Thursday, March 28

ANALYSIS

Impact of GST on Startup and Businesses
ANALYSIS

Impact of GST on Startup and Businesses

Goods & Services Tax (GST) is a consolidated, consumption based tax which will be levied on the supply of goods and services at a national level. It will combine major taxes like excise duty, CST, octroi, service tax, and VAT (value added tax) etc. into a single tax called GST, which will come into effect starting July 1st, 2017. Here are some of the ways startups and other common businesses will be impacted by GST-   Small traders with an annual turnover of up to Rs. 20 lakh won’t be required to register the new GST Act, and with the north-east States, the exemption threshold is Rs.10 lakh. This would save many small scale traders and service providers from undertaking GST agreements and reduce a substantial weight off the shoulders of tax authorities.   The GST in...
Most Apps Share Your Data With Google, Facebook: Study
ANALYSIS

Most Apps Share Your Data With Google, Facebook: Study

More than 70 per cent of smartphone apps are reporting personal data to third-party companies like Google and Facebook, a new study has warned. When people install a new smartphone app, it asks for the users permission before accessing personal information. Some of the information these apps collect are necessary for them to work properly. However, once an app has permission to collect that information, it can share your data with anyone the developer wants to letting third-party companies track where you are, how fast you are moving and what you are doing, researchers said. Researchers from the IMDEA Networks Institute in Spain wanted to know how much data could potentially be collected without users knowledge, and to give users more control over their data. "To get a pictu...
News, Sports Websites Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks: Study
ANALYSIS

News, Sports Websites Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks: Study

News and sports websites have some of the lowest levels of security adoption, making them vulnerable to cyber attacks, a new study has found. Researchers looked at the security protocols used by the top 500 sites in various industries and online sectors. They found that fewer than 10 per cent of news and sports websites used basic security protocols such as Transport Layer Security (TLS). Even those that do are not always using the "latest or strongest protocols", researchers said. "It is like news and sport content providers do not value the security of their content," said Professor Alan Woodward, a cyber-security expert at the University of Surrey in the UK. "They are leaving themselves vulnerable to attacks like cross-site scripting, where an attacker can pretend somethi...
Biggest Venture Backed Companies Worth Nearly $500 Billion: Report
ANALYSIS

Biggest Venture Backed Companies Worth Nearly $500 Billion: Report

The total valuation of late-stage, venture-backed private companies in the UnitedStates and Europe has exploded from a few dozen startups worth acollective $40 billion in 2010 to hundreds of firms thattogether are now worth almost $500 billion, according to a report released Thursday. The numbers show the magnitude of the recent trend in which the biggest Silicon Valley startups raise hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars from hedge funds, mutual funds and other private investors while delaying their entrance into public markets. There are now 471 late-stage private companies - defined as firms that have raised at least $75 million through at least three rounds of financing - with an approximate valuation of$490 billion, according to the report from Scenic Advisement, aSan...
India Online Education Market Will Worth Around $1.96 Billion By 2021: Google-KPMG Report
ANALYSIS

India Online Education Market Will Worth Around $1.96 Billion By 2021: Google-KPMG Report

The online education industry in India is poised to grow eight times to become a USD 1.96 billion industry by 2021 as an increasing number of students consume content through e-routes. According to a report by Google and KPMG, the paid user base is also forecast to grow 6X from 1.6 million users in 2016 to 9.6 million users in 2021. The report titled Online Education in India: 2021 is based on market research and insights from Google search. It found that over the last two years, there has been a 2X growth in online searches for education and a 3X increase in searches made from a mobile device. About 44 per cent of education-related searches came from beyond the top six metros. Also, there has been a 4X growth in education content consumption on YouTube in the last one year, th...
75% Employers Not Comfortable With Work-From-Home Option
ANALYSIS

75% Employers Not Comfortable With Work-From-Home Option

While a whopping share of 90 per cent employees say they want a work from home option, 75 per cent of employers are not comfortable with the idea, said a recent study. "Nearly 60 per cent organisations do not have a formal work-from-home policy. Incidentally, 75 per cent employers are not even comfortable with the idea, whereas 90 per cent employees are keen on having such a policy at work," according to a study carried out by job portal, TimesJobs. The study was conducted with a sample size of over 1,100 employees and nearly 800 employers. "To survive in todays competitive business world, companies need to transform from a command and control culture to an empower and enhance value system. Organisations that are able to create a culture that nurtures agile, high-performance teams...
Flipkart Named Most Sought After Employer in LinkedIn India Survey
ANALYSIS

Flipkart Named Most Sought After Employer in LinkedIn India Survey

Flipkart has been named the top employer followed by Amazon and KPMG India in the second and third place respectively, according to a list compiled by internet professional network LinkedIn. Others in the top 10 of LinkedIn Indias most sought- after employers list include One97 Communications at the fourth place, Ola (5th), HCL Technologies (6th), Adobe (7th), Alphabet (8th), OYO Rooms (9th) and Reliance Industries at the 10th place. The list of 25 top companies in India also saw over 30 per cent of new entrants, namely One97 Communications, Tech Mahindra (14th), Swiggy (15th), IDFC Bank (17th), Vodafone (20th), Grofers (22nd), McKinsey & Company (24th) and Oracle (25th). Among the companies showing significant improvement in the list include Ola from last years 10th rank to 5...
Indian IT Industry Will Layoff 2 Lakh Engineers For Next 3 Years
ANALYSIS

Indian IT Industry Will Layoff 2 Lakh Engineers For Next 3 Years

Executive search firm Head Hunters India today said the job cuts in IT sector will be between 1.75 lakh and 2 lakh annually for next three years due to under-preparedness in adapting to newer technologies. "Contrary to media reports of 56,000 IT professionals to lose jobs this year, the actual job cuts will be between 1.75 lakh and 2 lakh per year in next three years, due to under- preparedness in adapting to newer technologies," Head Hunters India Founder-Chairman and MD K Lakshmikanth told PIXR8, analysing a report submitted by McKinsey & Company at the Nasscom India Leadership Forum on February 17. McKinsey & Company report had said nearly half of the workforce in the IT services firms will be "irrelevant" over the next 3-4 years. McKinsey India Managing Director Noshir...
Indian Startup Funding Sees Major Slowdown in Jan-Mar
ANALYSIS

Indian Startup Funding Sees Major Slowdown in Jan-Mar

The startup sector is not completely out of the woods as it saw a drop in investment of 36 per cent year on year at USD 236.81 million for the March quarter as investors are wary of early and mid-stage funding. According to a News Corp VCCEdge report, the startup sector saw 165 deals worth USD 236.81 million in the January- March quarter of 2017 while in the same period last year, it stood at USD 368.68 million by way of 314 deals. The report noted that early-stage funding went down as investors preferred to pump in money late. Angel and seed investments slumped both in volume and value terms, with deal volumes down to half with 120 deals in January-March compared to 245 in the same period of 2016. "A rise in Series-B funding even as seed and Series-A funding trends show a decl...
536 Million Users to Log Onto Internet in Indian Languages by 2021
ANALYSIS

536 Million Users to Log Onto Internet in Indian Languages by 2021

An estimated 536 million Indians are expected to use regional languages while online by 2021, complemented by increasing affordability of devices and data charges and availability of more local content, a report by Google-KPMG says. The report estimates that Hindi Internet users (at 201 million) will outnumber those accessing the web in English at 199 million by 2021. India is expected to have 735 million Internet users by the same time from 409 million in 2016. Interestingly, a significant number of Indian language Internet users already access government services, classifieds, news and payment services "exclusively online". Indic language users are not just accessing chat apps and digital entertainment but are also opting for digital payments methods. In 2016, the ...
95% Engineers in India Unfit For Software Development Jobs
ANALYSIS

95% Engineers in India Unfit For Software Development Jobs

Talent shortage is acute in the IT and data science ecosystem in India with a survey claiming that 95 per cent of engineers in the country are not fit to take up software development jobs. According to a study by employability assessment company Aspiring Minds, only 4.77 per cent candidates can write the correct logic for a programme — a minimum requirement for any programming job. Over 36,000 engineering students from IT related branches of over 500 colleges took Automata — a Machine Learning based assessment of software development skills — and over 2/3 could not even write code that compiles. The study further noted that while more than 60 per cent candidates cannot even write code that compiles, only 1.4 per cent can write functionally correct and efficient code. “Lack of p...