The first step to keeping your job safe, experts tell Rediff.com's Divya Nair, is understanding why layoffs happen.
Calling for 'equal recognition of vaccines', COVAX on Thursday urged all governments to recognise as 'fully vaccinated' those people who have received COVID-19 vaccines deemed safe by World Health Organisation, saying any move that restricts travel of people based on the vaccines they have received is 'counter-effective, both in spirit and outcome'.
Ola founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Bhavish Aggarwal will step back from day-to-day operations to focus more on engineering functions, team building, and products, apart from focusing on long-term strategic projects, such as two-wheelers, cars, and innovations in quick commerce and international expansion. "I'll be spending more time with all engineering functions, team building, and on products," said Aggarwal in an internal note, adding, "I'll also be increasing my focus on our longer-term strategic projects, including new two-wheeler products, our car project, innovations in quick commerce, electrifying ride-hailing, our cell research and development (R&D), international expansion, building our Pune technology (tech) centre, and Futurefoundry UK." To drive scale, speed, and quality, Aggarwal said he is expanding Ola Group's chief financial officer (CFO) G R Arun Kumar's role to help him steer 'day-to-day operations' across the group.
In the worst-case scenario, it will be next to impossible for tech companies like Amazon and Google to run any service that requires user biometrics.
Paytm will look to raise up to $1.5 billion as part of primary share sale, leading up to its initial public offering (IPO), which is planned for November, a person familiar with the developments said. The company is looking to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) by July, according to sources. According to this person, though the details of the listing are being worked out, Paytm may take the qualified institutional buyer (QIB) route to list and issue fresh equity to raise funds.
A hot sale of a Chinese product, whether assembled in India or anywhere else in the world, may make the country of origin rule fall by the wayside. Moreover, its execution is challenging for businesses as there are no clear guidelines or definitions from the authorities on what constitutes 'country of origin'.
FSN E-Commerce Ventures, which runs online marketplace for beauty and wellness products Nykaa, has filed preliminary papers with markets regulator Sebi to raise Rs 3,500-4,000 crore through an initial share-sale.
'Failure is success delayed. It teaches you to be patient and persevere so that you improve.'
Industry estimates over 30 tonnes of gold were sold on Akshaya Tritiya this time.
The retail inflation rate breached the 6 per cent upper tolerance limit of the RBI for the first time in seven months in January, while the wholesale price index stayed in double-digits for the 10th month in a row, showed two sets of data released by the government on Monday. Retail inflation, the key input for the RBI while reviewing the repo rate every two months, soared during the month mainly because of a spike in certain food items. The previous high for retail inflation was 6.26 per cent in June 2021.
... and I learn more about economic trends than from books, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
With an epic battle of billionaires for supremacy in one of the world's most prolific markets and a pandemic-propelled surge in online shopping in the background, India's nearly trillion-dollar retail market is hoping to touch 85 per cent of the pre-COVID business in the first half of the New Year. In a year when the COVID-19 carnage ripped apart the retail business, circa 2020 will best go down for the unravelling of the war between Jeff Bezos, the world's wealthiest man, and richest Indian Mukesh Ambani for pre-eminence in the booming market that is estimated to reach $1.3 trillion by 2025. It all started with Ambani's Reliance Industries agreeing in August to buy assets of the nation's second-largest retailer for Rs 24,713 crore, just a year after Bezos' Amazon purchased an indirect stake in the indebted Future Retail.
The latest deal would give Facebook deeper access to India, the second largest internet market after China.
Meta (formerly Facebook) founder Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday said India's entrepreneurial spirit and massive scale is fuelling optimism about the future and the opportunities that the country presents. Speaking at Meta's Fuel for India 2021, Zuckerberg also said he is excited about the role that India will play in building the metaverse. Metaverse refers to a combination of multiple technologies, including virtual reality, augmented reality and video where users "live" within a digital universe.
The group has called for a retaliatory tariff action against India, if New Delhi does not roll back the 'unilateral and discriminatory' equalisation levy or Google Tax.
Listing out the achievements of his government, he said the country has moved away from a culture of delaying work through 'atkana, latkana and bhatkana' (obstructing, delaying and misguiding).
Software major Wipro's chairman Rishad Premji on Thursday said social media platforms have integrated the world like never before and should be allowed to practice "responsive self-governance" to tackle the menace of hate and misinformation. Premji said technological developments on the digital and social media represent an incredibly powerful opportunity for betterment and the issues arising through its misuse need to be addressed immediately. "Technology, particularly digital and social media, have integrated the world as never before. "They've fostered human connections and solidarity across distances and barriers.
The deal gives a valuation of over $4 billion to Paytm, which is already backed by Alibaba group as a strategic investor.
Overall, cumulative direct investment from China stood at just $2.05 billion till June 2018, according to consolidated DIPP figures
Even as regulatory focus has zeroed in on foreign e-commerce giant Amazon, a domestic retail giant has been created almost below the radar in Reliance Retail (RR), one of the most crucial businesses for the group's future. From doorstep delivery of groceries, apparels to branded jewellery, medicines, toys, furniture to high street retailing, RR's presence in the world's fourth largest consumer market is just one part of the story.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Thursday said Jio and Google have jointly developed a power-packed and affordable smartphone 'JioPhone Next', which will be available in the market from September 10. Ambani promised that JioPhone Next will be the most affordable smartphone not just in India but globally. Speaking at RIL's annual general meeting, Ambani asserted that an ultra-affordable 4G smartphone is essential to make India '2G-mukt' (free of 2G).
Mukesh Ambani-owned RIL's JioMart is set to launch a slew of new products including financial services, electronics to airline tickets to take on the competition from upcoming rivals like the Tata Super app and other established players including PayTM, Amazon and Flipkart. This comes at a time when RIL's e-commerce revenues are set to grow by 35 per cent to $15 billion within four years and its core retail revenue is expected to grow at the same pace to $44 billion, as per a forecast by Goldman Sachs. "The Tata vs JioMart war will be the next big corporate battle to watch. "While Tata has an upper hand like in-house products and brands, RIL has the backing of global biggies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft," said head of a rating firm asking not to be quoted.
In the start-up world, hitting the $1-billion mark, which accords the "Unicorn" tag, is a milestone. Enterprises typically reach the milestone only by series C or series D, or three to four funding rounds later. Zeta achieved it at the first one. On May 25, the six-year-old banking tech firm raised $250 million from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, at a post-money valuation of $1.45 billion. "This is the first time we have raised institutional money," Zeta co-founder Bhavin Turakhia beamed on the conference call. This trajectory is uncommon in start-ups.
RIL has faced protests from local authorities, activists and residents across India campaigning against masts and roadworks.
The school was run on strict Gandhian lines, with stress on students doing things themselves. Physical comforts were minimal, in keeping with the relatively backward geographical area. But it had a staff of teachers dedicated to educating their students, not just imparting them book-learning, remembers Shreekant Sambrani.
The Tata group has proposed to acquire more than 60 per cent stake in online grocery platform BigBasket, according to a filing, as the conglomerate seeks to expand in the fast-growing e-commerce space. The group plans to buy up to 64.3 per cent stake in Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt Ltd (SGS) through a combination of primary and secondary acquisitions, a filing with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) showed. The parties to the proposed deal are Tata Digital Ltd (TDL), SGS and Innovative Retail Concepts Pvt Ltd (IRC) -- which is engaged in B2C (Business to Consumer) sales through www.bigbasket.com and related mobile applications.
Your digital footprints give marketers deeper insights about who their customers are.
Infosys is on a much stronger wicket today than where it was a few years ago, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the business, says its CEO & MD Salil Parekh. In an interview to Bibhu Ranjan Mishra & Sai Ishwar, Parekh talks about the company's plans with regard to salary hike deferment, fresher hiring, acquisitions, and much more.
Foreign Direct Investment into India rose by 13 per cent in 2020, boosted by interest in the digital sector, and while fund flows "declined most strongly" in major economies such as the UK, the US and Russia due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India and China "bucked the trend", the UN has said.
"Some people think I said something negative against Amazon. If you look at the context of my statement, I said investment should come within the law and regulations. This process is followed across the world," the minister told reporters in Ahmedabad when asked to comment on his statement.
Cab aggregator Ola is laying off 1,400 staff from rides, financial services and food business as revenues declined by 95 per cent in the last two months due to coronavirus pandemic, a note by CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said. In an email to employees, Aggarwal made it clear that the prognosis ahead for the business is "very unclear and uncertain" and the impact of this crisis is "definitely going to be long-drawn for us".
'In the case of Aadhaar, we were able to build and enrol 1 billion in five-and-a-half years.' 'For vaccination, it can be done even faster -- in just two years.' 'When everybody is coming for vaccination, they can be offered a choice -- to create a health record and a digital ID.'
Companies in India are expected to dole out an average increment of 7.3 per cent to employees this year amid faster-than-expected economic recovery and revival in business and consumer confidence, according to a survey. The first phase of the 2021 Workforce and Increment Trends Survey by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP (DTTILLP) also said the average increment this year will be higher than 4.4 per cent seen in 2020 but lower than 8.6 per cent given by companies in 2019. As many as 92 per cent companies that participated in the survey plan to give an increment in 2021 compared to only 60 per cent last year.
According to experts, the banning of the apps has created negative sentiments and reduced the confidence among the Chinese investors to invest in India.
RuPay is working on how to increase offers to customers. It is also focused on technology innovation in the card payment system.
Even as the semiconductor shortage has limited the demand for new cars, the pre-owned car segment is seeing a surge. A preference for personal mobility, availability of multiple organised online platforms, including e-commerce channels, aggregators, and classifieds, have been fuelling growth. The growth rate of the pre-owned car market is expected to be 1.5x that of the new car market over the next five years.
Prominent e-commerce marketplace players include Amazon.in, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm, Shopclues and Jabong
Paytm's Rs 18,300-crore IPO -- India's largest public issue to date -- was subscribed only 18 per cent on the first day of bidding on Monday.
"Reaching an international agreement on how large digital companies are taxed has been a priority for the chancellor since he took office," said a spokesperson for his UK treasury office. "The chancellor's consistent position has been that it matters where tax is paid, and any agreement must ensure digital businesses pay tax in the UK that reflects their economic activities. That is what our taxpayers would expect and is the right thing," the spokesperson said.
Ajit Balakrishnan on keeping an eye on democratising finance in India.
