Endeavor Careers Choicest Blogs: Weekly Current Affairs: October 2021, Week 05

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.

Current Affairs October 2021 – Week 5

1) International News and Global Economy

G20 agrees on 1.5-degree climate change target

G20 leaders have agreed on the need to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius but fell short of a hoped-for pledge on reaching net-zero emissions, according to a draft communique seen by AFP. The group of 20 major economies emit nearly 80 per cent of carbon emissions and are under pressure to go bold on climate to give a much-needed boost to crucial UN climate talks starting in Glasgow on Sunday. According to the draft, which sources said would be the final one, the G20 reaffirm their support for the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of keeping “the global average temperature increase well below 2 degrees and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels”.

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G20 summit in Rome focuses on climate change, coronavirus | DW News

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Leaders of the world’s 20 major economies have approved a global agreement that will see the profits of large businesses taxed at least 15%. It follows concern that multinational companies are re-routing their profits through low tax jurisdictions. The pact was agreed upon by all the leaders attending the G20 summit in Rome. Climate change and Covid are also on the agenda of the summit, which is the leaders’ first in-person gathering since the start of the pandemic. The tax deal, which was proposed by the US, will be enforced by 2023.

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American Chinooks, howitzers and cruise missiles to back India against China in eastern Tibet

India has deployed recently acquired U.S.-made weaponry along its border with China, part of a new offensive force to bolster its capabilities as the countries remain deadlocked over disputed territory in the Himalayas. The build-up in India’s northeast is centred on the Tawang Plateau adjoining Bhutan and Tibet, a piece of land claimed by China but controlled by India. U.S.-manufactured Chinook helicopters, ultra-light towed howitzers and rifles as well as domestically-made supersonic cruise missiles and a new-age surveillance system will back Indian troops in areas bordering eastern Tibet. The weapons have all been acquired in the past few years as defence ties between the U.S. and India have strengthened due to rising concerns about Chinese assertiveness. India’s deployments show frustration with the lack of progress on talks with China, said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

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What the China-India border dispute is really about

The boundary between China and India represents the longest contested border on the planet. Confrontations between the two sides have turned deadly in recent years, as China becomes increasingly aggressive in the region.

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Biden announces $1.75 trillion US spending deal ahead of Europe trip

US President Joe Biden announced a revised $1.75 trillion social spending plan that he is confident Democrats will support, ending weeks of wrangling and delivering a political victory hours before he departs for twin summits in Europe. Biden failed in his original goal of securing a vote in Congress, where Democrats hold a razor-thin majority, before going to Rome for meetings with Pope Francis and G20 leaders, then a UN climate summit in Glasgow. This is much less than the original $3.5 trillion price tag Biden and left-leaning Democrats wanted. However, this would still represent a major win a year after Biden, 78, defeated Donald Trump with a promise to heal America’s “soul.”

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Biden announces a framework for his social and climate spending bill

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The Taliban called on the United States and other countries to recognise their government in Afghanistan, saying that a failure to do so and the continued freezing of Afghan funds abroad would lead to problems not only for the country but for the world. No country has formally recognised the Taliban government since the insurgents took over the country in August, while billions of dollars in Afghan assets and funds abroad have also been frozen, even as the country faces severe economic and humanitarian crises. While no country has recognised the Taliban government, senior officials from a number of countries have met with the movement’s leadership both in Kabul and abroad. The latest visit was by Turkmen Foreign Minister Rasit Meredow. The two sides discussed the speedy implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, met Taliban officials in Qatar earlier this week and China had promised to finance transport infrastructure, and to give Kabul’s exports access to Chinese markets via neighbouring Pakistan.

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Fishing row: Turbulence has hit relations with France, PM says

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged “turbulence” in the UK’s relationship with France as the row over fishing rights escalates. After dozens of French boats were denied post-Brexit fishing licences for UK and Jersey waters, France threatened to block ports to British vessels. But Mr Johnson told the BBC the things that united the UK and France were more important than their divisions. The French president said the row was a test of the UK’s global credibility. France has said it will take “targeted measures” against the UK if the row over fishing licences is not resolved by 2^nd Nov. Brexit Minister David Frost said the government was “actively considering” launching a legal process against France under the Brexit agreement, as a result of the “threats” from France.

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UK warns France it may retaliate over fishing threats – BBC News

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Financial Action Task Force (FATF) President Marcus Pleyer said that Pakistan will remain in its ‘Grey List’. Announcing the decision, the global terror financing watchdog said: “Pakistan remains under increased monitoring (grey list). Its government has the 34-point action plan of which 30 items have been addressed.” It added: “Pakistan has largely addressed 30 of the 34 items. Its most recent action plan, which was in June this year, focused on money laundering.” Marcus Pleyer, however, clarified that there is no question of blacklisting Pakistan now as it has been cooperating with the FATF action plan. FATF, which had been in session for three days since October 19, has added three new countries to the FATF list, namely, Jordan, Mali, and Turkey. They have all agreed on an action plan with the FATF.

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Pak remains on ‘Grey List’ of global terror financing watchdog: What FATF wants Islamabad to do

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China’s latest COVID-19 outbreak is developing rapidly, a health official said, as the authorities demanded high vigilance at ports of entry amid growing infections in a north-eastern border city caused by the virus arriving from abroad. The numbers remain tiny compared with clusters outside the country. However, while the rest of the world works out how to co-exist with COVID, China has maintained its zero-tolerance, urging vigilance around border areas and ports to prevent infected inbound travellers from spreading the virus to locals.

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China locks down in many regions as it expects new Covid outbreak to worsen soon

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G20: Nudging WHO for Covaxin nod, India promises 5 Billion Covid Jabs by 2022 End

Noting that the WHO approval for the emergency use authorisation for Covaxin, India’s indigenous vaccine, is pending, India suggested that a nod for the jab will help India assist other countries. A technical advisory group of the UN health agency will meet on November 3 to conduct a final risk-benefit assessment for the Emergency Use Listing of Covaxin. Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s Covishield are the two widely used vaccines in India. India is ready to produce over 5 billion Covid vaccine doses by the end of next year to help the world in its fight against the pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his remarks at the G-20 meeting.

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India’s first manned ocean mission ‘Samudrayan’ launched

India’s first manned ocean mission ‘Samudrayan’ was launched by Union Minister Jitendra Singh and with this, the nation joined an elite club of nations having such underwater vehicles for carrying out subsea activities. The nation has made huge progress in science and technology and when an Indian goes up into space as part of the Gaganyaan programme, another would dive deep into the ocean, the Minister said. An official release said the Matsya 6000 under the Samudrayan initiative is capable of carrying three human beings in a titanium alloy personnel sphere of 2.1-metre diameter enclosed space with an endurance of 12 hours and an additional 96 hours in case of emergency situation. The niche technology facilitates carrying out deep ocean exploration of non-living resources such as polymetallic manganese nodules, gas hydrates, hydro-thermal sulphides and cobalt crusts, the NIOT said.

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Petrol, diesel prices hit fresh all-time highs after the 35-paise hike

On the fourth consecutive day of rise, petrol and diesel prices hit yet another record high on October 30. The fuel prices differ from state to state, depending on the incidence of local taxes. Petrol price has been hiked on 25 occasions since September 28, when a three-week-long hiatus in rate revision ended. Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on October 29 said that India will use whatever “margin of persuasion” it has while talking to oil-producing nations to make sure the fuel prices are down in the country. He added that India’s dependence on traditional energy sources such as petrol and coal will remain for a very long time and the transition to green energy sources will be done orderly only if their prices are affordable.

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Power ministry proposes amendments in EC Act to boost renewable energy consumption

The Ministry of Power has proposed amendments to the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 which include a provision for specifying minimum quantum of renewable energy in the overall consumption by establishments and industrial units. The amendments are aimed at promoting the consumption of renewable energy. The proposal includes defining the minimum share of renewable energy in the overall consumption by the industrial units or any establishment, it stated. There will be provision to incentivise efforts on using clean energy sources by means of a carbon saving certificate. Power Minister R K Singh reviewed the proposed amendments recently and was directed to seek comments and suggestions from concerned line ministries/departments and state governments.

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Russia launches railway sector project under Make in India initiative

Signalling what could herald Indo-Russian cooperation in the railways sector Russia’s Sinara Transport Machines (STM) has recently launched work to assemble RTM-32 machine sets at the production site of San Engineering & Locomotives in India. The Indian railway sector is one of the key export destinations for STM Holding, according to Anton Zubikhin, Deputy General Director for Sales and General Director of STM Trading House. “At the moment, our company is supplying equipment to its Indian partners worth 20 million euros. Moreover, I would like to note that the signing of these contracts was a result of tough competition with the world leaders in the railway equipment manufacturing sphere, including producers from Austria and the United States. We are by no means going to slow down. On the contrary, it is our plan to take part in the next tenders for the supply of various equipment for a total amount of more than 200 million euros,” he informed

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Employment increases by 8.5M in September: CMIE

The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said. “Jobs increased by 8.5 million during the month led by the salaried jobs category. The unemployment rate declined from 8.3 per cent in August to 6.9 per cent in September, the highest in 20 months or since the Covid-19 shock in March 2020,” CMIE’s MD and CEO Mahesh Vyas said in his analysis. The labour participation rate increased from 40.5 per cent to 40.7 per cent and the employment rate inched up from 37.2 per cent to 37.9 per cent. The best part of the increase in employment in September was the increase in salaried jobs, the analysis noted, adding that these increased by 6.9 million.

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India ‘Aatmanirbhar’ this Diwali. Chinese exports set to suffer 50k crore in losses

CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said a recent survey conducted by the body’s research arm in 20 ‘distribution cities’ showed that so far no orders for Diwali goods, firecrackers, or other items have been placed with Chinese exporters by Indian traders or importers. Chinese goods are set to suffer major losses in India ahead of Diwali and other festivals. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has said that they are looking at estimated losses to the tune of ?50,000 crore on part of Chinese exporters this year due to Indians boycotting products from China in the domestic markets.

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3) Economy

PM Economic Advisory Council reconstituted; meet 7 experts who will advise PM Modi on India’s economy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the reconstitution of his economic advisory council (EAC-PM) on Wednesday. Former RBI deputy governor Rakesh Mohan, along with IIM Ahmedabad Professor T T Ram Mohan, and Director-General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) Poonam Gupta, are the three new members who will join the seven-member council that advises the Prime Minister of India on the country’s economy. The term of the previous EAC to the PM ended last month. The new advisory council has been appointed for a period of two years. Bibek Debroy, the Chairman of the council, is among the four members who have been retained.

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4) Markets, Banking and Finance

RBI eases current account rules for bank exposures less than Rs 5 crore

The Reserve Bank of India eased current account rules for bank exposures less than Rs 5 crore, allowing lenders to open a current account, cash credit and overdraft facilities without any restriction. The regulator asked banks to implement the changes within one month. For borrowers where the exposure is more than Rs 5 crore, will continue to maintain current accounts with any one of the banks with which they have cash credit or overdraft facility, provided that the bank has at least 10 per cent of the exposure of the banking system to that borrower. In August last year, the banking regulator had introduced new rules for the opening of current accounts, which mandated that a borrower can have a current account with only the bank which accounts for at least 10% of his total borrowing.

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Govt appoints veteran banker K V Kamath as chairperson of Rs 20,000-cr NaBFID

The government announced the appointment of veteran banker K V Kamath as chairperson of the newly set up Rs 20,000 crore development finance institution NaBFID to catalyse investment in the funds-starved infrastructure sector. Parliament had in March cleared the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) Bill 2021 to support the development of long-term non-recourse infrastructure financing in India, including the development of the bonds and derivatives markets necessary for infrastructure financing.

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India Post Payments Bank & HDFC join hands to offer home loans

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and mortgage lender HDFC Limited announced a strategic alliance to offer home loans to nearly 4.7 crore customers of IPPB. Leveraging its wide network of 650 branches and over 1.36 lakh banking access points, IPPB aims to make HDFC Ltd.’s home loan products and its expertise available to its customers across India. These home loans will be made available in unbanked and underserved areas with many of them having little or no access to finance. “IPPB has a strong presence across the country and this strategic alliance will go a long way to promote affordable housing in the remotest locations of our country in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Housing for All,” said Renu Sud Karnad, Managing Director –HDFC Ltd.

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Nykaa raises Rs 2,396 Cr from anchor investors ahead of IPO

FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd, which runs an online marketplace for beauty and wellness products Nykaa, said it has raised Rs 2,396 crore from anchor investors ahead of its initial share sale, which opens for the public subscription on Thursday. BlackRock Global Funds, Fidelity Funds, Nomura, Government of Singapore, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, T Rowe Price, Tiger Global Investments Fund, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are among the investors that participated in the anchor book. In addition, shares have been allocated to domestic funds including Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund (MF), SBI MF, HDFC MF, Axis MF, UTI MF, Sundaram MF and Tata MF. The company reported a net profit of Rs 61.94 crore for FY21 compared to a net loss of Rs 16.34 crore in FY20. Its revenue from operations jumped to Rs 2,441 crore in FY21 from Rs 1,768 crore in FY20. The company is one of the leading influential lifestyle platforms in India with over 12.6 million followers across leading social media platforms as of March 2021

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IPO Adda With Nykaa’s Falguni Nayar

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Online insurance aggregator Policybazaar has raised over Rs 2,569 crore from 155 anchor investors, which included leading insurance firms such as HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential, Bajaj Allianz Life, SBI General Insurance, and Max Life Insurance. The SoftBank-backed start-up saw bids that were nearly 40 times higher for the anchor slot of its initial public offering (IPO), with investors like Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Dragoneer Group, BlackRock and others also participating. Steadview Capital, Tiger Global and Falcon Edge, the existing investors in PB Fintech – the parent firm of Policybazaar — have also further doubled down on the company through the anchor investment.

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Billion Dollar Idea | India’s unicorn company Policy Bazaar | Yashish Dahiya, Co-founder

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Microsoft edges past Apple to become World’s most valuable company

Apple lost its crown as the world’s most valuable public company to Microsoft, as the iPhone maker’s shares fell about 2 per cent. Apple took a $6 billion (roughly Rs. 44,940 crore) hit to its sales during the fiscal fourth quarter due to persistent global supply chain problems, leading to a miss on Wall Street expectations. Top boss Tim Cook said the impact will be even worse in the current holiday sales quarter. Microsoft’s stock has surged 49 per cent this year, with pandemic-induced demand for its cloud-based services driving sales. Shares of Apple have climbed 13 per cent so far this year. Apple’s stock market value overtook Microsoft’s in 2010 as the iPhone made it the world’s premier consumer technology company. The companies have taken turns as Wall Street’s most valuable business in recent years, with Apple holding the title since mid-2020.

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After shutting its UK, US & Singapore Biz, Zomato to pull the plug on Lebanon business

Zomato India has officially intimated the BSE to shut down its subsidiary — Zomato Ireland Limited (Lebanon Branch). According to the BSE filings, the Ireland business will stop its operations from December 12, 2021. The move comes shortly after the food tech company was listed on the Indian stock exchange. Following its listing, Zomato has shut down three of its international subsidiaries — Zomato UK Limited (ZUL), Zomato Media Private Limited (ZMPL) and Zomato US — formerly known as UrbanSpoon. In August, the company also shut down its US’ table reservation business — NexTable, which had a turnover of INR 6.6 Cr and a net worth of INR 1.5 Cr (as of March 2021). It also pulled a plug on its online grocery business post the acquisition of Grofers, and simultaneously shut down its health and fitness products — Nutraceuticals. According to the food tech, Lebanon has been going through an economic crisis with a depreciating currency for the last two years. “The situation has become worse over the past few months and as a result, the business viability and future outlook for the region have deteriorated significantly,” the company mentioned. It added that the move was in line with its aims to focus on the Indian market.

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A rout, a reversal and then a recovery: the IRCTC flip-flop decoded

IRCTC shares took a hit of as much as 30% but pared almost all of its losses after the Ministry of Railways decided to take back its decision to share 50% of revenue from the convenience fee charged by the PSU. In its now-revoked notice, the Railways asked IRCTC to share 50% of revenues it generated from convenience fees for bookings made on its website with effect from November 1. For context, in FY21, the company’s revenue from operations was Rs 783 crore, earning Rs 299 cr from the convenience fee. The internet ticketing segment was the only segment among its four that had a profit margin of around 79%. Even in the previous fiscals, they have highlighted their robustness. Many analysts see the internet ticketing & tourism business as the company’s biggest value driver. And many feel that a derating and an earnings downgrade would’ve been in order had the MoR’s fee split decision gone through. This turnaround in decision making is potentially damaging to the government’s thrust on privatisation even as the economy continues to recover from the damage caused by the pandemic.

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The IRCTC flip-flop | India Development Debate

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Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta as part of a major rebrand. The company said it would better “encompass” what it does, as it broadens its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality (VR). The change does not apply to its individual platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, only the parent company that owns them. The move follows a series of negative stories about Facebook, based on documents leaked by an ex-employee. In 2015, Google restructured its company calling its parent firm Alphabet, however, the name has not caught on. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg announced the new name as he unveiled plans to build a “metaverse” – an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often using VR headsets. He said the existing brand could not “possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future”, and needed to change.

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Facebook is now Meta: Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s quest to rebrand the Social Media giant

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Chennai is quickly establishing itself as India’s SaaS centre, and the extraordinary speed with which the Chennai start-up system has evolved, particularly in the SaaS sector, is commendable, says a White Paper on ‘Chennai: A hub for SaaS Start-ups’, published by Ernst & Young (EY), unveiled on Friday at the Chennai Micro Experience of FinTech Festival India 2021-22. The white paper deep-dives into the evolving start-up ecosystem in Chennai and takes a detailed overview of how the city is fast emerging as a hub for SaaS-based start-ups.

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7) Politics

‘Fraternity, Communal Harmony’: Christian Community Leaders in India Welcome Modi-Pope Meeting

Christian community leaders across India appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Catholic church head Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday. Kevin Mathew Sunny from the Kerala Christian Forum said the meeting was a welcome sign. On being asked what message it would send out in terms of communal harmony and peace if the Pope came to India, Sunny said it would be a very positive one; that India is welcome to all communities and religions, aligning with the country’s value of secularism. Indulekha Joseph, Church Act activist, said she welcomed the meeting as Pope Francis’ attitude was ‘absolutely progressive’. The Archbishop of Bombay, Oswald Gracias said the Pope is very interested in India and had often asked him and spoken about it. “I think it will result in greater communication and collaboration. I think it will be good for the Catholic Church, India and PM Modi himself,” he said, Republic TV reported.

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BJP’s Rajib Banerjee returns to TMC at Tripura rally

BJP leader from West Bengal Rajib Banerjee returned to the TMC on Sunday at a rally of party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Agartala in Tripura. Banerjee, a former minister in the Mamata Banerjee government, said he “repents” for joining the BJP ahead of the assembly elections despite being asked by the West Bengal chief minister not to leave TMC. He was named BJP’s national executive committee member weeks ago and unsuccessfully fought the assembly polls from Domjur in Howrah district.

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8) Sports

Kashmiri teen Tajamul Islam scripts history, wins gold in World Kick Boxing championship for a second time

In a historical feat, 13-year-old Tajamul Islam has clinched the gold medal in World Kick Boxing Championship. This is the second time that the girl from Kashmir has achieved the feat. The championship was held in Egypt’s Cairo. Before this, she had won the title in 2016. A resident of Bandipora district in Kashmir, Tajamul Islam has been practising the sport of kickboxing since she was 6 years old.

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Lucknow and Ahmedabad become home to the two newest IPL franchises

In what will be seen as a watershed moment in the business of cricket, two corporate giants – RP Sanjiv Goenka Group (RPSG) and CVC Capital Partners (Irelia Company Pte Ltd) – have bid a staggering sum of money, running over USD 1.6 billion, to buy the two new IPL franchises. On 25 October, at a walk-in bidding event in Dubai, RPSG paid INR 7090 crore (USD 940 million approx.) to buy the Lucknow franchise while CVC, a private equity fund, bought the Ahmedabad franchise for INR 5625 crore (USD 750 million approx.). The RPSG bid was about 250% more than BCCI’s base price of INR 2000 crore (US$270million approx.). The corresponding figure for CVC was over 160%. In all, 22 companies had purchased the tender document but only nine were eventually present at the walk-in bid event held in Dubai.

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9) Opinion

The world needs $5 trillion in annual climate finance by 2030 for rapid action

Climate finance needs to rise sharply to $5 trillion a year globally by 2030 to fund measures to fight climate change, researchers have said, warning that transformation across economies is too slow to meet international temperature goals. From transport to agriculture and electricity, progress is lagging in all sectors on reducing planet-heating emissions at the pace required to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid its worst effects, a study by five green groups found. None of the 40 indicators it assessed is in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of reining in average temperature rise to “well below” 2C, and ideally 1.5C, above preindustrial times. Of the indicators, 25 were judged to be “well off track” or “off-track”, including using less dirty coal to generate power and boosting climate finance. But the study did note some bright spots, such as wider adoption of wind and solar energy, and more electric vehicles on the road. A separate annual assessment released this month by analysis group Climate Policy Initiative showed global climate finance averaged $632 billion in 2019 and 2020, a 10% rise from 2017-2018, but the rate of increase slowed from earlier years.

 The Cost to Reduce Global Warming? $131 Trillion Is One Answer | WSJ

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Indians’ belief in the country’s economic future has diminished in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic taking a further toll on sentiment while pushing many middle-class citizens into poverty, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has said. Virtually addressing an event organised by the NALSAR University of Law, Rajan further said the domestic stock market is booming but that does not reflect the reality that many Indians are in deep distress. Rajan further said the thrust of the economic programmes should be to create good jobs, while lamenting that states are increasingly reserving employment for locals, undermining the idea of India. Rajan also emphasised that there is a need to protect fundamental rights under all circumstances, saying, “When we suppress debate and criticism, it leads to poor one-size-fits-all uninformed policy choices, with little course correction.”

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India AI market to reach $7.8B by 2025: IDC

The artificial intelligence (AI) market in India is expected to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.2 per cent and touch $7.8 billion in total revenues by 2025, according to research firm IDC. Businesses in India will accelerate the adoption of both AI-centric and AI non-centric applications for the next five years, IDC said in a statement. The AI software segment is expected to dominate the market and grow from $2.8 billion in 2020 at a CAGR of 18.1 per cent by the end of 2025, IDC said. “Indian organisations plan to invest in AI to address current business scenarios across functions, such as customer service, human resources (HR), IT automation, security, recommendations, and many more. Increasing business resilience and enhancing customer retention are among the top business objectives for using AI by Indian enterprises,” IDC India Associate Research Director (Cloud and AI) Rishu Sharma said.

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India’s gaming market is set to become $7B in FY 2026: RedSeer and Lumikai

India’s gaming market is set to become $7 billion in FY2026 (more than 3X of the market in FY2021) while in-app purchases are the fastest growing revenue streams of the market with an increasing number of paid users and their growing propensity to pay is driving the growth, according to a comprehensive report by Lumikai and Redseer titled “India Gaming Report 2021″. India’s gaming market is due to 3X in value to over $7B by 2025, driven by a healthy diversity of monetization mechanics that indicate plenty of white spaces for new investment, and massive potential for a new generation of leaders across the gaming value chain. We’re excited to continue being at the forefront of India’s gaming investment landscape as the market matures and evolves to the next level.” added Justin Keeling, General Partner at Lumikai Fund.

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Borrow-and-build model doesn’t work any longer, Parekh cautions realty developers

Deepak Parekh, noted banker and chairman of the largest mortgage lender HDFC, warned against real estate developers following their Chinese peers who have been over-leveraging saying that the Chinese ‘borrow-and-build’ model no longer works anywhere. “The most fatal financial mistakes always happen in good times simply because leverage is a double-edged sword. Leverage amplifies profits in good times but it kills during a downturn,” Parekh told a Credai summit in the city. However, he said India is fortunate that it does not have any housing bubble troubles currently, but it is also not the time to thump the chest. Parekh said this is the best-ever time for housing and realty. However, he added, the fact is that the inherent demand for housing remains immense, and concerted efforts have been made to ensure supply at the right price points to meet the needs of various income groups.

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 10) Weekly special

Regulatory challenges are Dream 11’s moat in India, says CEO Harsh Jain

On his journey of building India’s first unicorn in the online gaming and sports space, Harsh Jain has learnt to look for opportunities in adversity, said the Dream 11 Co-founder and CEO at TechSparks 2021. After being rejected by 150 investors, and being told it was a start-up idea created ‘just for fun’ by Harsh and his Co-founder Bhavit Sheth, Dream 11 created history in 2019 by becoming India’s first online gaming unicorn. It took the company four years to figure out the one thing the platform wanted to do — build the stock market equivalent of fantasy sports. The validation came from multiple YouTube channels where self-proclaimed gurus gave advice on how to win on Dream 11, and books and tuition classes taught how to pick the right team.

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 11) Did you know?

What is Metaverse?

Think of it as the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D. Zuckerberg has described it as a “virtual environment” you can go inside of _ instead of just looking at on a screen. Essentially, it’s a world of endless, interconnected virtual communities where people can meet, work and play, using virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices. It also will incorporate other aspects of online life such as shopping and social media, according to Victoria Petrock, an analyst who follows emerging technologies. “It’s the next evolution of connectivity where all of those things start to come together in a seamless, doppelganger universe, so you’re living your virtual life the same way you’re living your physical life,” she said.

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Explained: What is the Metaverse? | Tech It Out

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With that, we come to an end for our Weekly Current Affairs October 2021 -Week 5. 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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