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Centre to consider raising Kerala’s borrowing limit: Minister

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Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 30 (IANS) Asking public and private insurance companies to quickly settle claims filed by the flood-affected in Kerala, Union Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan has said that the Centre will consider the state’s demand to raise its borrowing limit.

“… the demand of Kerala for enhancing (its borrowing limit) from 3 per cent to 4.5 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) will be looked into by the Central government,” he said at a State-Level Bankers’ Committee meet here on Wednesday.

The Minister, on a visit to flood-ravaged Kerala to review relief and rehabilitation measures taken by banks and insurance companies, said that the Centre would provide all necessary assistance to Kerala.

“All public and private insurance companies have been instructed to quickly process and expedite settlement of all claims arising out of floods,” he said.

With the allocation of Rs 214 crore this fiscal, the state government has a total of Rs 562.45 crore in the State Disaster Response Fund at its disposal, he added.

The Minister said that further fund requirement will be decided after a memorandum on losses is submitted by the state. The Kerala government has said that it is preparing a new report.

“Based on the memorandum, the Centre will send a team to study the situation before taking a decision on the matter,” Radhakrishnan said.

Nearly 191 bank branches and 179 ATMs were made functional, and steps are being taken to make the remaining functional as early as possible, he said.

To give relief to the people, the Minister said, the government has waived charges for services like issuance of duplicate passbooks, deposit receipts and charges for not maintaining minimum balance.

Soiled and defective notes will be exchanged at all bank branches. He pointed out that the government has also extended fresh consumption loans of up to Rs 10,000 on need basis and a moratorium on agricultural and MSME loans for one year in Kerala.

The Centre has given all possible assistance to Kerala under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s direction and has provided required food grains and medicines, Radhakrishnan said.

The Centre is totally sympathetic to Kerala and the Prime Minister has asked the Ministries concerned to consider the state’s demands, he added.

–IANS
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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

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.

CasinoDays India

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.

 

CasinoDays India

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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