The Indian entrepreneurship success story will soon see one more company debuting on the public markets. Ola Electric, the electric vehicle (EV) company, has become the first such firm that has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for its initial public offering (IPO). This is a fresh issue of equity shares of up to Rs 5,500 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of more than 95 million equity shares at a face value of Rs 10.
The scaling up of the India-US strategic partnership to the level of non-NATO ally with defence deals, sharing and transfer of defence technology, interoperability, joint collaboration and joint production of defence equipment has exacerbated Moscow's anxiety, notes Rup Narayan Das.
After the government's online monitoring system for the import of electronic hardware items went live on November 1, inbound shipments of laptops and tablets slipped in November to a nine-month low at $225 million, contracting 17.15 per cent year-on-year. This decline was primarily driven by reduced imports from Singapore (down 43.7 per cent), Hong Kong (down 27.4 per cent), and China (down 14 per cent), according to the data released by the commerce department. China accounts for approximately 83 per cent of such imports.
The defence ministry has lost sight of what it intended to achieve -- which was to nurture private defence firms that would compete on equal terms with the 9 defence PSUs and the 41 Ordnance Factory Board factories.
Petrochemicals major in talks with rubber producer from Europe, two Western technology providers.
'MNCs now recognise India's capacity for innovation and its pivotal role in substantive contributions to global product development.'
After startups and Big Tech, the layoff season may have begun at the $245 billion Indian information-technology (IT) industry. Bengaluru-based IT major Wipro is looking to cut hundreds of jobs, targeting mid-level employees working onsite as the company looks to improve margins, according to a media report, citing two sources. The company has said it is aligning its business and talent to the changing market environment.
In a huge relief for H-1B visa holders, a White House-backed bipartisan deal has been unveiled under which automatic work authorisation would be granted to about 100,000 H-4 visa holders, who are spouses and children of a certain category of H-1B visa holders. The National Security Agreement that was announced on Sunday after long negotiations between the Republican and the Democratic leadership in the US Senate also provides a solution to about 250,000 aged-out children of H-1B visa holders. The move comes as good news for hundreds and thousands of Indian technology professionals who are waiting in a painstakingly long wait for a Green Card, in the absence of which their spouses cannot work and their aged-out children face the threat of deportation.
As the world celebrated International Day of Persons with Disabilities (PwD) on December 3, corporate India has kept up with efforts to make workplaces more inclusive and accessible. Organisations across sectors are taking initiatives such as equipping offices with practical work tools like Braille-friendly and voice-enabled lifts and screen readers. While inclusion has gained pace, only 11.3 per cent (or 3.4 million out of 30 million) Indians with disabilities have jobs.
India and the US on Friday said they have started talks to put in place a strategic framework for human space flight by year-end as they plan to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2024.
India has been a tea sipping society. But the aromatic wave of coffee culture is wafting across it.
United States President Joe Biden is not travelling to India next month to grace the Republic Day celebrations as the Chief Guest, and New Delhi is looking at holding the next Quad summit later next year instead of its earlier plan to host it in January, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
In total, 17 people, including Telangana Chief Minister and Congress leader Revanth Reddy, have been issued notices to appear before the Delhi police's investigation officer (in connection with the case. Sources, however, said Reddy is "unlikely" to join the probe and may send his representative.
US technology company NVIDIA and billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries on Friday announced a partnership to build AI supercomputers in India. "The companies will work together to build AI infrastructure that is over an order of magnitude more powerful than the fastest supercomputer in India today," the firms said in a statement. Days before the announcement, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
IT service company Wipro on Friday reported 7.8 per cent year-on-year decline in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter to about Rs 2834.6 crore, and cautioned that the macroeconomic environment remains "uncertain". The Bengaluru-headquartered company, which recently saw a change of guard with Srinivas Pallia taking over at the helm as the new chief executive officer, has given an IT Services revenue growth guidance in the (-)1.5 per cent to +0.5 per cent band for June quarter on a constant currency basis.
Deutsche India, which houses the largest technology centre of German investment bank Deutsche Bank, is expanding its operations in India and hiring thousands. "Since January 2023, we have hired more than 2,500 people for Deutsche India and expect a positive trend to continue for the rest of 2023," Dilipkumar Khandelwal, chief executive officer of Deutsche India and Global Head of Technology Centers told 'Business Standard'. "We will continue to hire in the similar range even for the next year." Deutsche India has about 16,000 employees in the country and most of them are engineers.
'With free software on the Internet and apps, creating a deepfake video can take 3 to 5 minutes. Anyone can make these videos.'
At the heart of Paytm's slide lies the abject failure of its Super App strategy, notes Indrajit Gupta.
Cognizant Technology Solutions is infusing generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into all its core offerings, chief executive Ravi Kumar S wrote in an internal note to its employees. Cognizant has 351,500 employees, a majority of whom are in India. Kumar cited the example of a GenAI-enabled conversational virtual assistant (VA) that Cognizant has introduced to help clients reimagine experiences beyond chatbots.
Vodafone's focus is to increase consumer data adoption along with Micromax's product expertise, it said in a statement.
"China creeps towards hegemony in Asia, threatens India's borders, and treats other countries as junior partners, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna said.
Bengaluru-based IT major Infosys is growing its footprint in the Nordics by establishing a new proximity centre in Oslo, Norway, as part of its continued expansion plans in the region. The new centre is expected to enable Infosys to attract, re-skill, and upskill local talent to work on global opportunities through next-gen technologies like cloud, AI, IoT, 5G, and software engineering. The Nordic region consists of five sovereign states - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden - besides the three autonomous territories connected to these states: the Faroe Islands and Greenland (Denmark), and land (Finland).
Funding winter and corporate governance woes separated the men from the boys in the country's startup space in 2023 that saw funds into the segment tapering to just around $8 billion. All said, investors are hopeful of strong growth of the maturing startup ecosystem in the new year. Edtech and health tech segments that grew exponentially during the pandemic plunged into an abyss of financial uncertainties, with several firms shuttering their business, and valuation of prominent players like BYJU'S and PharmEasy plummeting 85-90 per cent.
India-France synergy is poised to open vistas of collaboration between the two countries, notes Rup Narayan Das.
India had invited United States President Joe Biden to grace the occasion but he expressed inability to travel to New Delhi in January.
In August, the top BRICS leaders at the grouping's summit in Johannesburg approved a proposal to admit six countries, including Argentina, into the bloc with effect from January 1.
Plans to form JV for its data centre business
Generative AI (GenAI) has the potential to add a cumulative $1.2-1.5 trillion to India's GDP over the next seven years, according to a report by EY. The report titled 'AIdea of India: Generative AI's potential to accelerate India's digital transformation' says that in 2029-30 alone, GenAI can contribute an additional $359-438 billion to India's GDP. The report said that around 69 per cent of the overall impact of GenAI on India's GDP is expected to be derived from sectors such as business services (including IT, legal, consulting, rental of machinery and equipment, and others), financial services, education, retail, and healthcare.
'We don't believe in the BJP. But the Congress has no main leader who is credible.'
The initiative will work on 40 areas in eight domains -- Energy & water, infrastructure, planning & buildings, Transportation, Public safety & justice, Tourism, recreation & culture, Education, Health and Social services & government administration.
SMC will work with Microsoft and its partners to bring solutions for water management and urban planning
Micron plans an assembly testing, marking and packaging project of $1 billion, and talks are on to set up a memory chip plant for captive requirements.
Software services industry may have to relook its cost structure to maintain a higher margin.
There was no word on the much-anticipated procurement of 26 naval variants of Rafale fighter jets by India from France.
Tata Group is set to become India's first homegrown iPhone maker after Taiwan's Wistron Group agreed to sell a plant in Bengaluru to India's largest conglomerate. Wistron's board approved the sale of Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) Private Ltd to Tata Electronics for $125 million, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer said in a statement on Friday. The unit operates an iPhone assembly plant near Bengaluru.
Three countries share a common interest in warding off cyber attacks from various agencies PLA is developing and training in China.
Tech giant Microsoft has unveiled a blueprint for India on artificial intelligence (AI) governance, and proposed a regulatory architecture to oversee safety protocols, according to a whitepaper released on Thursday. The whitepaper titled "Governing AI: A Blueprint for India" comes amid Microsoft raising its stakes in its artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT. The proposed AI regulatory architecture includes regulations prescribing safety and security requirements, then license deployment for permitted uses in a licensed Al data centre with post-deployment safety and security monitoring and protection.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the US is expected to see discussion on India's possible entry into a US-led global alliance on critical minerals, officials told Business Standard. In June last year, the US, the European Union, and other G7 partners launched the Minerals Security Partnership to ensure that China did not further strengthen its grip on supplies of critical minerals the world over. Various ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, have communicated to the Ministry of External Affairs to explore the possibility of India joining the partnership, officials said.