How states have planned for easing restrictions on inter-state travel

The Maharashtra government says that inter-state travel by road, air and trains from Maharashtra will remain prohibited in the latest phase of the lockdown until June 30.

After Centre allowed lifting of restrictions on inter-state movement of people, states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, which have reported the highest number of coronavirus cases, and those in the Northeast on Sunday decided to continue with the curbs even after the end of the fourth phase of the lockdown.

Several others like Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Telangana announced they are allowing inter-state movement as part of easing of restrictions under the 'Unlock-1'.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday decided to extend the coronavirus-induced lockdown till June 30 in the containment zones, while in the areas outside containment zones, lockdown will be in force till June 7.

According to an official statement from the CMO, Rao held discussions with Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, DGP Mahender Reddy and other senior officials in the backdrop of new guidelines issued by the Centre.

"It was decided to implement the relaxations in all the areas except in the Containment Zones as per the guidelines issued by the Centre. The CM has instructed the officials concerned to implement lockdown in the containment zones strictly," reads the statement.

The Karnataka government, while allowing inter-state movement, said separate orders will be issued by Health and Family Welfare Department for people coming to the state.

The UP government said there is no ban on interstate travel but left it to the district administrations of Ghaziabad and Noida to take a call on the movement of people from adjoining Delhi. The state has not restarted its inter-state bus service.

'A major earthquake may hit Delhi': Geologists on recent tremors across NCR

"We cannot predict time, place or exact scale, but do believe that there is a consistent seismic activity going around in the NCR region and can trigger in a major earthquake in Delhi," says Dr K Sain.

Ten low to moderate intensity tremors shaking Delhi-NCR in the span of one and a half month indicate that a powerful earthquake could strike India's National Capital in near future, warn some of the top geologists of the country.

"We cannot predict time, place or exact scale, but do believe that there is a consistent seismic activity going around in the NCR region and can trigger in a major earthquake in Delhi," said Dr Kalachand Sain, Chief of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, a premier autonomous institute, run under Union Ministry of Science and Technology.

Unfortunately, Delhi falls under high-risk seismic zones and its border towns are witness to mushrooming growth of high rise private buildings, plenty of them which do not adhere to mandatory guidelines of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) set for earthquake-resistant construction.

What would happen if an earthquake of magnitude 5.5 or 6.0 hits the NCR? Replying to this frequently asked question, Professor Chandon Ghose of IIT-Jammu, an expert on earthquake engineering said, "Friday's (May 29) twin tremors which shook Delhi were measured at 4.5...but had it been a little more intense, the impact would have been serious. At Richter scale 6.0, the effect of the earthquake in Delhi would be devastating. Many buildings would be razed to dust."

In fact, innumerable high rise buildings in Noida, Gurugram and neighbouring areas of Delhi blatantly violate BIS norms.

"Everyone knows that Delhi-NCR falls under seismic zone-4, and it's prone to tremors but still most of the builders do not conform to the norms of BIS. There is a nexus between architects and builders which somehow compromise the stringent earthquake (resistant) codes. So, on any given day, if an earthquake of higher magnitude strikes here, the consequences would be grievous," said Professor Chandan Ghos

'Mission Begin Again': Mumbai remains shut while India begins to unlock

Maharashtra and Rajasthan turned out to be the outliers.

A day after the Centre suggested opening up of most activities outside of the nearly 6,000 containment zones across the country, Maharashtra and Rajasthan turned out to be the outliers as they ordered places of worship, hotels, restaurants, and malls to remain shut.

In another departure from the Centre’s guidelines, which permitted unrestricted inter-state movement, the Delhi-Noida border will not be opened for public amid rising number of coronavirus cases in the national capital, according to the Uttar Pradesh government. Most other states extended the lockdown in containment zones until June 30, but issued guidelines consistent with that of the Centre’s, allowing nearly all economic activities in areas outside these zones.

In its guidelines, ‘Mission Begin Again’, issued on Sunday, Maharashtra departed from the Centre’s guidelines. CM Uddhav Thackeray said the state needed to tread cautiously now that monsoon was round the corner. It said intra-district bus services can operate, but inter-district bus operations will remain restricted.

The state said places of worship, restaurants, hotels, malls, and salons would remain shut. The state, however, allowed shooting for films and serials. Maharashtra has allowed all private offices to operate, but with only 10 per cent strength, from June 8, and markets and shops can open from June 5 on odd-even basis. In shops, Maharashtra has asked trial rooms to be kept shut.

Singer-composer Wajid Khan, of Sajid-Wajid fame, dies; Bollywood mourns

Wajid did playback for Salman in chartbusters like "Mera He Jalwa", "Fevicol Se" and for Akshay Kumar in "Chinta Ta Chita Chita" from the film "Rowdy Rathore", among others.

Singer-composer Wajid Khan of music director duo Sajid-Wajid, popular for their work on superstar Salman Khan's films such as Wanted, Dabangg and Ek Tha Tiger, passed away in the wee hours of Monday in a Mumbai hospital due to complications arising from a kidney infection. He was 42.

Music composer Salim Merchant, who confirmed the news of Wajid's death, said the composer was hospitalised a few days ago at Surana Hospital, Chembur where his condition deteriorated.

"He had multiple issues. He had a kidney issue and had a transplant a while ago. But recently he got to know about kidney infection... He was on the ventilator for the last four days, after his situation started getting worse," Salim said.

The music composer duo made their Bollywood debut with Salman's 1998 movie "Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya" and went on to work on actor's various films including Garv, Tere Naam, Tumko Na Bhool Payenge, Partner and the popular Dabangg franchise.

Wajid also did playback for Salman in chartbusters like "Mera He Jalwa", "Fevicol Se" and for Akshay Kumar in "Chinta Ta Chita Chita" from the film "Rowdy Rathore", among others. He recently co-composed Salman's songs "Pyaar Karona" and "Bhai Bhai", which the actor released on his YouTube channel.

Statsguru: Economy was in grips of a slowdown even before Covid-19 hit

Manufacturing is weakening, as is the job-generating construction sector.

India’s economy grew at a paltry 3.1 per cent in the quarter ended March 2020, the lowest in 44 quarters. One thing that makes this gradual slowdown more serious than the ones experienced before is that it came without any external shock. Also, the data shows the slump has covered all the sectors.

Manufacturing is weakening, as is the job-generating construction sector .

Agriculture and public spending are the only green shoots of the economy, and the concentration of the slowdown in the core economy is becoming sharper . Core GVA is the gross value added in the economy without that in the farm sector and public administration. Consumer spending grew at 2.7 per cent in the March quarter, while investments contracted for a third straight month, falling faster than the preceding quarter every time .

The data also showed the economy grew slower than initially estimated in the first half of the fiscal year 2019-20. For example, the output from construction activities was 6 per cent lower than what it had been estimated  in November 2019. The economic slump, which began after demonetisation and implementation of the GST, has shown no signs of recovery until the end of FY20  The Covid economic shock would play over and above this pre-existing slowdown.

Slowing of growth has had a definite impact on the Centre’s revenues, but revenue spending, most of which is salaries, pensions and interest payments, has grown massively . Capital expenditure has grown slower over years. While the gap between capex and fiscal deficit was narrowing till FY17, it blew out of proportions in FY20. Fiscal deficit neared Rs 10 trillion last year, and its quality deteriorated

These underline the limitations the Centre faces in giving a direct stimulus to the economy.

TikTok's rating improves amid growing criticism over 'violent content'

While the TikTok rating has improved, the app continues to face criticism for the content that appears on its platform.

TikTok's app rating on Google Play Store has elevated to 4.4 starts after it hits all-time low at 1.2 stars last week. The rating improved after Google filtered the app reviews and ratings in its effort to regularly clean up its app distribution platform. The short-video sharing platform, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, recently faced a backlash in India after an internet war broke out between its influencers and YouTube content creators. The app's rating on Google Play Store reduced to 1.3 stars on May 20.

While the TikTok rating has improved, the app continues to face criticism for the content that appears on its platform. Recently, Member of Parliament and animal right activist, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi asked TikTok to remove content that appears to be violent in nature. She asked TikTok to ban accounts of all users who post such content, and share their details with concerned authorities for further action. She also raised questions on the video-sharing social networking service’s guidelines with regard to graphical content of violence towards animals.

On May 22, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi posted a message on Twitter alleging that the company refused to take down accounts of users who have been posting graphic videos of violence towards animals.

On May 23, TikTok in a tweet said, “Certain UGC videos that depicted animal cruelty were uploaded to our platform. We strongly condemn such content. We've removed these videos as they violated our community guidelines. Also, as per request, we have shared relevant user info with law enforcement agencies.”

Oppo to release Android 10-based ColorOS 7 for its smartphones from June

Here is a ColorOS 7 release roadmap for Oppo smartphones.

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has announced the roadmap for its Android 10 operating system-based ColorOS7 for India. The custom operating system was released to select Oppo smartphones earlier this year. These smartphones include, OPPO Find X, Find X SuperVooc Edition, Find X Automobili Lamborghini Edition, Reno 10X Zoom, Reno 2, Reno 2Z, Reno 2F, Reno, R17, R17 Pro, F11 Pro, F11, F11 Pro Marvel's Avengers Limited Edition, K3 and A9. Now, the company has shared a detailed timeline on when shall other Oppo smartphones get the update.

ColorOS 7 roadmap:

June: F9, F9 Pro, F7, F7 128G, A5 2020, A9 2020

July: F15 and R15 Pro

ColorOS 7 details

The ColorOS 7 is a custom built Android 10-based operating system. Successor to ColorOS 6, the ColorOS 7 brings several new updates and localised features, especially designed for Indian users. It features a DocVault with the government-approved DigiLocker integration. The localisation of both ColorOS and ColorOS 7 is based on research on trends and patterns in consumer usage habits.

Oppo's new ColorOS 7 is faster and increases application response time by 30 per cent with multiple apps running in the background, according to the company.

The new customised OS has adopted a lightweight visual approach that simplifies key elements, helping users focus more on the content. Besides full icon customisation, there's a dark mode that provides superior reading experience in all-day conditions, thus, helping users concentrate while improving phone’s power efficiency.

Mitron app crosses 5mn downloads despite ambiguity around privacy, security

Growing criticism for TikTok over violent content on the platform paves way for the Mitron app to shot into spotlight as an Indian alternative to the Chinese app.

Home-grown short-video making platform Mitron app has clocked more than five million downloads in a month on Google Play Store. Besides, the app has received positive ratings, which stands at 4.8 stars out of 5 as on May 29. Released on April 11, the app’s popularity in India shot up in last couple of weeks owing to anti-China sentiments. Moreover, the growing criticism for TikTok over violent content on the platform also paves way for the Mitron app to shot into spotlight as a local alternative to the Chinese app.

The Mitron app offers utility similar to TikTok. It is a content creation app, which allows users to create short-videos that can either be published on the app or shared with others. The app looks like TikTok replica with similar design, user interface, features and functions. Moreover, some of the videos on the app also feature TikTok watermark.

Though the app looks like TikTok clone, it is not refined and closes down abruptly and some of its features do not work even after repeated tap. Moreover, the app is developed by an independent team of developer and it has no big corporations backing; TikTok is owned by ByteDance.

On the Google Play Store, the app listing page has the developer’s email address and link to privacy policy. Surprisingly, the privacy policy link redirects to a website named shopkiller.in that currently shows black page. Lack of clarity on privacy and security parameters of the app raise serious questions on how the app app collects and uses user’s data, including photos, videos, contacts, et al. Email sent to developers did not fetch a response, and we will update this copy as and when we get the response.

Google's interest positive but may not help solve Voda Idea's debt woes

Acquisition of a controlling stake by an outsider or a sizable equity infusion by current promoters remains the need of the hour, Credit Suisse said in its latest note.

A potential investment by Google into cash-strapped Vodafone Idea (VIL), if materialises, will be a strategic positive for the Indian telecom operator, but a five per cent stake would still be inadequate to solve the telcos' debt problems, analysts said on Friday.

Acquisition of a controlling stake by an outsider or a sizable equity infusion by current promoters remains the need of the hour, Credit Suisse said in its latest note.

Alphabet Inc's Google is said to be eyeing about 5 per cent stake in VIL, the Financial Times had reported on Thursday. Such an investment in VIL will pit the search giant against Facebook which has picked up a stake in Jio Platforms, the firm that houses India's youngest but biggest telecom company - Reliance Jio.

Google investment into VIL can be incrementally positive, but a 5 per cent stake is unlikely to move the needle or provide any meaningful relief to VIL's debt problems, said Credit Suisse.

"We think unless Google (or any other external investor) looks at acquiring a controlling stake in VIL, the chances of company's long term survival beyond FY23 (when the moratorium on deferred spectrum debt ends) appears to be low," it said.

Goldman Sachs said that at Vodafone Idea's current market cap, a 5 per cent stake would be valued at USD 100 million or less than one per cent of the company's USD 14 billion-outstanding net debt as of December 2019.

After Infosys, now Wipro hires a Capgemini top executive as CEO & MD

Appoints French IT services firm's COO Thierry Delaporte for its top post.

With Wipro announcing to appoint Thierry Delaporte for its top post, two of the leading Bengaluru-headquartered companies will now have CEOs & MDs who were previously working with French IT services major Capgemini in leadership roles. Salil Parekh, who is presently the CEO & MD at Infosys was a member of the Group Executive Board ay Capgemini looking after the company’s UK, Asia Pacific and financial services business before joining the Bengaluru firm in January 2018.

Wipro on Friday announced that Delaporte who is Capgemini’s chief operating officer and also a member of the group executive board, would join the company as its CEO & MD, effective July 6, 2020. A French national, he would be based out of Paris. Wipro also said that since Neemuchwala would leave the company from June 1, its chairman Rishad Premji would oversee the daily operations of the firm during this interim period.

During his twenty-five year career with Capgemini, Delaporte held several leadership roles including that of chief executive officer of the global financial services strategic business unit, and head of all global service lines. His experience in overseeing Capgemini’s India operations- one of the largest delivery centres of the company- is likely to put him in good stead in managing the operations of Wipro. He has a bachelor’s degree in economy and finance from Sciences Po Paris and a Masters in Law from Sorbonne University.

“I am delighted to welcome Thierry as CEO and Managing Director of the company. Thierry has an exceptional leadership track record, strong international exposure, deep strategic expertise, a unique ability to forge long-standing client relationships, and proven experience of driving transformation and managing technological disruption. We believe that Thierry is the right person to lead Wipro in its next phase of growth,” said Rishad Premji, Chairman at Wipro Ltd. “I want to thank Abid for all that he has done for Wipro and for making this transition as smooth and seamless as possible despite his personal commitments.”

Spotify now lets you save unlimited songs, albums, podcasts in user library

The Swedish music streaming service has removed the 10000 songs limit on the user library.

You can now build a library of more than 10,000 songs on Spotify as the Swedish music streaming service has removed the limit on the number of songs one can save in the library. However, the relaxation applies only to the ability to save songs on Spotify library and not on individual playlists and downloads, which are still capped at 10,000 songs on a paid account.

Spotify has more than 50 million songs available to customers to stream at any time. Until now, there was a limit of 10,000 songs that users could save to "Your Music" collections on Spotify for easy access. After reaching the limit, if a user like a song or an album, a notification appears with a message: "Epic collection my friend. There is no more room in Your Library. To save more, you will need to remove some songs or albums". With the limit revoked, the message would no longer appear. However, this update is rolling out in batches and some users may still run into the "library full" notification.

ALSO READ: How to transfer Google Play Music library to YouTube Music using smartphone

Earlier in May, Spotify slashed the subscription amount by up to 51 per cent on yearly package. Besides, the company also introduced three months free access to premium account on all subscriptions. However, the three months free offer is valid only for new users, and not to existing premium subscribers or to users who have user premium subscription before.

The Spotify Premium comes in prepaid and subscription plans. While the subscription plan is priced at Rs 119 per month, the prepaid plan is available at Rs 699 for a year. The offer is valid until June 30.

Relaxations in lockdown norms, new business models boost smartphones sale

Smartphone industry seems to be limping back to normalcy as sales are picking up at both online and offline market segments.

Smartphone industry seems to be limping back to normalcy as sales are picking up at both online and offline market segments owing to relaxations provided to e-commerce platforms and mobile phone manufacturers in the fourth phase of country-wide lockdown.

With norms eased for the manufacturing sector, smartphone makers such as Samsung, Vivo, Xiaomi, etc. restarted operations at their factories with limited workforce. As the norms eased down further, the mobile phone makers started selling their products in offline and online stores. Some companies also established offline to online mechanism to help customer use digital means to make purchase from neighbourhood stores from the comfort of their homes.

Chinese smartphone brand Vivo on Wednesday said that close to 50,000 of company’s retail partner outlets are operations. Moreover, around 50 per cent of the company’s service centres are also operational pan India. In a statement, the company said that its retail stores and after-sale service centres are adhering to guidelines prescribed by the Government and local authorities.

South Korean electronics maker Samsung was among the first smartphone manufacturers to explore offline to online mechanism for the sale of its Galaxy smartphone. The company partnered with digital marketing firm Benow to ensure seamless integration of digital and online platforms with physical outlets. The company is now selling most of its products, including smartphones and consumer durables on the Benow platform. It is simultaneously training more retailers to expand the network in coming months.

Is India's richest man Mukesh Ambani betting on US-China tech war?

US-traded Chinese technology firms such as JD.com and NetEase are looking for an alternative home closer to the mainland in case tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate.

Petrochemicals czar Mukesh Ambani plans to list his fledgling digital business overseas, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of Jio Platforms’s initial public offering, which is planned for the next 12 to 24 months.

Going to the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq would make sense. US-traded Chinese technology firms such as JD.com and NetEase are looking for an alternative home closer to the mainland in case tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate, as my colleague Nisha Gopalan wrote this week. Alibaba held a secondary listing in Hong Kong in November. With Washington considering a range of sanctions against Chinese officials and firms as punishment for Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong, now may be the perfect time to pitch American investors on the potential of the other internet market with a billion-plus people.

A splashy overseas foray will be an unusual step for a family that brought the retail equity culture to India. Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh’s late father who founded the empire, booked a football stadium in Mumbai in 1985 to hold a shareholders’ meeting for the polyester textile maker that he had floated eight years earlier. But then, Mukesh Ambani is already moving old furniture around as he pivots flagship Reliance Industries away from an oversupplied energy and chemicals market. At the same time, he’s beefing up the balance sheet after a seven-year, $100 billion debt-fueled expansion. A big chunk of that was for Jio, the wireless carrier that has become India’s largest in less than four years.

A $7 billion rights issue, Reliance’s first in three decades, buttressed by more than $10 billion raised in a month from the sale of shares in unlisted Jio Platforms may help cut the company’s $20 billion of net debt to zero before Ambani’s March 2021 target.

Instagram to show ads in IGTV videos, share revenue with content creators

In addition to ads, Instagram would also roll out 'badges' next month that can be purchased by subscribers from their favourite creators.

Facebook-owned photos and videos sharing platform Instagram is rolling out new tools for content creators to place ads on IGTV videos.

Instagram will share at least 55 per cent of the revenue from these ads with creators, which would motivate more influencers to create material for IGTV. To begin with, the ads will only appear when people click to watch IGTV videos from previews in their feed, and the initial round of ads will be vertical videos up to 15 seconds long.

"Starting next week, we are introducing ads in IGTV, our long-form video destination. We want to support creators' investment in IGTV by sharing advertising revenue with them," Instagram said in a statement.

In addition to ads, Instagram would also roll out 'badges' next month that can be purchased by subscribers from their favourite creators. Badges will appear next to a person's name throughout the live video.

"Fans who have purchased badges in Live will stand out in the comments and unlock additional features, including placement on a creator's list of badge holders and access to a special heart," said the company.

Badges will roll out to a few countries in the coming months, including the US, the UK, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Spain and Mexico.

Google Pay expands 'Nearby Stores' feature to 35 cities in India: Know more

Nearby Stores spot on Google Pay helps users see which stores, providing essential goods, are open in their vicinity.

Google Pay on Wednesday announced that it's 'Nearby Stores’ spot, which provides information such as business hours, essential items stock, social distancing information, is now available in 35 cities across the country.

“Originally rolled in a few cities across India, this Spot is now available in 35 cities across the country. Additionally, merchant establishments can now indicate their business hours, whether social distancing measures are in place at the store and the essential goods presently in stock. Additionally, users in Mumbai can also see if the store is present in a containment zone,” said Google in a statement.

Here is a list of cities that get Google Pay’s Nearby Stores spot:

Telangana: Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Secunderabad

Karnataka: Bengaluru, Mysuru

Maharashtra: Mumbai, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Pimpri-Chinchwad

Delhi NCR: New Delhi

Haryana: Gurugram, Faridabad

Tamil Nadu: Chennai

Gujarat: Surat, Ahmedabad

Bihar: Patna

Uttar Pradesh: Varanasi, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Prayag Raj, Kanpur, Noida, Greater Noida

Andhra Pradesh: Visakhapatnam

Madhya Pradesh: Indore

West Bengal: Kolkata

Orissa: Bhubaneswar

Punjab: Ludhiana, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar,

Chandigarh

Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Ernakulam

Besides expanding the Nearby Stores spot to more cities, Google Pay now also takes booking for cooking gas cylinders from HP Gas, Bharat Petroleum and Indane.

Share sales in listed firms at record high of $4.4 billion this month

Companies and shareholders across Asia have been taking advantage of a market rebound since late March to sell shares.

Two jumbo block trades in India this month have pushed follow-on offerings in the country to a record high.

A $3.3-billion sell-down of GlaxoSmithKline’s stake in Unilever’s Indian unit, Hindustan Unilever, and a $1.1-billion placement of Bharti Airtel shares by its parent take May’s total follow-on offerings in the country to $4.4 billion, the most for a month on record, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.

In addition to that, Reliance Industries, the largest company by market capitalisation, kicked off a $7-billion rights offer this month.

ALSO READ: Kotak launches $1 bn QIP, will issue 65 mn new shares for Rs 1,147.75 each

Companies and shareholders across Asia have been taking advantage of a market rebound since late March to sell shares.

Almost $23 billion was raised in April across the region, the most since March 2018. India was quiet in March and April, when companies and shareholders sold just $299 million and $99 million worth of stock respectively, as the country went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Unilever deal is the largest additional share sale in India this year, while the Bharti Airtel block came at an opportune time given the stock is trading close to an all-time high.

Sebi imposes a penalty of Rs 7,00,000 on NHAI for disclosure lapses

During its investigation, Sebi found that NHAI delayed filing of its half-yearly financial results by 4 days to 78 days between 2015-16 to 2018-19.

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday imposed a penalty of Rs 7 lakh on the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for delay in making timely disclosure about financial results.

Sebi had conducted an examination in the matter of NHAI from financial year 2015-16 to 2018-19.

During its investigation, Sebi found that NHAI delayed filing of its half-yearly financial results by 4 days to 78 days between 2015-16 to 2018-19.

The regulator had advised NHAI for strict compliance with the LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirement) Regulations in future.

However, despite the advisory by Sebi, NHAI did not submit the financial results on time with respect to the half year ending on September 30, 2018 and March 31, 2019.

The results were submitted with a delay of 19 days and 78 days, respectively.

"There was repeated failure (seven instances during FY 2015-16 to FY 2018-19) on the part of the noticee (NHAI) regarding compliance with the provisions ...LODR Regulations," Sebi said in an order.

Accordingly, the regulator imposed a penalty of Rs 7 lakh on NHAI.

In its reply to a show cause notice (SCN) issued by Sebi, NHAI said it seeks approval of the majority of its board members in relation to all matters including approval of unaudited half yearly results.

Samsung unveils mid-range Exynos 880 chip with integrated 5G modem, AI

The Exynos 880 includes a 5G cellular modem that enables lag-less streaming and rapid downloads.

South Korean tech giant Samsung on Wednesday unveiled a new mobile chip, the Exynos 880 SoC, featuring an integrated 5G modem and AI capabilities.
The Exynos 880 includes a 5G cellular modem that enables lag-less streaming and rapid downloads. It facilitates the next-generation 5G experiences such as mixed reality (MR) and cloud-gaming.

It features an integrated 5G modem that supports up to 2.55Gbps download speed and up to 1.28Gbps upload speed over 5G sub-6GHz spectrum.

The company said that the download speed of 2.55Gbps can be lifted to 3.55Gpbs.

ALSO READ: Samsung confirms June 4 launch of mid-range smartphone Galaxy A31 in India

The Exynos 880 is capable of supporting advanced graphics APIs, and incorporating diverse technologies for powerful and efficient graphics processing.

While the enhanced CPU performance reduces loading time, the powerful GPU renders 3D graphics in-game with a high framerate to provide outstanding visuals, the company said in a statement.

The Exynos 880's advanced image signal processor supports up to five individual sensors and is able to process three sensors concurrently, while enabling a single-camera max resolution of 64Mp and a dual-camera rating of 20Mp for each camera.

JP Morgan chief economist forecasts 'strong rebound' in Indian markets

The economic wounds will be "deeper than anything we've seen since World War Two", says chief economist at JP Morgan.

Global investment bank JP Morgan is forecasting a "very strong rebound" in Indian markets for the second half of the year while it remains "worried" about what it describes as deterioration in the country's public finances, social disruption and the limits of public financing in the long slog back from the coronavirus crisis.

"India is going to be going through a very difficult first half of the year. We have GDP down in the second quarter, 35 per cent annualised pace but we have a very strong rebound in the second half of the year, but one that still doesn't get you back to where you were," said Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JP Morgan, news agency IANS reported.

Kasman leads a team of thirty economists worldwide who set the bank's economic and policy views.

Globally too, JP Morgan warned on Tuesday that whatever rebound happens in the second half of 2020 won't be strong enough to undo the damage absorbed during the first deadly blow from Covid-19.

The economic wounds will be "deeper than anything we've seen since World War Two", Kasman said. "At the same time, it's going to be very short lived."

Kasman thinks the Reserve Bank of India is "almost done but not completely done" with the easing of its key interest rate.

"We have a bottom in the policy rate forecast, 3.75 (per cent) very close to where we are now, Kasman said.

India's central bank has cut its key interest rate to 4 per cent to counter the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic.

Income and job losses are going to have a "lasting effect" on consumer behaviour, Kasman said.

Fitch Ratings, CRISIL, SBI Research see India economy shrinking in FY21

CRISIL said it expected the current quarter's GDP to shrink 25 per cent year on year.

Fitch ratings, CRISIL, and SBI Research have drastically cut India’s economic growth forecast in the current fiscal year due to a prolonged lockdown. While both Fitch and CRISIL projected the economy to contract 5 per cent, from their earlier estimates of the economic growth at 0.8 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively, SBI Research slashed economic contraction to 6.8 per cent from earlier 4.7 per cent.

CRISIL said it expected the current quarter’s GDP to shrink 25 per cent year on year.

In its latest report, CRISIL said it would really be a long road to recovery and going back to the pre-Covid-19 trend level of gross domestic product (GDP) in India will not be possible for the next three fiscal years. The lockdown extension, higher economic costs, and an economic package that lacked muscle are the three key reasons why CRISIL has downgraded the GDP forecast.

ALSO READ: FY21 GDP to contract 5%; pre-virus level unlikely in next 3 fiscals: Crisil

“The economic costs, now beginning to show up in the hard numbers, are far worse than our initial expectations. Given one of the most stringent lockdowns in the world, April could well be the worst-performing month for India this fiscal year,” it said.

Though the agency expects non-agricultural GDP to contract 6 per cent, agriculture could cushion the blow by growing at 2.5 per cent in FY21, CRISIL said.

SBI also calculated GDP growth taking bottom-to-top approach than earlier top-to-bottom one. As such, group chief economic advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh estimated the district-wise, zone-wise loss in GSDP for each state and found that total GSDP loss due to Covid-19 for states stands at Rs 30.3 trillion, which is 13.5 per cent of total GSDP.

Uber trims a quarter of its India workforce, lays off 600 employees

The move is part of a global restructuring plan announced earlier by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in view of dwindling fortunes amid Covid-19 lockdowns in several countries, including India.

Uber India on Tuesday announced it was laying off 600 of its employees – a fourth of its total headcount of 2,400 in the country – across customer & driver support, business development, legal, finance, policy and marketing verticals.

The retrenched employees would be paid 10 to 12 weeks of salary, besides medical insurance coverage for the next six months and outplacement support, the company said. These staffers would also be allowed to retain their laptops and given the option of joining the Uber talent directory.

“Today is an incredibly sad day for colleagues leaving the Uber family and all of us at the company. We made the decision now so that we can look to the future with confidence. I want to apologise to departing colleagues and extend my heartfelt thanks to them for their contributions to Uber, the riders, and the driver partners we serve in India,” said Pradeep Parameswaran, Uber president for India and South Asia, confirming the development.

The move is part of the global restructuring plan announced earlier by Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi in view of the company’s stressed fortunes amid lockdowns in several countries, including India, to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

These restrictions, according to the CEO, had led to an 80 per cent year-on-year decline in Uber’s global business in April. For the January-March quarter of 2020, the company announced a $2.9-billion loss, its biggest in three quarters. Uber had earlier advanced its target of achieving a measure of profitability by a year, and was hoping to be in the green by the fourth quarter of 2020.

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit fails on first rocket launch attempt

The inaugural launch had appeared to be going well until moments after the rocket was dropped from beneath the left wing of the jumbo jet dubbed Cosmic Girl.

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit has failed in its first test launch of a new rocket carried aloft by a Boeing 747 and released over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California.

The inaugural launch had appeared to be going well until moments after the rocket was dropped from beneath the left wing of the jumbo jet dubbed Cosmic Girl.

"We've confirmed a clean release from the aircraft. However, the mission terminated shortly into the flight. Cosmic Girl and our flight crew are safe and returning to base," Virgin Orbit said in its official Twitter commentary on the launch on Monday.

"There was no immediate word on what went wrong with the rocket," which carried a test satellite.

Will Pomerantz, Virgin Orbit's vice president for special projects, commented during a preflight briefing Saturday that about half of first rocket launches fail. "History is not terribly kind, necessarily, to maiden flights," he said. Chief Executive Officer Dan Hart said during the briefing that there had been numerous tests, discussions and introspection to verify that the system was ready.

"In the end the questions are always, has everything been thought about and are there any gaps or seams, and those are the questions you only learn when you commit to flight," Hart said.