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How a Chennai-base face recognition firm helped Bihar use mobile voting
Shine Jacob Chennai
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On June 28, Bihar created history by becoming the first state in India to implement mobile phone-based e-voting during local body elections. This landmark achievement was driven by two mobile voting applications, one each developed by the Bihar State Election Commission (SEC) and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Hyderabad, and a facial recognition system provided by Chennai-based tech startup FaceTagr.
On Saturday, when polling was held, the company's AI-driven technology helped the Election Commission in reducing bogus and duplicate votes in 489 booths, with 538 candidates. This technology was used both at physical voting booths and
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First Post
43 minutes ago
- First Post
Trump boasts of $14 tn US investment, WH lists just $2.6 tn, including $1.3 tn made under Biden
The White House calls it 'The Trump Effect' and features a rolling list on its website of more than 70 projects it says Trump's economic policies spurred, from a new bakery plant in Texas to a LEGO facility in Virginia and a microchip plant in Arizona read more Within hours of taking office in January, President Donald Trump boasted about attracting $3 trillion in new corporate investments to the United States. Since then, Trump has said the investments have swelled to $14 trillion, or roughly half of the nation's annual gross domestic product. The White House calls it 'The Trump Effect' and features a rolling list on its website of more than 70 projects it says Trump's economic policies spurred, from a new bakery plant in Texas to a LEGO facility in Virginia and a microchip plant in Arizona. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD As of July 2, the website listed more than $2.6 trillion in US investments, well short of the $14 trillion Trump boasts about. But a Reuters review found that just under half of the claimed spending on the website - totalling more than $1.3 trillion - originated under former President Joe Biden or represented routine spending repackaged to promote domestic investments. At least eight of the projects touted by the White House had sought or secured critical local incentive packages before Trump took office while at least a half dozen other projects had already been announced by local officials or the companies themselves, Reuters found. Two of the Trump Effect projects were aided by Biden's legislative efforts to boost domestic manufacturing, the review found. One company on the list, Swiss-based Roche, warned that Trump's plans to equalize US and international drug prices now threatens its promised $50 billion in US investments. Asked about taking credit for projects already underway before Trump came into office, the White House said the final investment decisions were announced under his watch and prove his economic policies are triggering US investment. 'President Trump is the greatest closer in modern history, and his leadership and policies are a critical catalyst converting hypothetical discussions into firm investment commitments and ground being broken for new plants and offices," White House spokesman Kush Desai said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Reuters review included interviewing local officials and reviewing public records and corporate statements. It was not clear in many cases what role, if any, Trump or his policies played in getting the deals across the line. Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said his economic forecast - along with the consensus estimates - for investment in the economy has remained relatively unchanged despite the White House's claims of new historic investments. 'I think despite all the announcements it hasn't translated into any change in expectations,' Zandi said. 'The fundamentals that ultimately drive investment spending, broadly, if anything, appear to have weakened since the start of the year.' Trump's push to impose sweeping tariffs on dozens of trading partners has injected uncertainty into global markets, lowering economic projections and freezing investment decisions, Zandi said. Trump's supporters say his policies of deregulation combined with the extension of his corporate tax cuts last week have stoked interest from companies that will be converted into actual investments in the months ahead. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'I think you're going to see a lot more investment later this year, and certainly into next year,' Richard Stern, director of economic and budget policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said. The Trump Effect The Trump Effect list is not exhaustive, according to the White House, and does not include the foreign deals the administration says Trump secured during his Middle East tour in May. The White House did not respond to a Reuters request to provide a breakdown of the $14 trillion in US investments Trump claims he has attracted. Trump wouldn't be the first president to inflate or embellish economic activity on his watch. But the onetime businessman has made his dealmaking the centerpiece of his political persona, promising his presidency would ignite a manufacturing renaissance that would bring jobs back to the US Some companies, largely in the pharmaceutical industry, repackaged existing spending that was later touted as new investment by Trump. The pharmaceutical companies also credited Trump's 2017 tax cuts for spurring domestic investment. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks created the blueprint, said James Shin, a pharmaceutical analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities. Ricks joined top administration officials in February to announce $27 billion in new US investments over five years. The figure drew praise from Trump who said it's evidence his tariffs were working to spur domestic manufacturing, but the figure represented a slight increase over the $23 million the company spent in the US since 2020. 'Everyone saw that Donald Trump gave David Ricks blessings every time he spoke,' Shin said. 'I think Lilly was quite shrewd in its timing and in its messaging.' An Eli Lilly spokesperson did not address Reuters questions about the company's incremental increase in spending and what role Trump played, if any, in its announcement. Claiming credit Here's a sampling of the projects included on the White House's Trump Effect website that Reuters found had been announced or were already in the pipeline prior to Trump's presidency: STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Hyundai: The South Korean carmaker was added to the Trump Effect list after announcing a $5.8 billion new Louisiana steel plant in March. But the company selected the Louisiana site in December 2024 after conducting a nationwide search, according to a state official. Hyundai did not respond to a request for comment, Corning: The global materials science company was added to the list after a $1.5 billion investment in Michigan was highlighted in an April press release. But the figure includes $900 million in funding announced in February of last year for the plant, and the project has benefited from federal tax credits under the CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan measure passed under Biden that incentivizes domestic production, the company confirmed to Reuters. Trump has called for Congress to claw back the chips funding, calling the legislation a 'horrible, horrible thing.' The company would not say whether Trump had any direct connection to the investment. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD LEGO: The iconic toy manufacturer announced a new $366 million distribution center in Virginia in May and was added to the Trump website. The company began working with Virginia on a package of state and local incentives in 2022, roughly three years before Trump took office, according to Pryor Green, the Virginia economic development spokesperson. The company did not respond to request for comment. Clasen Quality Chocolate: The candy company announced a new $230 million production facility in Virginia in February and was added to Trump's website. But the Virginia Economic Development Partnership began working with the company roughly seven months before Trump took office, and Governor Glenn Youngkin approved a $3 million grant for the project on December 3, Green told Reuters. The company did not respond to a request for comment. Chobani: The White House added the yogurt maker to its list after the company in April announced a $1.2 billion production plant in New York. But Chobani, which did not respond to a request for comment, had reached out to the state in May of last year about the project, state records show, and benefited from a state program that lures companies with shovel-ready sites. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Local incentives Some other deals touted by Trump were either struck before he took office, spurred by state and local incentive packages or represent routine capital investment, the Reuters review found. Pharmaceutical companies Merck and Johnson & Johnson both announced billions of dollars in US investments that included projects that were previously announced and already under construction, according to a review of company statements. The White House list included $2 billion in Merck projects already underway in North Carolina and Delaware and a $2 billion North Carolina project under construction by Johnson & Johnson, statements show. Johnson & Johnson did not respond to a request for comment, and Merck did not address Reuters' questions about Trump's role in its investment decisions. Many of the projects on the list relied heavily on state and local incentive packages - such as grants or tax breaks - that were approved prior to Trump taking office in January, Reuters found. States typically compete against one another for company investments, using incentive packages as bait. The locally-backed projects on the Trump Effect list include Diageo, a British alcoholic beverage company, whose $415 million new Alabama plant was aided by state and local tax incentives that date back to 2022, roughly three years before Trump took office, according to Stefania Jones, an Alabama Department of Commerce spokesperson. Diageo did not respond to requests for comment. Ireland-based power management company Eaton Corporation, French ceramics manufacturer Saint-Gobain and South Korean baker Paris Baguette, for example, were all highlighted on the Trump Effect list, but records and interviews show they all secured local incentive packages before Trump took office. The companies did not respond to requests for comment. Tech investments In some cases, the investment touted by the White House and the companies represented the normal cost of business. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced in February that his iconic company was going to invest $500 billion over five years to hire 20,000 workers and build new AI servers. Trump seized on the announcement, saying on his Truth Social media platform that it showed 'faith in what we are doing.' However, Apple's announced figure is in line with what one might expect the company to be spending anyway, given its financials, according to three analysts. 'For Apple, most of this would have happened regardless of who's president,' said Dan Ives, a senior equity analyst with Wedbush Securities. It also echoes previous commitments. Four years ago, a few months after Biden's inauguration, Apple announced an 'acceleration' of its US investments, pledging to spend $430 billion and add 20,000 jobs over five years. In January 2018, during Trump's first term, the company said that its 'direct contribution to the US economy' would be $350 billion over five years and that it planned to create 20,000 jobs over that period. Another pledge to spend $500 billion for new data centers to power artificial intelligence programs dubbed 'Stargate' came from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and business software giant Oracle, whose executives joined Trump in the White House on his first full day as president in January to make the announcement. The companies said they planned to spend $100 billion 'immediately' but that they were still in negotiations with various states about where to place the new data centers. 'As announced in January, Stargate remains fully committed to investing up to $500 billion over the next four years to build AI infrastructure in the United States," SoftBank and OpenAI said in a joint statement to Reuters. Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.
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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Jane Street calls Sebi order 'fundamentally mistaken' over allegations
US-based trading giant Jane Street has criticised the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), calling its recent order alleging market manipulation "fundamentally mistaken" in an internal letter to staff. The firm defended its trading activity as "basic index arbitrage," countering Sebi's characterisation of the strategy as manipulative. Jane Street stated it is preparing a formal response and exploring legal options. It also claimed repeated attempts to engage with Sebi since February had been "consistently rebuffed." In the weekend letter, Jane Street accused Sebi's July 3 order of using "inflammatory language" and demonstrating a "misunderstanding of standard hedging practices and the interrelationships between derivative and underlying markets." "It's deeply upsetting to see the firm mischaracterised this way," the letter stated. "We take pride in the role we serve in markets around the world, and it's painful to have our reputation tarnished by a report based on so many erroneous or unsupported assertions." Jane Street did not respond to emailed queries by press time. Sebi's order barred Jane Street and its group entities from the Indian market and directed disgorgement of alleged "unlawful gains" totalling Rs 4,834 crore. The regulator also indicated that its probe into the group's other trading strategies continues. Jane Street asserted it provided information promptly and transparently when Sebi requested details about its trading in August 2024. The letter claims that its senior officers from Hong Kong and New York travelled to Mumbai to meet with the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Commercial Tax Dept. unearths inter-State GST racket by nabbing Rajasthan ‘fake bill trader' who facilitated bogus input tax credit claim of ₹39 crore
Karnataka Commercial Taxes Department officials have unearthed a multi-State GST racket and arrested a Rajasthan-based 'fake bill trader' who had allegedly facilitated the fictitious transfer of input tax credit (ITC) of ₹39 crore under Goods and Services Tax (GST) to various manufacturers through fake firms in Karnataka. According to sources in the Commercial Taxes Department, fake bill trader Kailash Bishnoi, a resident of Jalore district in Rajasthan, was taken into custody in Bengaluru on Tuesday by a team comprising officers from the department's South Zone and Vigilance Division in coordination with the Bengaluru East police team. 17 fake firms Department sources said Bishnoi had created 17 fake firms in Karnataka that have shown a total turnover of ₹208 crore, based on which nearly ₹39 crore of ITC was passed on to some manufacturers. Sources noted that ₹39 crore was a financial burden caused by Bishnoi on Karnataka alone. Bishnoi was involved in the creation of fake GST registrations and bank accounts by fabricating Aadhaar cards, using which tax invoices were issued to the tune of several hundred crores to facilitate the fictitious movement of goods in metal scrap and facilitating the claim of bogus ITC by recipients, the department sources said. Investigation into the case is learnt to have revealed that he has operated in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, creating fake firms and issuing tax invoices in association with his team members. The total quantum of the fraud would be much higher if the losses caused to other States is taken into account, officials explained. The arrest of his associate Rohit alias Rohtash in December 2024 and gathering of several incriminating material and digital evidences pointing to their crime finally resulted in the department officials nailing Bishnoi. Many fake documents In September 2023, the accused, along with his accomplices, tried to open 10 bank accounts by providing fake names, Aadhaar cards and PAN cards in HDFC Bank's Murugeshpalya branch in Bengaluru. The bank's branch manager had noticed this and filed a complaint with the Jeevan Bima Nagar police. The investigation team of the Bengaluru East police and the Commercial Taxes Department visited Rajasthan twice to track Bishnoi in the last six months. But he remained elusive as he was on constant move, changing locations in multiple States and using 14 mobile phone numbers to evade being tracked, sources said. Finally, he was arrested on Tuesday by the warrant of the Special Court for Economic Offences, Bengaluru, and given custody for further inquiry. Officers of the Commercial Taxes Department are continuing their investigation and analysing his actions from various angles. Ninth such case Incidentally, this is the ninth such case being traced in the last 15 months by the Karnataka Commercial Taxes Department which is continuing its pursuit against such offences to ensure equitable taxation and safeguard the interests of both the State and its honest taxpayers.
