New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) The food services market in India is poised to grow at 10-12 per cent annually over the next seven years, reaching Rs 9-10 lakh crore by 2030, a report showed on Wednesday.

The food services market in India, which encompasses dining out and ordering in, is currently valued at Rs 5.5 lakh crore.

The growth trajectory will be driven by robust fundamentals including an expanding customer base, growing consumption occasions, and a rise in supply, according to the report by Bain & Company and online food aggregator Swiggy.

Additionally, online food delivery is expected to grow faster at 18 per cent CAGR, contributing 20 per cent to the overall food services market by 2030.

“Higher incomes, digitisation, improved customer experience and an inclination to try new experiences have all contributed to this growth. We are very upbeat about the growth in the coming years,” said Rohit Kapoor, CEO, Food Marketplace, Swiggy.

The report suggests that the Indian food service market, catering to middle and higher-income segments, will expand from Rs 4-5 lakh crore at present, to about Rs 10 lakh crore by 2030, Kapoor added.

According to the report, approximately 70 per cent of food services consumption as of 2023 is concentrated in the top 50 cities and among upper-middle and high-income segments, which are expected to remain demand hotspots in the medium term.

However, incremental growth is expected to come from other Tier 2 and beyond cities as well.

“By 2030, the market is poised to serve an additional 110 million customers, gradually shifting eating out from a special event into a convenient lifestyle,” said Navneet Chahal, Partner and co-author of the report.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) Aditya-L1 spacecraft, known as India’s solar observatory, has completed its first halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 (L1), announced mission officials at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The Aditya-L1 was launched to low earth orbit (LEO) on September 2, last year by the Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle – XL (PSLV-XL) variant.

Sun-Earth L1 is the point where the gravitational pull of two large bodies — Sun and Earth — will be equal and hence the spacecraft will not gravitate towards any one of them.

The spacecraft was inserted in its targeted halo orbit on January 6, early this year.

To complete a revolution around the L1 point, “Aditya-L1 spacecraft took 178 days”, the ISRO said.

During its travel in the halo orbit, the spacecraft underwent various perturbing forces that worked to depart from the targeted orbit.

To maintain the orbit, the spacecraft had to undergo two station-keeping maneuvers on February 22 and June 7.

On Tuesday, the spacecraft conducted its third station-keeping maneuver. And now it has “continued into the second halo orbit path around L1”, the space agency said.

“This journey of Aditya L1 around Sun-Earth L1 Lagrangian point involves modeling of complex dynamics. The understanding of various perturbing forces acting on the spacecraft helped in determining the trajectory accurately and planning precise orbit maneuvers,” the ISRO said.

The third maneuver also validates the state-of-the-art flight dynamics software developed in-house at URSC-ISRO for the Aditya-L1 missions.

Aditya-L1, dedicated to the study of the Sun, carries seven payloads. It will observe the photosphere, chromosphere, and the Sun’s outermost layers (the corona) using electromagnetic, particle, and magnetic field detectors.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) As the world leaders aim to control artificial intelligence (AI) and the user harms associated with it, India and Japan will work together in order to achieve safe, secure and trustworthy AI, said Japanese Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination (Internal Affairs), Hiroshi Yoshida, here on Wednesday.

Lauding India’s prowess in the technology field, especially AI, Yoshida said they are delighted that India is one of the first countries to announce its participation in AI and how to harness its true potential.

“We believe India and Japan together, with all the other members, are working closely together to achieve safe, secure and trustworthy AI around the world,” he said during the ‘Global IndiaAI Mission 2024’ summit in the national capital.

“By working together, Japan and India can contribute further to the responsible development, deployment and use of AI in the world,” Yoshida noted.

The two-day event is hosted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to discuss issues related to AI with India firmly committed to the ethical and inclusive growth of AI.

Yoshida echoed the importance of secure and trustworthy AI at the event, which is being attended by global leaders, and AI researchers from at least 50 countries.

“Japan is convinced that India’s AI initiatives will create synergy with the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI). We’ve been advocating for a safety code and guidelines to mitigate risks like misinformation and intellectual property protection,” Yoshida emphasised.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) BMW Group India has posted a strong performance in the first half (H1) of 2024 (January-June) as it witnessed a boost of over 21 per cent in car sales (BMW+MINI), fuelled by high demand for its sports activity vehicles, luxury class and electric cars.

The luxury carmaker delivered 7,098 cars (BMW and MINI) and 3,614 motorcycles (BMW Motorrad). BMW sold 6,734 units and MINI 364 units.

“The strong affinity for our vehicles is driven by our competitive edge in exclusive mobility paired with unmistakable driving pleasure and best-in-class innovations,” Vikram Pawah, President, BMW Group India, said in a statement.

BMW electric vehicles (EV) emerged as the top choice of luxury consumers when it comes to sustainable mobility — 397 units of fully electric BMW and MINI cars were sold in the first six months.

It also becomes the first luxury car manufacturer in the country to cross the milestone of over 2,000 EV deliveries to date.

BMW iX is the most popular luxury EV in India with over 1,000 units sold to date, according to the company.

BMW luxury class vehicles registered a growth of over 17 per cent, contributing 18 per cent to total sales.

The BMW X7 was the highest-selling luxury class model.

BMW Sports Activity Vehicles (SAV) contributed 54 per cent to sales, posting a growth of over 24 per cent.

BMW X1 was the most popular SAV with around 19 per cent share in sales.

BMW 3 Series was the highest-selling BMW sedan with a 17 per cent share, the company mentioned.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) India stands at the forefront of global Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation and the government’s commitment is to foster an inclusive and robust AI ecosystem via skill penetration and substantial investments in nurturing AI startups, Jitin Prasada, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and Electronics and IT, said here on Wednesday.

Addressing the ‘Global IndiaAI Summit 2024’ in the national Capital, the minister said that India has been reinforcing its commitment to democratising AI with its benefits in an ethical and responsible way.

“Our vision of AI is to make AI in India and make AI work for India and we have been emphasising on the significance of utilising AI and Machine Learning to enhance each and every sector of our economy,” the minister told the gathering.

This vision lays the framework for building a vibrant AI ecosystem in India and to enable AI for all, “we need to work collaboratively to develop solutions for AI to solve problems and challenges in key sectors like healthcare, agriculture and education,” Minister Prasada noted.

Under the IndiaAI mission, the government is working on AI-based applications to solve real-life problems.

The minister said, “We also need to be aware of the risks that AI poses for democracies across the world. We need to work collaboratively to mitigate these evolving strategies and tools to identify deep fakes and AI generated images and videos.”

As AI begins to percolate across industries amid privacy concerns, the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March this year approved the comprehensive national-level IndiaAI Mission with a budget outlay of Rs 10,371.92 crore.

The mission will drive responsible, inclusive growth of India’s AI ecosystem.

–IANS

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