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Valued at $10B, Paytm’s 200 Employees Become Millionaires

29Jan By RishabhNo Comments

BUSINESS

Valued at $10B, Paytm’s 200 Employees Become Millionaires

One97 Communication owned, payments and gateway company Paytm is now valued at $10 billion. As a result, the existing and former Paytm employees have been able to liquidate their vested ESOPS (employee stock ownership plan) by selling them to new investors including undisclosed family offices. Over 200 employees of the company liquidated their shares for Rs 300 crore. Earlier the company was valued at $7 billion when it raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank Group. This valuation has made Paytm, the second most valued startup after Flipkart, which is valued somewhere close to $12 billion. A similar sale round occurred early last year where a 100-crore employee liquidity event took place. Till now around 200 Paytm former and existing employees have been able to sell shares for Rs 500 c...

Practo, ICICI Lombard Launches Health Insurance App For OPD Expenses

25Jan By PriyankaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Practo, ICICI Lombard Launches Health Insurance App For OPD Expenses

Private sector general insurance firm ICICI Lombard has partnered healthcare platform Practo to launch a health insurance app 'IL TakeCare' that takes cares of Outpatient (OPD) expenses of all its customers. "The app meets key customer requirements with respect to their primary healthcare needs. This includes hassle-free, real-time claim authentication of expenses such as doctor consultation, medical tests, pharmacy spends etc," ICICI Lombard General Insurance, MD, Bhargav Dasgupta said. It also empowers the user to access a cashless network comprising of specialised doctors, he said, adding that the app thus addresses a key problem of customers wherein they were hitherto required to pay for OPD expenses from their own pocket. "Today, we are also launching our Trinity technology t...

Ratan Tata Backed Artificial Intelligence Startup Tied Up With Federal Bank

23Jan By RishabhNo Comments

BUSINESS

Ratan Tata Backed Artificial Intelligence Startup Tied Up With Federal Bank

Indian industrialist tycoon Ratan Tata backed Niki.ai has tied up with Kerala-headquartered Federal Bank to launch a virtual assistant in Federal Bank's smartphone application, a financial daily reported. Federal Bank confirmed saying that the chatbot will be helping customers to access m-commerce services right within the app, VCCircle reported. With this integration, the customers can simply perform operations by writing it in the virtual assistant's chat box like top-up their numbers, book movie tickets and pay their bills. The bills will automatically be charged on the user's account. “For payments, the customer need not get redirected to any other platform or take the hassle of loading their digital wallets, the debit happens directly from the federal bank account and the pay...

Google Collaborate With Coursera to Launch Online IT Certification Courses

17Jan By AnkitaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Google Collaborate With Coursera to Launch Online IT Certification Courses

Tech giant Google and online education leader Coursera today announced the launch of a certificate course aimed at filling entry-level IT support jobs globally. The Google IT Support Professional Certificate, developed by subject-matter experts at Google and offered exclusively on Coursera, will help anyone with no prior experience to be ready for an entry-level IT support job in 8 to 12 months. The programme will allow learners to share their information with a host of top companies looking to hire entry-level support professionals, including Bank of America, Walmart, Sprint, GE Digital, PNC Bank, Infosys, TEKSystems, UPMC, and, of course, Google. "Finding qualified IT personnel is a challenge many companies face. With 150,000 open roles in IT support, it is one of the fastest...

Patanjali Goes Online, Aims Over Rs 1,000 Crore Sales in 2018

17Jan By kriti singhNo Comments

BUSINESS

Patanjali Goes Online, Aims Over Rs 1,000 Crore Sales in 2018

Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved today announced its foray into e-commerce for its FMCG items, partnering major players in the space, including Amazon and Flipkart, and targeting over Rs 1,000 crore this year itself. The Haridwar-based company said it has partnered eight players, which also include Grofers, Shopclues, BigBasket, 1mg, Paytm Mall and Netmeds, through which its entire range of products would be available online. Besides, Patanjali said it will also expand into new product segments such as bottled water through brand 'Divya Jal' and apparels and footwear under the brand name 'Paridhan' this year. "Online mechanism aims to provide convenient and efficient options along with extension of traditional retail market", said Baba Ramdev. He further added: "We are target...

Reliance Jio To Buy RCom’s Wireless Assets In $3.75B Deal: Sources

29Dec By reutersNo Comments

BUSINESS

Reliance Jio To Buy RCom’s Wireless Assets In $3.75B Deal: Sources

Debt-laden Reliance Communications has signed a deal to sell its wireless assets to Reliance Jio Infocomm for nearly 240 billion rupees ($3.75 billion), two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The two companies had announced late on Thursday that Reliance Communications, backed by businessman Anil Ambani, would sell all its spectrum, tower, fibre optic and other telecom infrastructure assets to Jio, which is owned by Reliance Industries and is controlled by Anil Ambani’s elder brother Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest person. They firms did not give the value of the deal. Jio and Reliance Communications, or RCom as the company is known as, did not respond to messages seeking comment on the value of the deal. The sale, if finalised, would mark a big step in RCom’s...

OYO Narrowed Losses by 27%, Witnessed Seven Times Revenue Growth In 2017

28Dec By NitishNo Comments

BUSINESS

OYO Narrowed Losses by 27%, Witnessed Seven Times Revenue Growth In 2017

Online hotel booking startup OYO has narrowed its losses by 27 per cent to Rs 363.7 crore in 2016-17, mainly on account of a high degree of operating leverage in the business model. The company's losses were at Rs 496.8 crore during FY16, OYO said in a release issued here. OYO has witnessed seven times revenue growth at Rs 125 crore in FY17 compared to Rs 17 crore during 2015-16. The revenue growth has been fueled by more than two times growth in room nights and significant improvement in commissions, the company said. OYO continue to focus on steady business growth by making strategic investments in building capabilities, partner relations and market expansion. "2017 has been a watershed year for us. We steered our growth trajectory by upgrading and bringing beautiful living-s...

Indian Regulator Says Axis Results Leaked, Orders Lender To Investigate

28Dec By reutersNo Comments

BUSINESS

Indian Regulator Says Axis Results Leaked, Orders Lender To Investigate

India’s market regulator ordered Axis Bank on Wednesday to conduct an internal investigation into a suspected leak of financial information and to strengthen its handling of such data, as part of a probe into messages about company results being circulated on private WhatsApp groups. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) order comes after Reuters reported last month that Axis Bank was among 12 companies where messages about quarterly results or other key financial details had circulated through private WhatsApp chatrooms before their official release. The information on Axis Bank, which included key metrics on bad loans and net interest margins, “were either identical or matched closely with the figures” except for one metric, the regulator said in the order, published on...

Breaking: First Indian Airline Which Operates Record 1000 Flights Daily

24Dec By AdityaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Breaking: First Indian Airline Which Operates Record 1000 Flights Daily

Budget carrier IndiGo has become the first Indian airline to operate over 1,000 daily flights across its domestic and international network. Besides, the Gurgaon-based airline has also attained a fleet size of 150 aircraft with the induction of one more A320 Neo plane, it said in a release today. The dual feat was achieved on Friday, it said. Flight 6E 185 from Mumbai to Cochin took off on December 22 at 23.15 pm to become 1,000th flight for the first time in the history of Indian civil aviation, the airline said. IndiGo also took the delivery of its 31st Airbus A-320 Neo aircraft on the same day, which raised its fleet size to 150 aircraft, it said. IndiGo is the second airline in the country with a fleet size of 150 planes after disinvestment-bound flag carrier Air India. ...

Belarus Adopts Cryptocurrency Law To Woo Foreign Investors

22Dec By RishabhNo Comments

BUSINESS

Belarus Adopts Cryptocurrency Law To Woo Foreign Investors

Belarus has legalized transactions in crypto-currencies, part of a drive to foster private sector growth and attract foreign investment by liberalizing parts of its Soviet-style economy. President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree on the move on Thursday, his press service said. Bitcoin, the world's most popular crypto-currency, has lost a third of its value since hitting a record high of close to $20,000 on Sunday, but its supporters dismiss warnings over volatility and say it is the start of a new monetary system not dependent on central banks. “All smart and intelligent people know what stability and order are,” state news agency BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying earlier this month. “They’re all trying to reach that shore. We’re prepared to arrange a dock and even a harbor.”...

Flipkart Completed Buyback Share Programme Worth $100M, With 3,000 Participants

13Dec By RishabhNo Comments

BUSINESS, INDIA

Flipkart Completed Buyback Share Programme Worth $100M, With 3,000 Participants

Indian online e-commerce giant Flipkart has recently completed its $100 million re-purchase of employee stock options (ESOPs), marking it the largest share buyback programme in Indian startup history, a financial daily reported. In a release on Wednesday, Flipkart said that over 3,000 existing and former employees of Flipkart, PhonePe, Myntra, and Jabong had participated in this programme, Mint reported. “Employees are our biggest source of strength, without whom Flipkart couldn’t have built the e-commerce industry in India. As an organisation, we believe they should be equal partners in Flipkart’s success. This ESOP repurchase programme is an extension of that culture, and a token of thanks for the dedication and hard work they have put in over the years. We’re delighted to be setti...

Bitcoin Surges Above $12,000 To Record High On Relentless Demand

6Dec By RishabhNo Comments

BUSINESS

Bitcoin Surges Above $12,000 To Record High On Relentless Demand

Bitcoin extended its eye-popping rally on Wednesday, breaking above $12,000 to a record high despite questions about the cryptocurrency’s real value and worries about a dangerous bubble. Bitcoin received a boost after Friday’s announcement by the main U.S. derivatives regulator that it would allow CME Group Inc and CBOE Global Markets to list bitcoin futures contracts. The move opens the door to added regulation but also more mainstream adoption, as bitcoin futures and other derivatives would make it easier to trade the new asset class. Bitcoin’s meteoric ascent of over 10-fold from below $1,000 at the start of the year has drawn regulatory scrutiny around the world. Some high profile individuals such as Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz have said the cryptocurrency sho...