N R Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of India's second-largest IT services firm Infosys Technologies, has christened his to-be-launched venture capital fund the 'Catamaran Venture Fund'.
E-commerce giant Amazon and Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures have "mutually decided" to not continue their joint venture (JV) beyond the end of its current term. The JV, Prione Business Services, which has been running successfully for the past seven years, was coming up for renewal on May 19, 2022. The JV enabled over 300,000 sellers and entrepreneurs to go online. It also enabled 4 million merchants with digital payment capabilities, providing these small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and merchants access to millions of customers across the country.
A readout of the meeting reportedly said Lord Johnson "made clear that he was keen to see a bigger Infosys presence in the UK and would be happy to do what he could to facilitate that".
Domestic traders body CAIT on Thursday claimed that e-commerce major Amazon's plan to acquire Prione Business Services - its joint venture firm with Catamaran - will be a violation of foreign direct investment policy. Amazon has said it will acquire Prione Business Services, subject to requisite regulatory approvals. In August, Amazon and NR Narayana Murthy's Catamaran had announced that they will not continue their joint venture Prione Business Services beyond May 2022.
Infosys Ltd co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy is close to entering into an e-commerce joint venture in India with Amazon.com Inc through his investment firm, Catamaran Ventures.
At the time of the media maelstrom around her non-dom status, she hit back at implications that it was in some way indicative of her stronger bond with India than the UK.
Meet Sudha Murty and N R Narayana Murthy's daughter whose husband Rishi Sunak is the frontrunner to be Britain's next prime minister.
The Rs 600-crore (Rs 6-billion) fund wants to become a global-style limited-partnership investor. It was a venture capital fund formed after much thought and attention to detail, like almost all the moves.
Last year in January at Amazon's flagship event Smbhav, Infosys Co-founder N R Narayana Murthy had to shorten his keynote speech from 20 minutes to about five because the event was delayed by 1.5 hours. "I will try to finish it in five minutes, because I am not used to delays," said Murthy, while addressing hundreds of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) about building businesses that last. In the audience was Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Murthy referred to Bezos' prediction that the 21st century will be the Indian century. "That confidence enhances our enthusiasm," said Murthy. The relationship between Murthy and Bezos dates to 2014, when Prione, a 49:51 joint venture (JV) between Amazon and Murthy's venture capital company Catamaran, was formed.
Murthy joins the league of top corporate honchos who have launched private equity funds to assist budding entrepreneurs and upcoming ventures across various sectors in India.
Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of India's second-largest information technology services provider Infosys Technologies, has asserted that he has set up the Catamaran Venture Fund to occupy himself once he retires from Infosys in 2011.
Murthy's fund, which has invested through Catamaran Management Services, will hold 1.3 per cent in the company after the IPO.
In a short span of time, with the help of Amazon, Cloudtail was able to devise a model that could protect it from the vagaries of online retail business.
"Reaching an international agreement on how large digital companies are taxed has been a priority for the chancellor since he took office," said a spokesperson for his UK treasury office. "The chancellor's consistent position has been that it matters where tax is paid, and any agreement must ensure digital businesses pay tax in the UK that reflects their economic activities. That is what our taxpayers would expect and is the right thing," the spokesperson said.
Last November, a lawyer for Future Retail Limited (FRL) told Delhi high court that Amazon is interfering with its lawful business and thousands may lose their jobs and FRL may go bankrupt. Senior advocate Harish Salve, who appeared for FRL, likened Amazon to East India Company. Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, who represented Amazon, told the Future counsel to keep the "East India Company" rhetoric aside, as Amazon has invested $6.5 billion all over India and created 900,000 jobs. This drama played out in the case in which Amazon has challenged Future's $3.4-billion deal with Reliance, alleging the retailer's deal breached an agreement with the American e-commerce firm.
The case may drag for a few years, experts say, as CAIT and DVM have said they will appeal against the interim relief granted to Amazon.
Card-based EMI transactions dropped about 60 per cent in the first week after demonetisation and then recovered steadily. However, these are not yet back to the levels before November 8.
The company has pointed at the possibility of fines and financial penalties.
Ratan Tata has acquired a stake in Chinese handset maker Xiaomi, the first investment by any Indian in the smartphone maker.
Far from public glare, company is investing in tech firms and providing consultancy.
The family office category was up 38 per cent, led by names such as Ratan Tata, Ronnie Screwvala and various Infosys co-founders.
While a three-year tax holiday and relaxation of capital gains for funds have been received favourably, others argue that not enough has been announced.
A platform that helps retailers reduce failed transactions while keeping the cost down, Innoviti is all set for India's digital payments revolution.
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He started a fund with Rs 800 crore and made several investments.
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