Business

San Francisco, March 24 (IANS) Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, has launched a new business unit that will offer its augmented reality (AI) solutions to retailers and businesses so they can integrate them into their apps.

The new "Augmented Reality Solutions for Business" (ARES) division will enable businesses to adapt Snap's AR features for their apps and websites in order to attract customers and create more immersive experiences, reports The Verge.

With augmented reality shopping tools, the ARES business hopes to help retailers increase conversions and decrease return rates.

To that end, ARES will offer its customers professional services ranging from product marketing to customer support. This is in addition to the tools included in its first solution, the "Shopping Suite", which is aimed at retailers in industries such as fashion, apparel, accessories, and home furnishings, according to the report.

Customers can try on clothes, sunglasses, and shoes using virtual try-on features in the Shopping Suite.

Moreover, they can also upload a photo of themselves to see how they'd appear, or they can interact with AR experiences to see how the product would appear on their bodies in real-time.

The report further mentioned that there are a few other tools available, such as one that provides shoppers with fit and sizing recommendations based on their body size and shape.

The Enterprise Manager Backend system is also included in the Shopping Suite.

According to the company, it will make it easier for businesses to use its software development kits, allowing them to create AR experiences and even test real-time performance analytics, the report said.

Meanwhile, Snap has introduced its new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot for Snapchat. It is powered by the latest version of OpenAI's GPT technology.

The "My AI" chatbot is available as an experimental feature for Snapchat+ subscribers and will be rolling out this week, the company said in a blogpost.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, March 24 (IANS) Leading smartphone and smart TV brand Xiaomi India on Friday announced a collaboration with the United Way India to upskill the transgender community in the country.

The partnership aims to upskill 100 transgender persons across Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru with the knowledge of laptop, computer, and mobile handset repair to enhance their employability and provide sustainable livelihood options to them.

The skill development programme is a gateway for the transgender community to secure jobs with leading mobile companies and pave the way for their entrepreneurial journey, said the company.

"Our collaboration with United Way India is a testament to our firm belief in the transformative power of technology, as it can empower individuals and drive progress to greater heights," said Muralikrishnan B, President at Xiaomi India.

"We are delighted to work towards upskilling the transgender community and contributing to a more inclusive and equitable society and providing them with a sustainable future," he added.

The selected individuals' training programme will span over four months and incorporate an experiential learning approach.

The programme will cover different modules such as basic electronics, software and hardware, and hands-on practical training.

United Way India, will identify beneficiaries in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru regions based on their willingness, attitude, and aptitude to participate in the training.

Upon completing the programme, trainees will actively engage in income-generating activities and self-employment ventures.

"We are thrilled to onboard Xiaomi India to improve the quality of life for transgender persons and their families with this skill-building programme. With a focus on building equitable communities in India, we support inclusive access to opportunities for all and are pleased to collaborate with Xiaomi to serve diverse population groups," said Jayanti Shukla, CEO, United Way India.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, March 23 (IANS) Indian IT major Infosys has announced the retirement of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw as Independent Director of the Board, effective March 22, 2023, upon completion of her tenure.

The Board has appointed D. Sundaram as the Lead Independent Director of Company, effective March 23, 2023 based on the recommendation of Nomination and Remuneration Committee.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw was appointed to the Infosys Board as an Independent Director in 2014, and as Lead Independent Director in 2018. She also served as the Chairperson of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee and CSR Committee, and as a member of the Risk Management and ESG Committees of the Board.

The Board placed on record its appreciation for Shaw's invaluable contribution, guidance, and strategic vision, that has helped the company build and execute a resilient growth strategy.

Sundaram has been on the Board of Infosys since 2017. With his expertise and vast experience in finance and strategy, he has been a crucial catalyst for the company to realise its vision for the future.

Sundaram serves on the Audit Committee, Risk Management Committee, Stakeholders Relationship Committee, Nomination & Remuneration Committee and Cybersecurity Risk Sub-Committee, Infosys stated on Thursday.

On behalf of the Board, Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Infosys, said, "We profusely thank Kiran for having been such an integral member of the Infosys family, providing valuable guidance and leadership to the Board over the years. I am personally very grateful to her as she has been a tremendous ally and amazing colleague on the Board, ever since I re-joined Infosys in August 2017. We also congratulate Sundaram on being appointed as Lead Independent Director and look forward to his continued insight and steadfast support as Infosys continues its growth and transformation journey."

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Buoyed by attractive government incentives towards local manufacturing, India is all set to reach a remarkable $10 billion (over Rs 82,000 crore) worth smartphone exports in the fiscal year ending March 31, industry data showed on Wednesday.

According to the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), Apple's 'Make in India' smartphone now constitute 50 per cent of total exports.

Samsung is second with 40 per cent mobile exports while other smartphone players constitute 10 per cent export share.

Smartphone exports from India have doubled from a corresponding period from last fiscal year, driven by production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes.

The top five global destinations India currently exports mobile phones to are the UAE, the US, the Netherlands, the UK and Italy, according to the ICEA data.

"Efficacy and maturity of an industry is only judged with robust exports. Mobile phones policy and outreach initiatives have been relentless and the results are in front of us," Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman of ICEA, told IANS.

"The mobile phone industry will cross $40 billion manufacturing output and 25 per cent exports at $10 billion is a stellar performance," he added.

Reports surfaced earlier this year that Tim Cook-led Apple will quickly shift some of its China manufacturing to India and Vietnam in the next 2-3 years.

India is likely to produce 45-50 per cent of Apple's iPhones by 2027, at par with China, where 80-85 per cent of iPhones were produced in 2022.

According to estimates by DigiTimes research analysts, India and Vietnam are to become the biggest beneficiaries of smartphone supply chain migration out of China.

India accounted for 10-15 per cent of iPhones' overall production capacity at the end of 2022.

Apple became the first smartphone player in India to have exported $1 billion worth iPhones in the month of December. It currently manufactures iPhones 12, 13, 14 and 14 Plus in the country.

According to Mohindroo, the country is now moving in a different direction, "which is largely export-focused and led by the government's performance-linked scheme (PLI) push".

The government is also working to strengthen the electronic manufacturing ecosystem beyond mobiles to boost its global share in hearables and wearables, IT hardware and electronic components etc.

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) The price of the Indian crude oil basket, in rupee per barrel terms, rose by 23 per cent from December 2021 to March 2023, but compared to this, the increase in retail selling price of petrol and diesel in Delhi has only been 1.08 per cent and 3.40 per cent, the Parliament was told on Thursday.

Prices of petrol and diesel have not been increased by public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) since April 6, 2022, despite record high international prices, Minister of State for Petroleum Rameswar Teli told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The three OMCs, namely Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, have booked a combined loss of Rs 18,622 crore between April 2022 and December 2022, it said.

The three OMCs have also suffered huge losses on sale of domestic LPG where the price is moniotored by Government. To compensate these losses, the Centre has recently paid a one-time compensation of Rs 22,000 crore to them.

Prices of petrol and diesel in the country have been market-determined with effect from June 26, 2010 and October 19, 2014 respectively.

Since then, the OMCs take appropriate decision on pricing of petrol and diesel, the minister said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 13 (IANS) A total of 1,171 flights were cancelled during the year 2022 due to technical reasons, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Monday.

The number of flights cancelled in 2021 and 2020 was 931 and 1,481, respectively.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Monday said the DGCA issues Air Operator Permit to the airlines in compliance with laid down Civil Aviation Requirements which require the airline to have their own maintenance approved organisation or have arrangement with an approved maintenance organisation for maintaining their aircraft in a continuous state of airworthiness.

The responsibility for maintaining the aircraft lies with the airline who is required to ensure that aircraft is maintained as per the maintenance programme approved by the DGCA.

Airlines /Operators are also responsible for ensuring that the required qualified and experienced manpower, equipment and spares including maintenance data is available for maintaining the aircraft, added the reply.

As per the reply, DGCA ensures that the airline and the maintenance organisations continue to comply with the regulatory requirements against which they have been initially approved through a system of surveillance, audits, spot checks, night surveillance, etc.

In case of non-compliance, DGCA ensures that rectification steps are taken by the airlines/ maintenance organisation.

The DGCA initiates enforcement actions against organisation/ personnel in case violations are found which may include warning, suspension, and cancellation, including the imposition of financial penalties.

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Online higher education company upGrad has laid off nearly 30 per cent of its workforce at its subsidiary "Campus".

According to leading startup covering portal Entrackr, citing sources, a lack of VC funding has caused layoffs in the startup ecosystem, affecting especially late-stage organisations.

This is also the second layoff at an upGrad-owned company.

Harappa Education, which was acquired by upGrad for Rs 300 crore in July 2022, laid off 30 per cent of its workforce in January, affecting nearly 60 employees, according to the report.

upGrad Campus is the rebranded version of Impartus, which was purchased by Ronnie Screwvala-backed upGrad for Rs 150 crore in March 2021.

Impartus co-founder Amit Mahensaria assumed the role of the chief operating officer at upGrad Campus, which operated independently as a subsidiary after the acquisition.

Moreover, another edtech platform Unacademy-run Relevel laid off 40 employees, or 20 per cent of its workforce, in January, as it shifts its focus from the education business to "tests product" and a new app called NextLevel.

Last month, BYJU's laid off a further 15 per cent of its employees from its engineering teams, as the company continues phased layoffs to remain growth-oriented in a global economic meltdown.

The company in a fresh round of layoffs has asked more than 1,000 workers (or 15 per cent) to go, mostly from its engineering teams.

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) For 30 years, a dispute between Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and CanBank Financial Services Limited (CanFina) was going through several rounds of litigation, which is in stark contrast to the apex court push for expeditious disposal of arbitration matters.

MTNL had alleged fraud at play on the part of CanFina, a subsidiary of Canara Bank. Recently, the Delhi High Court stayed the arbitral award ordering MTNL to refund an amount of Rs 160 crore along with interest amounting to Rs 282.69 crore to CanFina subject to a condition that MTNL should deposit the entire award amount along with interest in a fixed deposit. The total amount effectively runs to around Rs 442.69 crore.

Last week, a single-judge bench of Justice Prateek Jalan passed the order on an application moved by the MTNL under Section 36(2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. "I am not persuaded that MTNL is entitled to an unconditional stay of the award. MTNL has not been able to demonstrate prima facie that the contract which is the basis of the award, was induced by fraud or corruption," said the court.

The court noted that certain observations have undoubtedly been made in the committee reports relied upon by MTNL, which support its allegation of irregularities in CanFina's transaction at the relevant time.

"However, the contemporaneous correspondence does not establish a case of fraud or that MTNL was not aware of the nature of the transactions. The learned arbitrator drew upon some of this correspondence to arrive at a conclusion that the transactions were not vitiated by fraud, and I see no reason to disagree, at least at this stage of proceedings," said the court.

Senior advocate Chinmoy Pradeep Sharma represented the Canara Bank, senior advocate Santosh Paul represented CanFina, and Additional Solicitor General Balbir Singh represented MTNL.

According to MTNL, the transactions were affected by a wide-ranging scam in the Indian stock market and that the arbitral award should be stayed as there was fraud at play on the part of CanFina.

Singh submitted that the findings of the impugned award to the effect that the bank and CanFina had not been indicted for fraud, and that the securities were held by CanFina on behalf of MTNL, are ex facie erroneous. Sharma contested that no prima facie case of fraud or corruption has been made out.

Justice Jalan said: "Having regard to.......the facts of the present case, I do not consider this an appropriate case to record a prima facie finding of fraud having induced or effected the transactions."

In conclusion, he said: "I, therefore, do not accept MTNL's request for an unconditional stay of the award. The application is disposed of with the direction that enforcement of the impugned award will be stayed, subject to the following conditions: - MTNL depositing with the learned Registrar General of this court, an amount of Rs 160 crore and interest thereupon, at the awarded rate of 6 per cent per annum from October 20, 1993 until March 31, 2023. The deposit be made by April 15, 2023."

The bench further added that the amount deposited be kept in fixed deposit, initially for a period of one year, and extended from time to time during the pendency of the present petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

The bench added: "It is made clear that the observations contained in this judgment are prima facie observations for the purpose of disposal of the application. They are not intended to prejudice the rights and contentions of the parties at the final hearing of the Section 34 proceedings."

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Monday said that the National Retail Trade Policy will prove to be a half-baked exercise without an e-commerce policy and codified rules and regulations for e-commerce trade.

CAIT President B.C. Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal, in a joint statement said that the initiative by the DPIIT to roll out National Retail Trade Policy is a welcome step and will certainly boost the retail trade of India to a next level. It meets with the long pending demand of CAIT. They demanded that the stakeholders must be taken into confidence before implementing the same.

They said that the retail trade has four verticals corporate retail, non-corporate retail, e-commerce and direct selling and therefore the National Retail Trade Policy should have a consolidated and comprehensive policy under which all the four verticals can work in tandem and no overlapping by one another should be allowed.

They said that the Indian retail trade market is Rs 130 lakh crore annually with a 10 per cent growth rate every year but unfortunately, the retail trade in India is the only vertical of country's retail trade which neither have a separate ministry nor a policy. Therefore, the National Retail Trade Policy will prove to be a booster for the economy and trade and commerce of the country. It is to be noted that about 80 per cent retail trade is conducted by traditional retailers which are non corporate retail, about 10 per cent by corporate retail, about 7 per cent by e-commerce and about 3 per cent by direct selling.

Earlier, during the day, to register their strong protest and resentment against alleged violations of FDI policy and high handedness of the foreign funded e-commerce companies, the traders' body on Monday staged Holi burning of an effigy at Ghantaghar, Chandni Chowk at New Delhi.

CAIT urged the government to investigate the business module of e-commerce companies since every company is showing huge losses year on year but are still continuing with their business activities. It appears that these companies are transferring huge amounts to their native countries in the shape of royalty and by showing losses in India are avoiding tax obligations.

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) The global passenger electric vehicle (EV) sales rose by 53 per cent (year-on-year) in Q4 2022 to bring the year's total to over 10.2 million (more than 1.2 crore) units, a report showed on Monday.

Tesla's Model Y remained the best-selling model globally followed by China-based BYD's Song model.

During Q4 2022, battery EVs (BEV) accounted for almost 72 per cent of all EV sales, while plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) accounted for the rest, according to Counterpoint Research.

According to senior analyst Soumen Mandal, by the end of 2023, EV sales are expected to reach nearly 17 million units.

In 2022, the top three EV markets were China, Germany, and the US. The top 10 EV automotive groups, which hold more than 39 passenger car brands, contributed to almost 72 per cent of all EV sales in Q4 2022.

"The annual total for 2022 would have reached close to 11 million units had fresh Covid-19 infections not surfaced in China. The infections in China during November and December affected automotive production and sales and disrupted the component supply chain," said research analyst Abhik Mukherjee.

Despite these headwinds, Chinese brands managed to record strong growth.

In 2022, many Chinese brands started to expand in markets like Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

"Chinese brands are likely to dominate in Southeast Asia and Latin America as there are very few brands operating in these regions. But a fight for market presence is expected in Europe," Mukherjee added.

The top 10 EV models accounted for one-third of the total passenger EV sales in Q4 2022.

According to Mandal, by the end of 2023, EV sales are expected to reach nearly 17 million units.

"The end of the purchase subsidy in China might push EV manufacturers to increase their prices. BYD has already implemented one price hike in January. But these price hikes are unlikely to affect EV sales in one of the most matured EV markets," said Mandal.

--IANS
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