WazirX lost about 45 per cent of its crypto assets to the security breach. People privy to the discussions say North Korea has been mentioned.
The first quarter results (Q1FY25) of Indian IT services hint towards better fiscal growth than the preceding year, but as the management commentary said, "there is still some time for the industry to be firing on all cylinders." Among the majors-Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCLTech, and Wipro-it is the Bengaluru-based Infosys that has performed better, which was also evident in its full-year revenue guidance.
The Softbank-backed company has set a price band of Rs 72 to Rs 76 per share for the maiden share sale and is expected to test the appetite for new-age loss-making companies.
'We added a significant number of freshers in Q1. You will see a good number of hiring in Q2 as well.'
'We are sure FY25 is going to be better...But to call out that all problems are behind us is a bit early.' 'The underlying business sentiment has not changed significantly.'
'A lot of them are converted to other tokens, and since crypto is dealt with internationally, it can go to any exchange in any country.'
'A credit line on UPI is going to make banks think about credit fundamentally as they digitise the credit process entirely.'
The IT giant has reported a decline in headcount for six consecutive quarters.
The swindled amount is nearly half of WazirX's total assets.
Major credit issuers, including the largest - HDFC Bank - have integrated their systems with the Bharat Bill Payment Systems (BBPS) for receiving credit card repayments via third-party applications.
The June quarter is usually considered as a seasonally strong period for the IT sector.
For Dinesh Nirmal (pictured), who heads IBM Software, one of his mandates is to integrate generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into all products IBM builds and leverage it to enhance developer productivity across global labs. Nirmal believes that one of the biggest benefits of GenAI is automation, leading to optimisations and productivity gains. He shares that IBM Software has observed productivity gains of 30-40 per cent in some segments of software development.
Nasdaq-listed IT services major Cognizant on Tuesday said the firm's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jatin Dalal (pictured) had reached a settlement in the "non-compete" lawsuit filed by Wipro. The terms of the settlement, which was reached without any admission of liability by either party, are confidential. The settlement resolves all pending disputes between Dalal and Wipro, said the company in a statement. Cognizant has paid $505,087 (around Rs 4.1 crore) in connection with Dalal's settlement.
Food and grocery delivery major Zomato has pulled the plug on its plan to enter the lending business. Zomato Financial Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zomato, has withdrawn its application for a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), stating that the company does not have plans to pursue lending in the future. "There is no material impact on the revenue/operations of the company and this disclosure is being made voluntarily," the Gurgaon-based company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Some of the fintechs that will get impacted include Cred, Paytm, Phonepe and Amazon Pay, among others.
Finally, some good news for the Indian startup ecosystem. After four consecutive half-year periods of declining funding since 2022, the first half (H1) of 2024 has shown an upward trend compared to the second half (H2) of 2023. According to the India Tech Semi-Annual Funding Report H1 2024 by Tracxn, Indian technology (tech) startups raised $4.1 billion in H1 2024, marking a 4 per cent increase from $3.96 billion in H2 2023.
As the job markets open up, top IT services firms may look at a tiered strategy in which they hire entry-level talents at higher salaries, amid a major technological shift, say HR analysts.
Paytm, the country's leading fintech player which had to shut its payment bank business following regulatory action, is revisiting its business strategy including partnership with lenders. Also, the company's founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Vijay Shekhar Sharma has decided to oversee the day-to-day operations with all the major verticals reporting directly to him now. "The thing on top of everyone's agenda is getting the core businesses back on track," a person in the know said.
'We are looking at the next target which is to be a $1 billion ARR firm in the next 4-5 years.'
Coal-to-airports conglomerate Adani group is set to make a splash in the tech world. The group is considering the creation of customised artificial intelligence (AI) models for commercial prospects and consolidating digital services on a super app, according to people in the know. The Adani One app, part of its consumer-facing businesses, is reportedly in talks to expand into e-commerce and digital payments, according to a Financial Times report.