New Delhi, November 25
Despite slowdown and major cities reaching a saturation point, Indian mobile market still remains the fastest growing for new mobile subscriptions with 18 million net additions in the third quarter of 2014.

The Ericsson Mobility Report while pointing out that nine out of 10 persons aged six and above around the world would have mobile phones by 2020, says that 45% of India’s population will be covered by long-term evolution (LTE) by 2020.

The report says that in India, mobile data usage and services are going mainstream, with a growing proportion of people from less educated, lower-income groups now downloading apps and streaming video content from the internet using mobile devices.

By the end of 2020, more than 95% of the Indian population will be covered through GSM/EDGE technology, while more than 90% will be covered through WCDMA/HSPA networks.

Mobile broadband users now send 40 out of every 100 messages through instant messaging apps, rather than SMS, thanks to lower cost, ease of use, ease of content sharing, and a better overall user experience.

The report also sees smartphone subscriptions reaching 6.1 billion by 2020. The increasing affordability of smartphones in developing markets means they are set to overtake global feature phone subscriptions within two years.

The report also predicts that mobile video traffic will continue to grow dramatically, increasing 10-fold by 2020 to account for 55% of all mobile data traffic.

Rima Qureshi, senior VP, Ericsson, says: “The falling cost of both data usage and handsets, coupled with improved usability and increasing network coverage, are making mobile technology a global phenomenon that will soon be available to the vast majority of the world’s population.”

Beijing, November 25
Researchers are investigating how software-defined cellular networking might be used to give smartphone users the next generation of super-superfast broadband — 5G.

Currently, the fourth generation of mobile phone connection technology, 4G, in as far as it has been adopted provides broadband-type connectivity for enabled devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, laptops and other gadgets through two standards: the Mobile WiMAX standard and the first-release Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard.

Peak speeds were set in the standards at 100 megabits per second (Mbits/s) for mobile users and 10 times that for static, domestic 5G users, 1 gigabit per second. — PTI

New Delhi, November 25
Private equity investments in India amounted to $1.7 billion in October, taking the overall PE deal tally to $10.2 billion in the first 10 months of this year, says a Grant Thornton report.

According to the assurance, tax and advisory firm, PE deal values and volumes in October surpassed levels seen during the same month of the earlier years and was also among the highest in a month this year.

As many as six deals valued over $100 million each were reported during October, which in turn boosted the PE deal tally significantly.

From January-October this year, there were 500 PE deals amounting to $10.2 billion, up 18% in value terms and 37% in terms of number of deals in 2013.

“We are seeing a strong rebound in M&A and PE deal activity with investor confidence on a rebound,” Grant Thornton India LLP Partner Raja Lahiri said. — PTI

New Delhi, November 25
Banks have collected over Rs 6,000 crore by opening 7.9 crore accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. 

“The objective of the scheme is to bring the people to the financial world. The people of the country have deposited Rs 6,000 crore under PMJDY,” Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Snehlata Shrivastava has said.

The money deposited by the people is given by the bank for various works and businesses thus providing development of the country, she has said at a mega camp organised by Corporation Bank in Mangalore.

There are various benefits through PMJDY like RuPay Debit Cards with Rs 1 lakh accidental insurance to all the account holders, she said.

Overdraft of Rs 5,000 to one member of family, preferably a woman, will also be provided after observing satisfactory transactions in the account for six months, she added.

Besides these, other need-based credit facilities, micro insurance and so on will also be available to the customers.

Corporation Bank CMD SR Bansal said the bank has opened 12.83 lakh savings bank accounts under PMJDY so far.

Out of 12.83 lakh accounts, 9.13 lakh account holders have been issued RuPay debit cards, he added.

New Delhi, November 25
Reliance Industries (RIL) has sought interest on $1.41 a unit that buyers of its KG-D6 gas are paying into a gas pool account operated by GAIL India, saying the state-run firm ought to invest the amount due to RIL in good interest-bearing instruments.

The government had last month hiked domestic natural gas prices by 33% to $5.61 per million British thermal unit. In case of RIL’s main gas field in KG-D6 block, it, however, ordered buyers to pay the firm old rate of $4.2 and deposit the balance $1.41 in the gas pool account.

The incremental $1.41 would become due to RIL if it can legally prove that Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas output dropping to a tenth of projected 80 million cubic meters per day was due to geological reasons, and not because of hoarding.

RIL has written to the Oil Ministry saying it is entitled to getting the principal amount together with market interest rate in case it wins the legal case. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Kotak Group enters into general insurance space
Mumbai: Kotak Mahindra Bank on Tuesday announced its entry into the highly fragmented general insurance space, a week after buying out ING Vysya Bank. The bank has received the RBI’s approval to form a general insurance subsidiary and already has an in-principle nod from IRDA to incorporate the same, it said. — PTI

GMR Infra gets SEBI nod for Rs 1,500 crore rights issue
New Delhi: GMR Infrastructure has received SEBI’s approval to raise up to Rs 1,500 crore through rights issue. The funds would be used for repayment of borrowings availed by GMR Infrastructure, investment in its subsidiary — GMR Energy Ltd — as well as for general corporate purposes. — PTI

Nimbuzz launches caller identification app Holaa!
New Delhi: Unveiling its ‘Made in India’ caller identification app Holaa!, instant messaging platform Nimbuzz on Tuesday said it aims to garner about 10 million users for this service. Holaa!, like Truecaller, allows users to see details like the caller’s name, photo and location during an incoming call live. It also helps block spam calls from pesky spammers or other unwanted callers. — PTI