Category: Business & Economy

** Google to invest up to $1 billion in a partnership with Airtel

The amount will include equity investment as well as a corpus for potential commercial agreements

Bharti Airtel and Google on Friday, January 28, 2022, said that they will partner on a long-term, multi-year agreement to accelerate the growth of India’s digital ecosystem, under which Google intends to invest up to USD 1 billion.

The amount is part of the USD 10 billion ‘Google for India Digitization Fund’, which was announced by CEO of Google and Alphabet Sundar Pichai in 2020, and will include equity investment as well as a corpus for potential commercial agreements, to be identified and agreed on mutually agreeable terms over the course of the next five years, the companies said in a statement.

** Philippines inks deal worth $375 million for BrahMos missiles

This is the first export order for missile developed jointly by India, Russia

Philippines on Friday signed a $374.96-million deal with BrahMos Aerospace Private Ltd. for the supply of shore-based anti-ship variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. This is the first export order for the missile, a joint product of India and Russia.

The contract was signed by Delfin N. Lorenzana, Defence Secretary of Philippines, and Atul Dinkar Rane, Director General of BrahMos Aerospace Pvt. Ltd., in a virtual ceremony at 2 p.m. Manila time (11:30 a.m. IST).

** DCGI gives nod to Bharat Biotech for intranasal booster dose trials

Experts have noted that an intranasal vaccine as a booster will be easier to administer in mass vaccination drives.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech approval for conducting Phase-III clinical trials of an intranasal booster dose for those who have received both doses of Covaxin.

Only the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL), Kasauli, certified batches shall be used in the clinical trials, which will be conducted at nine sites, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Bihar. The Chimpanzee Adenovirus Vectored COVID-19 Vaccine (BBV154) is to be administered through an intranasal route and each single dose is 0.5 ml.

The trials will evaluate BBV154 intranasal vaccine for both the 2-dose primary schedule and booster dose schedule.

** India to convert 150 villages into ‘Villages of Excellence’ with technical help from Israel: Tomar

The Israel government has established 29 Centre of Excellence (CoEs) in 12 States

The Centre on Friday said it has decided to convert as many as 150 villages into ‘Villages of Excellence’ in 12 States with technical assistance from the Israel government.

Already, the Israel government has established 29 Centre of Excellence (CoEs) in 12 States, which are producing more than 25 million vegetable plants, over 3,87,000 quality fruit plants and can train more than 1.2 lakh farmers per year.

The 150 villages that are located around CoEs will be converted into ‘Villages of Excellence.’ “Out of which, 75 villages are being taken up in the first year to commemorate the 75th year of India’s independence, where India and Israel will work together,” Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar conveyed in a meeting with new Israeli Ambassador to India Naor Gilon on January 27 here.

The Minister expressed joy over the completion of 30 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel and said that the government is satisfied with the functioning of 29 CoEs, according to an official statement.

The Ambassador of Israel, Mr. Gilon, said these CoEs are a great example of cooperation between the two countries and proposed the certification of CoEs to further enhance the standards and quality of services being provided to the farmers.

* Ahead of Budget, V Anantha Nageswaran joins as Chief Economic Advisor

The new CEA was a part-time member of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council

The Government has appointed V Anantha Nageswaran as the Chief Economic Advisor, three days before the onset of the Budget session of Parliament.

On Friday, Mr. Nageswaran assumed charge of the position, which had been vacant since early December 2021 after the previous CEA Krishnamurthy Subramanian returned to academia at the end of his three year-stint. The CEA is usually responsible for drafting the Economic Survey presented a day before the Budget.

A part-time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister between 2019 and 2021, the new CEA holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a doctoral degree in Finance from the University of Massachusetts for his work on the empirical behaviour of exchange rates.

“Prior to this appointment, Dr. Nageswaran has worked as a writer, author, teacher and consultant. He has taught at several business schools and institutes of management in India and in Singapore and has published extensively. He was the Dean of the IFMR Graduate School of Business and a distinguished Visiting Professor of Economics at Krea University,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

* BEL to supply IoT devices to US firm

Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Hyperion Global Group, an infrastructure telecommunication distribution company, have entered into a contract to develop, manufacture and supply Internet of Things (IoT) devices for the US market.

As per the contract, BEL will manufacture and supply IoT devices worth US $73 million to Hyperion, based in the US, during the first year of commencement of supply, with a provision to negotiate and supply upgrades of the products, worth US $365 million, in the next five years, said a statement issued by BEL.

The contract was signed on January 21, by BEL’s New York Regional Office and Hyperion in the presence of M V Rajasekhar, Director R&D, BEL, Nick Studebaker, CEO,

** With creation of 13 new districts, AP now has 26 districts

The Andhra Pradesh (AP) government issued a preliminary notification for creation of 13 new revenue districts in exercise of its powers underSection.3 (5) of AP Districts (Formation) Act of1974on Wednesday.It called for submission of objections and suggestions from persons residing in those districts in writing within 30 days of this notification.

Once the final notificationis published, the total number of districts will go up to 26.As per a G.O. issuedby Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, the formation of new districts is to facilitate better administration and development of the areas concerned by diminishing/altering the boundaries of the respectivedistricts/revenue divisions.The proposed districts and their headquarters given in brackets:

Manyam district (Parvatipuram)

Alluri Sitarama Raju district (Paderu)

Anakapalli (Anakapalli)

Kakinada (Kakinada)

Konaseema (Amalapuram)

Eluru (Eluru)

NTR district (Vijayawada)

Bapatla (Bapatla)

Palnadu (Narsaraopet)

Nandyal (Nandyal)

Sri Satyasai district (Puttaparthy)

Annamayya district (Rayachoty)

Sri Balaji district (Tirupati).Sri Balaji district will have Tirupati division from Chittoor district and Gudur and Naidupet divisions from Nellore district.Eluru district will have Eluru and Jangareddygudem divisions currently in West Godavari district, and Nuzvid division from Krishna district. NTR district will consist of Vijayawada, Nandigama, and Tiruvuru divisions, all from the existing Krishna district.Nandyal, Dhone, and Atmakur divisions will form the Nandyal district. Sri Satyasai district will have Puttaparthy, Penukonda, and Dharmavaram divisions from Anantapur.

Annamayya district will have Madanapalli division from Chittoor district and Rayachoti and Rajampet divisions from Kadapa district.Manyam district will have Palakonda and Parvatipuram revenue divisions carved out of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts respectively.Alluri Sitarama Raju district is going to have Paderu and Rampachodavaram divisions from Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts.Anakapalli and Narsipatnam divisions, both from Visakhapatnam district, will constitute Anakapalli district. Kakinada district will have Kakinada and Peddapuram divisions from East Godavari (E.G) Amalapuram and Ramachandrapuram divisions in E.G will make the new Konaseema district.Bapatla district will have Chirala and Bapatla divisions from Prakasam and Guntur districts respectively. Palnadu district will comprise Gurazala and Narsaraopet divisions both from Guntur district.

** HAL signs contract for export of Advanced Light Helicopter to Mauritius

ALH Mk III is a multi-role, multi-mission helicopter in 5.5 tonne category in extensive use by the Indian armed forces

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed a contract with the Government of Mauritius (GoM) for export of one Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH)-MkIII for the Mauritius Police Force, it said on Wednesday.

Mauritius already operates a ALH and Dornier Do-228 aircraft built by HAL.

“With this contract, HAL and Government of Mauritius have further strengthened the long-standing business relations spanning over three decades,” a HAL statement said.

The contract was signed by B.K. Tripathy, General Manager, Helicopter Division-HAL and O.K. Dabidin, Secretary of Home Affairs, Prime Minister’s Office, Government of Mauritius, recently at HAL’s Transport Aircraft Division, Kanpur

** Reliance arm to acquire New York city luxury hotel

Mandarin Oriental New York is an iconic luxury hotel located at 80 Columbus Circle, directly adjacent to the pristine Central Park and Columbus Circle in New York city

The Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) on January 8 late night said the Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd (RIIHL), its wholly owned subsidiary, had entered into an agreement to acquire the entire share capital of the Columbus Centre Corporation (Cayman), and the indirect owner of a 73.37% stake in the Mandarin Oriental New York, a premium luxury hotel for $ 98.15 million.

Set up in 2003, the Mandarin Oriental New York is an iconic luxury hotel located at 80 Columbus Circle, directly adjacent to the pristine Central Park and Columbus Circle in New York city.

** Less than 100 workers of Foxconn return to one of the dormitories, operations to resume in phased manner

Resuming operations with full workforce to take some more months

Less than 100 workers at Foxconn’s plant in Sriperumbudur have returned to one of the dormitories. The plant is likely to reopen on January 12, however resuming of operations with the full 15,000 workforce will take some more months, as corrective measures have to be implemented in full, according to sources, besides there is a change in local management.

The plant which makes Apple iPhones, was shut down last month after a food poisoning incident affected more than 100 women workers. Apple has placed the plant on probation and Foxconn has apologised for the incident, while assuring of corrective action.