Asia
India, Australia, and Singapore to jointly address marine pollution
The Government of India, in partnership with the Government of Australia and the Government of Singapore, conducted an international workshop on combating marine pollution focusing on marine plastic debris on February 14-15, the Ministry of Earth Science informed on Tuesday.
The workshop, held virtually, bought together with the world's leading experts, scientists, government officials with policy expertise, and representatives from industry, innovation and informal sectors, Earth Science said in a press release. It aimed to discuss research interventions toward monitoring and assessing marine litter and plausible sustainable solutions to address the global marine plastic pollution issue, reports ANI.
Read: India dismisses OIC's ‘motivated and misleading’ statement on hijab row
The workshop had four major sessions; the magnitude of the marine litter problem-monitoring program and research on plastic debris in the Indo Pacific Region; best practices and technologies; solutions to prevent plastic pollution; and polymers and plastics: technology and innovations and opportunities for regional collaboration to remediate or stop plastic pollution. The sessions involved panel discussions and interactive break out sessions to encourage discussion amongst participants from East Asia Summit countries.
The East Asia Summit (EAS) is the premier forum for discussions on important strategic issues in the Indo Pacific and a leading confidence building mechanism. Since its inception in 2005, the EAS has been advocating regional peace, security, closer regional cooperation and prosperity of the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean region. The EAS is uniquely placed to share expertise and lessons learned between regions and sub-regions faced with interlinked and similar challenges to develop sustainable transboundary solutions. EAS countries recognise the coastal and marine plastic pollution challenge.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the agenda of promoting maritime cooperation in the wider Indo Pacific region at the 14th EAS held in Bangkok in November 2019. India, Singapore, and Australia are committed to implementing the EAS decisions. This workshop provided an impetus to EAS countries for exploring and informing each other about the challenges, questions, and solutions to marine litter - especially plastic research, use, design, disposal, recycling, and future collaborations for a plastic-free and healthy ocean for sustainable development through knowledge partners - the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Chennai, an attached office of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), the Government of Singapore and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia. Dr M Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, delivered the keynote address at the workshop.
Read: India asks its citizens to leave Ukraine
He suggested considering the application of technological tools such as remote sensing, artificial intelligence and machine learning to map the distribution of marine plastics and developing models to understand the dynamics of plastics in the Indian ocean. He also emphasized that a well designed and tailor-made management strategy considering regional distinctiveness will significantly reduce plastics in the environment.
India dismisses OIC's ‘motivated and misleading’ statement on hijab row
The Union government on Tuesday described the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) remarks on the ongoing hijab controversy in Karnataka as ‘motivated and misleading,’ adding that the 57-member bloc is being ‘misused by vested interests’ for the latter's anti-India agenda, reports Hindustan Times News.
“We have noted yet another motivated and misleading statement from the General Secretariat of the OIC on matters pertaining to India. Issues in India are considered and resolved in accordance with our constitutional framework and mechanisms, as well as democratic ethos and polity,” Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs noted in a statement.
Read: India, Australia, and Singapore to jointly address marine pollution
The ministry further said that the OIC has a ‘communal mindset,’ due to which, it added, the group cannot properly appreciate ‘these realities.’
“OIC continues to be hijacked by vested interests to further their nefarious propaganda against India,” the statement read.
On February 14, the OIC's General Secretariat expressed ‘deep concern’ on the hijab controversy, as well as the so-called ‘Dharm Sansad’ event, held in Haridwar in December last year.
“The OIC General Secretariat calls upon the international community, especially the #UN mechanisms and Special Procedures of the #HumanRights Council, to take necessary measures in this regard,” it posted on Twitter.
Read: India asks its citizens to leave Ukraine
“The #OIC General Secretariat further urges once again #India to ensure the safety, security & wellbeing of the #Muslim community while protecting the way of life of its members & to bring the instigators & perpetrators of acts of violence and hate crimes against them to justice,” it said in a subsequent tweet.
Previously, India called out the US ambassador for International Religious Freedom, and Pakistan, for meddling into the issue.
India asks its citizens to leave Ukraine
Amid heightened tensions over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, India Tuesday urged its nationals in that country to consider leaving.
"In view of uncertainties of the current situation in Ukraine, Indian nationals, particularly students whose stay not essential, may consider leaving temporarily," India's Embassy in Kyiv said in a statement.
Read: Russia says it’s ready to keep talking about Ukraine crisis
"Indian nationals are requested to keep the Embassy informed about the status of their presence in Ukraine to enable the Embassy reach them where required," it added.
India had earlier called for a "peaceful resolution" of the Kyiv crisis, in view of the simmering tensions between Russia and the US-led West over Ukraine.
"We have been closely following the developments relating to Ukraine, including the ongoing high-level discussions between Russia and the US," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told the media last month.
Read: Sliver of hope: Kremlin sees a diplomatic path on Ukraine
"Our Embassy in Kyiv is also monitoring local developments. We call for a peaceful resolution of the situation through sustained diplomatic efforts for long term peace and stability in the region and beyond," he had said.
Moscow has deployed 130,000 soldiers near the Russia-Ukraine border, triggering fears among NATO members that President Vladimir Putin may invade the country to annexe its eastern parts which are home to a large ethnic Russian population.
Myanmar says it won’t attend ASEAN foreign ministers meeting
Myanmar will not participate in this week’s meetings in Cambodia of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, spurning an invitation to send a non-political representative instead of its chief diplomat, its government said Monday.
Cambodia, the current ASEAN chair, said earlier this month that members of the regional group had failed to reach a consensus on inviting Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin to its meetings on Thursday and Friday in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.
Wunna Maung Lwin was appointed foreign minister after the military seized power in Myanmar last year, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The decision to restrict Myanmar’s participation reflected a disagreement over Myanmar’s lack of cooperation in implementing measures agreed upon by the 10-member group last year to help ease that country’s violent political crisis following the army’s takeover.
The head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was not invited to last October’s virtual meeting of ASEAN leaders because of the disagreement. That rebuke was issued shortly after Myanmar declined to let an ASEAN special envoy meet with Suu Kyi, who has been in detention since the military took power.
Also read: One year into Myanmar coup: Stronger course of int’l action needed
“Despite the efforts made by the ASEAN chair and Myanmar to promote cooperation in ASEAN, it is regrettable to see the return of the decision made last year which Myanmar in principle is unable to accept,” Myanmar’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement Monday night. “In this regard, Myanmar’s inability to participate or even designate a non-political representative ... is inevitable since it contradicts the principles and practice of equal representation in ASEAN.”
ASEAN was chaired by Brunei when it snubbed Min Aung Hlaing, but under its annual rotation system, Cambodia now heads the group. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has said he believes it is important that Myanmar attend the next summit meeting.
Hun Sen traveled to Myanmar in January, becoming the first foreign leader to visit since the military takeover. He has repeatedly declared his interest in resolving the impasse between ASEAN and Myanmar.
Japan’s foreign minister met in Tokyo on Monday with Hun Sen’s son and agreed to cooperate in dealing with the situation in Myanmar. Hun Manet, who heads Cambodia’s army and is Hun Sen’s favored successor, accompanied his father during his visit to Myanmar.
Japan has taken a softer line on Myanmar’s military than Western nations that have sanctioned the generals. But in a sign that attitudes in Japan are mixed, Japanese brewery Kirin Holdings announced on Monday that it has decided to withdraw from its business in Myanmar and terminate its joint venture with a military-linked partner.
Cambodia’s Chum Sounry said the failure to reach a consensus about inviting Myanmar to this week’s foreign minister’s meeting was due to “little progress in carrying out the ASEAN’s 5-Point Consensus,” agreed to by all the group’s members, including Myanmar.
ASEAN leaders at a special meeting last April issued a statement expressing a consensus calling for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all concerned parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels, and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all concerned parties.
Myanmar has not rejected the consensus but has done little to implement it.
Also read: Dozens arrested to suppress protests on Myanmar anniversary
Myanmar’s military council has also continued its harsh military actions against areas of the country where it faces a low-level insurgency, as well as its relentless effort to prosecute Suu Kyi to remove her from political life.
Suu Kyi went on trial on Monday on election fraud charges, the latest in a series of criminal prosecutions by the military-run government in which she has already been sentenced to six years in prison.
The army said it seized power because of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 general election, an allegation not corroborated by independent election observers. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won the election by a landslide, while the military-backed party did poorly.
The military’s takeover prompted widespread peaceful protests and civil disobedience that security forces suppressed with lethal force. About 1,500 civilians have been killed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Some opponents of the military have turned to armed resistance in response.
Suu Kyi, 76, has faced a raft of charges since she was taken into custody. Her supporters and human rights groups say the cases against her are baseless.
Reduced brain function, immune disorder a possibility of "long COVID"
What happens to the body of a person who suffers from the long-term effects of the novel coronavirus?
A 33-year-old reporter for Kyodo News, my ailments related to COVID-19 continue to this day, more than a year after I recovered from the initial viral infection. Although I have seen slight improvements through treatment, I am still far from my former self.
The test can sometimes distinguish abnormalities in brain blood flow that a conventional MRI cannot detect and is also used in examinations for dementia.
My test results showed lower blood flow in the frontal and temporal lobes, which govern language and memory, than people in my age range.
READ: Covid-19 Brain Fog: How to improve memory power and brain health after Covid
According to Wakiro Sato, the head doctor in the center's immunology department who conducted the exam, brain function is thought to decline in areas of low blood flow. This tendency of reduced brain function is similar to the one found in many patients who have COVID-19 aftereffects.
No abnormalities were found when I underwent a brain checkup last August. And although I had suspected there might be a problem somewhere, I was left speechless in January by this worse-than-predicted outcome.
Why the drop in blood flow? "It is possible immune abnormalities occurred as a result of the infection, and blood flow deteriorated in connection with this," Sato told me.
After virus infections, "autoantibodies" that attack the body may form if the immune response does not subside, and this has already been confirmed in COVID patients with long-term aftereffects.
The center has long studied chronic fatigue syndrome, which causes various symptoms such as extreme fatigue and body aches. The presence of autoantibodies that disrupt the function of autonomic nerves is presumed to be one of the factors involved in chronic fatigue syndrome.
Sato said the center is applying the same knowledge to patients with long COVID, who exhibit many symptoms in common with CFS sufferers.
"Although they are few, some people with influenza do not fully recover. However, with COVID, there are many who don't, and this is why it is a particularly scary illness," Sato said.
There is no established cure for COVID-19. I have taken small amounts of prescribed steroids, among other treatments -- but it's a wait-and-see approach.
After articles about my experiences with the long-term effects of COVID-19 appeared in Japanese newspapers, people suffering from similar symptoms of long COVID posted their thoughts in messages on social media.
I was moved to tears to see that each person is fighting a lonely battle against an unknown illness. I plan to continue to speak out about the long-term effects of COVID-19 as I continue to receive treatment.
G-7 warns Russia of economic sanctions if it invades Ukraine
The finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations on Monday warned Russia of economic sanctions that would have "massive and immediate" consequences if it invades Ukraine.
The ministers said in a statement that Russia's military buildup at Ukraine's borders is "a cause for grave concern" and the seven countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- are "united in our resolve to protect the sovereignty, territorial integrity as well as economic and financial stability of Ukraine."
While noting that their priority is to promote efforts to lower tensions, they warned that the G-7 nations "are prepared to collectively impose economic and financial sanctions which will have massive and immediate consequences on the Russian economy."
READ: Russian FM urges more talks with West amid Ukraine tensions
The warning came after no progress was made to de-escalate the situation during phone talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday that the government is coordinating the specifics of potential sanctions against Russia with the United States and major European countries.
Japan had pledged "strong action" in close coordination with the United States and other countries should there be a Russian attack on Ukraine, without saying "sanctions" until now.
For its part, Japan has been in a difficult position due to its decades-old territorial dispute with Russia over a group of islets that has prevented the two nations from signing a postwar peace treaty.
With multiple scenarios floated, including Russia's military invading part of Ukraine or advancing to the capital Kyiv, Japan is aiming to prepare a lineup of sanctions that could be imposed according to each situation, according to government sources.
Possible sanctions include restricting Russia-bound exports of Japanese high-tech goods and other products and freezing assets of companies and individuals linked to the Russian president, the sources said.
"We will also take into account the details of sanctions that other G-7 countries will take," one of the sources said.
The government is now facing growing pressure from some lawmakers of the ruling party to boost diplomacy and have Japan's presence felt as the G-7 scrambles to resolve the crisis.
Among the group, France and Germany are stepping up diplomatic efforts to ease the tension through their leaders' talks with Putin.
Japan imposed sanctions against Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea, though questions were raised at home about the effectiveness of the measures, including an import ban on products from the peninsula that is still in place.
India reports 34,113 new COVID-19 cases
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 42,655,534 on Monday, as 34,113 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the health ministry's latest data.
Besides, 346 deaths due to the pandemic since Sunday morning took the total death toll to 509,011.
Read: Global Covid cases top 411 million
There are still 478,882 active COVID-19 cases in the country with a fall of 58,163 active cases during the past 24 hours. This was the 21st consecutive day when the number of active cases declined in the country.
A total of 41,677,641 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals so far, out of which 91,930 were discharged during the past 24 hours.
At Winter Olympics, virus fight waged with worker sacrifices
In her mind, Cathy Chen pictures a scene that she herself says could be drawn from a TV drama: Falling into the arms of her husband after long months apart, when he meets her off the plane from Beijing. Scooping up their two young daughters and squeezing them tight.
“I just imagine when we’re back together,” the Olympic Games worker says, “and I just can’t control myself.”
So athletes from countries where the coronavirus has raged can compete in the Olympic host nation with few infections, China’s workforce at the Winter Games is making a giant sacrifice.
Severing them from lives they were busy living before the Olympic circus came to town, more than 50,000 Chinese workers have been hermetically sealed inside the Great Wall-like ring-fence of virus prevention measures that China has erected around the Games, locked in with the athletes and Olympic visitors.
Read: For Asian American women, Olympics reveal a harsh duality
The Olympians jet in for just a few weeks with their skis, skates, sleds and other gear. Chinese workers who cook, clean, transport, care for them and otherwise make the Winter Games tick are being sequestered inside the sanitary bubble for several months. As Olympians bank memories to cherish for a lifetime, their Chinese hosts are putting family life on ice.
The sacrifice has been made larger by its timing: the Olympic run-up overlapped with the ushering in on Feb. 1 of the Lunar New Year, the biggest and most precious annual holiday in China. As their loved ones feted the advent of the Year of the Tiger, Olympic workers hooked up with them as best they could via video calls from inside the “closed loop.”
That is the soft-sounding name Chinese authorities have given to the anti-viral barrier they’ve built with high walls, police patrols, thickets of security cameras, mandatory daily tests and countless squirts of disinfectant — separating the Winter Games from the rest of China.
Chen found a spot in the workers’ underground canteen of the main Olympic press center for a New Year video-call with her husband, Issac, and their two daughters, Kiiara, aged six, and 18-month-old Sia. They were gathering with extended family for a celebration dinner. Chen keeps a screen grab from the call on her phone. She also has a photo of the four of them posing together on Dec. 26, the day Chen flew from their home in southern China to take up her Olympic job in Beijing.
She works at a Chinese medicine exhibition space in the Olympic press center. Initially hesitant about the prospect of months apart from her family, Chen subsequently decided that the opportunity to mingle with overseas visitors and promote the pharmaceutical company she works for couldn’t be turned down. She is also hoping for triple pay for having worked through the Lunar New Year holiday.
“My boss is happy,” she said. “Because it’s tough work.”
Her Games will end with the closing ceremony next Sunday. Like all Chinese workers when they exit the bubble, she will then be quarantined in Beijing for a week or two. Only then, a full two months after she kissed them goodbye, will come the much-anticipated reunion with her family.
“I can’t wait one more day,” she said. “I miss my younger baby most.”
Because China’s ruling Communist Party does not allow workers to organize independently and with no free trade unions, there’s not a whisper of public complaint about labor conditions inside the bubble.
Many are doing mundane and repetitive tasks and working weeks without days off. Battalions of cleaners constantly wipe and disinfect surfaces. Hospital doctors have been re-tasked to the relatively unskilled job of taking oral swabs for the daily coronavirus tests that are mandatory for all games participants. Volunteers and guards count people in and out of venues, tracking numbers with ticks on sheets of paper. But none will be heard griping publicly about the Olympic endeavor that the Communist Party is using to showcase its rule.
The bubble has been in force from Jan. 4, a month before President Xi Jinping declared the games open. After five weeks of loop life, the most critical things workers will say is that they’re losing track of time, that days resemble each other, and that they’re longing for a break from canteen food: too bland for those from regions with cuisine laced with fiery chili peppers, too unvaried for the many who long for home cooking and comforts.
Publicly, on the other hand, everyone agrees how privileged they are to be doing their bit, no matter how small. And all say that locking them in is a small sacrifice to prevent the coronavirus from jumping the barrier to their families, friends and everyone else outside. More than 1.2 million tests had turned up 426 positives by Day 8, but there were no reports of contamination leaking from the Olympic bubble.
Volunteer worker Dong Jingge misses her grandparents and has an unglamorous Olympic task: She guards the door of a walled-off dining space for Olympic visitors subject to extra health monitoring because they previously tested positive. She counts them in and out, and asks them to disinfect their hands.
Read: How China got blue skies in time for Olympics
The interactions are improving her English, the 21-year-old student enthuses. Her highlight so far was bumping into International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. He gave her a small metal lapel pin of the Olympic rings.
Her mother, outside the loop, was thrilled. “Such a rare opportunity, an unforgettable moment,” she messaged when Dong posted a photo of her prize. Scheduled to also work through the Paralympic Games in March that follow the Olympics, Dong expects that her total stay inside the loop and post-loop quarantine will together add up to nearly three months.
Olympic driver Li Hong says he’s living his “dream” ferrying visitors and workers from venues on his overnight shift. He has been told to expect the equivalent of just under US$80 per day, which should add up to a tidy sum when he gets home by the end of February, after two months in the bubble.
But he’s in it for the experience, he says, not the money nor the expectation that Olympic service might look good on his membership application if he tries to join the Communist Party.
“I said to myself, I’m over 50. In my lifetime, I should serve the country,” he said. “It feels great.”
Rebellion brewing in Bengal CM Mamata's party?
A rebellion seems to be brewing in Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's ruling Trinamool Congress party.
In fact, dissent has been growing between the old guard of the Trinamool Congress and its Young Turks since the party returned to power for a third five-year term in the eastern Indian state in May last year.
Read:Mamata re-elected Trinamool Congress chief
The spark is Mamata's nephew Abhishek Banerjee's push to promote a 'one man, one post' policy in the party, opposed by senior members of the Trinamool Congress who have been holding multiple portfolios in the political outfit as well as the government.
Though Mamata has apparently crushed the dissent by dissolving all posts in the party except that of her's -- Trinamool chairperson -- and constituting a 20-member national working committee, insiders say that it could be just the tip of the iceberg.
"All's not well in the party. A cold war is going on between the old guard loyal to Mamata and the young members who owe allegiance to her nephew. The latter group is trying to revamp the party," a senior party leader told UNB over the phone from state capital Kolkata.
After the constitution of the new committee on Saturday, senior Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee told the media that "Mamata has announced the new national working committee of the party". "She will later appoint the new office bearers and then it would be sent to the Election Commission."
Earlier this month, Mamata Banerjee was re-elected as the chairperson of her ruling party unopposed.
Addressing party workers at the Trinamool Congress headquarters in state capital Kolkata after her re-election, Mamata had stressed on the need for defeating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next general elections.
Read: Mamata in the dock for 'disrespecting' national anthem
Terming the BJP as her “main enemy”, Mamata had said, "We want all the parties against the BJP to come together but if someone does not listen to us, stands away with their arrogance, then, in the words of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, we will walk alone."
On May 2 last year, Mamata scripted history by single-handedly pulling off a landslide victory in the state election for the third time in a row, bucking anti-incumbency and staving off a massive challenge from PM Modi's BJP.
Bengal had witnessed the most high-profile assembly polls last year. While Mamata had harped on being Bengal’s daughter, the BJP went overboard by asking people to vote for "change and socio-economic development" after nearly 50 years of Communist and Trinamool Congress rule.
India's internet economy poised to be $1 trn economy by 2030: RedSeer rpt
It has been estimated that India’s internet economy is surging ahead with over 50 per cent year-over-year growth in 2021, and is poised to be a staggering $1 trillion economy by 2030, according to a new report by consulting firm RedSeer.
This healthy expansion is being fueled by a rapidly increasing internet penetration rate, high-speed internet access, and increased online shopping and digital content consumption, reports Business Standard.
India’s population is extremely heterogeneous, and the needs of one segment in the population may differ from that of the other segments. With this being the case, the report plunged into India’s digital consumer base which can be broadly segmented into below 3 cohorts.
The first is the quasi first-world of 80-100 million, who draw an annual income of over $12,000, live typically in metropolitan areas, and expect high-quality services. Several players have successfully adapted global models to serve this Indian cohort. The second cohort includes those who essentially draw an annual income of $5000 to $12,000, and are aspirational and budget-conscious. The estimated digital population of this segment is 100-200 million.
Finally, we have 400-500 million of the populace that includes the rural segment and tier-2 cities, who primarily draw an annual income of less than $5000, and is perhaps the most difficult cohort to reach, and need digital intervention to help them solve their problems. This is perhaps the most important demographic to reach in the digital space. The need of the hour here is deep vertical problem-solving.
Read: AMNS India our most significant JV, said parent Arcelor Mittal as company reports record profit
According to RedSeer’s report, vernacular first-apps are increasingly solving for the third cohort, and are able to address a large TAM (total addressable market) for themselves. Additionally, omnichannel approaches and verticalized super apps are being deployed to further win over and serve the needs of this audience.
India’s new digital revolution is further enabled by the growing tech adoption in the B2B (business to business) space. The SaaS market size, which stood at about $3.5 billion in FY21, is expected to reach $8 billion by FY26, with a CAGR of 18 per cent. Tech firms are moving towards profit or are already profitable, with a $150-200 million profit by India internet in FY21.
Key internet economies, namely e-tail, eHealth, FoodTech, Online Mobility, and Billpay and Recharge experienced a downward spiral during Covid, but re-emerged much stronger and shocked us with commendable post-Covid recovery. An expanding and maturing user base that is increasingly satisfied with internet services has further propelled the growth of internet-based businesses.
“India’s journey to a $1 trillion consumer internet economy has been a unique story of multiple internet sectors such as e-tailing, e-health, foodtech, online mobility, and quick commerce, coming together to create a strong foundation for a consumption-led economy,” said Anil Kumar, CEO and founder of RedSeer, at a recently conducted event by the firm, Ground Zero 6.0. “The ongoing journey from digital-first to digital forward was a result of multiple internet sectors having shown strong momentum post-Covid.”
Another major contributor to this development is an increasingly reliable and democratized logistic backbone. Logistics used to be the domain of large, established companies with deep pockets and complex supply chains. But today, the RedSeer report said a new class of logistics providers are emerging—a crop of nimble, innovative startups that are improving the way goods move across the country at an unprecedented pace and scale. Headquartered around the country, these companies use an assortment of technology and human intermediaries to provide reliable and on-demand delivery services at a fraction of the cost traditional logistics providers were charging.
The report said the investors are recognizing India’s golden opportunity without a second thought. In just 2021, more than $40 billion of funding and 42 new unicorns were birthed. This is primarily because the country’s economy is becoming more skill-based and services-oriented, so more jobs are being created for skilled workers, which in turn is a major draw for investors. “Further, we expect another over 70 tech IPOs by 2025: this surge in tech IPOs is fueled by accelerated digitization, government initiatives for startups, increasing local investors with high equity, and private equity funding in tech companies,” said the RedSeer report.