Latest News Headlines Mon Aug 6 08:46:36 IST 2018

2. Indonesia: 82 people killed as high magnitude earthquake hits Lombok island
3. SC likely to hear today a batch of petitions challenging validity of Article 35A
4. OBC Bill, seeking constitutional status for National Commission for Backward Classes, to be moved in Rajya Sabha today
5. MeT dept warns of rough sea conditions over Odisha, West Bengal coasts & Andaman Islands; Fisherman advised not to venture into the sea
6. Scientists should come up with path-breaking innovations: Vice President
7. Farmers laud the efforts of Vice President to make agriculture sustainable & profitable
8. IWAI sets out on large public outreach along Ganga for Jal Marg Vikas Project
9. 122 New Research Project proposals at a cost of Rs 112 Crore selected for funding under IMPRINT-2 : HRD Minister PrakashJavadekar
10. President of India addresses seventh convocation of IIT Hyderabad
11. Women's Hockey: Netherlands crowned world champions for record 8th time
12. OBC Bill, seeking constitutional status for National Commission for Backward Classes, to be moved in Rajya Sabha today
13. MeT dept warns of rough sea conditions over Odisha, West Bengal coasts & Andaman Islands; Fisherman advised not to venture into the sea
14. UIDAI slams attempts to tarnish Aadhaar's image by vested interests; Says, helpline number cannot steal data
15. Govt approves research projects worth over Rs 100 crore under ‘IMPRINT-2’ scheme
16. Goods & Services Tax collections
17. Revenue from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) touched Rs. 7.19 lakh crore between August, 2017 and March, 2018
18. Government permits e-commerce shipment via Foreign Post Offices
19. Reform in Banks: Government working on a four-pronged strategy to improve the health of the Banking Sector
20. Vidyalakshmi Portal for Education Loan
21. Japan marks 73rd anniversary of Hiroshima bombing
22. Militant arrested with 8 grenades in Jammu
23. A militant was arrested and eight grenades recovered from him in Jammu as police foiled a major terror plot to trigger blasts in the winter capital, days ahead of the Independence Day.
24. Syrian regime bombs IS jihadists in southern desert
25. Syrian regime forces have bombed a desert area under the control of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group near the province of Sweida in southern Syria, a war monitor said.
26. US police say 11 children rescued from 'extremist' men at 'filthy' hideout
27. Police say 11 children ages one to 15 were rescued in the US state of New Mexico after officers raided a dilapidated compound occupied by armed men of "extremist" belief.
28. Huawei's Consumer Business Chief Talks Market Share, Sales, Kirin 980, And Mate 20
29. Economic 'Warrior' With China Ties Builds Taiwan's Top-Dollar Apartment Tower
30. How FinTech Firm MyBucks Plans To Offer Access And Financial Inclusion To Africa's Unbanked
31. Channel - Block D - Billionaires - blog - Position 3 - Why This 48-Year-Old Woman Is Building Ghana's Biggest Solar Farm
32. Channel - Block D - Billionaires - blog - Position 4 - How FinTech Firm MyBucks Plans To Offer Access And Financial Inclusion To Africa's Unbanked
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39. China tests first experimental superfast aircraft
40. China has successfully developed and tested a cutting-edge hypersonic aircraft that rides its own shock waves, authorities said on Monday.
41. Japan on Monday marked the 73rd anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima during the Second World War, with the city's Mayor making a fresh call for a world without nuclear weapons through dialogue.
42. President visits ailing Karunanidhi
43. Over 150 genes linked to irregular heartbeat condition identified
44. Scientists have used Big Data to identify more than 150 as-yet unknown genetic risk factors for atrial fibrillation, an advance that could potentially improve early detection and treatment.
45. Dovizioso wins Czech MotoGP event
46. Xiaomi to spend a chunk of IPO money on India operations
47. TR Capital, Steadview make a secondary deal in Lenskart
48. What can go wrong? Amazon makes a new list
49. The making of Freshworks: From the ‘middle of nowhere in Chennai’ to a freshly-minted unicorn
50. Swiggy in talks to raise up to $500 million, valuation may hit $2.5 billion
51. Swiggy acquires Scootsy in all-cash deal valued at Rs 50 crore
52. Xiaomi, Sequoia Capital India lead the latest funding round to Samosa Labs
53. Govt in a huddle over trade pact with China
54. Many migration certificate holders left out of NRC
55. Assam urges NE states to ensure commuters’ safety
56. Illegal migrants threat to security, says RSS leader
57. Will seek central survey on illegal immigrants
58. CJI under pressure to administer oath first to Joseph
59. How India can gain from US-China trade war
60. BJP confident Paswan will stay with NDA
61. ET Wealth
62. How money-savvy are millennials?
63. Xiaomi to spend a chunk of IPO money in India
64. CreditAccess issue a suitable bet for long-term investors
65. Market Movers: Top triggers for your day on D-Street
66. Valuation doesn't matter if focus is on building the business every day: Albinder Dhindsa
67. Rico Auto targets Rs 2,000-crore sales, to invest Rs 400 crore
68. More travel companies may line up for WhatsApp for business APIs
69. Will Seek Central Survey on Illegal Immigrants
70. Xiaomi has made investments in 10 startups in India, several of which align with...
71. Most ministries fear trade pact may hit local manufacturing and widen India’s trade deficit with China.
72. Nutralyfe
73. Coverfox.com
74. Xiaomi has made investments in 10 startups in India, several of which align with its strategy of building internet services, such as social ...
75. Gurugram-based company is one of a few Indian component makers that have orders from electric vehicle manufacturers worth about Rs 1,200 cro...
76. The companies had been working with WhatsApp on a pilot basis so far for sending booking confirmation messages and ticket PDFs to customers.
77. Ad: Amazon SME
78. Jubilant FoodWorks downsizes Dunkin Donuts to half, to focus on smaller formats like kiosks
79. Tatas end Bhushan Steel office rental pact with ex-promoter
80. Jet Airways shelves pay cut proposal of up to 25% for staff
81. Many migration certificate holders left out of draft NRC
82. Assam urges other NE states to ensure commuters’ safety
83. Illegal adoptions on for years, probe thwarted earlier: Child panel
84. Will seek central survey on illegal immigrants: Haryana CM
85. Assam urges NE states to ensure commuters’ safety
86. Companies rush for social media insurance
87. The move is part of efforts by the new owner to cut costs and turn the asset around.
88. People who had come to India from Bangladesh through different entry points during the 1960s were given migration certificates.
89. Interstate commuters in the Northeast are facing harassment at check points in some places following the publication of the NRC. They are asked to show NRC and other identity documents.
90. RSS leader Krishna Gopal said everyone should welcome the National Register for Citizens (NRC) as it was drafted in the interest of the security of the country and its citizens.
91. As many as 58 cases are under investigation based on the FIR filed by the state child welfare committee.
92. Paswan knows he cannot work with Lalu Prasad anymore. He had communicated to BJP leaders that he was raising the SC/ST Act issue to counter Mayawati’s pitch, said a BJP leader.
93. Banks go the whole hog to protect their ownLegal & financial support has been proposed for employees facing probe after having acted in good faith.
94. Govt in a huddle over trade pact with ChinaMost ministries fear trade pact may hit local manufacturing and widen India’s trade deficit with China.
95. Assam urges NE states to ensure commuters’ safetyInterstate commuters in the Northeast are facing harassment at check points in some places following the publication of the NRC. They are asked to show NRC and other identity documents.
96. Illegal migrants threat to security, says RSS leaderRSS leader Krishna Gopal said everyone should welcome the National Register for Citizens (NRC) as it was drafted in the interest of the security of the country and its citizens.
97. Will seek central survey on illegal immigrantsIn an interview, Haryana chief minister defends Khaps and blames Congress for the violent Jat agitation.
98. CJI under pressure to administer oath first to JosephThe deeper anger among some of the senior SC judges is the manner in which two separate proposals were clubbed to “fix seniority of Judges”.
99. How India can gain from US-China trade warIndia can expand its presence in US & China after duty hikes by both countries on each other's imports.
100. Xiaomi has made investments in 10 startups in India, several of which align with its strategy of building internet services, such as social networking app Sharechat
101. Interstate commuters in the Northeast are facing harassment at check points in some places following the publication of the NRC. They are asked to show NRC and other identity documents.
102. In an interview, Haryana chief minister defends Khaps and blames Congress for the violent Jat agitation.
103. Mumbai: High-street banks are coming together to lend legal and financial support to existing as well as retired employees who find themselves in the crosshairs of the Central Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies which, many fear, have unleashed a reign of terror among bankers.The contours of the plan â€" types of cases to be covered, the extent and nature of assistance to be given, and measures to protect the reputation of people who feel they have been victimised after having acted in good faith â€" were shared with CEOs of all large Indian banks on August 1 in a communiqué by the industry body of bank managements.In the letter to bank chiefs, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) said that on July 27 its managing committee â€" comprising CEOs of commercial banks â€" had endorsed the move to provide legal and financial support to employees being probed by investigating agencies for decisions seemingly taken in good faith. It urged banks to seek board approval to implement a scheme to this effect.The IBA letter said, “…It was felt that there is a need to introduce a comprehensive scheme for extending legal and financial support to employees including ex-officers and also present directors of the banks covering instances where the proscriptions have been launched by the government agencies when carrying out their normal duties.” “Banks will take urgent steps to avoid arrest of staff by seeking anticipatory bail. In case of arrest, banks will take urgent steps for grant of bail,” the association said in its proposal.According to the proposal, banks will pay for all legal expenses such as court fee, advocate fee, transportation and cover other miscellaneous costs. They will also arrange for an advocate when an employee (even those who have retired) is summoned by the CBI and police for interrogation.
104. New Delhi: Divisions within the government over a free trade pact with 16 nations including China has prompted the Centre to set up a group of ministers (GoM) to decide the course of action, a senior official said.Cabinet secretary PK Sinha has called an urgent meeting this week after most ministries and departments expressed reservations about joining the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). An order setting up the GoM will be issued shortly, said the person cited above.There is concern across ministries that joining the accord could severely dent local manufacturing and jobs and that China’s $60-billion trade surplus with India will swell even further as it floods the market with cheap goods at zero tariff. The August 7 meeting will discuss the pact as pressure grows on New Delhi to seal the deal amid an escalating trade war between China and the US.The RCEP includes the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. “Most ministries have reservations... A GoM will now look at the pact,” a senior government official told ET. The pact proposes to eliminate import tariffs on 90% of goods. India already has trade pacts with Asean, Japan and South Korea.The RCEP participants want New Delhi to conclude the RCEP pact this year, reasoning that it is the last window of opportunity as India will get into election mode soon.There is a view in some quarters of the government that India should instead look at concluding trade pacts separately with Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, New Delhi's experience with trade pacts hasn't been very good. The view is that it got a raw deal on services, its core strength, under the Asean trade agreement while losing out on market access in goods that is hurting domestic manufacturing.India has a trade deficit with as many as 10 RCEP countries, including China, South Korea and Australia, among others. It has so far maintained that a speedy and successful conclusion of the agreement would be possible only with the inclusion of a higher level of services and investment in the India-Asean trade basket.The country is not part of any major trade group and wouldn’t want to get left out of this one, especially now that future of the World Trade Organization is under a cloud as a global trade war gets under way.
105. BENGALURU:Walmart will hire about 1,000 more people for technology roles in India, as the world’s largest retail firm continues to focus on technology to hold off competition such as from ecommerce giant Amazon.Walmart has technology operations in Bengaluru and Gurgaon and currently has about 1,800 employees. The company is looking at expanding this headcount and driving more product ownership out of India. “One of things: we are doing a lot different. We have Walmart Labs, which is ecommerce. You have My Group which is global business services. We are trying to be more product-oriented. We have taken whole projects and moved them over to drive the Indian ownership of the product. We think that is helping but this will help even more (in retaining talent),” Walmart chief information officer Clay Johnson told ET.Walmart said its technology attrition is at industry levels and it sees normal attrition spikes around the two-year and seven-year areas. Products such as Walmart’s return process for its 5,000 US stores were completely developed in India. Johnson said he could not specify an exact number of products being handled out of the country. “A lot of our Internet-of-things work that sits in our stores. A lot of those endto-end products are done here with the sensors and the data are being done here,” he said.Analysts peg Walmart’s IT spending at about $10 billion a year, making it among the world’s largest spenders of technology, and the company counts almost every IT service provider as a client. But as competition has ramped up from ecommerce players such as Amazon, the retail giant is working on making sure that it gets the most bang for its buck. IT companies have been saying that their largest clients are rejigging their spending towards more digital offerings. Walmart’s Johnson said the retailer too has changed how it looks at its spending.“The way that the spend has changed is that we are focused on how to use it to drive our competitive advantage. We don’t just want to be the largest technology spender. We want to make sure that we are spending it on the right technology,” Johnson said. He added that the company was working with a slew of Indian IT services providers to co-innovate solutions and that they had shown the ability to make changes to the way they work.He declined to comment on Walmart’s $16-billion purchase of Indian ecommerce player Flipkart.
106. Xiaomi will channel a chunk of the capital it raised from its recent IPO to India, especially to build its ecosystem of internet services, make more startup investments and build India-specific IoT devices, the Chinese company’s India head Manu Kumar Jain said. Xiaomi would also look to break into the premium smartphone segment in India, which it has so far shied away from.Jain said 30 per cent of the $4.5 billion raised in the IPO last month will be used for core R&D, 30 per cent on building the IoT platform, 30 per cent for global expansion and the remaining 10 per cent for miscellaneous expenses. “Some part of the global expansion money will be spent in India,” Jain told ET, in his first press interaction following the IPO. “We have had a great journey for smartphones, powerbanks and for Mi.com in India, but we can do a lot more on internet services, startup investments and building IoT devices that are India specific,” he said.He added that the India business did not need significant external investment since it was already a profitable business.Xiaomi has been building a host of internet services in India, which includes apps such as MiMusic and file-sharing app Mi Drop as well as its MiBrowser and MiStore shopping apps. The company also recently launched MiCredit in India to offer loans up to Rs 1lakh.65286366
107. Auto parts manufacturer Rico Auto Industries is working on plans to invest more than Rs 400 crore in the next three years, as it aims to achieve revenue of Rs 2,000 crore by 2020 from an expected Rs 1,500 crore this fiscal year.The Gurugram-based company is one of a few Indian component makers that have orders from electric vehicle manufacturers â€" it has got orders worth about Rs 1,200 crore. It is also beefing up presence in the conventional two-wheeler and four-wheeler segments to meet aftermarket requirements.“We launched products in the two-wheeler aftermarket last year and received a good response; so we are launching products in the four-wheeler segment. We expect to get Rs 100 crore from this business in a few years,” chairman Arvind Kapur told ET. It aims to also strengthen its exports which it expects will contribute as much as 40 per cent of revenue in two years. It is also venturing into the defence sector to manufacture bomb and missile actuations. A leading supplier to Maruti Suzuki and Hero Moto-Corp, the company claims to have got orders of Rs 4,800 crore in the last one-and-half years.“Last year we bagged Rs 2,600 crore orders while in the first half of this financial year we have already got Rs 2,100 crore. (Execution of) some of these orders will start this year while some will begin next year,” said Kapur.These new orders will annually contribute on an average Rs 800 crore initially, which will go up during the peak time, he said.On electric vehicle component supply, Kapur said the company started developing prototype housings for the segment. Its current order is from an overseas EV player, said people in the know. “We expect to get additional orders in the due course,” he added.The braking and clutch manufacturer is focusing on both traditional and electric vehicles. Kapur expects electric vehicles to be 25 per cent of total vehicles globally by 2030 and over 30 per cent by 2040.ANEW JVThe company is on the verge of signing a joint venture deal with HZ Manufacturing to produce automatic transmission for scooters, a person in the know of the matter said.“The company is going to manufacture CVT for scooters and they will be signing a joint venture agreement very soon,” the person privy to the matter said. Rico Auto will hold a 51 per cent stake in the venture with ZH owning the rest, the person said, adding that the companies may announce the partnership next month. Kapur declined to deny or confirm the matter.“We are looking at all the opportunities and we don't comment on market speculation,” he said.
108. ET Intelligence Group: CreditAccess Grameen plans to raise Rs 630 crore by issuing fresh equity shares and up to Rs 501 crore through an offer for sale. The microfinance institution has exhibited impressive business growth over the past few years. It also has better operating ratios than most peers. This and a reasonable valuation makes its initial public offering (IPO) suitable for longterm investors.BUSINESSThe company offers loans mainly to rural women by using the joint liability group (JLG) model of lending. Under JLG, a group of members is identified based on the total household income and the number of family members. A cluster of such groups gives rise to a centre. Then, the amount is lent on an individual basis within the centre, but the liability is held jointly by all the members. It means, in case of a default by a member, the remaining members of the centre repay the loan. This arrangement helps in reducing the incidence of defaults due to peer pressure in groups.At the end of March 2018, it had 516 branches in 132 districts across eight states of Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. These states together constitute 62 per cent of the total microfinance loans in the country. For CreditAccess, no single district has an exposure of more than 6 per cent to the assets under management (AUM), which implies a diversified portfolio. Its active customer base expanded by three-and-a-half times to 18.5 lakh between FY14 and FY18.FINANCIALSThe company’s AUM increased by 57 per cent annually to Rs 4,975 crore between FY13 and FY18. The return on assets (RoA) improved to 3.1 per cent from 1.8 per cent and net interest margin expanded to 12.7 per cent from 9.9 per cent during the period. After being negligible for the previous five years, the gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio increased to 2 per cent in FY18 due to the cash crunch after the demonetisation in November 2016. The net NPA has been zero in each of the past six years due to full provisioning for bad loans. The company’s net profit increased by 66 per cent annually between FY14 and FY18 to Rs 124.6 crore.
109. Xiaomi has made investments in 10 startups in India, several of which align with its strategy of building internet services, such as social networking app Sharechat
110. Neeraj Aggarwal takes over from Janmejaya Sinha, who has led the Asia-Pacific operations of BCG since 2009, a release said.
111. വാഹന പണിമുടക്ക് അർധ രാത്രി മുതല്‍; പണിമുടക്കാന്‍ കെഎസ്ആർടിസിയും
112. Karvan-e-Aman bus to POK suspended for security reasons