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Gujarat to refund PF contribution by IT companies

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Chennai: In a bid to attract IT companies to Gujarat, the government plans to refund of provident fund (PF) contribution made by the companies, it was announced Thursday.

Gujarat’s Finance Minister Saurabhbhai Patel said the state would come out with a new policies vis-a-vis industries in IT and others before the `Vibrant Gujarat 2015-The Global Business Hub’ event is held in January.

Delivering the keynote address at the roadshow for the event here, Patel told: “For IT companies the major capital outgo is on land and building. We will come out with a policy on refunding the PF contribution made by the IT companies.”

Queried whether a similar facility would be extended to manufacturing units, he said the manufacturing units have various subsidies like value added tax (VAT).

According to Patel, the state would come out with a new IT policy in two or three days.

He said the proposed policy for micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) will offer more benefits for the units in this sector.

He said big groups have taken up space for IT related activities in the state at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT), developed as a global finance hub.

Patel said the government will soon come out with a new industrial policy and new sectoral policies for MSME.

Answering questions from the audience, Patel said the state had given permission for de-notification of special economic zones as the segment turned unattractive owing to changes in the tax policies of the central government.

“We have given our nod for de-notification of SEZs as our focus is on encouraging manufacturing in the state.”

Patel said the government planned to make Gujarat a textile hub.

To a question on wheeling surplus power to Tamil Nadu, he said the lack of transmission facilities had forced the state to back down on power generation to the tune of around 5,000 MW.

“So the focus is on manufacturing sector to generate and use the power. Once the grid connectivity is there, we can enter into long term contract to supply power to Tamil Nadu.”

Patel said though the state had an installed power capacity of around 23,000 MW, the power need was only around 13,000 MW.

Atanu Chakraborty, principal secretary in the industries and mines department, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the Gujarat event.

He said the exhibition area will be around one million sq feet and over 1,000 companies are expected to showcase their products and services.

According to Chakraborty, over 10,000 international delegates were expected to be present from over 100 countries.

Entertainment

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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