Avik Das, Business Standard

Stories by Avik Das, Business Standard

Wipro's $1 bn Olam deal, Mindsprint acquisition marks major strategic win

Wipro's $1 bn Olam deal, Mindsprint acquisition marks major strategic win

Rediff.com   3 days ago

Wipro, India's fourth-largest IT services company, has secured an eight-year deal with Singapore-based Olam group, valued at over $1 billion, and will also acquire Olam's IT and digital services arm, Mindsprint, for $375 million, marking one of its largest contracts to date.

Proposed H-1B wage hike to impact Indian IT, favouring higher-skilled workers

Proposed H-1B wage hike to impact Indian IT, favouring higher-skilled workers

Rediff.com   3 days ago

The Trump administration's proposed H-1B wage structure aims to increase pay for skilled overseas workers in the US by an average of $14,000, with Level I wages potentially rising to $97,746. This move, coupled with a weighted selection process favouring higher-skilled workers, is intended to curb abuse of visa programmes and ensure parity with American workers, but has already led to a sharp decline in H-1B applications, particularly from Indian IT companies.

Jio IPO Set To Break All Records

Jio IPO Set To Break All Records

Rediff.com   6 days ago

Only 2.5 per cent of the equity in Jio Platforms will be offloaded through the OFS route -- meant for secondary share sale.

Goldman Cuts India Market Outlook

Goldman Cuts India Market Outlook

Rediff.com   27 Mar 2026

Goldman Sachs has materially lowered its earnings growth forecast for Indian companies by a cumulative 9 percentage points over the next two years.

Hiring Outlook Brightens for FY27

Hiring Outlook Brightens for FY27

Rediff.com   26 Mar 2026

Hiring demand strongest in ecommerce, tech startups, healthcare, and energy sectors, with Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune leading.

'No Governance Issue In HDFC Bank'

'No Governance Issue In HDFC Bank'

Rediff.com   20 Mar 2026

'Being an important institution in the banking system, we are subject to regulatory supervision, both offsite and onsite.' 'When you look at the intensity at which these levels of supervision come, we, on the board and in management, believe there should not be any surprises.'

Gulf War: Nasscom Warns Firms Of Cyber Threat Surge

Gulf War: Nasscom Warns Firms Of Cyber Threat Surge

Rediff.com   17 Mar 2026

'Periods of geopolitical uncertainty often see a rise in coordinated cyber threats, disinformation campaigns, and infrastructure targeting.'

AI Skills Enter Employee Performance Reviews

AI Skills Enter Employee Performance Reviews

Rediff.com   11 Mar 2026

The message is becoming clearer: Employees who fail to meaningfully integrate AI into their work risk falling behind in performance assessments.

AI-Skilled Graduates Make Up 60% Of TCS Fresher Hiring

AI-Skilled Graduates Make Up 60% Of TCS Fresher Hiring

Rediff.com   2 Mar 2026

'A prime hire can have a salary as high as Rs 11 lakh at the entry level and above.'

'You End Up Firefighting': Finance Minister

'You End Up Firefighting': Finance Minister

Rediff.com   26 Feb 2026

'Uncertainty level A in the morning, uncertainty level B in the afternoon. If I answer about tariff rates now, I'll be outdated by the evening.'

'India Is A Reverse AI Trade Globally'

'India Is A Reverse AI Trade Globally'

Rediff.com   25 Feb 2026

'The day that the market realises that they've overspent (on AI) and there's a sudden collapse in the capex, then India can start outperforming again.'

AI Can Make India World's Creative Capital

AI Can Make India World's Creative Capital

Rediff.com   21 Feb 2026

'Not the back office for the world's content. The leader. The standard-setter.'

AGI Dream 'Meaningless': Godfather Of AI

AGI Dream 'Meaningless': Godfather Of AI

Rediff.com   21 Feb 2026

'We could well be in a world where AI already has these dangerous capabilities and that is why there is a need for careful scientific evaluation to determine the risk and capabilities of these machines.'

AI startup Sarvam launches two made-in-India large language models

AI startup Sarvam launches two made-in-India large language models

Rediff.com   19 Feb 2026

Indian artificial intelligence (AI) startup Sarvam launched two indigenous large language models (LLMs) specifically trained on Indian languages on Wednesday.

Anthropic's Scores Big On India Revenue

Anthropic's Scores Big On India Revenue

Rediff.com   19 Feb 2026

India is emerging as Claude.ai's second-largest user base, driven by strong adoption in coding, maths and enterprise AI tasks.

What Caused Nifty IT's 6% Fall On Thu?

What Caused Nifty IT's 6% Fall On Thu?

Rediff.com   13 Feb 2026

The Nifty IT index hit a more than nine-month low, trading at its weakest level since April 17, 2025.

India-US trade deal brings glimmer of hope for beleaguered IT services players

India-US trade deal brings glimmer of hope for beleaguered IT services players

Rediff.com   11 Feb 2026

The India-US trade deal has offered a much-needed breather for the Indian information technology (IT) industry, which has been grappling with global macroeconomic uncertainty and subdued client spending over the past few years.

Cybersecurity biggest risk for enterprises: Ficci-EY report

Cybersecurity biggest risk for enterprises: Ficci-EY report

Rediff.com   9 Feb 2026

Cybersecurity breaches have emerged as the top risk shaping organisational performance, with 61 per cent of respondents identifying it as the primary risk, said a Ficci and EY report.

'What We Need Is Technology Skills Plus Learnability'

'What We Need Is Technology Skills Plus Learnability'

Rediff.com   27 Jan 2026

AI is changing how IT companies hire, with skills like learning fast and solving problems now more important than degrees.

HCLTech counts on M&As to add 1.5% to revenue

HCLTech counts on M&As to add 1.5% to revenue

Rediff.com   14 Jan 2026

HCLTech expects its recent large acquisitions to contribute about 1.5 per cent to revenue in 2026-27 (FY27), Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director C Vijayakumar said, as the company looks to build newer revenue streams in a subdued macroeconomic environment.