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.
Investments by private equity and venture capital funds declined by 35 per cent to $4.4 billion in April compared with $6.8 billion in the year-ago period, a report said on Thursday. The number of deals in April stood at 98, which was 56 per cent higher than the year-ago period, the report by EY, a consultancy firm, and industry lobby grouping IVCA said.
India and the US are expected to have smooth trade negotiations after US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a productive meeting during Modi's visit to the White House last month, Stephen A Schwarzman, chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder of one of the world's largest alternative investment firms, Blackstone Group, said in Mumbai on Wednesday.
'Twenty-five years ago, loyalists of the same (then undivided) political party stormed into my office.' 'They vandalised it, physically assaulted me, blackened my face, and forced me to apologise publicly -- by falling at the feet of an elderly woman -- for a single line of dialogue in my film.'
Police on Tuesday said they have started recording statements of people associated with the controversial Veera Sathidar memorial programme held on May 13 in Nagpur, where the poem was recited, while an official informed investigation into the case was at a sensitive stage.
Census exercise with caste enumeration will be carried out with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country, the Home Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Global investors have been cautious this year to put money into Indian real estate, as private equity inflow is down 44 per cent till December 12 to $3 billion compared to the entire previous year, according to Knight Frank. Real estate consultant Knight Frank India on Thursday released its data showing that the Indian real estate market received $3,024 million in PE investments from 23 deals between January 1 and December 12 this year, as against $5,357 million recorded in 2022.
Fintech major PhonePe on Wednesday announced the launch of its homegrown Indus Appstore specifically for the Indian market, in a bid to compete with global incumbents like Google Play Store and Apple's App Store. The Indus Appstore is PhonePe's attempt at creating a more competitive and localised mobile app store economy for India, which is already the world's largest market for mobile apps.
Harbhajan Singh's comment on Jofra Archer's expensive spell drew accusations of racial insensitivity.
Film folk make memories on Holi and show the world how they celebrated the festival of colours.
BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain were stopped at the Delhi international airport following a look out circular issued against them in the alleged fraud at the fintech firm, sources said. The couple were to travel to New York late on Thursday for vacation when they were stopped at the airport on the basis of a look out circular issued by the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi police. EoW is investigating complaints of payments being made at BharatPe to fake human resource consultancies allegedly operated by Grover and family. They have also been accused of backdating invoices to use funds.
'I saw Bimal Roy's Devdas again a few years ago, almost 50 years after it had been made.' 'I found it very intelligently made; the scenes flowed so beautifully.' 'There is just one scene with both Suchitra Sen and me in the film, and it's beautiful.'
A suspended police sub-inspector from Beed, Maharashtra, India, has alleged that he was offered money to carry out an "encounter" of Walmik Karad, an accused in the murder case of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh. The suspended cop, Ranjeet Kasle, claims he mentioned the names of the individuals who made the offer in a local police station diary. However, a senior police official from Beed has dismissed Kasle's claims as baseless and demanded proof. Kasle was suspended earlier while serving as a sub-inspector in the local cyber crime department. Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village, was abducted and killed last December allegedly for attempting to stop extortion targeting an energy company. Karad is among eight individuals arrested in connection with the murder and charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The state Crime Investigation Department (CID) filed a chargesheet in the case last month. Kasle's claims come amidst ongoing investigations into the custodial death of Badlapur sexual assault case accused Akshay Shinde. Kasle has demanded a central government SIT to investigate Shinde's death, believing it will reveal the truth.
The battalion launched an attack and came under intense fire from the enemy after reaching the hill top. Singh died in the gun battle and was awarded a Sena Medal posthumously.
'We want to achieve overall profitability, and then we would go for an IPO.'
The Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha is also looking into the allegations against her.
Haldiram has entered into an agreement with Temasek as part of which the Singapore-headquartered global investment firm will "acquire an equity stake from the existing shareholders" of India's largest packed snack and sweets company and restaurant operator, according to a statement issued on Sunday. It did not disclose details of the deal or the valuation at which Temasek acquired the equity stake, but this is the first official confirmation of the deal from Haldiram.
Priyansh, a 24-year-old southpaw from Delhi, made a stunning debut for the Punjab Kings, smashing a 39-ball century in his first IPL game.
Shares worth over Rs 50,000 crore (or approximately $6 billion) are set to become freely tradable between now and April 10. Historically, such substantial volumes have been absorbed by a buoyant block-deal market.
'During a match, there is a lot of noise from the stadium -- cheers for sixes and fours -- but the batter focuses on the ball, not the pressure.' 'If you don't take pressure and focus on your duty, you can overcome stress easily.'
Gensol Engineering, the beleaguered firm that came under market regulator Sebi's lens for fund diversions and governance lapses, said that its independent director Arun Menon has resigned with immediate effect.
'I will do it again. I am ready to put my life in danger a second time. This is my land, this is my responsibility'
More than 30 technology startups, collectively valued at $100 billion, are poised to go public by 2027, signalling a potential rebound in India's stock market activity, according to a report by investment bank The Rainmaker Group. Walmart-owned Flipkart, financial technology (fintech) leader PhonePe, SoftBank-backed Lenskart, Razorpay, Zetwerk, and Meesho are among the top companies preparing to go public in India.
A passenger shot the video of the railway worker throwing railway garbage out of the train and posted it online.
Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, once hailed as rising stars in India's clean energy sector, are now facing serious regulatory action.
'Eat well, rest well; keep improving; and go play, unplug.'
The Delhi high court on Tuesday imposed Rs 2 lakh as costs on BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover in the matter related to his alleged defamatory social media posts against the fintech company. Justice Rekha Palli took on record the apology and the undertaking given by Grover but proceeded to impose costs on him, saying the "court cannot be taken for granted". The judge, while dealing with a plea by Resilient Innovations Pvt Ltd - which owns BharatPe - against its former MD, said the court was "appalled" to note the "persistent" and "blatant" violation of the earlier orders and assurances given by Grover in this regard.
News reports that GE Aerospace has delivered the first of 99 F404-IN20 engines ordered by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) for the Tejas Mk-1A has revived interest in the HAL stock.
Modi's high praise of Russia as an ally and Putin's leadership came amid ongoing efforts by the Western world to isolate the Russian leader over the war in Ukraine.
'Being stressed is natural and it is a part of life. How we handle it is the important thing.'
'If you are willing to shine like the sun, you must be willing to burn like it.'
Walmart-owned digital payments app Phonepe on Thursday said it has raised $350 million at a valuation of $12 billion in a funding round led by private equity firm General Atlantic. "Marquee Global and Indian investors are also participating in the round," PhonePe said in a statement adding the investment marks the first tranche of an up to $1 billion total fundraise that commenced in January 2023. The fundraise follows PhonePe's recently announced change of domicile to India and full separation from Flipkart.
Assam Congress spokesperson Reetam Singh was arrested on Saturday for a social media post questioning the status of cases registered against three senior BJP leaders, including a former state chief and two serving MLAs. The arrest came after a complaint by the wife of BJP MLA Manab Deka, who was mentioned in Singh's post. Singh's arrest was met with criticism from the Congress, with Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi alleging that Singh was "brutally dragged away" by police.
'Mrs shows a dark side to the son and the father.' 'I had to do things that I wouldn't dare to do in real life.'
Ibrahim sings Ishq Mein... Palak looks hot in the elevator... Urvashi is in V-Day mood...
The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police has filed an FIR against former BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain Grover and family members Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain and Shwetank Jain for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint by the fintech unicorn. The FIR, a copy of which has been seen by PTI, was filed under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 that deals with criminal breach of trust, 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery). BharatPe in the complaint alleged that Grover and his family caused damages of about Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through passthrough vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri Jain and destruction of evidence.
'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.'
PhonePe said on Tuesday it has launched a service that will allow the fintech firm's Indian users traveling abroad to pay foreign merchants using Unified Payments Interface (UPI). 'UPI international' supports merchant outlets in UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan that have a local QR (quick response) code. Users will be able to make direct payments in a foreign currency from their Indian bank, like they do with international debit cards.
The possibilities of this serviceable thriller are immense but the makers prefer to play it safe and hold back the daredevil in the diplomat's clothing, observes Sukanya Verma.