‘RBI needs to ensure financial stability’
New Delhi, January 19 (Reuters): Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday he would take the steps necessary to maintain financial stability in the country and help create favourable conditions for growth. India’s economy has grown because of measures such as the nationwide goods and services tax and the insolvency and bankruptcy code that prevents wilful defaulters from bidding for stressed assets, Shaktikanta Das said in his address to an investor roundtable. The country’s growth story is backed by its strong domestic fundamentals, he said, citing lower inflation. Annual retail inflation rate dropped to an 18-month low of 2.19 % in December, strengthening the views of some economists that the central bank could ease monetary policy next month. India’s top business groups on Thursday urged the central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate by at least half a percentage point and lower the cash reserve ratio it imposes on banks. The country also needs to watch out for any sudden turbulence in the global financial market, Das said.
Facebook releases Messenger redesign on Android, iOS
San Francisco, January 19 (IANS): Facebook has redesigned its messaging app -- Messenger -- with a new interface and the update can be downloaded on both Android and iOS devices via Google Play and App Store. The redesign was first announced at Facebook’s F8 developer conference in May 2018 with the idea of making the chat feature simpler and to put messages at the front and centre once again. Notable features of the redesign include consolidating its nine tabs into just three, introducing more whitespace to the interface and hidden buttons for game, bots and reminder functionalities on the chatbox, The Verge reported on Friday. Following its announcement in May, the redesign entered a prolonged rollout period in October. “The company says it might take a little time for the update to be available for everyone,” the report added. Messenger was launched for Facebook users to send messages to one another while they browsed through the social media app on the desktop and in 2014, it was released as an individual mobile app.
US-China trade disputes to impact fashion-retail businesses
Washington, January 19 (IANS): The ongoing US-China trade disputes will impact the American fashion-retail businesses in 2019, according to a report. In the report “Big Issues Will Affect Retail in 2019”, the California Apparel News magazine quoted business insiders as saying that the shrinking of consumer spending caused by the cooling economy this year might be amplified by the trade disputes between the two biggest economies in the world, reports Xinhua news agency. “If the trade war continues, we’re going to see some real price inflation of low-end and moderate-priced product,” Paula Rosenblum, managing partner for Retail Systems Research (RSR), said on Friday. “Since so much of apparel is a discretionary spend, the impact will be swift.” Online returns and voice-activated retail are other main factors to affect the industry, said the report. However, Rosenblum did not forecast the scale of the impact, saying: “I can’t remember the last time US retailers dealt with fallout from a trade war.”
