The draft e-commerce rules released last year held e-commerce marketplace responsible if a seller on its platform failed to deliver the goods or services ordered by a consumer "due to negligent conduct, omission or commission of any act by such seller", causing loss to the consumer.
French IT firm Atos is planning to hire 15,000 people in the next 12-18 months in India, including climate experts, as it moves towards decarbonisation by 2028, chief operating officer (COO) Nourdine Bihmane said. "India is a strategic market for Atos. "We have been present here for the last 30 years, and we have grown organically since. "People and innovation are our two key drivers to build momentum. "India represents one-third of our total workforce," Bihmane said. Atos has around 40,000 employees in India.
Bharti Airtel aims to leverage its 180 million plus digital service customers and its wide presence in rural areas to grow its payment bank business. "We are well placed as we can leverage the 180 million plus customers we have across our digital assets. "We offer a plethora of services such as lucrative interest rates, gift cards, FASTag, telecom recharges, payments and debit cards. "Our large merchant base of more than eight million allows us to drive both engagement and monetisation.
India's IT and business services market is expected to grow 5.4 per cent annually to reach $13 billion by December this year, research firm IDC said. The segment grew 5.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in January-June (H1) 2020 period as compared to 8.9 per cent growth in H1 2019, IDC said in a report. Of the IT and business services market, the IT services market contributed 77.4 per cent in H1 2020, growing 5.9 per cent y-o-y as compared to 9.3 per cent growth in the year-ago period.
Telecom service operator Airtel on Thursday urged the government not to charge high fees for allotting 5G spectrum, saying a faster roll out of the next-generation telecommunication network can have more benefits than collecting revenue in upfront cost. Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises which runs the country's second largest telco, said that there are a variety of applications across sectors ranging from healthcare to video interactions, which will make 5G a technology to be introduced as soon as possible. "5G is important and that's why we keep on requesting the government to make the 5G as an enabler for hundreds of things that we develop in the country, to keep the spectrum at affordable pricing, to not load the industry too much," Mittal said at the Times Network India Economic Conclave.
Seeking to provide a quicker and value-maximising outcome for stressed MSMEs, the government has introduced a pre-packaged resolution process for such enterprises by amending the insolvency law. Now, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) can seek resolution for their stress through the pre-packaged process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). An ordinance was promulgated to amend the IBC on April 4. Many MSMEs have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and experts opined that the latest amendment, which comes less than two weeks after the suspension of certain IBC provisions ended, is a welcome move.
'Muslims know they cannot defeat the BJP, why then come in its firing range?' 'And they know, ultimately it is the BJP MLA who is going to get elected and only he or she can do their work.' 'The BJP may do a different kind of politics for Muslims, but when they sit in the chair they work for Muslims too.'
If you are a budding developer and interested in Web3, chances are that you will be headed to one of India's largest-ever meetings of Web3 developers, being held by Polygon, a Web3 platform. The company's ongoing "Web3: Made in India Tour" is expected to see close to 4,000 developers coming together at the inaugural Polygon Connect event in Bengaluru on December 1. The event highlights the growing dominance of Web3 developers from India, as well as the sector's rising interest to investors, who continue to invest in startups despite a funds crunch.
India's first auction of 5G spectrum, that powers ultra-high data speeds, is currently underway with a total of 72 GHz (gigahertz) of radiowaves worth at least Rs 4.3 lakh crore up for bidding. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani's flagship Adani Enterprises are in the race to bid for 5G spectrum, that offers speeds about 10 times faster than 4G, lag-free connectivity, and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time. In addition to powering ultra-low latency connections, which allow downloading full-length high-quality video or movie to a mobile device in a matter of seconds (even in crowded areas), Fifth Generation or 5G would enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more-immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming among others.
The gig economy can serve up to 90 million jobs in the non-farm sectors in India with a potential to add 1.25 per cent to the GDP over the "long term", a report said on Tuesday. The gig economy, where workers get hired typically for short durations, can lead to transactions of over $250 billion over the long term, the report by the consultancy firm BCG said. The firm said gig economy is not a new concept but has seen greater adoption following the advent of technology.
Tech giant Microsoft will set up its largest and fourth data centre in India at Hyderabad with an investment outlay of over Rs 15,000 crore over a period of 15 years. "I am very happy to say today that Hyderabad will be the destination for Microsoft's largest Data Centre investment in India with an investment of over Rs 15,000 crore over a period of 15 years. "This will be one of the largest FDIs that Telangana has attracted," Telangana Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao on Monday said at an event marking the announcement of Microsoft's latest data centre region in Hyderabad.
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.
Hiranandnani's new venture is well-timed, but it will face heavy competition from both international majors and domestic peers like Adani Group.
The one-size-fits-all approach adopted by the AICTE is not suitable for regulating business schools in India, argues Asish K Bhattacharyya.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said opening of transport and highways will go a long way in instilling confidence among the public and cautioned towards maintaining social distance and adopting all safety measures like hand wash, sanitizing, face masks, etc while operating buses and cars.
Amazon
Even as India's internet base continues to widen, with the country set to have over 900 internet users by 2025, a parallel rise in cyber threats has become a matter of huge concern. Experts say that the sudden surge in digital adoption left little time to develop a cybersecurity backbone for the country. This has put large amounts of data at risk.
A faltering economy may have led to a re-think on economic strategy. And Mr Modi might think he is politically strong enough to take some risks. But there could be a minefield ahead, observes T N Ninan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said his government is using all channels including diplomatic to bring back high-profile economic offenders, leaving them with no option but to return to the country. Speaking at a symposium on credit flow and economic growth, he asked banks to support wealth and job creators with proactive lending while promising to stand by any loans given in right earnest. "In our attempt to bring back fugitive (economic offenders), we relied on policies and law and also used diplomatic channels.
10 high dividend paying stocks across sectors that are expected to maintain or even increase their pay-outs in FY23 thanks to faster earnings growth in the last four quarters.
Technology, which was responsible for creating the new-age digital consumer issue for enterprises, also acts as a solution to the problem, says Karthick Viswanathan.
Indian firms selling SAAS products have got a bonanza as companies meet, manage and sell remotely. The top five firms - Zoho, Freshworks HighRadius, Druva, and Icertis - account for 33 per cent of the market share. Chennai, India's SAAS centre, alone generates $1 billion in annual revenue. Yuvraj Malik explains how these companies are planning their next phase of growth.
The merits and demerits of the telcos' 5G strategy however is clearly dependent on the financial muscle of players, reports Surajeet Das Gupta.
With the banking regulator lifting restrictions on HDFC Bank's digital initiatives, the largest private sector lender is now girding up to launch a clutch of customer-facing applications (apps), which will act as stepping stones in its journey to morph into a technology (tech)-led bank from a conventional one. Following repeated outages in its digital offerings, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had barred HDFC Bank from issuing new credit cards in December 2020 and prevented it from going ahead with its digital launches. The embargo on issuing credit cards was lifted in August 2021 and the ban on digital launches was lifted last week.
'If you want to change everything all of a sudden to polyester, then the production of khadi flags will come under trouble.'
The investment will enable Airtel to add EdTech to its premium digital content portfolio and give distribution scale to quality learning material from Lattu Kids.
A day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted its ban on HDFC Bank on issuing new credit cards, the country's largest private sector lender on Wednesday said it had resources and plans in place to "further reinforce pole position in the credit card segment" and that it would "come back with a bang". "We will aggressively go to the market, with not just our existing suite of credit cards but also new offerings in the form of co-brands and partnerships," Sashidhar Jagdishan, managing director and chief executive officer of HDFC Bank, said in a letter to his employees. The bank's management had earlier indicated that the lender had been sourcing liability customers aggressively over the past few months.
While several multi-national enterprises have set up R&D facilities in India, the country has a "far way to go in institutionalising the culture of excellence embedded into the working processes of Indian enterprises," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday said even though a "hybrid" model will be the new normal in future, India's largest software exporter TCS will ask employees to come to work once the pandemic is over as social interactions are a social necessity. "I do want to make the point that people need to meet people. It is a social necessity. "So, there will be a shift towards moving people to work when the pandemic gets over," Chandrasekaran, who also chairs TCS, said at the company's annual general meeting. At present, 97 per cent of the company's staff have been working from their homes because of the pandemic, he said, admitting that a "hybrid" model where people work from homes and also from offices will be the new normal.
The final guidelines to link the interest rate to external benchmarks will be issued by the end of this month
India added three 'unicorns' per month in 2021 to nearly double the overall number of startups valued at over USD 1 billion to 51 as of end-August, a report said on Thursday. Even as, cumbersome regulations are forcing startups to leave India and settle in other countries where they enjoy better treatment, as per the Hurun India, which prepared the list. It can be noted that over the last few years, dedicated efforts have been undertaken to hone the startups ecosystem by the government through flagship initiatives like 'Startup India'.
Among other segments, home broadband subscriptions have picked up and the virtual private network service, too, increased by around 15 per cent.
Indian startups received about $6.5 billion in funding in the April-June 2021 quarter, while 11 of them entered the coveted unicorn club, a report by Nasscom-PGA Labs said. During the second quarter, 160 funding deals were closed -- up 2 per cent from the January-March period. "Q2 2021 has been impeccable for the start-up growth story. From being the most funded quarter, it has also added the most number of unicorns. "Standing tall during the pandemic second wave headwinds, Indian start-up ecosystem has shown a strong resilience in this quarter," the report said.
By 2026, around 25 per cent of the global population may spend at least an hour a day on Metaverse. This will open the doors for many businesses, the NFTs market will spread, and Web 3.0 will attract more investment.
The eight-member committee under Sinha will also examine the factors affecting the timely and adequate availability of finance to the sector.
The words 'industry', 'industrial development', 'jobs', and 'employment' have been ringing with higher frequency since Mamata Banerjee stepped into her third term with landslide victory after a high-octane election last year. "Our government's next target is industrial development," the chief minister (CM) had been heard stating at different public meetings in the past few months - perhaps setting the tone for the sixth edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) slated for later this month. Investor summits by any state are about intent, big numbers, and tall claims. Yet in competitive federalism, its importance as a marketing tool is undeniable.
Tech Mahindra is building 5G use cases with US-based hospitals to help manage devices remotely and eventually manage remote surgeries that will require seamless network connectivity.
Amway maintains the action was related to a case in 2011 and it has been cooperating with the investigative agency.
'At present Metaverse is a hype cycle.' 'If it succeeds, then I would like to see TCS there, too.'
Global software giant Microsoft intends to tap the growing cloud computing market here. Sanket Akerkar, managing director of Microsoft India, says he's seeing an uptick in its adoption by enterprises, to become competitive.
