Top headlines: Govt comes down heavily on Twitter, IndiGo starts hiring

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Govt comes down heavily on Twitter, says lawfully passed orders binding on any biz

The government expects Twitter to fully comply with its legal notice in the matter of taking down accounts that were tweeting “ince­ndiary” hashtags related to the ongoing farmers’ protests. After a marathon meeting of top Twitter executives with officials in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Wednesday, the government, in a strongly worded statement, said that “lawfully passed orders are binding on any business entity”. Read more
 

Adar Poonawalla to acquire 60% in Magma Fincorp for Rs 3,456-crore

Adar Poonawalla-controlled Rising Sun Holdings will acquire a 60 per cent stake in non-banking financial company (NBFC) Magma Fincorp by subscribing to a Rs 3,456-crore preferential issue. After the infusion of capital, Magma and its subsidiaries will be renamed and rebranded Poonawalla Finance. Read more
 

IndiGo starts hiring, gives offer letters to 32 pilots for ATR-72 fleet

IndiGo has become one of the first airlines in the world to resume hiring since Covid-19 wreaked havoc on aviation, besides several other sectors, signalling a gradual recovery. The pandemic hit few sectors harder than air travel, wiping out tens of thousands of jobs. IndiGo had slashed its workforce by 10 per cent last year in view of travel disruptions.

According to the company executives in the know, the airline has given offer letters to around 32 pilots for the ATR-72 fleet. Read more

Can Koo pull off a coup in India as the govt-Twitter spat escalates?

Praised by PM Modi himself and pitched by several other ministers, the app attracts 2-3 million daily active users and has achieved 3 million downloads in nine months. Read more
 

PLI scheme may trigger investments worth Rs 50,000 crore into pharma sector

Major pharma players have warmed up to the bulk drug production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. According to industry insiders, once the second tranche of the scheme covering formulations comes online, it may trigger investments worth Rs 50,000 crore. Read more
 

From Netflix to Amazon, OTT players finalise regulation rulebook

Ahead of the likely government guidelines for over-the-top (OTT) players, some 17 companies, including Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar-Disney, Zee5 and Voot, have endorsed a code of conduct. This will form the basis for self-regulating the content generated by OTT platforms in India.

The code, finalised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), has suggested a two-stage grievance and complaint redressal structure. Read more

SBI aims to double home loan portfolio in next 5 years to Rs 10 trillion

It took the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) 10 years to scale its home loan portfolio from Rs 89,000 crore to Rs 5 trillion. Now, it is aiming to double that to Rs 10 trillion in five years, at a time when lenders — banks and housing finance companies — are locked in an intense battle to gain market share. Read more

Indian economy to contract by 7% in current fiscal: SBI Research

Pencilling in a GDP growth in third and fourth quarters, SBI Research on Wednesday revised its contraction forecast for the current fiscal year to 7 per cent. The agency had earlier forecast a 7.4 per cent contraction in 2020-21 GDP numbers. Read more