New Delhi: After Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, India’s largest mobile operator Reliance Jio on Sunday announced up to 21 per cent hike in its prepaid tariffs from the next month.

Despite the increase in rates, Jio has kept the price of plans lower than Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s which is expected to continue pricing competition in the industry.

The company still has kept its lowest rate for 28 days validity plan at Rs 91 for Jiophone users which is the lowest among private telecom operators. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have increased the entry level plan with 28 days validity to Rs 99.

The tariff hikes entail JioPhone Plan, Unlimited Plans, and data add on, and range between 19.6 per cent and 21.3 per cent.

“In line with its commitment to further strengthen a sustainable telecom industry, where every Indian is empowered with a true digital life, Jio today announced its new unlimited plans. These plans will provide the best value in the industry,” Reliance Jio said in a statement.

The statement further said: “Upholding the Jio promise of providing the best-quality service at the lowest price globally, Jio customers will continue to be the biggest beneficiaries”.

The new unlimited plans will go-live on December 1, 2021, and can be opted from existing touchpoints and channels.

The company announced tariff hikes across 15 plans which include one for JioPhone users, 11 in unlimited category and three in data top up category.

In the unlimited plan category, Jio has increased the price of its cheapest plan with 28 days validity to Rs 155 from Rs 129.

The cheapest unlimited category with 84 days validity will be priced at Rs 395 instead of 329 at present.

The popular unlimited category plan offering daily 1.5 GB daily data usage with 84 days validity will go up by about 20 per cent to Rs 666 from Rs 555 at present.

The company has announced that its annual unlimited category plan offering 2 GB daily data usage at 4G speed will be priced at Rs 2,879 instead of 2,399 at present.

Airtel and Vodafone Idea last week announced up to 25 per cent hike in their prepaid plans tariffs to improve financials.

Several market analysts had said that the final assessment of the impact can be done only when Jio opens up its card on price hike.

Airtel and VIL have been maintaining that average revenue per user needs to go up in the range of Rs 200 to Rs 300 per month for sustaining business but they have been unable to hike tariff due to competitive pressure.

Jio ARPU in the second quarter ended September 30, 2021 was Rs 143.6 while that of Bharti Airtel and VIL in the same quarter was Rs 153 and Rs 109, respectively.

NEW DELHI: Luxury brand BMW on Tuesday launched the C 400 GT maxi-scooter, the most expensive scooter in India, at a price tag of Rs 9.95 lakh.  The C 400 GT is powered by a 34hp, 35Nm, 350cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that is paired with a CVT gearbox. BMW claims that the C 400 GT manages 0-100kph in 9.5 seconds and has a top speed of over 139kph.

The scooter does not compete with other products in its segment in India. In Rs 10 lakh, one can easily buy a mid-level variant of any sub compact SUV and can even go for the base variant of popular SUVs such as Hyundai Creta and newly launched MG Astor.

The scooter gets a telescopic fork and preload adjustable dual shocks. For braking, BMW has equipped the model with dual discs at the front and a single disc at the rear.  The two-wheeler has a TFT dashboard with bluetooth connectivity, Automatic Stability Control (ASC) and dual-channel ABS as standard. The maxi-scooter rides on a 15-inch front (120/70 R15) and a 14-inch (150/70 R14) rear tyre. 

Loaded with a host of smart features
It has a TFT dashboard with bluetooth connectivity, automatic stability control and dual-channel ABS as standard. The maxi-scooter rides on a 15-inch front and a 14-inch rear tyre.

New Delhi: After nearly three decades of struggling to make a mark in India, US auto major Ford Motor Co on Thursday said it will stop vehicle production at its two plants in the country and will sell only imported vehicles going ahead as part of a restructuring exercise.

The company, which invested about USD 2.5 billion at its Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Sanand (Gujarat) plants, has accumulated operating losses of around USD 2 billion in India in the last ten years. Its decision will impact over 4,000 employees and 150 dealer principals who operate over 300 outlets.

It will, however, continue to manufacture engines from its Sanand plant which will be exported to the company’s global operations.

With shutting down of the vehicle manufacturing operations, the automaker will stop selling vehicles such as the EcoSport, Figo, Endeavour, Freestyle and Aspire, which are produced from these plants.

In an announcement, Ford said it will wind down vehicle assembly in Sanand by the fourth quarter of 2021 and vehicle and engine manufacturing in Chennai by the second quarter of 2022.

“As part of our Ford+ plan, we are taking difficult but necessary actions to deliver a sustainably profitable business longer-term and allocate our capital to grow and create value in the right areas, Ford Motor Company’s president and CEO Jim Farley said in a statement.

Despite investing significantly in India, Ford has accumulated more than USD 2 billion of operating losses over the past ten years and demand for new vehicles has been much weaker than forecast, he noted.

“I want to be clear that Ford will continue taking care of our valued customers in India, working closely with Ford India’s dealers, all of whom have supported the company for a long time. India remains strategically important for us and, thanks to our growing Ford Business Solutions team, will continue to be a large and important employee base for Ford globally,” Farley stated.

The automaker said that it will focus on growing its Ford Business Solutions capabilities and team in the country, as well as engineering and engine manufacturing for export.

With more than 11,000 team members currently in India, Ford Business Solutions plans to expand to provide more opportunities for software developers, data scientists, R&D engineers, and finance and accounting professionals, in support of the Ford+ plan to transform and modernise Ford globally, it added.

More than 500 employees at the Sanand Engine plant, which produces engines for export for the best-selling Ranger pickup truck, and about 100 employees supporting parts distribution and customer service, also will continue to support Ford’s business in India, the company said.

Addressing a virtual press conference, Ford India President and Managing Director Anurag Mehrotra said that for the company to continue investing in vehicle manufacturing in India, it needed to show a path forward to a reasonable return of investment.

“Unfortunately, we are not able to do that and now we are left with no other option, but to restructure the business in India,” he noted.

Mehrotra said the company tried several options to bring about a viable business plan, including introduction of new products, emerging market operating model to bring down costs, potential collaborations with OEMs such as Mahindra and even contract manufacturing.

“Unfortunately, no matter what we tried or investigated, because there are tons of these scenarios that we looked at including manufacturing footprint consolidation, but whichever scenario we tried or investigated, all our projections show that we will continue to deliver suboptimal returns on shareholder investment,” he added.

The company took restructuring action after all its efforts for viable business operations failed.

The decision was reinforced by years of accumulated losses, persistent industry overcapacity and lack of expected growth in India’s car market, he added.

The Indian car market was expected to touch 7 million units per annum by 2020 and 9 million units by 2025, but that has not happened, Mehrotra stated.

“It is just around 3 million units. Our plants are operating at just 21 per cent of the installed capacity. In order to be viable we focussed on exports but with tightening of norms in the US and Europe, volumes have dropped,” he added.

When asked about the severance package it would offer to the employees who would end up losing their jobs, Mehrotra said that “an equitable and fair package would be offered” to the affected employees.

The company would also start talks with prospective buyers for its plants, he added.

Ford plans to import models like Mustang coupe and other electrified models such as the electric SUV Mach-E in the future while sales of current products such as Figo, Aspire, Freestyle, EcoSport and Endeavour will cease once existing dealer inventories are sold.

The company said it will maintain parts depots in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Sanand and Kolkata and will work closely with its dealer network to restructure and help facilitate their transition from sales and service to parts and service support.

It will continue full customer support operations for these vehicles with service, aftermarket parts and warranty coverage, the company added.

The automaker said it will maintain a smaller network of suppliers to support engine manufacturing for exports and will work closely with other suppliers to ensure a smooth wind-down of vehicle manufacturing.

However, the company will continue to rely on India-based suppliers for parts for its global products, and suppliers and vendors supporting Ford Business Solutions will continue to support the business as normal.

Ford Motor Co said as a result of its decision to restructure the Indian business, it currently expects to record “pre-tax special item charges of about USD 2 billion, including about USD 0.6 billion in 2021, about USD 1.2 billion in 2022 and the balance in subsequent years”.

Within that total, the company said it “will be about USD 0.3 billion of non-cash charges, including accelerated depreciation and amortization. The remaining cash charges of about USD 1.7 billion will be paid primarily in 2022 and are attributable to settlements and other payments”.

Ford has been struggling for years to make a mark in India’s automotive market. Ford India has an installed manufacturing capacity of 6,10,000 engines and 4,40,000 vehicles a year.

It also exported its models such as Figo, Aspire, and EcoSport to over 70 markets around the world.

In January this year, Ford Motor Co and Mahindra & Mahindra had decided to scrap their previously announced automotive joint venture and chose to continue independent operations in India.

Ford is the second American auto major after General Motors to shut down plants in India.

In 2017 General Motors announced that it would stop selling vehicles in India as there was no turnaround in its fortunes here even after struggling for over two decades to make a mark.

The company’s Halol plant in Gujarat was taken over by MG Motors, while it continued to run its Talegaon plant in Maharashtra for exports but ceased production there last December.

NEW DELHI: Microblogging platform Twitter has lost its status as an intermediary platform in India as it does not comply with new IT rules, informed government sources on Wednesday.

Earlier on June 9, Twitter had written to the government that it is making every effort to comply with new guidelines concerning social media companies and has appointed a nodal contractual person (NCP) and Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) on a contractual basis and was in advanced stages of “finalising the appointment to the role of chief compliance officer,” sources said.

Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had on June 5 said that it had given Twitter one last notice to comply with the new rules concerning social media companies.

The ministry said in the letter that the New Intermediary Guideline Rules have become effective from May 26.

“The provisions for significant social media intermediaries under the Rules have already come into force on May 26 2021 and it has been more than a week but Twitter has refused to comply with the provisions of these Rules. Needless to state, such non-compliance will lead to unintended consequences including Twitter losing exemption from liability as intermediary available under section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. This has clearly been provided under rule 7 of the aforesaid Rules,” it said. 

NEW DELHI: German luxury automotive group BMW on Tuesday launched the all-new BMW S 1000 R motorcycle model in India with price starting at Rs 17.9 lakh (ex-showroom).

The second generation BMW S 1000 R is being imported as a completely built-up unit (CBU) and can be booked at all BMW Motorrad India dealerships from Tuesday onwards, the group said in a statement.

The motorcycle is fitted with a newly developed water cooled 4-cylinder in-line engine with a displacement of 999 cc.

It generates a peak output of 165 hp (121 kW) at 11,000 rpm and can accelerate from 0-100 Km in 3.2 seconds and can achieve a maximum speed of 250 km/hr, it added.

The BMW S 1000 R will be available in three variants — ‘Standard’ priced at Rs 17.9 lakh, ‘Pro’ tagged at Rs 19.75 lakh and ‘Pro M Sport’ costing Rs 22.5 lakh (ex-showroom).

Commenting on the launch, BMW Group India President Vikram Pawah said, “the second generation of the all-new BMW S 1000 R is designed as a power-packed roadster with supreme riding dynamics, athletic character combined with maximum safety and everyday practicality…It is a unique blend between fast sporty runs and track day fun.”

The group said BMW Financial Services India will offer customised and flexible financial solutions to customers of BMW Motorrad India, who can also get their loans pre-approved prior to delivery.

BMW Motorrad offers a standard warranty for ‘three years, unlimited kilometers’ on its bikes, with an option to extend the warranty to fourth and fifth year, along with road-side assistance, a 24×7, 365 days package for prompt services in case of breakdown and towing situations, the statement said.

“Vernacular, Voice and Video will emerge as the game changers for the digital ecosystem over the next few years,” Biswapriya Bhattacharjee, Executive Vice President, Insights Division, Kantar said in a statement on the report.

The report suggests that even though the internet penetration in urban India is over two times than rural areas, the usership in rural areas has been growing at a faster rate on a year-on-year basis.

“While internet users grew by 4 per cent in urban India — reaching 323 million users (67 per cent of urban population) in 2020, digital adoption continues to be propelled by rural India – clocking a 13 per cent growth to 299 million internet users (31 per cent of rural population) over the past year,” the report said.

The study by internet companies body IAMAI with consulting company Kantar found that small towns account for almost two out of five active internet users (AIU) while the top 9 metros account for 33 per cent of the AIU in urban India.

According to the report, of the 1433 million (143.3 crore) population in India, 622 million individuals are AIU and this translates to about 43 per cent of the total population across urban and rural India.

However, with a sizable population not accessing the internet actively in rural India, there is huge headroom for growth in the next few years, the report said.

“This indicates that there’s a lot of headroom for growth in rural India and this would help in bridging the urban-rural digital divide,” the report said.

As per the finding, nine out of ten AIU access the internet every day.

On average, AIU spend around 107 minutes (1.8 hours) actively on the internet daily.

“Though the proportion of daily users is marginally higher in urban India as compared to rural India, AIU in urban India is spending 17 per cent more time as compared to rural India,” the report said.

Mobile continues to remain the device of choice for accessing the internet in both urban and rural areas.

“Given the affordability of mobile devices along with the availability of cheaper data plans, accessing the internet through a mobile device has clearly become the first choice,” the report said

In an unscheduled meeting, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday announced a slew of measures to help businesses, vulnerable borrowers and the financial services industry tide over for the impact of the new surge in Covid-19 cases. 

The special Rs 50,000 crore term liquidity facility for banks to create a Covid loan book will be three years tenor and available at the repo rate. This facility will be available to Banks up to March 31, 2022. 

Banks’ creating Covid loan book by lending to entities such as vaccine manufacturers, importers of life-saving equipment, hospitals and clinics will be incentivised by giving such lending the priority sector lending (PSL) tag.

Further, they will also be allowed to park an amount equivalent to the amount deployed in the aforementioned activities in the reverse repo window and earn 40 basis points higher interest rate than the current reverse repo rate of 3.35 per cent.

Small Finance Banks can tap a special Rs 10,000 crore long-term repo operation of three years tenor to on-lend to MSE up to Rs 10 lakh per MSE. This facility will be available up to October 31, 2021.

Further, SFBs loans to micro-finance institutions (with asset size of up to Rs 500 crroe) will be recognised as priority sector lending. This move is aimed at enhancing the flow of credit to MFIs.

RBI has brought in a resolution framework 2.0 for vulnerable borrowers — individuals, small businesses and MSMEs. Borrowers with exposure up to Rs 25 crore who didn’t avail earlier facilities and where loans are standard as on March 31, 2021 will be eligible for restructuring in the second round, Das said. The restructuring under the proposed framework can be invoked up to September 30, 2021 and banks have to implement it within 90 days of invocation.

Lenders can review the working capital limits of small businesses and MSMEs as a one-time measure. Those who availed earlier window of restructuring can be given additional two years of moratorium, he said.

In order to incentivise new credit flow to the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) borrowers, Banks will be allowed to deduct credit disbursed to ‘New MSME borrowers’ from their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) for calculation of cash reserve ratio (CRR) up to December 31, 2021. This exemption will be available for exposures up to Rs 25 lakh per borrower.

The governor also announced that the second purchase of government securities through its new secondary market bond acquisition program will be conducted on May 20 for a total amount of Rs 35,000 crore. On the impact of the second covid wave, Das said that while lead indicators suggested that the damage to businesses was minimal, it would continue to monitor the on-ground developments.

Acer launches new Nitro 5 with latest AMD Ryzen 5600H series processor for PC gamers in India

The AMD Ryzen 5600H processor is paired with NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX™ 3060 series or NVIDIA GTX 1650 graphics card that provides gamers a new level of gaming experience

Highlights:

•                    The latest Nitro 5 comes with AMD Ryzen™ 5600H Series high-performance gaming processor built on the 7nm architecture and personifies AMD’s relentless focus on performance and efficiency

•                    The latest Nitro 5 offering comes in 2 variants and equipped with NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX™ 3060 graphics card and NVIDIA GTX 1650 graphics card for incredibly fast performance.

•                    The all-new Nitro 5 is available with 15.6-inch FHD IPS display with a fast 144Hz refresh rate for vivid ultra-smooth gaming

•                    The Nitro 5 models come with an RGB-backlit keyboard and advance cooling solution using the CoolBoost™ technology

Bengaluru: Acer India, today unveiled the Nitro 5 gaming laptop powered by the latest AMD Ryzen 5600H high performance processor that comes in 2 new graphics card options which includes the 2nd Generation Ray Tracing Cores & 3rd Generation Tensor Cores powered NVIDIA RTX 3060 graphics card along with NVIDIA GTX 1650 graphics card for power-packed gaming, multi-tasking and editing. The powerful processor and graphics capabilities combine to help gamers get the most of the 15.6” screen with a large screen-to-body ratio that boasts up to a 144Hz high refresh rate for a smooth gaming experience. Nitro 5 adds to the gaming experience with the outstanding audio using TrueHarmony™ technology, and with DTS: X® Ultra which features optimized bass, clarity, precision and 6 custom content modes with smart amplifier which supports Windows Spatial Sound for PC Gaming with DTS license integrated.

Both variants pack an RGB-backlit keyboard and can be upgraded upto 32GB RAM for an incredibly fast performance with state-of-the-art cooling using Acer CoolBoost™ technology with quad exhaust port design. It also supports a host of peripherals and accessories with full range of ports, including HDMI 2.0 and the newest USB 3.2 standard with Gen 2 support.

Speaking on the launch, Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer, Acer India said, “Our new Nitro 5 comes fully loaded with the latest technology and features to give gamers an edge and offer a whole new level of immersive gaming experience. We have pioneered advanced cooling solutions to boost gamers’ in-game experience and this helps the Nitro 5 to deliver all the power consistently. Our close collaboration with AMD has brought powerful computing experiences to consumers which is unmatched at this price point and we are thrilled to bring them to the Indian market.”

Dominating specs

Both the variant comes powered with AMD Ryzen^TM 5 5600H Hexa-core processor and NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 graphics card or the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650. Nitro 5 allows gamers to configure the laptop for maximum speed and massive storage with two slots for M.2 PCIe SSDs and up to 2TB HDD support, Memory upgradable up to 32GB of DDR4 3200 RAM.

Visual treat:

Acer’s latest Nitro 5 laptop allows users to enjoy their preferred games in extraordinary detail with the 15.6-inch FHD IPS display supporting a 144 Hz refresh rate which delivers blur-free gaming.

Cool Down under fire

Nitro 5 features Acer CoolBoost™ technology with quad exhaust port design that keeps the system temperature at an ideal level for reliable gaming performance. Gamers can monitor the Nitro 5 with one touch of the NitroSense hotkey, covering temperatures, fan speeds, and more.

Focus Gameplay with Killer™ Ethernet and Super Connectivity

Nitro 5 adopt Killer™ Ethernet E2600 that delivers incredible network experiences – low latency gaming, smooth HD streaming video, and interrupt-free voice and video chats. 

Breaking the Sound Barrier

Better audio delivers a viable advantage as well as a more immersive experience. With DTS: X® Ultra, adding precise sound sources in a 3D nature relative to the player and enhancing the user’s ability to hear and locate opponents and identify other key environmental sounds.

Pricing and Availability:

Nitro 5 featuring NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX™ 3060 and NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX™ 1650 is available to buy now from Rs. 94990 and Rs. 71990 respectively on Acer Exclusive stores and Acer online store and on Flipkart from 9^th April onwards.

New Delhi: Millions of users worldwide, including in India, were left clueless on Friday night when Facebook and its family of apps including WhatsApp and photo-sharing platform Instagram entered a global outage.

People took to Twitter to share their experiences.

Independent tracking portal Downdetector showed a spike in the outage reported by users. There was no official word from the company on the reasons for the outage.

On Twitter, #whatsappdown was the top trending topic. 

Users faced specific problems rather than the entire app not working.

On Facebook, users reported that specific posts or photos did not appear, but that the page was loading.

Millions of users had problems sending photos, videos and voice messages on WhatApp in India. Only the text messages were being shared on the mobile messaging service.

Services, however, were restored after a while.