Fundraising momentum is expected to accelerate further in the New Year, potentially surpassing 2024's record figures
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has barred four non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), including two microfinance institutions (MFIs), from sanctioning and disbursing loans for charging exorbitant interest rates to the borrowers. These four entities are Asirvad Microfinance, Arohan Financial Services (also an MFI), DMI Finance, which provides personal, consumption, and micro, small and medium enterprises loans, and Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal's Navi Finserv, which offers home and personal loans. The ban will take effect on October 21 to "facilitate closure of transactions in the pipeline", the regulator said in a statement.
In the ongoing saga of senior management resignations, Wipro announced on Monday that its chief technology officer (CTO) Subha Tatavarti has resigned. Her resignation will be effective from August 16, 2024. In a regulatory filing, the company said: "Subha Tatavarti, CTO, resigned from the services of the company to pursue opportunities outside Wipro."
The Karnataka government on Wednesday put the reservation bill for Kannadigas in private firms on hold amid fierce criticism from business leaders and tech tycoons.
'80% of start ups fail because they don't have a support system to help them in the very early phase.' 'It's not just an idea that takes an entrepreneur through the initial three years of journey.' 'What plays a definitive role in making a start-up successful is idea+team+capital+mentors+access to a larger ecosystem.'
Hiranandnani's new venture is well-timed, but it will face heavy competition from both international majors and domestic peers like Adani Group.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will launch the Unified Lending Interface (ULI) nationwide in due course, aiming to transform India's lending sector, similar to how the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) revolutionised the payments ecosystem, Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Monday.
After lagging behind benchmarks and broader indices over the past five years, real estate investment trusts (Reits) have outperformed them since the start of 2024. The four listed Reits have posted an average return of 16 per cent year-to-date, compared to 9.9 per cent for the S&P BSE Sensex and 11 per cent for the National Stock Exchange Nifty.
The Adani group, buoyed by a sharp recovery in its share prices over the past year, is set to embark on a series of roadshows this week to raise up to $4 billion (approximately Rs 33,254 crore) through equity and refinancing of older debt, according to banking sources. The roadshows, scheduled to take place in major cities, will inform investors about the group's investment plans across renewable energy, petrochemicals, and infrastructure development.
'Banks may find small ticket size lending economically unviable due to the cost of branch operations.'
The Budget should undertake further reductions in import tariffs and seriously consider an announcement of India's intention to join one or both of the two Asian mega-regional free trade agreements, suggests Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
Jobs requiring AI skills carry a significant wage premium, with some roles offering up to a 25 per cent increase in wages, notes Manoj Nagpal, vice president, professional services, OpenText, an information management company.
Venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funding for Indian startups in the artificial intelligence sector has seen a dramatic decrease with deal sizes shrinking, notwithstanding the buzz around the country's potential as a major AI hub. Data from research agency Traxcn, which tracks PE/VC investments, shows that total funding for AI startups in India, which started with a bang in 2022 at $599 million, dropped sharply in 2023 to $168.4 million - a decrease of over 71 per cent.
Rise in raids on illicit drug manufacturing units, alongside arrests for the production, sale, or distribution of spurious or adulterated drugs.
'Over the next 12 months, it will be difficult to make 15 to 20 per cent return in the markets as the valuations appear stretched.'
At a time when services are rapidly digitising in India, enterprises are witnessing a rise in cases of sensitive data exposure risks and breaches.
For Yogi Adityanath the successful management of the fair is a crucial part of building 'Brand UP' and making the state a $1 trillion economy.
Two-thirds of organisations in the Indian technology sector are hiring gig workers as they respond to a changing business landscape, said a report by industry organisation NASSCOM and others on Thursday. Focus on requirement for specialised skills, employee demand and cost optimization enabled organisations to use the gig model for technology roles traditionally restricted to HR and support functions. Software development, UI/UX design, and data analytics were the top three gig skills the technology sector needed.
Canada-based Brookfield will acquire the Indian business of American Tower Corporation (ATC) for an enterprise value of $2 billion, a release said on Friday. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and expected to close in the second half of 2024. "Data Infrastructure Trust (DIT), an Infrastructure Investment Trust sponsored by an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management, today announced the signing of an agreement with ATC to acquire 100 per cent of equity interests in American Tower's operations in India (ATC India), for an enterprise value of Rs 16,500 crore ($2 billion) which is subject to pre-closing terms as per the securities purchase agreement," it said.
Information technology (IT) giant Wipro has a strong pipeline of large artificial intelligence (AI)-led deals in the health care vertical, according to a senior company executive. Health care stands as the third-largest vertical for Wipro, contributing roughly 14 per cent to the company's overall revenue. Moreover, while most other verticals reported negative growth, health care demonstrated robust growth of 9.9 per cent year-on-year and 7.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter in constant currency during the October-December quarter.
'We operate in 16 countries already, and therefore adding the UK to it, and beginning a chapter in the European continent is the next step.'
The listed information technology (IT) subsidiaries of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T), LTIMindtree (LTIM) and L&T Technology Services, have seen sharp upmoves over the past fortnight, with returns ranging from 14 to 18 per cent. Both have outperformed the peer index, the National Stock Exchange Nifty IT, which has gained about 8 per cent, while the benchmark Nifty 50 is up 4 per cent during this period.
Do we have enough trained oncologists and medical professionals in India to man these over 4,500 beds in the public sector?
As many as 86 per cent of senior business executives have deployed artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance revenue streams or create new ones, said a report by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday. As many as 69 per cent of businesses are more focused on using AI for innovation and increasing revenue than on improving productivity and optimising cost, said the 'TCS AI for Business Study'.
Nikhil Anand, senior vice president, operations, at NLB Services explains why professionals who are adept at data, cloud computing and cybersecurity will earn well in 2024.
From its lows this month, the stock of Bharti Airtel is up 14 per cent. The gains for the telco have come on the back of expectations that market share consolidation, tariff hike and lower capex should boost margins and profits. While the company is a key player in the Indian market, it also has a leadership position in major markets of Africa.
Developers in India now have expanded access to Google's powerful AI models with the 2 million token context window in Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemma 2, the next generation of open models.
Research and development (R&D) spending by BSE 100 companies has grown steadily, rising from 0.89 per cent of revenue in FY20 to 1.32 per cent in FY24, averaging around 1 per cent over the period in-between, according to data compiled from Bloomberg and company annual reports. Also, these companies more than doubled their R&D spending in absolute terms over these five years: From Rs 25,041 crore to Rs 63,072 crore. While this reflects a prioritisation of innovation, corporate R&D investment remains relatively conservative.
Digital literacy is emerging as the professional language of 2024. It is the ability to process complex data sets, deploy critical communication technologies appropriately and validate your importance at your workplace, explains Jagdeep Kochar, managing director, Baker & Taylor India.
The Adani group plans to bid for setting up duty-free shops at the Macau international airport, as India's largest airport operator spreads its wings overseas. In a stock exchange filing, Adani Enterprises, the flagship firm of the conglomerate run by billionaire Gautam Adani, said it has completed the incorporation of a wholly-owned subsidiary, MTRPL Macau Ltd, in Macau on November 20. The subsidiary has been incorporated for the purpose of getting into the duty-free industry.
'Sebi had no problem with derivatives until trading exploded after Covid.' 'But now, having built a dangerous road, from which different entities, mainly governments, are extracting a heavy toll, Sebi is concerned that people are driving on it in much greater numbers,' explains Debashis Basu.
Domino's India data that included sensitive customer information such as their names, phone numbers, and credit card details has allegedly been breached and put on sale on the dark web. According to tweets by Israel-based Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock, Alon Gal, the data is worth 13 terabytes (TB). He tweeted on Sunday that the data includes as many as 180 million order details, including 1 million credit card details. The data, said Gal, was up for sale on the dark web. The threat actor, he said, was asking for $550,000 for the data.
Jobs specialising in the creation and management of AI tools may witness rising salaries due to the niche expertise they require. Skills in AI research, development and the practical application of AI tools in business settings will also see strong demand.
More and more companies are opting for outsourcing data centres. Data centre operators are also called managed service providers (MSPs). These MSPs include Reliance Communications (RCom), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Bharti, Netcore, and Ctrl S. The biggest outsourcers are enterprises, banks and financial institutions. IT managers in the Asia-Pacific region rely on outsourcing data centre operations more than their peers.
Gautam Adani had in the late 1970s applied to join a Mumbai college for education, but the college rejected his application. He did not pursue education but turned to business and went on to build a $220 billion empire. About four-and-a-half decades later, he gets called to the same college to deliver a lecture to students on Teachers Day. Adani had moved to Mumbai at the age of 16 and started working as a diamond sorter.
Amid subdued demand for traditional information technology (IT) services offerings, Indian IT services players are betting on big data, as this is high on clients' agenda.
Sources within the Congress, including those who have been members of the teams that drafted its 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha poll manifestos, said the Karnataka government decision lacked any empirical basis.
The recent blip in housing sales on a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) basis should not worry investors as the long-term prospects of real estate stocks remain on a strong foundation, according to analysts. In the first half of the calendar year 2024 (H1CY24), realty stocks surged up to 104 per cent. This sharp run should be used to book partial profit in related stocks, suggested Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.
Bug bounty hunters or independent ethical hackers are certified cybersecurity professionals or security researchers who crawl the web, scanning the systems for gaps through which hackers can sneak in and alert the companies, says Shivani Shinde.
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