BUSINESS
IMPHAL TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2014
Reliance Retail
goes online to sell
groceries
NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's
Reliance Retail has launched an
online service for home delivery of groceries, vegetables and
fruits. Companies such as
BigBasket, Aaram-Shop, and
MyGrahak are also present in
the online grocery market.
Reliance Retail's move in
to the e-commerce space follows the success of start-ups
like Flipkart and Snapdeal,
who have got billions of dollars in funding and are
expanding at an exponential
pace.
The strong growth recorded by online stores is
seen a big challenge for
physical stores such as those
operated by Big Bazaar and
Reliance Retail.
Last month, Kishore
Biyani, the chief of Future
Group which operates Big
Bazaar chain of stores, had
criticised Flipkart and other
e-commerce retailers in India
for the deep discounts they
offered during a promotional
sale for the festival of
Diwali, saying it would hurt
other retail channels.
4
India pushes for higher wages for workers in Gulf
NEW DELHI/RIYADH,
Nov 17: India is pressing rich
countries in the Gulf to raise the
wages of millions of Indians
working there, in a drive that
could secure it billions of
dollars in fresh income but
risks pricing some of its citizens
out of the market.
Over 5 million Indian nationals are believed to be
employed in the oil exporting
states of the Gulf, the single
largest group in a migrant
worker population of more
than 20 million.
Migrants do many of the
dirty and dangerous jobs in
the region, from construction
to the oil industry, transport
and services. They account
for nearly half of the roughly
50 million population of the
six-nation Gulf Cooperation
Council.
Over the past seven
months, Indian diplomats in
Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar,
Oman, Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates have
sharply increased the minimum salaries that they
recommend for Indian workers at private and public firms
in those states.
"We want the Indian
How to disable WhatsApp
blue ticks for read messages?
NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Recently, WhatsApp quietly introduced
a new feature that lets users know that their messages have been
read, with the double grey ticks appearing in front of the messages
turning blue.
And now, just as quietly, the mobile messaging service is
letting users of its Android app disable the feature with the
rollout of WhatsApp version 2.11.444. This version is available for users on WhatsApp's website for now, and will
eventually be rolled out to all users.
Here's how you can disable the blue coloured read receipts'
with the message timestamp on WhatsApp's Android app:
1. Make sure that your smartphone is running on Android
2.1 or a newer version.
2. Go to settings menu and enable 'Download from Unknown Sources' in the Security tab
3. Go to the WhatsApp website and download the APK
(application) file available under www.whatsapp.com/Android/
4. Once the APK file is downloaded to your device, tap
the 'Install' option.
6. Now that WhatsApp has been updated, select Settings
> Account > Privacy. Under the Privacy tab, uncheck the
Read Receipts option.
AirAsia India's New Year offer
NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Budget carrier Air Asia India has come
up with prices as low as Rs 999 as part of its New Year offer. The
booking period for this offer is open till November 23 and it is
applicable on travel date between January 15, 2015, and April 30,
2015.
Budget carrier IndiGo had also announced special fares
starting as low as Rs 1,647 (all-inclusive) on select destinations. Tickets for this advance fare scheme must be must be
purchased at least 90 days prior to departure.
IndiGo's scheme comes in the wake of a similar offer from
rival Jet Airways. Jet Airways has announced special fares
starting as low as Rs 1,973 (all-inclusive) on select destinations. This offer is valid on economy class travel within India.
Tickets for this Jet Airways' advance fare scheme must be
must be purchased at least 90 days prior to departure. And the
booking for this special Jet Airways offer is open till March
31, 2015.
Other airlines have also periodically launched advance fare
schemes. This has seen passenger traffic rising in recent
months. In September, domestic airlines saw a 28 per cent
growth in passenger traffic as compared to a year earlier.
Japan slips into surprise recession
TOKYO, Nov 17: Japan's economy unexpectedly slipped into
recession in the third quarter, setting the stage for Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe to delay an unpopular sales tax hike and call a snap
election halfway through his term in office. Gross domestic
product (GDP) fell at an annualised 1.6 percent pace in JulySeptember, after it plunged 7.3 percent in the second quarter
following a rise in the national sales tax, which clobbered consumer
spending.
The world's third-largest economy had been forecast to
rebound by 2.1 percent in the third quarter, but consumption
and exports remained weak, saddling companies with huge
inventories. Abe had said he would look at the data when
deciding whether to press ahead with a second increase in the
sales tax to 10 percent in October next year, as part of a plan
to curb Japan's huge public debt, the worst among advanced
nations.
The economic slide was "shocking," an Abe economic
adviser said, calling for the government to consider measures
to support the economy.
"This is absolutely not a situation in which we should be
debating an increase in the consumption tax," Etsuro Honda,
a University of Shizuoka professor and a prominent outside
architect of Abe's reflationary policies, told Reuters.
"Debate needs to focus on how to support the Japanese
economy."
Even before the GDP announcement, Mr Abe appeared to
suggest he was leaning toward delaying the tax hike.
Indian workers line up to board a bus after a day's work in Dubai,
November 18, 2005.
workforce to be paid higher
salaries. Inflation, the value
of the Indian currency and a
rise in the cost of living in
the Gulf were the factors that
led to the decision," Y.S.
Kataria, a spokesman for the
Ministry of Overseas Indian
Affairs (MOIA) in New
Delhi, told news agency
Reuters.
The success of India's
strategy is not yet clear, however.
"Of course it will encourage companies to look at
Bangladesh and Pakistan as
more viable options to get
migrant workers," said Mohammed Jindran, managing
director of UAE-based recruitment agency Overseas
Labour Supply.
The Indian government
cannot dictate the pay of its
citizens in the Gulf - decisions to hire workers are
made by labour recruiters in
individual countries, which
have not set minimum wages
for migrants and usually prohibit union activity by them.
However, the recruiters
must rely on the co-operation
of local authorities to operate
in India. An internal memo-
randum prepared by the
MOIA, sent last month and
seen by Reuters, says that if
workers are offered wages
below specified minimums,
ministry officials "would
deny emigration clearance".
Even when Gulf recruiters
agree to certain wage levels,
the numbers do not necessarily stick. Some workers are
promised one salary when
they sign up in their home
country, then forced to renegotiate lower wages when
they arrive in the Gulf.
Another MOIA official
said India's pay demands had
met initial resistance in all six
GCC countries, while two of
the countries had threatened
to reduce their Indian
workforces and hire more,
lower-paid workers from
Bangladesh and Nepal instead.
If India's efforts to secure
higher pay succeed, they
could boost its economy, because migrants send much of
their pay home. India received $69 billion as
remittances in 2012; a 2010
central bank study found
Gulf nations accounted for 31
percent.
Adani lines up $1 billion SBI
loan for Australian coal venture
NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Adani
Enterprises (ADEL.NS) won
support on Monday from the
State Bank of India (SBI) and
an Australian state to help it
build a $7 billion coal mine,
defying a slump in coal prices
to 5-1/2-year lows that has
stalled rival projects.
The infrastructure conglomerate, whose founder,
Gautam Adani, has close ties
to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, has signed a memorandum of understanding for
a loan of up to $1 billion
from the SBI for the mine,
rail and port project, which it
aims to build by end-2017.
The loan, which would be
one of the largest extended
by an Indian bank for an
overseas project, was announced as Adani was in
Brisbane with a business delegation for the G20 summit,
which Modi attended over the
weekend.
Gautam Adani
"The MOU with SBI is a
significant milestone in the
development
of
our
Carmichael mine," Adani said
in a statement.
Adani, 52, has enjoyed a
rapid rise in Indian business
circles in recent years, a rise
often associated with Modi,
who until this year headed
the government in Gujarat
state where Adani is based
and where it has a huge coalfired power plant.
Shares in Adani Enterprises have surged 85 percent
this year - helping Adani to
more than double his net
worth to $7.1 billion, according to Forbes - largely in the
run-up to Modi's national
election victory in May.
Adani also won a commitment from Queensland state
government to take shortterm, minority stakes in rail
and port infrastructure
needed to unlock the massive
coal reserves in the untapped
Galilee Basin. Coal from the
region must be sent 400 km
(250 miles) by rail to Australia's east coast.
Adani aims to reach a final
investment decision on the
Carmichael project in late
2015.
Agencies
Moto X (Gen 2) exchange offer available
with up to Rs 6,000 discount on Flipkart
NEW DELHI, Nov 17:
Motorola and Flipkart, the
exclusive online partner of the
Lenovo-owned company in
India, have introduced a new
exchange offer for users who
wish to buy the company's
latest Moto X (Gen 2) handset
at a discount.
With the Motorola Moto
X (Gen 2) exchange offer,
users can get a discount of up
to Rs. 6,000 depending on
the handset they put up for
exchange, thus making the
smartphone available for as
little as Rs. 25,999 compared
to its Rs. 31,999 listing price
on Flipkart.
To avail the offer, users
have to visit the Flipkart listing page for the Moto X
(Gen 2), and fill in information like brand, model number
and IMEI number of their old
handsets to learn the discount
they can avail with the exchange.
Notably,
the
exchange offer is valid on
select devices only.
Once the online purchase
process is completed, users
can handover their old handset in working condition to
the field executive at the time
of delivery of Moto X (Gen
2).
Also, only one device can
be exchanged for a single
purchase of Moto X (Gen 2).
However, Flipkart has also
added that the old handset the
user is exchanging for the
new smartphone will not be
shipped back to them in case
they return the Moto X (Gen
2) handset later.
Agencies
Forty pilots quit SpiceJet
MUMBAI, Nov 17:
Apprehending an uncertain
future for the company,
some 40-odd SpiceJet pilots
including commanders have
quit the airline during the
past six months, say
sources.
The airline auditors in
their recent report have
cast doubts over the
ability of media baron
Kalanithi Maran's budget
carrier to run it as a
"going concern".
The airline has reported
5th straight quarter of net
losses for the July-
September period, at Rs
310 crore, although it is
down from the year-ago
period when it had a net
loss of Rs 559 crore.
The losses came down
as the airline witnessed a
15 per cent growth in total
revenue. For the past
fiscal, the airline had
reported a record loss of a
little over Rs 1,000 crore.
"The airline is losing
its flight crew at a regular
interval. In the last six
months alone as many as
40 pilots have quit the
airline, citing uncertain
future," an industry source
told PTI.
The pilots who have
parted ways with SpiceJet
include the commanders,
he said adding that those
who resigned did not want
to take a chance, particularly after the grounding
of the Kingfisher Airlines.
According to the
source, the quitting of
these pilots have also
impacted the airline's
operations significantly
with its flights either
delayed or at times having
repeated cancellations.
The airline had last
week said it had reduced
its fleet by 10 planes from
48 to 38 over the past
few months.
Agencies
HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
How effective is walking for weight loss?
NEW DELHI, Nov 17: There
are so many ways to lose weight
and walking is certainly one of
them! It may not be as intense as,
say weight training in a gym, but
that does not mean it is not an
effective weight loss method. All
you need to do is be consistent
with it and have patience, as it can
take some time for you to see
results. While its well worth the
wait, walking can be
monotonous to some, but you
can keep the process interesting
and yourself committed to the
activity with a few tips:
Track your progress –
These days you get various
devices such as pedometers
that allow you to see how close
you are to your fitness goal.
Make music your companion – If walking is getting a bit
monotonous, add music to
liven up the process. You get
music gadgets which can be
attached to your fitness gear so
that you don’t have to hold
them in your hand while walking.
Change your route – Doing
the same thing time and again
can be boring. To spice things
up, challenge yourself to a new
route every once in a while.
This will keep things interesting and will also require more
effort from your end to fulfil
the challenge.
If you still aren’t convinced
about walking your way to a
lighter you, here are some facts
which will boggle your mind.
According to fitness and diet
expert Akansha Jhalani,
‘Weight loss does not only
happen if you spend numerous
hours in the gym on a weight
training or cardio routine.
Something as simple as brisk
walking can also help you
shrink your waistline.’ Walking at 6.5 km/h, a fairly
standard pace can help a 65 kg
man burn 362 calories per
hour. She shares a few more
benefits of walking.
Walking helps tone your
muscles as you work on your
lower body including your
thighs, glutes, hamstrings,
calves.
It increases bone strength.
When you walk, you are essentially strengthening your
bones by keeping them engaged and your chances of
bone diseases such as osteoporosis,
arthritis
also
decrease.
Walking keeps you in good
spirits, as when you walk,
your body releases endorphins
which are responsible for keeping us in a happy and joyful
mood.
Walking also keeps diseases at bay and even helps
manage existing ones. People
who have diabetes, high blood
pressure can go for walks
every day as it will help regulate their heart rate and also
improve their blood sugar levels. The pace needs to be
monitored by a doctor before
you start.
According to Global Health
Authorities, walking 10,000
steps (6.4 km) every day is
enough to help you lose weight
and stay fit.
Agencies
Sterilise your baby’s feeding bottle in easy steps
NEW YORK,
Nov 17: If you
opt for bottle
feeding, know
that you have a
lot of other
things to deal
with than just
struggling to
make your baby
consume
the
entire feed at a
time. Mothers
who prefer bottle
over breastfeeding have a pile
of cleaning and bottle washing
to do at the end of the day. This
calls for effort and has to be
done the right way. This is
because bacteria accumulation
in the bottle or contaminated
leftovers can pose to be a health
threat for your baby. Here are
few simple steps to help you
sterilise your baby’s feeding
bottle in a methodical way.
1. Take all the feeding
bottles and separate each part
of them. Keep them over a
clean cotton cloth on your
kitchen shelf.
2. Make a soapy solution
with water and mild liquid
soap. Avoid using detergent
powder or other harsh chemicals. Wash all the parts of the
bottle with this soapy solution including the lid.
3. Next, wash all the parts
thoroughly with clean water.
4. To sterilise them, fill a
bigger pan with water and
bring it to boil. Put the flame
on simmer and immerse all
the bottle parts into the pan
and cover it with the lid.
Allow it to boil for a while.
Switch off the burner after at
least 10 minutes. Ideally sterilise the teats separately.
5. Keep the bottle parts
submerged in hot water for a
while. Next, take them out
and dry them off naturally by
keeping them in a clean space
on the kitchen counter. In
case you want to use a cloth
to dry the bottle parts make
sure it is washed and cleaned
beforehand.
Here are some more valuable tips to make bottle
feeding easy:
• In case you aren’t using
bottles that
are BPA-free
then do not
put the bottles
directly into
the boiling
water. Instead
boil the water
and take it off
the burner,
and then keep
the different
parts of the
bottle submerged in it for at least 15
minutes. Bottles that contain
BPA can leak a small amount
of it when boiled in water.
The remnants can stay inside
and mix with your baby’s
milk even after proper sterilisation causing much harm.
• Have two or three set of
bottles with you so that each
time you take one set for
sterilisation you can use the
other one to feed your baby.
• Make sure you wash the
teats thoroughly before every
feed.
• Use BPA-free bottles to
ensure safety of your child.
• Do not give your baby a
bottle while laying on her
back or to sleep with it as
these could be a risk of choking.
• Sterilise your baby’s
bottles at least twice daily.
How your mental health affects your skin
NEW YORK, Nov 17: Stress
and skin issues go hand in hand.
While most of us think that stress
is unique in itself, the condition
can affect all your organs,
including your skin, adversely. It
is a well known fact that skin
conditions like acne, eczema,
psoriasis and dermatitis and
stress are related, and studies
have found that these skin
conditions may be related to
certain emotional states.
Stress
Stress produces cortisol. A
heightened level of cortisol can
considerably harm your facial
skin cells because it interferes
with your blood flow patterns.
Due to this interference, it
weakens the facial blood vessels. This process in-turn leads
to ageing. If someone is already has problems like acne,
psoriasis and eczema, stress
can worsen these condition(s).
Read more about how stress
affects your skin.
Depression
When depressed, we have a
tendency to constantly frown.
Regularly furrowing causes
wrinkles. Long-term depression has even more serious
adverse effects on the skin. The
chemicals associated with the
condition can prevent your
body from repairing inflammation in cells. As these
hormones affect sleep, it shows
on the repair of your skin in
the form of baggy, puffy eyes,
or even a dull complexion.
The other skin conditions
that are caused due to depression are acne excoriee,
neuropathic itching, eczema,
and trichotillomania being the
most common amongst them.
Hormonal imbalances
Hormones play a large role
in the physiology of the skin
and body. Excessive testosterone affects the scalp and your
hair adversely and is known to
cause androgenic alopecia. In
females, it results in hirsuitism
as well as severe acne.
Estrogen brings about glow in
skin whereas prolactin is responsible for acne. Polycysctic
ovarian disease/syndrome is
the most common example of
hormonal imbalance resulting
in bad skin conditions.
Lifestyle
Diet is the most primary
factor that affects our skin adversely. The other two that are
amongst the top lifestyle factors are water intake and
smoking. Fatty and junk food,
especially foods with high
sugar, are responsible for acne
breakouts. Lack of water is
another huge factor contributing to poor skin. When toxins
aren’t flushed out, it shows in
the form of bad skin. Smoking, like we all know, it
extremely bad for health. Skin
too is badly affected by the
tobacco intake.
Agencies