Most Depressing Friday Newsletter Ever..
We talk recession, numbers and ..more
Hey there
We thought we will break a few bad news before some good news. The bad news is that India is entering the R zone, i.e. recessionary zone and is evident from decline in consumption.
Recessionary Talks, First
Consumption in rural India has hit 7 year low.
In the September quarter, rural grew at 5% in terms of value, sharply slower than 20% reported in the year earlier. Urban India grew at 8% compared with 14% in the year-ago period.
FYI: Rural India contributes 30% to FMCG spends in India (via).
Why is this happening? Falling crop prices, Declining income..After-effects of GST, Demonetization - and a lot more.
Are we in a recession? Pretty much.
More job losses
Over 2 million government employees are up in arms over layoffs, poor wage hikes and delayed salaries, [Via].
The worst-affected of all government employees are the 176,000 at BSNL
Another 20,000 employees of Air India are on the line
Ola unveils self-drive car-sharing service ‘Ola Drive’
Ride-hailing platform Ola has unveiled its self-drive car-sharing service ‘Ola Drive’ that will allow users to rent cars for periods ranging from 2 hours up to 3 months. The service has been rolled out initially for users in Bengaluru and the company says Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi are to follow shortly.
Ola says it intends to host a fleet of 20,000 cars by 2020, which is 50% more than the fleet size of the car-share industry currently, and at a pricing which is 30% lower than the market average. Users can book an Ola Drive in Bengaluru via pickup stations located across the city with initial deposits starting at Rs. 2000.[via]
RBI stops printing Rs 2,000 denomination notes
The move to discontinue the Rs 2,000 note comes even as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) found fake currency notes in circulation (via).
Remember those viral videos where journos claimed that the 2000 Rs notes were equipped with chips which can prevent fake currency circulation.
Sigh..
Chandigarh’s EV policy draft hints at no ICE vehicle registration after 2030
Chandigarh which has the highest vehicular density in India is drafting its EV policy. This draft suggests that only electric vehicles will be used for government and public transport after 2030.
The policy draft also proposes various incentives and subsidies for EV purchase and also states that no IC engine vehicle will be registered after 2030 [via].
Netflix says its Rs 199 mobile only plan in India is a huge success
We’ve been very, very happy with the mobile plan. It’s actually performing better than we tested. We’ll look at testing that in other markets because we think there are other markets which has similar conditions that make it likely that that’s going to be successful for us there as well,” Peters said during the streaming giant’s Q3 earnings call with analysts on Wednesday.
“We think about revenue is the guiding principle for as we do these different tests and trying to figure out, what is the right set of plans that have the right benefits, the right features that are delivered at the right price for the subscribers in any given market.
Govt to go after ecommerce companies over predatory pricing issues, if found guilty
E-commerce majors have grossed up over $3 billion in gross merchandise value during the festive sales held over the past fortnight, which typically see over half of their annual sales
"E-commerce companies have no right to offer discounts or adopt predatory prices. Selling products cheaper and resulting the retail sector to incur losses is not allowed," Goyal told reporters
The govt has sent detailed questionnaire to these companies.
In another news, Netflix, Amazon Prime and OTT players are facing censorship threat.
The government's concern has been sparked by several court cases and complaints filed to the police in recent months, alleging that some content was obscene or insulted religious sentiment, said the government official, who has direct knowledge of the deliberations [ET].
Karnataka tops NITI Aayog's India Innovation Index
Karnataka among major states, Delhi among Union Territories and Sikkim among hilly states have topped the ranking in NITI Aayog's first ever India Innovation Index aimed at examining the innovation capabilities and performance of Indian states.
The index attempts to create an extensive framework for the continual evaluation of the innovation environment of 29 states and seven union territories. It intends to rank states and UTs based on their index score, recognise opportunities and challenges, and assist in tailoring governmental policies to foster innovation.[via]
World’s first AI-University opens in UAE; To offer 100% scholarships
UAE has announced the opening of the Mohammad Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, first of its kind globally.
The university is accepting applications for its first masters and PhD programmes in subjects like Computer Vision, Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing with classes scheduled to begin in September 2020 [via].
TCS’s AI-driven command centre to monitor exam venues real-time
TCS has launched an AI-powered command centre in Chennai to monitor over 6000 examination centres across the country, in real-time.
This TCS iON command centre can monitor the examination process with over 150 preset parameters to predict and prevent the chances of cheating and malpractices. It can even create alert the management in case of any untoward incident [via].