FSSAI initiates 1,411 cases against FBOs for food safety violations in current financial year

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

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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has taken stringent action against Food Business Operators (FBOs) found in violation of food safety regulations. Since the commencement of the current fiscal year on April 1, 2023, FSSAI has initiated a total of 1,411 prosecution cases against errant FBOs.

The prosecution cases have been initiated under the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006. The prosecution initiated by India’s apex food regulator against the FBOs covered different violations, including conducting food businesses without possessing a valid license and the manufacturing or sale of unsafe food products.

Since the beginning of the current financial year, a number of food products across various categories like milk and milk products, spices, packaged drinking water, nutraceuticals, sauces, pickles, chips, jaggery, etc. have been tested by FSSAI to ensure compliance with product standards and safety.

FSSAI, along with state food authorities, monitors the quality and safety of food products for consumers by drawing and testing samples. These checks are conducted to identify non-compliant practices and swiftly address any breaches in food safety regulations.

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Firstpost EXCLUSIVE: India has paused dialogue with Canada due to certain issues of serious concern, says Piyush Goyal

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

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India is on good terms with Canada, said Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, but dialogue between the two countries has been “paused to make sure that geopolitically and economically, we are all on the same page.”

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Goyal said there had been certain issues with Canada that are of “serious concern”.

“We also were in a dialogue with Canada, which for some time we are looking at… We have given it a pause to see how we need to take it forward. Why is that? There are several reasons we need to make sure that geopolitically and economically, we are all on the same page. Therefore, the pause on the Canada discussions,” Goyal said.

“Are we not on the same page with Canada? We are on a good page, but we have had certain issues which are of serious concern. They have been highlighted in the bilateral meeting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, and we are hoping for resolution of some of these issues before we take it forward,” he added.

“You will see that we have a very vast array of negotiations underway. In fact, most teams in the Commerce Ministry are actually doing two-shift working, a morning negotiation with one and another in the evening. You really need to be very sharply focused on each negotiation because you are crystal gazing into 30, 40, 50 years into the future,” the Union Minister said.

The Union Minister hailed the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 Summit 2023, which was held under India’s presidency in New Delhi on 9 and 10 September.

The Prime Minister had said that India’s G20 presidency would not be “ornamental” and would “lead up good for the world,” Goyal said.

“He (PM Modi) was really on the front foot through the Indian G20 presidency. His guidance was immensely useful for the entire team, including the ministers who had to run different ministerial sessions or engagement groups. He was very clear that this will not be just an ornamental presidency. It will lead to good for the world,“ Goyal said.

On being asked about a meeting held in August where China and Russia opposed a paragraph on the war in Ukraine, the minister began by saying, “Modi hai toh mumkin hai.”

“We had the confidence that we’ll pull it off due to PM Modi’s personal charisma, and tall leadership. Today, he is the longest-serving leader in senior positions amongst all the world leaders and the respect he has earned as a leader and for our country is immense. By and large, we were always very confident that there would be significant outcomes during the ministerial meetings.”

He added, “I think most people did have their doubts until the very end. But to pull it off on day one, we have truly crossed every expectation that anybody had. But I must say that with Prime Minister Modi, we all felt ‘kuch toh chamatkaar karenge’.”

On being asked if India is open for business for Chinese investors, the Commerce Minister said, “India is open for business for all investors across the world. We are fair to all countries. We would only like to make sure that we get reciprocal access, reciprocal benefits. We like to make sure that strategically, India’s interests are not compromised. And therefore, India is a little cautious when it comes to investments from all our land-bordering countries, whether it’s China or any other land-bordering country, we are looking at a little more cautious, calibrated approach.”

On the banning of hundreds of Chinese apps since 2021, Piyush Goyal said, “It was not a trade issue and neither was the trade department or commerce ministry involved in that decision. It was a security concern which was addressed by the concerned departments.”

Speaking about the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), he said, “Well, when I assessed the RCEP discussions, I realised that originally, India was never supposed to be a part of RCEP. It was amongst the ASEAN region, China, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and Korea. To date, I have not been able to figure out why India got into the whole RCEP negotiations.”

“Of course, when I dug into the files, when I took charge of this ministry in June of 2019, I had very little time between June and October because November was the final meeting where the call had to be taken and we were signing up. I started digging into the files. I started having very extensive stakeholder consultations across the country. I remember, I had over 200 meetings with different sectors. Two things came out very starkly.”

“Ever since the UPA came into power in 2004, I don’t know what happened. What were those secret understandings? What were those MoUs about which we still don’t know much? Then suddenly the imports from China started shooting up. That surge is unbelievable.”

On being asked about why India has not been able to reduce dependence on Chinese imports, the minister said, “over the years, we’ve seen so many products coming in from China. It’s a long drawn process to now create enough domestic capabilities and capacity. It’s a process to introduce high quality standards to make sure we get good quality products coming into India.”

“That process is going on very significantly at a very fast pace, because of which I think we’ve been able to promote domestic investments, promote domestic manufacturing. Otherwise, the same import figure, if I was to juxtapose what was happening prior to 2014, would have been far, far higher.”

Talking about former US President Donald Trump, Piyush Goyal said, “Two things. One, he has been President in the past and we have worked with him. I’m sure as more dialogue happens and more understanding happens, he will realise we are really not the highest tariff country in the world. In many ways, India has opened up its business through promoting bilateral agreements, also by ensuring that high technology products get free flow and lower tariffs.”

“There are certain areas where we do have tariffs, but so has the United States. Peanut butter in America has exorbitant tariffs. Every country protects certain very critical, sensitive, politically sensitive areas through tariffs or through other measures and I think all this needs is more dialogue and debate and discussion and a deeper understanding which will resolve this matter.”

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India becomes 13th country to issue globally recognised certificates for weights & measures

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

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In a big boost to manufacturers of weights, measures and other equipment used for measurements, the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) has authorised India to issue globally recognised certificates for legal metrology.

India will now be able to grant OIML certification to domestic as well as foreign manufacturers of certain products, and is the 13th country in the world to be given this authorisation. Australia, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are the other countries that are authorised to grant this certification. 

The South Asian country can also confer the mandatory OIML Pattern Approval certificates to weights and measures for sale in the international market, as the reports prepared by the Legal Metrology’s Regional Reference Standards Laboratories (RRSL) are now acceptable to the OIML issuing authorities. This implies that India’s domestic manufacturers can now export their weighing and measuring instruments worldwide without incurring any additional testing fees, hence saving on the costs incurred till now. 

India’s Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) defines Legal Metrology as the application of legal requirements to measurements and measuring instruments. 

Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh told CNBC-TV18 that India can also earn foreign exchange as fees for evaluating and issuing OIML pattern approval certificates from its certified RRSLs to foreign manufacturers. Initially, India will start providing certification for eight sets of equipment and will expand the ambit further with OIML’s due diligence for more types of equipment. 

With RRSL labs already functional in Ahmedabad, Varanasi and Guwahati. India has already been approached by many European manufacturers for certification. The Secretary explained that many overseas manufacturers are approaching India for certification due to lower costs and shorter queues for approval. 

Despite needing OIML certification from abroad, India has exported measuring instruments worth Rs. 600 crores in the last three years. The Department of Consumer Affairs expressed confidence that OIML certification will help boost India’s global trade with better harmonisation of standards, lower redundancy and lesser compliance costs.

OIML is an intergovernmental organisation established in 1955 with 63 member states and 64 corresponding members. India is slated to host an OIML meeting in March 2024.

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Softbank-backed Arm Holdings ends 25% higher on trading debut with a valuation of nearly $70 billion

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

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Shares of Softbank-backed Arm ended 25 percent higher on its trading debut at $63.59, marking the year’s biggest listing. The closing gives Arm Holdings a market capitalisation of $68 billion on a fully diluted basis.

Arm Holdings raised $4.7 billion from investors on Wednesday, September 13, in the largest IPO of the year. It sold shares at $51, the higher end of the IPO price band of $47-$51. The company sold 95.5 million American depository shares (ADRs) in its IPO. At the higher end of the price band, Arm was valued at $54.5 billion.

The stock began trading at $56.1, a 10 percent premium to its issue price of $51 before rising as much as 30 percent. The listing also brings a windfall for SoftBank, whose nearly 90 percent stake in the chip designer increased by more than $12 billion on Thursday.

This marks an end to a long drought of tech IPOs, which had taken a backseat due to higher interest rates and the subsequent correction in tech stocks. This resulted in many companies putting their IPOs on the back burner.

Chip designer Arm’s technology is used in 99 percent of the world’s smartphones. 70 percent of the human population uses devices powered by Arm’s technology.

While Arm had previously aimed to raise $8 billion to $10 billion, that target was lowered at least in part because SoftBank decided to buy the roughly 25 percent stake held by its Vision Fund and then hold onto a larger portion of the shares in the company.

TSMC, Intel, Nvidia, Apple, AMD, Alphabet and other customers of Arm will also be buying shares worth over $700 million at the IPO price.

Arm was previously a public company until 2016 in both London and New York before Softbank took it private in a $32 billion purchase.

Nvidia announced that it will acquire Arm in 2020 in a $40 billion cash and stock deal. The deal size almost doubled courtesy of a jump in Nvidia’s stock price. However, the deal was called off in 2022 after European and US antitrust regulators blocked the deal saying it killed any potential competition.

This is the biggest listing in the US since Rivian Automotive debuted in late 2021 at a valuation of over $100 billion. Shares of Rivian are currently trading around the $20 mark from its peak of $180. The correction marked an end to the euphoria around IPOs for a good two years.

The US has had 108 IPOs so far in 2023, which is 30 percent lower than the same period last year. Until this time in 2022, the country had already seen 155 IPOs. 64 out of those 108 IPOs are trading below their IPO price.

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Trade Setup for September 15: Nifty 50 set to achieve this feat for the first time in five months

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

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What a week this has been for the Nifty 50. More importantly, what a series this is turning out to be for the Nifty 50. The index has declined only once in the entire series, that too a mere 3 points. It not only scaled the mark of 20,000, but has also managed to sustain above it.

For the week, the index is now up 1.4 percent. In case the Nifty 50 manages to close above 20,206 on Friday, this would turn out to be its best week since June. However, this will also be the first instance since April this year, where the Nifty 50 would gain in excess of one percent for back-to-back weeks.

The broader markets are also slowly trying to recover the wounds of Tuesday. The Nifty Midcap index ended nearly a percent higher on Thursday. Interestingly, the index has declined only thrice over the last one month. The Smallcap index is now just 250 points away from recovering all of Tuesday’s losses.

Key Levels To Watch

• Nifty 50: 20,166 (Thursday’s high) and 20,206 (For best week since June)
• Nifty Bank: 46,159 (Thursday’s High) and 46,369 (All-Time High)
• Nifty Smallcap: 12,982 – For recovering all of Tuesday’s losses
• Nifty Midcap: 41,444 – For recovering all of Tuesday’s losses

What Are The Experts Saying?

Anshul Saigal of Kotak PMS told CNBC-TV18 that while he will be cautious on the broader markets for the near term, he is extremely bullish on midcaps and smallcaps for a five-year period.

“I would be extremely bullish on this space because I think that there are multiple factors leading to significant growth in this space over the next three, five years. Short term valuations clearly are stretched. So broadly, you should be cautious in the short term, long term very bullish,” he said.

Dean Kim of William O’Neil said that investors should start trimming positions if stocks do not manage to move above their 50-Day Moving Average. He advised focusing on largecap stocks, within which, TCS and Cipla rank as his preferred bets. Among the broader markets, he listed Varun Beverages and TVS Motor as his preferred picks.

What Do Nifty 50’s Charts Indicate?

Shrikant Chouhan of Kotak Securities believes that as long as the Nifty 50 trades above the mark of 20,000, the positive sentiment will take it higher to levels of 20,180 – 20,225. On the flip side, a slip below 20,000 may drag the index lower towards 19,900.

A buy-on-dips strategy should remain in place until the Nifty 50 falls decisively below the 19,900 mark, said Rupak De of LKP Securities. He expects significant resistance at 20,100 due to the high Open Interest concentration on the Call side. Above 20,100, he sees a strong rally in the short-term.

Rajesh Bhosale of Angel One said that the Nifty 50’s ability to defend its previous swing high of 19,991 bodes well for the index. He said that as the Nifty 50 has gained nearly 900 points within a few sessions, the next leg of the rally may not be as swift. Upside resistance is first seen at 20,200 and then at 20,450.

Nifty Bank’s Best Week Since July

The Nifty Bank is facing hurdles to get to its record high. Yet, it managed to close exactly at 46,000 on Thursday, 370 points away from its record high of 46,369. The index is up nearly 2 percent this week, which will be its best week since mid-July.

Kunal Shah of LKP Securities said that the Nifty Bank failed to deliver a decisive breakout above 46,000 but the buy-on-dips strategy remains till it holds 45,500 on the downside. “A sustained rally could materialise if the Nifty Bank decisively crosses the 46,000 mark,” he added.

Technical Analyst Mitessh Thakkar believes that 46,200 is the next key level for the Nifty Bank and a fresh round of momentum would begin once the index crosses that level. “Banking should be on the limelight for the next one to one and a half weeks from a trading point of view. 46,200 is the first target, 46,500-46,700 is the next target area,” he said.

Bombay Dyeing’s Day In The Sun

Shares of Bombay Dyeing ended 9 percent higher on Thursday after the company decided to sell its land parcel for Rs 5,200 crore. The company said that this would enable them to become debt free and pay dividends in the future too. The stock, at one point, was up 20 percent, before cooling off.

““All the positives are priced into the company. But per se making an investment in Bombay Dyeing from a real estate play or from a cash value play doesn’t make sense to me. It has been a stark underperformer. They have had many missed opportunities as well and one would have thought that it would convert itself into a proper real estate company considering the land bank it is sitting on, but the company is looking at selling off its land bank. So, I don’t see any investment case in Bombay Dyeing,” Dipan Mehta of Elixir Equities said.

What Are the F&O Cues Indicating?

Nifty 50’s September futures added 7.3 percent or 7.4 lakh shares in Open Interest. They are now trading at a premium of 68.9 points from 55.15 points earlier. On the other hand, the Nifty Bank’s September futures shed 8.4 percent or 1.48 lakh shares in Open Interest. Nifty 50’s Put-Call Ratio is now at 1.33 from 1.25 earlier.

Balrampur Chini, BHEL and Zee Entertainment are back in the F&O ban list from today’s trading session, while Indiabulls Housing Finance, Delta Corp, Hindustan Copper, Manappuram Finance, SAIL, India Cements, IEX, NALCO, and REC continue to remain in the ban list.

Nifty 50 on the Call side for September 21 expiry:

For next Thursday’s expiry, the Nifty 50 call strikes between 20,200 and 20,700 have seen significant Open Interest addition. The 20,700 strike has seen the maximum Open Interest addition.

Nifty 50 on the Put side for September 21 expiry:

On the put side, the Nifty 50 strikes between 19,500 and 20,100 saw Open Interest addition for next Thursday’s expiry. The 19,000 strike put, however, saw the maximum addition in Open Interest.

Lets take a look at the stocks that added fresh long positions on Thursday, meaning an increase in both price and Open Interest:

Lets take a look at the stocks that added fresh short positions on Thursday, meaning a decrease in price but increase in Open Interest:

Here are the stocks to watch out for ahead of Friday’s trading session:

• Infosys: Signs MoU with a global company to provide enhanced digital experiences along with modernisation and business operations services. The total client spend over 15 years is said to be $1.5 billion subject to the parties entering into a master agreement.
• Alkem Laboratories: CNBC-TV18 newsbreak confirmed, says that the IT department is conducting a survey at some of its offices and subsidiaries. The company said that it is fully co-operating with I-T department. The action will have no impact on the operations.
• Strides Pharma: Gets tentative approval from the USFDA for Dolutegravior tablets which are used in first-line HIV treatments.
• Bharat Forge: To produce a wider range of armoured vehicles in India along with Paramount and Kalyani Steel.
• GMM Pfaudler: To acquire Professional Mixing Equipment (MixPro) for $7 million.
• Lemon Tree Hotels: Signs license agreements for two hotel properties in Junagadh and Gujarat.
• Sequent Scientific: To sell its Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients unit in Thane.
• NTPC: Signs a supplementary JV agreement with Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam. The agreement will amend JV Agreement in order to take up additional thermal power projects.
• Gufic Biosciences: Granted a patent for an invention for 20 years starting April 19, 2021.
• Patel Engineering: JV declared the lowest bidder for a Rs 250 crore irrigation project. The project is fromMaharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation.

What Are Global Cues Indicating?

Asian equities have opened higher on the final trading day of the week ahead of key economic data from China. The world’s second-largest economy will be releasing data for house prices, unemployment rate and retail sales, along with urban investment.

The Nikkei 225 is up over 1.1 percent, while the Topix is at a new 33-year high. SoftBank shares are up 3 percent after a strong listing of its chip-designing unit Arm Holdings on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

The Kospi in South Korea is up 0.6 percent, while the Kosdaq is flat. Hang Seng futures are indicating a positive start to the trading day.

Overnight, all major US indices ended higher on Wall Street as core producer price index climbed 0.2 percent in August, in-line with expectations. The Dow Jones ended 1 percent higher, lodging its best day since August 7, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 0.8 percent each.

Foreign investors emerged as surprise buyers in the cash market on Thursday, while domestic institutions were net sellers.

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ECB raises rates to record high, signals end to hikes

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

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The European Central Bank raised its key interest rate to a record high of 4 percent on Thursday but, with the euro zone economy in the doldrums, signalled this was likely to be its final move in a more-than year-long fight against inflation.

The central bank for the 20 countries that share the euro also raised its forecasts for inflation, which it now expects to come down more slowly towards its 2 percent target over the next two years, while cutting those for economic growth.

That illustrated the dilemma the ECB faced at the meeting: prices are still rising at more than twice its target rate but with high borrowing costs and a downturn in China, overall economic activity is struggling.

Against this backdrop, the ECB sent a message that it was likely done with raising rates, prompting euro zone bond yields to fall and European shares to rise.

“Based on its current assessment, the Governing Council considers that the key ECB interest rates have reached levels that, maintained for a sufficiently long duration, will make a substantial contribution to the timely return of inflation to the target,” the ECB said.

That is now expected to happen more slowly than at the time of the ECB’s previous projections in June, with inflation seen at 5.6 percent in 2023, 3.2 percent in 2024 and 2.1 percent in 2025.

ECB President Christine Lagarde did not absolutely rule out a further hike if needed and said interest rates would have to remain at restrictive levels for some time.

“The focus is going to move, going forwards, to the duration, but that is not to say – because we can’t say that now – that we are at peak,” she told a press conference.

Lagarde acknowledged that some ECB board members had argued against the latest rate hike but added: “There was a solid majority of governors to agree with the decision we have made.”

Asked to comment on whether the ECB’s downgrading of its growth forecasts – with euro area growth this year now put at only 0.7 percent – meant that a regional recession was now its base-case scenario, Lagarde insisted the slowdown was temporary.

“The recovery we had planned for the second half of 2023 has been pushed out over time,” she said. “We are confident that growth will pick up in 2024.”

STICKY INFLATION

The upgrade to the 2024 inflation estimate – which had been reported by Reuters earlier – likely played a role in discussions as policymakers weighed the risk that inflation, currently still above 5 percent, would get stuck at a high level.

Thursday’s 25-basis-point increase pushes the rate the ECB pays on bank deposits to 4.0 percent, the highest level since the euro currency was launched in 1999.

Just 14 months ago, that rate was languishing at a record low of minus 0.5 percent, meaning banks had to pay to park their cash securely at the central bank.

In the run-up to this week’s meeting, money markets had expected the deposit rate to peak at 4.0 percent before being cut in the second half of next year.

In contrast, markets have fully priced in unchanged rates at next week’s meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which started raising earlier and has moved higher than the ECB.

Supporters of a hike this week are likely to have argued it was needed because inflation, including underlying measures that strip out volatile components, remains too high, with a recent surge in energy prices threatening a new acceleration.

But the brisk tightening cycle – twice as steep as normally envisaged by the ECB’s own stress tests of the banking sector – has already left its mark on the euro zone economy.

With the manufacturing sector, which typically needs more capital to operate, already suffering as a result of higher borrowing costs, lending to companies and households has fallen off a cliff.

Services has now also started to struggle following a brief post-pandemic boom in tourism.

The euro zone’s biggest economy, Germany, was bearing the brunt of an industrial slump and heading for recession, according to several forecasts.

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DGCA asks Pratt & Whitney to detect the cause of IndiGo’s mid-air engine failures

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

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India’s aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has taken up the issue of budget carrier IndiGo’s mid-air engine failure with US manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (P&W).

This concerns the three incidents in August & this month involving IndiGo’s Madurai to Mumbai, Kolkata to Bangalore and Amritsar to Delhi flights, where aircraft had to return due to engine failure. The aviation regulator has demanded P&W’s urgent intervention of the highest level for suitable mitigation of this issue.

“DGCA took up the matter with Pratt & Whitney (P&W) on 01/09/2023 regarding the three incidents of engine failure in quick succession leading to in-flight shutdown (IFSD), demanding original equipment manufacturers (OEM) urgent intervention of the highest level for suitable mitigation,” the aviation regulator said.

DGCA said it has asked P&W to identify the possible causes and recommend mitigation measures for early detection of such incidents. The regulator has also asked the engine maker to provide data of similar engine failures globally and to share its recommendations.

In the two incidents on August 29, high vibration, low oil pressure and metallic chips were found on the oil chip detector of the engine. While in the third incident on September 3, external oil leak was observed on the affected engine, however, no vibration or oil chip was reported.

According to the DGCA, IndiGo conducted Boroscopic Inspection (BSI) of the engines involved in the in-flight shutdown, wherein damage to the Stage 1 blades of the High Pressure Turbine (HPT) was observed on the engines involved in the two incidents on August 29. However, no anomaly was observed in the BSI of the affected engine at Amritsar in the September 3 incident. No abnormality was observed in any of the engines.

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Singapore GP: War of words between reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff

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

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Defending Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen  called out rival team Mercedes’ team principal Toto Wolff for dismissing his consecutive title triumphs and his latest record of securing 10 Grand Prix wins in a row.

Speaking ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, Verstappen said Wolff’s comments stemmed from anger at poor results for Mercedes in Italy and described the team’s race with an expletive. Mercedes had George Russell in fifth and Lewis Hamilton in sixth in Monza as they failed to get close to the Red Bull and Ferrari cars fighting for the podium places. Verstappen said rivals could draw inspiration from Red Bull’s dominance instead.

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“I think it’s just important that you focus on your own team. That’s what we do as well. That’s what we did in the past as well when we were behind them and when they were dominating,” Verstappen said.

🚨 | Toto Wolff Explains How Close He Was To Signing Max Verstappen Before He Joined Red Bull

“Max was very good in karting, was good in F3, and it was clear that there’s a big one that’s growing. We talked to them in the initial phases, and it was a nice discussion with (his… pic.twitter.com/EEuqJ79NPJ

— el Formula (@elFormulaOne) September 14, 2023 

He added, “And I think you should be able to appreciate when a team is doing really well, which I think we’ve done in the past, because it worked also as a kind of inspiration to see someone that dominant who was very impressive at the time. And we knew that we just had to work harder, try to be better and try to get to that level. And now that we are there, we are very happy of course that we are there and we are enjoying the moment and honestly, that’s all I can say about it.”

The qualifying race at the Marina Bay Circuit will take place on September 16 whereas the final race will occur on September 17, with Verstappen aiming to bring an end to his drought in the Singapore GP after having conceded the victory to his teammate Sergio Perez last year.

(With AP inputs)

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Florintree buys significant stake in video computing platform company Videonetics

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

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Growth-stage private equity firm Florintree has bought a significant stake in video computing platform company Videonetics. Investors GenNext Ventures Fund, and an US-based global investor exited through this transaction.

The Kolkata-headquartered Videonetics was founded in 2008 by Dr. Tinku Acharya. It has recently expanded its operations in Singapore and intends to expand further.

Acharya said, ” Videonetics is poised to become a dominant player in the global arena and add significant value to the marketplace. Moreover, our innovations in AI-enabled video computing technologies will continue, and I am confident that they will scale to newer heights.”

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Florintree Advisors’ Executive Chairman Mathew Cyriac, said, “We are very
excited to partner with Videonetics and Dr Acharya as they take the “Made In India” Video Computing platform to the global stage.

Florintree Advisors was founded in 2014, and is a growth-stage private equity firm. It invests in technology-backed companies.

Last year, Florintree Advisors invested nearly Rs 16.5 crore for a minority stake in fintech infrastructure to mutual fund distributors and asset management firm Cybrilla Technologies Pvt Ltd.

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