businessline podcasts

The tractor industry witnessed new highs in the month of September, with production hitting a historic high and the second highest-ever sales by volume. This despite the on-going coronavirus pandemic.

The total tractor production stood at 99,523 units during the month, supported by demand improvement and inventory build-up by companies ahead of the festival season. The total domestic sales in September stood at 1,08,585 units, up 28 per cent compared to last year. In October 2018, the industry had sold the highest number of units (1,12,556).

G Balachandar brings you all the details. Listen in!

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is more than a mere tournament. It a business that has tickled the minds of many people. On this episode, BusinessLine's Chitra Narayanan speaks with veteran sports journalist G Rajaraman about an aspect that has never ceased to amaze sports lovers - the IPL auction dynamics. How do teams choose the players for the IPL season? Does the cricketer have a say in the terms and conditions of the contract? Listen to the podcast.

Solar power is all set to lead a surge in renewable power supply in the next decade, the International Energy Agency has said in a report. The renewable energy sector is seen accounting for 80 per cent of growth in global electricity generation under current conditions.

In its annual World Energy Outlook report, the Paris-based agency has noted renewables are expected to overtake coal as the primary means of producing electricity by 2025, adding that power generation from renewables was the only major source of energy that has grown in 2020. The combined share of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind in global generation will rise to almost 30 per cent in 2030 from 8 per cent in 2019, it said.

The reason for this is simple -- maturing technology and support mechanisms have has made solar PV cheaper than new coal- or gas-fired power plants in most countries.

Heavy falls are likely over North Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, South Interior Karnataka, South Odisha, South Chhattisgarh and Vidarbha. As for tomorrow (Thursday), a similar sequence of warnings is valid variously over Madhya Maharashtra, Konkan, Goa, North interior Karnataka, Marathawada and Coastal and South Interior Karnataka.

Listen to the podcast by Vinson Kurian.

Kerala has declared itself to be the first fully digital State in the country in the field of public education, with the completion of the ‘hi-tech classroom and hi-tech lab’ projects in government-owned schools. About 41 lakh students are expected to benefit. The government has distributed close to 3.75 lakh digital devices to 16,027 schools, from classes 1 to 12, as part of the Smart Classroom project.

Listen to the podcast.

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Razorpay, a full stack financial services company, has raised $100 million in Series D fundraise, giving the company more than $1 billion in valuation and an Unicorn status.

The latest round was co-led by Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund GIC and Sequoia India, along with participation from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, Y Combinator and Matrix Partners.

Read the full article here

US economists Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson won the 2020 Nobel Economics Prize for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday.

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Heavy to very heavy falls are forecast at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall (20 cm and above) at isolated places East and West Godavari, Vishakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram and Srikakulam districts of North Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. Heavy to very heavy are likely also over Ganjam, Gajapati, Koraput, Raygada, Navrangpur, Malkangiri, Khurda and Puri in South Odisha; Krishna in South Coastal Andhra Pradesh; Kurnool; Telangana; South Konkan and Goa; South Madhya Maharashtra; Marathwada, Karnataka and North Kerala, while it would be heavy over South Chhattisgarh the same day.

Listen to the podcast by Vinson Kurian

Google is having legal troubles in various nations even as the US Justice Department is working on a historic antitrust case against the tech giant. A recent article in the New York Times suggests that the DOJ's lawsuit will focus on the company’s power over internet search, but it could face other lawsuits from States regarding its dominance in other business segments. This comes even as politicians from across the aisle, including US president Donald Trump, seeking ways limit the power of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

The tech giant is facing a number of issues in India, South Korea, Australia and China. Listen in for details.

Amongst Google's most recently launched Pixel phones globally, the Pixel 4a is the only phone which will make its way to India.

The Pixel 4a features the Snapdragon 730G, and comes with 128 GB storage with 6 GB RAM, will be available in India from October 16.

Listen in to know more about the Pixel 4a.