Category: Economy

HCL Co-founder Ajai Chowdhry has said that India can replace China to become the product factory of the world. To him, in the next eight or 10 years, there is going to be a huge opportunity in hardware, presenting a huge opportunity for startups and to make India a product nation, he added.

In an interview, Chowdhry — who is part of the IT ministry-constituted advisory panel of experts that will steer objectives and provide guidance on the semiconductor program — said India’s manufacturing push, supported by favourable policies, is timely and positions the country strongly to grab a massive opportunity in the electronics hardware space amid COVID-induced supply chain disruptions and global trust deficit around China. The veteran exuded confidence that India can become a reliable partner for the world in the area of hardware production and chip-making.

One of the six HCL co-founders, Chowdhry is now an investor in and mentor to startups in segments from quick-service restaurants to space tech. He is also the author of Just Aspire: Notes on Technology, Entrepreneurship and the Future, which was launched in Delhi on March 14. In a conversation at his home office in the city, he said the next big thing in tech will be in the hardware space.

Companies in East Asia are facing more inspection on their environmental credentials and net-zero emissions pledges.

In January, South Korea became the first nation in East Asia to draft a law that would fine firms for false or exaggerated green claims. South Korean oil company SK E&S was pressured by activists into withdrawing claims that it would produce carbon-free gas. Industry professionals are calling for tougher action against companies to target greenwashing in the Asia-Pacific region.

SK E&S has said it would produce “CO2-free” liquefied natural gas (LNG). In March 2022, South Korea’s Environment Ministry warned the company that it needed to base its claims on facts. The firm finally changed the message on its website to say the Barossa gas project off Australia’s northern coast was “low-carbon”.

South Korea is now preparing a greenwashing law. The draft greenwashing law, which includes fines of up to US dollars 2,300, is expected to be passed in the first half of 2023.

While the fine is small, the Bill is seen to be a major shift in approach from the government, which earlier tackled greenwashing by giving administrative guidance to oil refiners and steel giants.

Greenwashing is in the spotlight globally, with United Nations experts issuing a warning at COP27 climate summit last year about its prevalence, and new standards on environmental, social and governance credentials currently under consideration by an international body.

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri is confident that India will meet the target of supplying petrol mixed with 20 percent ethanol by 2025, five years ahead of the previously planned roll-out in 2030.

Petrol blended with 20 percent ethanol was launched at select petrol pumps in 11 states and Union Territories in February 2023 under a programme to raise the use of biofuels to cut emissions and dependence on oil imports. Currently, 10 percent ethanol is blended in 90 percent petrol. The blending of 10 percent ethanol in petrol was accomplished in June 2022, five months ahead of the schedule. The Centre now plans to double this quantity by 2025.

India not only saved Rs. 41,500 crore in forex spending from 10 percent blending, but also benefitted farmers, the union minister said. “We also advanced the availability of E20 blended petrol to 2025, five years from earlier planned in 2030,” he added.

Use of E20 leads to an estimated reduction of carbon monoxide emissions by about 50 percent in two-wheelers and about 30 percent in four-wheelers compared to E0, i.e., neat petrol. Hydrocarbon emissions are estimated to reduce by 20 percent in both two-wheelers and passenger cars.

Indian Railways (IR) registered a record revenue of Rs 2.40 lakh crore in the financial year 2022-23, with a nearly 24 per cent increase from the previous year’s revenue of Rs 1.94 lakh crore.

In 2022-23, the freight revenue rose to Rs 1.62 lakh crore, a growth of nearly 15 per cent from the last year. The passenger revenue recorded an all-time high growth of 61 per cent to reach Rs 63,300 crore. “After three years, Indian Railways is able to fully meet the pension expenditures. Buoyancy in revenues and tight expenditure management have helped in achieving an operating ratio of 98.14 per cent, well within the RE target. After meeting all revenue expenditure, railways generated Rs 3,200 crore for capital investment from its internal resources,” a statement issued by the ministry said.

According to the statement, the total railway expenditure in 2022-23 was Rs 2,37,375 crore as compared to Rs 2,06,391 crore in 2021-22. The operating ratio in 2022-23 was 98.14 per cent. In terms of capital expenditure, the capital invested was Rs 1,09,004 crore during 2022-23 as compared to Rs 81,664 crore in 2021-22. Under the railway safety fund, Rs 30,001 crore was spent during 2022-23 as compared to Rs 11,105 crore during 2021-22.

Apple Card customers in the U.S. can open a savings account and earn interest through an Apple saving account. While there are no fees associated with the account, there is a maximum balance limit of $250,000. The annual percentage yield (APY) of 4.15% applies to any sized balance and there is no minimum balance required.

Apple has partnered with Goldman Sachs for the banking feature created specifically for Apple Card customers. When customers pay with their Apple Card, they get cash back on all purchases. By default, all purchases grant you 1% in cash rewards and 2% for all purchases made using Apple Pay. Purchases with select merchants unlock 3% in rewards. Savings accounts are technically managed by Goldman Sachs, which means that balances are covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

By default, customers receive cash rewards every day into Apple Cash, a pocket of money that appears in the Wallet app and that works more or less like a checking account. The Apple Cash balance can be used to pay for things using Apple Pay, for one’s credit card balance or to send money to friends and family members. One can also transfer this balance to a regular bank account. The card users can choose to deposit their daily rewards into their savings accounts. The savings account is accessible from the Wallet app as well. One can see the current balance, the current interest rate and the most recent transactions. Users can also manually add or withdraw money. The balance can be transferred to Apple Cash or a regular bank account.

The Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations has pledged to quit fossil fuels faster and urged other countries to follow suit, but have not set any new deadlines on quitting the use of polluting fuels like coal.

After two days of talks in the northern city of Sapporo in Japan on April 16, the bloc’s climate and environment ministers vowed to accelerate the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels so as to achieve net zero in energy systems by 2050 at the latest. However, they failed to offer any new deadline beyond last year’s G7 pledge to largely end fossil fuel use in their electricity sectors by 2035.

“The most important progress we have made is clearly the fact that we agree to move away from non-carbon-offset fossil fuels,” said Agnes Pannier-Runacher, Energy Transition Minister, France.

The UK and France had put forward a new goal of ending “unabated” coal power – which does not take steps to offset emissions – in G7 electricity systems this decade. However, with global energy supplies still disturbed by the Ukraine war, the target faced a setback from other members such as Japan and the United States.

The G7, which also includes Germany, Italy, Canada and the EU, targets net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner after signing the Paris Agreement to restrict global warming at well under 2 degrees Celsius, and ideally 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on April 1 announced the framework for acceptance of Green Deposits of regulated entities (RE), to foster and develop a green finance ecosystem in the country. It will come into effect from June 1, 2023.

A green deposit means an interest-bearing deposit, received by the RE for a fixed period and the proceeds of which are earmarked for being allocated towards green finance.

The framework is intended to “encourage REs to offer green deposits to customers, protect interest of the depositors, aid customers to achieve their sustainability agenda, address greenwashing concerns and help augment the flow of credit to green activities/projects,” the central bank said in a release.

The framework is applicable to Scheduled Commercial Banks including Small Finance Banks, excluding Regional Rural Banks, Local Area Banks and Payments Banks and all deposit-taking Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), including Housing Finance Companies.

As per the framework, REs shall be required to allocate the proceeds raised through green deposits towards the following list of green activities/projects which encourage energy efficiency in resource utilisation, reduce carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, promote climate resilience and/or adaptation and value and improve natural ecosystems and biodiversity. It shall also put in Board-approved Financing Framework (FF) for the effective allocation of green deposits covering.

Underlining closer cooperation between Kyiv and New Delhi, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Emine Dzhaparova suggested how India can play a bigger role in the ongoing war.

During her first official visit to India since the start of the Ukraine war in February last year, Dzhaparova said, “Ukraine really wants India to come closer to it. We had different pages in history but now Ukraine is gaining independence. We are now capable of being the subject, not the object.”

Speaking at a think tank in New Delhi, Dzhaparova called for restarting the relationship between India and Ukraine, and said that both the countries have a better and deeper relationship. “India is witnessing visionary changes and it may take some time for it to build new relations with Ukraine, and the ties should be based on a “pragmatic and balanced approach,” she added.

The Ukraine minister said that India through its G20 presidency can spotlight the crisis in Ukraine by inviting Ukrainian officials to the G-20 events and summit, which will be held in September and that his President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be happy to address. “Today India plays a very important role in the world. The presidency of G20 brings additional responsibility. India may take this leadership by involving Ukraine in its agenda and helping Ukraine to bring its story. People-to-people contact is the best way to communicate,” said Dzhaparova.

The Government of Malaysia plans to build a RM28 billion (S$8.5 billion) port to boost the handling capacity for both container and conventional cargo at the main shipping hub of Port Klang. The project is expected to bolster Port Klang as a major shipping hub for the Asia-Pacific region.

The new port at Carey Island is planned keeping in mind the future growth of international trade, and to keep an eye on rival regional ports, including those in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, that are amid expansion. Captain K. Subramaniam, General Manager, Port Klang Authority, in an interview said that the additional capacity is also needed to meet rising demand within Malaysia, like from the expanding industrial hubs in Selangor and neighbouring states.

Port Klang, located along the Strait of Malacca, is a major industrial city in Selangor, Malaysia’s richest state. The Carey Island port is slated to handle 36 million shipping containers, known in the industry as twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a year. The port handled about 13.2 million TEUs in 2022. The new port’s annual capacity for conventional cargo will be around 40 million tonnes, compared with 27 million tonnes in Port Klang currently. On the other hand, the Port of Singapore located at the southern tip of the Strait of Malacca can handle up to 37.3 million TEUs a year.

The people of Singapore trust cards the most when it comes to making payments, says the FIS Global Payments Report 2023, released by Worldpay on April 11. Credit cards accounted for 36 per cent of all point-of-sale (POS) transactions made in the country in 2022, followed by debit cards at 21 per cent and cash at 19 per cent.

Credit cards were used in 42 per cent of e-commerce transactions, followed by digital wallets at 32 per cent. Debit cards were third, at 11 per cent. Cash on delivery accounted for only 1 per cent of the total transaction value.

FIS provides technology solutions for financial institutions and businesses across industries globally. From 2015, the company has been publishing the report annually. It measures the monetary value of e-commerce and POS transactions across various payment methods, including digital wallets such as GrabPay, Google Wallet and Apple Pay, credit cards and “buy now, pay later,” a type of short-term financing without interest charges or fees.

In the Asia-Pacific region, digital wallet use is expected to account for the most e-commerce (73 per cent) and POS (59 per cent) transaction value by 2026. In 2022, it was 69 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively. The adoption of digital wallets by Singapore consumers is lagging compared to other South-east Asian markets, particularly for POS transactions, where e-wallets came in at 18 per cent in 2022.