Budget 2020: Policy for data centre parks throughout country on anvil, says FM Sitharaman

The government has provided Rs 6,000 crore for BharatNet in FY21, she said adding that fibre-to-home through BharatNet will link 1 lakh gram panchayats this year.

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Budget 2020: Finance Minister announces new electronics manufacturing scheme

​A new scheme to push domestic electronics manufacturing was a key demand of the industry, since three key scheme which were incentivising local manufacturing had ended last year.

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CCI dismisses complaint against Naspers-owned PayU Payments, Wibmo

The Competition Commission of India has dismissed allegations of unfair business practices against PayU Payments and Wibmo. It was alleged that PayU has intentionally foreclosed the market for other competitors by denying them proper access to Wibmo in the downstream market and has substantially created entry barriers for new market players.

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Intel Corp’s legal compliance counsel joins software firm Splunk

Basu started her career as an associate attorney at Ramfry & Sagar and then moved to K&S Partners. In the year 2008, she had joined country’s largest pure-play consumer company Hindustan Unilever as legal a manager from where she moved to GE HealthCare as legal counsel for South Asia in the year 2010.

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Google says govt needs to allay fears before mandating sharing of non-personal data

Chetan Krishnaswamy, director of public policy at Google, said there were concerns around intellectual property rights, possible de-anonymisation of personal data, legal liabilities and a lack of safeguards. He made these comments at a panel discussion at ITechLaw conference in Bengaluru on Friday.

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Telegram CEO criticises WhatsApp over encryption claims, security backdoors

In a blogpost titled 'Why using WhatsApp is dangerous', Messaging app Telegram's founder Durov said WhatsApp marketed end-to-end encryption as some magic incantation that alone is supposed to automatically make all communications secure. "However, this technology is not a silver bullet that can guarantee you absolute privacy by itself," he said.

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Contraction in domestic revenue growth softened IT-BPM sector growth in FY19: Survey

Of the total $135.5 billion of exports of the IT-BPM sector in 2018-19, IT services accounted for 55%, and BPM and software products & engineering services for the remaining 45 per cent (with each accounting for almost half of the share). The survey termed the Indian IT-BPM industry as the flag-bearer of India's exports over the past two decades.

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Infosys to give fresh digital experiences to Australian Open fans

The latest Australian Open App developed by Infosys, is designed to ensure on-site fans can get the most out of their day and enjoy and engage with the many experiences the Australian Open has to offer, while also connecting the global fan base with live scores, stats and insights, draws, news, schedules, and the radio, it said.

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Infosys receives ISO 27701 accredited certification

The Bengaluru-headquartered IT major said it is one of the first companies in the world to have earned this certification with accreditation.

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Rishad Premji writes to employees, lauds Abidali Neemuchwala’s contributions

Wipro announced this morning that its CEO and MD Neemuchwala has resigned due to family commitments and he would stay on until a successor was appointed.

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India second largest mobile manufacturing hub globally: Kovind

The government is promoting manufacturing of mobile phones, TVs and other electronic devices, and National Policy on Electronics has been formulated in this regard.

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Coronavirus contamination: Indian handset companies call up govt for clarity

The association has issued a limited advisory to its members based on one from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “There is real fear among workers that the highly contagious virus might spread through machinery, components and devices imported from China,” Mohindroo said.

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Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala steps down

The company said its board has initiated a search to find its next leader.

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A film festival to hard sell government's internet coupons

According to a top official, CSCs have been given the mandate to offer last-mile internet connectivity through BharatNet to homes, through a system of pre-paid monthly coupons. These services can be either through WiFi or direct-to-home fibre. “Movies and entertainment seem to be a good proposition to get people to pay for the internet for the first time,” said a senior government official.

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Mobile phone exporters to get 4% incentive under duty drawback scheme

The additional ad hoc incentive of 2 per cent under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MIES) will be available for exports of mobiles from January 1 to March 31, 2020, period, the notification by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said.

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Govt to bundle free movies with internet for first time users

According to a top official, CSCs have been given the mandate to offer last mile Internet connectivity through BharatNet to homes through a system of pre-paid monthly coupons. These services can be either through Wi-Fi or direct to home fibre.

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Bring back M-SIPS to drive investments in mobile manufacturing: IAMAI

While MSIPS 1.0 successfully managed to attract foreign investments into mobile manufacturing albeit into the low value- additive processes, India needs to focus on the components which have the potential of high-value addition and can be commonly used across the electronics manufacturing sector.

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Cyber security professionals in big demand: Over 67,000 job openings, says estimate

The quantum of digital and cyber data assets that the growth in internet penetration throws into the cloud and hardware infrastructure, has led to multiplying of the need for monitoring and securing this data thus leading to the increase in demand for cyber security experts. The thrust to Cyber Security is also due to eGovernance and centralization.

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Handset makers want a further extension of additional export duty incentive

The growth in 2018-19 in mobile phones export was 850% or Rs 1,300 crore to reach Rs 11,300 crore. “Till December, exports are Rs 19,500 crore. The blip in the growth in December 2019 can be directly attributed to the uncertainty around MEIS,” he further added.

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Huawei races to replace Google apps for next smartphone

Huawei Technologies Ltd., along with every other smartphone brand except Apple Inc., relies on Google's Android operating system. So it's scouring the world for replacements. At events for developers from New Delhi to Warsaw to Sao Paulo, Huawei is promising cash rewards if they meet a deadline Friday to get apps onto its online store.

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Govt exemptions in Personal Data Protection law can be challenged in court, says Justice Srikrishna

Justice Srikrishna had told ET in December that the new proposed government exemptions could turn India into an Orwellian state. On Thursday, Justice Srikrishna said the newly proposed structure of the Data Protection Authority (DPA) puts the control of the body in the hands of the government.

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India drives us to roll out WhatsApp Pay globally: Mark Zuckerberg

Data compliance issues and regulations have kept WhatsApp Pay launch in abeyance for quite some time, despite a successful test run of the payments service with one million users in the country in 2018. The Indian government and the RBI have expressed concerns over some of WhatsApp's features in complying with the regulations.

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Meme makers laughing all the way to the bank

Memes have emerged as a lucrative profession for its creators. Last week, when Zomato acquired UberEats, competitors took no time to engage with users through this newage content-marketing tool, which had become an instant hit when it began life on social media a few years ago.

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Import duty unlikely on mobile display, touch panel assemblies

India may refrain from levying import duties on display and touch panel assemblies — key components used in mobiles — in the upcoming budget to ensure supply of cheaper inputs and boost local manufacturing.

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Big social media companies may be asked to maintain database of active mobile number of users

The Information Technology (IT) ministry has proposed that significant social media companies should maintain a database of active mobile numbers of all their users for verification purpose under a revised set of rules, according to a source.

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Cisco says India is one of the fastest growing markets for security business, cloud segment growing over 40%

Vishak Raman; Director, Security Business, Cisco India & SAARC in a chat with ET spoke about the market expansion opportunities that the company sees in India, the changing patterns of the enterprise security market and the key threats that companies will face in the coming year.

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ABN AMRO expands partnership with TCS

The partnership is intended to speed up ABN AMRO’s digital transformation with the help of DevOps – that will help improve the bank’s speed to market for new its new products and services. TCS said that it will also help the bank reduce its technology debt and build an advanced IT core by rearchitecting critical systems using microservices and APIs.

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Cognizant-led consortium wins five-year deal from UK’s Network Rail

The United States-headquartered company will lead the consortium in developing and applying enhanced data collection and analytics to Network Rail’s more than 12,000 connected assets, such as track circuits, signal power supplies and switches.

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Cognizant consortium wins five year deal from Network Rail

Cognizant will lead the consortium in developing and applying enhanced data collection and analytics to Network Rail’s more than 12,000 connected assets, such as track circuits, signal power supplies, and switches. The Teaneck, New Jersey-headquartered company won the contract in partnership with rail specialists Amey Consulting and Arup, it said in a statement.

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Barco launches ClickShare to enable wireless conferencing

The new range that includes three models: the entry-level CX-20, the CX-30 and the high-end CX-50, provides users freedom to choose how they collaborate securely as the solution is triple-agnostic. They can join the meeting from any device and space while enjoying benefits of the Unified Communication or video conferencing tools and AV USB-peripherals available in the room.

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Apple logs double-digit growth in iPhone sales in India in Dec quarter

Last year, Apple had started production of iPhone XR in India for domestic market and exports. Apple's partner Salcomp is also taking over the closed facility of Nokia in a SEZ near Chennai. The facility is expected to become operational from March this year and will produce charger and other equipment.

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Facebook's engineering VP Jay Parikh leaves firm

Parikh was considered to be instrumental to creating the data center infrastructure on which the company builds its numerous apps and services.

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India helps drive iPhone growth in emerging markets in December quarter: Apple

2019 saw the fastest rollout of Apple’s new iPhones (11 series) in India, with aggressive pricing and a good channel strategy. The new series especially iPhone 11 was introduced at a lower price point than the last year's iPhone XR launch. This has helped to gain share during the festive season and in its launch quarter in India.

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Infosys sets up team to scale platform unit

The platforms could be proprietary software used to host educational content or process mortgages. IT companies are betting on a platform play to help offset margin contraction caused by the increasing commoditisation of their core business. Software companies need to make one-off investments in building the platform, but the returns could be exponential if a slew of customers adopt it.

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Buyers stand to lose if phone companies go for price parity: Experts

Mobile phones often cost Rs 2,000-3,000 less on e-commerce channels than in physical stores owing to exclusive deals with handset brands. Currently, e-commerce channels account for nearly 40% of overall sales of smartphones while bricks-and-mortar stores sell the bulk of handsets, according to data from TechArc Research.

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Apple postpones launch of online store in India

Co needs more time to finish back-end work and wants the roll out to coincide with launch of new iPhones, say industry executives

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Poco plans India-first smartphones, gear

The only product the brand has launched so far is Poco F1, a smartphone with high-end specifications launched in 2018 at around Rs 20,000.It will launch its second smartphone, Poco X2, on February 4.

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OnePlus to open 100 Experience Stores across India

The partnership with the distributors aligns the company's strategy to expand offline touch points and hopes that the OnePlus community in Tamil Nadu would greatly benefit.

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Worldwide smartphone sales will grow 3% this year: Gartner

In 2019, worldwide smartphone sales declined 2%, the first time since 2008, as the global smartphone market experienced a decline. 2019 was a challenging year for smartphone vendors, primarily due to oversupply in the high-end sector in mature markets and longer replacement cycles overall.

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Tech Mahindra launches dedicated Google Cloud Centre of Excellence

The COE, in Hyderabad, will provide enterprises with access to technology and services for expediting migration to the cloud and delivering tailored solutions to move critical workloads to Google Cloud, develop their Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analytics solutions, and improve workplace productivity.

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IBM opens automation innovation centre in Pune

This is the company’s second automation innovation centre. The first centre was opened in Bangalore in 2017.

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Intel India staff health benefits extended to domestic partners

Employees can enrol their same-sex or opposite-sex domestic partners as dependents in the hospitalisation insurance policy, effective January 1. Once enrolled, the domestic partner is also covered in the employee’s outpatient policy. Additionally, domestic partners can be registered as nominees or beneficiaries.

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A fix for online child porn problem

A Rajya Sabha panel headed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, wants firms to follow uniform benchmark practice in regulating, taking down content. The report comes at a time when the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) is in final stages of notifying amendments to the intermediary guidelines of the IT Act intended to curb misinformation.

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MeitY gets a blockchain plan

Government is tweaking tech policies to keep up with emerging challenges. NISG says regulations should be based on the functions performed by tech, not on the tech itself. It made the recommendation in the draft national strategy on blockchain policy that had sought comments and suggestions from stakeholders.

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India’s taking its digital success stories abroad

India’s success in using technology for social good in the form of Aadhaar, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is inspiring many countries across the world. India built an e-office platform for Sri Lanka last year, and work has started on a soil health card project in Cambodia.

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Rajya Sabha panel suggests breaking encryption to trace distributors of child sexual abuse content

The panel also stated that that gateway internet service providers must bear a significant liability to detect and block websites showing child sexual abuse content, and all search engines must ensure that such websites are blocked during the search and report any website to authorities.

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OPPO signs pact with IIT Hyderabad for research in 5G, AI, others

Chinese smartphone maker OPPO has signed to collaborate with IIT Hyderabad for research purpose in science and emerging technology including artificial intelligence. The MoU envisages joint research and development for multiple projects over a period of two years.

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Mindtree may have to fight harder for deals: Experts

Management commentary that it would strive to win more managed services contracts has made some analysts concerned, who said it would have to compete against larger rivals with the shift. According to Aniket Pande of Prabhudas Lilladher, Mindtree has “historically excelled in discretionary spending, (and a) shift in managed services contracts is not their strength”.

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Surveillance tech firms cash in as govt agencies have a look in

Central and state governments across the country have started using surveillance recognition technology to identify criminals, missing persons and dead bodies. Some states are even using software tools to mine data on social media to check for potential threats to law and order.

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India & Russia explore joint development of IT products; AI solutions

This was discussed when Ajay Sawhney, Secretary, MEIT recently visited Moscow, ET has learnt. Sawhney met Mikhail Mamonov Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.

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