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By Saritha RaiApna, an app startup that aims to connect millions of bottom-of-the-pyramid workers to employers amid the devastation of India’s lockdown, has raised $8 million from a clutch of investors.The funding, from new investors Greenoaks Capital, Rocketship VC as well as existing backers Lightspeed India and Sequoia Capital, will help the app expand to more cities, the Indian firm said in a statement published Tuesday. It also wants to grow across verticals such as accounting, customer service and nursing. Currently, Apna is in five cities.The startup, founded by Apple Inc. alum Nirmit Parikh, is a sort of LinkedIn for non-English-speaking, poorer Indians. The app helps first-time internet users access job opportunities by entering their name, age, and skills to generate a virtual “business card” that’s shared with potential employers. Less than a year after its December launch, Apna has 1.2 million users.It generated over a million job interviews in the last month for workers li...

BENGALURU: Edtech startup Eruditus has raised $113 million in funding led by Leeds Illuminate and South African internet giant Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures) with participation from Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's philanthropic organisation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Existing investors Sequoia India and Ved Capital also participated in the fundraising.ET first wrote about this funding round on August 29. People familiar with the deal told ET that about $20 million of the investment is a secondary cash out, while $93 million has been infused in the company.With the latest investment, the company’s valuation has jumped to over $800 million, sources said, making the executive education firm among the most valued edtech startups in the country.Eruditus partners with top-tier universities across the US, Europe, Latin America, India and China to bring professional education to a global audience.“Covid-19 is dramatically accelerating change...

The after effects of this moratorium and the impact that we are going to see on the balance sheets is going to play itself out, says the Co-Founder of AQF Advisors Last week it appeared that banks had stabilised. But now it looks like it is back to square one. After five-seven days of good gains, banks are getting bashed up again.I am afraid that is going to be a trend that we will continue to see in the market for some time. At one level, whenever the market moves up a lot, people start looking for sectors where they feel that they will get value but do not forget that the entire banking and financial sector yet has a long way to go. The after effects of this moratorium and the impact that we are going to see on the balance sheets is going to play itself out. The economy is at a far slower growth rate and there is no credit growth. Banks will see intermittent nervousness whenever some sort of broader nervousness creeps into the market. They will be the favourite places which investors...

The net asset value (NAV) of four shuttered schemes of Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund fell by up to 6.32% after Rivaaz Trade Ventures, a Future Group firm, defaulted on its scheduled debt obligations due on August 31. Due to the default, Franklin Templeton will value these securities at zero, on the basis of AMFI standard hair cut matrix. The NAV of Franklin India Income Opportunities Fund fell 6.32%, Franklin India Short term Income Plan 5.02%, Franklin India Dynamic Accrual 3.02%, and Franklin India Credit Risk Fund 0.33%.On August 29, Reliance Retail announced acquisition of the retail and wholesale business and logistics and warehousing business of the Future Group, on a slump sale basis, for lumpsum aggregate consideration of Rs 24,713 crores.In a note to investors, Franklin Templeton said, "based on representations from the Future Group we understand NCDs held by the fund house are proposed to be repaid from proceeds of the transaction. We believe the proposed sale announcem...

WazirX’s Nischal Shetty says he uses Twitter to either tweet to his followers, or to find out what’s happening around the world.Gadgets of choice“I’ve started using tech more than ever before because I’m not spending time travelling to the office or stepping outside for shopping or leisure. The two gadgets I can’t live without are my cell phone and my laptop. The cellphone helps me keep in touch with my colleagues and friends, and to look up information. The laptop helps me stay focused at work as there are fewer distractions from communication apps.”Screen time“I switched to the iPhone ecosystem in 2010 and have upgraded my devices over the years. Earlier, my mobile usage was a lot more than what it is today. Now, I try to use it less to avoid distractions. I’ve turned off notifications for a majority of apps. Something that I’ve been using a lot more, especially during the lockdown, is my Xbox. Video games make me forget about work.”App launcher“I use Twitter to either tweet to my fo...

By Keith BradsherZHONGSHAN: This was supposed to be the year that China’s export machine began to stall. President Donald Trump had imposed broad tariffs on Chinese goods. Countries like Japan and France pushed companies to shift production from China. The pandemic had crippled China’s factories by the end of January.Instead, China Inc. has come roaring back.After reopening in late February and early March, China’s factories began an export blitz that is still gaining steam. Exports soared in July to their second-highest level ever, nearly matching the record-setting Christmas rush last December. The country has grabbed a much larger share of global markets this summer from other manufacturing nations, entrenching a dominance in trade that could last long after the world begins to recover from the pandemic.China is showing its export machine cannot be stopped — not by the coronavirus and not by the Trump administration. Its resilience lies not only in the country’s low-cost, skilled la...

Kolkata: Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) has decided to cash out by selling its 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Towers for roughly Rs 4,000 crore even as Bharti Infratel decided to go ahead with the closure of its mega towers merger with Indus.Bharti Infratel said the likely ownership structure of the merged towers entity is based on “cash consideration chosen by VIL for its 11.15 per cent shareholding in Indus -- based on an agreed formula – and on today’s calculation, the cash consideration comes to approximately Rs 4,000 crore”.“The board of directors in its meeting on August 31 took note of the status of scheme of arrangement between Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel and related agreements…after deliberations, the board has decided to authorise the chairman to proceed with the scheme and to comply with other procedural requirements for completion of the merger, including approaching the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to make the scheme effective subject to certain procedural condition p...

New Delhi/Mumbai: By proposing to acquire the retail assets of Future Group (and not Future companies), the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) has ensured that rival Amazon does not become its shareholder. Amazon is a significant shareholder (49%) in a Future Group company, which owns about 10% stake in Future Retail, the largest outfit within the group in terms of turnover and which operates more than 1,000 stores under Big Bazaar, Fbb, Foodhall and Easyday Club brands. According to the contours of the deal between Future Group and RIL, the former will merge 19 retail and its related back-end infrastructure companies, including Future Retail, into Future Enterprises. This company will then transfer the retail and supply chain businesses to two separate arms of RIL. Had the deal involved the merger of Future Enterprises (excluding non-retail assets) with the arms of RIL, then Amazon would have got a stake in the two outfits. But with the proposed deal structure where RIL acqui...

MUMBAI: The Supreme Court is expected to pronounce a crucial verdict today (Tuesday) on the payment timelines of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of over Rs 1.6 lakh crore, a ruling which could decide the fate of Vodafone Idea. The government has sought a 20-year time frame for telcos to pay back their balance AGR dues, while the two most affected telcos- Vodafone Idea (over Rs 50,400 crore balance dues) and Bharti Airtel (nearly Rs 26,000 crore balance) have sought 15 years. Vodafone Idea has warned it would be forced to shut shop if made to pay its dues at one go.As per the cause list, a three-judge bench led by Justice Arun Mishra, and comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah will also take a call on two other issues - on whether spectrum – or the right to use it – can be transferred under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and whether past AGR dues of bankrupt telcos such as Reliance Communications (nearly Rs 26,000 crore), Aircel (nearly Rs 14,000 crore) and Videocon (...

Mumbai/Bengaluru: The Tata Group’s ambitious digital plan that aims to tap its combined consumer base to build products and services has been stuck due to lack of a clear strategy, employee attrition and challenges in getting diverse group companies to collaborate for the project, people familiar with the development said.The plan is yet to get off the ground and will take several months to test the waters, officials said. The delay has led to criticism that Tata’s long-pending digital ambitions have been side-tracked by Jio Platforms, the subsidiary of Reliance Industries that delivers digital services to consumers across the country.The Tata digital plan was built around loyalty programmes, an app for consumers, and logistics. However, officials said building a consumer-focused app is a far-fetched reality.“We have yet to get the basic strategy right and then get it to first take off,” said a Tata official who did not want to be identified.Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran had said...

NEW DELHI: India’s immediate and extended neighbours—Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia—have decided to go slow on seeking China’s support for their ships in both civilian and defence sectors. The Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the pace of China’s shipbuilding industry over the last few months and Beijing’s partners in South and Southeast Asia have decided to limit cooperation due to budget constraints, ET has reliably gathered.This could impact China’s long-term strategic ambitions in the Bay of Bengal where India has been the traditional net security provider. However, over the last decade, China has been making attempts to challenge India’s position through investments in ports, supply of naval vessels and shipbuilding in parts of South and SE Asia.Orders at China’s shipyards fell 5.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, according to the country’s ministry of industry and information technology.Post-Covid, many client countries where Chinese shipyards have ongoing business ...

New Delhi: Officials have begun preliminary discussions on whether India should have its own guidelines on content moderation by internet and social media companies, top officials told ET. The deliberations, especially with regard to moderation of hate speech, have been sparked by the government’s concerns over the arbitrary methods employed by social media platforms despite them enjoying the benefit of safe harbour as intermediaries, said the officials.Currently, social media platforms — including Facebook and Twitter — employ their own guidelines to moderate content in India, and follow the global standards set out by their parent companies.“Who has given them the power to decide what is hate speech or not? This can’t be arbitrary. One the one hand, they enjoy safe harbour, and on the other hand, they censor (content),” an official told ET.‘Lack of Transparency’India provides immunity, or safe harbour, to intermediaries under Section 79(2) of the I-T Act on the condition that the pla...

Srinagar: The Srinagar-Leh highway was closed for civilian movement on Monday following fresh tensions between India and China in eastern Ladakh. Civilian traffic resumed later in the evening to facilitate those stranded in Sonamarg, Ganderbal and Srinagar to reach their destination. Officials in Srinagar said that an Army convoy comprising around 300 vehicles were on the highway from Sonamarg, a hill station in Kashmir on the highway connecting Kashmir with Kargil. Mobile network has been suspended in the eastern Ladakh since Sunday afternoon, when heavy movement of troops was first reported from Leh towards Chushul and Pangong Tso and Galwan Valley, the major hotspots in the region. “The situation is not normal on the border. We are hearing that clashes have been going on around Black Top mountain in Gurung Hali of Chushul area for some days now. We are hearing that our troops have been injured,” said a resident of Durbuk in eastern Ladakh. The area where fresh tensions was reported ...

NEW DELHI: Three Indian medical associations have said that creating containment zones and aggressive testing for Covid-19 offers little advantage in large cities where the infection has already spread wide. The focus should instead be on preventing deaths from Covid-19, they have suggested in a joint statement to the prime minister.“While being optimistic, the prevention and control strategy should also prepare for the worst. It must assume that an effective vaccine would not be available in the near future. We must avoid false sense of hope that this panacea is just around the corner,” said the statement issued by the Indian Public Health Association, the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine and the Indian Association of Epidemiologists.ET has reviewed a copy of the statement, in which experts from these associations said the pandemic is a public health problem and should be dealt with “empathy and meaningful community engagement”. “We strongly and unequivocally advoc...

NEW DELHI: Noida-based Jubilant Life Sciences plans to launch remdesivir in a tablet form. The antiviral drug, which is being used to treat Covid-19 patients, is currently administered intravenously.The pharmaceutical company has sought permission of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to launch remdesivir in a tablet form. In a meeting held on August 25, the company had presented its proposal to the DCGI.The company has given bioavailability protocol to the subject expert committee (SEC), which has been set up to evaluate proposals related to Covid-19, according to the minutes of the meeting, a copy of which was seen by ET.According to the proposal, the company is exploring the possibility of launching 20 mg sublingual tablets. Sublingual administration involves placing a drug under the tongue so that it gets dissolved and absorbed into the blood through the tissues.The SEC, which functions under DCGI, asked for more clarity from the company on the proposal. “The firm present...

NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries' $3.38 billion deal to acquire Future Group's retail business pitches the conglomerate as an even more formidable force in India, making its retail arm more attractive to the potential investors it seeks to woo. The oil-to-telecoms group controlled by India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, announced late on Saturday that it will acquire Future Group's retail and wholesale business as well as its logistics and warehousing operations. The acquisition of Future Group's 2,000 retail stores and Big Bazaar grocery chain will help Reliance, which sells everything from groceries to electronics through 11,000-plus stores, to broaden its extensive reach across the country. But with Ambani set to sell stakes in Reliance Retail, the Future-Reliance deal makes it an even more attractive proposition for investors in a market that Boston Consulting Group expects to grow to $1.3 trillion by 2025. "With this deal, Reliance's dominance in the Indi...

MUMBAI: Banks and shadow lenders may offer a six-month moratorium on principal repayments for retail and MSME borrowers as part of the one-time restructuring of loans that the central bank recently allowed, said people with knowledge of the matter. Customers seeking a debt revamp will be asked to make regular interest payments, while the principal will be restructured or the tenor extended, depending upon repayment ability. “The intention is to restructure loans for only those borrowers who really need restructuring, but in no way do we want to be in a situation that they are not paying interest,” said a senior executive at a state-run bank. “We want small-value borrowers in retail and MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) segment to keep paying, so there will be a moratorium on principal payments.”The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced relief to help borrowers hit by the pandemic. A six-month moratorium on loan repayments ended August 31.The chief of a mid-sized nonbanking fina...

NEW DELHI: India’s smartphone market has rebounded “very strongly” after the lockdown ended, mainly driven by pent-up demand and demand associated with online education, among others, according to Manu Jain, India managing director at market leader Xiaomi.In an interview with ET, Jain said that production though hasn’t reached its previous levels, and the company is still importing small quantities of phones from abroad.“Eventually, the aim is to again go back to the same level as earlier, maybe even to a higher level. Of course, we keep facing challenges because sometime in some factory, there will be some Covid-19 patient and then we need to shut down the line, sanitize. But despite all of those, things have scaled up significantly,” Jain said.Even as the pandemic has disrupted and delayed the handset maker’s offline plans, Jain said that the channel will contribute 50% of overall sales by the end of this year.“Because of Covid-19, a lot of clients got disrupted. And now, hopefully v...

NEW DELHI: Pranab Mukherjee was a custom-made multipurpose political vehicle. Most hard-boiled politicians in Congress were in awe of Mukherjee, groomed by Indira Gandhi from 1971 till her death, who became a rare strategic device of Congress in the 1990s till he became President in 2012. His skills elicited respect from leaders of the ruling BJP and parties across the political aisle but kept 10 Janpath in perpetual unease.The varied talents of Mukherjee, 84, who passed away on Monday, were well demonstrated during his career spanning over six decades. He was a cerebral politician with an astute institutional understanding and a grip on working the government, key ministries, Parliament, Constitution and the political system.His clinical grasp of the intricate functioning of Congress, active participation in its never-ending clashes of ideas and personalities and conspiracies, helped him emerge as a natural coalition manager and a flourishing survivor in the slippery inner corridors.H...

New Delhi: Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has attributed the record daily spike in new Covid-19 cases in India to “aggressive testing” and “casual attitude” of the people.He also said that the record increase in cases in the week ended August 30 can not be linked to the unlocking process. “The main reason for increase in cases is the aggressive testing and tracing mechanism we are employing,” Harsh Vardhan told ET. “We are not worried about the increase as long as the diagnosis is done in time and our mortality rate remains low.” The health minister, however, took a grim view of what he termed as “casual attitude” of the people. “The carelessness of the people is evident right now. They are crowding market places and not taking the basic precaution of wearing a mask. This cannot be emphasised enough that even if our recoveries are rapidly increasing and mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world, people cannot have this lackadaisical attitude,” the health minister said. I...

By AK AntonyThe sad demise of Pranab Mukherjee is a great loss to the nation. I had a very close personal relationship with him for 50 years. When I first met him along with Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, he spared nearly an hour for us. What struck me most was his razor-sharp memory. I told Dasmunsi after the meeting that Pranab Da was a rare genius and a big asset to the Congress.Another quality I found in him was the transparency in personal relationships and his contacts. He maintained very cordial relationships with leaders of all parties, shared transparent relations with most business leaders and had close association with many cultural and social leaders. Mukherjee was a man for all seasons and a statesman too.His ability to find solutions to crises was commendable. From Indira Gandhi to Sonia Gandhi, all Congress leaders used his services to sort out issues. He held almost all important portfolios in the Union Cabinet. He was one of the successful finance ministers. When he took over ...

MUMBAI: GVK Power & Infrastructure said the Adani Group will take over its debt and have control over the Mumbai airport and the Navi Mumbai airport project.The Adani Group will have a 74% stake each in the current Mumbai airport and the Navi Mumbai Airport project, said a person close to the development.The founder of the conglomerate, which had been aggressively defending its airport business, said it buckled under pressure from lenders and as the Covid-19 pandemic battered business. The terms of cooperation include acquisition of debt by Adani from various GVK lenders including a Goldman Sachs led consortium and HDFC; releasing GVK of various obligations, securities and corporate guarantees given in respect of debt to be acquired by Adani; the ability for Adani to convert the acquired debt to equity of its airport subsidiary on mutually agreed terms.Adani will also infuse fresh funds into the Mumbai International Airport MIAL consortium and support the achievement of financial c...

The latest cut in deposit rates by Mahindra Finance has made its fixed deposit unattractive, believe financial planners. The AAA-rated NBFC has cut deposit rates by a sharp 100 basis points, making it the highest cut in recent times. Investors will now earn 5.7% for one year, 6.2% and 6.3% for two and three-year deposits and only 6.45% for a five-year deposit. As compared to this, the post office pays 5.5% for 1-3 year deposits and 6.7% for a five-year deposit, making it a better space to park money for a five-year term.“The sharp cut in deposit rates has made many corporate fixed deposits unattractive. Investors need to review their portfolios,” says Mohit Mittal, Product Head (Investments), Bajaj Capital. As an alternative to fixed deposit, he recommends the GOI bonds which pay interest rates of 35 basis points higher than the post office national savings certificate (NSC) to investors in low tax bracket, with the interest rate being reset every six months. Currently, GOI bonds pay a...

The stock market has bounced back from the March lows, thanks largely to the liquidity push of global central bankers. While this is good news for investors, it is time to be careful now. Experts believe the easy part of the rally is over and some segments of the real economy may take much longer to recover than is being perceived by stock prices right now. In other words, fundamentals will come back into play once the dust settles and investors holding fundamentally weak counters may get hurt.The entire price action in the stock market is not illogical. Only investors should understand the logic correctly. They should not restrict the analysis to the recently declared first quarter numbers or even the numbers expected for the entire 2020-21. For example, the share price of Titan has moved up even after it declared a quarterly net loss, the first time in its history. Though there will be recovery in coming quarters, Titan is also expected to report a 42% fall in its net profit during 2...

By Steven Lee Myers and Javier C. HernándezOn a cloudy day last month, thousands of soldiers massed on a beach in central Taiwan for the culmination of five days of exercises intended to demonstrate how the island’s military would repel an invasion from China.Jets, helicopters and artillery and missile batteries fired live ammunition at targets offshore, sending plumes of sea spray into the air. Then, a few hours later, a military helicopter taking part in the same exercise crashed at an airfield farther up the coast, killing two pilots and casting a shadow over the show of force.China’s growing aggression across Asia in recent months has created fears that it may make brash moves in Taiwan, the South China Sea or elsewhere. The ruling Communist Party’s recent crackdown on dissent and activism in Hong Kong, a former British colony that has long been a bastion of democratic values, has added to those concerns.Beijing’s posturing has forced Taiwan, an island of 24 million, to reexamine w...

There is good reason why Indian students and their parents hanker for a higher education ‘abroad’, especially in institutions carrying the Ivy League and Oxbridge goldmark. Places such as Stanford or Harvard in the US, and Trinity or Imperial College in Britain have, for decades if not centuries, provided not just the best that quality education can provide, but especially for many Anglophonic Indians, something that is deeply aspirational, providing a ‘golden ticket’ for social mobility that goes well beyond what one’s LinkedIn profile will contain.Much of the high value is created not just by what goes on in the ‘tried and tested and branded’ academic exchanges in these Hogwarts, but also by the immersive experiences that comes with being there – from engaging ‘fireplace chats’ with tutors over sherry and string theory, and getting lost in labs and libraries, to the many rituals of campus life and arcana – that together form part of ‘top college education’ and ‘weaponise’ the Yale or...

The Sensex now is just 7% away from its all time high of 42,273 hit on 20 January. However, there is a clear disconnect between the market rally and the stock fundamentals.What should investors do? First, restrict your portfolio to fundamentally strong companies that are still quoting at attractive valuations. Since 2020-21 is an abnormal year, it is reasonable to ignore these results. However, investors should look at the earnings growth expected in 2021-22. Second, book partial profits and sit on the sidelines for some time. Technical patterns have also started showing weakness. “Nifty is showing a broadening pattern and we are close to the upper end of that pattern. While there may be one more move towards 11,800 levels, the correction after that may take the Nifty to around 10,700, the lower end of the pattern,” says Sacchidanand Uttekar, Deputy Vice-President, Trade Bulls Securities.Buy portfolio insuranceA third option is to remain invested and participate in the ongoing rally an...