Business

By Mukesh Sharma
Doha, Nov 13 (IANS) Doha's Hamad International Airport (HIA) has opened a leafy extension to its airport with thousands of plants just as the country gears up to receive more than a million fans for the FIFA World Cup to kick off on November 20.



The extended section includes a tropical garden located at the centre, named Orchard. It is an indoor tropical vegetation area with a water feature meant to be a focal point for visitors at HIA. With different flora -- the 'orchard' includes over 300 trees and over 25,000 plants sourced from sustainable forests from around the world.

The unique design allows trees and plants to easily adapt to the internal conditions and grow throughout the life of the airport -- with natural light to create a calming ambience and promote a sense of wellbeing to all who venture inside, a statement by the airport said.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: "We are very pleased to be launching the expansion of Hamad International Airport, an airport that has truly grown to become the ultimate example of a successful, sustainable global facility. HIA continues to impress with its innovative planning, execution and investment -- enhancing its position as the preferred hub for global travellers and reinforcing HIA's position amongst the top leaders of this industry."

Talking about the project, HIA Chief Operating Officer Badr Mohammed Al Meer, said: "We are immensely proud to officially launch our airport expansion. Our growth plan will see us welcome over 58 million passengers annually -- offering global travellers the best services the industry has to offer. From world-class services to endless F&B and retail offerings, the expansion further strengthens our ambition as we look towards maintaining our status as the best airport in the world."

Consisting of one expansive terminal, the two-time world's best airport will enable travellers to seamlessly transfer from one area to another, exploring the wonders that HIA has to offer with its infused warmth and hospitality, a HIA statement said.

The extended airport is designed to significantly reduce waiting time, thanks to the new transfer hall on concourse C (Transfer Hall C). It includes curated Duty Free shops and food and beverage outlets, including first Fendi Cafe and first Ralph's Coffee Shop in an airport. The North node also houses the world's first airport Oreo Cafe.

As part of the expansion, HIA also launched the second airport hotel within its transfer area. Located in the north plaza, the 100-room Oryx Garden Hotel is located moments away from boarding gates.

The airport plans to expand further to augment its capacity to well over 70 million passengers and construct two new concourses within the existing terminal.

--IANS

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Mexico City, Nov 11 (IANS) Banxico, Mexico's central bank, has raised the key interest rate for the 12th straight time, as risks of accelerating inflation persist in the short and medium term.

The bank's Board of Governors agreed to increase the target for the overnight interbank interest rate by 75 basis points to 10 per cent, effective Friday, according to an official statement.

"While some (inflationary) shocks have shown signs of mitigation, the balance of risks that could impact inflation over the forecast horizon remains biased to the upside," Xinhua news agency quoted the Banxico statement as saying.

"With this action, the monetary policy stance is adjusted to the trajectory required for inflation to converge to its 3 per cent target within the forecast horizon," it said.

Banxico estimated that inflation will close at 8.3 per cent in 2022, while at the end of 2023 it will be at 4.1 per cent.

It added that it will assess the magnitude of upward adjustments to the benchmark rate according to prevailing circumstances at its upcoming meetings.

In June 2021, Banxico began a cycle of raising the key interest rate in view of price increases derived in part from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Nov 11 (IANS) As Big Tech reels under the global macroeconomic conditions, Amazon is now reviewing its Alexa virtual assistant-driven business as part of a major cost-cutting exercise headed by CEO Andy Jassy, the media reported.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon's entire devices unit has had an operating loss exceeding $5 billion in some recent years.

Amazon is now looking into whether it should "focus on trying to add new capabilities to Alexa," according to the report.

The cost-cutting review includes the devices unit with Alexa, a voice assistant available on a variety of Amazon devices.

"The business has more than 10,000 employees and is a major recipient of investment capital," according to the report.

It appears that the e-commerce giant is considering reducing its investments in Alexa-driven products.

An Amazon spokesperson was quoted as saying that as part of this year's review, "we're of course taking into account the current macro-environment and considering opportunities to optimise costs."

Amazon's shares went up by over 4 per cent on Thursday after the report about the cost-cutting review came out.

Once part of our private lives as virtual assistants, more than 35 smart speaker models have now been discontinued (as of April 2022), 46 brands haven't released a new smart speaker since 2019 and 34 companies haven't released a new smart speaker since 2018.

Although Amazon-branded smart speakers grew 33 per cent during the second quarter (Q2) compared to last year, other brands like Google and Apple were down 31 per cent and 57 per cent, respectively, according to global market research firm Omdia.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Nov 11 (IANS) Leading crypto exchange Coinbase will lay off more employees soon in a fresh round of job cuts, as the world of crypto faces another existential threat after the FTX collapse, the media reported.

The layoffs were announced internally and the company is likely to sack around 60 employees in its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams, reports The Information.

The cuts will take place as the broader cryptocurrency industry is in chaos due to the ongoing FTX saga which has alarmed investors and caused cryptocurrency values to sink further.

Crypto exchange FTX Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told investors that he needed emergency funding to cover a shortfall of up to $8 billion due to withdrawal requests received in recent days.

Leading crypto exchange Binance has also pulled out of the FTX acquisition deal.

Even before the FTX problems, Coinbase had tried to control costs, as declining crypto trading volumes were hurting this year's revenue, the report said.

In June this year, the crypto exchange company had announced to lay off 18 per cent of its workforce, or about 1,100 jobs amid the economic downturn.

Brian Armstrong, CEO and co-founder had said that while the company tried its best to get this just right, in this case, it was clear that it had over-hired.

Now, the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange has brought yet another round of threats to the crypto industry as a whole amid Bitcoin and other crypto values dropping further.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Nov 11 (IANS) Elon Musk has put Twitter at risk of billions of dollars in fines, a company lawyer has warned, as chief privacy officer Damien Kieran, chief information security officer Lea Kissner, and chief compliance officer Marianne Fogarty have all quit in the fresh wave of resignations.

In a note posted to Twitter's Slack and seen by The Verge, an attorney on the company's privacy team said that Musk has shown that his only priority with Twitter users is how to monetise them.

"I do not believe he cares about the human rights activists. the dissidents, our users in un-monetisable regions, and all the other users who have made Twitter the global town square you have all spent so long building, and we all love," the lawyer wrote.

"Everyone here should also know that our CISO, Chief Privacy Officer and Chief Compliance Officer ALL resigned last night. This news will be buried in the return-to-office drama. I believe that is intentional," he added.

Twitter's privacy and security teams are in turmoil after Musk's changes to the service superseded its data governance processes.

The lawyer, whose identity was not revealed, "heard Alex Spiro (current head of Legal) say that Elon is willing to take on a huge amount of risk in relation to this company and its users, because Elon puts rockets into space, he's not afraid of the FTC".

Musk's new legal department is now asking engineers to aceself-certify" compliance with FTC rules and other privacy laws, according to the lawyer's note, the report mentioned late on Thursday.

In a statement, an FTC spokesperson said that the agency was "tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern".

"No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees. Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them," said the FTC spokesperson.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Nov 11 (IANS) Indian stock markets opened on a high note on Friday morning.

The Sensex of the BSE opened at 61,311.02 points and touched a high of 61,574.40. The Sensex touched a low of 61,311.02 points.

The Sensex had previously closed at 60,613.70 points.

The Sensex is trading at 61,591.10.64 points up by 977.4 points or 1.61 per cent.

On the other hand, the broader 50-scrip Nifty at National Stock Exchange opened at 18,272.35 points after closing at 18,028.20 points.

The Nifty is trading at 18,287.75 points in the morning.

--IANS
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Jaipur, Nov 7 (IANS) At a meeting held for organising the first of its kind international handicraft expo in Jodhpur on Monday, it has been decided that the event will be organised from March 20-23 next year at the Trade Facilitation Centre, EPCH, in Jodhpur, said S.L. Paliwal, General Manager, District Industries Centre, Jodhpur.

The expo will be called 'Rajasthan International Expo' and the products to be showcased will include the handicrafts manufactured in Jodhpur, furniture, agro processing related products, stone processing products, textiles, engineering products, steel utensils etc.

Foreign buyers will be invited to this fair by the Rajasthan Export Promotion Council (REPC), which will connect with the Indian embassies and high commissioners in Europe, America, Central Asia and Australia.

Industrialists and exporters were called at the meeting for suggestions and feedback.

Sunil Parihar, independent director of Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO), said, "The tradition of organising international expo started in Jodhpur and hence people will contribute with heart and soul to make it successful."

--IANS
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San Francisco, Nov 7 (IANS) Elon Musk on Monday showed his true political colour despite vouching for Twitter to be "politically neutral", saying that Americans should vote for Republicans in the midterm elections on November 8.

Triggering a political debate, Musk told independent-minded voters that shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties.

"Therefore, I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic," the Twitter CEO posted to his nearly 115 million followers.

"Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who's in charge," Musk added.

His tweets were slammed by many of his followers.

"That's it. That seals the deal. I've been an American citizen for 60 years and in all my time of being one, I've never seen a CEO this bad. I got my passport last week. I'll be moving to Australia if Trump comes back," a user posted.

"A rich billionaire telling people how to vote, unbelievable," another posted.

In April, in a bid to silence people who have slammed his 'free speech' idea amid fears of growing polarisation and hatred on the micro-blogging platform, Musk had said that Twitter must remain politically neutral if it wants to keep enjoying public trust.

"For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally," he had posted.

Musk had long been advocating free speech on the platform, creating apprehensions for many as they fear the site will be left without regulations.

The US will go to polls for the midterms to the Senate and the House of Congress on November 8 in one of the most fiercest electoral battles ever.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS) Digital payments and financial services company Paytm on Monday posted 76 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenue to Rs 1,914 crore in Q2FY23, while EBITDA before ESOP cost improved 61 per cent YoY by Rs 259 crore.

On a quarterly basis, Paytm's net losses reduced by 11 per cent.

The company has reported robust traction across all its businesses, which has helped it achieve stronger revenue growth, with improvement in EBITDA before ESOP cost (improvement of Rs 200 crore in the last two quarters).

It also witnessed a sustained increase in contribution profit of 224 per cent YoY and 16 per cent QoQ to Rs 843 crore.

The company's payments business revenue grew 56 per cent YoY and 9 per cent QoQ in Q2FY23 with continued platform expansion, higher user engagement, growing merchant base and devices-led leadership in offline payments.

Revenue from payment services to consumers stood at Rs 549 crore, up by 55 per cent YoY, while payment services to merchants was Rs 624 crore, up by 56 per cent YoY. This was achieved without any UPI incentive.

The company said its net payment margin (calculated as payments revenues plus other operating revenues, less payment processing cost) stood at Rs 443 crore, up 428 per cent YoY.

Its commerce and cloud services reported a revenue of Rs 377 crore - a 55 per cent YoY growth.

Paytm's rapid expansion in loan distribution has become the main catalyst for its financial services revenue, which now accounts for 18 per cent of the company's total revenue, compared to 8 per cent in Q2FY22. Total revenue from financial services business stood at Rs 349 crore, up 293 per cent YoY and 29 per cent QoQ.

The company further added that it sees "a long growth runway ahead" in the loan distribution business (Paytm postpaid, personal loans, merchant loans).

In Q2FY23, Paytm postpaid disbursements stood at Rs 4,050 crore, (449 per cent YoY and 20 per cent QoQ growth), while personal loans disbursements amounted to Rs 2,055 crore (736 per cent YoY and 53 per cent QoQ growth).

Meanwhile, merchant loan disbursements stood at Rs 1,208 crore (342 per cent YoY and 46 per cent QoQ) due to growth in devices business.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Nov 7 (IANS) Australia's Alexander Vukic is likely to defend his title in the Bengaluru Open, which has become one of the most popular stops on the ATP Challenger Tour and will be held from February 20-26 next year at the KSLTA Stadium here.

The main draw of the USD 130,000 prize money Bengaluru Open 2023 will consist of 32 players in singles and 16 in doubles with 24 making it to the qualifying draw.

The event would be a big boost to Indian Tennis and would be the fifth in a series in the Garden City.

"KSLTA is very happy to host the fifth edition of the Bengaluru Open. We are expecting a strong field once again, especially in the event which has increased the prize money to $130,000 from the previous edition of $52,000. Bengaluru Open has always been a wonderful platform for budding Indian players with few of them graduating to bigger events, said Maheshwar Rao, Hon. Secretary, KSLTA while announcing the dates on Monday.

"It is our endeavour to promote and grow the game of tennis and give the aspiring players the chance to showcase their skills on an international platform. We hope the Indian players, especially from Karnataka make the best use of this opportunity," he added.

Tournament Director, Sunil Yajaman said, "Bengaluru has become a sought-after destination on the ATP Challenger Tour and it is exciting to announce that the Bengaluru Open 2023 would be held from Feb 20-26. Apart from the Indian and Karnataka players deriving benefit from the event with home advantage on their side, we are also keen to welcome players from across the globe to Bengaluru."

"The Government of Karnataka has been our biggest supporter of the Bengaluru Open with all the Corporates based in the city without whom Bengaluru would not find a place on the Global Tennis map. We look forward to their continued support once again. Bengaluru Open 2023 would be a big treat for the sports-loving people of Silicon City. We have started upgrading the facilities at the KSLTA Stadium in order to give the players and the fans a much better experience," he was quoted as saying in a release.

--IANS

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