Economy

Dutch parent company sells Russian unit of Yandex, known as 'Google of Russia'

Tuesday, 6 February 2024

The owner of Yandex, known as 'Russia's Google', has said that the company has sold its Russian operations.

Yandex's Dutch parent company said it has sold its Russia operation for 475 billion rubles. This price is much lower than the market price of Yandex.

With this sale, it has been decided that the ownership of Yandex's Russian business will now be completely with Russia.

There were allegations against this company that it hid information about the war in Ukraine from the common people of Russia.

Russia has welcomed this new deal. The company said the deal “follows an extensive period of planning and negotiations spanning over 18 months.”

"This is what we wanted to achieve a few years ago when Yandex was under threat of capture by Western IT companies," said Anton Gorelkin, deputy head of the Russian parliament's committee on information policy.

“Yandex is more than a company, it is an asset to Russian society.”

The $5.2 billion deal is believed to be well below Yandex's market value. According to an estimate, its value in 2021 was $30 billion.

Indian economy can grow at a speed of 6.2 percent in the year 2024: United Nations

Friday, January 5, 2024

The United Nations has said that India's economy may grow by 6.2 percent in the year 2024.

Indian economy will see momentum due to strong domestic demand along with good growth in both manufacturing and service sectors.

The United Nations' World Economic Situation and Prospects Report, 2024 says India's economy could grow at 6.2 per cent in 2024, down from the 2023 estimate of 6.3 per cent.

However, growth in 2024 will be supported by strong domestic demand along with good performance of the manufacturing and service sectors. The UN has estimated India's GDP growth to be 6.6 percent in the year 2025.

News agency PTI has quoted the UN report as saying that the Indian economy will grow faster than many peer economies. Its good performance has continued during the last few years.

India's GDP growth has been above six percent for the last several years and it is expected that this pace will continue in 2024 and 2025.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, during a press conference in Brussels on Friday, September 8, 2023, has clearly stated why he and his party criticize Adani.

Rahul Gandhi said, "We have no problem with the private or government sector. What we have a problem with is when one or two people start controlling the entire country financially."

Along with this, Rahul Gandhi has accused the Narendra Modi government at the Center in India of targeting the MSME sector.

These days, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is on a Europe tour in which he is reaching many countries like Netherlands, Belgium and France.

In this connection, Rahul Gandhi participated in a press conference in the Belgian capital Brussels on Friday, 8 September 2023.

Rahul Gandhi's party Congress and he himself has been critical of the Adani Group and its alleged close ties with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul Gandhi said, "Our problem with Adani ji is that he controls ports, airports, agriculture, grain warehouses, real estate and cement business. This is not good for India."

Rahul Gandhi said, ''Government policies have systematically targeted the MSME sector, which is the backbone of our employment system. Our problem with Adani is that he controls ports, airports, agriculture, grain warehouses, real estate and cement business."

Rahul Gandhi said, "This is not beneficial for India. On one hand, BJP is promoting a monopoly model. On the other hand, it is destroying the MSME sector which creates jobs. Due to this, an employment crisis is arising."

The Congress party has been demanding for a long time to investigate the allegations leveled against the Adani group by forming a JPC in Parliament.

However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not openly talked about these allegations.

India's Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah launched the 'Central Registrar-Sahara Refund Portal' on Tuesday, 18 July 2023.

Its aim is to refund the amount of crores of people deposited in the four cooperative societies of Sahara Group.

Describing it as a historic moment, Amit Shah said that it is for the first time that depositors will get refund in a case in which multiple agencies are involved and all of them have made seizures in the case.

Amit Shah assured the depositors that now no one can stop their money and they will get refund within 45 days of registration on the portal.

He said that due to this a feeling of insecurity has been created among the people towards cooperative societies. Amit Shah said that talks were held by calling all the stake holders in this.

This decision was taken by calling all the stake holders including SEBI, ED, Income Tax Department, CBI, law officers to consider it.

In a press release issued by PIB, it was told that on the application of the Ministry of Cooperation, the Supreme Court had given an order on March 29, 2023, to resolve the complaints of the depositors of the co-operative societies of Sahara Group regarding payment of valid deposits.

Under this, Rs 5000 crore has been ordered to be transferred from the "Sahara-SEBI Refund Account" to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) for payment of legitimate dues of genuine depositors of co-operative societies of Sahara group.

Amit Shah said, "It has started with Rs 5000 crore and when Rs 5000 crore is returned to the investors, we will again go to the Supreme Court and tell that there are so many investors left."

He said that one crore investors will be given a refund of up to Rs 10,000 on a trial basis.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister has said that the decision taken on oil production reflects the consensus among OPEC+ countries and Saudi Arabia believes that its current policy of not increasing oil production in the year 2023 is correct.

This statement is important because after imposing sanctions on Russia, the US has been pressuring Saudi Arabia to increase oil production.

In the year 2022, US President Joe Biden also visited Saudi Arabia to persuade Mohammed bin Salman on increasing oil production. However, its effect did not last long and Saudi Arabia did not increase oil production.

After the Ukraine war, the Biden administration, along with the G-7 countries, has also imposed a price cap on Russian oil to reduce its income from oil exports. Russia will earn more income by not increasing the production of OPEC+ countries.

Russia leads OPEC Plus, a group of oil producing countries. At the same time, Saudi Arabia dominates the OPEC countries. There has been an allegation on Saudi that it is on Russia's line in the matter of oil production.

Speaking to the media in London, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said, ''We have always said that we are committed to a stable market. We do not expect the market to require any production changes until the end of 2023.''

He also added that "All decisions between OPEC and OPEC+ countries are taken after extensive consultation with all partners. All statements made on record by OPEC+ countries reflect a consensus."

Companies like Amazon and Flipkart, involved in the e-commerce business in India, will now have to make public information about paid consumer reviews of all products and services available on their platforms.

The government has announced new rules to curb fake reviews and help customers make informed decisions based on accurate information.

Apart from this, the government has also banned the publication of reviews that have been paid for or written by people who have been appointed for the same work by the supplier or by third parties.

These rules of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) have been prepared after consultation with the concerned parties and will come into force from 25 November 2022. Adherence to these rules has been kept voluntary for the time being, but if the problem of fake reviews continues on online platforms, the government will consider making it mandatory.

Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs told on Monday, 21 November 2022 that these rules of BIS will be applicable to all those organizations which publish online consumer reviews.

These include suppliers providing products and services, a company collecting reviews from its customers, or a third party entrusted with the task.

Rohit Kumar Singh told that BIS will start the certification process for this in the next 15 days so that the customers will be able to know whether the online platforms are following these rules or not. E-commerce company can apply for certification to BIS for this.

Russia's foreign ministry has said the US and NATO intend to destroy Nord Stream one and two pipelines.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the US intention was clear from what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference with Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolly.

Maria said on Telegram that Blinken is saying without hesitation that the US and Nato intend to destroy Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.

Maria wrote on Telegram, "Blinken said there is no gas going through the pipeline to Europe. Nord Stream 2 is not allowed to send gas to Europe. Nord Stream 1 was blocked by Russia a week ago. Blinken said that Russia is using energy needs as a weapon.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, "Russia has never used energy as a weapon. Now Russia and earlier the Soviet Union have been supplying gas to Europe. There was never any interruption in this. America has been lying on this issue for the last 50 years.

Nord Stream AG Company has stated that on 26 September 2022 the pipeline was heavily damaged. According to media reports, there were two explosions near the Nord Stream pipeline. The Danish news agency had said that a large amount of gas had leaked into the sea. The movement of the ship has been stopped in its surrounding areas.

Nord Stream Two about 1,200 km long this gas pipeline project runs from western Russia to north-east Germany through the Baltic Sea.

Through this project, the goal of doubling the supply of natural gas from Russia to Germany was set. Currently, gas from Russia to Germany goes through the Nord Stream Pipeline, which was built in 2012.

If this project is successful, this pipeline will be able to supply 55 billion cubic meters of gas to Germany every year. The project is owned by the Russian state gas company 'Gazprom'. But now everything hangs in the balance and Germany is looking for another option.

The price of natural gas in India has reached a record high with an increase of 40 percent.

Only natural gas is converted into CNG and PNG. The direct impact of the increase in the price of gas will be on the transport and cooking expenses. Fertilizers, electricity generation are also done from natural gas.

According to an order by India's oil ministry, the rate of payment for gas produced from old fields has been increased to $8.57 per million British thermal unit from the earlier US$6.1.

Along with this, the gas price for Reliance Industries Limited and its subsidiaries has also been increased from US $ 9.92 to US $ 12.6 per mmBtu.

This is the third hike in natural gas rates since April 2019.

This will be the third increase in rates and has come on the back of firming up of benchmark international prices.

The Chief Economist of the State Bank of India has reduced the growth forecast of the Indian economy from 7.5 percent to 6.8 percent in the 2022-23 financial year. The reason for this has been attributed to lower than expected growth rate in the first quarter.

According to news agency PTI, SBI Group's chief economic advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh, however, has projected the growth rate to pick up in the second half of the 2022-23 financial year.

Earlier, in the data released on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, the National Statistical Office (NSO) had said that the Indian economy grew at 13.5 percent in the first quarter of the financial year 2022-23 due to the poor performance of the manufacturing sector. Between April 2022 to June 2022, the growth rate of this sector was only 4.8 percent.

Soumya Kanti Ghosh had said in his earlier estimate that India's economy will grow at a rate of 15.7 percent in the first quarter. The Reserve Bank of India had projected the highest growth of 16.7 per cent.

Soumya Kanti Ghosh has said that GDP figures hide more than they reveal facts. They have demanded a review of the group of items surveyed for estimating the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Earlier it was reviewed 10 years ago in 2012. According to Ghosh, although the GDP has grown in double digits, it is less than the market expectations. He attributed this to the slowdown in the manufacturing sector.

India's Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has transferred Rs 9371.17 crore out of the confiscated assets of absconding businessmen Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi to public sector banks.

Investigating agencies say that the banks have suffered huge losses due to the financial frauds of these businessmen. The ED has attached assets worth a total of Rs 18,170.02 crore of these businessmen.

The statement issued by the ED said, "The ED has not only attached assets worth Rs 18,170.02 crore but also given Rs 9371.17 crore under PMLA to public sector banks and the central government in Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi cases."

The ED says that the property of the three businessmen that has been seized is 80.45 percent of the losses of the banks.

India is trying to bring back three absconding businessmen from abroad. Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi are in UK. In February 2021, Britain's Home Minister Priti Patel signed the order to send Nirav Modi to India.

Similarly, the legal process is going on in Britain to bring back Vijay Mallya. Vijay Mallya is accused of money laundering to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore.