The unicorns-in-the-making hail from diverse sectors such as software, logistics and fintech, thereby widening the pool beyond online commerce and advertising models.

Maharashtra plastic ban to cost India Rs 15,000 crore, 3 lakh jobs, claims industry officialA day after the Maharashtra government enforced the ban on a variety of plastic items, the plastic manufacturing industry on Sunday said that the state-wide ban will result in loss of up to Rs 15,000 crore and nearly 3 lakh job. In a statement to PTI, Plastic Bags Manufacturers Association of India General Secretary Neemit Punamiya said that nearly 2,500 members of the association have been left with no option but to shut shop following the ban.  The prohibition extends to a wide variety of plastic items, including plastic carry bags, and even thermocol. The move is aimed at cutting down on pollution caused by discarded plastic items.Heads of 11 PSBs to appear before parliamentary panelHeads of 11 state-run banks will apprise a parliamentary committee about the problems of mounting bad loans and increasing fraud cases. They will be appearing before the Standing Committee on Finance, headed by veteran Congress leader M Veerappa Moily, which is looking into 'Banking Sector in India- Issues, Challenges and the Way Forward, including Non- Performing Assets/ Stressed Assets in Banks/Financial Institutions'. Top officials of IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Dena Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of Maharashtra, United Bank of India, Corporation Bank and Allahabad Bank, will make presentations before the panel and respond to queries on June 26.As trade war looms, China cuts some banks' reserve requirements to boost lendingChina's central bank said on Sunday it would cut the amount of cash that some banks must hold as reserves by 50 basis points (bps), releasing $108 billion in liquidity, to accelerate the pace of debt-for-equity swaps and spur lending to smaller firms. The reserve reduction, the third by the central bank this year, had been widely anticipated by investors amid concerns over market liquidity and a potential economic drag from a trade dispute with the United States.But the 700 billion yuan ($107.65 billion) in liquidity that the central bank said will result from the reduction in reserves was bigger than expected.WhatsApp to offer 24-hr customer support for payments services in IndiaWhatsApp is working on setting up a 24-hour customer support for users of its payments services that is slated to be rolled out in India in the coming weeks. WhatsApp, which has over 200 million users in India, will provide support through e-mails as well as a toll-free number. The support will be available in English as well as three Indian languages - Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. However, the official declined to comment on the launch dates and other details.E-commerce firms cash in on FIFA frenzy in IndiaIndians usually 'bleed blue' with cricket fever, but the ongoing FIFA World Cup has the nation donning yellow, green, red and white as Indian supporters cheer for their favourite teams in the team jerseys. Sale of team jerseys, as well as that of footballs and other gear, have seen strong growth on various e-commerce platforms in India over the last two weeks with Argentina, Germany and Brazil emerging as the top favourites. ShopClues said its platform has seen an average sale of around 4,000 footballs per day for the last 16 days. Interestingly, Snapdeal has also seen a spike in the sales of bean bags, recliners and home theatre systems, indicating that viewers are looking at cheering for their favourite team from the comforts of their homes. According to Flipkart VP (Fashion) Rishi Vasudev, about a third of its football-related merchandise is coming from women.

With e-commerce poised for exponential growth in India, the country is fast emerging as the new battleground for global retail giants. Can local players withstand the onslaught?

Softbank's India investments have hit the $8 bn mark. Last year, Softbank invested $2.5 bn in Flipkart, the biggest private investment in the country's consumer technology sector. After Flipkart-Walmart deal was confirmed this month, Softbank has now decided to sell its 21% stake in Flipkart to Walmart. It is now exploring a possible investment in Zomato. And the man behind it all is Masayoshi Son, CEO, Softbank Corp. Watch BusinessToday.In's video to know more about Softbank and its CEO, Masayoshi Son.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son's indecisiveness had reportedly stemmed from two factors - the significant tax liability involved and his reluctance to miss out on Flipkart's potential valuation jumps in the future.

An investor who was part of the deal at that time said that they were the only firm that was ready to take a risk.

Trump attacks China over US trade deficit  US President Donald Trump today hit out at China for \"fleecing\" his country with hundreds of billions of dollars every year, even as high-level delegations from the two countries were holding intense negotiations in Washington over a series of trade disputes between them.\"China has taken our hundreds of billions of dollars a year from the United States. And I explained to (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping), we can't do that anymore, we just can't do that anymore. It's a much different situation,\" Trump told reporters at the White House. \"But with all the years and all the years that you covered trade and nations and wars and everything else, you've never seen people come over from China to work on a trade deal. Now, will that be successful? I tend to doubt it,\" he said. The reason, he said, he doubts it is because China has become \"very spoiled\".Japan's Softbank can't seem to get enough of Indian startups; in talks to invest in ZomatoBack in October 2014, eyebrows were raised when the founder and Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank Group Masayoshi Son committed to investing $10 billion in India within a decade. He has since walked the talk - investing in Ola, Flipkart, Paytm, OYO, as well as Snapdeal and Housing.com - and has reportedly already crossed the $8 billion mark. And now, even as the Japanese conglomerate mulls over the big question of whether to exit Flipkart or not, it is busy sniffing around a whole new pie: India's booming food tech space. According to The Economic Times, the Japanese conglomerate held an exploratory discussion with Zomato earlier this week regarding a possible investment.India to be among fastest adopters of AI based services: COAIIndia will be one of the early adopters of artificial intelligence (AI) based services,  Telecom industry body COAI has said . AI is a crucial enabler for achieving the national goals in the areas of healthcare, education and capacity building, COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said in a statement. \"With a positive ecosystem, driven by better connectivity and a financially robust sectoral health, AI will unveil possibilities hitherto unparalleled,\" he said on the occasion of World Telecom and Information Society Day. The recently released draft of the new telecom policy, branded as National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) - 2018 , has also proposed provisions to encourage AI.Goyal promises help to 11 PSBs under RBI watch list  Finance Minister Piyush Goyal today promised all possible help to strengthen the 11 public sector banks placed under the 'Prompt Corrective Action' framework by the RBI to check their deteriorating financial health.Under the PCA, banks face restrictions on distributing dividends and remitting profits. The owner may be asked to infuse capital into the lender. Besides, the lenders are stopped from expanding their branch networks and need to maintain higher provisions. Management compensation and directors' fees are also capped. Goyal, who was earlier this week given temporary charge of the finance ministry until Arun Jaitley recovers after undergoing a kidney transplant, met heads of 11 public sector banks.Indian economy projected to grow 7.6 pc in 2018-19: UN  According to a UN report, India's economy is projected to grow 7.6 per cent in fiscal year 2018-19, remaining the fastest growing economy in the world, as robust private consumption and benefits from past reforms help the country's GDP gain momentum. But sustained recovery in private investment remains a crucial challenge. The UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) as of mid-2018, said GDP growth in India is expected to climb to 7.5 and 7.6 per cent in fiscal years 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively. This is a substantial recovery from the 6.7 per cent growth India registered in fiscal year 2017.Walmart online sales surge, earnings beat expectationsUS retail giant Walmart saw quarterly profits take a hit but earnings beat analysts' expectations and total sales rose amid the growth of its online business, the company has said. Net income was down USD 905 million from the same period last year to $2.134 billion. But the key earnings per share measure was $1.14, two cents higher than expected. And net sales, at $121.6 billion, were up 4.4 percent over the same period last year -- more than $1 billion higher than expectations. Walmart, which is trying to compete with online giant Amazon, saw US comparable store sales rise 2.1 percent and customer traffic increase 0.8 percent, although the unseasonably cold weather hurt sales in the United States.

Even as the Japanese conglomerate mulls over the big question of whether to exit Flipkart or not, it is busy sniffing around a whole new pie: India's booming food tech space.

According to The Economic Times, the Japanese conglomerate has held early discussions to invest as much as $3 billion in Paytm Mall,  run by Paytm E-commerce Pvt. Ltd - just last month, SoftBank had invested $400 million (Rs 2,600 crore) for 21 per cent stake in the company also backed by China's Alibaba Group.

Inthree, StoreKing, eHaat and RubanBridge. They are not household names like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal or ShopClues, say. But these are e-commerce companies nonetheless, which are trying to build significant businesses by tapping rural demand in India.

Snapdeal has seen its business being impacted severely by the intense competition in the e-commerce segment. While players, including the likes of Amazon and Flipkart, have pumped in billions of dollars in investments, they continue to operate in losses.

According to a report in RedSeer, a market research firm, the Indian e-commerce industry lost USD 3.4 billion in GMV due to product returns in 2017.

The Bengaluru-based start-up enables marketers to target customers with the help of machine learning.

Chinese e-commerce companies are making inroads in India.

The Retailers Association of India has alleged that e-commerce marketplaces have found ways to circumvent restrictions placed on them under Press Note 3 issued by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in 2016.