'At present Metaverse is a hype cycle.' 'If it succeeds, then I would like to see TCS there, too.'
'We spent considerable time re-skilling all the employees, and then we created a new focus called the 'One Infosys'.'
Google will lay off 12,000 jobs across the globe, its CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Friday, becoming the latest tech giant after Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon to retrench staff en mass amid the global economic downturn. In an email to employees, the Indian-origin CEO said: "I have some difficult news to share. We've decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles." Pichai said the layoffs at Google were carried out after a "rigorous review" of its operations.
'From our perspective, it will bring additional customers and from their perspective, it will get them younger customers.'
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday reported a 12.2 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 9,769 crore for the December 2021 quarter, and announced Rs 18,000-crore buyback offer for its shareholders at Rs 4,500 per scrip. The country's largest software services firm had logged a net profit of Rs 8,701 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue of the Mumbai-based firm grew 16.3 per cent in the quarter under review to Rs 48,885 crore from Rs 42,015 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, TCS said in a regulatory filing.
Ashish Mehrotra, MD and CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance, explains the changes we can expect in health insurance this year.
Tech giant Microsoft on Wednesday launched a new programme Microsoft AI Innovate for nurturing and scaling start-ups that are leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI). The 10-week initiative will support start-ups in India leveraging AI technologies, helping them scale operations, drive innovation, and build industry expertise. Both B2B and B2C start-ups from various industries, including financial services, healthcare, education, agriculture, space, manufacturing and logistics, retail, and e-commerce can participate in the quarterly cohorts of this programme.
The second quarter of FY22 continued to show double digit growth for the top four IT services providers, with every vertical and geography growing well, even though the total contract value (TCV) looked soft for all the players. The trend was first evident in Accenture's Q4 numbers, which saw its TCV in outsourcing deals softer. A soft TCV does not mean that growth is declining, but it does point to the trend of few and scarcer mega deals.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to make this decade a "techade" for India and the push for 5G, semiconductors and transformation through digital services is going to boost the technology sector in the country, industry players said on Monday. Modi, in his speech on the 76th Independence Day, touched upon all-round development of technology in the country, from 5G to push for electronic chips, laying of optical fibre cable (OFC) network across villages and enablement of digital entrepreneurship in villages through Common Services Centres, making the present decade as "techade" for India. Homegrown mobile devices maker Lava International's Chairman and Managing Director Hari Om Rai said electronics and technology sectors create about $4 trillion of revenue.
At Prestige Polygon Towers in Chennai's Teynampet, hectic preparations are on for a mega global investors' meet under the aegis of Guidance Tamil Nadu (the state investment promotion agency) scheduled for January 2024. Asked about the key focus areas of the meet, the agency's managing director and chief executive officer, V Vishnu, said the state was betting big on electric mobility. This is no surprise, given that the state has signed electric vehicle (EV)-related memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with several companies in the recent past that may bring in investments worth around Rs 33,000 crore with the potential to create over 43,000 job opportunities.
India's consumer digital economy which was pegged at $85-90 billion in calendar year 2020, is expected to become a $800 billion market by 2030, according to reports released by consulting firm RedSeer at its flagship event Ground Zero 5.0. The digital economy includes 60 per cent of travel, 40 per cent non-grocery retail, 30 per cent of education, 25 per cent of food and beverages services and 6 per cent of pharma/grocery going through digital channels by calendar year 2030. Online retail is set to become the third-largest market by scale by CY30 with an annual gross merchandise value (GMV) of $350 billion in CY30, said RedSeer.
Employers are now looking to hire professionals who can demonstrate their skills rather than reel off a catalogue of undirected theoretical qualifications.
Japanese auto major Nissan on Wednesday said it is discontinuing Datsun brand in India, nine years after the company kicked off the marque's global relaunch in the country. Having failed in its ambitious global relaunch of Datsun, Nissan had in 2020 discontinued the brand in Russia and Indonesia, the other two countries along with South Africa and India which were marked as key markets targeting the entry level car segment. Confirming the move to discontinue the Datsun brand, Nissan India in a statement said, "Production of Datsun redi-GO has ceased at the Chennai plant (Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd). "Sales of the model still continue (till the stock lasts)."
Its association with India is over 70 years old and spans both civil and military aviation. The Douglas DC-3 transport aircraft used by the air force beginning the 1940s and the iconic Boeing 747 aircraft flown by Air India, both had Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines. The Indian Air Force's present-day, heavy-lift C-17 Globemaster III and the yet-to-be-inducted C-295 planes, too, have P&W power plants.
Excise duty hike for cigarettes could be lower.
IT major Infosys and Microsoft have entered into a multi-year strategic engagement with Ausgrid to accelerate the cloud transformation of the largest electricity distributor on Australia's east coast. This programme will further Ausgrid's vision to connect communities and empower lives with a focus on affordability, reliability and sustainability, Infosys said in a regulatory filing on Monday. "With over 4 million Australians relying on our services every day, it is essential we are maintaining our high standard of reliability and connectivity, as well as delivering on the expectations of Australian communities," Nick Crowe, acting CIO at Ausgrid, said.
India is the second-largest technology hub for Amazon globally and its teams are powering innovations not only for customers in the country but globally as well, a top company executive said on Thursday. Speaking at Amazon India Career Day, Amazon global senior vice president and country head India Amit Agarwal said the e-commerce company employs over one lakh professionals in India across diverse areas from engineering, supply chain, content creation, marketing, video and others. "India is also the second-largest technology hub for Amazon globally, with some of the most talented software developers, product managers, machine learning scientists, and research scientists as part of the team," he said.
LG Electronics announced on Monday that it is closing its mobile business unit. The decision was approved by its board of directors. LG's strategic decision to exit the incredibly competitive mobile phone sector will help the company focus resources in growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services.
Talks on with P&G, HUL, Patanjali, among others to push their products via 250,000 common centres
Due to the group's presence across multiple businesses, it is in a unique position in the aviation industry to bring the best of talents.
Just a few weeks ago, Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw did some tough talking with the senior managers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the ailing state-owned telecom service provider. The message was clear: They had to perform, quit by taking the voluntary retirement package or be compulsorily retired from service. The terse message from an otherwise polite and soft-spoken minister came just days after he announced a second and bigger package of Rs 1.64 trillion as part of a four-year turnaround plan for BSNL.
It may sound bizarre, but incidents of public sector bankers dying by suicide could probably equal the number of such bankers quitting their jobs, reveals Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
With slower than expected growth in smartphone penetration, operators and OEMs are joining hands to provide affordable mobile devices with attractive offers.
The Tata Group-owned Air India has readied a five-year transformation plan, which is expected to take its domestic market share to 30 per cent, up from 8.4 per cent logged in June. IndiGo leads with a market share of 58.8 per cent. The transformation plan--Vihaan.AI-unveiled on Thursday revolves around tripling the domestic market share with investments in new aircraft, technology and improvements in customer service.
With the economy gaining pace and large deals back on the table, chief executive officers (CEOs) of tech companies believe global tech spending will witness growth this year. According to CEO Survey by Nasscom, about 71 per cent chief executives expect global spend to grow over 4 per cent. The figure is significantly higher than the previous two years - 41 per cent and 59 per cent in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The survey also said the recovery in global tech spending will be led by the digital segment.
V Vaidyanathan, former executive director at ICICI Bank who turned entrepreneur to run Capital First, an NBFC that caters to smaller businesses, tells Pavan Lall in an exclusive interview that his new entity post the merger of Capital First and IDFC Bank which will be called IDFC First will launch by January and cater to a new India with value services.
The finance minister said easy access and efficiency in providing banking services will help in revival of businesses which are restarting operations after the lockdown.
Twenty years after India's insurance sector was opened up, unshackling the control of state-owned companies, as many as 50 private players have set up shop. Along with their foreign partners, private players have brought about a sea change in the product offering, distribution and underwriting processes, and services levels. Yet, India's insurance penetration needle has not moved much.
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.
Italian carmaker Maserati is targetting India's tier II and III cities, which are proving to be catalysts in spurring demand for super luxury brands, as it looks to strengthen foothold in the country, according to a senior company official. The company, which re-entered India in 2015, has also overhauled its after sales and service support as part of its renewed focus on customer experience. "Maserati has seen a hike in demand in smaller cities although traditionally we enjoyed steady patronage in the metros. "Even though the expansion in terms of physical network presence in these cities depends on our partners," Maserati APAC head Bojan Jankulovski told PTI in an emailed interview.
Axis Bank's acquisition of Citibank's consumer finance business for Rs 12,325 crore - the second biggest deal in the Indian banking sector - is seen as a good deal at a good price. The acquisition enables Axis Bank to close the gap with competition in some key segments such as credit cards. At the same time, there are some key issues that are crucial for the deal's success, apart from the fact that it will take some time for Axis to reap the full harvest of its investment.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget for 2023-24 in Parliament on February 1. The Budget is a statement of the government's estimated receipts and expenditures for a fiscal year (April 1 to March 31). It's divided into Revenue and Capital Budget. The Revenue Budget includes the government's revenue receipts and expenditures while the Capital Budget includes its capital receipts and payments.
The bank has decided to embark on a 'Technology Transformation agenda' to provide its customers smoother, faster, and better banking experience.
More than 100 days as the chief executive of India's second-largest information technology (IT) services company Infosys, Vishal Sikka on Wednesday said he was upset at the sector. He added there was a "better direction" the industry must look to take.
'If we are to be a contributor to the economy, we have to reduce carbon and imports.' 'We will achieve both -- that's our target.'
Vi will continue to offer basic voice data services to its 2G users.
Singapore Airlines on Tuesday said Vistara will be merged with Tata group-owned Air India. Tata group owns a 51 per cent stake in Vistara, and the remaining 49 per cent shareholding is with Singapore Airlines (SIA). As part of the transaction, SIA will also invest Rs 2,058.5 crore in Air India.
Rajan said expecting the government to provide all solutions wasn't right.
Social e-commerce platform Meesho is set to disrupt the food and grocery market by offering free home delivery on all orders in over 200 below Tier 1 cities in a year's time, in the first phase. It is also disrupting the monetization model by focusing primarily on advertising revenues rather than commissions from sellers, as distinct from its competitors. The move is expected to challenge the big players in the sector which include Jio Mart, Tata's Big Basket, Amazon, Grofers, and others, many of which have minimum prices for free delivery.
RIL is also set to file its tariff plans, which will mark the company's intent to commercialise Jio's operations, with the regulator this week