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Tag: PTI

  • Govt issues notices to Flipkart, Amazon for not displaying country of origin

    Govt issues notices to Flipkart, Amazon for not displaying country of origin

    The government has cracked the whip on e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart for not displaying mandatory declaration on products, including country of origin. According to a PTI report, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has sent notices to the two e-tailers demanding explanations for non-compliance within 15 days, failing which action would be initiated against them as per the provisions of the Legal Metrology Rules, 2011.

    Post the Indo-China conflict on the border, the government made it mandatory for the e-commerce players to mention the origin of the products on their websites. The rule was invoked to prevent Chinese companies from selling goods in the Indian market and help the Indian origin brands to reclaim their market share. While the e-tailers have asked their sellers to update the country of origin in August while listing their products on the websites, many haven’t managed to do so on pre-existing listings on the two websites. The notice comes amid the much-vaunted festive season when the two e-tailers have kickstarted their annual mega sales – Big Billion Day and Great Indian Festival. They have listed thousands of products on their websites and launched a massive marketing campaign to push that. Lakhs of people throughout the month will shop on Flipkart and Amazon to make the best of this sale and avail products on discounts. Every year, the two e-commerce giants clock over a billion plus dollars in sales (combined) throughout the country. They have created a strong distribution, procurement, communication network and have been including the local sellers and retailers to expand their reach to the last corner of the country.

  • Parliamentary Standing Committee to look into TRP gaming scandal: PTI

    Parliamentary Standing Committee to look into TRP gaming scandal: PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will be taking up the issue of alleged manipulation of TV Rating Points (TRP) by some channels, PTI reported citing some sources.

    The committee has asked representatives of the News Broadcasters Association, Press Council of India and Prasar Bharati to depose on the subject of 'ethical standards in media coverage'.

    This comes on the back of Congress MP and member of the panel Karti Chidambaram’s request to take-up the matter and call the officials of the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) before the committee to seek clarification and remedial measures.

    He had said that the government's advertising expenditure depends on this system, and public spending should not be based on flawed data. “Flawed or manipulated TRP cannot be the basis of ad spend. TV companies also base their valuations on TRP. Those valuations are questionable now,” Karti further said.

    The Congress leader’s demand that the parliamentary panel takes up the issue came a day after the Mumbai Police claimed to have busted a TRP manipulation racket and arrested four people.

    "The recent issues surrounding TRPs of television channels have cast doubts on the legitimacy and reliability of the system. TRPs produce essential data on television audiences in India and have become the primary basis for advertising decisions," Karti said in a letter to panel chairman Tharoor.

    "There is a need for further understanding this situation. In light of this, it is important that the standing committee take up this issue. Therefore, I request you to call before the Committee concerned officials of the responsible ministry, MIB to seek necessary clarification on the current situation and remedial measures," he said.

  • Prasar Bharati reviewing contract with Press Trust of India

    Prasar Bharati reviewing contract with Press Trust of India

    NEW DELHI: Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is said to be reconsidering its equation with news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) and is learnt to have sent a letter to the news agency over its reporting.

    PTI, one of the country’s largest and oldest news agencies, has come under fire for an interview, which was published earlier this week, with Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong. In the interview, Weidong blamed India for the ongoing border crisis in Ladakh and the violent face-off in Galwan Valley that killed 20 Indian soldiers. 

    The interview, the pubcaster said, was disseminated widely by PTI to its domestic subscribers and prominently shared with foreign entities.

    Prasar Bharati stated that it is reviewing the need to continue their relationship in the wake of recent news reports that it alleged were "detrimental to India’s national interest and may have undermined the country’s territorial integrity."

    It added that PTI "has conducted itself in a manner contrary to the values that the public broadcaster has been mandated to uphold." Because of this, the pubcaster is reconsidering being a patron of PTI. The news agency is substantially supported by the public broadcaster through huge annual fees towards subscriptions which is around Rs 9 crore. It has repeatedly refused to review the terms and condition of the contract since 2016-2017. 

    This seems to not have been the first time as Prasar Bharati claims that it has been time and again alerting PTI on "editorial lapses resulting in dissemination of wrong news harming public interest."

    Prasar Bharati will convey its decision soon.
     

  • Ad agencies to be empanelled for RBI work

    Ad agencies to be empanelled for RBI work

    MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to empanel advertising agencies for undertaking activities ranging from regular tender notices to full-fledged multimedia, multi- language ads across electronic and print media.

    The empanelled agencies would be conceptualising, designing and releasing commercials on television and radio and ads in newspapers, according to RBI’s Request for Proposal (RFP) for Empanelment of Advertising Agencies.

    The scope of work of the agencies would also cover production of TV spots/radio jingles, PTI reported. Translation / dubbing and adaptation of short films, TVCs radio spots and print advertisements into various India languages would also fall under the scope of work of the agencies.

    Detailing the process for assigning jobs, the document stated that the routine notice or tender type advertisement below Rs 1.5 million will be given to the empanelled agencies by rotation. For ads of between Rs 1.5 million and Rs 10 million, the work would be assigned after inviting bids.

  • Smriti Irani favours facilitating constructive communication in digital world

    Smriti Irani favours facilitating constructive communication in digital world

    MUMBAI: Union information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani has said that the role of the central government was to facilitate constructive communication in the digital world. She was speaking at an interactive session organised by the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

    “I think the biggest challenge and opportunities in managing (digital content) is (to know and understand) the intent behind that creativity,” she said when asked how she managed, as a minister, the artificial distinction in content or creativity in a digital world where jurisdiction and borders had no place, PTI reported. If the intent of creativity or communication was to “create disharmony,” she said then there would be concerns regarding it.

    If the intent was to empower, she said, then it was not the job of the government to intervene.

    About a low budget films performing well, she said that a creative person would “never pursue a balance sheet which says only profit” but would pursue telling a great story. She also said that the best way to discourage bad content was to avoid watching such things. In a creative democracy, in a country like India, we could not ask people to stop making a certain type of content.

  • Indian radio services set for global expansion

    Indian radio services set for global expansion

    MUMBAI: All-India Radio (AIR) is all set to expand global services for its Indian audience, which will cover Japan, Germany and Canada.

    The AIR is planning to launch the services for several countries, including some in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), with an aim to support the government’s outreach programmes and diplomatic efforts to the Indian diaspora, PTI reported AIR’s external services division director Amlanjyoti Mazumdar as saying.

    The ESD aims to keep the listeners in touch with the ethos of India, also highlighting business opportunities. Maldives and South Africa are also among the countries AIR plans to reach to, it added.

    At present, the ESD covers around 150 countries with programmes in 27 languages, of which 14 target neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia.

    Mazumdar said that Pakistan had increased its presence in African countries through its new radio services, and India could not work in “silos”.

    Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh deputy chief minister Chowna Mein said that the state would give every possible support for the improvement of AIR services in the state, the Arunachal Times reported.

    Mein, who launched the extended Arun FM Transmission at AIR Itanagar on Sunday, said that Arun FM (103.1 MHZ) will be an effective medium for dissemination of information on government activities, programmes and policies. He said that he would urge the central government to establish radio stations with FM transmission in all the districts.

    Arun FM is a part of an initiative started by AIR DIG to improve the quality of broadcast. Arun FM will air its own programmes from AIR Itanagar for seven hours, which will be extended to at least 13 hours of broadcast on its own 10 KW transmitter very soon, which will give aerial coverage of at least 40km radius.

  • Television viewership stable despite VoDs, says DISH TV exec

    MUMBAI: People’s interest in television was intact although use of cell phones in India has increased considerably in India. After increase in internet speed, people in India had started watching videos on mobile phones. However, despite VoD services proliferating in the country, viewers preferred to watch films on television.

    DTH services leader DISH TV’s senior executive told PTI that it was a wrong perception that people lately did not watch television because of the growing popularity of video on cell phone facility. Despite the increasing tendency of seeing videos on handsets, the executive said, different studies revealed that people’s interest in watching television in all age brackets had not declined.

    DISH TV’s senior vice president (marketing) Sukhpreet Singh, who was in Indore to launch DISH TV’s “Mera Apna Pack” and “Swagat Pack” in the Madhya Pradesh market, said, in fact, the television viewership was increasing. Singh said that people watching videos on cell phones was a healthy sign for the entertainment industry.

    Answering a question, Singh said even now many cable operators in India had not come under the purview of regulation, and they were the ones who became a nuisance for both, the government and the public. It would be better if they were regulated soon, he added.

  • Tribunal upholds tax demand, NDTV intends to challenge order

    NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has upheld a tax demand raised on investments of USD 150 million by a US television network in NDTV in 2008, an order that the Indian company said has “numerous inconsistencies and contradictions”. With the tribunal’s 14 July 2017 order upholding the tax demand, penalty proceedings are likely to commence shortly.

    NDTV had assured shareholders that it would seek necessary legal advice and appeal against any adverse ITAT order. On its web site, it stated: “This is with reference to reports in certain section of the media as well as social media regarding the rejection by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) of an appeal filed by the Company against the assessment order for tax demand of Rs. 450 crore for the assessment year 2009-10. The ITAT order has not yet been uploaded. Once the order is uploaded, the Company will advise shareholders of the implications thereof.”

    In a stock exchange filing, NDTV said it was surprised at ITAT dismissing the appeal it had filed against the tax demand, according to a PTI news report, which quoted the company as saying, “It is important to note foremost that the ITAT has accepted that there was no round-tripping or money laundering, as was alleged by income tax department.”

    The tax department had alleged that Rs 218.30 crore (Rs. 2183 million) was the tax that was sought to be evaded on investment of Rs 642.54 crore (Rs. 6425.4 million). It had sought a penalty of Rs 436.8 crore (Rs. 4368 million) at the rate of 200 per cent of tax evaded.

    It confirmed invocation of Sec 69A of Income tax Act (dealing with ‘unexplained money’ addition) and upheld that “transaction used principally as a devise for the distribution/ diversion of sum to the Indian entity” and that “the beneficial owner of the money is the assessee”.

    PTI quoted NDTV as saying: “Surprisingly, the ITAT has dismissed the appeal filed by the company as not being maintainable but at the same time adjudicated the appeal filed by the income tax department (ITD) against the same assessment order. It is inconceivable how appeal filed by the ITD against the assessment order is maintainable before the ITAT but the company’s appeal emanating from the same order is not maintainable.”

    “Surprisingly, the ITAT has upheld the addition under Section 69A of the Act, purely on conjectures and surmises, ignoring the evidence adduced by the company including the annual reports of the investors,” NDTV was quoted as having said, “The legal advice received is that a consistent view has to be taken and it appears that the order had been passed in a haste and the above inconsistencies have arisen because of a hurried order. We have been advised that Section 69A of the Act is applicable only when money is found in possession of a taxpayer but not accounted for in the books of accounts.

    “However, the said section has no application in the present case since admittedly, investment made by NBC Universal (admittedly then subsidiary of the GE Group) through its step down subsidiary, Universal Studios International BV, was duly recorded in the books of accounts of the company’s subsidiary, viz, NDTV Networks International Holdings BV.”

    Stating that it will continue to fight the “misguided case” made by income tax department, NDTV said it is “exploring all options available to it in accordance with law.

    ALSO READ:

    NDTV issues response to govt charges

    NDTV gets slapped with higher tax dues notice

     

  • TRAI to probe ‘opaque’ offers to departing customers

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will study complaints about operators doling out customised retention offers to influence subscribers who plan to shift to a rival network. Jio had alleged that incumbent operators are lining up customised offers for subscribers wanting to shift.

    While it may be standard for operators to play up offerings and the strength of their networks to the departing customers, telcos cannot offer plans that they do not file with TRAI.

    TRAI chairman R S Sharma asserted that all offerings by operators need to be non-discriminatory, transparent, and filed with the regulator but refused to be drawn into the specifics, PTI reported.

    Because the tariff has to satisfy the criteria of being non-discriminatory and transparent, Sharma said, these principles would have to be followed.

    In a letter to TRAI, Jio had termed such methods as being “unfair and deceptive”, and claimed that the offers were being presented to customers “surreptitiously” on a one-to-one basis and not available to the public.

    Those companies were not openly publicising such offers on their website as is stipulated, Jio charged, demanding that “strongest action” against the three operators – Vodafone, Airtel, and Idea Cellular — for what it called a gross violation of TRAI norms. However, Airtel and Vodafone had refuted Jio’s allegations.

    As per the norms, while tariffs are under forbearance, every plan has to be filed with the TRAI within seven working days from its launch. If the regulator will call operators for a meeting to resolve the issue, Sharma said the matter was still in a “preliminary” stage.

  • ‘New oil’ provider Jio open to partnerships

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio, which has crossed 100-million customer milestone after its launch in September 2016, has an open mind for partnerships at this stage. Jio hopes to put India among the top 10 countries in terms of broadband access, from the 155th position in 2015.

    Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, speaking at the Nasscom leadership forum in Mumbai, is betting big on data-driven telecom, emphasising that data was the “new oil”. Crediting the success of Jio to the Aadhaar-based verification, Ambani, who spent over Rs 1.2 trillion on Jio, said that the foundation of the fourth industrial revolution was connectivity and data, which was the new natural resource.

    Predicting that India would be a key player in this revolution, PTI reported Ambani as stating that India’s large talent base would have had a competitive advantage.

    The salient feature of this revolution is “convergence of the physical biological and digital sciences”, and “we are on the threshold of an exponential change,” he said. India’s 1.3 billion propulation, Ambani said, lends it a huge advantage and the data thus generated could be converted into intelligence.

    Ambani recommended looking at the larger picture of helping millions to resolve their problems with the adoption of digital technologies. Digitalisation would continue to face challenges in terms of security, privacy and data theft, but that they could find solutions to problems.

    Ambani advised adopting of next generation technologies. India would have to become the capital of real implementation of blockchain, he said, adding that they had the opportunity to adopt artificial intelligence and natural language processing, adopt drones in India’s own logistics as India could become one of the largest software markets.

    Ambani advised the industry to focus on the home market while describing the protectionist statements of the new US president Donald Trump as “a blessing in disguise” for the Indian IT sector. The US$ 155-billion Indian IT industry earns over 65 per cent of its revenues from the US.

    The IT industry meantime awaits clarity on Trump’s plans to double the salary for H1-B visa-holders and significantly curb visa issuance to techies.

    Also Read :

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/telecom/jio-may-use-us44bn-to-lay-ofc-expand-network-to-stifle-competition-170118

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/telecom/jio-becomes-top-isp-wireline-growthretards-overall-broadband-internet-subs-fall-in-nov-16-170202

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/telecom/q3-17-jio-affects-airtel-revenue-digital-tv-segment-numbers-up-170124