Apple CEO confident of opening more stores in India

Agencies
November 2, 2018

New York, Nov 2: Apple CEO Tim Cook voiced optimism that the Indian government will at some point agree to allow the technology giant to bring in its stores as he lauded the country's bold reforms, saying he is a "big believer" and "very bullish" on India.

Cook was responding to a question on whether Apple is at a disadvantage in India, as compared to other markets, in terms of ability to own stores and manufacture its products.

“We've had really great productive discussions with the Indian government and I fully expect that at some point, they will agree to allow us to bring our stores into the country. We've been in discussions with them and the discussions are going quite well," Cook said during the fourth quarter 2018 earnings call Thursday.

Cook said that in India there are import duties in some or most of the product categories that Apple is in and in some cases they compound.

"This is an area that we're giving lots of feedback on. We do manufacture some of the entry iPhones in India and that project has gone well. I am a big believer in India. I am very bullish on the country and the people and our ability to do well there," he said.

Cook said that despite the challenges, including currency weakness, he was very optimistic about his company's future growth in the Indian market.

With the rupee touching 74 to a dollar, Cook said the currency weakness has been part of Apple's challenge in India, "as you can tell from just looking at the currency trends, but I sort of view these as speed bumps along a very long journey though, and the long term is, I think is very, very strong there (India).

"There's a huge number of people that will move into the middle class. The government has really focused on reform in a major way and made some very bold moves and I applaud them for doing that, and sort of can't wait for the future there," he said.

On some deceleration in key emerging markets, Cook said the emerging markets that Apple is seeing pressure in are Turkey, India, Brazil, Russia.

"These are markets where currencies have weakened over the recent period. In some cases, that resulted in us raising prices and those markets are not growing the way we would like to see," he said.

Cook said Apple's business in India in Q4 was flat.

"Obviously, we would like to see that be a huge growth. Brazil was down somewhat compared to the previous year. And so I think, or at least the way that I see these, is each one of the emerging markets has a bit of a different story, and I don't see it as some sort of issue that is common between those for the most part," he said.

The company said it saw great response to the new MacBook Pro models launched in July, with strong double digit revenue growth driving an all time quarterly record for Mac revenue.

“We were especially pleased with Mac momentum in emerging markets with strong growth in Latin America, in India, the Middle East and Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe,” Apple’s Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said.

Apple sold 9.7 million iPads during the quarter, gaining share in nearly every market it tracked. However, on a year-to-year basis, there was a six per cent decrease in the number of iPads sold, from 10.3 million in Q4, 2017.

"We generated iPad growth in a number of key regions around the world, including Latin America, Europe, Japan, India and South Asia. Among customers around the world purchasing iPads during the quarter, nearly half were new to iPad, and our active installed base of iPads reached a new all-time high," Maestri said.

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Agencies
June 12,2020

Mumbai, Jun 12: Following an overwhelming response for the mega rights issue of Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries, the partly paid-up rights shares are set to debut on stock exchanges on June 15.

The biggest ever Rs 53,124 crore rights issue was subscribed 1.59 times and received bids worth Rs 84,000 crore on June 3.

Reliance said the rights issue saw a huge investor interest, including from lakhs of small investors and thousands of institutional investors, both Indian and foreign.

In 2019, Ambani said in the Reliance's annual general meeting that the company will be net zero debt by March 2021. The company is on course to achieve its target ahead of the deadline.

"In spite of the COVID-19 crisis and the lockdowns, the due-diligence by Saudi Aramco for the planned investment in the O2C business is on track as both the parties are committed and actively engaged," he said recently.

"With a strong visibility to these equity infusions, Reliance is set to achieve net zero debt status ahead of its own aggressive timeline. We believe rights issue was a part of the company's strategy of deleveraging its balance sheet," said Ambani. 

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Agencies
July 13,2020

New Delhi, Jul 13: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has blocked Bharti Airtel's Platinum and Vodafone Idea's RedX premium plans that offer faster data speeds and priority services to customers as both the plans were violating net neutrality norms.

The telecom watchdog has asked Bharti Airtel to explain within seven days how such a similar plan being launched does not violate the rules of net neutrality.

Vodafone Idea's RedX plan has been in the market since November 2019. They made some modifications in May 2020 and the Bharti Airtel was soon going to launch a similar plan.

According to TRAI, the higher speed for premium customers discriminate against others and violates net neutrality.

Responding to TRAI's move, Airtel spokesperson said: "We are passionate about delivering the best network and service experience to all our customers. This is why we have a relentless obsession to eliminate faults and have been consistently recognised by international agencies as the best network in terms of speed, latency and video experience."

"At the same time, we want to keep raising the bar for our post-paid customers in terms of service and responsiveness. This is an ongoing effort at our end," the spokesperson said.

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Agencies
June 17,2020

In a bid to help tackle rise in domestic violence during the social distancing times in India, Twitter on Wednesday launched a dedicated search prompt to serve information and updates from authoritative sources around domestic violence.

Twitter has partnered with the Ministry of Women and Child Development the National Commission for Women in India to expand its efforts towards women.

The search prompt will be available on iOS, Android and on mobile.twitter.com in India, in both English and Hindi languages, the company said in a statement.

Data shows that since the outbreak of Covid-19, violence against women and girls has intensified in India and across the globe.

"We recognise collaboration with the public, government and NGOs is key to combating the complex issue of domestic violence. Accessing reliable information through this search prompt could be a survivor's first step towards seeking help against abuse and violence," said Mahima Kaul, Director, Public Policy, India and South Asia, Twitter.

Every time someone searches for certain keywords associated with the issue of domestic violence, a prompt will direct them to the relevant information and sources of help available on Twitter.

This is an expansion of Twitter's #ThereIsHelp prompt, which was specifically put in place for the public to find clear, credible information on critical issues.

The feature will be reviewed at regular intervals by the Twitter team to ensure that all related keywords generate the proactive search prompt, said the company.

Violence against women and girls across Asia Pacific is pervasive but at the same time widely under reported.

"In fact, in many countries in our region, the number is even greater, with as many as 2 out of 3 women in some countries reporting experiences of violence," added Melissa Alvarado, UN Women Asia Pacific Regional Manager on Ending Violence against Women.

Rekha Sharma, Chairperson, the NCW, said: "With social distancing norms in place, several women are unable to contact their regular support systems. This initiative by Twitter will provide big support to the survivors, who would otherwise be easily isolated without access to relevant information and help".

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