New Delhi (The Hawk): &nbsp;“Today, Indian telecommunications network, is the second largest in the world, with the most cost-effective rates. This growth has been spurred, by the market friendly policies of the Modi Government.”, said Shri Devusinh Chauhan,&nbsp;Minister of State for Communications while elaborating upon the success story of growth of&nbsp;telecom sector in India. Addressing the inaugural event of International Telecommunication Union’s Regional Standardization Forum (RSF) for Asia and Oceania region, he said that India’s policy in the field of telecommunications formulated under leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is basing on 3 pillars of-&nbsp;“Ease of Doing Business”, for the industry; “Ease of Living”, for all citizens, including those, who are living in rural and far-flung areas; and “Atma Nirbhar Bharat – that is – Self Reliant India”.﻿As a part of the celebrations during Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Ministry of Communication is hosting the International Telecommunication Union’s Regional Standardization Forum (RSF) for Asia and Oceania region. The United Nations (UN) agency event with participants from around 20 countries of Asia Oceania region was inaugurated here today by Shri Devusinh Chauhan. Several dignitaries including Mr. K. Rajaraman, Secretary (T), Government of India, Mr. Manish Sinha, Member (Finance), Digital Communications Communication (DCC), Government of India, Mr. V.L. Kantha Rao, Additional Secretary (T), Government of India along with Mr. Bilel Jamoussi, Chief of Study Groups Department, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Ms. Atsuko Okuda​, Regional Director, ITU Regional Office for Asia and Pacific attended the event.The theme of Regional Standardization Forum (RSF) is “Regulatory and Policy aspects of Telecommunications/ICTs”. It will be succeeded by four-day meeting of International Telecommunication Union-T Study Group 3 Regional Group Asia and Oceania (ITU-T SG3RG-AO) from 09th&nbsp;August 2022 to 12th&nbsp;August 2022.<h2 class="ql-align-center"><img src="https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/image/image002BJZS.jpg"></h2>Talking about the&nbsp;positive, and forward-looking environment created by telecom&nbsp;reforms in India, the Minister Shri Devusinh Chauhan said that these reforms&nbsp;have been able to promote healthy competition, protect interests of consumers, infuse liquidity, encourage investment and reduce regulatory burden on TSPs.’ “As a result, recent 5G spectrum auction, in India has fetched bids of 20 billion dollars. This very well, reflects the confidence and sentiments, of the Indian telecom industry.”, he said.To extend the state-of-the-art telecom facilities, to the last person of the society and in sync with the ‘Antyodaya’ philosophy, Shri Devusinh Chauhan said that the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi has laid down a clear roadmap to address the digital divide. It includes taking optical fibers to all 6 lakh villages of the country, and also cover all these villages with 4G mobile communications. He informed the participants that around 1,75,000 villages are already provided with the optical fibre, while around 5,60,000 villages have 4G mobile facilities. A multi-billion-dollar, comprehensive plan has been made, which will ensure optical fibre and mobile communications in all six hundred thousand villages by 2025.Apprising about the 5G rollout in the country, Shri Chauhan said that the Government of India, is promoting, the indigenously designed, developed and manufactured advanced telecom technology. As a result, India today, has a strong home-grown, 5G mobile communications ecosystem. “By the end of this year, we are likely to see indigenously developed, and manufactured 5G stack, getting deployed, in rolling out 5G network in India. Our engineers have developed, a set of 5G standards, which will facilitate the spread of 5G network in rural area.”, he said.Highlighting the role of ITU in sustaining and furthering the rapidly changing Telecom/ICT landscape, Shri Chauhan said that ITU has been playing a unifying role in forging strategic cooperation and understanding, between all stakeholders. India has a long association with ITU, and we share common ideals, regarding the telecommunications landscape.Shri Devusinh Chauhan said that in line with ITU, India is also deeply committed, to connect the unconnected, and protect and support everyone’s right to communicate. India will continue to broaden and deepen its contribution in fulfilling the vision and objectives of the ITU, he added further.

Today, Indian telecommunications network, is the second largest in the world, with the most cost-effective rates

Success of 5G spectrum auction is a confidence vote of Industry in Govt policies 

Business

New Delhi:&nbsp;The Indian government is reportedly planning to put curbs on China-based smartphone players from selling low-end smartphones (less that Rs 12,000) to give a much-needed boost to homegrown brands like Micromax, Lava, Karbonn and others.According to a Bloomberg report citing sources that came out on Monday, the country "seeks to restrict Chinese smartphone makers from selling devices cheaper than Rs 12,000 ($150) to kick-start its faltering domestic industry".The move, said the report citing people close to the matter, may push Chinese smartphone makers "out of the lower segment of the world's second-biggest mobile market".The government's intentions, if true, will give a body blow to companies like Xiaomi and Realme that have captured about 50 per cent market share in India in the sub-$150 (Rs 12,000 and below) segment, according to Counterpoint Research."Overall, sub-$150 smartphones contributed to 31 per cent of the total smartphone volumes in India in the June quarter this year, compared to 49 per cent in the same quarter in 2018," Research Director Tarun Pathak told IANS."Chinese brands dominate 75-80 per cent of these volumes as Jio PhoneNext has ramped up in the last few quarters. This segment is currently dominated by realme and Xiaomi with 50 per cent share," Pathak added.Shenzhen-based Transsion Holdings, which has brands like Tecno, Infinix and Itel in its kitty, is also a formidable player in the low-end and affordable segment in the country.Transsion Group brands (itel, Infinix and Tecno) captured a 12 per cent share in India's handset market in Q2.While itel led the sub-Rs 6,000 smartphone segment with a massive 77 per cent share, Tecno captured the second spot in the sub-Rs 8,000 smartphone segment in the country, according to Counterpoint Research.India has already taken a super tough stand against Chinese manufacturers, and recent raids on Chinese smartphone companies like OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi prove this.The Indian government is looking into cases of alleged tax evasion by three Chinese mobile companies -- OPPO, Vivo India and Xiaomi.OPPO India, Xiaomi India and Vivo India were served notices by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for duty evasion, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Rajya Sabha last week.A show-cause notice demanding Rs 4,403.88 crore has been served to OPPO Mobiles India Ltd based on an investigation conducted by the DRI, while five cases of Customs duty evasion have been registered against Xiaomi Technology India, Sitharaman said in a written reply.The DRI detected customs duty evasion of around Rs 2,217 crore by Vivo Mobile India Private Ltd.A show-cause notice has been issued to Vivo India demanding customs duty amounting to Rs 2,217 crore, under the provisions of the Customs Act.Since April 2020, out of 382 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals the central government received from Chinese firms, India approved only 80 as on June 29.—IANS

The Indian government is reportedly planning to put curbs on China-based smartphone players from selling low-end smartphones (less that Rs 12,000) to give a much-needed boost to homegrown brands like Micromax, Lava, Karbonn and others.

India may restrict Chinese mobile players from under Rs 12K market: Report

New Delhi:&nbsp;The Excise Department reduced the number of dry days from 21 days in calendar year 2021 to 3 days in 2022 without seeking approval of the Council of Ministers and opinion of the Delhi Lt. Governor, said a source at the LG office on Sunday, referring to a report.The source said: "... the report says that it has been observed from the file that in December 2015 under the old excise policy regime, the then Assistant Commissioner of the Excise Department proposed on 04.12.2015 (while proposing the number of dry days for the year) to reduce the number of dry days to 3 from 23 days on the basis of what is followed by the neighbouring states."The then Excise Commissioner on 04.12.2015 recorded in his notes that all nearby states had already declared only 3 dry days in a year, and as per information collected from the Excise Intelligence Bureau, smuggling of liquor increases during dry days, and the liquor sale policy of Delhi should have consonance with neighbouring states and hence, the policy of so many dry days (23 dry days in the year 2015) may be reviewed," he said while referring to the Vigilance report."The then Principal Secretary (Finance) on 09.12.2015 recorded that concerns raised by the Excise Commissioner are valid and proposed to hold a meeting so that number of dry days is pruned. However, the Deputy CM over-ruled the proposal of then Pr. Secretary (Finance) to hold a meeting without assigning any reason and directed on 11.12.2015 to issue the notification for number of dry days for the year 2016," mentions the report as per the source."It was observed that while the proposal for reduction on number of dry days was rejected by the Deputy Chief Minister on 11.12.2015 without assigning any reason then, however, this time, the same was approved by him on 06.01.2021, without even taking approval of the Council of Ministers," he said in reference to the report.—IANS

The Excise Department reduced the number of dry days from 21 days in calendar year 2021 to 3 days in 2022 without seeking approval of the Council of Ministers and opinion of the Delhi Lt. Governor, said a source at the LG office on Sunday, referring to a report.

Delhi excise policy: Dry days reduced from 21 to 3 'without due consultation'

New Delhi:&nbsp;The interest rate hike by RBI is unlikely to have a significant impact on tractor demand but high inflation is a concern that can affect sales, says Escorts Kubota Ltd Group CFO Bharat Madan.With the second and third quarters of ongoing fiscal year likely to witness flattish or even decline in sales due to off-season and high base of last year, and pick-up happening again in the fourth quarter, the tractor industry is likely to clock low to mid single-digit growth."There is a marginal impact on demand...We don't see any significant impact on the demand side because of interest rate hikes," Madan told PTI.He was responding to a query on how the interest rate hike by the RBI could impact tractor sales. Escorts Kubota is a farm equipment manufacturer.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points. This was the third consecutive increase since May, effectively bringing interest rate to the pre-pandemic level."If you look at the industry in retail finance in tractors, the interest rate charges as it is are very high. Those rates do not move with the happenings in the RBI side. They're not really floating rate," he explained.At present, interest rates on tractor loans could range from 9 per cent to over 20 per cent per annum, depending on tenure and banks.On what could impact tractor demand, he said,"I think it'll be more because of the inflation where the impact is coming, but the RBI increasing interest rates has a marginal impact only."There have been some pressures on the rubber side and tyre prices are moving up, he said, adding, however prices of other commodities like steel have gone down.As for the outlook of the industry, Madan said,"We are still expecting low to mid single-digit growth for the industry this year. We have seen that in the first quarter, the industry has grown 16 per cent because of the low base effect of COVID. Last year was the second wave of COVID and the industry got impacted."The next two to three months will not be really good, he added."Normally, monsoon is not a season month for the industry but from September onward, we see the pick-up should happen. If the monsoon distribution is really good we should see some positives coming in the second half of this year," Madan said.The expectation is that the industry will do well in the last quarter, he said adding,"Q2 and Q3 may see flattish growth or marginal degrowth. In Q3 the base (of last year) is high but in Q4 we can see a good growth number coming in".Madan said Q2 is normally a softer quarter due to the off-season, while in Q3 normally the peak season comes up.However, he said,"This time, festive season is starting early. So the stocking will start happening from September onwards and October, they're all expecting to be the big month. The three months really play between two quarters and that's why overall for the six-month period, you may not see a major impact coming in."The Q4, which is a standalone quarter, normally sees a good growth, especially in the northern pockets if the rainfall is good, Madan said.As per industry estimates, domestic tractor sales grew 13 per cent at over 9 lakh units in 2021 compared to more than 8 lakh units in 2020.—PTI

The interest rate hike by RBI is unlikely to have a significant impact on tractor demand but high inflation is a concern that can affect sales, says Escorts Kubota Ltd Group CFO Bharat Madan

Interest rate hike unlikely to impact tractor demand, says Escorts Kubota Group CFO Bharat Madan

New Delhi: India-based crypto platform WazirX sought massive controversy, first after Enforcement Directorate (ED) attacks on its parent organisation Zanmai Lab and afterward world’s biggest crypto trade Finance totally abandoning the Nischal Shetty-run stage.Changpeng Zhao, pioneer and CEO of Binance, said in a tweet thread late on Friday that the organisation “does not own any equity in Zanmai Labs, the entity operating WazirX and established by the original founders”.“On 21 Nov 2019, Binance published a blog post that it had ‘acquired’ WazirX. This transaction was never completed. Binance has never – at any point – owned any shares of Zanmai Labs, the entity operating WazirX,” Zhao contended.The Binance CEO said that new claims regarding the activity of WazirX and how the stage is overseen by Zanmai Labs are of deep concern to Binance.“Binance collaborates with law enforcement agencies all around the world. We would be happy to work with ED in any way possible,” he tweeted.The ED on Friday looked through the overseer of WazirX digital currency and froze its bank resources worth Rs 64.67 Crore “for assisting accused instant loan App companies in laundering of fraud money via purchase and transfer of virtual crypto assets”.Zhao said that Binance just gives wallet administrations to WazirX as a tech solution.“WazirX is responsible for all other aspects of the WazirX exchange, including user sign-up, KYC, trading and initiating withdrawals,” he said.WazirX is the largest crypto exchange in India and its annual trading volume exceeded $43 billion in 2021.Shetty, co-founder of WazirX, disputed Zhao’s claims in a series of tweets.“More facts about WazirX: Binance owns WazirX domain name, Binance has root access to AWS servers, Binance has all the Crypto assets, Binance has all the Crypto profits. Don’t confuse Zanmai and WazirX”, he tweeted.—IANS

India-based crypto platform WazirX sought massive controversy, first after Enforcement Directorate (ED) attacks on its parent organisation Zanmai Lab and afterward world’s biggest crypto trade Finance totally abandoning the Nischal Shetty-run stage.