After dipping by as much as 17 per cent in April, readymade garment (RMG) exports of all textile categories in India are showing signs of recovery in May. Exporters in Tiruppur are indicating a rise in rupee terms during the month, while it may take at least a month for volumes to be back in positive terrain. Among the global majors that are placing orders in the textile hub include Walmart, H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB), Tommy Hilfiger and Target.
As artificial intelligence (AI) threatens to replace jobs, a new report from Microsoft has suggested that Indian employees are caught between a fear of losing jobs and an opportunity to reduce workload by delegating tasks to technology. Microsoft's Work Trend Index 2023 found that while 74 per cent of Indian employees are worried about AI replacing their jobs, 83 per cent would delegate as much work to it as possible, to help lessen their workloads. More than three in four Indian workers would be comfortable using AI not just for administrative tasks (86 per cent), but also for analytical work (88 per cent), and for the creative aspects of their role (87 per cent).
'I am confident that TCS's best years are ahead,' outgoing CEO tells staff in farewell email.
With the third and final round of layoffs implemented by Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms, Inc. in process globally, India, too, has seen its impact, with some senior executives being asked to leave. Some of the executives to have been impacted are Avinash Pant, India's director of marketing; Saket Jha Sourabh, director and head of media partnerships; and Amrita Mukherjee, one of the directors on the legal team. An email sent to the company did not elicit any comment on the development until the time of going to press.
Rishad Premji, chairman of IT services major Wipro, saw his compensation for FY23 decline by almost 50 per cent year-on-year, due to a fall in the firm's profit. According to the Form 20-F, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission by Wipro, Premji's compensation for FY23 was $951,353, down 50 per cent from $1,819,022 in FY22. "Rishad A Premji is entitled to a commission at the rate of 0.35 per cent on incremental consolidated net profits of Wipro Limited over the previous fiscal year. However, in light of the fact that the incremental consolidated net profits for fiscal year 2023 was negative, the Company determined that no commission was payable for fiscal year 2023 to Mr Rishad A. Premji," said the company in the filing.
Macroeconomic (macro) concerns, along with a cautious approach towards discretionary information technology (IT) spending, will see the revenue for Indian IT firms decelerate by 5 per cent through 2024-25 (FY25), from the highs of 12-18 per cent in 2022-23, said analysts from S&P Global Ratings. "The reason behind this slow growth is a macro slowdown. "Customers are cutting their discretionary IT spending, especially on projects that take longer to deliver quantifiable outcomes. "We also acknowledge that there are still strong economic headwinds for the next few years," said Spencer Ng, associate director, corporate ratings, S&P Global Ratings, over a call in a media briefing.
Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has been at the forefront of climate action and saving the environment campaigns - whether plogging at a beach in Mahabalipuram in 2019 or wearing a sky-blue 'sadri' jacket to Parliament made of material recycled from plastic bottles. Made by Karur-based sustainable fashion brand EcoLine Clothing (EcoLine), a brand of Shree Renga Polymers, front runner in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle recycling and sustainable textiles in India run by IITians, the company recycles PET bottles and upcycles them into value-added products, such as garments. Three months on, the phone lines of Senthil Sankar, managing partner at Shree Renga Polymers and EcoLine, have been ringing non-stop since the jacket made out of recycled plastic at Karur, Tamil Nadu's textile capital, was worn by the PM to Parliament on February 8.
The hiring scenario is for the batch that passes out in 2024. These are graduates who will be impacted, given 2022 graduates are not fully absorbed and 2023 onboarding still incomplete.
In the technology (tech) world, especially storage, Sanjay Mehrotra is a well-known name. Co-founder of SanDisk, a flash memory storage company in 1988, it was eventually acquired by Western Digital in 2016 for a whopping $19 billion. For a boy from Kanpur, who went on to pursue higher studies in the US, becoming the chief executive officer of Micron Technology, Inc - one of America's largest memory chip makers - and now setting up the company's first plant in India, it has been quite a ride.
'Within a short span, it increased attendance, improved children's physical fitness, and led to a rise in the enrolment ratio.'
Made-in-India apps -- the likes of QuackQuack, TrulyMadly, and Aisle -- are wooing Internet users in smaller towns. Indian consumers spent close to $10 million in 2022 on dating and friendship apps.
'Every time a new tech comes in, there are a set of people who will predict that this will be the end of Indian IT and every time the Indian IT industry and overall technology providers have proven to be resilient.'
'Even during the pandemic we did it.' 'We think it's our responsibility to make sure that we manage the uncertainty.'
IT services major Wipro is reconsidering a proposal of buy back of equity shares, said the company in a regulatory filing. A final decision on this will be taken during the board meeting to be held on April 26-27. The outcome of the board meeting will be communicated to the stock exchanges soon after conclusion on April 27.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Thursday came out with the Indian Space Policy 2023 to promote greater private sector participation in the entire value chain of the space economy. According to the policy, Isro will encourage new-generation entities to participate in space exploration and human presence in outer space, including collaboration with domestic and international stakeholders. The policy also sets a road map for Isro to transition from manufacturing operational space systems to focus energies on research and development in advanced technologies.
Wipro is in the news, again. The information technology (IT) services company has mandated freshers, who had opted for a lower salary package of Rs 3.5 lakh per annum, instead of Rs 6.5 lakh per annum, clear a new training module titled Project Readiness Program (PRP) and score at least 60 per cent or stand terminated. Wipro is not the only company to have implemented such a programme.
Kerala on Monday became the first state to adopt a water budget in a bid to come up with a solution to water scarcity in certain regions there. The first phase of the project would cover 94 gram panchayats and 15 block panchayats. The Public Water Budget was released by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday, along with the launch of the third phase of the Ini Njan Ozhukatte (Let me flow now) project, for the rehabilitation of irrigation networks in the Western Ghats.
'With this revamp the anonymous journey of the user will begin wherein he will not have to sign in every time he accesses the app.'
With revenue growth impacted and uncertainty deepening in major markets, India's second largest IT services firm, Infosys, saw a net reduction in its headcount in the fourth quarter of financial year 2022-23 (Q4FY23). Infosys' workforce saw a net reduction of 3,611 employees, bringing its total headcount to 343,234. This was also the first time in many years that the company did not provide a hiring target for the next fiscal.
'Silicon Valley people are generally used to layoffs.' 'Every person who has been in the industry for 15-20 years would have been laid off at least 3-4 times.' 'In India, we aren't used to that concept.' 'So when it came here, people were shocked.'