Thursday, March 28

Author: Press Trust of India

NCR Startups Face Funding Crunch; Attract Just $170M in 2016
ANALYSIS

NCR Startups Face Funding Crunch; Attract Just $170M in 2016

Funding activity in the national capital region witnessed a slowdown with deals signed worth $170 million in 155 transactions so far this year, says a report. According to 'VCCEdge Startup Funding Insights' the NCR startup ecosystem witnessed funding crunch and attracted $170 million (about Rs 1,140 crore) this year. "At the going run-rate, funding deals for the year 2016 may not be able to cross the 2014 deal value of $289 million," the report said. The year 2015 was a landmark year that registered a deal value totalling $608 million as against $289 million in 2014. "The slowdown is attributed to investor pragmatism and selectiveness in funding enterprises that have business models that best optimise the funding they receive. Startups have to, perforce, 'Conserve and Grow...
Microsoft Buys AI Scheduling Service Genee to Bolster Office 365
ACQUISITION

Microsoft Buys AI Scheduling Service Genee to Bolster Office 365

Software giant Microsoft has bought a smart scheduling app Genee, as part of its effort to embed artificial intelligence (AI) to compete with the likes of Google Now and Apple. The start-up, which was founded in 2014, will shut down its service on September 1. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by Genee founders Ben Cheung and Charles Lee, who will join Microsoft. Genee specializes in using machine smarts to handle the time-sucking task of scheduling meetings. It is likely that Microsoft will be using this acquisition to bolster its Office 365 suite. "As we continue to build new Office 365 productivity capabilities and services our customers value, I'm confident the Genee team will help us further our ambition to bring intelligence into every digital experience...
Now, Get Your Email Address in Hindi
News

Now, Get Your Email Address in Hindi

Start-up Data Xgen Technologies has started a paid email address service in Hindi or Devanagari, and plans to roll out free registration of such IDs on the lines of Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo soon. “A few hundred IDs have been created till now on .bharat domain, which is available in Devanagari script. Anyone interested in Hindi script ID can visit our website and buy an email package,” Data Xgen Technologies founder Ajay Data said. Email sent from these addresses is supported by leading service providers such as Gmail and Microsoft. “Besides communicating in Hindi, people can send emails from addresses created in Hindi script to Gmail, Outlook and some of the other services,” Mr. Data said. In a meeting at the Ministry of Electronics and IT, Google and Microsoft had sai...
Amul MD Appointed Director of India Postal Payment Banks
News

Amul MD Appointed Director of India Postal Payment Banks

Amul Managing Director R S Sodhi has been appointed as independent director on the board of India Post Payment Banks (IPPB) -- the payments bank arm of postal department. "GCMMF Managing Director R S Sodhi has been appointed independent director on the board of IPPB," an official source said. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) sells the Amul brand of milk products. Sodhi is one of the five independent members to be appointed on the board IPPB, which is set to be operational in March 2017. The board will have four in-house representatives. IPPB came into existence after it received certificate of incorporation from the Registrar of Companies on August 17. Payments bank allows mobile firms, supermarket chains, and others to cater to banking requirements o...
50 Companies Keen on Associating With Postal Bank: Ravi Shankar Prasad
INDIA

50 Companies Keen on Associating With Postal Bank: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Around 50 companies including global banking institutions, like the World Bank, Deutsche Bank and Barclays, have expressed eagerness to be associated with the Centres postal payments bank initiative, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today. "We will begin postal payments banking service from September 16, wherein 1.3 lakh postmen will be given hand-held devices, a moving ATM to provide banking services, insurance, money-order, as well as third-party service," Information Technology Minister said after inaugurating an incubation centre at the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) here. "Some 50 companies, including World Bank, Deutsche Bank, Swiss Bank, Barclays, want to be associated with us," said the senior BJP leader. The Union Cabinet in June had cleared the ...
Sunil Mittal Re-appointed Chairman of Bharti Airtel For 5 yrs
News

Sunil Mittal Re-appointed Chairman of Bharti Airtel For 5 yrs

Sunil Bharti Mittal has been re-appointed as the Chairman of telecom giant Bharti Airtel for another five year, with effect from October 1, 2016. "Sunil Bharti Mittal has been re-appointed as the Chairman of the company for further term of five years with effect from October 1, 2016," the company said in a BSE filing, communicating the outcome of its 21st AGM. Mittal is the Founder of Bharti Enterprises, Indias one of largest conglomerates with diversified interests in telecom, insurance, real estate, agri and food, besides other ventures. The Group also has joint ventures with global leaders like Singtel, SoftBank, AXA, Del Monte amongst others. Bharti Airtel, the Groups flagship company, offers mobile, fixed broadband and digital TV solutions to over 350 million customers acros...
We Are Far, Far Away From Smart Cities: Narayana Murthy
Entrepreneurs Talk

We Are Far, Far Away From Smart Cities: Narayana Murthy

Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy today said the country was "far, far away" from realising the ambition of developing smart cities, a flagship programme of the Narendra Modi government. "Since we are far, far away from smart cities, I did not talk about it," Murthy said, when asked why he did not mention the smart city project during his one-hour lecture on 'City Systems' here this evening. "I am a doer, I am not just a talker," he said and asked the audience to visit Infosys's campus in Mysore to have a taste of what a smart city can be. Earlier in the lecture, organised by JSW Literature Live, Murthy also came down heavily on the lack of infrastructure in cities. "Poor infrastructure can drive away investments and talent," he said, and pointed out how Mumbai has ...
IBM, Apple Unveiled First Global Development Platform in India
News

IBM, Apple Unveiled First Global Development Platform in India

IBM today unveiled a new enterprise mobility platform IBM MobileFirst for iOS Garage in India and plans to open satellite centres in many other countries including Brazil, China and Romania. IBM MobileFirst is a platform for building mobile apps for the enterprise. The Garage is dedicated to enable clients to complete digital mobility projects as quickly as possible and will tap into the worlds largest concentration of Swift developers, IBM design and iOS device expertise and consulting services, Mahmoud Naghshineh, GM, Apple partnership, IBM, told reporters. "It will serve as a global development hub for iOS apps and work with existing design locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Cupertino and Toronto," he said. IBM also plans to open satellite centres in Brazil, Romania and many oth...
GST Bill a Game-Changer For Indias Economic Growth
INDIA

GST Bill a Game-Changer For Indias Economic Growth

The US India Business Council has termed the passage of GST bill by the Indian Parliament as a "game-changer", saying it is a significant milestone in efforts to improve the countrys ranking in World Banks ease of doing business index. The council congratulates Indian Government and members of Parliament for approving the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, 2014, an official statement by the US India Business Council (USIBC) said. This is a significant milestone in Indias ongoing efforts to improve its ranking in the World Banks ease of doing business index, it said. USIBC believes that the GST is a game-changer that will boost economic growth by streamlining domestic supply chains and removing the compliance burden of contradictory state tax regimes,...
Sebi Proposes Relaxed Norms For Start-up Listing
News

Sebi Proposes Relaxed Norms For Start-up Listing

To encourage listing of start-ups, Sebi today proposed an easier framework that allows more investor categories, relaxed shareholding norms and reduced trading lot amount. In this regard, the markets regulator has mooted changes to the framework of Institutional Trading Platform (ITP), which has not seen much traction even though it was put in place in August 2015. The rules were brought in to encourage Indian start-ups and entrepreneurs to remain within the country rather than go overseas for raising funds. Seeking to widen the eligibility ambit for getting listed on ITP, Sebi has proposed increasing the category of eligible investors when it comes to shareholding before the listing. Besides QIBs (qualified institutional buyers), family trusts or systematically important NBFCs...
Xiaomi Rolls Out First Laptop to Take on Lenovo, Apple
Tech

Xiaomi Rolls Out First Laptop to Take on Lenovo, Apple

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi today rolled out its first laptop, testing the waters in a market that has been flooded with premium tablets. The laptop Mi Notebook Air, runs on Microsofts Windows 10 operating system, sells for 4,999 yuan (around  USD 749) for a 13.3-inch display. A slimmed-down version for office use is also available for 3,499 yuan. The laptop is priced at a discount compared to many models with similar specifications from leading brands such as Lenovo, Dell, HP and Apple. It is the Beijing-based firms latest attempt to press ahead with its strategy of releasing top-spec devices at low prices. "Xiaomi will continue to roll out budget devices with key components in the same league as those on premium devices," Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun said during product la...
Amazon Launches Prime Membership Service in India
News

Amazon Launches Prime Membership Service in India

Amazon.in today announced the launch of its globally popular Amazon Prime membership programme in the country in over a 100 cities to enable free one-day and two-day deliveries to its customers. Prime products will be delivered through the fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) channel, which helps sellers by giving them access to Amazons fulfillment resources, fast, free delivery options for their products and customer service. "For sellers, Fulfillment by Amazon is now an even more powerful opportunity to rapidly grow their business and at the same time, provide customers across India with vast selection and unlimited fast free Prime delivery," Amit Agarwal, Vice-President & Country Head, Amazon India said. Along with unlimited free fast delivery, Prime members can enjoy Prime Early Access...