Tech

India’s Paytm lays focus on IPO by end of October – source

Editorial Bureau July 26, 2021

NEW DELHI (INDIA) – Indian digital payments firm Paytm expects to unveil its initial public offering (IPO) at around the end of October, pending regulatory approvals, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday. Paytm, which has filed for a 166 billion rupee ($2.2 billion) IPO that

Asia

Heavy rain in India leads to floods, landslides

Editorial Bureau July 24, 2021

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (INDIA) – Rescue teams in India grappled through thick sludge and debris on Saturday to get to dozens of submerged homes as the death toll from landslides and accidents triggered by torrential monsoon rain rose to 125. Maharashtra state is being hit by the heaviest rain in July in four decades, experts say. […]

Asia

India confirms 39,097 new covid-19 cases in last 24 hours – government

Editorial Bureau July 24, 2021

SINGAPORE – India reported on Saturday 39,097 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, a government statement said. The COVID-19 death toll rose by 546, with total deaths reaching 420,016, health ministry data showed.

Finance

India imposes ban on Mastercard from issuing new cards over data storage row

Editorial Bureau July 14, 2021

MUMBAI (INDIA) -The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday indefinitely barred Mastercard Inc from issuing new debit, credit or prepaid cards to domestic customers for violating data storage rules. This has come after dealing a blow to the US company in a key market. In a notification, the RBI said Mastercard had not complied […]

Asia

India starts vaccinating all adults with free shots

Editorial Bureau June 21, 2021

NEW DELHI (INDIA) – India on Monday started a nationwide campaign of free COVID-19 shots for all adults after weeks of being criticised that a confusing rollout had caused acute shortages and amplified the level of a deadly second wave that killed hundreds of thousands in April and May. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra […]

Asia

Gap between vaccine doses is determined from scientific evidence, says India

Editorial Bureau June 16, 2021

NEW DELHI (INDIA) – India’s government on Wednesday spoke in defense of its decision to increase the gap to double the time, between the two doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to up to 16 weeks. This has come after three scientific advisers voiced their opinion there was no agreement on such a wide interval. […]

Tech

India criticises Twitter for not adhering to new IT rules

Editorial Bureau June 16, 2021

NEW DELHI (INDIA) – India’s technology minister said on Tuesday that Twitter Inc had deliberately resisted and failed to comply with the country’s new IT rules, which came into force in late May. The new rules or the so-called Intermediary Guidelines, announced in February, are aimed at regulating content on social media firms such as […]

Asia

Sharda and Narda, twin orphaned bear cubs given shelter near India-Pakistan border

Editorial Bureau June 15, 2021

DAWARIAN (PAKISTAN)- The latest victims of the decades-old conflict along a de facto border between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan are two orphaned Asiatic bear cubs. They were found on the Pakistan side of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Sharda and Narda were discovered last year by villagers at an altitude of 14,000 feet […]

Asia

Man with 39 wives, head of ‘world’s largest family’, passes away in India

Editorial Bureau June 14, 2021

NEW DELHI (INDIA) – A 76-year-old man who had 39 wives and 94 children and was told to be the head of the world’s largest family has passed away in north east India, said the chief minister of his home state. Ziona Chana, the head of a local Christian sect that allows polygamy, died on […]

Asia

Indian city’s death data indicates official tally of COVID fatalities is too low

Editorial Bureau May 28, 2021

SURAT (INDIA) – At least seven crematoriums and graveyards in India’s western city of Surat witnessed more than three-fold increase in the number of cremations and burials last month when compared with the situations a year ago. It suggested many more COVID-19 fatalities than an official tally. The data, gathered from site visits and logs […]