IN THE NEWS : Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs), India rice export prices stay high and Artifact, a text-based version of TikTok

INDIA ECONOMY

I-T Department spends 57 paise for every Rs 100 of tax collection: Official

Income-tax collection cost that the I-T Department incurs in the country is one of the lowest in the world at Rs 0.57 for every Rs 100 collected as tax.

We spend just 57 paise to collect every Rs 100 income-tax. We are one of the lowest in the world. The UK spends 73 paise, Japan 174 paise, Germany 135 paise, Canada 150 paise, France 111 paise. The USA is the only country that spends less than India.

Budget took dramatic bet on capex while continuing path of fiscal consolidation: NITI Aayog VC

The best part of the Budget presented by the finance minister was that it did not contain 'surprises', but took a dramatic bet on capex, while continuing the path of fiscal consolidation, NITI Aayog vice chairman Suman Bery said on Thursday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her fifth straight budget has raised the capital expenditure by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure development for 2023-24, and announced a lower fiscal deficit target of 5.9 per cent for FY24 while retaining it at 6.4 per cent for the current financial year.

India rice export prices stay high on strong demand, limited supply

Rice export prices from India rose to their highest level since April 2021 this week, aided by firm demand and tight supplies, while elevated rates in Thailand kept buyers at bay.

Top exporter India's 5% broken parboiled variety was quoted at $393 to $398 per tonne this week, up from last week range of $387-$395.

India's rice exports in 2022 jumped to a record high despite the government's curbs on overseas sale, as buyers continued to make purchases because of competitive prices. Traders attributed the small price drop to a slow down in demand but blamed the lack of supply and the strength of the local currency for keeping prices high which they say deter buyers.

Kendriya Bhandar begins sale of wheat flour at lower rate of Rs 29.50/kg; Nafed, NCCF to start from Feb 6

To provide relief to consumers from rising wheat flour prices, Kendriya Bhandar has started selling the commodity at Rs 29.50 per kg from Thursday, while cooperatives Nafed and NCCF will also sell at the same price from February 6 across the country

This was conveyed on Thursday in a review meeting chaired by Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra on the progress of the sale of 30 lakh tonne of wheat from buffer stock under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) in the domestic market.

TECHNOLOGY

Instagram co-founders are back with Artifact, a text-based version of TikTok

Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have made a comeback with a new venture that delivers personalised news using artificial intelligence, according to a new report by The Verge. Called Artifact, the app uses machine learning to understand your interests and even lets you discuss articles with friends.

If you are questioning how the app stands out among the sea of personalised news apps like Feedly and Google News, then the easiest way to clear that up is by drawing a parallel between it and TikTok. Artifact aims to work similarly to the popular shortform video app (that’s banned in India), except it will serve up text instead of videos.

Google’s answer to ChatGPT: Apprentice Bard with responses on recent events

Google, the biggest search engine in the world, seems to be taken aback by OpenAI’s revolutionary creation ChatGPT. According to a recent report by CNBC, the Alphabet-owned company is reportedly asking its staff to work towards creating test potential alternatives to ChatGPT.

The launch of OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT went on to gain over one million users in just five days since its launch on November 30 last year largely due to its impressive human-like responses to queries. In the process it spooked a lot of tech giants already working in the space. The AI-backed chatbot also prompted the tech world to brainstorm over multitudes of use cases that could eventually make several tasks easier and keep them abreast with the latest innovation.

New nanoscience could present a massive leap for photonic quantum computing

In a major breakthrough, researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Ruhr University have figured out how to control two quantum light sources rather than one. While a small step up from one to two might sound too anti-climatic to be termed a breakthrough, this new technology could potentially be developed to create a universal error-corrected quantum computer— often referred to as the holy grail of quantum computing.

In a major breakthrough, researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Ruhr University have figured out how to control two quantum light sources rather than one. While a small step up from one to two might sound too anti-climatic to be termed a breakthrough, this new technology could potentially be developed to create a universal error-corrected quantum computer— often referred to as the holy grail of quantum computing.

IIT Madras to receive Rs 242 Cr for research on synthetic diamonds

IIT Madras announced that will receive a grant of Rs 242 crores over a period of five years to conduct research on lab-grown diamonds (LGD). The research will be focused on driving the indigenous manufacturing of LGDs.

This development comes in the wake of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing an LGD research grant for an IIT. “Lab grown Diamonds (LGD) is a technology and innovation-driven emerging sector with high employment potential. These environment-friendly diamonds have optically and chemically the same properties as natural diamonds. To encourage indigenous production of LGD seeds and machines and to reduce import dependency, a research and development grant will be provided to one of the IITs for five years,” said Sitharaman while presenting the budget on Wednesday.

STARTUP ECOSYSTEM

Google’s User Choice Billing System Non-Compliant With CCI’s Directives: ADIF

The Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) has said that despite the changes announced by Google to its Play Stores policies in India to comply with the directives of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the tech giant is non-compliant with the competition watchdog’s order.

The think tank, which represents India’s digital start-ups, in a note said that app developers still need to pay 11/26% commission to the US-based company under its ‘user choice billing system’.

After Layoffs, No Cash Appraisals For Unacademy Employees This Year

After sacking more than 1,500 employees last year, edtech major Unacademy is now planning to skip paying cash appraisals to its employees this year. Instead, the company said it would offer stock options to employees based on their performance.

The Unacademy CEO also claimed that the company’s burn rate was down ‘significantly’ while revenues ‘grew’ during the course of the year. Munjal said that the EBITDA margins of the startup had improved ‘a lot’, adding that Unacademy was supposedly slated for a ‘lot of wins’ this year.

Groww Slips In The Red With A Loss Of INR 239 Cr In FY22; Operating Revenue Jumps 11.8X

Fintech unicorn Groww reported a consolidated loss of INR 239 Cr in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22), as against a profit of INR 167.6 Cr in the prior fiscal year, on the back of a sharp rise in its expenses.?

As per the filings of Billionbrains Garage Ventures Private Limited, the parent entity of Groww, with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the investech platform reported a loss despite an 11.8X jump in operating revenue to INR 350.9 Cr in FY22 from INR 29.5 Cr in the previous year.

Two-Wheeler EV Registrations Decline Marginally In January; Ola Electric Retains Top Spot

The registrations of two-wheeler electric vehicles (EVs) witnessed a marginal decline in January 2023, falling to 64,298 units from 64,527 units in the preceding December 2022 amid the Indian government tightening regulations around FAME-II subsidies. In September last year, the Centre began tightening the norms for availing subsidies under the FAME-II scheme and later decided to penalise the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for flouting the localisation requirement for components used.

GLOBAL

FedEx continues staff reduction by firing senior employees, has slashed 12,000 jobs

The postal services and e-commerce-major FedEx announced on Wednesday that it would slash its officer and director ranks by more than 10 per cent. The move is part of a broad cost-reduction effort that has reduced staffing at FedEx by 12,000 workers since June, a spokeswoman said. FedEx did not specify how many positions would be affected. Most of the cuts came through attrition and other headcount management efforts.

The investors of the delivery giant applauded the move as FedEx shares rose by 3.4 per cent on Wednesday. The company reportedly plans to slash its expenses by $3.7 billion this year.

About a quarter of world's population is on Facebook now as number of users grew to an average of 2 billion

The number of Facebook users grew to an average of two billion in December 2022, which is about a quarter of the world's population. This comes after a time when Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg said that 2022 was a 'challenging' year for his company. This bigger-than-expected growth helped drive new optimism about the company, which has been under pressure as its costs and advertising sales slump.

The share of the parent company of Facebook, Meta surged more than 15 per cent in after-hours trade as Zuckerberg declared 2023 as the 'year of efficiency' and said that he was focused on more cuts.

China to soon launch long-awaited IPO reforms

China is set to launch Initial Public Offering (IPO) reforms with an aim to make it easier for companies to raise money from investors. The reforms are long-awaited and are set to be rolled out on the heels of a chaotic exit from Zero-Covid policy. China's growth rate has slowed to record levels. The government is looking to restore investor confidence.

Under the new reforms, regulators will have less say in approving IPOs and stock exchanges will have a greater role. Currently, companies have to take go-ahead from regulators who vet the IPO plan before money can be raised from investors.

The new IPO system will be registration based like the model in the US.

What is the Minuteman III? Powerful US missiles to be upkept by Boeing

A powerful US intercontinental ballistic missile will be supported by Boeing. The aircraft-maker has been awarded a $1.6 billion contract to provide guidance subsystem support for US Minuteman III Intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The completion of work is forecast to be done by February 2, 2039. The US Department of Defense said that the work on the same will be executed at Utah state's Hill Air Force Base. It is installed in launch silos spread over three American military bases, in Wyoming, North Dakota, and Montana in the north of the US.

INVESTMENT

All you need to know about Mahila Samman Saving Certificate

In the Union Budget 2023-24, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a new small savings scheme for women investors. The scheme will be called Mahila Samman Saving Certificate (MSSC).

What’s the offer?

In this scheme, the deposits can be made in the name of a woman or a girl child. You can deposit up to Rs 2 lakh for a period of two years at a fixed rate of 7.5 percent. There are no tax benefits, but partial withdrawal is allowed in this scheme.

Conversion of physical gold to electronic gold receipt not to attract capital gains tax

The government in the Union Budget 2023-24 on February 1, 2023, excluded the conversion of gold to electronic gold receipts (EGRs) and vice versa from the purview of capital gains tax with an aim to promote the concept of electronic gold.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also proposed that the cost of acquisition of the EGR for the purpose of computing tax should be the cost of gold. Further, the holding period for the purpose of capital gains tax would include the period for which gold was held by the assessee prior to its conversion into EGR.

Similarly, a provision for conversion from gold to EGR is also proposed.

Edelweiss MF launches India’s first passive short-term index fund; Will it work?

Edelweiss Asset Management has launched a new fund offer (NFO) for India's first open-ended passive short-duration index scheme. Called Edelweiss CRISIL IBX 50:50 Gilt Plus SDL Short Duration Index Fund, the scheme will invest in a diversified portfolio of Indian Government Bonds (IGBs) and State Development Loans (SDLs).

The NFO for Edelweiss CRISIL IBX 50:50 Gilt Plus SDL Short Duration Index Fund opened on January 27, 2023.

Edelweiss Mutual Fund is a leader in the passive debt fund category with the highest market share managing assets of over Rs 68,000 crore (as on December 31, 2022).

40 percent rise in 3 months: Can China-focused funds sustain the rally?

Driven by a quick rebound in economic activity and an expected sustained growth momentum in upcoming months, China-focussed funds in India have gained up to 40 percent in the past three months.

However, this has come against the backdrop of a 30-40 percent yearly fall in these funds’ net asset value (NAV) from January 2022 till the end of October.

There are four funds in India specifically focusing on China. These are Axis Greater China Equity Fund of Fund, Edelweiss Greater China Equity Offshore, Mirae Asset Hang Seng TECH Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) and Nippon India ETF Hang Seng BeES.

The recent turnaround has been dramatic. On a one-year basis, Mirae Asset Hang Seng TECH ETF has been the worst performer with a fall of 16 percent, till January 20, 2023.