Swedish furniture brand IKEA will turn rice straw into a renewable material source for the IKEA products in a bid to stop crop burning, all telecom operators, except Reliance Jio, failed to meet call drop benchmark in drive test andother business stories

WhatsApp to appoint India head by year-endUnder pressure to curb sinister and fake messages, WhatsApp said Wednesday it will appoint head of India operations by the year-end.\"Our new Head of WhatsApp India, who will be named by the end of the year, will build a local team that can serve our customers in India as well as work with partners and government leaders to help keep people safe,\" WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement. WhatsApp Vice President Chris Daniels met IT Minister Ravi Sh...

Apple launch event: New MacBook Air, iPad Pro and iMac Mini launchedApple Inc unveiled three new hardware offerings at its latest launch event on Tuesday. The event in Brooklyn, New York saw the new iterations of the MacBook Air, the iPad Pro and the iMac Mini being launched. Among today's launches, Apple MacBook Air now gets the Retina Display, slimmer bezels, USB Type-C ports, and even a 3.5mm audio jack. The iPad Pro has also been refreshed with slimmer bezels and reduced footprint, FaceID...

Eight of top 10 companies lose Rs 1.35 lakh crore in market valuationEight of the 10 most valued Indian firms suffered a combined loss of Rs 1,35,162.15 crore in market capitalisation last week with benchmark BSE Sensex diving around 3 per cent. TCS, RIL and Infosys took a severe beating in market valuation while only two bluechips, HDFC and ICICI Bank, managed to record gains in market capitalisation (m-cap) for the week ended Friday.UIDAI asks banks to use Aadhaar eKYC for DBT u...

Air purifier makers expect sales to rise as air quality worsens in Delhi, tier II citiesAir purifier makers are again looking at a big spike in their sales like previous years since the air quality in the national capital region and adjoining areas is likely to deteriorate further in the coming weeks. The companies are again expecting Delhi-NCR to drive their sales this year, though, they are also witnessing a rise in demand from smaller and tier II cities, other than metros.Delhi...

RBI's local data storage norms kick in today; foreign firms seek more timeThe RBI's deadline for global financial technology (fintech) companies to comply with its data localisation norms kicks in today. Senior officials said the deadline will not be deferred despite requests from foreign companies as they have already been given six months to prepare their systems for local storage of data. Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Google, Amazon and Facebook are reported to have met Finance Minister Arun J...

India's draft electronics policy aims $400 billion manufacturing industry by 2025The country's draft electronics policy released by the IT ministry on Wednesday has set an ambitious target of creating a $400 billion electronics manufacturing industry by 2025, with the mobile phone devices segment accounting for three-fourths of the production. The draft National Policy on Electronics (NPE) aims to promote domestic manufacturing in the entire value-chain of ESDM (electronic system design and m...

Street food to be audited for cleanliness and hygiene by FSSAIIndian street food experience could soon undergo a massive change if Food Safety and Standards Authority of India's (FSSAI) plans follows to fruition. FSSAI is implementing a \"clean street food hub programme\" so that you can enjoy your chaats and gol guppas without bothering about hygiene. The autonomous body has identified 144 clusters across the country that would be audited by FSSAI along with state authorities for...

Foreign investors push panic button; pull out Rs 9,300 crore in 4 daysForeign investors have pulled out over Rs 9,300 crore from the Indian capital markets in the last four working days on unabated fall in rupee and rise in crude oil price. The latest withdrawal comes following a net outflow of over Rs 21,000 crore from the capital markets (both equity and debt) last month. Prior to that, they had put in a net amount of Rs 7,400 crore in July-August.IIP, inflation, rupee to drive ...

Mukesh Ambani gets richer by $9.3 bn this year; 5 new faces in Forbes India rich listReliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is the richest Indian for the 11th year in a row with a net worth of $47.3 billion, according to Forbes magazine.  The billionaire tycoon is also the year's biggest gainer, growing richer by $9.3 billion as his telecom startup Reliance Jio has seen continued success. Wipro chairman Azim Premji retained the second spot on the 'Forbes India Rich List 2018', adding...

Facebook security breach! Govt asks tech giant to quantify impact on Indian usersThe Central government has asked Facebook to reveal the extent to which the recent hacking might have affected its Indian users. Though the Ministry of Electronics and IT has not sent any legal notice so far, it has raised concerns over one of the biggest hacking attacks on Facebook computer network last week on Friday, which breached over 50 million Facebook accounts, and might have affected accounts...

Gita Gopinath appointed as IMF Chief EconomistGita Gopinath has been appointed as IMF Chief Economist by International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde. Gopinath will succeed Maury Obstfeld, who announced in July that he would retire at the end of 2018. Gopinath currently serves as the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University. Gopinath has earlier served as Financial Advisor to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vij...

Facebook, Twitter to help EC check fake news, targeted communication to voters during pollsInternet major Google and social media giants Twitter and Facebook have assured the Election Commission that they will not allow their platforms to be used for anything which effects the purity of polls during campaign period, Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat has said.Elon Musk to step down as Tesla chairman after fraud charges, pay $20 million fineBillionaire Elon Musk has agreed to step down as th...

Facebook, Twitter to help EC check fake news, targeted communication to voters during pollsInternet major Google and social media giants Twitter and Facebook have assured the Election Commission that they will not allow their platforms to be used for anything which effects the purity of polls during campaign period, Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat has said.Elon Musk to step down as Tesla chairman after fraud charges, pay $20 million fineBillionaire Elon Musk has agreed to step down as th...

Paytm raises $300 million from Berkshire HathawayOne97 Communications Ltd, the parent company of Paytm, has raised $300 million from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., according to regulatory documents, as reported by Mint. This will be Berkshire Hathaway's first investment in the country's startup ecosystem. This is being considered a boost for India's startup industry.GST Council meet: National cess to help calamity-hit states on agendaThe Goods and Services Tax Council w...

Cabinet gives nod for new telecom policy; clears path for spectrum price, licence fee reviewThe Cabinet on Wednesday approved the new telecom policy that sets an ambitious target of attracting $100 billion investments and creating 40 lakh jobs in the currently debt-ridden sector by 2022 and paves the way for introducing new technologies such as 5G and IoT (Internet of things). Under the new policy, termed the National Digital Communications Policy 2018, the government plans to opt...

The market closed lower with losses in a highly volatile session today as investors booked profits ahead of US Federal Reserve's policy outcome.The Sensex swung nearly 581 points on alternate bouts of buying and selling.Investors were also cautious in view of the expiry of September derivative contracts on Thursday, brokers said.The Sensex touched a high of 36,938 at the outset after domestic investors pressed on with buying. However, it soon turned choppy and hit a low of 36,357. I...