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.
'Within India, people want high-quality, personalised banking services, and the demand for such services has exploded.'
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.
They wanted to learn about the set-up and support entrepreneur there.
As quick commerce gains ground, emerging direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands are betting big on digital channels to drive growth. According to Aman Gupta, co-founder of wearables brand BoAt, new-age brands in India have been expanding at a much faster pace than expected, driven by digital channels like quick-commerce. "Investors doubted the potential of D2C brands when we started, but today there are multiple brands in the startup market that are growing on the shoulders of these digital channels," Gupta said while addressing a session at Razorpay's D2C and Retail Summit recently.
Barring a few, such as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (74), Union Minister C R Patil (69) and Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Khanna (71), most other ministers attending the WEF represent the next generation of India's politicians.
The funding environment in India for startups is improving this year if one were to go by Bain & Company estimates. Five private equity (PE) investors that come on top on the criterion of deal size collectively put in $9 billion in the first half of 2024, surpassing their outlay for last calendar year, when it was $8 billion. At the top of the list is Swedish firm EQT, which acquired US-based and listed Perficient at an enterprise value of $3 billion, the deal being done by the Indian wing of the company. It has also added to its list by putting in $500 million in WSO2, a "software as a service" company, increasing its tally to $3.5 billion.
Developers in India now have expanded access to Google's powerful AI models with the 2 million token context window in Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemma 2, the next generation of open models.
'This is the Bengal story, where businesses are nurtured, dreams are realised, and legacies are built.'
India's e-commerce market alone is projected to reach $200 billion by 2026, making it a prime industry for ambitious entrepreneurs, explains rediffGURU Harsh Bharwani.
Tech giant Google's Developer Group on Wednesday joined hands with Startup Village to launch 'Women Techmakers' (WTM), a global programme and brand for women in technology.
India'sstartups have a good beginning but will they survive competition is a big questions which needs immediate attention.
'The top five IT giants are not hiring, but most of the freshers want to start their careers with the top five IT firms.' 'In today's scenario this is a challenge.'
Going by this Budget's estimate of government spending of Rs 48.2 trillion, the government has allocated a significantly lower percentage to defence -- 12.9 per cent.
Rajasthan has lined up a slew of incentives and benefits for startups to set up base there as the state aims to become a technology hub like, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Replying to a question about women empowerment, Sitharaman insisted that patriarchy is a concept invented by the Left.
Let's take a look world's leading cities for start-ups, including one from India.
The minister said the effort of the government is to 'encourage startups'.
'It is our duty to keep space sustainable and free of debris.'
From connectivity woes to infrastructure advancements and the startup boom, there is a gulf between claims and reality in India's economic landscape, points out Devangshu Datta.
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.
The Mubble app helps users track and control their mobile data usage and telecom spends.
E-commerce is awash in money, raising concerns about whether this is just another unsustainable internet trend headed for a bust.
'80% of start ups fail because they don't have a support system to help them in the very early phase.' 'It's not just an idea that takes an entrepreneur through the initial three years of journey.' 'What plays a definitive role in making a start-up successful is idea+team+capital+mentors+access to a larger ecosystem.'
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.
Higher advertising spends to grab customer eyeballs take a toll on startups across segments
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.
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
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.
... catch up with Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto...
Preparations are in the final stages by the Chennai-headquartered space-tech startup Agnikul Cosmos for the maiden launch of India's first-ever private launchpad and the second rocket launch by a private sector player.
Sabse has several patents in the arena of call-control and switching of calls.
Amphibious drones for maritime inspection... devices that extract pure oxygen from water for patients in need... self-balancing electric bikes...
President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday emphasised the need to strengthen affirmative action as a tool for inclusion while urging the rejection of divisive tendencies rooted in perceived social hierarchies.
For Dinesh Nirmal (pictured), who heads IBM Software, one of his mandates is to integrate generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into all products IBM builds and leverage it to enhance developer productivity across global labs. Nirmal believes that one of the biggest benefits of GenAI is automation, leading to optimisations and productivity gains. He shares that IBM Software has observed productivity gains of 30-40 per cent in some segments of software development.
Food and grocery delivery major Swiggy on Thursday filed its updated draft papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to raise funds through its much anticipated initial public offering (IPO). The proposed IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 3,750 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of 18.52 crore equity shares by existing shareholders, according to the updated draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP). Market sources have pegged the company's IPO size at over Rs 10,000 crore.
Regulators must learn from past mistakes and act swiftly to prevent Big Tech from monopolising the AI ecosystem, argue Payal Malik and Nikita Jain.
Why are financial-technology (fintech) players moving back to India, or doing the reverse-flipping?
The rise of startups and a thriving entrepreneurial culture in Tier-II and Tier-III cities is contributing to the increasing sales of high-end cars.
