Business

tata-motors-hikes-prices-of-commercial-vehicles-up-to-5-per-cent

Tue Mar 21 19:04:42 IST 2023

Tata Motors, on Tuesday, announced that it will increase the price of its commercial vehicles up to 5 per cent. The price rise will come into effect from April 1.

The price hike will vary according to individual models and variants.

"The decision to increase prices is a result of the company’s efforts to comply with the more stringent BS6 phase II emission norms," Tata Motors said in a statement.

The automaker said as the company transitions its entire vehicle portfolio to meet BS6 phase II emission norms, customers and fleet owners can expect a range of cleaner, greener, and technologically superior vehicles that offer higher benefits and lower total costs of ownership.

Meanwhile, shares of Tata Motors rose 0.43 per cent on Tuesday to close at Rs 412.50.

india-may-require-31000-pilots-in-next-20-years-boeing

Tue Mar 21 18:38:41 IST 2023

US aircraft maker Boeing has said India may require 31,000 pilots and some 26,000 mechanics over the next 20 years amid the growing order book of the aircraft original equipment manufacturers.

Speaking on the sidelines of a CII event in Mumbai, Boeing India president Salil Gupte also said the South Asian region is expected to remain the fastest growing market globally over the next 20 years.

India is going to need over 31,000 pilots and 26,000 mechanics over the next 20 years to take care of the aircraft coming in. This is as important a part of the Indian growth story as the aircraft (orders), Gupte told reporters.

He said considering India's air traffic growth, a lot of focus has to be on making infrastructure robust, both hard infrastructure which includes airports as well as critical infrastructure, which includes pilots, among others.

It may be mentioned here that Tata Group-owned Air India had last month announced placing orders for a total of 470 planes with both Boeing and European aviation major Airbus.

Last September, Boeing had projected India's air traffic growth at around 7 per cent through 2040.

He also said after coming out of the pandemic, the recovery in air travel demand has stunned the world and Boeing does not see any impact of the financial crisis on air travel growth.

It is too early to know what the consequences of the bank situation of the US and Europe and others are going to be. At this stage, we really see no slowdown in the demand for aviation, Gupte added.

There is a huge market for narrow body aircraft for Boeing in India, he said and added that, (as much as) 90 per cent of the market over the next 20 years is going to be a narrow body market and we expect we will be successful in competing for those every single campaign (aircraft order)."

Gupte also emphasised that Boeing has a leadership position in the wide- body (twin aisle) aircraft segment globally and it will remain so in all the markets, including India.

salary-hike-increase-this-year-average-it-salary-hike

Tue Mar 21 17:07:57 IST 2023

Salaries of working professionals in India are expected to go up by an average 10.2 per cent in 2023, according to 'Future of Pay 2023' report by EY. This, however, is a bit lower than the pay hike last year—10.4 per cent.

The top three sectors with the biggest forecasted salary increases are tied to technology, the report said. These are e-commerce, professional services and IT.

The e-commerce segment, at 12.5 per cent, is likely to see the steepest salary growth, followed by professional services (11.9 per cent) and IT (11.6 per cent).

These sectors witnessed an average salary hike of 14.2 per cent, 13 per cent and 11.6 per cent respectively, last year.

Meanwhile, according to the report, e-commerce (27.7 per cent) and technology (22.1 per cent) were two of the sectors which witnessed the highest attrition rate in 2022, apart from financial institutions (28.3 per cent). The average attrition rate was 21.2 per cent.

Inequity in compensation, absence of recognition, stagnation and limited career growth opportunities were cited as the main reasons for attrition.

According to the report, there is an increased demand for technology skills like AI and cloud computing, and 48 per cent of companies offer premium pay for skills that are in high demand. “As the Indian economy continues to grow, competition for top talent is intensifying across various industries. Top talent with critical skills and high-performance history command compensation premiums ranging from 1.7 to 2X of average talent,” according to EY India professional Abhishek Sen.

sensex-nifty-rebound-nearly-one-per-cent-on-firm-global-trends-buying-in-reliance

Tue Mar 21 16:15:19 IST 2023

Benchmark Sensex and Nifty rebounded nearly one per cent at close on Tuesday amid firm trends in global equities and buying in index major Reliance Industries and banking stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 445.73 points or 0.77 per cent to settle at 58,074.68. During the day, it rallied 504.38 points or 0.87 per cent to 58,133.33.

The broader NSE Nifty advanced 119.10 points or 0.70 per cent to settle at 17,107.50.

Among the Sensex stocks, Reliance Industries climbed the most by 3.11 per cent. Bajaj Finance, Titan, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the other major winners.

Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Asian Paints were among the biggest laggards.

In Asia, Seoul, Hong Kong and Shanghai markets ended higher.

European markets were trading in the green during afternoon trade. The US markets ended in positive territory on Monday.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.65 per cent to $74.27 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 2,545.87 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

how-banking-crisis-in-us-europe-could-dent-near-term-it-sector-demand

Tue Mar 21 16:15:12 IST 2023

Software services companies derive a large part of their revenue from North America and Europe. With these economies slowing down amid a surge in inflation and central banks increasing interest rates, information technology (IT) companies were already expected to see a slowdown in 2023-24. The crisis in the banking and financial services sector in the US and Europe will only add to their woes and increase demand uncertainty, analysts reckon.

In the last few weeks, at least three US lenders - Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank - collapsed. This has had an impact on other regional banks, as worried customers looked to withdraw their deposits and shift to larger, more stable banks. Shares of First Republic Bank have slumped as much as 90 per cent month-to-date. If the crisis in US regional banks was not enough, Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse had to be bailed out from going bust and is being acquired by rival UBS.

BFS (Banking, Financial Services) is a large vertical for software exporters, be it large firms like TCS, Infosys and Wipro or their smaller mid-cap rivals. According to an analysis by Kotak Institutional Equities, BFS exposure (excluding insurance) for TCS stood at 29 per cent, while that for Wipro and Infosys was at 26 per cent and 27 per cent respectively. Even others like Cognizant, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra had a fairly large exposure to the BFS sector, ranging between 12-19 per cent.

The current crisis in the banking sector in the US and Europe will likely lead to further curtailing of discretionary technology spends in the near-term, said Kotak Institutional Equities analysts Kawaljeet Saluja and Sathishkumar S.

"BFS firms have been spending aggressively on cloud migration and tech upgrades to become cloud-first and data-driven organisations to improve customer experience, reduce inefficiencies, increase productivity and better compete with digital natives. The current predicament for the BFS sector in developed markets throws a spanner in the works," said Saluja and Sathishkumar.

Banks will be more focused on surviving the current crisis, and ensuring adequate liquidity and capital adequacy will emerge as the top priority now, and they will be more prudent on spending, they feel.

"Tech budgets outlined at the start of the calendar year can be toned down to align with increased risks faced by the sector," the analysts said.

Nomura Securities analysts Abhishek Bhandari and Krish Beriwal also feel the "recent volatility in global financial sector could increase demand uncertainty".

The analysts said that there is a likelihood of "further deterioration" in revenue growth outlook for Indian IT services companies in the financial year ending March 2024, compared with the 2022-23 fiscal. Overall, Bhandari and Beriwal remain "cautious" on the IT services sector.

While deal pipelines do remain strong, the demand outlook is likely to slow, they said.

"Companies expect clients to increase focus on cost optimisation projects over long-gestation transformational projects in the near-term, with rising macroeconomic volatility," said Bhandari and Beriwal.

can-sedans-make-a-second-coming-in-india-this-auto-giant-thinks-so

Tue Mar 21 16:05:19 IST 2023

All we hear is SUV ga ga, SUV goo goo? Well, sedans, someone still loves you. And that power of love can be a sizeable shot in the arm when it’s none less than one of the nation’s auto biggies who is reposing its faith in the ol’ favourite.

“The aspiration of every Indian car buyer, for as long as I can remember, has been owning a sedan. For the status conscious Indian, (realising) the dream of owning a big car brings with it satisfaction.”

Saying this, Hyundai India COO Tarun Garg on Tuesday afternoon launched the new generation Verna in the Indian market. The move assumes significance considering the steady change in the car buying trends of Indians in the last few years, which has seen the popularity of small cars (hatchback in auto industry speak) and big cars with a dickie (sedans) wane in front of SUVs.

After all, in recent months, even market leader Maruti Suzuki, which has focused on small cars for far too long, has got on to the SUV bandwagon, launching a spate of new SUV models in recent months. Tata’s aggressive power play in launching new SUV and premium hatchbacks (some of which straddle the grey area between categories to maybe even get passed off as 'compact' SUVs) as well as affordable electric vehicles (EV) had seen it race up the numbers chart, even threatening Hyundai India’s position as the second biggest automobile manufacturer in the country.

The sedan category — once the aspirational car for everyone, had in the process seen its market plummet from around 16% just a few years ago to just 9% in 2021.

Then, something curious happened. European carmaker Volkswagen launched its premium sedan Virtus in the Indian car market in the summer of last year. In quick succession, fellow auto brand Škoda also started delivery of its sedan model Slavia. In fact, the response to Virtus was so high that as much as 150 cars were being delivered during the initial phase.

“Thus, again customer interest went up in sedans,” Amit Daundiyal, Hyundai India’s AVP (group product strategy & planning) told THE WEEK. “What we saw was that those customers who do buy sedans were more settled, had family in mind, and were looking for comfort and space.”

In that backdrop, it is evident that Hyundai is aiming for volume growth with this sedan. With as many as four SUVs in its line-up — including India’s all-time largest selling SUV, Creta, Hyundai already has the SUV market all sewn up. And what better time to train your crosshairs on the sedan market than when everyone’s attention is on SUVs and EVs?

How it helps is in top line growth — while SUV segment may still be up, up and away, sedan as a segment is ripe for plucking. Hyundai’s clever refocus also makes business sense considering how there are barely a clutch of models in the category in India right now — besides Virtus and Slavia, the only other new model launch in the past one year in the market was the launch of the new-generation Honda City. With less competition, Hyundai certainly hopes to take a sizeable share in profit and margins by serenading the sedan.

Daundiyal said as much when he quipped, “(Sedan) segment is again coming up. Don’t just look at the percentage, look at the volume!”

The new Hyundai Verna starts at Rs 10.89 lakh going all the way up to Rs 16.19 lakh for the top model.

only-24-of-companies-surveyed-in-india-ready-to-defend-against-cyber-threats-report

Tue Mar 21 12:06:33 IST 2023

Only 24 per cent organisations surveyed in India are ready to defend against cyber security threats. This was revealed in Cisco's first-ever Cybersecurity Readiness Index titled 'Resilience in a Hybrid World' which was released on Tuesday at the Cisco India Summit in Jaipur. The index has been developed against the backdrop of a post-Covid hybrid world, where users and data must be secured wherever work gets done.

The report highlights where businesses are doing well and where cybersecurity readiness gaps will widen if global business and security leaders do not take appropriate action.

The report points out that organisations have moved from an operating model that was largely static wherein people operated from single devices from one location, connecting to a static network to a hybrid world in which they increasingly operate from multiple devices in multiple locations, connect to multiple networks, access applications in the cloud and on the go and generate enormous amount of data. The report further states that such a situation presents new and unique cybersecurity challenges for companies.

The Cisco report has measured the readiness of companies to maintain cybersecurity resilience against modern threats. These measures have covered five core pillars such as identity, devices, network, application workloads and data and encompasses 19 different solutions within the pillars. The survey was conducted by an independent third-party and asked 6,700 private sector cybersecurity leaders across 27 markets to indicate which of these solutions they had deployed and the stage of deployment. Companies were then classified into four stages of increasing readiness, Formative, Progressive and Mature.

As per the report, India scored high in the global chart in terms of maturity (24 per cent), performing above the global average of 15 per cent on cybersecurity readiness. About 38 per cent of companies in India fall into the Beginner or Formative stages. While organisations in India are faring better than the global average, the number is still very low, given the risks. As per the report this readiness gap is telling, not least because 90 per cent of respondents said they expect a cybersecurity incident to disrupt their business in the next 12 to 24 months. The cost of being unprepared can be substantial as 80 per cent of respondents said they had a cybersecurity incident in the last 12 months, and 53 per cent of those affected said it cost them at least $500,000.

“Organisations have moved from an operating model that was largely static to a hybrid world, which presents new and unique cybersecurity challenges. In this environment, understanding how organisations are preparing to deal with these new challenges is critical. The index has been built with a focus on five core pillars of identity, devices, network, applications, and data, and examines organisational postures in securing these,” remarked Vish Iyer, Vice President, Architectures, Cisco APJC. He added that these five pillars need to be protected with a mix of point tools and integrated platforms to achieve security resilience while reducing complexity and only then will businesses be able to close the cybersecurity readiness gap.

As per the report, business leaders must establish a baseline of ‘readiness’ across the five security pillars to build secure and resilient organisations. This need is especially critical given that 95 per cent of the respondents plan to increase their security budgets by at least 10 percent over the next 12 months. By establishing a base, organisations can build on their strengths and prioritise the areas where they need more maturity and improve their resilience.

“Cybersecurity is a top priority for businesses as they continue their digitisation journey. With hybrid work becoming mainstay and services being application-driven, it is critical that organisations close the security readiness gap. Assessing security readiness and ensuring that organizations adopt an integrated platform approach to secure the five key pillars will play an integral role in helping businesses futureproof themselves,” pointed out Samir Mishra, Director, Security Business Group, Cisco India and SAARC.

toxic-work-culture-office-politics-excessive-pressure-main-reasons-of-quiet-quitting-report

Mon Mar 20 22:33:48 IST 2023

Nearly half of Gen Z respondents consider toxic work culture and excessive work pressure as the trigger for quiet quitting, a report said on Monday.

Over 48 per cent of Gen Z, those born in mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s, attribute toxic work culture as the primary cause for quiet quitting, while a mere six per cent believe it to be a result of extended office timings, according to a report - Quiet Quitting and its Effect on Organisational Work Structure - by Kolkata based staffing firm Genius Consultants.

Notably, it revealed that 23 per cent of the respondents blame office politics and excessive work pressure for the issue.

Quiet quitting is a term which is used for those employees who put no more effort into their jobs than absolutely necessary.

According to the report 'Quiet Quitting' has led to a new trend - Bare Minimum Mondays, where the employees, specially the Gen Z, tend to put in bare minimum efforts on the work front on the first day of the week.

The report, Quiet Quitting and its Effect on Organisational Work Structure, is based on an online survey among 1,928 employees across sectors.

It further revealed that over 54 per cent of India Inc are aware of the term 'Quiet Quitting' and 74 per cent of the respondents believed that the quiet quitting culture is distressing the work environment.

In current times, the workforce perceives their job as more than just a means to an end, namely a source of income, said the report.

“Given the current situation, both the 'quiet quitting culture' and the 'Bare Minimum Mondays' are co-related and can have adverse effects on organisations, and when coupled with layoffs, can aggravate the issue further. It's imperative for companies to address this issue proactively to foster a culture of engagement, motivation, and resilience in the face of adversity. We believe such surveys are critical to gather insightful perspectives on ongoing issues,” Genius Consultants CMD R.P. Yadav said.

The report found that despite the trend of quiet quitting and layoffs, 43 per cent of respondents believed that the problem can be mitigated through better employee benefits.

cisco-announces-innovations-investments-in-india-security-infrastructure

Mon Mar 20 21:01:36 IST 2023

With a steady increase in digitisation across organisations and individuals, there is an immense focus on trust in the digital world. Organisation such as Cisco is shouldering the tremendous responsibility of ensuring that this trust is maintained, said Daisy Chittilapilly, president, Cisco India and SAARC, during the Cisco India Summit 2023 being held in Jaipur.

“The world is becoming increasingly hybrid, and organisations have to adapt quickly. Their success hinges in large part on their ability to tackle the cyber security risks that this presents,” remarked Chittilapilly. Interestingly Cisco’s 'My Location, My Device: Hybrid Work's New Cybersecurity Challenge' survey recently found that nine out of ten security leaders in India expect cybersecurity incidents to disrupt their businesses in the next two years.

Cisco also launched new capabilities across Zero Trust and cloud application to help organisations in India address growing cyber security needs. At the same time, the US-headquartered company has also expanded its data centre footprint in India to help companies protect devices, remote users, and distributed locations.

“We are committed to helping Indian organisations enhance security resilience so they can turn their digitisation into a competitive advantage. We are introducing innovative cyber capabilities, expanding our security data centre footprint, and continuing to build a dedicated engineering workforce in India to help organisations fortify their defenses and catalyse their transformation in the digital age,” said Chittilapilly.

It was also announced during the summit that as Indian organisations accelerate their journey to the cloud, Cisco is investing in a dedicated cloud infrastructure to bring security services to more customers in India in a seamless and scalable manner. As a part of this expansion, Cisco is setting up a new data centre in Chennai and upgrading the current one in Mumbai to offer enhanced security solutions to its customers.

It is expected that the company's new and upgraded facilities would help it bring agile, highly resilient, high-capacity access closer to users, including large and small Indian enterprises from across industries. It was discussed that a hybrid work environment presents unique cyber security challenges as organisations move from a static to a dynamic operating model, significantly increasing the demand for cloud security.

During discussions, experts pointed out that in the present scenario as companies look to safeguard themselves, they are moving towards concepts such as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and Zero Trust to be adequately prepared to tackle the risks these shifts present. SASE combines traditional network security functions with software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) capabilities. It allows organisations to provide secure and reliable access to cloud based applications and services for remote workers, regardless of their location.

Cisco also launched many new features for its Duo Risk-Based Authentication to address security issues, including remembered devices and Wi-Fi fingerprint to authenticate less often in trusted situations, Verified Push to protect against phishing attacks, and expanded SSO capabilities that notify and allow users to reset their passwords before they expire keeping in view the needs for modern enterprises.

India remains a critical market for Cisco and it has its second largest R&D outside the US in Bengaluru. The company also has a sizable workforce in India in the space of security engineering. These employees work on cutting-edge security solutions and also support the company's business model transformation towards software and subscriptions.

why-no-job-cuts-in-apple-avoid-layoff-reasons-bonuses-firing-hiring-firing

Mon Mar 20 18:34:34 IST 2023

While many IT companies across the globe resorted to mass layoffs to bring down expenses, Apple stayed away from sacking employees, thanks to several well-thought-out measures adopted by the company. There have been large-scale layoffs in companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Google, while Apple employees continued to remain unaffected by the layoff season.

According to the well-known analyst of the company Mark Gurman, Apple has been doing everything possible, including postponing bonuses and delaying the release of some of its new products to avoid letting go of employees.

The company will pay the full bonuses, which have been postponed, in October, instead of twice a year. Delayed bonuses helped the company to have cash in hand a little longer.

Apple has also completely stopped hiring new talents in some teams while there is limited hiring in others. The company has also been conservative with hirings between 2020 and 2022.

Another step initiated by the company is to limit the number of transfers of its employees to other departments and stores as this usually involves additional costs.

Apple also chose to delay the production and launch of some of its products, like HomePod with a screen that may now hit the market only next year. Besides, new purchases will now require the approval of senior-level employees. There is also a reduction in travel budgets.

According to Gurman, top executives at Apple are considered to be leaders with clean ideas and plans.

Another step taken by the company is to be more strict with attendance, causing concern among employees that the company may sack employees who are lax with attendance.

sensex-sheds-360-points-nifty-closes-below-17000-amid-global-rout-in-equities

Mon Mar 20 16:36:15 IST 2023

Benchmark Sensex declined by 360 points while the Nifty closed below the 17,000-level on Monday due to a sell-off in financials, IT and capital goods shares amid a global rout in equities on lingering worries over the banking crisis.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 360.95 points or 0.62 per cent to close at 57,628.95 as 23 of its stocks ended in the red. The index tanked more than 900 points to touch a low of 57,084.91 before recovering some losses at the fag end.

The broader Nifty of the NSE plunged by 111.65 points or 0.65 per cent to close below the 17,000-level at 16,988.40. As many as 40 Nifty stocks declined while 10 advanced.

Analysts said investors fretted over the US banking crisis even as Federal Reserve and other central banks took efforts to ease a fast-growing banking crisis.

"The fear of contagion of the financial crisis has kept investors away from the equity markets as the global market faces numerous hurdles. Despite Swiss regulators' intervention to protect the global financial system, investor sentiment remained shaky," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Among Sensex shares, Bajaj Finserv fell the most by 4.08 per cent. Bajaj Finance declined by 3.01 per cent, Tata Steel by 2.2 per cent, Wipro by 2.09 per cent, Tata Motors by 1.96 per cent, IndusInd Bank by 1.9 per cent, SBI by 1.75 per cent, Tech Mahindra by 1.66 per cent and HCL Tech by 1.2 per cent.

TCS, Infosys, Power Grid, Maruti, Reliance, HDFC twins, L&T, M&M, NTPC and Ultratech Cement were also among the losers.

Hindustan Unilever bucked the trend to emerge as the biggest Sensex gainer, rising by 2.45 per cent. ITC, Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma and Nestle also closed higher.

Global stock markets sank even as Swiss authorities arranged the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS. Investors were also concerned ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting to decide on more possible interest rate hikes.

"The market is now awaiting the outcome of the Fed meeting to see how they will respond to the ongoing crisis, particularly in terms of rate hikes. Investors expect the central bank to raise interest rates by 0-25 basis points," Nair said.

In Asia, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 2.7 per cent, The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 1.4 per cent, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5 per cent while the Kospi in Seoul retreated 0.7 per cent.

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost 1.6 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX fell 1.4 per cent and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 1.2 per cent. Switzerland's benchmark stock index dropped 1.8 per cent as Credit Suisse plunged 63 per cent and UBS sank 14 per cent.

On Friday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were the net sellers and sold Indian equities worth Rs 1,766.53 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers at Rs 1,817.14 crore.

92-year-old-rupert-murdoch-girlfriend-fifth-marriage-ann-lesley-smith

Mon Mar 20 19:16:43 IST 2023

Billionaire media baron Rupert Murdoch recently revealed that he is engaged to Ann Lesley Smith (66), six months after he met her.

The announcement comes in less than a year after Murdoch's divorce from his fourth wife Jerry Hall was finalised.

Rupert Murdoch and Ann Lesley Smith got engaged on Friday.

In an interview with New York Post, Murdoch admitted that he was "very nervous" and "dreaded falling in love" but knew this would be his last. "It better be. I am happy," he was quoted as saying.

They met in September, and the wedding will take place in late summer.

“I’m a widow 14 years. Like Rupert, my husband was a businessman. Worked for local papers, developed radio and TV stations and helped promote Univision. So I speak Rupert’s language. We share the same beliefs," she was quoted as saying.

She called their relationship as a "gift from god."

He met her at his vineyard Moraga in Bel Air, Calif. They talked a bit and two weeks later, he called her.

after-firing-18000-employees-in-january-amazon-to-sack-9000-people-soon

Mon Mar 20 21:30:17 IST 2023

Amazon plans to eliminate 9,000 more jobs in the next few weeks, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to staff on Monday.

The job cuts would mark the second largest round of layoffs in the company's history, adding to the 18,000 employees the company said it would lay off in January.

In the memo, Jassy said the second phase of the company's annual planning process completed this month and led to the additional job cuts. He said Amazon will still hire in some strategic areas.

“Some may ask why we didn't announce these role reductions with the ones we announced a couple months ago. The short answer is that not all of the teams were done with their analyses in the late fall; and rather than rush through these assessments without the appropriate diligence, we chose to share these decisions as we've made them so people had the information as soon as possible,” Jassy said.

why-supply-chain-issues-do-not-cause-inflation-

Mon Mar 20 15:44:43 IST 2023

While there is some correlation, it is wrong to say supply chain kinks are a primary cause of inflation.

There is a common misconception that when supply chains are disrupted, entities along the supply chain shore up more resources to overcome the supply and demand imbalance.

With the excess cost ultimately passed onto consumers, this supposedly causes an inflationary ripple effect across the economy. A further myth is that this inflation then boomerangs onto the supply chain, leading to a vicious cycle.

When the global supply chain was disrupted during Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, one ubiquitous component that had vast implications on the supply chain was the computer chip.

The chip, also known as a semiconductor, is a fundamental component in all electronic devices such as computers, mobile phones, lightbulbs, home appliances and credit cards.

At the onset of the pandemic, chip production was halted and shipping slowed down due to various factors, including a predicted drop in demand.

However, with a large proportion of the population working and studying from home and the rapid digitalisation of businesses, the demand for electronic devices actually increased significantly.

This soon led to a global chip shortage affecting most manufactured goods' supply chains worldwide. On the supply side, the chip shortage caused the automotive industry to reduce vehicle production and delay delivery to consumers.

On the demand side, when the world emerged from Covid-19 and business activities resumed, consumer demand for vehicles exceeded supply, resulting in an increase in price.

What compounds the supply-demand imbalance is the fear of further shortages when entities along the supply chain stockpile inventory in anticipation of even higher demand.

With one firm the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation dominating more than half of global chip manufacturing, including almost 90 per cent of advanced made-to-order chips essential for emerging technologies, the acute shortage worsened.

But inflation began to slow down even when the trajectory seemed to be heading towards a vicious cycle of supply chain disruption and inflation impeding the supply chain even further.

External shocks are usually temporary, and supply and demand will eventually balance out. Inflation can solve itself. Consumers are not always willing to pay more for goods they do not need. As prices of consumer goods surge, consumers cut back on their purchases and demand recedes.

Previous production expansions and equipment tooling up to resolve the shortage can turn into inventory surplus and excess capacity. Given the oversupply, manufacturers begin to reduce capital spending and hiring. Hence, amid weaker demand, prices will fall.

The semiconductor industry, primarily driven by market factors, often undergoes cyclical peaks and troughs. Inflation and supply-side disruptions associated with shortages are usually short-term. Therefore, the inflationary myth.

Research has shown that improvement in operations and supply chain efficiencies, shortened production times and investment in new fabrication plants and technologies mitigate disruptions over time.

Except for Covid-19 as an anomaly, while there is a correlation between supply chain disruption and inflation, the former is not the primary contributor.

The impact of supply chain disruption on core consumer prices is, in fact, not significant. The reality of inflation goes beyond its effect on consumers' income and household purchasing power.

One thing businesses need to be aware of is the bullwhip effect' in resolving shortages. The bullwhip effect is a supply chain phenomenon often used to explain inaccurate information in assessing demand.

Slight order variations progressively become amplified upstream from the retailer to the manufacturer. The bullwhip effect often leads to inventory build-up and ultimately price deflation.

Care needs to be taken so distortion of information along the supply chain does not lead to excessive fluctuations.

Lessons from past natural disasters, such as the 2011 Thailand flood crisis, can be instructive. Computer prices skyrocketed when flood waters inundated hard disk drive manufacturing hubs in Southeast Asia.

Given the concentration of production in a single location, supply chain disruption in one region had sizable ramifications globally. But market forces tend to solve bottlenecks.

As the hard disk drive fabrication plants resumed operations, so did the inventory level, and eventually, prices came down. In addition, solid-state drives became preferred over hard drives in the long run after the clamour for a viable alternative to overcome the shortage.

The chip debacle highlights the susceptibility of the global supply chain to external shocks and hence the need for risk management to ensure supply chain resilience.

Although government policies can support the supply chain in mitigating inflation, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, the Internet of Things, robotic process automation, cloud computing and big data analytics also have the potential to improve supply chain visibility and agility in handling unusual circumstances.

Their increasing use in smart factories is expected to drive future demand for advanced chips. Given their importance to almost all major industries, this means chip demand should increase in the long term but the contention that this is a primary cause for inflation needs to be backed up.

(360info.org: By Andrei Kwok, Monash University Malaysia)

bengaluru-man-asked-to-share-linkedin-profile-write-an-introduction-about-himself-to-rent-a-house

Mon Mar 20 17:12:36 IST 2023

Hunt for a house or an apartment for rent is indeed a laborious task in crowded cities like Bengaluru where there is a high demand for rented accommodations.

However, if you thought that finding an apartment for rent in Bengaluru involves just running across localities and scrolling through ads on various property websites and apps, you may be in for a surprise, as a young professional, Goutham, in the city realised.

Goutham took to social media to share an update on day 12 of his house hunting in Bengaluru's Indiranagar.

He shared screenshots of his Whatsapp interaction with the broker in which he was told that rent for a 2 bhk apartment in Indiranagar was Rs 75,000. When Goutham asked if he could come and see the apartment in the evening, he was asked to share his LinkedIn profile.

The broker said the owner of the house was asking for his LinkedIn profile.

As if this wasn't enough, the broker asked Goutham to "share a small write-up" about him.

Reacting to his tweets, a user wrote: "This is happening quite a lot in bengaluru, I know a couple of my friends who are ready to pay a good amount for rent but they're asked a lot of questions with and then the rent is quoted again with an increased price... They're still hunting for a house"

"In Bengaluru after cracking the job interview, you also need to crack the house interview!," wrote another user.

"They judge according to the company you're working with , specially in indiranagar, kormangala," another user observed.

india-on-track-to-achieve-energy-independence-by-2047-says-us-en

Mon Mar 20 11:43:29 IST 2023

India can achieve energy independence by its 100th year of independence in 2047, according to a new study by the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The study, titled "Pathways to Atmanirbhar Bharat," suggests that achieving this goal would result in significant economic, environmental, and energy benefits for India, including USD2.5 trillion in consumer savings by 2047 and reducing fossil fuel import expenditure by 90 percent or $240 billion annually.

The report indicates that India's energy infrastructure requires an investment of USD3 trillion in the coming decades. Prioritizing clean and cost-effective energy assets is crucial for long-term financial sustainability. The study shows that India's energy independence pathway would involve the installation of more than 500 GW of non-fossil electricity generation capacity by 2030, followed by an 80 percent clean grid by 2040 and 90 percent by 2047.

Furthermore, the study suggests that nearly 100% of new vehicle sales could be electric by 2035, and heavy industrial production could shift primarily to green hydrogen and electrification. The report also notes that most of the lithium needed for manufacturing new electric vehicles and grid-scale battery storage systems could be produced domestically using newly discovered reserves.

The report's authors believe that achieving energy independence will enhance India's industrial competitiveness globally and enable its net-zero commitment ahead of schedule. According to Amol Phadke, a co-author and Berkeley Lab staff scientist, "India's energy infrastructure requires a $3 trillion investment in the coming decades, and our study finds that prioritizing new energy assets that are cost-effective and clean is crucial for long-term financial sustainability."

Most of the lithium needed (estimated 2 million tons by 2040) for manufacturing new electric vehicles and grid-scale battery storage systems could be produced domestically using newly discovered reserves, it said.

In addition, the Indian industry must transition to clean technologies such as EV and green steel manufacturing. India is one of the world's largest auto and steel exporters, with their largest markets in EU countries committed to carbon neutrality and a potential carbon border adjustment tariff, it said.

Phadke said, "India can leverage the existing policy framework it has laid out to expand the clean energy deployment."

India, the third largest energy consumer in the world, currently imports 90 percent of the oil it needs, 80 percent of the industrial coal, and 40 percent of the natural gas. Price and supply volatility in the global energy markets, as witnessed in recent years, strain India's foreign exchange reserves, resulting in economy-wide inflation, it said.

"The case for clean energy has never been stronger. India has achieved the world's lowest renewable energy prices and has found some of the world's largest lithium reserves," said Nikit Abhyankar, Berkeley Lab scientist and the lead author of the study. "This can propel India towards cost-effective energy independence in a way that is economically and environmentally advantageous," he added.

According to the press release, the study also finds that India has a unique advantage to leapfrog to a clean energy future since the bulk of its energy infrastructure is yet to be built.

"We find that India will embark on an ambitious energy transition in the coming decades," said Priyanka Mohanty, a co-author and researcher at Berkeley Lab. "However, the transition runway provides time to strategically deploy clean technologies at scale and plan for a just transition."

(With inputs from PTI)

ubs-takes-over-crisis-hit-credit-suisse-in-historic-deal

Mon Mar 20 10:55:19 IST 2023

After detailed discussions over the weekend, Swiss banking giant UBS agreed to buy crisis-hit Credit Suisse for nearly $3.2 billion. The deal was done in an effort to avoid further market turmoil in the global banking sector.

Credit Suisse's plan to borrow up to $54 billion failed to reassure investors and the bank's customers that led to the authorities push UBS to buy the bank.

Shares of Credit Suisse and other banks plunged this week after the failure of two banks in the US sparked concerns about other potentially shaky institutions in the global financial system, reported Associated Press (AP).

The deal was one of great breadth for the stability of international finance," said Swiss President Alain Berset as he announced it Sunday night. "An uncontrolled collapse of Credit Suisse would lead to incalculable consequences for the country and the international financial system,” he said.

An emergency ordinance allowing the merger without shareholder approval was passed by the Switzerland's executive branch.

Meanwhile, Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann called the sale a clear turning point.

It is a historic, sad and very challenging day for Credit Suisse, for Switzerland and for the global financial markets, Lehmann said, adding that the focus is now on the future and in particular on the 50,000 Credit Suisse employees, 17,000 of whom are in Switzerland, reported AP.

Colm Kelleher, the UBS chairman, hailed the enormous opportunities that emerge from the takeover, and highlighted his bank's conservative risk culture a subtle swipe at Credit Suisse's reputation for more swashbuckling, aggressive gambles in search of bigger returns. He said the combined group would create a wealth manager with over $5 trillion in total invested assets, reported AP.

Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said the council "regrets that the bank, which was once a model institution in Switzerland and part of our strong location, was able to get into this situation at all.

UBS officials said that they plan to sell off parts of Credit Suisse or reduce the bank's size in the coming months and years.

The Swiss government is providing more than 100 billion francs in aid and financial backstops to make the deal go through.

As part of the deal, approximately 16 billion francs (USD 17.3 billion) in Credit Suisse bonds will be wiped out, reported AP.

Also, New York Community Bank has agreed to buy failed Signature Bank in a USD 2.7 billion deal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp informed.

The 40 branches of Signature Bank will become Flagstar Bank from Monday onwards. Flagstar is one of New York Community Bank's subsidiaries.

The deal will include the purchase of USD 38.4 billion in Signature Bank's assets.

In the recent banking crisis, Signature Bank was the second bank to fail after the collapse of New York based Silicon Valley Bank.

after-firing-7000-employees-in-february-disney-to-sack-4000-more-people-soon

Sun Mar 19 19:54:43 IST 2023

Entertainment conglomerate Disney is planning for another round of layoffs, which would affect as many as 4,000 employees.

According to media reports, Disney, which fired 7,000 employees in February, has asked managers to come up with budget cuts and prepare a list of people who could be laid off.

There is no clarity on how the layoff will be done. It could be either done in batches, or in one go.

The news of possible job cuts comes ahead of the company's annual meeting on April 3.

The company is also reportedly considering reducing general entertainment meant for adults and is weighing its options on what to do with Hulu, which is co-owned by Disney and Comcast Corp.

Disney CEO Bob Iger had in February while announcing the layoffs, said the company was planning a strategic reorganisation which would result in a more cost-effective, coordinated, and streamlined approach to its operations and assured that the company is committed to running its business more efficiently, especially in a changing economic environment.

layoffs-in-us-will-bring-lot-of-work-to-india-globallogic-ceo-nitesh-banga

Sun Mar 19 18:21:02 IST 2023

Layoffs by big tech in the US are expected to bring a lot of work to India and the country's IT sector is poised to gain significantly during the slowdown, a top official of the US-based firm GlobalLogic said.

In an interview to PTI, GlobalLogic president and CEO Nitesh Banga said the company is looking to acquire talents in India and plans to grow its employee base by 25-35 per cent every year.

He said India is not going to see much of a slowdown even as there are a lot of layoffs happening in the US.

"If Google, Twitter or Facebook or any of these customers actually lay off people in the US, it is not that they don't need to build products. They still need to continue to do their work and I believe that a lot of that work will come to India, because they will still need the talent to keep doing the work, although they will look for cost efficiencies," Banga said.

The Hitachi group IT company has close to 15,000 or approximately 50 per cent of its global employee base, in India.

"We hire close to 1,000 people a month. Out of that, 50 per cent is in India. So, we are hiring close to 500 people at any given point in time in India. Every year, the number will continue to go up by 25-35 per cent," Banga said.

The company hires IT and IT-enabled service segment engineers with 2-3 years of experience and then upskills them to become digital engineers.

"The kind of work that we do is very cutting edge, deep product development, be it embedded technologies, cloud, network or apps. What we do is very different from a traditional IT services company," Banga said.

He said a premium luxury carmaker designed its gesture-based car experience system in Bengaluru, and 80 to 90 per cent of aircraft engine design and new generation efficient engines design is being done in India.

Banga said there is a conversation that international firms are planning to set up 500 new GCC (global capability centres) or engineering centres in India in the next three years.

"So, the equation is no longer about cost arbitrage, but it is about value arbitrage and skill and talent capabilities. There is a temporary slowdown in the war for talent. We do see this war for talent continuing to scale up for India," he said.

The company was acquired by Hitachi for $9.6 billion in July 2021.

Banga said integration with Hitachi has added new industry verticals to GlobalLogic like energy ,railways, mobility and connected industry.

"There's a lot of collaboration that is happening across (with Hitachi) - whether you talk about Metaverse, or Web3, or digital supply chains, and so on. That's one side of collaboration between our Research and Development (R&D) and theirs. But the other piece also is strong support for inorganic push. So, we have big growth ambitions," Banga said.

According to GlobalLogic, group vice president and head of Asia Pacific region, Sumit Sood, India contributes approximately 30 per cent to the company's total revenues.

Banga said the India business of GlobalLogic recorded 20-25 per cent growth till about three years back and in the last two years it increased to 30-35 per cent.

"I believe that it can go even faster. But, if I look at just three years ago to the last few years, already, we are seeing like if the company is growing between 20 and 25 per cent, India has grown 5-6 per cent faster and it is going even further. That's really the way we see it going forward," Banga said.

He said India stands to gain significantly in this whole economic slowdown from an IT sector or from a digital sector perspective as the need for digital transformation is going to continue across sectors.

us-fed-meeting-banking-crisis-fiis-to-drive-domestic-equity-markets-this-week

Sun Mar 19 16:51:06 IST 2023

The trading activity in the domestic equity markets is likely to remain volatile this week as investors will focus on global cues such as the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting and the US banking crisis due to lack of local triggers, analysts said.

FII activity and movement in the rupee and oil prices will also be watched by traders as global trends have been dictating the direction of the local stock markets currently, they added.

Benchmark Sensex and Nifty declined by around 2 per cent last despite a recovery in the last two sessions due to selling in financials, IT, auto and banking stocks as fears of contagion of the US banking crisis kept investors on the edge.

The US banking crisis remained at the centre stage keeping the participants on their toes. Besides, the continuous outflow the foreign funds added to worries, analysts said.

"In absence of any major domestic event, the focus would be on the upcoming FOMC meet scheduled on March 21-22. Besides, movement in crude and trend of foreign fund flows will also be in focus for cues," Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.

Traders are expecting the US Federal Open Market Committee to go for a lower 25 basis point cut or even pause the rate hike in its meeting as US inflation has eased to 6 per cent in February from 6.4 per cent a month earlier and the economy stares at a banking crisis.

"Easing US inflation provided confidence that the Fed would not opt for a harsh rate hike of 50 bps and might even consider taking a break during the March meeting," Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Considering the 50 basis points rate hike by the ECB, all eyes will be on the US Fed and Bank of England, which are set to hold their policy meetings next week, Nair said.

"Domestic indices followed suit in-line with global markets which took a breather towards the end of the week in hopes of relief from the global banking turmoil. Global equities reversed their selling streak on reports of a rescue package for the beleaguered First Republic Bank, along with aid provided to Credit Suisse from the Swiss Central Bank, which would soothe concerns over global financial stability," he said.

According to Pravesh Gour, senior technical analyst, Swastika Investmart Ltd, investors' confidence was negatively impacted by the turbulence in the US banking industry caused by Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB) bankruptcy and the closure of New York's Signature Bank.

“Consistently unfavourable signs in global markets are encouraging investors to turn to safe havens such as the dollar and gold, while FIIs are withdrawing funds from the domestic market in response to the Indian rupee's depreciation," he said.

"The pressure was visible across sectors wherein banking, financials, auto and IT shed in the range of 1-4 per cent. The broader indices too witnessed a fall and lost over 2 per cent each," Ajit Mishra said.

"Apart from this crude oil and the rupee will also play an important role in market movement. FIIs and DIIs will also be watched," Pravesh Gour said.

Foreign investors have put in Rs 11,500 crore in the Indian equities so far this month, mainly driven by bulk investment from the US-based GQG Partners in the Adani Group companies.

Going ahead, FPIs may take a cautious stance in their approach in the coming days following the collapse of the US-based banks, experts said.

Mishra said markets may take a breather initially however the upside also seems capped. Nifty could face hurdles around the 17,250-17,400 zone while the 16,600-16,800 zone would provide the needed cushion, in case the situation deteriorates further.

byjus-founder-love-marriage-byju-raveendran-falling-in-love-student-divya-gokulnath

Sun Mar 19 17:50:42 IST 2023

Founder of edutech start-up Byju's, Byju Raveendran, recently spoke about how he fell in love with his student Divya Gokulnath, who later became his life partner.

Speaking at a recent media interaction, Raveendran was asked how their romance began.

He said he used to teach in big auditoriums and it was difficult to notice any particular student. He noticed Divya as she used to stay back and ask a lot of questions. "I don’t know when it changed and we became life partners."

They got married in 2009.

Speaking about their love affair, she said the idea that opposites attract does not apply in their case. "I say that’s a reel-life phenomenon, not a real-life situation."

Divya said it is good to have a like-minded partner. "Those who know us say we are like chalk and cheese, very different personalities, but inside, our values are exactly the same," she said at the India Today Conclave.

Apart from their work, they are passionate about their children (they have two sons), family and travel.

hindenburg-fallout-adani-group-suspends-work-on-rs-34900-crore-petchem-project

Sun Mar 19 16:32:52 IST 2023

Adani Group has suspended work on a Rs 34,900 crore petrochemical project at Mundra in Gujarat as it focuses on resources to consolidate operations and address investor concerns following a damning report by a US-based short seller, sources said.

The group's flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) had in 2021 incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary, Mundra Petrochem Ltd for setting up a greenfield coal-to-PVC plant at Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) land in Kutch district of Gujarat.

But after Hindenburg Research's January 24 report alleging accounting fraud, stock manipulations and other corporate governance lapses chopped off about $140 billion from the market value of Gautam Adani's empire, the apples-to-airport group is hoping to claw back and calm jittery investors and lenders through a comeback strategy.

The comeback strategy is based on addressing investor concerns around debt by repaying some loans, consolidating operations, and fighting off allegations.

The group has denied all allegations levelled by Hindenburg. As part of this, projects are being re-evaluated based on cashflow and finance available.

And of the projects the group has decided not to pursue for the time being is the one million tonne per annum Green PVC project, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The group has shot off mails to vendors and suppliers to "suspend all activities" on immediate basis.

In the mails, seen by PTI, the group has asked them to "suspend all activities of the scope of work and performance of all obligations" for Mundra Petrochem Ltd's Green PVC project "till further notice."

This is the following "unforeseen scenario". The management, it said, was "re-evaluating various project/s being implemented at group level in different business verticals. Based on future cashflow and finance, some of the project/s are being re-evaluated for its continuation and revision in timeline."

Reached for comments, a group spokesperson said AEL will be evaluating the status of growth projects in primary industry vertical over the coming months.

"The balance sheet of each of our independent portfolio companies is very strong. We have industry-leading project development and execution capabilities, strong corporate governance, secure assets, strong cashflows, and our business plan is fully funded. We remain focused on executing our previously outlined strategy to create value for our stakeholders," the spokesperson said.

"AEL will be evaluating the status of growth projects in the primary industry vertical over the coming months".

The unit was to have a poly-vinyl-chloride (PVC) production capacity of 2,000 KTPA (kilo tonne per annum) requiring 3.1 million tonne per annum (MTPA) of coal that was to be imported from Australia, Russia and other countries.

PVC is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic polymer of plastic. It finds wide applications - from flooring, to making sewage pipes and other pipe applications, in insulation on electrical wires, packaging and manufacture of aprons etc.

Adani Group had planned the project as PVC demand in India at around 3.5 MTPA was growing at the rate of seven per cent year-on-year. With near stagnant domestic production of PVC at 1.4 million tonne, India is dependent on imports to keep pace with the demand.

The Hindenburg report had alleged "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud" and use of offshore shell companies to inflate stock prices. The group has denied all Hindenburg allegations, calling them "malicious", "baseless" and a "calculated attack on India".

As part of the comeback strategy, the group has cancelled a Rs 7,000 crore coal plant purchase as well as shelved plans to bid for stake in power trader PTC to conserve expenses. It has repaid some debt and pre-paid some of the finances raised by pledging promoter stake in group companies.

interview-tammy-ben-haim-consul-general-of-israel-south-india

Sat Mar 18 16:46:55 IST 2023

Tammy Ben-Haim is the Consul General of Israel to South India, based in Bengaluru. Haim is a highly experienced diplomat with 18 years of experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 25 years in the civil service. Most recently Haim was the Minister for Public Diplomacy in the Embassy of Israel in Washington DC. Between 2016 and 2018, Haim served on the South Asia Desk at the Ministry in Jerusalem, where she oversaw and coordinated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic, first-ever visit of an Indian leader to Israel, and the reciprocal visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India. Interestingly, Haim had earlier also served in India as counselor for internal politics, liaising with the Indian parliament and lawmakers and fostering relationships with state leaders. During this stint, she had additional responsibilities for Sri Lanka and agricultural cooperation. Haim has a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In an interaction with THE WEEK, she talks about the significant role the Israel Consulate is playing in improving collaboration of Indian companies especially the start ups with their Israeli counterparts in different fields such as agri tech, aerospace and water management etc.

What kind of collaboration is Israel aiming at with technology start ups based in Bengaluru and the the rest of South India? What kind of technology areas are being explored?

When the Israel Consulate for southern India was established in Bengaluru in 2012 we had eventually chosen the location over Chennai due to Bengaluru's reputation as the leading IT innovation spot in India. Bengaluru is not only a hub for innovation in India but also on a global scale. Israel has made efforts to create an ecosystem that is startup and innovation-friendly, similar to what is happening in Bengaluru and other cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem. The presence of a high-tech ecosystem in Bengaluru was a decisive factor in choosing the location for the consulate. The consulate is focused on facilitating the collaboration of companies and promoting joint initiatives in ways that are suitable for them. The consulate does not dictate which fields or aspects companies should collaborate on, rather its role is to enable companies, governments, and academics who are interested in working together in India to achieve their objectives. Agri tech and water are some of the areas where cooperation is often observed, but the consulate is open to facilitating collaboration in any field that interests the parties involved.

What kind of collaboration is being worked up in the field of aerospace segment and in agri tech and water management?

Aerospace is definitely a growing sector in both Israel and India. In Israel, we have companies like Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit Systems, which are leaders in the aerospace and defense industries. Similarly in India there are companies such as the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Tata Advanced Systems, which are also making a mark in this field. There is definitely room for collaboration and partnership between Israeli and Indian companies in the aerospace sector, and I am sure we will see more of that in the future.

Israel has developed advanced technologies and methods for water conservation and management. This can be shared with neighboring countries facing similar challenges. The consulate sees potential for collaboration and partnerships beyond just India and Israel, extending to the wider region and even into Africa. The recent developments in the Gulf states present new opportunities for cooperation, particularly in the area of water management, where Israel's expertise can be of great value.

Recently we had a delegation from Kerala that included the Secretary of Agriculture and 27 farmers that visited Israel. This is a great example of the kind of exchange programs we are promoting between India and Israel. We want to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, expertise, and technology between the two countries and help them collaborate in areas such as agriculture, water, and high-tech areas. These visits and delegations provide an opportunity for people from both countries to learn from each other and establish long-lasting partnerships.

What kind of role is the Israel Consulate in South India playing in connecting Israeli companies with India's workforce and and vice versa?

The consulate plays a crucial role in connecting Israeli companies with India's workforce and vice versa. For instance, during a recent visit to India, an HR expert from Israel shared her knowledge with Indian companies about what they look for in personnel, helping to bridge the gap between the two countries' high-tech industries. The consulate is also in regular touch with Indian companies, governments, and academic institutions to foster collaboration. This includes maintaining contact with the governments of South Indian states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and Pondicherry, as well as incubators, accelerators, NGOs, and academic institutions like IIT Madras, IIM Bangalore, and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore.

What are the other collaborative efforts on part of the Israel Consulate in south India?

The consulate's collaboration efforts extend beyond the institutions and organizations mentioned earlier. The consulate also partners with other universities and startups in India, and helps facilitate visits and exchanges between Israeli and Indian businesses. For instance, the consulate recently organized a visit for a venture capital delegation from Bengaluru to Israel, where they had the opportunity to meet with different companies and academic incubators across various industries.

What more can be done to improve relationship of Israel and Indian companies in South India?

I feel one of the major factors is that direct flights can definitely make traveling easier and more convenient and it can also contribute to strengthening the relationship between the high tech sectors in Bengaluru, rest of south India and and Israel. I hope that in the future, there will be more direct flights between the two countries to facilitate smoother business and cultural exchanges.

wuhan-market-raccoon-dogs-linked-to-covid-pandemic-origin-

Sat Mar 18 12:24:28 IST 2023

An international team of virus experts announced on Thursday that they had discovered crucial genetic data linking the coronavirus with raccoon dogs for sale at a market in Wuhan, China. This discovery adds to the growing body of evidence that the pandemic may have originated from the illegal wildlife trade.

The first human cases of COVID-19 show raccoon dog DNA comingled with the virus, adding evidence to the theory that the virus originated not from a lab, international experts say.

The Huanan market in Wuhan, where the genetic data was found, was the center of the pandemic, with the SARS-CoV-2 virus rapidly spreading to other locations in Wuhan in late 2019 and then to the rest of the world. The findings were made by a French researcher who stumbled upon genome sequences of samples taken from the market, which several of the earliest Covid-19 patients were linked to.

The WHO has urged China to share any information and data relating to the origins of Covid-19 with the international community. The organisation's Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, criticised China for withholding data related to samples taken at the Wuhan market in 2020, stating that these could have provided vital information about the pandemic's origins. The WHO called on China to be transparent and to share any results of investigations it conducts.

"We continue to call on China to be transparent in sharing data and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results. Understanding how the pandemic began remains both a moral and scientific imperative, he said.

Ghebreyesus said that last Sunday, the global health agency was made aware of data published on the GISAID database in late January, and taken down again recently.

The data, from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, relates to samples taken at the Huanan market in Wuhan, in 2020, he said.

Ghebreyesus said while the data was online, scientists from a number of countries downloaded the data and analysed it.

As soon as we became aware of this data, we contacted the Chinese CDC and urged them to share it with WHO and the international scientific community so it can be analysed, he said, adding that WHO also convened the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens, or SAGO, which met on Tuesday.

We asked researchers from the Chinese CDC and the international group of scientists to present their analyses of the data to SAGO. These data do not provide a definitive answer to the question of how the pandemic began, but every piece of data is important in moving us closer to that answer, he said.

In a report Thursday, the New York Times said that an international team of virus experts said they had found genetic data from a market in Wuhan, China, linking the coronavirus with raccoon dogs for sale there.

The NYT report said that the genetic data was drawn from swabs taken from in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market starting in January 2020, shortly after the Chinese authorities had shut down the market because of suspicions that it was linked to the outbreak of a new virus.

While the animals had been cleared out from the market, researchers took swabs from the walls, floors, metal cages and carts used for transporting animal cages.

In samples that came back positive for the coronavirus, the international research team found genetic material belonging to animals, including large amounts that were a match for the raccoon dog, the report said, quoting three scientists involved in the analysis.

The report noted that after the international team came across the new data, it reached out to Chinese researchers who had uploaded the files with an offer to collaborate. However, after that, the sequences disappeared from GISAID.

Globally, there have been more than 760,360,900 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including over 6,873,400 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.

india-never-halted-trade-relations-with-pakistan--indian-diploma

Sat Mar 18 11:33:40 IST 2023

India never halted trade relations with Pakistan and wants to move towards normalising business ties, a senior Indian diplomat here has said, stressing that today's diplomacy focuses on tourism, trade and technology because money speaks its own language.

Suresh Kumar, India's Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan made these remarks on Friday while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Dawn newspaper reported.

India always wants better relations with Pakistan because we cannot change our geography, he said.

We want to move towards normal relations with Pakistan. We also didn't stop trade with Pakistan, as it was Pakistan that did it, he said.

It would be better to see how we can change our problems and situations, Kumar said.

In 2019, Pakistan suspended bilateral trade with India and expelled its High Commissioner in Islamabad after New Delhi revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment that is free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.

The trade with Pakistan stood at USD 329.26 million in 2020-21 and USD 830.58 million in 2019-20, the data showed.

He agreed that the number of visas issued by the Indian embassy to Pakistanis dropped during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, he insisted that the number has now increased, as 30,000 visas were being issued every year, which he said was a huge number.

Kumar said the Indian government was also issuing medical and sports visas to Pakistanis.

He said gone were the days when diplomacy used to focus on compiling political reports. Today's diplomacy, he said, revolved around tourism, trade and technology as money speaks its own language.

India was presently doing trade of USD 120 billion with China, in which the balance of trade is towards China, he said, stressing that imports are not always wrong and also have advantages.

Kumar said that intellectual property has become more important than physical property. By sitting in distant countries and manufacturing in other countries, Europe is making money due to intellectual property rights, he said. Universities in Europe focus on technology.

He said transit trade was extremely important as Central Asia was a big market and India needed access to it. Similarly, Central Asia also needed access to India.

He said India was on course to become one of the largest economies. Our service sector has grown enormously and now we are focusing on manufacturing, like automobile and electronics manufacturing, he said.

LCCI President Kashif Anwar said it was generally thought that improving economic relations between India and Pakistan was a complex issue that required addressing a range of political, economic and social factors.

But we are of the view that the foremost step that could be taken to improve economic relations between India and Pakistan is to normalise trade relations. This would bring substantial economic benefits evenly to both the countries, he said.

india-aims-rs-24-lakh-cr-electronics-manufacturing-capability-by

Sat Mar 18 10:54:38 IST 2023

The government aims to increase electronics manufacturing capability to Rs 24 lakh crore by 2025-26, which will also help create over 10 lakh jobs, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday.

Speaking at a function in Bengaluru, the minister said the country is today at an inflection point - the most exciting period in its history - and the present generation of students is the luckiest generation in the independent India's history.

"...target of the Narendra Modi Government is to increase electronics manufacturing capability to Rs 24 lakh crore by 2025-26, which will also help create over 10 lakh jobs," an official statement quoted him as saying.

He said that there are more than 90,000 startups, including 110 unicorns, in which young Indians are playing a big part.

The minister said that at least 15 lakh young Indians from Karnataka will be given training in industry relevant future-ready skills.

"Remembering 'Appu', (the popular Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar as he was commonly referred to) on his birthday, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the day is observed as 'Spoorti Dina' or Inspiration Day, and that the occasion could not be more apt to discuss opportunities in IndiaTechade with students," the statement said.

To a query about the Silicon Valley Bank crisis and the Indian government's role to mitigate the woes of startups, Chandrasekhar said, The Indian banking system is much more resilient and stronger in comparison to any other country's banking system. Startups should therefore opt for Indian banks as their preferred banking partners."

tcs-ceo-rajesh-gopinathan-quits-k-krithivasan-named-ceo-designate

Fri Mar 17 07:30:19 IST 2023

IT major TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan has resigned, and the company nominated its global head of the BFSI division K Krithivasan as the CEO Designate with immediate effect, the firm said on Thursday.

Gopinathan will continue with the company till September 15, 2023, to provide transition and support to his successor.

"After a stellar career of over 22 years with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and a successful stint as Managing Director and CEO during the last 6 years, Rajesh Gopinathan has decided to step down from the company to pursue his other interests," the company said in a statement.

TCS has nominated its current President and Global Head of the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) Business Group K Krithivasan as CEO Designate with immediate effect.

"The Board has nominated K Krithivasan as the CEO Designate, with effect from 16th March 2023. Krithivasan will go through a transition with Rajesh Gopinathan and will be appointed as the Managing Director & CEO in the next financial year," the statement said.

how-will-crisis-at-credit-suisse-affect-indian-economy

Thu Mar 16 17:39:00 IST 2023

The crisis-laden Credit Suisse Group AG has a major presence in India’s derivatives market and hence its fate is more relevant to the country than that of the fall of Silicon Valley Bank, but not enough to cause concern.

Credit Suisse owns assets worth more than Rs 20,700 crore in India and is the 12th largest foreign bank in the country. This, however, amounts to 0.1 per cent of assets in the country's banking system and hence, the crisis at the Swiss lender would not have a large impact.

The presence of foreign banks in India is considerably small with just 6 per cent share in total assets—with Credit Suisse accounting to a mere 1.5 per cent of that share—4 per cent in loans, and 5 per cent in deposits. They have more exposure in derivative markets, with 50 per cent share.

Credit Suisse has only one branch in India (Mumbai).

"Given the relevance of Credit Suisse to India's banking sector, we see softer adjustments in assessment of counter-party risks, especially in the derivative market," said equity analysts at Jefferies.

Jefferies analysts Prakhar Sharma and Vinayak Agarwal said, "We expect RBI to keep a close watch on liquidity issues, and counterparty exposures and intervene as necessary. This may also lead to institutional deposits moving more towards larger/ quality banks."

“We watch out for liquidity issues and any rub-off on counter-party risk assessment (esp. in derivatives) and deposit market may move towards larger/ quality banks," the analysts said.

Meanwhile, Credit Suisse said it will borrow up to $54 billion from the Swiss central bank to shore up liquidity. The announcement saw its shares going up by more than 30 per cent on Thursday, after a massive downward swing a day earlier.

ubs-in-talks-to-buy-crisis-hit-credit-suisse-report

Sat Mar 18 11:02:42 IST 2023

After an emergency funding lifeline failed to restore confidence in investors, UBS Group AG is reportedly in discussions to take over all or part of crisis-hit Credit Suisse. The boards of Switzerland's two biggest lenders set to meet separately over the weekend, the Financial Times reported.

The report said that Swiss National Bank and regulator FINMA are organising talks in an attempt to build confidence in the country's banking sector.

Swiss regulators informed their counterparts in the United States and United Kingdom that the merger of the two banks was their "Plan A" to salvage the confidence in Credit Suisse, the report added.

Several other options are also under discussion between the two banks as both sides try to evaluate regulatory constraints in different jurisdictions, the report said.

However, reports also said that UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse were opposed to a forced merger, with UBS preferring to focus on its wealth-centric strategy and reluctant to take on risks related to its smaller rival, reported Bloomberg.

After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and New York-based Signature Bank, crisis emerged in Credit Suisse as well forcing it to tap $54 billion in central bank funding.

According to reports, at least four major banks including Societe Generale SA and Deutsche Bank AG have put restrictions on their trades involving the Swiss lender or its securities.

The crisis-laden Credit Suisse Group AG has a major presence in India’s derivatives market and hence its fate is more relevant to the country than that of the fall of Silicon Valley Bank.

Credit Suisse owns assets worth more than Rs 20,700 crore in India and is the 12th largest foreign bank in the country. The presence of foreign banks in India is considerably small with just 6 per cent share in total assets—with Credit Suisse accounting to a mere 1.5 per cent of that share—4 per cent in loans, and 5 per cent in deposits.

us-banking-crisis-is-not-threat-for-indias-financial-sector-rbi-governor

Fri Mar 17 21:39:37 IST 2023

The Indian banking system remains remarkably resilient and stable despite the banking crisis that has been unfolding in the US, said Reserve bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das. He was delivering the K.P. Hormis Commemorative Lecture, organised by the Federal Bank in Kochi. Das was referring to the Silicon Valley Bank, the biggest failure of a US bank since the global financial crisis, and then Signature Bank and First Republic Bank.

The recent developments in the banking sector in the US have brought to fore the criticality of banking sector regulations and supervision, he said. The developments drive home the importance of ensuring prudent asset liability management, robust risk management and sustainable growth in liabilities and assets, undertaking periodic stress tests, and building adequate capital buffers to face any unanticipated stress.

Das said sharing our experience with G20 nations could open up scope for collaboration in pursuit of the common goal of a brighter global economy. “Since India will remain as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, our energy needs are also expected to go up considerably. Therefore, accelerating growth in renewable energy capacity and reducing dependence on fossil fuel should be our priority,” he said.

sensex-snaps-5-day-losing-streak-on-value-buying-nifty-nears-17k-level

Thu Mar 16 17:52:46 IST 2023

The domestic equity market on Thursday snapped the five-day losing streak as the benchmark Sensex recouped its lost ground and closed 78 points higher on fag-end value buying in banking, energy and financial stocks.

A positive opening in the European market helped investor sentiments even as clouds hovered over the health of the global banking system amid Credit Suisse woes and bank failures in the US.

Halting its five-day losing streak, the 30-share BSE benchmark rose 78.94 points or 0.14 per cent to close at 57,634.84 points, with 17 of its constituents ending in the green. During the session, it touched a high of 57,887.46 points and a low of 57,158.69 points.

The 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 13.45 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at 16,985.60 points. As many as Nifty 32 stocks closed in the green.

Equity benchmarks bounced back to end in the positive territory after trading lower for the most part of the volatile session.

"With the turbulence at Credit Suisse and ahead of the ECB policy announcement, investors' attention has switched to developments in the European market. Consistently unfavourable signs in global markets are encouraging investors to move to safe havens such as the dollar and gold, while FIIs are withdrawing funds from the domestic market in response to the Indian rupee's depreciation.

"Though the SVB &Credit Suisse crisis has eased, the market lacks the confidence to hold positions on contagion fears," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Nestle India was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 2.54 per cent, followed by Asian Paints, HUL, Titan, Sun Pharma, SBI, PowerGrid and Bajaj Finserv.

On the other hand, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Tech and Reliance were among the losers, slipping up to 3.31 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, power gained 1.13 per cent, oil & gas rose 1.08 per cent, realty 1 per cent, bankex by 0.30 per cent and financial services by 22 per cent.

In contrast, metal, commodities, IT and tech were among those closing in the red.

Domestic equities arrested its five days losing streak after the Swiss National Bank agreed to provide financial aid to the Credit Suisse Group. Nifty opened positive but witnessed a rollercoaster ride throughout the session to finally end with marginal gains of 13 points at 16,986 levels, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

"Fresh concern over Credit Suisse's failure has aggravated fears with regards to how deep-rooted the banking crisis can get going ahead. Its ripple effect is seen across global markets, including India," he added.

In Asian markets, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul ended with significant losses.

European stock markets marched higher in early trade on Thursday after embattled lender Credit Suisse announced its plans to boost liquidity.

Credit Suisse said it will borrow funds from the Swiss central bank and buy back about $3 billion of its debt to help mitigate the growing crisis around it.

Major indices on Wall Street settled on a mixed note in the overnight trade.

Meanwhile, the rupee declined 13 paise to close at 82.78 against the US dollar on Thursday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.76 per cent to USD 74.25 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,271.25 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

"The positive divergence and positive crossover on the hourly charts suggest that the bounce can continue over the next few trading sessions. Considering that the Nifty has corrected 1,000 points in the last six trading sessions it is appearing oversold and hence a relief rally appears highly probable over the next few trading sessions," said Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

parent-of-silicon-valley-bank-seeks-bankruptcy-protection

Fri Mar 17 19:33:06 IST 2023

The parent of Silicon Valley Bank, seized last week by the US, is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

SVB Financial Group, along with its CEO and its chief financial officer, were targeted this week in a class action lawsuit that claims the company didn't disclose the risks that future interest rate increases would have on its business.

SVB Financial Group is no longer affiliated with Silicon Valley Bank after its seizure by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Its collapse was the second biggest bank failure in US history after the demise of Washington Mutual in 2008.

The bank's successor, Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, is being run under the jurisdiction of the FDIC and is not included in the Chapter 11 filing.

The Chapter 11 process will allow SVB Financial Group to preserve value as it evaluates strategic alternatives for its prized businesses and assets, especially SVB Capital and SVB Securities, William Kosturos, Chief Restructuring Officer for SVB Financial Group, said in a statement on Friday.

Regulated broker-dealer SVB Securities and funds of venture capital and private credit fund platform SVB Capital and its general partner entities are not included in the Chapter 11 filing and continue to operate normally.

Funded debt for SVB Financial Group is about $3.3 billion in aggregate principal amount of unsecured notes. There is no claim against SVB Capital or SVB Securities. SVB Financial Group also has $3.7 billion of preferred equity outstanding.

SVB Financial Group believes it has approximately $2.2 billion of liquidity. The Santa Clara, California-based company said it also has other valuable investment securities accounts and other assets that it's exploring strategic options for.

The shuttering of Silicon Valley Bank last Friday and of New York-based Signature Bank two days later has revived bad memories of the financial crisis that plunged the United States into the Great Recession of 2007-2009.

Over the weekend the federal government, determined to restore public confidence in the banking system, moved to protect all the banks' deposits, even those that exceeded the FDIC's USD 250,000 limit per individual account.

credit-suisse-shares-soar-after-central-bank-aid-announced

Thu Mar 16 16:22:45 IST 2023

Credit Suisse's shares soared 30 per cent on Thursday after it announced it will move to shore up its finances by borrowing up to nearly $54 billion from the Swiss central bank, bolstering confidence as fears about the banking system moved from the US to Europe.

It was a massive swing from a day earlier, when shares of Switzerland's second-largest commercial bank plunged 30 per cent on the SIX stock exchange after its biggest shareholder said it would not put more money into the Swiss lender.

That dragged down other European banks after the collapse of some US banks stirred fears about the health of the global banks.

Credit Suisse, which was beset by problems long before the US bank failures, said Thursday that it would exercise an option to borrow up to 50 billion francs ($53.7 billion) from the central bank.

This additional liquidity would support Credit Suisse's core businesses and clients as Credit Suisse takes the necessary steps to create a simpler and more focused bank built around client needs, the bank said.

Fanning new fears about the health of financial institutions following the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the US, at one point, Credit Suisse shares lost more than a quarter of their value Wednesday.

The share price hit a record low after the Saudi National Bank told news outlets that it would not inject more money into the Swiss lender. The Saudi bank is seeking to avoid regulations that kick in with a stake above 10 per cent, having invested some 1.5 billion Swiss francs to acquire a holding just under that threshold.

The turmoil prompted an automatic pause in trading of Credit Suisse shares on the Swiss market and sent shares of other European banks tumbling, some by double digits. The stock has suffered a long, sustained decline: Now it's trading at 2.10 Swiss francs, while in 2007, it was at more than 80 francs (USD 86.71) each.

Speaking Wednesday at a financial conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Credit Suisse chairman Axel Lehmann defended the bank, saying, “We already took the medicine to reduce risks.”

When asked if he would rule out government assistance in the future, he said: “That's not a topic. ... We are regulated. We have strong capital ratios, very strong balance sheet. We are all hands on deck, so that's not a topic whatsoever.”

Switzerland's central bank announced late Wednesday that it was prepared to act, saying it would support Credit Suisse if needed. A statement from the bank did not specify whether the support would come in the form of cash or loans or other assistance. The regulators said they believed the bank had enough money to meet its obligations.

A day earlier, Credit Suisse reported that managers had identified material weaknesses in the bank's internal controls on financial reporting as of the end of last year. That fanned new doubts about the bank's ability to weather the storm.

With concerns about the possibility of more hidden trouble in the banking system, investors were quick to sell bank stocks.

The turbulence came a day ahead of a meeting by the European Central Bank. President Christine Lagarde said last week, before the US failures, that the bank would very likely increase interest rates by a half percentage point to fight against inflation. Markets were watching closely to see if the bank carries through despite the latest turmoil.

Credit Suisse is a much bigger concern for the global economy than the midsize US banks that collapsed, said Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe economist for Capital Economics.

It has multiple subsidiaries outside Switzerland and handles trading for hedge funds.

Credit Suisse is not just a Swiss problem but a global one, he said.

He noted, however, that the bank's problems were well known so do not come as a complete shock to either investors or policymakers.

The troubles "once more raise the question about whether this is the beginning of a global crisis or just another 'idiosyncratic' case, Kenningham said in a note. Credit Suisse was widely seen as the weakest link among Europe's large banks, but it is not the only bank which has struggled with weak profitability in recent years.

Leaving a Credit Suisse branch in Geneva, Fady Rachid said he and his wife are worried about the bank's health. He planned to transfer some money to UBS.

I find it hard to believe that Credit Suisse is going to be able to get rid of these problems and get through it," said Rachid, a 56-year-old doctor.

Investors responded to a broader structural problem" in banking following a long period of low interest rates and "very, very loose monetary policy, said Sascha Steffen, professor of finance at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

In order to earn some yield, banks "needed to take more risks, and some banks did this more prudently than others."

European finance ministers said this week that their banking system has no direct exposure to the US bank failures.

Europe strengthened its banking safeguards after the global financial crisis that followed the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008 by transferring supervision of the biggest banks to the central bank, analysts said.

The Credit Suisse parent bank is not part of EU supervision, but it has entities in several European countries that are. Credit Suisse is subject to international rules requiring it to maintain financial buffers against losses as one of 30 so-called globally systemically important banks, or G-SIBs.

The Swiss bank has been pushing to raise money from investors and roll out a new strategy to overcome an array of troubles, including bad bets on hedge funds, repeated shake-ups of its top

In an annual report released Tuesday, Credit Suisse said customer deposits fell 41 per cent, or by 159.6 billion francs (USD 172.1 billion), at the end of last year compared with a year earlier.

us-banks-pledge-dollar30-billion-to-rescue-first-republic-bank-to-avoid-svb-like-collapse

Fri Mar 17 14:02:46 IST 2023

With fears and worries dominating of the next bank failure after Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), United States (US) banks are planning a rescue package of reportedly $30 billion for First Republic Bank.

With the San-Francisco First Republic shares falling on Thursday as the investors began to pull out their deposits, a group of Wall Street banks came to the forefront with a rescue plan to avoid another SVB-like situation.

A consortium of 11 US private banks including Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase announced that they would deposit $30 billion into First Republic, AFP reported.

Other banks including Morgan Stanley, Goldman America, and Wells Fargo is set to provide a lifeline to the First Republic.

"This action by America's largest banks reflect their confidence in First Republic and in banks of all sizes," the group said in a joint statement.

"Together we are deploying our financial strength and liquidity into the larger system, where it is needed the most," the banks said.

"This show of support by a group of large banks is most welcome and demonstrates the resilience of the banking system," said leaders of the Treasury Department, US Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in a joint statement.

In a statement, First Republic founder Jim Herbert and CEO Mike Roffler said the "collective support strengthens our liquidity position...and is a vote of confidence for First Republic and the entire US banking system."

The emergency measures were taken by the Federal Reserve and other US regulators to assure all depositors.

According to reports, the data made avaliable on Thursday showed the vastness of the emergency assistance, with the Fed drawing an additional $152 billion in short-term borrowing for banks from its standing loan window, reported AFP.

SVB collapse is considered the second biggest bank failure in the US history after Washington Mutual in 2008.

truecaller-opens-its-first-exclusive-india-office-in-bengaluru

Thu Mar 16 15:50:01 IST 2023

Caller ID verification platform Truecaller on Thursday announced the opening of its first exclusive office space outside of Sweden, in Bengaluru.

The office was inaugurated virtually by Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship & Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

A press release issued by the company said the Bengaluru facility occupies a renovated space of 30,443 square feet and can accommodate up to 250 employees, offering top-of-the-line technology and amenities.

Truecaller plans to use this facility as its primary hub to deliver India-first features and serve users globally, it said. This office is the largest establishment of Truecaller outside of its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden.

Since its entry into the country a decade ago, Truecaller has today grown to 338 million monthly active users, of which a large proportion -- 246 million -- are from India, the company said.

Saying India presented unique opportunities to launch new products and services on the Truecaller platform, the company spoke about how the feedback it obtained helped it to improve solutions further, which was crucial to its growth and innovation capabilities.

Congratulating Truecaller, Minister Chandrasekhar said the company's decision to open an exclusive office in India is representative of the growth of India as a trusted technology partner to the world.

"The government's vision and focus is on enabling entrepreneurship and expansion of a vibrant innovation and startup ecosystem in India," Chandrasekhar said. "The journey to where we are today in 2023 as one of the most exciting and fastest-growing ecosystems in the world has been a result of the hard work of many years where our Prime Minister had outlined and set out one of the key goals of making India a technology enabler."

Alan Mamedi, CEO & Co-Founder of Truecaller, said the new facility at Bengaluru was a reaffirmation of the company's continued investment in India.

"We want to continue to serve India's digital society and economy with the best experience on our app, with safety and privacy as core operating principles," Mamedi said.

"Our company's growth in India has been closely linked to the increasing use of smartphones and the internet... We remain committed to the safety of our users and the values of Digital India, of an open, trusted, safe and accountable internet," he said.

meta-instagram-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-opinion-work-from-home

Wed Mar 15 19:11:18 IST 2023

In an e-mail to Meta employees, which he also shared on his blog, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his vision for the company's future and put forward his thoughts on working from home.

"Our efficiency work has several parallel workstreams to improve organizational efficiency, dramatically increase developer productivity and tooling, optimize distributed work, garbage collect unnecessary processes, and more," he wrote.

He said over the next couple of months, leaders will announce restructuring plans focused on flattening the organisations, canceling low priority projects, and reducing our hiring rates.

In the mail, he also announced the decision to lay off 10,000 employees. With less hiring, I’ve made the difficult decision to further reduce the size of our recruiting team. We will let recruiting team members know tomorrow whether they’re impacted. We expect to announce restructurings and layoffs in our tech groups in late April, and then our business groups in late May....Overall, we expect to reduce our team size by around 10,000 people and to close around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven’t yet hired."

He said although the decision is tough, there is "no way around it."

"After restructuring, we plan to lift hiring and transfer freezes in each group. Other relevant efficiency timelines include targeting this summer to complete our analysis from our hybrid work year of learning so we can further refine our distributed work model. We also aim to have a steady stream of developer productivity enhancements and process improvements throughout the year."

"In our Year of Efficiency, we will make our organization flatter by removing multiple layers of management. As part of this, we will ask many managers to become individual contributors. We’ll also have individual contributors report into almost every level — not just the bottom — so information flow between people doing the work and management will be faster," he wrote.
He said the company is also focusing on returning to a more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles. "It’s important for all groups to get leaner and more efficient to enable our technology groups to get as lean and efficient as possible. We will make sure we continue to meet all our critical and legal obligations as we find ways to operate more efficiently."

On the topic of working from home, he said the company is committed to "distributed work."That means we’re also committed to continuously refining our model to make this work as effectively as possible."

Our early analysis of performance data suggests that engineers who either joined Meta in-person and then transferred to remote or remained in-person performed better on average than people who joined remotely, he said.

"This analysis also shows that engineers earlier in their career perform better on average when they work in-person with teammates at least three days a week. This requires further study, but our hypothesis is that it is still easier to build trust in person and that those relationships help us work more effectively."

He said the company is finding ways to make sure people build the necessary connections to work effectively, adding, "In the meantime, I encourage all of you to find more opportunities to work with your colleagues in person."

robert-kiyosaki-who-predicted-collapse-of-lehman-brothers-believes-credit-suisse-will-crash-next

Wed Mar 15 18:11:12 IST 2023

Even as financial markets across the world, particularly in the US, are still reeling under the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, a noted Wall Street analyst has predicted which bank is likely to collapse next.

Robert Kiyosaki, an investor, author, and Wall Street analyst who predicted the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, believes that Credit Suisse is on the verge of collapse.

"The problem is the bond market, and my prediction, I called Lehman Brothers years ago, and I think the next bank to go is Credit Suisse, because the bond market is crashing," Fox Business quoted him as saying.

Dubbing the bond market, the "biggest problem" of the economy, he said it will put the US in "serious trouble."

He observed that the US is printing more currency to keep the dollar from sinking. "The US dollar is losing its hegemony in the world right now. So they are going to print more and more and more of this (dollar bill), trying to keep this thing from sinking."

"Like I said, again, I think the Fed and the FDIC signaled they are going to print again, which makes stocks good. But this little silver coin here is still the best, it's 35 bucks, so I reckon anybody can afford $35, and I'm concerned about Credit Suisse," Kiyosaki, the author of 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad', was quoted as saying.

On Tuesday, Credit Suisse published its annual report for 2022 saying it had identified "material weaknesses" in controls over financial reporting and not yet stemmed customer outflows.

Shares of Credit Suisse fell to record lows after its biggest shareholder Saudi National Bank said it could not go above 10 per cent ownership due to a regulatory issue.

The shares fell by more than 20 per cent following the announcement of Saudi National Bank.

“Markets are wild. We move from the problems of American banks to those of European banks, first of all Credit Suisse," Reuters quoted Carlo Franchini, head of institutional clients at Banca Ifigest in Milan as saying.

three-international-flights-of-air-india-affected-due-to-technical-issues-in-two-days

Wed Mar 15 22:40:40 IST 2023

At least three international flights of Air India have been affected in two days due to technical issues, according to sources.

The flights from Chicago and Vancouver were cancelled on Tuesday as the aircraft was grounded on account of technical issues. Both flights were to be operated with Boeing 777 aircraft, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the sources also said an aircraft has been grounded in Paris on Wednesday. The plane was to operate the flight from Paris to Delhi.

When contacted, an Air India spokesperson said flight AI 126 had to be cancelled due to technical reasons on March 14.

"The affected passengers were offered all-around support and every effort is being made to accommodate them on alternate flights. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Details about the number of passengers who were booked in the three flights could not be immediately ascertained.

eight-adani-group-stocks-settle-with-gains-adani-enterprises-rallies-over-5-pc

Wed Mar 15 19:52:36 IST 2023

Shares of eight listed Adani group firms settled with gains on Wednesday, with flagship company Adani Enterprises snapping four-day losing run by rallying more than 5 per cent.

At the close, eight group firms ended in the green territory while the two were in losses.

Shares of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) advanced 5.81 per cent to settle at Rs 1,838.80 apiece on the BSE. During the day, the scrip hit an intra-day high of Rs 1,891.10 or 8.83 per cent. Its market valuation rose to Rs 2.09 lakh crore.

The flagship firm paused its downward trend in the last four trading sessions amid volatility in equity markets.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) jumped 3.81 per cent to settle at Rs 679.10, Adani Transmission bounced 3.27 per cent to end at Rs 931 and Ambuja Cements went up 3.28 per cent to close at Rs 364.95 on the exchange.

In addition, shares of Adani Green Energy climbed 4.94 per cent to close at Rs 740.95, Adani Wilmar rose 3.12 per cent to settle at Rs 426.70, and NDTV went up 0.85 per cent to close at Rs 212.85. The scrip of these companies hit their upper price bands on the BSE.

Also, ACC gained 0.11 to settle at Rs 1,740.40 per share.

On the other hand, shares of Adani Total Gas declined 3.05 per cent to end at Rs 918.85, and Adani Power fell 1.27 per cent to close at Rs 202.15 on the bourse. The shares of these companies also hit their respective lower price bands on the BSE.

The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 344.29 points or 0.59 per cent lower to close at 57,555.90 points. The broader NSE Nifty fell 71.15 points or 0.42 per cent to settle at 16,972.15.

On Tuesday, stocks of all the ten listed Adani group firms ended lower, with flagship firm Adani Enterprises tanking over 7 per cent amid a weak trend in the equity markets.

After taking a beating on the bourses, following the report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research, the group stocks had recovered. However, amid sluggish broader market trends, the group's stocks have declined in the last few trading sessions.

The report had made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against it.

The group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.

ed-conducts-searches-against-franklin-templeton-in-money-laundering-case

Thu Mar 16 14:10:52 IST 2023

The Enforcement Directorate is conducting searches at some places linked to asset manager Franklin Templeton and its former and current executives as part of a money laundering investigation, officials said on Thursday.

The federal agency is looking to gather more evidence as part of its investigation against the company and its promoters under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Office and residential premises in Mumbai and Chennai are being searched, they said.

The company said it was cooperating with the investigations. "We continue to cooperate with all regulatory and statutory authorities and provide all data and information required by them. Franklin Templeton places great emphasis on compliance with regulations, and we have appropriate policies in place, consistent with Indian regulations and global best practices," Franklin Templeton said in a statement.

In November 2020, capital markets regulator Sebi issued a show-cause notice to the company following its April 2020 decision to wind up six debt schemes having Rs 25,000 crore of assets under management (AUM) from 3 lakh investors, citing liquidity challenges because of the pandemic.

Eventually, the company was asked to pay Rs 5 crore as a penalty, return over Rs 450 crore collected as 22-month investment management and advisory fees, and was banned from launching new debt schemes for alleged irregularities in running the six debt schemes.

The Chennai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) subsequently registered an FIR to probe these alleged irregularities. The ED case of money laundering stems from this complaint.

The company said that in reference to the six schemes under winding up, as of March 16, 2023, these schemes have already distributed Rs 26,931.27 crore to unitholders, amounting to 106.81 per cent of the aggregate reported AUM value as of April 23, 2020, across the six schemes.

"The total amount disbursed so far ranges between 99.32 per cent and 112.46per cent of the respective reported AUM values of the six funds as of April 23, 2020."

"At the time of each distribution, the Net Asset Value of each of the schemes was higher than it was on April 23, 2020. Further, five of the six funds have returned over 100 per cent of the AUM at the time of the winding up decision on April 23, 2020," it said in the statement.

Four out of six schemes have liquidated all performing securities and there is only one issuer with three performing securities remaining to be liquidated in the other two schemes. The AMC is continuing to support the ongoing liquidation process by a third-party liquidator, Franklin Templeton said.

In 2021, Sebi restricted the heads of the asset manager -- Vivek Kudva and Roopa Kudva -- from accessing the securities market and from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities, directly or indirectly, or being associated with the securities market in any manner, whatsoever, for one year.

can-hondas-shine-100-end-heros-dominance-in-100cc-segment

Wed Mar 15 17:05:56 IST 2023

Over two decades since Japanese auto giant Honda went solo in the Indian two-wheeler market, it has seen rapid growth to emerge as the country's second largest player. Its success is largely driven by the strong demand for its Activa scooter and 125cc motorcycles like the CB Shine.

However, it's erstwhile partner Hero continues to lead the market, thanks to its dominance in the entry-level 100cc motorcycle segment. The 100cc segment is synonymous with the Hero Splendor motorcycle.

According to data from FADA (Federation of Automobile Dealers), Hero MotoCorp sold 3,90,673 units overall in February 2023 and had a market share of 30.83 per cent. HMSI sold 3,02,184 units and had a share of 23.85 per cent.

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) has now taken a big step to challenge Hero's dominance in the entry segment by launching the Shine 100.

This is the first 100cc motorcycle launched by Honda and will cost Rs 64,900 ex-showroom in Maharashtra.

Honda Shine has been a leading brand in the 125cc motorcycle segment and wants to carry over this brand popularity over to the 100cc segment.

The Shine 100 gets an all new engine compliant to the upcoming OBD2 norms. It also gets an all new lightweight durable steel frame.

The motorcycle has been targeted at the cost-conscious customer and the semi-urban and rural markets. Rural markets contribute to about 65 per cent of the 100cc motorcycle segment.

In recent years, the overall contribution of the entry-level segment has fallen, but it still remains a large segment. The 100cc motorcycle market accounts for as much as 28 per cent of the overall two-wheeler market. Hero sells the HF 100, HF Deluxe and Splendor+ in the segment. Bajaj Auto has the Platina 100.

Last year, the overall two-wheeler market grew 16 per cent, the 100cc segment saw a five per cent uptick.

Honda officials are hopeful the reliable performance, comfortable ride and affordable price will drive up demand for the Shine 100 motorcycle.

The company hopes to sell 3 lakh units of the motorcycle in the first year.

"We are confident that with this kind of entire package, including reliability, durability and economy of the product, along with the price, we will touch the three lakh volume,” said Yogesh Mathur, operating officer, sales and marketing at HMSI.

The Shine 100 comes in five colours and features include 1,245 mm long wheelbase, 168 mm high ground clearance, all black alloy wheels, combi-brake system, side stand with engine inhibitor among other things.

Honda has already opened bookings for the new motorcycle. The production of Shine 100 is expected to begin next month and deliveries will start in May 2023.

If the Shine 100 is successful, there is a good chance that HMSI could race ahead of Hero and become the largest player in the next few years.

credit-suisse-to-borrow-dollar54-billion-from-swiss-central-bank

Thu Mar 16 12:24:41 IST 2023

Swiss bank Credit Suisse said Thursday it will move to shore up its finances, borrowing up to USD 54 billion from the central bank after its shares plunged, dragging down other major European lenders in the wake of bank failures in the United States.

Credit Suisse said it would exercise an option to borrow up to 50 billion francs (USD 53.7 billion) from the central bank.

Fanning new fears about the health of financial institutions following the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the U.S., at one point, Credit Suisse shares lost more than a quarter of their value on Wednesday.

The share price hit a record low after the bank's biggest shareholder the Saudi National Bank told news outlets that it would not put more money into the Swiss lender, which was beset by problems long before the U.S. banks collapsed. The Saudi bank is seeking to avoid regulations that kick in with a stake above 10 per cent, having invested some 1.5 billion Swiss francs to acquire a holding just under that threshold.

The turmoil prompted an automatic pause in trading of Credit Suisse shares on the Swiss market and sent shares of other European banks tumbling, some by double digits.

Speaking Wednesday at a financial conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann defended the bank, saying, We already took the medicine to reduce risks.

When asked if he would rule out government assistance in the future, he said: That's not a topic. ... We are regulated. We have strong capital ratios, very strong balance sheet. We are all hands on deck, so that's not a topic whatsoever.

Credit Suisse stock dropped about 30%, to about 1.6 Swiss francs ($1.73), before clawing back to a 24% loss at 1.70 francs (USD 1.83) at the close of trading on the SIX stock exchange. At its lowest, the price was down more than 85% from February 2021.

After the joint announcement from the Swiss National Bank and the Swiss financial markets regulator, the shares also made up some ground on Wall Street.

The stock has suffered a long, sustained decline: In 2007, the bank's shares traded at more than 80 francs (USD 86.71) each.

With concerns about the possibility of more hidden trouble in the banking system, investors were quick to sell bank stocks.

France's Societe Generale SA dropped 12% at one point. France's BNP Paribas fell more than 10%. Germany's Deutsche Bank tumbled 8%, and Britain's Barclays Bank was down nearly 8%. Trading in the two French banks was briefly suspended.

The STOXX Banks index of 21 leading European lenders sagged 8.4% following relative calm in the markets Tuesday.

Shares in U.S. markets were mixed on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq composite edging 0.1% higher while the S&P 500 dropped 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.9% lower after logging bigger losses early in the session.

Japanese banks resumed their downtrend, with Resona Holdings, the nation's No. 5 bank, falling 5% while other major banks fell more than 3%.

The turbulence came a day ahead of a meeting by the European Central Bank. President Christine Lagarde said last week, before the U.S. failures, that the bank would very likely increase interest rates by a half percentage point to fight against inflation. Markets were watching closely to see if the bank carries through despite the latest turmoil.

Credit Suisse is a much bigger concern for the global economy than the midsize U.S. banks that collapsed, said Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe economist for Capital Economics.

It has multiple subsidiaries outside Switzerland and handles trading for hedge funds.

Credit Suisse is not just a Swiss problem but a global one, he said.

He noted, however, that the bank's problems were well known so do not come as a complete shock to either investors or policymakers.

The troubles "once more raise the question about whether this is the beginning of a global crisis or just another idiosyncratic' case, Kenningham said in a note. Credit Suisse was widely seen as the weakest link among Europe's large banks, but it is not the only bank which has struggled with weak profitability in recent years.

Leaving a Credit Suisse branch in Geneva, Fady Rachid said he and his wife are worried about the bank's health. He planned to transfer some money to UBS.

I find it hard to believe that Credit Suisse is going to be able to get rid of these problems and get through it," said Rachid, a 56-year-old doctor.

In order to earn some yield, banks "needed to take more risks, and some banks did this more prudently than others."

European finance ministers said this week that their banking system has no direct exposure to the U.S. bank failures.

Europe strengthened its banking safeguards after the global financial crisis that followed the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008 by transferring supervision of the biggest banks to the central bank, analysts said.

The Swiss bank has been pushing to raise money from investors and roll out a new strategy to overcome an array of troubles, including bad bets on hedge funds, repeated shake-ups of its top management and a spying scandal involving Zurich rival UBS.

In an annual report released Tuesday, Credit Suisse said customer deposits fell 41%, or by 159.6 billion francs (USD 172.1 billion), at the end of last year compared with a year earlier.

what-can-chatgpt-makers-new-ai-model-gpt-4-do

Wed Mar 15 21:58:50 IST 2023

The company behind the ChatGPT chatbot has rolled out its latest artificial intelligence model, GPT-4, in the next step for a technology that's caught the world's attention.

The new system can figure out tax deductions and answer questions like a Shakespearan pirate, for example, but it still hallucinates facts and makes reasoning errors.

Here's a look at San Francisco-based startup OpenAI's latest improvement on the generative AI models that can spit out readable text and unique images:

What's new?

OpenAI says GPT-4 exhibits human-level performance. It's much more reliable, creative and can handle more nuanced instructions" than its predecessor system, GPT-3.5, which ChatGPT was built on, OpenAI said in its announcement.

In an online demo Tuesday, OpenAI president Greg Brockman ran through some scenarios that showed off GPT-4's capabilities that appeared to show it's a radical improvement on previous versions.

He demonstrated how the system could quickly come up with the proper income tax deduction after being fed reams of tax code something he couldn't figure himself.

It's not perfect, but neither are you. And together it's this amplifying tool that lets you just reach new heights, Brockman said.

Why does it matter?

Generative AI technology like GPT-4 could be the future of the internet, at least according to Microsoft, which has invested at least $1 billion in OpenAI and made a splash by integrating AI chatbot tech into its Bing browser.

It's part of a new generation of machine-learning systems that can converse, generate readable text on demand and produce novel images and video based on what they've learned from a vast database of digital books and online text.

These new AI breakthroughs have the potential to transform the internet search business long dominated by Google, which is trying to catch up with its own AI chatbot, and numerous professions.

With GPT-4, we are one step closer to life imitating art, said Mirella Lapata, professor of natural language processing at the University of Edinburgh. She referred to the TV show Black Mirror, which focuses on the dark side of technology.

Humans are not fooled by the AI in Black Mirror but they tolerate it, Lapata said. "Likewise, GPT-4 is not perfect, but paves the way for AI being used as a commodity tool on a daily basis.

What are the improvements?

GPT-4 is a large multimodal model, which means it can be fed both text and images that it uses to come up with answers.

In one example posted on OpenAI's website, GPT-4 is asked, 'What is unusual about this image?' Its answer: 'The unusual thing about this image is that a man is ironing clothes on an ironing board attached to the roof of a moving taxi.'

GPT-4 is also steerable, which means that instead of getting an answer in ChatGPT's classic fixed tone and verbosity, users can customize it by asking for responses in the style of a Shakespearean pirate, for instance.

In his demo, Brockman asked both GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 to summarize in one sentence an article explaining the difference between the two systems. The catch was that every word had to start with the letter G.

GPT-3.5 didn't even try, spitting out a normal sentence. The newer version swiftly responded: GPT-4 generates groundbreaking, grandiose gains, greatly galvanizing generalised AI goals.

How well does it work?

ChatGPT can write silly poems and songs or quickly explain just about anything found on the internet. It also gained notoriety for results that could be way off, such as confidently providing a detailed but false account of the Super Bowl game days before it took place, or even being disparaging to users.

OpenAI acknowledged that GPT-4 still has limitations and warned users to be careful. GPT-4 is still not fully reliable because it hallucinates facts and makes reasoning errors, it said.

Great care should be taken when using language model outputs, particularly in high-stakes contexts, the company said, though it added that hallucinations have been sharply reduced.

Experts also advised caution.

“We should remember that language models such as GPT-4 do not think in a human-like way, and we should not be misled by their fluency with language," said Nello Cristianini, professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Bath.

Another problem is that GPT-4 does not know much about anything that happened after September 2021, because that was the cutoff date for the data it was trained on.

Are there safeguards?

OpenAI says GPT-4's improved capabilities lead to new risk surfaces, so it has improved safety by training it to refuse requests for sensitive or disallowed information.

It's less likely to answer questions on, for example, how to build a bomb or buy cheap cigarettes.

Still, OpenAI cautions that while eliciting bad behaviour from GPT is harder, doing so is still possible.

wipro-offer-letter-onboarding-recruitment-jobs-layoffs-freshers

Wed Mar 15 16:55:50 IST 2023

Even as several candidates who were recruited by IT giant Wipro have been awaiting onboarding, the company assured that it will honour all offer letters in a phased manner.

Recently, the company had asked candidates who were hired offering Rs 6.5 lakh per annum have now been asked if are willing to join the company for an annual pay of Rs 3.5 lakh. Last month, candidates who have been waiting for onboarding for an annual pay of Rs 6.5 lakh, received a mail saying like other companies, Wipro too is assessing global economies and customer needs that factor into their hiring plans. "Currently, we have certain Project Engineer roles available for recruitment with an annual compensation of INR 3.5 lakhs. We would like to offer all our Velocity graduates in the FY23 batch an opportunity to opt for these roles,” the mail had read.

Meanwhile, many candidates who have been waiting for onboarding took to social media to demand an update.

"#wiproOnboardus2022 @Wipro @RishadPremji @PMOIndia my niece is waiting from one year after getting the offer letter from wipro for a joining date , Now she is unemployed even after being a brilliant student," a tweet read.

Reacting to a tweet by Premji, a user wrote: "Sir when will the elite candidate get joining it's been 9 months since we got an offer letter."

"Please sir try to understand the condition of freshers selected in 2021 but till now waiting for onboarding. I hope you understand the condition and do something regarding the onboarding," wrote a user under the Women's Day post of Premji on Twitter.

According to Times of India, Premji, reacting to a question about onboarding, said “Wipro can confirm that it will honour all offer letters that have been made to deserving candidates, in a phased manner."

sensex-falls-344-points-nifty-slides-below-17000-mark-in-fifth-day-of-losses

Wed Mar 15 16:14:11 IST 2023

Benchmark BSE Sensex trimmed all its early gains to close down by 344 points at a five-month low on Wednesday due to heavy selling in banking, financial and telecom stocks as lingering concerns over banks' health and high inflation dented sentiments.

Besides, persistent foreign capital drain from the domestic market and the sliding rupee kept the pressure on equities, traders said.

Falling for the fifth straight session, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed lower by 344.29 points or 0.59 per cent at 57,555.90. During the session, it touched a high of 58,473.63 and a low of 57,455.67.

The broader NSE Nifty declined 71.15 points or 0.42 per cent to end at 16,972.15, with 28 of its stocks ending with losses.

IndusInd Bank was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, shedding nearly 2 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, HDFC twins, SBI, HUL, Tata Motors, Nestle India and Axis Bank.

On the other hand, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Titan and L&T were among the gainers, rising up to 3.03 per cent.

In Asian markets, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul ended in the green.

However, European equity markets were trading with significant losses in the afternoon trade. Major indices on Wall Street settled higher in the overnight trade.

Meanwhile, the rupee declined 25 paise to close at 82.62 against the US dollar on Wednesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.72 per cent to $78.01 per barrel.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 3,086.96 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

aussie-bizmen-are-thinking-of-indian-partnerships

Wed Mar 15 15:37:31 IST 2023

Sonia Sadiq Gandhi, founder of the India Australia Business & Community Alliance (IABCA), an international initiative to boost bilateral ties, is gung-ho about the way things are going.

The free trade agreement between the two countries, billed the Economic Co-operation & Trade Agreement (ECTA) has just been ratified, she successfully organised the first-ever edition of her India Australia Business & Community Awards in India (it was always held in Australia till now) with gala parties and events across Mumbai and Delhi, and the Aussie premier Anthony Albanese just concluded a state visit to India.

Australia is chumming up big time with India, at a faster pace than the frosting over of its camaraderie with China. And the ECTA promises a dramatic uptick in people-to-people, as well as business-to-business rapport between the two countries.

Gandhi took time off from her hectic schedule on her recent India trip to talk to THE WEEK. Excerpts:

What is IABCA into?

We do one of the largest awards programmes in Australia, and it is unique as far as business chambers go. The platform shares people’s stories and journeys in the bilateral space. It’s not necessarily always hunky dory, right? The challenges also come out. We drive government policy and agenda by sharing these stories as a national platform in Australia.

The platform is creating a voice of influence across sectors. I will give you an example of how we sustain: last night (an Australian) company came in at our dinner and wanted to find partners in India. But according to the ECTA, you have to wait for 12 months before commencing business. (We) immediately connected her with five business chambers. Where we come in is, we are connecting the dots where the government is not there; we are there at an informal level.

And vice versa. Suzlon is taking a delegation to Australia. I gave him (Suzlon’s international business chief) (so many contacts that) now he says “you’ve introduced me to too many people!”

Australia-India relationship has improved in recent years.

Education plays a massive part. Deakin University just announced that 48 per cent of their international students are from India, the highest ever. Migration has changed. Now, India has overtaken China for the first time. In the last 10 years, top three countries where people were migrating from used to be the UK, New Zealand and China. Now it is India, UK and New Zealand, with China (dropping to) fourth place.

That itself is a game changer. So many are coming in, and that is where brand ambassadors are created. That’s a big driver for bilateral relations.

Arts and culture, I feel, is also quite a big thing. I have been running the Australian edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival in South Australia in a tie-up with Teamwork for the past five years. We’ve had everyone from Shashi Tharoor to Shobhaa De. The other was Confluence, where we brought 90 artists from India. I’ve been in Australia for 24 years and I’ve never seen anything like the coverage India’s traditional art forms like Bharatanatyam and Kathak got in mainstream Australian media – when an Aussie reads that, it is educational. (But) when an Indian reads it, it gives you this warm sense of pride. The soft power of culture is absolutely great.

I am not gonna talk about prejudice, because all that stopped and everyone knows about it. But I must say, a lot of our Australian politicians have to be careful about the words they use. I have seen announcements around “Indian students” and “criminality” Those are very damaging (and) create a real emotional challenge, especially for business people.

But the articulation of the relationship is at its peak now. And I loved what Piyush Goyal said, “governments can transform business and trade, but business leaders have to take the reins forward, and people within those businesses will have to lead the charge, because finally the relationship is about the people.” Our foreign minister Penny Wong said, “Foreign policies start with who we are as people.” And that is so true.

Do Australians come to India much?

Tourism Australia has done a fabulous job. It is about educating an audience. (But surprisingly) Incredible India doesn’t (even) have an office in Australia, they closed nearly five years ago. There is a lot of fragmented marketing. For example, Taj does a sensational job. Then there are other players. But I don’t see the (common) narrative that Incredible India used to do.

Indians do go to Australia to study or to migrate, but that mass fascination of visiting a place as a tourist, maybe even to see locations seen in a Bollywood film, like to Western Europe, is not there with Australia.

There isn’t, and I will tell you why. Australia is taking it easy with India right now. Because it is now Hollywood’s biggest market for outstation shooting. Right from Marvel to Tom Cruise, you will see them filming in Australia. From an Australian point of view, (that’s why) having those Incredible India campaigns then becomes critical.

What are the opportunities an Australian businessman can look at with ECTA now in place? And vice versa?

Ricky Ponting will be launching his wine (from Tasmania) soon in India. The ECTA offers tariff reductions as you go along.

I think a lot of Australians are starting to think about the partnership with India, and how to go about it. Partnerships to Aussies means different from what it means to Indians. This is where (mutual) education comes in. Partnership to Australians is quite rigid, and structured partnership, moving on from transactional to a relationship. I don’t want to box into wines or education, I would say Australians as a whole should start to look to India and find partners for all the successful ventures they have and can do in India. But don’t just jump into it – come do a recce and find partners. Because you cannot do business in India without partners.

Sectors where there is an opportunity?

Pre-Covid, Australia was looking at India for manufacturing, but now it is shifted to “should we start looking at in-house manufacturing?” (Though that may) really not be sustainable.

Another thing is sports and e-commerce. From soft power point of view, I would say cultural diplomacy is a big thing. Arts and culture exchange is critical and something that has not been explored beyond an extent in the past. This is a unique model that can work.

As also aged care. Australia is already an established market, and India is the youngest country. But Australia is ageing and we are so good at taking care of the aged population. That trend of senior living etc, there is no stigma attached to it in India anymore. If you are the world’s youngest now, that means you will have the world’s (biggest chunk of) old people at some point of time. So you got to be prepared!

Sustainable energy, renewable power, and electric mobility too.

What can Indian businesses hope to from Australia?

In New South Wales, the government has the largest amount of tech firms, and the highest number of employees are in TCS. Almost all tech firms and banks have their back-ends here. I am thinking (in a lot of) unconventional (areas).

adani-group-stocks-end-lower-adani-enterprises-tanks-over-7-pc

Tue Mar 14 20:44:09 IST 2023

Stocks of all the ten listed Adani group firms ended lower on Tuesday, with flagship firm Adani Enterprises tanking over seven per cent amid a weak trend in the equity markets.

The shares of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) plunged 7.25 per cent to close at Rs 1,737.75 apiece on the BSE. The company also hit its lower price band of Rs 1,686.25 on the BSE. Its market capitalisation stood at Rs 1.98 lakh crore.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) declined 3.93 per cent to settle at Rs 654.20. The firm's market valuation dropped to Rs 1.41 lakh crore.

At the close, Adani Power, Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas and NDTV slumped 5 per cent each and also hit their lower price bands on the exchange.

Adani Power closed at Rs 204.75, Adani Transmission at Rs 901.55, Adani Total Gas at Rs 947.80 and NDTV at Rs 211.05.

Also, shares of Adani Wilmar plunged 4.96 per cent to settle at Rs 413.80, Ambuja Cements declined 3.94 per cent to close at Rs 353.35, ACC dived 1.78 per cent to end at Rs 1,738.55 and Adani Green Energy fell 1.55 per cent to close at Rs 706.10 on the BSE.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 337.66 points or 0.58 per cent lower to close at 57,900.19 points. The broader NSE Nifty dipped 111 points or 0.65 per cent to end at 17,043.30 points.

On Monday, shares of six Adani group firms out of ten listed entities ended the day in the negative territory amid a volatile trend in the equity markets.

At the close, six of the group firms were in the red territory while four were in the green.

After taking a beating on the bourses, following a report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research, the group stocks had recovered. However, amid sluggish broader market trends, the group's stocks have declined in the last few trading sessions.

The report had made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against it.

The group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.

ola-electric-upgrades-scooters-front-fork-design-offers-free-replacement-for-current-owners

Tue Mar 14 19:03:01 IST 2023

Ola Electric, the electric scooter manufacturer has upgraded its vehicle's front fork design and offered a free replacement for customers after concerns were raised regarding its safety.

In a statement, the automobile firm said the concerns regarding the safety of the front fork arm were unfounded and said that all vehicle parts were tested under extreme conditions.

“Recently, there have been some concerns amongst the community around the safety of the front fork arm. We assure you that this is unfounded. At Ola, all components of our scooters including the front fork arm are thoroughly tested under extreme conditions and are engineered with a factor of safety much higher than the typical loads encountered on vehicles,” the statement said.

“However, as part of our continuous engineering and design improvement process, we have recently upgraded the front fork design to enhance the durability and strength even further,” Ola said.

Ola said that to allay concerns, they are offering an option of free upgrade to their customers. “This upgrade will be free of cost and the appointment window will open starting March 22. We will reach out to you with a detailed process for booking an appointment soon,” the statement said.

Ola currently offers two electric scooters, S1 and S1 Pro. Car & Bike reported that the move comes following reports of S1 owners suffering front suspension failures in their scooters.

didnt-abandon-my-wife-and-son-zoho-ceo-sridhar-vembu-responds-to-allegations-of-fraud

Tue Mar 14 18:32:47 IST 2023

Zoho CEO and co-founder Sridhar Vembu refuted the allegations levelled against him by his estranged wife and said her claims are "complete fiction."

According to a Forbes report, Vembu's estranged wife Pramila Srinivasan, in a filing in a US court in January, alleged that Vembu abandoned her and their son with "special needs" and transferred shares of Zoho that the couple owned without taking her permission.

"My husband of 29 years abandoned me and his son with special needs in 2020....he decided to make fictitious transfers or 'sales' of our most valuable community asset to his family members without their paying any cash or other consideration, and without ever telling me or asking my permission," the filing read.

Vembu took to Twitter to respond to the allegations, saying he never transferred the shares in the company to anyone else.

In a detailed Twitter thread, he opened up about the tragedies he faced in his personal life while being successful in his professional life.

He said he decided to come out with a clarification because of the "vicious personal attacks" and character assassination he is being subjected to.

"This is a deeply painful personal thread. My personal life, in contrast to my business life, has been a long tragedy. Autism destroyed our lives and left me suicidally depressed. My wife Pramila and I were in this fight against autism for over 15 years. She is a super mom and her passionate cause is curing our son of autism. I worked hard along with her. To ensure his safety I also took some of his treatments so I could know what they did to him. Unfortunately the end of our marriage brought a new conflict. She is making unfounded allegations in court about my ownership interest in Zoho Corp and she has chosen to go to the press too. The matter is in court in the US, my filings are public," he wrote.

"I will say this unequivocally: I never ever transferred my shares in the company to anyone else. I lived in the US for the first 24 years of our 27 year history and much of what constitutes the company was built in India. That is reflected in the ownership. It is complete fiction to say I financially abandoned Pramila and my son. They enjoy a far richer life than I do and I have supported them fully. My US salary for the last 3 years has been with her, and I gave our house to her. Her foundation also is supported by Zoho," he wrote.

He alleged that his uncle Ram is responsible for this "mess".
"All of this mess was caused by my uncle Ram (my father’s younger brother) living in the US, who I gave shelter to due to his terminal cancer, taking out his own long running frustrations with my father. He is doing that by spreading malicious rumours about me and my siblings. My uncle described my father, his own elder brother; under oath as “my brother could not rub two nickels together” and that is how low he can get. Yes my father was poor but he is a proud man who never took anyone’s handout. My uncle was never part of our lives for decades."

"Sadly Pramila has chosen to trust my uncle Ram who still lives rent free at our home, due to her own frustration that she feels I abandoned the fight on autism. All I can say is that if I am not serving the causes and people I serve now, my will to live would have left me. I have endured vicious personal attacks before and I will endure this one too. I will continue to build institutions and capabilities in rural India, my only remaining purpose in life. My prayer is that someday my beloved son will join me here," he wrote.

microsoft-employee-staff-vandan-kaushik-jobloss-layoff-experience-difficult-news-linkedin-story

Tue Mar 14 21:59:18 IST 2023

Ever since the season of mass layoffs began, people who have lost jobs have been sharing their stories.

Vandan Kaushik was part of Microsoft for eight years. He was a senior product manager with the company when he and his entire team were "eliminated."

In a LinkedIn post, he opened up about his experience of being laid off and said although he had expected it, it was "still difficult" to hear the news. "Like many of my colleagues, me and my team had a tough start to the week. My entire team was eliminated as part of Microsoft layoffs this week. Although I had prepared for the possibility, hearing the news was still difficult," he wrote.

He said although his eight-year stint with Microsoft came to an abrupt end, his time with the company was "extremely rewarding."

He said he had the opportunity to experience multiple positions with the company and "thoroughly enjoyed" his "ride" with Microsoft.

He said during the phase of layoff, the leadership was very supportive.

"When the news was announced, the immediate leadership response was not to rush to complete the transition but to check in on each other and ensure that we were all doing okay. It was heartening to see that even those who were not directly affected showered us with respect, empathy, and support. In my two decades of working, I have rarely seen such a positive and supportive attitude from colleagues and the leadership team. And for this, I’m truly grateful and thankful," he wrote.