National Aeronautics and Space Administration will soon provide advanced training to Indian astronauts, with the goal of mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station, a top American diplomat said Friday.
He said the transformation brought about by the fintech sector in India is not just limited to technology, but its social impact is far-reaching. He also stressed that fintech has dented the parallel economy and is bridging the gap between villages and cities on the financial services front. The prime minister also said that in the last 10 years, the fintech space has attracted investments of more than $31 billion and fintech startups have grown by 500 per cent.
When AI is used to enhance operational efficiency, businesses can deliver the same product or service but with improved quality, faster, or even at a reduced cost
Giving major relief to budding entrepreneurs, the government on Thursday allowed startups to avail tax concession only if total investment including funding from angel investors does not exceed Rs 10 crore.
Layoffs, corporate restructuring, governance and most importantly profitability: The 14 Indian startups that plan IPOs this year are pulling out all the stops to ensure successful market debuts.
After raising Rs 10 crore in seed funding last week from investors like Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Freshworks founder Girish Mathrabootham and Silicon Valley based venture capitalist firm Hourglass Venture, Chennai-based social media startup Pepul told Business Standard that it is looking to raise around Rs 200 crore by June this year for expansion. The social media platform, focused on online ethical practices, will be launched by 1,000 entrepreneurs across the country on January 26. Pepul, founded by G Suresh Kumar, will be using an Aadhaar-based user verification system to get rid of fake accounts on its platform. "We are planning to raise around Rs 200 crore by June this year.
Byju's Founder Byju Raveendran's plea against the Insolvency of Think & Learn before the NCLAT was adjourned on Monday as one of the members of the bench recused from the hearing. The matter will be placed before a bench headed by National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) Chairman Justice Ashok Bhushan, who will assign a different bench to hear the matter. Raveendran had filed a petition challenging the initiation of insolvency proceedings against Think & Learn, which runs edtech company Byju's.
In a major relief to Byju's, the NCLAT on Friday set aside insolvency proceedings against the troubled edtech major over a sponsorship deal and approved a Rs 158 crore settlement with the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), however, passed the order with a caveat that any failure to make payments on the specific dates mentioned in the undertaking would automatically lead to a revival of the insolvency proceedings against Byju's.
India is expected to overtake the US as the largest developer community on GitHub by 2027, Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said during his address to 1,100 developers and technology leaders at the Microsoft AI Tour in Bengaluru on Thursday. India is the fastest-growing market on GitHub, a Microsoft-owned software development platform, with 13.2 million developers using it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged CEOs of US majors to take advantage of India's growth story as the country is making all efforts to become the third largest economy of the world in his third term. India is currently the fifth largest economy of the world after the US, China, Germany and Japan with a GDP of around $3.9 trillion. India has been the fastest growing large economies of the world with GDP growth rate of over 7 per cent for the last three consecutive years.
Bengaluru outpaced Mumbai, Delhi, and Pune in 2023 to become India's leading city for electric car registrations. The city's tech-savvy workforce, increased acceptability, zero road tax, subsidised electricity for EV charging, and a wide charging station network contributed to this surge. Electric car registrations in Karnataka's capital surged more than threefold in 2023 to 8,690 units, overtaking the growth witnessed in the other three cities, according to data from Jato Dynamics
'What has happened at Byju's is no surprise to anyone.'
India's share of total global venture capital (VC) funding fell to 2.9 per cent in calendar year 2023 (CY23) - the lowest since CY19 - reaching $7.3 billion as most startups struggled to raise money without compromising on their earlier valuations. Based on global data by CB Insights on VC funding, funding to Indian startups fell by nearly a third compared to CY22 when it hit $20.6 billion and accounted for 4.8 per cent of the global figure. While the data shows that the world had 71 new unicorns (21 in Asia), India contributed only two of them, as compared with CY22 when it had 22.
Google on Tuesday began reinstating about 250 Indian apps it had delisted from its Play Store over a billing dispute as it caved in to government criticism, but the squabble may not yet be over.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI), climate tech and fintech sectors will be the hot areas for venture capitalists and founders in the next year, according to the prediction by Prashanth Prakash, founding partner of the global venture capital firm Accel Partners in India and the chairperson of Karnataka Startup Vision Group. Prakash said that about $25 billion has been invested into building Gen AI globally. But a lot of that capital has not yet come to India, opening up huge opportunities for startups in the country.
She said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is working "hard" on the Bankruptcy Code
Why are financial-technology (fintech) players moving back to India, or doing the reverse-flipping?
We do what the boss wants us to. And we do not mind putting body and soul on the line, notes Suveen Sinha.
'Indian startups have raised $3.5 billion in funding in the first half of 2015'.
The TIME 100 AI list is an interesting assortment of titans. Indians make up about 20 per cent of the coveted list, which is pretty commendable, notes Sandeep Goyal.
'So, we would work with our members to ensure that we as an SRO create some sort of due diligence for fintechs.'
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
Global supermajor BP Plc's exclusivity with Reliance Industries Ltd has ended but the energy giant will continue to pursue oil and gas as well as mobility ventures in India with the Mukesh Ambani firm owing to an unwritten strategic partnership, BP's outgoing India head Sashi Mukundan said. BP in 2011 spent $7.2 billion to acquire 30 per cent interest in 23 oil and gas blocks of Reliance. Eastern offshore KG-D6 block was the cornerstone of the deal that also provided for a 10-year exclusivity period which meant that BP would take up energy projects or investments in India only in partnership with Reliance.
Ratan Tata has invested an undisclosed amount in startup research platform Tracxn.
Byju Raveendran, the founder of the beleaguered ed-tech firm Byju's, put himself on a pedestal and stopped listening to anyone, said Gaurav Munjal, the chief executive officer of edtech firm Unacademy. Munjal highlighted the importance of 'blunt feedback'. In a post on X, he alleged that Byju's founder stopped listening and failed to have people who could give him the right feedback.
'In the next 15-20 years, India will have at least 50 new (AI-driven) billion-dollar companies that are going to solve problems for the largest companies around the world.'
Quick commerce major Zepto has raised $340 million in a follow-on financing round at a valuation of $5 billion as it gears up for an initial public offering (IPO). This is Zepto's third big-ticket fundraise within a year. With this, the company has raised more than $1 billion in 12 months.
They wanted to learn about the set-up and support entrepreneur there.
As many as 17 such innovative ideas incubated during 3-day long startup accelerator held at IT park Chandigarh
Bengaluru-headquartered electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ather Energy is all set to file its draft red herring prospectus within the second week of September to the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for its maiden initial public offering (IPO), in which it is expected to raise over $450 million. On Tuesday, the fourth-largest electric two-wheeler maker in the country by volume raised Rs 600 crore from its existing investor, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), catapulting itself into a unicorn with a valuation of $1.3 billion.
The fresh meat and seafood delivery startup Licious plans to set up 500 stores nationwide within the next five years as part of an omnichannel strategy. The aim is to attract new users in the offline channel and encourage them to transact online as well. The move would also help the company in its efforts to achieve profitability and go for an initial public offering (IPO) in the next 24 months, according to the sources.
Singapore-based fashion technology startup Zilingo on Friday said it has sacked Indian-origin co-founder and CEO Ankiti Bose following an independent forensic audit into complaints of serious financial irregularities. On March 31, Bose was placed under suspension following complaints of alleged discrepancies in the company accounts. "Following an investigation led by an independent forensics firm that was commissioned to look into complaints of serious financial irregularities, the company has decided to terminate Ankiti Bose's employment with cause, and reserves the right to pursue appropriate legal action," Zilingo said in a statement.
The stock exchange BSE has called off the merger of its unit at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City International Financial Services Centre (GIFT IFSC), India International Exchange (India INX), with NSE International Exchange (NSE IX), a similar unit floated by rival National Stock Exchange (NSE), according to sources familiar with the development. BSE and NSE had been in discussions for the merger for over a year, but it has yielded no results, they said.
The government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is likely to start levying user charges in the current financial year.
Highlights of the Union Budget 2024-25 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
'IPOs have performed exceptionally well, with a notable increase in average ticket size from Rs 800 crore in the last financial year to around Rs 1,300 crore in this financial year.'
The announcement comes after the government launched a high-decibel campaign.
Pratham Barot, CEO and co-founder, Zell Education, explains how specialised courses in finance can help you earn a cushy six-figure salary.
Government departments have been tasked with identifying major goals, which will include annual targets from the financial year 2024-2025 to 2028-2029.
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.