Business

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a circular related to TDS deduction from salaries has said that any person responsible for paying salary must deduct income tax while paying the amount.

The circular said that the tax should be deducted at the average rate calculated, based on the rates in force for the current financial year, on the estimated salary income of the recipient for that year.

The circular was issued last week by CBDT.

The circular basically explains the obligation of employers with regard to the deduction of tax at source from salaries under section 192 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for Financial Year 2022-23.

As per Section 192, the person responsible for paying salary income must provide the recipient with a statement giving correct and complete particulars of perquisites or profits in lieu of salary provided to him and the value thereof.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) Air India is learnt to be in talks for acquiring 500 aircraft worth a few billions dollars from two major manufacturers Boeing and Airbus, according to reports.

The deal is said to be part of Tata Group's efforts to revive Air India, reports in a section of media said.

As per reports, the orders are learnt to include both narrow-bodied and wide-bodied jets.

The developments though could not be confirmed, they added.

As part of Air India's revival, the Tata group has unveiled "Vihaan.AI", a transformation plan.

The new plan is a comprehensive multi-stage revival roadmap to catapult Air India into a world-class airline and claim at least 30 per cent market share in the domestic market in the next five years.

Vihaan.AI has been developed after extensive feedback from Air India employees and focusses on five key pillars - exceptional customer experience, robust operations, industry-best talent, industry leadership and commercial efficiency and profitability.

As part of its medium to long term strategy, Air India will focus on building for excellence and establishing scale.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Dec 11 (IANS) The US state of Indiana has sued popular social media app TikTok over safety and security breaches.

According to BBC, Todd Rokita, Indiana's attorney general, has accused TikTok's parent company ByteDance of violating the state's consumer protection laws.

The state claims that the app fails to protect young people's privacy.

TikTok says its policies take youth well-being into consideration, and that it is confident that it could satisfy US national security concerns, according to the report.

The state filed two lawsuits claiming that the app exposes young users to inappropriate content and that it does not disclose the Chinese government's ability to access sensitive consumer information.

The court documents revealed that "TikTok is a wolf in sheep's clothing. As long as TikTok is permitted to deceive and mislead Indiana consumers about the risks to their data, those consumers and their privacy are easy prey," said the report.

The complaint says that the app's algorithm promotes a variety of inappropriate content, including "alcohol, tobacco, and drugs; sexual content and nudity; and intense profanity".

A TikTok spokesperson said, "the safety, privacy and security of our community is our top priority".

The app has age-limiting and parental control features, and the company is investing in further content controls, said the company.

Back in October, British filmmaker Emmeline Hartley slammed the Chinese short-form video app TikTok for allowing abusive comments in a video.

The comment section of the video about sexual consent was filled with allegations from men accusing women of assault.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) Hospitality major and IPO-bound OYO on Saturday said it is downsizing 10 per cent of its 3,700-strong workforce, laying off 600 employees while hiring 250 fresh members in the team.

OYO is merging its product and engineering teams for smoother functioning, according to the company.

"OYO is downsizing its product and engineering, corporate headquarters and the OYO vacation homes teams, while it adds people to the partner relationship management and the business development teams," the company said in a statement.

"OYO will downsize 10 per cent of its 3700-employee base, which includes fresh hiring of 250 members and letting go of 600 employees," it added.

According to the hospitality major, "the downsizing in tech is also happening in teams which were developing pilots and proof of concepts such as in-app gaming, social content curation and patron-facilitated content".

"Additionally, members of projects which have now been successfully developed and deployed such as 'Partner SaaS' are being either let go or are being redeployed in core product & tech areas such as AI-driven pricing, ordering and payments," it added.

IPO-bound hospitality tech player OYO has surprised the industry observers by posting a positive EBITDA of Rs 10 crore in the first quarter of FY23 -- against the backdrop of Rs 472 crore EBITDA loss in FY22.

The key drivers of this recovery, according to the information filed by the company, were higher monthly revenue per hotel due to increase in occupancy rates and more homes being added to the platform.

The company said that "it will be adding 250 members primarily in its relationship management teams to ensure better consumer and partner satisfaction and in business development teams to help scale up the number of hotels and homes on its platform".

"Every member of the OYO team and I myself will proactively endorse the strength of each of these employees. It is unfortunate that we are having to part ways with a lot of these talented individuals who have made valuable contributions to the company," said Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO.

As integration of various functions of its European vacation homes business progresses, it is downsizing in some parts of the business to increase efficiency and harness synergies.

The company said it has also reassessed its corporate headquarter base afresh and is merging congruent roles and flattening team structures where needed.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) The Government on Saturday authorised sale and encashment of electoral bonds through 29 branches of State Bank of India (SBI) across the country between December 5 and December 12, 2022.

As per provisions of the electoral bonds scheme, these can be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India.

A person being an individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals. Only political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which have secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the Lok Sabha or state legislative assemblies are eligible to receive these bonds.

The bonds can be encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank.

These electoral bonds are valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee political party if the electoral bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.

The bond deposited by an eligible political party in its account is credited on the same day.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Dec 3 (IANS) The late playback singer Mukesh Chand Mathur, professionally known as Mukesh, has lent his voice to some of the iconic songs of Hindi cinema and is credited with defining the soundscape of Hindi films with his association with the likes of Raj Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Dilip Kumar. But, often a great artiste is born out of adversities and it holds true in the case of Mukesh.

There was a time when the 'Ye Mera Diwanapan Hai' hitmaker was facing financial troubles and had to take a loan from a vegetable vendor near his house to pay the school fees of his children. Nitin Mukesh, the son of the veteran singer, who will be gracing the special episode -- 'Celebrating 100 years of Mukesh' of the television show 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs' shares an anecdote from the late singer's life and says that his father continued long after he delivered songs like 'Awara Hoon' and 'Mera Joota Hai Japani'.

Nitin Mukesh mentions, "I have never heard of anyone's struggle with so many ups and downs in life. He has gone days without drinking water and eating food, but the strange thing is that he became 'The Mukesh Ji' after singing famous songs like 'Awara Hoon' and 'Mera Joota Hai Japani', and yet struggled for six to seven years after that. There was a time when he couldn't afford to pay the school fees for me and my sister."

Adding further, he speaks about the time when his father turned to the vegetable vendor near his house as a last resort, "I still remember that there was a vegetable vendor near our house who absolutely loved Mukesh Ji and was so fond of his voice that he offered to lend him some money. That's how Mukesh Ji paid our school fees, but, nor did he or the vendor ever let this information reach us. But our mother used to tell us everything, saying 'see how papa is going through a tough time'."

The show judge, Shankar Mahadevan responds as he says, "These stories are surely going to inspire and motivate all the contestants to work hard towards their dreams."

'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs' airs every Saturday and Sunday at 9 p.m. on Zee TV.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has once again reiterated that India is an integral part of him and he was fortunate to grow up in a family in the country that cherished learning and knowledge.

"India is a part of me. I carry it with me wherever I go. I was fortunate to grow up in a family that cherished learning and knowledge, with parents who sacrificed a lot to make sure I had opportunities to explore my interests," Pichai said in a blog post late on Friday.

He expressed his thoughts after receiving the Padma Bhushan, India's highest civilian honour, from India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, in San Francisco.

Pichai, who was born in Madurai and grew up in Chennai, in 2021 also said that India is deeply rooted in him and a big part of who he is.

In an earlier interview with the BBC, he said that "I'm an American citizen but India is deeply within me. So it's a big part of who I am".

During his earlier visit to India, he had admitted he used to bunk classes during his engineering days at IIT Kharagpur.

Pichai completed B.Tech in metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1993.

Pichai's mother, Lakshmi, was a stenographer and his father, Regunatha Pichai, was an electrical engineer at GEC, the British conglomerate.

His father also had a manufacturing plant that produced electrical components.

Pichai completed schooling in Jawahar Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School in Ashok Nagar, Chennai and completed the Class 12 from Vana Vani school at IIT Madras.

Moving to the US, he attained an MS from Stanford University in materials science and engineering and further attained an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Pichai was selected to become the next CEO of Google on August 10, 2015. He was appointed to the Alphabet Board of Directors in 2017.

In December 2019, Google's co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped down and Pichai also took over as parent company Alphabet's CEO.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS) Xiaomi's Redmi Note series has clocked over 7 crore customers since its arrival 8 years ago, setting new benchmarks in the smartphone industry, especially in India, said the company. Over the last 8 years, it has transformed the Indian smartphone landscape by bringing in the latest innovations that have set outstanding industry standards, benchmarks and expectations among consumers.

Redmi launched the first Note back in 2014 with Redmi Note 4G and was one of the first brands to hand over the most affordable 4G smartphone in the hands of consumers. "Since then, the design and technology have moved on and with every Note, the series has not only evolved but grown big," the company said in a statement.

"Xiaomi, with each new Redmi Note series, has focused on bringing upgrades that are truly a game changer in the segment. The most disruptive technology introduced in the Note series over the last 8 years is the camera," said Anuj Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Xiaomi India.

"It was the first one to introduce 48MP in the budget segment and 64MP in the market, evolving to 108MP in the mid-premium segment which was the leading MP count then," he added.

"Redmi Note 6 Pro was the first Note phone from Xiaomi to come with a notched display. With the Redmi Note 10 series, the company introduced an all-new EVOL design language that brings a radical change in the overall design of Redmi devices with a focus on functionality and durability," said the company. Redmi was the first brand to introduce an AMOLED display on a budget with the Redmi Note 10 series, to further enhance the consumer experience, and address the rising content consumption on smartphones.

With performance at the center, Redmi has spearheaded technology innovations and was one of the first brands to bring access to 4G and 5G technology. Back then, 4G smartphones in a similar range to Redmi Note cost a premium (more than Rs 20,000) but Redmi Note 4G was affordably priced at Rs 9,000. "With 5G expected roll-out, Redmi was one of the first brands to introduce this technology to the masses and make it available to consumers much before the final implementation," said the company.

The true measure of success is the feedback that the company has received from its loving Fan community and the impact it has created on their lives. Starting with the first device launched in the range, Redmi Note 4 Series to the Redmi Note 11 Series now, fans and users have appreciated the top-of-the-line features and specifications, which have further helped scale newer heights in the market, according to the company. Consistent hardware and software upgrades have made it the most reliable choice. With some of the upgrades, the Redmi Note series was the first product to receive a MIUI update.

In addition to establishing the Redmi Note series as the most popular smartphone series, the brand has ensured its aftersales service accessibility by becoming 'India's Widest Smartphone Service Network'. This has helped consumers connect with Redmi India across 19500+ Pin Codes with a 2000+ Service Center Network.

In the past 8 years, it garnered close to 38,00,000+ ratings on its partner platforms, with the average rating being a consistent 4.5/5. As per a recent CMR 'Insights on the Go' Survey for October 2022, Redmi emerged as India's top ‘Quality Smartphone Brand' in Rs 7,000-Rs 35,000 segments.

--IANS
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Islamabad, Dec 2 (IANS) The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced that its foreign exchange reserves have decreased by $327 million.

During the week ending on November 25, the total foreign exchange reserves of the Pakistani central bank fell to around $7.49 billion, the SBP said in a statement on Thursday evening.

The decrease was "due to external debt repayment", Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks came at $5.87 billion, the central bank said.

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the South Asian country stood at about $13.37 billion, according to the SBP.

--IANS
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Washington, Dec 2 (IANS) Apple CEO Tim Cook has ignored questions on violent protests in China which have hampered iPhone production at its key suppliers' factories in the country.

Fox Business asked Cook several questions as he arrived on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to meet lawmakers late on Thursday.

Cook refused to comment on whether he supported the Chinese people's right to protest and his thoughts on the factory workers beaten by authorities.

The Apple CEO also remained silent on whether he stood by his company's business dealings with the Chinese Communist Party.

Cook was in Washington to meet with Republican leaders this week, as the House Judiciary Committee will look into antitrust issues related to the App Store.

The AirDrop feature allows users to share content between Apple devices. The tool was used widely during Hong Kong's 2019 pro-democracy protests.

Earlier this month, an update to Apple iOS included an additional AirDrop feature applying only to iPhones sold in mainland China.

Under the update, iPhones can now only set their AirDrop to receive messages from "everyone" for 10 minutes before switching off.

The other settings allow for file-sharing between "contacts only" or "receiving off."

Amid Covid-related protests in China, Apple is facing growing iPhone shortages.

According to reports, the company has seen $165 billion in market value erosion since last week on concerns of weak holiday sales.

Apple's iPhone 14 Pro models' shipments may reportedly drop by 20 million in the fourth quarter (Q4).

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the shipments of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models will be between 15 million and 20 million units lower than expected.

Last week, workers at Apple's largest supplier Foxconn's factory in China clashed with the security forces and company officials amid protests over late bonus payments during Covid lockdowns.

--IANS
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