VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

Lenovo to grow 25-30 per cent this fiscal with manufacturing tablets in India :  Lenovo   expects to grow by 25-30 per cent in the current financial year due to increase in demand from the education segment and large enterprises. However, the growth may decline in the next financial year,   Lenovo India CEO and Managing Director Rahul Agarwal   said that the company has always grown in double digits and will continue to maintain the trend. Lenovo is also planning to start manufacturing tablets in India and expand laptop manufacturing by about 10 times.   Agarwal said “It has been a roller coaster ride this year, but we will grow by 25-30 per cent for the full financial year if we remove the ELCOT deal. The ELCOT deal was 1.5 million PCs which has not happened this year. The consumer market is to be 4 million. It has been flat for the last 5 years. It is suddenly exploding because of learning from home and is growing by 40 per cent.”   Agarwal said B2B (busi...

Goodbye Flash, goodbye FarmVille:  The end of Flash has been a long time coming. The plugin first released in 1996 and once supported a broad swath online content, has become increasingly irrelevant in a smartphone-centric world: iPhones never supported Flash, and it’s been just over 10 years since   Apple’s then-CEO Steve Jobs   published an open letter outlining the technology’s shortcomings.   Adobe has been planning for the end, announcing in 2017 that it would phase out Flash by the end of this year. Most web browsers have already stopped supporting Flash, and today is the official end date, with Adobe ending support itself - although there’s still one last “death of Flash” milestone on January 12, when the company will begin to block Flash content from playing.   In related news, Zynga announced recently that the end of Flash would also mean the end of FarmVille, since the game relies on the Flash plugin. Like Flash, FarmVille feels like a remnant of ...

“All COVAXIN recipients to be tracked, monitored as if they’re in trial”: Health Minister answers to critics:  Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan   responded to opposition’s criticism on the   Drugs Controller General of India’s (DCGI)   approval for emergency use of the two Indian   COVID-19 vaccines - Covaxin   and   Covishield   through a tweet.   "For those spreading rumours let it be known that EUA (Emergency Use Approval) for COVAXIN is differently conditional – in clinical trial mode,” Dr Vardhan tweeted. He also added, "EUA for COVAXIN is different from COVISHIELD because its use will be in clinical trial mode. All COVAXIN recipients to be tracked, monitored as if they’re in trial.”   "COVAXIN approval is ‘Monitored Approval’ with strict follow-up & rolling review. This approval ensures India has an additional vaccine shield in its arsenal esp against potential mutant strains in a dynamic pandemic situation - A strategic d...

The market share of mobile recharge has increased in India crossed 50% for the first time in 2020 as the pandemic led people to minimise stepping out to stores and instead opt for online transactions.   Feedback from the top Fintech companies including  Google Pay  and  PhonePe , payment gateway CC said there was a 55-75% surge in mobile recharge transactions.   At  Reliance Jio , the share of online recharges increased to 50% in the December quarter from 35% in the March quarter, after having touched 60% during the lockdown in the June-ended quarter, according to a senior company executive. At  Bharti Airtel , half of its recharge revenue for all of 2020 came from the digital channel for the first time, a company official said and at Vodafone Idea , they have also witnessed on the spike of digital payment medium been adopted by many consumers.   We saw a big spike in the recharge category since the country went into lockdown and the spike has con...

Malaika Arora makes the social media hot with new saga with Arjun Kapoor:  The year 2020 has passed but the both the love birds   Malaika Arora   and still designated   boyfriend Arjun Kapoor   could not officially married but they still remain as the hot love birds .   Malaika Arora welcomed New Year 2021 with boyfriend Arjun Kapoor and her family. She was wearing party attires, she posted a beautiful photo with Arjun that will take your breath away.   Hope the Year 2021 will bring fortune for the love birds together . The diva posted a stunning photo with Arjun while celebrating the new year in Goa.   Welcoming the New Year with open arms and also wishing their fans on the special occasion, Malaika wrote, “It’s a new dawn ,it’s a new day , it’s a new year ..... 2021

PM lays new foundation stone of AIIMS in Rajkot:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi   recently laid the foundation stone of   All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Rajkot, Gujarat , via video conferencing today.   "India has emerged as the nerve centre of global health. In the year 2021, we have to strengthen India's role in healthcare," he added.   In our country, rumours spread quickly, the Prime Minister said.   "Different people for their personal gains or due to irresponsible behaviour spread various rumours. Maybe rumours will be spread when vaccination begins, some have already begun," he added.   "I appeal to the people of the country that fight against COVID-19 is the one against an unknown enemy. Be careful about such rumours and as responsible citizens refrain from forwarding messages on social media without checking," said PM Modi.   "We are working on the mission to improve medical education in India. After the formation of th...

RuPay ties up with RBL Bank to offer RuPay PoS for retailers:  National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)   has declared that   RuPay   has joined hands with   RBL Bank   to come up with an innovative payment solution for Indian merchants, RuPay PoS in association with PayNearby.   Nalin Bansal, Head of RuPay & NFS, NPCI  said, “We are glad to associate with PayNearby, Paynext, Uvik and RBL Bank to facilitate the launch of the innovative RuPay PoS solution which will empower merchants across the country to onboard into digital payments ecosystem. It is our belief that this initiative will enable merchants and customers to be Atmanirbhar by reducing their dependency on cash and at the same time accelerate India’s journey towards a less-cash economy".   The RuPay POS will convert smartphones into merchants Point of Sale (PoS) terminals for retailers. With this merchants can accept contactless payments of up to Rs 5,000 through a simple t...

GST collections in December crosses over Rs 1.15 lakh crore:  December 2020 saw a record high of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore in the   GST collection revenue . In fact, the revenues for the month of December 2020 are 12 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month in 2019. In November 2020, the GST collection had crossed Rs 1 lakh crore mark.   The highest jump in the GST collection was witnessed in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, with a growth of 68 per cent year on year, the collection during the month of December 2019 was Rs 154 crore and in 2020, it stood at Rs 259 crore. Tripura saw the second-highest jump at 25 per cent year on year basis. The Central GST stands at Rs 21,365 crore and the state GST is at Rs 27,804 crore.   The integrated GST stood at Rs 57,426 crore (including Rs 27,050 crore collected on import of goods) and cess at Rs 8,579 crore (including Rs 971 crore collected on import of goods).   “This is the highest growth in monthly revenues for th...

Randhir Kapoor confirms Ranbir & Alia are not getting engaged in Ranthambore:  After   Ranbir Kapoor   and   Alia Bhatt   were clicked at Jaipur airport, reports emerged online that the Bollywood actors are all set to get engaged in Ranthambore. However, Ranbir’s uncle Randhir Kapoor has refuted the reports.   Randhir said, “It is not true. If Ranbir and Alia were to get engaged today, my family and I would have also been there with them. Ranbir, Alia and Neetu have gone there for holidays and to bring in the new year. The news of their engagement is incorrect.”   Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor and Riddhima Kapoor Sahni are in Ranthambore for a vacation. They plan to ring in 2021 together.   Alia Bhatt was a part of the Kapoor Christmas celebration last week. Later in the day, Ranbir Kapoor joined the Bhatts for another celebration.

5G is far more than just another mobile generation to expect in 2021:  5G   is one of the biggest, most complex technological challenges of the past decade. This is the world's next great tipping point - when   mobile technologies   will become as inseperable from our lives as electricity, and as fundamental as the automobile. 5G is a complete paradigm shift.The global standard for 5G (fi h generation) mobile network, developed by   3GPP . First-generation wireless allowed voice communication, followed by 2G which added text and 3G which enabled basic computing. 4G unleashed higher data speeds which allowed for greater mobile web access, gaming, high-definition video streaming, and more. 5G is even more powerful, with average download speeds of more than one gigabyte per second. That’s about 20 times faster than 4G. 5G is not widely available in U.S. just yet, and there aren’t very many people who even own devices capable of connecting to the ultra-fast network....

IUC Regime For Domestic Voice Calls Comes To An End:  As per directions of the Hon’ble   Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (“TRAI”) , Bill and Keep regime is being implemented in the country from 1st January 2021, thereby ending   interconnect usage charges (IUC)   for all domestic voice calls. Honouring its commitment to revert off-net domestic voice-call charges to zero, as soon as IUC charges are abolished, Jio will once again make all off-net domestic voice calls free, starting 1st January 2021. On-net domestic voice calls have always been free on the   Jio network .   For context, in September 2019, when TRAI extended the timeline for implementation of the Bill & Keep regime beyond 1st January 2020, Jio was left with no option but to start charging its customers for offnet voice calls, at a rate exactly equivalent to the applicable IUC charge. While doing so, Jio had assured its users that this charge would continue only till the time TRAI abol...

In 2020 Cyber crime has costs $49 Billion to Russian citizens and companies: Sberbank:  As per   Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender , cyber attacks have cost up to 3.6 trillion roubles ($49 billion) to the citizens and companies of the country.   In an effort to crack down the shadow economy, Russia has encouraged its citizens to switch to bank cards and limit cash use but crimes related to bank cards have shot up by 500% this year, as estimated by the interior ministry.   As per the news source,  Stanislav Kuznetsov, Sberbank’s Deputy Chairman , who oversees security and services said that private business and ordinary Russians were the main targets of cyber attacks, as the state security services are better protected.   “The private sector is the most vulnerable: everything from the clients’ accounts to financial data and tender documents are targeted: there are 2.3 million darknet accounts operating in Russian and offering the stolen data,” he said. ...

Zuoyebang bags $1.6 billion from investors like Alibaba:  Zuoyebang   has announced raising a $1.6 billion Series E+ from investors including   Alibaba Group . Other participants included returning investors   Tiger Global Management ,   SoftBank Vision Fund ,   Sequoia Capital China   and   FountainVest Partners .   Zuoyebang’s latest announcement comes just six months after it announced a $750 million Series E led by Tiger Global and FountainVest. The latest financing brings Zuoyebang’s total raised so far to $2.93 billion. The company did not disclose its latest worth, but Reuters reported in September that it was raising at a $10 billion valuation.   One of Zuoyebang’s main competitors is Yuanfudao, which announced in October that it had reached a $15.5 billion valuation after closing a $2.2 billion round led by Tencent. This pushed Yuanfudao ahead of Byju as the world’s most valuable edtech company. Another popular online learning a...