Archives for 2018

Reliance Jio has doubled its subscriber base to 215 million in 22 months, Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D. Ambani said here on Thurday.

“We have more than 25 million JioPhone users in India,” Ambani told shareholders at the 41st Annual General Meeting of RIL.
He announced that the company was launching JioGigaFiber, Jio’s fixed-line broadband.

“We will now extend fiber connectivity to homes, merchants, small and medium enterprises and large enterprises simultaneously across 1,100 cities to offer the most advanced fiber-based broadband connectivity solutions,” Ambani told shareholders.

He said for homes this means ultra high-definition entertainment on large screen TVs, multi-party video conferencing from living room, voice-activated virtual assistants, virtual reality gaming, digital shopping and immersive experiences.

“For merchants and small businesses, fixed-line broadband means… When you combine fixed-line connectivity with the agility and customer obsession of a small owner-driven business, you empower them to compete on level terms with larger businesses.

“For large enterprises, fixed-line broadband will mean… Having the ability to compete in the global marketplace, using digital tools and techniques that are powering the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” he added.

The company also said it would launch JioPhone2 on August 15. It will have added features like WhatsApp, YouTube and Facebook. It would have a horizontal screen.

“Today, we are launching a brand new JioPhone scheme, JioPhone ‘Monsoon Hungama’. Under this offer, by exchanging your old feature phone, you can get a brand new JioPhone for an effective entry price of just Rs 501,” Ambani said.

Starting on August 15, we have another exciting offer for common Indians. “They can purchase our Jiophone2 at an introductory price of only Rs 2,999.

“With the added functionalities and strong retail presence across India, the goal that I have now set for our Jio team is to enable 100 million users on this JioPhone platform in the shortest possible time and create another world record,” he added.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday requested Delhi’s Lt Governor and Centre to comply with the apex court ruling and work in cooperation with the Delhi government to avoid any obstruction to work.

“It is our request to the Lt Governor and Centre to cooperate and work according to the (court) order. Because of a technical formality, work should not be hindered,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.

After the Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday in favour of the Delhi government, the ruling AAP had quickly taken action to restore the powers of transfer of officers in Delhi.

However, when it sent a file to the Secretary (Services), the Deputy Chief Minister was told about the inability to carry out the orders.

“Chief Secretary (Services) sent us a written document expressing why the Services department would not be able to carry out the orders. We are consulting our lawyers regarding the issue,” Sisodia told reporters here.

Sisodia said the apex court had clearly stated that the Lt Governor, appointed by the Centre, was bound by the aid and advice of the Ministers of the city government in all areas except land, police and public order.

“It is clear that the Centre does not have any role now after the apex court order. The Services department is not under the Centre. But if they refuse to cooperate, then how will the country’s system work, how will the city function?” he said.

Reliance Industries’ (RIL) Chairman & Managing Director Mukesh D. Ambani on Thursday said the company saw its biggest growth opportunity “in creating a hybrid, online-to-offline new commerce platform”.

According to Ambani, who was addressing the shareholders at the company’s 41st Annual General Meeting (AGM) here, the new commerce platform will be created through the integration of its offline retail arm and online technology platform.

He further said Reliance Retail’s revenue grew by 100 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis Rs 69,000 crore last year.

 Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh could not visit the Amarnath Cave Shrine due to inclement weather on Thursday.

The Home Minister will take a review of various developmental projects, security and law and order in Jammu and Kashmir before concluding his two-day visit, official sources said.

He had met Governor N.N. Vohra on Wednesday at the Raj Bhawan after arriving here along with Ajit Doval, national security advisor and Rajiv Gauba, union home secretary.

This is Singh’s first visit to the state after Governor’s rule was imposed here on June 20.

Singh will return to New Delhi on Thursday later.

 The Karnataka government on Thursday waived farm loans up to Rs 34,000 crore, giving relief to lakhs of farmers across the state.

“I propose to waive farm loans up to Rs 34,000 crore, with Rs 2 lakh per farmer family,” Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said in the Assembly while presenting his maiden state budget for fiscal 2018-19.

The budget proposes to tax the people heavily by increasing the petrol fare by Rs 1.14 per liter and diesel by Rs 1.12 per liter.

“I also propose to increase excise duty on Indian made foreign liquor by 4 percent to raise additional revenue for meeting the budget expenditure,” said Kumaraswamy, who heads a coalition government of his Janata Dal-Secular and the Congress.

The Chief Minister has also proposed to increase power tariff by 20 paise per unit.

Promising to continue the flagship programmes of the previous Congress government, Kumaraswamy told the legislators that the overall size of the budget would be Rs 2,13,734 crore.

“I propose to allocate Rs 150 crore for agriculture development based on the Israeli model. We will focus on agriculture as well as the services sector,” he said.