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Business UK News

Pramod Mittal: Britain’s biggest bankrupt

Pramod Mittal

Steel tycoon Pramod Mittal has gone down into depths of unprecedented financial liabilities after a financial deal guaranteed by him collapsed. Pramod, who spent 50 million pounds on his daughter’s wedding in 2013, now claims that he owns only a small stretch of land in India.

The businessman says that the loans he originally took out have ballooned dozens of times over due to interest payments and the total liabilities now lie at 2.5 billion pounds, reports Daily Mail.

He says he now owes £170m to his 94-year-old father, £1.1m to his wife, Sangeeta, £2.4m to their 30-year-old son Divyesh and another £1.1m to his brother-in-law Amit Lohia, 45. 

Mr Mittal said: ‘I have no personal income. My wife is financially independent from me. We have separate bank accounts and I have very limited information regarding her income’. 

The roots of Pramod’s current troubles date back 14 years, when he agreed to act as a guarantor for the debts of a coke producer in Bosnia known as GIKIL, a partnership between his Isle of Man-registered Global Steel Holdings and the Bosnian state.

GIKIL subsequently failed to make repayments, trapping him in a predicament. That debt was then pursued by a company named Moorgate Industries, which obtained the bankruptcy order, according to the mail.

It is reported that Pramod’s brother and the promoter of Luxembourg-based Arcelor Mittal steel business, Lakshmi Mittal could easily bail him out even though the sums are huge. Lakshmi’s net worth is fixed somewhere around $10 billion.

Also Read: Cleveland-Cliffs takes over ArcelorMittal USA

Also Read: $599 Mn Q2 Loss for ArcelorMittal

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Business Tech Lite

Cognizant takes over Industrial IoT player Bright Wolf

Information technology company Cognizant on Thursday announced to acquire Bright Wolf, a technology services provider specialising in custom Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions, for an undisclosed sum.

With the close of the acquisition, Cognizant will establish its new IoT innovation lab in North Carolina in the US, with the Bright Wolf team as its core.

“Combining Bright Wolf’s experience in production-class IIoT deployments with Cognizant’s expertise in foundational IIoT technologies will increase our clients’ resiliency, operational efficiency and competitive advantage,” said Malcolm Frank, President, Digital Business, Cognizant.

Bright Wolf will enrich Cognizant’s smart products offering and expertise in architecting and implementing IIoT solutions.

Bright Wolf recently introduced a solution for automation of cold chain transportation and refrigeration assets for one of the world’s largest logistics companies.

“Our unique capabilities, together with Cognizant’s deep vertical industry knowledge, scale, and expertise in predictive analytics, AI, cloud and IoT, will provide clients with an unparalleled partner on their IIoT journey,” said Peter Bourne, Chief Executive Officer, Bright Wolf.

Cognizant last month announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Chicago-based 10th Magnitude, a Cloud specialist focused exclusively on the Microsoft Azure platform. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Also Read: Microsoft and Telstra partner to harness next-gen Cloud, IoT

Also Read: Global spending on cloud set to cross $1 trillion: Report

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Business India News Tech Lite

Dr Reddy’s Labs hit by cyber attack as ‘Sputnik’ trials begin

One of Indias largest pharma companies, Dr Reddys Laboratories has been hit by a cyber-attack and has isolated its data services.

Dr Reddy’s said in a statement, “In the wake of a detected cyber-attack, we have isolated all data center services to take required preventive actions.”

The development comes days after the company received approvals for clinical trails of Sputnik vaccine for COVID-19 in India.

The Drug Controller General of India, DGCI, on October 17, had granted approval to Dr Reddy’s, to conduct phase 2 and 3 clinical human trials of the Sputnik V , a Covid-19 vaccine made by Russia.

Commenting on this development, Mukesh Rathi, CIO, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories said, “We are anticipating all services to be up within 24 hours and we do not foresee any major impact on our operations due to this incident.”

In the morning, Dr Reddy’s Labs stock was trading down by more than 3 per cent after reports that its plants worldwide had been shut down due to a data breach.

Dr Reddy’s Labs website is also not functioning although the company is yet to give a clarification on the status of its plants and what exactly is the data breach.

As per reports, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories’ plants in India, Brazil, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States were impacted by the data breach. It has shut down all production units after a breach in the server.

The share price of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories fell on the report of the data breach. The stock was trading 2.94 percent lower at Rs 4,898.45.

Also Read: Russia Seeks India’s Help On Sputnik V

Also Read: Russia hopes for more equality with US: Lavrov

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Business Economy

OPEC production cuts to go beyond December

Oil cartel OPEC may decide on extending the existing level of production cuts beyond December to keep the crude price stable next year. The chances are high as the extended run of Covid-19 pandemic threatens to keep demand under check over a longer period, though the global economy looks to reach closer normalcy next year.

Oil sector experts privy to the development said that an Ordinary Meeting of OPEC is scheduled in Vienna on November 30. This meeting, they said, may also discuss extension of production cuts beyond December and is likely to seal a deal in this regard after having few more parleys over next one month.

“Demand recovery reversal due to rising infections and/or Iran’s supply rise are risks to oil price but to counter these risks, OPEC+ can delay pruning of production cuts from 7.7 million barrels of oil per day (mbpd) to 5.8 mbpd to a later date or deepen cuts,” a research report by ICICI Securities has said.

Though oil is out of the woods with demand recovering from April 2020 lows and demand exceeding supply from June 2020, the fresh wave of the pandemic in Europe and increasing cases in US has thrown fresh concerns over normalcy returning to the market anytime soon.

Global crude oil price has moved between $40-42 per barrel range for last couple of months even through rising demand in recent months has created minor supply shortage of oil in the market.

According to US Energy Information Administration (EIA), global oil demand has exceeded supply since June 2020 with global supply deficit at 1.7-3.6 mbpd in June-September 2020 vs supply surplus of 19.5 mbpd in April 2020.

But concerns remain over continuation of demand rise into 2021 over the pandemic.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated global oil demand to rise by 5.5 mbpd YoY but supply rise is estimated at only 2 mbpd YoY in CY21E, assuming OPEC+ prunes cuts to 5.8 mbpd from January 2021 and Libyan output ramps up; thus, supply deficit of 1.2 mbpd is estimated in CY21E vs surplus of 2.2 mbpd in CY20E.

But according to ICICI Securities, these numbers may come under pressure if the pandemic run is extended. Therefore, experts said that OPEC decision will be closely watched as continuation production cuts would support oil prices if demand remains subdued.

Also Read: Challenges mar OPEC’s 60th anniversary

Also Read: OPEC Denotes Signs Of Improvement

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Business

Global IT Spending Will Jump To $3.8 Tn In 2021: Gartner

Worldwide IT spending is projected to reach $3.8 trillion in 2021, an increase of four per cent from this year, according to a forecast by Gartner on Wednesday.

IT spending in 2020 is expected to total $3.6 trillion, down 5.4 per cent from 2019.

“In the 25 years that Gartner has been forecasting IT spending, never has there been a market with this much volatility,” said John-David Lovelock, Research Vice President at Gartner.

“While there have been unique stressors imposed on all industries as the ongoing pandemic unfolds, the enterprises that were already more digital going into the crisis are doing better and will continue to thrive going into 2021.”

Enterprise software is expected to have the strongest rebound in 2021 – 7.2 per cent due to the acceleration of digitalisation efforts by enterprises supporting a remote workforce, delivering virtual services such as distance learning or telehealth, and leveraging hyperautomation to ensure pandemic-driven demands are met.

Spending on data centre systems will experience the second highest of growth of 5.2 per cent in 2021 as hyperscalers accelerate global data center build out and regular organisations resume data centre expansion plans and allow staff to be physically back onsite.

Despite the increase in cloud activity in 2020 as organisations shifted to a remote-work-first environment, enterprise cloud spending – which falls into multiple categories – will not be reflected in vendors’ revenue until 2021.

“The spending slowdown that took place from roughly April through August of this year, coupled with cloud service providers’ ‘try before you buy’ programmes, is shifting cloud revenue out of 2020,” said Lovelock.

Also Read: FDI inflows to India witness 13% growth

Also Read: Global spending on cloud set to cross $1 trillion: Report


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Business

Khadi launches footwear range, eyes global market

Eyeing on the Rs 50,000 crore footwear market in India, Khadi Village Industries Corporation (KVIC) on Wednesday launched a range of footwear for men and women made of Khadi fabric and said that it plans to tap the Rs 1,000 crore market in the first year.

The first ever KVIC footwear range was launched by MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari, Minister of State for MSME Pratap Sarangi and KVIC Chairman Vinai Saxena.

Speaking at the launch of the Khadi footwear, Gadkari said, “Global market share of footwear is worth Rs 1.45 lakh crore. And with the new range of Khadi footwear, it will generate immense demand for the Khadi footwear “

He said, “This venture of Khadi can generate business worth Rs 5,000 crore in the coming years.”

He also said that Khadi India needs to tap on the purse, wallet and women’s bag market made of Khadi fabric, which has high global demand, particularly in the European countries.

MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari

Gadkari also hailed KVIC for launching the product and said, after the US and China, India is one of the biggest shoe consumers globally.

The KVIC Chairman said in India the market of footwear is worth Rs 50,000 crore. “And we plan to get the market share of at least Rs 1,000 crore in the first year,” Saxena said.

He said the Khadi footwear range is made up of the best fabric just like the Patola saree of Gujarat, Madhubani painting of Bihar, Matka silk of Bihar and the Denim fabric. He said that the Khadi has the best rubber soles in these shoes. These footwear will be sold online through KVIC website, he said.

Saxena pointed out that many European countries were turning vegan and with no use of leather in the Khadi shoe range, we are hopeful to generate a good demand for the same globally.

He also added that this step of launching own Khadi footwear is a step towards self reliant India.

Also Read: FDI inflows to India witness 13% growth

Also Read: India’s hiring activity down by 30%

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Business Motoring

Kia Sonet gets over 50K bookings

Kia Motors India on Wednesday said its recently-launched compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) Sonet has got 50,000 bookings.

In a statement, Kia Motors India – a wholly owned subsidiary of Kia Motors Corporation of South Korea – said: “This record booking number affirms its status as a game-changer by customers in the highly competitive compact SUV category. This milestone figure was attained within two months of opening of bookings on August 20, 2020.”

Kia Motors said that last month 9,266 units of the Sonet were dispatched, making it the leader of the compact SUV segment within 12 days of its price announcement and market launch.

Curiously, the announcement comes on the day when Japan’s Nissan Motor Corporation world premiered its new compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) Magnite and said it would be made in India for Indian and the global market.

The Magnite will soon be fighting against Sonet, Hyundai Motor’s Venue and others in the Indian market.

Also Read: M&M’s new Thar clocks 15K bookings

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Business Tech Lite

By 2025, 87 million jobs will give way for machines: WEF

Displacement of around 87 million jobs is expected in the coming years due to shift from human labour to machines, a report by World Economic Forum (WEF) has said.

The ‘Future of Jobs Report 2020’, however, noted that 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines, and algorithms.

“Although the number of jobs destroyed will be surpassed by the number of ‘jobs of tomorrow’ created, in contrast to previous years, job creation is slowing while job destruction accelerates,” it said.

Employers expect that by 2025, increasingly redundant roles will decline from 15.4 per cent of the workforce to 9 per cent, and that emerging professions will grow from 7.8 per cent to 13.5 per cent of the total employee base of company respondents, the report said.

“Based on these figures, we estimate that by 2025, 85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines, while 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines, and algorithms,” it added.

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It observed that automation, in tandem with the COVID-19 recession, is creating a ‘double-disruption’ scenario for workers. In addition to the current disruption from the pandemic-induced lockdowns and economic contraction, technological adoption by companies will transform tasks, jobs and skills by 2025.

Around 43 per cent per cent of businesses surveyed indicate that they are set to reduce their workforce due to technology integration, 41 per cent plan to expand their use of contractors for task-specialised work, and 34 per cent plan to expand their workforce due to technology integration.

“By 2025, the time spent on current tasks at work by humans and machines will be equal. A significant share of companies also expect to make changes to locations, their value chains, and the size of their workforce due to factors beyond technology in the next five years,” it said.

Also Read: AI may overtake humans by 2025: Musk

Also Read: Gartner Predicts Doubling 5G Spending

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Business

FDI inflows to India witness 13% growth

FDI inflows into India have increased by 13 per cent during April to August 2020 on a year-on-year basis, official data showed on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, $35.73 billion has been received during the period under review.

“It is the highest ever for first 5 months of a financial year and 13 per cent higher as compared to first five months of 2019-20 ($31.60 billion),” the ministry said in a statement.

“FDI equity inflow received during F.Y. 2020-21 (April to August, 2020) is $27.10 billion. It is also the highest ever for first 5 months of a financial year and 16 per cent more compared to first five months of 2019-20 ($23.35 billion).”

Besides, the ministry’s data showed that FDI inflows have risen by 55 per cent during the last 6 years.

“Total FDI inflow grew by 55 per cent, i.e. from $231.37 billion in 2008-14 to $358.29 billion in 2014-20,” the statement said.

“FDI equity inflow also increased by 57 per cent from $160.46 billion during 2008-14 to $252.42 billion (2014-20).”

“Continuing on the path of FDI liberalisation and simplification, Government has carried out FDI reforms across various sectors,” the statement added.

Also Read: India’s hiring activity down by 30%

Also Read: IMF Foresees Steep Fall And Rise For India’s GDP

Categories
Business

Snapchat registers 52% growth in revenues

Snapchat saw its daily active user base jump to touch 249 million, from 238 million in last quarter, as the company registered a 52 per cent increase in revenue at $679 million in its third quarter.

The stock of its parent company Snap rose 17.1 per cent after bumper quarter results. Operating cash flow improved by $21 million to $55 million in Q3 compared to the prior year.

“Our focus on delivering value for our community and advertising partners is yielding positive results during this challenging time. We’re excited about the growth of our business in Q3 as we continue to make long-term investments in our future,” CEO Evan Spiegel said in a statement late on Tuesday.

“The adoption of augmented reality (AR) is happening faster than we had previously anticipated, and we are working together as a team to execute on the many opportunities in front of us,” he added.

The average number of Snaps created every day grew 25 per cent year-over-year.

Total daily time spent by Snapchatters watching Shows increased by over 50 per cent year-over-year in its third quarter.

“The daily average number of Snapchatters in India watching Discover content increased by nearly 50 per cent sequentially in Q3 2020,” the company announced.

As of the end of Q3, over 1.5 million Lenses have been created through Lens Studio.

“Our ‘Anime Style’ Lens powered by real time machine learning was engaged with 3 billion times in its first week,” the company informed.

Snap said it helped over one million Snapchatters with voter registration for the 2020 US election through its ‘Register to Vote’ Mini, developed in partnership with Democracy Works.

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

Also Read: Apple expected to grow 15% riding on 5G wave

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