Tag: #amazon

  • Pakistan’s e-commerce market size increases to Rs96bn

    Pakistan’s e-commerce market size increases to Rs96bn

    Pakistan’s e-commerce marketing size has increased to Rs96 billion in the first quarter of the financial year 2021 as compared to Rs71 billion in the first quarter of the financial year 2020.

    This was informed during the fourth meeting of the National e-Commerce Council (NeCC), chaired by Abdul Razak Dawood, advisor to Prime Minister (PM) on commerce.

    NeCC is a body of representatives from the public and private sector, established under the National e-Commerce Policy approved by the cabinet in October 2019.

    According to officials, the NeCC discussed operationalisation of cross border e-commerce procedures, incentives to promote e-commerce, ways to introduce international payment services.

    Furthermore, deliberations on the mercantile stock exchange, digital on-boarding services, reports of the consultative committee on Women Economic Empowerment (WEE), e-commerce business facilitation portal, consumer protection councils, availability of broadband to remote areas, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) a digital transformation process, and collaboration with Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) on e-commerce related matters were also discussed.

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) informed the meeting on the legal framework updates, including e-commerce rules regarding the mechanism of imports goods clearance, and return of goods policy.

    The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) also gave a detailed presentation on efforts to promote cross-border e-commerce.

    The National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT) informed the meeting that they are developing a payment solution for cross border/international payments in collaboration with the SBP through which people outside of Pakistan will be able to pay through Paypal, Google Pay and Apple Pay. Payments within Pakistan will be processed through the help.

    NIFT said that the payment system was to become functional by the end of 2020 but the diversion of efforts towards COVID affected the plan badly.

    Meanwhile, the sub-committee on financial inclusion and digitization shared its progress of conducting three webinars for freelancers, mobile wallets, account-based solutions and card-based payments.

  • After ‘Tandav’, case filed against ‘Mirzapur’ for ‘damaging social harmony’

    After ‘Tandav’, case filed against ‘Mirzapur’ for ‘damaging social harmony’

    A case has been filed against the producers of Mirzapur, as well as Amazon Prime Video, for allegedly hurting “religious, social and regional sentiments” and “damaging social harmony”.

    As per the reports, the complainant, Arvind Chaturvedi, has alleged that the Amazon Prime Video show hurts religious, social, and regional sentiments and damages social harmony. Chaturvedi also claimed that the series has hurt religious beliefs and feelings by focusing on abusive and illicit relationships. It is pertinent to add here that Chaturvedi is a local journalist, who has also written a book on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    The makers of the superhit web series have also been accused of spoiling the image of Uttar Pradesh (UP).

    An FIR has also been reportedly filed against Mirzapur producers Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, and Bhaumik Gondaliya. They have been charged under IPC sections 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC along with sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

    This is not the first time that the show has found itself embroiled in a controversy. Last year, a day after its release, Mirzapur’s MP Anupriya Patel had also demanded action against the show.

    In a tweet on October 24, 2020, MP Anupriya Patel had written that under the leadership of PM Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the city of Mirzapur has shown development and is “a centre of harmony”.

    The complaint against Mirzapur comes days after an FIR was lodged against the makers of Tandav. The recently-released show is facing backlash for its portrayal of Hindu Gods and it has been alleged that the show depicts them in a poor light. Several BJP leaders have called for a complete ban on the show.

    Tandav creator Ali Abbas Zafar on Tuesday announced that the cast and crew of the show has decided to implement changes in the series in order to pacify viewers who have been hurt because of the content.

    Zafar shared an official statement from the cast and crew of Tandav on Twitter and asserted that the team had no intentions to hurt or offend the sentiments of any caste, race, community, or religion.

    “We have the utmost respect for the sentiments of the people of our country. We did not intend to hurt or offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead,” read the statement.

    The team also thanked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for guiding and supporting them in the matter.

    “We thank the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for guidance and support in the matter. We once again apologise if the series has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments,” it added.

    Earlier on Monday, the cast and crew of the political-drama had extended their apologies to the viewers for “unintentionally” hurting their sentiments.

  • WhatsApp rolls out payment services in India

    WhatsApp rolls out payment services in India

    WhatsApp began testing its payment services in India with one million users in 2018, and now they are rapidly expanding the feature to capture the world’s second-largest economy.

    The Facebook-owned company said on Friday that it is rolling out payments in ten regional languages in the latest stable version of WhatsApp on Android and iOS.

    The company made the announcement when National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the body that runs the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system, approved to roll out the feature in the Indian market.

    Like Google, Samsung and several other firms, WhatsApp has built its payments service in collaboration with large banks in India.

    NPCI said WhatsApp, which has accumulated over 400 million users in India, can expand payments to its users in a “graded-manner”, and to start with, it can only roll out the payments service to 20 million users and has to work with multiple banking partners.

    WhatsApp said that they are already working with leading banks like ICICI, HDFC, Axis, Jio Payment, and the State Bank of India.

    Google and Walmart are currently dominating the mobile payments market in India; together they have almost 80% of the UPI market share.

    UPI’s popularity has diminished the relevance of several firms in India, including SoftBank and Alibaba-backed Paytm that spent years building mobile wallets. Unlike UPI apps, mobile wallets are not interoperable with other mobile wallets and levy a small fee to consumers.

    “With UPI, India has created something truly special and is opening up a world of opportunities for micro and small businesses that are the backbone of the Indian economy. India is the first country to do anything like this. I’m glad we were able to support this effort and work together to help achieve a more digital India. I want to thank all our partners who’ve made this possible. When people can access financial tools, they’re more empowered to support themselves and others or start a business. Long term, we need more innovation that gives people control over their money, and making payments easier is a small step that can help,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Facebook, in a video posted on Friday.

    Facebook itself has made a big push in e-commerce in the past year. And if WhatsApp gains traction with payments, it could open more avenues for its parent firm.

  • Amazon enters Pakistan to provide web services

    Amazon enters Pakistan to provide web services

    Amazon is forming a team to establish Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Pakistan to drive the adoption of cloud computing. Amazon has also registered a local office under the name Amazon Data Services Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd. 

    According to the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) database, the Pakistan office is led by Paul Andrew Macpherson as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), while Shoaib Munir is a director. 

    A spokesperson from Amazon shared that the technology leaders are currently seeking a public policy specialist with a focus on driving AWS cloud computing solution adoption in Pakistan. The role focuses on removing regulatory and political blockers to cloud adoption. 

    Whenever big companies enter small markets, it is common practice for them to appoint an advisor on public policy. When Bytedance, the parent company of Tiktok entered Pakistan, they hired Hassan Arshad to work with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on policy infrastructure.

    The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) directed banks to utilise cloud computing technology under the condition that systems and service providers shall be located in Pakistan along with all physical servers and services. 

    Under this rule, AWS would need to set up its data center and cloud server in the country. 

    According to the e-commerce policy framework of Pakistan, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication is in the process of formulating Pakistan’s first cloud policy, while the Draft Data Protection Act is at an advanced stage of consultations.

    AWS hopes to work with relevant government departments in Pakistan as they develop and revise policies related to the digital economy, including cloud-first policies, data protection regulations, outsourcing guidelines, cybersecurity policies, tax policy, and over the top regulations. They will also proactively build relationships with key policymakers, politicians, and influencers.

  • Facebook, Amazon chiefs’ wealth rose 15pc amid coronavirus pandemic

    Facebook, Amazon chiefs’ wealth rose 15pc amid coronavirus pandemic

    Amid the coronavirus pandemic, wealth of the chief executive officers (CEOs) of Amazon and Facebook increased by 15 per cent.

    According to reports, wealth of Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg witnessed the increase within the past two months.

    More than 600 billionaires in the United States (US) became even richer as tech stocks rose during virus lockdowns.
    Between March 18 and May 19, their total net worth went up by $434 billion while coronavirus continued to cause unemployment around the world.

    Bezos’s wealth grew over 30 per cent to $174.6 billion while Zuckerberg’s fortune increased by more than 45 per cent to $80b billion.

    As per a study conducted by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institution for Policy Studies’ Programme for Inequality, Amazon and Facebook stocks have surged following new programmes that pushed their businesses ahead at a time when many consumers are stuck at home.

    Reportedly, job losses in the US have surpassed 36.8 million since business shutdowns began in the middle of March to stop the spread of the deadly new disease.

    Data also shows that housing sale and manufacturing businesses also collapsed during the said time period.

    Coronavirus has killed at least 94,700 people in the US where more than 1.5 million infections have so far been confirmed.

  • Amazon owner likely to become world’s first trillionaire

    Amazon owner likely to become world’s first trillionaire

    While the coronavirus pandemic has racked the global economy with uncertainty, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is on track to become the world’s first trillionaire by the year 2026.

    The business software comparison site used data collected from the last five years of the Forbes Rich List to calculate the yearly wealth growth rate of the world’s richest billionaires.

    The results concluded that Bezos, whose wealth is over $140bn, could become the world’s first trillionaire in 2026, by then he will be 62 years old.

    The study also says that Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, could become the youngest trillionaire in the world in 2036 when he will be 51 years old.

    Physical shopping is not a thing at the moment, therefore, Amazon is doing well at the moment because the demand for online is very high.

    Last month Jeff Bezos donated $100 million to US food banks which are struggling to feed a growing number of Americans who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus crisis.

    According to the Billionaires Index, Bezos is one of the world’s five richest people who hasn’t lost money in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Amazon has reported $75.5 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2020.

  • Mohammad Bin Salman allegedly hacked Jeff Bezos’ cellphone

    Mohammad Bin Salman allegedly hacked Jeff Bezos’ cellphone

    Amazon founder Jeff Bezos phone was reportedly hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

    According to The Guardian report, Bezos’ phone received a ‘malicious file’ from the WhatsApp number of the crown prince. After a few hours, the phone started transmitting a large amount of data to an unknown receiver.

    A few months after the intrusion, MBS was accused in the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Although, there was no tangible evidence against MBS’ involvement in the murder of Khashoggi, the journalist was working for The Washington Post which is owned by Bezos.

    Furthermore, information about Bezos’ personal life was also breached and provided to a tabloid, owned by American Media Inc (AMI). In consequence, AMI published a story revealing his extramarital affair. AMI insisted that the information was a tip off by the brother of Bezos’ girlfriend, however, the billionaire’s forensic team concluded that Saudis had managed to access his cellphone information.

    Meanwhile, the government of Saudi Arabia has denied these allegations and have asked for an inquiry into them.

    Nonetheless, the allegations will seriously damage the efforts of the Crown Prince in bringing Western culture and economic investments into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

  • Amazon forest burns, President Jair Bolsonaro accuses NGOs of setting fires

    Fires are raging at a record rate in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has accused environmental groups of setting fires, international news media outlets have reported.

    According to the reports, the skies darkened over San Paulo, Brazil, for an hour Monday afternoon after winds carried smoke from about 1,700 miles away.

    Dramatic images and videos on social media show giant plumes of smoke rising from the greenery and the hashtags Pray for Amazonas and Amazon Rainforest started trending on Twitter soon after.

    Environmental groups blame Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, for the endangerment of the vital rainforest as they accused him of relaxing environmental controls in the country and encouraging deforestation.

    The scientists have warned that the increasing number of fires will strike a devastating blow to the fight against climate change.

    The research data shared from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) shows that Brazil has seen 72,843 fires this year, with more than half in the Amazon region, making it an 80% increase compared with the same period last year.

    The Amazon is often referred to as the planet’s lungs, as it produces 20% of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere and is considered vital in slowing global warming.

    It is the largest rainforest on the planet and is home to uncountable species of fauna and flora.

  • Amazon is working on a device that can read human emotions

    Amazon is working on a device that can read human emotions

    The report said the device would come equipped with a microphone to listen into a user’s voice and detect their emotional state.  It is not clear how far along the project is or if it would ever become a commercial product.

    The wrist-worn gadget is described as a health
    and wellness product indicating another big leap by a
    major tech company into health. Amazon has previously indicated its interest in
    the health sector with its $753 million deal to buy the online pharmacy
    PillPack.

    Amazon declined to comment on the
    report.