BlackBerry partners with Optiemus to manufacture handsets in India

New Delhi, February 6

Canadian mobile maker BlackBerry on Monday announced its partnership with Optiemus, a Delhi-based telecom enterprise to licence software and services for the production of secure Android handsets in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Under the terms of the agreement, BlackBerry will licence its security software and services suite, as well as related brand assets to Optiemus Infracom Ltd. 

The partner will design, manufacture, sell, promote and provide customer support for BlackBerry-branded mobile devices that offer the full BlackBerry experience, including the trusted BlackBerry for Android secure software.

"With its infrastructure and experience in manufacturing, and proven success as our distribution partner, Optiemus Infracom Ltd is the ideal partner to design and manufacture trusted BlackBerry secure Android handsets for customers in India and neighbouring markets," said Alex Thurber, Senior Vice President, General Manager, Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry, in a statement.

BlackBerry will continue to control and develop its security and software solutions and maintain trusted BlackBerry security software, including regular Android security updates to the platform.

"With our strong end to end play in the mobile ecosystem in manufacturing, retail, distribution and support, we are confident that our journey with BlackBerry will be a long and successful one," added Ashok Gupta, Chairman of Optiemus Infracom Ltd.

The agreement with Optiemus Infracom Ltd expands on an existing relationship announced in November 2016, for the distribution and sale of the DTEK50 and DTEK60 by BlackBerry, the company's DTEK series of secure Android smartphones with BlackBerry Security Software inside.

These devices continue to be available through the company's distribution network.

Under fire, govt says will not sell sick pharma firms

New Delhi:

 The Opposition parties on Friday attacked the government in the Rajya Sabha on the issue of sale of sick pharma PSUs and the role of the Niti Aayog in making such recommendations. Amid Opposition protests, the government said it would not sell sick pharma PSUs —BCPL and HAL — to foreign firms and closure of IDPL and RDPL would not affect domestic capacities. Unhappy with minister's reply, D Raja (CPI) said the government was deliberately weakening PSUs to make them sick and then sell. 

50% rise in air safety violations by crew: DGCA

New Delhi:

 There were 422 air safety violations by the crew of various air operators in 2016, a rise of nearly 50 per cent from 2015, resulting in de-rostering of 42 pilots besides suspension of 272 crew members, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Friday. According to the DGCA, private carrier Jet Airways along with its subsidiary JetLite had the highest number of enforcement actions (116) initiated against its crew. It was followed by SpiceJet and Air India with 101 and 61 instances of safety breach, respectively. 

Gold demand fell by 21% in 2016: WGC

Mumbai:

Gold demand in India witnessed a significant decline of 21 per cent in 2016 at 675.5 tonne, mainly due to challenges such as jewellers' strike, PAN card requirement and demonetisation drive, says the World Gold Council. The gold demand for 2015 stood at 857.2 tonne, the WGC data revealed. Jewellery demand in the country also witnessed a sharp decline of 22.4 per cent in 2016, at 514 tonne compared to 662.3 tonnes in 2015. In value terms, jewellery demand saw a drop of 12.3 per cent in 2016 at Rs 1,38,837.8 crore. 

Mistry’s petition against Tata Sons EGM rejected

New Delhi:

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday quashed a set of petitions filed by ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry against the shareholder meeting called by the Tata Group holding company on Monday to seek his removal. The NCLAT did not give any immediate relief to Mistry, who was abruptly ousted as the chairman of Tata Sons in October last year. “We are not going to grant any relief. We are dismissing three appeals. We would pass a detailed order later,” the tribunal said. 

Remonetisation nearly over: Economic Secy

New Delhi, February 3

The exercise of remonetisation that began after scrapping of the old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes on November 8 is “nearly complete”as practically there are no restrictions on withdrawals, said Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das.

“All restrictions have been removed except on savings bank account of Rs 24,000 per week. This (removal of withdrawal limit) is also a matter of time,” he told PTI in an interview.

He further said currency supply and management are the RBI’s responsibility and the central bank would take a call in the near future on lifting the only remaining restriction, which is weekly withdrawal of Rs 24,000 from a savings bank account.

“Only a few withdraw Rs 1 lakh a month. Therefore, effectively and practically today, there is no restriction. I think the process of remonetisation is near-complete. I am using the word near-complete because this Rs 24,000 limit is there,” he said.

The emphasis will be on providing lower denomination notes.

Das said the remonetisation process had reached near completion in less than 90 days of announcement of the demonetisation by the Prime Minister on November 8.

“In less than 90 days, the whole process of remonetisation is almost complete. This speaks volumes about the way the remonetisation has been completed,” the secretary said. 

Combined value of Chinese banks overtake US banks: Report

Beijing, February 5

The combined value of Chinese banks has surpassed that of US banks for the first time as they emerged as global leaders by asset base as well as brand value, a report by a business valuation consultancy has said.

The report by the London-based Brand Finance Banking 500 places Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as the world’s most valuable bank, with a brand value worth $47.8 billion, representing a 32 per cent year-on-year growth.

Marketing investment and the brand’s credibility with customers, staff and shareholders, among other factors, are taken into consideration in calculating brand value.

The report said Chinese banks have an aggregate total brand value of $258 billion, accounting for 24 per cent of the total brand value of the top 500 global banks by brand value, compared with 23 per cent for US banks, state-run China Daily quoted the report as saying.

Zhou Jingtong, division head and professor at Bank of China’s Institute of International Finance, said: “The brand value growth of Chinese banks is closely related to the continuous rise of China’s contribution to the global economy.

“During the process, the Chinese banking industry maintained steady development in various aspects, including asset growth, asset quality, provision coverage ratio and capital adequacy ratio.”

The internationalisation of Chinese banks, particularly in recent years, also contributed to their brand value growth, he said.