Feb 1-15, 2024 - Vol 4, Issue 13
INDIA NEWS
BUSINESS & TRADE
Govt hikes import duty on gold and Adani Group to invest in various public sectors of Nepal: Minister silver coins, jewellery findings to 15 per cent, from 10 per cent at present, with effect from January 22. Findings are items like hooks and clips which are components used for making jewellery. The step has been taken to benefit the domestic industry.
New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS) The government has raised the import duty on gold and silver findings as well as coins of precious metals
The new duty rate of 15 per cent, comprises a Basic Customs Duty (BCD) of 10 per cent and an additional 5 per cent under the All Industry Duty Drawback (AIDC). However, this increase does
The government has also raised the import duty for spent catalysts that contain precious metals. The new duty rate is 14.35 per cent, which comprises a 10 per cent Basic Customs Duty and an additional 4.35 per cent under the All Industry Duty Drawback. The increase, however, is not applicable to the Social Welfare Surcharge (SWS) exemption.
Microsoft now a $3 trillion company, second after Apple
billion into OpenAI, reports The Verge.
reached the milestone valuation after its stock climbed 1.5 per cent in trading on Nasdaq late on Wednesday. Tim Cook-led Apple hit the $3 trillion market cap around two years ago. San Francisco, Jan 25 (IANS) Microsoft has reached the coveted $3 trillion mark and became the second company after Apple to achieve this feat. Microsoft reached a $3 trillion market cap, the first time in its 48-year history. The Satya Nadella-run company
Microsoft’s stock has been rallying in recent months, amid its artificial intelligence (AI) push along with OpenAI. In the past five years, Microsoft’s stock price has moved from $107 to the current price of around $404. Microsoft, under Nadella, has also acquired several AI companies and invested more than $10
Nadella took charge of the company nearly 10 years ago, and acquired Minecraft developer Mojang, LinkedIn, GitHub, and Xamarin. Earlier this month, Microsoft surpassed Apple’s market cap to become the world’s most valuable public company for a brief period. Now, it has finally crossed the $3 trillion mark and stayed there. The company’s stock saw a big bump after it announced a steep price on Copilot for Microsoft 365, its AI-powered Office documents. Since then, the company has been announcing new AI features every now and then.
7 in 10 CEOs globally planning to invest in genAI in 2024: Report
New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS) About seven out of 10 CEOs globally are planning to invest in generative artificial intelligence (genAI) this year, a new report said on Tuesday. According to the global softwareas-a-service (SaaS) company Netcore Cloud, genAI emerges as a top investment priority, with CEOs foreseeing a tangible payoff within the upcoming three to five
years.
on a product or service.
The report also suggested that consumer preferences are strongly inclined toward short-form video content, and convenient and instant transactions.
Moreover, the report noted that users actively explore brands and products on Instagram, making it the platform's second most engaging activity, captivating 62.2 per cent of its users. Similarly, on TikTok, 65 per cent of users rely on online reviews and creator recommendations for informed online purchase decisions. "As we step into a future dominated by AI and automation, understanding these trends is crucial for any marketer looking to make a substantial impact," said Mahesh Narayanan, Chief Marketing Growth Officer at Netcore Cloud.
With 90 per cent of consumers convinced by videos in their product decisions, industry leaders are embracing influencer marketing, leveraging short videos to shine a spotlight on their product line, according to the report. About 89 per cent of consumers revealed that viewing a video has tipped the scales when deciding
AI won’t take as many jobs as expected: Study San Francisco, Jan 23 (IANS) While researchers around the world expect job losses due to artificial intelligence (AI) soon, a new study has said that AI might not take as many jobs as expected. A recent study conducted by MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) investigated whether AI could perform tasks more efficiently than humans and whether it was cost-effective for businesses to replace human labour with AI.
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The study took into consideration the broader implications of AI implementation in the labour market. The researchers found computer vision AI can currently automate tasks that makeup 1.6 per cent of worker wages in the US economy, excluding agriculture. However, only 23 per cent of those wages, equivalent to 0.4 per cent of the entire economy, would be cheaper for companies to automate instead of hiring human workers at current costs.
while the airport in Bhairawaha was built with a loan extended by the Asian Development Bank but built by the Chinese contractors.
not apply to the Social Welfare Surcharge (SWS) exemption.
"We find that at today’s costs US businesses would choose not to automate most vision tasks that have “AI Exposure,” and that only 23 per cent of worker wages being paid for vision tasks would be attractive to automate," the authors said. "Overall, our findings suggest that AI job displacement will be substantial, but also gradual -- and therefore there is room for (government) policy and retraining to mitigate unemployment impacts," they added.
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Kathmandu, Jan 24 (IANS) Nepal Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat has said that Adani Group will invest in various public sectors in Nepal including airports and energy sector. “The founder and chairman of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani had proposed to invest in Nepal, particularly in energy and airport management sectors,” Mahat said after having recently met the business magnate in Gujarat. Mahat -- who was recently in Gujarat to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Summit -- met Adani, who in return has pledged to invest in Nepal particularly in the construction of the new airport near India-Nepal border and taking over the management of the Bhairawaha International Airport, Tribhuwan International Airport among others. “I also invited him (Adani) to participate in the upcoming Nepal Investment Summit to be organised by the government of Nepal in April. He has committed that he will try his best to attend the summit,” Mahat told IANS. Nepal has recently built two international airports in Bhairawaha and Pokhara but they have failed to conduct regular flights after India refused to provide air space for Nepali flights to operate. The Pokhara International Airport was built with a Chinese loan
Mahat said that he (Adani) had expressed his intent to expand and operate the Tribhuwan International Airport in Kathmandu, taking management of the Bhairawaha International Airport and construction of the Nijgadh International Airport in Bara. “The new airport in Nijgadh is expected to cost around $ 6.7 billion. We are ready to operate the international airports in Bhairawaha and will construct the airport in Nijgadh,” Mahat told IANS quoting Adani as saying. Mahat said that Adani has also expressed intent to invest in hydropower projects in Nepal particularly in investing in Bheri and Karnali projects. “A team of Adani Group had recently visited Kathmandu and held talks with Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Pradip Adhikari and discussed the possibility of investing in Nepal’s airport sector,” Mahat said. He said that after being unable to operate the Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) and Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA), which were built with loans, CAAN has decided to bring the private sector into the operation of three international airports including the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and the construction of the Nijgadh International Airport. “CAAN has sent a proposal to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism,
Chinese stocks have lost $6 trillion in 3 years no doubt a challenging and frustrating period for investors and market participants in Chinese equities,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a research note on Tuesday.
Hong Kong, Jan 23 (IANS) Over the past three years, about $6 trillion -- equivalent to roughly twice Britain’s annual economic output -- has been wiped off the value of Chinese and Hong Kong stocks, a media report said. The Hang Seng index has crashed 10 per cent so far this year alone, while the Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component indexes are down 7 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, CNN reported. The astonishing losses, reminiscent of the last Chinese stock market crash of 2015-2016, highlight a crisis of confidence among investors concerned about the country’s future.
“China … [is] currently trading at suppressed valuations and decade-low allocations across [investment] fund mandates.” The world’s second largest economy is plagued by a myriad of problems. They include a record downturn in real estate, deflation, debt, a falling birth rate and shrinking work force, as well as a shift towards ideology driven policies that has rattled the private sector and scared away foreign firms, CNN reported. The stock meltdown has made Chinese markets the world’s worst performers so far this year. And all this is playing out against the backdrop of a global stock market rally, led by Wall Street’s record-setting run, and by Japan in Asia, CNN reported.
“The past three years were
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