APPLE PLANS 3 NEW IPHONE MODELS THIS YEAR
LONDON: Apple Inc. is planning to release three new iphone models this year, including a device to succeed the newly-created XR model, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. Apple will include a high-end model in its line-up that features three cameras on its back, up from the current two, in addition to a pair of less expensive alternatives, the newspaper said. The new devices will be expected by shareholders to reverse the disappointing sales that led Apple to cut its sales outlook for the first time in almost two decades on lower-than-anticipated demand in China and elsewhere. The flagship iphone product earns Apple about two-thirds of its revenue, and allows the company to generate more money from attached products like Apple Watches, Airpods, and services like Apple Music.
Tata Motors group global sales dip 14% in December
NEW DELHI: Tata Motors Friday reported 13.9% decline in group global wholesales, including that of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), at 100,551 units in December 2018. Tata Motors’ group global wholesales in December 2017 stood at 116,677 units. Global wholesales of all Tata passenger vehicles last month stood at 59,898 units, lower by 14% from the year-ago period, Tata Motors said in a statement. JLR sales were at 45,474 units. While Jaguar wholesales for the month were 14,088 vehicles, that of Land
Rover stood at 31,386 units. The firm said its global wholesales of all Tata Motors commercial vehicles and Tata Daewoo range stood at 40,653 units last month, down 14% from December 2017.
RBI may lower interest rates in February
MUMBAI: Speculation is building that the Reserve Bank of India may lower interest rates this year, possibly as early as its meeting next month. With inflation at risk of undershooting the 2% lower boundary of the central bank’s target, Mumbai-based Ambit Capital is predicting a 25 basispoint reduction at the February policy meeting, with an outside chance of an even bigger cut of 50 basis points. While the RBI’S tight policy stance made sense until December last year, it needs to reviewed given the sharp slowdown in inflation, Ambit’s economists Ritika Mankar Mukherjee and Sumit Shekhar wrote in a note. Data on Monday will likely show inflation eased to 2.2% in December from 2.3% in the previous month, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. The RBI is likely to change its policy stance to “neutral” from “calibrated tightening” and keep it there until the next financial year, Ambit said.
UK exports to India up 27% despite Brexit uncertainty
LONDON: New figures released on Friday reveal that the UK’S exports to India in the year to November 2018 were up by 27.3%, amounting to £5.4 billion during a political climate marked by uncertainty due to Brexit. The office for national statistics said India was among the top two non-eu markets where UK exports grew during the year, after Nigeria, where exports grew by 29.2%. The overall worth of UK exports (goods and services) during the year was £630 billion, it said. India is among key countries with which the UK is keen to forge a free trade agreement after Brexit.