Govt

The lion’s share of a state-backed solid minerals company, currently in the works, will go to private investors and the public who will be able to own not less than three-quarters of its shareholding. While the government will hold up to 25 per cent in the so-called Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation, the public will hold the same proportion of stake, while the rest is planned to be owned by private investors, Minister Dele Alake told a conference arranged by BusinessDay in Abuja on Tuesday. The idea is to make…

Tech Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her interim Budget 2024 address to Parliament today, unveiled a significant development for the nation's youth. Emphasising the forthcoming golden era for technology-savvy individuals, Sitharaman announced the establishment of a corpus amounting to one lakh crore rupees, accompanied by 50-year interest-free loans. This corpus is designed to facilitate long-term financing or refinancing, offering extended tenors with low or negligible interest rates. The primary…

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget 2024 speech today, declared that the government aims to bolster the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem by providing support to both charging and manufacturing infrastructure across the country. In her pre-election Budget - technically a vote on account and commonly referred to as an interim Budget - Sitharaman emphasised the encouragement of electric buses for public transport networks as a pivotal aspect of this strategy."Our government is committed to expanding and…

…

With Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman all set to announce the interim Budget 2024 tomorrow, the PM Narendra Modi led government has rolled out a massive mobile phone components import duty cut today. The cut that has been announced is from 15% to 10% and it is aimed at boosting India's exports. Notably, the country is Asia's third-largest economy.The import duty on parts such as battery covers, main lens, back cover, other mechanical items of plastic and metal, among others, has been reduced to 10%, the finance…

The Nigerian government said Tuesday it will revoke the licences of mining companies over failure to sign Community Development Agreements (CDA). The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, disclosed this while speaking at the BusinessDay Media Solid Minerals Conference, held in Abuja. “This year I am using this opportunity to sound a note of warning. Any company that fails to sign their community development agreement stands the risk of having its licences revoked,” Mr Alake said. The Ministry of…

Interim Budget 2024-25: In recent years, technology has played a crucial role in uplifting India's economy, so much so that it has become a major focus point in the Union Budget. As digitalization and the concept of Digital India are on a rapid rise and artificial intelligence-enabled tools have increasingly grabbed the spotlight for both good and bad reasons, new and significant as well as lasting changes are expected. This year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the Interim Budget 2024-25 on…

Infosys cofounder Kris Gopalakrishnan on Monday said governments and policy makers need to support sectors that generate wealth and employment. The Axilor Ventures chairman was speaking in a fireside chat with media and gaming firm JetSynthesis CEO Rajan Navani at the Bengaluru Games, Animation, and Visual FX Conference (GAFX) 2024.“Governments need to provide incentives to attract investments to states in the competitive environment…companies need a reason to, say, invest in Karnataka over any other state,” said…

As artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming education, around 87.85% of educators interviewed believe that the development and application of AI technologies should be monitored and regulated by the government, a report said on Sunday. “Over 87.85% (educators) agree that the development and application of AI technologies should be monitored and regulated by the government, reflecting concerns about risks and ethical implications,” TeamLease Edtech's report - ‘Revolutionizing Classrooms: The Impact of Generative AI on…

As the government looks to scale up AI-backed face authentication across its offices and deepen penetration of e-services delivery to citizens, it is closely looking at how AI can be deployed in future models of e-governance with experts proposing a range of solutions from diagnosis of cataracts to crop diseases besides an Aadhar 2.0 and treating the family as a governance unit.The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) recently brainstormed with nearly 15 domain experts from EY to PwC to stay…