Endeavor Careers Choicest Blogs: Weekly Current Affairs: December 2021, Week 04

Endeavor Careers Posted on December 27, 2021

Welcome to the Endeavor Editors’ Weekly Current Affairs Choicest Blog series. Get a weekly roundup – on news from business, economy, markets, policy, and more. A quick capsule format news summary and update to keep you abreast with all the latest current affairs.

1) International News and Global Economy

Myanmar: Charity staff missing after deadly ‘army attack’

International charity Save the Children says two of its staff are missing in Myanmar after more than 30 bodies were found following an attack blamed on the military. Troops forced people from their cars, arrested some, killed others and burned their bodies in eastern Kayah state, the charity says. Children and women are believed to be among the victims of Friday’s incident. The military says it killed a number of armed terrorists in the area. Mass protests have been taking place across Myanmar since the military seized control in February. Elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party are among those detained. The Karenni National Defence Force, one of the largest of the militias opposing the junta, said the dead were not militia members but civilians seeking refuge from the conflict.

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Ukranian President holds talks with U.S. senators

The President of Ukraine held a video call with 20 U.S. senators and members of Congress on Friday amid tensions with Russia, which recently stoked fears of a possible invasion by massing troops near Ukraine’s border. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with the senators and congressional representatives about the Russian troop build-up and the situation in his country’s war-torn east, according to Mr. Zelenskyy’s office. Russia-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine since 2014. Mr. Zelenskyy and the lawmakers also talked about applying further sanctions pressure on Russia, Washington’s support of Kyiv’s “Euro-Atlantic aspirations” and Ukraine’s prospects for NATO membership.

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‘No further expansion of NATO eastward’, warns Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 23 urged the West to act promptly and offer security guarantees by ensuring there is no further expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) eastward. Vladimir Putin welcomed its upcoming diplomatic talks with the United States in Geneva next month but sought security guarantees that require the West to meet its demands promptly. He said: “We want to ensure our security. We put it straight: ‘There must be no further expansion of NATO eastward.’” Last week, Russia had submitted draft security documents demanding that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and any other country that was formerly a part of the Soviet Union and also roll back its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe. Moscow’s demands come even though the alliance has always maintained a policy of granting membership to any qualifying country.

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Putin loses his cool over Ukraine in Annual Press Conference but wants January talks with US & NATO

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Japan plans record defence spending in 2022 with 10th straight annual increase

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government on Friday approved record defence spending, with a 10th straight annual increase in 2022, against a backdrop of China’s rapid military expansion and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes. The budget for the fiscal year starting April 1 will rise 1.1% to 5.4 trillion yen ($47.18 billion), still less than a quarter of China’s military budget this year according to official Beijing data. Tensions over Chinese-claimed Taiwan have risen as President Xi Jinping seeks to assert his country’s sovereignty claims on the island. Taiwan’s government says it wants peace, but will defend itself if needed.

Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister before Suga who remains an influential figure in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said this month that any emergency over Taiwan would mean an emergency for Japan, as well as for its security alliance with the United States.

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Japan hikes Military spending by $6.8 Bn amid threat from belligerent China & North Korea

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China reports sudden spike in COVID-19 cases ahead of Winter Olympics

China has reported 206 new COVID-19 cases, including 158 domestically transmitted ones, in a sudden spike ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics which will be held in February next year, the country’s health commission said. The spike in cases ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has sparked concerns in the country as officials scampered to arrest the spread. Though China has controlled the contagion by drastically limiting international travel, sporadic clusters of cases continued to surface in different parts of the country, putting its “Zero case” policy under stress. Facing dual COVID-19 risks from a domestic flare-up and the raging Omicron variant overseas, Beijing on Friday tightened epidemic prevention and control measures, and vowed to strictly adhere to a dynamic zero policy as the Chinese New Year and the Beijing Winter Olympics approach, official daily Global Times reported.

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3) India

Covid update

PM Modi announces vaccination for children, booster dose as Omicron case rises

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced vaccination for children aged above 15 years and booster dose for frontline workers. Vaccination for children will begin from January 3 next year. Citizens above 60 years of age with co-morbidities will also have the option of precaution dose of the vaccine on the advice of their doctor. This will also be available from January 10. PM Modi has announced vaccination for children aged 15-18. Vaccination for children will begin from January 3, 2022.

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Covaxin receives approval for emergency use in 12-18 years old children

Bharat Biotech’s covid-19 vaccine Covaxin has received approval for emergency use in Children 12 – 18 years of age, the company said on Saturday. Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company said that Covaxin is formulated uniquely such that the same dosage can be administered to adults and children. In India there has been debate over an anticipated third wave of coronavirus infections that may impact children as this is the only population left unvaccinated and hence is vulnerable. Government’s estimates state that India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and the 0–14-year age group only constitute 28.6% of the total population. Experts recommend scaling up efforts to get vaccines for children against covid-19 also from 2-years onwards. Indian DCGA has already given EUA to world’s first DNA vaccine by Zydus cadila which will also be used to vaccinate adolescents from 12- 18-year age group. The vaccine is yet to be rolled out.

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Omicron forces states to bring back night curfews, restrictions.

As the situation due to the omicron variant worsens in India, various state governments have announced curbs to stem the infection. The decision comes after a strong central missive, whereby the health ministry had asked the states to consider imposing local restrictions ahead of the festive season. States were also advised to be vigilant and monitor case positivity, doubling rate, and clusters of new cases across districts.

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India’s Omicron tally rises to 415

A total of 415 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in India so far, out of which 115 have recovered or migrated, according to the Union Health Ministry’s data. The daily rise in new coronavirus cases has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 58 days now. The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 141.01 crore. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakhs on August 23, 40 lakhs on September 5 and 50 lakhs on September 16. It went past 60 lakhs on September 28, 70 lakhs on October 11, crossed 80 lakhs on October 29, 90 lakhs on November 20 and surpassed the one crore-mark on December 19. India had crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crores on June 23.

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3) Economy

India to become world’s 6th largest economy by 2023: Report

Indian economy is all set to become sixth largest economy in the world leaving French and British economy behind, says British Consultancy Cybr report made public on last Sunday. The report says that in the year 2022, Indian economy will exceed French economy whereas it will trump British economy in 2023. However, the report had bad news for China as it says that it will take time for the Mandarins to become world’s top economy in dollar terms. “India looks set to overtake France next year and then Britain in 2023 to regain its place as the world’s sixth biggest economy,” Cebr report said. The report also said that world’s economic output will exceed $100 trillion for the first time in 2022. However, it will take China a little longer than previously thought to overtake the United States as the No.1 economy, the report added. The British Consultancy Cebr predicted that China will become the world’s top economy in dollar terms in 2030, two years later than forecast in last year’s World Economic League Table report.

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Capital investment to pick up in old economy; decent growth expected in FY23: Jayanth R Varma

Eminent economist Jayanth R Varma has expressed hope that in a few quarters from now, capital investment would begin to pick up even in the old economy, and said the next fiscal year is also expected to witness a decent growth. Varma, who is also a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank, in an interview to PTI said that inflation is a matter of concern, but as of now it is the persistence of inflation rather than its level that is a matter of concern. According to Varma, the pre-pandemic level of economic activity has already been surpassed, and the rest of this financial year should also see further recovery.

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4) Markets, Banking and Finance

Consider merging private RBL Bank with state-owned lender, says AIBEA

The government must protect the interests of depositors at RBL Bank and consider merging it with a state-owned one, said an industry trade union on Sunday after the central bank made management changes at the private lender. RBL said last night that Vishwavir Ahuja, its managing director and chief executive officer, had gone on leave after the Reserve Bank of India appointed Yogesh K Dayal as an additional director of the bank. Action for RBL is important in light of the problems encountered by private lenders like YES Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank last year.

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Financial inclusion to boost transmission of monetary policy: RBI deputy governor

Financial inclusion can help the population better participate in monetary policy formulation, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor said. Such a population can also develop more rational expectations and induce financial intermediaries to transmit policy more swiftly and effectively across the financial system, Michael Debabrata Patra said. Financial inclusion refers to bringing more people into the fold of formal finance. “As people get financially included, they can use their access to formal finance to deal with both good and bad times and in assessing future inflation more accurately. And this has monetary policy implications,” he added.

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HSBC to acquire L&T Mutual Fund for $425 million

HSBC will acquire the mutual fund business of L&T Finance Holdings for $425 million (Rs 3,250 crore). The deal values L&T Mutual Fund at 4.2% of its assets under management of Rs 78,273 crore at the end of September. Earlier this year, Sundaram Finance paid Rs 338.53 crore, amounting to 4.5% of assets under management, to acquire Principal AMC. After completion of the deal, HSBC will merge the operations of L&T Mutual Fund with its existing asset management business in India. “With an acquisition of this size, the asset management business will be a meaningful entity for HSBC in India,” said Value Research founder Dhirendra Kumar. L&T Mutual Fund is ranked 12 out of 44 in the Indian mutual fund industry. Equity assets account for Rs 41,000 crore of the total cited above. HSBC is at 23 with assets of Rs 11,314 crore, of which equity accounts for Rs 4,264 crore. L&T Mutual Fund has 2.4 million active folios, is empanelled with leading banks and has a presence in 65 locations.

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Why HSBC acquiring L&T’s mutual fund business is unique

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SBI, Union Bank to go ahead with Swiss Challenge auction for KSK Mahanadi Power loans

State Bank of India and Union Bank of India have decided to go ahead with the Swiss Challenge auction for the KSK Mahanadi Power loans next week despite observations by income tax officials last week that this method is opaque, implying an unholy nexus between the promoters and the asset reconstruction company. In the Swiss auction process, lenders first hold an auction of the NPA, and the offer made by the highest bidder (also known as anchor bidder) is set at a reserve price. Subsequently, they hold yet another auction, inviting bids at higher than reserve price, but the anchor bidder will get an opportunity to match the best bid. SBI and Union Bank have invited bids for Rs 4101 crore and Rs 1773 crore respectively from ARCs, which is the largest auction of a single loan till date.

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5) Business

Four major Indian carriers’ dues to AAI more than doubled between Jan 2020 and Oct 2021

Dues of four major domestic airlines — IndiGo, SpiceJet, Go First and AirAsia India — to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) more than doubled between January 2020 and October 2021, according to internal AAI documents. Air India, however, continues to be the domestic carrier with the highest amount of dues to the AAI. As per the documents, Air India’s dues to the AAI have increased from Rs 2,183.71 crore as on January 1, 2020, to Rs 2,362.36 crore as on October 31, 2021. India has six major domestic carriers, IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir, AirAsia India, Air India and Vistara, which owed the AAI a total of Rs 2,306.59 crore as on January 1, 2020, the AAI documents — which has been accessed by PTI — noted. The dues of these six major domestic carriers taken together increased by 14.29 per cent to Rs 2,636.34 crore by October 31, 2021, the documents added. Vistara and IndiGo have clarified that all their dues have been cleared, while SpiceJet said its dues are well within credit limits. India’s largest carrier IndiGo owed Rs 80.69 crore as in October 2021, as against Rs 33.21 crore in January 2021, they mentioned.

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M&M, Tata Motors aim to bolster product range, manage chip shortage effectively next year

Riding on the success of their recent model launches, homegrown auto majors Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors are looking to further strengthen their product portfolios in 2022. Both companies are also looking at ways to handle the semiconductor shortage in a better way next year so that the impact on the production is minimal. “We want to be the number one player in the core SUV segment, and the success across our product portfolio including the all-new Thar, XUV300, Bolero Neo and the unprecedented response we have received for XUV700 is an indication that we are on the right track,” Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Executive Director (Auto & Farm Sectors) Rajesh Jejurikar told PTI in an interaction. The company has already announced the launch of 13 new products by 2027, he added. “The next in line is the new Scorpio, which should come out next year, which will be our immediate focus,” Jejurikar noted. The automaker has seen a strong demand rebound, especially for core, authentic and differentiated products, he stated.

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6) Technology

Russian court fines Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms

A Moscow court on Friday said it was fining Alphabet’s Google 7.2 billion roubles ($98 million) for what it said was a repeated failure to delete content Russia deems illegal, the first revenue-based fine of its kind in Russia. Moscow has increased pressure on big tech this year in a campaign that critics characterise as an attempt by the Russian authorities to exert tighter control over the internet, something they say threatens individual and corporate freedom. Google said in an email it would study the court ruling before deciding on further steps. Later, on Friday, the court fined Meta Platforms 2 billion roubles ($27.15 million) on the same grounds. Russia’s communication watchdog Roskomnadzor said that Facebook and Instagram failed to remove two thousand pieces that violate Russian laws whereas Google keeps 2,600 pieces of banned content.

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TikTok dethrones Google to become most popular website: Report

Popular short video-sharing platform TikTok has surpassed tech giant Google as the most popular website of the year, says a report. According to a report by IT security company Cloudflare, the viral video app gets more hits than the US-based search engine, reports BBC. The rankings show that TikTok knocked Google off the top spot in February, March and June this year, and has held the number one position since August. As per the report, it is believed one of the reasons for the surge in Tiktok’s popularity is because of the Covid-19 pandemic, as lockdowns meant people were stuck at home and looking for entertainment.

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Zomato-backed Blinkit sets up 300 partner stores to enable 10-minute grocery delivery

Online grocery delivery firm Blinkit, previously Grofers, has set up 300 partner stores across the country through which it is enabling grocery delivery in 10 minutes, founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa said. The announcement comes soon after the company decided to pull the plugs in areas it wasn’t able to deliver groceries in 10 minutes. The company also claims to have created 12,000 jobs with these additional 100 stores. Earlier this month, the company decided to rebrand itself from Grofers. The rebranding seems to suggest that Grofers will deliver products with the blink of an eye. Quick commerce, which is defined as the delivery of items under 45 minutes, is the new battlefield as players look to outdo each other by reducing delivery time of essentials to minutes. The segment in India is expected to grow 10-15 times over the next four years to become a $5 billion market by 2025.

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Grofers rebrands to Blinkit

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Indian start-ups bag record $36 billion funds in 2021

India’s start-up ecosystem has notched up record investment of nearly $ 36 billion in privately held companies this year as demand for digitisation grew manifold amid the Covid-19 pandemic. UK-based Investment data platform Preqin estimates that venture and private equity investments increased three-fold during the year up from the $11 billion mopped up by Indian start-ups in 2020. This year, the volume of seed-stage deals dominated with nearly 396 deals aggregating to $705.86 million while about 166 investments at series A amounted to about $1.67 billion, data until December 20, showed. However, the bulk of the investments were directed towards pre-IPO financing rounds in companies such as Zomato, Ola, Policybazaar and Paytm, with the top 10 deals totalling up to $5.58 billion, Prequin data shared exclusively with ET, showed.

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RBI raises fresh concerns over stablecoins

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised fresh concerns over stablecoins and said that any crypto asset pegged to the US dollar or any other global currency could undermine the Indian rupee. Central bank officials have raised these concerns with the government in several meetings held recently, people aware of the development said. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies where value is derived from an underlying asset – USD or gold in most cases. The fear is that going ahead, companies or traders could move to stablecoins even for domestic payments. The RBI has said that if stablecoins are allowed in India, they could even affect the central bank’s ability to control the currency fluctuations and volatility. India has still not decided whether it wants to regulate or completely ban cryptocurrencies.

For details visit.

Stablecoins: Why This Hot Cryptocurrency Faces Challenges | WSJ

Paytm Lending CEO Bhavesh Gupta to also head its Offline Payments Vertical

Recently listed digital payments giant Paytm has announced that Bhavesh Gupta, CEO of Paytm Lending will also take on the leadership role of its offline payments vertical in addition to his existing responsibilities. In a regulatory filing, Paytm said that with the development, it is now planning to increase the penetration of its lending services to its 23 Mn merchants. Gupta had joined Paytm as the CEO of its lending business in August. Before joining Paytm, Bhavesh had over 22 years of experience in the financial sector with banks like IDFC Bank, ICICI Bank.

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7) Politics

22 farm organisations, that took part in protest, form political front to contest Punjab polls

As many as 22 farm organisations in Punjab that were part of the protest against the three farm laws formed a political front on Saturday and announced they would contest the upcoming state assembly polls. These 22 farm bodies were among 32 farmer organisations in Punjab which participated in the over-a-year-long protest against the three Central farm laws. Talking to reporters here, farmer leader Harmeet Singh Kadian said the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha has been set up for fighting the assembly polls in Punjab due early next year.

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Tripura tribal politics heats up over separate state demand

Fuelled by the demand for a separate state for Tripura’s indigenous communities, tribal politics is heating up in the BJP-ruled north-eastern state. Among the tribal parties who have joined hands for separate statehood are fierce political rivals, the TIPRA Motha (Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance) and the IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura), the BJP’s ally. Pressing for a separate state for Tripura tribals for the sake of their “survival and interests”, they even held a sit-in demonstration at Jantar Mantar in the national capital recently. The tribal outfits’ demand for a separate state seems to stem mainly from the perceived sense of the indigenous communities’ anxiety over the change in Tripura’s demographics, which has reduced them to a minority. It has been attributed to the displacement of Bengalis from the erstwhile East Pakistan between 1947 and 1971. From 63.77 per cent in 1881, the tribal population in Tripura came down to 31.80 per cent by 2011. In the intervening decades, ethnic conflict and insurgency gripped the state, which shares a nearly 860-km long boundary with Bangladesh.

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8) Sports

Asian Champions Trophy: India beat Pakistan 4-3 in thriller to win bronze; South Korea lift title

A misfiring India was made to toil hard before getting the better of arch-rivals Pakistan 4-3 in a pulsating third-fourth place contest to clinch the bronze medal at the Asian Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament. After having topped the round-robin stages, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists were far from impressive in their last two games, and the Manpreet Singh-led side had to play out of its skin to outwit Pakistan and finish on the podium. South Korea emerged as the champions after beating Japan 4-2 in shootout following a 3-3 stalemate at the end of the regulation 60 minutes of the title clash.

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Harbhajan Singh announces retirement from all forms of cricket

Harbhajan Singh has announced his retirement from all formats of the game. In a video message on Twitter, the former India offspinner said that “in many ways, I had already retired”, but because of his commitments with Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, he was forced to delay the announcement. Harbhajan, now 41, made his international debut back in March 1998, in a Test match against Australia in Bengaluru, picking up two wickets in an eight-wicket defeat. He went on to play 103 Tests, for a haul of 417 wickets – still the fourth-highest for India – at an average of 32.46, with an innings best of 8 for 84 and a match best of 15 for 217, both recorded in India’s two-wicket win over Australia in the Chennai Test of 2001, which gave them a 2-1 win in an iconic series. In the previous Test in Kolkata, made famous due to VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid’s batting all day while following-on – Harbhajan had played a major role too in India’s stunning come-from-behind win, bagging 13 wickets in the match.

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COVID-19 outbreak claims another Premier League match

A coronavirus outbreak at Everton has forced the postponement of the club’s match at Burnley, the Premier League said. It’s the third match of the Boxing Day line-up to be postponed as part of a Sunday program that still features six games. Defending champion and league leader Manchester City hosts 2016 winner Leicester among the six games scheduled to go ahead Sunday. The Premier League has now called off 13 matches because of coronavirus issues in two weeks, with players having to isolate after testing positive or if they are unvaccinated and a close contact of a COVID-19 case.

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9) Opinion

Reforms can immunise Indian economy against shocks in 2022

Since the onset of the Covid pandemic, the economy has entered a VUCA phase. VUCA describes an environment that is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. World GDP growth went from 2.8 percent in 2019 to -3.1 percent in 2020 and the IMF’s projected growth for 2021 is 5.9 percent. The Indian economy has followed a similar trajectory. However, there are two causes of concern. First, vehicle sales. Struggling two-wheeler and tractor sales indicate muted rural demand, but rising sales of luxury cars show buying power among the affluent. Such a K-shaped recovery is hardly surprising because economic growth driven by monetary stimulus tends to widen inequality as the liquidity ends up in the hands of the wealthy. Second, the 3-month average of wholesale price inflation is 12.5 percent while it is 4.6 percent for retail inflation. This means cost push factors (supply bottlenecks and input prices) are dominating demand driven inflation. The worry is that producers will soon pass on the higher costs to consumers and the cost of living will rise. For both reasons it is timely that the RBI has started normalising its policy by increasing the scale of liquidity absorption through variable reverse repo auctions. It is a matter of time before it hikes the reverse repo rate and restores the symmetry of the policy rate corridor.

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Omicron likely to be dominant strain globally in 2022: Singapore experts

The new and highly transmissible Omicron variant of the deadly coronavirus has increased immune escape compared with the Delta variant and appears likely to become the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain globally in 2022, according to Singapore-based experts. It appears likely that Omicron will become the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain globally in 2022, Public health expert Associate Professor Natasha Howard said, adding that the Omicron variant is more transmissible and has increased immune escape compared with the Delta strain. The implications of this are still unclear, but it shows that the pandemic is not controlled yet and until initial and booster COVID-19 vaccine doses are accessible to everyone eligible globally, we can expect new variants to emerge, she warned.

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Physical and digital modes of financial services to co-exist in India: SBI chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara

SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said physical and digital modes of financial services delivery models will co-exist in India due to a wide geographical space. “In India, we serve a variety of customers. We also serve those who are digital savvy and who would not like to have anything physical but on phone clicks. There are also customers who have financial and digital literacy as a major concern. “So, I think it’s not either/or situation perhaps for a country like India, the digital and physical, both will co- exist, it’s going to be phygital,” Khara said while speaking at the FIBAC 2021, jointly organised virtually by FICCI and IBA. Axis Bank MD&CEO, Amitabh Chaudhry said there has already been disruption in the payments space with 95 per cent of the transactions on UPI originating on third party payment platforms and not on the banks. He said the next disruption will take place in the lending space. “The next phase of revolution will take the concept of lending with the introduction of lending service providers (LSPs) who can leverage APIs to connect to the potential borrowers to all possible lenders on open credit network,” Chaudhry said.

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India cannot take a black-and-white approach to Myanmar

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla was in Myanmar this week to assess the ground situation and to nudge various sides to seek mutually acceptable solutions to the multiple crises marring one of India’s most important neighbours. New Delhi, of course, has vital interests in Myanmar that it would like to protect and enhance. While the West has made democracy the sole prism of its Myanmar policy, India doesn’t have that luxury. Much like most other immediate neighbours of Myanmar, India has been keen to push back against the Myanmar military’s authoritarian tendencies even as its multiple interests have ensured that it keeps its channels of communication open with all stakeholders.

For details visit.

Worldview with Suhasini Haidar | Is India striking out on its own with regard to Myanmar?

Watch video: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/worldview-with-suhasini-haidar-is-india-striking-out-on-its-own-with-regard-to-myanmar/article38031459.ece

10) Weekly special

A complete package: Cleartrip’s new travel solution

Travel player Cleartrip has been coming up with innovative solutions for travelling for the post-COVID world. Ayyappan R, CEO, Cleartrip, breaks down the company’s strategy to scale business and make a mark in the industry.

Watch video:

https://yourstory.com/video/daily-dispatch-by-yourstory-24th-december-2021/amp

11) Did you know?

What is a Dark Store?

The term refers to a retail distribution centre or warehouse that caters exclusively to online shoppers. With 10-minute grocery delivery becoming the new normal, dark stores have become the lifeline of this channel. Dark stores look like mini warehouses located closer to customers than the conventional fulfilment centres of online retailers, but they are much more than just storage places. Digitisation and automation are their key pillars.

For details visit.

Here’s How Dark Stores are rescuing the starving retail segment post COVID-19 | Explained

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With that, we come to an end for our Weekly Current Affairs December 2021 -Week 4. Hope you have liked it. Write your feedback in the comments below and let us know if there is anything else you would like us to cover.

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