Andhra Pradesh IT Electronics and Human Resource Development Minister Nara Lokesh

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh IT, Electronics and Human Resource Development Minister Nara Lokesh on Wednesday extended an open invitation to NASSCOM members to set up shop in the state, following concerns raised on neighbouring Karnataka’s proposal to reserve certain jobs for Kannadigas there.

The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) expressed disappointment over the Karnataka State Employment of Local Industries Factories Establishment Act Bill, 2024.

The IT industry body observed that the restrictions mandated by this bill “could force companies to relocate as local skilled talent becomes scarce”.

Amid this backdrop, Lokesh welcomed IT, IT services, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related companies to relocate and expand in Andhra Pradesh.

“We understand your disappointment. We welcome you to expand or relocate your businesses to our IT, IT services, AI and data centre cluster at Vizag,” he said in a post on social media platform X.

Promising best-in-class facilities, the IT minister offered “uninterrupted power, infrastructure and the most suitable skilled talent” with “no restrictions from the government”.

Mumbai: Rupee depreciated 10 paise and settled for the day at 83.61 against the US dollar on Monday, weighed down by the overall strength of the American currency in the overseas market.

Forex traders said a positive trend in domestic equities, wherein benchmark indices touched all-time high levels and significant foreign fund inflows supported the rupee at lower levels.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.53, but lost ground and touched its all-time low of 83.62 against the dollar. It finally settled at 83.61 against the American currency, registering a loss of 10 paise from its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee settled at 83.51 against the US dollar.

Anuj Choudhary – Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, said the rupee declined on positive US dollar and rising domestic inflation.

US dollar rose on safe haven demand amid political violence in the US, he said, adding that rising odds of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September may limit a sharp upside in the greenback.

“Traders may take cues from Empire State manufacturing index data from the US. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 83.30 to Rs 83.80,” Choudhary said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally lower by 0.02 per cent at 104.07.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading 0.09 per cent higher at USD 85.11 per barrel.

In the domestic equity market, the benchmark indices scaled all-time high levels. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended the day 145.52 points, or 0.18 per cent, higher at an all-time high of 80,664.86 points. The broader NSE Nifty settled 84.55 points, or 0.35 per cent, higher at a record 24,586.70 points.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Monday, as they purchased shares worth Rs 2,684.78 crore, according to exchange data.

According to the official data released on Monday, wholesale inflation in the country rose for the fourth consecutive month in June at 3.36 per cent on account of rise in prices of food articles, especially vegetables and manufactured items.

India’s merchandise exports in June increased 2.56 per cent to USD 35.2 billion even as the trade deficit widened to USD 20.98 billion during the month, the commerce and industry ministry data showed on Monday.

The government data released on Friday showed retail inflation increased to a four-month high of 5.08 per cent in June as food items, including vegetables became dearer.

The number of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s followers on his X handle crossed the 100-million mark on Sunday, registering an impressive growth of nearly 30 million in the past three years, officials said.

He is already the most followed head of government on the social media platform globally.

Officials noted that his followers are quite a few times more in number in comparison to most followed opposition leaders like AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and Congress’ Rahul Gandhi who have 27.5 million and 26.4 million followers respectively.

Among other heads of government with a large following are US President Joe Biden (38.1 million) and Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Eedogen (21.5 million).

In a post, Prime Minister Modi said, “A hundred million on @X! Happy to be on this vibrant medium and cherish the discussion, debate, insights, people’s blessings, constructive criticism and more. Looking forward to an equally engaging time in the future as well.”

An official said, “PM Modi has more followers even compared to active global athletes like Virat Kohli (64.1 million), Brazilian footballer Neymar Jr (63.6 million) and American basketball player LeBron James (52.9 million).”

“He is ahead of even celebrities like Taylor Swift (95.3 million), Lady Gaga (83.1 million), and Kim Kardashian (75.2 million),” the official said.

He said world leaders often eagerly engage with Modi on social media because connecting with him significantly boosts their own follower base, engagements, views and reposts. This was seen recently in Italy as well as Austria, the official added.

Prime Minister Modi is also an influential presence on YouTube and Instagram with nearly 25 million subscribers and more than 91 million followers respectively.

Since joining X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2009, he has consistently used it for constructive engagement, officials noted, highlighting that he has never blocked anyone.

“He maintains an active and engaging persona, follows numerous common citizens, interacts with them, replies to their messages, and has never blocked anyone. PM Modi has always used this platform organically, without ever resorting to paid promotions or bots,” an official said, adding that it reflects his ability to resonate with a diverse and dynamic audience.

In a post on X, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, “Prime Minister @narendramodi crossing 100 million followers on X is a testimony to how he has revolutionized direct communication. Congratulate PM Modi on reaching this milestone. Confident that his vision will reach many more in the times ahead.”

New Delhi: Japan’s Softbank investment arm Softbank Vision Fund exited from Paytm in the June quarter at a loss of around USD 150 million, sources aware of the development said.

Softbank invested about USD 1.5 billion in One97 Communications — the owner of Paytm brand — in tranches in 2017.

“Softbank has exited Paytm at a loss of 10-12 per cent. The total loss is around USD 150 million,” one of the sources said.

Softbank held around 18.5 per cent stake in Paytm before the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2021. It held a 17.3 per cent stake through SVF India Holdings (Cayman) Ltd and 1.2 per cent through SVF Panther (Cayman) Ltd.

SVF Panther sold its entire stake during the IPO for Rs 1,689 crore, about USD 225 million.

“Softbank announced that it will exit Paytm in 24 months from the time of the IPO. The exit was in line with Softbank’s plan. However, the company did anticipate loss at that time,” another source said.

Softbank had acquired Paytm shares at an average price of about Rs 800 apiece.

Paytm share price was listed at Rs 1,955, lower by 9 per cent, and has not matched its issue price of Rs 2,150 apiece to date.

The share price of Paytm plummeted further after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned its associate firm Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) from carrying out transactions. It touched an all-time low of Rs 310 on May 9.

Paytm reported widening of losses to Rs 550 crore in the fourth quarter of 2023-24 following the ban on transactions related to its payments bank.

The company during the reported quarter wrote off Rs 227 crore investment for a 39 per cent stake in PPBL following future uncertainties associated with its business operations, including the uncertainty of any other regulatory development, etc.

For the year ended March 31, 2024, the company’s loss narrowed to Rs 1,422.4 crore. Paytm had recorded a loss of Rs 1,776.5 crore in FY23.

Billionaire Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc also exited Paytm around seven months back by selling shares at a lower-than-acquired price.

The company had acquired 2.6 per cent stake in Paytm for Rs 1,279.7 per share at an aggregate value of Rs 2,179 crore, as per an official document.

The shares were disposed of at an average price of Rs 877.29 apiece, taking the transaction value to Rs 1,370.63 crore in November.

Paytm’s shares closed at Rs 467.25 apiece on Friday.

Bharti Airtel on Friday announced between 10-21 per cent hike in mobile tariffs, a day after larger rival Reliance Jio announced an increase in rates.

Airtel, in a release, said that the revision in mobile tariffs will be effective from July 3.

“We have ensured that there is a very modest price increase (less than 70 paise per day) on entry-level plans, in order to eliminate any burden on budget challenged consumers,” the Sunil Mittal-led telecom firm said announcing the revision in mobile tariffs.

Bharti Airtel said it has maintained that the mobile Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) needs to be upwards of Rs 300, to enable a financially healthy business model for telcos in India.

“We believe that this level of ARPU will enable the substantial investments required in network technology and spectrum and offer a modest return on capital,” the telco said.

Among the unlimited voice plans, Airtel has raised tariffs in the ballpark range of about 11 per cent, and accordingly rates are revised from Rs 179 to Rs 199; from Rs 455 to Rs 509; and from Rs 1,799 to Rs 1,999. In the daily data plan category, the Rs 479 plan has been increased to Rs 579 (20.8 per cent increase).

The mobile tariff hike from mobile operators comes immediately after the 10th spectrum auction, which ended in just two days with muted response from the industry.

Loss-making telecom operator Vodafone Idea will raise mobile tariffs across the board by 11-24 per cent from July 4, according to a company statement.

Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel will roll out increased mobile service rates from July 3 onward.

“In line with its commitment to provide its consumers with simple and comprehensive plans, Vi has curated an optimum range of feature-rich plans to meet the diverse needs of its consumers. Staying true to its philosophy of supporting entry-level users and progressively linking higher prices to increased usage, changes in entry-level plans are nominal,” Vi said.

The company has raised the entry-level plan, minimum recharge value for 28 days of mobile service, by about 11 per cent to Rs 199 from Rs 179.

Vi has raised the price of a popular 84-day validity plan with 1.5 GB data per day to Rs 859 from Rs 719 earlier.

The company has increased the price of its annual unlimited plan by about 21 per cent to Rs 3,499 from 2,899 at present.

It has made no change in its 365 validity plan with a 24 GB data limit, which costs users Rs 1,799.

“Vi is planning significant investments over the next few quarters to further enhance the 4G experience as well as launch 5G services,” the statement said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 2,777.58 points or 3.75 per cent to hit a record peak of 76,738.89 in early trade. The NSE Nifty rallied 808 points or 3.58 per cent to hit a fresh all-time high of 23,338.70.

Exit polls on Saturday predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain power for a third straight term, with the BJP-led NDA expected to win a big majority in the Lok Sabha polls.

The counting of votes will take place on June 4.

All the 30-Sensex companies were trading in the green. Power Grid, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were the biggest gainers.

India’s economy grew by 8.2 per cent in the fiscal year that ended in March, cementing the country’s position as the fastest-growing major economy in the world.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were quoting with gains while Shanghai traded lower.

US markets ended mostly higher on Friday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,613.24 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.04 per cent to USD 81.08 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark climbed 75.71 points or 0.10 per cent to settle at 73,961.31 on Friday. The Nifty advanced 42.05 or 0.19 per cent to end at 22,530.70.

New Delhi: India’s economy growth slowed to a four-quarter low of 7.8 per cent in the January-March period, but pushed the annual growth rate for FY24 to 8.2 per cent, mainly on account of good showing by manufacturing, official data showed on Friday.

The growth propelled the Indian economy to USD 3.5 trillion and set the stage for achieving the USD 5-trillion target in the next few years.

In the previous 2022-23 fiscal year, the economy grew 7 per cent.

China has registered an economic growth of 5.3 per cent in the first three months of 2024.

The economic expansion was recorded at 7.8 per cent during the January-March 2024, while it was 8.6 per cent in October-December 2023 and 8.1 per cent in July-September 2023.

The growth was 8.2 per cent in April-June 2023, as per data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

The GDP grew 6.2 per cent in the January-March quarter of 2022-23.

The NSO, in its second advance estimate released in February, had projected the GDP growth for 2022-23 at 7.7 per cent.

According to the NSO data, real GDP, or GDP at constant prices, is estimated to attain a level of Rs 173.82 lakh crore in 2023-24, against the first revised estimates (FRE) of GDP for 2022-23 of Rs 160.71 lakh crore.

“The growth rate in real GDP during 2023-24 is estimated at 8.2 per cent as compared to 7.0 per cent in 2022-23,” it stated.

Nominal GDP or GDP at current prices is estimated to attain a level of Rs 295.36 lakh crore in 2023-24, against Rs 269.50 lakh crore in 2022-23, showing a growth rate of 9.6 per cent, it added.

The real GDP in the March quarter of 2023-24 is estimated at Rs 47.24 lakh crore, against Rs 43.84 lakh crore a year earlier, showing a growth rate of 7.8 per cent.

Nominal GDP, or GDP at current prices in the March quarter of 2023-24, is estimated at Rs 78.28 lakh crore, against Rs 71.23 lakh crore in the year-ago period, showing a growth rate of 9.9 per cent.

The real GVA (gross value added) is estimated at Rs 158.74 lakh crore in 2023-24, against the FRE for 2022-23 of Rs 148.05 lakh crore, registering a growth rate of 7.2 per cent as compared to 6.7 pe cent in 2022-23.

The GVA growth in the manufacturing sector accelerated to 8.9 per cent in the March quarter against 0.9 per cent a year ago.

GVA growth in mining was 4.3 per cent in the fourth quarter compared to 2.9 per cent in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

Construction grew 8.7 per cent in the quarter, up from 7.4 per cent in the corresponding period of 2022-23.

The agriculture sector growth decelerated to 0.6 per cent from 7.6 per cent.

The electricity, gas, water supply, and other utility services segment grew 7.7 per cent during the fourth quarter from 7.3 per cent in the year-ago period.

GVA growth in the services sector — trade, hotel, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting — was 5.1 per cent in the fourth quarter against a growth of 7 per cent a year ago.

Financial, real estate and professional services grew 7.6 per cent in the March 2023 quarter compared to 9.2 per cent in the year-ago period.

Public administration, defence and other services posted 7.8 per cent growth in the quarter against 4.7 per cent expansion in the same quarter a year ago.

Guwahati: Draped in a traditional ‘Mekhela Chador’ and jewellery, Assam’s first artificially intelligent teacher ‘Iris’ promptly answered all questions of students of a private school here.

The humanoid listened to the question – what is haemoglobin? – and replied to the student with all the details, a teacher of the school said.

“Whether the questions were from their syllabus or about anything, ‘Iris’ provided answers in no time and with examples and references,” said a spokesperson of the Royal Global School here.

The students were inquisitive and eagerly engaged in various activities of the robot, she said.

The children also enjoyed the robot’s ability to perform gestures like handshakes, which made the learning process both fun and engaging.

‘Iris’ has a voice-controlled assistant which helps it respond to student queries and provides detailed explanations.

“The children are very excited because the artificially intelligent teacher has answers to their questions,” the school teacher said.

The robot has been developed in collaboration with Makerlabs Edu-tech under the Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) project initiated by NITI Aayog.

‘Iris’ marks a significant advancement in the integration of artificial intelligence in education, the school teacher said.

The introduction of ‘Iris’ marks a significant milestone in enhancing the learning experience and catering to the diverse learning styles of students, she said.

The private school looks forward to leverage capabilities of the robot to personalise learning and make education more engaging for students in the northeast region, the spokesperson added.

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank on Tuesday came out with draft guidelines to further strengthen regulations on payment aggregators, a move aimed at boosting the payment ecosystem.

The draft also covers the physical point-of-sale activities of payment aggregators (PAs).

The RBI said that given the growth in digital transactions and the significant role that PAs play in this space, the current directions on PAs are proposed to be updated and cover, inter alia, KYC and due diligence of merchants, operations in Escrow accounts, and intended to strengthen the payment ecosystem.

The payments ecosystem in India includes online PAs and PAs, which facilitate face-to-face/proximity payment transactions.

On KYC and due diligence, the draft said the payment aggregators should undertake due diligence of merchants onboarded by them in accordance with Customer Due Diligence (CDD) prescribed in Master Directions on Know Your Customer (MD-KYC), 2016.

“PAs shall ensure that marketplaces onboarded by them do not collect and settle funds for services not offered through their platform,” said the draft on which the RBI has invited comments by May 31, 2024.

For face-to-face/proximity payment transactions done using cards, from August 1, 2025, the draft said no entity in the card transaction/payment chain, other than the card issuers and/or card networks, shall store the Card-on-File (CoF) data.

“Any such data stored previously shall be purged,” the draft added.

The draft further said non-banks providing PA-P services should have a minimum networth of ₹ 15 crore at the time of submitting an application to the RBI for authorisation and a minimum networth of ₹ 25 crore by March 31, 2028.

The net worth of ₹ 25 crore shall be maintained at all times thereafter.

Mumbai: The Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested a close aide of the owner of tour and travel company Cox & Kings in connection with a Rs 400-crore fraud case involving Yes Bank, officials said on Friday.

Ajit Menon (67), a British national, was apprehended by a team of Mumbai police at Cochin airport in Kerala after he arrived from London on Tuesday, an official said.

A Look Out Circular had been issued against him, he said.

Menon was brought to Mumbai on Thursday morning and produced in a court, which remanded him in police custody till April 15, the official said.

According to the official, Menon was a close aide of Ajay Peter Kerkar, the owner of Cox and Kings.

Menon came on the EOW radar during the agency’s probe into the Rs 400-crore Yes Bank fraud case, which involved alleged diversion of money after availing a loan from the bank, the official said.

The money disbursed by Yes Bank was not used for the purpose for which they had obtained the loan, the official said.

During the probe, EOW found that Menon, who used to look after the company operations in Europe, had diverted Rs 56 crore to a UK-based company from the loan amount, the official said.

The EOW had in 2021 registered a case against Cox & Kings Financial Services Limited, a sister concern of tour and travel company Cox & Kings, for allegedly duping Yes Bank of Rs 400 crore.

The Cox and Kings Financial Services Limited was into providing foreign exchange business, holiday financing, student loans and other non-banking financial services.

The EOW had named company owner Kerkar, his wife, Menon and other individuals in the FIR, he said.