Vodafone Idea posts highest-ever loss by Indian firm

Vodafone Idea posts highest-ever loss by Indian firm

New Delhi: Vodafone Idea, the country’s third-largest telecom operator on Wednesday, July 1 reported a staggering Rs 73,878 crore of net loss in fiscal ended March 2020 the highest ever by any Indian firm after it provisioned for Supreme Court mandated statutory dues.

The firm, which has to pay Rs 51,400 crore dues after the apex court ordered the non-telecom revenues to be included in calculating statutory dues, said the liability has “cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

In a regulatory filing, Vodafone Idea (VIL) reported a widening of March quarter net loss to Rs 11,643.5 crore. Its losses stood at Rs 4,881.9 crore in the same period a year ago and Rs 6,438.8 crore in the previous October-December quarter.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) estimates the firm”s adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues at Rs 58,254 crore for a period up to FY 2016-17, but the company put the dues at Rs 46,000 crore “after adjustment of certain computational errors and payments made in the past not considered in the DoT demand.”

Of the total dues, it has made a payment of Rs 6,854.4 crore.

The company took a hit of Rs 1,783.6 crore on account of AGR-related liabilities, and Rs 3,887 crore on account of one-time spectrum charges (OTSC), both of which were recognized as exceptional items during the quarter ended March 2019.

Revenue from operations for the just-ended quarter came in at Rs 11,754.2 crore.

For the full year FY20, losses ballooned to Rs 73,878.1 crore. Vodafone Idea”s losses stood at Rs 14,603.9 crore in FY19.

The company said that the financial results for the year ended March 31, 2020, are not comparable to those reported for the same period of the preceding year (a merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular had taken effect in August 2018).

The revenue from operations for full-year FY20 stood at Rs 44,957.5 crore. The same was Rs 37,092.5 crore in FY19.

In a statement, the company said that the revenue had witnessed strong growth of six percent quarter-on-quarter, driven by prepaid tariff hike effective December 2019.

Ravinder Takkar, MD and CEO, Vodafone Idea said “Our focus on rapid network integration, as well as 4G coverage and capacity expansion, has further improved customer experience.

“We thus continue to lead the league tables on 4G data download speeds across several states, metros and large cities. We have achieved our full opex merger synergy target.”

He added that the next Supreme Court hearing on AGR matter is scheduled to be held in the third week of July.

“Meanwhile, we continue to actively engage with the government seeking a comprehensive relief package for the industry, which faces critical challenges,” he said.

Gross debt (excluding lease liabilities) as on March 31, 2020, was Rs 1,15,000 crore including deferred spectrum payment obligations due to the government of Rs 87,650 crore.

“The network integration is in the final stages of completion but has been impacted by the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19. As of date, we have completed network integration in 92 percent of total districts,” the company added.

Due to the continuation of nationwide lockdown, the remaining consolidation is expected to take longer than initially expected, it said.

Its subscriber base eroded to 291 million in the March quarter from 304 million in December quarter. The average revenue per user (ARPU) for Q4 improved to Rs 121 versus Rs 109 in Q3FY20, driven by the prepaid tariff hike effective from December 2019.

Vodafone Idea maintained its plans to monetize its 11.15 percent stake in Indus Towers on completion of the Indus-Infratel merger.

VIL said that is no material impact of the pandemic on its overall performance, but it continues to monitor the situation closely.

On AGR dues, the company said that it has recognized a total estimated liability of Rs 46,000 crore.

“The total estimated liability of Rs 460,000 million stands reduced at 31 March, 2020 to the extent of payment (Rs 68,544 million) made…,” the company said in a BSE filing.

With regard to OTSC levy, it said that Rs 3,890 crore has been recognized as exceptional item during the quarter.

Govt confirms Patanjali can sell its drug but not as `cure’ to COVID-19

Govt confirms Patanjali can sell its drug but not as `cure’ to COVID-19

Haridwar/New Delhi: Yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved on Wednesday, July 1 said there are no AYUSH Ministry restrictions on selling Coronil, a drug the company recently launched as medicine for COVID-19 but is now calling it a product to “manage” the disease.

The Union ministry confirmed that Patanjali can sell the product but not as a cure for COVID-19.

“AYUSH Ministry has only given permission to sell this particular formulation as an immunity booster and not as a medicinal cure for COVID-19,” it said.

At a press conference in Haridwar, Ramdev claimed the ministry has said that Patanjali did an “an appropriate job for COVID-19 management”.

“I want to tell people who want to try these medicines that there is no restriction on their sale now and they will be available in a kit everywhere in the country from today,” he added, referring to Coronil and the two other products Patanjali is promoting together.

Ramdev said the Union ministry had asked him to use the term “COVID management” in place of “COVID treatment” and he is following the instruction.

Even while backtracking on the describing Coronil as “treatment” for COVID-19, the company stuck to its claim that the drug’s trial on mild to moderately ill patients was successful.

Its press note said the trial, conducted after the necessary approvals, showed 100 percent recovery of patients within seven days.

It said the AYUSH Ministry has “categorically agreed” that Patanjali had “appropriately worked on COVID-19 management”.

“Now there is no difference of opinion between AYUSH Ministry and Patanjali,” it added.

“As per the ministry, Patanjali is allowed to manufacture and distribute its Diva Coronil tablet, Divya Swasari Vati, and Divya Anu Talia across India, as per the manufacturing licenses granted by State Licensing Authority, Ayurvedic and Unani Services, Govt of Uttarakhand,” it said.

The Uttarakhand department was among the agencies which had questioned Patanjali’s claim to have developed a drug to cure COVID-19. It said the company had only been given a license to manufacture an immunity booster.

Be cautious while installing Google Chrome extensions: CERT-In

Be cautious while installing Google Chrome extensions: CERT-In

New Delhi: Internet users should exercise caution while installing Google Chrome extensions as the company has removed over 100 malicious links after they were found collecting “sensitive” user data, country’s cybersecurity agency said on Wednesday.

The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In), the national technology arm to combat cyberattacks and guard the Indian cyberspace, said it has also been found that these extensions contained code to bypass Google Chrome’s web store security scans.

The malicious extensions had the ability to take screenshots, read the clipboard, harvest authentication cookies or grab user keystrokes to read passwords and other confidential information, it said.

“It has been reported that Google has removed 106 extensions of the Google Chrome browser from the chrome web store which were found collecting sensitive user data,” the agency said in the advisory.

“These extensions, reportedly posed as tools to improve web searches, convert files between different formats as security scanners and more,” it added.

The federal cybersecurity agency suggested users uninstall Google Chrome extensions with IDs given in the IOCs (organisational chart) section.

Users can visit the chrome extensions page and subsequently enable developer mode to see if they have installed any of the malicious extensions and then remove them from their browsers, it said.

The agency advised Internet users to only install extensions which are absolutely needed and refer user reviews before doing so.

They should uninstall extensions which are not in use, it said, adding that users should not install extensions from unverified sources.

Short-form video app Mitron traffic jumps up 11-fold

Short-form video app Mitron traffic jumps up 11-fold

Bangalore: A day after the Government banned several Chinese apps, popular short-form video app Mitron reported that its daily traffic jumped up by more than 11 times.

Just 5 days after crossing the 10 million (1 crore) downloads milestone, Mitron has now announced that the app has been downloaded by 17 million (1.7 crores) users in India. Mitron app has been one of the most downloaded apps in India during the last two months.

“It is incredibly exciting to see the rapid adoption of Mitron by Indian users. 11-fold jump in traffic, immediately after the ban of Chinese apps, was beyond our expectations,” said Shivank Agarwal, Founder, and CEO, Mitron.

Anish Khandelwal, Founder & CTO said, ” We have built a solid backend infrastructure and our platform is now completely scalable and autonomous and that is helping us to cater to the sharp rise in traffic on Mitron App.

Mitron has been rapidly enhancing the product with several improvements for the users including an updated video upload process that is much easier, enhanced audio library with a wide choice of Indian content, and a feature that enables users to flag any inappropriate content easily.

Users uploaded millions of videos in 10 different languages and the number of videos viewed on the platform increased sharply to cross 30 million video views per hour.

Shivank added, “We are a young company and we are hiring some of the best product & engineering talent to scale up Mitron rapidly. We are confident that we can build Mitron into one of the best apps in the short-form video space. Our focus is on building features and content that uniquely resonates with Indian users while being sensitive to community standards and local laws in India and we believe that will help us build Mitron into a very large business.”

Founded by two Computer Science engineers, Shivank Agarwal (alumnus of IIT Roorkee) and Anish Khandelwal (alumnus of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology), Mitron app is a short-form video app that allows users to create, upload and view entertaining short videos.

Govt directs internet companies to immediately block 59 Chinese apps banned in India

Govt directs internet companies to immediately block 59 Chinese apps banned in India

New Delhi: The government on Tuesday directed all internet service providers to block 59 Chinese mobile apps under the emergency clause of the IT Act, according to sources.

The order has been issued in two sets — the first set contains list of 35 apps and the other 24 apps based out of China, the sources said.

“Order to block all 59 Chinese apps to internet service providers have been issued now,” a telecom ministry source told PTI.

The list has same set of apps as was announced by the government on Monday. It includes name of TikTok, UC News, UC Browser, Viva Video, Mi Video Call, Bigo Live, Wechat etc.

“The government has issued web link along with IP addresses which will make Internet service providers to easily block the access to Chinese apps,” an industry source said.

“The Ministry of Electronics and & Information Technology has issued directions for blocking 24 apps under the emergency clause 69A of the IT Act 2000, in addition to 35 apps for whose blocking instructions have been issued earlier today itself,” a DoT order to internet companies said.

India on Monday banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including hugely popular TikTok and UC Browser, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.

Singapore elections: Ruling PAP faces competition in all 93 seats

Singapore elections: Ruling PAP faces competition in all 93 seats

Singapore: Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party is facing competition in all the 93 parliamentary seats going to polls in the July 10 general elections.

The nomination day on Tuesday saw a total of 192 candidates from 11 parties file papers to contest every seat in 17 group representation constituencies (GRCs) and 14 single-member constituencies (SMCs).

There are 2.65 million eligible voters in Singapore. Voting is compulsory in the country.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong-led PAP is the only party with candidates contesting for every seat.

The prime minister’s estranged brother Lee Hsien Yang, who had recently joined the opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP), announced on Tuesday that he will not compete for the polls.

Both the brothers are embroiled in a bitter dispute over family property.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Lee told reporters that the PAP will fight for every vote.

“Every constituency is contested, so this is not a by-election. It’s a general election for the most important issues concerning the country at the moment of crisis,” The Straits Times quoted Lee as saying.

“And I think everybody needs to understand that, everybody must have that in mind when they assess the votes,” he said at the nomination centre at Deyi Secondary School.

The July 10 election will see Lee lead the PAP into battle for the fourth time as prime minister. In the last general election held in 2015, the PAP formed the government with 83 seats, an absolute majority.

The 2006 general election, the first led by Lee, saw the PAP get 66.6 per cent of the popular vote. The ruling party saw its vote share fall to 60.1 per cent in the 2011 election, but rebounded to secure 69.9 per cent of the vote in 2015.

Google honors LGBTQ+ rights activist Marsha P Johnson with its Doodle

Google honors LGBTQ+ rights activist Marsha P Johnson with its Doodle

Google Doodle on Tuesday, June 30, closed Pride Month by paying respect to Marsha P Johnson, a pioneering figure in the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The doodle is illustrated by Los Angeles-based guest artist Rob Gilliam.

Marsha P Johnson was an African-American who fought for rights of transgenders. She was one of the pioneering figures, whose work had a big impact in the 1960’s and 70’s.

She a performer, and a self-identified drag queen who was posthumously honored as a grand marshal of the New York City Pride March.

Marsha was born on August 24, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Marsha was named Malcolm Michaels Jr. She legally changed her name to Marsha P. Johnson.after moving to New York City’s Greenwich Village, a burgeoning cultural hub for LGBTQ+ people

Interestingly, her middle name ‘P’ stood for her response to those who questioned her gender: “Pay It No Mind.”