As India gets ready to roll out one of the largest vaccine programmes, billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday said his group is working with authorities to provide technology tools and backbone for mass inoculation against COVID-19. Ambani's telecom venture Jio was rolled out four years back, offering free voice calling and dirt-cheap data. Today, Jio is India's largest telecom operator with over 400 million users, each connected to the internet. At a Facebook event, Ambani said the government's digital push kept the country running even during the pandemic and is now helping in the rollout of one of the largest vaccination programmes.
'There will be partnerships between banks and fintech firms, but there will also be areas where they will be direct competitors.'
Mortgage firm HDFC Ltd on Wednesday announced sale of a 10 per cent stake in its private equity arm HDFC Capital Advisors to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) for about Rs 184 crore. ADIA is also the primary investor in the alternative investment funds managed by $3 billion-HDFC Capital. Set up in 2016, HDFC Capital is the investment manager to HDFC Capital Affordable Real Estate Funds 1, 2 and 3; and is aligned with the government's goal to increase housing supply and support the Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana - 'Housing for All' initiative, HDFC Ltd said in a statement.
Education technology firm Byju's on Wednesday announced a partnership with tech giant Google to offer a 'learning solution' for schools. With this, the simplicity, flexibility and security of Google Workspace for Education and Byju's content pedagogy come together on the 'Vidyartha' platform to aid effective learning at school, according to a statement. This integration of Google Workspace for Education with Byju's would offer a collaborative and personalised digital platform for classroom organisation, available for free to participating educational institutions, the statement added.
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.
'With Trump, the relationship was very transactional, whereas with President Biden it is very structured.'
'In light of the events in Israel, Foreign Minister Cohen decided to cut short his diplomatic visit to India and return to Israel after the meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that will take place today'
The global semiconductor shortage is turning into a headache for automotive (auto) and appliance manufacturers. But it is proving to be a boon for equity investors. Semiconductor stocks are among the best performers this year. The PHLX Semiconductor Index has gained more than 35 per cent year-to-date.
'As the demand for transferable skills that can be remotely applied increases, the need for tech-based courses is on the rise/'
India's sprawling digital public infrastructure received a glowing endorsement from billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates on Wednesday as he praised the country's "great" digital network, reliable and low-cost connectivity, and said this will be the cheapest 5G market. Under the G20 presidency of India, a session on 'Building resilient and inclusive economies- the Promise of Digital Public Infrastructure' was held on Wednesday in New Delhi, where the Microsoft co-founder spoke of India's digital identity Aadhaar, its payment infrastructure, and rapid strides that the country has taken in bringing more people into formal banking system. "India in particular, by laying the groundwork for digital public infrastucture starting with identity system, allows people to build on top of that.
What some of our leaders were up to on Friday, November 11.
Reliance Industries on Friday reported a 41.5 per cent jump in its third quarter net profit as oil, retail and telecom businesses fired on all cylinders. Net profit of Rs 18,549 crore in October-December compared with Rs 13,101 crore a year back, the company said in a stock exchange filing. Income from operations rose to Rs 1.91 lakh crore from Rs 1.28 lakh crore.
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.
India has become the 37th country to join the list of Strategic Trade Authorization-1 category, the only South Asian nation.
Wipro said recently it was expecting its revenue growth to drop 2.33 per cent or stay flat between $2,015 and $2065 million.
Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is looking to divest its exposure to road and power concessions and incubate digital and e-commerce businesses as part of its new five-year plan ending 2025-26 (FY26). The base year for the plan is 2020-21 (FY21). The blueprint, called Lakshya 2026, is intended to help the company exit sub-scale businesses, concentrate on high-technology (tech) manufacturing, construction and green energy projects, and increase its share from information technology (IT) and digital services. The lending operations of the financial services business, meanwhile, will be reorganised, with focus on retail lending.
The partnership would develop Nvidia Cuda (Compute Unified Device Architecture) Technology-enabled software solutions.
The initiative, whose founding partners also include Accenture, CA Technologies, Cisco, Cognizant, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Pegasystems, PwC, Salesforce and SAP, aims to bring competitive training content together on one platform to serve the greater good.
'The future is about autonomy and tanking.'
Johnson's first visit to India as United Kingdom prime minister will begin on April 21 with a trip to Ahmedabad in Gujarat, which is Prime Minister Modi's home state.
The Modi government finds itself in a contradiction of its own making. It has encouraged pro-Russian, Westophobic public sentiment while setting strategic policy that's exactly the opposite, points out Shekhar Gupta.
'The Modi visit will prove to be the watershed where India and the United States commenced technology trade and transfer.'
The Centre will promote Kisan Drones, chemical-free natural farming, public-private partnerships for the delivery of digital and high-tech services to farmers across the country during the financial year 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Presenting the Budget 2022-23 in Parliament, Sitharaman said the inclusive development is one of the four priorities of the government moving forward. As part of the inclusive development, the government will promote the use of 'Kisan Drones' for crop assessment, digitisation of land records and spraying of insecticides. The government will also facilitate a fund with blended capital raised under the co-investment model through Nabard to finance agri start-ups and rural enterprises, she said.
'My wife, family members as well as members of the workers will be trustees.' 'The trust will take all decisions -- no family member can individually take any decision.'
Prime Minister Modi also made a veiled reference to China, saying the global order is based on the respect for the principles of the UN Charter, peaceful resolution of disputes, and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.
US-based network infrastructure major Enterasys Networks has signed a partnership agreement with Select Technologies, the networking arm of WeP Peripherals Ltd, to promote and distribute the company's products in the country.
Photo-messaging app Snapchat on Wednesday said its monthly user base has reached 100 million in the country, and the company will continue to anchor its efforts towards growing and providing more resources to its community of Indian creators. Snap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat, virtually hosted the second edition of 'Snap in India'. At the event, Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel announced the milestone of reaching 100 million Snapchatters monthly in India.
Indian telecom operators have surpassed the three- year 5G network rollout target given to them within six months and now the government is making efforts to enhance adoption of 5G applications across various key segments, a senior government official said in Barcelona. Department of Telecom Additional Secretary VL Kantha Rao told PTI at "India Evening" event on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress 2023 that the government has hosted over 50 companies at the India pavilion and the delegation is here to showcase indigenously-developed 4G and 5G technology stack. "When the spectrum was allocated to telecom service providers for 5G rollout, we gave a minimum rollout obligation saying that within one year they have to cover a few cities within three years, a few towns and so on and so forth.
In a major relief to Indian information technology (IT) companies operating in Australia, Canberra has agreed to amend its domestic laws to stop taxing offshore income of such Indian companies, as part of the free trade deal inked. This may lead to savings up to $200 million each year for over 100 Indian IT companies operating in Australia. "The Government of Australia has agreed to amend the domestic taxation law to stop the taxation of offshore income of Indian firms providing technical services to Australia. "This will resolve the issue that the Indian government has raised about the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) between the two governments for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income," said a commerce ministry official.
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.
Amid mass layoffs in the tech sector, the federal agency for immigration services has said it is wrong to assume that sacked workers holding the much-sought-after H-1B visas have to leave the country within 60 days, asserting they have multiple options to stay in the US. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
A start-up gets the Microsoft suite of tools and technologies free for three years, as well as access to funding of up to Rs 25 crore by IDG Ventures, officials of two entities said. The programme is open to technology companies that are less than three years old with annual revenues that are less than Rs 5 crore.
China represents the "largest threat" to Britain and the world's security and prosperity this century and there is evidence to suggest it has targeted countries from the US to India, UK prime ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak said on Monday.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani might have made news for purchasing the most expensive beach-side villa in Dubai recently, but he is not the only Indian eyeing the city for investment. Since Dubai allowed foreign investors full ownership in specific sectors in June 2021, a horde of Indian companies have moved or expanded into the desert city. The list even includes a kindergarten, an elementary and middle school, and a hotel that has sought 100 per cent ownership.
'Washington appears to be playing the long game, and making the argument to India that over the longer term, Russia -- sanctioned, cash-strapped, isolated by the West -- will no longer be a viable defence partner for India'
Premium smartphone brand OnePlus on Friday said it has roped in cricketer Jasprit Bumrah as the brand ambassador for its wearables category. "The partnership with Bumrah reiterates the brand philosophy of 'Never Settle' and the company's pursuit towards perfection. For young India today, Bumrah represents a passion for a healthy, fit, and an active lifestyle while believing in constantly becoming better, a philosophy that truly resonates with what OnePlus stands for," a statement said. The OnePlus wearables category includes the OnePlus Watch and OnePlus Band.
The country's largest private lender HDFC Bank is planning to facilitate a shift in its payments module from the existing core banking platform. This would ensure minimal payments downtime, even if core banking is not available. "This 15-month project will be followed by hollowing the customer-master modules from its existing core systems. "It will ensure a single system of record for customers across various products," said Sashidhar Jagdishan, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO), in the annual report for 2021-22.
India will seek a "liberal" regime of technology transfer from the US and an early operationalisation of the civil nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said ahead of his visit here next week.
Over the past week, several unusual partnerships among start-ups, traditional businesses and hospitals have been announced, and several more are likely to materialise soon. The trend could see increased importance of gig workers, who are taking considerable risk to deliver goods to people in the time of a pandemic.
