Neha Alawadhi &Amp;Amp; Arup Roychoudhury

Stories by Neha Alawadhi &Amp;Amp; Arup Roychoudhury

Urban Company tries to soothe frayed nerves of women partners

Urban Company tries to soothe frayed nerves of women partners

Rediff.com   15 Oct 2021

Urban Company, the home services firm, announced a 12-point programme on Thursday to improve partner earnings and livelihood for all partners on its platform in India. The announcement comes after most women partners on the platform staged a protest last Friday, demanding better layouts and safer working conditions. Among the provisions in the 12-point programme are reduction of highest commissions in the beauty category, in which most of Urban Company's female partners work.

How chip shortage is impacting automakers, other industries

How chip shortage is impacting automakers, other industries

Rediff.com   27 Sep 2021

Time was when you turned on your car's ignition, all that happened was that the mechanical system fired up your engine and made it run. Today, the moment you do so, your stereo system probably lights up, connects to the Bluetooth on your smartphone, and lets you make calls through an audio assistant or play music from your phone, which you can hear on the car's speakers. All these smart features in a car are powered by semiconductors, or chips, as they are commonly called.

Meet the man behind CoinDCX, India's first crypto unicorn

Meet the man behind CoinDCX, India's first crypto unicorn

Rediff.com   16 Sep 2021

A large part of the work that CEO Sumit Gupta does is focused on educating users and the larger community about investing in cryptocurrencies, reports Neha Alawadhi.

Fed up with WFH, Indian professionals want to return to office

Fed up with WFH, Indian professionals want to return to office

Rediff.com   15 Sep 2021

One in three professionals in India is burnt out due to increased workload and stress, as the pandemic forces them to work remotely, even as the majority of the workforce feels they would want to return to work in some form, a study by professional network LinkedIn has found. LinkedIn on Tuesday launched findings of the "Future of Work" perception study by research firm Censuswide that focuses on the insights of 1,108 respondents in the age group of 16 to 68, who have worked from home during the pandemic due to Covid-19 restrictions. The survey captures the sentiment of the Indian workforce towards the impact of remote work, their plans to return to work, and work model preferences for the future.

Siliguri-based hotelier moves SC against Oyo for unfair practices

Siliguri-based hotelier moves SC against Oyo for unfair practices

Rediff.com   13 Sep 2021

A Siliguri-based hotelier has challenged a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ruling that closed insolvency proceedings against OYO and one of its units, in the Supreme Court. The hearing is scheduled for September 13 before a two-judge Bench. Oyo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

HOTTEST Skills At Campus Placements

HOTTEST Skills At Campus Placements

Rediff.com   7 Sep 2021

'We are anticipating that the hiring trend will continue to see double-digit growth at least for the current financial year.'

Snapdeal plans $350-400 million IPO, eyes $2.5 billion valuation

Snapdeal plans $350-400 million IPO, eyes $2.5 billion valuation

Rediff.com   4 Sep 2021

JM Financial, Axis Bank, and Bank of America have been roped in as the bankers to run the mandate, say sources.

Twitter testing feature to auto block abusive accounts

Twitter testing feature to auto block abusive accounts

Rediff.com   3 Sep 2021

With this feature, tweets found by the microblogging platform's technology to be harmful or uninvited will be autoblocked. This implies that that such profiles will temporarily be unable to follow an account, see their tweets, or send them direct messages.

WhatsApp banned 3m Indian accounts, says 2nd compliance report

WhatsApp banned 3m Indian accounts, says 2nd compliance report

Rediff.com   1 Sep 2021

Indian accounts, identified by the "+91" in their mobile numbers, were actioned through WhatsApp's prevention and detection methods, for violating either the laws of India or the company's Terms of Service, the firm said in its compliance report.

Hindujas sell health care unit to Baring Private Equity for $1.2 billion

Hindujas sell health care unit to Baring Private Equity for $1.2 billion

Rediff.com   11 Aug 2021

Hinduja Group's business process management entity, Hinduja Global Solutions Limited (HGS) said on Wednesday that it has entered into definitive agreements to divest its Healthcare Services business to funds affiliated with Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA), at an enterprise value of $1.2 bilion. The deal is subject to closing adjustments, and is expected to complete within 90 days, subject to shareholder and other regulatory approvals. "The cash that will come in as a result of this transaction will be deployed to growing the business as well as looking at buying some capabilities...where capabilities are important for being able to do a good job of customer experience transformation.

Meet C Vijayakumar, Shiv Nadar's successor at HCL Tech

Meet C Vijayakumar, Shiv Nadar's successor at HCL Tech

Rediff.com   9 Aug 2021

C Vijayakumar, the reticent chief executive of HCL Technologies, India's third-largest IT services firm, was recently appointed managing director, succeeding the founder, Shiv Nadar. Back in October 2016, when CVK, as he is popularly called within and outside of HCL, was named CEO, it had been somewhat of a surprise - his elevation being the result of his predecessor, Anant Gupta, suddenly stepping down to "pursue personal interests". CVK, 53, has since taken the firm from under $7 billion to over $10 billion in revenue.

IMD may deploy cutting-edge tech to forecast weather accurately

IMD may deploy cutting-edge tech to forecast weather accurately

Rediff.com   3 Aug 2021

IMD has decided to increasingly use cutting-edge technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in forecasting, both to avoid such glitches and to counter the disruption of normal seasonal patterns as a result of climate change. It has formed various internal sub-groups of senior officials and meteorologists to decide on how best to use AI and ML in predicting cyclone intensity, and in making short-range weather forecasts (those valid for up to three hours) as well as long-range forecasts.

Sachin Tendulkar invests $2 mn in JetSynthesys

Sachin Tendulkar invests $2 mn in JetSynthesys

Rediff.com   30 Jul 2021

Sachin Tendulkar has recently made an equity investment of $2 million in digital entertainment and technology company JetSynthesys. The investment further strengthens Tendulkar's relationship with JetSynthesys, as the two already have an existing joint venture for a digital destination for all things cricket, called 100MB, and immersive cricket games Sachin Saga Cricket Champions and Sachin Saga VR. With this investment, Tendulkar joins the bandwagon of existing shareholders of JetSynthesys, who include Adar Poonawalla, Kris Gopalakrishnan, and the multi-billion-dollar family offices of the promoters of Thermax, Triveni Group, Yohan Poonawalla Group and DSP Group.

Indians more vulnerable to tech support scams, says Microsoft report

Indians more vulnerable to tech support scams, says Microsoft report

Rediff.com   23 Jul 2021

Indians are more vulnerable to technology support-related scams compared to the global average, and lost over Rs 15,000 on average in such scam, a Microsoft research has found. According to the 2021 Global Tech Support Scam Research report, which looks at tech support scams and their impact, consumers in India experienced a relatively high scam encounter rate of 69 per cent during the past 12 months, close to the 70 per cent rate experienced in 2018. In contrast, there was an overall five-point drop in scam encounters globally with a rate of 59 per cent over the same period. The survey was conducted in Spring 2021 and asked consumers to share their experiences with tech support scams for the year prior (January 2020 to present).

How face-off with Indian govt has boosted Twitter

How face-off with Indian govt has boosted Twitter

Rediff.com   16 Jul 2021

Political controversies aside, Twitter's business in India is expanding, and creating opportunities for Indians, reports Neha Alawadhi.

'IPO won't change how Zomato operates'

'IPO won't change how Zomato operates'

Rediff.com   16 Jul 2021

'We work with a very large restaurant base, we make sure that we're doing the right thing by them, and we're helping them grow because we'll grow only when they do.'

The Man in the Middle of the Twitter Storm

The Man in the Middle of the Twitter Storm

Rediff.com   10 Jul 2021

When the Delhi police served him a notice in May for a case involving tagging some political leaders' tweets as carrying manipulated media, a spirited Maheshwari said he was employed by Twitter Communications Private Limited, and not Twitter Inc, and, therefore, could not help them. The authorities were understandably not pleased.

Insolvency proceedings against Oyo Hotels closed

Insolvency proceedings against Oyo Hotels closed

Rediff.com   8 Jul 2021

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday closed insolvency proceedings against Oyo and one of its subsidiaries, and also disallowed the intervention of external parties including Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI). Industry body FHRAI said in May it has been allowed by the NCLAT to intervene on behalf of hotels in the Oyo unit insolvency case before the tribunal. The association had filed the application on behalf of its member hotels in India, who it said at the time are operational creditors suffering hugely on account of non-payments of debt by Oyo.

Restaurant body up in arms against Zomato, Swiggy

Restaurant body up in arms against Zomato, Swiggy

Rediff.com   6 Jul 2021

Alleging "anti-competitive practices" by Zomato and Swiggy, restaurant industry body National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Monday said it has approached fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a detailed probe against the food aggregators. Keeping the interests of restaurants in mind, NRAI on July 1 had filed information with the CCI, it said in a statement. The main issues highlighted by the association in the submission are bundling of services, data masking, and exorbitant commission charged, price parity agreements, deep discounting, including forcing restaurant partners to give discounts to maintain appropriate listing, exclusivity of listed restaurants, and violation of platform neutrality, vertical integration, and lack of transparency on the food ordering platforms.

81% consumers back e-commerce rules, want clarity on services-based biz

81% consumers back e-commerce rules, want clarity on services-based biz

Rediff.com   5 Jul 2021

As many as 81 per cent people support having rules for consumer e-commerce, but want more services-based platforms to have more clearly defined roles, a survey by community social media platform LocalCircles has found. The survey asked respondents to answer questions based on the recent draft Rules proposed by the ministry of consumer affairs. The responses found 81 per cent consumers wanting sales of products and services over electronic or digital networks to be governed by a set of electronic commerce rules.