Regulators must learn from past mistakes and act swiftly to prevent Big Tech from monopolising the AI ecosystem, argue Payal Malik and Nikita Jain.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) employee headcount fell by a massive nearly 20,000 in a single quarter, as India's largest IT services company continues to restructure workforce to align with changed business dynamics. According to Q2 FY26 data on its website, the company's headcount has dropped to 5,93,314 in September quarter as compared to 6,13,069 in June quarter, even as IT workers' union NITES accused TCS of downplaying large scale layoffs through under-reporting.
India expects partners to understand its policy of 'zero tolerance' against terrorism, and it will never countenance 'perpetrators of evil' being put on par with its victims, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday during extensive talks with his British counterpart David Lammy.
Ask rediffGURU and tax expert Mihir Tanna your income tax-related questions.
More than 7,700 senior professionals with over 15 years of experience have exited India's IT services firms -- TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, and LTIMindtree -- over the past 12 months.
US-based Citigroup is likely to allocate more global roles to India than to any other centre it operates in due to the country's strong talent pool, said Jane Fraser, chief executive officer of Citigroup, on Wednesday in an interaction with CNBC-TV18. Fraser also expressed confidence that India will remain the world's fastest-growing economy.
'Indian private universities can provide world-class education at one fourth the cost, home comforts, and direct links to Indian and global industries.'
Data centres are increasingly becoming a key part of the real estate landscape, as reality firms - with rich expertise in land acquisition, construction and dealing with government approvals - are seeing them as opportunities to build long-term assets with continuous revenue flow.
With the rapid evolution of channels like quick-commerce and the emergence of ONDC, the Indian retail industry is 'cautiously optimistic' for 2025, in which new-age technologies such as AI and automation will play a crucial role, driving efficiency and personalisation.
N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Consumer Products, has said in the company's annual report for FY25 that India remains one of the bright spots of economic growth amid a volatile global environment. He said India's long-term growth was underpinned by strong demographic and economic fundamentals as well as structural reforms.
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.
India's largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday informed employees that it will roll-out wage hikes for about 80 per cent of workforce, covering mid to junior levels.
'It was the early days of my 5th standard school vacation, and my mother asked me, 'Robotics classes or swimming classes for the weekends?' I chose robotics classes because technology fascinated me.'
Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday exhorted the fledgling fintech ecosystem to focus on the underserved sections of the society to deepen financial inclusion. Speaking at the annual Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, Malhotra accepted that serving the "privileged" will be a lucrative business, but urged the smaller companies to focus on the underserved.
'Most of them (H-1Bs) are from one country, India, there's a cottage industry about how all those people make money off this system.'
'We have reached 70 million monthly active users during this festival season, which is another great milestone for us.'
India's Venture Capital (VC) ecosystem exhibited robust growth in 2024, with funding surging 43 per cent year-on-year to $13.7 billion, according to a report. This recovery was fuelled by a 45 per cent rise in deal activity, with 1,270 transactions recorded, reinforcing India's position as the second largest market for venture capital and growth funding in the Asia-Pacific region, the report by Bain & Company and IVCA said.
rediffGURU Chocko Valliappa offers crucial career advice to engineering aspirants.
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.
'It is good to have the H1-B visa option but if tomorrow things happen to change, it is not the end of the world situation.'
Errors in filing income-tax returns frequently lead to scrutiny notices, additional liabilities, or delayed refunds.
'Returning Indians can leverage their international skills and the strong funding environment for start-ups here.'
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reported encouraging results for the April-June quarter (Q1) of FY26. The net premium income of India's largest life insurer was Rs 1.2 trillion, up 5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), in Q1. Renewal premium grew 6 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 59,900 crore, while first-year and single premium grew 1 per cent and 4 per cent Y-o-Y respectively to Rs 7,500 crore and Rs 51,900 crore.
'You can imagine for India what Shuks means not just to the billions of people in India but the entire Indian diaspora around the world.'
From the outcome of the general elections and then Union Budget to tepid corporate earnings in the September 2024 quarter (Q2-FY25), sticky inflation and Reserve Bank of India's stance on interest rates, extreme weather conditions, Indian stock markets have braved it all in calendar year 2024.
Notably, four portfolio companies-- Agnikul, ePlane, CynLr, and GalaxEye -- of deep-tech investor Speciale Invest made it to the list.
Adani group will invest more than $100 billion (around Rs 8,340 crore) in energy transition projects and manufacturing capability to produce every major component required for green energy generation, its chairman said on Wednesday. Besides building solar parks to produce electricity from sunlight and wind farms that do the same from wind, the conglomerate is building major facilities to manufacture electrolyzers for making green hydrogen, wind power turbines and solar panels.
Tax evaders, BEWARE! The Income Tax department is using AI data analytics to bust fake deductions, flag HRA fraud, and trace digital footprints.
The stock of online classified major Info Edge (India) was up over 6 per cent on Friday on expectations of demand improvement for Indian IT companies. Strong revenue growth prospects for each of its online verticals - including recruitment, matrimony, real estate, education, and upside from its holdings in companies such as Zomato - had prompted Goldman Sachs to upgrade the stock. Info Edge's standalone revenue grew 10.6 per cent year on year (Y-o-Y) in Q2FY25, beating consensus. 99acres (+16.9 per cent Y-o-Y) and Jeevansathi (+33 per cent Y-o-Y) were drivers of growth while recruitment grew 8.5 per cent Y-o-Y.
'For 40 years, India valued only technical skills. IITs, coding -- that became everything.' 'Soft skills were sidelined. But those are the skills that will keep you employable now, not technical skills.'
In a pump and dump operation, fraudsters artificially inflate the price of a stock by spreading misleading or false information, creating a frenzy among unsuspecting retail investors.
'BSE has facilitated nearly Rs 35 trillion in capital raising across multiple segments.'
Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor crossed Rs 1,000 crore in R&D spend for the first time, as legacy OEMs accelerate innovation to compete with new-age EV players.
For India to transform into a high-income country with a projected gross domestic product (GDP) of $23-35 trillion, will need a sustained annual growth of 8 per cent to 10 per cent. This will be powered by India's demographic dividend, technological innovation, and sectoral transformation, according to the "India@2047: Transforming India Into A Tech-Driven Economy" report by Bain & Company and Nasscom. By 2047, the services sector is expected to contribute 60 per cent of India's GDP, while manufacturing will account for 32 per cent, both playing a pivotal role in economic expansion.
Industries such as aviation and hospitality have many silos within them and Aionos, the joint venture between Interglobe Enterprises (IGE) and Assago Group, is an attempt to bridge them and boost efficiencies using artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, Rahul Bhatia told Business Standard on Tuesday. Bhatia, the Group Managing Director of IGE, serves as the majority shareholder in India's largest airline, IndiGo. Additionally, IGE operates 21 hotels under the Ibis brand and runs a logistics company called Movin.
Employers in India are planning to outpace global adoption in certain future technologies as companies operating in the country are heavily investing in technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), energy technologies, robotics, and autonomous systems, said the World Economic Forum (WEF) in its latest "Future of Jobs" report released on Wednesday. The report, released days before the WEF annual meeting in Davos from January 20-25, notes that 35 per cent employers in India think that adopting semiconductors and computing technologies (compared to 20 per cent globally) will transform their operations while 21 per cent employers think that adopting quantum and encryption technologies (compared to 12 per cent globally) will also transform their operations.
'That is going to have an impact on literally every one, whether you buy a toothpaste, a safety pin, a car, shoes or medicines or you go to a diagnostic centre.'
Your AMC shuts shop. Panic? Wait. What happens next isn't what most fear.
Organisations are facing growing privacy concerns over the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) while getting attractive returns from investments in privacy, according to Cisco's latest Data Privacy Benchmark Study. The findings highlight the responses from 2,600 privacy and security professionals across 12 geographies, said the annual review of key privacy issues impacting business. "Organisations see GenAI as a fundamentally different technology with novel challenges to consider," said Dev Stahlkopf, Cisco Chief Legal Officer.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged all stakeholders to come together and invest in people for skill development, nurturing talent and promoting innovation which are essential for job creation and boosting the economy. Participating in post-Budget webinar on employment, Modi said the government has provided skill training to 3 crore youth since 2014 and decided to upgrade 1,000 ITIs and set up five centres of excellence.
