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Devendra Fadnavis releases book on Amit Shah, praises his work ethic

Maharashtra BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday released a Marathi book on Union Home Minister Amit Shah that chronicles his political journey.

Speaking after unveiling the book at a function here, Fadnavis praised Shah (57), a former BJP president, for his sharp political acumen and deep understanding of elections. The book, titled 'Amit Shah Ani Bhajapachi Vatchal', documents the life and journey of Shah and his contribution in building the BJP and making it the world's biggest political organisation, the former CM said on the occasion.

The book, originally written by Dr Anirban Ganguly and Shivanand Dwivedi, has been translated into Marathi by Dr Jyostna Kolhatkar. Bollywood actor Pallavi Joshi, who featured in the recently released Hindi film 'The Kashmir Files' , Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Pravin Darekar and other BJP leader were present at the event. Hard work, sacrifice and strong nationalism define the character of Amit Shah.

He comes with great capacity to personally travel to places, study and take decisions based on his experiences," said Fadnavis. It was Shah who studied Uttar Pradesh in detail and eventually, we (the BJP) won 73 (along with allies) out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats (in 2014 general elections), he said.

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Elon Musk's untaxed wealth is helping finance his Twitter buyout

Elon Musk could have a silent partner in his $44-billion deal to buy Twitter: the US tax code.

The head of Tesla and SpaceX announced on Monday an agreement to take Twitter private for $54.20 a share, pledging to equity finance $21 billion himself and use a $12.5 billion loan with his Tesla shares as collateral. Banks are committing another $13 billion in debt financing. Critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, say he is only able to do that because of lax taxation of billionaires.

“If you look at Musk’s ‘income’ as defined by our tax code, you see that the guy is really rich, but not rich enough to buy Twitter,” Steve Wamhoff, the director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said. “When you look at a more complete definition of his income — including the parts that are not included as taxable income under our tax rules and thus not taxed — then you start to see how the guy can buy Twitter.”

Musk is using a tried-and-true strategy favoured by many American billionaires who have amassed highly appreciated stock — borrowing those assets to get cash without having to sell and pay taxes. Musk has a margin loan against some of his Tesla holdings for $12.5 billion of the deal.

The details of how Musk plans to come up with another $21 billion aren’t yet clear in the financing agreement. He could sell Tesla or other stock, which would incur a significant tax bill. It’s possible he could fund some of that by borrowing against his stakes in SpaceX and the Boring further using the IRS rules to tap tax-free cash.

Musk is worth $257.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Much of that fortune is held in Tesla and SpaceX stock, which can grow indefinitely untaxed. For any loans against his assets, Musk also gets a tax write-off for the interest on that debt. Musk faced a multi-billion-dollar tax bill last year after selling a portion of his Tesla shares.

“Borrowing does not create any income in our system because the borrowing is offset by the obligation to repay,” Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said.

The ability of the mega-rich to largely choose when they pay taxes — by deferring sales to years in which they have losses to offset the liabilities, or simply holding assets until they die to avoid the levies entirely — has generated ire among many Democrats.

Senators including, Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Ron Wyden have for years been working on various forms of wealth taxes that go after the fortunes that are often untouched by income tax rules.

Warren, who turned the idea of a 2 per cent wealth tax on the richest Americans into a campaign rallying cry in the 2020 Democratic primaries, said late Monday that Musk’s Twitter takeover exemplified the need for it.

President Joe Biden joined the fray earlier this month with his own “Billionaires Minimum Income Tax” that would tax the annual appreciation of the financial and business assets of people worth at least $100 million.

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Big YouTube miss yanks down Alphabet earnings and revenue

Google parent Alphabet on Tuesday reported its first quarterly revenue miss of the pandemic after the war in Ukraine hurt YouTube ad sales, leaving investors rattled as the global economy sputters.

The world’s largest provider of search and video made a fortune over the last two years as the pandemic forced more shops and people online. But outdoing those sales is proving difficult so far this year with the war, rising inflation and product shortages causing advertisers to dump marketing campaigns, according to analysts.

Alphabet shares, which were up nearly 90 per cent over the past two years, fell about 2.5 per cent after the results late on Tuesday. They had dropped 3.6 per cent during the regular session.

David Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, voiced growing concerns about the macro environment. “Alphabet has been seen as one of the most insulated companies in the advertising space relative to peers, but sometimes you can still own the best house in the worst neighbourhood,” he said.

Alphabet said first-quarter sales rose to $68.01 billion, up 23 per cent from last year but below the average estimate of $68.1 billion among financial analysts tracked by Refinitiv, its first miss since the fourth quarter of 2019.

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World Bank to give $600-million aid to Lanka to overcome economic crisis

The World Bank will extend $600 million in financial assistance to Sri Lanka in two phases to address its economic crisis, according to a statement from the president’s office of the country. Sri Lanka stocks rallied, marking their first day of gains since April 5.

The Colombo All-Share Index ended 6.8 per cent higher, after losing about 15 per cent in the past two days. The bluechip S&P Sri Lanka 20 Index surged 14 per cent. Trading had to be suspended in the prior two sessions within minutes of the open as the S&P gauge fell by its daily set limit. The first instalment of $400 million from the World Bank will be released shortly “to meet medicinal drugs and health needs, social security, agricultural and food security and gas needs,” the statement said. In a meeting between World Bank representatives and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the multilateral institution pledged to continue providing assistance for overcoming the economic crisis.

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HMD Global keen to scale up its mobile exports from India

HMD Global, the maker of Nokia-branded handsets, is keen to scale up its mobile exports from India, as the company looks at various levers, including sourcing more components locally, to deepen its commitment towards manufacturing ecosystem in the country, according to a senior official.

India is a "very important" market for HMD Global, and the company considers it to also be a key global destination for sourcing and manufacturing, Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, Vice President, HMD Global told PTI in an interaction.

The company on Tuesday announced a slew of devices including the Nokia G21 smartphone (that offers up to three-day battery life), Nokia C01 Plus, two new feature phones - Nokia 105 and Nokia 105 Plus and two new audio accessories, Nokia Comfort Earbuds and Nokia Go Earbuds+.

Nokia G21 comes with 50MP triple camera with AI imaging, provides up to three-day battery life and offers two years of OS upgrades as well as more security updates in the segment, according to a company release.

Nokia 105 is the global bestselling feature phone model, which now has been refreshed in a new stylish design and comes with Wireless FM radio, the release added.

Kochhar claimed that when it comes to feature phones, the company is now "number one" in India, in value terms. At present, HMD Global -- through its Indian Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) partners -- manufactures both feature phones and smartphones in India.

Except for Nokia XR20, all the smartphones it currently sells in India, are manufactured here. In December 2021, HMD Global began exporting locally manufactured Nokia 105 feature phones to the UAE market, and the company expects to open up exports to newer markets.

"We are evaluating how we can increase our exports from India for feature phones, or even smartphones. We have already started export of Nokia 105 feature phone, but we're also evaluating other aspects like export of smartphones..." Kochhar said.

Asked if the company is also planning to manufacture tablets in India, Kochhar said, "we are evaluating that but we have not started anything.

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Facebook has no idea how to manage personal user data, say reports

Meta-owned Facebook is reportedly unable to account for much of the personal user data under its ownership, including what it is being used for and where it is located, media reports say.

According to the tech website Engadget, privacy engineers on Facebook's Ad and Business Product team wrote a report last year, intending it to be read by the company's leadership.

It detailed how Facebook could address a growing number of data usage regulations, including new privacy laws in India, South Africa and elsewhere.

The report's authors described a platform often in the dark about the personal data of its estimated 1.9 billion users, citing an internal report leaked to Motherboard, the report said.

The engineers warned that Facebook would have difficulty making promises to countries on how it would treat the data of its citizens.

"We do not have an adequate level of control and explainability over how our systems use data, and thus we can't confidently make controlled policy changes or external commitments such as 'we will not use X data for Y purpose,'" the authors were quoted as saying.

"And yet, this is exactly what regulators expect us to do, increasing our risk of mistakes and misrepresentation," they added.

The report stated that Facebook's main obstacle to tracking down user data appears to be the company's lack of "closed-form" systems.

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Tata Group approaches CCI for merger between Air India and AirAsia India

Tata Sons-owned Air India has approached the anti-trust regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a merger of its low-cost subsidiary Air Asia India.

“The proposed combination relates to the acquisition of the entire equity share capital of AirAsia India Private Limited by Air India Ltd- an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Private Limited (TSPL). At present, TSPL holds 83.67 per cent of the equity share capital of Air Asia India,” the filed notice with CCI said.

The two combined entities will have a 15.7 per cent share of India’s domestic passenger market. Air India Express - a subsidiary of Air India doesn’t operate in the domestic market and flies only between India and Gulf routes.

Tatas raised their stake in AirAsia India to 83.67 per cent in December 2020 and are likely to complete the acquisition of the remaining 16 per cent stake from Malaysian airline group AirAsia Berhad by the end of this month.

However, an integration of Vistara’s business with Air India is going to take longer time as negotiations are still underway with Singapore Airlines which owns 49 per cent in the joint venture.

Tata Sons, which assumed management control of Air India in January, has started the process of integrating the four airlines under its belt. As part of this process, all four airlines- Air India, Air India Express, Vistara, AirAsia India, and ground handling firm AISATS will move into a single office.

Sources said that the Tatas have identified an office space in Gurgaon where it will lease office space of 70,000 square feet. “To optimise resources, increase teamwork, and have higher synergies at work, it has been decided to shift the various entities under a single roof in Gurgaon in a phased manner,” a person aware of the development said.

A team from Tata Realty- the group’s real estate firm is working on the project led by its Managing Director and CEO Sanjay Dutt. Consultancy firm EY has also been roped in for the project.

Air India currently has its headquarters at Airlines House situated in Central Delhi where it shifted from the iconic Nariman Point Building in Mumbai in 2013. The airline’s low-cost subsidiary Air India Express is based out of Kochi.

Tata Group-owned AirAsia India is based out of Bengaluru while Vistara, its joint venture with Singapore Airlines is based out of Gurgaon.

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TVS Motor partners Rapido to expand reach in mobility, hyper-local segments

TVS Motor Company on Wednesday said it has entered into a strategic partnership with on-demand delivery and mobility platform, Rapido, for collaboration in areas of mutual interest and commercial mobility ecosystem.

As part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two partners, TVS Motor and Rapido will look to collaborate by leveraging synergies of their respective businesses in the fast-moving mobility market in India, the company said in a statement.

The two companies will bring together their strength in mobility and seamless technology platform and the partnership will cover both two-wheeler and three-wheeler vehicles and extend across ICE (internal combustion engine) and EV (electric vehicle) segments, it added.

"Rapido has built a strong user base of 'Captains' and 'Riders' and is the leading bike-taxi platform in India today. We believe we can expand our reach in the mobility and hyper-local segments using high-quality, connected products from the TVS Electric portfolio and financing from our group," TVS Motor Co Joint Managing Director Sudarshan Venu said.

Rapido Co-Founder Aravind Sank said, "This association will help us strengthen our capabilities and expand our electric bikes fleet. The ultimate objective is to help millions of more Indians commute through an affordable, comfortable, convenient and safe alternative mode of transport."

He further said Rapido has envisaged plugging first and last-mile daily commuting gaps in India, not just in metros, but beyond in tier II and III, as well.

TVS Motor Co said its partnership with Rapido is in line with its past announcements of expanding electric product portfolio which spreads across 5-25kW two- and three-wheelers and launch all of them by mid-2023.

The company said it aims to have EVs across segments like delivery, commuter premium, high-performance sports, and electric three-wheelers while expanding the presence of TVS iQube electric scooter across all major cities in India.

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Indian Hotels turns in Rs 72 cr profit in Q4 against a loss last year

Tata group hospitality firm Indian Hotels Co (IHCL) reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 71.57 crore in the March quarter against a consolidated net loss of Rs 97.72 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal, IHCL said in a regulatory filing.

It reported consolidated revenue of Rs 872.08 crore during the quarter as against Rs 615.02 crore in the year-ago period. Its annual losses crimped to Rs 265 crore from Rs 796 crore in fiscal 2020-21. The hospitality firm said it has recorded the highest number of new hotel signings in India for the second consecutive year, totalling 19 new hotels.

IHCL has also raised Rs 4,000 crore, Rs 2,000 crore by way of the rights issue and an additional Rs 2,000 crore through QIP. Roots Corporation, which operates the Ginger brand, is now IHCL’s wholly-owned subsidiary.

“IHCL reported a 192 per cent increase in EBITDA in the fourth quarter as compared to the same quarter last year. Despite the third wave’s impact in January 2022, the company posted its highest ever EBITDA margin of 25.3 per cent,” said Puneet Chhatwal, MD and CEO, IHCL said in the statement.

“Business outlook is positive with April and May trending ahead of 2019. Our industry leading pipeline along with scaling up of high margin new business like Ginger, amã Stays & Trails and Qmin will provide further impetus,” he added.

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JSW Steel Limited set up invest Rs 150 crore steel plant in south Kashmir's Pulwama

JSW Steel Limited and Apollo Hospitals became the first major corporations to buy land in Jammu and Kashmir after the scrapping of Article 370 in 2019 to set up their units in the region.

While JSW steel limited is all set to come up with its Rs 150 crore project in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, Apollo Hospitals will set up its medicare facility in Jammu district, officials said.

"The possession of 70 kanals of land (8.75 acres) has already been handed over to JSW Steel Limited in Pulwama's Lassipora industrial area to set up a Rs 150-crore steel plant," a senior official said.

Apollo Hospitals is setting up a 250-bed super speciality hospital in the Jammu region, he added.

The administration has already earmarked 100 kanals (12.5 acres) at Jammu's Miran Sahib for a medi-city, which will accommodate the country's top health sector corporates to invest here, the official noted.

In Kashmir, Medi-city is coming up on 368 kanals (46 acres) in Sempora in Pulwama district as many groups have also shown equal interest to invest in the medi-city, the officials said.

The Administrative Council had approved the transfer of land measuring 750 Kanals in favour of the Industries and Commerce Department for setting up Medicity.

The operationalisation of the Medicity will bring the world-class healthcare infrastructure and facilities to the region, besides providing employment opportunities to the medical and pharma professionals, local pharmacists and vendors, SAC (State Administrative Council) had said.

Jammu and Kashmir is set to become the top investment destination in the country as it races up to various infrastructure projects and is reaching out to foreign and domestic investors through several forums and industrial summits, the officials said.

Investors from foreign countries, particularly the Middle East, are keen to invest in J&K, which Jammu and Kashmir has not received in the last 75 years, they added.

Before arriving in Palli village in Samba to participate in the National Panchayati Raj Day celebrations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met a large delegation from UAE.

The Prime Minister said that a new story of development is being written and many private investors are interested in Jammu and Kashmir.

"For seven decades of independence, private investment of only Rs 17 thousand crore could be made in Jammu and Kashmir. But, this investment is now reaching around Rs 38,000 crore," he said.

The Jammu & Kashmir administration has worked hard to convince Dubai-based investors to explore investment possibilities in the Union Territory.

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Rajnath Singh holds discussion with UK's defence procurement minister

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday held talks with British Minister of Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin, focusing on bilateral cooperation in areas such as aviation and shipbuilding.

"Had a wonderful meeting with the UK Minister of Defence Procurement, Mr. Jeremy Quin. We discussed the opportunities available in areas pertaining to aviation, ship building and other defence industrial programmes for both the countries," Singh tweeted.

The talks between Singh and Quin took place days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson agreed on a new and expanded India-UK defence partnership.

During his visit to India last week, Johnson announced that the UK is creating an Open General Export Licence (OGEL) for India to "reduce bureaucracy and slashing delivery times" for defence procurement and that London will help New Delhi in the co-development of military hardware including indigenous production of fighter jets.

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Jaishankar to visit Bangladesh on Thursday to invite PM Hasina for visit

External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar will travel to Dakha on Thursday to invite Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to visit India.

"Yes, the EAM will pay a one-day visit to Dhaka on Thursday," Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters in Delhi on Monday.

"He will carry a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to invite Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to visit India," Shringla was quoted as saying by Dhaka Tribune.

Shringla made these remarks in response to queries from journalists at an event at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.

Foreign Secretary and Bangladesh High Commissioner Muhammad Imran on Monday attended the award-giving ceremony for felicitating winners of a competition conducted on the occasion of India-Bangladesh Friendship Day.

During the event, Shringla shared views on strengthening the bilateral partnership.

Both representatives felicitated the winners of the Maitri Diwas logo and backdrop competition conducted on the occasion of India-Bangladesh Maitri Diwas.

"FS @harshvshringla and Bangladesh High Commissioner Muhammad Imran felicitated the winners of the India-Bangladesh #MaitreeDiwas logo and backdrop competition. Also shared views on further strengthening bilateral ties, including youth connect, innovation and emerging areas," said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

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Instagram launches Enhanced Tags on Reels to boost creator recognition

Instagram today announced Enhanced Tags on Reels, which is a way to make it easier for creators to receive credit for their work. In March, Enhanced Tags was launched for Feed, but now it is available on Reels as well.

This is of significance as proper creative credit and recognition is a starting point for discovery, new opportunities and economic empowerment. This is especially relevant as more creators collaborate with each other.

“Until now, the Instagram community has come together to support creators and have found alternative ways to credit each other, such as tagging one another in captions and photos, so we’re now bringing this feature to our product,” said Instagram in a statement.

Enhanced tags allow a creator’s self-designated profile category on their professional accounts to be displayed in their People Tag, so that people can share and view a creator’s specific contribution to a photo or video post.

“And as Reels also continues to be the largest contributor to engagement growth on Instagram, we’re excited to expand enhanced tags to Reels. Simply put—if you’re a makeup artist, songwriter or other significant collaborator on a post, your contributions will be more visible in the post or Reel,” said the company.

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Apple resolves issues with App Store, Apple Music that affected users

Apple users globally faced issues with the App Store and Apple Music for couple of hours and the company said early on Tuesday that it has resolved both the bugs and the services were back on track.

Website outage tracking service Downdetector reported these issues and nearly all users were affected worldwide.

The App Store outage largely affected iPad users and they also had issues with playing music, accessing their profiles, viewing lyrics and more on Apple Music.

"Thanks for the awareness! The App Store is currently experiencing an outage. We're working hard on this so that you can access the App Store again," Apple Support had said in a tweet.

The users of both App Store and Apple Music suffered intermittent issues for couple of hours.

Reddit users had problems with Apple Music missing lyric information, Dolby Atmos, and lossless audio from songs.

9to5Mac reported that Apple's Privacy Labels weren't appearing on many App Store listings.

Some users said logging in and logging out fixed the missing lossless audio features for them but not the missing lyrics.

Now, both Apple services have been resolved.

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Brazil court deals heavy blow to massive Amazon gold mine project

A Brazilian federal court on Monday upheld the suspension of an environmental licence for what would be the largest open-pit gold mine in the nation's Amazon rainforest, dealing a blow to the Canada-based company behind the project.

Belo Sun Mining Corp. was appealing the same court's 2017 ruling, which found that the company's consultation with local Indigenous peoples and study on the project's socio-environmental impacts didn't meet the criteria required by the National Indian Foundation.

In a 3-0 vote, the court maintained its prior ruling. Belo Sun can appeal the decision to a higher court.

The company's Volta Grande project is located on the banks of the Xingu River, in the state of Para. It is located about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from Belo Monte, the world's third-biggest hydroelectric dam.

The Belo Monte dam has reduced the flow in the Volta Grande (Big Bend) stretch of the Xingu River, where the Belo Sun project is located. Among other impacts, the fish population, a staple for the local population, is diminishing.

"My community wasn't consulted about the Belo Sun project, Lorena Curuaia, a leader from the Iawa village, told The Associated Press by phone. Belo Monte already has had a major impact on the Xingu. A second project could mean the death of the local peoples."

Belo Sun has argued that it already consulted the Indigenous peoples, and that their closest community is more than 10 km (6 miles) away.

The Federal Prosecutors' Office states that the company only considered officially demarcated areas, and that Indigenous communities outside these places should also be taken into account.

Contacted by phone and email Monday, Belo Sun's office in Brazil didn't respond to AP requests for comment about the court's decision or if it would appeal.

According to the company, the project covers 2,400 hectares (5,930 acres).

"This is another victory for the Indigenous and riverine people of Volta Grande do Xingu," federal prosecutor Felcio de Arajo Pontes Jr. said in a text message.

"They know that a mining project can have devastating impacts on the region. The judgment shows the resilience of this population.

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Donald Trump says he has no plans to rejoin Twitter after Musk's deal

Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he has no intention of rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated following Elon Musk's agreement to buy the social media giant for roughly $44 billion.

Trump told Fox News that he will instead focus on his own platform, Truth Social, which has been mired in problems since its launch earlier this year.

"I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on Truth," Trump was quoted telling the network.

"I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth."

Trump was barred from major social media platforms after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, with Twitter citing the "risk of further incitement of violence".

The decision denied him the megaphone he had used to generate media attention and speak directly to his followers, which had been integral to his political rise.

At the time, the former president had roughly 89 million followers on Twitter alone.

Musk, the world's wealthiest person and a self-described free-speech absolutist, had said he wanted to buy and privatize Twitter because he believed it wasn't living up to its potential as a free speech platform. It raised questions about whether he might reinstate Trump's account as the former president lays the groundwork for another White House run in 2024.

Trump has continued to spread lies about his 2020 election defeat in speeches and statements since leaving office, and it is unclear how Musk would approach those statements if Trump were ever to return to the site.

In recent weeks, Musk has voiced a number of proposed changes for the company, including relaxing its content restrictions, and said he would be "very reluctant" to delete content and cautious of permanent bans.

After being kicked off social media platforms, Trump launched his own social media app and sued Twitter, Facebook and Google's YouTube, claiming he and other conservatives had been wrongfully censored, even though posts by conservative commentators are routinely the most widely shared.

On Monday, he said he welcomed Musk's purchase and told Fox News he didn't see Twitter as his own product's competition.

"Truth Social will be a voice for me," he said. "And that's something nobody else can get."

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Elon Musk clinches deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion

Elon Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc for $44 billion on Monday in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world's richest person.

Discussions over the deal, which last week appeared uncertain, accelerated over the weekend after Musk wooed Twitter shareholders with financing details of his offer.

Under pressure, Twitter started negotiating with Musk to buy the company at the proposed $54.20 per share price. The deal ends Twitter's run as a public company since its 2013 initial public offering.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said in a statement.

Twitter's shares were up about 6% following the news.