The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	WTO projects 4.7% growth in global trade this year Geneva/New Delhi, April 14 The global trade is projected to recover and grow by 4.7% in 2014, more than double of what was achieved in 2013, the WTO said today. The growth is projected to be slightly faster at 5.3% in 2015, which is also the 20-year average growth rate. "The world trade is expected to grow by a modest 4.7% in 2014 and at slightly faster rate of 5.3% in 2015," the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said. For the past two years, global trade growth averaged 2.2% only. "For the last two years trade growth has been sluggish. Looking ahead, if GDP forecast holds true, we expect a broad-based but modest upturn in 2014 and further consolidation of this growth in 2015. It is clear that trade is going to increase in trade will not be enough for WTO members," WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said in a release. Trade is an important indicator of recovery of the global economy. It said Asia will continue to fuel growth. Europe and North America's recovery is also set to be a key driver on import and export front. The release said the rise in financial market volatility was most keenly felt in emerging markets with large current account deficits. "This is especially true of India, where output growth see-sawed from 2.6% in the second quarter to 7.2% in the third, then back to 3.9% in the fourth," it said. Asia’s exports grew faster than any other region’s last year, with a 4.6% rise, it said adding it was followed by North America and Europe. "Turning to imports, the fastest growing region was Asia (4.4%), followed by the Middle-East, Africa, North America) and Europe. India suffered a sharp drop of 2.9% in its imports as a result of its economic slowdown, but China’s purchases from abroad jumped nearly 10%," it added. India's exports in 2013-14 fell short of the exports target of $325 billion and touched $312 billion. — PTI
	No plan to sell handset biz, says BlackBerry CEO New York, April 14 BlackBerry has no plans to sell its devices business even as the Canadian smartphone maker faces losses and inventory pile up. "I want to assure you that I have no intention of selling off or abandoning this business any time soon... Our focus today is on finding a way to make this business profitable," BlackBerry CEO John Chen said. "I know you still love your BlackBerry devices. I love them too and I know they created the foundation of this company," he added. Recent reports suggested that Ontario-headquartered firm was leaving the handset market. "BlackBerry is not a handset-only company. We offer an end-to-end solution and devices are an important part of that equation," Chen said in the company's blog post. He added that the company is "complementing" its devices business with other revenue streams from enterprise services and software to messaging. "We are also investing in emerging solutions such as Machine to Machine technologies that will help to power the backbone of the Internet of Things," he said. Chen said the company will do "everything in our power" to continue to rebuild business and deliver devices with the iconic keyboard and other features that users associate with the BlackBerry brand. "Rest assured, we continue to fight. We have not given up and we are not leaving the Devices business," Chen reiterated. For its fourth quarter ended February, BlackBerry reported a net loss of $423 million, while its revenue declined 64 per cent to $976 million. — PTI
	FICCI meets CEOs of top US firms in India Boosting commercial relations on agenda Sanjeev Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 14 In the backdrop of India-US bilateral relations taking a downward spiral and compounded by negative sentiments on commercial issues such as patents, industry body FICCI met with the CEOs of top US companies based in India. This exercise, FICCI said, was an effort to provide an agenda to the new Indian government on resolution of many of these thorny issues in the commercial space. The US-India bilateral relations had seen a downward spiral in the past few months which has been further compounded with negative sentiments on commercial issues. The meeting with the American companies under the aegis of AMCHAM included GE, which is one of the iconic US companies in India since 1902. The other US majors included United Technologies Corporation, Dupont, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell International, Boston Scientific, Boeing and Deloitte. Didar Singh, secretary-general, FICCI, highlighted the importance of Indian and multinational companies to work together to push forward the commercial relations between the two countries. He said there is a greater need to consolidate divergent positions as there are regulatory issues faced by both US MNCs in India and Indian companies in the US. He acknowledged the need to find pragmatic solutions to issues such as IPR, taxation and transfer pricing but also emphasised that the regulations are not unilateral executive decisions but are backed through judicial process under the ambit of WTO and TRIPS regime. FICCI said this was especially true in context of USTR investigations to declare India as a "Priority Foreign Country" for IPR violations against US companies doing business in India. During the discussions, issues such as the Immigration Bill also came up, which bothers the Indian IT industry and could eventually impact the cost efficiency of the US industry in the long run. Ironing out thorny issues The US-India bilateral relations had seen a downward spiral in the past few months which has been compounded with negative sentiments on commercial issues The meeting with the American companies under the aegis of AMCHAM included GE, which is one of the iconic US companies in India since 1902 Other US majors included United Technologies Corporation, Dupont, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell International, Boston Scientific, Boeing and Deloitte.
	TCS ties up with Twitter India for election app New Delhi, April 14 Tata Consultancy Services has tied up with social media giant Twitter to launch an app, iElect, to help users gain social insights into the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. "The TCS iElect app is a completely new way to observe, analyse and participate in the social conversations around the world's largest general elections," TCS said. The app harnesses the power of social media, big data, analytics and mobility to make sense of what seems to be a complex web of conversations, it added. "TCS iElect will be new and engaging for them to participate through the entire process with its gamified and interactive features," TCS vice-president and head corporate communication Pradipta Bagchi said. Users of iElect app will have access to insights and trends on a real-time basis. "iElect makes real time Twitter data and analytics around key political events and content accessible to every Indian. The app has opened up a unique engagement opportunity with Twitter content for our users," Twitter India market director Rishi Jaitly said. An iOS version will be launched soon, the statement said. More that 814 million voters, including over 23 million in the age group of 18-19 years, are exercising their franchise in the world's largest democracy where polls are being held in nine phases up to May 12. Other tech firms are also using the online media to engage with voters. Tech giant Google revamped its election hub to include features such as Pledge to Vote campaign, a 'Google score' tool for politicians, search trend info-graphics, YouTube election playlists and Hangout details for users. Social networking giant Facebook launched an election tracker and started a Facebook Talks series, at which political leaders including Aam Aadmi Party founder Arvind Kejriwal and RJD chief Lalu Prasad answered questions from users. — PTI
	Biz talk Tata Sky eyes bigger pie of DTH space Vikram Mehra Chief Commercial Officer, Tata Sky talks to Girja Shankar Kaura With the advent of Direct-To-Home (DTH) television viewing, the pioneer in the field Dish TV has been seeing new players come up. Among them Tata Sky, the second player to enter the field in the private sector, has been innovating and trying out new things to increase its subscriber base. Vikram Mehra, Chief Commercial Officer, Tata Sky, talks about the company’s plans. Q. Since inception what are the various innovations that Tata Sky has introduced? A. As a DTH player, Tata Sky always believed in creating more than just a platform to view channels. Innovation in entertainment, edutainment and experience has been our driving objective all along. Since inception, Tata Sky has set precedence in the DTH space by being the first to launch HD and PVR (Personal Video Recorder) option in set top boxes, Actve services and Do it Yourself (DIY) videos pertaining to varied topics such as education, cooking, music and culture and also the revolutionary Everywhere TV -mobile TV app. The most recent being the launch of Karaoke with a video-based and Sur-meter options, available on a DTH platform for the first time globally. Q. What are the steps taken by Tata Sky to ease out the lives of customer/ customer service provided by the brand? A. Apart from being a product innovator, Tata Sky has successfully introduced customer-friendly services such as convenient payment choices, “do not pay while on holiday” option, possibility of make your own pack (a-la-carte channel), user-friendly EPG interface to browse through channels etc. Q. What is the USP of your brand? A. Servicing and services are our key core differentiators. Listening to our customers helps us decide the services we introduce. Tata Sky is dedicated to provide the best customer service to its subscribers. Any innovation with respect to servicing that is brought to the table is made simple and relevant to the current lifestyle of the people. That is just the servicing part of it, which is still considered easy to handle. The second pillar is the services part. Though by regulation we cannot have exclusive content, we can have exclusive ways of delivering that content through interactive platform (which we call Actve) or the various innovations such as HD, PVR (personal video recorder), VOD (video on demand) or Everywhere TV through the Tata Sky mobile app. These are services that have innovated and progressed along with customers and time and we will ensure there is more in the pipeline. Q. Tell us about Actve services by Tata Sky. What is the kind of impact it has on its consumers? A. Tata Sky’s efforts in creating not only education but edutainment content, through its “Actve Services” platform, have been well received by subscribers. Currently, Actve English, Actve Fun Learn and Actve Vedic Maths are the education-related services, apart from Actve Cooking, Actve Smart Games, Actve Music & Actve Darshan. Also available on the platform is Video on Demand (VOD) and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) videos that offer videos that take the viewer through a hands-on learning of a range of hobbies. These services are targeted at different age groups and are developed in consultation with top of the line organisations and associations for content. Q. What are your plans for 3rd phase of digitisation? A. Mandatory digitisation by the Government of India has been a boon not only to the DTH industry but also for subscribers. It has opened doors to newer markets and made scalability a reality. The third phase of digitisation has to be implemented in all areas (municipal corporations/municipalities) except cities or towns and areas included in Phase I and II. With digitisation, subscribers will have access to quality and relevant entertainment, backed by customer servicing and transparent billing. Q. Tata Sky recently launched Everywhere TV. What has been the response towards this new service? A. The response has been overwhelming. The concept was based on consumer awareness, evolving usage of their mobile phones and the need of the hour. With lifestyles across India getting busier, more and more people are moving to downloading shows, movies, videos on their phones instead of missing their favourite content on TV. Today over 60% of the (Tata Sky) population use internet to view content on their smartphones and tablets either at home, travelling or at office. Everywhere TV is a unique service on the Tata Sky mobile app for all those subscribers who want to keep in touch with their favourite programmes and channels that they have subscribed on Tata Sky, even when they are on the move.
	Supertech to move SC against HC order New Delhi, April 14 Realty firm Supertech today said it will move the Supreme Court in the next 7-10 days and challenge the Allahabad High Court's order to demolish two 40-storey towers in a Noida housing project. The two towers — Apex and Ceyane — have a combined 857 apartments, of which about 600 flats were sold. The towers are part of Supertech's Emerald Court project. "We are consulting with the senior lawyers. We will file the petition in the Supreme Court in the next 7-10 days," Supertech chairman and managing director RK Arora said. Arora reiterated the construction of the two towers was according to the approved plan and was authorised. — PTI