Nitin Kumar &Amp; Peerzada Abrar

Stories by Nitin Kumar &Amp; Peerzada Abrar

Govt defends Great Nicobar project amid criticism, cites national interest

Govt defends Great Nicobar project amid criticism, cites national interest

Rediff.com   26 Aug 2024

The central government's Great Nicobar development project, proposed around an unprecedented transhipment port, will be executed to keep environmental impact minimal, and is essential as it is of national importance, the government has said amid calls to abort the controversial project due to ecological concerns, the Centre said in an official statement.

Ola Electric's e-bike pricing sparks debate across EV industry

Ola Electric's e-bike pricing sparks debate across EV industry

Rediff.com   19 Aug 2024

The launch of a range of electric motorbikes (e-bikes) by Bengaluru-based Ola Electric, a first for the company, has disconcerted the industry because the low price the firm claims to be offering has the potential to disrupt the market. On August 15, Ola unveiled its Roadster series e-bike with a starting-price at Rs 74,999. This new pricing undercuts the previous lowest price in the category, which was Rs 110,000.

Action Packed Time For Two-Wheelers!

Action Packed Time For Two-Wheelers!

Rediff.com   19 Aug 2024

The BSA Gold Star is launched....Ola Enters e-motorbikes Biz... Bajaj, TVS To Enter e2Ws Market...

Festive Hires: 1 Million Gig Workers, 250,000 Contractual Workers

Festive Hires: 1 Million Gig Workers, 250,000 Contractual Workers

Rediff.com   17 Aug 2024

Companies like Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho as well as quick commerce ones like Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart may create hundreds of thousands of seasonal jobs for the coming festival season.

Flipkart's Shopsy intensifies efforts to tap into Bharat

Flipkart's Shopsy intensifies efforts to tap into Bharat

Rediff.com   8 Aug 2024

Flipkart's hyper-value e-commerce platform Shopsy is intensifying efforts to tap over half of the 821 million internet users (about 442 million) in rural India. These efforts are being led by Prathyusha Agarwal, who recently joined as business head at Shopsy. The aim is to become the go-to destination for consumers seeking entry-level products across various categories.

Competitors unfazed by Flipkart's 10-min delivery foray

Competitors unfazed by Flipkart's 10-min delivery foray

Rediff.com   7 Aug 2024

At a time when Flipkart has entered the quick-commerce race with a service called "Minutes", executives at rival players said they are in a wait-and-watch mode. They said they would be concerned only once the e-commerce firm is able to succeed in this space. The Walmart-owned firm's quick-commerce service has gone live in some parts of Bengaluru, putting it in competition with firms such as Zepto, Swiggy's Instamart, and Zomato's Blinkit.

Amazon India Head Quits

Amazon India Head Quits

Rediff.com   7 Aug 2024

Manish Tiwary plans to take up a new role at another firm.

Why EV sales set roads on fire in July

Why EV sales set roads on fire in July

Rediff.com   2 Aug 2024

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in July touched 178,948 units, marking the highest monthly sales this financial year. This represents a 27.9 per cent increase from June, which saw 139,905 units sold, according to the Vahan data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The strong performance in July contributed to more than one million being sold in the first seven months of the calendar year.

Tiger Deaths Decline By 29 Percent

Tiger Deaths Decline By 29 Percent

Rediff.com   31 Jul 2024

2023 was the worst for the tiger population, recording the highest number of mortalities in a decade with 178 tigers dying.

Area for critical minerals mining expanded

Area for critical minerals mining expanded

Rediff.com   19 Jul 2024

The Centre has increased the area granted to individual players by more than four fold in order to boost mining of critical minerals. Issuing an order on Tuesday, the government said, for mining leases, the area has been expanded from the current limit of 10 sq km to 50 sq km. For prospecting licences (granted in the case of composite licence), the limit has been increased from 25 sq km to 100 sq km.

Byju's may move NCLAT against insolvency order

Byju's may move NCLAT against insolvency order

Rediff.com   18 Jul 2024

Edtech company Byju's parent Think & Learn will challenge the National Company Law Tribunal's (NCLT's) order on insolvency proceedings and may approach the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in the next few days, a source claimed. With the NCLT appointing Pankaj Srivastava as the interim resolution professional (IRP), time is running out for Byju's as the committee of creditors (CoC) begins to be formed.

Google Unveils AI For India's Developers

Google Unveils AI For India's Developers

Rediff.com   18 Jul 2024

Developers in India now have expanded access to Google's powerful AI models with the 2 million token context window in Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemma 2, the next generation of open models.

Ola Electric likely to drive in IPO at a lower valuation of $4.5 billion

Ola Electric likely to drive in IPO at a lower valuation of $4.5 billion

Rediff.com   17 Jul 2024

Ola Electric, the SoftBank-backed electric vehicle (EV) maker, is likely to pursue a valuation of approximately $4.5 billion in its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), marking about 18 per cent decrease from its last funding round valuation of around $5.5 billion, according to industry sources. The Bhavish Aggarwal-founded firm aims to file for the IPO by next month, according to people familiar with the matter. "The strategy is to price the IPO attractively for investors, fostering long-term growth and wealth creation," said a source.

Gig workers Bill: Unease among startups

Gig workers Bill: Unease among startups

Rediff.com   15 Jul 2024

A group comprising top tech startups and unicorns has raised several "serious concerns" over a platform-based gig workers Bill proposed by the Karnataka government, saying it would hurt the ease of doing business. They told the state government the Bill in its current form would hamper operations and increase regulatory and compliance burden on the nascent gig and startup economy, according to sources.

EMPS 2024: OEMs can claim incentives twice a month, Aadhaar mandatory

EMPS 2024: OEMs can claim incentives twice a month, Aadhaar mandatory

Rediff.com   11 Jul 2024

The government has taken a slew of steps to boost the sales of electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers under its Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) 2024, which includes allowing manufacturers to upload claims twice a month and gives them a 120-day window to submit it. The Rs 500-crore scheme -- which had replaced the flagship Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme-- comes to an end on July 31st.

Ola Maps navigating beyond 'western apps'

Ola Maps navigating beyond 'western apps'

Rediff.com   9 Jul 2024

Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and chief executive officer of Ola, is encouraging developers to switch from Google Maps to Ola Maps. Ola is offering developers a year of free access to Ola Maps on the company's Krutrim Cloud and over Rs 100 crore in free credits. This initiative comes after Ola replaced Google Maps with its own Ola Maps, leading to annual savings of around Rs 100 crore.

EMPS 2024: Only 3.6% vehicle sales target met

EMPS 2024: Only 3.6% vehicle sales target met

Rediff.com   8 Jul 2024

The Rs 500-crore Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) 2024, introduced by the Centre to provide incentives to the electric mobility industry, will conclude on July 31 with barely 3.6 per cent of the targeted vehicle sales achieved so far. This is in stark contrast to the earlier flagship Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme, which exceeded its sales targets. According to data from the Ministry of Heavy Industry (MHI), only 13,499 of the 372,215 targeted vehicles have been sold under the EMPS scheme.

Unacademy hands pink slips to 250 more employees

Unacademy hands pink slips to 250 more employees

Rediff.com   3 Jul 2024

Edtech firm Unacademy has laid off 250 people across verticals, according to people familiar with the matter, reducing its employee strength by 50 per cent from what it was two years ago. Of those, 100 are from core functions such as marketing, business, and product, while the rest are from sales.

Why EV Sales Dropped To 14%

Why EV Sales Dropped To 14%

Rediff.com   2 Jul 2024

So far this year, around 839,545 electric vehicles have been sold, accounting for approximately 6.69% of the total 12,541,684 vehicles sold.

Aim to make India core in global energy revolution: Ola Electric

Aim to make India core in global energy revolution: Ola Electric

Rediff.com   1 Jul 2024

In March 2021, Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal was seen surveying an empty 500-acre land surrounded by shoe factories, temples, bakery shops, coconut trees and dusty roads in Pochampalli town of Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu. Many excavators and workers were busy at the construction site to build the Ola Futurefactory for electric vehicles.