Business

Govt employees may get bumper salary hike ahead of Republic Day

In what could be good news, lakhs of central government employees impatiently waiting for an increment could soon receive a salary hike. According to media reports, the Central government could soon announce a hike in the salaries of government employees before January 26.

The Central government could reportedly announce an increase in the fitment factor of central and state government employees. A hike in the fitment factor will increase the minimum wages of central government employees.

Central government employees unions have long been urging the Centre to increase the minimum wages of Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000, along with an increase in the fitment factor from 2.57 times to 3.68 times.

The Central government could give an update about the fitment factor of central employees before January 26. This means that government employees could receive the good news by Republic Day.

Currently, the central government employees are receiving salaries under the fitment factor of 2.57 per cent. The demand of the unions is to increase the fitment factor to 3.68.

If the government increases the fitment factor to 3.68 from per cent 2.57 per cent, the minimum pay of government employees will increase by Rs 8,000. The basic salary at 3.68 per cent fitment factor will increase to Rs Rs 26,000 from Rs 18,000. Also Read: Google spends Rs 7,500 crore to buy new office in London: Check photos

According to the basic calculations, upon increasing the fitment factor to 3.68 per cent, the basic salary will increase to Rs 26,000. Currently, the central government employees receive a monthly salary of Rs 46,260 (18,000 X 2.57 = 46,260) if their basic pay is Rs 18,000, as per the 2.57 fitment factor.

Business

Gold Price Down By 3,500. Check Latest Gold Rates

The gold rate today fell by a whopping Rs 3,500 per kg across the country. In India, the gold rate today was Rs 45,500 per 10 grams of 22-carat gold. In Delhi, the gold rate was Rs 45,150. While the gold rate in Mumbai was Rs 45,150, the same as the gold rate in Delhi, according to goodreturns’ website.

Check Latest Gold Rates In Your City Here On January 29, 2022

The following prices may not match the local prices because these do not include GST, TCS and other taxes. These are the prices per 10 grams of 22-carat of gold in various cities across the country. The rates have been taken from goodreturns.in.

Gold rate in Chennai: ₹45,490
Gold rate in Mumbai: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Delhi: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Kolkata: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Bangalore: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Hyderabad: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Kerala: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Pune: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Vadodara: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Ahmedabad: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Jaipur: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Lucknow: ₹46,100
Gold rate in Coimbatore: ₹45,490
Gold rate in Madurai: ₹45,490
Gold rate in Vijayawada: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Patna: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Nagpur: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Chandigarh: ₹46,100
Gold rate in Surat: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Bhubaneswar: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Mangalore: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Visakhapatnam: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Nashik: ₹45,150
Gold rate in Mysore: ₹45,150

Business

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

Bharti Airtel and Google, on Friday, January 28, 2022, said that they would 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 the 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 next five years, the companies said in a statement.

Also Read: BSF constable injured in encounter with smugglers; huge cache of drugs, arms seized

“Together, they will work to bring best-in-class end-to-end products to serve customer needs, provide quality customer experience, and bring their expertise to solve problems of affordability, access, and digital inclusion,” they added.

The deal includes an investment of USD 700 million to acquire 1.28% ownership in Airtel and up to USD 300M toward potential multi-year commercial agreements. The partnership will focus on enabling affordable access to smartphones across price ranges and will continue to explore building on their existing partnerships to potentially co-create India-specific network domain use cases for 5G and other standards and help accelerate the cloud ecosystem for businesses across India.

Business

Smartphone sales in India grow by 12% in 2021: Report

The smartphone market in India achieved a record 162 million shipments in 2021, growing 12 per cent in 2020, a new report revealed.

After a tough start to the year, due to the second wave of Covid-19, India recovered strongly in the second half, reports market research firm Canalys.

“Thanks to the vaccination rollout, market reopening and pent-up demand, smartphone shipments reached all-time highs for the full year. Growth is expected to continue in 2022, driven by both replacement demand and new customers migrating to smartphones,” Sanyam Chaurasia, Analyst Canalys said in a statement.

Following a strong comeback in Q3, smartphone vendors shipped 44.5 million devices in Q4 for 2 per cent growth, despite a challenging supply chain.

Also Read: Father-Son Arrested For Sharing Video Insulting Prime Minister

Xiaomi was the leader, shipping 9.3 million units and maintaining its 21 per cent market share. Samsung came second with 8.5 million units for a 19 per cent share.

For the first time, realme climbed to third place in India, with a 49 per cent year-on-year increase in volume that reached 7.6 million shipments. The fourth and fifth places were taken by Vivo and OPPO, with 5.6 million and 4.9 million units.

“Overall, India will see upward momentum towards future-proof technologies, with smartphones being at the core of the digital ecosystem and growing ever-more essential to the daily lives of Indian citizens,” Chaurasia added.