Byju's is in talks with three-four strategic buyers, including Joffre Capital Ltd and language learning platform Duolingo, to sell one of its key assets, US-based digital reading platform Epic, for about $400-$450 million, according to sources. With this, the beleaguered edtech firm wants to meet various commitments, including repaying its entire $1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) within six months. "The binding offers of the bidders to acquire Epic are expected to come in the next few weeks after the due diligence is complete," said a person familiar with the matter.
Cautioning that increase in fee for higher education should not act as obstacles for poor, a Parliamentary Committee on Monday suggested a graded fee structure instead of a flat rate for all.
India's internet economy is estimated to reach $1 trillion by 2030, primarily due to e-commerce, which is expected to be worth $325 billion and rank third globally, according to industry experts. Last year marked a crucial turning point for India's e-commerce sector, with notable changes in consumer trends, technology, and regulations. InGovern Research Services, a leading corporate governance advisory firm, hosted a virtual roundtable to deliberate on the notable developments in India's e-commerce sector in 2023, with a particular focus on the essential role of customer trust in fueling its ongoing expansion.
'We have often heard the mythical argument that patents block access to life-saving drugs, but only 5% of medicines from multinational companies are under patent protection in India.' 'Where these patented products are beyond the reach of Indian patients, the companies have programmes to facilitate access to their drugs, for free or for a fraction of the price,' points out Ranjana Smetacek, former director general, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India.
Prosus NV, an investor in educational startup Byjus, on Tuesday said the troubled company's reporting and governance structure did not evolve sufficiently for a company of that scale and it "regularly disregarded advice" despite repeated efforts by the Dutch-listed technology firm's former director. Prosus, which this year slashed its valuation of Byju's to $5.1 billion from $22 billion last year, said the decision for its director to step down from Byju's board last month was mainly because he was "unable to fulfil his fiduciary duty to serve the long-term interests of the Company and its stakeholders." In a statement, Prosus said Byju's grew considerably since its first investment in 2018.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday barred financial influencer Mohammad Nasiruddin Ansari, operating with the handle 'Baap of Chart' and known as Md Nasir on social media, from accessing the securities market. Further, the market regulator has asked him to disgorge Rs 17.2 crore for indulging in unregistered investment advisory. 'Baap of Chart' has over 443,000 subscribers on YouTube and 83,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter) and has provided trading recommendations and courses.
In emerging nations such as China and India, where a college education was a rarity just a generation ago, tens of thousands of students graduate each year from universities that are on par with the best in the world, says the Microsoft chairman.
Linking businesses with account aggregator (AA) network -- a financial data sharing platform -- will help small entrepreneurs get easy access to credit and create millions of jobs, Infosys Technologies co-founder and chairman Nandan Nilekani said on Tuesday. He made the remarks during a session at the 'GSV + Emeritus India Summit' event in Gurugram. In the Budget for FY24, the government said that the GST system could join the account aggregator network, which means that every company in the GST system can ask for its data back which includes their tax filings and invoices, Nilekani said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday took the Congress to the cleaners over making the 2024 general elections about the protection of the Constitution, saying Indians voted on the plank only once when they threw out the Indira Gandhi government in 1977 after the Emergency.
According to a Pew survey, 71 per cent of Chinese say they use the internet at least occasionally or own a smartphone, our definition of internet users. In contrast, only 21 per cent of Indians say they use the internet or own a smartphone.
The Union ministry of human resource development, headed by Kapil Sibal, has drafted a proposal on educational loans, which entails changes that will increase the accessibility of these loans -- the objective being an equitable distribution.
India is not reaping the benefits of demographic dividends, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said on Tuesday, emphasising that there is a need to focus on improving the human capital and enhancing their skill sets. "I think we are in the midst of it (demographic dividend), but the problem is we are not reaping the benefits," Rajan said at a conference on "Making India an Advanced Economy by 2047: What Will it Take" at the George Washington University in Washington DC. "That's why I said 6 per cent growth.
In Delhi, Kumar's family lives in the Majnu Ka Tila area and they are engaged in small-time business. He said a total of five people got Indian citizenship in his locality on Wednesday. Over a hundred had applied for it, he said.
Real estate investment trusts (Reits) are in talks with regulatory bodies - the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) - to seek changes in regulations that will allow easier access to capital. The Indian Reits Association (IRA) said it has approached the market regulator seeking to get classified as an 'equity' asset, which will open the path for their inclusion in equity indices and also make investment by mutual funds (MFs) easier. The association is also in active discussions with the RBI to allow banks to lend to a Reit.
'Overall, it's based on two things. First, it's identifying talent. And then the quality of the educational programme and the coaching is absolutely vital. The AIFF has to take charge of the education with us and we need good cooperation.'
Religion and economic barriers continue to define love in modern India, discovers Preshth Bhardwaj.
The agency is under criticism amid allegations of irregularities and inflation of marks in the crucial medical entrance exam.
Over 100 Indian institutions offer semiconductor design curricula, but hardly any of them focuses on manufacturing and process technology, a top official from global memory and storage major Micron Technology said on Thursday. There is significant global demand for such chip engineers, its president and chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra said at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar. "While more than 100 Indian institutions provide a semiconductor design curriculum, hardly any focus on semiconductor manufacturing and process technology.
Several firms are stepping up to help their workforce cope with soaring temperatures
Students can then appear for a board exam in subjects they have completed and feel ready for.
As more companies ask their employees to return to office after the pandemic, the share of women employed in regular salaried jobs in urban India decreased from 54 per cent in the first quarter to 52.8 per cent in the second quarter of the current financial year, according to the quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data. The slump in the share is the lowest in wage employment in any quarter in the last six years when the National Statistical Office started releasing the quarterly PLFS surveys in Q3 of FY19. The share of women in wage work was highest in Q1 of FY21 at 61.2 per cent.
Sangwan said he made the generic remark on his YouTube channel and not during his lecture at Unacademy.
The outfit suggested that the government amend the Information Technology Act to classify all such content as pornography, which people should only be able to access by punching in their Aadhaar details or their fingerprints. Archis Mohan reports
'With the current situation in the global job market, students come back with an added burden of educational loans.'
On average, at least one in three Indians today were pre-diabetic, two in three were pre-hypertensive and one in 10 were depressed, the 4th edition of Apollo Hospitals' flagship Health of Nation Report on World Health Day 2024, said.
'The focus needs to shift towards the ability to collect payments, particularly in tier-3 to tier-4 areas where acceptance is still lacking.'
An apex body of psychiatrists in India has said members of the LGBTQA community should be treated like all citizens of the country and have access to marriage, adoption, education, employment, property rights and healthcare.
The Union HRD minister stresses the use of technology to spread education to dispossessed areas of the country.
rediffGURU Rohit Gupta, co-founder and COO of College Vidya, offers expert advice on career programmes in India.
Nearly 40 per cent of IITians sitting for placements in 2024 are yet to receive job offers, showing a doubling of the 'unplaced' in the last three years from 19 per cent in 2021-2022 to 38 per cent in 2023-2024.
All the global transitions are working in India's favour, giving it the potential to become a force in today's uncertain world, but one of the country's biggest challenges is inclusive growth, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Monday. In his address at the JRD Tata Oration, the head of the Tata group also asserted that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay and it will be beneficial if India prepares for it. Post the cold war era of relative stability and prosperity, the world appears to have given way to unpredictable conflicts and economic uncertainty, he said, adding that the pandemic resulted in supply chain shocks of gigantic proportion.
Ramalingam Kalirajan explains the pros and cons of both investment types.
Initiative aims to encourage more people to use the Internet.
'I promise you, you've never seen her do anything like this.' 'It is a complete reinvention of Janhvi Kapoor.'
It also directed him to pay Rs 60,000 each for the education of his two sons every month.
Banks and financial institutions provide 6-12 months of additional time, beyond which you need to negotiate.
References to freedom fighter and India's first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad have been removed from the new class 11 political science textbook by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
In 2022, he raced past Usain Bolt, 'the world's fastest man', to become the world's most written-about athlete. The attention has followed a stream of medals: Asian Games gold twice, an Olympic gold, and silver and gold at the World Athletics Championships.
Divita made it to the Top 16 in the pageant.
Any candidate who can present a compelling resume is quite likely to outshine others who are in line for the same job, says Raj Tanwar, HR head, Advantage Club, a global employee engagement platform.
