Weekly News Roundup at 10:00 am on 19th November 2023

Let’s begin with an important update for pensioners. The Centre this week launched a month-long nationwide campaign aimed at raising awareness on the use of digital life certificates among central government pensioners, according to an official statement issued on Wednesday. A statement by the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare said, quote, “A nationwide campaign will now be held from 1st to 30th November, 2023 in 500 locations in 100 cities across the country, targeting 50 lakh pensioners in collaboration of 17 pension disbursing banks,ministries/ departments, pensioners’ welfare association, UIDAI, MeitY,” unquote. To enhance ‘ease of living’ of central government pensioners, the DoPPW has been promoting ‘Jeevan Pramaan’ or digital life certificate extensively.

Meanwhile, An amount equivalent to 30% of the last basic pay as drawn at the time of retirement shall be deducted from the last basic pay and the resultant amount shall be the fixed monthly amount as remuneration in case of contractual central government employees who retire under NPS. In an Office Memorandum dated 18th October 2023, the Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance clarified the regulation of remuneration in case of contract appointment of Central Government Employees. The DoE considered the question of fixation of remuneration in respect of those central Government employees who retire under the National Pension System, consequent upon their appointment on a contract basis. It said the case of such employees is different from those governed by the CCS(Pension) Rules, 2021.

Moving on. State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and GAIL (India) signed an agreement on Wednesday committing to supply propane for 15 years to GAIL’s PDH-PP Plant project in Usar, Maharashtra. BPCL will provide 600 KTPA of propane to GAIL from its LPG facility at Uran under the 15-year supply contract with an estimated value of Rs 63,000 crore. BPCL’s LPG facility at Uran is capable of handling 1 MMPTA (million tonnes per annum) of LPG imports and is expanding it to accommodate 3 MMTPA of propane and butane imports, the company said in a release. The demand for polypropylene is projected to reach 6.3 million tons by 2025, up from 4.9 million tons in 2020.

Even as India’s smartphone shipments remained flat in the July-September quarter, Apple recorded its highest-ever quarterly shipments during the period. The company dispatched over 2.5 million units of iPhones to retail outlets or carriers, recording a 34% YoY growth, according to data by Counterpoint. Reasons for Apple witnessing record iPhone shipments can be attributed to consumers moving towards premium products. iPhone sales are also on upward trajectory due to several financing offers, analysts said. The growth in iPhone shipments is expected to further accelerate in the coming quarters as during the first week of festival season, iPhone sales crossed 1.5 million units for the first time ever. India’s smartphone market has finally started showing signs of recovery with a gradual pick-up in consumer demand.

On to IPOs. Indian skincare startup Mamaearth’s initial public offering was oversubscribed by 7.6 times, fetching bids worth 71.3 billion rupees, exchange data showed on Thursday this week. Investors bid for more than 220 million shares, compared with the 28.9 million shares on offer, with institutional investors showing the most interest, the data showed. Mamaearth, founded by former Hindustan Unilever executive Varun Alagh and his wife Ghazal in 2016, revisited its IPO plans last month, with a reduced offer size. It had put its IPO plan on hold in March blaming weak market conditions. The IPO comprises of fresh issue of shares worth 3.65 billion rupees, while investors including the co-founders, Stellaris Venture Partners and Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty are selling 41.2 million shares.

Over to technology. Vivo is all set to launch a successor to its existing Vivo X90 series, called Vivo X100 series. It will come in three variants including Vivo X100, Vivo X100 Pro, and Vivo X100 Pro Plus. The Vivo X100 Pro Plus variant is expected to be released later next year. It comes after the release date details were confirmed during a keynote at the Vivo Developer Conference. The Vivo X100 series phones are releasing on November 13 at 7 pm Beijing Time which translates to 4:30 pm IST. Moreover, Vivo Watch 3 will join the upcoming phones on the same release date, i.e., November 3. Notably, Vivo’s sub-brand iQoo is launching iQoo 12 on November 7.

Lastly, some exciting news for auto lovers. Mercedes-Benz has launched the 2024 AMG C 43 in India, priced at Rs 98 lakh ex-showroom. The launch of the Mercedes-AMG C 43 4MATIC was done alongside the launch of the new GLC SUV and also expanded the carmaker’s AMG portfolio to nine vehicles in India. On the exterior, the Mercedes-AMG C 43 4MATIC gets the new Panamericana grille which is a new addition to the C 43, alongside adaptive headlights, larger air intakes and black wing mirrors.