850 million dollars in rupees

Australia's competition regulator said on Thursday a court ordered the local unit of Samsung Electronics to pay a A$14 million ($9.65 million) penalty for nine misleading advertisements about a water-resistance feature in some of its smartphones. Samsung Australia admitted to misleading buyers of some of its 'Galaxy' phones about the water-resistance level, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) said. The regulator had first sued the company in July 2019. Samsung Australia said in a statement that this was not an issue in its newer, current models. The regulator said between March 2016 and October 2018, the company ran in-store and social media advertisements that claimed the phones could be used in pools or sea water. The ACCC, however, received hundreds of complaints from users saying the smartphones did not function properly or even stopped working entirely after being exposed to water. The claims "promoted an important selling point for these Galaxy … [Read more...] about Samsung Australia fined $9.7 million over false water-resistance claims

The report reveals that venture capital going into Vietnamese startups reached a record high in 2021 amidst market uncertainties and upheaval caused by COVID-19. The total funding amount reached a new high of $1.4 billion, a 1.6x growth compared to the prior record of $874 million set in 2019. Accordingly, the total number of funds invested in Vietnamese startups climbed by 60 per cent, equally distributed among countries. Singapore was the most active investor in 2021, followed by Vietnam and the US. Japanese investors have also gradually resumed their activities in Vietnam after a two-year slowdown. Investor appetite has been accelerated by an increased interest in sectors that have benefited from the pandemic. Moreover, the ease of video conferencing has made travel restrictions no longer a barrier to the investment decision-making process. Riding the acceleration of digital adoption, Vietnam celebrated the emergence of two unicorns, MoMo and Sky Mavis, in 2021. Their … [Read more...] about Venture capital into local startups reached record high of $1.4 billion

International School Ho Chi Minh City featured in Queen’s Official Platinum Jubilee Pageant Commemorative Album “Viet Nam is a promising market for healthcare,” Senior global leader of Sanofi shared of his business travel to Asia. Dan Truong set to excite audiences at Sun Fest concert Schneider Electric launches inaugural Global Partner Recognition Program Dettol joins hands with HCMC University Medical Center to celebrate World Hand Hygiene Day The activity series themed “Flying in the flower season of Sapa” officially launched for its second year in Sapa, with many attractive promotions and events full of Northwestern colour. Pupils and students around the nation can earn a discount of up to 45 per cent - only 400,000 dong/ticket – when buying Fansipan cable car tickets. “Flying in the flower season of SaPa” is part of a series launched by Sun World Fansipan Legend to welcome summer. It is also an annual event to promote summer tourism, carried out by Sun … [Read more...] about Flying in the flower season of Sapa

A customer buys US dollars at a bank in Ha Noi. During May and the first half of June, the dong depreciated about 1.0 per cent on the official market. — Photo baochinhphu.vn The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) sold about US$7 billion in the first five months of this year to balance the supply and demand sources of the greenback in the domestic forex market, according to the Viet Dragon Securities Corporation (VDSC). The USD/VND exchange rate listed at Vietcombank has so far this year increased by approximately 2 per cent. The average rate of commercial banks according to Bloomberg's statistics in the period has increased by about 1.7 per cent. During May and the first half of June alone, the dong depreciated about 1.0 per cent on the official market. However, in the context that most currencies have fallen significantly against the US dollar after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, the dong has remained relatively stable. The US Dollar Index has so far this year risen … [Read more...] about Central bank sold roughly $7 billion to stabilise forex market

Many Vietnamese airlines have proposed that the ceiling prices of domestic air tickets be further increased or removed as they have suffered heavy losses due to wildly soaring fuel costs. Even though air tickets have been rising, even higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, carriers argued that they have to make up for relentlessly rising fuel expenses. Round-trip airfares of economy class for the Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City route are fluctuating around VND3-5 million (US$129-214) per ticket and those for business class are VND8-17 million ($343-729), an increase of 20-50 percent compared to periods with passenger shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Airfares to famous tourist destinations, such as Da Nang and Phu Quoc, have even changed hourly, and customers can hardly find cheap tickets even though for early morning or late-night flights. Many customers commented that many airlines might have taken unfair advantage of higher fuel prices, triggered by rising world oil … [Read more...] about Vietnamese airlines want domestic airfare caps raised, even removed, amid fuel cost hikes

In late March, Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation and local BRG Group worked with Danang’s leaders to discuss projects both groups want to deploy in the city. In 2020, Chairman of Danang People’s Committee Le Trung Chinh handed over MoUs on investment cooperation to Sumitomo Corporation and BRG Group to promote investment in a wide range of urban and infrastructure development projects in Danang. According to BRG chairwoman Nguyen Thi Nga, Danang has the full potential for a leading global player like Sumitomo to weigh over opportunities for investment and business expansion. “The board of directors at Sumitomo is solid with their investment orientation in Danang as they have sent several working groups to the city to shape an iconic regional-level project in Danang,” said Nga. Beyond Japanese groups, international investors from various other countries have expressed the desire to make forays into Danang. In a meeting with the city’s management at the end of April, Park In Sung, … [Read more...] about Danang becoming focal point in Central Vietnam investment

Plantations dreaming of FSC status for rubber products, Photo: Duc Thanh Nguyen Vinh Phuong, the owner of a 150-hectare rubber plantation area in the south-eastern province of Tay Ninh has recently spent more time studying the process of obtaining the FSC certification. Although he is interested in cultivating sustainable rubber, he remains hesitant to implement this process. Phuong pointed out that the rule of a 10-per-cent conservation area seems to be an infeasible requirement for small operators of plantation areas. The rule would mean that Phuong would lose $1,500 over 10 days of rubber tapping if he saved 10 per cent of his 150-ha plantation area for conservation. Besides state-owned companies like Tan Bien Rubber and Tay Ninh Rubber, there are 12 private firms competing to source rubber. Phuong was certain that he would not lose VND105 million ($4,520) per month during the tough market caused by rising production expenses, the shortage of rubber tappers and the … [Read more...] about Plantations dreaming of FSC status for rubber products

Open mainnet, which is said to allow users to trade the token for other cryptocurrencies, "will begin on 2022 Pi Day (14/3) or Pi2 Day (28/6)" depending on "the maturity of the Enclosed Network economy and the progress of KYC (know-your-customer)," its developer announced last year. "My two-year wait will finally pay off if everything happens as planned," Thanh Lam, a Pi investor in HCMC said. Like many amateur investors in Vietnam, Lam started investing in the cryptocurrency in 2020 and now has over a thousand tokens. He quit logging into the app daily a while ago after he was disappointed with the delay by the developer. But he returned recently after many users were asked for KYC and the fact Pi2 Day was imminent. "If Pi can reach the target price of a few hundreds or thousands of dollars, my 1,000 tokens will be enough." He is eagerly waiting for his KYC process, a minimum requirement for most cryptocurrencies to verify users’ legality and prevent money laundering. "If … [Read more...] about Vietnamese regain hope in ‘next Bitcoin’

Tokopedia is a combination of Toko (shop) and encyclopedia. It adopts a similar business model as e-commerce giant Alibaba. Tokopedia is a shopping platform where every business can easily arrange and sell its products. As of June 2020, Tokopedia recorded a valuation of up to $7 billion and became the third-largest unicorn in Southeast Asia, trailing behind Grab (Singapore) and GoJek (Indonesia), according to CB Insights. Tokopedia is successful in bringing technologies into grocery stores in Indonesia In 2018, Tokopedia unveiled its ambitious plan to penetrate Indonesia’s economy worth $1 trillion, which is the largest economy in Southeast Asia. It launched Mitra Tokopedia for the owners of warung (a small family-owned business) or outdoor grocery stalls serving their neighbourhoods. Mitra Tokopedia has recorded one million downloads with 2 million warung in the island nation. Mitra Tokopedia not only connects grocery owners with suppliers but also removes … [Read more...] about VinShop set to become Vietnam’s next unicorn

A Con Cung store. — Photo concung.com The retail market of products for mothers and babies is booming as interest in health is increasing, especially for vulnerable groups such as families with infants and children. The trend to go to specialised supermarkets for mothers and babies has become popular in large centres such as Ha Noi and HCM City and has spread to many cities across the country. Increasingly, modern life makes the demand for shopping in the mothers and babies sector rise. It is not difficult to find baby supermarkets anywhere, such as Con Cung, Bibomart, Kids Plaza, Shop Tre Tho, Tuti care and more. Even nursing mothers do not need to go out but can order products of authorised brands in the market on reputable online sales sites such as Shopee, Tiki, and Lazada so as not to waste time travelling. The attractiveness of the new shopping trend for breastfeeding mothers, along with the large market size, up to billions of U.S. dollars, has lured many large … [Read more...] about Mothers and babies sector booming in VN