Shivani Shinde And Sourabh Lele

Stories by Shivani Shinde And Sourabh Lele

Infosys again faces legal action for age and gender discrimination in US

Infosys again faces legal action for age and gender discrimination in US

Rediff.com   8 Oct 2022

Infosys Technologies is being sued again by a former senior employee for discrimination on the basis of age, gender and ethnicity while hiring in the US. The suit filed by Jill Prejean, vice-president of talent acquisition, has alleged that the company discriminated and retaliated when she tried to point out the discriminatory actions. Infosys' motion to dismiss the claims made by Prejean was rejected by a judge from the United States District Court Southern District of New York.

Wipro asks employees to report to office at least three days a week

Wipro asks employees to report to office at least three days a week

Rediff.com   5 Oct 2022

Wipro on Tuesday asked its employees to be in office at least three days a week. It has informed its employees that offices will be open for four days a week, starting October 10. In an e-mail to its employees, Wipro said: "Starting October 10, Wipro's office will be open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays. We will not be open on Wednesdays." The company said in the e-mail, seen by Business Standard, that the move will "help us enjoy the camaraderie and team spirit of connecting in person while maintaining hybrid work flexibility".

TCS set to win $2-billion deal from BSNL for 4G and 5G roll-out

TCS set to win $2-billion deal from BSNL for 4G and 5G roll-out

Rediff.com   4 Oct 2022

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is set to secure a $2 billion deal from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) to roll out its 4G and 5G services across the country. However, the final approvals from the publicly-owned telco may take a couple of months, sources in the know said. As part of the deal, TCS will develop 4G core and Radio Access Network (RAN) technology for BSNL's telecom services.

Moonlighters beware: Companies may start using digital tools to track them

Moonlighters beware: Companies may start using digital tools to track them

Rediff.com   30 Sep 2022

India Inc is not in the dark about moonlighting employees. According to a forensic accountant, companies can easily turn to experts and deploy digital tools that can be used to check if an employee is doing a second job or not - reaffirming fears of many who are wary of the practice in the context of the recent sacking of moonlighters by IT major Wipro. Arpinder Singh, global markets and India leader, forensic and integrity services, EY, said that EY had been involved with several companies to gauge moonlighting.

IT industry logged 25% attrition in FY22, trend to continue: Report

IT industry logged 25% attrition in FY22, trend to continue: Report

Rediff.com   30 Sep 2022

The Indian IT industry recorded 25.2 per cent employee attrition in FY22 and that pain will continue as it loses talent to other industries, said a report by TeamLease. The attrition in the contract staffing industry is predicted to touch at least 50 per cent in FY23 compared to 49 per cent in FY22, said the report called 'Brain Drain: Tackling the great talent exodus in IT sector'. Company policies, payment and work flexibility is making talent move, as non-technology firms step up demand. "Tech talent in non-tech companies will see 3X growth in the coming years, opening up approx 1 million new tech jobs by 2025.

TCS asks employees to work in office for at least three days a week

TCS asks employees to work in office for at least three days a week

Rediff.com   23 Sep 2022

India's largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is mandating its employees to be back in office for three days a week. Teams will have to work with their team leaders, and the human resources team which three day's best suits them. In an email that went out to employees over the past two days, which Business Standard has seen, said: "As part of our return to office initiative, all TCSers are expected to work from office at least three days in a week."

Admins, beware of WhatsApp's new feature!

Admins, beware of WhatsApp's new feature!

Rediff.com   20 Sep 2022

Group admins may now face legal consequences for failing to delete any "objectionable" content posted on the group.

Tata Neu onboarding Titan by Diwali; TaMo & Air India next

Tata Neu onboarding Titan by Diwali; TaMo & Air India next

Rediff.com   19 Sep 2022

Close to six months since the launch of Tata Neu, the super application (app) from Tata Sons Group is all set for a revamp. The highlights include a reimagined rewards programme or NeuPass, a more seamless user experience by increasing the digital maturity of brands, adding more brands to the platform, and hiring category leaders to drive the next phase of growth. When it comes to brands, Titan will join Tata Neu by Diwali. Tata Motors and Air India will be on board after the Festival of Lights.

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.

Meta partners with Reliance Jiomart to offer grocery shopping on WhatsApp

Meta partners with Reliance Jiomart to offer grocery shopping on WhatsApp

Rediff.com   30 Aug 2022

Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of WhatsApp, will partner with Reliance JioMart for a service where WhatsApp users can buy groceries on the messaging platform from the Indian retail firm. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer (CEO) of Meta Platforms, said in a Facebook post, "[I am] Excited to launch our partnership with JioMart in India. "This is our first-ever end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp--people can now buy groceries from JioMart right in a chat." "Business messaging is an area with real momentum and chat-based experiences like this will be the go-to way people and businesses communicate in the years to come," he said in an announcement coinciding with the annual general Meeting (AGM) of Reliance Industries the parent company of JioMart.

IRCTC moves to monetise passenger data

IRCTC moves to monetise passenger data

Rediff.com   26 Aug 2022

In a first of its kind move, the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the ticket booking arm of the Indian Railways, is looking to monetise its bank of passenger data while conducting business with private and government companies. IRCTC has a large bank of data related to every online railway ticket ever generated as it is the country's only railway ticketing platform, an IRCTC official told Business Standard. The public sector undertaking, which has sought the services of a consultant to assist with the monetisation process, plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore through this exercise.

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.

Infosys cuts average variable payout to 70% for Q1 on margin pressure

Infosys cuts average variable payout to 70% for Q1 on margin pressure

Rediff.com   23 Aug 2022

India's second-largest information technology (IT) firm Infosys has decided to reduce the average variable payout of employees to 70 per cent due to falling operating margins in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022-23 (FY23), said people in the know. "The margin impact in the current quarter has reflected on the performance bonus for this cycle," the company told its employees over email. "While 70 per cent is the correct figure, an important point is we have been told that the company will not defer any variable payment. "It is being paid according to schedule," said a person.

Everything you wanted to know about Google Street View

Everything you wanted to know about Google Street View

Rediff.com   23 Aug 2022

In other countries, Street View's content comes from two sources -- Google and individual contributors. However, in India, these will be collected by the tech giant's new local partners.

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.

BGMI Ban Stuns Gaming Community

BGMI Ban Stuns Gaming Community

Rediff.com   17 Aug 2022

'Banning a game is not the solution, rather, there should be laws that restrict the number of hours spent a week playing a game.'

'Data protection bill veered away from core issues'

'Data protection bill veered away from core issues'

Rediff.com   16 Aug 2022

'There were two options before the government -- create a complex, cumbersome law, which will cause a tremendous amount of compliance challenges for startups or say let's go back and do a clean slate, where we do a framework of laws and policies'

India sees sharp rise in cyber attacks as internet base continues to widen

India sees sharp rise in cyber attacks as internet base continues to widen

Rediff.com   15 Aug 2022

Even as India's internet base continues to widen, with the country set to have over 900 internet users by 2025, a parallel rise in cyber threats has become a matter of huge concern. Experts say that the sudden surge in digital adoption left little time to develop a cybersecurity backbone for the country. This has put large amounts of data at risk.