Feb 2, 2017 - Industry welcomes Union Budget

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Sree Vijaykumar From the Editor's Desk In 2012, psychologist Michael Kosinski proved that on the basis of an average of 68 Facebook "likes" by a user, it was possible to predict their skin color (with 95 percent accuracy), their sexual orientation (88 percent accuracy), and their affiliation to the Democratic or Republican party (85 percent). But it didn't stop there. Intelligence, religious affiliation, as well as alcohol, cigarette and drug use, could all be determined. From the data it was even possible to deduce whether someone's parents were divorced. The strength of the modeling was illustrated by how well it could predict a subject's answers. Kosinski continued to work on the models incessantly: before long, he was able to evaluate a person better than the average work colleague, merely on the basis of ten Facebook "likes". Seventy "likes" were enough to outdo what a person's friends knew, 150 what their parents knew, and 300 "likes" what their partner knew. More "likes" could even surpass what a person thought they knew about themselves. More here Advertisers of the day The Economist: Subscribe now and get a Hidesign passport wallet free Ingram Micro Cloud: Streamline your creative process and secure your digital assets with Dropbox Business   Our advertisers help fund the daily operations of TradeBriefs. We request you to accept our promotional emails (B2B Decision-Makers, B2C Decision-Makers, TradeBriefs Premium). Industry welcomes Union Budget With announcements anchored around two radical domestic policy actions - GST and demonetisation - becoming the focal point of Budget 2017, initial reactions point to a largely positive trend towards greater adoption of these initiatives for the sector. Brightest minds of India Inc. to convene at Retail Leadership Summit 2017 to deliberate on the future course for retail in India Come February 15, and Renaissance Hotel & Convention Centre, Mumbai will be abuzz with activity as the best and brightest minds of retail from across India will come together to chart the way forward for the industry at the Retail Leadership Summit (RLS). To be held on February 15 – 16, RLS is the biggest knowledge sharing platform for the industry organised by the industry, for the industry. Organised by Retailers Association of India (RAI), RLS 2017 will focus on the theme Collaborating to Win the Connected Consumer as Collaboration is the need of the hour, the way ahead for all. Speakers at the event include industry leaders such as BS Nagesh, Founder TRRAIN & Chairman RAI; Dr A Velumani, Creator & MD, Thyrocare; Govind Shrikhande, MD, Shoppers Stop, Hari Menon, Co-founder & CEO, Bigbasket.com; Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO, Paytm among others. To know more,click here   Advt: Work for the best employer - Yourself Advantages - Best B2B audience in India, no hard-selling or up-front costs involved, access to our content repository and air-tight agreements with instant gratification. It's a big deal: Govt moots merger of oil PSUs to create global behemoth official.After more than a decade of on-again-off-again debate, the government has finally waved the green flag for creating entities with global scale by merging public sector oil firms. What will Budget 2017’s impact be for consumers? Government’s approach in Budget 2017seems to allow consumption to revive by itself, without creating inflationary pressures, on the back of improving economic conditions Budget 2017: A soothing balm for banks but no lasting cure The budget’s direct measures did fall short for the banking sector but the knock-on effects of other steps will eventually help banks Amid efforts to widen tax base in budget, farm income untouched Arun Jaitley dwelled extensively on the low taxpayer base in his budget speech, but did not once mention taxing agricultural households We have the funds, the target is to change mindset: Nitin Gadkari Infrastructure sector needs a fast-track decision-making process says transport minister Nitin Gadkari Budget 2017: Private equity funds, Esops face securities transaction tax googly on unlisted shares Currently, income arising from the transfer of long-term capital assets such as stocks is exempted from tax if the sale took place on or after October 1, 2004. Budget's digital push to make India transparent economy: Ravi Shankar Prasad The Budget has proposed a slew of initiatives for digitisation including expansion of optical fibre network, launch of 'Digi Gaon' initiative aimed at providing telemedicine, education and skills through use of technology. Subramanian Swamy slams CEA for 'confirming' Manmohan Singh's claims on economy A day earlier, Singh had painted a bleak picture of the Indian economy insisting "it is not in good shape". Gold prices rise to hit Rs29,000 mark Standard gold gained by Rs50 to end at Rs29,010 per 10 grams Aadhaar Pay will be cheaper than cards The government plans to launch an Aadhaar-enabled payment system soon, which can be used by those who do not have credit or debit cards, smartphones India sticks to bank spending plan, no bumper recapitalisation yet Jaitley reiterated an earlier plan to put 100 billion rupees into the banks during the fiscal year that begins in April. For every Re in government kitty, 19 paise to come from borrowing On expenditure side, the biggest component is states' share of taxes and duties at 24 paise and interest payment of 18 paise. RBI asks Kotak Mahindra to cut promoter stake to 15% by 2020 As per BSE data, promoter shareholding in Kotak Mahindra Bank as on 31 December 2016 was 33.61% What did the budget do for agriculture? The budget 2017-18 pitched for more reforms in agriculture marketing and increased funds for insurance and irrigation schemes, but did not spell out how farm incomes will double in five years Disney agrees to pay $100 million to end no-poaching lawsuit DreamWorks Animation SKG previously agreed to a $50 million settlement, while two Sony Pictures units and Blue Sky Studios reached deals worth $19 million Apple CEO Tim Cook lauds Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move Tim Cook said Apple will make significant investments in India going forward Budget 2017: Jaitley reduces income tax rates for individuals, companies Arun Jaitley in his budget speech announced a reduction in the tax rate in the income tax slab of Rs2.5 lakh to Rs5 lakh to 5% from 10% The end is still not in sight for ICICI Bank’s bad loan mess ICICI Bank may be a victim of economic circumstances in the wake of demonetization but the lender hasn’t completely gotten its act together Worst is behind Bajaj Auto as it deftly navigates tough conditions Bajaj Auto’s 9% drop in net revenue to Rs5,066.9 crore when compared to a year back was not as bad as analysts had estimated What H1B visa reforms mean for Indian IT companies US visa reforms may force Indian IT companies, which depend on H1B visas for recruitments, to make fundamental changes to business strategies SBI to hike stake in two credit card joint ventures The Mumbai-based lender, which is also Indias biggest government-owned bank by market capitalisation, wants to increase its stake to at least 51% from 40%. Firstsource inks 10-year deal with Sky The Firstsource-Sky deal will generate Rs11,000-12,000 crore revenue over 10 years IDBI brass brushed aside junior execs’ concerns on Kingfisher Airlines loans The CBI chargesheet has alleged that despite junior staff in IDBI Bank seeking shares as collateral for the Rs 750-crore loans, the then head of corporate loans BK Batra ‘struck off the portion in the loan proposal document. Focus on voluntary compliance for digital payments push: Subramanian Demonetisation on the ground has been hugely popular based on feedback, says chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, speaking on aspects of the Economic Survey Vodafone’s merger with Idea faces regulatory and operational hurdles Challenges for Vodafone and Idea range from having to sell spectrum to comply with antitrust norms to dealing with Vodafone’s unresolved tax issues Cheaper commercial papers might be hurting Indian banks' loan business Indian firms have been raising resources directly from the market by issuing commercial papers (CPs) bypassing banks where funds are costlier. Bank licences on tap but hardly anyone to tap 113 scrambled to get a licence in 2015. After two years shows: 21 got the licence, three have dropped out of the race and nearly a dozen are nowhere near commencing the business. The building blocks of economic policy The budget should be a part of the longer-term policy objective of increasing economic activity, prosperity and well-being PE investors buy stake in Centrum’s forex business The private equity group, led by New York Life and Jacob Ballas, has invested about $50 million in Centrum Direct for a 30% stake Future Generali India, Bank of Maharashtra in insurance pact Future Generali India Insurance, a private sector general insurer, has entered into a What the world’s biggest bank bosses say about Brexit exodus Both Frankfurt, given its financial ecosystem, and Dublin, with its low-tax, English-speaking location, are on the top of the lists of banks looking to set their EU headquarters out of UK The poor standards of rating agencies Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman say the ratings received by India and China bear no resemblance to the dramatically different evolution in underlying risks Payment companies hail Economic Survey suggestion to make digital transactions profitable Payment companies are optimistic about the recommendation finding a place in the Budget that will be presented on Wednesday. Union Budget 2017: FMCG players pin hopes on rural sops, tax cut Government's move to enhance rural spending through welfare schemes like MGNREGA and reduction in tax rate on basic income slab would help drive demand for products, say leading FMCG firms. Does the government understand e-commerce and start ups? Many hopes were attached to this budget for e-commerce start-ups as 2016 saw a slump in investments as compared to 2015. E-distribution platforms to make cashless India a reality Deccan Chronicle Deccan ChroniclePegging a double digit CAGR of 16.7 per cent, Indian retail industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. The rapid technology adoption driven by the growth of mobile Internet and surrounding app ecosystem has transformed the industry over the ... Starbucks debuts voice ordering, allows customers to place orders Starbucks is taking the next step toward evolving the digital customer experience by launching voice ordering capabilities within the Starbucks mobile iOS app and the popular Amazon Alexa platform. T Amazon opens fresh flower stores in 5 cities E-commerce giant Amazon has announced the launch of its Fresh Flower Store across five cities in India. Can Cocofly crack the 'Paper Boat Problem'? While sales of fizzy drinks remain sluggish, coconut water was the world's fastest-growing cold drink last year. Budget 2017: Gain for rural broadband connectivity with BharatNet expansion The Union Budget proposes to allocate Rs 10,000 crore to the project. Govt halves revenue estimate from telecom to Rs 44300 cr While telecom industry has been a key contributor of revenues to the exchequer, it is bleeding on account of high cost of spectrum, capital investment.. Budget 2017: 'Made in India' Mobile Phones Likely to See Price Hike The price of mobile phones will likely go up in India, after the announcement of Budget 2017-2018 Union Budget 2017-18: Smartphone prices in India to marginally increase Here is what key players of the technological sector expect from the Union Budget. Budget leaves telecom industry disappointed New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Following muted response to spectrum auction, government has slashed revenue expectation from the telecom sector by 55 per cent to Rs 44,342.2 crore for 2017-18, indicating no sale of airwaves for mobile services next fiscal. Vodafone's admission of merger talks with Idea Cellular is an inflection point in Indian telecom history The intensity of the competition has also taken its toll with many companies exhausted, out of ideas and virtually running on empty, or on corporate debt. Home InDepth Budget 2017: Nothing significant for telecom industry India Finance Minister Arun Jaitely did not announce any major incentive or big initiative for the Indian telecom industry while presenting the Budget 2017. The Finance Minister said high speed broadband connectivity on optical fibre will be available in more than 1,50,000 gram panchayats, with wifi hot spots and access to digital services at low tariffs … Budget 2017: Indirect booster for rural-urban consumption The overall theme is to give impetus to the lower rungs of the society as the budget focuses on macro economic development in rural areas TradeBriefs Publications are read by over 10,00,000 Industry Executives India Business Brief | India Retail News | India Food Brief | India Telecom Brief | India Finance Brief | India Software Brief | India Digital Brief | India Ecommerce Brief | India Franchise Brief | India HR Brief | India Logistics Brief | India Construction Brief About Us  |  Advertise Privacy Policy    Unsubscribe You are receiving this mail because of your subscription with TradeBriefs. Our mailing address is GF 25/39, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110008, India