Business
‘GST cut to ease entry level stress,’ says Godrej Enterprises executive director – The Times of India
MUMBAI: The rejigging of GST slabs will make products more affordable for consumers, easing stress for the entry level market segment, said Nyrika Holkar, executive director at Godrej Enterprises Group (GEG), which is expecting reduction in taxes to give a boost to festive purchases. The move, Holkar said, will also push premiumisation. Availability of financing options has made it easy for consumers to buy products without paying for it upfront and lower taxes will only put more money in the hands of people, aiding spending. “The change in GST for appliances is very positive for us. It will put less strain on consumers, the entry level segment of the middle class remains stressed today and we should see that segment picking up in the festive period. Today, appliances (ACs) shouldn’t be discretionary purchases; given the climatic shifts and other factors, they have become essential,” Holkar said.For GEG, which has four consumer businesses, the appliances segment comprising AC portfolio will benefit from the GST reset. ACs which were earlier taxed at 28% have been placed under the 18% tax slab, broadening its accessibility for a larger share of low and middle-income households. The appliances business, in which Godrej competes with a mix of local and global players such as Tata’s Voltas, Samsung and LG, makes up for about 30% of the group’s revenues. In India, penetration of ACs stand at 10%. GEG’s appliances portfolio includes dishwashers, which too will see a reduction in tax although the share of sales is not high.For GEG, which has been premiumising its consumer portfolio across appliances and furniture, the GST boost provides an opportunity to expand its market share. India Inc is hopeful that lower taxes will give a leg up to broader consumption as consumers will be able to spend more. GEG is stepping up omni-channel play in its Interio (furniture) business which has set a target of doubling revenues to Rs 10,000 crore in three years. The strategy will be to build new store formats as consumers become more experiential and strengthen its play online (own website) which enables companies to reach more consumers.In a market where online platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart are rapidly innovating and 10-minute delivery players are rewriting the rules, competition for legacy companies has intensified. There is a change in the way people today buy and browse, said Holkar, and GEG will step up its online play. “More than 80% of searches today start online. We will also shorten our delivery time,” Holkar said. Following the Godrej Family’s split last year, GEG refreshed its brand identity and accelerated digital transformation. On Tuesday, the group also launched a refreshed brand identity for the Interio business.
Business
SC permits Centre to review Rs 6,000cr additional dues on Vodafone-Idea – The Times of India
NEW DELHI: The Union govt on Monday convinced the Supreme Court to permit the department of telecom to review its demand of Rs 6,000 crore additional adjusted gross revenue demand for the FY 2016-17 on Vodafone-Idea. Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was informed by solicitor general Tushar Mehta that since the previous round of litigation, in which Vodafone was ordered to pay the AGR dues, there had been a change of circumstance as the Centre has acquired a 49% stake in the company. Mehta said, “We do not want the company, in which the govt has a huge investment, to go bankrupt to make 20 crore people suffer. ‘Govt wants to prevent monopoly’ Govt wants more players in the mobile telecom sector to prevent monopoly,” said solicitor general Tushar Mehta. Vodafone through senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi had argued that the SC had frozen the AGR dues at Rs 58,254 crore as of 2016-17 and that the DoT cannot raise additional AGR dues in breach of the SC order. Govt had converted Rs 36,950 cr dues as its 49% equity in the telecom service provider.
The bench noticed the element of public interest in the case and permitted the Centre to take a fresh view of the additional AGR demands, especially when the issue is purely in the policy domain and involves the interests of 20 crore people. “We see no reason why the Centre should be prevented from taking a relook at the additional AGR dues,” the bench said.
OpenAI has released new estimates of the number of ChatGPT users who exhibit possible signs of mental health emergencies, including mania, psychosis or suicidal thoughts.
The company said that around .07% of ChatGPT users active in a given week exhibited such signs, adding that its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot recognizes and responds to these sensitive conversations.
While OpenAI maintains these cases are “extremely rare,” critics said even a small percentage may amount to hundreds of thousands of people, as ChatGPT recently reached 800 million weekly active users, per boss Sam Altman.
As scrutiny mounts, the company said it built a network of experts around the world to advise it.
Those experts include more than 170 psychiatrists, psychologists, and primary care physicians who have practiced in 60 countries, the company said.
They have devised a series of responses in ChatGPT to encourage users to seek help in the real world, according to OpenAI.
But the glimpse at the company’s data raised eyebrows among some mental health professionals.
“Even though .07% sounds like a small percentage, at a population level with hundreds of millions of users, that actually can be quite a few people,” said Dr. Jason Nagata, a professor who studies technology use among young adults at the University of California, San Francisco.
“AI can broaden access to mental health support, and in some ways support mental health, but we have to be aware of the limitations,” Dr. Nagata added.
The company also estimates .15% of ChatGPT users have conversations that include “explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent.”
OpenAI said recent updates to its chatbot are designed to “respond safely and empathetically to potential signs of delusion or mania” and note “indirect signals of potential self-harm or suicide risk.”
ChatGPT has also been trained to reroute sensitive conversations “originating from other models to safer models” by opening in a new window.
In response to questions by the BBC on criticism about the numbers of people potentially affected, OpenAI said that this small percentage of users amounts to a meaningful amount of people and noted they are taking changes seriously.
The changes come as OpenAI faces mounting legal scrutiny over the way ChatGPT interacts with users.
In one of the most high-profile lawsuits recently filed against OpenAI, a California couple sued the company over the death of their teenage son alleging that ChatGPT encouraged him to take his own life in April.
The lawsuit was filed by the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine and was the first legal action accusing OpenAI of wrongful death.
In a separate case, the suspect in a murder-suicide that took place in August in Greenwich, Connecticut posted hours of his conversations with ChatGPT, which appear to have fuelled the alleged perpetrator’s delusions.
More users struggle with AI psychosis as “chatbots create the illusion of reality,” said Professor Robin Feldman, Director of the AI Law & Innovation Institute at the University of California Law. “It is a powerful illusion.”
She said OpenAI deserved credit for “sharing statistics and for efforts to improve the problem” but added: “the company can put all kinds of warnings on the screen but a person who is mentally at risk may not be able to heed those warnings.”
UK domestic airline Eastern Airways has suspended operations and all of its flights have been cancelled.
Customers of the airline, which operated regional services from airports across the UK, are being urged not to go to the airport as flights will not be operating, the UK Civil Aviation Authority said.
Destinations the airline flew to included Aberdeen, Humberside, London Gatwick, Newquay, Teesside International and Wick, according to its website.
Eastern Airways customers are being urged to make their own alternative travel arrangements via other airlines, rail or coach operators.
On Monday morning Eastern Airways (UK) Ltd filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator at the Insolvency and Companies Court, which is within the High Court.
Selina Chadha, consumer and markets director at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “We urge passengers planning to fly with this airline not to go to the airport as all Eastern Airways flights are cancelled.
“Eastern Airways customers should visit the Civil Aviation Authority’s website for the latest information.”
Following the suspension of Eastern Airways operations, London and North Eastern Railway, ScotRail, TransPennine Express, and Northern will offer free standard class travel to Eastern Airways staff and customers on October 28 and 29, on suitable routes operated by each train company, the UK Civil Aviation Authority said.
To access this support, present either an Eastern Airways employee ID, boarding pass, or flight confirmation to station staff.
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