By Abhiruchi Ranjan
There is no light at the end of the tunnel for Facebook as the Chinese government pulls approval for their planned subsidiary in the eastern province of Zhejiang. In other news, the Indian government asks WhatsApp officials to hold their horses when it comes to launching payments service. Here are some important business stories you may have missed from last week.
Walmart India to increase wholesale presence
United States retail giant Walmart, intends to double its wholesale presence in India over the next three years by adding 20 new stores. Their best price cash and carry stores are targeting Tier-2 cities like Ghaziabad, Moradabad, and Kanpur by aiming to integrate more farmers and kirana stores. Walmarts strategy is to cater to both the demand and supply side by launching stores for customers and opening fulfilment centres that would act as warehouses small and medium enterprises, kiranas and farmers. Having overcome compliance and approval concerns, Walmart India President and Chief Executive Officer Krish Iyer is keen on amalgamating a customer-centric approach with fresh ideas to grow its e-commerce business.
DoT gives go-ahead to Vodafone-Idea merger
The Vodafone-Idea merger finally received a green light from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The licenses and assets and liabilities of Vodafone India and its subsidiary Vodafone Mobile Services (VMSL) are to be transferred to Idea Cellular as per a letter issued by DoT to both companies. The newly merged company Vodafone Idea Limited will be Indias largest network carrier in terms of the number of subscribers and revenue market share. Already a market leader, Vodafone Idea Limited will be headed by Kumar Mangalam Birla as non-executive-chairman and Balesh Sharma as CEO. Despite the 37% revenue market share, the newly emerged telecom giant would have to focus on providing customer experience, network capability in the 5G spectrum, ensuring balance sheets are not overtly leveraged and posing as tough competition to other market players Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm.
ITC ventures into agricultural sector
ITC Ltd has introduced the Barreh Mahine Hariyali programme in lieu of collaborating with over a million farmers and has taken a step towards help increase farmers incomes. The programme helped introduce high yielding varieties of wheat, short duration paddy, value-added crops, encouraged climate-resilient agricultural practices along with ensuring zero tillage and reduced crop residue burning to protect the incomes of farmers. ITC Ltd chairman Y.C. Deveshwar stated during the 107th annual general meeting of the company that the initiative has helped raise incomes of farmers in the range of 30 to 75%. Focusing on selected areas, the plan has been implemented in Uttar Pradesh and the company is now implementing its scheme in Bihar.
China disapproves of Facebook subsidiary
The battle between Facebook and the Chinese government seems never-ending. Mark Zuckerbergs plans of opening a subsidiary in the eastern province of Zhejiang were short-lived as the registration seems to have vanished from a Chinese government database. This is not the first time Chinas government bureaucracy and rigid stance on censorship and technology policy have deterred tech firms from entering the market as both Facebook and WhatsApp continue to remain banned. This disapproval comes at a time when the US-China trade war fails to die down and both countries are slapping tariffs on each other’s imports and restricting the flow of investment.
WhatsApps payment service plan put on hold
The Information Technology Ministry has asked WhatsApp officials to put their plans of launching a payments service on hold and resolve the fake news issue on a priority basis. The irresponsible use of the platform has led to several lynching incidents taking place in several parts of the country and the government wants the company to take firm action in preventing the circulation of fake messages. Moreover, Indian government officials have voiced their concerns over WhatsApps payments service plan regarding data storage and complying with the central banks instructions. With India being WhatsApps largest consumer base and India encouraging inflow of new technology, both parties are keen on working together.
Abhiruchi Ranjan is a writing analyst at Qrius