Business
Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal bags Asian Business Philanthropy Award 2021
Indias leading industrialist and philanthropist, Anil Agarwal, Chairman of the Vedanta Group, one of the worlds biggest Oil & Gas and Metals companies, has been bestowed with the Philanthropy Award at the Asian Business Awards 2021 for his outstanding contribution towards humanitarianism initiatives centering on healthcare, education, sanitation, skill development and sustainable livelihood.
His philanthropic pursuits have been an inspiration across the globe for his charitable foundation, the Anil Agarwal Foundation, which has created an exemplary social impact in rural India with Vedanta’s multiple care initiatives. These initiatives, including Swatch Goan Abhiyaan, Nand Ghar, have touched upon over 4.23 crore lives helping them better their quality of life. To bring in sustainable and inclusive growth integrated with social-economic development, the group spent over Rs 331 crore in the year 2020-21.
The Asian Business Award, now in its 23rd year, is hosted every year by Eastern Eye, Britain’s biggest selling English language Asian newspaper. The award is known for celebrating Asian entrepreneurship and business success, wherein the winners are honoured at the annual gathering of the UK’s wealthiest and most successful businessmen and women. This year’s esteemed assemblage, held on November 19 in London, recognised Agarwal for his exceptional contribution towards empowering underprivileged communities. His universal mission of giving back to society has made him a living inspiration for many across the globe.
Sharing his thoughts concerning his recent accolade, Agarwal said: “I am extremely humbled to receive this award. It has further energised me to uphold my commitment towards sustainably strengthening the rural communities of the country. I take pride in living up to my ‘Giving Pledge’ as this year Vedanta, under its social initiatives, has spent Rs 331 crore and has vowed to spend Rs 5000 crore more. Philanthropy has given more meaning to my life, and I draw immense satisfaction in giving back to society.”
Anil Agarwal Foundation CEO, Bhaskar Chatterjee, expressed great joy over international acknowledgement of Agarwal’s efforts and the honourable distinction.
Chatterjee said: “We are extremely humbled and honoured to receive this award. We have always been committed to uplifting society and creating a more egalitarian social structure where basic necessities of life are accessible to all. The Anil Agarwal Foundation was set up to facilitate sustainable and inclusive growth to protect and provide for our communities. Such a prestigious award has boosted our spirit to continue our efforts towards serving society and motivates us to do more and better.”
It is not the first time his philanthropic vision gained traction, as he was also featured in the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2020. The list ranked him among the top five philanthropists in the country. In the pandemic-marred year of 2020, Agarwal’s contribution towards humanitarian initiatives rose by 90 per cent compared to the previous year. In order to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 contagion, the foundation launched a Rs 5,000 crore social impact program called ‘Covid Mukt Villages’ to help the rural communities build a robust healthcare infrastructure. Last year alone, Vedanta contributed more than the government-mandated 2 per cent towards corporate social responsibility. The group outdoes itself every year with its transformation work at the grassroots level.
One of Vedanta’s flagship initiatives, ‘Swasth Gaon Abhiyaan’, provides end-to-end healthcare services across 1,000 villages in 12 states, improving the lives of over 2 million people. Besides, the foundation also continues to significantly scale up its state-of-art Anganwadi project called ‘Nand Ghar’. With the key focus on women empowerment and child development, the foundation is operating 2400-plus Nand Ghars across the nation. These aim to recreate anganwadis, powered with technology, especially to surpass the pandemic-induced challenges, by establishing e-learning for children along with providing nutritional meals and healthcare at their doorsteps. Vaccination being the most important shield against the virus, Vedanta rolled out a mega vaccination drive covering 1.2 lakh employees, their families and business partners. Under the guiding light of Agarwal, the foundation continues to work towards creating a better world by elevating the quality of life of various communities.
Agarwal, staying true to his philanthropic commitment, took the ‘Giving Plege’, in March this year and vowed to give 75 per cent of his wealth towards the socio-economic welfare of the rural communities. The Giving Pledge is a movement comprising global philanthropists wherein the world’s big-hearts commit to donating the majority of their wealth towards philanthropic programs and charitable causes.
Business
India Set To Lead The World In 6G, Says Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia
In a bold declaration at the inaugural address of the Indian Mobile Congress 2024 (IMC) on Tuesday, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has said that India will lead the world in the adoption of 6G.
In his address at the event, Scindia emphasized that India is now prepared to lead the world in the development of 6G technology.
India’s Technological Rise: From Following to Leading
“It is our belief and commitment that India, which followed the world in 4G and marched with it in 5G, will lead the world in 6G,” Scindia stated.
The minister highlighted India’s remarkable achievements in the telecommunications sector over the last ten years, the country has become a global leader in innovation and technology.
“It’s a fundamental change in approach towards technology development,” he said, attributing this transformation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
Telecom Sector Growth Under PM Modi’s Leadership
“Prime Minister who has always put people at the heart of progress Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishvas aur Sabka Prayas combined with his second motto, One Earth, One Family and One Future. It is combination of these two mottos that leads India under PM Narendra Modi leadership one of the leading sectors in the committee of Nations,” Scindia said.
Scindia underscored government’s initiatives to bridge the digital divide, particularly through the BharatNet program, the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity initiative to connect every panchayat of the nation. Over the past three years, the government has invested more than USD 10 billion and laid 7 lakh kilometres of fiber across rural India.
Digital Payments and UPI: Pillars of India’s Digital Economy
He cited staggering growth in mobile and broadband connectivity, with mobile connections rising from 94 million to 1.16 billion, and broadband users growing from 60 million to 924 million in just a decade. India’s optical fibre cable (OFC) networks has expanded from 11 million kilometers to 41 million kilometres over the last ten years, he added.
The minister further said that this growth is accompanied by the success of India’s digital payment systems, the 4G stack, and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which serve as pillars of India’s digital economy are expected to contribute significantly to the global digital infrastructure.
Scindia further noted that the government’s efforts to ensure that policy frameworks keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital landscape. “The recent changes to the Telecommunications act 2023 is a case in point. It has been drawing light upon hither to undressed areas such as a high potential sector of satellite communications, addressing the challenges of the digital leader. The most important being cyber security. The telecom sector much like other growth critical sectors in India is aggressive, is ambitioushe said.
“The telecom sector much like other growth critical sectors in India is aggressive, is ambitious and its outlook in our Journey from Amritkal to Shatabdikal is to lead the world,” Scindia said. By mid-next year, India will have achieved 100 per cent saturation of 4G across the entire country, covering even the most remote villages, the minister said.
He emphasised PM Modi’s vision of India as a first mover in 6G technology, underscoring the nation’s resolve to lead the world in future telecom innovations.
“The attitude put forward by the prime minister of not just embracing, but raising ourselves to becoming the first mover in the 6G technology,” he added.
Business
Indian Markets Gave Better Returns Than China In Last 5 Years, Says Sebi Member
Sebi Whole-time Member Ananth Narayan G on Monday reminded investors that Indian equities have consistently delivered 15 per cent returns over the last 5 years whereas the same has been zero or even negative in China.
Terming the Indian markets “sone pe suhaga” for delivering higher returns for lower risks, Narayan also flagged a few areas of caution for investors and asked them to be conscious of the risks.
“There’s a lot of talk about China markets over the last few days. But over the last five years, while Indian markets have given around 15 per cent compound annual growth rate consistently, Chinese markets are nowhere close to that. It’s almost zero. In fact, in some cases, like in Hong Kong, it’s actually negative,” Narayan said.
Speaking at an event marking the start of the Investor Awareness Week at NSE, Narayan said FY24 was a “remarkable” year for India, with the benchmark indices returning 28 per cent and the volatility just 10 per cent.
“That’s like ‘sone pe suhaga’. It’s like the best of all worlds: low risk and very high return,” Narayan said, underlining that there are side effects of this as well.
Making it clear that it will not be the same going forward and investors should not assume it to be a one-way street, Narayan said such handsome returns can lead to complacency and pointed to a lot of youngsters opening up demat accounts to join the bandwagon.
Educating people about risks is very important, Narayan said, giving the analogy of driving a car. “There has to be a light push on the accelerator to get more investors to provide risk capital for the economic growth, we also need to be aware of risks and use the brakes if need be.” He said that 40 per cent of the small and midcap scrips have shot up by 5 times in the last five years, because of an imbalance between inflow of investor money and supply of new paper.
On its part, the capital markets regulator is trying hard to ensure that fund-raising clearances are done early so that there is a steady stream of quality paper supply in the market.
From a broader, longer-term perspective, Indian markets will only go north from here given the economic growth prospects in the country, Narayan said, issuing specific advice to investors.
Investors need to have the right intermediaries to capitalise on this opportunity presented by India, and not fall for the unregistered and fly-by-night ‘finfluencers’ who might be driven by vested interests, he said.
Using the oft-repeated idiom of “all roads lead to Rome”, Narayan remarked that Rome is not a traveller-friendly place and one may get scammed there as well. Therefore, it is important to seek advice from the right people for the investors, he said.
He also said that it is in investors’ interests to trade less and stay invested for longer for higher returns, and added that studies prove the same.
Sebi, which has flagged certain areas like derivatives recently, is not against speculation or participants taking short-term trades, but it would want investors to understand the risks, Narayan said.
Business
Ratan Tata Rubbishes Rumors Of ‘Critical Health’; Says No Cause For Concern
Tata Group’s Ratan Tata has denied rumours of his critical health that have been reported and have surfaced in the recent hours.
Ratan Tata’s associates took to his official Instagram account to debunk the news of him being ‘Critical’.
In the post, Ratan Tata said, “I am aware of recent rumors circulating regarding my health and want to assure everyone that these claims are unfounded. I am currently undergoing medical check-ups due to my age and related medical conditions.
There is no cause for concern. I remain in good spirits and request that the public and media respect refrain from spreading misinformation.
For more than fifty years, Ratan Tata has led the Indian business community’s entrance hall. The 86-year-old has been suffering from illnesses associated with ageing. Tata has participated in social life to the best of his limited ability despite his health issues.
Recently, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, on October 2, Ratan Tata, expressed his congratulations to the Prime Minister on this occasion. “I congratulate the honourable Prime Minister on the 10-year commemoration of programmes that have benefitted millions in rural India.”
-
Maharashtra1 month ago
Mumbai Local Train Update: Central Railway’s New Timetable Comes Into Effect; Check Full List Of Revised Timings & Stations
-
Crime2 years ago
Class 10 student jumps to death in Jaipur
-
Maharashtra1 month ago
False photo of Imtiaz Jaleel’s rally, exposing the fooling conspiracy
-
National News4 weeks ago
Ministry of Railways rolls out Special Drive 4.0 with focus on digitisation, cleanliness, inclusiveness and grievance redressal
-
National News2 months ago
J&K: 4 Jawans Killed, 28 Injured After Bus Carrying BSF Personnel For Poll Duty Falls Into Gorge In Budgam; Terrifying Visuals Surface
-
Maharashtra4 weeks ago
Mumbai To Go Toll-Free Tonight! Maharashtra Govt Announces Complete Toll Waiver For Light Motor Vehicles At All 5 Entry Points Of City
-
Bollywood2 months ago
Aditya Roy Kapur, Anil Kapoor’s The Night Manager Gets Nominated In Emmys 2024
-
Bollywood1 year ago
Jawan Leaked Online! Shah Rukh Khan’s Film Falls Prey To Piracy Within Hours Of Release