After raising Rs 10 crore in seed funding last week from investors like Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Freshworks founder Girish Mathrabootham and Silicon Valley based venture capitalist firm Hourglass Venture, Chennai-based social media startup Pepul told Business Standard that it is looking to raise around Rs 200 crore by June this year for expansion. The social media platform, focused on online ethical practices, will be launched by 1,000 entrepreneurs across the country on January 26. Pepul, founded by G Suresh Kumar, will be using an Aadhaar-based user verification system to get rid of fake accounts on its platform. "We are planning to raise around Rs 200 crore by June this year.
The analyst community tracking the Indian IT services industry took special note of Accenture's first quarter (Q1) performance, which showcased the rapid growth of its consulting business that outperformed its outsourcing business. Bookings indicate that the trend will continue. Consulting bookings increased 41.6 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to $9.4 billion, higher than the 17.6 per cent growth in outsourcing to $7.4 billion. The management commentary was also more bullish on the consulting business.
'We were exporting copper at that time. Now India is importing copper to the tune of around $1.2 billion. Moreover, there was a larger impact on the dependent MSMEs.'
Byju's, Flipkart, PharmEasy and CRED, among others, have taken the acquisition route to grow
Kerala-based Kitex Garments, the world's second-largest children's garments producer, has landed in trouble after sporadic violence at its workers' camp led to an attack on the local police, injuring at least five officers. The local police told Business Standard that at least 156 migrant workers were detained after the incident and around 50 have been arrested so far. A decision on any possible action against the company will be taken after the investigation.
Factionalism between OP Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami, the dominance of the BJP, the ruling DMK having a strong face in the form of CM Stalin, 'community and region-based politics', corruption charges against former ministers, and lack of a proper ideology are the major challenges the party is facing in the state.
Backed by the China-plus-one policy, India's textile and apparel exports have seen a 53 per cent growth during the April-November period of the current fiscal year at around $26 billion. This compares to the figure of $17 billion during the same period in FY21. According to Wazir Textile Index, all major companies including Welspun, Vardhman, Trident, KPR Mills, Indo Count, RSWM, Filatex, Nahar Spg and Indorama have posted higher sales during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the pre-pandemic year.
With innovations such as the introduction of new variants and the launch of tetra packs, Mohan Meakin (MML) aims to achieve a record high sales of around 10 million units of Old Monk in 2022. From almost 3 million units a few years ago, sales volume has rebounded substantially. "Today, we are over 8 million units and are targeting record sales of 10 million next year," said Vinay Mohan, the director of Mohan Meakin (MML). Mohan said the company had started giving franchisees in states where tetra packs have good sales.
'Kerala is on a par with global standards.'
Accenture's Q1 FY22 results have sent a wave of cheer among analysts, as the company raised its revenue guidance and said it expects double-digit growth in outsourcing, up from single digit to low double-digit growth expected earlier. Accenture's financial year ends on August 31. The company raised its revenue outlook for FY22 to 19-22 per cent in local currency, up from 12-15 per cent earlier.
The cinema industry is staring at a loss of at least Rs 5,000 crore at the box office over the next six months if Omicron proves to be a spoiler.
The spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has made Indian companies persist with their policy of banning overseas trips and allowing only essential travel within India. The IT services firms, which had planned to ask their employees to return to the workplace, are also waiting and watching the Covid-19 situation before fully opening up their offices. Large conglomerates like the Tatas, Birla, JSW and Reliance are continuing with the mandatory social distancing and masking policies within their office premises.
'We have focused on profitable revenue, cash generating businesses, throughout our journey.'
Moving over 520,000 employees to a digital work model is no mean feat. Having done so, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is taking these learnings to help clients digitise their work models. Swiss Re is one such client. For the global information technology services firm with a headcount of 528,748 as of end-September, the shift to a single human resource (HR) platform started a few months before the pandemic started, when TCS moved its HR solutions to Microsoft's platform. Siva Ganesan, global head, Microsoft business unit, TCS, still remembers the early days when TCS embarked upon a move from an existing software platform to a digital medium for communications on a Microsoft Office platform.
Sooryavanshi and Annaatthe have already collected 6 percent of the film industry's 2020 revenue.
'We do realise it is time to have a larger ambition.'
Chennai is one of the cities where works have been completed for almost 62 per cent of the money lined up -- Rs 599 crore of the Rs 959 crore has been utilised so far. Despite this, there was no respite for the people in the city this time either, with North Chennai being the worst affected.
In March this year, when Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) unveiled a new brand statement of "Building on Belief", many wondered if it was the right strategy. When things are uncertain, wouldn't a brand statement such as "Experience Certainty" have been better? But for Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO & MD, TCS, it was all about the way the company was looking at business. As Gopinathan explained over a video call, "Today, we have over 1,000 customers and 98 per cent of our business is repeat business; our relevance to customers should continue, and to increase.
Business executives are finally dusting off their long-unused suitcases to resume travel, thanks to a good vaccination rate, a drop in fresh cases, and an easing of travel restrictions. It comes as a huge relief for the ravaged aviation, travel and hospitality sectors. "We are witnessing a 40 per cent recovery on pre-covid volumes from our business travellers, signalling the return of corporate confidence in air travel," said Indiver Rastogi, president & group head, Global Business Travel, Thomas Cook (India) & SOTC.
A relatively quiet foray by actor Vijay into politics through the TN rural local body elections last month has captured the attention of many, reports Shine Jacob.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances