5 Minutes Read

BMW X7 M50d ‘Dark Shadow’ avatar launched in India at starting price of Rs 2.02 crore

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Summary

The exclusive Dark Shadow edition of BMW X7 M50d is now in India for just Rs 2.02 crore. There are just 500 models of the limited edition available worldwide.

The BMW Group India has made an addition to its coveted fleet with the launch of X7 M50d ‘Dark Shadow’ limited edition. The model, priced at Rs 2.02 crore (ex-showroom), will be available in India as a completely built-up unit (CBU) and can only be reserved through BMW’s online shop.

Only 500 units of the new model will be produced worldwide.

The new edition underlines both the bold appearance and the luxury ambience of their largest SAV, says BMW.

The BMW X7 M50d is powered by 2993 cc three-litre six-cylinder diesel engine which produces an output of 400 hp and a maximum torque of 760 Nm at 2,000 – 3,000 rpm. The car accelerates from 0 -100 km/hr in just 5.4 seconds.

The superior engine performance is accompanied by the powerful sound of the M Sport exhaust system. The eight speed steptronic sport automatic transmission performs smooth, almost imperceptible gearshifts. It comes as standard with the M Sport differential and a model-specific chassis set-up to sharpen the car’s agility and steering precision, giving it the unmistakable character of an M Performance model, but redefined for the luxury segment.

The most striking feature is the BMW Individual special paint finish in Frozen Arctic Grey metallic, a first in a BMW X model. The paint finish in body columns, exterior mirror bases, a black chrome finish on the frame and the bars of the BMW kidney grille create a subtle contrast to the matte shimmering body.

Filling up the cabin with a sense of space is the large Sky Lounge Panoramic glass sunroof extending till the third row. The car has five-zone air conditioning with extended features.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

 Daily Newsletter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

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today's market

index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95

Currency

Company Price Chng %Chng
Dollar-Rupee 73.3500 0.0000 0.00
Euro-Rupee 89.0980 0.0100 0.01
Pound-Rupee 103.6360 -0.0750 -0.07
Rupee-100 Yen 0.6734 -0.0003 -0.05
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Google Photos to end free unlimited storage from June 1: Here are other options

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Summary

From June 1, there will be a limit of 15 GB in Google Photos. Here’s an overview of the other photo storage platforms, from global giants like Apple and Microsoft, to the Indian DigiBoxx.

Google Photos will no longer allow unlimited storage for image and video backups from June 1. Users will have a 15 GB free storage limit for each Google account post-June 1, and will be shared across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos.

For users, the choice is either to manage storage space on existing Google Photos accounts or buy additional space from Google One.

Apart from Google Photos, there are other online sources which also offer free photo storage facilities. Google users can explore these online photo storage alternatives.

Microsoft OneDrive

If you are a Microsoft services user then OneDrive is a good bet. Pricing wise, you get 100 GB storage only for Rs 140 a month. The basic storage plan is free though but has a capacity of 5GB only.

The other option is the Microsoft 365 Personal plan that costs Rs 489 a month or Rs 4,899 annually. You get One TB of storage plus access to Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint as a part of this package.

Apple iCloud and Apple One

If you are a die-hard Apple fan, then you have two choices to choose from: iCloud plan or the Apple One. The Apple One is a bundled subscription of services that offers iCloud storage and access to Apple Arcade, TV+ and Music.

The iCloud storage plan starts at Rs 75 for 50GB, Rs 219 for 200GB and Rs 749 for 2TB storage while the Apple One Plan is pegged at Rs 195 per month.

Amazon Photos

Amazon Photos, from the stable of Amazon, has features like editing and sharing. Amazon also allows users to share with up to 5 family members. For a user who has an Amazon Prime membership, it is a part of the bundled package, while for non-users it costs roughly Rs 150 per month for 100 GB of storage.

DigiBoxx

DigiBoxx, a Made in India company, lets you manage your pictures, videos, documents, folders, assets on-the-go, on any device and also offers 20GB of storage space for free. It has features like end-to-end encryption and also supports Gmail integration.

A 100GB storage plan costs Rs 30 per month, whereas the annual plan costs Rs 360 for 5TB of storage.

DropBox

DropBox is not only a file sharing platform but it offers much more. Dropbox is a cloud storage platform with features like DropBox Passwords and DropBox Transfers. The pioneer in storage offers 2GB free storage. Under the paid plan, storage and other benefit features start at Rs 730 a month.

Flickr Pro

One of the earliest and most popular online photo management platforms, Flickr has a Pro feature under which users get access to unlimited storage and other benefits at a monthly cost of Rs 580 and an annual plan at around Rs 5,200.

 

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

 Daily Newsletter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

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today's market

index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95

Currency

Company Price Chng %Chng
Dollar-Rupee 73.3500 0.0000 0.00
Euro-Rupee 89.0980 0.0100 0.01
Pound-Rupee 103.6360 -0.0750 -0.07
Rupee-100 Yen 0.6734 -0.0003 -0.05
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 5 Minutes Read

Economic impact of 2nd COVID wave not likely to be large; support needed for recovery: CEA

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Summary

Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian on Monday said the overall impact of the second wave of COVID-19 on the country’s economy is not likely to be large but cautioned about the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic going ahead.

Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian on Monday said the impact of the second COVID-19 wave is not likely to be large on the economy but going forward, fiscal and monetary support will be needed to prop up growth. He, however, said it would be difficult to predict if double growth target for the current fiscal can be achieved given the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.

The Economic Survey 2020-21 released in January this year had projected GDP growth of 11 percent during the current financial year ending March 2022. “Given the uncertainty about the pandemic it would be very hard to give actual numbers but assessment is that impact is not going to be very large especially also keeping in the mind that the estimates that we had made in both the Economic Survey and Budget were relatively very conservative,” he said. It is to be noted that India’s economy contracted by less-than-expected 7.3 percent in the fiscal year ended March 2021 after growth rate picked up in the fourth quarter, just before the world’s worst outbreak of coronavirus infections hit the country.

The GDP print was better than the expected contraction of 8 percent for 2020-21 as projected by the Economic Survey. Observing that the second COVID-19 wave peaked in May, Subramanian said the localised and state-wise restrictions adopted to check the spread of the virus do present some downside risk to growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

“It looks like as of now that India (virus infections) peaked on May 8… I must mention that caveat related to pandemic must be kept in mind that some qualitative estimates that we have made are subject to immense uncertainty in the trajectory of the pandemic during the year,” he said, adding, the intensity of the second wave could not be even predicted by epidemiologists. “We have assessed it by state-wise stringency index estimated for April 2021 and beyond and looking at 17 states that account for more than 90 percent of GDP and adjusting the impact of vaccination and some pent-up demand coming back…we have made projections on that…we do think that the overall economic impact of the second wave is not going to be very large,” he said.

He, however, said “monetary and fiscal policy support will continue to be important going forward.” It is to be noted that the government exploring the possibility of another round of stimulus to support the economy battered by the second wave. For the MSME sector, the government announced some support on Sunday, while the Reserve Bank on the monetary side too recently announced some measures including restructuring of loans up to Rs 25 crore.

Recalling that the economy had recovered well by March 2021, he said, “the momentum of that recovery has been impacted by the second wave as we saw using several of the high-frequency indicators that we track”. “GDP growth recovered steadily in the second half of the last fiscal on the back of the higher government expenditure, and the rebound in the net exports,” he noted. Subramanian emphasised that the speed and scale of the second wave does lend caution to the economic impact as the economy was still recovering from last year’s supply and demand shocks. “There is an urgent need to contain the spread of pandemic vaccination and strict observation of COVID-appropriate behaviour cannot be overemphasised,” he said.

On the rising petrol price having impact on inflation, he said “we expect inflation to be range-bound in the foreseeable future”. The CEA further said that foodgrains production is projected to be at record levels this fiscal amid expectations of normal monsoon. To control the price rise, the government in 2016 gave a mandate to the RBI to keep the retail inflation at 4 percent with a margin of 2 percent on either side for a five-year period ending March 31, 2021. Commenting on GDP numbers for 2020-21 released earlier in the day, he said a contraction of 7.3 percent is indicating an improvement over the contraction of 8 percent estimated as per the second Advance Estimates in February 2021.

The gross domestic product (GDP) in Asia’s third-largest economy grew by 1.6 percent in the January-March period, up from 0.5 percent in the previous quarter when India began pulling out of a steep pandemic-induced recession in the earlier six months. GDP had grown by 3 percent in the January-March quarter in the previous year.

“In Q4, private final consumption expenditure increased by 2.7 percent YoY, government consumption final expenditure by 28.4 percent, gross fixed capital formation by 10.8 per cent, exports increased by 8.7 per cent and imports by 12.3 per cent,” he said. These signify a steady revival of demand in the second half of the year, he said, adding, agriculture has been the silver lining of the year with 3.6 percent growth in 2020-21.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

 Daily Newsletter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

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Oil Fluctuates as Traders Assess China’s Vow, Unrest in Libya

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today's market

index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95

Currency

Company Price Chng %Chng
Dollar-Rupee 73.3500 0.0000 0.00
Euro-Rupee 89.0980 0.0100 0.01
Pound-Rupee 103.6360 -0.0750 -0.07
Rupee-100 Yen 0.6734 -0.0003 -0.05
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 5 Minutes Read

COVID impact on meeting apps: Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams never had it better

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Summary

As COVID wreaked havoc, technology came into play to connect people caught indoors. And the most popular video conferencing apps, Zoom, Meet and Teams, went laughing to the bank.

As work from home became the norm in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak last year, online meetings, administrative or otherwise, became routine. Nobody could have imagined that friendly chats using digital tools would turn into sober boardroom conferences or online classes with the help of video meeting apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.

The use of online video conferencing apps has skyrocketed over the past year.

Here’s a look at how meeting apps have been helping people stay connected in the age of lockdowns.

Among the current cloud-based online video conferencing tools, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet are more popular.

Google Meet

  • Google’s video conferencing app Meet was specifically designed with business needs in mind as an easy-to-use interface that can handle up to 250 people in an online meeting, depending on the Workspace subscription.
  • The interface is fully integrated with other Google Workspace apps, like Google Calendar, that allow people to create and drop in and out of meetings quickly by just clicking a link.
  • Google on March 3, 2020 announced that the enterprise functionalities of Meet were temporarily available to all Workspace, G Suite customers. Following this, all Google Workspace and Google Workspace for Education customers got their hosting cap raised to up to 250 participants per call and were able to record and live stream their video meetings. Also, there was no limit on the call duration.
  • Meetings can be recorded with just two clicks. The captured audio, video, chat and screen sharing activity are automatically saved to Google Drive. If the video meeting is created via Google Calendar, the recording will also be accessible through the Calendar entry.
  • According to G Cloud, Google Meet is more secure than Zoom. Here messages are encrypted “in transit” that is between the user device and Google’s servers.
  • As of May 2020, Meet’s peak daily usage had grown by 30 times since January, according to Google.

 

Zoom

  • One of the most used online video conferencing tools is Zoom, due to its easy-to-use functionality and good video and audio quality. Zoom allows a maximum of 100 participants, including the host, per meeting free of charge, but one can purchase the “large meeting” add-on to host up to 500 participants.
  • With Zoom’s free plan, unlimited calls, each up to 40-minute duration, can be made.
  • With its pro account or paid plans, the limit moves up to 24-hour duration. With Zoom, meetings can be recorded, but saved to the local computer only.
  • Zoom video conferencing app, which was founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan and launched in January 2013, gathered considerable popularity and became profitable in the following years. But it truly entered the public consciousness during the coronavirus pandemic, with users under lockdown across the world turning to the app to stay in touch with others.
  • The company went public in April 2019 with a valuation of close to $16 billion. Stocks, initially priced at $36, traded at $65 on the first day of going public. According to the Business of Apps website, it saw a 30-fold rise in just the first six months of 2020.
  • Yuan stated in a blog post that over May 2020, Zoom was seeing 200 million daily meeting participants. The figure had risen to 300 million in a month by June as compared to just 10 million users in December 2019. Among the new participants, were the UK Cabinet and 90,000 schools in 20 countries.
  • Zoom generated $2.6 billion revenue in 2020, a 317 percent year-on-year rise, with meeting participants soaring by 2,900 percent.
  • As of December 2020, it had 4,70,000 business customers. Zoom’s valuation exceeded $100 billion during the pandemic, a 383 percent rise from January 2020. Last year, Zoom’s annual revenue was $2.6 billion and profit $671 million.

Microsoft Teams

  • Teams is part of Microsoft Office 365 bundle. There are both free and paid plans that allow a Microsoft customer to host meetings with up to 250 attendees and record them as well. Teams doesn’t have any duration limitation for meetings.
  • Microsoft Teams too encrypts data “in transit.” They store it in a secure network of data centres and use Secure Real-time Transport Protocol for video, audio and desktop sharing.
  • Among other functionalities, there are provisions of screen sharing, integration with company apps, dial-in facility with phone, grid view, and captions using speech-to text technology in these video conferencing tools.
  • Microsoft Teams saw an approximately four times rise in just five months — from 20 million in November 2019 to 44 million in March 2020 and 75 million in April.
  • According to digital experience management company Aternity, as published in Business of Apps, Microsoft Teams usage growth surpassed Zoom from February to June last year. From March to June 2020, Microsoft Teams notched a 894 percent growth. It added 95 million users in 2020. It currently has 145 million daily active users, including over 500,000 organisations, compared to 75 million last year.
  • According to Business of Apps, Microsoft Teams, along with Microsoft 365 and Dynamics, generated $6.8 billion in revenue in 2020, a 700 percent increase year-on-year.

 

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

 Daily Newsletter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Previous Article

Oil Fluctuates as Traders Assess China’s Vow, Unrest in Libya

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today's market

index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95

Currency

Company Price Chng %Chng
Dollar-Rupee 73.3500 0.0000 0.00
Euro-Rupee 89.0980 0.0100 0.01
Pound-Rupee 103.6360 -0.0750 -0.07
Rupee-100 Yen 0.6734 -0.0003 -0.05
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How Made in India apps cashed in on anti-China wave

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

 Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Summary

As India banned hundreds of popular Chinese apps last year, many homegrown apps stepped into the vacuum. Apps like Koo hit the bull’s eye.

The first wave of COVID-19, compounded by the border skirmishes in Galwan Valley, had led to a new low in India-China relations last year. As the clamour against all Chinese made products and services grew louder, the Indian government banned in three stages a total of 267 apps, including TikTok, CamScanner and PUBG mobile, among others, due to data security concerns.

Meanwhile, Indian startups had already started to develop their own apps to compete globally.

Here is a look at how Made in India apps like Chingari, India’s answer to TikTok; Koo, the Indian app similar to Twitter and other others, have evolved over the last year.

Made in India Apps

  • According to the India App Market Statistics in 2021, there are over 155,238 apps on Google Play developed by Indian publishers. Google Play store currently has nearly 3,020,096 apps.
  • In terms of market share, Indian apps have a 5 percent market share with an impressive review rating at 3.73 stars compared to the global app rating of 3.46 stars.
  • The highest number of downloads of Indian apps are Moj, Truecaller, Meesho, PhonePe, Roposo, ShareChat, Dailyhunt and My Jio.
  • Not surprisingly, Koo, which had gained a lot of prominence and coverage after being supported by the Indian Prime Minister himself and other ministers is among the highest downloaded apps.
  • Koo saw over five million downloads in the past eight months and one million downloads this April alone.
  • Chingari, a short video sharing platform, has seen 700,000 downloads since its launch worldwide in November 2020.

Hinterland holds the key

  • The ban on Chinese apps resulted in Indian companies grabbing opportunities and eyeballs. As per a report by The Indian Express, the Chinese share dropped because of the ban. In 2018, Indian market share of companies in top 200 installs was about 37 percent.
  • After the ban, app downloads are driving growth with a lion’s share of 85 percent coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Regional Languages Matter

  • Mobile app developers are now focusing on regional content compared to one language such as Hindi or English as it is the key to retaining users, especially short videos, news and even utilities apps.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

 Daily Newsletter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Previous Article

Oil Fluctuates as Traders Assess China’s Vow, Unrest in Libya

Next Article

Shanghai residents turn to NFTs to record COVID lockdown, combat censorship

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today's market

index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95

Currency

Company Price Chng %Chng
Dollar-Rupee 73.3500 0.0000 0.00
Euro-Rupee 89.0980 0.0100 0.01
Pound-Rupee 103.6360 -0.0750 -0.07
Rupee-100 Yen 0.6734 -0.0003 -0.05
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Indian economy contracts 7.3% in FY21; experts weigh in

Indian economy contracted 7.3 percent in the financial year 2020-21, the provisional full-year Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data released by the government showed on Monday.

In February, the Centre had estimated real GDP would shrink eight percent in FY21. A CNBC-TV18 poll had estimated the GDP will shrink by 7.5 percent.

Upasna Bhardwaj, Senior Economist at Kotak Mahindra Bank, in an interview to Latha Venkatesh, said, “We had retained the CSOs estimate of -8 percent GDP and -6.5 percent GVA. So this is marginally better than what we were anticipating.”

Sameer Narang, Chief Economist at Bank of Baroda, said the economy has fared a lot better in Q4.

“The economy has fared a lot better in Q4, the beat is across the sectors. So perhaps these numbers also suggest that we don’t need to be so pessimistic about how things may pan out once the unlock starts happening.”

Anubhuti Sahay, Head of South Asia Economic Research (India) at Standard Chartered Bank, said, “The GDP is in-line with our expectation but the GVA is higher than our estimate of around 2.5 percent. The positive surprise is primarily driven by the construction and the manufacturing sector. They have shown very strong growth in the last quarter versus what we expected.”

Watch video for more.

Startup Street: A look at how Peppo is helping restaurants build their online biz muscle

E-tailing to become USD 200-bn opportunity by 2025: Report

Indian restaurant owners are on a campaign to urge their patrons to ditch online food aggregator platforms like Swiggy and Zomato, and place an order with the restaurant directly instead to save them from onerous commissions and data masking at a time their business depends entirely on food delivery.

A Nandan Nilekani-backed startup, Peppo, is looking to provide an alternative to these apps and help restaurants build their own marketing and online business muscle. CNBC-TV18’s Alisha Sachdev caught up with Founder Naman Pugalia to understand its working and how different it is from the other online food aggregators.

Watch the video for more.

 5 Minutes Read

SC slams Centre’s vaccine policy; experts decode ‘various flaws’ pointed out by the top court

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Summary

To find out whether it is feasible to vaccinate everyone before the end of this year, CNBC-TV18 took a look at the government’s procurement plan.

Two days after the government assured to vaccinate all eligible Indians by December 2021, the Centre’s lawyer, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta reiterated the statement before the Supreme Court. He promised that the government can procure more vaccines and complete inoculation of all adults by December or earlier.

But, the court pointed out, what it called ‘various flaws’ in the government’s vaccination strategy, and asked for a policy document. The apex court pulled up the Centre over vaccine procurement saying it can’t put the onus on states or municipal bodies. The court made it clear that it is the union government of India that needs to procure vaccines for the entire country.

The court also questioned the differential pricing of vaccines. The apex court asked why vaccine manufacturers are setting different prices for state government and private hospitals.

The top court questioned why the Centre has excluded the 18 to 44 age group from its vaccination plan. It said people from this age group are the most active working class and a lot of them have died during the second wave. Court asked on what basis the central government has excluded those below 45 in its strategy.

Further, the Supreme Court slammed the Centre for mandatory Co-Win registration and asked how people in rural areas, those who are poor and vulnerable will go online to seek a vaccine. Mincing no words, the court said that the government needs to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ and amend policies to address the digital divide.

The court also expressed dissatisfaction over the Centre’s submissions of an affidavit on the vaccine policy. It asked the Centre to submit its policy document to understand the intent of the government.

To find out whether it is feasible to vaccinate everyone before the end of this year, CNBC-TV18 took a look at the government’s procurement plan. Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech need to ramp up production from current levels, but that is only 60 percent of the vaccine stock budgeted by the government.

Bio-e vaccine is still in trials, Sputnik can only be imported for now, Zydus is in trials, Novavax trials have been delayed and the others are still in trial without any regulatory approval. So, nearly 40 percent of the vaccines that the government needs to inoculate by the end of this year is yet to even get approval from the regulators to start production on a large scale.

To take the discussion forward, Shereen Bhan spoke to Vikas Singh, Senior Advocate and Counsel for the Supreme Court Bar Association in the suo moto case; Murali Neelakantan, Principal Lawyer at Amicus and Sanjiv Navagul, Managing Director and CEO at Bharat Serums and Vaccines.

For the full discussion, watch the video.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

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today's market

index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95

Currency

Company Price Chng %Chng
Dollar-Rupee 73.3500 0.0000 0.00
Euro-Rupee 89.0980 0.0100 0.01
Pound-Rupee 103.6360 -0.0750 -0.07
Rupee-100 Yen 0.6734 -0.0003 -0.05
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 5 Minutes Read

China shifts to three-child policy; a closer look at top 5 populous countries

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Summary

China announced a three-child policy as birth rates declined. Here’s a closer look at what India, US, Pakistan and Indonesia, the four other most densely populated countries in the world, are doing about their demographics.

China recently announced a shift in its national policy regarding family planning by allowing couples to have up to three children. The policy shift comes after China’s census showed that the population was beginning to decline due to the reduced birth rates.

China had shifted from its infamous one-child policy in 2016 to allow couples to have two children but the change was not enough to offset slowing birth rates.

Here is a look at what the other most populated nations in the world are doing with regard to their population.

India

The second most populous country in the world is expecting to see its census results this year, but according to a report by the United Nations and Chinese demographers, India might overtake China as the most populous nation by as early as 2025.

However, India’s fertility rate is already close to the replacement rate (roughly two children per woman) at 2.2. The country doesn’t have any national population policy yet, but the central government was working on formulating a national population control law. The National Family Planning Programme of the Union health ministry was made to create awareness about the benefits of having fewer children along with promoting reproductive health.

The United States

The United States of America is the third most populous nation in the world. The recent US Census results revealed the country’s population growth percentage has fallen to its lowest levels in nearly a century.

In the US, the fertility rate stood at 1.6, lower than what is needed to maintain a stable population.

While the prosperous nation has no official population policy, it has relied on immigration numbers to boost its population numbers and ensure adequate number of labourers and workers. But as the population ages, it can have catastrophic impacts on the economy and add pressure on the social security system in the country.

Indonesia

The world’s most populous island, Indonesia had a long and successful family planning programme. The programme was responsible for bringing down the fertility rate in the country from 5.6 to 2.6.

However, the world’s fourth most populous country is promoting late marriages, family planning and contraception to bring down the fertility rate to 2.1 by 2025.

According to a Bloomberg report, Indonesia’s latest push — a family planning campaign starting from late January — follows a decades-long struggle to bring the fertility rate down from three children per woman in the early 1990s. Indonesia is now aiming to simultaneously improve other factors such as health, education and employment, instead of just slowing the population growth rate.

Pakistan

Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world and has the youngest median age of the other top five most populous countries of 23. The country also has the highest fertility rate and the highest yearly percentage growth among the top five countries.

Pakistan earlier had a Ministry of Population Welfare to bring down the fertility rate, but it was abolished at a federal level.

The country still promotes policies aimed at reducing the fertility rate to maintainable levels. However, it will need to introduce large-scale changes to create enough jobs for its young population and control rising unemployment.

 

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

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today's market

index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95

Currency

Company Price Chng %Chng
Dollar-Rupee 73.3500 0.0000 0.00
Euro-Rupee 89.0980 0.0100 0.01
Pound-Rupee 103.6360 -0.0750 -0.07
Rupee-100 Yen 0.6734 -0.0003 -0.05
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 5 Minutes Read

FAQs: Who can access my WhatsApp chats? Is the platform still safe?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

 Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Summary

WhatsApp chats are protected by end-to-end encryption, which means no one can see your messages except the people you share them with.

New IT rules, applicable to large social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook, that came into force on May 26 have left many users in a fix. Many social media behemoths have voiced concerns over privacy and freedom of expression, while they have fully or partially complied with the new IT rules. A general apprehension among users is whether their chats and content shared over the medium are secure or not.  

WhatsApp has moved the Delhi High Court against the government over one of the new rules that require the identification of the originator of a flagged message. The instant messaging platform has alleged that tracing private messages would break end-to-end encryption and violate the citizens’ right to privacy. 

Also Read: Google, Facebook, WhatsApp comply with new IT rules, Twitter remains defiant

With the row over privacy taking centre stage, many users across the country are wondering whether they should continue to use WhatsApp and if the government or the messaging app is keeping a tab over their private conversations.

Here are some key questions about WhatsApp row answered:

Can WhatsApp see my personal chats? 

Earlier, amid concerns over its revised privacy policy, WhatsApp clarified that it cannot see people’s personal messages or hear their calls, and neither can Facebook.

Can the government see my private chats? 

WhatsApp chats are protected by end-to-end encryption, which means no one can see your messages except the people you share them with.

I have received offensive content on WhatsApp. Am I in trouble? 

As per one of the new digital rules, the government wants WhatsApp and other major social media firms to identify the originator of a message who may have shared offensive content.  

“The originator of information can only be traced in a scenario where other remedies have proven to be ineffective, making the same the last resort measure,” the government has clarified. 

So, as long as you don’t start a message containing sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material or content that may have a negative impact on the sovereignty, integrity, and security of the country, you have nothing to worry about. 

Will WhatsApp be banned? 

The government has warned that if social media firms fail to comply with new rules, they will take action. There is no word yet about what happens next. As for now, WhatsApp has complied with the rules and is working just fine. 

It has however moved the Delhi High Court against the rules concerning the identification of the originator of a message. 

What does the red tick on WhatsApp mean? 

A message has been doing rounds on WhatsApp and other social media platforms, that claims three red ticks on WhatsApp show that the government has initiated court proceedings against you.

“Two blue ticks and one red tick means the government can take action, while three red ticks will mean the government has started court proceedings against you,” the viral message reads. 

Well, the message is fake. You need not pay heed to it as WhatsApp has implemented no such measure in their app.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

 Daily Newsletter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Previous Article

Oil Fluctuates as Traders Assess China’s Vow, Unrest in Libya

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Shanghai residents turn to NFTs to record COVID lockdown, combat censorship

LIVE TV

today's market

index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -72.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +28.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +30.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -14.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95
index Price Change
nifty 50 ₹16,986.00 -7.15
sensex ₹1,882.60 +8.30
nifty IT ₹2,206.80 +3.85
nifty bank ₹1,318.95 -1.95

Currency

Company Price Chng %Chng
Dollar-Rupee 73.3500 0.0000 0.00
Euro-Rupee 89.0980 0.0100 0.01
Pound-Rupee 103.6360 -0.0750 -0.07
Rupee-100 Yen 0.6734 -0.0003 -0.05
Quiz
Powered by
Are you a Crypto Head? It’s time to prove it!
10 Questions · 5 Minutes
Start Quiz Now
Win WRX (WazirX token) worth Rs. 1500.
Question 1 of 5

What coins do you think will be valuable over next 3 years?

Answer Anonymously

Should Elon Musk be able to buy Twitter?