Business

"Booking issue has been resolved now. (Website) irctc.co.in/nget/train-sea and Rail connect app is working now. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted," the IRCTC said in a tweet.

On Monday morning, the public sector undertaking under the Railways Ministry, in a tweet, said: "Due to technical reasons, the ticketing service is not available on IRCTC site and App".

"Our technical team is resolving the issue. We will notify as soon as the technical issue is fixed. Alternatively tickets can be booked through other B2C players like Amazon, Makemytrip etc," it added.

--IANS

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"I don't want people saying, 'Are you okay? Are you all right?' Like a wounded animal, I just rather go in a cave by myself. Lick my wounds," the 43-year-old comedian explained in an interview with The Washington Post, reports aceshowbiz.com.

During the chat, the 'Like A Boss' actress also talked about her eighth miscarriage.

She recalled talking to a nurse, "Well, I'm going to be honest with you. This would be my eighth one." She went on to say, "I've got a uterus shaped like a heart. It just won't keep anything in."

Tiffany also weighed in on her starting a career in the music industry, revealing that she had been working on an album, which her longtime friend Snoop Dogg aims to release on Death Row Records.

About Tiffany's move, Snoop said: "I watched her hustle, struggle to get to the top of the mountain. I watched her take a couple of hits and then find herself climbing back. Now music is another mountaintop she wants to try to climb."

Elsewhere in the interview, Tiffany unveiled that she is opening a healthful food market around the Crenshaw neighborhood in Los Angeles.

While discussing her Disney film 'Haunted Mansion', she said: "I've always dreamed of being in a Disney movie, and this is the biggest movie I've ever been in. But it's not as important as the grocery store. I don't know if movies change people's lives."

Miscarriage and career aside, the 'Self Made' actress gave her two cents on her breakup with Common.

Noting that the rapper called it quits through a phone call, she admitted, "It wasn't mutual. It was more him saying, 'I think this relationship has run its course.' And I was like, 'Okay. Like you gonna be a 50-year-old single man. Okay?' "

--IANS

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According to tech major IBM, detection and escalation costs jumped 45 per cent over this same time frame, representing the highest portion of breach costs, and indicating a shift towards more complex breach investigations.

At nearly 22 per cent, the most common attack type in India was phishing, followed by stolen or compromised credentials (16 per cent).

Social engineering was the costliest root cause of breaches at Rs 19.1 crore, followed by malicious insider threats, which amounted to about Rs 18.8 crore.

"The report shows that security AI and automation had the biggest impact on keeping breach costs down and cutting time off the investigation -- and yet a majority of organizations in India still haven't deployed these technologies," said Viswanath Ramaswamy, Vice President, Technology, IBM India & South Asia.

Moreover, the report showed that about 28 per cent of data breaches resulted in the loss of data spanning multiple types of environments in India (i.e., public cloud, private cloud, on-prem) -- indicating that attackers were able to compromise multiple environments while avoiding detection.

The report also found that while 95 per cent of organisations studied globally have experienced more than one breach, these breached organisations were more likely to pass incident costs onto consumers (57 per cent) than to increase security investments (51 per cent).

In India, companies with extensive use of AI and automation experienced a data breach lifecycle that was 153 days shorter compared to studied organizations that have not deployed these technologies (225 days versus 378 days).

Organisations that used security AI and automation extensively saw nearly Rs 9.5 crore less in data breach costs than organisations that did not use these technologies.

--IANS

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Banks are said to be worried about their exposures to Vedanta Limited and its financial health in the midst of this high dividend spree.

VEDL’s net debt stood at Rs 592b and net debt/EBITDA stood at 1.88x in 1QFY24 as against 1.28x as on Mar’23. Vedanta paid out Rs 18.5 as the first interim dividend for FY24, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said in a note.

Vedanta’s consolidated net sales stood at Rs 337b (down 12 per cent YoY), in line with estimate of Rs 334b, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said in a note.

Revenue was adversely impacted by the reduction in commodity prices and lower volumes, which was partially offset by higher premiums and favorable exchange rate movement.

Vedanta’s consolidated EBITDA stood at Rs 64b (down 37 per cent YoY), 6 per cent miss to estimate of Rs 68b. The aluminum vertical was down 19 per cent YoY to Rs 18b; HZL was down 35 per cent QoQ to Rs 33b and the oil and gas vertical was down 45 per cent YoY to Rs 11b. All the verticals (except copper) were profitable during the quarter.

LME prices across the non-ferrous portfolio were down QoQ. Zinc/Lead/ Copper/Aluminum prices were down 19 per cent/1 per cent/5 per cent/6 per cent on a QoQ basis, whereas silver was up 7 per cent QoQ.

--IANS

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"I have a $100 million offer for Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to take this fight to the Middle East, to promote it, to put it on for charity," Paul announced during an episode of his podcast.

"(I) can guarantee $100 million to charity. We wanna get involved and help make this a reality," he added.

During his podcast, Paul couldn't help but take shots at UFC president Dana White, who has allegedly been in contact with both Musk and Zuckerberg about a possible match, reports Dexetro.

"It's the biggest sporting event ever, and that's why I think there should be people who want this sport to be better and not just greedy people like Dana White to get involved, because it's gonna benefit the UFC," the YouTuber said.

"I think if Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are true about their word, doing it for charity and doing it for a bigger cause… I don't think he should partner with someone who's a piece of sh*t like Dana White," he added.

Recently, some pictures of Musk engaged in "an impromptu training session" have surfaced on the Internet.

Lex Fridman, Host of the Lex Fridman Podcast, Research Scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), on Twitter, shared pictures of training with Musk.

"I did an impromptu training session with @elonmusk for a few hours yesterday. I'm extremely impressed with his strength, power, and skill, on the feet and on the ground. It was epic. It's really inspiring to see Elon and Mark doing martial arts, but I think the world is served far better if they train martial arts but not fight in the cage," Fridman tweeted.

These images come just days after a video of Mark Zuckerberg's Jiu-Jitsu training went viral on social media.

--IANS

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Themed “Make in India with Japan for the Globe,” the Summit featured prominent speakers who opined that there were several industry verticals such as defence, aerospace, manufacturing, information technology and chemical industry where both countries could collaborate to further trade and investments.

In his keynote address, Tsutomu Nakane, Consul General of Japan in Bengaluru, said: “Through this summit we aim to explore the abundant range of opportunities in both nations, enabling businesses to flourish and grow. As of October 2022, 228 companies have set up 537 offices all over Karnataka and the number of Japanese companies expanding into Karnataka is also steadily increasing.

“Cooperation between Japan and Karnataka portrays that business is not only important for the development of bilateral relations but is also of great importance to the world. By investing in or setting up industry in India, Japanese companies can expand their exports to Middle East countries and Africa through India.

“Japan-India business cooperation will bring synergy to both economies by combining Japanese manufacturing know-how with India’s information technology capabilities and its abundant talented workforce. To promote such cooperation, it is necessary for Japan to recognize available business opportunities and for India to further improve amenities and infrastructure in and around industrial parks.”

In her keynote address, Geetanjali Kirloskar, Chairperson and MD, Kirloskar Systems Pvt. Ltd and Chairperson, Toyota Tsusho Insurance Broker India Pvt. Ltd, Bengaluru, said, “India has a relatively stable economy, which represents huge growth potential for Japanese companies to set up a very strong, competitive manufacturing supply chain.

“There is a huge potential for the two countries to develop lighthouse projects in industries which present potential for collaboration such as the chemical industry, which is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. The defence and aero industry which is looking to indigenize sub-assemblies with newer and more autonomous manufacturing processes is another big opportunity.

“Also, Japanese startups are now looking at Bengaluru very seriously. However, there are two challenges, namely the need to develop a quality vendor in India and the need for quality skilling. We still have a lot of hard work to do in improving the skill quality of the workforce.”

Delivering the Inaugural address, Dr L Ravindran, President BCIC said: “Both Japan and India, characterized by their stability and resilience as economies, need to leverage their economic cooperation to foster broader regional growth. The bond between the two countries serves as a remarkable model, rooted in shared values, mutual respect, and a vision for a prosperous future, not only for their nations but for the global community.

“Through joint research and development initiatives, India and Japan can unlock vast potential and propel their economies to unprecedented levels of success. With Japan’s commitment to invest five trillion dollars in India as announced by their former Prime Minister in 2022 there is a huge potential for small and medium enterprises in Japan to collaborate and conduct business with similar enterprises in India.

“It is essential to prioritize specific sectors such as infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, global mobility, information technology and healthcare as they play a pivotal role in shaping their collective future and achieving investment targets.

“BCIC has set up an office in Japan with a three-pronged strategy to promote Karnataka as an investment destination, take a delegation of industrialists from Karnataka to Japan and host a delegation of industrialists from Japan to Karnataka.” he added.

Mukesh Agarwal, Partner, PwC India, said: “Global economic trends position India uniquely for new investments which is essentially driven by India’s enhanced ease of doing business, attractive industrial policies and incentives, production-based incentives to boost manufacturing ecosystem, favourable cost of doing business and India’s highly talented workforce.

“India is witnessing continued interest from Japanese companies and there is a huge potential for collaboration which is much larger than what we see today. Japanese companies can leverage the opportunities emerging in sunrise sectors which are enabling the growth of new investments in India.”

“Setting the context of the summit, A Murali, Advisor, BCIC and Vice President, Toyota Tsusho India Private Limited, said: “The diplomatic relationship between Government of India and Government of Japan is of very high order. This summit offers a unique platform for business leaders, policy makers and academicians to come together and discuss various aspects of economic ties between the two countries and share best business practices. The summit aims to explore new areas of collaboration between the two nations and facilitate exchange of thoughts and people to people contact.”

Thematic sessions at the summit included panel discussions on Unlocking the Secrets of Japanese Manufacturing Excellence, Revolutionizing Global Mobility and Electronics Manufacturing: Collaborative Strategies for India and Japan, Building World-Class Infrastructure for Make in India: A Collaborative Effort between India and Japan and Unleashing India's Talent Pool in IT, Healthcare, and Technology for Japan. The day-long summit was attended by over 200 delegates representing government, Industry, and academia.

--IANS

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In an email to employees seen by TechCrunch, Flipkart Group chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy said the “much-awaited compensation will be made today”.

“We have exciting times ahead, and as we continue to grow across businesses, I look forward to your continued dedication and determination to bring about the future that we envision and scale new heights together,” he added.

Moreover, a Flipkart spokesperson confirmed that the payout had been made, the report said.

In December last year, the two firms completed a full ownership separation in a deal that allowed Singapore shareholders to purchase shares directly in PhonePe's India entity.

The PhonePe Group was acquired by the Flipkart Group in 2016.

Besides separating from Flipkart, PhonePe moved its headquarters to India. In January, PhonePe raised $350 million in funding from General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion, while in February PhonePe raised another $100 million in primary capital from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds.

--IANS

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Kia began production at the 350,000-unit-a-year Indian plant in July 2019, starting with the Seltos subcompact SUV, the company said in a statement.

Other models assembled in India include the five-seat Sonet SUV, the Carens multipurpose vehicle and the Carnival van, reports Yonhap news agency.

The maker of K5 sedans and Sorento SUVs sold 136,108 vehicles in India in the January-June period, up 12 percent from 121,823 units a year earlier.

It aims to achieve a market share of 10 percent in the Indian passenger vehicle market in coming years, up from the current 6.7 percent at the end of June, the statement said.

Kia has eight plants in Korea -- two in Gwangmyeong, three in Hwaseong and three in Gwangju -- and seven overseas ones -- three in China and one each in the United States, Slovakia, Mexico and India. Their overall annual capacity is 3.84 million units.

--IANS

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The decline in WPI was due to fall in prices of mineral oils, food products, basic metals, crude petroleum & natural gas and textiles.

This is the third month in a row when wholesale inflation has stayed in the deflationary zone.

At -4.12 per cent, the WPI inflation has hit its lowest level since October 2015, when it had fallen to -4.76 per cent.

In April 2023, it stood at (-)0.92 per cent.

In March 2023, WPI inflation had fallen to a 29-month low of 1.34 per cent owing to steep fall in indexes of primary articles, manufactured products, fuel and power as well as food.

Meanwhile, according to the commerce ministry data, the all-commodities index of the WPI fell by 0.4 per cent month-on-month in June, indicating weakening of price momentum.

--IANS

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Nifty outperformed the EM benchmark by 10.6ppts. China (-7.8 per cent) and Hong Kong (-7.3 per cent) were the worst performing markets followed by Thailand (-6.6 per cent).

The premium of the Nifty 12-month forward PE is getting close to the extended zone as only 14 per cent of the time the Nifty has been more expensive than the current level, the report said.

The Nifty's consensus FY24/FY25 EPS saw a downgrade of 1.0 per cent/1.4 per cent while most EMs saw a bigger 4 per cent-9 per cent cut in EPS.

India is still expected to deliver the highest two-year EPS growth among the top 19 equity markets in the world, CLSA said.

The Nifty's stellar performance took its 12-month forward PE from 17.4x at the start of the quarter to 18.6x, which implies a 17.7 per cent premium to its average. Only about 17 per cent of the trading days since 2005, the Nifty has been more expensive than the current PE, the report said.

Taiwan (91st percentile), the US (90th percentile) and Korea (89th percentile) are at more extended valuations than India considering their respective historical trading ranges. This outperformance has taken India's valuation premium to the EM as well as Asia ex-Japan benchmarks to +1 std. of the long-term average. India's valuation premium versus China is also well above the past 10 and 15 year averages, the report said.

Mid and small-cap outperformed the Nifty & growth was the best performing style. Realty, auto and telecom were the top performing sectors, the report said.

Small and midcap indices outperformed the Nifty 10ppts and 8.5ppts. About 60 per cent of the Nifty’s constituents outperformed the Nifty led by Tata Motors, Adani Enterprise and HDFC Life. Infosys and UPL were the only Nifty stocks to deliver a negative return, the report said.

Growth proved to be the best performing style during the quarter as the top-quintile growth stocks beat the Nifty by 9.3ppts followed by a 2.3ppt beat by top-quintile momentum names. The top-quintile value stocks underperformed by 0.3ppts.

(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached atSanjeev.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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