French auto major Renault on Monday said it will buy out its Japanese partner Nissan's stake in their Indian joint venture -- Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd. Renault Group would own 100 per cent of Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd (RNAIPL), by acquiring the 51 per cent shareholding currently held by Nissan, the company said in a statement.
Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL) on Thursday denied reports on the exit of cafe chain Starbucks from the Indian market, terming them as "baseless". Tata in a 50:50 joint venture with US-based Starbucks Corporation operates a cafe chain in India under the brand name of Starbucks, which is the leading cafe chain in India.
Startups that became unicorns in 2024 took an average of nine years and six months to reach $1 billion valuation, reflecting the impact of a prolonged funding squeeze from PE/VC firms over the past few years.
Two years after his dismissive stance on India's AI potential raised eyebrows here, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Wednesday gave a ringing endorsement to Artificial Intelligence momentum in the country -- and billed India as an important market not just for the new-age technology itself but for the ChatGPT creator as well. In New Delhi on Wednesday, Altman -- while sharing dais with Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw -- said India is the second biggest market for the company and that Open AI had tripled its users here in the last year.
If completed, this deal would place OpenAI among the most valuable private companies globally, alongside Musk's SpaceX and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, according to The New York Times.
'Binary fission will happen -- startups will lead to more startups.'
'The choice is clear: We either embrace this transformation and cement our global leadership, or hesitate, lose ground, and fade into irrelevance.'
'If Pakistan's army wants to escalate violence in Kashmir, they have an unlimited supply of jihadis they can train and send. That's not an issue for them.'
'Dharmendra, Shashi Kapoor and I were inseparable while we struggled together.' 'When a disillusioned Dharmendra was packing his bags to return home, I prevailed upon him to give himself two months.' 'Five days later, he was signed for Shola Aur Shabnam and I signed Picnic.'
'There is need for India-specific pricing.' 'Google, Microsoft and others also have different pricing.' 'It is important for OpenAI to think on these lines as the global pricing may not work in the Indian context.'
Simplifying investment policies at the micro level and introducing a time-bound framework will be critical for India's growth targets, notes Krishna Ella.
'The startup ecosystem, the government, and the owners of large pools of Indian capital need to actively support the creation of these local champions, not pull down the teams that are trying hard to get there.'
India's e-commerce market alone is projected to reach $200 billion by 2026, making it a prime industry for ambitious entrepreneurs, explains rediffGURU Harsh Bharwani.
After a prolonged winter, the Indian edtech sector seems to be witnessing some signs of a thaw. The sector has received $608.8 million of funding across 68 deals in 2024 so far - 153 per cent more than the $240.9 million across 106 deals during the same period last year - according to data from market intelligence platform Tracxn.
The Nagpur district court on Monday handed life imprisonment to former BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd engineer Nishant Agarwal under the Official Secrets Act for spying for Pakistan's intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
'Son believes India has a significant opportunity in chip design, especially in creating IP that will be uniquely Indian.'
The TIME 100 AI list is an interesting assortment of titans. Indians make up about 20 per cent of the coveted list, which is pretty commendable, notes Sandeep Goyal.
Retail investors have become a force to reckon with in the last 10 years with their ownership of Indian equities rising 800 basis points, or 8 per cent, to 23.4 per cent during this period, suggests a recent note from Morgan Stanley. This number, Morgan Stanley said, is set to rise in the next few years as Indian households are still underinvested in equities. India's demographics, policy framework, investor education and modest positive real rates, it said, will fuel the 'equity cult' in India.
Investments totaling over $9.5 billion in Jio Platforms by a clutch of private equity firms, following social media giant Facebook's $5.7 billion mid-April investment in the company, helped overall.
The drop was the result of the change in FDI rules, which was amplified by the border standoff between India and China.
'The race is now on for Indian IT firms to develop their AI prowess and focus on a software-first approach to services as the people element becomes more complicated with Trump's expected new regulations.'
Coal-to-airports conglomerate Adani group is set to make a splash in the tech world. The group is considering the creation of customised artificial intelligence (AI) models for commercial prospects and consolidating digital services on a super app, according to people in the know. The Adani One app, part of its consumer-facing businesses, is reportedly in talks to expand into e-commerce and digital payments, according to a Financial Times report.
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.
Donald Trump's exaggerated opinion of his dealmaking capacity can get him into trouble, observes R Sriram.
Private equity investors have taken fancy in infrastructure projects of the country and invested over Rs 13,000 crore (Rs 130 billion) during 2007, according to a report 'Private Equity Impact 2008' released by Venture Intelligence.
Since the Centre tightened the Press Note 3 norms in April last, as many as 150 private equity/venture capital investment applications from China and Hong Kong are pending with the government, starving the country's start-up ecosystem of funds, says a report. The Press Note 3 (PN3) changes were effected in April, restricting foreign direct investment from countries that share land borders with India. Analysts are of the view that the move was primarily aimed at China as lot of private funds were investing billions into domestic companies.
'Today, let us reaffirm our commitment to strive to realise Gandhiji's dreams. His watchwords, truth and nonviolence, will continue to remain relevant for the whole world. He also taught us that rights and duties are but the two sides of the coin - indeed, the true source of rights is duty. Today we recall his lessons in compassion too - compassion not only for our human neighbours but also for our other neighbours, namely, flora and fauna, rivers and mountains.'
'Israel is counting on the United States to enter the fray on their behalf and perform destructive strikes against these targets that are beyond Israel's conventional capabilities.' 'They may well get their way if they start a war, because the United States is still committed to Israel's security, and it won't matter whether it is Trump or Harris in the White House.'
Venture Intelligence data shows that during January to July 2020, investors infused $998 million in 31 deals. The total number of deals reported in 2019 was 42 worth $404 million.
In 2019 investors backed some of the major online healthcare and pharmacy retailers, with PharmEasy leading the deal list. The firm raised funds through the year to bring in around $220 million and the round is yet to be concluded, according to Venture Intelligence data.
Wipro Ventures is currently managed by Biplab Adhya and Venu Pemmaraju and has so far invested in 16 early to mid-stage start-ups. While 11 of these start-ups are in the US, four are in lsrael and one in lndia.
'20 per cent of the global AI researchers are of Indian origin, and we should bring them back.'
'Everything about farming is enjoyable and relaxing.'
IT and ITeS companies accounted for $28.1 billion of the total investment pie during the first nine months of 2021.
'It is the responsibility of industry to take the very bright talent whose knowledge of software engineering basics is very high, and then give them additional skills.'
As a venture partner, DVP said that Neemuchwala would be bringing deep technology expertise and invaluable experience of building businesses.
'I am very happy to see that the work is starting to bear some fruit now.'
With regulatory uncertainties clouding the future of online pharmacies, deals in the space are showing signs of slowdown, as also fresh investment from private-equity (PE) firms and venture capitalists (VCs). The data from Venture Intelligence shows so far in 2023 (as of June 13) there has been one deal with PE-VC funding. In 2022 there were four, a sharp fall from the 12, totalling $1,520 million, the sector had attracted in 2021.
Going back to the board, analysing mistakes and efficiently addressing them can help entrepreneurs establish successful start-ups in the long run, says Vikram Bhandari, the chief technology and innovation officer at Riveron, a business advisory firm.
NITI Aayog had been asking for Rs 7,500 crore for three years to set up an AI framework.
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