As India embarks on its digital journey with full steam, Microsoft wishes to move in and provide every part of its tech stack to the country and its innovators, to help it become the $1 trillion digital economy as the country spends more on its tech sector, the company’s Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said here on Thursday.

Nadella told IANS that India’s tax spend as a percentage of its GDP is becoming normalised when compared to the developed world, and is now among the top 10 countries.

“I ask, what happens if India spends more on its tech sector? What is the productivity gain that the world can benefit from? And here, we want to move in with our world-class offerings,” Nadella said during a closed-door session.

“We want to be the infrastructure provider. We want to be the developer amplifier. We want to provide every part of our tech stack to basically help the country gain that leverage towards becoming a $1 trillion digital economy soon,” he emphasised.

At the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum in virtual mode last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s digital sector valuations will cross $1 trillion soon.

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in November that over the next 5-7 years, “we will surely see our trillion-dollar digital economy goal become reality.”

The IT and BPM sector has become one of the most significant growth catalysts for the Indian economy, contributing significantly to the country’s GDP and public welfare.

According to India Brand Equity Foundation, the IT industry accounted for 7.4 per cent of India’s GDP in FY22 and is expected to contribute 10 per cent to India’s GDP by 2025.

Nadella said that we are no longer just a software company but a full systems’ provider.

“We’re making everything and we are making them in India, so that others can make in India as well, whether it’s a small business or a public sector project,” he noted.

The Microsoft CEO said that they are investing capital in India, like in building new data centers.

“We now have three data centers and the fourth one is coming soon,” he informed.

Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that China is “under-representing the true impact” of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, especially the exact number of deaths.

In a statement on Wednesday, Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said: “We believe that definition (of a Covid death) is too narrow,” the BBC reported.

Amidst the ongoing outbreak, China has stopped publishing the single-day tallies for Covid-19 cases and deaths.
In December 2022, the country changed the criteria for what constitutes a Covid death, meaning only those who die of respiratory illnesses are counted.

In his statement, Ryan added that China had increased its engagement with the WHO in recent weeks, and said he looked forward to receiving “more comprehensive data”, reports the BBC.

But he also suggested individual healthworkers could report their own data and experiences.

“We do not discourage doctors and nurses reporting these deaths and these cases. We have an open approach to be able to record the actual impact of disease in society,” the top WHO official was quoted as saying.

The UK science data company Airfinity estimates more than two million Covid cases a day in China, and some 14,700 deaths.

Since China lifted key parts of its “zero-Covid” strategy almost a month ago, there have been reports of hospitals and crematoriums being overwhelmed.

More than a dozen nations, including India, have introduced travel restrictions on travellers from China — a move criticised by Beijing as being politically motivated and threatened to retaliate.

No new Covid variants have been detected in China, despite the surge in cases.

However, the WHO has warned this could be due to a decrease in testing. (Agencies)

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Akshay Kumar enthusiastically discussed the much-anticipated Film City project in Uttar Pradesh during his meeting with CM Yogi, who is in Mumbai for a two-day visit at the Hotel Taj.

He also discussed his most recent movie, “Ramsetu,” and appealed to the CM to watch it.

Akshay Kumar informed CM Yogi that there is a great deal of excitement in the Indian film industry about the Film City of UP during this 35-minute meeting.

Many big production houses, producers, directors, and actors are waiting for the film city of Uttar Pradesh.

He said that the development of a world-class film and entertainment city in Uttar Pradesh will provide a new option for the cinematic world. Akshay also discussed with Yogi the research and preparations done before finalising the script of Ramsetu and said that the Chief Minister must watch this film once.

On this occasion, Chief Minister Yogi said that cinema has a big role in raising public awareness. Filmmakers should give importance to issues of social and national consciousness while selecting their subjects.

The Chief Minister said that the Film City of Uttar Pradesh will give facilities of  global standards. Besides this, a new film policy is also being prepared.

According to the CM, it has also been linked to the single-window system for the convenience of the manufacturers. On this occasion, Chief Minister Yogi also invited Akshay Kumar to visit Uttar Pradesh.