Endeavor Careers Choicest Blogs: Weekly Current Affairs: February 2022, Week 03

Welcome to the Endeavor Editors’ Weekly Current Affairs Choicest Blog series. Get a weekly roundup – on news from business, economy, markets, policy, and more. A quick capsule format news summary and update to keep you abreast with all the latest current affairs.

1) International News and Global Economy

As shelling increases in Ukraine, Russia fires missiles in a blunt warning

As shelling struck towns in eastern Ukraine, and civilians boarded buses in a chaotic evacuation, Russia engaged in a dramatic display of military theatre, test-firing ballistic and cruise missiles in a reminder to the West that a conflict over Ukraine could quickly escalate.In eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have asserted, without evidence, that Ukraine was planning a large-scale attack, separatist leaders urged women and children to evacuate and able-bodied men to prepare to fight.Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, flew to Munich on Saturday to shore up Western support for his threatened nation.Western leaders there displayed a united front and issued repeated calls for a diplomatic resolution. Vice President Kamala Harris called the crisis “a defining moment” for European security and the defense of democratic values.But Putin sent his own message, presiding over tests of nuclear-capable missiles as part of what Russia insists are nothing more than military exercises around Ukraine and not the precursor to an invasion.

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Putin extends Russia-Belarus War drills as Macron makes ‘Final Effort’ to avert War in Ukraine

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India advises its citizens to temporarily leave Ukraine; UK says Russia planning biggest war since 1945

The Indian Embassy in Ukraine on Sunday advised all Indian nationals, whose stay is not deemed essential, to temporarily leave Ukraine. Indian students were also advised to also get in touch with respective student contractors for updates on chartered flights.UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC that the plans that the West is seeing at Ukraine’s border suggest that a Russian invasion could be “the biggest war in Europe since 1945 in terms of sheer scale”.Almost 2,000 ceasefire violations were registered in eastern Ukraine by monitors for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Saturday, a diplomatic source told Reuters Sunday. The Ukrainian government and separatist forces have been fighting in eastern Ukraine since 2014. An upsurge in shelling has thrust the region to the centre of tensions between Moscow and the West over a Russian military buildup near Ukraine.

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Brazil mudslide death toll is at 117, police say 116 missing

The death toll from floods and landslides that swept down on the mountain city of Petropolis rose to at least 117 on Thursday and local officials said it could still rise sharply, with 116 more still unaccounted for.The Rio de Janeiro state government confirmed the rising loss of life, with many feared buried in mud beneath the German-influenced city nestled in the mountains above the city of Rio de Janeiro.Torrents of floodwaters and mudslides dragged cars and houses through the streets of the city Tuesday during the most intense rainfall in decades.

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Brazil mourns the dead after flooding and landslides kill dozens, hundred displaced | DW News

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Iran MPs put forth conditions for reviving nuclear deal

Iranian lawmakers have laid out six conditions for the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with global powers in a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi published on Sunday, the country’s official IRNA news agency reported.The letter, signed by 250 out of 290 parliamentarians, stated that U.S. and European parties should guarantee that they would not exit a restored agreement, nor trigger the “snapback mechanism” under which sanctions on Iran would be immediately reinstated if it violates nuclear compliance.The statement comes in the midst of final steps to revive a 2015 nuclear agreement in Vienna, which could lead to an agreement “very soon”, according to a senior European Union official.

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WH voices optimism on Iran nuclear talks

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Global trade to slow in Jan-March after hitting record high in Dec quarter: UNCTAD report

After accelerating to record during the last quarter (Q4) of 2021, global trade growth is expected to slow in the first quarter this year, a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said.With economic growth forecasts for 2022 being revised downwards, challenges such as persistent inflation in the United States and concerns related to China’s real estate sector may affect world trade, it stressed.A case in point, the International Monetary Fund cut its world economic growth forecast for 2022 from 4.9 to 4.4 percent based on these factors. According to UNCTAD, trade trends will likely mirror these macroeconomic cues due to the persistent logjam in the global supply chain, low consumption plaguing many markets, and volatile commodity prices.

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Sea levels to rise 10-12 inches by 2050, rate alarming: Report

Coastal flooding will increase significantly over the next 30 years because of sea level rise, according to the report by an inter-agency sea level rise task force that includes Nasa, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other federal agencies.The rise in ocean height in the next 30 years could equal the total rise seen over the past 100 years, Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying.”This report supports previous studies and confirms what we have long known: Sea levels are continuing to rise at an alarming rate, endangering communities around the world,” said Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson.Science is indisputable, and urgent action is required to mitigate a climate crisis that is well underway, he said.

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‘Mind boggling’: See how rising sea levels will affect the coasts

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BA.2 subvariant of Omicron coronavirus variant may cause severe disease, lab study suggests

The BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant is not only faster at spreading, but may also cause more severe disease, a lab study suggests. The yet-to-be peer-reviewed findings, recently posted on the preprint repository BioRxiv, show that the BA.2 sub variant may have features that make it as capable of causing serious illness as older coronavirus variants. On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said while BA.2 is more tranmsissible than BA.1, the subvariant is not more severe. In the latest study, a Japanese team led by researchers from the University of Tokyo found that similar to BA.1, BA.2 subvariant of Omicron appears to largely escape the immunity induced by COVID-19 vaccines. “Neutralisation experiments show that the vaccine-induced humoral immunity fails to function against BA.2 like BA.1,” the authors of the study said.

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2) India

38 get death sentence for 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts

A special court on Friday awarded death penalty to 38 convicts and sentenced 11 others to life imprisonment in the case of 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts, which had claimed 56 lives and left over 200 injured.This is for the first time that so many convicts have been handed down death sentences by any court all at once. In January 1998, a TADA court in Tamil Nadu had awarded capital punishment to all 26 convicts in the case of the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.The pronouncement of the quantum of punishment by judge A R Patel came nearly 14 years after the deadly blasts.The court had convicted 49 persons and acquitted 28 others in the case on February 8.As many as 21 explosions had ripped through the city on July 26, 2008, within a span of 70 minutes.

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Death Sentence to 38 out of 49 convicts in 2008 Ahmedabad blasts case

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Ravish Tiwari, Express chief of national bureau, passes away

Ravish Tiwari, National Political Editor and Chief of National Bureau of The Indian Express, whose journalism blended scholarship with reporting rigour to explain change in politics and society, died Saturday morning. He had been fighting cancer since June 2020. He was 40 and is survived by his wife, his parents, and a brother.Tiwari led a team of senior journalists at The Indian Express who covered the Union Government, including state and national elections, the Prime Minister’s Office, national security, strategic affairs, diplomacy, health, education, environment and infrastructure.

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3) Economy

India signs free trade agreement with UAE

India has signed a trade pact with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that will reduce import duties on the majority of Indian exports to the country. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is the first major trade deal signed by the Narendra Modi government since first coming to power in 2014.The deal was signed in New Delhi by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UAE’s Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri. While it cuts import duties on a wide range of products, the government expects it to especially boost the export of gems and jewellery, and apparels to the UAE and raise total trade up to $100 billion in the next 5-years.UAE is India’s third-largest trade partner globally, after the United States and China. Bilateral trade between both nations stood at $43.3 billion as of 2020-21 and is spread across thousands of traded items. In 2019-20, the pre-pandemic year, trade between the two countries was estimated at $59 billion. The UAE is also home to 35 lakh Indian-origin persons.The CEPA is expected to come into effect by the first week of May since the process will take about 60-days, Goyal said. During that time, a series of business interactions will be held across India, between businesses from both sides.

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India-UAE landmark FTA – what does it mean for ties? | Worldview with Suhasini Haidar

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India economy to grow at quickest pace among large nations: Finmin report

The Indian economy is poised to grow at the quickest pace among the league of large nations on the back of various initiatives taken by the government in Budget 2022-23, said the Finance Ministry’s Monthly Economic Review.”The current year may as well end with an economic reset manifest of a post-COVID-19 world.Manufacturing and Construction will be the ‘growth drivers’, triggered by the PLI schemes and public capex in infrastructure,” the review report said.Observing that the IMF in its January 2022 update has lowered its global growth estimate for 2022, it said India is yet the only large and major country listed by the IMF whose growth projection has been revised upwards in 2022-23.

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Services exports may reach $325 billion in FY23: SEPC

The country’s services export is expected to reach $325 billion in 2022-23 on account of increasing demand for all kinds of services and gradual resumption of regular international travels, SEPC Chairman Sunil H Talati said.He said by the end of the ongoing fiscal year, services exports would reach about $250 billion. The estimated value of services export for April-January 2021-22 is $209.83 billion, exhibiting a growth of 25.31 per cent as compared to the year-ago period’s $167.45 billion.Despite the pandemic, the services sector has managed to retain 90-91 per cent of its last year’s performance in terms of overall exports, he said adding services exports have been growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8-9 per cent for the last 20 years and the sector is eighth largest in the world and second in Asia Pacific region.

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4) Markets, Banking and Finance

NSE Himalayan Yogi Saga: Chitra Ramakrishna accused of sharing confidential info; Experts Discuss

Did Chitra Ramkrishana share confidential data to an ‘Unknown Yogi? Former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman M Damodaran has spoken out on the corporate governance failures at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), its former CEO Chitra Ramkrishna, and the mysterious ‘Himalayan yogi’.

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Sebi plans tougher disclosure norms for new-age companies’ IPOs

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed to tighten disclosure standards for new-age companies that plan to float initial public offerings (IPOs).According to a discussion paper floated by Sebi on Friday, such companies will have to disclose more details pertaining to how they arrived upon the offer price for their IPOs. This proposal aims to cover only those companies which don’t fulfil the three-year profitability track record, while the rules remain unchanged for others.The development comes as the stock prices of several newly-listed technology companies tumbled post their listing over the last few months.In the discussion paper, Sebi observed that the current IPO rules only require companies to disclose ‘traditional parameters’ such as key accounting ratios. However, since the new-age companies are usually loss-making, the regulator felt there was need for additional disclosures. Sebi proposed that such companies will have to disclose their key performance indicators (KPIs) during the IPO.

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New age Companies witness fall, Whoshould be blamed? | Big Deal | CNBC-TV18

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Banking sector outlook revised to ‘improving’ for FY23; credit growth seen at 10 pc: Ind-Ra

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has revised its outlook on the banking sector to ‘improving’ from ‘stable’ for 2022-23, helped by better credit demand and strong balance sheet of lenders.For next fiscal year, the agency expects credit growth to pick up to 10 per cent and sees gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio at 6.1 per cent.“We have revised the outlook on the overall banking sector to improving for FY23 from stable, as the banking system’s health is at its best in decades. The improving health trend that began in FY20 is likely to continue into FY23,” the agency said.Key financial metrics are likely to continue to show improvement in FY23, backed by strengthened balance sheets and an improving credit demand outlook with an expected commencement of the corporate capex cycle.

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5) Business

Coal sector faces challenging H2 as imports fall, global prices spike: CIL

State-owned CIL on Friday said the second half of the current fiscal year has remained tough for the country’s coal sector with decrease in coal imports and tripling of international coal prices. Besides, the prolonged monsoon in the coal-bearing areas made the situation more challenging.Facing this situation, Coal India Ltd (CIL) with meticulous planning rose to the occasion and fulfilled the demand of additional coal for thermal power plants, the PSU said in a statement.CIL supplied around 20 million tonne of additional coal due to curtailed import of coal.

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Electric vehicle charging stations expand 2.5 times in 9 mega cities in India: Power Ministry

Electric vehicle (EV) charging stations have expanded by two-and-a-half times across nine mega cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, in the last four months, the power ministry said on Saturday. Efforts by the government resulted in 2.5 times increase in charging stations in Surat, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai in the last four months, a power ministry statement stated. According to the statement, additional 678 public EV charging stations were installed between October 2021 and January 2022 in these nine cities. About 940 of India’s 1,640 public EV chargers are located in these cities. The government has increased its focus initially on the nine mega cities with population of over 4 million. The Ministry of Power recently issued the revised consolidated Guidelines and Standards for EV charging infrastructure on January 14, 2022.

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Govt focused on boosting the gem and jewellery sector: Piyush Goyal

The country needs a self-reliant gem and jewellery sector and the government has made it a focus area to help boost both domestic as well as export growth, according to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. “India wants to make the gem and jewellery sector self-reliant. Therefore, this will be a focus area both for domestic growth and for export promotion. The Budget 2022 has paved the road for the sector to grow and expand India’s footprint in the global gem and jewellery trade,” the minister said virtually at the inaugural function of IIJS Signature 2022.The sector contributes 7 percent to the GDP and employs around 50 lakh people, he said.Goyal said the proposed policies in the Budget, including a reduction in import duty on Cut and Polished Diamonds to 5 percent from the earlier 7.5 percent, an extension of emergency credit line guarantee scheme for MSMEs up to March 2023, acceptance of personal surety bonds in place of bank guarantee for import of gold, will help facilitate exports through ecommerce ensuring that small retailers are aimed at making the sector self-reliant.

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IlkerAyci appointed Air India CEO

Air India will have a new chief executive and managing director in IlkerAyci, former chairman of Turkish airlines, Tata Sons, the new owner of India’s flag carrier, said in a statement on Monday.“Ilker is an aviation industry leader who led Turkish Airlines to its current success during his tenure there,” said N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, who was a special invitee at the board meeting when the decision was taken.“We are delighted to welcome Ilker to the Tata Group where he will lead Air India into the new era.”Ayci was born in Istanbul in 1971. He is a 1994 alumnus of Bilkent University’s department of political science and public administration. After a research stay on political science at the Leeds University in the UK in 1995, he completed an international relations master’s programme at the Marmara University in Istanbul in 1997.

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Why Tata Group chose IlkerAyci to helm Air India’s operations | 10 points

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Vedanta group to invest $7.4 billion in chip manufacturing unit

Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta group plans to invest $7.4 billion in a chip manufacturing unit in partnership with Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn). The company has already applied for the government’s incentive scheme and is hoping to ready the manufacturing facility by 2024, AkarshHebbar, global managing director of Vedanta Group’s display and semiconductor business, said.The company will target smartphones and electronics with the 28-nanometre (nm) fab and look at 70-80% domestic market, while the rest will be exported.Hebbar also said that Foxconn, though with no prior manufacturing experience in semiconductors, was the perfect partner for the project owing to its global footprint in electronics manufacturing.The government has put in place a Rs 76,000 crore incentive scheme for the sector, with the aim of creating a comprehensive ecosystem for semiconductor chip design, packaging and manufacturing that can attract global investment. The funding, which will be provided over a period of six years, is expected to bring in investment of up to Rs 1.7 lakh crore.

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Vedanta becomes first Company to invest in Semiconductor manufacturing | India Business Hour

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Indiamart among global marketplaces tagged by US for selling counterfeit

The US has named online business-to-business marketplace Indiamart and some physical bazaars in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata in a list of global marketplaces known for counterfeit goods.”Counterfeit goods can allegedly be found in large volumes on Indiamart, including counterfeit pharmaceuticals, electronics, and apparel,” the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said in a report. “Right holders are concerned with Indiamart’s failure to adequately implement anti-counterfeiting best practices, including seller verification, penalties against known sellers of counterfeit goods, or proactive monitoring of infringing goods.”Indiamartalleged that USTR published the report without informing the company nor did it give it the opportunity to respond to the allegations.

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6) Technology

Metaverse platform Bullieverse raises $4 million in funding led by Web3 venture funds

Bullieverse, an open-world metaverse platform has raised $4 million from investors led by Web3 venture funds to help build an arcade of play-to-earn games.This funding supports Bullieverse’s aim to establish an open metaverse platform owned by Web3 enthusiasts, creators, and a growing community of gamers. Nearly a dozen investor participated in the round including blockchain players such as OkxBlockdream Ventures, Fundamental Games, 6th Man Ventures, C2 Ventures among others.Cofounded by gaming enthusiasts, Bullieverse provides a platform in the digital space through its open metaverse where gamers, digital creators, and investors can interact with each other.The project’s foundational framework envisions Bullieverse to become a fully functional DAO driven by the community building high-quality experiences. The project is premiering on some of the launchpads including Seedify, Infinite Launch, Redkite, GameFi, Metaverse Pad providing an opportunity to the community and early adopters to participate in the Initial Game Offering.

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Meta, Google face data doomsday as key EU decision looms

Meta Platforms Inc.’s stark warning of a retreat from Europe may just be the start, as one of the region’s top privacy watchdogs prepares a decision that could paralyze transatlantic data flows and risk billions in revenue for tech giants.The Irish data protection authority, which polices the Silicon Valley tech giants that have flocked to the nation, is soon to weigh in on the legality of so-called standard contractual clauses used by Meta, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and others to legally transfer swathes of user data to the US for processing.The Irish authority already cast doubt on the legality of the SCCs in an interim opinion, saying they failed a key test of protecting European citizens from the prying eyes of US agencies.

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Automation startupUniphore gets $400 million at $2.5 billion valuation

Uniphore, a startup which is into conversational automation, has raised $400 million in a funding round led by foreign fund NEA, March Capital and other existing investors along with new entities, at a valuation of $2.5 billion. With this round, the Chennai-headquartered Uniphore’s total funding has touched $610 million at a valuation of $2.5 billion.The company, cofounded by Umesh Sachdev, who is also the chief executive, said this is its largest to date and will be used to extend its technology and market leadership with advancements in voice AI, computer vision and tonal emotion, apart from expanding its operations to North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.Uniphore’s conversational automation engine delivers powerful and innovative solutions to help enterprises not just survive but thrive amidst all the demands placed on them by customers.

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Gaming industry welcomes Karnataka High Court order lifting ban on online gaming

The court struck down provisions of the new law that prohibited and criminalised betting on and playing games of skill, including online games. In a major relief for the online gaming industry, the Karnataka High court on Monday struck down the provisions of the state government’s amendment to the law that prohibited betting on and playing games of skill, including online games.The move will allow companies like Dream11, Games24x7 (RummyCircle, My11Circle), MPL, and others to resume operations in the state, which were suspended since October 5, last year, when the state government enacted the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2021.

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HC lifts ban on E-Gaming in Karnataka | StartUp Central

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Flipkart launches 45-minute grocery delivery, to scale up operations next month

Flipkart has started delivering groceries in 45 minutes in parts of Bengaluru, halving its quick delivery service time from 90 minutes, ET has learnt.The country’s leading ecommerce platform plans to scale up the 45-minute grocery delivery service known as Flipkart Quick to more cities next month, a company insider said.The development comes at a time when quick commerce firms such as Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy’sInstamart and RIL-backed Dunzo are jostling to deliver a range of products within 15-20 minutes.Flipkart’s new service is in line with the company’s thinking that 10-20 minutes delivery is not the right long-term customer model.“We would look at a more sustainable business which offers it (delivery) in 30-45 minutes with good value and selection,” Flipkart group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy had told ET on January 4. “That is the way we look at the convenience business, rather than force-fitting a consumer need which is actually not there in the market.”

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7) Politics

Punjab elections 2022: Miffed with high command, CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s brother in fray as ‘independent’

In the election fray as an independent candidate, Manohar Singh, the brother of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, marked his dissent against the Congress high command on the day when Punjab went to the polls.Contesting from the seat of BassiPathana in Charan, Singh claimed that he was “ignored” by the party’s top leadership despite the winnability criteria being in his favour.The internal survey conducted by the Congress showed he was poised to register a victory in the constituency, Singh told news agency ANI.Singh, who is active in the political circles for around the last two decades, said he is “supporting” his brother despite being denied the Congress ticket.

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8) Sports

Amazon, Reliance set to lock horns over India’s cricket media rights

Amazon’s rivalry in India with oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries looks set to head to the cricket field, where they will likely battle media heavyweights for telecast rights to India’s premier cricket league with its hundreds of millions of viewers.Amazon.com Inc and Reliance Industries Ltd are expected to take on India units of Sony Group Corp and Walt Disney Co for exclusive five-year TV and digital broadcast rights to the two-month series of matches, at a cost that could run to a record 500 billion rupees ($6.7 billion). Reliance is also in talks with investors, including foreigners, to raise up to $1.6 billion for its broadcasting joint venture, Viacom18.

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Rohit Sharma named captain for Sri Lanka Test series; Ajinkya Rahane, CheteshwarPujara dropped

Opener Rohit Sharma, who is already leading the Indian side in the white-ball format, was on February 19 named as the captain for the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.Middle-order batters Ajinkya Rahane and CheteshwarPujara have been dropped from the side, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said. The two players are currently part of the ongoing Ranji Trophy, the premier domestic cricket tournament.Following the rout, Virat Kohli, the then Indian Test captain, decided to step down from his role. He had already relinquished his T20I captaincy in October citing workload pressure, and was replaced with Sharma as the ODI skipper in December.Pacer JaspritBumrah, who was announced as the vice captain during the Test series in South Africa, will continue with the role during the upcoming bout against Sri Lanka.The two Test matches against Sri Lanka will be played from March 4-8 and March 12-16 in Mohali and Bengaluru, respectively.

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9) Opinion

Russia-Ukraine crisis: What a war could mean for the Indian economy

Will Russia actually invade Ukraine? Will such an act mutate into a full blown war between Russia and the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)? The answer to these questions will depend on how the US and its NATO allies deal with Russian objection to potential inclusion of Ukraine in the military alliance.

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BARC in crisis of its own creation: Avinash Pandey

The credibility crisis being faced by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India is its creation, ABP Network CEO Avinash Pandey said while speaking at the unveiling of Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2022.Delivering a keynote on the topic, ‘The need of the hour: Credible numbers and authentic sources’, Pandey listed down the issues that news broadcasters have with the existing audience measurement system. He also offered solutions to BARC India, which, he believes, will help it reclaim the trust of the TV industry in general and the news channels in particular. “BARC seems to be leading a crisis which is its creation. One of the industry leaders has been quoted as saying that broadcasters should get out of BARC because it has been a huge letdown. Another industry leader has said that news channels need to be measured on accuracy, independence, and depth,” Pandey said.

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Your lock screen is worth a whopping $2 billion!

Glance, a subsidiary of Bengaluru-based digital advertising company InMobi, raised $200 million dollars from the Reliance Group this week. Glance is a lock screen app. But it isn’t like any other lock screen app. It won’t show you boring themes and wallpapers, instead, it offers fresh content. A news article, a quick game or even a short video (after it acquired short-video app Roposo). You can swipe to find anything that catches your eye and once you click on it, an embedded browser fires up to show you the story/video in full.So effectively, what should have been a quick interaction with your lock screen now turns into a minute lock engagement where you’re consuming content on screen zero?—?without even unlocking your phone.Glance went to the manufactures of phones to provide Glance as a pre-installed feature on their devices?—?especially in the $250 segment?—?which makes up roughly 80% of sales in India. In return, Glance likely promised to compensate the manufacturers quite nicely. Through it all, the inimitable lock screen became a staple of most Android phones and the company managed to acquire ~200 million Daily Active Users.And now you probably see why this is a multi-billion opportunity.

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The power of digital B2B networking: How apparel MSMEs can thrive online

The past year-and-a-half has been transformative for industries, with physical trade taking a significant nosedive due to the pandemic. This has been especially pertinent in a country like India – home to almost 64 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). These firms rely heavily on physical interactions with customers and suppliers to sustain growth.India’s apparel sector was particularly affected. Comprised primarily of MSMEs and heavily traditional, these companies had to embrace digital tools quickly to continue to grow. Fortunately, several online platforms made it easy for apparel MSMEs to shift their operations from physical, local markets to the virtual environment. We explore how small apparel businesses can make the most of online networking with the help of B2B digital platforms.

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Can creator economy produce India’s first single-person unicorn?

The creator economy originated from the dynamic needs and behaviours of the audience. The content created by big media and production houses was either too limited or niche and became saturated.With the advent of interactive and user-generated content, people stopped using the internet simply for information but discovered new potential uses, such as social media, consuming content in various forms.As monetisation models continue to develop, millions of creators and knowledge workers will become microentrepreneurs and dominate the startup space. India’s GDP growth and rising consumer spending will benefit these individuals directly.

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What is the creator economy?

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Non-BJP CMs explore joint anti-Modi front again. What drives them, their prospects

Shekhar Gupta looks at the Indian political landscape and how the non-BJP chief ministers such as Channi, Gehlot, Banerjee and Thackeray, among others are holding their power and what they all have against Modi. We also look at the grievances of these chief ministers and why they now want the power of collective bargaining.

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10) Weekly special

Kunal Shah of Cred speaks how Startupsin India are turning Unicorns | CNBC TV18

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11) Did you know?

What is Mixed reality (MR) technology?

Mixed reality is a blend of physical and digital worlds, unlocking natural and intuitive 3D human, computer, and environmental interactions. This new reality is based on advancements in computer vision, graphical processing, display technologies, input systems, and cloud computing.

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What is mixed reality? A Simple explanation for anyone

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With that, we come to an end for our Weekly Current Affairs February 2022 -Week3. Hope you have liked it. Write your feedback in the comments below and let  us know if there is anything else you would like us to cover.

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