Galaxy On7 Prime sports ‘Samsung Mall’ feature
New Delhi: Samsung Wednesday launched a new smartphone, Galaxy On7 Prime with price starting from Rs12,990. The handset includes a feature — Samsung Mall — that allows users to click a photograph of a product they like and search for it on various e-commerce sites that Samsung has partnered with, including Amazon, Jabong, Shopclues and Tata CLiQ. “Galaxy On7 Prime is made for the Indian consumer who is constantly multitasking and on-the-move…It is also equipped with Samsung Mall – a Made for India innovation – that lets users shoot and shop on-the-go,” Samsung India Vice President Sandeep Singh Arora said. The handset, which will go on sale from Amazon.in and Samsung’s website exclusively, features a 5.5-inch display, 1.6 GHz Exynos Octa-Core processor, 13MP rear and front cameras, and 3300 mAh battery. The device will be available in two variants — 3GB RAM/32GB storage (priced at Rs12,990) and 4GB RAM/64GB storage (Rs 14,990).
Hike launches chat, news services without mobile data
New Delhi: Home-grown messaging platform Hike Wednesday announced the launch of a new service ‘Total’ that allows Android phone users to chat, read news, book train tickets, make payments and transfer money without mobile data. The Tencent and SoftBank-backed WhatsApp rival, which is betting on people without internet access to boost its user base beyond 100 million, has preloaded the ‘Total’ service onto inexpensive phones of Intex and Karbonn. Total pops up as soon as the setting up of the Android device is done for the first time, Hike Messenger CEO Kavin Mittal said. Explaining how the new service works, he said Total sits deep on the operating system and uses USSD tech present in every GSM phone for years to deliver content without the need for 3G/4G data. “USSD is nothing but that *121#” that users dial on phone to check balance, recharge and get small loans, he said. “It’s actually incredible how most of the world doesn’t know about this.”
HP 3D printers in India for prices starting Rs2.5 crore
New Delhi: Technology giant HP Wednesday launched its 3D printing solution in India, at prices starting from Rs2.5 crore, to tap into sectors such as manufacturing, education and defence. HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution will be available in India primarily through the company’s specialized partners. It has signed up Imaginarium and Adroitec as the first resellers of its 3D printers for India. “Industry 4.0 is being impacted by a range of technologies — Internet of Things, Cloud etc. The launch of our 3D printers in India comes at a time when the government is pushing manufacturing in India and we see a lot of potential for our printers,” HP India Managing Director Sumeer Chandra said. He added that the product would be aimed at sectors like manufacturing, defence, healthcare, education and product labs as well as service bureaus that provide printing as a service.
SBI to raise Rs20k cr for housing, infra
New Delhi: State Bank of India Wednesday said its board has given nod to raise Rs20,000 crore for financing affordable housing and infrastructure projects through long-term bonds. The bank did not specify whether the borrowing would be in rupee denomination or foreign currency. Earlier this month, SBI had announced plans to raise up to $2 billion by issuing bonds in the US dollar or other convertible currency to fund overseas expansion. It had said that the fund-raising would take place through a public offer and/or private placement of senior unsecured notes in US dollar or any other convertible currency during 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Sri Sri Tattva to open 1k stores by December
Mumbai: Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s consumer goods and wellness brand Sri Sri Tattva plans to expand its retail footprint with 1,000 retail stores by end 2018, and is targeting Rs500 crore revenue from them, a senior company executive has said. The proposed stores will be opened on a franchisee model in association with Franchise India. “We’ve tied up with Franchise India, and will launch 1,000 odd stores in the next one year and have set a target of clocking Rs500 crore revenue from this,” Arvind Varchaswi, managing director of the FMCG said. The company will have three type of stores — Sri Sri Tattva Mart, Sri Sri Tattva Wellness Place, and Sri Sri Tattva Home and Health, he said. The company currently operates in 33 countries and the focus will shift this year to Latin America, West Asia, the Far East, Russia and East Europe, he indicated. The brand, which so far has limited online presence, though sells through its own website, today also tied up with online retailer BigBasket.
NIIF to sign first IP soon: CEO
New Delhi: Set up as India’s first sovereign wealth fund, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) Wednesday said it has raised plenty of capital and will be signing its first investment proposal in the next few days. “We have been at this for about a year and we are pleased that we had first closure of our fund. We have plenty of capital to invest and we are about to sign our first investment in next few days,” NIIF CEO Sujoy Bose said. The corpus of NIIF is proposed to be Rs40,000 crore wherein the government will invest 49 per cent. It will raise third party capital for the remaining Rs20,000 crore from long-term international investors, such as a sovereign wealth funds, insurance and pension funds, and endowments. He said bulk of funds would move into infrastructure investments into India over the next few decades and NIIF would play a role in channeling investments.