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- Move to reroute Mangaluru train on 4 days a week riles Mysuru commuters
- The US is getting a SNES-themed new 3DS XL too
- Over 66 lakh new investors added in mutual funds in April -September period
- TAB Capital strengthens senior management team
- Watch out, Aadhar biometrics are an easy target for hackers
- #6: Music Card: The King of Ghazals – Jagjit Singh 320 Kbps Mp3 Audio (4 GB)
- Never make these 7 mistakes if you want to make money in stocks
- ‘Target defaulters’ yachts and villas for loan recovery’
- Telecom department approves RCom-MTS merger
- Steam Sales may come within three days
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| Move to reroute Mangaluru train on 4 days a week riles Mysuru commuters Posted: 23 Oct 2017 02:07 AM PDT The proposal of the railways to run the Bengaluru-Karwar/Bengaluru-Kannur Express, which commutes through Mysuru, through the Kunigal-Shravanabelagola route for four days a week has not gone down well with people in the Mysuru region. The proposal by the South Western Railway (SWR) has already been approved by the Railway Board. People in the region are aggrieved at the fact that the train will now run through the city on three days a week only. Presently, the train from Bengaluru travels to Mangaluru through Mysuru and Hassan. It then bifurcates as two trains to Karwar and Kannur, respectively. The proposal by SWR follows a demand by people in the coastal districts to run the train through the shorter route of Kunigal-Shravanabelagola. The present route through which the train commutes is 485 km, which is 133 km more than the road distance. Also, changing the engine on the route takes a lot of time, delaying the journey further. Several rounds of discussions were held before the Railway Board gave the green signal to the plan. Accordingly, the commuting time is expected to come down by a minimum of two hours and the distance by 90 km. E Vijaya, the deputy general manager and central public relations officer, told DH that the train will travel on the new route beginning February 2018. However, the plan has been met with stiff resistance in the Mysuru region. Regular commuters said they would have to take the bus to Mangaluru, if the route is changed and it would be a costly affair. They say passengers reserve tickets to Mangaluru at many booking stations en route to Mysuru and they will be at a loss now. Those against the plan point out that it will be a big blow to tourism in Mysuru as many come here from Kerala on the train. Vijaya says the number of passengers to Mangaluru from Mysuru is not very big and hence, the plan to reduce the commuting days. Source: DH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The US is getting a SNES-themed new 3DS XL too Posted: 23 Oct 2017 02:01 AM PDT
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| Over 66 lakh new investors added in mutual funds in April -September period Posted: 23 Oct 2017 01:56 AM PDT
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| TAB Capital strengthens senior management team Posted: 23 Oct 2017 01:55 AM PDT BENGALURU: Digital lending non-banking financial company TAB Capital has announced three key leadership position appointments. The company has hired Rakesh Tailor as its credit head. Tailor has expertise in credit analysis and loan appraisal, amongst other aspects of banking. Prior to joining TAB Capital, he was associated with Vijaya Bank, SMEs and the corporate finance segment. Shashishekhar Hiremath has been brought on board to spearhead the product development, as the national head responsible for product development and execution of product and market-related strategies of the company. Hiremath has over two decades of experience holding various senior positions in banking in leading Indian private sector banks like ICICI, IDBI, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra, and Yes Bank, in the areas of product development, CRM and distribution of banking products. Yuvraj Koreshetti has been appointed national sales head of two-wheeler loan, and will be responsible for the two-wheeler loan department and customer acquisition strategies of the company. He has previously handled several key leadership positions in the field of sales and relationship management, and was previously associated with Axis Bank as sales and relationship manager – SME (SEG). "As TAB Capital further grows, it is crucial for us to find the pillars to depend on. Our new members are category leaders with a proven success record in the past and I look forward to growing, learning and leading the way with them," said Abhay Bhutada, managing director of TAB Capital. Pune-headquartered TAB Capital is registered with the RBI as a non-deposit taking NBFC. It currently provides loan products like equipment/machinery loan, business loan, merchant cash advance against POS machine transactions, working capital demand loan and loan against property. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Watch out, Aadhar biometrics are an easy target for hackers Posted: 23 Oct 2017 01:55 AM PDT By Ankush Johar Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identification number issued by the Indian government to each Indian citizen. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UDAI), which functions under the Planning Commission of India, is responsible for managing Aadhaar numbers and Aadhaar identification cards. The purpose of Aadhaar cards is to have a single, unique identification document or number that links a consumer's entire details including demographic and biometric information. The Aadhaar card/UID does not replace the other identification documents but can be used as the sole identification proof when applying services that require identification. It also serves as the basis for Know Your Customer (KYC) norms used by banks, financial institutions and other businesses that maintain customer profiles. Risk of Aadhaar biometrics Biometric data, unlike passwords, can never be changed, so if hackers successfully impersonate a fingerprint then they can cause serious havoc, and there is not much the victim will be able to do about it. With the recent government policies making biometrics the central identity verifier via Aadhaar information, a billion consumers could be walking a thin line between security and convenience. Though it becomes extremely convenient to make transactions via a single touch on your smartphone, it also means that all a malicious hacker needs to get is your fingerprint. Once he gets that, there's no stopping. Identity theft and fraudulent transactions may just be the beginning. A simple fact: You cannot just change your fingerprint like you change your password in case of a hack. Even closing your account won't solve your problems. Your fingerprint, wherever valid, can be used to steal your accounts. Government’s claims about Aadhaar security The government claimed that Aadhaar is completely secure, and the data of the consumers was absolutely safe from any malicious party until a severe flaw was detected in the system. The bug allowed a malicious operator to save a user's biometrics and simply use it to carry out transactions on the victim's behalf via replaying the saved biometrics. In February this year, a Youtube video showed a demo of such a replay attack. Later that month, UIDAI filed a case against an employee of Suvidhaa Infoserve, saying that an Axis Bank’s gateway was used to carry out around 400 transactions via replaying Aadhaar information that was saved earlier. To resolve these, the government decided to roll out new policies to ensure that critical Personal Identifiable Information (PII) of its citizen does not fall into wrong hands and get misused. On January 25, the Registered Device notification made the registration and encryption mandatory of every single biometric reader currently in use. According to the guidelines issued by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, sensitive personal data such as passwords, financial information (bank account, credit card, debit card and other payment instrument details), medical records and history, sexual orientation, physical and mental health and biometric information cannot be stored by agencies without encryption. Basically, the host computer can no longer store user's biometrics which will eliminate the risk of using the stored biometrics without individual's consent for authentication. How easy is it steal fingerprints? Hackers can easily clone your fingerprints to gain access to your life. What’s scarier is that it’s neither too costly nor too difficult. Fingerprints can be picked up from daily objects easily or mass attacks are possible if the servers of UIDAI are hacked. Hackers can also skim fingerprints via malicious biometric devices just as with infected credit card machines. The problem here though is that you can block your credit card but not your fingerprint. Using the stolen print This can be done via digitally replaying the print to authenticate applications and transactions. Another possibility is to use 3D-model printers to simply make a physical copy of the print. It is even possible to make physical fingerprint replicas using simple dental moulds and some playing dough. According to a research at theDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University in the US, fingerprints can be replicated in less than $500 with conductive ink fed through a normal inkjet printer, in a procedure that takes less than 15 minutes. According to researchers at CITER, the disturbing thing about fingerprints is they can be hacked just by using everyday items like some dental mould to take a cast, some playing dough to fill it. All they need is an impression of a person’s fingerprint. Using the cloned fingerprint, the hacker can enter every mobile application or devices that use the fingerprint as a security measure. What about retina, voice and facial recognition? Besides fingerprint, some applications also use facial and voice recognition techniques. The general methodology on which all the facial recognition app works is, the person stares into the camera on their smartphone and the app captures images of the face. According to a research lab in Germany which specialises in cyber security, the hacker can use several pictures of the victim which can be easily found via social networking websites and use those pictures to bypass the security. However many applications using facial recognition claim to have ‘liveness’ technology which can distinguish a photograph from a real person. A hacker might bypass this by simply making a movement in front of the camera which might be interpreted by the app as a facial movement of the person if the app is not using some 3D face scanning. Voice recognition technology can analyse accents, pronunciation and the sounds of someone’s mouth and tongue. Some apps use voice recognition by asking a person to repeat a certain phrase each time. If the app is more advanced, it can randomly generate new phrase each time a person logs in. To bypass this, hackers can record the voice of a person saying the exact phrase that is required by the application or they can take advantage of software apps that allow a person to record someone’s voice and get that voice to say phrases which the person may have never said before. Even IRIS scanner fails to secure the user’s privacy. According to a security researcher at Chaos Computer Club (CCC), Europe’s largest association of hackers, a similar technique that bypasses facial recognition is used to bypass IRIS scan as well, i.e. a standard photo camera. CCC researcher told Forbes: “We have managed to fool a commercial system with a printout down to an iris. I did tests with different people and can say that an iris image with a diameter down to 75 pixels worked on our tests.” How big is the threat? The government has made Aadhaar mandatory for Indian citizens to avail of many government services. Aadhaar is being used almost everywhere now. If the data gets leaked, unlike changing your passwords or creating a new account, people won't be able to change their fingerprints or their facial structure. The digital infrastructure that the government is trying to push all across the country can come crumbling down if proper security measures are not at place. The glorious dream of Digital India could simply be a disaster if a billion countrymen finally get digitalised and a single hack gives malicious hackers a lifetime access to their digital assets and identity. What are the security measures? UIDAI provides a simple mechanism for Indian citizens to lock their biometric information and prevent them from being misused. Once the Aadhaar holder has locked his/her biometrics data, no one including the Aadhaar cardholder will be able to use the biometrics data for authentication purpose. Once locked, the biometric will get locked only for 10 minutes. The process of locking and unlocking biometrics is very simple. All a person is required to do is, visit the URL: http://ift.tt/2owU7dK. Provide Aadhaar card number. Enter a security code. Receive the OTP (which will be sent to the registered mobile number) and lock Aadhaar card. How can Aadhaar be made more secure? Biometrics is an acceptable form of security but depending solely on that can be risky. The best way to make apps or devices secure is using biometrics security along with another unique customizable token such as a password. This might be more of a hassle but at least it adds an extra layer of security to your information. The bottom line is: you cannot use a biometric as a primary authenticator; it can only act as an extra layer of security for your applications or devices just like an OTP. Organisations, instead of making a fingerprint as the sole identification for a consumer, can use it as a second or even third factor to further strengthen their application infrastructure. The government should consider the option of hosting a crowd-sourced bug-bounty program on Aadhaar and its deployment as it may help them ensure that each and every entry point is covered before going live with such a massive project. Aadhar deployment is huge and its security cannot be tested with a few in-house analysts or even a big outsourced team. Crowd-sourcing is the solution. Utilising the brains of tens of thousands of professional security analysts aiming to find loopholes will definitely help in scraping out even the tiniest of bugs that might bite us later. Bug-bounty programmes are the most efficient way to hire 10,000+ ethical hackers for your project. Even the US government has accepted this mode by hosting ‘Hack the Pentagon’, ‘Hack the Army’ and ‘Hack the Airforce’ programmes, and that too with great success. (Ankush Johar is Director of BugsBounty.com, a crowd-sourced security platform for ethical hackers. This article is from our Cyber crime special series ‘Dangers of Living in a Connected World’) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Never make these 7 mistakes if you want to make money in stocks Posted: 23 Oct 2017 01:30 AM PDT By Vikas V. Gupta Diwali signifies the welcoming of light, which represents all that is good, and banishing darkness, which represents evil. For business communities it is also the start of a new accounting year. Let the new year mark a new beginning for your equity portfolio, by cleansing it of all 'evil'. If you don't have a portfolio yet, this is a good time to start. First, figure out why you need an equity portfolio. To build long-term wealth and expand your purchasing power over time, you need to invest in an asset class that will beat inflation and tax. Equity is the only asset class which has a high likelihood of doing so. Next, fix the target corpus you want to build, the amount you want to start with, and how much you will add to it every month. This part is completely within your control and you should take full advantage of that. The target corpus will also get a significant contribution from the returns that you make. You can only exercise partial control over this part. This makes it even more important to be enlightened about what to do. You can control what you buy and hold in the portfolio. You can control the amount of risk you take or mitigate. You can control the kind of companies that you put into the portfolio. What returns you receive in a given year are difficult to control, but long-term returns will be driven by the performance of the companies in your portfolio, and on your ability to eliminate as many risks or 'evils' as possible. Remember that when you buy a stock you are becoming a partner in the company. Ask the question: Does this company have a track record of stable and growing revenues and earnings? If it doesn't, don't invest in it. Congratulations! You have eliminated the first 'evil'— an unstable business model. Highly leveraged companies are like asuras. The creditors of the company can take it over, and leave nothing for the shareholders. To spot such a company, look at the debt to equity ratio. If it is higher than 50%, the debt holders own more assets in the company than the equity holders. If you decide not to invest in it, congratulations! You have eliminated the second evil—a weak balance sheet. Companies which destroy shareholders' capital are run by evil management. They might be very nice people, but as far as wealth and capital is concerned, they are evil. To spot such a company, look at its historical return on equity. Is it lower than 15% and has remained low for several years? If you decide not to invest in it, congratulations again! You have eliminated the third evil—an incompetent management. If a stock has passed all the above cleaning operations, it is probably a great company to consider for your portfolio. However, be extra cautious. There is one more evil which destroys wealth and you must protect your portfolio from it. If a company is overvalued, it has a high likelihood of destroying wealth. Is the stock trading at PE ratio greater than 30? If you decided not invest in it, congratulations! You have eliminated the fourth evil—paying too much for a great company. The portfolio cleansing process is not over yet. Does your portfolio have less than three sectors and fewer than 10 stocks? If so, go ahead and add one or two new sectors and more stocks. Congratulations! You have eliminated the fifth evil—hyperconcentration. If you hold your positions for around a year and don't trade too much during the year, you will successfully eliminate the sixth evil and seventh evils—high transaction costs and taxes. As the new business year begins, follow these steps to build yourself a new and enlightened portfolio or to cleanse your existing one of evils. If you hold a portfolio that already abides by the guidelines mentioned here, you can consider yourself and enlightened investor. Happy wealth building! The author is CEO & Chief Investment Strategist, OmniScience Capital Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of http://ift.tt/wAMjnw. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ‘Target defaulters’ yachts and villas for loan recovery’ Posted: 23 Oct 2017 01:30 AM PDT Mumbai: Indian banks are lagging in loan recovery because they are reluctant to go all out against wilful defaulters in identifying their personal assets. In addition to going after money hidden in subsidiaries and shell companies, banks should pressurise defaulters by targeting their ‘toys’ like yachts and expensive cars and villas. This is the suggestion from Kroll, a corporate investigation and risk consulting firm.Indian lenders avoid actively pursuing wealth stashed by defaulters overseas, said Omer Erginsoy, senior MD (APAC), Kroll. In an interview with TOI, Erginsoy said that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code does address some of the issues through a time-bound resolution. “More can be done at the stage prior to default. We have noticed that banks don’t do what banks do all over — that is to globalise their dispute with the debtor,” he said.According to Erginsoy, most large corporates have a global footprint and many have moved assets abroad. “There are people who have made investments in the Middle East and in other countries. It is a little bit of a question mark how you can expect to make recovery in India when the money has been taken outside,” said Erginsoy.Kroll helps banks across the globe to recover money from fraudsters by identifying their assets and establishing ownership. The firm then obtains orders from the local courts to freeze assets. While the creation of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to hear insolvency and bankruptcy cases is seen as a positive, its short time frame generates challenges. “Does the resolution professional have time to work out what the fraud is all about,” he said. If the insolvency professional does not have the time to check for frauds, there is a risk that the buyer might end up with a lemon, said Erginsoy, which results in a reputation risk for the insolvency process.Erginsoy said what sets Indian banking apart was that a large part of the industry is owned by the government. “There is a period prior to this government, state banks were politically motivated and not all loans were given with sufficient due diligence,” he said. These banks are now facing a situation of negative equity as the underlying assets are not worth enough to recover their loans. “It is very difficult to return from that without doing anything radical,” he added.”Banks should think a little out of the box to be doing what banks in other countries do. If the promoter has signed a guarantee he is obligated towards the loan. If he has diverted money to British Virgin Islands, you have an excellent ground to sue for fraud and obtain a freezing order,” said Erginsoy. Although this will not enable them get their money immediately it will pressurise the defaulter as he will not be able to open bank accounts. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Telecom department approves RCom-MTS merger Posted: 23 Oct 2017 01:30 AM PDT The telecom department has approved the merger of Reliance Communications and Sistema Shyam Telecom Limited (SSTL), which operates the MTS brand in nine circles in India, two sources aware of the development said. The department, which was the final authority to give a nod to the merger, gave a go-ahead on October 20, following which operations of the Russian backed carrier which has 4 million users, will be transferred to the Anil Ambani owned carrier. “The DoT issued the letter on October 20,” said one of the sources aware of the development that took place last week. RCom and SSTL didn’t immediately comment. RCom’s stock on the Bombay Stock Exchange has risen 7.29% to Rs 17.65 as of 1 pm on Monday.The deal, which is valued at Rs 5,000 crore, would provide RCom with 3.75 MHz of highly valuable spectrum in 850 MHZ band in Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, UP (West), Kolkata, West Bengal and Rajasthan. SSTL has spectrum holdings in these circles, except for Rajasthan, valid till FY 2033, and therefore would reduce the need for RCom to buy airwaves in future auctions. RCom’s CDMA spectrum in eight circles is set to expire in 2021. As of July data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), MTS had nearly 4 million customers. Considering that all of these customers are users of data, they would add value to RCom’s base of 81 million users. RCom would also benefit from MTS’ revenue generation of Rs 1,000 crore. All of MTS’ customers will be moved to 4G when they move to RCom, a second source said. Post merger, RCom would pay Rs 400 crore a year, starting February 2016, for next ten years, for spectrum that MTS purchased in 2013. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Steam Sales may come within three days Posted: 23 Oct 2017 01:28 AM PDT Halloween is coming very soon, but there's very little notice about when the Halloween Sale comes to Steam. The good news is that dates for the next three Steam Sale events seem to be leaked. The schedule for sale is as follows: If these are true, that means the most recent date for sale deals is October 26, at around 6pm GMT. However, it's worth nothing until Valve officially announced these sales . But the Halloween is very soon , we can regard this leak as notice and just put what video games we want in shopping cart for now . Source: 2P | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Posted: 23 Oct 2017 01:18 AM PDT The act of committing money or capital to an endeavor with the expectation of obtaining an additional income or profit. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fleeing India, FIIs are heading straight to Pakistan; here’s why Posted: 23 Oct 2017 01:05 AM PDT By Faseeh Mangi After losing a quarter of its value in five months as the prime minister was ousted over corruption charges and the current-account deficit ballooned, Pakistan's stock market is starting to look cheap to foreign funds. The market is definitely oversold and it's a good time to buy, said Mohammed Ali Hussain, a senior analyst in Dubai at Frontier Investment Management Partners Ltd. The shares have now fallen enough to compensate for the risk of a rupee devaluation and look attractive "across the board," according to Hasnain Malik, head of equities research at Exotix Partners LLP in Dubai. Beset by political turmoil and an increasingly precarious macroeconomic position, Pakistan has seen $402 million of stocks outflows this year even as the country was restored to emerging-market status by index provider MSCI Inc. But with an economy supported by Chinese President Xi Jinping's " One Belt One Road" infrastructure push and average valuations that have fallen to around half the level of Indian shares, sentiment is turning. "Foreigners are not as bearish anymore," said Mohammad Sohail, the chief executive officer at Topline Securities Pakistan Ltd. in Karachi. "The majority of foreigners think the market has fallen too much" and are either finding value right now or are waiting for a rupee devaluation, he said. The benchmark KSE100 Index, which plunged 25 per cent from a high in late May through Oct. 13, fell 0.3 per cent at 10:51 a.m. local time Monday, after gaining 5.6 per cent last week. The gauge's 12-month price-to-earnings ratio is 8.6, compared with 12.8 for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. That's helping to lure back foreigners, who have bought a net $54 million of Pakistan stocks since the start of September after being net sellers for nine of the previous 10 months. Pakistan's current-account deficit more than doubled to $12.1 billion in the year through June and its foreign-exchange reserves have fallen 15 per cent to $19.8 billion so far in 2017, fueling speculation the nation will need to devalue the rupee. Current valuations of Pakistan stocks arguably already reflect expectations for a devaluation over the next year, Exotix's Malik said in a note last week. Although it's unlikely in the near term as the ruling party is focused on survival and the election in 2018, he said. Nawaz Sharif was forced to step down as prime minister in July after an investigation found disparity between his family's wealth and his known sources of income. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a Sharif loyalist, has taken over until the government's five-year term ends in May. Frontier Investment's Hussain said political risks had been a "bit overblown." He said he liked Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd. and Pak Elektron Ltd., as well as banks, energy and pharmaceutical companies. Tundra Fonder AB Vice Chief Investment Officer Shamoon Tariq said the benchmark index has the potential to almost double to 80,000 over the next two years. "We are at the bottom from every perspective,'' said Stockholm-based Tariq. "Law and order has improved a lot and the energy shortfall crisis is almost resolved after decades. Now the only thing left is a smooth election next year." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Patels raise political temperature in Gujarat, allege BJP trying to buy its lead Posted: 23 Oct 2017 01:02 AM PDT The Patidaar community leaders in poll-bound Gujarat continue to give a headache to the ruling BJP, with a senior Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader levying charges of horse-trading against the BJP leadership in the state and another quitting the party after joining it a fortnight ago. Narendra Patel, convenor of PAAS from Mehsana district, the hub of Patel quota stir for the last two-and-a-half years late on Sunday night dropped a bombshell of sorts by showing wads of currency notes to media, claiming that BJP had tried to buy him out. “They tried to make a deal of Rs 1 crore with me. Even if they give me entire Reserve Bank of India (RBI), I will not be bought over, even if I have to die fighting for the cause,” Patel had said showing wads of cash amounting to Rs 10 lakh in cash. Interestingly, Narendra Patel was paraded before media and was welcomed into BJP with a saffron scarf by none other than BJP state president Jitu Vaghani, soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state on Sunday. He is also the same person who had a couple of months ago filed a police complaint against Hardik Patel and his associates for arson and loot, the case he eventually withdrew. “Varun Patel took me to Shree Kamalam, the head office of the BJP, and introduced me to Jitubhai Vaghani and some ministers. He then took me to a room and handed over a bag of Rs 10 lakh cash as a token and promised to pay me Rs 90 lakh on Monday after a party function,” Narendra Patel claimed. Varun Patel considered a close aide of Hardik and till recently a severe critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, joined BJP with another senior PAAS leader Reshma Patel couple of days ago. Varun later denied any role, while BJP claimed that this to be a conspiracy by Congress. Hardik Patel on his part increased his tirade against BJP saying that people of Gujarat are not “cheap” so as to be bought by BJP. “This is insult people of Gujarat and they will avenge it…BJP has budgeted Rs 500 crore to buy those running the agitation. If they had indeed done development, what was the need to involve in the purchase. All the six crore people of Gujarat are fighting against BJP, be it business class, farmers, all communities, labourers are opposing BJP’s autocracy,” Hardik said in series of tweets. However, even before BJP could get hang of things, another PAAS leader Nikhil Savani, quit BJP within 12 hours of Narendra Patel levying allegations. “BJP is treating Patidaars as a vote bank and what they have promised is nothing more than a lollipop,” Savani told media persons on Monday morning. Nikhil too has been one of the key PAAS committee members and had joined BJP a fortnight ago. Source: DH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ‘Pay With Google’ makes shopping on Android less of a hassle Posted: 23 Oct 2017 12:56 AM PDT
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| Electric vehicle landscape and future forward: bringing clarity in commotion Posted: 23 Oct 2017 12:35 AM PDT The teeming thrust on electrification of India’s fleet from all quarters is becoming profound, which heralds the fact that soon we will have a substantial number of electric vehicles in the country. However, the electric vehicle push is not new or sudden, India has been giving emphasis on electric vehicles for a long time. Despite all efforts, it was not that successful in the past. But with the recent push for e-vehicles by the government, the Indian auto industry is gearing up to make the electric vehicle mission 2030 a success. The first electric three-wheeler Vikram SAFA was developed by Scooters India in 1996. Around 400 vehicles were made and sold, however, these were lead acid battery powered vehicles. 61181896 In 2000, BHEL developed an 18-seater electric bus powered by the same lead acid battery. About 200 of these buses were built and run in Delhi, got support from the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources.But the concern with the bus was its high cost of battery, short life and poor consistency. Mahindra and Mahindra launched its first electric three-wheeler in 1999 and also launched a new company, based in Coimbatore, in 2001, to make and sell electric vehicles named Bijlee. In 2004, MEML was closed down due to lack of demand. But it didn’t lose hope and again ventured into this space in 2006 and now continues to produce EVs based on demand. Mahindra also acquired Maini Industries electric vehicle brand REVA. The India automakers’ passion for EV has always been simmering. At the event of Commonwealth Games in 2010 at New Delhi, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki showcased their electric cars. Soon others also announced their plans for EVs. Getting Charged To support the EV initiative, Tata Motors recently bagged an Rs 1,120-crore order from Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) under the administration of Ministry of Power, Government of India to supply 10,000 Tigor electric vehicles. Tata Motors won the tender and will now supply EVs in two phases – first 500 e-cars will be supplied to EESL in November 2017 and the rest 9,500 EVs will be delivered in the second phase. Also, EESL will source 150 electric vehicles from Mahindra & Mahindra in phase I. The delivery date of electric vehicles for phase I is 30 November 2017. 61181904 The purchase orders for supply of 9,500 electric vehicles in phase II will be issued on completion of phase I deliveries. Both qualified parties, Tata Motors and Mahindra, will have the opportunity to supply their respective number of vehicles, as per the terms of the tender and Mahindra matching the lowest bid pricing for phase II. Mahindra & Mahindra is working aggressively towards the EV mission, the company is in talks with the Karnataka government for investments in the state as it looks at expanding capacity in its electric vehicles division Mahindra Electric. The state last month passed the Karnataka Electric Vehicles & Energy Storage Policy 2017 to make it a hub for the electric vehicles and battery manufacturing. The state is planning to attract Rs 31,000 crore investment under the policy. M&M is planning to invest Rs 3,500-4,000 crore to expand its electric vehicles business in the next three to five years. The first electric three-wheeler Vikram SAFA was developed by Scooters India in 1996. Around 400 vehicles were made and sold, however, these were lead acid battery powered vehicles. JSW Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gujarat government to set up India’s first manufacturing electric cars unit. The deal was signed to set up a Rs 4,000-crore unit, and it is likely to provide employment opportunities to around 6,000 locals, according to the state government release. The government and the automakers have been working simultaneously towards reducing the emission by adopting electric vehicles and other alternate clean fuel. Hence, the first document on the EV mission was available in the country, developed jointly by the automotive industry and the government and it was called National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020, which later in 2015 became an Act. 61181906 To give impetus to the Electric Vehicle mission in India by offering subsidies on both demand and supply sides, the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles) India Scheme was announced in 2015. But, the industry felt that they did not get the enough financial support from the government to encourage major steps in line with the global players as the main cost for an electric vehicle is lithium-ion battery. According to McKinsey, the battery cost has fallen from about $1,000 per kWh in 2010 to $227 per kWh in 2016. While the cost could be much higher here since India don’t even have a single lithium ion battery manufacturer. Global Push As of May 2017, 10 countries (Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US) have joined hands and formed the Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI) — a multi-government policy forum dedicated to accelerating the deployment of electric vehicles worldwide. 61181901 India and Korea are also engaged in the EVI’s activities, while South Africa was an EVI member up to 2016 and continues as an active observer. Collectively, the EVI members account for most of the global EV market and stock (95 per cent of all electric car registrations and 95 per cent of the total stock). While looking at the global scenario, according to International Energy Agency (IEA), new registrations of electric cars hit a new record in 2016, with over 7.5 lakh sales worldwide. 61181912 With a 29 per cent market share, Norway has incontestably achieved the most successful deployment of electric cars in terms of market share, globally. It is followed by the Netherlands with a 6.4 per cent electric car market share, and Sweden with 3.4 per cent. China, France and the UK equally have electric car market shares close to 1.5 per cent. However, in 2016, China was by far the largest electric car market, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the electric cars sold in the world and more than double the amount sold in the US. 61181899 The year 2016 was also important for EVs, as the world electric cars on the roads — including battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) — reached 2 million. And 80 per cent of the electric cars on road worldwide are in the US, China, Japan, the Netherlands and Norway. According to IEA, electric car stock may globally range between 9 million and 20 million by 2020, and between 40 million and 70 million by 2025. 61181897 By 2060, the 2DS (2-degree C) projects that 1.2 billion electric cars, representing more than 60 per cent of the total PLDV stock, will be in circulation. In the same scenario, the stock of electric two-wheelers is projected to exceed 400 million in 2030 (around 40 per cent of the global total), and two-wheelers become fully-electrified by 2055 (IEA, 2017b). 61181908 Under the B2DS, transport electrification happens at an even faster pace: electric cars represent 85 per cent of the total PLDV stock by 2060, and two-wheelers are fully-electrified by 2045. The growth in electric vehicles in these markets has been mainly driven by incentive and tax relaxation. However, the cost of lithium-ion battery is going down significantly and expected that in the coming few years, EVs will become as competitive as ICE engine vehicles. 61181909 However, there are few contrary voices, too. Body representing oil producing nations OPEC maintains that electric vehicles will make up just 1 per cent of cars in 2040. So far only in six countries EV has one per cent market share. Leading oil and gas company ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer Ryan Lance commented, EVs won’t have a material impact for another 50 years. 61181900 Norway: In Norway, electric cars are exempted from acquisition tax worth $11,600, exempted from the 25 per cent value-added tax (VAT) on car purchases. The list doesn’t end here, a large number of waivers on fees such as road tolls and ferries continue to provide a highly favourable environment for electric car uptake and for BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicle) in particular. 61181907 EVs also get free charging and free parking here. Around 70 per cent of people buy electric cars due to economical reason and not due to environment reasons. The ICE engine cars like BMW 5 series are costlier than Tesla in the Norway. Electric car stock may globally range between 9 million and 20 million by 2020; and between 40 million and 70 million by 2025, according to IEA. China: The world largest EV market China also has a host of incentives for the EV buyers. China offers EVs to be exempted from acquisition and excise taxes ranged between $5,000 and $8,500. “Local and regional authorities can complement these within the limit of 50 per cent of the central subsidies. Large Chinese cities also allow total or partial waivers from license plate availability restrictions. The combination of imposing license plate restrictions, encouraging consumers to buy electric cars, and offering financial incentives – making electric cars financially accessible – explains the strong sales volumes (336,000 cars) and growth rate (40 per cent) in 2016 compared to 2015,” according to an IEA report. 61181902 However, in its 2016-20 plan, the Chinese government was expected to cut subsidies for EVs by 20 per cent from 2017 onwards. China has also suffered a widespread subsidy scandals in the last few years. According to a report by Reuters, China had recovered $334 million from companies that cheated. The federal government and a number of states offer financial incentives, including tax credits, for lowering the up-front costs of plug-in electric vehicles (also known as electric cars or EVs). 61181910 United States of America: According to US department of energy, the federal government offers tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500 for every new EV purchased for use in the US. The size of the tax credit depends on the size of the vehicle and its battery capacity. “This tax credit will be available until 200,000 qualified EVs have been sold in the US by each manufacturer, at which point the credit begins to phase out for that manufacturer. Currently, no manufacturers have been phased out yet,” according to US energy department website. The other advantage may include additional tax credits, vehicle or infrastructure rebates or vouchers, vehicle registration fee reductions, loans, special low-cost charging rates, and high-occupancy vehicle lane exemptions depending on the region and states. 61181913 Japan: Japan last year introduced a new subsidy system that grants a maximum subsidy of up to $7,700. For a Nissan Leaf with a 30-kWh battery, the purchase incentive amounts to $3,000. “BEV sales (typically with larger batteries and higher electric ranges than PHEVs) in 2016 increased by almost 50 per cent, while PHEV sales dropped by 34 per cent. According to the IEA report, the other factors that explain this market evolution include the introduction of the new Nissan Leaf in 2016, as well as the negative influence of allegations of falsifying fuel economy standards of Mitsubishi models. The Netherlands: The Netherlands has adopted a liberal incentive approach and make the CO2 reduction as main criteria. However, the recent change in the tax on EVs is going negative. Here zero-emission cars are exempted from registration tax, while according to IEA, cars with CO2 emissions per km corresponding to a PHEV were subject to 6 per g CO2/km tax rate in 2016 – this will increase to 20 per g CO2/km in 2017. Zero emission vehicles pay 4 per cent income tax on the private use of a company car, while the rate for PHEVs increased from a 7-14 per cent range in 2015 to a 15-21 per cent range in 2016, and will increase further to 22 per cent (i.e. the same rate as conventional cars) by 2017. There is a strong likelihood that these changes in taxation are one of the reasons for the decline in PHEV sales, from a record-high 10 per cent of total car sales in 2015 to 5 per cent in 2016. 61181898 Sweden: Swedish car company Volvo cars made its most aggressive announcement towards EVs as they claim the company will become 100 per cent electric in the next two years. Contrary, the Swedish government decided to cut the purchase rebate offered to PHEVs from $4,500 in 2015 $2,250 in 2016. However, for BEVs, this has been maintained $4,500 since 2011. This coincides with a large growth in PHEV sales in 2016 compared to 2015 (86 per cent), while BEV sales have remained steady. The biggest roadblocks in terms of increasing the penetration of electric vehicle are the price and the range of battery. According to the IEA outlook report, the growth in PHEV sales in spite of the significant cut in purchase incentives, could be due to the large share of PHEVs sold as company cars and the incentives resulting from a reduction in value of the “fringe benefits” allowed for plug-in cars compared to conventional cars of the same class ($110 or more per month). Additionally, the release of a larger offer of PHEV models in the past couple of years, such as the plug-in Volkswagen Passat, the Mitsubishi Outlander and the plug-in Volvo V60, likely influenced consumers’ interests. Denmark: Till last year, Denmark offered full exemption of registration taxes for electric cars. In 2016, electric cars were subject to only 20 per cent of the full registration tax rate that is levied on a convention. This rate will be applicable to the next 5,000 electric car units sold or until the end of 2018. “In parallel, Denmark, which had been a leader in electrification initiatives since 2008, mainly through public procurement programmes supported by the government, stopped these activities in 2016. Both these factors combined are likely to have been the main reason behind the drop in electric car sales (-68 per cent) observed in 2016. As of 2017, Denmark will introduce a purchase tax rebate on electric cars based on battery capacity of $225/kWh applicable to a maximum of 45kWh, representing $10 000,” said IEA report. Challenges Ahead Currently, the biggest roadblocks in terms of increasing the penetration of electric vehicle are the price and range of the battery. However, there is a positive news coming up in this direction as the cost of lithium ion battery has declined by 80 per cent in past five years. According to a study, the lithium ion battery cost may go down further to below $100 kWh by 2030 from above $200 kWh now. 61181911 The University of Texas in collaboration with Seoul National University has developed sodium-ion-based material that might become a contender, offering a potentially lower-cost, eco-friendly option to fuel next-generation electric cars. There are some challenges in this too as sodium-ion batteries might be less expensive compared to lithium, but sodium reportedly scores at least 20 per cent lower energy density, which will result in lower range per charge. According to a study, the lithium-ion battery cost may go down further to below $100 kWh by 2030, from above $200 kWh now. Sodium helps in cost cutting as in this method manganese is used instead of the more expensive and rarer elements cobalt and nickel used in lithium. Beyond EVs India is trying to make itself less polluting and reduce carbon footprint. It has internal as well as external commitment for the same. According to the Paris Agreement enforced in November last year, the objective of limiting the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels (UNFCCC, 2015b). Automobile is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in India and globally. The GHG emissions will need to reach net-zero in the second half of this century: close to 2060 for the B2DS and close to 2090 for the 2DS. The transport sector, which currently accounts for 23 per cent of global energy-related GHG emissions, will need to deliver major emissions cuts for countries to achieve their goals. Thus, the countries around the world including India has to align itself to achieve this. However, India is still much behind China, the US in terms per capita compared to these countries, however, the vehicle penetration is also equally low. Yet if we look at percentage contribution to total global GHG emission, India is the third-largest contributor at 7.45 per cent, first being China followed by the US, which contribute 25.9 per cent and 13.87 per cent, respectively. So, India certainly needs to work towards it. But why in the entire narrative in India, EV takes the centre stage completely ignoring the other alternate zero emission fuel that is the cause of concern. It’s been over decades that we have worked on hydrogen, ethanol and other alternate fuel but failed to have mass implementation. If the government can have a focused programme for EV then why not work on this as well. The Indian government is looking at the battery swapping option model. Ironically, none of the fast-growing market around the world -has this model. While in the overseas and developed markets like Europe, the alternate fuel vehicles have also grown. In Europe, the demand for alternate fuel vehicles continued to grow and in the second quarter it registered a strong growth of 38 per cent compared to the same quarter a year ago. A total of 204,502 cars with alternative powertrains were registered in the EU, accounting for 5.1 per cent of all passenger cars sold in the second quarter of 2017. Electrically-chargeable vehicles (ECV) accounted for 1.2 per cent of total car sales. We see every country offering subsidies to boost the EV sales, which ranges between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for cars, while for big vehicles it goes much higher. In India, the subsidy for cars is Rs 1.5 lakh, which is less but since India is mainly a small car market the given subsidy is not that bad, too. The Mission 2030 The biggest problem India now suffers is in terms of infrastructure, mainly unavailability of the charging station. We still don’t have 100 charging stations in the country. To solve this, the government is looking at the battery swapping option model. Ironically, none of the fast-growing market around the world -has this model. 61181905 The battery swapping model was introduced in Israel, which did not get the success. The main issue that swapping will face is how can we have the same battery and power in a Maruti Alto and a BMW 7. This will be a complex situation, it can be possible only if all vehicles are designed in the same manner to accommodate the battery, but this doesn’t seem to be possible. The other option can be of battery leasing to reduce the ownership cost, but the issue of charging point will remain unresolved. The reasons for adopting EV in the India are mainly reducing pollution, cutting import bill of crude. But then EV is the only answer to this? As we don’t have lithium or battery technology. So are we working towards aligning with lithium producing countries like Chile, China, Argentina or Australia? And why are we ignoring the other alternate fuel options like hydrogen, biogas, etc. The research suggest sodium-ion or seawater can also prove a good bet, are we doing enough research? As the electrification of fleet goes up, there will be a major job crisis as the component industry, which employees millions, will cut to size as the EVs will have only 1 per cent of the moving parts compared to ICE engines. This will lead to major job cuts at dealerships and workshops. India will have a strong dependence on the overseas companies for technology as there is hardly any research happening in this direction. The Indian automaker spend around 1-2 per cent of their revenue on R&D. While the European automobile industry invests more than 5 per cent of its total industry turnover. Europe’s auto industry applies for 8,000 patents every year. (Despite all complexity, the transition is reality. So ETAuto decided to take the issue to the next level by organizing ETAuto EV Conclave: Mission 2030 – Clarity in Commotion. The event will bring together the stakeholders to discuss, deliberate and chart a direction for the transition.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jayant Rikhye to take over as HSBC India CEO Posted: 23 Oct 2017 12:35 AM PDT London based Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp (HSBC) has appointed Jayant Rikhye as India CEO effective from December 1, subject to regulatory approvals. Indian born Rikhye has spent his entire career at HSBC since starting at the bank in 1989. He is currently group general manager, head of strategy and planning and regional head for the bank in 11 markets in Asia Pacific, based out of Hong Kong. Rikhye’s elevation means that HSBC gets an Indian CEO after a gap of eight years since Naina Lal Kidwai completed her term in 2009. Kidwai was also chairman of the bank in India until 2015. “Rikhye will lead HSBC's next phase of growth in the country, where he first joined the group in 1989,” HSBC said in a press release. In his 28 years at HSBC, Rikhye has worked in different regions including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Middle East and North Africa. Stuart Milne who took over as India CEO in June 2012 will leave after a five-and-a-half year stint in December. He will take a three month sabbatical from January 2018 and his next role at HSBC will be announced in due course, the bank said. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BlackRock says unloved Asian investors turn to bond ETFs Posted: 23 Oct 2017 12:35 AM PDT By Denise Wee Smaller Asian bond investors overlooked by banks are increasingly turning to exchange-traded funds to get exposure to fixed income, according to BlackRock Inc., the world's largest money manager. "Banks are using their balance sheet for bigger institutions," said Sean Cunningham, head of capital markets and fixed income for iShares and index investing in Asia-Pacific at BlackRock, whose assets under management total $5.7 trillion as of June 30. "Smaller investors, including private banks, that are not high-commission payers are finding it harder to buy bonds from banks." For the first time this year, the firm has seen a 50-50 split between its Asia-Pacific institutional and non-institutional investors buying fixed-income ETFs, Cunningham said in an interview. The previous three years have consistently been skewed toward institutional investors taking 70 per cent and the remaining 30 per cent from non-institutional investors, he said. Stricter capital rules have prompted global banks to cut back on bond trading, and investors have been flocking to exchange-traded funds. Globally, fixed-income ETFs have seen net inflows of $129.4 billion this year through the end of September, a 22 per cent increase from the same period last year, according to Morningstar Inc. estimates. The search for yield and accessibility through small minimum investment amounts have prompted investors to put money into fixed-income ETFs, according to Jackie Choy, director of ETF research, Asia, at Morningstar. Despite it being an "equity-centric" year, BlackRock has increased its fixed-income ETF client base in Asia by 25 per cent this year, said Cunningham. The firm's clients from the Asia-Pacific region put in about $3.5 billion to buy bond ETFs globally this year, according to Cunningham. In Japan, for example, where some government bonds have negative yields, megabanks are buying ETFs to gain access to the U.S. high-grade bond market, he said. Despite strong demand for bond ETFs, locally-listed funds have been slower to gain traction among investors. "The market for Asia-listed fixed-income ETFs has been slower to develop due to a lack of liquidity," said Cunningham. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Healthcare IT companies raise $5.5 billion in VC funding in Jan-Sep 2017 Posted: 23 Oct 2017 12:35 AM PDT Global healthare IT/digital health companies have raised USD 5.5 billion in VC funding in January-September this year, more than in all of 2016, says a report. According to Mercom Capital Group, healthcare IT/digital health companies raised USD 5.5 billion in 586 deals from global VCs in the January-September period of 2017 against USD 4.2 billion from 463 deals in the same period of last year. In the July-September quarter however, VC funding worth USD 1.5 billion was reported globally in 227 deals, a 38 per cent decrease compared to the record USD 2.4 billion raised in 194 deals in April-June 2017. There were 16 Indian healthcare IT companies that received VC funding in the July-September quarter. The notable Indian transactions include CureFit – a healthcare and fitness app maker – raising USD 25 million from Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, IDG Ventures, and the UC-RNT Fund. The company also secured around USD 341,531 in funding from Trifecta Capital and Pratithi Investment Trust. Some of the other Indian transactions include 1mg (previously HealthKartPlus) raising USD 15 million from HBM Healthcare Investments, Maverick Capital Ventures, Sequoia India, Omidyar Network and Kae Capital and online doctor consultation platform Mfine raising USD 1.5 million from Stellaris Venture Partners and healthcare entrepreneurs Mayur Abhaya and Rohit M A. “The record breaking funding year continues for digital health companies. The 227 funding deals in July-September globally was the most ever for a single quarter,” Mercom Capital Group CEO and Co-Founder Raj Prabhu said. Prabhu further added that the third quarter was all about data analytics with companies garnering almost a third of the funding in July-September and artificial intelligence companies receiving more than USD 200 million. Healthcare practice-centric companies received USD 731 million in 78 deals, accounting for 49 per cent of the funding in July-September 2017. Consumer-centric companies accounted for 51 per cent of the funding in the third quarter of this year, raising USD 751 million in 149 deals, the report said. The top funded categories in the July-September quarter were: Data Analytics companies with USD 554 million, Telemedicine companies with USD 232 million, mHealth Apps companies with USD 150 million, and Mobile Wireless companies with USD 132 million, it added. DRR MR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Two Gujarat Patidar leaders quit BJP, allege party bribing leaders Posted: 23 Oct 2017 12:32 AM PDT Days ahead of Gujarat Assembly elections, two prominent Patidar leaders, Narendra Patel and Nikhil Savani, who joined BJP recently, quit party alleging that it is bribing the leaders. Narendra Patel, the PAAS convener for north Gujarat, joined the BJP in the presence of state party chief Jitu Vaghani on Sunday and within hours he called a press conference to allege that he was offered Rs 1 crore to go join the ruling party. Reacting to allegations, the BJP claimed it was a “drama” staged at the behest of the Congress. “All these allegations are false. It was a drama (enacted) by Narendra Patel at the behest of the Congress. He voluntarily came to us to join the BJP and then took a u-turn within hours. It proves that everything was pre-planned,” Gujarat BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said. At the press conference, Narendra Patel showed Rs 10 lakh cash to media persons, claiming it was given to him as “advance” by former PAAS leader Varun Patel, who had joined the BJP on Saturday. He alleged that the “entire deal was brokered by Varun”. “He (Varun) told me that I will get Rs 1 crore. After meeting Vaghani at his house, I was taken to the state BJP headquarters on Sunday night where I was given Rs 10 lakh as advance by Varun. I was told that I will get the remaining Rs 90 lakh on Monday during a BJP function,” Narendra alleged. Narendra said he followed Varuns instruction and joined the BJP just to “expose” the party. “I can never betray my community. The BJP cant buy me and my loyalty for the Patidar community,” he said. Narendras accusations came a day after two of Hardiks key aides – Varun and Reshma – joined the BJP, alleging that the quota agitation spearhead had become a “Congress agent” and was trying to use the agitation to overthrow the present state government. Nikhil Sawani has alleged that the BJP is offering bribes to other Patidar leaders to join them. Sawani said he is open to meet Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and to discuss future course of action. “I congratulate Narendra Patel. He comes from a small family but still he didnt choose Rs 1 crore” said Nikhil Sawani after resigning from BJP. Last week, state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki had invited Hardik Patel to join the party. Source: DH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New mobile games releasing this week (Oct. 20-27) Posted: 23 Oct 2017 12:28 AM PDT 1 Source: 2P | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Before the Storm, Patch 7.3 – Character Races, Build of the Month, Subrace Fan Art Posted: 23 Oct 2017 12:21 AM PDT
World of Warcraft Novel – Before the Storm  Originally Posted by MMO-Champion An all-new, official tie-in novel to Blizzard Entertainment's critically acclaimed World of Warcraft, from New York Times bestselling author Christie Golden Taking place after the climactic events of Shadows of Argus, World of Warcraft: Before the Storm tells the story of what awaits the heroes of the Horde and the Alliance in the wake of their struggle against the demonic Burning Legion. Patch 7.3 – Character Races
Build of the Month – October 2017 All of the parts on this page are Amazon affiliate links. When you purchase your parts through them it helps support the site!  This month The current SSD prices are fairly flat right now, with most SSDs under $0.50 per gigabyte when on sale. Depending on how much you want to overclock, you may need to spend a bit more for a better CPU cooler like the NH-D15. Unless you are doing a lot of video rendering or streaming, you do not need the 7700K and would get more performance from spending that money elsewhere. Make sure to keep your AMD and Nvidia drivers up to date. Don’t forget to visit the Computer Forum for any extra questions! Peripherals Puppy
Dolphin
Narwhal
Unicorn
Puppy and Dolphin All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Puppy and Dolphin. PuppyUpdated October 15, 2017 $575
DolphinUpdated October 15, 2017 $942
Narwhal and Unicorn All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. NarwhalUpdated October 15, 2017 $1244
UnicornUpdated October 15, 2017 $1501
Subrace Fan Art                    Source: MMOC |
Turns out that SNES-themed 3DS XL isn't a Europe exclusive after all. As Twitter user @Wario64 (who else?) points out, the handheld is currently available for pre-order in the US for $199.99. It will ship a whole two weeks after the Europe release on…
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As promised, Google is streamlining online purchases made through Android devices by rolling out Pay with Google. The feature lets you use any of the credit or debit cards you've previously logged on the web titan's products (like Chrome, Android Pay…
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