Today's Hot Stories - March 31, 2014
10 Headlines for Today(1) Supreme Court commutes Bhullar’s death sentence
(2) CPI (M) beams with new faces in Tripura; rivals not to let go
(3) French voters punish Hollande in municipal vote
(4) ABG Shipyard gets Rs.2,100-cr lifeline in CDR
(5) India’s external debt at $426 billion in December
(6) Jet Airways set to gain from extension of ECB facility
(7) Australia crumbles as India makes it four out of four
(8) Djokovic beats Nadal to win fourth Miami title
(9) Anand ends campaign with a draw
(10) Needed: disabled-friendly polling booths
5 Stories for Today
(1) In a first, Maoists SMSing for poll boycott
(2) Erdogan declares victory for AKP in key local election
(3) Snapdeal may hit $1 billion sales this year
(4) Apple, Samsung accuse each other of ripping off designs and features, again
(5) RBI may opt for status quo on interest rate
(1) In a first, Maoists SMSing for poll boycott
In a first, Maoists are using SMS service to appeal to people to boycott the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar and neighbouring Jharkhand, police officials said on Monday.
"Maoists are sending bulk SMSs to mobile-phone subscribers and appealing to them to boycott the ensuing general elections," a police official said.
The SMSs were issued on behalf of the Communist Party of India-Maoist border zonal committee spokesperson Avinash.
"In the SMSs, Maoists have urged workers, farmers, youth, women, progressive intellectuals, senior citizens, nationalist and revolutionary people to boycott the polls," police said.
The CPI-Maoists also appealed to its party cadres and its different units, including People's Liberation Guerrilla Army, through SMSes to target and attack security forces during the election.
Maoists have also called for poll boycott in Jamui, Lakhisarai, Banka, Gaya and Aurangabad districts through posters.
Giving the call for poll boycott, the posters demanded withdrawal of forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations.
Police have seized and removed such posters from various places.
Source: The Times of India
(2) Erdogan declares victory for AKP in key local election
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared his Justice and Development Party (AKP) the winner in Sunday’s local election, seen as a referendum on his government.
Preliminary results showed the conservative AKP had garnered 45.1 per cent of the overall vote, with more than 90 per cent of ballots counted, while the main rival Republican People’s Party (CHP) received 28.7 per cent, according to CNN Turk television.
In a speech to thousands of cheering supporters standing in the cold in Ankara, Erdogan lashed out at the opposition, labeling some as “traitors”. “Democracy has won, free will has won,” he told the crowd, speaking from a balcony and hailing a “meaningful result”. “The people have delivered a proper Ottoman slap to them,” he said, referring to opponents who held hopes of upsetting incumbents.
The two parties were neck and neck in the capital Ankara, while Istanbul appeared to be an AKP win.
The CHP, a centre-left party, claimed there had been incidents of fraud in some municipalities.
The elections took place with both Twitter and YouTube recently banned in the country and a corruption scandal hanging over the ruling party, but these did not seem to shake overall support for Erdogan’s party.
Presidential elections are due in August to be followed by parliamentary polls by early next year.
If the early results are declared official, it would mean the AKP has not lost an election since its founding in 2001.
Party supporters pointed to infrastructure development and economic stability as reasons why they support Mr. Erdogan, who campaigned heavily for the AKP across the country.
With Mr. Erdogan in many ways the face of the campaign — for both his supporters and detractors — the election is being seen as a key test of AKP’s popularity and mandate to govern.
Critics say Mr. Erdogan, who has been premier since 2003, has become increasingly authoritarian and has departed from an attitude of pluralism in recent years.
Voters supporting the CHP have also expressed apprehension over maintaining secularism in the country.
Mr. Erdogan has been supportive of Islamist movements in the Middle East since the Arab Spring began, including the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which was deposed last year.
The polarization of Turkey has picked up steam since mass anti-government protests erupted in Gezi Park and Taksim Square in Istanbul last year and were crushed by a heavy-handed police reaction.
Key AKP leaders were hit by bribery and graft charges in December and four ministers were forced to resign.
Since then a slew of leaked audio recordings have surfaced via social media accounts, charging that Mr. Erdogan and his allies are corrupt. The recordings cannot be independently verified.
While Mr. Erdogan has denied the graft allegations, he has admitted that some of the recordings are true, including one in which he reduces a news editor to tears and forces him to change a story.
In his victory speech, Mr. Erdogan promised those behind the leaks will be found and they will “pay the price”. The recordings pushed Mr. Erdogan to ban social media site Twitter and video sharing platform YouTube, further increasing his opponents’ concerns over a decline in democracy.
The ban on the sites also sparked strong reaction from Turkey’s partners in the NATO alliance, including the United States.
The AKP said it wanted to at least match its performance in the 2009 local elections and garner 38.8 per cent of the vote. In the last national election in 2011, the party received just shy of 50 per cent.
The Kurdish party BDP swept most areas in south-eastern Turkey, which has a Kurdish majority.
The country also saw the first woman who wears an Islamic headscarf elected to a mayoral seat.
Feminist protest group Femen briefly disrupted a polling station in a conservative area of Istanbul where Mr. Erdogan had voted.
President Abdullah Gul voted in Ankara and admitted that campaigning had been “rough”, referencing a very polarizing election cycle.
Some 52 million registered voters were eligible to elect mayors and other local officials for five-year terms, with six major parties participating. Voter turnout was said to be high.
In two incidents in rural southern and south-eastern Turkey, a total of eight people were killed and about 20 others were injured during disputes between rivals.
AKP party rules currently ban Mr. Erdogan from running for a fourth term as premier, fuelling speculation about whether he will seek to change the limits or run for president.
Source: The Hindu
(3) Snapdeal may hit $1 billion sales this year
Snapdeal is literally snapping at Flipkart's heels. Its sales might even be ahead of its older and better known e-commerce peer.
Snapdeal's founder and CEO Kunal Bahl indicated to TOI that it would hit $1 billion in sales (or gross merchandise value, as the ecommerce world calls it) in 2014, a year ahead of target. Flipkart, based on its February numbers, had said earlier this month that it had touched an annualized run-rate of $1 billion, again indicating that the full year 2014 would see the company achieve that landmark.
Bahl said that in 2012 Snapdeal had said it would do $1 billion in 2015 calendar. "Now there is a very optimistic chance that we will beat that very significantly. We will be the fastest and the most capital efficient company to hit $1 billion, and by a pretty significant order of magnitude. And this would be very soon," Bahl said.
Snapdeal was founded in 2010, three years after Flipkart, by Bahl and his partner Rohit Bansal. It started as a daily deals site selling meal and spa vouchers but morphed into an online marketplace in 2011, now offering an assortment of 4 million products from over 20,000 sellers. Recently, the world's largest digital marketplace eBay led a $134 million (Rs 830 crore) investment in Snapdeal.
Bahl said Snapdeal grew 500% in the last 12 months. He attributed the extraordinary growth to two things. One, unlike Flipkart, it avoided the expensive model of building its own inventory, and instead created a platform that allowed a retailer anywhere to offer his products to buyers anywhere (known in e-commerce parlance as the marketplace model). Snapdeal focused also on ensuring efficient delivery. This model, Bahl said, resulted in a much more efficient use of capital too.
Two, it looked beyond India's major metros, even as most e-commerce firms focused on these centres. "Our hypothesis was a little different. We said we could set aside 1 million audiences of urban elite, and focus on the millions of consumers in Middle India who aspire to buy double door refrigerators and washer-dryer combo washing machines. Today, 50% of our orders come from tier 2 and 3 cities," said Bahl.
Snapdeal believes large appliances and fashion are important product categories for Middle India. "India is a heterogeneous market and access to products is limited. Though summer hasn't started yet, we are already selling 250 ACs a day in tier 2 markets. In April, we should be shipping over 25,000 ACs. We are also selling 70-80 fridges and 50-60 washing machines a day," Bahl said.
Fashion alone is expected to touch Rs 1,000 crore in sales in the next one year. "Over 60% of all units sold on Snapdeal are fashion goods. About 15 months ago, it was zero. It's just that we sell different things. The fluorescent green Nike shoe that other sites offer, the economics of selling those are worse than selling a mobile phone. About 90% of our assortment is not comparable to any site in India. We don't focus on brands; we focus on the long tail of other offerings," Bahl added.
Snapdeal adds a new product every 20 seconds on its portal and plans to have 8-10 million products in its online catalogue by 2014-end. It also plans to double the number of sellers to 50,000 in the same period.
Research firm Forrester estimates that India's e-commerce market will touch $8.8 billion in 2016, though some say it could be as high as $16 billion by then. The country's internet users have risen to 200 million with over 20 million of them transacting online.
Source: The Economic Times
(4) Apple, Samsung accuse each other of ripping off designs and features, again
Foxconn projects to make 90 mn units of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 6Apple Inc.'s iOS 7.1 upgrade: Absolutely no shock and aweHTC, ZTE did not violate FlashPoint patents to make their smartphones: USAs Apple gears up for bigger screen iPhone 6, experts say shares could rise by 20%
The fiercest rivalry in the world of smartphones is heading back to court this week in the heart of the Silicon Valley, with Apple and Samsung accusing each other, once again, of ripping off designs and features.
The trial will mark the latest round in a long-running series of lawsuits between the two tech giants that underscore a much larger concern about what is allowed to be patented.
''There's a widespread suspicion that lots of the kinds of software patents at issue are written in ways that cover more ground than what Apple or any other tech firm actually invented,'' Notre Dame law professor Mark McKenna said. ''Overly broad patents allow companies to block competition.''
Apple-Samsung-row
Apple-Samsung row: The fiercest rivalry in the world of smartphones is heading back to court this week in the heart of the Silicon Valley. (Reuters)
The latest Apple-Samsung case will be tried less than two years after a federal jury found the South Korean firm was infringing on Apple patents. Samsung was ordered to pay about $900 million but is appealing and has been allowed to continue selling products using the technology.
Now, jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in another round of litigation, with Apple Inc. accusing Samsung of infringing on five patents on newer devices, including Galaxy smartphones and tablets. In a counterclaim, Samsung says Apple stole two of its ideas to use on iPhones and iPads.
''Apple revolutionized the market in personal computing devices,'' Apple attorneys wrote in court filings. ''Samsung, in contrast, has systematically copied Apple's innovative technology and products, features and designs, and has deluged markets with infringing devices.''
Samsung countered that it has broken technological barriers with its own ultra-slim, lightweight phones.
''Samsung has been a pioneer in the mobile device business sector since the inception of the mobile device industry,'' Samsung attorneys wrote. ''Apple has copied many of Samsung's innovations in its Apple iPhone, iPod, and iPad products.''
In the upcoming case, Apple claims Samsung stole a tap-from-search technology that allows someone searching for a telephone number or address on the web to tap on the results to call the number or put the address into a map. In addition, Apple says Samsung copied ''Slide to Unlock,'' which allows users to swipe the face of their smartphone to use it.
Samsung countered that Apple is stealing a wireless technology system that speeds up sending and receiving data.
The most attention grabbing claim in the case is Apple's demand that Samsung pay a $40 royalty for each Samsung device running software allegedly conceived by Apple, more than five times more than the amount sought in the previous trial and well above other precedents between smartphone companies. If Apple prevails, the costs to Samsung could reach $2 billion. Apple's costs, if it lost, are expected to be about $6 million.
''You rarely get from the jury what you ask for, so companies aim high,'' German patent analyst Florian Mueller said. ''But in my opinion this is so far above a reasonable level the judge should not have allowed it.''
The problem, he said, is that each smartphone has thousands of patented ideas in it; Apple is challenging just five.
Throughout the three years of litigation, Samsung's market share has grown. One of every three smartphones sold last year was a Samsung, now the market leader. Apple, with a typically higher price, was second, with about 15 percent of the global market.
Apple claims the following Samsung products now infringe on Apple patents: Admire, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy SII, Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy SII Skyrocket, Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Tab II 10.1, and Stratosphere.
Samsung claims the following Apple products infringe on Samsung patents: iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini, iPod touch (5th generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and MacBook Pro.
With the San Jose federal courtroom just a 15-minute drive from Apple's Cupertino headquarters, even jury selection can be difficult. In the previous case, several prospective jurors were dismissed because of their ties to the company.
Source: The Indian Express
(5) RBI may opt for status quo on interest rate
For many reasons, the Reserve Bank of India’s forthcoming bi-monthly policy statement for 2014-15 will be unique. The idea to have a policy statement once in two months was mooted by the Urjit Patel Committee. The RBI is signalling acceptance of some of the recommendations, which do not involve discussion with the government. However, the core recommendations of the Committee’s report involving inflation targeting and shifting the monetary policy’s anchor to CPI (retail ) inflation, instead of WPI, will be implemented only after a consensus is reached.
It is most likely that the RBI will spell out its approach to this important report but no major decisions can be expected. As of now, inflation targeting is not easily understood in the Indian context.
The RBI Governor has said that it will be flexible, which suggests that even when it is adopted formally, the central bank will have some leeway to adjust the target rate and or timeframe.
Two important issues confront the RBI. In the run-up to the elections — with the model code in force — how far could it go in deciding policy issues? Even on new bank licences, a subject that has taken a long time and is in the final stages, the RBI is not expected to announce the first few licensees.
Although it is not clear that even continuing policy initiatives should be halted temporarily until after the new government is formed, the RBI might play it safe. The RBI Governor has said that the Election Commission will be consulted.
A suggestion has been made before whether the monetary policy itself could be deferred after the Union Budget for 2014-15 is presented by the new government in June 2014. This would be on the pattern of government withholding policy measures.
For the past so many years, however, elections have not inhibited monetary policy. There is no reason to think that it will be different this time. But it is a safe bet that no “big-bang” announcements will be made.
The second dilemma is specific to monetary policy. Both WPI and CPI inflation have come down. CPI inflation is down by 300 basis points over the past three months. Without formally adopting it as the policy anchor, the RBI has shown its preference. However, no change in interest rate stance is expected.
A sharp fall in food prices has driven down inflation. That could be a temporary phenomenon; the possibility of food prices reversing is real. In important vegetable producing states such as Maharashtra, unseasonal rains and hailstorm have damaged crops. This will impact on inflation numbers.
Yet with CPI inflation very close to the RBI’s March 2015 target of 8 per cent, the RBI will most probably talk of increased upside risks to justify its holding of rates in the forthcoming policy statement. The other alternative of revising the 2015 target might not be practicable. As it is, the March 2016 target of 6 per cent (as per the Patel Committee report) looks daunting.
As has been the case with every policy statement, the RBI’s views on the macro-economy will be keenly watched. The union budget postulated a GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate of 5.5 per cent for 2014-15. In the recent past, even the normally conservative RBI had to lower its growth estimates. There are any number of uncertainties on the macro-economic front. After a record run of favourable monsoons, the El Nino effect can impinge on monsoons, and, hence, output. Administered prices will have to be revised upwards. External account parameters might be much stronger than they were a year ago, but extreme vigilance is still called for.
Monetary policy’s traditional dilemma of growth versus inflation can never be wished away.
In line with its recent thinking, CPI inflation will be in focus. The CPI index gives more weight to food and it is on this that inflation expectations are based.
The forthcoming policy will be the last before general elections, which commence a few days after the RBI policy. The fiscal stance of the next government will obviously matter in policy formulation.
All these suggest a neutral policy announcement on Tuesday— a status quo on the interest rates. As always, broad macro-economic trends will be discussed.
Source: Hindustan Times
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