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Availability of BS-VI compliant vehicles difficult till 2020: Experts
New Delhi, Nov 15 (IANS) Customers will find it difficult to get a BS-VI compliant vehicle in the national capital territory (NCT) of Delhi, even as the environment-friendly fuel grade will be available in the city by April 2018, experts opined on Wednesday.
Industry observers said the Indian automobile manufacturers will most likely stick to the April 1, 2020 deadline to fully migrate to manufacturing of only BS-VI compliant vehicles on a pan-India basis and not come out with new models for Delhi.
The development comes after the Petroleum Ministry, in consultation with public oil marketing companies (OMCs), on Wednesday decided on preponement of BS-VI grade auto fuels in NCT of Delhi to tackle the high pollution levels in the Indian capital.
As of now, only BS-IV vehicles are produced and sold in the country. The BS-IV grade transportation fuels were rolled out across the country from April 1, 2017.
Currently, all vehicles plying on roads of NCT of Delhi can use the BS-VI fuel grade which has less sulphur content. However, BS-VI compliant vehicles won’t be able to operate on lower fuel grade which will be available outside of Delhi.
Auto expert Abdul Majeed, Partner, Price Waterhouse, told IANS: “This might be an opportunity for some players to introduce BS-VI compliant vehicles from their international stables. This would most probably be import-based and cost more.”
“The fuel should have been ideally introduced on a pan-India level… The auto industry is expected to stick to the April, 2020 deadline to shift to an all BS-VI vehicle manufacturing.”
Sridhar V., Partner, Grant Thornton India LLP, told IANS: “This step is aimed at gradual transition towards the adoption of BS-VI fuels and vehicles compliant with BS-VI emission norms.”
“A more effective intervention will be the replacement of BS-II, or BS-III vehicles… This throws the gauntlet at OEM for being ready with BS-VI compliant vehicles much ahead of the deadline”.
On its part, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) welcomed the Union Petroleum Ministry’s decision for early introduction of “BS-VI Gasoline and Diesel Fuel” in the NCT of Delhi from April 2018, instead of April 2020.
The automobile industry body also welcomed the ministry’s tentative plan to extend availability of Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) fuel across the national capital region (NCR) from April 1, 2019.
SIAM described the decision as a “step in the right direction” following best practices globally.
It informed that in the developed countries the higher grade of fuel is generally introduced a couple of years prior to the introduction of higher emission norms for vehicles.
SIAM’s President Abhay Firodia said the decision will give confidence to the auto industry about the availability of the fuel grade across the country from April 1, 2020.
“Use of BS-VI fuel with lower sulphur content may also improve the particulate emissions from the existing fleet of vehicles which are presently plying in the national capital to some extent,” Firodia said.
“In addition, if the government also effectively enforces the order to remove old BS-II and earlier vintage vehicles from plying in the national capital, it would greatly reduce the contribution of vehicular pollution in the region.”
Illegal crop burning in the neighbouring states coupled with vehicular and industrial emissions have caused a sharp deterioration in the air quality in Delhi beginning earlier this month along with the onset of cooler weather.
–IANS
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International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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