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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon youngsters to attend ‘Prarambh’, the Startup India international summit on January 15 and 16, saying it seeks to bring together top minds from industry, academia, investment, banking and finance besides young start up leaders. He also shared his LinkedIn post in which he noted that virtual interactions have become the new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic and said a big advantage of this is that people can be a part of programmes sitting at home. “With most events being held virtually, it has given a great opportunity for youngsters to be a part of many interesting domestic & global forums. One such opportunity is coming up in the form of Prarambh on 15-16 Jan. I urge our youth to be a part of it,” Modi tweeted on Monday. Being indoors for the most of 2020 meant everyone had to alter their work styles, the prime minister noted and said work from home is in, so is greater adapting to technology. “For me, it ...

A Bangalore based startup – Devic Earth Private Limited has raised its first institutional funding of Rs 10 crores from Blue Ashva Sampada Fund. The green technology company will use the fund to expedite its growth, product roadmaps, as well as an operational presence in global markets. Devic Earth is uniquely placed across markets with its products that are scalable and sustainable, to provide user-friendly solutions to problems arising due to air pollution. The firm’s niche product offering of Devic Earth- ‘Pure Skies’ provides a technologically advanced and user-friendly solution to improve the ambient air quality. It comes with a Wi-Fi based technology to handle the airborne gaseous and particle pollutants across industries, homes, and cities. Devic Earth – Pure Skies helps to remove 40-50 per cent of nano-sized particles at <20µm, including PM2.5 and P...

Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma, who has been under China government’s scrutiny since the abrupt suspension of Ant’s blockbuster $37 billion initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai and Hong Kong has not been seen in public for more than two months, according to some media reports . Reports suggest that Jack Ma did not even shown up for the final episode of his own talent show, Africa’s Business Heroes in November and an Alibaba executive had taken his place at the show. Alibaba and rivals such as Tencent Holdings are facing increasing pressure from regulators after amassing hundreds of millions of users and gaining influence over almost every aspect of daily life in China. Last month, China’s antitrust authorities had launched a probe into Ma’s e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding and China’s central bank had asked the group to shake up its lending and other consumer finance operations. The Chinese regulators had earlier abruptly suspend...

Alibaba shares slumped 9 per cent to their lowest since June on Monday, as the firm’s upsized $10-billion buyback programme failed to ease concerns about a regulatory crackdown on co-founder Jack Ma ‘s e-commerce and financial empire. A sharp selloff over two sessions has knocked almost $116 billion off the tech giant’s Hong Kong-listed shares. The downward spiral intensified when Chinese regulators announced on Thursday the launch of an antitrust investigation into Alibaba and said they would summon its Ant Group affiliate to meet. Alibaba’s US shares sank more than 15 per cent during the day. “The antitrust investigation into Alibaba has yet to specify the penalties, which is worrying investors a lot,” said Zhang Zihua, chief investment officer of Beijing Yunyi Asset, adding a probe outcome could “greatly change” the company valuations. Putting investors more on edge was news over the weekend that China’s central bank had asked An...

China’s central bank disclosed on Sunday it had asked the country’s payments giant Ant Group to shake up its lending and other consumer finance operations, the latest blow to its billionaire founder and controlling shareholder Jack Ma. The announcement came more than a month after Chinese regulators abruptly suspended Ant’s blockbuster $37 billion initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and only days after the country’s antitrust authorities said they had launched a probe into Ma’s e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding. Chinese regulators and Communist Party officials have set about reining in Ma’s sprawling financial empire after he publicly criticized the country’s regulatory system in October for stifling innovation. Regulators have urged Ant to rectify financial regulatory violations, including in its credit, insurance and wealth management businesses, and overhaul its credit rating business to protect personal information...

Jack Ma-led Alibaba Group is being investigated under the anti-monopoly law, a measure seen as an effort by ruling Communist Party to control fast-growing tech industries. “China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has started investigation on Alibaba Group for alleged monopoly conduct including implementing an ‘exclusive dealing agreement’,” according to Xinhua. The announcement shook several investors who dumped shares of Alibaba’s subsidiaries and affiliates, as well as other Internet firms that are at risk of being targeted by Chinese antitrust regulators. Alibaba shares fell nearly 9 per cent in Hong Kong. Owned by China’s charismatic entrepreneur Jack Ma, a schoolteacher who became a multi-billionaire, Alibaba is arguably the world’s biggest e-commerce company with hundreds of millions of users and billions of dollars in turnover. According to Bloomberg, it is Asia’s “most valuable corporation”. Its three main sites Taobao, Tmall...

Linking the grant of additional borrowing permissions by the Government of India (GoI) to the States, to reforms in various citizen-centric sectors has motivated the states to undertake reforms to promote Ease of Doing Business, according to the Ministry of Finance. Five states have so far completed the stipulated reforms in the Ease of Doing Business. These states have been granted permission to mobilize additional financial resources to the tune of ₹ 16,728 crore through open market borrowings, according to an official release. These states are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. The Ease of Doing Business is an important indicator of the investment-friendly business climate in the country. Improvements in the ease of doing business will enable faster future growth of the state economy. Therefore, the government of India had in May 2020, decided to link the grant of additional borrowing permissions to states who undertake the reforms to facilitate ea...

Startups and venture capital are pouring into what might seem an unlikely place: India’s vast, outdated agriculture industry. Seizing on controversial new deregulation, entrepreneurs are selling farmers apps to connect them to big buyers nationwide and using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the rickety supply chains that lose one-fourth of India’s produce to wastage. Enormous amounts of India’s grain, fruit and vegetables rot between farm and table because of manual handling, repeated loading and unloading, poor inventory management, lack of adequate storage and slow movement of goods. This rate of wastage from faulty supply chains is four to five times that of most large economies, experts say. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government introduced changes it calls a watershed that will “remove middlemen and let farmers sell their produce directly to buyers,” improving their prospects, especially in far flung areas. Modi’s September overha...

The partnership to provide more transparency, reliability and assurance to import and export shipments Mumbai:   To bring more transparency and reliability in import and export shipments, India’s leading digital forwarding startup Freightwalla has partnered with Maersk to offer spot rates on its platform. Inaccuracy and un-reliability were the two significant challenges that are being solved by Freightwalla while providing end-to-end supply chain services to the larger EXIM fraternity. It will give access to spot rates 24/7, provide accurate information, and give assurance of loading on the allocated vessel. The spot rate integration with Freightwalla will allow shippers to search, secure competitive rates, and book container space instantly online, making it more reliable. Speaking on the occasion,  Mr. Punit Java, Co-Founder & CTO Freightwalla  said, “The conventional booking process involved multiple steps with no guarantee of loading. Maersk’s Spot rate integration ena...

Manish Mehra, owner of Washex Hospitality, an industrial laundry service, recently flew from Delhi to Jodhpur to win a contract to service a large, government-run hospital – a move essential to kickstarting his business. “For a new relationship, it is essential to know each other before you can establish the trust and confidence to work online and that need is higher in case of government departments,” said Mr Mehra, who had to stay for a week in a Jodhpur hotel. Increased demand for air travel and hotel stays by small business owners like Mr Mehra, accompanied by a rise in rural incomes and spending after two good monsoons, is helping the pandemic-hit Indian economy slowly recover. Government data released on Friday showed the economy shrank 7.5 per cent in the July-September quarter, performing better than analysts’ expectation of an 8.8 per cent contraction as lockdowns were eased and some pent-up demand was met. In the April-June period, the economy shrank 23...

Online grocery startup BigBasket is in advanced talks to sell a majority stake for about $1 billion to salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, the Economic Times reportedon Wednesday, citing three sources familiar with the matter. The century-old group has been planning to launch a “super app”, one that will tie in all its consumer businesses, several media reports have said, as it competes against Amazon and Reliance Industries, who have made big bets on India’s booming e-commerce market. Bengaluru-based BigBasket competes with Walmart Inc-owned Flipkart and Amazon’s “Fresh” service as more consumers stay indoors and choose to shop online during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Tata Group and BigBasket did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, lost almost $7 billion from his net worth as Reliance Industries Ltd.’s shares tumbled the most in over seven months following a drop in quarterly profit. The stock of India’s most-valuable company closed 8.6% lower in Mumbai on Monday, slipping the most since March 23. It was the day’s worst performer on the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex, which rose 0.4 per cent. The slide also shaved down Mr Ambani’s wealth to about $71 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The refining-to-retail conglomerate reported a 15 per cent decline in quarterly profit to ₹ 9,570 crore ($1.3 billion) late on Friday, as the coronavirus pandemic hit fuel demand. Revenue fell 24 per cent to ₹ 1.16 lakh crore. Reliance’s oil refining unit has suffered a plunge in demand for transportation fuels, with Covid-19 forcing people to stay home. The conglomerate is in the midst of a transformation led by Mr Ambani, 63, as he looks to tu...

Industry body PHDCCI expects India’s GDP to contract by 7.9 per cent in the current financial year and grow by 7.7 per cent in 2021-22, assessing that the worst is over and the economy is on the verge of a slow recovery. The chamber, however, stated that unemployment remains a key challenge to be addressed by the government. The PHDCCI drew the conclusions based on its analysis of 25 high-frequency economic indicators which point out that there has been a pickup in business normalization. However, the unemployment rate still remains a worry as it worsened to 8.3 per cent in August from 7.4 per cent in July, it said in a report. “Going ahead, India should focus on moving away from imports from China, divert trade towards friendly economies, build domestic capacities and significantly scale-up indigenous production with a thrust to become self-reliant,” PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) said. It said also that efforts should be made to diversify the portfolio...

Payment gateway service provider Paytm on Tuesday launched a same-day settlement facility for all kinds of fund transfers on its payment gateway to help businesses that depend on immediate availability of funds to pay down-stream partners. This includes e-commerce companies, government institutions and all businesses involving inventories, especially those involved in day-to-day trading who depend heavily on cash procurements. The feature can be accessed from Paytm merchant dashboard or Paytm for business app. The minimum amount that can be transferred is ₹ 50, and the maximum amount is ₹ 2 lakh in a single transfer request. The merchants can define frequencies and the funds will transfer automatically. Frequencies can be once a day, twice a day or even three times a day. “The feature is especially useful in this post-lockdown period when businesses are getting ready for the upcoming festive season. Every single day reduced from their working capital cycle is a big relief for them...

Industrial production declined by 8 per cent in August, mainly due to lower output of manufacturing, mining and power generation sectors, official data showed on Monday. With the gradual relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, there has been a relative improvement in the economic activities by varying degrees, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said in a press release. ” It may not be appropriate to compare the IIP in the post pandemic months with the IIP for months preceding the COVID 19 pandemic,” the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said in a statement. According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, manufacturing sector production registered a decline of 8.6 per cent, while the output of mining and power segments fell 9.8 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively. “India’s August IIP has contracted by 8 per cent compared to contraction of 10.4 per cent in July. A large number of industrial establishments are not work...

The government on Tuesday said it was approving incentives under a plan to boost domestic smartphone production to 16 companies, including top Apple suppliers Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron. The country’s smartphone industry has become a showpiece for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make In India” drive. The $6.65-billion incentive scheme is part of the government’s aim to make the country into an export and manufacturing hub. The companies have to invest to tap into the scheme. The government did not disclose what investment Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, which is yet to start operations in the country, will make. Two sources previously told news agency Reuters these three companies plan to invest a total of almost $900 million in India in the next five years to benefit from the scheme. Samsung, which runs the world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturing plant on the outskirts of New Delhi, also got approval, the tech ministry said in a statement.

STL (NSE: STRTECH) has been driving towards building advanced solutions for digital networks. These include converged access network offerings, both for optical and wireless networks, with disaggregated software and hardware capabilities. In line with this strategic shift, the company has transformed into an Account Based Organisation with a suite of integrated end-to-end solutions. STL recently enhanced the technology leadership with the addition of Dr.Krish Prabhu to its Advisory Board. Continuing with these macro shifts, STL announced a series of customer segment leadership appointments. Stephen Szymanski has joined STL as General Manager and Regional Commercial Executive, Americas; Luis Fernando Leon, Sales Manager, Central America; Mayur Tanna, Head- Enterprise Business, India; and Tushar Shah, Key Account Manager, United Kingdom. These accomplished professionals will drive the next phase of growth globally for STL. These seasoned leaders bring in extensive experience in driving t...

Industrial production in the country shrank 10.4 per cent in July, marking a fourth straight month of decline, government data showed on Friday. That was better than economists' estimates, and also better than a contraction of 16.6 per cent in the previous month. Economists in a poll by news agency Reuters had expected the factory output to plunge 11.5 per cent in July. Industrial production – or factory output – is gauged by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which takes into account activity recorded in sectors such as mining, manufacturing and electricity. In manufacturing, which has the maximum weightage of 11.14 per cent among sectors, industrial output fell 11.1 per cent in July, the data showed. Similarly, production in mining slumped 13.0 per cent, and dropped 2.5 per cent in power. Friday's data was in line with the government's view that the country's economy is likely to register a “V-shaped” recovery, with an improvement in perf...

Pioneering as India’s edutainment learning platform, SP Robotic Works has been selected as a 2020 TiE50 Winner in the prestigious TiE50 Awards Program. This ten-year-old awards competition is a program of TiEcon, the world’s largest conference for tech entrepreneurs. Robot Making SP Robotic Works has been recognized for its future-based learning activity in the coding and robotics education segment. Founded in August 2012 by two Anna University alumni Pranavan S and Sneha Priya, the edutainment company provides fun learning solutions for students of ages 7 to 17 in Robotics, Coding, Drones, Android App building, IoT, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Virtual Reality (VR). With 83 centres across 30 cities in India, SP Robotic Works is one of its kind edutainment firms that makes education and learning fun for children through various models. Talking about the recognition, Sneha Priya, CEO and Co-founder at SP Robotic Works said, “For many students, mathematics and scien...

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to challenge our life and businesses, TiE Mumbai has risen to the occasion to help Startups stay on course. Building on its commitment to empower Startups and entrepreneurs through education and knowledge sharing, TiE Mumbai has been providing entrepreneurs with the right guidance, mentorship, networking and funding opportunities through various online channels. “Despite the challenges, there are several opportunities emerging for Startups in the coronavirus era. TiE Mumbai provides a great platform for knowledge sharing and mentoring. Our online sessions include masterclasses, panels, investor sessions, Ask Me Anything sessions, workshops and Demo Days,” said Naveen Raju, Executive Director, TiE Mumbai. Some of the online sessions organized in the past month by TiE Mumbai were – Global Business Opportunities for Startups During and Post-COVID-19 – This session detailed the support of the UK government towards Indian startup ...