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Telecom operators have deployed technology to block all pesky messages with immediate effect, industry body COAI said on Wednesday. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had set deadline of December 11 for telecom service provider to trace and block all messages that do no comply with its rule to stop pesky messages. «In line with the directive issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on August 20, 2024, all commercial messages sent by Principle Entities (PEs) must now be fully traceable. »Effective December 11, 2024, messages that do not have a defined or matching telemarketer (TM) chain will be blocked, reinforcing a significant step towards safer and more transparent communication channels," COAI, Director General, SP Kochhar said in a statement.

inverted duty structure for certain products in sectors like aluminium in the forthcoming Budget to boost domestic manufacturing, an official said. Inverted duty structure refers to taxation of inputs at higher rates than finished products that result in the build-up of credits and cascading costs. The industry has shared a list of products. An industry official said they want a cut in import duty of raw material for the aluminium sector.

Cipla on Wednesday said it has received the nod from Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for the exclusive distribution and marketing of Afrezza — inhalation human insulin in India. Afrezza is a rapid-acting insulin delivered through an inhaler as compared to current insulins which are given as injections. Taken at the beginning of a meal, Afrezza dissolves rapidly upon oral inhalation into the lungs and delivers insulin quickly to the bloodstream. Cipla said Afrezza starts working in as early as 12 minutes and helps in reducing the rapid increase seen in sugar levels with meals. The effect of Afrezza lasts for about 2-3 hours and it closely resembles the body’s own response to insulin.

Reserve Bank of India governor during his first press conference on Wednesday emphasized the need to remain alert and agile in a constantly changing world marked by geopolitical tensions. Malhotra assumed office as the 26th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India earlier today, succeeding his role as the former Revenue Secretary. He will serve a three-year term as the head of India's central bank. Malhotra succeeds Shaktikanta Das who completed his term as the RBI chief on Tuesday.

«We do need to make a distinction between regulation with respect to financial sector and regulation with respect to non-financial sector of the economy,» Nageswaran said at the CII Global Economic Policy Forum 2024. «In non financial sectors, excepting natural monopolies or utilities where you have to have a regulator to protect customer interest, you can expect competition to take care of much of the roles that regulators are expected to perform. So as long as you create a competitive environment as close to the theoretical perfect competition, then you are fine,» said the Chief Economic Advisor to Government of India.

Axis Bank's latest report warns that inflation in India is unlikely to ease quickly, as both core and food price indices are expected to remain closely linked. Despite food prices and vegetable costs being at cyclical highs, the report highlights that supply responses may lag the demand boost driven by income-transfer schemes. «In India, we do not see inflation easing quickly: over the long term, core and food price indices move together. Though food relative to core, and vegetables relative to food, are both at cyclical highs, the supply response may lag the demand boost from income-transfer schemes,» said the report titled " India Economic and Market Outlook 2025 ". ALSO READ: India's CPI inflation likely to ease to 5.5% in Nov from 6.2% in Oct: Morgan Stanley

East Ocyon Bio, an allogeneic Cell & Gene Therapy (CGT) startup, on Wednesday, announced the closure of its $4.2 million seed round. The investment round was led by Aeravti Ventures and Micro Labs. The newly raised funds will be utilised to enable several initiatives like pre-clinical testing of CAR-NK and CAR-gamma delta T cell therapies, the creation of a GMP manufacturing facility, and Phase I clinical trials. Renu Kundu, Founder of East Ocyon Bio, said in a statement, «We are incredibly grateful for the support of Aeravti Ventures and Micro Labs, whose belief in our vision is instrumental in our journey toward clinical validation of this transformative technology.» Rishabh Singh, Managing Partner at Aeravti Ventures, said in a statement, “India is the cancer capital of the world but receives innovative therapies years after the west. Our partnership with East Ocyon Bio reflects our commitment to supporting impactful organisations that indigenise innovation and create cutting-edge products for the world.”

Greater Coochbehar People's Association (GCPA) at Jorai railway station in Alipurduar division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) started at 6.45 am, and was withdrawn around 11.45 am, following which normal train movement was restored, he said. The agitators said they were holding the «indefinite» rail blockade to press for their demand for the creation of 'Greater Coochbehar'. Thousands of protesters had assembled at the station in the morning and blocked tracks, prompting the deployment of a large number of RPF, GRP and local police personnel to prevent any untoward incident, the NFR official said.

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has published the finer details of the Golden Jubilee Scholarship Scheme 2024. In comparison to the 2022 scheme, the amount given has been increased this year by up to 100% in some cases. Moreover, in the 2024 scholarship scheme some new categories like medical courses, engineering courses, and other categories have been introduced. Overall, the scope of this scholarship has been increased. But, before taking a final call, you must know that if you are pursuing a course through correspondence or part time (evening or night classes) and/or through Open Universities then you are not eligible for this Scholarship. Read below to find out the details of the scholarship amount and who is eligible and under what category.

A Delaware judge says a UPS driver who crashed his truck after downing several beers while driving is not entitled to workers’ compensation for his injuries

Reserve Bank of India (RBI), its outgoing governor Shaktikanta Das said Tuesday, while underscoring the 'excellent' rapport between the Centre and its money manager and alignment of objectives. Sanjay Malhotra, revenue secretary in the finance ministry, takes charge as the 26th governor Wednesday. «Restoring the inflation-growth (balance) is the most important task ahead for the RBI,» Das said in his last interaction with the media as the 25th governor of the nine-decade-old central bank. «I am sure Team RBI, under the leadership of the new governor, will take it forward,» said Das, who has had the longest tenure as Mint Road boss after India began unshackling its economy in 1991. As Das completes his second three-year term, India's consumer inflation gauge has touched a 14-month high of 6.2% in October. Murmurs are increasingly audible within the all-powerful rate-setting panel, too, for a cut in policy rates after the pace of economic growth unexpectedly slumped to a seven-quarter low of 5.4% in the three months to September.

US Vice President Kamala Harris has been nominated for Time Magazine Person of the Year 2024 while sparking significant online mockery and skepticism due to her recent defeat in the US Presidential Election against Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, reported The US Sun. According to The US Sun, the shortlist which eventually includes notable figures such as Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Kate Middleton will see the winner announced on December 12. Several critics on social media have eventually questioned the rationale behind the nomination of Kamala Harris while pointing out that she lost the election and suggesting that the award should go to Donald Trump instead who made a remarkable political comeback. Also Read: Is true face of Cleopatra found? Here’s what an archaeologist claims to have unearthed about famous queen

GST Council meeting on December 21, payment gateway operators have made representations to the finance ministry against levying 18% GST on commissions earned on small-value digital payments up to ₹2,000, multiple people in the know said. Payment gateways have submitted that any tax levy will hurt the growth of digital payments as they will pass on the added burden to merchants. The council will consider a proposal on levying GST as the Fitment Committee sees payment aggregators as facilitators for card transactions. Currently, these firms charge a payment gateway fee of 0.5% to 2% on each credit and debit card transaction.

life insurance industry recorded a 4.5% year-on-year (YoY) decline in premiums in November 2024, driven by a significant drop in market leader Life Insurance Corp's (LIC) revenue. Life Insurance Council data showed the industry collected ₹25,306 crore in November this year, against ₹26,494 crore in November last year.

JP Morgan India chief executive officer PD Singh is among three candidates shortlisted by Standard Chartered Bank to succeed Zarin Daruwala as the chief executive officer for India and South Asia, people familiar with the matter said. Rahul Shukla, group head for commercial and rural banking at HDFC Bank, and Venugopal Ranganathan, chief risk officer (CRO) at Standard Chartered, are the two other names submitted to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the CEO post, the people said. Daruwala retires from the bank in March after eight years at the top job.

Trai) has set a clear definition of "international traffic" as SMSes either originating or terminating from computer servers and applications from outside India. Trai's introduction of the definition of international SMSes under the unified licence has put an end to a decade long debate between telecom operators and multinational corporations (MNCs). Until now, MNCs were processing international transactions from servers outside of India but sending SMSs from domestic systems. India's telcos said this was a way for MNCs to avoid paying almost a 20 times higher cost for delivering messages which were originating overseas. According to the new definition, «Any incoming application to person (A2P) SMS message shall be treated as an international SMS message, if it cannot be generated, transmitted or received without the use or intervention of any electronic device, computer system or computer application located outside India,» Trai said in its recommendations released on Tuesday.

rare diseases to speed up their availability. India's drug regulator has asked the state drug regulators that a fast-track approval process be adopted, including post approval changes in the application while approving the sale of such drugs. The drug regulator has also asked state drug regulators to facilitate import of rare drugs in the interest of patients. «State drug controllers are requested to monitor compliance with the directions regarding the timeline for the approval of all applications for rare disease drugs which should be processed within 90 days from date of receiving,» DCGI said in a letter dated December 9. To make sure that drugs for rare diseases are available in India, he has asked all division heads to «monitor and proactively keep a watch on global clinical trials and local clinical trials for rare diseases and to process such files expeditiously,» it further said.

renewable energy capacity by 2030, the state government aims to contribute 125 GW capacity from non-fossil sources in this endeavour, Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel said on Tuesday. A country session on Germany, with a focus on renewable energy, was organised on the second day of the 'Rising Rajasthan' Global Investment Summit 2024. The session titled 'Indo-German Cooperation in Renewable Energy Sector: Current Initiatives and Future Opportunities' showcased Germany's leadership in renewable energy innovations. In his address, Patel said, «Driven by the Prime Minister's vision of creating 500 GW capacity of renewable energy by 2030, Rajasthan is leading in this endeavour with the target of contributing 125 GW capacity by 2030».

Tamil Nadu was faring better in its contribution to national economy and the state's industries and services sectors played a pivotal role in increasing the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) by 14 per cent in 2022-2023 amounting to Rs 23,64,514 crore, Principal Accountant General (Audit-I), Tamil Nadu, D Jaishankar said on Tuesday. As regards the resources of the state government, he said the revenue receipts increased by 17.47 per cent during 2022-2023 when compared to the previous year because of an increase in both tax revenue and non-tax revenue. Briefing reporters on the State Finances Audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended March 2023, tabled in the Assembly earlier in the day, he said the state GDP in 2022-2023 was Rs 23,64,514 crore, an increase by 14 per cent over the previous year. «Industries and services sectors were the main contributors and the per capita income of the state is nearly 56 per cent higher than the national average. TN's per capita income is Rs 3.08 lakh whereas the national average is Rs 1.96 lakh. We are doing a better contribution to the economy,» he said.

he was accused of raping a teenage girl in the early 2000s. A woman who previously accused Sean 'Diddy' Combs of raping her at an awards show after-party in 2000 when she was 13 amended her lawsuit on Sunday. The civil lawsuit now includes a new allegation that Jay-Z was also at the party and participated in the sexual assault. Jay-Z, the 24-time Grammy award winner rapper, producer and music mogul, said rape allegation made against him is part of an extortion attempt. He has termed these allegations “idiotic” and “heinous in nature” in a statement released by Roc Nation, one of his companies. Amid this, he was seen with Beyonce Blue Ivy as the 12-year-old as she posed for solo shots on the red carpet at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., on Monday night. The family was all smiles as they posed on the red carpet.

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya has penned a touching tribute to SM Krishna, the former CM of Karnataka, and has urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Dy CM DK Shivakumar to institute an aware in his name to honour those who make a significant contribution to the development of Bengaluru — it will not only inspire many to work for our city but also keep the memory of an inspired life alive. «As a proud Kannadiga and a Bengaluru boy, I thank Sri SM Krishna for everything.» Here is Surya's personal tribute posted on X: