Ishita Ayan Dutt And Shivani Shinde

Stories by Ishita Ayan Dutt And Shivani Shinde

TCS scraps anniversary hikes, to follow industry norm of annual raise

TCS scraps anniversary hikes, to follow industry norm of annual raise

Rediff.com   3 Sep 2022

The IT major will give an anniversary hike for lateral hires as they complete a year at the company. And, these employees were entitled to the annual salary revision that followed the anniversary hikes.

WazirX controversy bares crypto's trade secrets in India

WazirX controversy bares crypto's trade secrets in India

Rediff.com   25 Aug 2022

A few days back, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged the start-up community and public to deal in cryptocurrency with caution because everything that was floating around was not currency. In the first week of August, the country's top nine crypto exchange platforms were summoned by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in Hyderabad. The exchanges were questioned for money laundering, especially over a number of Indian non-banking financial companies and their fintech partners for predatory lending practices in violation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and by using tele-callers who misuse personal data and use abusive language to extort high interest rates from the loan takers.

Stakes rise for bauxite blocks in Odisha on Adani Group's entry

Stakes rise for bauxite blocks in Odisha on Adani Group's entry

Rediff.com   25 Aug 2022

The next auction for bauxite blocks in Odisha may see heightened interest with Adani Group charting an entry into alumina refining and existing players looking to boost capacity. Hemant Sharma, principal secretary, Odisha industries department, said that three bauxite blocks have been scheduled for auctions this year. Adani Group - which will be setting up a 4-MMTPA alumina refinery and may enter aluminium production - is expected to bid for mines, though raw material linkages shall be available from Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC).

SoftBank warns its portfolio firms of cost cutting

SoftBank warns its portfolio firms of cost cutting

Rediff.com   20 Aug 2022

After a recent fall in profit, Masayoshi Son of SoftBank announced that the Japanese tech investor will look at dramatic cost-cutting. Before he does that, investments in India for calendar year 2022 (CY22) will fall radically, observed sources in the know. Last year, the company had invested around $3.2-3.5 billion in the Indian start-up ecosystem - almost 10 per cent of the total investment the sector received. For CY22, the investments may not even touch $1 billion.

Will Partha's arrest in SSC scam impact Mamata?

Will Partha's arrest in SSC scam impact Mamata?

Rediff.com   10 Aug 2022

After the Trinamool's overwhelming majority in the West Bengal assembly elections last year, the SSC scam has given fresh ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist. Ishita Ayan Dutt reports.

Microsoft gives ONDC its first Big Tech push

Microsoft gives ONDC its first Big Tech push

Rediff.com   10 Aug 2022

Microsoft has become the first global Big Tech company to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), an Indian government initiative for developing a first-of-its-kind open network for digital commerce. The world's second-largest technology firm intends to introduce social e-commerce via its app in the Indian market later this year. ONDC is expected to open to the public in Bengaluru over the next fortnight as it enters into the next phase of the pilot for further fine-tuning before rollouts in other cities, according to a source in the know.

Consumer product companies likely to pause price hikes

Consumer product companies likely to pause price hikes

Rediff.com   8 Aug 2022

Indian consumers are likely to get respite from rising prices just before the festival season. Some consumer companies, including automakers, have indicated that they are planning to pause price hikes just before demand picks up in August, while keeping a close eye on volatile raw material prices.

US retailer Macy's tech expense cut may hurt IT giants

US retailer Macy's tech expense cut may hurt IT giants

Rediff.com   6 Aug 2022

The company's decision may impact new projects, which are likely to get delayed, said sources in the know. Among the IT players that work with Macy's are Accenture, Cognizant, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Infosys. Macy's is among the top 5-10 clients of these companies.

Zomato moves to multiple-CEO structure for business

Zomato moves to multiple-CEO structure for business

Rediff.com   2 Aug 2022

Online food delivery aggregator Zomato is on an internal rebranding exercise by moving to a multiple chief executive structure for its businesses that will be housed under a larger organisation called Eternal. In an internal message to employees, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Deepinder Goyal said the company is at a stage where it has matured from running a single business to running multiple and large companies. The restructuring is happening after the shareholder approved the Blinkit acquisition.

Attrition continues to hit margins at top-tier IT companies in Q1FY23

Attrition continues to hit margins at top-tier IT companies in Q1FY23

Rediff.com   26 Jul 2022

A quick look at the Q1FY23 performance of top-tier IT services players shows that they are still far away from getting a grip on managing attrition. Talent retention has eroded not only their margins but also any gains they may have made from rupee depreciation. Despite robust growth numbers and strong deal pipelines, margins for all the players -- TCS, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Wipro -- have continued to shrink at a pace that has had the street surprised.

Cryptocurrency heists just got harder, thanks to tech

Cryptocurrency heists just got harder, thanks to tech

Rediff.com   19 Jul 2022

Earlier last month, for the first time ever, an anonymous hacker was served with a restraining order as a non-fungible token (NFT), reports Shivani Shinde.

Over 7 mn users download Tata Neu app within seven weeks of launch

Over 7 mn users download Tata Neu app within seven weeks of launch

Rediff.com   13 Jul 2022

Tata Neu, the super app from the Tata group, has been downloaded by over 7 million users within seven weeks of its launch. And, the company wants to ramp this up to 150 million users in the next two years, said senior executives of Tata Digital in an internal magazine of the Tata group. According to data from App Annie, a mobile app tracking platform, the Tata Neu app has been downloaded by over 11 million users.

Collectors' items: Some of these exotic pets cost Rs 150,000!

Collectors' items: Some of these exotic pets cost Rs 150,000!

Rediff.com   3 Jul 2022

White-lipped tamarin is a type of monkey that lives in the Amazon area of Brazil and Bolivia. Prevost's squirrel is a colourful species from the forests in the Thai-Malay Peninsula and nearby islands. Sugar gliders are tiny marsupials - 6.3 to 8.3 inches in length - native to Australia.

Sri Lankan crisis: Indian orthodox tea gets a boost

Sri Lankan crisis: Indian orthodox tea gets a boost

Rediff.com   30 Jun 2022

It's a busy season for Indian producers of orthodox tea. As Sri Lanka, the world's largest supplier of orthodox tea, struggles with its worst economic crisis, a window of opportunity has opened up in neighbouring India. Calls to Indian planters and exporters from foreign buyers of Sri Lankan orthodox tea are pouring in and the buoyant sentiment is reflecting in prices at auction centres. Orthodox tea refers to loose-leaf tea which is produced using traditional or orthodox methods such as plucking, withering, rolling, oxidation and drying.

ITC's luxury project in Colombo hit as Sri Lanka economy sinks

ITC's luxury project in Colombo hit as Sri Lanka economy sinks

Rediff.com   30 Jun 2022

ITC's first foreign venture in the hotel space - a premium and luxury mixed-use development - has been "adversely impacted" by Sri Lanka's economic crisis, the firm said. The $300-million project under WelcomHotels Lanka (Private) Limited (WLPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITC, comprises a luxury hotel and a super-premium residential apartment complex on 5.86 acres of prime sea-facing land in Colombo. In its latest annual report for financial year 2021-22 (FY22), ITC mentioned that the project's construction was running on schedule till the third quarter (Q3) of FY19, but was adversely impacted due to disruptions in the aftermath of the terror incidents in 2019 and thereafter by recurrent waves of the Covid-19 pandemic.

'The opportunity for tech is massive'

'The opportunity for tech is massive'

Rediff.com   27 Jun 2022

'A lot of the emphasis when we hire graduates is the learning for these new technologies -- whether it's cloud and digital data analytics, cybersecurity, or IoT, but also some of the new ones, such as Metaverse or other newer areas.'

'The concept of 'One Infosys' will be crucial'

'The concept of 'One Infosys' will be crucial'

Rediff.com   24 Jun 2022

'We spent considerable time re-skilling all the employees, and then we created a new focus called the 'One Infosys'.'

Google executive warns against sharing of citizen data

Google executive warns against sharing of citizen data

Rediff.com   23 Jun 2022

Google's chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, has warned policymakers that frequent and large-scale sharing of citizen data, even if anonymized, can damage users' privacy. Pointing to research that shows data sets lose their anonymity if shared consistently over time, he said: "I would encourage policymakers and companies to be extremely circumspect while proceeding in that direction." Anonymization is a technique that removes or modifies personally identifiable information, resulting in data that cannot be associated with any one individual.

Game Streaming the Next Hot Career?

Game Streaming the Next Hot Career?

Rediff.com   23 Jun 2022

Game streaming is becoming a serious professional choice for youth, as it allows them to make good money.

What makes Essar steel sector's comeback kid

What makes Essar steel sector's comeback kid

Rediff.com   21 Jun 2022

Apart from being the most successful cases under the IBC, Bhushan Steel and Essar Steel are among the best steel assets in the country. They also ended up helping their lenders get back a significant chunk of the money while allowing Tata Steel to consolidate its position and giving the world's two largest steel makers - ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel - a strong foothold in India. A significant contrast was the pace at which these two cases were resolved under the bankruptcy code. In the annals of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Essar Steel may go down in history as the most noticeable resolution with the world's largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, and the incumbent, Ruia family, locked in an intense battle spanning more than two years and ultimately resulting in full recovery of the principal amount for the financial creditors.