The Union Budget offered a second chance to financially ailing power distribution companies (discoms) with the Finance Minister announcing a Rs 3,05,982 crore outlay for a revamped reform scheme for the discoms.

In her Budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sithraman said a revamped, result-linked scheme for five years would be launched for the discoms.

“The viability of distribution companies is a serious concern. A revamped, reform-based, results-linked, power distribution sector scheme will be launched with an outlay of Rs 3,05,982 crore over five years. The scheme will provide assistance to discoms for infrastructure creation, inclusion of prepaid smart metering, feeder separation, upgradation of systems,” she said.

This paper had reported that the discoms will get five more years to reform their financials and operations.

The FM also noted that consumers should be provided with the choice of power supplier. “The distribution companies across the country are monopolies, either government or private. There is a need to provide choice to the consumers by promoting competition. A framework will be put in place to give consumers alternatives to choose from among more than one distribution company,” she said.

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Budget

To push growth via infrastructure creation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday hiked the government’s capital expenditure for FY 2021-22 by 34.5 per cent to Rs 5.5 lakh crore.

The government’s planned capital expenditure for the current fiscal has been increased to Rs 4.39 trillion, as against the Budgeted Rs 4.12 trillion.
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“Sharp increase in capital budget in BE 2020-21. We have provided for Rs 4.12 trillion for (capital) expenditure. It was our effort that in spite of resource crunch we should spend more on capital expenditure and we are likely to end this year at around Rs 4.39 trillion which we have provided in RE (revised estimate) of 2020-21,” Sitharaman said in her 2021-22 Budget speech.

For the next fiscal, the minister proposed sharp increase in capital expenditure and provided Rs 5.54 trillion.

This is 34.5 per cent higher than Budget estimate of Rs 4.12 trillion in 2020-21.

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In a significant change amid digitalisation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman this year unveiled a ‘Made in India’ tablet replacing the traditional briefcase before presenting Budget 2021.

With the move aimed at a paperless Budget, now ‘bahi khata’ (a ledger wrapped in a red cloth) has been completely removed from this year — a move to reinforce Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious ‘Digital India’ mission.

In 1947, India’s first Finance Minister R. K. Shanmukham Chetty carried a leather portfolio to present the first Budget.

In January, the Central government also launched ‘Union Budget Mobile App’ on the occasion of the Halwa ceremony to enable MPs and people to access Budget documents digitally.

It was launched as no budget papers will be printed this year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sitharaman, who will present the Budget for the third time, is expected to lift and give an impetus to the Indian economy that has been battered due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown.

The Budget comes at a time when India has been battling with the Covid-19 pandemic and the economy is reeling under the aftereffects of the lockdown.

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The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is a premium smartphone that impresses on all fronts, including the hard-to-get-right areas like design, imaging and value-added features. The top-end model in the Galaxy S21-series, it shows the South Korean electronics maker’s innovation competence with regard to technology. Among many other notable upgrades, the smartphone has got a complete design makeover which looks fascinating and novel. Besides, it is the first smartphone in the Galaxy S-series to support the otherwise Galaxy Note-series-exclusive Samsung’s digital stylus (SPen – sold separately). Priced Rs 1,05,999 onwards, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is quite unique in its own right if you compare it with the other Galaxy S-series smartphones that came before it. But is it worth your money? Let’s find out:

Galaxy S21 Ultra: Design

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra looks nothing like any other smartphone, and for a good reason. It’s big, heavy and bulky, but the smartphone does not look excessive; if anything, that lends it a bold outlook. It boasts a premium glass-metal construction with novel ‘phantom black’-themed frosted glass on the back and two-side curved glass on the front. Sandwiched between the front and rear glasses is a glossy metallic frame, which extends around the rear camera module. With frame engulfed around, the otherwise protruding rear camera module looks part of the overall package and not a disarrayed unit slapped on the phone. Though the redesigned frame brings uniformity to the phone’s overall design, it is the ‘phantom black’-themed glass back cover that adds novelty here, and it looks stunning from all sides. Besides, the frosted finish profile prevents fingerprints and smudges. It also aids the phone’s in-hand feel by making it less prone to accidental slips.

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Budget

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had to give four-five mini-budgets in the form of packages in 2020 and expressed confidence that the upcoming budget would also be seen as part of that series.

In his remarks to the media before the commencement of Parliament’s Budget Session, Modi said the first session of this decade commences on Friday and emphasised that this decade is very important for the bright future of India.

Keeping in mind this decade, there should be discussions and presentation of different views this session, he said.

The prime minister expressed confidence that MPs will not shy away from contributing to make full use of Parliament for fulfilling people’s aspirations.

“Probably for the first time in India’s history, the finance minister had to give four-five mini budgets in 2020 in the form of different packages,” he said.

“Therefore, I am confident that this budget will also be seen as part of the series of the four-five mini budgets,” Modi said.

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Budget

India’s federal budget Monday will be a much tougher balancing act than New Delhi’s regular annual fiscal trapeze. For one thing, the pandemic has upset business-as-usual calculations of how much to spend, on what, and how to finance it. For another, an impatience to make up for lost time has to be weighed against a shrinking of policy space in emerging markets: A reprise of the 2013 global taper tantrum could compound the country’s considerable domestic challenges.

On the first question — how much to spend — Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman must simply do a lot more. Even with some loosening of the purse strings in the final months of the fiscal year that will end in March, Moody’s Investors Service affiliate ICRA Ltd. expects annual government expenditure to have been broadly unchanged from the Rs 30 trillion ($415 billion) estimated before the outbreak.

The answer to what to spend on is being dictated by the fault lines that opened after India imposed one of the world’s harshest lockdowns. Without a safety net for workers badly affected by Covid-19, ongoing economic revival from the June quarter’s 24 per cent loss in real output could peter out for lack of demand.

A combination of stepped-up social spending — including on long-neglected healthcare — and a state-led infrastructure push will make the recovery both durable and inclusive. A fifth of the 70 million-plus Indians who lost their services, manufacturing and construction jobs are either still working as farmhands or are unemployed. Discouraged, many have exited the labor force.

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Exhibiting its 5G prowess, Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced that it had successfully conducted a live demonstration of 5G service over a commercial network in Hyderabad city.

The company said the full impact of the 5G experience would be available to Airtel customers when adequate spectrum is available and government approvals received.

Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer of Bharti Airtel, said, “Every one of our investments is future proofed as this game-changing test in Hyderabad proves. With Airtel being the first operator to demonstrate this capability, we have shown again that we have always been the first in India to pioneer new technologies in our quest for empowering Indians everywhere.”

The demonstration in Hyderabad was conducted over an existing liberalised spectrum in the 1800 megahertz (MHz) band.

ALSO READ: Bharti Airtel tops Nov user additions, increases base to 335 mn: Trai data

Vittal said India has the potential to become a global hub for 5G innovation and this would require the coming together of the ecosystem — applications, devices, and network innovation. He added that Airtel was “more than ready” to do its bit.

The company seamlessly operated 5G and 4G concurrently within the same spectrum block.

Though Airtel has started testing 5G services, the spectrum for this has been kept out of the auctions proposed to be held in March.

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Budget

Airtel is now a 5G-ready network and the telecom operator is waiting for adequate spectrum allocation to rollout 5G services in the country, said Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel on Thursday. Recently, the company demonstrated live 5G over a commercial network in Hyderabad city and said that its network is 5G ready. Airtel did this over its existing liberalised spectrum in the 1800 MHz band through the Non Stand Alone  network technology. Using the dynamic spectrum sharing, Airtel operated 5G and 4G concurrently within the same spectrum block.

“I am very proud of our engineers who have worked tirelessly to showcase this incredible capability in Tech City, Hyderabad today. Every one of our investments is future proofed as this game changing test in Hyderabad proves. With Airtel being the first operator to demonstrate this capability, we have shown again that we have always been the first in India to pioneer new technologies in our quest for empowering Indians everywhere,” said Gopal Vittal.

ALSO READ: Space dept, defence min agree to free band worth Rs 60k cr for 5G services

Airtel said it is capable of delivering 10x speeds, 10x latency and 100x concurrency when compared to existing technologies. In the Hyderabad demonstration, users were able to download a full length movie in a matter of seconds on a 5G phone. This demonstration has underlined the company’s technology capabilities.

The full impact of the 5G experience, however, will be available to our customers, when adequate spectrum is available and government approvals received, Airtel said.

Budget News:  unionbudget2021-2022

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Chinese social media firm Bytedance, which owns Tiktok and Helo apps, has announced the closure of its India business following continued restrictions on its services in the country.

Tiktok’s global interim head Vanessa Pappas and vice president for global business solutions Blake Chandlee in a joint email to employees have communicated the decision of the company that it is reducing team size and the decision will impact all employees in India.

The executives expressed uncertainty on the company’s comeback to India but expressed hope to do so in times to come.

“While we don’t know when we will make a comeback in India, we are confident in our resilience, and desire to do so in times to come,” the email said.

According to a source at Bytedance, the company held a town hall on Wednesday where it communicated about the closure of India business.

When contacted Tiktok spokesperson said the company has worked steadfastly to comply with the government of India order issued on June 29, 2020 and continually strives to make its apps comply with local laws and regulations.

“It is therefore disappointing that in the ensuing seven months, despite our efforts we have not been given a clear direction on how and when our apps could be reinstated. It is deeply regretful that after supporting our over 2,000 employees in India for more than half a year, we have no choice but to scale back the size of our workforce.

Budget News:  unionbudget2021-2022

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South Korean tech giant Samsung is reportedly working on a new chipset in the first half of this year with an aim to beat the performance of the Apple A14 Bionic.

Samsung launched its Exynos 2100 chipset with the latest Galaxy S21 series smartphones. Though the Samsung Exynos 2100 is a big improvement over the company’s Exynos 990, the chipset still lags behind when compared to the Apple A14 Bionic chipset that powers the Apple iPhone 12 lineup, reports GizmoChina.

While the Exynos 2100 matches the Snapdragon 888 in pure CPU-only tests, an earlier speed test shows that performance drops when the GPU is stressed.

That’s probably why Samsung seeks AMD’s expertise to optimize the next chipset’s performance and efficiency.

The Samsung Exynos chip will reportedly have the Cortex X1 Prime core, clocked at 2.9GHz, alongside Cortex A78 cores, which will be clocked at 2.8GHz and four small A55 cores clocked at 2.2 GHz.

Since the company is using the 5nm process, the chip’s power efficiency should be at par with what Qualcomm and Apple produce.

Budget News:  unionbudget2021-2022

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