, citing unidentified people close to the situation. According to Jefferies estimates, 89% of Piramal’s loan book consists of advances to builders.Confidence in counterparties won’t return until the collateral woes are taken care of. A land bank could square the circle.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2n7nmtl

World’s biggest money manager to add Indian bonds after selloff

BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest money manager, plans to add to its holdings of Indian bonds, lured by one of the highest yields among emerging Asian nations and the promise of more monetary easing.“We are looking at some stabilization and would potentially look for adding exposure” after the risks from the likely increase in federal borrowings settle, Neeraj Seth, head of Asian credit at the firm, said in a phone interview.Rupee debt sold off in the past two months, the longest run of losses in a year, after the government’s surprise $20 billion tax cut sparked fears of missing deficit targets. At the same time, with the 10-year yield at 6.70 per cent, India offers plenty of premium to developed markets.71384265 “The current 10-year yield level has started to look attractive,” Seth said, adding the fund likes the five-year and 10-year bonds.Yields have surged more than 30 basis points in the past two months, driven up recently by fears that the unexpected tax cut will boost an already bloated bond supply. Even an expected interest-rate cut by the central bank on Friday -- the fifth for the year -- has done little to aid sentiment.Standard Chartered Plc estimates the government will need to borrow as much as 800 billion rupees more, and Fitch Ratings flagged the likelihood of a wider fiscal deficit. The government’s borrowing plan remains unchanged for the rest of the fiscal year, Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty told reporters Monday.“The market is concerned about higher supply brought by the corporate tax reforms, which requires higher level of borrowings,” Seth said. “The market has been readjusting for that.”

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2o4jGbA

Gold lingers near 2-month low, robust dollar weighs

US gold futures were up 0.3 per cent at $1,476.8 per ounce.

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UK's Vodafone seeks relief on spectrum dues

MUMBAI|NEW DELHI: Top executives of UK’s Vodafone Group sought a two-year moratorium on payment of spectrum-related dues by Indian joint venture Vodafone Idea, said people familiar with the matter. This is the third time this year that its executives have sought such relief in meetings with the government, underscoring financial stress at the carrier, which has been posting losses and losing customers since Vodafone Idea and Idea Cellular merged in August 2018.During their meeting with telecom secretary Anshu Prakash on Monday, Vodafone Group chairman Gerard Kleisterlee and chief executive officer Nick Read also sought “a refund of Rs 32,000 crore of input tax credit (due to telcos) which has been held by finance ministry,” said one of the persons.They were accompanied by other senior executives of Vodafone Idea, including new CEO Ravinder Takker. Analysts estimate Vodafone Idea’s spectrum repayments to be around Rs 24,400 crore, split over FY20 and FY21. The executives also met commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal during the day. They were scheduled to meet telecom and IT minister RS Prasad as well, but he had to go to Patna to oversee flood relief measures. After meeting the telecom secretary, Kleisterlee said, “We look forward to the results of that.”71384094 ‘Meeting Quite Productive’CEO Read added that the executives had very “productive” meetings with government representatives. Asked whether the UK telecom company was contemplating an exit from the joint venture and the Indian market, he said, “We’re absolutely focused on the successful integration of Vodafone Idea.” Vodafone Group declined to comment on specifics of the discussions. This is the second time top officials of Vodafone Idea — bloodied by a brutal price war since Reliance Jio’s entry in September 2016 have met officials in the communications ministry in the past two months. Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, also nonexecutive chairman of Vodafone Idea, along with Takker met Prasad last month to seek relief after the telco had raised similar demands in meetings with Department of Telecommunications (DoT) officials in January.The government is of the view that not all telcos want such relief and that such a relaxation can’t be given to only one company. Soon after Birla’s meeting with Prasad in August, the minister had written to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, urging measures to ease the payout burden on the telecom industry by offsetting spectrum and other payments to the government against the accumulated Rs 36,000 crore input tax credit with the Centre. He had also sought a cut in the universal services obligation (USO) levy to 3% from the current 5%, which would effectively reduce the licence fee to 6% from the current 8%, besides a reduction in the goods and services tax (GST) rate, first to 12% and then lowering it further, from the current 18%.As separate entities and after the merger Vodafone Idea has been posting losses. The company has lost over 100 million customers in less than a year since completion of the merger to 321 million at July end. It posted a consolidated loss of Rs 4,873.9 crore in the June quarter, while revenue fell over 4% sequentially, despite a rise in average revenue per user (ARPU).Debt at the end of June was around Rs 99,300 crore, factoring in a rights issue of Rs 25,000 crore, but debt to equity was still at a high of 12 times, according to Goldman Sachs. Analysts said the telco would need another round of equity infusion by the second quarter of FY21 to plug a potential Rs 7,600 crore ($1.06 billion) funding gap. “Vodafone Idea’s gross debt stood at Rs 1.22 trillion at end-FY2019 (including) Rs 907 billion deferred spectrum liabilities,” said analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities. “Spectrum payout instalments stand at around Rs 122 billion per annum for the next many years.”“Barring a regulatory or structural change in the market, we question the company’s ability to sustain these investments,” analysts at brokerage UBS said in a recent note to clients, adding that it is expected to continue to lose market share as network integration and delayed 4G rollouts weaken the competitive position.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2n4eFjr

Boeing unveils revamp to deepen safety focus after Max crashes

Boeing Co Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg unveiled a structural overhaul intended to sharpen the planemaker’s focus on safety after two accidents of its 737 Max killed 346 people within a five-month span.Acting on a recommendation from the board, Muilenburg is creating a new product and services safety organisation to centralise responsibilities across the planemaker’s business and operating units. The new group will be run by Beth Pasztor, a 34-year Boeing veteran who will report to a new board aerospace committee as well as the company’s chief engineer.Pasztor will have responsibility for all aspects of product safety, including investigating concerns raised anonymously by employees, Boeing said in a statement on Monday. The company’s accident-investigation team, safety-review boards and engineering and technical experts who represent the Federal Aviation Administration in aircraft certification will all report to Pasztor, who previously oversaw product safety at Boeing’s jetliner division.“Beth is a proven leader, she’s a collaborator,” Muilenburg said in an interview in the company’s Chicago office tower. He also considered external candidates before deciding that Pasztor’s deep knowledge of Boeing would give her a running start. “She, from a technical qualification standpoint, is the best.”The CEO is under pressure to show airlines, travellers and global regulators that safety is woven into the century-old manufacturer’s designs and culture. Both have been called into question given the lapses that have prompted regulators to ground two brand-new Boeing jetliners this decade.The company had already rung up $8.3 billion in Max-related expenses through July, and the costs of maintaining production and compensating customers are certain to grow the longer the grounding lasts.The Max hasn’t flown commercially since just after the March crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet. A Lion Air plane went down off the coast of Indonesia in October. In both disasters, a once-obscure flight-control system went haywire, nudging the planes' noses down until pilots were overwhelmed. In 2013, the 787 Dreamliner was banned for three months after fires on two planes from lithium-ion batteries.Directors last week signalled that they would closely monitor the company’s progress under Muilenburg. A new board committee is devoted to overseeing the safe design, development and production of the company's aerospace product line-up. “Safety-related experience” will be a criteria to be considered in choosing future directors.“This is an engineering company, it needs an engineering culture and engineering management,” aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia said last week. “It deviated pretty far from this at the time when the Max was being developed.”The US National Transportation Safety Board last week called for a renewed focus on how a cacophony of flight-deck alerts can distract and overwhelm pilots. The agency's report on the Max tragedies also provided clues to one of the mysteries of the disasters: how Boeing safety assessments for a software-system linked to the crashes could still comply with FAA design principles.Boeing’s simulator tests of the socalled MCAS system focused on pilots’ response to indications that a motor on the horizontal stabiliser was moving the plane's nose down without their input.But the hazard tests never examined specific failure modes that could cause MCAS to kick on — including failure of a key sensor that tripped multiple cockpit warnings and bewildered pilots on the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights.Boeing, following recommendations from the the board last week, will have the company’s tens of thousands of engineers report to the company’s chief engineer, Greg Hyslop. That will promote a more consistent approach to meeting operational priorities, while enabling senior managers to spot and elevate talented engineers, Boeing said. The move mirrors an earlier restructuring of finance professionals, who now report directly to Boeing Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith.Muilenburg said he doesn't expect the structural shift to substantially change the day-to-day work of those carrying out design and testing. But connecting the technical experts to other engineers across the company will create a new, informal network for them when problems crop up, he said.He is also expanding Boeing's safety-management system and safety-review boards, which have been expanded and are now led by senior executives, including Hyslop and business division chiefs. Boeing has also invested in enhanced flight simulation and computing capabilities. Software engineers in recent weeks have run 390,000 flight hours -- the equivalent of flying 45 years -- on the 737 Max.In addition, the company is already pouring money into researching the design of future flight decks to account for human factors.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2njkj0W

Only 10 jobs created for every 100 jobs taken away by Artificial Intelligence

BENGALURU: At least 10 new AI-based jobs are being created for every 100 positions made redundant in traditional technology, experts in the field have said.However, the new roles are not being created as quickly as the positions that are eliminated and companies are increasingly training talent to fill the gap in artificial intelligence skills.This was the key takeaway from ET’s recent conversation on Technology Talent Equilibrium with Sridhar Mitta, founder of digital technology services provider NextWealth Entrepreneurs; Prakash Mallya, the head of Intel India, and Supriyo Das, vice-president, Wipro Technologies. “If 100 jobs are cut, 10 jobs are created. The people who are losing jobs have different skills, and they’re going away. People are getting new jobs on different skillsets,” Mitta said.71384126 Intel has started initiatives to teach AI in schools, said Mallya. “I guess, training skills outside the industry requires a collective ecosystem and efforts across different companies,” he said. “You need to approach it in different ways. You need to reach out to industry, developers, startups. How do we include formal education on AI to build mindset, have some AI for Youth initiative, which is 254 hours, four-stage (that) we are rolling out for 10 schools,” Mallya explained.To develop AI-ready talent, Intel India has trained more than 1,50,000 developers, students and professors since 2017. The global opportunity of AI was estimated at about $15.7 trillion by 2030, according to a PwC report last year. Technology services companies are increasingly using AI at the core, raising the demand for talent.“The prediction is definitely there will be a shortfall of skills. We need to categorise where you need most right, and what kind of jobs will get created,” said Das of Wipro. “From our organisation’s perspective, we do not see AI as a particular set of skills for a particular set of people. AI is needed everywhere,” he added.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2mqK672

Samsung Galaxy Fold to Launch in India Today: Expected Price, Specifications, More

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Govt gears up to kick off its own mega Diwali sale

NEW DELHI: The government is getting set for a series of blockbuster divestments — lining up strategic sales in four blue-chip, state-run companies and firming up plans for embattled Air India.A group of secretaries on Monday cleared strategic sales in Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), BEML, Container Corporation of India (Concor) and Shipping Corporation of India (SCI). Stake sales in THDC India and Neepco, both power companies, have also been approved. These could be taken over by state-run NTPC.The Air India expression of interest (EoI) paperwork is also likely to be finalised and issued soon, setting in motion the formal process for the state-owned airline’s sale, two government officials familiar with the process said. “Stake sales in these state-owned firms have been put on the fast track,” one of them told ET.The government proposes to raise Rs 1.05 lakh crore from disinvestment in the current financial year. It had exceeded asset-sale targets of Rs 1 lakh crore in FY18 and Rs 80,000 crore in FY19.The Air India EoI with all relevant details for investors is in the process of being finalised and could be cleared by the special mechanism headed by home minister Amit Shah over the next fortnight, the official said.71383973 Aggressive Bidding Likely for BPCL“About Rs 30,000 crore debt (in Air India) would be taken over by the government,” the second official said. “The EoI would provide completely clarity to investors looking to buy.” While BEML has the requisite approvals in place, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) will take proposals for BPCL, SCI and Concor soon to the special mechanism set up to approve their disinvestment.At the current market value, the government stake in BPCL is worth about Rs 55,000 crore, but the actual realisation may be higher if it gets a control premium from the strategic investor. The government expects up to Rs 65,000 crore. Another official said the sale of the government’s stake, currently at 53.3%, will not require parliamentary approval.“We have got the issue examined… The law has been repealed,” he said. “Parliament will only need to be informed.”The share price of the second biggest petroleum products retailer closed almost unchanged at Rs 470 on the BSE on Monday. The government expects the open bidding for BPCL to be aggressive in view of the company’s extensive retail network.The government’s 54% stake in BEML, a state-run entity under the defence ministry, is worth about Rs 2,100 crore at current prices; the 54.8% stake in Concor about Rs 20,000 crore and the 73.75% stake in SCI could fetch Rs 1,300 crore. Share prices of these companies closed 1.38-2.27% higher on the BSE Monday.With barely six months left in the fiscal year, the government is keen to push through strategic sales and public offers aggressively, hoping to make the most of the buoyancy in the markets following corporate tax cuts. The initial public offer of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. (IRCTC) opened on Monday.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2nhwiMv

Automakers are now chasing glory abroad to beat blues at home

MUMBAI: The country’s two largest carmakers Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India are looking to revive their exports after years of neglecting that market to make up for a fall in domestic demand.Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, which together account for twothirds of the Indian passenger vehicle market, saw their export volumes fall by 28% and 43%, respectively, in the last decade when they doubled down on domestic sale push as India emerged one of the fastest-growing global car markets, letting exports stagnate.Maruti, which exported 147,000 units in 2009-10, shipped 106,000 units in the last fiscal while Hyundai, whose exports peaked at 285,000 units in 2009-10, shipped around 160,000 in 2018-19.But now they are looking to push exports, along with other carmakers including M&M .“Not only does it (exports) help increase total volumes, it’s a natural hedge against currency fluctuations,” said RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki. “However, it's not possible to quickly increase or decrease exports. Over time we will increase exports,” he told ET.71383971 SS Kim, managing director at Hyundai Motor India, said, “We have a flexible manufacturing facility wherein we are able to balance out production plans for the domestic and export market.”The South Korean carmaker was India’s top exporter of cars until a few years back. But eventually it shifted most of export production out of the country and started shipping vehicle kits as new capacities went into satiating local demand.With domestic market plunging in recent months, carmakers are now looking at ways to boost exports by identifying new markets or setting up local assembly operations.Bhargava said, “Being a small carmaker, for us Africa can be a potential market.”Maruti Suzuki, which sells every second car sold in the local market, has exported over 1.86 million passenger vehicle units cumulatively. Baleno, Dzire, Swift, Celerio and Alto are exported to over 100 countries. Latin America accounts for 27% of its exports, followed by Asean (16%) and Africa (15%).Hyundai exports to around 91 countries across Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Australia and Asia Pacific.VG Ramakrishnan, founding partner of consulting firm Avanteum Advisors, said India trails many other countries in vehicle exports. “Mature markets have a minimum of two brands leading the globalisation drive,” he told ET. “India is an exception; we have no homegrown companies to lead the exports drive.”71383975 However, many global carmakers including Volkswagen, Nissan, Ford and General Motors have been using their overseas reach to make their Indian operations viable.This helped overall passenger vehicle exports from the country grow 52% to around 670,000 units in the last decade.“Ford, GM, VW and Nissan, which together have a combined 5% share in the domestic market, contributed over 50% of the exports in 2018-19,” said Arun Malhotra, former MD at Nissan Motor Corporation (India).Domestic vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra is looking to push exports by setting up offices with local partners in many new markets. “We are much more aggressive in having local offices, in terms of liaison offices or manufacturing bases,” said Arvind Mathew, chief of international operation at M&M.“Today, by expanding our local footprint (offices, assembly, distribution network), we are able to identify, local customer/government requirements quickly.”M&M is building plants in North Africa, South East Asia, East Africa and Central America. The goal is to take exports footprint from 8% of the business to 20% in the coming five years, with 10 local or liaison offices, company officials said. Over the years, the exports demand has been gradually shifting from small cars to mid-size cars and SUVs. According to Kim of Hyundai, today the compact segment accounts for 53% of its total exports followed by SUV and mid-size cars.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2oOmASx

Several PSU divestments lined up: Govt gears up to kick off its own mega Diwali sale

Amazon and Flipkart Sales, OnePlus 7T Price Reveal, iPhone 11 India Release, Samsung Galaxy A70s Launch, and More Tech News This Week

Amazon Great Indian Festival sale, Flipkart Big Billion Days sale, iPhone 11 India availability, OnePlus TV launch, OnePlus 7T price reveal, Samsung Galaxy A70s price in India reveal, and other top tech news of the week.

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Sunday, September 29, 2019

Your EMIs may pinch less from next week

Mumbai: Borrowers could be paying less on their mortgages as banks shift to a new system of linking such loans this week to benchmarks prescribed by the central bank. That may result in lowering the cost of funding by as much as 30 basis points in some cases, experts said. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.State Bank of India, for instance, has pegged the spread at 2.65 percentage points above the repo rate, which is at 5.40%, resulting in an external benchmark rate of 8.05%. That will bring the effective rate to 8.20% against an 8.30% floating interest rate under the previous marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) regime for salaried home loan borrowers on loans up to Rs 30 lakh. However, there could be additional charges added on to this based on the profile of the customer. 71367410 SBI will charge an additional 15 basis points from non-salaried borrowers. Those in the higher Risk Grade (RG) 4-6 will be levied a further 10 basis points. The Reserve Bank of India said the benchmark can be the repo rate, or three-month or six-month treasury bills, or any other benchmark published by Financial Benchmarks India, which administers such rates. The central bank announced on September 4 that banks would have to link loans to retail customers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to external interest rate benchmarks in order to make the transmission of monetary policy more effective to boost credit growth, consumption and investment in order to revive the economy.Banks are free to decide the spread over the external benchmark. Subsequently, risk premiums may change in line with a borrower's credit assessment as agreed upon in the loan contract. The repo rate, at which banks borrow from the RBI, is at the lowest since February 2010 at 5.4%. The three-month T-bill rate has seen a drop of 100 bps since February and is currently at 5.28%. The six-month T-bill rate, which was at 6.4% in February, is now at 5.48%. While the repo rate has been slashed 110 basis points between February 2019 and August 2019, the drop in MCLR has only been 20 basis points.An ICRA report said that external benchmarking on lending rates is likely to result in significant volatility in equated monthly instalments (EMIs) for borrowers. It’s estimated that a 50 basis point rise in the repo rate could lead to a Rs 2,200 increase in monthly payments on a Rs 75 lakh loan payable over 15 years. A 100 basis point climb could pinch the pocket by as much as Rs 4,500 a month.

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Can India shop India out of trouble?

Kolkata | Mumbai: Consumption picked up in the first weekend of festive season shopping, bringing relief to large retail chains, brands, malls and e-commerce marketplaces. A positive start to the Diwali sales period has assuaged concerns that the economic slowdown would hit consumption in what’s traditionally the high point of India’s shopping calendar.Several retailers, including Future Group, Spencer's Retail, Arvind Lifestyle, Reliance Digital, Vijay Sales and Great Eastern said their sales have grown by more than double digits in categories such as fashion and apparel, smartphones and consumer electronics in the first weekend of Navratri over same period last year. On average, sales have jumped 10-14%, they said.The country's two largest e-commerce marketplaces, Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, which launched their biggest sale for the year over the weekend, said overall business had doubled on the first day from the last time. Flipkart said sales in categories such as beauty, women’s ethnic wear, kidswear, sports, baby care and furniture surpassed last year's entire festival sales on day one itself. 71367220 Despite online discounts, footfall has risen in malls and stores by about 4-6% while the average bill value in brick-and-mortar stores is up 8-12%. The weekend was also the last before Durga Puja.India's largest smartphone and electronics retailer Reliance Digital's CEO Brian Bade said while it's still early days, footfall has been encouraging in the first weekend. "So have been new iPhone sales, which have been far superior this year compared to the last few," he said. Apple, which launched its latest iPhone 11 series last Friday in India with about 55,000 units, has almost sold out its inventory with retailers saying this has been one of the best launches of new iPhones in the past two years, according to senior industry executives.Electronics retailer Vijay Sales and Great Eastern Retail said Navratri had started reasonably well, despite Amazon and Flipkart. "Crowd is back to the stores and transactions are happening, which is a healthy sign," said Vijay Sales managing partner Nilesh Gupta.Great Eastern director Pulkit Baid said there has been good momentum. "Finally, it feels like festive," he said. Consumer goods makers and retailers had been cautious about this year's festive season business due to a slowing economy, lack of new job creation and poor consumer sentiment in urban and rural India over the past three quarters. However, recent measures by the government such as a cut in corporate tax rates to boost investment, have led to a rise in the feel-good factor, industry executives said.Apart from this, the central bank has told banks to link retail loans to external benchmarks, lowering the cost of funds, and the stock market has been buoyant.Offline retailers said apparel sales have been encouraging, growing by 15-50% in the past two days even though sales of fastmoving consumer goods (FMCG) are yet to pick up. "Grocery sales growth still remains under pressure," said Kishore Biyani, founder of Future Group, which owns Central, Big Bazaar and Brand Factory stores. "However, apparel is performing really well and there is no doubt it will be a good festive season for us in the lifestyle segment." Spencer’s Retail too reported high double-digit growth in apparel sales. "Let’s hope it leads to a good festive season going forward," said managing director Devendra Chawla. Malls in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru were teeming with shoppers over the weekend."We saw high footfalls and more shopping bags over the past two days," said Rajendra Kalkar, president (west), High Street Phoenix Mall, which runs Phoenix Mills in Mumbai. "However, it's too early to predict whether it was entirely led by pre-festive season buying or a non-rainy weekend in Mumbai after a long time." Arvind Lifestyle Brands managing director J Suresh said sales grew by double digits. He, however, warned that post Diwali the situation might be dampened unless overall consumer sentiment improved. Arvind Lifestyle runs nearly two dozen brands such as Gap, Arrow, Children's Place and Sephora. The festive season, which starts with Onam in Kerala, extends through Navratri-Durga Puja and ends with Dhanteras-Diwali. It accounts for almost 35-40% of annual sales.

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Goldman Sachs invests Rs 500 crore in Ozone Techno Park

Mumbai | Benagluru: At a time when most non-banking financial companies have stopped making new investments or disbursing funds to real estate developers across the country, global institutional investor Goldman Sachs Group has invested around Rs 500 crore into an income-producing asset of Bengaluru based Ozone Group, said multiple persons with direct knowledge of the development.Goldman Sachs has made this investment into the developer’s commercial project Ozone Techno Park in Chennai jointly through two of its NBFC arms Goldman Sachs (India) Finance and Goldman Sachs Investments (Mauritius). The investment has been made through a structured debt arrangement.Located on Chennai’s Old Mahabalipuram Road, Ozone Techno Park is a ready and fully leased commercial project that houses tenants like HCL, CTS, Rainbird Healthcare and Firstsource Solutions. The IT park is spread over around 7 acres with total leasable area of nearly 1 million sq ft across the 10-storey complex.“It’s a safe bet given that the project is fully-leased to blue chip global clients and offers steady stream of rental yield. The deal will be completed in two tranches,” said one of the persons mentioned above.The company is likely to use part of the funds raised to repay some of its debt obligations including Urban Infrastructure Venture Capital that has exposure to some of its other projects.With lending by banks to realty slowing down since 2011-12, the role of NBFCs and housing finance companies had gained prominence. The liquidity crisis that started with the default of IL&FS has changed the scenario completely. The Goldman Sachs-Ozone transaction stands out as this is for a yield-producing commercial asset and is not a private equity investment but it has been done through NBFC units.ET’s email query to Ozone Group remained unanswered until the time of going to press. Goldman Sachs and Urban Infrastructure Venture Capital Fund declined to comment. Income-producing commercial assets have proved to be a major draw for most of the global institutional investors that are active in India or are keen to invest here.

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I wouldn’t say the worst is over for China: Ralf Speth, JLR

Ralf Speth, the global CEO of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), said it was too early to judge whether the ‘worst is over’ in China despite two consecutive months of double-digit growth for the luxury carmaker in the world’s biggest auto market.Speth told Ketan Thakkar that ‘Project Charge’, the restructuring programme that began earlier this fiscal, is starting to deliver including China and is already exceeding the targets set initially. As it did in 2010, in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis, JLR will have to balance two seemingly divergent strategic goals – of trimming broader costs and simultaneously investing in products that help drive smooth growth in a volatile demand environment. Edited excerpts:What is the progress report on Project Charge? Jaguar Land Rover is kind of a seismograph, whenever anyone wants to know what is really going on in the automotive world, just look at JLR. We are honest, we don’t have a finance company, we don’t have a bank or another insurance company, we cannot do things with residual values or lease cars, whatever the situation. We take everything, right on the chin.We are agile. We started the 'Project Charge' (cost cutting plan) earlier than other rivals. We are on track with our targets - not only on target, but exceeding the targets on ‘Project Charge’.It's more than challenging. We are investing in the future, like we did in 2010, when we started to simultaneously restructure and also invested over proportionately in products for the future.Is the worst over in China? Sorry, that's an absolute statement. I wouldn't say so (that the worst is over). What if tomorrow there is another issue arising out of China? We don’t know what Mr. Xi and Mr. Trump have in mind, but the issue does not affect Jaguar Land Rover alone; other companies face exactly the same.What is the way ahead for the Chinese markets? I don't know which way the economy is moving and how will China revive. We will have to manage it. It looks like the state in China is a little bit the same as in India; one cannot tell how long it will take for the economy to revive.The market for premium vehicles in China has been down by 17% last month. The mainstream market volume too is declining. We weathered the storm, we also grew last month by double digits. We are doing our part, but I cannot tell you how long will this evolution continue.What is the response to I-PACE and the initial assessment on what will drive EV adoption…Demand has been more than our expectation, and we are facing a shortage of batteries. But from a wider customer adoption standpoint, they are hesitating because of high prices and low convenience.From a global perspective, the cost will go down only in the mid-term, and not in the next few years. Why? Because the demand will become bigger and bigger, and more and more batteries for electric vehicles will be now developed and will be produced around the world.Many companies are moving in that direction; we were the first ones and there are many who are following us. And therefore, this means that now all of a sudden, there is a shortage of batteries. And building a new battery plant takes a certain period of time. And, therefore, in this kind of a very short period of time, there's not enough capacity available around the world.I guess it may take three years for capacities to come. But there will also be an issue around 2025 to meet the Brussels fleet requirement. While the car industry has a target to meet on fleet average, there is no target on the development of infrastructure.So, if the auto industry does not meet targets, it will be levied penalties, but not the infrastructure companies. For the EV market to be really successful, the price has to be accessible, the customer should have convenience of charging and source of energy should be renewable: That scenario is still some time away.About Destination Zero - moving toward zero emission, zero casualty and zero congestion. What time are you giving yourself?We’re talking about the circular economy. It is not about achieving the results today or tomorrow, but it is about going in the right direction. Okay. We know nobody can move to 100% electrified mobility at the moment based on renewable energy. The technology is not there, battery capacity is not there.And why is it a problem at the moment? The customers expect long range and to deliver that, we need big batteries, and those are very expensive; so the end price of a car today is high.Along with high price, there are hardly any charging stations and the ones that are there have different systems with no standardization. With the improvement in infrastructure, one could use smaller batteries, and with smaller batteries you can also reduce prices.Now, in Europe, there is an important agricultural element in the interiors, where usage is different from mega cities like London, Berlin or Paris. So we need to find solutions that address both the markets running on renewables.We are on track to electrify our entire fleet by 2020. Already all our plants are carbon free in the UK. Our R&D centre generates all its energy from renewable sources. We have built 3,000 sq metre of solar roof at our engine plant, which is the biggest solar roof in Britain. We are already moving in that (destination zero) direction.Can India contribute?India is a signatory to the Paris Climate Accord. India is at the forefront of this kind of thinking and mindset. In India, a lot of customers in my view may be prepared for this kind of new technology.To be sure, it’s not the question of technology for the sake of technology; it also has to contribute to the environmental issues.It doesn’t make sense if the power does not come from renewable energies. Right? Therefore, we need renewable energies. Does India have renewable energies? And, of course, the charging infrastructure?(The reporter travelled to the UK at the invitation of Jaguar Land Rover)

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Corporate tax cut will reignite private investments: Baba Kalyani

Baba Kalyani, chairman of Bharat Forge, was in an ebullient mood as he spoke about the impact of the recent tax incentives on corporates. “It will re-ignite a virtuous cycle of private investment in the country,” he told ET’s Nehal Chaliawala and Satish John in an interview over phone. This move will embolden Indian companies to get into the “global supply chains” of several sectors, he added. Edited excerpts:Will the government’s announcements to reduce corporate tax and expand the scope of corporate spend under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) norms spur investment?This is the single biggest boost to the ‘Make in India’ campaign. India now is on par with the United States, the UK, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand in terms of manufacturing cost competitiveness. In January 2018, the US economy got a big spurt after President Trump reduced the taxes. I think we should also start seeing similar effects in a couple of months. It should also re-ignite a virtuous cycle of private investment in the country.Most importantly, this will allow many Indian companies to get into the global supply chains of several sectors other than automotive and pharma. There are a lot of new business models coming up because of technology advancements. Low tax rates for the industry will encourage entrepreneurs and businessmen to invest in these sectors. But we now need to take some steps like converting SEZs (special economic zones) into economic employment enclaves. Leverage vacant lands that are available. Create demand measures like it was done during the 2008 downturn. For example, buses were bought under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The private sector needs more defence orders. Something like that will build on this tax regulation.Many companies are saying that investments may not be immediate because there is excess capacity in the system. What do you think?This is where the real problem lies. If you look at the traditional business model, everybody has too much capacity. On traditional products, we are all working way below our full capacity, whether it is cars, trucks or anything. Now, EV is a technology. It is not a traditional business model. We, therefore, have to create new markets with these new technologies rather than depending only on the traditional business models. I think companies that are able to do this speedily and at a reasonable cost are the companies of the future.What are the new business segments that Bharat Forge is exploring?Bharat Forge is India’s first manufacturing multi-national company, with facilities all over the world. Whatever we have developed has been with our own research. We do a lot of work in material science and new material processes, which is our bread-and-butter business. We are also working in the areas of defence and related products, electric vehicles, nanotechnology, and composites, including carbon composites. A lot of our electric vehicle aggregates and sub-systems will be coming into the market in the next few months.Our industry used to be centred around metals at one time. Now the industry is moving into everything other than metals. There are a lot of electronics in vehicles already and there will be a lot more when EVs come in. There are a lot of light metals in vehicles. There are a lot of composites coming in. We are also doing a lot of manufacturing through 3D printing. There is a lot of convergence of technologies in many fields and we have more than 12 research labs. We even make small jet engines, which we have developed in one of our research labs. Customers for these largely are from the defence sector.Could you shed some light on the investment that you recently made in Europe for aluminium casting?We foresee that a lot of aluminium will be used in the automotive industry and other industries for light-weighting. These are very special aluminium castings with very thin walls and built-in cooling channels and stuff like that. If you take an electric vehicle, the battery casing is made from aluminium casting with cooling channels. That’s the kind of thing we are going to make in our plant (in Germany).Could you share more information on the carbon composites segment of your business?If I was to peek into the future, I believe that wheels for cars in another five to seven years will be all made from carbon composites.There is an increase in the usage of composite materials in light-weighting vehicles so that they consume less fuel and therefore generate less emission. We are working on making carbon composite wheels. I can’t say when it will be ready, but we are working on it. And generally, what we work on becomes reality.What was the thought behind investing in electric vehicles companies like Tevva Motors?Unless you invest in a startup like that, you don’t know what is involved in an EV. And if you don’t know what is involved in it, you really cannot do development work in terms of the sub-systems that go into it, whether it’s the battery charging system, inverter, AC-DC converter, controls, et cetera. Having a stake in Tevva (an UK-based company that makes electric drive trains) taught us a lot of these things. And hopefully, that will allow us to become a supplier to many OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) who move into the EV business.

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Over two-thirds of PMC’s loan exposure is in HDIL group

MUMBAI: The beginning of financial fraud at the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank could date as far back as 2008, with officials at the lender allegedly creating several accounts to help fund the distressed property company HDIL over the past decade, two people familiar with the matter told ET.It has now come to the knowledge of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that a group of management executives, which included the now suspended managing director (MD) Joy Thomas, allegedly helped lend about Rs 6,226 crore, or 73% of total loans of the bank, to just HDIL. The developer has filed for bankruptcy recently.“It is shocking to know that more than two-thirds of the total loans of the bank went to just one customer,’’ said one of the sources cited above. The fraud may have begun in 2008 and is “going on since then,” said the source.71361873 Neither RBI officials nor Thomas could be contacted immediately for comments.Although the chairman of the bank, Waryam Singh, was on the board of HDIL, PMC did not even disclose the loans given directly to HDIL as related-party transactions. This is a grave violation of banking laws, said the sources.“The RBI, a few years ago, forced the bank to move to the electronic platform and digitize a lot of processes,” said the second source. “With that, the bank was unable to continue this game for long and now the management is pretending to be a victim than the perpetrator.’’ The regulator is likely to begin criminal proceedings against the suspended MD and several other bank executives, including some board members. A complaint could be filed at the Economic Offences Wing of the Maharashtra police as early as Monday.A person familiar with the case confirmed that RBI had sought the removal of PMC chairman Singh for breach of corporate governance norms.“At the end of the last RBI inspection in October last year, RBI had asked the central registrar of societies to remove Singh from the bank's post because he was involved in the bank while still serving as a director in HDIL. However, the central registrar never acted on the request and, in fact, Singh continued to be chairman until the RBI put directions on the bank,” said the person.As a multi-state co-operative bank, PMC came under the control of the central registrar. So, central bank action on PMC first needed the regulator’s nod.Over Two-thirds of PMC’s Exposure is in HDIL GroupThe Mumbai–based cooperative bank, with operations in seven states, collapsed recently and the RBI ordered freezing of operations and imposed limits on withdrawals of funds by depositors. It raised the limit to ?10,000 per account from ?1,000. The central bank also appointed former regulator J.B. Bhoria as administrator.On Friday, Thomas had said the central bank was rather harsh and hasty in taking punitive action against the lender without giving it an opportunity to recover loans advanced to HDIL.Thomas had said the bank had enough securities to cover its loans to HDIL, and the regulator should have allowed the bank more time in recovering its loans.“We met the RBI executive director (ED) Rabi Mishra on September 19 and gave him details about this account and asked for some time to rectify it. The ED said he will conduct a normal inspection on the bank. The next day, RBI officials came and took more information from us. But we were shocked when we got the notice with restrictions on the 23rd…How can the RBI find out what is wrong in two days? This has resulted in depositors facing difficulty despite the fact that the bank had sufficient liquidity,” Thomas had said Friday.“I cannot say how this exposure was hidden but I can only say that this exposure was not seen until now…but we had collateral securities totaling about two and a half times the loan exposure to this group in the form of land and real estate,” he had said last week.PMC gave a fresh Rs 96-crore loan to HDIL in August to help the company pay off Bank of India and avoid NCLT proceedings.

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‘Long road to Nasscom’s $100 billion engineering R&D goal'

The Indian ER&D sector already employs about 7,00,000 people in the country, which could rise to one million by 2025, if the conditions for growth become more favourable, experts said.

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Elon Musk and Tesla Violated US Federal Labour Law, Judge Rules

A US judge ruled Friday that Tesla and its chief executive, Elon Musk, broke federal labour law by targeting union activity, the latest in a series of stinging rebukes to the electronic vehicle company.

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LG G8s ThinQ With Snapdragon 855 SoC, Triple Rear Cameras Launched in India: Price, Specifications

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Diwali With Mi Sale Brings Discounts, Offers on Redmi K20, Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi 7A, and More

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iOS Exploit Could Leave Millions of iPhones Vulnerable to Permanent Jailbreaking

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iPhone Lovers Throng Apple Retailers in India, Record Festive Sales Expected

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WhatsApp Was Extensively Abused During India Elections, Study Claims

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Samsung Galaxy A70s With 64-Megapixel Main Camera Goes on Sale in India Today: Price, Specifications, Offers

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Facebook Libra Launch Could Be Delayed Over Regulatory Concerns, Executive Says

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LG Q60 With Triple Rear Cameras, MIL-STD 810G Build Launched in India: Price, Specifications

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Elon Musk and Tesla Violated US Federal Labour Law, Judge Rules

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Spider-Man Will Still Be an Avenger, as Marvel and Sony Agree to Make a Movie Together After All

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Apple Plans Theatrical Runs for Movies Before Their Streaming Debut: Reports

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Apple Watch Series 5 Now on Sale in India: Price, Specifications, and Everything Else You Need to Know

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iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Now on Sale in India: Price, Specifications

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Spider-Man Will Still Be an Avenger, as Marvel and Sony Agree to Make a Movie Together After All

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Walt Disney Studios have announced that they will team up on another Spider-Man film, after negotiations between the two had reportedly soured.

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Apple Plans Theatrical Runs for Movies Before Their Streaming Debut: Reports

Apple plans to give its feature-length film productions extended theatrical releases before making them available on its streaming TV service, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

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Saturday, September 28, 2019

Social Media Platforms to Follow 'Code of Ethics' in All Future Elections: EC

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Samsung Galaxy A70s With 64-Megapixel Triple Rear Camera Setup Launched in India: Price, Specifications, Offers

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Facebook Wins Dismissal of Investor Lawsuit Over Privacy Breach

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Oppo Reno 2F With Quad Rear Cameras to Go on Sale in India Starting October 4, Pre-Bookings to Begin From Tomorrow

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Samsung Frame QLED TV Price in India Cut to Rs. 84,990 During Flipkart Big Billion Days Sale

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YouTube's New Initiative to Support Women Creators in India

The next generation of women creators on YouTube are moving beyond traditional verticals.

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Bard of Blood Is Now Streaming on Netflix in India

The first Shah Rukh Khan-produced Netflix original is here. Bard of Blood — based on the book of the same name from first-time author Bilal Siddiqi, who is also a creator on the series — is now streaming on Netflix in India.

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How Shah Rukh Khan Helped Shape Netflix’s Bard of Blood

Bard of Blood is the first product of Netflix’s partnership with Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies. According to the cast and crew of the Netflix series, Khan contributed with valuable feedback without ever imposing himself. And he’s also responsible for a character called Jannat Marri, played by Kirti Kulhari.

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Bard of Blood Review: Netflix’s New Indian Original Is Bad, and Shah Rukh Khan Should Feel Bad

In our Bard of Blood review, we look at how a callous and careless approach to its setting and people — Balochistan and Muslims — along with writing that defies logic and a show built out of patchwork, leads to an irresponsible and listless Netflix series.

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Why Bard of Blood Creators Don’t Think the Shah Rukh Khan-Produced Show Is Political

Due to the very nature of what it’s dealing with, Bard of Blood is an inherently political show. It’s set in Balochistan, involves Indian agents going up against terrorists supported by the Pakistani intelligence services, and plays into stereotypes. But its creators don’t think it’s political at all.

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Bard of Blood Cast and Crew on (Filming) Challenges and Changes (From the Book)

Bard of Blood used Ladakh and Rajasthan to stand in for Balochistan, Pakistan. But that came with its own problems. The Netflix series has made several changes from the book, bringing in new characters like Kirti Kulhari’s Jannat Marri, and writing in more cliff-hanger moments.

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OnePlus 7T Review

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OnePlus 7T vs OnePlus 7: What’s New and Different

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Google Pixel 4 XL Leak Shows Off Improved Google Assistant, Face Unlock

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Flipkart Big Billion Days Sale: Moto G7, Motorola One Vision, Lenovo Z6 Pro, Lenovo K10 Note, More Phones to Get Discounts, Offers

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Oculus Quest to Get Hand Tracking, Other Updates From Oculus Connect 6 Conference

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Garmin Marq Luxury Smartwatches Launched in India, Prices Start at Rs. 1,41,990

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Google Won't Pay for News Links Under New French Law, to Stop Showing Snippets

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2020 iPhone Models to Feature New Metal Frame Similar to iPhone 4: Ming-Chi Kuo

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Amazon Develops Longer-Range Wireless Network for IoT Devices

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MIUI 11 Camera App Code Hints at 8K 30fps Video Recording Coming to a Future Xiaomi Phone

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Sharp Aquos Zero 2 With a 240Hz Display, Snapdragon 855 SoC Launched: Specifications

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Facebook Buys Exclusive Digital Content Rights to ICC Cricket Events

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Friday, September 27, 2019

Netflix Set for Worst Quarter Since 2012 as Competition Looms

Shares of Netflix dropped nearly 4 percent on Tuesday and were on track for their deepest quarterly decline in seven years after two analysts added to growing worries about an impending wave of competition from Walt Disney and other rivals.

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Joker Release Date in India Brought Forward to October 2

Joker has a new release date in India: Wednesday, October 2. Warner Bros. India has decided to bring forward the new DC Comics movie by two days, as Joker was earlier slated to release Friday, October 4.

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YouTube Creators Hit by Massive Wave of Account Hijacks: Report

The YouTube account hacks said to be the result of hackers use phishing emails to lure victims on fake Google login pages.

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Shah Rukh Khan, David Letterman Special Episode to Release in October on Netflix

The Shah Rukh Khan-centred special episode of David Letterman’s talk show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction will release in October on Netflix.

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This Is Us Season 4, Episode 1 Now Streaming on Hotstar in India

The Pearsons are back. The fourth season premiere of This Is Us is now streaming on Hotstar in India. This Is Us season 4, episode 1 “Strangers” will jump to the 1970s to show us when Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) first started dating, and Jack met Rebecca’s parents.

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Huawei CFO Fighting US Extradition Says Her Rights Were Violated

Evidence shows police originally planned to board Meng Wanzhou's flight from once it landed in Vancouver and arrest her, her lawyers said.

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ACT Fibernet Increases Monthly Data Allowance on Broadband Plans by Up to 1,000GB in Bengaluru

ACT Fibernet has increased the monthly data allowance on broadband plans offered in Bengaluru by up to 1,000GB.

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Apple Music for Android Update Brings Chromecast Support, Real-Time Lyrics, Dark Mode

Apple says that you’ll need an Android phone or tablet with Android 5.0 Lollipop or later, or a Chromebook that supports Android apps to use the Chromecast feature.

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