The Himalayan Mail8 JAMMU THURSDAY OCTOBER 08, 2020 NEWS

NEW DELHI, OCT 7:Equity benchmark Sensexrallied 304 points onWednesday, tracking gainsin index-heavyweights Re-liance Industries, HDFCtwins and Infosys.

After opening on a weaknote, the 30-share indexgained ground to end304.38 points or 0.77 percent higher at 39,878.95.

Similarly, the broaderNSE Nifty jumped 76.45points or 0.66 per cent toclose at 11,738.85.

Titan was the top gainerin the Sensex pack, climbingover 4 per cent, followed byBajaj Auto, Maruti, Re-liance Industries, ONGCand UltraTech Cement.

On the other hand, BajajFinance, PowerGrid, Tata

Steel, NTPC and SunPharma were among thelaggards.

"Market recoveredquickly in morning tradeand traded in the greenthroughout the day led byautos ahead of the RBI pol-

icy," said S Ranganathan,head of research at LKP Se-curities.

The newly-constitutedMPC of the Reserve Bankbegan its three-day deliber-ations earlier in the day.

The decision of the rate-

setting panel will be an-nounced on October 9.

Although the broadermarket was a bit lacklustre,sustained buying in cementand select pharma counterswas seen during the day, headded.

According to traders, In-dian investors are also eye-ing the possibility of a do-mestic fiscal packageannouncement in the nearterm.

Meanwhile, bourses inHong Kong, Tokyo andSeoul ended on a mixednote, while Shanghai wasclosed for a holiday.

In the forex market, therupee strengthened by 13paise to settle at 73.33against the US dollar.

Sensex rallies 304.38 pointsto end at 39,878.95

NEW DELHI, OCT 8:Employees in India are fac-ing increased burnout dueto lack of separation be-tween work and personallife as well as concerns ofcontracting COVID-19, a re-port said on Wednesday.

According to Microsoft'slatest Work Trend Index,that surveyed over 6,000information and first-lineworkers across eight coun-tries globally, India had thesecond highest percentageof workers facing increasedburnout in Asia at 29 percent.

Moreover, India came outtop with over 41 per cent ofworkers citing the lack ofseparation between workand personal life as nega-tively impacting their well-being, resulting in increasedstress levels, the report said.

"In the last six months, wehave seen how COVID-19has created an era of remoteanywhere.

“It has led to the evolutionof a new workplace – froma physical space to one re-siding in a virtual world,"said Samik Roy, countryhead, Modern Work, Mi-crosoft India.

Roy further noted that "asbusinesses adapt to a newway of working, it is impor-tant to examine the multi-faceted impact that the newworking conditions are hav-ing on employees. This ishelping us provide relevantand timely solutions to allour customers and users".

The pandemic increasedburnout at work, in somecountries more than others.

In India, 29 per cent ofworkers are experiencingincreased burnout at work,owing to its increase inworkday span by 1 hour.

While, workers in Ger-many saw very little changeto workday span or feelingsof burnout, the report said.

Data showed that, glob-ally, even six months pastthe first work-from-homeorders, people are in signifi-cantly more meetings, tak-ing more ad hoc calls andmanaging more incomingchats than they did beforethe pandemic.

"As people adjusted to re-mote working, after hourschats, or chats between 5pm and midnight, have alsoincreased," the report said.

Further, for remote work-ers in Asia, no commute ishurting and not helpingproductivity, the report saidadding that for years, Mi-crosoft's research group hasbeen studying how com-mute has helped maintain

work-life boundaries - andworker's productivity andwellbeing.

Microsoft said a series ofupdates have beenlaunched within MicrosoftTeams to support employeewellbeing.

These include a virtualcommute experience thathelps users prepare for theday and mindfully discon-nect in the evening.

Microsoft has also part-nered with Headspace tobring a curated set of mind-fulness and meditation ex-periences into the Teamsplatform and launched newTeams experiences for first-line workers to supportthem with the tools theyneed to work more safely.

This Work Trend Indexreport looks at how the pan-demic has impacted wellbe-ing at work globally.

It studied how productiv-ity patterns in MicrosoftTeams have shifted sinceearly this year and surveyedover 6,000 information andfirst-line workers in eightcountries including Aus-tralia, Brazil, Germany,Japan, India, Singapore, theUK, and the US.

Employees in India face increasedburnout during pandemic

NEW DELHI, OCT 7:The Centre on Tuesday ap-proved 16 proposals frommarquee brands, includingmakers of Apple devices,under two new flagshipschemes, in a move ex-pected to fetch Rs 11,000-crore additional invest-ments in local electronicsmanufacturing.

In turn, this would implyproduction worth Rs 10.5trillion over the next fiveyears, giving a fillip to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sMake in India and AtmaNirbhar Bharat schemes.

A statement issued by theMinistry of Electronics andInformation Technologysaid that of the total, Rs 6.5trillion worth of electronicgoods will be exported by2025 under the ProductionLinked Incentive (PLI)plan.

As part of the newly intro-duced PLI scheme, five ap-plications have been ap-proved from internationalelectronics manufacturingmajors Foxconn, Wistron,Pegatron (all three makersof Apple products besidesother brands), Samsungand Rising Star.

These proposals are ex-pected to translate into pro-duction of Rs 9 trillionworth of mobile phonespriced above Rs 15,000.

Five proposals from In-dian manufacturers - Mi-cromax, Lava, Padget Elec-tronics, UTL Neolyncs andOptiemus Electronics - havealso been cleared.

These five are estimatedto have a potential to man-ufacture Rs 1.25 trillionworth of handsets in the

next five years.In addition, proposals

from AT&T, Ascent Cir-cuits, Visicon, Walsin, Sa-hasra, and Neolync have gotthe go-ahead.

These firms are expectedto manufacture electroniccomponents worth Rs15,000 crore in the country.

According to the Ministryof Electronics and Informa-tion Technology, once im-plemented the projectswould generate over200,000 direct and600,000 indirect employ-ment opportunities in thenext five years.

“We are optimistic andlooking forward to buildinga strong ecosystem acrossthe value chain and inte-grating with the globalvalue chains, therebystrengthening electronicsmanufacturing ecosystemin the country”, said RaviShankar Prasad, minister,Meity.

Apart from helping theoverall electronics ecosys-tem in the country, thismove will turn Apple’s for-tunes in India, according toanalysts.

“This is a major boost forApple. Now they will seri-ously consider higher vol-ume production and ex-ports from India,” saidNavkendar Singh, researchdirector, IDC.

The US tech major isplanning to begin local pro-duction of its upcomingiPhone 12 by next April -within six months of itslaunch.

“Overall, this is a muchneeded boost and the gov-ernment’s intent is clear - tomake India not only an al-ternative to China, when itcomes to electronics manu-facturing, but also an exporthub in the coming years.

"This also ensures thatmanufacturing of highervalue components like dis-plays, among other items.

"Moving up the globalvalue chain in manufactur-ing is critical for India’s posi-tioning as a serious and vi-able alternative hub forglobal electronics players,”said Singh.

Pankaj Mohindroo, pres-ident of industry body In-dian Cellular and Electron-ics Association that lists

leading players like Apple,Samsung, Xiaomi and Lavaamong its members, themove of attracting invest-ment from global majors ison expected lines.

“The challenge is whetherthe Indian companies (thathave got approval) buildcore design and brand ca-pabilities and also scale upto become globally compet-itive or some of them use ittactically and fade out withthe PLI incentive,” he said.

According to Faisal Ka-woosa, lead analyst atTechArc, the complete ab-sence of any Chinese OEM(original equipment manu-facturer) in the list of pro-jects approved definitelyraises a question on theoverall efficacy of thescheme in the domesticmarket as well as in manyglobal markets.

“Chinese OEMs arecatching up fast in terms ofmarket share.

"As the objective of thepolicy is also to bolster ex-ports, not sure how that willresult without involvingChinese brands”, he said.

Also, a major chunk of theprojects approved are dedi-cated towards production ofsmartphones priced aboveRs 15,000 - still under 20per cent of the market byvolume.

“For the local market, wehave to look at how thisscheme will help in boostingsales in the affordable seg-ment and facilitate expan-sion of the smartphonebase, which is stuck belowthe 500 million mark in auser base of over 1 billion,”said Kawoosa.

'Made in India' iPhone 12 soon asmanufacturers get govt's nod

NEW DELHI, OCT 8:The ministry of finance isin talks with the Japan In-ternational CooperationAgency (JICA) and theWorld Bank to raisearound $3 billion for fund-ing the second RegionalRapid Transit System(RRTS) planned betweenDelhi and Alwar.

The project will be inthree stages and sourcesindicate that the fundingwill be for the first stage of107 kilometre from SaraiKale Khan to SNB UrbanComplex (Shahjahanpur,Neemrana, Behror).

The first RRTS betweenthe Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut is already underimplementation.

"For the second corridorbetween Delhi and Alwar,it is already in the rollingplan of JICA.

"The ministry of financehas already fixed that butthe World Bank is alsokeen to take some portionof that," said a sourceaware about the develop-ment.

Out of $3-billion fund-

ing for the project, India islooking to get around $2billion from JICAand an-other $1 billion from theWorld Bank.

The total project cost forthe Delhi-Alwar route isexpected to be around Rs36,000 crore.

The National Capital Re-gion Transport Corpora-tion (NCRTC) has alreadyprepared a detailed projectreport for this project(DPR).

This DPR has been ap-proved by all the threestates (Delhi, Haryana andRajasthan).

The proposal is beingtaken up by the Central

government for Cabinetapproval now.

For the first RRTS be-tween Delhi and Meerut,around 60 per cent of Rs30,000 crore projectedcost is being met throughmultilateral funding.

Out of the total fundingof $2 billion, $1 billion isfrom Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB), $0.5 billionfrom Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank (AIIB)and $0.5 billion from NewDevelopment Bank (NDB)at attractive interest ratesbetween 2-2.5 per cent.

The Union and stategovernments are puttingin the remaining.

Out of eight corridorsplanned by the NCR Plan-ning Board in its transportplan for 2032, three weretaken as priority corridorsback in 2006.

These three, Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Panipatand Delhi-Alwar, are al-ready under implementa-tion.

The third route betweenDelhi-Panipat will see aninvestment of around Rs30,000 crore.

For this corridor, theNCRTC board has ap-proved a detailed projectreport.

It is awaiting approvalfrom governments ofDelhi and Haryana.

The second stage ofDelhi-Alwar project willcover 33 km between SNBand Sotanala, while thethird stage of 58 km willconnect SNB to Alwar.

In the first phase of 107km, 83 km is in Haryana,22 km in Delhi and 2 km inRajasthan.

Out of this, 70.5 km willbe elevated and 36.5 kmwill be underground.

Delhi-Alwar rapid rail: Indiain talks for $3 bn funding

NEW DELHI, OCT 8:Housing sales across sevenmajor cities in the country fell35 per cent year-on-year to50,983 units during the July-September period even as thedemand recovered post lock-down, according to data ana-lytics firm PropEquity.

Sales stood at 78,472 unitsin the year-ago period inseven cities -- Delhi-NCR,Mumbai Metropolitan Re-gion (MMR), Chennai,Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyder-abad and Pune.

On sequential basis, how-ever, sales jumped over two-fold from 24,936 units in theApril-June quarter of thisyear, PropEquity said.

Last week, property con-sultant Anarock reported 46per cent year-on-year (YoY)drop in sales of residentialproperties during July-Sep-tember quarter at 29,520units in these seven cities.

"The Indian real estate sec-tor is showing some recoveryas many projects werelaunched in the last quarter;

and with various schemesand offers, developers wereable to clear significant in-ventory," PropEquityfounder and MD Samir Ja-suja said.

"As we move into the fes-tive season, we forecast thisrecovery to continue withmore offers, discounts andattractive payments schemesto attract customers,” Jasujaadded.

According to the PropE-

quity data, housing sales de-clined in all seven cities dur-ing July-September 2020compared to same periodlast year.

In Bengaluru, sales fell 44per cent to 6,098 units from10,878 units.

Chennai saw 36 per centfall in sales at 2,403 unitsduring July-Septemberquarter from 3,749 units inthe year-ago period.

Sales of residential proper-

ties went down by 32 percent in Hyderabad at 4,677units from 6,924 units.

Kolkata witnessed 44 percent decline in sales to 2,239units during July-Septemberfrom 4,023 units in the year-ago period.

Housing sales in MMRdipped 30 per cent to 16,652units from 23,719 units,while demand fell 23 per centin the NCR to 9,375 unitsfrom 12,237 units.

Housing sales drop 35%in 7 cities in Q2NEW DELHI, OCT 07:

The Trump administrationhas announced new restric-tions on H-1B non-immi-grant visa programmewhich it said is aimed atprotecting American work-ers, restoring integrity andto better guarantee that H-1B petitions are approvedonly for qualified beneficia-ries and petitioners, a movewhich is likely to affectthousands of Indian IT pro-fessionals.

The interim final rule an-nounced by the Departmentof Homeland Security onTuesday, less than fourweeks ahead of the US pres-idential election, will nar-row the definition of “spe-cialty occupation” asCongress intended by clos-ing the overbroad definitionthat allowed companies togame the system.

It will also require compa-nies to make “real” offers to“real employees,” by closingloopholes and preventingthe displacement of theAmerican workers.

And finally, the new ruleswould enhance the depart-

ment's ability to enforcecompliance through work-site inspections and moni-tor compliance before, dur-ing and after an H1-Bpetition is approved.

The H1B visa is a non-im-migrant visa that allows UScompanies to employ for-eign workers in specialityoccupations that requiretheoretical or technical ex-pertise.

The technology compa-nies depend on it to hiretens of thousands of em-ployees each year fromcountries like India andChina.

Such a decision by theTrump administration is

likely to have an adverse im-pact on thousands of IndianIT professionals.

Already a large number ofIndians on the H-1B visashave lost their jobs and areheaded back home duringthe coronavirus pandemicthat has severely hit the USeconomy.

According to the Depart-ment of Homeland Secu-rity, the interim final rule tobe published in FederalRegister will be effective in60 days.

According to the Depart-ment of Homeland Secu-rity, the US Citizenship andImmigration Services isforgoing the regular notice

and comment period to im-mediately ensure that em-ploying H-1B workers willnot worsen the economiccrisis caused by COVID-19and adversely affect wagesand working conditions ofsimilarly employed USworkers, it said.

The pandemic's eco-nomic impact is an “obvi-ous and compelling fact”that justifies good cause toissue this interim final rule.

“We have entered an erain which economic securityis an integral part of home-land security.

“Put simply, economicsecurity is homeland secu-rity.

“In response, we must doeverything we can withinthe bounds of the law tomake sure the Americanworker is put first,” saidacting secretary Chad Wolf.

US Secretary of LabourEugene Scalia said thatthese changes willstrengthen foreign workerprogrammes and secureAmerican workers' oppor-tunities for stable, good-paying jobs.

Ahead of election, Trump imposesnew curbs on H-1B visas