Priyanka Joshi &Amp; Shivani Shinde

Stories by Priyanka Joshi &Amp; Shivani Shinde

Onboarding of e-commerce giants crucial to ensure success of ONDC

Onboarding of e-commerce giants crucial to ensure success of ONDC

Rediff.com   15 Sep 2022

When Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was conceived last December, the idea was to reduce the dominance of e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart. It was also to bring in a level-playing field for small merchants in India's fragmented but fast-growing $1-trillion retail market. However, those goals have changed now as large e-commerce players such as Flipkart, Amazon and Ecom Express are in various levels of talks with the ONDC team. They want to form partnerships like integrating with the network as well as providing their expertise to build it, according to the industry sources.

Online pharmacy platform Tata 1mg turns unicorn after raising $40 mn

Online pharmacy platform Tata 1mg turns unicorn after raising $40 mn

Rediff.com   7 Sep 2022

Online pharmacy platform Tata 1mg turned a unicorn after raising close to $40 million in a funding round led by Tata Digital, media reports said. The company was yet to comment on the valuations till the time of going to press. 1mg has raised $230.8 million across 16 rounds, including this one.

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.

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.

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.

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.

'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.

Restaurant to jewellery, brands make a beeline for metaverse

Restaurant to jewellery, brands make a beeline for metaverse

Rediff.com   21 Jun 2022

'We're seeing major Bollywood celebrities, fashion icons, and even movie studios all wanting to build Metaverse experiences'

How to stay secure as cybercrime runs rampant in India

How to stay secure as cybercrime runs rampant in India

Rediff.com   14 Jun 2022

Like software-as-a-service (SaaS), CaaS has emerged as a well-orchestrated ecosystem for cybercriminals.

Dropout Who Built $100 Mn PhysicsWallah

Dropout Who Built $100 Mn PhysicsWallah

Rediff.com   13 Jun 2022

'With our focus and strategy we can solve at least 20 per cent per cent of India's education problems.'

A lot has changed since decades-old IT Act: Tata's Chandra

A lot has changed since decades-old IT Act: Tata's Chandra

Rediff.com   10 Jun 2022

N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tata Sons, believes that the Digital India Act is a necessity. "The Digital India Act is a necessity because so much has changed over the decades since the original Information Technology (IT) Act was put in place. I am glad the government is developing a participative approach to developing the Digital Act," he said, while answering shareholders at TCS' 27th annual general meeting. Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar a few months ago had said that the government would shortly roll out the Digital India Act - a renewed policy for the digital ecosystem and cyberspace in the country.

Will TCS Enter The Metaverse?

Will TCS Enter The Metaverse?

Rediff.com   7 Jun 2022

'At present Metaverse is a hype cycle.' 'If it succeeds, then I would like to see TCS there, too.'