On his visit to the world’s tallest railway bridge in Jammu and Kashmir on May 17, 2023, Mohamed Aslam, Minister for National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Maldives, was ”very impressed” with the Chenab Bridge and the development the Indian Railways is bringing to India. The Chenab Rail Bridge is constructed 359 metres above the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir region. It is about 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower. The ministerial delegation from Maldives also included Shifaz Ali, Minister of State for National Planning, Housing & Infrastructure, Republic of Mald
A consortium led by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on May 22 announced that it received an Advance Purchase Order (APO) valued at over Rs 15,000 crore (around $1.8 billion) from government-owned telecom enterprise Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). With the new deal, TCS will carry out deployment of 4G network across India for BSNL. The TCS-led consortium includes Tejas Networks and C-DOT. Tata Group’s telecom gear making company Tejas Networks will be responsible for supplying and servicing the Radio Access Networks (RAN) equipment. Along with TCS, the APO was also issued to state-ru
The online retail market in India reached $60 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) in FY23, registering a 22 per cent steady growth, said a report released by Redseer Strategy Consultants on May 19. The Indian user base matured over the year with 31 percent of annual shoppers converting into monthly shoppers, up from 23 percent in FY21. These mature shoppers in select urban, tier 2 and 3 markets have helped ecommerce grow, the report said. With 210 million annual shoppers, ads monetisation contributed $1.2 billion in revenue for the online retailers in the current financial year, wi
The top 21 global fossil fuel producers in the world are collectively responsible for $5.4 trillion in expected economic costs from climate change over the period of 2025-2050, averaging $209 billion per year, says a study published in the peer-reviewed journal One Earth. These costs are attributed to the extreme weather events and other climate change damages caused by the companies’ operational and product emissions from 1988 to 2022. The study titled “Time to Pay the Piper” by Marco Grasso and Richard Heede, proposes a morally-based responsibility for oil, gas, and coal produ
Over half the first-time mutual funds' (MFs) investors over the last five years have been millennials, says a recent report by Computer Age Management Services (CAMS), India’s largest registrar and transfer agent for mutual funds. The report, ‘The emerging force of the millennial investor is here to stay & grow’ was prepared by CAMS and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and released at the 17th CII Mutual Fund Summit in Mumbai on May 3, 2023. All insights in the report are based on data of the MFs serviced by CAMS. These account for 69 per cent of the Indian MF industry.
The Government of India has amended rules under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), bringing international credit card spends outside the country under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). In addition, from July 1, spending on international credit cards (ICCs) will attract a higher rate of Tax Collected at Source (TCS) at 20%. Spending in foreign exchange through ICCs will be covered under the Reserve Bank of India’s LRS, under which a resident can remit money abroad up to a maximum of $2.50 lakh per annum without the authorisation of the central bank, said a Union Finance Mi
The Department of Telecom of the Government of India has launched Sanchar Saathi Portal to help people block, track and check the genuineness of a used device before buying them. “First leg of Sanchar Saathi portal is CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register). If you lose your mobile phone, then you can visit this portal. There will be some identity verification, requirement of undertaking and immediately after this the portal will interact with law enforcement agencies and telecom service providers and block your lost mobile phone,” said Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. A
People in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the hardest working globally and do the longest hours per week as the pandemic has changed the 9 to 5 workplace culture. Nearly half of the workers in the country put in over 49 hours in the office every week, says a Business Name Generator (BNG) study. The BNG study found the UAE to be the world’s third hardest-working country, with 46.5 percent of workers logging 49 or more hours per week. While the average paid work hours per week total 52.6 in the country. In the list of 150 countries, Malta tops as a staggering 91 per cent of wor
From May 8, Zimbabwe has begun circulating digital tokens backed by gold reserves that people can use to conduct peer-to-peer payments and transact with businesses, said Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John P Mangudya. International gold prices determined by the London Bullion Market Association will dictate the local pricing of the tokens, he added. The African nation is introducing local digital tokens to reduce reliance on the US dollar. The tokens will be available to purchase via banks, and transactions will be enabled through “e-gold wallets or e-gold cards” held by banks. Ther
India aims to establish 100 semiconductor design startups to create innovative solutions and designs for the global market, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT. The union minister said that the country also plans to create a talent pool of 85,000 highly-skilled professionals in the sector. Rajeev Chandrasekhar was speaking at the third edition of the Semicon India event, which brought together students, young innovators, industry stakeholders, and other key individuals at IIT Delhi. With a brand-new curriculum in place, he believes India will contribute to t