Artificial intelligence in defence sector on cards
India and Japan will work together to introduce artificial intelligence and robotics in the defence sector, the next level of strategic cooperation between the two Asian partners. After the nuclear agreement was ratified by the Japanese parliament late 2017, India and Japan would set up a joint task force for commercial agreements by January-end.
Flipkart Faces New I-T Math: Discount = Capex
Flipkart has lost an appeal against the income-tax department over the reclassification of marketing expenditure and discounts as capital expenditure, which involves substantial tax liabilities. It could impact the way startups are taxed in the country. The ruling was made in December but isn’t publicly known. The issue involves money spent by ecommerce companies on marketing through deep discounts. Flipkart along with Amazon and some of the other big ecommerce companies have been classifying this as marketing expenses and deducting it from revenue, leading to them posting losses and therefore not being liable to tax.
Protests against the release of Padmaavat by right-wing fringe outfits, with Karni Sena members, armed with lathis, blocking busy roads in Gurgaon and vandalising unmanned toll booths in Noida, blocking highways and attacking public and private vehicles in Surat and other parts of Gujarat. Thousands of people were stranded and traffic came to a standstill on the Ahmedabad Udaipur highway after the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation stopped services fearing violence. Traffic on Mundra-Mandvi highway in Kutch was stalled for nearly 10 hours following protests by the Rajput community. In Gujarat, the state government said strict action would be taken against those who resort to violence while protesting against Padmaavat. Ahmedabad Police threatened to impose Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of IPC (IPC) for violence inside malls, multiplexes and other enclosed spaces.
N Korea Delegates Arrive in South for Pre-Olympics Inspection
North Korean delegates arrived in South Korea today to prepare for cultural performances during next month’s Winter Olympics, in the first visit by Pyongyang officials to the South for four years. Television footage showed seven officials led by Hyon Song-Wol, the leader of the North’s popular Moranbong girl band, crossing the heavily fortified border by bus before arriving at Seoul train station about an hour later.
India begins talks with Russia for Rs. 39k crore missile shield deal
India has now begun final contract negotiations with Russia for the Rs 39,000 crore (over $5.5 billion) acquisition of five advanced S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems, which can detect, track and destroy hostile strategic bombers, stealth fighters, spy planes, missiles and drones at a range of up to 400km and altitude of 30km. India wants to conclude the major deal in the 2018-19 financial year.
At Davos conference, PM Modi to hardsell 'new India'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday warned that emerging challenges to the international system and global governance architecture needed serious attention of stakeholders including governments, companies and civil societies groups and said he would outline his vision of India’s engagement with the international community in Davos. The statement came ahead of the PM’s maiden trip to the Alpine resort where he will showcase ‘New India’ and the opportunities for global investors in an economy which is expected to grow at close to 7% in the coming years.
Nexus Venture Partners Eyes $400 m in Fifth Fund
India’s largest homegrown venture capital firm, Nexus Venture Partners, is expected to raise its fifth fund which is targeting a corpus of $350-400 million, according to three people in know of the development. The firm, best known for its bets on online marketplaces like Snapdeal and ShopClues, will increase the share of investments in companies based in the US in the software space as several of its bets on the consumer-internet space have turned sour.
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