Shreya Nandi &Amp; Aryaman Gupta

Stories by Shreya Nandi &Amp; Aryaman Gupta

Festive Season To Create 700K Gig Jobs

Festive Season To Create 700K Gig Jobs

Rediff.com   17 Oct 2023

'The World Cup alone is expected to create an additional 100,000 jobs, most of which will comprise gig workers in the delivery space, transportation, hospitality and event management.'

Israel trade with India doubled after Covid-19 pandemic

Israel trade with India doubled after Covid-19 pandemic

Rediff.com   16 Oct 2023

India's trade ties with Israel have only strengthened in the years after 2019. The total value of trade rose to $10.5 billion on a rolling four-quarter basis in June 2023 from $5.5 billion in the same month in 2019, shows a Business Standard analysis of data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). A rolling four-quarter number provides a comparable figure across different time periods.

Rollout of new PLIs unlikely as govt eyes 'course correction'

Rollout of new PLIs unlikely as govt eyes 'course correction'

Rediff.com   14 Oct 2023

The government has decided to hold off introducing the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for additional sectors until it verifies the efficacy of existing initiatives. Top government officials have received mixed feedback on the scheme, including insights from the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, people aware of the matter said. "There are no new PLI schemes in the offing.

Commerce secy, team in London to push trade deal

Commerce secy, team in London to push trade deal

Rediff.com   6 Oct 2023

Officials from India and the United Kingdom (UK) are working overtime to address the contentious issues related to the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the two nations, in a final push to conclude the deal by the year-end. Commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal was headed to London on Thursday after completing his four-day visit to Brazil. Other key officials from India's negotiating team will be joining Barthwal in the UK capital, hoping to make headway in the FTA negotiations, which started in January last year, a person aware of the matter told Business Standard.

Tides turning for India's startups?

Tides turning for India's startups?

Rediff.com   3 Oct 2023

The recovering valuations, will lead to enhanced optimism among investors about funding startups.

Govt seeks to allay concern over 'retaliatory' duty cut on US apples

Govt seeks to allay concern over 'retaliatory' duty cut on US apples

Rediff.com   20 Sep 2023

India's recent move to remove additional 'retaliatory' duty on eight products from the United States (US), including apples and walnuts, would not have any negative impact on the domestic producers, the government clarified, even as the issue threatened to snowball into a political slugfest between the ruling and Opposition parties. The move would, in fact, result in competition in the premium market segment, ensuring better quality at better prices for consumers, especially for apples, a senior government official said. "There were certain concerns that were being raised on the mutually agreed solution that has come in, more specific to seven-eight agriculture products where we had levied additional import duties in retaliation to the steel and aluminum measures (imposed by the US)," Peeyush Kumar, additional secretary in the commerce department, told reporters in a briefing.

G20 Summit: Startups hope Delhi Declaration to help ease capital access

G20 Summit: Startups hope Delhi Declaration to help ease capital access

Rediff.com   11 Sep 2023

The Indian startup ecosystem has lauded the inclusion of startups in the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration for the first time ever in the history of G20. Industry stakeholders say that the move will lead to easier access to capital, reduce regulatory hurdles, and may revive funding activity. The Declaration, through the Startup20 initiative, recognised startups as "natural engines of growth" and key to socio-economic transformation by driving innovation and creating employment.

Oyo's India CEO, Europe head resign ahead of IPO

Oyo's India CEO, Europe head resign ahead of IPO

Rediff.com   7 Sep 2023

IPO-bound hospitality major Oyo's India Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ankit Gupta and the head of its Europe business Mandar Vaidya have resigned. A company spokesperson told Business Standard that the two had moved on from their roles six months ago in March 2023. During the same period, Oyo had rejigged its top management, where the company's COO Abhinav Sinha was reassigned as Chief Product and Technology Officer, while Chief Business Development Officer Anuj Tejpal was reappointed as Global Chief Merchant Officer.

With Zepto Becoming First Unicorn of 2023, is Funding Winter About to Thaw?

With Zepto Becoming First Unicorn of 2023, is Funding Winter About to Thaw?

Rediff.com   7 Sep 2023

Quick commerce startups hope to race towards better days. Can they crack the execution code?

Zerodha's Kamath brothers to invest Rs 100 crore in Nazara Technologies

Zerodha's Kamath brothers to invest Rs 100 crore in Nazara Technologies

Rediff.com   5 Sep 2023

The board of Nazara Technologies, a listed online gaming company, has approved the issue of shares worth Rs 100 crore to firms managed by Zerodha founders Nikhil and Nithin Kamath, the company said in a regulatory filing on Monday. The company is proposing to issue 1,400,560 equity shares at a face value of Rs 4 each, for Rs 714 per equity share. This will amount to Rs 99,99,99,840 and will be proportionately allotted to M/s Kamath Associates and M/s NKSquared.

Crypto unicorn CoinSwitch lays off 44 employees citing role redundancy

Crypto unicorn CoinSwitch lays off 44 employees citing role redundancy

Rediff.com   30 Aug 2023

The move comes barely a week after fellow crypto unicorn CoinDCX laid off 12 per cent of its workforce - an estimated 80 employees - amid challenging macroeconomic conditions and regulatory uncertainty in the sector. CoinSwitch has 519 employees, according to its LinkedIn profile. This means around 8 per cent of its workforce were shown the door.

Titan set to buy out Esops of CaratLane staffers for Rs 350 crore

Titan set to buy out Esops of CaratLane staffers for Rs 350 crore

Rediff.com   22 Aug 2023

Tata Group-owned Titan, which has agreed to purchase founder Mithun Sacheti's stake in CaratLane for Rs 4,621 crore, is planning to buy employee stock options (Esops) of the jewellery retailer's employees for around Rs 350 crore. This will take Titan's ownership in the company to 100 per cent. CaratLane reportedly has around 1,500 employees, most of whom do not own shares in the company.

Unicorns Carve Profits In Funding Winter

Unicorns Carve Profits In Funding Winter

Rediff.com   22 Aug 2023

'Given that the market is now demanding disciplined growth, well-run companies should be able to demonstrate profitability with the cash on hand.'

Pragati Maidan: A Walk In Time

Pragati Maidan: A Walk In Time

Rediff.com   12 Aug 2023

'A microcosm of India, inclusive and welcoming'. For years, Pragati Maidan was the centre of Delhi's social life.

Quick commerce firms gain traction. Next stop: Profit

Quick commerce firms gain traction. Next stop: Profit

Rediff.com   7 Aug 2023

Quick commerce is proving to be a solid business proposition, with companies like Zomato's Blinkit and Y Combinator-backed Zepto recently registering growth, charting paths to profitability. Blinkit logged its highest gross order value (GOV) and customer transactions in June and July, showing a positive contribution for the first time in the quarter ended June 2023. Deepinder Goyal, Zomato's co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), predicted that Blinkit would deliver more value to shareholders than the core food delivery business in the next decade.

Q1 a washout, exporters pin hope on North America for a turnaround

Q1 a washout, exporters pin hope on North America for a turnaround

Rediff.com   3 Aug 2023

After the first quarter was washed out, exporters are now keeping their fingers crossed over a turnaround in outbound shipments to at least North America from September onwards. This comes even as other key destinations such as Europe may take longer to revive in FY24. Slowdown in key economies, as well as geopolitical tensions resulted in sluggish demand for Indian goods.

Magicpin app crashes under tomato demand, stocks sold out within 10 mins

Magicpin app crashes under tomato demand, stocks sold out within 10 mins

Rediff.com   1 Aug 2023

Hyperlocal delivery platform magicpin experienced an overwhelming surge in demand at 9 am on Monday, causing its app to crash, leaving users temporarily unable to access the platform. The increased traffic came after the firm announced its "tomatoes @ Rs70" initiative last week in partnership with National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). This led to magicpin's tomato stocks depleting within the first 10 minutes, leaving many buyers struggling to order.

PLI scheme incentive outgo could be less than Rs 40,000 crore by FY25

PLI scheme incentive outgo could be less than Rs 40,000 crore by FY25

Rediff.com   31 Jul 2023

The total incentive outgo under the ambitious production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme is estimated to be less than Rs. 40,000 crore by the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25), when it completes the fourth year of implementation, according to the government's internal estimates. This means only a fourth of the allocated Rs 1.97 trillion is expected to be utilised by the end of FY24, indicating that not all the 14 PLI schemes would have taken off fully. While three of the 14 schemes - large-scale electronics manufacturing, bulk drugs, and medical devices - were introduced in 2020, the remaining were launched the following year.

Narayana Murthy's Catamaran aims to double AUM to $2 billion in 5 yrs

Narayana Murthy's Catamaran aims to double AUM to $2 billion in 5 yrs

Rediff.com   31 Jul 2023

Catamaran, the family office of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, is targeting 15 per cent returns on its portfolio investments per annum as it shifts focus from early-stage investments to growth and late-stage bets. This would double the firm's assets under management (AUM) from the current $1 billion to $2 billion over the next five years. "For direct investments, we are focusing on growth-stage investments and very selectively on early stage," Deepak Padaki, president, Catamaran, told Business Standard. "(This is) primarily because the early-stage space in India, in the last three-four years, has completely changed. "There has been a huge influx of capital in the last two years. It has become a very crowded space for early-stage investment," he said.

Why Indians Are Buying Phones Offline

Why Indians Are Buying Phones Offline

Rediff.com   27 Jul 2023

Similar discounts compared to online led to a spike in demand for offline, where customers can get a more personal and hands-on product experience.