Isha's stab at the bottom of the laptop pyramid shows she is a true Ambani.
Fintech and venture capital firms such as Recur Club, Razorpay and Trifecta Capital have come to the aid of homegrown start-ups caught in the crossfire of the Silicon Valley Bank fiasco. Alternative funding platform Recur Club said it was allocating $15 million to all Indian founders affected by the crisis. It will not charge any platform fee for the same.
US chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AM) on Friday announced a $400 million investment in India over the next five years and said it will build its largest design centre in Bengaluru. AMD chief technology officer Mark Papermaster made the announcement at the annual semiconductor conference in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Undeterred by Taiwan's Foxconn pulling out of his group's $20 billion semiconductor-making venture, mining baron Anil Agarwal said the first phase of Vedanta's chip-making project will be ready in two-and-a-half years.
State-level reports every quarter for service quality and artificial intelligence-based solutions may be officially mandated as part of a set of more stringent, updated quality-of-service (QoS) norms by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) soon. The new norms will also factor in user experience for 5G networks, officials informed Business Standard. In February, Trai asked telecommunication (telecom) service providers (TSPs) to submit updates on measures taken to reduce call drops and lags and raise the quality of connection.
'As long as businesses do not consider cyber recovery an integral part of their enterprise IT, they remain greatly vulnerable.'
In January, Visa's chief executive officer, Al Kelly, said during an earnings call that "there's been a burst of the balloon in valuations in the fintech world". Noting that the trend of lower valuations "is a helpful characteristic of the current environment", he added: "We will look for capabilities and management teams that will bring more value to Visa than we can bring ourselves." Data from KPMG's Pulse of Fintech H2'22 shows that global fintech investment - via mergers and acquisitions (M&As), private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms - at $164.1 billion in 2022, was down 31 per cent over the year before. Indian fintechs held up better during this timeframe, attracting $6 billion, or a fall of 24 per cent.
Booked between 2007 and 2011, out of the total 32,700 residential units under various Jaypee Infratech (JIL) projects, at least 20,000 homes are yet to be delivered. Supreme Court documents show that, till last March, Jaypee had issued 7,997 offers of possession to homebuyers while executing only 6,530 sub-lease deeds. These deeds offer homebuyers possession rights but, unlike registration, does not guarantee absolute ownership.
Subsidies have been stopped for several manufacturers that are under investigation for alleged violations of local-sourcing rules.
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".
Reliance Industries on Tuesday said it will acquire a majority stake in California-based solar energy software developer SenseHawk for $32 million (around Rs 256 crore). The acquisition of a 79.4 per cent stake in SenseHawk is part of the conglomerate's aggressive push into renewable energy to decarbonise its oil and chemical-dominated business. SenseHawk, founded in 2018, develops tools for the solar industry to help companies streamline processes and use automation. It had a turnover of $2.3 million in last financial year.
With the fashion world blurring the lines between innovation, technology and reality, shopping is all set to be revolutionised.
'We aim at establishing India as an early talent hub on a global scale and are actively recruiting professionals in areas like cybersecurity, machine learning, data science, and other relevant fields.'
Bundled products often come with restrictions. The customer also gets locked into two products at the same time. This reduces flexibility.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) does not anticipate growth in the small car segment because people continue to find these vehicles unaffordable, chairman R C Bhargava said on Wednesday. He said the market had clearly shifted towards the sport utility vehicle (SUV) segment and the company will go in the same direction. The domestic sales of utility vehicles jumped in India by 34.54 per cent to about 2 million units in FY23.
India Inc is gearing up for a slugfest this year and from tech to paints, new battlegrounds are emerging, observes Indrajit Gupta, co-founder, Founding Fuel.
Nirma's tryst with the pharmaceutical space started in 2006 when it acquired the ailing Core Healthcare in a deal reported to be worth Rs 300 crore. The Ahmedabad-based manufacturer of intravenous fluids was subsequently renamed Nirlife. Pharma industry insiders say Nirma, which broke open the detergent market in the 1990s with low prices and massive advertising, tried an encore of the low-price strategy in pharma, but with mixed results.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Monday announced a Rs 2 lakh crore investment in deploying fifth-generation or 5G telephony with rollout in metro cities by Diwali. Jio, the nation's largest telecom operator, has deployed standalone 5G stack rather than upgrading the existing 4G network, to offer ultra-high speed internet, he said at Reliance Industries' 45th AGM.
'To set up a successful business, one must have a solution to an existing problem or a better way of addressing the current solution.'
The Union Budget on Wednesday outlined several initiatives to drive India's technology agenda and boost digital infrastructure, including new centres of excellence for artificial intelligence, National Data Governance Policy, and Entity DigiLocker.
'At present Metaverse is a hype cycle.' 'If it succeeds, then I would like to see TCS there, too.'
Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India on Thursday said it will increase prices of its vehicles ranging between Rs 2 lakh to Rs 12 lakh across different models from April 1, to offset rising input costs specially the adverse impact of foreign exchange. This will be the second time in three months that the company is increasing prices of its vehicles. The ex-showroom price of the company's model range will increase by up to 5 per cent from April 1, 2023, the company said.
The difference between what the banks play in the US and India is not that of soccer and football but rugby and football. SVB also has a unique character. But when risks are mispriced, the fallout could be very similar, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel and IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have joined hands to build a 5G-based remote working technology using robotics, according to a joint statement. TCS during the trials has successfully tested two use cases of its Neural Manufacturing solutions on Airtel's 5G testbed in Manesar - remote robotics operations, and vision-based quality inspection, the statement claimed. "The 5G ecosystem will open limitless possibilities for enterprises to enhance productivity and serve their customers even better with digitally enabled applications.
By 2025, Uber projects that 25,000-30,000 cars -- or 12 to 16 per cent of vehicle additions -- would be EVs, reports Surajeet Das Gupta.
A joint venture of Reliance Industries Ltd and BP of the UK on Wednesday said it has signed an agreement with the Mahindra Group to explore EV and low-carbon solutions, including battery swapping technology options, for electric 3-wheelers. Besides exploring creation of EV products and services, the non-binding MoU signed by Reliance BP Mobility Limited (RBML) and Mahindra Group would look for identifying synergies in low-carbon and conventional fuels, the company said in a statement. "The MoU also covers evaluating charging solutions by Jio-bp for Mahindra vehicles including electric 3 and 4 wheelers, quadricycles and e-SCV (Small Commercial Vehicles - sub 4 ton)," it said.
Tech giant Microsoft on Wednesday launched a new programme Microsoft AI Innovate for nurturing and scaling start-ups that are leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI). The 10-week initiative will support start-ups in India leveraging AI technologies, helping them scale operations, drive innovation, and build industry expertise. Both B2B and B2C start-ups from various industries, including financial services, healthcare, education, agriculture, space, manufacturing and logistics, retail, and e-commerce can participate in the quarterly cohorts of this programme.
Information technology major Wipro has asked candidates who have successfully completed their training and who were offered Rs 6.5 lakh per annum earlier whether they would be willing to take up projects for an annual compensation of Rs 3.5 lakh. Wipro told Business Standard that it had to adjust its onboarding plans "in the light of the changing macro environment and, as a result, our business needs". "Like others in our industry, we continue to assess global economies and customer needs, which factor in our hiring plans.
While Mercedes-Benz India expects 25 per cent of its India sales to come from EVs in the next four years, BMW says it estimates around 10 per cent of sales to come from those in the near future.
More than three weeks have passed since the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) new guidelines on e-mandates for recurring payments came into effect but consumers are still taking to social media platforms to complain about the disruptions they are facing. This comes as most stakeholders in the ecosystem have not put in place systems in accordance with the new rules, resulting in many transactions not going through. Industry sources said most banks are still not ready, especially the smaller ones.
Reliance Industries Ltd will acquire German firm Metro AG's wholesale operations in India for Rs 2,850 crore as the conglomerate run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani seeks to strengthen its dominant position in India's mammoth retail sector. "Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, signed definitive agreements to acquire a 100 per cent equity stake in Metro Cash & Carry India for a total cash consideration of Rs 2,850 crore, subject to closing adjustments," said a joint statement. Through this acquisition, Reliance Retail will get access to a network of Metro India stores located in prime locations across key cities, along with a large base of registered kiranas and other institutional customers, and a strong supplier network.
Engineers based in India are estimated to be writing roughly 35 per cent of the 100 million lines of codes required to develop one fully driverless car for global vehicle makers.
French aerospace major Thales Group is eyeing major expansion in India. The group has started planning to set up a maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) organisation in India to support Indian airlines - many of which are its customers for avionics support. "We are looking to set up an MRO, so that they don't have to travel to West Asia or Singapore. "Final decision is yet to be taken, but this is a clear intent showing the growth potential in India that we are looking to set up a sub-centre here," said Yannick Assouad, executive vice-president, avionics at Thales, who was on her maiden visit to the group's India office at Bengaluru since taking charge.
Flipkart will acquire 100 per cent of Cleartrip's shareholding as the company further enhances its investments to strengthen its digital commerce offerings for customers, a statement said.
India's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), is focused on getting 50 per cent of its customers' car-financing transactions executed through its Smart Finance platform by next year. Shashank Srivastava, executive director-sales, MSIL, said this will help the company turn its website into a single-window channel through which customers can select their models, find dealers, and arrange financing. He said there is a likelihood that 100 per cent of its customers availing of financing will take it through Smart Finance. To date, the company has disbursed Rs 6,500-crore loans via Smart Finance to around 100,000 customers, accounting for 28 per cent of all finance-based car-purchase transactions for the company.
Jiomart B2B is the latest among organised supply-chain companies to bite the bullet, shutting down its warehouses, and asking its employees to leave. Why are companies finding it difficult to sustain the supply-chain business? Experts point out that gross margins in supplying fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) are very low.
Though the PC market is growing, still there is potential for expansion, probably closer to the levels of the mobile market.
The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) will revamp its banking application (app) YONO and position it as a complete digital bank (DB) under a new rubric 'Only YONO' for enhancing customer experience and ease of use. The bank plans to bring in a consultant to help draw up the project plan, keeping in mind business goals for the next five years. With 54 million monthly active users (MAUs), SBI YONO has seen growth of over 35 per cent in MAUs in 2021.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday announced an agreement to acquire about 25 per cent equity stake in Bengaluru-based technology startup Lavelle Networks. Further, ASM Technologies, a global technology engineering and product development services provider, has done a follow on investment in Lavelle Networks. In a statement on Monday, Airtel announced the acquisition of about 25 per cent strategic stake in SD-WAN startup Lavelle Networks but did not disclose financial details about the deal that entails a cash consideration.
Before Data Patterns developed an indigenous check-out equipment, Brahmos Aerospace was paying a Russian supplier three times what it will now pay the Indian company.
For the first time, the country's largest airline IndiGo will soon lease up to four wide-body Boeing 777 planes to cover the shortfall in its international operations, according to officials. The airline said the wet-leasing of "certain aircraft" will be done as an interim measure. IndiGo, which has so far only been operating narrow-body Airbus planes, ATRs and freighters, will now be having wide-body aircraft in its fleet.