BUSINESS

By 2025, Covid will have cost world between $16 tn and $35 tn

By 2025, Covid will have cost world between $16 tn and $35 tn

By 2025, Covid-19 will have cost the world between $16 trillion and $35 trillion, as per McKinsey. The world is unlikely to ever reach global herd immunity, but it can contain the virus with a combination of vaccines, improved testing, and smarter quarantining, based on known outbreaks, rather than large, blunt lockdowns, McKinsey said in a report. Obstacles to worldwide vaccination remain huge: while 49.6 per cent of inhabitants of high-income countries had received at least one dose of the vaccine as of July 14, only 1 per cent of those in low-income countries had. In the next two decades,…
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No plan to print currency notes to tide over crisis: FM

No plan to print currency notes to tide over crisis: FM

The government has no plan to print currency notes to tide over the current economic crisis triggered by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Parliament on Monday. To a question on whether there is any plan to print currency to tide over the crisis, the Finance Minister said, “No Sir”. Many economists and experts have suggested the government to resort to printing more currency notes to support the economy ravaged by the spread of COVID-19, and protect jobs. India’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have contracted by 7.3 per cent during 2020-21, Sitharaman…
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Rs 1,060 cr spend on Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor project

Rs 1,060 cr spend on Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor project

A total of Rs1,060.02 crore has been spent during the last three fiscal years for the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor project, the government told the Rajya Sabha. Answering a question raised by MDMK General Secretary Vaiko, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 30th December, 2020, approved the project cost of Krishnapatnam node (Andhra Pradesh) and Tumakuru node (Karnataka) as Rs 2,139.44 crore and Rs 1,701.81 crore respectively. The timelines for the construction of trunk infrastructure in these two nodes is 36-48 months, the government said.
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No revision in petrol, diesel prices

No revision in petrol, diesel prices

Oil marketing companies (OMC) continued to pause fuel price revision for the ninth consecutive day on Monday, the longest period in weeks, as global development on oil production and rising US inventories has softened crude and product prices. However, they stopped short of reducing the retail price of petrol and diesel as more time will be required to study oil price movement before any downward revision. Already, crude has firmed a bit for last few days and this could prevent price cut by OMCs. With no change in prices on Monday, petrol continues to be sold in the national capital…
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YouTube hits 10 bn Play Store download milestone

YouTube hits 10 bn Play Store download milestone

The Google-owned YouTube app for Android users has surpassed a whopping 10 billion downloads on the Google Play Store. According to 9To5Google, video streaming has exploded in popularity over the past decade with improving global internet speed, introduction of 4G devices and increasing access to smartphones/tablets. As the largest and most well-known streaming platform globally, it was always likely that YouTube would become the first “proper” user-facing Android app to hit such a download milestone on the Play Store, it added. Given that the app comes pre-installed on almost all devices, it is marginally bolstered and could even include some…
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Fuel prices remain unchanged for 5th day

Fuel prices remain unchanged for 5th day

Oil marketing companies (OMC) continued the pause on fuel price revision for the fifth consecutive day, the longest period in weeks, as global development on oil production and rising US inventories softened crude and product prices. Accordingly, in the national capital, petrol continued to be sold at Rs 101.84 per litre, while diesel remained unchanged at Rs 89.87 a litre on Thursday. The pump price of fuel has been static since Sunday. It rose on Saturday with petrol being revised upwards by 30 paisa per litre while diesel prices remained unchanged. One of the main reasons for pause in fuel…
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Wipro investing 7,454 cr for business transformation

Wipro investing 7,454 cr for business transformation

Wipro on Tuesday said it would invest $1 billion (Rs 7,454 crore) over the next 3 years to expand cloud services for business transformation of its clients worldwide. “We will invest $1 billion over the next 3 years in cloud services, technologies, acquisitions and partnerships to simplify and accelerate business operations of our clients,” said the software major in a statement. The global giant also unveiled FullStride cloud services to enhances its offerings and talent to its clients. “As the cloud opportunity accelerates, FullStride services bring together our full portfolio of capabilities, offerings and talent to our clients across verticals,”…
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Maruti crosses 50 lakh cumulative sales milestone in rural markets of India

Maruti crosses 50 lakh cumulative sales milestone in rural markets of India

The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday said it has crossed the 50 lakh cumulative sales milestone in rural markets of India. With over 1,700 customised outlets in rural parts of the country, nearly 40 per cent of the total MSIL sales come from rural markets today, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) said in a statement. The company’s total sales in the April-June period of this fiscal stood at 3,53,614 units. In fiscal 2020-21, it had sold a total of 14,57,861 units, down from 15,63,297 units sold in 2019-20. Commenting on the feat, MSIL Senior Executive Director (Marketing…
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FASTag to enhance contactless refueling at Indian Oil fuel outlets

FASTag to enhance contactless refueling at Indian Oil fuel outlets

State-run Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and ICICI Bank are offering cashless and contactless refuelling through FASTag at the country’s largest oil marketing company’s outlets to reduce wait time for customers. “ICICI Bank FASTag users can now enjoy a fully digitized experience at IndianOil’s fuel stations which will reduce wait time for customers,” the firms said in a joint statement. To avail of this facility, customers must inform the customer attendant while fuelling, then scan the vehicle’s FASTag/car number plate. The customer will then receive an OTP to validate the transaction. The transaction will be completed when the OTP is entered…
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HDFC Bank shares tumble 3 pc after Q1 data disappoints investors

HDFC Bank shares tumble 3 pc after Q1 data disappoints investors

Shares of HDFC Bank dipped over 3 per cent on Monday as the company’s June quarter earnings failed to impress investors. At 3.57 pm, the banks stock went lower by 3.34 per cent to Rs 1,470.95 on the BSE and it dipped 3.28 per cent to Rs 1,472.40. HDFC Bank’s consolidated net profit for the June quarter increased 14 per cent to Rs 7,922 crore, but the largest private sector lender reported reverses because of the second wave of the pandemic, which compressed its growth. When compared with the preceding March quarter’s Rs 8,434 crore, there was a decline in…
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