NEW DELHI: India has been ranked 81st in Transparency International s Global Corruption Perception Index 2017. While it maintained its score at 40 on a 100-point scale where anything below 30 is considered seriously corrupt its ranking changed from 79th last year partly because Vanuatu one of the countries added to the rankings this year was rated higher and partly because others improved. A Transparency International release also characterised India as among the worst regional offenders in the Asia Pacific region on grounds of journalists activists opposition leaders and even staff of law enforcement or watchdog agencies being threatened or even murdered. In this it was clubbed with the Philippines and Maldives. These countries score high for corruption and have fewer press freedoms and higher numbers of journalist deaths the report added. Interestingly Pakistan with a score of 32 and China with 41 are perceived to be more corrupt than India. Russia is more corrupt than all three counties with a score of 29. New Zealand and Denmark were ranked as the cleanest countries in the 2017 list as in 2016 with scores of 89 and 88 respectively. Syria South Sudan and Somalia were ranked as the most corrupt countries with scores of 14 12 and 9 respectively. Of the three countries that were tied with India in 2016 Belarus has moved up to 68th with a score of 44 and China to 77th with a score of 41. Brazil in contrast has slipped to 96th with a score of 37. Of the other Brics nations Russia was at the 135th place with a score of 29 while South Africa was 71st having dropped seven places from 2016. Countries with the poorest protection for press and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also tended to have the lowest ranks on the index. The analysis which incorporates data from Committee to Protect Journalists showed that in the last six years 9 out of 10 journalists killings of journalists happened in countries that score 45 or less on the index.
NEW DELHI: India may be going digital but high-speed internet on mobile phones still remains a challenge even on 4G. Despite telecom companies announcing massive rollout of 4G services the average network speed in India remains the slowest across countries having substantial telecom networks lagging even Pakistan Algeria Kazakhstan and Tunisia. According to a list prepared by mobile analytics company OpenSignal 4G download speed in India is the slowest across 88 countries spanning six continents. This is despite the fact that 4G has been expanding at a rapid pace across the country and networks are being upgraded from slower 2G services. On an average the 4G speed in India has been measured at 6 mbps (actual experience could be much lower) whereas subscribers in neighbouring Pakistan enjoy internet at a more than double speed of 14 mbps. Algeria is ranked second-last at 9 mbps. According to OpenSignal subscribers in Singapore get the fastest downloads on 4G at 44 mbps followed by the Netherlands at 42 mbps. In Norway the 4G download speed is 41 mbps while South Korea gets 40 mbps. OpenSignal analysed more than 5 000 crore measurements (collected between October 1 and December 29 of 2017) of speed from over 38 lakh smartphone and tablet users across six continents. Giving out reasons for a slower network speed in India despite a wider 4G reach the study blamed capacity constraints on network. Though 4G is available for around 86% of the time people access the internet 4G networks lack the capacity to deliver connection speed much faster than 3G it said. The telecom industry in India is staring at a financial nightmare with most of the companies either deep in the red or just managing to stay profitable. The onslaught of fierce competition from 4G-only Reliance Jio saw Vodafone and Idea Cellular slip into losses while Airtel saw profits shrink massively. Companies that provide network infrastructure to mobile companies said in private that most of the operators are slow in making fresh investments for augmenting capacities. The sector is in a financial mess. We have seen slippage in investments which are drying up due to losses one of the top infrastructure providers said requesting anonymity. Infographics: India s 4G download speeds are the slowest While Jio has launched pan-India 4G services others were literally forced to follow suit. Airtel is also giving 4G on a pan-India basis while Idea Cellular covers the country except Delhi and Kolkata. Vodafone is currently giving the service in 17 circles. Subscribers complain that they do not get promised 4G download speeds although companies make tall promises. Internet is often very slow and buffers on many instances a customer of a top telecom company said. Concerns over poor service and slower speed have also been raised by the government as it has started offering a variety of services online and is pushing digital payments in a big way. Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan has said the government is mindful of the slow internet speed experienced by internet users in many parts of the country. Read this story in Marathi Rajan Mathews DG of industry body Cellular Operators Association of India said it is wrong to blame telecom companies for poor services. Average spectrum holding by companies in India is around 26 MHz compared to 50 MHz across top economies. Also he said telecom companies face problems in laying optical fiber as well as deploying towers. Read this story in Bengali
Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar today said India will emerge as a model for the rest of the world once it completes economic political and social transitions. He was addressing the 46th Panjab University Colloquium-cum-3rd Shenmar Memorial Oration here today according to a release of the Panjab University (PU). The theme was New India@2022 . The programme was organised in collaboration with the Department of Social Work PU the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Institute for Development and Communication (IDC) the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). Kumar further said that by successfully completing these three transitions India will emerge as model for the rest of the world. Development becomes a mass movement when there will be shift from public-private partnership (PPP) to public-private-personal partnership (PPPP) Kumar said. He highlighted India s development process outlined country s experiences since Independence and laid out a future vision for achieving a New India by 2022. He articulated upon insight into creation of space and ecosystem for dynamic entrepreneurship. Rajiv Kumar highlighted that for 2022 there was a need to have a resolve to have India free from poverty dirt and squalor corruption terrorism casteism and communalism. He further stressed For looking ahead our economy will need to take into account new and unique challenges and opportunities such as the fourth industrial revolution India s democratic dividend in shifting from competitive populism to good governance and the changing global landscape.
NEW DELHI: The government is readying to shed between 51% and 100% stake in Air India and has listed four possible options for divestment in the national carrier in the draft inviting expressions of interest. The EoI document is likely to be out by the first week of March. There are four options in the EoI draft the government can keep 49% 26% 24% or 0% stake in Air India post divestment said a senior aviation ministry official who did not wish to be identified. The alternative mechanism headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley formed to guide the ailing airline on privatisation could also look at options beyond this the official said. The draft expression of interest also talks about barring the future owners from firing employees immediately after takeover he said. The issuance of the EoI document on Air India will kick-start the process of privatisation of Air India which the government wants to finish by the end of 2018. The EoI will also mention the combination of companies that will be sold by the government. While Air India will include its core aviation assets packaged with low-cost subsidiary Air India Express and AI-SATS a ground handling joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) Alliance Air and the ground handling and engineering subsidiaries will be sold separately. All non-core assets such as the Air India building in Mumbai and other offices will not be part of the sale and become part of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) which will also house the working capital debt of the company the official said. Air India has a total debt of Rs 52 000 crore of which about Rs 33 000 crore is on account of working capital loans which will be transferred to the SPV EThad first reported on October 2 2017. Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had earlier told ET in an interview that Air India liabilities would be more than the projected Rs 52 000 debt as the national carrier owes money to its vendors too. The airline has debt and dues to be paid to vendors. The airline owes money to (vendors) like oil marketing companies the Airports Authority of India and many more. Now when you add the dues with debt total liabilities would be much more. The fact is that the finances of Air India are bad. It is a good airline otherwise. In this existing form it is highly unlikely that anyone will pick it up he said. IndiGo is the only Indian carrier that has officially shown interest in buying Air India while the government has said that an unnamed foreign carrier has also evinced interest. The Tata Group which has stakes in Vistara and AirAsia India has also been mentioned as a possible suitor. Other companies such as Bird Group and Celebi both of which are involved in ground handling have shown interest in that part of Air India s business.
NEW DELHI: A day after expressing disapproval of extension of emergency by 30 days in Maldives India on Thursday called for release of all political prisoners. The MEA spokesperson said India did not see any valid reason for extension of emergency. We continue to watch the situation and continue to urge the government of Maldives to release political prisoners release the chief justice implement Supreme Court orders and restore normal functioning of institutions of democracy the spokesperson said. The Indian statement coincided with an equally sharply worded response from the Maldives foreign ministry which criticised India s statement of Wednesday saying it ignored the facts and ground realities with regard to the ongoing political developments in Maldives . The assertion by the Government of India that the extension of the state of emergency by the People s Majlis was unconstitutional is a clear distortion of facts Other than implementing the necessary measures stated in the decree imposing the state of emergency it ensures no other restriction on the daily lives of the people it said. However India has persisted in its call to restore normalcy in Maldives. It is our sincere desire to see that democracy in Maldives is restored and situation returns to normal. This we feel is also the desire of the people of Maldives. We are dismayed that the Maldives government has extended emergency for a further period of 30 days the MEA spokesperson said. Meanwhile Maldives minister Shainee refuted reports that Male had rejected UN mediation between the ruling party and opposition. He said it was the president who had requested for UN participation. The UN has always insisted on initial engagement between parties for it to engage meaningfully which the government is trying to do but opposition keeps blocking the minister said. There is no doubt that the Maldives is experiencing one of the most difficult periods in the history of the nation. It is therefore important that friends and partners in the international community including India refrain from any actions that could hinder resolving the situation he said.
Persisting with its displeasure over the extension of emergency in the Maldives India said today it does not see a valid reason for the Maldivian parliament to do so and maintained that it continues to watch the situation in the island nation. Yesterday India had expressed deep dismay over the Maldivian parliament accepting President Abdulla Yameen s recommendation to extend the state of emergency by another 30 days in a manner New Delhi dubbed as a matter of concern . We do not see any valid reason for doing so. We of course continue to watch the situation and would continue to urge the government of Maldives to release political prisoners release the chief justice implement the Supreme Court order and restore the normal functions of the institutions of democracy external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. Kumar said that India s sincere desire is to see that democracy in the Maldives is restored and the situation resumes to normal. This is also the desire of the people of Maldives he added. The declaration of emergency earlier this month in the archipelago known for his turquoise waters and beaches saw the nation plunging into a political crisis. President Yameen declared emergency on February 5 after the Supreme Court ordered the release of a group of Opposition leaders who had been convicted in widely-criticised trials. Among them was exiled ex-president Mohamed Nasheed. The court said his trial was unconstitutional. There has been international condemnation of the Maldivian government s moves including the imposition of emergency.
Ride hailing firm Uber today said it will continue to invest in India as it looks to grow business in the incredibly important and core market by up to 10 times in a decade. On his maiden trip to India Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi indicated that he would not go by the advice of investors like SoftBank who want the US-based firm to scale back to countries where it already has a strong market position. Refusing to disclose how much Uber has invested in India he said it is a lot and that investment is going to continue. For Uber India is a loss-making proposition but it will continue to invest in the market because it believes in it he said at a media round table at the start of his two-day visit during which he is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders. Asked if SoftBank which is also an investor in rival and India s market leader Ola has asked Uber to focus on the profitable market Khosrowshahi said the company s strategies are decided by the board. While SoftBank may have an opinion their s is not the only opinion in the room he said. And it is my belief that we as a company need to have a balanced profile in terms of growth and investment. Developed markets like the US will continue to get investments and will be profitable but Uber should actively invest in markets like India and Latin America because of their sheer size he said. These markets have huge growth ahead for Uber he said. Uber has some 3 lakh driver partners in 29 cities in India he said. We think we can increase by 5x 10x over the next 10 years. That will require investment he said. In India at this point my firm belief is that the greatest value that we can create is to continue to invest and grow our product. SoftBank Vision Fund which recently became Uber s largest shareholder with the formal closing of a USD 9.3 billion investment giving it 15 per cent stake has reportedly stated that Uber should focus on recovering its market share in the US and growing in key European markets to have a faster path to profitability. While India remains Uber s largest market outside of the US it is also the biggest cost for the company. Asked if Uber was subsidising rides in the country to capture the market Khosrowshahi said anytime you are creating a market you actually have to pay to build up liquidity. For instance Uber Pool the ride-sharing platform where two more passengers share a car to travel to same or different destinations is a losing proposition but the company believes in the product as it will help solve traffic as well as road congestion problems he said. We are investing in Indian market because we believe in the long-term viability of this market... we consider it incredibly important market for us the core market for us he said. The Indian market Khosrowshahi said is demanding in terms of pricing and if Uber was to succeed here it can shape products globally. India can essentially be a laboratory for us. Uber he said accounts for less than 1 per cent of miles driven in the world and is an alternative to taxis. What we really want is to be alternate to car ownership he said adding problems of traffic and pollution that India faces can be solved with its http://www.great-quotes.com/user/kkmyntra pioneering share rides. He said operations in India are not profitable but India accounts for more than 10 per cent of Uber s trips globally. I expect (India) to account for higher and higher trips going forward he said. Uber accounts for less than 1 per cent of the USD 5 trillion transportation industry globally and capturing higher share requires investments in big markets with population that have lot of growth ahead of them. Uber CEO pledged to continue investing aggressively in Southeast Asia. We expect to lose money in Southeast Asia and expect to invest aggressively in terms of marketing subsidies etc Khosrowshahi said. From a competitive standpoint we think we can improve...We are cautiously optimistic and are leaning forward to invest he said. Khosrowshahi who took the helm in August after former CEO Travis Kalanick was asked to step down amid a litany of regulatory problems driver and consumer scandals and court cases said a new work ethics code has been implemented in the company that has just one norm - we do the right thing. Period.
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