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Business India News

Mondelez India All Set For Steady Growth In Snacking Sector

After a healthy festive season led demand push, snacking major Mondelez India foresees continuance of positive off-take sentiment. Accordingly, Mondelez India, which was formerly, known as Cadbury India has cited that pandemic has actually accelerated the growth of snacking in India.

Besides, the company has expanded its e-com as well as on-ground reach to buck the Covid induced downtrend.

At present, the snacking major operates in chocolate, beverages, biscuits and candy categories in the country.

It owns brands like Cadbury Dairy Milk, 5 Star, Perk, Gems, Bournvita, Tang and Oreo among others.

In a conversation with IANS, Mondelez India Sales Director Praveen Dalal said: “We reconfigured our offerings to suit the new norms.”

“Whether it was expanding our gifting portfolio with different SKUs and brands or accelerating our efforts in the e-commerce space while complimenting it with focussed marketing strategies.”

Additionally, the shift and dependence of consumers over brands like Cadbury, Bournvita, Tang and Oreo has led the company to strengthen its distribution network.

“We have added 100,000 stores to our on-ground ecosystem and offered personalised and digital shopping opportunities, through our D2C website which recorded a considerable increase in the number of orders, per day,” he said.

According to Dalal, the company witnessed a pickup in its premium and personalised gifting offerings during the just concluded festive season.

“We were ahead of the curve in meeting this demand at the back of aggressive brand investments, increased availability in traditional trade and through providing more choices and proliferating our distribution through unique partnerships with other online marketplaces and e-grocers.”

“The sentiment are definitely positive as movement restrictions were lifted and consumers made most of this opportunity to connect with their loved ones.”

Recently, the company came out with its ‘State of Snacking’ report which examined the evolution of snacking worldwide amidst the pandemic, including India.

The study showed that two thirds of Indians are snacking more during the pandemic and 77 per cent say they look forward to snacking more than their meals.

Furthermore, it revealed that 3 in 4 Indian adults have relied on snacks for nourishment during the pandemic.

“A majority are also snacking more mindfully at home, saying that they are more in touch with the snacks their body needs these days (80 per cent), and that they have more control over the portions they eat because they are snacking at home more often (80 per cent),” the study said.

In addition, it pointed out a majority of respondents saying they have started to buy snacks online more often than they do in-store or offline (74 per cent), with 8 in 10 planning to continue shopping for snacks online once the pandemic is over (81 per cent).

“A similar percentage also say the pandemic has opened their eyes to so many more ways to get snacks than they knew existed before (80 per cent), including half who have discovered snacks to try on social media (50 per cent).”

Also Read: How To Reduce Food Damage?

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Business

Samsung, IBM Join Hands To Provide 5G Solutions

Samsung Electronics on Thursday said that it will collaborate with IBM to develop enterprise solutions with cutting-edge technologies.

Samsung said it aims to provide enterprises with new 5G, edge computing and hybrid cloud solutions so that businesses can better manage their operations and embrace the fourth industrial revolution.

“This planned collaboration will combine Samsung’s industry-leading Galaxy 5G mobile devices and advanced end-to-end enterprise network solutions with IBM’s network management, hybrid cloud, and edge computing offerings and network expertise, as well as its industry solutions driven by artificial intelligence, and Red Hat’s open architecture,” Samsung elaborated.

“Both companies also plan to explore how manufacturers can use private 5G or 4G networks and 5G mobile devices with Industrial IoT (IIoT) solutions.”

The two sides will also seek cross collaborations with global mobile operators to better offer 5G solutions, reports Yonhap news agency.

Earlier this year, Samsung announced a project with IBM, the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority and telecom service provider M1 Ltd. to showcase smart factory solutions, including 5G-powered artificial intelligence analytics and augmented reality capabilities.

Samsung and IBM have been working together for decades on government and enterprise solutions projects aimed at enhancing their operations.

In the US, the two firms recently joined forces to create an IBM and Samsung Growth Factory to drive new enterprise mobility innovations.

Also Read: IBM revenues decline for the 3rd quarter in a row

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Business Economy India News

DISCOM Revenues Fell 3% Since FY16: Report

Direct tariff electricity subsidies from the state governments have increased 32 per cent since FY 2016, amounting to Rs 1,10,391 crore ($14.96 billion) in FY 2019, an independent report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) said on Thursday.

The report estimates that “cross-subsidies” — high tariffs for some consumers to cover below-cost tariffs for other consumers — were worth at least another Rs 75,027 crore ($10.2 billion) in FY 2019, bringing the national total to at least Rs 185,418 crore ($25.2 billion).

According to the CEEW-IISD study, 25 out of 31 states and union territories (UTs) have failed to meet the requirements of the Ujjwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme to reduce aggregate technical and commercial losses (AT&C) to 15 per cent.

Poor collection is typically the biggest contributor to these losses. The states that have met the UDAY targets on AT&C losses in FY 2019 include Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh.

Further, Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim both stand out for a significant reduction in the power supply cost in FY2019.

Since FY 2016, revenue from sales across all DISCOMs has fallen by three per cent, while 24 of the 31 states had a revenue gap in 2019. Of the 26 states and UTs that subsidize electricity, not one managed to bill consumers as per the stipulated tariff limits under the National Tariff Policy 2016.

Analysts highlight that this is a vicious cycle: poor financial performance increases reliance on electricity subsidies, and badly designed subsidies contribute to poor DISCOM finances.

“With commercial and industrial consumers shifting to supply options outside of the DISCOMs like open access or even producing their own power, the dependence on subsidy is bound to increase,” says Prateek Aggarwal, Programme Associate at CEEW.

“States need to target benefits specifically to low-income consumers and work on improving the general state of unmetered consumption for domestic and agriculture consumers. Further, state governments, DISCOMs, and regulators must work to loop in efficiency in power procurement planning and operations and also ensure adequate investments are made for the long-term improvement of billing and collection systems.”

To better understand these challenges, the researchers investigated electricity subsidy design across India’s states and UTs.

Nationally, they found that agricultural consumers were allotted 75 per cent of total government subsidy support for electricity.

The report also identifies design problems with residential consumer subsidies too. Most states, barring Delhi, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, do not clearly specify for how many units the subsidy is on offer and as a result the ultimate beneficiaries cannot be identified.

Also Read: US Congress Backs India, Says Chinese LAC Claims ‘baseless’

Also Read: India Partners With UAE’s Waterfalls Initiative

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-Top News India News

India Daily Digital – December 17, 2020 – Modi, Hasina Vow to Stem Terrorism

Modi, Hasina Vow to Stem Terrorism; SC Acknowledges Farmers’ Right To Protest; Indians in US Green Card Queue Await Crucial Stimulus Bill; Imran reiterates call for shunning violence in Afghan – All In India Daily Digital – please click here to read.

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Economy USA

Fed Indicates Long Stay Of Near Zero Rates

The US Federal Reserve has kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the record-low level of near zero after concluding the final policy meeting of 2020, while expecting rates to stay there at least through 2023.

“Economic activity and employment have continued to recover but remain well below their levels at the beginning of the year,” the Fed said in a statement after the meeting, noting the path of the economy will depend significantly on the course of the virus, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The ongoing public health crisis will continue to weigh on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term, and poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term,” the Fed said, deciding to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0-0.25 percent.

The central bank also said that it will continue to increase its holdings of Treasury securities by at least $80 billion per month and of agency mortgage-backed securities by at least $40 billion per month until “substantial further progress has been made” toward the Fed’s maximum employment and price stability goals.

“We believe the increase in our balance sheet has materially eased financial conditions and is providing substantial support to the economy,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said at a virtual press conference Wednesday afternoon.

US Federal Reserve

“Our enhanced balance sheet guidance will ensure the monetary policy stays highly accommodated as progress happens,” he said.

Powell also said he expected the US economy to “perform strongly” in the second half of next year as more people are getting vaccinated.

“You have to think that sometime in the middle of next year you will see people feeling comfortable going out and engaging in a broader range of activities,” he said.

The Fed cut interest rates to near zero at two unscheduled meetings in March and began purchasing massive quantities of US treasuries and agency mortgage-backed securities to repair financial markets.

Most Fed officials expected that interest rates would remain near zero at least through 2023, according to the Fed’s new economic projections released on Wednesday.

The new projections also showed that Fed officials expected the US economy to contract by 2.4 per cent this year, better than their previous projection of a decline of 3.7 per cent in September.

Also Read: Australian economy sees signs of recovery

Also Read: Covid-19 hospitalisations surge in US

Categories
Arab News Saudi Arabia

Saudi Begins Vaccination Process

Saudi Arabia on Thursday started a vaccination programme for the novel coronavirus, the Health Ministry announced.

In a tweet, Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah, who received the vaccine, said: “In the last nine months, I was observing with concern the number of cases, today I will happily observe the number of people who will get the vaccine.”

The Kingdom received on Wednesday the first shipment of the vaccine.

More than 150,000 individuals registered to receive the free-of-charge vaccine.

The three-stage vaccination process covers citizens and residents in the country who wish to receive the vaccine.

As of Thursday, Saudi Arabia has reported a total of 360,335 coronavirus cases and 6,080 deaths.

Also Read: Vaccine registration begins in Saudi Arabia

Also Read: Saudi Approves Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine

Categories
-Top News Arab News Asia News

Israel Expects 100K UAE Tourists Annually

Israel is aiming to attract around 100,000 tourists from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) annually, Tourism Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen said during a virtual press conference in Dubai. Addressing the Minister said: “Tourism is key to building a lasting peace between countries, and Israel looks forward to welcoming travellers from the UAE.”

Direct flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv have already been launched, Xinhua news agency reported.

Dubai-based budget carrier flydubai has started operating 14 flights a week offering a double daily service between Dubai International Airport and Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport.

Israel’s Israir, meanwhile, was the first Israeli airline to operate a commercial flight to Dubai.

Farkash-Hacohen is expecting there will be 25 weekly flights between UAE and Israel beginning next month.

She added that “the visa-free entry for citizens of the two countries will take effect by end of this month or early January, and this will reduce the bureaucracy when visiting the two countries”.

Israeli Tourism Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen (Official Twitter Profile)

The UAE and Israel signed a mutual visa waiver agreement, enabling Emirati and Israeli travellers to obtain visa-on-arrival.

At the moment, however, Farkash-Hacohen noted Israel is still limiting the influx of tourists due to the pandemic.

“We grade countries based on their level of Covid-19 infection,” she added.

Travellers returning from “red” countries (those with high levels of Covid-19 cases) are required to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival in Israel.

The Health Ministry, meanwhile, currently lists the UAE as a “green” area.

The development comes as Israel and the UAE agreed to formally normalise their relations in mid-August and signed a normalisation agreement at the White House on September 15.

The Arab states of the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco have recognised Israel in recent months.

Also on Wednesday, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) signed an agreement to explore potential opportunities for collaboration and cross-listing of securities, a state media report said.

The MoU will facilitate the development of channels of communication to foster co-operation between the two exchanges and contribute to the growth of the capital markets in the UAE and Israel.

This was the first time an Arab exchange has entered into a commercial relationship with the state of Israel, according to the media report.

Also Read: UAE, Israel To Step Up Infra, Maritime Cooperation

Also Read: PLO slams Israel for extension of West Bank settlements

Categories
-Top News UK News

Asian Lite Daily Digital UK – December 17, 2020 – Modi To Attend G7 Summit In London

Modi To Attend G7 Summit In London; Sadiq Seeks Emergency Funding to Tackle Homelessness; How Biden Will Navigate the H1B Visas?; Taliban delegation in Pakistan amid peace talks – All In Asian Lite Daily Digital – please click here to read

Categories
-Top News Arab News

Asian Lite Daily Digital Dubai – December 17, 2020 – India Joins UAE’s Waterfalls Initiative

India Joins UAE’s Waterfalls Initiative; Saudi Begins Registration For Free Covid Vaccine; UAE to Increase Clean Energy Use to 50% by 2050 – All In Asian Lite Daily Digital – please click here to read.

Categories
-Top News USA

Asian Lite Daily Digital USA – December 16, 2020 – Opening Under Covid Protocol

Opening Under Covid Protocol; Moderna Awaits US Approval; How Biden Will Navigate the H1B Visas?; Taliban delegation in Pakistan amid peace talksall in Asian Lite Daily Digital – please click here to read the edition.