Top headlines: Major Twitter hack, Google investment, RIL 5G, and more

From major Twitter accounts of Biden, Bill Gates and Obama hacked, Google buying stake in Jio Platforms to Reliance eyeing 5G network and smartphones, here are top headlines of the day

Twitter handles of Obama, Biden, Musk hacked to solicit digital currency

A series of high-profile Twitter accounts were hijacked on Wednesday, with some of the platform's top voices--including U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, reality television show star Kim Kardashian, former US President Barack Obama, billionaire Elon Musk, and rapper Kanye West, among many others--used to solicit digital currency. Nearly two hours after the first wave of hacks, the cause of the breach had not yet been made public. In a sign of the seriousness of the problem, Twitter took the extraordinary step of preventing at least some verified accounts from publishing messages altogether. Read More...

Google to invest Rs 33,737 crore for 7.73% stake in Jio Platforms

With Google and Facebook both investing billions, India is set to be their next big battleground. On Monday, Sunder Pichai, Google Inc CEO, said the company will invest $10 billion in India in the next 5-7 years. The cash it has promised through a country-specific fund is nearly double the $5.7 billion that its rival Facebook invested less than three months ago to buy a 9.9 per cent stake in Jio Platforms which controls Reliance Jio and various other platforms. Google’s decision is a landmark. Read More...

It's time for RIL 3.0: Made-in-India 5G network, affordable smartphones

Giving a sense of the cutting edge technology from the RIL stable, Ambani said homegrown 5G solutions would be available for trials as soon as spectrum was given out. It could be ready for field deployment next year. Earlier this month, the group had launched JioMeet, the country’s first cloud-based video conferencing app, to rival the global major Zoom, in yet another sign of the scale of its tech aspirations. As part of its partnership with Google, Jio also looks to build an Android-based smartphone operating system. Other plans include exporting 5G solutions. The company's consumer business contributes about 35 per cent to its overall earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation. During Covid, while Jio Platforms' business improved, RIL's oil business took a hit. Read More...

Rossari Biotech IPO subscribed 79.4 times, generates bids worth Rs 27K cr

Rossari Biotech has received 79.4 times the demand of shares on offer in its initial public offering (IPO), on Wednesday, which is the last day of the issue. The institutional investor portion of the IPO was subscribed more than 85 times, the wealthy investor portion subscribed 240 times, and the retail investor portion garnered 7.2 times subscription. The IPO saw over 600,000 application and generated bids worth over Rs 27,000 crore. Read More...

Airlines staring at Rs 1.1-trillion loss over 3 years: CRISIL Research

Indian airlines are staring at a revenue loss of Rs 1.1-1.3 trillion over three financial years, including the current financial year, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to visa and travel restrictions, thereby severely affecting aviation industry across the world, according to a report Airlines are unlikely to recoup this loss as growth is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels of double-digit increase at least in the medium term, CRISIL Research said. Read More...

Air India to send some employees on leave without pay for up to 5 years

Air India has begun a cost-cutting drive and will send around 600 employees on furlough in the first such move by the state-owned carrier. The airline’s board approved on July 7 the scheme of ‘Leave Without Pay’ ranging from six months to five years. While the scheme is voluntary in nature, if it doesn’t get a good response from employees, the board has authorised Chairman and Managing Director Rajiv Bansal to forcibly send employees on leave. Employees who opt for the scheme will have to notify their departmental heads by August 15. Air India has 9,426 employees on its payroll, of which 4,200 are on contract. Read More...

Drop in Chinese exports to US didn't help India, says Rabobank report

India has not gained much from a drop in China’s share in American imports, despite New Delhi’s close diplomatic relation with Washington and a recent push to boost its own local manufacturing base, a study by Rabobank shows The South Asian nation saw only a slight increase of its share in shipments to the US last year, according to the Rabobank report, as a trade war with China pushed American companies to diversify their supply chain away from the world’s second-biggest economy. Read More...

China's aggression, urgent need for arms put 'Make in India' on back burner

With the Ministry of Defence (MoD) clearing the emergency import of arms and equipment to help the military deal with Chinese aggression in Eastern Ladakh, the Make In India and Atmanirbhar programmes would be one of the quiet casualties of that crisis. The planned import of several categories of weapons — specifically light tanks, Israeli Spike LR anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), Israeli Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), US-made SIG Sauer assault rifles and MiG-29 fighter aircraft — will undercut Indian programmes to develop indigenous alternatives. Read More...

Amazon builds country of origin tech solution; asks sellers to fill details

Amazon India has made it compulsory for sellers on its e-commerce platform to reveal the ‘country of origin’ of new and existing product listings by the middle of August this year, according to sources. The sellers could now face hurdles in the process of listing the products if they don’t fill up the country of origin details. Earlier, sellers on platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart had to mention such details only for imported items and this was not mandatory for other products like domestic goods. However, according to industry sources, Amazon is now ready with a technology feature which would ask for ‘country of origin’ details when sellers fill the product details to list them on the platform. Read More...

India rejects two Chinese companies’ bids on development of Delhi-Mumbai expressway 

India has rejected bids of two Chinese companies that emerged as the lowest bidders for developing two stretches of the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai expressway, citing security concerns. The ministry of highways and road transport will not award these projects, entailing a cost of about Rs. 800 crore each, to the subsidiaries of Jiangxi Construction Engineering Corporation, a government official told The Economic Times.