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TECH-NOW-LOGY The year of tech

A rewind of the major happenings of the tech world in 2023

New dreams for old values

A debutante novelist chooses a disparate group of young people to measure the moral compass of a nation

Govt denies reports over lowering duty on oil imports

IN RESPONSE TO widely circulated media reports on government decision to extend lower import duty for palm, soybean and sunflower oil till March 31, 2025, the finance ministry on Saturday clarified that reports were erroneous.

Air India welcomes its first Airbus A350 aircraft

TATA GROUP-PROMOTED AIR India on Saturday received the first of its 20 Airbus A350900 aircraft, registered VTJRA. According to the airline, the aircraft arrived in New Delhi from the Airbus facility in Toulouse, France.

No tampering with test samples: Maiden Pharma

Officials earlier claimed to conclude bribery investigation

Merchant vessel with 21 Indians attacked

Drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Houthis on commercial shipping are forcing shippers to change course and take longer routes around the southern tip of Africa

After old age homes, now real estate offerings for differently-abled

PUNE-BASED REAL estate developer Paranjape Schemes has launched a first-of-its-kind dedicated residential real estate project conceived, designed and developed for children with special needs and their families.

A year when sedans moved in slow lane

DESPITE THE LAUNCH of two new sedan models-Honda City facelift and all-new Hyundai Verna, both in March 2023-sales of midsize/ executive dropped 7.9% during January-November, compared to the same period last year. The overall passenger vehicle market grew a little under sedans 10% during this period.

ED arrests 3 Vivo-India executives

THE ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE (ED) has arrested three Vivo-India executives in connection with its money laundering probe against the Chinese smartphone maker and some others, official sources said on Saturday.

ICICI-Sec leases 1.88 lakh sq ft in Navi Mumbai

IN ONE OF the largest office leasing transactions this year by a financial services firm in terms of total space, ICICI Securities (I-Sec) has taken up 1,88,071 square feet of space at Mindspace IT park in Navi Mumbai for an annual rent of 11 crore.

AI firm drops $1.5-bn deal with Infosys

Unidentified global entity had inked MoU in Sept

Big trades: The good, bad and ugly

ABIGAI trade rescued the stock market.A niche bet on Bed Bath Beyond sank amateur day traders. A buy-China call backfired on investing pros.

India logs 640 Covid cases

INDIA ON FRIDAY recorded 640 fresh Covid-19 infections while the number of active cases climbed to 2,997 from 2,669 the day before, according to Union health ministry data.

Over 116,000 cases resolved by RERA since 2016: Report

REAL ESTATE REGULATORY Authority(RERA) have resolved as many as 116,300 cases related to homebuyers since the enactment of the Real Estate Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, according to data from the ministry of housing and urban affairs.

Crude import bill drops to $87 bn

THE COUNTRY'S CRUDE import bill decreased significantly to 87.1 billion in the April to November period from 113.4 billion in the same period last fiscal even as the import volume remained largely unchanged, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed.

Fed rate cuts firmly in view for 2024 even as rate-setters shift

THE ANNUALROTATION onthe US Federal Reserve's interest-rate-setting committee means its 2024 voting members lean slightly more hawkish than the outgoing group from 2023 but that won't budge the outlook for a pivot to interestrate cuts next year.

VRR auction gets 4.25-trn bids from banks

THE SEVEN-DAY VARIABLE rate repo VRR) auction, held by the Reserve Bank of India RBI) on Friday, witnessed a robust response, as banks submitted bids totalling 4.25 trillion, which is approximately 2.5 times the notified amount of 1.75 trillion.

Inflation outlook cloudy

THE RESERVE BANK of India's (RBI) six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) will remain vigilant to counter \"highly vulnerable\" inflationary conditions due to frequent spikes in food prices, the minutes of the MPC meeting held between December 6 and 8 showed.

New date: Vedanta bondholders get more time for nod

LONDON-HEADQUARTERED VEDANTA Resources has postponed the deadline to seek consent for extending the maturity date of its bonds to January 2, due to the holiday period.

With multiple deals, KPIT takes the driver's seat in software on wheels

WHEN HONDA MOTOR Corporation made an investor presentation on its long-term global strategy last month, only one Indian companyPune-based KPIT Technologies found a mention.

Food & grocery players may see 14-15% revenue growth in FY25

HEALTHY DEMAND FOR grocery items and expansion into tier II and III cities will help organised brick-and-mortar food and grocery (F&G) retailers log a revenue growth of 1415% in FY25. This is despite a fierce competition from quick commerce channels such as Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart and Borzo, ratings agency Crisil said on Friday.

IT firms turn to Australia as US market slows

AMID MUTED GROWTH in north America - the largest tech spender-top IT companies like TCS, Infosys, and HCLTech have been increasingly focusing on Australia this year.

Adani Green looks to raise $2 bn via debt next year

ADANI GROUP'S RENEWABLE energy unit is planning to raise at least $2 billion in mostly new debt next t year, people familiar with the matter said, as it capitalises on renewed confidence among creditors in its ambitious expansion plans.

G20 presidency & India's rising economic might on world stage

WITH CHINA SLOWING down, Russia resorting to war and Brazil mired in economic uncertainties, global policy think tanks and multilateral bodies see India as the bright spot in the world economy in 2023, and it may continue to be so in the foreseeable future.

Centre releases ₹72,961 cr to states as tax devolution

THE CENTRE ON Friday released an additional tax devolution instalment of ₹72,961 crore to states, taking the total to 1.45 trillion in December. The move is aimed at supporting investment spending ahead of year-end festivities.

Govt extends import duty cut for edible oils by a year

Retail inflation in oil fat in negative zone since February

Local ChatGPT-like language models have a long way to go

OLA CO-FOUNDER AND CEO Bhavish Aggarwal made news last week by unveiling a Made in India large language model (LLM) and generative artificial intelligence (AI) platform Krutrim on the lines of OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard.

Gujarat lifts ban on liquor in GIFT City

AHEAD OF THE tenth Vibrant Gujarat summit scheduled to be held in Gandhinagar next month, the state government has partially relaxed its 63-year old liquor prohibition law in an attempt to woo foreign investors and corporates to invest in GIFT city.

Regulator NFRA flags audit lapses by Big 4

THE NATIONAL FINANCIAL Reporting Authority (NFRA) has identified lapses in the auditing-related activity of network entities of the Big Four.

Ola Electric files DRHP for ₹5,500 crore issue

OLA ELECTRIC HAS filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Security and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an initial public offering. The EV firm plans to raise ₹5,500 crore through a fresh issue of shares.