Data analytics to play key role: SBI chief Kolkata, July 11 (IANS): State Bank of India’s Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya on Tuesday said data analytics will play a key role in digital banking. “On the corporate side, we will be using not only platforms to bring people together, but also analytics to find out who is producing and who is needing what,” Bhattacharya said while emphasising on how the lender is going to leverage the digital platform. She said the lender will use data analytics in retail banking too. Speaking on the lender’s credit-deposit ratio at 50.5 per cent in West Bengal, she said: “We need to create right situations for credit absorption. If there is no credit absorption capacity, pouring lot of credit will cause NPAs.” Bhattacharya said that what needs to be done in West Bengal is to have a look at value chain financing. Google unintentionally highlights pirate sites in US San Francisco, July 11 (IANS): While Google has done enough to demote pirate sites in India, the tech giant is reportedly highlighting such platforms in the US. According to a report in Engadget, the internet firm’s search results in the US are unintentionally highlighting popular pirate outlets when they search for “best torrent sites”. Google relies on algorithms to highlight results automatically. Several music and video industries have criticised the tech giant and accused it of not doing enough to prevent piracy. “They have routinely argued that Google should outright remove pirate sites from its results, not just demote them,” the report added. Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson has said that the results “do not reflect what we had in mind,” and that the company is “looking into” the issue. “These results are generated algorithmically, but in this particular case, do not reflect what we had in mind for this feature and we are looking into it,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying. Google has been surrounded by several controversies since the start of this year. In March, Google was criticised for placement of ads on its video hosting platform YouTube. Several major brands boycotted YouTube and had their ads removed from the platform as they protested the placement of ads which were appearing next to offensive content, including videos posted by terrorism-affiliated groups. Amazon wins India’s approval to invest in domestic food retail MUMBAI, July 11 (Reuters): Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc has secured approval to stock and sell food and groceries in India, potentially expanding its business in the fast-growing economy where it is in a pitched battle with home-grown rival Flipkart. A source familiar with the matter said Amazon planned to invest $500 million in the food segment, over and above the $5 billion it had already committed to investing in India. Cheaper smartphones, increasing internet penetration and steep discounts have led to a surge in domestic online shopping for everything from gadgets to clothes and food items in India. Still, mom-and-pop stores account for the biggest share of grocery sales, offering organised players huge growth potential. Currently Amazon offers food products in India via Amazon Pantry, where retailers including joint venture Cloudtail sell various products. It also offers same-day grocery delivery on its Amazon Now app through a tie-up with Indian retailers Big Bazaar, Star Bazaar and Hypercity. Amazon did not comment on whether its new investments would affect any of its existing tie-ups, or its Cloudtail joint venture.
