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San Francisco: While merrily chirping, dancing and posing for selfies, a robot named Pepper looks like another expensive toy at a San Francisco mall. But don’t dismiss it as mere child’s play. Pepper embodies the ambitions of SoftBank Robotics, an Asian joint venture formed by a trio of major technology companies that’s aiming to put its personable robots in businesses and homes across the US over the next few years. If the technology advances as Softbank Robotics hopes, Pepper could become a playmate, companion and concierge. It could eventually respond to voice commands to retrieve vital information, make reservations and control home appliances that are connected to the internet. That’s the theory, anyway. For now, Pepper is more amusing than practical, Forrester Research analyst J.P. Gownder says. For instance, Pepper has been directing shoppers to stores in the mall through text messages because it still isn’t advanced enough to say them out loud. And...

Mumbai: At around 7.45pm on 8 November, B.P. Mahapatra got a frantic call from his wife. News channels, she told him, were running a ticker tape that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would address the nation at 8pm. “She was apprehensive that there was some war announcement between India and Pakistan. She asked me to quickly come back home, no matter where I was,” Mahapatra said. Of course, the message turned out to be even scarier for a banker. As the head of Punjab National Bank’s (PNB) Ilaco House branch in Mumbai’s Fort area, he quickly realized what this move meant for the bank employees working under him. The government had decided to withdraw Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes and asked the public to deposit them in bank accounts. In his address, Modi also said that people would be allowed to exchange up to Rs4,000 worth of old notes for valid currency. Mohapatra has made it a point to be at the counters himself in the first two hours when the branch opened and the last...

New Delhi: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has told telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that its latest voice and data offer does not violate any of the existing norms that requires promotional offers to be limited to 90 days. Replying to clarification sought by Trai on it extending the free call and data offer till 31 March after the promotional 90-day period expired on 4 December, Jio sent a detailed note explaining how its ‘Happy New Year Offer’ was different from the inaugural offer and does not qualify to be termed as predatory. People with direct knowledge of the development said the company explained in detail how the new offer cannot be termed as extension of the promotional offer as it was different from the inaugural offer launched in early September. The response was to Trai’s letter dated 20 December, in which the regulator asked the company why its Rs. Happy New Year offer’ should not be seen as “violation...

Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday extended the period of enhanced Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) limit of Rs20,000 as part of efforts to promote digital payments. Considering that the bank is undertaking a comprehensive review of the guidelines and framework for Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) issuance in the country, it has been decided to extend the measures till the completion of review of the PPI guidelines, RBI said in a notification. The decision comes on the day when the enhanced limit from Rs10,000 to Rs20,000 came to an end. At present, 47 non-bank entities and 45 banks are operating payment systems for PPI. To meet the transactional needs of the public through digital means, RBI had introduced additional measures by way of special dispensation for small merchants and enhancement in limits for semi-closed PPIs. While balance in such PPIs cannot exceed Rs20,000 at any point of time, the merchants can transfer funds from such PPIs to their own linked bank accou...

For Indian Internet start-ups, this year turned 2015 on its head. Valuation markdowns, executive departures, job cuts, market share losses (to American rivals) and a lack of big-ticket fund raises dominated the headlines in 2016. It was a total departure from the previous year, when start-ups touted high-profile recruits from the Silicon Valley, hired thousands of engineers and enjoyed the fruits of a fast-expanding Internet market, attracted massive funding and were assigned jaw-dropping valuations. Start-ups pulled in only $4 billion in funds in the year, down from a heady $7.55 billion in 2015, which was largely powered by large rounds at Flipkart, Ola, Snapdeal and Paytm, according to data from start-up investment tracker Tracxn. The number of mid-stage and late-stage deals has dropped significantly this year as the likes of Tiger Global Management, SoftBank Group Corp. and DST Global, three of the most active backers of Internet companies, pulled back. After a funding boom in whic...

New Delhi: As the feud at India’s biggest conglomerate continues, Tata Group’s interim chairman Ratan Tata on Friday said there has been a willful, well-orchestrated move to destroy his personal reputations through unsubstantiated allegations. Without naming anyone, he said the ethics and values of the group have been “challenged by people who are known not to practice what they often preach”. Tata, 78, who came back from retirement to take over Tata Sons after his successor Cyrus P. Mistry was unceremoniously ousted on 24 October, asked employees to put the events behind and re-dedicate themselves to re-establishing the Tata group’s leadership. ALSO READ | Cyrus Mistry, the man who made the elephant dance “The past three months have been turbulent and wasteful. There has been a willful, well-orchestrated endeavour to destroy the personal reputations of individuals and the reputation of the Tata Group, through unsubstantiated allegations,” he ...

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given an in-principle approval to Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings picking up a 51% stake in Kerala-based Catholic Syrian Bank, two people aware of the development said. This will be the first takeover of an Indian bank by a non-banking financial entity, after the central bank tweaked ownership norms in May. The last takeover of a private sector lender by a foreign bank happened when ING picked up majority stake in Vysya Bank in 2002-03. In May, RBI paved the way for regulated, well-diversified and listed or supranational institutions to own up to 40% of private sector banks. It said it would also allow exemptions “as permitted on a case to case basis.” Foreign direct investment (FDI) in private banks continues to be capped at 74%. These revisions were aimed at meeting the need for additional capital in banks after the implementation of Basel III capital regulations. RBI’s approval requires ...