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Paytm Eyes 3X Growth in Train Ticket Bookings This Year

1Jun By AnkitaNo Comments

News

Paytm Eyes 3X Growth in Train Ticket Bookings This Year

Digital payments platform, Paytm today said it expects to clock over 3X growth in number of train tickets booked through its platform this financial year. The company is also strengthening its overall travel vertical and will hire more people over the next two quarters. "Paytm is booking over one million train tickets in a month and has become Indias largest platform for train tickets booking, after IRCTC," it said in a statement. The Alibaba-backed company had launched online train ticket bookings in partnership with IRCTC in October last year. "Paytm is now targeting 3X growth this financial year," it said. Currently, 90 per cent of the train ticket bookings on Paytm are done through the mobile platform. "We are extremely overwhelmed by the response received for train t...

Maharashtra Chief Minister Launched Job Portal For Job Seekers

31May By AnkitaNo Comments

INDIA

Maharashtra Chief Minister Launched Job Portal For Job Seekers

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today launched a web portal Mahaswayam that will cater to job seekers, employers, entrepreneurs, and training institutes who can avail details regarding skill development and employment. Earlier, the state government ran three different portals- Maharashtra State Skill Development Society (MSSDS) portal for Skill Development, Maharojgar for employment and Mahaswayamrojgar for entrepreneurship. These three have now been merged into Mahaswayam, making it easier for all beneficiaries as well as the state to keep a track of the demand and supply of workforce. Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar, who was also present at the launch said, "It was important to get all the three sectors on one platform to en...

Delivery Hero Acquires Kuwait Based Food Delivery Service Carriage

29May By AnkitaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Delivery Hero Acquires Kuwait Based Food Delivery Service Carriage

Delivery Hero Group (“Delivery Hero”), the leading global online food ordering and delivery marketplace, announced today it has agreed to acquire Carriage, a young and fast-growing food delivery platform based in Kuwait and operating in the Gulf Council Countries (GCC). Carriage operates a hybrid business model offering both, delivery marketplaces and own delivery services in the Middle East, allowing it to add restaurants to its marketplaces that either do not offer deliver services themselves or intend to discontinue their own delivery services. This hybrid business model reflects a wider shift across several regions with a growing demand of customers and restaurants for such combined services. The acquisition ensures that Delivery Hero will stay at the forefront of this shift. Nik...

India-born Rajeev Misra Inducted Into Softbank Board of Directors

27May By AnkitaNo Comments

News

India-born Rajeev Misra Inducted Into Softbank Board of Directors

Japanese conglomerate Softbank today announced induction of India-born Rajeev Misra on its board of directors. The list of new board members includes Misra who is currently serving as chief executive officer of SoftBank Investment Advisers, the firm that will advise USD 100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund that will make investment in technology firms. However, the election of Misra is subject to shareholders approval at Softbanks annual general meeting to be held on June 21. "SoftBank Group Corp (SBG) announces that today it has decided the candidates for the position of directors and audit and supervisory board members as below. The elections are subject to the approval of the 37th annual general meeting of shareholders (the AGM) to be held on June 21, 2017," Softbank said in a stat...

Mark Zuckerberg Gets Harvard Degree, Urges Harvard Grads to Take Risk

26May By AnkitaNo Comments

News

Mark Zuckerberg Gets Harvard Degree, Urges Harvard Grads to Take Risk

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg returned on Thursday to Harvard University, the school he dropped out of to start the pioneering social network, to urge its graduating class to help create a new social safety net to allow creative risk-taking. The 33-year-old tech founder of the world's largest social networking company said he would never have been able to risk leaving the elite Ivy League school if he had not known that his family would have been able to support him if he failed. "There is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make billions of dollars in ten years when millions of students can't afford to pay off their loans, let alone start a business," Zuckerberg told the crowd on a cold, drizzly day when graduates' dark academic robes stood in contrast to the ...

Google India Head Rajan Anandan Appointed IAMAI Chairman

25May By AnkitaNo Comments

News

Google India Head Rajan Anandan Appointed IAMAI Chairman

Google vice-president for South East Asia and India, Rajan Anandan has been appointed new chairman of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). He took over charge from FreeCharges co-founder and chief executive officer Kunal Shah. MakeMyTrip Chairman & Group CEO Deep Kalra has taken over as vice chairman from music app Saavn co-founder and President Vinodh Bhat. Facebook Managing Director India & South Asia, Umang Bedi has been elected as the new Treasurer of the Association. Subho Ray continues to be the President of the Association, IAMAI said in a statement. The tenure of the new council is for two years. "Anandan assumes office at a time when the industry is going through a growth trajectory with more than 400 million Internet users and with more than 300 m...

Asus Aims 5% Share in Indian Smartphone Market

25May By AnkitaNo Comments

Tech

Asus Aims 5% Share in Indian Smartphone Market

Taiwanese handset maker Asus today said it is looking to achieve 5 per cent share in the countrys smartphone market. "Our first milestone is to achieve 5 per cent share in the smartphone market. From our side we are pushing all the measures to achieve it...," Dinesh Sharma, Director ? Mobile Product Centre for ASUS India, said after launching 4G enabled Zenfone Live for Rs 9,999 a unit. Sharma, however, did not disclose any fix timeline for achieving the 5 per cent market share target. He said the company sells handsets in almost all price segments starting from Rs 7,000 and going up to Rs 60,000. "We have products available which meet the need of customers in that segment. We want to get in hearts and minds of Indian consumers. Given the intensity of competition, our growth h...

Oyo Launched Its Operation in Nepal, Target to Acquire 100 Properties in This Year

24May By AnkitaNo Comments

News

Oyo Launched Its Operation in Nepal, Target to Acquire 100 Properties in This Year

Budget hotel platform Oyo has forayed into Nepal with a target of on-boarding 100 properties by the end of this year. The room aggregator, which opened its first property here, is also looking to roll out its Townhouse brand in the Himalayan nation, which of late is witnessing a tourist influx after a back-breaking earthquake in 2015. According to official statistics, of the 174,803 tourists who visited Nepal in 2016, most were from India. The entry into Nepal comes on the heels of its foray in Malaysia. The plan is to set up 100 Oyo hotels in Nepal this year. While its basic model is meant for the value- and cost-conscious traveller, Townhouse caters to those who do not mind paying slightly more for a better service. "Our core premise is right pricing and right location wit...

Alibaba Will Invest USD 7.3 Billion to Produce One Million Smart Vans

24May By AnkitaNo Comments

CHINA

Alibaba Will Invest USD 7.3 Billion to Produce One Million Smart Vans

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba delivery arm Cainiao Network has announced USD 7.3 billion investment to produce one million smart vans in partnership with domestic automakers for efficient delivery. Cainiao said a computing system, powered by the Internet, will analyse real-time orders and design the most efficient routes for its delivery fleet. The move will cut cost and reduce energy consumption. In two cities where the plan was piloted in April, vans travelled 30 per cent shorter distances and saved 20 per cent of the operational costs. Partnering automakers include SAIC Motor, Dongfeng Motor, Reach Rental. Cainiao also announced financial support of USD 7.3 billion for logistics firms and delivery drivers participating in the plan. Cainiao is Chinas logistics firm that pr...

Kotak Mahindra Banks Promoter Uday Kotak Sold His Shares

22May By AnkitaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Kotak Mahindra Banks Promoter Uday Kotak Sold His Shares

Kotak Mahindra Banks promoter Uday Kotak today sold 1.8 crore shares of the private sector lender for a little over Rs 1,687 crore, bringing down his stake to below 30 per cent to meet the RBI directive. The shares were purchased by several entities, including Canadian pension fund Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec and Fidelity Funds. According to bulk deal data available with the BSE, Uday Kotak, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, sold a total of 1.8 crore shares, amounting to 0.95 per cent stake of the bank. The shares were offloaded on an average price of Rs 937.35, valuing the transaction at Rs 1,687.23 crore, the data showed. Following the transaction, Kotaks personal stake in the bank declined to 29.79 per cent from 30.74 per cent. Earlier in March, Kotak had so...

AI System Can Create Fake Videos Using Audio Clips, Images

21May By AnkitaNo Comments

News

AI System Can Create Fake Videos Using Audio Clips, Images

Oxford scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence system that can create fake videos of a person by using their still image and an audio clip. The system works by first identifying facial features using face-recognition algorithms. As the audio clip plays, the system then manipulates the mouth of the person in the still image so that it looks as if they are speaking. Although the results are not absolutely perfect, researchers believe that the software could soon make realistically fake videos only a single click away. "The application were thinking of is redubbing a video into another language," said Joon Son Chung at University of Oxford in the UK. In the future, the audio from news clips could be automatically translated into another language and the images upda...

Now Softbank Said Paytm Karo, Invested $1.4 Billion in Paytm

18May By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Now Softbank Said Paytm Karo, Invested $1.4 Billion in Paytm

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has pumped in USD 1.4 billion (over Rs 9,079 crore) in Indian digital payments platform, Paytm, marking the largest fund infusion by a single investor in an Indian start-up. This is Softbanks largest investment in a single company in India. While both the companies have declined to comment on the valuation, market watchers say that the deal values Paytm at about USD 8 billion. The funding will help Paytm expand fast its soon-to-be launched payments bank operations as well as grow its user base and introduce more financial products for consumers. SoftBank joins Alibaba and its payments affiliate Ant Financial as amongst the largest investors in One97 Communications which operates Paytm. Interestingly, SoftBank was an early investor in Alibaba. "In ...