With around 70 per cent of its surface covered by oceans, Earth is rightly known as the blue planet. The ocean is also a major producer of the oxygen we breathe, making it a crucial part of our everyday life regardless of where we live. Ocean plastic pollution is a huge environmental problem and IKEA is determined to find solutions in a positive and proactive way. “A lot of people worry about plastic pollution and what it does to our oceans and at IKEA we want to contribute with solutions,” says James Futcher, Creative Leader at IKEA, Sweden. IKEA wants to have a positive impact on the ocean, engage in projects to clean plastic pollutants and proactively prevent pollution.

Publication : ...IKEA

If what Mukesh Ambani did to the telecom sector by launching Jio two years ago is anything to go by, India’s e-commerce sector is in for a huge disruption. Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd, is already the largest retailer in the country with more than 10,000 outlets in fashion, lifestyle, grocery and electronics segments. While that network will continue to grow, it will also take a giant leap in e-commerce. The size of India’s organised retail market is currently estimated to be around Rs5 lakh crore, while the unorganised market is at about Rs48 lakh crore.

Publication : The Week

Date : June 22, 2019

E-commerce giant Amazon has infused Rs 450 crore in its digital payments arm Amazon Pay (India), taking the total funding to over Rs 1,000 crore during the first half of the calendar year 2018-19. Out of the Rs 450 crore, Amazon Singapore has pumped in Rs 449 crore and the remaining Rs 1 crore is funded by Amazon Mauritius. Amazon Pay received the capital infusion on June 6. So far, Amazon has invested a total of Rs 3,221 crore in Amazon Pay, since its launch in 2016.Last month, Amazon India launched domestic flight bookings, money transfer options, utility bill payment on the Amazon Pay.

Publication : Business Today

Date : June 22, 2019

Direct funding support to startups is not envisaged under Startup India Programme. Government of India has established Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), to meet the funding needs of startups. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Government of India, is the monitoring agency and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the operating agency for FFS. As per the operating guidelines issued by DPIIT, FFS contributes to the corpus of SEBI registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). These AIFs in turn have to invest at least twice the contribution under FFS in startups, as defined by the Government of India.

Publication : Uttarakhand News Network

Date : June 21, 2019

For more than a decade, Walmart used middlemen to make dubious payments to governments around the globe in order to open new locations, U.S. prosecutors and securities regulators said in a settlement agreement Thursday. But even as employees frequently raised alarm, the company’s top leaders did little to prevent Walmart from being involved in bribery and corruption schemes. That lack of internal control led to a seven-year inquiry that culminated Thursday with Walmart’s Brazilian subsidiary pleading guilty to a federal crime. The guilty plea, and the $282 million in fines that Walmart has agreed to pay, capped one of the biggest investigations ever under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Publication : The Economic Times

Date : June 21, 2019