Mastercard’s Indian-American president and CEO Ajay Banga will step down from his role and assume charge as executive chairman of the board of directors, as the payments giant announced Michael Miebach as the new CEO. The company said that Banga will take up the new role effective January 1, 2021. Miebach, currently the chief product officer, will become CEO and a board member on January 1as well, as part of the transition, to become president on March 1 this year. The Board unanimously elected Miebach to his new role. As president of the company, Miebach will oversee the sales, marketing, products, services and technology organisations. Banga, 60, who had been Mastercard’s CEO for 10 years, said it has been a “privilege” to be a part of Mastercard’s transformation as a company. The Indian-born top executive said the company has built a growth-oriented mindset and operated with a sense of urgency, delivering a 13 per cent compound annual revenue growth from 2009 through 2019. Banga further added that as Mastercard moves into the next phase of growth, “we have a deep leadership bench with Michael at the helm to take us to the next level.”
Indians dial up nearly 12GB a month
Video consumption using 4G mobile technology drove data traffic in India last year, with an average 70 minutes a day spent on over the-top (OTT) platforms on phones. Monthly data usage also grew to 11.7GB a month from 10GB in 2018. The Mobile Broadband India Traffic Report from Nokia said that 2019 saw a 47% year-on-year (YoY) increase in data traffic, 96% of which was constituted by 4G, up from 92% in 2018. Most telecom operators have switched off their 3G networks in big cities and the consequential impact saw 3G connections witnessing the highest-ever decline of 30% during 2019. In 2018, a mere 1% subscribers surrendered 3G connections. Total data traffic grew by 44 times in 4 years and 2019 saw overall data subscribers grow to 600 million, the report added. The 4G device base grew in parallel by 1.5x, driven by the launch of a variety of models by brands’ aggressive pricing. Despite the growth registered, broadband penetration in India is at around 47%, which is significantly lower compared to China at 95%, and other European nations at 95-115%.
India bags $40mn defence deal with Armenia
India has bagged a deal worth $40 million to supply four indigenously-built weapon locating radars to Armenia by beating Russian and Polish firms. “The deal is for supplying four Swathi weapon locating radars developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and manufactured by the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to Armenia in Europe,” government sources said. The supply of the equipment to Armenia has started and this is being seen as a big achievement for ‘Make in India’ programme in the defence sector, they said. Sources said Armenians had conducted trials of systems offered by Russia and Poland, but they decided to go for the reliable Indian system.
The four Swathi weapon locating radars will provide fast, automatic and accurate location of enemy weapons like mortars, shells and rockets in its 50-km range. The radar can simultaneously handle multiple projectiles fired from different weapons at different locations. The Indian Army is also using the same radars for its operations along the LoC in J&K. The system was given for trial to Army in 2018.
AGR dues: Airtel clears 2nd instalment
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel made a payment of £800.4 million towards its adjusted gross revenue dues to the Department of Telecom (DoT), topping up the £1 billion it has paid previously.
The company, which was ordered by the Supreme Court to pay up around £3.56 billion DoT dues, said that it calculated the liabilities on a self-assessment basis till December 31, 2019 and the payment includes interest up to February 29 this year. “Accordingly the company paid an additional amount of £300.4 million towards the full and final amounts due over and above ad-hoc amount of £1 billion paid on February 17, 2020 on behalf of Bharti Group of companies,” the company said. The payment includes liabilities on Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom and Telenor India.
