- Arvind's Newsletter
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- Arvind's Newsletter
1.Reliance to commission new energy giga complex this year
Reliance is building a giga complex spread over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar in Gujarat.The complex comprises five giga factories for photovoltaic panels, fuel cell system, green hydrogen, energy storage and power electronics and will be commissioned in the second half of 2024.
The Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex will be among the largest integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the world.
Reliance has signed an MoU with the Gujarat government to set up 100 gigawatt renewable power at Rs 5 lakh crore capex. It has received in-principle approval of Gujarat government for 74,750 hectares land parcels in Kutch for green hydrogen.
2.India likely to resume Iran crude oil imports due to Houthi threat.
The issue may have been discussed during recent bilateral meetings between the countries last week when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar travelled to Iran. Shipments from Iran take place through the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, where the Houthis have a limited presence. The Houthis are also allies of the Iranian regime and are not expected to go against trade deemed important by Tehran, they said.
India has so far not bought crude from any country under global sanctions. The government opened up on importing Venezuelan oil only after the US removed sanctions on the South American nation.
3.Starlink takes a step closer to India
American satellite internet company Starlink, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has been allowed to offer satellite broadband services in India, two officials aware of the development said. The department of telecommunications (DoT) has approved the grant of a global mobile personal communication by satellite or GMPCS licence to the company.
After it gets past a couple more hurdles, Starlink will become the third satellite broadband service provider in the country, after Bharti group-backed OneWeb India, and Reliance-backed Jio Satellite Communications. Their services, though, will take a few more months to get activated, after the government makes changes to the Telecommuncations Act 2023.
Meanwhile,Google, AT&T, and Vodafone invest more than $200M in AST SpaceMobile, a startup seeking to compete with Starlink's recently unveiled satellite-to-smartphone service.
4.The data collection app at the heart of BJP’s India election campaign
Rest of World’s reporting shows the extent to which Narendra Modi’s ruling party is using its Saral app to strategise ahead of the general election.
5.U.S. business leaders are increasingly resigned to a world of hybrid work.
Despite widespread talk of an end to work-from-home culture following the pandemic, just six out of 158 surveyed CEOs said they would prioritize bringing workers back to the office: “The battle is over,” one analyst told Axios. About a quarter of U.S. workers work from home at least some of the week, and a recent Goldman Sachs note said that remote working would be “the most persistent economic legacy of the pandemic.”
WFH life is changing American cities: The Wall Street Journal reported that US office vacancies are at a record hight. And recent research suggested that home working did not effect productivity, either negatively or positively.
6.2024 Oscar Nominations‘Oppenheimer’ Leads the Way With 13 Nominations
“Poor Things,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Barbie” all scored multiple nods in a strong year for movies.
Oppenheimer scored big with 13 nominations, while its sister Barbie managed eight, missing out on Best Actress for Margot Robbie and Best Director for Greta Gerwig. Also up top on the nominations counter was Poor Things, with 11 nominations, and Killers of the Flower Moon with 10.
7.Apple’s mixed-reality Vision Pro headset may have sold out in pre-ordering—and could be poised to one day change the workplace—but, at least in the short-term, it’s still an incredibly niche product.
Look at the pre-sales numbers:
$3,499: Cost of an Apple Vision Pro headset
160,000 to 180,000: Headsets Apple sold after pre-order sales began on Jan. 17
60,000 to 80,000: Headsets Apple produced for its Feb. 2 launch
1.2 billion: Apple’s user base
0.007%: Share of Apple’s user base needed to buy the headset to meet its target.
