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Ban on Pak Artists, Nation First: Mukesh Ambani

19Oct By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

INDIA

Ban on Pak Artists, Nation First: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Monday joined issue with those opposing a ban on Pakistan artists in India, saying the nation should come first and not art and culture. "I am absolutely clear about one thing -- for me, it is always country first. I am not an intellectual, so I don't understand all these. But undoubtedly like for all Indians, India is the first for me," Ambani said in Mumbai on Monday. The billionaire businessman was answering questions from the audience on ban on Pakistan actors and other artists at the 'Off the Cuff' show organised by The Print, a digital media outfit owned by senior journalists Shekhar Gupta and Barkha Dutt. Asked whether he would join politics, Ambani replied in the negative, saying "I am not made for politics." The statement from the ri...

China Made ATM Machines and Software Affected 6 Lakh SBI Debit Cards

19Oct By AdityaNo Comments

News

China Made ATM Machines and Software Affected 6 Lakh SBI Debit Cards

India's largest public sector bank State Bank of India (SBI) and its subsidiary blocked 6.25 lakh customers debit cards after finding security breach in transactions at third-party ATM machines. The government led bank sent emails and SMS to customers, to alert them about blockage, and also asked them to re-apply for new cards at their respective branches. “About 0.25% of our cards have been blocked. We came to know that some of our customers have used SBI debit cards at Yes Bank ATM machines, the software of these ATM's were designed in Chinese company Hitachi payment services,” said SBI's security officer at the condition of no identity disclose. “In the past 3-4 days, we saw some unidentified and suspicious transactions at some ATMs and hence the cards were blocked immediately....

Venture Capital Firm Next Orbit Ventures Received Commitment of $750 Million From UAE Investors

19Oct By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Venture Capital Firm Next Orbit Ventures Received Commitment of $750 Million From UAE Investors

Venture capital firm Next Orbit Ventures (NOV) has received commitment from UAE-based investors, including DP World, Emmar and Etisalat, for its over USD 750 million or Rs 5,000 crore fund. The company plans to invest the proceeds of the over Rs 5,000 crore (USD 750 million) fund in digital, analog and solar fabrication (fabs) projects along with semiconductor design, electronics, led and solar products to feed those fabs, a statement said today. "The investors from UAE International Investors Council which includes 18 UAE entities like Mubadala, DP World, Etisalat, Emmar, among others have shown keen interest in investing in this fund and the project," company's founder and Managing Partner Ajay Jalan said. Nearly 49 per cent of the commitment towards the fund is expected from the C...

Mahindra’s BabyOye Acquired by FirstCry For Rs 362 Crore

17Oct By NitishNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Mahindra’s BabyOye Acquired by FirstCry For Rs 362 Crore

Online babycare store FirstCry (BrainBees Solutions Pvt. Ltd) has acquired the franchise division of Mahindra Retail Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, which owns online babycare business BabyOye for Rs 362.1 crore in a cash and stock deal. “A business transfer agreement has been executed by and between Mahindra Retail Pvt Ltd (MRPL), a subsidiary of the company, Brainbees Solutions (FirstCry) and founder of the company to transfer the franchise division of MRPL (BabyOye) as a going concern on a slump sale basis to FirstCry,” The Company said: “In terms of the structure of the transaction, Mahindra Retail and FirstCry have consolidated their operations, with Mahindra Retail selling its franchise business to FirstCry, and operating all company stores under a firstcry...

From Singapore To India – A Journey of ZingoHub Crowdfunding Platform

15Oct By NitishNo Comments

Story

From Singapore To India – A Journey of ZingoHub Crowdfunding Platform

Crowdfunding is a fresh concept that has emerged as a sustenance for budding creators and innovators to turn their ideas into a corporeality. In the recent years, the crowdfunding industry has grown multifold and has helped crowdfunding projects grow into great business ventures. In the world of small biz, it has become one of the go-to choices for startups and provided them financial support to get off the ground. Simplifying the concept of crowdfunding and pushing aside the hand-wringing of startups, ZingoHub is a platform that comes to the rescue! PRODUCT Company: ZingoHub Location: Singapore Est. In: 2015 Team: Sayantan Das(Co-founder), Haider Aly-Reza(Co-...

$943 Million – the Loss to Indian Economy From Internet Shutdowns

8Oct By NitishNo Comments

Story

$943 Million – the Loss to Indian Economy From Internet Shutdowns

22 internet shutdowns that occurred in India between 2015 to 2016 cost the country’s economy an astonishing $968 million, contributing to a total global cost of $2.4 billion, says Darrell West in a study published by Centre for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution. Citing the example of one such instance West says India disrupted Internet services in response to concerns over students cheating on exams. An Indian official said, "considering the sensitive nature of the exam for recruitment of talents, internet service providers have been asked to shut down all internet-based social media services from 9am to 1 pm to prevent the mobile misuse during exams. " In many other instances, Regional Indian officials also ordered disruptions in response to public security concerns. ...

Automation Threatens 69% Jobs in India: World Bank

7Oct By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

News

Automation Threatens 69% Jobs in India: World Bank

Automation threatens 69 per cent of the jobs in India, while 77 per cent in China, according to a World Bank research which has said that technology could fundamentally disrupt the pattern of traditional economic path in developing countries. “As we continue to encourage more investment in infrastructure to promote growth, we also have to think about the kinds of infrastructure that countries will need in the economy of the future. We all know that technology has and will continue to fundamentally reshape the world,” World Bank president Jim Kim said. “But the traditional economic path from increasing productivity of agriculture to light manufacturing and then to full-scale industrialisation may not be possible for all developing countries,” Mr. Kim said in response to a question at the ...

6 Top Players Keen to Develop Ultra High-Speed Trains: Suresh Prabhu

6Oct By NitishNo Comments

INDIA

6 Top Players Keen to Develop Ultra High-Speed Trains: Suresh Prabhu

Six major global players have shown keen interest in developing ultra high-speed trains in the country, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said here on Thursday. "Using technology is... The next big thing, which is going to happen in the transportation sector... We just had a meeting in Delhi on September 2. We got six top global companies to come and talk about technological transportation technology that we will develop, co-develop, manufacture and use in India and then maybe, use outside the country," Prabhu said while addressing the India Economic Summit here. He spoke of the challenges of the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution', for which the need of the hour is "local solution with a global approach". Technology, Prabhu said, is something which is going to "revolutionise the entire stre...

2Oct By reutersNo Comments

INDIA

India Gets $8 Billion Worth Telecoms Spectrum Bids on Auction’s First Day

India started its biggest ever telecoms airwaves auction on Saturday, receiving 535.31 billion rupees ($8.04 billion) worth of bids on the first day of the sale, a senior government official said. Market leaders Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone's local unit and Idea Cellular Ltd are pitted against new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd in the battle for airwaves to boost their high-speed data services in what is the world's second-biggest market by mobile phone subscriptions. The total value of the airwaves put on the block is estimated to be worth $84 billion based on the auction reserve price set by the government, although industry executives and analysts expect only part of it to be sold. Data released by the government's Department of Telecom (DoT) at the end of five rounds of bidd...

Bengaluru Based Bitcoin Startup Unocoin Raises $1.5 million From U.S., Indian Investors

30Sep By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Bengaluru Based Bitcoin Startup Unocoin Raises $1.5 million From U.S., Indian Investors

Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, Unocoin has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and Fund...

DIPP to Hire Consultants to Push Startup India

29Sep By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

News

DIPP to Hire Consultants to Push Startup India

The commerce and industry ministry is looking to engage consultants to promote the government's Startup India campaign for budding entrepreneurs. The department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), under the ministry, has issued an advertisement for engaging a senior consultant and two consultants for the Startup India initiative. It has invited applications from eligible candidates for "engagement as senior consultant/consultant on contractual basis." It said the job responsibilities for the senior consultant include assessment of the existing startup ecosystem in the country, identifying the national and international best practices, making recommendations to facilitate growth of startups and monitoring implementation of action plans, schemes and programmes. Those of th...

Indonesia Based GO-JEK Acquires Bangalore Based Startup Pianta

27Sep By AnkitaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Indonesia Based GO-JEK Acquires Bangalore Based Startup Pianta

Indonesia's based food and grocery delivery startup GO-JEK has acquired Bangalore based Pianta, a marketplace for home healthcare services, for an undisclosed sum. Post the acquisition, Pianta's eight member team will merge with GO-JEK's engineering centre in Bangalore. Founded in 2010, GO-JEK has over two lakh motorbike taxis, known as "ojeks" in its fleet. Since then, the company has diversified into food, grocery and even courier delivery services. GO-JEK raised $550 million in 2016 from the likes of KKR, Warburg Pincus, Farallon Capital and Capital Group Private Markets. In India, GO-JEK doesn't have any services but has an engineering centre in Bangalore where it employs 60 people."Pianta's core team comes from Ola and Flipkart and their expertise in the logistics and payments s...