Business

RBI announces more steps for Paytm UPI customers-Telangana Today

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According to the central bank’s notification, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has been asked to examine the use of UPI channel to allow Paytm to continue operations.

Updated On – 23 February 2024, 05:41 PM


RBI announces more steps for Paytm UPI customers


Hyderabad: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced additional measures to ensure uninterrupted transactions for Paytm UPI customers who are utilising “@paytm” handle. The announcement of additional steps comes after the RBI decided that Paytm Payments Bank will halt accepting further credits into customers’ wallets and accounts after March 15, 2024.

According to the central bank’s notification, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has been asked to examine the use of UPI channel to allow Paytm to continue operations.

“National Payments Corporation of India has been advised by the RBI to review the request of One97 Communication Ltd (OCL) to facilitate Paytm’s UPI channel as a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) for continued operations on the app,” RBI said in a statement.

It further advised that if the NPCI grants the TPAP status to OCL, it may be stipulated that ‘@paytm’ handles will be migrated in a seamless manner from the Paytm Payments Bank.

Meanwhile, no new users are to be added by the TPAP until the existing users are migrated to a new handle, the RBI advised.  The central bank also suggested that the NPCI could facilitate certification of 4-5 banks with certified capabilities as Payment Service Providers (PSP) to process the high volume transactions on UPI.

Business

Vice media CEO announces layoffs, content halt-Telangana Today

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Dixon conveyed this update to employees in a memo obtained by The Washington Post, mentioning that affected workers will receive notifications early next week.

Updated On – 23 February 2024, 12:28 PM


Vice media CEO announces layoffs, content halt


San Francisco: Vice Media chief executive officer (CEO) Bruce Dixon has said that the company will be laying off hundreds of employees and will cease publishing content to its website as it plans a shift toward social platforms.

Dixon informed about this development to employees in the memo obtained by The Washington Post, adding that the impacted workers will be notified early next week.

“As part of this shift we will no longer publish content on vice.com, instead putting more emphasis on our social channels as we accelerate our discussions with partners to take our content to where it will be viewed most broadly,” Dixon said.

“Regrettably, this means that we will be reducing our workforce, eliminating several hundred positions. This decision was not made lightly, and I understand the significant impact it will have on those affected,” he added.

In the memo, the CEO noted that Vice Media is ‘no longer cost-effective’ for the company to distribute its digital content the way it had done earlier.

Vice Media has now joined this long list of publishers who have had to lay off employees in recent months.

The Messenger, a startup news outlet, shut down last month. Business Insider cut 8 per cent of its staff, and BuzzFeed stated that it would slash 16 per cent of its workforce as it plans a new strategic direction.

Last year, Vice Media laid off more than 100 employees as part of restructuring its global organisations, along with shutting down its Vice News Tonight broadcast.

Business

Rupee steadies against US Dollar in early trade-Telangana Today

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Positive equity market sentiment and a weak American currency, however, provided support to the domestic unit, forex traders said.

Updated On – 23 February 2024, 12:29 PM


Rupee steadies against US Dollar in early trade


Mumbai: The rupee traded on a flat note at 82.85 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday amid outflow of foreign funds and volatile crude oil prices in the overseas market.

Positive equity market sentiment and a weak American currency, however, provided support to the domestic unit, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic currency opened at 82.87 and inched up further to trade at Thursday’s closing level of 82.85 against the greenback.

The rupee appreciated 11 paisa to close at 82.85 against the US dollar on Thursday. The unit saw a cumulative gain of 19 paise in the previous four consecutive sessions since February 15, when it recorded the closing level of 83.05 against the dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.02 per cent lower at 103.85.

Analysts attributed the retreating dollar to cautious move by investors ahead of crucial manufacturing, employment and home sales data in the US.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, declined 0.42 per cent to USD 83.32 per barrel.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 104.66 points or 0.14 per cent higher at 73,262.90 points. The broader NSE Nifty climbed 34.45 points or 0.16 per cent to 22,252.90 points. The 50-share index had ended Thursday’s session at its highest ever closing level of 22,217.45 points.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,410.05 crore, according to exchange data.

Business

Sensex, Nifty rise on positive global signals-Telangana Today

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The 30-share Sensex climbed 99.44 points or 0.14 per cent to 73,257.68 points while the broader Nifty gained 18.30 points or 0.08 per cent to 22,235.75 points.

Updated On – 23 February 2024, 12:29 PM


Sensex, Nifty rise on positive global signals


Mumbai: Key equity indices rose in early trade on Friday as Sensex advanced nearly 100 points amid a global rally in stocks boosting investor sentiments.

The 30-share Sensex climbed 99.44 points or 0.14 per cent to 73,257.68 points while the broader Nifty gained 18.30 points or 0.08 per cent to 22,235.75 points.

Among the Nifty constituents, 32 shares were trading in the green.

In the Sensex pack, 18 stocks advanced, with Titan rising more than 1 per cent.

The global rally, mainly spurred by US chipmaker Nvidia Corp’s strong quarterly earnings, has pushed markets in the US, Europe and Japan to record levels.

Sensex and Nifty surged on Thursday, with the latter touching its all-time high closing level of 22,217.45 points.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said Asian stocks extended their gains on Friday, fuelled by the global rally in equities that has seen share markets from the US to Europe and Japan hit all-time highs.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark index Nikkei 225 jumped more than 2 per cent.

“US stocks surged Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 indexes setting another round of records and the Nasdaq finishing just shy of its first record close since 2021, after Nvidia Corp’s blowout earnings unleashed a wave of optimism that drove global markets higher,” Jasani said.

In the domestic market, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) were net sellers on Thursday as they offloaded securities worth Rs 1,410.05 crore.

Business

Rupee rises 4 paise to 82.92 against US dollar in early trade-Telangana Today

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Forex trader said, however, the Indian currency was under pressure due to subdued equity market sentiment and elevated level of crude oil prices.

Published Date – 22 February 2024, 01:21 PM


Rupee rises 4 paise to 82.92 against US dollar in early trade


Mumbai: The rupee stayed firm for the fourth straight session and gained 4 paise to 82.92 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday, tracking a weak American currency against major overseas rivals.

Forex trader said, however, the Indian currency was under pressure due to subdued equity market sentiment and elevated level of crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic currency opened at 82.94 and gained further to 82.92 against the greenback in initial deals, registering a gain of 4 paise from its previous close.

The rupee settled 1 paisa higher at 82.96 against the US dollar on Wednesday, after witnessing a cumulative gain of 8 paise in the preceding two sessions.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent lower at 103.87.

Analysts attributed the retreating dollar index to the US Federal Reserve’s minutes that reflected policy makers’ cautious approach, ebbing the possibility of interest rate cuts in the immediate future.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.13 per cent to USD 83.14 per barrel.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 32.44 points or 0.04 per cent lower at 72,590.65 points. The broader NSE Nifty slipped 3.60 points or 0.02 per cent to 22,051.45 points.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Wednesday as they purchased shares worth Rs 284.66 crore, according to exchange data.

Business

Consumers can download over 2 lakh mobile apps and games-Telangana Today

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Users will be able to discover these apps conveniently in 12 Indian languages, thereby catering to 95% of Indians’ language preferences.

Published Date – 22 February 2024, 11:23 AM


PhonePe unveils Indus Appstore: Consumers can download over 2 lakh mobile apps and games


New Delhi: PhonePe, today announced the consumer launch of its Indus Appstore, at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. Indus Appstore is PhonePe‘s attempt at creating a more competitive and localized mobile app store economy for India, which is already the largest mobile apps download market globally. The event was attended by a large number of startup founders and tech industry leaders, reflecting the significance of this launch for India’s thriving digital ecosystem. Indus Appstore allows Indian consumers to download over 2 lakh mobile apps and games, across 45 categories.

Users will be able to discover these apps conveniently in 12 Indian languages, thereby catering to 95% of Indians’ language preferences. The app store also offers a brand new short-video based discovery feature, to make new app discovery more engaging for consumers. In a global first move, Indus Appstore allows app and game developers to choose any 3rd-party payment gateway for in-app billing, and they will not be charged any commission if they use an external payment gateway.

At a later date, Indus will also provide its own in-app billing and catalog solutions, but these will remain strictly optional for app developers. Further, to accelerate developer registrations, Indus is offering zero listing fees to developers for one year. The timing of Indus Appstore’s launch gains more relevance given the recent clamor from the Indian startup ecosystem for more free market competition in the mobile app store space. Sameer Nigam, CEO and Founder PhonePe added, “Indus Appstore challenges the status quo, ushering in an era of more healthy competition in the mobile app marketplace, which in turn should help create a more democratic and vibrant Indian digital ecosystem. Indus Appstore embodies our commitment to building a truly inclusive digital ecosystem where every Indian user feels at home.” Indus Appstore is available for download at www.indusappstore.com.

About Indus Appstore: Indus Appstore is a native Android-based mobile app store, designed to fulfill the localized and cultural needs of Indian consumers. With an extensive array of categories it seeks to provide users a localized, contextual and a personalized experience. Indus Appstore is available in English and 12 Indian languages, which allows users to explore the app store in their preferred language. For developers, Indus Appstore provides a fair and level playing field to list, distribute & promote their products in the Indian app ecosystem. It provides a self-publishing platform, localization services, multiple tools to monitor and grow their apps along with a dedicated 24×7 customer support. About PhonePe: PhonePe Group is India’s leading fintech company. Its flagship product, the PhonePe digital payments app, was launched in Aug 2016.

In just 7 years, the company has scaled rapidly to become India’s leading consumer payments app with 510+ million registered users and a digital payments acceptance network of 38 million merchants. PhonePe also processes over 220 million daily transactions with an annualized Total Payment Value (TPV) of USD 1.4 Trillion. On the back of its leadership in digital payments, PhonePe Group has expanded into financial services (Insurance, Lending, Wealth) as well as new consumer tech businesses (Pincode – hyperlocal e-commerce and Indus Appstore – India’s first localized Appstore). PhonePe Group is an India headquartered technology company with a portfolio of businesses aligned with the company’s vision to offer every Indian an equal opportunity to accelerate their progress by unlocking the flow of money and access to services.

Business

HCLTech, Intel Foundry expand partnership to boost global semiconductor innovation-Telangana Today

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This partnership aims to meet rising global demand for semiconductor manufacturing, catering to the diverse silicon needs of clients, by providing them with a robust and inclusive ecosystem for semiconductor sourcing.

Published Date – 22 February 2024, 10:52 AM


HCLTech, Intel Foundry expand partnership to boost global semiconductor innovation


New Delhi: Global technology company HCLTech on Thursday announced that it is expanding its longstanding collaboration with Intel Foundry to co-develop customised silicon solutions for semiconductor manufacturers, system OEMs (original equipment manufacturer) and cloud services providers to enhance foundry services.

This partnership aims to meet rising global demand for semiconductor manufacturing, catering to the diverse silicon needs of clients, by providing them with a robust and inclusive ecosystem for semiconductor sourcing.

“Intel Foundry’s advanced technologies and silicon-verified IPs in manufacturing and advanced packaging strengthen our delivery of innovative, accessible and diverse solutions to our mutual clients. This will also give them greater choice and flexibility in semiconductor sourcing,” Vijay Guntur, President, Engineering and R&D Services, HCLTech, said in a statement.

According to the company, this partnership combines HCLTech’s design expertise with Intel Foundry’s advanced technology and manufacturing capabilities to establish a resilient and diversified supply chain.

“We are excited to further strengthen our collaboration with HCLTech to foster a strong and open ecosystem that is approachable and beneficial for all clients needing advanced silicon solutions,” said Rahul Goyal, Vice President and GM, Product & Design Ecosystem Enablement, Intel Foundry.

The company said that this collaboration has grown over the years through shared offerings and joint investments spanning silicon services, hardware engineering, telecom services, servers and storage engineering and more.

Business

EV maker Rivian to lay off 10 pc of staff to cut costs-Telangana Today

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The company announced the latest job cuts in its 2023 fourth-quarter (Q4) earnings call.

Published Date – 22 February 2024, 10:01 AM


EV maker Rivian to lay off 10 pc of staff to cut costs


San Francisco: Electric vehicle (EV) maker Rivian has announced to lay off approximately 10 per cent of its salaried workforce in a bid to cut costs.

The company announced the latest job cuts in its 2023 fourth-quarter (Q4) earnings call.

The Q4 financial report has shown that despite producing and delivering twice as many EVs in 2023 as compared to 2022, the company still incurred a loss of $5.4 billion for the year.

Moreover, for the year 2024, Rivian anticipates producing approximately the same number of vehicles, i.e., around 57,000, as it did in 2023.

“We are aggressively focused on driving cost efficiency throughout the business, achieving positive margins and building our go-to-market function to support our long-term growth,” RJ Scaringe, Founder and CEO, Rivian said.

Rivian’s total revenue for Q4 of 2023 was $1,315 million, driven by the delivery of 13,972 vehicles. For the year ended December 31, 2023, total revenue was $4,434 million, supported by 50,122 total vehicle deliveries.

It reported a net loss of $1.5 billion in Q4, a slight improvement over the $1.72 billion loss it reported in the same quarter of 2022.

This is Rivian’s third round of layoffs since July 2022, when it reduced its staff by 6 per cent. In February 2023, the EV maker reduced an additional 6 per cent of its workforce.

Business

UPI, Aadhaar set to drive India to $8 trillion economy by 2030-Telangana Today

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DPIs Impacting 97% of India’s Population, Benefitting 1.3 Billion Citizens with Mass Adoption and Economic Impact

Published Date – 21 February 2024, 02:11 PM


UPI, Aadhaar set to drive India to $8 trillion economy by 2030


New Delhi: Digital Public Infrastructure (DPIs) like Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar are poised to propel India towards a $8 trillion economy by 2030, helping the country achieve a $1 trillion digital economy target, a Nasscom-led report said on Wednesday.

With successful mass adoption and larger economic impact, DPIs are impacting approximately 1.3 billion citizens, covering 97 per cent of India’s population.

The matured DPIs enabled a value creation of $31.8 billion, equivalent to 0.9 per cent of India’s GDP in 2022.

Aadhaar has enabled an economic value of $15.2 billion, primarily through the elimination of Direct Benefits Transfer leakages. UPI, on the other hand, has replaced cash transactions and electronic transfers across sectors, contributing $16.2 billion, according to the report by Nasscom in collaboration with global consulting firm Arthur D. Little.

“India’s digital transformation, propelled by DPIs, marks a leap towards a digitally-empowered economy, a cornerstone of ‘techade’, driving the ‘India@47′ growth narrative. DPI’s success has positioned India as a global leader in digital innovation,” said Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom.

Ecologically, DPI adoption has led to significant paper savings and carbon emissions reduction. The time saved in logistics and transportation sector reduced carbon emissions by 3.2 million tonnes in 2022.

Furthermore, DPIs align with core UN SDG goals by providing citizen-centric solutions, said the report.

India’s interoperable and open-source DPIs are now being adopted or considered by over 30 countries to enhance social and financial inclusion.

“While mature DPIs have witnessed exponential adoption by 2022, the next 7-8 years offer an opportunity for further scalability, reaching even the most remote segments of the population. By 2030, DPIs will significantly enhance citizens’ efficiency and promote social as well as financial inclusion,” said Brajesh Singh, President-India, Arthur D Little.

The transformation of matured and budding DPIs through innovative technology integration such as AI, Web3, Metaverse presents significant opportunities.

To realize the 2030 DPI potential, government agencies need to continue to give proactive policy support, regulatory clarity, and promote existing digital ecosystems by setting up task forces to drive adoption and foster innovation through partnerships with corporates and startups, the findings showed.

“Startups and SMEs should build business models that capitalise on the full-scale adoption of existing digital infrastructure and experiment with new-age technologies. Corporates and Big Tech should anticipate future digital demand, build necessary infrastructure and foster innovation,” it added.

Business

Flight operations resume at Srinagar international airport-Telangana Today

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Airport officials said that after initial delay in the arrival of flights in the morning today, flight have now resumed at Sheikh-Ul-Alam International Airport.

Published Date – 21 February 2024, 01:55 PM


Flight operations resume at Srinagar international airport


Srinagar: Flight operations to and from Srinagar international airport resumed on Wednesday after 23 flights were cancelled yesterday due to heavy snowfall.

Airport officials said that after initial delay in the arrival of flights in the morning today, flight have now resumed at Sheikh-Ul-Alam International Airport.

“Flights are now arriving and departing normally. Heavy snowfall had forced cancellation of 23 flights yesterday, but after an initial delay in the arrival of morning flights today, the flight operation is now running smoothly from the airport,” an official said.