In the second quarter of 2018, Huawei surpassed Apple to secure the No. 2 worldwide smartphone vendor position for the first time ever, according to Gartner, Inc. Apple moved into the No. 3 spot. Overall, sales of smartphones to end users grew 2 percent in the second quarter of 2018 to reach 374 million units.
"Huawei’s smartphone sales grew 38.6 percent in the second quarter of 2018. Huawei continues to bring innovative features into its smartphones and expand its smartphone portfolio to cover larger consumer segments," said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. "Its investment into channels, brand building and positioning of the Honor devices helped drive sales. Huawei is shipping its Honor smartphones into 70 markets worldwide and is emerging as Huawei’s key growth driver."
Samsung maintained the No. 1 global smartphone vendor spot, declining 12.7 percent in the second quarter of 2018. "Samsung faces slowing global smartphone demand and ever-growing competition from Chinese manufacturers," said Mr. Gupta. "The slowing demand for its flagship smartphones left Samsung with lower profitability. It now expects the Note 9 smartphone to revive growth."
Apple’s performance was flat in the second quarter of 2018 (0.9 percent growth). "Minimal incremental value in Apple's current-generation flagship iPhones led to slower growth in the second quarter of 2018," said Gupta. “Demand for the iPhone X has started to slow down much earlier than when other new models were introduced.”
"Growing competition from Chinese brands and consumers’ greater expectations for phone value is putting immense pressure on Apple to deliver enhanced value on their premium iPhones to foster growth," added Gupta.
Xiaomi’s focus on expanding its portfolio and adopting a unified retail model by integrating offline and online retail is driving growth in a slowing global smartphone market. This helped Xiaomi secure the No. 4 spot in the global smartphone market in the second quarter of 2018.
In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Google’s Android further extended its lead over Apple’s iOS in the second quarter of 2018, securing 88 percent market share to 11.9 percent share for iOS.
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company, one of India’s leading private life insurers, achieved a milestone by registering 49% growth in New Business Premium in Karnataka in Q1 FY18-19 over the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
The total number of policies in the region stood at 2,097 registering a 47% growth, as compared to 1,425 in Q1 FY17-18.
Commenting on the growth achieved by the company in the state, Bajaj Allianz Life’s MD and CEO Tarun Chugh said, ”Our growth in the state is a testimony of the faith our customers have reposed on us. Karnataka is a key market for us, and through innovative products, and customer friendly technology we will continue to offer life insurance solutions for our customers, to help them achieve their life goals. We are continuously investing in our outreach programs to help us reach new customer segments, as well as to further delight our existing partners and customers.”
To ensure each customer’s life goals are met, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance launched value-packed investment solutions - Bajaj Allianz Life Goal Assure and Bajaj Allianz Life Goal Based Savings. Bajaj Allianz Life Goal Assure is a life goal based investment plan (ULIP) which provides the customer with a choice of eight funds, four investment strategies, return of mortality charges on policy maturity, tax-free returns on investment and life cover, making it one of the best investment solutions.
Furthermore, one can opt for maturity benefit in installments by staying invested in fund(s) of one’s choice and get the benefit of Return Enhancer, which is an addition of 0.5% of each due installment.
Bajaj Allianz Life Goal Based Savings is the latest ULIP added to its product portfolio for customers who are keen to take advantage of the country’s equities market. The product comes with a host of unique features for customers who would like to invest towards their life goals in a regular manner. The ULIP comes with features like Return of Life Cover Charges and Return Enhancer that enhances the customer’s corpus on maturity.
SpiceJet on Monday flew the country’s first biofuel-powered flight, which took off from Dehradun for Delhi this morning. Around 20 people, including officials from aviation regulator DGCA and SpiceJet, were in the test flight.
According to sources, the low-budget carrier used a concoction of 75 per cent of bio-fuel and 25 per cent of turbine fuel to power SpiceJet’s Q400 turboprop flight. The fuel, made from Jatropha crop, has been developed by Indian Institute of Petroleum, based in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun. Biofuel flights make air travel cleaner and more efficient by reducing carbon emissions, thereby also marking a huge reduction in the cost of airline operations.
Around 20 people, including officials from aviation regulator DGCA and SpiceJet, were in the 78-seater aircraft. The duration of the test flight was around 25 minutes, according to an airline executive. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was present at the Delhi airport, called the flight a “big achievement in the aviation sector.” “On 10th August, PM Modi announced the new biofuel policy and today we have successfully implemented it in the aviation sector. It’s a big achievement in aviation and clean energy sector. GST has been decreased on Biodiesel and ethanol,” he said, reported the media.
The biojet fuel has been recognised by American Standard Testing Method (ASTM) and meets the specification standards of Pratt & Whitney and Bombardier for commercial application in aircraft. The development assumes significance as high air turbine fuel (ATF) prices have dented India’s domestic airline sector with all the major players reporting losses for the first quarter of 2018-19.
SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said biojet fuel is low cost and helps in significantly reducing carbon emissions. “It has the potential to reduce our dependence on traditional aviation fuel by up to 50 per cent on every flight and bring down fares,” he said.
ICICI Securities Ltd., India’s largest broking house, said that under its Project Samruddhi, which is aimed at spreading financial literacy amongst junior ranked officials from our uniformed forces, the company conducted a programme for over 75 personnel of Maharashtra Police. The participants were taught about the importance of financial planning, disciplined approach, different investment avenues, importance of goal based financial planning, and the basics of stock markets etc.
Among the senior dignitaries who attended the event were Krishna Prakash (IPS), Special Inspector General of Police (VIP Security) Maharashtra Police and Yashasvi Yadav (IPS), Special Inspector General of Police (Coastal Security), Maharashtra Police. This was the 200th such event the company has conducted nationwide since the launch of this programme in 2017, and has directly touched about 30,000 service personnel. This is at no cost to the participants and the company has partnered with NISM for this CSR initiative to help in imparting this key life skill.
Talking on the event, Krishna Prakash (IPS), Special Inspector General of Police (VIP Security) Maharashtra Police, said, “As a force which is 24X7 dedicated towards protecting the citizens our country, it is heartening to see ICICI Securities has thought of our forces and has taken a keen interest in educating our rank and file about the importance of disciplined approach to financial planning for a brighter future.”
Yashasvi Yadav (IPS), Special Inspector General of Police (Coastal Security), Maharashtra Police said, “Programmes like these would help our team to plan their finances and investments better. We appreciate ICICI Securities taking this initiative which would help our forces also secure their own future by understanding savings and financial opportunities better.”
Shilpa Kumar, MD & CEO, ICICI Securities, said, “Our Police personnel work round the clock to protect the country and its’ citizens. Due to the nature of their duties, managing their own finances and keeping themselves updated on the latest financial acumen is seemingly quite challenging. We identified this huge need gap and launched Mission Samruddhi to serve these people who serve our nation selflessly. We are happy to partner with Maharashtra Police to help their personnel plan for their future by taking a disciplined approach towards savings and investments and equip them the required information and knowledge.”
Taking a step forward towards rebuilding the flood hit state of Kerala, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. today announced a free service drive and special exchange benefits for all Honda 2Wheeler customers in the state.
The Authorized Dealer network in Kerala has been activated to help the flood affected vehicles of customers with free labour charges and the cost of engine oil will be borne by the company (limited period offer). Also, a special exchange bonus scheme of Rs.2000 will be offered to customers willing to exchange their flood affected vehicle with a new Honda Vehicle.
Speaking on initiatives, Minoru Kato, President & CEO, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said “The state of Kerala is facing a massive tragedy and Honda is fully committed to participate in helping the people of the state return to their normal lives by easing their mobility needs. This contribution is Honda’s effort to express solidarity to local people as they rebuild the state from the scratch.”
Customers can also visit their nearest Honda Authorized Network for a free vehicle check-up. Subsequently, Honda Mobile Service Vans and trained technicians not just from Kerala, but also from neighboring states will be available to attend the flood affected vehicles in remotest of areas for fast recovery. Honda customers can enroll their affected vehicles on Honda 2 Wheelers toll free Customer Care Number: 1800-103-3434.
* Mobile Service Van (MSVs) – Honda’s Mobile Service Van is unique as it combines a dealership & service outlet in a truly mobile format - a boon for reaching out to customers in the remotest of areas at a very effective cost,”
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) today hosted ‘Apprenticeship Connect Workshop’ in Bangalore. The workshop, a part of the Skill Connect Road Show series*, introduced new industry-savvy reforms in Apprenticeship regime.
Industry-driven Reforms Under Apprenticeship
1. Flexibility to industry to engage apprentices in a band of 2.5% to 10% of its workforce
2. Introduction of ‘optional trades’ with discretion to industry to design its own courses
3. Industry can outsource Basic Training & collectively undertake on-the-job training
4. Service Sector brought under regime
5. Included Graduates/ Skill Candidates who have undergone NSQF aligned short term training courses under PMKVY/DDUGKY etc.
6. Financial support to industry under NAPS; Government to reimburse 25% of stipend paid by the corporate to its apprentices; reimbursement of Basic Training Cost upto Rs 7500/per aprenctice.
The Apprenticeship Connect Workshops are intended to raise awareness about the reforms in the Apprenticeship laws in India making them extremely friendly to facilitate the Industry (including service sector) to come forward and design its own courses as per their specific requirements to create an industry -ready skill force. The participants at the workshop, including local/regional industry associations, companies, representatives from the state & central government and training providers, were introduced to the new Apprenticeship reforms.
The workshop also presented National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS), which entails provision of financial support extended by the Government to corporates undertaking apprenticeship.
Jayant Krishna, Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer, National Skill Development Corporation, said, “With sweeping business-friendly reforms and introduction of industry-led optional trades to be administered through National Skill Development Corporation and Sector Skill Councils, it is a win-win opportunity for corporates to embrace the apprenticeship regime under the Skill India Mission.”
The Skill Connect Road Shows aim to drive awareness about various skilling Initiatives of the State and Central Governments, and is a step to support industry associations in proactive efforts towards building an industry-ready skill force in India, especially under the Apprenticeship Program. The road show is rolled through a series of Apprenticeship Workshops and Seminars in more than 25 locations across India.
Boeing and Dynamatic Technologies announced the delivery of the 75th aft pylon and cargo ramp components for Boeing’s H-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter. Dynamatic manufactures critical components for the H-47 Chinook, one of the world’s most advanced multi-mission, heavy-lift transport helicopters. The aerostructures will be integrated at Boeing’s facility in Philadelphia.
“This delivery marks a significant milestone in the success of the Make in India program and our commitment towards building indigenous manufacturing capabilities,” said Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India. “We established the Chinook production line in 2014 as part of our commitment to manufacture aerospace aerostructures in India and Dynamatic has been our key partner in that journey. The future of advanced manufacturing in India looks promising.”
Dynamatic Technologies delivered the first set of aft pylon and cargo ramp assemblies for the Chinook in February 2015. This first delivery was mentioned by India Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his inaugural address at the Aero India exhibition in 2015.
“This is a remarkable milestone in our partnership with Boeing and the Chinook program to deliver high quality aerospace products from India,” said Udayant Malhoutra, CEO & Managing Director, Dynamatic Technologies Ltd. “We are manufacturing complex assemblies for global OEMs and have become an integral part of the worldwide supply chain, incorporating globally accepted standards of aerospace manufacturing in our facilities.”
The Chinook is a true multi-role, vertical-lift platform, emphasizing heavy-lift transport of troops, artillery, equipment, and fuel. It is the helicopter of choice for humanitarian disaster-relief operations, in missions such as transportation of relief supplies and mass evacuation of refugees.
Boeing has been working with suppliers in India for over two decades in manufacturing, IT and engineering services. Today, there are more than 160 suppliers providing advanced, complex components and subassemblies for Boeing commercial and defense aircraft as part of an integrated global supply chain. These parts and assemblies cover critical components such as aerostructures, wire harnesses, composites, forgings, avionics mission systems and ground support equipment for aircraft that include the 777, 787, P-8, F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-15 and H-47 Chinook.
