Washington, Apr 9 : India topped the chart in remittance recipients as the Indian diaspora have sent 79 billion dollars back home in 2018, the World Bank has said.

India has left behind China (67 billion dollars), Mexico (36 billion dollars), the Philippines (34 billion dollars) and Egypt (29 billion dollars), the World Bank said in its latest Migration and Development Brief report on Monday.

According to the report, remittances grew by more than 14 per cent in India, where a flooding disaster in Kerala likely boosted the financial help that migrants sent to families.

In Pakistan, remittance growth was moderate 7 per cent, due to significant declines in inflows from Saudi Arabia, its largest remittance source. In Bangladesh, remittances showed a brisk uptick in 2018 with 15 per cent.

The Bank estimates that officially recorded annual remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries reached 529 billion dollars in 2018, an increase of 9.6 per cent over the previous record high of 483 billion dollars in 2017.

Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, reached 689 billion dollars in 2018, up from 633 billion dollars in 2017.

The report said in 2019, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are expected to reach 550 billion dollars, to become their largest source of external financing.

Dilip Ratha, lead author of the Brief and head of KNOMAD, said, ?Remittances are on track to become the largest source of external financing in developing countries. The high costs of money transfers reduce the benefits of migration. Renegotiating exclusive partnerships and letting new players operate through national post offices, banks, and telecommunications companies will increase competition and lower remittance prices.?

 By: Faizan Rizwan & Shaheen Raaj

FCA India Makes the Sport Trim

The FCA India, manufacturer of the award-winning Jeep Compass, recently announced the start-of-sale of the “Sport Plus” derivative in its aspirational portfolio. The Jeep Compass, which has been witnessing great demand particularly for its top-end trim will now have a more desirable entry-level offering in the Sport Plus variant. 

The new Jeep Compass Sport Plus, at INR 15.99 lakh (ex-Delhi), comes with additional new features as standard, such as 16-inch sporty alloys, dual-zone auto air-conditioning (climate control), rear parking sensors & black roof rails, in addition to the 21 key features, including the Electric Parking Brake, Disc Brakes on all 4 wheels & the sophisticated Frequency Selective Damping, which also come standard across the entire Jeep Compass range.

 The Jeep Compass Sport Plus comes in front-wheel drive (FWD) in 2 powerful, refined & proven powertrain options, a 173 PS, 350 Nm, 2.0-litre Multijet Turbo Diesel with a 6-speed manual transmission that can deliver a fuel efficiency of 17.1 kmpl & a 162 PS, 250 Nm, 1.4-litre MultiAir Turbo Petrol with a 6-speed manual transmission that can deliver a fuel efficiency of 14.1 kmpl.

 Summary of the 21 Standard Features available across Jeep® Compass range & also in the Sport Plus Package: Iconic Jeep exterior styling, The Jeep Compass Sport Plus, like every other Jeep SUV continues the tradition of sporting the iconic Jeep seven-slot front grille, trapezoidal wheel arches and 5 spoke alloy wheels.

High-strength steel body – Fully galvanized & laden with laser-welded roof & doors, the Jeep Compass is the only vehicle in India that is made with this technology, which keeps the build robust & durable.

 Safety and Security – This has been the hallmark of the Jeep Compass is in abundance with over 50 active & passive safety & security features. The Jeep Compass has won a 5 star rating in both the Australia NCAP & Euro NCAP tests. Intuitive Ergonomics, The sporty & sophisticated passenger cabin of the Jeep Compass gives occupants an effortless access to buttons & functions at their fingertips. The cabin is replete with premium soft-touch materials & accentuated with piano black & chrome finished touches. Subtle elements like the “Shark Fin” air-con bezels, chrome accents in the sporty steering wheel, stitched contoured seats & an overall athletic but premium ambience makes the journey a pleasure for occupants. 

Exceptionally silent Passenger Cabin, Occupants can enjoy a peaceful ride in the well-insulated passenger cabin, keeping away tyre & traffic noise & also feedback from the powerful turbo-diesel engine. The 28 Acoustic Baffle Plate technology in & around the passenger cabin ensures the ambient noise is cut off when an occupant is taking a phone call on the go, in sync with the innovative Jeep UConnect infotainment system which is equipped with Apple Car Play & Android Auto. 

Frequency Selective Damping Suspension, Jeep’s brilliant Frequency Selective Damping (FSD) suspension mechanically adjusts the damping based on road conditions & driver inputs. FSD acts as a hydraulic amplifier that delays the build-up of pressure in the strut making the damping more effective than usual & provides more stability during cornering & braking, while ensuring more comfort on bad roads. 

Electronically aided dynamics, The Jeep Compass has the usual electronics which aid the driver in varied driving conditions as standard & these are, Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD), Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Traction Control System (TCS), Hill Start Assist (HSA) & Electronic Rollover Mitigation (ERM). In addition to these, a few more features that are brilliantly engineered into the intuitive dynamics of the Jeep Compass are: Dynamic Steering Torque Steering (DST), The Electric Steering Wheel in the Jeep Compass is equipped with DST, which has sensors that intuitively pick the driver’s steering inputs & induces enough torque when the steering is being turned, irrespective of speeds. The DST works in sync with the ESC to ensure safety on all kinds of road surfaces. Electronic Brake Prefill, This technology ensures the vehicle suspension’s changing yaw setting, sharp steering input, quick camber & speed variations are kept in check by short, unnoticeably quick, automated bursts of brake pad engagement with the discs. This ensures stability & high speeds & unpredictable highway driving conditions. 

Rain Brake Support, This technology ensures electronically enabled engagement of the brake pads with the discs when the sensors sense continuous deposits of water on the disc (brakes). This pad engagement is quick but not intrusive, only to make sure the disc remains dry at all times. The Jeep Compass Sport Plus will be available for sale at all FCA India’s 82 sales & service outlets present across the length & the breadth of India. 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday cut its repo rate or the rate at which it lends to banks, by 25 basis points to 6 per cent bringing interest rate to the lowest level in one year on softening inflation.

This is the second consecutive rate cut from RBI under new chief Shaktikanta Das, after a surprise rate cut in February.

The central bank, however, kept monetary policy stance at ‘neutral’.

In the second policy review under Governor Shaktikanta Das, the six-member Monetary Policy Committee voted 4:2 in favour of the rate cut.

The benchmark interest rate was cut by 0.25 per cent to 6 per cent, a move that will result in lower cost of borrowing for the banks that are expected to transmit the same to individuals and corporates.

The RBI had on February 7, in its sixth bi-monthly policy statement for 2018-19, reduced the repo rate by 25 basis points from 6.5 per cent to 6.25 points.

The apex bank had also changed the policy stance to “neutral” from existing “calibrated tightening”.

Earlier, the Monetary Policy Committee had changed its stance to calibrated tightening in the meeting held in October 2018.

Last time the repo rate stood at 6 per cent was in April 2018.

The rate cut is in consonance of achieving the medium-term objective of maintaining inflation at the 4 per cent level while supporting growth, RBI said in a statement.

Agencies

New Delhi (Agencies): WhatsApp has rolled out new privacy settings, which includes an invite system for groups. The new features give users more control over which groups they want to join.

Users will now need to approve whether they are interested in joining a group on WhatsApp to which they have been invited.

The new invite system means that users can choose to be added to only groups for which an invite has been sent by their contact. The user will have the option of approving whether to join a group or not, which was not the case before.

A group invite will be sent through private chat and users will have three days to accept it. After three days, the invite expires. The invite will have details like the group name, its description and other group members.

To enable the feature, users can head to the Settings menu in WhatsApp and then tap Account > Privacy > Groups. There are three options to choose from: “Nobody,” “My Contacts,” or “Everyone.”

If a user selects “Nobody”, then they will need to approve before being added into any group. With the “My Contacts” option, only contacts in the user’s address book can add them to groups.

The new privacy settings have started rolling out to some users and will be more widely available in the coming weeks. Users will need to update their WhatsApp app to the latest version to access this feature.

The invite system was long-awaited as users will now be able to decline being added to groups they do not wish to join. The feature will also help curb the spread of misinformation on the platform, especially fake news that is targeted to a large number of people at once through groups.

Fact-checking service to fight fake news added

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, to curb the spread of misinformation, WhatsApp on Tuesday launched a fact-checking service in India.

According to Reuters, the internet-based instant messaging platform in a press release said that it has tied up with Indian startup Proto and two other organisations, Dig Deeper Media and Meedan, for the service called Checkpoint Tipline.

Users can send messages, including images, video and text in English, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam. The tip line will classify the messages as true, false, misleading or disputing. The number is 919643000888.

This initiative is one of those few taken by WhatsApp, ahead of the elections, which will be held from April 11 to May 19. Earlier, the platform was in news when it tried its best to stop spread of misinformation. It had imposed a limit of five on the number of times a message could be forwarded on WhatsApp.

WhatsApp owner Facebook on Monday had announced that it had removed more than 1,000 pages from India and Pakistan that it claimed were displaying ‘coordinated inauthentic behaviour’. Several pro-Bharatiya Janata Party and pro-Congress pages too were removed in the process, it claimed.

Islamabad, Mar 27: Pakistan opened its airspace for all domestic and international flights after keeping it closed for 28 days, Dawn reported on Wednesday.

The country on Tuesday had partially resumed flight operations from Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta earlier this month.

Now flight operations from all airports for international and domestic routes will be resumed as per schedule, but transit flights will stay suspended.

Flight operations were suspended after Pakistan closed its airspace on Feb 27 for all international and domestic flights in the wake of the security situation.

The Civil Aviation Authority had issued notices to all airmen about the closure of the country’s airspace.
Earlier this month, Pakistan had resumed limited flight operations from Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta after closing it for about one week.

A fresh notice to airmen said that flight operations to and from following airports in Pakistan shall remain available as per operation hours from Islamabad Inter?national Airport, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad and Multan.
However, flights for Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi will not operate due to security reasons.

New Delhi, March 21 (Nasheman News) Petrol prices declined by 7 paise across the metropolitan cities on Thursday after remaining unchanged for the last two days, data from the Indian Oil Corp’s website showed.

In the national capital, petrol was priced at Rs 72.71 per litre, down from Rs 72.78 on Wednesday. In Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, price of the fuel was at Rs 74.79, Rs 78.33 and Rs 75.52 per litre respectively, against the previous levels of Rs 74.86, Rs 78.40 and Rs 75.59 per litre.

Although domestic fuel prices declined on Thursday, largely, the price trend has been on an upward movement during the first three months of 2019, except a few days of price drop. In Delhi, petrol prices have risen around Rs 4 per litre since January 1, 2019.

The uptrend in domestic prices is largely attributed to the recent bullish global crude oil prices. The benchmark Brent crude oil is currently trading around $68 per barrel. 

Under the dynamic pricing policy, the retail fuel prices in the country are based on the a 15-day average of global crude prices along with the rupee-US dollar exchange rate.

In tandem with petrol prices, the cost of diesel also declined on Thursday. In Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, diesel was sold for Rs 66.72, Rs 68.51, Rs 69.89 and Rs 70.50 per litre, down from Rs 66.80, Rs 68.59, Rs 69.97 and Rs 70.59 per litre on Wednesday.

Jet Airways’ pilots body urges SBI to clear salaries, dues at earliest
Assuring its commitment towards the Jet Airways in taking the airline to the road of recovery, its pilots body National Aviators Guild on Tuesday petitioned State Bank of India chairman Rajnish Kumar to release their pending salaries at the earliest.

?It is our humble request to you to alleviate some of the hardships that we and the AMEs have been facing by ensuring that the Jet Airways management does not further delay the release of our pending salaries and clears our dues at the earliest,? body general Secretary Capt Tej Sood said in a letter to the SBI chairman.

SBI is the main lendor among 26 banks that have given loans to the saddled airline Jet Airways.

On Monday, Jet Airways founder and chairman Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal had tendered their resignations as directors from the Board. According to the new resolution plans, Rs 1500 crore would be infused in the airline to normalize its operations.

With the new loan of Rs 1500 crore, the total loan amount of the Jet Airways is more than Rs 9,700 crore. Under the resolution plan, the banks would convert the total debt into equity worth 50.1 per cent at a price of Re 1.

The pilots body also sought time to meet the SBI chairman to discuss the resolution plan.

?We would also be grateful if you could spare us some time from your busy schedule to meet our Representatives to give us an idea of the roadmap to recovery. This will help us in rebuilding confidence amongst our pilots and reassuring them that the uncertainty is behind us,? the letter said.

The NAG, however, assured the bank chairman of its continued support. It said pilots remain committed to the airline and would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the carrier returns to its former glory.

Joint initiative by BIAL and CabDost to boost tax filing and create

financial inclusion for Airport taxi drivers  

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) in association with Cab Dost – a social enterprise that works with taxi drivers – launched the third edition of Tax-E-Mela, a financial inclusion initiative to help Airport taxi drivers file Income Tax returns . This initiative is completely free of charge for taxi drivers to ensure a secure financial future for them by providing advisory services related to tax filing. This service will be available at the P6 parking area at the BLR Airport until March 23, 2019.

Over 1,500 drivers are stationed at the BLR Airport parking at any given time. BIAL staff and Cab Dost volunteers actively encourage them to participate in the Tax filing initiative. Cab Dost has set up a help desk, which is open from 7 am to 9pm every day until March 23. Drivers need to bring their original PAN card, Aadhar card and a copy of their Bank Statement to avail this service.

Tax filing is an advantage for the taxi driver community, who have long been exploited, by money lenders charging exorbitant interest rates, owing to their lack of financial literacy. Once under the tax umbrella, a driver would be able to avail loans from banks, can use it as an income proof and apply for TDS refunds, if applicable. Cab Dost has been conducting this campaign for three years and has assisted free ITR filing for over 5,000 drivers across the Country, so far.

“This is an opportunity to create financial inclusion for cab drivers. Most taxi drivers cross the tax bracket and TDS is deducted, due to lack of financial education about ITR filing. Drivers fail to file their ITRs and build a track record of income. This initiative will not only include them in the tax base, but also validates their financial credentials,” said Yamuna Sastry, Founder, Cab Dost.

By Faizan Rizwan

Skullcandy Launches Wireless Earbud

Skullcandy, Inc., the original lifestyle audio brand, announced the company’s 1^st ever truly wireless earbud named Push™, an untethered audio experience for those that seek to push boundaries both culturally & aesthetically. Push offers listeners a bold design, sleek fit & music you can feel, so you can live your life without limitations. 

The small but mighty buds feature a unique design that not only eliminates signal loss but also features a simple user interface offering a full suite of media control options including call, track & volume control & even lets you activate your phone’s native assistant with just the push of a button. 

Push is specifically designed to offer a worry-free listening experience for every consumer. These earbuds offer a full day’s worth of battery life of upto 12 hours, 6 hours within the earbud & 6 hours through the intelligent charging case. Additionally, Skullcandy’s FitFin™ Ear Gels offer a secure & comfortable fit that ensures your earbuds stay put in the ear throughout the day. 

Introduced at Rs.9999/- Push is available on Skullcandy.in & retailers across the country starting 12^th Mar, 2019.

Nasheman News : India’s annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 2.93 per cent in February from 2.74 per cent reported for the corresponding month of 2018, official data showed on Thursday.

Even on a sequential basis, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data for February, furnished by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, showed that wholesale prices rose on a faster rate than the rise of 2.76 per cent reported for January 2019.

“The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 2.93 per cent (provisional) for the month of February, 2019 (over February, 2018) as compared to 2.76 per cent (provisional) for the previous month and 2.74 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Ministry said in its review of “Index Numbers of Wholesale Price in India” for February.

“Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2.75 per cent compared to a build up rate of 2.56 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.”