Business

Govt Giving Rs 5,000 To Citizens As Covid Relief Fund? Here’s the truth

Published

2 weeks ago

January 12, 2022

editor

A viral message is doing the rounds in the social media regarding financial assistance by the Health Ministry in view of the ongoing COVID pandemic. It is being claimed in a fake message that an amount of Rs 5000 is being provided by the Ministry of Health, Government of India under the Corona Fund.

The fake message further asks the people to fill up a form to get Rs 5,000 from health ministry and click upon a certain link. The message adds that the last date to avail the financial benefit is till 15 January 2022.

Debunking the fake news, PIB said that people should not fall prey to such information. PIB tweeted:

एक फर्जी मैसेज में दावा किया जा रहा है कि भारत सरकार के हेल्थ मंत्रालय द्वारा कोरोना फंड के तहत ₹5000 की धनराशि प्रदान की जा रही है।#PIBFactcheck

▶️ ऐसे फर्जी संदेशों को फॉरवर्ड न करें।

▶️ इस तरह की संदिग्ध वेबसाइट पर अपनी किसी भी तरह की निजी जानकारी साझा न करें। pic.twitter.com/qiAbnHlJLi

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) January 11, 2022

It is advised that you should not click any such suspicious links being sent over as a viral message.

How to get messages fact-checked by PIB

If you get any such suspicious message, you can always know its authenticity and check if the news is for real or it is a fake news. For that, you need to send the message to https://factcheck.pib.gov.in. Alternatively you can send a WhatsApp message to +918799711259 for fact check. You can also send your message to [email protected] The fact check information is also available on https://pib.gov.in.

Business

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

Published

2 days ago

January 25, 2022

editor

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.

Business

Kashmir Handicrafts to be promoted in Germany

Published

6 days ago

January 21, 2022

editor

The Director Handicrafts and Handloom Kashmir, Mahmood Ahmad Shah held an extensive web meeting with Dr Suyash Chavan Consulate General of India (CGI), Germany.

The online meeting dealt exclusively with reviewing the scope of developing end-to-end export linkages to provide quality handicraft products of Kashmir to the German Market in particular and the rest of Europe in general so as to ensure quality products reach Germany to increase the handicraft exports to Germany.

Germany is the largest consumer of Kashmir carpets and in addition imports Chain Stitch, Paper Machie and Walnut furniture from Kashmir. As the weather of Germany is characterized by cold winters, this makes it a perfect destination for the use of Kashmiri Shawls, Rugs and Carpets.

The tie-up shall also aim to connect art lovers and handicraft importers of Germany with exporters from Kashmir and also achieve a tie-up of master craftsmen and artisans of Kashmir with art connoisseurs through digital platforms, which shall ensure long term sustainability for arts like Papier-mâché, sozni, Kani shawl, basket weaving, khatamband, wood carving, silver and copper carving, carpet weaving, leather, silk and pashmina weaving amongst other crafts that Kashmir is known for in German markets

It was discussed that the participation of Handicrafts & Handloom shall be facilitated in participation in upcoming Expos and Trade shows which shall provide an opportunity for international exposure as well as showcasing the Kashmiri art at international platforms besides selling their inventory which has remained unsold due to COVID-19 pandemic.

To begin with, GI certified products of Kashmir shall be presented to the Consulate General of India, Germany which includes Pashmina, Khatamband, Walnut wood carving, Sozni, Kani Shawl, Hand-knotted carpet, Paper Machie and Saffron for display in the Consulate General Munich office and in the exhibitions at Germany.

The consulate general was briefed about the export incentive announced by the Government on GI certified goods and about the renewed focus on Handicrafts in view of the recent UNESCO Craft listing for Srinagar City.

He was apprised about initiatives taken to promote artisans through Craft tours. Consulate General was also apprised about the GI labelling of Kashmir carpets and adaption of blockchain mechanism to check piracy and misbranding of Kashmir handicrafts

The Consulate General expressed his desire for cross-platform exchange and promotion of Departmental social media handles in Germany. The Counsel General requested for digital content like films and photographs on Kashmir craft to be promoted by counsel handle.

The Counsel General was assured that digital content like pictures videos, brochures will be provided to CG for dissemination in German Market. We will make the administration accountable and answerable for people’s grievances at all costs”, Harsh roared.

Business

Jio surpassed BSNL to become the country’s largest fixed broadband provider

Published

7 days ago

January 20, 2022

editor

JioFiber added 0.19 million subscribers to become the number 1 operator in the fixed broadband segment in just about two years from commercial launch, with 4.34mn FBB subs.

JioFiber’s market share improved 85bp month on month to 16.9 percent (launched commercially in Sep-19), Nomura said in a report.

Bharti added 0.1mn subs to reach 4.08mn FBB subs (up 68% since May-20), with market share up 60bp m-m to 15.9 per cent.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (BSNL) market share further declined by 185 bp to 16.4 percent share (vs 44 percent pre-JioFiber launch on September 19), the report said.

Without significant fund-raising, Vodafone Idea’s network investments and 5G rollout would likely remain constrained, at least in the near term. Hence, we expect market share gains to continue for Bharti and R-Jio, the report said.

TRAI data for November shows a slight improvement in industry numbers, with Jio gaining market share at the expense of VIL, UBS said in a report.

After a large decline in September (driven by the 19mn subscriber loss reported by Jio) and flattish numbers in October, the industry witnessed a slight improvement in November, with the overall subscriber base expanding by 1.2mn. Bharti gained 1.3mn subs (-0.5mn in Oct), Jio added 2mn subs (+1.8mn in Oct), while VIL continued to lose market share: it lost 1.9mn subs (versus a loss of 1mn and 1.1mn in Oct and Sept respectively).

Jio remains the market leader, with a subscriber market share (SMS) of 36.7 per cent (+10bps). Bharti and VIL ended Nov with SMS of 30.4 per cent (flat MoM) and 22.9 per cent (down 20bps) respectively. It is important to note that the tariff hikes were largely applicable from end-November / December, and therefore, December is likely to see some churn, UBS said.

In fixed broadband, Jio surpassed BSNL to become the country’s largest FBB provider. Jio now has 4.3mn FBB subs (+0.2mn in Nov), followed by BSNL with 4.2mn subs (-0.5mn in Nov) and Airtel with 4.1mn subs (+0.1mn in Nov).