Anjali quickly decided not to pursue her career in medicine. If she had worked in a government hospital, she would have had to do her fair share of nights and weekends in hospital, which would have been tough when Sachin was back in Bombay between tours. Had she worked in private practice as Dr Anjali Tendulkar, she reckoned she would be consulted for her name rather than her expertise. Anjali is an all-or nothing person and she couldn't have just dabbled in doctoring. Moreover, she wanted to devote herself to keeping her husband in the right frame of mind to play his best cricket. A fascinating excerpt from Annabel Mehta and Georgina Brown's book, My Passage to India.
Funding winter and corporate governance woes separated the men from the boys in the country's startup space in 2023 that saw funds into the segment tapering to just around $8 billion. All said, investors are hopeful of strong growth of the maturing startup ecosystem in the new year. Edtech and health tech segments that grew exponentially during the pandemic plunged into an abyss of financial uncertainties, with several firms shuttering their business, and valuation of prominent players like BYJU'S and PharmEasy plummeting 85-90 per cent.
Private equity (PE) investments in India have fallen to a 6-year low at $24.2 billion in the financial year ending March 2024. Investments via PE deals are down 47 per cent compared to FY23, when private equity deals worth $45.8 billion were signed. According to data sourced from Bloomberg, PE firms had signed record deals worth $80 billion in the financial year ending March 2022.
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack begins by asking why the hijack lasted seven days and ends in wondering if the good guys fought the bad ones hard enough, observes Sukanya Verma.
Paytm, the country's leading fintech player which had to shut its payment bank business following regulatory action, is revisiting its business strategy including partnership with lenders. Also, the company's founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Vijay Shekhar Sharma has decided to oversee the day-to-day operations with all the major verticals reporting directly to him now. "The thing on top of everyone's agenda is getting the core businesses back on track," a person in the know said.
Yeh Meri Family 3 is developing into a Wonder Years kind of coming-of-age comedy that Indian viewers can relate to, observes Deepa Gahlot.
The new season coasts along on the simple anecdotes that make up the piggy bank of family lore; the performances are as wonderful as before, but the sharpness of humour is starting to dull a bit, observes Deepa Gahlot.
There's a hint of new competition riding into a sector that has attracted attention for being in a duopoly-like situation. Rapido, a commute app known for its budget-friendly bike-taxi services, on Tuesday announced its entry into the cab market, which is currently dominated by marquee brands Uber and Ola. Rapido's cab foray will be enabled by a software as a service (SaaS)-based platform.
What makes Ullozhukku worth recommending is its ability to surrender to the surprises and yet grow with its characters, observes Divya Nair.
Why are financial-technology (fintech) players moving back to India, or doing the reverse-flipping?
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.
An initiative of Nandan Nilekani's EkStep Foundation, people+ai on Tuesday unveiled its vision for the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India, dubbed 'Adbhut India' (Amazing India). It aims to harness AI as a powerful tool to enhance the lives of all Indians. The event marked the rollout of several initiatives by people+ai that are focused on discovering, demonstrating, and disseminating population-scale AI use cases for India.
Anushka is running the show... Trisha seeks blessings... Vidyut is happy...
Indian start-ups breathed a sigh of relief after the UK government facilitated the acquisition of the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB's) British arm by HSBC. In a bid to allay fears, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC) announced recently that it had transferred all deposits of start-up-focused SVB to a newly created bridge bank and all depositors would have access to their money. President Joe Biden also sought to reassure jittery depositors that they can have confidence that the US banking system is "safe".
'Silicon Valley people are generally used to layoffs.' 'Every person who has been in the industry for 15-20 years would have been laid off at least 3-4 times.' 'In India, we aren't used to that concept.' 'So when it came here, people were shocked.'
'It is definitely not for someone who is sensitive or would want to pick up things and get affected by it.'
This is the kind of essential saas-bahu banter we don't mind tolerating on our screens, Divya Nair tells us.
Several technology companies are seeking to step up hiring from Tier-II and Tier-III cities of India in 2024 to tap into a vast talent pool of skilled professionals churned out by educational institutions and training centres in these regions. Tier-II and Tier-III cities such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Mohali, Vadodara, Chandigarh, and Indore contribute around 12-15 per cent of the country's tech talent, hinting towards the strong talent availability in these regions, according to Randstad India, a talent management firm.
The Indian startup ecosystem recently celebrated the 100th unicorn milestone. It came after a month of no big fund announcements. Compare this to 2021, when three to four unicorns were being added every month. Nevertheless, the 100th unicorn needs to be celebrated since the first unicorn was announced in 2011 - 11 years ago.
An online company would show a particular price to the customer and then quickly increase the cost after analysing consumer behaviour or detecting any kind of desperation.
After a rather dull April when there were hardly any theatrical or OTT releases, May would be a lot more crowded with a dozen odd movies and web series arriving.
Tropical beaches are happy to have elegant Isha sitting on their sands.
As returns from fiction fall, broadcasters are experimenting with high-cost programming and new genres to grab more eyeballs. But can production houses rise to the challenge?
Layoffs, corporate restructuring, governance and most importantly profitability: The 14 Indian startups that plan IPOs this year are pulling out all the stops to ensure successful market debuts.
Sridhar Vembu, Zoho Corp's chief executive officer (CEO), said on Tuesday a report that he financially abandoned his wife and son is "complete fiction". An article in Forbes magazine alleged Vembu, founder of the Indian SaaS company, had abandoned his wife Pramila Srinivasan and their special needs son in the US in 2020. Srinivasan and Vembu are fighting a divorce case in California.
Even as our tier-2 and tier-3 cities become increasingly well-mapped, and well-documented through myriad tech-driven data, the Indian film-maker's dominantly urban gaze turns to regions not crowded by data, area codes, or directions, observes Debarghya Sanyal.
With the number of start-ups reaching the unicorn level falling drastically in 2023, the Hurun Unicorn Index said it has demoted eight gazelles - start-ups that were founded in 2000 and have the potential to go to unicorn in three years - to cheetahs.
Film-makers seem to think a modern woman has to adopt the worst traits of men, observes Deepa Gahlot.
Too bad the one time it is friendly to the environment, Tiger chooses to celebrate his Diwali with 'meetha' and not 'pathaaka', points out Sukanya Verma.
'I didn't know TV artistes have so much of struggle. I had no clue.' 'I thought an actor is an actor because that's what I've seen in the West.' 'But because of the TV tag, I had to struggle, and that was like an eye opener for me.'
From moments that felt long time in the coming to swashbuckling statements that could be interpreted in more ways than one, there are some that fanned our nostalgia, some made our jaws drop (or stomachs churn), some hit too close home, still others left us with a lingering sense of guilt. Sukanya Verma picks cinematic imagery that stood out in 2023.
There's tons more action to catch on OTT this week.
Somnath Bharti's estranged wife Lipika on Monday said she was mulling approaching court against the Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker while addressing a press conference, which was interrupted by her mother-in-law who said she was ready to move to an old-age home to keep the couple together.
Zaggle Prepaid, Cyient DLM, Healthvista India, Rashi Peripherals and Vishwaraj Sugar Industries have obtained the green signal to launch their initial public offerings (IPOs). The approvals come at a time when capital raising by way of IPOs has slowed to a crawl, with only four issues hitting the market so far this calendar year. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued final observation letters on their draft red herring prospectuses (DRHPs), which is akin to getting approval to hit the markets.
Venture Capital giant Sequoia India & Southeast Asia has rebranded itself to Peak VX Partners. The VC firm will now manage its assets under management (AUM) in the region of over $9.2 billion across 13 funds independently. The rebranding exercise followed Sequoia Capital's break-up into three independent entities across the globe. Besides Sequoia India & Southeast Asia, Sequoia China business has adopted the name HongShan in English (it will
Director Krish (Krish Jagarlamudi) makes his Hindi debut with Akshay Kumar starrer Gabbar Is Back.
Former India batsman Vinod Kambli, on Wednesday, lashed out at the Indian Premier League (IPL), saying that the cash-rich event tempt the young cricketers to go for the quick buck, when their aim should be to play Test cricket.
Deepa Gahlot lists 10 popular family shows and films streaming on various platforms.
Denims may be a wardrobe basic, but they don't need to be boring.
Floodwaters of the overflowing Yamuna reached the entrance of the Supreme Court in Central Delhi on Friday as the regulator of the Delhi irrigation and flood control department at Indraprastha suffered damage on Thursday evening.
